A/N: Final WOrd Count: 11.6K Pre-A/N's. Hooooo jebus, this was tiring. I'll be completely honest- this is only half of the chapter i intended to post. The other half is still being worked on. Why is it posting now? Well, 1, its turning into an omg large chapter that I never expected it to, and 2 I was hoping to keep this episode 5 chapters in total. Given all that's happening though, this is likely to turn into 6 (pray to god not 7... i mean it might be great for you guys if you get a massive episode and more chapters, but not for me XP).
But after some convincing, and the fact the missing half of this still has a long way to go, i figured you guys could use your daily dose of chaptering, so here you go ^^ Hope you all enjoy!
...
...
...
"Okay, my turn, my turn, my turn!" Perfuma insisted as she shook her hands with excitement.
"Perfuma for the last time, we're not playing a game, we're planning a strategy!" This was getting so ridiculous!
The entire point of this meeting since the start of the mission was to come up with the perfect plan that would help them break into the Horde settlement without fail. There wasn't any part of it that could be put up to chance, they had to get the mission perfect to avoid any sort of casualties or chaos. Their lives depended on it, the Princess Alliance depended on it, and the Rebellion depended on it. There was just one little problem Catra couldn't get past right now: she was the only one taking it seriously!
She almost wished this was a cruel joke they were playing on her or that this was all some nightmare trying to teach her a lesson of who-knew-what because at least then all this annoyance and pain would be worth it!
Every plan that was brought up so far came with its own special taste of annoyance that the Princess Alliance just had to give their own spin on. For Glimmer, she wanted to be some special agent delving into the lair of a sinister evil mastermind that was bent on world domination. For Bow, it was going off about how masculine and manly he was while dealing with some bizarre vampire-inspired Adora, doing everything in his power to make it sound like his adventure from beginning to end.
And she couldn't understand why they were like this to begin with. For the first time, they all had the chance to make the perfect plan, a chance to prepare for the unexpected, and how did they choose to spend it? By acting like a bunch of morons while the Horde, not to mention Adora, were most likely doubling their defenses with each passing second. It was honestly painful for her to sit through as they babbled on between one stupid idea to the next without end.
Or with any end in sight.
To make matters worse, the rest of the Princess Alliance decided to get involved in all of this halfway through, an whatever hope Catra had they were going to take the mission more seriously than Glimmer and Bow by this point was thrown out the front door. To them, this strategy meeting was just a fun way for them to pass the time as they came up with more ideas that made the first dozen seem realistic by comparison. And, still, not one of them were taking this anymore seriously!
She needed this plan to be perfect, she needed every detail to be perfect! After the disaster of the last mission the group went through, she couldn't afford to take chances for a mission like this. The guilt she felt after she thought she killed Entrapta in the Fright Zone, followed by the anger that followed within the last few days when she discovered her current condition, was terrible.
She couldn't afford to let another plan of theirs result in death, or, much worse, someone else leaving to join the Horde.
"This a strategy!" The princess of flowers shined as she raised the display to the air above her. "And it'll be the best one yet!"
...
The silent walk through the night was beautiful to anyone who gazed around them. The flowers were blooming beyond perfection, the sound of birds chirping away the night's silence was as pleasant as a baby's laughter, and the smell of fresh bloom in the air was always revitalizing to her. Truly, the nature around them was completely mesmerizing and surreal.
But, like all good things in the world, whenever there was a untold wonder in the flora around them, there was always a person of pure evil just ten feet away. People who wished to tarnish the sanctity of greatness, the glory of the world around them. People who desired nothing more than to cover every inch of the world in pure darkness, one where light and love could never be spread.
Like the Queen of Darkness, the epitome of evil, the dreaded Dark Queen Adora, and all of her enchantingly evil glory!
That, was where she came in.
Strolling through the woods with her long blue skirt and white shirt, elegant blond hair, and gorgeous white shirt, stood one of the proudest members of the She-Ra Scouters, a scouter that moved with a passion against the injustices of the world, and all that defied nature's beauty. She was the elegant, wonderful, and gifted, She-Ra Scouter Perfuma!
Coming across the pitch black fortress of darkness, the She-Ra Scouter's face filled with determination. Raising her hand to the sky, she recited the sacred oath that had been passed down through the milenna, a line that filled one with the magic and elegance of the world, personified into She-Ra form.
With her hand in front of the view of the full moon, she spoke, "She-Ra, Princess, Power!"
All around her the atmosphere began to shift into a beautiful garden of flowers and blue as the very princess herself glowed with a radiant light. All throughout her, the magic of the world could be seen entering through her as she shined like an array of dazzling stars, covering every inch of her body as she gathered the magic of the princesses, encasing her entire body in a beautiful tapestry of thread.
From her hands, they glowed with the presence of harmony as a long pair of thin white gloves that lined elegantly with her skin, a perfect match for the perfect pair of hands. At the bottom of her feet, a white tape-like light covered her heels, leaving her with a wonderful pair of crystal shoes that fairy-tales could only dream of possessing. And her forehead, the sweet, gentle, face that showed all she had no fear and was not to be feared, glowed with a translucent green light as energy poured around it.
In a spectacular multitude of flashes, the rest of her outfit brimmed with a wonderful color of white as they spontaneously appeared one after the other. Around her waste, a floral-patterned skirt of green that went halfway down between her knees and thighs grew. Around her chest, a single green brooch in the shape of a tulip materialized, spreading a barrage of white lines and thread over the course of her body, covering her in her entirety within a moment's notice.
And from her head, rising out of the pouring light, came a tiara that stretched to the sides of her head, touching the base of her hair as it surrounded her, growing in a beautiful light of gold that nobody else could possibly begin to understand. With the last of the universe's energy of love and friendship filling her body, her transformation was slowly complete, the princess twirling around and she finally became whole.
"In the name of She-Ra," she decreed, posing excessively to the evil doers of the world, "we'll defeat you!"
Almost as if on cue, dark shadows began to stretch across the expanse of the walls as the mistress of evil revealed herself to the rest of the world. Atop the high wall, wearing a pitch black dress that dropped to the floor and trailed behind her, stood the Evil Queen Adora, wearing a spiked tiara of ugly grey that encircled her head, and a terrible scepter of mayhem of discovered, one with a purple orb, filled to the brim with magic, could be seen.
"You'll never succeed, She-Ra Scouter." Adora grinned, tauntingly clapping her staff to her hand. "You and the rest of the She-Ra Scouters will face the same ugliness and sadness I plan to spread to the rest of the world!"
"That's where you're wrong, Evil Queen Adora," Perfuma replied, still in pose, "because with the power of our friendship, we'll all defeat you!"
