A/N: Final WOrd Count: 10.6k Pre-A/N's. Gah, finally! What took you guys so long?! I've been waiting forever for an update!... Wait... I think I had that backwards. Let me start over: Eh hem... !Etadpu na rof reverof gnitiaw neeb ev'I !?gonl os syug uoy koot tahW !yllanif ,haG ... There we go, I think I got it right now ^^

Lol, what's going on guys? HOOF, this was an enxhausting several weeks. Sorry for the long delay, as you can see, I'm fine now and I have not been replaced with some shadowy organization pretending to be me cause that would just be silly XP...SO DON'T LOOK INTO IT T_T...

Lol, but seriously though, sorry for the long delay on this one folks (not nearly long as the last one, mind you, but still XP). I wasn't caught up in any trouble, the recent news issues hasn't affected me in any sorta way (I think). No, this is all jotted down to a lack of medication on my end. Without going into too much detail, mostly cause I can't provide much, for the past several weeks I've been without my adderall for my ADHD and whatnot, the stuff that helps me focus and all. Not focusing isn't the issue for the delay.

The problem is that without my medication, my body has become so accustomed to it where if I don't take it in the morning, I'm drowsy and groggy to the point where I'm usually napping an hour or 2 of the day away around noon X/ I had enough trouble trying to stay awake till 3 or so when I would finally wake myself up, and by that point, I was to sluggish to do any writing for the rest of the day X/. Normally when I need a medication refill, it only takes a few days at most- here, IT TOOK NEARLY A FREAKING MONTH TO GET A REFILL FOR SOME REASON T_T Idk if it was a shipment issue (hence idk if the recent news stuff played a part in it) or something else, all I know is that I didn't get any pills till like last friday, and it took that amount of time to readjust to them again AND get my energy for writing back within the last several days.

Like seriously, I had the first third of this done over two weeks ago and haven't had the energy to write and finish until saturday, slowly building it up more and more, and eventually, viola.

Now with that said, don't expect my best writing to be below. It's been awhile and still trying to get some sluggishness out, so chances are I'll be 100% rusty from the below X/ Hopefully that still doesn't make it any less engaging and fun for the rest of you to read ^^

So, with that said, onward with the show!

...

...

...

"Huff..." Flutterina sighed as she sat on the boulder next to the Horde base, leaning on her hands as her elbows were planted firmly in her lap. "It's not fair." She complained, ignoring the feathered horse that continued to circle around her every now and again as he kept an eye out. "I help them get into the base itself and they don't want me to help them with the rest of the work?"

"It's not like they don't appreciate the help or anything, Flutterina." Swift Wind replied with a smile. "They're just concerned for your safety, that's all."

"I know, they told me that already. But I wish they would've trusted me enough to help them some more. I want to prove to them I can help out in the Rebellion just as much as they can."

"Flutterina, you're looking at it the wrong way." Swift Wind surized as he tried to think of a reasonable explanation. "They're not asking you to stay out of the way because they don't think you can handle it, they're asking you to stay out of the way because they don't trust themselves to keep you safe. When they're fighting in the field, they have to be able to keep the people around them safe along with themselves. If something happened to you, they would put the blame on themselves. Does that make sense?"

Flutterina sighed again as she lowered her head. "I guess so. But aren't you worried about Catra, too? Shouldn't we at least keep an eye on them?"

"Who? Catra? Pffft! Catra will be fine!" It was almost comical enough to make Swift Wind laugh at the very thought of it. "Did you forget she's the Legendary She-Ra?" It brightened his mood to see the girl herself smiling a little. "She can lift an entire tank like it was nothing and toss it threw the air."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! She once took on forty soldiers at once and came out of it without a scratch on her! ... I think she got her tail tased once though by accident, but don't tell her I said that." There was the small chuckle he wanted to see. Just because he was tasked with keeping the girl safe and on the spot didn't mean he couldn't keep her entertained, either. "Trust me, with Glimmer at her side, there's nothing she can't hand-nnghhhhh!" Before the noble and trusting steed could get his point across, his entire face twitched with an unruly expression as shivers were shot through his spine.

The sight of it was enough to startle the pink-haired girl a bit as she jumped from the boulder, watching the horse's face contort as if he was in a mix of pain, shock, and confusion all at the same time. "Swift Wind? Are you okay?"

It took Swift Wind a few seconds for the bizarre tingling sensation to finally pass through his body before he could compose himself. He just felt like he was shocked with a current of warmth and cold while being doused in a liquid that instantly evaporated. "Ghhhhh! I just felt like..." He didn't want to bring it up in front of Flutterina after mentioning how they were supposed to remain put, and he couldn't deny his eagerness to check on his dear friend as well.

"It's Catra, isn't it? Is she in trouble?" Honestly, he couldn't say.

He felt a sudden surge of emotions emanating from the young magicat's heart that filled the void of his mind with indefinite bouts of anger and despair. It was unlike anything he felt before from his friend, at least within recent months to this day. Even meeting Shadow Weaver again didn't fill her with the same fits of emotional anger that was now coursing through her. Whatever was setting Catra off, it was burning through her system at an alarming rate.

And he felt it teetering on the edge of no return, as if something she could do could break that bond forever.

"We have to go help her!"

"B-But we can't." As much as he wanted to, he still couldn't bring himself to break whatever trust he had with his fellow rider knowing how hard it was to regain that trust from her. "I promised Catra I'd keep an eye on you."

"But... Mmmmh..." The young girl tried to think of a solution to this dilemma, spending no more than several seconds as a thought occurred to her. "Well... technically she just said for you to keep me safe and to keep an eye on me, right?"

"Yeahhh...?"

"Well, couldn't you keep an eye on me while we both keep an eye on Catra, too?" She proposed with a curious smile. He had to admit, he actually found the idea quite convincing at the time. Catra always had a knack for twisting ideas and plans around in her favor, and situations like this were no exception. Then again, if something happened to Flutterina in the process, she would never forgive him for his carelessness or her mistrust in him.

"I-I know that, but-"

"Please, Swift Wind?" Oh, now she was just being unfair! How could he say no when she looked up to him with big pearly beg-filled eyes? "We'll stay out of their way and everything, I promise."

