Glimmer poofs herself and Bow into her bedroom and she starts pacing. "Okay we need to get ready, Bow. This is going to be a great mission! I can feel it." She continues to gather things from around her room.
Bow looks at the ground with his hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know, Glimmer. Your mom has a point." He makes eye contact as she abruptly turns to face him. "Y'know? About your heat. Glim I get them too. I know how much of a toll they can take, and you just started the first full day."
She walks up to him reaching to take ahold of his hands. "I know, Bow. I feel crazy already, but it's not too bad. Plus, like I said, I'm going to get the mages to perform some magic and it'll totally dilute most of my heat. You already know how good they are." Her eyes shine with excitement for the upcoming mission, but the worry is still clear on his face. Glimmer leans in further and wraps her arms around Bow's shoulders for a hug.
He instinctively wraps his arms around her waist and takes a small inhale of her scent. It's comforting as much as it is enticing. He's always loved Glimmer's scents no matter what was happening. The small gesture really does soothe him. She pulls away and he looks into her eyes. "Okay, but we're going to be extra careful and I'm going to set timers on my tracker pad to make sure we're keeping up your water intake."
He starts to get this nervous crease in his forehead when she looks at him sweetly and smiles. "Okay, okay Bow." She giggles, loving the consideration her best friend gives her. "I'll drink lots of water."
"And you'll tell me if you start to feel bad, right?" His face is as serious as he can make it while he stares into her eyes.
"Fine! Yes, Bow I'll tell you." She smiles while still holding onto his hands and the excitement starts to bubble back up. "Can we go, now? I want to get a nice head start on this mission. It shouldn't take long getting my treatment, and then, I'll be in tip-top shape." She magically disappears.
Bow stands there with his unsure smile fading slowly after she left. I just hope she knows what she's doing.
Gimmer finishes up with the mage assigned to help her tamp down the effects of her heat and heads out to find Bow. She lets a few bursts of magic flow through her hands and she smiles at her renewed state.
She teleports to the runestone to bask in its' energy for a last-minute recharge. Her body feels alive and tingly as she stands beneath it. She opens her eyes after shutting them from the euphoric sensation and just admires the stone. It gives her power and hope. She knows they'll one day end this war and her kingdom will get to live in a peace it hasn't known in what seems like lifetimes.
After absorbing as much as her body will allow, she quickly teleports away to find Bow. She lands herself back in her room but doesn't find him. She walks out and makes her way to the war room where she finds Bow checking over the map for their mission. "Always prepared, arnt'cha?"
Bow startles and turns to smile at her. "Yeah, I just want to make sure we know what we're walking into. Some scouts reported some Horde tanks rolling up the southern pass to get to Plumeria. I wanted to load the information onto my tracker pad, so we could keep an eye out." He continues to look down at his pad resolutely while he downloads all the information.
"Well, are you just about ready to go? Got your… bow and stuff?" She says to make him loosen up.
He chuckles and turns to face her again. "Yes, I've got my 'bow and stuff.' You look good. Did it go well with the mage?"
"Definitely. They took care of me right away and I don't feel any cramping or overloaded pheromones. I just hope it'll hold out long enough to finish up this mission. I know we'll totally be able to handle ourselves, but I hope we aren't walking in the woods like we did with Catra."
"Oh, yeah. Definitely. How's she doing anyway?" Bow's curiosity is piqued.
"I haven't had a chance to check on her lately. I know mom has her up in one of the rooms under lock and key. She's having Castaspella come down and use one of her truth spells on her. I guess mom is hoping she'll prove her innocence or something? I have no idea what she's aiming at, honestly." Glimmer's face is of indifference, but she is still thinking of how Catra saved her when she could've run away. Twice! "Ugh, I know she's Horde scum, but…"
"– But, you're having second thoughts?" Bow finishes with a sweet smile.
"Don't look at me like that," she scolds as she folds her arms. "But, yes. Maybe." She looks down at the floor.
