A/N: Annnnnnnd another episode finally completed! Hooftah indeedily!
Just on record, the latter half of the i had to slightly rush in the matter of three hours, so I'm really hoping that it doesn't feel too rushed. And if it does, bare in mind this is during the last 4 minutes of the episode, so if anything I should've written LESS than I did her XP.
With that said, hope you all enjoy the episode and the conclusion of our first Adora and Catra confrontation!
...
...
...
*Clang!*
"Ghh!" Catra grunted as she was lowered to one knee, trying desperate to push the massive claw off her sword.
She didn't think she'd ever find herself on the opposite side of a claw trying to cut someone. If anything, she always thought she'd be the one clawing someone's face off, not the other way around. What's more, it wasn't just anyone's claw in particular that she was dealing with either. It was the darkened claw that belonged to the one single friend she had in this world.
Adora.
The blond Force Captain continued to grin as she looked at her other gargantuan arm of darkness, flexing the tips of her fingers while ignoring the person she was playing with.
All this power, all this wonderful power she now had. To think, such a wonderful, lovely, gift like this came from the mother figure of her life, Shadow-Weaver. It amazed her that such a simple headband, one adorned with a red gem in the center of all of it, could fill her with this much power. Man she wishes someone gave her this power sooner!
This was the greatest feeling of her life! She felt so strong, she was so much faster than before. All the stress and misery she felt for the last several days, all the drama and sadness that she had to put up with, all of it was gone. She felt so much lighter for the first time, so free of all the burdens she had to put up with for most of her life. This power wasn't just a gift from someone, it was a godsend that relieved her of all the pain she felt.
For the first time in a long while, she felt happy. Joy.
It wasn't just the incredible increase of character that this band rewarded her with. It was also magic. Magic, one of the greatest of things that ruled over Etheria next to science, was now in her grasp. Well, more accurately, in her shadows. The strange power this headband blessed her with, all the dark energy this gem had harnessed from the mere shadows of her surroundings, be they the environment or the people around her. All of them were drawn in like bugs to a headlight as they swarmed over Adora and gave her this incredible gift.
The shadows moved however she willed it, mastering it's control in just a few short seconds. The tentacles that sprouted out of her shadows danced around her hands, swaying side to side as she played with it with a childlike curiosity. From there, she decided to test out her new power by creating the newly formed arms around her, covering her normal arms with massive gargantuan ones. Ones with claws the size of Catra's sword, one pitch black with the darkness they hailed from.
This, is what true power felt like. And as far as Adora was concerned, it felt almost as good as pinning the cat to the ground with one hand.
"Man... you have no idea how wonderful this feels!" Adora commented nonchalant, twiddling her fingers around.
"Yeah, I think I'm feeling enough of it!" Catra grumbled, trying to push one of the hulking hands off of her. Looking back to her, the sinister grin on Adora's face barely twitched with the excitement building up.
"Aww, what's w'ong? Poow wittle kitty can't stand?" In an almost mocking fashion, she pulled back four of her fingers while leaving one planted firmly on Catra's sword. To add insult to humiliation, this didn't lighten the load on Catra's sword. She only increased the pressure as Catra was forced to her second knee. Any more and she swore her knees were going to pop. "You know looking at it, I think I owe you one, Catra." The struggling girl looked to her at this remark. "If it wasn't for you leaving, I probably never would've gotten this power. Thank you so much!"
"Consider it my deepest reGRET!" With as much strength as she could kick with, she pushed off Adora's powerful finger as she leapt straight for the girl herself, intending on destroying the headband that started all this.
"Uh uh uhhh!" Adora tsked with a smirk. As quickly as Catra leapt for her did she just as quickly find a powerful grip tightening around her entire throat.
"Ghh!" Her airwaves constricting fully, Catra dropped her sword as she scratched at the mighty hand for dear life, trying everything in her power to get any sort of air into herself.
Adora noticed a small twinge of pain erupting from the shadowy fingers as Catra left her claw marks deeply into the massive hands. The marks themselves gave off a small purple glow at where they were sustained, the purple residue seeping out like blood. Apparently despite the fact these fake giant hands were over her real ones, she could still feel the pain of them being scratched as if they were her own. Pain was something she wasn't immune too, which she would have to keep in mind for future reference.
"Bad kitties shouldn't scratch people like that. It HURTS!" Shouting with a burst of rage, Catra found herself suddenly found herself being thrown across the sky, flying until she landed painfully against the wall again, only this time it wasn't the same one the arm was connected to.
She found herself thrown across the Sea Gate towards the statue on the opposite side, straight ahead from where the statue's arm was pointing. Despite the pain she felt from landing against the jagged cliffside, she found no time to sooth the irritation as she felt herself sliding down from the cliffside towards the ocean itself. Catra scampered with her claws, hastily scratching away until she found a firm grip on the other statue's smooth arm. She was somewhat in relief as she found herself on the same level as the other statue's arm.
Now she needed to find a way over to the other side.
"Don't go away yet, the fun's just getting started!" Adora sneered with the twisted expressions of a mad man. Looking back to her, Catra's pupils shrank as she saw Adora taking a running start straight towards her, jumping into the air as she leapt off the statue's hand towards her. Harnessing as much power as she could in those few precious seconds, Catra leapt up to the statue's upper arm, narrowly avoiding as Adora sunk her claws into her previous location with ease. "Oh come on, now you're teasing me! Heheheheh!"
With one arm after the other Adora pulled herself upwards towards Catra's location. It almost felt like she was just toying with her as she hummed to herself, the wicked glee she was getting out of this adding on to Catra's uneasy nerve. Not wasting any time to herself Catra continued to leap higher and higher from one spot to the next, climbing over the statue from it's shoulder, over the the ear, and eventually to the top of the head itself, all the while Adora was an arm's length from her, giving her no more than several feet of distance between her and the massive arms she pulled herself up with.
