Chapter 17: A Bouquet Of Death
Upon arriving back at Galra, Lotor had Romelle hauled back to the dungeon, and this time he had nine guards put on her, in case she tried something again. He also made a point of having her isolated, with no new cellmates. He and the two witches then reported to the throne room, where they informed Zarkon of the events on planet Russel. They knelt at the bottom of the steps to the throne, Haggar to Lotor's left and Sakura to his right.
"So, in short, we're down another robeast, but otherwise nothing's really changed in regards to the Princess of Pollux and the war with Arus, correct?" Zarkon summed up when they were done.
"Basically, yes," Lotor agreed with his father's assessment. He then informed Zarkon of his current arrangements for Romelle in the dungeon.
"Very good, Lotor, a wise decision," Zarkon nodded. "Knew you were capable of them when you actually tried to be." Lotor winced at the verbal slap, but otherwise said nothing. "Romelle will remain in the dungeons until further notice, and as an added safeguard, you, my son, will not be allowed to go near the girl until I say you can, understood?"
"What?!" Lotor jumped at this, causing Sakura to inch away from him just slightly. "But Father. . .!"
"Don't 'but' me, Lotor!" Zarkon jabbed a finger in Lotor's direction. "It's because of your foolish attempts to woo the girl that she was able to attempt her escape in the first place! Therefor you shall not spend any more time with her until I give you permission! Is that understood?!" Lotor ground his teeth together for a moment, then grumpily replied.
"Yes, Father," he said angrily. "Understood." Just then a guard entered, coming to attention with a salute.
"Forgive me, sire, but I have a message for Witch Sakura," he stated, then turned to Sakura who looked at him with curiosity on her face. "Witch Sakura, Project Blossom has reached full operational status."
"Really?" she beamed. "Excellent!"
"Project what?" Zarkon arched an eye.
"Something she came up with and has been personally overseeing for just over a week now," Lotor explained, both glad for the distraction from the Romelle issue, and genuinely curious. "Are you finally ready to tell us what it is?" Sakura giggled merrily in response.
"Guard, take the following message back," she instructed. "I want to know the moment the people of Arus start falling ill."
"Yes, Witch Sakura," the guard nodded, then glanced at Zarkon for permission to depart.
"I'm waiting for an explanation, little witch," Zarkon stared down at the girl, who looked back to her King, a full smile upon her face.
"Well, my King, with all of our direct approaches failing over and over with no sign of improvement, I thought to myself, 'Why not try something more sneaky-evil?'" she told him. "And now it's finally ready to be full blown. Or perhaps I should say, 'full bloom'?" At this, Sakura again giggled at her own humor. Zarkon, however, just began to glower, completely missing the joke.
"Sakura," Lotor gave a quick note of warning.
"I sent Arus a giant flurry of flowers that I created, enough to cover half the desert near the Castle of Lions, as well as most of the forest and part of the nearby city," Sakura explained, still smiling and undeterred.
"You sent them flowers?!" Zarkon arched his eyebrow again, an angry gleam in both of them.
"Special flowers," Sakura stated. "With lovely white petals around a lovelier pink bulb, and emitting the most peaceful, wonderful scent." Zarkon just continued to stare, one eye twitching. "And pollen that is viciously poisonous when inhaled," Sakura added with a nasty gleam to her own eyes, Zarkon's face suddenly blanching in surprise. Lotor's own eyes widened in shock at Sakura's clever approach, Haggar letting off a delighted cackle at her pupil's ingenuity. "It'll make any and all who come into contact with them horridly ill, and if not treated within two weeks time, could and will turn quite deadly," Sakura concluded, then turned to Lotor. "But don't worry, I sent a copy of my formula for them to planet Lyra in the Amazon system with instructions to produce a proper antidote using their wonder drug flowers, the Amazonia Rose, so we'll be able to fix them up quite handily. After they surrender, of course."
"So, a blackmail extortion scheme?" Lotor asked, a smile returning to his face. "I like it."
"Indeed, little witch," Zarkon beamed happily, his smile revealing his fangs. "What a brilliantly evil idea. What a lovely surprise!" He then turned to the waiting guard. "Relay the message as ordered," he instructed, and the guard gave a quick bow and departed. Zarkon then signaled his son and the witches that they had permission to stand, which the three gladly did.
"Are you sure they won't be able to counter your flowers' poisonous effects on their own, my wicked child?" Haggar asked, turning to Sakura.
"Well, I did use one of your special potions in the creation of the flowers' pollen," Sakura admitted, and Haggar cackled delightedly at this revelation. The odds that the doctors of Arus would be able to craft a cure of their own with what they had to work with on their planet was now remote, if not virtually impossible.
"Out of curiosity, little witch, why didn't you make the flowers' pollen immediately deadly?" Zarkon inquired, causing Sakura to momentarily stiffen up.
"Yes, well, why kill them when. . .we can give them no choice but to be forced into slavery in order to survive?" Sakura replied, having only a brief second of hesitation as she found her answer. A second, however, that was still noticed.
"And you're still not quite ready to spill blood on your own hands directly, right?" Lotor asked with a knowing smile, Sakura's eyes widening at the suggestion.
"I. . .uh. . .well. . .um. . .," she stammered, unable to come up with a proper response, as Lotor gave a small chuckle of amusement.
"Hm, we should look into fixing that, and soon," Zarkon rubbed his chin in thought, and Sakura was certain she felt herself go pale at the thought, Sven's accusing face bursting unbidden to the front of her mind followed by her pushing it back as fast and hard as she could. "For now, though, we'll proceed with the plan as is, no reason not to," Zarkon decided.
"Thank you, my King," Sakura bowed politely, Lotor and Haggar nodding in turn.
It surprisingly took less time than Sakura would have expected for the flowers to do their work now that they had finally grown to full bloom; dozens of people of all ages rapidly fell violently ill from the flowers' toxic pollen within only a couple of days. And, as expected, the Arusian doctors were unable to craft a cure, only treat the symptoms enough to slow the effects. As soon as the first reports came back to Galra, Lotor, Haggar, and Sakura immediately departed for planet Lyra in Lotor's command ship, Haggar having predicted that the Voltron Force would head there to try and retrieve some medicine made from the Amazonia Roses for the afflicted, if not the medicinal flowers themselves. For this trip, the two witches decided to let their familiars remain behind, and a second ship carrying support troops followed them.
Upon arrival at planet Lyra, they made contact with King Magg, the planet's ruler, who allowed them into his castle and met them in his personal throne room. King Magg also allowed Lotor to bring three guards with him. Magg had his own personal guards present, who watched the visitors carefully.
