A/N: Woot woot! Another fun action-filled one for the first half! Thanks to those, as always, who help keep this fanfic alive! Idk what's going on with work, still fixing that atm. Regardless, it's not going to be interfering with my writing (hopefully) any time soon ^^ Not much to say or much need to say it. With everything said and done, Enjoy!
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The horde was present wherever Bow went as he snuck around the outside of Entrapta's castle. From the walls to the floors to the land itself, he could see Horde banners present wherever he went, as if mocking their victory and their claim to Entrapta's kingdom.
Okay. So this day has been a bit off and on all at once. On the positive note of recent discoveries, Entrapta was alive! He couldn't believe it and wondered to himself if it she truly was alive or if it was just foolish optimism half the time reeling in his mind. After the last month of being tormented by the regret of losing one of their own, he wouldn't be surprised. She went to the Fright Zone to save him and Glimmer, presumably lost her life in the process, and turned out to be alive after all this time?! It made perfect sense!
It also made sense to understand why the Horde had taken over the Kingdom of Dryl as well. As the Horde's prisoner, they could get the kingdom to submit to anything and acquire anything they wanted. From their resources to the castle itself, everything belonged to the Horde as long as Entrapta was in their evil clutches. They could demand information out of her, get her to make anything she wanted, and force her to cooperate with everything they were doing as long as she was their prisoner.
This is exactly what brought Bow and Glimmer to the Kingdom today. They only had one goal in mind, and that was to rescue their dear, beloved, friend, and save her from whatever horrible fate continued to await her on a daily basis. They couldn't afford to let the other princesses take part in their rescue mission, not after the last one resulted in losing one of their own. Who knows what they could get out of it if they managed to capture two princesses, if not more? Here, it was Entrapta's cooperation and technological advances. Tomorrow it might be an entire naval army or alchemical resources from nature itself!
It was also imperative to save her for Catra's sake. The girl had been through so much over a month ago, wracked with an abyss of guilt that started with Entrapta's supposed death. With her She-Ra powers relying on her own inner strength and emotions, she needed a way to come to terms with what happen, and a chance to move on from it. And what better way to do that than to prove that Entrapta was alive, and to have her personally state that Catra wasn't at fault for what happened?!
Who knows? If they were lucky, this might just give Catra the push she needs to fully transform into She-Ra!
That still required the two to actually rescue Entrapta first, however, and that was proving difficult in itself. Everywhere they went there was nothing but Horde for as far as the eye could see. They had to take every back road they could see to get around them, wait several minutes at a time for a clear passing, and stay on the move the whole time without being caught. They couldn't risk teleporting anywhere until they got into the castle if they didn't know where the guard posts were stations throughout the valley.
Fortunately, maintaining cover was easier on the inside than on the outside. With the various posts set up throughout the valley, it was only natural that the inner base would be less guarded, the Horde believing themselves to be safer within the confines of Entrapta's castle.
Waiting for a passing patrol of guards, Bow popped his head out to check the coast one more time before running down a small path through the base, ducking behind some containers between the built facilities the Horde had set up within the settlement. He was checking the coast one more time as his attention was drawn to the familiar sound of Glimmer's teleporting coming from behind him?
"Any sign of Entrapta in the castle?" He asked as the princess kneeled behind the cover.
"Nothing." She regretfully informed. "And as usual, that place is impossible to navigate." The princess groaned as she pressed her wrists stressfully into her eyes. She could understand the intention of making a place defensible, but why did it have to be so confusing at the same time?!
"Mmmhhh..." The two briefly ignored the sound of the lone mumbling until Glimmer gave it the briefest of her attention, and quickly pulled Bow behind the cover at who she saw.
Adora. The Horde Captain, and Hordak's second-in-command. The one Catra was forced to cut ties with for the sake of the Rebellion was at their doorstep, or Entrapta's to be specific. The young blonde was unaware of their presence as she stretched out her arms to the sky, still recovering from the brief nap that she just took. The two were so distracted by her appearance that they didn't even notice the smaller details, like the black veins running through her arms.
*blip-blip-blip-blip*
Thankfully, fate appeared to be on their sides as a sudden distress call from Adora's datapad occupied her attention, turning her body in the complete opposite direction of the duo as she turned it on.
"Hello? Tell me you're on your way back, please!" Kyle could be heard begging like his life depended on it. "I need back-up! Entrapta's new invention has lost it and Emily's making it worse!"
...
From the other end of the monitor, Kyle continued to panic as he surveyed the surrounding destruction of Entrapta's lab. Racing around the room was one of Entrapta's latest inventions that she had created just the other night, along with the other thirty-two things she created. With a bit of a pyramid-like design with smoothed top, the metallic creation was designed to be another one of Entrapta's latest in a long line of assistances, one designed to bring her the various tools and gizmos she needed throughout the lab while she was preoccupied with her work, like the one she was currently tinkering with.
Instead of getting the creation that could preform its work flawlessly and without provocation, she instead got a creation who began running rampant the moment Entrapta tasked it with bringing her a screwdriver from the shelves of her lab, resulting in the chaos that was ensuing after the robot couldn't determine what sort of screwdriver she needed between the only two she had.
