A/N: *gasp* I went TWO days without posting?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MEEEE!
...Lol, pretty simple actually, as well as really ANNOYING. A tip to writers and all, type on your email accounts via drafts, then copy and paste them to here or to a word document to upload :P! It's a convenient way to always have your story wherever you go so you can type it on the go!
Only setback is, make sure you have a stable internet connection, because if it's wonky like mine, it might cut out in the middle of your fic, and, without you realizing, even after the internet comes back, the draft might FAIL TO FREAKING SAVE AND THEREFORE MAKE YOU FORCED TO WRITE THE ENTIRE THING ALL OVER AGAIN X(!
*sigh* My fault honestly, I should've copied and pasted it just in case after the internet connection lost so I'd still have the words even if it didn't save. With that said some parts of this might seem/feel rushed compared to usual because it's rather annoying when you have to rewrite everything twice, and for that I apologize.
All the same I really hope everyone enjoys today's episode as we learn a little bit about everyone today!
Enjoy!
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I'm dead! I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead! Glimmer yelled inside her head, unable to look at whatever bloody fate awaited her.
Catra had every reason, at least according to herself, to be angry at Glimmer. When the princess you trusted for the first time in your life ended up being wrong about something when you needed it most, how could you not be angry? She needed it more than any other time the last time she met up with Adora, to prove to her in the one chance she gave her that she was telling truth behind all of this. What happened next, one might ask?
Nothing. Nothing at all happened the one time in Catra's life she needed it most.
Why did she blame Glimmer over this? Oh, no particular reason. Some might say it was because she was used to blaming Glimmer for everything, others would say it was because she had no one else to blame. If you asked her though, it was because Glimmer was the one who gave her the advice, advice Catra asked for herself, in the first place.
She couldn't understand why the sword didn't work either, seeing how it worked perfectly the first time she took her advice. She thought about defending others, she didn't think about defending herself, and possibly every other thing she needed to do it, and it didn't work. The one time she trusted in someone else ended in costing her what felt like everything.
So when Catra suddenly went feral after destroying a strange robot, it was only natural for her to lose all sense of self and attack Glimmer out of nowhere. Having pinned the girl to the ground, dazing her and preventing her from using her magic in the few seconds she lunged her jaws for her throat, Glimmer awaited whatever horrible fate lied before her as her past mistake mistake finally caught up to her.
Am I going to feel it when I die? Will I know when I'm dead? Such thoughts might've been weird to others, but when you never experienced death yourself how were you supposed to know? It was one of those new experiences that you never wanted to experience more than once, much less at all for that matter.
*sniff-sniff*
"Eh?" Too nervous to snap her eyes open at once, she slowly lifted her left eyelid partway, being greeted by a sight she didn't see coming, nor ever expect from anyone like her.
Catra was... sniffing her. She winced a little as she neared her nostril towards her eye. This was beyond weird for the pinned princess. Why was Catra acting so strange? Did it have to do with those red veins she saw growing over the sword before Glimmer pulled the sword away from her? Was it affecting her mind somehow? If she didn't know any better she could've sworn she was acting like a-
*Sllurrrrrrrrrrp!*
"Aggggghhhhhhhh!" Glimmer screeched with morbid shock as her entire body shook with goosebumps from disgust.
That was by far, without comparison, the most disgusting thing she has ever gone through in her life. Nothing from her youngest days of childhood to her personal interactions with animals in the past ever disgusted her like this moment right here. With a single action from a now happy-looking Catra, she created the most sickening experience in Glimmer's life.
Simply by licking her face.
"Ugh, gross, gross, gross!" She didn't care if Catra was still on her or not. She quickly jumped to her feet as she wiped the Catra slobber, two words she never thought she'd have to put together, from her face. During this time the apparently feral Catra just stared her in confusion, squatting onto her hands and feet as licked the back of her hands as she started grooming. She didn't seem bothered by Glimmer's weird behavior, rubbing her head with her licked hands as she groomed herself.
After a minute of wiping the disgusting slop from her person Glimmer shot her attention back to the bathing Catra, at a loss for words about what she was witnessing. "What is wrong with you?"
"Awww! This is amazing!" Oh, right. That was the other person Glimmer nearly forgot about, the reason they were here to begin with. Princess Entrapta, leader of the Kingdom of Dryl, genius inventor who could control her hair like a prehensile tail. The very person who observed Catra with scientific fascination as she wrote down notes in her personal notebook while recording herself with a voice recorder being held in one of her extensions. "Observation entry Mark MC-7-03. Exposure to the red crystalline substance seems to have reverted the magicat to her feral status!"
As she spoke, she wagged a few simple conjoined strands of her hair in front of the Catra's face, getting her attention quite easily as she bobbed it up and down. Angered at the peculiar object dangling in front of her, Catra let out a small hiss as she swiped at the purplish strand with her claws. Seeing the thread of purple continue to taunt her, Catra let out another growl as she gave chase to the escaping appendage of evil.
"The subject's behavior more closely resembles that of a panther or other feral beast than a house cat. It doesn't seem like it knows it can walk either. Did it forget it's basic humanoid mobility or is this another result of mental degradation? I need further study." Oh boy, she could hardly wait to see what the Committee would reward her with! Maybe it would be a new kind of prize, maybe they would give her a brand new title!
Huh! Maybe they would even invent a brand new title for this!
"What the? Catra, why are you acting this way? What's wrong with her?" Glimmer asked worriedly to the toying scientist.
