Doale had never imagined helping out those who were opposed to him. But then again, he'd never considered an ally ripping his inherited empire away from him either. But was getting his empire back more important? Doale toiled with the question in his mind as he sat quietly in a small room, on a soft, warm bed. The Saiyan warriors had taken him to the Son residence. Apparently, this was the home of the Legendary Son Goku, saviour of the earth. Doale had researched this particular character in Earth's history prior to his arrival. Fortunately for Doale, he was gone without an explanation from anyone, not even his family.

Gohan had his mother leave the house temporarily to stay with the Briefs family, while he kept an eye on Doale. Maybe he thought Doale would feel more comfortable talking to one person alone. Do they think I'm some kind of fearful weakling? he scoffed mentally. Giving it a second thought, he realized how right they were. The Emporer of a magnificent empire, now reduced to the wimpering teenager he was, forced to give up his own plans for world domination to side with the lowlifes opposed to him. I don't even have a shred of dignity left in me.

Doale was thankful to hear the soft knocking on the room door, releasing him from his own self punishment. "Come in," he said, trying to sound as angry as possible, but it only came out sounding like a plea. An accurate way to describe what I'm feeling. Gohan's broad frame stepped into view.

"How you feeling?" he asked, with a friendly smile on his face. "I've been better," Doale said. "Don't worry about it. We'll get Cell and Buu. The Z Soldiers have defeated them once. We can do it again. And with your help, things will be that much easier for all of us. " Doale shrugged in response. "Does this room look familiar to you?" Gohan asked.

Doale looked around for a minute, finally declaring his answer flatly, "No."

"This was Goken's room before he died. This was where the Firebird first possessed him, and where the whole war began."

"Do you honestly think I'm Goken?" Doale asked.

"This isn't the first time you're telling me about him. It's been fourteen years since his death, and I don't think you talk about him that often... do you?"

"No, you're right. We don't talk about him anymore around here. It helps to get over the grief I think. But you're so much like him, it's like he never died."

"Well, except for the fact I'm a ruthless evil Emporer bent on world domination."

"Other than that minor detail, yes," Gohan joked.

Both warriors jumped suddenly, when the window of the room shattered unexpectedly. They lifted their arms to shield their faces from the flying shards, hearing a maniacal laughter coming from outside. A pair of powerful arms gripped Doale, one around his neck and the other around his waist.

"If you don't release me now, I'll have your head!" Gohan could hear Doale threatening, right before something solid smashed into his throat, temporarily paralyzing him. He didn't even have time to see who it was. Gohan collapsed to the ground gripping his throat, and gasing desperately for air.

"Pathetic demi-saiyan," Cell's voice said. What are they doing here? Gohan was panicked. They discovered his house. The Son residence was nolonger safe. "We've found you, thanks to the help of Doale's technology and our General here." Cell motioned to a heavily built man who immobilized Doale.

"Won't be long before this pathetic excuse for a General backstabs you too," Doale spat. WHAM!! A fierce fist across Doale's face from Cell silenced the young Emporer, who emerged with a scrape on his cheek and a bleeding lip. Upon impact, the General winced. Gohan couldn't tell if the reaction was from sympathy, or from emotional pain. Doale had mentioned the General had raised him since young to one day become a great Emporer, because the King was too busy running the Empire to notice his son. Gohan assumed it was more of the latter though.

He dashed at Cell, throwing punches at his face, chest and abdomen. Gohan never expected Cell to react since when they fought so long ago, the futuristic bug was unusually powerful. But not this time around. He wouldn't say Cell fell easily, but he was definitely showing more weakness than the last time they'd met, as he fell on his knees, gazing pathetically at Gohan with an expression of utter shock. Perhaps he didn't grow more powerful in the underworld. Gohan smiled at the thought.

Doale threw his head back, feeling the General's nose shatter like glass, only not as hard, as it came into contact with the back of his head. He felt a warm liquid spread down his neck. The imbecile dares to bleed on me! Doale kicked his legs under his body, using the momentum to flip his body forward, planting his feet onto the General's chest, and kicking himself firmly away from the General while throwing him backwards. Doale's body, while travelling on sheer momentum flipped in midair and landed safely shortly thereafter.

