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71.18% The Cat of Speed / Chapter 42: Sand Everywhere

Capítulo 42: Sand Everywhere

Quest Created

Diamond in the Sand

Hordak has tasked you with finding some kind of First One technology discovered out in the Crimson Waste. However, the Crimson Waste is daunting and harmful on the nicest of days and down right murderous on a decent day. Hordak has not given you a time limit, but the desert that has been abandoned for decades after the Great Fire is unlikely to be hospitable.

Objective: Find the First One technology.

Bonus Objective: Find the Technology within a month [29:19:41:53]

Hidden Objective: ???

Rewards: 25,000 EXP, ability to return to the Horde, 3 skill points | 2 trait upgrade points, 15,000 EXP | [???], ???

 

 Tigra hummed to herself as three soldiers surrounded her on the top of one of Hordak's newest Skiffs.

 While Tigra couldn't tell exactly how fast the skiff was going, she could roughly guess maybe 300 to 350 mph based on how fast they had passed some boulders about fifteen minutes ago.

 The orange sand blowing upwards into the sky as they glided across the desert. It drifted to the side before they had made enough distance that Tigra couldn't see the dust clouds anymore.

 She stared upwards to the blue and green sky with not a cloud to be seen, letting the light from the moons shine directly onto the sand, rocks, and them as well.

 If it weren't for her liking some heat and having Unburnable preventing her from getting hot from temperature enough to become harmful, she would say that it would be a hard trial here.

 She had left her Cloak of Ice behind as she was more focused on other things and planned on seeing if she could get it changed to a different color.

 But mainly, could she create her own magical clothing or apparel that would help with elements like the Cloak of Ice does? If so, there must be a few skills that she likely would need to learn to do such a thing in the first place.

 

Quests Created!

 

Made these Myself

After obtaining the Cloak of Ice, you pondered on the ability to create your own apparel that would boost your other elements or anything else! After all, Dark Flame transforms pure magic into fire magic without the user needing to and Shadow Piercers being able to hide in normal shadows. Who knows what else could be created!

Objective: Create 1 apparel for every type of magic branch you know.

Reward: 5,000 EXP per new branch.

 

Never Stop Learning

You've decided to see if you can replicate the ability to enhance elemental magic through the use of an apparel. However, you currently don't seem to know the necessary skills needed to make them.

Objective: Have ???, ???, ???, ??? reach LV 100

Reward: [???] trait, 1 trait point per skill

 'Great. Another thing that I'll need to focus on when I get back. Then again, I'll likely have to spend even more time at the Horde.'

 Tigra sighed out of her nose before turning to look down, away from her guards and looked over her sheet.

 

Tigra | Age: 18

Level: 65 (11955/16250)

 

HP: 10,810 | HPR: 4,865

MP: 2,496* | MPR: 1,621*

SP: 5,405 | SPR: 2,432

 

*Magical Cuffs - While wearing these cuffs, your MP and MPR are reduced to 40% their regular numbers.

 'Even better. I can't take these off or Hordak will do something against Catra. He could play it up as saying that, due to Entrapta's fondness of Catra, he's decided to change her execution - since he wouldn't be holding back as he is right now - and instead send her to Beast Island.'

 Tigra looked back around before studying her guards.

 

Cherri | Age: 23

Level: 42

 

Brahn | Age: 28

Level: 45

 

Terri | Age: 25

Level: 43

 

 'They're high enough to be experienced Captains or new Generals from what I've seen. Yet I haven't heard a whisper of them. So, the rumors of Hordak having his own personal squadron may be more true than I thought.'

 They continued onward for roughly another half hour before slowly coming to a stop.

 "On your feet." Brahn issued.

 Tigra rolled her eyes before standing up, her arms at her side.

 Her magical cuffs were more like bracelets than usual cuffs. She could still move both hands independently of the other.

 "From here on out, if you are spotted outside of the Crimson Waste without the tech that Hordak has requested, you will be treated as an enemy and officially declared a traitor of the Horde."

 "Am I not already?" Tigra raised an eyebrow.

 "As of now," Cheeri spoke up. "You have been declared as taking time off to deal with a distant mission that you needed to take on your own while going dark. You are not expected to send even a message within the first two months."

 "And you expect everyone who knows me and, as such, would know that I would have at least left them a message saying that I won't be in contact with them for a long time?"

 "They will need to." Terri answered. "As that is the official story, they will need to go along with it. Otherwise, they could be charged with treason for potentially trying to start a panic as over 25% of our military looks up to you for your power."

 "With all of that out of the way," Brahn cut in. "Get off of our Skiff."

 Tigra stared at him before hopping off of the Skiff.

 Her feet had hit the ground for barely 3 seconds before the Skiff shot off before turning around and heading back in the direction she came from.

 The sand blew up into the air as the Skiff quickly reached the horizon and simply became a dot before she couldn't make it out of the sand.

 She smirked lightly as she reached down into the inside of her waist band before pulling out two small sheathes. She opened one of them and pulled out the thin daggers that had managed to blend in with the shadows from her shirt and the inside of her pants.

 "So that's what it meant by being able to hide in shadows." She muttered as she tilted the dagger as the light seemed to almost be absorbed by the dagger.

 She put the dagger back into the sheathe before fixing the sheathes back onto her hips, outside her pants now as she didn't need to hide them now.

 'Glad the shadow spies were able to at least sneak me these.'

 "Well…may as well get started."

 So Tigra ran with haste activated, moving across the sand at 280 mph.

 _________

*Few hours earlier*

 Adora groggily woke up from her sleep before feeling like someone was watching her.

 She stealthily reached her right hand up underneath her pillow to grab her dagger that had startled Glimmer and Bow countless times but having an easy to grab weapon near her helped keep her feel safe while sleeping alone.

 She wrapped her hand around it before looking behind her and freezing.

 "Adora…"

 In her room for Lord knows how long…was Shadow Weaver.

 Adora barely moved before Shadow Weaver collapsed under herself and laid motionless.

 She could only stare at the figure before quickly getting up and grabbing some blankets and using them as makeshift cuffs by wrapping them tightly around her arms and legs.

 With her now tied up, Adora ran out of her room.

 It took her under a minute before running into General Juliet.

 "Adora? What are-"

 "Shadow Weaver's in my room."

 Juliet's eyes widened before turning serious and they both went back to her room.

 And Weaver still laid motionless on the floor.

 Juliet pulled out her tablet and began making calls.

*15 minutes later*

 "Double the guards on the perimeter of the kingdom and triple the ones inside Brightmoon. There will be no sleep until we figure out just how Shadow Weaver got inside of Princess Adora's room in the middle of the night!" Queen Angella declared.

 Several guards gave their acknowledgement before going off to perform their duties.

 A bright light came from behind Angella before symbols floated and spun in circles before a figure stepped forth.

 It was a woman with fairly light skin with black hair. Her hair was in a bun with two long strands hanging down. She wore a long purple dress with a pink cape and a circular gold crown with a gold star akin to a sun in the center and a Sorcerer's Guild badge atop it.

 "I got here as soon as I could. Has Shadow Weaver been detained yet?" The woman asked.

 "Yes, Shadow Weaver is currently in her prison room, Castaspella." Angella confirmed.

 Castaspella looked at the room she gestured and raised an eyebrow.

 "Well, it's not like we could put her in a normal prison. So it seemed best that we have her close by, set up magical barriers to prevent anyone or anything from interacting with her physically or magically without being spotted by a few soldiers on guard." Angella explained. "And on such short notice, it's not like we could easily turn a guest quarter into an actual prison room."

 Casta nodded before Adora suddenly walked next to them and stopped.

 "When are we interrogating her?"

 "Adora, dearie-"

 "Queen Angella," Adora cut off, her face looking like she was on a battlefield instead of relaxed while in the safety of Brightmoon. "I grew up under her. I know she uses words to manipulate situations into her favor. Half-truths are her specialty. Just enough truth to get someone to follow her directions without creating massive amounts of distrust. While I didn't completely know that until recently, I'm certain that it's how she managed to appear in my room without a guard noticing her."

