Author's note:

Hey everyone! To tell you the truth, this is my very first DBZ story. Not only the first I have displayed on fanfiction.net but also the actual first I have ever written. So please go easy on me, I tried to make this as interesting and entertaining as I could (which I hope is the way it has turned out) and I hope you will enjoy it! Please read, and review!

Love, Fëaruin

About the story:

~ None of these characters are mine, except for those you do not know (i.e. mainly Marty and Cleo… and if I decide to put them in this story instead of in a sequel, Mary and Kat as well).

~ In relation to the previous point, there is a character of mine, Sindor, who is the fifth and final original character I present in this story. He is not completely original but created from the DBZ series characters into an original. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, don't worry for now… but stick around to find out!

~ Details which I have made up myself, such as about the village which has been built, do not go unexplained in these passages, for the benefit of your understanding.

~ Only the Kaioken, Genki-Dami, Destructo Disc, Solar Flare and Kamehameha attacks used in this fanfiction have been derived from the original DBZ series. The rest of the attacks are mine, particularly those belonging to Cleo and Videl.

~ This is a modern fantasy, not one of those medieval ones, although there is some medieval features that are in the story. It's not necessarily an AU but it portrays an out-of-this-world land on this modern earth, which is the basis of the story.

~ The return of all the Dark Enemies used in this story are explained throughout, so don't scratch your head and think, 'eh…? How'd they come back to life…?'

~ But all in all, please enjoy! Ja ne!

Power, Deception, Lies

"… This is so humiliating," Gohan groaned, as Eighteen pulled his cheeks and messed his hair. "I am nineteen years old and somebody is still calling me 'cute'!"

"Why does everyone call YOU cute, especially all of MY girls?!" Krillin complained. "Long ago it was my first girlfriend Merryn. And now, it's Eighteen."

The word 'girlfriend' made Yam Cha slightly uneasy as he overheard Krillin. He regret everything he'd done to lose Bulma, but the memory stayed with him like a bowl of chicken rice in Goku's head, the fun and witty times he'd spent with her. But now she was gone. She has a son with stupid, bum-ugly Vegita, he thought.

Tien laughed as Eighteen continued to push and pull Gohan's face and squeal about how adorable he was. "Even Eighteen's calling him cute. Hint, hint! Nudge, nudge!" he burst into a fit of rich and merry laughter, elbowing Krillin and Videl who looked at him with an irritated raised eyebrow.

Chi chi sat down on a comfortable chair on the porch and handed out a cappuccino to Goku, Bulma and Chaozu. She sighed and looked at Goku with eyes gleaming with joy.

"Remember when we used to have a house all to ourselves?" she reminisced. "Now they've built a village for the Z organization, everything is so noisy. Especially for Gohan; the pressure's on him, and he needs to study for his hard years in University." and, realizing what she'd just said, was about to call out, "Go…"

"Oh, c'mon, Chi chi," Goku laid back, almost sliding off his chair, as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion. "Gohan will eventually need a break from all that pressure you put on him. Half-Saiyans get tired too, you know."

"It's all your bad influence, Goku," Chi chi glared at him. "You are letting him play every single day with all his friends, not to mention all YOUR friends, and he is getting too much par-tée and not enough STU-DY!"

Chibi Trunks' laugh exploded as Goten chased him around the village yard. The village was very well built, really; similar-sized houses branched out from either side of Goku's original house, like wings, facing the river in front of which the village houses were ordered in a semi-circular arrangement. However, this still left much room to run around in, as much space was left between the semicircle border and the river, although a tree stood in between in the corner. All of a sudden, Goten swung around the tree, and lunged at his best friend, crashing into him, and also brought down Eighteen, Gohan, Krillin, Yam Cha, Tien and Videl.

"Hey Goten, watch where you're going," Gohan laughed, as he peeled Tien's foot from his stomach and got up off Eighteen's lap.

