A/N: Hey guys, monokub here! Bit of a shorter chapter today to make way for a grand fight we got going next chapter (and since it's been awhile since my last posting, know you guys wanna know where I'm at XP). Like I said, now school's over, updates will be a little less frequent, but i'll do everything in my power to keep it all in the same writing quality you all know and love! So hopefully, you guys will still be entertained by some shenanigans down below ^^
With that said, enjoy!
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The War Room was one of the first places renovated after the Battle of Bright Moon, an event that was still as fresh in their minds as much as everything else. As Glimmer, Bow, and Catra made their way into the meeting room, they could see that most of the gang were already present, including Glimmer's mother, Queen Angella, Swift Wind, standing between Princess Spinnerella and Netossa, the Captain of the Guard, to the right of the Queen, and Princess Mermista of Salineas to the right of her.
It always brought a warm smile to Angella's person whenever she saw the amount of people filling the empty chairs. It reminded her of the better times of her life when the Rebellion was whole, where the kings and queens of the neighboring kingdoms were all working together before the great fall of the first Alliance. Now, the honor of restoring and maintaining that alliance befell her own daughter, Princess Glimmer, and she couldn't be more proud.
Now if half of those present could act a little less like children, including those who actually were children, that'd be a better step in the right direction...
"Sorry, heh, I think you're in my chair." Perfuma said to the lazing Mermista who casually smirked back as she leaned against the chair's arms.
"Yeah, don't you find it helpful to shift perspectives sometimes?" She teased. Maintaining the most composure she could, Perfuma stared at her briefly as her right brow twitched, silently squeezing her fist as she brushed off the annoyance and took a seat right next to her.
"Aunt Casta! You made it!" Glimmer's never been so happy to see her Aunt before, being the first time she's seen her in the Alliance since the original.
"I wouldn't miss it, dearest." She replied, smiling. If there was anyone in this room she was more than happy to see, it was the bright, smiling, face of her dear niece. "The first war room of the new alliance. How exciting."
"It's a shame you couldn't be there at the battle when the alliance was formed." The Queen commented, sounding miffed while maintaining her composure.
"How often do those two bicker?" Catra whispered over to Glimmer as the princess and Bow took their seats.
"Honestly, this is the furthest thing from bickering I've seen." She whispered back. "I'm surprised my mother even said anything to her so far."
"Huh..." If it wasn't for the fact Catra had more respect for the Queen now, especially after getting on her good side, she would've been more than eager to spice up the tension between the two. Not to mention they might have been without a war room if those two ever got into a fight over their past. With that in mind, Catra took her seat right next to the vacant chair on Glimmer's left-
*schlip*
*thud*
"Ow!" Catra yelped, rubbing her backside as Glimmer looked back. Much to her surprise, and to the painful posterior of Catra's bottom, the magicat ended up slipping right out of the chair from the moment she touched it, falling right out of her seat where her forehead collided with the table briefly and her butt was greeted with a harsh landing on the hard ground. Turning back to the traitorous chair in anger, she was met with the sight of a completely frozen seat covered in ice. "What the heck?"
"I call dibs sitting next to Glimmer!" A voice called out, cheerfully hopping their way over to the seat as they stole Catra's spot. Much to Catra's irritation, the supposed culprit of this little icicle trick was none other than the youngest member of the Princess Alliance, Princess Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows, who gave her back a cheeky grin as Catra as she rose back to her feet, still rubbing her painful butt.
"Grrrrr, get out of my spot!"
"Sorry, I already called dibs." Frosta sneered back.
"There's no calling dibs at the meeting table! Besides, I always sit next to Glimmer!"
"Well, you should've called dibs if you wanted to sit next to her beforehand."
"I already said there's no dibs!"
"Well then you should've called dibs on there being no dibs!"
"What part of no dibs don't you understand?!"
As the two continued to argue back and forth, Glimmer leaned against her own chair with a look of boredom and unamusement. Normally, anyone would be thrilled at the prospect of having two good friends fighting over them. After all, not only did it say how much they meant to the person in question when they were willing to fight for them, it also showed how far they were willing to go to do something for that person. In this case, having the privilege of sitting next to the leader of the Princess Alliance.
