Old Guard

by Dark Gear

2011 series. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. What happens when someone from their lost history joins the group of Thunder Cats? Is she capable of showing her mettle against Mumm-ra? Or is she doomed to fall as her friends did from so long ago? OC x Lion-o

10. Snowy Past Part 1

Episode 36: Past Forgotten

The cat pride started to hike up the side of the mountain carefully, slowly moving in a haphazard path towards the top as they maneuvered around obstacles in their path. The mountain itself was taller than anything anyone had seen, except perhaps Kalihara and maybe Celica. The thick snow impeded their walking as they moved higher and higher up the side, with some areas of the landscape having steep inclines too difficult to traverse. Large snow covered boulders and ice dotted the way up to the peak.

"How long do you think this is going to take to reach the top?" Tygra asked.

"Who knows? At our present speed as well as the need to make camp and "acclimatize" per Kalihara, a couple of days?" Panthro replied.

"A couple of days if we're lucky" the lioness commented as the snow crunched under her boots. The trek would have everyone exhausted by the time they decided to build camp. They didn't even know where to settle down once they reached a sufficient height. The ice cold biting wind cut deep into everyone's fur, regardless of clothing or armor worn. Even Kalihara had her goggles covering her eyes, her hood up and her mask shut. The entire team was wondering why the shards seemed to be scattering in different directions, and why one of them was at the top of the mountain.

Time seemed to droll on slowly as the group did their best to put one foot in front of the other, every so once in a while finding an icy patch under the snow that made one of them face plant or slip backwards, their claws doing little to keep them balanced and further assisting in stubbed toes and pinched cuticles. Very few of them wanted to talk beyond telling the person in front of them to slow down, as the entire team excluding Kalihara was attached via rope tied to each belt, making sure no one fell into some hidden hole below the freezing white. The lioness was always on the side, turning around every so often and walking backwards as she surveyed the area with Lion-o observing her once in a while. His confusion to her movements made him slowly move towards her.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked as she tapped her goggles and shook her head oddly. Kalihara looked at him and lifted her goggles up, her green eyes gazing at him.

"Thermal is on the fritz I think. I don't know how though; it's either the fragment or the magic from the city or I did poor maintenance-" she explained as he listened intently.

"The point is, I can't see anything that may creep up on us via heat detection."

"Something might actually be hunting in this frozen wasteland?"

"Things live in all biomes Lion-o, and we kind of standout… well, you guys do anyway."

She jutted her chin towards him as he noticed her cold weather armor was almost entirely white rocky camouflage with some fur lining around the hood compared to the tan and purple cloaks they were all wearing. His blue armor might look like ice from a good distance, but anything closer would see his fiery red hair. The others didn't seem much better off, but at least they were better equipped thanks to Lyon. The cold still seemed to seep through their thick clothing however.

"I guess we should keep a better lookout of our surroundings then. What do you think would live here?"

"Considering you have a very wide range of creatures on Third Earth? I have no idea, but I'd hazard a guess to some primitive tigers, maybe bears… yetis."

"Abominable snowmen? You can't be serious, can you?" Tygra snuck into the conversation behind them, his mouth slightly open in disbelief.

"No hairy monster is getting me" Panthro grunted out, his heavy footfalls crunching through the snow and just barely missing stubbing his toes on a hidden rock below the white slush.

"I think he already did" Bengali chuckled as he pointed behind the panther, his finger aiming at the General's head. The cubs giggled because of the joke, with a hmph escaping Panthro's mouth as he pulled on the rope a bit, nearly knocking Bengali into the snow.

"You'd be surprised what you can find on any planet, and this one is largely unexplored even centuries after your ancestors made landfall" Kalihara interceded as she stopped and aimed her rifle out towards the horizon.

"Can you get any of your drones to keep watch?" the young king asked.

"I left them back at the ship."

"Why?"

"My scout's hover fans would freeze up, the spider drone would get stuck in this knee high snow, and do you see any place I can put down my turret that's stable? They're extra weight that I could use for food and water, an extra blanket, a spare pair of mittens or oxygen. I'm lucky I still have a satellite uplink right now, and even with that I'm getting interference from the weather."

A loud crunch punctuated the air as she stepped on ice, her boots keeping traction with the spike attachments. She was the only one keeping her balance when she found it, but she was also the only one that could disappear down a hidden hole or crevice.

"Heads up" Tygra yelled out as he put up a hand, as he was leading the front with Cheetara connected to him. Panthro was connected to Bengali, and Lion-o was connected to Celica. The cubs trailed behind, slogging through the snow with each step a challenge due to their small stature. Snarf was stuffed in Kat's backpack, a blanket and small cloak wrapped around him. Lynx-o was attached to Panthro as well, as his blindness made it a bit difficult to be connected with anyone else.

"Large crevice." The others caught up to the tiger prince and stared at the whole situation.

"Panthro, do you have the ladder ready?" Lion-o asked.

"Right here." The General pulled from his pack a small ladder that he connected to another carried on Lynx-o's pack. They extended it outwards and slowly scooted it across the large crack in the frozen floor until it hit solid ground.

"Be very careful. Slow and steady" Bengali warned as they each untied from each other and one by one made their way across the makeshift bridge to the opposite side, being wary of the movement making the ladder creak and slide a bit due to the position on the snow and ice. The last two that hadn't crossed to the other side were Kalihara and Lion-o.

"You go next" the young king told her.

"I'll come up behind you. Someone should keep this side stable."

"Kalihara, I can do that; you make it to the other side."

"You're the king Lion-o; it would be foolish to not have someone keep it stable for you. Go, I'll be right behind."

Lion-o sighed and was about to argue when he felt the wind cut into his jacket again.

"Alright, fine." The lion climbed onto the ladder as she held down the metal on her side while Panthro held onto the ladder from the opposite. As Lion-o slowly reached the other side of the crevice, he noticed the bars of the ladder had worn somewhat into the ice, and looked about halfway cut from all the weight traveling over it.

"Ok, I'm over, now you." Lion-o motioned for her to cross. The sniper took a deep breath and got onto the ladder, carefully putting her spiked boots onto each rung as she moved over the bridge. The rocking of the platform gouged the bars deeper into the ice as she was halfway.

"Easy, slowly, just a bit more" Bengali said calmly as she crawled on all fours towards them. Suddenly, the bars slipped from their side as the ice broke away. Kalihara instinctively leapt forward as Lion-o lunged for her, his hand outstretched hoping to grab hold of something. His fingers barely wrapped around her mitten covered hand as she hung from the side of the crevice, the ladder clattering below.

"Ooph!" she grunted as her chest slammed into the icy irregular wall as some snow slipped on top of her. Lion-o slid an inch as he couldn't find much purchase with his claws on his feet to dig in and pull back.

"Kalihara!" Kat screamed in worry as the team held the cubs back a bit while Bengali slid to the side to help Lion-o pull her up. As Lion-o pulled at her arm and slid her over the edge with Bengali grabbing her pack strapped to her shoulders and lifting her the rest of the way, she turned on her side and looked over the edge.

"Close one" she let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding as everyone's adrenaline was at peak. She had nearly fallen to her death.

"I think we have to worry more about the land than the animals here" Lion-o told her as the lioness draped her left arm over the side of the crevice.

"Hey, what are you-" Bengali started to say as Kalihara fired off her grapple hook from her gauntlet, hoping against hope that the attachment hook at the end found the ladder below.

"Careful!" Lion-o yelped as he grabbed onto her shoulders as she slide an inch. A metal clanging sound was heard as the hook made contact with the ladder below.

"Hmm, not that deep" she whispered.

"How far does that line go?" the blacksmith asked.

