Chapter 14: Frozen Prom Heats Up
*An update has occurred.*
Any spell below advanced level will no longer provide a skill point upon mastery. For the reason why, the explanation is given.
"Potential exploitation noticed. Free pass due to testing but has been patched."
Spell levels will be shown as a reminder.
[Beginner [LV 15] - Adept [LV 25]- Intermediate [LV 50] - Advanced [LV 75] - Expert [LV 100] - Master [LV 150] ]
The levels indicate how high the spell can go for its class to be determined upon mastery.
Flame had 10, making it a beginner. Flame Armor has 75, making it Advanced.
Most spell limits may be increased through various methods that you may or may not encounter in this life.
*Thank you*
Tigra opened her eyes before a single thought came to mind.
'The hell kind of dream was that? Surrounded by nothing but an empty void and a notification in the middle of darkness.'
She got dressed before heading over to Catra's place.
Force Captains and above are provided their own rooms due to the amount of confidential work that they are doing and part of. Another reason is that their schedules no longer align well with a Force Cadet or Commander anymore. Force Cadets are active between 0800 and 1600, Force Commanders from 0900 to 1800, and Force Captains from 1000 to 2000.
As Tigra walked through the halls, she passed a few students before someone called out with a shaky voice.
"F-Force Captain!"
Tigra stopped and turned around, seeing a human with red hair and eyes with a few freckles splattered across her cheeks.
[Scarlet Age: 16]
[Level: 18 Relationship: 15 (Friendly), 0 [Acquaintance]
"Yes?"
"Is…is it true that you've taken a town for the Horde alone?"
"It is. The town you're talking about is called Terra. It used to belong to Plumeria."
"Would it…would it be possible for me to ever become that strong?"
"...How do you think I took it?"
"W-Well, a lot of the rumors say that you killed all of the guards in combat, one after the other. So, I assumed that you just fought all of them."
"Well, those rumors are exaggerated. I am far from the strongest person in the Horde. However, I make it up with my speed and sneaking capabilities. I snuck in during the night and eliminated the guards one by one in a timely manner so that their absences would not be noticed. It took me over an hour to deal with them."
She looked Scarlet in the eyes.
"When it comes to a fight for your life, there is no such thing as fairness or honor. It is you or them, that simple. An honorable soldier may find themselves in a grave. One who will do anything in a fight to win? They will come back home more times with the knowledge of having won.
"My best piece of advice? Find what you are really good at, be it a tank, medic, thief, whatever and strive to become the best of that. I strive to become fast enough to stop anything from hurting me."
Quest Created!
The Fastest Alive
One of your goals is to become faster than anything to protect the few that you care about from harm.
Objective: Reach 750 Base DEX.
Bonus Objective: Reach 50,000 MPH [80,467 KPH] at any point in time
Reward: Title [Fastest Alive] | Title [Fastest in History]
"You really think I can do it?"
"Kid, I don't know you." She told bluntly. "Keep working hard and I may hear your name in the future."
With that, she turned around and continued to Catra's room, leaving the kid and those eavesdropping to stare in wonder.
-------------------------
Tigra opened the door before Catra's voice suddenly broke the silence.
"I'm sick of this! Shadow Weaver failed to get Adora and if Lord Hordak finds out, she'll take us down with her. We need to think of the big picture. With Shadow Weaver in charge, she'll keep sending me-us, after Adora until we either succeed or she demotes me. It's time someone else took over. Someone like me. So, are you in?"
"I can't believe you've let me in your room."
"Scorpia. Unfortunately, you, Tigra, and my old squad are the only ones I can trust."
"You trust me?" Tigra spoke, getting both of their attention. "How sweet."
"About time you got here. I messaged you like 10 minutes ago."
"Got stopped by a few young students who were curious if I had any advice to give them."
"Aw. What did you tell them?" Scorpia asked.
"Use everything and anything to win a fight to the death, as honor and fairness mean nothing in war."
Catra gave a small laugh at seeing Scorpia deflate.
"So both of you are like this?"
"The hell does that mean? I'm practical. If it keeps you alive instead of in the ground, fucking take it." Tigra shrugged. "If that's a problem, I'm not the one that's going to change."