In this case, however, there was little to find enjoyable out of this. Here, she was being fought over by, when it came down to it, a young child with the manners of Catra, and a Catra with the manners of a young child. A kid and a cat. Probably the most embarrassing duo to be fought over.
"Would you guys stop fighting already?" Glimmer finally said, breaking up one of the many banters the two were having. "Catra, just sit in the next chair over, the meeting won't take that long."
"Mmmmhhh..." There was no greater shame or annoyance to the magicat than the sight of the shorter, younger, and annoying princess of Snows having her way, especially when she stuck her tongue out at the older girl like she always did when she had her way. Sadly, she knew she couldn't afford to make a scene and risk losing the Princess Alliance, again, because of her anger like last time. She refused to let her have the last laugh, though. "Least my butts not going to be wet when the meeting's over."
"Huh?" At the detail, Frosta noticed a small wetness along her backside, the cooled ice slowly melting as she set against it. As Catra took a seat a chair away from her. Refusing to let the magicat get the upperhand in their little bout, Frosta casually grinned back as she clicked her fingers, a small, audible, crackling noise filling the area around them as she refroze the ice, ensuring it wouldn't melt during the meeting. "Hah!"
"..." Catra said nothing to the girl as smirked back, bringing confusion to Frosta's being as she blinked to her. What few seconds she was about to spend asking her for details were instantly dashed away as she realized something. Along with a dreaded chill now creeping up her spine, she just realized her one mistake, the same one Catra was proud of herself for.
She froze her butt to the chair now, and it was freezing.
"Gheheheheh!" She shivered as her teeth chattered, her nerves tingling with the goosebumps spreading across her body. Ever since Frosta officially joined the Princess Alliance, this had been the same behavior displayed by the two on a daily basis. Frosta would pick on Catra for picking on her, she would fight over being able to hang out with Glimmer or being closer to her, and an endless prank war would erupt between the two until a meeting was called to order, or if they were in the middle of a mission.
If Glimmer facepalmed as much as she did now because of the two on a daily basis, she was sure she was going to have a handprint tattooed across her face. As for Catra, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride after pranking someone half her size again, leaning back in her chair with her feet on the table as always.
"Alright, everyone settle down." The Queen requested, wanting to get the meeting underway before anything else delayed them. "Swift Wind, what news do you bring from the south and the west?"
"The Horde has gained more territory in the west." Swift Wind informed as Spinnerella activated the small projection in front of him. Lighting up, the others watched as a holographic pink projection of the territory rose above the table, displaying which areas were under Rebellion control and which areas were Horde. "But with the help of Netossa and Spinnerella, our forces have manged to re-capture Thaymor. Again." With the announcement, Spinnerella and Netossa fistbumped each other in congratulations for themselves.
"Good." Catra mumbled, resting her eyes as she leaned back. "Bout time we got something back from them."
"I bet I know a different reason you're happy about it, Catwa~" Just from the sound of her voice, Catra instantly began to blush as an irritated vein appeared on her forehead, knowing who Glimmer was trying to mimic. "I'm sure a certain someone will be happy to thank you later."
"W-Would you knock it off!" Catra grumbled, turning away as the blush deepened. "I-I just owe her for being the first friendly person I've met outside the Horde. That's all."
"Hmhmhm..." No matter how selfish or self-centered Catra always displayed herself as, it always warmed Glimmer's heart to know she still cared for other people, like a certain four-and-a-half-year-old girl named Kim.
"Also," Swift Wind continued, "why don't I get a chair? If everyone else wants a chair, I want a chair."
"A-A chair. Of course. I'll see to it." The Queen replied, a little unsure of how someone would pull that off. "Commander Glimmer, how goes the situation in the Whispering Woods?"
"I'm happy to report we are handling the robots, and protecting the woods while it regrows, which it is doing... very... slowly..." Even though it might not have been intentional, Catra gave a soft frown to this as she lowered her head. She couldn't tell if She-Ra had any chance of healing the forest with her powers, which was another things to add to the unending list off irritations festering in her mind.
"Maybe it's time we stop fighting," Perfuma interrupted as she stood, "and start healing. My powers aren't strong enough to regrow the entire woods on my own, but when we princesses worked together in harmony at the Battle of Bright Moon, our powers grew. We should try to recapture that energy!" Without warning, Mermista flinched as she found a hand suddenly clenched around her wrist as she leaned against the table. "Maybe we should hold hands, and think healing thoughts. Hummmmm..."
