As the dust slowly settled, Goku's grin returned—tight, sharp, and intensely wary. Vegeta's aura flared with a sudden spike of gold. Rot and Vex giggled hysterically, Bogy's fifteen eyes swiveled in erratic circles, Creep melted seamlessly back into the surrounding terrain, and Beast cracked his massive stone knuckles.
The battlefield had shifted in an instant—moving from chaotic skirmishes to an encounter with absolute predators. The arrival of these four elite abominations changed everything.
Goku's fight stance tightened. These weren't mindless foot soldiers—they were calculated predators possessing intelligence, terrifying coordination... and worse. They worked as a unit.
Vegeta snarled under his breath as Bogy's fifteen eyes swept over them like deadly searchlights. Rot and Vex swayed closer, their toxic whispers slithering through the dry air like poison.
Creep was already gone—completely integrated into the shadows of the broken terrain. Nobody could trace its ki signature, which meant a lethal strike could come from anywhere, at any microsecond.
And through it all, Goten and Melody remained completely absent.
The missing presence of Goten and Melody was glaring. The Z-Fighters could feel the dangerous imbalance—they were short two crucial powerhouses whose boosted strength could have tipped the scales against these elite monsters.
Goku's jaw clenched. Where the hell were they? Had something happened on the way back from Jingle Village? Were they delayed—or worse?
Goku: "No time to dwell on it now!"
Before the words fully left his mouth, Bogy lunged—his bloated, violent form crashing into a cluster of Z-Fighters like a runaway wrecking ball. Piccolo barely yanked Krillin and Trunks out of harm's way before the shockwave tore the bedrock apart.
The battle instantly escalated into pure chaos. Bogy's rampage sent massive craters rippling through the landscape, while Rot and Vex slithered toward Gohan—their overlapping whispers growing louder, more invasive, and nauseating with every step.
Vegeta fired a point-blank ki blast straight through Beast's chest, carving a smoking hole clean through his stone torso—but the monster barely staggered. Beast simply growled, superheated steam hissing from its maw as it swung a massive, stone-fleshed fist right back at the Saiyan Prince.
Meanwhile… Creep was moving.
A subtle flicker of shadow rippled near Krillin's blind spot—then vanished. No sound, no energy signature, no warning. Just an unnatural void where light should have been seconds ago.
In the next microsecond, a slender, ink-black hand stretched out from a pool of shadow on the ground and seized hold of Yamcha's ankle.
Yamcha barely had time to look down, his eyes widening in sudden panic.
Yamcha: "What the—?!"
He didn't even finish the thought. The inky darkness violently yanked him into the solid stone floor—his scream abruptly cut short as Creep dragged him completely beneath the earth, like shadow swallowing light whole.
Tien: "YAMCHA!" *Tien roared, diving forward with his palms outstretched—but by the time he reached the spot, only a disturbed, empty patch of dark soil remained. No trace. No struggle. No ki signature.*
The surrounding heroes froze for a fraction of a second, raw horror flashing across their faces. Creep wasn't engaging in a martial arts battle… it was hunting in total silence, striking without a single whisper of warning.