Azure's POV

The palace was a maze of chaos, and I suffered in silence while Noah tried, and failed to make conversations.

"So, when you guys were gone on this last trip; Petra, and I went on this hunt, and we actually took down a whole bot by ourselves. No armor, no tactics, it was just like she could read my mind." He blabbered.

I could practically feel him sweating, he was no nervous. I bared my teeth and looked him in the eyes.

"Noah, that's great n' all, but you can relax. Petra already told me about you two." Noah looked shocked for a moment, but I kept walking.

He shook out of it and followed closely.

"Listen, listen, Azure. I was way too nervous to even ask you what you wanted." I scoffed and turned to face him.

"Noah, I'm sick of hearing that. You do not need my permission, it's your life! I'm just mad you didn't want to tell me." I gushed, and he lowered his massive head.

"I get it. Next rime something like that happens, I'll let you hear it from me." He pressed his forehead against mine, and I sighed, leaning into his touch.

It did not take much to navigate the maze. We could retrace by sent, detect threat by sound, and see any unmoving danger with sight. It was ten minutes of searching before a sent, that was strangely glittery in my senses, caught my attention.

"Glimmer." I perked up, and Noah nodded, sniffing.

"Adora too. But no Bow." My ears flattened, and I looked down, guiltily.

How could I have been so stupid as to let him slip though my fingers -err, rather paws- Into the darkness? Noah was already ahead of me by a few yards, and I quickly followed. I saw Adora, and Glimmer farther down the hall, both panting.

"Okay no more teleporting from now on." Adora gasped and set Glimmer down.

"Sounds like a good idea." She agreed.

There was a thump, and I looked up. The sound was in the vents. A very human sent wafted through the vent with the cool air.

"Oh, not again." Glimmer said turning towards our direction, and the sound, clearly not seeing us.

The vent lid dropped off the wall and clattered to the ground. I watched with raised hackles, and bared teeth as something lifted itself out of the vent. The person was female, smelling of sweet frosting, and motor oil, a strangely pleasant smell. But when she stepped towards Adora, and Glimmer into the light, I knew I could stand down.

"Princesses, I'm saved!" The heat mask lifted off the face of Princess Entrapta.

She was short, taller than Glimmer but right now everything seemed short. She had long lilac hair, and wore deep violet overalls, with pink undersides. Her shirt was a two piece, a white tank top, and a black shung of sorts.

"Princess Entrapta? I mean it's so good to see you! I hope you don't mind, we let ourselves in." Glimmer said, switching tones multiple times.

From confusion, to forced joy, then sheepish chuckles.

"And then we let ourselves out of your cage trap thing." Adora cleared her throat in her fist.

"Welcome to Dryl! Things are usually fun our here but right now it's all a little bit deadly." Entrapta said, swishing around, riding her hair. Adora, and Glimmer exchanged a look.

Noah nudged me as he walked past, and towards the others trying to make light sound for them to not be startled with. It almost worked, Entrapta still yelped, and fell back over her hair.

"Noah!" Glimmer gasped, and Noah nodded his large head, looking back at me.

I quickly stepped forward and pressed my face to Glimmer's shoulder. He hugged me around my large head, and I stepped back.

"Princess Entrapta, these are our friends. This is Princess Azure, and Prince Noah of Lupin." At this Entrapta jumped up.

"Lupin?" She oohed.

"That was the kingdom who worked the dig sites." She clapped her hands quietly and swooped over to us.

I reeled back as she rested her chin in her hand as she used her hair to open my mouth. She examined my teeth. "Fascinating." She oohed.

Noah shifted back to human form, and Entrapta started looking him over. She plucked out a hair from his head, and even did a swab from his mouth, all before he could protest.

I shifted back to human from, and stumbled a little, my right leg giving slightly. Adora steadied me, and I thanked her, brushing off my clothes: A russet button up shirt, tight bust with Bishop Sleeves. I wore a high wasted cream skirt that had silted sides up to my high thighs so I could run freely. I also wore my brown hiking boots.

We moved on quickly, and I did most of my dressing while moving.

"You're lucky I found you. I designed the castle as a labyrinth, I'm the only one who can navigate it." Entrapta said, back walking.