"Yeah, if thinking it was all that was needed, I would've done it a long while ago." Catra remarked, lowering her feet as she leaned against the table, too. "And even if we did, that wouldn't stop the droids from coming back later on."
"If I may, Your Majesty." Bow spoke up as he stood. "We can't go on like this. We're defeating the bots, but more keep coming. While we're using our resources to hold our borders, the Horde hasn't had to deploy a single soldier. "
"Well what did you expect?"" Just the thought of it irritated Catra as she crossed her arms. "Adora doesn't make rash decisions, she plans things out in every detail, including who or what to send and where. As long as the droids exist, she's going to keep using them to prevent risking their own soldiers,"
"I've only been able to recover pieces, seeing as we have never not completely destroyed one of these things..." He hinted, glancing to the right.
Well EXCUSE me for helping...
"But if we can capture a whole bot, I might be able to program a kill switch. We could wipe them all out without draining our forces." The Queen and Head Sorceress of Mystacor smiled at the prospect as the others looked amongst themselves with excitement, save for the usual moody individual of the group. If they could develop a usable kill switch to disable the robots, it wouldn't just mean stopping the droids here and now, but throughout all of Etheria! No longer would they waste precious resources trying to fight against a never-ending army of droids, ones who felt no emotion for what they destroyed.
In addition, it also paved way to a possible future assault on the Horde itself. With the droids out of their commission, that would severely cut their army's size down by half, rendering them at half strength against whatever forces the Rebellion would have at the time to throw at them.
It was almost perfect in every way!
"An excellent idea, Bow!" The Queen nodded in approval as Bow smiled. "This could turn the tide for us. Glimmer take your patrol out, and capture a bot for Bow to study and carry out his plan."
Nodding, Glimmer rose from her seat as she turned to leave. She didn't know what warmed her heart more these days when it came to the meetings; the fact her and her mother were on better terms as of late, the way her mother spoke so authoritative when addressing Glimmer as a commander, assuring her of her trust in her daughter, or the numerous faces of allies that now filled the table.
To think that within a few months since Catra's defection, they would have gained such an ample amount of allies and friends. With Perfuma's kingdom's power, they had a control over the natural forests, making the woods even more defensible with her help. With Mermista, their naval fleets were in tiptop shape, allowing them to combat any watery threats the Horde had to throw at them. And with the amount of resources and soldiers at Princess Frosta's disposal, there was no end to the advancements their troops and weaponry could get to.
It was just a refreshing detail to go about everyday, to see almost-everyone's bright and shining faces as they sat alongside each other. Glimmer could tell, deep within her heart, that as long as they stood united, like the Princess Alliance was supposed to, that they could overcome any obstacle or challenge looming over their future.
Even if she did have to put up with one or two minor details.
"Commander!" Frosta perked up, having removed herself from the chair finally. She was the first thing Glimmer saw upon turning around. "I have some ideas to improve our efficiency. First, we should all have codenames."
"You already have codenames." Catra snarled, gesturing across the room. "That's Petals, that's Misty, Bowey, Pinky, and Brat." She declared Frosta's nickname with minor glee, enjoying as the shorter princess fumed a little.
"Mmmh! I refuse to be called 'Brat'. I will use the codename, Frostbite!"
"Wait a second, I thought I was Flowey?" Perfuma asked curiously.
"And why do I have to be just Misty?" The Princess of Salineas wondered. "Why can't it be something cooler, like 'Razorshark' or 'The Swimster'?"
"Because too many people around here have a Y at the end of their nickname, so-"
"Well wait, then why is she the only one who gets to have a new nickname?" Mermista complained, standing from her seat.
"Oh! I'm sorry Mermista," Perfuma apologized, "would you like to be Petals? I'll gladly take the name Razorshark then!"
"The heck you will! I want to be Razorshark!"
"Be whoever you want, I'm calling dibs on Frostbite!" Frosta announced before pointing back to Glimmer. "And she'll be Sparklebomb."
"Sparkle-what?"
"Hey, you already stole my seat, you're not taking away my nickname!" Catra growled. Aside from the fact this brat wasn't even a part of the Rebellion for the last month, there was no way she was going to let someone else say how things were run around here. Like who had what sort of nickname!