Throughout her lab, there was wreckage and carnage as the robot ran amok, tearing apart various pieces of metal grafted onto the walls and disassembling several smaller creations that Entrapta created to keep the place spotless. No longer would Cleaning Droid No. 132 see the light of day. And no matter how many of her creations were being destroyed or what systems were being ruined, Entrapta still somehow managed to tinker away with the current thing she was working on, all while being chased around by the same droid that was being chased in turn by Emily.
"Bot Number 437 seems to be having some sort of existential crisis!" She squealed as she ran as fast as her hair could carry her. She would love nothing more than to give her bot the motherly love a scientist could and deactivate it on a moment's notice. Sadly, the current predicament occupying her thoughts was too important to ignore, one that required a very delicate hand to operate. Otherwise, she'd have to start over from scratch, and that was ten minutes she was not going to waste! "Down, boy, down!" She shouted again as the droid nearly snagged her hair.
...
Adora rolled her eyes a little playfully at this. After getting to know the princess for the last month, there was a lot that she could determine. For one thing, the scientist was the very definition of quirky. She was gifted with an inane sense of curiosity that borderlined the insane, and it proved to be one of her best qualities given all the wonderful creations she managed to design for the Horde.
Secondly, half her creations tended to be a little... buggy, to put it lightly, when it came to creating them. For the girl that could create over a hundred types of droids in a day that would take the scientific development team of the Horde to create in a week, it was only natural that some of them would fall under quantity over quality. While most of them tended to only have a partial twitch in movement, one that Entrapta easily managed to fix in seconds, others would occasionally run berserk due to the wrong wire being connected to its targeting systems, like who was a friend and an enemy.
Unlike the previous Orbko that only targeted allies due to its own capabilities being too advanced to tell the difference.
Still, she was a valuable asset to the team, just like Scorpia was. She was strong-willed in her desire for creating anything and everything she could, and did whatever it took to help out the Horde in their advancements of technology. It kind of went without saying that the Horde wouldn't be as grand as it was today if it wasn't for the princess's contributions and efforts.
"Just stay calm, and everything will be alright." Adora informed him calmly. "Entrapta's inventions in the lab aren't that hazardous... usually." Noticing her attention was preoccupied, Glimmer and Bow nodded to each other as they scooted a little closer to the commander, trying to listen in on whatever was going on through the pad.
...
"Ahhh!" Entrapta screeched as she felt one of the robot's legs many hands grab at her right leg. The girl was so shocked by the development that she lost the grip of the small creation she was currently working on, gasping as it slid from her hands a couple feet across the floor. "Noooo, stop!" She begged. "You can't do this!"
The droid wasn't having any of her shenanigans at the time. It had a duty to do to assist its master despite being driven mad by the simple assignment of grabbing one of two various wrenches. Luckily for Entrapta, and those currently present, it wasn't fitted with fighting or defensive capabilities, but that didn't mean it wouldn't do everything within its power to crush those who brought it into this miserable two-wrenched existence!
Protruding several more metallic poles with white pillowy hands on the end of them, the robot hummed with a vigorous anger, shot each of its hands at the defenseless princess as it pulled strands of her hair away... and proceeded to tickle her.
"Ghhh! Ehhh! Ahaha Haha!" The scientist squealed in absolute pain and misery, at least to those listening in on this. "St-Stop it! STOP IT!" She cried out, all the while the robot dragged her around the lab, ignoring the equipment left lying across the room as it crashed through them. "St-Stop it! Please! I beg of you! Ahhaahahaaah!"
All throughout this, Emily began to roar with a similar yet aggressive hum as it attempted to save its master. It wasn't as advanced as Entrapta's previous creations were to date, but it was one of Entrapta's favorites without compare. It did everything in its power to chase after the two, likewise crashing and stomping on several piles of scrap, and at one point losing its footing and crashing through the wall completely with a thunderous echo.
...
"Ahhhhh! You're killing me! You're killing meeeeee!" Entrapta continued to cry out through the datapad.
Strangely, Adora found the sound of the robot's rampaging through the datapad a lot more annoying than the shenanigan currently taking place. Almost drowning out the sounds of Entrapta's pleading cries, the robots were dismantling and breaking nearly everything within the lab, causing Adora to form a small headache in her mind from the combination of just waking up, the numerous crashes, and growing darkness through her veins, one that needed a recharge as soon as she got back.
Maybe that's why she was too focused on what was taking place at what was happening through the datapad and not the pair of eyes that were listening in from behind her. "Entrapta, she really is alive!" Bow's eyes widened in revelation, overjoyed to know that it wasn't foolish optimism that lead them here, and despairing at the sounds of her tortured cries of anguish.
"And they're hurting her!" Glimmer grumbled as she squeezed her fist. She knew what Adora was like, having at least two personal confrontations with the Horde Captain, neither of which ended pleasantly. It took all she had to keep from lashing out at her, doing everything she could to prevent her own emotions from ruining their mission. She disliked the Horde Captain as much as she disliked her, yet she wasn't going to let her emotions jeopardize the mission if it meant losing the one chance they had at saving their dear friend.
