The Last of Your Kind

Chapter Four: Lungs

It was nearly three years in the making, but finally — finally — they were ready.

Construction was done. The Scorpioni Kingdom was up and running. Brightmoon was thriving, same as Salineas. Etheria had finally reached a point of stability. The planet didn't need its overseers to clean up the mess that Prime and the Eternians had made anymore.

Now, it was time for something bigger.

Entrapta had been working tirelessly at the Best Friend Squad's request. She'd made so many upgrades to Darla that it was hardly the same ship. According to her calculations, they could last months off planet and travel in almost any terrain, which would be necessary given their objective:

An Interplanetary Peace Force. A group meant to help spread the word that Prime truly was gone. If done right, they could help people from different galaxies get back on their feet. After all, just because Prime was defeated, it didn't mean his influence didn't still span star systems, nor did it mean the news of his defeat would be well-received in every realm. From what they'd learnt from their allies, the Star Siblings, there were some planets home to clones entirely. The universe needed help and, with everything settled in Etheria, they finally had the means to provide it.

It only proved that their job was never really done. Adora, for her part, was okay with this — happy, even, to get back into the swing of things. She'd enjoyed the change of pace with rebuilding, but she was ready to jump back into the thick of it.

After all, she was gifted the powers of a magical warrior goddess for a reason. What was the use of that if there was never a good fight waiting out there for her?

Adora, Catra, Glimmer, Bow, and Entrapta would be the main team traveling amongst the stars for the initial trip. There was no timeline in which Adora wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to conduct a space exploration, and Catra obviously was willing to follow Adora to the edge of the earth (or, really, past the edge and into the atmosphere). Glimmer had arranged for her father to take charge while she was gone and Bow was really just excited to meet new people and species (and if Bow was excited, imagine how thrilled Entrapta was at the prospect of so many new discoveries!).

Even better, with Entrapta's new additions to Darla, they could now utilize magic on the ship which meant Glimmer could come and go as she pleased, give or take a couple guests. If they ever wanted to take some time off, they could always weekend in Brightmoon. Or, if any other princesses wanted some entertainment, they could have Glimmer pick them up to travel for a few days.

Despite the direct connection to home, Adora still managed to overpack. For someone who only wore a maximum of three different outfits, she sure could fill a backpack. Whereas Catra had only brought the bare essentials (clothes, her toothbrush, no less than seven fuzzy blankets, and the first three books in the Mer-Mystery series), Adora had packed nearly an entire six month's worth of supplies. This meant food, water, first aid kits, books, board games, blankets (yes, more), and her cartography kit, naturally.

Of all the above items, the cartography kit was probably the most essential. The fun of exploring the unknown would become considerably less fun if they had no way of returning home. Adora gladly took the job, filling notebook after notebook with charts and notes, all written in Eternian.

Bow, on the other hand, had taken up photography. Between him and Adora, they were cataloging menaces and usually would spend far too many late nights comparing notes. While they enjoyed the work, it was still work and their respective partners tended to nag on them for overdoing it at times. This led to a few irritable quips, but usually nothing more than that.

Consequently, with the nerds preoccupied, this led to Catra and Glimmer spending more time together (which was a problem in itself, considering that once those two united forces, they were essentially unstoppable). It was always a gamble on whether the night would end in a heated argument between the two or in devious (sometimes drunken) schemes that would soon become an issue for everyone. Adora admittedly was not a particular fan of having to drag her intoxicated girlfriend back to their room.