"I know!" Chelsea answered.
Adora pulled her along and Cringer dashed in front of them, looking for shelter himself. When they were a hopefully safe distance away, Adora paused, fighting for breath. She had an arm wrapped around her ribs and was pale in the face.
"How bad are your ribs?" Chelsea asked, out of breath herself.
"Really sore," Adora said between pants. "Remind me to put being squeezed by Beastman on my list of things not to do."
"Let me see what I can do for your ribs," Chelsea offered. "I don't think you can even lift your sword right now."
Adora nodded, still having trouble breathing.
Chelsea knew then that Adora had to really be in pain in order for her to agree so easily. She knew that there was no time to lose and quickly closed her eyes, to feel the healing energy tingling at her fingertips. She concentrated and placed her hands on Adora's sides. The energy spilled out, and surrounded Adora's ribs, showing Chelsea the minute stress fractures that weren't necessarily dangerous, but very painful. Almost as soon as Chelsea saw the fractures, they were healed.
The healing energy dissipated, and Chelsea opened her eyes and stepped back to see Adora take a deep breath without pain. The color returned to Adora's face with each agony-free breath.
"Thanks. Now, I think it's time for me to do some magic of my own," Adora said, and lifted up her sword.
Chelsea stepped a good ways back, not quite knowing what to expect.
"For the honor of Grayskull…" Adora said, holding her sword up high.
Chelsea watched, amazed, as Adora was transformed into She-Ra, one of the guardians of Castle Grayskull.
When the transformation was complete, She-Ra turned to Chelsea and said, "You should be safe here. If not, give a yell, and then run as fast as you can."
"Right. I'm outta my league here, and I know it," Chelsea said with a rueful smile.
She-Ra ran back to the action, and Chelsea looked down at Cringer.
"I think you're up next, Cringer," Chelsea said to the green tiger who was sitting at her feet, swishing his tail worriedly.
She-Ra entered the fray at the right moment. Skeletor fired off a bolt from his havoc staff at Adam's unprotected side. She deflected it with a quick dive and roll, pulling her sword into position to catch the bolt. It exploded with a hiss in the water of the stream.
"She-Ra!" Teela gasped in surprise.
Skeletor's reaction was similar, except he was less than pleased to see the other guardian of Castle Grayskull. "She-Ra!"
"And, how wonderful to see you too, Skeletor," was her answer as she came to her feet.
Teela took the opportunity to urge, "Adam, go!"
She-Ra agreed silently with Teela:Listen to her, brother. He-Man's help would be appreciated, just in case Skeletor has something else up his sleeve.:
Adam kept his attention on the mercenary he was busy fending off, but told her:I know, but how:
:Fade back, I'll keep Bone Head's attention on me: She-Ra told him.
:Sounds good.:
:Count of three, I go right, you go back: She-Ra told him, keeping an eye on Skeletor.
:Right: Adam answered, with a punch at Trapjaw, who had regained his feet and was looking around for the missing Chelsea.
:Three. Two. One. Go: she ordered her brother.
Adam took a careful, planned stumble backwards as She-Ra moved forward to knock Trapjaw off his feet once more. He carefully moved back, keeping an eye on the mercenaries. They were concentrating now on the rest of the group, which was, again, their mistake. He glanced upwards, looking to see if there were any spybots hovering anywhere that he could see, and thankfully saw none. He turned his back on the melee and ran away. He knew which way to go, for She-Ra had given him a clear image on where she'd left Chelsea.
Chelsea was staying under the tree cover, trying to stay inconspicuous at first glance.
Cringer was crouching next to her, keeping a fearful eye out on anything that might pose a threat.
"Come on, Cringe, we've got work to do," Adam said by way of greeting.
Cringer gave a forlorn sigh, before moving out of the tree cover and stood near his human.
"For the power of Grayskull…"
After the transformation was complete, Chelsea asked, "What's Skeletor up to this time?"
"Who knows? He's got something up his sleeve if he wants Adora and Adam and brought his whole entourage with him," He-Man briefly briefly answered. "Stay under cover, and yell if you need help."
"I will," Chelsea promised, stepping back under the tree cover.
"Come on, Cat, let's go," He-Man told Battlecat, swinging up in the saddle on his back.
He-Man, on Battlecat's back, entered the fight -- much to Skeletor's displeasure.
"First She-Ra, now you, He-Man?" the master of Snake Mountain snarled.
He-Man didn't bother to answer as he leapt from Battlecat's back at Trapjaw, who was trying to impale Seahawk from behind on his hook arm.
Trapjaw went down with a solid thud and stayed down this time, dazed.
Skeletor cursed and turned his attention towards him, "Curse you, He-Man!"
He fired off a bolt from his Havoc Staff that the Champion of Grayskull dodged to avoid. Skeletor immediately fired off a bright flash that exploded in front of He-Man, leaving the hero temporarily blinded. Skeletor lunged forward and rammed the head of his staff into He-Man's solar plexus, driving the breath from him in a surprised gasp. Seeing the hero breathless, he rammed the head of his staff again into that vulnerable area, bending He-Man forward at the waist. Then, he discharged the energy bolt he had built up in the head of his staff, temporarily paralyzing the hero's diaphragm, leaving him unable to breathe.
Beastman used the situation to his advantage and rammed his fists into He-Man's kidneys in a quick double punch.
Wheezing and white-faced with pain, He-Man fell to his knees.
Teela found herself now facing Evil-Lynn and Beastman, as the lumbering henchman kept moving after knocking He-Man down to go after her.
Teela knew that the best way to keep Evil-Lynn from using her magic was to be up close and personal with the witch. She could handle Evil-Lynn, by herself, but when adding in Beastman, things got tricky.
She spun in close to Evil-Lynn to execute the moves she knew would work against her. She swung her staff and connected hard with Evil-Lynn's shin. Immediately she followed up with a sharp double punch to her opponent's sternum and nose. Teela heard the cartilage break with a sharp crack as her staff connected.
Evil –Lynn howled in pain and clutched her nose, which had begun bleeding profusely.
Hearing Beastman thundering up behind her, Teela spun and extended her staff out, tripping the clumsy mercenary and sending him sprawling.
Battlecat came running and knocked him flat on his face again as he tore off, hot on the scent of something.
Teela used the opening she'd created to pull out her blaster and fire off a shot at Skeletor, disrupting whatever spell he had been trying to cast on He-Man.
She-Ra knocked Tri-Klops back off his feet with one well-placed punch and rushed to He-Man's side just as Teela reached his side, facing Skeletor with her blaster drawn in one hand and her staff in the other.
Skeletor -- faced with the united front of She-Ra, Teela, and He-Man, who was regaining his feet -- decided to cut his losses.
"Bah! Enough of this! Evil-Lynn!" he called out, tapping the ground with the butt end of his Havoc Staff.
Evil-Lynn, having apparently stopped the bleeding of her nose, brought her staff up in one hand and raised the other. With a bright flash of blinding light, the mercenaries and Skeletor disappeared from sight.
"He-Man, are you all right?" Teela asked concerned, when they could all see again.
"I'm fine," He-Man assured her, even as She-Ra gave him a disbelieving look. "Beastman snuck in under my guard, is all."
Seahawk joined them and remarked, "Well, that was interesting…"
"Interesting?" Teela spluttered.
"I – " Seahawk began, but stopped at the sound of a deep growl that sounded off in the distance.
The defenders of Grayskull looked briefly at each other and said, "Battlecat!"