Ancient Tech Hurts
Tigra and Catra crouched on two separate branches and watched as Adora walked up to part of the structure.
Adora must have muttered something or it reacted to her specifically, considering that the floor started to glow a light purple before it went down like a ramp.
Adora started walking in when Catra quietly jumped down.
Tigra followed close behind as they made their way to the entrance and saw it start to glow once more.
It started to close, yet not fast enough to prevent Tigra and Catra from quickly getting inside.
The two stopped and looked around, finding themselves in a triangular hallway with purple walls and light pink lines and shapes lining the walls in a way that Tigra couldn't make any kind of connection.
'Something tells me that these aren't just decorations.'
They stalked forward, keeping their steps quiet and following after Adora.
When they reached the end of the hallway, the room looked as if it were made of crystals, yet Tigra knew it was all metal and circuitry from looking closer and the metallic scent coming from the room.
Adora faced the opposite way while holding her sword straight up in front of her before moving her body, as if trying to find something with it.
Catra and Tigra moved behind two pillars just as Adora started to turn in their direction.
A few seconds went by before a voice cut through the quiet.
"Greetings,"
They both had to hide a snicker at hearing Adora screech in surprise.
"Administrator. What is your query?"
"Oh, uh. I need help to heal my friend. She had magical buildup and it disrupted her connection to her magic. I-I don't know how to help."
'Guess I took too long getting Glimmer out.' Tigra shrugged lightly to herself. 'Nothing I can do about it now.'
"The legends say that She-Ra could heal people with the sword. How can I do that?"
A moment passed.
"What is your query?"
Tigra was glad it wasn't her in Adora's position.
She'd get annoyed quickly.
"Not this again."
'Again?'
"For the honor of Grayskull!"
A brief light went out before Tigra assumed that She-Ra had appeared.
"How about now?"
"Administrator detected. Welcome, She-Ra, Princess of Power."
Tigra heard Adora take a breath.
"Right, let's try this again. What can you tell me about this sword?"
"Subject: The Sword of Protection. Classification: Portable Runestone keyed exclusively to Administrator: She-Ra, Princess of Power."
"How can I use it to help my friend?"
"Query not recognized."
Adora groaned for a moment.
"The legends say that the sword has healing powers. Is that true?"
"One of the sword's intended purposes is to heal and restore balance."
'Restore balance? Balance to what?'
"And how do I do that?"
"Query not recognized."
"How can I use the Sword of Protection to heal people?!"
A light clang followed the yell. If Tigra had to guess, she would say that She-Ra had let her sword hit the ground.
Tigra caught movement and noticed Catra signaling to her.
Crystal on the left. Moving to retrieve it.
A second went by before Tigra started signaling back.
Move quietly. Adora could react if there's an alarm.
Tigra knew nothing about this place or even how the technology is still running after nearly a millennium of no upkeep since that's what the records mentioned about when First Ones disappeared.
Yet, everything seemed to be still working and she knew that she would have put alarms in case someone tried to take something from the Horde if she were in charge of it.
Catra nodded before sneaking her way behind another pillar.
Adora groaned once more before her groan suddenly cut off.
"Let me speak to Light Hope."
"Light Hope."
While it was spoken monotone like, Tigra could hear it as if it was a question.
"Light Hope, that's her name right? The woman I saw when I first touched the sword? Where is she?"
"Yes, Light Hope is here. She has been waiting for you."
'Great. Another person to help the Rebellion.'
Catra had managed to move next to the crystal and had placed her hand on it.
"Can I talk to her?"
"You will meet her soon. But first, you must let go."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Adora asked the same thing Tigra wondered.
"You are not ready just yet. You must let go first."
"Let go of what?"
Tigra watched as Catra took the crystal out and looked at her with a smirk.
Tigra, however, was more focused on the interface it had been attached to start to turn red.
A moment later, an alarm sounded from the interface and she saw She-Ra raise her sword and start to turn.
It all happened in an instant, yet Tigra knew what Adora was going to do and it went all the way back to how the Horde had programmed their instincts.
If a sudden noise occurs when it shouldn't, an enemy is near.
Tigra dashed towards Catra while activating Ice Armor with all of her MP over her arms.
Tigra stopped right in front of Catra and crossed her icy arms in front of her and got her feet strongly against the ground.
Turned out to be the wise decision as a beam of magic struck her icy arms and a large force went through her arms before the magic beam deflected into a pillar, breaking a chunk off of the pillar and across the room as debris.
1980 Magical Damage taken!
…
Magical Resistance gained 3344 EXP
Magical Resistance leveled up!
