It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and a pair of ex-Horde soldiers were planning on massacring some innocent frogs that just happened to be the size of a minivan.
"So...rules?" Adora asked, stretching her arms behind her head.
"No spells, and the first one to kill five frogs wins. And, just in case we get separated, we'll go by the kills recorded on our Adventurer's cards," Catra responded, touching her toes from a standing position.
"If we get separated, how will we know who killed five frogs first?" Adora asked, picking up her halberd and spinning it around.
"Good point. Okay, we'll meet up in...say two hours? And whoever has killed the most frogs first wins," Catra said, inspecting her claws.
"Sure. Wait! How will I find you?" Adora asked, quickly.
"Don't worry about that. I'll find you," Catra said, smiling smugly.
"Oh! With your new spell?" Adora said, smiling back.
"Yeah, definitely," Catra said, chuckling. "Alright, you ready? Begin!" And with that Adora was off, running full tilt towards the nearest frog. The frog was slow to react, turning to meet Adora's charge when she was already close, it open its mouth to bite at her, and she neatly dodged to the side. She turned her dodge into a spin, bringing the head of her halberd slamming into the frog's side. The frog staggered, and twisted to bite at her.
"Yaaa!" Adora yelled, tearing the halberd free and lowering it to thrust it into the frog's chest. Only to be interrupted by the frog collapsing to the ground dead, a large tear through its skull with Catra casually walking around the frog's back.
"Looks like I've got the lead," Catra said, shaking the blood off her hand.
"Catra! That one was mine!" Adora shouted.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Catra said, leaning nonchalantly against the frog.
"Grrr, well then, that big green one over there is mine! Go find your own," Adora said, pointing her halberd over at a green frog a short distance away. Adora charged at it again, and this time the frog noticed her sooner, and started lashing out at her with its tongue. She dodged, and dodged again. She'd make a few steps, and have to fling herself out of the way of the next swipe of the frog's tongue. Finally she reached the frog and thrust the spike of her halberd into the frog's chest. She pulled it out and prepared to bring her halberd down in a crushing blow, only to find another dead frog.
"That makes two," Catra said, smugly from onto of the frog.
"Catra, that one was mine and you know it," Adora shouted, angrily.
"You were taking too long, so I stepped in," Catra said, tauntingly.
"If I'm taking too long, then get your own frog!" Adora yelled, glaring.
"Yeah? Why should I?" Catra asked, leaning forward.
"Because..." Adora paused, thinking. "Because if you don't, I'm just going to sit here, and do nothing!" she said, sitting down.
"So you're just giving up then?" Catra asked.
"What? No! It'll be a tie. Or you'll start on your own frog and I'll catch up," Adora said, looking surprised.
"Yeah, but if I don't go get my own frog, and you just sit here, then in two hours I'll have killed more frogs than you. And that makes me the winner," Catra explained, smugly.
"Grrr, and you're fine winning by cheating?" Adora growled.
"Hey, a win's a win. And we never said anything about stealing kills from one another, so I'm not cheating either," Catra said, shrugging.
"Fine then!" Adora shot to her feet and began walking away. "If that's how you're going to be than there's just one thing to do."
"Uhhh, what's that?" Catra asked, following after Adora and trying to ignore how her stomach twisted at Adora's angry tone.
"I'm just going to have to kill the frogs in a single hit!" Adora declared, slamming the butt of her halberd into the dirt.
"And how are you going to do that? Remember, we said no magic," Catra said, letting out a silent sigh of relief.
"You'll see," Adora said, shooting Catra a cocky grin. With that she selected a new frog in the distance and charged, shouting a warcry. The frog's tongue lashed out at her, but Adora didn't bother to dodge, letting the frog drag her into its mouth.
"This again? Remember Adora, we agreed no magic!" Catra called after Adora. Contrary to her expectations, the frog just sat there, only a small lump showing that Adora was still in its mouth and not swallowed into its stomach. "Adora?" Catra called, a little bit of worry creeping into her voice. "Shit!" she charged after the frog but by the time she reached it, the frog gave a croak and collapsed. There was a bit of muffled cursing, before a slime and gore covered Adora crawled out of the frog's mouth, breathing heavily.
"And that's one for me," Adora gasped, smiling triumphantly.
