A/N: You folks would not believe it, but I did. I actually wrote this on the same day I finished my last update. 8K words after the near 3k I added to the last chapter!
Why am I not posting them both at the same time then? Because idk if it'll register if I post 2 on the same day, and even if it does, this gives me a legitimate excuse to take an entire day off for myself ^^ Day of relaxation here I come! (No i dont get stressed writing these stories but, you know... can't disappoint the fans XP)
Yes people. I had a lot of fun with this one. And I do mean a LOT of fun. You folks are hopefully in for a fun right too, because we enter PART 1 of our first Catra & Adora Confrontation!
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"Adora..." There were not enough words in the dictionary to convey the number of emotions Catra was feeling right now.
Ever since Thaymor, what happened to Adora and could be happening right now to her was one of the few things constantly on her mind. The girl who attacked Thaymor under false pretenses, the friend she knew since childhood to be filled with curiosity and innocence anyone else would gladly take advantage of. The only person she was close enough to call a friend throughout her life, the very same still fighting for the Horde.
The one person in charge of the operation on the attack of the Salinean Sea Gate.
She didn't think she would bump into her again, at least not this soon. It was like looking at the ghost of someone she knew couldn't possibly be dead, the vision of something she never thought she would get. Here upon the very arm of the a giant statue, one that covered the core piece of ancient First Ones tech, the very same she was trying to fix to restore the Sea Gate, was her dearest friend, alive and well.
What was she supposed to say at a time like this? Hello? How's it going? She was more worried about what could be happening to Adora after calling off the attack on Thaymor and now she was here before her, with that simple smile on her face that Catra found special compared to anyone else's smile, and the look of determination like she could take on the very world. What was going on here?
"Hello, Etheria to Catra, you in there?" She teased a little, poking Catra's forehead to snap her out of the strange stare. Shaking her head forcefully she cleared her mind of questionable thoughts as she regained her focus.
"Adora, what are you doing here? Why did you come all the way to Salineas?" Catra needed any sort of answer to prove it was her.
"What do you think? I came here to rescue you!" Her answer didn't ease the worry Catra felt in the back of her mind. Something was wrong about this whole situation. "We caught wind you were heading here and I came to bring you back home!" She smiled grabbing Catra's hand softly. "Now come on, if we leave quickly enough we can get out of here before the princesses catch on-"
"What? No!" Catra shook her hand away to Adora's surprise. "I mean why are you here attacking the kingdom itself? Did you forget everything that happened the last time you went on a mission?"
A look of certainty and firmness crossed Adora's face at this. "The mission on Thaymor was also to rescue you, remember? And it wasn't for nothing either. They were hoarding a whole bunch of dangerous equipment there Catra, the entire village was just a ruse!"
"You're saying the village housed dozens of dangerous weapons and were using the town itself as a simple cover for it's operations?" Did Adora see the small nitpicks behind this entire issue?
"That's just it, Catra, they weren't aware of it!" It hurt her just to think of the sickening details of it. "The princesses were using it as a base of operations without the town even knowing about it! Nobody in that village was aware of what was going on and the princesses were willing to risk their lives as a living shield to protect it! That's how it's been to every village the Horde attacked!"
"The princesses? Who in their right mind fed you that garbage? That has to be the stupidest explanation I ever heard!"
"For your information, Shadow-Weaver told me, thank you very much!" She yelled a little angry.
"Oh, pffft. That explains it." The unsurprised look as Catra rolled her eyes added on to Adora's irritation.
"What do you mean that explains it?"
"I mean you should think for a moment, Adora! Whatever Shadow-Weaver told you was a complete lie! There weren't any weapons or junk at the village, it was just a simple village having a festival that you invaded. Unless you're going to convince me they planned on strangling us to death with their streamers and other decorations, there was nothing violent about the place."
"Do you think I stupidly believed the first thing Shadow-Weaver told me?" Catra had to bite her own tongue to refrain from answering. "She showed me the manifests, I saw the caches myself! Everything she said was word for word!"
"Oh my gosh, Adora! Even if what you said was true it doesn't mean you're right about attacking a simple village."
"Stop putting words into my mouth, I didn't say it was right!" The tension building up between the two close friends was starting to thicken a little. Every sentence that came to them one after the other added on to a small bundle of fire, one that grew with every stick they threw into it. "All I said is that they had a reason to attack the village, I never said it was the right thing to do! Besides, it's not like we have a choice in all this. The princesses have done this numerous times to the other villages and we can't sit back and stare while they gather more forces and weaponry to take us down."
"Adora...ugh..." Catra twisted her ears a little as she tried to remain calm. This was her one single friend she was talking to and the last thing she ever wanted was to make an enemy out of her. "Look, I know I can't explain it to you right now, but you have to believe me! I'm telling you the truth, you know I wouldn't lie to you."
