Gone Native: Settling In (ch. 34) (Patreon)

Kara's expression was twisted into a ferocious snarl, her hands clenched into white knuckled fists while a silent war cry spilled from her lips. In a burst of speed, she threw herself at me, her red cape fluttering behind her, a fist raised high to bring it down on me. I watched her carefully, quickly noticing the subtle changes in her form since the last time we fought. It seemed that she had learned a few lessons.

In response, I took in a slow breath and drew upon the power in my blood. A shimmering golden aura leaked out of me, my hair shifting to a golden hue while my power skyrocketed. The Super Saiyan transformation was one that I had learned to fear. It was one of the few things that I was earnestly afraid of, and until now, I hadn't even been aware of it. It was only made clear when I had braced myself so tightly against the onslaught of emotions that triggered the transformation -- emotions that I felt in full force from the worst day of my life.

Only the expected emotions never slammed into me at full force. The onslaught of feelings that felt like they could drive me mad never hit me with their terrible impact. I was preparing for it so hard that when the impact never came, I was thrown off so badly by the ease of the transformation that I nearly got punched in the face.

Jerking my head out of the way at the last second, Kara's fist sailed through empty space, but it seemed that she never expected to hit me in the first place because she quickly followed the left hook up with a right, then a high knee.

My being off balance only lasted a short second, Kara stealing my attention quickly. I had been able to fight her as an equal with the Wrath State. As a Super Saiyan, I was her better in physical power and skill, but even then, Kara wasn't an enemy that could so easily be dismissed. My eyes narrowed as I fell into the flow of combat, guiding her right jab away from my face, then catching her high knee with a hand. At that same moment, I lashed out, catching her in the stomach with a fist that faded her around it.

Kara shot back, slamming into an asteroid, obliterating the chunk of interstellar stone, and filling the space between us with a cloud of dust. All around us, asteroids floated in a massive field, serving as cover for those that thought I didn't know where they were. The asteroid belt was a decent enough location for training. I would have preferred Venus with its hostile environment playing a role for added difficulty, but not everyone could endure.

"You're still relying on your durability. It will work against most things in the universe, but not against me," I told Kara, speaking through her ear piece. In response, two twin lasers punch through the cloud of dust. Heat vision. I dodged out of the way of the lasers that effortlessly cut an asteroid behind me in half. I could tell that she was annoyed as she flew forward, chasing after me as her gaze swept over me, cutting through another half dozen asteroids while I dodged out of the way.

I formed a ki ball in my hand and lobbed it at her, forcing her to clench her eyes shut when I used an altered version of Solar Flare. I got the idea from flashbangs. Kara's face scrunched up in pain, and while she put up her guard, knowing that I was coming, she couldn't hope to hold me off. Kara lashed out blindly when I delivered a powerful punch to her ribs, and she used that to get a read on my location. Ducking out of the way of a backhand, I circled around sharply when I caught a flash of movement from the corner of my eye.

As one of the chunks of asteroid drifted by, Elery threw her hands out, launching a Kamehameha at the two of us. She was using both of our durability to her advantage as the powerful ki blast washed over both of us. I could sense the others moving into position, ready for an ambush.

My little sister had changed. I don't know when it happened exactly, but gone were the days that she mindlessly charged at the enemy. I felt a stirring of pride in my chest. Just not enough to allow myself to be trapped in the ambush. After all, it wasn't as if the enemy would do so. Lashing out with a foot, I caught Kara in the stomach and sent her flying at Elery, putting them on a collision course. The torrent of ki ended when they slammed into each other, and that was the cue for the ambush to begin.

The others revealed themselves, only to find me waiting with an open palm with a dark blue ki ball.

"Scatter!" Broly shouted into the open com, as if he couldn't easily endure the attack. The response was instant -- Kori, Robin, Orphan, and Olaive from Elery's team all scattered as I unleashed dozens of ki blast in every direction by holding the ki ball over my head. The bead sized attacks punched through asteroids and clouds of dust, seeking out their targets.

