A Strange Escape
Tigra laid on her back onto a bed, reading another report from Geotan and had another from Terra waiting to be read.
'The locals are continuing to work with little resistance. Force Captain Tigra's method of capturing Geotan seems to have done wonders in keeping them reluctant in revolting against the town. It is unknown still if that is simply due to how quickly Tigra showed that she can put down those that are willing to resist her or how the next Force Captain to retake Geotan may not care for the loss of civilian life.
We've finished putting up the surrounding wall to prevent Rebellion soldiers from entering the town from anywhere. The new soldiers are performing well and most seem to have gotten over the loss of Senior Cadet Harold, who lost his life buying time for the others to arrive and drive back the small contingent of Rebellion soldiers.
Alongside them, the medics are finally back up to the level they were under Medic Apprentice Susan. The chances of a revolt fall under 1:50 with the chances of being retaken by the Rebellion as 1:28 with the number expected to fall as more towns are taken with more strategic value to Brightmoon.'
'Well, I finally found out just how they died.' Tigra thought. 'They'll be remembered.'
With that thought, she turned back to Terra's report.
'Locals seem to be behaving well under our command. We have been treating them well, under the recommendations from Force Captain Tigra and Force Commander Serena. To keep it short, Force Captain Tigra had a confrontation with Bolt of Lightning. While it ended under a loss for Force Captain Tigra, Bolt of Lightning left soon after with the comment of treating the citizens well or he may come back.
The walls have been repaired alongside the barracks. Soldiers are keeping a tight schedule of who and when are supposed to be on guard duty. Force Commander Serena has taken to training those under her more often than those under her say. The reasoning is that they could do very little to help Force Captain Tigra take Terra.
It is recommended to recall Force Commander Lucy from the town of Terra under the belief that Force Commander Serena is capable enough to continue running Terra until more soldiers arrive to allow her to return and continue leading future soldiers.'
'Good to see Serena doing well. While I don't know her, I can tell that she'll likely be a competent soldier to keep an ear out for.'
"D15!" Scorpia exclaimed after taking a minute of silence.
Tigra swiped the reports to the side and brought up a marine fighting simulation app.
"In the water." Causing a cry of maaaan to come from her. "B11 followed by C11."
She watched as the first shot left her ship's cannon before firing into the large cloud of mist before an echoing boom sounded before another shot went out and a much louder boom sounded.
Frigate Sunk!
You win!
"How do you keep winning?" Scorpia sighed out. "24 games in a row with the most number of ships I take out being 2 of your 5."
"You have a pattern. You always put your smallest ship next to your largest with the mindset of your little buddy needing a big helping hand. Your submersible is next to your carrier so that your soldiers don't get any sudden explosive from under the water. Finally, your last ship is always in the center so you can always say-"
"Bullseye." She groaned out with a smile.
"Exactly. It's not that I'm really good at this, you're unfortunately predictable after playing against you so many times in a row."
Relationship with Scorpia increased! 67→82 [Friendly]
The door suddenly slid open and Catra walked through with a growl.
"You won't believe it! Shadow Weaver is taking credit for capturing Princess Sparkles! From attacking during the Princess Prom to us capturing her and her friend!"
"I find that very believable." Tigra commented and shrugged at Catra's glare. "What? We both know all she cares about is power and she would gain Hordak's trust by 'proving her value' through capturing the daughter of the Queen that is causing the Horde the most difficulty."
"Put like that, it does make sense, Wildcat." Scorpia agreed.
"Just, whatever. Now, I have to find another way to impress him."
"Or…what if we go the opposite way?"
"What do you mean?"
"Catra, what would I do if the Rebellion captured you?"
"You would attack the closest village belonging to the Rebellion and capture hostages. Likely try to find where I am being held. Then, either hold them hostage in exchange for me. Depending on how it goes from there, I could even see you invading Brightmoon alone to find me." Catra answered easily.
"You thought of that too quickly." Scorpia commented.
"Now then. Bare with me for a moment. What do you think Adora would do in this situation?"
She scowled lightly before her eyes opened widely.
"She would do the same."
"Exactly. At this point, it is only a matter of time before Adora tries to rescue the princess. And if the other princesses see this as a personal attack, they may help her. If this happens, the princesses of nature, water, ice, and power are heading our way.
If Adora leads them, there are likely several entry points that we wouldn't consider that she will come through. So, who would take the blame for attracting the princesses and letting them infiltrate the Horde while holding information from Hordak?"
