For the She-lulz (She-ra 2018/gamer/oc)

mkasana · May 31, 2019

It’s dark, wet and surprisingly warm. Where am I?

No, wait, something’s happening. I think I see the light!

Ah, it’s blinding! Who the hell is screaming so loudly I can’t think damn it.

Wait, that’s me isn’t it. I just got birthed? But I don’t even remember dying. WTF?!

Come to think of it I don’t remember that much at all! Ugh this is infuriating!

I…I fell sleepy. Thus I closed my eyes.

…

Days pass by and those days turn into months. Hard to keep track with a mind of a newborn.

I just want to drink some milk.

…I hear screaming and this time it’s not me also it’s hot, really hot. Is that smoke I’m smelling?

Someone enters my room. With my terrible vision I look at the moving blob. You’re not my mommy! That’s it I’m screaming! „Bwaaah!“

„Shut this baby up already. Find the thing and move it!“ No one came to rescue. I know someone grabbed me and carried me.

I can’t remember how much time has passed. But when I woke up it felt colder than before.

Choose your name:

And like that I completely lost my train of thought. What?

Choose your name:

What! Is this like the gamer? But the gamer had notifications in blue plain boxes. This looks like something from Dark souls or Dragon’s Dogma. In other words it has character.

So, uh, name ok. Um How about….

Choose your name:
Markus
Y/N

Well?

Your name is Markus.
Welcome to Etheria! You are now part of the Hord faction. Be wary monsters, machines and princesses are more than willing to kill you. Better prepare yourself whilst you still can and remember, just because you’re on the same side doesn’t make you friends.

What is this? Some AU of World of Warcraft? Seriously, what the hell!

You have ten points to add at to your stats
Stats increased by the starting SP will be increased by higher amount than others.
Markus
STR:5
AGI:5
DEX:5
INT:5
WIS:5
CHA:5
SP:10
HP:100/100

Huh. Okay, let’s put 5 points to INT 2 to AGI and 3 to CHA. Let’s see the result.

Markus
STR:5
AGI:7
DEX:5
INT:10
WIS:5
CHA:8
SP:0
HP:125/125

Not too bad but I’ll level up eventually. Now where was I?

„Finaly this runt shut up. Was about to throw it into a lake.“ Wow. Ok better not scream if I wanna live.

…

Quite a lot of time passed since then. By that I mean like 2 months.

We’re apparently in some place called the Fright zone. Starting to think this isn’t sci-fi AU WoW.

Doors to the infirmary opened and a woman in red robes with a mask of the same color, only her long elf-like ears and hands visible. They’re ashen gray color. She usualy comes here to check another baby. Some blondie with blue eyes. She must hold a high position too, the woman not the baby. Though a baby with the rank of a commander would be funny to see.

„Have the tests come in?“ She asks as she puts the baby down and looks at me.

A soldier walks up to her. „Shadow weaver, we haven’t seen anything like it! It’s like the baby is-„

The world went gray.

You are not of this world and thus you cannot be human.However hybrids are acceptable. What is your species?

Just a box. No character creation. No race selector. Just a box waiting to be filled.

Really? Ok, let’s put something absurd. Push it to what the system will allow me to do.

Novakid

A star person. A being literally made out of star. How will you deal with that one, huh?

Novakid selected. Creating human-Novakid hybrid.

Wait! It’ll actually make a half-novakid? That seems a bit problematic. How would that even work realistically? How can organic and energy being make a half breed? Did someone fuck a literal star? The hell?

Hybrid created. Following race specific perks and skills created.

Perks:
Too hot to handle: Your body can reach 1200 C^O however doing so will result in overheating and may knock you unconscious.

Fire boy: You are immune to heat damage so long as it’s less tahn 1200 C^O otherwise every 500 C^O you’ll recieve increasing damage of 50.

No fan of Frozen throne: Cold biomes make your fire based attacks 25% weaker. Ice attack do 25% more damage to you. You‘re more sensitive to cold.

Skills:
Basic Fire manipulation lvl0: You posses small control over fire.

Ok that’s actually really awesome! I’m OPAF no way am I gonna be some bottom feeder! With this A SHALL REIGN SUPREME! HAHAHAHAHA!

Due to gaining skill requiring magic you unlocked Mana. Mana is increased with INT and WIS.
You now possess 135/135 MP.

Damn and here I was hoping I could be OP but magic will propably limit my fire manipulation. No star throwing for me.

Time resumed again and everything gained it’s color back.

„-on fire or it’s insides are a literal furnace!“ Shadow weaver actually looked surprised by that. „Does Lord Hordak know?“ She asked with a frown. At least I think it’s a frown. That mask is surprisingly expressive. Must be the magic. When things make absolutely no sense it’s either quantum physics or magic.

„No mam, I have yet to inform him.“ Replied the soldier.

„Then you will not tell him. That’s a direct order from me understood!“ The room got darker and shadow weaver gained height the gem on her mask glowing an ominous red.

The soldier gulped and and nodded. „Yes mam. Understood!“ As soon as they finished the soldier immediatly bolted through the door.

Shadow weaver huffed. „Didn’t even allowed him to leave. I’ll have to discipline him later.“ She looks back at me.

„I’ll be watching you, closely.“ Even with context it’s creepy. Then she leaves.

Time passed pretty quickly after that.

4 years later
I’m what 4 and half now. Kids around me playing with each other in enclosed space.

I decided that the best course of action is to scout out the competition. I remember what game told me when they stole me from my supposed home.

just because you’re on the same side doesn’t make you friends

From what I observed we’re most likely the bad guys, so betreyal is a must.

I found few that peaked my interest.

Sorry couldn't find other images of 4 year old adora

Adora
Human
STR:77
AGI:17
DEX:47
INT:11
WIS:23
CHA:35
Lvl:6
HP:7700/7700

Her stats be bullshit! All because her perk that adds ridiculous amount of STR but surprisingly doesn’t increase INT. Next!

Catra
Felinid
STR:9
AGI:65
DEX:45
INT:25
WIS:13
CHA:13
Lvl:4
HP:900/900

Both of them are pretty bullshit. Yep!

Now I wasn’t lolligagging around. I managed to reach level 4!...

…

Ok, look the way I gained exp is through simple quests like: Learn how to walk and Make your bed.

They’re baby steps ok! Don’t judge me! As for why such a low level in four years it’s because we’ve only started making our beds a year ago and the quest pops in every once in a while, not literally every time I do my bed, so yeah, the progress is kinda slow.

Plus I got race points with the level up. Novakid race increases everything except WIS
Stats reveal youself!

Markus
Novakid
STR:21
AGI:23
DEX:21
INT:50
WIS:17
CHA:36
SP:20
HP:305/305
MP:351/351

Still have those 20 points

I should propably puti t somewhere where I won’t stand out too much. Hmm 6 points to WIS, another 6 to AGI and DEX and 2 points to INT.

Also having reached 50 in a stat gave met his perk

You have 50 Points of INT.

Perk gained.
Basic inventions: You understand and are capable of making primitive machines.

Sadly I didn’t see any fire to manipulate. I can’t generate it. Whitch is weird considering I’m part star but whatever.

Markus
Novakid
STR:21
AGI:29
DEX:27
INT:52
WIS:23
CHA:36
SP:0
HP:305/305
MP:373/373

I feel only slightly better about myself.

„Hey, wanna join us?“ I am brought from my mussing by none other than Adora herself.

„Huh sorry I wasn’t paying attention. Join you for what?“ I ask with a smile.

„We were playing tag but just the two of us isn’t exactly fun.“ She says.

„Forget him Adora. Let’s find someone fun.“ Wow aren’t you a rude one.

Quest: Play tag
Play tag with Adora and Catra till they get bored.
Reward: 50 Exp, Increased closeness with Adora and Catra

„Sure, I’ll join. Just to prove puss-puss here wrong.“ I grin. A snort comes from Adora as she covers her mouth to try and fail to cover her laughter.

Catra’s response is a slap on my shoulder you‘re it!“ Immediatly she turned away and ran as fast as she could. Being a literal cat person means she’s pretty fast.

At least Adora isn’t as fast meaning that I have a snowflake of a chance in hell of catching up to her.
I look at Adora and…

Where’s Adora? How long have I been standing here!? I franticaly look around trying to find Adora and spot her hiding behind a group of kids.

I sneak around others, some giving me weird looks others outright ignoring me. Adora pokes her head out like antilope looking through the high grass for danger.

I smile and hide under my, classmates? Peers? One or the other. Adora became more worried. Her head turning increasing, trying to catch a whim of me.

I’m closing in my grin widening. Closer, closer and leap!

„You’re it!“ I shout as I’m practicaly touching her back. Her entire body whips around, grabs my hand and then judo throws me!

-50 HP
HP 255/305

That hurt way more than I thought it would.

„Ow.“ I finaly manage to groun out.

She puts her hands over her mouth. „Oh I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.“

I don’t respond only wave for her to come closer. She crouches next to me. I slowly reach her shoulder with my hand and pat it.

„You’re it.“ I say with a smile.

„You cheeky!“

I wink at her and do finger guns.

