The Men Who Saved The Future

Based of the notorious yet ludicrous Turkish 'Star Wars', 'The Man Who Saves The World'

Thundercats belongs to Warner/RankinBass.

Chapter 3: Lost Ancient Astronauts

Lion-O and the Thundercats were crossing the narrow mountain path on their mission to locate the fourth Stone of Power. For Lion-O, the failure to obtain the Tech Stone proved to be a devastating blow, he's having a challenging time keeping himself together without thinking about it. Since then, they've continued their mission to obtain the Stones of Power, with little or no breakthrough.

Exhausted from this lengthy journey, WilyKat complained about his tiredness

'Aw, man. We walked for 7 weeks and we can't even find anything! Couldn't we take a break?'

Lion-O kept walking, ignoring WilyKat's pleas. He knew very well that he must quickly obtain the Soul Stone in order to get back on track in the quest to defeat Mumm-Ra. The thought of losing the Tech Stone to Pumyra, who turned against him made him even more determined to find the Soul Stone, regardless of the hardships faced.

'Our supplies are running dry, Lion-O. We must find food and water, or we'll perish in the mountains'

Cheetara was worried over Lion-O lately. He seemed to be getting desperate lately. Although it's true that their defeat back in Avista was a major setback, Lion-O was too bothered by that incident to ever relax.

'Brother, I know how that defeat feels like, but it clearly isn't your fault, Lion-O. Pumyra's at fault here, not you. Get over with this!'

Tygra was just as worried as Cheetara, as he walked alongside Lion-O. Lion-O suddenly stopped, and turned toward the rest of the Thudercats.

'I know, Tygra. But every time I thought about it, I kept thinking that I shouldn't have saved Pumyra. I should have left her in the Pit. She backstabbed me right at the last moment, and now Mumm-Ra is edging to victory. How can I not stay vigilant?'

'But still, you can't just put us all in such gruelling situation because of it. We should take a break, and figure out our next step'

Lion-O calms down, regain a clear head, and agreed to Tygra's proposal.

'I agree. Let's take a break'

So, the Thundercats went into a cave, and sat down on the rocks there. There, Lion-O took out the Book of Omens, and decided to look onto it.

'Maybe this could help me in the search for the Soul Stone'

Lion-O began opening the Book of Omens, and his soul was sent inside immediately.

Lion-O found himself again seeing throught the eyes of Leo, and found himself with Panthera. Although he once experienced the past as Leo before, he couldn't understand why he had to experience it again.

'Leo, there's something you need to see. We have found three unknown men floating outside the ship. They seemed to be passed out, so we sent them to the infirmary. Follow me and I'll lead you to him', explained Panthera

Leo and Panthera walked to the infirmary, and saw the passed out vyomanaut, spationaut and taikonaut lying on the bed. Tygus was standing right beside the vyomanaut's bed.

The vyomanaut slowly began to wake up, and found himself facing three cat people.

'Who are you? How did I end up here?', asked the vyomanaut fearfully.

Leo looked at the dazed yet frightened vyomanaut, and tried to comfort him.

'My name's Leo and this is Panthera and Tygus. We found you and your partners floating outside the ship along with your damaged craft. We brought you inside and allow you three to recover'

'Whatever happened to our crew members? We're supposed to return to the Rigel Kent space station, but asteroids have damaged our craft and it explodes, ejecting all of us. We passed out from the blast, and didn't wake up until just now'

The taikonaut and the spationaut slowly wakes up, and started to look at their fellow vyomanaut.

'What on this galaxy is going on? Where are we?', asked the taikonaut, speaking in a blurred manner.

'We're saved by those cat people, and we'll be with them for a long time until we find a way to return home'

'Aw that's just great. How are we supposed to explain this to the higher ups?', complained the taikonaut.

'More importantly, how can we get back home. I demand you to take me to your captain!', said the spationaut furiously.

Panthera was shocked to realize what the spacemen demanded. There's no way Mumm-Ra will let them go that easily. He might have other plans for them. But nevertheless, she can't just disappoint the spacemen. She'll have to figure out another way.

Tygus pondered the spationaut's demands, and decided to allow them to meet Mumm-Ra.

'Very well, you may meet the captain of this ship. I'll lead you there'

Tygus, Leo and Panthera led the three humans to the bridge, to meet Mumm-Ra in his ever-living form. Tygus explained to Mumm-Ra about the humans.

'Your Lordship, the humans have recovered, and they intent to meet you'

Mumm-Ra turned towards Tygus, and saw three stunned humans starring at him. The humans seemed terrified.

'Who exactly are you?', asked the spationaut.

'Can somebody explain to us what is going on here?', asked the taikonaut.

'And can you at least send us back to the Rigel Kent space station?' asked the vyomanaut

'Well, well, well. You three must be the spacemen Captain Tygus told me about, aren't you?', asked Mumm-Ra.

'Why of course, we're the Orion V research team who were called to the Rigel Kent space station', explained the spationaut.

