Gone Native: Lost Days (ch. 2) (Patreon)

I approached Earth alone in an attack ball, the once favored ship of my people. The ship that once belonged to the Guardians was deposited in a safe location -- it was too valuable to risk as a general means of transportation. Not to mention that it had once belonged to the Guardians. I was perhaps the foremost expert on technology for the Saiyan race, which was mostly because what had been the working-class Saiyans had been killed over the course of the war.

The little I did know was enough for me to know that I could never outsmart the guardians when it came to technology. Much less their own technology. Much like power rings, I couldn't rely on it, because for all the ability their tech offered, it was a liability. The Guardians could take it back whenever they wanted and more often than not, that was right when you needed it the most.

Which is why I found myself racing through space in a custom-made attack ball. The Wink-drive allowed me to drastically cut down the travel time via teleportation. I preferred slip-space as a means of galactic travel, but I could recognize that the time dilation would be more of a curse than a blessing in the cramped ship. There was the added benefit that I could see information in real-time.

I had waited for the grace period to end before deciding to head to Earth. The past week has been tense, to say the least, but equally productive. The Federation was cautiously optimistic about my announcement and obeyed the order to remove all their official operations in my space. I would have to spend years weeding out the off-the-books ops, and I doubt that I would ever get them all.

The Reach Empire seemed like it was going through an internal power struggle. Koter Ve'sk, a long-standing enemy of mine, had taken control over the Reach during the war. However, it would seem that his grip had slipped and the Reach was being divided.

The Trade Organization, however, felt my departure the most keenly. There were mass defections to my empire as entire fleets and armies went rogue before turning up at my border with a white flag raised. I'm sure a number of them were spies and plants, but I accepted them all the same. My Empire swelled in population, stealing a third of the Trade Organization's military force. Which was tens of trillions of slave soldiers. Nearly a hundred trillion.

Neither King Cold nor Lord Cooler took any actions yet beyond Cooler taking command of the Trade Organization. They offered no statement of any kind, but it would only be a matter of time before that changed. They wouldn't take this lying down. My guess was that Cooler was establishing his authority and regathering the Trade Organization. After all, the Federation could smell blood in the water with Frieza's death and my betrayal and succession from the Organization.

Preparations were being made to handle the influx. Planets were repurposed to house species if I wasn't in possession of their home planet. Efforts were being made to rejoin families as well, but that was mostly a mixed bag of success. Slave soldiers were expendable to most of the Trade Organization. In my tenure as Supreme Commander, I tried to curb that belief, but…

Everyone was looking for their families. Odds were most of them were long since dead.

"Hmm…" I hummed to myself, sifting through information while issuing orders. It was very different leading an empire at peace than it was at war. The war had been a focus point -- everything that was produced was for the war. Every credit that was made went to the war. Vegeta's half of the empire was dedicated solely to producing tools of war with no economy to speak of. In fact, it had been running in a major deficit for the entirety of the war.

It was different. A challenge to so radically change the direction of the empire. Especially considering that I had done precious little governing. The empire had been a tool for me to support the war effort. For most of my empire's life span, I didn't even know what kind of system of government I had. All I had cared about was that it could support the war effort.

It was very different, but that wasn't a bad thing. The entire empire was restructuring itself. Without the Trade Organization to serve as the backbone of my economy, it was in a free fall. Materials that we had imported were cut off. Several basic and fundamental aspects to an empire were simply missing -- citizenship, education, healthcare, internal policing. The one thing I was on top of was the military which is probably why the empire hadn't imploded in the past week.

I was still over militarized and… my reputation kept people in line.

I was the Supreme Commander that fought the entire galaxy and won. I was the Saiyan that killed Frieza.

"The biggest issue is that everyone was a slave until recently," I muttered as I continued my travels to Earth. My attack ball activated the Wink-drive, teleporting me closer to the planet, shaving off a month from my estimated arrival time. The drive began charging for another jump.

The vast majority of my citizens had been slaves. However, not all slaves were created equal. There had been some that had nothing -- not even their life or name, then there were slaves like me that had money and an empire. If I left the problem of the economy alone, near ninety-five percent of my empire would live in poverty and squalor. The issue was… credits. The war economy vanished, and we didn't have a civilian economy to take up the reins.

Right now, every basic aspect of the empire was being supported by the military. Rations, relocations, and policing. However, that wouldn't last for long.

