Chapter 38: Soon, Father
"Double Trouble…?" Adora inquired to nobody in particular. She then turned to Catra, "does that name sound familiar?" Catra simply shook her head.
"Can't say I've ever heard of a 'Double Trouble'" Catra admitted, shaking her head, "but that doesn't matter, we need to find out where Night Moon is and stop them." Adora nodded. The two girls were about to allow the mirror to continue when they heard a series of claps behind them. The two girls turned to see Cairus and a few Red armbands accompanying him. He spoke with his raspy voice.
"Huh, so you managed to survive Dryl." Cairus muttered, "I guess you are as tough as Void said you were." Catra let out a hiss and Adora unsheathed her sword, pointing it at Cairus.
"Where are Void and Glimmer?!" Adora demanded. Cairus let out a hearty laugh then stiffened his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you really think that demanding the location of the two people required to bring Horde Prime to this world would actually persuade me to tell you?" Cairus inquired in the wordiest way. Catra narrowed her eyes at him.
"There is no way that you didn't know a simpler way to say what you just said," Catra muttered.
"Enough talk!" Cairus shouted. He and the Red Armbands then pulled some kind of goggles over their eyes as Cairus slammed his fist on the light switch, cutting out the light in the gallery. As the lights went out, She-Ra attempted to illuminate the room with her sword's radiance. However, soon the only thing illuminated was a beam of green energy flying towards She-Ra's sword. She-Ra managed to wave her sword and deflect some of the shots, but one managed to hit the hilt. Once the energy hit the sword's hilt, She-Ra let out a cry of pain and dropped the sword. The Red armbands quickly acted and ran towards She-Ra, tackling her.
"Agh!" Adora shouted as she transformed back into her normal self. The Red Armbands quickly overpowered her. One of them pulled out their energy baton and was about to stun Adora with it when Catra quickly jumped on the Red Armbands back and stuck her own baton into his neck, sending a surge of volts through his it. He fell on top of Adora, causing her to oof. Before he fell, Catra backflipped off of him.
To the left and right of Catra, there were two more Red Armbands. The Red Armband on the right attempted to stick the baton at Catra's head but she quickly ducked, so that the right Red Armband's baton went straight into the left's, sending a surge of volts through him. Catra then quickly stood back up, clawed the straps that held the Red Armband's goggles, and ripped them off. The Red Armband panicked and began firing in all directions, hitting some of his fellow soldiers.
"Where are you?!" The Red Armband demanded.
"Here." Catra's voice whispered softly from behind his ear. Before he could react, Catra put her claws to the Red Armband's throat and sliced it open with four of her claws. After blood began flowing out of his neck, his armband was not the only thing that had turned red. During this confusion, Adora managed to pick herself up and grabbed her sword, transforming her back to She-Ra.
With sword in hand, the room began to illuminate again, and both girls could see the rest of the opposition. Cairus and the remaining Red Armbands began firing at the two girls. Catra dove to the left and easily maneuvered through their laser fire. She ran to a wall and plunged her claws into it, moving a few feet up. She then heaved herself from the wall and dove at one of the Red Armband's throats, slicing it while simultaneously pulling him down. The Red Armband next to the one that was taken down aimed at Catra and began firing. Catra, however, quickly pulled the one she tackled over her, making him take every laser shot. Catra then grabbed the dead Red Armband's energy baton and fired several shots at the Red Armband near her, ending his life.
She-Ra, on the other hand, had run-up to the other two Red Armbands. One of them fired lasers at She-Ra to which she swiped her blade and deflected the lasers midair. The deflected lasers went right back at the one who shot it. She-Ra sprinted at the other, shifting her shoulder towards him, and rammed him against the concrete wall. Once he was crushed into the wall, he left a cracked imprint, then slowly fell down, unconscious.
All that was left was Cairus. He looked at each girl nervously, then turned to run away.
"Oh, no you don't!" Catra shouted getting on all fours and heaving herself at him, tackling him to the courtyard ground.
"Get off- AGH!" Cairus screamed out as Catra plunged all five of her claws on her right hand into his back.
"Tell us what we want to know or I dig deeper." Catra threatened.