King Magg was an older gentleman in very good health and had a more than modest girth; the top of his head had long gone bald, and the remainder of his bright white hair was wrapped around the back of his head. He wore a short sleeved, light blue royal dress tunic that went to his feet with a white shoulder collar adorned by large red gems on the tops of the shoulders, and had purple armbands on his wrists. At his side sat an ornate staff topped by a large red gemstone.
"So, Lotor, Prince of Galra, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?" Magg asked courteously.
"Magg, King of Lyra, we have come to inquire about the medicine Witch Sakura ordered during this last week," Lotor replied respectfully.
"Ah, yes, that order," Magg rubbed his chin. "A bit of an unusual one, but our best people have worked on it and have devised an antidote to the poison your Witch Sakura devised. Out of curiosity, did this Sakura come with you?"
"I'm right here, King Magg," Sakura spoke, causing Magg to blink in surprise.
"Oh, I apologize," he said. "I was expecting someone much older, given the craftsmanship of the poison."
"Yes, my apprentice has a bit of a gift for potion making," Haggar commented. "It's one of her best subjects." Sakura beamed at the praise from the two adults.
"Yes, quite clearly," Magg agreed. Just then a guard came in, giving Magg a quick bow.
"Sire, our sensors have detected another starcraft entering the atmosphere," he reported.
"More company? Very well, send it permission to land," Magg instructed. "I'll speak with the new visitor when they arrive." The guard nodded and headed off, and Magg turned his attention back to Lotor and the witches, the former of which was looking more than a little confused.
"King Magg, shouldn't you find out who it is first before allowing them to land?" Lotor asked. "You may have just given passage to our enemies."
"Correction, your enemies, Prince Lotor," Magg stated. "Planet Lyra is a neutral world. We are not part of your Empire, nor do we answer to the Alliance. We take any and all customers willingly, and judge them case by case. No exceptions."
"Are you serious?!" Lotor's eye started twitching.
"Quite," Magg replied, clasping his hands to rest his chin upon them. "And your father has long since accepted this. Tell me, Lotor, do you know how hard it would be to alter any one of our medicinal formulae into a superior toxin, producing not a wonder drug but a wonder poison from which this no hope of survival whatsoever?" Lotor's eyes widened at this thought, and the verbal "slap" of Magg not using his title. Haggar scowled, and Sakura's face simply went pale.
"No. . ." Lotor hesitantly admitted. "How hard?"
"Not at all," Magg answered calmly, his smile having never left his face. The guard then came dashing back in, looking concerned and drawing all of the others' attention. "Yes?" Magg asked.
"Sire, the approaching craft came straight down to the planet before we could send a hail," the guard reported. "It went into the Astraru River."
"How unusual," Magg scowled slightly, then got to his feet, grabbing his staff and holding it like a walking stick. "Very well, we shall look into this at once." He turned to Lotor and his group. "Would you care to join me, Prince Lotor? The ladies are invited also, of course."
"Yes, we shall," Lotor replied, and they followed Magg, flanked by his personal guard, and the messenger guard though the palace to a monitoring station, where several technicians were at work. Hidden cameras sent their feeds from across half the planet to the room, appearing on various screens. One in particular showed an image from underwater of a craft speeding through the river. And not just any craft - blue lion, its tail raised so the end was just above the water, acting as a periscope.
"Well, that didn't take very long at all," Lotor smirked triumphantly.
"How interesting. Is that what I think it is?" Magg asked as he watched it.
"Yes, the blue lion, which means it's Princess Allura," Lotor confirmed. "Come to get some of your medicine to save her people, no doubt."
"I was hoping for the whole set to come," Sakura commented. "But either way, this means Voltron isn't a factor now."
"Indeed, the Princess has walked right into our hands," Haggar agreed, then turned to the three guards who had been shadowing them until this point. "Go! Hurry and seize her at once!"
"Done!" the guards saluted, then took off to complete their assigned task. Haggar returned her attention to the screen just in time for Blue to pass off of it. They waited, but it did not reappear on any other screen.
"Technician, do we have any other surveillance feeds picking up that lion ship?" Magg inquired of the nearest technician. Said technician did a quick check of all incoming feeds.
"No, sire, I'm afraid not," the technician reported. "It seems to have taken the tributary that leads toward Lake Suaxa. There are no cameras in that area, as per royal decree four seventy-six."
"Ah, I see. Unfortunate," Magg said, then turned to his guests. "A decree laid down by one of my forebears, I'm afraid. No cameras are allowed to be mounted there out of concern they may adversely affect the growth of the Amazonia Rose."
"Surely you have the authority to have that countermanded," Lotor observed.
"Sadly no, I don't," Magg replied. "That is one of about a hundred decrees that have since been deemed 'sacred', and thus non-countermand-able, even by the standing King."
"Well, that's inconvenient," Sakura said. "So, now what?"
"We head up to the parapets and await your guards' return with the Princess of planet Arus, of course," Magg smiled cheerfully. "No reason not to greet her immediately upon her arrival."
"Agreed. Lead the way, King Magg," Lotor stated with a nod. Magg gave some last instructions to one of the technicians, then with his personal guards lead them once more through the halls and up a few flights of stairs to the stated parapet, where they looked out at the landscape of Lyra while they waited for the Galran guards return with Allura.
It would take about an hour before they got back in their small hovercraft. With them came about a dozen locals armed with seemingly basic bows and arrows, spears, and swords, all dressed in brown sleeveless Greek-like tunics with only one shoulder strap that stopped just above their knees and sandals. The lone exception was a young woman with brown hair that went down to her shoulders who seemed to be their leader, who wore a light sleeveless pink dress that also ended above the knees but had full shoulders, with a sash attachment over the right shoulder. A red rope belt was tied around her waist and her feet were covered by red sandals. A group of Lotor's soldiers also came to join them, Lotor having summoned them while on the way to the parapet. But to all their surprises the captive person they brought with them wasn't Princess Allura, but Lance.
"Wait, don't you fly one of the other lions?" Sakura asked. Lance, his hands tied behind his back, just glared in response. "Yeah, the red one, Voltron's right arm! What are you doing with his leg?"
"Indeed, what are you doing here instead of Princess Allura? Why would you attempt such a futile deception?" Lotor inquired. But Lance just glared even more, and Lotor's temper rose. "Not going to talk, huh?" Lotor growled, and back handed Lance, sending him tumbling back against the hovercraft near the front of the group. The front of the hovercraft was shaped like a giant bird's open beak, and Lance took advantage of his position to start quietly, yet quickly, running the ropes on his wrists against the sharp edge of the lower "beak" in order to free himself. Whilst he worked at the ropes, the local woman stepped forward and kneeled before King Magg.