[Magical Resistance LV 4 (1249/2000) - Reduces damage and effects taken from non-elemental magic by 4%. 28% after [Iron Body] takes affect]
Ice Armor gained 3344 EXP
Ice Armor leveled up!
[Ice Armor LV 30 (3296/6000) - Reduces damage taken by Amount_Used/70 % after resistances. Caps at 75%]
The process only took a second before the dust settled and Tigra could see She-Ra looking at them in shock.
"Youch."
Tigra shook her hands, letting loose and cracked pieces of ice fall off of her arms and clink against the metal flooring.
After a moment, she let the spell go and started applying heal throughout her arms.
'Should be back to normal in 3 minutes if we don't start a fight.' She determined.
"Catra? Tigra? What are you two doing here? And did you just use ice? I thought you used fire?" Adora asked.
"Sight seeing in a structure that had been abandoned and yes, I used ice. Yes, I use fire. Just because the princesses you hang out with only use one element, doesn't mean that it applies to me." Tigra answered back to back.
"Unauthorized presence detected."
This was the first time that Tigra had seen where the voice came from.
It belonged to a blue woman-like hologram about one and a half times larger than She-Ra and started to turn red.
"Security protocol activated."
The hologram disappeared before the rest of the room started to turn red and a low energy seemed to start surging through the room.
'That doesn't sound good.'
Right after she finished that thought did she quickly apply Haste to herself, increasing her DEX to 231.
"No, no, no, not again!"
"Uh, what just happened?" Catra questioned as Tigra finished healing her arms and flexing them to make sure there weren't any strange feelings of pain.
"This isn't good. Neither of you should be in here."
A rumbling noise sounded out throughout the room before doors started coming down, blocking off hallways one by one.
Adora wastes no time and grabs Catra's hand.
"Follow me!" Adora commanded before running for one of the still open hallways.
Tigra followed before new sounds started coming from the hallway they were heading to.
Adora stopped and the three of them came face to face with three large, spider-like robots that looked more advanced than the robots the Horde could create.
The spiderbots screeched, each of their six eyes locking onto one of them.
"What are those!? " Catra exclaimed.
"Also not good."
Adora turned around and started running towards another hallway while Tigra activated Lightning Armor with 800 MP, boosting DEX to 507. She dashed forward, boosting it even further to 1264.
She swung her claws into the head of one of them.
4274 damage dealt.
...
What she didn't expect was to only break one of the eyes and for it to screech as if in pain, drawing the attention of the other two away from her companions.
"How strong are these things!?" She wondered in surprise.
[Spiderbot Age: 1045]
[Level: N/A REP: Nemesis [-150] ]
HP: 20726/25000
'Lord…'
That was the highest amount of HP she had seen, not counting She-Ra.
The spiderbot in front of her swung a leg forward, and Tigra bent backwards to let it swing over her.
Tigra used Flame Fists and You Are Speed, boosting her DEX to 3793.
She vanished from view for a split second before a loud cracking noise sounded out.
21550 Damage dealt!
…
Tigra's arm up to her elbow had gone through the bot's head and watched as the five remaining eyes dimmed slowly.
She heard something hit the metal floor before she moved once more.
21550 Damage dealt
…
As her second hit connected, some kind of adhesive connected with her right elbow. Not willing to give these things time, she struck with a kick.
6386 damage dealt!
…
The kick finished off the second robot as its head split apart and sailed through the air. Tigra turned around, just as the last one yanked backwards, intending on sending her flying.
Unfortunately, she knew how to fly.
She used Fire Step while in the air and maneuvered herself to fly around it, wrapping its legs in its own adhesive. She wrapped around it twice before stopping and focusing fire to her feet and Flame Fists to her left hand.
She charged forward with Flame Charge boosting her DEX one last time to 5406 for a split second.
It was fast enough that when her flaming claws struck…
30690 damage dealt!
She tore through it and the adhesive like paper before flying into the open door She-Ra seemed to have been holding up.
She barely had any time to pull up Ice Armor with all the MP she had left [850] to her front before she slammed into the metal wall hard.
1050 damage taken!
Tigra groaned as she popped out of the Tigra-shaped hole in the metal wall. She got up onto her knees and watched as Catra crouched down next to her and grabbed her shoulders.
"You good? Anything broken?"
"I'm in pain. Worst is likely bruises thanks to my Ice Armor spell. It really acts like armor the most out of everything I use." Tigra rounded off.
H2H gained 75,000 EXP!
H2H leveled up!
[H2H LV (1)32 (5887/6400) - Increases damage dealt unarmed by 128%]
Due to H2H reaching LV 20, 25, and 30, STR increases by 3, DEX by 1, and CON by 2.
