Barstool Fight Club (Cheri)

”But of course.” That much was obvious. She was entering the tournament to see first-hand the power of their warriors, and to give a more direct plea to the warriors she would encounter that way. She decided not to rebuff his concept about Earth only having one or two warriors of other a thousand PL; one day, he would see Earth’s warriors, and would see that they were far stronger than he’d assumed. If he were smart, he’d be fighting alongside them.

”Alcohol: the universal constant.” It was useful to crack the odd joke. The Sadalans had beer, too, she imagined; she didn’t know of any direct evidence of that, but the Vegetans knew how to make beer, and she suspected it was a direct inheritance from their mother culture.

”Hm. If you insist.” … Oh? No big argument, no big refutation? Just a ‘if you insist’, and leaving it at that? Well, ‘leaving it at that’ was a bit too much to ask but, otherwise, pretty much. ”If that’s what you believe sincerely, I won’t get in the way of that.” Besides, it didn’t especially matter. If the tuffles won, and Mayze was with them, he would be free to do whatever: return to Sadala (where he could help restore it to greatness) stay with the saiyans who decided to stay on Plant (where, hopefully, they would leave peacefully and, in time, naturalise) or travel elsewhere for work (in which case, no problem, he’d be out of her hair). So long as it wasn’t actively dangerous, the personal philosophy wasn’t terribly important.

Mayze was surprised by the prospect of returning Sadala, clearly. She didn’t blame him; it was quite a shock to her, too, when she’d envisioned the plan and did the maths. ”It might take a while to return it to its full, original glory, original ecology restored and everything, and it will require our full attention,” and it was difficult to give something your full attention while you were being invaded, ”but it’s possible. With some ingenuity, accomplished in a thousand converging different ways, the goal of many different sciences working hand in hand, it is within reach.” She smiled, legitimately and warmly. ”Why? Does the idea speak to you?”

”Well we certainly can’t kill them, can we?” Of course not, such a thing was morally and ethically inconsiderable. To exterminate a whole people? Even aside from the direct ethical weight of it (which, again, was insurmountable and unjustifiable), after such a thing, only those political forces which didn’t much mind genocide would deal with them, and those forces tended to be those you didn’t want to associate with. ”They are too many and too violent to let live on Plant.” No, such a thing would only lead to more violence and, with the wrong leadership, the war could start up again quickly all over again. It was fine with letting some live there, those who had been born there and who hadn't fallen for the corruptive elements of their culture, only those for whom such a thing would be feasible. ”If we find an uninhabited but hospitable planet for them to live on, it seemed to work, but then they will almost certainly galvanise and come back for revenge with a full planet of resources with which to do it.” This had been Cheri’s original idea before it shifted to the Sadala Restoration Plan; not only because, yea, they probably would attempt revenge, but, more importantly, the tuffles would not support investing in a plan only for the Vegetans to likely come back later anyway. ”Only with the grand motion of restoring Sadala for them will there finally be peace. After something like that, the saiyan pride is satisfied, especially with well-meaning Vegetans assisting in overseeing the terraforming process. Sure, I might be motivated by the ethics of it myself but, ultimately, it is the only practical move.”

Certainly, Plant would need some terraforming as well to bring it back to its original state, but that wasn’t so hard; possibly it would be achievable in only a few years of terraforming without anything getting in the way thanks to the Seed program. ”We’ll manage just fine.”

Culling was the Vegetan method and the Vegetan intent, Cheri was well aware. And, while it was still likely to be the result of a Vegetan victory, she knew that not all Vegetans were of like intent. She knew there were some Vegetans who wished to conquer the planet fully, yes, but then intended to keep the tuffles around to make weapons and tech for them. Some, she knew, didn’t even care that much about having all the planet, though they were in the minority. ”Hm. I understand.”

”Tuffle elections will be soon, by the way.” Oh? What did she mean by that? ”I intend on running. I ask that you watch a speech or two of mine when such a time rolls around; you’ll see that that is my attention. And I ask that you pay attention to the polling, too, to see how popular this plan for the actualisation of tuffle qualities is.” The tuffles valued ingenuity, practical genius, grit, progressing perpetually onwards and making really really big machines you could sound smart talking about; the Sadala Restoration Plan required and showed all of these qualities.

She took his handshake confidently; if it was with the hand that was in a bit of trouble, she’s make special care to make sure she didn’t inadvertently harm him in doing so. ”Indeed. I’ll be seeing you two soon enough; likely after my trip to Earth, with my busy schedule in mind.” She smiled; she’d stay for a few hours more to track down those who had lost their money on bets involving her and reimburse them. Not out of generosity, no, simply out of the practical need to make sure she didn’t ferment a dislike of tuffles in any of them. It’s a metaphor. That was a metaphor.

”Farewell.”