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It was another day of life in the Fright Zone for little Adora and Catra, as the two young girls chased one another down one of the Fortress’s darkened hallways. There wasn’t really a great deal for two young girls to really do in the Fright Zone, but Adora and Catra always managed to make their own fun when they could.
Adora panted as she kept chasing Catra, the felid jumping up to a nearby cable to swing a great distance ahead of her. Of course she knew where that cable was, she knew these hallways like the back of her hand, whereas Adora had usually been told to remain in her barracks.
"Catra, wait up!" Adora exclaimed, as her much faster friend scampered down the hallway, leaping from wall to wall, clutching onto the steel with her little claws. Though Adora was an athletic girl, Catra was naturally much faster thanks to her feline agility. There were some days… that Adora wished she was a catgirl too.
She’d be covered in soft fur, be very flexible and able to fit into the smallest spaces, have beautiful shimmering eyes that glowed in the dark, and cool little claws that could cut through anything. Catra would sometimes lament being different from the other Horde Cadets, but Adora would honestly love to be something more than a plain old human.
"You're too slow, Adora!" Catra snarked back, as she rounded the corner. “You need to cut down on the ration bars!”
“Very funny!” Adora remarked, pouting a little.
Suddenly, Catra stopped her frantic sprint down the hallway and ducked behind a large crate. When she eventually caught up to her friend, Adora quickly got behind that same crate, confused as to why Catra had stopped. Didn’t Catra want to beat her to the forge again?
"Hey, what are you doing?" Adora asked, before Catra pressed a finger over her lips.
"Shhh," Catra whispered, a finger over her lips, before she pointed forward.
At the other end of the hallway, stood a, purple skinned arachnid woman with four spider legs protruding from her back, wearing the dark red uniform of the Horde's Force Captains, a red scanning visor over her left eye. Adora instantly recognised her and her eyes widened in awe.
"Force Captain Tarangela!" Adora exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah, I wonder what she's doing down here," Catra inquired.
"Maybe she’s on guard duty?" Adora wondered.
“A super important Force Captain here on guard duty, on level fifteen?” Catra remarked. “C’mon, Adora, you know there’s barely anything down here aside from storage rooms. I do pay attention in training.”
Adora stared in surprise at that statement, but she then smiled. Despite how everyone would pick on her, Adora knew Catra studied just as hard as she did and was probably just as smart as her, even if it looked like she just slacked off at first glance. The blonde girl then looked at Tarangela, who was tapping her fingers on a small pad in her hand.
"She looks so cool... I hope we can be Force Captains some day, they’re awesome.”
"Yeah, they get all the best gear and the coolest missions," Catra admitted, before she looked down. "And all the respect. But I doubt that even if we got promoted to Force Captain, Shadow Weaver would suddenly stop being a jerk to us.”
"Yeah..." Adora sighed, before she did a little fist pump. "Then we'll just have to be the best Force Captains ever! She'll take us seriously then!"
Catra had to smile a little, before she spied a shadow moving closer to Tarangela. "Get your head down, someone's coming."
In walked another Force Captain, a bulky, green-skinned, pink haired woman, dressed in very bulky, slightly scuffed body armour. Catra recognised her from the personnel files she'd had to memorise about the Horde’s victories during their war against the Princesses. "Zekara!"
"Zekara and Tarangela?" Adora was now even more confused. "That makes two Force Captains!”
Their confusion was soon cleared up when a moment later, Tarangela put down her datapad and smiled fondly at Zekara. "Took you long enough, babe."
"Sorry about that. I had to ask Mantenna to cover my shift," Zekara replied. "You know how much of a pain in the butt that little guy can be."
"Yeah, surprised Hordak hasn't just chucked him down a trap door already," Tarangela sighed. "But I'm glad you're here. It's been a long day."
"Well good news for you, Tara’, I’m off duty for the rest of the night," Zekara said, wrapping her arms around Tarangela. "And I plan to spend every last moment of it with a certain gorgeous arachnid I know.”
"Now, Succy, you’re gonna make me blush if you keep that up," Tarangela hissed flirtatiously, before she leaned in... and kissed Zekara passionately on the lips. Her spider legs wrapped tightly around her partner, as did her humanoid limbs. Zekara kissed her back, growlingly slightly into the kiss.
Adora's eyes widened in surprise, as did Catra's.
"What are they doing?!" Adora exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "Is Tarangela trying to eat Zekara?!”