„What‘s with the commotion!“ Shadow weaver bursts in. Her look reminding me of someone with migraine until she immediatly schooled it back to her proffesional emotionless mask.

She spots me and Adora, my hands still in the finger gun pose. SHe looked unimpressed.

„Adora, Markus, with me. Now!“

Quest completed
+50Exp
125/125
Level up!
150/150
Level up!
155/175
SP:12

We get up, I ignore the notifications, and start walking out of the room, leaving other children behind, I spot Catra in between other holding a small frown.

Going down a dark hallway. Stoping infront of doors guarded by two soldiers. As shadow weaver enters they salute. We stop unsure if we should follow her. She becons us to follow.

The room is cylindrical, in the middle stands a big ruby gem.

The black Garnet
Rank:Legendary

My eyes bugged out a little.

She grabbed Adora by the shoulder and dragged her to her desk. Then she looks at me and says.

„There’s a desk on the other side of the room go there. You’ll have a paper waiting for you too.

Without question I walk to my desk and look at the paper.

It’s math. Basic math. Like first grade but instead of apples you have tasers. I snort.

„Does this seem funny to you?“ I hear shadow weaver right behind me.

„No shadow weaver.“ I automatically reply.

„Then you won’t need my help filling this sheet, will you?“

My response was to take the pencil and immediatly fill out the answers. I was done in 5 minutes.

I look back and Shadow weaver is nowhere. I look back and my sheet is gone.

„Impressive for someone your age.“ I look back again. Again noone is present besides me on this side of the room. Back at the table another paper lies.

My left eye twitches. I fill it again. This time it was multiplication, division and some geometry. I start to fill it out but stop just before the geometry section.

Something doesn’t seem right. Realisticaly speaking how would I know geometry when this is my first time in this world being exposed to math. Multiplication and division is still somewhat passable as just eyeballing it about what their meanings are, but geometry? I shouldn’t know pi or how to calculate the surface area of a 3D object. So I stop without starting anything from geometry.

„Hmm, disappointing but in the end not unsurprising.“ Shadow weavers voice creeps in.

BITCH! I shouldn’t even know how to do the first part.

„Adora come here. Time to put both of your energies to some constructive use.“ She says as two soldier conveniently bring weights. I think those are weights.

„If you fail to lift the weight I give you, you’ll have to spend time trying to lift other weights till say you can stop. Undertand?“ We just nodded.

She gave Adora a 10 kg dumbell and me a 5 kg dumbell. Is she underestimating me?

I try to lift it but.

Your current avarage lifting limit is 2,9 kg.

I’m pretty sure other four year olds can lift more than that, I think. Screw it I’m putting all 12 points into STR bringing it to 41.

Your current lifting avarage is 4,1 kg.

I try again and actualy manage to get it of the ground, alas it doesn’t last and falls down with a clank.

I look how Adora’s doing and immediatly do a double take. Her face is completely red and she actually managed to lift ti all the way up to her torso. What is her strenght.

Adora
STR:79

It increased this fast!? I immediatly try again and again, over and over again I try to lift the dumbell.

I’m panting like a dog that just ran a marathon.

Adora
STR:81

It increased again! That’s it! She’s the messiah.

Your strenght increased by 1.

You’re mocking me. Aren’t you system?

I continued to lift it.

„Adora you may stop. I’ll call for you tomorrow.“ Shadow weaver said.

„You on the other hand need to increase your physical strenght.“

The hell she‘s on about? Adora barely lifted the 10 kg weights! I look at the retreating form of Adora.

Adora
STR:103
Fast Adaptation: Till the age of 13 your stats wil improve at faster rate.

Just. Why?

„Lift these weight until I come back. Believe me, I’ll know if you really did train.“

Her voice sent shivers down my spine. Don’t piss her off.

I shakely nod and start pumping.

By the end I increased my STR by 5.

After that she ketp calling us every day. Eventually she brought Catra as well.

Another four years passed after that.

mkasana · May 31, 2019

8 years after being born in another world

I am brought from my blissful sleep by someone poking me in the back.

Looking behind me, I see Catra sleeping, one of her legs slightly kicking me in the back.

“Catra stop it!” I whisper.

“Five more minutes.” She says sleepily.

I flick her forehead. She groggily opens her eyes and looks at me with a dazed look.

“What do you want Mark?” She says already starting to close her eyes.

“You should stop sleeping next to me, it’s really annoying waking up with you kicking me in the back.” I tell her.

“But you’re like a warm blanket. It’s so comfy sleeping next to you.” She pleads her case.

Yeah, funny thing about me. The older I get the more heat I generate.

I look at the ceiling and after few moments arrive to a conclusion. I will not fall asleep again.

The heat thing is actually very problematic, because we have lizard people here and boy, oh boy, do they love places with a lot of heat.

There’s that lizard kid named Rogelio. He is part of a squad that shadow weaver put us in.

Adora, Catra, Lonny, Kyle, me and Rogelio.

Most of the time we spend by fighting those cute ball-bots. Their lasers are surprisingly mild, definitely not what I expected from well lasers that heat up the walls so much they turn a slight shade of red.

As I start to get up Catra twitches and mumbles something. It would seem the absence of her heater, aka me, has not gone unnoticed.

My relationship with her is… complicated to put it mildly.

She likes to use me as the aforementioned heater, but she also keeps pestering me with verbal jabs and poking. Most of the time I ignore them. It usually works but there are cases when she just doesn’t stop until Adora tells her of.

Why am I not doing anything about it personally? Well I don’t really see it as a problem she’s bored, so she passes time by bothering me which I ignore and read a book or something.

I think she’s doing it mostly because she thinks I’ll steal Adora from her.

Which is ridiculous. Adora’s a slow hard hitter whilst Catra is a fast DPS type. I’m just a support from the sideline that occasionally jump forwards to help make for a push if we’re stuck in a position too long.

Otherwise we’re not really talking much. In fact, I talk to Catra more than I do Adora. Even when I point that out, she keeps on saying that we’re talking behind her back! She is the most insecure person I have ever met.

I tried to help her get through this insecurity since it can become a problem later on, but next to no progress on that front.

Where was I again? Oh yeah Rogelio.

Like most lizard people in the horde that I’ve met he’s tall and well scaly.

And it would seem that since I have no problem with Catra using me as a heater, he decided that he’ll do the same.

I swear if by the end of all this I’m going to be covered by humanoid animals I’ll burn the entire world. I think as the very thought makes me shudder in disgust.

In the end I managed to make a deal with him. He can use me as his portable sun for one hour a day. So, I guess that’s a small victory for me since I won’t be bruised by that scaly skin of his too much.

What time is it anyway? I look at the time under the minimap.

05:39
Ok, still have time before Shadow weaver comes to shout at us. It was around five that I actually noticed that I looked different from my self in the previous life. Kinda hoped there would be an editor or character creator.

My hair was red. What red? I dunno. I mean my hair can glow if I get angry enough, going from this dark red to a lively yellow, so no I don’t know what color my hair should be if someone asks me properly.
And supposedly my eyes can also glow, otherwise they stay a dark gold color. I wouldn’t know since I never really notice. Plus, this place has a thing against mirrors. The only one I saw was at Shadow weavers place.

Since I can’t really move without Catra the Garfield-wannabe complaining about it I guess I’ll stay still. For how much longer?

05:40

20 minutes, right.
How much has changed in those 4 years that I’ve been with my team, you might ask.

Well I managed to reach level 28. Now I know what you’re thinking. Only 24 levels in 4 years? What are you lazy?
The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, I am lazy however when I actually got motivated to get better, I was shut down by Shadow weaver. She said something like ´ I won’t spend robots for you when they can be used elsewhere. ´

This does not mean that I had nothing to do. No Shadow weaver made sure I had always something to do.

In the end my stats became what in most scenarios would be called ridiculous when compared to other RPGs.

Markus
Novakid
AGE: 8,5 YEARS
STR:259
AGI: 215
DEX: 161
INT: 230
WIS: 125
CHA: 156
SP: 0
HP: 2095/2095
MP: 1647/1647
----------------------------------------
Perks gained for 50 in stats
----------------------------------------
50 STR
Basic Lifter
You can lift 10% more weight.

50 AGI
Basic acrobatics
You can move like an acrobat, not great bud still useful.

50 DEX
Basic instincts
Most people's instincts are blunt thanks to modern technology, but you can rely on them for better accuracy, reaction time increased by 10%

50 WIS
Lesser magic density
You possess the magic of lesser magical beings + 10% to MP

50 CHA
Pretty boy
People tolerate you more.
----------------------------------------
Perks gained for 100 in stats
----------------------------------------
100 AGI
Ambidextrous
You can use both hands with equal efficiency.

100 DEX
Intent detection
You can detect intent whatever kind it may be towards you.

100 CHA
Poster boy
People take you more seriously
----------------------------------------
Skills gained from stats reaching 100
----------------------------------------
100 STR
Power strike
Level: 20
Your attack does additional 125 % more damage.

100 INT
Mental speed up
Level: 20
You can speed up your thought process with mana by 90%, Costs 100MP/s.

100 WIS
Meditation
Level: 15
Increases regeneration of MP by 500%, increases HP regeneration by 200%, can't move from spot.