Robin made his move then, choosing to make himself a target. He was clad in a black and red costume that made him appear distinctly bird-like. Despite his feeble human body, his presence was a dangerous lie. He wore a battle suit, similar to the ones that Nightwing and Batman had used against me. I guessed that it had received some upgrades since my bout with Earth because Robin moved with incredible speed. The technological development on Earth once again proved itself to be insane and completely unpredictable.

"I’ve got him," Robin announced, flying towards me, thrusters emerging from his back to make him move even faster. I let him close the distance, one of his hands going to his belt to bring forth a collapsible bo staff. It was of similar make to the one he tried to use on me before, but the tips of the staff were inlaid with some sort of impact pads. Robin spun his staff before taking a swing at my head that I narrowly dodged, countering with a jab at his stomach.

The capabilities of the suit were improved. It was a half hearted jab, but Robin shouldn't have been able to block it with the shaft of his bo-staff. The heroes were vastly upping their tech to contend with me. They were also letting me know. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not -- was it a message? Or a show of trust instead of keeping the suit in a drawer until it became needed as a surprise.

Still, Robin shot backwards and I followed. He shifted his stance, aiming the tip of his staff at me and delivering a flurry of blows, all of which that I leaned out of the way of, narrowly avoiding them. As I did so, I lashed out with a hand, impacting the tip of the staff to test what the pads did. To my faint surprise, I felt my hand get knocked back, my palm stinging from the impact.

"Hm," I hummed to myself, clenching my hand into a fist. Robin's guard was up, sending blows at me with picture perfect poise and fluidity. His stance showed some traces of being used to a surface under his feet, but not as much as I would otherwise expect. Dodging a thrust at my forehead, I grabbed the staff below the impact pads and drove my foot into Robin's stomach, ripping it away. Not a second later, Kara was back in the fight and I tested how well the pads worked by hitting her with them.

Kara's expression twisted into one of pain, but that didn't stop her from punching at my face, forcing me to accept the blow with my forehead. "Now whose-" Kara started to feed my words back to me, only to cut herself off when I took another swing at her with the bo staff. She backed off, prompting me to spin the staff in my hand then throw it like a javelin. It missed, though it impacted a crater and it shattered on impact. "Relying on their natural durability?" She finished, mostly to just spite me.

I would have responded, only I had far more pressing concerns. I felt Broly's presence move, giving me a fraction of a second to block before he appeared before me, delivering a powerful blow to my forearm that sent me flying. I smashed through more than a few asteroids with the light punch, Broly giving pursuit with a down right friendly grin.

I was surprised that he had wanted to join the spar. I knew he hated fighting. But, perhaps, it was just battle that ended in death that he despised?

In any case, Broly was beyond powerful. Up there with Superman and Frieza, near effortlessly.

"Are you having fun yet, Tarble?" Broly asked me, winding up for another punch as I prepared myself for the real challenge of the fight.

"It's a training exercise," I pointed out, lashing out with a kick that Broly caught with his forearm. His form hadn't degraded at all. I hadn't put much focus on it during the battle on Earth, but now I could see that Broly's technique hadn't suffered with his time on Earth. Given the number of times we had sparred, it could be said that his style was a counter to my own -- whereas I focused on counters, Broly focused on delivering unstoppable blows.

To that end, Broly only needed to get in a few clean hits before the fight would be decided.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun," he pointed out. We were here to help smooth relations. The bad blood between me and the Titans was aired out. I wouldn't go as far as to call us friends, but with helping Kori, the underlying tension that has always been there was suddenly gone. "They'll notice if you keep looking bored." To punctuate his point, Broly surged forward, his power growing as his dark eyes adopted a golden hue. He lashed out with a fist that I just barely managed to avoid.

Only to be caught in a trap as he delivered a powerful uppercut to my stomach that my attempt to block failed miserably. I was thrown upwards with no hope of getting any control over my momentum.

And despite all the air in my lungs getting knocked out of me, I did feel a faint smile curling at the edges of my lips. At the very least, it was reassuring that I would never have to worry about running out of strong opponents. Not with Broly around.

