Fallen Hope
By General Stingrad and thew40
Hordak stood upon the Central Tower and gazed out at the horizon. Eternia was his. The world that had eluded him over two decades ago was now his to command. With both Eternia and Etheria under his control, he could build very powerful empire from here.
After things had quieted down on Eternia and he absorbed the life-forces of Etheria, Hordak would send his chief scientists to find that wormhole Queen Marlena had traveled through. Hordak would locate that no good back-water world she came from and raid it, and then move on
Marlena's homeworld first, then. Afterward, the Horde would duplicate the wormhole and send attack forces to the worlds that were always out range for the Horde - Thundra, Cybertron, the list goes on . . .
It would take decades, of course. And his own break off from Horde World had caused schisms throughout the empire. For a brief moment, Hordak considered rallying some old friends that had shattered their relations with Horde Prime and bringing them over to his cause. But the thought was dashed away. Hordak needed no one else - not now, at least. Once his new Horde Empire grew larger, perhaps, but not now.
"Lord Hordak?" came a meek voice from behind.
Hordak turned on his heel and faced Mantenna. "What is it?"
"We've been searching throughout the Mystic Mountains for the Avions and the Insectoids. Still no sign of them. Also, continual searches of the Bears, Cat, and Dragon kingdoms are still bringing up the same results - they've gone missing."
Hordak snorted. "That does not make sense. The Avions and Insectoids we know did not flee Eternia. They are still on the planet. But the Cats and the Bears? And even Granamyr and his Dragons and Trolls? Where could they be?"
"I do not know, sir."
Sighing, Hordak glanced upward. "The moon nations?"
"They've been able to maintain their force fields, Lord Hordak."
"Ignore them, then. The moon nations will not fight us if we do not fight them. After Etheria is dealt with and we finish up securing the northern regions of the Dark Hemisphere, we'll break their wills. But for now . . . our job is to finish what we've started. Anything else?"
"No, Lord Hordak."
"Good. Mantenna, we are returning to Etheria within the hour. Bring that Heroic Warrior you captured a few months ago and prepare for movement to the Fright Zone. Leave me. I must concentrate on absorbing the power of the Great Towers before transporting over."
Mantenna did so. Hordak closed his eyes, then, and began to meditate. A groan echoed throughout the Central Tower. An intense energy rippled around Hordak. The power of the Great Towers entered him and strengthened his own power. A few moments later, Hordak prepared himself for transport.
"Eternia will not fall!" roared Man-E-Faces as he was pulled down the stairs and into the dungeons. "We will be free once more!"
"SILENCE!" returned Modulock and began to pummel Man-E-Faces. Man-E-Faces, who was in chains, could do nothing.
Multi-Bot joined Modulock in beating Man-E-Faces. After most of his containment suit had been damaged, he was thrown into his cell.
After that was done and over with, Modulock and Multi-Bot headed up to Doom Tower to check to see what Hordak was up to now.
Hordak stood atop Doom Tower as he had Central Tower back on Eternia. He began to mutter spell of power and held his Sword of Deception outward. Beyond the newly remolded Fright Zone, the oil churned slowly, holding its prisoners in suspended animation.
"The Whispering Woods must fall," he muttered. They were the only thing preventing him from beginning the process of draining Etheria of its life-force.
Using the power he absorbed from the Great Towers and combined with the power of the Sword of Deception, Hordak sent lose of bolt of energy that spanned miles. It journeyed to that gleaming, glowing forest that sat amongst the darkness . . .
She-Ra stood upon the command area. The past eight months had been filled with lying about where Adora was when She-Ra was there and vice versa. Not very pleasant. With most of the vehicles destroyed, the rag-tag team of Great Rebels were low on options. The only other place they could be was the Crystal Castle. But for now - the Whispering Woods was where they needed to be.
Mermista had since joined them, having almost been caught by the oil. She had barely made into the canals of the Whispering Woods when the oil had overcome the rest of the world.
