"Alright! We're almost ready, but one more thing:gear check." Adora started jovially "Backpacks."
"Check." Catra yawned, rustling the full pack on her back. It was too early...
"Water bottles." The blonde continued as the two walked toward the Bullhead dropship heading, by their request, to the Emerald Forest. With Melog joining moments later.
"Check... Adora, it's 4 in the morning..." The kitten groaned, eyeing her girlfriend. They had their coffee, so Catra didn't know why she was still so freaking tired. Adora went through the checklist nonetheless, with the half-awake girl trailing behind her answering 'check' on just about everything from food supplies to a few Dust crystals the girls had bought from the 'From Dust 'Till Dawn'... The place's window was smashed, though, so it was a surprise they still sold. The old man there was nice, though.
The two boarded the aircraft and Catra immediately curled herself up in a ball on the chair next to Adora, leaning herself against the blonde. Said blonde smiled and wrapped her arm around the kitten, letting her fall asleep. And before Adora knew it, Catra was already purr-snoring like she did whenever they fell asleep. It was too adorable. Adora almost stumbled out of her seat, though, while also working to keep Catra from moving so she wouldn't wake. The aircraft pulled away from Beacon, sweeping over the small city that was its campus, before slowly descending toward the Emerald Forest.
The landing had been slow, but once they hit the floor, Catra jolted awake. She tailed Adora off the bird, yawning as they marched down toward the west, where the ruins were. The Catgirl hummed, eyeing small stone structures among the forestry that also belonged to what must've once been a sprawling ancient settlement. Faint traces of moving creatures were also visible in the background, the shadowy forms of Grimm dashing through the forest...
"Huh." Catra squinted, turning toward the shadowy creatures and watching them scurry away through the treeline. She didn't want to know what had them running away from them, but for now, she'd stay on her toes. A gust of wind rustled the leaves as the girl turned to Adora, watching as the girl stopped just a moment later and turned, locking gazes with the kitten.
"What? What's up?" She asked, worried.
Catra shrugged, then looked back toward the trees and said "A couple Grimm. But they were heading away from us."
"Weird." Her blonde exclaimed exactly what she was thinking.
"Yeah, but also just fine by me. We can't exactly fight right now, can we?" The kitten then smirked, crossing her arms.
"Fair enough." Adora nodded, then murmured "Scaredy cat." with a grin on her face.
"Heh. Them's fighting words, princess. Race ya to the ruins?" The Kitten grinned, pushing a bit of her hair off her shoulder. Adora gave the kitten a raised brow as an answer. Oh, Catra was so predictable some times. This was one of them, but Adora always loved humoring her little challenges. If only to prove a few things to the kitten every once in a while.
The blonde flashed a grin at Catra "Only if you don't cheat this time."
"Hehehe..." The kitten giggled maliciously and responded "No promises." much to Melog's chagrin. The two immediately dashed off, giggling while Melog worked to keep up the pace and to cloak them from the Grimm. If they could keep the girls safe while they did their work, it'd be a boon for them to return home quickly. Or at least form a link between Remnant and Etheria.
The run was rather short, but thankfully uneventful. The two giggling girls stopped just ahead of the chasm, with Melog in-between them, their eyes darting around the place. The massive ruins themselves were a show of architectural might rarely seen, even among the First Ones' buildings. From aqueducts, to floating bridges, viaducts and temples built within the face of the cliffs and with god only knew how many others shrouded in the mist below, the girls had their work cut out for them.
"Jeez... Talk about not getting a good look at your objective." Catra sighed "We're gonna be here the entire weekend." and she paused as she saw Adora staring intently at that collapsed building and platform they appeared on and the mountain temple behind it. The Cat whined "Oh, no, you saw something, didn't you? And now we're gonna have to jump across..."
Adora was taken out of her trance for a moment, blinking as she realized "Can we make that?"
The bridge was half-gone, with a distance to jump that was more than any normal human or, hell, even Catra, could pull off. And they didn't have She-Ra now, of all times... Adora frowned, arranging her bag on her back. A meow from Melog, however, drew attention to them. They pointed their snout toward the massive aqueducts up above, dried up by the years.
