"The Caterpillar: Chapter 1"
Disclaimer: I do not own Thundercats or any of its characters
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Lion-O felt himself regaining consciousness which, if he was honest, he was a little surprised about. He hadn't opened his eyes yet but he could tell he was lying on something relatively soft. And he could feel the soft vibration of an engine.
It was then that he decided to open his eyes. He was lying on his back on a cot. There was all sorts of technology around him but it looked like ordered chaos. Like someone had taken bits of pieces of different machines and had put them together. The rest of the room was made from a dark color metal.
As he sat up, the door on the other side of the room opened. A kangaroo walked in, the door slid shut behind her, and she pressed a few buttons near the door. The lights in the room got brighter. With the extra light, Lion-O could see she was an elder animal.
She looked over to his bed and made eye contact with the young lord. She smiled broadly. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake. You were in quite the state when we found you. How do you feel?"
Lion-O, still a little groggy from sleep, was getting ready to formulate an answer but the kangaroo stepped over to the side of his cot. She gently grabbed his wrist. When she lifted it up, Lion-O saw for the first time that there was some technology strapped there. She pressed a button a small strip was ejected from the device. She gripped it between her fingers and pulled it the rest of the way out. She inserted the strip into another device next to his cot. The display lit up and some numbers and words flashed across the screen but Lion-O couldn't really understand what they meant.
"What is that?" he asked.
The kangaroo shrugged. "I call it my TechDoctor. It can read your vitals better than I ever could. It comes in useful when my patients are unconscious." She removed the strip and placed it back into the device on his wrist. "You're getting there. You'll probably up and moving around like normal this evening. I wouldn't suggest leaving this room for the rest of today though."
"What is this place?" Lion-O asked.
The kangaroo shock a finger at him. "Before you get too excited, I propose we have breakfast." She pressed a series of buttons underneath a speaker near what looked like a desk. It gave a crackled and then a voice came through.
"Hey, Nana, how's my lovely lady doing this morning?" said a male voice.
The kangaroo rolled her eyes. "Now, now Cyril, I'm old enough to be your mother."
The voice on the other laughed. "You don't look it! What can I do you for this morning?"
"I need two meals sent up to the sick bay," she said.
A short pause followed. "Two meals? This there some other man I should be worried about?" Cyril said jokingly.
"Cyril, just send me the food and keep it to yourself. Is that understood?" the kangaroo said sternly.
Finally in a serious tone, Cyril responded. "Understood. Your food will be there shortly." And with that, there was a click from the speaker.
She shook her head. She then sat down at the chair in front of her desk and looked at Lion-O. They sat there for a moment without speaking before Lion-O finally broke it.
"Um, so, where am I?" he asked.
She snorted before answering. "You are currently inside the Caterpillar. I'm this ship's doctor and everyone calls me Nana. Now, answer me this, who are you?"
"I'm Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats," he stated proudly. Out of habit, he went to pad his hip where his sword normally was. He was alarmed to find that both the Sword of Omens and the Claw Shield were both gone. "Where's my sword?"
"We don't allow weapons to be carried while the ship is moving. Your sword is locked in the armory with the rest of the weapons. It'll be returned to you when you leave," Nana explained. Her tone suggested that the Sword of Omens was not going to be an exception to this rule.
Lion-O suddenly felt very naked without the weight of the Sword of Omens.
There was a knock on the door. Nana stood and said, "Lie back down and try not to move." Again, her tone left no room for argument so Lion-O obeyed.
From where he lay, he could see the door. When she opened it, a younger kangaroo stood outside. He looked up at Nana and asked eagerly, "Is the patient awake yet?"
Nana shook her head. "He regained consciousness for a bit but he's still too weak to leave this room." The younger kangaroo attempted to look around Nana but she blocked his view. "No visitors. I've made my position very clear. Now, send Cyril my thanks for breakfast." She took the trays that the young kangaroo was holding and then shut the door.
Lion-O sat up and Nana handed him one of the trays. It wasn't until Nana lifted the lid off her tray that Lion-O realized how hungry he was. He took the lid off his tray as well. There was some sort of thick soup as well as eggs.
"Tell me, Lion-O. What were you doing all by yourself in the middle of the desert?" Nana asked.
Lion-O paused. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say. The truth still stung too much to think about much less to actually say it out loud. He chuckled nervously, "I just got lost from my group and ran out of supplies. Thank you so much for saving me. I thought I was a goner out there."
Nana gave him a look which demonstrated that she knew he wasn't telling the truth. She was getting ready to ask him another question when there was a buzzing sound from the speaker in her wall. After placing her food down, she reached up to press one of the buttons.
"Sick Bay," she said.
"Nana!" shouted a voice through the speaker. "We have an injury in the engine room. We need you down here urgently."
"Alright, I will be there shortly," Nana answer. She pressed another button. "Well, looks like I'm going to have a cold breakfast." She began to gather supplies which she placed into a bag. "Lion-O, finish your food and stay here. I can't have you walking all over the ship just yet," she ordered. Nana then exited the sick bay leaving Lion-O to himself.
Lion-O's first thought was to just leave so he could locate the Sword of Omens and explore the Caterpillar in general. He really did have no idea where he was. But his stomach demanded that he eat more so he finished what little remained of meal. He placed the tray on the bed and stood on his feet. Lion-O was surprised to find how unsteady his legs were. Just how long had he been unconscious?
He opened the door and peaked outside. There was a long corridor that stretched for as far as he could see. Lion-O could make out the back of Nana as she walked away from the sick bay. He also saw other kangaroos walking up and down the hall. It was going to be tricky to sneak around in here.
Looking up, he could see a high rounded ceiling about 25 yards up and about every 50 yards Lion-O could see a door. The doorways themselves offered excellent hiding places for short periods of time. He decided to risk it. Lion-O chose the direction that was opposite of where Nana had gone.
Lion-O made it between two doorways when a familiar scent hit his noise. Any trained warrior would know that smell. The jeers and shouts that accompanied the smell confirmed what it was. Someone was brawling. He rushed quickly and quietly to the next doorway. He stood where he hoped he would be the least visible.
In the next room, he could see a bunch of kangaroos in a circle cheering. Inside the circle, there were two kangaroos boxing each other. From what Lion-O could tell, the older kangaroo was much more skilled than his younger opponent. The older fighter was letting the younger one tire himself out before landing the final blow.
It reminded Lion-O of the times when he and Tygra would spar as children. Tygra had always been bigger than Lion-O but the worse was when Tygra had started puberty and Lion-O hadn't. He had hated sparring Tygra during that time the most. The tiger had seemed impossibly tall and impossibly strong in those days.
Finally, the older kangaroo landed the final blow, knocking the younger one to the ground. The ones in the circle counted to ten. Then they cheered and the victor put his boxing glove covered hands in the air in celebration.
"Who's next!" he bellowed.
It wasn't long before a woman's voice was heard above the din. "I'll take you on, Burr."
Burr laughed deep in his chest. "You think you can beat me, Leopra."
"Talk is cheap, Burr. I'm just here to kick your butt," she said confidently.
Lion-O couldn't see her from his hiding place. The other kangaroos backed up to give the two warriors more room. They all backed up so far that they were touching the walls. This allowed Lion-O to see the challenger and he gasped. She was a cat!
A/N: I was so excited to see the new show because I loved the original show as a child. I told my partner that I wanted to write a series of pretend episodes because there are no new episodes for the time being which also included a character I had come up for the old show. He encouraged me to do it so only time will tell how long I'll actually do this for.
Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to read my story. Please take just a few more minutes to write a review or leave me a comment. Thank you so much!