Chapter Twenty-One: Fall of Prime, Part 1

Back inside the castle, Peridot and Entrapta paid little mind to the fighting outside. Well, Entrapta didn't; Peridot just did her best to ignore it, which wasn't easy. But it was necessary, considering that they were almost finished with the virus.

Technically speaking, they were already finished. The virus was ready to be uploaded, it just first needed to be downloaded into Entrapta's data pad so that it could subsequently be transferred into Horde Prime's hive mind. It was a fairly easy, if complex, process.

"Any second now!" said Entrapta. "Then we just have to catch a cybertroop to load it into!"

"That reminds me," Peridot said. "How exactly are we going to get this virus into Horde Prime? We'd need some kind of access port…"

"Luckily, we have one!" said Entrapta. "Prime's cybertroops are directly based on my Multi-Bot. I included an access port in its lower back for updates, and luckily, the cybertroops have them, too!"

"That should do nicely!" Peridot said. "Only instead of giving Prime an update, we'll give it a down-date! ...See, because instead of 'up', it's 'down', and...okay, nevermind…"

Emily beeped from her new home, indicating to the pair that the upload was complete. Peridot unplugged the tablet from the computer installation they had set up, Entrapta picking it up. "It's done! Let's go!"

Both Peridot and Entrapta ran outside as fast as their legs (and hair) could carry them. While they expected to see fighting, it was the state of the sky that was most concerning. In addition to the unexplained presence of stormclouds, the whole of the sky seemed to glow with an eerie red light. Large cracks seemed to be appearing in the sky itself, dots of lights appearing within them.

"Oh my stars…" said Peridot.

"Exactly!" said Entrapta. "Somehow, I think Horde Prime is attempting to teleport all of Etheria back into the main universe!"

"Something tells me that we should stop that," Peridot said.

"Agreed." Once they made it outside, finding a cybertroop was easy-they were everywhere, swarming the entire castle. "Peridot, try and restrain it!"

Peridot attempted to use her magnetic powers to hold the cybertroop still. This was easier said than done, however. "Quick, upload the virus!" Peridot said, struggling to hold it. "It's a lot harder to hold something that can fight back!"

The cybertroop was indeed attempting to break free from Peridot's grip, slowly but surely training its blasters on the pair. "Right, got it!" said Entrapta. She hurried over to the bot, plugging the jack into its slot. Its visor blinked and flashed with colors for a few moments, until it went back to red, standing completely still.

Peridot set it back down, where it just stood there, unmoving. "Um...did we do it?" she asked.

Rather than simply shut down as the two had expected, the cybertroop then extended its cannons at the pair. "Antivirus programs active. Resuming termination protocols."

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Peridot, her and Entrapta bracing for impact. But before the robot could open fire, a large white shape descended from the skies. Gored by the unicorn's horn, the robot sparked before being thrown into the distance.

"Did somebody say...Swift Wind?" The former horse threw his mane to the side, sparkling spectacularly.

"I don't understand it!" said Entrapta, ignoring him completely. "It should have worked perfectly! Horde Prime's systems should have all shut down by now! Unless…"

"Unless what?" asked Swift Wind. "Also, what is this conversation about?"

"Unless Prime got some kind of antiviral systems from somewhere else." Her face lit up with realization. "Somewhere like...that First Ones ship!" She pointed towards a ship in the planet's lower atmosphere.

"Wait...I recognize that ship!" said Peridot. The ship in question wasn't the one Horde Prime had taken from Earth. For one, it was orange in color, and longer rather than taller. "That's Hessonite's ship!"

"Who now?" said Swift Wind.

"I don't know either, but Peridot seems happy about it!" Entrapta said. "Peridot, can this 'Hessonite' person help us with our Horde Prime situation?"

"I hope so!" said Peridot. "I'm sure she'll be willing to, in any case." She stared up at the Gem vessel. "I need to get up to that ship!"

"Talking horse, do you think you can fly that high?" asked Entrapta.

"That's a hard pass from me," said Swift Wind. "But what about that pink kid? He has a ship."

"Of course! Lars!" said Peridot. She ran over to Swift Wind's side, trying and failing to climb onto his back. After several seconds of watching her attempts, Swift Wind just pulled her on with this wing. "Onward, steed! To Steven! You coming, Entrapta?"

"You go on ahead," Entrapta said. "There's something I'd like to take care of first…"

"Alright, let's go!" said Swift Wind, taking off into the sky.