"My King, I have a report," she said.
"Yes, Aimee, you may speak," Magg directed.
"Majesty, when this intruder was caught near the fourteenth honey extract well, he claimed that he came to us for Amazonia Roses to treat the desperately ill people and Princess of planet Arus," Aimee reported dutifully, taking Lotor aback for a moment. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at this revelation, and Haggar started to cackle in delight.
"Allura is among the sick?" Lotor blinked, then smiled happily. "So that's why you were flying her lion," he gave a quick glance to Lance before turning to Sakura. "It seems your plan has gone far better than we could have imagined. Now I'm sorry we didn't do something along these lines far sooner."
"Yeah, imagine how many robeasts we'd still have," Sakura commented lightly, smiling back at Lotor, and Lance froze for a moment, staring in horror at Sakura.
"Your plan?" he breathed. "You came up with the idea for those flowers?"
"Oh, yes, this entire scheme is Witch Sakura's, top to bottom," Lotor continued to smile, enjoying Lance's upset. "She even created the flowers themselves all on her own."
"I do hope you liked them. I worked really hard on them," Sakura smiled happily as well.
"You really are beyond all hope, aren't you?" Lance just stared at her for a moment.
"This truly couldn't be more excellent," Lotor crowed. "Allura is down, and we have this one captive here. Voltron is finished! We can bury it, and Allura will be mine at last!" At that moment, Lance's bonds finally snapped, freeing him, and he jumped to his feet and shoved over one of the Galran guards, yanking the man's sword from its sheath before turning back to his enemies, holding the blade so it was pointing at them.
"You think I'll just let you get away with that, you bastard!" he announced. "Voltron isn't gone yet!"
"How impudent. Our little friend wants to fight," Lotor continued to smile. "Everyone, hear this! Nobody interfere! I'll take care of him myself!" With that, everyone else stepped back a few paces, and Lotor drew his own blade, which Lance noticed was glowing brightly, almost like a laser sword. Before he could ponder about this further, though, Lotor stepped forward and took up a battle stance, his blade at the ready.
The two waited only a moment before charging at each other, blades clashing back and forth. As Sakura watched, she felt a slight sense of deja vu, Lotor's one-on-one with Keith flashing back to her mind. Like then, Lance was surprisingly adept with a sword, holding his own with Lotor quite well, the two eventually rotating their positions so that Lance's back was to them rather than his front, and Lotor vice versa. A few more back and forth swings, and Lotor had backed up to a flat-topped three and a half foot high stone merlon, one of many that lined the edge of the wall. Lotor briefly glanced over his shoulder to confirm his position, and Lance immediately took advantage.
"Die, Lotor!" he yelled as he went for an overhead downward strike, but Lotor turned and leaped into the air, landing several feet behind Lance, whose sword slammed into the merlon - and refused to come back off, despite Lance's efforts to pull it up.
"Fool," Lotor turned back around to face him, Lance snapping around to see his enemy. "Didn't you know about the stones on this planet? A large portion of them are highly magnetic! Why did you think I chose to bring a non-magnetic Lazon blade with me on this trip? I'm afraid this is goodbye to you, forever!" And with that, Lotor charged forward, his sword aimed for a deadly strike. "Now die!"
Lance had only enough time to sidestep slightly, the blade just missing his body, but in the process he was shoved backward, falling back over the wall and plummeting downward, smacking some outcropping rock as he neared the bottom before plummeting into the river below and being washed away.
"Damn, I missed him," Lotor groused, placing one foot on the merlon to lift himself high enough to see the rushing water below. "Now he's gotten away!"
"Never fear, Prince Lotor," Magg said, stepping up to him before briefly turning to signal to Aimee and the locals that they could leave to return to their duties. The group departed immediately. "After a fall from this height, he's most surely dead." Haggar, Sakura, and multiple guards also came up, glancing over the wall.
"Then Voltron is done for, regardless," Lotor commented as he stepped back down and sheathed his blade.
"Just in case, you guards go and find blue lion, and secure it aboard our support ship for transfer back to Galra!" Sakura instructed the Galran soldiers. They briefly paused, glancing at Lotor.
"Good idea," Lotor said, dispelling any uncertainty. "Get it done!"
"Yes, sire!" they saluted, and took off. The rest of them stepped back toward the inner wall, where Lotor turned to Magg directly.
"Now then, we'll be needing the drug you produced for Sakura's poison," Lotor stated. "I trust you actually did produce some of it."
"Of course we did," Magg replied. "We have three large cylinders ready to go. But you do realize you don't get it for free, right?"
"What?" Lotor's eyes twitched sharply.
"Oh, right, you charge for this stuff," Sakura gripped her nose between her thumb and index finger.
"Quite so, my pretty witch," Magg confirmed. "Growing and cultivating the Amazonia Roses takes a lot of hard work and tender loving care, which means those doing so have to put in a lot of their time and much effort. And, of course, they then expect to be compensated for that time. And that's before you get into the issue of the actual extraction and manufacturing processes. Then there's the imperial guard who stands constant vigil over the Roses to keep them safe from thieves and vandals. In short, we require what some would call an astounding fee for our products. King Zarkon is well aware of this, and has never had any issue regarding payment for services rendered."
"In that case, I'll just get the medicine I need from him!" Lotor growled, and started to turn away, but Magg's next words stopped him.
"That won't work, Prince Lotor," Magg said simply, and Lotor immediately turned back. "The blend we use for Zarkon's medicine is quite different from what we produced to counter Witch Sakura's poison. If you used Zarkon's medicine there would be side effects immediately, and could even be lethal to whoever used it. The mix is that different."
"Fine, how much for the antidote to save Allura?" Lotor asked, the growl in his throat warning everyone who wasn't Magg that Lotor's patience with this game was ebbing.
"For each individual cylinder our accountants have calculated that we will require two hundred gold bars apiece, and not a penny less," Magg stated, holding up two fingers as he did so.
"Two hundred bars?!" Sakura's eyes went wide. "Are you kidding?!"
"Not in the slightest, my dear," Magg replied. "You produced quite the strain."
"You really want gold that bad?" Lotor growled, and Sakura immediately found herself taking multiple steps back from the two 'sparring' royals.
"Oh, yes," Magg nodded. "Required."
