Chapter I: The Battle
Outside of Castle Grayskull, the forces of Skeletor were making yet another attack. True to their latest plan, Skeletor and his minions arrived upon the fortress in their Terror-dactals. The 'Masters', who were using their own flying equipment in attempt to shoot down Skeletor and his warriors, followed them closely.
Skeletor ordered that his warriors land just outside of Castle Grayskull. They landed, and prepared for a direct attack. As the 'Masters' landed, each of the 'evil' warriors went through the plan in their heads, and made ready to attack only certain warriors. Lady Moria had made sure to stress this point when she was explaining this plan to them.
Tri-klops shook his head as he dismounted and drew his sword. It was remarkable how much Skeletor had come to trust the Dereskian Queen's insight over the past year. In the time she had been with them, she had moved from watching the plans fail, to explaining why they failed, to improving plan attacks, to making up plans herself, which is how the warriors found themselves in this position. The spy drew himself out of his reverie as he sighted his target coming down and landing his flying apparatus. Tri-klops aimed his middle eye-beam and fired. Mekaneck stumbled out of his transport and fell as the blast hit him in his namesake. Tri- klops smiled. Maybe this would work after all.
Evil-Lyn watched the proceedings with a smirk on her face as she waited for her own opponent to come into play. As Teela landed her machine, Lyn's smirk turned into a grin. This would be entertaining. She turned away from Teela and pretended to be watching as Tri-klops shot the living daylights out of Mekaneck. The young redhead reached for her cobra staff and immediately ran towards the Dereskian's unprotected back. At the last possible moment before Teela would have struck, Evil-Lyn turned, arms raised, and a great blast of amethyst light filled the air. Teela was thrown backwards, and landed on the ground with an almost sickening thud.
A dark laugh erupted from the spellcaster as Teela haltingly attempted to get to her feet. *How was that, Morämé?* she asked mentally, knowing that somewhere, her mother was watching the battle and laughing.
*Very good, dear,* her mother's mind voice said in her head. *But do not get cocky, Moritënia. Our esteemed leader does that all too often and you know where that gets him.* An image of Skeletor losing his sword in battle came into Evil-Lyn's mind.
She nodded. *Yes, Morämé* she answered, reading herself as Teela came toward her again.
The Eternian jumped into the air in a maneuver to bring her staff crashing down on the Dereskian's head. Evil-Lyn saw what the girl was doing and also leaped up, bringing her Majick staff in an upward strike. The staffs clashed together, and, rather than come tumbling back to the ground, the Dereskian cast a floating spell upon herself and the redhead, knowing that this move would be unexpected. In the moment of Teela's confusion, the daughter of Moria swung her staff around again and knocked the Eternian's feet out from under her, letting go of her spell as she did so.
Teela came crashing to the ground as Lyn ducked and rolled, landing gracefully in a kneeling position.
Quite winded, Teela managed to get to her feet and gasped out, "When. did you get. so much better. at this?"
The spellcaster smiled as she stood up. "I've found an old friend who's teaching me new tricks," she said simply, raising her staff again.
It still seemed amazing to the young Dereskian that, even though her mother had been 'back in action,' so to speak, for little more than a year, not a single Eternian knew of her existence. But, as her mother often said, the Eternians never were all that good at putting two and two together. They always tended to come up one stick short of a bundle.
As Evil-Lyn as Teela continued to fight, all around them the sounds of the other 'Masters' doing the same filled the air. Whiplash and Ram-man were having a rather fierce duel to discover whether or not heads always does beat tails, Trap-jaw and Man-at-Arms were finding out which arm accessory worked best, Beast-man and Man-E-Faces were lodged in a rather destructive dispute about gods-know-what, and so on.
Skeletor and He-man were battling it out in front of the very drawbridge of Grayskull itself, and Skeletor actually seemed to be holding his own against the so-called 'strong man.'
And above them all, standing on a high tower and watching the battle take place, stood the Sorceress.
Teelina watched the fighting dismally, taking note of the Master's gradual decline. It seemed almost as if Skeletor and his warriors were actually stronger than they had previously been, though the Eternian knew that seemed ridiculous. Rather than simply going around and engaging all-comers, as they normally did, the evil warriors seemed to each be concentrating on one particular Master, though that surely seemed absurd.