"Wait, Shadow Weaver's withholding information?" Scorpia asked.
"Weaver wants Adora's magic more than likely. Hordak wouldn't give a rat's ass and would demand that she be eliminated for being a traitor and an enemy princess." Tigra explained.
"And if Sparkles and the sword were to escape…"
"Then it falls on Weaver's head, making Hordak's opinion of her lower even more and will likely be taken out of her position the next time she does something not for the Horde, which would likely be soon." Tigra finished.
"So, what? We let the princesses sneak in and take them?"
"More like, be more airheaded. If you recognize them, take their story with very little thinking. However, don't make it obvious enough that they may think you're a traitor."
Tigra's ears twitched before her expression flattened.
"Scorpia has a simulation she wants to show you." She suddenly changed course. "It involves trying to sink an enemy fleet before they can yours."
Catra raised an eyebrow.
"Just make sure not to let Scorpia copy you. Otherwise, she may beat my record of wins. If she does, you don't want me to overhear ."
Her eyes widened slightly before turning to a confused Scorpia.
"What is it?"
Seeing a chance to hang out with Catra, Scorpia let the confusion be left behind and pulled up the simulation/game that she called it.
Meanwhile, Tigra could hear something in the vents stop and listen for about 10 minutes before moving on.
'How have I forgotten about Hordak's Imp.' She chastised herself. 'One wrong moment and Hordak could have had a recording of everything we just said.'
So, Tigra laid on the bed before activating Ice Armor around her arms using 687 HP, as it would equal the amount of HP Heal would restore per minute after all of the reductions.
And thanks to Patient , her MPR would refill 20 MP per minute while Heal only takes 5 MP per minute.
*4 hours later*
Ice Resistance gained 217,400 EXP*
*Would have taken that much damage before reductions and the rest from healing constantly*
Ice Resistance leveled up! LV 1 → 47
[Ice Resistance LV 47 (1200/9400) - Reduces damage taken from Ice attacks by 47 %. 60% due to Iron Body]
Ice Armor gained 86,952 EXP
Ice Armor leveled up! LV 1 → 29
[Ice Armor LV 29 (5752/5800) - Reduces damage taken after resistances by Amount_Used/71 %. Caps at 75%]
…
Tigra turned off Ice Armor and applied Heat throughout her body to warm herself back up.
Scorpia had left a while ago to go down to the garage for one reason or another while Catra had left about 15 minutes ago and told her to lock the door once she left.
She stood up and popped her neck and left the room.
…
And turned around and locked the door before continuing on.
She was heading to the library to continue reading more on the history of the kingdoms and she had left off at some civilization called the First Ones.
While she doesn't know much about them, she can assume that they are ancient if they have the name 'First Ones.'
However, she didn't make it there when she received a message from Scorpia.
'Mermista's date from Princess Prom is out by the garage.'
"Mermista? …Who is Mermista again? Have I actually met her yet? I only recall Flowers and Sparkles."
'Which element is that one again?'
…
'Water.'
…
"Damn. Why did the water princess have to be here? Lord, that's going to mess with my fur."
Certain types of water often dried out her fur and could cause clumps.
She would have made her way over if she didn't see someone with long, large, purple hair.
"No one here has hair like that." She muttered before heading in that direction.
She found herself in a hallway with the woman messing with a control panel.
"Fright Zone log, day one continued." The woman had a higher pitched voice than Tigra had expected. "Keypads appear in every corridor and are capable of giving status updates on multiple systems."
"Hey," Tigra called out to her. "Haven't seen you around here before."
The woman turned towards her.
"Hello there. I'm Entrapta. Say, did you know that your systems could easily be hacked or delayed?"
Tigra could only blink as Entrapta continued talking tech before messing around with a Bot and starting to head somewhere.
"Entrapta," Tigra started. "How about we head to the garage? A friend of mine-"
"Garage! Can I look at more tech?"
"Uh…sure."
"Thanks stranger."
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself. Haven't had to do that in a while. My name's Tigra."
"Tigra? As in Adora's childhood friend Tigra?"
'Well, Entrapta's definitely not good at espionage.'
"I assume so. Anyways, we were going to the garage."
The walk to the garage was one of the most annoying walks she had in a while. Entrapta kept getting distracted by other monitors, stopped to disassemble another bot, chatted with 'Emily,' the robot that she had reprogrammed quite easily, and almost ran off several times.
Tigra did find a few of the things she talked about interesting though. Especially her view on failures.
