1818/To Fix One's Heart

To Fix One's Heart
Date of Scene:	31 July 2024
Location:	The Forgotten District
Synopsis:	'What the hell've you been up to these past few weeks, anyway? I was beginning to think you'd tried to go back to Etheria, or what's left of it.' Words that had been echoing in Adora's mind. This world isn't her world. This world isn't her /time/. Etheria needs her. Adora has been mostly missing since the incidents surrounding her corruption, so when Swiftwind suddenly was warning her allies that she was about to do something incredibly stupid, well... It's time to stop her. Before she does something she can't take back. Even if it might be too late.
Cast of Characters:	Adora Rainbowfist, Niji Dasshu, Usagi Tsukino, Catra, Rashmi Terios, Glimmer Brightmoon, Setsuna Meiou
Tinyplot:	How the Adora Crumbles

---

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
===Roughly an hour ago.===

Swiftwind had been anxious as he flew to Adora's friends that he could find. His connection to her -- to She-Ra, had been going wild the past night. The alicorn stopped just long enough to tell those friends he could find a quick message.

"Hurry, She-Ra is about to do something... I don't know what, but something's not right. She's at the abandoned district. HURRY!"

That's the simple message he delivers to as many of She-Ra's friends as he can find.

===Present Time===

"Found you."

She-Ra stood at a point, holding a pair of golden and silver dowsing rods, pointed at a specific location in the Abandoned District. That place she'd been brought to this city, this world that she was out of place in.

"Alright, She-Ra... you're the guardian of Etheria, so you must want to go back to it, so..." The dowsing rods are lifted, turning into its usual sword form, the atmosphere around She-Ra seeming to cause her hair and the cape around her waist to flap as she begins to tap into her magic.

"Let's go back."
And the sword is swung downward.

===The Future, on Darla, orbit around Etheria===

"Alright, it's taken a while but I think I've managed to trace that portal that Adora was sent through by that general. I didn't think it could be a place like Despondos, but it kind of is. It's like another universe. Can you imagine the possibilities?! The knowledge?"

Entrapta's hair slaps her cheek to help her focus. "Right. Right. So, friends."

She turns, looking towards Scorpia, Glimmer, Catra, Bow, Perfuma, Frosta, and Mermista.

"Ready to open a portal?"

===Present Day?, Horde Base?, Etheria?===

"Congratulations on your capture of Thaymor, Force Captain Adora!"

===Present Day, Tokyo, Abandoned District.===

The tip of the blade catches on that small fragment of magic, nearly gone from a year of being untouched, but just enough. Just enough for her sword to catch on. Slicing through the air. "Come on, She-Ra... come on."

Sparks of magic. A sense of things being Wrong as the Earth tries to resist.
And a small, unstable tear in reality is beginning to open.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
Niji didn't really need to hear much - the last time Adora was doing something weird or behaving out of character, the girl threw a bus stop at her. So you bet she came when Swiftwind asked for help - but you also better believe the girl was on her way in henshin, blue skin and longer hair and rainbow color trails behind her as she moved through the Forgotten District looking for her friend.

    She gets there just a little too late - just as Adora - nope, there's only one person with that build - as She-Ra swings the sword down.

    "What are you doing?!" she asks, a mix of worry, annoyance, and frankly sheer confusion coloring the voice of the rainbownette.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It wasn't like, accurate, to say that Usagi had forgotten about Adora. For one thing, she was Makoto's roommate, so even though her friend was playing the complete antisocial game, she did know she was alive, if not well. Usually, she'd be all over that, trying to cheer her friend up, but, well, the world had been a little close to ending. Her fiancé had been kidnapped. People had died.

She'd had other priorities, and checking in on Adora had fallen to the wayside.

But things are calmer now - so of course Swiftwind comes flying in, while she's racing back to campus with a skewer in her mouth, a mid-patrol snack to cheer her up.

Shortly after Geode Girl Loyalty rushes to the scene, Sailor Moon comes hopping through the Forgotten District, calling -

"Adora! Where are you - oh snap -"

Because there sure is a sword swinging down, and even she can feel how wrong everything is, in this moment.

Catra has posed:
Catra is here. She certainly wasn't summoned by Swiftwind, but nevertheless, she's here. Why?

It's a good place to be alone, and when she needs to cry, she wants to be alone. So she's here. Sitting somewhere in an abandoned building, busy bawling away. Until, at least, she hears Adora. Then, her ears perk up; she dries under her eyes, eyes that narrow immediately afterwards. On a heel turn the girl's emotions go from misery to angry, at the interuption, of course.

But she isn't ready to reveal herself. So, she just... emerges, and slinks around in the shadows. She holds the hilt to Powersend, ready to jump into a fight, immediately. Especially after recent events. But she remains in the shadows, picking a spot where she can watch.

"Adora," she mumbles. "You... you hit your head again, didn't you."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'Adora's doing... something! Something's not right! Hurry!'

Given the number of times Adora has *not* spoken up and something went wrong, and how that tended to create problems for *everyone* who cared about her -- whether they'd admit it or not, *Catra* -- it was enough to make Rashmi worry.

Catching up with Sailor Moon and, eventually, Niji, Rashmi skids to a halt above the street, just as Adora raises her sword. "Adora-chan! What are you--"

    << *BONG!* >> << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. DIMENSIONAL BREACH IMMINENT. >>

"Wait, what?! Adora-chan, wait!!"

And the sword comes down.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Getting my happy ending back."

Another swing at that tear in reality.

"Fixing it. Fixing all of it!"

She-Ra doesn't turn to look at her arriving friends. She's not trying to argue her case. She knows that they'd probably be able to talk her out of it, even as she was drawing on every bit of power she could to try to make this work -- to make everything RIGHT again.

And that tear was widening. Becoming more unstable. The edges tearing open. Tearing wider.

===The Past?, Horde Base?, Etheria?===

"Hi, I'm Scorpia."
"Hi, I'm Adora."
"I don't know what it is about you, but I *do not* like you."

--

"You don't think things are perfect!"
"Whoa. Ever heard of personal space?"

===The Present, The Forgotten District, Earth.===

A flicker of the She-Ra form, briefly, as others arrive. Along with Swiftwind.

"Ah. You brought them to stop me." She-Ra steels her face as she turns halfway towards her arriving friends. Niji. Sailor Moon. Rashmi.

"You're one of the few things I'll miss about this world." She opens her mouth, as if she's about to say more, as that tear opens wider.

Through the portal, a brief flash of the other side is visible. Adora being attacked by Glimmer and Bow as they all struggle to try to get ahold of a somewhat familiar sword, though not quite the same as the one she's using now. "..." She-Ra lifts her sword defensively towards her friends, tears that had been forming in the corners of her eyes starting to stream down her cheeks as she steels herself for what might come. "Don't try to stop me."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon had been sitting on Takashi's desk, as she so often did. The glitches had, finally, stopped. She'd felt sooooo much better. She snapped her fingers a few times, sending flickers of glitter and sparkle everywhere. Ahhhhh. Perfect. She was herself. She gave a light heh. "Okay, time to--"

Her head shot up. "What?" she asked. She could FEEL it. Something was--

Oh no. She didn't know why, but she could feel... SOMETHING was wrong. Something was so, so, so wrong.

It wasn't until a few moments after everyone else arrived that Glimmer did as well. Appearing in the air and--

"ADORA DON'T YOU DARE!" she screamed. Light flowed in both her hands and she didn't hesitate. She put both hands together and a massive beam of pink and white light erupted, centered on Adora. "We can fix this but not if you BREAK IT ALL AGAIN!" she screamed.

She didn't know what that... portal... was...

... But she knew she was so close to regaining what she'd lost last time. She WON'T lose it again. Please. Please not again.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Loyalty tries to move forward, but the world is all wrong and it's doing Strange Things to her local area. "She-ra, you don't fix things by breaking them! We don't fix things ALONE! Stop trying to fight all of your battles alone! You have friends, you have allies, and you even have one very fixated enemy!" she yells out.

    "You know I'm not gonna try to stop you. I'm gonna stop you." Loyalty says, summoning a hockey stick and puck in a rainbow colored burst of magic, the only trick Hinoiri had been able to teach her, drawing on the magic of her Geode, the magic of another world far away. "I'm gonna feel real bad if I have to break your hand with this to do it, but I'd rather feel bad than have you rip a hole in my world or whatever you're doing over there." she says. There's concern in her eyes, not anger. Worry, not hostility.

    "That truck couldn't stop me from helping you and neither can you." she says as she drops the puck on the ground. She was about to threaten Adora with an 'or else' but then... Glimmer makes her presence known via... beam laser. "Guess I should have been faster." A pause. "...that's not usually something that I have to say."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A tear opens in the world, and as Sailor Moon stares into it, all she can think is - oh not again!

"Adora-chan, I don't think - you're tearing open a hole in the world, I don't think that's how you get your happy ending back! This is all just - this is all just a little crazy, don't you think?!"