"How? Why?!" Catra asked, flabbergasted.
"I shoved my halberd up through the roof of the mouth straight into the brain," Adora said, cheerfully. "And I thought why I did it was obvious."
"I meant, why are you like this?" Catra clarfied, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You're absolutely disgusting now."
"I mean sure," Adora said, shrugging. "But winning is more important. And don't pretend you wouldn't do the same if you were in my shoes."
"I'd at least do it with a bit more-eww Adora, stop it!" Catra interrupted herself, as Adora shook herself like a dog, sending slime flying everywhere. Catra hissed and sprang backwards, getting herself clear.
"Sorry," Adora said, grinning unrepentantly. She spun her halberd, flinging slime and gore off of it. "I'm going to get my next frog. Better hurry Catra, or I'll catch up," she added, walking away.
"Don't get cocky, Adora," Catra said, warmly, before looking for a frog of her own. She spotted a white frog a fair distance away and began stalking it. "Okay, so I need to be quick about this. Once she realizes I'm not following her Adora can switch back to fighting frogs the normal way. What I did yesterday simply won't work," she whispered to herself.
Coming up with a plan of attack, Catra snuck as close as she dared, getting within a couple of meters of the giant amphibian. Picking up a clump of dirt, she threw it behind herself. It landed with a thud, and Catra quickly pressed herself to the ground, activating her stealth skill. The frog turned around, looking towards the noise, and Catra pounced. She shot forward, and leaped as high as she could, bringing her claws across the frog's eye. The power of her skill activated, completely devastating the frog's face, which croaked in distress. She followed up with a few more slashes and to her delight found that her Finishing Blow was immediately able to be used.
"Alright. So long as my first strike hits something critical, I'll be able to finish the frog off quickly," Catra said to herself. "I should be able to win like this." Catra got to work. She picked out a frog, carefully attacked it, and finished it off quickly. She had just pounced to attack her sixth frog when her attack was thrown off by an explosion so loud and large the ground practically vibrated with the force of its shockwave.
Shit, Adora must be in trouble, Catra thought, her blinding blow just causing a small scrape instead. She irritably dodged the frog's tongue.
"I don't have time for you," she informed the frog, running away from it and repeatedly dodging its attempts to eat her. She followed the beacon in her head, her skill pointing out exactly which direction Adora was in. To her complete lack of surprise, Catra found herself headed right in the direction the explosion came from.
"Caaaaatrraaaa!" Adora called from far away. "Whheeerrrrreee aaarrrreeee yoouuuuu?" Catra rolled her eyes and hurried up. Adora was walking along a dirt trail, her halberd over one shoulder and a hand cupped around her mouth to make her voice louder. Catra snuck up behind Adora and lightly poked her in the back. "Aaahh!" Adora yelped, spinning around and bringing her halberd down in a massive chop. Catra neatly stepped to the side, grinning.
"Geeze Adora, what do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"Catra! You're alright!" Adora said, beaming. "I mean, of course you're alright. Why wouldn't you be?"
"I don't know? Did you wake up some ancient war machine and now it's blowing up the forest?" Catra asked, glancing past Adora to look for any rising dust clouds or other signs of trouble.
"I did not! Do you really think I'd be walking around calling your name if that was the case?" Adora asked, offended.
"Yes. Literally yes. That is exactly what I'd expect you to do," Catra said, bluntly. Adora huffed and crossed her arms, pouting. "So if you didn't cause the explosion, what did?"
"I don't know. I thought you must have pissed off a dragon or an arch-mage or something," Adora said. "So I was trying to find you as fast as possible."
"Well I didn't," Catra said, shortly.
"Well if you didn't cause the explosion, and I didn't cause the explosion, who did?" Adora asked, looking puzzled.
"Who knows? Let's go find out," Catra said, eagerly. The pair walked down the trail, keeping on guard but chatting as they went. "So what do you think it is? I'm guessing it's a robot," she said.
"Why a robot?" Adora asked.
"Because if working with Entrapta taught me anything, it's that robots explode. I actually planned on making a trap out of exploding robots but never got around to using it," Catra said.
"Why not? That sounds really effective," Adora asked, brow furrowing as she thought.