Flame Fists gained 300,000 EXP
Flame Fists leveled up!
[Flame Fists LV 64 (6800/9600) - This increases your damage by 114% through Fire Magic. Cost: 10 MP, 25 MP/m]
4500 EXP gained
Level up!
…
INT increased by 4, STR increased by 5, CON increased by 1
…
Tigra Age: 17
Level: 37 (580/7300)
HP: 1550/2800 HPR: 280
MP: 886/1200 MPR: 400
SP: 1280/1400 SPR: 280
STR: 41 DEX: 492 [164]
CON: 140 INT: 120
WIS: 100 CHA: 44
Magic Control: 70%
Attribute Points: 0
Skill Points: 2
"Was that lightning!? Do you know all of the elements?!" Adora's voice rose a few octaves from disbelief.
"Of course not." Tigra dismissed, making Adora sigh. "Not yet at least."
Tigra stood up before the lights started going dark.
While that may be a problem for Adora, this normally wouldn't be a problem for Catra and Tigra.
Normally.
Because there were at least 60 orange eyeballs in the darkness.
Looking right at Tigra.
'Spell shop - Fire! Spell shop - Fire! Spell shop - Fire!' She chanted quickly in her head.
Spell shop opened. Fire Filtered.
Fireball, Fireblast, Fire Shield, Flame Dagger, Flame Sword-
…
Fireball selected
[Fireball LV 1 (0/200) - Using fire magic, you can now hurl fireballs at a target. Upon hitting the target, everything within two feet of the target will also be hit. Damage is INT*(1.25+LV/100) with surroundings taking 75% of the initial attack. Cost: 30 MP]
…
Skill point used for Fireball!
…
[Fireball LV 4 (0/800) - Deals 155 damage on contact and 116 to surrounding targets within two feet of impact. Cost: 29]
…
Tigra immediately put her hands forward and shot yellow fireball after yellow fireball.
155 damage plus 116 surrounding damage.
Fireball gained 1548 EXP and leveled up!
[Fire-]
'Hide messages about Fireball gaining levels!' She thought, needing to focus as the three of them started to run as she continued firing behind her.
"What's going-" *explosion* "-on!? Why are those-" *explosion* "-things trying to-" *explosion* "-kill us?!"
"This place-" *explosion* "-sees you two-" *explosion* "-as invaders!" *explosion*
"I hope-" *explosion* "-you have-" *explosion* "-a plan. Because-" *explosion* "-I'm going-" *explosion* "-to run out-" *explosion* "-of magic-" *explosion* "-before these things-" *explosion* -"stay down!" Tigra informed them over the explosions.
It was true. Each of the fireballs were taking a decent chunk of MP for each of them.
Tigra stopped using Fireball after allowing one message through.
168 fire damage dealt with 126 surrounding damage.
Despite using it so many times against them, it simply wasn't doing enough damage for how much it cost her right now.
It was wasting her MP.
They continued running until they reached a dead end and turned around.
"You know what?!" Tigra yelled out. "SCREW! THIS!"
She hadn't wanted to do this in the chance that even more of them showed up.
She used Lightning Armor once more with all of her MP [569] and Flame Fists before she zipped at them, due to You Are Speed still going for another 15 seconds.
She reached the first one in one second. 38181 damage dealt!
The second had been bashed with her other hand the next second.
The third raised a leg to swipe at her, only for her claws to tear through the leg in one second and into the head the next.
The fourth opened its mouth in time for her left hand to stab through the head.
She pounced on the fifth one and tore its head in half.
Jumped over the adhesive from the sixth one to rip the neck open on the seventh one.
Then went back for the sixth one and sliced its underbelly open and reappeared next to Catra and She-Ra.
Just as her spells stopped, leaving her with 124 MP due to starting and stopping Flame Fists so that it could destroy any adhesive that suddenly stuck to her hands.
"I'm out." Tigra huffed out.
H2H gained 145,092 EXP
H2H leveled up!
[H2H LV (1)50 (5113/10000) - Increases damage dealt through unarmed attacks by 200%]
For reaching LV 35, 40, 45, and 50, STR increased by 4 and DEX and CON by 2.
Flame Fists maxed out!
[Flame Fists LV MAX - Increases damage by 150% while converting damage to fire, if not already fire based. Cost: 10 MP/m, 15 MP]
Due to mastering Flame Fists, INT increased by 10
7 * 1500 EXP = 10500 EXP gained!
Leveled up!