From behind her, the rest of the so-called "She-Ra Scouters", could be seen, wearing outfits that matched each of their respective elements, save for Catra, who wore one with a golden color that could befit any leader of friendship and love. Along with it, her tiara was also the largest of the She-Ra Scouters, proving to them that she was a leader who undoubtedly held and endless abyss of love for all the friends she's ever made in the Rebellion!
Without comparison, this was, absolutely, the worst outfit out of the last handful of plans Catra had ever worn. A tight shirt that itched across her stomach and back, high heels that made her attempts at walking, much less standing, extremely unstable, and, above all, the world's worst skirt in the world, one that was short enough to come up almost higher than the one she wore when she was She-Ra, and one she was struggling to keep down.
"Who designed this skirt?! It's awful!" Catra yelped, her face covered in a deep blush as she tried to keep the front of it pulled down.
From behind her, Frosta could only giggle at the fearless leader's predicament. "Hey, look on the bright side, Catra. Now all you have to fear is a slight breeze in the wind." The look of anger sprouting on the cat's face was more than enough enjoyment for Forsta to get a kick out of this.
At least, it was, until Catra pointed out something in return. "At least I'm not the one stuck wearing a tutu!"
"A what?" What was she talking about? Surely, she was wearing a similar outfit along the rest of them, right? Looking down at herself, she knew what she was seeing was going to be wonderful in comparison, and it was! Wonderfully... embarrassing, as her face turned red.
Her entire outfit had one too many frills on it and looked like a cheap ballet outfit that you'd expect a six-year-old to wear. She wasn't just covered in one layer of frills or two, she was covered, from every inch of her body, in more and more light-blue frills. With stalkings that stretched all the way up to her stomach, and a skirt that stretched out like a hoolahoop, being the pure incarnation of frill itself, it was the most humiliating thing Frosta had ever found herself wearing in this lifetime.
She didn't even get a cool-looking tiara like the others had. Hers looked like it came out of the toybox of some princess making make-believe, and her gloves were verily thin in comparison to the rest of them as they stretched just from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her wrists. And her shoes, dear First Ones her shoes. They sparkled with frills at the ankle of her outfit, letting everyone in the world know what an adorable and precious member of the She-Ra Scouters she was.
"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed, ducking behind Catra and pressing into her for dear life. "I take it back! I take it back!"
"Oh, NOW you don't like my outfit, huh?" She snarled to the younger princess who was using her basically for cover. The Princess of Bright Moon glanced between the true She-Ra of the group and her skirt she was trying to keep down with curious eyes.
"You know, if you stopped messing with it, I'm sure you won't have anything to worry about." It wasn't like skirts were these all-embarrassing-things to wear. She's had plenty of skirts in her life, and not once did she ever have an issue that she needed to address about them.
"I would if my tail wasn't getting in the way!" She really didn't feel like any more of an explanation was necessary than that. A breeze against a skirt would be one thing to deal with, but when you were dealing with a tail that was lifting the skirt up at the same time, it was another whole level of trouble.
"Evil Queen Adora," Perfuma continued, still stuck in the same pose she had been for the last several minutes, "this is your one chance to surrender! Turn away from evil and towards the side of goodness!"
"Goodness? Ha! I spit on your pathetic goodness!" The evil queen cackled with delight at their pathetic display. "Things like friendship and love mean nothing to me! Now, take this!" With a snap of her fingers, twirling her evil scepter of evil in the air, she thrust it straight into the ground as she created a pure wave of negativity and emotions, just like the evil queen she was!
All around the surrounding castle, the She-Ra Scouters were powerless to resist the negative influences that were dropping them to their knees, the looks of turmoil and regret crossing all of their faces as the light of their bodies began to darken. Their hearts of decency and love were filled with sadness and terror, driving away all thoughts of possibly defeating this vile creature of darkness, even with their combined strength!
"Ugh, it's all hopeless." The oceanic princess moaned, dropping further to her hands. "What's the point of being the princess of water if the rest of the world is covered in Perfuma's beautiful plants anyway?"
...
"Uh, why, would I ever, say that?" She was the only other person to break out of character as she asked this to the current game master with the board.
...
"There's no way She-Ra would ever want to be my friend." Scouter Glimmer said, brushing away her tears as she wept. "I'm just a great, big, loser."
"Okay, you're not wrong, but your attempts at trying to cheer me up aren't working." Catra couldn't keep herself from the floor as she lied her head against the ground. "I just want all of this to be over."
"I guess it really is all over..." What was She-Ra Scouter Perfuma thinking in the first place? She wasn't the main heroine of the story. She couldn't even feel the power of She-Ra's love even though she knew that she was She-Ra's best friend out of the group. "We can't do anything by ourselves."
"Haaahahahaahahaaaa!" Yes, yes! This was brilliant! She was filling their minds with hopelessness and their minds with doubt as they continued to feel the power of love drain from their bodies. Soon, their spirits would be crushed completely, ending the reign of the She-Ra Scouters once and for all. Then, oh yes, then! Then the world would be hers for the taking!
*fffffttttt*
"What?!" Just as everything seemed their most-hopeless, when it looked like the last light of Etheria would finally be vanquished, a lone arrow penetrated the orb as it fired from the woods. Instantly, all the dark energies that were filling their bodies began to disappear, the She-Ra Scouters' senses returning to normal, as goodness, and kindness, returned at long last.
"Don't give up, She-Ra Scouters!" Perfuma gasped as she turned to the woods, the sound of a familiar voice invigorating her with a renewed sense of hope! The tone of his voice, the strength of his resolve, the inexplicable timing of his appearance right at the last second. There could be no doubt about who it was!
"Masquerade Bow!" She cheered.
Just as she said, the Sailor Scouters gasped with joy as they turned to the large tree, where a lone figure could be seen standing in front of the presence of the moon. From his mysterious mask that only covered his face from the nose to his eyes, the stance he formed as his black cape blew with the wind to reveal its velvet undertone, and the white cummerbund that clashed wonderfully with the rest of his black clothing, save for his white gloves. Add it up with the top hat her wore, and everyone, hero and villain alike, would know his inspiring name!
Even if they could never figure out his real identity.
"Awesome, I got another hat!" Masquerade Bow cheered as he looked up, admiring the rest of his outfit in every detail.
"Just when I thought Bow couldn't get any lamer-"
"Masquerade Bow is right!" She-Ra Scouter Perfuma encouraged, cutting the magicat off. "As long as we combine our powers, anything is possible! Quick, She-Ra, transform into your real appearance!"
"My what?" Seriously, what could she be talking about? Anything that gave her hope like her original She-Ra outfit? Because she was smart enough to not have such thoughts in the middle of these things.
