"Mom, we're home," Goten's voice echoed through the dome shaped walls of the Son residence, and back at him again. "She must've gone out shopping again." Goten moved to the side of the door way and began unbuckling his sandals, allowing his older brother behind him, to walk inside. Goten wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. The summer heat was uncomfortably hot without the wind blowing in his face when he was flying.
After putting his sandals to one side, Goten walked into the house and closed the door behind him. Gohan had disappeared inside somewhere, he didn't care wherever, as long as he stayed out of the living room. "Gohan, I got Trunks coming over later in the evening so I get dibs on the living room. We're gonna be watching movies and playing video games all night!" He waited a moment for Gohan to respond but didn't hear anything. It irritated him. Goten knew his brother liked to watch T.V. in there almost every night but it wouldn't hurt to surrender the living room for one evening – And sure Trunks and I have been hogging the space for this entire weeks sofar, his conscience kicked in, but the point is he's not responding because he doesn't wanna give it up. That's so immature!
Goten walked towards the living room calling for his brother, footsteps thumping heavily to show his displeasure. "Gohan, you better listen up. Don't say I didn't warn-"
There, standing in the middle of the living room floor was an all too familiar sight, one Goten had hoped never to see again. Tall, white pants and pink skin with holes; it was Buu. Goten had to blink twice to make sure he was seeing correctly. But after blinking a second time, he noticed Buu was carrying someone in his arms. Her black hair was tied neatly into a bun without a wisp out of place, with a small trail of blood running down the right side of her face from the top of her head. Her slightly wrinkled face, from all the years of worrying about her family, showed no emotion. Chichi was unconscious and in the arms of Buu, whom Goten thought their father had killed years ago.
"You put her down," Goten said, in his lowest, meanest tone. But a strong hand grasped his shoulder. As he spun around quickly to see who it was, a familiar voice spoke.
"Don't do anything that could make them hurt Mom anymore," Gohan said.
"What do you want with us, Buu?" Goten asked. "Better yet, what kind of sick freak would release you out of hell?"
Buu responded in a cold, sly voice, "That freak over there." He pointed to his left at a glass door that led to the backyard of the house. In an instant, the glass exploded, sending little sharp bits every which way. The debris dug painfully into Gohan and Goten's skin. And the pieces that hit Buu just flew right through his rubber like skin.
"Mom!" Gohan cried. Small fresh cuts adorned Chichi's arms and legs. Through the shattered frame of the glass door stepped someone all too familiar.
"A freak like me," a boy said. "Emperor Doale."
"Dressed in a large black elaborate cape that swallowed his body, with a long piece of banded wound around his chest, wincing in pain as he walked, Gotens eyes widened upon recognition. "You're that kid from the forest!"
* * *
"What are you doing here?" Emperor Doale cried. "I thought I told you to get away from me and you've followed me here?!" Doale noticed a suspicious look from Buu, who remained silent.
"We live here Einstein!" Goten exclaimed.
"You WHAT?!" Doale turned to Buu, "Why the hell are we attacking these people when we're supposed to be after the Saiyans?"
"They are the Saiyans," Buu said, frowing at Doale.
He couldn't believe the irony of the situation. Two of his enemies tried saving him back in the forest, and he'd ended up saving their lives instead. And now he was here to kill them. Upon realizing this, the urge to kill the two teenagers standing before him subsided and there was no reason he could give for it. They can't die, something inside his head told him. Harm them and you'll be the one mourning their deaths. No matter how urgently the voice inside his head spoke, Doale could see Majin Buu raise the tentacle on his head and aim it at the two of them. A strong energy giving off blue light gathered at the tip of pink tentacle, getting ready to fire a deadly beam at the two of them. Doale wouldn't allow this to happen.
He could feel the heat in the air gather at a single point on Buu's tentacle. A high pitched whirring sound rang in his ears, and it wouldn't stop rising. At any given moment now, the beam would find it's way into one of the boy's flesh, and rip right through his body. "NO!" Doale yelled, jumping in front of Buu, facing him with a resolved look on his face. Buu charged down the energy, the rage showing clearly in his eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "Do you want these two buggers killed or not?"
