Catra and Makuta practically flew across the treetops as they followed Kanan in his dino form. The Indoraptor was certainly fast, but the twins' enhanced strength and agility, being magicats, easily allowed them to keep up.
"You think he would have found something by now" Catra said.
"Agreed" Makuta replied. Suddenly Makuta's ears perked up as he heard something approaching fast form the distance.
He stopped to listen closer "Wait, something's wrong."
Stopping next to him, Catra, listened as well. "I hear it too."
The two quickened their pace as they reached Kanan, who had stopped in a clearing and was looking around, unaware of the dark figure approaching next to him. He suddenly turned around as a massive purple jaguar burst from the trees, claws bared as it pounced, only for Makuta to jump out from the trees, grab the jaguar by the face, and swing it around, using its own momentum against it as he tossed it into a tree.
"That's her" Kanan announced as Catra jumped down to join them, her whip in hand.
The jaguar quickly regained her senses and stood up to see Makuta standing aggressively in front of her, claws and teeth bared. Kipo roared in challenge, only for Makuta to let out his own roar back. Kipo was genuinely confused and surprised; this one not only returned the challenge, he wasn't even afraid.
The hooded figure watched through Kipo's eyes with his magic. "Take them out."
The jaguar charged; teeth bared as Makuta stood his ground. Digging his feet into the soft dirt, he reached out, catching the jaguar by the teeth and holding her there with his strength.
"We gotta help him!" Catra shouted, running up with her whip, only to be knocked aside by a burst of electricity as Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio burst from the foliage, stun batons ready.
"Oh no you don't!" Lonnie yelled bearing down on Catra while Rogelio tried to take on Kanan, still in Indoraptor form. The two reptiles ended up in a wrestling match, rolling across the ground as they tried to keep each other's jaws out of reach. Kyle ran ahead of Lonnie towards Catra, but Catra had landed on her feet (like the cat she is) and lashed out with her whip, wrapping it around Kyle before swinging him around and throwing him, screaming, into the bushes, knocking him out.
Lonnie took no notice and brought her baton down on Catra, who reached up and grabbed Lonnie's wrist, leaving the two in an arm lock.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Catra demanded, "I thought you left the Horde!"
"We have a new leader now!" Lonnie shouted back, "And he's given us a new purpose! I'm not losing that now!"
"You don't have to do this!" Catra said, "You can find a purpose with us!"
"You were never like this back in the Horde. Why try and be nice to us now?"
Catra was silent for a few minutes before looking calmer and saying. "Because I know you liked Makuta."
Lonnie gasped and was distracted long enough for Catra to shove her away. However, Lonnie didn't attack again, but just stood there in shock.
"How-?" she gasped.
"I mean, it was pretty obvious, now that I think about it" Catra continued, "I saw the way you looked at him every time he ripped a robot apart with his bare hands or did some crazy stunt off a wall, or whatever. You admired him, and those feelings changed over the years. I'm right, aren't I?"
Lonnie couldn't think of anything snarky to shoot back, so she just sighed, "Yes, it's true. He just always seemed so…cool. No matter what he did, he always did it with some amount of flair. I know he liked Adora, but I just couldn't help myself!"
Catra chuckled, "I know what that feels like, but would you really want to fight him now? Even if it did give you a new purpose in life?"
Lonnie looked at the rest of the battle; Kanan had Rogelio pinned to the ground, while Makuta was still jumping around to avoid Kipo's jaws, firing with his shotgun from the distance. She realized that she had put Makuta in danger by joining with the hooded figure, and felt a surge of guiilt.
"We're still willing to accept you back on Etheria" Catra continued, "I've changed a lot since we last met, and I'm willing to let you come with us. The question is what do you choose?"
Lonnie looked conflicted for a few seconds; the mysterious figure had offered her a purpose, but what she didn't realize until now was that, despite all these years, her feeling for Makuta still burned bright. This time, she decided to follow what her heart said. "If you'll let me."
Catra walked up and embraced her. "Of course I will."
After a brief hug, Lonnie turned back to Rogelio, "Hey! Rogelio, that's enough!"
"Get off of him" Catra told Kanan. Kanan promptly did so, while Rogelio gave Lonnie a confused look.
"Change of plans" Lonnie told him, "We're switching sides now. We're better off fighting with these guys than someone who won't even show his face."
