Gone Native: Fishing Trip (ch. 40) (Patreon)

"We can't just ignore the neighbors," a hologram of Ada'la spoke, wearing an elaborate gown that I think had been styled after a human queen on Earth. "The war is over. While you are the one that is credited for the defeat of the Federation, we are no longer a part of the Trade Organization. With domestic issues solved, I believe it is time that we turn to matters of diplomacy." She continued, walls of information appearing around me as I was battered by wind. I doubt I would be able to hear her at all without the earpiece with how the wind was screeching in my ears.

The world below me churned, massive tidal waves of water, some thousands of feet from the valley to crest, slammed down with thunderous force. Equal to that of the storm that raged above me. The clouds were so dark and heavy that they seemed to block out any trace of the red sun that the planet revolved around. The only traces of light was from the near constant crackle of lightning as thick and powerful bolts slammed down into the surging tides.

"We might not be a part of the Trade Organization, but I doubt that they harbor any good will to us. It was my armies that razed their homeworld. The wounds are still too fresh on both sides," I pointed out, sitting cross legged on a disk of ki I made within a bubble of it. Alongside Ada'la's voice and the sounds of the storm were the clinking of a ki chain that rested lightly in the palm of my hand. "They're still adopting an aggressive posture towards us."

The hologram nodded, "They have, but our spies report that it's a distraction tactic. The Federation isn't much older than your empire, what's more, it was created to oppose you as much as it was to oppose Frieza. You were the common enemy that united them. Now, the Federation is fracturing."

"I'm more concerned about the faction that wants revenge," I admitted. The Federation had always been rather fractured. For the most part, it consisted of nations that had previously been a part of the Thanagarian Empire -- they had all nearly descended into war themselves and the only thing that stopped them was the thought that I was their new neighbor. There were numerous divides and old grievances between them. But, all of those had been tabled to focus on the war.

But as Ada'la said, the war was over and people within the Federation were picking at old wounds.

"It's sizable, but easily managed. This is an opportunity to find allies within the Federation and promote stability. The war started with Frieza wanting Reach planets. Before that, the Trade Organization and the Reach had a longstanding relationship going back tens of thousands of years." Ada'la continued, her lips thinning ever so slightly as I gave the ki chain a small wiggle.

My lips thinned as well. "Lord Cooler was always against the war," I muttered, not at all liking the idea of old enemies joining forces.

"The war lasted sixteen years. For both the Reach and the Trade Organization, that amount of time is a blink of an eye. While the loss of territory will be a diplomatic issue going forward, I expect both the Reach and Trade Organization to eventually rediscover their mutually beneficial relationship once again." Ada'la paused for a moment, "And just as there are those that seek to make peace with you, there have been overtures to the Trade Organization from the Federation about resuming previous trade deals."

I said nothing for a moment, simply gazing down into the churning depths of the ocean. My ki chain only offered enough light to see a few hundred feet down before it too was swallowed up by the inky blackness of the depths. "Are memories of the war really fading that fast?"

"No," Ada'la quickly answered. "However, unlike you, King Tarble, there are many that remember what life was like before the War. For you, for most of the Saiyans, you've only known what the galaxy looked like when we were all killing each other. The Federation, Reach, and Trade Organization? Their memories stretch back far further. It's all a question of what role your empire will have in the new normal going forward."

I gave the chain a small shake, knowing that there were a number of creatures below me, but for some reason they refused to take a bite of my bait. I could never picture opening up trade with the Trade Organization. I couldn't see myself ever sitting across a table with the Reach. The Federation? I had been crushing their armies for years. As much as my empire was carved out of the Reach, there were many planets that had once belonged to races of the Federation.

Was that my problem? That I had no frame of reference on how to interact with them other than war?

"It might not matter. Lord Cooler has been escalating," I pointed out, my tone flat. He responded to our responses. A space port had been destroyed. A delayed explosion allowed it to be evacuated, but there were still deaths and injuries. The tension between our borders was growing. The number of his fleets being stationed looked suspiciously like an invasion force. Worse, the new Supreme Commander was an absolute butcher. Someone that I had given the boot during my tenure, and someone that I thought had been killed.

"There is still time to de-escalate,' Ada'la ventured. "While he is cultivating a relationship with the Reach, we can look to the Federation and New Lanterns. Even if they do ally… we fought the galaxy alone before. Lord Cooler is rational. He will not act when he sees a united front." She was likely right about that.

Cooler and I were long lived. I was practically immortal, and I think Cooler and his race might actually be immortal, or at least extremely long-lived. The Federation and New Lanterns? Far less so, excluding Hal Jordan. In a thousand years, memories would fade. The Reach-Trade Organization alliance could simply wait until there was a fracture in the alliance between my empire and the Federation.