"There is no such thing as perfection. Life is full of imperfections, failures, and that makes it beautiful. Heck, I'm a failure yet I continue to view it as another chance to learn. To grow and improve. If everything was perfect, there would be no experimentation, no learning, no improvements. Imperfections make life beautiful."
Tigra grinned.
"I like the way you think. Maybe once you're out of here, we'll meet again and have a chat."
Entrapta did pause before looking at her.
"You know?"
"Trapta, there is not a single person in the Fright Zone with hair like yours. Considering that you've reprogrammed a bot in a manner of minutes, it would be best to get you out of the Horde while you aren't working with us."
'Or eliminate you.'
"Well…thanks, I guess."
"Now, we're about at the garage where I suspect one of your companions are." Tigra explained. "You can meet up with them there and get out of here with the rest of you."
"You know there's more of us. Fascinating. Are you using technology to do such a thing?"
"Intuition. A few of us knew Adora well enough that she would try to rescue the two we took quickly. Even more once the Queen had been given a timeline to surrender herself or her daughter tomorrow morning."
"Makes sense." Entrapta agreed. "Looking back at the data, there is a clear pattern."
They stepped into the garage when Tigra spotted Scorpia talking to another person she's never seen in the Fright Zone.
While she may not know everyone in the Fright Zone, she knows that no one would be wearing that outfit he's wearing here. Too colorful and seems dressed to suddenly be drenched.
"Scorpia!" Tigra called out, getting both of their attentions and saw the guy seemed to pale. "Leave the…"
"Inspector!" Scorpia supplied.
"Leave the inspector be. We need to get back. Inspector, I'm leaving Entrapta with you. When you're done…inspecting…please take Entrapta back to the walls."
"Uh, yes! I will do just that!" He managed to get out before Tigra hopped onto Scorpia's skiff.
Scorpia walked on before they zoomed away.
"Looks like our thoughts were correct. Adora's here and brought help from the Princess Alliance."
"Yeah, and they seem new to this. I mean, I had to pretend that the guy I knew from Princess Prom was an inspector for 10 minutes. Any longer and I would have had to call him out on it before he could say anything suspicious."
Relationship with Entrapta created!
Entrapta: 45 [A], 40 [A]
-------------
Tigra had been wandering aimlessly until she came upon something that made her groan.
She walked over to it before speaking.
"Soldiers, would you like me to take over in transporting her?"
A few guards seemed to sigh in relief.
"We would graciously accept, since there's little we could do in the case something funny happens."
Tigra nodded. "Where is she being taken to?"
"Garnet Chamber."
Tigra internally winced but simply gave another nod.
"Very well. Dismissed."
The four guards nodded before leaving, leaving Tigra alone with the prisoner.
"Let's get this over with." Tigra muttered before typing a message to Catra.
"Were you there at Princess Prom?" Adora asked, walking beside her.
"Not as a guest. Were you hoping to see me in fancy garbs?"
"I mean, would it have been anything like Catra's suit?"
Tigra tilted her head slightly. "Maybe a dark gray version highlighted with red."
"...huh."
"Stay in the present, Dora. Speaking of the present, you got a plan to get out?"
"No, why would I have a plan to get out when I surrender myself?" Her voice raises an octave.
Tigra looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You graduated first in the Academy. You are not stupid. Even Kyle would know not to sneak in somewhere without having an escape plan. I know you only surrendered to get to where Sparkles is being held."
"Then..why-"
"Weaver should not be second in command. She is doing nothing for the Horde and is starting to get in the way." Tigra told. "Just, don't come back once you leave again."
"Tigra…Why did you stay behind? I know that you don't really care about the Horde."
"I already told you. I'm not leaving Catra behind. Simple as that."
"So, if Catra were to leave, you would?"
"...We're almost there."
The two turned silent until they reached the door to the Garnet room and the door opened.
Adora spotted Glimmer and started to move, until Tigra grabbed her shoulder and moved her over to a table.
"Glimmer, I'm here! Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."
Shadow Weaver stood next to Tigra.
"Leave us. Tell Catra that she can pack her bags in the Force Captain quarters. With Adora back, there's no longer a need for her to be a Captain."
Tigra didn't even feel the need to growl. She knew something like this would happen.
So she made sure to record it for Catra to at least know that Weaver would have taken the opportunity to do it immediately.
Tigra stiffly nodded before heading to the door and started to sneak .
She quietly made her way back to a dark area near Adora and Weaver.