In the tear - the portal? - there's a glimpse, of a slightly younger Adora, of Glimmer and Bow, all of them tusseling over a sword, and Sailor Moon is not willing to attack her friend, not yet, even with the world screaming around them, but then -

Glimmer is there, and she's blasing at Adora, and she's screaming in upset and terror and the last time Usagi saw her shine a light so bright, there hadn't been anything left of her target -

She moves, fast as she can arms coming up over her head, as she tanks the blow for Adora.

It's reckless and foolish, but Adora is her friend and also a hot mess of a person, and Glimmer is still an unknown factor and -

Oh, this is definitely going to hurt.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Adora-chan, I--"

She only gets three words, before the world goes right to hell.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD >>

A transparent, golden disk of light resolves into being in front of Sailor Moon, and if Glimmer's attack is powerful enough to break *through* the shield, it's at least likely it'll blunt the attack's damage. And Niji has *already* said that Adora needs to be stopped, so, there goes any hope of talking her down. "What does 'fix it' even *mean,* Adora-chan?! Are you trying to get home? *Is that even home?!* Look!"

There's an Adora, there's a Bow, and a Glimmer, all fighting over the thing *this* She-Ra has in hand.

"Are you just gonna keep chopping until it *looks* right?!"

Catra has posed:
Catra watches everything that's going on from the shadows with growing interest. So... hold up. Adora is opening a portal. A dimensional portal. Didn't she scream at her not to do that, not that long ago? Just a few months ago? Before the wound up here? And now here's Adora doing it herself. And, evindently, trying to fix things. By breaking them.

Makes perfect sense if you know Adora.

Catra manifests Powersend, and rests the curved blade, wreathed in purple energy, on her shoulder. The feline steps out into view and strolls towards the gathering of people all urging Adora to stop. And as she approaches, she starts to laugh; a laugh that grows from a bemused chuckle to a deep, committed belly laugh.

"Oh, this is *perfect*," she declares as she gets close, and stops not ten feet away. "You're joking me, right Adora? You seriously think this is going to work? Have you forgotten not that long ago when I pulled the lever to open a portal, and you were screaming, crying, *begging* me to stop? And now here you are, doing it yourself and not listening to anyone." She flashes a grin, showing off her teeth -- enlarged canines and all.

"So what are we going to do with you?" she asks, her tone one of poisoned honey. "You know what? Honestly? This is just perfect. Go ahead and fix things. I'll get to be Force Captain again, and with what I've learned here? I'll absolutely *ruin* the Rebellion, for good this time, and you along with them." She keeps grinning, as she walks forwards, and shifts her sword to a more ready stance, held at her side.

"Keep at it Adora. Open that portal. I *want to see you open it*. Her eyes narrow, as she moves to try and get between Rashmi, Sailor Moon, and Adora. "And if anyone tries to stop you? I'll stop *them*."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
===47 minutes, 15 seconds ago===

Setsuna Meiou blinks, as she gets a very odd feeling...and a dull pain begins to throb behind her eyes.

===32 minutes, 41 seconds ago===

By now, the dull pain has escalated into a migraine...and Sestuna finally manages to realize that someone is/has been/will be messing with the fabric of Space/Time in a double-plus-ungood way very soon.

Wincing through another spike of pain, she lifts her hand to the sky and calls out, "PLUTO PLANET POWER, MAKE-UP!"

===12 minutes 54 seconds ago===

Sailor Pluto dashes across rooftops as she tries to get a bearing on where the sense of *WRONG* is coming from...but sighs as she's WELL aware that she's not going to make it before whatever it will have been happens.

=Now=

Finally having roughly triangulated where to go, Sailor Pluto turns and starts heading for what she can already sense is some kind of cross-space/time tear...and off in the distance, she sees a bright beam get flung roughly in the direction of the rip she can feel developing.

Which is when the blue streak of swearing in ancient Phonecian (the civilization that INVENTED 'swearing like a sailor') starts...

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
ADORA DON'T YOU DARE!

A flash, and one of the reasons her heart was aching so deeply appears, unleashing a massive beam of pink and white light towards her. The sword turns almost immediately into a shield, brought towards that beam of light as she stables herself, ready to defend against he blast. But then Sailor Moon was in front of her. Taking the blast /for her/. "No. No no no no no... it's fine! It's fine! I'm just... I'm just using She-ra's connection to Etheria to get back to it! To go home! I'm... I'm not breaking things! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!!!" And even worse, Rashmi was /with her/, another friend. Another one of her failures getting her friends hurt. The warped space around the portal spreads until it was a proper circular shape now, a twisted pink-and white portal with edges that seemed to reach out into the world. And yet.

===The Future, Darla, Etheria's Orbit===

"Ah-hah! We found her signal, okay, tracing it back and starting the connection!"

=== The Present, Earth ===

The portal seemed to stabilize like that, not spreading those pink, glowing cracks further. "CAN WE??? What do you think I've been trying to do this whole time?! And yet in every direction I turn everything is wrong! Everything is more and more broken!" The exhaustion on her face is evident as she screams those words at the person who should have been her best friend.

===The Past?, Whispering Woods?, Etheria? ===

"Catra, you can't! We need to get as far from the Fright Zone as possible or we'll be completely erased along with everything else."
"You think you can convince me by kidnapping me? What is wrong with you?"
"I won't leave you behind again."
"Why can't you just stay? We have *everything* we ever wanted!"

===The Present, Earth.===

That shield is suddenly a sword again, and it's being moved ... towards Sailor Moon and Rashmi, as her energy is shared to the two girls she'd just been willing to fight. An empowering aura...to hopefully help with some of the loss that the pair just incurred defending her.

We don't fix things alone!

"..." She-Ra's gaze lowers at that comment from Niji, old feelings welling up in that raw, pained state she was in. Her words aren't yelled like the last ones. "What good am I if I can't fix things alone?"

She's about to say something more, when Catra suddenly walks out from where she'd been hiding. Talking ... weirdly supportively of the idea for once! Sort of. In her own Catra way. "That's great, Kitten! Because frankly, with you as force captain, that'll at least be a timeline I *KNOW* how to fix!" Adora spits back at Catra. "And ... and things are different now! If it connects to my time, Etheria is-- is--"

Suddenly, the other side of the portal becomes visible again, this time it's a younger She-Ra fighting against a mixture of horde bots and tanks in a ruined village alongside Bow and Glimmer. Which wouldn't normally stop someone talking -- except when the She-Ra on the other side of the portal kicks a pair of the bots they slam against the portal -- and those two bots come THROUGH it, glowing pink cracks etched throughout their frames as they immediately lock onto the new threats, the 'eye' on the spherical bots giving off an electrical hum as the bots take aim for the two closest; Sailor Moon and Rashmi.

"NO!"

Adora moves, her sword suddenly becoming a shield as she moves to stand between the two and the bots to defend /them/ this time.

And poor Setsuna's headache probably gets MUCH worse as those bots come through that portal, which absolutely isn't going to help with that 'swearing like a sailor' thing.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon stared, wide eyed, as two girls got in her way! And the beam... was caught by the blast, the effect relatively minor. Despite it all, Glimmer teleported to the ground level. "Get OUT OF MY WAY! I swear, Catra, now is NOT THE TIME for you to try and HELP HER! Now would be the PERFECT time for you to be all 'Rawr, whatever Adora wants I hate!' Gah! Adora, I know things are messed up now, but *we can fix them*! The last time a portal like this was opened my mother was TRAPPED in between dimensions I started taking advice from SHADOW WEAVER of all people! None of this is good!"

"Catra's an obnoxious brat and she'll burn the world down to get to you but she made the right choice once she can do it again! But NOT if you destroy everything trying to... THIS! Please!" Glimmer couldn't help it, tears were forming in her eyes. "You don't... you don't understand everything that's going on! We CAN fix this, but-- WILL YOU SHUT UP?!!!" she finally screamed before teleporting again.

This time? Over the bots, twin beams of laser lights erupting from them down at the bots, intending to pierce through them. Those beams? Definitely NOT the same ones she'd sent at Adora. Much smaller. Much more focused. Muuuuuch more dangerous.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
     >>What good am I if I can't fix things alone?<< She-ra says. "Then you're like the rest of us, She-ra." Loyalty responds. "I'm not here alone. I don't fight alone. You know who thought she could fix things alone? Sunbreaker. The idea that you have to do everything alone is crazy talk. We have friends. Life is a team sport, She-Ra!" she says.

    Then two bots come through. "Aw, man." she says, before she swings the hockey stick, sending a quite solid puck rocketing with a rainbow streak of its own towards one of the bots. "Yeah, I don't think this is going any better, She-ra!" she calls out. "You can't fix things by breaking them more!" she says, again. And then she turns to Catra.

    "Oh sure yeah now you're on the same side as the catgirl who nearly got you turned into a road pancake, She-Ra. Do you remember -that-? Hey did she ever give you your hoodie back?" The second question is partly designed to throw them off. Catra, Adora. Loyalty has a small bit of cleverness to her in the right moments.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The barrier goes up, just before the attack would have struck, and to say Sailor Moon is relieved is an understatement. Just because she was willing to take it -

"Thanks, Page Mage! Now, can we all just calm down and talk about this and oh hi there Catra, could you maybe stop trying to get between us and Adora, it's just, you have a sword and she's a little busy -"

A beam of light strikes her back, a support boost that flows through her, makes her energy shine bright and strong, as two robots burst through, and are immediately clocked by Glimmer and Loyalty.

