Hello, dear wiki friends! 😊
This year for the She-Ra Wikis ✨ Holiday Creativity Celebration✨, Cal and I decided to collaborate on our entries!
We chose as our theme "Snowed In."
We decided to start by having Cal create a drawing inspired by the theme.
(That's actually the one at the end of this fanfic).
Then, I wrote a piece of fanfic inspired by her drawing!
Finally, Cal drew another wonderful drawing inspired by my fanfic! 😄
(And that drawing is the first one that appears in this fanfic.)
The result is what follows, and we had a lot of fun making it!
We each hope you really enjoy it, too!
Snowed In
by @CallistoArt (visual art) and @BrianSturgill (writing)
In the late afternoon, Catra, Adora, Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle sat in a circle on the floor of the barracks, sharing from the small, but precious, pile of ration bars in the center. Somehow they had never tasted so good.
Kyle bit into a gray one and hummed with pleasure. “Mmmm. This is great!”
Rogelio grunted agreement.
“That sure was amazing, Catra,” admitted Lonnie. “You’ve got guts. I woulda been too scared to do what you did.”
“Same here,” said Adora.
“Ah, come on, you guys” Catra protested. “I just hate being hungry. That’s all.”
Adora smiled at Catra, who had to look away.
But Catra was smiling, too. This moment more than made up for the tears of yesterday . . .
...........................................
The team was determined. They had trained together, honing their skills and developing tactics that maximized their strengths to work as a unit.
That’s what Commander Cobalt had told them, anyway.
But Catra knew the truth. It was every cadet for herself. You claw your own way to the top, or you get left in the dust.
And right now, as she was struggling for her life, Catra felt very alone.
They were being pummeled. Nowhere was safe. Princesses were dropping down from all sides, and they were closing in for the kill!
Catra’s breath came in tense gasps, as cold sweat matted her fur. She had lost all track of the others.
Catra had hoped that Adora, at least, would stay by her side, but they had been separated during the second wave of attackers. The princesses were fast and deadly, leaving little time to think, but only react. Catra had managed to dodge them to this point, and she must have lost them because it had gone momentarily quiet. Were they all gone now?
Suddenly, Catra heard the clash of stun-sticks on the other side of the simulation field.
She bounded toward the sound, desperate for the reassurance of a friendly presence in the dimness.
There they were: Adora and Lonnie struggling against four princesses with demon glares. She heard Kyle and Rogelio, but she didn’t see them yet.
All at once, there was a hissing, buzzing sound behind her, and the hairs on Catra’s neck raised up.
Whirling around, Catra froze.
It was right behind her, its eyes glowing, an evil grin on its face as it raised its hands to strike.
Catra couldn’t move. She was shaking.
“Catra!!” It was Adora.
Suddenly, Catra was shoved to the ground as the princess struck, shooting out beams of magic. She heard the blare of a kill-hit, a thump, and an annoyed cry.
“Catra!” That was Lonnie, lying on the ground a few feet away, the red “X” of defeat glowing on her breastplate.
Adora struggled up awkwardly from lying across Catra’s chest. As she did so, she took a kill-hit. The princess-bot quickly shifted and fired at the helpless Catra, lighting her armor up with the angry “X.”
The lights came up, and a tall, authoritative figure strode into view.
“Okay cadets,” came the calm, but clearly disappointed voice of Commander Cobalt, “Now, that is what you call a dismal failure. It was pathetic and painful to witness.”
The shamed cadets rose to their feet. Adora looked at Catra uneasily and saw her trembling lip and look of devastation.
“A Horde team that performs in that manner has no future on or off the battle field.” Commander Cobalt paused, taking a brief resetting breath. “So what we’re gonna do with this one is you’re gonna keep it in your memory . . . and then you’re gonna do exactly the opposite of what you did today in every single battle from this point on! A team needs focus! A team needs discipline! A team needs coordination and cooperation!” He shook his head.
“All right. Clean up this field and then back to barracks. Your debrief is at 1500 hours. Now, move!”
As the commander left the field, Lonnie approached Catra, a look of disgust on her face.