"Catra, I want nothing more than to believe you." A small frown formed on the blond's face. This was Catra, her best friend in the world, who's gone through who knows how much torture and possible brainwashing to believe she was on the right side. She wanted to take her words seriously of course. It was hard to though when you knew the person you were talking to weren't being themselves. "But I can't take your word over someone else's after all that's happened. How am I supposed to trust your word over the others?"
"Because I can prove it!" Adora tensed a little as she saw Catra pulling the sword from her back.
*Boom!*
The two covered their faces as the smoke from the most recent canon-fire exploded against the barrier near them. There wasn't going to be any comfortable way of talking to her when there was an actual war going on all around them.
"Adora, give me one chance. One chance, right now, and I can prove what I said to you." Catra pleaded. Looking into her friend's pleading eyes like that, how was Adora supposed to say no? She seemed so sure of what she was saying whether or not she really was being brainwashed. Come to think of it, if she could prove in turn that Catra was in the wrong here, perhaps it would be easier to convince her to run away with her back to the ship.
"...Scorpia, this is Force Captain Adora." Adora stated as she spoke into the small watch-like radio attacked to her wrist. Scorpia listened closely as she heard the feed coming through on her end. "Pause your attack for just one minute, I need to check something."
"You got it boss!" Scorpia replied, chipper as always. With a nod to herself Adora turned her attention back to Catra with a small comforting smile.
"Ok, you win. Show me the proof you mentioned right here and now, Catra, and I'll believe what you said." The smile growing on Catra's face paused midway as she continued. "But you need to prove to me, right here, right now, that what you're saying is true. And I don't mean just with Thaymor either. If this all started with the sword then show me what you're saying is true. Otherwise you have to promise to come back with me to the Fright Zone. Deal?" She said offering a hand.
Taking a moment to herself, Catra smiled back as she shook with her free hand, "Deal." With the two smiling, Catra raised her sword to the sky again as she prepared herself.
Ok, same as before. This kingdoms in peril, my allies are in danger, and I need to defend them all. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm the tension going through her heart at the present situation, Catra focused on the five most powerful words she had to say.
"For the Honor of Grayskull!"
"..."
"..."
"...Catra-"
"J-Just give it a minute!" Catra interrupted, a small twinge of fear growing in the corner of her eyes. "I said, For the Honor of Grayskull!"
"...Catra, it's-"
"H-Hang on, I have this!" She pleaded with a saddening look. "Come on you stupid thing, work!" Shaking it a bit, she focused with all her might on this one last try. "FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"
"..." It hurt. It hurt painfully to see her friend like this. Her dear friend, entrapped by whatever wicked spell the princesses had placed on her. She was trying so hard to prove to Adora that everything she said was true, yet here she was looking up at the sword with fear, worry, and shock.
No... No no no no no NO NO NO NOOOOO! Catra screamed inside her head, almost feeling a small tear forming in the corners of her eyes. This can't be happening! Please, I need this to work now more than ever! What was she supposed to do? What was she missing?! She did everything Glimmer suggested to her and it wasn't working! The one time she wanted the sword to work more than any other and it failed to work. There wasn't any glint in the small gem from it, there wasn't any sparks of power going off, there wasn't anything. All there was is a simple magicat who failed to get the sword working, despite doing the exact same steps the first time and succeeding then, when she needed it the most.
"For the Honor of-"
"Enough!" Catra's body froze as Adora embraced her in a hug. "I know you think this is real, Catra, I really do. That's why we need to get you home, right away!" For one of the few times of her life, she felt a small streak of tears running down her right cheek.
Why did she have to suffer this? This one blasted sword that never worked when she wanted it to, that never did anything for her except plague her with horrible memories she wished never returned. A single object that couldn't give her the one thing she wanted at this very moment. It was almost like what Adora was saying was true, yet she knew it wasn't. She knew the pain Adora was going through herself right now, seeing a small tear rolling down her left cheek as well. The two of them were in pain at this very moment.
It had yet to be determined who's pain was greater. All they knew was that they could feel each other's pain, and it was agonizing.
"Adora... I... I swear..." Catra couldn't bring herself to say anything at that moment. What else could she say to convince her friend? Ask the princesses she loathes in the first place for proof? That was about as smart as lighting a match in a room full of gasoline!
"It's ok, it's alright." Adora cooed, wiping the tear from Catra's cheek. "When we get back, Shadow-Weaver can fix you. You'll be as good as new."
All at once, the tension, fear, anger, and bile immediately rushed back into Catra's heart as she backed away from her. Shadow-Weaver said she would help? Help her? "You... You said Shadow-Weaver plans on "fixing me"?"
