Simmering
Tigra waited for the door to slide open before walking into Entrapta's workshop, as she had started to call it.
Which, to be fair, does look as messy as some of the workshops she's walked into. Bits of metal in the corners, a few screws laying about, and a partially built Horde bot with the top half just lazily spinning round and round.
The sound of the door closing caught the room's attendants' attention.
"Right on time." Catra started. "Did you get your things set up for the day?"
Tigra patted the sheathe on her hip and gave a light grin.
"Yep. Even managed to get about half an hour's worth of training under General Han."
Tigra walked closer before seeing something on the monitor.
It looked like someone tried to draw a single flame using only straight lines without lifting their writing utensil. It had three points with one point on each side and the middle one going up about twice as high as the two identical sides.
"I'm guessing the geometric flame is the Spirit Ember?"
"Yep." Entrapta confirmed.
She started examining it more with that gleam she tends to get when she finds something else to examine and figure out.
She knows that look because Entrapta still looks at her like that from time to time.
"Can you provide some information about it? Because it kind of looks like a Runestone."
'One that looks like what I've seen before in my dreams a while ago.'
"Because it is. This is the Runestone of Fire: the Spirit Ember. From the data I collected, it was originally an artificial Runestone that the First Ones created and it became unstable centuries ago. At one point, it overloaded on power and created what we call the Crimson Waste today."
"Whoah, hold on." Tigra paused. "You're telling me that the nearly 5,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide desert was created because this one Runestone overloaded?"
"Yes and no. See, while it was artificial, there was a family that was able to attune with it similar to how the princess today can. There was some kind of family power struggle that engulfed the entire kingdom in war and the Crimson Waste is what is left of the once mighty kingdom. While unknown if the family truly ended that day, the Spirit Ember stayed active before becoming as stable as the other Runestones roughly 100-200 years ago. Everything seemed fine until it seemed to overload once more about 25-30 years ago, destroying the Kingdom of Halfmoon."
"The Magicat Kingdom." Tigra muttered.
"Yes. It is estimated that 99.75% of the 10 million residents of Halfmoon were lost when the Spirit Ember overloaded, now being called the Great Fire as it practically set a quarter of the Crimson Waste on fire."
Entrapta paused before giving Tigra and Catra a look.
"I apologize if that information brings you discomfort."
Tigra shrugged lightly while Catra seemed unbothered.
"I don't remember the name of where I come from, but I doubt it was Halfmoon, considering history says it was destroyed 7 years before I was born."
"I just know I've been in the Horde since I was 3." Catra stated.
"Very well. Back to the Spirit Ember, it has been dormant since the Great Fire to this day. Until two months ago."
"The Battle of Brightmoon." Catra realized. "That's when you overloaded that magical grid or whatever."
"Yes. Due to that, it awoke the Spirit Ember once again and it has slowly been gaining power."
A picture appeared on the screen, showing a stream of fire shooting into the sky.
"16 hours ago, a surge of power came from the Runestone and a pillar of fire shot into the sky around Mount Candilia. Roughly 10 hours away from us."
"Standard Horde travel time or Entrapta travel time?" Tigra raised an eyebrow.
"Entrapta travel time." Entrapta confirmed. "With my skiff, we can travel nearly 2x faster than the standard Horde skiffs."
'140 mph times 2 is 280 mph. 280 times 10 is 2800 miles. Man, even moving my fastest without YAS, Cheetah, or Raiju, it would still take me about 2 hours to get there.'
"Alright, what's the plan?" Tigra asked. "Besides trying to retrieve the Runestone for the Horde."
"This would be surrounded in First One ruins, correct?" Catra asked Entrapta.
"High chances. I noticed a signal from a First One ruins coming from the area a while ago but I couldn't get far into the ruins due to several doors being locked. There were a few doors with a design that didn't make much sense but do now."
"What is it?"
"I believe that She-Ra is needed to open the doors."
The duo frowned at that.
"How certain?" Tigra asked.
She would have much rather just find it and take it before the Rebellion started moving on it as well.
"97%."