"Note: Completely restart the economy. All citizens are granted a fund. Factors such as family size, occupation, and race determine what amount is received. Have experts catalog every item, material, good, and service available to determine fair prices. Send proposal to Ada'la," I ordered. Ada'la was my manager, turned to trusted aid. It was her that I had to thank for my reputation.

I had performed the deeds, but Ada'la was the one that made sure everyone knew about them. From songs, kid shows, adult shows, soap operas, documentaries, and every other conceivable piece of propaganda. Additionally, she had been the one that shaped my empire for me.

I thought it was a pretty good plan. Money had no fundamental value beyond the value that was given to it. Given that I was the government, I think it was within my rights to turn off the economy and turn it back on again so it would function. The set prices would eventually fall or increase over time as rarity and availability changed. Hopefully, by that time, the empire would be in the swing of things with paid occupations, taxes, and other things related to money.

The Wink-drive jumped forward once again, shaving off another month from my estimated arrival. I was within the system now, racing by a planet called Pluto. Dismissing the holograms, I leaned back into my seat and looked through the window of my attack ball. It was too far to see Earth yet, but I searched the vacuum of space for it anyway.

It was minutes later, as I passed the planet called Jupiter, that I saw a spec that could be Earth. It seemed to grow with each minute that I stared, racing by Mars. My heart rate started to pick up, a feeling of anticipation making my foot bounce impatiently. It felt like it took forever for the blue spec to be anything more than a spec. It grew in size, first from a dot, then to the size of a marble, and it kept growing.

It was Earth. How many years had it been since I thought about it? It had been a while, and only because I sent Broly here to protect him from Frieza. Before that, it was years. Nearly a decade.

When did I stop considering it home? When did I stop considering myself a human in the body of a Saiyan and start considering myself a Saiyan that had once been a human? I hardly recalled anything about it. Some of that was my fault, from when I tried to get rid of my human memories, but… it had been a long war. A very long war.

I approached Earth, but it didn't feel like I was going home.

My lips curled into a frown as I sailed by the moon, punching through the atmosphere, and setting course to land. The attack ball slowed rapidly, letting me see where I was landing -- near the ocean on a sandy beach. A split second later, the attack ball slammed into the ground, sending sand and dust up. A small crater formed around the point of impact, but sand was already trying to reclaim the lost ground.

The door to the ball opened with a hiss, letting me get out. Almost absentmindedly, I tossed a capsule onto the ship, storing it inside and picking it up, before I floated upward. The air was clean for the most part. Familiar, almost, but I wasn't sure how much of that was because I thought it should be. At the very least, it lacked the recycled sterile scent of a ship. And I've smelled worse planets.

Floating up, I saw the evening sun peeking through spotty cloud coverage. Before me stretched an ocean of water that gently lapped at the beach I was on, surging and retreating time and time again. A bird flew away, likely startled by my arrival -- white with gray and black coloring at the wings. A seagull if I recall correctly.

"I'm home," I told the Earth, but it didn't feel like it was home. Planet Vegeta hadn't either. There, I had never fit in. Here… it felt like I was a stranger in my own home. I had changed too much.

But that was fine. That's what I was here for.

Earth would become the home for the Saiyan race. The others were scattered across my empire, all following their orders to crush whatever resistance they might find from pirate bands to rogue military assets. It would keep them busy. The devastation over two million Saiyans could bring to Earth… I was being cautious. I didn't want our race to destroy yet another homeworld.

"First things first -- Recon," I decided, falling back into very old habits. Habits that were formed when Bardock and the team were stuck behind enemy lines and taking planets on our own when we were vastly too weak to do so with brute force. I wasn't sure how much of that applied here, but…

I stretched out with my ki sensing ability and I found powerful people. An honestly shocking number of them. My range covered two-thirds of the Earth and there were around a hundred that could have defeated me prior to my Super Saiyan transformation. With it, that number decreased significantly, but there was still a handful.

I was still confident, however. Frieza at his strongest had been stronger, if only marginally. With the right tactics, I could defeat the strongest foes that the Earth could offer. I’ve gotten used to being outmatched, if not physically then tactically, and still securing a victory. I wasn’t arrogant enough to assume that this would be the case now, which is why I decided to be cautious.