 "She's dangerous Adora." Angella tried. "I don't want her near any of you."

 "Queen Angella, I'm afraid to tell you that there are three ways for me to go through with this: The three of us go in together where you both can watch the conversation and act should she start to do something with ill intentions. I sneak in while both of you are distracted and have a conversation without you two there. Or I unfortunately must use She-Ra to get in there." She declared, staring her in the eyes.

 The three were silent for a moment.

 "She may be more cooperative with Adora." Casta put out, getting a look from Angella. "Think about this, Angella. I'm not saying we should go in with her immediately." Casta put a hand up as Adora opened her mouth to protest. "Instead, the two of us go in at first to see what we can gather alone. From there, we return out here and discuss. And while I can commend you for wanting to keep Adora here out of this, that ship sailed the instant Shadow Weaver appeared in her room."

 "You've seen what Shadow Weaver does though." Angella looked to the side. "She uses people to get what she wants and then throws them to the side the instant that they are no longer useful. I don't want her to get her hooks into anyone else."

 Casta put a hand on Angella's shoulder as she gained a look of loss that Adora had seen before on the several soldiers she's interacted with after they came back from a battle.

 "I know that, just like me, you can only think about how she used Micah, but…Adora already has Weaver's hooks in her. The best we can do is slowly get the hooks out one at a time. You and Brightmoon have likely gotten several of them out already. The next one is simply to let Adora know that she is safe here. Can you imagine being able to sleep peacefully if Shadow Weaver had managed to do this with Glimma? Or would you be doing everything in your power to know exactly why and how she escaped from the Horde despite there being chatter for a long while that she had been imprisoned for being declared a traitor?"

 Angella stayed silent for a few moments.

 "We simply go in and interrogate her. We discover as much as we can. If for some reason she decides that she will only speak with Adora, considering that she showed up in her room, she will not speak with her alone. No exceptions. Either with us in the room or she gets to stay in that room until a more unpleasant room gets created and she can waste away there." Casta explained.

 "I…I will be fine with that, Castaspella." Adora admitted before sitting on the ground next to the room.

 Casta could easily see that she would likely get a harsh conversation from Angella after the interrogations were over, but she knew why she truly did not want Adora seeing Shadow Weaver.

 Adora had become almost like a child to Angella and, while sweet and likely needed for Adora to have some kind of positive maternal relationship, would cause Angella to become very protective of them.

 Just like with Glimma, Angella was trying to shelter Adora from what she could about the war but Casta knew that it wouldn't work and would only infuriate Adora for one simple fact.

 Adora wasn't raised as a Brightmoonian. She wasn't innocent of fighting and didn't likely grow up in a place that prioritized their safety instead of raising them as soldiers. From the few times that she's interacted with Adora, it's like a soldier from the Kingdom of Ice had been dropped at their doorsteps, unsure of how to respond in a natural setting but could easily describe the best way to train their body or how to show someone how to actually fight if their lives were on the line.

 Adora was told that she was safe while she was in Brightmoon, only to have the abusive guardian over her in the Horde to suddenly show up and invade her safe space.

 She likely wouldn't be able to relax here in Brightmoon again until she could confirm to herself that she was safe. After all, it was Angella's words that she would be safe. Only for Shadow Weaver to put such words into question.

 Why would she trust her word again after Angella's word was unfortunately broken already?

 Casta shook her head before entering the mindset needed to interrogate the prisoner before she and Queen Angella entered the room.

 _____________

 Tigra came to a stop underneath some large bones that belonged to a creature that would have stood nearly half the height of the largest building back at the Horde, assuming it could have stood on two legs.

 

Run gained 280.8 [MPH] * 2 [HRS] * 300 [EXP/M] = 168,480 EXP!

Run leveled up! LV (2)04 → (2)33

[Run LV (2)33 (8748/10106) - Increases DEX by 25% + 33 * 2^2. DEX*2.57]

Due to level ups, DEX + 3, CON + 6!

DEX: 694 → 699

CON: 541 → 550

 "I really need to find a food and water source. I have no idea how long this will take and, on top of that, any creatures out here are going to be used to high temperatures or have ways of getting rid of heat." Tigra spoke aloud.

 She felt the ground tremble slightly before her ears shifted to point to the left. She looked in the direction and spotted something large moving underneath the sand.

 In her direction.

 She jumped upwards before shooting flames out of the bottom of her feet. She soared upwards before she grabbed the underside of one of the ribs and spun herself around to land with both feet on top of the ribs while crouched down, her claws sinking into the hardened bone.

 She tensed as it got closer but…it kept going.

 She watched as the mound of sand moved over towards a large rock before whatever was underneath the sand dipped.

 The sudden stillness of the sand unnerved her.

 The vision of seeing a large amount of sand tremble worried her more.

 Until the sand practically exploded and two cries roared out. One sounded as if a skiff was suddenly breaking down but the driver was still flooring the controls to go forward at top speed.

 The other sounded as if it was a cross between a tank and a lizardfolk letting out a war cry. A low rumble with a hint of a hiss.

 Whatever the creatures were, they were covered in a gigantic cloud of sand where several loud thumps came from the area.

 Tigra's ears shot backward from the noise and had to consciously stop herself from activating Lightning Armor as whatever the creatures were, her body was telling her to run.

 It took a genuine minute for the sand cloud to dissipate and by then, the thumping had stopped for a little bit.

 But when it was all done, she saw a creature nearly 6 times the size of her laying still and being dragged underneath the sand.

[Adult Basilisk | Age: 39]

[Level: 89]

[HP: 0/68,500]

 Within another minute, there was no sign that some kind of fight between monsters of large proportions happened, except for a large amount of green blood mixed with some red.

 "Lord. I thought these things were fossilized." She muttered. "All I know, this creature could have died a few months ago then."

 Tigra crouched before jumping and using Fire Step to get high in the air before looking around for anything besides pure sand.

 Just an ocean of sand and large rocks before seeing something in the far distance.

 Another large skull that she would have dismissed, had she not seen something fluttering in the wind above the skull.

 "No idea what that is…but I also don't want to not look for any and all sources of necessities."

 Tigra cut the fire before landing with a small cloud of sand.

 "It looked roughly…an hour away? Judging based on landmarks that I had gone by before now."

 She cracked her neck before she glowed orange faintly before she ran.

 _______

 Adora had been sitting outside the room for hours and huffed.

 Glimmer and Bow had come by for about an hour before they left as Glimmer does have actual Princess duties to perform, seeing as she's in her kingdom that she would eventually need to take over one day.

 'Maybe. Angella is unaging.' Adora thought.

 While everyone seemed to just say it casually, Adora can't help but pity her slightly.

 'Unaging Immortality is only a blessing if those around you also have such immortality.'

 She could not imagine a world where she stayed in her prime but had to watch as the people she cared about slowly grew older and older until eventually everyone she knew passed on.

 'Then there's Glimmer. No one seems to really know if she'll live the same age as the average Brightmoonian, if she'll be unaging like Angella, or if she'll simply have a much longer lifespan but would eventually age like most people.'

 The sudden opening of the door next to her caused her to look over before pushing herself up onto her feet.

 "That woman!" Angella growled out, taking Adora back slightly. "Hours of spells and questioning, yet she doesn't answer a single question."

 "I suggested we get Adora an hour ago." Casta pointed out, seemingly too exhausted to care about the glare from Angella now. "We only got that the Horde may be chaotic at the moment and that anything else, she would only answer if Adora was there."

 "You got nothing?" Adora asked, drawing attention to her. "How long until we go back in?"

 "I want to say neva, but I know that you'll find a way in eventually." Angella sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "Are you ready?"

 Adora nodded before Casta stepped to the side and gestured for her to go on in.

 The three of them entered the room and Adora saw Weaver being encircled by magic that went from the flooring all the way to the roof while being about maybe 5-6 feet wide in diameter.

 Weaver…Weaver did not look good was the first thing Adora noticed.

