The Once and Future King (Lottus)

    Lottus laughs at the Namekian as he struggled to speak.

    "Oh, that was no lie, green man." he replies. "That's entirely the truth. But, circumstances since then have changed. I've decided that my desire to destroy just Destron was thinking too small. Why settle for such a small victory, when I can completely remove all possibility of Destron being made again by the Tuffles, or be utilized and remade by other civilizations?"

    Lottus grins.

    "All I have to do is destroy it all, and let nature sort out the rest." he says, shrugging. "And it doesn't matter if I lose a thousand times, or a million times. I will always come back now - death is nothing but a small obstacle. One I have already defied once, and will defy every time again. So bark all you like, bug - you have no way to stop me."

    At that point, it became clear that the Namekian was going to try anyway. Smirking to himself, Lottus splays his arms wide.

    "Let's have it then! Show me this supposed might of Namek!" he bellows, a violent glee in his voice.

    And so Gandigan did - the blade of energy struck true every time, carving Lottus' flesh and spraying the air with his blood. The final slash sent Lottus backwards, but he remained in the air. His body screamed at him in pain, but Lottus only laughs.

    "...So... That was it? That's all you had to show... for all that bluster?" Lottus raises his head, gazing at Gandigan. "Pathetic."

    Lottus' aura burns red over the gold, and the Saiyan flies higher into the air. A bubble of translucent energy forms around Lottus, and he brings his hands back and to his left side, cupping the back of his right hand into the palm of his left. The sky around them is suddenly bursting with crackling energy, as Lottus begins puring power into his attack!

    "You've shown me yours, so here's mine!!" Lottus bellows over the crimson lighting streaking across the sky all around him, with Lottus as the epicenter of the storm. "Remember this - I am no animal - I am a MONSTER!!"

    Lottus' energy reaches its fever pitch, and he brings his hands thrusting forth!

    "OBLITERATION CANNON!!"

    From his palms, a trully massive beam of crimson and black energy erupts forth, bathing all the land around them in its vile light! The blast rages towards Gandigan, threatening to swallow the Namekian in its terrible power!

---

    Lottus' blast enveloped the Namekian, and Lottus lost immediate sight of them as the beam rushed towards the ground. Upon impact, the world in Lottus' eyes erupts in a brilliant dome of black and red, swallowing the craggy landscape in the destructive light. The winds whip like a hurricane as the concussive blast spreads, and soon, as the light fades, all that remains is a massive crater in the ground. Much of it had been completely vaporized, while what was effectively now the surface of the crater was a muted red of super heated rock.

    Lottus falls through the air, landing within the crater, and heads for the epicenter. He arrives after a few minutes, and grins - the Namekian had not been obliterated. Severely damaged, but not even dead. He could sense that much. Lottus steps closer, regarding the Namekian. Gandigan had chosen to meet his blast head on, and though Lottus had been holding some power back, it spoke a lot to the Namekian's pride as a warrior.

    He could respect that.

    Lottus raises his left hand, fingers splaying wide, and a ball of crimson energy forms in his open palm. Smirking, Lottus fires the ball of Ki at Gandigan!! ...Only, this blast was not meant to destroy - instead, the energy would suffuse itself into the fallen Namekian, giving the being a small measure of Lottus' strength. Enough to awaken and move on their own volition, at least.

---

    Lottus crossed his arms and waited for his energy to take root - and soon enough, the Namekian began moving again. Lottus waits, unmoving, as Gandigan gets his wits together, and then spit out a terse reprimand. To this, Lottus throws his head back and laughs.

    "Good, feeling better already then." Lottus remarks. "To begin with, if you started thanking me for sparing your life, I would kill you for being a groveling insect. So you spared yourself that embarrassment at least."

    Lottus tilts his head slightly to the left.

    "Maybe you will kill me one day - but you would not be the first, nor would you be the last." he chuckles. "As I've said, I've died already and defied Hell itself to return to the living realm. A thousand deaths wont be enough to stop me, Namekian."

    Lottus straightens his posture.

    "Now then, on to business." he says, as if nothing had happened between them at all. "It takes a steel set to take an attack like that head on when your own power is drained - so you've earned your chance to try and sell me on this little idea of yours, but I can guess at it easily enough based on what you've said already."

    The Saiyan turns and digs his foot into the smoldering ground, and wrenches up a boulder from the ground! He kicks it back, and then sits down on it like an ancient throne, gazing at Gandigan.

    "Now that I know what kind of power you can put out, I'm more willing to listen. I don't just lend my ear to any and every insect that comes out of the wood work to speak to me." he says, sneering. "You want to convince me to either help you fight the Saiyan Kingdom if they decide to target Namek, so your own Kingdom can survive past its infancy. Convince me."

---

    Lottus snorts at Gandigan's half handed attempt at an offer.