Now I know what you’re thinking pretty overpowered, right?

Hell no! My reaction time is 0,08 seconds. If I remember correctly average human has a reaction time of 0,15 seconds. I can react at twice the speed of a normal human. It makes sense I am the gamer; my life is literally controlled by numbers appearing in front of me. Yet somehow Catra and Adora are faster in terms reaction time.

Catra can still be explained by her being a Felinid, a humanoid cat but, Adora who is completely human? I have no goddamned idea.
Catra’s reaction time of 0,04 seconds four times the human.
Adora has 0,06 seconds. Just how?

Then it comes to people like Shadow weaver whose stats are literal question marks. Just how strong is she?
Then there is Hordak. Our boss, the guy I never even met in person or through transmission.
However, following the rules of anime, he’s probably stronger than Shadow weaver.

Also, every time I hear his name my mind gets filled with Skeletor going ´NYEH! ´ and I don’t know why.
I check the time again

05:59

Convenient.
“Catra, wake up. Shadow weaver will show up soon. Don’t want to make her angry now, do we?”

Catra opens her eyes slightly
“Shadow weaver can kiss my-“
“Kiss your what?”

A slightly raspy voice asks. Catra immediately stands in attention.
Shadow weaver appeared before us. She then looked at me

“Good, you’re awake, you have 10 minutes to wake everyone in your squad and make sure their ready for today’s training.” She tells us and then just leaves in a puff of ashen smoke.

Catra still stands there frozen. I decide to shake her a bit. She immediately reacts by trying to claw at me.

I, of course dodge back.
“Sorry I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. You keep doing that whenever Shadow weaver’s around.” I tell her somewhat concerned. Seriously every damn time she’s about to say something stupid and Shadow weavers near she just freezes.

“C’mon, let’s go wake everyone.”

She immediately goes to wake Adora, who is the heaviest sleeper I have had the displeasure of meeting in both of my lives.
It’ll take a while so I must wake everyone else.

First Lonny.

Walk towards her bunk.
“Lonny wakey, wakey. We have a new assignment to do.”
Her response is a pillow to the face.

I just stare at her with unamused expression as she turns in her bed, her back facing me.
“Adora wants to cut your dreads again.” I tell her.

An immediate reaction. She spins in her bed so fast she actually lifts off of it. Her arm moving forwards at incredible speed. The momentum generated by that punch carries her from her bed.

Sadly for her there is a 1 meter distance between me and her so when she flies forwards gravity decides to play around and she falls face first onto the metal floor.

She gets up and glares at me. Oh, I’m gonna get it later. Meh, been there done that.

I hear slaps behind me. So, I look and see Catra slapping Adora silly till she wakes.
Meh, average morning.

Next Rogelio

Waking him is really easy I just have to hold his tail for few seconds, and he wakes up.
And by I, I mean only me. Nobody else can really do that. Perks of being part star, I guess.
I wait those few moments and Rogelio’s up.

Next is Kyle.
…
I grab him by the leg and drag him from bed. That jolts him right up.
“What? Who? Where?” He looks around frantically. His gaze falls on me.

“O-oh, um, hi Markus. Thanks for waking me up.” He says weakly. For life’s sake grow a pair and stand up for yourself for once.
Rogelio gives me the stink eye. See even Rogelio calls me out on this bullshit. Even though when someone fuck something up it’s usually you who takes the blame.

Don’t look at me that way Rogelio. I know you see him as your little brother but that doesn’t mean you are innocent. I’ve seen you throw him under the metaphorical bus several times as well.

I look at how Catra’s doing.

She’s pulling Adora’s cheeks.

Not doing well it seems.

I walk towards Catra and still sleeping Adora. Catra looks at me inquisitively. I just sit on the floor in that unpronounceable Japanese style, put Adora’s head on my thighs, basically making it a thigh pillow and put my hands on her cheeks.

For a while nothing happens.

The she wakes up with a sound of slight pain.
She starts rubbing her cheeks, which are now crimson red.

“Ow, who did that?!” She asked with a pout.

“Well, after Catra gave you few slaps across your face and pinched your cheeks to another dimension, I decided to manipulate heat in my body and move it to my hands. End result, I stung you with heat.” I tell her calmly.

“It really hurts.” She tells me.
“That’s the slaps. It should fade in a short while.” Then a moment of silence. A very awkward type of silence.

“So why did you wake us?” Lonny asks.
“Simple. Shadow weaver has a new assignment for us and wants us to be ready in-“How long? I check the time on minimap again.

06:08

“-in about 2 minutes.” Those minutes seemed like eternity. Everyone’s grouchy in the morning. Except me, you know gamer and all that.

After those 2 minutes Shadow weaver appears.
She looks at us, then nods.

“You will be assigned a new kind of training designed by Lord Hordak himself. It is in experimental phase and he needs someone who’s good and new. So, be ready.”

She prepares to leave, and we decide to follow her only for her to stop and look at us with what I guess is the closest face we’ll get to concerned.

“And one more thing. Survive.” What kind of training is this going to be?!

More importantly I look into Shadow weaver’s superhero white eyes and see genuine worry.
I smile a little. Closest thing we have to a mom. Not great by any stretch of imagination but certainly not the worst.
I’ll do my best to not fail, for you.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. I really got into updating Tig bitties.
Also added images to first chapter.

mkasana · Jun 9, 2019

We were walking towards the Hall of Pain.

Stupid name? Yes, but no one would tell that to Hordak to his face now would they. The path towards it is increasingly more ridiculous looking the closer we get.

It starts as any other hallway in the fright zone, but then it gets slightly gothic taste mixed in. A cyber-gothic if you will. Then it goes full blown gothic but instead of stone ceiling trying to reach for the heavens it’s made of steel.

After that it goes into some Dark eldar shit. Cuz’ holy emperor that’s a lot of spikes, spikes everywhere, spikes on spikes on spikes. Almost makes you feel if he’s compensating for something.
And the place is a very dark purple, almost forgot about that because spikes.

When were pretty much in front of the door things are just so bland. Walls are covered in cables with some glowing bits just for the sake of cool, since I can’t find any reason that would demand glowing wires that are the size of your head and be out in the open.

We come to a halt as Shadow weaver turns towards us.
“When you enter you will bow before Hordak. There will be no bickering, no snickering and no backtalk. Understood?” She said the last one with a glare aimed at Catra.

We all nod and enter walking in a line behind Shadow weaver. First is Adora as our captain, right behind her is Catra, then me and Lonny, at whom I keep sneaking looks because she will definitely try something as repayment for her rude awakening. I sweat a little at that. She can be really mean when it comes to that.

[Warning! You have entered a lair of a Boss enemy whose level is extremely greater, caution advised.]
[Following auras in effect]
[Will of the Horde: Boss can call upon endless number of troops during the fight]
[Fright zone effect: Negative emotions will empower the Boss enemy. The severity and the amount of people suffering from said emotions will increase Bosses stats exponentially]
[Evil Prime: Boss possesses great mind enhanced by the knowledge granted by Horde Prime]

“Lord Hordak.” Shadow weaver announces, putting her right arm on her chest and gives a little bow.

Lord Hordak
The Supreme General of The Horde
Unknown specie
Age: ???
HP: ???/???
MP: ???/???

Dayum, look at that big boi!

Now let’s see here.
“You took your time Shadow weaver.” Raspy voice. Check.
Ominous red eyes. Check
His upper body hidden by a shadow that will probably not be casted afterwards only showing his evil glowing eyes. Check.

“My apologies Lord Hordak. Next time I’ll make sure to that they prepare faster.” Shadow weaver says still in bow.
Meanwhile me and others form a line next to Shadow weaver. Left of Shadow weaver is Adora next to her is Catra then me, and the rest is the same as when we walked in.

“As you have been informed, I have decided to change the training of our troops and am in need of volunteers.” Lord Hordak tells us as he gets up from the edge throne. Yes, that is what I’m going to call it from now on. His face finally revealed, showing his pale as snow face. Is that natural for his kind or is he painting himself with a bucket of paint every morning?
His hair looks like something a kid that just entered puberty would find cool.

“Shadow weaver said that you are more than adequate for this experiment and as she has yet to disappoint me-” Wow. Either this guy is easy to please and easy to disappoint or worse he’s hard to please and easy to disappoint.
I get the easy to disappoint, hard to please kinda vibe from him.

“-I’ll put my faith in her choice. If she fails, she has no one but herself to blame.”

He gestured with his hand and several holographic panels appeared above him. The one on the left had an image of a spooky forest. In the middle was the topographical map of said forest and on the right the holograph showed various creatures that inhabited it.

“This area is known as The Shimmering woods. It stands between The Fright zone and Brightmoon. It is considered extremely dangerous due to its inhabitants.” He tells us as one of the panels shows all manner of creatures, some of them looking straight out of kids’ book.

“In order to make our military more effective I have decided to try a test run where you will have to complete a mission in The Shimmering woods. What you’re looking for is an Old one’s relic. You will bring it or will not return at all! Understood?” His voice became more threatening when it reached the end. We just nodded in understanding.
Did he perhaps got infected with the villain flu? The one that makes everyone around you the ones who are to blame instead of yourself. Probably.