At least, that was the plan before Adora spoke again.
"Kyle, would you shut that thing up already?" Adora grumbled as she rubbed her aching head. "I don't care what you have to pull or what you have to break, just do it so we can finally move on!"
"Ghhhhhh!" That was the final straw. Not only was Adora cruel enough to torture another fellow princess, she showed little to no remorse as she ordered this Kyle to, presumably, end the princess's life.
"Wait-!" Bow pleaded too slowly as the princess already teleported by the time he reached out for her.
Within a second, the princess left a trailing mist of her pink magic behind her and reappeared slightly above Adora. There wasn't even enough time for Adora to turn her head at the sound of the familiar magic before she found herself being tackled from above, knocking the datapad roughly to the floor as Glimmer pinned the commander to the ground by her shoulders. "Where is she?" She demanded to know.
"You!" Adroa shouted in fury. Sliding her legs from under her, she quickly kneed Glimmer in her stomach as she threw her off behind her, letting her temper and her darkness flare up in her veins as all her rage contorted beyond her control. Before she could follow up as she chased after the princess, Glimmer managed to recover on her own two feet, gathering a handful of her magic and blasting a powerful pink wave of magic directly at the girl, blasting her against the rough metallic walls of one of the Horde's structures.
That was the very scene Scorpia walked into as she rounded the corner of one of the Horde structures. The sight of her friend fueled her with a natural rage as she charged straight after the princess of Bright Moon, hammering down her massive claws with all her might.
Thanks to Glimmer's magic, it did little more than dent the metallic ground as she teleported away from her, reappearing several feet away as she charged again. No matter how hard Adora's friend tried, she couldn't land a hit. By the time she swung her tail, she reappeared in front of her and knocked her in the jaw. Following the second swing, she elbowed her directly in the back upon teleporting.
Shaking the dizziness out of her head, Adora glared at the princess as she continued to assault her friend, grinding the edge s of her teeth as she ran at the princess with all her speed. At least, she attempted to, if not for the arrow that cut her off not two feet later. Recognizing the craftsmanship and detail, sure enough, there was Bow, Glimmer's friend and one of Bright Moon's best archers, grinning victoriously to himself at a battle that hasn't ended.
A part of her almost wished Catra was there now, if only so she could pound her face in too.
Still, two out of three wasn't too bad, and if she could take down two of the three biggest annoyances in her life, Adora would gladly accept what they had to offer. Wasting no time channeling her power, caring little for how much it was taxing her, Adora gathered a handful of shadows, summoning them to each of her arms as they grew into the dreaded claws that could rip the metal off a tank. With eyes alight with fire, she charged at the now-trembling archer as he attempted to fire off again.
"G-Glimmer!" He called out as he fired away. One arrow. Two arrows. Three arrows. They kept coming and they were proving as ineffective as the next. Every shot Adora fired was bounced harmlessly off the shadows she summoned. The commander didn't even bother using the claws she was saving just for the archer and the princess, she used the freshly drawn shadows protruding from the ground, exerting her energy like never before, until she finally tackled the archer to the ground.
Pinned underneath her, Bow had a brief moment to look into her seething eyes. She wanted him dead, she hated him with all her fury, just like she hated Glimmer. At the same time, he also noticed a small trail of black veins growing along her neck, slowly creeping along her skin as she called upon her shadows again. With her right fist raised, the commander smashed it as hard as she could to the ground, missing by a mere inch thanks to Bow's quick turn of the head.
Before she could attempt another strike, the archer quickly reached for one of the arrows was dropped during the snuffle, grabbing at whichever one he could in his haste, and brought it down upon Adora's head. The commander was caught off guard as the tip of the arrow exploded in her face, leaving a blinding thick cloud of dust that stung her eyes a little, letting out a cough of choking air as her throat tingled. No amount of her magic could protect from the initial blast either as she found herself being blasted back several feel away, still rubbing at her stinging eyes.
At the same time, Scorpia continued to focus. She had so many training drills she took with her friends, numerous courses to keep themselves in shape. The princess was just trying to trick her, trying to fake her out again in the hopes landing another quick strike. If there was one thing Scorpia was catching on to, it was the small pattern in her movements and the way she teleported before she attacked again.
Just like this one: Right, Left, then BEHIND!
"Agh!" Glimmer yelped in surprise as her foot was suddenly grabbed in midair. She was taken by her own surprise as she attempted to strike at the scorpion girl from behind, only for the Force Captain to snag her leg with one of her own claws. There was no end to the number of strikes and punches Scorpia wanted to deliver back to the girl, all of which was put immediately to a halt when she found her other claw getting snagged in a goop caused by one of the archer's arrows, pinning her to the ground.
"Glimmer!" He rushed over as he helped his sore friend up. "We gotta get out of here, now!" She didn't need anyone to tell her twice as she rubbed her slightly sore face.
