Well, It Could Be Worse

By Fusion Blaster and thew40

Hordak stood upon the cliff and gazed down upon the legions of Horde Troopers. Two weeks of mass production and the time had come at last. After his darkening of Etheria, the conquest of Eternia would provide him with a throne to which to sit upon and begin the building of his own, new Horde Empire.

There would be resistance here, oh yes, but not much. He-Man and Skeletor were halfway across time/space. Evil Lynn and King Hiss had signed a peace treaty. And with She-Ra holed up in the Whispering Woods, the odds for success were high. Topping it all off was the fact that no one even knew Hordak was here, preparing for an invasion.

Certainly, they had suspicions. Etheria was nearly completely black in the sky. And surely, there were some rumors of activity here in the Sands of Fire. But just who would take those seriously enough to go to full alert? Eternos was too at peace now. Other than a few Snake-Men attacks, Eternia itself perfectly peaceful now that Skeletor was gone. Were those flowers Hordak saw growing near Snake Mountain?

"This world needs a war," Hordak said amusingly to himself. "A war that starts now."

Hordak turned to a bunker set up not far from him. Manteena and Modulock came out immediately.

"How many?" asked Hordak of Modulock.

"2,000 Horde Troopers awaiting your command," Modulock replied.

"Manteena, assemble the Horde Elite. You remain here and maintain our position. However, know that the Great Towers shall fall by sundown."

A hour later, as the sun came over the furthest dune, horns cried in a high-pitched sound. The Horde Troopers shouldered their laser cannons and marched out from by below the cliff. They marched into the Sands of Fire.

Hordak, Grizzlor, Shadow Weaver, Leech, Catra, Scorpia, and a number of others rode along with the Horde Troopers. As they moved into the Sands of Time and towards the Great Towers of Eternia, a wind began to kick in.

The winds of change were blowing . . .

"It was days like this" Orko thought "I really wish I had taken that class." He was searching threw the library of the Central Tower. He was digging threw the piles and piles of books. He suddenly leapt up in shock as a someone had suck up behind him.

"Hey Orko!" Cringer said in a half shout.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" cried the Trollian as he shot up in shock. When he figured out who had startled him he stopped and looked down in irritation at the green tiger who obviously was enjoying his joke as he rolled on the ground laughing.

"That was just plain mean Cringer!" shouted the Trollian.

"Ah I was just having some fun Orko. Don't take it personally. I was just bored." Cringer righted himself as Orko floated down from the ceiling of the library. He then went on. "So what are you looking for anyway?"

Orko sighed. "I lost my wand.... again".

Cringer looked confused. "So. It's not like you can't do magic anymore."

Orko sighed again and put the book back. "No it doesn't mean that but it does make it a lot easier if I did have one. If you have a wand or better yet a staff it makes doing magic a lot easier. I know it does for me."

"Okay so why don't you make a new one?" Cringer asked.

"Because I don't know how to." Orko said despondently.

"Oh." was the response.

"If you were wondering why I don't in all honesty it was laziness. I was given my grandfather's wand originally so I never saw the need to."

"And you never did this when you first got here why?" Asked the curious cat.

"I did. Nothing in the texts in Eternos City had the information I needed and most of the mages on Eternia seem to be rather." Orko paused as if searching for the right word. "Unwilling to teach the how to make a wand. Well the one's I've asked anyway."

"I see. Well I guess that makes sense. Why did you decide to do this now though?"

Orko pulled down another book from the shelf and started thumbing threw it. "Well partly because I like doing magic with out it doing something nuts. Although watching the fireworks go off when it does is fun. I would prefer not to have Man-at-Arms after chasing me threw out the palace anytime I just want to make something float and it blows up instead. And then there is the fact I could actually help the Heroic warriors since Adam is gone."

Cringer got a far away look in his eyes at the mention of Adam and Orko patted him on the head. "I know Cring. I miss him too. Well look at it this way. It could be worse."

The Eternian Tiger turned his head to look at his closest friend on the planet currently. "How so?"

The wizard put the book back "Well at least it's been peaceful." In keeping with Murphey's Law at that very moment alarms went off threw out the great towers. Quickly the two friends shot out to get a look outside and what they saw made them both tremble. Orko shuddered in horror as he said "The Horde."

The klaxon went out immediately. Alarms roared into life. An army under the flag of the Horde marched forward. Weapons aimed, the Horde Troopers clanked ever so continuously towards the massive towers that stood upright from the desert hardpan.

Hordak led the charge, riding on the Mosquitor. Sword of Deception in hand, the Horde Troopers came to a halt. He turned to Leech.

"Communications?"

"Cut off. We're blocking any transmissions in-coming or out-going."

"Forward!"

Hordak, the Horde Elite and the Horde Troopers rushed moved forth once more. From the Central Tower and Grayskull Tower, lasers and missiles fired into the air, smashing into the army. The Horde Troopers returned fire.

Royal Soldiers emptied out from the Central Tower, lasers firing. The Heroic Warriors that were present at the Great Towers launched their own attack.

Buzz-Off, Rokkon and Stonedar went sailing from the top of Central Tower. Extendar, Rio Blast, Snout Spout, and Roboto rushed out, weapons firing, ready to do combat with the Horde Elite.

Two beams of light flew from Shadow Weaver's fingers and struck Rokkon and Stonedar. Two shouts were heard, then the two collapsed to the ground.

"You'll take us, Hordak!" shouted Extendar as he, Snout Spout, and Rio-Blast went sailing towards the master of Etheria. "We will never fall to the Horde!"

"Foolish," Hordak muttered.