"So we need to lure Adora to Cadalia." Catra muttered. "Which means that we need to get the Rebellion to know that we are going after it."
"Well, I wish I could help."
"What do you mean? I figured that you would want to be out of the Fright Zone again. You seem to like taking missions that take you out of the Zone for about a week." Entrapta informed.
"I'm stuck here unless I am personally asked to help along with a mission from a General or higher." Tigra told her.
"Great. I require your assistance." Catra said. "Now, how do we get their attention? We can't just let it slip because we need to get there before they do so we can lay a trap."
"What if we simply went near enough to a Brightmoon owned city that they would be able to see both you and me? That should be enough to convince Adora that we're up to something and, if they also know about the Spirit Ember, understand what we're after." Tigra suggested.
"Entrapta?"
"That, depending on the city, could add up to an extra 2 hours or 5 hours." She informed.
"What about Merck? Just on the edge of their territory."
"The Whispering Woods are healing though. That is on the other side." Catra reminded.
"Already? Man, I thought the Woods would be down another month or two."
"Some kind of princess magical crap." Catra waved off.
"How about Yude? It's in between Plumeria and Merck."
"That's still too close to the Woods but now they're closer to another kingdom." She pointed out.
Tigra thought again before it came to her.
"Thaymor?"
"At this point, I feel bad for Thaymor. It practically gets captured by the other side nearly every other month." Catra took a second to think. "...Does the Rebellion have Thaymor right now?"
They both turned to Entrapta.
"As of 12 days ago, yes, the Rebellion retook Thaymor for their 7th time."
"Ah, so the Rebellion will be hosting Quiet Day this year."
"Quiet Day?" Catra asked.
"A day of no hostilities to let soldiers on both sides be able to relax, especially those at the front lines constantly. Thaymor is the chosen neutral grounds as the citizens there tend to know who will and won't cause trouble based on having been controlled by both sides constantly."
"You plan on going there then?"
"Probably. Get the chance to spend a day relaxing and seeing the festivities there."
"Will we be back by Winter Exchange?"
"Should be." She didn't address the 'we' in that sentence. "At worst, we'd be back around 3 in the afternoon, weather not withstanding."
"Good, in the sense that Thaymor being in Rebellion's hands helps us now. So, we get ready, grab Entrapta's transport, head to Thaymor, Catra and I stay up top when we near, then we head for Cadilia?" Tigra outlined.
"While we wait, we can get in that magical training we wanted to do later today." Catra suggested.
"Oh! Can I observe so long as I 'don't get in the way by getting in your faces?'" Entrapta quoted.
"That sounds like a good idea, Cat. Sure Entrapta."
Tigra didn't doubt that Entrapta would find some way to observe them, even if they said no for one reason or another.
"Is there anyone else that we want coming with us?" Tigra asked. "I mean, I know you, Entrapta and I are going."
"Scorpia and…Squad Alpha?"
"Alpha's out on missions already. Lonnie and Serena are still securing Tyde. Rogelio and Kyle are out with Commander Lucy to provide assistance with a Horde city that managed to push back the Rebellion but took some damage in the battle." Tigra informed.
Catra frowned lightly at that as her tail swished.
"Then just Scorpia. We don't have time to pick up unfamiliar people. I'll inform Lord Hordak that I need your assistance as She-Ra and her group of Princesses are bound to show up, as we need them to. You go retrieve Scorpia, if you could."
Tigra nodded.
"Be prepared to leave in half an hour?"
Catra thought for a moment before nodding.
"I'll see you three down at the garage."
Catra left to inform Hordak while Tigra simply messaged Scorpia.
Once it was done, Ice Armor surrounded her.
"Ooo! What does this one do?" Entrapta got closer. "I'd hazard a guess due to its hardness and ice-like quality that it is meant to take impacts similar to how protective vests and actual armor does."
Tigra nodded at her quick assumption.
"Yeah. The amount of force it prevents from hitting me is dependent on how much magic I pour into it." She confirmed. "The problem is that, for the best effects, most of my spells like this will drain me of my magic in about a minute."
