Hunted
Captain Ginyu lounged outside his pod, joystick in hand, eyes locked on the screen in front of him.
His brow twitched as the words "GAME OVER" flashed again.
"Damn it!" he shouted, slamming the controller into the soft, blue grass. "Enough of this garbage!"
With an annoyed grunt, he shut off the console and folded it neatly into his equipment bag. As he stood up, something caught his eye—a glimmer in the sky.
He tapped a button on his scouter.
"Two power levels…" Ginyu narrowed his eyes. "Heh. Maybe a couple of Nameks just got back from vacation."
A wicked grin spread across his face. "Time to see if I've still got it."
Without hesitation, he charged a beam of energy in his palm and hurled it toward the distant dot at full speed.
Inside the descending spaceship, Goku sat in the pilot's seat, jaw clenched.
Tien stood beside him, arms crossed and visibly uneasy. Trusting Goku with flying was a necessary gamble—especially since he had no clue how to fly the thing himself.
Back on Earth, Goku could barely handle a tractor.
Suddenly, Goku's instincts flared. He yanked a lever, and the ship lurched sideways—just narrowly dodging a streaking energy blast.
"What the—?!" Tien shouted, eyes wide as the beam exploded in the distance. The power behind it was overwhelming.
"We can't let them hit the ship!" Goku snapped. "The tank's still full of Syadrogen!"
Tien's heart skipped. One good hit and the whole ship could go up in flames. He cursed under his breath. Why did Mr. Popo insist on adding that stuff to the fuel?
"Open the hatch!" Tien demanded. "I'll guide the ship down safely!"
Goku slammed the button. The door hissed open—and without hesitation, Tien jumped out, the hatch sealing behind him.
Captain Ginyu watched from afar, amused. His attack hadn't even grazed them.
"Not bad," he muttered with a smirk. "But let's try that again."
This time, he curved the beam into an arc—fast and unpredictable.
On the ground, Tien's eyes narrowed. Another one.
He raised his hands, forming the signature diamond shape.
But then—something felt off. The beam wasn't aimed directly.
He hesitated. No need to waste energy.
Then, at the last second, the beam twisted—slicing through the air toward the ship.
Tien's eyes widened. "Dodonpa!"
His beam launched just in time to intercept.
KADAAM!
A massive explosion erupted. Fire and debris tore through the sky, and flaming chunks of the ship rained down.
"GOKU!" Tien yelled, horror in his voice.
...
Far off, Ginyu grinned. A small explosion bloomed in the distance.
"Yeah…"
Yamcha stood tall, a confident smirk tugging at his lips, fists clenched tightly at his sides.
Across from him, Jeice and Burter stood shoulder to shoulder, tension radiating off them. Beads of sweat glistened on their brows.
Jeice sneered, voice low and sharp. "If you think you can just walk away, you're sorely mistaken."
Burter growled, flexing his muscles. "Nobody crosses the Ginyu Force and lives to brag about it."
Krillin swallowed nervously. 'Yamcha… whatever you've done to reach this level, be careful...'
Nearby, Vegeta gritted his teeth, fury smoldering in his eyes. Part of him almost wanted the Ginyu fools to beat Yamcha down. How dare this lowly human dare to succeed where he — the Prince of all Saiyans — had failed?!
Bardock watched, brows furrowed. He just hoped the cocky fighter wasn't biting off more than he could chew.
Yamcha's expression hardened as a faint white aura flared to life around him, energy gathering like a storm.
In a blink, Burter vanished — reappearing some distance away.
Yamcha now stood right between the two.
"Now," Burter hissed, voice dripping with venom, "you'll taste our wrath!"
Jeice rolled his shoulders and tilted his body to the side, his voice sharp. "Jeice!"
Burter mirrored him, flexing both arms. "Your worst nightmare!"
"HYAA!" they both cried, launching themselves at Yamcha with explosive force.
Yamcha crouched low, then sprang into the air, a white streak against the sky.
Burter and Jeice followed, red and blue trails spiraling behind them as they pursued.
The two Ginyu warriors unleashed a barrage of strikes — but Yamcha moved like a phantom, dodging and parrying with shocking precision.
Spotting an opening, Yamcha swept Burter's legs from under him and, in the same breath, twisted and slammed an uppercut into Jeice's jaw.
Jeice flew backward with a grunt, and Yamcha didn't waste a second — he charged his fist with energy and drove it into Burter's back.
"Aargh!" Burter screamed as he rocketed forward, crashing hard.
Ascending slowly, Yamcha cupped his hands at his waist. "Kame...hame..."
Before he could finish, Jeice roared back into the fray, aura blazing.
Yamcha smirked darkly, whirling around — and unleashed the Kamehameha straight into Jeice's gut.
"AGHK!" Blood spurted from Jeice's mouth as the blast carried him away, spiraling through the air.
Yamcha touched back down just as the broken bodies of Jeice and Burter slammed into the ground.
Groaning, the two Ginyu warriors staggered back to their feet.
"Jeice," Burter muttered, panting. "This guy's good."
Jeice wiped the blood from his mouth. "Tell me something I don't already know."
Burter's lips curled into a grin. "How about we hit him with the Purple Spiral Flash?"
Jeice's eyes lit up. "Oh-ho, mate. I almost forgot."
Burter chuckled darkly. "Let's teach him a lesson he'll never forget."
