Gone Native: Old Friends (ch. 21) (Patreon)

It was almost hard to believe the fully grown man before me was the same boy that used to follow me around, using my cape as a leash to keep up while he munched down on months worth of rations. It shouldn't be. Broly was a few years older than me, so it only made sense that he would have hit his growth spurt. Still, it was difficult to correlate the man before me with the boy he had been.

He was closer to seven feet tall than six, broad shouldered with thick and powerful arms that his casual clothes failed to properly contain. If it wasn't for the giant mint green animal ear that was tied around his waist, I might have doubted that it was really him. That, and his ridiculous strength. He was even stronger than I had last seen him, several times over.

"Tarble? What? Why are you-" Broly questioned, pulling back as his hands unclenched. He stared at me wide-eyed, absolutely shocked. He had always been open with his emotions. It made it clear that he was actually surprised to see me. Overwhelmed, almost. We flew high in the atmosphere, carried by the force of his punch. It was difficult to tell how much time we had… or if we had any at all. "Is… the war over?"

No. "The War of Light ended a few weeks ago," I confirmed and Broly seemed stunned. His jaw dropped as he took a moment to process the news before a rather familiar smile appeared on his face that quickly developed an apprehensive edge to it, sensing what I was about to say. "A lot happened. And the victory wasn't without a cost, but Elery made it through. So did your squad."

Broly's shoulders slumped as he seemed to let out a breath that he had been holding for years. Since we separated, at least. "They made it through? That's… that's a relief. I…" he trailed off, looking at me for a moment. "I was really angry when I woke up," he admitted to me, giving me a small smile. "I thought I did something wrong -- Shayera told me you were doing it to protect me, but I was worried about Elery. And you. I thought you would need me to end the war."

Then he shook his head, "But I get it now. You were trying to help me by sending me away. I thought I could hide how much I hated fighting, but you knew, didn't you?" he asked me, though it sounded like he already knew the answer.

"It wasn't hard to figure out," I admitted. Killing was something that didn't come naturally to Broly. He wasn't like me. Necessity didn't wear him down until he could kill without thought. I had waited for years for Broly to get used to death -- both killing and the losses on our side. He never did. He felt each death just as keenly as the first one. Fighting the war was destroying him, slowly but surely.

Broly gave me an honest smile, "Thank you, Tarble." he told me and I could hear the sincerity in his words. "I felt bad for not participating in the war, but Earth…" he trailed off, his smile growing a fraction.

It almost felt like we were back in old times. Simpler times, I would say, but things had never been simple. I hadn't quite understood how much I had missed Broly until he was flying before me. I had sent him to Earth for his own good, but it had been one of the hardest things I've done. More so now because… Broly might be the last friend that I have left.

Yet, by sending him here, I might have made him an enemy.

"I looked for you, but I couldn't find you. And you never showed up when I was making a ruckus, so I thought you might have moved on to another planet," I told him and, just for a moment, I allowed myself to indulge in the friendly exchange. However, in the back of my own mind, I felt that cold rationality prepare itself for what felt like an inevitability. Broly seemed to have enjoyed his time on Earth.

Broly scratched at the scar on his cheek, "Oh, really? Me and Shayera live on an island because we wanted to avoid people learning about us. We almost got caught because of me a couple of times, like when I had my growth spurt back when I tried to go to school. So, we've done a lot to lay low," Broly explained, but the explanation didn't quite mesh with me. I could understand Broly hiding his power level like I had taught him -- Earth, for all it's heroes, might as well be made of wet tissue paper. And hiding his power was how he learned to remain under the radar.

My arrival has been everything but subtle. Everyone around the globe knew of me by now -- if not for the fact I owned earth, then for my actions. Broly somehow missing my arrival didn't make sense if he had access to so much as a radio or a newspaper. That being said, it did make sense if I assumed that my arrival was being hidden from him. Or, rather, Shayera was hiding my arrival from him.