From there Catra sprinted towards the archway, carefully running over the jagged top that connected the Sea Gate itself. The salty air of the sea didn't faze her or her intended target as she made her way across, taking the split-second glance back at the wickening Adora that gave chase. The girl didn't look like she so much as blinked since this strange transformation began, her gaze focused solely on Catra the entire time.
"Adora, you need to snap out of it!" Catra shouted down as she reached the two tridents at the top of the arch. "This isn't you!"
"I know!" She cackled. Twisting the images in her mind and the focus on her arms, Catra watched as Adora transformed her right arm into a massive tentacle, culminating from the mass of shadows that stretched nearly ten yards. With a mighty push off the statue she was on she threw the dark appendage over to the other trident, reeling herself up posthaste as she easily got on the same footing as her prey and blocking her off from her path. "It's much better than me!"
Grabbing onto the trident's edge with her other hand, she attempted to swipe at the cat with her tentacle-like arm, forcing Catra to back behind the stone structure as Adora pulled herself over again. For the single moment Adora passed by Catra, the magicat could gaze perfectly into her friend's eyes. There wasn't anything of the original Adora there, not that she could see anyway. All she saw was a monster that was bent on her entire annihilation.
Pushing away the small bit of fear growing inside her, she jumped from the Trident's edge towards the center of the intersecting Tridents, several feet higher from her original spot. Seeing the weaker plaything continuing to run, Adora threw her long arm to the top of the trident again, pulling herself up as she looked down at her escaping prey.
"Oh, the itsy bitsy kitty climbed up the water spout~" She sang amusingly. The shadows gathered around her right leg as they started to amass into a new form. From the great merging of darkness, her foot took on a more massive form, at least three feet in length and width, and most definitely growing on in weight as it took on a solid form. Her mouth watering with anticipation, she jumped several feet into the air as Catra pulled her way to the other side of the tridents. "Down came my foot and CRUSHED the kitty out!"
*WHAM!*
"Ahh!" Catra screamed as she nearly became her enemy's footprint by a single inch. The impact of the great stompage sent a tremor all throughout the archway, causing Catra to fumble as she fell back over the archway. She barely had time to grab on to the ledge by a single hand, watching as the few bits of pebbles fell passed her into the watery depths below.
Grinning to herself, Adora casually lied down onto her stomach as she overlooked her friend in distress, taking as much joy out of this as a child watching a funny show. "You know that sounded way better in my head but that's just me." The shadows around both her arms and foot completely dissipated as she playfully grabbed onto Catra's finger one after the other. "This little piggy went to market~"
"Ngh!" She groaned as she felt her entire body sink deeper towards the ocean with the removal of a mere finger. Her hand trembled as she struggled to maintain her grip. "Adora, don't!"
"This little piggy stayed hoooome~"
"Agh!" If her arms weren't as sore as they were from crashing into the statues twice she would've swung her other arm over to the ledge. She knew it would've been pointless though as long as the blond princess of darkness continued to toy with her. She needed to come up with something and fast!
"This little piggy had roast beef~"
"No!" Any attempts she made at trying to scrape her feet against the barrier to pull herself higher was met with naught. With the barrier being as it was, her feet kept sliding against the perfectly-smoothed barrier, unable to form any sort of grip with the great wall.
Standing back up, Catra watched in horror as her shadows gathered along her arm again. It straightened out and sharpened into a massive blade, the very thing she used to block with the first Catra tried to cut the bandana from Adora's head. "And this little piggy got it's head cut off!"
...
*Splash!*
"Ahh!" The part yelled as they dodged the last attack by a slimmer margin than the previous one.
While Catra was preoccupied with her friend-turned-psycho, the remaining defenders of Selineas were dealing with their own problems. For the last several minutes they found themselves preoccupied with Scorpia and the several other cadets that maintained the Horde Battleship that assaulted the Sea Gate.
After Bow's daring attack on the ship itself in an attempt to disable the canon, the group had found themselves sailing for dear life on their own ship, one puny in comparison to the size of the Horde one. Every time they got distance, Scorpia attempted to blast them out of the water. Whenever they tried to hide from the canonfire, the ship attempted to ram into them and crush them. They weren't safe at a distance or at close range. All they could do was sail as fast as they could, Mermista expending a large amount of her power just to keep dodging like this.
Sighing with exhaustion, Mermista gasped for breath as she pressed her hands against her knees. Leniency in this situation was a very brief but welcomed gift for the young heroes. They had about half a minute or so after each canon blast as the gun had to recharge to avoid overheating. It didn't make the mermaid princess herself feel any better though when she was the one pushing the waves themselves to help them dodge out of the way.
"Huff... huff... if anyone else wants to push the boat... huff... be my guest!" She panted.
"Bow and I can buy you some time if we hold them off on the ship itself." Sea Hawk turned to his first mate, Bow returning his suggestion with a firm nod.
"Are you sure you guys can handle them on your own? You'll still be outnumbered." The princess of Bright Moon wasn't prepared to lose more people at this point, the war taking it's toll on her emotions long enough.
"A lot better than we can like this." Bow retorted. Turning to Mermista, the princess nodded as the two jumped into the water. With the simple wave of her hands Mermista sprouted a large pillar of water, pushing the two up to the deck of the ship where they prepared to engage the cadets once more.
"At least they stayed distracted long enough for Catra to... Catra!" Glimmer shouted with worry.
Throughout the majority of the chase, Glimmer barely had any time to so much as check on the She-Ra-in-training herself, believing her to be able to handle whoever she was dealing with at the time. All that positiveness and belief crashed down to the planet as she saw the current state of her dear friend.