"Science happened!" She squealed clapping her hands. For every thought she was spending trying to explain this to Glimmer, another thought was being processed at any and all possible rewards she would get for this! "See, I've been experimenting with a disc I discovered in the mines recently. It was a total game changer!" The two turned back to the feral friend as she began climbing the walls, doing everything in her power to devour the strange purple that seemed to taunt her.
"It held more complete First Ones code than anything I've ever seen before. But it seemed to have a reacted with the First Ones tech that powers my bots. It infected them with some sort of a virus." Interrupting the two, they both jumped at the sight of Catra falling from the air in front of them. Landing perfectly on her feet and hands with balance, the magicat shook herself free of the dust she gathered, scratching herself behind the ears with with her left leg like a dog.
"But why is it causing Catra to act like this? She's never done anything this... weird..." She was already hoping this wasn't going to be a permanent problem. Aside from being the She-Ra the Rebellion desperately needed, she didn't want to see her friend being stuck as some animal in a humanoid body for the rest of her life.
"Well, I already have a theory or two on that, but just in case, let me take her apart and see." Entrapta smiled as she took a scalpel from her pockets, the scientist prepared for every occasion of observation.
"Rrrrrrrrrrr!" Eyeing the scalpel which glinted in her eye, Catra roared fiercely as she lunged for the scientist directly.
"Ahhh!" Her screams of terror quickly refilled with laughter despite the situation she found herself in. "Hahahaha! This is incredible! Observation mark Entry MC-7-04, the subject reacted defensively at the sight of a dangerous object! She seems to retain foreign memory of important everyday items of interest and objects that mean something to her in some way! This would be a million times more exciting if she wasn't currently drooling with the intention to eat me."
"Catra, no!" Glimmer panicked as she ran to her. It took all of her strength to pull Catra's powerful grip off the chuckling scientist, the very one who jotted down notes without a second thought. Almost immediately Catra gave up any resistance she had as she turned back to the caller of her name. In no time a smile slowly appeared over Catra's face as she began rubbing her head against Glimmer's leg affectionately, like a pet to it's master, letting out a pur as she did. "Catra?"
"Oooh, a breakthrough!" Amazing! There was so much data and details being revealed to the scientist in the short amount of time she's known these two! Who knew that the best way to gather information was to have intruders invade her home on a daily basis! "It appears the magicat retains a strong subconscious memory of people she's met before and interprets as friends!"
"F... Friends?" Did she hear that right? Half the dialogue coming from the kooky scientist didn't make sense to her and somehow that was still more understandable than the person currently rubbing against her knee. "Catra... sees us as friends?"
She wanted to know that since day one. Time after time she and Bow tried all manner of things to get Catra to open up about herself and see them as more than just allies who fought together. They tried socializing, they tried eating together, they even had a couple sleepovers in the past weeks. But no matter how many times they did that did Catra ever seemed the least bit attentive or open minded about being their friends.
In fact she was almost convinced to a certain extent that Catra would never have an interest in being their friend. There was nothing wrong with that on a whole, of course. If Catra wanted to keep their business strictly professional then Glimmer would've accepted that after awhile. Now she was being told Catra saw them as genuine friends?
If it wasn't for the fact the person claiming this seemed to be short of a few screws loose she'd believe her in a heartbeat.
"Yeah, either that or she sees you as the one who feeds her." Sadly that seems like the more probable explanation. "So can I take her apart now?"
"First off, you are not taking her apart!" Glimmer yelled slapping the scalpel out of her hand. "She is a person," she paused briefly to look back at the cat scratching behind her ears again, "kinda. Second, if we destroy this disk, will that turn off the bots and turn her back to normal?"
"Destroy it?" Was she mad? What kind of insane person would want to destroy a creative masterpiece of technology created by the first ones?! Did she not see the benefits such ingenious pieces of technology could give their society? "But the experiment isn't complete yet!"
"Rrrrrr!" Finding an aggressiveness behind the raised voice directed to her master, Catra nearly lunged for the purple-haired genius again, just inches away from swiping her face. Thankfully for her sake, Glimmer managed to react in time as she grabbed hold of her from the back of Catra's uniform, pulling a bit of her hair as she did.
"I think we can safely say this experiment is a failure!"
"But what if it's not-! No, you're right, it's a failure." She didn't need Glimmer's declaration to get the picture, though she still wished it didn't have to be this way. Sometimes when one wanted to pursue the higher glories of science they had to sacrifice something in return. In Entrapta's case it was sacrificing science for science. Why couldn't they ask to take her life instead?
"Rrrrrrrr!"
"Um, easy, girl?" Glimmer tried to calm down the feral-minded Catra, gently patting her head. "Um... there, there?" This was the weirdest day of Glimmer's life. As if getting licked by someone minutes ago who seemed ready to devour them wasn't enough, patting a friend's head and trying to calm them down like a pet definitely did. There were so many things she needed to make sure her mother didn't find out about today.
She also noticed how the irritation in her voice lasted a little longer than previously, the grumbling from the cat sounding more ferocious than the last. "Is it me or is she getting worse?"
"No, it's not you, it's her." Entrapta said in a happy tone. "Chances are the virus is getting progressively worse by the minute. It won't be long until her animal instincts override her memories and she forgets everyone."
She'd forget everyone? Exactly how much would she end up forgetting? Better question, how much would she end up forgetting including the people she knew? "And... what happens if she forgets us?"
"Oh, she'll eat us."