Catra facepalmed. For a girl who was supposedly smart, Adora really was as dumb as a brick some days. “She’s not eating her, you dummy! She’s… I don’t know, it’s something I’ve seen other grown ups do.”
"Ohhhhh!" Adora realised. "Why are they doing it?"
"I think... They really like each other. Like grown ups when they like each other do that… lips thing, whatever it is.”
Before they could say anything else, the two of them heard a voice roaring from the nearby stairwell. "YOU TWO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" The booming voice filled Adora and Catra’s little hearts with fear and panic, the two little girls knowing exactly who those bellows belonged to.
Tarangela and Zekara both broke from their kiss, staring in horror as Shadow Weaver loomed over them, her hair rippling like a mass of dark tentacles. "S-Shadow Weaver!" Zekara cried out in horror.
"So this is where you snuck off to, Zekara," Shadow Weaver. "I would have expected such insolence from my wards, but you ? One of our best Force Captains?! I didn’t think you were capable of such disrespect.”
"Please Shadow Weaver!" Tarangela pleaded, getting in front of her girlfriend. "Don't blame her! I was the one who asked her to come here! I’m the one who should be punished!”
"Silence both of you!" Shadow Weaver snarled, before she summoned a bolt of dark magic that coiled around Tarangela and pinned her to the nearby wall. Tarangela tried to break free, but the witch’s magic was much too powerful even for her. Zekara moved in closer, but Weaver raised her other hand, threatening to do the same to her.
"You should know such relationships are forbidden in the Horde,” Shadow Weaver scowled. “You should be focused on your duties, not each other., not on... pathetic distractions like this.”
"I am focused on my duties!" Zekara argued, hands on her chest. "I've put my blood sweat and tears into the Horde. Don't I deserve at least some happiness for myself?! Don’t I deserve love!?”
“Love? Happiness? You sound like a Princess.” Weaver narrowed her eyes. “I thought I had trained you better than this.”
"Babe, stop… ACK!!" Tarangela cried, before Weaver’s tendril suddenly snaked around her neck, choking her slightly. “Please Shadow Weaver!”
“You Tarangela, I should have figured you were not emotionally fit for duty,” she scowled. “Especially not after your cousin Succubug ended up dead. Shame, she at least was a loyal soldier!”
“Don’t… talk… about… her like that!” Tarangela strained.
Zekara rushed forward, trying to save her girlfriend, but with her other hand, Shadow Weaver fired a bolt of magical lightning, zapping the reptillian woman in the chest and sending her flying into the nearby wall with a massive thud. As she groaned, Zekara found herself being ensnared in Weaver’s tendrils, both Force Captains now being held up in the air.
"It seems you two will have to be properly disciplined!" Weaver declared, as her tendrils began to electrocute the two in her magical grasp.
Catra quickly grabbed Adora's hand, knowing that they were as good as dead if they stayed here. "Run!" She exclaimed, before dragging Adora away, the two of them sprinting down the corridor as fast as their little feet could carry them. Before they left the floor they were on, they heard the sounds of Zekara and Tarangela’s blood-curdling screams from behind them.
By the time they reached the barracks and rushed under their double bunk, both of their little hearts were racing, Catra letting out frantic little purrs to try and calm herself down. If Shadow Weaver had seen either of them there.... well, they both shuddered to think what would have happened to them.
"That... was close," Adora admitted.
"No kidding," Catra replied. "Still wanna be a Force Captain now?"
Adora... didn't reply, she just crawled out from under the bed and climbed onto her bed. She looked down, confused as to why Tarangela and Zekara had been punished like that. After all, they were two of the Horde’s best officers. "Tarangela and Zekara... what were they doing wrong? They seemed so happy together.”
"Well, you know Shadow Weaver. I'm pretty sure she was born without a heart," Catra tried to joke as she hopped onto the bed next to Adora, but her friend wasn't laughing. Wrapping her arms around Adora, Catra did her best to comfort her friend, but Adora still seemed depressed.
"She said... they were distracting each other," Adora whimpered, before she looked at Catra. "What... if she says you're a distraction to me?"
"Well, I'm not!" Catra argued. "You're the only good thing in this place as far as I'm concerned. I don't care what she does to you or me... I still..." Catra hesitated.
"You... what?" Adora wondered, curious.
Catra took in a deep breath... and reached in, planting her lips on Adora's own. It lasted but a moment, before she pulled away, covering her mouth, her cheeks blushing bright red.
"Catra..." Adora whispered, taken aback by her friend's kiss.
The catgirl blushed. "That was because I like you."
Adora reached over, taking Catra's hand. "I... like you too."