[DBitP] Foster's Home For Temporally-Displaced Friends

[Frozen_Feet]

Link to last thread.

[Emperor Ing]

((Reposted from previous thread))

Earth's Orbit

Fortunately the Captain has enough sense to not test that theory. Traveling with a world-annihilator tends to do that. One moment, please. The airlock depressurizes again, before the door opens back into the vacuum of space.

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout

The short version is that their imminent arrival wasn't uncommon knowledge among those in the Royal Court. Our King thought little of the, at the time, small but growing Empire, and thought that we could fight them back if they came to Cirra. I disagreed. Apfel answers cooly. He's had a lot of time to think about and reflect on his actions. It was hardly a topic that could catch him off-guard. In overthrowing the bone-headed Royal Family, I averted a war that would've cost billions their lives. At the cost of a war that merely cost millions their lives, Apfel thought to himself. Not his proudest moment. I fail to see its relevance to Talsaiga.

"Silly Appy! One would think you'd see the connection immediately, but now I have to painfully torture metaphorical gamblers:"
She pulls out a stack of ordinary poker cards, and begins shuffling them.
"Everyone in this life plays a game of cards. With the hand you are dealt you either have high numbers..."
She suddenly fans a hand of a king, queen, jack, a ten and a nine.
"....Or low numbers."
22 reshuffles them and shows a hand of 2's and 3's and an Ace.
"And you have to play this game of bluffs and hands and betting stakes, of going for longshots or choosing to fold, and by learning how to play the game, you go beyond your starting hand to discard and draw better ones. Playing what cards you will for the results you want. But of course, not everyone is playing with the same deck yes?"
She keeps shuffling- then pulls out a hand impossible to get in the game: five 13's, one in each suite then an extra in a made up suite of shovel, on each card an image of various people: Broly, Freeza, Cell, Saitama, Superman. Saitama was the shovel suite.
"Some get cards that no one else has. That defeat all other combinations, even through normally impossible. A hand that allows them to play and win recklessly without thought, as long as they don't encounter anyone capable of playing the game better."
She reshuffles and pulls out five Tarot cards instead: The Tower, The Fool, The Devil, The Chariot, The Wheel of Fortune.
"....And of course, some play with Tarot cards, while others? Just outright cheat. They stack the deck, they slip the cards they want or arrange things so that others get bad hands while they get good ones. And of course, some store cards up their sleeve for when its desperately needed....and others? Find ways of knowing what card they are going to draw next before they draw it, their top card always facing upwards to their eyes."
She shuffles the cards back in, the strange abnormal cards disappearing.
"Its poker Apfel. Of all people, your probably this era's best player. You know that some cards aren't played until some players are no longer in the game."
She holds out the deck with a mysterious disarming smile.
"Care to tell me what card will be drawn next?"
There is silence for a few moments. Then Sailor Arcos says out loud:
".....Ok, did anyone actually follow this alien card nonsense, or am I only one who doesn't get it?"

Spirit World
She looks at Amon-Kami
"Aha, ahahahaha.....feeling bad for Spoon, your funny. Because I don't. At all.

Huh, your right, I guess my usual black leather jacket biker girl look is a little too casual. Maybe I should get a work uniform to show how divine I am as a goddess. Y'know, something a little more formal when I'm on the job, y'know? Hey guys, is there any specific godly attire thats acceptable as a dress code?
Elegant white togas? Fancy kimonos and red tattoos or little hats? Multiple arms and complicated fabrics?animal head and revealing clothing? I don't think I'd pull off the Aztec look, honestly? and I don't think I have enough eyes and extra everything to go with the old testament look anywhere...."
She jokes a little. Then she double takes at Yenma.
"Wait what, Yama DIED!? Agh. That jerk! He got the last laugh on me, and came up with an excuse good enough to get out teaching me things. Sigh. Thanks for the info Yenma, I'll get back to work. Its not as if I know any sensei other than cold harsh experience anyways."
Not as if getting screwed over was anything new to Android 23, either. She takes off, flying back to Earth.

Masala The Pirate, AGAIN!
She flies down and lands on one of Fenrir's ships, wearing her pirate outfit again, and brandishing a cutlass. Masala begins to squeak at Fenrir in a pirate-y accent, her voice too young and girlish for a proper pirate voice.
"Yaaaaaaaar, matey! Ye be Fenrir, are ye not? I be hearin' that ye eat human flesh, and that this be not in the Tournament Spirit! I must save the Tournament Spirit From Ye, and even if'n such rumors be untrue ye scurvy sea-dog o' the scourges, I cannae ignore this here blockade around yonder town. Cast your sails for more peaceful horizons, matey, afore I sink all ye vessels and their bilge rats with ye to feed the sharks and meet ol' Davey Jones!"
She would normally just charge in fists a-blazing, but she really wanted to make that pirate threat.

[igordragonian]

[Lookout]

Vodakana as usual, knew to notice the important stuff.

"Nya?! Show me again, the card with hot blonde angry man! nyyya!" she purred and asked 22.

[Spirit World]

Amon Kami frowned. "What this supposed to mean?! Merrow?! I am doing my job well, King Yenma! Don't pull foolish jokes on me!"

He turned again to 23, smilimh. "Merowrowrow! You surely have the material of Cheff! Why don't you try my style? Merrow?" he snapped his claws, and gave her a silky and golden revealing egyptian like outfit, decorated with Nyagato hieroglyphs which looked like cat Smilies- ;3 :3 (:3 ):3 amd such


[Fenrir's Fleet]

few beastmen growled. "Fenrir The Hungry, is right now feasting on the main ship! But he won't be intrested at demonic-human tournament!" they pulled their weapons

[Frozen_Feet]

[Earth's orbit]

The human(?) happily floats outside. He gains some distance and glances down to Earth and... then he's just gone. The sensors on Apfel's ship might tell the Captain that space was warped close by in a manner reminescent of a high-power frameshift engine.