"Come on, you can do it! Just raise your hand to the sky and shout out, "Pretty Princess Power"!"
"...There is no way, I am saying anything lame, like that-"
*shiiiiiiim*
"Oh, come on! I didn't even say the line!" As if it had a mind of its own, or if it got tired of the wait, Catra began to glow in a brilliant white light that enveloped her entire body. The Evil Queen Adora was helpless as she shielded her eyes from the wonderful light atop her walls, powerless to stop the wave of friendship emanating from the She-Ra of the group.
Without any sort of inexplicable transition, the once simple She-Ra Scouter appearance that Catra once donned was replace, modified, into the celestial outfit that anyone in the world would love to have. From her shoulders, descending to the ground below, stood a wondrous presence that was gifted with a beautiful white dress, with every inch of it covered in frills, down to the sparkling white glass slippers she wore along her cat-like feet.
Her shoulders were parted with more serene beauty as they padded out, presenting her with the appearance of a true, wonderful, ruler, who knew that no bounds were impossible with the power of friendship. If Bow's previous gift of makeup was too much of her, she would gladly take it all back as someone had taken the liberty to apply nail polish to her claws, making them sparkle just as greatly as her shoes. She was elegance refined and multiplied tenfold, beauty personified by the strength of her will.
And, as the last piece de resistance, her weapon, her once proud and mighty weapon that she carried around wherever she followed, was changed. Instead of the awesome, powerful, weapon that could transform her into a powerful warrior with the ability to preform magical feats of splendor, and transform itself into whatever she deemed necessary, was now nothing more than a wonderfully enchanted pink staff, one the size of her arms, with a blue spiral stretching from the top to bottom, with an enchanted glittering heart on the very top, symbolizing the love she felt for her fellow friends.
Glimmer, Frosta, and Mermista were devastated at the sight of the appearance alone, so there was no telling how Catra felt about all of this.
"Oh..."
"My..."
"Gosh..."
Catra didn't know what the embrace of death felt like, but she was pretty sure this was the closest feeling she was ever going to experience of it, given how empty she felt inside.
"Now, everyone!" Without skipping a beat, the Princess of Plumeria rushed to Catra's side, like the beloved friend she was. "We must combine our powers together to defeat the wicked creature! Send Catra all of your love, so she can channel it into a power strong enough to-"
...
"Oh jeez, stop, stop, STOP!" Catra shouted in embarrassment she could never dream of having in her nightmares. Without giving the princess another chance to add some other ridiculous change to her scheme of a story, Catra literally began ripping the scene away from her, pulling it apart and tearing it until it was nothing more than tiny little shavings that disappeared with the wind around her. Catra's face had reached every shade of red by the time she stopped the story personally, her face covered in a bright pink that she swore was permanent for the rest of her life. "Just get to the assault part already!"
Perfuma just blinked in confusion as she stared into her eyes, perplexity riddling her face in every corner. "What assault?"
"THE ASSAULT ON THE HORDE FORTRESS!"
"Oh... Ooooooh," Perfuma slowly nodded as she came out of her own imagination, " I'm sorry. I got a little mixed up for a second. I thought we were discussing how to defeat Adora."
Little by little, slowly coming out of the stupor of Perfuma's imagination as well, the rest of the Princess Alliance slowly came back to reality as small chuckles and grins spread across their faces. By the time they were all returned to the same plane of existence, Mermista and Glimmer found themselves holding their sides, Frosta was lying on her back, and Bow was pounding with his chest on the table, all of them laughing beyond control.
"Oh my gosh, that, pffft, that was the best story ever! Hahaha!" Mermista squealed, nearly tearing up as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"You had the- tchahaahah!" Frosta was still picturing the costume Catra was wearing as she rolled around the ground. "You had the best outfit, by far!"
Okay.
She could deal with this.
She was perfectly satisfied with murdering everyone within this tent after the mission was over. She also would've loved murdering at least one of them at this point, specifically the princess who came up with every single detail of the strategy that involved the most humiliating experience of Catra's imaginative life, but it was hard to get angry at her in the first place when she just stared at Catra curiously, wondering why everyone else was in just a laughable mood.
Pushing away all the mental details of how she would make everyone suffer out of her mind, the cat sighed to herself as she sat back down at the table, leaning on one of her arms. "Now, can you come up with something a lot more different than your first plan? Preferably without any stupid outfits or dresses involved."
"Of course!" Sometimes it amazed Catra that Perfuma could instantly switch personas so fast in the blink of an eye. "Instead, I'll use my magic to grow a Plant Golem to take down the tower."
...
The soldiers of the fortress continued establishing their perimeter as they explored the tower. One of the fundamentals of any Horde outpost was to always keep its security and personal in check, especially when the threat of the enemy loomed over their own shoulders. No matter how well guarded a place was, a single soldier was all it would take to bring down such an advanced complex from the inside out, and ruin everything they had accomplished.
Or in this case, the power of a very enchanting princess of plants.
With a tremor that nearly knocked the guards off their feet, they found their eyes all drawn to the northern wall as everything rumbled around them. From atop the high wall, in all of her glory, they could see Princess Perfuma, the princess of plants and Kingdom of Plumeria, concentrating as she gathered the pwoer of her magic around her. The Horde always trampled upon the nature around her, and desecrated numerous forests in the name of their war. And she was determined to make each of them pay for taking advantage of mother nature.
"Haaaah!" With a scream, summoning the fruits of her power, the guards were struck in shock and horror as, beyond the walls, stood one of the biggest creations of magic they had ever witnessed. Its body flexed with vine-like muscle as it raised its arms to the sky, the floral surrounding it far and spacious to look like anything of comfort, and its roar, its massive, terrifying roar, sent event the bravest of soldiers trembling for their lives.
All around the complex, the screams of the fellow Horde soldiers filled the outside as they were grabbed and pulled by the massive vines the giant created through the complex. Nowhere was safe from the gargantuan being as its roots dug through the walls of the great tower, ensnaring and trapping anything within its path. The princess watched with joy as her enemies were trapped, proud to have accomplished such a magnificent attack on tower all by herself. From this day forward, she was confident the Horde would think twice about stepping on a flowerbed of daisies ever again!
...
And, apparently, that was it. The princess simply smiled to her friends as they all stared at her, excluding Catra who was rubbing her knuckles against her eyes as she tried to process it.
Raising his hand to the air as he stood, Bow had to ask, "But how does it roar?"
"Hmhmhm! It's Plant! Magic!" She princess thought it would've been obvious to him as she exclaimed. And honesty, it did feel a little obvious to him as he sat back down, even if it didn't really feel like a legitimate explanation.