The two weren't expecting Scorpia. The two weren't expecting Adora. The two weren't expecting Scorpia and Adora. And there was no way either of the two combined could ever expect Adora to still have her magic! The biggest worry and confusion came to them knowing the Force Captain used to draw upon the power of her headband in order to channel her dark powers. But they were much more content with being confused than dead, knowing they wouldn't be able to handle these two for very long before reinforcements came by.
It was at this time Adora finally managed to clear her eyes of the stinging dust, grumbling as she saw the duo escaping. "After them!" She shouted, running after them as fast as sher legs could carry her.
"Uhhh..." Scorpia looked between her glued appendage and the commander sprinting passed her with uncertainty, taking a brief and failing opportunity to pry her claw away from the ground. "Right... uhhh... behind you..." She assured, even though Adora probably couldn't hear a word from her given how far she ran.
As for the other two, Glimmer and Bow ran as fast as they could as Adora chased from behind. She used every ounce of her magic to pull herself atop the various structures, pulling herself over with the shadowy tentacles stretching from her arms at one spot and boosting herself off the wall of another structure and so on. This would be one of the Horde's greatest accomplishments since, well, the first time Adora captured Bow and Glimmer, if she could manage to get her hands on them.
That was provided she was merciful enough to let them live after all the trouble they caused her.
Coming across one of the last structures before the wall, the Force Captain grinned as she saw the two of them coming to a dead end as they gaped back to her in horror. Her split second of pure joy at the prospect of capturing them was just as quickly diminished as she saw the two teleporting away, just as she struck the ground with a shadowy fist. Yet, no matter how much they teleported, Adora was quick to chase after them, knowing the layout of this place would've made it impossible to teleport safely.
An assessment that Adora proved more than knowledgeable of. No sooner did they reappear did Glimmer regret teleporting as they found their way inside of the chaotic structure once again. Having a bit of a de sha vue moment, she attempted to teleport again, and, just like with Catra, each result was more annoying than the last. First with an unfamiliar passageway, then with a hallway too narrow for them to stand as their backs and head pressed against the ceiling and walls, and finally, back to the familiar hallway they once came from.
"Wait, isn't this where we started?" Bow was the first to point out.
"Ugghhhhh!" Glimmer grumbled with a newfound annoyance as she pulled at her face. "I hate this place?"
"Heh heh heh." The two were startled at the sound of the familiar cackling coming behind them. Sure enough, there stood Adora, smirking at the two with her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall. "You know, I was gonna throw you in a prison cell, but I think watching you flail around as you try to find a way out of this place would be a lot more entertaining." Without another word, Adora charged against the princess again as she manipulated the shadows along her arms, swiping at the dodging Glimmer with her claws.
Glimmer was just at a loss for how the commander had her magic as much as Bow was, but she was more preoccupied with teleporting and dodging out of the way as Adora continued to swipe at her. Unlike Scorpira, Glimmer was forced to stay on her feet, or off her feet in this case, as she kept teleporting nearly every second. The commander was much faster than Scorpia was, and had a keen sense of where she was going to reappear next, forcing Glimmer to stay on the defensive.
There was little Bow could do in this situation as the two danced around with one another, aiming his arrow as he awaited a clean shot. There wasn't a single opening he could find as the two tussled back and forth, never staying in one location for too long before hopping one foot away from where he was aiming.
After the brief dance the two partook in, Adora finally managed to get a grip on the young princess, grinning ear to ear as the shadows manifested in her other hand again. If she had any prior battling experience with the young princess, then she probably would've been more prepared for the small blinding dust of sparkles that Glimmer shot in her face, disorienting her long enough for Glimmer to break out of her grip.
"Bow!" Glimmer shouted as she ran for her friend. This battle was getting to be too much. Too much time and the reinforcements were sure to come up, and the longer it took, the more magic Glimmer would lose that was needed to escape. There was only one other option that came to her mind as she grabbed her friends hand, and that was to escape!
Never realizing that the commander chased closely behind her and grabbed onto her with her shadowy hand right at the last second.
The sudden burst of magic, combined with all the mayhem over the last few minutes, took its toll on the princess as she appeared briefly incapacitated upon teleporting. It was one of the worst times for the two to be teleporting with an incapacitated princess that could teleport them out of danger as they reappeared somewhere above the clouds from what they could see.
"Glimmer, wake up!" He quickly shook her awake as he pleaded. There was a small groan in the princess's voice as she quickly came to from the combined efforts of Bow's shrugging and the strange tugging she felt coming from her cape. Looking back, she let out a small squeak as the two saw Adora trailing behind her with a look of disbelief and confusion crossing her face.
"What the heck did you just do?!"
*Wham!*
The commander was so distraught over the sudden teleportation, and her first experience with it, that she wasn't the least bit prepared as a princess's heel collided with her face, feeling the full force of Glimmer's foot as she was kicked off the girl with all her might. The impact was enough to distance the three of them far enough as they continued their descent, eventually finding an even patch of ground that was soft enough to break their fall, and distance themselves at least ten feet away from each other.
This did little to dissuade the commander as she shook her head of the dizziness she felt, turning her attention and glaring over to the two troublemakers who started this mess. They were two of three sources of her utmost anger. They invaded a newly captured settlement of theirs, toyed around within the confines of the castle, and made a mockery of everything the Horde stood for on a daily basis.