"Mostly because Entrapta would never allow it. But also it wouldn't be that effective. Most of the princesses fight at range, and with Sparkles around, they could retreat in seconds. The only princesses we'd be able to reliably hit was She-Ra," Catra said, shrugging. "And that wasn't really an option."
"Aww, so you didn't want to hurt me so you didn't use them," Adora said, crooning.
"I mean, yeah, kinda. But not really?" Catra said, wiggling a hand back and forth. "Like I said, Entrapta was the main reason I didn't use them. She would never have allowed me to build suicide bots as it would be 'too cruel'. As for She-Ra, I mostly thought it just wasn't worth it. She basically instantly healed any injury I managed to inflict on her, so just hurting her was pointless."
"Oh. Well that's disappointing," Adora said, face falling and sighing.
"Yeah, well, I was being awful," Catra said, shrugging uncomfortably. "What do you think caused the explosion?" she asked, blatantly changing the subject.
"I'm not sure. Does ancient superweapon count as a robot?" Adora asked.
"I mean, if it's a robot then yes," Catra said.
"Hmmm," Adora chewed on her lip. "Well I'm going with superweapon or someone fighting a superweapon anyways," she decided.
"That's two! That's cheating," Catra protested.
"Fine, well if it was someone blowing up a robot, then you still win," Adora said. "And speaking of winning, how many frogs did you get? I got five."
"Five, but I was working on my sixth when the explosion happened. So I would've had six," Catra said.
"Pfhhh, if that's how you want to count I would be at eight. One for the frog I was walking towards and two for the ones you stole," Adora said, shoving Catra with her shoulder.
"Don't do that Adora! You're still covered in slime! Ew!" Catra yelped, trying to brush the slime off of her with a hand and just sort of smearing it around. "Damn it!"
"That's what you get for cheating," Adora said, smugly.
"I didn't cheat! Those were legitimate kills that I stole from you fair and square," Catra protested, grinning.
"You can't legitimately steal something!" Adora said, taking another swipe at Catra who ducked away.
"Sure I can. It wasn't against the rules so it was legitimate. And I totally stole those kills from you. So a legitimate steal," Catra said, sticking her tongue out at Adora.
"Why you little-wait, did you her that?" Adora interrupted herself, cupping a hand around her ear. Catra's ears twitched.
"Yeah. Sounds like a pair of people talking. Quick Adora, hide over here," Catra said, grabbing Adora's hand and pulling her behind some bushes. "Shh!" she hissed when Adora opened her mouth to say something. They waited for several minutes in the bushes as the voices got closer.
"I'm just saying that maybe some of the other detonation spells are worth looking at too. They might not be as good as explosion but you could at least use them multiple times," a male voice said.
"Never! Do you think some inferior copy could satisfy the likes of me? You might as well as me to go without sleep or drink!" a female voice responded. Adora and Catra looked at each other.
"Did they somehow not notice the explosion?" Adora asked.
"That's impossible. No, either they are the cause of the explosion, or they are friends with whatever was the cause," Catra responded.
"They sound pretty normal. I don't think they are a threat," Adora said, doubtfully.
"Doesn't mean they aren't part of the Demon King's army," Catra said.
"Well...maybe it does," Adora suggested. "We don't actually know what forces make up the Demon King's army. Besides this town is famed for being far from the front lines and is basically a training camp for adventurers. What are the odds they are actually agents of the Demon King and not just a couple of adventurers?"
"You've got a point," Catra said, nodding. "I guess I dragged us into this bush for nothing."
"Guess so," Adora nodded, "lets go say hi!" she added, brightly, bounding out from the bush.
"Adora!" Catra shouted, chasing after her.
"Hello there! Did you hear that explosion? Do you know what caused it?" Adora said, brightly, waving to the adventurers approaching them, a young boy and girl, with the brown haired boy carrying the girl on his back.
"You saw my explosion! Did it make you tremble in awe? Did it leave you speechless?" the girl asked, eagerly.
"I saw it alright," Catra said. "And I thought 'this means trouble."
"You got that right," the boy said, snorting. The girl smacked the boy on the head who merely rolled his eyes.
"Anyways, I'm Adora and this is Catra. Who are you?" Adora said, gesturing to Catra. The girl smiled, and struck a pose, spreading her arms out in a T.