She huffed as she bumped into one of the walls. I admired the kitten picture with amusement and walked on.

"Which means you can help us find our friend?" Glimmer asked.

"Absolutely." Entrapta chuckled, and hoped down, landing on a floor below us which was only ten feet below.

I landed in a crouch, using my right leg to balance. I stood up, and Noah was eyeing me funny for only a moment. I looked at the wall were a terribly similar kitten picture hung. Adora recognized it too.

"Is she sure about that?" She asks looking at me, and I shrugged.

"I think we passed this picture already." Glimmer called over politely.

"Isn't it cute? You might be right. I usually have my electronic map to get around, but like my bots its sort of evil right now." She said holding up a small electronic tablet, which reminded me of Bow's.

It was red, with a blinking face of frustration.

"Um Yeah, about that-" Glimmer started, trying to be polite.

"Why did you invent killer robots?" Adora deadpanned.

"You're abnormally tall." Entrapta said pulling out a tape measure and sizing up Adora.

"Hello! I like your sword, it's first one's tech, can I touch it?" Entrapta said reaching for the sword.

Adora moved us of her reach, hand on the hilt.

"Um, thank you, yes, and no, not right now." Adora said.

"About the killer robots?" Noah tried again.

"They didn't start out that way. Usually, they're super helpful, and do almost everything for me." Entrapta started.

"Cleaning, filing, basic hygiene. Oh, and they're sound activated, here I'll show you." She said, and began to clap her hands, but I intercepted her mid clap.

"Maybe let's make the Robots like us first, and then you can show us." I smiled, trying to be all friendly like.

There was a rumbling sound, and a large robot almost the size, and width of the corridors, rounded the corner. It turned to us with glowing eyes and roared. Noah groaned, and grabbed my hand.

"Time to go,"

We started running, and I managed to whip a hand forward, and grab a mesmerized Entrapta by the arm, and drag her with us. Looking back, I saw the bot demolish the kitten picture.

"Isn't it adorable?" Entrapta laughed.

We stopped as the bot stuck behind a few of the lower set iron woven pillars. It let out a screeching roar, sounding like nails against a chalkboard. I covered my ears and ground my teeth.

"It's trying to talk!" Entrapta said excitedly, running over to it.

"Whatever it's trying to say, I don't think it's good." Glimmer called after her.

"Make it stop." Adora begged from the floor.

"Make what stop?" Noah asked trying to help her up.

"Bot 329 is attempting to communicate." She said, and just as the recorder clicked the metal keeping it back bent, and broke open.

I saw Entrapta's hair entangle itself the large dust sweepers on the bottom of the bot.

"Ah! Oh no, bad bot!" She shouted, trying to stay up top.

"Princess!" Adora shouted and whipped out her sword. With a few quick slashes, Adora stick her sword into the bot's face.

It powered down, and Entrapta fell, but Noah caught her, and set her down gently.

There was loud banging from the top of the bot, and I looked up to see Adora banging away at the Bot's head.

"She-Ra stop!" Glimmer shouted, teleporting up to Adora.

Her breathing was off, and heavy. She smelled and acted strange. Glimmer took hold of the sword to keep her from slashing.

"Turn it off, turn it off!" She cried.

I leapt up and kicked the sword our of Adora's hands. It stuck in a sweeper, and Adora changed back, and keeled over backwards, passed out as Glimmer caught her just in time.

We sat in the halls, Noah keeping watch while I did some medical help. I elevated her legs, trying to get the blood back to her head. I checked her pulse, normal. Her breathing was good, and her eyes responded okay to the flashlight.

"Maybe she got some kind of headache from the sound, she could have gotten hit in the head at some point too." I informed Glimmer who pulled Adora closer.

"Adora please wake up, come on Adora." Glimmer pleaded.

"The tall girl seems infected too, she turned less tall. How does it work?" Entrapta said, measuring Adora again.

"She's not an it, she's my friend, ad what do you mean, infected?" Glimmer asked with narrowed eyes.

Noah swapped watch with me, and I looked around, training my ears to hear any movement.