And that was just every reason she hated them for today!
Once again gathering a bundle of shadows, Adora grumbled as she rushed over to the two downed members of the Rebellion with a pair of shadowy claws at her side.
"Look out!" Bow directed as he took immediate charge of the two of them. The moment Adora was halfway to them, Bow had a perfect shot lined up between the three of them as he fired one of his many trick arrows at her, one which burst open into a net that ensnared her upper body and knocked her off her feet a good distance to boot.
All of this happened within the two minutes that Glimmer first made contact with the blonde second-in-command. Bow earned his breath of relief as he found the two of them finally had a chance to catch their breath.
For about two seconds.
The net was sturdy for sure, but it meant nothing to the girl who had a desire to end everything Catra selfishly stood for. Concentrating with all of her might, prioritizing her need to tear these two limb from limb, Adora channeled the shadows along her arms again until they formed a serrated blade of darkness along each arm, easily cutting her way through the strong bonds, and jumped to her feet once more with a renewed vigor.
The two prepared themselves nervously as they watched the commander rush for them again. She wasn't about to let these two get away after all they did! She hated them both with a passion. They were enemies to the Horde, enemies who resisted and stood against everything they stood for! She wasn't going to let them get away after all they had done to the Horde, everything they've done to her and her friends!
She would have vengeance! She would have retribution! She would have-!
"Nggghhh!" Adora screamed through her teeth as she suddenly collapsed not three feet away from the surprised pair. Not now! Please! She begged herself as she squeezed her head.
Throughout the entire battle, from the very moment she spotted Glimmer, Adora had pushed herself, and her magic, to its limit. Not once since the start of the fearsome battle did she slow down, doing everything in her power to catch and subdue the two with her own two shadowy hands. That included expending any amount of magic she possibly could, not caring in the slightest for her own condition until it was too late.
She expended so much energy that the repercussions finally caught up to her, and the black veins trailing along her skin with it. All throughout her body, her entire being was wracked with an unfamiliar pain, one that seeped deeply into her mind as she squeezed her head against her hands as they returned to normal. All that shadow magic she had been using till now finally came back to bite her in turn, somewhat literally in this case as she felt like her skin was on fire.
The worst source of her pain was coming directly from her forehead where all the veins seemed to be drawn to. It was only now as she groveled in pain that the two managed to get a closer look at her, seeing the mysterious veins of darkness that stretched along the sides of her face. By now, both her cheeks had a small trail of black veins along the edges, ones that eventually slowed in the growing process.
Neither of the two could understand what was going on with her, though they weren't ones to argue with Adora's sudden collapse. With her magic catching them by surprise, there was no telling how much damage she could do to them, or how long they could withstand her onslaught if they couldn't teleport away in time.
Fortune seemed to be smiling on the two as they stared at the groveling captain, knowing she was in no position to be fighting back for the foreseeable future.
Bow felt nothing short of awkward as he scratched his cheek. "Umm... I think we won?"
...
...
*twitch-twitch*
"Hm hm hmhmmm~"
*twitch-twitch*
"Hm hm hmhmmm~"
*twitch-twitch*
"Catra and Swift Wind on an adventure! Fixing the thing that Mara broke when she went nuts~"
Dear First Ones, or any higher source of power. Catra was begging you. Please put her out of her miserable existence before she finally snapped.
She remembers the day when she first met Glimmer and Bow and entered the town of Thaymor. There, she met a young four-year-old deer-like girl named Kim. She was a rather silly child, looking back on her now, and one that was filled with a sense of adventure and having fun. She was also one of the first people Catra got along with upon leaving the Horde behind, and one of the first people she almost made friends with for the first time.
When she met her, she had an annoying habit of dragging her throughout the entire town to do the various activities that were present throughout the town during its festival. Catra thought that getting dragged along by a small four-year-old, doing whatever she could to keep her from crying and causing a scene while she was incognito, was the most miserable three-hour experience of her life. It was boring to her, with only a few things intriguing her curiosity, and she was dragged everywhere against her will. Truly, it was one of the worst three hours of her life.
Catra officially took all of those claims back now.
This long three hours was nothing like the events of that day. That day had its fill of charm and wonder to the young magicat, and plenty of interesting new foods to try, so she could admit it had a small amount of entertaining things to go along with it. This day had nothing of the sort. These last three straight hours were filled with traveling on the back of a winged horse until they reached their destination, and an annoying horse who sung out of tune as he kept trying to add new lyrics to a song he never finished.
Every hum was followed by Catra twitching her brow in frustration. Every new line he came up with came with the magicat doing everything she could to keep her claws to herself. Every time he flew by, she focused all of her movement on her tail which was wagging aggressively as she tried to control her emotions, and her own two feet that continued through the field of grass as she attempted to find the stupid thing Mara broke so they could be done with it.
And she was failing.
"SWIFT WIND!" She finally yelped, doing what she could to collect her emotions before she continued. "Could you not do that for, like, ten minutes?" She almost sounded like she was begging as she continued forward, her brow still twitching with frustration.