“Take whatever resources Shadow weaver allows you to take and do not disappoint me.”

Thus, we leave to the armory

“Is everyone ready?” I ask as everyone packs their bags with supplies.

“For the last time Markus, yes.” Adora says with annoyed look.
“Catra has first aid. Lonny has rope and other tools, Rohelio brought weapons and Kyle has food supplies. “She counts them of on her fingers until she stops and looks at me.
“What did you pack?”

“Explosives.” Everyone just stared at me.
“What?”

“Explosives. Really? That’s it.” Lonny says with one eyebrow held high.

“Well I also packed few engineering tools like wrenches and electronics if I need to make some time limited bombs or long-distance explosives. What did you pack Adora?”

“A bit of everything really.” I just nod.

I come to Shadow weaver who looks at me for a moment before looking back at her display.
“Shadow weaver.”
“What do you want Markus.” She asks surprisingly without any of her usual anger that she is known for.

“I’d like to request a bot for our mission and use it to carry some of our supplies.”
I mean I have inventory but trying to explain how I managed to put most of our supplies into a pocket dimension probably wouldn’t go well for me. They’d call me crazy.

“Request denied. Most of our bots are either in repairs or in the field. The new batch won’t arrive for another week. Is that a sufficient explanation for you?” Ah, she knows me so well. To answer my questions before I ask them.
I nod at her explanation.

“Understood.”

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/nano-core/art/Sci-Fi-Troop-Transport-Vehicle-769241146 (just to be sure)

When we’re ready we get on a transport and depart.
The trip is pretty silent. Adora is in deep thought, Catra is looking around the inside of the vehicle excited to be inside it, like a kid. Wait, we are kids, that just makes it depressing.
Kyle is taking a nap and Rogelio just stares blankly at the wall opposite of him. As for Lonny. She kept glancing at me, and my backpack filled with explosives.

Jeez, have a little faith in me would ya’. I’m an amateurish professional I know what I’m doing.

Eventually we come to a stop and the driver turns his head back at us.
“Ok, this is as far as I can take you. The Shimmering woods are just up ahead. I’ll be waiting here for you to return. Unless something forces me to retreat, in that case good luck.”

So, we leave the troop transport and Adora starts to give out orders.
“Markus, Rohelio you’ll watch our flank, Lonny watch our back and you Kyle, try not to die. Catra and I will be in the front. Now let’s get moving.”

We start to move through the thick foliage. Trees all look the same and I’m sure that if we didn’t have the data pad that keeps track of the signature on it, we would be lost.

“I spy with my little eye something brown.” Kyle thought it would be fun to play I spy, which honestly was a stupid idea and only served to lessen my opinion of him.
I seriously need to shove some testosterone into him because holy moly does, he need to grow a pair and stand up for himself.

How long have we been walking?

12:00

We arrived around 9:00. Meaning we’ve been walking in one direction for over 3 hours. How the fuck aren’t we there yet!

“Hey Adora! How long we gonna keep walking?” She stopped making us do the same.

“I don’t know. The signal just keeps telling me to move forward.”

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.
“Adora give me the data pad.” She frowns at me and looks back at the tablet. Then she looks back and hands it to me.

Let’s see, the programs seem to be in order, no visible damage to the electronics.
Wait. There is some interference.

I take few of my tools that I packed with my explosives and got to work on fixing the issue.
“We should take a break. This will take a while.”

Adora nodded and gave everyone else roles to keep guard and to make sure everyone is fed and hydrated.

I feel something heavy on my back. Then a fluff of hair hits my head.

“Catra what are you doing? I am in the middle of something important right now.”

She just snorted.
“I’m just making sure you’re not gonna get ambushed from behind.”

“That is the worst excuse you ever gave for being lazy.” I deadpan as I take the screwdriver.

“Meh, don’t care.” Is all she says and starts purring.
….
It’s like a massage, so I guess it’s not a problem for me as much as I thought it would be.

30 minutes later

“How long is it going to take Markus?” Asks Lonny.

“As long as necessary. In other words, around 5 more minutes and we should be ready to go.”

“Just hurry it up. This place gives me the creeps.” Not just you my dear Lonny. Rogelio is becoming more and more paranoid. There is no place good enough for us to hide or make a choke point for a potential enemy. We are pretty much sitting ducks.
Kyle looks like he’s about to cry. I think. I mean he’s shivering like it’s below 0 C^O.

Adora is probably the only one who is calm. On the outside at least, wouldn’t be surprised if something was bothering her.

Catra? She’s still sleeping, leaning against my back.

And done.
“Ok it should work now.” I start it up and it shows that it’s only 500 meters east.

“Ok, let’s go east.” I get up which causes Catra to fall to the ground, rudely waking her up.

“What’s the big idea!” She asks pissed off.

“We’re moving Catra. Let’s go.” Adora tells her.
Catra blinks a few times and nods.

As we move the tablet detects movement.

What? It needed an upgrade and as the result shows, it was a good idea.

“Something’s coming! West, within 10 seconds.”

Everyone gets ready for a fight in their own way.

Adora and Lonny take out their tasers, Catra extends her claws, Rogelio takes out his gun from his backpack. And Kyle takes his pistol and aims in the general direction we were aiming at.

Maybe he’s not as spineless after all.

The ground starts to tremble and gives out in front of us.

Ancient Dracobug
HP: 120 000/120 000
Level: 50

Let’s hope we’ll survive. There’s five of us. We can do this.

I take a deep breath and smile. Let’s get to it then.

AN: I am a bit tired so sorry if the writing is a bit off.

mkasana · Jun 24, 2019

We can’t do this.

We can’t do this at all.

Ancient Dracobug
HP: 119 950/120 000
Level: 50

Ten shots from Rogelio was the only thing did any kind of damage to this thing.

He’s using heavy duty rifle. Weapon so rare it’s used only in the most strategically significant of places. That thing doesn’t have infinite ammo. It has like five shots a mag. He has like four of them. The only reason we have them is because Shadow weaver wanted to have us prepared for this. I guess robots are less expendable than super rare weapons that are hardly used.
The rest are weapons he brought for us in case we need them.

“Rogelio, pass the weapons!” I yell at him to which he nods and throws me two handguns.

I take aim and shoot at the monster.
-1HP
Well, shit.

The name really describes it well. A combination of a lizard and a bug. Its torso made of reptilian leather ending near the limbs where a chitinous exoskeleton protects them. The body is covered in moss, really selling the whole ancient thing. Its eyes are like that of a fly. Which is weird since its head is made in such a fashion that its eyes are facing forwards like that of a lion or other predators so that negates the 360-degree vision.
Doesn’t stop it from being perceptive as hell.

Oh, it’s after me now. Great. I immediately run towards the nearest tree to climb it and hope this thing doesn’t have the intellect to bring the tree down to get to me.

I somehow manage to climb a tree and the creature tries to jump up and get me.
Meanwhile Rogelio climbed tree opposite of me, which was pretty far away since the monster is in a field encircled by trees. The fact that it looks like an arena is purely accidental.

He takes aim and shoots it
-5HP

Yay! We’ll be here for less than half an eternity at this rate.
It gets pissed of again at Rogelio aggroing it.

At the moment the monster leaves me be Catra jumps from an adjacent tree to mine and pokes me in the shoulder.

“So, how are we getting out of this mess?” She asks me as the monster charges the tree Rogelio is shooting from

“Why don’t you ask Adora? She surely is working on a plan.” She just snorts.
“Yeah, well she’s been trying to come up with something for the last five minutes and nothing comes to mind. Better to ask you than just wait till something falls from the tree. In our case literally.”

I look at the Dracobug and see how it acts and moves.
It’s too heavy to lift itself upright, every step causes the ground to make way for the weight of its limbs.

Perhaps. Yes, that could work. It might even damage it a lot.
“Catra reach into my backpack and pull out the small black boxes.” She nods and takes them out. There are 10 of them. I’d do it myself but there’s not enough room for me to move much on the branch.

“Okay, now what.” She asks.

“You should be able to pull one side out.” She does so and since I hear a click. So, I continue. “As you probably noticed the side you tried to pull out most probably stopped a centimeter before actually being pulled out. That’s fine it’s supposed to do that. Now you can turn the extended side by 180 degrees. After you do that you just push it back in.”

I wait a while for her to do so.
“Ok what now.”

“Congratulations! You just primed a bomb!”

“What?!” She exclaims.

“Relax it’s a mine. So long as you don’t press the side that you pulled out, you’ll be fine.”
I hear her gulp. Probably should have told her what it was shouldn’t I. Oh well there’s hopefully a next time.

“Ok. My plan is simple. You and Lonny both take these boxes and prime them. Then you scatter them across the field. Me, Rogelio and Adora will get it’s attention by firing at it. As it goes after us it will eventually step on these mines. And detonate them. It should do a considerable amount of damage to it. Hopefully enough for it to retreat.” I finish and am met with silence.

“You want me to go down there and put bombs under it’s legs? Are you insane?!” She screeches.

“Yes.” I give her a simple reply. In the end aren’t we all a bit crazy.

