Chapter Twenty-Two: Fall of Prime, Part 2

Entrapta kicked off their assault. "Emily! All weapons, fire! Full steam ahead!" Emily opened fire with every cannon on her new cybercolossus body. The enemy cybercolossi returned fire, but their attack was diluted amongst the three targets. This made it that much easier for the princess trio to launch an attack of their own.

All three of them combined their powers to urge the golem forwards. Cybertroops were crushed underneath its icy feet as it stomped towards its foes. The massive creation sent one of its mighty fists forward, slamming it into a cybercolossus. The giant machine staggered backwards, finally falling after a second punch connected.

Alexandrite took advantage of this, leaping on top of the fallen robot. She drove two of Pearl's spears into its body, putting it down for good. Two more cybercolossi began to advance on the fusion. She responded by summoning Opal's bow, firing an arrow through one's chest; it fell to one knee, disabled for now. Alexandrite stunned the other with Sugilite's flail, before using the weapon to decapitate the first.

When the second cybercolossus got its bearings, Emily grabbed it from behind, attempting to throw it aside. It stumbled, but didn't fall; this prompted Emily to fire all her weapons on the bot. Under the sustained barrage, the cybercolossus' armor was slowly chipped away, until it was nothing more than a thin layer of molten slag. She then finished it off with a punch. " Nice one, Emily!" said Entrapta.

Frosta punted a cybertank as she stomped forwards, taking down yet another cybercolossus with a mighty uppercut. However, she was soon after surrounded by many more of them, attempting to cut her off from her allies. "Mermista!" she shouted. "Sword me!"

The water princess immediately understood what she meant. Mermista pulled a flow of water up towards the trio. Reaching out both her actual hand and her ice hand, Frosta grabbed hold of the surge of water. Ice spread across it, shaping the waves into a hilt, and finally, a blade.

With a ferocious lunge, Frosta swung the ice sword upwards, cleaving off one of the cybercolossi's arms. She whirled around, slicing through each of the robots with the blade's tip. Finally, as a finishing move, she leapt into the air, cleaving her target clean in half.

"Great work, Frosta!" said Perfuma.

"Call me Winter's Bane!" Frosta replied with a grin.

Alexandrite used Amethyst's whip to grab a cybercolossus by the wrist, stopping it before it could throw a punch at Entrapta. She pulled it around to face her, smashing Garnet's gauntlet into its face.

WIth the attack avoided, Emily activated her most powerful attack. Electricity crackled around her chest as energy coalesced into the massive laser. The beam fired, tearing swaths through Horde Prime's ground troops. Emily let out a drone of triumph.

"Where do these things even keep coming from!?" asked Mermista. She tripped up a cybercolossus with her water powers, giving Frosta an opportunity to lop its head clean off.

"Wherever it is, all we can do is keep fighting," said Frosta. "We can't let Horde Prime get into Brightmoon! I-Entrapta, look out!"

A cybercolossus had taken a page out of Emily's book, and fired its chest beam at the pair. Frosta lunged between them, blocking the laser with the golem's arm. The ice shattered and water spilled out as the limb threatened to fall to the ground.

"Hang on!" Perfuma's vines shot out from within the golem's arm, latching on to both parts of the severed limb. The plants pulled it together, lashing over the wound like a bandage.

Mermista tested the arm, and the makeshift tourniquet held. "All right, quick thinking, flower girl!"

Alexandrite had immediately sprang atop the attacking cybercolossus, holding it in place from behind. With the fusion holding it still, Entrapta had Emily open fire on the immobilized target until it was destroyed.

"Whoo! Yay, Emily!" She turned towards the other fighters. "And yay, princesses and giant woman! We make a pretty good team!"

Standing back to back to back, all of them prepared to renew their fight with the cybercolossi, which, no matter how many they destroyed, would not stop hounding them. "I hope the others are doing better than we are!" said Perfuma.

"All hands, evasive maneuvers!" said Lars. "We have to get to that ship! Don't let Emerald distract us!"

"That might be a bit hard to do, considering!" said left-Rutile. "She's right on top of us!" added right-Rutile.

The Sun Incinerator sped through Etheria's lower atmosphere, the Destiny Destroyer close behind. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and Emerald was more determined than ever to get her hands on what was rightfully hers.

From the bridge of her flagship, Emerald watched excitedly as her old ship came closer and closer to being in her grasp. Her face split open wide into a maniacal grin. "All stations, fire on that vessel," she said, barely maintaining her composure. "But do not destroy it, under any circumstances! Disable only! If you damage my Sun Incinerator beyond repair, so help me I will shatter you to pieces myself!" Her subordinates obeyed, fearing what would happen to Emerald's already-deteriorating sanity should her precious shop be damaged.

Missiles were launched from the Destiny Destroyer, zeroing in on the off-colors' ship. They were only narrowly able to avoid the explosives, which detonated mere feet away from the ship's hull. Sparks of electricity scraped the side of the ship, momentarily causing the navigational systems to go on the fritz.

"Watch out for those electro-missiles!" warned Padparadscha. "A direct hit from one of those, and we'll be completely disabled!"