"It's really fascinating. I've been experimenting with a disc recovered from a mine. It was a game changer. It held more complete First Ones code than anything else I'd ever seen before. But it seems to have reacted to the First Ones tech powering my bots." Entrapta explained.

"It infected them with some sort of a virus?" I asked looking back at them.

I was not too good with tech, but I did know what a virus was.

"But why would that make She-Ra sick?" Glimmer asked, looking up at Entrapta.

"Well I'd have to take her apart to be sure." Entrapta said, sheepishly holding up a scalpel.

Glimmer glared, and pulled Adora to her chest, and Noah gingerly took the scalpel from Entrapta, and closed it.

"But since her sword is First Ones tech, it must have spread through that." Entrapta thought aloud.

"First, you are not taking her apart, she is a person. Second, if we destroy this disc will that turn off the bots, and stop the virus?" Glimmer snapped at Entrapta.

"Destroy it? But the experiment isn't complete." Entrapta said, tensing up.

"I think it's safe for us to say this experiment is a failure!" Glimmer snapped spreading her arms. "But what if it's not- no, you're right, it's a failure." Entrapta admitted, defeated.

Adora groaned from the ground, and I walked over to check her our again.

"Glimmer! There's two of you! That's nice..." She exclaimed woozily.

"How are you feeling?" Glimmer whispered to her.

"Just peachy! Why are we whispering?" Adora asked back as she sat up.

"Sound activates the robots." Glimmer whispered again.

"What robots!?" Adora shouted, and Glimmer's eyes opened in wild terror.

"The ones that are attacking us." Glimmer hurriedly whispered back.

"Oh, those robots." Adora groaned.

"Okay, I'm gonna take a nap." Adora said, and I shook my head, softly shaking her shoulder.

"Adora, you have to stay awake; you might have a concussion." I said.

"We have to go to Entrapta's lab, and destroy this disc thing, and you'll be all better again." Glimmer said hopefully, and Adora snickered.

"Better? I'm fine, I'm She-Ra!" Adora snorted a laugh, and her head fell back.

"Hi Glimmer." She gurgled again. Noah arched a brow.

"Well that seemed like it could be better." He said, and I shrugged as stood up.

"Come on, we've got to get to your lab, she's getting worse." Glimmer said, and looked at Noah, who picked up Adora, and we started to follow Entrapta.

First, she led us past a painting with a younger version of her elf with two robots depicted inside. We walked left, turned around in the hall, went past the picture right, and Entrapta moved us to the other side of the wall, via painting of a pug. Glimmer groaned when she found her cape stuck in the wall, and Entrapta flipped her around, and Glimmer growled at her. We rounded a corner and sat down for a breather as Entrapta tried to remember the way though.

"Aha!" She exclaimed and started walking away again.

Glimmer gasped, and I turned to see her standing up, and run off onto the hall, no Adora.

We walked for a while until Glimmer was dragging her feet, and Entrapta backtracked to us, and exclaimed happily.

"Oh, we're here! I mean of course we're here. We were never lost." Entrapta said sheepishly.

Entrapta ran up to a large door, clearly protected by tech. She used her strange hair to click away at the keyboard. Her whole body jolted with electricity, her eyes wide, and shocked. Until smoking she turned to us and spoke.

"Wow, the door's infected too! It won't let us in." She informed us, and I narrowed my eyes.

"Can we just assume that all tech here doesn't like us." I stated, and Noah hid his booming laughter in his sleeve.

"It's so smart, and awful. We're all going to die." She said her enthusiasm diminishing.

"It's okay, I've got this one. I'll just teleport into the lab," Glimmer started.

"Ooh teleportation. How does it work? Tell me everything." Entrapta grinned, pulling out a recorder, and a pad of paper.

"Sure, maybe later, when we're not facing a robot uprising." Glimmer scowled impatiently.

"It's a date!" Entrapta clapped excitedly, and Glimmer walked over to Adora, who Noah had leaned against a wall.

"I'll be back." Glimmer informed her, and Adora nodded. "Okay, I'm just gonna wait here, heh." She sniggered quietly.

Glimmer teleported into the door, and a few sparkles linger which Entrapta took the liberty of catching one in a test tube. No sooner than she had teleported in there was a lot of noise. Crashing, roaring, started shouts, the door was banged on a few times. Glimmer teleported back out, panting heavily.

