The Prince's Path [Dragon Ball Z Quest]

Energy Sensing: Talk with Abalo about your experiences on Earth. Maybe he'll have insights relevant on Namek.

You weigh your options.
You could train a little, make sure you're in tip-top condition for when you fight Frieza and his goons. Unless you'd just exhaust yourself in time for Zarbon and Dorodia to double-team you while Frieza laughed.
You could talk to the Nameks about where to hide the Dragon Ball. See if they'd be more willing to listen to you about the fate of their sacred artifacts than they were about strategy.
You could take a nap, make sure you're rested when they show up. Shouldn't be hard to fall asleep under a tree. On this three-sunned planet.

Fuck it. Fine.

You find Abalo pretty close to where you talked to him last. He's moved from the path to a plateau near the path. From this height, you think you can see the southern sea Abalo was talking about. Unless that's just a greener plain. Namek's so weird.

Abalo turns his head slightly to acknowledge your presence, then goes back to looking south.

"So, I was thinking." True enough. "I was thinking that to prepare for my fight against Frieza, I should think about defeats I've had in the past and how I can avoid making the same mistakes."

Abalo nods slightly. "That seems wise."

"And I was thinking about that thing that happened before I came here." You pause.

"...You and your comrade getting your asses handed to you?"

You turn around, looking north. It's easier if you don't need to look directly at him. "Yeah. That."

You watch the village for a moment. Most of the Nameks are running around in the fields, taking care of their plants like nothing was wrong. Like pretending that things were normal would make them normal.

Mighty Flash: Or our presence makes them so calm that they're more worried about weeds in their space cabbage patch than they are about Frieza!

"So, Prince. Do you want to tell me what went wrong?"

Energy Sensing: Of course.
Mighty Flash: Of course not! That was the lowest moment in our miserable life! We can't just tell someone about it!
Cunning: Then what the hell are we doing here?!
Mighty Flash: This wasn't my idea!

[Will, Energy Sensing v. Mighty Flash: 9 vs 8]

It takes some effort, but you start talking.
-2 Will

"...Well, I got crushed by a...no. I think it was when the kid bounced that energy at me. No, no. It started going wrong when my tail got cut off."

"Your tail?"

You nod, before remembering that Abalo is facing the other way. "Yes. A Saiyan's tail is the root of his power. When I lost that, I couldn't transform. If I was still transformed, that energy attack wouldn't have weakened me so much, and I could have beaten the transformed whelp."

"Transform?"

"I could transform into an oozaru," you explain. "My height and power would both increase tenfold. There were some drawbacks and limitations, but I'd trained enough to functionally remove them."

Great Ape: It was glorious.
Nappa: The pinnacle of Saiyan might.

You kick the dirt at your feet. "Not that it matters. Once an adult Saiyan loses his tail, it can't be regrown."

Cunning: And even if you could transform, Frieza would still have double your power level.
Energy Sensing: Double and then some.

A handful of child Nameks catch your eye. They're playing some kind of game. It looks like a sort of team-based tag game, two teams of two chasing and defending each other.

Abalo speaks up again. "Well, if it's gone it's gone. How did you lose it?"

"Some weakling I'd never seen before jumped from behind a boulder and cut it off with a sword before I could react."

Royal Pride: Embarrassing.
-1 Will

"How can you avoid that in the future?"

"Fuck if I know. I'm pretty alert. Normally something like that wouldn't slip past me."

"But it did that time."

Energy Sensing [12, Success]: Lean left.

As you do, a little ball of energy whizzes past your right ear.

"You are observant," Abalo noted. "But in the chaos of battle, it's easy for little details to escape your notice. Incidentally, where was your comrade?"

"He was out of the fight already. The other team's champion broke his back."

Nappa: And then what happened?

Abalo hummed. "Perhaps if he was still up, he'd have seen the swordsman."

"Perhaps. He was a simpleton, but stranger things have happened."

You watch the clouds twist in the sky.

"Something tells me you didn't try to protect your comrade from that champion."

You try to remember exactly what happened. "I...told Nappa to back off and let me handle him, he decided to attack some of the weaker Earthlings, and the champion attacked before I had time to intervene."

Nappa: And then what happened?!?

"Perhaps you should have fought beside him from the start."

"I thought he could handle them. Earth's defenders were all so weak. But they held their ground against someone with a power level as high as all of theirs put together."

"Perhaps there's more to battle than raw power."

You grind the ball of your foot into the grass and dirt. "I know that much. I lost to them, even though my power level was higher than all theirs put together, champion included. I don't know why."

"No two fights are alike. Nor are any two fighters. A master can show you a path, but you must choose to walk on your own."

Hmph.

[ ] Mighty Flash: That feels like a good place to end this conversation. Let's find somewhere else to intervene.
[ ] Energy Sensing: Stick around. Ask about Abalo's path. See if it's one worth walking.
[ ] Warrior Training: Abalo clearly thinks you should fight alongside others. Brainstorm some ideas of how to fight alongside him without a stray Dodoria blast killing him.
[ ] Write-in