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"Morning Princess!"
"Morning!" Catra greeted back with a wave.
Ah, this was paradise. Nothing but her Kingdom all around her, the villagers walking by as they went about their day, and Adora, always there standing by her side as she checked over some details in the planner she was carrying. Everything was right in the world, as it always was since the day she received her kingdom.
After defeating the Horde as she vaguely remembers, she was given the kingdom of her dreams as promised upon her by the Queen of the Rebellion itself, Angella. She doesn't entirely remember it being this peaceful, in fact she barely remembers winning the war in the first place, and she didn't care. Everything about this kingdom was exactly as she wanted it from the people greeting her with smiles on their faces and no one scoffing at the sight of her or muttering behind her back.
Feeling a little casual today, she decided to don a more everyday kind of outfit for such a great sunny day. She wore a nice, simple, thin, long sleeve red shirt and blue pants for today. They felt a hundred times better than anything she wore before during her time in the Rebellion, feeling the smooth silkiness of the woolen garments pressing gently against her skin. It was almost as comfortable as the bed she slept in with Adora everyday, and that was saying something!
And what kind of princess would she be if she didn't accessorize a little? She was the ruler of this kingdom and she needed to show for it. For starters she had a nice golden oval pendant around her neck, one that opened up to show a picture of herself and Adora standing side by side like the good old times. She also decided today was more of a nature-like theme for today, deciding to wear a sapphire gold ring on her left finger and an encrusted forest green emerald ring on her right finger.
Finally, she did something this morning with Adora she thought she'd never do.
She combed her hair. She didn't brush it like usual just to get a few knots out of her bedhead, she legitimately combed it for the first time in awhile. She had it nice and flattened so it drooped alongside her right shoulder, clean and smooth to the touch as she had it scrubbed thoroughly this morning in the bath.
Adora also took a noticeable change of wardrobe, however slightly it might've been. Compared to her previous red colored jacket, she was now sporting a light blue coloring, one that stretched down to her thighs. While she also had the same white shirt from earlier she also had a serene beautiful blue pants, ones that clashed perfectly against the jacket. And like Catra, she let her hair hang more openly as she no longer had a ponytail. She let her hair hang loose and smooth behind herself, sporting a pink flower around her right ear.
Everything about this place was paradise, and one she knew wasn't fake like her time in Plumeria. That was one memory she didn't need to recall.
So why did everything feel so strange to her?
She couldn't put her finger on it but ever since this morning she felt like something was off about all of this. Did she forget a meeting she had to attend? Or maybe there was a missing servant around the castle today? Something in the back of her mind kept tingling to her like she was forgetting something important. It was also likely she was just fooling herself too. Adora did mention she partied quite late into the night last night with her kingdom, so who was to say.
All that mattered was that her kingdom was happy and flourishing like it did everyday. Not a thing stood out of place to her, no one had any clouds looming over their heads, and nobody gave her any pause to question. The same day like every day she walked through her kingdom with Adora at her side, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Oh! Good morning your highness!" A local fish butcher greeted as he was setting up his stall. "Care to try one of my new Tuna sandwiches? I'm experimenting with several different ingredients to make the perfect one."
"Ha, like I'd say no to that!" She grinned walking over to the stall. Her nose was overwhelmed by the delicious scents of the freshly caught fish, ranging from small finger-sized krill to arm-sized basses and other aquatic animals. Octopi, eels, clams, everything you could expect from a butcher who specialized in all sorts of different sea life.
Taking the offered sandwich itself, she gave it a good smell before taking the first bite. It had a little bit of a strange flavoring to it, tasting possibly several different varieties of mushed fish put together, though nothing that ruined the taste. In fact the taste only got better with every second she tasted it in her mouth.
"Well?" He asked eagerly awaiting her reply.
Swallowing the food with a happy sigh, she gave him an assuring nod as she smiled. "It's great! I think it needs a little less salt though. it's offsetting the flavor."
"I'll make a personal note of that. Thank you your highness!" He bowed respectfully as Catra continued on her way down the street, still eating the sandwich.
"Your majesty!" A woman in a green dress greeted happily. "Any chance you could come visit my baby girl today? We'd still like your advice on a name."
Names? That was one of the few things she didn't think she'd do. Sure, she's been a princess for... however long it's been, but she was the princess she supposed. It was one of the everyday kind of things she'd have to deal with it seems. "Hmm... why not something like Korra? Or no, maybe Gem!"
"Gem sounds wonderful!" The woman beamed clasping her hands. "Thank you so much, your highness!" Catra smiled as she watched the woman run her way back, most likely returning home with a happy bit of news for her husband.
Man being a princess was great! Everyone relied on her for the solutions to their problems and treated her with the respect that was rightfully hers! While some might get annoyed with having so many people relying on themselves for simple situations, Catra was more than eager to answer any of their problems. After all, she was the princess of this entire kingdom, and it was only made sense that she had the answer to all of life's problems.
"Ok, so first you have a meeting with a Duke and Duchess from the North..." Adora began as she went through the day's planner.
"Pass." Catra replied with a smile, holding her head against her arms behind it.
"Today you have an opening ceremony for several new buildings that finished reconstruction."
"Skip."
"We have an appearance we can make today at the public park."
"Uh... no thanks..." She raised a brow as Adora went off the list. There was a strange tone to her voice as she went off each and every thing in today's planner. It was like she was saying each thing as if it was the beginning of her list, not anywhere in the middle of it. "Let's just enjoy the day for ourselves, ok?"