The realization hit Emperor Doale so hard, couldn't move. He couldn't even understand the reason behind his actions. Yet each time he tried to return to his original plan to kill the two boys, something inside of him resisted. Why can't I do this? These are the people standing in the way of my victory, and I have the power to crush them. Yet… So close yet so far. Doale couldn't stand the frustration. He could feel burning hot tears of anger singe the sides of his eyes. "I DON'T KNOW!!" he shrieked, grabbing at his own hair and falling to his knees. He pounded at the floor once, twice, three times with his fist.
"This guy's a psycho," Goten whispered to Gohan. Doale took a deep breath and gathered his composure. "We will take them with us," he said. "If I can't kill them, at least we can have them safely locked away."
* * *
Tap tap tap… Kaiosama's small feet tapped lightly on the ground as he ran, fast as he could. The amphibious, pudgy, blue skinned god was nearly out of breath, running through the halls of Kamisama's palace. The gravity seemed to tug mercilessly at his body, as if the dropping sweat off his forehead wasn't enough to satisfy it. God I really need to work out more, he thought bitterly to himself. But he knew there were more important matters at hand for the moment.
The underworld dimension has been breached by some powerful unknown force. If someone had that kind of ability, it scared Kaiosama to think of what else he or she could be capable of doing. Already, it had released two very powerful enemies from hell; Cell and Buu. Kaiosama desperately tried contact all the Z Soldiers on earth, but when he didn't hear from Goten or Gohan, he became very worried. Now, he ran through the endless corridors in search of Kamisama. He must be notified of this at once.
As Kaiosama ran out the front foyer of the building, he saw Kamisama at the edge of the courtyard, gazing down at the earth below with a grim look on his Namek face. "K…Kami…Sama…" the North Kaio God gasped for air, "T…There's some important… news to tell you…"
"I know all too well," Kami replied regretfully. "Our past enemies have been revived from the dead before. But this is different. There is a very powerful force that is has Cell and Buu under it's command. And that is our adversary."
"I can't even imagine such power, let alone know how to deal with it."
"Which is why I have summoned the Z Soldiers," Kami said. "We must come up with some kind of a plan. We can't have three exceptionally powerful enemies wandering around the planet at once."
"Have you heard anything from Gohan or Goten?" Kaiosama asked.
"No, and I don't expect to," Kami replied. "I saw what happened to them down on earth. Buu abducted them with their mother. Not only that, but I believe I have seen the face of the one who controls them; our newest enemy."
"Did you sense anything about him? Like power levels, fighting ability… anything?"
"The energy he gives off is rather familiar. Do you remember Son Goken, the child who got possessed by the Firebird fourteen years ago?" Kami asked. Kaiosama nodded in response. "His energy and the energy of this… Emperor Doale are quite similar. In fact, quite similar to suggest reincarnation but-"
"Reincarnation?!" Kaiosama nearly shrieked. "Are you suggesting that Emperor Doale is the reincarnated version of Son Goken?"
"Well it would explain his tendency to not want to kill Gohan and Chichi," Kami said, "but there's a piece to this puzzle that doesn't quite fit." He rubbed his chin and frowned in deep thought. "After Goken had crossed to the other side, the Higher Gods had given him a second chance at life. And I had made sure myself that Goken would have a good life. Why in the world would he show up as some corrupt Emperor bent on world domination? It just doesn't add up."
"I'll scan the underworld for any clues," Kaiosama said. "Any records found there can serve as some kind of explanation to the link between Doale and Goken, assuming there is one. And if so, it might explain why Doale turned out to be evil." He closed his eyes and began to meditate, leaving Kami to ponder by himself.
"Sounds like a complicating mystery indeed," Kami said, nodding his head. "Perhaps we should take this matter to the higher Gods. They might be able to help us uncover this mystery. But that can wait for now because we need to focus on dealing with the immediate threat Doale, Cell, and Buu pose to the Earth-"
"Heavens…" Kaiosama said, his voice filled with fear and dread. "This can't be happening…" He opened his eyes, and awoke from his meditation.
"What's wrong?" Kami asked, putting an assuring hand on Kaiosama's shoulder.
"The Firebird," Kaiosama replied, "the Firebird is missing from the Underworld."