"Adora-chan! This is not looking good?!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"THIS!" Rashmi shouts, as She-Ra dives in front of herself and Moon, and blocks the lasers meant for the two of them.

Then, with everyone talking all at once, she pauses, takes a breath, and tries another tack.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

    << We help each other, Adora-chan, >> she says at the back of the poor, unhappy hero's mind. << We work together and do the impossible, *together.* If you'd just asked... We'd be helping you right now, and odds are it'd probably go right. >>

As the bots are battered away by more of Adora's friends, Rashmi summons another shield, setting it in front of the portal to give anything that might want to come out, something else it has to break. Slowing down the insanity seems to be the priority of the moment.

"Catra-san... It's nice to see you, but if you're gonna try and stop us, you *better* start with me. Because you *know* I'm not gonna hold back just because I want you to feel sorry for me."

...Oh there's a *story* to that challenge.

Catra has posed:
"Oh, Rashmi. I'm well aware." Catra lifts her sword up over her head, adopting the Jodan-no-Kamae stance; as she does it, a couple more... Catras, just kind of slide along the ground from either side of her, eaching taking up positions to the real Catra's flanks. And for now, it's easy to keep track of which is which. THe real Catra looks over her shoulder, glancing back at Adora; on who's side, for some reason, she's fighting. But she has nothing to say about it. Not to her, at least.

The illusory doubles act in unison, conjuring balls of inky black energy between their hands, before firing them as identical beams up into the real Catra's sword, wreathing it in a roiling mass of shadow. Catra sets her stance and edges closer, moving just by shifting her feet on the ground and not actually walking.

"I want this to happen," she explains, her voice shifting from poisoned honey to the edge of a growl. "I hate Etheria but I hate *this* planet *more*. And this isn't the first portal I've fought to open."

Catra's doubles peel off; one of them summons a ball of dark enery and molds it into a sword shape, dashing forwards to slash wildly at Sailor Moon with it. "Hi, Sailor Moon," croons her double. "Could you get lost, please? We're opening a *portal* here, and you're not stopping it!" Meanwhile the other double jumps back, and uses the same magic to fire a series of blasts in Loyalty's direction. "It's my hoodie now, but it doesn't matter. It's back at Obsidian Tower. You can go get it if you want. I won't need it when I'm Force Captain again."

Catra herself, shoots a glare in Glimmer's direction; a menacing, deal-with-you-later type glare, that goes entirely unexplained; her attention shifts almost instantly back to Rashmi, and she leaps forwards, bringing the sword down in a swift cut. She advances, swinging the sword horizontally, and then bringing it up to hold level with her eye and stab it forwards.

The first two attacks are easily avoided, especially by just stepping back.

With the third one, she means it.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Usually when one gets closer to a fight, the situation becomes a little clearer.

Usually.

Often one can at LEAST tell where the lines are drawn and who is fighting against whom.

Often.

This time, however, things are rapidly getting LESS clear as Sailor Pluto approaches.

First sparkle-girl was apparently the one who threw the beam attack at...She-Ra (who looks like nine kilos of hot mess stuffed into a five kilo sack)...

...which was blocked by Page Mage and Sailor Moon...

...despite the fact that She-Ra looks like SHE was the one who was opening the crosstear...

...and there's a rainbow girl and Catra coming to get involved...

And everyone's yelling at everyone else which is doing NOTHING to help her figure out what's going on...

...and now there's a pair of robots thrown from some other place and time about to attack her friend and her Princess.

Well, at least that LAST bit is easy enough to sort out what to do about.

Finally getting in range to do so, Sailor Pluto takes a huge leap off the top of a taller building several blocks away and kicking into a spin and launching an attack in midair.

<<...dead scream.>>

Given the distance and how quietly she calls the attack, it's almost certain that nobody is able to hear the incantation or warning that Sailor Pluto is arriving...but the violet-hued ringed ball of Death energy that comes screaming in towards one of the attacking robots is probably more immediately recognizable...to at least two of the combatants.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
===The Past?, Bright Moon?, Etheria?===

"This is a truth spell, you will be compelled to answer honestly. Now tell us, who are you, and why did you break into Bright Moon?"
"Okay. wow, this is going to be a lot to explain. Um, ahem... and it's gonna sound a little weird, but I swear, it's all true. Reality is collapsing in on itself because of the portal that Hordak and Catra set off. They're from the Horde, which you don't remember, because The Fright Zone disappeared, like, just now. It was pretty crazy."
"I... uh..."

--
"What did you do yesterday? There's a reason you can't remember. This world is /not real/."
"I have heard quite enough." ===The Present, Earth===

"Can we? Can we /really/? Because last I could tell every time I tried to fix things they went wrong. Even worse, I /made/ them go wrong! When I was... when I was..."

Flashes of her hands around Catra's throat.
Her sword through Sunbreaker's body.

Those tears that had already been streaming start to fall faster, as the She-Ra form flickers away again, briefly turning from She-Ra to Adora again, just at the wrong time for the bots to be about to shoot those beams-- luckily, beams that never get shot, as Glimmer's beams strike them and send their aim off-center. Weird. Those are the old-style bots, ones that blasts like that would normally just... pierce through. Luckily, Glimmer isn't alone in that attack, as Geode Girl Loyalty launches a puck at them which finishes one of them off. And from the distance, a quiet 'Dead Scream' rings out, which launches towards the battle, the death magic engulfing the other Bot, crackling along with the other and suddenly both being DRAGGED back through the portal to where they belong in time, destroyed. Just like they would have been.

"My team has been broken the ENTIRE. YEAR. I'VE. BEEN. HERE! If I can't even rely on... rely on..." Her gaze briefly flickers to Glimmer, trailing off. "Rely on my BEST FRIEND in this twisted... broken world... maybe... maybe it's better if things went wrong." She-Ra flickers again. Much quieter, she comments, "And, no, I didn't get my hoodie back." Focusing on the important questions, apparently.

At least She-Ra isn't trying to attack them anymore. Unfortunately, the damage is probably already done. In the form of a ... now... slightly less unstable but still kind of unstable portal. Those cracks at the edge slowly spreading, as some of the ground around it seems to crumble away.

As what the portal shows changes once more -- this time a wholly unfamilliar sight. One of an older cat-woman, sitting, dejected on a throne in front of a fiery-looking... runestone? She looks like she could be related to Catra, though making out her features might be ... difficult. Especially as the runestone starts to bubble and melt, wave of heat crashing through the room -- and the portal. Luckily, Rashmi had put that shield up just before that volcanic heat wave burst through the portal -- the shield blocking the worst of it before it breaks and the scene on the other side of the portal changes to Adora, Bow, and King Micah... running from a bunch of adorable looking creatures. "Go... go right??? NOTHING... nothing in this world... NOTHING has gone right." Adora says, her voice cracking, the She-Ra form flickering again, as Adora falls to her knees, curling up into a tight little ball.

Right as those creatures that had been chasing Adora, Bow, and King Micah leap towards the portal, a pack of five Pookas breaking through the portal with similar glowing pink lines consuming them as the bots had had. The giant-eyed creatures pausing to look adorably at everyone. But then letting out a screech as they leap towards the most vulnerable-looking target.

The fetal Adora.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon didn't see any other way. Adora... Adora was *good* at heart. She was so good. And she knew that Adora would never do something so terrible. Wouldn't hurt her. She had to tell her the truth.

The pookahs...

She teleported to Adora. And hugged her. Arms around her from the front. Hugging her. Teleported away from the danger, taking her outside of the battle. LAnding a good twenty feet away, now up, arms around She-ra. Hugging her. "Adora, please," she whispered, softly. There was only one way. Only a single way she could stop this. She had to stop Adora... But she couldn't let Catra know. Or anyone else. Just... Adora.

"I found my mother. I found Angella," Glimmer whispered. "Everything is my fault. All of this. I didn't mean to... but... but I found her. I saved her. She's trapped in the Moonstone but, please. If... if you do this? I'll lose her again. Please. We can fix everything, but... but I just need time. I can save her. I can rescue her. Then we can fix everything."

"Please... don't take my mother away from me again," Glimmer begged.

She knew this could get through to her friend. Could stop her. Could... could get her to give up. They could save Catra later.

Unfortunately, she failed to realize this left her incredibly vulnerable. So focused on hugging She-ra, on hiding the secrets she had to keep from others, she didn't realize how vulnerable she was leaving herself. Especially to the person who likely wants to hurt both of them the most.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
     She-Ra is... no, Adora is breaking down. That's... probably to be expected. Loyalty knows only a small slice of what Adora's been through, but off the top of her head she has seen a lot of things go difficult. Still, she can't just ignore it. "Your team is broken?! So make a new team!" Loyalty suggests. "Stop *crying* about what you *don't* have and make plans to get it back. Real plans, not crazy impulse decisions! Use the friends you do have to get back the ones you lost. Don't try to do it all yourself. You've got some people on the sidelines for a little bit but your team is bigger than you're thinking it is!"

