The snake-thing disappeared into the ensuing explosion with a shriek. Tien flew unhesitatingly into the smoke: his special third eye could track the enemy's energy signal even when his two normal eyes couldn't see. When he got close, he could make out the beast's body half-buried under fallen rock. Reaching out his hand, he dragged the thing that had hurt—maybe even killed—his comrade, out of the temporary trap by its neck.
"P-please, don't hurt me!" it begged desperately, struggling to breathe.
"You might have killed my friend!" Tien snarled, ruthlessly squeezing harder on the unfortunate's windpipe. "I'm making sure you won't hurt anyone else ever again."
"Per-haps . . . you would feel better . . ." the brute wheezed out, ". . .if you joined him." As it finished speaking, one of the severed tentacle stumps on its neck flopped weakly and coughed out a venomous green spray, which hit all three of Tien's eyes with perfect accuracy. The hapless fighter screamed in pain and stumbled away, releasing his grip on the creature. The snakelike being crouched low and raked its claws across Tien's torso, cutting his right side right down to the rib cage. Tien, still screaming at the horrible pain, fell to the mercilessly hard ground as his blood began to pool around him.
"Murderer!" The shout came from Piccolo, who emerged from the haze with a roar to confront the beast. With a smug smile, the creature put its blood-soaked claws into its mouth and sucked with relish. Piccolo swung furiously at him, only to find his opponent slither out of his way and drop gracefully into the lake below. Next to arrive was Goku.
"I just got back—what happened?" he demanded to know.
"Don't get comfortable," Piccolo growled. "You've got another one to take to the infirmary." Goku looked wildly around until he spotted Tien. "Oh—no!" he burst out, flying to the fighter's side. "Don't worry, Tien, I'm taking you somewhere safe." His words were reassuring, but his voice shook. Piccolo dove downward in pursuit of his quarry as the two of them disappeared. Krillen and Gohan already had it engaged in combat. The beast wasn't attacking at all, seeming to prefer to concentrate its energies on evading the both of them. Then, with a smooth coil, it wrapped its tail around Gohan's neck and held the boy in front of Krillen.
"Not one move," it hissed, cupping its hand against Gohan's chin and letting its claws just pierce the skin. Krillen froze in dismay.
"Unless you want me to slit his throat, back off slowly," the creature ordered. Krillen put his hands up in surrender and glided down and backward. His eyes moved slowly to meet Piccolo's, and he nodded a fraction of an inch. Piccolo disappeared and reappeared behind his opponent.
"Unless you want me to slit your throat, you'll let him go," the Namekian muttered through gritted teeth, placing his first two fingers against the beast's neck like a knife. The creature let out a high-pitched growl of frustration and released its hold on the Saiyan boy. Krillen shot upward at once, stretching his hand out in a position to throw chi. Gohan, with a scowl of determination, did the same.
"Now, are you going to leave us, and this planet, in peace?" Piccolo growled. His nails grazed against the scaly purple throat, beginning to draw blood. "Or do you want us to end it here and now?"
The creature flinched and pulled vainly at Piccolo's grip. Its breathing quickened, but it wasn't long before it sagged in resignation.
"Do I get a third choice?" it queried sullenly.
"Stop stalling!" the Namekian barked.
"All right." Piccolo saw Gohan's eyes widen suddenly, as though the boy had noticed something that neither of his two companions had picked up. That was all the warning Piccolo had before he felt sharp teeth sink into his neck. He was then shoved backwards; the accursed alien must have used him as a springboard to attack the other two. Although his vision had become hazy with pain, his pointed ears picked up a sort of gagging sound from Krillen and Gohan's horrified shout of "No!"
Thinking fast, Piccolo allowed himself to plummet downward: he wouldn't be attacked again as long as the beast believed him to be mortally wounded. He shut his eyes tightly and concentrated on healing the wound before it really could be considered life-threatening.