Chapter Twenty-Three: The Honor of Grayskull
Surprisingly enough, no cybertroops were immediately present to stop the pair as they strolled through the halls of the First Ones ship. Both Stevonnie and Adora had expected to be immediately beset by the robotic guards upon breaching the ship's walls, but not so much as a single sentry was present to greet them.
"So...is that it?" asked Adora. "I was kind of expecting more than this."
"Yeah, this whole place feels a bit empty," replied Stevonnie. "Maybe all of Prime's robots are fighting down on the surface."
"That just seems like bad tactics if you ask me," Adora said. "I mean, what happens if someone gets into your base? Who's gonna stop them?"
After a bit of walking, the hall opened up into an enormous room that appeared to be a factory. Large enough to be a building in its own right, hundreds of mechanical arms pounded and welded metal to assemble just as many cybertroops, which were then carried into a waiting dropship to be ferried to the planet's surface. Cybertanks and cybercolossi were also being produced, these larger units being carried by dropships attached to their backs.
The pair ducked to the side, just in case any cybertroop happened to look up. "Yup, this is definitely the right place," said Stevonnie.
"No wonder Prime is winning," said Adora. "I've never seen so many bots in one place, not even back in the Horde!"
"Alright, we have to shut this place down somehow," Stevonnie said. "But how do we go about doing that?"
"In my experience, all machines have some kind of power source," Adora said. "This ship should have some kind of core. Once we find it and destroy it, it'll be goodnight Prime."
"Works for me," said Stevonnie. "But how do we find the core in a ship this huge?"
Adora shrugged. "It's gotta be around here somewhere, right?"
Stevonnie nodded. "Let's head towards the middle," they said. "That's usually where a core would be."
Sneaking past the watchful optics below them, the pair made their way into the next room. This one was just as empty as the first, with no robots in sight. This lack of guards did give them some time to appreciate their surroundings.
"You know, this place looks a lot like the Crystal Castle," said Adora. "I guess that makes sense, what with them both being First Ones and all…"
"Funny, I was going to say it reminded me of Gem ships," Stevonnie said. "Though, I guess now we know why that would be."
"Huh?" asked Adora.
"Because the First Ones made the Gems, apparently," said Stevonnie. Their hand went down to Steven's gemstone. "You know, I never really thought about the Gems coming from somewhere. I guess I was just always concerned about them trying to destroy the Earth and everything."
Adora was silent for a moment before speaking again. "And the First Ones made Horde Prime, too," she said. "Probably out of revenge for the Gems destroying their home."
"Do you think Horde Prime would have stopped trying to destroy us if it knew about the Crystal Gems?" asked Stevonnie. "If it knew that they rebelled?"
"That's more of a question for Entrapta," said Adora. "Who knows? From what I've seen, Horde Prime just wants to destroy everything it doesn't like."
"Yeah," said Stevonnie. "Just like Homeworld…"
Before long, the two came upon a massive door blocking their path. Whatever was behind this door was clearly important, as there didn't seem to be any obvious way of breaking through it, let alone getting it to open. Adora tried cutting through it with her sword, but the effort didn't leave so much as a scratch.
She continued striking the door, until Stevonnie stopped her. "Alright, I think we need to come up with something different," they said.
"Like what? Ask it to open?" said Adora.
"I mean...this is a First Ones ship," Stevonnie said. "Maybe She-Ra can do something?"
"Guess it's worth a shot," said Adora. Walking back up to the door, she looked up at it and said in her most authoritative voice, "Eternia."
"Princess of Power located." Horde Prime's voice came from all around them.
"Uh...open," Adora said. "Open door. Access. Grant access."
"Command denied," said Horde Prime. While the large door did not open, several smaller ones located around the room did; hidden passages among the walls, revealing cybertroops that began to surround the pair.
"Well, that backfired!" said Stevonnie. Both of them held up their swords, ready to do battle.
"Princess detected. Gem detected. Engaging termination protocols."
All around them, the cybertroops opened fire. Stevonnie summoned a shield, while Adora simply tanked the beams. The pair charged in opposite directions, slicing through the opposition with their blades. Cybertroops fell in droves against their combined attack. During the battle, Stevonnie and Adora seemed to be in perfect sync with one another. They expertly maneuvered around the battlefield in tandem, combining their abilities to dispatch every last cybertroop. Their battle was almost like a dance, so rehearsed their movements seemed.
In no time at all, the cybertroops that had attacked them lay defeated on the floor. "Ha! How's that feel, Prime?" asked Adora.