From afar, she could see her poor friend hanging on for her life as she attempted to get some form of footing onto the archway again. Standing right above her Glimmer could see the notorious Force Captain, the one who lead this entire mission and, unknowingly to her, the one who took charge of the attack on Thaymor itself. There she could see the deranged Adora raising a massive blade-like arm over Catra's head, ready to cleave her in twain.
Panicking, Glimmer quickly teleported from the ship, Mermista freaking out as she had to grab onto the ship's steering wheel, placing herself on the statue's arm that housed the control core to the Sea Gate. Gathering as much power as she could in both her hands, she combined her magics into one giant ball of energy, throwing it directly at the Force Captain's head before she could swipe the blade at Catra.
*Whish!*
With dust settling and clearing over a few seconds, Adora blinked to herself completely unfazed, almost looking untouched, as she felt the strange ball of energy that attempted to blast her off the archway. Looking ahead, her previous emotional state of happy and giddy took a full one-eighty as it was replaced by a new emotional state.
Unbridled Fury.
It's her! Adora screamed to herself. Her, the one princess that was responsible for everything that was wrong with Catra, the one who turned both their lives completely upside down.
She knew she was the princess that started all this. She was the one who turned Catra against the Horde and herself with her cunning manipulations and dark magics. She was the one who made everybody think Catra was no better than a good-for-nothing traitor to the Horde, the person who defected to the Rebellion out of her own greed. The very person who thought she could blast Adora off her feet and into the dark waters behind her.
The person who took her best friend away from her, and turned her into a mere tool for the Rebellion.
"YOU!" Adora shouted in anger, wasting no times as the shadows took form in both her arms into the gargantuan claws they once were. Noticing her distracted state, Catra quickly looked back to who her new target was, gasping silently at who she saw.
"Pinky!" She yelled, Glimmer unaware that it was a warning to back away and not a cry for help. With a mighty roar, Adora leaped from the archway as she pulled back a claw, preparing to cut the princess to shreds. Glimmer gathered a mass of energy in her hands again as she prepared to fight back, unaware of the newly empowered state of Catra's friend. "Nooo!"
Pulling herself up just enough to get her feet on the the archway's side, Catra kicked herself off the Sea Gate with as much power as she had, bursting towards Adora as she pulled back her hand. Before she could swipe at the evil princess she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her arms, Catra crashing into her as the two of them bounced off the statue's arm and over the edge to the second largest platform located underneath them, the previous one destroyed by the Horde's attack.
With the two rocketing towards her Glimmer sidestepped out of the way as she watched the two plummet to the platform, landing with a harsh thud as the two landed on the platform with a loud crash, Catra rolling out off her friend with a groan. "Catra!" Teleporting, she reappeared at Catra's side, grabbing her hand, and then teleported back to the statue's arm as Adora appeared to be out cold. The two of them were out of breath, Catra for the injury and Glimmer for the burst of magic she used in the short amount of time, but still alive. "Are you okay?" She asked between breaths.
Rubbing her sore sides a little and wiping her chin of the bruises, Catra nodded back. "I'm fine. But you need to get out of here. You have no idea how strong she is!"
"But I can help!" She insisted. "Let me hold her off until-"
"No!" There was an unusual anger behind Catra's voice as she yelled. She wasn't yelling out of Glimmer's own safety, there was something else she seemed angry about. "Everything will be fine if I get the engine working again, but until then you guys need to take care of that stupid ship!" There wasn't a chance to voice her opinion or questions at this as Catra ran immediately passed her, seeming intent on finishing the repairs that she continued to get distracted from.
What was with her strange behavior? First the unusual anger and and now she was instructing her on what to do without a second thought or emotion to it. If anything it sounded like she was telling her not to fight Adora for a different reason, one they didn't have time to explain because of the massive ship.
Speaking of said ship, it appeared to be have given up it's chase for the smaller boat as it made it's way back towards the Sea Gate itself. Either it was fed up with playing cat and mouse, or the shipmates saw Adora in peril, rushing over back to the gate to assist her. Even as Bow and Sea Hawk fought atop the deck against several of the Horde's cadets, they still seemed intent on charging head first into the Sea Gate.
"We need something big enough to destroy that ship in one shot..." Glimmer muttered to herself trying to think. "Something like... like..." Looking around the surroundings, her eyes were drawn to the sight of Sea Hawk's vessel sneaking around some rocks from behind it. "That's it!" In a flash of purple light, she teleported form her spot, leaving Catra by herself as she fiddled with the mechanics of the Sea Gate's core.
...
Back on the Horde Ship itself, Bow and Sea Hawk were maintaining their ground as they continued to fend off the cadets as best they could. While they managed to keep the distraction up for a few minutes, it dawned on Scorpia what they were truly up to as she forced her way back to the main canon, continuing the charge towards the Sea Gate as Adora originally ordered.
To the surprise of the two heroes, the three cadets were more properly trained than they originally let on, thanks to Adora's teachings. While they managed to keep them fended off pretty well, they were outmatched as the trio continued to alternate strategies back and forth.
At one moment Kyle could be charging straight at one of them, and after fending him off in a single strike, one of them would find themselves tackled to the ground by Rogelio. It forced them to fight off the person pinning them down while the other fought off the two other cadets. Another moment all three of them could be charging at them at once, intentionally drawing Bow's attention and giving him a clear shot to ensnare one of them in one of his trick arrows. Immediately after firing, one of them, usually Rogelio or Lonnie, would take the hit for the other two as another cadet jumped to their shoulders before leaping after Bow himself.
The randomness of it all made the trio unpredictable.
Thankfully despite their numerous strategies, the three were a pretty easy match for the Captain and his first mate. With Bow's long range and Sea Hawk's hand-to-hand experience, sword or otherwise, they managed to fight off the cadets pretty easily. The only setback they did have to deal with was trying to fight passed the trio and reach Scorpia and the canon, a process which became harder after Bow used up his last arrow.