The two Etherian girls exchanged looks, then turned to Melog and smiled. Adora gave it a scritch behind the ears, before saying "Smart space cat." with a smirk and a coddling voice. Catra chuckled, gave a thumbs up to the Space Shapeshifter Cat, then walked with Adora and them up toward where one of the dry aqueducts connected to the rest of the massive temple.
Catra was crawling at the top, though.
"Why did it have to be heights?" The catgirl groaned, crawling through the trench through which water once flowed toward the temple. Adora laughed and snorted, with Melog behind them meowing and crawling themselves. Adora was on her feet and able to walk, because the trench was at waist-height, so she could hold on to the sides. Plus, there was a pretty wide wall between them and the chasm.
A short(and seemingly excruciating) walk/crawl to the other side had them on top of the mountain temple, near a perfectly-good round entrance. Going by the wind flowing upward from the hole, the place was pretty deep and it had multiple openings to the outside. The trio slid down into the ruins, only to wind up landing square in the middle of a massive antechamber. It was a round room with a domed roof, through which the light of the sun barely pierced.
Standing tall, leaned against the pillars that supported the roof, were statues of women, clad in robes and familiar armors that had the patterns of First Ones writing scrawled all across their breastplates. Blades were embedded into the stone bases and, on these bases, facing the inner area of the circle, were stone tablets with names written in First Ones on them.
"Wow..." Catra murmured, noticing the faintest of inscriptions on the walls and even on the pillars "Adora?"
"I see it." The girl smiled. She pulled out her scroll and flicked its flashlight mode on, running the light over the tablets and over the writing. Words that hadn't popped up before in their travels came to Adora as naturally as speaking their normal language. She approached one of the statues intently, before leaning in. She blew on the tablet at its base, pushing away dust and cobwebs, before she was finally able to read it.
She took a step back, mouth agape, before she looked up at the sword the woman wielded. A wide sword, with wings at the handguard and a gem in the center. The blonde girl swallowed, then said "This is... A former She-Ra." pulling out her Scroll to take pictures. They needed to keep all the data available somewhere safe, so pictures it was. Safer than in their minds, she thought.
"What!?" Catra joined Adora, mouth agape.
"... All of them are She-Ra..." Adora's voice went to a whisper as she stared at her predecessors with muted awe. Catra, meanwhile, felt a knot in her stomach as she looked at all of the women at arms here. Adora spoke again, her voice almost imperceptible "But... How? Did the First Ones wind up colonizing Remnant or something? I can't explain it otherwise..."
"I don't know..." Catra hummed.
Melog meowed, their ears perking up at the smallest sounds. They listened in, before hissing toward a darkened part of this strange monument. The girls took defensive stances, taken out of their stupors by the noise and watching the darkness. Catra looked to Melog and asked "What did you sniff, buddy?" before hearing the chittering of talons slamming against the stone.
The movement slowed to a brisk walk, before a hunched-back figure emerged from the darkness, black ichor dripping off two bone-white, sharp mandibles that clicked together. Shining scarlet eyes stared at the girls from behind a plate of bone armor resembling a human skull, with red veins popping out around the eyes. Its chitinous body was formed of a multitude of plates and spikes, some of which were tipped with a burning-red fluorescent light. The creature's upper body, meanwhile, resembled that of a hunchback human with a bug's face, two long, armored arms extending out from the torso with sharp claws at the tip of each of their 5 fingers.
Its head darted from left to right, looking at the two girls as its mandibles continued to click. Adora and Catra looked to one-another with eyes wide as onions and to Melog, whose back was arched up, tail fluffed and pointing up. Catra whispered "What do we do?!" to Adora, who whimpered an 'idunno' as she watched the creature continue to examine them.
Behind it, in the darkness from whence it came, the same pattern of eyes, veins and lights shined, almost as if... A pack of the damn things was in that corner. Two more appeared, flanking the first one, twitchy as all hell. The leading one jerked its head back with a gross snap, its mandibles splitting, and it let loose a blood-curdling cry. A cry to signal the beginning of the Hunt.