"Yes, Catra, she can! She says she knows a spell that can remove whatever enchantment they placed on you! That's why we need to go back while-"
"I'm not going to that witch!" Catra snapped. "Are you aware of the stupid bounty she placed on me in the first place? Did you know she's rewarding people for bringing me back dead or alive?!"
"She didn't want to, Catra, she had no choice!" Adora insisted. "She was ordered to by Lord Hordak. If you want to blame anyone, blame him! Shadow-Weaver's actually trying to help you!"
"Oh, and let me guess. She told you that too?" She scoffed.
"Would you knock it off! Why do you keep accusing her like this? I know you two didn't get along in the past, but at least she's the one trying to help you!"
"Dogs and cats don't get along, Adora. Spiders and butterflies don't get along. What Shadow-Weaver has against me isn't a stupid case of not getting along!"
"Catra, you have nothing to worry about, I promise! Even if she was angry about something, you know I'd never let her hurt you!"
"Yeah, cause that worked so well in the past! Did you even know how she- Nnggggh!" Catra clenched her stomach in pain, dropping to her knees as sudden memories resurfaced.
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"You think you're in pain now? I will show you what true pain is like for what you did to Adora!" Shadow-Weaver roared as shadows and streaks of red-colored lightning surged from her hands towards her.
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"Ngggghhh!" Catra was still screaming through her teeth as she squeezed her head. She wanted the memory to go away, she didn't want to live through it like this! No matter how far into the future since it happened, the memory always resurfaced with the pain she felt on that day.
"C-Catra!" Adora cried out worriedly, kneeling to her side. "Catra, what's wrong? Are you okay? It's that spell they placed over you, isn't it!"
"N-No!" She grunted, wobbling as she got back to her feet. She took several deep breathes as she calmed down, trying to shake the memory and the pain out of her head. "I'm not under some stupid spell, Adora. I don't know how many times I can repeat myself."
"Well repeat it as many times as you want to after we get back to the ship." She grabbed Catra's hand again firmly as she began walking the two to the other end of the statue where they could climb. "If we destroy the Sea Gate as a result, I'm positive I can convince Shadow-Weaver and Lord Hordak not to enforce any kind of punishment. They might even give you a promotion for it if we're lucky enough-"
She came to a halt as her grip loosened, turning back to see the defector looking away with a small frown. From the look in her eyes to the way she gazed away from Adora, she could tell she wasn't planning to move any time soon after all the drama the two went through for the last several minutes.
"Catra?"
"Adora, I..." Her ears drooped a bit as she turned her head further away. "I'm not going back, Adora."
"W-What? But we had a deal!" She yelled angrily. "You promised you would come with me if you couldn't prove your point!"
"Yeah and I actually expected it to work!" Catra shouted back with her own anger. "I can't explain how this stupid sword works, I've tried it a dozen and one times practically every day and only got it to work a total of three times, including today. I can't show you the proof right now Adora, I just need you to trust me here."
Trust her? She was actually being serious. She wanted Adora to trust her? What in anyone's name made her think that Adora would trust her after all she's had to put up with till now? She was worrying frantically over her, she tried desperately to convince her peers that there were alternative solutions to this war, she spent all her trust in Shadow-Weaver who was the only person at this time to show her any form of proof! And she just stood there, after breaking a promise, and expected her to trust her of all things?
"You... you seriously don't plan on coming, do you?" Adora's heart quickened a little with distress at the proclamation. She didn't know what spell she was under, she didn't know if she could catch the same spell just by being near her or the sword she seemed so obsessed with. She just knew Catra was refusing to trust her own word in all of this.
"I'm sorry, Adora, but I can't go back to the Horde. Not now, not ever." She apologized with a solemn look of pain. Knowing time was of the essence she made her way back to the control panel with haste. If she could get the last who-knew-how-many steps finished, she might be able to fix the barrier in time and then convince Adora of everything.
*zzzt*
With her ears twitching at the sound, Catra turned back to her friend, seeing the angered expression on her face as she had the Stun Baton at the ready in her hand.
"Catra," she spoke with an authoritative voice, "you're coming home with me. Now."
This couldn't be happening. Not to her, not to them, not at all. With how everything was playing out, it was almost poetic. Two best friends meet again after a period of time, both being on opposite sides, and now they were staring each other down. One with a fiery passion of rage in her eyes, the other with a deepening distress.
The two could feel the wind bristle against their knuckles as the tension reached their fingertips, their gaze never taking a hint off one another. What would be the point of fighting at this rate anyway? If Catra won, then what? She couldn't bring her back to the Rebellion and expect the Queen to show leniency, not with her personal encounters with her, and she couldn't allow herself to go back with Adora and submit to whatever horrifying experience awaited her by Shadow-Weaver's hands.