"How we doing so far, Captain?" Bow asked as the two stood back to back with their weapons.
"I've taken on fish bigger than them, though never usually on a time frame..." Sea Hawk's moustache flashed briefly as he steadied his sword. With the cadets ready with their stun batons and the heroes with their weapons drawn, it was anybody's move that determine who won.
*Fwoosh!*
The cadets were nearly blinded by the sight of the bright purple flash behind the two as Glimmer appeared before them. Without wasting a second she grabbed the two by the shoulders as she teleported the three of them away, leaving the baffled cadets who watched them disappear in a glittery flash.
"Where'd they go?"
...
*Fwoosh!*
Mermista blinked as the three reappeared on board in front of her. She was starting to wonder if Sea Hawk or Bow were okay after the few minutes of loneliness, a very small fraction of her worried for the boastful captain.
"Huff..." Glmmer panted as they reappeared on the Captain's ship again. The total amount of energy she spent between teleporting to Catra's aid, blasting her friend with all her might in a great burst, teleporting again to Bow and Sea Hawk, and then teleporting all three of them at once to the smaller ship was taking it's toll on her.
"Are you okay Glimmer?" Her close friend asked, knowing how taxing such magic was when teleporting three people.
"Yeah... huff... I'm fine." Wiping the sweat of her brow against her wrist she turned her attention back to everyone's favorite captain with a grin. "And Sea Hawk, I'm going to need you to do something for me."
"What's that lass?" Withe vigor in his veins and the spirit of adventure still burning within him, he eagerly awaited as Glimmer told him his favorite thing to hear.
"Set your ship on fire!"
...
"Mmh just one more side." Catra sighed, scraping through the tool box at the ready as she switched over to the final side. There wasn't much time as Catra noticed more spikes of electricity going off more and more frequently, nearly zapping her on a dozen occasions and giving her a small jolt on at least three. Her fingers were getting a bit crispy from the constant zapping, the small of burnt skin still fresh in the air as her fingers tingled.
Switching to the final panel of the core, her eyes widened at the view of the ancient technology. Unlike the previous sides and panels she worked with till this point, she was greeted with many different switches and wires that were completely alien to her. Several of them had a strange magnetism to it that connected the wires in several different parts, while other strange switches popped out of the machine, requiring Catra to fiddle with the strange dials in a certain order like she was opening a vault, before popping them back into place.
It was a bit of a crazy scenario for her, to say the least.
The last panel however, that's when things got a little more... simple, actually. Unlike the past panels, all along the panel here was a variety of strange-shaped bulbs, some your typical average roundness, others more unique in shape like one in a triangle and another one in a strange T-like shape. All of these bulbs were displayed around this strange circular area within the panel, looking as if it was supposed to store energy into the contraption.
While they were a bit interesting to look at, what really caught Catra's attention was the one lone bulb that was supposedly missing. Where was the mysterious bulb? Oh, not that far, just rolling at the bottom of this stupid panel which probably STARTED THIS WHOLE MESS TO BEGIN WITH!
Looking back on it now, it did relate a little to what Mermista said earlier...
"We suffered numerous attacks from the Horde in the past." Mermista commented. "Maybe it shook a wire loose or other over time."
That was probably the dumbest realization Catra had at this point since joining the Rebellion. To think all of this, all this stupid techno work and gadgets, all the problems currently going on with the Sea Gate, every annoying zap this stupid bug-zapper-wannabe machine gave her, all of it stemmed from this one stupid loose bulb!
Didn't those stupid First Ones' think of making more stable light bulbs?!
*crackle*
"Huh?" Catra's ears picked up the faint noise of stone creaking around her, possibly below her by the sound of it. Taking a quick peek, she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. The platforms were still there, the Sea Gate was still under attack, and she had a few minutes to resolve this crisis. Everything was perfectly fine by the looks of it... until she noticed one detail missing. "Adora?"
*Shink!*
"Ah!" Catra yelped as she she fell backwards.
She was unprepared for it. Anybody would've been after noticing a friend of theirs missing. No sooner had she called out Adora's name, barely an inch away from her face, did she find a blackened spear-like appendage stab through the statue's hand, stretching up at least seven feet tall, and breathing with the dark shadowy residue just like Adora's arms did.
From below the statue, the blond grinned. There, Adora hung from below the arm, practically fifty feet above the water, as she used her other arm to make a similar spear-like appendage. This one was thicker than the previous one, whereas that was used to penetrate the statue with ease and her intended target, this one was to maintain a grip on the statue's underside while she attempted to impale a certain nuisance to her life.
"You kept me from getting her!" She roared, pulling the weaponized spear out the statue swiftly.
Knowing what was coming up, Catra backed up as fast as she could on her behind, narrowly avoiding one piercing strike that cut along the left side of her leg by a thin cut. As she did, Adora gave chase from under her, alternating between arms as she went from one arm trying to stab her and hold on to the other arm trying to stab her and hold on. Everywhere in-between a second Catra found another spear attempting to stab her, forcing her back further and further from the control console. Given how this was all running, she was surprised these multiple stabs into the statue didn't interfere or damage the console all of this was connected to.
At least she hoped it didn't.
Backing up towards the upper arm, she looked behind her as her hands brushed against her sword again, feeling an ounce of relief wash over her as another dark spear stabbed in front of her again, this one just inches from her face as it stabbed between her legs. Reacting without hesitation, Catra grabbed her sword before slicing the massive shadowy spear right in half, the top part of the shadow falling to the ground near her foot as it slowly dissolved into nothingness.
"OW!" Adora screamed from under her as she pulled her hand back out. Looking at it, she saw a small cut among all five of her fingers. While being thankful the resulting cut off didn't result in her hand missing a few extensions, the pain itself was real enough to warn her about pushing her chances. "Ghhhh!" Gritting her teeth she reformed the claws again as she climb her way over the massive arm, popping her head out of the side as she saw Catra running over towards the console again.