"Catra…!" She-Ra protested. Cairus coughed up some blood.
"If you think… that you're going… to break a… battle-hardened veteran…" Cairus choked out, "...you got another thing coming…" Catra let out a loud hiss and was about to swipe at him again when She-Ra grabbed her free hand. Catra looked back and hissed at She-Ra.
"Let go!" Catra commanded.
"Catra, wait-" She-Ra started to protest. While the two argued, Cairus managed to pull a ball from one of his pouches and clicked a button on it. After a few seconds, a bright light flashed everyone's eyes. She-Ra and Catra screamed in irritation and started rubbing their eyes. Cairus was still wearing the night-vision goggles and was thus unaffected. With Catra's claws out of his back, Cairus raised his right elbow and knocked Catra off, then quickly picked himself up and ran off.
After a few moments, the two girls regained their eyesight and simultaneously groaned.
"Ugh, why'd you do that?! You let him get away!" Catra snapped.
"Catra, I saw that look in your eyes, you were ready to kill him!" She-Ra snapped back.
"Who cares?!" Catra demanded.
"Catra, we needed information from him," She-Ra explained. Catra scoffed and picked herself up. "You're letting your rage get the best of you."
"I don't need a morality lesson from you, Adora! I-" Catra began before the two heard a familiar voice coming from the front entrance. They turned and saw a short girl wearing medical armor.
"Hello?" Brittni inquired as she came through.
"Brittni! I told you to patch up our troops!" Catra snapped. Brittni cocked her eyebrow at Catra.
"I did patch them up, but it's not like they're gonna be up and walking right away, are they?" Brittni challenged. Catra groaned. Brittni looked around and whistled, "wow, Night Moon really did a number on this place…"
"They sure did." She-Ra sighed.
"Alright, fine. One more member of the team to help us fight. Let's go." Catra said.
"Go where?" She-Ra inquired, "we don't know which way to go!"
"I think I do," Brittni said. The two other girls turned to her, "I saw that Cairus guy run away. I'll bet he'll lead us to where they're making the portal. C'mon, follow me!" Brittni appealed. The two girls then followed Brittni to a bookcase at the west end of the entryway.
"Is reading a part of your strategy…?" Catra protested.
"Just watch," Brittni said. She then began feeling around the bookcase and found a volume entitled, 'Flying Zone.' Upon pulling it out and opening it, a great tremor began shaking the room and the bookcase began diverging until a door was revealed. The door had a symbol of a person with a strange pointy hat, sitting on a broom as it apparently levitated. Catra and She-Ra switched glances at each other, then the door. Catra carefully reached for the knob and slowly began to turn it, when suddenly, she stopped. She-Ra eyed her suspiciously while Catra took a deep breath then turned to Brittni.
"Brittni, how did you patch our soldiers up so quickly?" Catra inquired. Brittni cocked her eyebrow.
"I, uh… had a little help, and most of their injuries weren't too severe." Brittni explained.
"How did you get here so quick?" She-Ra chimed in. Brittni glared at the two.
"I'm sorry, is there a problem here? Can we go catch the bad guys already?!" Brittni demanded. Catra narrowed her eyes at Brittni.
"What did I say to Adora when we were in the sewer at Dryl?" Catra demanded. The moment Catra asked that question, Brittni's face began to turn pale. Then slowly, Brittni's mouth curved into a creepy grin. Then suddenly, a shroud of darkness with green particles enveloped Brittni, and suddenly Brittni's form shifted into a person neither girls had seen before.
Before the two girls now stood a light green-skinned, reptilian looking humanoid. Double Trouble had a rather tall and slender build, pointy ears, long blond hair, a black and green bodysuit, and a light green curvy tail. To complete the creepy look, their eyes featured large, slanted, almond-shaped eyes with dark green scleras, chartreuse irises, and slitted pupils. Catra and She-Ra also saw that their eyes blinked horizontally.
"Oh, darling, you caught me. And here I thought I was the most credible actor in all of Etheria…" Double Trouble sighed, "well, no matter. Time to die." Double Trouble shouted excitedly as they grabbed both ends of the bookcase and raised their feet up, kicking Catra through the door, then backflipping several feet away.