On top of that, neither of them wanted to fight! They wanted their dear friend to come back with them yet both sides were too stubborn to trust one another. Sure, one side was legitimately in the wrong but they didn't know that. At times like these Catra questioned if she really was under a Princess's control, a part of her wished she was so she wouldn't have to worry about the guilt.
This? This right here? Was the one thing Catra and Adora never wanted to find themselves in.
"Adora... I really can't... I'm sorry..." Catra didn't know how much longer she could keep apologizing. It wasn't for a lack of effort, she didn't have much time to fix the Sea Gate's core.
"...I am too." Adora kept her gaze intensely on Catra as she raised her wrist to her face again.
"Adora, don't-!
"This is Force Captain Adora, do you read me Scorpia?"
"Yup, loud and clear, Adora." A staticy Scorpia said over the radio. "What are your orders?"
"Adora, please, don't do it!" Catra begged raising a hand forward. Adora stared at her sternly, making Catra wonder what was going through in her mind. Was she going to listen to her? Did this situation warrant enough to hope for it?
There was plenty of hope present in this situation, none of which reached the two best friends.
"Take down the barrier and everything around it!"
"No!" Catra lunged the Force Captain as fast as she could, too little too late as Adora slipped the radio off her list and into the water below them. There was no going back from this point. Reacting quickly, Adora backed away several feet before Catra could swipe her, creating a good gap between the two as they stared at one another.
*BOOM!*
Catra had to cover her ears from the sudden ring that went through it. As much as she wished against it, back at the Barrier the two stood in front of, there was a gaping melted hole in the bottom left portion of the barrier, the massive canon from the ship having fired another massive burst of green energy at the mystical wall. Like last time it slowly reassembled itself, though at a very much slower pace, as it reconstructed it's shield.
Also like last there, there was another surge of electricity from the control core behind Catra, the cat gritting her teeth with worry as she saw the sparks going off and several lights around it starting to dim. If she didn't work fast enough the barrier was going to run out of power, and something in her head told her she wouldn't be able to fix it if the entire thing was destroyed.
"Ahhhhhh!" With the sound of Adora's battlecry filling her ears, Catra quickly looked back in time to block the attack of her baton with her own sword, watching the sparks dance between the two of them as Catra narrowly avoided the baton from striking her head. Being up this close, seeing the anger in Adora's eyes, she knew they didn't have a choice. With a hiss Catra pushed off Adora's attack as she pushed her back once more, the blond member of the Horde not caring an inch as a few strands of hair danced in front of her.
Neither of the two allowed the other a moment of reprieve as they rushed each other, both growling to one another as their weapons clashed again with the sparks practically bursting from the impact of the two powerful weapons. Neither of them planned on backing down from this fight as they came here to accomplish what they wanted to do. They wouldn't let the other tell them what to do, and they weren't leaving here until the other answered their request.
And neither of them were going to take No for an answer.
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Leaping from every ledge he could till he reached the ground level, Bow fired one of his arrows attached to a rope directly at the flag of the ship. With a secure line between him and the boat nearly twenty yards away from him, he leapt from the ledge as he slid against the rope using the bow itself to hang from.
With Catra's priority focused on the repairs itself, everyone else was preoccupied with disabling the ship that attacked them. The Sea Gate was the Rebellion's biggest line of defense against the Horde when it came to attacks from the sea. If they managed to destroy the mighty structure, one Catra revealed to be created by the First Ones' themselves, it would allow the Horde to not only invade the kingdom of water, but wage direct warfare on Bright Moon castle without going through the hazardous forest.
Landing upon the ship itself, Bow prepared himself immediately as he glared at the several cadets that were still stationed on the ship itself. With a grin, he fired one of the many arrows towards Kyle, pinning his shirt by the shoulder to one of the walls of the ship. Seeing how he was disabled for the moment, Lonnie growled to herself as she rushed towards the bowman with a smaller stun baton charged and at the ready, unlike the double-sided baton Adora was equipped with.
With the singular target coming after him, Bow ran straight towards her with another arrow at the ready. Right before she could land any form of strike he gracefully leapt over her as he fired another arrow several feet in front of her. In an instant the ground before her was encased in a solid form of ice. The cadet had no time to react as she was slid against the ground itself, finding herself sliding even after she collapsed to the ground until she slammed into the wall ahead of her. While it didn't disable her for as long, the impact was enough to daze her, and that was more than enough time to turn his attention to the canon.