INT increased by 10
…
Tigra Age: 17
Level: 38 (3780/7500)
HP: 2860 HPR: 286
MP: 124/1430 MPR: 400
SP: 1200/1430 SPR: 286
STR: 45 DEX: 167
CON: 143 INT: 143
WIS: 100 CHA: 44
Magic Control: 75%
Attribute Points: 0
Skill Points: 2
Unlike last time, Tigra didn't plan to use those skill points just yet.
"Hold on!" Adora yelled before slashing at the ceiling, causing parts of it to break.
Before the ceiling itself started to collapse.
Adora grabbed Tigra and pulled her next to Catra and her sword…
Turned into a shield?
Whatever the case, the area went black.
----------------
When Tigra could see again, the area still glowed a dark red but the way they had come from was blocked off by rubble.
"You guys shouldn't be here." She turned and saw Adora- as Adora- speaking. "Those things aren't going to stop until they get you two."
Adora looked at Tigra.
"Especially you. They don't seem to have taken you destroying their fellow robots well, seeing as they were looking right at you before we started to run."
"I don't think we need to worry." Catra started. "I mean, you saw Tigra take down 10 of those things, right?"
Adora started to talk, but Tigra spoke first.
"I'm not certain how well that will work again. But more importantly, I can't move that fast anymore. My magic is almost gone and that will take a bit to regain. 4 minutes without a fight, an eternity if there is one."
"So I have to protect both of you."
"Good thing we don't need protecting." Catra told, annoyance clear in her voice.
"Wait, you know, what-" Adora took a deep breath before releasing a heavy sigh. "Why are you two here? I mean, how did you find this place?"
It was Catra's turn to sigh. "It sent up a beam of light a mile high. It wasn't hard to notice."
'There was a light?' Tigra thought.
"Does…Shadow Weaver know that you two are here?"
"Ha!" Tigra laughed. "Weaver's got more important things to worry about right now. She can't afford to mess up after Hordak learned that she was suppressing information about you being She-Ra."
Tigra noticed that Adora looked at both of them strangely.
"What? What's that look for?"
"I know what it is." Catra started. "I knew that you would be weird about us letting you go. I told you that, just because I let you go, didn't mean I liked you."
Adora looked at Tigra.
"What about you? You're the one who prevented Shadow Weaver from erasing my memories."
"Wait, she tried to do what?!"
"Yeah, why do you think the two of them escaped a little earlier than we planned?" Tigra asked. "It was either wait and have potential brain damage be inflicted on Adora and she take your place as Force Captain, or commence the plan early."
"Hang on, why would she…did Shadow Weaver really?"
"I can show you the recording I took when we return." Tigra suggested. "It won't do anything besides potentially hurt you, but it is proof that I wouldn't be saying this without proof."
"Anyway," Adora spoke after a moment of silence. "You didn't answer my question."
Tigra sighed this time.
"Adora, what are you really asking? It doesn't matter how I feel about you. At the end of the day, you're with the Rebellion and we're with the Horde. We'll be forced to fight each other at multiple points in this war until either we die or one side is victorious."
"Is there really no way for the three of us to be on the same side again?"
"You won't rejoin the Horde. Catra doesn't want to continue following you like a lost child. I don't really care who I fight for, just as long as my family is safe." Tigra listed off. "The only side I can see all three of us being on the same side at this very moment, would be if we joined the third side: neutral."
"Neutral?" Both seemed to ask.
"Essentially, mercenaries or staying out of the conflict completely. Work for money and connections. The downside is that no kingdom would likely stick their necks out to try and help us should we get into trouble."
"...Where would you even start?" Catra asked.
"I don't know!?" Tigra threw her hands to the side. "I have not been planning something like this! It just came to me."
Potential Questline Created
[The Third Side: Neutral]
At any point, you could leave the war behind or continue to fight it while not being aligned with any kingdom the way you are with the Hode.
*Should this Questline ever be started, any quests involving the Horde Questline will be canceled at that moment. They will not count as failures, you will just be unable to ever complete them while on this path.*
'That…is interesting.'
While she is fine working for the Horde, it is nice to know that there were quests that could be picked up in the case that she didn't want to work for them anymore in the future.
"How's your magic doing?" Catra asked.
Tigra took a moment to look at it before finding that 3 minutes had passed.
"I'm good if I have to do that again. Just know, it won't end well. By now, they've certainly analyzed how I fight and will likely have several drones ready to hit me with their adhesives while one keeps my attention." Tigra thought aloud. "If they really are as advanced as what has been told to me."
Tigra looked behind them at the rubble and down the only hallway that they could go down.
"We'd best get moving before we get trapped like before."
The trio looked at each other before giving a nod.
Whatever kind of problem they had right now, it could wait until the three of them were on the outside again.
They started to walk.