A/N: Final Word Count: 9.7K Pre-A/N's. Another hooftah and a yawn, and everyone lives happily ever after or something ^^ Ugh, i gotta tell you guys, doing Glimmer and Double Trouble descriptions are going to be a pain to deal with XD Reason being? For Glimmer, there's going to be a handful of times i call her princess and not queen, i actually caught myself doing that on several occasions. For Double Trouble, it'll be calling him an "It" or "They".
Thing is i heard the voice actor actually is transgender or whatever, they identify as the opposite sex than they are, and i'm just fine with that! It was even one of the driving forces behind his/her character's development in the first place. But it feels really awkward calling his character an "It" or "that/they". Idky, it just sounds rude calling them a "thing" X/. If its a guy who identifies as a girl, great- i'll call him "her". If the other way around, I'll call her "him" or whatever. I'm fine with addressing them differently.
But it feels kind of rude otherwise addressing them like an object or something. Idk, it just feels weird. What do you guys think? should i call him a "them/they" still or would it be easier to refer to DT as "him/he" and such? Granted i know its a shapeshifter and whatnot still so technically its genderless, but you guys get the idea XP
Anyway, enjoy ^^!
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...
The dusty descent down the road did nothing to tarnish the spirits of the three heroes as they made their way down a small flight of stars. Mostly because, there wasn't really much left to tarnish in the first place.
The entire mission had gone off the deep end since the moment the members of the Rebellion and Princess Alliance arrived, almost making it a new record at this point as far as how long it too for a mission to become a disaster.
With the intention of retrieving Mara's ship, the newly queened Glimmer assigned Catra, Perfuma, Bow, and Huntara to the center of the Crimson Waste, hoping to find the wondrous technology and use it to their advantage against the Horde. With their own spaceship, they could unlock more secrets behind the First Ones, discover new technologies, and, who could forget, HAVE A GIANT SPACESHIP TO FLY AROUND ETHERIA!
This obviously meant that acquiring such an admirable vessel was going to border near the impossible at this point because the ship itself was already located and abducted by Adora and her soldiers, enlisting the aid of The Valley Of The Lost's citizens, or outlaws in this case, to help them retrieve the vessel and relocate it deep within the canyon. This made Huntara all the more essential as she lead the group through the city of criminals and crooks in an attempt to find the whereabouts of their missing ship. All in all, it actually had the same basic pace as all of the Rebellion's other missions to date.
That's when Catra came in to spice up the flow, so to speak, by letting Catra be herself. Her old self, her former self. The self that people were usually intimidated by and feared to approach, the one that kept getting into reckless trouble and danger, and the one who never backed down from most challenges.
Thanks to Huntara's input of mentioning how Catra had gone "soft", this lead to an entire chain of events making things bad to worse. From Catra rushing off ahead to attack two of Huntara's old goons, alerting the guards, to the girl running away on her own when the soldiers should up, the group now found themselves stuck between trying to locate the ship and Catra at the same time before Adora could run off with it.
There was no way they waste time doing one when the other was in jeopardy, and there was no way they could let the Horde run off with the ship or kidnap Catra again. Their only option was to move forward and try to locate both.
Luckily, there was a liaison, someone from Huntara's past, that she knew she could count on as they made their way through the town. Whoever this mysterious individual was, Bow and Perfuma could only hope that they would have the answers to both, Mara's Ship and Catra's whereabouts.
"Are you sure we can trust her contact?" Perfuma whispered over, still donning the same cloak concealing their identity.
"Huntara says it's an old friend of theirs." Bow replied back, still keeping a watchful eye out for Horde soldiers or their missing friend. "They probably know more about the Horde's operations around here than we do."
"Yeah, but this place is full of... you know... criminals." Huntara shifted her eyes to the side as she heard this. "How do we know they can be trusted?"
"What? You scared, princess?" Huntara turned back, staring with a smug grin to the two.
"N-No, we're fine!" Bow assured waving his hands. "We're just... being cautious, is all."
"Cautious? Hah! You've got nothing to be cautious over." There was a confident shine to Huntara's teeth as she grinned. "This girl's had my back more times than I can count. If anybody can help us, it's her."
"I... I guess it's okay then..." Perfuma sheepishly muttered, still wary of her surroundings.
"Good. Because we're here." With a boast of stature, the huntress finally came to a complete stop as she arrived at an abandoned street.
The scaffolding ahead of her was as crooked and dirty as the rest of the place, but it did at least provide some semblance of someone's humble abode. The front of it was littered with broken shelves and wooden crates with a variety of items on stock. Most covered in dirt, they ranged from many amenities to wooden instruments like a flute or a drum, to carving knives, bow and arrows, leather skins, and the works.
"Ugh. Who would pay for this junk?" Huntara commented as she groaned over the sickening display.
"Fools," came a voice pulling back a worn-out curtain, "just like you." She was a sight for sore eyes and had the beef of a woman who had seen her many troubles throughout the years. With a scruffy hairstyle that stretched all the way down around her chin and down to her breast, an eye-patch over the left eye, and a metallic arm of gears with a wrench-like tip for a claw with a small ribbon at the wrist. Anyone could look at this person and assume she had a troubled past behind her, a war she wouldn't mention.
And she was the best type of friend a proud Huntara could ask for.
"You shouldn't be here." She stated, fearlessly approaching the hunter like no one else. "It's not safe. Hurry." She directed the three companions past her curtain, keeping an open eye out for any other travelers as the group ran past her.
"Grox, what's going on? Where's the gang?"
