The Fright Zone. Former Horde Base.
The silence of the Fright Zone was broken as a silver and green Cybertronian Jet streaked across the surface of the area, heading for the former Horde base. Flying over the base wall, it quickly switched forms, becoming the new Horde Prime, now renamed Hordaxus Prime. Hordaxus landed, or rather stumbled to the ground (he was still getting used to his new form) right outside the main entrance of the hangar and, once he regained his composure, casually walked in through the open doors.
Inside, he was met by a small group of Horde soldiers, all working on repairing the different vehicles left in the hangar only to stop and look as Hordaxus entered.
"Relax" Hordaxus told them, "I am on your side."
"They know" said a voice from above. Hordaxus looked up to see a Horde attack helicopter drop down and transform into a Decepticon with an angular head and four eyes. The blades of the copter folded down behind him.
"We've been busy, waiting for your arrival" The Decepticon continued, "I am Hijack, commander of the Decepticons here on Etheria. Shockwave informed us of your arrival, and we were not planning on making any attacks until you arrived.
"Good" Hordaxus replied with a grin, "So, if you are the commander, I assume you have a plan?"
Hijack nodded: "Come with me."
He led Horaxus to an empty room in the hangar which had been converted into a command room big enough to fit a decent-sized transformer. Hijack tapped a few buttons on a massive console and a holographic map of Etheria appeared. Multiple red dots could be seen throughout the different locations.
"Those dots are the other Decepticon captains on the planet." Hijack explained, "Right now, they're all searching for one thing."
"And what is that?" Hordaxus asked.
"The one here who wields a fragment of the Matrix of Leadership. The bearer of that is incredibly powerful and was used as a symbol of hope to the other people in the older days. We kill him, and the rest are easy pickings."
Hordaxus quickly figured it out: "It's a she, actually."
Hijack gave a him a quizzical look: "Is that so?"
Hordaxus nodded: "They call her She-Ra, and she's the one I desire revenge against."
"Once we find her and pull the Matrix's power from her, than you can do with her what you wish."
"Deal."
Hijack nodded: "Good. Now, here is the plan…"
Back at Dryl, the four Etherians had just finished filling Techno in on the events of the past thousand years as best as they could.
Techno simply stroked his chin at the end.
"So a new She-Ra is here" he concluded, "and this so-called Horde is gone, bringing us into a time of peace."
"For now" Catra replied, "We've been keeping tabs on the Fright Zone just in case anyone tries anything funny, but yeah, that's pretty much it."
"I see. And no one's seen any of my kind during that whole time?"
"Yup, not a single one" Scorpia replied.
"So, hang on" Entrapta asked the Autobot, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Techno thought for a moment, then explained: "You remember how the last She-Ra, Mara, moved Etheria to another part of the universe?"
The others nodded, and Catra said: "From what Adora told us, she did it because the First Ones were planning on turning Etheria into a weapon."
"It was really Decepticons wasn't it?" Entrapta asked.
Techno nodded: "We don't know how, but they found their way to Etheria and corrupted some of the people who lived there to create that weapon. My team and I were the ones to hold them off while Mara teleported the planet. I drew a lot of them away, but I drew away more than I could handle. The last thing I remember is crashing in the middle of nowhere, and then it's all black."
"Well, that explains all the bullet holes when we found you" Scorpia said.
Techno simply nodded, then turned to Catra: "Now as for these symbols you've been seeing, can you write them out?"
Catra nodded and used the pad of paper again to write out the symbols in the order she had been seeing them. Then, she showed them to Techno. The Autobot looked them over, muttering to himself before saying: "Ok, I know what they mean."
"What do they say?" Catra asked.
"They speak of the mission that us guardian Autobots were given. They read: "The Bearer must be protected. Defend not only her, but the people of this world, no matter the cost. Till all are one."
"That's it?" Scorpia asked.
"Yeah, we're not big on poetics." Techno replied.
"Who's the Bearer?" Entrapta asked.
"The Bearer holds a fragment of power from a relic of ours called the Matrix of Leadership. Whoever wields it becomes far more powerful and is destined to be the next Prime; the leader of the Autobots."
The Etherians looked at each other; the same thing was going through their heads; She-Ra.
"She-Ra is the Bearer." Hordak concluded. Techno nodded: "Bingo."
"We know where she is." Catra said, "And right now, she's fine."
"That's good" Techno said, "But we'll still need to wake up the others; if we've been out for a thousand years, then there's no telling if the Decepticons have found us again."
"Well, where are they? Catra asked.
"Spread out across the planet" Techno answered, "If I remember correctly, they usually hung out in a different kingdom when they weren't fighting."
"Ok, so we go to the nearest kingdom and wake them up one at a time." Scorpia said.
"I'll have to get a pretty good power source to wake them up" Entrapta explained, "But I think we can do that."
Techno nodded: "Sounds like a plan."
"So, what's the nearest kingdom?" Scorpia asked.
"From here, I would say Plumeria." Catra replied.
"Weedhack…" Techno said, "Alright, I guess starting out with some muscle won't hurt."
"I'll stay behind and keep an eye on things," Hordak offered, "I'll be able to see if there's anything unusual happening near where you are."
"Good idea, Hordak!" Entrapta said, "The rest of us can go with Techno to Plumeria."
"I'm in!" Scorpia shouted, raising a claw.
"I am too" Catra said. Melog made a happy cat noise.
Techno nodded: "Alright then. Entrapta, get that power source ready and we'll be off."
A few minutes later, Entrapta was able to get a strong power core that was also portable enough to fit in the cargo section of Techno's plane mode. Once it was loaded up, she, along wih Catra and Scorpia, climbed in the cockpit (Entrapta and Catra got the pilot seats while Scorpia and Melog could only fit in the passenger section behind them), and Techno then took off out of the hangar once Hordak opened the doors, flying towards Plumeria.
"You know how to get there, right?" Scorpia asked Techno.
"Relax, I may have been out for a thousand years, but I still know my way around." Techno replied, speaking through the ship's computer.
"Oooohhh I can't wait to meet the other Autobots! The thrill of being the first Etherians to actually encounter First Ones in almost a thousand years…!" Entrapta said, letting out a joyous yell.
"It'll be pretty interesting, I'll admit." Catra replied, "I'm just glad I've gotten some more understanding about those symbols."
"Aw, look at us" Scorpia said, "Looks like the Super Pal Trio is back in action!"
"Will you stop calling us that!" Catra snapped. Entrapta simply laughed a little bit.
Techno felt a twinge of amusement as he listened in; these three were an interesting group. However, he kept his mind to the task in front of them and sped off for Plumeria with all possible speed.