AU: Horde Adora

Adora puts on her Horde belt, pulls on her red and white boots, puts her hair in a ponytail, puts on green glass armor that lights up. She punches and kicks a punching bag. She then gurgles and spits in a sink, and salutes while looking in a mirror. She mimics gunshots and turns around. She looks at a picture of a dark lady hovering over frightened Horde members.

Adora: “Hey, Princess. You looking at me?”

She shouts and hits the bag with a big kick.

Woman over PA: “All squadrons, report to training area immediately for evaluation.”

Adora steps and stands at attention with Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio.

Adora (whispers): “Psst, anyone seen Catra?”

Everyone shakes their head.

Adora (scoffs): “Not again.”

Blue furred Sargent: “At attention, cadets. Your simulation is about to begin. Here’s your scenario. You’ll be passing through the treacherous Whispering Woods, to reach the heart of rebel insurgency, Bright Moon. Your mission is to defeat the Queen of the Princesses, and liberate Bright Moon in Lord Hordak’s name. Where is Catra?”

Adora: “She will be here. I promise.”

Sargent: “Mm hmm. The Whispering Woods is full of princesses. Vicious, violent instigators. They will take you out if given the chance. Don’t give it to them. Good luck, recruits.”

The recruits enter a simulation area with metal pillars and neon honeycomb structured floor. Adora scans the area with her glasses. She spots a robot with an image of a princess over it.

Adora: “Watch out!”

Lonnie: “Oh no, no, no!”

The group runs and scatters as the robots fire lasers at them.

Rogelio jumps over a laser.

Adora throws a grenade at a robot, which explodes.

Adora: “Come on, this way.”

Catra sits atop a metal structure and then jumps.

Kyle gets hit with a laser and a red x appears on his chest.

Kyle: “Aw, dang it.”

Adora: “Seriously, Kyle?”

Lonnie: “Bra-vo.”

Rogelio shakes his head.

Adora and the others look up to see eight more bots overhead.

Lonnie: “Seriously, Kyle?”

Adora: (blocks the lasers with her armored arm) “Run!”

Lonnie: “Adora!”

Alarms beep, and parts of the floor collapse, Adora avoiding them.

A big robot appears, with an image of the Queen with bat wings through Adora’s glasses.

Adora dodges the lasers and pulls out a pole. She jumps using the pole and then hits the laser cannons on the robot with the pole. She then delievers a finishing blow and jumps before it explodes.

Catra casually strolls along and pushes the rest of the bot through the hole. She smiles and points downward. The floor collapses and Adora is left hanging from her pole.

Catra: “Hey, Adora? How’s it hanging?”

Adora: “Catra, did you really show up late and let us do all the hard parts? That is low, even for you.”

Catra: “Aw. You know nothing’s too low for me. (laughs) Come on, you look stupid hanging down there.”

Catra extends her hand and Adora takes it, Catra helping her up.

Woman over PA: “Training exercise successfully completed.”

In the locker room, Adora hangs her belt.

Catra: (laughs) “You should have seen your face. You were like, “Aah, no! Betrayal.”

Adora: “Oh, come on, Catra. We’re senior cadets now. I can’t believe you’re still pulling such childish, immature…is that a mouse?”

Catra; “What? Where?”

Adora: (laughs) “Are you ever going to not fall for that?”

Catra: “I don’t know. Are you ever going to let it go? That was one time.”

Adora: “I know, but for some reason, it’s always funny.”

Shadow Weaver: “Adora.”

Adora (salutes): “Shadow Weaver.”

Shadow Weaver: “You have done well. You’ve completed your training course in record time.”

Adora: “Uh, well that wasn’t just me. You know, Catra did, too.”

Shadow Weaver: “Ah, yes. How someone as unmotivated as you completed the course in that time, I’ll never know.”

Catra: “Always serving up those pep talks, huh, Shadow Weaver?”

Shadow Weaver: “Silence! Do not be flippant with me, cadet.”

Catra: “Sorry, Shadow Weaver.”

Shadow Weaver: “Adora, walk with me. Adora.”

Shadow Weaver: “Lord Hordak has been watching you. He thinks you are a fine candidate for Force Captain.”

Adora: “Really? Force Captain? Lord Hordak said that about me?”

Shadow Weaver: “Yes. He sees great promise in you. In fact, he has elected you the honor of leading a squadron in the invasion of the rebel Fortress of Thaymor.”

Adora: “Thaymor? You mean we’re finally seeing active duty?”

Shadow Weaver: “You are seeing active duty.”

Adora: “But I’ll be able to bring my team along, right?”

Shadow Weaver: “Your team is not ready. They’ll only slow you down.”

Adora: “Shadow Weaver, with respect, they’ve been training hard for this, too. And Catra, all she wants is to get out there and prove herself.”

Shadow Weaver: “Then she should have worked harder to prove herself to me.”

Shadow Weaver uses dark purple magic to conjure a Horde badge in her hand, yellow with green bat wings.