Adora looked to Catra and Melog and simply spouted out "Run." before she took Catra by the hand and Melog by the waist and dashed out of the place. The two girls screamed, while Melog hissed at the creatures that now came like a tidal wave, trailing them and jumping on the walls, running on them as sharp talons cut through the stone walls, providing traction.
The two girls and their space cat ran down a flight of stairs , deeper into the mountain complex. Behind them, the talons rammed into stone, chipping at it as what felt like a tidal wave of hundreds of those Grimm bugs ran after them. Melog hissed, then tugged at Adora's collar, almost throwing the running girl off-balance. Catra looked to Adora and then past her, shoving the woman into a hallway and pouncing on her and the kitten, before yelling "Melog! NOW!"
And indeed, the cat acted fast, wrapping themselves around their master and using their cloaking ability. The monsters continued down the stairwell and even into the hallway, their leader letting loose another spine-chilling roar that echoed across into the darkness. The noises made by the crawling mass of nightmares faded away, farther and farther into the darkness, before one could no longer hear them.
"W-Wh... What the hell were those things?" Catra whimpered silently.
"I..." Adora panted "I don't know..." and she rolled over, looking up at the hallway "But they're living here..."
"That's even worse than this place just being abandoned..." Catra said, dusting herself off and standing up "What's our plan? Should we leave before they come back?"
"We're here to find out info, Catra..." Adora sighed, pulling her water bottle out of her bag and taking a swig, before tossing it back inside. Catra rolled her eyes, then nodded. She showed Adora to lead the way, before brandishing her good set of claws. Her other ones were still healing and, thankfully, not bleeding on touch anymore. Though she had to admit, she hated walking in half-cocked.
Adora seemed confident, though. Even with no powers, so that was nice.
The two girls walked down the strange corridor, finding it to be similar to Mystacore's in that there were what one would assume to be archways that would've contained windows peering out into the mist. The bottom of the ravine was still a ways away down, but the sight of more support pillars and broken bits and pieces gave Adora and Catra a sense of awe. This place must've been huge.
"We're gonna have to turn around and hit up that platform we popped up on after this..." Catra mused, peering past the arched roof toward the sky. The damn mist down here was so thick, you could cut it with a knife, so, that left them only with the option to march on into the complex, wary of what else they may find. And as they marched over to the other side, they entered another, smaller antechamber. The walls bore murals of great warriors. Glass crunched under Adora's boots. She looked to Catra and wanted to call out, but a yelp and a whine showed it was a bit too late for that.
"Ouch... Should'a heard the glass..." The catgirl murmured, sitting herself down by the entrance to the antechamber while Adora walked up to her, first-aid kit in hand.
"Well, at least it didn't go too deep..." Adora quipped, grinning. She warned "This may hurt a bit..." Before immediately yanking out the piece of glass. And the line of expletives Catra managed to release in one minute most certainly beat her daily record since learning about swearing. Thankfully, she'd covered her mouth before screaming out loud all the profanities she had and, in the meantime, Adora managed to disinfect and bandage the wound. It hadn't been too nasty, but it was steel somewhat deep.
She helped Catra up, then said "You alright?"
"I may be limping a bit..." The kitten sighed "But I'll be fine. Thanks."
"Second time in our stay of Beacon I'm patching something up." Adora smirked "Maybe I should've become a nurse."
"Pfffffft! You, a Nurse?! I don't see you wearing that kinda outfit any time soon." Catra laughed heartily and cattily, before jabbing at Adora "Then again, you wore a dress."
"I'll drop ya..." Adora smirked, picking Catra up, piggyback style, despite being yelled at to put her down. She looked to Melog, giving them a tilt of the head... And the Space Cat pounced on Catra's back, adding to the weight and forcing Adora to bend over to accommodate both of them and keep her balance. She stepped forward ever-so-slowly, with Catra and Melog now noticing exactly what produced the broken precursor glass:two massive windows to their left and right, once made of this stained glass, now broken into pieces and letting the draft in.
"Well, darn." Catra quipped "Looks like someone doesn't know not to throw rocks."
"Eh..." Adora strained "Blame the Grimm..."