"Just keeping us entertained while we look for this Watchtower." He replied cheerfully as he followed alongside her like the proud steed that he was. "Any sign of it yet?"
"There's nothing here but tall dried grass. Maybe Light Hope got the location wrong. I mean, she was bugging out when we left her." Catra felt the dry bristles of the grass around her as she looked around.
Like many places of Etheria, this place was nothing short of strange. All around her she was surrounded by a field of tall dry grass that brushed gently against the breeze of the day's wind. Small puffs of pollen-like substances floated around her as they floated into the air, some spreading through the sky, and others coming into contact with the surrounding lands around them. That was the normal part of this place.
The unnatural piece of this scenery were the floating landmasses that surrounded their location. All around the sky, in various sizes, were pieces of land that seemed partially drawn to this place, Whether through some force of magnetism or a miracle of magic, the floating chunks of land never seemed to distance themselves from this place, as if they wanted to be made whole again.
Whatever this place was, it had the same feeling of strangeness as the rest of Etheria did, yet had something more... different, to it, unlike the others.
"No, I don't think she did." Swift Wind responded casually as he took in the scenery, closing his eyes briefly. "I definitely sense something here, something ancient and magical."
"Where?"
"I'm not sure. Perhaps if we combine our efforts, my intuitive powers might increase." Did he have to say everything with a sense of pride, or was it just in Catra's head? Even the way he spoke, raising his wings a little with a sense of triumph, felt a little awkward to her as she glanced away.
"...Or... Maybe we could just split up or something?" She suggested turning around. "We could cover more ground if we went our separate ways from here."
"I could be wrong, but I'm sensing something's bothering you." If not for the spiritual connection he shared with Catra, the way she was phrasing her words sounded off to him.
"Nothing's bothering me!" She spat with a small irk. "I just wanna find this dumb tower so we can get back to training. You wanna help? Try and find it." She ordered turning around again.
"...Noooo, you're definitely troubled about something else. As your magnificent steed, I am attuned to your emotions."
"Ok. Rule number one: stay out of my head."
"I'm not in your head." He muttered, pressing his forehead against hers as he peered into the depths of her soul, or eyes in this case. "You might be able to hide your feelings from the others, but it doesn't work on me... Is it about me? It's about me, isn't it?"
"What? No!" She insisted, pushing him away and walking ahead. "I'm fine. Let's just go."
"Hmm," the magnificent stallion refused to back down from a challenge as he rubbed his chin with his wing, "is it about Bow? Glimmer? Adora? The Horde?" All the various people he came up with was presented in his own mind as a horse version of themselves, the best way he could identify them.
"No, it's none of that-"
"Is it the weight of the responsibilities you've been given as the new savior of Etheria? Soul crushing regret at all your past mistakes?" Never has Catra ever wished for someone to come with an off button as she did now with the horse that followed her. "The insanity being caused at the unknown of whether or not you can live up to your new task to restore balance to the rest of Etheria or risk bringing eternal ruin and discord to everybody around you-"
"STOP!" She finally snapped, almost looking desperate with the look she shot him. "Just. Stop. Talking! I'm fine, I swear! Just let me think for one second, geez!" She furled her brow as she moved on, scratching her head at the utter annoyance in the shape of a one-horned, winged, horse. For the first time ever in her life, she almost wished someone else was there to annoy her instead of the talking mammal that could get inside her head!
"...Okay!" And one that annoyed her with its always-optimistically-proud attitude when it spoke. "Well, I'm gonna go do a few loop-de-loops! Whoo!" With that, the horse cheered as he soared through the sky.
Why did she have to be burdened with a talking horse of all things? A talking horse that could fly and get into her head, at that. She would much rather deal with a horse that whines constantly as long as she couldn't understand the annoying garble coming out of its mouth if it meant staying out of her head. Add the fact he could fly to wherever he wanted, and there was very little she could do to escape him.
Why was he always so cheerful anyway? Just looking at him doing the loops in the air was enough to irritate her. He was a horse that could fly. Ok. She could see that as something to be cheery about. He was also a horse that was destined to fight alongside the Rebellion for the rest of their lives, provided he lived that long. That was something he couldn't be cheerful about. Maybe he actually found it entertaining to get under Catra's skin like that? To always be inside her head and-
Catra blinked as she noticed something while watching him. More specifically, something that caught her eye as she looked passed him. The floating landmasses surrounding the place, the things that gave this place a very strange sense of mysteriousness. Each and every one of them had a strange set of glowing lines, almost like runes, placed along the flats of their base. Noticing the other lines that floated around the place with different designs, it finally came to Catra as to why this place felt so unnatural, and why they couldn't find the mysterious tower.
"Hey, Swift Wind?" She called out as the horse continued to loop around.
"Yes, Catra?"
"I think I found the Watchtower."
...
...
"Mmmh..." Adora winced a little as she slowly came to. Her entire body felt sore and stiff, but miraculously she was still alive. The last thing she could remember was using her powers for... something... and then a severe pain shooting through her body, and then... and then... "Huh?" That's when she noticed she couldn't move her arms.