"Can we focus?" Catra said as she slowly stopped laughing but kept a small smile. "I have the beginning of a plan but it won't be enough. I need to impress Lord Hordak enough that, after Shadow Weaver is out of the way, he'll make me the new second-in-command. How do I accomplish it before Shadow Weaver tries to demote me?"
[Quest Suggested]
New Second-in-Command
Catra has told you and Scorpia her dislike of Shadow Weaver being the second-in-command and her ruling officer. She has asked for your and Scorpia's help in getting her into Lord Hordak's good side to become the next second-in-command.
Objective: Help Catra become the next S.I.C.
Reward: Reputation increase with Catra, Reputation increase with Scorpia, 5 skill points, 15,000 EXP
"You could try something at the All Princess Ball?" Scorpia asked, holding a scroll with light blue holdings on the ends. "Every princess is gonna be there. So Adora will probably be there too. Oh! This year's theme is Winter Wonderland."
Catra was next to Scorpia soon after while holding the scroll.
"How did you get your claws on this?"
"I'm/She's a princess." Tigra and Scorpia answered.
"You're a princess?!" Before Catra turned to Tigra. "And you knew?!"
"While I didn't attend the Force Captain Orientation, still not sure that there was one, I still read the summary they sent out to new Force Captains. It mentioned responsibilities, what you should be familiar with, and Scorpia. She's the only Princess to be on the Horde's side."
"The Horde crash landed in our kingdom. After one thing or another, we gave them our kingdom and our runestone, the Black Garnet."
"Alright…so you're a princess and you're going to a princess ball?" Catra turned her attention back to Scorpia.
"Oh, no. I'm not going. No one liked my family, even before we joined the Horde. I never really fit with the other princesses. I made them uncomfortable and they don't like that. They don't like me."
"Well, I don't like them." Tigra said. "I barely know you but I can already tell that you're likely the friendliest person in the Horde."
She meant it. Tigra had interacted with Scorpia once, maybe twice, yet Scorpia viewed her as a friend of such a degree, she was halfway to Family status towards Tigra.
'Maybe Catra helped with that. She could have said something about me to her.'
"That's exactly why you should go! How dare they pretend they're better just because you're different! How dare they abandon people just because they don't fit into their perfect little lives!" Catra started to list off.
"Yeah!"
"How dare they take best friends and turn them into giant, sword wielding ladies who run off with people clearly inferior to you!"
'Very on the nose there Cat.' Tigra thought.
"It's like you're reading my entire life story." Scorpia said under her breath.
'The hell are you talking about?' Tigra couldn't help the eyebrow that went up at Scorpia, who ducked her head to the side slightly.
"It's time to show those princesses something they won't forget! You're going and I'm coming as your plus one."
"Super Pal Du-er, Trio, is in the making." Scorpia amended quickly.
"That's great and all," Tigra spoke for once. "But what am I supposed to be doing? Scorpia's invite is for her and one person. How do I fit into what seems to be a dance for two?"
Catra turned to look at her.
"While Scorpia and I find clothing to fit in with the crowd that will be there, you are going to round up the old squad. You and Lonnie will be disguised as…their guards. We'll need a ship to hide nearby for a quick escape. That will be Rogelio and Kyle's job." Catra started to rattle off as a plan started to come together.
"The palace will be made of ice, correct?" Catra asked either of them.
"Considering that it is taking place in the Kingdom of Snows," Tigra read from the scroll. "I will wager a yes."
"Gather half a dozen Heat Bombs. Tigra will be the one to sneak them in and, when Scorpia goes off on her own at some point, you will give them to her and she'll start placing them in the area around you two."
"Why would she do that? That could possibly incriminate both of our disguises?"
"She would do it out of view of you two." Catra rolled her eyes. "If I know anything about the two Adora seems to travel with, Adora will convince them that Scorpia and I are up to no good when she notices us. It will be my job to distract Adora, since I know how to do that well.
"Leaving Sparkles and/or Archer to investigate Scorpia when she moves away from the floor. Hopefully, they will only notice Scorpia placing the Heat Bombs and they will have to go to the guards to tell what they saw."