Suddenly, She-Ra felt a flash of panic. She leapt to her feet and grabbed Glimmer's shoulder.
"We need a force field! Now!"
Glimmer's face was that of confusion, but she complied. A second later, a bolt like lightning split across the sky. It slammed into the Whispering Woods, striking every tree. There was horrendous tearing sound as the bolt shot from tree to tree.
"Widen the force field!" She-Ra cried. "It will disrupt the spell!"
Glimmer's force field extended out and the bolt made contact. The immediate conflict shorted out both the spell and the force field. Glimmer fell backwards.
"Are you alright?" asked Bow, helping her up.
"I'm okay. What was that?"
She-Ra's eyes narrowed. "Hordak has returned."
And along the edges of the Whispering Woods, the oil began to very slowly seep in . . .
"The spell was incomplete," Hordak told Shadow Weaver. "Assemble a battalion. We're going in."
"But Lord Hordak, the Rebellion will know it is you this time even if you disguise yourself," Weaver warned Hordak. She knew that as weakened as what they were the Rebels would still able to spot Hordak out even if they were disguised.
"I know Weaver, but they won't suspect a thing now," Hordak said as he raised the Sword of Deception in the air and transformed into a wise old man. "The rebels won't know what hit them," he cackled "Now go prepare the battalion and have them meet me here" he ordered.
"Yes my Lord," Weaver said as she floated away.
"Soon the Whispering Woods will fall, and Etheria will at last be mine," he boasted as he went to prepare for the attack.
Meanwhile at the Whispering Woods, the oil crept in closer - however the rebels did not know of this yet. They had other things to worry about.
"But Hordak left for Eternia months ago." Glimmer reminded She-Ra, the pain of those months was still fresh in her memory. She thought of the horror of her mother's wings ripped off by Hordak and tossed around like a rag doll, she tried to focus on other things but that memory still too pungent for her.
"I know, Glimmer, but I know it's him. He's come back . . . I can feel it," she insisted as she looked out onto the horizon. If Hordak had returned they had best get a plan in motion and soon. Hordak would not waste much time in taking care of the Rebels that were left.
Twenty minutes later outside the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver, Mantenna, Modulok, Catra, and a few dozen Horde Troopers were all waiting for Hordak to appear.
"Where is he?" Catra mumbled to herself, she had other things do, besides going with Hordak on some foolish mission that she knew was going to fail.
"I am right here, Catra," a voice replied
"Hordak?" Catra exclaimed as she saw an old man step out of the shadows. From what Catra could see, the man was dressed in old black robe and had a long white beard and a carried a crooked staff in his left hand.
"Of course it's me Catra," the old man said as raised the staff in the air and reverted back into his old self. "We are going to go into the Whispering Woods and destroy the remainder of the Great Rebellion," Hordak told his cronies.
"We've tried that before Hordak and it failed. The odds of it succeeding this time are a…" was all Modulok got out before Hordak blasted him.
"Any other objections?" Hordak asked his group. They all shook their heads.
"Good," he replied. Once his group was silenced he raised the Sword of Deception in the air and said: "For the destruction of Grayskull!"
Black lightning bolts transformed him into an old man and his team into a family.
"Come now let us go end the Rebellion once and for all!" he cried as he traveled in the direction of Whispering Woods.
After some distance, they arrived at the woods. "Okay troopers, get in position," the old man snapped as the troopers scrambled to obey their orders. "Come, we set our plan into motion," he said as he entered what remained of the Rebel's strong hold.
She-Ra was sitting alone, she told her friends that she needed some to think by herself, Hordak's return had taken her by surprise and she was trying to figure out what he was up to, while she thinking an old man and his family came up to her.
"Excuse me, miss," the old man said politely.
At first She-Ra was startled. "What can I do for you sir?" she asked the old man.
There was something not right about his man and his family, she wanted to tell the old man to leave, but she couldn't for all she knew this man could be dying and needed help, and she would feel bad if he died and she did nothing
"I'm an old, whose home was destroyed, Horde. They destroyed everything we got and now we desperately in need. Can you help us?" he asked.