"Well, I definitely liked it compared to your last plan." Catra admitted, though it wasn't saying much on the whole. "But it's still not going to be enough to get through their walls. Something that big will be an easy target for the turrets, not to mention any literal fire-power they bring."
"Plus, your idea is dumb." Mermista added, flatly.
"Ah!" Perfuma had never felt so insulted by such a direct attitude as she scoffed. "And what would you do instead?"
"Uh... I step forward, and I say..."
...
As if it was immediately following the previous princess's attempt before she, and the golem, disappeared, the guards found themselves groaning with aches and sores spread throughout their entire body, foolishly hoping to themselves that the worst part of their day was over. It was with those thoughts that the nature of reality set upon them as two seconds later, they were greeted by another princess, one of the vast oceans that covered the world, as she stood atop a massive wave appearing over the wall.
With trident in hand, she gazed upon the fellow Horde soldiers within the complex as they trembled in fear. "I am Mermista. Fabulous secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my trident and said, "For the Honor of Gray Whales!"
...
"Wait a minute-"
...
From her magical scepter that was a better magical weapon than anyone else's in every way, the gem that was socketed upon the pronged spear glowed with an amazing light, raining its powers down from above as a wave of crystalline water covered the awesome princess of the seas from head to toe in an instant.
With a bright wave of water, the princess transformed into an all-superior being, one who stood for truth, justice, and the seas everywhere! Every corner of her body was transformed as her outfit changed, adding golden bracelets that grew along her wrists, gold seashells that were the most beautiful things in the world, and her shoes that stretched along the sides of her ankles like a golden gale. Topped off with a tiara made of long seashells on each end, and a beautiful blue cape that flapped around her, there could be no doubt.
This was Mermista, Queen of the Seas, and the greatest warrior the universe had ever known! Everyone who gazed upon her would know she was the ultimate hero that the legends were told about! With the gem of the spear embroidered within the center of the starfish-like design on her chest, and her forehead, everyone would know just how powerful she could be, because, for some reason, having more gems meant you were more powerful when it came to something She-Ra related.
Along with her trusty dolphin with a majestic horn on its head, it let out a cry of joy as it crossed her path, a rainbow of magic trailing behind it, as it warned any and all evildoers to beware of Mermista's wrath!
...
"Then it's like, sparkle, sparkle, dolphin, sparkle." The princess of the seas went on as everyone else stared at her. Of course, this was everyone but a certain Catra who was leaning from the table, pinching between her eyes tightly as she tried to restrain herself.
"Mermista..." She didn't think it was possible, she didn't think it could even be attempted, but here it was, bright as day. Mermista, through whatever means, managed to come up with a plan that was somehow the worst one out of the group.
"I get shoes that are slightly better than my normal shoes. There's probably another dolphin."
"Mermista!" The serious feline yelled louder as she glared at her.
"Then like I twirl, and my hair does this thing, where it's all messy, but it's actually, like, really super-beautiful."
Having enough of the annoying sounds surrounding her, she finally grabbed the fish-girl by her collar, lifting her up to her face. "You can't transform into She-Ra!"
"Uh, duh, I'm Sea-Ra, Princess of the Oceans, obviously." She corrected without a care in the world as Catra narrowed her eyes.
"That still doesn't mean anything! It doesn't even make any sense! How are a bunch of whales suddenly make you some magical warrior of the seas if it changes nothing about you?"
"I think you're like, jealous of the fact that my Sea-Ra can transform entirely without even needing to try, and yours can't." It was always fun for Mermista to grin and see how easily she could get a rise out of the Honorary Princess as Catra gritted her teeth.
"Uh-uh, no way! If she gets to be Sea-Ra, I get to have my plant golem!"
"The Winter's Bane needs no help from a plant!" Thrusting her hand into the air, Frosta would easily show how superior her awesome skills were to the rest of the group.
Even if it was for the last time.
"The what?" Just by the sound of her voice, Mermista was already beginning to smirk at Catra's reaction. Whatever the girl had up her sleeve, it was going to be good regardless, because in the end, it would get a rise out of Catra.
...
Blasting away at the wall with all of her power, the princess of the greatest kingdom on Etheria forced her way into the complex with her own two hands. A blast of winter's chill blanketed the entire fortress as all of her enemies were frozen in place, be they from fear or sheer awesomeness at the sight of Frosta's entrance. Both princesses, Perfuma and Mermista, could only gaze in wonder as they saw light particles of snow descend from the heavens, watching and yearning to be as cool as the princess they knew would come to save the say.
"My enemies know me as Frostbite Winter's Bane." All around the area, they bore witness to Frosta's limitless powers and the chunks of ice that scattered the field around them. Nobody could even begin to hope they were as awesome as this princess was, sometimes even crying at the idea of even being half as great as her! "My friends call me Bane. That is, if I had any." She snarled in-between. "But no one comes close to the WINTER'S BANE!"
All around her, the chorus of cheers could be heard in the distance as Frosta revealed her full power to the world, everything about her being awesome, cool, and mega-awesome to anyone who saw her! Her entire body, excluding her face that had a scar along the left eyebrow, was covered in head to toe as she transformed into a proud warrior that would make anyone fear her name! She already rose ten feet tall in her icy glory as every inch of er body was encased in ice. And her sword, oh how awesomely powerful her sword was, could cut through anything in the world!
She was no She-Ra. She wasn't even Sea-Ra. She was the awesome Winter's Bane! May all of her enemies fear her forever as she stared away from the explosion behind her!
...
The rest of the group stared down at the questionable diagram that the princess provided as they saw the... unique... illustrations of her appearance from the journal she doodled in with every manner of detail included for the board game. Their expressions varied from confused, curious, questionable, every possible expression that didn't include frustrated or angry. That was Catra's jurisdiction.
"She's got a broadsword that enhances strength plus three, and her finishing move is the Snowstrike!" She was quite proud of her handiwork despite the fact it looked nothing like the imagination she had of it. She could instantly tell they were all amazed and wowed at the sight of her amazing drawing skills.
The only thing that amazed Catra at this point was the fact the almost-twelve-year-old was the only one with the least obnoxious story.
"What's with these blobs next to it?" Mermista pointed out to corner of the paper.
"Oh, those are the cheerleaders that follow me everywhere, making my incredible strength even more awesome as they chant my name!"
"This one looks like Glimmer a little."
"What?" The princess refused to believe Perfuma as she quickly pushed Mermista aside a little, eyeing the pinkish figure in disbelief. No matter how crude it was, she couldn't deny that the likeness that it was trying to copy as she held a pair of pink pompoms in her hands. "That can't possibly be me!"
