Destron Playground - Cato

Cato was deep in the midst of her training in the forest near Bonewood Manor when the message reached her. It startled her at first, and she whirled around with her blade to find the disembodied voice -- before recognition settled in. She had been expecting Brumal, though she hadn't anticipated his particular style of message.

She took a long drink from her water bottle before laying it by one of the trees, piling up her equipment where she would know to return to it, and then launched herself into the air. After locking on to Brumal's power with her scouter, she streaked off in his direction. The flight would have taken some time for her even just a week ago, but she had grown significantly since then, and she raced just above cloud level to conceal her path from nosey scouts.

At last, she touched down in the Destron Crags, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the place. It was an environment that helped settle her uneasy stomach about the crimes Lottus was about to commit. She didn't expect Brumal to approve or even understand why she was taking the side she was in the upcoming battle, if indeed he realized full well what was about to happen. But she would explain her case, if she had to.

"Good to see you," she offered in greeting, as she made her way through the docked ships, ignoring any stares she earned from crew who weren't entirely sure she was supposed to be there. "There's a lot of things to come, very soon. But are you sure that Mint figure won't try to launch a coup on Arcose in your absence?"

---

Cato nodded vaguely. She didn't really have much of a stake in what happened on Arcose at this stage, but she would hate to be the reason that a coup was attempted over Brumal--after all, it had been her intervention that had likely convinced the Emperor to take this particular problem more seriously.

"Evacuate as many civilians as you can find, but leave the military and their researchers," she said, a faint frown forming. "That'll ensure that this is the final act in this particular war. If too many of their military... ah, complex people escape, then chances are Lottus will turn his sights to other settlements in the future."

She let out a short breath.

"On that note... I'm going to be helping Lottus," she said, flatly. "I know he's in the wrong with the sheer scale of what he's doing here, but if I don't fight alongside him, I can't help him escape with his life. He's a friend, and I don't plan to let him get killed by the very forces that turned his life into living torment for so long."

She glanced back towards the ships as Brumal's soldiers loaded themselves back up, and managed a bitter smile.

"If that makes us enemies when the time comes, then you should know that it's only for the moment. I don't plan to die there, and I don't plan to hold grudges against the defenders. But if I can make one request of you--it isn't to help us, really, you need to do what fits your particular, uh--outlook. But if you do decide to show, and I end up incapacitated, then..."

She looked back to Brumal, growing a little too aware that she was now asking him for a third favour in return for none.

"Don't let them execute Lottus, if he loses. And if Lottus wins--don't let him kill Vocado. I'd rather he didn't kill the Queen, either... she seems like a good person, even if her values are a little strange. But when he gets stirred into a frenzy, it'll take a lot to stop him, and someone is going to have to stop him long enough for him to get back to normal--if he wins."

---

"If you want to be rid of the Destron, then Lottus is a natural ally--even if his methods are on the extreme end," Cato reasoned, idly flicking through her scouter to check recent alerts. "But if he succeeds, then we'll need to make sure Plant doesn't descend into some new civil war. The last thing we need is for the Tuffles to devise some new weapon because the entire contingent of defenders who oppose the use of Destron got shredded to bits."

The news about Fukushu earned a sharp sigh from Cato, but it wasn't exactly unexpected. He had already showed his hand as unreliable in their second meeting, at least with time to investigate, and Lottus seemed suspicious about him as well. It made him something of a wildcard, and she supposed it was no surprise he would be willing to sacrifice Lottus if it meant furthering his goals.

"Fukushu claimed that the Tuffles were preparing to invade the Vegeta Region, back before he knew I was planning to help Lottus to begin with. He was trying to convince me, but he spun one lie too many, and it became a little see-through once I investigated further. I don't trust him at all, and your news just makes that even more true."

"He wants to instill a loyal monarch on Plant," she noted. "I think he was hoping I would play ball and be that for him, but I'm not cut out to rule and Saiyans should never allow themselves to be ruled by outsiders. It's one thing to ask us to be equal participants in some sort of alliance or coalition--it's another thing to expect to install a puppet queen to help you prosecute your grudge against Earth."

"I'll watch my back around him, but he's still far ahead of me. I can't really hold him off if he turns on us."

---

"The ends don't really justify the means," Cato admitted, openly. "But I still won't let my friend be torn apart by wolves in the skies over Hatchi City. If it were my plan, I would have taken a more careful approach--isolate the problem to where it's really originating from, and strike it then and there. But that takes time, which is in short supply these days."

Lottus' secrets weren't Cato's to share, but she did wonder if she might have been able to sway him to a more conservative approach had things been just a little different. But either way, the attack was inevitable now. Everyone seemed to know it, whether they were in Lottus' counsel or not. 

"Ever since I returned, Plant has felt on the precipice of a civil war. A system of government where you claim the throne by beating down your challengers doesn't exactly make for stable rules. That's probably why they've been through so many in just a short time. It's possible that this strike could escalate to a larger war, but maybe it won't."

"If Hatchi is destroyed, then things will look bleak," she admitted. "But maybe this is the last gasp of the last war, more than the first ember of a new one. We won't know until the dust clears, and we take stock of who's left."