"Of course, what can I do to help?" she asked wanted to do everything in her power to help him and his family.
"You can…be destroyed!" the old man said as he reverted back to his true form, that of Hordak.
"Bow! Glimmer I need help" She-Ra cried out, hoping her friends would hear call.
She knew she could take Hordak alone if she had to, but she also knew that she would rather have her friends by her side to help her.
Deep in another part of the forest, Bow and Glimmer were busy checking to see if they had enough supplies when they heard She-Ra's cry for help.
"Sounds like She-Ra could use a hand" Bow said as he slung his arrows his back and picked up his bow.
"You're right, I'll go get Mermista, Castaspella, Flutterina and Peek-A-Blue and I'll meet you there" Glimmer said as she race to find her two friends.
Half an hour later the three rebels arrived to see the Horde in the Whispering Woods. "Not so fast Hordak!" Glimmer yelled. "Your days here are numbered" she threatened the Ruthless Leader.
"You're wrong. It's your days that are numbered," Hordak retorted as he signaled for his Horde Troopers to come out of hiding.
The rebels looked around, they were outnumbered and outgunned, but they did not give up hope, they were going to fight this battle even if it they would die.
"All right everyone" Glimmer said as she swallowed. "For Brightmoon" she said and with those words the Battle of the Whispering Woods began.
She-Ra and Swift-Wind ran towards Hordak slammed into him. Hordak went spilling into bushes. She-Ra followed, Swift-Wind in tow. Hordak rolled out into a clearing in the woods. She-Ra leapt over the bushes and faced him, Sword of Protection raised.
"Your time is over," She-Ra declared. She faintly heard the sounds of battle behind her, but concentrated on Hordak.
"Perhaps," he hissed. An energy bolt blasted Swift-Wind and the pegacorn fell.
"NO!"
Hordak jumped towards her, Sword of Deception in his grasp. It slammed down and met with She-Ra's Sword of Protection. They clanged together, then pushed each other off. She-Ra swiped once more with the Sword of Protection and the battle began.
They fought long and hard, She-Ra not knowing that the oil was seeping into the Whispering Woods. Hordak, of course, did. He and it were one and the same. As it grew ever closer, he pulled back.
"Enough of this!" he shouted at She-Ra.
"I agree!"
She-Ra ran forward, but a burst of energy halted her. Hordak then pointed the Sword of Deception right at her and a beam of furious black energy came crashing from its end. She-Ra held the Sword of Protection and the beam came right against it.
Streams of energy snaked from the impact. Small explosions flared from the spot. "NO!" She-Ra roared and held strong against the power of Hordak.
With all of her might, she unleashed the strength of the Sword of Protection. A brilliant light filled the clearing. Power spiraled outward, rippling from both Swords. Hordak flew back, smashing into a nearby tree. She-Ra was tossed into the air, falling into bushes.
As soon as she fell, the power of Grayskull fled from her and She-Ra reverted back to Adora. In the clearing, Swift-Wind changed back to Spirit. Both Hordak and Adora were unconscious.
The battle waged near them . . . and the Sword of Protection sat unsupervised.
"Where'd She-Ra go?" Mermista asked worried that the Princess of Power might be seriously wounded or worse.
"I don't know I can't see her anywhere," Flutterina said as she scanned the skies for her.
"Bow, I found someone, it's Adora she's unconscious" she told the Rebel leader.
"I'll see if I can help her," Bow said as he tried to make it in the direction Flutterina was pointing in Adora's direction. He walked only a few inches when he was stop by a barrage of blaster fire; he couldn't make it to Adora's body.
Meanwhile, Shadow Weaver looked at the Sword as it lie on the ground. She had seen it before, years ago, when that stranger He-Man first set first on Etheria. It was that sword that somehow reversed the mind control spell on Adora and she had wanted to study it, she knew somehow that was the key to brining Adora back to the Horde.
