Chapter Fourteen: The Shadow of Death Redux
Skeletor stood before the alliance, his very presence seeming to demoralize them. It was as if the air itself grew heavier as he approached. Everyone hesitantly raised their weapons as he stepped closer, and Flutterina retreated to the back of the group.
"Not again!" cried Adora.
"This doesn't make sense!" said Connie. "How does he keep finding us?"
Peridot looked down at the Lock in her hands. "Uh oh."
"'Uh oh?' What's 'uh oh?'" said Amethyst.
"Long story short, we think Skeletor can sense First Ones technology," said Lapis. "He's here for the Lock."
Skeletor stomped closer. "What does he want that thing for?" said Netossa.
"Because we can use it to defeat him!" said Peridot. "I just need to figure out how to get it working…"
"Children of Etheria!" Skeletor's booming voice rang out across the hills, sending a shiver down everyone's collective spine. "Your attempts to stop my crusade thus far have been...laughable. But by summoning this infernal device, you have just declared war." Dark energy swirled around his body as he was lifted into the air, looming above the team.
"He sounds pretty angry," said Bow. "Whatever that Lock thing is, you'd better get it working soon!"
"I'm trying my best!" said Peridot, fiddling with the device. No matter how hard she tried, the numerous buttons and switches did nothing to activate the artifact.
"You yet refuse to discontinue your resistance," said Skeletor. The jewel at the tip of his staff began to glow. "This cannot be allowed." He aimed his staff at them as the glowing reached its peak. "You will be cleansed."
A tremendous beam of light shot forth from his scepter. Everything happened so fast-Steven had no time to draw his shield, Adora had no time to transform into She-Ra. Too gripped by terror and shock, everyone was unable to resist, soon to be vaporized by the beam.
But the attack never hit its mark.
Steven, who had closed his eyes, opened them upon hearing the beam colliding with something besides them. Everyone was surrounded by a shield made from light blue energy, which held Skeletor's attack at bay. Standing in front of them all, and the source of this barrier, was none other than Queen Angella.
"Mom!?" exclaimed Glimmer, shocked.
Angella turned back towards the group. "Get ready to run!" She broke the barrier, creating a shockwave that dissipated Skeletor's laser. The undead sorcerer descended the ground towards his new opponent.
"The angel has returned," he said, eerily calm. "Have you come to join the rest of your kind?"
"I don't care what you have to say," said Angella. "I don't care how powerful you are. I will not allow you to terrorize my subjects. And I certainly won't allow you to harm my daughter!"
"Classic Etherian confidence," Skeletor mused. "Why don't we see how fast we can make that evaporate?" Both he and Angella sped towards each other. They collided, sending a shockwave across the field. They exchanged blows, pink and purple beams of light being hurled at the other.
"Everyone fall back!" said Spinnerella, standing in front of the team. "This could get messy!"
"Wait, we can't leave!" cried Glimmer. "We have to help!"
"Can we even help?" asked Adora. "I mean, I want to, but you saw what he's capable of!"
"I hate to say it, but there isn't much we can do now," said Bow. "All we can do is fall back until Peridot gets the Lock working. Until then, Angella can hold her own."
Indeed, Queen Angella was faring quite well against her foe. The two of them continued firing blasts of energy at the other, and while Skeletor did not seem to be tiring, Angella refused to back down. "Tell me, why do you refuse to die?" asked Skeletor casually.
"You underestimate what a queen would do to protect her kingdom, and a mother, her child," Angella said. "If it means protecting both, I would gladly fight to my last breath!"
"Then I shall accommodate you," said Skeletor. The necromancer prepared to fire another beam, but was interrupted when a powerful projectile collided with him, consuming his form in a fiery explosion.
"What the!? What was that?" exclaimed Netossa.
"Over there." Garnet pointed out the source of the explosion: not far from the fight was a battalion of Horde tanks. And standing atop one was Hordak himself.
"Hordak's here!?" Everyone turned to this sudden shout. Entrapta her revealed herself, poking her head out of the bushes at Hordak's sudden arrival.
"Horde soldier! Get back!" said Netossa, preparing to perform her namesake action at the sudden intruder.
Both Entrapta's hands and pigtails shot into the air. "No, wait! Truce! Truce!"
"She's right," said Bow. "She's helping us look for the artifact in Mizar. We didn't tell anyone because we were worried of how you would react to us working with the Horde."
Netossa backed down. "Not as badly as I would have without you telling me up front!" she said.