"That's why you use your lightning armor more than your fire one." Entrapta sounded like she had a realization. "You can accomplish much more if you can move and react faster than you could if you simply surrounded yourself in heat strong enough to burn someone by just being close to them."
"But how aren't you in constant pain from that? From the amount of magic you would need to boost your speed nearly 4 times given the various data I've collected thus far, it would take a significant amount of magic, which should be frying you from the inside out. But yet when I used electricity when experimenting with the blood you donated, the blood remained unaffected, as if it didn't even notice the electricity. Same with fire. Even under a blowtorch, they remained perfectly healthy. But the instant they were under a heat lamp, they started to be affected."
Entrapta got in her face.
"Tigra, for some reason I can't figure out just yet, you are immune to fire and electricity, but yet you aren't immune to heat. It's fascinating due to how both of those produce heat but didn't affect them. Even more, they're slightly resistant to ice."
"How did you figure that one out?"
"I accidentally dropped dry ice into a beaker containing part of your blood but it took much longer to freeze than it should have. Speaking of this, when can I get a bit more to continue analyzing your DNA? I'm sure that the key to your strange adaptability is found there."
"Maybe after this mission. I am stuck in the Fright Zone for the next three months worth of time."
"Alright. Do you know what you plan to teach the students?"
Tigra did groan at that.
"Yeah, I know what I want to teach them, but I don't know how to teach it well."
"Well, what are they?"
"Hand to hand, how to effectively dash either away or towards an enemy, and magic."
"You want to teach magic? Usually you just go to Mystacor for that. Then again, I don't think they would take anyone having allegiance to the Horde." Entrapta conceded.
"Yeah. After the Battle of Brightmoon, I realized that we are really low on magic users."
"There are others?"
"My point exactly. I seem to be the only one in the Horde who can use magic offensively enough to not be a liability on the field. I want to change that. While I know it won't make a difference in the short run, imagine if we could have 300 people casting fireball? Using Haste and Heal? My armors? The Horde would be able to handle the Princesses much easier." Tigra laid out.
"Fair. While I can't help with magic much, seeing as you are somehow able to teach it abstractly to Catra, I can suggest a few previous plans used in the past to help train people for those." Entrapta turned back to the screen. "Or you could leverage your reputation by offering to teach anyone and everyone that is willing to put in the work. You'd get all the students you'd want and they will know what you can teach."
Tigra thought about it before deciding that that seemed better.
'It would allow my influence to grow, reaching more of our soldiers. More people will be able to heal, use magic in general, and should be able to increase their speed enough that our casualties should start to go down from battles.'
"Yeah, I'll likely send out a mass email to everyone over the age of 15, so I don't interrupt any important classes, such as survival, rational thinking, and more."
"I still think I can improve the teaching curriculum." Entrapta muttered.
"Trap, there's only so much you can put your focus on. Besides, I can tackle some of that when I eventually become the S.I.C. or the Horde Lorde." Tigra shrugged.
"But Catra's the S.I.C."
"She is. And I hope she stays that way until we take over."
"You plan to overthrow Hordak?"
"Please be careful when you say something like that. Hordak has a little…thing that can record people."
"Fascinating."
"Really, I just know Catra and I will end up running this place eventually. Hordak's not immortal."
"Yeah, that's only Queen Angella to the extent of my knowledge."
That did catch her attention.
"Immortal how?"
"Huh?"
"What type of immortality are we talking about? Insane healing? Aging? Some other method?" Tigra clarified. "Because one of those is easier to deal with than others."
"Well…as far as I know, she can't die from aging. There are records involving Queen Angella II as far back as 200 years ago. She was one of the few to have seen the Great Fire and escaped it, as she was visiting Halfmoon at the time."
"Aging. I can work around that."
"Are you suggesting that you can kill her?" Entrapta tilted her head.
"...Probably not right now. Queen Angella was a fighter at one point, yes?"
"For roughly 20 years, not including the years she spent mastering her magic from the Moonstone."
"She was able to take on hundreds of soldiers right? Enough that we treated her as dangerous as 3 or 4 princesses."