I need to fix that bulb! Catra yelled to herself. She didn't know what to expect after this, the instructions in her head telling her to focus solely on the bulb. As to how this would've helped remained unknown to her, but the sooner she got this fixed the sooner she could try to fix Adora.
"No you don't! Adora shouted as she flung her tentacled arm at the girl. Just before Catra could grab the bulb she found herself being pulled off her feet, slamming her head straight down as Adora began to reel her in slowly. "You are coming back home with me and that's final!" She growled.
She couldn't understand this new flux of emotions going through her and she didn't care in the slightest. Whatever this strange headband did to empower her, this strange magic that filled her entire being, she was going to take full advantage of it. She was going to bring back Catra whether she wanted to or not.
And then she was going to deal with a certain princess!
As Catra scraped against the statue, trying fruitlessly to dig her claws into the statue's arm, her attention was drawn to the stun baton that she tossed away earlier, the very same Adora brought into this fight to begin with. Scraping away with all the strength she could, she struggled to reach the baton as she pushed her body's stretching to the limits, feeling it scrap against her claws within mere inches of the weapon. Right before she was completely pulled away, luck came to her side as the tip of her finger's claw finally dug into the baton, pulling it back far enough to draw into the rest of her hand. In one fell swoop, as she slammed the baton into the unearthly abominable tentacle.
*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*
"Nnnnngggggghhhhhh!" Both Catra and Adora screamed internally in unison as they both felt several thousand volts passing through their systems every second.
It didn't surprise Catra that she was also affected by the massive shock, seeing how the tentacle was tightly wrapped around her leg, but it beat the alternative of getting dragged away by Adora after all this. It took over ten full seconds of electrocution before Adora finally pulled the claw away, both of them collapsing on their backs and breathing heavily through the small paralysis that numbed them.
Sadly for Catra, she knew she didn't have a moment to herself as she had to hurry up and fix the machine. Gritting her teeth tightly, pushing passed the pain she was in, she crawled slowly over to the device weakly, grabbing onto the single bulb that fell out and started this entire disaster. As much as she would rather take her anger out of the stupid piece of appliance and crush it into her hands, she gave a small growl as she slammed it into the socket.
"There!" With the bulb reinserted, the mark of victory shined to life all around them.
A massive hum rang out from around the Sea Gate as sparks and color began to dance across the Sea Gate's core after long last. At first, Catra panicked worrying that she somehow ended up wrecking the machine, feeling a lack of instructions coming from her mind and recognizing the strange sparks that danced around it like it did whenever she pulled or twisted the wrong thing. She was almost sure it was going to explode with how out of control it was this time around.
But then she noticed the bulb, the one that was empty with life, slowly filling up with a pure white light like the many other bulbs and wires, as energy began seeping it's way through the machine and into the center of the panel itself. The center illuminated with a bright shining light in the circle, growing large and large in size until the entire core itself was burning with a great white light.
Followed by the sound of another hum, Catra flinched as the metal panels of the hand slammed shut in front of her. From there, everything around her began to glow as the engine's light could be seen shining through the incredibly slim openings of the panel, blinding her a little as the Sea Gate regained it's functions. All around her streaks of white light began to shine along the entire statue itself, all growing from the small seed of an engine that gave life to everything around it.
Like the veins of any creature, light grew over the length of the Statue's arm, several lights illuminating as it followed along the arm to the base of the elbow. From there, the lights spread across from top to bottom of the statue as it began to glow all around the cracks and crevices of the nearby cliff. The light spread all throughout the statue and up to the tridents where the tips intersected one another, with the light spreading down the other trident as it gave life to the other statue in turn.
As both statue's burned with life, Catra watched as their eyes began filling with the same burst of beautiful light as the rest of the statues did. With their eyes filled with energy, the final streaks of lights danced over the archway, drawing towards one another as if they were soulmates, clashing into each other as it put on one final display.
The barrier that blocked off the Horde from invasion, that protected the kingdom of Salineas from any and all forms of danger, started to wash over with several dazzling displays of light. From the cryptic red coloring that signified the end was near, it started to lighten as several waves of color crossed it. From red, it became a sunny orange. There, it grew a beautiful serene green color. After several more vibrant colors glossed over it, the final color, one that was as blue as the ocean, fully formed over it, the barrier bursting with it's own miraculous sparks of colorful life as it was finally healed after long last.
The Sea Gate. The thing she spent so long to work on in the last ten minutes, was finally restored.
*CRASH!*
"Agh..." No sooner had Catra finished watching the lightshow did she find her leg entangled by a mass of tentacle again, this time pulling her over harshly and slamming her into the upper arm of the statue behind Adora.
"You traitor!" Adora screamed. Writhing the darkness collected around her arms, she formed the gargantuan fists she had at the start of this second round, slamming it straight into Catra's entire stomach from her shoulders, all the way down to her waist, pressing her back further inch by inch into the statue with each strike.
*CRASH!*
"Everything that's ever happened!"
*CRASH!*
"Has been because of her!'
*CRASH!*
"She's the one hurting me right now!"
*CRASH!*
"AND SHE'S HURTING YOU!"
*WHAM!*
With a single hand she pulled Catra's body out of the foot-deep crater she left in the side of the Upper Arm and tossed her to the ground behind her, scraping her against the ground.
Why couldn't she understand everything that was going on around here?! Everything here has been the princesses fault! Everything that they touch they corrupt! They were the one responsible for taking Catra away from the closest thing she had to family, they were the ones who forced an entire village to attack an outpost that offered them peace, and they were the ones who brought Adora out to this wretched place and forced her to fight Catra!