"Heh. I am, sweet-cheeks." The catgirl smirked. Stopping on the other side, the girl let go of her girlfriend and stood on her own two feet, letting a whimper escape whenever she took another step. The place went deeper underground than the girls liked and the echo of dripping water didn't make walking down this lane of insanity any easier on them. What's more, on the floor, there was more writing in First Ones language. Catra looked to Adora, then said "So... Figure I should ask. What's all this stuff say?"
"It's legends." Adora noted "Legends of old battles, of how She-Ra helped protect Remnant. Well, 'legends' kinda implies a seed of truth in a lot of lies, so I'd say they're more... Recollections? I don't know. Whatever the case, this place spans almost the entire ravine and bits inside the cliffs. There's a lot of stories here... But you know? One name I didn't see in there was Mara."
"The girl that was She-Ra before you took the sword, right? The one from a thousand years ago that screwed with the First Ones' plans?" Catra raised a brow, limping beside Adora "Why'd'you think that is?"
"I don't know. Maybe they found Remnant before she was She-Ra and didn't manage to get her included here? Maybe they removed her from the records because of that?" Adora shrugged, looking around "Everything's possible. I mean, look around. This is basically an altar to She-Ra and who she was to the First Ones. The Protector of their little Empire. Even Mara served them before, well..."
"Mhm." Catra nodded. She stopped by a relief made of stone, on the wall to her right. Although made in the standard First Ones artstyle, the humanoid figures in the sculpture were She-Ra, some humans and... Maybe Faunus, but with only feline traits? All were armed with swords and shields, with She-Ra leading from the front. The other side of the Relief depicted the Grimm hordes charging at them... Huh, weird.
"Ya seeing this?" Catra turned to Adora and jabbed a thumb toward the relief.
"Heh. Yeah." Adora smiled "Looks like a She-Ra leading an army of Huntsmen and Huntresses out to battle. Wait.." She squinted, approaching the relief. The blonde gasped, scanning the form of She-Ra, before turning to Catra. She smiled. But before the two could talk, talons rammed the stone floor. The two girls turned around, only to see two of the Grimm bugs behind them. Melog hissed again...
But before the two girls and their cat could run, the closest bug to them lashed out. Two talons cut a cross-mark on Adora's back, drawing blood and slicing her bag off her back. And at that moment, Catra saw red. The catgirl let loose a roar worthy of a lion, before dashing forward toward the creature, grabbing its talon with her 'wounded' hand, delivering a claw strike across its thorax and shoving it away. She turned to Adora, feeling a pain grow in her chest, grabbed her, then yelled "Melog! Let's go!" for the creature to cloak them moments later as they ran off.
But the creatures got Adora's blood on their claws. They could find her.
They could find them...
The creature that struck leaned on its two back talons, then cried out for its brethren, before dashing off to follow the trail of blood. Meanwhile, Catra took Adora off to the side, hiding herself, Melog and the wounded blonde as best she could, before going for her own backpack's medical kit. She turned Adora over to the side, to see the wound, then sighed in relief and said "Thank God, it's not too deep." as she poured disinfectant on a piece of cloth.
She paused, seeing the blood had turned a darker shade of black than normal. The catgirl gasped "Oh no. Adora!" and went to wipe away the blood. As Adora jumped from the cold, Catra berated herself "God dammit! How did I not see or hear those damn things?! I hope this isn't fucking poison..." and she tossed away the piece of cloth that was covered in blood, taking Adora's shirt off and tearing it into rags for bandages.
"I'm gonna be fine..." Adora said "We gotta get out of here..." And she grunted, trying to stand up, before sighing and leaning back down "I'm just gonna... Rest for a bit..."
"Stay with me." Catra pleaded "I'll bandage you up and then we can get the hell out."
And as the Kitten worked on wrapping the antiseptic and disinfectant-soaked makeshift bandages around Adora's wounds and put her torn jacket over her back, Melog started to growl. Feeling her heart stop, the catgirl started working faster and faster, tightening the bandages enough that they wouldn't cut circulation and the blood could flow, but also enough that they restricted the black blood's flow. She picked Adora up, then said "Let's go." to Melog just as the chitter of Talons came from behind them.
