He'd noticed Tabble when he demonstrated his Super Saiyan 4 form.
Someone with such incredible talent and strength was someone he had every reason to befriend.
Besides, he was a fine member of the Dragon Clan, and was especially sensitive to evil energy.
He was certain Tabble wasn't an evil person.
Just then, Vegeta urged them on. "All right, enough talking. Let's get into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!"
With that, he turned and headed for the stairs.
"Wait for me, Vegeta!"
Son Goku called after Vegeta and followed him.
At that moment, all he could think about was how to transform into a Super Saiyan 4. He had no time to talk to Dende.
Watching the two of them act as if they were in their own home, Tabble silently shook his head.
"Dende, Mr. Popo, we'll head in first."
"But when we come out, we might have to force our way out."
"When that happens, sorry for the trouble. Could you repair it for us?"
Dende immediately nodded. "That's no problem."
"Mr. Tabble, go on in."
Tabble waved to them, then vanished in a flash and caught up with the others.
Soon,
all four of them had entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
As soon as the door closed, Son Goku eagerly asked,
"Tabble, come on, tell me! How do I turn into a Super Saiyan 4?"
To be honest, Tabble was a little fed up with Son Goku's impulsive nature. He knew that if he didn't explain, Goku would pester him nonstop. Then he wouldn't be able to get any proper training done.
So,
Tabble secretly activated his Insight Eye to check Son Goku's strength.
The next second,
Son Goku's basic information appeared before him.
"Target: Son Goku
Race: Saiyan
Battle power: 300 billion"
300 billion?
A little lower than he'd expected!
But Son Goku had said earlier that he'd spent a lot of time fixing Super Saiyan 3's shortcomings or trying to surpass it.
So a battle power of just 300 billion made sense.
Still, with that much battle power, he couldn't transform into a Super Saiyan 4!
With a thought, Tabble deactivated the Insight Eye and replied, "With your current strength, you still haven't reached the requirements to transform into a Super Saiyan."
"No way! I feel really strong!" Son Goku said, struggling to accept it. "I may not be as strong as you, but out of the four of us, I should be in second place, right?"
"And I feel like I'm quite a bit stronger than Vegeta and Licks. How can I still not meet the requirements?"
"By the way, Tabble, have you actually tried it out?"
"Just how strong do I need to get before I have a chance of succeeding?"
In less than twenty seconds, he'd rattled off a whole string of questions.
As expected!
When it came to training, this guy's brain really worked!
Tabble sighed to himself. Then, without bothering with further explanations, he took out a Scouter and instructed him, "Release all your energy in your base form. Let's see how much battle power you have now!"
"Huh? A Scouter?" Seeing it brought back distant memories for Son Goku. Scouters couldn't measure battle power that high, could they?
"But a Scouter shouldn't be able to measure our current battle power, right?"
"Back on Namek, that guy... what was his name again..."
"Oh, right! Ginyu used a Scouter to measure my battle power back then."
"The Scouter exploded as a result..."
Seeing Son Goku chatter on like a machine gun, Vegeta instantly lost patience and glared at him. "Kakarot!"
"Just do what you're told! What's with all the questions?"
"If you won't do it, then get out!"
"I never said I wouldn't!" Son Goku gave Vegeta a wounded look.
Then he quickly stood at attention and said to Tabble, "I'm ready. Go ahead and measure it."
As soon as he finished speaking,
Boom!
He stopped holding back his energy and let it pour out.
The Scouter began beeping rapidly along with it.
Beep beep beep...
Seeing that Son Goku was about to power up, Tabble reminded him in time, "Don't force it out. Just release your energy naturally!"
Son Goku nodded and did as he was told.
Three seconds later, the Scouter stopped beeping.
Tabble reported the reading honestly. "300 billion!"
"Son Goku, your base-form battle power is about 300 billion."
300 billion?
Kakarot had actually surpassed me by that much!
Damn it!
Vegeta seethed with frustration, his face full of resentment.
Son Goku, meanwhile, was the one who'd been measured, but when he heard that he had 300 billion battle power, he cried out in surprise,
"300 billion?"
"Doesn't that mean my base-form strength is higher than yours, Tabble?"
At that,
Tabble and Licks were both speechless.
Vegeta glanced at Son Goku as if he were an idiot. "Are you stupid, Kakarot?"
Suddenly insulted, Son Goku didn't understand why. He asked seriously, "Did I get something wrong?"
"Tabble just said his base-form battle power is one trillion, while mine is 300 billion."
"Isn't 300 bigger than 1?"
"What's wrong with what I said?"
Vegeta couldn't even be bothered to insult him anymore. Resisting the urge to hit him, he gritted his teeth and turned away.
"Hmph!"
He was afraid that if he spent too long talking to an idiot like this, he might become just as stupid.
At that moment,
Tabble and Licks were also left speechless by Son Goku's astonishing claim.
What the hell did he mean, 300 was bigger than 1?
So he'd quietly swallowed the units that came after the numbers?
Good grief!
He couldn't even do such simple math.
As expected, he was illiterate!
Still, Tabble gave him a simple explanation. "Son Goku, one trillion is 700 billion more than 300 billion."
"In other words, one trillion is equal to 1,000 billion."
"Tell me, is 1,000 bigger than 300?"
Only then did Son Goku finally understand. "Ohhh, so that's how it works!"
"Then I was wrong!"
"Sorry, I can't remember numbers once they go over a million. Hehe~"
At the end, he scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
The next moment, his attention returned to the important matter.
"So that means I'm still short by... 700 billion! Right, I need another 700 billion in battle power before I can try to transform into a Super Saiyan 4?"
"Wow, I'm still that far away. I'm not even halfway there."
Though he said that, there wasn't a trace of fear or discouragement on his face.
There was only excitement and blazing determination.
"Hey, Tabble, when did you first start trying to transform into a Super Saiyan 4?"
"How many times did you try before you succeeded?"
At those two questions, Vegeta's ears perked up. He straightened his head and stared at Tabble curiously.
He also wanted to know how many times Tabble had tried to break through from Super Saiyan 3 to Super Saiyan 4.
Surely it hadn't been like transforming into a Super Saiyan or Super Saiyan 2, where he'd succeeded on his first try?
That would be way too abnormal!
Before you continue