"Which would be me and Lonnie due to us being the closest guards to them." Tigra realized. "They also can't do anything until they inform us as the Kingdom of Snows is, ironically, very clear about their neutrality."
Catra nodded as Scorpia watched with slight awe at the two of them seemingly following each other easily as a plan bounced back and forth between them that would have taken her a few hours to come up with yet they did it in a few minutes.
"At which point, you or Scorpia should subdue them to take back here as a prisoner. Preferably Scorpia, seeing as her toxin can subdue someone for either 30 minutes to 2 hours. Once that is out of the way, one of you needs to go to where they store weapons from the guests. You need to take that damn sword and anything of value there."
"Once finished, we are to load the prisoner(s) onto our ship and wait for both you and Scorpia to be ready to leave." Tigra nodded. "I'll go find the squad and we can take off soon. It will take a day on the Horde Ship we'll be taking to reach them."
Catra smirked. "See you then."
"Bye Scorpia. See ya, Cat."
The group had arrived 5 minutes ago and Scopria and Catra would be entering in 10-15 minutes due to the line she saw outside. So, Tigra has that long to find the guards, take them out quietly with as little bloodshed as possible, return to Lonnie, sneak her in with their disguises, and stand guard.
She traveled by climbing the outside of the castle before finding a window and climbing in. After entering, she found a sleeping guard in the room as it seemed to be a bedroom or barrack-like place.
She snuck over to him before raising her arm and an idea popped into her head.
She activated Lightning Armor but redirected the lightning that would have been around her left hand and replaced it with fire with her claws pointed out like a blade.
Spell created!
[Flame Fists LV 1 (0/150) - By channeling fire to your fingertips, you can dramatically increase its power. This increases your damage by [50+ 1 ]% through Fire Magic. Cost: 20 MP, 50 MP/m]
No sooner did that pop up that her hand already moved and pierced through the head.
1428 damage dealt!
H2H gained 1100 EXP
75 EXP gained
Flame Fists gained 4400 EXP
Flame Fists leveled up! LV 1 → 8
[Flame Fists LV 8 (700/750) - 58% bonus, Cost: 18 MP, 42 MP/m]
Tigra pulled her hand back and burned off the blood from her hand. She looked around the room and noticed the winter coat and silver mask hanging on a hook and table respectively.
She glanced down at the needless dead body now before pulling him out of the bed and pushing him under the bed.
She then activated her pin.
"Lonnie, I'm coming out dressed as a guard from the window to…the left and up."
…
"Copy. I'll be waiting."
...
She looked around once more before grabbing several blankets to hide any view underneath the bed before walking to the coat and putting it on along with the mask.
She walked back to the window and jumped out of it.
She fell for a good few seconds before seeing Lonnie near the area they had designated as the meet up point between them.
As she started getting close to the ground, she used Fire Step to slow her momentum until she hovered over the ground.
"Ride for Lonnie?"
"Since when can you fly?!" Lonnie exclaimed quietly, walking over.
"Since a week or two ago." Tigra landed. "Now, wrap your arms around my neck from behind. I'm going to do what I just showed you to return to that room."
Lonnie seemed hesitant.
"It's either that or we waste time climbing."
With a defeated sigh, Lonnie wrapped her arms around her before they shot into the air.
It took about half a minute before they reached the window and Tigra entered it and Lonnie let go.
Tigra walked over to the gloves and boots before putting them on, seeing as her fur isn't too discrete.
"I'm going to find a good place to guard, find one guard and tell them that an intruder was spotted climbing outside. I'm going to lead them here where we will dispose of them and you get your disguise."
Lonnie nodded before Tigra left and walked down the hallway.
There weren't any guards for about a minute before she spotted one guarding a door by themselves.
She picked up her pace before acting like she had been running.
"Intruder!" She proclaimed once she reached them.
"Are you sure? We do have a lot of guests here today."
"Unless one of our guests is climbing the walls outside, then I say yeah."
The guard's stance turned serious.
"Lead the way."
Tigra turned around and started to run, making sure to keep at a pace that the guard could follow.
