Catra awoke to the familiar sounds of clanging metals and the smokey scent of welding. For a moment she feared the events of last night were just a fever dream and she would find herself back in her room in the Fright Zone. That was until a snoring Scorpia rolled over pinning Catra to the ground with one of her claws.
So it wasn't a dream. Catra thought to herself as she wiggled her way out from under the sleeping princess and made her way out of the lean-to, keen to discover the source of the noise that woke her up.
Outside Entrapta was hard at work doing something to their skiff with Emily acting as her guard and scanning the perimeter. Catra's ears winced at the loud bangs of a hammer and her tail flicked in agitation at her disturbed rest.
"Um what are you doing to the skiff?" Catra called out to the purple haired scientist. Entrapta looked up from her work looking giddie.
"You're up great!" Entrapta replied."After seeing this elegant machine in action last night I couldn't help myself. So any ideas on how to upgrade the speed, the handling, the fire power! So I MAY have done some tweeks. Is that bad?" She asked looking back at the catgirl.
Catra stared blankly at Entrapta. It is way too early to deal with this shit. She sighed. "So what you are saying is that you decided to mess with our only ride in the early hours of the morning with no regard for waking us up?"
Entrapta took out her recorder and started a log. "Whispering Woods log 1, the one known as Catra gets very grumpy when woken up in the morning by the sound of tinkering."
Catra's eye twitched and she pinched the bridge of her nose taking in a deep breath. " Look, you like messing with machines and upgrading them. I can respect that. But seriously we can't risk the skiff right now it's our only mode of transport and I do NOT want to be walking in these woods for days it was dangerous enough just sleeping for the night. So can you hold off on the "tweaking" until we are out of here?"
"Oh sure." Entrapta replied with friendliness. "I will start packing up. You go wake the spikey one and we can head off." Entrapta then patted Catra on the head with one of her hair tendrils and used the others to fix up the skiff and put her tools away. After a few minutes of waking up Scorpia,beating breakfast and packing up the remaining supplies the three girls were ready to continue their trek.
"Now remember I added a bit more kick to the engines so be ready for a much higher max speed." Entrapta warned as Catra got ready to fly the skiff.
"Yeah yeah I'm sure I can handle it." Catra rolled her eyes and put the skiff into high gear.
What followed was a blur. Entraptas tinkering had indeed boosted the skiffs top speed...by a factor of 5. Catra shrieked doing her best to try and pilot the out of control deathtrap of a skiff.
"Slow down Wildcat!" Pleaded a terrified Scorpia clasping onto the skiff for dear life while Entrapta was laughing and having a blast, her hair flowing in the wind.
Catra used her reflexes as best she could given the unbelievable speeds the skiff was flying at. She managed to dodge and weave most of the undergrowth when she realized they were headed straight for a large tree. Catra could not swerve out of the way of the giant obstacle she applied the brakes and..
SMASH!
That was the last sound any of the three heard before they plummeted to the ground and all their visions went to black.
"Did you hear that?" An unfamiliar sharp feminine voice spoke. Catra's ears twitched at the sound but she was too sore from the crash to move.
"Hear it? I FELT that!" Another deeper more male sounding voice retorted. The two voices got closer and closer until they were but a few mere feet away from the downed defectors.
"Isn't this the Dryl princess?" The first voice spoke while lifting up something Catra assumed to be Entrapta's body.
"I think it is!" The second responded. "And over here! It's a Scorpioni!"the sound of struggling grunts filled the air as the owner of the second voice began to drag Scorpia somewhere. Catra cursed her weakened state she needed to get up and she would not allow her friends to be in danger. She began to stir when the voices turned their attention to her.
"Hey kid you okay? Which hunting squad are you a part of?" The first spoke to her and got closer.
Catra opened her eyes in confusion. "Kid? Squad? What the hell are you-" Catra's voice died in her mouth as she got a look at the two who had found them. They had her ears, her tail,her fur. "You look like me.." the shock sent Catra's mind for a loop and she promptly passed out.
As she fell back to unconsciousness she heard the male speak once more. "We better get the general…."
When she awoke Catra found herself laying on a table her body bandaged up with the smell of numerous herbs plaguing her nose. She began to move when another foreign voice called to her.
"Oh you are up! Don't move, you will reopen your wounds." The voice of an aged man warned. Catra looked around and saw another person who looked like her. He was over 6 feet tall with short ashen fur turning to grays. "You took quite the fall child," he continued. "Now if you can please tell me your name and tribe."
Catra looked at the man studying his every feature. Now she knew she wasn't hallucinating there truly were others like her. As amazing as it felt to know she wasn't the only one of her kind being raised in the Horde did make her cautious of whom to speak to.
"Isn't it rude to ask someone's name before giving your own?" Catra snarked and winced a little. Okay it hurts to laugh good to know. The older Cat cocked his head in confusion.