Come to think of it, it was their own fault that the Horde had to attack Thaymore in the first place! Shadow-Weaver was right. Everything the Horde did was because it was absolutely necessary! They didn't care who they involved, they didn't care what they destroyed, and they didn't care how many people they had to sacrifice! They were responsible for each and every horrible thing the people in the Fright Zone have gone through, what Catra has gone through, what she herself has gone through! And she wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way of destroying them.
Looming over the weakened friend, Adora's eyes flashed red, covering her eyes and her pupils as the rage inside of her reached the pinnacle of possibility. Gathering every single shadow she could into her right arm, she created the giant blade, the very one that started this entire fight and the one she had yet to use until this very moment.
Nothing was going to stand in her way. She wouldn't allow anyone to cross her like this, not again. Not the princesses, not the Horde, and definitely not-!
"Snk..."
Adora blinked. With eyes full of hatred and rage burning inside her, she still managed to hear it. That one little faint cough of pain coming from the person lying at her feet, the dear friend she knew since they were young, the very person that was at her side even through the worst of times.
"C... Catra...?" What... happened to her? She looked all around her and was shocked by the sight of her weak friend. From head to toe, she was covered in bruises, scratches, scrapes all across her knees, face, and arms. Anything that was exposed outside of her clothing, she was agonizing... actually... crying a little... from all the pain she was in. A single tear rolled down Catra's closed eyes, tearing up alone looking like it was taking all the strength out of Catra's body.
"Catra... what... what happened to...?" Who... Who did this to her? Who caused her so much pain like this? Slumped over and severely beaten on her side... who could be this cruel? It... it had to be the princesses! She was sure of it! They must've did something to her in the few seconds Adora tossed her to the ground! Sure, they were just fighting earlier, but that was just Adora taking out her anger on... on...
Taking out her anger... on what? She looked at her hands, seeing the evil shadows that danced around her palms. She didn't do this... she couldn't have done this! They were just roughhousing, like when they were kids from time to time! She didn't do this to her dear friend! She... she didn't mean to...
Why would she say that? That was like admitting she really did do it! It couldn't have been her, it was impossible, it was... No... No she did... She only now realized everything she had done. Overwhelmed with her feelings, she let her emotions take over for her. She took sickening glee with watching her getting tossed into the arm, she took wicked curiosity in testing out her new magic, she let rage consume her merely seeing the princess she pushed all her anger.
Now, she was drowning with despair, sorrow. A bottomless sadness that filled her upon her grand realization, one that emptied the red hue within Adora's eyes.
She was the one who hurt Catra. She was responsible for her friend's suffering.
"What... What have I done? ...Aggghhhh!" She screamed in terror and pain as she pulled at the headband practically glued to her forehead. She thought being consumed in the shadows was painful, here it felt like she was pulling a footlong nail out of her skull! With every inch she managed to pry from the band, the shadows around here started to dissipate into a black mist, disappearing into thin air with every yank. With a scream to the top of her lungs, she finally pulled the cursed object off of her head, collapsing to her knees and hands as she gasped for air.
An endless flow of tears drained from her eyes at the immense pain she pushed herself through, not just physically, but emotionally as well. Taking no time to recover for herself, she crawled over to Catra's side, gently shaking her by the shoulder so as to not hurt her, not anymore than she already has.
"Catra... Catra please wake up..." Adora cried looking over her. The twitches she saw from Catra's body weren't enough to convince her she was okay. She wanted her to- no. She needed her to open her eyes, however little, to prove to her that she was alright. "Catra, please be okay, I'm... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
If she never woke up, Adora would accept that. She just caused who knows how much pain to the friend that meant so much to her by her own hands. If she didn't wake up, that would be Adora's punishment. She would suffer the infinite torrent of guilt she felt for the rest of her life, and she would live it through it's entirety to atone for a mere portion of everything she did to her.
Out of the many horrendous ways this could've ended, all the terrible endings that could've come out of this fight, a single miracle was blessed between the two for this one moment.
With a weakened groan, fingers twitching at the tip of her claws, a single slim line of her eyelids were opened, no higher than the thickness of several pieces of paper. Using the little energy she had left, she shifted her eyes to the corner of her face, seeing bleary vision of her friend passed the hazy mist in her own eyes. She didn't see the headband over her head, or if she did it was too hard to make out. All she could see was Adora's upper body to the top of her head.
All she knew at that point was that she wasn't surrounded by shadows anymore.
"Ad... or... a..." She weakly spoke.
Whatever. She would accept it. It brought more tears to Adora's face as she smiled a little, patting the side of her friend's cheek softly.
"Hey... it's okay... you're gonna be alright..." She hoped she would never have to use this stupid headband ever again. Seeing as the first mission failed, she could take some comfort in knowing the second operation was a bit more successful. With Catra being in the state she was now, she would be easy to bring back to the Fright Zone where she belongs. There, she could rest easy, recover from all her injuries, and Shadow-Weaver could save her. Then, everything could go right back to the way things were-
*Splash!*
"Ahh!" Adora cried out as a large pool of water was directly blasted at her, knocking her off the arm and into the large pool of water waiting below. With her body being nearly untouched in comparison to Catra's, she managed to survive the fall into the ocean waiting below her, swimming back to the surface with posthaste as she was dunk several feet under. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she was going to be bringing Catra back anytime soon, not that she deserved it after the horror she put Catra through.
At the same time, Catra's eyes opened a little more, still not even halfway up, as she saw Mermista pushing herself out of the pillar of water, running over the ledge to check on the state of Catra's attacker. While she seemed to be fine, she didn't bother to waste time on her as she rushed to Catra's side.
"Hey! Catfish! You okay?" She asked mildly worried. Catra couldn't help but find some humor in the nickname, finding it a little silly she wasn't the only one who came up with nicknames around here. She carefully helped her lean up a little, soothing the sores around her shoulders as Catra winced with pain.