After a minute, they reached the door and Tigra opened the door before taking the punch from Lonnie.
75 damage taken
Tigra took a few steps back as if by surprise before the other guard charged towards Lonnie.
Tigra dashed forward with Flame Fists activated.
1945 damage inflicted.
H2H gained 1200 EXP
H2H leveled up! LV 15 → 16
75 EXP gained
Flame Fists gained 4800 EXP
Flame Fists leveled up! LV 8 → 11
Physical Resistance gained 150 EXP
The guard fell to the ground with a hand through their back. Tigra laid them on the ground before stripping the guard of their outfit before shutting the door.
"Put everything on. While we are guarding the place, don't show anyone your back." Tigra commanded, her time as Force Captain bleeding through.
It took Lonnie a minute to get everything on before they stuffed the body under the bed with the other one. The blankets were bulging outward but could be explained as being too long for the bed.
Tigra quickly led them back to the door to guard before both of them stood at attention.
Tigra messed with the pad hidden underneath the coat before sending a message to Scorpia.
"Lonnie and I are two guards by a large door roughly a 3-5 minute walk from the ballroom. If it is us, I'll address you as just Scorpia."
With that, the two of them were to wait until Scorpia approached them.
***
20 minutes later
***
Tigra's hidden ears perked slightly at hearing walking coming towards them. A few seconds later revealed it to be Scorpia.
She had slicked back her white hair, put on black mascara, and wore a nice black dress with an opening for her right leg in the front.
"Hello Scorpia." Tigra spoke up, causing Scorpia's eyes to widen and look in Tigra's direction. "I believe you left something behind."
Tigra held out the only other item she brought with her on this mission: a small bag holding 6 Heat Bombs, enough to take out a large room or two. It would be an excellent method of distracting anyone still here when it goes down.
Scorpia took it and opened her mouth.
"You should return to the party, Princess Scorpia." Tigra spoke before she could. "After all, you shouldn't be here."
Scorpia nodded her head.
"Ah, yeah. I uh…got lost trying to find the bathrooms?"
Lonnie and Tigra looked at each other, their eyes hidden by their masks, yet all three of them could understand the 'really?' going through their minds.
"Sorry, for uh, bothering you."
Scorpia turned around before walking away to the right.
Thus, Tigra and Lonnie returned to just standing guard outside of the room.
Until they heard someone running and it happened to be Bow, the archer of the Rebellion. He seemed more dressed up due to the prom, yet his mid-drift was still showing.
"Princess Scorpia is planting heat bombs! We have to stop her!"
Tigra and Lonnie looked at each other and Tigra could practically hear her question.
Now?
Tigra glanced over Bow's shoulder and saw Scorpia approaching with Adora's sword over her shoulder and her tail ready to strike.
Tigra nodded before Tigra and Lonnie grabbed both of Bow's arms.
"What!? What are you doing? Let me go! The Horde-"
"Has what we came for." Tigra told him, making him go wide eyed.
He grunted before falling limply into unconsciousness, Scorpia's tail hanging in the air where she had stung him.
"Alright." Tigra clasped her hands together. "Lonnie, help me get him on the ship. Scorpia, be on the lookout for a teleporting princess."
"Aye aye."
Lonnie grabbed one arm of Bow while Tigra grabbed the other and began to drag him away.
A few minutes later, Tigra could see large cracks appear on the outside of the ice castle and feel the rumbling from the heat bombs going off.
They just about reached the ship when said princess appeared in a pink light and looked around as ice chunks started falling around her.
Tigra made eye contact just as Princess Glimmer did.
Tigra could see how her eyes began to shrink from fear and surprise before being replaced by rage.
"Get away from him!"
Glimmer's hands shined before she shot a ball of light at her.
Tigra enveloped her right arm in fire and held her hand out, blocking the ball of light.
180 light damage taken!
HP: 8480/8660
CON: 433
…
Light Resistance discovered!
[Light Resistance LV 1 (180/250) - Reduces damage taken from light magic by 1 %. 26% due to Iron Body]
…
Tigra did not move except to continue blocking her magical ball attacks until Glimmer teleported after hitting her 6 more times and seeing it do nothing to her.
