Hey Adora

We need to split up

Turned out, Catra hadn't been as prepared as she thought. Her original plan was to set the runestone on fire. It wasn't flammable. So the team got to work, pulling.it from the walls, hacking chunks of it off, but it seemed unbothered by their efforts.

"What if we blast it with light magic?" Bow suggested, taking a seat next to Catra.

"Worth a shot," she said, "Micah, Castaspella, if you wouldn't mind. They watched as the two magicians positioned themselves, taking defense stances before blasting the entity with rays of purple or pink fire. It went on for a minute, but they tired out, and soon they too were sitting against the wall.

"So what now?" Seahawk asked, fixing his hair in the reflection of his sword.

"I don't know, I... I thought this would work." Catra admitted. She felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up, suprised it wasn't Bow, but Castaspella.

"You did the best you could," she said, "why don't we take a piece back with us and see if Entrapta can't figure out a way to destroy it? We still have to get the other thing we came for." Catra nodded, thanking her and standing up, beckoning Melog from the other side of the room.

"Hey Catra," Bow said, holding a sample of the sludge in his hand.

"Hmm"

"Is this... I don't know, different than you remember? Last time we were here it was a liquid, a little more viscous than water, but still a liquid."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well it's harder now, not quite solid, but firm enough that it can be held in my hand without falling apart. What if we can find a way to reverse it, turn it back into a liquid and trap it in a container, like when we first found it."

"How do we do that?"

"I don't know, but the first ones obviously did it at one time,"

"So the answers must be here." Micah finished Bow's sentence. The group shared a look, an agreement forming between them.

"So what do we do?" Seahawk asked. "Should we find the tech first or the key to killing this?" Catra sighed, shaking her own head.

They weren't going to like this.

"We need to split up."

Adora found her way to the med ward, whether by fate or her subconscious need for conversation outside of the Princesses, she ended up sitting on the bed next to Hordak's.

"You're loitering, Adora." He groaned, pushing himself up.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"Yes you did." He replied, facing her. Adora chuckled  leaning back onto the pillow.

"Yeah I did. I just, I can't stop thinking about them, stuck there."

"They aren't stuck." He argued.

"You know what I mean." He sighed, holding his hand up to his face, admiring it.

"I do. I also know how much it sucks to not be there. Everyone gets a chance to help save their loved one, but me."

"You almost died saving her the first time."

"I also lost her the first time." Adora frowned, it dawned on her that she didn't actually know what happened to Hordak during that time when she was... possessed.

"What happened?" She asked, "how did the two of you get separated?" Hordak took a deep inhale, and Adora made herself comfortable.

"I woke up in the night, she was biting her hair, she does that when she's stressed. But she was talking weirdly... saying things I couldn't understand and rambling about Mara knows what. I called out to her but when she looked at me it was like she wasn't even there. She began to run, so I got up and followed her. I yelled back at Catra but I guess she didn't hear me. I lost her at the temple entrance, it was open when I got there. I wanted to stay behind and wait... but I didn't know what was in there. I punished people to that island for years, people who would have it out for me. People who would use her to get to me, so I went in."

"I'm sorry," Adora said, "how... how many people did the Horde send to Beast Island?"

"Too many."

"How many came back?"

"Not enough."

Catra's proposition went about as well as she thought it would. She wasn't even arguing anymore, she was standing in the middle while everyone else pointed fingers over her.

"Okay," she said, "Guys!" They stopped, collecting themselves enough to listen to her.

"We need to divide and conquer. We know where the tech is, two of us can go an retrieve it, the other three will have to go look for answers on how to kill this... whatever it is.

"What happened to staying together?" Castapella asked, her hands on her waist.

"That was before this second problem. The tech group will get the tech and then come back here. We have trackers, Bow should be able to keep tabs on me in the other group. Whether we are lucky or not we meet back here in ten hours."

"What about rations?" Seahawk asked.

"We each carry our own." She responded.

"How do we pick the teams?" Micah Inquired.

"Well, since Bow is the only one familiar with the map and tablet, he'll lead one to the tech. We should have a magician on each team, just to be safe. So Micah, you'll go with Bow, Castaspella and Seahawk will come with me."

"That wasn't the deal," Castaspella warned.

"I can't send Bow alone, besides, the tech is the more certain path. Unless you'd rather Micah comes with me, wandering aimlessly around this place." Castaspella looked at her brother. He placed a hand on her shoulder, offering a dip of his head and she sighed.

"Fine. But only for ten hours."

"Thats all I'm asking. Seahawk, I need you to keep tabs on our location, make carvings in the wall every once and while, scratches with your cutlass so we know where we've been."

"Aye," he replied, "I won't let you down."

"I know. Failure isn't an option," Catra began, "I didn't come here to risk my life today but here we are. They're counting on us, Angella is counting on us. We can do this."

"Pretty corny for you, Catra," Bow remarked.

"Shut up and take my faith." She replied, relaxing at the sense of familiarity. Melog brushed against her leg and a feeling dawned on her.

They were going to be okay.

Hey Broski's, how's summer treating you? Anyone else suffering through this dreadful heat wave?