Most of the Earth’s population was located in cities and it would seem that was where powerful individuals gathered. My attention shifted to the left -- the beach stretched on for some distance in a jagged pattern before giving way to stone cliffsides. Beyond them, I saw a skyline that belonged to an unknown city. Smaller towns were dotted about between me and it, but they didn’t seem worth investigating.

Humans were weak, I noted as I flew through the air. Shockingly so. Most of them seemed weaker than I had ever been, even right out of the gestation tank with a pathetic power level of 15. They were weaker than that by three-fourths. It was honestly surprising -- I knew that humans were fairly weak comparatively, but… it was shocking to feel just how weak they truly were. The only point of reference I had for humans before this was Hal Jordan and his companion John Stewart. Both were powerful green lanterns, though one more so than the other.

At a leisurely pace, I approached the city from above. The main road was covered in land-based vehicles -- cars. They fed into the city, while a lesser amount seemed to be leaving, all passing underneath a green sign. I paused for a moment, narrowing my eyes at it.

It was English, but it had been years since I’ve read the language. But, despite my faded and spotty memories, I was able to read the letters. “Welcome to Jump City,” I read aloud, sounding it out to make sure that I was reading it correctly. It sounded right. Searching my memories, I tried to place the city from my past life and I recalled some details. Nothing much, though.

There should be a building just outside of the city limits. On an island. Flying up and forward, sailing over the city and between the buildings made of metal and glass, I quickly found what I was looking for.

A T-shaped building that was located on an island outside of the city mainland. There didn’t seem to be a bridge connecting the island, but I suspected there was a tunnel. Slowly, I touched down on a building that gave me a decent vantage of the T-shaped building, the home base for the… Teen Titans? The Titans?

I couldn’t recall much beyond that they existed. When I combed through my human memories years ago, only a bare mention of them and Jump City remained. What significance they had to the people of Earth was lost on me, as well as who the Titans were. But, it would seem that several of them were powerful to a degree. That being said, none of them seemed to be inside of the Tower at the moment.

Looking out to my left, I zeroed in on where these suspected Titans they were. They were all within the city limits. Floating up, I drifted over to their location, and I heard the sounds of combat long before I spotted the individuals fighting. It would seem that not every notable presence was an ally of theirs. Was the city under attack?

A frown tugged at my lips as I touched down on top of another tall building that allowed me to overlook the battle. Crossing my arms, my eyes flickered between the combatants -- noting that some of them used technology to fight, as well as magic, which was why I couldn’t sense their true strength. That was vital information. As well as the fact that there seemed to be two squads in the city at conflict with one another.

My gaze turned to the magic users -- there were two of them from what I could see, and it seemed they chose each other to fight against. I knew little of magic, but I had made use of it extensively throughout the war. It was a useful tool to have because it was so versatile. Even if an enemy had taken precautions against it, there were so many different kinds that you could probably find something else that would work.

A young woman with skin that held a grayish tone to it, and dark hair. She wore a dark blue cloak over a black leotard that left her legs bare, except for the shoes on her feet. A belt hung at her waist, but I couldn’t see what purpose it served, but for all I knew it could be an amplifier of some kind.

Her hands were coated in black light, framed with white, and I could see her lips moving. I strained my ears to hear her. “Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos,” she intoned, before a trashcan launched itself at the other magic user, who lazily avoided it with a back handspring. The secondary magic-user flung her hands out, pink sparks dancing at her fingertips before a vehicle’s brakes suddenly failed.

I looked over to her -- pink hair and eyes, with a heart-shaped face. Petite build, dressed in a black dress that was highlighted with blue rings at the hem. There was a sharp grin on her face, “You’ll have to do better than that, Rae!” She announced with a cheerful laugh.

“Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos,” 'Rae' encanted again, reaching out to the vehicle spinning out of control and stopping it cold before she rose her other hand. Several objects lifted from the ground before they launched themselves at her. That was interesting, I noted tilting my head as I watched the fight unfold. Rae had a magic invoking incantation while the pink one had… some kind of probability manipulation. I would need to see more, but it was clear that things had a habit of breaking around her, and things that should hit her didn’t.

Subduing them would be simple -- break the gray one’s jaw, and immobilize the pink one.

My gaze shifted to another fight. This one was more physical in nature, and because I recognized one of the combatants. Or, rather, I could guess who she was. An orange-skinned Tameranian with fiery red hair threw down green star bolts at a large hulking figure that was nearly ten feet tall. She wore little, just enough to protect her modesty, but given what I knew about Tamereans, that was for the Earthling’s sake.