Meanwhile, Hordak stomped closer to the battling duo. "So, this is the mighty Skeletor. We finally meet in person. I am...unimpressed."
"As am I, clone!" said Skeletor. "This is what the once-mighty Horde has been reduced to? A shadow of its former self, led by a mere copy of a pathetic excuse for the Horde Prime?"
Hordak thrust both his arms outward towards Skeletor. "Die!" Two red lasers shot out from his palms, only narrowly blocked by Skeletor's staff. Angella took this moment to launch an attack of her own. The beam hit Skeletor, sending him careening to the ground. So great was the impact, it caused him to drop his staff.
Angella landed next to where he had landed. His staff now laying several meters away, Skeletor seemed to be sapped of power. His movements as he stood up were jerky and sudden, as though he had lost some control over his body.
Just before Angella could fire another attack at the weakened sorcerer, she had to use her shield to block an incoming blast from Hordak. "The regent herself, head of the Rebellion," he said. "It would seem all my greatest adversaries are together in one place!"
"Oh no, what's he doing?" said Entrapta. "No, not Angella, get Skeletor! Skeletor!"
"You see? He really is incompetent," said Catra.
Spinnerella turned to Bow. "How many Horde soldiers did you guys bring?"
Queen Angella was now facing Hordak. "Lord Hordak," she said, her voice low. "We meet at last. You will pay for what you have done."
"As will you!" said Hordak, firing another barrage at Angella. The angel was able to dodge it by flying into the air, before dive-bombing directly at the Horde leader. A sword of red energy emerged from Hordak's wrist, which Angella narrowly avoided being hit by.
"Someone's gotta stop them!" said Steven. "Skeletor's still there!"
"No! Stop fighting, both of you!" Entrapta shouted, running out into the field. Scorpia tried to stop her, but she was faster than she looked, soon reaching both of them.
"Entrapta!" Hordak exclaimed in surprise. Angella stopped as well, surprised to see this traitor princess so closely aligned with the Horde leadership. Unfortunately, in this momentary lull in the chaos, Skeletor had managed to crawl his way over to his staff.
Everything happened so fast. Before anyone even knew what was going on, a streak of energy flew through the air. Skeletor's beam collided with Angella, piercing directly through her left wing. The queen was sent to the ground instantly by the attack.
"MOM!" Glimmer screamed. She immediately ran to where Angella had fallen to, fearing the worst.
"Pitiful," Skeletor snarled. "I have had just about enough of this pathetic planet." The Horde tanks prepared to fire on him. He fired first, sending a laser through all of them, causing the vehicles to explode. Hordak shielded Entrapta from the explosion, the force of it knocking both of them down. "Let us finish this, shall we?" Skeletor raised his staff to deal the death blow to the two of them, only to be interrupted when another beam, this one blue in color, knocked him back.
This beam had come from Adora's sword, who now stood as She-Ra. Saying nothing, but wearing an expression of anger, the warrior charged him. Skeletor launched a beam in her direction, but this was blocked by Steven's shield, who likewise ran towards the sorcerer.
Both Steven and Adora swung their respective weapons at Skeletor, who simply deflected them with his staff. But the heroes were relentless, continuing to lay into him. Such was their ferocity that they had forgotten the very fear that Skeletor had instilled in them, and continued to do so.
"Enough!" Skeletor shouted, launching Steven and Adora back with a magical shockwave. "I refuse to be driven before such whelps! I am Skeletor, the-" Skeletor was then immediately struck by another beam, this one coming from Glimmer. Standing near the unconscious Angella with a look of sheer rage, the princess launched blast after blast into the sorcerer.
Adora and Steven took this as a sign to renew their assault. Both of them ran towards him, leaping into the air together. Skeletor held out his staff to block their attack. Sword and shield were brought down onto the staff in tandem; the resulting shockwave from the blow sent all three of them careening back, and was felt by everyone present.
Skeletor was the first to realize that something was wrong. His confident demeanor faded as he looked down as his staff: a small crack had appeared where the two heroes had struck it, crackles of magical energy escaping from within. His eyes widened in uncharacteristic fear, Skeletor opened a portal behind him. He shot one last glare to the group before vanishing into it, and with that, was gone.
Everything was silent. Steven and Adora lay on the grass, both of them exhausted. Glimmer returned to Angella's side, who, while weak, was still breathing. Hordak and Entrapta retreated to beyond the wreckage of the Horde tanks, Catra and Scorpia joining them. Everyone else slowly began to return to their senses as Skeletor's influence gradually faded.