There he could see the scorpion human hybrid that was Scorpia, the Force Captain preparing to load another shot from the ship's mighty canon. Straightening his aim he fired another arrow that bursted in midair just before it reached Scorpia, scattering Scorpia's vision in a hazy dust as she coughed the small particles from her throat. When her view cleared again, she saw both she and the canon she was touching were encased in a strange sticky blue sap. Whatever the strange substance was, it was going to take awhile for her to pull herself out of it.
He was given little time to continue his attack on the ship as he was suddenly tackled away, flipping over to his feet as he looked back to the attacker that was Rogelio. Like any seemingly all brawns lizardman like him, Bow expected him to charge him directly as he fired a minor explosive arrow at the reptile, hoping to knock him out from the blast of the explosion.
What he didn't expect was for the reptile to maneuver himself around the arrow as he charged so he could grab it with his arrow. It was thanks to Adora's attentive training regimes that he could react in time with the incoming projectile, flipping it around in his tail and flinging it back at Bow in a single second. With Bow's attention distracted by the brief display he was incapable of reacting fast enough as the arrow was shot back at him, exploding just two feet in front of him and blasting him off his feet over the rail behind him.
When his head cleared of the dizziness from the shockwave of that blast, he was startled to see himself being hurdled directly into one of the several bladed engines that kept the ship afloat for combat like this. He had no time to reach his arrows and nothing to grab onto that could prevent him from his deadly demise. His fate would've been sealed if not for the timely intervention of Sea Hawk himself the very captain Glimmer helped out of a slump, as he swung across a rope and grabbed Bow just seconds from a shreddy death.
"Sea Hawk!" Bow squealed a little with stars in his eyes. This was just like those moments in every hero story where the hero leapt into the scene, just in the nick of time to save the day! Granted, that would've technically made him the damsel, but it was worth the minor title if it meant he got to see a real hero leap into action before his very eyes. Grinning down to the young teen for a moment, Sea Hawk swung his way over to his ship, the same one Glimmer was currently steering along with Mermista.
"Bow! Are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," he gave a smile with a thumbs up in response, "thanks to Sea Hawk here!"
"Hmhmhm, all in a day's work for a captain like myself." He exclaimed proudly. The four allies looked back to the ship as they could see the small sap Bow used to cover the mighty canon. To Bow's dismay, Scorpia was already halfway done peeling the sticky substance off of herself and the canon.
"That's not going to hold for long. How much longer does Catra n-" Glimmer paused as she looked back to Catra, seeing her friend battling a mysterious stranger. "Wait, who's that?"
"I think we have bigger problems, young ones." Sea Hawk stated as he pointed back to the other ship. Checking it again, her eyes widened as she saw Scorpia had finally removed the last of the sticky sap. With a grin to herself, the scorpion woman turned the canon a little into their direction, preparing to fire another blast of energy straight at them.
"Hold on!" Mermista shouted as she raised her trident. Gathering all the magic she could as fast as she can, she used the very oceans themselves as she pushed their small ship out of the way, narrowly missing the incoming blast that struck the rocky structures behind them. The crumbling rocks splashed fiercely as the waves pushed them further out closer to the ship. Finding herself forced to, Mermista gathered her magic again as she pushed herself passed the ship, barely scraping the rear of the side of their mast from under the Horde's battleship and thankfully before it could ram into them.
On the bright side of things, this apparently caught Scorpia's attention as she continued to her attempts at blasting the group out of the water. It didn't keep the ship from continuing towards the watery kingdom, but it would give Catra a couple more precious minutes of peace, at least as much as she could while dealing with her own situation...
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"Agh!" Adora yelped as she was thrown off her feet again. Her heart nearly jumped as she felt herself sliding over the arm, rapidly flailing all her limbs to get herself back on top of the arm's flatter surface. With a sigh of relief, she glared back at her possibly-brainwashed friend as Catra twirled the baton in her own hands.
"I have a better balance up here, Adora." It was evident throughout the battle these two had for the last several minutes. While she could match Catra's strength against the ancient blade, she was helpless to fight back while maintaining her footing against the sleek arm at the same time. Half the time she found her shoes sliding across the ground and the other half she nearly fell over the side completely. If that wasn't enough to show off Catra's point, she looked to her clawed feet herself, seeing them scraping against the statue's exterior. "And a better grip up here than you do." Without giving her a chance to speak she casually tossed the baton behind her away from her friend, panic going through Adora's mind as she watched.
Nevertheless, it wasn't enough to dissuade the Force Captain from continuing to fight back, charging forward again as she attempted to strike Catra with her bare hands. At this, Catra simply caught her hands in her own grip, having sheathed the sword partway through the fight after watching Adora's continued fumbling. "Ngggh!" She growled, trying to claw at her. She wasn't willing to give up no matter how weaponless she found herself. She was going to keep fighting if it meant saving Catra from the Rebellion's clutches.