"HERE'S STEEL!" Lotor roared, pulled his sword back out and dashed forward, reaching the King and swinging him around so as to hold his blade to Magg's throat from behind. Magg dropped his staff in terror of the blade mere inches from ending his life.
"Ahh, Prince Lotor, what are you doing?!" Magg snapped, trying his best to remain calm.
"Now, this is what we're going to do," Lotor stated matter-of-factually. "If you value your life, you'll order your men to load the entire batch you made into my ship, along with about fifteen hundred Amazonia Roses."
"Yes, yes, as you say," Magg agreed, and waved to the nearby Royal Guard. "Do as Lotor commands!"
"Yes, sire," the guards replied, and took off to complete their royal assignment immediately.
"And now, as a gesture of goodwill, you'll give back all the gold you swindled out of my father," Lotor continued his commands. Magg's eyes widened an extra layer.
"I can't do that," he said.
"Sure you can," Lotor replied, a cruel smile on his lips.
"Did you not understand a word I said when I explained how we work out the required price?" Magg asked. "The bulk of every payment has long since been redistributed to all those who did the actual work on the medicine Zarkon bought from us. As the glorified salesman, I only ever kept ten percent of the funds taken from each purchase."
"Fine, we'll just take whatever's in your vault then!" Lotor declared, signaling some of his guards to go and take care of it. "And now that we have no further use of your flowers, I order the remainder destroyed!" Lotor added.
"I'll see that the order is passed on at once," Haggar nodded, and turned and set off to give the order to the proper soldiers.
"Prince Lotor, you can't!" Magg screamed.
"Can't I?" Lotor retorted. "This the price for angering me!" With that, Lotor pulled his blade away from Magg's throat, shoved the man forward, and then took an overhead downward swing of his own, slashing Magg open down the back of his head and along his spine. Magg gurgled once, then fell backwards to the stone floor as Lotor stepped aside, the King now quite dead.
Sakura watched all quietly, and felt a sudden turmoil inside her. Yet another death, as a nearly direct result of her actions. She felt her hand shake slightly around her staff, but inhaled through her nose deeply, forcing her hand to be still.
"Such a fool, thinking he could haggle with me," Lotor smiled to himself as he again sheathed his sword. "Come, Witch Sakura. Let's return to the ship and make ready to go to Arus, and fetch our prey."
"Yes, my Prince," Sakura nodded at him. She gave Magg's corpse one last glance, then followed Lotor as he boarded the hovercraft, a remaining guard hopping into the driver's position to transport the two back to the command ship.
After arriving at the command ship and taking themselves to the bridge, they waited only a short amount of time until it was confirmed that the cylinders of medicine, the gold from the vault, and the Amazonia Roses had been safely stored in the cargo bay. Lotor then had the ship launched and they headed for Arus, the support ship staying behind to finish carrying out Lotor and Sakura's remaining orders. En route, Lotor sent orders to Galra to have an additional support ship join them with a robeast on board, and was told a beast named Deathbeetle had been selected. Though Sakura questioned the need for a robeast this time, Lotor waved it off, reasoning they might need a little extra leverage. Also just in case the remaining lions tried to get cute.
They arrived at Arus, meeting the other support ship along with four others in high orbit, and then descended into the atmosphere, Lotor ordering an immediate all out assault on the Castle of Lions, whose defenses were now currently lowered due to the number of personnel felled by Sakura's flowers. As they bombarded the castle with laser fire, Lotor chuckled merrily to himself.
"Open a line to the castle," he ordered, and the com officer did so instantly. "Now hear this, people of Arus!" Lotor declared. "I have destroyed the Amazonia Roses on Lyra, slain your comrade Lance, and seized the blue lion for Galra. At this moment I alone have the cure your people and Allura need in order to survive! So lay down your arms, open your gates, and prepare to welcome. . .your conqueror."
"Today's been a pretty good day," Sakura smiled happily. One officer then leaped to his feet, panic on his face.
"Sire!" he cried. "It's the lions! They've sent out Voltron!" Lotor and Sakura looked at the main view screen as it switched views to where the approaching lions had been picked up on sensors, revealing Black, Green, and Yellow hovering in mid-air, at the ready.
"Without all five, their threat to us is meaningless," Lotor stated. "A Voltron that can't combine is no different from a lump of iron or scraps of space debris! Send out Deathbeetle to smash them into submission!"
"Pity," Sakura remarked. "It seems only Allura was stupid enough to sniff my posies. And I was really looking forward to having Pidgey tied down to a bed while I nursed him back to health." At that she chuckled to herself, and Lotor gave a laugh of his own.
Meanwhile, the black space coffin was shot down to the ground in the canyon near the castle, and exposed to an Infra Energy Beam. The robeast within emerged and raised his clenched fists to the air as he roared in challenge... well, sort of roared. Deathbeetle, as his named implied, was a humanoid insect monster, his feet two-toed, his hands a mere two fingers plus thumbs, all ending in sharp talons. His eyes were on two protuberances sticking out of the sides of his face, and a pair of large pincers emerged from his upper jawline. A beetle-like carapace sat upon his back, ending in a point just above his head, with armor-like shoulder pads sitting jutting out to the side atop his shoulders. A second pair of arms sat just below the main pair, ending in pointed caps that looked like something could be fired from them. The 'roar' was decidedly insect-like, and even calling Deathbeetle a "he" was charitably generous.
The lions, armed with with their personal swords in their jaws, charged Deathbeetle at once, and were knocked out of the sky for their trouble, Black landing a diagonal wounding blow across Deathbeetle's torso and Green landing another just below the monster's neck before they were felled. Yellow was knocked down before it could even reach Deathbeetle. The Lion Swords were also knocked out of their mouths by the force of the robeast's strikes. Once all three were down, Deathbeetle turned on Green, and fired a laser blast from his mouth, landing just next to the lion and causing a small explosion that sent Green flipping through the air to another part of the ground. Deathbeetle roared again, this time in triumph.
"This is going pretty well," Sakura said. "How long do you think until they finally toss in the ol' towel and accept their fate?"
"Depends on how stubborn they decide to be," Lotor replied. "But hopefully not too long."
"Uh, sire," the sensor officer spoke up. "Red Lion's coming."
"Say what?" Lotor's eyes bulged.
"Okay, that officially takes stubbornness to a whole new level!" Sakura exclaimed.