    For a moment, Loyalty tilts her head and starts to let out an 'awww' at the presence of the strange creatures, right up until they open their face. "Nope!" she yells, and an American Football helmet shimmers into her hand. For a moment she looks like she's considering putting it on, but when one of the little creatures leaps, she just hurls the helmet, as hard as she can, which is pretty hard, aiming to collide with it in mid air. Then moving in with the previous hockey stick (the puck having long since disolved into rainbow sparkles) to go bashing. She doesn't actually play much hockey, but she does know how to hit creepy things with a stick.

    Glimmer grabs Adora, but for now, Loyalty is more focused on not letting anyone become Surprise Lunch for the monsters she can only assume are youma.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The upside to being on defense is, if you're not attacking you just have to worry about not being hit. If you're really, really good at defensive magic, you have a lot of ways to not get hit. For each of the initial strikes, Rashmi conjures a new shield, tuned for resistance, angled to get more results out of the small bit of kickback each shield employs. Deflect, deflect, deflect, and when Catra brings the sword up at eye level--

<< *BONG!* >> << SOLAR FLASH >>

Panels open up on the ribbonlike extentions at the back of her belt, golden magic rockets her forward and just past Catra's shoulder.

Too close, that blade of roiling darkness brushing against plating and fabric, and when the spell stops a few paces *behind* Catra, one of the plates at her hip is missing entirely, the skirts sliced open down to bodysuit.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR STINGER >>

A trio of Barrets appears around the Device Mage, then rocket out toward the ex-Force Captain. But these Barrets don't disappear on impact, only speed away and streak back in for another hit. And another, and another, and currently Catra is being assaulted by a swarm of bees that punch like Rogelios.

With breathing room taken, she expands her telepathy to include Loyalty, Sailor Moon, and Glimmer. << Maybe there's a way to fix this. That portal doesn't know where it's supposed to end up... I'm gonna see if I can find a way. I'll want a hand with Catra-san while I'm doing it, though. >>

With that, she turns her attention to her Device. << Nicomachea: Analyze the portal, look for dimentional signatures that match Adora Rainbowfist exactly. Also if it's *possible* see if there's a way to tune that thing from this end. >>

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Catra splits into multiple Catras, which is not a thing that Sailor Moon thought she could do, honestly, and it's kind of impressive but mostly it's just scary -

As she slashes at Sailor Moon, the Crescent Wand comes up to try and parry the slashes, only slightly missing and allowing some of the attacks through.

"Catra, come on! You can't really want to destroy the world, can you? You're the reasonable one!"

This might be the first and only time anyone has ever told Catra this.

And then - the portal is whizzing by, showing more and more images, and Adora is breaking down, crying and yelling and -

"Bow is still here! Bow is here for you, Adora, and he always has been, even if things are weird, and you can't give up ye - GLIMMER!"

Glimmer has snagged Adora away, and Sailor Moon only has one thought -

"Pluto, don't dead scream either of them unless you're sure it won't make them dead!"

Because Setsuna doesn't always have chill, and Glimmer stole Adora, and Catra is coming for her and Rashmi, and then there are - oh that's terrifying, terrible, awful, holy -

"Moon Healing Escalation!!!"

Eat purifying light, Phooka!

<<I'll try to handle the little monsters coming out, and sure - if Catra won't stop, I'll do my best to stop her!>>

Catra has posed:
Catra whirls around, letting the corner of her mouth quirk upwards on her yellow-eyed side, a certain satisfaction in seeing her attack land home. All while one of her doubles is busy pushing Sailor Moon back, and the other is seeking an opening on Niji, who is hard to pin down. Almost as hard as she is, she judges. Almost.

But it's while she's turned around that she catches sight of it; there, through the portal. Something she's never really seen before.

Or rather, some*one* she's never seen before.

Someone like her.

For just a fraction of a moment, she's distracted, and it's long enough for Rashmi to get her spell off. Catra is caught just a little off guard, and the first impacts of the Solar Stingers land home, pummeling her chest and arms. "Gah what th--OW!" She swings her sword to ward them off, which does basically not a thing at all as they move around it and whallop her again in her hip and back.

"Why shouldn't I want to?" Catra snarls at Sailor Moon, "What has this wor--" Both of Catra's doubles abruptly vanish; and as the real Catra takes another hit from the stingers (which is going to leave a lot of bruising later) she once again splits into three. Her doubles immediately summon shadow-energy and fire heavy blasts at Rashmi's barrets, while the real Catra slinks out from behind, leaving Rashmi to her doubles for the moment.

But there's Glimmer. Trying to ruin everything. Again. As usual. The feline's eyes narrow, and she uses the cover of her doubles being active to dash away, making a swift move across the intervening space. She wanted Glimmer all to herself. And she's still get it. But right now, she has to intervene.

"I don't think so, Sparkles!" she growls as she gets close, dashing in to deliver not a sword strike but a punch, aiming to sucker Glimmer from her blindside, delivering her knuckles full strength across the chhin.

By now Rashmi has almost certainly figured out what's going on. (It's not hard.) Her doubles stop bothering with the stingers, and fill themselves with shadow energy once again; one of them fires a concentrated beam at Rashmi, while the other takes a step towards Sailor Pluto. "Stay out of this!" she screams at her, holding back the ball of energy for the moment. "None of your damn business!" The double's eyes turn back to Sailor Moon, and narrows her eyes. "None of yours, either!" she declares, as she finally gets around to unleashing that shadowy blast, right at her.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The downside of being airborne?

Once you're in that flight arc, you're more or less committed to it.

The upside, however?

If you fling yourself towards a target-rich environment, you get to DYNAMIC ENTRY! your way into the fight.

Well, more or less.

A PROPER Dynamic Entry would involve high levels of 'Boot to the Head'

Sadly, all Sailor Pluto is able to manage on one of the Pookah is 'Boot to the Chest'.

On the other hand, however, said boot is backed up by all of her weight and speed...

And, perhaps most importantly, Sailor Pluto leads with her heel.

Her three-inch-long heel.

The familiar touch of telepathy is welcomed...communication is key in things like this.

<<If I can get to that portal, I can do something about it. Even without the Gates backing me, I should be able to force it closed.>>

There's a rather detectable strain in her mental voice, however.

Trying to focus a message through the overwhelming odor screaming beams of light through her mind isn't easy.

The scream from Catra earns a glare back...but Sailor Pluto is likely too busy dealing with the aftermath of her landing to respond much more.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
===The Past?, Bright Moon?, Etheria? ===

Angella: "Step away from my daughter."
Glimmer:"Mom, can't you see what's happening???"
Micah: "Angie? What's wrong?"
Glimmer: "I'm sorry, for everything. But we have to make this right."
Angella: "GLIMMER!"

=== The Present, Earth. ===

Geode Girl Loyalty's words ring out in Adora's ears. Her team is broken, so make a new team. It's not that easy. She lost everything. She'd been /trying/ to rebuild, but it just. It hurts. She curls tighter in that fetal position, even as the Pookas come closer.

One of them bashed away by Loyalty's helmet thrown at it's face, sending it reeling back and getting follow-up attacks with a hockey stick bashed into it.

BOW is still here! ... Not her Bow. This bow is great, too, of course... but not her bow. "It's okay, Sailor Moon... it's fine... it's gonna be okay... I'll have my Bow... I'll have my Glimmer... I'll have my Catra..." She mumbles quietly.

A moon healing escalation washes over the Pookas, knocking several of them back through the portal with a distressed screech, dragged through back to where they belong. just like the bots.

Arms wrap around Adora, teleporting her away briefly. As Glimmer speaks to her, and she pauses, briefly. She takes a deep breath. "S...she's alive?" Adora whispers quietly, flashes of the past in her mind, of Angella's sacrifice. One of those aches that lingers in her heart, even now. None of them had time to properly process that, with all that had happened, after all.

Please... don't take my mother away from me again. Adora lifts her hand to her face, wiping her tears. "I..." She glances towards the portal. "I think it might be too late, Glimmer. I'm sorry..." She closes her eyes. "I'm sorry..."

When her eyes open, she's... got that familiar resolve, though. "...But..." She lifts her hand out, up over Glimmer's shoulder. "I'll do my best to make it right."

"FOR THE HONOR, OF GREYSKULL!"

A flicker. The sword almost doesn't appear in her hand again, her confidence still flickering. Her hope still faltering. But it comes. And a circle of purple light appears beneath her feet, slowly spreading up and transforming her. That familiar-looking outfit. With Glimmer's shoes. Bow's Heart. Catra's helmet, and Adora's hair. She-Ra.

The portal flickers again. A new visual, of Adora fighting a Catra wearing a pure white outfit with the Horde symbol on the back, her hair slicked back and cut short.

As She-Ra separates from Glimmer, she lifts up her sword to swing it towards the portal once more, right as Nichomachea starts to analyze the portal. And Nichomachea would sense that yes. There is a LOT of things that match Adora Rainbowfist exactly. Especially that wave of energy that's currently giving it the weird signatures that someone from the /other side/ is currently tuning the portal.