"Y-Yeah... I'm fine..." She replied, still weak. Everything around her hurt to move, it almost hurt just to breathe. But given what the alternative out of all of this was, it could've been worse.
A lot worse.
Looking back to the ocean itself her pupils widened a little at the sight of the incoming Horde ship which was still intent on attacking the Sea Gate despite being operational. "But what about that?" Looking up as she heard a chuckle coming from the Princess of Mermaids, she saw her giving a cheeky grin as she looked back to the ship.
"Heh, don't worry about that. It's covered."
Back on the ship itself, Scorpia began to charge the canon for another blast. The Sea Gate might've been restored as of now, but it did't mean it couldn't be weakened a little to the point of failing like it did before. If they were lucky, they might've struck it in the right place to destroy the gate completely! With the three cadets taking over the charge itself, she grinned as the Canon hummed with life, ready to fire again at the massive wall of energy.
"Ha Ha!" Oh man not that sound again.
She's known him for a few minutes here and he was already the most annoying person Scorpia ever met in this kingdom. Looking off to the side, the ship belonging to Sea Hawk could be seen swimming around the massive boat without hesitation. It wasn't enough for them to be circling around them. What made it so baffling to Scorpia was when they turned around and headed straight for the Horde Battleship itself!
At the helm of the ship was the glorious captain, giving his own smile of triumphant victory, one they haven't even achieved yet, while also holding a small fiery torch in his hand. Standing next to him was Glimmer, the captain's first mate on this mission, as she smiled back to the Captain with cheer in their voices and the same stupid look of victory on her face.
"Adventure!" With a single shout, the two raised their fist in victory before teleporting in the blink of an eye. No sooner had they did the boat itself burst into a giant ball of fire, one charging at the dumbfounded scorpion Force Captain and the remaining members of their crew. There wasn't any time to turn something this big and it was too low to the ground and close to fire with the canon itself.
All they could do was scream in terror as they jumped overboard, pushing away from the massive boat that collided into the burning captain's ship.
*BOOM!*
Safe to say, there was nothing left of the fiery wreckage as the Horde ship crumbled to pieces. All around the resurfacing cadets and captain were wreckage and debris from their own ship, forcing them to grab on and find any floating pieces they could to use as a floatation device. Almost immediately after finding a piece for herself did Scorpion look over to see Adora swimming towards her, scooting over to the side a little to let the other Force Captain hang on to the floating pile of garbage.
"Hey Captain, did..." She was quiet. She didn't even look Scorpia in the eye as she casually kicked along with her feet, swimming across the ocean.
"I don't want to talk about it." She stated. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want anything else to do with this day. Looking back with a saddening look to her brainwashed friend a final time, the corner of her eye teared a little as she saw the Captain and Glimmer teleporting atop the statue's arm near Catra, Bow watching the Horde members leave with a snarky wave as they retreated.
She failed in her mission, both of them in fact. She didn't destroy the Sea Gate or recruit the Princess of Salineas, and she failed to bring Catra back with her.
And somehow, she felt like she lost a little more than she came here with...
...
...
The victory was won after long last, the several friends looking at the beautiful gate that glew with color. All across it several dozen star-like designs spread across it, forming alignments of the very stars themselves. This was a victory that the four would never forget, being their second major victory against the wretched Horde.
"Huh, what do you know? You actually fixed it." It took all of Mermista's power to not sound impress by the display of wonder standing in front of them.
"It's beautiful!" Glimmer couldn't be more proud of Catra's work in all of this. No matter how tedious or threatening the situation seemed, she followed through on her mission and fixed it just as she said.
"I guess you're going to be needing a new ship." Mermisa added looking at the easygoing captain on her right. Coming back from the fantasy of fame and fortune he was so fond of in his imagination, he looked over to her with surprise. "Ugh, I suppose you can have one of mine."
Gesturing to the small dock behind the four, Sea Hawk's eyes almost flashed as brightly as the Sea Gate itself. Standing there within the waters was a vessel, a ship as magnificent as his last three, if not more, that greeted his attention. Hooked up to the poles of the ship, it shined like the beautiful ocean under a night sky, seeing the beauty of it's colors sparkle over the mast in mixes of emerald and sea coloring. Next to it was the one lone butler/guard who never left the Princess's side, breaking a bottle over it to signify it's great launch into the ocean.
Truly, it was a ship worthy to the most worthy of Captains like himself!
"Ahhhhhh!" There were no interpretable words coming from Sea Hawk's mouth. All he could do was gaze with wonder at the sight of the magnificent ship. He felt like a father proud of his son, tears coming into his eyes as he gazed at what was practically perfection! "She's gorgeous!" He cried.
"Please don't set this one on fire this time..."
"No promises!" Grinning, he turned his attention back to the generous princess of beauty. "But, Princess, if I may ask for one more favor." He begged, holding her hands as if he was about to propose to her.
"Ugh, you're always ruining it!" She could already taste the bile forming in her stomach.
"You should think about joining Glimmer's Princess Alliance." He said pulling the princess in question to his side. Suggestions by the captain were never usually a good thing for her, but this one she did admit was a little... intriguing. "She is a brave and strong captain. With her at the helm, she is sure to lead the Rebellion to victory."
"Aww, Sea Hawk." She was touched at how beautiful his statement was. "You even got my name right."
"Heh, yeah. We can't even get Catra to call her that, and she's been with us for awhile now." Bow commented as he chuckled. Blinking to herself, Glimmer looked all around the foursome as she noticed someone out of place.
"Hey wait a minute, where is Catra?"
...
The sea. The one thing that covered the planet more than the land itself. If she was to jump into it right now, would she disappear with the rest of the water that drained into it? So much was on Catra's mind at this moment, so much pain she didn't want to deal with. And it all came from two specific sources: the sword clutched into her right hand, and...
