"My king, Second Prince Reconnaissance Squad reporting in. We have made contact with the second prince's trainer-accompanier, Mel."
"And? What happened to my son?!" King Vegeta's voice roared over the transmission almost immediately.
"According to Mel, he had been hiding his true power level, and was far stronger than expected. He had also smuggled a scouter onto the mission. Upon realizing that the inhabitants of the target planet were far stronger than expected, Prince Tarble overpowered her, destroyed her scouter and Attack Ball, and removed her tail before fleeing the planet."
The report came in evenly, as if it was just a fact of life, but that was only because the one giving it was too terrified to speak in any other way.
Sure enough, incomprehensible shouting came through from King Vegeta's end of the transmission as he immediately lost his temper. Eventually, though, he calmed down enough to give his orders. "Track my son's ship immediately, and bring him back to me, dead or alive!"
And with that, the transmission cut off.
Unfortunately for Tarble, this transmission had happened approximately three weeks after he'd left the target planet. In other words, his ship was still a day or two away from landing on Celatus, and was entirely traceable. The Second Prince Reconnaissance Squad immediately set off for Planet Celatus following that transmission.
And they weren't the only ones.
"...Dodoria. It seems that the monkeys cannot keep their own troop under control. As much as I hesitate to waste your strength on someone who even the monkeys consider fairly weak…-" Frieza didn't hold a high regard for Saiyan combat prowess, but their Oozaru form's power could not be denied, and he didn't want to take the risk of the Saiyans getting away.
"Consider them all dead, Lord Frieza." Dodoria replied, a brutal smirk on his face, "It's my pleasure, I love hearing Saiyans scream in pain as they die!"
"...It seems that I may need to move up my timetable. The monkeys aren't just rebelling against me anymore, but each other, as well. Zarbon, order Prince Vegeta somewhere far away from home sometime in the next year."
"As you wish, my lord."
And thus, Tarble's little squad found itself followed by seven Elite-Class Saiyans and a brutality-inclined spiky pink blob of destruction and death.
…
Sensing the auras approaching Celatus, I closed my eyes, sinking deep in thought as my team sat around me, chattering in fear.
I had three auras memorized like the back of my hand for reference. The Saibaman who'd once beaten me up every day, with a power level of 1750, the idiot who'd been in charge of 'training' me, Asper, with a power level of 8,000, and my father, who I'd repeatedly used as a reference while training my energy sensing. His power level was insanely stable at 10,000. Never changed or fluctuated once, too filled with worry, stress, brutality, and cowardice to flow enough to grow. Not that any Elite-Class Saiyan ever actually got stronger, since they were too valuable to risk in combat intense enough for that.
Of the eight auras approaching Celatus, seven of them were clearly Saiyan, with power just short of Asper's. The weakest of the Saiyans coming had a power level just under half of Asper's, maybe around 3,000. I wasn't entirely sure whether that one was stronger than me or not, honestly, not that it really mattered since he was surrounded by stronger allies.
None of them actually outshone Asper, though. Their powers felt like when Tommy and Lynn used their Oozaru form, but more brutal and less controlled. Even compared to when they'd originally transformed and literally lost their minds with the rage.
Then, there was the eighth aura. The non-Saiyan who had an aura that I measured at around twice as strong as my father's, give or take. The hate and evil that I felt in that aura could not be confused with anything else. This guy was definitely connected to Frieza in some way, and with a power level like that, he must've been one of Frieza's closest aides. Stronger than Cui, but definitely not past around 35-40 thousand, which meant that they weren't the Ginyu Force or the twins Abo and Cado.
That meant that it was probably Dodoria. There simply weren't many options in that range. It could be someone I'd never heard of, but definitely someone in the same range as Dodoria in terms of strength.
So, we had one guy who I could maybe take out in my Oozaru form, and seven Saiyans who could contend with my own team's Oozaru forms without transforming.
"Tarble, what are we going to do?"
I leaned back onto the back two legs of my chair, ignoring Tommy's question as I thought deeply. If I transformed, I'd be stronger than the guy who was probably Dodoria, but the other Saiyans would all transform, too. Dodoria would be dealt with, but I didn't stand a chance against the other Saiyans in that scenario.
"TARBLE!" I was knocked out of my deep thinking when Pepper pushed on my chest, unbalancing my chair and nearly sending me to the floor. On reflex, I managed to catch myself with my energy, putting my chair back upright.
"Alright, this is what we're going to do."