"Catra, Mantenna get that horse," Weaver yelled as she pointed to Spirit. This was the chance she'd had been waiting for, to bring Adora back into the Horde and us her now well versed of the Rebels to destroy them.
"Hold still, you blasted horse!" Mantenna yelled as he tried to ensnare the horse but Spirit kicked him sending flying through the air and being hit by a tree.
"I'll do it you fool," Catra hissed as she tried to subdue the horse with her whip but not even she could capture the horse and was sent head first into tree. "This is your entire fault, you nitwit" she hissed at the knocked out Mantenna who was a few yards ached of her.
Finally Shadow Weaver, who had had enough of her cohort's bungling, picked up the Sword that was lying on the ground.
"Do I have to do everything myself?" she complained as she useed her magic to ensnare Spirit, fetch her two fallen cohorts, her master, the Sword of Protection, and head back to the Fright Zone. She vanished into thin air, leaving only the Horde troopers there.
The battle in the woods continued for sometime, the small band of rebels fight desperately against the Horde Troopers, but try as they may there are too many troopers there for them to deal with.
"Glimmer, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up," Castaspella told her, his energy nearly drained from fighting so many Horde Troopers. Exhaustion and fatigue were seen in her eyes and for the first time since she was young.
"No, we must until they're all destroyed!" Glimmer snapped. She was still suffering from the trauma of seeing her mother suffer. The nightmares were still too painful in her mind, and the only to end them was to end the life of Hordak.
"Glimmer, now is not the time!" Bow said as he carefully goes, avoiding the blasts of the Horde Troopers to recover Adora's unconscious body. "Casta, Peek-A-Blue, Mermista, Flutterina, Glimmer, let's get out of here!" he ordered pointing in the direction he wanted them to go and carrying Adora over his shoulder.
"Right!" Flutterina chimed in as she sped of in the direction Bow was pointing.
"We must go," Mermista pleaded.
"NO! THEY HAVE PAY TO WHAT THEY DID TO MOTHER!" Glimmer shouted as she blasted as many Horde Troopers as she can, her mind was revenge. Revenge for what they did to her mother months ago. If her mother suffered, they would suffer too.
"Glimmer this isn't time!" Bow said as he grabbed Glimmer's wrist as if she was a child and led her off.
"Peek-A-Blue, you coming?" Bow asked looking at the Rebel.
"No, I can't live with myself and now I'm going to end it," she said as she surrendered and was escorted off by Horde Troopers.
"PEEK-A-BLUE! NO!" Bow yelled as he saw the troopers threw her into the oil. The oil covered her body. Bow bowed his head to mourn his 'fallen' comrade. "EVERYONE MOVE OUT," he said with anger and frustration in his voice. The Great Rebellion was no more.
Several hours later, Hordak was coming to. His head was aching and the room was spinning.
"What on Etheria happened?" He asked as he looked around, the last thing he was remembered was the fight with She-Ra, seeing a bright light and then everything went black.
"You were unconscious. We won my lord the Great Rebellion is no more," Shadow Weaver told him as she made him some Brambleberry tea to help with his headache. "There is a get well present for you," she said pointing the table.
Hordak got up and walked over to see the Sword of Protection in his grasp. "At last my dreams have come true," he said as he walked to a balcony and looked out the side. "Now that Etheria is in my grasp, we will return to Eternia to solidify our rule there."
Back in the Whispering Woods, Adora had just to come to as well. Much like Hordak, all she could remember was fighting him and there was a flash and then darkness. After Bow made sure Adora was feeling better, he called a special meeting of the Rebellion to order.
"What are we going to now?" He asked as he saw the oil come closer to the spot where they were. "We need a new base" he told them as he chided them all on how miserable they performed in battle.
In admits of this clamoring, Adora spoke up. "There's only one place we can go - the Crystal Castle," she said pointing in its direction.