"Shadow Weaver, I'll stay here willingly, as long as you release Glimmer." Adora bargained.
"Adora, don't." Glimmer weakly tried to convince.
Tigra looked at her restraints and recognized it as one of Weaver's contraptions.
'Magic absorption restraints. That will make getting out of them difficult for Sparkles.'
Instead of the nullifier cuffs - they worked for about 8 hours - that they had used during transport, these fully absorb magic from the user and, supposedly, could interfere with runestone connections.
The reason they don't have more of them for princesses is that they aren't very mobile and are costly for materials.
"Oh, Adora. Of course you'll stay willingly."
'Why does she sound so confi-'
"You will because I'll be erasing your mind."
Everyone, besides Shadow Weaver, couldn't believe what she just said.
"You'll have no memory of She-Ra or the time you have spent while with the Rebellion. It will be just like it was before you found the sword. As for the Princess, you'll be happy to have her as your prisoner once I'm finished."
Shadow Weaver's hands started to glow red while maintaining a sparkle of red lightning around them.
[Duo Quest Created!]
Back to the Beginning
Shadow Weaver is preparing to erase the memories from Adora back to when she left the Horde. No more She-Ra, no more fighting Adora, and things go back to normal.
Objective: Let Shadow Weaver wipe her mind
Reward: Adora returns with no memory from the past year, Relationship with Adora towards you reset back to 73 [Family], Major decrease in relationship with various princesses and kingdoms, 3000 EXP
Towards Tomorrow
Shadow Weaver wants to erase Adora's memories from the past year. While Adora will return to how she was, you and Catra will bear the burden of knowing that Adora is only there because she has been changed.
It. Wouldn't. Be. Adora.
Objective: Stop Shadow Weaver and help them escape
Reward: Relationship with Adora increase, Relationship with Glimmer increase, potential loss of relationship with Shadow Weaver, 3000 EXP
[You must choose one of them. This will affect Etheria's future severely]
…
…
'...Heh, that's…an easy choice.' Tigra thought.
In a moment, Tigra activated You Are Speed -DEX*3- and Lightning Armor with all of her MP -DEX*2.7-, raising DEX to 1316. To finish it off, she instantly dashed -DEX*2.49-, increasing it further to 3277.
'I don't know if I can control it, but make this non-lethal.' She thought before slamming a punch into the side of Shadow Weaver's head, knocking it to the side suddenly.
5256 non-lethal damage inflicted!
Target has been knocked out!
…
Shadow Weaver's body slammed into the ground before slumping lifelessly.
H2H gained 5000 EXP
H2H leveled up!
[H2H LV (1)17 (2887/3400) - Increases unarmed damage by 68%]
Sneak gained 3000 EXP
Sneak leveled up!
[Sneak LV 48 (2728/4800) - Chances of being discovered [known, unknown]: 124.5%, 249%]
…
Tigra stood over her unconscious body before swiping her claws at Adora's restraints.
Tigra's claws easily sliced through them and caught Adora as she slumped forward. Tigra set her down gently as Adora got her balance.
Not knowing how much time she had, she zipped over to Glimmer's cell and slashed at them as well, breaking them easily.
Glimmer managed to catch herself and looked at her in slight confusion.
"No one deserves to have their memories messed with." Tigra spoke. "Not even She-Ra."
"Do you hate She-Ra that much?" Adora asked, helping Glimmer stand.
Tigra could have sworn she saw Sparkles 'glitch' out but dismissed it, seeing as she didn't react.
"I've only met her in a fight." Tigra shrugged. "Now, you two need to get out. Head down the hallway to the left. You'll find someone waiting with your sword."
"With my- Are you-"
"Get going!" Tigra cut them off. "I have to leave as well before she wakes up."
Tigra zoomed off, easily putting distance between the Garnet Room and herself.
After all, she wasn't supposed to be there.
About half an hour later, she received a notification.
[Quest [Towards Tomorrow] completed!]
Rewards: Relationship with Adora increased. 43 → 67 [Family], Relationship with Glimmer increased. -30 → 24 [Acquaintance], 3000 EXP
…
"They're gone." She muttered. "Guess Catra managed to get them the sword."
Tigra stood and arched her back, popping it a few times. She had been in their old spot for that amount of time, watching for any potential Rebellion people left behind or gotten lost.
*Next Day*
Tigra's communicator pinged as a message came through. She opened it to see a message from…Lord Hordak?
"All Force Captains and Force Generals report to the Throne Room."