"Hey, she did say it looked like a blob." That one little line of joking would be all the enjoyment Catra would find herself getting out of all of this for a few glorious seconds.
"What about the blob next to it? It's too hard to make out with the hair."
"Oh, that's Catra."
"What!?" She didn't give any sign or warning as she shoved Glimmer aside much harder as she grabbed the paper from her. Sure enough, granted it was hard to see anything of the face since the hair was scribbled out in every direction, she could just make out the tail enough behind her and the reddish cheerleader outfit that matched Glimmer's pink one as they cheered in an exact pose right next to one another. "Why am I a cheerleader? If anything, you should be mine!"
"Dream on, princess pet." Frosta teased with a smug, rubbing her own knuckles against her shoulders. "We all know who would win in a fight, and we all know who the cooler hero between us is."
"Listen, Princess Brat, there's no way in a million years you would ever be half as cool as me, and that's with me being generous!" It took her a moment to realize how sidetracked she was getting as she shook her head to herself.
"Keep it up, and I'll make you both my sidekicks, and put behind Glimmer in ranking."
"That almost sounds worse than being your cheerleader!" Glimmer felt punished enough to know she was considered the cheerleader, but now she was going to be a sidekick with a sidekick? Aside from sounding stupid, it was also something that was never going to happen!
"Ugh, can we just get back to the main topic here?"
"Yes, the main topic," Glimmer stood up in agreement with her fists to her sides, "like how I'm not anyone's sidekick around here!"
"That's not what I meant!"
As the proceedings of the chain of command continued, each of them were unaware as a small, tiny-sized, figure slowly approached the very tent. It was a small ball-sized Spider Bot that was generally dubbed as the "Spy Bot" amongst the Horde, which scurried in secret as it drew closer to the commotion emanating from the entire tent. With only three metallic legs and a small antennae on its head, it was small enough to go through most of the outpost without being spotted by anyone, and was easily capable of spying on the enemy with them being none the wiser.
Now, if the driver behind the droid could control it any better, that would be a vast improvement.
"Go left! No wait, my left! Wait, wait, your left is my left. In that case go right! No the other right! No-!" Lonnie did whatever she could to maintain her composure as Scorpia continued to play backseat-driver behind the controls as Lonnie continued to move the tiny machine forward. It didn't help when she tried to physically play backseat driver to the small robot as she kept prodding at the buttons off and on with her claws, messing up the direction Lonnie was trying to move it.
"Would you stop pressing everything?! You're messing me up!" Maintaining a silent growl, gently slapping the scorpion's claws away, she finally managed to get the Spy Bot on the right track as they reached the War Tent that the Princess Alliance's meeting was being held.
"I can't hear anything. Get in closer!" Scorpia pleaded, trying to press the machine forward again. While she actually managed to get it in the right direction this time, she couldn't get it to steer right as she kept fidgeting with the controls and Lonnie at the same time.
"That's because the audio isn't on yet- Hey! Give it to me!" Lonnie grumbled as she started to play a singlehanded game of tug-of-war with the Force Captain, struggling to keep the Spy Bot in place as she pulled it from her hand.
How could Lonnie expect her to stay patient and calm when her best-friendship-ness was on the line with Adora?! Adora was going to be here in a few minutes, and she had nothing to show for it! She had nothing to show for it other than the tower which was still being pre-prepared for a fourth time since Scorpia took over, she didn't have any new information she could possibly use or present to Adora when she got here, and Kyle still hasn't figured out what her favorite color of bunny was!
Of the three, the last was definitely the most important!
She needed to do everything she could to make sure Adora was proud of her upon her return! Once she proved to her what a capable and amazing friend she could be, Adora would finally see her as her knew Best Friend, like Catra was previously before these turn of events, show her that she wouldn't do anything as despicable or terrible to her like turning her back on her. And all of that hinged on getting this machine to do the spying-thingy she needed it to do before Adora arrived!
At the same time, on the opposite end of the device, Mermista couldn't help but notice a strange scraping sound coming from around her. It was hard to say if she was hearing anything at all for that matter since everyone's shouting back and forth was drowning out the possible noise, and yet she couldn't ignore it. Taking a brief glance, the princess turned to her head to the right, unaware of the spider bot that barely stayed out of her line of sight as it twitchily moved towards her.
Her small gesture was just enough of a notice for Frosta's attention to be turned to her as she noticed her strange movement, then went wide in the eyes as she saw the small device that looked like it was having a small seizure behind her. Who was doing what on the opposite end of these things to make the droid move like that? Better yet, why was it here at all?! If the droid got discovered, there was a chance it could possibly be traced back to Frosta in some way, not that she could think of given the current shoutings in the room, and that could expose her before the attack commenced.
Quickly shifting her eyes around the room, relieved that everyone else was too busy looking at each other and yelling senselessly about different things, the Princess of Snows quickly swiped behind the blue mermaid, barely making it in time as she pulled the small droid behind her just as Mermista looked in her direction. She gave the most innocent smile she could as the princess stared at her in confusion, wondering what was moving around her to make her feel weird, and wondering why the young princess near her was casually smiling at her as she kept the droid out of her view behind her.
"What?" Frosta asked as innocently as possible, trying to push the look Mermista was giving her away as soon as possible. Mermista, thankfully, stared at her briefly at this before shrugging, going back and getting involved with the conversation at hand as Frosta sighed.
"Finally." Lonnie breathed with relief as she finally wrestled control out of Scorpia's claws. Noticing her movement had shifted directly behind Frosta, she could easily assume what had occurred during the scuffle, finding it fortunate enough that Frosta didn't seem to be in any trouble at the scene, which meant she wasn't discovered yet. "We got visual. Turning on the audio." As she said, with a small click, Rogelio, Kyle, Scorpia, and Lonnie could finally hear what was going on with the princesses.
"My army of Plant Golems will take down the tower instantly!"
"Frostbite uses Snowstrike to encase the tower in ice, then cracks it open with a single strike of my ice-hammers, kapow!"
"Uh, you mean Sea-Ra will use the Trident of Power to blow it up."
"You don't have a Trident of Power!" Glimmer was heard saying off screen as the display focused on Mermista.
"I will when Bow makes me one right now!"
"I just don't want to die again."
"This is who we're losing too?" Lonnie found it hard to believe that these were the same people who repelled the Horde almost a month ago at the Battle of Bright Moon. Then again, given some of the people leading them, like one such individual who slowly walked away from the group, maybe it wasn't too surprising.
"I can't believe it..." Scorpia mumbled as she stopped.
"Me either." The unexpecting sound of Scorpia's laughter caught the trio by surprise as they threw their attention at her.