"Hiding." She announced covering the entrance again. "The Waste has been infested with Horde scum since you left. Can't turn without running into them, interfering with business." It was almost impossible to make a dishonest living around here as spat at the wall.
"Ah!" And nearly hitting the ducking Perfuma in the process.
"Things haven't been easy. You're a real sight for sore eyes." That was the one truth Huntara knew for sure as her old friend threw an arm around her shoulder. Of all the ugly faces Huntara could've been greeted with, she was glad it was Grox's the most.
"Grox, I need your help. We're looking for a ship."
"And I got just the thing to help." With an assuring finger, the merchant went around the side to the doorway of their small housing, sorting through the small heaps of scraps and metals in their pile of junk as Huntara grinned to the anxious Perfuma.
"See? What did I tell you?" Huntara chuckled, giving a playfully-rough slap to Perfuma's back, nearly knocking her over. "If there was anyone you could trust, it's Grox." It did nothing to ease the stress along the young princess's mind as she moaned to herself.
She didn't leave much of an impression to Bow either as he watched Grox going through everything, leaning against the wall near her with his arms crossed. Something about all of this seemed a little too easy to him given the circumstances. Then again, given all that's lead on to this point, perhaps the typical "bad part" of their mission had already come and passed? They still needed to find Catra and Perfuma needed to get some sort of grip with cacti. Then again-
*thump*
"Huh?" The archer dropped his train of thought as Grox tossed away a small red leather jacket against the ground. The sight of it alone was more than troubling to the archer as the warning lights in his mind were going off left and right, yet buried behind a question that kept blocking out all of the noise.
Why did Grox have a Horde jacket in her stockpile?
A fresh one, at that?
Grinning, the merchant finally pulled away from the pile as she found exactly what she needed for Huntara. "Now, before I do this, Huntara, I need you to remember one thing." Her friend began to back up as she raised a finger and Huntara's suspicion. "One very important thing you forgot. This is the Crimson Waste."
"Trust no one." And with the tusk horn raised to her mouth, she blew.
*Woohoowoohoooooooooooooooooo~!*
The horn blew violently as it rang throughout the air. It was like a piercing scream that nearly half the valley could hear, alerting the denizens and soldiers alike of a crisis. The horn wasn't a means to assist Huntara as she realized they were betrayed. She was alerting everyone else to her location. "I've got the Rebel Intruders!" She screamed, blowing into her horn once more. This time, she barely got a second of air through the horn before she was squeezed by the throat by an enraged Huntara, dropping the dull horn as she scraped to pry the grip from her neck.
"You sold us out?!" She couldn't believe it. She refused to, even Grox laughed at her own futility. She was actually doing it, betraying her, in front of her very eyes after all this time.
"Look at you." She sneered. "The Huntara I knew would've seen this coming. You've gone... soft."
No. She didn't. She just said the most forbidden words within Huntara's arsenal. The words no ex-Horde would ever want to hear in the history of their career, post or otherwise. They were like a nail to the chest, a blemish upon a tough girl's reputation, and they were...
... Exactly what she said to Catra earlier.
"They're in there. Come on!" A voice could be heard shouting from afar, one close enough to still be heard.
"Huntara, we have to go." Bow stated with a small look.
"That's right. Run along now." There were a number of things Huntara wanted to do with the sneering wench in her grip right now- running wasn't one of them. "That's what you're good at."
She wanted to deck her in the jaw right now. She pulled back her right fist with all the fury and anger in her veins, ready to add another eyepatch to Grox's second eye. If she thought turning her back on people was the way to run this world, then she was going to open her eyes as much as possible, by making sure she couldn't see anything again!
Then, she saw her. The small worried frown of the princess watching her as Grox covered her face with her hand. It was a face that spelled a lot of worry for various reasons. Worry over Huntara doing something drastic, worry over their friend who was still missing, and worry for the amount of time they had before reinforcements showed up. She wanted to prove to her, especially Grox, that she wasn't soft or weak, and she still knew how to make fools pay for betraying her!
But, it was still her fault this happened in the first place. They wouldn't be needing to run right now if it wasn't for her foolishness in trusting a past ally. So, with a heavy heart, and a heavy shove through the curtains, Huntara tossed the traitor out into the street, running with the two friends out the other side as the Horde discovered the tossed Grox.
"They went out the back!" The Horde gave little heed to the slightly bruised merchant as they gave chase, rushing in pursuit of their missing quarry.
The escape from the armed soldiers didn't last long for trio as they ran across the alley. It was just at the halfway mark that they managed to escape as far as they did before Huntara cut them off with a raised arm. Ahead of them they could see two familiar faces and two familiar goons who brought no end to the anger in Huntara's frame of mind.
Her former cohorts, Daisy, annnnnnd the name of the four-armed lizard she never bothered to remember. Both of them wielding rusty pipes, and both of them blocking off the other end of the road.
"Looks like there's no avoiding a fight now, Princess." Huntara didn't mind as her two old goons spat.
Standing at her side, the heroic archer drew his own weapon as he prepared for the two approaching goons as he looked back to Perfuma. With the Horde on their trails, they needed something to cover their rear, and, given the small overgrowth against the wall, there was a perfect opportunity to assist them. "Perfuma, use the cactus to block off the alley so they can't flank us."
"We won't need it!" With a bellowing shout, Huntara charged at the pink satyr, Daisy, with all her might, forcing the girl to block the overhead strike as the huntress pressed down on her. It was enough to press the girl down halfway to her right knee, but she didn't falter in the slightest.