This time, Broly didn't follow me, simply sending me to a converging point where the others were prepared. Kara threw herself at me while Elery and Kori sent a bombard of blasts to pepper me while I blocked Kara's attack. Taking in a slow breath, I fell into the rhythm of combat, uppercutting Kara as she threw a straight jab, then a hook that I repaid in kind with an elbow to her nose. They weren't hard blows. I found a point that she would undoubtedly feel the pain but not enough that she had to worry about lasting damage. I thought she would have been happy about it, given her low exposure to pain.

Instead, it just seemed to piss her off.

"Your form has improved," I did note, driving a fist into her cheek while using her as a shield to make the others stop firing at me. Well, Kori stopped. Elery didn't. All the while, Robin and Orphan, who had been content to watch from the sidelines, began to enter the fray. They slipped out  from behind Kara, who was doing her best to keep the attention on her while they flanked me. She pressed hard while Orphan kicked out, catching me in the ribs while I chose to block a strike to my head from Robin's bo-staff. I'm not sure if he had extras or if he retrieved the one I threw.

I felt a sharp impact from the kick. My ribs remained solid, and I couldn't be certain that Orphan was hitting me with all of her strength, but it was a clear upgrade in very little time. My attention slid to Orphan while I deflected a swing from Robin, guiding it into Kara's chest, her flying when it struck her shielded S. In response, Orphan backed off, darting away with lightning quick speed and attempting to vanish into the dust cloud.

Our bout had been brief on Earth, but it had been memorable. Orphan was an impressive technical fighter that had only been limited by the sheer gap in our physical abilities. Batman, Nightwing, and Robin were all great fighters, but Orphan, in a few seconds, had shown that she was easily their better. To that end, I dove into the cloud of dust, following Orphan's presence, and finding her standing on a chunk of asteroid, intent on falling back.

Her face was a featureless black mask, but after a brief moment of surprise, she settled into a stance.

I let the Super Saiyan transformation fade, my hair and eyes returning to their normal black color. The point of the training exercises was to get me used to the transformation and lessen the stamina drain of it… but Broly was right. Maybe I should try to enjoy myself a little bit. "Broly, would you mind keeping the others distracted for a minute?" I questioned, my eyes shining gold as I slipped into the Wrath State. Super Saiyan was overkill, but Stage thirteen and a half would put me and Orphan on even ground.

"Sure thing!" Was Broly's excited answer as I strode towards Orphan. She didn't inch away or shift her footing, choosing to remain in her stance. As I neared, I adopted my own stance -- the one that belonged to the Royal Family. One hand out wide, the other near my head, while my feet were settled in a wide stance.

There was a beat of silence before, on an unspoken signal, both of us lunged for the other. And in a single clash, as I threw an elbow at Orphan's temple, one that was diverted away and then countered with an uppercut to my under arm with the intention of dislocating my shoulder, I saw that I was right. Stepping forward, I diverted the uppercut, finding the opening that I stepped forward to invade her stance with was closed by her foot kicking me in the ankle to knock it back. Orphan was every bit as good as I thought she was.

We traded a barrage of blows, each one being countered and the counters being countered while those counters were countered in a rapid pace blur of attacks. Every move that I made was well accounted for, almost as if she saw them coming before I even made the attack. I was increasingly certain that she was some kind of precog, because without the power advantage, I found myself increasingly on the defensive with her defense seemingly impenetrable.

We slammed our elbows together while I attempted to sweep the leg that she stepped down with, only to find that a foot kicked it away while she attempted to slam her open palm into my diaphragm. There were imperfections in my guard and offense that I had never noticed. I had always fought people there who were either vastly stronger than me or vastly weaker. My time fighting peers was relatively short in comparison -- Bardock and Vegeta being the most recent examples. Both of whom I sparred with extensively.

No, not a peer. I saw a glimpse of it in our previous brief bout, but I saw it clearly now. Orphan was a better fighter than me. Not by much, and the gap was closing, but in form and technique, she was my superior.