She blinks a couple of times and gains a resigned look. “Fine, but you owe me. Alright?”

“Everyone’s lives are on the line and you want to make a deal for it? Yeah, sure whatever. I’ll do what you want so long as it isn’t anything too bad.” She just jumped away and I readied my pistols.

I shoot.
-1HP

It turns to me and starts to charge. I see to my right that Catra and Lonny run into the open field and start planting the bombs.
I keep shooting as you might think it does little.

It rams into the tree and it starts to bend over.
Shit it’s going to fall!

I jump to another tree. The dracobug tries to claw at me as I jump, but I’m too high up for it to reach.

I immediately take out my communicator. In hindsight we should’ve activated them since we disembarked, mistakes were made, and we’ll live another day to not do them again.
I wave it around hoping that Rogelio will see it. He is hard to see from this distance and him being green in front of green background, but the mimicking wave is enough for me to notice something gray in his hands.

“Rogelio, I need you to shoot the bug again. The field is filled with mines so it should take some damage as it tries to rush at you.” I tell him through my communicator. I hear a hiss from the other end and take it as confirmation.

Then a big blast hits the shell of the monster.
-10 HP

Must have been a critical.
How much HP does it have anyway?

Ancient Dracobug
HP: 119 800/120 000
Level: 50

It once again refocuses on Rogelio and start to rush at his tree. It has very basic mind set. Get attacked attack the thing that harmed you. Pretty sure were nothing more than annoyances to it if the damage were dealing to it is anything to go by.
That means we’re closer than we think if my gaming sense is right and this is some sort of temple guardian.

The creature rushes across the field until a very audible click was heard and the fireworks started.
The explosion engulfed the entire limb and sent a shock wave that almost made me fall of off the tree.

-10 000 HP

The chitinous armor that made up its leg was fractured and in someplace fell apart entirely. It screeched in pain and stumbled to the left to relieve its right leg of the pain caused by the explosion only to step on another mine.

-10 000 HP

Another howl of pain echoes throughout the forest.

-50 HP

-50 HP

It’s taking damage from the wounds now. Good, that makes it so much easier.

Ancient Dracobug
HP: 99 700/120 000
Level: 50

Now it’s trashing around, completely confused and blinded by the pain as it moves erratically in every direction.

Give it a moment. Another click. Another explosion.

-5 000 HP

The damage decreased. Why?
Ah. It stepped on another mine with the same leg as before and now it’s just a stump. There is only so much damage you can cause before the limb gets destroyed huh.

I take my com and talk to Rogelio to shoot the bugs exposed limbs.
I hear a sizzling sound and a green color as it hits the Dracobug’s exposed leg.

-350 HP

No defense bonuses for you sucker.

It steps on another mine with its right hind leg.
-10 000 HP

Another leg without armor, but that is not what interests me. The moment the first explosion happened I felt something. It’s hard to describe, the best I can come up with is like me being a radar and it appears like a blip to me. Short, always when explosion happens and then it disappears with the explosion.

Basic fire manipulation level up.

Oh, huh that’s neat, I guess.

The Dracobug screeches and starts to run away as Rogelio now joined with other keep on shooting its exposed limbs.

Ancient Dracobug
HP: 88 200/120 000
Level: 50

It ran away. Huh so we survived. None got hurt either, so that’s bonus.

Congratulations! You survived an encounter with an Ancient Dracobug and made it flee.
Reward: 100 Exp, 1 000 Hord tokens, Basic loot chest

You leveled up x4
48 Stat points available

A loot chest? Really? Was this made by EA? If so, I’ll GG out of this now to save myself the suffering of DLCs and other shit.
…
How would I even pay? Doesn’t matter they would probably find a way.

I jump down form the tree I was on and dismiss the notification.

Being the smart guy that I am I walk around the open field to not set off any mines and soon enough I meet up with my family.

“Good work Catra, Lonny.” I nod at each of them.

“Yeah, well nest time you’re the one who’ll plant them.” She said grumpily. Pouty Catra is adorable Catra.
Lonny just shrugged.

Rogelio checks his weapon for any possible damage.

Adora walks up to us with Kyle hiding behind her.

“Good work Markus with the plan.” She nods at me which I return.

“We shouldn’t be that far from our objective.” I tell them as I look at the datapad.

They nod and we resume our walk.
“And turn on your coms so we can talk if we get separated.” I hear various sounds of agreements.

“That was terrifying how did you guys remain so calm?” Asks Kyle still a bit shook from our boss battle experience.

Adora decides to start.
“As you captain, I have to make sure you survive long enough to complete our mission. I trust Markus’s and Rogelio’s actions since they are both extremely capable each in their own rights. I took you with me since you are the least experienced of us. Catra followed me, but she does that most of the time so it wasn’t unexpected. Thus I decided to send her to ask Markus to make a plan whilst I would try and make my own. His plan whilst more dangerous was faster and the advantages would outstrip the downsides enough to be worth it.”

Kyle just nods at her explanation. He turns to Rogelio who just hisses at him.

Then he turns to Catra. “I just followed Adora as she said. Though I expected that I’d be sent to talk with Markus about a plan. Otherwise yeah, I was bit scared since I had to be in the same field as that thing. It worked out in the end and Markus owes me, so I’d say it turned out well.”

Lonny decides to chime in. “Wait Markus promised you something for planting those bombs whilst I get nothing! That’s not fair!”

Catra just smirks. “What is it that Markus often says in the mornings? Early bird gets the worm? Guess you should have been there as well.” She says amused.
Lonny left eye twitches. “I wouldn’t be able to climb that tree fast enough to ask him anything. You were the first logical option since you’re the most agile out of all of us.”

Catra shrugs her shoulders. “Not my problem, Lonny not my problem at all.” She says that with a lot of glee in her voice.

“You can ask of me anything too Lonny.” I tell her. This bickering is really pointless and headache inducing.
What ever she wanted to say dies in her mouth, and she shuts up.

Kyle then turn to me. I think of what to say.
It wasn’t as bad as I feared, but it definitely was tiring.

“Annoying. That is the best way to describe this fight. It dragged on for too long because it was well defended, and it pisses me off that we faced such a dangerous creature so soon. I know that The Shimmering woods are dangerous, but not enough to encounter a monster like this so soon. If we brought a tank, then we could’ve killed it very quickly. Sadly, we don’t have that privilege, and this happened.
If we receive another mission into this place, I’ll drag the person responsible for our supplies through whatever toxic waste I can find!”

I got a bit ranty there.

“You know that that person is Shadow weaver, right?” Catra replies.

“I retract my statement about dragging.” Was my immediate reply and instead I focus on my stat screen.

Markus
Novakid
AGE: 8,5 YEARS
STR:275
AGI: 231
DEX: 173
INT: 258
WIS: 137
CHA: 176
SP: 48
HP: 2275/2275
MP: 1840/1840

Not bad, not bad. With how things are now I should probably increase my Dex and Int stats. Maybe add a bit into Wis? 16 points to each.

Markus
Novakid
AGE: 8,5 YEARS
STR:275
AGI: 231
DEX: 189
INT: 274
WIS: 153
CHA: 176
SP: 0
HP: 2275/2275
MP: 1922/1922

Nice.

Soon enough we reach a cave that should if the coordinates are right be the entrance to the place where the artifact lies.
I get the feeling it will only get worse from here on out.

AN: Sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will arrive within this century don’t worry.

EDIT: Added weapons images

mkasana · Jul 16, 2019

The cave is surprisingly comfortable. I few spiders here and there. The air is getting warmer the deeper we go.

Soon enough we come to a halt. Infront of us stands a crystal wall with carvings too precise to be made by hand. The crystals were glowing, yet our flashlights couldn’t cause such a show when they hit the wall.

“C’mon there must be some way of getting in!” Lonny shouts angrily. It has been 10 minutes since we arrived, and we have yet to find a way to open the doors.

“Markus you’re the tech guy. Isn’t there something you can do?” Really? I guess some things don’t change no matter what world you’re in. Help one guy run a game by downloading graphic drivers because his were too old and you’re praised as the greatest I.T. prodigy of all time. Here fix a stupid datapad because a battery malfunctioned so you change it and you’re a super genius.

“Look these ruins are older than the Hord itself. There is no goddamn way that I can open them. Sides it’s not just tech, it’s magic as well and who knows how that works. I sure don’t. Shadow weaver never taught any magic to anyone.”

My response only makes Lonny angrier. “Are you serious! This entire mission was completely pointless!” She shouts.

Rogelio opens a lazy eye at her.

Lonny blushes a little in embarrassment. “Oh, sorry. I lost my cool. Sorry for waking you up Rogelio.”

He fell asleep within three minutes, curled into ball and closed his eyes. Apparently, it’s cold enough for him to feel sleepy. So, I’ll have to wake him up with the tail trick again.

Adora meanwhile was in deep thought, pacing around. Makes me think she’ll make a trench just by stepping the ground too much.

Kyle was with Rogelio his head on the reptiles’ back. He kept looking around in worry. How he finds his scaly body comfortable I don’t know maybe the fact that there could be a monster ready to attack you at any moment enough incentive to see Rogelio’s’ back as the comfortable options out of whatever his scared mind can come up with.
At least that is what I think.