"Far enough apparently to reach the ladder. The fall would have still killed me though." She pressed at a button on her gauntlet, watching the numbers recede from the maximum length as she grunted from the weight of the ladder being pulled up. Bengali grabbed at the line as Lion-o pulled Kalihara back from the side of the crevice, worried that the ice would continue to break, and all three would topple in. The white tiger took over most of the labor to reel in the line as the gauntlet continued to rescind the wire back into the hand device , with scraping sounds heard from below as the ladder tapped and skidded across the ice, making long grooves out of sight. Luckily for them, it didn't get caught on anything.

"Do you want to fall in?" Lion-o asked in disbelief of her actions.

"Do you want to get back to the city after we get this fragment?" she asked. He closed his mouth as the ladder reached the edge and slid over, with Bengali grabbing it and bringing it to the others to disassemble. The remainder of the hike for the next hour was uneventful as they continued around a jutting frozen rock outcropping and close to a half moon shaped cut out in the side of the snowy mountain.

"How high are we?" Kat asked as she huffed.

"High enough to have difficulty with oxygen. We should make camp nearby" Lynx-o replied.

"We're not that high. We haven't even reached anything over 2500 meters" Kalihara commented.

"Really?" the old General asked earnestly.

"Really. It'll take us a few days to reach a level I would assume we should stay at for some time to acclimatize. Once we hit that position, we stay there until our bodies have gotten used to the low oxygen levels."

"How long will that take?" Lion-o asked behind her as he drank from his water canteen.

"About a week." Everyone gawked at Kalihara.

"Can we really afford a week?" Bengali asked.

"I don't think we brought enough food for that…" Kit whispered.

"Good thing I planned ahead if she did not" Celica proudly announced to everyone.

"What are you talking abo-" Kalihara started to say just as the princess pointed over to the opposite side of the crevice. In the far distance was a caravan coming towards them.

"You asked for help?" Lion-o asked.

"Of course. It would be foolish to climb without others to help build a camp." The snow leopard beamed with pride as everyone watched the caravan grow larger over the edge of the land.

"How long until they reach us?"

"A few more hours, and they'll bring materials to build a more permanent bridge for the crevice. They'll provide a supply line as we head up" Celica replied as she looked at Kalihara, almost accusing her of being incompetent with the stare and smile she had. Lion-o felt the animosity between the two women, despite Kalihara not showing any emotion beyond the cold stone mask she wore for a face.

[Four Hours Later]

The caravan had crossed the crevice and built a camp further ahead, with tents set up in a circle. Lion-o's was the largest, with smaller ones set for the rest of the group. One happened to be missing, the one that Kalihara would have gotten. She didn't mind, as the lioness had pulled out a small pod tent from her pack that slowly expanded and hardened once she attached a small vial to a plug on the door. The liquid inside quickly turned to gas once it made contact with the air and made the tent turn into an odd hexagonal igloo barely large enough for the lioness to sleep comfortably. Celica was frowning as the logistics involving the missing tent hadn't ruined the lioness's day. Night slowly fell upon the small camp as sherpas moved to small camp fires and cooking pots for dinner while the group kept to themselves mostly.

"So what height are we at right now?" Panthro asked.

"2000 meters" Kalihara stated calmly as she blew on her hot soup and took a spoonful out and carefully brought it to her mouth.

"What's the height of the mountain?"

"From the baseline or from where Lyon is?"

"Just Lyon."

"About Eight Thousand." Panthro nearly spat out his soup as he took a bite.

"This is going to take a couple of weeks."

"No one said looking for stone fragments was going to be easy" the lioness replied.

"We wouldn't be looking for them if Lion-o hadn't-" Tygra started to grumble as Cheetara elbowed him. "Sorry."

The team went to bed early to pick up camp the next day and continue to the agreed upon height in which to set up a base camp so that they could start the acclimatization process.

[Two Days Later]

The weather had settled down for the past day as everyone got a good view of the land around them. The whole place was a winter wonderland, with a few rocks jutting out of the white to break the perfect soft landscape. Lion-o was hit by a few snowballs that the cubs had made, and Bengali got a chance to go sledding. The hike up was slow going with the caravan escort, even though it was far easier with their support. Lion-o had noticed Kalihara rotating her right shoulder as if it was stiff away from the rest of the caravan.

"Something wrong with your arm? Any pain?" he asked. She looked at him in confusion.

"What? No, no pain, nothing like that, or at least there isn't anymore."

"Anymore? You were having pain in your arm?" Now he was worried about her. She sighed and looked around to make sure no one else was listening.

"I think the absorption of Philipp's life energy got rid of an old injury I've lived with since boot camp."

"An injury in your shoulder?"

"Yeah… look, don't tell anybody, it was a foolish thing to do, and it's gone now, so it's not like it's a big deal."

"I wasn't going to spread the information around. If you want to share, I'll listen; if not, don't worry about it, I just want to make sure you're alright" he replied, his hands up in surrender as he gazed at her. She sighed, a half-hearted chuckle escaping her lips.

"I was bet that I couldn't fire an A46 standing without assistance in boot. An A46 is an anti-material armor-piercing rifle designed to be on a stabilizer. Maybe it was the booze that were snuck in or maybe it was me being young and stupid, but I took the bet."

"I'm guessing it didn't end well" Lion-o said wincing.

"It didn't. I was sent to the med ward with a hair line fractured collar bone and a thrown shoulder. It never exactly healed right; it's why I always have a pad attached to my right shoulder and a modified stock on my Lochlear."

"But it's gone now."

"Yeah, I guess whatever that spell did had an effect on my shoulder, and I'm still getting used to not feeling anything at that spot. Kind of weird."

"It also got rid of one of those black marks on your jaw. I thought that was just your fur."

Kalihara immediately reached up to her chin to feel for the black marks, and noticed there was one area that was smooth fur again.

"Oook… that's something else missing…" she said to herself as she felt the other side of her jaw for the other mark.

"So those are scars? Why are they black then?"

"One was from shrapnel because I didn't duck fast enough during one mission, and the other was… let's just say don't get near a one eyed Saber Tooth Tigress in a bar fight… even if she's on your side… I had them tattooed over to hide the scars. I guess the ink goes with the scar tissue. That's one way to get rid of a tat."

Lion-o eyed Kalihara up and down, noticing the effect the spell had on her age. It wasn't much of a difference, and it hadn't taken the memories that matched any of the years that it had taken from her, but she did seem somewhat younger to him.

"I think you look nice, without that scar… I mean you looked nice with the scar too… what I mean to say is… um…" he started to stutter out as he tried to find the words, stumbling through ways to fix what he said as he scratched his chin in thought.

"I get the picture Lion-o; quit while you're still par for the course." He stopped and watched as she walked forward away from him.

"Wait, does that mean… do I have a… hang on, wait a minute" he stuttered out just as she brought up a fist as everyone else stopped. An echoing roar bounced around the ice and snow over the landscape from the distance.

"What was that?" Tygra asked.

"The native wildlife I'd assume" Cheetara responded as she engaged her staff, the wooden pole expanding to its full length. The sherpas were uneasy as they looked around, with the caravan stopping to listen.

"That sounded feline" Lynx-o commented.

"I hope it's not larger than we are" Bengali grumbled.

A soft roar came from the distance again, further away.

"Hopefully it's hunting with intelligence and isn't thinking of jumping a fully armed caravan" Panthro spoke up as he bit into some jerky. The cubs seemed mostly curious to the direction the sounds were coming from as opposed to scared that the creature would attack the escort. Fear didn't seem to register in their expressions, as they hadn't yet seen what was making the noises beyond the edge of the wagons and ice. The sounds disappeared completely after the third roar.

"There will be guards posted tonight" Celica announced as she stood up and walked over to the head of the caravan to explain the situation.

[The next morning]

The caravan moved slowly up the side of the mountain further and further with each hour that passed. Breakfast was quick despite Celica's annoyance with being rushed. Kalihara was the fastest at finishing her food, and already had her bubble tent compressed down into its canister and packed away by the time the others had eaten. As they reached closer and closer to the altitude at which they could make a base camp, they noticed the mountain itself seemed hook shaped at the top.