 Her posture was slouched and seemed as if a simple push could knock her over.

 "Adora." Weaver's voice had turned raspy before she started coughing.

 "What's wrong with you?" Adora had to ask.

 Adora had never seen Weaver look so…weak.

 "She's dying." Casta answered. "A spell she used many years ago is now catching up to her. Her magic is being sucked dry and it's not enough. The spell is drawing energy from her body as a result. Based on the medical scan spells I used, she likely has a month left at best, 3 hours at worst."

 "What do you know, there is a functioning brain in there." Weaver mocked. "Here I thought your brother got all of the brains. Certainly got all of the talent for magic."

 Adora saw Casta clenched her jaw before breathing out.

 "Considering that the talent you preach about is what caused you to end up in this state in the first place as a helpless, dying woman and me as the Head Sorceress of Mystacor…I wonder who got the better end of that deal?"

 "You mean the woman who managed to create an artificial connection with a Runestone that has never been done before? Compared to the child that still can't let dear older brother go?"

 "Enough!" Angella declared, drawing their attention. "Adora, despite my insistence, was willing to go through this talk with you. And before you even think about trying it, the three of us have agreed on one thing: You may talk to Adora, but you may not talk to her alone. Don't try arguing as, while we want to know, we don't need your information."

 Angella stared down at the small form of Weaver.

 "Is that understood?"

 Weaver's body moved in such a way that while the other two may not know it, Adora knows that she rolled her eyes and coughed.

 "Fine."

 "Why are you here?" Adora asked.

 "To see you. After everything that happened, you're the only one I could trust. I missed you, my child."

 "Nope." Adora spoke, cutting off an enraged Angella who seemed ever so slightly surprised with Adora. "Maybe if you did this within the first two months after I left, maybe I'd believe that you genuinely are trying to use that bond between us, but ever since the Battle of Brightmoon, that bond has been shattered, turned to ash, and scattered with the winds."

 Adora walked closer before kneeling and looking at Weaver face to mask.

 "Your first attempt failed. Would you like to try again?"

 Weaver only chuckled lightly.

 "You always were clever. It was one of the things that made you special. I knew you were different the moment I found you."

 "Wrong again." Adora spoke. "I was special because I believed nearly everything you said without hesitation until I was 14. There were doubts that were confirmed before the Battle.

 Do you want to know what one of my few perfect memories from when I was 6? I'll even give you a hint: it's why Tigra no longer wears sleeves."

 "Why would I know anything about that?"

 "Because your electricity is what caused her sleeves to practically melt and fuse with her skin." Adora spat out, making the other two stare at Weaver with shock and hate. "Even with her unique healing factor, it took nearly 2 months to fully heal and we still had to cut it off of her. We had to do that 3 times while Tigra would keep saying that she pushed her fire magic too hard before we never saw her with sleeves again.

 You say I'm clever? Tigra hid what you did to her for over a decade before we found out.

 You say I'm smart? Is that before or after you deliberately sabotaged Tigra until she felt she had to lower her scores to be below me?

 You say I'm different? I was a Force Captain yet both Catra and Tigra were Captains less than a month after you promoted me.

 I was strong enough to push back a Horde army by myself, yet Tigra was taking cities and towns within 3 months of me leaving and Catra would end up taking more of the Rebellion's land than you had in the last 5 years in just 5ish months.

 I am the Princess of Power, yet Tigra is the Princess of Fire."

 "In what way that isn't superficial am I different? Tell me the truth of why you are here? It's not me, otherwise you could have shown up months ago."

 Weaver hollowly laughed before coughing up blood.

 "Damn." Weaver spat out. "Using that magic dust screwed up my time."

 "How long?" Angella asked.

 "Not long enough for you to ask your questions." Weaver stated. "I could have lasted another 3 weeks if I hadn't used any magic in any way. I'll likely be dead within an hour. Something your 'Head Sorceress' got wrong. She didn't take into account how long I had the curse. It grew in power much beyond what it did originally. Unless I set it off completely with magic, it reacts violently to any kind of magic. Unless…"

 "Unless what?" Casta asked, worried.

 "Unless the mighty She-Ra is capable of healing me. If she can."

 "Absolutely not." Angella denied.

 Adora glowed before She-Ra took her place.

 "Do you think me incompetent in magic?" Adora asked. "That I haven't forced myself to heal someone who was dying in front of me? Someone who practically met Death and had a conversation with them?"

 "When did-"

 "Roughly a week ago, did I drag that person back." Adora answered. "I will have conditions and, if you break any of them, I will undo any of the work I heal. Understood?"

 "Depends on-"

 Adora stabbed her sword into the ground, taking everyone else back at the sudden action.

 "No." She growled out. "Either you accept them, or I leave you here to die slowly. You may have been the woman to raise me, but that does not give you any sort of pass to what you have done to Tigra and Catra. Am. I. Understood?"

 Weaver stared at her for a few moments before sagging lightly.

 "Understood."

 Adora stood up to her full 6'8" height in this form.

 "If I suspect you are trying to manipulate anyone I care about, such as the Princesses, I will not hesitate to get you into a magical blocking cell. You are to not harm anyone I care about in any way, including using someone else to harm them. Finally, stay away from Tigra and Catra especially, unless say otherwise."

 If Adora had said that as herself, someone may have been able to brush them off and scoff.

 But She-Ra? With all of the power coursing through her, her voice sounded powerful and ethereal, as if a higher being was talking to them and that if angered, she would not hesitate to be rid of you in every way that mattered.

 Physically enough that not an atom would be left; mentally enough that you'd never be able to have a single thought again; spiritually enough that there would be no difference between you and a pebble; and temporally enough that you'd never have existed in the first place.

 The Being of Power felt as if it could do all of this, as if reality would bend to make what they want happen happen.

 Weaver was silent for a moment before nodding. "Understood."

 "Castaspella," the woman jumped at the sudden usage of her name. "Please prepare several anti-magic devices to be placed onto Shadow Weaver if you haven't already. I do not trust Weaver to be 100% compliant with these terms. I'd like several contingencies in place, considering she managed to get from the Fright Zone to here without anyone noticing and Tigra has yet to come and retrieve her."

 "Un…Understood."

 Adora held out her sword and focused on the feeling that she felt dominating her body when she was trying to bring Tigra back from the edge, no matter if the healing was too late and she would have been okay after a few minutes.

 Adora suddenly began glowing brighter and brighter.

 When it was done, Weaver tried standing before her knee buckled and Shadow Weaver looked down at it in surprise.

 "Would you look at that?" Adora commented, staring her down. "Your knee injury isn't connected to your magical parasite. Guess She-Ra didn't want to heal it."

 Adora did not believe that she fooled anyone with that, but really...who would call her out on it?

 "Now tell me everything that's true and understand that my patience with you is low after everything I learned and connected involving you."

 "...Very well. Hordak is building a portal to connect with the rest of the Horde. If you think this Horde is hard to deal with, the original Horde has billions of willing troops at any given moment. And Hordak has stated that they could still grow."

 "Portal technology is impossible. The amount of energy needed to do something like what your implying would be more than all the kingdoms combined for 6 months straight."

 "Yet the truth is sitting right in front of all of us."

 ________

 Tigra stopped in front of the gigantic skull that had several hundreds of feet of fabric to protect the inside of the remains of whatever this creature once was.

 

Run gained 300 [EXP/Mile] * 516.1 [MPH] * 1 [HR] = 154,830 EXP!

Run leveled up!

[Run LV (2)45 (13458/13770) - Increases DEX by 25% + 45 * 2^2. 205%]

For reaching LV 235, 240, and 245, DEX + 1, CON + 3

DEX: 699 → 701

CON: 550 → 553

 'This is Etherian made.' She concluded with certainty that another thing the Horde believed to be true is false.

 There's intelligent life out in the Crimson Waste.

 Based on the size of this 'tent' and how she can see footprints going in and out of the place, this isn't too new, if new at all.

 'Hope they have food or drinks.' Tigra thought.