Tigra's ears swiveled until she shot her right foot to the side just as she heard the slight crunch of snow being stepped on.
Her foot found its home from hitting Glimmer in the chest and sliding backwards.
732 damage dealt!
…
Tigra let go of the fire, seeing as Glimmer fell into her impromptu trap.
Glimmer glared at her so much, she failed to recognize that real threat until it had stung her in the back, causing her vision to go black.
Scorpia stood over her back with a grin.
H2H gained 732 EXP
Light Resistance gained 1080 EXP
Light Resistance leveled up! LV 1 → 3
Assistance in taking down Princess Glimmer and Bow!
1500 EXP awarded
Level up!
Level 36 (180/7100)
Attribute Points: 10
Skill Points: 5
…
Tigra opened the Trait Shop.
[One with Fire - Fire abilities only take half as much MP as they would normally]
[Fueling the Flames - Damage done through Fire attacks are increased by 50%]
[Phoenix - If your HP is reduced to zero, you return to 75% HP once with a 25% increase in stats for the next 10 minutes. Useable once every month]
[Fire Immunity - Grants 1 EXP to [Fire Resistance] and evolves it into [Fireproof] ]
[One with Electricity- Electric abilities only take half as much MP as they would normally]
[Charging the Connections - Damage done through Electric attacks are increased by 50%]
[Raiju - The ability to transform yourself into a purely electric creature that resembles you most. While in this form, you can not be hit physically, yet take 3x water damage and can not interact with non-conductive materials]
[Electric Immunity - Grants 1 EXP to [Electric Resistance] and evolves it into [Electric-proof]
...
[Electric Immunity purchased]
Electric Resistance gained 1 EXP.
Electric Resistance reached level 100! Electric Resistance is evolving into a Trait!
…
Electric Resistance has evolved into Electric-proof!
…
[Electric-proof - Through a long, painful journey, your body has now become immune to anything involving electricity with the intention to cause you harm. Be it natural or unnatural. This can cause physical changes when combined with ???]
…
1x Trait point rewarded from [More than Resilient]* Questline.
…
Trait: [Fire Immunity] Purchased.
Fire Resistance gained 1 EXP.
Fire Resistance reached level 100! Fire Resistance is evolving into a Trait!
…
Fire Resistance has evolved into Fireproof!
...
[Fireproof - Through a long, painful journey, your body has now become immune to anything involving fire with the intention to cause you harm. Be it natural or unnatural. This can cause physical changes when combined with ???]
…
1x Trait point rewarded from [More than Resilient]* Questline.
…
Trait: [Phoenix] purchased.
[Phoenix - If your HP is reduced to zero, you return to 75% HP once with a 25% increase in stats for the next 10 minutes. Useable once every month]
…
'Sheet - Stats.' She thought, focusing on where she should put her new 10 points.
…
Tigra Age: 17
Level: 36 (180/7100)
STR: 32 DEX: 154
CON: 136 INT: 114
WIS: 96 CHA: 44
…
After looking at them, she put 4 points into WIS to get it up to 100 and 6 more into DEX.
…
STR: 32 DEX: 162
CON: 136 INT: 114
WIS: 100 CHA: 44
Milestone [Patient]: 100 WIS reached!
[Patient - MPR remains active at 5% while using spells continuously]
…
'Full Sheet.' Tigra thought, dragging the unconscious princess onto the ship.