"Didn't see that when we were flying" Bengali commented as he stopped to look up with his hand shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight.

"We also came from the opposite direction, so we wouldn't have gotten a glimpse until now" Tygra replied. Just then, one of the wagons slid on some ice, rocking hard as two boxes fell out and slammed into Tygra's cheek as he tried to dodge. The corner of one of the containers bruised his face as he fell on the ground with the luggage lying on top of him. The others were quick to get them off of him as Cheetara kneeled beside the tiger prince and helped him up. Once he was on his feet, Cheetara reached up with the palm of her hand and cupped his cheek. Her fingers glowed faintly as she willed the light wound to heal quickly.

"Thanks" he said softly as his own hand reached up and held hers.

"You're welcome" she replied as they gazed into each other's eyes. Lion-o cleared his throat as they both turned to look at him.

"Oh come on, it's not like you wouldn't want a similar moment to happen with a certain someone right?" Tygra replied to Lion-o's interruption. The young king looked at Kalihara on the opposite side of the wagon, with her rifle aimed out towards the other side of a wide crevice. Celica chastised the sherpas who didn't tie down the boxes in the wagon as he walked over to see what she was staring at through her scope.

"Getting a good view of the scener-" Lion-o started to say just as her hand went up for him to be silent.

"Found what was hunting out here, and it's watching us" she interrupted as he immediately tensed up. She handed her rifle to him, allowing his eyes to see just what was making those sounds. What he saw through the scope had him in awe. A very large blue and white snow tiger was watching the entire time they were heading up the makeshift path on the mountain.

"Is it waiting for a chance to attack? I can't tell from the body language" he asked as he handed the rifle back to the lioness.

"I haven't the faintest clue. It's staying at range from us, so at least it knows we've got the numbers even if it's got the mass. No one should wander too far away from the caravan though" she warned as they both turned their attention to the workers now pushing the boxes back into the wagon and bringing it back in line with the others.

"This place should have its name changed to Hook Mountain" Kit said more to herself than anyone else.

"The name does kind of fit for it, I agree" Kat replied as they sat on the back of one of the wagons.

[Two Days Later]

"Finally, now to acclimatize like we planned" Panthro huffed as the tents were slowly set up. The entire camp was extremely sluggish from the low oxygen level at the altitude they were at. For the next few days they would rest and try and relax until their lungs got used to the air being thinner around them. Celica had brought along a satchel of blue gems that apparently could be attached to a small leather collar. Once worn around the neck, the gem magically would produce large amounts of oxygen for the wearer, at least until the incantation wore out. There were other bags of the gems stored in the wagons, to help quicken the process and prevent any problems. Lion-o had to order her to provide some to Kalihara, who was relying on her mask for the entire time and a rebreather system attachment along with canisters she changed every four hours. Her oxygen tanks weren't as efficient as the little blue gems, and were even more bulky.

"Here, wear this" Lion-o said quietly as he sat down next to the lioness as she cleaned her pistol.

"Thank you" she replied as she clipped the collar around her neck and rotated the gem to the front. There was a faint glow as the incantation on the gem activated, and she disengaged the rebreather as her mask slipped away to reveal the rest of her face.

"We should be careful with relying on these, it'll lengthen the time we need to stay here."

"Or we could just use these the entire time and reach the peak quicker than we expected" Lion-o retorted. Kalihara shrugged, not really caring either way.

"If that's what you order us to do."

"Is something bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you've been standoffish lately of the group. I take it you don't like being near Celica?" Kalihara glanced at him, her eyes moving quickly back down to her pistol and then scanning the camp.

"Besides her attitude towards those she feels are beneath her and the fact she looks at everyone as if they were something she accidentally stepped in, no, no problem at all."

"Ok, so she can be a little heavy handed to others…" Lion-o caught the slight glare and raised eyebrow from her as her hands stopped cleaning her pistol, her head slowly lifting as her face turned towards him in an equally slow motion.

"A little?" she asked.

"Ok, so… she might need to learn a thing or two about treating others with respect, and you have to admit she has been brought up by a tyrant father." Kalihara gave him a slow blink, her eyelids closed for what seemed like an hour and yet was only a few seconds as she chose her words carefully.

"Fine. Teach her how to do that." The lioness put her sidearm back into her holster and got up from her seat, walking towards her small tent.

"Wait, what?" he asked after her in confusion. She stopped and turned halfway and looked at him.

"You want temperance from us, you have to make sure she learns how to socialize with the rest of us. There has to be a compromise to this." There was an urge to argue against her command, to let her know she couldn't make him do anything as he was king, but suddenly he realized she was simply looking to accept his request to keep her temper under control if Celica ever treated her as an underling instead of a member of the team, and he would work to teach the princess how to accept others as competent equals. They were all in the fight together against Mumm-ra. He also realized Kalihara's temper simply wasn't existent. She'd had arguments with Tygra, Bengali, and Panthro, and each time she was able to keep calm and collected while the others would blow up. Almost every argument wasn't even about her, it involved something about their trip to Lyon, or about Bahati or the cubs or something else. She was simply there for them to yell at, and she quickly diffused their temper quite easily with reason and logic.

"I… understand." Kalihara nodded as if some illusionary pact had been signed by him, his writing of his name etched into thin air. She turned back around and continued towards her tent. An echoing roar bounced off the ice and walls of the small overhang jutting from the mountain that the camp was set under. Lion-o immediately perked up to the sound and looked around, alert to an enemy presence, some visual acknowledgement of whatever beast made the noise. It had to have been the snow tiger.

"You should get some rest Lion-o, you are on edge. The guards will keep us protected, do not worry" Celica told him as she sauntered over to him from her own tent. Her blue necklace glowed in the dark as she held out a cup of warmed liquid for him to drink. He accepted it, and before he knew what it was, took a sip and swallowed. He immediately knew it was something alcoholic as it cleared his sinuses quickly.

"Uh… I don't think I need this… or should be drinking this…" he said hesitantly as his eyes stared into the cup.

"It will settle your nerves, and allow you to sleep better. Come, let's go to bed."

"I sleep in another tent Celica, remember?"

"Can I not escort you to yours? Is it a problem for me to want to make sure you are comfortable?" she asked, staring up into his eyes.

"I… guess…" she wrapped her arm through his and slowly led him to his royal tent as his eyes searched for help from the one woman he hoped would notice his predicament. She had already disappeared into her own sanctuary.

[Meanwhile]

"Kalihara, are you in there?"

The tent door unsnapped as a small peep hole opened, a green eye peering through it.

"Yes I am, what's wrong you two?" she asked as she saw the Wiley cubs standing there.

"We'd rather not sleep in the guard's tent. Those guys can really snore" Kit explained as Kat clasped his hands over his ears. Snarf shoved two fingers into his own, and then tried to replace them with nearby snow. He immediately realized that was a bad idea when he felt the cold and knocked the globs right out.

"Well my tent isn't very big, ask… ask Bengali and Panthro if-" she was immediately interrupted.

"They're the ones who are snoring" Kat told her. She sighed and looked around at nothing in particular.

"What about Tygra and Chee… nevermind, that wouldn't be a good idea." She could imagine them fooling around in their tent, as he was a prince and she was his lover.

"Please? Can we sleep in here with you?" Kit asked.

"There isn't much room… just enough for one… let me see if I can't move some stuff around; go get your sleeping bags." They both shot off towards the guard's tent to grab their blankets and pillows as the lioness quickly looked around her, trying to move a small box of alloys she had nano-engineered from different metals Bengali smelted in Lyon. She'd need them if anything was wrong with her goggles, as her thermal reaction vision was still offline.

The cubs knocked on the soft panel door again, and it fully unlatched.

"Alright you two, come in. I have no idea how this is going to work out, but at least there's a bit more room."

[Morning]

"Calm, slow breaths." Cheetara gave Lion-o instructions as they both sat down cross-legged in his tent on pillows. Both of their eyes were closed, with their bodies facing towards each other.

