I was lying on the ground, dead tired, for several minutes before Tater finally managed to get back.
He landed beside me, kicking up a small cloud of dust. I simply turned my head to look at him, bone-deep tired.
"It worked?"
"...Yeah. He's dead." I assured him.
"What the heck was that guy?" He asked. "I've never seen a Namekian that strong… Never sensed anything that maliciously evil, either."
"It doesn't matter. He's gone now." I said, pulling myself to my feet. I wavered, so Tater grabbed my arm to help steady me.
"Whoa, take your time, Tarble. You've been fighting for hours." Tater reminded me, "You look like hell."
"Like you're one to talk. You only confronted the guy for a few minutes, and you look like that." I reminded him.
It was a fair observation. Like me, Tater'd dropped out of his SSJP form, and was a little pale from exertion, like he'd just spent twenty minutes doing extreme wind-sprints.
But the thing that drew the most attention was the fact that his right arm was wrapped in his shirt, his wrist already swollen and purple.
Slug had only managed to get one single hand on him… but that one hand had broken my friend's arm.
Tater shrugged, then winced at the shift. "You won't lose anything by taking a few minutes to get your energy back, Tarble." He reminded me, "You look like you can barely stand."
I shook my head. "It's not as bad as it looks." I promised, "Just a little tired. I'll rest later. Right now, we have work to do."
"What are you talking about?" Tater asked.
"That guy was the big threat, but he wasn't alone." I told him, remembering that nobody had actually briefed Tater on the situation before he'd run over. "The effects of the fight are messing with our ki senses, but there's a ship in…" I looked around. What was once forest was now wasteland. The sky was still light, but the moon had already replaced the sun. It took me a couple moments to get my bearings. "That direction, that I need to look through, and I know another ship landed in… that direction. We've gotta figure out what's on it." I told him.
Tater took the information in stride. "Okay. You're right. This amount of ki… I can't sense a thing. Even if someone had a power level in the hundred thousands, I wouldn't be able to sense it in this." He noted aloud.
"I don't think they're that strong, but they could be stronger than Roshi. Can't ignore it, they're probably not friendly." I told him.
"What about the ones hiding in that ship?" Tater asked, pointing in the direction of Slug's ship.
"Small fries… but they should be pure evil, to the core. Thousands range." I explained. If I was right, that was Slug's demon crew, a gathering of aliens born for the sole purpose of serving the most evil warlord they could find. Without a leader like Slug, they'd inevitably disperse, once they stopped being frozen with terror at the residual effects of my battle with the Namekian, and cause all sorts of trouble. The henchmen absolutely needed to be eliminated as quickly as possible, and I had zero compunctions about writing them off as unsalvageable with that in mind.
"I'm in better shape than you. I'll deal with the unknown one." Tater offered, "Then I'll come back you up on the other ship."
I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. Deal with the other ship. I'm tired, sure, but I'm not weak. Be careful, you're dealing with an unknown factor. I'm not." I assured him, beginning to walk off. Then, I stopped and turned around, remembering something. "Hey." Tater turned, having already begun moving, too.
"Yeah?"
"After you're done dealing with the other ship, go to Capsule Corp in West City. We've gotta use the Dragon Balls to wish Zeck back to life. We'll make the wish on the island, but don't summon Shenron without me. Wording the wish wrong could be really bad." I told him.
"Alright. Meet you back at the island." He replied with a nod, "Probably with Bulma."
"Yeah… Just make sure to tell Lynn not to open the safe until I get there. Bulma won't be rational about this." I told him.
"Yeah. Makes sense." He agreed, "I'll tell Lynn."
"And preserve the ship. I want to study it."
"Got it." He said.
With that, we went our separate ways, both with our own tasks to accomplish.
…
My SSJP form would be off limits for several days at the latest, and my body was ravaged, my stamina absolutely shot. As it stood, I likely couldn't even break the million class without overreaching and seriously injuring myself, putting me out for days, even weeks.
But that was fine. I didn't need that level of power right now, anyway.