Just then, another roar could be heard as Makuta got slapped into a tree by Kipo. As he got back, up he glared at the jaguar, his teeth bared. Kipo was growing more frustrated by the minute; this guy just wouldn't go down! Makuta was beginning to get equally frustrated; he had used up all the ammo in his gun and simple strength was only seeming to slow the jaguar down. He was going to have to try something new.
He noticed the others approaching from the side and waved them back. "Hold on, I don't want you getting hurt! This thing's too dangerous!"
"Makuta, wait!" Catra called. Makuta didn't listen as he charged forward, Kipo doing the same. Just as they were within arm's length, Makuta jumped into the air, landing on the jaguar's back, unsheathing his claws, and tearing away at the beast's skin. Kipo roared in a mixture of pain and anger and bucking around, trying to get Makuta off. Kanan, morphing back into a human, pulled out a tranquilizer rifle and began firing darts into the jaguar's side when he got the opportunity.
Kanan yelled up to Makuta. "We have to contain her, not kill her!"
"Tough problems call for tough solutions" Makuta growled back, digging his claws into the jaguar's hide. Finally, after Kipo slammed her side into a tree, Makuta lost his footing and slipped off, landing on his feet nearby. Catra ran forward to help, but Makuta held out his hand to stop her.
"Stop. Don't!" he cried out, but Catra kept going…it wasn't fast enough. In a final burst of anger, Kipo bared her own claws and raked them across Makuta's back, slicing his skin open and sending him sprawling.
"NOO!" Catra and Lonnie cried in unison as Catra ran to his side and picked his bleeding and battered form up.
Kipo lunged for another attack when Lonnie stepped in, jabbing her stun baton into the jaguar's eye. Before she could even recover, Skorp erupted from the ground underneath her, giving her a powerful uppercut to the jaw. Stunned and deterred by the combo, Kipo was forced to flee back into the jungle. With the threat of the mind controlled Kipo neutralized for the moment, Kanan, Lonnie, and Rogelio ran over to Catra, who was still cradling Makuta in her arms.
"You're so stupid…" she sobbed, "Why'd you do it?"
Makuta coughed before looking up at Catra and smiling. "I don't want you getting hurt. You've suffered…enough."
He then passed out. Kanan knelt down and scanned him with his suit. "He's lost a lot of blood. I can get him help fast enough though, if you'll trust me."
Catra looked at Kanan with teary eyes. "Please…"
Kanan changed back into his Indoraptor form before gently picking Makuta up in his jaws and running off into the jungle.
"We should get back to the ship" Skorp advised, "The others will want to know."
Catra sniffled a bit before nodding and standing up to leave with him, Lonnie and Rogelio, carrying a still unconscious Kyle on his shoulder, following behind. Sensing a presence, Lonnie looked behind them to see a shadowy image of the hooded figure glaring at them from the trees.
"Traitor…" it whispered. Lonnie simply scowled and put up her middle finger before following Catra and the others back to the Rogue Squad's camp.
…
"Am I…dead?" Makuta asked. The last thing he remembered was Catra cradling him in her arms after that stupid jaguar cut his back open. He now awoke to find himself in some kind of clearing, covered in fog.
"This is a dream" he told himself, "It has to be."
"Well, yes, technically it is." Said a raspy voice, "But I've just decided to take a bit of control."
Makuta whipped around to see the hooded figure walk up towards him and bared his claws.
"That's far enough" he growled. The figure stopped.
"You know" It said, "I'm surprised to see how three of my newest recruits could suddenly switch sides. Your fellow magicat is a crafty one."
"Who are you?" Makuta demanded, "Why are you here?"
"Straight to the point, eh? Well, I'll answer the second question first. I'm here on a mission to make the entire universe tremble at my feet. Horde Prime had me locked away for years, but he was foolish enough to attach my restraints to his life force, thinking he was too powerful to be killed. HA! I'll show him power. As for my name…"
The figure swept his hand, igniting a ring of torched around the clearing as it walked into the light, showing a pale skull underneath the hood.
"My name…is Skeletor."
Yup, we have a love triangle, and yes, the main villain is finally revealed. I'm hoping to make this Skeletor more evil and threatening like in the new He-Man series on Netflix, though I'll probably have some references to his original version.
Let me know what you think so far!