As for Catra…

I felt vibrations on my back. As you probably guessed it’s Catra purring whilst laying on my back. At least Rogelio has the decency to honor his deal, she just waltzes to me and lays on me like she owns me, the fool. Soon it will be you who will be used as a warming toy as I lay on you and slowly start to touch that soft fur- NO! God, why did I want to take it that way. Ew. No, just no.

“Does it matter? If we can’t get it then there is no reason to feel afraid of failure. We can’t get punished for something we aren’t responsible for.” She says nonchalantly.

“You just want Hordak to shout at Shadow weaver, right?” I ask her.

She hums in conformation.

“You do realize that if he shouts at her she’ll be pissed at us. Right?” She stills, gets up and backflips so she can see me face to face.
“You need to get this door open yesterday!” Heh, works every time. Sadly, it works that well for everyone. Even me.

“I told you I can’t open whatever door there is to be unlocked. It’s ancient and I don’t have the technology or the resources to find and open them…And shouting at me won’t make it any quicker.”
She stops herself from whatever verbal lashing she wanted to unleash upon me and instead resorts to glaring.

We hear the movement of rock and see the crystal wall have its hidden door open. Of course, it is none other than Adora who is standing next to the newly opened passage, looking just as confused as the rest of us.

I immediately march up to her making Catra fall on her back and cry out in pain.

“How did you do that!” She flinches back bit from my outburst.

“I-I just touched this rhombus and the doors just opened. I swear.” She takes a step back a bit of sweat.

“Hey, Markus, you should calm down.” Catra slowly tells me. I look at her and the others and see what’s wrong. Rogelio has fully woken up staring at me. Kyle is hiding behind him and Lonny is sweating up a waterfall.

Now that I look, I notice their shadows are completely wrong. They’re extending away from me like I’m the source of of the light that is…
I take a strand of my hair and see that it’s trying to float upwards or more importantly it’s glowing.

Okay. Fine, calm down. The shadows start to change positions, indicating that I stopped being a light house.

“Seriously, how did you do that?” She shrugs.

“I don’t know I just touched it and it opened on its own.” I sigh at her answer and start to move into the entrance.

Everyone starts to follow. Adora takes the lead and we start to explore this cave temple.

“Seems you’re not as good as you thought. Right Markus?” Lonny says with a joking tone.

“Oh, right how could I forget the ancient and proven method of hacking magitech. Touching the fucking wall.”

Everyone turned to me.

“Did you just cuss?” Catra asks amused.

“Yes, so what if I fucking did?” I retort.

“If Shadow weaver were here, she would smack you around so hard. It would actually be funny to see.” She says.

“You know she would probably find a reason to drag you into the punishment as well. Right?”

She shrugs. “I know. Don’t care. Your face would be hilarious though.”

“Well she’s not here so who fucking cares?”

“Yes, so what if I fucking did?” I hear my voice and slowly turn to its’ source.

Out of all the people here I didn’t expect Rogelio to do this.
He’s holding a small datapad that I made as a gift for everyone on their seventh birthday.

“Really? You Rogelio? Out of all the people here? You?” He only shrugs.

I groan. “Fine what do you want?”

He just raises two fingers. “Fine. You can have me as your heat lamp for two hours a day. Happy.”
He nods and fiddles with the datapad. I guess I’ll take his word or the lack of it.

We continue to explore.
Sometime later
I never would have thought that exploring ancient temples made out of magitech would be so boring. No traps, no security drones, no anything really.

I check the datapad. Huh, we must be getting close cuz’ these energy readings are through the roof.

We eventually come to a room, most probably a throne room. What lead me to believe that this was the case is probably the giant chair that was in the middle. Unless this temple was a giant spaceship. But that would be stupid. Who would have the time to repurpose the entire ship to be a labyrinth and have it in near perfect condition. I mean aside from being buried under a shit ton of rock.

As we near the center few holographic screens pop to life. Each containing complete gibberish. I guess the software didn’t survive.

“So where is this artifact that we’re supposed to get?” Asks Catra.

“Hmm. It should be in the room behind the throne. That’s where the readings are strongest.”

“Let’s go then.” Says Lonny very excited at the idea of leaving this place.

I nod and open the door. It looks like the ship idea is more plausible than I thought.

The room looks like captain’s quarters. It has some really old ornate bed its support made out of crystals like the rest of the ship and they even made a tunnel that leads fucking nowhere. We’d be too lucky if this was a way out of here.

On the table is a simple holographic device with our objective as a power source.

I take it out and give it to Adora. “This is what we’re here for. Let’s go back.”

As we are about to enter between the crystal temple and the cave it’s buried in the entire place starts to shake. Some rocks fall and the entrance that we came through is blocked.

What? I am not surprised in the slightest. That’s how it usually is in these situations. That or running from a rock ball Indiana Jones style.

Everyone looks completely terrified by what happened. Except Rogelio. He’s as unimpressed with this as everything else. Lonny after a short while growls in frustration.

I sigh.

“Alright everyone we’re leaving through the hole that was dug by whomever lived here.”

So we go all the way back.

We hesitantly take few steps. Expecting some sort of trap or some sort of spell, maybe even a boss. Oh, that reminds me I still need to open that Basic Loot Chest. Maybe I’ll get some good gear out of it.

After around half an hour we enter into this I don’t know what to call it. It’s like the heart of multiple tunnels. A lot of the tunnels seem natural and so does this cave. How that guy knew that dug this tunnel knew this was here will probably remain a mystery forever. A shame indeed. It would prove quite useful in survival training.

I check the gamers map to see the best route out of this annoying place.

“Alright, let’s go that way.” I gesture towards.

“How can you be so sure.” Asks Catra.

“The air isn’t as foul as the other tunnels.” She looks at me like I’m some sort of idiot. My dear girl I find that look utterly hurtful. Rogelio gives me a nod of support which makes me feel a bit better.

“Ok let’s go then.” Adora says.

That’s when the world decided to say fuck you and the entire place started to shake. Rocks started to fall all around us.

“Run for it quickly!” I shout and everyone does so.

“Catra watch out!” I yell at her as I lunge at her making us both fall to the ground.

“Hey what was that for?!” Right after she finishes a rock falls where she would have been had I not jumped for her.

We both get up and start running again. That delay made us the last of the group who had to run towards the tunnel.

It seems that Lady Luck is suffering from a bipolar disorder. Because just as me and Catra are about to reach them a big rock falls in front of the entrance sealing it of for us and a making the ground beneath us crack.

We as ordered by the laws of gravity fall into the pit. I must have been hit by a rock because I lost my consciousness when I felt something hit the back of my head.

AN: I don’t really have an excuse for not updating for so long aside form general laziness.

mkasana · Dec 8, 2019

Ow.

I don’t know what’s worse the pain in the back of my head or the fact that I am down to 500 HP.
I slowly get up only to stumble back on to the floor.

Yep.

The headache is worse. Since trying to get up is really hard right now I change tactics and walk on all fours. Damn it I just want to lay in bed and do nothing.

Why is it so dark in here! My flashlight is broken, others probably got to safety which is good and Catra… Catra!

“Catra! Are you alright!” I shout hoping she’s fine.

“Yeah, I’m over here!” I look around and see only darkness. I heard her voice come from every direction.

“How about something more specific. I can’t see shit right now.”

“What do you mean you can’t see shit? I can see you just fine.”

“You’re a literal cat person of course you can see in the dark!” There was silence for a short time.

“Walk forward. “I slowly try to get back up and start slowly walking towards her. Then something makes me trip and I fall face first into the ground.

“Pfff, hahahaha!” Catra starts laughing like a lunatic. Must’ve bumped her head as well if she’s acting like this.
“Sorry, sorry. I couldn’t resist.” I only grunt in annoyance.

“I don’t know about you Catra, but I would love to get out of here and reunite with the rest of the team.”

“Right. Well I wasn’t joking when I said to go forward, you just need to take big steps to not fall again because some rocks are inconveniently misplaced.”

I think for a moment. “How about you come to me Catra. Then you can help me walk us out of here.”

I heard some rocks moving and then a yelp of pain. “Ow! Damn I think my ankle is broken.”
Hard way it is then.

“Just navigate me.”

It took some time with few falls at my expense but eventually I reached her.

“So, what now?” She asks. I think for a short while. Hopefully we’re still in the cave system with a way out. If my hunch is correct, I’d be fine without food or water thanks to gamer but Catra? She’d die of thirst and hunger.

“We’ll look for a way out. Get on my back and show me the way.” I tell her as I crouch and turn my back against her.
She seems to hesitate a bit considering I don’t feel her moving at all.

“You sure? You aren’t exactly the strongest.” I can lift 30 kilos which admittedly isn’t a lot by this worlds’ standard. Pretty sure I would blow a few biologists minds back in my old world with this body.

“What? You afraid about weighting a bit too much?” I ask with a bit of chuckle.

“Ha, ha. Funny.” She says in completely dead-bored tone. I hear rock moving. She’s probably getting up and... yep, I feel her hands on my shoulders as she’s trying to balance on one foot.