"Initial assault unsuccessful," Horde Prime said. "Now engaging anti-princess countermeasures."
"Ooh...that's probably not good," said Stevonnie.
Slowly, the massive door began to open. Steam spilled out of the room, filling the hallway with a foggy haze. The pair could barely see anything, making a sneak attack likely. And indeed, an attack came.
A massive metal hand descended from above, the two diving out of the way just as it slammed into the ground. As the appendage pulled back, the smoke began to clear, giving Stevonnie and Adora a better view of their new opponent.
The machine stood before them, not as large as a cybercolossus, but larger than a cybertank. It was roughly humanoid in shape, its hands and feet clawed like a monster. Numerous metallic tendrils extended from its back, each one tipped by a cross between a pincer and a laser blaster. Two glowing red eyes pierced through what remained of the fog, locked on the pair.
"Cyberdestroyer online," Horde Prime said, its voice coming from this metal monstrosity. "Prepare for battle."
The cyberdestroyer's tendrils aimed themselves towards the two, firing powerful beams of energy from the tips. Each beam burned a hole in the wall or floor where it hit, with Adora and Stevonnie thankfully dodging out of the way. Horde Prime stomped closer, its tendrils lunging forwards to grab its foes.
Adora blocked one of these, the claw grabbing on to her sword. "You know, I get the feeling Prime was expecting us!" she said.
Stevonnie dodged past the tentacles headed her way, running towards the main body. "But it wasn't expecting what we're capable of!" They swung their sword at Horde Prime's leg, but the blade only glanced off of the metal. "Oh…"
"Control over Etheria: ninety-eight percent and counting," Horde Prime announced. "Teleportation procedures nearly ready. Preparing to activate the Heart of Etheria."
"Uh, Adora?" said Stevonnie. "What's the Heart of Etheria?"
"No idea," Adora answered. "But if Horde Prime wants to activate it, it can't be good!"
Try as they might, neither of them were able to do any major damage to the cyberdestroyer. "No good!" said Stevonnie. "Whatever this thing's made out of, I can't put a dent in it!"
"Me neither!" said Adora. "I think we might have to make a run for it!"
"Good idea!" Stevonnie said. "If we can destroy the core, Peridot's virus should take care of the rest!"
While neither of them wanted to give up on this fight, running was definitely the better option. The pair sprinted down the hallway through the giant door, past the cyberdestroyer. Of course, the titanic mechanoid gave chase, its footfalls shaking the ground as it ran after them. Its tendrils fired more of the gigantic beams towards them, many of which they were just barely able to dodge.
A beam passed between the two in a particularly close shave. "Just keep running, we have to find it eventually!" shouted Stevonnie.
"Hang on, I think I see a door up ahead!" said Adora. "It's too small for that thing to fit through!" Upon reaching it, she was able to pry it open, and she and Stevonnie slid through before the cyberdestroyer could catch up to them; the door closed behind them.
Both took a moment to catch their breath. "Okay…" said Stevonnie. "Now, the thing is, we have no idea of knowing where we are on this ship. Finding the core is going to be that much harder."
Adora, however, was more focused on what lay within the room they now found themselves in. "Speaking of harder…"
A massive amount of cybertroops waited within, each one staring directly at the pair. Horde Prime must have sent them to block off all the exits. The army of robots descended towards them, blasters firing away.
Just as before, Stevonnie and Adora charged to engage the enemy. While they fought, the wall behind them was slowly being broken down by Horde Prime's cyberdestroyer. Cracks appeared as the machine pounded against the wall, desperate to break it down and destroy its enemies.
Mere cybertroops no longer seemed to pose any threat to either She-Ra or Stevonnie. Once again, they were completely in tandem in their fight, each one acting as an extension of the other. "Adora...do you feel that?" asked Stevonnie.
"Yeah, I feel it," she answered. "The only other time I felt like this was…" She paused. "Are you sure?"
"Trust me, if anyone knows about this sort of thing, it would be me!" they answered.
"Alright...let's do this!"
With one last punch, the cyberdestroyer broke through the obstruction, littering the room with dust and debris. Its optics scanned the room, filled with destroyed cybertroops. And in the center, the being who did it all.