The General, recovering from his backwards stumble, held his nose tightly with one hand and folding his free arm to the side of his body, rushed at Doale with enough momentum to send random sheets of paper flying about in the room. Doale threw his arms up in front of his face to defend against the inevitable world of pain he was about to be engulfed in. The impact didn't register at first. He just saw the world go by in a blur and a solid wall of fire come into contact with his face. Doale collapsed onto the ground, one arm gripping his own body, the other collecting the blood from his bleeding nose and cut lips.

Again, he could see the General preparing for another charge. Doale gathered all the strength in his body and threw himself out of harms way. Instead of feeling his body being crushed between that of the General and the wall, he tasted plaster and wallpaper, as the General plunged through the wall, creating a solid hole leading to another room.

Cell sidestepped the powerful punch Gohan threw, grabbed his arm, and flung him towards the window. Doale was only able to catch a glimpse of the spotted green bug throw the Saiyan boy's body. He caught more of Gohan's scream, and the sound of shattering glass.

***

"Firebird don't you even think about doing this!" Goken mind screamed from somewhere in the depths of his consciousness.

"Foolish child!" the Firebird scolded, as the grip around Gohan's neck tightened. "This boy is nothing but trouble to us. How are we to gain power when we have people like this standing in our way?"

"He's my brother!" Goken retorted. But the Firebird would hear none of that. Against Goken's wishes while possessing the boy's body, the Firebird flung Gohan at the second story window, hearing and feeling the glass give way easily to the force of Gohan's airborne body. Seconds later, a dull thud as Gohan's body hit the ground two stories below.

***

That window… The thought forced it's way into Doale's head. "Gohan…" The realization hit hard, like an airplane to a seagull. He didn't know why it affected him so. After all, it was just some Saiyan boy who tried to come between him and his plans for world domination but … Doale sensed something else in Gohan. He didn't know if his theory of Goken's reincarnation was correct, but the logical aspect of his mind wasn't able to comprehend anything of the sort at the moment. All he knew was a blinding rage and directed itself at Cell. The look of the bug disgusted Doale. There was a reason he deserved Hell and Doale felt sorry that it was his own people that freed this creature that killed … and then, there was that blinding rage again…"You killed GOHAN!!"

Doale felt the blood in his body boil - literally. His looked to his hands, seeing them spontaneously combust into burning flames. He could feel the heat in his eyes turning them a dark, blood red.

Gohan tensed his body and squeezed his eyes shut. A shard of glass was about to pierce through his face and the only thing he could do was accept it. After a few moments of feeling absolute … nothing, he opened his eyes to find the shard of glass a few centimeters from his face. It rested without motion on the grass of the lawn, and Gohan felt his body hovering just over it. He was able to register his free fall quickly enough to prevent his body from coming into contact with the solid ground. If I had been any closer… He refused to think of the chances, although he had a rough idea of what would have happened if fate had been twisted out of his favor.

He took a moment to gather his nerves when soon enough, a bloodcurdling scream came from the room upstairs. Gohan looked through the now shattered window and saw Cell, with a look of complete terror on his face. But it wasn't that which caught Gohan's attention. Cell was completely in flames, from head to toe. Even his insect-like wings were burning like paper. Cell fell from the window, just as Gohan did moments before, and landed beside him. Cell reached to him for help with a burning arm, but Gohan shot him a cold look of condemnation, and returned his gaze to the second storey window.

What he saw sent cold chills down his spine. The shape was humanoid, except just like Cell's dying body, it was covered in flames. Flames didn't obstruct the head and Gohan could see the face of this mysterious figure clearly, and it didn't even take a second to recognize it. Gohan could never forget it, no matter how he tried so many times in the past. Staring straight into his eyes wasn't the face of Emperor Doale, not even Goken. It was the face of the creature that possessed Goken fourteen years ago, the face of a creature he thought he and the other Z Soldiers had destroyed and left far, far behind in their deepest darkest memories. Staring back at Gohan, complete with it's unquenchable lust of power, was the face of the Firebird.