South Galaxy

...Waiting. An endless wait.

Betkas had no idea how long he'd been stuck on this strange planet, but he was already getting visibly impatient. From the initial struggle to adapt to the gravity to now being completely fine with it, time had passed in cycles of day and night. But aside from a few exceptionally powerful individuals who dared to rest and sleep on the spot, most people didn't dare close their eyes.

There were too many uncertain factors here. Sure, everyone was a subordinate of one of the three great emperors, but that didn't make them easy to deal with. The weak feared the strong, and the strong needed a reason before picking a fight—otherwise, it was a blatant slap in the face to their superiors. So everyone was on edge.

Even Vegeta was putting on a tough front, scanning his surroundings without daring to blink. Betkas glanced sideways at Vegeta, then at Cooler's Armored Squadron across the way, who had been staring at them the whole time. There was a clear hint of mockery in their eyes.

"Damn it... can't fight them yet... this is suffocating."

Betkas muttered in frustration at the stares from across the way. Beside him, Vegeta clenched his fists, his body motionless, but his gaze icy cold as he fixed it on the Armored Squadron.

"Trying to provoke a fight... too bad. No dice. Saiyans may be proud, but we're not stupid."

Betkas glanced at Vegeta and Nappa, smirking inwardly.

"Oh ho... those three little Saiyans aren't biting," said Neiz, one of Cooler's Armored Squadron, standing directly across, sounding surprised.

Beside him, Dore shook his head with a regretful expression. "I heard Saiyans were supposed to be proud... what a shame." He looked as if this were a truly unfortunate turn of events.

Salza, expression unchanged, warned, "Stop that. Those three little Saiyans seem smart enough not to act rashly. What puzzles me most is why Ginyu didn't come with Lord Frieza."

Dore shrugged indifferently. "Probably off training somewhere. You did beat him, after all."

Salza didn't bother to argue. Neiz, bored, scanned the area and said, "Those three Saiyans won't take the bait. How dull. Let's find someone else."

Betkas wore a faintly mocking smile as he looked around. A rather interesting idea crossed his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. If things blew up, it wouldn't be fun anymore. Best to get out of this mess as soon as possible. Once he was strong enough, everything would be easy to handle.

"Whoosh!"

A sudden strong wind swept through. Frieza appeared out of nowhere, his expression dark and brooding as he sat back down on his throne. Then, with murderous intent, he said, "We're leaving!"

"Yes, sir!"

Dodoria and Zarbon answered, fear plain on their faces. This was the first time they had seen Frieza so angry. He seemed calm on the surface, but that only meant one thing—Frieza was truly enraged. Something had crossed his line.

No one dared to provoke him now. The consequence was simple—one move, instant death. Everyone except Betkas and Vegeta hurried back into the spaceship in terror. The ship lifted off and changed course.

Not back the way they came, but toward a farther destination... the South Galaxy.

Little did Betkas know... he was about to face an absolute crisis of annihilation.

...Several years later...

When Frieza began his operations in the South Galaxy, Betkas was baffled. In the original story, Frieza should have been in the North Galaxy. Why was he here in the South? But after gathering some intel, he understood.

Back then, King Cold, Cooler, and Frieza had gathered to divide the entire galaxy among themselves. Simple enough. King Cold took the North and West Galaxies, Cooler got the East Galaxy, and Frieza was forced to "leave home" and go to the South Galaxy. To him, that was a humiliation.

No wonder Frieza had been so furious back then. So furious he wanted to kill. Even though he had already destroyed countless planets along the way.

But now, Betkas didn't care. He had already gotten Frieza's nod of approval to go on his own "journey." His excuse was simple: on the surface, he claimed he would clear out "unruly" natives for Frieza, and if he found a good planet, he'd report back.

And it was long-term. Frieza didn't think much of it at the time. After all, there were still plenty of people in the South Galaxy who didn't understand Frieza's power. Sending Betkas out was a decent move. He didn't think Betkas would run—the ship had a flight log, so he could always track him down. Unless Betkas destroyed his own ship, which was impossible.

Betkas had wanted Vegeta to come along, but Vegeta refused. He planned to get stronger his own way. So Betkas set off alone on his path to power.

And now, after nearly six years of hardship, Betkas had made some progress. His battle power was currently fifteen thousand. He was only thirteen years old. He believed that before long, he would surpass the Vegeta of the original story—even while still wearing his weighted gear.

But because Betkas rarely returned, Frieza and the others had no idea what his battle power was. Otherwise, he'd definitely be in for some trouble. A thirteen-year-old Saiyan brat with power that high? That would scare anyone.

He didn't have any cheat-like ability to skyrocket his strength, but he believed hard work was enough. He had talent. He had the foundation to grow stronger. Hadn't Son Goku, a low-class warrior, become the strongest? So as an elite-class warrior, if he put in even more effort, he could reach even greater heights.

Today, Betkas was launching another planetary invasion. The target was a high-tech planet.

"Hmph. The air here is pretty filthy. Guess high-tech places don't have great natural environments."

Betkas stepped out of his spaceship after landing, looking around with a frown.

"Then let's destroy it quickly and get back to training."

A sinister grin spread across Betkas's face as he stared at the towering buildings ahead.

Little did he know... his calamity had already arrived.