Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Yawn...


Chapter 5

After eating an early dinner, Tien, Krillin and Chao Zu left. They had decided to start their search where Krillin had first been attacked, during the picknick. They flew slowly, always watching the ground, searching for the elusive enemy. As they passed Yamcha's house, everyone looked another way.

Finally they reached the field of their destination and landed.
"So, now what do we do?" Krillin said.

"We search the woods. Bulma told me you'd been shot from the forest. Yamcha lives near the forest as well. It is our best shot." Tien said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Tien?" Chao Zu asked. "We'll have to go below the tree level, or we'll never find anything. We'll be vulnerable"

Tien nodded. "You're right. But that's a chance that we'll just have to take."

Together, they jumped into the air and entered the forest.

+ + +

"Really. So he attacked you too, huh."

"That's what I'm telling you, fool." Piccolo snarled. The tailed oaf was getting on his nerves. "I fought him, but he was too strong."

Goku nodded. "Yeah, me too. I hit him a few times, but he wasn't even hurt."

Piccolo was hanging in midair, opposite Goku, who sat cross-legged on the Nimbus cloud. "So, now that you've established the obvious, how do you think you're going to beat him?"

Goku stood. "No one is unbeatable." he said. "I'll just have to fight harder."

He prepared to leave, but Piccolo slapped him across his face. "Idiot!" he sneered. "Go now and you'll throw your life away, and just this once I can't allow that. Don't you see? We need to work together to defeat him."

Goku rubbed his cheek. "You and me?"

"Believe me, I like this a lot less than you. But it's the only way to stop him." Piccolo growled.

Goku looked puzzled. "Why do you even care? I thought you wanted to destroy this planet?"

"I do, and I don't need some see-through maniac's help in doing it. He's going down. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

Goku grinned. "You bet!" He stood again. "Let's go."

+++

"I have a bad feeling about this." Chao Zu said.

They had been flying through the forest for half an hour already, and they still hadn't found the killer. Once or twice they had felt a faint ki nearby, but too weak to really look for.

Krillin was about to agree when a blue flame launched from above them. It struck Chao Zu in the chest, burning through. He was too shocked to scream. He dropped from the sky, but before he could hit the ground, a metallic object hit him in his throat, throwing him backwards and pinning him against a tree. He struggled weakly for a moment, then he went limp.

"CHAO ZU!" Tien screamed. He turned. There, standing on a branch, was a transparent form staring them down.

"You bastard!" Tien roared. He put his hands together, leaving a triangle in the middle. "KIKO-HO!"

A blinding flash launched from between Tien's hands at the creature. The explosion lit up the forest. When the light faded, the tree was gone.

"Where did he go?" Tien asked, frustrated.

Right then, another blue flash came from below. "Tien! Watch out!" Krillin yelled, and fired a ki blast at the blue bolt, throwing it off course. It struck a tree, reducing it to splinters.

"There he is!" Tien yelled, and dropped from the sky to face off against the transparent enemy. Krillin landed next to him.

"You'll pay for this." Tien growled. The creature didn't reply. Instead, it held up its right arm. Two blades emerged.

Tien scowled. "Let's go, Krillin." he said.

"Right."

They both leapt into the air, descending towards the creature feet first. It brought both of its arms up, deflecting the attacks. Tien dropped and rolled away to dodge a slash with the blades, but Krillin whirled around in midair and planted his elbow in the creature's face. It roared and struck his back with its fist. Krillin flew into a tree and dropped to the ground. he groaned as he tried to get up. A trio of red dots appeared on his forehead.

"No!" Tien yelled, and fired a ki blast at the creature. It leapt over the blast, landing in front of Tien. Tien crouched, ready for an attack. It slashed at him with the knives. Tien stepped into the attack, grabbing the attacking arm with one hand and delivering a backhand across the creature's face with the other. Leaping up, he hit it under the chin with his knee. He somersaulted and landed some distance away.
"Krillin, are you all right?"

Krillin finally came to his feet. "Yeah, I'm okay." He stepped over to stand next to Tien.

The creature had recovered again. It reached over its shoulder and removed a long rod. After a twist, a metallic shing sounded and a blade emerged from one end.

"Oh, man! He's got even more weapons now!" Krillin complained.

"It doesn't matter. We're going to beat him. Come on, Krillin."

They ran at the creature together. It slashed with both arms at the same time, but both fighters managed to dodge the attacks and lashed out with their own. But it soon became clear that with the added threat of the creature's second weapon, they had to spend too much time dodging to attack with any real effect.

Tien dodged a backhand too slowly and took a partial hit to the back of his head. He fell down on his face, dazed. Krillin kicked at the creature's stomach, but it shrugged off the blow and delivered one of its own that sent Krillin flying. He hit the ground twice before skidding to halt. He looked up just in time to see the creature plunge its weapon into Tien's back. Tien screamed. The scream ended abruptly as the creature made another cut with the weapon.

Krillin's eyes became wide with horror. "Tien..." he moaned, limp with fear. On his own, he could never beat the strange transparent creature. The creature turned its head to look his way. Adrenaline finally got the better of his terror and he jumped to his feet. He ran off towards the edge of the forest. After a few steps he took to the air.

A blue bolt flew at him and he barely dodged in time. He zigzagged between trees, panting with fear. It took him a long time to finally reach the edge of the forest. Once there, he lowered himself to the ground. He stood still for a while, breathing heavily and trying to get his heart rate under control.

He'd finally succeeded when something crashed through the trees and stood before him.

Without really wanting to, he looked up.

The creature stood before him, regarding him steadily. Then it reached for its left wrist and pushed a few buttons. The transparency became opacity and began to swirl around. Finally, it vanished altogether, revealing a creature straight from a nightmare.

It seemed even larger without its cloaking device. It was massively armoured, its chest, belly, upper legs, shoulders and wrists were all protected by a brownish armour plating. Where skin was visible, it showed as yellow, with occasional black specks. Over it was a fishnet kind of covering, or maybe that was part of its skin, he couldn't tell. It appeared to be wearing a helmet of sorts, but from the back of its head hung braided strands of hair. At least, that was what it seemed like.

It twisted the large rod and the blade disappeared. It stowed the rod on its back. Then it started to walk towards Krillin.

"Leave the cueball alone." a gruff voice said.