Chapter 8

It had been awhile since Kuririn had even considered fighting again. Since the destruction of Cell, he had promised himself to devote the rest of his life to his wife and daughter. He remembered the look of sadness on his daughters face, just a few minutes ago when he announced her mother and father were going away for awhile.

Wrinkles of a frown began appearing on Marron's young chubby face. Her large, blue eyes, inherited from her mother, filling with tears. "Are you gonna be coming back, mommy, daddy?"

Kuririn approached her, bending down slightly with outstretched arms. "Of course we are, honey," he said. "We're just going on a business trip for a few days." Yeah, a potentially fatal business trip… He scooped his daughter up into his arms. She wrapped hers around his shoulders in a tight hug.

"We're going to be home before you know it," Juuhachi Gou, Marron's mother, said. "Now stop crying, you know just as well as we do that you'll be alright with Muten Roshi-sama, right?"

Marron nodded as Kuririn put her back onto the floor. "Now be a good girl while we're gone."

Juuhachi Gou had a strange way of keeping composed even in the most emotional situations. Even while travelling to Kamisama's palace on one of Bulma's technologically advanced Capsule Corporation vehicles, she remained cold as stone. But there was something about her composure that attracted Kuririn. He had been the center of jokes for years regarding his 'appreciation' for technology.

"But how could you not?" he would often say. After all, more than one of the Z Soldiers had commented on Juuhachi Gou's stunning beauty before. Everything from her blonde shoulder length hair that seemed to shine even in the cloudiest of days, to her incarnate complexion.

"Of course she's perfect!" he remembered hearing Bulma say once. "After all, she was custom built by a MAN!! I could probably do it! There's nothing to it!" Despite her childish ranting, Chichi would give her total support.

Now, gathering in the courtyard of Kamisama's palace high in the sky, she remained the same all through the briefing. Not even one hint of emotion when Kamisama said -

"Our enemy this time, is one of our own; the son of Goku and Chichi, Son Goken." Kuririn felt a cold hand clutch his heart. There was no way he could bring himself to fight a son of his long time friend Goku. He glanced at the facially scarred Yamcha who returned an equally shocked expression. "He's been possessed by an evil entity that calls itself the Firebird. Now at this time, Goken has the power to fight this creature. We don't know why, but he's not resisting. And if he doesn't do something about it soon, the Firebird will absorb his body entirely, and the two will become one."

A deep feeling of dread etched itself into Kuririn's heart. He ached for Chichi. She must already know this. She's gotta be devastated…

"As we speak, he has already demolished Satan City and is attacking some other area of the earth," Kamisama continued, "and we don't know exactly where. We'll be able to find out soon with Kaiosama's help. Before we can do anything against Goken, we need to find out about Gohan."

As if Goken's possession hadn't been enough bad news, everyone recoiled at hearing this. "What happened to him?" Juuhachi Gou asked in a cold tone, indicating a mere peaked curiosity.

"He was attacked by the Firebird," Kaiosama replied, letting Kamisama rest from speech. "Chichi told us he was taken to the hospital."

"Didn't you say Satan City was…"

"Destroyed by the Firebird?" he interrupted. "Yes, and that is why we need to find out about Gohan. A Saiyan warrior isn't that easily killed, so the chances of him being alive are quite high."

"He was injured," Kuririn reminded him, and began to tremble. What if Gohan really was dead? What could they do without him?

* * *

The dirty, cloudy air seemed to engulf Gohan's body. Particles of dust, dampened by his sweat, clung onto his body and assaulted just about all of his senses. The dust had polluted Gohan's lungs, and stung his eyes.

When the putrid air had finally cleared, Gohan's eyes scanned the surrounding area for any other people as he coughed, spitting out fine grains of sand that had made their way into his mouth. There was hardly any light in the basement now. The Firebird's attack must've knocked out the power generators.

"Is everyone okay?" he called out into the darkness. To his left, a form moved. The place wasn't pitch black after all. Tiny rays of light peeped through the cracks of the elevator shaft, now somewhat exposed from the attack that had left the walls cracked.