---

[Above Kami's Lookout; meaningless fraction of a second later]

There's sound akin to a thunderclap and a gust of wind blows over the terrace of the Lookout. If someone looks up, they'll see a bronze-skinned short man in black clothes and a white cloak. The clothes resemble those olf God of Earth used to wear, while the cloak might remind someone of Piccolo Junior, if they have pictures of that person.

The man looks down from his vantage point, seeing who all are present.

[Lord Raziere]

Spirit World
She accepts the clothing, and says
"Huh.....thanks...."
She didn't have the heart to tell him that her only dish was "Trollface Surprise". and that she was probably the most horrible cook in existence.

As she flew away she thought a little why he would give her this. Was it just thanks for taking care of Spoon? Hm. Anyways, she would have to assess the Nyagatos with her own eyes to judge their state of society. If what Spoon said was true, perhaps she would force change, but she had be careful. This could be a genuine gift from a kami who is good, or a bribe to keep her from being critical of them or something, so take it as a tentative assumption that it was a gift of gratitude, simply because that is how society works until proven otherwise.

But how was it going to come with her when she got back? This was her astral form, her real body was still on the Lookout. Oh well. Guess she will find out.

The Lookout
As 22 awaits Apfel's reply, she pulls out the Broly card from the middle of the deck and gives it to her with a teasing smile.
"Screaming bara fangirl hm? You can keep it. If you want more such cards, or even posters of people like him, I could add it to the rewards for showing progress on your training, particularly your self control."
Meanwhile 23 comes back to her body, and the Nyagato clothing appear on her lap.
"Huh weird, some form of magic? Or is that just how it works?"
She looks up at the new arrival.
"......Who's the Piccolo cosplayer? Hey, you forgot the green skin, pointed ears and antennae, or the turban. At least do it right. With your height, I think your more of a Gohan, or a Krillin if your willing to shave if your committed or put on one of those false baldness rubber heads. That seems more your lack of effort."

Fenrir Fleet
"Well thats just rude! Now I have to sink y'all, cause I have a tournament to get to, and I can't really fight you all day looking for him no matter how fun. I gots to have priorities! Can't be late after all."
She extends her arms and begins punching big holes in ships or just karate-chopping them in half one by one, leaping from one to the other. Its not as if any of these fighters posed any actual threat to her after all.

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

While Apfel didn't quite understand 22's meaning, there was one thing that was clear that she was communicated.

She knew. Apfel didn't need psychic powers to figure out that 22 was at least somewhat aware of his abilities. Then again, she'll likely severely overestimate them.

But she's also communicating that she's playing, too, and she has her own tricks. But what? And what does it relate to Talsaiga?

You don't strike me as a historian. He remarks. What do you mean by the best player of "this era?"

Apfel glanced upwards at the new arrival, but didn't think much of it.

[igordragonian]

[lookout]

Vodkana grabbed the card with purr. "Yes! Please! Nya!" she said, wagging her tail.
Anything... to swallow with it, the pain...

she blinked and stared at 23. "The First Meal-Kami dress?! Nya!? Where did you get it from?!" she has asked with shock.

Vodkana waved to the new person.
"Are you hungry? Nya? I still got plenty of food!" she said cheerfully.

[Fenrir Fleet]


They started to rain her with axes, swords, onions and some occasional catapult artillery. All in vain of course.

At the Main Ship-
A dark canine character sighed, while his monocle shined. "What all of this ruckus? Can't a gentleman drink a cup of tea in peace?" *sigh
He gotten out to the board of the ship, looking at the destruction, caused by a strange slime girl.
Now under the light of the sun, he could be seen- slim built, dog man with blue fur, dressed as victorian gentelman with a top hat, tied with a blue ribbon. On his chest he wore emblem of his own flag. On his right eye he wore monocle.

He talked calmly- but surprisingly, loud enough for Masala to hear.
"Excuse me, Lady Pirate. Why are you behaving like this? I quite have the need for this fleet, in order to move on for world domination and fulfilling the prophecy. You know? So would you be a dear, and stop acting like that, and adress your distress to me? What ever inconvenience my beastmen have caused you, is under my responsibility. So, can you please talk this out with me? Both of us aren't filthy humans after all. Now, are we?"

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout
"Oro!?"
22 said with surprise as she realizes her mistake with a comical expression. Android 23 rises and puts a solid calming hand on her shoulder.
"That, Apfel is highly related to the Oxyribo Thing. Technically why Talsaiga is also related to that. To divulge such information is dangerous if not done wisely. Don't worry 22, Apfel is a tricky one, there was bound to be some things that picks up on. Now, what happened while I was gone?"
23 then listens to 22 explaining the current situation in her own weird way and 23 just nods in understanding not having any problem with comprehension. Then she turns to Apfel.
"Yes, you see Apfel...there are some secrets you do not say, until you are absolutely everyone-"
She shoots a glare at Sailor Arcos
"-Is someone you can trust with the information. Things you never want someone...undesirable to know. I will tell you soon, when the time is right and conditions have changed."
Arcos narrows her eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean, Arcos is: Apfel, why did you bring a Hailing loyalist to my planet? I am someone that is slow to trust. I already am on guard simply because your a competent politician. And you bring someone who thinks highly of Hailing to a gathering where we discuss his death?"
"Um, 23 Starlight and Apfel both talked about his arrest-"
"So? I don't recall agreeing to that. Nor do I recall allowing anyone to speak for me on that matter. I'm pretty sure the agreement I made was with two Arcosians named Ieez and Artic and that they want to kill Hailing, a tyrannical slaving bastard for both great justice and to avenge their father. Not to carry out an arrest, for reasons that I personally find such a great threat to the galaxy so willing to blow up planets is not one I can personally live with if I am to lead a good life."
"Why you! Hailing only blows up planets that he is legally allowed to!"
Android 23 just remains silent for a moment while raising her eyebrow.
"Now see, that is the most screwed up sentence I ever heard.