*Of course it seems absurd, Teelina,* came an all-to-familiar voice in her head. *But that does not make it any less true,* continued the voice.
The Sorceress shook her head, trying to clear it. For more than a year now, she had been hearing this particular voice over and over in her mind, adding a satirical and sardonic tone to her normally pristine thoughts. And there had been dreams. Dreams that were frightening erotic in nature, dreams that kept her awake most nights. In all of them, that once voice echoed in her mind. Teelina told herself again and again that she was simply suffering from an over-developed sense of imagination, that there was no possible way the Dereskian Queen was still alive. And even if she were, she'd have to be well over three thousand years old by now.
Teelina was aware that the collective life-energies of the deceased Dereskïgiä were past on to the surviving members. That system was well and good when the population was large, but when there was only one member, such as the case with the Dereskian Queen, all that life energy aged a person very quickly. Moria would be able to 'remember' things that had happened to the very first Dereskian that ever lived, over six millennia ago. She would be confronted with the memories of every single Dereskian who had ever lived, and she would have aged considerably, to the point where she would inwardly be as old as the oldest life energy within her. It could not possibly be a pleasant existence.
The Sorceress shook her head; she was thinking nonsense. It was extremely unlikely that the Dereskian Queen still lived, and even if she did, there had been no evidence of her existence for over five centuries. Teelina brought her attention back to the battle before her. A slow smile crept across her face. With a few exceptions, it seemed that the tide of the battle was gradually turning towards the Masters' favor. *************
Slowly, Lady Moria slowly drew her mind away from the Sorceress' and smiled. That was fun, as always, Teelina.
Stretching her limbs, she once more viewed the battle before her. It appeared that the "Masters" were going to win again, how trite. Oh well, it truly didn't matter to her whether Skeletor won or lost. She turned her attention to the figure of her daughter battling Teela, and her smile grew. Moritënia had certainly improved in not only her Majick, but in her hand-to- hand combat as well.
Moria was standing on the limb of a large tree near the scene of the fighting. As a precaution, she had cast a simple invisibility spell over her form, just in the odd case that someone looked her way. Her attention was set upon the individual battle between her daughter and Teelina's. **************
Evil-Lyn and Teela had moved all around the area in their individual fight.
Teela was somewhat tired. This was the longest battle she had ever had against Evil-Lyn personally. She had spent the last hour trying to outwit her opponent, while at the same time dodging all her attacks, both Majick and not. Her adversary's newly improved techniques worried the young Captain of the Guard slightly. Either Evil-Lyn had been hiding all of these abilities every time they had fought previously, or she indeed had received some kind of tutoring. But if that was the case, then who could her teacher possibly have been? Evil-Lyn now fought as well as she did, maybe better. And as far as Teela knew, there was no one in Snake Mountain with that capability, and no one else on the planet would ever willingly teach Skeletor's second-in-command.
The Eternian was brought out of her reverie as her foe struck down in a particularly vicious move. Teela blocked it as the last moment, but her sudden action snapped her cobra staff in two pieces. The redhead's eyes grew wide in shock as she regarded both parts of her broken weapon. Evil- Lyn smiled and brought her staff down again, aiming it at the Eternian's head.
Teela back flipped out of the way, exclaiming, "That's not fair! You aren't fighting by the rules of engagement!"
A dark chuckle came from the spellcaster's lips. "Oh, because you 'Masters' always fight fairly," she said, flipping into the air and bringing her weapon down.
"And what exactly is that-" Teela questioned, pausing to roll out of the way, "supposed to mean?"
Evil-Lyn laughed as she watched her adversary's antics. "Well, let us pause and make a list, shall we? I can recall several specific occasions. Item one: interrupting a private duel between two leaders in the caverns of Subturnia. Item two: moving large pieces of architecture and hurling them at your opponents, which I believe took place during the bit with the dragons. Item three: continuing to fight after your enemies no longer pose a threat, which has happened on far more than one occasion.. Shall I continue?"
Teela bit her lip. "You've made your point, but it's not as if you all ever fight according to the rules," she commented, coming in for a punch.