Bow continues, "well, hey. She saved you and that's good enough for me. I'm glad you're alright, Glimmer."
She smiles back at him. "I'm glad too… Okay we'll figure out the Catra thing later. It's not like she's going anywhere." She gestures to link their arms together and Bow follows suit. They poof away shortly after.
The pair land just outside a nearby town and begin to make their way on foot. They wanted to save as much of Glimmer's magic as they could considering they were walking into an unknown situation. They don't want another "Thaymore Situation" on their hands. It nearly left Glimmer without any magic. That won't happen again. Bow couldn't stand to risk Glimmer like that, especially while she's in heat. The mage's magic works just fine, but her body is still going through something. "Hey, Glimmer?" Bow asks after a thought pops into his head.
"Yeah?"
"When you're in heat do you ever… want alphas?" His question is timid, which isn't like Bow.
"I mean yeah, I guess. There's like this innate urge, but I don't want it to control me, y'know?" She talks over her shoulder while he trails behind. "It's like, of course I would love someone to…" she pauses as nerves begin to rise talking about this with Bow, "…Someone to make the heat easier," she makes a strangled face at her awkward verbiage. "But I don't have this strong pull for it to be an alpha, necessarily."
"Oh." A smile creeps up onto Bow's face.
"What about you?" She asks with equal curiosity. "I don't know of a ton of male omegas. Do you… want an alpha to mate you?"
"Woah. Mating? … geesh. That's just so serious and…" he pauses to collect his thoughts. "I mean my heats are sometimes unbearable, but I guess I see it like you do. I don't want my instincts to control me and who I want. Like why should I mate with someone purely on instinct? It could end up so awful." His gaze zones out as he contemplates that scenario.
"Exactly! Like, I want to be with someone who gets me." She blushes and feels a warm sensation all over. She continues, "someone who's my best friend." Her words end with a wistful tone and the thoughts she's conjuring are stirring something within herself. Ugh, she needs to focus, or the mage's magic would've been for naught. As she shakes her mind free of impossibilities, she gazes forward to see the ever-beautiful Plumeria off in the distance. "Bow, look! We're here. This is going to be so great." She takes off running towards their destination with a glowing smile on her face.
Glimmer's words thrust Bow from his train of thought, and he runs to catch up to her.
They slow their pace to regain their breath and notice that some of the trees are dying or are already dead. Their smiles fade somewhat, and they look at each other noticing the other's concern.
Adora's heart is pounding within her chest. She's finally able to go out on her first mission as an alpha, and not only that, but they're also on their way to rescue Catra. The sensation that lights up her chest is indescribable. Adora knows how much she misses Catra and desperately desires her safety, but the feeling in her chest is greater than she's ever felt before.
Focus, she hears from her inner alpha – the reminder getting her mind back on track. This is a serious mission with actual princesses. She needs to be on her A-game. If not, then something could happen to Catra, and that thought just burns a fire in the pit of her stomach.
She shoves the last few crucial items into her satchel and loads up her gear for the trip to Plumeria. It's only their first stop in order to advance the Hordes forces to get closer to Brightmoon, so Adora understands the higher priority. Plus, it's providing her the mission to get Catra back, so she won't complain. She just hopes they can accomplish their mission quickly so that they can begin their next mission: to rescue her best friend.
Adora sniffs the air and detects the putrid smell of death wafting in from the hall.
"Adora," Shadow Weaver speaks in that sickeningly sweet tone. "You're ready to get Catra on your first mission?" She reaches the alpha and halts her movements with a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Adora faces her with determined eyes. "My, I sure hope you're able to accomplish your mission in Plumeria before Catra's potential demise. I can only imagine how they must've broken her down, so weak and small."
That lights something in Adora she didn't know existed. She hates the words Weaver uses when she describes Catra's situation and the tone she speaks in regarding her mate. There's that word again…
The thought is gone the moment Shadow Weaver opens her mouth. "Well, you better be off. Wouldn't want Catra being tortured any longer than is necessary." Her gaze lingers on Adora for a few more moments after she speaks to calculate the result they had on the young alpha. Adora's nostrils are flaring as she breathes in and out and the older woman believes her words had the desired effect. She glides her way towards the exit.