Back at the battle, Yellow fired flames at Deathbeetle from his mouth while Green fired missiles from his back launcher, distracting the monster long enough for Black to come flying in, his sword back in his jaws, and land another blow on Deathbeetle. Black's blow momentarily caused Deathbeetle to quake in pain, and Yellow jumped forward and bit Deathbeetle on the leg. Deathbeetle then rebounded, smacking Yellow away and then kicking Green aside. Just then, Red came flying up, his own sword in his jaws, and his shoulder canons forming and unleashing a hail of missiles and laser volleys against Deathbeetle, taking the creature off guard.
The assault distracted Deathbeetle long enough for Red to strike another blow on his torso, turning the one it got from Black into an X, before Deathbeetle brought his three taloned claw down on Red's back, sending it the ground. Deathbeetle then followed up by blasting Red with a laser fired from his pincers, and then gave the lion a sharp kick. Black rushed back in, landing a glancing blow upon Deathbeetle's upper left arm, only to get backhanded, hard, by the monster, and sent down to the ground, somehow landing belly first. Deathbeetle roared once more, grabbing Black and lifting it above his head as a show of domination.
Just then, as all hope for Arus and the Voltron Force seemed lost, a familiar mechanical roar sounded across the battlefield. Deathbeetle turned just in time to get smashed right in the face by Blue, returning just in the nick of time. Black fell from Deathbeetle's claws as he stumbled back, disoriented by the blow, and Blue briefly circled him. A few moments later the other lions pulled themselves together, and all five flew into the air and combined. Voltron returned to the ground, and quickly engaged Deathbeetle in battle.
"What the hell?!" Lotor roared as they watched the battle's sudden shift.
"Blue's supposed to be almost back to Galra right now!" Sakura roared as well. "How did those idiots we left on Lyra fail to complete such a simplistic order?!"
"They better hope they're dead!" Lotor continued to rage. "Because if they're not, they will be very soon!"
At the battle, Deathbeetle, not ready to give up, roared in challenge at Voltron, who responded by pulling out his Spinning Laser Disc and giving it a mighty toss. It slammed into Deathbeetle, jarring the beast, who then retaliated with multiple laser blasts from his mouth and the ends of his lower arms. Voltron leaped up out of the way, and fired a blast of fire from his right hand, causing Deathbeetle to throw up his left arm defensively, and Voltron capitalized by firing his foot missiles, the projectiles impacting on the monster's chest.
Deathbeetle roared in anger and pain, and leaped into the air toward his enemy, but Voltron just pulled out his double bladed javelin weapon. The robot tossed the javelin into Deathbeetle, hitting him in midair and knocking the robeast backward, taking a chunk of his left shoulder pad with it. Deathbeetle landed on his back upon the ground, then got back to his feet. While he did so, Voltron clearly decided he had had enough, and formed the Blazing Sword, a single downward strike slicing Deathbeetle vertically in two. The robeast exploded a moment later into nothing.
Voltron then noticed it had gotten quiet, and turned to see Lotor's command ship and his support craft beating a hasty retreat. He didn't bother to follow. His pilots had other concerns to attend to.
On the bridge of his command ship, Lotor seethed in cold fury. Sakura was little better, magical energy barely being contained crackling around her.
"My one and only solace is that we still have the only medicine that can save them and the only means to make more," she growled. "So either way, it's still a waiting game only we can win!"
"Indeed," Lotor said. "Either way, if they want to save their precious people and Allura, they'll still have no choice but to surrender before the poison starts ending their lives for us!" Lotor was starting to clench his fist, his anger was so great. The main view screen then switched to a transmission from Galra, Zarkon filling the screen, his face scowling.
"Lotor!" he snapped. "Why have I gotten a report of you ordering an assault on planet Lyra without my express permission?! I recognized and tolerated that planet's neutrality for a reason!"
"The King tried to extort me, so I administered a lesson!" Lotor replied quickly. "And then I had the Amazonia Roses eradicated!"
"You did WHAT?!" Zarkon snapped, one eye twitching, again. "I needed those roses! They're a vital medication I need to take regularly! What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Relax, Father," Lotor said. "I brought enough roses with me to keep you sated for a good long time. And every piece of gold Magg had in his vault!" At this, Zarkon calmed, a smile filling his face.
"Ah, what a wonderful gesture," he chuckled. "What a loving son you are! I'll have the liquor ready and waiting for your return!" With that his transmission cut off, and Lotor just smiled to himself as he leaned back into his chair.
"And you're a fool," he said. Sakura couldn't help but smile herself, suspecting that the last of the Amazonia Roses were about to have an unfortunate accident before getting back to Galra. A moment later, the com officer turned back to them.
"Sire, an incoming transmission from Witch Haggar," he reported.
"On screen," Lotor replied, and a moment later Haggar filled the screen as Zarkon had done just previously.
"Mama Haggar, how, exactly, did the blue lion not make it on board the support ship like I specifically ordered it to be?!" Sakura preempted Lotor before the Prince could say anything.
"Ah, it's already back on Arus, is it?" Haggar sagged slightly. "Yes, apparently just as our men were locating it, the human Lance returned to it, destroyed all but one member of the party searching for the lion, and then annihilated the squad sent to destroy the Amazonias while they were still only about seven eighth's done with the job."
"WHAT?!" Lotor snapped back up straight. "You mean to tell me some of those flowers are still there?!"
"Yes, and I have worse news," Haggar confirmed. "Apparently either Magg lied about how many cylinders of the medicine were mixed to counter my pupil's flower poison, or the guards deceived us and swapped one of the cylinders for a fake or one filled with a different medicinal mix, because our sensors detected a cylinder being loaded into the blue lion before it left Lyra."
"WHAT?!" Lotor and Sakura roared loudly, the entire bridge crew shuddering in fear at the sound of it.
"Yes, I must also inform you that the rest of us were chased off Lyra by the rest of their armed forces," Haggar continued. "Not surprisingly, they've taken some exception to the death of King Magg, and even retrieved the weapons left by the troops Lance slew with the lion. Between that and our unexpectedly lowered onsite personnel, we had little choice but to depart quickly. We are arriving at Galra now."
"Unbelievable," Lotor fell back against his chair.
"All that hard work to get this plan going," Sakura growled. "For nothing!"
Indeed, reports came in within a few short days of the people of Arus making a rapid recovery from the venomous flowers effects, and soon the disaster, for them at least, had passed. After a lengthy report to Zarkon on the plan's general failure, Zarkon, while highly displeased, ultimately let it slide. Lotor had seized a fair amount of gold for the Galran royal coffers, they had plenty of roses to work with until further notice, and the three cylinders of medicine they did have could very likely be re-purposed in time. To Sakura's surprise, Zarkon even gave her another bout of praise for the plan, this time lauding it as a "decent first solo attempt" on her part.