"The border preparations?" I asked after a moment, thinking on what the Empire's next big move would be.

"Under way," Ada'la confirmed. "Time dilation has proven quite useful. There are requests to implement it on a grander scale. Such as in our planetary restoration and terraforming efforts."

The border would help things. It wasn't perfect, but the Federation and Reach had spent years trying to get into the Vega System without success. Construction of the border would be resource intensive, but my empire had a surplus. The biggest concern was a lack of magic users. The project would normally take about a century, but it would only take a fraction of that time using time dilation. Construction was only limited by the fact that I didn't want to have my brightest engineers and scientists dying of old age after a single project.

We were looking to remove that as a possibility, either by granting immortality, which had its own dangers, or by eliminating the effects of time dilation on a person. At least, that's how I understood it.

"Approve of a few test cases. Low priority planets with little to offer," I decided. There wasn't a pressing need for more habitable planets, but it would be a good use for the technology. "I want the border up before we make any decisions regarding our neighbors."

Ada'la paused for a moment, telling me she disagreed. I glanced at her and she voiced her opinion, "Once the border is already up, it will be very tempting to completely isolate ourselves. While that may not be a bad thing strictly speaking, I do believe it is more dangerous. For the same reasons that you desired the people Tamaran to shake their isolationist desires."

It was easy enough to see what she meant. If we became isolationists, then our reputation would never change. The rest of the galaxy would look upon us as those that ended the war through brutal means, then shut and locked ourselves behind a door. The bad blood between us would never really go away because it would never be addressed. Still, it was tempting. To just wait a thousand years until most of the people that had lived through the war were dead and we could reintroduce ourselves to their great grandchildren.

"If you can arrange something before then, I will follow through on it," I told Ada'la, granting her permission for the meetings she was already arranging. "But I do think that the meeting will inflame tensions and I have never made an empty threat."

A threat of total war. That is what protected us from more overt action from the Trade Organization as well as the Federation. A threat that came from someone that started and finished the War of Light and spent every moment in between spearheading every offensive.

"I believe it will be more fruitful than you expect, my king. At the very least, it will be better than your attempts at fishing," she remarked lightly when I wiggled the chain again, trying to entice a beast into taking a bite.

I grunted, "It'd be hard not to." Fishing seemed so easy when humans did it. Bait a hook, toss it in the water, fish would bite it and you pull them up. Simple and easy. Only for the past hour, nothing had so much as nibbled the sea monster I put on the hook to entice a bigger sea monster into biting. "The festival on Themyscira will be happening shortly. It would shame me if I didn't follow their traditions." Such as catching a fish instead of diving down and fighting one.

"Do you expect the event to be useful? From what I understand of the human subspecies, they have little to offer and have a very ingrained isolationist mindset." Ada'la observed, earning a nod from me.

"I doubt I will benefit much from the event, but it'll soothe things with the heroes and Earth. I've been making progress with that, at least." I muttered, narrowing my eyes down at the waters as a presence drifted near my hook. I recognized the species. It was a problem for my aquarium since it kept eating my other rare and powerful fish. It was the king of the ocean on a planet that was nothing but ocean.

Robin was working with me on developing a policing force -- a Star Patrol, as he had taken to calling it. It took him some time to shake off his human sensibilities when it came to tools for investigation, but the model he was developing was a good one. The first training sessions would be happening shortly as we all prepared for Trigon. To that end, I was thinking of getting all the Saiyans involved. It would be good for their focus and cure their restlessness if they thought another big fight was on the horizon.

The faction led by Aquaman wasn't getting smaller according to Superman and Wonder Woman, but it wasn't getting bigger either. Things were moving in the right direction. I just needed to catch a fish, go to a festival, and interact with the heroes in a non-violent setting. It would work.

And, as if to agree with me, the Sea King below swallowed the bait and hook whole. A sharp smirk rugged at my lips as I yanked the chain up, hooking the beast before I began to pull the chain up, letting the links behind me face out of existence. The Sea King bucked, trying to break free, but it didn't attempt to run. Instead, it came barreling up, realizing that's where it was being pulled.

A huge bolt of lightning struck behind me just as the Sea King breached the surface, revealing a head that was the size of a small mountain and a snake-like body that stretched on for miles upon miles, thousands of tons worth of water sliding off of its thick black scales. Even with a passing glance, it was a creature worthy of being king of this ocean. It was the biggest, most fearsome, and most powerful of all the fish in my aquarium.

I let the ki bubble fall as light began to build up in the Sea King's mouth. Now that I had caught the fish, now I could fight it properly. I was immediately beset by a torrent of rain and the howling of the wind got louder until it was a screeching in my ears. In a moment, I was soaked to the bone, but it evaporated just as quickly as a beam of pure energy erupted from the Sea King's mouth. It slammed into the palm of my hand as I pressed forward, closing the distance between us.