Entrapta turned to the side, taking note of the Cybercolossi laying siege to Brightmoon. "Emily, I think I have an idea," she said. "It might get us killed, but on the other hand, it might work really well!"

"Lapis! Lapis!" The blue Gem turned towards the voice, surprised by the unusual sight of Peridot riding on the back of a winged unicorn. "Lapis, look! Hessonite's here! Did you notice?"

"Uh...I did," said Lapis, unsure of how to react to this sight. "I'm not sure if I should ask what she's doing here, or why you're riding a flying horse."

"Well, I'm not going to be riding her!" said Swift Wind. "It would take all day to catch up to you!"

"Now come on, we need to get to Steven to get to Lars to get to Hessonite!" said Peridot.

Lapis shrugged, following the curious pair. It was a fairly straightforward plan, if a bit disjointed. "I'll flag down Lars, you go get Steven!"

Down on the ground, Steven and Connie were now Stevonnie, fighting the cybertroops with sword and shield in hand. Beside them, Adora fought with sword that was also shield in hand. The two of them were quite in sync as they sliced and bashed their way through the attackers.

"Steven! I mean, large human that is partially Steven!" cried Peridot as Swift Wind touched down beside them, and she disembarked.

"Hi, Peridot!" said Stevonnie, looking away from the battle for only a moment. "Is the virus almost done?"

"It's done already, but Horde Prime has something stopping it!" she said. "Entrapta thinks that if we destroy the First Ones ship that Prime has, it'll disable the protective software, and the virus should work as planned!"

"So, uh, is that the big orange ship, or the big purple one?" asked Adora.

"The purple one," said Peridot. "We need to get on the orange one to destroy it, though. ...And here comes our ride!"

The Sun Incinerator moved in to hover above them, trying to land among the carnage. Unfortunately, Horde Prime seemed to realize that something was up: its cybertroops began to converge on the area, firing on Lars' ship, preventing it from landing. The ship flew off to avoid the barrage.

"Great, now what are we supposed to do!?" said Peridot.

"I think I have an idea," said Stevonnie. "Garnet! Things are getting pretty bad out here! I think we need a giant woman!"

Nearby, Garnet nodded. "Gems! On me!" Amethyst and Pearl converged on her position, where all three of them struck a pose. Their bodies became pure light as their gemstones changed color, projected high into the air as their forms became one. Within seconds, the three had become one in the form of a truly giant woman: the towering Alexandrite. The mighty fusion opened her lower mouth and let loose a ground-shaking roar at the cybercolossi.

"Well, that should help…" said Adora.

Indeed it should. The cybercolossi immediately focused on this new threat, opening fire. Alexandrite held up her arms to block the lasers, before returning fire. A jet of fire shot out of her mouth, momentarily disabling the gigantic robots. She turned to face Stevonnie and Adora. "Go! Now!"

With her keeping the colossi busy, Lars was finally able to land. The Sun Incinerator's door slid open, revealing that Lapis had already boarded. "Quick, we don't have all day!" she said. Stevonnie, Adora, and Peridot hurried to get onboard, the door closing behind them.

"So, where to?" asked Lars.

"That big ship up there!" said Peridot pointing it out.

"Alrighty. Destination set, let's get going!" Lars and his crew engaged the afterburners, lifting the ship up into the sky, well out of the cybercolossi's reach.

On the ground, although she fought fiercely, Alexandrite was outnumbered. The cybercolossi just kept firing, preventing her from getting any good hits in. Frosta was the one to notice this. "You guys, we have to help! Steven's friends are in trouble!"

"But what can we do?" asked Perfuma. "It isn't like we can combine our forms into a giant woman, too!"

Mermista looked over at the lake beside them with all the water that entailed. "Maybe we can…" she said.

"What do you mean?" Perfuma asked.

Mermista began lifting the water into the air. "Just follow my lead!" she said.

Luckily, Hessonite and her crew didn't recognize Lars' ship as a threat. As soon as the Sun Incinerator requested permission to dock, the doors opened. They might have just been surprised to see another Gem ship present on this strange planet.

The doors of the smaller ship opened as well, its inhabitants spilling out onto the deck of the larger vessel. The trio of Garnets were waiting for them, and were quite surprised to see some familiar faces.

"Hello again, Hessonite!" said Peridot. "I imagine you weren't expecting to see me and Lapis again!"