The cats ran off in the opposite direction, one hauling a blonde while the other tried to keep them safe by guiding them. Catra looked back, then yelped as she saw the tidal wave of bugs trailing behind them. The horrifying creatures moved at breakneck speed, fast enough to keep up and nearly reach Catra. And as the kitten continued to run, she screamed in pain, feeling something slash across her thigh. Running up stairs was slowing her down...
The girls and cat then ran into a room, with Catra setting Adora down and slamming the stone door shut behind them as fast as she could. She held it shut, gritting her teeth as she said "Melog! Try and get Adora out of here! I'll hold them off!"
She looked around at the floor, before noticing a thick slab. "Huh, nevermind." She murmured to herself, grabbing the slab off the floor and placing it at an angle, to stop the doors from opening. The groan of stone and metal permeated the room as the bug swarm slammed into the door. Catra sighed in relief, then went to Melog and Adora to ask "How's she doing?"
Adora grew paler by the minute and was sweating profusely. Catra growled, shaking her head as she took a knee beside Adora and looked her over. No good. Whatever poison those fuckers had in their claws was doing work. She felt cold fingers wrap around her wrist and gazed down at the blonde, who pointed at the wall in the back. Catra followed the finger all the way to... A statue of She-Ra.
She looked to Adora, then asked "Mara?"
Adora nodded. She took out her scroll, then weakly pointed at the camera. The kitten nodded and said "You got it." before powering on the device and taking a picture. She slid the super-phone in her pocket, picked Adora up and noticed the cathedral-like windows above. She then looked at her thigh and saw it was 5 scratch marks, but no poison. She shook her head, then looked to Melog and showed them to follow, before running toward the windows. She jumped agilely, on top of the statue and out, with Melog following suit just as the door finally broke under the tidal wave of bugs.
The chase continued, as the bugs moved with the same agility to follow. The only problem was that they had more grip on the rocks that made up this place than Catra did, what with their Talons. The kitten and her space pet ran as fast as they could, with the monsters trailing not that far back. The two cats and their passenger soon found themselves in need to jump.
Catra landed with a roll, nearly dropping Adora as she stopped square in the center of the platform on which they had appeared, as luck would have it. Melog landed not too far behind her, dashing toward them. Melog's mane was of a scarlet color and they'd grown in size, turning to face the Grimm bugs with fangs borne out. And just now, Catra could see how many of them there were.
It was like the entire damn anthill came out to play. There must've been hundreds of bugs inside that complex alone. Catra, wide-eyed, slowly set Adora down, before walking over to Melog's side. She swallowed, brandishing her good claws, before saying "Well, buddy... This looks like it..." in a murmur. Melog whined, before growling at the monsters that tried to approach.
"Been nice knowing you too." Smirked the kitten, before putting one foot forward, one back and her balled, clawless fist ahead, with the claws serving as backup. The first bugs charged forward, with Melog taking one down to the floor and mauling it, their teeth punching clean through what acted as a throat for the creature and ripping it and its armor plating clean off. The other bug, however, managed to punt the kitten away from its now-dissolving sibling, before charging Catra.
It stood on its hind talons, slashing at Catra rapidly while the girl dodged as best she could. The strain was getting to her though, as her muscles started to ache, making every dodge more sluggish and giving the bugs even more chances to slice at her, to tear her to pieces. She dodged under another attack, before trying to ram her fist into its face. She soon found that that only staggered it, throwing it back and giving her a nasty pain in the wrist.
Catra gritted her teeth, then said "C'mon, you ugly bug! I ain't done yet!"
She charged it, slashing with her claws. She left a mark in its bone plating. The thing slammed a balled fist into her face, sending her tumbling back toward Adora and Melog. Adora breathed raggedly, trying to reach Catra. She turned herself over onto her stomach, crawling toward the girl. She only stopped when she saw a First Ones rune just in front of her, followed by what looked like pieces of the broken portal. The cat took scratch and claw, but managed to dodge the poisoned Talons of the monsters, while Adora crawled on.
And with one touch, the blonde found herself in need to cover her eyes as a burst of light shot up into the sky. With a yelp, the catgirl was sent flying back, right through the light and right where Adora was. And the bugs? They closed in for the killing blow, with one raising high its talon to strike her protector, who had just barely noticed the claw enough to raise her arms and cross them, to try and mitigate the damage.
