Disclaimer: I do NOT own Dragonball/Z/GT or anything related, except my own made up characters. Everything else belongs to their respectful owners.

Chapter 7 - Deceived

Vegeta charged at the door and smacked into it. He felt as if he'd smacked right into thousands of millions of tonnes of steel. The door didn't even budge. Vegeta retreated, powered up, and charged again. This time he succeeded. The door clattered to the floor with Vegeta lying on top. But a very small part of Vegeta's senses felt as if the door had opened for him.

He decided to ignore it.

Vegeta stood up and looked around him. This was where his father was supposed to be held prisoner. His father who he had thought was dead for all these years. It was exactly how it had looked like in his dream. Exactly how it looked like except for one thing. Vegeta frowned.

No one was there.

No one was trapped.

He heard a sound as if something metallic was moving upwards and then a 'click' as it fitted into place. Vegeta sighed as he turned around.

Correction: No one had been trapped.

Vegeta looked at the new door. Unlike the other one this one had a handle and just to confirm his suspicions Vegeta walked over and tried it.

It was locked.

Vegeta was trying very hard to control his temper. This was outrageous, for he, the Prince of all Saiyans, had been tricked! His father wasn't alive; it was all a trick to trap him… someone had managed to interfere with his dreams! Whoever they were, they better not let him get his hands on them anytime soon!

How could he be so foolish? His father couldn't have been alive. Frieza had said that he had killed him himself, why would he lie about that? He had no need to falsely brag about killing his father, everyone had known that he was much stronger than him, they just didn't know how much.

Vegeta suddenly noticed something. At the corner of the "room" a few centimetres of the air had changed to a greenish-purply colour.

'Poisonous Gas!' He spat with disgust. Whoever this is, they have no honour at all.

He looked around to see if any of the other parts of the room were pouring gas. It seemed that was the only place. He made his way to the top of the opposite corner. He heard a laugh of triumph and quickly turned around but there was no one there.

'Poisonous gas it is,' a feminine voice echoed around the room. 'You got it right in one.'

'Who are you?' bellowed Vegeta looking all around him but the room was still empty, he was the only one there.

'You fell right into my trap,' continued the voice with a hint of self-satisfaction. 'Not that I couldn't take care of you myself.' she added quickly. 'I just wanted things to be a little more interesting. I could've gotten rid of you and your petty friends long ago. But then where would the fun be in that? right?'

'Where are you? Show yourself coward!'

The feminine voice laughed again before replying. 'Don't bother looking; you won't be able to find me.' She cackled, obviously delighted at his inability to do anything about his situation. 'And after all you have other things to take care of.' she continued. 'I'd say you have thirty-six of your hours to live, forty maximum.'

Vegeta fumed with rage. His father it turns out never was imprisoned in this place and now here he was, trapped somewhere that - if whoever this is knows what they're talking about - he can't break out of, and on top of that he can't even see who dares do this to him.

Vegeta managed to control his anger before it all erupted out. After all, he wouldn't want to give whoever trapped him here the satisfaction of seeing him overcome with helpless anger. He noticed the way she referred to the hours as "your hours", as if trying to distance herself from the word. He smiled.

'You're not from Earth are you?' Vegeta said, more of a statement than a question. 'Which explains a lot of things actually, because if you were from anywhere in this galaxy you'd know not to mess with me.'

'From what I gathered at the tournament, I have absolutely nothing to fear from something like you.' She said her voice filled with disgust.

Vegeta remembered the tournament where he had beaten that mysteriously strong fighter after going Super Saiyan two. Could these two somehow be linked together? Are they partners trying to "take over the world". It wouldn't surprise him if they were, that's what everybody wants these days.

But wait … at the tournament he hadn't gone past Super Saiyan two he hadn't had the chance as Goten and Trunks had quickly disposed of Gohan and him when they turned Super Saiyan three. That's how strong she thought he was. He felt like just laughing at her and showing her how naive she was. But he managed to stop himself. He needed to see the expression on her face when she found out his actual power. So he just played along.

'How did you manage to manipulate my dream? Lure me here?' he asked.

'Let's just say it's a … skill of mine. Have fun trying to escape, but I can assure you, you won't succeed. Now, I have other things to take care of. I don't even know why I wasted my time with you. You don't deserve it.'

'I'll show you!' he growled. 'I am Vegeta the Prince of all Saiyans, the greatest warrior in the Universe. This is going to be a piece of cake. After I'm done here, you better watch your back!'

There was no reply.

A few hours later he was having second thoughts as all his hard work hadn't even put a dent on the walls.

For the last few hours Gohan had been trying out his new powers in total disbelief. He actually managed to transform, he did it. He was throwing kicks and punches at the air in utter joy, testing out his new-found powers.

He was amazed at how much faster he'd become, at how strong he was. It all felt great.