She looked like her sister, I noted. Her name was… Koriand'r, I believe. The wayward princess to the Tamerean throne. Or, at least she was. With Komand’r's actions in the war, her position as queen of her people had solidified, and I’m guessing that the first thing she did was revoke Koriand’rs status as a princess. The fact made my lips thin.

If Vegeta had just banished me, or let me renounce my place in the Royal Family, then maybe… maybe we wouldn’t have fought. Maybe he would still be alive.

Koriand’r's opponent was a large man dressed in solid red. Only his face was visible. I imagine he had some kind of forcefield activated because that was a glaring weakness. Unless the head wasn’t a vital location for humans? Was he human? He felt about as weak as one outside of that power armor that let him hurl a truck at Koriand’r.

Both of them were easy. If Koriand’r was anything like her sister, then she would need to be beaten into submission if she didn’t surrender. The armored one… break his armor, and he would have nothing.

There was another tall human in the fighting, but this one didn’t wear armor. His thick arms were bare as he clashed against a green animal. A carnivore based on the number of teeth, though with oddly short arms. However, to my surprise, the green carnivore shifted and transformed into something else. A… kangaroo, I think. The tall human surged forward while the green kangaroo leaned back on its thick tail before bracing its feet against his stomach and sending the human flipping over him with a fair amount of strength.

Then that kangaroo became a bird that flew up into the air, only to become a bulky and heavy beast that dropped directly on top of the muscular human.

“Huh,” I muttered, eyeing the fight with some interest. The shapeshifting creature was versatile. I wonder what it would taste like? It took so many shapes of various animals, would it taste like them all, or would it only taste like the creature it transformed into? I made a note to find out.

The last fight that I could see was between two young men -- or, at least, that’s how it started. One man armed with a bo staff found himself surrounded by many indentical youths wearing the same exact red jumpsuit. A relative of Canda? She had been able to make copies of herself, but only two. This guy made dozens, but the man with the bo staff reacted well. He fought better than the duplicator, deftly avoiding the enemy, and only fought those that he couldn’t, before delivering a devastating spin kick to the original’s jaw.

The others faded from view instantly.

I spent a long minute watching the fight unfold, coming to my conclusions.

“They would have been a great fit for the 501st,” I remarked to myself, a note of sadness in my voice. The 501st were the first troops under my command, at first forced by circumstance when we were stranded on a planet called Rench deep behind enemy lines. They had been elites, but in that battle, most of them died. The remnants were placed under my command.

And I turned them into the single most powerful unit in the entire Trade Organization. I recruited various species with a wide range of abilities, all hand-picked for synergy. I had been proud to be their leader. They had been the best of the best of the best.

Even still, Frieza killed them all when he started throwing around planets in the final battle of the war in the Vega system.

This was a good sample size of what to expect, I decided. I would have to check the other cities to see what they had to offer, but I was seeing magic, technology, unique powers, and pure skill. Now, it was just a question of why they were fighting.

How could I learn if I didn’t ask?

Stepping forward, I dropped from the building, falling hundreds of feet before I landed on the concrete below. It cracked underneath me, my feet sinking into the ground by a few inches. It would seem that despite the power on display, the builders of this city hadn’t seen fit to reinforce their building materials. An odd choice.

Now that I was closer, I could more easily hear the exchanges being made. I strode towards the conflict -- four separate battles. Neither side worked much like a team, but at the very least, they seemed to be aware of each other. Even if they didn't seem to be aware of my approach. However, they quickly learned when a pink ray of energy raced by me, nearly hitting me, but managing to strike a bus that didn't seem to realize there was a battle being fought.

It suddenly lurched forward, a roar coming from the engine as it sped up. I glanced over my shoulder, a frown tugging at my lips -- even without my ki sensing abilities, I could see that the bus was filled with people.

Annoying.

Reaching out with a hand, I caught the bus' front bumper and infused my ki into the vehicle to keep it intact. To difuse its momentum, I pushed down, forcing the back of the bus to buck up, and lifted the entire bus. It started to sail overhead, forcing me to pivot to make sure that no one was flung out of their seat before I carefully set the entire bus down. It wasn't often that I dealt with such a weak species. I had to be careful.

And it would seem that I had my answer on who was who.