"Of course, your highness." Adora said cheekily. "It's not like we had any other plans today."
Did she mean that sarcastically? It was strange how nonchalant she said that. It was like they actually didn't have any plans for today, like they disappeared all of a sudden.
"Look, it's mama!" A high pitch squeak yelled from behind.
"Huh? Ahh-!"
*Thud*
"Hmhmhm..." Adora covered her mouth as she let out a small chuckle. It was always adorable to her how the kids greeted the princess of the kingdom each and every day.
Catra was at a loss for words at what was going on here. Immediately after turning around she found herself being dogpiled by seven different kids of various ages, some toddlers, other probably around seven or eight and so forth. All around her she saw kids chuckling and hugging her limbs, several of them on one leg alone, and a small child playing with her tail. The kids ranged from humans to other subspecies such as lizardmen and satyrs. All of them were excited to see her like they always were, Catra feeling as if this was a completely normal routine for her.
"Mama's here!" The kids cheered one after another.
"Mama! Mama!"
"Did you come to play with us today? Didya? Didya?"
"Uhh... whose kids are you again?" Catra garbled as one of the kids pulled her cheeks.
"Hmhmhm, don't act like you don't know them, Catra." Adora chuckled again. "They're the kids you had the orphanage built for."
"Orphanage?" That... didn't sound like something she would do. Did she? She didn't have a problem with the really little kids or anything but she couldn't exactly picture herself having an orphanage built for all the children in her kingdom. Then again, every kingdom had to have some sort of orphanage for the poor kids who lost their parents, she assumed, so maybe it's something she did? Who cared if she recalled it or not, she was the princess. She probably forgot about it after whatever other meetings or plans she had for the day.
"Can you come play with us mama?" One of the kids asked excitedly. It set off a chain of sparks as she was bombarded with requests and pleas from the other kids soon after.
"Come play with us!"
"Please! Please! Can ya?"
"Let's play!"
"Ack!" She yelped feeling a step on her tail, jumping to her feet. Even though it irritated her she wasn't about to snap at kids like this, especially in public. "Look, squirts, thanks for the offer and all but I'm kinda busy today." Which wasn't exactly a lie. She did want to spend the day for herself hanging out with Adora so it was kind of the truth.
"Aww but you promised!"
"I did?"
"Indeed." Adora perked up, flipping through the pages of her planner. "Exactly 3 weeks, 4 days, and seven hours ago to be exact."
Trying her best not to show it in front of the kids, she shot Adora a look. "...You really know when to be annoying."
"I know." She smirked back with a wink.
"Come on, mama!"
"Yeah come on!"
"Come on, come on, let's play!" The kids wasted no time as they began pulling her against her will.
"Ack-! Ok, ok, we'll play one game, all right?" The Princess found herself unable to fight back, unwilling to hurt the kids around her that just wanted to have some fun. And she had to admit, she can't remember the last time she ever played with these kids her kingdom adopted. Heck, it was already a beautiful sunshiny day! Who could ask for a more perfect weather than this to play a game or two on?
She was taken back as she felt a small tug coming from behind her. Looking down, she couldn't help awe at the sight silently as she saw a small one-year-old with pink hair, wearing a bright blue dress with a sunflower on it that stretched halfway over her green diaper. The little girl was raising her arms up as it wanted to be held, looking at Catra with a big pair of adorable eyes. Looking back to Adora to see her fawning at the sight, Catra sighed.
Back to the baby, she chuckled at the small kid, picking her up in her right arm, the little girl giggling as it held on and kicked her legs playfully. "All right, come on you. You get to ride front seat." Which was more along the lines of front arms since there weren't riding any vehicles, not that the toddler complained.
"Excuse me, your majesty?" A florist spoke up as she walked along behind Catra. "Can I have a moment of your time?"
"Umm maybe later. I'm kind of busy here."
"But I need your advice on a bouquet for a wedding tomorrow-"
"I said no!" She yelled looking back to the depressed flower keeper. Why didn't she understand that she was busy? These kids needed her first, stupid flower stuff could come second. Why, stupid flower stuff always came second in her kingdom!
"Catra, who are you talking to?" Adora asked as she, as well as the rest of the kids, looked back to her in confusion.
"Uhhh who do you think? I was talking to the-" She came to a stop as she looked behind her again.
There was nothing there. All she saw was the smooth concrete cement road that went all throughout her kingdom and the passersby who greeted her as they went on about their day. She was talking to blank empty air without a soul in front of her. She would've looked crazy to anyone else who came across her like this.
"Umm... no one, I guess?" She replied with a shrug, continuing her walk. What was going on here? She was sure, almost one-hundred percent positive, that she was talking to someone a few seconds ago. In fact she was pretty sure she was talking to several people at the time. Who was she talking to? Kids? Adults? An imaginary friend? That would've made more sense even though it would've made her look a little loony.
Ah who cares. It was her kingdom, right? She could talk to a sign post for all that mattered and she would still be worshipped upon. This was her kingdom, not anyone else's, and she could do what she wanted with it. She could set a building on fire, provided it was empty, and the people would probably praise her name in glory. It was just her, her kingdom, and Adora, and nobody else. And that's the way she preferred it.
All the while she was completely unaware as the citizens disappeared one by one as she passed them.
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...
*sniff*
*sniff*
*sniff-sniff*
"Ngggh, Catra, slow down!" Glimmer grunted as she held tightly to the rope around Catra's neck like a leash.
