Author's Notes: The first two chapters will be shorted than the rest due to the fact that they're setting up the plot. The main portion of the story takes place when the boys are older but this beginning stuff needs to be covered too. Anything you see in italics this early on is Trunks and Goten's baby-talk (you know when little kids seem to make no sense and yet they understands each other? It's like their own little language). Once they're no longer todders, italics will be used for certain thoughts, flashbacks, dreams etc.

Also any time you read "green scouter" or "red scouter" just know that this only refers to the colour of the piece over their eye, not the overall object.

I do not own Dragonball Z; that much is obvious.

Chapter One: Saiyan Kidnap

More than one year had passed since Gohan had defeated Cell. The Earth was calm and peaceful once again; people were going about their business and lives without the constant indication of fear or danger lurking in every corner of the globe.

A gathering was taking place at Capsule Corporation, reuniting all friends and family in the memory of a brave young boy that saved them and the father that had left in hope that the peace will remain as a result. Earth had never been that lucky.

In the quieter sections of space, two saiyan spacepods headed straight for Earth; it was just as things had been many years ago when prince Vegeta and his partner Nappa had their sights set on the dragon balls. These saiyans had something much darker in mind. Three years ago they had directed their interest towards the green and blue planet after learning that several of their people were resided there. This discovery did not please them.

These two saiyans cared nothing for the advancement of their race, of the last surviving members, or even any respect for their prince. They were cold, ruthless and showed no mercy to their foes. However, their intent was not set on destroying Earth, since their kind did live there. Instead, they wanted to seek out the half-breed children.

The pods picked up speed when the planet came into view, which sprung to life the power inside each pod. The lights came on and an electronic voice announced their near-arrival. With the power active, the saiyans awoke and glanced through the red windows at their pending destination with expressions of mild focus.

They were different in age by several years and it showed. The taller saiyan had long, spiky black hair that reached his tanned, muscular shoulders. He was dressed in an older version of the saiyan armor with black spandex underneath and dark, bulky gloves. He frowned at the sight of the small planet and sniffed the air as though he had caught the stench of a disgusting aroma from the place; even when they were yet to actually land and inhale the atmosphere's oxygen. Over his left eye was a red scouter that was already scanning for the strongest power levels on the planet that he considered to be unworthy of existence.

This saiyan's name was Raknor and he was a second-class warrior that had barely escaped the explosion of a planet he had been purging during time that Frieza had journeyed to planet Namek.

The second saiyan had shorter, pointier, dark red hair and paler skin. His armor wasn't updated either although instead of black spandex he wore blue, and the usual white gloves covered his hands. His green scouter was switched off and remained forgotten over his eye as he leaned closer to the rounded, red window of his pod. He stared at the planet with curiosity and reached to press one hand against the window for a brief moment. He was one of the youngest saiyans still alive. He had been sent to a planet to be protection as a baby alongside his younger sister. And there they had remained until she perished during a battle eight years ago.

His name was Blane and as his eyebrows rose and his mouth widened softly, he almost appeared to be much younger than his actual age, perhaps even in his teens.

Breaking through the white clouds, the pods zoomed towards a forest nearby the outskirts of West City. The impact of their landing created two large craters in the ground, which scattered any surrounding wildlife and a still silence began to cloud the area.

The two saiyans stepped out of their pods and glanced over the mountain edge and than towards the sky where five more pods also landed. Those five were empty apart from a few objects stashed out of sight behind the seats.

'Do you need any help, Raknor? Blane asked eagerly as his tail flicked upwards as though to feel the warm afternoon air around them.

'If I needed your help, Blane...than I would've asked for it!' Raknor snapped while his own tail wrapped around his waist like a belt. 'Just stay here and watch the pods. If any of these resident weaklings come along, kill them.'

'Fine.' Blane sighed and nodded with obedience. He watched in annoyance as Raknor flew into the sky in the direction of the city.

'I always get the boring jobs.' Blane grumbled. He sat on a large boulder near his spacepod and rested his chin on his elbows while he waited for his partner to return. His gaze trailed over to the other spacepods and wondered if there were more than five saiyan children on the planet. They were hoping for less or with any luck, only one...but five? That seemed to be a bit of a handful for only two saiyans since it was a three year travel and training trip until they reached "home".

'Oh well, ain't much we can do about it now.' Blane shrugged and turned to watch the distant movements of the city.

-w-

Raknor touched down on the road just outside of Capsule Corporation. His scouter indicated that there was a large group of higher power level beings inside. At first he thought they knew he was there and were going to challenge him, until he heard the sickening sound of joyous laughter and those thoughts broke away. Raknor almost chuckled when it didn't seem as though a single being could sense his presence at all. Of course, they no longer had scouters so how could they?