“Wh-what was that?” I heard the bus driver question over the general clamor of the bus inhabitants. Based on the lack of screaming, I’m assuming that they were fine. Letting go of the bus, I walked out from behind it to see that the fighting had suffered a momentarily lapse as all the combatants turned to look at me.

No one was exploiting the moment of hesitation as I continued to stride forward. That was disappointing, but I suppose both sides were wondering whose side I was on.

The answer was simple.

I was on my side.

“Who are you?” The pink one questioned me as I came to a stop not far from the battle, her and Rae the two closest to me. I looked to her, my gaze flickering to the others before I tilted my head.

That wasn’t a question I was used to hearing anymore, as conceited as that might sound. That raised a very interesting question -- why didn’t she know who I was? This planet had two green lanterns assigned to it, both of which knew. So, why didn’t she?

It would seem that Hal Jordan decided not to share that information. Just like how the Guardians decided to not tell him. That was deeply ironic given what had transpired between them.

"You'll learn who I am soon enough. Introductions are unnecessary," I decided, making her eyes narrow into slits. "What is the purpose of this battle?" I questioned, my gaze sliding from the pink one, to Rae, then to…

Hm. The green creature turned itself into a saiyanoid form. Was it mimicking me or humanity? I guessed the latter based on the lack of a tail.

It was Koriand'r that answered me, "The Fearsome Five have broken the law. We are apprehending them to be imprisoned," she explained, sounding decidedly chipper. She… was very different from her sister based on the brief exchange. The word bubbly comes to mind.

So, this wasn't some form of invasion, then? A simple crime? How… underwhelming.

"There are four of you," I pointed out, eying the Fearsome Five.

"Six, actually!" The large human that had fought the green creature announced in a lumbering voice. He spoke with confidence, as if that was somehow better. I glanced at him to see that he was rising to his feet, uninjured. He was durable, at the very least. He might have made a good fight before I became Elite-Class as a small child, but now he wasn't worth being an annoyance.

The pink one sighed, "Mammoth… so, nameless guy! What's your next move? Feel like lending a hand?" She requested, much to the growing ire of what I'm guessing were the Titans.

I frowned and glanced at the Titans. "You've endangered my citizens with a pointless squabble. Surrender immediately," I ordered, walking forward, earning a scowl from the pink one while the one dressed like a stoplight with an E on his chest frowned.

"Your citizens?" I heard him question before the battle resumed. The one called Mammoth unleashed a roar as he lumbered over to me as fast as he could manage. He raised a fist that was larger than my head and swung down, intent on crushing me like an insect. He seemed unable to believe that simply stepping back allowed me to dodge the punch that slammed into the ground, based on his dumbfounded expression.

I took a step forward, using his forearm as a convenient platform, and launched a kick to the bottom of his jaw. Blood erupted from his mouth, along with a few broken teeth. I think he might have bitten off his tongue. A rookie mistake. Mammoth was launched up from the force of the blow and sent on a long arc that carried him halfway down the street, crashing down on top of a car that he crushed underneath his weight.

The pink one's eyes widened, recoiling. I could see it in her eyes that she instantly understood that they were outmatched. The others were far slower. The large man in red armor shouted before he charged me, the Titans content to watch to see what I could do. Smart. We shared a common enemy but that didn't make us allies.

"Adonis, stop!" The pink one shouted as Adonis attacked me. His arms moved in blurs, unleashing a flurry of punches at me that I stopped cold with a single hand. His face was twisted into one of anger -- he clearly cared for his friend if a simple kick was able to get this kind of reaction from him.

But, being this close, I could see that there wasn't a protective faceplate or a force field. His face was just… open.

"That power armor -- did you design it?" I questioned him, grabbing his wrist and flipping him over. He hit the ground hard, but the asphalt didn't buckle on impact. This was my city, after all. It would be careless and inconsiderate of me to cause traffic delays. Adonis groaned in response.

He looked up at me with fear in his eyes, "I… yeah?"

"Good. I won't kill you then. You will, however, be working for me to work off your debt to society. With supervision," I decided. The power armor had potential. It increased his physical abilities more than a thousand times over. It was protective… hm… perhaps the armor would be less useful without a war, but I'm sure I could find a use for it.

Adonis seemed to disagree, "No way, man! I'm not working for- Ahhh!" He shouted when I broke his wrist. I intended it to just be a warning, but based on the panicked screaming as he cradled the limb to his chest, he had lost the will to fight.