The entire trip through the castle was less than grand despite how magnificent the labyrinth was. If it wasn't one thing it was another between Entrapta leading them through it and Catra's animal instincts making life harder for the last princess with common sense running through this place.
First, there was the exploration itself. Every time Entrapta lead them through one corridor she immediately backed out and explored the other one. It was clear to Glimmer she had no idea where she was going, not that she'd blame her given how massive this castle was from the inside. At other times Entrapta would find a secret hatch that would open a rotating wall which connected the hallways, almost resulting in Catra getting separated from them when Entrapta accidentally flipped the wall again with Catra being on the other side. Thankfully she stayed long enough in the spot to get back before she could run away.
Her navigation was probably the easier of two evils to deal with since the greater of two evils was currently sniffling around this place like an animal. Throughout every interior of this great maze Catra took it upon herself to sniff about the strange surroundings, often at times digging through whatever cabinets or drawers they came across when Entrapta lead them to a room by accident.
At least several times during this exploration did Catra pick up the sound of robots approaching, forcing Glimmer and Entrapta to hide while holding back a growling Catra. It became awkward for the pink-haired princess when she was forced to pet or scratch Catra's head comfortingly to keep her from growling loud enough for the robots to find her. While this only reduced the noise to small purrs instead, it did at least lower the volume enough for them to wait in cover while the robots passed them.
And not two minutes ago did possibly the most disgusting part of this journey happened. With her nose picking up a familiar scent, one that made her hunger, Glimmer and Entrapta found Catra suddenly chasing away at something she found in the hallways. It took nearly five minutes until the two finally managed to catch up to her, resulting in Glimmer regretting every decision to do so when she found out what Catra had finally caught.
A mouse. A lone single mouse no bigger than a strawberry that somehow managed to makes it's way within the sanctity of the entire castle. No doubt it found it's way in during the viral robotic outbreak, seeing how all the systems and sensors that kept such small infestations out were now running amok. That same mouse was now currently dangling for it's life as Catra held it by the tip of it's tail in it's mouth, almost as if she was offering it as a gift or a food for Glimmer herself.
She really wished she did accept it t compared to what Catra did to it afterwards.
"I still can't believe she ate it..." Glimmer mumbled, shriveling with disgust. The only bright side to it was that it was all in one gulp rather than in horrible tiny pieces.
After finding themselves getting lost by Entrapta's navigation or Catra running off towards the next distraction did the girl finally get fed up with playing a game of cat-and-mouse between the two. After exploring the next room, a supply room, they came across after Catra's meal did she take the moment to examine the room, finding it fortunate enough to come across a couple of ropes that stretched a couple yards. It proved to be a convenient makeshift leash for the girl so Glimmer only had to worry about following one girl the entire time.
Speaking of whom, the animal side of her continued to grow over the course of this exploration. Her senses heightened over the time they took exploring this place, her irritation and aggressiveness towards Entrapta raised as she tried to attack the girl several more times, though to be fair she was trying to study her on numerous occasions, and she started looking at Glimmer as if she never met her before on at least two occasions. It was clear she was losing more and more of her memory and time was running out.
The upside to that was on the one occasion they accidentally stumbled across several robots thanks to Entrapta's navigation skills. While Glimmer could've possibly dealt with the bots herself, Catra roared at the metal monsters as she lunged straight for them. In no time at all she ripped the robots to shreds one by one with her bare claws, ripping the limbs from one another until they were piles of garbage scattered around her. It was the one time she was glad for Catra's animal instincts, seeing how swiftly she managed to deal with them before the robots created enough noise to attract other dangers to their location.
Suffice to say, this had been the weirdest mission Glimmer had undergone throughout her time in the Rebellion, and given the numerous monsters and locations she's been to, that was saying a lot.
"I think we're almost there!" Entrapta declared with a smile.
"You said that the last eight times." Glimmer commented as she held the leash to the girl crawling around on her hands and knees.
"Well this time I'm more than sure."
"You said that the last three times too." She sighed. At the rate things were going she started to wonder if she was going to get killed by the monsters, lost in this maze forever, or eaten by Catra after her memories completely vanished. Speaking of wondering, that was the other thing that came across Glimmer's mind as she looked to her animal-driven friend. "By the way, what did you mean earlier about Catra?"
"About what?"
"About her being the last of her species or something? Some magic cat?"
"Oh, you mean magicats!" The scientist giggled as she took out one of her various personal notebooks. "It's pretty much what I said, she's a magicat. A cat-like race that lived not too long ago really. They even had their own kingdom."
"They did?" Taking a glance at Catra, she continued her questioning. "But you said she was last, right? What happened to her people?"
For the first time since meeting the princess, she answered back with a shrug of uncertainty. "Beats me. They were wiped out some time ago. Some say it was a sickness, others say it was a some sort of accident. None of the history I've read up on really has a specific answer. All I know is that she could be the very last magicat alive."
"I never really took you for the historian type more than the science girl."
"Are you kidding? History is the second most important thing next to science! How else are we supposed to know how civilizations built their technologies in the first place? Plus it makes it all the more fun when you work on a piece of technology never discovered before or one they had yet to finish, like the First Ones!" Just thinking about it made her oodle with glee, squeezing her hands with excitement. "It's like putting a puzzle together when you try to replicate a piece of ancient technology never seen before. And the more advanced the technology, the more fun it is!"