"So what is your plan? Or is this one of your 'in the moment' ideas?"
"...How often do I have those with you?"
"Far more often than I imagine you do with others. When I've been teaching you coding and more, you tend to have one idea one second and two more the next minute. You once wondered if you could code something to help you determine if Catra felt the same way you did to her."
Tigra could feel her face heat up slightly.
"Which I don't understand why you would need to do that. I already collected enough evidence and material that puts Catra at a 87.5% chance of feeling the same way, a 10% chance that she doesn't already but subconsciously does, 2% chance of her being too focused to address such a notion, and a 0.5% chance that she doesn't." She rambled out.
"I…I don't need that anymore."
"Really? I figured that you would be interested in the reasons why I categorized them as such."
'...Damn it, I'm curious.'
"Alright, what is your evidence that Catra would feel the same way?"
"Oh good, you're no longer denying or pushing it off."
Tigra felt offended.
"But as for the reasons, she actually has a few things in common with you. She keeps sleeping in the same quarters as you, despite having her own quarters a few buildings over. Catra seeks you out when something distresses her enough that she - in her own words which you've never heard from me - spirals into her own head. She keeps bringing up that you could reach her before the fastest transport in the Horde could."
Entrapta deadpanned and Tigra knew that something was coming.
"She spends more time with you than Hordak and I combined, Scorpia, her old squadron, or anyone else. She's happier whenever both of you aren't on a mission at the same time or are on the same mission. She once told me that both of you would rule the Horde as partners."
Tigra blinked before releasing a sigh.
'I expected something more, I guess.'
"She also stares at your ass for long periods of time."
Tigra choked on her saliva.
"Almost as much as she stares at your legs."
Tigra barely managed to get her breathing back under control.
"Is…is that so?" With a cough.
"I have 27 documented moments for the first and 58 for the latter." She supported her statement. "59 actually, seeing as she did that when you were talking to me a little bit ago."
"Alright then."
"But from your acceptance at hearing my reasoning and not denying your feelings, did you happen to confess? But when would you have had the time? Nothing changed up to the point that you left for Tyde."
"Well-"
"Wait, Catra had a scuffle with Glimmer and Bow. A distress beacon went off." She got in her face again. "You rescued her when a conflict happened, right?"
"How?"
"Emotions would be high from Catra being captured and so close to Brightmoon. You likely would have had a hard time containing your worry and would have said something." Entrapta guessed. "So, did you?"
"I'll never get how you can guess this so quickly, but yeah. I did."
"Congratulations, assuming Catra reciprocated, which my data suggests that she should have."
"She did. I'd prefer you keep this between us though. The Elementalists already seem to have a target on me due to the Invasion and how I dealt with Bolt. The last thing I need is for them to focus their attention away from the one that hurt them to someone they know could distract me."
"Oh, that ship has sailed."
"Say what?"
"When looking at Catra's emergency beacon, they went at an average 5 mph before stopping for roughly a minute. At which point, they suddenly sped up to 50 mph. They had to already know that you would go after her due to Adora. However, with this moment, they now know just how much your attention could be drawn away from your mission. Based on the average report of those in the area, you immediately disposed of Mermista and her guards before immediately leaving."
Tigra growled lightly in annoyance before her eyes narrowed and her hands clenched lightly.
"I guess I'll just have to deal with it when it becomes a problem again."
Tigra looked down at her tablet before seeing that time had passed quickly.
"Alright, gather everything you'll need quickly. We need to be at the garage in 10 minutes."
Entrapta moved around quickly with loud noises happening as metal and tools fell to the ground.
Tigra's ears did fold backwards from the loud noises.
*15 minutes later*
Ice Armor gained 62,000 EXP!
Ice Armor maxed!
[Ice Armor Lv MAX - By surrounding either yourself or parts of yourself, you can reduce the amount of damage taken by MP_Used/25 %. Maximum amount is 75% and damage is increased by MP_Used/4 through Ice damage.]
Due to mastering Ice Armor, INT increased by 10 and Magic Control increased by 5%.
Due to reaching 100% Magic Control, Trait [Control] Awarded!