"Almost…" he whispered to himself as he slowly reached a focus point in his vision, with no thoughts entering his mind as well as the sounds filtered out from the outside. The flaps of the tent opened with Tygra standing there watching them. A loud CLAP! sounded through the tent as he made the noise with his hands to get their attention. Cheetara's eyes sprung open, as did Lion-o's as he nearly fell backwards off his pillow.

"Breakfast is ready" the tiger prince told them chuckling.

"Tygra, seriously, did you have to do that? That was incredibly rude" Cheetara berated him as she stood up and waved an agitated finger at him.

"What? So you two don't want to eat? Fine fine, it'll get cold if you don't hurry. The cleric training hub bub can wait for his majesty until after he's got a full stomach." Cheetara bristled immediately at what Tygra had said.

"Cleric hub bub?" she asked, her teeth grinding together.

"Well, I mean, it might work for you, but we've been training by sword and shield and spear, I don't know if anything he learns from this would actually help-" Cheetara stormed by Tygra and out of the tent.

"Hey! Oh no… I didn't mean it like that! Hey! Wait!" he ran after her, leaving Lion-o standing up and sighing.

"Tygra, when are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut." The young king ran his fingers through his red hair and blew out a breath through pursed lips, and then went to get dressed. As he finished with his furred cloak he was given as a gift and left the tent, he could see the bustle of the camp as workers ate and built a makeshift fence in between the tents to barricade themselves in from any predators that might be snooping around. He noticed Panthro and Bengali sitting by a cooking pot hanging over an open fire, eating the morning meal.

"Hey, all of this for one tiger making noise during the night?" he asked them as he walked over.

"You saw the size of that thing Lion-o. We can't afford to be lax in protection, especially when we're this high up without help." Just as he said that, two magi walked by carrying between them a large ornately etched red crystal towards Celica's tent.

"Wonder what that is" Panthro commented.

"Who cares? Probably something for some hokey spell she's casting. As long as it doesn't ruin my day any more than she normally does or blows the mountain up, I'm fine with it."

"How does she ruin your day?" Lion-o asked the white tiger.

"Oh come on Lion-o. Just because we went through a revolution doesn't mean it kills off old hatreds. She ate, slept and breathed looking down on us commoners because of her father. She still lets something slip from her mouth every once in a while, and we have to fight off the feeling to box her ears." The blacksmith shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth and chewed on it.

"I'm sorry guys."

"What? You didn't do anything wrong Lion-o… for once…" Panthro replied.

"You need to wrangle your girl in a bit more your majesty, otherwise she's going to fray a lot of people's nerves, and this caravan may just turn around" Bengali warned him as he took a sip from a hot cup of something black.

"My girl? What are you talking about? We're… we're not together. I think you have that all wrong Bengali, and I'd like it if that didn't get spread around." The red haired lion crossed his arms over his chest with a stern look on his face.

"I haven't been spreading it around, but it was just assumed since you two are always with each other and her hanging off your arm all the time… eh, I'll shut up now." Lion-o turned around and headed towards Celica's tent, just as he heard Bengali's voice drifting off behind him.

"Hey, Kalihara isn't awake yet is she? That's a first for her to be sleeping in" the white tiger said as he pointed his fork towards the small tent furthest away from Lion-o's.

"Not like there is much to do right now besides sit around and breathe, or eat" Panthro replied as he took a deep breath and ate some slowly freezing grapes.

"Just to be sure, I'm gonna go see if she's ok. Be bad if she caught a cold or worse… maybe the evil princess did something to her in the middle of the night while she was fast asleep."

"My money is on the commando in that fight, not the princess" Panthro huffed. The white tiger walked over to the armored tent and knocked on the small door. He heard a slight amount of movement inside as he waited, and a groan as he heard Kit's voice inside.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Nine in the morning, but since we're this high up on a mountain, it really doesn't matter. First day of acclimation" he heard Kalihara reply. He knocked again and heard the door unlatch. Kalihara poked her head out and looked at him.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Breakfast is on the grill. Hey, you two slept in here with her?" he asked.

"You guys snore!" they both yelled at him in unison as they popped their heads out just above hers. He looked dumbfounded as he blinked.

"Sorry."

"Yeah. Kali's a pretty peaceful sleeper."

"No kidding. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought she was dead" Kat chuckled.

"I learned a long time ago to catch some shut eye wherever you can, and to get your brain to drop into that mode as fast as you can."

"So you're a pretty deep sleeper?" Bengali asked.

"Just because I can become dead to the world doesn't mean I can't react with a knife to an enemy's throat if they get too close to my bed" she replied. The cubs looked at each other and crawled to the top of her sleeping bag and pulled it up. They found her combat knife hidden under it.

"Uh…" Kit looked worried as they looked back at Kalihara.

"Relax, training takes over if I feel there is a threat nearby. Reflex kicks in, and you don't have to worry about it. Drop the knife please." Kat dropped the knife on top of the sleeping bag as if it had suddenly burned his hand. They both wondered how they would sleep tonight given what they knew. More than likely they'd have to find another tent to stay in.

[Meanwhile]

"Celica, are you in here?" Lion-o asked as he patted at the flap of the tent.

"I am, come in my dear Lion-o" she replied in her rich accent as he watched the magi enter. He followed them in and watched as they each stood in a triangle with Celica at one point. They had their hands out towards the large red crystal, with energy flowing from their palms towards it. The crystal started to grow brighter and brighter and small arcs of lightning cascaded off the sides of it and landed at the base, turning into assortments of food and supplies. Caravan workers came in and picked up the new supplies while also placing empty boxes and bags near the crystal, with any lightning sparks that touched them making the containers disappear. This was how they were renewing their equipment, to keep them going up the mountain and maintaining the camp. It was ingenious, as Lyon was just a hop skip and a jump away from them with resources they needed.

Celica stopped after the supplies were gathered and sat down in a cushy leather chair and looked up at him, smiling.

"I was just wondering what the crystal was for; nifty." He motioned with his finger towards the object that had caught his attention.

"There are many like it, though few ever used. There has never been a need. Oh, do not worry about our supplies Lion-o, your mind is on far greater things. Let me take care of these menial commands and logistics."

"Uh, well, if there are more important things to do besides sitting around and relearning to breathe up here, I'm willing to try." He realized he had absolutely no experience in logistics, only how to control combat lines of soldiers due to his father's teachings. He could get an army to maneuver and flank or provide ranged attack, but keeping them fed was an entirely different matter.

"Oh, you're so sweet, but I can handle this without a problem. Here, I had something brought in for you." She stood up and walked to a chest that she quickly lifted the lid and rummaged through. Inside, covered in a gold silk cloth was a gemmed belt. It looked practically made for a king.

"I had it specially made. I had wished to give it to you… as a… well… wedding present. However, as you have made it clear we need to get to know each other… I couldn't wait to give it to you. It has magical properties, and should help keep you safe." Her white furred hands held the belt out to him, and for a moment he hesitated.

"You… don't like it?"

"Uh, no no! I just… um… I shouldn't really take it if it's meant to be a… well… for a wedding that may not happen. I'm just saying." He held his hands up in surrender before his chest.

"It's alright. Consider it just a gift from me to you." She smiled at him, trying to diffuse his hesitation, which only made him feel more uneasy at accepting it.

"Uh… thank you." He accepted the gemmed leather belt and slowly wrapped it around his waist, moving the buckle to the front. Each gem suddenly glowed once in a clockwise spin before coming back to the buckle and activating whatever magic was inside.

"What… does it do?" he asked as he looked down at his waist at each gem.

"Well, there are many ways to harm a cat. For each method, a gem would use its energy to ignore the effects, cancelling whatever might harm you. They would need time to recharge afterwards, but one time, whether fire or poison or lightning or any other damage, it will protect you against." He was surprised by the capability of the belt, his face etched with slight shock as he gazed at each gem.