 She walked forward into the place before moving the cloth door out of her way and was greeted with a sight she didn't expect.

 It was practically a bar with some people in it. 

 A wolfman wearing a jacket with a bone on one of the sleeves was at a table looking bored out of their mind but the instant he met her eyes, his fur bristled ever so slightly.

 A purple and dark blue lizardfolk with black heels that went all the way up to their hips was at one of the stools at the counter. Her thin arms were crossed under a black jacket with a dirt colored snake coiled once around in a circle. She met Tigra's eyes with her own slitted yellow eyes.

 Next to the lizardfolk was another gray lizardfolk with four muscular arms crossed in front of their bandaged chest. They had a red cap draped over their back alongside having three dark gray scales going across their head like hair. They seemed annoyed at Tigra entering if the look in their yellow eyes said anything.

 In the far back was a person with green skin and blond hair. They were too busy talking with someone she couldn't see but she did notice a yellow eye with green sclera look at her for a moment before…the sclera turned white and the yellow turned purple. Yet it returned to the yellow and green before looking back at the person they were talking to, leaving Tigra's last view of their attention being a sly smirk.

 The second to last person to catch her attention was a purple furred goat woman with dark purple hair and two horns. She seemed annoyed at something before her pale blue sclera eyes looked at her.

 The last person was the bartender who had long red hair tied up in a ponytail and dark gray bull-like horns. Her light cyan skin flexed as her muscular arms were cleaning mugs before looking at Tigra. Her eyes scanned her before returning back to her work.

 Tigra walked in while subtly activating Neuron, which will let there be nearly no delay between her brain's response to her muscles to move if things get hairy here. With it activated, she can go from sitting still to her top speed in next to a 10th of a second.

 She sat at the counter before the bartender woman walked up and handed her a drink.

 Tigra raised an eyebrow at her.

 "First timers get 3 drinks free. After that, they must pay for every drink after."

 "Why?"

 "We don't get many first timers that know the area well enough that they won't die of thirst within the first week if they don't get a drink. Think of it as me trying to keep a future customer alive."

 "Thanks then. Tigra."

 "Melissa. Only rules here are to leave the bar and workers alone. Mess with one of them and you are forbidden from getting drinks here. And considering the next water spot is 150 miles away…"

 "Don't forget that the strongest make the rules." The goat woman interrupted.

 Tigra smirked, ignoring the goat woman for now.

 "Guess you haven't heard about me then. That distance is a light warm up." She took a sip from the mug.

 "Tigra of the Horde." She heard behind her.

 Tigra could feel the atmosphere drop.

 Tigra spun herself around to get a look at the person speaking to her.

 Short brown hair was her first notice with their tan skin next. Green eyes were narrowed at her while her mouth was etched into a scowl. She wore bandages all around her chest and arms while tight black pants covered her legs.

 "Yeah?"

 "My name is Harna. Do you know of my husband, Luman?"

 'Luman…haven't heard of them. But Harna? Why does that sound familiar?'

 "No clue. But I have heard of you somewhere?"

 "Here's a hint: Terra."

 'Terra. What kind of-'

 A memory struck her.

 "Get off the pity horse. Sometimes, a person wants someone who will look at a person and not their deeds. I know my partner doesn't care about what I do, so long as I keep helping her around the house like I've been doing once I get back home. Now, go get your rest."

 'Alright. Tell Harna I said hello, would you?'

 "I will."

 "Oh."

 "Yeah."

[Harna | Age: 43]

[Level: 31]

[REP: -87 [Nemesis] ]

 

 Tigra felt Primal Instincts start to flare but it wasn't needed.

 Her eyes, due to neuron, were easily tracking the dagger slowly coming out of Harna's sleeve as her arm was already starting to reach towards her.

 'Based on the trajectory, this would have stabbed me in the shoulder.' Tigra glanced around and noticed that nobody seemed surprised and were already watching them.

 'May as well show them to not try this again.'

 Tigra spun lightly in the chair, making the dagger miss her as she noticed Harna's eyes widened at her sudden speed without any real sign that she was using magic.

 Tigra used the momentum to stand off of the stool and had her arm on her hip while her right hand simply twirled a black dagger.

 "Is this your best, Hama?" She intentionally got wrong. "I'm wondering what Ludan saw in you then."

 Harna snarled before charging at her and bringing forth another dagger.

 Tigra simply kept dodging while occasionally parrying a wide swing, all the while keeping an eye on her surroundings in case someone else decided to get involved.

 Side step her left thrust, parry her right swing, block her knee strike, jump to the side to avoid another thrust, deflect her right arm to the side, before grabbing her knee with her other hand.

 "Seriously? My students fight better than you and they're not even out of the Academy yet, Harka." Tigra pointed out.

 "Shut up!"

 'Bingo.'

 With the exclamation, she thrusted both daggers at her, each intending on embedding themselves into her neck.

 Tigra ducked to the side before slamming a knee into her diaphragm.

 Harna dropped her daggers as they clattered on the ground, seeing as she likely felt the sudden lack of ability to breathe. Tigra simply watched as she collapsed on the ground.

 "Hey Melissa," Tigra called out, catching her attention. "Do you care about this customer?"

 "I told you my rules. Though if this is asking about a death match or ending of one, take it outside. Blood's a pain to clean out of the ground."

 Tigra simply grabbed Harna by the back of her clothes and threw her out the cloth entrance.

 Tigra walked out not too far behind.

 Everyone inside watched her leave before a strong rumble ran through the tavern.

 Quite a few held onto their tables and drinks until the sudden rumble ceased.

500 EXP gained

 

 A moment later, Tigra walked back in with her right fist surrounded in blue fire. Even the patrons on the far side of the tavern could feel that the temperature rose several degrees the moment she walked back inside.

 "Sorry about the mess, Melissa. There's a small crater of glass outside. Had to make sure she realized just how bad of an idea that was." Tigra told as the fire went out and she sat back down on her stool, one of Shadow Piercer still in her left hand.

 She grabbed the mug but before drinking, told the tavern one thing.

 "Hurna annoyed me. Who's going to be the first to make me mad?"

 The tavern was quiet, which was the reason that Tigra could hear what the goat woman whispered.

 "She scares me more than that blonde woman who could grow to almost 7 feet. Still don't know what she wanted with that haunted ship."

 Tigra turned her head and stared straight at the woman, who's fur bristles before she turned stock still.

 "What was that?"

 Tigra leaned forward until she noticed the two lizardfolk were put off by her and the four armed lizardfolk twitched their hands, as if readying to grab a weapon.

 Tigra focused before using Dark Pulse.

 Her magic went through the lizardfolk before they stiffened as well. Her magic gave them a feeling of danger intense enough that their instincts were screaming to flee.

 "I could have sworn you said something about a 7' blonde woman and a ship in the middle of the desert?"

 The goat woman bah'd.

 "I'd greatly appreciate a guide or two there. After all, surely it's dangerous for most people to traverse the desert, what with those two giant creatures fighting being an indication."

 Tigra leaned back in her seat before taking another drink, finishing her mug.

 "You in?"

 The goat woman fell over stiff as a board while the four armed lizardfolk barely gave a nod.

 She reeled in Dark Pulse before giving a smirk.

Dark Pulse gained 40 [EXP/s] * 2 [People] * 30 [seconds] * 2 [Genius]= 4800 EXP!

Dark Pulse leveled up! LV 19 --> LV 20

...

 "I'm glad we came to an agreement. Melissa, may I ask for my second mug? I'm sure we can work out a deal in your favor should I need more if I'm in this desert for longer than I wish."