Glimmer runs up to Princess Perfuma and holds her hand out in greeting. "Princess! It's lovely to meet you, I'm Commander Glimmer of Brightmoon. We had some scouts report that you needed some help, so here we are!" Glimmer's excited exuberance shone through each word.
"Oh," the flower princess's response is a little lack luster compared to what Glimmer had expected. Perfuma notices Glimmer's offended face and corrects herself, "Oh! I'm sorry. It's just that we thought that there would be a lot… more of you." She smiles sheepishly and glances at Bow with the unknown guard Glimmer had forgot was with them.
"I know there isn't much of us," Glimmer gestures her arm towards her companions, "but we're excellent problem solvers and fighters." She smiles brightly at Perfuma in order to boost the other woman's confidence in her.
"Sure! Yes, that's lovely." Replies the flower princess. "Well, we're so glad that you could make it. We've been having some… issues, lately." She says it as the flowers she conjured in her hands wilt.
"Yeah," Bow interjects, "we noticed the forest isn't looking so good here."
"We are going through some tough times, but as long as the Heart Blossom remains strong, I just know we can make it through." Her smile falters as more flowers being to wilt around them.
"We heard the Horde was in the area, you don't think it has anything to do with that do you?" Bow questions.
"The blight did hit as they arrived," Perfuma expressed through a fearful face, "but, I'm sure the universe will right itself again. Come! Let me show you around." Her mood flipped a complete 180 degrees giving the two whiplash.
As they walked, Glimmer felt it was time to mention the other reason they were present. "Princess Perfuma, there was another reason we're here. We wanted to talk to you about this." She unsheathes the sword from her back, and it flickers a beam of light. "We believe this to be the sword of She-Ra."
Perfuma's eyes go wide with a shimmer as she gapes at it.
"We believe that She-Ra will show herself again." Bow explains, his face full of hope.
"Oh, my" Perfuma says. "It's so shiny," she smiles brightly. "Oh! Do you know how to use the sword? It could be quite useful to healing my lands."
The pair look at each other confused and Glimmer responds, "We don't know how to use the sword. I've seen its' magic once when someone else was holding it." She immediately thought of Catra and confusion arose. "Wait, this thing can heal?"
Perfuma smiles brightly. "Oh, yes. It's been said that She-Ra has healing capabilities for all of Etheria. She would be able to heal our land. Maybe this person was She-Ra! The one who held the sword. There has to be a connection." Her eyes were hopeful.
Glimmer gives an incredulous look to Bow after hearing those words. There's no way in hell Catra could be She-Ra, the benevolent protector of Etheria. The pink haired princess begins to laugh uncontrollably. She wipes away a tear. "Oh, now that's good."
Perfuma's expression is all confusion as she takes in the interaction.
Bow chimes in, "you see, the person who held it was a Horde soldier. There's just no way it could be her."
Glimmer starts another fit of giggles. "Exactly! She's insufferable." She rolls her eyes and wipes her face.
Perfuma doesn't take their judgment lightly. "Well," she says in a serious tone, "It seems like the universe has a plan for her and if she's the only one who's managed to make the sword perform magic, then she must be important." She turns to walk away on that note.
Gimmer calms down after that lecture and regrets her tone.
An explosion is heard from across the land. They all look to see where it had come from and notice a large plume of smoke off in the distance.
"It's got to be the Horde," Bow proclaims. "Maybe we should go and check it out."
Glimmer is on the verge of agreeing when Perfuma interjects "Oh my, no we shouldn't." She looks down to her palm. "This is my power." A blossom forms in her hand. "We aren't enough to take on the Horde. We know that the universe will right these wrongs and give us back the power of our land. We just want to live peacefully." Her smile returns and Glimmer is starting to get irritated.