"I don't know if that would help against being shot by lizard pulse weapons, but it would at least stop the first round from ending me." Celica walked up to him and placed her hand gently on his cheek.

"It was originally the idea that it would stop assassination attempts against you, or at least allow you to respond to whoever is attacking. The first blow will never harm, though once you know who is coming for you, you may be able to counterattack, or block with your gauntlet." Her thumb rubbed softly against the fur on his cheek, and for a minute he saw in her eyes the affection she had for him.

"I uh… should… probably check on how the rest of the team is handling acclimatizing… yeah… um, thank you for the belt. It's beautiful. I wish I had something to give you, but I… uh… don't really have much at the moment…" he replied as he thought quickly. He still hadn't learned how to talk to women.

"It's alright Lion-o; your presence is a gift to me already." Her hand fell from his cheek as he backed away and nodded awkwardly and turned around, heading back out of the flap of the tent and looked around. He saw Panthro looking over three different crystals that must have been magical, and yet he couldn't figure out how they worked. Cheetara was sitting cross legged on a pillow with Tygra apologizing to her, as the Cleric remained silent and her eyes closed shut. Lynx-o was polishing his shield, which already shined so bright that it could be used as a mirror, not that he could see.

As he scanned the camp, he noticed on the opposite side Kalihara's tent door open, and there leaning his arm against the top and kneeling, was Bengali talking to a just woken up lioness. She shook her head with a small smile creeping onto her face as he chuckled, her hair in a bit of disarray with black strands popping out of place. Lion-o frowned at the sight. He liked seeing her smile more than anything, as well as her look just out of bed, but he didn't want her to smile when it came to Bengali. Jealousy was eating away at him as she nodded to something he said as the young king walked over to Lynx-o and sat down next to the blind General.

"Ah, young Lion-o, or should I say your majesty, how are you fairing this morning? Breathing well thanks to these gems?" he asked.

"I'm alright, thanks for asking, you?"

"I cannot complain. There is decent food, resting well, fresh air albeit cold, and friends around. I take it alright means something is bothering you?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you never say you are alright. You usually tell me what you are going to do or that you aren't feeling well. You always go into detail, ever since you were little."

"For a blind General, you're pretty perceptive" Lion-o chuckled out.

"Not all senses are physical Lion-o. I've known you since you were a cub. What's wrong?" Lion-o looked at the old Lynx and then gazed at Kalihara.

"I've told a woman how I've felt about her, and she would rather I wait for someone closer to my rank or some such. I tried telling her my heart doesn't work that way, but she's been pretty adamant about keeping her distance. Meanwhile, I've got a princess whose practically falling head over heels for me."

"Ah, lady troubles I see. Your father had similar problems one time."

"Wait, what?" Lion-o stared at Lynx-o with his eyes wide and his jaw falling agape for a few seconds.

"Yes, he was quite the lady's man. Why, I remember, it was a fight for his affection between your mother and a panther I believe. You already know how that turned out."

"My mother fought another woman for my father's heart?"

"Not physically. You see, it was a battle of wits and a testament to their personalities. While your mother was kind and gentle and looking out for others, the panther was wild and outgoing and always wanting to go on an adventure. Claudus knew that the characteristics of both were desirable in different ways, but he ultimately chose the lioness as his wife."

"Huh… so… this panther… was she… was she similar to a certain commando?" Lion-o asked.

"Ah, so the name of the lady you care for shows now. Actually… she was not. She was more like a certain princess. While their love life together would have been exciting and passionate, he chose your mother because of her caring nature, and what she brought to complete himself."

Lion-o watched Celica walk to two soldiers and order them to do something, her voice muffled by the wind and other voices garbling the path to his ears. She was stern in her commands as the soldiers saluted and reacted quickly as she turned her attention to a mage.

"A certain commando is actually more similar to your mother than you think" Lynx-o chuckled.

"What do you know of my mother? I never got a chance to meet her."

"Ah, she was a handful. Claudus was a strong ruler, courageous and fearless in the face of any danger, and always looking out for our people. But, when your mother entered any room he was in, his resolve crumbled, his will to stand firm against anything she requested failed. The feelings he felt for her, a warrior maiden, were far stronger than any metal or stone."

"Wait, mother was a warrior maiden? Does Tygra know?"

"It was kept hidden. Warrior maidens were an aging order of all women. Some still live in a forest a bit a ways from here."

"So mother fought… doesn't sound like her really if she was kind and gentle."

"She didn't truly fight. I don't know her exact position in the hierarchy, but I knew she held quite a bit of sway. Maybe if they are still there, I can introduce you to them, if my aging mind can remember the way" Lynx-o chuckled.

"Your nose could lead us to the stone fragment if the book doesn't, so a forest wouldn't be a problem" Lion-o joked as he stared at the old General.

"It's getting a little worn as time passes, but it hasn't let me down yet."

The young king watched as Kalihara nodded to Bengali and pushed the cubs out, only to close the door. After a minute or two it opened again to show the lioness suited up and sliding her arms through the sleeves of her heavy fur lined jacket.

"Would you like some advice?" Lynx-o interrupted his train of thought.

"These days? I've tried to do things my way and it just ends up in disaster. I'll take any help I can get."

"So you've already told her how you feel?"

"Yes, and she just said to find someone else, because there was some princess out there just for me. I really am starting to think she doesn't feel the same way." Lynx-o let out a hearty guffaw as he clapped Lion-o on the back twice.

"And she has had a life before all of this, yes?"

"Yeah, a husband and son. They're both dead."

"Ah, lost family. Mourning is hard for even the strongest warrior. And you've tried listening to everything she has to say?"

"What little she does say. Most of it is just reporting what she's doing when we're out of the Feliner, which target she's attacking, responding to questions with as short an answer as she can muster. She'll explain different things to make sure I understand, but it feels like she's just instructing me, not… not really talking about herself."

"Hmm… I'm assuming she thinks you are with the princess?"

"Just about everyone seems to think that. I just… I don't know."

"You should."

"What?" Lion-o blinked at Lynx-o as the old Lynx smiled.

"You should know where your heart lies. She may think the same, but you have to prove you aren't going anywhere. Stand firm on your feelings, help her with whatever she may need to start this new life, and simply care."

"That may involve a rather angry lioness pouncing at me if I get in her way."

"On a battlefield, sometimes the only way to break through a fortified position is to charge with superior numbers. Regardless of the defenses, some of your forces will make it through, and those protective barriers will fall. Those soldiers may fall, one after another as they charge, but if their morale is high, knowing what they need to do, then they will not fail. In life and love, sometimes you need to take the same route, head first, take the hits you need to take, and continue."

"Wait, the hits if she says she doesn't feel the same?" Lynx-o laughed.

"No my liege, no. I mean she's more than likely going to be a hard one to get close to, but worth it if you put everything into staying by her side." Lion-o took a deep breath and blew it out in a puckered up mouth.

"Until you hear her feelings are not the same, you do not admit defeat if you truly care." The young king immediately looked at Kalihara and then at Lynx-o as the lioness headed to the hanging pot over a campfire.

"That's the same thing I heard from… uh… someone… an old tiger…" Lion-o muttered out.

"Then maybe you need to take it to heart." Tygra walked close to Cheetara storming away from her pillow over to sit next to Kalihara, who was a bit confused with the hard landing she produced on the bench she was sitting on.

"I'm sorry! Alright? I'm sorry, it didn't come out the way I expected, and you didn't let me finish."

"Finish insulting me? Finish insulting the clerics, what few of us there are left?" she snapped up at him. Kalihara just blinked as she dredged a cup from a smaller pot with coffee in it, and took a biscuit from a tray along with some bacon and eggs.

"No! Finish saying it may work for you, but our mindset isn't the same. Going toe to toe with others without the same speed you have is different. We can't afford to take deep breathes sometimes and control our attacks."

"You don't think I'm not in the thick of it as well? I carry a staff Tygra, I wield it, I hit things with it, and if it wasn't for that staff, sometimes you might have taken a few hits outside of your view."