"Oh yeah? Why don't you stand up and say it to my face?"
"Gladly!" Catra couldn't wait to let this girl have it as she pushed herself firmly from the table. "You're not- Ahhhhh!"
*schlip*
*THUD!*
"Owww!"
"Ahahahahaha!" Frosta almost cried in laughter as she held her arms around her sides. In one swift motion, from the very moment the cat girl stood from the table, her entire face filled with surprise before she ended up sliding right under the table, landing squarely on the back of her head with a resounding thud. If it wasn't for the bulk of hair or the fact Catra was used to a daily pounding through her fighting and training, she would've been in serious pain right now.
At least, assuming she wasn't in tremendous pain already. Despite the rather soft blow to her head, it was still enough to daze her for a few seconds as she rubbed the back of her head where she landed. With the temporary loss of balance returning to her by the second, she rolled over to her side as she examined what it was that caused the slippery slide, and wasn't the least bit amused by what she found.
"You little BRAT!" Catra took off like the wild animal she represented as bolted for the younger girl, Frosta laughing all the way as she chased her around the room. Apparently, not that it surprised anyone, Frosta had accidentally planted a solid sheet of ice right under Catra's feet as soon as she managed to free herself from the frozen throne. As payback for the little prank, she decided to get back at the same feline by encasing the floor under her with ice, then allowing Catra's own stubbornness to distract her from what was right below her.
The Queen watched the young She-Ra chase the younger girl around the room, intending to give her whatever punishment she deemed necessary for the, admittedly devious, prank. Bow was the only one to make the unfortunate decision in trying to help break up the fight, resulting in the younger princess expertly sliding under his legs as she continued running, and the older princess running on all fours after her like an animal, crashing through Bow as he was tossed against the wall.
From here, the Queen could see the predicament everyone was in. Catra was currently chasing after a young Frosta who continued to taunt her, Mermista was arguing with Perfuma about who got to have what cool nickname, Bow was passed out along the wall, Glimmer was sitting atop the table trying to stand clear out of the way as the two continued to chase around the room, and Spinnerella and Netossa, despite being the more mature adults of the room, were childishly placing bets between the two about whether Frosta would get away or if Catra would catch up to her in time.
The Queen sighed as she leaned against her chair.
"At least we managed to finish the meeting for once..."
...
...
"With the Princess Alliance preoccupied with our bots, we've been able to gain significant ground." Adora informed Hordak as Scorpia held up a map depicting the locations of their various victories.
This was almost a dream come true to the Horde Captain,in a way. She rose through the ranks of a mere cadet, showed her might and her worth for the rest of the Horde, and even earned Lord Hordak's gratitude in recognition of her accomplishments, earning her the title of second-in-command within Hordak's army. Adora never thought for once in her life that she would become the second-in-command, much less this early, and be working right alongside Lord Hordak directly!
But even as they spoke, there was still the minor nuisance that was irritating the back of her mind. In her dream world of all this, there was one person missing from the equation, somebody she loathed most of all, who disgusted her with her greed and selfishness, and her total lack of care or concern for the friend she left behind.
That person's name, was Catra.
In this dreamlike setting, she was supposed to be standing at her side too, working together to be the proudest members of the Horde they could possibly be. She was going to show everyone in the Horde how wrong they were about her to call her a freak, to prove to them that Catra was nowhere near as bad as everyone once said. Now those same thoughts were reversed, as Adora held nothing but extreme contempt for the young magicat, and would ensure she did everything within her power to see her brought to justice.
"You have not disappointed me, Force Captain." Lord Hordak replied calmly, the lack of emotion in his tone doing nothing to hamper Adora's satisfaction at the statement. "Clearly, I was wise to promote you"
"You honor me too much, Lord Hordak." Adora thanked, giving a small bow and a nod. It felt strange to be praised this much by her peers and fellow soldiers. To have so much respect around the Horde, even from the people she knew since growing up with, was a rather strange yet satisfying feeling in the back of her mind.
All that gusto and joy quickly dashed away as she lifted her head again, trying her best to refrain from making a noticeable reaction as she saw Entrapta's hair twirling about from behind the chair. "Hmmm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmmmm~" She hummed to herself as she examined the tools and screws she found scattered about the Throne Room.