"The injury report said nothing of head trauma." the male muttered. "Are you feeling alright cub? Do you truly not recognize Marluth the Master Healer when you see him?"
"Besides the obvious cuts and bruises I'm just peachy." Catra scoffed. "And why would I know who you are "Marluth" where the hell am I and where are my friends!".
"Ah the Scorpioni and the Princess of Dryl." Marluth stated. "They are in the recovery ward luckily their wounds were not as severe as your own." Catra sighed in relief. Her friends were okay.
"As for where you are in my clinic." Marluth continued. "And as for why you should know me I am the top healer in all of Halfmoon."
"And what is Halfmoon?" Catra rolled her eyes in annoyances. Marluth gasped at the question but before he could answer an even larger cat person clad In armor entered the room.
"Do not waste sir Marluth time with playing the fool child." The armored man spoke in annoyances. "You are not a part of any of my hunting squads. What in Panthro's name were you thinking going above ground!"
"General Pumgatha.." Marluth chastised. "I believe she may have suffered some brain damage from her fall. Her tail confirms her words. She is simply confused and irritated by her current location."
"I am not brain damaged!" Catra shouted at the two. "Look I'm not from here! My name is Catra and I am a defector from the Horde."
Both looked at her in bewilderment. "You say you are of the Horde?" Pumgatha asked. Catra nodded and let the general speak. " How many other magicats did you see in that place..?"
"Magicat? Is..is that what you are? Is that what I AM?" Catra asked. She always wondered what he species was called. Honestly she was just happy there were others like her, that she wasn't a freak. "None.. maybe if there were then I wouldn't have been treated like an animal.." Catra looked up to see the two older magicats wince at her words. " Erm I mean really I don't wish it on anyone the place really sucked, just you know would have liked knowing I wasn't the only cat person in the world."
Pumgatha stroked his beard at her words and for the first time took a good look at the young defector's face. He looked to Marluth as if to silently ask the healer a silent question and was greeted with a nod. "Rest for now Catra, once our queen has finished with her duties for today, I believe that she would like to meet with you."
Catra's ears flattened at the word 'queen' "Royalty huh." She scoffed looking to the side. "Well that's just greaaat." she may not be a part of the Horde anymore but Catra still didn't trust royals. And if this queen was anywhere near as powerful as Angela was rumored to be she did not wish to meet her.
Catra felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Marluth giving her a small peaceful smile as if to calm her. "Worry not young one." The elder Magicat smiled. "the return of one of our own is a blessing. Queen Cyra will simply wish to see you with her own eyes."
Pumgatha stayed for a few more minutes asking Catra questions about the Horde and her childhood. She would not go into much detail but once the general felt sated with his questions he left the girl in peace.
Over the next few hours boredom was at the forefront of Catra's mind. She was not well enough to move off of the bed she was placed on and was getting more and more restless by the second, the fact that this Marluth person continued to inspect her injuries did not help that matter.
"I'm fine." Catra groaned as the healer continued to apply foul smelling herbs to her cuts and wounds "I'm not gonna die you don't need to waste your medicines on me."
"You are still in pain, there is no waste in ensuring the comfort of my patients." Marluth said with a gentleness Catra heard before. "I can see the Horde did not instill such values in you. But understand this Catra, anyone who is under my care shall not be made to suffer."
Catra could not believe her ears. This complete stranger who knew nothing about her or her friends was showing her more compassion then she had received from anyone. (Well all but two people.) "Why do you care?" She asked. " I was a Horde soldier, shouldn't you hate me on principle?"
Marluth sighed and shook his head as he redressed the wounds. "We do hate the Horde." He answered. "We do not however hate the victims of it's abusive nature. It saddens me greatly to know that each and every soldier deployed from that callous regime is but a kidnapped child forced into a position they had no choice but to fall into." Marluth finished up the redressing of Catra bandages and gave her a soft smile. "Everyone is worthy of feeling safe and protected Catra I hope that your time here will help you believe this."
Catra was glad that the older healer could not see her face right now. She choked down a sob as tears flowed from her eyes. When did I get so weak? She chastised herself unable to comprehend how this man's words could affect her so easily.
Catra's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Is she presentable Marluth?" A voice of stern authority called out from behind the door. Catra jolted up when she heard it, somehow that the voice.. sounded familiar.
"Yes Queen Cyra she is decent please come in." Marluth confirmed.
The door opened to reveal a Magicat with a good half foot on Catra with gold-yellow fur, brown hair that matched Catra's own shade, and her eyes were a striking cyan like her own left eye. Said eyes opened wide looking at her. The supposed queen took one look at Catra, cusped her hand over her mouth and gasped fresh tears rolling down her cheeks . "My baby girl.. you still live."
And for the second time this day Catra's world abruptly faded to black.