Not quite as large as the cyberdestroyer itself, she was nonetheless massive by human standards. Her armor was the same golden as She-Ra's, but contained pink highlights as well. Her long golden hair, with streaks of brown, was placed in a ponytail that ran down her back. A familiar pink gemstone was located on her stomach. In one hand, she held the Sword of Protection. In the other, she held Connie's sword. Her eyes, pink in color, and with star-shaped pupils, stared at Horde Prime's weapon with steely determination.
"Impossible," said Horde Prime. "Entity's power exceeds all known limits."
"You know it does," said the woman. She crossed both of her swords over her chest. An aura of power erupted form around her.
"Power at four hundred percent and counting," Horde Prime said. "Diamond detected."
"Diamond? I'm no Diamond," the woman said. She swung both swords to the side, sending her energy outwards in a powerful shockwave. "My name is She-vonnie. And I'm shutting you down for good!"
"Termination protocols updated," Horde Prime said. All of the tendrils pointed at her, their beams coalescing into one huge laser.
She-vonnie created a bubble around herself, stopping the laser in its tracks. She walked forward, pushing the attack back. She held both swords above her head, swinging them down; the resulting shockwave cleaved the laser in half, before striking the cyberdestroyer. It left a sizable slash mark on the robot's chest.
The cyberdestroyer charged. It managed to grab She-vonnie in its hand, slamming her against the opposite wall at full speed. The resulting collision smashed the wall down, causing both of them to tumble downwards to the factory below.
Still caught in the machine's grip, She-vonne used her swords to pry its fingers open and free herself. As they were both still falling, she then leapt towards the wall, embedding both swords into it to slow her descent. The cyberdestroyer, on the other hand, crashed down into the floor below.
Upon landing, She-vonnie looked up to realize that every robot the factory was pumping out had now turned their attention towards her. "Hmm...gonna need two hands for this one!" She held her swords to the side, before slamming them together.
The two swords became one. Its blade was curved like Connie's, as well as being the same color. The handle and crossguard looked like a combination of the two, as well as the Runestone having a star emblem on it. She-vonnie held up the new blade, pointing it at the approaching enemies.
A cybertank opened fire with its main cannon. She-vonnie summoned Steven's shield, which also had changed. Despite being the same color and having the same emblem as his shield, its shape was closer to that of Adora's sword when in shield form. It was still just as effective: the cannon shot collided with it, the explosion blanketing the area. But She-vonnie was unharmed, leaping out of the explosion with enough force to carry herself directly towards the cybertank, where she cleaved it in half with one swing of her sword.
She-vonne sprinted through the endless army of machines, cutting them down as she went. She jumped through the factory, leaping past mechanical arms and across the shoulders of cybercolossi. It wasn't long, however, before her pursuer returned. The cyberdestroyer chased after her, using its tendrils to carry itself through the upper workings of the factory.
"This thing is persistent!" said She-vonnie. "How about we cut it down to size?" She continued making her way through the factory as the cyberdestroyer chased after her, eventually sending its tendrils in her direction. She-vonnie simply cleaved through them before the claws at the ends could grab her.
The cyberdestroyer lunged at her, though she simply leapt out of its way. Not one to be denied, Horde Prime then sent a cybercolossus to block her path. Before the titanic machine could blast her, She-vonnie launched herself directly at it. Sword extended, the fusion pierced through the robot like an arrow.
Persistent as ever, the cyberdestroyer tore through the cybercolossus to get to its target. Tendrils extended, it fired its beams at She-vonnie. The fusion summoned her shield, blocking the lasers in their tracks.
"Nice try! But not nice enough!" She-vonnie once again launched herself at the cyberdestroyer. Its tendrils shot out to grab her, but she sliced each of them apart. The machine threw a punch at the approaching warrior, but she was able to slice through its arm just as easily.
Both combatants returned to the ground. Though it was down one appendage, the cyberdestroyer showed no sign of slowing down. It charged She-vonnie, who held her ground. "Let's see how you like this!"
She-vonnie pointed her sword at the approaching robot, her weapon beginning to glow. Before the cyberdestroyer even got the chance to get close, a beam of light shot forth from the blade. The beam pierced through the robot's head, causing it to explode into metal fragments. The remains of its body fell to the ground, skidding to a halt.
"And that takes care of that!" said She-vonnie. "Now to find that core…"
"Control over Etheria: ninety-nine percent and counting," Horde Prime said, its voice reverberating throughout the whole ship.
"Well, guess we really need to find that core!" she said. "Let's see...I think it's…" She held out her sword, as if feeling for the core's location. "...this way!" Having evidently found it, she took off running.