His smirk formed into a frown when the laughter stopped and several people appeared before him in fighting stances; they had just figured out he was there.

'Who are you?' Krillin demanded angrily while Vegeta and Gohan stood on either side of him; each looked quite displeased by the interruption.

'A saiyan!' Piccolo saw the stranger's armor and the tail wrapped around his waist.

'Oh good, you recognize my superior kind.' Raknor's smirk returned. He clenched his fists as his gaze traveled over each person that faced him and noticed that none of them had a tail.

'I was informed that there were saiyans on this pitiful planet.' Raknor crossed his arms as he stared at Vegeta. 'And you are a pathetic excuse of one, Vegeta.' Raknor sneered. His mocking insult and disrespectful tone surprised the prince.

'Frieza had the right idea of sending us to distant planet to destroy them, whereas you are clearly tired of that life and wish to waste away your honor on this disgraceful excuse of a home.' He scowled.

'Dare you speak to me that way!.' Vegeta roared with fury. 'Tell me why you're here!'

Raknor didn't answer as he eyed Gohan. The boy had the appearance of a saiyan and the scouter picked up on his strong power level, however he was in his early teens and Raknor thought he would be harder to control due to the boy's rebellious age. Dismissing the idea of snatching him, Raknor turned to examine the others.

'What's going on?' Bulma stepped outside and placed two-year-old Trunks on the ground where he crawled towards a large bug he'd spotted.

'Get back inside, woman!' Vegeta ordered her.

Raknor's grin increased as he laid eyes on Trunks. Chi Chi also came into view with another boy who was nibbling on a cookie from his position in her arms.

'What do you want?' Gohan asked angrily. 'Why can't you bullies just leave us alone?'

'Oh, I have no intention of causing any damage here.' Raknor told them and felt satisfied that his words had caused great surprise amongst his offensive company. 'And I will leave...right after I have what I came for.'

He provided no other warning than the words that had just left his mouth and flew forward with fiery determination. He reached for Trunks and knew he was quicker than the human mother, but was still kicked back by Vegeta's boot. Raknor was much faster. Even with the others attacking him, he managed to after-image towards the light-haired boy with little interference. He grabbed Trunks and rushed to Goten, sweeping him right out of his mother's grasp with a simple swish of rough movement. With a toddler under each arm, Raknor used great amounts of energy to fly upwards and headed in the direction of the pods. He hadn't been been foolish enough to believe it was that easy and his assumption was correct when Gohan and Vegeta soon caught up to him.

'Let them go!' Gohan screamed angrily. The two toddlers wailed their lungs out and kicked the unfamiliar man in attempt to free themselves from his clutches.

'Blane!' Raknor shouted as the cliff emerged into sight. The younger saiyan jumped up from the rock he had been sitting on and pulled out a remote that controlled the two now-hovering spacepods.

The doors opened and Raknor threw one child in each. He quickly turned around in mid-air to face his enraged opponents and barely had a second to aim a punch at Gohan. The teenage boy dodged it and attacked back, catching Raknor slightly off-guard although his working scouter was an immense help in avoiding further damage from the assaults.

Blane was occupied with Vegeta as the prince aimed numerous blasts at him, but the younger saiyan was faster and dodged them while still managing to tap the buttons on his remote.

'That's all! Take them and I'll follow!' Raknor ordered while he struggled to fight of Gohan, who had turned super saiyan and had no intention of letting his little brother go. Vegeta was much the same, only he was far more merciless and aggressive.

Blane jumped into his own pod and with several taps of his remote, he had self-destructed the remaining three empty pods and locked the two that contained the boys. Goten and Trunks were still crying and had started to bang their tiny fists against the windows of their prison.

'NO!' Gohan screamed and alongside Vegeta, he charged forward with aimed blasts in effort to at least stop Raknor from departing. The others had finally arrived to provide assistance but Raknor had a remote concealed in his left glove; his pod was already hovering and waiting for him.

It had been an impossible mission from the start but Raknor was determined to make it out of there alive. He had hardly been able to get inside his pod as it closed and than rocketed towards the sky with Blane's following close behind.

'DADDY!' Trunks screamed as his father hovered into view. Goten gasped when he saw Gohan although he was rendered speechless by his continued crying and attempts to get out.

'GOTEN!' Gohan bellowed and rushed forward. There was no time and nothing anyone could do to stop the pods as they powered up and flew into the sky in a single blink. All those on Earth could do was watch helplessly and in horror as the two pods containing Trunks and Goten disappeared.