Looking around, her eyes widened a little at the sight of the thick vines binding her. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her sides as she sat upon a large rock. Struggling a little against the vines, she failed to find any sort of slack in their binding, noticing the expert tying displayed to keep her in place. It was just a few seconds later that she realized she wasn't alone as she felt two thin shadows looming over her, lifting her weary head to see Glimmer glaring at her, and Bow watching her movements closely. "Ok. No." She grumbled, trying to pry her arms loose.
"Well look who's awake." The princess of Bright Moon said, almost tauntingly as if she intended to stroke Adora's anger.
Now she remembered everything else. She was fighting with the two biggest annoyances of her life given human form, ones that went by the name of Glimmer and Bow. Immediately, the Force Captain gritted her teeth as anger welled up within her, as well as a sense of personal pride.
"Do you really think these stupid vines can hold me?" She smirked. All she needed to do was draw a little bit of her power to form and a blade and then-! "Aggh!" She yelped, immediately losing her focus as her body practically quaked. She wasn't used to this sensation before, not to a pain that came when she tried to channel her powers. Then again, she never really tried drawing out her powers without recharging for so long either.
"Not so easy to use your powers without recharging for so long, is it?" Now Glimmer was officially taunting her as she leaned in. She recognized that strained look of pain all too well, having several experiences in the past when she tried to push beyond her limits, only to succumb to a deep pain where she couldn't use her powers anymore.
It was at that time Adora took in more of her surroundings, and the situation at hand. Currently, she was in the middle of nowhere with no idea where the princess teleported them to, currently being held captive by dumber and dimmer, and, aggravatingly enough, she was without her magic. If she had even a fraction of her powers on hand, she could propel herself up high into the air enough to get a view of her surroundings. Then again, if she had that much, she could've cut her way out with even a sliver of her shadow and break through her bonds.
"...Huff..." She really didn't want to do this. Despite every bone in her body shouting at her to stop, or maybe it was her subconscious again, she didn't see any other option. "Ok. This is how we'll do this. You untie me. We go our separate ways. And we'll try to destroy each other some other time. Got it?"
"Do you think you're in any position for demands?" Glimmer grumbled, leaning closer to the girl's face.
"Listen you-! Ngggh!" Darn it! This stupid headache! Every headache brought another wave of a burning sensation throughout her entire body. It's like her mind was telling her if her mind was going to suffer, it was going to make the rest of Adora suffer.
"Hey, ease up on her." Bow pulled back Glimmer as he saw the pain spreading through Adora's expression.
"Ease up on her?! This is easing up on her, Bow!" Glimmer argued as she gestured to the commander. "She let the Horde Torture us Bow! She tortured me!" Did he truly forget everything the Horde did to them? Did he forget every single detail she mentioned when Glimmer recounted her own torture?
"Uh, yeah, because she's a bad guy! We're supposed to be the good guys!"
"That's an opinion, not a fact!"
"Stay out of this, Adora!" Glimmer yelled back briefly.
Exp... em...
There was the silent voice speaking in Adora's mind. Thank goodness Adora still had that around because on top of being filled with a severe pain shooting throughout her body, the LAST thing she'd want to be is without a creepy voice echoing through her mind in whispers that only she could hear. Truthfully, she'd be more than happy to listen to anyone else's voice than theirs, but the least it could do is say it more clearly.
"Listen. We didn't want for this to happen, but it did," Glimmer continued, "and now we should use it to our advantage."
"Tch, typical princess tactic." She scoffed. If she was going to be their hostage or prisoner, there was no way she was going to make it pleasant for them! "Use whatever means you have to achieve victory. No matter the cost or who gets injured. Heh, and you call us evil."
"Shut it. We're taking you to Bright Moon. Your people want you back, then they'll have to give us Entrapta in exchange!"
"...Who?" She nearly jumped as Glimmer pulled her closer by the collar of her uniform. In truth, there was a partial lightheadedness she was feeling in the midst of her overexerted state. Anything requiring the simplest form of thought felt blurry to her.
"We know you have her! Where is she? What are you doing with her?"
It took her a few seconds to realize what she was referring to. "Ooooh, riiiight, Entrapta. The Princess you left behind like a piece of trash after she finished saving your sorry excuse for a butt!"
"Grrrrr!"
*thud*
"Oww!" Ugh, even being dropped in her weakened state felt like she was being slammed upon a pile of bricks.
"Glimmer!" Bow groaned as he helped Adora up, brushing a few bangs of her hair out of her face. It was as he brushed the hair from her face that he felt something along her forehead. "Whoa... Glimmer, she's burning up."
"She's probably faking it. Knowing her, she's just trying to trick us."
"Oh yeah?" Adora challenged as her brows narrowed and her face flushed a little. "Why don't all three of you say that to me... as soon as you stop moving..."
"Glimmer..."
"Mmmh..." She hated to feel any speck of sympathy for the girl that literally tortured her over a month ago. Yet, she couldn't deny the small feeling of pity as she saw the black veins along the sides of Adora's face and the small streak of red across her face. It didn't help that the girl continued to glare back at her as she examined the dreary look on her face, but then again, she didn't feel like Adora was worth much sympathy in the first place. At least not a lot. "We can get her treated at Bright Moon once we teleport there."
