Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Again, clear as crystal.


Chapter 1

The squirrel sat up, looking around nervously. It was afraid, but it had no idea why. It decided to take no chances. It grabbed the hazelnut before it and sprinted away, towards the safety of its tree.

Except it never got there. A moccasined foot swung out of nowhere and kicked the smallcreature away. It flew for a hundred yards before it struck a tree and fell to the ground.

Piccolo hadn't even paused in his flight. He hated squirrels. In fact he hated everything, but a squirrel had been nearby, so he hated the squirrel most of all.

No, wait. That wasn't entirely true. There was someone else, whom he hated even more.

Goku.

The monkey boy.

Piccolo clenched his fists. How he longed to destroy that insolent fool. He longed to feel Goku's bones break beneath his hands, hear him cry out in agony as Piccolo ripped off his limbs.

But he wasn't strong enough. No matter how hard he worked, no matter how much he trained, the fool was always stronger. Sometimes Piccolo wondered if he would ever be able to beat him.

He halted in midair and looked around. He had arrived in a small clearing, surrounded by tall trees. Sunlight shone in the center.With a derisive snort, he said: "I guess this'll have to do." He folded his arms and legs and drifted down, to hang suspended in the air before a tree. he closed his eyes and started his meditation.

No matter how concentrated he was on his meditation, he never failed to keep his guard up. So when something fell on his head, he immediately vanished and reappeared in the center of the clearing, crouched into a fighting stance and ready for anything.

When nothing leapt out to attack him, he cautiously brought a hand to his head. It came away red. Blood. But his blood was purple. He looked up the tree he had been sitting against. Something red was visible through the leaves. Piccolo drifted up to float level with it. His eyes grew wide in shock.

It was a corpse. But not just a corpse. It was hanging upside down from a thick branch. Its head was missing. But most importantly, its skin had been stripped off. When the wind turned it around, Piccolo could see the spine had been removed along with the head.

He scowled. Sure, he'd hurt people too, and the corpse itself didn't bother him that much. What did bother him was that he was the one that was supposed to be hurting people.If anyone's going to dominate this ugly ball of mud, it's going to be me, damnit!

Then he felt something. It was faint, and it was barely noticeable. But however faint it was, Piccolo was able to identify it as definitely not human. he narrowed his eyes. A new player, then.

For some reason, he began to feel afraid. Angry, he dismissed the feeling. He was Piccolo, son of the Demon King, and he need fear no one. "All right, I know you're out there. If you want a fight, come and get me."

In response, a blue flash fired from a nearby tree. Piccolo dodged to the side and whirled around. Extending his hand, he fired a ki blast at the tree from which he'd been attacked. Just before it hit, something leapt off the tree, but Piccolo couldn't see what it was. Somehow, he could see the forest behind it. A see-through killer? What is going on here, anyway? He snarled and dove into the forest.

Two metallic objects flew at him, too fast to dodge. They struck his right arm, tearing it off at the shoulder. Piccolo screamed in pain. Behind him, his arm was pinned to a tree.

He lowered himself to the ground, holding the stump of his right arm. Once he reached the ground, he fell to one knee in pain.

Heavy footsteps on the grass. His attacker was coming to finish him off.

The footsteps halted and Piccolo looked up. He gasped.

Before him stood a shape. It was similar to a man, but much taller and broader. Other details were impossible to make out, as the form was almost completely transparent. Behind it, he could see the forest, but it was distorted, like on a very hot day.

With a metallic shing, a pair of blades emerged from the thing's right arm.

Piccolo smirked, in spite of his pain. With an effort, he managed to stand. "You think it's all over, don't you? Well, I've got a surprise for you, pal." He gritted his teeth and concentrated. The bloody stump on his right shoulder began to crawl. More blood oozed out. Then, with a scream, a new arm emerged, slick with body fluids.

He felt exhausted, but he needed to act while his enemy was distracted. He charged forward and punched the thing twice in the chest. Then he pushed it away and fired a ki blast at point-blank range.

Smoke prevented him from seeing how much damage he had done to his enemy, but he didn't think he'd hurt it that much, and he was in no condition to put up any more of a fight. He jumped in the air, barely able to stay airborne, and flew off as fast as his exhausted body would allow.

Below, the smoke cleared, revealing a battle-scarred but empty clearing. The transparent form silently watched its enemy's flight from high up a tree.