Videl stood after almost crushing Krillin's ribs, helped Eighteen on her feet and said, "C'mon, Eighteen… let's just go tidy up and let these ruffians be. We've been slacking a lot lately, and you know the kind of mess the guys make in the house. Looks like my father hit the room."

"You actually think that's worse than a tornado hitting the room? And more like Krillin makes the mess; at least Chi chi's trained Gohan to be a wonderfully neat person," Eighteen nodded, and the two girls left with their arms around each other's shoulders.

In this village, which was built only very recently to enable the continuous contact between all the warriors, there were five hut-sized, cabin-like houses which could keep all who dwell in it. The first house of the semicircle from the left was the largest with four bedrooms, with all the single guys, Tien, Yam Cha and Chaozu, with an addition of Oolong and the female Puuaru sharing a room. The house next to that, being the root of the left wing, was the second largest in the entire village, for it housed (in three bedrooms) Videl and Gohan, with the married Eighteen and Krillin sharing. The third house was the root of the entire village; and inside lived Chi chi, Goten and Goku; and the fourth house, belonged to Vegita, Bulma and Chibi. The fifth building is, as is said, a building; not a house, although shaped like one and being part of the village. This building was the gym in which all the warriors trained. The only house which used to be unfortunate enough to have no porch was Goku's house, until he built one with much help from his sons, although having to rebuild most of his house as well.

Whilst Goku, Chi chi, Bulma and Chaozu continued to take warm sips of their beverages on Bulma's premises, and Videl and Eighteen had finally reached the porch of their left-winged house, Gohan helped Goten and Chibi on their feet and said, "Goten, aren't you meant to be studying now?"

"Oh, so you're starting to be my mom now," Goten mocked, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, mother dear. I will do exactly what you say, yep, I'll study. But what will I get in return? When may I play? For how long can I muck about? Minus ten hours?"

Suddenly, a large shadow appeared over Goten, who gulped and sighed in despair, enjoying his final moments of freedom before turning around to see his mother who grabbed him by the hand and told him to start studying whilst she was dragging him off.

Goku suddenly stood, making the chair leg squeak on the wooden porch floor as he pushed it back. He began to sniff the air, savoring the tangy smell of the river, but able to smell something else also. "Come on, everyone!" he yelled. "We'd better get into our houses. The annual monsoon is coming this way, I can smell it in the air; we'd better get our tails back in before it gets dark or it starts raining."

But he hadn't spoken thusly soon enough, for some drops of gentle rain began to fall upon their exposed skins. Suddenly there was a flood of people rushing to their houses to avoid the angry, fearsome storm of the annual monsoon.

* * * * *

The raging storm soon arrived. It rained all night, bringing down trees, destroying powerlines and raising the water up to the knees of an average adult, which was strong enough to sweep under feet and carry anyone of any weight away to their struggle.

The flood, which looked small but was very strong, hardly reached the convenient porches of the Z village, moving rapidly beneath the houses instead (although it flooded the gym a little), but it was so powerful that the currents swept away many people who were unlucky enough to be out of their houses in areas both rural and urban. It also carried dirty, rich clumps of thick, sticky mud (to the annual convenience of farmers and others who keep crops) and a few pieces of trash here and there. It was no longer a surprise to see a chip packet float by.

Before the morning awakened the storm calmed down dramatically. The water from the flood soon absorbed into the soil and mud, flowed back into the rivers and lakes, however leaving thick mud all over the grass and other parts of the earth's surface.

In the village square, propped up yet seated against the only tree within the village semicircle, sat a poor, helpless teenage boy, perhaps Gohan's age, cut and bruised. His wounds were monstrously large and ugly and some even began to pus, and he was soaking wet and dripping from the floodwater and endless mud. His fair and perfect face, which used to be so sweet and beautiful, now had a combination of blood and mud splattered all over it, along with a few strands of hair, and abnormal lines of worry.