Sakura, for her part, accepted his praise, and then, because it had still failed in the end, decided to go and fume for awhile. Said fuming took the form of her heading out to the rocky outcroppings of Raikotsu Valley, dropping her staff to the ground, and unleashing her rage and frustration upon said outcroppings with the full force of her magic, shattering many over the next several minutes. Only after she finally calmed down and reclaimed her staff did she notice the sounds of something else; multiple somethings nearby growling and roaring and clashing against each other.
Curious, she wandered over to a taller outcrop, almost a moderate hill, and walked up a worn path on one side to the top to get a view. What she saw was a light purple robeast with blue fringing and shoulder guards. It had a single eye in its head and what looked like two more in its shoulders, which even for a robeast was a bit weird. It was surrounded by three multicolored leopard beasts that it seemed to be battling against.
"Come on, Kauman! You can do better than that!" Lotor's voice sounded over the distance. "How can you expect to beat the lions of Voltron if you can't even handle a few mass produced leopard training beasts?!" Sakura turned her head slightly to the right and spotted Lotor on another hilly outcrop, watching the robeast and the training beasts. She was too far away to see his face properly, but there was a sternness and intensity in his stance and bearing. More importantly to her, though, was the phrasing of his words.
'Beat the lions?' she thought. 'He wants to try and best them before they can combine? I mean, it's not a bad idea, really. But what did he have in mind to keep them apart?' As if in answer to her question, Kauman sidestepped a lunging leopard beast, and then suddenly released a metal cable, glowing and crackling with energy, from the back of his hand. The cable wrapped around the orange leopard beast's neck, the energy charge causing it to change color to yellow, allowing Kauman to swing it around and slam it into the ground repeatedly. The green leopard then leaped through the air, shooting fire out of its mouth at Kauman, who again dodged and fired an energy blast from his "face eye" that hit and obliterated the green leopard in midair. Kauman then turned and stalked toward the last leopard, which apparently decided leaving was the best choice as it turned and ran, only to be snagged by another energy infused metal rope launched from Kauman's other hand, Kauman dragging the dark red beast back toward him.
"Now that's what I've been expecting, Kauman!" Lotor declared. "Train harder like that, and you'll be ready to take on their lions!"
'I suppose it could work,' Sakura mused to herself. 'Maybe.' She watched Kauman train for a while longer, then turned and headed back to the castle, heading straight to her and Haggar's quarters. Upon arriving, Cova and Spinner looked up at her, and Haggar briefly glanced up from her desk.
"Everything okay, Sakura?" Spinner asked, a look of concern in his eyes. "We could sense you...venting."
"I'm fine," Sakura replied. "Nothing to worry about." With that, she went to her personal table, picked up a lesson book, and flipped it open to the next chapter she was to study and started reading.
A few days later Lotor consulted with Haggar on how to go forward with his next attack while Sakura was practicing her latest spells. Sakura also checked on her other plan, Operation: Pest Control. As it happened, Pest Control was almost ready to go, it just needed a couple more days, maximum. While she was doing this, Lotor departed solo for Arus with Kauman, instructed by Haggar that he should attack from north by northeast.
He was back an hour and a half later, minus the robeast. Lotor revealed in the throne room that, at first, things went well. The lions, minus Blue, came out to meet him on his approach, as was expected. Kauman was released and managed, eventually, to ensnare all four with his cables. Meanwhile, Lotor approached the Castle of Lions in his personal ship and broke into Allura's room via the window using a grappling cable. But just before he could grab her, though, her door opened and several guards came in, guns blazing, forcing him to exit the way he came, and then backing his ship away from the castle as fast as he could. And not long after, the blue lion flew out of the lake and used his personal sword to slice the others free. At which point they formed Voltron, yadda, yadda. . .
Sakura listened to all this from just outside the door, as well as Zarkon snapping at Lotor for not taking the advantage to use his personal ship to open fire upon the four captive lions until one or more was heavily damaged and unable to move, let alone join with the others into Voltron. At this, Lotor slapped himself in the face, the message all too clear to everyone: in the heat of the moment and trying to grab Allura, that idea hadn't even crossed Lotor's mind!
A little more chewing out later, and Lotor was allowed to leave, other affairs thankfully requiring Zarkon's attention. Upon leaving the throne room, Lotor stopped in the hall and took a quick breath before glancing at Sakura.
"Enjoying my moment of embarrassment, again?" he asked, surprisingly calmly.
"A little," she admitted. "Though truthfully I was just coming back from the spaceport. I have something just about ready to go that I needed to prepare transport for."
"More flowers?" Lotor arched an eye.
"No, no more flowers," she admitted. "But it is something just as sneaky." Sakura then gave a small, sinister smile. "And, hopefully, much more problematic for those annoying do-gooders." Lotor could only stare in curiosity.
The next day she checked on Operation: Pest Control, and found it ready for deployment. A quick check on conditions on Arus around the enemy fortress revealed a shower of meteors just hours from visiting the area, causing Sakura to make a swift change of plans. She quickly loaded her second project into false meteors and had them put aboard a small but fast craft, which then launched for Arus immediately. Upon drawing close and noticing the real meteors on the verge of hitting the planet's atmosphere, Sakura, observing via computer monitoring, had the false meteors launched instantly, the fakes flying out to mix with the real ones as they dropped onto the planet.
'And now we wait,' she mused to herself as she watched the meteors plummet to the Arusian ground below.
On Arus, night had fallen, and most of the residents of the castle were asleep in bed. And those few awake only saw what looked like a flurry of falling stars. None were the wiser, as Sakura's dark package opened itself after reaching the ground, and the contents scurried out and headed for the castle to do their work.
And do it they would. Though an alarm would be accidentally tripped, the only glimpse the startled awake Voltron Force got on their security cameras was of a group of small shadows. Shadows they mistakenly attributed to known residents of the castle. Moments after the alarm was silenced, little Platt went looking for the true source of the alarm - and though he found it, a member of the true culprits caught him in the act.
On Galra, Sakura observed her creations' progress via Haggar's crystal ball, which had been brought to the throne room. Haggar and Lotor watched over her shoulder as she sat in a chair in front of it, Zarkon observing from the throne. And Lotor couldn't help but notice that Platt looked as though he were almost as large as whatever they were seeing through, while Haggar simply shuddered quietly at the sight of the accursed rodent.
"Sakura, if you don't mind, how are we seeing this?" Lotor asked.