Soft. Weak.

Those two words summarized my thoughts so far. This was… I don't even know what this was. A broken wrist was all it took? I've seen children do worse to themselves during training and they just fought harder.

"I see. You're weak in body and spirit, so you use that suit to feel powerful, however artificially," I noted, looking down at Adonis, finding myself far less impressed with him. He looked up to me, and unshed tears shone in his eyes. I sighed, "Pathetic."

He wasn't even worth finishing off.

"You, pink one," I said, turning to the pink one. I opened my mouth, but she simply raised her hands.

"It's Jinx," she pointed out, "And we surrender. All of us. To the Teen Titans," she said, giving them a sidelong glance. So, she was the leader. A smart one. I defeated their heavy hitters with ease, and I was an unknown quantity. She didn't know what I would and wouldn't do.

Jinx had potential.

Koriand'r quickly took control over the situation, descending between me and Jinx. "We accept your surrender, Jinx. We are most gracious for your aid," she continued, looking to me. She said that, but the tension hadn't left the air. The fight had ended, yet the Titans looked ready to resume it with me.

"Of course," I replied, offering a nod. I had no conflict with the Titans. For most of my race, the fact they were strong would be cause enough, but I wasn't most Saiyans.

Everyone on Earth was a citizen of my empire. The Titans fought to protect my citizens. Why would we fight?

Looking to Koriand'r I said, "You are Tameranian, correct?" She seemed to be a bit caught off guard by the question but nodded all the same. "Given the nature of your abilities, I'm guessing that you're Komand'r's sister?"

To that, Koriand'r's eyes lit up. The exact opposite expression that Komand'r wore whenever her sister was mentioned. "You know my sister? How is she?" She questioned, clasping her hands together as if she were praying for good news.

She wasn't what I expected. Komand'r had spoken little of her sister, and it had been overwhelmingly negative -- how she had abandoned their people in their time of need, and so on. "She's well. Currently, she's overseeing the reconstruction of the Vega system."

That didn't mean anything to anyone here. I could see it by the lack of reaction from everyone but Koriand'r. She confirmed as much when she spoke, "Reconstruction? Has there been there war with the Cildilian Empire?"

I tilted my head, "I'm not sure if you could call it a war, but yes." She was ignorant not only of me but the battle of the Vega system. One of the most brutal and bloody battles that the Galaxy had ever seen. I lost more than thirty billion soldiers there. The Federation lost more than a trillion. "Komand'r now reigns as queen of the Tameran people, which have been freed from slavery. Her territory is that of what the Cildilian Empire once called theirs."

"This… is most joyous news!" Koriand'r shouted, floating back and up with absolute delight. Her team rounded up the Fearsome Five, who seemed to follow through on their surrender. That was… odd. In my experience, surrendering foes were pretending so they could take you out with them. It became far less common the stronger I got, but I've had a number of close calls because of it.

I also noted that she didn't seem upset about the news that her sister was queen instead of her.

This was a good first impression. The Titans and likely others had fought to keep my planet safe. I owed them my gratitude. It was a good thing that I decided to scout first -- if the others were here, then this would have descended into a fight instantly. I would see that they were all adequately rewarded and see if they were willing to be reassigned. The empire was vastly larger than Earth, after all.

The one with the R on his chest continued to eye me, "What's your relationship with Starfire's sister?" He questioned, his voice had a youthful tone to it.

"She is my subordinate. She has been for some time now," I answered. Koriand'r looked a bit surprised by that, but she still seemed to be elated that her people were no longer slaves. "Forgive me, but I recently arrived on Earth, so Koriand'r's name is the only one that I know."

Koriand'r was eager to introduce the others, "It is most understandable! He is Robin, he is Beast Boy, and she is Raven! She introduced the boy with the R on his chest, the green creature, as well as Rae, which I now saw was short for Raven.

"So, who are you, dude? Are you another alien?" Beast Boy asked -- I was mildly impressed with it. It was some kind of species that gained the ability to transform into others, on top of mimicking human speech and mannerisms.

They really didn't recognize me. That seemed so odd. Perhaps I really was conceited to expect them to know me, but if they didn't know I was the owner of this planet, then they should at the very least recognize me from the war that had touched every corner of the galaxy. That had brought empires low, that saw the end of the Guardians of the Universe, and saw countless dead.