The torrent of energy cut a line through the clouds above us as I continued forward, escaping the surge of energy. I caught a glimpse of one of the Sea King's six eyes looking at me, the eyeball the size of a small building. It started to react, but I flew up and much like a human fisherman killing a fish with a hard whack on the deck, I brought my foot down on the top of its skull, and killed it.

My lips thinned ever so slightly as I flew down to prevent the Sea King from sinking into the ocean's depths. I didn't think I would kill it in a single strike. Even in my base state, I had proved to be too much of a challenge for it. Before Earth, the Sea King would have at least been a decent challenge. At this rate, I was going to have to genetically engineer stronger food in my aquariums or wilderness worlds.

"Now, I just have to prep it," I muttered, flying up.

And I knew just who I wanted to cook this beast. The man in the food truck that I ate at in Japan.

…

Something was wrong, I thought as soon as I drifted back into Earth's atmosphere and the entirety of the planet was enveloped in my range. It only took a second to figure out exactly what it was. It was what I didn't sense as I floated down, leaving my ship up in space. There, the Sea King would be prepared with whatever was needed in terms of ingredients or equipment.

"Ada'la, where are the villains?" I questioned, drifting down until I hovered over the city of Gotham, my gaze fixated upon Arkham Asylum. A building that routinely failed to restrain those that Batman brought into it. It was one of many that failed. At least until I arrived on Earth. After that, villains kept a low profile, which included not breaking out of prison.

It was the one reason that I decided to be hands off with them for the time. The last thing I needed was for every villian on Earth deciding that I was a common enemy to unite against. While it wouldn't be anything I couldn't handle, I didn't need more reasons to rock the boat on Earth.

"The prison system isn't done," Ada'la quickly answered as I frowned deeply, flying to Arkham Asylum. "The contingencies to prevent escape haven't been tested. This was not us," she confirmed as I drifted down to the asylum, pushing open the door to reveal a front lobby that was in a panic. Enough so that my presence was completely ignored as the police were securing non violent patients in the lobby with doctors and security being questioned.

I had kept a close eye on Arkham Asylum. While it did not house the most powerful of villains, I would say that it housed some of the most dangerous. I knew each and every ki signature, keeping a close watch on them at all times. The Joker, Victor Zsasz, Poison Ivy, Dr. Freeze, the Riddler, Scarecrow, and more. Most of them were physically weak, but their intellect or abilities made them far more dangerous than they had any right to be. Worse, they were outright insane and destructive.

I bypassed the police, ignoring their shouts before realizing who I was. I headed in the direction of a ki signature that I kept a very close eye on, floating through the halls towards two equally familiar ki signatures.

The Joker's padded cell wasn't fit for a dog, I quickly noticed, making Batman and James Gordon look up as they inspected the room. I met eyes with Batman, my gaze narrowing into slits. "How?" I questioned, the word coming out as a low growl.

I didn't feel the Joker's presence on Earth, or any of the escapees. Not just from Arkham Asylum, but dozens of others from all across the world. They were just gone.

I left Earth for an hour to go on a fishing trip for an important event and this was what happened?

Barman's lips thinned, appearing equally as unhappy as I was. If not more so. "I've found traces of an unknown radiation in all the rooms. The cameras show the inmates falling into some kind of wormhole," He answered as I touched down. "Most seemed unaware. This was a plot by an third party unknown to them and us."

My ship scanned where I was upon hearing that and, almost impossibly, my lips thinned further. "I've seen this radiation before," I told him, looking around at the room. My system had a match. "Twice. First when I defeated Mongul to claim the Warworld, and again when the planet Thanagar was stolen from me." It had been assumed that it was a side effect of some form of teleportation, but it was never confirmed. That told me two things -- firstly, it meant that Mongul was still alive, and that whoever had saved him and stole a planet from me had also orchestrated this breakout.

Someone I had never managed to find.

"Your absence and the breakout can't be a coincidence," Batman voiced, earning a curt nod from me. I wasn't surprised he knew of my brief departure, even if I had been keeping it hidden. "Do you have any method of discovering where they are?"

"Short of scanning every planet in the Empire? No," I admitted. A shortsight that I had never considered. I never thought of how difficult it might be to find a single person in my empire that had millions of planets. The New Lanterns were meant to be my solution, but they weren't here yet.

Jim Gordon dragged his hand down his face, "Meaning they're gone? Out in the wind?"

I shook my head as I floated up. I needed a quick solution to this problem… and I knew exactly whose arm I had to twist to get one.

"I need to have a conversation with Lex Luthor."