As he slowly bent his head down and opened his mouth, he coughed and some water he had almost swallowed rushed back out, making him choke and splutter. He laid his head back, his mouth still slightly open, as if asleep, although he was wide awake yet weak with pain. He took advantage of his open mouth…

"Help… me…" He murmured, before everything turned black.

* * * * *

"Are you okay?" Gohan whispered, as the teenage boy stirred and awoke in a comfortable bed.

"Where… where am I?" He panicked slightly, looking around, his voice unnaturally cracking and breaking with fear, a frightened voice that did not sound like his actual one and certainly one that did not at all match his face. Eighteen and Krillin gazed at each other with worried looks, Eighteen's hand over her mouth in sympathy, anxiety and distress.

"It's okay," Videl reassured him. "Now tell us. Who are you? Where do you live, and how could we contact your family?"

There was a deafening silence as the boy's eyes became somewhat narrower. "I can't believe this… I… I can't remember. Who are you? And where am I?" he asked again, a modest expression lifted upon his sweet face.

The four friends looked at the boy in worry. He had brown hair, slicked back with a few spikes like any teenage boy would have, but his face was nothing like his hair which would probably tell any old lady that he was a biffo guy who liked to spit at train doors. His face was sweet, even without a smile, and he was very fair, a light glistening in his face that made him look somewhat sacred. He was tall and very tenuous, his arms white even if they had not been covered with so many bandages, and his eyes were a rich brown, with thin curving eyebrows. A few strands of hair naturally fell on his face, over his eyes, making him so handsome and breathtaking to behold, his eyes showing everyone so much splendor and innocence, like a divine, solid-fleshed angel. His slender form did not look at all like any of the Z warriors, who had strong firm muscles which made them look ready for any fight. By the looks of this prince-like boy, who lay quietly on the bed with two Z warriors on either side, he would be best dressed in the finest silk robes with many jewels, without a single flaw on such a face, and sit in a throne where he deserved to be worshipped instead of here, with torn clothes and bloody wounds, on a small, mortal bed.

Eighteen caught her breath at the fair appearance of this boy, gaining a few glares from Krillin, before stroking his head gently, muttering "It's okay… you're in good hands, go back to sleep."

The boy nodded and closed his eyes, looking like a sleeping young god, his pain and trauma still showing on such a perfect face. Eighteen could stand seeing this holy-looking, saint-like young one suffer no more. She lifted her hand from his light forehead immediately, fearing that her hand was too coarse for the boy's delicate skin, and turned to the others. "We can't track down his parents if he can't tell us where he lives. What should we do?"

A shimmer caught Krillin's eye, a glinting unlike the glistening of the boy's fair skin. "What's this?" he asked himself, lifting a raindrop-like shaped flat piece of gold attached to the gold chain which wrapped itself around the boy's smooth long neck. The word MARTY was carved into the raindrop, the letters surfaced and raised with the surrounding gold cut away, which triggered suspicions from the four warriors. "Marty… is that his name?"

"I doubt it," Eighteen said, unaware that her eyes had drifted back to the young one. "He looks so perfect… so hallowed… so pure and heavenly. He couldn't have an ordinary name like that."

Krillin glared at Eighteen again, causing a little discomfort as she turned her eyes back to him. "Well, no matter how much he looks like a fair prince, he's an ordinary boy. In the ordinary present time. With, might I add, an ordinary name."

"Marty. Marty. I like that," Videl smiled, "it's a nice name. C'mon, let's go. We really shouldn't disturb his sleep, if you think he looks so sanctified."

But as soon as Videl spoke, there was a soft knock on the front door. The four friends in a rush stealthily crept out and closed the bedroom door behind them, opening the front door to find all of the Z warriors bunched around the door, with worried looks showing in their eyes (except Vegita, who looked as if he had been forced there by Bulma.)

"How is he?" Goku asked.

Videl and Gohan looked at each other rather hesitantly, and with a small sigh, Gohan began telling them about the small conversation they had between themselves and the young prince.

To be continued…

[A little message from me:

What do you think? Should I continue?

Much love, Fëaruin]