    "I could accept Plant having a head start if the Kingdom hadn't been dragging its feet and exterminated the Tuffles before the little stains could turn the majority of the planet into a toxic wasteland." Lottus remarks, amused. "Don't bother appealing to me about the fate of a people I've never met, nor care about. If your people got wiped out, how is that my issue? It's not even my problem if my people got themselves wiped out. I don't care, Gandigan."

    Lottus looks at the Namekian with a bored expression.

    "I've tried my hand at revenge, and been denied it twice. I don't care about being defeated by the King and his little army; nor do I care about avenging my own losses - that's war. My goal twice now was not the extermination of the little Tuffle rats, just the slaughter of their scientists and engineers that were responsible for making Destron." he says. "I aimed to destroy them, and obliterate their facilities that had been capable of producing the weapon in the past and present. And from what I understand, Destron production has found its way off world too - but significantly less potent. You want me to help you push back an invasion one day? Then we will make it a trade. You put together enough warriors with power comparable to yourself - let's say, five or six - and come back here and help me destroy the Tuffles' ability to produce Destron ever again, then we have a deal."

---

    Lottus listens, though with growing irritation. The Namekian was quite the opinionated type.

    "You're making a lot of assumptions - and sounding ignorant for it. You're pretty keen to tell me what I want, and ignoring what I'm saying I want." he says. He pulls off his two shirts, which begin stitching together the slashes in the fabric on their own, and takes out a jar from his hip pouch. It is filled with a teal colored liquid, and he starts applying it to the gashes caused by Gandigan's earlier attack. The wounds seem to smoke and hiss - and begin to close. Robbing the palace of a few liters of the healing liquid containers for the healing chambers was a fun little nicking.

    "First of all - learn how a Saiyan mind works before assuming you understand it. And then take whatever you learn, and throw it out the window when you talk to me." he continues conversationally. "I fought in those situations because I had a reason - a personal reason - to do so. I do very much enjoy a good challenge, but I don't throw myself into the fights for others' benefits for no reason other than it could be difficult. I have far more options than pick a side, or don't pick a side. I could use the opportunity to attack another planet entirely. I could take advantage in any number of ways."

    Lottus corks the bottle and puts it back in the pouch once all of his wounds had begun to heal.

    "And your little counter offer for an alternative doesn't change my offer in the slightest. It barely can even be considered a change." he points out. "If you attacked the Saiyan capitol, and the Tuffles came running - which they won't even if they had anything worth sending - you would still be starting that war. You would bring a unified Plant down on your heads - the scenario doesn't change, Namekian. Not at all."

    Lottus shrugs.

    "Besides - your people have already participated in an attack against the Tuffles before. A Namekian by the name of Marimba, if I recall, was working with a Heran pirate called Fukushu. Performed fairly well, I found out." Lottus says idly. "At any rate - that was option one. The Tuffles are a matter I will see to in my own time, and not on someone else's little schedule. Option two - is that you help me identify a new planet to call home."

    At this, Lottus stood.

    "That bit about being a Destroyer is a good way to push people into fighting - but I'm not there yet." Lottus says. "If I live on Plant, then I have a reason to expand for it. If I live somewhere else, then I'm at liberty to fight however and wherever I please. So, the second option is that you help me find a suitable new world. Not yours, obviously."

---

    Gandigan latched onto Lottus' secondary offer very quickly.

    "Konats..." Lottus repeated. He'd heard of the planet, and considered it to have been the most likely planet that he would have invaded if he had any interest in being the King of Saiyans. He'd had it in mind when he told Taori to consider moving the Saiyans off Plant and onto a new world where resources actually existed. "I know the world by name, but little else. So you'd recommend that world..."

    Lottus saw the look in Gandigan's eyes. The Namekian had been there, and something happened that formed a grudge that Lottus could see reflected in Gandigan's eyes. He could visit worlds to vet them himself, of course, but the option to take up root on a planet not utterly devastated was what he wanted. Gandigan's eagerness, though muted, was good enough for Lottus.

    "Done. You help me set up on Konats, and I'll participate on your side of things if the Saiyan Kingdom decides it wants to pick up Namek." Lottus holds up a finger. "But since you can only help me set up once, my help will come only once. I will not repeatedly defend your planet in trade for a one time aid. If we want to talk about war potential and trading aid back and forth, that can come later."

    Lottus grins.

    "Hell, make me King of Konats, and I'll be indebted, won't I?" Lottus says, smirking. "And I can see that doubt too - the people of Konats wont have to worry about extinction. If I ended up ruling them, I'd be obligated to protect it and them. So, help me get a home in Konats, and you can call on my power to help if Namek gets attacked by the Saiyan Kingdom."

    Lottus holds out a hand.

    "Do we have a deal?"

---