"Mmmh..." He gazed at the sky as he felt Catra's surge of anger one more time. Whatever was happening to her right now, it was making her lose control of her emotions and making her run rampant. When it came down to it, he'd much rather have a friend that was forever mad at him than have a friend who was forever gone for one reason or another.

With a heavy heart, and a moan, Swift Wind finally relented as he looked back. "Alright, but stay-" And came to realize that Flutterina was already running around the corner towards the entrance by the time he saw her again. "-close to me..." Smiling a litte, with the roll of his eyes, the ever-favorable horse galloped after her as quietly as possible. Looking back on it, he came to realize Catra was more than something the girl idolized. Catra was a symbol that Flutterina herself wanted to be in every possible way.

... Why did the thought of that make him shudder a little?

...

...

"Haaaaaah!" Catra screamed as she lunged for the girl again with her sword-turned-trident for the third time, leaving Adora more than a second of time to roll of the way before she found herself impaled like the solid concrete behind her. Shooting out two tendril-like shadows from the confines of her scarf, the mostly blonde Force Captain pulled herself away from the hazardous She-Ra as she tried to formulate a plan.

To say the following situation unfolded unexpectedly would be a dramatic understatement. Most plans that don't follow along with an idea usually involve one or two hiccups in an overall scheme that, while never diverting from the same objective, usually result in the plan going awry in one form or another while ultimately succeeding in the end.

This was not one of those times.

This was not anywhere near it.

This was one of those times where the entire plan had been flipped upside down from the moment the slightest hiccup occurred.

It all started with Adora pulling off what was, arguably, one of her best plans to date. After the way the "Heroes of Elberon" liberated the Horde from their great city, they let their guard down enough by throwing the party of all parties for Catra, Bow, and Swift Wind. The three friends were ecstatic with all the festivities and reception they received that when they heard reports of Horde bots being located within the field, Catra, letting her personal ego get to her again, didn't think much of it as she set off on her own with her noble steed.

With the town She-Ra-less and Bow being the only one capable of guarding the townsfolk against a literal army at Adora's back, retaking the town once again proved to be of little effort. There were barely any droids destroyed in the attack as the archer's pitiful attempts to resist them were in vain. The most he managed to do was destroy three droids before he was taken along with the rest of the town.

Following that, it became a mere waiting game as Catra expectantly returned to the base where her trap was ready to spring. She had to admit, there was a little surprise when she saw Glimmer show up, but, then again, she didn't really care much for her, either. And any excuse to take out the current leader of the Rebellion as well as the dreaded She-Ra would've been a bonus in this situation.

And, as expected, Catra indeed came charging into the Horde base, one that had been cleared out of fellow soldiers and guards, save for the several roaming around the base to give the illusion of being maintained. She needed everything to look like it was running naturally until Catra came crashing through the doors. The minute she showed up, Adora casually made her descent from the bridge she and Scorpia was on as she was ready to unleash the fulness of her plans.

And that would be where mistakes were made, among several.

Almost immediately as Adora touched the ground, she found a gauntlet-covered fist smashing into her face at full-on force, slamming the unsuspecting Force Captain into the now burning remains of a tank. It took her a few seconds to process this, and how lucky she was for the exoskin and the invisible shadow armor providing some method of protection, because the moment she did she found herself jumping away for dear life as Catra's assault continued.

The girl was a nightmare in the rage induced sense. Whenever Adora rolled to one side, Catra tried to cut her off. When she tried to question Catra's strange behavior, her friend simply spat as she attempted to swipe at her with her sword or her claws. Everything about Catra screamed anger and vengeance towards the girl for reasons Adora herself was to blame for.

Adora gave her pain. She inflicted upon Catra the desired pain she put Adora through since the two went about their separate ways several months ago. Catra lost something resembling that of a mother for the first time, a life that she had only a day to experience in a dreamworld, and a lifetime of memories that were all falsified. None of those things would ever return to Catra, and there was nobody to blame but Adora. She was the one who did all this, she was the one who caused such pain to the cat girl.

And Catra wouldn't be satisfied until Adora was dead at her feet.

Rolling onto her back, Adora barely had enough time to block Catra's follow-up strike as she pried the spear forcefully from the ground, scattering a handful of debris at the Force Captain that she was forced to block with her arms and shadows. By the time she found the small assault coming to an end, she immediately blocked off the She-Ra's oncoming strike with her twin swords as Catra continued her relentless attacks. From up close, just inches from her eyes, she could see a fire burning within Catra's eyes, one that was fueled by the reflecting fear of Adora's own person within her pupils.

"Don't you think you're overreacting!?" Adora yelled as she struggled to push the blade back. Her sense of strength was dulled by the brief fear she felt overwhelming her, and the confusion that played upon her person as Catra continued to push her back.

"Overreacting to what?" Catra growled back. Pushing with all her might, She-Ra forced the young blonde a good dozen feet away from her as the warrior slid her feet against the ground, making her struggle to maintain her balance. "You said it yourself, Adora. You wanted me to feel your pain since the day you left me at the Beacon. What did you expect my reaction to be!"

"Tch, a little more believable than this, honestly." She snarled back. "Seriously, did you actually lose someone you care about or are you just acting like you did? Because frankly, you're acting the way I've always pictured you on the inside. It's just now you're pretending there's somebody you actually care about. I almost feel sorry for the loser you're pretending to care f-"

*CLANG!*

Adora barely blinked before she found herself assaulted again by the fervorous cat girl's attack. Changing her sword into a single claw blade over her right, Adora barely managed to intercept her two swords between the three piercing protrusions before they could reach her face. They were so close, she stared wide eyed at the rightmost blade as it barely reached two inches from her eye.

Was Catra actually serious about all of this? Did she actually take away someone Catra cared about? If so, then who? There wasn't anyone Adora could think of save for the previous Queen of Bright Moon. And what did she even mean to her if she did? She's barely known her for several months compared to someone like Adora, and now she was mad enough to avenge the fallen Queen like this?

Adora didn't know whether to be impressed that Catra actually found someone or something to care for this much, or enraged at the fact that she's still proven that she cared more about someone else other than her despite the dozens of years they spent being raised together.