"Oh, it's basically the same spell ma... Master Haggar and I use to see through Cova and Spinner's eyes," Sakura glanced over her shoulder at him, then back to the ball. "I'm just using it to see through the eyes my new "present" for the Castle of Lions instead."
"And why, pray tell, does that rodent look so large to what you created?" Zarkon inquired, having noticed the same thing.
"Oh, that's easy," Sakura said, and with a wave of her index and middle fingers switched views to another of her creations watching Platt's plight. And at last it's fellow creature was revealed – a Galran rat! About two-to-three inches larger than Platt, it was solid purple with black eyes in crimson orbs and crimson claws, and razor teeth snarling at Platt as it attacked, the Arusian mouse jumping backward to escape.
"Rats?!" Zarkon's eyes twitched once again.
"Special rats, that I enhanced with magic and had modified with cybernetics, and then trained for a single purpose," Sakura explained, feeling much happier now. "Infiltrate and destroy!"
"Destroy?" Lotor smirked. "And what can a pack of mice possibly destroy?"
"One, rats, not mice," Sakura corrected him. "And, two, working together they can destroy everything that accursed castle has that lets it work."
"How?" Zarkon's eye was still twitching. As if in answer, on the crystal ball Platt stepped back further, his tail landing on a mousetrap that had been left in the hall where rodents were most likely to tread. The rat facing him smiled, looked past Platt, and lasers shot from his eyes, hitting and triggering the trap, the metal bar snapping onto Platt's tail, immobilizing him. Platt screamed in pain, and then the rat left him, joining his fellows, who along with the one they currently watched through, departed for other areas. Zarkon, Haggar, and Lotor stared in shock at what they had just seen.
"And their teeth are powerful enough to bite through solid metal," Sakura smiled. "And trust me when I say you don't want to be on the receiving end of their claws!"
Not long after that, the rats broke into and sabotaged a switchboard, causing electricity to go to the wrong places and quickly overloading one area to the point of a small explosion. Though multiple guards as well as Keith arrived with hoses and managed to douse the resulting fire, the damage was done. Shortly thereafter Platt was located, still in the trap, and he and his family caught the blame for the damage. The rats, meanwhile, moved onward, reaching the the main generator room, and began chewing and eye-lasering and clawing what ever they could, quickly cutting power to multiple areas of the castle. This, however, was when things started to turn slightly, as the Voltron Force, minus Allura, had begun running an inspection of the castle's electrical systems, and immediately ran to the generator room. With the power out, Hunk had to pry open the doors manually, with his own muscles!
Upon entering the room, the rats turned to see the intruders, their glowing crimson oculars giving their presence away in the dark. The three men and boy had only a moment to ponder what they were looking at when the rats began firing their eye lasers at them. The team ducked and fired back with their laser pistols. After only a few moments the rats opted to retreat, but not before Keith managed to find a flashlight and used it to finally get a glimpse of their assailants.
"Those aren't mice," Keith's eyes widened in surprise.
Back on Galra, Sakura growled in annoyance at this turn of events.
"Damn!" she cursed.
"Problem, little witch?" Zarkon asked.
"Yeah, they found my rats sooner than I was expecting them to," she replied.
"So your little pets have already been destroyed?" Lotor asked.
"No, they're still at liberty," Sakura reported. "And they've damaged the enemy's power generators, so that's gonna slow them down. The next target of my little destroyers is their main computer system! The castle will soon be paralyzed, and there's nothing the Voltron Force and their friends can do about it!"
"Excellent work, my dark darling," Haggar cackled, then turned to Lotor. "With them in chaos, you should take a robeast and head out immediately to smash them while their guard is down."
"Would that even work?" Lotor arched an eyebrow.
"Why not?" Sakura glanced over her shoulder at him. "With the castle all but dead, they won't be able to get to the lions." She turned back to the crystal ball as she thought it over, adding, "Well, they can reach Black, since he's just outside the front door, but unless Red, Yellow, and Green are within jogging distance, and Allura has insanely large lungs hidden in her chest, the others aren't going to be reachable any time soon." Lotor thought it over; it wasn't completely implausible. Zarkon, though, had already made up his own mind.
"Lotor, prepare to depart at once!" he commanded. Lotor nodded in acceptance of the order, and left to select a suitable robeast for immediate departure.
Back on Arus, the rats continued their rampage, destroying various security cameras and measures. In reaction, Coran, at Keith's command, activated all section doors and sealed them all shut. But this was only delaying the rats, who burned through each solid metal obstruction with their eye lasers, reaching the other side of each within moments. It was enough, however, to realize a pattern of approach, and the Force grabbed their laser pistols and set up an ambush not far from the Main Computer Server Room. Platt was then sent to locate and lure the rats toward the ambush.
After a few minutes, Platt succeeded and led the rats right into the Force's path, the five quickly firing and destroying a few rats before the rodents fired back. The Voltron Force dove aside to avoid the rats' counter attack, Platt dashing over to the Princess, as the remainder of the swarm ran down the hallway past them. The team then quickly fired again at the rats, eradicating even more of the vermin. About a dozen or so escaped, though, and charged for their target.
"Crap," Keith swore. "Follow them! If they reach the Main Computer Server room, it's over!" They ran after the rats, turning the last corner in time to see them blasting a hole through the doors of their target, six getting through said holes even as the Force fired and slew the rest.
"Oh, no," Keith groaned in panic and disappointment.
"Keith, a robeast just appeared outside!" Coran's voice called over the hand communicators.
"Oh," Keith groaned again. "Of course. Pidge, Allura, see what you can do about getting the last of those rats out of there before they cause too much more damage. Everyone else, to the lions!"
On Galra, Sakura was starting to really get annoyed, having had to switch which rat she was "looking though" multiple times at this point due to the sudden mass loss of numbers.
"Unbelievable," she growled. "And after all the work I put into them!"
"Is there a problem, little witch?" Zarkon asked, feeling an unpleasant piece of news coming.
"A large number of the rats have been slain, sire," Haggar reported for her. "But worry not, a few remain, and have reached the Castle of Lions' Main Computer Server Room, and soon the place will be beyond salvation. Also, Lotor's robeast has arrived near the enemy fortress. All is well." Sakura just let it stand at that for the moment, choosing to focus on the remaining rats, and praying they would finish their evil work before they, too, were killed.
As it happened, they had already done more splendidly than she had hoped, the transport system to the lions having been already disabled. As she had predicted, Keith, Lance, and Hunk had only one option – mad dash to the lions on foot. Or, more precisely, they aimed for Black, with the intent of Keith simply flying the others over to their own lions; but no sooner had they stepped outside than they were staring right at the robeast, named Catgun, standing just on the other side of the moat from the castle.