She might not have been a science girl as much as Entrapta but she could see her point. With all the strange things and technologies left behind by the First Ones, there was no telling what sort of benefits they could give to the people of today. Even the Rebellion continues to use and search for unearthed First Ones' tech to help them win the war, as well as assist people with new technology and medicines that can make their lives easier.
Heck, Catra's sword was a piece of First Ones' technology. It gave her the power to transform into a benevolent figure, one who was stronger, faster, more powerful than anything the Rebellion currently had. She could just imagine how easy it would be to win the war with as little casualties as possible if there was something as powerful as the sword to give all their allies.
"Plus I just read about the fun parts of history."
"LIke the science?" Glimmer assumed correctly.
"That's right! By the way, did she ever say where she came from? Did she say if she was with her own kind when you met her?"
"Um... No, not really." It felt like the more reasonable thing to say than to say she was a Horde defector.
It also gave her another worrying thought. How much did Catra know about her own species and her own people? Does she know anything about them in the first place? Have her people been working for the Horde as well up till now? It would explain why people don't know much about them if they were shunned for joining the Horde, yet it didn't explain why nobody ever mentioned them like the other kingdom that joined the Horde.
It didn't help that Catra's revealed little to nothing about herself either. For all she knew maybe her entire family died and the Horde took her in? Or maybe they were okay and were working for the Horde willingly, meaning Catra was betraying her still-living family and the Horde at the same time. Then again, maybe she really was the last one of her kind, explaining her off putting attitude towards others because of her painful history. Whatever the case was, it opened a lot more possibilities about Catra's origins and personalities, as well as questions about her.
And another hint of sadness too. To be living a life where you're the last of your kind, where your're all alone in the world without anyone to relate to, it must've been a horrible experience. That was something Glimmer would never be able to understand, and hoped she'd never have to.
"Ah, we're here!" Entrapta announced proudly as she came to a corridor in the middle of the hallway.
"Do you mean it this time?" There was enough evidence to leave Glimmer doubtful at this rate. Luckily silver tidings seemed to wash over them as Entrapta marched over to the electronic door.
"Of course I mean it! A scientist is never wrong, just inaccurate!" She sneered.
"Uhh isn't that the same... nevermind." As long as it meant their journey was almost over and Catra would be fixed then she didn't care. "Can you open the door?"
"You bet!" With eagerness in her veins she quickly tapped away into the twelve digit control console, unprepared for what happened after.
*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
Upon the final key, Entrapta's entire body lit up like a christmas light as static and electricity danced all around her. Her body flashed back and forth between being fully lit to practically seeing her inner skeleton, unable to stop herself as the power surged throughout her body.
Noticing the strange person flashing in front of her, Catra neared her head towards the lightning figure as she sniffed her. Glimmer barely caught her in time as she pulled her leash back before Catra could get any closer to the lightning rod of a princess, Catra giving a small hiss at this in return.
After another several seconds had passed the lightning show finally came to an end, Entrapta covered from hair to toe in burn marks all around her body, the smell of cooked meat coming off her body as she tingled, the scent making Catra lick her lips in hunger. "Wow. The door's infected, too. It won't let us in." As to how she could sound excited at the fact they were powerless to press on, Glimmer would never know. And she was fine with that. "That is so smart. And awful. We're all gonna die."
"I could try to teleport inside, but I'm not sure it's a good idea." She wasn't afraid of the robots around here and the possible dozen inside the room, she was more worried about the idea of leaving a feral Catra with the girl who wanted to dissect her. She didn't know who would be dead by the time she got back out here.
"Huh! You can teleport?" Entrapta clasped her hands again with enthusiasm. "Tell me how it works! Show it works!"
"Yeah, sure, later, like maybe when we're not in the middle of a robot uprising?"
"It's a date!" She clapped.
"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrng!" Catra let out a ferocious growl as the ends of her hair stood up, tail swishing back and forth furiously.
"Catra?" She and Entrapta turned towards the rightmost corridor Catra was hissing at as they felt the approach of trembling footsteps.
To their dismay, the two shrieked at the sight of another verily large robot, one sporting a simple brown hat, and a massive arm that towered over the both of them. Like the many robots they had encountered, there was a menacing evil behind it's glowing red eyes, a familiar red crystal at the bottom portion of it's torso, right above it's wheeled legs.
"Roooooooowr!" Immediately Catra lashed out as she charged forward against the monstrosity, her leash slipping straight out of Glimmer's grip before the pink-haired princess knew what happened.
"Catra no!"
The she-beast didn't care. With her instincts taking over a majority of her mind, all she could process was that this thing was a threat to her and to her friend. Like with the previous robots, she leapt across the ground on the tips of her feet, picking up speed as she neared the dangerous being with her claws at the ready. Right as she jumped into the air, pulling back a claw to rip the creature to shreds, did it open it's mouth to release an unearthly scream.
*Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*
"Rrrrrrrrrng!" Dropping straight to the ground Catra cried out in a beastly pain, her entire body shaking at the sound of the ear piercing scream. She had no knowledge of this strange sound, no past experiences she could remember with hearing something at such a high frequency and sound. All she knew was that it was sending her instincts out of control, her entire body warning her that she was in more danger staying here than trying to defend herself.
Letting out a shrill cry Catra took off in the other direction, heading down the other corridor passed Glimmer and Entrapta. As Glimmer watched on in terror, Entrapta let out another bout of giggles as she brought out her tape recorder again, clicking it on. "This is amazing! Apparently the bots have adapted to the magicat's fighting styles and weaknesses! Hehehehe, they're learning!"