Whatever the case, all she knew was that Catra was intending to show her how much pain she inflicted- and that started with the free hand she just realized the magicat still had.

*swish!*

"Agh!" Adora cried out in pain as she nearly lost her stance, resisting the urge to squeeze her injured shoulder.

With the two combatants staring down each other, only one of them had the means to strike while defending at the same time, and would continue to do so until Adora became aware of her situation.

For what the exoskin made up for in mobility and flexibility, it lacked in defense.

Using her free hand, Adora failed to notice in time as the magicat swiped her claws fiercely against her right shoulder, scratching off a good portion of her skin underneath the exoskin armor and her shadow armor despite their previous protection.

Adora couldn't tell how much of her skin was cut up by the three claw marks that raked a good several inches against her right arm, just that it hurt like no other as she tried to shrug off the pain. She also dealt with the realization that with Catra in her current state of power, even her claws were sharp enough to penetrate her shadow armor. Given all the confusion she knew she was distracted by, Adora focused the remainder of her shadows against her skin for now, refusing to let up because of an injured arm while contemplating her next course of action.

And ignoring the metallic wall the magicat pushed her up to.

She needed something to get the situation back under her control, something to turn the tide of this battle in her favor. That was when she noticed a small twinkle coming from a short ways away under the bridge, seeing the familiar switch she had intended to use before Catra forcefully interrupted her and knocked it clear out of her hands. Once she had that, she knew she could turn things around again and finally activate the trap she had waiting for her. She just needed a moment to distance herself from her insane ex-friend.

Meanwhile, Scorpia was dealing with her own princess, or Queen as she now was, as she continued to fight off Glimmer's own assault. The girl wasn't letting up any easier as she fought the scorpion girl, Glimmer doing everything in her power to fight off the very people responsible for kidnapping them on a handful of occasions. Nor would she allow the girl to assist Adora in any way as long as Catra was handling her own situation.

"Haaaaah!" Glimmer yelled as she blasted several bolts of her magic at the defending other Force Captain, Scorpia shrugging off the brunt of her assault as she shielded herself with her arms. With the four blast landing, the spellcaster teleported from her spot as she reappeared right behind the scorpion girl herself, delivering another powerful blast to the back of Scorpia's head that nearly knocked her off her feet.

Reacting quickly, the soldier rolled herself across the metal slab of the bridge as she glanced back, taking a brief look back to her friend who was still pinned to the wall. "Adora, hang on!" Scorpia called out before blocking the next overhead strike that came to her. This time she managed to grab the staff itself, keeping the princess from teleporting again with it, though that was the least of her concerns. "Get off!"

Raising her stinger, Glimmer was forced to teleport herself to safety a few yards away as Scorpia attempted to strike the enchanted princess, nearly grazing the tip of her stinger against her armor before Glimmer vanished. While she did get a good distance between the two, this left the Queen weaponless without her father's mystical staff that was now within the other princess's claws. "Why can't you guys ever just leave us alone?"

With as much force as she could muster, the scorpion girl threw the enchanted staff straight towards the pink-haired queen as she was forced to teleport once again to avoid it. Disappearing and reappearing in the same place in the matter of three seconds, the flinging staff proved to be a suitable distraction as Glimmer watched it land punctured within the base's walls at least twenty feet behind her. That distraction gave Scorpia enough time to charge the girl again, slamming into her with enough force to knock the queen off her feet.

Glimmer was so distracted over the sudden attack that she barely had time to react as Scorpia followed up with a quick grab for her right ankle, dangling her upside down in front of her as Scorpia gave a small glare into her eyes. "All she's trying to do is unite Etheria!"

"Pffft, yeah right!" It made Glimmer wonder if she rolled her eyes right now if they would still be considered rolling upwards or technically downwards as she scoffed. "Kidnapping an entire village is your way of uniting Etheria?"

"W-Well," a small pang of a frown crossed Scorpia's eyes as she shifted them away, "it's not ideal or anything. But Adora's doing the best she can." She could see that easily as she saw Adora continuing to fight off her former friend, so why couldn't anyone else? "She's had her whole world turned upside down and she's still trying to save everyone by bringing them together."

"Oh, right, save everyone." If she rolled her eyes any further back Glimmer was sure she would've saw her own brain. "Just like how she saved everyone from the portal, I bet."

"... The... Portal?" It was a word that had been on the cornerstone of Scorpia's mind no matter how many times Adora told her to drop it, one with the power to draw the scorpion's attention again as she turned her head again. "What are you talking about-"

*SWISH!*

Scorpia couldn't tell if the blast came to her before turned her head back or while she was doing it. All she knew was that she was assaulted by a large burst of pink magic that blasted her off her feet, far enough to the other end of the bridge and dropping the pink-haired princess in the process. Any stronger and that blast would've blinded her indefinitely.

The small reprieve of time she had was enough for Glimmer to collect herself as she pulled herself back to her feet, right as Scorpia slowly worked herself from the floor on the other end of the bridge. While there was, admittedly, a bit of curiosity behind the questioning tone Scorpia had before she blasted her, she had little time to prod as she teleported back to the piercing staff. Grabbing it in both her hands, pressing her right boot into the wall with a small jiggle, she managed to pry it from the steel slab of wall just in time before preparing herself again for the assailing scorpion.

This was the violence that filled the entirety of the otherwise empty Horde base as both pairs attempted to overpower the other, struggling to fight them off for the sake of the village that had once been overtaken by the Horde. And while the fighters themselves were more accustomed to one another, it was a more than curious sight to the two individuals who spied upon the fighters from the desecrated walls of metal to the Horde base.

Specifically, two individuals by the name of Flutterina and Swift Wind.

Continuing to watch over her as Catra instructed the noble pegasus made sure to keep their distances between the ongoing struggle and the safety behind the walls torn edges. From above, they had a perfect view of the two princesses fighting atop the small metallic bridge, and below they could see the magicat that was struggling to swipe again at her former friend.

"Wow, look at them go..." Flutterina muttered, sounding a bit amazed as the two watched the fight continue to escalate. It was quite a sight for the young villager to watch the legendary She-Ra of all people out in the field, even if it was just against a single opponent. "I think She-Ra has the upper hand."