"It works for you, Cheetara. You've been trained since I started at that gate as a guard with a spear. You've got so many beneficial capabilities, I don't even know where to begin. You're fast, you're trained as a Cleric, you just got those spiritual abilities unlocked… and you expect what you can do would make us better? We'd be lucky if half of what you teach Lion-o is of any use to him." Cheetara narrowed her eyes as she stared at Tygra. Kalihara was putting her coffee cup onto a small wooden table when the cheetah turned away from Tygra and picked it right up as the lioness's fingers left it.

"Hmph." The cleric drank down some of it as the commando blinked at her in surprise with her hand still hovering in place before turning away and grabbed another cup, a slight shake of her head in disbelief. Cheetara swallowed the coffee and put the cup down, realizing it was black as night with no sugar or milk.

"Ugh, how can anybody drink it black?" the lioness held up her second cup and pointed at herself. Cheetara blinked as she realized who the cup belonged to.

"Simple. You didn't let me put sugar in before you got the cup." The Cleric looked down at the coffee she had just taken from the sniper and winced.

"Sorry. Really, I am. I just…" she stopped and closed her eyes, took in a breath and exhaled.

"Don't worry, I have another cup nearby. Tygra" Kalihara tipped her cup in response to the tiger prince's presence.

"No thanks. I'm awake enough as it is. Look, Cheetara… I… grrr, I'm willing to do anything to prove I'm sorry. Look, I'll learn it as well. Teach me what you are teaching Lion-o."

"No chance, not if you aren't truly willing."

"Come on, if he can learn it, then it can't be that hard." Cheetara glared at him again.

"Tygra… think carefully on the stuff that comes out of your mouth…" Kalihara said out of the corner of her mouth as she sipped her coffee. The Cheetah looked away from him and took a small bowl with sugar in it as well as a spoon, and dropped two spoonful's' into her cup before drinking the rest.

"Hey Cheetara, I'm wondering if we could continue where we left off later?" Lion-o called from the bench he was sitting on.

"Of course Lion-o. We can start once I've finished ignoring your brother."

"Somebody is sleeping on the couch tonight" Kalihara whispered to herself.

[The Next Day]

"Lion-o, I think you've got it perfectly."

Lion-o sat cross legged on the pillow, oblivious to everything around him as sound didn't mean a thing, vision was nothing but an illusion, and his body seemed able to flow like wind, yet he was still in the same position he had been for the past two hours. When both Cheetara and the young king opened their eyes, Tygra was sitting right next to him with his own eyes closed.

"Tygra? When did you enter?" the lion asked.

"Almost right when you two started. I… wanted to see if this really works. Hopefully you aren't quite at the intermediate stage yet and I can catch up." The tiger prince looked sheepish as he couldn't meet Cheetara's gaze.

"It helps with letting off steam from yesterday, I can feel that" Lion-o chuckled as he sighed with little care about the world.

"I do feel calmer. Hey, I'm a bit anxious for a chance to do anything besides sitting around and breathing… nothing to do with this though! Really!" Tygra said as he suddenly corrected himself and shook his hands in front of him in defense.

"What did you have in mind? Leaving the camp is out of the question until we start packing tomorrow."

"Well, let's see if it can help with what we normally do. I don't think it can help you beat me, but still, it couldn't make you worse than you already are" Tygra said with a snicker.

"Oh we'll see about that."

[Ten Minutes Later]

[Music: Woodkid – Iron]

Multiple sounds of metal clanging together one after another sounded through the camp as others watched with interest as Tygra and Lion-o sparred in the middle. Tygra constantly had Lion-o on the defensive, with few chances for the young king to return his own strikes. It always happened that way. It started with Tygra on the offensive, waiting for Lion-o to think he was tiring out, and then his brother would return with a fierce retaliation, clumsily counterattacking. During that moment, Tygra would knock his sword from his hand and claim victory.

The tiger prince took a few more swings, keeping Lion-o backing up or blocking. Twice he parried, which he had never done before, which struck Tygra as odd but ignored it. As Lion-o continued his defense, he saw out of the corner of his eye Kalihara walk up to the edge of the circle, observing him. He had to win this in front of her.

Alright Lion-o, don't rush this, continue carefully. He's done this how many times? You always lose. Something about your tactics. Change them without Tygra finding out.

"Not much of an improvement" Tygra chuckled out as he slowed his advance. This was Lion-o's moment to start his counteroffensive, which he always did.

Always? I always do this. Maybe… alright, mix this up a little. Flow just like Hattanzo taught me.

The young king slowly took some careful strikes, testing Tygra's defense as he lowered the amount of strikes he returned. He felt something hiding in the back, some reserved strength waiting for him to mess up. He'd have to watch out for that, something he never did before.

"You'll never beat me."

"We'll see."

Lion-o started his counteroffensive, keeping some of his own strength in reserve. He remembered what the rabbit and Kitsune had taught him involving the sword tournament and his tests, as well as the championship in the monkey city. He needed to adapt, he needed to realize he didn't need to be the center of attention. Every time he tried to win against Tygra, he moved too fast, he was in too much of a rush. He was impatient. Just this once, he had to reign himself in.

As he slammed his sword into Tygra's one final time, his brother quickly parried and brought his sword in a full envelopment circle to try and disarm him… like he always did. The maneuver always twisted his wrist, and if he didn't let go, his right arm would break.

Think… wait… he always does this… what if I just go with the flow… breathe, the wind just blew in that direction…

Lion-o suddenly leapt and rolled over both swords, tumbling past Tygra and keeping his sword in his hand. The prince was surprised by his maneuver. He had always disarmed Lion-o with that action, and this time it didn't work.

"Huh, alright, guess I shouldn't hold back then." Tygra laid into him again as Lion-o went into a defensive posture. Lion-o continued to tumble and dodge easily, leaving Tygra open but not returning strikes. He knew Tygra would continue to block and try and disarm him.

"Lost your will to get at me? You'll never win if you don't land a hit."

"But neither will you, and that's better than a loss for me." Both of them were panting as Lion-o just smiled at his brother. Tygra realized that he was learning from his mistakes for once. The young king glanced over at Kalihara repeatedly, but her face didn't seem to show any emotion as to what she saw from the sparring between royalty. The ring of soldiers and sherpas disbanded as they went back to what they were previously doing, as did the rest of the team.

Lion-o watched as the lioness walked back to her tent and disappeared inside.

"Ready for round two?" Tygra asked.

"You just want a chance to win this time. Coming out in a draw is a win for me right now. Just you wait though, I'll beat you one of these days."

"As if." Lion-o and Tygra both smirked at each other as Cheetara walked up next to the young king.

"Ready for more?" she asked.

"That I'd be fine with."

"Uh…" Tygra cleared his throat as they both glanced at him.

"I'd like to… um… join as well if I'm allowed…" he mumbled out.

"What was that?" the Cleric asked with a catty grin on her face.

"I'd like to join in if it wouldn't be much trouble Cheetara. I guess whatever your teaching him is stopping fish for brains from losing too easily. I can't let him break my record just yet either."

"Admit it. Cleric training works. I'm surprised this wasn't standard for all guards back in Thundera."

"Most of them didn't have the patience for it Lion-o. Only Clerics had the will to learn… well, and you of course."

"Surprised you used will and Lion-o in the same sentence" Tygra chuckled.

"Tygra…" the young king growled.

"It just means my baby brother isn't so thick headed after all." The tiger prince smiled at him, a genuine smile and a crude compliment. A growl echoed off the ice nearby as they all looked about.

"It's getting closer. Hope it doesn't try and test the defenses" Cheetara said.

"It won't have a chance to. We leave tomorrow for the top" Lion-o replied.

"So we're really gonna be on the move?" Tygra asked.

