As soon as they reappeared at the site of the battle—where the pool of vomit was starting to carve its own pit into the ground—Goku raked his gaze back and forth, searching for energy signals.
"That's strange," he murmured. "There's Vegeta and Piccolo, and the thing they're fighting, but there are three more, coming in fast." He took a fighting stance, and Gohan copied him. They stared with some apprehension at the three mysterious arrivals flying toward them—if they were enemies, the battle might turn ugly.
But Goku dropped his guard and beamed when the newcomers were close enough for him to recognize them. It was Krillen, Tien, and Chao-tsu.
"Nya-da-da-da!" Krillen sang out in a poor imitation of a bugle trill as the three of them dropped out of the sky. "Did somebody call for back-up?"
"Krillen! It's great to see you," Goku greeted him warmly, slapping his old friend on the back. "Hey, Tien. Hey, Chao-tsu," he added with a wave. "Thanks for coming."
"So what are we up against?" Tien asked with a scowl. "Is it the androids?"
"No," Goku answered, shaking his head. "I'm not sure what it is, exactly. All we know is that it said it killed two children, and that it wants to kill us, too."
"That's terrible!" Chao-tsu burst out; the little fighter, despite being a veteran of many battles, had never seemed to lose his naivete.
"I know," Goku said grimly. "We have to stop it."
The other fighters nodded and released their latent energies, the white light billowing up around them and leaving glowing contrails as they leaped into the air together. As Goku and Gohan caught up to them, Goku offered a last bit of advice.
"Watch out for this one. It may not seem as powerful as we are, but it's tricky. Oh, and Vegeta's here, too, so you might want to stay out of his way."
"Good advice," Krillen stated with a lopsided smile. The water ahead of them exploded as Vegeta and Piccolo surfaced, sparring furiously at the creature, who seemed to slither around every punch. One of Vegeta's jabs connected solidly with the beast's chest, but no sooner had the blow been landed than the beast dove into the water again, forcing both of them to give chase.
Krillen went into action almost at once. Planting his booted feet firmly on the ground, he reached his right hand high and began to gather energy. White hot power hovered above his palm. With a grimace of concentration, he began to focus it into a razor-edged pancake. At the moment he finished forming it, the creature burst from the water again.
"Piccolo, Vegeta—watch out!" Krillen cried, before throwing his hand out and shouting, "Destructo Disc!"
Piccolo and Vegeta scattered to both sides as the deadly missile hurled forward. The brute's eyes widened in fear, and, as was its wont, it turned and fled. Krillen artfully maneuvered his disc of power to pursue the flying menace through the air. Just as the disc was about to make contact with the intended target, the creature whirled around and shot a pitifully small energy bolt of its own. A flash of light as the energies collided momentarily blinded everyone looking on. When they could see again, many mouths dropped open.
"I don't believe it! He caught the Destructo Disc!" Goku exclaimed. The beast was holding onto a lasso made of its own energy and struggling to pull the Disc into submission. The Z fighters were so stunned by this strange feat that when the creature lashed its "rope" outward and suddenly released Krillen's attack, not everyone reacted fast enough. It was Chao-tsu that got hit. His cry of pain penetrated their ears even over the deafening explosion of the out-of-control Destructo Disc detonating against a cliff.
"Chao-tsu!" Tien cried in anguish, rushing to his friend's side through the smoke. A stricken-looking Krillen followed. The clown-like little fighter had a deep slash across his chest that looked as though it had been mostly cauterized. Fluid oozed slowly from the wound, but Chao-tsu grinned bravely at them.
"Guess this puts me out of the running, huh?" he cracked with a shaky laugh.
"Chao-tsu. . ." Tien repeated in a miserable whisper. Goku landed next to them. "I'll take him to Kami's Lookout," he murmured, placing his hand against Chao-tsu's shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be fine with them to look after him," he assured Tien. As they vanished, Tien rose to his feet slowly. His face was alight with fury, and he placed his hands into firing position with a mere two words.
"He'll pay." His eyes opened wide as he released glowing yellow power through the space in his hands. "Tri-Beam!"