"Uhhh... hold that thought." Bow muttered as he quickly sat Adora back atop of the rock. The girl's fever wasn't enough to make her delirious, though it was enough to keep her from caring entirely. "Shouldn't you wait until we get closer to teleport us? You don't want to run out of power and get us stuck out here. Especially with... her..." He hinted as he pointed back to the girl who was currently squinting at the sky.
"...Why does the sun hurt my eyes?"
"Ugh, fine! We'll wait until we're closer, then teleport." She stated, marching back to the girl in delirium. "All right, on your feet."
"Umm... No." She replied, quickly falling on her back against the rock.
"Geh! Would you quit goofing around!" She really hoped she didn't have to literally drag the girl around as she pulled her up by the shoulder again.
"Ow! Stop it!" Did it really hurt her as much as she was saying it did? She had to admit there was a sense of unease in practically every piece of her movement.
"Glimmer!" Likewise, Bow hoped he didn't have to break up the fight between the two as he distanced them a good two feet apart.
"Oh come on, I barely touched her that time!"
"Yeah, but she's already in pain! Just be a little easier with her."
"Ghhhhhhh! Do it for Entrapta... Do it for Entrapta..." Glimmer mumbled to herself as she walked away down the path. She was willing to do anything she could at this moment to save Entrapta, and if that meant putting up with a mad psycho manipulator of shadows turned into a whiny brat, then so be it. She just wished Bow would be more understanding of the same pain she put her through when no one helped her.
Adora tortured her. Not with words, not with gestures, physically. She subjected Glimmer to the mots painful of electroshocks that any one person could ever go through, she still had nightmares when she remembered it seconds before falling asleep! Whatever person Adora was that Catra knew her as never existed, because as far as Glimmer was concerned, Adora was nothing short of a monster.
"Sorry about her, she's just a little... um..."
"Annoying?" Adora scoffed, blowing up a puff of her dangling hair.
"What? No, I was gonna... well... she's just not one to forget peoples' actions. Can't really say I blame her given what she went through."
"Whatever. If you're gonna get rid of me, just hurry up and do it. This headache's bad enough, the last thing I need is a lecture before I die."
"Nobody's going to die." Bow assured as he gently pulled her along the path. "And nobody's going to get tortured. I detest that sort of thing."
Adora blinked. "You... You do?"
"Well, yeah. It's barbaric. It's not like you're guaranteed to get the information you'd want out of someone anyway, it's pointless."
"Bow?" Glimmer called out from ahead, bringing them all to a halt. With a nervous chuckle, Bow ran up ahead to see what she had to say, all while Adora thought about something.
"You'll learn, Adora. With or without me to guide you, you'll learn." She didn't care if she was talking anymore as she walked her way to the door. She just wanted to put the past behind her. "You'll never make it out there on good intentions or a peaceful frame of mind. One way or another, you're going to learn that betrayals, schemes, and exploits are the only way to make it through this world."
It was the very words Shadow Weaver told her when she last saw her. As the whispers in the back of her mind started to become more clearer, she realized this is exactly what she was talking about.
Adora tried to be direct with them, and they ignored her. She offered them a reasonable deal with letting her go and having the three of them go their separate ways, and they denied her. She tried to resist them with all that her currently feeble might could, and they were having none of it.
So why should she play by the same rules right now? If they ended up taking her all the way to Bright Moon, she knew that would be the end of it. She would likely be tortured, if not executed by Glimmer's mother personally, she would let down all those who looked up to her in the Fright Zone, and she would never see the light of day again, and that's if she was lucky! And don't even get her started on seeing Catra's smug look for the rest of her life. She'd almost take execution with a smile if she didn't have to hear her tauntings for as long as she lived.
She needed a way out. She wasn't in any shape to run, any stance to argue, and she had little to no magic left that she could draw upon, not without further harming herself. If she wanted to survive this ordeal, she was going to have to rely on her quick wits, and the opportunity that presented itself before her.
She noticed it through small talks here and there between the two. They were not perfect together. They disagreed here and there. From her perspective, they seemed entirely different. Bow seemed like someone who had a decent sense of justice, whereas Glimmer was the sort of cretin that she grew up hearing about, a princess that only cared for the suffering they could inflict on others, and use for their own personal goals.
This once great moment of travesty might've been a genuine blessing in disguise. If Adora played her cards right, not only would she manage to get away from this moment of peril, but she might be able to bring back a powerful ally with her. All she had to do was play the two against each other, and show Bow what Glimmer was really like.
And to do that, all she had to do was to listen for the very first time what the voices were telling her to do.
Exploit them...
...
...
...
A/N: Hooftah! ANother fun-filled chapter ^^ Had quite a bit of fun between the dialogue and the action scenes to go with it ^^ Outta curiosity, is the writing still good folks? I feel like its a little off here and there. Then again, its been 2 months, and I've been going through some health problems im seeing the doctor for tomorrow (nothing major- i think), so who knows XP
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!