"Catra!" She-Ra screamed while Catra screeched as she went flying through the door into the unknown.
"Better go after her. I'm not sure that kittens can live dropping a hundred feet, even if they do land on their feet." Double Trouble said, facetiously. She-Ra switched glances between the door and Double Trouble. Although she knew that she had to stop Double Trouble, she nevertheless could not live with herself by letting Catra die.
"I will be back. And we will stop you!" She-Ra threatened as she jumped through the door and transformed her sword into a rope. Catra was shrieking as she was very quickly descending to the ground. She-Ra quickly tied a lasso onto the rope and heaved it at Catra. The rope quickly tightened around Catra's wrist, and She-Ra hoisted her up. She-Ra then wrapped her arm around Catra then transformed her sword back to its base property. Catra instinctively held She-Ra close as well.
"Well, thanks! But now we're both falling!" Catra protested.
"Not for long…" She-Ra muttered as she plunged her sword into the wall that was descending below the door. The sword scraped out sparks and bits of ground-up metal. Slowly but surely, however, the two girls slowed down to a stop, around six feet from the ground. She-Ra let out a rather dramatic sigh of relief while Catra's fur stood up from the shock. Both girls were panting as though they had just run a marathon; fatigued, yet relieved.
"Are you alright, Catra?" She-Ra inquired. Catra took a deep breath and let out a low chuckle.
"Considering I almost splattered all over the ground, yeah, I'm doing pretty great," Catra said, jokingly. Both girls let out short giggles. As She-Ra held Catra close, both girls' eyes connected, and for the first time in a significantly long while, the two felt like friends again. Although Catra was enjoying this moment, she wanted to save face, and so, coughed intently.
"Um…we… we should get moving." Catra suggested. She-Ra smiled, nodded, then ripped her sword out of the wall, causing the two to fall. As they hit the ground, She-Ra was still holding Catra.
"Uh… Adora, you can put me down." Catra suggested. She-Ra blinked.
"Oh, uh. Sorry, Catra." She-Ra blushed as she set Catra down. But she was not the only one blushing.
At this moment, however, the two girls had to observe their surroundings. Despite falling quite a long way, the area they found themselves in was still lit rather well. In front of the two girls was a training area of some sort. There were large poles holding large rings. On opposite wall ends there were goal posts indicating this was some kind of flying sport.
"I get it. We're in some kind of arena where sorcerers learn to fly." She-Ra indicated, "that's why we fell down so far." Catra rolled her eyes.
"Who cares? We need to get back upstairs and stop Night Moon!" Catra snapped. She-Ra nodded and went to the wall, looking up.
"That's a long way up…" She-Ra pondered, "we can climb up or look for an elevator or something." Catra nodded.
"I'll try to get a signal." Catra offered, pulling out her radio. Unfortunately, all that either girl could hear was static. Catra let out a groan, "well, so much for getting help."
"C'mon," She-Ra said, placing her hand atop Catra's. Catra switched glances between her hand and She-Ra then nodded.
"Okay, let's go…"
Meanwhile, back at the Horde's crashed ship…
"Okay, this might hurt a little…" Brittni reassured a soldier she was treating.
"AGH!" The Horde soldier screamed as Brittni popped his leg back into place.
"There. Hardly hurt at all, did it?" Brittni declared, grinning with her eyes closed. The soldier simply groaned and fell back onto the floor. Brittni looked around. She was able to see that she had treated the last of the soldiers, but most of them would have to take it easy before venturing out. Brittni took a step outside to see how Brett and Bow were doing. They managed to salvage the turbine, and they were in the process of welding it back on.
"How's it going?" Brittni inquired. Brett let out a chuckle as he leaned against the wing.
"We might just pull this off." Brett declared. He then looked to Bow who was performing the welding job. "Who'da thunk that a rebel could be so handy with a blowtorch?" Brittni smiled.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I've managed to get a few soldiers on their feet, but the rest are going to have to take it easy right now." Brittni sighed, "We could really use those Rebel soldiers that the Queen of Bright Moon sent right about now. Bow lifted his welding goggles then turned to Brittni.
"I'll try to get her on the radio and see when they'll be able to get here." Bow offered. Brittni nodded.