…
Tigra Age: 17
Level: 36 (180/7100)
HP: 2720 HPR: 272
MP: 1140 MPR: 400
SP: 1360 SPR: 272
STR: 32 DEX: 162
CON: 136 INT: 144
WIS: 100 CHA: 44
Magic Control: 70%
Movement Speed: 22.5 MPH
Skills:
[H2H LV (1)16], [Run LV 68], [Dash LV 99]
[Dodge LV 41], [Reading LV 75], [Writing LV 71], [Sneak LV 47]
Phys. Res LV 35], [Ice Res. LV 1], [Light Res. LV 3], [Magic Res LV 2]
Spells:
[Control - 11] [+]
[Buff - 5] [-]
Flame Armor, Ice Armor, Lightning Armor, Haste, Flame Charge
[Healing - 1] [-]
Heal
[Attacks - 1] [-]
Flame Fists
Traits
[Night Vision - Allows you to see in very dim lighting]
[Obsidian Claws - Increases unarmed claw attacks to do DEX*2 + STR/2 while being increased by H2H's bonus afterward]
[Magical - Allows you the ability to use magic]
[Huntress - Multiplies final DEX and CON by 1.25 and multiplies EXP for Dash and Run by 3]
[You are the Weapon - Multiplies H2H bonus by 2]
[Genius - All EXP for spells is doubled]
[Hare - Increases movement speed by 25%]
[Iron Body - Decreases damage taken by 25% after resistances]
[Patient - MPR remains active at 5% while using spells continuously]
[Primal Instincts - You're aware when someone near wants to harm you]
[Quick - Multiplies final DEX by 1.15]
[Smart - Multiplies final INT by 1.15]
[You are Speed - For two minutes a day, your DEX is multiplied by 3]
[Enhanced Regeneration - MP Regeneration is doubled]
[Healthy as a Horse - Stamina Regeneration is doubled]
[Pyromaniac - EXP for Fire Spells is doubled]
[Fireproof - You can not be hurt by fire through natural or unnatural means]
[Electric-proof - You can not be hurt by electricity through natural or unnatural means]
[Phoenix - Once a month, if your HP is reduced to zero, you return to 75% HP once with a 25% increase in stats for the next 10 minutes]
…
Tigra sat down in one of the chairs once she and Lonnie had tied up their prisoners with magic dampening cuffs.
"I say that it was a successful mission. Good job."
"We didn't have to do much on our end though." Lonnie complained lightly.
"Good." Tigra spoke quickly. "The less that needs to be done, the lower the chances of something going wrong. Imagine that we had to fight our way out. The chances of something going wrong and one of us being left behind would rise at an extremely high level."
Lonnie frowned lightly before sighing and giving a small smile.
"I guess."
"Now, go spend time with the other two."
Lonnie's face turned a shade of red, making Tigra cackle.
"What….What are you talking about?" Lonnie choked on her words for a moment.
"Please. I don't know if anyone else would have seen it, but I can tell that you three care for each other." Tigra gave an actual smile this time. "I genuinely wish you three the best."
Lonnie looked to the side at that comment.
"Yeah well, I hope things work out well for you."
A thump sounded out from the outside platform before the door opened up.
"Did everything go to plan?" Catra walked in before asking.
Tigra pointed to the sword that Scorpia was holding and the two unconscious prisoners.
"The sword and two guests."
Catra smirked hard. "Good. Let's get back and report a mission success."
The ship started to zoom away, yet Tigra caught a glance out of the window of something red on the side of the glacier.
She squinted slightly before her eyes widened at seeing the red figure was Adora…in quite a nice red dress. She seemed to be holding onto something stabbed into the side of the glacier.
They made distance quickly before Tigra turned and found Catra talking to Scorpia.
"Will she live?" Tigra asked, cutting through any discussions.
"What?"
"Will Adora live or did you leave her there to hang onto something until she falls to her death?" Tigra clarified.
"...Does it-"
Tigra erupted in flames, making a few of them take a step back.
"If you finish that as 'does it matter,' I will jump out and get her onto land this second." Tigra growled out with a snarl.
"Isn't…isn't Adora an enemy?" Scorpia spoke.
"She's also the person we grew up with for nearly a decade. If you can leave her for dead after only about a year, that leaves serious questions in the air."
Tigra faced Catra once more.
"So…will she live? Or was she left to hang?"
"...She'll live. I saw guards heading in her direction."
Tigra let the fire fade away. Only once the last flame went out, did Tigra nod.
"Is that concern just for Adora or?"
"It's for those I care for most." Tigra admitted. "If my actions led to someone I care about getting hurt…"
The ride turned silent before conversation naturally spun back up later.
Tigra closed her eyes to get some rest.
Relationship with Scorpia increased. 55→67 (Friendly)
Relationship with Lonnie increased. 66→72 (Friendly)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone