She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is produced by Dreamworks Animation Television, and both She-Ra and He-Man are owned by Mattel. Enjoy.
Chapter 20: Broken
Broken Edge.
The third most lawless town on Eternia.
Right behind Gut-Punch Gulch and Pussy Willow Junction.
Sometimes referred to as the Gateway to Hell, Broken Edge was the only settlement on the border between the Light and Dark Hemispheres, and was home to just about every manner of criminal lowlife you could imagine.
Crooks. Killers. Slavers. Loan Sharks. Bootleggers. Pimps. Prostitutes. Arms Dealers. Information Brokers. Organ Traders. Exotic Animal Traffickers. Tax Dodgers.
The place was a cesspool.
And while no decent, law-abiding citizen of Eternia would ever come within two hundred miles of it, Broken Edge was the ideal place to be if you really didn't want to be found.
It was about half past noon when a Model SL-14 Battle Tank came rolling down Main Street. An unusual sight, even for this town, but since pretty much all its residents were wanted criminals who were just one bad decision away from getting caught, convicted and executed, nobody really paid it any mind.
Like all tanks in the SL Line, the SL-14 was designed for desert warfare; specifically escort missions that could take up to a week or longer. Essentially, they were like heavily armored mobile homes complete with bunkbeds, a small bathroom and a kitchenette. This of course meant that they were much larger than ordinary tanks, but they also contained built-in antigrav devices to compensate for the extra weight. Ultimately, the model was discontinued fifteen years ago due to its high cost and clunky design, but if you know who to ask, you can still buy a used one for a relatively low price.
But I digress.
The massive tank suddenly came to a halt and parked, illegally of course, across the street from its intended destination; a sleazy little hole in the wall called the Brick and Skull Saloon. Then, after letting off a short blast of steam from its undercarriage, the top hatch of the hulking vehicle popped open and three hooded figures emerged.
The first was a large, hulking eellike creature with dark green skin and yellow eyes. The second was a short, scrawny blue-skinned batlike creature with peculiar looking goggles over his blood red eyes. Last but not least was a young female, about 18 to 19, with orange fur, a tail and eyes that were two different colors.
Silently, the trio made their way across the street, after securing their vehicle of course, and entered the rustic dive. It was a Tuesday, so despite it still being the 'lunch rush' the place was mostly empty. But just to be on the safe side, the threesome selected a booth in the far back where they were less likely to be noticed. Once they were all seated, they pulled down their hoods and proceeded to chew the fat.
"Well, that pretty much sucked." Said Catra as she removed her hood; revealing a new, considerably shorter haircut. "Two weeks of planning, twelve hours of recon, four and a half minutes of safecracking and ninety minutes of getting shot at, and what have we got to show for it? One measly box of cash and three crates full of gum that looks like tobacco."
As if to emphasize her disdain, the former Force Captain spat contemptuously on the floor.
"There's n-n-n-n-n-no need to get all h-h-h-huffy, Catra." Said the scrawny Spelean with a noticeable stutter. "A-A-A-Anybody with anything worth stealing has too much security for a three m-m-man crew. So we have to t-t-t-take what we can get."
"Oh shut up, Karg."
"Catra, enough." Leech said sternly. "Don't take your bad mood out on Karg. He was just trying to help."
"Sigh. You're right. I'm sorry, Karg."
"N-N-N-No hard feelings. I know you didn't m-m-mean it."
She really hadn't. Honestly, as much as the stuttering man-bat could annoy her, Catra was actually quite fond of him; if for no other reason than he was the only one of her new mentor's old contacts who was willing / able to help them.
After deciding to join forces, Leech had taken Catra on a quest to track down the other survivors of the Crystal Caverns Massacre, in the hopes of recruiting them to their cause. The results, however, were less than satisfactory.
Trydor Scope, who now went by Tri-Klops, had been thrilled to learn that his former mentor was still alive, but ultimately refused to join them, since he had already sworn allegiance to Skeletor and his Outcasts. Rattlor and his younger brother Tung Lashor (stupid name) had worked their way into King Hiss' inner circle and now considered themselves too good to associate with 'lowlife scum'. Vultak had apparently made a very comfortable living for himself as an exotic animal trafficker, but three years ago he disappeared under mysterious circumstances and is presumed dead; rumor has it he had a 'slight disagreement' with the Spider Guild. And last but not least, Mosquitor had spent several years as a gun for hire, until he suffered a nervous breakdown and checked himself into a clinic, where he remains to this day.