"Yeah, she... she does..." Despite the seeming edge Catra appeared to have over the latter on the outside, what troubled Swift Wind was the inner turmoil he could sense coming from within.

Nothing but hatred and anger emanated from Catra's being. Unlike most other times when the magicat felt a spike of rage or anger, this one was different. This wasn't like her usual pool of outrage that simmered at a certain point, this was full-on hatred that continued to rise with every passing moment. It was unlike anything he's ever encountered before, nothing that he's ever felt, even from Catra of all people.

And that's not what troubled the most. It was the way her anger was rising that was truly concerning him. It felt like she was purposely trying to make her own anger rise throughout the proceeding, trying to find a reason to push all of her hate and her grudge against her opponent for a change. If he didn't know any better, it was almost as if she was intentionally making herself angrier than usual against Adora, for reasons whether or not justified.

"Is something wrong?" Flutterina asked as she noticed the unusual stare in Swift Wind's gaze.

"N-No... It's... It's nothing." He tried to assure with a small smile as his ears tilted a little to show otherwise. At least she appeared to have the edge over her ex-friend, so that was all that mattered... He hoped.

It was in the midst of the violent struggle between friends and enemies that he discovered that his hopes would soon prove to be unabated.

Throughout the struggling fighters, the moment that would come to be Adora's undoing finally transpired. With her back slowly being pressed closer towards the interior of the base, struggling to maintain her grip on Catra's free hand with her shadows and pushing back her sword at the same time, the Force Captain attempted to get the final jump she needed that would hopefully turn the situation around.

Peering behind herself at the approaching wall, Adora prepared herself as she summoned several tendrils from behind, keeping her focus directly on her enemy as a means of distraction as she lengthened the tendrils as far and discreetly as she could. When Catra attempted to shove the girl fully into the wall again, that's when she made her move.

With a single step back, she gracefully leapt into the air above as her tendrils shot to the top of the wall behind her, catching the magicat off guard as her sword stabbed into the wall itself. This, combined with a small kick to the back of Catra's head as Adora descended again, gave the Force Captain the small push she needed as she made a break for the control switch that was still under the bridge, figuring she had more than enough time to dash for the switch that would turn the battle into her favor.

She didn't count on Catra proving her wrong, however. Still enraged with the sense of loss that Adora made her suffer, the magicat had nothing but contempt for the blonde girl as she angrily pulled her sword from the wall, needing little more than a few pulls and wiggles to break it free. With the sword in hand and without a second thought the proud warrior transformed her sword into a golden whip, one long enough to reach the Force Captain as she whipped the very lasso at the young girl's legs.

Adora's hope turned to horror as she felt the strong lasso whipping around both her legs, just inches away from the switch before she could reach for it. With the rope tangled around her legs, there was little Adora could do other than brace herself as she fell to her front, bumping her head a little in the process as she lost balance and dropped her swords. Before she could lift her head again to reach for the miracle switch she was already being dragged back by the berserk warrior as she jumped atop her fallen prey.

There, with Adora flipped onto her back, Catra grabbed her. Without any remorse or concern for her friend's safety, she gripped her right claw around Adora's throat and began to squeeze.

"Agh-!" Adora yipped in a small cry as she grasped the girl's wrist, trying to pull it from her neck. "C-Catra, st-stop!" She choked almost immediately as she drew her last breath in, the airwaves constricting as she could feel the inside of her throat squeezing from within.

There were several miscalculations Adora officially discovered throughout the fighting that lead her to this point. For one, her shadows were not as defensive as they once were. As she slowly came to realize, without Aroda, the parasitic entity that had lied dormant in her headband until the Battle of Bright Moon and later in her own mind, there was no "second passenger" within her mind trying to keep her safe. The girl who had grown accustomed to the shadows acting on their own till now, and was suffering from the lack of direct training she never realized she needed again.

Secondly, there was Catra herself. A person she once thought of as a friend, a girl who had gone out of her way to tear away at Adora's life in every possible way. Someone that Adora wanted to make suffer, to make her feel the pain that she inflicted upon Adora after all these years which lead to her seeming betrayal, and turned her into the worst enemy Adora had ever known. She thought she had seen the cruel and manipulative side of Catra several times over. She's seen her anger reach limits like no one else.

And her mistake was thinking they couldn't reach any higher.

She-Ra, this She-Ra, barely reminded her of the Catra she used to know. The one who was naturally stuck up and stubborn as she ran around foiling Adora's plans and alliances on a handful of occasions. This one was nothing but bloodthirsty and vengeful, someone who could never be satiated until her appetite was appeased. And that's where Adora's final miscalculation kicked in.

She wanted her dead. She burned seething hatred through her eyes as she continued to watch Adora struggle in vain to free herself from the She-Ra's immense strength. Adora was doing everything she could alone to keep her hand from crushing her throat like a twig, the shadows she had amassed barely maintaining their grip on Catra's fingertips as they struggled to pull them away from her aching throat.

The Force Captain teared up a little in pain as she squeaked a little, clenching her teeth as she tried to stop the seemingly unexplained bout of anger flowing through Catra's eyes. "Ca... Tra... S-Sto..." Her vision started to blur a little. She couldn't tell if it was from the tears in the corner of her eyes or the lack of air flowing to her lungs, only that it was the scaring her with each passing beat of her heart.

She's... She's really serious... Her mind trembled with thought. She's... She's really going to kill me...

On the other end of the suffocation, Catra continued to glare into her eyes as her rage continued to burn. She didn't care who she was looking at at the moment. She didn't care what history they had, what they did to her in the past, or what they still meant to her. This girl, this person she once thought of as a friend, took someone away from her, someone that Catra had a lifetime of false memories of, and only ones she remembered.

It didn't matter to her right now if they were from an alternate timeline within the portal. So what if they were just memories and just that? Things that never actually happened once in her life and were there to just be fake memories? She didn't care. She remembered them. She remembered every sweet and sincere moment that she had with the person she once thought of as a mother figure she never had in that world, and wished for nothing more than to reclaim that figure in her life.

And how it was Adora's fault it would never happen again.

