Author's note: this is my first fan fiction, so constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of the characters, but I guess you already knew that right? Moving on.

Chapter one: Trapped

Son Gohan let out a quiet yawn, head resting on his hand and eyes wandering around his surroundings, not paying attention to anything in particular. His gaze lazily shifted from the clear blue sky visible through the window to the clock hanging above the teacher's head, at the other end of the classroom. The hands of the clock marked 14.55.

Come on, just five more minutes...

It had been an annoyingly boring Monday morning: classes had been easier than usual, with nothing new for him to learn, and there had been no emergencies in the city that required his or Videl's intervention. He'd tried to kill time by going over his notes for the upcoming exam, but his preparation was already impeccable, and soon grew tired of it. With nothing else to do, he' decided to take a nap, but this, too, proved to be impossible, thanks to a certain blonde girl chit-chatting animatedly next to him.

He was particularly tired that day. In the last week, Satan City had been hit by a particularly strong wave of crime, from bank robberies to gang warfare, and he had been forced to maintain an almost constant presence in the city as the Great Saiyaman to quell things down, patrolling the streets until late in the evening, and sometimes well into the night. His mother wasn't particularly fond of this whole superhero deal, but had decided to turn a blind eye, so long as his grades stayed perfect.

Just yesterday night, he had to fly all the way to the city to help in a big police chase he'd witnessed on live television. Between apprehending the suspects and helping the innocent drivers who'd been caught in the wake, it was late when he'd finally returned home, and as a result, only managed to sleep a few hours in the morning before waking up for school, and now sleep deprivation was starting to take its toll on him. The boy couldn't wait for the lesson to finish, already thinking, no, dreaming about his cozy, warm bed, waiting for him at home; after all, Satan City could survive without his help for once, right?

"Hey Gohan, are you all right?" Erasa suddenly asked him, bringing him back to the present. She was sitting at his right, as usual, and had just finished chatting about some store that had recently opened with a not-so-enthused Sharpner.

"Uuh, yeah, of course I am."

"Are you sure? You haven't said a word all day!"

"Yeah, well...I'm just very, very tired. I almost didn't sleep at all last night" he replied groggily.

"Up all night doing your homework, right Brains?" Sharpner was leaning back on his chair with his hands behind his head, and had just overheard the little exchange.

"...yeah, sort of." Gohan casually replied, not even bothering to turn his head.

"Oh, give him a break, Sharpner." Erasa intervened. The blonde jock smirked, then turned back to staring at the teacher, pretending to be paying attention.

"Sorry about that" said the girl, nearing herself to the half-Saiyan. "You know he means well deep down. He just can't help with that macho bravado."

"I know." It was true: Sharpner wasn't really hostile to Gohan, at least not anymore since that famous baseball match on his very first day. But he'd never miss an opportunity to tease him; that was just his nature, and Gohan had come to understand it.

"Anyway, got anything planned for the evening?" the blonde girl asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to sleep all day, actually."

"Aah, come on" she jokingly punched him in the shoulder. "You can't really be that tired!"

"You have no idea, trust me."

Erasa looked like she was about to say something, but just then, the school bell finally rang, drowning out every other sound.

"...and that is all for today. See you tomorrow for your English test! And don't forget to bring your dictionaries!" the teacher said as loud as possible, while the students started getting up from their chairs and packing their stuff.

Taking advantage of the commotion, Gohan gave the blonde a quick wave of his hand, and disappeared into the swarm of boys and girls headed to the exit; but just as he got out of the classroom, a certain raven-haired girl emerged from the crowd and approached him.

Oh Kami, not her...

"Oh, hey, Gohan" she greeted him, faking a surprised expression. The half-Saiyan knew she was actually following him, as usual.

"Hey, Videl."

"Quite a peaceful day today, wasn't it? Save for Sharpner being a jerk, of course."

"It's ok, I can handle him."

"You look out of it today. Is everything all right?" she asked inquisitively.

"I'm fine, I'm just really exhausted, that's all" he replied, as they descended the stairs and got to the main floor.

"Exhausted, huh? Had a bad night?"

"It's just, uhm...I'm having trouble sleeping lately. I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling for hours, and I just can't fall asleep" he mumbled, suppressing a yawn to make his half-truth seem more convincing. Luckily, that last part came quite naturally to him.

"I see. You must be really, really tired..." she said with a mysterious tone. Gohan felt her eyes watching him intensely, and started to feel nervous.

"Yes. Uhm, why are you asking me anyway?" he inquired, turning his head towards her. She had a strange look on her face, one she usually showed when she was suspicious about something. And he had a feeling he already knew the reason behind her third degree...

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I've noticed you didn't run off to the bathroom today like you always do...and that usually happens every time I get called by the police, which also didn't happen today. Quite a coincidence, huh?" she casually stated.

Uh oh...