"Of course we don't," laughed Lyn, avoiding the blow easily, her eyes beginning to sparkle. "We are the 'bad guys' after all." She lifted her staff and fired a large, glittering ball from it. Teela dodged it just barely, the glowing orb hitting her at a glancing blow in the side, tearing a small piece of her uniform as it passed by.
Above them all, the Sorceress, able to hear the goings on, was extremely worried. Not only had her daughter's staff been broken in two, but the way Evil-Lyn had made her argument was very familiar to Teelina, but she could not quite place where she had heard that particular tone of voice before. At that moment, Evil-Lyn turned her head, eyes flashing wildly. The Sorceress' mouth flew open as she stared into the brilliant amethyst eyes of the spellcaster. How was it possible that she had never noticed that Evil-Lyn's eyes were the exact same shade of the Dereskian Queen's?! For the first time during the course of this battle, Teelina began to truly fear for her child's life.
Teela felt her side where the orb had passed by. She felt something wet and sticky, and raised her hand up to behold her own blood staining her fingers. She looked up at Evil-Lyn, eyes wide in sheer shock that this woman had been able to wound her.
The Dereskian smiled softly. "Oops," she said with almost no emotion in her tone at all.
With an angry growl, Teela practically flew at her rival, knocking the staff out of the evil warrior's hands.
Rather than being put off guard, Evil-Lyn flipped out of her opponent's reach, using her palms to form two identical balls of light. She hurled them at Teela, and was nonplussed when the female Master was able to dodge them both. This was good, Teela was getting angry, and anger meant she would make mistakes. She ran at the Eternian, jumping up into the air in a feint.
Teela fell for it, also leaping into the air to intercept the Dereskian. Evil-Lyn swung her legs around in mid-air, while at the same time using her arms to make a pass at Teela's head. The redhead blocked her attack at her head, but doing so meant she could not see Lyn's legs coming in to hit her middle until it was too late. The spellcaster's legs connected with her foe's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her towards the ground.
The Eternian hit the ground roughly, her head coming into contact with a medium-sized rock. She gave a strangled, sharp cry of pain. Evil-Lyn swerved and landed on her side, the impact breaking the skin at her legs but otherwise doing nothing more serious than making her loose her breath. Her pointed helmet fell off of her head, dropping to the ground. Moon- colored hair spilled down her shoulders, ending at her middle back. She lay on the ground, semi-conscious, gasping for breath.
At Teela's cry, the entire battle had come to a sudden stop. Several of the evil warriors had been knocked unconscious, but an equal number of 'Masters' had also fallen. The other Masters who still remained standing were He-man, Man-at-Arms, Man-E-Faces, Ram-man, and Mekaneck. Those of Skeletor's warriors who were still able to fight were Skeletor himself, Trap-jaw, Beast-man, Clawful, and Tri-klops.
A moment of silence fell upon the field, followed by everyone speaking at once.
"Teela!" the entirety of the 'Masters' exclaimed.
"Teela!" the Sorceress shouted at the top of her lungs above it all. She turned immediately into Zoar the falcon and flew as fast as she possibly could
"Moritënia." Lady Moria whispered, already at her daughter's side, unseen and unheard to all others but her child.
After the initial shock was over, the Evil warriors noticed that this was their chance. They struck out without mercy upon their foes, bringing the 'Masters' back to reality.
Only one such sneak attack truly worked. Skeletor successfully brought his Havoc staff around He-man's head. The move snapped his staff, but the yellow-haired warrior was thrown back into the trees, and he collapsed onto the ground in a lifeless heap. Beyond the sight of all, the unconscious warrior melted away to form the senseless form of Prince Adam. He-man, protector of Grayskull, was defeated. A great laugh erupted from the Overlord of Evil, and he raised his broken staff in the air triumphantly.
The other Masters, who had not fallen so easily for such sneaky attacks, turned on their opponents with renewed ferocity. Skeletor noticed this, and he saw the Masters come steadily closer in their attacks. His eyeholes glowed red, and he climbed aboard his Terror-dactal, calling to the others, "Those that can, retreat!"
His minions were not far behind them, even those that had fallen were awakened by his call and rushed away, leaving only Evil-Lyn, who still lay, semi-conscious, with her head in her mother's arms.