___________

Tigra

Age: 18

Level 65 (11955/16250)

HP: 11,060.....HPR: 4977

MP: 2496/6240.....MPR: 1621/4052

SP: 5530...SPR: 2489

STR: 158.....DEX: 701

CON: 541...INT: 312

WIS: 300...CHA: 108

Skill Points: 3

Trait Points: 1

Upgrade Trait Points: 0

Speed: 97.4 MPH

Magical Control: 327%

Carry Capacity: Normal - 296 lbs. MAX 395 lbs

Skills:

[H2H LV (4)29], [Run LV (2)45], [Dash LV (4)84, [Blades LV 96], [Spear LV 40]

[Dodge LV 41], [Reading LV 75], [Writing LV 105], [Sneak LV 48]

[Light Res. LV 4], [Air Res. LV 2], [Water Res. LV 87]

[Magic Res LV 42], [Earth Res LV 4]

[Program. LV 35], [Security LV 18], [Hacking LV 27], [Strategy LV 61]

Spells [Tigra still uses]:

Clone-Fire and Lightning

Fire Step, F. Clothing, Fire Breath, Flame Dive, Lava Armor, Flame Charge,

Flame Fists, Fireball LV 23, F. Dagger, F. Arrow, F. Falchion, F. Spear, Fire Augment

Lightning Armor, Lightning Claws LV 20, L. Falchion LV 1, L. Spear LV 1,

L. Arrow LV 1, L. Dagger LV 1, Lightning Slam LV 1, L. Clothing LV 1

Chill, Ice Armor

Darken, Shadow Mask, Shadow Ball LV 1, Shadow Spy LV 68, Shadow Armor, Dark Pulse LV 19

Breeze

Bubble, Stream, Wave, Water Armor LV 63

Haste, Heal, Regeneration LV 1, Truth LV 1, Lie LV 15

Traits:

[Night Vision], [Magical], [Obsidian Claws], [Huntress], [Primal Instincts]

[You are the Weapon - Multiplies H2H bonus by 2]

[Lightning - Multiplies final DEX by 1.5]

[Durable - Multiplies final CON by 1.15]

[Smart - Multiplies final INT by 1.15]

[Wise - Multiplies final WIS by 1.15]

[You are Speed - For two minutes a day, your DEX is multiplied by 3]

[Omni-Regeneration II- Multiplies all Regens by 3]

[Pyromaniac - EXP for Fire Spells is doubled]

[Hydromaniac - EXP for Water Spells is doubled]

[Unimaniac - EXP for Pure Spells is doubled]

[Electromaniac - EXP for Electric Spells is doubled[

[Unburnable - You can't be hurt by fire or heat through fire]

[Physical Proof - You can't be hurt by physical means with ill intent]

[Electric-proof - You can't be hurt by electricity through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]

[Ice Proof - You can't be hurt by ice through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]

[Shadow Proof - You can't be hurt by shadow/darkness through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]

[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]

[Raiju - Multiply your movement speed by 3x for 90 minutes within a 24 hour period. Lightning attacks do 100% more damage but water damage hurts you thrice as much as normal]

[Grimm - Decreases damage taken by 75%, regenerations + 200% but Light attacks deal 3x their regular damage. Works for 30 minutes a day]

[Yuki-Onna - Touching something with HP will do INT*100 ice damage per second. Can be used for 10 minutes a day]

[Fueling the Fire - Increases Damage for Fire attacks by 50%]

[One with Fire - Fire spells take 25% less MP than normal]

[One with Lightning - Lightning spells take 25% less MP than normal]

[The Myth is Real - You have 7 spare lives and will restore you to 50% HP, MP, and SP upon resurrecting 4 minutes later]

[True Heir - Allows you the ability to connect with the Runestone of your home kingdom, or a Runestone should there not be one]

[Over Killer - Due to your ability of overkilling, your threats are more likely to succeed as warnings towards enemies]

[6th Sense [Catra] - You now will know when your fellow Chosen(s) are in trouble]

[Recovery - Your Regens are increased by 50%]

[Control - Allows the use of 4 continuous spells without causing pain]

[Princess of Fire - Multiplies MP by 2, MPR by 1.5, and Fire spells gain 4x EXP]

[Azure Flames - You can use 50% more MP to increase a fire spell's power by 100%. Doing so turns your flames into a brilliant blue]

Milestones:

[Genius - All EXP for spells is doubled]

[Brilliant - All spells do 25% more damage]

[Hare - Increases movement speed by 25%]

[Cheetah - For 30 seconds every 2 hours, your DEX is increased by 50%]

[Eagle - You can now run on air as long as you remain undisturbed]

[Diamond Body - Decreases damage taken by 60% after resistances]

[Meditated - MPR remains active at 15% while using spells continuously]

[Confident Aura - Those around you will think you know what you are doing]

[Strong - Increases non-magical attacks by 10% and carrying capacity by 25%]

Weapons:

Dark Flame - A Jian that can channel fire magic to increase its power ~ 4100 damage with no added MP

Shadow Piercer - Dual Daggers dark enough to be hidden in shadows ~ 4000 per dagger


next chapter

Capítulo 43: An Angry and Cunning Lioness

 Scarlet ducked underneath a flaming fist before shooting out her leg and landing a blow against her opponent's side, making them grunt before they wrapped an arm around her leg.

 She withheld a gasp as her opponent leaned back and began pulling her upwards. Before she had time to recollect herself at suddenly being upside down, she was slammed into the ground.

 She pushed magic to her feet before she zoomed forward about 10 feet before pushing against the ground with her hands. She landed on her feet after doing a twist in the air and quickly got back into her fighting stance with her feet apart and her hands ready to quickly move if needed.

 She and her opponent glowed orange before dashing towards each other, Scarlet with electricity coming off of her hands and her opponent with fire.

 "Finished!" Their teacher announced.

 The two of them quickly stopped, their hands a foot away from colliding with each other. They were both breathing somewhat harder than normal.

 "Kai, good work on adapting to Scarlet's sudden kick. Your punches though are very telegraphed. See about joining the other class about twice a week and we can try and fix that. Maybe you'll take Tigra by surprise when she gets back."

 Blue and yellow eyes focused on Scarlet next.

 "Scarlet, you have already shown why kicking the side is a bad strategy if you don't pull back your leg quick enough. Tigra and I can get away with it because both of us can move about 45 mph without having to use magic or needing more than 2 or 3 seconds to get up to that speed. Good job on your Lightning Claws though. Your Hand to Hand has gotten much better since I last saw you a couple of months ago."

 "Tigra has been a great teacher." Scarlet explained, smiling at the acknowledgement about her growth. "I feel like I learned more about hand to hand under her than I did throughout the Academy."

 "Yeah, she's always had that effect when she's teaching someone. Regardless, show me the other spells that Tigra has been having you learn recently alongside what you've been learning." 

 Scarlet nodded before pulling on her magic source and feeling it grow hotter. As if she slowly got into a hot bath.

 She snapped her fingers like she's seen Tigra do continuously before her entire body burned with flames.

 Scarlet then snapped her fingers again before flames sputtered out of her feet and she gained about 5 feet of air. She flew around for a few seconds to show that her control of it is still shaky, seeing as she would continuously rise and fall instead of maintaining a consistent height as Tigra had written down when it regarded this spell.

 She landed back on the ground before letting Fire Armor go.

 "How long can you keep Fire Armor going for?"

 "Alone? Probably about 5 minutes if I want it to be useful, 1 if I want to tank something like cannon fire. For Fire Step, roughly 15 minutes alone."

 Her teacher nodded. "Not bad. I can keep Fire Armor going for roughly half an hour when it's useful and 5 minutes for cannon fire. Keep training your magic and it will become second nature to have certain spells activated in less than a second."

 Scarlet then focused on changing that hot feeling to energy that moves quickly. It went through her entire body lightly before staying focused around her eyes, nose, and ears.

 Her red eyes gained a faint orange in them.

 Her teacher shot forward and Scarlet's body was moving on its own basically. Her eyes caught the fist heading towards her face and her arm moved. Her hand grabbed the fist before her head moved to the side, avoiding her other hand.

 "Neuron takes next to nothing to keep up now. It works best when using Haste in order to move even quicker on a dime." Scarlet explained her observations, seeing as Tigra has been asking them to figure out which spells go well with others and vice versa with those that would go poorly together.

