"Dad!!" Gohan screamed, but it was too late. His father was already gone. How could he do this to them when they needed him the most? Gohan wasn't sure how Goku planned on cutting off Buu from his power source. He was aware too that these weren't Buu's powers, but where would Goku go to look for the source to cut it off in the first place?

Gohan's train of thought came to a sudden crash when he saw a familiar form step into his peripheral vision. Only one person wore black rusted armor like that, with a huge cape swallowing his small built body. And that person was supposed to be dead.

"What are you doing here, Doale?" Gohan asked, moving into a fighting stance.

"Asking you to listen to me," the young Emperor replied. "Buu is using somebody else's energy as his own, making him ten times more powerful!"

"Can you state the oblivious anymore?" Gohan said rolling his eyes. "I want to know what you're doing alive after I've disposed of you."

"Damnit Gohan!" Doale shouted in frustration. "You have no idea what's going on here! Do you have any idea who Buu is using as an energy source?! It was supposed to be me but instead, he's got -"

A swift fireball cut in between Gohan and Doale and exploded, throwing both of them backwards and off their feet. "Dying once isn't enough for you, is it, Doale?" Buu said, grinning widely, his pink face stretching back to reveal rows of white teeth.
Something caught Doale's eye. It was black, and made of a square shaped plastic casing. It was a device based on the T3 technology. It was what Buu used to reach into the afterlife to absorb Doale's powers. He must've dropped it in the fight!! Doale had to get it back, or they'd never be able to send the pink demon and the other resurrected enemies back to the underworld. It was time for a little diversion. "So you planned to use me, even after I died," Doale spat. "You backstabbing asshole."
"But look what I got instead!!" Buu declared, throwing another fireball at Doale that exploded upon coming into contact with his chest plate. Again, the young Emperor found himself painfully eating dust as he collided with the ground, a few feet closer to the device than he'd planned. If he kept this up, and if Buu could concentrate on Gohan, Doale would be able to get the device and send the demon back to the depths of hell. "I have the power of the Devotee!!" Buu declared raising his fists, turning to face Gohan, just as Doale had hoped.

Recovering from the initial fireball blast, Gohan winced in pain as he got up, Buu's words fueling him. The Devotee?! That could only mean ...
"No!!" Gohan screamed. "You ... Goken?!" Gohan was it too much shock, too much rage to form coherent sentences.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Doale said.

"But how in the world?!"

Buu picked up Gohan with an invisible force coming forth from his hands, as Gohan struggled against it, kicking his legs helplessly. Doale, acting out of pure adrenaline dashed at Buu with a devastating flying kick that connected with the side of his head.
Buu's head snapped sharply to the left upon impact. He simply readjusted his head and smashed his fist into Doale's shoulder, causing him to fly uncontrollably backwards at an incredible speed - again. At this point, Doale was getting sick of being beaten around. If only Buu wasn't using Ken's powers, he could be taken down with ease. God, what was Goku doing?

***

Chichi's heart nearly skipped a beat, when she heard Buu speak. Bulma gasped just about as loud as she did as they watched the action unfolding together from Kami's palace.
Chichi looked at Bulma with tears forming in her eyes. "Did he just say something about the Devotee?" she asked, hopeful that her ears had served her well.
Bulma nodded, nose and mouth still covered by her hands. "Don't get any hopes up, Chichi," she advised, nodding her head, trying to sound rational. "We could've heard wrong. Logically there's no way Goken could return."
Videl, who sat with them watching and hoping for the safety of her husband Gohan, realized she was missing out on something. "Who's Goken?" she asked.
Chichi turned to Videl. Her eyes showed what she wanted to say more than her mouth did. "Goken is ..."
"We'll explain when this is all over," Bulma offered, upon realizing Chichi wasn't able to return to the memory of her son. "We just want to confirm what's going on first."