Yamcha narrowed his eyes. He could feel it — they were planning something. He wasn't about to let it happen.
Without hesitation, he broke into a sprint, a shadowy aura bursting to life around him. "Wolf Fang Fist!"
Burter and Jeice's eyes widened in shock — a spectral wolf, fierce and howling, raced alongside Yamcha as he closed in.
A deep, primal howl echoed across the landscape.
Then Yamcha was upon them, a whirlwind of lightning-fast claw strikes.
Burter raised an arm to block, but the energized claws ripped into his flesh.
Jeice wasn't as lucky — a vicious strike gashed across his face, blood spraying into the air.
Before they could react, Yamcha pummeled their torsos with a brutal flurry of strikes.
The savage combo ended with a crushing kick to Burter's gut and a double palm strike to Jeice's chest.
Blood splattered as the Ginyu fighters were blasted backward, crashing to the earth, beaten and broken.
Yamcha floated upwards, drawing a deep breath, then once again cupped his hands to his waist. It was time to end this.
"Kame...hame..."
Rocks began to levitate, the ground appearing to shake beneath them from the sheer force of his energy.
Vegeta stared, utterly spellbound. "Such... power..."
Bardock's expression tightened. "Come on... finish it."
Gohan, fists clenched, looked on with a gleeful grin. "Yeah."
"HA!" Yamcha roared, firing a colossal Kamehameha — the beam's diameter nearly matching his own height.
From a distance, Frost watched, a cold smile playing on his lips, as the beam tore toward Jeice and Burter.
Krillin's heart raced. "Gohan!" he shouted. "We've got to get outta here!"
"Right!" Gohan grabbed Dende and shot into the sky.
KADAAAM!
A deafening explosion rocked the battlefield, a blinding flash of light swallowing everything.
A cloud of dust and debris billowed outward like a living thing.
Vegeta shielded his face with his arm as he floated in the air.
Nearby, Bardock hovered with his teeth gritted, one eye squeezed shut against the force.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away on Namek...
Amid the swirling smoke and deafening silence, Tien stood frozen, heart pounding. His senses stretched outward — nothing but ruin and destruction. Then — a flicker.
Above, a figure was falling fast.
Goku.
Thrown sky-high by the blast, his limp body plummeted toward the ground.
Without thinking, Tien lunged forward, catching him just before impact.
"Aghh…" Goku groaned, his face twisted in pain, body shuddering weakly.
Tien dragged him behind a shattered boulder, shielding them from sight, and carefully laid him down.
"He's in bad shape," Tien muttered, feeling dread knot his stomach. "Should've brought the Senzu beans… Damn it — left them on the ship."
Goku's eye cracked open, glassy and unfocused. "Tien… don't worry... I'll be fine... ahh..."
"You will," Tien said, forcing steadiness into his voice. "God willing."
Goku coughed, grimacing. "Find Gohan... the others..."
"I'm on it."
Tien tapped a button on the wrist-scouter strapped to his arm — salvaged tech, heavily modified from Raditz's old model.
The numbers flickered into view — and his stomach dropped.
"Eighty thousand..." he breathed, cold sweat breaking across his skin.
A monstrous power level — and it was coming straight for them.
Goku stirred, trying to rise, but Tien pinned him down gently. "Don't move. Just... stay alive."
Tien turned, teeth gritted, and ran toward the storm he couldn't hope to survive.
Captain Ginyu smirked at his own scouter, watching the lonely blip charge straight toward him.
"How cute," he chuckled, rolling his shoulders. "Someone's feeling brave."
Within seconds, he spotted him — a broad, scarred man with three cold, determined eyes.
Ginyu chuckled. "Twenty thousand? Not bad... for cannon fodder."
Tien skidded to a stop just a few paces away, sweat trickling down his brow.
Ginyu smirked lazily. "You must be new around here. Welcome to Lord Frieza's brand new planet."
Tien said nothing. He didn't even blink.
Ginyu tilted his head, amused. "What's the matter, peasant? Cat got your tongue?"
Tien's voice was low, controlled — but seething with fury.
"That's none of your damn business."
His fists clenched. His eyes — normally calm — now burned with quiet rage.
"You destroyed my ship. Killed my friend. You want answers?" His voice dropped to a growl. "Start giving them."
Ginyu laughed, a cold, barking sound. "For your information, Mr. Three-Eyes, I'm Captain Ginyu — elite commander of Frieza's forces. Anyone who sets foot on this planet answers to me."
Tien didn't flinch. Didn't move.
Ginyu's smirk faltered for half a second. 'Fool doesn't even realize who he's up against.'
The two stared each other down, locked in a silent war of wills.
Tien knew the truth: he couldn't win this fight. Not alone.
But he wasn't backing down either.
The wind shifted, stirring the blue grass beneath their feet.
With Goku broken and out of commission, can Tien stand against the brutal force of Captain Ginyu? And what of Yamcha — has he truly crushed Jeice and Burter, or is there more to come?
Find out next time, on DBZ: ONE!
I want to apologize to my readers for chapters 39 and 40, which, in my opinion, were rushed and poorly written with some unnecessary bits as well. I have edited them and the rest of the chapters of the Ginyu saga for you. So, if you have got the time, do give them a re-read.
And please, keep reviewing, my dear readers.
To be continued...