Outside of Castle Grayskull, the forces of Skeletor were making yet another attack. True to their latest plan, Skeletor and his minions arrived upon the fortress in their Terror-dactals. The 'Masters', who were using their own flying equipment in attempt to shoot down Skeletor and his warriors, followed them closely.
Skeletor ordered that his warriors land just outside of Castle Grayskull. They landed, and prepared for a direct attack. As the 'Masters' landed, each of the 'evil' warriors went through the plan in their heads, and made ready to attack only certain warriors. Lady Moria had made sure to stress this point when she was explaining this plan to them.
Tri-klops shook his head as he dismounted and drew his sword. It was remarkable how much Skeletor had come to trust the Dereskian Queen's insight over the past year. In the time she had been with them, she had moved from watching the plans fail, to explaining why they failed, to improving plan attacks, to making up plans herself, which is how the warriors found themselves in this position. The spy drew himself out of his reverie as he sighted his target coming down and landing his flying apparatus. Tri-klops aimed his middle eye-beam and fired. Mekaneck stumbled out of his transport and fell as the blast hit him in his namesake. Tri- klops smiled. Maybe this would work after all.
Evil-Lyn watched the proceedings with a smirk on her face as she waited for her own opponent to come into play. As Teela landed her machine, Lyn's smirk turned into a grin. This would be entertaining. She turned away from Teela and pretended to be watching as Tri-klops shot the living daylights out of Mekaneck. The young redhead reached for her cobra staff and immediately ran towards the Dereskian's unprotected back. At the last possible moment before Teela would have struck, Evil-Lyn turned, arms raised, and a great blast of amethyst light filled the air. Teela was thrown backwards, and landed on the ground with an almost sickening thud.
A dark laugh erupted from the spellcaster as Teela haltingly attempted to get to her feet. *How was that, Morämé?* she asked mentally, knowing that somewhere, her mother was watching the battle and laughing.
*Very good, dear,* her mother's mind voice said in her head. *But do not get cocky, Moritënia. Our esteemed leader does that all too often and you know where that gets him.* An image of Skeletor losing his sword in battle came into Evil-Lyn's mind.
She nodded. *Yes, Morämé* she answered, reading herself as Teela came toward her again.
The Eternian jumped into the air in a maneuver to bring her staff crashing down on the Dereskian's head. Evil-Lyn saw what the girl was doing and also leaped up, bringing her Majick staff in an upward strike. The staffs clashed together, and, rather than come tumbling back to the ground, the Dereskian cast a floating spell upon herself and the redhead, knowing that this move would be unexpected. In the moment of Teela's confusion, the daughter of Moria swung her staff around again and knocked the Eternian's feet out from under her, letting go of her spell as she did so.
Teela came crashing to the ground as Lyn ducked and rolled, landing gracefully in a kneeling position.
Quite winded, Teela managed to get to her feet and gasped out, "When. did you get. so much better. at this?"
The spellcaster smiled as she stood up. "I've found an old friend who's teaching me new tricks," she said simply, raising her staff again.
It still seemed amazing to the young Dereskian that, even though her mother had been 'back in action,' so to speak, for little more than a year, not a single Eternian knew of her existence. But, as her mother often said, the Eternians never were all that good at putting two and two together. They always tended to come up one stick short of a bundle.
As Evil-Lyn as Teela continued to fight, all around them the sounds of the other 'Masters' doing the same filled the air. Whiplash and Ram-man were having a rather fierce duel to discover whether or not heads always does beat tails, Trap-jaw and Man-at-Arms were finding out which arm accessory worked best, Beast-man and Man-E-Faces were lodged in a rather destructive dispute about gods-know-what, and so on.
Skeletor and He-man were battling it out in front of the very drawbridge of Grayskull itself, and Skeletor actually seemed to be holding his own against the so-called 'strong man.'
And above them all, standing on a high tower and watching the battle take place, stood the Sorceress.
Teelina watched the fighting dismally, taking note of the Master's gradual decline. It seemed almost as if Skeletor and his warriors were actually stronger than they had previously been, though the Eternian knew that seemed ridiculous. Rather than simply going around and engaging all-comers, as they normally did, the evil warriors seemed to each be concentrating on one particular Master, though that surely seemed absurd.