Planetary genocide is bad! but not if the person has authorization first! Give me a freaking break. Just because its legal doesn't mean it stops being bad. I'm not here because Hailing forgot to ask two people to agree with him first, I'm here because he BLEW UP PLANETS and killed BILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Regardless of the legality. The world may not be black and white, but it sure is a rainbow, and the color red is on Hailing's hands. I am not going to be complicit in this so-called "justice" out of some misplaced sense of mercy. No matter how grey the world is, an atrocity is still an atrocity. That Arcosian law only opposes him on the grounds that he didn't get permission first is screwed up in itself, really.

While as for the secrets I'm keeping, let me make this absolutely clear Apfel: There is at least one secret here, that I'm willing to fight you or even die to protect, simply because its more logical than allowing anyone bad to know of its existence to do whatever people would want with it. You might be curious why I trusted people like Aspa or Oxyribo with such a secret, when I haven't yet trusted you. Simple: they were people who while stubborn and full of pride, were also straightforward, honest and didn't potentially have ulterior motives. They didn't have a manipulative bone in their body.

You on the other for some reason thought it was a good idea to show up here with someone loyal to Hailing while claiming to merely want to arrest him, and are a known tricksy manipulator person. So how do I know your on the level here? Starlight may take it as a given but I'm not."
Sailor Arcos was unsure about this return. She would wait for the others reaction to 23's speech before making a move herself. There was still a vague chance that Apfel could be trying to fool them and just stringing them along until he could lead them into a trap.

Masala For Equality!
She stops at his words and remembers what her mommies taught her:

Spoiler: Masala's Lesson on Racism

Show

Masala is crying. Her parents stand over her
"Masala. What happened?"
"A bunch of humans called me a "dirty majin"...they... they hated me...."
"....Really. What did you do?"
"It hurt my feelings....I felt.....horrible....I ran away. Crying."
22 puts her arm around her.
"Your not dirty. Your a good person, no matter what you are. Those people are just too blinded by hate to understand that."
"To understand what?"
"That we're all equal. That we all deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of species or appearance or minds or who we love. That we all deserve happiness."
"But...your both more powerful than anyone else on Earth! You can defeat them all easily!"
"Just because we're more powerful, doesn't we're better than them. We can make mistakes, we can be fallible or fail. It just means that when do, those failures are bigger, and thus we need to be more careful. So that it doesn't cause collateral damage"
"....Oh..."
They were silent for a moment, then Masala looks up and asks
"Mommy......what do I do when I see people like that again? What if its a Majin calling people a dirty human or something?"
Android 23 raises her fist.
"You punch them in the goddamn face, human or majin. Or any other species. People like that? Who won't respect people because of reasons like that? Will never learn. You fight for equality, and that means everyone gets treated the same, and thus gets punished the same."
"23!!" 22 shouts, a little cross at her.
"No teaching our child Renegade actions!"
"I didn't hear you complain when I got rid of those Anti-Majin terrorists, its not as if there are any jails left around in the post-apocalyptic remains of society."
"Ugh! Masala what you should really do is-
She forgot the rest.

Her only response is to launch more punches at him specifically.

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

Lord Apfel remains impassive, only tilting his head towards 23 once she is finished. He says nothing for a moment before silently walking up to the post-human, only stopping once he's close enough to whisper in her ear, such that even a keen-eared species wouldn't be able to make out what Apfel was saying. Who are you, that believes Hailing will allow himself to be arrested?

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout
She whispers back:
"Shouldn't you be asking Sailor Arcos that? If the whole arrest plan is to satisfy Starlight and make us seem more legit to the galactic media at large when he inevitably doesn't, cool I'm down with that. But doing this to string Arcos along seems like just setting up a traitor to shoot us in the foot somewhere down the line. Its already bad enough that she knows the location of this planet."
Sailor Arcos meanwhile narrows her eyes in suspicion. What were they speaking about that the rest weren't privy to?

[igordragonian]

Lookout

Vodkana had hard time to relate to 23's speech. Sue, she has learned that people beside her have emotions, and reasons to live, wich aren't neccarily to please her.
She could even feel and show compassion toward induviduals.
But faceless masses were a diffrent story. And beside- planetary anhilation sounded like something awesome and fun! So why not legalize it? And why the nya aren't we fonding this?
But she trusted 23 and 22's morals more of her own.

'Apfel-chan..." she said sweetly.
"If 23-Senpai want to do something she will do it!"
then Vodkana turned to 23.
"But, if may I say something.. nya. You don't like politic. I understand this is boring and not fun.... but acting like zealots of justice, might push us further instead of closer to our vision. Nya"
she paused.
"I have thought, that are porpuse is to bring freedom and safety to the galaxy nya. Does is really matter if one certain induvidual will keep living or not?" she said it ,as if it clear that 23 CAN kill Hailing. Apfel doesn't have the right kind of ki detector to check that.
And still, she was worried the 23's srubborness will!lead them further from 23's vision.
"If this Hailing will be arrested, and few lil' reforms will be made, nya- what would be wrong with that?"


[Fenrir Vs Masala]

Fenrir frowned, raising one arm to block the punches, putting the cup of tea on a little table with the other.

"Your irational behavior, might make me lose a little bit of patience. And that would probably kill you. So be a dear, and try to be reasonable." Now using both arm to block the punches.
"Whatever it is, I am sure, that as fair inhumans, we can come to a rational concusion! After all, I just want to make Earth paradise to every inhuman there is! Doesn't it sound like a pleasant dream and vision?"