 "Good. At this rate, you may genuinely be on the path to being the top in the magic class and physical class should you continue at the rate you're going. Dismissed! I'm not Tigra. I don't have the time to take up both of her classes for as long as she could."

 As several students started to leave, Scarlet walked up to the teacher.

 "Speaking of Tigra…where is she? Usually when she isn't here, she sends out a message to all of the students saying that either someone else would help out or that classes were canceled until she returned."

 "The mission was given to her the same day she had to leave."

 "Catra." Scarlet rolled her eyes. "I will never know Tigra as much as her Chosen does, but I know, even then, Tigra would have sent out a message saying that someone else would be teaching them. I'm grateful for you continuing the classes, but can you please either say it's classified or explain. You're good at lying, but I looked up to Tigra."

 "Why is that?" Catra asked, placing a hand on her hip.

 "I come from a family of high ranking soldiers and as such, there were expectations of me that I couldn't fulfill. Then suddenly, I see the Force Captain who obtained their rank within 2 months of graduation. She was practically everything that was being expected of me, so I asked for advice."

 Scarlet leaned against the wall as she practically fell into memory.

 "I had disillusioned her as this figure of unobtainable strength. Someone who could fight 100 soldiers single handedly at the same time. But she told me that strength is not that focused. Instead of being a better fighter or magic user, she used speed and stealth. Until that day, I didn't really acknowledge that the Horde even had stealth units. She even told me to forget about 'fairness' and 'honor' while I fight. How, in a fight to the death, those mean less than the ground you fight on. How an honorable soldier will die more times than a soldier who wants to win and come home alive. Her final piece of advice that day was to find something I was good at and strive to become the best at that."

 "And what was that?"

 "Hand to Hand and, apparently, magic. My original goal was to become a better hand to hand user than Tigra, but she keeps getting better. At this point, I'll have to wait until she's likely 50 for me to even stand a chance; yet even then, we'll both be out of our primes. So my new goal is simple: become someone that Tigra would have to put effort into beating. If I can't beat her, I'll make it the hardest fight she'll go up against."

 Catra looked at her before giving a smirk.

 "Admirable. Instead, I don't think you should give up on that first goal though. The instant you believe that you can't beat someone, that's it. You've turned a hypothetical into a fact. Keep going with that second goal, but don't give up on the first."

 "Thanks."

 Silence.

 "So where is Tigra?"

 Catra groaned lightly, hoping she steered it away from that, but apparently not.

 "Sorry, but, while I can see why Tigra likes you, I don't trust you. As for now, Tigra's situation is confidential."

 Scarlet looked at her before her eyes narrowed before blinking twice.

 "She's been declared a traitor and sent away to get her out of the Horde's eyes in a manner that Lord Hordak could see getting rid of her in a way that isn't Beast Island."

 Scarlet officially worried Catra.

 "How did you come to that idea?"

 "Everyone in the Horde knows that a prisoner either attempted to escape or managed to. The fact that there hasn't been a single mention of someone being shipped out of the Horde, it can be assumed that they managed to escape. It would have to be someone high up or they would have mentioned someone escaped by name. The fact that Tigra's clones suddenly left during class and no one has seen her once since then? The fact that you, the Second in Command, are suddenly taking up the class when you've been to these classes maybe once since they started? It implies something big happened suddenly. Not to mention that the clones stated that they lost their magical connection to Tigra before leaving, which paints a picture that something happened to Tigra. Thus, the prisoner and Tigra were likely related."

 "Riiight. Well, it would be best that you keep that information quiet in a way that you don't get connected to such an idea."

 Catra's tablet beeped, drawing her attention.

 "I'm afraid I need to cut this conversation here. I've got a meeting with a General. Have a productive day, Scarlet."

 "You as well, S.I.C. Catra."

 The two separated before Scarlet decided on something.

 'May tell people quietly about what's going on. Otherwise people will get inquisitive and that may catch Hordak's attention.'

 Scarlet frowned at a sudden thought.

 'Why the hell is Hordak sabotaging the Horde? With Tigra, we have someone who can fight off She-Ra, something we didn't have for nearly the entire first year of the war. It was why the Rebellion experienced a large amount of land taken back before Catra and Tigra started working around her.'

 Scarlet continued walking towards her sleeping quarters with her current Squadron.

 _____________

 Catra walked into General Judai's office and found her sitting in her chair with a tablet in her hands.

 "You wanted to speak with me?"

 Judai looked up and Catra could see an emotion in her eyes plain as day.

 "We need to talk about something regarding Tigra."

 Catra sat down in a chair opposite to her before Judai looked up from her tablet.

 "How much have you put together over what happened 2 days ago?"

 "I'm not sure that it is information that you should know, confidentiality and all."

 Judai rolled her eyes before pushing the tablet towards her.

 Catra reached forward while keeping an eye on Judai before picking up the tablet.

 On it was a video showing the Sanctum room with Tigra and Hordak in there.

 She watched as they seemed to be talking before a red light filled the room and was flashing from bright red light to a dim light.

 Hordak seemed to be talking animatedly before she noticed something.

 Tigra suddenly seemed to slouch ever so slightly before her eyes widened. Her hands moved closer to her waist so small that she barely noticed it.

 But she noticed the cuffs springing out of the ground fast enough that it was around her ankles, wrists, and one around her neck within 1/50th of a second, based on the video slowing down to show the suddenness.

 "Why didn't Tigra dodge them?" Catra muttered. "She should have been able to-"

 "Primal Instincts is a trait I've always had. It allows me to tell when someone nearby has ill intentions towards me. Over the years, it seems more like 'someone plans to harm me' instead of 'someone doesn't like me' kind of feeling."

 'The chains.' She realized. 'They wouldn't hurt her and Hordak seems to be angry with her. Maybe she was focused on him and not worried about something coming from the floor.'

 The cuffs dragged her body to the ground before the camera caught Tigra's eyes.

 They went from surprised and worried to wide eyes.

 Her mouth opened widely as her chest seemed to expand and contract.

 Yet…her chest was slowly getting more and more contracted. Her face seemed pained and her body started getting more and more towards herself until…

 A 15 year old Tigra's body curled inward as her eyes screamed terror.

 Catra growled harshly as she put genuine effort into not having her claws pierce through the tablet.

 It was a minute later when Tigra's eyes closed and her body went limp.

 "Lord Hordak mentioned that, due to his different biology, he needed much less oxygen than the people on this planet."

 Catra narrowed her eyebrows before looking at Judai.

 "'This planet?' What do you mean?"

 "Exactly that. Lord Hordak informed a few people about this - Shadow Weaver, myself, and two other Generals - but he's not from Etheria. He claims that there's more Horde out there. Something called the Intergalactic Horde, whatever 'Intergalactic' means. Something about trying to make a portal to get in contact with someone called Prime."

 "But Etheria's been alone for nearly a millennium of recorded history." Catra muttered.

 She shook her head.

 "This is off topic. Why did you show me this?"

 "Because this isn't how a soldier who has gone far above what they should do for their kingdom should be treated. Tigra is a soldier that, if prompted, could likely deal incredible damage to her enemies."

 A sound came from the vent.

 "I need a contingency. How can I get her to actually do this?"

 Catra tensed slightly at hearing Hordak's voice before looking at it as Imp crawled his way out and floated over to Judai's shoulder.

 Imp opened his mouth again, only for Entrapta's voice to come through.

 "Hordak! Have you seen Catra? I haven't been able to find her or Tigra. Strange huh? They both should be here in the Fright Zone."

 Imp closed his mouth before Hordak's voice came through again.

 "You've given me a wonderful idea. How would you feel about sending Tigra to retrieve that tech you needed out in the Waste?"

 Catra's body went cold at hearing just where Tigra likely was.

 "Okay! I'll need to prepare our supplies-"

 "No." Hordak interrupted her. "Tigra will be going alone. I have needs of your services here in the Horde and I need my Second in Command to remain here in the Zone."

 Imp closed his mouth again and didn't open it.

 "Lord Hordak has sent Tigra on a death mission to find something in the desert that spans a total of 5 million square miles. Somewhere we have no reports on anyone surviving out there."