By this point, Catra had all but given up on recruiting another member to their group, until they'd tracked down Karg to an abandoned junkyard south of the Mystic Mountains. Not only had the scrawny little Spelean jumped at the chance to work for his old mentor again, but he'd even provided them with a new mode of transportation; an old desert tank he'd restored to near mint condition. No, she didn't have anything against the stuttering little wimp, she was just irritated at the whole damn situation.
Over three months of raiding caravans and they barely had enough money for food and gas. At this rate, she'd be sixty before she could save up enough scratch to pay Zodac; interdimensional portals weren't cheap you know. They needed a new approach. There just had to be a better way to raise ninety thousand gold pieces.
"You folks ready to order?" asked a waitress; shaking the former Force Captain out of her internal musings.
"Yes, I'll take a bucket of sheep's blood; chilled." Said Leech politely.
"And I-I-I-I'll have the Swamp Cricket Pate with a side of Fried D-D-D-D-D-Dusk Moths." Added Karg.
"And you, ma'am?"
"I'll have the beef lasagna." Replied Catra, not even needing to think about it.
"Alrighty then. I should have your orders up in about twenty minutes. You all just sit tight."
And with that, the waitress left to go put in their orders.
"You eat entirely too much pasta. You realize that, don't you?" Leech said once they were alone again. "Starting tomorrow, you're going on a diet."
"Diet? Why? I'm not overweight." The former Force Captain replied, sounding both confused and insulted.
"Not yet, but that youthful metabolism of yours won't last forever. Keep eating like that and you'll be a furry blimp by the time you're thirty."
Catra opened her mouth to protest her mentor's comment, when a sudden awful din caught her attention.
Bang!
Crash!
Shatter!
Shriek!
Moments later, several of the waitstaff rushed over to the kitchen door to see what was the matter.
"What's goin' on, Charlie?" asked the same waitress who had just taken their order.
"It's that crazy girl again!" shouted the disembodied voice of Charlie. "I caught her stealing from the meat locker! Look out!"
Just then, a familiar cloud of sparkles appeared just behind the gathered waitresses, followed by an equally familiar short girl, who then proceeded to charge through the main dinning area, knocking over several tables in the process, until she finally zipped right out the front door; giggling madly all the while.
Honestly, it had all happened so fast that Catra had barely gotten a look at the strange girl, but something about that laugh and the way she just teleported into the room was so damn familiar.
It couldn't be.
Could it?
Damn it all, she just had to know for sure.
So, without even thinking, the young feline got up from the table and ran after her.
"Catra? Catra, where are you going?" asked Leech concernedly, but she was already too far away to hear him. "Oh, for Heaven's sake. Come on, Karg. We gotta go keep her out of trouble."
"But w-w-w-w-w-w-what about lunch?"
XXX
Like a bloodhound on the scent of an escaped convict, Catra pursued her quarry through the busy streets of Broken Edge. Every now and then, the target would use her teleportation powers and she would lose sight of her, but a sudden crash or giggling fit would put her right back on the trail. The former Force Captain still hadn't gotten a clean look at her yet, but the voice and powerset were unmistakable.
Princess Glimmer was alone in Broken Edge.
The only question was why.
After losing sight of her for the twelfth time, Catra finally cornered her prey in the town square. Sure enough, her suspicion was proven correct. There, less than two yards away, was Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon; who for some strange reason was splashing around in the city's ornate crystal fountain and giggling like an idiot.
"Wheeeeeee~" the short, pink and purple haired princess squealed joyously as she childishly romped and played in the public fountain. "Splashy~ Splashy~ Flashy~ Flashy~"
Naturally, Catra didn't know what the hell to make of this bizarre display, but at the moment she was too focused on her goal to care about the peculiar habits of royalty.
"Well, well, well. Look what we got here." She said in the most casually intimating tone she could muster. "What's the matter? Is widdle Pwincess Sparkles lost without her pals to hold her hand?"
But the princess did not respond to her taunt. In fact, she didn't seem to notice Catra at all.
"Hey! Don't ignore me when I'm making fun of you! Respect my dominance!"
But again, Glimmer just continued splashing around like the feline wasn't there.
"Turn around, you little twerp, and let me intimidate you!"
That seemed to gain her attention. Only instead of being intimidated, the shorter princess' eyes lit up and a big goofy grin spread across her face.
"Kitty!" she shouted excitedly before tackling Catra to the ground.
Before she even knew what had happened, the former Force Captain found herself flat on her back in the dirt being involuntarily hugged by a sopping wet and surprisingly strong half-pint princess.
Difficult to say, but even harder to believe.