"Uhhh y-yes!" Adora continued with a semi-worrying tone. "We've made remarkable progress. And thanks to the resources provided by the Kingdom of Snows, we've managed to assemble more than enough droids and equipment to last us the next year alone."
"Excellent. I must admit, I had my doubts about your... methods, when Shadow Weaver first told me about your plan to recruit her. Yet, for one of the few times in my life, I will admit I was proud to be proven wrong about them."
"Thank you, sir."
"But what of the princess herself?" He questioned, rubbing his chin in curiosity. "Can she be trusted enough to carry out her missions?"
"Yes, Lord Hordak. I would not have even considered it if I didn't think she was trustworthy. For the last month she's been aiding us with the resources like I said, and she's helped us keep tabs on the princesses and what they're doing. She checks in with us almost everyday and tells us what's going on."
"Not that we need it anymore." Entrapta added, looking over the throne with excitement in her eyes. "Thanks to the resources Frosta provided plus the technology Adora managed to secure from the FIrst Ones' ruins, I managed to create one of my greatest creations to date!" Before Hordak had the chance to turn around, the purple-haired scientist disappeared from above him, reappearing in front of Adora with stars in her eyes. "Can I show it now? Pleeease? Please! Please! Pleeeeeease!"
"Alright, alright, you can show him."
"Heeeeeh!" Oh boy, she could hardly wait! Without giving any chance for an interruption, the scientist thrust two finger-shaped molds of hair into her mouth, giving off the loudest whistle she possibly could.
*TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET~!*
Hordak waited with anticipation as he awaited the miraculous invention of hers. To think that within just one month, this one princess could increase the firepower of his entire army three times as much. There was a fascinating development through the course of her interactions with the fellow scientists and engineers of the Horde. Sometimes he wondered if this war would have been won by now if he bothered to recruit the young scientist from the very beginning.
Then again, it's her random bouts of curiosity and excitement that he found most annoying. From being constantly distracted to disregarding any protocols or rules around this place, she was a handful in and of herself to deal with. There were numerous reports throughout the Fright Zone he had to listen to, with multiple complaints about random tools or machinery being found torn apart and reused for whatever the scientist had in mind for them.
If it wasn't for her contributions to the Horde, Hordak would've casted her out from day one since joining the Horde.
Following the small rumbling of the ground that was starting to pick up, Hordak rose from his seat as he made his way over to the edge of the stairs where Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta had gathered. Through the darkness, he saw a round shape making its way towards them, rolling about until it was out in the clearing where the lights could reveal it.
There wasn't much to look at as the figure stopped in the center of the large clearing. All there was to see was a large round metallic ball made of silver, without a line or dent noticeable around the entire creation. From afar, he could see a small glint of light reflecting off the metallic creation, being spotless from top to bottom as it was presented to the leader of the Horde Army. Whatever this scientist decided to waste his time with, he knew it was going to be important, and interesting.
For her sake, it better be.
"Ladies and gents, I present to you my greatest of creations!" Entrapta introduced proudly.
"A... sphere?" Hordak questioned, wondering what he was supposed to be impressed with.
"Not just a sphere! The Ultimate sphere!" Turning back towards the bottom of the stairs, Entrapta clapped her hands loudly as she signaled for the others to reveal themselves from the same shroud of shadows. Down below, the others saw three regular combat droids rolling into the same opened area, taking position evenly between the larger sphere as they formed a triangle. All of them had their attention and targeting focused on the lone droid between the three of them.
"And this... sphere... is supposed to do what, exactly?"
"Oooooh! Just watch!" Entrapta squealed, pressing her knuckles against her chin as she tried to contain her excitement.
From below, the three droids began to charge their canons simultaneously on the one bot, the very one who had yet to do anything that was worth getting worked up about. The most it did upon hearing the charging robots was transform.
From its flawless carapace, the bot began to unravel itself, taking a more humanoid shape that stretched a good ten feet tall in height. Its appendages were all covered in parts of its original sphere, while the inner bot itself was rather scrawny in comparison. Its limbs were barely a foot thick as it towered over the other droids, staring off into space as it continued to face the stairs with its single monocular-like head, giving off a purple glow where its eye was.
The longer Hordak stared at it, the less amused he was by its appearance. It didn't look any different than a simple robot, save for the shining metallic silver shield-like carapace that protected its limbs, and allowed it to morph back into the same sphere it once was. Standing there, out in the open, it turned its head towards the surrounding droids, the sound of gears shifting filling the surroundings as it gazed at its combatants.