“Why’d you do that, Catra?! You wrecked it for our entire team.”
Adora frowned as Lonnie turned to rejoin Kyle and Rogelio.
“Hey! Come on, Lonnie!” Adora insisted. She laid a hand on Catra’s shoulder. “That’s not --“
Catra savagely brushed Adora’s hand away.
“Just shut up about it!” Catra snapped at her, a catch in her voice. “And leave me alone!”
Catra stormed off before anyone could see her tears.
Catra huddled on her bunk clutching her knees, as close to the wall as she could be, her back to the rest of the room. She grit her teeth, squeezing tears from her eyes.
She heard a light thump from behind, but she didn’t turn to look. She knew who it was.
Adora’s hands gripped the edge of Catra’s upper bunk and pulled her body upward so her face appeared just above the foot of it. She smiled at Catra’s back. “Hey, Catra. You okay?”
No reply but a heavy, sullen silence.
With a “Hup!” Adora hoisted herself up and hooked her foot over the edge of the bunk. She crawled over beside Catra and sat down near her, letting her legs dangle over the side, swinging gently.
After a protracted pause, Adora frowned and spoke gently, “It’s okay . . . what happened in the simulation room. You . . . I mean, . . . we did our best, right?”
The question hung unanswered. Adora continued.
“And it wasn’t really fair, either . . . I mean, first time against princess-bots! I can’t . . . I don’t blame you for being . . .”
Catra turned her head towards Adora, her eyes narrowed. Adora hesitated.
“What?” Catra snapped. The word came sharply, with a slight snarl.
Adora frowned sympathetically. “Scared?” she offered.
“I was not scared!” But her voice betrayed a raw sensitivity. Catra quickly covered it with a casual tone. “I was just . . . distracted . . . that’s all.”
“Oh, okay,” Adora agreed. “Well, if you had been . . . I just wanted you to know it’s okay because . . . I was, too, . . . a little.”
“Maybe you were, but I wasn’t,” Catra insisted, “And no one asked you, anyway.”
Adora frowned again, looking down. She planted her hands on the edge of the bunk and shifted forward to hop down, when suddenly Catra’s hand was sitting on top of hers.
“But . . .”
Adora looked up at Catra, whose eyes were cast downwards toward their hands.
“Thanks . . . Adora.”
Adora smiled as Catra turned away and removed her hand.
“See you at dinner,” Adora said. She hopped down and headed for the showers.
After Adora was gone, Catra stared ahead of her, frustration burning in her mind. She clutched her fingers into fists, squeezing them tightly closed until her muscles quivered.
Softly, so that no one could possibly hear her, Catra murmured to herself.
“I will never ever be scared again,” she vowed.
The next morning, Catra and the other cadets crowded around one of the glass porthole windows and stared outside at the devastation.
“What is it?!” Kyle asked in wonder.
“Snow,” came Lonnie’s reply. “That’s what Force Cap’n said.”
The entire area around the complex and the surrounding structures as far as they could see were covered by a thick layer of sparkling whiteness.
Adora narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “This is Princess work,” she remarked with disgust.
“Has to be,” agreed Lonnie.
“It’s some kind of attack,” asserted Adora, “Probably part of a siege strategy.”
“Exactly!” Lonnie affirmed. “That’s why we have to stay inside.”
“What?!” Catra objected.
“That’s not all,” Lonnie continued. “They said we don’t get any rations today, either! ‘Cause the transports from the storage bays can’t make it through all this stuff!”
Catra turned on Lonnie. “What?!! They can’t do that to us!” Her ears and tail stood upright with outrage.
“Yeah, that’s cold,” mused Kyle bitterly. In the silence that followed, all attention turned to Kyle. He pulled back from their glares. “What?” he asked obliviously.
Lonnie shook her head and rolled her eyes, then turned back to Catra. “Look. I’m only saying what I heard. They’re saying we just have to wait until tomorrow for more ration bars.”
“Nuh-uh, I don’t think so!” seethed Catra. “I’m not gonna let them starve us just ‘cause they’re too lazy to dig a road!”