"I wasn't, certainly not at a time like this!" Hessonite said. "I imagine your interdimensional trip went as planned, then?"

"Trip?" said Peridot. "Oh, yeah, with the Lock! So much has been happening lately, I forgot all about that! But yes, it did go well. Skeletor was defeated, and peace returned to the universe!"

"Too bad it didn't last long…" said Lapis. "Anyway, how did you all get here?"

"Something is affecting the metastability of reality in this sector of space," said Demantoid. "This planet is locked in another dimension, but breaches of it are appearing all over the universe."

"That must be Horde Prime's doing," said Adora. "I don't know what it's planning, but we have to stop it before it does!"

"I would ask who your friends are, but we don't have time for chit-chat," said Hessonite. "She is right; we have to stop Horde Prime!"

"And that is exactly why we came here!" Peridot replied. "We actually have a plan to take it out."

As Peridot explained to Hessonite their plan to destroy the First Ones ship, the others got acquainted with her comrades. "So, it's nice to see you guys getting along," said Stevonnie. "Last time I ran into Hessonite, it didn't go over so well."

"And you are?" asked Demantoid.

"Oh, right," they said. "I'm Stevonnie. I'm a fusion between Steven and Connie."

"I see," she said. "A human fusion. You will be more than welcome in this place. All life forms seeking refuge are welcome aboard the Crystallon.

"Hang on a minute," said Rhodonite, cutting in. "You said fusions are welcome here?"

"Correct," said Demantoid. "All off-colored Gems, as well as those on the run from the Diamonds, may stay here as long as they desire. We currently have no organics onboard, though I imagine they would be welcome as well."

"T-this place sounds amazing!" Rhodonite said. "Lars, do you think we could stay here for a while once this whole Horde Prime thing is dealt with?"

Meanwhile, Pyrope was examining Adora. "I've never seen a Gem like you before. Would you happen to be a fusion?"

"Uh...Not that I know of," Adora answered. "I mean, maybe. I guess it depends on how She-Ra works, 'cause I'm kind of combined with She-Ra, so…"

"By the way, Pyrope, is that little Ruby still following you around?" asked Lapis.

As if summoned, the Ruby in question appeared beside her companion. However, something was quite different about her. Namely, that she now wore a dress nearly identical to the one Pyrope herself wore, sized down to the smaller Gem. "Unfortunately…" groaned Pyrope.

"Actually, I go by 'Duchess' now," the Ruby said. "I felt like reinventing myself since we last met."

"Swear to stars, sometimes I think I liked her better when we first met," Pyrope mumbled.

"Everyone, may I have your attention?" said Hessonite. Everyone turned to face her. "Peridot and I have been discussing the best way to proceed." She looked down to Peridot. "Would you like to start us off?"

Peridot nodded. "Well, Hessonite believes that our target, the First Ones ship in Prime's possession, is too heavily-armored to be damaged by any of our weapons."

"I also believe, however, that the ship also possesses a highly-potent energy core," Hessonite added. "If First Ones and Gem technology are as similar as Peridot here believes, then rupturing this core should be enough to destroy the ship."

"And the only way we'll be able to do that would be to infiltrate it personally," said Peridot.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm the one who has to do that?" said Adora. "Welp...guess I've done worse."

"Don't worry," said Stevonnie. "We'll all be right there with you!"

"Exactly!" said Peridot. "Right with you! From here. On this ship. While you're on that ship."

"Er...right," said Stevonnie. "Anyone else?"

"Negative," said Demantoid.

"Positively not," said Pyrope.

"I can't abandon my crew," said Hessonite.

"Unless there's water up there, there's not a whole lot I could do…" said Lapis.

"Well, that's fine," said Stevonnie. "There's still us! And Lars is coming, right?"

"Of course!" he said. "How do you think you're getting over there in the first place?"

"Lars will fly the two of you over to Prime's ship," said Hessonite. "We will provide covering fire from the Crystallon. Once you are on board, I imagine you will face heavy resistance."

Adora slung her sword over her shoulder. "Luckily for us, we're prepared to offer heavy...what's the opposite of resistance?"

"Whatever it is, you should probably get to offering it!" said Pyrope. "Horde Prime is sending dropships our way!"

"Aaand that's our cue!" said Stevonnie. "Let's take off! Everyone else, stay safe!"

