Signs of the Coming Battle

Has my luck been terrible this year? Of all times, I had to run into a dense meteor shower... This is going to delay me for ages. Damn it!

Betkas sat in the spaceship. Suddenly, he opened his tightly shut eyes and looked at the craft, which had come to a stop. Then he glanced out the window. When he saw the thick swarm of meteors streaming past ahead like torrential rain, his face twisted with anger.

Meteor swarms were common in space, but dense ones were rarely encountered. And now Betkas had run into one. His luck was, in a way, extraordinarily bad. Worse, the swarm meant he couldn't travel for a while—or he could take a detour.

Either option would cost a great deal of time. The only difference was whether he stayed put or kept moving. He wanted to blast the meteors ahead of him to pieces, but he wasn't a creature like Frieza, who could survive in space. He could manage to move around in space for a short time, but he couldn't completely destroy such a dense swarm.

If he couldn't destroy it completely, he would only be wasting his energy. So even if he wanted to act, he couldn't.

"Looks like I have to wait. Taking a detour would make me at least a month late getting back. By then, the business on Namek will probably be over."

Betkas leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and spread his hands over his knees. All he could do was wait...

Meanwhile... on Earth...

"Say... isn't this planet a little too light? There's hardly any gravity!"

Nappa casually rolled his shoulders. Then he looked at the city he had reduced to ruins and said, puzzled,

"Heh. That's not a bad thing for us," Vegeta said with a cold sneer from nearby. "Never mind that. Let's find someone. And don't do anything so stupid next time. If you accidentally destroy the Dragon Balls, our trip will have been for nothing!"

"Oh, right..."

Nappa came to his senses, realizing he had been a little reckless. Once he'd calmed down, he and Vegeta activated their scouters and began searching the planet for powerful fighters.

"Huh... This planet really is unusual. There are a few powerful fighters gathered over there. One has a power level of 1,432, another has 2,511, and several others are between 1,800 and 2,200. Looks like the data we had on this planet was wrong. No wonder that Raditz fellow died here..." Nappa was startled after detecting the signals, then found it rather amusing.

"Hmph. Who cares? Let's go find them first," Vegeta said indifferently. He rose into the air and flew at high speed toward the place he had detected. Nappa followed close behind. The two streaked across the sky like shooting stars.

...Meanwhile...

"Uncle Piccolo... Two powerful energies are heading this way!" Son Gohan trembled as he sensed the two powerful ki signatures, then spoke with concern.

"Hmph? Powerful? One of them, perhaps. But these two are in a completely different league from the Saiyan we encountered two years ago. No—actually, they're far weaker. At least I'm confident I can find a chance to take down the weaker one."

Piccolo spoke with a sneer, his voice full of confidence. Son Gohan, standing beside him, was taken aback. He couldn't imagine that opponents who seemed so powerful to him could still be considered "far too weak" in Piccolo's eyes. Even if Piccolo meant only one of them, it still shocked him.

Of course, Piccolo had reached that conclusion by comparing Vegeta and Nappa with Betkas. It wasn't because Piccolo himself was especially strong.

"That's true... Still, I'm relieved the guy from two years ago didn't come," Krillin said from nearby, crouching slightly. His fists, which had been clenched tight, relaxed, and he seemed to have finally calmed down.

Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha felt much the same as Krillin. Even Piccolo was worried about one thing: Betkas returning to attack. If that happened, they would have no chance at all. Even if Son Goku returned after training under King Kai, they still might not have much chance of winning. After all, Betkas had shown his full power when he invaded Earth—nearly 110,000.

That had raised their perspective to a whole new level. Naturally, they felt no tension or fear toward someone like Vegeta, whose power level was only around 29,000, or Nappa, whose was 12,000. After all, once you'd looked down from the heights and endured the most extreme punishment, would you really be afraid of a mere iron coat hanger hitting you?

That was more or less the idea...

Only Son Gohan, a rookie fighter who hadn't experienced it, was filled with unease. This was especially so because it was his first major battle. One wrong move could cause serious trouble...

"Be ready. Don't throw your lives away for some stupid reason. No matter what, we have to take down the weaker one. That way, if Son Goku gets here, things will be much easier. I'm sure his strength has improved a lot. He should be able to handle the Saiyan with the stronger energy. So our goal is to take out the weaker one. Understood?"

Piccolo addressed everyone with a stern expression. Krillin and the others were experienced fighters, so they understood. They nodded and answered seriously. Son Gohan was still a rookie, and he would have to grow into a fighter over time...

...Korin Tower...

Korin was sternly explaining things to Fortuneteller Baba. "That's everything."

He handed Fortuneteller Baba a thick, heavy little bag containing more than a dozen of the best beans from the past two years.

"Don't worry. Son Goku will get back as quickly as possible. According to him, with the Senzu Beans, it'll take no more than an hour."

Fortuneteller Baba reassured Korin with a calm smile.

Yajirobe stared at the little bag, thirsty and heartbroken. He hadn't had a single Senzu Bean in the past two years, all because Korin had been so strict. He hadn't managed to eat even one.

"Then I can relax. The Saiyans coming to Earth this time aren't as powerful as the one from two years ago, but they're still more than Piccolo and the others can handle. Perhaps only Goku, who trained under King Kai, has a chance. Two years ago, to be safe, I specially planted Senzu Bean seeds and made a certain glutton cut back. This is all we've managed to stock up. I hope they'll be a big help," Korin told Fortuneteller Baba earnestly.

"Then I'll be off. Otherwise, there may not be enough time..." Fortuneteller Baba glanced at Korin, then vanished from sight, leaving him and Yajirobe behind.

...King Kai's Planet...

"I hope Fortuneteller Baba hurries! Then I'll be confident I can use the Kaioken repeatedly to get back in time..."

Son Goku stared solemnly into the distance, then clenched his fist.

He still mistakenly thought Betkas was coming...