Oh god… Chichi brought covered her mouth, trying to contain the sick feeling in her stomach. She sat huddled on the leather couch in the living room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. A man dressed in a trench coat sat be side her keeping her company while scribbling a few notes down on a notepad as she answered his questions.

"I was just getting the kitchen cleaned up," she sniffed into a Kleenex. "Then I heard this crash upstairs." Tears began rolling out again from her sore red eyes. "And I saw Gohan fall onto the ground. It looked like he fell from upstairs." She started crying into the shoulder of the man sitting beside her, who wrapped a re-assuring arm around her.

"I understand this must be hard for you," he said. "The paramedics are outside right now tending to his injuries and getting him ready to be taken to the hospital. Would it be better for you to answer my questions later?"

Chichi nodded, it was all she could do. "Please. I… I can't do this right now."

"Very well then," the man said.

"Thank you detective."

A paramedic entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt, Ms. Son," he said apologetically. "But we're getting Gohan loaded onto the ambulance. His injuries aren't severe, but we're gonna have to keep him under special care for a few days. You're free to come with us to the hospital."

"Thank you," Chichi said, "but I think it'd be better if I stayed here. My other son is missing. I don't know what happened to him. If they were attacked, he could be out there somewhere and someone might try to make a phone call. I've got to be here to receive some kind of news on his whereabouts. It's good enough to know that Gohan is in good hands."

Bidding the detective and the paramedics an unenergetic goodbye, Chichi closed the door silently. After making sure it was locked, she sunk to her knees and started weeping in despair. What in the world is going on this time? She couldn't fathom another devastating attack on her personal family. Why do they have to be Saiyans? Why do they need to be the target of everyone with evil intentions? The devastation ate at her heart, and there was nothing Chichi could do to stop the endless stream of tears flowing from her eyes. Her nose was beginning to clog from the mucus and the tissue she held in her hand was crumpled and too used up. But her legs were too weak to carry her over to get fresh tissue. So, she just sat in the doorway, leaning against the door sobbing, never feeling more pathetic in her entire life.

Ding-dong! The doorbell rang. Chichi lifted her head up from facing the floor. Wiping at her eyes quickly with her hands and rubbing her nose, she put on a fake smile, stood up and opened the door with forced enthusiasm.

"Bulma!" she said. "What a surprise to see you. Hi Trunks!" She waved downwards at the young boy who waved back eyeing her suspiciously. He could tell something was wrong with her.

"What's wrong, dear?" Bulma asked, putting her hands on Chichi's shoulders. "Your eyes are all red, like you've been crying!"

"It's just that… well, Gohan had an accident and…" After what had just happened, she could not retain her composure and collapsed in Bulma's arms, breaking out into tears again.

"It's alright," Bulma said in a gentle, sympathetic voice. "You want to tell me what happened? Is Gohan okay?"

"It's Goken…" she sobbed weakly. "Something happened and I don't know what it is. Gohan got hurt, but the paramedics told me he'd be all right. But Goken's missing."

"I know you don't need this right now, dear," Bulma said, "but you need to get out of this house."

Chichi looked at her with red, swollen eyes and asked, "Why?"

"I've just heard on the news that some kind of humanoid creature is attacking downtown Satan City. All citizens have been ordered to evacuate. Vegeta stayed behind at my place and is fighting the creature now."

"Oh no," Chichi cried, "Do you think it's possible that Goken's disappearance has anything to do with it? Come to think of it, he was acting a little strange at dinner just awhile ago."

"We'll figure all this out later. But for now, we gotta get out of here."

"But Goken, what if he…"

"It'd be best if we were there for him alive!" Bulma insisted, taking a hold of Chichi's arm, pulling her out the door.

"Then you have to get Vegeta out of there!" Chichi said.

"He's a smart man," Bulma replied. "He'll know when to pull out from battle." Bulma didn't believe her own words, but she needed to calm herself down first, for Chichi's sake.

"How can you hope to thwart me when you can't even lift a finger against my power?" Goken asked Vegeta. The Saiyan Prince now lay helplessly on the dirt ground, his clothing shredded, bleeding from his mouth and various cuts all over his body. Ignoring the pain that attempted at keeping him down, Vegeta struggled to get up and face his enemy to a battle to the death, even if it meant his own.

"Who are you?" Vegeta asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"I am the Firebird," Goken said.

"Firebird?"

"A being obviously too much for the likes of you to handle. That is because now, I have the body of the Devotee."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vegeta asked. "You have the body of Son Goken, Goku and Chichi's second child."

"And he possesses a power that far surpasses even that of the Saiyan," the Firebird explained. "Have you not seen enough yet? Or would you like me to show you some more?"

Vegeta knew he wasn't going anywhere in this state. He'd decided that there was no way this could have been Goken. A mere child to possess that amount of strength was unimaginable. Something was channeling it's energy through him, something that called itself the Firebird. But why Goken? And what was the Devotee?

Vegeta had long since began the teleport process to a safe distance from the Firebird. He had many questions and he wasn't going to get the answers from getting himself killed. Nor was he in any condition to fight. He needed help.

The Firebird charged up a huge energy ball in his palms, electricity sizzling in the air forming a huge blue ball in between his hands. "DIE!!" the Firebird screamed as he threw the deadly energy ball at Vegeta.

Vegeta had begun to feel the intense heat of the ball on the tip of his nose, coming straight towards him, but he had safely teleported away before it had the chance to vaporize him. The Firebird was left alone, looking in all directions for his enemy, but was unable in finding any sign of him. Next time…

"How did that man know who I was?" Goken asked the Firebird, obviously being too young to have recognized Vegeta from when he was a newborn.

"I don't know," the Firebird replied. "Perhaps he was somehow able to read our mind." A lie he told that Goken was too naïve to pick up on.

"I don't think you should've done what you did the Satan City," Goken said. "Those people were all innocent. They don't pose a threat so why bother to kill them at all?"

"Must I tell you again? If they have the ability to build such technologically advanced buildings and other junk, what makes you think they won't use their technology against us when we've taken unleashed our power over the universe? That way, they are a threat and need to be eradicated."

The Firebird let out a frustrated sigh. This kid was far too naïve to even suspect that he was the one with evil intentions, but keeping him in the dark was surely taking a toll on him, questioning their every action which he deemed to be acts of evil. It's only temporary. After I've absorbed his body into mine, there'll be no need to keep him in the dark. But I have to for now, because if he finds out about what I plan to do, he will do everything in his power to force me out of this body, which has learned to rely on me for power and vice versa. And in at this state of the absorption process, if he succeeds in ridding himself of my presence, the shock will be enough to destroy us both. I must hold on a little longer.