A flash of scarlet light washed the platform at the moment of impact and the bugs staggered, the attacker's talon now caught in a healing hand. Adora gasped, blinking away the flash, before noticing Catra as she became enveloped in a blanket of warm, red light. And the Cat looked up. And she grinned devilishly, feeling that warmth permeate her very being. The woman's muscles tensed as she stood to her feet, holding the talon of the monster up with her healed hand. The young kitten berated "You stupid, stupid fucking bugs..."
She pulled the bug close and buried her claws into its chest with enough force to break the segmented, chitinous plating on it, before she tore the talon off, spun it around and stabbed it into the open wound. The bug fell, slowly starting to disintegrate, while Catra watched over its corpse with fangs bared in a most dangerous of grins. The bandage on her formerly-wounded hand fell off, revealing healed claws, now sharp and brandished for combat.
"You screwed with the wrong cats." She said, before she surged forth with renewed vigor. She dug her claws into the face of the first bug she caught, before lifting it up and throwing it into its comrades. Spikes of bone broke armor plating, killing several of the bugs as Catra danced between their strikes. She jumped onto the back of a bug, caught it in a headlock and snapped its neck, before spinning about and digging her claws right into the skull of the bug behind. She caught another Talon, deflecting it off to the side, before bringing her claws to bear on the joint and slicing it off.
She then took said talon and rammed it into the chin of its former owner, using another bug she caught as a shield from one of its brothers' attacks. Another strike severed a Bug's arms and another gutted one from head to toe, with Catra giggling maniacally as she gutted the horde like a blender. More bugs streamed in, ready to defend their brethren, but the kitten moved untouched by their strikes, the new boost she received providing her with extra agility.
Adora leaned back against one of the pillars, now in a seated position, while watching Catra tear through the monsters with wide eyes. She looked to an approaching Melog, then asked "Did... I do that?" in a whisper. The animal meowed, before turning to the horde themselves and charging forward, bearing tooth and claw to help their masters in slaughtering the creatures that assaulted them. Adora hummed "Huh..." blushing healthily despite her injuries. She wanted to say something, watching Catra go all out on the bugs, now that she had some sort of defense, but she simply said "... I got nothing." and continued to watch in muted admiration.
Oh, she was also fully enamored by the sight, but she couldn't really show it. Wounds and all.
She felt a chill shoot up her spine as she heard Catra, not Melog, let loose a hard roar that shook the ground while she rammed fist, claw and foot into the monsters. One of the bugs that had just been killed flew right by Adora, much to her chagrin. At this point, however, she'd rather let Catra loose for a bit. The girl spared no quarter, even as the bugs seemed an endless horde...
Then she felt her phone buzz. She pulled the Scroll out of her pocket, flicked it on and saw it was Prof. Peach's number. She answered, weak "Hello? Prof, we're... Kind of busy at the moment... Well, Catra is."
And Peach cheered "YES! I knew that flash of light came from you girls! Adora, listen, I asked the headmaster about what you girls were doing... And when I found out you're heading for the ruins, I figured ya may need some backup. Going by the swarm of Chryssalids, you really do."
"Wait... What? Prof, where are...?" She looked up, to see a Bullhead orbiting above. A flash of red, two shotgun shots, a white glyph appearing just beside her and a black weapon followed moments after the girl caught wind of the aircraft. Team RWBY?! "Prof, you brought TEAM RWBY HERE?!"
"Haha!" Peach laughed as she landed, clad in a futuristic armor set and wielding the weapon Ruby made for her, while the other four girls followed in, each hitting a different bug on the way down with their weapons. The orange-haired woman looked to Adora, then gasped "Oh, Gods, they hit you, didn't they? Stay still..." and she pulled a needle out of her medkit, berating "You should really ask before going to investigate ruins that were abandoned for a reason." before she jammed the needle into Adora's carotid, letting the antidote run its course. She smiled, then said "There. That should also help with any discomfort..." before standing up and turning her energy weapon toward the Grimm.