[Frozen_Feet]

[Kami's lookout]

The short man floats closer as 23 quips on his outfit. "Such funny names you are throwing around. For sake of clarity, I note I have nothing to do with those people." Then he's distracted by Vodkana offering him a meal. "No thank you. I have no use for food, cat or human. Ha. Ha. Ha."

Then he falls silent, tilting his head curiously as 23 and Apfel engage in their conspiratory natter. He walks a wide circle around those on the lookout, hands behind his back, eyeing the gathered people. After some time, he decides he's waited enough and coughs in his hand. "Clearly, you're in the middle of something. However, I'll note, in spirit to what the red-haired girl there said, that I can hear you loud and clear. I didn't intent to eavesdrop, I just can't help, being here. Ha. Ha. Ha."

The man walks to Apfel and 23. Each step of his makes the lookout tremble slightly, as if the man is immensely heavy. "You are Apfel, I gather", he says to the Incirran. "I'm here to talk about your ship. I'd like to break it to pieces to see how it works. I would, of course, provide you with alternative methods of transportation in return. How about it?"

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

She is at a crossroads. Apfel replies. She will either betray us, to her own doom, or become our strongest ally. After all, you cannot truly hate something without loving it, first. He then steps back and sees the newcomer. What an odd creature, and an even odder question. No, nothing good could come of a pre-Type 1 civilization interacting with the technology of a Type 3 civilization.

That is not going to happen. Apfel replies firmly. Who are you?

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout
23 says nothing in specific to Apfel's explanation, aside from general grumblings about the only one seeming to have read about farmers and vipers around here. She then starts communicating in phone-telepathy to 22.
What now? We need to start moving on and getting things done, but we can't just leave Arcos the way she is. I don't trust her the way she is.
We need to get this moving somehow. Which means we need to start taking risks. Everyone is playing turtle now, Apfel is too smart to force the issue, Starlight is going to continue being a peacekeeper, and Arcos has too much discipline to make any rash decisions, so we have to do something that break the conversational stalemate.
And if Arcos finds out a secret and reports back to Hailing, it might be all over for us. I say we wait until she makes her move. She is clearly slowly breaking down.
Thats happening too slow for that and she might recover in that time and figure out some way of safely reporting back and dooming us all. We NEED to do something that will break the ice.
But WHAT? What can we possibly say that won't risk an important asset? Particularly the Dragon Balls?
They both thought for a few moments then 22 had an idea.
This won't put any thing we have at risk. While being relevant to the discussion at hand, and why we're doing this. While still being a secret we can use to test Arcos's loyalty.
....Yeah, I think THIS idea will be our safest bet. Though there is some risk they won't believe us, we have to get this started or we will just be going around in circles.

They made a few mental preparations. They would begin soon.

Meanwhile, Sailor Arcos is lost in thought:

Spoiler: An Arcosian Cartoon

Show

Her name was Flake back then. It still is, but she couldn't remember the last time she was called that. Here, she supposed was where it all started on a day very much like this day. Her quest to become Sailor Arcos, when she was a young child:
With cheesy cartoon opening music like this
I mean, what else did you expect?
An opening full of silly poses that look cool when your like, 6.....7....maybe 8 years old? With of course an big strong male Arcosian as the main protagonist and leader, the guy from the strong but stupid race, the small one from the smart but socially awkward race, the reckless loner member who constantly butts heads with the leader and the newbie from a planet that doesn't have a lot of good fighters but is eager to prove himself. Yet despite all their quirks they were all the best of friends who worked together for the good of the Empire if not the entire Galaxy.
The title of this episode flashes upon screen:
"The Liberation of Galgamatrax-11."

They use the same animation and pre-recorded lines they do every episode when the squad is called to order, complete with poses:
"Bigstrong, reporting for duty!"
"Smallsmart, reporting for duty!"
"Alonzix, reporting for duty....I guess."
"Bipple, uh....reporting for duty!!"
"CAPTAIN BLIZZARD, REPORTING FOR DUTY!!!"
They all salute as Captain Blizzard bursts in out of nowhere with a big smile on his face. He was the ideal Arcosian Hero: a hardy explorer yet urbane and polite. A force for order and justice wherever he went and never hesitated to risk his life for the greater good of the Empire. A great fighter, yet well educated. He was everything, the pinnacle, the ideal.
"Men, I have received a mission from Our Glorious Emperor! The tyrannical witches of Galgamatrax-11 are going to cast an ancient ritual that will destroy all FTL drives in the empire! We must stop them and overthrow their cruel regime, before they render all space travel in our fair civilization nothing but slush!"
They all gasp. Dramatic notes play.
Alonzix says some line about going it alone, and everyone else chides him with a smile while he just groans, like always. In contrast, Alonzix was an anti-role model. He was a soldier who originally joined just for the glory of getting the kill and showing off, he wasn't a team player, all that bad boy rebellious nonsense, but in an early episode learned some of his lessons and goes along with the program at least some of the time, and of course kept around because oddly a lot of people liked him.
They then board a space ship and zoom to the planet in an instead in another trippy stock animation.

They arrive on a stereotypical jungle-like planet. They stop to comment
"Wow! This place is wild, Captain!" says Bipple.
"Indeed, Private Bipple! Be on your toes, for not everyone is as fortunate as Arcosians! Remember that we must always bring the light of civilization to where it does not shine!"
"Right, Captain Blizzard! Your dedication to giving all a better life knows no bounds!"
They head deeper in and soon encounter native troops sent to attack them and keep them from getting to the ritual. The enemies are blatantly barbaric looking and savage, with exaggerated bestial features and barely speaking anything intelligible. They use spears and wear leather armor. Soon after some fighting, they begin to retreat and split up two ways. Alonzix goes after one of them alone.
"Quick! You three chase after the other group, I'll catch up to Alonzix and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid!"
Captain Blizzard does so, and he and Alonzix after the obligatory lines of dialogue about teamwork, fight off the remainder. Bigstrong, Smallsmart and Bipple however all fall into a trap set by the natives and have a net thrown over them, then are carried away, captured.