She hugs me by the neck from behind and I hold her by the thigs.

“Comfortable?” I ask her. I don’t get a reply.

“Catra?”

“Huh? Yeah, comfy.” Hmm. I look at her arms and use observe.

Catra
Felinid
AGE: 7 YEARS
STR:109
AGI:535
DEX:365
INT:205
WIS:93
CHA:73
HP:10000/10900
MP:-
STATUS: Exhausted (5 hours)/Broken: Ankle (1 month)/Headache (2 hours)

“You’re exhausted. I know it’s a bit stupid to ask this after we fell down a hole but does your head hurt?” She didn’t respond for a while.

“Yeah. Not much but I do feel it. Walk forward I think I saw a path that way.” Thus, I simply followed her orders.

We’ve been walking for a while now. Neither of us said a word. I’m focusing on not tripping on any rocks and Catra’s… She still has a headache and suffers from slight exhaustion.

“Say Markus.” I tilt my head and hum questioningly.

“Why are you the way you are?” Where did that come from?

“What do you mean by that?” Seriously how am I supposed to answer this.

“Aside from Adora you’re the only one who seems to care about others.” Why I care is what you’re asking, basically.

“Family I guess.”

“Family unit? As far as I know we’re all orphans. There’s nothing tying us together.” Seriously? Did I misjudge the relationship in our team? Nah, maybe a misunderstanding.

“Oh? So, we aren’t friends?” She tries to move a bit.

“What?! No, of course you’re a friend. A bit annoying at times when you talk about your technobabble and all that, but you are the best resting spot in the Horde.” Really, that’s what our relationship is based on? I’m the most comfortable heater around so you stick with me.

“So, I’m just an over glorified heater and seater to you?” She completely stiffens at that.

“That’s not what I meant! I was just…joking around about that. I genuinely think you’re not terrible or a moron. I mean we’ve known each other for… I don’t even know how long, but you’re not someone I’d like to lose.” She says in a small sad voice. That sounds like… heh.

“Hehehe. You sound like Adora right now you know that?” She tightened her hold around my neck with her arms. Really, it’s almost like she’s hugging me I mean the alternative is falling to a cold, hard ground headfirst.

“Don’t even joke about that! I’d sooner go to the Beast Island than sound like Adora.” She says with a fake tone of anger, it’s more playful than anything else really.

“Family. What I imagine under family is a group of people that support each other through thick and thin. No matter their allegiances. Family would come first above all else. You don’t help the member because you might gain something out of it but because it’s just the right thing to do.”

“Now who sounds like Adora?” I snort at that. “Me? Sound like Adora? Are you sure you’re fine? Wanna take a break and rest for a while?”

“Don’t patronize me.” She says with a pout. At least I imagine she’s pouting since I can’t see her.

“I’m serious. Head injuries are pretty bad if left unattended.” A simple headache could be more that just a small pain from a fall. We should really find a way out.

“Jeez don’t babysit me like a toddler.” Fine. The moment I’ll see your status getting worse I’m turning full nursery mode. I have 2000 Hord Tokens and access to shop. I’m sure there are few medical supplies that I can buy and apply to teammates.

Hmmm.

[SHOP]
[Factions:]
[-Hord]
[+Armor]
[+Weapons]
[+Boxes (Locked)]
[+Materials (Locked)]
[+Vehicles (Locked)]
[+Miscellaneous]
---------------------------------
[+Princess Alliance (Locked)]

I look through the miscellaneous section and see few first aid kits of varying sizes and prices. The most basic is about the size of my hand at 50 tokens. It’s really just bandages with and few plasters of several sizes.
The bigger one is filled with few more things like Sterile Eye Dressing and Triangular bandages. Personally, I never used a first aid kit in either of my lives so I don’t know what one would have a triangular bandage for when you have the basic one. Oh, and safety pins. Can’t forget those. That one is 250 tokens.
The last one has everything. Just…everything, definitely more than I even imagined a first aid kit would have. This one is 750 tokens.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I never really got any quest for this mission. I slide mentally into the Quest Log. I have the notifications off. I don’t even remember doing that. Huh, the quest is actually there.

[1^st Mission: Find the Artifact]
[Lord Hordak wants you and your squad to find an artifact in ruins of of the First Ones]
[Locate the artifact: FAILED]
[Find the way out of the cave: ONGOING]
[Don’t die: ONGOING]
[Reward: 750 Exp, 1000 Hord tokens, Advanced Loot Chest]

I hope that the reward won’t be reduced because of the fail. Or is it perhaps already showing the reduced reward?

After a little while longer we finally reach a place that has light. The problem? Light is green. AM I perhaps in some sort of DC universe and we found a green lantern? Heh, I wish.

As I reach the place and look onwards, I see something that blanks my mind out.

Magic.
It is everywhere. It surrounds us, it penetrates us it binds the world together. At least on this world that is the case.
Hordak’s existence and the time before his arrival prove worlds beyond Etheria, but what they are like is a mystery.

The magic of Etheria is hard to learn with exception gifted few. Every wizards and sorceress use magic that exists in the world. The princesses get their magic from their runestones and through their connection to the planet they can use it freely without many drawbacks if any.

Then there is Markus.
His magic is self-generating. It comes from nowhere. And over the years it became slightly stronger. Then there’s the fact that he’s generating a lot of heat. It makes me wonder if his excess magic is automatically transforming into heat.

The child is quite smart, and I have very little doubt that he would have trouble learning magic from me. Perhaps he’s too smart. He made tools and gadgets for his teammates without much prior knowledge. He’s not loyal to the Horde that much is clear to me.

I, myself am only here to see the fools who wronged me punished and beaten into the ground for their foolishness and stupidity.

He on the other hand seems to be on the Hord side mostly because of his ‘friends’ or teammates.

Hmm. Maybe I should give him an offer to teach magic. If he comes back from the mission.

Honestly, what is Hordak thinking sending children to search for an artifact. Especially if they show so much promise. Adora would definitely become a force captain. Markus is a difficult one to place. He’s someone who’d rather spend his time making things.

Perhaps I should Hordak about re-equipping our soldiers. They don’t have much in terms of weapons. Firearms are so hard to come by these days we almost never can afford to hand them out. Weird since we build a ridiculous number of droids every week.

‘It makes it easier to defend a base without much personnel.’ An explanation that doesn’t really makes spending resources on droids worthwhile. Soldiers with guns had better accuracy than droids when they were shooting at moving targets during weapons tests.

“Shadow weaver! Ma’am we received reports from the front-line. Soldiers are running out of food.”

Sigh. Force commander never sleeps. “Just send more. We should have several transports ready for use.” I’ll have to talk to someone and make sure they don’t waste my time with this. They can just contact the food manufacturer themselves.
At that moment three more people with reports barged in. Never sleeps indeed.

“Catra! Markus!” Adora shouted as Lonnie and Rogelio tried to get her from the cave entrance.

They can’t be dead right?! No way they would die so easily!

“Get a hold of yourself Adora!” Lonnie shouted at Adora trying to calm her down.

“No, they might still be-“Whatever Adora wanted to say was silenced by Lonnie.

“Adore even if they are alive, we don’t have a way to help them out as things are now.” Adora stopped trying to get back into the cave.

“If we get back maybe we could ask Shadow weaver to send someone to look. Right?” Adora says hopefully.

Lonnie winced a bit. Out of everyone Adora out of all people seemed to live in her bubble where the Hord isn’t the bad side. Literally everyone else knew that wasn’t the case. Even Markus who usually is optimistic about most things know this.

Thus, the probability of a rescue was extremely slim. Why risk more soldiers for cannon fodder. Lonnie and others don’t really have much value in the eyes of the greater whole.

It’s pretty obvious to most but every time Lonnie looks at Adora hopeful expression she just can’t bring herself to tell her the truth.

Lonnie takes a deep breath and looks Adora in the eyes. It really is impossible. “Sure.” Was Lonnie’s only reply.

‘If you really are alive Markus and Catra. Please, make it back. If not for your own sake, then for ours.’ Lonnie helped Adora get up and spared one last look to the cave before leaving for the transport.

‘Please.’

I don’t know how to feel about this chapter. I kept pushing it away and decided to finish it this week. I hope that it’s not worse than the previous chapters.

mkasana · Jan 17, 2020

Perhaps I should elaborate on blanking out. You see when I saw a green light, I expected something like a secret entrance or something back into the First one’s temple. Instead There’s a big room in front of me with an altar and a giant humanoid sculpture that lacks any facial features and is instead covered in glowing symbols. It sits above it as though judging whatever was meant to be on the table.

I take a step back which in turn alerts Catra and she tightens her hold on me.

I look around the tunnel I’m in, then to the room right next to me.

“Catra, I’ll put you down and look what’s in there.” She just grunted. So, I get on my knee and put her down.

“Here’s one of my guns and two energy clips. Just in case.”

“Thanks.” Was all she says. She looks deep in thought. Aight. Let’s hope this isn’t a secret boss room.

As I start to walk towards the altar in the next room, I notice that the faceless head seems to be looking at me rather than the altar which is weird since I don’t remember it moving.

The closer I get the brighter the runes on the statue shine.

