"This is a waste of our time, Tarble. We should be getting one of those ships ready, and flying back to Planet Vegeta." Tater leaned against an arcade game, watching Lynn and Tommy play some sort of dancing game while he commented.
"Oh, really? And why? What'd be the point, Tater?" I was playing a fighting game nearby, but with my reflexes and coordination, I barely had to pay attention to win. Honestly, I wasn't having nearly as much fun as Pepper seemed to be having. A crowd had gathered to watch her play some sort of racing game that didn't seem to have a fixed endpoint.
"With our strength, we shouldn't be sitting here playing house. You could overthrow your dad as king of Planet Vegeta without any problems at all! Instead, we're just standing here playing around with weaklings like this." Tater looked around the arcade with disdain.
"Uh-Uh-Uh-Ultimate Combo! K.O!" Without hesitation, I dropped another coin into the machine to continue playing. Luckily, I'd won us a hundred thousand Zeni scamming a con-artist on the street earlier.
Converted to American dollars, that was about $10,000, give or take. Honestly, though, I planned on wasting over half of it at this arcade, at least. Everyone on the team got around ten thousand zeni to use as they saw fit.
"Tater, you know, everyone else's having fun." I replied, launching into another combo that instantly brought the NPC down to around half health. "You could be, too."
"Fun?! Tarble, you're probably the strongest Saiyan who's ever lived! You could do so much more with your life than just having fun! You could-" Tater's foot broke through the plastic shell of the machine he was leaning on, as his anger rose, but he ignored it.
"You're wrong, Tater." I cut him off. "Just because a person's strong doesn't mean they're unrivaled. What do you want me to do? Defeat my father? Frieza? Rule our people with an iron fist and crush anyone who opposes me?"
"Mega K.O!" I inserted another coin, " You sound like my father. And Asper, probably your mother, too. All the idiots who kicked us out because they thought that we were worthless."
"But you're so much stronger than them! Tarble, you should be bossing those people around! You're the strongest, after all."
"Gr-Gr-Great Combo!" I snorted, "Tater, do you know the highest power level ever recorded for a Saiyan?" I asked.
"Raseyogan!" Same moves as those Ultimate Fighter games from my old world, but totally different names.
"What? Twenty thousand or so?" I raised an eyebrow.
"My grandfather had a power level of twenty thousand, Tater. He was the strongest of his time. His father? Twenty-five thousand. Then, we get to the time period, the eight, nine hundred or so years before Scouter technology. Each king was the strongest of their time, but weaker than the one before. Some exceptions. My brother would know more, he's the one who gets an education."
"Quintuple Combo! K.O!" My hand stilled.
"But there's one particular power level that was marked into history, long ago. Back during our initial invasion, the one that took nine years. 280,000. My ancient ancestor's power level. Someone heard one of the Tuffles shout it before they died, and it made its way into history." I didn't know much about Saiyan culture, I'd been the sheltered disgrace, after all, but I'd done a small bit of research into Saiyan biology, and when that failed because nobody cared enough to research it, history.
"That guy, my ancestor? He was stronger than I am now. Naturally. The Tuffles were weak, they only had their technology. But even then, that power of his… It couldn't turn the tide of the war, until the moon came out, Tater." That'd actually shocked me when I'd read it. I couldn't help but admire the Tuffles for their resiliency against a power that was around half of Frieza's overwhelming first form.
He'd needed his Oozaru form, a power level of over 2 million to seriously sway the war in either direction. It was a nice lesson to learn, one that the Saiyans had clearly forgotten over time.
There was always a bigger fish. Another way to do things, a better result.
I put another coin into the machine, as Tater thought.
"Still, Tarble. That was hundreds of years ago. I don't get what that has to do with you not wanting to take over as King of the Saiyans. You'd-"
"Still have to prove my strength. Threaten people into submission, deal with constant threats to my rule… Even if I could do it, what'd be the price? My happiness? I'm not giving that up, Tater. Besides, even if I did, I'd still have to bow to Frieza."
"There's no way! You'd-"
"King Cold subjugated our people five hundred years ago, Tater. Even though it was before scouters, I know that my ancestor, at the time, had a power level of over a hundred thousand, at least. He, and all of his aides, fought together against Cold. In their Oozaru forms. According to the historical records left by his son, the only survivor, it wasn't even a fight, but more like a slaughter. Cold caught his Oozaru Galick Gun and stuffed it down his throat without breaking a sweat. That means that he was over a million, easily. When he turned our planet over to Frieza, he said that his son's power dwarfed him at his strongest." Tater's jaw locked at that.
"K-K-Killer Combo! K.O!"
"Tater, if you really want to defeat Frieza and take over his empire one day, I won't stop you. I'm sure, if you really tried, you could do it one day. But all I care about is my own happiness. Protecting what matters to me." I cast a glance across the room as I put forward another coin to continue my game, eyes hovering at Lynn and Tommy, then Pepper. None of their games seemed close to ending. "If you really think that pride of yours'll make you strong, strength'll make you powerful, and power will make you happy, more power to you, Tater. I'll be with our friends, really living. Free and happy, with friends by my side."
"Explosive! K.O!"