"Stop it already, Adora!" Catra growled.
"Why can't you understand I'm just trying to help you?!" Adora yelled, small ducts of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I don't need help Adora, there's nothing wrong with me!" With a free leg she rolled back as she kicked Adora behind her several feet, somewhat regretful as she saw the several small tears her clawed foot left in her shirt, feeling thankful she didn't see any cuts or bleeding from where she kicked. "I'm not going back and that's final. Either join with us or go back home before you hurt yourself!"
"Ngggh..."
She refused to believe there wasn't anything wrong with her. This was her friend, Catra, the very girl she grew up with since they were children. No matter how much she changed she knew she couldn't be so heartless as to defect to the Rebellion without a legitimate reason. She refused to believe such things!
If that was the case, then everything people said about her had to be true! She was going it out of her own selfish desires, she didn't want anything to do with her or the rest of her friends, she didn't care about all the people she was hurting, the people that raised her! There was no power on Etheria that would make Adora believe it, and she wasn't going to stop fighting until she brought her home.
Adora gritted her teeth as she wiped the side of her bruised lip with her sleeve. As she did, she noticed the small green box slip out of her coat pocket, reminding her of Shadow-Weaver's warning of a last resort. Seeing the strange package from where she stood, Catra tilted her head at the mysteriously bowed package.
"What's that?"
Not wanting to give her a chance, Adora quickly scooped the box into her hands as she removed it of it's contents, the red-colored bandana blowing against the wind as Adora got back to her feet. "A precautionary from someone who cares about me." She stated, unfolding the beloved gift in her hands.
"Wait, you mean Shadow-Weaver?" Fear struck Catra's heart again at the realization. "Adora, what is that thing? What's it supposed to do?"
"I don't know, and at this point I don't care." Her words weer cold, emotionless, as she raised the band closer to her head. "If it helps me bring you home, then it's worth any risk." Closing her eyes, she surrendered herself to the mysterious band as Catra continued to panic.
"Adora, don't-!" She tried to run over to.
But it was too late. With the band around her forehead and the ends tied against her head, the gem socketed in the center of the beautiful cloth shined brightly with a red flash as it began to work it's magic.
"Ghh-! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Adora screamed in brutal agony as she clutched her head tightly. All around them, from Catra, to Sea Hawk's ship, to the Horde ship itself, all eyes were turned to the direction of the bloody cry of pain. Catra wanted nothing more than to run to her side to help her, to rip the horrid item from her worst enemy straight from her head, if she wasn't distracted by what happened after.
Shadows. Shadows from all over the place, be it the crevices in the structures and cliffs, the various shadows that rose from the sea, even copies of her own shadow split apart from it as it rushed under Adora, gathering in one solid spot as her shadow grew wider and rounder from the incoming shades. The darkness itself slowly started to grow upon her body, rising over her clothes as it slowly spread through the entirety of Adora's body. There was a strange atmosphere through the air, one paralyzing Catra's senses as she felt frozen in place.
Some instinct inside of her was telling her to be afraid, to fear whatever was building up within the Force Captain that continued to scream with tears rolling down her eyes. All Adora felt was pain, a terrible, agonizing, pain that continued to pile up to greater and higher lengths. Eventually, the darkness rose all the way to Adora's skull, covering the girl's body in a pitch blackness, as all the shadows seemed to seep into the gem itself. The last bit Adora Catra saw was her fearful eye as it was swallowed up in the darkness.
How was she supposed to help her? She didn't know if touching her could affect her own body, she didn't know if removing the headband, wherever it was in her pitchblack form, could make things worse. All she could do was wait until the darkness over Adora slowly spirited away, disappearing little by little until Adora's slumped over form could be seen again. Her head was down, her arms were drooped. There were no tears flowing from her face.
All she knew was that whatever happened just now could only lead to trouble!
"...Huh?" Adora popped her head up again, looking as casual as she did earlier with a look of surprise on her face. There weren't any tears in her face or hints of sadness as she looked at her hands and her own feet. "...That's it?" She looked all around herself as if expecting some sort of horrible transformation, like Catra did until right this moment. "Nothing else... happened?" It was weird. She almost felt disappointed to find nothing changed for some reason.
"Adora, are... are you okay?" Catra asked as she cautiously approached her.
"Yeah, I... guess I am... Was that all it did?" Seriously? That was it? That was...Lame! All that pain, all that screaming for literally nothing? She went through the worst pain she felt in her life, feeling like her skin was being set on fire and doused in an instant as the darkness spread throughout her body, and all it added up to was just a simple flash from the red gem of her headband? How stupid was this thing?!