Creation.

‘What?!’ I immediately stop and look around searching for the source of the voice.

My dear creation it has been so long since I gazed upon one of you.

It’s the statue isn’t it? I look at it and see that the runes are moving up to the featureless head and shape into an actual face with eyes and mouth, but no nose oddly enough. When its eyes formed and it finally looked at me I felt a strange sense of warmth, not the same one I feel whenever I ignite in anger or when I purposely try to increase the heat I generate, which proved worthless since I can’t get it above 90^O Celsius. Rather it was a warmth of comfort and peace, tranquil peace, no anger, no sadness, no joy, only peace.

Human, you are… no, you’re not human. Are you? How is this possible? My greatest accomplishment and the most mediocre creation I ever made, copulated and made you. Impossible.

‘Gee, thanks for the insult all mighty.’ If I’m right about this then this is The Cultivator.

You mistake an insult for a fact. It is a physical impossibility for these two creations to reproduce together. Hmm.

The statue moves and its head reaches closer to me as the glowing eye shaped runes narrow with an inquisitive gaze.

Interesting. Whomever made you did so through genetic engineering alongside magical rituals. This level of complexity should not be achievable for any mortal race.

It moves closer.

I see. Your soul is… Your soul is so much older than your mortal body yet whenever I try to look into your past the closer towards your conception I get, the greater the feeling of absolute annihilation I feel. Your maker must be a being similar to my own if not greater and it is very stingy with who knows about your life before you were born. Hmm, perhaps…

I never felt more naked in my life, this guy or whatever it is, takes the concept of looking into your soul in the most literal sense. It goes beyond the body. The greater the feeling of something entering my soul to see what makes me tick the more… cautious it gets like it suddenly found itself in a minefield. Then I take a sharp breath as something seemed to snap. The runes glow lessened as its eyes gained surprised and terrified expression. Then it’s brought back into our reality as the stone statue readjusts its sight back at me.

Very stingy indeed. Though your presence may be a blessing rather than a jest at my expense.

It got back into its position of looking at the altar.

I am gone. What you’re speaking to is but a fragment of what I used to be. The Ruin will come back sooner or later.

Its glow slowly starts to fade.

I think that with the power given to you by this entity you might be able to slay The Great Ruin. Possibly finally restore the universe to what it should be. Balanced.

I’m sorry I just had to ask. ‘Does bringing balance mean finding a weapon that erases half of all life in the universe?’

What?! Why would you even… No. It does not. There will be a point in time where creation will reach perfect entropy, an absolute state of no change. That is inevitable for this reality was made this way, but Ruin. Ruin will only speed up the process to the point of it happening within the next millennia should it be freed right now.

‘Yeah, here’s the problem. That might’ve already happened. ‘Cuz when I look up into the sky at night there are no stars, only the moons.’

Your solar system is located in a pocket dimension with next to no way to return. You must find a way out of this place and stop Ruin. I care little as to how you achieve this, but you must do this.

‘Why not someone else?’

I am short on options and combined with the fact that you are probably the only one who can see me as I am-

‘As you are?’

Your felinid friend sees nothing more than a glowing statue and you looking at it.

I just nod in conformation.

The Horde would be a useful asset in getting out of this world. Afterall if you can’t do something yourself just create something that can. Which reminds me. Here. This is something I wanted to give the Novakid a long time ago, but Ruin got in the way before I could gift them with it.

[The Star of The Great West]
[Rarity: One of a Kind]
[Rank: SSR]

Is this what I think it is.
‘Is that an artifact for one of the gifted races?’

It is one meant for the Novakid the oldest and most difficult race I ever had to make. DO not give it to your Lord Hordak. Whatever species he’s supposed to be. Now I must go back to sleep and conserve energy till you find a way out of this dimension.

‘Wait! Before you go tell me about the First ones! If you made all life even if you’re a fragment you should know something since, they were on this world, right?’

It was silent for a while and I started to think that it really dozed off.

I do not know. They, just like Hordak, aren’t of my creation. That is what I find most disturbing about this world. As an entity that made the universe them existing is something that does not make much sense to me. You should be wary from what little memory I can find they are just as bad as your lord. They turned this world into an unnatural weapon. Thought the reason as to why escapes me.

Its glow slowly stopped and only few distant echoes were all that was left of a god that stood before me.

Visit when you have managed to escape this dimension and I shall help in whatever way I can.

[Epic Quest gained]

The room was silent only a hallway leading between the legs of the stone statue seemed to be the only thing that changed since I don’t remember seeing it before all this.

I walk back to Catra. She’s holding the gun in a relaxed position, her hurt leg straight and the other close. She’s looking into the depths of the dark cavern that I can’t see at all. She looks at me.

“The light in there got dimmer. What did you do?” It wasn’t accusatory more like ‘you did something stupid and I find it funny’.

I shrug. “Magic stuff. Doesn’t make much sense. Either way a new hole opened under the statue it might lead back into the ruin or even outside. Wanna try it?”

She lets it go through her head and eventually nods. “We’re probably dead people walking anyway, so sure why not.”

She climbed back on my back…huh. Anyway, we started walking through the between of the Cultivators legs.

Finally, after a while we find the light at the end of the tunnel and the moment, we reached the exit the fresh air hit us. I took a deep breath and boy was it the best take of fresh air I’ve ever took. We should probably install ventilation system back in the Fright zone. The wonders a clean nice air make is incredible.

“Great now instead of being stranded in a cavern in the middle of nowhere we’re in a forest in the middle of nowhere.” Catra says somewhat exhausted. Hey, I did all the walking. Don’t get tired on me.

“So, what now? Which way to the Horde o warm one?” Well aren’t you the fun one. No wait she is.

“I don’t know so let’s just pick a direction. Adora had the data pad with the map. Not that it would be of that much use since we don’t know our location to find our way home.” She huffs in annoyance.

I crouch and grab a long stick and make it stand on its longest. I stop it from falling by ´putting pressure on it with my pointing finger. As I let go it falls to the left.

“‘Aight let’s go that way.” Catra gave an unintelligent um.

“You can’t be serious. We’re deciding our survival on a stick? A stick?!” I just turn my head to her, sly smile on my face, though she probably can only see just a half of it.

“Ye.” She had a glowering expression and I could hear her grouching. Probably in frustration. I would too if I were in her position. But hey, one of us needs to keep it together.

Okay, okay. I’m not taking it as seriously as I should. I clear my throat.

“Ahem, right, sorry. We need to choose a way anyhow and I’m still recommending the stick.”

She groans. “Fiiine. We’ll take your stupid stick path.”

And so, we walk. A long, boring walk, aside from the encounters with few of the monsters living here. Which we were able to avoid by either hiding behind a tree or climbing it. Those things never really bother looking up.

After who knows how long. I never bothered to check when we left the cave. We finally arrive at a clearing with a path that leads alongside the edge of the forest all the way to a tower that had a levitating giant glowing egg…. What?

There’s a bridge leading from the tower towards a big palace that felt really out of place aesthetically when compared to the towers surrounding it alongside the small houses and some farms I see in the distance.

“No. Nu-uh. There’s no way I’m accepting this!” Catra? What’s wrong?

“You okay? Catra?” She snorted in slight disbelieve.

“This is definitely Bright moon. There’s no way that we found our way to Bright moon by following a fucking STICK! And yet. Here. We. Fucking are!” I let her rant out until she falls silent and takes a few deep breaths. She needs some ventilation. In the meanwhile, I just blankly stare at Bright moon, our archnemesis headquarters and think and say only one thing.

“Shit.” That about describes the whole goddamn situation.

“We need to get out of here right now!” No need to tell me twice sister.

“One step back, turn around and run until we’re sure that we’re at least a few kilometers away.” She hummed in agreement and we slowly took one step back and turned around.

And wouldn’t you know it there was a spear right in front of my face.

“In the name of Queen Angella, you are under arrest Horde spies!” Said the guard currently almost poking my nose with the spears’ tip.

I don’t know how Catra didn’t hear them with her hearing, probably magic. Definitely magic. Anyway, a thought returned with vengeance.

“Double shit.” The guards scowl only deepened.

Great, now we’ll have to find a way to break out of jail. Fan-fuckin’-tastic.

AN: I don’t really have an excuse for such a long absence of updates. Aside from general laziness I have few things to deal with that are related to school and they’re really stressing me out.
I had to write a story in my native language and got the equivalent of an F. Apparently, I used too much artistic description without much happening in the story. I can’t really come up with a continuation of a story in under 60 minutes and within that time also write it down. I really like to write and expand the characters across multiple chapters with few things happening at the beginning and slowly but surely moving forward until I reaches high speeds.

As for this story. Well, I’m not sure where to take it in the bit more distant future. Like now I can decide whether Marcus should help Catra escape and return to the Horde or help her escape and instead of returning he goes to the Crimson wastes to eventually down the line, definitely before the show would start like a few days, create his own faction. Or in my opinion safest one. Help Catra escape and stay at Bright moon as a prisoner. Since seeing that Horde uses children would disturb Angella and her soldiers, they would try to help him to join their cause to stop Horde from making child soldiers and give him a better life.

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