Chapter Twelve: Into the Waste

"Remind me again…" said Catra. "I told you specifically to stay in the Fright Zone. Why did you decide to follow me? ...Actually, don't answer that. Why did you decide to come along at all?"

Another fleet of Horde skiffs had departed for the Crimson Waste. Catra stood on one, aiming to track down Adora. Much to her annoyance, Scorpia had tagged along as well. Catra had sniffed out the stowaway rather quickly, but had decided that they were too far along at this point to turn around. She reluctantly allowed the Force Captain to tag along, Scorpia now standing by her side.

"Because, the Crimson Waste is dangerous even without all those raiders!" said Scorpia. "You need someone to watch your back, and I'm just the gal for the job!"

Catra groaned, stepping away from Scorpia. She raised her arms to the side, giving her a better look at the exoskeleton Entrapta had made for her. "Do I look like I need someone to watch my back?"

"Well, no, but...hey, the more the merrier, right? Besides, Entrapta'll be fine! Emerald's there to watch her, isn't she?"

It seemed like Catra didn't really believe that, but she at least pretended to. And even if Scorpia was a handful, she was right about one thing: Catra would need all the help she could get. No, not help-backup. She never needed help.

Reaching the vast desert was the easy part. As the fleet of skiffs raced across the sands, lookouts scanned the horizon for any sign of civilization. Catra still wasn't entirely sure why Lars' ship had headed to the Waste in the first place, but she had a few ideas. Once they found him, he could lead them to Adora. And from there, she'd have everything she needed.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" asked Scorpia. Once again, Catra found her to be entirely too close for comfort.

"You remember Lars, don't you?" said Catra. After thinking for a moment, Scorpia nodded. "We're after that ship of his."

"Why do we need his ship? We already have-"

"We don't want his ship!" Catra snapped. "We just want to find out where he is! That way we can follow him back to Adora and her sword. Or…" She ran her claws down the guardrail she was holding on to. "...we 'convince' him to take us himself."

After a long time of travelling the Crimson Waste looking for anything that could be a lead (during which Scorpia insisted on making small talk), one of the lookouts finally spotted something. Through their binoculars, they spotted something glinting in the distance; something too metallic to be a rock, and too large and isolated to be a vein of ore. Catra ordered the fleet to turn towards it.

As they grew closer, the object became clearer. It seemed to be a vehicle-a Horde skiff, to be exact. It lay on its side, seemingly driven to crash by some unseen force. No troopers were around, so either they had left, been eaten by some giant desert monster...or were never there to begin with.

Catra ordered the skiffs to stop, and the troops to stay alert. Whatever wrecked this thing could still be nearby. She hopped down to the sand and made her way over, Scorpia following close behind.

"Hmm...yeah, that thing's definitely seen better days," Scorpia observed. "What do you think it means?"

"It means someone wanted us to find this," said Catra.

Scorpia apparently didn't understand. "They...wanted us to find a wrecked skiff out in the middle of the desert?"

"Exactly," Catra continued. "Notice how it isn't covered in sand? If it had been out here for a while, it should at least have a thin layer of sand on it. That means it was put here recently."

"You're sure?" asked Scorpia.

"No. Of course, it could have just crashed. Which makes it really weird that somehow, by sheer coincidence, it crashed just between the Fright Zone, and a Horde outpost on the other side of the Waste. One of our patrols would have had to run into it at some point."

"Huh, that's a pretty good point," said Scorpia. "But that just begs the question of why is it here?"

Scorpia was about to walk closer to investigate, only for Catra to hold out an arm to stop her. "Wait. Look closer."

Although nearly invisible to most eyes, including Scorpia's, Catra's sharp vision had picked up one small, but no less important detail. A few wires stuck out from the skiff's interior here and there, some of them looping back inside, some attached to even more well-hidden sensors. These blended into the metal almost seamlessly. "...I give up, what am I looking for?" said Scorpia.

"Just hold on." Catra walked back over to where her skiff was parked. She took a stun baton from one of the troopers, aiming it at the crashed skiff. "You may want to back up a bit."

Though she wasn't sure what Catra was doing, Scorpia followed her advice, hurrying to a safe distance. Catra carefully took aim, letting a blast fly. The shot hit the side of the skiff, the sparks triggering the explosives that had been laid within. The wrecked skiff went up in an enormous fireball, sending shrapnel, sand, and tepid air in all directions. "What just happened!?" exclaimed Scorpia.

"I thought so," said Catra, tossing the stun baton over her shoulder. "Someone laid a trap for us. And something tells me...that they're still here." She scanned the horizon, but was greeted with nothing but silence. Despite this, she knew her enemies were close by, just waiting to strike.