Both Gohan and Videl stopped walking as they just got out of the school's front door. Videl stared at him with her best inquiring glance, while Gohan resisted the urge to turn back and walk away from those painful, big, deep blue eyes. Instead, he just put his hand behind his head in the infamous Son Family Grin, smiling nervously: "Oh yeah? I guess that sounds really strange, hehe..."

Videl didn't smile back; she just kept staring at him without a word. Then, just as Gohan thought the pressure of her glance was going to break his head, she finally spoke: "I know you're hiding something from me, Gohan, but sooner or later I'll find out what your secret is, that's for sure. See you tomorrow!" she added with a malicious smile. Then, she turned back and started walking on the opposite direction.

Gohan watched as her figure disappeared around the corner of a large building, feeling the tension that had built up into him slowly fading away.

Man, why is Videl so obsessed about uncovering my secret? Did I do something wrong?

For a moment, he actually tried to find an answer to those questions; but even the smartest teenager on earth was helpless before the mysteries of the female mind. At last, he gave up and decided not to think about it. Right now, he just wanted to get back home and sleep his worries away.

He walked into a blind alley not too far from there and made sure nobody was watching; then he raised his left hand, revealing his special watch, and pressed the red button. Gohan's body was wrapped in a blinding light for a few seconds; then, after a flash, the light disappeared just as it had come, revealing Great Saiyaman's trademark green and black outfit.

Gohan lowered on his knees a little, then jumped and flew up in the air, and proceeded towards the southern mountain range. The built-in radio inside his helmet was still tuned to the local police frequency, so he turned it off.

Ahhhh...the sweet sound of silence!

He was flying above the quiet outskirts of the city, when he heard the noise of an aircraft approaching from behind. He turned his head, and was relieved when he realized it was not the feared yellow jet-copter belonging to Videl; instead, it was a small, white plane with an advertising banner attached on the rear; the plane followed him for a while, then turned left and proceeded on his way.

Gohan relaxed and closed his eyes, feeling the wind pressing against the lower, exposed part of his face; he took a deep breath of fresh air, replenishing his lungs, and for a moment he felt as one with mother nature...

Then suddenly, his face collided against something hard, and all of those pleasing sensations abruptly vanished, leaving him in a world of pain.

He fell several feet before realizing what had happened, and was not too far from crashing to the ground when he managed to stop his fall and stabilize himself mid-air. His head hurt so much, like it was about to explode, to the point he could not even organize his thoughts.

Damn...what...just...happened?

He closed his eyes, and instinctively tried to reach for his helmet and take it off, but all his hands could grasp were just a small piece of the outer shell.

What the...?

He slowly descended, massaging his head, and sat on the grass, waiting for the pain to slowly go away. After a while (he'd lost track of time, so he couldn't tell how long he'd been sitting there), when the intensity of the headache had fallen to a bearable level, he rose to his feet and examined the surroundings: he was on top of a small hill, one of the many that bordered the southern outskirts of the city; in the distance, a river quietly flowed through the valley below.

He slowly raised his head as his eyes moved up, until he was approximately looking at the place where, some good 800 feet up in the air, he'd apparently collided with something. There was nothing up there, so logically, whatever had hit him, had to be on the ground now.

He lowered his gaze, searching for the cause of the incident in the area before him. There were pieces of plastic and polystyrene foam scattered all around, which he immediately recognized as the remains of his helmet. Apparently, the force of the impact had blown it to pieces.

Then he noticed something strange: there was a tree trunk, not too far on the left, standing on the grass, cut right in half; and next to it, in a pool of blood, the body of a decapitated rabbit.

Was this somehow related to his flying accident? He doubted it. Sure, he wasn't flying very high, but there was no way a tree could be so tall. And besides, even if he'd accidentally bumped into it during his fall, he couldn't have split it in half like that.

No, those two events were obviously unrelated...and yet, there was still something odd about it.

He hesitated for a moment, then started walking towards the fallen tree. As he neared the large plant, he was stunned to see that it had not only been chopped in two exact halves, but that the cut had been performed vertically, as if a guillotine blade had been dropped over it from the sky.

Then his gaze focused on the dead animal nearby: the head had rolled a couple of inches away from the body, leaving a small trail of blood behind it. And then Gohan saw the strangest thing: there were bloodstains, floating motionless in the air above the dead creature.

Gohan couldn't believe his eyes. Was he having some kind of sleep deprivation-induced hallucination?

He inched closer to the gruesome scene, and, for the second time that day, apparently bumped into an obstacle, and almost fell on the ground again. This time, his eyes were open, and he was sure there was nothing in the area ahead of him. Absolutely nothing.

What's going on? Why do I keep bumping into thin air?

He raised his arm in front of him, and slowly advanced until his gloved hand touched something smooth and cold.

Something invisible.

Suddenly, he felt a slight electric shock in the palm, and quickly retracted his hand.

Was it some kind of magnetic field?

He hesitated a little, then decided to put his hand on it again. This time, nothing happened.

He moved closer, placing his other hand on the invisible surface, and pushed forward.

