She-Ra and the Crystal Gems

Chapter One: Breaching the Barrier

Way out in the distant reaches of space, in a galaxy very far from our own, a pair of starships streaked through the darkness. The smaller of the two bobbed and weaved through the vacuum as bolts of plasma flew from her persuer's cannons, attempting to blow the ship to space dust. The smaller ship was called the Sun Incinerator, and she was captained by Lars of the Stars, accompanied by his loyal crew of off-colors. Currently, they were being hounded by Emerald, a Homeworld air marshal who's stolen ship they were currently piloting.

A blast from Emerald's ship narrowly missed the Sun's hull. "Yow!" the pink human Lars shouted in alarm. "Ol' Emmy's out for blood this time! She's really gone off the deep end!"

"Captain!" said the fusion named Rhodonite. "I-I'm not sure how long we can avoid her cannons! There's nothing out here to hide behind, and the nova thrusters are damaged!"

"Just stay calm, Rhodonite!" Lars said. "We just have to hold off until Fluorite can fix those thrusters!"

"Aaaallmmmooosssst goooooot iiiiiiit…" came the slow voice of Fluorite from below deck.

On Emerald's ship, the Destiny Destroyer, the green Gem cackled to herself with malicious glee. "Those cursed pirates can't possibly escape this time! Target all four cannons for a final assault!" All of the Destiny Destroyer's cannons began to glow with an eerie white light.

"Captain, we're being locked on to!" cried the left-most Rutile twin. "She's locking on to us, Captain!" cried her right-most sister.

Lars tried to reassure his team. "Hold it together, crew, now's not the time to fall to pieces!"

"Too late!" shouted the hysterical Rhodonite.

"Everyone! I've had a premonition!" said the peach-colored Sapphire named Padparadscha. "We're all in terrible danger from an otherworldly foe!"

"Thank you for the update, Pads!" yelled Lars. "Fluorite, are we almost ready to launch!?"

Down below deck, the ship's engine had seen better days. It had followed Rhodonites example, falling to pieces. "Thiiiiiiiss maaaaayy taaaaake a whiiiiile…" Fluorite said.

The Destiny Destroyer's cannons lined up to compensate for the Sun's evasive maneuvers, while Emerald grinned a grin to make a shark envious. "Fire...on my mark," she said giddily. The ship's console began beeping faster and faster, before emitting a steady tone. "NOW!" she shrieked.

Mere seconds before the beams illuminated the blackness, something truly strange happened. An anomaly in space-time appeared directly in front of the Sun Incinerator. A strange distortion only perceptible by her scanners. For a split second, both Rutile twins noticed something odd on the monitor, and just as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared. However, upon vanishing, it took Lars and his crew with it. Beams of plasma speared out into the emptiness past a target that was no longer there, as the Destiny Destroyer slowed to a halt.

Emerald stared out into space in confusion. "What?" she said, bewildered. "What was that?" she asked her crew. "Where are they? Where are we? What is happening!?"

Unbenounced to her, Lars of the Stars had been whisked away to another dimension due to the experiments of a madman. It was a dimension of darkness, where no stars shone, and but a single planet floated in its vast expanse. This dimension existed below the known universe, created by and flowing with dark magic. It was called Despondos.

Deep in the recesses of his metal sanctum, a conqueror of worlds stood, overlooking his latest creation. Below him sat a sizeable room where a ring of metal hooks sat at one end. The way this machine worked, was to punch a hole back to the main universe just long enough to target an object with desirable metal or mineral quantities, and pull it into the room beneath the viewing platform. With this, his army would have a near-endless supply of resources with which to conquer the world.

"My portal technology may not yet be sufficient to bring my main army to this planet, but with this, Etheria will soon be mine," spoke Hordak, leader of the Horde. "And none of it would have been possible without you, my dear lab partner."

"I'm just as excited as you are!" said the target of his praise. An excitable girl with goggles and long purple hair, whose name was Entrapta. "Now, let's fire this bad boy up already!"

Entrapta positioned herself near the portal's control console, prepared to target an asteroid rich in resources ripe for consumption. She knew the chances of it were slim, but she couldn't help but hope that this machine could bring home some First Ones tech. Her supply here in the Fright Zone was beginning to wear thin, and she had long wished for some more to play around with.

"Beginning primary activation sequence," said Hordak, as he threw a lever. The metal hooks sparked with static electricity as the portal flared to life in a swirling expanse of colors. Entrapta was so overjoyed, she almost forgot her job.

"Secondary activation sequence…" she murmured, typing coordinates into the control panel. Several potential candidates appeared on the screen, one of which in particular seemed filled to the brim with various metals. In fact, it contained large amounts of plastics and polymers which the computer did not recognize. Without so much as a second thought, she targeted this one immediately. "Target locked. Throw the switch!"

