Hi, there!
Welcome back to my fanfic, and thanks for being here, faithful readers.
Thank you for keeping me motivated and excited about this story. 😊
Episode 64 thus far:
Part One: Catra has visions of her mother-figures and shares moments of frustration, heart-break, and hope with two versions of Adora.
Part Two: Hordak leads Entrapta and friends to the entrance to the Chamber of the Heart, and She-Ra makes a brief and playful appearance.
Part Three: Adora faces trials and revelations alone in the darkness.
I am dedicating this chapter to my new friend and fellow author Berri ( @Berri avery ) ! Their presence here is truly a joy.
There's only the tiniest bit of Frosta in this chapter, Berri, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless. 🙂
And now it's time for Bow and Glimmer, despite the distance between them, to team up for a bit of princess-wrangling! 😆
Let's do this!
Wind spills into the valley and rushes along its length like a fledgling river, trickling amongst the clusters of buildings that make up Hordak’s village.
At the far end, Bow stands with his tracker pad in one hand, adjusting the position of a large antenna embedded into the ground with the other. The antenna connects to Bow’s tracker pad by a long trailing cable, which has generous coils of extra slack.
Bow is accompanied by a handful of Hordak’s clone brothers, most watching him curiously, one or two frowning at the changing weather.
The surrounding air swirls through the grass and flutters loose leaves around them.
After several final adjustments, Bow sighs and releases the antenna.
Bow: There! That should do it. [To one of the clones] Try to keep it in that position, okay?
The clone brother nods, smiling, and places a steadying hand on the antenna shaft.
Bow steps to one side, raising the tracker pad in both hands. He runs his fingers across the screen for a few moments, then lifts his hand to his ear, touching the earbud just visible there.
Bow: Adora, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, tell Entrapta that we’re almost ready. I’m activating the link-up signal with all of the princesses.
He reaches down and touches a control on the screen.
On the screen of the tracker pad, the icons all light up sequentially: Crescent Moon, Snowflake, Water Wave, Flower Blossom, and finally Lightning Arc.
The Lightning Arc pulses fitfully, and Bow frowns.
Bow: Hmmm.
Bow touches one more icon on the screen and slides it from left to right over the others. A dotted line flows through all of the icons, and a green frame glows to life around the monitor, accompanied by a brief bright electronic arpeggio of notes.
Bow smiles.
Bow: [to the tracker pad] Okay, this should be working now. The tracker pads are synchronized so that we can all hear and see one another, and the network should respond to each of your voices to display whoever is speaking on everyone’s screens. Can everyone hear me now?
The video on Bow’s tracker pad suddenly explodes into a succession of rapidly changing images in a chaotic pattern as it struggles to keep up with everyone speaking over each other.
Glimmer: [blandly] Yes, w--
Frosta: [loudly] I can h--!
Perfuma: [tentatively] Bow, it’s--
Mermista: [annoyed] Wha--!!
Scorpia: [staticky] It--
Glimmer: [forcefully] --you, B--“
Perfuma: [unsure] --I think--
Mermista: [groaning] --a mess--
Frosta: [urgently] --everyb---!
Scorpia: [softly] --umm--
Perfuma: [questioning] --suppo--??
Glimmer: [irritated] --Bow?!--
Perfuma: [speaking very clearly] --what I’m he--??
Glimmer: [growling] --BOW!??--
Finally, the video resolves into a sharp image of Perfuma, looking worried and confused, as the end of her sentence is suddenly heard very clearly, all by itself.
Perfuma: [loudly] --or am I the one that’s talking?? [more quietly] Oh.
Perfuma blushes.
Perfuma: [self-consciously] Sorry.
There is a moment’s silence, and then Glimmer’s face fills the screen, looking a bit perturbed.
Glimmer: [firmly] Everyone! [pause] Listen! To Bow!!
Bow smiles at the frowning, determined face on the screen.
Bow: [upbeat] Ha-okay, everyone! It looks like we’re all connected now. Good! Now. One at a time. Glimmer, are you ready?
Glimmer glances at the screen with a look of firm resolution, then back to her main focus out of frame.
Glimmer: Ready.
Bow: [nodding] Okay. Frosta?
Frosta’s face appears on the pad with a fiercely confident smirk.
Frosta: Yes! Let’s do this!
Bow: Great! Perfuma, how ‘bout you?
Perfuma looks radiantly peaceful, evidently having just regained her composure.
Perfuma: [eyes closed, facing the screen] We are calm and relaxed. Breathing in. [She demonstrates] And out [She sighs serenely] Yes. We’re ready for you, Bow.
Bow is smiling with an almost tranquil expression, apparently having just practiced Perfuma’s brief meditation along with her!
Bow: [sighing and relaxing] Ah. Thank you, Perfuma. All right. Mermista. You good?
Mermista’s face is frowning slightly. She raises her eyebrow at the screen.
Mermista: [non-committal] Yeah. So, I’ve been, like, perfecting my epic-ness for the last half-hour or so. But, to be honest, . . . this is getting a little boring.
Bow wrinkles his brow.
Bow: Uhhhh . . . I think right now that’s a good sign, Mermista. As long as we’re all ready?
Mermista: [shrugs] Whatever. Sure. I’m ready.
Bow: Right. And . . . Scorpia. How are you doing? [with slight hesitation] Is everything all right?
The screen on the tracker pad shifts to a dimmer image that wavers and shakes occasionally with tiny bits of static. Scorpia stands large against a background of gray and brown. Bits of dust swirl around her, and her short hair is fluttering in the wind. Her voice is raised slightly against a background low-level rushing white noise.
Scorpia: [smiling] Uhh, yeah! We’re fine. We’re good. Just . . . umm, we had a little delay, but . . . we’re gettin’ there!
Bow frowns at Scorpia’s accentuated cheerfulness.
Bow: [concerned] You sure everything’s okay? You haven’t connected with the Black Garnet, yet.
Scorpia: Uh, yeah. That’s true. But that’s the very next thing on my to-do list! And . . . I’ve got plenty of help, sooo, we’ll be fine!
Bow: [with restrained urgency] We don’t have much time, Scorpia.
Scorpia is glancing nervously back and forth at something off-screen, but still smiling.
Scorpia: RIght. I do get that. Go ahead and start without me.
Bow: But -- !
Scorpia: [brightly] Sorry, I gotta go! But, I’ll call you soon! Bye!
Bow: Wait!
The screen goes dark, then quickly switches to Glimmer’s face, looking wide-eyed and worried. Bow stares back with a similar expression.