Shadow Weaver: “This is what I raised you for, Adora.  Now is your chance to prove yourself.”

Adora takes the badge.

Shadow Weave: “I saw talent in you the moment I found you as an orphan child and took you in. Is this not what you’ve wanted since you were old enough to want anything?”

Shadow Weaver leads her to a window with a view of the metal buildings of the Fright Zone under an orange sky.

Adora: “Yes.”

Shadow Weaver: “With you at the forefront, we will crush the Bright Moon Rebellion once and for all. Do not disappoint me.”

Adora stands outside, holding the badge and then putting it on her red shirt.

Catra leaps onto Adoraand notices the badge.

Catra: “What’d she say? Hey, what’s this?”

Adora: “Hey! Give it back.”

Catra leaps onto a pipe and looks at the badge.

Catra smiles and holds up the badge. Catra: “No way. You’ve been promoted?”

Adora: “Well, kind of. I mean, yeah, I guess. Heh. But it’s not a big deal.”

Catra leaps down.

Catra: “Are you kidding? That is awesome. We’re gonna see the world and conquer it. Adora, I need to blow something up.”

Catra purrs and her eyes shine.

Adora: “Um…”

Catra: “What?”

Adora: “Shadow Weaver says you’re not coming.”

Catra: “What?! My time was just as good as yours today. What is her problem with me?”

Adora: “I mean, you are kind of disrespectful.”

Catra: “Why should I respect her? She’s bitter that she doesn’t have any real power that doesn’t come from Hordak and everyone knows it. I guess it sure must be easy being a people pleaser like you.”

Catra leaps away.

Adora: “I am not a pe…”

Adora: “Catra, wait!”

Adora uses a grabbling hook to reach Catra on a ledge, an orange moon overhead.

Adora: “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think you wanted to be a Force Captain.”

Catra: “I don’t. Here, take your stupid badge.” Catra tosses it back.

Adora: “Come on, Catra. This is what I’ve been working for my entire life. I was hoping you could be, I don’t know, happy for me.”

Catra: “Ugh. Whatever. It’s not like I even care. I just wanna get out of this dump at some point before I die of boredom. I wonder what’s even outside the Fright Zone, anyway?”

Adora: “Why don’t we go find out?”

Adora holds up a key and she and Catra ride in the distance on a metal flying boat.

Catra: “I take it all back. You’re officially awesome. I can’t believe you actually stole a skiff.”

Adora: “Borrowed. Please don’t make me regret this.”

Catra: “I’ve always wanted to drive one of these things. Here, give me.”

Adora: “Whoa there. Save us enough fuel to get back.”

Catra: “That is a problem for future Adora and Catra.”

Noth fight over the skiff.

“I’m driving.”

“I want it.”

Catra: “Can’t have it!”

“Let me.”

“Give me. I’m doing it.”

Catra: “I want it.”

Adora: “No, I got it. Catra!”

They stop in front of the woods.

Catra: “What is it?”

Adora: “I think this must be the Whispering Woods.  They say there are strange old monsters in there, and the trees move when you’re not looking. Every Horde squadron they’ve sent in there has never come out again.”

Catra: “Let’s go in.”

Adora: “Wait, what? (yells)”

Catra: “Woo-hoo!”

Adora: “Catra, slow down! Catra, tree. Tree!”

The skiff goes up through the trees. Adora falls.
Catra: “Adora!”

Catra: “Hey, Adora. Adora!”

Adora: “Catra, what happened?”

Catra: “You fell out of the skiff after you drove it into a tree.”

Adora: “No, you drove it into a tree.”

Catra: “Ah, up for debate. Let’s go.”

The two of them drive back.

Catra: “Adora.”

Adora wakes up in her bunk bed.

Catra: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Adora. Heh. Since when do you sleep in?”

Catra: “Of course you dream about work. There’s nothing to fix, Adora. Everything’s perfect.”

Catra: “Come on, get up.” Catra laughs and runs out of the room.

Adora puts on her red jacket and stares at the Horde badge on her in the mirror.

Catra and Adora walk down the hall while soldiers in armor give them salutes from the sides.

Horde soldiers: “Adora. It’s really her. It’s her. It’s Adora.”

Four soldiers give her a salute, presumably, Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle.

Adora salutes them, turns around. The soldiers clap and cheer, two giving each other a high five.

Soldiers: “We love you, Adora. Yeah. Yes. All right.”

Adora: “What are they all looking at?”

Catra: “You. The Invasion of Thaymor went perfectly. You’re the hero of the hour.”

Adora: “Yeah, I defeated the rebel insurgents at Thaymor. Yeah, I did that.”

Catra: “Oh please, you couldn’t have done it without me.”

Adora and Rogelio salute each other.

Adora: “Right. What would I ever do without you?”

She playfully elbows Catra and they laugh. Catra runs into a soldier.

Soldier: “Hey, watch where you’re going, twerp.”

Adora glares.

