"What's taking that boy so long to get down here?" Chichi asked. Across from the table, Gohan looked up from his bowl of rice and pulled the tips of his chopsticks out from his mouth.
"I don't know," he replied, "I'll go get him." Gohan walked over to the bottom of the staircase and yelled into the dark upper hallway. "Goken, come down now! The food's getting cold!" He turned around and was going to return to the kitchen when he felt a cold chill go down his spine. Gohan took a quick look at the hallway upstairs and noticed it was unusually dark and creepy, like something out of a horror flick. The darkness just seemed to leak bad vibes… Shaking the feeling from his mind, he returned to the kitchen to continue his meal. Strange, he thought, I didn't hear a reply from Goken either. Did he hear me?
"Is something wrong?" Chichi asked.
"Oh," Gohan said out of surprise. Was I that obvious? he wondered. "Uh… it's nothing, really. Just thinking about stuff."
Chichi nodded suspiciously. "Try some of the fish," she said, changing the subject, "I tried baking it with breadcrumbs today."
"I'm just after those cookies I smelled when we came in," Gohan replied.
"So am I," said a third, unfamiliar voice. The shock caused Gohan and Chichi to nearly jump out of their seats in shock.
"Goodness, Goken," Chichi said, clutching her chest, "must you sneak up us so quietly?" She looked into her sons eyes, which were blank and emotionless, slightly disturbing her.
"I'm sorry," Goken apologized with a fake sincerity. He approached the table and grabbed a seat and began eating from his bowl of rice.
"Well it's good to see you're hungry," Chichi began. She stopped suddenly when she started hearing a soft growl coming from Goken. Gohan had noticed it too and they began to stare strangely at the boy who ate as if he were some kind of a dog, splashing bits of food onto the mat.
Gohan felt the skin on his arms break out into goosebumps and the hair on his neck began to rise on end. The energy Goken was giving off was unfamiliar and downright scary. Chichi looked at him with fearful eyes, as if telling him to do something about it. But Gohan didn't even know where to start.
Without warning, Goken slammed the empty bowl down onto the table with a loud bang, causing Chichi and Gohan to jump in shock for a second time. Brushing a forearm across his mouth in a singular, swiping motion, he said, "That was good. You're a good cook, mom." Knocking the wooden chair over as he stood up quickly, Goken walked hastily out of the dining room.
Gohan and Chichi looked at each other, one as confused as the other, not even knowing how to comment on the situation.
"I'll… get this mess cleaned up," Chichi said, finding the right words. "Maybe you should go see what's wrong with him."
"Yeah, I'm gonna do just that," Gohan replied, getting up angrily. "I'm gonna teach that kid a thing or two about table manners."
The Firebird lay contentedly on Goken's bed, with his arms folded across his chest, his face gazing blankly at the white ceiling. He opened his mouth and let out another loud belch that filled the small space of the cluttered room.
The woman really can cook, he thought silently to himself. His thoughts shifted towards his plan to devour the body of the Devotee. The absorption process is already underway. I just have to wait long enough until I can tap into the powers of this child and –
"Goken, mind telling me what all that commotion was about downstairs?!" said the voice of a large, threatening teenager.
Ugh, it's the Devotee's brother. Shit, what was his name again? "Oh! Gohan, it's you!" the Firebird squeaked. His eyes darted back and forth across the room as he searched desperately for something to say. "I was just hungry, that's all." The Firebird had to avoid any physical fighting. The Devotee was hardly half the size of his older brother and if any physical violence were to occur this early in the absorption process, the Firebird wouldn't have had absorbed enough of the Devotee's potential energy to put up a decent fight.
"What the hell was up with you?" Gohan asked in a booming voice. "Not only were you rude, but you gave mom extra work by messing the place up! Are you still mad at me for making you train?"
Away from all the physical and mental stress that plagued his life, Goken's consciousness floated peacefully in a corner of his mind. His body was no longer under his control, a feeling that disturbed him when the Firebird first entered his body.
In the beginning, he fought the creature, trying to push him out. However Goken realized the more he resisted, the more he would hurt. Upon accepting the fact that the Firebird was here to stay, his consciousness retreated into the depths of his mind and remained there, experiencing all the Firebird did, feeling all his emotions, but not having to do anything about it.
Goken now felt at peace, feeling his body slowly combine with the Firebird's energy, forming something completely out of this world. He felt more powerful, and with every passing word from Gohan, he also felt angrier.
"Is this how your brother treats you?" asked the Firebird's voice. Goken nodded. It was true after all. As children, he had gotten along considerably well with his brother. It was only during Gohan's teen years that he began putting Goken through vigorous training, failing to provide a valid reason for the need of the exercises. The absence of their father forced Gohan to take on the role of a father, something he wasn't prepared for, and Goken was the one who had to suffer the consequences.
"I hate him," Goken replied. His own words shocked him, words that represented a thought that he never remembered crossing his mind. They felt like the emotions of someone else…
"And you have reason to," the Firebird said. "After all, he believes you are a Saiyan and is therefore putting you through all this training."
"But I am a Saiyan," Goken began to retort.
"If you were, then you'd have learned to transform long ago." The Firebird's reply was cold and confident. "You are not. You are the Devotee."
"What the hell is the Devotee?"
"A child born to save the universe from all that is evil," he explained, "formed from the powers of the Eight Star Dragon Ball. You are the only child of the Eight Star Dragon Ball to be born with a human body, making you one of the most powerful beings ever created. However, although I too am a child of the Dragon Ball, I do not have a mortal body. Together, we will combine our powers to rid the universe of evil."
"I don't feel so powerful," Goken said.
"That's because your powers have not yet fully developed. In time, I will give you the ability to unleash them."
The thought of such power made Goken want to salivate. What if the Firebird was saying was actually true? He shook his head, unable to comprehend it. How was it possible that he wasn't a Saiyan when his father was? How was it he was the most powerful being ever created when he didn't even feel powerful? Was there really an Eight Star Dragon Ball? Too many questions plagued his mind at the moment. He would find time to answer them later. For now, the likes of Gohan had to be dealt with –
A violent thought flashed across his mind, catching him off guard. What am I thinking? Goken wondered. Do I really feel that bitter towards Gohan?
"AHH!!" Gohan screamed as an unseen force picked him up effortlessly off the ground. The Firebird stood in front of him, housed in Goken's body, his eyes glowing like some kind of unearthly demon.
"Leave me be!" Goken said in a harsh, demonic voice. Gohan didn't believe for a second that it was his brother.
"Who are you?" he managed to say from the invisible force that had him by his neck.
Ignoring his question, the Firebird replied, "Are you foolish enough to not see the kind of power your brother has? Ha ha, obviously not! And now, I will show you…"
"What the hell are you doing?" from the subconscious of his mind, Goken shouted out. "Let him go now!"
"This is the only way he'll learn," Firebird said to him, hoping it would curb his caring tendency.
"I don't like it," Goken said, "drop him now. There's always another way to teach him a lesson."
"If you say so," the Firebird replied. Goken watched helplessly as Gohan was thrown with a tremendous force through the glass window, shattering it into a hundred pieces.
The grip on his throat brought relief for Gohan but it wouldn't last long. The next thing he felt was his body sailing weightlessly through the air like a rag doll. He heard the shattering of glass and felt the impact of the window on his back. Glass shards scratched his neck and back while smaller pieces lodged their way into his skin, the last bit of pain he felt before his body landed with a sickening thud on the ground outside the house, two stories below.