[Control - You have reached such a high level of control, you can now use up to 4 continuous spells at once without pain and 5 spells for 6 hours.]
Ice Resistance gained 105,000 EXP!
Ice Resistance leveled up! LV 95 → 99
[Ice Resistance LV 99 (0/1) - Reduces damage from ice based attacks by 99%. 99.25% due to Iron Body]
…
One trait point used for Trait - Ice Immunity.
Ice Resistance gained 1 EXP.
Ice Resistance leveled up! LV 99 → 100
…
Ice Resistance is evolving into Ice Proof!
[Ice Proof - Through hard work, sweat, pain, and blood, your body has adapted enough to become immune to any attacks that have ill intentions involving Ice]
…
Quest [More than Resilient] revisited!
Objective: Increase one of your Resistances to Level 100
Reward: 1x Trait point per Level 100 Resistance [3/8]
Quest [Elemental Armory] revisited!
Objective: Learn all known armor spells.
Reward: 1000 EXP for every learned Armor spell [3/8], 5000 EXP for every mastered Armor spell [3/8]
5000 EXP gained, 1 trait point awarded due to Ice Resistance reaching Level 100!
…
Tigra dropped Ice Armor before looking through her current resistances and which element will likely be next to work on.
'To get an idea, let's check the spell shop.'
[Spell Shop - Shadow/Dark opened!]
Dark Pulse, Shadow Armor, Shadow Blast, Phantom Sword, Blur, Dark Sight, Shadow Travel, Shadow Form*
*Locked due to level of mastery
…
Shadow Armor, Dark Pulse, purchased for 2 skill points.
[Dark Pulse LV 1 (0/200) - This spell allows the user to create an aura around them that empowers their ill intent. This can cause several to avoid conflicts with them, surrender, or even potentially be killed should enough power be put behind the spell. MP: 20 MP/m]
[Shadow Armor LV 1 (0/200) - This set of armor allows the user to blend in with shadows, increasing the effectiveness of [Sneak] by MP_Use/(100-LV)% against anyone without a way to see through the darkness. This also gives a 25% resistance against [Light] magic. As long as the user is entirely covered in this, they may enter and traverse through shadows. MP: MP_Use.]
Quest [Elemental Armory] revisited!
Objective: Learn all known armor spells.
Reward: 1000 EXP for every learned Armor spell [4/8], 5000 EXP for every mastered Armor spell [3/8]
Awarded 1000 EXP!
…
[Spell Shop - Fire Opened!]
Fireblast, Fire Shield, Fire Absorption, Fire Clone, Explosion, Boil, Flash Fire
Fire Clone purchased!
[Fire Clone LV 1 (0/350) - Mastery level Fire spell. With this spell, you create a clone with 1/10 of your HP and 1/5 MP but they are only able to use your fire spells. Once they run out of HP or MP, they disperse themselves. Through mastering this spell, you will be able to create more clones every 15 levels. MP: MP_Use]
'My next resistance is likely going to be Darkness, as I can use Shadow Armor to increase the resistance. But my main focus that I'm curious about is Fire Clone. If leveled up quickly, I could create several clones that could act as my only allies, allowing me to take over towns and battles much easier.' She analyzed.
Tigra laid down on the top of Entrapta's skiff for a minute until she heard a door open.
"Tigra! Hey!"
Tigra lifted her head and spotted Scorpia, who had decided to wear a tan-ish vest.
And held a picnic basket.
"I brought snacks for us!" She gestured towards the basket. "For when we need to eat."
"Thanks, Scorp."
"You know, I'm curious. Do you think we'll actually be able to get the Ember? Things like those aren't usually small and are very noticeable."
Which is a fair point. The smallest runestone known is the Pearl, Salineas' Runestone, which is still nearly three feet tall and wide.
"Well, I figured that we could likely place it somewhere near the Black Garnet and Entrapta will be able to continue her experiments through it. With it, we could likely power even more stuff, making the only things we'll need to worry about for the Horde being food and water, which we already have being filtered and produced."