With the huntress goon preoccupied, the four-armed lizard tried to get the same drop on her boss, only to be thrown back with a shot from a net arrow as Bow launched it. With the grueling training it went through day by day, now that it was with the Horde, the lizard managed to counter this as he used his own momentum to pull the same net in his direction before flinging it back to the archer, forcing him to dodge out of the way before blocking the same lizard's rusty pipe with his weapon.
All of this, without pause, was going on as Perfuma concentrated. She tried channeling her powers differently, tried to to grow the plant into a suitable weapon or defense that could be used to help her friends, and it was still in vain.
"You have a lot of nerve coming back here, Huntara!" Daisy grumbled, her head into the huntress's chest just enough to push her back. Following this, she quickly dashed forward as she tried to land several blows against the hunter, keeping her on her feet as she continued to block.
"You're one to talk!" She hissed back, grabbing at the pipe from the fourth strike that came over her head. With brute force, Huntara began to push back against the goat as each of them held theirs and their enemy's weapon in each hand, Daisy gritting her teeth the entire way as she slowly slid back. "I go on one little job to help the Rebellion and you turn tail and run to the Horde? How hard did you hit your head to do something stupid like that?"
"At least we stuck to the code of the Crimson Waste!" She yelled back. Catching the mighty hunter off guard, the goat hastily released her grip on both the weapons, using Huntara's surprise against her as she butted the top of her horns against her face soon after. It was like taking a brick to the face as Huntara threw her head back, taking a step in the opposite direction from the impact. "The strong makes the rules, and unlike you, Adora actually treats her allies with respect. At least she knows how to be a decent leader." She added as she swiped the pipe back from Huntara's grip.
Hearing this for herself brought no end to the anger rising in Huntara's person, specifically to her forehead. Using her own weight against same attacker, Huntara countered with a similar attack of her own, headbutting the girl back with enough force to send her flying off the ground several feet away, crashing into a pair of barrels along the end of the intersection.
"I am a decent leader." She stated with pride, watching as the weaker goat pulled herself out of the wreckage. "A decent leader knows when and when not to act, and the difference between right and wrong. The only thing I was wrong about was recruiting you into the fold."
"Tch, is that just another way of saying you're stupid?" She smirked, rushing back towards the stronger woman with her pipe at the ready. She didn't care how much stronger Huntara was compared to her, she just needed to keep her stalled long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.
That same line of thought went on through her lizard friend's mind as she pushed down against the archer on her side of things. Unlike Daisy, the lizard was grinning as she pushed back against Bow more and more, with the same archer struggling to keep his footing as he lost a good foot of ground. It was hard enough dealing with someone's weight like that pressing against him, and adding an additional pair of arms grabbing and pushing his bow as well didn't do him any favors.
Then again, it was times like these that he was glad he was more on the tactical side of things than he was on the physical side of it. When strength triumphed over his own, brains were his fall back, including the variety of arrows at his disposal. Pulling out one of said arrows, Bow cocked it against the string of his weapon, conveniently finding the bow itself directed straight at the lizard girl which she was just now realizing.
Before it could react in any sort of way, the archer made use out of his technical arrow as he lined it up straight at the lizard's forehead, keeping a grip on the bow as he lined the arrow between two of his fingers in a perfect shot. With one big slap to the butt of it, the lizard found itself covered in a massive torrent of water, blinding her eyes as it was unable to cover itself with its arms in use. Trying to wipe the stinging water from its haze gave Bow the chance he needed to swipe his weapon against the lizard's head, knocking it several feet away to Daisy's side against the ground.
"Annnnd that's why I have it." He said with a bit of pride, preparing as the lizard got back to her feet.
"You can do this. You can do this!" Perfuma continued to chant to herself, trying to draw as much optimism as she could as she kept a clear head. All throughout this as both sides were fighting back against one another, the one having the most problems right now was the only one who wasn't actually fighting against anyone, unless you count a wretched piece of cacti that refused to cooperate with her!
Why did it have to be so annoying? Why couldn't it be just like every other plant that listened to her and grew as naturally as they did?! Plants should only need a few things; love, water, and fresh air. She gave cacti a chance like this one before, but no matter how many times she tried to play it nicely, it never cooperated with her. It's like it was actually aware of everything she was trying to do and purposely keeping itself from growing just to annoy her!
The annoyance of the situation was something she could handle as she wriggled her fingers and hands up and down. What she couldn't deal with was the stress of the situation as the Horde soldiers started to appear at the other end of the alley way, drawing in closer from behind as Perfuma began to sweat.
Come on... come on... She focused harder with each passing breath, trying to push the thoughts of what the Horde could do to them away from her mind as the plant began to shake. She needed something to happen with this thing soon, anything that could keep her and her friends safe from the Horde's pincer attack.
A simple growth to form a wall behind them? Get the plant to attack them or to push back against the Horde? At this point she didn't care. She just wanted this stupid plant to do something, anything, useful that could be better than being a stupid plant that did there and DID NOTHING TO BEGIN WITH!
She immediately regretted that train of thought.
*SPTSTSTSTSTST-!*
"AHH! OW! AGH!" The princess shrieked as her body was covered from every corner of her front.
As if responding to Perfuma's line of thinking, sensing an immediate danger, the cacti responded as it shot a volley of hundreds if not thousands of tiny inch-long, hair-wide, needles straight at the princess in distress. Nearly every inch of her front was pelted by a barrage of the needle-thin projectiles, shooting into her skin, through her dress, and her hair as she did whatever she could to cover her eyes.
While her face might have been saved from the torturous pricks, there was little else she could do as the cactus shot everything it had at her, leaving her to be nothing short of a small distraction as the approaching Horde soldiers stopped briefly to look at each other.