Adora and Stevonnie hurried aboard the Sun Incinerator, where Lars and co. were waiting. "Wish we could've stayed longer, but we're on the clock!" said Lars. "Prepare for takeoff!" Slowly lifting up off the deck, the ship then sped out into the air, looping around the Crystallon.

"Target in sight, Captain!" said left-Rutile. "First Ones ship spotted!" right-Rutile added.

"Things look pretty bad down there from up here," said Stevonnie, looking down at the carnage on the surface. "I hope we can end this quickly."

"Wait!" Everyone was startled by Padparadscha's sudden cry. "Watch out for Emerald!"

"Paddy, what are you…" said Lars, trailing off once he realized what she had said. "...Did you say Emerald?"

"Captain?" said Rhodonite. "I'm picking up an unidentified object on the radar. It's too big to be a dropship…"

Dreading what he would see when he did so, Lars turned the viewscreens to the rear of the ship. The crew was greeted by the unwelcome sight of the Destiny Destroyer bearing down on them. Clearly, Emerald was out for blood this time.

"Nooot gooood…" said Fluorite.

"Perfuma! Plant frame!" said Mermista.

"Got it!" Perfuma drew up some vines from beneath the ground, which she shaped into a roughly humanoid form. Twisting together, these vines would provide stability for the team's 'fusion'. Mermista then sent up torrents of water, which became the main body.

"And I'll form the head!" said Frosta, working her way up the golem, freezing the outer layer of water as she did so. She near-completely submerged herself where the statue's head would have been, creating a helmet of ice for herself. The combined entity of plants, water, and ice was complete. "Come get some, Horde Prime!"

Nearby, Entrapta had seen this all. She was certainly impressed by this display of power, but she was more focused on getting over to one of the cybercolossi that both Alexandrite and the trio of princesses prepared to do battle with. "Okay Emily, I've rerouted A.I., and I'm preparing to upload. Remember, we only get one shot at this, so remember to keep Prime out of your head!" Emily beeped.

Frosta raised the fists of her titanic suit of armor; Mermista and Perfuma aided her, controlling their portions of the suit from its shoulders. They threw one of the fists forwards, and it connected with a cybercolossus, staggering it.

Alexandrite pulled herself up, summoning a huge hammer from her gems. She swung the weapon with all of her strength, finishing the robot off.

"Oookay, maybe now isn't the best time for this," Entrapta wondered aloud. Nevertheless, she worked her way through the carnage, dodging explosions and cybertroops that came her way. She soon reached her target; a cybercolossus.

Using her hair, Entrapta worked her way up the titan's leg, with the ultimate goal of reaching the port on its lower back. Luckily for her, it didn't notice her on the journey. Upon arriving at the port, she held the cord attached to her tablet in front of her. "Here goes nothing!" She plugged it in, hoping for the best.

Both the pad and robot were lit up as streams of code flowed from one to the other. Much like when the virus was uploaded earlier, the robot's visor flashed multiple colors, before it finally stood still.

Entrapta climbed up to the machine's shoulder. "Emily?"

The cybercolossus' visor lit back up; a shade of lilac rather than red this time. A drone rang out from the massive bot, sounding like a much deeper version of Emily's usual beeping.

"Yay!" exclaimed Entrapta, hugging the robot's head. "Alright, Emily, let's go save the world! ...again!"

The Gems and princesses certainly weren't expecting one of the cybercolossi to attack its allies. Evidently, they weren't either, taken completely by surprise by the assault. The cybercolossus controlled by Emily fired at the invading robots, punching any that got in her way. Entrapta waved at her allies from atop her new death machine.

"Hi guys!" she said. "Look at this! Emily hijacked one of Prime's death machines, isn't it great!?"

"En...Entrapta!?" said Perfuma.

"Yep!" the girl responded. "How are you all doing over here?"

A sudden voice pierced through the air: "Renewing termination protocols." The voice had come from an entire new battalion of cybercolossi, making their way across the carnage, directly towards them.

"Everybody get ready, things are getting real!" said Mermista.

"Um, I feel like things were 'real' already…" said Perfuma.

Entrapta stood atop Emily's new form. Frosta, Mermista, and Perfuma put up their golem's fists. And Alexandrite stood at the front of the defenders as Horde Prime's forces approached. "No more chatter! Steel yourselves!" said Alexandrite, summoning one of each of her components' weapons. "This fight is only beginning!"