Adjustments were rapidly being made to counter Orphan's ability. The minuscule holes in my defense were being plugged while my offense was being refined. For the first time, when I landed a clean punch to Orphan's cheek, the blow felt like a victory. Even if it did come at the cost of a low kick to my knee. Orphan simply accepted the punch, the flow of the fight continuing on without a hitch. I was emboldened, pressing the attack as I moved to stay on the offensive.

It was a mistake, I quickly learned.

I only felt Elery's presence when she planted her foot in the side of my face, knocking me away from Orphan. I recovered quickly, my feet digging into the stone surface of the asteroid to see Elery scowling at me. "You don't fight like that with me!" She pointed out with what I could only describe as a pout. I tensed when I noticed that there were a few others lingering about, but they made no move to continue the training session.

"That's because I taught you everything you know," I point out, letting the Wrath State fall away when Orphan lowered her fighting stance. The interruption was unfortunate, but it was a good fight. I had improved, and learned a lesson about not letting my guard down even when I… was having fun. "If you want me to take you seriously, then meet me at my level." The taunt got a mild glare, but Kori clapped her hands with a smile on her face.

I shook my head, "The spar was informative."

Robin, who landed lightly next to Orphan, nodded. "On our end too. I think we made progress." To what end, he didn't say. However, he did glance at Kara, who landed on the asteroid with her arms crossed.

"This wasn't a serious fight," Kara noted, making a statement instead of a question.

"It wasn't," I agreed. Her lips thinned and she seemed distinctly unhappy. It wasn't surprising considering that the last time we fought, I had been much weaker and, in her own mind, I expected that she thought she could beat me. Those notions had been put to rest because I hadn't even attempted to use red sun radiation or kryptonite. I don't think it would work given that her suit had seen some clear modification, but the lack of an attempt sent a clear message.

I could see the cogs moving within her mind. And, in a telling gesture, Kara turned to look at the sun, as if asking a silent question on how to get stronger. I knew that Kori and Kara had similar biology -- both utilizing sunlight to empower their bodies. Kryptonians, however, acted as an ever increasing battery that absorbed more and more yellow sun radiation to empower them. Because I watched her expression, I saw when she had the same thought as I did.

If red sun radiation weakened her, and yellow sun radiation empowered her, then what would other forms of sun radiation do? Blue, white, or orange?

"Not scared that I'm going to kick your ass, eventually?" Kara questioned when my old flagship, the Devastator, arrived after emerging from a slipspace tunnel. It would be a lie to say that it wasn't a concern. For my entire life, I had been undercutting my enemies when they tried to gain strength to use against me. Trust was a difficult thing for me because Kara wasn't a friend. She wasn't a member of the 501st, or a subordinate. The strength she gained could very well be used against me.

However, I scoffed, "As if I would ever let you." I was looking at it through the wrong lens. I wasn't a tinpot dictator that had to undercut everyone beneath me out of fear. If those beneath me wanted to challenge me, that was their right. I would just have to make sure that I would always be stronger than them. Meaning more training.

Kara flashed me a cocky smirk, deciding to take me up on that challenge.

By that time, my ship arrived and I felt a number of presences on board. Flying to the docking bay, I prepared myself for what I was about to see.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Elery and Olaive excitedly talking to a bashful, if pleased with himself, Broly. The unspoken secret that had been kept during the war of Light had started to spill out -- I wasn't the strongest Saiyan alive. Broly was. And in all likelihood, he always would be. Elery spotted my look and sped up to fly next to me, "Are you excited?"

"No," I answered, slowing down for the dock bay door to open. "It's going to be a disaster."

"You're worrying too much!" Elery told me, clapping me on the back and, no, I really wasn't.

I swallowed a sigh, "Things haven't settled on Earth yet. Things are delicate." I continued, spotting what amounted to a raging bull in a tea shop when the doors lowered. A thin forcefield to keep the dock pressurized revealed what I was so worried about. Something that I could only call a mistake on my part.

I hadn't thought about how it would look for me to backtrack. After the death of Frieza, I announced to my people in the form of the Legendary Super Saiyan, that Earth would be our new home planet. I went there myself to secure it. Then, little over a month later, I changed my mind and decided we would share a home planet with the Tamaranieans. To the wider parts of my empire, they looked to Earth with a little more curiosity.