"Ugh! Get off me, you little monster!" Catra exclaimed angrily as she struggled in vain to escape the smaller girl's embrace.
"Fluffy Kitty~ Fluffy Kitty~" Glimmer singsonged in a strange, almost delirious sort of way. "I love you, Fluffy Kitty~"
"Ugh!"
"Hey, Leech! I f-f-f-found her!" cried Karg as he came onto the scene. "And it looks like she found a n-n-n-n-new friend."
"Shut up, and get her off me!"
"Hey now, what's go on over here?" asked Leech as he joined the group. "Catra, what have I told you about hugging random strangers?"
"Nothing!"
"Oh… Well, I shouldn't have to. It's just common sense."
"Will one of you please just get her off me!"
It took quite a bit of effort, but eventually the boys managed to pry Catra loose from the crazed princess' iron grip.
"You okay, kiddo?" asked the elder Force Captain concernedly.
"Yeah, I think so." Replied Catra, after finally regaining her composure.
"Good. Now what the hell is going on here? And who is that girl?"
"That's Princess Glimmer. The one I told you about. Only she's acting really weird."
As if to illustrate this point, the little princess began humming a strange, nonsense song to herself while clapping her hands to the beat.
"I see… So I take it she's not normally like this?"
"No, and it's really freaking me out. She's acting like a three year old. I think there's something wrong with her."
"Oh d-d-d-dear, this is not good." Karg spoke up nervously. "I've seen this kind of thing before. She must've t-t-t-t-t-t-t-teleported right into the D-D-Dark Hemisphere. Lots of horrible, t-t-terrifying things over there. Something she saw must've been too much for her mind to take, causing her to snap and regress to this in-in-in-in-in-in-infantile state."
"Oh man…" said Catra, feeling an uncharacteristic sense of pity for her enemy. "So, what do we do with her? I mean, what's our obligation?"
"Only one t-t-t-thing to do." The scrawny Spelean replied. "I'll go get a rock."
"She's not an armadillo, you idiot!"
"S-S-Stop yelling at me!"
"Both of you, shut up. You're making a scene." Leech said in a stern, authoritative tone. "I'm the commanding officer of this unit, and I say there will be no executing the mental impaired. It goes against the Force Captain's Code."
"It does?"
"Eh… more or less. The Code doesn't say anything about this kind of situation verbatim, but it's open to interpretation." The large eel-man explained before moving past his associates and kneeling down to face the young princess at eyelevel. "Hello there, little one. My name is Leech. What's yours?"
"Hi, I'm Glitter." The girl replied cheerfully. "Jeepers, Mister, your face sure is funny looking. Can I please play with your kitty some more? I love kitties."
"Now, now, settle down, uh… Glitter. Tell me, are you all alone or is someone taking care of you?"
"Nope, I'm all by myself since Dimmer left. But that's okay, this place is lots of fun."
"I see, well then, Glitter, how would you like to stay with me and my friends? You'll have to share a bed, but you won't have to steal food anymore and you'll get to play with kitty every day. Does that sound good to you?"
"Honk!" the tiny princess shouted as she pressed her hand against Leech's snout.
"I'll take that as a yes. Karg, take our new friend back to the tank. Give her some new clothes and something to eat."
The scrawny Spelean obeyed without protest and proceeded to escort the princess back to their mobile base; leaving Leech alone with his young protégé.
"Something on your mind, Catra?"
"Yeah, when I said I didn't wanna kill her, I didn't mean we should adopt her. I mean, you saw her. She's basically a toddler now. For all we know she might not even be toilet trained anymore. Taking care of her is gonna be a fulltime job."
"Yes, but I'm sure you'll manage somehow." Leech replied in a calm yet stern tone that left no room for argument. "Besides, the benefits of having her around will by far outweigh any temporary inconvenience."
"Okay, it sounds like you know what you're talking about, but I'm still not getting it."
"You once told me that Princess Glimmer must continuously replenish herself with her Runestone in order to use her powers."
"Yeah, so what?"
"So, then how was she teleporting all over town when she's been separated from her power source for over four months?"
Oh… now that was a good point. Catra hadn't even thought of that.
Suddenly, she understood what her mentor was thinking.
"Okay, I think I pick up what you're putting down. You wanna keep her around so we can figure out where she's getting her power and take it for ourselves."
"Precisely. We lose nothing from trying, and if it all works out, we shall be able to raise the funds we need in no time." The hulking creature said with a hideously toothy grin. "And who knows? We might not even need to raise an army."
End Notes:
Thanks for reading. See you in the next one.
Peace.