"Yup. We've been here for a few days, and I think the gems can make this easier. I'd rather we finish this sooner rather than later, especially with that thing out there. The safety of everyone in this camp is my responsibility as king, and I'm not gonna let everyone freeze to death or get eaten."

[The Next Morning]

The camp was packed and heading up a makeshift path, which turned out to be incredibly difficult for the wagons. Every hundred feet was a task in and of itself as they kept getting bogged down or stuck on ice. The wind was especially cold as it bit right to the bone for everyone. Celica was complaining about the weather as it started to snow, despite the fact she was sitting in one of the wagons and not on foot. She continued to try and huddle near Lion-o, but he kept trying to strike up a conversation and be near Kalihara.

"So have you fixed your goggles yet?" he asked. She was scrunched up with her arms crossed over her chest close to the back of the wagon.

"Not really. I left most of my repair tools back at the ship, so I can only do routine armor repairs or seal breaks. I'm worried a wire is loose or something."

"Well, we've spotted one threat out there thanks to you keeping watch, so as long as we keep on our toes, it shouldn't really be needed." Kalihara gazed at Lion-o as he praised her, just as the wagon stopped.

"What's stopping us?" Celica asked.

"I don't know, let's check it out" Lion-o replied as they piled out. They came around to the front and stared. There was a collapse of ice and rock in front of the path, keeping them from continuing forward.

"Great… this could take days to clear out" Tygra commented from the wagon he had come out of.

"Couldn't we just climb over it and leave the wagons here?" Bengali asked.

"We'd leave too much stuff behind, and it'd take another two days to reach the peak."

"Huh." Lion-o turned around and looked at Kalihara who was poking at her goggles and staring not at the collapse, but off to the side and up.

"What's wrong?"

"I think it is the fragment that's causing my goggles to go nuts. Or I'm leaning towards it. I'm getting thermal readings now, or one at least." She pointed up to the ridge to the side of the path. Sitting on top was the snow tiger, large and imposing, but not coming any closer. It was watching them.

"Something about his eyes… I don't know, he seems pretty intelligent" Lion-o said as they both stared up, meeting the tiger's gaze.

"Or she maybe. You don't think… no, nevermind."

"What?" he asked.

"You don't think the tiger made that collapse onto the path do you?" Lion-o felt a grin creep up onto his face and fought laughing at her question.

"I don't think that tiger is as smart as the rest of us."

"I'm serious Lion-o. That thing has been hounding us every day."

"Maybe it wants something from the caravan? Maybe we're carrying something it likes to eat?"

"Besides us? Maybe." They both headed to the front as their eyes watched caravan workers placing small objects around the wall of ice and stone.

"What's going on?" Lion-o asked as he looked around. To the side of the path was a 45 degree ramp of snow and jutting rocks at different spots, much too hard for the wagons to move through.

"We're going to blow it up your majesty" one of them answered.

"I don't think that's a good idea" Kalihara commented.

"It's quite safe for us, and will allow us to continue up."

"No, not the collapse. We could cause an avalanche to come down on us."

"Preposterous! We're under an ice ridge that will protect us. Continue!" Celica ordered. The lioness walked over to the ice ridge and pulled out a spiked hammer, slamming it into the side of the top of the overhang wall. Lion-o watched as chunks of ice came away easily.

"Lion-o… this isn't going to protect us at all…" she warned him as she held a block of ice in her gloved hand.

"Celica! Don't let them-" Lion-o started to yell out just as the explosives detonated. The blast echoed through the other mountains and through the icy terrain. There was a sound of ice cracking and splitting.

[Music: Epic Score – Desperate Moment]

"Whiskers! Everybody to lower ground!" He roared as both Kalihara and he looked up beyond the ridge. Snow had collapsed and was tumbling towards them, but it was still a good distance from their position. If they stayed under the ridge, however, they would not only be under snow, but pummeled by broken ice shards and pieces.

The caravan members broke in all directions, with Kalihara and Lion-o charging next to each other down the slope. It was difficult for them to make any speed with the snow impeding their movement, and the avalanche just kept coming closer and closer. The lioness broke from Lion-o's side right as Tygra was next to him.

"Kalihara!" Lion-o yelled as she headed in a horizontal trajectory to not only escape the avalanche, but head off something. To her right, further away, Cheetara was doing the exact same thing as everyone else, but she had a visitor coming up from behind her. The snow tiger was loping through the snow easily, catching up to the Cleric with minimal effort.

"Cheetara! Look out! Tango on your six!" she yelled. The sniper didn't have time to pull her weapon as the tiger slammed into the cheetah's back and bowled her over.

"No… NO!" Tygra yelled out as he watched the scene. Cheetara tumbled and flopped against a rock, unconscious from the strike as the tiger picked her up and shot away as quickly as its feet would carry it. Tygra fought the urge to run after it just as Lion-o's hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder.

"We gotta get out of here!" the tiger prince nodded in agreement, though hesitantly as his lover was being carried away by some predator. They both slogged through the snow as fast as their feet would carry them until both of the brothers tripped and started to roll towards the bottom. Once they slowed and unraveled themselves, they saw the onrushing snow heading right towards them.

"There!" Tygra pointed at a cave to the left a few feet.

"Jump!" Lion-o yelled as they both leapt forward and tumbled in just as the avalanche completely covered the entrance. They miscalculated the size of the cave however.

[Meanwhile]

Kalihara was a very lucky lioness. She had engaged her mask at the last second just as the edge of the avalanche struck her, knocking her over and burying her in the remains of nearly half the mountain as well as ripping away the leather gemmed amulet around her neck. She could barely work her hand through the snow as she reached her rifle and fired a plasma round straight up, melting a tunnel a good foot in diameter due to the heat expansion. That barely gave her enough room to move her arm to a more comfortable position and start digging her way up. She was thankful that an emergency blow up vest engaged around her neck to help provide an opening around her head. She popped her head out and crawled from the hole she created just to realize she was under fifteen feet of snow. What she saw made her snap into action immediately as the rest of the caravan was in a similar fate.

The sniper rolled out of the hole, her body aching from the pounding she had just received as she struggled to crawl across the uneven terrain and dig at hands or legs. Others were luckier than she was, as they had been closer to the top and were doing the same. She saw the hand of Kit grasping and twitching as it poked out of the snow. She was suffocating.

"Hang on! Just hang on!" She yelled as her hands shoveled snow pile after snow pile away, with her fingers searching for the rest of the cub's body. They found her just in time as she pulled the little girl out with a gasp for breath. She coughed fitfully as the lioness searched for her brother, who was being helped up by Panthro. Lynx-o crawled out from under an overturned wagon just as Bengali's arm shot out of the snow followed by his head and the rest of his body.

"Who's up?" She yelled out.

"I'm alright" Bengali replied as the others followed suit.

"Lion-o? Lion-o!" she started to yell at the surroundings, wondering where he was. There was no response.

"Where's Tygra too?" Panthro asked.

"Lion-o? Tygra?" They started yelling.

"I can't see Cheetara either" Kat told them worriedly.

"I saw her get carried away by the snow tiger" Kalihara responded as they started to dig frantically.

"They could be anywhere in this nightmare" Panthro half whispered.

"Lion-o? Where are you?" They all heard come from around a half buried wagon, a dead body of a speared caravan worker next to it. Celica stumbled forward and cupped her hands to her mouth to yell.

"All of you! Where is Lion-o? I can't find him!" she commanded.

"He could be buried alive for all we know…" Bengali whispered.

"Hurry! We must look for him! We must get the others out of the snow! The gems create a bubble of air around the head, so they must be alive somewhere below all of this!" Celica ordered.

"We're standing on a Thunderian cheese avalanche then if more of those gems are hidden under us" Bengali commented.

"Cheetara needs help too. I saw the tiger head towards the west" Kalihara reported.

"She is irrelevant right now! The king must be found! There is no way to mount a rescue! She is lost! Lion-o!" Celica snapped as she continued yelling across the frozen wasteland.