The world felt like a cruel, dark, empty place as Scorpia brought her claws to her head. Everything, practically everything about this mission, was over for them! "They have a giant golem on their side, they have another hero named Sea-Ra they recruited, and Frosta's gonna betray us in the attack!? It's all over! Everything is over!" The world came crashing down upon the poor soon-to-be-best-friend-less Scorpia as she collapsed to her claws and knees, silently sobbing to herself as the world continued around her.
"Ugh, they're obviously just coming up with ideas. Terrible ones at that-" Lonnie attempted to explain before the scorpion jumped to her feet, panicking, as she interrupted.
"No, no, no, everything about this is terrible!" What was someone supposed to do when their possible-best-friendship was on the line?! Continue with everything? Prepare for everything? How was she supposed to even prepare for a giant golem attack?! "We've got to... We've got to evacuate, call this whole ambush off!"
"Um, I think you're just overreacting Scorpia-"
"What are you all standing around for? We're in a hurry! MOVE!" Scorpia pointed to each of them in a fit as she gave them their assigned orders, still teary-eyed. "Lizard guy-"
"His name is Rogelio." Kyle corrected.
"Gather all the troops and tell them to prepare to evacuate! Now!" Anyone with a common sense just stared at the girl as she flailed about, even if she was a Force Captain, and moved on to the next person. "Lonnie, double our defenses, and then double those defenses in case we're too late to evacuate! Adora, figure out when Adora is going to get here!"
"Huh?"
"And Kyle, find another bunny to go along with that first bunny so Adora has something extra to cheer her up when-" The Force Captain froze as she stared silently, slowly turning her soon-to-be-crushed friend as she silently stared at her, blinking. "A-Ad-d-dora?"
The person in question continued to stare at her as she slowly gave her a slow wave, curious as to the nature of Scorpia's strange behavior. "Um... hi?"
"...Ahhhhh!" She could no longer hold it in as she let out a small scream, letting out a cry of terror as she held onto her smaller friend's shoulders, crying into her chest. "Ahhh Adora, it's terrible! I couldn't even do my job for the last half-hour before everything was wrecked!"
"Huh?" Glancing around, the second-in-command had to question what she was getting at.
Everything seemed to be in order when she got here, she saw all the guards at their posts and the weapons being maintained, and she didn't see a single enemy infiltrating or spying on the place as she arrived. She gave the remaining three a strange look while wondering why Scorpia was crying and Lonnie was pinching between her eyes like she was going to smack her head into the wall. "Um... it's... okay? Everything will be fine?" It was hard to tell what the problem was when everything seemed as fine as when she left. "What is she crying about?"
"It's Frosta, Adora, she's going to betray uuuuus!"
"W-Wait, what?!" Okay. She had to admit. Coming back to the base and hearing that upon her arrival, especially since her only companion had been Aroda for the last half-hour, was rather shocking to hear. But, even though it was coming from Scorpia, and she did trust her enough that she was sure of herself, that just couldn't be the case... could it?
"Ugh, she is not betraying us!" Lonnie finally groaned, messing with the device yet again. Messing with the settings she had, she finally got the Spy Bot to play some of the recorded footage within the last few minutes as she showed everything Scorpia, and Adora, needed to see.
Adora never felt a mix of shock and relief fill her body all at once as she watched the proceedings. It wasn't any sign of betrayal or a meager hint that anyone was going to betray them in the first place. Sniffling still, Scorpia lifted her head enough to finally see everything that played out before the audio was turned on. Fortunately, this also included the footage as the robot's point of view was directed on Frosta who saw the robot in turn, and watched as the princess quickly snatched the robot away before Mermista could see it.
It was everything Adora needed to see as the playback eventually came to an end, resuming its current recording as the princesses remained unaware. "Phew. There, you see? Everything's fine."
It took the humanoid scorpion to compose herself as she stood up straight again, rubbing her nose as she stifled the sniffling. "R-Really?"
"Yes! Really!" Lonnie finally let out with a stammer. "You've done a great job, you should be proud of it! You honestly did better than I thought you would do, so stop worrying already, jeez!" She huffed and she puffed as she finally let out all her stress at once. Between the last half hour of fulfilling nonsensical orders given to her, having to help her direct things in the right direction, and ignoring every time she nearly pushed her off the wall in a playful manner, she had to get everything off her chest! She didn't care if it was in Adora's presence or not, she was tired of putting up with it!
And it wasn't until she saw Scorpia sweetly smiling at her that she realized she revealed a little too much of her personal thoughts, and coughed to herself as she covered her mouth, trying to ignore the feeling of the small blush coming to her and the stare Scorpia was giving. "So, you know... relax."
"Awww!"
*tug*
Scorpia had never found a sweeter excuse to hug anyone else that wasn't Adora or Entrapta as she tightly threw her arms around Lonnie, the cadet doing whatever she could to look away and push off of her, while accidentally knocking the controller to the ground in the process.
"Thank you!"
"Mmmmh..." She knew she was never going to hear the end of this from Kyle or Rogelio for the rest of the week, an increasingly longer week as the hug went on longer.
"Then if everything's fine, let's get back to work." Adora decreed, earning a satisfied nod from her friends. "Like I said yesterday, we have one shot at this. Let's check out our defenses one more time before we get the troops ready to march out." Adora's heart flourished as she saw the energy coming from her friends, watching them walk off to their respective posts and soldiers as they prepared for battle.
This was it, Adora could feel it. After today, everything would be back to normal, and the rest of the world would follow smoothly through Adora's methods. They would capture the Princess Alliance and Catra, ending their threat at long last, the Rebellion would be easy to pull off after without the princesses at their side, especially Glimmer, and she would prove to everyone else that Frosta could be trusted.
Most importantly, she would prove herself to Hordak. She was going to prove to him that she wasn't a mistake, that she was one of the Horde's greatest assets after long last. She might even find a place, at long last, at his side, acknowledging her of her accomplishments and loyalties to the Horde. It would show the trust he finally had in her, the loyalty that went on without question, even if it did waver at time. And most of all, he would finally see, along with the rest of the Horde.
She would show to the world that the Horde were truly righteous, that they were the ones trying to unite the world no matter what the Rebellion said about them. They were the heroes. The Rebellion were the villains. Catra had made the mistake of turning her back on the Horde, and she would prove it to her with her own two hands, and destroy everything Catra hoped to achieve. She was going to keep Catra from accomplishing her selfish desire at long last.
And she wouldn't let any obstacles stand in her way.
...