"I am Megumin! Foremost Arch-Wizard of Axel and user of Explosion magic! And this is my faithful retainer-" she was interrupted as the boy abruptly let go of her legs. "Ah! Kazuma don't drop me!" she shouted, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Sorry, my hands slipped," Kazuma said, blandly.
"They did not!" Megumin yelled, tightening her grip and strangling Kazuma who began flailing around. Adora laughed.
"It's good to meet you! So you created that explosion huh? That's really impressive," she said.
"It'd be more impressive if she could move afterwards," Kazuma muttered.
"Shush, you," Megumin said, poking Kazuma. "And of course it is! Explosion is the ultimate spell! Be it demon, dragon, or even the gods themselves, no one is immune to its power!"
"That does sound impressive," Catra admitted, looking Megumin over, "but it immobilizes you afterwards?"
"Basically," Kazuma said, shrugging. "The spell takes up so much mana that Megumin collapses after using it. It takes her most of the day to recover from it."
"Ooh, that's really risky. Especially with only one person to protect you afterwards. What were you fighting that you needed to use such a powerful spell on?" Adora asked, eagerly.
"She was entertaining herself by blowing up an abandoned castle," Kazuma said.
"My practice is important!" Megumin protested.
"You must be pretty confident in your friend though. I mean, you're basically monster bait right now, and if a giant frog got you, you couldn't do anything to escape," Catra said.
"Nah, giant frogs are easy. When they are eating someone they are basically helpless. So if one of them tries to attack us, I just feed them Megumin, kill them, and then pull her out. Easy peasy," Kazuma said.
"Man, that's pretty low, even by my standards," Catra said, looking torn between approving and disapproving of such tactics. Adora frowned, flat out disapproving.
"Well it looks like you guys aren't any better," Kazuma said, defensively. "I see blood on your claws and your friend is covered in frog slime and dirt. So looks like you took advantage of a frog eating her to kill it as well."
"Impressive observation, but I'm not nearly as pathetic to need to immobilize a frog before I kill it," Catra said, sneering.
"Yeah, I only got eaten because that's the fastest way to kill frogs," Adora said. "Once I'm in their mouth, I stab them in the brain with my halberd," Adora elaborated when she saw Kazuma's and Megumin's baffled faces.
"That's disgusting," Kazuma said. "Why would you even bother?"
"Because Catra was cheating and it was the only way I'd catch up," Adora said, confusing them more.
"We were racing to see who could kill five frogs faster," Catra explained.
"There must have been some prize if she was willing to go that far to win," Kazuma said. He sighed when they stared blankly at him. "There was a prize right?" he asked, weakly. The stayed silent. "Seriously? Nothing? Then why did you go so far in order to win?"
"Because I...wanted to win? Is this a trick question?" Adora asked, slowly.
"Not that you won," Catra added, underneath her breath.
"You're absolutely crazy," Kazuma said, sighing and shaking his head. "Why don't I ever meet any normal girls?"
"Dunno, what's a normal girl?" Adora asked, cheerfully.
"Probably some weakling who would faint at the sight of blood and couldn't fight off a cadet," Catra said, sneering.
"Oh, so a civilian. Do you know any civilians Kazuma?" Adora asked, nodding.
"Sure, I know...wait, do I know any civilians?" Kazuma said, interrupting himself. He hummed to himself. "Is that why everyone I meet is such a weirdo?"
"Like you aren't just as weird as the rest of us," Megumin said, mockingly.
"What do you mean? I'm completely normal," Kazuma protested.
"Pfffhht, if you were normal you'd be some boring merchant. Instead you are an Adventurer, the undisputed weakest class of them all, and are still aiming to take down the Demon King. You made friends with a lich, and despite acting as rude as you please, you still aren't honest about anything that matters to you," Megumin said, fondly. "Face it Kazuma, you are just as weird as the rest of us."
"...I need a drink," Kazuma said, with his eyes wide and face pale.
/*/
They met back up at the Adventurer's Guild after Adora had taken a bath. Catra spotted Kazuma and Megumin at a table along with two other girls, and dragged Adora over to meet them. A few introductions later, and Adora was staring in awe as Aqua performed trick after trick while Catra enjoyed the unfamiliar taste of booze. She glanced over at Kazuma who was already three drinks in and working on his fourth.