Soldier: “Force Captain. I didn’t know you were…I’m so sorry.”

Adora: “You’d better be. Dismissed.”

Catra and Adora both laugh out loud.

Catra (jokes): “Oh Force Captain, don’t hurt me.”

Both laugh.

Catra: “Too good.”

Adora: “Where are we going again?”

Catra: “The locker room. There’s something I wanna show you.”

Catra: “Do you get a concussion? I know you get hit on the head a lot. But I figured your dumb little poof of hair would cushion the blow.”

Adora; “I’m fine, okay? Don’t make me kick your butt.”

Catra: “Pfft. As if you could.” (both laugh and run into the locker room)

Lonnie and Kyle: “Surprise.”

Adora: “Huh?”

Rogelio, Lonnie and Kyle greet them.

Kyle holds lump of hard gray cake with a sketch of Adora’s head with her pony tail, poof of hair, and grin.

Adora: “What is this? Are those ration bars?”

Lonnie: “We wouldn’t have been able to defeat the rebels at Thaymor without you. Plus, you were the one who talked Shadow Weaver into letting us come. So, we all pitched in, took Kyle’s ration bars for a week, and made this.”

Kyle: “I’m hungry, but celebrating your victory is worth it.”

Adora hugs Lonnie and Kyle.

Adora: “You guys. You even got the gray kind. It’s way better than the brown kind.”

Lonnie: “Hey, it was Catra’s idea.”

Adora: “Oh, yeah?” She grins over at Catra.

Catra: “Eh, whatever, don’t make a big deal about it.”

Adora; “Wow, I can’t believe you like me. That is so embarrassing for you.”

Adora rubs Catra’s head.

Catra: “Ow. Stop it. Get off. This is not because I like you.”

Catra leaps onto Adora and they both laugh on the floor.

Kyle stumbles and drops the food, splattering gray splats. Kyle: “No. No, no, no.”

Lonnie: “Oh, come on, Kyle.”

Kyle: “Sorry.”

Catra and Adora laugh.

Rogelio throws gray splat at Lonnie and laughs.

Kyle: “Dang it.”

Catra: “Whatever.”

The cadets have a food fight.

Catra: “Hang on. You’ve got something right there.” She throws gray stuff onto Adora’s cheek and laughs.

Shadow Weaver: “Adora. Get off the floor. You are the Force Captain who sacked Thaymor.”

Adora stands up. Adora: “Sorry, Shadow Weaver.”

Shadow Weaver: “And you.” (Points at Catra.) She wipes the gray stuff from her cheek with her thumb.

Shadow Weaver: “Look at you. You’re a mess. Get yourself cleaned up. You’re no longer children. I have high hopes for you both. Do not waste your time on such foolish games.”

Catra: “Yes, Shadow Weaver.”

Shadow Weaver: “Adora, come with me.”

Lonnie slaps gray stuff into Kyle’s face.

Adora and Shadow Weaver walk down the hall.

Shadow Weaver: “I will admit, I did not think that Catra and the others were ready to be deployed. But under your command, they performed admirably. You are becoming every bit the leader I always knew you to be.”

Adora: “Thank you, Shadow Weaver. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Shadow Weaver: “Suffice it to say, Hordak is impressed with your performance. He is rewarding you with a new mission.”

Adora: “Really?”

Shadow Weaver leads her to the window.

Shadow Weaver: “You’ll get the rest of the details at briefing. Look at it. This is who you are. The Force Captain, who will lead the Horde to victory. It’s what you’ve always dreamed of. Everything is perfect.”

Shadow Weaver: “Are you ready for the briefing, Adora? Now run along. Don’t keep the sergeant waiting.”

Adora runs into the room, where Scorpia sits next to Rogelio. Octavia and Grizzlor sit in the back row.

Scorpia: “Hi, I’m Scorpia.”

Adora: “Oh hey. Adora.”

Seargant blue furry man: “Welcome, Force Captains. After the perfect execution of our mission in Thaymor…”

Adora gets high fives from Octavia and Grizzlor.

Seargant: “the Horde is now in a better position than ever to take over the rest of Etheria. And here is our next target. The Salineas Sea Gate, separating Horde territory from rebel-controlled waters. We have a week to plan, then, it’s go time, people. Now, it’s possible that you might have to go face-to-face with a princess. They’re powerful and completely devoid of conscience. But it’s possible to take them out. All the information should be in your report.”

Adora and Catra sit outside.

Catra: “Of course, I’m right. Everything’s perfect. Soon, the two of us are gonna be ruling Etheria together just like we always planned.”

Adora: “Is that what you really want? To rule the world?”

Catra: “I mean, yeah, obviously. Everything’ll be perfect as long as we stay together.”

Lonnie: “Adora. Catra. Thought we’d find you up there. Get down here. We’ve got big news.”

Lonnie: “Okay, okay. We just got word, we are being sent to Salineas tonight.”

Adora wins the battle and the Horde take out the Salinas Sea Gate and eventually, Bright Moon.