As if on cue, a battalion of raiders burst out of the sand-they had been hidden underground, covered by tarps while waiting for the Horde to arrive. Instantly they surrounded the unsuspecting soldiers, overwhelming them with speed and numbers. Nearly half of the whole party was taken out before the rest could offer any resistance.

"It's an ambush!" shouted Scorpia. "Quick, do...something!" She blocked a strike from one of the raiders with her claw, before retaliating with a punch and taking cover behind a nearby skiff. "What's the plan, Catra!?"

"There is no plan!" she yelled back, as raiders surrounded her. "Fight back, that's the whole plan!"

About five of the raiders descended on her, each one bearing weapons and armor that seemed to be at least partially scavenged from Horde tech. "Well, if it isn't 'Lord' Catra herself!" one of them said. "I knew we'd get lucky with this little booby trap, but I didn't think we'd catch the lady in charge!"

Catra scoffed. "If you think an exploding skiff and a couple goons are enough to stop me, you've got another thing coming." Catra unsheathed her claws, simultaneously activating a feature in her exoskeleton: metal blades connected to her fingertips were charged with energy, heating them to extreme temperatures. Catra's already-impressive claws had been augmented by Entrapta's designs. "Let's go!"

All five raiders charged at once, which Catra used to her advantage. She attacked one, her claws easily slicing through his armor before she threw him to the ground. Another swung a polearm at her, which she cut in two: she grabbed the top half, using it to trip him up before throwing it at a third raider, momentarily stunning her.

A fourth raised his energy rifle, firing a shot at Catra. She held up her arm, blocking the shot with her gauntlet. Before he could fire another, Catra took control of his blaster, firing several shots at the fifth raider, dispatching him before he could even get close. She then finished off the fourth with a kick to the stomach, and a knee to the forehead.

The third of them was not finished just yet, and charged at Catra with a sword above her head. She didn't get far, however, collapsing before she could reach her target. Catra turned around to see that Scorpia had stung her attacker. "I did say I'd watch your back, didn't I?"

In spite of everything, Catra couldn't hold back a grin. "Come on, let's show these two-bit desert scumbags why you don't mess with the Horde!" Side by side, Catra and Scorpia charged.

The few Horde troopers that were still conscious fought back as well as they could, but they were still outnumbered. Without the superior numbers and firepower they were used to, it was only a matter of time before the raiders took all of them out. However, that all changed when Catra and Scorpia joined the fray. The former charged in like a bulldozer, tossing raiders aside, while the former finished off the ones she missed.

"What are you all waiting for!?" shouted Catra. "Are you going to let these scavengers get the better of you!? You're Horde soldiers, now start acting like it!"

With their presence added to the fight, the soldiers felt reinvigorated. One by one, they picked themselves and their comrades up, dusted themselves off, and leapt back into combat. Stun batons and energy whips collided with rusty swords and scavenged blasters as the former underdogs fought harder than ever.

Scorpia grabbed a raider and threw them into the air. Catra hit them with a leaping kick as they came down, sending them into another raider. The raiders, recognizing the pair for the threat they were, began converging on them. Despite the massive amount of enemies piling up, neither was deterred. Claws and stingers flew as every last raider fell before them.

Before long, the fighting stopped. Catra and Scorpia stood, panting, in the middle of a pile of defeated raiders. Victorious, a few of the Horde troopers couldn't help but cheer as the others began tending to their wounded brethren.

Catra looked around at the carnage surrounding her, and she couldn't help but feel slightly impressed. "You see?" she said, looking up at Scorpia. "I knew we could handle them."

"Of course we could!" exclaimed Scorpia. "You and me, Catra and Scorpia, the original Super Pal Duo? We're unstoppable!"

Catra grinned once again. "Alright, I'll say it: we make a pretty good team." Scorpia positively beamed. "Okay...change of plans." Catra walked over to a raider that had been stunned by Scorpia's venom. She lifted him up by his shirt, her face inches from his. "Alright, big guy...since your little ambush failed-again-I'd say you owe us a little favor. It's not like you're in any place to refuse."

"What do you want?" snarled the raider.

"You and your little buddies are gonna tell us where your base is," said Catra. "And then, you're gonna take us there."

As he sat down on the sand, Steven couldn't help but stare at his gemstone. By now, he had more or less accepted that his powers were gone...but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. In spite of its lack of power, the gem shone as brightly as ever, maybe even more so under the hot desert sun.

"Why so glum, chum?" asked Spinel, sitting down beside him. "Is your gem still on the fritz?"

"Hmm? Yeah, it is," Steven said. He was now flanked by two Gems: Spinel on his left, Amethyst on his right. The latter had sat down beside him earlier, copying his movements. "You, uh, wouldn't happen to have any insight into that, would you? Any ideas?"