It made sense. Shayera had joined my army for Broly -- to save him because she saw what I did, that Broly was being destroyed by the war. What prompted her fixation on him was anyone's guess, but knowing Broly, it was an unnecessary act of mercy. Her loyalty had been to him, rather than me. I suppose she thought she was protecting Broly from me.

Given the circumstances, that wasn't as ludicrous as it might have been.

"It's a lot of fun, Tarble! I can show you the house that we built -- I used some of your techniques to help build it -- and it's in a really pretty location. There are a bunch of animals that I'm friends with -- well, some of them I brought to the island, but they settled in okay." Broly began, almost gushing as he threw his arms out wide before gesturing to the island in question. It was only then that he seemed to realize my current condition. As well as what it meant.

Broly had leaped to defend Earth, but only now did it click into place that Earth needed defending from me. He visibly blanched, his gaze searching me for a long moment. "You're attacking Earth," he voiced in a whisper.

"Earth attacked me," I corrected, but it seemed pointless. "A group of humans murdered nearly a hundred of my soldiers on an aid mission. All signs point to it being an UN-sanctioned mission," I said, my voice flat. "I will deliver the perpetrators what they deserve, no matter who they might be."

Broly's lips thinned, "In that case, we can still talk things out, right?" he questioned, a stiffness in his voice that almost sounded pleading. "We can go ask the UN if they did it, and the Justice League will bring them in if they're bad guys." he said, his tone confident. Certain. I… hadn't realized how much I had missed his unyielding optimism until now.

I shook my head, "Things have already gone too far." I answered simply -- I had killed some heroes. Even if the Justice League was willing to look the other way with the UN, they would accept those deaths just as well as I would. Things had been coming to ahead for some time and now all there was left was to clash against each other until one of us broke.

"Are the 501st here?" Broly questioned, and I looked away. There was a beat of silence, and not because Broly realized I was fighting Earth on my own. "What about your team? Bardock? Fasha? The others?" Again, I said nothing. My hands curled into fists. Broly wasn't asking who was here with me. He was asking who else was dead.

"Vegeta and my father are gone as well," I informed him, my voice cold. I didn't look at Broly. I didn't need to see the pity in his eyes.

There was a beat of silence. "I should have… I should have been there," he offered, his voice sounding weak. Hearing that, I shook my head in denial. I knew the truth of the matter.

"No, there was nothing that you could have done," I told him. The only one that could have avoided that tragic ending to the war was me. If I hadn't been so willfully ignorant, if I had acted sooner in some way, then my team wouldn't have murdered my brother. Broly being there wouldn't have changed anything. The only ones that could have done something to change things was my brother, my team, and myself -- and given that they were all dead, their shares of the blame rested heavily on my shoulders.

Looking back at Broly, it was evident that he didn't believe that. But, I continued on. "Broly, what will you do?" I asked him, keeping my voice even. His lips thinned, knowing exactly what I meant. I did feel bad for putting him in this position. I sent him here so he wouldn't have to fight. Then I brought conflict to his doorstep. He would do something -- as gentle as Broly was, I would never accuse him of being a coward, the kind of weak-willed man that would do nothing when something could be done.

"I don't want to fight you, Tarble," he told me and I could hear the sincerity in his voice.

I offered a small smile, meeting his gaze. "You may not have a choice," I informed as I sensed our talk coming to a close. The heroes and villains had rallied and I could feel some of them closing in on our position. I looked off in their direction, seeing dots in the distance that were rapidly approaching.

"I don't know what to do," Broly admitted to me, his shoulders slumping. For a moment, I saw the boy that he had been. It seemed that some things hadn't changed. He was looking at me for direction, to tell him what to do. It would be an easy thing to convince him to side with me. All I had to do was say the words and Broly would fall in line, just like he used to.

I turned to face the approaching enemies, gathering up my strength as I fought to keep the grains of sand from slipping between my fingers. Superman had yet to show his face, but it was only a matter of time. I had to dig deep to face him, but I couldn't discount the threats that I faced now. "You're not my soldier anymore, Broly. It's up to you to decide what you want to do," I told him, leaving it up to him if he fought to protect Earth from me or helped me.