"Thanks for the warning, Paddy!" said Lars. "Climb higher, we'll see if we can lose her up there!"

The Sun Incinerator ascended into the upper atmosphere, the Destiny Destroyer following close behind. "Uh, isn't she in a spaceship?" said Adora. "I know I'm not an expert, but I don't think going into space will do us any good!"

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" asked Lars.

"I do!" said Stevonnie. "Look!"

They pointed out in front of the ship, indicating a rift in space-time before them. It led to somewhere in the main universe, and was more than large enough for their ship to fit through.

"Good spot, Stevonnie!" said both Rutiles.

"Uh, I'm not so sure about that!" said Rhodonite. "These portals are highly unstable! They're opening and closing at random...if we aren't careful, we could end up with no way back to Etheria!"

"Or Emerald could be!" said Lars. "Full speed ahead!"

Dodging laser beams and electro-missiles, Lars and crew maneuvered the ship through the portal. Emerald was still on their tail, clinging as close to her beloved starship as hers would allow. The two vessels emerged somewhere in the middle of space; off in the distance was the hollowed-out remains of a planet that was clearly a Gem colony.

"No good, she's still coming!" said Stevonnie.

"With how much she's been on us for the past few months, I'd be surprised if she wasn't!" said Lars. "We just need to find another portal and try again!"

Emerald was on the edge of her seat, practically standing up. "Don't let him escape!" she yelled. "Get him! Get him!"

"Theeeeere's ooooone!" said Fluorite, pointing out another portal in the distance. The Sun Incinerator sped towards it, ending up back on Etheria.

Everyone shouted in alarm upon realizing that they were hurtling at full speed towards the ocean. They were able to pull up at the last moment, speeding off just above the water's surface. Emerald's ship, being bigger, wasn't able to pull up in time, splashing into the sea. This couldn't deter her, however, as she immediately surfaced to resume her chase.

The chase had led the two ships to the kingdom of Salineas. Just like every other location on the planet, it had become completely overrun by Horde Prime. Hundreds of robots stood guard beyond the kingdon's walls, most notably a handful of cybercolossi that shifted their focus on the team.

"Oh, come on!" cried Rhodonite. "Didn't we have it hard enough!?"

The Sun Incinerator pulled off more evasive maneuvers, this time from the cybercolossi. Lasers collided with the hull as the ship narrowly avoided being struck down by one of the titanic machine's arms.

Emerald was caught in the crossfire as well, returning fire on the mechs. They engaged with her as well, though the Destiny Destroyer was able to tank more of their attacks.

"Alright, there's another portal. Let's try this again!" said Lars. The ship sped towards it, with Emerald's not far behind. Her's had been a bit banged-up by the encounter, but not enough to deter her pursuit.

As if speeding down towards an ocean wasn't bad enough, this portal put the two ships just beyond the surface of a star. Fittingly enough, the sudden appearance of a sun caused Rhodonite to exclaim "Oh my stars!"

"It would seem so!" said Adora.

Both ships sped along the star's surface, swerving left and right to avoid solar flares. Emerald didn't bother avoiding them, simply powering through them. She attempted to fire more missiles, but they were prematurely detonated by the heat of the sun. Luckily for both parties, another portal soon came into view.

The chase was now transported to above the empty desert that was the Crimson Waste. For once, the area was completely devoid of Horde Prime's forces. Adora decided to question this.

"Hey, where are all the robots?" she asked. "We are on Etheria right now, right?"

"Beats me," said Stevonnie. "Actually, right now, I'd be more worried about Emerald…"

Lars' crew had to bob and weave harder than ever to avoid the barrage of missiles that Emerald was hurling at them. The radar, navigation, just about everything aside from the controls were going haywire from the sheer amount of EMPs. Spying another portal, Rhodonite hurriedly navigated them through it. Where this one lead caught everyone by surprise, even more so than the star.

They were on Homeworld. Stevonnie recognized it all too well, given that they had Steven's memories. Lars and the off-colors were quite familiar with it as well.

"No, not this place again!" cried Padparadscha.

All around them, the planet seemed to be at war. Cybertroops and Gems clashed on the surface and on the air, explosions ringing out from all angles. Horde Prime had taken its directive to its logical conclusion, and taken the fight directly to Gemkind's doorstep.

"This is worse than I could have imagined," said Stevonnie. "Horde Prime really does want all Gems gone…"

"This...this is terrible," said right-Rutile. "Homeworld may be bad, but...nobody deserves this," added left-Rutile.

The Sun Incinerator swerved to avoid buildings in its way, many of which the Destiny Destroyer was too bulky to avoid. "How are we supposed to lose her with that monstrosity?" asked Adora.

"Hang on...I think I may have an idea!" said Padparadscha. "Rhodonite, didn't you say that the portals are unstable?"

"They are!" she answered. "Which is why this whole thing was a bad idea!"

"Then we just have to trick Emerald into shooting one!" Padparadscha said. "Where is the next one?"

"There's one up in the atmosphere," said right-Rutile. "Altering course," left-Rutile said.