Adora nodded. “Come on! We need to make a plan.”
Ten minutes later, the cadet team stood on the roof of the training complex, looking across the vast field of whiteness. The drifts reached above the doors of the complex, and one came as high as the roof.
Catra gestured to a large squat building perhaps 100 yards away.
“It’s literally right there! We could walk over!”
She began to step off the roof onto the snow drift.
“Wait, Catra!” warned Lonnie desperately, as Rogelio squawked in alarm.
They leapt forward, each grabbing one of Catra’s arms, while Adora grabbed the neck of Catra’s jacket. Catra’s foot sank deeply into the snow, enveloping her up to the hips before they halted her fall. With a slight struggle, Catra was pulled safely back onto the roof.
“It’s snow!” Lonnie explained, both irritated and relieved. “If you step into a pile this deep, you’ll sink all the way down. Then you’ll be trapped, and no one can get you out!”
Catra shook their hands off of her. “Okay! But there’s gotta be something we can do!”
“Well,” Adora considered, looking around. She pointed at the debris and bits of hardware lying around on the roof. “There’s a lot of junk up here. Maybe we can make use of it.”
Lonnie looked dubious. “I don’t know . . .”
Catra surveyed the roof, and suddenly her eyes brightened. “No, Adora’s got the right idea! Look!”
She stepped over to a small pile of metal scrap and crouched down to slide a long narrow slab out from underneath. She stood it upright beside her and pointed to it triumphantly.
“This is perfect!”
Adora tilted her head, studying it. “Hmmm . . .” The slab was as tall as Catra and about twice the width of her shoulders.
Lonnie frowned. “Perfect for what?”
Catra scoffed. “It’s a thin, flat surface, right? One of us could stand on it, and it wouldn’t sink into the snow. It would sit on top of it!” Adora was nodding along with her as Catra completed the image in her mind. “And because this is smooth, it’ll slide on the surface of the snow, all the way down the drift and over to the storage bays!”
Adora chimed in brightly, “That might work! Who wants to try?”
Lonnie shook her head, a little regretfully. “Uh-uh. Not me. I’m not . . . that hungry.”
Kyle and Rogelio exchanged glances and then shook their heads at Adora.
Adora looked at the steep snow-drift a little nervously, then at the slab in Catra’s hands.
“I guess . . . I could do it.” She tentatively reached out for the slab.
Catra frowned at the ground with a troubled expression, then with a resolute sternness. She looked up and shook her head at Adora. “No. I’ve got this. I’ll do it.”
As Adora looked Catra in the eye with some concern, Lonnie asked hesitantly, “You . . . sure about that, Catra?”
Catra turned and nodded to her. “Yep. I’ll do it. I . . . I kinda owe you guys one.”
She walked toward the edge of the roof, holding the slab in front of her.
Adora patted her shoulder as she passed by. “You can do this, Catra.”
Catra nodded and proceeded to the roof’s edge. She set the slab down against the edge, then turned toward the others. “I’ll bring back as many ration bars as I can hold in my jacket. Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty.”
She turned toward the edge, put one foot on the slab, and took a deep breath, blowing it out heavily.
All of a sudden, Adora grabbed her arm. “Wait a second!”
Catra turned to Adora wide-eyed.
“How will you get back up?”
Catra looked over the edge at the base of the drift far below. “Oh.”
“I gotchoo!” announced Lonnie. Catra and Adora turned to see her coming over with a large coil of rope she had picked up. “Just bring the end of this down with you. When you’re ready you can tie it around that slab of metal, and we’ll pull you back up.”
Catra smiled and took the end of the rope, wrapping it around her wrist securely.
She nodded to Lonnie. “Thanks.”
“Good luck,” Lonnie said.
Catra turned, and stepped onto the middle of the metallic slab. She could feel a sudden wave of encouragement and admiration from her fellow cadets, standing behind her and cheering her on.
She felt the thrill of wind through her hair as the slab tipped and started to slide over the edge.
And she didn’t feel scared anymore.