At the same time, the bitter argument between who was who's sidekick and the best plan had finally come to an end, or at least enough to Catra's liking. Everyone was finally sitting again, they were all just as eager to go over their battle strategies, and they were willing to work together for a common cause, just like they should've been doing.
Now if they could actually come up with a plan that worked, Catra would finally be satisfied. Yet all she heard leaning her arm against the table was the sounds of everyone's previous ideas coming back to her from the same people who suggested them.
"I teleport in!"
It was time for the rebirth of Agent T. Glimmer to do her thing!
"And run out of teleports and a means to shutdown the turrets."
"I smash the walls with my plant golem!"
She was already excited as she pictured the massive fist she was riding as she broke through the fortress!
"It bursts into flames the minute the Horde lights it with a match. Next?"
"Frostbite smashes through the walls!"
With all the power of her magic surrounding her, the princess shined as she jumped into the air before the sun, smashing her way down onto the defensible structure, that was no match for her awesome powers!
"You smash your armor apart and the Horde gets busy taking potshots at you with the turrets while you're sliding down it. What else?"
"Sea-Ra destroys the Horde bots!"
After saying her sacred oath, nobody would be a match for the mystical warrior of the seas! The Horde's bots would be helpless as they floundered in the jet streams of water created by the wonderful warrior she was, and she would single-handedly drown the robotic creations with the waves at her command!
"You're not Sea-Ra, and you guys aren't taking Adora into account!"
"Sure we are!" Perfuma smiled back as she showed the pages of Frosta's journal to her. "See?"
In front of the Horde base, Catra found herself in her She-Ra form as she suddenly became surrounded by the numerous images of Adora that her friends had cooked up. Every single one of them were an example of just how much they weren't taking this seriously, how annoying Catra found it to be the sane one of the group for once, and how likely they were all going to die by the time this mission was over.
And it all started with what could only be described as a stick-figure drawing of Adora by a first grader as it appeared behind her.
"Nyeh, I have a lot of negative emotions to say about Catra and her friends! Also, I hate everything pretty and nice!"
"No, no, no, it's more like this!" Frosta squealed as she quickly drew in the journal.
Catra nearly jumped as Adora jumped from behind her, completely covered in shadows by her magic, looking the same as she did when Catra fought her at her full power in Bright Moon.
"Gotcha! I'm way too fast, and smart, and tough, and way too cool to be one of the good guys, Catra!"
Catra almost shuddered a Glimmer let out a fake cackle, pretending to be evil as she knew the perfect representation of her without comparison.
"Well, well, we meet again, don't we, Miss Catra?" The evil black and white mastermind version of Adora sneered from her right, continuing to pet the viper that was wrapped within her arms.
"I don't vink so, von Catra!" With an arm in front of his mouth, Bow tried to make his eyes look as menacing as possible as he gazed into Catra's.
And out of all of them, Bow's representation was still the weirdest to Catra as she appeared from her left, cape still draped over her shoulders as kept herself covered from the sunlight, although she was still out in the sun to begin with, as her cape covered her from the nose down.
"V'once I am done vit you, I shall dine on the vlood of the innocent!" It cackled.
This was too much. All of it. As Catra stared at the terrible impressions of Adora she saw around her, she squeezed her head and closed her eyes. All of her friends were acting like idiots in this meeting. Even she was decent enough to listen to a meeting, if not fall asleep through it half the time. They were all going to die at this rate because something wasn't discussed or someone didn't hear anything else other than the inane laughter going through Catra's ears.
They were going to lose. The Princess Alliance would end up in shambles if they even survived after this, and they weren't going to have anyone to blame but themselves. That would normally be a silver lining in Catra's opinion if losing didn't also mean ending up with a dead princess that they left behind.
And that was still if they didn't run off and join the Horde, either!
She needed a break from all of this, a distraction, or somebody just to say that maybe, MAYBE, they should focus on their plan again! All she was left with right now were the sounds of laughter and snickering to one another, the hair-brained schemes they continued to pitch, and-!
*ssskk*
*ssskk*
Catra's eyes snapped open.
That.
"Everyone be quiet..." She muttered softly, as she looked around.
"Oh, come on, Catra, we're just having a little fun-!" Glimmer's cheer-filled attempts at calming the girl were cut off as Catra threw a hand over her mouth, a movement that didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the Princess Alliance as they suddenly became silent.
"Shhh! Listen..." Out of the abrupt or awkward behaviors Catra's displayed over the months of knowing her, this was a new one. Her ears twitched from side to side as the girl looked around, everyone remaining silent, Bow and Perfuma eyeing each other, as the magicat glanced around the room. "Someone... Someone's spying on us..."
All at once, Frosta's heart sank deeply as the rest of them looked with similar expressions of shock and worry. It took everything she had in her to keep from making any sort of face that would've tipped Catra off too far, depending on whatever she knew already, in her direction.
Did Catra actually discover her secret somehow? Had she been found out? No, no, that couldn't be, right? She hasn't said or done anything to tip them off with her behavior. If anything, she's been acting more like herself since the day started, a little much more, if only to enjoy the time she had left with them. No matter what sort of powers she had, there was no way Catra already knew she was a spy. That was her very last train of thought before Catra stared intensely in her direction.
"There!" Without warning, without giving her a chance, Catra sprang to her feet as she lunged straight towards the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows.
"Catra, wait-!" Frosta barely had enough time to let out a plea before the magicat was on top of her with all of her strength.
...Or, as she soon discovered, passed her, as Catra barely shot around her before colliding with the ground with a roll, all wile Frosta's heart stopped for a few solid seconds of shock. Getting whatever issues and worries she could out of her head, she quickly turned back to see what the rest of them were seeing as Catra got back to her feet and turned around.
The Spider Bot which was still twitching its legs repeatedly as she held its tiny body in her hands.
"Whoa!" Bow stood from the ground as he eyed the mysterious creation. "What is that thing?"
"This," Catra began as she slowly crushed the robotic body until it stopped twitching, wires springing from itself, "is a Spy Bot. We have a whole bunch of these things back in the Fright Zone." She could remember fondly how annoying these things were when it came to some of the field tests she took growing up, always having to navigate her way through the field without being detected by the spy's tiny lenses. Of course, when she uses the word fondly, she means annoyingly, because whenever something docked her points within the courses, it was always these things skittering away.
If it wasn't for the fact Lonnie dropped the controller and forgot about it, she wouldn't have heard this tiny little thing moving about like it did. With no one at the controls, it was helpless as it flailed its legs without end in a rotation, walking back and forth behind the real spy, barely making a scrape in the ground as the princesses continued to discuss strategy. It was the fact it made any sort of scrape at all that Catra heard it, and only after the room went silent did she finally detect where it was.