"Entrapta," Glimmer stopped as she grabbed her arm, "could we please stop spending so much time having fun and spend more time on getting AWAY!" Glimmer didn't give her a chance to actually answer the question, and Entrapta didn't need much time to determine that either, as the two ran down the same corridor that Catra ran towards. The bot from the hallway gave chase as it roared angrily, drawing in several dozen bots in turn that followed after the bot as well.
Now on top of the lack of means to fight back, they were down one Catra if the magicat couldn't fight to her fullest against these adaptable fighting machines. With every step they ran they heard another two steps following closely behind them, more bots giving chase as they were drawn in through the noise they were making. As if the dozens of traps scattered throughout this place wasn't enough, they had to contend with the killer bots that never tired as they gave chase.
They were all running through a literal Maze of Death.
...
...
"Are you sure about this?" Shadow-Weaver asked as she and Adora stood right outside a door.
"Yes... Shadow-Weaver." Despite her assurance, Shadow-Weaver could feel the doubt emanating from the young girl. And Adora didn't care.
She needed this to happen.
She had a means to finally fight back against the princesses thanks to the headband Shadow-Weaver gifted her with, and it came at a terrible cost to. For everything it amplified and empowered, it also caused her emotions to run amok against her will, amplifying in addition to the rest of her. A simple laugh left her falling to her sides clutching them in giggles. A single glare burned an inferno of anger through Adora's core. A mere tremble of the lip caused tears to pour from Adora's being at whatever regret she had committed. She couldn't allow this.
She didn't like the headband either, not that she would show her dissatisfaction to the being who gave her such an incredible gift. When she wore it, she felt a wave of warm wash over her. It calmed her down, it made her feel happy, and it made whatever problems she had beforehand feel like yesterday's news.
It was almost addicting, in a way, how much the headband made her feel better after all the stress she's had to deal with up to now. With Catra's brainwashing from the princesses, the rumors going about that she defected for her own selfish reasons, and the idea that each and every day someone could come in and turn in a bounty for a dead Catra left her with fear. She couldn't keep going on like this knowing there was nothing she could do. Absolutely nothing.
Until now.
With a private training room secluded for their personal use, Shadow-Weaver opened the door. Inside, all Adora could see was blackness, a terrible feeling of sorrow, and a fear of unknown origin reaching her heart. "Once you go in, Adora, I can't let you out until you complete the training."
"I understand, Shadow-Weaver. Thank you." She replied with a respectful nod as she stepped in.
"For your training, you must learn to close off your emotions, learn to channel what you must to survive. There will be three droids within the room. Eliminate them, and your training will be complete."
"That's it? Just... eliminate them?" She had to admit, it did sound a little too easy.
"While mastering to control your emotions, my dear." Shadow-Weaver reminded. "I will warn you right now, Adora. The experience will be... unpleasant, but it's the quickest way you'll master this power to fight against the princesses. Unless of course..." She didn't need to finish the sentence for Adora to know what she was implying.
Basically it came down to either mastering this new power and save her best friend, or taking her chances against superpowered creatures of evil with her bare hands and risk losing everything. She might've made it sound one way to her, but she knew better than that.
There was no choice in this.
"I know, Shadow-Weaver. But I'm ready for this, I mean it." Pulling out the headband from her pockets she cleared her mind as she donned the dreaded band for the second time in her life.
Unlike less time, the pain that came over her this time around was much more bearable. The pain she felt last time when she was being burned alive was reduced to what felt like someone kicking her in the head for several seconds. In addition, the shadows simply gathered at her feet this time around rather than overwhelm her entire being. She could still feel the shadows tingling through her fingertips though, so she knew her shadowy shapeshifting was still in affect.
And, her favorite part, she felt a wave of relief over her, one she was planning to maintain throughout the entire training exercise.
"Good luck, my dear." Without another word, Shadow-Weaver had the doors sealed shut, leaving Adora surrounded by endless darkness.
"..."
"..."
"...So... how is this supposed to help me?" Adora asked herself aloud.
That was probably the one thing she should've asked Shadow-Weaver before they started. Looking back on it, Shadow-Weaver never mentioned once exactly what they were going to do to train her. Sure, fighting a bunch of robots was a good way to practice her shadow magic, but without a means to see in the dark how was she supposed to? Even if she used her other senses like hearing and such that still wouldn't help her figure out how to control her emotions.
As if to answer her question, a voice called out in the darkness, one Adora never thought she'd hear.
"Adora!" Catra cried out in pain.
"C-Catra?!" With fear entering her mind, her entire body shook with the rise of goosebumps. From her head to her toe she felt overwhelming fear overtake her, panic filling her mind as her heart raced. "Catra! Where are you?!" She shouted out.
The voice echoed throughout the entire room, the training facility being large enough to stretch nearly half a mile long in all directions. With such a large empty location the acoustics reverberated all around the walls.
"Adora! Help meeeee!" Eyes filling with tears of dread, Adora took off directly ahead of her, chasing after wherever the sound of the desperate cries for help.
Catra needed her, she begged for her. Adora was well aware that this was all a ruse and yet her heart refused to listen to her mind. All she could think about was running into the direction of the voice, trying to listen as best as she could through the emptiness to find her beloved friend.
"Where are you? Catra?!"