"Seriously dude? Was it that much of a shock to realize that you have to be kinda weird in order to voluntarily fight monsters for money?" Catra asked, stealing a frog leg from his plate and munching on it.
"You don't get it," Kazuma said, moping. "Megumin is obsessed with Explosions, Darkness is a hard core masochist, and Aqua is..." he trailed off, gesturing to Aqua who was currently mixing cocktails that were separated vertically by drink color.
"How is she even doing that?" Catra muttered as Aqua passed the drink to Adora who took a sip and then beamed in delight.
"I don't know, but she's obsessed with it. They are all a bunch of weirdos who are so focused on their own obsessions to be nearly useless. And I'm one of them," Kazuma said, bitterly. "Just another weirdo so consumed by his obsessions to be practically useless."
"Oh get over yourself," Catra said, rolling her eyes. "Normal people are just a bunch of pathetic princess worshiping pansies. Even Kyle is more useful then them, and the only thing he ever succeeded at was making other people look good."
"Who's Kyle?" Kazuma asked, squinting his eyes as he slurred his words.
"Just the worst Horde Solider ever," Catra said, taking another gulp from her mug. "That's not the point. The point is that the most dangerous people were also complete freaks. Entrapta cared more about bots then people and she was probably the smartest person on the planet. Scorpia was a goofball with self-esteem issues and she could literally throw a tank."
"Tanks? Bots?" Kazuma muttered.
"Yeah, they aren't normal. Adora's not normal, and I'm certainly not normal either. We're better than normal. We're exceptional," Catra said, shoving her mug in Kazuma's face and spilling beer in his hair. "Normal people are people like these waitresses. They get to bring us food and drink, living nice long boring lives without any power or control while weirdos like us end up deciding the shape of history."
"What are you talking about? With one breath you're mentioning tanks and robots, and the other you're talking about people named things like Scorpia. Plus you're a catgirl. You clearly aren't from Earth, but you aren't from here either," Kazuma said, suspiciously.
"Earth? As in dirt? And I thought Brightmoon was a dumb name," Catra said, laughing. She drank some more, and then looked confused at her empty mug.
"Brightmoon is so much worse than Earth. Plus that's just the name of the planet. My country's name is Japan," Kazuma countered.
"Hey, I'm not from Brightmoon anyways. And my planet is named Etheria," Catra said, grabbing another drink off a nearby waitress.
"Yeah?" Kazuma asked, swaying a little. "I thought only people of Earth could be reincarnated and sent here to fight."
"Why?"
"That's..." Kazuma raised a finger, "...actually a really good point. But shouldn't we be swamped in heroes than?" he asked, lower the finger.
"Pff, no way. It's a pretty shit deal they've got going. Give up living in paradise or reincarnating into a good life in order to fight a war against some Demon King? For no reward and only some weapon or 'item' to give you a chance? Only a weirdo like Adora would take a deal like that," Catra said, mockingly.
"Why are you here then?" Kazuma asked, suspiciously.
"Because-"
"Catra!" A giggly Adora shouted, throwing herself at Catra and landing in her lap. "Did ya know Aqua is a Goddess?" she asked, gasping in surprise. "Catra! You have fluffy ears!"
"Yeah?" Catra asked, giggling. "Well your breath smells funny."
"Heheeheh, boop!" Adora giggled, poked Catra in the nose, and slid off her lap and landed on the floor. "Ow. Catra you're tall now."
"Geeze, you're a mess," Catra said, poking Adora with her foot. "What's wrong with you?"
"She's drunk," Kazuma said, flatly. "Haven't you ever seen someone drunk before?"
"Drunk? Whaz that?" Catra said, slurring.
"You know that lightheaded dizzy feeling you have? That means you're drunk," Kazuma explained, resting his head against the table.
"Cool," Catra looked down at Adora, who was smiling widely with her eyes closed. "I think we should get going to bed." She bent down and picked up Adora, who giggled and flung her arms around Catra's neck.
"Caatra, the world is spinning me round and round," she said, leaning heavily into Catra who stumbled backwards, falling over.
"Adora! Get off of me," Catra said, grinning and pushing against Adora, who tightened her grip in response.