It was nothing more than good luck that they found it.
"They've been spying on us this whole time?" Bow was shocked that any of them managed to find out, the thing was so small.
"We need to alert the rest of the camp." Glimmer decided as she stood up. "We either have to evacuate or move on with a plan immediately before the Horde has time to prepare."
"Oh, for the love of... Who are you fooling?!" Catra finally snapped, feeling ready to tear her hair out, if not someone else's. The rest of her allies seemed confused at the sudden behavior, as if it was coming out of nowhere.
"Who am I... fooling?"
"Any of you morons! What, could any of you, possibly be thinking, for a plan!? All day, its been nothing but stupid ideas left and right, people talking more about ridiculous outfits than any tips to help, and have been treating this entire meeting like its nothing more than a stupid BOARD GAME!"
*Whack!*
The crew covered themselves a little with their arms as Catra kicked the table in a bout of rage, knocking it all over and scattering the remaining pieces and map over the ground as they went flying through the air. When it was safe to open their eyes again, they were greeted with the sight of Catra squeezing her fists tightly, along with the claws within her palms.
"Uh, wasn't that a little much of, like, a reaction or something?" Mermista commented as Bow worked towards getting the table put back into place.
"Seriously, Catra, everything's going to be fine." Bow's confidence did nothing to rub off on her as as she pulled at her hair in frustration. "What's the worst that could happen?" In a move that could possibly be out of place for her, something that they never expected, Catra stopped. Her arms dropped to her side, along with her tail along her legs, as she lowered her head. Whatever Bow just unleashed started in the form of something truly terrifying.
Catra laughing. "...Heh... Heh heh... What's the worst that could happen?" She glowered with every nerve filling with tension and frustration as she repeated the question. Taking a moment to collect herself, she gave them all a snide smile as she collected all the pieces representing themselves, as well as the model of the base she placed in the center of the map. "Okay. Let me show you exactly what is going to happen? Fine." Practically slamming it, she placed her own figurine on the center tile.
"First off, I, am She-Ra. Adora has a grudge beyond words for me. She'll be targeting me, and she'll be focused on taking me out. She'll get me in some place within the fortress, somewhere that'll separate us all, and then, she'll use my own emotions against me. She'll anger me, toy with me, anything that'll make me drop my guard, separate the sword from me, and cut me off from my power, at which point, I'll be trapped." She somehow glared more at this as she turned to the rest. "Then, she'll take us out one by one."
She squeezed Glimmer's figurine in as she crushed it in her hands before dropping it to the table. "First, Glimmer will be forced to save me after my recklessness gets me cornered, which Adora will take advantage of and do something to entrap her, leaving her in the middle of nowhere while I'm too weak and helpless to get to her. Then Bow, needing to save her because of me, will swoop in in an attempt to rescue her, at which point, Adora will trap him after she disables him by taking or breaking his bow and arrows, before throwing him to the bots or over the cliff!"
The archer nearly gulped as he watched the helpless Tiny Bow being pounded flat under Catra's fist. "After that, the rest of us will be easy pickings. They'll target Mermista and Frosta since their powers could help put out any fires she throws at Perfuma," she continued, pulling the arms off of both figurines, "and then laugh at her as she tosses a simple match over her plant giant." Having the only piece that was actually alive among the group, the current leader of this meeting just grumbled as she tossed the plant back at the princess, Perfuma sighing in relief as she barely caught it in her hands.
Having used up all the figurines before her, all eyes turned to the pained and frustrated expression covering her face. "Adora won't just finish me off, either. She'll make me watch. She's going to make me watch as everyone around here dies. Then, she'll move on to Bright Moon, ransom Glimmer like before and make it a trap, taking over the Rebellion and crushing it, before going on to the rest of Etheria!"
"And all this time, she'll taunt me, trying to make me feel guilty as I watch her take over the rest of Etheria, and pointing out that everyone else died because of me, because she knows at some point, I'm going to trip up, making it my fault in the first place that we lost everything, and everyone, and she'll be right, like she always is. Because I'm going to screw this up for us, make us lose after everything we fought, and everyone else is going to die and end up like Entrapta because I did something wrong BEFORE THE PLAN EVEN STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Catra screamed like never before as she slammed her palms onto the table, shaking whatever else remained off its feet, like an animal panting from dehydration, as the reality of the situation finally closed in.
All throughout it, they watched with a filling tension as the magicat bantered and yelled about every specific detail, displaying the imagery of what would happen all throughout, and the direness of the situation. All of their lives were hanging on the line in such a way that Catra saw how each of them would've ended up, what probable scenario was going to happen to her and the rest of them after they lost the fight, and what would happen to the rest of Etheria soon after.
But it was more than that. A small sense of guilt perpetrated their minds as they watched Catra's ears droop. Crossing her arms, she laid her head on the table as she let out a last pent-up breath of frustration.
"Adora, almost, took Bright Moon. Not to mention the rest of Etheria."
"But we stopped it-"
"We got lucky! Catra angrily corrected, not even lifting her head up to look Perfuma in the eye. "That, is the only time, I ever beat Adora. When I'm lucky. At some point, that luck, is going to run out. And when it does, because I wasn't smart enough, fast enough, or strong enough to beat her, all of you are going to-" She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as her eyes glanced around the room.
It was slowly coming to her just how much she reacted to this one little question, all for the matter of strategy meeting being held on top of a child's board game structure of all things. She presented each of them with the scenario in which they were going to die, using the figurines as examples, and presented it to them in extreme fashion. She didn't hold any punches about how brutal it was, she didn't use a calming voice to lie about the severity of the situation, and above all, she made her most frustrating point clear.
"Ugh, forget it..." She groaned, burying her face into her arms. The alliance began to sit, one after the other, as they realized what was happening to her.
She was guilty.
She still felt guilty.
She blamed herself for what happened with Entrapta and only herself.
Even a month later, no matter how many times they talked about it, she felt the guilt of Entrapta's death all over again, renewed, because now the outcome of the last mission was turned into something much worse. It was turned into a weapon for the Horde, someone who became one of their most valuable assets, and their most dangerous enemies. Entrapta alone was proving to be a much bigger threat than anything else the Horde had to offer since joining their side. Who's to say what would happen if anyone else ended up joining the Horde's side?
Or continue to, for that matter.
...
...
...
A/N: And viola. As you can see, kinda obvious that the episode got capped off there. Like I said, I wanted to reach a fitting conclusion point, buuuuuut at the rate it was going, it would've turned into a freaking 20k chapter by the time I was over, which, I wouldn't mind on a whole, except for the fact nothing really happens between what was supposed to be the whole chapter, so yeah XP Lol
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!