"Besides, we have Entrapta the genius, Catra the leader, me the fighter, and you…the person who keeps all of us in shape with your conversations and food?"
'Lord, I should probably try to learn more about Scorpia. She seems to get along with Catra and Entrapta well enough that I should.'
While different from everything she said, Scorpia still seemed to beam with a smile.
"Thanks."
The door opened again before the duo turned and spotted Catra with a hand on her hip.
"Alright! Let's get on the move. We've got an Ember to reignite."
_________________
Tigra
Age: 18
Level 57 (6655/14250)
HP: 4360.....HPR: 1962
MP: 2310.....MPR: 1863
SP: 2180.....SPR: 981
STR: 100.....DEX: 403
CON: 218.....INT: 231
WIS: 207.....CHA: 108
Skill Points: 5
Trait Points: 1
Upgrade Trait Points: 1
Speed: 56 MPH
Magical Control: 100%
Skills:
[H2H LV (1)89], [Run LV 68], [Dash LV (2)44], [Blades LV 37], [Spear LV 5]
[Dodge LV 41], [Reading LV 75], [Writing LV 71], [Sneak LV 48]
[Phys. Res LV 61], [Light Res. LV 4], [Air Res. LV 2], [Water Res. LV 18], [Magic Res LV 23], [Earth Res LV 4]
[Program. LV 35], [Security LV 18], [Hacking LV 27], [Strategy LV 61]
Spells [Tigra still uses]:
Fire Step, Flame Armor, Flame Charge, Flame Fists, Fireball LV 23, Fire Dagger LV 31, Fire Arrow LV 71,
Fire Falchion LV 31, Fire Spear LV 8, Fire Clone LV 1
Lightning Armor, Lightning Claws LV 11
Chill, Ice Armor
Darken, Shadow Mask, Shadow Ball LV 1, Shadow Spy LV 22, Shadow Armor LV 1, Dark Pulse LV 1
Haste, Heal
Traits:
[Night Vision], [Magical], [Obsidian Claws], [Huntress], [Primal Instincts]
[You are the Weapon - Multiplies H2H bonus by 2]
[Lightning - Multiplies final DEX by 1.5]
[Smart - Multiplies final INT by 1.15]
[You are Speed - For two minutes a day, your DEX is multiplied by 3]
[Omni-Regeneration II- Multiplies all Regens by 3]
[Pyromaniac - EXP for Fire Spells is doubled]
[Fireproof - You can't be hurt by fire through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]
[Electric-proof - You can't be hurt by electricity through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]
[Ice Proof - You can't be hurt by ice through natural or unnatural means with ill intent]
[Phoenix - Once a month, if your HP is reduced to zero, you return to 75% HP once with a 25% increase in stats for the next 10 minutes]
[Raiju - Multiply your movement speed by 3x for 90 minutes within a 24 hour period. Lightning attacks do 100% more damage but water damage hurts you thrice as much as normal]
[Fueling the Fire - Increases Damage for Fire attacks by 50%]
[One with Fire - Fire spells take 25% less MP than normal]
[One with Lightning - Lightning spells take 25% less MP than normal]
[The Myth is Real - You have 8 spare lives and will restore you to 50% HP, MP, and SP upon resurrecting 5 seconds later]
[True Heir - Allows you the ability to connect with the Runestone of your home kingdom, or a Runestone should there not be one]
[Over Killer - Due to your ability of overkilling, your threats are more likely to succeed as warnings towards enemies]
[6th Sense [Catra] - You now will know when your fellow Chosen(s) are in trouble]
[Recovery - Your Regens are increased by 50%]
[Control - Allows the use of 4 continuous spells without causing pain]
Milestones:
[Genius - All EXP for spells is doubled]
[Hare - Increases movement speed by 25%]
[Cheetah - For 30 seconds every 2 hours, your DEX is increased by 50%]
[Iron Body - Decreases damage taken by 25% after resistances]
[Patient - MPR remains active at 5% while using spells continuously]
[Confident Aura - Those around you will think you know what you are doing]
[Strong - Increases non-magical attacks by 10% and carrying capacity by 25%]