Her vision was flooded with bright burning pink. The last fragments of reality were pulling her away from her goal. She's scared. More scared than she'd ever been in her life. But she was determined. She wasn't going to fail. Not when it was all on the line. With one last reach, she felt her hand wrap around the hilt. She pulled against the suction that wished to erase her existence.

The Sword glimmered. She gave one last determined tug and it came free from the last patch of earth. She raised it high into the air and cried out "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

The suction wrapped around her. It pulled her through and then suddenly vanished. She could feel it. The universe was becoming whole again.

She did it. Her friends would be safe. All of them.

A gentle voice, full of pain, shouting "Adora!" was the last thing she heard before a blinding light consumed her and she knew no more.

—

He awoke with a start. His head hurt. His muscles were cramped. He could see his gloved hands bound by rope. Voices argued back and forth.

"You got what you were after, so pay up!" Said one with a gruff voice.

"You're crying in the rain, pally." Another huffed.

"Guess who's waking up over here." A third one sneered.

He dared to look up and saw three men standing above him. Two were dressed in tribal gear, one with a large orange mohawk, and another wearing a headband.

The one that stood out was the one in-between the two tribals. He wore a black and white checkered suit and looked much cleaner than the two tribals. He took a puff of his cigarette before tossing it in the ground and stomping it out.

"Time to cash out." The checkered man stepped toward him and stared into his eyes. The tribal with the headband opened his arms and huffed.

"Would you get it over with?!"

The checkered man raised two fingers, silencing the tribal. "Maybe Khans kill people without looking them in the face." He paused and turned his eyes to the Khan. "But, I ain't a fink. Dig?"

The Khan crossed his arms and snorted. The checkered man turned back to the tied up man. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small platinum poker chip.

"You made your last delivery, kid." He says plainly as he put the chip away and replaced it with a silver embroidered pistol. "From where you're standing, it looks like an eighteen-carat run of back luck."

The man struggled with his bindings, not taking his eyes off the checkered man's face. The checkered man took aim. "The truth is… the game was rigged from the start."

There was a flash and crack. As his world snaps to black. The checkered man's face burned into the bound man's memory as he swore vengeance.

She-Ra:

New Vegas

A young blonde girl shot out of bed with a start. Her eyes slammed shut as they were exposed to the sunlight bleeding in through the boarded windows. She screamed and regretted it immediately as her throat burned from use. She needed water. She needed to get up.

The girl wrestled her way out of the sheet and planted her feet on the wooden floor. Before she could stand up, however, an older man dressed in dark clothing rushed into the room.

"Woah, there! Sit right there for a moment!" He said. His voice was soft, yet commanding. The girl did as she was told. She eyed the man wearily as he walked over to her.

"You've been out for a while now. Your legs are probably way too stiff to walk, let alone stand up." He placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Would you like some water?"

The girl nodded. The man turned toward a large cabinet at the other end of the room. The girl watched his every move as he opened the cabinet door and grabbed a small canteen from the top shelf.

He came back and handed it to her. She looked at it for a brief second, taking note of the faded 13 on the side. She opened the cap and guzzled down the surprisingly cold water.

In moments, the canteen was empty, and the girl still felt a dryness in her throat. The man took the canteen back and filled it with water from a nearby bowl.

"Here, drink this one a little more slowly." The girl nodded and did as she was told. After a couple of sips, she felt much better.

"Now, can you tell me your name?" The man asked as gently as possible.

The girl blinked. It took her a moment to think about it. "Adora."

The man nodded. "Doc Mitchell. A pleasure to meet you, Adora." Adora couldn't help but smile. The way Doc spoke and smiled at her put her at ease. But that smile was short-lived as she took in her surroundings.

She was in a room that had seen better days. The paint was peeling. Dust floated in the air. The floor was covered in grime, and the bed she sat in felt very stiff and not comfortable at all.

"Where am I?"

"You're in my office in Goodsprings. You've been here a few days now."

A few days?! Her face betrayed her shock as Doc nodded. "I'm afraid so. You were found just outside of town on the side of the road. We found nothing on ya except for the clothes on your back."

Her clothes? That was when Adora realized something. She looked down and saw that she had almost nothing on her except a bra and underwear. Her face flushed red as it hit her that she was practically naked in front of this man.

Doc Mitchell laughed. "Relax, I've seen all there is to see and no one else has been in here. Your modesty's safe."

That didn't alleviate Adora's embarrassment at all. She covered herself with a blanket and asked "C-Can I have my clothes back, please?" Mitchell rubbed the back of his head.

"Unfortunately, your clothes were ruined. I'll be honest, it looked like you got into a fight with a gecko, barely won, and got thrown into a campfire." Adora's eyes widened in horror. What happened to her?