"Mmmmmmmmm...nuh-uh," said Spinel. "Got no insight, outsight, oversight, or undersight! But what I do have is some words of wisdom!"

"And what are they?" Steven asked, him and Amethyst looking at her expectantly.

"I may not know much," Spinel said, "but I know that you don't have to have all sorts of fancy powers to get by! Know what you do need?" She pointed into the distance, where Adora, Pearl, Glimmer, Bow, Lars, the Rutiles, and Garnet were. "Friends! The bestest, loyalest, friendliest friends you can get!"

Steven looked down at his gem again, then back up at his friends, and then back to Spinel. "You know what, Spinel? You're right. "I didn't have any of my powers when I started out, but I still made it! And Connie never had any powers, but she's one of the most powerful people I know! And my dad doesn't have powers, and neither does Sadie, or Bow-Lars has powers, but he didn't used to, and neither did Peridot!" He stood up, Amethyst and Spinel following suit. "Hey, Spinel?"

"Yeh?"

Steven reached out a hand. "We may have only known each other for a few days...but you really are a good friend."

"Awww, thanks, Stevie!" said Spinel, throwing her arms around Steven. Amethyst joined in the group hug as well. "You're a good friend, too!" Eventually, they broke off. "Y'know, I can't remember who told me that. But I'm sure they were a good friend, too!"

Once again, Steven glanced down at his gemstone. "Spinel...you said you knew my mom, right?"

Spinel looked thoughtful. "Maaaaaaybe. Which one's your mom? The swirly one with three eyes? Or the pink one with the wings?"

"No, not them," Steven said, smiling slightly. "Her name was Rose Quartz." Spinel shrugged. "Wait, you might have known her as Pink Diamond. Ring a bell?"

"I...no, I can't say it does," said Spinel. Despite this, however, her eyes gained a dark shadow to them for a split second, identical to how they looked when Steven first met her. It lasted only a moment, but Steven noticed. "Sorry, I don't know any Diamonds! Not personally, anyway!"

"That's alright, don't worry about it," Steven said. "Come on, let's go see if Bow found anything!"

"See anything yet?" asked Lars.

"Not yet," said Bow, scanning their surroundings with his tracker pad.

"Me neither," said Garnet, looking into the distance with Bow's binoculars. "But I'll keep looking!"

"Remind me again. What are we looking for?" asked the Rutiles.

"First Ones stuff," said Adora. "Instead of scanning the whole desert for places where those Crimson Waste guys could be, we thought it'd be easier to look for some places they'll probably be!"

"And...you think they'll be at a First Ones site?" asked Rutile. "Just like that?"

"Hey, it beats combing the whole desert!" said Glimmer with a shrug.

"Wait, hold on!" said Bow, springing to his feet. "I'm getting a reading! It's faint, but whatever it is, it's pretty powerful!" With everyone except Garnet bunching up behind him to see the screen, he held out the tracker pad to catch the signal. "It looks like it's coming from...that way! Garnet, could you check it out?"

"Okay!" Garnet looked up from the binoculars for a moment, before turning to look where everyone else was facing. "I can't really see anything...just a lot of rocks. Really, really big rocks."

"Yeah, I can see them from here," said Glimmer. "Adora, you still have the map?"

"Yup! Pearl? Map me!" said Adora.

"Right away, My Imadora!" said Pearl, producing a map from her gemstone and handing it to her.

Adora unfolded the map, scanning over its surface. "Let's see...if we're here...and north is this direction...that looks like it's right here! Right in the center of the Crimson Waste!"

The Rutiles looked at the map. "The center, huh? What could be there?"

"Whatever it is, it's probably important," Bow said. "Even if it isn't the people we're looking for, we should probably check it out."

"Sounds like a plan!" said Adora. "Pearl? Sword me!" Pearl handed her the Sword of Protection. "Let's do this!"

The group set off back for the Sun Incinerator, meeting up with Steven, Spinel, and Amethyst on the way. "You're done already?" said Steven. "What did you find?"

"Big rocks!" said Garnet, looking proud.

"And a powerful First Ones signal," said Bow. "We're going to go check it out, just in case."

"Hey," Glimmer said to Steven. "Is your gem still not working?"

"Yeah, but I won't worry about it right now," Steven said. "We've got more important things to deal with, like the Horde, and Emerald, and the Gems' memories. Besides, Spinel reminded me you don't need powers to make a difference!"

"That I did!" she said.

"How true!" said Lars. Bow nodded in agreement.

They arrived back at Lars' ship. "Wherever we're going, let's just hope it doesn't try and kill us," said Adora. "...Aw, who am I kidding, we all know it will."