She-Ra-tober Announcement Post
Fanfic #1: Rainbow
Fanfic #2: Tattoo
Fanfic #3: Evening
Fanfic #4: Purring
Fanfic #5: Leaf Pile
Fanfic #6: Sunset
Fanfic #7: Warm
Fanfic #8: Abandoned
Day 9 fanfic directly ahead!
(It may be my longest one so far, but I think it will be worth the time to read it!)
Workout
A mood of unusual excitement had spread amongst the cadets.
Today had been chosen as a day for field exercises.
To be outside on actual earthy terrain amongst actual pieces of heavy equipment was a rare treat!
It felt that much closer to the thrill of action in combat!
At the moment, however, the cadets were standing idle while the commanders gathered in a small group for some kind of unexpected conference.
Lonnie folded her arms and rolled her eyes at Rogelio, who snorted impatiently. She looked over to Kyle, who seemed fascinated by a bug crawling on his hand. Lonnie shook her head.
Catra stood nearby frowning and clawing the ground with her foot.
Finally, Commander Cobalt turned back toward his squad and strode forward right up to Catra, who straightened her posture and looked him in the eye.
"Cadet Catra! I'm putting you in temporary charge of your squad."
The others looked at one another in dismay as the commander continued.
"I want you to put them through a training exercise while I'm gone. I'll be back in about 15 minutes to check on their progress. Understood?!"
Catra nodded, her expression set in serious mode.
"Yes, Commander!" she answered simply.
Commander Cobalt nodded, turning to follow the other commanders.
Catra turned around slowly to face her fellow cadets with a smug smile of profound satisfaction.
Lonnie narrowed her eyes challengingly.
The rumor had been circulating all week that both Catra and Adora were being considered for possible promotion. This was obviously one of the ways they were testing her leadership abilities.
But why did it have to be Catra this time!
And why did Adora get to be the one visiting the infirmary! They were only a couple of small burns!
And wasn't Catra just loving her chance.
For a moment, she put on a serious face, considering, hands behind her back as she paced in front of her fellow cadets. Then she stopped.
"All right, squad. Here's the scenario."
Catra pointed to a nearby medium-armored tank.
"In the midst of battle, the tank engine fails. But its weapon is still functional."
She walked around the trio and placed her hand on the hull of the tank.
"So, your task is to move this engineless tank up there," she pointed across to the nearest hill, "and get its weapon in position to fire down on the Rebel forces on the other side. You have ten minutes. Go."
As Catra stepped away, Lonnie stepped toward her in defiance.
"You're kidding! That's a stupid scenario! It would never happen!"
Catra shrugged. "You never know."
Lonnie pressed on. "Plus, it's an impossible task!"
Catra looked at her chronometer. "Is it? The clock is running, by the way."
"Come on, Catra! How are we supposed to move a dead tank all the way up there!"
Catra just smiled. "I don't know, but you better get going. Or don't you want a good report?"
Lonnie glared at her a moment and then snarled, "Fine!" She turned toward her companions with resignation. "Come on. Let's figure this out."
With a fair amount of grunting, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio managed to push the tank to the base of the hill, but once they reached the incline, no amount of effort could move it upward.
The three of them gathered around the unwieldy hulk, frowning in thought.
"We've gotta make a strategy," Lonnie suggested. "Maybe . . . what if we tried moving it up in a spiral path?"
"That'd take too long!" protested Kyle.
Lonnie threw up her hands, "Well?!"
Just then, Rogelio's face brightened, and he began gesturing animatedly and obscurely as he spoke.
"Grrghhaurr rah arraugh-hau. Raurugh gaurga arghuraugh. Urrgg rurgaurgur aurrg ur-auurgrauh!" he proclaimed.
Lonnie and Kyle stared at him a moment. Then Lonnie shook her head.
"I don't even understand how we can begin to do that."
Finally, Kyle perked up with an idea!
"I've got it! We can aim the tank's cannon low to the ground and fire it! It'll blast the tank up the hill!"
Lonnie looked at him disbelievingly. "What?! That wouldn't work! The cannon doesn't have that much power!"
Kyle grinned. "It would if we loaded it with a triple charge."
Lonnie's eyes bugged out, and even Rogelio looked worried.
"Triple?!? Kyle, that's crazy! If we loaded it like that, it'd bust the barrel wide open!"
Kyle was confident. "No it wouldn't! The cannon barrel is made of ultra tensity carbenoid alloy! It's practically indestructible!"
"This is a terrible idea!"
Kyle was already climbing up into the cockpit of the tank.
"Come on! We don't have much time! It's the only way!"
"Kyle!" yelled Lonnie, "This is not gonna work out good!" But there was no stopping him, so she pulled Rogelio out of harm's way as Kyle overcharged the cannon and fired.
Suddenly, the tank leaped into the air!
And burst apart!
Thankfully, Kyle was thrown clear, and he joined the others as they surveyed the wreckage.
The treads had dislocated, and the axles had sheared off. The cabin frame had shattered into a dozen pieces. And the undercarriage was split into at least five parts.
But the cannon itself looked pretty good.
And some of the pieces had even made it up the hill.
Lonnie stared and thought hard for a moment. She looked at her chronometer.
"Come on, guys! We can still do this!"
With fantastic will and teamwork, as well as a huge and exhausting effort, Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio managed to carry every piece of the tank all the way to the top of the hill.
When Catra showed up there, she found them collapsed and panting on the ground.
She saw what they had done, and, admittedly, they had gotten the tank up the hill, and its weapon was now aimed down toward the other side.
"Hmm" she remarked, checking her chronometer.
"Twenty-five seconds to spare. Nice work."
Finally, as she turned around, she couldn't hold it in any longer, and she burst out with an unrestrained bout of laughter as she descended the hill.
Lonnie, barely recovered enough to sit up, looked at Kyle's grin in disgust. "What?"
Kyle nodded to the scrap of the tank. "Well, I guess you're right that it didn't work out too good, but . . . you've gotta admit that was a pretty good workout." He turned toward Rogelio, who started giggling along with him and gave him a high-five.
Lonnie even chuckled a little, too.
Then she pushed Kyle down the hill.