Alonzix and Captain Blizzard catch up to and follow the captured ones to where the witches were carrying out their rituals, the witches get out a sacrificial dagger and declare they were going to sacrifice them to complete the ritual.
"And thus, ruin the Arcosian Empire- FOREVERRRR!!!!!" with an over the top maniacal cackle.
Alonzix suddenly jumps in while Captain Blizzard protests
"No wait! We need to come up with a plan!"
Alonzix is soon captured. Then Captain Blizzard comes just in time to foil the whole ritual with one punch. The witches order people to attack him, but the swarming warriors attacks bounce harmlessly off him.
"Haha! You cannot beat the power of natural Arcosian toughness, fiends!"
Alonzix grunts while the other three members cheer him on.
He then proceeds to wipe the floor with all of them then defeat all the witches in one attack. Soon the squad members are freed and all the peaceful natives around them come out of nowhere celebrating it as loud as they can. Alonzix cries
"how did you do that!?"
"Why with the Power of Teamwork, Alonzix!" Captain Blizzard replies
"After all, I couldn't have possibly won without them having faith in me, couldn't I?"
Alonzix just groans while everyone else laughs.

Soon a new native leader with a white beard comes up and says
"You did a great thing today and freed us all from the witches tyranny! How could we ever repay you, friend!?"
Captain Blizzard laughs it off.
"Nonsense, I'm just doing my job! Any Arcosian could've done the same!"
They then board the space ship and take off. Roll credits.

From then on, she vowed that she would be the first magical girl elite squadron captain. All the other ones were too obsessed with sentai. Going to new planets and places, fighting to protect the galaxy- what could be better?

Masala Vs. Fenrir
A vein appears on her forehead and she yells as her pigtail-arms draw her scissor-swords, and her let arm draws her cutlass, and an axe appears in her right.
"MY! MOMMIES! ARE! HUMAN! I! LOVE! THEM! VERY! MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!!!!"
The water and the ship vibrates and trembles at the mere force of her shouts, and she begins her flurry of attacks with her sharp weaponry.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Kami's lookout]

"I am general of the Red Planet Army. You've likely never heard of us. Mostly because peculiarities of your vessel made you miss the checkpoint halfway into this solar system, so I had to come and investigate personally." The short man beckons at the Androids and others. "It appears you are in good company so I can't accuse you of trespassing. However, I'd still like to examine your ship so that anyone not in good company can't sneak past us in the future. Are you sure your stance is final?"

[Ishimi]

Ryuichi watches the "man" intently, trying to get a read on him. He certainly hadn't remembered anything about a "Red Planet Army", but it didn't sound good. Even so he had no reason to attack it seemed, and at the very least the man seemed... reasonable, if not overly logical. Though something about his clothing was familiar.

After some deliberating, Ryu speaks up.
"If you Don't mind my asking, who or where did you acquire your clothing from?"

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

My stance is final. Apfel reiterates firmly.

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout
Android 23 suddenly turns her attention upwards.
"Oh really? So YOUR the one who leads the Units Who Don't Do Anything. Hi, I'm the new Kami around here, and I have a few questions like um, I don't know, where the hell did you come from? What is your purpose here? Why is Yama dead? Cause THIS unit doesn't take being a mushroom. Cause your certainly keeping me in the dark, and I don't want any of the bull you might feed me.

Apfel you are smart to not take his offers. We don't know any of his goals."
"For once we agree. And I don't like how he offered to dismantle the ship without specifying whether or not the crew would taken off alive first."
That and 23 was not about to let these upstart clockwork jokers mess around in space for who knows what reason.

In Sailor Arcos's memories:

Spoiler: Becoming a Soldier

Show

Years pass and Flake soon goes through the academy and joins the army of the Arcosian Empire. She finds herself in the drill camp. Before she could be a full soldier, she would have to pass the trials and the training. Their short drill sergeant with a bio-visor over his mouth before them barks out:
"Alright, maggots! The world beyond our planet may all be weaker than our own, but if you think that will be a picnic and an easy paycheck for you sad excuses for Arcosians, boy are you in for a rude awakening. We don't take lazy asses who think they're on a tourist trip! If you even want to see the rank of private, your going to be tested and trained to your limit. Your going to broken and remade into the finest soldiers of our Empire!

For you, are all snowflakes, thinking your special. But your not! Thinking that just because your resilience and ability to breathe in space will save you from everything. All my dead comrades disagree and are busy shouting at you to MAN THE HELL UP, and FALL IN LINE! For Arcos is strong, not its little snowflakes but as a blizzard! A raging unending torrent, a united storm of cold, that when all the little flakes charge together, freeze and kill anything! All enemies of our regime and Hailing's glory will be buried in the snow of DEATH! We are strong together! And if you ever hope to reach the rank of Elite Squad member and prance around doing their stupid poses, YOU WILL DOUBLE TIME FIVE LAPS AROUND THE CAMP! MOVE IT MAGGOTS!"
"Sir Yes Sir!"
She would under go countless exercises all day everyday. The already naturally tough homeworld Arcosian body needed a lot more work to improve it even a little bit compared to other races- by starting out strong, it took that much more work to make it even better. Even at the end of her training, her PL was only 102,000 compared to the normal 100,000 and it would take her years more to reach her current 300,000 PL even on a workaholic training schedule and constant battle.