 "He specifically said that he wanted me here. There's no real reason for me to stay here, despite my position. It was why I've been going out with the three of them to help retrieve other First One technology." Catra noticed.

 "Imp overheard Hordak saying that he needed a contingency. Now why would you be part of that?"

 It sounded as if General Judai was trying to lead her there, but Catra had already ran there.

 "That? I'm Tigra's contingency. It's to keep her from running from the Horde. Yet…there is no need for such a contingency. While Tigra isn't exactly loyal to whoever leads the Horde, it's still her home. Lonnie, Rogelio, Kyle, Scorpia, Entrapta, and I are here. Her students and all of her physical work pieces are here. Her spellbooks and notebooks are here. There's no real reason she wouldn't come back."

 Imp opened his mouth again.

 'We wouldn't want anything to happen to the Second in Command, would we?'

 This time, Hordak's statement took both of them back.

 "Who is he-"

 "Hordak," Tigra's voice and growl caused their eyes to widen. "Think carefully about what you're about to say. I have seen my Codex entry and they are very correct about targeting my family."

 Imp closed his mouth before opening again.

 "That all depends on you following my conditions while out in the Wastes. You will be wearing two prison bracelets that will block roughly 60% of your magic. Should these be broken, I will be given the belief that you have abandoned us. At which point, consequences must happen."

 A moment later.

 "When am I going?"

 "You will be going immediately. I can't have your students think that their teacher is above consequences."

 Once more, Imp closes his mouth for what seems to be the last time.

 "Is Hordak insane?" Catra stated as her claws twitched, extending out before sheathing once more to prevent herself from breaking something in a room that's not hers.

 "Above consequences? Not only is that a flimsy excuse at best, it's hypocritical at worst! Is he saying that the years that Shadow Weaver abused several soldiers and genuinely scared over 60% of her own soldiers should have been let off with a slap on the wrists!?"

 "Abuse?" Judai asked, making Catra's eyes widened. "I assumed that she was just much more strict with your squadron."

 Catra scoffed. "She emotionally manipulated Adora at every step and physically and slightly emotionally tortured Tigra for nearly a decade straight. Due to both of them being her main targets, I mostly got off with thinking for a long time that I'd never be able to keep up with them."

 "That's…"

 "Something the three of us are trying to keep in the past." Catra informed. "We don't want to be defined by one woman. The point though, is that what? Tigra was slow on understanding a General's role after being a Captain for a year? That she was likely connected with the missing prisoner? Those two things warranted a death sentence?"

 "The prisoner?"

 "If it came down to it…are you with Tigra or Hordak?"

 Judai took a second to look at Catra before thinning her mouth.

 "Force General Tigra is my student. While I may not be able to really teach her much in combat besides a few more weaponry, she's still got some things to learn about ruling, strategy, and more political matters. I'm not leaving my student until she can lead her own future student as I am."

 Catra studied her before nodding.

 "You're lucky that Tigra had mostly good things to say about you. While you showed up every so often in conversation, she stated you were surprisingly someone she could trust to have her back. Time to see if she's right."

 Catra handed back her tablet and messed with her own tablet before sending over a picture of Weaver.

 "She's suspected to have escaped with some kind of mechanism found inside a broken badge that Tigra retrieved for her in exchange for some kind of method of figuring out if Lucy Waterscale was an actual traitor or not."

 "The sudden backstepping in the video…"

 "Did they happen with lies or a strong truth?"

 "The strongest lie. He declared that Lucy was a traitor to her despite the evidence from nearly half the Generals saying that she couldn't be one and the other half saying that there's not enough evidence at the moment to declare her one. None of the current General's are happy with him at the moment."

 Catra looked to the side before gaining a slightly concerned look.

 "At the rate that Hordak is going…it won't be long until a civil war likely breaks out. If Tigra's mistake was on purpose, such as it being intentional of letting her flee, then people could make the accusation that Hordak's punishment seemed correct. However, due to her fame, speed, and her willingness to teach anyone as long as they put in the effort, many people look up to her. Let alone the fact that she's protective of anyone under her command."

 Catra looked at Judai again.

 "Are you aware of how and why we captured Shadow Weaver?"

 "She attacked you four when you were experimenting with the Black Garnet. As for how, it isn't stated exactly but it is implied that you and Tigra took her down."

 "Have you wondered why Tigra never fought against Weaver before then? Why she allowed her to torture her?"

 "I'm going to make a guess that you and Adora had something to do with it?"

 "Yes and no. Up to a few days before Weaver was captured, Adora and I had no real proof of what Weaver was doing to her. However, Tigra was letting her do what she was doing for one purpose: keep Weaver's attention off of us and on her. Tigra finally fought back because she had two reasons: Hordak told us that we could capture anyone who interfered with our experiments, thus Tigra had a way to take her down without getting on Hordak's bad side."

 "And the other?"

 "During the fight, Weaver gathered up her magical power at the time and condensed it into a rather powerful lightning attack. Strong enough that I was smelling ozone long before she fired the attack. She fired the attack straight at me, yet Tigra did not hesitate to get in front of the attack. We took her down, yet later, Weaver had an injury she didn't obtain during the fight."

 Judai raised an eyebrow.

 "A shattered kneecap. Not as in a broken one, but as in, the best that the medical professionals suggested was removing all of the broken pieces and replacing it with a prosthetic version. She'd never be able to run again, if she ever did, but without it, she'd be in severe pain should she try to move faster than a brisk jog."

 "You're saying…"

 "Tigra cares about Adora and I to an extreme. While she would likely never hurt a normal person if they were just bad mouthing us or something, Weaver is THE exception. The small amount that Tigra has been willing to talk about, Weaver only commented on her speed being good enough to run but never being able to hide from her. My best guess is that Tigra decided to perform some turn around. Now, Weaver would never really be able to run away from her. She may have escaped, but Tigra could be anywhere on the planet within 2 days. In two days, she could be near the Kingdom of Ice and be on the other side of the continent. Including 6 hours to sleep through the night. Just like everyone alive, Tigra has a monster inside her that she does her best to prevent letting loose. Why do you think she's so careful about fighting people with reputations? As in letting them live?"

 "Reputations means that they are being watched."

 Catra nodded. 

 "If she were to actually kill…Princess Glimmer. Brightmoon would mourn and cry about getting rid of the Horde. But the bigger problem is right after. The Princess Alliance came to the Fright Zone themselves to get Adora and Glimmer out of here when Shadow Weaver captured them. 

 Imagine them when we kill one of theirs. The Princesses just want to stop the war without losing as much as they can, but they would then be out for blood. They wouldn't rest until the Horde Lord, their Second in Command, and likely their Generals were put down before our citizens would likely be placed under a faux government where the other kingdoms were likely to be entirely in control. 

 And that's if they'd win. If they lost, every single person from the Horde would be labeled a monster, something that needs to be put down to the very last one. It's why she releases that fighter when she's fighting hundreds of enemies at once. If word got out that she killed hundreds of people at once, they would fear her, but wouldn't think it was targeted. If she went out and killed 3 Princesses, everyone knows who she's going after next."

 Judai hummed.

 "But in order for us to win this war, we'd need to take out their heavy fighters or deal such a blow that, even with their heavy fighters, they no longer want to fight."

 "Let's say that Hordak was no longer in position to have a say over the war," Catra started. "Is it in our best interest to continue this war? While most of our losses in the war are our bots, that is still using quite the large amount of resources. We could be using that elsewhere while having a good amount on standby in case something starts up again."

 "You suggest surrender?"

 Judai looked as if saying the wrong thing could lose her respect and support.

 "Not surrender." Catra took off the table. "But think critically at this part. Get rid of all of the propaganda. What is our reason for this war to continue? To risk the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers a week? The Rebellion simply wants to keep their independence, their land, their citizens safe, and to stop the kingdom that started the war. What about us?"

 Judai frowned at that. 

