She-Ra : Princess Of Power [BOOK 1]

Chapter 1: The Soldier and The Sword [Part 1]

The Senior Horde cadets woke up early this morning. One group of Cadets, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, Adora and Catra all grew up together. To this day, they were like siblings and cared for each other as such. They started their journey in the Horde together, and now, one of them was going to lead their group as a team so they could all join the war against the Princesses. None of them could have guessed that by tomorrow morning, they wouldn't all be marching towards the future they had dreamt of for years now. Their story will change, take unexpected twists and turns or even be uncertain at times, but what we can be sure of is that it will start in the Fright Zone with a girl named-

"Adora!" Lonnie called out, rushing into the small gym, closely followed by Kyle and Rogelio. Adora looked up, just finishing tying her dark brown curls into a tight ponytail, and smiled at her friend. "Hey Nini, what's up?" Lonnie made a face and pulled a taller girl with black fur and a deep scowl next to her. "I found Catra sneaking back in." She explained. Catra randomly disappeared from the Fright Zone the night before without informing anyone. This wasn't unlike her so Shadow Weaver decided to give her 24 hours to come back before sending out a search party. Adora got to her feet and rushed to her friend, pulling her in a tight hug. "I was worried sick, where have you been?! Wait, is that blood?!" Adora exclaimed, pointing at Catra's bloody shoulder. "I'm fine." Catra said, pushing Adora away. "It's just a scratch, nothing to worry about." Kyle snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I don't think you should consider getting stabbed in the clavicle just a scratch, Catra." Adora was a panicked mess by now. "What do you mean you were STABBED?!!!"

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Adora was disinfecting Catra's wound in the infirmary - after several minutes of convincing-. She looked back at Catra who was glaring at the floor, making it a point not to make eye contact. "So, you wanna tell me where you ran off to this time, wildcat?" She asked. Catra hesitated for a moment. "Promise not to freak out?" She shot back after a moment of silence. "Heh, I'll try." Catra looked at Adora for the first time that day, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. She's been worried about her for all this time, she deserved to know. "I followed an older team in their mission to liberate a rebel fortress. I snuck into their tanks and fought with them." Adora stopped moving for a moment, looking at Catra with an unreadable expression. "It's one of my best decisions to be honest, I mean, it's not everyday you get to be stabbed by a Princess!" Adora struggled to compose herself. "A Princess did this to you?" She asked, her voice shaking ever so slightly. Catra looked for something in her pocket. When she pulled out her hand, she was holding a golden dagger stained with dried blood. "For sure, it was Bright Moon's Princess. She had the frilly clothes, the sparkles and everything. Basically, she looked ridiculous!" She said in an amused tone. Adora was far from amused, and eventually decided to focus on bandaging Catra's wound without saying anything. Had this Princess aimed a little lower, Catra wouldn't be sitting here in front of her right now. This thought repeated itself over and over as Adora shakily bandaged her friend. After she finished, Adora forced a smile. "There, all done." She announced. Catra got to her feet and stretched. "Thanks. Come on, let's go back to the others!" She said.

Just then, Shadow Weaver walked in the infirmary, closely followed by Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio. Adora got to her feet, quickly straightening up. Shadow Weaver looked back and forth between Adora and Catra before sighing. "None of you were there when I announced the results of the exams earlier this morning." She said in her usual chillingly cold tone. Adora's cheeks darkened out of embarrassment. "I know, and I'm sorry, it's just that Catra was injured and I insisted we went to the infirmary before and-" Adora stopped herself when Shadow Weaver held up her hand. "I will discuss this later, privately, with Catra. For now, I'm only here to give you your results." She motioned the other three to get in front of her. They all looked at her, bracing themselves for the worst. What they didn't know was that Shadow Weaver was smiling behind her mask. "Even though some of you showed some shortcomings during your evaluations, all of you are deemed worthy of being part of my Squadron as a team led by Force Captain Adora. I'm already assigning you a mission I believe should be easy enough to begin with. You'll leave tomorrow at dawn to liberate the rebel fortress of Thaymore in the name of Lord Hordak."