She remembered the final test: The sergeant dropping them into the harshest terrain of Arcos while laughing maniacally, everyone fighting to make their way out of it and racing to the finish line where they would be evaluated. Battling through harsh storms, treacherous terrain, and powerful beasts. However the worst was when one of the Arcosian recruits, named Icicles attacks her.
"Heheheheh. Poor Flake, having her delusions of becoming the Captain of an Elite Squad....pitiful."
'Why are you doing this!?"
"Isn't it obvious? To eliminate the competition. I will cheat, kill and power through my way to the top. And when I'm strong enough, I will kill Hailing and take power for myself! I'll live a life of luxury, as the leader of the entire galaxy, with no one able to oppose me! And I can't have idealistic fools like you getting in the way of that farther down the line, eh?"
Their fight is brutal and unforgiving, but Flake couldn't do it for long- she needed to finish the test. So she ended it as fast as possible, cutting off his head first so that his body was still alive but nothing but a twitching, flailing organism with no direction from the brain. Icicles manages to use flight on his still living head and blasts ki from his mouth, zipping around much fast without the weight, but she flash steps and disintegrates his head between her two palms. She then destroys his body. Flake had no sympathy for such a traitor.
However even when she got near the finish line, the Sergeant was himself there to fight the recruits. Every time one got near, he would throw them back. She charged and he threw her back. She charged seek some other way, but he threw her back. She tried a third time but he knocked her back with a kick. Finally she got angry and charged forward to tackle him, putting her full force upon him, and other recruits joined in tackling him as well and they all made it through the finish line, all of them passing.
"See what I mean, maggots!? LIKE A BLIZZARD! TEAMWORK! TOGETHER! YOU ALL PASS!"
She had done it, but there was still more to go....

[Frozen_Feet]

The short man glances at Ryuichi. "I made them", he says simply. Then he turns back to Apfel. "Is that so? I suppose I will have to procure another of its kind, then. A pity, you could've saved me a lot of trouble."

Then 23 and Sailor Arcos interrupt. The man gives a bemused look at the latter. "Don't be silly. I offered them alternative means of transit. I would've hardly bothered if I wanted to kill them. I would've just killed them." He then steps toward 23, wondering why she's looking up when he's already down on the lookout and shorter than her to boot.

"You sure have a lot of questions, young lady. Funny you'd say I'm keeping you in the dark when this is the first time we've met. I've hardly had an opportunity to feed you anything. But, to answer: I came from the asteroid belt to inquire about Apfel's ship. I thought as much was already clear. As for the last one, I guess you use 'Yama' to refer to old God of Earth. He died because he wanted to. I'm sad to hear his apprentice didn't make it back to Earth, but I guess you will do for the time being."

[igordragonian]

[Fenerir Vs Masala]

"Well, this is sure escalating badly. For you." Fenrir said, as he hoped and dodged, with feral instincts.

"Slightly annoyed form!" he has announced. His muscules swelled a bit under his suit, and his fur on his head turned a little bit spikey. His ki been raised by 25%.
He hopping in mid air, sending a powerful punch.
"your parents cannot be humans! You are NOT human!" he barked.

[Lookout]

Vodkana sighed, as her role models have ignored her. But it was understandable..
Vodkana didn't liked the Red General, but she waited.

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

If you had viable alternate means of transit, you wouldn't need to dismantle mine to figure out how it worked. Would you? Apfel replied rhetorically.

[Hawkflight]

"Silly Appy! One would think you'd see the connection immediately, but now I have to painfully torture metaphorical gamblers:"

"There will be no torturing!" Starlight insisted. "This may be your culture, not mine, but as a pony I cannot in good conscience you were being metaphorical weren't you?" she added, sheepishly changing tracks near the end. She listened to 22's explanation, nodding in understanding, but there was something that didn't make sense to her. Starlight was there when Apfel made his declaration, and even if she wasn't, she clearly had the queen's confidence, so shouldn't Apfel know already that the alliance knew of his powers?

The Lookout
23 then listens to 22 explaining the current situation in her own weird way and 23 just nods in understanding not having any problem with comprehension. Then she turns to Apfel.
"Yes, you see Apfel...there are some secrets you do not say, until you are absolutely everyone-"
She shoots a glare at Sailor Arcos
"-Is someone you can trust with the information. Things you never want someone...undesirable to know. I will tell you soon, when the time is right and conditions have changed."
Arcos narrows her eyes.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean, Arcos is: Apfel, why did you bring a Hailing loyalist to my planet? I am someone that is slow to trust. I already am on guard simply because your a competent politician. And you bring someone who thinks highly of Hailing to a gathering where we discuss his death?"
"Um, 23 Starlight and Apfel both talked about his arrest-"
"So? I don't recall agreeing to that. Nor do I recall allowing anyone to speak for me on that matter. I'm pretty sure the agreement I made was with two Arcosians named Ieez and Artic and that they want to kill Hailing, a tyrannical slaving bastard for both great justice and to avenge their father. Not to carry out an arrest, for reasons that I personally find such a great threat to the galaxy so willing to blow up planets is not one I can personally live with if I am to lead a good life."
"Why you! Hailing only blows up planets that he is legally allowed to!"
Android 23 just remains silent for a moment while raising her eyebrow.
"Now see, that is the most screwed up sentence I ever heard.

Planetary genocide is bad! but not if the person has authorization first! Give me a freaking break. Just because its legal doesn't mean it stops being bad. I'm not here because Hailing forgot to ask two people to agree with him first, I'm here because he BLEW UP PLANETS and killed BILLIONS OF PEOPLE. Regardless of the legality. The world may not be black and white, but it sure is a rainbow, and the color red is on Hailing's hands. I am not going to be complicit in this so-called "justice" out of some misplaced sense of mercy. No matter how grey the world is, an atrocity is still an atrocity. That Arcosian law only opposes him on the grounds that he didn't get permission first is screwed up in itself, really.

While as for the secrets I'm keeping, let me make this absolutely clear Apfel: There is at least one secret here, that I'm willing to fight you or even die to protect, simply because its more logical than allowing anyone bad to know of its existence to do whatever people would want with it. You might be curious why I trusted people like Aspa or Oxyribo with such a secret, when I haven't yet trusted you. Simple: they were people who while stubborn and full of pride, were also straightforward, honest and didn't potentially have ulterior motives. They didn't have a manipulative bone in their body.