Catgun looked like it wore grey armor with light violet armored arms and legs. It had a long black rod coming from each shoulder, and large red dorsal spines coming from its back and arching up over the head to end in points aimed towards whatever was in front of the beast. The monster's head and face, as the name suggested, resembled a large cat's, along the lines of a panther's, complete with sharp teeth, and it had black hands and feet, the latter bearing two toes each with large red claws. More notable, though, was that the creature's torso was surprisingly thin, and the shoulders jutted out to the sides so far it made the whole thing look horribly dis-proportioned.
The three heroes only paused a moment, then continued their run for Black, but Catgun saw them and, with orders from Lotor who observed all from his command ship about a kilometer away, fired a laser blast from the fingertips on his left hand, hitting the bridge as the heroes ran and forcing them to dodge sideways and dive into the lake. They surfaced at the shore and, unable to get to Black from there, slipped into the woods nearby even as Catgun spotted them and continued to open fire in their direction. They had little choice but to continually dodge, bob, and weave through the area to avoid death, finding places to duck and hide for a moment's breath. Catgun scanned the area, spotlights shining from the monster's eyes, then in frustration let loose with a blast of fire from its mouth, lighting up the whole forest and trapping the three men below.
Back inside the castle, things were not improving, as while the last rats had been tracked down, they had gone into a small shaft to get inside the main computer banks, a shaft too small for even the short Pidge to fit inside of. With no other option, Allura asked Platt if he would go in, face the rats one more time, and again draw them out where the humans could get to them. Showing great courage for a little mouse, Platt agreed, and dashed inside without any hesitation, ready to prove his worth.
Within the computer, Platt managed to find the rats pretty quickly, and taunted them into giving chase by sticking his tongue out at them, eventually leading them back out of the computer server banks, and right to where Pidge was waiting with a laser pistol. Pidge fired, and the remaining rats were finally destroyed.
"No!" Sakura cried as the last "feed" gave out, signaling the loss of the last rat.
"Out of rodents, little witch?" Zarkon asked.
"I'm afraid so, sire, but worry not," Haggar replied while Sakura gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in her rage and renewed frustration. The elder witch had a communicator in her hands and was listening intently. "They have done excellent damage. Even now Lotor is watching the robeast pin down three of the Voltron Force in the woods outside the castle while in a mad attempt to reach their lions on foot, as my apprentice previously predicted! All is in our favor!"
"We'll see about that, old witch," Zarkon said calmly.
As it happened, once the last rat was dead, the repair crews were able to flip out the components for the computers controlling the lion transfer shuttle systems quickly, getting it online enough for Allura and Pidge to finally get to their lions the normal way, and fly out to the battle. Pidge started distracting Catgun whilst Allura used her lion's water blast to douse the forest and locate the rest of the team, collecting them and flying them quickly back to the castle. She dropped them into a net extended from one of the towers near the top of the castle, then returned to help Pidge keep Catgun busy until the others could get there.
Fortunately for them, that didn't take long, and they quickly formed Voltron. Voltron quickly grabbed and flung Catgun away. The robeast got up and grabbed the rods on its shoulders, pulling them off. Catgun slapped them together, then pulled them apart, a chain now connecting the two creating a form of nun-chucks. Voltron then immediately whipped out the Blazing Sword and reduced Catgun into several chunks. Lotor immediately had his ship retreat.
"Well?" Zarkon eyed Haggar, who was still listening in on what was happening aboard the command ship via the communicator in her hand.
"Would you like the bad news or the worse news first, sire?" she replied, trying not to panic. Sakura stood up, grabbing her staff as she did so.
"Please excuse me," she said, her rage just barely contained. "I need to go destroy some more rocks." Zarkon glanced at her, noting the bubbling energies straining to escape her frame.
"Fine, go calm yourself," he permitted. "But as soon as Lotor returns you're to pack and board the galactic train with him and Haggar. The final stages of the space cannon's construction have been reached, and I want you three there to oversee it as previously discussed."
"Yes, sire," Sakura nodded over her shoulder, and left the room while Haggar relayed the battle's outcome to Zarkon. The young witch quickly returned to Raikotsu Valley and once more took out her anger on the landscape, heavily altering it yet again.
And no sooner than I admit to why I'm holding out on commenting on the composition of Lotor's sword, than I actually have to comment on it due to the episode effectively forcing my hand. The irony is not lost on me. Either way, three more episodes done, and ready for the next. Yeah, I pretty much just hand waved 23, it's only claim to fame being the first time in the dub one of the bad guys, specifically Zarkon in a flashback scene I skipped, refer to their people as the Drules, and the famous Voltron Force goes swimming scene with Allura in that deliciously tiny bikini!
The latter of which was actually something of a bummer for me, as I had high hopes of using that scene when it finally came up, but ironically Cova was nowhere to be seen, so short of forcefully inserting him, and thus Spinner, into the scene watching them, my poor hands were tied. Oh, well.
On the plus side, I also got to ignore Coran and Gertude(Nanny) having an odd relapse in regards to Allura flying Blue Lion, something they haven't actually complained about since episode 8. And now, suddenly, they have issue with it again? Whatever.
As to episode 22, and the bulk of this chapter, yeah, that was actually fun to play with, especially once I decided to take another page from Lotornomiko and "pre-seed" the flower plot a couple of chapters earlier, along with the alien mouse caper, but with the twist that both are ideas thought up and brought to implementation by Sakura independent of everyone else. And if you're wondering why I had her and Lotor leave Lyra before getting confirmation of Blue Lion being seized, well, that's because the episode made it pretty clear that's exactly what Lotor did, as he was convinced Blue was destroyed when he got to Arus. Yeah, in the episode, both versions, he ordered Blue destroyed, which I thought was a little short sighted, so I changed it a little. Not that it really matters in the end.
Also, I'm aware that Lance was supposed to return with a bunch of seeds and just grow new Amazonias on Arus, but between the long odds of the seeds actually taking in what to them would be effectively completely alien soil and the time restraints, I went for a more sensible alternative. And, come on, the King of Lyra's men had to be more than a little bit annoyed with Lotor by that point, anyway. I also made up the names of the river and the lake myself, FYI.
On the alien mice, I honestly thought I'd get to do more with that one, but after re-watching the episode I found it didn't really give me the "ammo" I would have wanted, all things considered. But I'm pretty happy with what I did do with it, so there's that.
Okay, enough blabber, on to episode 25 and the interstellar space cannon. Later.