"Thanks, Bow. Well, I'm going to take the few soldiers we have left and head into Mystacor." Brittni declared. Brett nodded.
"Be careful, sis." Brett cautioned.'ll
L lol..
"I always am," Brittni said with a wink. She then took a small squad and headed to the gates of Mystacor. Once they passed through the gate and headed into the courtyard, they were all equally disturbed by the gore and violence that had been strewn around it.
"Night Moon… they're sick animals, aren't they?" One of the Horde soldiers commented.
"Yeah, no kidding," Brittni muttered. Before anyone could say anything else, a little girl came running down a hallway from the East building, adjacent to the courtyard.
"F...Frosta?" Brittni inquired.
"Oh, thank goodness! You're… you're here to save Mystacor, right?" Frosta yelled as she ran towards Brittni waving her arms erratically. The Horde soldiers with Brittni aimed their rifles at Frosta. Frosta stopped and put her arms in the air.
"Hold your fire!" Brittni ordered as she moved towards Frosta. Brittni knelt down next to Frosta, "you're the princess of the Kingdom of Snows; Frosta, right? I'm Brittni." Frosta sniffled as she nodded her head. Brittni then asked, "but you're in league with Night Moon, aren't you?" Frosta erratically shook her head.
"N...Not anymore! They're evil! Look what they did to this place! They tried to kill Glimmer!" Frosta exclaimed. Brittni blinked her eyes several times.
"They tried… they tried to kill Glimmer? I thought she was the leader of Night Moon?!" Brittni demanded. Frosta shook her head.
"Glimmer finally decided she didn't want to be a part of all this anymore. She… She almost killed her aunt who's the leader of Mystacor… and she finally had a change of heart." Frosta explained. Brittni blinked her eyes a few times.
"No… no way. Glimmer? Psycho, evil Glimmer? The one that raided Elberon, ravaged Dryl and led the onslaught of this place?" Brittni scoffed.
"You don't have to antagonize her!" Frosta snapped with an angry expression for a few moments until she realized how harsh she sounded. "S...Sorry… But, I'm telling the truth. Void made her a prisoner and now they're making a portal! We have to stop them!" Frosta begged as she grabbed hold of Brittni.
For some reason, Brittni felt rather strange when Frosta grabbed hold of her. Brittni's intuition was telling her that something was off about both of what Frosta was saying and Frosta herself. Nevertheless, Mystacor was rather large, and they would need a guide to where Night Moon was activating the portal. Brittni stood up and nodded.
"Alright. Do you know where they're making the portal?" Brittni inquired. Frosta nodded.
"Yeah! It's right where I was coming from!" Frosta indicated. Brittni nodded again.
"Alright, lead the way, Frosta," Brittni suggested. Frosta nodded and trotted over to the building that led to the hallway where she came from, and the Horde soldiers followed. As they all entered the hallway, Brittni let out a stifled gasp as she realized where she was.
"The Hall of Sorcerers…" Brittni thought to herself, "wait a minute… this is just like in my dream!" Brittni paused for a moment to consider everything that was potentially going to happen. Frosta and the Horde soldiers stopped and turned to Brittni.
"Brittni? What's wrong?" Frosta inquired.
"N...Nothing. Sorry, the statues are just a little creepy, that's all." Brittni said, awkwardly. Frost shrugged her shoulders and they continued on.
"I noticed you have Dryllish soldiers with you…" Frosta noted as she saw the armor the Horde soldiers were wearing, "sorry for the trouble in your kingdom. I swear that the Kingdom of Snows will make it right. The Horde soldiers; not really being Dryllish, only pretended to care about what Frost was saying. They simply thanked her and everyone carried on.
Once everyone arrived at the door at the end of the hallway, Brittni put her hand on the doorknob and shuddered a little bit, fearful of what she was going to see once she opened the door. She kept having flashbacks of her dream when Frosta was attacked by Void.
"Why am I having these flashbacks…? Frosta is right here!" Brittni reasoned with herself, "...but then again, there's something really strange about this Frosta right here." Brittni did not want to brush this feeling off. After all, her intuition was entwined with her powers of observation. Therefore, at this moment, Brittni took a deep breath, quickly opened the door, and brandished her laser pistol.