Then, with all three of them fully charged, they fired.
*BOOM!*
The entire droid was caught in a massive explosion that filled the lower-half of the staircase in smoke, coating the floors with a blackened soot where the droid once stood. Waiting a few seconds, the others saw the same droid now down on its back, apparently worn out from the three blasts that were supposed to impress Lord Hordak in some way.
"...That's it?" He scoffed.
"Was it supposed to do that?" Scorpia whispered, leaning over to Adora. The Force Captain gave her a small shush as she watched, a bit of anxiety building up in the back of her mind, praying to herself that Entrapta's work wasn't all for nothing.
"That's, the beginning." Entrapta corrected, holding up a braid of hair like a finger in front of him. Turning back to the downed droid, Hordak could see it twitching its fingers, stumbling about as it slowly worked on getting back to its hands and knees. "Let me ask you a question. What is the one thing none of the other droids have managed to do so far without proper input?" Glancing to the irritated leader, Entrapta decided to continue as she saw the minor twitch in his scowl. "Learn from their mistakes."
With another sound of gears following along, she continued, "So, using technology and resources I was generously provided with, I came up with the one robot that nobody has ever created, one that puts all over robots to shame as it does the one thing none of them could ever do." Grinning, she watched as the three droids prepared to fire their canons again, charging for a deadly blast that was sure to take out the newly created droid once and for all.
"It adapts."
Everything that followed after took the time span of five seconds. With a glow in its purple eye-like head, the robot quickly brought its arms to its chest as it began to morph the silver plate-like shieldings around into a refractive surface, bending and angling along its arms and backs just as the droids opened fire. Without missing a beat, the droid prepared itself as it angled both of its arms and its back into position so the protective carapace could take the hits directly. Instead of exploding on impact like it did before, the lasers were harmlessly bounced back at the attackers as they reflected off its silver surface, completely obliterating them.
As if that wasn't impressive enough, its attention was drawn to the sound of several more droids that were marching through the darkness, turning to face the oncoming threats headon. Looking to its arms again, Hordak almost flinched as the silver plates morphed once more, formling blade-like appendages that extended well beyond the robot's arms.
There was no sign of fear in the robot as it charged directly at the incoming droids who fired away at the monstrous creation, only to hit empty air as the robot dodged expertly out of the way. "My creation learns from every move or technique used against it. Using a complex algorithm, it then proceeds to list every possibility in any and all future attacks, allowing it to know what the enemy is going to do, with over a hundred and sixty-eight different ways they could do it!" With a grin, Entrapta felt the goosebumps spreading across her skin as the robot slid expertly away from the blasting droid and over to its side.
The other droid didn't even get the chance to turn around before the robotic droid sliced it cleanly in two, sparks going off as it split down the middle, then exploded. The robotic droid stood in the piling smoke that surrounded it as the second droid continued to fire, missing repeatedly as the advanced droid used the smoke as cover. Grabbing onto the broken remains of the droid, the bot charged towards the firing machine at full force, throwing two handfuls of wreckage as the droid blocked the incoming blasts and blocking its vision as the running droid ran past it.
The rounder droid was powerless to stop its would-be victim as it began to shake, feeling the droid's powerful grips on the side of its body as it lifted the attacker off its feet. "It uses everything in its surroundings to its advantage, and makes the most out of whatever it can find lying around. With enough strength to lift over a thousand pounds, its more than enough to match She-Ra's own power." She winced as she watched the beautiful creation break the former one, crushing it in its bare hands with ease, then casually tossing it to the ground where it kicked the broken droid away. "And that's not even the best part! The best part is-"
*boooooooosh!*
Out of nowhere, the powerful droid shielded its body with its arms as the last remaining droid let loose a blaze of fire from its opened compartments that spread from the side, unleashing a powerful jet of flames that could melt most metal within seconds. While it wasn't enough to destroy the droid for good, it did appear to weaken the droid enough to the point where it dropped to one knee, shakily guarding itself with its silver plates.