To punctuate my words, I flew off to meet my enemies head-on. I spotted the strongest of them -- a man with dark skin, dark hair that was cut short, and a black bodysuit marked with white and yellow highlights. Black Adam, he was known by. He was flanked by, Batman still in the same suit that he fought in previously, but some damage had been repaired. It seems my vow to avoid killing them if I could avoid it was biting me in the ass. Shazam also flew with them, but I didn't see Wonder Girl or the other members of the Batfamily.

"For Kahndaq!" The battle cry left Black Adam's lips as we clashed above the Pacific ocean, the shockwave blasting the water back as if a bomb had gone off. I caught his punch with my forearm, feeling the solid blow reverberate in my bones as my punch struck true, catching him in the cheek, and he shot down to the ocean below, sending up thousands of gallons of water just as the other two fell upon me.

I wished I still had the trident. It has been a useful weapon, I reflected as I formed two ki spears to defend myself with. Shazam attacked from the left while Batman attacked from the right. Water drenched us as it fell back down to the ocean, but even as we were doused, we still fought without missing a beat -- I deflected a flurry of attacks, the two working together with greater effect because of Batman. He seemed to move between supporting Shazam and being supported by him without missing a beat.

He fundamentally understood how Shazam fought. Regardless of how much experience they might have fighting together. It was impressive, but I could admit that it was inconvenient for me. However, at the moment, I had the edge when it came to raw power. It coursed through my veins, and even as they teamed up to exponentially increase their fighting potential, I was still winning the bout.

My foot lashed out, catching Shazam in the stomach before I spun sharply, the heel of my other foot catching him in the temple as I dodged a lunge from Batman. His head jerked to the side, and he grimaced, feeling the blow that stunned him as I lunged out with my spears for Batman as he sailed underneath. Batman reacted well, managing to dodge the worst of the thrusts, and diverting what he couldn't with a firearm, but with a swipe of my short spear, I nearly took off one of his suit's mechanical hands.

Black Adam flew back up from the deep sea below, joining the fray with vengeance. I blocked a punch with the shadow of a ki spear, my gaze meeting his. His expression was twisted into a snarl as he threw himself at me, quickly throwing another punch as his first one was blocked in a shower of sparks. He was as powerful as Shazam, almost exactly so. The only difference was that he clearly had more fighting experience.

Batman proved himself worthy of fighting beside them both by instantly adapting to Black Adam's fighting style, sneaking in attacks as we traded blows. Comparatively, Shazam was a wrecking ball that threw off the flow of the fight, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It kept me on my toes, forcing me to give the three of them my undivided attention. Batman was lagging behind in raw power, his suit suffering from the damage I dealt to it. However, he knew that and accounted for it.

I thrust a short spear at his chest as I took a swipe at Black Adam with my long spear. Black Adam accepted the blow, opening Shazam up for a punch to my ribs. The blow landed with thunderous force, and I felt one audibly snap under the impact, but I ignored the pain and countered with a high knee to the chin as I avoided Batman's counter to my spear thrust. My lips thinned as I felt the fight slowly shift into a fight of attrition.

"You're buying time," I noted, throwing a spear at Shazam shortly before punching him as he dodged. The spear spun through the air, flying back to my palm just in time to divert a punch from Batman, opening him up to a kick to the stomach. The armored suit he wore was tough. Tougher than what the rest of his brood wore to fight me.

I didn't expect a response, but Black Adam helpfully supplied one. "These fools await their savior Superman," he informed, confirming my suspicion. "I myself find no point in waiting to be saved. I shall defend myself and my people with my own strength."

Black Adam was the unofficial ruler of the nation of Kahndaq. I believe it had a prime minister or something, but most seemed to assume that he was just a puppet. The nation was also unaffiliated with the UN. My eyes narrowed ever so slightly and Black Adam answered my unspoken question.

"Is this where you promise that Kahndaq shall be mine if I side with you?" He questioned as we fought, barely giving me any time to think as I was forced to block a blow to the side of my face from Batman while lashing out with a foot to stop the kick that Shazam launched at me.

