She-Ra: Codename Resurrection

CHAPTER XII: Comedy of Errors

The train rumbled to a stop sometime later. Adora hadn't been keeping track of the time. Her conversation with Scorpia had veered into different directions - they reminisced about the Princess Prom, and that led to their new outfits, and that led to Scorpia listing clothes they passed in the storefronts that could be fun to try out. They took a hard right back into Perfuma and Catra, and recounted the first time they'd met them. Adora found a somewhat reasonable position to ask about Scorpia's tail, and Scorpia made a joke, and they'd laughed. In a group, Scorpia was usually amicable, but never drove the conversation. But one on one, it was different.

By the time they arrived, the conversation had moved to a completely new place. "Because if you think about it," Adora was saying, "how flexible is time? Just because it hasn't moved backwards yet doesn't mean it couldn't move backwards."

"You're blowing my mind," Scorpia replied, leaning forwards.

"We already have magic that can do weird stuff. Maybe with enough magic, you can go into the past thousands of years," Adora added. "Wouldn't that be crazy? What did Etheria look like three thousand years ago?" The train buzzed, and through their transponders, they heard the name of the station over the intercom. "Oh! That's us. We gotta go." She pulled her hood up and held the door open for Scorpia.

"Could you also go into the future?" Scorpia asked as she carefully made her way through the tight tunnel of people. "And how far? Could you go all the way into the future?"

"Woah," Adora muttered. "What would that even be?"

The conversation suddenly halted as they stepped out into the hot midmorning and a strong smell hit them. The raised platform they were on was occupied by an old, vandalized, rusting train station, and beyond that, garbage to the horizon. Stalks of broken and unrecognizable junk stuck out like unnatural trees from mounds of sun-hardened rubber and rotting wood and shattered glass and vegetable mush all the way to the subtle ridge of more buildings in the far distance.

Adora and Scorpia glanced at one another from the railing, realizing suddenly what they'd be spending the next several hours doing. "Well," Adora began, "the signal came from right around here. Let's get started."

She held her hand out to transform. It was easy enough this time that she didn't need her mantra. A nervous sort of focus settled over her as She-Ra arrived, and she cast a final glance at the departing train.

Scorpia watched as Adora closed her eyes. She never really asked what She-Ra could do - she knew her powers included, for example, picking up tanks and hitting really hard with a magic sword, but anything beyond that was sort of fuzzy still. It might have been wise to ask about it on the flight over, actually. "So you're doing what, exactly?"

"That's a good question," Adora admitted. "The idea is that She-Ra can see magic, or sense it, or something. And it's sort of true. I get a feeling around powerful magic. But apparently this source wasn't very powerful at all." She sighed and reached down for her satchel, but it wasn't there. She gasped. "Did I leave my bag on the train?"

"I think, uh... She-Ra just sort of absorbed it," Scorpia replied.

Adora frowned. "I never thought about it before," she muttered, and transformed back to grab the holo-pad Entrapta had let them borrow. "How did she say this thing worked? I should have taken notes. I was too busy studying the map."

Scorpia looked over her shoulder. "I - I don't remember. She said a lot of terms and they all just, uh, went away as soon as we left."

"Uh, m-menu," Adora mumbled, tapping at the screen. "Hold on. There's a directory. Why did she have to make it so complicated?"