It didn't budge.

He pressed harder and harder, using a great deal of his superhuman strength, but to no avail; the glass-like barrier was still there, in the same place.

Just what and how tough is this thing?

Suddenly, Gohan's watch started to behave strangely: the numbers on the monitor changed frantically, the backlight began to grow in intensity; and finally, with a high-pitched noise, it exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"What? No, why did this happen? My school uniform was still inside!" he shouted, horrified.

Out of frustration, he threw a hard punch against the invisible barrier. One that could've easily destroyed a concrete wall.

To his surprise, the barrier was unscathed; his hand had not managed to get even one inch past the invisible surface.

"This is ridiculous!" he yelled, before delivering a barrage of punches and kicks on the seemingly indestructible wall. No matter how many times he hit the same spot, or how much strength he put behind his attacks: the barrier was simply not going down.

Realizing he was just wasting time, he pulled back and decided to change strategy. First, he powered up to his Super Saiyan form; then, he brought his hands on the side, in a cupped stance, and started gathering ki. A small, blue energy ball appeared beneath his palms, increasing in size, until Gohan had accumulated enough energy to perform the attack.

"KA...ME...HA...ME...HAAA!"

As he thrust his arms forward, a bright beam of energy was released from his open palms, crashing against the barrier. The resulting explosion was so strong that Gohan had to close his eyes from the blinding white light.

When the dust cleared, it was impossible to tell if the powerful energy blast had effectively destroyed the invisible wall, so Gohan ran straight towards the place where his attack had collided with the barrier.

When he clashed against it, for the third time in less than half an hour, his heart skipped a beat.

"No...it can't be! That was one of my strongest attacks, nothing could ever sustain such an amount of power!"

He fell down on the grass, totally astonished. The whole situation was so unreal: the invisible wall, the exploding watch, his severe headache...

"Damn it, I just want to go home and sleep! What did I do to deserve all this?"

He got up on his elbows and stared at the impenetrable barrier. There was no way to tell how far it stretched or how tall it stood, nor why was it even there in the first place; but something told him he wasn't going to make it back home anytime soon.

Suddenly, he felt a familiar ki rapidly approaching, and before he had the time to turn towards it, a short and muscular man in a blue jumpsuit arrived on the scene, floating in mid-air behind him.

"I knew it was you. Quite a light show you put up earlier, Gohan."

"Vegeta! What are you doing here?" Gohan rose from the ground, still in his Super Saiyan form.

"Hmph. Let's just say I'm helping Bulma with an important delivery no one else could perform" said the older Saiyan, slightly annoyed. "Not that it matters, now that this thing" he pointed his finger at the invisible wall "appeared out of nowhere."

"Wait...so were you already here before this barrier showed up?"

"Yes. I was on my way back to West City when I bumped into it. I tried to break through, but as you can see, I was not successful." Gohan noticed his white gloves were ripped, showing his bruised knuckles. "Was about to try something else, when I sensed your energy attack."

"What time did you ran into it?" he asked. Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. I guess it was sometime after three."

"I see. That makes sense...right after I got out of school..." Gohan muttered to himself.

"Is that even important? We should focus on finding a way out of this pathetic city!" the Saiyan angrily said; he had never been one for polite conversation.

"You're right, but to do so, first we have to understand just what we're dealing with." After the earlier Kamehameha fiasco, and despite the immense amount of stress, he was now trying to take a more rational approach. "So, what do we know so far about this wall? Besides the fact that it's invisible and seemingly indestructible."

"That remains to be seen. Just because you failed, doesn't mean I can't tear this thing down if I use my full power!"

"Go ahead and try, but I have a feeling this wall is not going to surrender to brute force..." the half-Saiyan scratched his chin. "Mmmh...maybe, if we fly very, very high, we could just go over it? I mean, even if it's a ridiculously tall wall, it can't reach up all the way to the outer space, right? Look at that plane over there" he said, pointing at the same white airplane he had seen before; now it was flying much higher than before, heading east.

Vegeta stared at him with an angry face. "Are you plain stupid? This wall, as you call it, is completely surrounding the whole city. We can't get out the easy way, or else I wouldn't be standing here talking to you!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"This invisible barrier...it's not just a wall. It's a dome!"

Gohan's mind froze as it registered that last word. He hadn't really thought about that.

"What?"

But before any of them could say something else, a loud explosion tore the air.

Where only a mere second before the plane was flying, a great ball of smoke and fire had now taken its place. Burning pieces of the wrecked aircraft started falling like small meteorites, scattering in all directions.

Gohan was horrified. Vegeta, however, didn't seem to care much about the terrible accident.

"Do you get it now? The invisible field is a large dome. I've personally reached the highest possible point, and I couldn't find a breach on its surface!"

"Do you...do you mean there's no way out?" Gohan asked, averting his eyes from the explosion. But he already knew the answer.

Vegeta did not reply; his silence said it all.

They were trapped.