"But don't worry, I have a solution." Doc walked back over to the cabinet and pulled out an old blue and yellow jumpsuit. The knees and shoulder had some armor padding on them, with a leather ammo belt wrapped diagonally across the chest. Adora could make out a faded 13 on the back, just like in the canteen.

"Here's my wife's old jumpsuit. Don't worry about fitting into it. Vault-Tec made them one size fits all." Adora reached out for the clothing. But Doc laid it out on a nearby chair.

"I'll let you put this on in a minute, but I need to check your wounds first." He motioned for Adora to lay on her stomach to look at the wounds covering her back and shoulders. Large gashes, some smaller scratches, and spots of bruising crossed her back like a checkerboard. The doctor pulled out a small bottle of liquid and dabbed a rag on it. Adora winced as the liquid soaked into her wounds.

"Just some alcohol to make sure there's no infection. Then a stimpack to help heal the wounds faster." He explained. Adora had no idea what a stimpack was, but if it helped her, she wasn't going to question it. She felt a small prick in her arm. A cooling sensation washed across her body and the burning pain from the alcohol disappeared. After a few minutes, Adora was allowed to roll back over and sit up.

"Now that that's over with. Can you tell me what happened?" Doc's question was simple. Adora thought back on what happened. Nothing.

How… How could she remember nothing?! Just pink. That's it?! The Color Pink?! What attacked her? An animal? How did she end up on the side of a road? Why couldn't she remember?! It was getting hard to breathe. Hard to focus. Her mind was racing, trying to find an answer that didn't exist. But she knew there had to be one. She had to find it!

Pressure on her uninjured shoulder got her mind to focus once again. Doc Mitchell has his hand placed gently, yet firmly on her shoulder. He gazed into her eyes, then nodded. "I see." He sat back down. "What do you remember? Like… where're you from?"

"I…" Nothing. "I don't know. All I know is… my name. That's it."

Doc Mitchell hummed for a moment. "Interesting. I may have a solution for that." He stood up. "Get dressed and meet me over in the next room." Adora waited for the door to close behind him before standing up. She quickly slipped into the jumpsuit and found that it did indeed fit. A little too well. She walked over to a mirror and looked herself over.

The armored jumpsuit hugged her body tightly, leaving very little to the imagination. She could see the muscles she had. While not as strong as… not as strong as… who was she thinking about there? She shook the thought from her mind and focused on the mirror. She had some muscle, enough to turn some heads. Then her 'assets' weren't that bad either. Those would definitely turn some heads.

Her hair was dark blonde. It stretched down past her shoulders. For some reason, it felt wrong. She looked around the room and saw some loose string. She made a small loop and went to work with her hair.

It took a few minutes of fiddling around, but eventually she found a style that she liked. A long ponytail with a small puff up above her forehead. For some reason, it felt right. This was her style and she rocked it. With a confident grin, she turned around and stepped out of the room into a small hallway. The hallway looked just as bad as her room. Only now there was a long shelf covered in burned and grimy books, Adora couldn't help but wonder what happened to this place to look almost… ruined.

She walked into another open door and saw Doc standing next to a large red and white machine with images and numbers splashed across the screen. Adora looked over the machine as Doc Mitchel explained.

"This here is a vigor tester machine, it helps people get a baseline of themselves to see what kind of person they are. It's not one hundred percent accurate, but it does the job well enough for the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. tests back in the Vault."

Adora had no idea what any of that meant. But she did as the Doc instructed her to do by walking up the machine and gripping the stick. Something pricked her hand once again and the machine began to chime. Lights flickered on and off, panels flipped around, and eventually, a score was settled.

Adora looked at each word on the list and the corresponding number.

Strength: 7

Perception: 5

Endurance: 7

Charisma: 4

Intelligence: 5

Agility: 6

Luck: 6

Doc Mitchell looked over her results and hummed to himself. Adora realized that he liked to do that a lot.

"Not a bad score at all. Pretty strong person if I do say so myself." He looked at her expectantly and she stared back at him with a neutral face. What did he expect to happen? Sure, she now knew how strong and lucky she was, but that didn't help her remember her home or her family. Did she have a family?

Doc came to the same conclusion and had another idea. He had Adora follow him into another room, this one had a large couch and a chair. Doc sat down in the chair while Adora sat on the couch. It was slightly more comfortable than the bed.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to answer them as honestly as you can, okay?"

Adora nodded and listened as Doc began his query. "Alright, I'm going to say a word and you're going to say the first thing that comes to mind."

"Dog."

Adora didn't know what a dog was. Perhaps an animal? What do you do with animals? You feed them? That sounded right. "Feed."

"House."

"Shelter." That came out before she had time to even think about it. It felt right. Maybe she was overthinking things. Maybe this was the point of the exercise. Just say what felt right.

"Night."

"Shroud." For some reason, Adora hated the night. It meant darkness. She hated the dark.

"Enemy."