"Good." Wasting no time, taking advantage of Adora's distraction, Catra quickly grabbed one of her hands as she used the other to grab onto the headband itself. Reacting just as fast, Adora grabbed the thieving hand with her own.
"What are you doing?" To Catra's surprise, her grip was much stronger than it was a minute ago. Almost...crushing, as a soreness spread throughout her arm. It was at that time she noticed an incredibly faint red hue within Adora's eyes. It was almost impossible to notice anywhere over a foot away from the girl, yet here Catra had an up close and personal view of her friend's eyes in front of her.
"I'm taking that thing off of you! If Shadow-Weaver of all people gave it to you it can't be good!" She grumbled, trying to struggle through Adora's newfound strength. Something was very wrong here. Earlier, Adora struggled to maintain the same footing and fight back against Catra at the same time. Here, she was standing perfectly in one spot while holding Catra's wrist like it was nothing.
"What? No! I'm not letting you take this from me!"
"Ghhh let go!"
"No!"
"Stop fighting me on this, Adroa, and let go!"
"I said...NO!"
*Wham!*
"Gah!" Catra howled with pain as she was suddenly thrown against the massive statue's upper arm, falling to the ground soon after.
"Whoa..." Adora could only blink to herself as she looked at her hands again. That was... new... Without any seeming effort behind it she tossed Catra nearly twenty feet through the air and into the upper arm like she was a ragdoll. Where did this new burst of strength come from? She barely felt any weight behind Catra as she threw her, feeling no heavier than forty pounds at most. Her fingers still tingled with the strength, the tips of her fingers dancing with the power that coursed through her.
"What... was that..." Catra hissed rubbing her back as she stood. That wasn't anything like Adora's managed before. Sure when they were kids she often got lucky in their spars, but even then she was never capable of something of that caliber.
"...Heh... heheheh..." Adora's face slowly twisted as a small grin formed in the corners of her mouth. "Heh heh heh...Tch hahahahaha!" Oh geez, this was so funny! She held her sides as she burst into laughter, looking at Catra like she was the funniest thing on the planet. "Oh! My! Gosh! That was so hilarious! Did you see yourself like that? You were like "wahhhhhh" when you were flying through the air!"
"Adora, what... what's wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me? Nothing! Hoof! I feel great! You wanna do some push-ups? I wanna do some push-ups! Let's do some push-ups! Come on start counting, I'll go first!" With the same grin of excitement on her face she dropped to all fours as she, as suggested, started doing push-ups.
In the middle of what was supposed to be a fight.
"One! Two! Three! Four! Oh come on, this is too easy!" She quickly switched from two hands to one hands. When that got too boring for her, she started to use both her fingers on each hand. As if that wasn't enough, she finally switched to one finger, placing it between herself as she continued her push-ups with that. "Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Come on, you gonna join or what?! Whoo!"
This was the best feeling in her life! She didn't know what was going on with herself and for the first time she had absolutely no care about it! She felt like she was on fire, took off the fire, hugged the fire, beat the fire to a pulp, and then set herself on fire to do the entire process all over again! Man, this was the best feeling in the world!
"Adora... you need to take a deep breath..." Catra instructed calmly as she slowly approached. She needed to figure out what happened to Adora, find some way to break whatever magic took a hold of her. But she soon gazed passed her as she saw the core she was working on sparkling a bit.
I need to get that thing working but... She huffed internally as she tried to prioritize the situation.
On the one hand, she could try to figure out what's wrong with Adora, waste who knows how much time either trying to convince her to stop this or fight her off, or on the other hand, try to fix the machine while goldilocks here messed around like a three-year-old. As much as she hated the choices, she knew she needed to fix the machine while it was still fixable. Besides, at least Adora did seem genuinely happy, and more importantly distracted, as she continued doing push-ups like she moving the planet itself.
Steadying her heart rate, Catra slowly moved around the girl, Adora seeming too focused on her own little stunt, as she got around the excited girl. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the the core as she dug through the toolbox like before when this all started. Thankfully, she had two sides left to deal with, and the current one appeared to be halfway done. After a few more tweaks on this side she just had to deal with the last side and then-
"What'cha doin'?" Catra nearly jumped as she heard Adora whisper in her ear with mild curiosity. Unlike her previous state of being, she appeared more attentive of what was going on with a more semi-serious expression on her face. She didn't give Catra a single second to answer either as almost immediately she was lifted by the collar of her uniform, being pulled off her feet as she was flung through the air to the other side of the arm.
Unlike last time she was ready for it, twisting her body around as she landed on her feet. She didn't know what was going on with her erratic behavior, but as long as she kept her eyes on the girl, she wouldn't let her get the drop on her agai-
Where'd she go?