"Aghhh! I can't do this!" Perfuma whined as she dropped her stinging arms, drawing the others' attention as they looked back.
Cacti was evil! That was the only explanation behind everything. Why it never survived under her tender care, why it refused to help her, and why it shot a thousand needles at her instead of trying to help her! There was no way she could ever get the cactus to help them in time, especially as the soldiers continued to advance.
Things were looking bleak as Huntara surveyed the area. With Horde coming from both sides, and the sounds of footsteps continuing to approach from farther away, there was no chance of them gaining the upper ground. Even if they could handle the Horde approaching them from both sides, there'd be no end to them or the Horde that continued to advance from farther away.
Her old goons were more than aware of this as they grinned, taunting the huntress with their pipes as they casually pat it against their palms. Either Huntara gave in to her rage and fought through these two, leaving the others to fend for themselves, or she fought the ones approaching Perfuma from behind, the princess still in no state to fight with her needle-covered injuries. They were out of options save for retreating. She just needed a moment she didn't have to find an escape route.
"Hey! Bozos!" That's when one presented itself to them as a voice shouted from above.
*WHAM!*
Without any hesitation or fear, from directly above the approaching Horde soldier, a familiar friend known as Catra descended as she jumped atop the very soldier by the time she looked up, tackling her to the ground. Using the other lizard soldier's surprised state against her, Catra used took the initiative as she grabbed the soldiers arm, giving her a good pull as she shouted to her friends ahead of her. "Get down!"
The three barely needed a second telling as they followed Catra's orders, dropping to their knees or squatting as Catra lead the attack. The moment the three had cleared the air above them the three saw the same lizard soldier being tossed overhead, surprising Daisy and the lizard girl as they found themselves being toppled by a squealing Horde soldier that was throne against them.
"Catra!" Perfuma beamed with delight, ignoring the sight of several more soldiers appearing from her end of the alley way.
With the brief repreve given to them, Huntara scanned the alley way once more as she noticed another curtain along the wall behind Bow that nearly blended in with the walls that stretched halfway down. "Come on!" She shouted, grabbing Perfuma's stinging arm as she pushed her through the curtain and down the dark alley. Being among the last ones through the gap, Catra swiped at a small shelf of barrels, impeding the Horde's progress as they collapsed atop the chasing army and buying some precious time.
The soldiers ran as fast as they could down the same alley once the pathway was clear. Being lead by Daisy and her lizard friend, the two stormed down the street as they chased after the combatants. None of their injuries or grief with their former leader mattered to them now that they were with the Horde, and were going to prove their own worth by capturing the Rebellion members like before, including Huntara this time.
It was easier said than done as another minute of running passed. Coming out of the darkened alley, the small group found themselves at a loss as the street they came out of intersected again, diverging into several potential pathways they could've escaped to. The confusing part behind it was that several soldiers arrived from the opposing ends with none of them seeming anymore aware of the Rebellion's whereabouts as she was.
Fumbling her brow for a bit, the pink goat continued down the rightmost path with the others as they expanded their search, giving the same order to following soldiers as they followed behind her. It was in their haste that they overlooked another small pathway to the left of them, one that provided just enough cover behind the large crates for the four heroes in hiding.
Each of them popping their heads out for a second, they each reached the same level of relief as they sighed, hiding back within the street as they paused to catch their breath.
"Phew, that was close." Catra muttered, taking in the fresh air as her troubles left her and her friends.
*whap!*
"Ow!" Except one.
"Where did you run off to, you stupid cat?" Huntara grumbled, earning a hiss back from the very same ex-Horde.
"Catra, we were worried about you." Perfuma said solemnly, wincing a bit as she tried to prick the needles off of her. "What made you take off like that?"
"It's none of your business." Catra muttered, turning her head away. "I was just off doing some stuff, that's all."
"How did you even find us?" Huntara wondered, knowing of the magicat's lack of senses within the Crimson Waste.
"Simple. I just followed the sound of the horn going off and followed wherever the soldiers were going from the rooftops. It wasn't that hard to-"
*BIIIIIIIIP*
*BIIIIIIIIP*
The quiet sound in this mute alley was like a fire alarm being pulled as Bow's data pad suddenly went off. The archer scrambled with fear as he hastily gathered the pad, trying his best to keep it quiet as the rest of his friends looked at him with concern.
"SHHHHHH!"
"Keep it down!" Catra shushed along with Huntara. It took him another several seconds before he finally answered the call, wishing to silence the disturbing interrupter before it could draw any more attention to them.
"Ughhhh." It was almost as if it was intentional as the group heard Glimmer groan in misery from her end of the communication. She never noticed the small shushes and pleads of quiet as she was staring off to the side of whatever was bothering her. "I'm in the middle of the most boring meeting."
"Can't talk." Bow whispered panicking, popping an eye out of the street to see if anyone was near. "We're being chased through a smuggler's den right now."
"You are?" Glimmer gasped as her eyes lit up with stars. "That sounds so fun!"
"Quiet that thing." The huntress grumbled, keeping an eye out as the Queen squealed.
"I'm gonna have to call you back."
"Wait, don't hang u-!" The Queen's pleas fell on deaf ears as Bow ended the call from his end, putting an end to the potential trouble as he groaned. The group wasn't any closer to finding the missing ship, they weren't anywhere near the edge of town, and trouble continued to hunt them from every corner of the Valley Of The Lost.
But at least they were together now.
...
...