"Crush." That was instinct. She had to crush her enemies. But… What enemy? Did she have enemies?

"Light."

That pink light. The pain. The blinding "Flash."

Doc raised an eyebrow at that and paused. Adora felt like she said something wrong when he continued. "Mother."

Something came over Adora at that moment. That word. It did something to her; made her feel "Regret."

There was a long silence. Adora looked down at her hands. Her thoughts swelled around that word. She knew what those feelings were. But she didn't know why she had them. She didn't know why she couldn't put a face to that word and it made her feel so much worse. What did that word mean to her besides regret? Why?

Doc took a deep breath. "Okay." Adora looked up. She closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose. Like a soldier, she pulled herself together and sat up straight.

"Now, I've got a few statements here. I want you to tell me how much they'd sound like something you'd say. Just tell me if you agree or disagree." Adora nodded.

"Conflict just isn't in my nature."

Adora thought about it. As she did, she felt like she'd disagree. Something stirred in her, a need to fight. To win. "Strongly Disagree."

"I ain't given to relying on others for support."

"Strongly Disagree." Something gnawed at her. She felt lonely. Like a part of her was missing. Maybe she did have a family, or at least some friends. Were they looking for her? Were they out there somewhere?

"I'm always fixing to be the center of attention."

"Disagree."

"I'm slow to embrace new ideas."

"No opinion."

"I charge in to deal with my problems head-on."

"Strongly agree." Her face shifted to a determined grin. Her instincts told her that she would do what it took to win, to never turn back. This filled her with a confidence she didn't know she had. It felt so damn good.

Doc smiled at her change in attitude. Perhaps this was helping her after all.

"Almost done here." He reached below the seat and pulled out some boards. "Why don't we take a look at these and you tell me what you see?"

He lifted up the first image. An ink blot that looked to Adora like "a shadow in the doorframe."

A shadow floated into the doorframe. Adora felt a chill go down her spine. Like whatever was hidden within that blot of darkness was dangerous. Like it was about to hurt her. She couldn't move no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't escape the Shadow!

"What about this?" The next ink blot completely derailed Adora's dark train of thoughts. Her face was beet red as a rather 'risque' image appeared in her head. "I'd… rather not say what that is."

Doc chuckled to himself, which only added to her embarrassment. Was her mind always this deep in the gutter? "Okay, last one."

Adora studied this one carefully. It looked familiar, somehow. Like a face she struggled to remember. "A bearded man." She couldn't place where she had seen a bearded man. Maybe he was the reason she ended up here.

Doc noticed her face shift as she studied that last ink blot. He had hoped that these tests would trigger a memory. For a moment, he thought it worked. Perhaps all Adora needed was a chance to see the world around her. Maybe the sights will trigger a memory that can help her.

He doubted she'd get a chance to remember anything if she was cooped up in his house all day. "Well, that's all she wrote. Looking at your charts here, I'd say you did pretty well. Did anything pop out at you? Perhaps an image or a face?"

"Yeah, that bearded man. I feel like I've seen someone like that recently. I don't know where though."

Doc thought about everyone he knew with a beard. Only one name came to mind, but Easy Pete wasn't someone who'd dump an unconscious person on his doorstep and leave.

Maybe someone in the nearby town of Primm would know. "As far as I can tell, you're mentally sound for the most part. The memory loss may be temporary." Least he hoped it was. "So I should be able to turn you loose."

Adora didn't know how to feel about that. Her body screamed for a chance to leave, yet her mind begged for her to stay a little longer. It was safe here with Doc Mitchell. She didn't know what lay beyond the walls of his home.

But she needed answers. Doc pulled out a small box with a handle on the end of it. It was made from worn metal and looked well past its prime.

"I have to ask before I give this to you. Do you know how to handle a gun?"

Adora's confused expression was his answer. "Okay. I'll give this to you in its holster. You'll not take it out until you have enough experience with a firearm to use it." He unhooked the holster from his belt and tucked the weapon safely inside.

"Talk to Sunny down at the Saloon. She'll be more than willing to teach you." He smiled as he thought about the young girl. "So long as you tell her I sent ya."

Adora took hold of the holstered weapon, carefully attaching it to her hip. Suddenly, her excitement to leave was drowned by fear. Fear of the unknown, the forgotten part of her life. A part of her didn't want to know.

"Alright, guess it's time for us to part ways. Don't come back too soon, ya hear?" The way he smiled put Adora at ease. With a confident grin, she opened the wooden door and stepped outside.

Doc watched until the door was closed behind her. He stood in that hallway for a moment, hoping he made the right choice.

Groaning in the other room caught his attention. Sounds like his other patient was starting to wake up. He walked inside and watched as a man with bandages wrapped around his head stirred.

(This is a reupload of my old story, with some improvements to the story in light of She-Ra's ending. Please let me know what you guys think.)