My people, however, gave Earth their full attention with a burning question on their minds -- what was on Earth that was strong enough to make me change my mind?

Now… now, more than a few of them were here to find out.

"King Tarble!" I was greeted by a few thousand Saiyans, all of them dropping to a knee when I flew through the forcefield. The docking area was more or less cleared out for them, and I felt more of my people floating through the interior of the Devastator. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kara make a weird face, as if she was surprised by the gesture of respect. A fair thought -- most didn't think my people had it in them.

My gaze landed on my mother, who floated up to embrace Elery and me, making me tense ever so slightly but Mom didn't seem to notice. "You both look like you're doing well -- and I see you found strong opponents!" Mom said, giving Kara a hungry smile. Kara gave a more hesitatant one back while the others settled down on a walkway bridge overlooking close to five thousand Saiyans. A small portion of our population, but I thought it was far more than what Earth could handle.

"Yeah -- Earth's a great training world!" Elery responded, voicing the reason I was certain that this would end in disaster. Part of me thought I should forbid Saiyans from going to Earth, but I knew that would mean that they would be more determined to go.

There wasn't a perfect solution. So, I would simply have to give my people reason to not to accidentally devastated the planet.

"How are things with them?" I asked Mom, as she cast a sweeping look at the Saiyans who eyed me with the same hunger that Mom gave Kara. These Saiyans were warriors. Through and through. The ones that craved growing stronger and the ones that had the greatest difficulty since the war ended. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here on this ship to fight the thing that they thought I was cautious of.

Mom shrugged, "They're a rowdy bunch. I've been having them fight each other to get it out of their system." Not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I expected.

I was very aware of the earthlings behind me as I stepped forward, looking down at my people. "All of you were given a capsule. Unseal it now," I ordered, giving an activation order to let the unseal them. With no small amount of excitement, they did so. I will admit that I found myself amused with their wide eyes expressions when near ten thousand deserts were revealed -- cake, cupcakes, breakfast pastries from various countries, among other deserts. "This," I began, and I believe it was the ultimate gesture of respect that the Saiyans paused to listen to me speak before eating, "is from Earth."

My people would t understand that Humans, in general, were extremely weak. They were coming here in search of a challenge, and while many could be found, they wouldn't see that most humans couldn't offer one. They wouldn't be careful in their search either. Thus, they needed motivation.

"Humans make this food in places called bakeries," I continued, gesturing for them to eat. I heard Kori giggling behind me while Kara had difficulty processing my tactic to get my people to behave. As one, ten thousand Saiyan began to gorge themselves on deserts, smearing their faces with icing, jelly, or crumbs. As soon as they took their first bite, all semblance of control was lost.

Human food was by far the greatest thing about Earth.

"If you are going to go to Earth, then I require this -- you do not harm humans. For the most part, they are weaker than our weakest infants. Some of them possess unique abilities, but you must issue a formal challenge to them if you are to fight. Above all else, what you are eating is your reason to ensure that no humans come to harm during your stay," I said, my voice ringing out despite the sounds of ten thousand wild animals feasting as much and as fast as they could with fights already breaking out.

The message got across, though. Now every Saiyan had good reason to not just be careful with humans, but protect them.

"What did I just watch?" I heard Robin sigh before I turned around to look at the earthlings. Elery was giving me an enthusiastic thumbs up, a sign that I had nailed it. Kori looked like the smile on her face was about to consume it. Robin and Orphan, whose faces were now mostly revealed except for the domino masks, wore conflicting expressions. Robin was of complete exasperation while Orphan appeared bemused.

"My people are warriors," I told him, my tone softer and blunt. "Not all of them, but most. They need a reason to be careful and most Saiyans think with their stomachs." Robin's expression twisted ever so slightly -- I imagine it was a little galling. That my people would come to Earth and the only reason they wouldn't accidentally kill anyone was because of the food. Still, he seemed to understand what I was trying to say because he offered a curt nod.

I swallowed a sigh as the ship set its course to Earth. The coming days would provide their own unique challenges…

But I was starting to believe I could overcome them.