"Okay, this is... Adora is this some sort of new power you're trying out? Because I have to be honest, it's a little disturbing." Scorpia commented as she looked between the two Adora's. If it wasn't for the fact the one to the left was just as freaked out as she was, she would've gotten the two mixed up by now.
"Scorpia, if I could make duplicates of myself, this war would've been over by now..." Adora commented back, staring at the exact double of herself from straight ahead.
Why did every mission she went on have to have something weird about it? In Salineas, it was dealing with a mermaid princess. At the Northern Reaches, it was giant bug monsters that resembled the technology of the First Ones in some way, which went berserk when they were affected by the same virus she infected Catra with. And in the Crimson Waste, the first time that is, it was dealing with an entire gang of outlaws and thieves, one of which was a gang leader who thought the name "Tung Lashor" sounded threatening.
Continuing on with the trend of weirdness now was the mysterious sight of the person ahead of her, an exact double of her in every way. At first, she thought of her as nothing more than a spy when she infiltrated the ship the Horde was trying to harvest for parts, approaching and trying to swoon Scorpia in a perfect resemblance of her body. She had the lingo down and the voice, yet it wasn't enough to pull the wool over Adora's eyes as she managed to see through the imposter's ruse.
That's when things became even weirder for her when the same mysterious stranger transformed into a perfect representation of herself. It captured Adora in every likeness, right down from adjusting to her size and having the same expression on her face whenever she was happy. She couldn't tell if this doppelganger had a gender at all at this point.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The Adora copy greeted with a small bow as they approached. "The name's Double Trouble. And I'm about to become your new best friend." She smiled slyly into the girl's eyes as she stood inches away from her face.
"Oh, really?" Adora batted an eye in skepticism as she leaned closer herself. "Well guess what? I'm not looking for best friends these days."
*click*
"Hmm?" Catching the double off guard, she was surprised to see a pair of cuffs wrapped around her wrists. "Ah!"
"Yeah, she already has one! Me!" Scorpia stated proudly, unaware as Adora rolled an annoyed pair of eyes to this.
Not now, Scorpia... Adora bitterly thought as she shoved the copy back onto a three-foot crate. "Now quit playing around. Tell me what you want, what you're doing here, and why I shouldn't throw you in a Horde prison for posing as a Force Captain!" She demanded as her eyes briefly flashed red. Somehow, compared to everyone else, she took this with glee as she leaned forward a bit, resting her chin on her fist as she planted her elbows in her lap.
"Oooh, you can make your eyes change too? Most impressive." The sly grin on the copy's face did wonders for Adora's irritation as she gritted her teeth. "I can tell we're going to get along juuuust fine~"
"Geh..." Adora grabbed the copy by the collar of her fake scarf as she pulled her a little closer. "I don't want to get along with anyone like you. All I want is to know is why you're on my ship, and for you to stop copying me!"
"Oh, heh, sorry. I plain forgot." She almost forgot where her manners were as she blinked sideways, creeping Adora out enough to step back. "Sometimes I just get so lost in my character." With apologies given and spaces cleared, the double finally stood proud on her own two feet as they gave the audience a small twirl.
In a flash of darkness encasing their entire body, the Adora double that stood in front of them was no more, and was replaced by something else entirely. The figure now stood at a slightly taller height as they reappeared, sporting a long pale green tail and skin. Their eyes had a flash of yellow as their bleach colored dangled down to the back of their shoulders. With the way its outfit came in sections of black and green along the joints, and the pointed ears it had, they could almost be mistaken for some reptilian-like humanoid.
Just what was it?
"Ta-daaaaa~!" The figure greeted in a high pitched masculine voice. "A thank you, thank you."
Seeing the powers presented for a third time now did nothing to keep the two viewers from being surprised, especially a gasping Scorpia who backed into another crate. "I gotta sit down. This is... too weird..." Adora shared her sentiment as Scorpia scratched her head, watching as her friend approached the stranger once more.
"So, this is who you really are?" Adora asked, taking in the whole appearance in an awkward gaze.
"Mmh, more or less." Double Trouble replied, sitting back down with a leg crossed over the other. "Of course, we all wear costumes. I just happen to be able to wear other people as costumes... For a price."
"Typical. Come to the Crimson Waste, and the only allies one finds are those looking for money."
"Hmhmhm, aren't we all looking for something, darling?" At least she could credit him... her... them, for their honesty. "But if you don't require someone with my gifts, I'll just take my business to the other side."
Wow.
Gutsy.
Adora had to give them credit for commendable bravery for something like that. To just casually address a person like Adora out of nowhere with a desire for wealth or reward, pose as one of her allies to infiltrate the place, and then to openly state they'll join the Rebellion if they don't get paid themselves? It was pretty brave.
Then again, as Adora smirked at the wrists binding its hands, it was also pretty stupid. "Oh, yeah? And how exactly do you think you'll get out of here after saying that?"
"Mmmh, I have a knack for getting out of tight spots." They replied, shifting their wrists around in place as they spoke. "I may not look like it, but I"m quite skilled in many forms of art, darling. Including... escapism." With the flick of its wrists, the proud performer stood gracefully as it held the previously confining cuffs at the tip of their thumbs, playfully letting it drop in front of them as they swung their hands with a bow.
"What?" Scorpia was amazed as she covered her mouth from a gasp. She's never seen someone perform an escape act such as that, especially with those kinds of cuffs. She remembered the one time she tried playing around with them just to see how sturdy they were.
She then regretted the fact she didn't have anyone to uncuff her several minutes later.
Adora gave the mysterious being a small examination as she rubbed her chin, trying to think of the benefits it could have for her army. "And you can change into anyone at will?"