"Peekaboo!" Catra barely had time to register the sound of the voice as a pair of hands squeezed over her head, pinching her eyes shut tightly as she was lifted off her feet from behind her. She felt an immense pressure as she kicked around her legs, trying desperately to pry the grip off her eyelids.
"Ngggh! Let go!" Catra shouted. She couldn't believe how much Adora changed from this one single headpiece she was given. She was strong enough to toss Catra around with ease, and now her speed was fast enough to race behind Catra right before she landed.
And that was AFTER she tossed her!
"Nope! Guess again!" This wasn't Adora. Adora was sweet, innocent kind, she always preferred finding a way through things peacefully rather than through violence. The person standing behind her was nothing like that. She was violent, mean, laughed at the pain she was causing others. Who was this girl? "I'll give you a hint! It has "a door" in it's name! Heheheh!" She grew a more malicious grin as she leaned her head closer to Catra's ears. "Do you think if I squeeze harder, I'll hear a pop?"
"Nggggggggh!
*WHAP!*
"Ahh!" With all the strength she could direct to her feet, she gave off a loud grumble as she swiped her clawed feet against the side of Adora's face, proving effective enough as Adora instantly dropped her. The second her feet touched the ground, she let out a growl as she drew her sword, preparing to strike.
That Headband's gotta go! She shouted to herself, raising the sword over preparing to strike the cursed object. There was no time for Adora to grab at or dodge the blade that was seconds away from her. Fearing it was going to strike her directly, all she could do was cover herself with her arm as she waited for the inevitable.
*CLANG!*
"What?!" The sound of Catra's gasp caught Adora's attention as she opened her eyes back up. Was she impervious too? She heard the strange sound of the sword colliding into something solid, something practically made of metal itself. Did someone else block the attack for her? Did some numbnut trying to ruin Adora's fun get in her way? That's when she saw the very thing that filled Catra with everlasting fear.
From the ground beneath her, a lone shadow stretched all the way along Adora's arm up to the tip of her fingers, an eerie dark haze seeping from all sides around it, as it formed a single magnificent blade-like appendage over Adora's arm. The blade itself looked genuine, like any great sword or axe you would find.
What troubled Catra so much about this was what Adora wasn't focusing on, not until she followed her gaze in turn. All around her, to the shock and glee of the Force Captain, nearly a dozen different tentacle-like appendages grew from the base of her feet, coming out of her own shadows. The tentacles danced around her, reaching up to her shoulders in length. As if it was an animal, Adora curiously touched one of the strange tentacles, the tentacles gently touching back with it's own curiosity.
With a thought forming in her mind, she swished her arms from side to side, watching as the tentacles all danced in unison to her arms. It made every passing second Catra watched all the more terrifying, watching as the blade-like appendage morphed back to a normal shadow-covered tentacle. She backed up slowly as goosebumps spread across her body, tail swishing back and forth as the fear built up inside of her as the lone tentacle danced alongside the other tentacles that swayed.
This wasn't a simple matter of Adora having a power all too familiar to her. This was a matter of Adora having a similar power to that of Shadow-Weaver. An evolved version of Shadow-Weaver's power.
"Heh... heheheh! These things are awesome, aren't they?" She chuckled. Smirking back to Catra personally, she continued to chuckle as the tentacles all began spreading along the sides of Adora's arms, six on each side, as they twisted and morphed into an incomprehensible form. Watching the massive sprouts of darkness forming along her arms, her eyes nearly bugged out as the pairs of six merged together along her arms, forming something completely different.
From the tips of her shoulder down to her very fingers, an entire mass of shadow had taken form and was given shape from the mere thoughts of Adora's mind. Catra watched in horror as the darkness slowly transformed until it became a solid form. Where once was Adora's regular everyday human arms, now rested two gargantuan arms, one on each side, with claws that stretched out to the size of Catra's sword, the arms themselves stretching passed Adora's knees.
She had strength. She had magic. Now, she had the ability to manipulate shadows into solid matter, and morph them into whatever convenienced her. And every single detail of this brand new shocking reality only filled Adora with more glee, growing one of the most sinister and twisted looks of amusement Catra's ever seen on a single living person.
"Now, let's have some fun!"
...
...
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A/N: Ah so much glorious fun ^^ I really hope you people enjoyed today's episode cause I had a blast writing it!...hopefully i didnt' screw too many areas up or make it boring. And yes, this is surprisingly going to be over 4 parts (I mean would you want it any other way since we got our first Adora & Catra moment since Thaymor :P? Lol)
Anyway, as always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you (hopefully) on tomorrow's conclusion!