"Yer shooooo cute Catra. I just wanna kiss you," Adora said, leaning towards Catra.
"Geeze Adora, what's gotten into you?" Catra asked, blushing. She looked around the room to distract herself and saw Kazuma ogling them. "Hey, eyes to yourself bu-" she snapped, getting cut off by Adora giving her a quick kiss.
"Hehe, I got youuu," Adora sang, shooting to her feet and dancing away. She immediately collided with a chain, flipping over it, and landing flat on her face. "Ow," she said, flatly.
"Come on Adora, lets get you to bed," Catra said, picking Adora up.
"Aww, but I wanna dance," Adora said, pouting.
"Maybe tomorrow. I want to sleep," Catra said, insistently. "Come on, don't look at me like that," she said, when Adora gave her puppy dog eyes.
"Alright," Adora said, grumpily. The pair left the Adventurer's Guild, and headed back to their stable. They were out in a field and almost sober when Adora spoke up. "Hey Catra?" she asked.
"Yeah Adora?" Catra said.
"Did you know Aqua is a goddess?" Adora asked.
"Yeah, you said that earlier too. I don't see it. Goddesses are probably like that angel lady, but even more so. All judgmental and pretending to be understanding. Aqua is way too carefree and fun loving to be a goddess. She's probably just joking or delusional," Catra said, smirking.
"Oh..." Adora said, nodding. "Still. She was talking about the benefits about joining her Cult. A lot of it was silly stuff like smelling nice, or becoming super lucky, but there was one really important thing. She said that faithful followers of Aqua would be guaranteed to reincarnate into a new life in a world called Japan."
"What are you getting at?" Catra asked, eyes narrowing and her voice tense.
"What if this is a way out? Like, if we become Aqua Cultists then we won't have to worry about being separated when we die," Adora said, looking away from Catra.
"What, do you think I'm so weak that I'm going to just up and die? Or maybe you think I can't be good, even if I try?" Catra snapped. Adora flinched and looked down. "That's it, isn't it? You think I'm a villain to the core, and that the only way I'm going to avoid Hell is by becoming some worshipper of some princess-like goddess," she said, sneering.
"No! You can be good, I know it!" Adora protested, grabbing Catra's hands and looking her in the eye. "But..."
"Then you think I can't take care of myself. That I'm going to die on you," Catra said, coldly. Adora looked away. "That's it, isn't it? I can't believe you! You still think you're so much better than me that you need to worry about me dying?" Catra asked, tearing her hands free of Adora's and turning away from her.
"That's not it Catra," Adora said, quickly moving around to stand in front of Catra. "I'm not any better than you. I might die. And if you die then I better have died trying to stop it. But I'm not worried about dying. They said I would go to Heaven, or have a comfy reincarnation awaiting me."
"And I'm hell-bound," Catra said, harshly. She paused when Adora flinched. Catra took a deep breath, and reached out, lifting up Adora's chin to see her wide blue eyes and took note of her trembling shoulders. "You're really scared by this," Catra said, softly.
"We aren't special anymore Catra. I'm no longer She-Ra, you are no longer the Horde's second in command. We don't have anyone to pull us out of danger, no reinforcements to come save us. Nothing. If we bite off more than we can chew, we'll just die," Adora said.
"Adora," Catra said, sighing. She pulled Adora into a hug. "You're forgetting how awesome we are. We deserved our positions from how powerful and skilled we are. And sure, we might not have armies or princesses backing us up anymore, but once we get enough levels under our belt, that won't matter at all. We'll become so strong that no one will be a match for us."
"Still, can't we at least look into this whole religion thing?" Adora asked, hugging Catra tightly.
"Okay. For you," Catra said, comfortingly. "But I'm not promising anything okay? If I don't like to sound of it, then we ignore them, got it?"
"Okay," Adora said, softly.
"Alright, now lets go to bed. We'll check out these cults tomorrow," Catra said, wiggling free of Adora's grasp. The two of them crawled into their bale of hay and quickly fell asleep.
Author's Notes: So I'll admit that often when I need to decide how Adora acts, I think about a golden retriever I know and ask what they'd do in the same circumstance. So far, it's working pretty well.
Also I really thought Kazuma was going to piss off Catra more, but that didn't end up happening. Maybe later.