Grizzlor and Catra came leaping out from behind Hordak and slammed right into Snout Spout, tearing into him. Scorpia sent her tail smashing into Rio-Blast before he could even get a shot out. Multi-Bot and Modulock charged at Roboto, pummeling him to the ground. Extendar was suddenly struck by Leech, who then absorbed his energy.

Hordak himself set his gaze on Buzz-Off. A lightning bolt blasted out from the Sword of Deception and sent him crashing into a crowd of Horde Troopers.

"STORM THE CENTRAL TOWER!" shrieked Hordak and led them on.

"This," Orko said, "is very bad."

The two were running down a hall way hoping to find an escape route. The battle was a total rout. The forces of Eternia were utterly defeated. Cringer and Orko knew baring an unlucky miracle that the Horde had the Great Towers under their power. Orko was trying to remain calm but he felt Hordak just outside the Central Tower. He had felt magical aura's before but never before had he felt one this far away from someone. Never before had he felt one this dark this malevolent this evil.

Suddenly Cringer was struck by inspiration. "Orko." He cried out. "Do you think you can get a message out somehow."

"What do you mean? You were in the command center same as me. The communications array is totally jammed." The unlucky wizard stopped wondering where his friend was going.

Cringer shuddered as he heard a loud explosion outside. "Well you're a wizard and a lot of you magical types can do like psychic stuff can you do a message out like that to the king or something. Get the word out?"

"Why didn't I think of that?"

The Tiger looked up to the heavens "Sometimes I wonder about you."

"Alright Give me a second here. I haven't done this in a very very long time." Orko's eyes closed and by his posture you could sense his determination to get the magics flowing properly. Then he lit up with an aura around him and half a world a way he touched a mind. "Man-at-Arms." He paused as if hearing something. "Look I'm sorry I disturbed you while you were busy." Then Cringer was surprised to see something on Orko's face he had never seen before. Frustration and a bit of anger. "I DON'T CARE IF YOUR IN THERE ALRIGHT! THIS IS IMPORTANT!" He paused again, listening to Duncan's response. "Yes this is deadly serious. The towers have fallen. The Horde is here. Hordak is here and I've never felt him this powerful before."

Orko fell silent. He seemed to be trying to find the words he wished to say. "I don't know where they are. I think they're all still alive but I can't say for sure. It's not pretty outside and I'm honestly not sure if me and Cringer can get out of here but we're gonna try. I've gotta go. I got an idea to get us out but I'm not sure if it'll work. Good Journey Duncan." Orko's aura faded and he looked down at his close friend.

"So what's this idea?" Cringer asked.

"It's risky but I think it's the only chance we got since neither of us can fly an aircraft."

"Well..."

"I can try to teleport us."

Cringer got a fearful look on his face. "Ummm not that I don't trust you but can you actually do that."

Orko got a bit indignant. "Yes thank you very much. When I was an apprentice Teleporting was my best skill. Course that was because I was the teacher's favorite go-fer."

"So you got a lot of practice?"

"Yep."

"Alright. Let's do it."

Orko began to chant. What it was Cringer had never heard before. It was high pitched and somewhat screechy and then there was a loud bang and Cringer found he wasn't in the same place." Unfortunately for our hero's they were not where they intended to be. They were right inside the front entrance of the Central Tower.

The two looked at each other and spoke in unison. "I have a bad feeling about this." Then they felt the shockwave of the door's being blown clear of the entrance. There standing with his arm out stretched palm facing them cackling triumphantly was Hordak.

Orko was stunned speechless but Cringer only had one thing to say. "Oh shit."

The Trollian was stunned. "I don't think I've ever heard you curse before Cring."

"Well I don't think we've been in it this deep before."

"Good Point. Ummm ideas?"

At this point Catra stepped into the entrance chamber. She smirked at what she believed to be easy prey. She quickly transformed to her panther form and leapt at Orko. However she was surprised when the smaller green Tiger intercepted her in mid-leap and knocked her back. She roared in rage, which Cringer answered back with one of his own and he went on the offensive, opening a gash in her side with one of his claws.

She stepped back in shock looking at the tiger as if curious and almost recognizing something. "Could it be?" She thought aloud. "No, it couldn't be. This one is far too small."

She tried going on the offensive only to be met with a surprisingly strong slap from the tiger that not only knocked the mask from her face but knocked the woman out cold.

"Orko!" Cringer called out. "Can you try again to get us out of here?" It was then he noticed that the Trollian was breathing heavily. Orko was exhausted.

"Sorry, that first one took far too much out of me. If I had my wand I could have done it."

Cringer was then blindsided by a blast of energy knocking him back. Hordak had an amused look on his face. "Well then cat. You did well besting Catra but it is of no consequence." Then several dozen Horde Troopers stormed into the chamber surrounding them. "Surrender and survive for now. Fight back and both of you perish here and now."

Cringer growled but sat down while Orko floated down next to his companion. It was over they had been captured.

"Well it could be worse." Cringer thought to himself glumly. "At least you're still out there, Adam. I just hope you come home soon. We need you. I need you old friend."

"Did you say something?"

Mara looked over at Adam with some confusion. "What? Oh, no. Why?"

"It's . . . I thought . . . nevermind." It must have been his imagination, but Adam could have sworn he heard Cringer asking for help. It was probably nothing though. He was far, far away from here. Adam settled in next to Mara and looked up at the three suns as they sat in the centered in a perfect blue sky. No, it couldn't have been Cringer. Merely his imagination, that was all.

Eternia was far from here.

And, from what Adam was told, Eternia was at peace.

Fusion Blaster has also written Times Like These.