"Ugh. Change." They groaned, flexing their fingers with the word. It sickened them to ever hear someone utter the word "change" when they compared it to what they do. "What I do is so much more than changing." With a graceful leap, the twice-the-trouble Double jumped atop the metal crate as he posed dramatically. "I prefer "transform". My real gift is committing to my roles. Sure, I can physically replicate anyone, but that doesn't mean a thing if you can't be them emotionally. It's an art~"
And with a graceful slide of their body, they leaned atop the very crate as they held themselves up with their right arm, playfully kicking their feet back and forth in the air. "So, what do you say, darling?"
"What do I say?" There were a number of things she could say at the time, but was too professional to speak her mind. "That's a hard pass." It actually surprised Double Trouble a bit as they raised a brow, watching the Force Captain turn to their friend without much thought. "Scorpia, round up the troops and secure whatever that is. I don't want them joining the Rebellion after this."
"So you don't want my services, then?" Their intrigue was heightened as the same girl turned back to him, looking no less gazed by the circumstances than they were. She was definitely a fun rabbit to do business with.
"We're trying to run an operation here, and even if your skills are admittedly useful, you're never going to trick someone like Catra. Not with her annoying sense of smell."
And there was the angle they had to work with, an angle that grew a sly smirk over their face. "Oh yes, poor kitty-kitty, eh?" Adora rolled her eyes at this as she began to walk away, all while the double behind her continued to speak. "It's too bad, too. I was just reminiscing about how lovely those blue and yellow eyes were, too~"
Adora came to a complete stop as she flinched. There was no way he could've known about her heterochromic eyes without meeting her up close.
"You... met Catra, before?"
"Oh, in disguise on a handful of occasions, I should add." With the flick of its wrist, not that it did anything in particular, the double transformed themselves again, first appearing to her as a red-skinned lizard who was robbed by the girl. "She had quite a bit of fun robbing me on several occasions." With another flick, they transformed into a bull-like stud with a golden nose ring, one complete with thick abs and muscles of steel. "She was easy to bait as long as I flashed the right kind of jewelry." It was almost eerie a little as they spoke in the respective voices of the characters before returning to their original state.
"And each time, she got up close and personal." They teased, wagging a finger with a wink. "She didn't bat so much as an eyelash when she ran into me each time."
"So you... can mask your scent, too?" Adora revelled in the information as her curiosity returned.
"Oh, not just mask. Match it. There wouldn't be much use as an artist if I couldn't pin down every detail, now would there?" It was with that final line that Adora's interest had reached its limit.
A powerful ally that could easily trick the Rebellion, and Catra of all people, without alerting them in the slightest. That's provided if they were telling the truth, of course. For all she knew they could be lying to her about everything and jotting it down as a wild guess.
That's why it was almost imperative that another Horde soldier rushed into the ship, dropping in on the conversation.
"Commander! Rebellion forces have been spotted within the valley." As opposed to the annoyance that would usually behold the Force Captain at an announcement such as this, for once, Adora grinned. True to Double Trouble's word, Catra was definitely within the valley itself, and was keen enough to mention the descriptive details to the commander as proof of their ability. There was no way she could possibly turn down a potential ally such as this.
"Why don't we have a little trial run first..."
...
...
The Horde continued to scatter through the streets as they searched high and low for the Rebellion intruders. With orders from their commander, they were to search every single street and housing they could find, allowing for naught to stand in the way as the settlements were investigated top to bottom. Anyone that didn't comply with the search requests were immediately detained until the inspections were over.
So far, they couldn't find any trace of the intruders after the last twenty minutes of searching, but they refused to give up. Their commander made it their priority to find the Rebellion before any of them were to leave this town, even if they couldn't capture them. For their sake, they started to hope they were still in the town at all, knowing what awaited them if they failed in their duty.
Perhaps their searching skills were the very reason for the pitiful results that followed. Awaiting the passing of another Horde Skiff, Bow poked his head out from behind the worn out stall the gang was hiding behind. Between passing streets and checking stalls, it was a harrowing experience to get this far across the Valley, let alone without detection.
Letting out a small sigh, seeing that the coast was clear, Bow turned his remaining attention back to the three princesses, or leader in Huntara's case, as they all appeared to be lost in thought with their own set of issues. Perfuma trying not to touch any of the needles sticking out of her, Huntara trying to come to terms with the fate of her beloved home, and a pouting Catra who stared off into space with her legs curled up.
"Perfuma, what happened back there?" The archer finally asked, wincing a bit as Perfuma plucked another needle from her forehead.
The girl squealed a bit with pain as she plucked several more needles from herself before finally letting out a grumble. "I hate cacti!" She yelled, teetering on the brink of anger-filled insanity. "There! I said it! I love and honor all things, except cacti. And I don't like spitting, or Crimson Waste. It is full of negative energy."
"At least you don't have to worry about being soft." Catra grumbled, barely lifting her head before turning away. After the day she's had, she's never wanted to go home more than ever before.
Ever since she arrived to The Valley Of The Lost, she's wanted to do nothing more than to prove how tough she was, to show the world that she wasn't the weak soft "kitty" that Huntara kept telling her she was. Doing the most Catra-thing possible, she tried acting like her old self after getting separated from the group, venturing out on her own in order to prove her worth.
And at first, it was going great! She was pickpocketing off of stupid outlaws and thieves, pushing aside any twinge of morality that she might've held as she stole from those who stole first. She was standing up for herself against a bunch of thugs that were trying to house in on her score. And when they called her a freak, she made each of them pay as she clobbered them with her own two hands, all without She-Ra's massive strength!