=== The past?, Dryl?, Etheria? ===

"Hello! Do I know you? This is fascinating! I've never had non-robots visit me before. Usually it's just me and all my friends!"
"Friends?"
"Aren't they amazing? And if they break, I can just make new friends! Ahahahaha!"
"Entrapta, I know what I'm about to say sounds crazy..."
"Is this about the unstable portal slowly consuming and warping our reality?"
"Now you're not gonna believe -- what did you just say?"
"Oh, I figured it out a while ago. An unstable portal is the only thing that would account for all the anomalies I've been picking up in my research."

=== The Future, Darla, Etherian Orbit ===

"The connection is almost there, but there's some sort of interfere-- I'm picking up a signal! OH WONDERFUL! Hello friend!"

A very confusing message for Nicomachea to get between time and space.

"Do you know where our Adora is? She's been lost for a while and we really would like her back."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
===The Past?, The Beacon?, Etheria?===

"Heeeeey, Adora..."
"Oh...ho-hoh... where are your friends?"
"Catra, stop, you have to--"
"It's always the same with you, Adora. I have to this, oh we have to do that. Let's be honest. All of this is your fault."

=== The Past?, Northern Outpost?, Etheria? ===

"If you hadn't gotten the sword and been the world's worst She-Ra, none of t his would have happened.

===The Past?, ???, Etheria? ===

"I remember, Adora. I know this world isn't our own, how do we fix this?"
"Go back to the beginning. Razz meant my beginning. To the place I came through as a baby. I can fix everything. I just need to go into the portal and pull out the sword. That'll turn it off and everyone will come back safe and sound."
"And you'll come back safe, too?"
"..."
"Adora. You'll come back too, right?"
"I have to do this."

===Present Day, Earth ===

Catra was there, attempting to punch Glimmer, and teling everyone to stay out of it, that none of it was their damn business. "Catra, Kitten..." She pauses, as another flicker of the portal becomes visible. This time, it's a man sitting in a throne, slowly turning towards the portal. "Ah.... Little Sister... so that's where you were."

"NO!"

The last Pooka is booted towards the portal by Pluto's dynamic entry, launching it into the portal. Meanwhile, She-Ra was sprinting towards the portal as fast as she can. "NO NO NO NO /NO/! YOU CANNOT HAVE THIS PLANET!!! THESE PEOPLE... M...MY FRIENDS...THEY'RE GOOD PEOPLE, I WON'T LET YOU!"

A simple laugh from Horde Prime rings through the area, as She-Ra runs towards the portal, shoving anyone in her way, out of it. Until a point where it seems almost inevitable... that she was going to go through that portal, just like those bots and pooka had.

And the portal flickers again, this time, to the ... Present.

===The Present, The Vortex, Etheria ===

Angella holds Adora's shoulders. "Oh, Adora, No. This is not it."

"But... this is the only way to fix things."
"Do you want to know a secret? I. Am. A Coward."
"What? No."
"I've always been the queen who stays behind. Micah was the brave one." Angella walks below the center of a swirling vortex above. "And then Glimmer. Oh, Glimmer. So much like her father."

Angella rests one arm on hers, looking down towards the ground, where a staff lays. "And once again, I stayed behind... letting her make the hard choices. Letting her be brave for me. I told myself, I was being responsible, but, Adora, I was just scared." She looks back towards Adora. "And then, I met you. You inspired us. You inspired me. Not because it was your destiny, but because you never let fear stop you." She leans in and kisses Adora's forehead. "And now, I choose to be brave." She turns, flying towards the sword as Adora can only scream out, "No, your majesty! Angella!"

As Angella gets closer to that sword, stopping, and then... grabbing the sword. Straining as she pulls it out of its place in the vortex.

"Take care, of each other."

And there is peace. There is... emptiness, as the sword lowers towards Adora. She lifts the sword into the sky, "FOR THE HONOR, OF GREYSKULL!" A flash. And suddenly the portal was starting to draw more and more into it. The cracks spreading.

...It's too late for Adora, for She-Ra... but it's not too late to stop this.

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    It's not the first time Niji has had to bring sports equipment to a sword fight. On the upside, the last time her equipment wasn't magic, but it was metal. Still, she's able to deflect a couple attempts from the Catra-ninja-double, though mostly due to the fact that she moves on a whole other timescale, rather than any actual swordfighting talent. It's the same way she was able to dodge the blasts from before... she's just really, really fast. "Maybe I should join Kendo." she muses to herself as she bats away another swing.

    The doubles go away, right as she tries to land a fierce stick-swing, and it's just the little Pookah monsters. The Very Tall Not-She-Ra lady says she can close the portal? That's good news.

    <<Alright, if you get to doing that I'll keep the weird horror movie monsters away from you.>> she offers. And then she's spending all of her speed and energy on doing just that - she's fast enough to cover more than one side of Pluto at a time, really. And while her swings might lack the power physics says their speed should have, and aren't anywhere near a Cure's punch, she can let out a whole lot of them in a brief period of time.

    <<If everybody else tries to manage Catra - careful!>> she shouts as one of those blasts erupts. She doesn't know the connection between the two people in identical outfits, or that usually the one defending the other would be the other way around. <<Let's cover the tall girl! The one with the stick, not the sword. If we can get this closed we can kick that cat's fuzzy butt on our own time."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon was punched, knocked off Adora with a rather violent shock to the system. She hit the ground and let out a furious growl. "Damn it, Catra! For once in your--"

And then she was silent. Slowly her head turned towards the portal.

"N-no," Glimmer whispered. And the little chaos gremlin? It melted away. There wasn't any smiles. There wasn't any chuckles. There was fear. There was raw, primal fear on her face. She stared at the figure. "I-impossible. Y-you're dead. You can't... no... Adora! ADORA!" Glimmer yelled, a trembling hand reaching out for her friend. But it was too late. She was too slow. "N-no... I didn't... t-this wasn't... you can't... h..."

And then, a new portal. "M-mom?" Glimmer asked. "N-no. Mom. No! MOM! DON'T! PLEASE DON'T! I STILL NEED YOU! ETHERIA NEEDS YOU! MOM!" she screamed, the hurt, the pain, the fear in her voice echoing. The tears flowing down her cheeks.

Then... Then the white void. Adora... Adora was gone. Her mother was trapped. She'd burned it all, burned so much to save her mother. Did this undo everything? Did... this put Adora in the same position? She stared at the portal. The tears going down her face... Adora was gone. Her mother was gone.

It was all her fault. She'd cost all of them so much. She--

The portal was a danger. It was a threat. And the other girl could stop it. She lunged suddenly... And then in mid leap teleported to Catra?! To slam into her torso. And then teleport them both. Out of the way of the others. Arms around her. Getting her out of Pluto's way and a good fifty or sixty feet away. She couldn't stop it. Couldn't end it. Couldn't pull a lever to make things worse.

And then... then she just... stopped. Just... laid there. Limp. And she didn't punch Catra. She didn't blast her. She didn't even snap at her. She just... cried on her. Didn't even try to defend herself as she just started bawling on, frankly, the person who probably cared least. But there. They'd stop the portal. That was her duty. That was what she *had* to do. So now? Now she was going to break.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi knows that tone of voice.

She has personal, immediate, and still not completely unpacked *trauma* based on that tone of voice.

So it's a very good thing that it wasn't until *after* Rashmi put up an ice shield to enervate and take most of a beam of shadow... One that *still* managed to break through, drill through her Barrier Jacket, and *very painfully* scorch at her collarbone. The shield falls away into shards of self-disintegrating light...

...And Adora says she can fix it.

Oh no.

Time slows to a crawl in her perception, as she watches her friend charge toward the portal, far too late for Rashmi to do anything about it but absorb the analysis Nicomachea is giving. They're *all* the same Adora. There's no dimensional variance to them at all, not even by microscopic fractions of a degree?

And then a *message.*

<< U-uh... I... kami, I hope she's on her way back home, >> is the only answer she has, even her mental voice stunned and miserable. << Because if she's not... she might be lost for good. >>

But the portal still needs closing, and Pluto is the only one who can do it.

And Nicomachea is built to disseminate helpful information.

<< Pluto! Giving you the math now! >>

And she just loops the Guardian of Time into Nicomachea's calculations, giving the raw math to the one person she knows here who has a hope of understanding it, and utilizing it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Heat blasts from the portal, scorching Sailor Moon's collar and chest bow when Rashmi's barrier falls, but that's not important - all the visions aren't important - what's important is -

"Adora-chan - Adora, no!"

It's the only thing Sailor Moon can say, and she lunges, one of the two closest to the portal, but she's a second too late to catch hold of Adora - she disappears into a portal gone white, just as the image of the queen and her sword disappears.

Glimmer is screaming, sobbing, breaking apart, and Catra is out of the way, and there's nothing any of them can do except -

"<<Pluto,>>" She says the name both with Rashmi's telepathy and with her actual voice, "<<Shut it now!>?"

And she raises the Crescent Wand, putting her power not to attacks, which would do nothing, but an effort at boosting one of her Senshi, her friends -

"Moon Healing!"

And a silver beam of concentrated energy strikes at Pluto, the sort of energizing that usually happened when Usagi made a miracle, but concentrated just to help boost Pluto.