But what was inside the chamber before her? Was it Frosta bleeding out on the floor? Void mocking her? Something worse?!
No.
It was simply another chamber. This chamber was eerily similar to the one in Brittni's dream, however. It had the same decorations, down to the last tile on the floor. The staircase was present, as well as all the other doodads. One thing that Brittni had was an intuition that they were moving closer to the portal. Brittni let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, okay, I guess my dream was just a-" Brittni began to say until she heard a loud cry coming from up the stairs. The group looked up to see…
...Frosta?!
The group switched glances between the two Frostas. The one atop the stairs looked pretty beat up, and she had multiple lacerations where blood was dripping out.
"Th...There's two of 'em?!" One of the Horde soldiers inquired.
"Which one's the real one?!" Another one inquired. The one with the group scoffed.
"I'm the real one! I don't know who she is!" Frosta said.
"N...No! No, she's not! I'm the real Frosta!" The one atop the stairs indicated. Brittni stood there for a moment with her hand shaking, wondering what to do exactly. She let out a sigh, then turned to the Frosta nearest to her and brandished her laser pistol.
"Wh...What are you doing, Brittni?!" Frosta demanded.
"Tell me something, 'Frosta,' can you conjure ice?" Brittni inquired. Frosta eyed Brittni suspiciously, then grinned.
"Of course, I can!" Frosta indicated as she aimed at a bust to the right of her, and fired an ice spike at it, shattering it. "See?" Brittni smirked.
"I sure do…" Brittni muttered. She then spoke to the soldiers with her, "go get the Frosta up there, she's the real one."
"Wh-wh- huh?!" The Frosta downstairs sputtered out. Brittni scoffed.
"Just who are you?" Brittni demanded, keeping her laser pistol aimed at the imposter. The imposter scoffed. A shroud of darkness with green then enveloped the imposter until Void appeared before them, giggling and clapping.
"Bravo, bravo, Brittni. I must say, I'm impressed. How, ever did you know it was me?"
"Well, for starters, that ice spike you shot out was merely an illusion. I could tell by its shape and the speed it flew. I've seen what the real Frosta could do, and it's much more extravagant. I bet you got that from a spellbook here in Mystacor, huh?" Brittni inquired.
"Mmhmm, go on…" Void muttered, putting her finger to her mask.
"Second, Frosta's hands are intrinsically cold. It's the inherent trait of those that possess the power of the Fractal Flake. I read about it in a book… not to mention the guilty frequency in your voice." Brittni indicated. She then added, "and finally, I saw the real Frosta bleeding to death in my vision." Void chuckled.
"Your 'vision,' huh? So, you've awakened the powers of the Crystal Ball, have you? That must mean that Oracle is still around…" Brittni widened her eyes at what Void had just declared. Her hands began trembling in shock.
"How… how do you know…" Brittni began before being interrupted.
"Oh, darling, you'll come to realize I know quite a bit about you, your brother, and your mother…" Void said coldly, then sighed, "well, I was going to lead you to an ambush, but I suppose I'll lead the ambush to you." Void then spoke into her bracer.
"Night Moon, attack!" Void commanded. As she spoke those words, coming from the north entrance, the east entrance (right behind Void;) and a door from up the stairs, were three groups of Night Moon soldiers barging in through the doors. Brittni switched glances between all the Night Moon soldiers that had guns on herself and the Horde soldiers.
"Wh...What do we do, ma'am?!" One of the Horde soldiers inquired. Brittni looked up at the soldier then looked around for anything that could be useful for them. At the corner of her eye, she saw a fire extinguisher in its cabinet at the North entrance, and one at the South entrance. Brittni smirked as she said the following statement.
"...Follow my lead."
Around an hour or so before the Horde landed on Mystacor...
While Glimmer was unconscious, she was dragged to Mystacor's Lunarium; (the main chamber where a monthly ritual takes place.) In this ritual, three moons align in an eclipse. When this eclipse happens, the Head Sorcerer captures the eclipse's energy and uses it to give magic to everyone in Mystacor. The Lunarium was an impressively sized chamber that was filled with memory shards in the form of glass that levitated around the circular shape of the chamber. In the center was the lunar lense that would capture the eclipse energy. Glimmer was brought before the lunar lense and restrained. When Glimmer came to she opened her eyes in a groggy state.