She crossed her arms, turning to face the horizon, where Hatchi lay hidden from sight. The surge of energy readings in that direction was a dead give-away, but luckily things seemed to be business as usual. That would change soon, but the last breaths of peace before the storm had become precious as they dwindled.

"I appreciate it, by the way--" she said, over her shoulder. "You don't owe me help, but I'd hate to die in Hatchi City. Especially to an off-world mercenary."

---

"I missed the war," Cato reminded Brumal, as she turned back to face him properly. "So when I hear people talk about how horrible Destron is--I mean, I get it. I've trained near the crags. I've struggled to breath through the fog. But I've never felt what it's like to have it hit you, head on, in a concentrated form. Maybe if I had, I'd be a little more enthusiastic about the crusade."

"But, I'll help either way."

Brumal's doubts were difficult to deny. She had limited experience with Tuffles, but the strange creatures they had loosed upon Plant certainly seemed to have a taste for Saiyan blood they wouldn't soon lose. That had to be some sort of reflection on their creators, though she couldn't say quite how far that went.

"There might be something to the Tuffles' thinking," she noted. "I don't agree with them unleashing such a weapon, or putting that out into the universe. But for whatever long-past Chancellor decided that was a good idea, you have to imagine that--well, you know. They're arrogant, right? Tend to think of themselves as being more clever than everyone else. They probably thought they could ruin as much of the planet as they wanted, and still be able to fix it up back to perfect health after it was all said and done."

She lifted into the air, but didn't fly away yet. This might well be the last meeting she had with Brumal before the worst happened, and she was prepared to hear anything more he had to say. But rather than wait in silence, she forced a weak smile and continued.

"... of course, most of the Tuffles that made that call are long dead, just like most of the Saiyans who made the call to invade this planet are dead. It's a little ironic, isn't it? We're all hung up on a war started by the ghosts of a dead world."

---

"Specter generals," she repeated, with the hint of a frown. "I hope that isn't how they wind up describing me once this battle is over. I'm not actually new to war, to be truthful--but in the past, I was a big fish in a small pond. Soldiers on distant stars whose battle power barely reached to a thousand were little challenge for me, and it never quite felt like I was putting my life on the line to fight."

"This time, I suppose it's different."

She exhaled sharply. She wasn't all that afraid to die, but it would be a shame if her death was in vain. If they succeeded and Hatchi was put to the flame, and the Tuffles dreamt up something even worse than the Destron for their revenge, then she would go down in history as a fool. If she died in the skies over Hatchi at the hands of the defense force, then she would be a footnote in the annals of history: a rebel clinging to a forgotten era.

"Maybe once this is all over, we need to consider charting a new direction. We might have found ourselves in a cycle of blood here. The throne constantly changing hands, the continued animosity with the Tuffles, and all the conflicting and confusing off-world connections... we might be headed for a civil war, even if the Tuffles pose no future issue."

"It's a dangerous situation, to have one half of your race enamored with the peace and glamour of Earth, while the other courts war and conflict. The battle in Hatchi could conflagrate that even further."

She drew her sword and balanced it in her hand, the steel shining under the dimming sun.

"They say a sword earns its name when it draws blood. If I live, maybe I'll follow that tradition."

She managed a weak smile.

"I like to live up to my word, so for what it's worth--I'll try to make it out of there alive too. I did offer to help you with your triumvirate problem."

---

"I don't know anything about building or rebuilding," Cato said, with a shrug of one shoulder. "And when I was called on to destroy in the past, I put myself in the mindless form of a wild Oozaru. I've gained enough control now that I don't have that luxury, even if I wanted it. "

"... and you're probably right about swords. But it's an equalizer, more than anything."

She still hadn't met Cheri, but if Nasu's commentary was anything to go by, her intervention following the battle might be some sort of saving grace. But to do that, she would need to survive the battle in the first place. It would probably be best if she avoided it entirely, though she knew no self-respecting leader would abandon their people like that.

"I don't know what to expect out of that, ah, phase of things. But I hope whatever new course we set doesn't lead us into ruin. It's already stuck in the back of my mind--that by launching this attack, by opening this phase of our history, we might be sending our strongest warriors into a bloody battle that could lead us open to foreign invasion."

She eyed Brumal a moment.

"While I'm sure you wouldn't take advantage of that, it's another reason why I'm wary of your fellow triumvir--the other Arcosian. By all accounts, it sounds like he's an opportunist and Plant might just be something he views as a jewel to add to his crown. There's not much here of value at this point outside of the Tuffles' precious forest, but... for anyone obsessed with status, there is a measure of prestige to be earned."

She lifted the rest of the way into the air, preparing to make her departure. But before she left, she turned back to Brumal once last time.

"You have my scouter frequency. If we both make it out of this battle alive, then you know you can call on me when the time comes for you to solve your Arcosian problems. Otherwise, you'll know where to find me. Provided I'm not, as you say, a ghost. I should probably do my best to avoid becoming a prisoner, too."

She forced a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. No amount of talking would save her from feeling the weight of what she was about to do crushing down on her shoulders. Even so, she soared off into the air en route to Hatchi, to continue her evacuation efforts. Anything more would have to wait until after the battle.

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