Catra has posed:
That gut-wrenching sensation. The urge to lose her lunch. The same thing, every time Glimmer teleports her, especially when it's without warning.

Catra is standing a fair ways away. Too far for swordsmanship, certainly. Her doubles both wink out for the moment, and there's Catra, on the ground with Glimmer, and the Queen of Brightmoon sobbing on her shoulder like a maybe.

Catra lifts her left hand, which which she is not holding Powersend, and cups Glimmer's chin with it. And then she pushes her out of the way, as she pulls herself deliberately back to her feet. She tilts her head to one side until the bones audibly pop, and then she just... calmly steps over Glimmer and walks past her. She holds her Katana at her side, and purple sparks fly as she drags the tip along the ground, carving a deep runnel in the concrete as she stalks dangerously back towards the ongoing struggle.

Mange her? They'd 'manage' her? Like a discount anime store? Her bicolored eyes narrow to slits. As she walks, she plays over the last few seconds in her mind. Things she saw in the portal. Things she heard. Angella sacrificing herself. Catra herself, dressed strangely and with short hair. Was any of it real?

If it was, did it matter?

"Oh no," she growls, as her doubles reappear, one to either side of her. "Not this time! You're not stopping this! This time *I AM GOING TO WIN!*" Her doubles summon balls of smokey black energy; Catra does likewise, calling it into her sword; she lifts it up into the air, letting her doubles channel everything the summon into it as well, as she draws more... more... more.

The real Catra's body swiftly shows signs of strain. Her veins glow an angry purple, shifting towards orange; starting at her fingertips, working up her arms, and eventually up her neck and around her face. Her eyes twitch with pain and she starts to smolder, as her relative inexperience with this much magic, this much dark energy, begins to become evident. She pells her lips back and screams, almost looking like a dragon who's about to breath fire.

But she doesn't breath it; she collapses to her knees and her doubles lose their cohesion and don't so much wink out as lose their resolution and dissipate, leaving Catra holding all that energy, alone.

Until she lifts her sword, points it towards the portal, and with a loud << "RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!" >> she unleashes a wild, almost uncontrolled howl of darkness.

But it's not aimed at the portal.

It's aimed at Sailor Pluto.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto manages to drag herself most of the way to her feet before the portal's flickering through several different times and places sends a hot poker of fetidly brilliant light scouring through her cranium and dropping her to her knee again.

With a grunt, an effort of will, and a string of words that Usagi may or may not recognize as sounding like the language of the Silver Millenium, she uses the Garnet Rod to push herself to her feet.

She's SUPPOSED to have the Gates of Time backing her up, buffering her from the fluctuations in Time.

SUPPOSED TO

Sadly, with no Gates, she's having to do use her innate connection to Space/Time to 'Do it Live' so to speak.

Fortunately, two things then happen.

The first is arithmantic reckoning of finely calculated calibrations appraising space/time valuations which serve to help the Guardian of Time clarify the mental path she'd been up till that point doing on pure instinct.

The second is the blast of healing, purifying energy from Sailor Moon...which not only serves to give her more magical 'muscle', so to speak...which almost more importantly briefly washes away the brain melting waves of synesthesia that had been assaulting her as she got closer to the crossrip in time.

Thus with a last spin of the Garnet Rod, she drops to one knee once more...but this time with purpose.

As she strikes the ground with the butt of the Garnet Rod, it releases a wave of power, and the orb at the top of the rod lights up as Pluto intones, "Guardian Deity of Space and Time, Our Father Chronos...Grant Me Power! Shut This Taboo Door That Was Wrenched Open!"

There's a brief moment as the energies gather themselves, then she shouts, "DARK DOME CLOSE!"

And with that, there is a flare of light from the orb on the Garnet Rod, and her boosted and guided might is thrown towards closing the crossrip in space and time.

Sadly, focused as hard as she is on wrestling the portal shut, there's nothing she can do about the blast screaming in at her back from Catra.

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
A few remaining Pookas were still attacking, though with much of their pack gone, they were quickly starting to falter, as the attack from Geode Girl Loyalty keeps them away from Pluto -- a target the Pookas seem instinctively drawn to, being the biggest threat to the portal.

Well, that and apparently Glimmer Brightmoon. There was, perhaps, a moment, just before the portal closed, where in that gently spoken 'Take Care of Each Other', that a soft smile from Angella turned towards Glimmer as she screamed. It's ... hard to know. Maybe it was just in her mind.

And take care of each other, Glimmer does. At least, in the best way that she can, by buying time for people to do what they need to.

Such as Nicomachea's calculations, pulling the fact that... the issue isn't dimensions here. The broken mess isn't the dimensions... if it were just a connection between the two worlds, it might even be stable and work...given the right circumstances.

No. The problem is Time. Time that had quickly been running out the moment that She-Ra had opened that portal. And time that was rapidly collapsing in on itself to find the correct point-- to find where it was supposed to be.

===The Future, Darla, Etherian Orbit===

"Oh, don't be /dramatic/, nobody's ever lost for good. We just need to calculate more, experiment more, and..."

===The Present, Earth===

Adora, no!

Words that had been so very familiar to Adora, words that echoed through her mind as she was drawn into the portal -- drawn into time. As the portal strives to do exactly what She-Ra had opened it to do. To fix the timeline.

A timeline she was an error in.
An alternate reality she was never meant to be in.
Her story was over. And at the end of the story, one isn't supposed to go back.

And... a wrenching of magic. As Sailor Pluto's Garnet Rod is raised high. As darkness flies towards her. From the portal, another figure appears at that last moment, right as the portal is being closed by Sailor Pluto's magicks... out steps... She-Ra... but an unfamiliar one, that, as the portal struggles to stay open under Pluto's magic, turns and rather unceremoniously slices through the portal, rending it in half as the Dark Dome Close finishes the job. And as that dark energy comes towards Sailor Pluto, She-Ra is there, the Sword of Power in hand as a shield to take the incoming dark energy blast from Catra. "CATRA!!!" She yells out, a younger Adora's voice.

"HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH!?"

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Honestly, the difference in Adora's voice is something Loyalty can process, but mentally files away for later. At least she's doing the right thing now, protecting someone instead of trying to break things. A lot of this is over, or around, or just irrelevant to Loyalty, but that part: those who defend others and those who attack others, that part remains clear.

    "It's about time you got your head on straight, She-Ra!" Loyalty says, evident frustration coloring her voice like the rainbow colors her hair. She draws up her hockey stick from where she'd recently golf-swung one of the Pookas back through the portal and turns.

    "Is everyone okay?" she asks. What a silly question, honestly. Clearly Glimmer isn't okay, clearly Catra was probably never okay, and clearly Pluto is exhausted, but that still leaves them up on the two Obsidian employees.

    Loyalty banishes the hocket stick in a flurry of rainbow sparkles, only to draw a shimmering baseball bat in her hand.

    "Yeah, you lose again, Catra. Portal's closed, world's saved, and She-Ra seemes to have figured out that shields and swords are for defending again. So how about you crawl back to whatever office you snuck out of so I can slap my friend in case she still thinks she needs to wreck the world to be useful?"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon was broken. Was hurt. Was crushed. But... but she couldn't... "S-stop it..." she mumbled after Catra. "Win? Are you *kidding me*? Adora is *gone*! Adora is DEAD! And she's NEVER COMING BACK!" Glimmer screamed. "You win! Adora is gone for good and we'll never see her again, because I... because I..." And her fists clenched.

Even with the tears, she couldn't just... stop. That was what she had to do. There was duty. And it was only after duty was over she could break. So she picked up the pieces of her shattered soul and she teleported again. Trying to tackle Catra from behind.

But it was too late. The dark blast was launched and she couldn't stop it. So instead she could just try to make sure she never let out another one. Hugging Catra from behind.

"ADORA IS GONE AND I KILLED HER!" Glimmer screamed. Because it was all her fault. "She's never coming back, you'll never see her again, you'll never have sleep overs with her again! You'll never play tricks on Kyle! You'll never stay up all night whispering about things! She'll never sleep fight again! She's GONE! SHE'S GONE! You promised her you'd look out for her AND NOW YOU NEVER WILL SO JUST FOR ONCE IN YOUR STUPID LIFE STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE!" Glimmer screamed, holding onto the stupid cat, her fury and hurt and ache radiating off every single word and--

... Wait. Was that... Adora? She froze. Still clinging to the cat...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The return message was a surprising one... but it did provide a thin thread of hope, as Rashmi watched Pluto rally under Sailor Moon's energizing purification, concentrating as utterly as she possibly could at letting complicated math slide over her brain without trying to make sense of any of it.

And who says being bad at math is a weakness?

Her eyes widen, as Catra succumbs to the Dark Energy channeled recklessly, as she pulls in far more power than she could possibly control--

    --as she looses that horrible darkness upon Pluto--

As *She-ra* steps out of the portal to aid in sundering it, then defending her dear friend as if she did it every day.

There is a *lot* to process. Fortunately, as the portal is closed, she can work on that instead of ignoring hyper-dimensional-inverse-pig-Martian math.

"Uh... buuuuuuh....."