"Look at teach go!" Yang laughed boisterously, ramming her own gauntlets into the creatures. She slammed one of them into the ground, before pummeling it with a string of rapid-fire punches that emptied Ember Celica's mags. She reloaded the weapon in her style, throwing two belts of ammo up, dropping out the empty shells and catching the fresh ones in, then she continued her assistant role in the rampage.
"She's awesome!" Ruby cheered, slashing a Chryssalid in half with Crescent Rose, while Weiss poured ice projectiles into the monsters with a grin on her face. Catra turned to the girls, to see Blake joining her and Melog in the middle of the battle. She flashed a proud smile at the girls, before roundhouse-kicking a Grimm bug hard enough to snap its neck. Her muscles would've normally strained under stress, but whatever she unlocked gave her one helluva strength boost.
"You unlocked your Aura." Blake asked, slashing a Chryssalid's open belly through the segmented armor, cutting it in half. She looked to Catra, then asked "How does it feel?"
Catra looked to Blake, a wide grin on her face. Her voice was full of pride as she spoke "This is aura!? Hahaha!" then giggled ecstatically "IT'S AWESOME!"
"Girls?" Peach voiced, raising the weapon Ruby made for her, "I'd get out of the line of fire... Time to test Firestorm at half-power. Miss Catra, please tend to Adora."
The five girls and the one cat in battle soon jumped out of the area. Catra eyed the rifle-shaped weapon as its coils heated up, burning white in color. Peach looked down the scope of the weapon, thumbed the safety, then said "Hey, fellas... I'm the exterminator." with a smirk. One squeeze of the trigger sent a tidal wave of lightning coursing through each of the Grimm ahead of her, slicing through bone armor and boiling the chitin-covered meat inside to a crisp. A dozen bugs exploded into fragments, halving the number of them on the platform. Peach started to laugh maniacally as she unleashed bolt after bolt into the line of bugs, to keep them at bay.
"Woah..." Catra paused, before looking to Ruby and saying "You gotta get me one of those, kiddo."
Ruby smiled, looking between her and Adora. Both the cat and the girls realized "ADORA!" and they turned to the blonde. Despite the small sting in the side of her neck, the young woman seemed to be regaining color. She gave a thumbs up, head wobbly, then spoke "Hey, Catra..."
"Yeah?" The kitten took a seat beside Adora, ready to pick her up.
"... Told you we'd need new clothes..." She quipped, smiling weakly at the girl. Catra paused, then snorted and nodded. Fair enough, she guessed. A purr took their attention to the right, to see Ruby, silver eyes as wide as saucers, petting Melog. The other three members of team RWBY looked at the space kitten with awe, while Ruby worked her ear-scritch magic on it.
Catra smirked "Well, Melog likes Ruby."
"Who wouldn't..." Adora shrugged "Now... Can we please leave? I think I need sleep."
"Now that you mention it..." Catra rubbed her shoulders and legs, feeling a slight bit of muscular pain coming to her "I think this drained a lot out of me too..."
"Aura is sustained by your body. Only makes sense for you to be tired, since you got no training on how to use it, miss Catra." Ruby smiled
"We can teach you... If you don't mind a few kids trying to teach a teacher." Yang quipped, a grin on her face.
Catra smirked "I'll take you up on that offer... But for now, let's go. I've got two dozen plates of pasta and a soft pillow with my name on them back at Beacon" And she picked Adora up, bridal carry, much to the Blonde's chagrin, before they all stepped off toward the bullhead. They got some data and Catra was almost ready to drop out and fall asleep before she even sat herself down. Peach boarded the aircraft last, having emptied three energy cells on the Grimm. The prof gave a thumbs up to Ruby and quipped about grades...
The blonde and her kittens didn't care. In their seats and with Melog sprawled out across their laps, the wounded duo of Etherians fell asleep, leaning on one-another for support and with wide grins on their faces. The trip back to Beacon was as short as the trip here
Somewhere else, though...
"HAHAHAHAHA! WE HAVE COMMUNICATION!" Entrapta yelled ecstatically from one of the consoles as it lit up like wildfire, with the portal's symbols powering on, flashing in red as if by a distress signal. Entrapta quickly figured out, with the help of the dictionary, that those things on the portal were a set of jumbled coordinates. A BREAKTHROUGH! A proper Breakthrough! YES!