She needed this. That's what she kept telling herself. She needed someone to vent her anger on, someone to pay for how terrible she felt since the portal incident, and someone that was responsible for putting those haunting visions, those last precious words from the previous Queen's lips, on a constant recording within Catra's mind.

Take good care of each other.

It was a promise she never got a say in the matter of, but one she was entrusted to keep. She was going to take care of her friends until the Horde was finally defeated, she was going to make sure everyone suffered for their part in what role they played in the Queen's sudden loss. And she would purge the person who caused all of this in the first place, regardless of her history with them.

All of this, without hesitation or concern, circled around Catra's mind without end as she slowly raised her other hand, extending the still-regrowing claws as far as she could, and intended to use them to snuff out an enemy's life once and for all. All while being unaware as the jewel of her lasso, the runestone that continued to persist through its various transformations, started to flash almost warningly.

From above, Glimmer grumbled as she finally managed to push Scorpia to the railing of the metal bridge, the Horde's own princess gurgling a bit as Glimmer pressed the rod of the staff against her throat and kept her pinned in place. Because of the small fence-like mesh of the railing, she couldn't raise her tail up without it getting caught on something, effectively cutting her off from using her stinger to help her. It was as she looked back to see what her tail was getting stuck to, however, that she saw the terrible sight below.

Down there she could see it. See as the terrible ex-friend had Adora pinned to the ground by her throat, the way Adora was powerless to defend herself, and the way she hesitantly raised her claws to the air, intending to bring them down on the only obstacle within Catra's life.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out before grumbling a bit. "Lemme go," she squealed, barely making headway as she began to push the new queen back a few inches, "I have to stop her! She's going to kill her!"

"Kill her?" Confused briefly by which girl she was referring to, Glimmer looked past the scorpion girl a little as she saw the ground below the bridge, and the two combatants who were practically mimicking Glimmer's current status of keeping the other girl pinned to a surface. "Catra?" She muttered, keeping her grip on her staff as she tried to process what she was seeing and pushing Scorpia back at the same time.

Catra was... winning. Quite easily by the looks of it. She had Adora pinned to the ground, she was disarmed and trapped by the lasso around her legs and her enemy was too powerless to stop her. That was a good thing, right? So why did the sight of it all leave her with a sense of unease? If Catra was winning, that should've been good, it should've made her happy.

Yet it did nothing but concern the girl as she saw the small runestone of her weapon beginning to shimmer, and Catra along with it. She knew right then and there that she didn't intend to end the fight with just capturing Adora or fighting her off. She fully intended to end the girl's life if it was the last thing she would do. And it was almost hesitating to consider stopping her, too.

She took her mother away. Adora deserved to pay for her actions, plain and simple. But the anger in her expression, the twitch of her claws as she prepared to claw out Adora's life, it all... it wasn't right. There was nothing right about the way Catra was doing all of this. And the way the sword was shimmering like a warning, it only spelled out one thing that Glimmer could conclude as the magicat finished pulling back her claw.

If she ended Adora's life, she would've lost herself and broken her connection to the sword.

"Catra, no!" With a pink flash, Glimmer teleported.

"Huh-?"

*clang!*

"Ow!" There was no room for warning for the scorpion princess as she blinked. In the blink of an eye, Glimmer teleported before her eyes as Scorpia continued to push into the empty air in front of her. With nothing to stop her unsuspecting force, she was powerless to keep her forehead from slamming into the railing on the other side side, dazing the young soldier as she collapsed to a knee, disoriented.

It was at the final second, right as Catra had prepared to bring her claw down out of anger, that she was finally halted by a pair of arms she nearly forgot about in her rage. "Catra, stop!" Glimmer pleaded as she kneeled at Adora's side, wrapping her arms around Catra's own halfway towards their victim.

"Get off of me, Pinky!" Catra shouted angrily, barely containing herself, even for a friend. "She has to pay for what she did!"

"I know Catra, but not like this!" She struggled to convince the magicat as well as herself as she barely held back Catra's arm. Allthewhile Adora struggled weakly as she attempted to swipe her arm at anything blurry in front of her, her mind growing fuzzier with each passing heartbeat.

"Isn't the way? Are you KIDDING me!?" Every fiber of Catra's being was stuck on its end as she barely kept herself from lashing out at the person keeping her from achieving her desire. "Aren't you mad about what she's done? Don't you want her to pay for what she did to your mom?!"

"Of course I do, Catra, but this isn't the way! You're going to lose your connection with the sword if you keep this up. Just look at yourself!" Like instructed, the warrior princess did as she was instructed as she took a small glance at herself. Even without it all completely disappearing, or any of it for that matter, she could feel her strength ebbing and flowing back and forth without end, like it was having its own anxiety attack with each breath. "Do you want to lose everything after all you've been through?"

"Tch, like I care!" There was such animosity in her tone that left little doubt for her sincerity. "If we have a shot to take out Hordak's second in command, then it'll be worth it, won't it? Besides, why are you of all people defending her?" She felt a little betrayed that Glimmer, especially Glimmer, was defending the very person who was responsible for what happened to her mother!

"I'm not defending her, Catra! But your powers-"

Nothing the two were saying were reaching Adora's ears as the girl's consciousness continued to wane. To her, everything sounded muffled, garbled, like they were speaking through a cloth over a busted microphone or something. And with the diminishing supply of air as Catra continued to squeeze her strengthened hand around her throat, she found little reason to care.

She was dying. That much she could still process as she flailed her left arm around, trying to grasp for something, anything, as her shadows began to dissipate from her control. It hardly mattered to her if the metal surrounding her hand retracted into the wrist of her gauntlets, she needed to feel something familiar to her skin that she could use to save herself from Catra's squeeze.

If she continued on like this, she could easily break her neck when the shadows around her throat finally receded. She didn't know what this anger stemmed from and she still didn't care. All she was concerned with was finding a way to save herself from an untimely fate, and there was nothing within arm's reach that wasn't blurry to her.

That's why it came as a surprise. A surprise when she finally grasped something in her hand. A surprise when it felt like someone's arm that she was finally grasping, almost hoping they could help her up. And a surprise as to what happened next.

*ZZZZZZZZZZSHSHSHSHSHSHSH-*

"Ngahhhhh!"

"Agghhhhh!" Adora and Glimmer both screamed in unison as they cried out in pain.