Rashmi is eloquent, yes she is.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
With Sailor Moon focused on streaming energy into Sailor Pluto, she doesn't, at first, see just what Catra is up to - and then, as she starts screaming, she does see it - too late to do anything.

But not too late for She-Ra to do something - a different She-Ra, though, than the one who had disappeared seconds before.

Huh?

No, seriously, huh?

But there's too much to do, and she can't afford to wait, so she whips around, carving a circle of light into the air as her Crescent Wand focuses in on Catra.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

The purifying light will burn away the Dark Energy stinging and burning at Catra if it hits - and oh, it will hurt.

It will hit Glimmer, too, but since Glimmer hasn't been using Dark Energy, it won't hurt her at all - just shimmer and shine.

Her shoulders heave with exertion - this has been a lot of energy to throw around, especially to feed into Pluto, and her eyes burn, Glimmer's words ringing in her ears, Adora's undeniably different appearance spelling out horrible things -

"Catra," she says, and her voice is so tired. "You might have just won. Are you enjoying it at all?"

Catra has posed:
At first, Catra is too tired to do anything about Glimmer grabbing her from behind. Her skin prickles, and she tightens her grip around Powersend, preparing, if nothing else, to jab the weapon backwards and stab the Queen behind her. But as it turns out, right for the moment, she's too tired to do that. She-Ra has managed to take the shadow energy she levelled at Sailor Pluto, and just... blocked it.

Because of course she did. She's She-Ra. That's all she does.

And then Sailor Moon's purifying light washes over her, and for the briefest of moments, it's like being held by her ankle by a goddess, dipping her into the sun.

When it is over, Catra is still doubled over and, as it takes her a moment to realize, she's still screaming. She forces herself to stop, resorting to gasping heavily, as she reaches forwards and plants Powersend vertically, point first into the ground.

"Get... *off*," she snarls at Glimmer, as she struggles to hoist herself up to her feet. After a couple of tries, she has it; and then she whirls to face Glimmer, whipping her sword around to level it at the Queen of Brightmoon.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she screams, then pivots to point the weapon towards Usagi, and Rashmi; Niji and Sailor Pluto, and... of course, at Adora. "STAY AWAY!" she repeats, taking a step back. She tries to summon shadow magic, but for the moment... for the moment, she just can't, it won't come. No attacks. No doubles. Nothing.

Because of course.

Adora gets everything she wants, and Catra gets nothing.

"I didn't win," she snarls, taking a step back. "If I'd won I'd be on Etheria now, I'd -- I HATE THIS PLANET! Even more than I hate Etheria! Oh-ho," she laughs, "Oh it's great for all of you, but you're all supposed to be here. I can't go *anywhere* without all the noise drowning out my thoughts," she snaps, reaching up with her free hand to flick one of her eras, "I can *snell* everything, I can..." she trails off, grinding her teeth, "I CAN'T EVEN GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT HIDING MY FACE! None of YOU have to do that! I can't even be *ME* on this planet for five minutes in case someone sees me!"

The volatile feline looks around, her gaze shifting rapidly from person to person, until eventually she settles on Adora. "You'll know when I've done enough," she growls, at this... person who seems to be Adora. But isn't the same Adora as a few minutes ago. ...But it feels more like the Adora who should be.

Catra can work with that.

"Don't follow me," she growls, as she turns to stalk off, moving faster than one might just from purpose. "Leave me *ALONE*!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
As She-Ra steps from the portal and slashes it, disrupting the forces holding it open, Pluto's Dark Dome Close slams it shut from the sudden lack of resistance.

Similarly, Pluto herself sags down a bit, head hanging and by appearances only managing to keep from keeling over sideways by dint of holding onto the firmly planted Garnet Rod.

When she hears Sailor Moon call one of her bigger attacks, the Senshi of Time turns and looks in that direction a little, "...oh, twisted."

Her voice gets a little more lyrical as she goes on...tones of someone singing something a little, "...under, sideways, down..."

She points over at Catra, "...I know you're getting twisted...and you can't calm down..."

She takes a breath to go on...then she blinks and shakes her head a few times as if to throw off confusion.

A longer, more rational look is taken around, and she looks over at She-Ra...and she slowly shakes her head, "...okay, there's going to probably be a LOT of explanation needed."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
"Erh, uh... y-yeah! My head is on straight!" Haha. Okay, it's not that weird that this girl knows her name. That's normal, most people on Etheria know her name by now. But also, Glimmer was on the ground crying. And Catra was standing next to her having just attacked... the ... really tall lady who was almost as tall as her in She-Ra form. Aaaaaand. Lots of people are ... different. "I uh... I guess the portal worked after all, then." She pauses, pinching her cheek. Ow. That still hurt. Actually things had still hurt in the weird perfect world, but then things weren't /perfect/ here. And also the world wasn't disintegrating. She glances at the sword. Okay, it's not being all glowy and super-active. Hm.

Also Glimmer is screaming about having killed her. What. On the upside she seemed to be handling Catra for now??? She-Ra honestly looks about as confused as everyone around her. "...Yeah, buddy, I uh. Uh... buuuh... sounds about right." She-Ra comments towards Rashmi.

There was a beam of light being sent towards Catra. "...So it looks like the Princess Alliance is alive and well still, even if it has new..." She glances towards Rashmi, Sailor Moon, and Loyalty. "Members. But hey! New members are good!" Wait. Catra won? What. She glances towards Sailor Moon again confused. "What do you mean? I just got out of that... whatever dimension of wrongness and we closed the portal to it that she opened by pulling that switch. We won! She didn't win."

And then... Catra. Catra. The screaming. Yelling to stay away from her. She-Ra looks towards her, and it's... quiet. She's tired. She'd just... had to... well. She turns her head to the side and down as Catra talks. She's just... quiet. That talk. That yell. She takes a deep breath. "You made your choice, Catra." She says quietly under her breath.

The image of Catra burning away and turning to ash flashes in her mind.

The fact she was there, yelling at her.
It's almost comforting.

And someone is talking about explanations, but She-Ra isn't immediately responding as she watches Catra stalk off, letting her transformation go away as Catra flees. And then, she moves again.

Towards Glimmer. "GLIMMER! I'm sorry! I... I couldn't... she's..." Her voice trails off, as she simply, without knowledge of what is going on in this world, intends to collapse on Glimmer, her best friend, crying.

Now that things are safe.
She breaks down.
Where she thinks is safest.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon was pushed off Catra and hit the ground. She looked at that sword, gritting her teeth. A part of her wanted to push her. To nudge her. To... make her hurt more. To make her make a poor decision. The light washing over her... didn't hurt. She didn't know what it was, but it was fine.

And nothing she said had impacted Catra in the slightest. She watched the girl leave, before her eyes turned to Adora...

And she knew that look. She knew who that was. She held up her hand, palm up. To stop Adora, before letting it sink to the ground. "Don't..." she said. "Don't!" she said louder. "Adora... don't... please... just... just don't. You... you lot. You know her. Y-you... you know what... what she's been through. Just... just please, help her. I can't... I'm so sorry, Adora... I'm... I'm so sorry... I just..." She slowly clenched her palms into fists, digging gouges into the ground.

"You're not my Adora... just like that's not your Catra... and this Bow isn't my Bow... and that... that means Horde Prime might be... he could..." She gulped.

"Please... help her..." Glimmer said, her voice cracking from grief with the words. "I... I can't. Not right now. I'll just... I'll hurt her. I'll just make everything *worse*. I'm sorry, Adora. But you can trust them. You can trust them s-so much more than you c-can trust me."

And then, in a flash of magic, she disappeared.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It's the 'not my Adora' that penetrates Rashmi's mental bluescreen. Shaking her head, she peers at Adora... smaller, less world-weary, and sans flannel, and the implications, after a moment, click into place. So this is an Adora from a *different* time, where she's *not* missing her happy ending, and the Adora she took such pains to befriend is... gone.

Maybe home. That would be nice. That lady sounded like someone who could help her out.

But that means that the Adora in front of them is a complete stranger to her world, and that whole arc of 'no, really, you can't actually get home as far as I know' is going to have to start all over again, with the *extra* problem of 'clearly it happened somehow so it's possible.'

All of this flickers through Rashmi's head, and she takes a deep breath, stepping forward and extending a hand, with a smile.

A smile that doesn't waver.

Shut up.

"Welcome to Earth, Adora-chan. I'm sorry, but... you're not on your world, anymore."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    Loyalty turned to the side to look at Glimmer. "Did you hit your head? She-Ra is like right here." Then Glimmer and Catra both leave, and the She-Ra that's here pops into the same clothes that Niji had seen in Adora's closet, and... she's different, even Niji can tell that.

    She listens to Rashmi to get the ideas squared away in her head and sighs. "This is like, a different She-Ra, isn't it. This is like Daring-Do And The Mirror of Time or something, isn't it?" She pauses. "or... you know some other egghead book I haven't read." she adds quickly.

    "Aaaaaanyways, is your last name still Rainbowfist because honestly not being able to call you Rainbowfist-san would be like 20% less cool."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Every word the new She-Ra says confirms that she really is a new She-Ra. A new Adora, who doesn't know anything, or anyone, here on this world. An Adora who's less world-weary, but also an Adora who isn't her friend.