There didn't seem to be any way for the droid to stop the other one from blasting at it, not with the powerful flames it jettisoned. If it lowered its stance or tried to approach without a proper plan, the intense fires would melt away at its inner body, the intense heat short circuiting anything still functioning within the mechanical creation, and leaving it powerless to stop the droid from melting every last bit of it.
But fortunately, that's where its greatest ability kicked it.
"It evolves!"
Right on queue, the systems within the droid began to adapt its entire body on a molecular level. Every inch of its metallic steel began to harden as an icy winds blew across the defenseless droids, turning a cool breeze into a frigid tundra as patches of cold and ice began to spread forth from across it. The fires blasting at the empowering droids were beginning to die down as the terrible freeze spread further and further from the droid, eventually allowing it to rise from the ground without protecting itself, watching as the weaker droid's flame continued to diminish.
All of the droids presently used were designed specifically by Entrapta, the princess wanting to make sure her great creation could put on the best performance it could for the person Adora had such high respect and esteem form. "Using the data crystal and technology Adora obtained from the First Ones' ruins, I've created a robot that can change its entire physiology to perfectly counter whatever the princesses have to throw at it. If they try to freeze it, it'll raise its body temperature tenfold. If they try to melt it, well... you see what its doing now, right?"
Hordak could never express his great interest in the girl's technology, not out in the open like this, yet Adora knew with all her heart that he was absolutely impressed! The way he watched with intrigue as the robot began walking over to the helpless fiery droid, the way the robot soon began to freeze into a hardened ice sculpture itself, and how it easily managed to shatter the entire droid with one fist, destroying the frozen sculpture into tiny little bits.
It was the ultimate creation, the likes of which have never been accomplished before! And it was all thanks to Entrapta!
You should be the one he praises. After all, you got the materials she needed to begin with.
"Ngh..." Adora nearly moaned as she felt a small pang on the left side of her head. There's that stupid voice of hers again, the one that, according to Entrapta, was part of some function of her brain being on overload. She could put up with it taunting her on the occasion, and the way it told her to be better than herself, to make everyone submit to her power out of concern for her own safety. She managed to ignore such thoughts and complications every time.
But why was her "self preservation" acting like she should be jealous of someone else?
Scorpia was the only one who noticed the small twitch in Adora's person, knowing it was another headache or something caused by her condition. She would never forgive Catra for doing whatever she did to make Adora turn out this way, and she was going to be more than satisfied to watch this thing defeat the Rebellion once and for all!
All eyes turned to the robotic humanoid as it pulled its massive fist out of the shattered remains of the previous droid. Finished with its task, the robot folded its arms and legs back into place as it covered itself up again, reforming into the perfect sphere it originally appeared to be. There was nothing about this display that didn't surprise Lord Hordak, or exceed his expectations.
"A fully integrated robot using only the finest resources we could muster." Entrapta said as she finished her demonstration. "It learns, adapts, and most of all, evolve, into whatever is needed to defeat its enemies. It can match all of the princesses powers combined, and is more than enough to take on She-Ra. Maybe even the entire Rebellion with assistance! And I call my marvelous creation... Orbko!"
"...Orbko?" Scorpia raised a brow at the title. "Why Orbko?"
"I dunno. Only thing that came to my mind that sounded catchy."
"Most impressive." Hordak complimented, rubbing his chin. "And you can make more of these?"
"Yes! Er..." The scientist scratched the back of her head as she looked off to the side. "I mean, no. I mean, I could. But I only had enough First Ones tech to make this one. It would take a mountain of resources to make another from scratch, and I mean a literal mountain. The only alternative is to use more First Ones technology, wherever we can find some."
"And I know where we can get more." Adora announced, grinning ear to ear as she gazed at the incredible warmachine.
Nothing that was thrown at it could put it down, its adaptable technology allowed it to overcome any plans or ideas the Rebellion could create, and, according to Entrapta, it could easily match Catra's own power. There was no way someone like her stood a chance against the technological prowess of a weapon like this, and Adora would do everything in her power to make sure of that.
It was time to take this little toy out for a test run...
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A/N: Like I said, shorter read, but to make way for some lightheartedness + action in the next 2 chapters. Definitely going to enjoy the action, and pretty sure everyone else will too (least hope you do ^^). Really don't have much to say other than that, been kinda out of it lately, but hope to keep writing more and more as usual and hope to bring you guys some fun and entertainment!
With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you all enjoyed and hope to see you soon!