Hordak did just that, as the portal surged with energy. Several layers of force fields expanded in front of the viewing deck to cushion the impact of the meteoroid, should it be travelling fast enough to damage the wall. With one final burst of color, the object blasted out of the portal far faster than expected. Fortunately, the force fields held it, as the ship that was previously presumed to have been an asteroid settled to the floor. The hooks on the back wall slowly began to cool.

Hordak stared at the mysterious ship with a mixture of surprise and irritation. On the one hand, this bizarre vessel was most likely not rich in raw materials. On the other hand, whoever or whatever was piloting it could very well be an asset. Although, on yet another hand…

"That ship...it can't be…" Hordak quietly growled.

"Well, that definitely wasn't the outcome I was expecting!" Entrapta interjected. "Think we should see what's inside?"

Hordak wasn't listening, as he had already stormed off. Several Horde soldiers had heard the commotion, and had congregated to see what had gone down. "Get everyone available inside that ship," Hordak said. "Let nobody out, understood?" The soldiers nodded.

At that same moment, the ship's inhabitants were still getting their bearings. "Ugh...what was that about?" Lars asked while rubbing his head. The off-colors were likewise disoriented.

The Rutiles were able to reactivate the screen, and what it showed was not reassuring. "Captain, I'm not entirely sure where we are…these readings don't match any known sector. In fact, I'm not sure we're even in a sector."

"Not in a sector? What does that mean?" Lars inquired, examining the room their ship was now in.

"I mean," Rutile continued, "wherever we are, there doesn't seem to be any astral bodies nearby. There's the planet that we're on, then a couple moons and a sun, but further than that, nothing."

"Well that's...eerie," said Rhodonite. She looked around at their surroundings. "It looks like somebody brought us here."

"But who?" asked Lars.

Padparadscha piped up. "I've just had a terrible vision! We are going to be pulled into another dimension by the Horde!"

Rhodonite tilted her head. "The...who now?"

"Uh, you guys? We aren't alone anymore," Lars said. Several humanoid beings dressed in green armor had begun to surround the ship. A handful of them wheeled a levitating drill-like device to the door.

"Are they Gems?" left Rutile pondered. "I don't think so," right Rutile said. "They look like organics to me."

"Well," Lars said, "I suppose it isn't too late for diplomacy. We shouldn't give them a reason to hate us if we can avoid it. Rhodonite! Open the doors!"

Against her better judgement, the fusion obliged. The door to the Sun Incinerator slid open with a hiss, as Lars walked forwards to present himself to their possible captors. The Horde soldiers didn't expect the ship's crew to exit willingly, but stood back nonetheless to see how this would all play out.

"Greetings!" shouted Lars, playing up the theatrics to an absurd degree. "I am Lars of the Stars, intergalactic space pirate! I bear you no ill will!" The Horde soldiers looked at each other, unsure of how to approach this. Until, however, one of their higher-ups walked to the front.

"Well, it's such an honor to meet you, Lars of the Stars!" she said. "How nice of you to drop in. We weren't expecting any guests, though."

The way this woman spoke gave Lars the impression she wasn't being entirely genuine. "Um...it's an honor to meet you as well! And might you be in charge here?"

"You could say that," she said, before turning to one of the soldiers. "I don't want to deal with this clown right now. Throw him and any of his lackeys on the dungeon for now."

"Right away, Force Captain Catra!" the soldier replied. Several of the Horde soldiers drew their weapons, advancing on Lars and his crew.

"Th-the dungeon!? Uh-oh. I get the impression that you don't exactly appreciate my company," Lars said. "If it's all the same to you, you can just show us the exit, and we'll be on our way…" the soldiers didn't listen.

Lars hurriedly ran back into the ship, entering a room towards the back. At the press of a button, a pedestal raised up from the floor. On it sat five devices similar in appearance to tuning forks: Gem destabilizers. 'For emergencies only' was hastily scrawled on the side of the pillar in Lars' handwriting. He grabbed one of the destabilizers and ran out of the room.

Fluorite would be able to hold off the soldiers for a while, but none of the Gems nor Lars had any combat experience, so he wasn't sure how long they could last in a fight. Lars aimed to do what he figured would help them all the most in the long run: take out the commander.

Waiting until the soldiers walked past his hiding spot, Lars sprinted out of the ship, and towards Catra. The feline heard him only moments before he reached her.

"Take this!" cried Lars dramatically, thrusting the destabilizer against her shoulder. Absolutely nothing happened whatsoever.

After a few moments of silence, Lars chuckled sheepishly. "I guess they mean it when they call it a 'Gem' destabilizer…"

"No kidding," Catra replied. With a shout, she leapt into the air, delivering a powerful kick to Lars' head. And that was the last thing he remembered.