It began as a simple spark. A blip. Barely a static of energy. And in less than a second, it became like a geyser blowing its top of for the first time. From the constant flailing, Adora gripped Glimmer's right sleeveless wrist. She couldn't tell who she was grabbing, not that it mattered, but from there everything escalated within seconds.

With a white light practically glowing from underneath Adora's palm, the new Queen of Bright Moon felt a surge of energy being sapped from her person as it felt like electricity was coursing throughout her body. The shock-like feeling felt like it was emanating from herself rather than Adora as it flowed through her, traveling and surging to Adora's hand.

On the other end of the surge, Adora entire body felt like it was burning up and electrifying as the energy flowed forth. From what was visible of Glimmer's right arm, a small trail of red solid lines flowed from Glimmer's shoulder and steadily crept along Adora's own arm. They were visible over her sleeves unlike Glimmer, traveling along the girl's arm as the energy was drawn forth against the blonde's own will.

"Gl-Glimmer?" Catra flinched a little as she finally pulled back, releasing her hold over Adora's throat despite the shot of pain the two still seemed to be in. "H-Hey! What's going on!" Better question, was she supposed to do at a time like this?

This came out of nowhere the moment Adora grabbed Glimmer, and she couldn't tell if she should pry the girl's hand from Glimmer's arm or if she would get infected with... whatever's happening with them, too. On top of the red lines that seemed to stretch along from Glimmer's arm to Adora's, there was a small cackle of red lightning dancing around where their hands met.

She couldn't describe what she was seeing, only what the red lines reminded her of. They reminded her of the mysterious etchings and traces that ran across Catra's own body whenever she was possessed by that stupid First One's virus that Entrapta had lying around. Only instead of going ballistic and spreading throughout her entire person, the red lines were being drawn from Glimmer's right arm to Adora's left arm, as if draining away a virus that never existed within the new Queen to begin with.

And all throughout this, Adora felt lightheaded. Where there was once a fuzziness from the lack of air flowing into her mind, she now felt a surreal fulness of something she couldn't understand, like information that was being forced inside her mind. She couldn't make heads or tails of what she was experiencing, just that it was making her eyes roll back a little as she struggled to withstand the pain and find a way to release her grip from the Queen's very wrist.

Something was entering her mind, something that she knew and didn't simultaneously. It was like when she touched upon the Black Garnet for the first time after the portal incident, when she thought she lost any chance of reclaiming her magic. Unlike then, the process was longer as the unexpectedness of it left her in pain. Her pain turned to fear, fear turned to confusion.

And somewhere in the mix of it all, it somehow turned into power as she felt herself become a bit lighter.

"GET OFF!" Catra finally shouted as she forced Adora to the ground again with harsh shove. Incapable of doing much else, she pushed past her apparent confusion as she threw the girl back, releasing her grip from Glimmer's wrist as the strange scene finally came to an end. Near-immediately, the small trails of red that were upon Glimmer's arm dissipated with the pink-haired Queen gasping a bit for breath as Catra caught her before she collapsed. "Are you okay?"

"Ngh..." Glimmer mumbled to herself as she rubbed her forehead. Sure, if you took away the briefly throbbing headache and the energy she felt like she had sucked out of her, she'd be fit as a fiddle. "What... What just happened?" Glancing at her own arm, she watched as the last remnants of the red streaks disappeared before her eyes. "What was that?"

"Grrr..." Catra growled a little as she glared back to the grabber. "What did you just do to her?"

Adora was still huffing a bit on her own as she stared up at the sky, slowly leaning herself upwards as she took assessment of her own damage. "What... is this...?" She examined the entirety of her right arm from top to bottom.

All along from the palm of her hand to the brush of her shoulder, the mysterious red vein-like lines continued to permated over her sleeves. They gave off a strange warmth to the girl, something that filled her with more than just fear. And it was from within the center of her palm that she saw a small circle, an outline that glowed lightly where the rest of the trailing lines emanated from.

She continued to marvel at the sight, lost for words, even as the lines over her right arm's sleeves began to seep in. If the red circle that remained within her hand was any indication, the red lines were overlapping Adora's right arm placing upon her skin directly. She could still feel the warmth of the energy as her right arm tingled a bit, the energy still radiating off her sudden endeavor. She knew that she had just done something incredible.

She just didn't know what at that moment.

"Hngh!" And whatever it was, Catra didn't care. Whatever she did to Glimmer she was going to pay for, just like everything else she was going to pay for. Without any hesitation, knowing the lasso was still tangled around her legs, Catra lunged for her with her claws at the ready. It was her growl that drew Adora's attention again, and her reaction that would set off the chain of events that would determine the future.

"Ahhh!"

*swish!*

*scritch!*

"Huh?" Catra blinked. "Wha... What just-"

*swish!*

"-aaah-!"

*thud*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as she fell to the ground, feeling the unexpecting weight suddenly falling onto her back. She grumbled a bit as she slowly lifted herself up from her chest, more angry than surprised by the Adora that suddenly fell onto her back from nowhere. "Get off of me!" She hissed as the briefly dazed blonde shook her head. She reorganized herself just in time to see the attempting swipe of her claws coming straight for her, letting out another yelp as the unthinkable happened again.

*swish!*

"What-?" She was seeing things. She had to be seeing things. Not once but twice now before Catra's rapidly blinking eyes, the girl teleported away in a flurry of pink magic as she leaned back. Both, she and Glimmer, were at a loss for words at what they had just witnessed, but nowhere near as lost as the Force Captain that wound up nearly ten feet above the ground a good several yards behind them.

"What the-"

*thud*

"Ow!" She hated experiencing anything related to her forehead colliding to a solid steel floor. The unexplained elevation as she mumbled only made it worse. She had a million questions going through her mind as she rose to her feet, legs still trembling yet free from the lasso's constraints that were left behind with the She-Ra. "What's going...?" She couldn't afford to lose focus as she shook her head.

However she ended up on the other side of the clear facility from Catra and Glimmer would have to remain a mystery as she saw below the bridge, and gritted her teeth at the sight. There was still a switch between her enemies and her, and a still disoriented Scorpia that was still trying to shake the ringing out of her slightly bruised head.