Both ships ascended away from the cities gripped by conflict. Emerald continued her assault, despite the lack of results. Laser beams skimmed past the ship, and missiles exploded just beside it.

"Hold...hold…" said Lars. The pair of ships had almost reached the portal. Emerald prepared to fire. "...Now!"

"The Sun Incinerator swerved to the side, avoiding the beams hurled its way. They struck the portal, the effect being very similar to a large object being thrown into a pool of water. The portal flickered and rippled, seconds away from destabilizing. The ship sped up, barely making it through the portal. Emerald was not as lucky: the portal vanished just as the Destiny Destroyer would have passed through it, leaving it hovering above Homeworld, with no way to Etheria and Lars.

"What...!?" Emerald said, still processing what had happened. "That...that's impossible. No. No, no, no, no no NO NO!" She sprang to her feet, smashing the console before her to pieces with her fist. "LAAAAAAAAARS!"

Cheers erupted from the off-colors as their ship emerged from the portal, back in the skies of Etheria. "Woo! We did it! Great work, everyone!" said Lars. "Now we can...oh, right. I almost forgot about Horde Prime."

"Yeah, we should probably deal with it," Adora said. "How far away from Brightmoon are we?"

"Not too far, thankfully," said left-Rutile. "We should get to Horde Prime's ship in a few minutes."

The Sun Incinerator sped off into the distance, towards the ship in question. "We should probably have some sort of plan," said Stevonnie. "How should we approach this?"

"Well, your Gem friends said that the ship's outer armor is pretty much impenetrable," said Adora. "We'll need to find somewhere to board it that isn't heavily defended. Speaking of, we should prepare for heavy resistance once we're on board, and probably before."

"That ship's definitely got turrets," said Lars. "And they're gonna be firing at us as soon as we get close."

"Weeeee caaaaan ooooonlyyy staaaaay theeeeere foooor sooo loooong," said Fluorite. "Youuuuu haaave tooo beee quiiiiick."

"Got it," said Stevonnie. "Hey Adora? Do you have skydiving on Etheria?"

"No," Adora answered. "But I'm pretty sure I know what you have in mind."

Before long, the First Ones colony ship came into view, like a giant castle hovering above the planet. What appeared to be a layer of smoke surrounding it was revealed to actually be a fleet of dropships once the team got close. Each one of these started towards them once they approached.

"Uh-oh," said Rhodonite. "Captain? We've got bogeys incoming. A lot of bogeys…"

"Don't worry about these small fries," Lars said. "Focus on that prize catch!"

Swerving past incoming ships and cannon fire, the Sun Incinerator made a beeline towards Horde Prime's base of operations. While it had no weapons of its own, luckily the dropships didn't either. After weathering the worst of it, the ship located a spot on the First Ones vessel that the cannons didn't cover. This would be the point of insertion.

"Okay, this next part might be a little tricky," said Lars. "We have no way to dock, so you'll have to just jump out. I know it's not ideal, but we'll just have to make the best of a bad situation."

"Hey, it won't be the first time I did that!" said Adora.

Stevonnie created a bubble around their mouth and nose to keep in oxygen. "Adora...can She-Ra breathe in space?"

"...You know, I've never thought about that," said Adora. She shapeshifted the Sword of Protection into a mask, placing it over her mouth like Stevonnie had done. "Better safe than sorry, like Bow always says."

"We're here!" said Rutile. "Prepare to drop!"

Everyone strapped in as the ship's door swung open. Air rushed out, almost pulling Stevonnie and Adora with it. The two of them were able to hold steady long enough to get a running start, leaping towards the ship below. "Good luck out there!" said Lars.

"We'll see you on the other side!" called Stevonnie. The two of them hurtled through the air, or lack thereof, just close enough to Etheria for the planet's gravity to pull them down towards the ship.

For the first few feet, everything seemed to be going according to plan. There was nothing in their path, and they were right on target. What nobody considered, however, was the dropships. One flew right beneath them; Adora accidentally landed on it, and was carried off back towards Lars' ship.

"Adora!" cried Stevonnie. Adora jumped off of the dropship, but she had been carried too far away. At her current trajectory, she was going to miss the First Ones ship entirely. "She's not gonna make it!"

Thinking quickly, Stevonnie summoned a shield, throwing it to Adora like a discus. Adora caught it, placing it beneath her feet. She then used the shield like a makeshift platform, leaping off of it toward her target. Both she and Stevonnie landed safely on top of the ship; a rough landing, but a landing nonetheless.

Stevonnie propped themself up, getting their bearings. "So, you okay?"

"Yeah," Adora replied. "You?"

"I'm good." Both of them stood up, facing the large wall in front of them. Stevonnie looked at her arm for a moment, waving it back and forth. "You know, this doesn't feel like space. It feels like there's air here."

Adora shifted her sword back to its base form, taking an experimental breath. "Feels like air to me," she said. "That's First Ones tech for you."

"So, shall we?" Stevonnie said.

Both of them returned their focus to the wall. They each swung their sword diagonally, creating an 'X' on the wall. Then, with synchronized kicks, they busted a hole more than large enough for them to fit through.

Adora gestured through the new entryway. "After you!"