I met his sneer with one of my own, "If you would betray Earth for a petty kingdom, then I wouldn't want to call you my ally," I shot back, earning a brief frown from Black Adam as I attempted to slam an elbow into his nose, only to be forced to abandon the attack as Batman intervened. Instead, I slammed the tip of a ki spear into one of the joints of his suit, only to find that the joints had been reinforced to prevent me from easily skewering the man inside.

Our gazes met, and Black Adam offered a curt nod. "Well said, King Tarble," he offered, though earning a degree of his respect didn't mean he suddenly switched sides. Rather the opposite, really, because he seemed to fight harder -- his fists rained down in a powerful torrent, forcing me on the defensive for the first time during the bout. Gritting my teeth, I threw myself into the fight, matching them all blow for blow. The contest lasted a brief few seconds before my fist snuck through the flurry of attacks and I punched Black Adam in the face.

I could still win. I just had to be on the offensive. Always.

With that thought in mind, I continued the onslaught, matching their blows with mine as I slipped attacks into their defense. Shazam was looking worse for wear, already having fought me before. The others seemed to realize I was targeting him the most so they fought harder, trying to match me and ease the pressure on him. For the briefest of moments, my head was empty as I focused on the fight. On winning. The fight was almost fun when the circumstances fell away from the battle.

Then I heard a clap of thunder and my head snapped into the direction of the source of it. Just in time to see a torrent of red energy rush towards me. I tensed, ready to deflect the attack, however, I didn't need to. A split second before it washed over all of us, a figure placed himself in front of us. I couldn't feel the power of the attack, but I knew a planet buster when I saw one.

Broly stopped it cold in its tracks, using a single hand to catch the front of the blast. I saw his back, Baa's ear flapping in the wind around his waist. The stalemate lasted a short second before Broly's elbow began to bend, not because he was being forced back, but for leverage so he could throw the blast back at the source. Over the sound of rushing wind, I heard another crack of thunder as the portal suddenly vanished -- was the system independent of Cyborg? I had damaged him severely, but he was enough machine that killing him might mean more than destroying his body.

When the dark red energy blast vanished, dissipating into nothing, Broly looked over his shoulder at me. Our eyes met and my body tensed, ready for what could come. But I hadn't realized how far Broly could be because he seemed to move in a blur, even to my eyes, rushing towards us to deliver a powerful punch --

-- that slammed into Black Adam's gut, folding him like a piece of paper, before he lashed out with the palm of his other hand, slamming it into his back. Black Adam didn't stand a chance, flying down and hitting the ocean with a sonic boom. Shazam and Batman backed off, sizing up the new threat.

Broly took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I've decided," Broly said, looking at me, his expression serious. It almost seemed out of place on him. "I'm with you Tarble. To the bitter end," he proclaimed as I drifted over so we hovered in the air, shoulder to shoulder.

I didn't have time to feel relieved as a weight that had been hanging from my shoulders was lifted. Broly hadn't betrayed me. Not like my team had. Not like Vegeta had. Not like Frieza had. I doubted he understood how much the decision meant to me deep down, deeper than even I cared to admit to. My trust in others had been destroyed. I didn't have it in me to trust the good intentions of others or take them at their word.

If Broly had chosen to fight with the Justice League, that would have been my defeat. In more ways than one.

But he hadn't.

Things could never go to what they were, but at the very least, not everything had to change. One of those things was that I could count on Broly when it mattered most.

So, I allowed myself a smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

…

Short chapter is short, but it felt like a natural closing point for the chapter. Broly and Tarble are once again fighting side by side and this marks a big turning point in Tarble’s story. I know people expect for me to torment my characters, and it would be a lie if I didn’t consider something like brainwashing or have Broly go native on Earth and fight Tarble to protect it for that sweet sweet drama.

The symbolism was too good to pass up. Broly is everything Tarble had to give up to win the war -- innocence, kindness, empathy, remorse and so on. Some of you might not believe this, but this story is about Tarble finally letting go and becoming a happier and much more rounded person. It’s his positive character arc. So, Broly being a bro is the clear choice.