Truly, she was a force to be reckoned with!
And then she was a force with nothing but regret.
As if experiencing a high from the fruitful outlook, she pushed one button too far as she came across a single coin rolling down the alley she fought her way into, sneering at the sight of the easy pickings and the shadow that appeared to be approaching it. Without so much as a thought or concern, she growled with as much ferocity as she could to scare away the individual, one that turned out to be nothing more than a lonely little girl in rags, no more than seven years of age. The very girl was almost instantly in tears before Catra realized what she had done, and ran immediately from the terrifying warrior.
It was then that Catra realized what she had been doing all of this time, or, rather, what she hasn't been doing. This whole vain attempt to prove that she wasn't soft and then going on to frighten a young child she regretted scaring... what was the point of it all? Ditching her friends earlier beforehand, there wasn't anyone to prove her toughness to. All she did was act like a moron who went around picking random fights with strangers or stealing from nobodies she didn't know.
Who the heck was she proving herself to after all this time if none of her friends or allies were around to see it? Why did she feel the need to start so many random acts of meanness in the first place? And why didn't she know the answers to her own questions?!
She didn't know, and she didn't care anymore. All she cared about was the fact she was returning to the same soft-hearted cat the rest of the gang was already, and it'd only be a matter of time before her softness got the rest of her friends in danger somehow.
"Well, it wasn't always like this." Huntara shook her head in dismay, sitting between the two with a knee up, still reeling in from the betrayal she suffered minutes ago. "It used to be a great place, where an honest criminal could carve out a life."
"Well, it's terrible now." Perfuma fumed, squeezing her fists trying to contain the negative energy.
"I know..."
"I'm gonna turn into Perfuma at this rate..." And, with a heavy group sigh, all three girls pushed their hands into their faces, with Perfuma being the only one to regret doing so as she pricked some of the needles in the process.
"Ow! Can someone get this off of me, please?"
"Huff, I'll do it." Catra sighed, scooting over to the girl as she used her claws to remove the razor-thin needles. She was just three needles into her job when the four of them heard the familiar blipping sound going off from Bow's tracker pad, drawing their attention to the device as the archer responded to the communications.
"Did you seriously hang up on me?!" The Queen on the other side grumbled. She had to deal with all the jobs her mother had, all the jobs that she had, and all the stupid meetings she was forced to attend. The least someone like Bow could do was be a little more sincere with how he communicated with her, which included not hanging up on her after a stressfully boring day!
"Glimmer?" Catra perked up with a curiousness, one noticeable only to Perfuma.
"Yeah, but just because we were running from the Horde." Bow explained, keeping his voice down for their own safety as Catra sat next to him, looking at the screen. "And now we're hiding from the Horde. Also, the Horde has Mara's ship."
"They don't have the ship yet, doofus. They're just hiding in the Valley somewhere." Catra corrected, unwilling to look like the mission was failing on them. "And the mission's going just fine withou-"
"Really?" Glimmer squealed with delight as she smiled brightly from the other end at the two friends. "This is so cool. A dire situation. Odds against us. I can't believe I'm missing this for a dumb meeting." Seriously, it was the most unfair thing in the world!
She came to terms with her mother's death. That part was unavoidable. It was a tragic loss she suffered for through the following week, and something she adjusted to the week after with the help of her friends. And she was grateful for that.
The least reality could do for her was cut her a break at least and give her one day of fun where she wasn't sitting at a dumb table discussing the ethics of farming produce! Sure, the defensive strategy meetings had some merit and interesting things to them, but she rarely gave her own input. She had to sit back and listen to relay the orders to those around her that the generals were telling her about.
Well, not anymore!
"Okay, hang on. I'm on my way."
"Wait-Wait-Wait! We don't need any-" The archer tried to dissuade his friend from the possible idea, only to fall on deaf ears as the Queen teleported from the screen. It was an annoying reality the archer would have to face, but no matter how much he tried to insist things in one way, they would always come out in another. "Ugh, great."
"Ah, what are you complaining about?" Catra said with a small shove. "At least when she gets here, there'll be someone more interesting talk to."
"Someone to... talk to?" The three allies looked among one another from the sporadic confusion. Where did the random comment come from? Why was Catra bringing it up at all for the first time?
Actually, looking back on it, the three did notice a small quietness to Catra since the adventure began, with a mellow overlook on Catra's character since she first discovered that one of her friends weren't coming along. She didn't have a problem with Bow in the slightest, heck, she pretty much talked to him on the entire trip here. She just didn't have much else to say to him after they actually arrived to the Crimson Waste itself.
Out of the three, Perfuma was the first one to get a small bit of insight to Catra's negativity, wincing a bit as she continued to pick off her own needles. "Catra, do you... Do you miss Glimmer?" She asked.
"W-What?" There was a small hesitant grin on the cat's face as her ears twitched on both sides. "You serious? Of course not. What would make you think that?"
"Well for one thing, your tail has been wagging since you heard from her again." Huntara pointed out, drawing her eyes to the tail to Catra's right that continued to wiggle back and forth. Never has Catra eeped in silence or blushed so flashily as she grabbed the traitorous tail, trying to stop the squirming as she hid it behind her person.
"T-That doesn't prove anything!" She yelped, still trying to keep the tail still. "I'm just glad to have this mission over soon, that's all."
"... Catra have..." Bow pondered for another moment before declaring his thoughts. "Have you been acting out because you miss Glimmer?"