Unwilling to offer the girl who nearly strangled her and the new Queen of Bright Moon a moment of peace, Adora stepped forth as she sped off, racing towards the-

*swish!*

*wham*

"Ow!" ... Obstacle that she just slammed her nose into. "Who put this wall here?!" She yelled, rubbing her slightly stinging nose as she winced. This last minute went from shocking to confusing to annoying and now a little bit painful within a brief course of time. And through it all, it did nothing to tarnish the shock and disbelief as Catra, Glimmer, and the two companions who continue to spy upon them in secret, watched the delirious Force Captain trying to control herself.

"She can teleport?" Flutterina wondered, looking back to the supposedly knowledgeable horse.

"She can teleport?" He asked back.

"She's teleporting..." Catra still couldn't believe it as she stared motionlessly. On the one head, it was amusing to watch her slam herself into a wall for a bout three seconds. On the other, it was deeply concerning as she looked back to the pink-haired Queen. "Are... Are you doing this?"

"Catra, I... I can't teleport other people like this." She winced a little as she stood up, rubbing her sore arm as she felt the partial numbness wearing off.

Up above, Scorpia was still rubbing her sore head as she finally pulled up to the railing, looking over her friend as her vision cleared and her thoughts returned. She must've hit her head a lot harder than she thought because for a second here, from where she stood, she could almost swear that the person she saw teleporting left and right hysterically was... "Adora?"

Adora couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on here anymore than the rest of them. She was teleporting. That much she knew from her past experiences with Glimmer. But there was no way she could be doing this to her from afar! If she could, she would've dropped everyone from the Fright Zone off a cliff ages ago. Or better yet, drop an explosive device within the heart of the very Horde!

"She... She took away your powers?" Catra questioned as her gaze remained solely on Adora as she teleported again, this time bumping her head into the barrel of a tank.

Looking at her own two hands, wanting to see how dire the situation was in person, Glimmer attempted to draw forth her magical energies to her fists as she concentrated. Thankfully, her powers came surging to her hands within seconds as a small pool of pink magic glowed around them. "No..." Following this up with a small teleport to Catra's side again, and she could tell she still maintained her magic, albeit, a little less of it from the recent drainage.

And it still did nothing to relieve the two princesses as they turned back to Adora.

"Catra, I... I don't think she just drained me of my energy." Glimmer determined as she watched the girl teleport again into a cloud of pink energy. "I... I think she-"

"She copied your power." It didn't make any sense to either of the princesses as Adora reappeared again, panting a little in exhaustion as she leaned an arm against the wall while looking back to the two far to her right.

From what became a simple struggle to free herself from Catra's cruel hands, she did the unthinkable. She drained Glimmer of her magic, the amount of which mattered very little to the perplexed warrior. She absorbed her magic with her left hand, and not only did it partially revitalize her own energies, it gave her a portion of the same power Glimmer had.

This was Aroda's final tribute to her- the ability to absorb magic, not just from the Black Garnet which she initially misunderstood, but from a princess herself. Perhaps all the princesses, if she ever got to test that theory. It was a gift, a blessing, and, as far as she could see, the furthest thing from a curse as she couldn't see any downsides to this power, save for the red veins that trailed over her left arm, including the armor.

The fact that she wasn't shooting energy blasts out of her hands proved it didn't carry over everything, less she'd be blasting around the base uncontrollably *and* teleporting, but it didn't matter. She had the ability to drain and copy the power of another princess. Combined with the shadows she drew to her right hand, she slowly became aware that the potential for what she could do was enormous, even if she lacked the control of it.

And what better time was there to master a new power than on the battlefield?

Okay, so wherever I intend to go, that's where I'll end up, right? She thought to herself as she surveyed the arena. The tension that filled Adora's heart, the fear that plagued her until now, began to crumble along with her worries. Where once a troubled face took over Adora's lips now twisted into a small grin as she peered over to the single item she had been trying to reach this whole time.

With a quick breath, preparing herself, she concentrated. The ability that took Glimmer several months to a year to master when she was a child, Adora was already getting a grasp on as she poofed. From one pink cloud to the next, everyone watched her as she blinked in and out of existence, wobbling on a single foot during the second instance, until she made her way to the beloved switch.

By the time she managed to finally reach it, she was panting a little as she sweated. The amount of magic required of her putting more than enough of a strain on her personal energy as she used her own shadows to swipe the switch from the floor and into her hand.

"How are you doing this?!" Catra demanded an answer as Adora grinned to her.

"What can I say?" Knowing what was up above her, she smirked as she prepared to teleport herself again as Scorpia watched her directly from above. "Just gifted, I guess."

*swish!*

*thud!*

"Oww!" She hissed a little as she fell back to the ground on her stomach.

Note to self- Even if she can teleport, she still needs to work on teleporting over solid objects, not into them. Case in point, the underside of the metallic bridge she just bumped her head into. Stupid teleporting!

Catra wasted no time as she collected her sword again, charging straight for the Force Captain as she tried to stop her before she could make her next move. Unfortunately, with the newly acquired powers she had obtained, it took less than a second for Adora to notice the charging brute before teleporting back to safely. This time she managed to successfully teleport herself over the bridge as intended, though, with about a dozen feet added above the trajectory.

"Whoooa!"

"I got you!" Scorpia assured as she watched her friend appear above her. She gave a relieved smile as she caught her squirming friend in her claws, setting the grumbling girl to her feet by her side. "Are you okay?"

"Mmmhhh... I'm fine." She muttered back, trying to hide her disdain from her ally as she directed back to Catra. "Now we can finally get things back to the way they were before you rudely interrupted me."

"I'm not here for another of your stupid games, Adora!" Catra yelled back, gripping her murder-weapon tightly. "I'm here to get the villagers, get Bow back, and then, I'm ending you!" Finally having a moment to catch her breath, the slightly black-hair dyed Horde soldier became much more aware of how much Catra disgusted her right now.

Acting like she actually cared for someone Adora never knew, going on about how she intended to make Adora sorry for something that obviously wasn't her fault, all of it. It disgusted her to see how much Catra was going on about caring for someone, a care she never once bothered to show her friend in the past. As if more proof was necessary, it went on to further Adora's own judgement about Catra.