"How do you know the way, Adora?" Glimmer snapped at her. She was still upset over what happened, the defeat and the loss of her mother.
"She-Ra told me before she left to help you fight," Adora told them. This discussion was getting a little too close to the mark for Adora and she hoped it would end.
"But what if the oil has covered the Crystal Castle?" Flutterina asked Adora weary the oil might have reached the Castle.
"It hasn't, She-Ra told me before she left," Adora told them, hoping they would buy the story.
"Very well then. Lead the way Adora!" Bow said.
He was cautious about this trip, he had never seen the Crystal Castle and wasn't even sure it existed, but anything was better than staying here.
As they left the Whispering Woods they saw he last acre of land be covered by the oil. It was sad for the Rebellion. The Whispering Woods, the one place they thought Hordak could never taint with his evil, had fallen.
After several hours of walking and climbing they reached the Crystal Castle, Adora opened the door and she and the rebels went in.
"Welcome, Great Rebellion," Light-Hope greeted. "I hope you find sancturary here.
"We do," Adora replied. "We do."
"Now what do we do?" Mermista asked as she sat on the floor of the castle.
"I don't know, Mermista, I just don't," Adora said as she looked onto Etheria covered by the evil of Hordak. Her thoughts turned to her brother. Would Eternia meet the same fate as Eternia? She didn't know.
The day's events had worn her out and she was still sore from that blast of energy that she received form the battle with Hordak. So she decided to curl up in the floor and see if she would be able to sleep, even though her dreams would now be nightmares.
Teela looked at the holo-map that Gwildor projected above his worktable. As the last of the Whispering Woods vanished into the strange darkness, her unborn child kicked. Her hand pressed on that part of her belly and she looked on.
"Meh," Gwildor grunted. "This can't be good."
"Is that all of Etheria?"
Gwildor pressed a few keys on a nearby computer pad. "Eh, I'm not sure. Let me take a look."
The holo-map pulled back and formed into a globe that displayed all of Etheria. Gwildor began to press a few more keys to begin a scan when the globe suddenly frizzled out. He snarled his nose and turned to a large array of computer screen and controls. A few red lights began to blink on and off, much to his dismay.
"The sensor array just went off-line. Narflids!" he then cursed in his tongue. Teela walked over, hunched just a little. She patted him on the back.
"It's alright. I'm sure if there is still portions of Etheria free of that darkness, She-Ra is there."
Gwildor turned to her. A small smile appeared on his leathery lips. "I wish I could share in that optimism."
"You have to hold to hope, Gwildor," came another female's voice from the entrance to Gwildor's lower levels. Kathryn stood there, leaning against the wall. Her brown hair looked in desperate need of washing and she looked both tired and grumpy.
"Oh, I'm trying, I'm trying," Gwildor replied and began to punch commands into his computer. A few of the monitors began to display the information he wanted. "However, when it comes to my sensor array, the hope is slim. It's burned out."
Teela rubbed the protrusion on her abdomen. Taking a look at Etheria wasn't the reason she came here, but it proofed timely. She came here with Kathryn (her unofficial mid-wife) for a check-up. Medical supplies were limited - and equipment to help with pregnancy was even more limited. At five months, Teela was overdue for a check-up. She was only halfway through the pregnancy.
"Kathryn, can you check with Lubic and Stratos? We need to get moving soon," Teela half-ordered, half-requested.
"Going already, huh? Alright, alright. Be back here as soon as you can."
Teela nodded. "I will. It may take some time, but I will."
Gwildor stroked her ever-growing womb. "Be careful."
She smiled. "I will."
Teela departed the cavern and joined Kathryn, Lubic, and Stratos outside one of Gwildor's secret entrances. The sun was setting as Teela stood there, thinking about the future.
"How's the kid?" asked Lubic as he powered up the Attack Track.
"Fine. Just fine," Teela answered.
"What about Etheria? Kathryn mentioned something about it," Stratos followed up.
Teela sighed. "There'll be one less star out tonight."