"Look," Glimmer starts, "the Horde is doing something to your land. Don't you want to find out? See if we can fix this mess?"
Before Perfuma can respond, a local runs up to them, alarmed. "Princess! The Heart Blossom… it's fading." The words were spoken somberly from the muscle clad woman.
They all take off sprinting back to the tree. Perfuma falls before it with her hand on the stone. "It's getting worse." Another explosion sounds off from where the Horde is operating. "I have to get my people to safety. Thank you for trying to help, but we're outnumbered." She turns away before they can even respond and begins to escort her people to gather their things.
"Ugh," Glimmer exclaims, "this is not going how I expected." She turns to the smoke and with resolution says, "Bow, we have to do something. We don't have She-Ra, but we have each other. Maybe we can go scout some weak points or, or just find out what's happening to the land." She starts walking off.
Bow places his hand on Glimmer's shoulder. She turns a little surprised. "Okay," says Bow, "but really quick, just drink some of the water we brought. If this goes badly, like I think it will, then you're going to need your strength, Glim." His smile is soft and kind.
She sighs feeling rushed at the urgency of the matter. "Fine, Bow. Give me the damn bottle." She holds out her hand irritated at the fact that he's of course right.
He reaches into his bag and digs around a little before he grabs it, revealing it with a bit of flair. Glimmer grabs the bottle and pours a mouthful that she quickly gulps down. She thrusts it back to him and takes off towards the smoke. Bow follows her trying to replace the bottle where it came from while keeping the contents of the bag inside. He finds a bit of paper that he scribbles a last-minute goodbye to Princess Perfuma. He gives the note to one of the hunky guys carrying some containers of food. Hopefully, the princess will change her mind.
Bow, Glimmer, and their one guard they keep forgetting about, look upon the giant metal base camp. Its' fumes are overpowering, and they can see some of the machinery digging into the branches of the trees.
The trio duck back down behind their bush and decide on what to do. Bow voices, "well, it's pretty well guarded."
"Yeah," Glimmer says, "maybe we could teleport to the tops of those trees to get a better view. Then, I could see where we need to go and take out anyone who gets in our way." She punches her fist into her other hand for emphasis.
Bow reaches out his hand to cover Glimmer's fists. "Or, we could teleport to the trees to get a better view and reassess our plan from there." He smiles cutely at her knowing how effective it is.
Glimmer groans. "Fine." And in a flash all three of them are up in a tree looking down. The guard gets a little off balance when Glimmer reaches to stabilize them. They smile sheepishly at their blunder.
The three peer down and see that the machine is pretty large as well as the number of troops surrounding the hideout. They sit tight and overhear one of the soldiers. "Alright, you heard the boss. We have that battalion heading our way for support. Let's get this operation up and running to full functionality!" They bark the orders and soon everyone is dispersing to do their final checks.
The pair glance at each other with concern. Glimmer speaks, "what are we gonna do Bow? There's more of them coming and we don't have any help." She sounds a little exasperated.
"We have to get down there and do something," he says with finality. "Anything we do will be better than just sitting her. Maybe you could distract them with some teleports while I sneak behind them to check that machine. We need to destroy it. It might save the Heart Blossom."
"Okay," Glimmers face is colored with concern, and she looks to their guard. "I'll teleport us all down there and you two try and stop the machine." They all nod in agreement and prepare for battle.
Glimmer poofs them all to the ground on the inside into one of the back corners. It'll at least give Bow enough time to wait until it's safe and then move in on the machine. She looks at him with a warm smile before teleporting off. She lands herself behind a canister containing who knows what and waits for her best chance. She sees the front gates opening to the camp and there's a massive load of people marching in. There's a huge blonde woman at the front of the unit along with a scorpioni woman. Glimmer gasps at the untimeliness of their plan and teleports back to the others.
"Bow," she whisper yells, "the other unit has already gotten here."
They overhear the commander from before, "Oh! Force Captain, you're-you're early." They give the scoprioni woman a solute and she does not look happy.