'You humans reminded me of those who first imprisoned me. For over 4000 years ago, when I'm just a priest named Wahankh, I sold my soul to the Ancient Spirits of Evil in order to gain unlimited power in my attempt to overthrow the Pharaoh. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh at the time, Akhenaten, heard of my plans, and has ordered his guards to capture me as soon as I sold my soul, and he had his priests to imprison me into my tomb', explained Mumm-Ra, gleefully remembering the times back in Ancient Egypt.

'I waited for a long time waiting for some fool to awaken me again, and surely enough, some fanatical militant foolishly ventured into my tomb, awakening me as he was busily smashing the walls inside. And when he saw me in my decaying form, he was scared soulless. I turned into my ever-living form, and had every last human on First Earth decimated. For me, it was payback for what those humans had done for me'

Mumm-Ra smiled as he remembers the time he destroyed every attacking human with his powers with ease. The wailing screams, the fiery explosions and the mass destruction of human civilization brought immense pleasure to his mind.

'But it isn't enough for me, so I have granted every animal sapience, and with Cats to rule over every other Animal races, I set out on a conquest to subject every last planet under my rule. It is, after all, what the Ancient Spirits of Evil have in mind, and so do I. To do that, I must locate the four stones of power, and to build an ultimate weapon to rule them all. It has never occurred to me that there are some humans who survived the apocalypse, until I met you three'

'Now, I, Mumm-Ra, the ever-living, will ask you only a few questions. Answer, and you'll live; refuse, and you'll perish. How did you humans survive? Where are they? You humans better tell me the right answer, or your death will serve a warning unto those who dare to defy me'

The taikonaut, spationaut and the vyomanaut were angered to hear Mumm-Ra's demands. It became very clear why Mumm-Ra let them stay inside the ship. He wanted to use their information on humanity's new home to seek out and destroy every last human, ensuring no future resistance against him.

The spationaut took his flaregun, and aimed at Mumm-Ra bravely. Panthera had a bad feeling about this situation.

'In the name of the Intercosmos Space Agency, I, Clemont, and my fellow comrades, Kumran and Wei, will never allow my crew mates, or my fellow humans, to be destroyed. Expect the truth about our homeworld Earth's destruction to be known by mankind!', the spationaut declared.

'Very well, Clemont. I'll make sure no human will ever know about this little incident. I'll have to have you, shall we say, terminated', said Mumm-Ra, smiling cruelly, enjoying the thought of destroying the humans.

Clemont shoots Mumm-Ra at his face with his flaregun, distracting Mumm-Ra from the flashing attack.

'Run, my comrades!', shouted Clemont, as he runs away from Mumm-Ra, attempting to escape. Kumran and Wei followed Clemont's path.

'What are you waiting for? Capture those humans! I want them alive!' screamed Mumm-Ra, as he recovers from the attack. Leo, Panthera and Tygus quickly chased after the humans.

'Humans? Rigel Kent? Akhenaten? What exactly i going on here?' pondered Leo. He has found out one of the most disturbing truths about Mumm-Ra, but still it couldn't explain what humans have played in the past.

The three humans race through the corridors, searching for an escape pod to escape the ship. As they sprinted their way out, the passed through a vast prisoner holding unit. Kumran turned around as he saw a vast array of Animal races imprisoned, Lizards, Monkeys, Jackals, Elephants, Rats, Birds, almost every reptile, avian and mammal they can think of. Shaking his head, Kumran looked forward and continue their search for the escape pod.

The three humans have found themselves at a dead end, a pressurized door. They can't possibly escape now, and were stuck between being captured and tortured, or die outside the harsh, deadly space.

Leo and Panthera finally caught up with the trio, leading to their fear of being captured again.

'What have we gotten themselves into? We're doomed, there's nothing else we can to save ourselves', lamented Wei.

'I knew the whole truth, humans. I realized what Mumm-Ra did to your kind, and what he's trying to do. I can't let you three captured, but I'm afraid I can't help you anymore. Your survival is compromised. I'm left with no choice, I must eject you three before Tygus finds you', said Panthera, bringing the bad news to the humans.

'It's all over. We'll die outside the cold vacuum of space', said Clemont, saddened by their conclusions.

'Well, we can't endanger the rest of humanity for the sake of us', said Wei.

'We lost our home world Earth, it must never happen again. They're the last defense for our survival', said Kumran.

The three humans walked towards the pressurized door, and smiled. Kumran threw a plastic sheet towards Panthera, and saluted. Panthera caught the plastic sheet.

'Now, open the door!' ordered Kumran.

Panthera walked towards the switch, and prepared to activate it. She wavered her intent when she thought about their willingness to self-sacrifice to save their kind.

'Farewell, Panthera. Humanity depends on you two', said Clemont, feeling sad about their voluntary death.

'Farewell', muttered Panthera, and opened the door.

Leo saw the door open, causing the vacuum to suck the air inside the ship from the lower pressure. The humans are ejected outside, leading to their demise. The humans made their last hour farewell salutes before they slowly pass out.

Lion-O suddenly found himself awake and back in his own body. He saw the rest of the Thundercats asleep inside the cave, surrounding the lit bonfire. Lion-O went to sleep, wondering what could this latest information help in their quest to defeat Mumm-Ra.