Catra never cared for her. She never cared about the possibility of being her friend. She just wanted Adora around to make her own life easier. And if anything, the recent act of trying to kill her outright only confirmed everything she already knew.

Catra was a monster.

She could never be a hero.

"... Heh... Tell me, Catra. How were the bots in the forest I sent your way?" She asked in a curious tone, almost taunting her as she casually tossed the switch between her hands. "You know, the ones you ran off to fight on your own and left the entire village defenseless? The place you abandoned because you wanted to run off and pretend you were someone's savior?"

"I didn't abandon the village!"

"Oh, right, my mistake. You didn't abandon them. You left them with a single person standing behind. What was his name? "Toe" or something?"

"His name was Bow!" Glimmer yelled back in defense for her close friend. She was already charging her magic back into her fists as she prepared to wipe that smug look off of Adora's face and blast that switch right out of her hands.

If only she was a second faster.

"My mistake. Don't care. Have fun." And without another word, her smile widened further as she finally pressed the switch.

*RumbLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE*

The ground shook violently as the button had finally been pressed, soon after being crushed within Adora's palm to ensure there wasn't a means of turning it off. All around the base the ground began to rumble with enough force to shake Flutterina off her own feet if she wasn't bracing herself against the wall and Swift Wind from the safety of the destroyed wall.

"W-What's going on?" Flutterina stuttered as she tried to maintain her footing.

"How should I k-k-knoW?" If Flutterina was having enough trouble trying to maintain balance on two of her feet, then she had no idea how much of a problem a four-legged horse was carrying as he tapped hoof after hoof against the ground in order to brace himself.

Within the interior of the base itself, Glimmer and Catra both struggled to keep their own balance, even though Catra had a much better degree of it as she managed to maintain her position. Nothing could stop her anger from festering over the loss Adora caused her, and she wasn't going to let a few sudden earthquakes determine the outcome of this battle.

Not to say she wasn't at least growing curious over the matter. "What did you just do?" She scanned her surroundings as she asked, trying to pick up on anything out of place with her senses.

Adora said nothing at first. She just continued to smirk as the surprise she had waiting for her was about to be revealed. "Like I said, Catra. I hope you had fun with the bots in the woods," her sly grin revealed enough to Catra to realize where she was going with this, "because that was just a fraction of what I had in store for you." And it was with that statement they appeared.

From the other sector of the small Horde base, within the interior of the small storage unit they had on hand, dozens upon dozens of two-foot-radius droids began to flood into the Horde base, all directing and centering to wards their intended location as they rolled along the grounds of the empty Horde Base. All of them were moving along the same fellow path, all of them bustling next to each other as they hurried along to their assigned targets.

It was Swift Wind and Flutterina who were the first to be greeted by the rolling droids of silver, the young girl giving off a small eep at the sight of their approach. As if it would provide some form of cover or hiding, Swift Wind quickly lowered himself as he covered himself and Flutterina within the wings of his feather, hoping it would be enough to ward off the droids as simple scenery. Fortunately, either from a lack of care, orders, or the impossibility that it worked, the droids continued past the two as Flutterina peeked out from a small fold of the feathers.

At one point, she saw one of the last droids to pass them before moving through the wall taking a brief stop as it turned to them, opening the small hydraulic-like hatch at the tip of its head as if to scan her. Quickly retreating back to the safety of the horse, not that it mattered at this point, the droid continued to stare a bit before continuing onward, finally allowing Swift Wind and Flutterina to break from cover as the pegasus sighed with relief.

Before remembering where they were actually heading.

It was within the main interior of the base, where Catra, Adora, Glimmer, and Scorpia had been fighting up till now, that the two looked back. From within, Catra watched in her own personal shock at the amount of droids that began to roll their way into the base, the numbers of them more than tripling in comparison to the lone group she had to fight with Swift Wind's help. Already, some of them were bouncing in place as they hobbled along the other side of their field, waiting for their brethren to appear before them. It wasn't the number of them that truly worried Catra as she watched the last of them arrive.

It was what they could do when a bunch of them were finally together.

With the arrival of the final one, their playful bouncing-ness came to a complete stop. Giving a few seconds of silence as the wind blew through the air, they began to perform. Like Catra had witnessed earlier, one by one, all of the small robotic droids began to roll towards one another as their hydraulics connected to each other. From one pair of two became one pair of four. One pair of four quickly became a group of eight. And so on and so forth as steam began to fill the small area around the droids, all of their hydraulics heating up the place and concealing their surprise.

Finally, with one last "clank" of metal, Catra and Glimmer waited for the steam to dissipate, to reveal whatever brutish creation the handful of Roly-polies formed. As it turned out, they didn't have to.

From within the cloud of steam itself, a large burst of metal, a long strand of metallic spheres connected to one another, whipped out of the steam. All of them, from what could only be the head of the creature, all the way down to the base, the minuscule droids had formed an enlarged centipede-like creation that put the original one to shame, so much so that it towered the very base itself as it stood behind the confident-looking Adora and Scorpia who were still standing atop the bridge.

There, the creature gave off a hiss-like roar as the steam began to dry up from itself, all while the sides of each of the orbs began to form the leg-like protrusions that gave the centipede-like creation its form. Somehow, despite having the exact same face of the original, it appeared to be more menacing and aggressive to the two heroes as it lowered its head to Adora's side, knowing who its true master was, and who its enemies were.

And it was this very being that would bring Catra's downfall.

"How are you against thirty of them~?"

...

...

A/N: Annnnd I think that'll be a great place to cut off for the chp X) Hehehe, Cliffhangers are so fun~

Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! I am hoping to end the ep as of the next chapter- which means the final "round" might not be as long as many of you are probably going to be expecting, but then again, I never know what to expect from how long my works are going to be until they're ACTUALLY posted XP for all I know i might end up with a big 12k next chp, or at least somewhere near 10k. Either way, I apologize again for any rush-ness you guys felt in this and hope you're doing fine on your own ends. It's been crazy all over the world lately but I ain't letting it get in the way of my mood or writing for you guys ^^

So with that all said, hope you all enjoyed and hope the writing was still good ^^ Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!