"Why isn't this place up and running!? We have orders to take out Plumeria and you're not even prepared." The woman turns away slightly to face the blonde woman and loudly whispers, "man this is so cool! Being in charge is a piece of cake. It's just a lot of yelling." The scorpioni turns back and continues to berate the commander of the camp as they walk further out of the groups sight.
Glimmer looks upon the blonde woman and feels something inside of herself stirring. "Oh, wow."
"What? What is it? Do they see us?" Bow's uneasy rant shows his anxiety as his voice squeaks.
Glimmer's mouth opens and shuts as she tries to formulate words. "I-uh, no it's not that. She's just uh… very big. Do you think she's an alpha?" She smells the air and the aroma wafting to her is clearly an alpha's scent. Her mouth waters a little.
Glimmer smacks herself. "Get ahold of yourself Glimmer. You've seen plenty of attractive alphas. She's no different." She turns the corner to look back at the alpha, and she catches the woman sniffing the air. Something makes the hairs on the back of Glimmer's neck stand on end as she sees the woman catch on to what she's smelling. Her eyes turn into a fiery blaze that makes Glimmer's feet turn into cement blocks. "Crap!" She teleports all three of them to a more secluded part of the camp that she thankfully noticed earlier.
"What?" Bow asks, "what is it Glimmer? What's wrong?" His concern is painted all through his voice and he grabs her shoulders to get her to focus.
"She… I think she could smell my heat. She was sniffing the air and-and I don't know. She looked over in our direction. I just freaked a little." She rubs her eyes with her hands as she tries to get ahold of herself.
Bow decides. They have to do something about the polluting device, and they need to get out of here. It's up to him since Glimmer is going through something. He aims one of his explosive arrows towards the machine. He fires one after another, after another. The consecutive explosions can be heard from their location, and something snaps Glimmer out of her stupor. They all turn and look to see the outcome.
Soldiers are running and trying to fan some of the flames out. It looks like they took out a big chunk of the machine, but the soldiers are already trying to fix what they can. The three look at each other and decide that it's now or never. They run out with their screaming battle cries. The Horde soldiers turn and look at the trio with confusion until the pieces fall into place that they were the ones to set off the explosion, then they charge in retaliation.
Glimmer comes upon two guards and teleports away so that they hit each other with their electric wands.
Bow loads up his arrows and flies them across the courtyard. They connect with a cluster of Horde soldiers, and they all get tied up. Without realizing, their personal guard protects Bow by deflecting a laser baton that was aimed directly for his back. The two stand beside each other as the threats continue to pursue them. Out of the corner of Bow's eye he sees the giant blonde woman running for Glimmer.
Glimmer notices the giant woman and dodges her advance by teleporting away. She materializes behind the larger woman and shoots magic blasts at the back of her head. The blonde turns and advances on her. Her face is full of this scary determination. Glimmer realizes she may be in trouble with this one. They continue to punch and throw blows for a few consecutive minutes that easily feels like an hour.
The woman finally grunts and launches herself at Glimmer. She grabs ahold of the princess's arms and pins her to the ground. Then, something else catches the princess's attention. Glimmer begins to feel the sword attached to her back practically vibrating beneath her. But her attention is quickly regained by the blonde woman hovering above her inhaling deeply. Glimmer assumes the worst as she thinks this alpha is about to sense her heat and do unspeakable things. The blonde's eyes are full of hate and she finally speaks, "Where… Is… Catra!?" She roars it out of her mouth getting splashes of spit on the princess's face.
Glimmer looks so confused as she surely is. "What? What do you want with her?" Then, a revelation dawns on her as moments from inside the woods bombard her. The golden figure that rescued them and the connection to Catra. "Are you –"
She's cut off by an exploding arrow that lands directly next to them. The blonde woman puts up her arms to deflect some of the explosion, but she does end up on the receiving end of most of the blast. She falls over and off Glimmer. Then, her body transforms back into a smaller woman wearing a simple Horde uniform.