 "You've just described the issue 70% of the Generals feel about the war. While we could lead a rebellion of our own and force Hordak to stop the war, it wouldn't do much. Hordak showed up on the radar only ~40 years ago. In that time, he's created: an army capable of pushing back or holding back every kingdom at almost the same time, technology that many say is just under First One tech, which is still mostly not understood by the populace, and seems to have much more experience with war than most of us likely know.

 If Hordak could do all of this publicly within 40 years, despite not showing much - if any - aging, what could he do with 60 while staying hidden? The point is, even if we took him down and pushed him out, that doesn't rid us of our problem."

 "Listen. What I'm suggesting is two leaders with a council." Catra laid out. "Tigra would be in charge of situations involving magic, soldier training, and diplomatic issues that need to be done in quick succession. I would be dealing with our defense, political relations with other kingdoms, and dealing with our citizens.

 As for the council, we'd need those with experience in fields that neither of us have. While we may have been promoted and showed skills that made us important in this war, that's the issue. We have no experience with actual peace times, how to handle real relations with allied kingdoms, how to deal with mostly anything that can't be used for war. That's where you guys would come in. You'd be bringing up facts about your divisions - such as the Navy, Soldiers, Engineers, Sorcerers, Medics, and more. It will be your job to impress why a decision will be beneficial or detrimental to those fields. While it's not a perfect plan, it can be polished over time until we have a working method going.

 How does that sound?"

 Judai stayed silent for several minutes.

 For which, Catra stayed silent because this was something that required heavy thoughts about.

 War was all the Horde mostly knew. While no one seemed to really think about it, if there was no war, the Horde would have no clue what to do. For the most part, almost every soldier in the Horde would be thrown into the deep end at the same time.

 "We need to gather a list of who will help us." Judai finally spoke. "It won't matter much if we were to replace Hordak if chaos comes soon after. Do you know anyone of importance who will follow you?"

 "Force Captain Lonnie will be in our corner and she has a decent reputation with other soldiers. Force Commander Rogelio is well known with his engineer buddies. Specialist Candidate Kyle has a good relationship with over half of the current Specialists. Force Captain Scorpia would likely stand with us after seeing that Hordak would easily send anyone away, even if they're doing a good job. We have at least 60% of Tigra's students at the absolute minimum with us. Force Capatin Serena may be on our side, considering she liked Tigra." Catra listed off.

 "I can get General Sukra of the Navy on our side if they can maintain their position. General Han of the Army should be with us, so long as we give the soldiers opportunities if they don't want to continue being soldiers." Judai thought on her side of things.

 Judai was quiet a moment later before asking a question Catra wasn't looking forward to.

 "What about Entrapta?"

 Catra winced.

 "There's no avoiding it. Hordak will likely be imprisoned with constant surveillance on him. I'll take Scorpia with me when we explain to her how Hordak truly doesn't want to have Tigra come back. How he easily did this to one of her friends. Plus, he tried to get rid of one of her biggest things to study."

 Judai hummed before looking over at Imp.

 "Imp, could you go with her? Your recording of Hordak's conversations could help convince Entrapta."

 Imp chittered before flying and landing on Catra's shoulder.

 "Alright then…you go deal with your side, I'll deal with mine and then I'll deal with Entrapta."

 Judai nodded before they left each other.

 Catra sent a quick message to Serena, Lonnie, Rogelio. Kyle, and Scorpia.

 Meet me at training arena 17 in 30 minutes. Come alone as we will be discussing a sensitive subject.

 ____________

 Catra tapped her claws against her arm before her ears twitched and looked to the side as a door slid open.

 "What's with the vaguely problematic summons, Cat?" Lonnie asked, everyone but Serena with her.

 "We're waiting on one more person." Catra told. "As for the summon, I will let you know that you will have the choice of staying with me or waiting the situation out."

 "Why wouldn't we help you, Catra?" Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow. "You part of our Squad."

 "Must be pretty serious." Rogelio growled and hissed.

 "I'll be discussing it once Force Captain Serena appears."

 "Serena?" Scorpia muttered. "I thought she hung out with Tigra more than you?"

 "I do." Serena voiced out, walking in through a door that was sliding shut. "So I'd like to know why you asked for me to appear out of nowhere."

 Catra nodded.

 "First off, I will be talking about something that could get you in legitimate trouble should Horde Lord Hordak find out that you were part of this. I will give you all the moment to choose to leave now or after. Should you choose after, someone will be watching you until the situation is cleared up." Catra explained.

 Serena and Lonnie looked at each other, as if sizing the other up.

 Serena huffed before crossing her arms and leaning on one foot.

 "I know that you five - minus Scorpia - were on the same Squad and, since I haven't heard anything about your Squad ending in disaster, assuming that you all see each other practically as family. I'll say that I'll hear you out before deciding on leaving or helping."

 Lonnie nodded at that, as if she approved of that explanation.

 "You've got our support, as long as it isn't about hurting someone here." Kyle informed.

 Rogelio nodded.

 "I'm with ya, Wildcat."

 Catra let out a breath before taking the next 20 minutes to explain the situation regarding Tigra: the prisoner [only Serena seemed surprised but that seemed more about Tigra being caught than doing it], the capture by Hordak [surprise by most that Hordak had that trap already set up], the sentence of Crimson Waste [nearly everyone cursing out angrily at the situation], Hordak using Catra as Tigra's contingency plan.

 "Alright, I think I see where this is going: I'm with you." Lonnie growled out.

 Kyle and Rogelio won't far behind as they made the connection soon after.

 She further explained how a General called her and they discussed how many Generals aren't happy with Hordak and could easily see it turning into a civil war in the Fright Zone.

 "...that's why I called you five. I know my Squadron would likely stick with me, but I wanted to inform them before it could kick off. Scorpia, you've been helping Tigra and I on missions for a while, but if you help, this will be major treason. If you get found out, your Princess status will mean nothing to this kingdom. In fact, it could be how Hordak convinces many to try and hunt you down, proclaiming that you were a spy for the Princess Alliance."

 "Tigra always said how she felt towards me. How she wished that she could know more about me, yet never saw me as a Princess or an airhead, despite me having earned my position. I may be happy and enjoy life, but I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't have stayed a Force Captain for 2 years before I met you guys without knowing what I'm doing." Scorpia took a moment to look at them. "So you'll need me to make sure to let you all know when the mission is finished."

 Catra felt a light weight come off of her shoulders at knowing Scorpia wouldn't oppose them.

 The five of them then looked at Serena, who looked away while holding her chin.

 "Serena?"

 She glanced over at them before breathing in and out.

 "Do you know how many men I led when Tigra showed herself the first time to me? I led 50 soldiers. 34 of them had Squad mates, 10 of the exceptions had family, and the rest were there out of duty. I know 4 out of 5 of their names off the top of my head. Then I was promoted to Captain. I then had 600 soldiers, or 12 garrisons under my command. I barely remember 70 of their names. Yet, Tigra could state all of their names if she needed to. Tigra proved herself as someone who will do what is best for those beneath her."

 Serena opened her violet eyes with determination brimming in them.

 "To hear that Hordak will throw someone like that away, simply because they have made a mistake? The person who blew out the energy grid over a dozen times? No. I don't want to work for someone like that if I have the choice of continuing to work for Tigra. I'm with you all."

 The ones present smirked at that before Imp flew down and landed on Catra's shoulder, making everyone tense.

 "To show you how bad it actually is, Imp is actually working with us."

 "What? Why?"

 Imp opened his mouth.

 "Think about your next decision carefully, my Lord." General Judai's voice came through. "Destroy any loyalty that Force General Tigra had to you. You will lose the loyalty of nearly 30% of the Horde. She could join the Rebellion…and we'd be up shit's creek!"

 Imp closed his mouth.

 "Imp likely understands that Hordak is about to light the fuse to a room filled to the brim with gunpowder. He's smart enough to understand that the Horde is about to change. And he wants in on it."

 Catra smirked before an image of Tigra laughing filled her mind.

 "Who's ready to start a revolution to show just why Hordak shouldn't be in charge with his current attitude?"


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