*Of course it seems absurd, Teelina,* came an all-to-familiar voice in her head. *But that does not make it any less true,* continued the voice.
The Sorceress shook her head, trying to clear it. For more than a year now, she had been hearing this particular voice over and over in her mind, adding a satirical and sardonic tone to her normally pristine thoughts. And there had been dreams. Dreams that were frightening erotic in nature, dreams that kept her awake most nights. In all of them, that once voice echoed in her mind. Teelina told herself again and again that she was simply suffering from an over-developed sense of imagination, that there was no possible way the Dereskian Queen was still alive. And even if she were, she'd have to be well over three thousand years old by now.
Teelina was aware that the collective life-energies of the deceased Dereskïgiä were past on to the surviving members. That system was well and good when the population was large, but when there was only one member, such as the case with the Dereskian Queen, all that life energy aged a person very quickly. Moria would be able to 'remember' things that had happened to the very first Dereskian that ever lived, over six millennia ago. She would be confronted with the memories of every single Dereskian who had ever lived, and she would have aged considerably, to the point where she would inwardly be as old as the oldest life energy within her. It could not possibly be a pleasant existence.
The Sorceress shook her head; she was thinking nonsense. It was extremely unlikely that the Dereskian Queen still lived, and even if she did, there had been no evidence of her existence for over five centuries. Teelina brought her attention back to the battle before her. A slow smile crept across her face. With a few exceptions, it seemed that the tide of the battle was gradually turning towards the Masters' favor. *************
Slowly, Lady Moria slowly drew her mind away from the Sorceress' and smiled. That was fun, as always, Teelina.
Stretching her limbs, she once more viewed the battle before her. It appeared that the "Masters" were going to win again, how trite. Oh well, it truly didn't matter to her whether Skeletor won or lost. She turned her attention to the figure of her daughter battling Teela, and her smile grew. Moritënia had certainly improved in not only her Majick, but in her hand-to- hand combat as well.
Moria was standing on the limb of a large tree near the scene of the fighting. As a precaution, she had cast a simple invisibility spell over her form, just in the odd case that someone looked her way. Her attention was set upon the individual battle between her daughter and Teelina's. **************
Evil-Lyn and Teela had moved all around the area in their individual fight.
Teela was somewhat tired. This was the longest battle she had ever had against Evil-Lyn personally. She had spent the last hour trying to outwit her opponent, while at the same time dodging all her attacks, both Majick and not. Her adversary's newly improved techniques worried the young Captain of the Guard slightly. Either Evil-Lyn had been hiding all of these abilities every time they had fought previously, or she indeed had received some kind of tutoring. But if that was the case, then who could her teacher possibly have been? Evil-Lyn now fought as well as she did, maybe better. And as far as Teela knew, there was no one in Snake Mountain with that capability, and no one else on the planet would ever willingly teach Skeletor's second-in-command.
The Eternian was brought out of her reverie as her foe struck down in a particularly vicious move. Teela blocked it as the last moment, but her sudden action snapped her cobra staff in two pieces. The redhead's eyes grew wide in shock as she regarded both parts of her broken weapon. Evil- Lyn smiled and brought her staff down again, aiming it at the Eternian's head.
Teela back flipped out of the way, exclaiming, "That's not fair! You aren't fighting by the rules of engagement!"
A dark chuckle came from the spellcaster's lips. "Oh, because you 'Masters' always fight fairly," she said, flipping into the air and bringing her weapon down.
"And what exactly is that-" Teela questioned, pausing to roll out of the way, "supposed to mean?"
Evil-Lyn laughed as she watched her adversary's antics. "Well, let us pause and make a list, shall we? I can recall several specific occasions. Item one: interrupting a private duel between two leaders in the caverns of Subturnia. Item two: moving large pieces of architecture and hurling them at your opponents, which I believe took place during the bit with the dragons. Item three: continuing to fight after your enemies no longer pose a threat, which has happened on far more than one occasion.. Shall I continue?"
Teela bit her lip. "You've made your point, but it's not as if you all ever fight according to the rules," she commented, coming in for a punch.