Confusion is plastered all over Glimmer's face as she stares down at the seemingly lifeless body next to her when she hears Bow. "Glimmer! Oh, my goodness I was so worried. C'mon, we need to get –"
Before he can finish speaking a horn blares out in the distance right before a loud crash and bending metal sound comes from the other side of base. They turn and look to see Princess Perfuma gliding in on a tidal wave of plants. Her people haul in behind her as they each begin taking out numerous Horde soldiers. "I always said the Universe would repay the Horde for what they've done. Well, I guess that day is today," Perfuma exclaims.
The group takes down a vast majority of soldiers and Glimmer continues to blast them while Bow finishes his quiver of arrows.
Glimmer catches sight of the scorpioni woman picking up the unconscious blonde and taking off into the woods on an undamaged skiff. She squints her eyes in confusion and decides she'll be speaking to a certain feline here in the next day or so.
After some of the smoke clears, the group rejoices in their victory. There are plant vines lining the entire perimeter of the base camp and soldiers are being gathered as prisoners. Glimmer jumps and Bow embraces her tightly. He sets her down and gives her a quick glance over. "Glimmer, are you alright? I saw what happened." His eyes are full of concern for the woman before him.
The princess looks down to the ground in contemplation. "Yeah," she starts, "I'm okay Bow. I think… I think she was looking for Catra."
His eyes go wide a bit. "That's… kind of a relief. I was so worried she smelled your heat." He holds her hands close to his chest.
"I know, I thought the same. I really thought she was going to hurt me after smelling the air so thoroughly. I could tell she was a really strong alpha. I just… After she scented the air she asked me…" She looks into Bow's eyes. "She asked me where Catra was. I wonder if… maybe she could smell her on me?"
"That's one powerful alpha. You haven't even been near Catra in the last 24 hours. How could she still smell that?" His mild concern turns to worry.
"I don't know, but it seems like we need to talk to the Horde scum about this." She shakes off the fear that filled her entire body from the entire experience and she inhales some of Bow's calming pheromones. She smiles softly.
They return to the heart of Plumeria where the Heart Blossom lies, but it only looks marginally better. Perfuma's face is still downcast as they realize the Horde was certainly messing with their land, but it doesn't seem to be the only reason for the dimming of their stone. "I wonder what this could mean? Our magic seems to be depleting for some reason." She turns to face Glimmer. "Have you had any difficulties with your rune stone?"
Glimmer shakes her head, "no… but we've been meaning to address the other kingdoms about joining the rebellion." Hope springs into her voice, "we could ask if they've had any issues like this. Our magic seems to be connected and if there's something wrong with your stone, it's only a matter of time before it affects the others. If you join us, I'm sure we could get the Heart Blossom working again with the help of the other princesses?"
Perfuma's face softens at her speech. "You inspired us. You kept positive when we were so negative, and I want to thank you for that. So yes," she says a little begrudgingly, "I will join the Princess Alliance with you. Let's figure this out and fully restore our stone!" She announces it and the people around them all cheer.
Scopria returns the skiff to its' proper location. She climbs down with Adora and she takes off towards the infirmary bay. "Watch out!" She yells to get people out of her way. She makes it to the infirmary and lays Adora down onto one of the beds. The blonde has some bruising and bleeding from the blast, but she's definitely still breathing. Scorpia calls over one of the medical technicians and they get right to work. Oh, c'mon buddy. You can make it. I know you're stronger than this.
The bay doors burst open and Shadow Weaver enters in a flurry. "What happened?" Anger and disappointment are clear in her voice.
"She had one of the princesses in her grasp, but one of the other guys shot an exploding arrow right by her body. It took her out and she hasn't woken up." Scorpia regrets all those times she got Adora excited to save her friend. She knows this is somehow her fault.
Weaver doesn't turn from Adora and raises her hand in Scorpia's direction, "leave!" She says with finality.
Scopria walks out the door with her head hanging low. She has to make up for this. She just knows she can help with this. She has to. For Adora.