***

Ken thought it was just an illusion at first, his eyes playing a trick on his mind. He thought he saw a golden flash of light amongst the enveloping darkness. But he was stuck here, in some dimensional tear between the living and the dead, being used as some energy source. How could there be anything, let alone light in here?
"This is going to kill me," he said quietly to himself. But there it was again. It was the same, golden light. Only this time he could see it clearly, shaped like a large golden dragon surrounded by seven glowing orbs of light. And also, this time it didn't simply flicker. It stayed long enough for Ken to catch a glimpse of the man standing on the dragon's forehead.
He was dressed in some form of fighting gi, the strangest Ken had ever seen. His hair was long, reaching down to his back in long, golden spikes. Bolts of electricity sizzled in the air surrounding him. He was a threatening presence, and Ken couldn't tell whether he was here to do good or harm.
"Or maybe I'm dead already and this guy's my guardian angel."
"Don't be ridiculous," the man replied, smirking. "Come on." He extended his arm. "Let's get out of here."
"What?!" This was too easy. Here Ken was, trapped in some dark oblivion, and a dragon man comes and paves the way out, and all he has to do is walk? There must've been a catch. "What are you, some kind of god?" Ken asked.
"I'm your father," the man said bluntly.
"Right, and I've been posessed by Satan," Ken said, sarcastically.
The man thought for a moment. "Close enough."
Ken remained silent for a moment. "... Okay, what the hell. After everything that's happened, nothing surprises me anymore." He reached out and got a firm grip onto the man's hand, and suddenly, as if on cue, the darkness melted away.

***

Gohan, beaten up and bloody, completely weak from exhaustion and from being smashed countless times into rocks and boulders, would not give up. It was his last attempt and hurting Buu. His fist flailed carelessly in the air, aimed generally at Buu's grinning head.
The pink demon knew Gohan couldn't hurt him. After all, with the power of the Devotee on his side, there was no phasing him. So naturally, the level of shock from both Buu and Gohan was intense when Gohan's pathetic attempt at a punch connected into Buu's face, and shot right through his head.
Gohan stared wide eyed for a moment, brought his foot up to Buu's chest and kicked him away. The pink demon stumbled helplessly backwards from the force and landed on his butt.
Buu got up, his face reappearing in the hole Gohan's fist made in his head. He wiped a trail of blood from his lip and charged at the demi saiyan. Gohan spun around and performed a spinning back kick into Buu's head, forcing him to land painfully head first into the ground. Gohan braced himself, waiting for Buu to get up to finish the fight off. But surprisingly enough, he stayed down on the ground. Had Goku done what he said he was going to do? Was Buu cut off from his power supply? Gohan looked at Doale who stood a few feet away, whose eyes were just as wide in surprise.
"That was ... anticlimactic," Doale said.
"I'm back!" a voice declared cheerfully. Goku reappeared with an unconscious body slung over his shoulder. "Did you guys give Buu a good fight?" He saw the beaten up bodies of Juuhachi Gou, Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan and Emperor Doale. Save for the last two who barely stood, they were collapsed onto the ground, coated in a fine layer of dust. Each one of them knocked out cold.

"I'm... not finished... yet," Buu said, struggling to get up.

"Yes you are," Doale insisted as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a square shaped devide made of a black plastic. "You sorta dropped this in the fight." Buu realized what Doale was holding in his hands, and his face twisted into an expression of horror.

"No!!" he screamed in protest. But Doale didn't care about Buu's thoughts. At this point, the pink demon didn't even deserve life, let alone any opinions. He punched a short code into the device, and saw the sight of Buu's body, and the bodies of Cell, Juunana Gou and Frieza erupt in a huge fireball. Their temporary physical shells were being destroyed while their souls began their journey back to the underworld.

Goku, Gohan and Doale stood silently for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief. Doale took the device, threw it on the ground and smashed it beneath his heel. He didn't want to take anymore risks in bringing anyone back from the dead.

"Good choice," Goku said, giving him a thumbs up. "We've got something else to take care of." Goku dropped carefully to his knees and lay Ken's weak, unconscious body onto the ground.

Gohan had choked on the lump in his throat. Lying before him was the face of his reincarnated brother. His clothes were ripped up, his hair was messed up and dirt caked his body, but aside from a possibly different name, his face was the same, and the energy surrounding him was the same. It was Goken.

Gohan looked off towards the distance, seeing Goten, Dende and Trunks pop their heads out from behind a boulder. Doale had seen them too, and motioned for them to come over. Dende had some healing to do.

"Goten," Gohan called after his younger brother, "come here! I want you to meet the person that helped to give you life." Gohan looked at the unconscious body of Ken before him, realizing how explaining they owed to him, to help him remember his past life, and update him on what happened since then. And then Ken would have to tell them about all the things he's done in his life, about all the love, friendship and happiness he never got to experience as Goken. They would have to explain to Goten, Videl, Pan, Trunks and even Goken himself why Goken's story was kept a secret. Gohan smiled. Yes, they all had alot of talking to do.