You on the other for some reason thought it was a good idea to show up here with someone loyal to Hailing while claiming to merely want to arrest him, and are a known tricksy manipulator person. So how do I know your on the level here? Starlight may take it as a given but I'm not."
Sailor Arcos was unsure about this return. She would wait for the others reaction to 23's speech before making a move herself. There was still a vague chance that Apfel could be trying to fool them and just stringing them along until he could lead them into a trap.

Starlight stepped closer. "23, you're both the Kami of this planet and our leader, and Princess Celestia clearly trusts you, so I will trust whatever judgement you make here," she whispered to 23, and only her. "But as the ship's diplomat, may I make a suggestion? We need Apfel's cooperation on this if we're going to fix things with minimal disruptions and casualties. You and I both know that Hailing will not allow himself to be arrested, so we lose nothing by trying, while gaining Apfel's trust and cooperation. When Hailing resists, we can kill him in self defense and within the bounds of Arcosian law, while minimizing the resulting political turmoil, making instating a new ruler such as Ambassador Rime and the elimination of expansion by force a much smoother process."

The short man glances at Ryuichi. "I made them", he says simply. Then he turns back to Apfel. "Is that so? I suppose I will have to procure another of its kind, then. A pity, you could've saved me a lot of trouble."

Then 23 and Sailor Arcos interrupt. The man gives a bemused look at the latter. "Don't be silly. I offered them alternative means of transit. I would've hardly bothered if I wanted to kill them. I would've just killed them." He then steps toward 23, wondering why she's looking up when he's already down on the lookout and shorter than her to boot.

"You sure have a lot of questions, young lady. Funny you'd say I'm keeping you in the dark when this is the first time we've met. I've hardly had an opportunity to feed you anything. But, to answer: I came from the asteroid belt to inquire about Apfel's ship. I thought as much was already clear. As for the last one, I guess you use 'Yama' to refer to old God of Earth. He died because he wanted to. I'm sad to hear his apprentice didn't make it back to Earth, but I guess you will do for the time being."

Starlight sighed. So much was happening at once. She placed a hoof on Vodkana's shoulder, smiling comfortingly, then stepped over to address the newcomer, nodding respectfully.

"Good afternoon, mister, um....?" She left a small cliffhanger to give him a chance to tell her his name. "We are extremely busy at the moment, would you mind waiting just a few moments while we clear things up here? I'll be more than happy to personally introduce you to Lord Apfel and Kami 23 then."

She hoped that the newcomer would be amenable to this, she needed to give her attention to Arcos for a moment and didn't need any more distractions.

[Lord Raziere]

The Lookout
Android 23 looks down at the General. Her eye twitched. She didn't like this guy.
"I meant: 1. Who created you and the Red Planet Army? 2. What purpose does the Red Planet Army in general serve? I'll just leave the third one alone given your answer."

Android 22 noticed that Vodkana was ignored and decided to address her.
"Oh sorry, look, Vodkana...The reason why 23 thinks Hailing should die is because with his level of power, its likely that he won't obey the law at all. He simply is on a level beyond even his own Empire's power to contain him. Much like how technically 23 isn't actually empowered by any of the governments of Earth to legally do anything- its all from the Kais. Yet if me or her ever decided to whatever we wanted with Earth when no one else was around, no one would be able to stop us. By her logic, the law means nothing in the face of somebody who could quite easily destroy the people who enforce it.

From 23's perspective in the world we live in....the law is whatever the most powerful person wants unless you can beat them. Thats why you have people suddenly acting all polite and courteous when Beerus comes by, and why he isn't bound by any rules of the native planet. This meeting is quite the anomaly in terms of powerful beings and rules, as everyone here values them too highly to break them. Problem is....Hailing violated the rules, therefore showing us how LITTLE he values them. Therefore it throws into question if we can trust him to follow the rules enough to be arrested at all, when he could just kill us all, go back to ruling claim it was a failed assassination attempt and who would argue? No one, because they wouldn't want their planet blown up.

That and 23....is used to permanent solutions. To her, the question of Hailing is a question of whether any good form of civilization can survive someone like Hailing ruling it with the constant fear of your home, everyone you know, yourself.....all being blown up in an instant just because of some thing you had nothing to do with. I mean, imagine the people who get blown up by Beerus who were on the other side of the planet to the people disrespecting him feel. Your day getting ruined because of some OTHER guy's mistake is not a pretty feeling. and personally, I don't entirely disagree. I mean, I'd love it if we could get everyone to get along with each other, but there are people far worse than Hailing out there who wouldn't even give lip service to politics or rules simply because they now they are powerful enough to make such things not apply to them. Such beings are called monsters. You don't negotiate or befriend them, because all they will do is attack, and the only way good is to be done when they come is for the hero to draw the sword and vanquish the monster from the world."
"Oh by the way, I'm totally fine with "arresting" Hailing. For reasons. Apfel made a good argument. Don't worry about it Starlight."
"Huh. That was an oddly fast turnabout. Oh well!"

In Sailor Arcos's Memory:

Spoiler: Just Following Orders.

Show

Flake remembers her tour of duty among the rank and file. Long weeks of eating and sleeping on a ship punctuated by battles in space and atmospheres against space pirates, hardened criminals, mercenaries, alien races who were a threat to everyone around them. Those mixed murkily into her memory. What really stood out to her was the time she participated in wiping out an entire race.

They were touching down like any other mission. The only mission parameters were as usual, cold clinical and impersonal: "Eliminate all targets. Secure the area for colonization." She thought at the time it was just for one city or the immediate area.