"Hey, Catra!" Glimmer called out as she rounded the corner with Bow. They were both relieved to find her just beyond the Captain's new ship, staring out into the ocean. After hearing about the beating she took during the small war, they feared the worst. But by the looks of it, she was just fine!
...and her.
"You did it! You fixed the Sea Gate!" She congratulated.
"We've gotta celebrate big time when we get back to home!" There was no way Bow would take no for an answer. They HAD to celebrate! "Better yet, we can do it right now! Remember what I said about all the delicious fish they had?"
The two smiled as they awaited her response. After everything they did today, from finding a boastful captain, to Catra nearly drowning, to fighting off a Horde warship while fixing a ruined Sea Gate, one would think someone would've gone crazy from not going insane. Yet here they were, alive and well, and victorious after a grand mission like today. They couldn't wait to celebrate several times, some with the captain and Princess of Salineas, and later on back home. It would be just the three of them, four if her mother felt inclined to join in! It would just be her, Bow and...
...Catra...
"...Catra...?" Silence was never a good thing when it came from the cat. They had yet to figure out how Catra functioned. What made her tick, what was going on through her mind. All they knew was that whenever she was silent as this, something was wrong.
Given the incredible amount of silence from her, something was terribly wrong.
"...You lied to me..." She stated coldly as she clenched both her hands. The sword trembled in her grip from sheer force.
"I... what?" She had no idea what she was talking about, and chances are she didn't want to find out either.
"...I trusted you, for the first time... and you lied to me..." Raising the sword to her head, she stared back at her own scowling reflection, the same one Bow and Glimmer could make out no matter how far away they stood. There was rage, desire, and sadness within her eyes with rage seeming the most dominant. "You told me... if I thought about defending others, I could get this piece of garbage to work."
"It... didn't work?"
"I did it, word for word, exactly as you said." She continued in a tone as if she didn't hear anything the princess said. "I thought about saving everyone. The kingdom, you guys, everyone who wasn't me. I gave all my energy and trust to you in that one moment I needed it most... and it did nothing..."
"Look, Catra, it's not her fault or anything. None of us know how the sword works-
*swiff*
"Ah!" Bow yelped as he suddenly pulled back his hand. He had three new claw marks to stare back at him as he saw the scratches she left behind.
Glimmer couldn't believe what she just witnessed. Catra always playfully whacked or threatened to scratch the two of them from time to time, but nothing like this. He almost looked ready to bleed from the scratches they were so deep. "Catra, what are you-"
"You kept telling me to trust you guys." She continued to ignore her. "You said we were allies, according to you guys you were my friends. And after everything I've done to help, everything I've done for your stupid war, this. This right here, is how you repay me for helping you. By lying to me the one moment I needed you two."
*drip*
Their jaws dropped to the ground in their minds, neither of them believing what they had just witnessed. A single tear, one they couldn't see dripping down her face with her back turned to them, dropped to the floor. For the first time ever, they were there to witness her single cry.
"I could have won us more today, given us a new ally if you had just told me the truth."
"B-But Catra, I didn't-"
"SHUT UP!" She shouted turning to the two again. There were tears in the corners of both her eyes yet not a single one dropped like the first one that slipped out. Glimmer had never seen Catra like this before. An expression filled with rage that pushed passed the sadness she was showing in her eyes. "You keep pestering me over and over again. You were kept telling me we would get along better if I gave you my trust, and this is what you have to show for it. By stabbing me in the back!"
*clang*
The two were so focused on the rage emanating from her that they practically jumped as she dropped the sword in front of them.
"I'm done." Without another word she marched her way passed them, purposely shoving passed their shoulders without a second glance. "If you want me to fight in your stupid war then fine by me. But from now on, you're doing it without She-Ra!"
This... This didn't make any sense! What was wrong with her now, why did she think she lied to her? She would never do that, especially if it seemed so important to her! Why did this moment seem more important than all the other times she tried it? Did it have to do with that other person Catra was talking to? Did it have to do with...
Running over to pick up the sword, staring at it like it was the source of her problem, Glimmer shot back. "Catra, wait! I want to ask my one question!" Every fiber in Catra burned with rage as she stopped, almost as much as Adora did when the two fought. The only difference here was that she didn't lash out and attack the two... yet. "You said you owed me one question and to ask it before the day was over. At least give me that!"
"...What..." Her hisses didn't even have any emotion to them like they used to. They were hollow, masked over with the rage she was still displaying.
"Who... Who was that person you were fighting?" It pained her to ask this. She knew whatever happened within the last few minutes was because of that girl Catra was fighting not long ago. She was fine, more or less, up to that point and now she was burning inside and out? If she didn't have an answer or care for her then Catra wouldn't be acting like this. She had to be someone special to her, she must be.
It was clear that she was as the two saw Catra's ears drooped from behind her. The girl might've been able to mask her face but the rest of her body displayed everything else she felt.
Sadness.
"Her name... is Adora... And because of you... she's gone..." With a final hiss, she walked off to the ship.
Today was supposed to be a momentous day for all of them. Saving another kingdom, recruiting a princess to the alliance, and defeating the Horde with just the few of them. But now, after everything they witnessed, victory felt like the farthest thing from what they had.
All they could feel now, was defeat.
...
...
...
A/N: Gah, i have to get to work now! I know and im sorry if this seemed rushed and all that but like I said, I had like 3 hours left to my day before i had to work all day today AND tomorrow (so no updates tomorrow possibly, sorry).
With that said, I hope you guys still enjoyed the episode plenty and I didn't just add some people to the suicide hotline out of too many feels XP. A cartoon thats fun and actiony is good. A cartoon that gives you feels for FICTIONAL PEOPLE is amazing- that's my motto.
As always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon ^^!