Yet.

She moves towards the other girl, just as Rashmi does, but where Rashmi extends a hand, Sailor Moon just gets in front of Adora, in the spot Glimmer had been, and her face is kind and full of sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Adora-chan. You're... Rashmi-chan is right. You're not on your world anymore, and there's a lot of things going on that we can't explain, but... we're your friends. My name is Usagi, but most people call me Sailor Moon, when I'm like this. Bow recruited me into the new Princess Rebellion, a few months ago, and - and he's going to be so glad to see you. All of this must be really confusing..."

Really, incredibly, very confusing. She really wants to just throw poor Adora into a hug, and her posture indicates as much.

Catra has posed:
As Catra is walking away, after her outburst, she's expecting to hear... something. Someone to say something to her. Someone to tell her she's wrong, or argue with her, or tell her she's a selfish little villain, or... something. Anything, really. Instead, nobody says a word to her, or calls one out in her direction, or anything. Not so much as a parting taunt.

But she can still hear what's going on just fine.

She can hear Adora getting all the attention. Because of course she did. She's Adora, the big blone hero who'll save the day, why wouldn't she get all the attention? She gets literally everything else.

The feline keeps walking until she reaches where she left her motorcyle. (Well, hers is a loose term, but the original owner has never come looking for it.) She banishes Powersend's blade and tucks the hilt securely in her pocket, before swinging one leg over to straddle the back. And for a moment she just sits there; resting her elbows on the front of the bike, and her face in her hands, doing what she originally came here to do.

Cry.

But only for a moment. A whole bunch of people she'd rather not see her this way are nearby. So, instead, she starts up the engine, and then peels out rather aggressively. As she passes by where the 'heroes' can see her, she guns the engine hard and pulls the front wheel up off the ground, maintaining the wheely for a good twenty seconds before putting it down hard, gunning the engine, and speeding off at a speed that can only be described as utterly reckless.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto uses the Garnet Rod to push herself back to her feet, slowly recovering her energy from using so much of it earlier.

At Geode Girl Loyalty's comment, she turns and gives the shorter mahou a look of dawning horror...as if she'd said something that shook a part of the Senshi of Time to her core...

...but before a rant (or perhaps a horrified scream) can be pulled from her lips, Sailor Moon steps forwards and introduces herself to...a different(same) Adora.

She shakes her head, "...lots and lots of explanations."

She then sighs, "...and I'm probably going to need to get new copies of her documents."

Sailor Pluto then stretches a bit, the Garnet Rod standing upright on it's own in very much the same way that those noodle-man eyecatch air blower things outside of auto lots do NOT.

Partway through, a thought occurs to the woman and she looks over at Sailor Moon before nodding at Adora, "Hey, Moon...if you want to keep Mercury too busy to give you grief about studying over the holiday, let her know there's someone we need to get up to speed."

As Catra goes by, Pluto turns to watch her leave, then looks back to Adora, "Why don't we all decamp somewhere more comfortable where we can get some food or something delivered and give Miss Rainbowfist here some needed exposition."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Don't! Adora paused. Those tears still streaming down her cheeks. "W...what, Glimmer, you're not making sense, o-of course I'm your Adora... of course I'm..." They know her. She glances towards the others. And then b ack towards where Glimmer was.

...Who is gone now.

Catra's gone. Bow isn't here. Glimmer just ran. And Adora?

...Adora had just watched all of her friends disappear. Someone she looked up to, sacrifice herself.

"But... we just..." She looks down at the ground. "We just... won."

And a stranger walks towards her, holding out a hand and smiling at her. Adora looks down at the hand for a moment quietly, before looking back towards Rashmi, reaching to rest her hand on hers. "R...right. Earth. Thanks, I guess." She's trying to put her own strong face back on, a friendly smile tinged with tears in the corners of her eyes and trailing down her cheeks.

"I... guess? You know that does explain why I thought I saw another She-Ra running past me when I was exiting the portal. I think she was trying to say something, but I couldn't make it out. I thought I was just hallucinating still. I, uh." Pause. "Yeah, I'm... Adora Rainbowfist." And... the other magical blonde girl was in front of her now. In that spot Glimmer had been. Explaining that she wasn't on her world anymore. That they're her friends. Her name is Usagi, but most people call her Sailor Moon. That Bow recruited her. "I... Bow's here? That's... that's good. I'm." She pauses. "I'm so very tired. I." She gives a soft exhale. "I kind of just...watched all of my friends disappear one by one in front of me and I'm kind of not okay right now and I don't really know what to do about it and frankly I'm not sure how well I'm going to successfully process all of this right now so uhm." She pauses. "...Hi." She reaches her hand out towards Sailor Moon, intent to attempt to do the same gesture Rashmi did. It could be misinterpreted as an offered hug.

...She probably wouldn't reject one right now. Don't mind that her sword didn't disappear in her Adora form this time. That doesn't matter. Really. Nope. It's just slotted through the back of her vest right now, looking completely out of place to be just carrying around Tokyo.

...Also Catra was now ... riding by on... a really weird horde vehicle. Since when did they have a two-wheeled ground skiffs? ...Wait no this isn't the same world. Not the same world. A part of her wants to call out to her, but...

Catra made her choice. She had just made peace with that. It's not time to go back on that.

And after Adora just gave her /own/ exposition, the other tall girl who /didn't/ rely on a magic sword to be tall, suggests going to do more exposition for her! Dun dun dun! "That sounds like a good distraction from being a ... scholaire." Yes she did just pronounce that completely awfully and like she doesn't know what being a scholar is at all. "...Also yes learning about what the horde plot is on this planet would be nice."

Because obviously everything /has/ to have been the Horde's fault.
It always is.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Well Adora, that looked, a little, kind of, like you were seeking a hug! So now? Now Adora is getting a hug, Sailor Moon not nearly tall enough with Adora in her She-Ra form but still squishing her a little in a warm, friendly hug.

"Bow is here, and so is Swiftwind," Sailor Moon says, while still hugging Adora tightly. She only lets her go after a long moment of hugging. "I'm sorry you've had such an awful time, and I wish I could make Glimmer come back here and give you a hug right now, but she kind of does whatever she wants."

There is so much exasperation in that voice.

Sailor Pluto makes a great suggestion, and she laughs a little, quiet. "Yeah, my friend Mercury-chan would probably love to explain everything to you. If you'll come with us, we can take you back to where you've been living! We go to a school called Radiant Heart Academy, and you're actually roommates with a friend of my, Makoto-chan! She... is definitely going to be surprised by you being younger, actually."

Niji Dasshu has posed:
    She sighs. "Things are... more complicated, here. At least that's how... the other you... semed to think." Loyalty says. "She saw Catra in a way that Catra did not see her and it caused an um... lot of problems." she continues.

    "It seems like you have your head on straight about her at least." she says, looking in the direction Catra escaped.

    "...Also I saved you from being hit by a truck... YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A TRUCK IS DO YOU?!" she says, stopping midway through her questions with a sudden sharp self-interjection. "Oh man I have to buy you another phone, too... and teach you how to text... I have to teach you to teenage girl ALL OVER AGAIN."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As Catra pulls up on her motorcycle, and angrily wheels away, Rashmi looks over her shoulder... and heaves a deep, tired sigh. "Well *that's* gonna make the next dinner awkward," she mutters, lifting her glasses to massage the bridge of her nose. Once done, she walks over to Pluto, smiling up at the insanely tall Senshi. "Sorry I couldn't help more, Pluto-chan... but that was *amazing* work."

As Usagi and Niji try to give the poor girl the cliffs notes, Rashmi nods from her place a short distance away. "Also we don't have a Horde here... But we have something almost as bad, and a *lot* sneakier."

Adora Rainbowfist has posed:
Oh hey hugs. Adora briefly does the 'arms at her side not reciprocating it for a moment when Sailor Moon hugs her. ...But Glimmer told her they were her friends, and she eventually returns it. Luckily(Or unluckily depending on viewpoint) she was NOT in her She-Ra form anymore, so a much more normal extremely-tall-for-japan than being an 8 foot tall woman. She listens... fairly quietly as Sailor Moon says both Bow and Swiftwind are there, and the apologies for her awful time. "Ah, so you are all... scholaires. Got it! I understand. You are like Bow's dads!" She nods. "Wait, I'm a scholaire here too?! What did I major in? Art? Art history?"

Comments about complicated things with Catra get her to pause, and she looks down and away. "I mean... I'm probably not any different but... I mean... she's not... we're not friends or... it's complicated. We were both in the Horde together though so, y'know... ANYWAY. Of course I know what a truck is! It's, it's, uh. Iiiiit's." Pause. She looks around, as if looking for clues, still in that hug with Sailor Moon until she releases it. "...Okay I have nothing I don't know what a truck is. Is a Cell Phone some kind of battery?"

She doesn't comment on awkward dinners, though she does tilt her head at the mention of not having a Horde. "What? Of course you have a horde here, I mean, Catra's here and that menas Hordak and Shadow Weaver are here and that's /basically/ the horde right there."

...Waaaaay to underplay how many people the Horde has there, Adora.