"Huh?" Okay, Catra did have to admit. She really didn't know where that one came out of. "What are you talking about? I already told you dweebs, I was just trying to prove I wasn't soft."
"Yeah, but usually when you try to act out, Glimmer's usually snapping you back to your senses or dragging you back by teleporting, and you usually give up then." The strange direction of his words didn't seem to affect the cat on an entire level, but it was enough to get a small droop in her ears as she turned her head away. "This is the first time where Glimmer isn't around to tell you what to do."
"W-Well it's not true, alright!" She continued to grumble, curling up her knees again as she lowered her head. "It's just that..." Another small blush formed on her face as she tried to think of a reasonable excuse. "Things were usually more fun when we were on missions together, alright? Your tech, her magic, my sword. We did a lot of stuff and all that. And it... it just feels weird being on a mission without one of you two guys around for it." She turned her eyes away from the group as she hissed to herself. "I don't know if it makes me soft or what but it... it just makes me feel weird, okay?"
The friends stared in silence for a bit at the revelation from their friend.
Catra was one of the most complicated people within the Rebellion to adjust to, that went without saying. She had events from her past she couldn't tell anyone, whether for the sake of her pride or her own fears, and still usually obsessed over things in the same manner. Those events that turned her into what she was today affected her to no end, keeping her from being in touch with the rest of them.
At the same time, it was due to her pride that she refused to be in touch with the rest of them. Without her sense of pride, she wouldn't be part of the warrior she was today. She enjoyed taking on a challenge ahead of her, she tried to hide any of her fears as she fought on, and she wasn't afraid of acting superior over everyone else, even if she didn't mean any of it.
So in a case like this that turned from a simple retrieval mission to a harrowing disaster within minutes of arriving to the Valley, it came as no surprise that none of it made any sense. It was Catra, she acted without thinking. And it wasn't until after she thought about it did the mystery of her actions unravel around her, such as the reason she's been acting so weird.
Because she missed Glimmer, and was afraid of looking soft for it.
"... You're not soft, tiger." All eyes turned to the fearless hunter as she spoke at long last. The huntress herself felt a small ounce of shame over the matter, between Catra, and her own doing. "And if you are, then so am I. I thought I could trust my old team to have my back here when I came home, and instead they turned to the Horde, all because I left them behind. We wouldn't be in a mess like this if it wasn't for me."
Catra did have to admit, she was relatively surprised by the touching words, or at least as touching as they could be from an ex-Horde. Both of them were trying to prove their toughness, but in the end, they both put the mission into jeopardy, all for the sake of their own ego. They were both tough in body but soft in the mind.
"I might not know how things work in the Horde," Perfuma interjected, drawing the two to her, "but being having trust in your friends doesn't make you soft or weak. You put your lives on the line to trust the people around you, and that takes real- Ow!" She meeped as she plucked another needle from her cheek. "Real strength. And bravery." Both pairs of eyes widened a little at this before turning to each other.
Looking back on it, she really did have a point. These were the people they knew of everyday, the people they got used to. They were the ones who they trusted their very lives with, to pull them out of harms way when they were in danger. If they couldn't count on anyone, they'd be throwing themselves into an open fire without safety on every mission, rendering them paranoid with the inability to trust anyone around them.
It was also, admittedly, embarrassing that out of any of them, Perfuma was the one who had to open their eyes.
And neither of them wanted to give up on this mission until it was over.
"So then... What's the plan?" Catra asked, looking back to her friend... among her other friends. "I haven't heard anything about a ship around here, and judging by you guys, you didn't make much progress, either."
"I think I might have an idea." Bow smiled as she dug into the back of his shirt, pulling out a familiar red leather jacket. Upon its lapel, there was a familiar Force Captain badge on it, one that signified any leading Horde's status. "We'll use this."
"Where'd you get the jacket?"
"He must've plucked it up from Grox's place before we left." Huntara replied, crossing her arms with a bit of skepticism. "But I don't see how that's going to help us find the ship."
"It's simple." He stated, trying not to sound rude as he plucked the Horde badge itself, and began digging into it with an arrow from his quiver. ""Horde badges have tracking devices built in. That's how they found Adora when we... we kidnapped her." He felt a little shame that they would stoop to something so low back then. "I can hack into their system and see where all of the Horde soldiers are in the valley. They're sure to be with the ship."
Prying off the metal casing, the archer smiled proudly as he connected the wires from his data pad with the badge's own computer system. It was a simple process, or at least one that Bow made look easy with his superior genius. With a bit of patience, the tech expert grinned widely as the details came over his data pad, feeling an inner victory behind all of this. "And there's our ship." All four of the friends leaned in on this as they studied the data pad's entry.
From where they were, the ship stood a short distance east of their location, a small signal going off from the range and proximity between them and the group of soldiers that surrounded the Horde ship. With the location spotted, the four friends smiled to one another as they knew what they had to do.
They were going to finish this mission if it was the last thing they did. With Huntara's expertise, Bow's tech, Perfuma's magic, and She-Ra's sword, the four of them were going to prove to the Horde and themselves that none of them were soft.
Together, they were strong...
...
...
...
A/N: And another chapter down the tube along with the others ^_^ 1 more chapter to go and it'll be a full-fledged episode after this one ^^! And i gotta say, im ESPECIALLY excited for the next episode, cause some fun is going to be had around it X)... hehehehehe~
Lol, but i shan't spoil. I shall only hint. It'll be a fun-filled episode which will make the series all the more (hopefully) fun ^^
And with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Might've gotten a bit rushed at the end but it's freaking 10 pm here, i wanna go to bed XD! Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!