A few years later… on Planet Vegeta…
A young boy wearing a stiff space battle suit with a light-gold cape sat cross-legged in the wilderness, faint energy leaking from his body, erupting like burning flames. Not far away, an imposing elder in the same outfit, wearing a scouter, stared at the boy. This was King Vegeta, ruler of Planet Vegeta.
King Vegeta watched the boy channel his energy, then pressed the activation button on his scouter with his left hand. Numbers instantly appeared on the display, but his expression didn't change. He seemed completely uninterested in whatever numbers came up.
"3053."
"This is your limit?"
King Vegeta's eyes held faint dissatisfaction as he looked at the boy who had stopped. The boy walked toward him casually, as if it didn't matter much. King Vegeta asked coldly, "Still too slow, Betkas. You had 1000 battle power when you were born. Last year it was only 2000. This year you've increased just 1000 more?"
Betkas looked at King Vegeta with faint contempt but replied, "I'll work harder from now on." Inwardly, though, he was irritated. Damn it, you think battle power is easy to increase? I've gone up 1000 points in a year — that's already freakish. Compared to Goku and the others on Earth, I'm way ahead right now… though later they'll easily jump tens of thousands in just a few days.
King Vegeta's eyes flashed with killing intent, and the temperature around them suddenly dropped. "Enough. Continue your training from before. Remember, someone will come for you later and take you somewhere. You know what to do."
Betkas' lips stiffened slightly. He opened his mouth but didn't speak, because he knew exactly what King Vegeta was going to do.
Over the years, Betkas had figured out what world he had crossed into — the world of Dragon Ball. A place where people could wipe out planets with a wave of their hand, full of countless powerful fighters. At first, he was shocked, but mostly he was helpless. He hadn't expected that his wish upon a meteor for a life-changing world would actually come true. What he didn't expect even more was that he'd be reborn as the third prince of the Saiyans — the younger brother of Vegeta and Tarble.
It was even more ridiculous that Tarble had been sent to another planet long ago because of his weak battle power and gentle personality, while Vegeta and Betkas were kept on Planet Vegeta due to both their strength and personalities being considered suitable. The past few years of training had made Betkas, who was originally just a regular guy, truly taste hardship.
What made things worse was that he trained in the same place as Vegeta. They'd spar from time to time over the years, and Betkas usually won. Back on Earth, he might have been an ordinary young man, but he knew some Taekwondo and had good fighting instincts. Against Vegeta, who had no real combat experience back then, Betkas had an absolute advantage. That made the proud prince angry every time, his face turning dark whenever he saw Betkas.
If Dragon Ball's world had more advanced political schemes, Betkas might have suspected Vegeta would try to secretly kill him. After all, the current Vegeta wasn't the one from later who valued family. He was still young, but his pride was already set. He just wasn't as arrogant as in the original story — because Betkas was his mental block. King Vegeta only watched what they did, turning a blind eye.
"Over there… Prince Betkas, please come with us."
Not long after King Vegeta left, three aliens appeared behind Betkas with "friendly" smiles. Betkas turned around calmly and studied them. They wore the same universal battle armor seen in Dragon Ball and all had scouters. One had an octopus-like face, one a dog's head, and one a fish face. The first time he saw them, Betkas had secretly laughed.
"Understood."
Betkas answered calmly. The three aliens didn't say more and led him away to a small space pod. The dog-headed alien tried to sound intimidating: "Prince Betkas, that over there is Lord Frieza's ship. Be careful — not everyone there is friendly toward Saiyans."
"Oh… thanks." Betkas replied lightly. He knew many of Frieza's men disliked Saiyans, including Frieza himself. If not for Vegeta's potential or other value, Vegeta in the original story might have already been dead. Betkas was the same.
He didn't think further. He sat in the pod and pressed the start button. The round ship shot upward toward the massive spherical mothership. Through the window, Betkas looked back at Planet Vegeta, then at another pod flying away in the distance, and thought silently:
"Goodbye, Planet Vegeta… and…"
"Goodbye, Broly!"
"See you again, Kakarot!"
"Frieza… looks like I'll be stuck on your ship from now on. Hopefully, it won't be too much trouble."
"I don't like too much trouble. But to survive, I have to get stronger. With just over 3000 battle power, I'm nothing but a low-class grunt. I'll need at least fifty to sixty thousand to really make a name for myself under you."
"So… I have to keep pushing. Show potential, but not so much that you feel threatened. The real problem will be your troublesome subordinates…"
"Dodoria isn't a big deal. The main headache will be the Ginyu Force… they're the ones I'll really have to watch out for."
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