The war touched everywhere… except for here, it seems.

"A pleasure to meet you all. I am King Tarble of the Saiyan race," I introduced myself. To refuse now would be rather rude. The Titans seemed fairly weak, but deeds were worthy of respect just as much as strength was.

Robin recoiled instantly and settled into a stance, making the others flinch back. I looked to him to find him glaring at me, "It's him!" He shouted, baring his teeth.

Interesting. "So, you know of me, then? Good, that should move things along." This was convenient.

"I don't suppose you would share who he is exactly with the rest of us?" Raven questioned, her voice dry as a desert as she eyed me. I was uncertain who was the leader of the Titans, but they seemed to hold a great deal of trust with one another.

"He's the guy that the Justice League formed to protect Earth from!" Robin informed, and that seemed to surprise the others. Me as well.

"Protect? Why would Earth need to be protected from me?" I questioned, an edge entering my tone. Things had been going so well. The extent of diplomacy was usually issuing threats, but this had progressed smoothly enough that I thought that it wouldn't come to blows.

That question seemed to absolutely floor Robin as if he couldn't comprehend it. The Fearsome Five looked between each other. They would be making a break for it when the fight began, I could tell.

"Because you’re here to conquer it!" Robin settled on, earning a slight frown from me.

"I already own Earth. I don't have to conquer anything," I pointed out. That answer didn't seem to sit well with Beast Boy.

He shook his head, "Dude, you can't just… own Earth!" He protested, and I crossed my arms, annoyed at the accusation of theft.

"I can and I have. Your ignorance of Galatic real estate laws doesn’t exempt you from them. Earth was my prize for surviving a suicide mission when I was three months old. The Trade Organization held the deed to Earth for tens of thousands of years. If you wanted to protest this, then you should have made an appeal to the court system," I told them, indignant. How dare they think I would steal a planet? If we were at war, and I conquered it, that was different.

I've never stolen anything in my life and I didn't appreciate the insinuation that I would ever steal anything.

"Oh," Koriand'r muttered, "is it too late to do so?" She asked, the only one taking this seriously. The green one just gaped.

I considered it, "Perhaps. I've recently separated from the Trade Organization, as such their laws no longer apply to my empire. The issue is that the current real estate laws and courts don't as of yet exist for my empire on account that all planets and territories are directly owned by me. If you wish to make an appeal, I will consider it once the proper systems and laws are established."

Robin looked frustrated, but it was Raven that calmed him down. "Would you rather fight or debate property laws?" She questioned him, earning a deep frown in response as the Titans looked to him. He was their leader, I'm guessing.

"None of you understand who this guy is!" He protested, leveling his bo-staff at me. "He's evil. He's killed millions of people!"

"Billions," I corrected flatly, not flinching at his scathing tone. However, the Titans and the Fearsome Five did. "There was a war. One beyond anything you seem capable of comprehending. But it's over now. There's peace."

Raven's lips thinned, but she didn't wear an expression of disgust like Robin or Beast Boy did, nor the one of horror that was on Koriand'r s' face. She seemed more… sad? Interesting.

"My empire needs a capital, and my race needs a new home planet. I've chosen Earth to be both," I told them, my gaze flickering between them. "Do you intend to resist me?" To do so would be an act of rebellion.

Robin was the one that answered, "Of course we will," he stated, his tone unwavering. He was brave. I would give him that much. "Earth's mightiest heroes banded together to stop you and your atrocities. Even if we fail to stop you, they won't." He seemed very certain about that, and I wondered how many of those powerful presences belonged to the Justice League and how many were their enemies?

I could see their resolve growing, dead set on stopping me here and now. They wore grim expressions when I smiled lightly.

I was at peace now. The lives of my soldiers and the people I cared for weren't at stake with every battle.

For the first time in my life… I think I would be able to enjoy a fight that had no obligations. No stakes. After all, even if I lost, I could find another planet.

"Earth's mightiest heroes banding together to stop me?" I repeated, my smile growing, "What a wonderful gift. Thank you," I told them, and the sincerity in my tone caught them off guard.

I turned away from them and beckoned them to follow, "Follow me. Our battle would endanger the lives of my citizens."

They hesitated, but they followed all the same.

The war was over. There was peace. I didn't really know what that meant yet… but I had gotten some advice from an ancient ancestor as well as my race's god.

For the first time in my life I was going to try to enjoy myself.