"...Heh heh heh..." That voice. She's only heard it once, hearing the battle cry as she launched an ineffective ball of magic straight at Adora's being. She didn't care if she didn't know the owner of the voice. All that mattered was the burning rage inside of her that expanded upon hearing that one laugh. "Hi Adora~" It taunted.
"YOU!" In an instant, despite not seeing it herself, Adora grew the gargantuan arms of shadows over her arms, claws stretched out and ready to tear that stupid princess into tiny little pieces!
"Gosh, what a great friend you have here."
"Grrrrrrr!" Who cared if she could see or not! If she swung anywhere, she should be able to hit something, right? And that's exactly what she did as she began flailing her arms around, trying to hit wherever the sound came from next. "Get out here!"
"It was so much fun playing with her. You should've heard her screaming your name by the time I was done with her~"
"SHUT UP!" Forming the massive tentacle in her right arm, she spun it around in a complete 360* of herself, hoping to hit anything. Like the attempts at clawing at everywhere, she hit nothing but empty air. This didn't prevent her from flailing about though, continuing to slam the tentacle in every other direction soon after in vain.
"You know, I'll never get what she saw in you. If you were such a great friend, why didn't you try and help her when she needed you most? It was almost boring torturing her for the last several hours of her screams. At least it taught me a very fun lesson! When you torture someone to the point of crying long enough, their tears can actually dry out! Who knew, huh?"
"ENOUGH!" With another roar, Adora drew the shadows into her other arm, creating another tentacle just as large as the one on her right arm. Screaming at the top of her lungs, grasping both her tentacles together, she slammed the tentacles all around her creating an earth shattering vibration throughout the training room, the sound of metal creaking with each pound. She didn't care if she hit the thing or not. If she got any angrier at the feeling inside of her, she swore she would've exploded!
"Adora?" Adora blinked as the sound of her friend reached her ears again. Unlike the first time, this time it was different. It had a higher pitch to it. Softer, kinder. The one Adora easily remembered as the sweet and innocent little kid Catra used to be. As quickly as she formed them did Adora's shadows dissipate, a feeling of joy coming to her teary eyes.
"C-Catra? Is that you?" She sniffled smiling.
"Hey, can we play games like we used to? That's what friends do, right?"
"Y-Yeah!" Her voice cracked at the sound. The memory of when they were kids was so beautiful. It was before their lives changed for the harder, when training drills and lessons took up both of their time. Before Adora's one mistake changed Catra's personality for the rest of their lives. "We c-can play one right now if you want."
"Really? That's great! Can I choose the game?" The little girl voice of Catra asked.
"Sure! What do you want to play?" This was getting weirder by the minute. No matter how many times Adora's mind told her this was all fake her heart overruled it. It was like her thoughts were coming from her heart instead of her mind and her emotions were coming from her mind and not the heart. It was a twisted experience nobody would want, less they'd be willing to sacrifice any sanity they had left.
"How about... TAG!"
*Pew!*
"Agggh!" Adora cried out in pain as she was blasted from the back, blasting her to the ground.
That was the blast from a fully automated droid, one that began to illuminate after blasting Adora away. The pain from the blast was excruciating, feeling a severe burn from where the blast came from. In all honesty, it was preferred and surprising compared to the alternative. A blast from these droids were capable of destroying a tank or collapsing an entire building. The fact Adora was still alive and wincing was proof of how powerful her physical state has heightened thanks to this band. She could deal with a small burning sensation building on her back, not a hole through her chest.
Gritting her teeth, she rolled over to her back, leaning up as she rubbed the sore spot. In front of her she watched one by one as the three droids she was tasked with destroying revealed themselves, illuminating their entire bodies through the blaster itself, the darkness of this room providing the means for their entire being to be shown.
Thankfully for her, they didn't release any blasts. It seemed Shadow-Weaver made sure whoever designed these things knew not to shoot her when she was down, when she was in physical pain. These bots wouldn't stop until either they were destroyed or they eliminated Adora, being silent enough to tread through the darkness without making a sound, something Adora noticed as she chased all over for these things.
Worst of all, the one thing that made this all inhumane, was the voices constructed into these creatures. From left to right the droids "talked", in the same order that Adora heard the voices.
"Please! Come save me Adora!"
"Don't worry about Catra, Adora. She's perfectly safe with me."
"Can we play again?"
As quickly as they came did they disappear into the shadows, the highlighting beams dimming around them as they stepped into the darkness once more.
Groaning to herself, rubbing the sore on her back, Adora stood. The seriousness of the situation made itself perfectly clear to Adora.
If she didn't master her control over her emotions, these bots would destroy her. If she couldn't destroy the bots, she would be trapped in this eternal darkness forever. Everything in her life brought a wide array of emotions to her, both positive and negative, and she always had the memories of those emotions to help push her forward through most of her life.
Now, she was going to have to master sealing them away. She couldn't allow herself to be tethered by her emotions from here less she wished for an untimely end.
The Horde needed her.
Her allies needed her.
Catra needed her.
And if saving Catra meant transforming into the most hideous creature on the inside, then she would become the ultimate creature of darkness, no matter what the costs...
...
...
...
A/N: And hopefully this nice sized mid-episode chapter made the wait worthwhile ^^! I did have a good chunk of fun here and there, and enjoyed the dream sequence myself. I'll be honest, originally I was going to go for a bit of a different feel through it, but after all the fanbase and feels that came from everyone who was excited, I changed it up a bit! I'll still maintain whatever point I need at the end of course, but here's hoping you enjoyed today's episode as much as I did!
As always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!