"Of course we don't," laughed Lyn, avoiding the blow easily, her eyes beginning to sparkle. "We are the 'bad guys' after all." She lifted her staff and fired a large, glittering ball from it. Teela dodged it just barely, the glowing orb hitting her at a glancing blow in the side, tearing a small piece of her uniform as it passed by.
Above them all, the Sorceress, able to hear the goings on, was extremely worried. Not only had her daughter's staff been broken in two, but the way Evil-Lyn had made her argument was very familiar to Teelina, but she could not quite place where she had heard that particular tone of voice before. At that moment, Evil-Lyn turned her head, eyes flashing wildly. The Sorceress' mouth flew open as she stared into the brilliant amethyst eyes of the spellcaster. How was it possible that she had never noticed that Evil-Lyn's eyes were the exact same shade of the Dereskian Queen's?! For the first time during the course of this battle, Teelina began to truly fear for her child's life.
Teela felt her side where the orb had passed by. She felt something wet and sticky, and raised her hand up to behold her own blood staining her fingers. She looked up at Evil-Lyn, eyes wide in sheer shock that this woman had been able to wound her.
The Dereskian smiled softly. "Oops," she said with almost no emotion in her tone at all.
With an angry growl, Teela practically flew at her rival, knocking the staff out of the evil warrior's hands.
Rather than being put off guard, Evil-Lyn flipped out of her opponent's reach, using her palms to form two identical balls of light. She hurled them at Teela, and was nonplussed when the female Master was able to dodge them both. This was good, Teela was getting angry, and anger meant she would make mistakes. She ran at the Eternian, jumping up into the air in a feint.
Teela fell for it, also leaping into the air to intercept the Dereskian. Evil-Lyn swung her legs around in mid-air, while at the same time using her arms to make a pass at Teela's head. The redhead blocked her attack at her head, but doing so meant she could not see Lyn's legs coming in to hit her middle until it was too late. The spellcaster's legs connected with her foe's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her towards the ground.
The Eternian hit the ground roughly, her head coming into contact with a medium-sized rock. She gave a strangled, sharp cry of pain. Evil-Lyn swerved and landed on her side, the impact breaking the skin at her legs but otherwise doing nothing more serious than making her loose her breath. Her pointed helmet fell off of her head, dropping to the ground. Moon- colored hair spilled down her shoulders, ending at her middle back. She lay on the ground, semi-conscious, gasping for breath.
At Teela's cry, the entire battle had come to a sudden stop. Several of the evil warriors had been knocked unconscious, but an equal number of 'Masters' had also fallen. The other Masters who still remained standing were He-man, Man-at-Arms, Man-E-Faces, Ram-man, and Mekaneck. Those of Skeletor's warriors who were still able to fight were Skeletor himself, Trap-jaw, Beast-man, Clawful, and Tri-klops.
A moment of silence fell upon the field, followed by everyone speaking at once.
"Teela!" the entirety of the 'Masters' exclaimed.
"Teela!" the Sorceress shouted at the top of her lungs above it all. She turned immediately into Zoar the falcon and flew as fast as she possibly could
"Moritënia." Lady Moria whispered, already at her daughter's side, unseen and unheard to all others but her child.
After the initial shock was over, the Evil warriors noticed that this was their chance. They struck out without mercy upon their foes, bringing the 'Masters' back to reality.
Only one such sneak attack truly worked. Skeletor successfully brought his Havoc staff around He-man's head. The move snapped his staff, but the yellow-haired warrior was thrown back into the trees, and he collapsed onto the ground in a lifeless heap. Beyond the sight of all, the unconscious warrior melted away to form the senseless form of Prince Adam. He-man, protector of Grayskull, was defeated. A great laugh erupted from the Overlord of Evil, and he raised his broken staff in the air triumphantly.
The other Masters, who had not fallen so easily for such sneaky attacks, turned on their opponents with renewed ferocity. Skeletor noticed this, and he saw the Masters come steadily closer in their attacks. His eyeholes glowed red, and he climbed aboard his Terror-dactal, calling to the others, "Those that can, retreat!"
His minions were not far behind them, even those that had fallen were awakened by his call and rushed away, leaving only Evil-Lyn, who still lay, semi-conscious, with her head in her mother's arms.