As Gohan's eyes slowly adjusted to the dimness, he could make out various patients scattered throughout the hospital basement floor. Some were sleeping, others were crying and even more just lay still and unmoving. His heart went out to them. If being in a hospital was enough to make him break out into goose bumps, he couldn't imagine being rendered helpless with some kind of serious illness and having being stuck in a hospital that was being destroyed.

"We should be asking you that," a voice so deep, it nearly grumbled said. Gohan realized he was still sitting on upright on his hospital bed. "Those cuts on you look pretty nasty," the voice continued. "With all this dust and exposure, they could get infected."

The owner of the voice walked forward, into a dim spotlight, where finer details of the individual could be seen. He was a man in his late thirty's sporting cropped gray hair and goatee of the same color. Under a tattered white long coat, Gohan could see shredded remains of what used to be a pressed shirt. Apparently, this man was a doctor. Deep lines ran across his face like crevasses, revealing the years of stress endured while on the job.

"Can you help me?" Gohan asked.

"Of course," the Doctor replied. "Good thing you still have your medical report here," he said taking a clipboard from a plastic pocket fastened to the foot end of the bed. "Got some nasty cuts and a few fractured ribs." The doctor lifted Gohan's shirt a little and took a look at the bandages. "The bandages are still tight, so that's good. Now we just have get something on those cuts."

"Oh god, just make it quick Doctor…" Gohan said, aware of the pain he was about to go through.

"Takada," the doctor replied, "Doctor Takada. Don't worry, just hold onto the railing and squeeze and it'll be over before you know it. NURSE!!"

A short, skinny nurse came running timidly to the doctor's side. She carried a small medical kit with one arm and a roll of heavy-duty bandages in the other. Gohan gritted his teeth and slammed his eyes shut.

* * *

"We've gone too far…" Goken said, hoping the Firebird could hear. Gokens consciousness, locked away in the back of his own mind bore all the burden and guilt of the Firebird's actions. "You need to stop all this useless killing." Goken was confused. Growing up in times of peace, he wasn't used to witnessing so much bloodshed. And my brother…

Goken had seen the desperate nurse wheel Gohan to the safety of the hospital basement while another fell behind. But the hospital basement wouldn't be safe for long. They could rip through the floor and decend from above them and slaughter more helpless people… The images played through his mind, remembering every detail of the nurse's death. The Firebird had grabbed the nurse by her throat and with one swift clench of his fist, he'd ruptured her throat and broken her neck. He then threw her body like a rag doll across the hallway, hearing a dull loud crack as her bones broke upon coming into contact with a wall.

Goken shuddered once again, more determined than ever to not let the Firebird take complete control. "Are you listening to me?!" he called loudly into the abyss. But there was no response. Why isn't he replying to me? Goken wondered. That's it, If he wants to do this the hard way, I have no problem with that. Throwing his consciousness into the darkness of the back of his mind, Goken resisted against the Firebird's presence, catching his attention.

"What are you trying to do, you brat?" he asked in a bullying tone.

"You've done enough," Goken replied. "This is as far as you go, I'm taking over."

"Oh?" the Firebird asked, almost challenging the boy. "By all means then, take over!"

Again, Goken resisted against the Firebird's presence, but this time, it wasn't giving way even an inch. Panic struck him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "This isn't funny, give me back control of my -"

And invisible force knocked the boy away and kept him that way. Goken tried moving but his consciousness was being held prisoner in his own mind. "You're too damn stupid to notice this whole time," the Firebird said. "Since the moment I entered you through the mirror, I've been slowly absorbing your body and turning it into a part of me. Your consciousness will grow weaker and weaker until it'll be too weak to resist the absorption process altogether. I can do whatever I please and now, it's too late for you to stop me."

Could this be? Goken wondered. Perhaps it wasn't an invisible force preventing him from resisting the Firebird. Maybe he was just too weak to do anything about it. And now, the demon could whatever it wished, like going down into the basement and savagely murder everyone, and there was nothing he could do… Fear, frustration, panic and anger struck within a split second. Fear for everyone's lives, frustration for the helplessness of his situation, panic for the unpredictability of the Firebird, and anger at himself for being foolish enough to be lured into this trap.

"You are nothing but a tool to help me gain the ultimate power, dear Devotee." It was the Firebird's painful reminder that the responsibility of everything that has happened and was about to happen hung upon Goken's head.