She of course sprang into battle against the defending aliens. They fought bravely, but she blasted them all down. They were like toys to her. So easily defeated, one after the other. She thought tons of them, all their warriors dying like flies to their overwhelming assault. However when the battlefield was destroyed and they were dead, they did not stop. They continued flying outwards and forwards. She asked if the are was secure.
"Not yet." was all the reply she got.

One battlefield became another. That battlefield became two. Then three, then four. There did not seem to be an end to it. Battlefields became cities, and combatants became civilians. Her eyes widened.
"Wait, those are civilians!"
"Yes, so? it said to eliminate all targets."
"Civilians are targets!?"
"Do I hear insubordination, Private Flake?"
"....No Sir."
She blasted ki at them as well. The killing continued until there was only one city left. Flake stares in horror as a dying alien crawls up to her and says
"....You....can stop this madness...."
"No...I can't....I have to obey...."
"....No....you always have a ch-"
He is cut off by a blast from the sergeant. Flake asks
"How....how do you handle this?"
The sergeant grunts and replies.
"Remember these words Flake: Just Following Orders. Thats all we're doing. The area means the entire planet. We just weapons of our Emperor's will, an extension of his fist. Its not our place to choose or to question why, its our place to do and to die."
"Just...following orers? But how do you know...that they are right?"
"We don't.We just have to have faith that the higher ups know what they are doing when they send us to make us do these things. That and do you really want our families getting killed if we disobey? Just trust in them, and hope that you don't get called to do this again."
As they both raise their fists for the final blast, Flake repeated "Just Following Orders" under breath.

And so it would become her mantra through the tour of duty, throughout her missions, constantly repeating it over the years. Flake over time reasoned that her leaders couldn't possibly be doing this without good reason right? Hailing must be doing all this for the greater good, he must be! Otherwise those planets that died, the ones she killed was all for naught, was just a slaughter, and that couldn't possibly be the case.

She had to believe that there was some plan that she was not seeing. That there was something she was missing and that Hailing knew better than her. The only way that could be true is if Hailing was perfect in every way, which meant that he was perfect, the greatest Arcosian that could ever be. Which meant that she should love and worship him, so that she could always obey and carry out the plan that she was not privy to, otherwise what she had done was monstrous, and that everything she was raised to believe in was a lie. That couldn't possibly be the case, therefore Hailing was always right, there was a plan beyond her which she did not know, and she was Just Following Orders.

She has never once actually met Hailing.

That was how she got through it all until she became apart of the Elite Squad: Just. Following. Orders.

Masala Vs. Fenrir
She gets hit and crashes into the front of the ship and picks herself up, her form reforming from the impact of the punch, as she yells
"ADOPTED! ARE PARENTS IN MY HEAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRTT!!!"
She flies into the sky, extends her arms and karate chops the ship in half then begins throwing extending curving punches at him, flying around and trying to find an angle to hit him from.
"NO AMOUNT OF STUPID LOGIC CAN CHANGE THAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!"

[Frozen_Feet]

[Kami's Lookout]

The short man gives Apfel a blase look. "You either didn't think that through or you have a very strict interpretation of 'viable'", he says laconically and then turns back to 23. "The foundations of the Red Planet army were laid by your precedessor and a distant relative of the man who built you. We have claimed this solar system and seek to defend it from trespassing time travellers, extraterrestrials and... what have you." The man turns to give Starlight a poignant look.

"Ah. A talking little horse. Very curious. I have to say what I came here for is already done. If I am not given permission to study this Apfel's ship, I will simply have to find an alternative way to attain knowledge of it. I will leave you to yoir scheming." He begins walking towards the edge of the lookout. "For the record, I endorse overthrowing any interstellar tyrants you might have a grudge against. It will make my own job easier. Ha. Ha. Ha."

[Hawkflight]

Starlight wore a small frown of concern. "Pony. Horses are a separate species," she said automatically. She summoned a quill and a roll of parchment and write a quick note, sending it to its destination in a flash of pink energy. "If you want information on the ship, you could always ask for its blueprints, or whatever specifications Apfel is willing to share," she added.

If there was nothing more to say, Starlight turned to Arcos with an apologetic smile. "Sorry that took so long," she said. "You said you wanted to talk in private? Would you like me to teleport us someplace private, or did you have a place in mind?"

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout.

The Arcosian Carrier is a very common pattern of ship. Apfel offers, following Starlight's lead of at least being somewhat amenable. As are hyperlight drives. If you are capable of interstellar travel, any drydock in the Arcosian Empire will have ships similar to mine for sale. Plus, the blueprints of the Carrier and obsolete hyper-light drives are available for download off the Hypernet, for free.

[Frozen_Feet]

The short man stops on the edge of the lookout. "Really? Can you tell me, using this planet as a reference frame, where might one of these 'drydocks' be located?"

[Emperor Ing]

The Lookout

The nearest star to the Earth system is Proxima Centauri, which is squarely an Imperial system. Virtually every civilized system and even most colonial systems have drydocks somewhere, with ship dealers. The problem was, this planet's daytime made it impossible to see the stars, and even if he could, the stars of this system are unfamiliar. While he could very well just point to a random star in the sky, and odds are it will turn out to be an Imperial system, it's not something Apfel was willing to do.

The nearest star to this system is known as Alpha Centauri. There should be several space stations in the system you can dock at, with multiple drydocks. He wasn't sure if the system had any habitable worlds, but space stations are common enough that it's a high likelihood that a system has at least one. Though the Alpha Centauri system is infamous for one station in particular, Hutton Orbital. Hopefully he didn't have the sense to go to THAT station.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Alpha Centauri. Affirmative. You can expect to not hear of me for a while. Have a nice day." The man steps over the edge of the lookout and... disappears in a thunderclap-like sound, a small shockwave rattling the trees on the lookout. Not long after, the sensors on Apfel's ship on orbit alert the crew that a high-power frameshift device was launched from Earth. By then, the short man is passing Jupiter already.