"Ugh... what... what happened?" Glimmer inquired. She tried to move her wrists and ankles but found that they had been bound. She blinked a few times and realized that she was laying on the floor of the Lunarium. She looked around and found Night Moon, Red Armband, and Kingdom of Snows soldiers moving around carrying equipment and working on some kind of large device. The device had a large round base where a hollow pipeline of metal curved into a circular shape. Glimmer gasped when she realized what it was.
"...The Portal!" Glimmer choked out as she struggled against her bonds.
"Ah, awake are we?" A very familiar, yet unwelcome voice declared. Glimmer maneuvered herself around and found Void standing a few feet away, staring down at Glimmer. Glimmer growled at Void.
"You! You betrayed me!" Glimmer snapped. Void scoffed and knelt down next to Glimmer.
"Really? I betrayed you? Last I checked, you're the one that disobeyed orders and attacked me." Void explained, calmly. Glimmer growled.
"I swear when I get my hands on you... Whoever you are!" Glimmer threatened.
"Save your strength, darling. You're going to need it once we power up the portal." Void indicated. She then put her finger to her mask then chuckled, "actually, let me rephrase that. We'll need your strength TO power up the portal." Glimmer blinked a few times.
"What are you talking about?!" Glimmer demanded.
"Oh, I've been studying just what had been causing all the darkness that surrounded you and shifted your anatomy. It was not simply your attitude or your anger... no, while you were sleeping one day, I had one of my scientists take a blood sample and analyze it. It turns out that you absorbed a great deal of Light Spinner- er, excuse me, Shadow Weaver's blood. Her blood coalesced with your blood, which not only let you harness the power of the Black Garnet but also, Shadow Weaver's intrinsic dark magic that she learned while at Mystacor." Void explained. Glimmer blinked then glared at Void.
"Okay, so what does all that have to do with me?!" Glimmer demanded. Void chuckled and stood up.
"Simple, my dear. You are the power source. We're going to use the light and dark magic within you to power the portal and keep it functioning." Void explained. Glimmer gasped.
"You're going to steal my magic?!" Glimmer protested. Void nodded.
"Indeed. So, sorry, Glimmer. But don't worry, once the portal is open, I'll restore your magic... after I dominate your mind." Void said coldly.
"Dominate my... What are you saying?" Glimmer demanded. Void smirked.
"Well, if you aren't with me, you're against me, and frankly, I want you with me. If you aren't going to obey me, then I'm going to have to force obedience." Void said, coldly.
"You won't... I won't let you do that!" Glimmer snapped.
"Oh no?" Void teased, "I already have with Entrapta. See for yourself." Void said, moving out of the way and presenting Entrapta. Entrapta slowly walked towards Entrapta, looking about as empty as a dead jellyfish.
"En...Entrapta?" Glimmer inquired. Entrapta slowly turned her head to Glimmer.
"All...Hail...Horde...Prime..." Entrapta muttered, ever robotically. Glimmer gasped.
"You... You monster!" Glimmer accused. Void motioned for Entrapta to move to the portal, and she did so, beginning to use a blowtorch on it. Void then turned back to Glimmer and tisked.
"Again with the name-calling? I expected more from you, Glimmer..." Void muttered. Before Glimmer could respond, a Night Moon scout approached Void.
"Apologies for the intrusion, mistress, but we've received reports that an unknown airship is entering Mystacor's space. We believe it may be the Horde." The scout indicated. Void let out a dramatic sigh.
"If it's not one thing, it's another." Void muttered as she sighed. She then turned to the scout, "get some of our birds in the sky and shoot them down. I don't care who it is. Also, have Cairus send a detachment of troops to the main chamber, in case they manage to land. And if they penetrate both of those defenses... well... I'll have to deal with them, myself." Void commanded. The scout bowed and turned to execute Void's orders. Void smirked under her mask and walked out of the room. Glimmer tried to protest, but Void simply ignored her.
"Soon... Father... Soon..."