"That was not such a great plan, the lab is very full of bots." She huffed.

"How did they look?" Entrapta asked.

"Pretty evil, I couldn't get anywhere near the disc," Glimmer admitted.

There was a thudding sound, and I whipped around to see a large bot, wearing... a hat, oddly enough.

"Time to go." I said in a panicked sing song tone.

Noah hoisted Adora on his back, and I attacked the oncoming bot. I wound back, and round housed it in the face. It flew back a few steps, and wobbled, but by then I was out of there. We raced down a hall, robots filing out of doors, and hobbling after us. Throwing ourselves into a small dark hallway, we held our breath as the bots passed us. Something grabbed my arm, and I pulled away with a yelp, as a robot stood behind us. It joined the new masses that followed us, and we kept running.

Entrapta pulled out here recorder.

"Incredible development, the bots seem to be working together." She said, as we ran. I leaned over and spoke into the recorder.

"This would be great if they weren't trying to kill us." I added teasingly, and Entrapta cackled a small laugh.

"We need to find another way into that lab." Glimmer said, and Entrapta nodded. "The air duct, we can use that." She said, and I looked to Noah, who gave a thumbs up.

Adora on his back gave one too.

Glowing eyes ahead alerted me to the inevitable fact that we had been caught. The ones up ahead had formed a wall of protection, and we were caught in the center, the bots closed in, and I stood with my first at the ready. I dug a hand into my bag and found a pocketknife. It would not do much good for me now, but I was okay with that. I brandished it over my arm and spread my legs a little in a fighting stance. I snarled, baring pointed fangs.

"I don't suppose you have any other magical powers that could be useful right now?" Entrapta asked, and I assumed she directed the question to Glimmer.

"I don't have enough energy to teleport us all. Not without leaving someone's legs behind." Glimmer panted.

"I'll give up one of mine, if you give up one of yours." Entrapta said, and Noah stood next to me, his teeth abnormally sharpened like mine.

There was a roar from the masses, and Entrapta groaned nervously, and entangled her purple hair around us. I screwed my eyes tight and wondered about Petra. How she would feel when we did not come back... when Noah does not come back...

I clung to Noah, Entrapta's purple hair, Adora's limp arm, and pressed my back into Glimmer. There was a splintering sound of something breakable shattering on the floor. I opened my eyes to see almost nothing. There was a splat, some cheers, and whoops, then I saw Bow, I heard his hammering heart before I saw him, and I pried myself out of Entrapta's hair.

"Glimmer look!" I called, and she looked to where I pointed.

"It's Bow!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yay, There's rainbow!" Adora slurred.

Bow was back to back with a boy who had just downed a bot with a fizzy drink, then smashed it over its head. Bow smiled at him over his shoulder.

"How are you doing?" He asked, and the guy smiled.

"I'm getting the hang of this." They split off, and I ran over to join the fight.

I slashed upward, cutting though a bot's head, and jumped to the side as another barreled towards me, and instead, smashed into the bot I had wrecked.

There was a giggle amid all this, and I saw Noah with a girl who had blindfolded a bot. He kicked it into a group of the bots, and high-fived her.

"Bow! You're okay, I was so worried." Glimmer said and tugged him towards Entrapta.

"Big fan of your work Princess Entrapta. Maybe not this work, but your other work" Bow said to her. She chuckled, and blushed.

"Hi." I felt a sharp sting go through my chest, and I looked away.

"Hi." Adora slurred.

"You okay Adora?" Bow asked her, and I looked up. She looked higher than the ceiling for sure.

"Yeah, sure, I'm totally-" Adora snorted, and I steadied her quickly.

"Entrapta was experimenting with First ones tech it infected all her machines with some kind of virus, it infected She-Ra's sword, and made Adora all-" Glimmer gestured to Adora who poked Entrapta's hair, then jumped back a little when it moved.

"Weird... I teleported into the lab, but its full of bots. Maybe if we had She-Ra we would have a chance, but now its hopeless." Glimmer groaned.

"We don't need She-Ra, we can do this together." His new group from the kitchens backed him up, and I smiled.