Doors and walls meant nothing to She-vonnie, who could now simply slice right through the obstructions. It wasn't long before she reached the core chamber.
A gigantic sphere of pure white energy was suspended in the middle of the room, above what seemed to be some manner of centrifuge located below. "Alright, this is definitely the place," said She-vonnie. "Now we just gotta shut this thing down! ...Somehow."
Her first thought was to fire more beams into the sphere itself, which accomplished nothing. "Come on, come on, think! There has to be some way to bust this thing up!"
Her attempts were interrupted when something tried to attack her from behind. She heard something coming, and was able to dodge the attack at the last moment. It was the cyberdestroyer, having pulled itself to the core chamber despite lacking a head and one of its arms.
The damaged machine now stood opposite She-vonnie. Its internal mechanisms whirred and clicked as its chest unfolded, revealing something hidden within. A backup head was pieced together, being placed where the old one sat. A single red eye seemed to glare directly at She-vonnie.
"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "It has a second head!?"
A laser beam shot from its eye, which She-vonnie blocked with her shield. The force of the blast was still powerful enough to push her back. She braced herself, pushing against the beam. By the time it stopped firing, she almost fell to the ground.
"Control over Etheria: one hundred percent," said Horde Prime. "Beginning trans-dimensional transfer protocols." All across Etheria, the portals that had previously dotted the skies now began to spread out across the entire planet, forming a web of sorts. Once they all connected, the planet would be transferred back into the main universe. And Prime would be free to use its power for whatever purpose it desired.
"Not good, not good, not good!" said She-vonnie. She looked around, trying to come up with some way to stop Horde Prime. Her vision was drawn to the core, and the spinning blades down below. She then turned towards the cyberdestroyer, which stood just on the precipice. "Bingo!"
She-vonnie sprinted at her foe, her sword drawn back. The cyberdestroyer fired another blast from its eye, which She-vonnie simply slid under. She leapt back up, slicing the robot's leg clean off. Thrown off-balance, it fell to the side...barely avoiding falling into the core.
"Figures…" She-vonnie grumbled. She ran back towards it, avoiding the tendrils that it sent her way. The cyberdestroyer thrust out its arm to grab her, but she caught it first, throwing it aside. She reached the machine's main body, piercing it with her blade.
She-vonnie struggled as she tried to lift the cyberdestroyer above her head. It slowly rose up, as she visibly strained with effort. "Come on...just a bit further! We can do this!"
Back on the surface, Horde Prime's forces were tearing into the resistance. Princess, Gem, even the people of the Etherian Horde were overwhelmed by the sheer number of machines. She-vonnie could feel their pain, their misery, their terror. Brightmoon was being overrun. The Fright Zone was under siege. The Crystallon was being invaded. And everywhere in between, innocent people cried out as their planet was being ripped through space and time, and Horde Prime's armies surrounded them.
Rather than drag her down into hopelessness, She-vonnie only fought harder at this. Neither Adora, Steven, nor Connie were one to let terrible odds keep them down. And their combined form was no different. With one last yell of exertion, She-vonnie pulled out every last drop her strength, lifting the machine above her head.
"She-Ra. Finish this fight."
She-vonnie threw the broken form of the cyberdestroyer down into the core. It tumbled down, colliding with the spinning mechanisms and being torn asunder. The core's internal systems were shredded as well, being riddled with explosions as She-vonnie looked on in triumph.
The glowing white orb began pulse and quake, its shape gradually distorting. Its white hue slowly began to shift to orange, and eventually red, as it slowly grew in size. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening.
"Ooh...maybe I didn't think this one through enough…" she said.
With the force of a million tons of dynamite, give or take, the core ruptured, taking the rest of the ship with it. With no more defenses in place, all across Etheria, cybertroops began to shut down. Entrapta and Peridot's virus was working.
Out from the fireball that used to be the First Ones vessel, a single object descended. Safe within a pink bubble, Steven, Adora, and Connie all cheered over their victory.
"We did it!" said Connie, she and Steven embracing. "Jam buds for life!"
"I helped, too!" said Adora.
"You did more than help!" said Steven. "We wouldn't have been able to do this without you!"
"Same to you," said Adora. "We never would have been able to win this without you or your friends."
"Wow…" said Connie, looking over the planet beneath them. "It's beautiful."
Adora looked out at the view. "Woah," she said in awe. "I've never seen Etheria from up here before. It really is beautiful."
All three of them sat back to enjoy the view, safe and sound in their bubble, content in knowing that the battle had been won.