The last time he had transformed was so long ago, during the battle against cell. He hadn't had any time to enjoy it; they had all been in a life or death situation and he had needed to act fast. His arrogance had nearly cost them their lives forcing his father to sacrifice himself to save the rest of them. He was eventually able to defeat Cell and restore peace to the world.

Gohan continued to test his new powers. He then lay on the ground and looked up at the stars, welcoming the faintly familiar feeling of new powers surging through him. This was even stronger than his Ultimate form, just slightly, but enough for him to notice.

He spent some time taking in what happened and then decided to go check on his mother. He powered down and started to fly. When he reached there he was met with a very surprising sight.

Outisde the house, standing under the moonlight his mother was talking to a very familiar man. The man was laughing with his hands cupped behind his head. Gohan couldn't believe what he was seeing.

'Father!?' Gohan shouted in shock as he hurriedly made his way over to them. He had the feeling of being watched again, but quickly brushed it away. There were more important things right now. His eyes must be deceiving him. 'What's going on? Is that really you?!'

'Yes, son,' the man replied, smiling, 'It's me, flesh and bone. I'm back, and back for good this time.'

Gohan still couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true. His father had left them for much longer than this before but he thought that this time, this one had been for good.

'But … how?' Gohan asked, 'how did you manage to come back? I thought you were gone … forever… you went with the dragon right?'

'Whoa! Calm down Gohan… everything will be answered,' Goku said playfully. 'Yes, I did go with the dragon, but now Shenron thinks that my duty is paid so he let me come back. He also feels that something isn't right so we might need to fight sometime soon. Oh… and yea… he also allowed me to have my adult body back.'

Gohan was overjoyed, he had his father back and this time he was going to make sure that he doesn't go off somewhere else again.

'So it was you that I sensed, Gohan. You've been training right? Your powers have grown …' Goku clapped Gohan on the back, a wide smile on his face.

'I can turn Super Saiyan three now.' Gohan replied barely able to contain his joy. This was his lucky day.

Chichi had a look of surprise on her face but Goku just nodded as if he had already known - which he probably had.

'I'll go make something to eat.' Chichi said, as she walked back inside the house.

'Goten and Trunks can do it too.' Gohan continued.

'I know.' said Goku grinning. 'They used the Time Machine to go back in time and then train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.'

Gohan couldn't believe it! That's how they got so strong in such a small amount of time. When he got hold of those two … It's just unbelievable. But even though he was annoyed with them he couldn't help a smile creep onto his face. It was ingenious actually.

'Why do I feel like we're being watched?' Goku suddenly asked in a quiet voice.

Gohan frowned, 'I feel it too. I've felt it before while I was training with Majuub, but whenever we look around there's no one there.'

Suddenly Goku darted to his right. Gohan could see a blur of movement trying to get out of his way, but it was too late. Goku landed full-force on top of the figure.

'Hi,' he said smiling, 'who are you?'

The figure was wearing a black mask with small slits for his eyes. He had a black long-sleeved top with a very long collar and a black cape. He wore black trousers and black shoes. He also had black gloves, with metal spikes. Gohan instantly recognised that these were the exact same clothes Onizak was wearing during the tournament.

'You're Onizak aren't you?' Gohan asked.

Goku looked at Onizak then at Gohan in confusion. 'You know each other?'

Gohan shook his head before continuing. 'You were at the tournament… you fought against Vegeta.'

The figure stood up and nodded.

'Why are you spying on us?' asked Goku.

'It's a long story,' the figure replied speaking for the first time. 'I had to be sure that you were trustworthy; that you were good and not evil. If I made the wrong decision I would have had to pay dearly.'

He paused and removed his mask to reveal his face. The orange colour of his skin had a sharp contrast with the blue of his hair. His eyes were a dark hazel blue and even though he was only a young man they seemed as if they had seen a lot of things, some of which are sure not to have been pleasant, as if they had seen the worst horrors of life, horrors that no being should be put through the pain of seeing them.

He held Goku's gaze for a while before he continued speaking.

'My real name is Kazino,' he said extending a hand to Goku and then Gohan. 'Good to meet you.'

Goku could smell the delicious food inside and his mouth was practically watering with anticipation before he was brought back to his senses by the sound of Kazino's voice.

'As I said before, it's a long story. But just bare with me.' He said, and was about to start his story when he was interrupted.

'I can see you're starving!' Goku put in, much for his own sake than Kazino's. 'Why don't we get something to eat and talk about this in the morning.'

Goku led Kazino over to the house before he could say anything else. He opened the door and let Kazino in and then waited for Gohan.

'Father,' said Gohan.

'Yes,' Goku replied.

'Why do you trust him?'

'He seems like a good person. A truly good person.'

Gohan nodded and then they both entered, eagerly awaiting their food.