-w-

The two little boys stared mutely in shock as the Earth faded away through the view of their reddened windows. The pods than turned to face the blackened sky lit only by distant planets and stars. Goten's eyes were wide and he still had his palms pressed against the solid window as tears leaked down his cheeks and his not-yet-removed tail drooped sadly.

Trunks had covered his eyes with his hands and sniffed as he squeezed his eyes closed and tried to will himself back to his parents.

'That was close.' Blane contacted Raknor over their scouter's link.

'Almost too close.' Raknor grunted as he touched a burnt shoulder and used a scrap of material to soak the flow of blood that dripped on his clothes. 'At least we got out.' He added.

Trunks peaked over his palms and tried to work out where the voices were coming from (the scouters were connected to the ship as a wide communication tool). Goten ignored them and continued to stare out the window as he was once again on the verge of uncontrollable tears.

'So, uh...who are they, Raknor?' Blane wondered after a moment.

'The brat with the pitiful shade of purple hair is the son of the prince.' Raknor boasted with a smug smirk on his face.

'No way!' Blane gasped. 'How did you get him out of there? He's gonna be hard to train though, with all that power he's likely to have.'

'At his age? I doubt it.' Raknor closed his eyes and rested against the back of his chair. 'I don't know who the other boy belongs to but he has a tail so there's no doubt that he's got saiyan blood in him somewhere. Even if he is the bigger crybaby.'

'And that was all?' Blane wondered. 'There were a lot of fighters coming after you.'

'These two brats were the only youngsters apart from that super saiyan teenage boy. He was too old and if he has indeed reached legendary status than it was probably good that he didn't come with us.' Raknor nodded. 'Although, now that I think about it...he was quite anxious to get the crybaby back so maybe the one we've got is his brother?'

'Barshen will be pleased.' Blane said. 'How long until we can stretch our legs again?'

'About three days.' Raknor replied. 'Then we'll see what we're dealing with.'

'Sounds good to me.' Blane yawned and settled comfortably in his chair as he let the silence fill the two spacepods.

Trunks clenched his teeth together and slammed his hands against the narrow control panel in front of him. Anything he touched merely flickered red and nothing ever happened as a result. He tried everything but Trunks was certainly trapped in with nowhere to go.

'M-mummy?' Trunks sobbed and covered his eyes with his hands again. 'D-daddy?' He asked softly as he crawled onto his chair and curled into a ball. He spotted a small button on the side of the panel and pushed it. Trunks jumped with alarm when a high-pitched crying filled his ears.

'Goten?' Trunks whispered cautiously and moved closer to the small speaker that was against the right side of the pod wall.

'Tr-tr...' Goten sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. 'What happened?'

'I don't know.' Trunks sighed and sat back in his seat since he could hear his friend without any difficulty. 'I think we're in the sky.'

'But how? I wanna go home! I want my mummy and Gohan!' Goten started to wail again. This caused Trunks to withhold his own tears as he knew it wouldn't make anything better. He didn't say anything else and just sat there, lost in his own thoughts and grief while his friend cried. After a while Goten's sobs turned to hiccups and than there was silence.

Blane yawned and uncomfortably stretched the best he could in a small space. He'd already spent many months in the pod and was certainly not looking forward to what lay ahead. Although even he knew that the younger boys had it worst. Well, at least they could move around freely!

'You awake?' Blane questioned Raknor through the scouter. He only received a mere grunt in reply and therefore decided to let his partner rest.

'Hey brats, can you hear me?' Blane asked and pressed some of the controls to be able to hear them as well. He quickly tuned out the youngest one when all he heard was more crying and decided to focus on the Vegeta's son instead.

'You're a brave one, little prince.' He commented to Trunks. The lavender-haired boy scowled in the direction of the unknown voice and didn't make a sound other than to blow a raspberry at the speakers.

'Don't worry, kiddo. We're gonna make you so strong that your own father will be jealous!' Blane chuckled.

'Are you talking to the brats?' Raknor scoffed. 'Don't. They probably don't even know what you're saying.'

Blane switched off his scouter and tossed it aside. 'I know it'll be tough and you'll wish we'd killed you, but one day you'll understand. This is how it's meant to be.' Blane continued to ell the boys although only Trunks could hear him.

'Give it a few years and you'll be just like us, wanting to fight and purge planets of their life forms. You'll understand what it means to be saiyan.' Blane nodded.

'Just you wait, Brats. You'll see the light and crush it as we do.'

Please review and let me know what you thought! Updates depend on review count or motivaton from reviewers because it lets me know that people like this fic and want to see an update, therefore my time is not wasted in doing so.