"Are you serious? It has to have a lair, and it has to reach it. If we can reach her then…" Kalihara trailed off as Celica continued yelling at the ground. Soldiers were helped out of the snow as they regrouped from the catastrophe.

"Who are you more worried about? That Cleric or your king?" Celica snapped at her as her gaze turned to the commando. The others looked between the two women as the lioness just stood there.

"There's enough of you here to continue to search. I'm gonna do something about saving a colleague." The sniper flipped around and started to slog towards the top of the slope again, towards the direction she had last seen the snow tiger take Cheetara. With any luck the avalanche hadn't covered its tracks beyond its path, though with the weather still dropping snowflakes, it would disappear soon.

"Kalihara wait! You aren't seriously going to go off alone are you? Aren't you worried about Lion-o?" Kit asked.

"More than you know… but he'd never forgive himself if Cheetara was eaten." The lioness continued in the direction she was heading as Kit watched her leave.

"So it's official. She doesn't care whether he lives or dies. Then it is up to me to find him" Celica growled as she watched the receding form disappear into the snow.

[One Hour Later]

Cheetara slowly opened her eyes as she looked about. Her head hurt with a dull throb pulsating down to her shoulder, and the way light glinted off the walls made it difficult to keep them open due to their sensitivity. She felt she was being dragged, and as her sight focused more and more, she realized she was being moved by the giant snow tiger. Her face instantly contorted into a look of horror as she thought it would eat her. Its mouth let go of her hair as it gazed at her.

Her immediate response to being let go was to flip around and scoot backwards across the floor, her hands hitting fallen snow strewn about. She had to fight to get away. As she crawled quickly down the hall from where she saw the tiger, it bounded over her in one leap to block her escape and just sat there staring at her. A low groan came from its throat, not the growl that she was expecting. She immediately pulled her arms away from it and flipped her body, crawling like a crab backwards from the large beast. It padded slowly towards her, not in any rush to attack. Her back came up against one of the icy walls. She could only go left or right, and she could easily be cut off.

Her hand felt for her staff condensed at her hip, but it wasn't there. The tiger grew closer. As it came to within biting distance, she winced as she turned her head away from it, waiting for the killing blow. Nothing happened. When her eyes opened once again, the tiger was sitting on its haunches staring at her. It licked its chops before cleaning its left paw, still keeping an eye on her.

"Playing with your food? Just get it over with already." The tiger cocked its head slightly and rotated its ears, listening to her words. A soft guttural groan escaped its throat as it stood back up and walked up to her side, nudging her left arm as if to get her to move.

"Hey, what the- cut it out" she winced as her shoulder was sore from whatever had hit her coming out of the avalanche. She slowly got to her feet as the tiger followed her, always at the back of her knees as she continued down the tunnel they were in. It eventually branched into different directions, and every time she chose to go down one the tiger would nudge her in a different direction, never leading her and expecting the Cleric to follow, but more augmenting her path.

"What? Where do you want me to go? What do you want?" she snapped as it didn't answer, and only continuing to push her forward with the soft bump of its head. Eventually she came out into a large room with some furniture in different corners. It was very sparse, though it did have elaborate engravings on the walls as well as a raised bed area. The bed posts were made of huge mammoth tusks, with huge logs on the sides. Lying huddled under what looked like ten blankets was something breathing, a mass moving up and down under the cloth.

The tiger nudged her forward as she cautiously looked around, walking up to the side of the bed as whatever lay in it rolled over. The tiger padded up to the side and groaned as out popped what looked like a very furry… creature. Cheetara almost thought it was a yeti.

"Ah, my friend you return. What have you brought here today?" the man coughed sickly as his eyes looked weary. The young cheetah could easily tell that he was extremely ill.

"I have told you again and again; you must not hunt intelligent creatures. Take them back" he spoke again, ending with a wheeze.

"Who are you? Why did this snow cat bring me here?" Cheetara asked. The tiger pushed gently against the woman's back to get her to move forward a bit more.

"My name means little these days… all that knew me before seem to have been lost to a grave cataclysmic event…" a hacking cough erupted from him "-and I am to soon follow it seems; though if you wish, you may call me Snowman."

"Snowman? What are you exactly?" she asked as she looked around the room, her eyes wandering from spot to spot. Despite the snow in hallways pressed against the walls, the bedroom was impeccably clean. She had a hard time thinking that Snowman could keep the area orderly in his current condition however, and figured he had friends nearby.

"I am a snow knight, defender of this mountain and the surrounding lands, as all snow knights dutifully protect other winter homes for the innocent and just." Her eyes rested on a long spear with a shield looked to be carved from ice. How it was staying frozen was beyond her.

"Why did your friend bring me here? You just told him he couldn't eat intelligent creatures. I'm a Thunder Cat."

"I know not his intentions my lady, though Snowmeow may think-" he coughed a long winded cough, the sound of flem and mucus trying to be dislodged as his body fought against whatever ailed him "-you may have the capability to help me in my hour of need. I apologize for his actions." Cheetara looked behind her at the large snow tiger, and he at her. A mournful groan came from his throat as he looked at her, almost pleading for her to do something.

"He may not realize that what condition I have is not curable by any known medicine. Damn that undead creature for causing all of this."

"Undead cre- you mean Mumm-Ra?" Cheetara asked.

"So, he has a name does he? That foul monstrosity made an attempt at our shrine. He seemed to be looking for something, of what I know nothing about. All I know is that he caused the untimely demise of many a strong knight in this castle for what he sought, though he did not gain it." Snowman slowly pushed to the side of his bed and pushed the covers aside. Cheetara helped him sit up and push his feet out and down onto the cold floor. He thanked her as she could see just how ill he really was… and how tall he was. She was easily dwarfed by this massive warrior. How Mumm-ra could kill however many of him lived in this castle was beyond her.

"How did the others fall?"

"He cast a poisonous cloud in the room, one that would cause disease and illness with no cure to disband it from this world, per his words. Our healers did their best, but slowly, almost all met a horrible fate. They passed away before their time, their bodies disintegrating before our eyes. I believe… I think I am the last here. He could not win against even one of us in honorable battle." He coughed long and hard, and Cheetara felt pity for him.

"So there is no cure?" she asked.

"None that any medicine can make. I am sorry for him bringing you here to see the last moments of a dying man. Please, if it would not be much trouble, I ask but one thing. Take Snowmeow away from this place. He has loyally served me in many a battle, and has been my friend for a many a year even before. Please, I don't wish for him to see me in my throws of death. Take him with you. You'll find he is very proficient at hunting and protecting those around him, and would be a loyal companion wherever thou went." He was wheezing, his eyes watering from pain. Whatever malediction Mumm-ra had cast in that room, had done its job. This was a horrible way to die.

"You said medicine could not cure the affliction?... did your healers cast any magic?" she probed. He cleared his throat carefully and rubbed the fur around it, with her immediately wondering if he had anything to drink recently. She looked around for a cup, found one on a nearby table with a quill and ink as well as multiple layers of parchment as well as a map with many markers covering it. She grabbed a water trough that was empty and looked around. There, attached to the wall was a small water pump with a cut out square subfloor below it, probably used for showering as well as drinking water. She immediately went to it and filled the trough up, and brought a cup to him to cleanse his parched throat.

"Ah, thank you my lady."

"Cheetara."

"Thank you Cheetara. Thank you for hearing the last few words from a dying knight."

"You didn't answer my question. Did your healers cast any magic or did they just use medicine to cure this?"

"They-" he sneezed four times in a row, his head feeling as if it was spinning thereafter "do not have the capabilities to cast a spell that heals wounds or cures afflictions Cheetara. I do not believe anyone has that power. We have learned a few ways to keep our weapons and armor frozen, to enchant our equipment to not frost over in these lands and to strike hard or to not shatter against even the mightiest of materials. To heal with that power is beyond us."

"But not beyond me" she responded as she placed her hands on his own and concentrated. Her small hands compared to his glowed a bright green, a circular aura erupting around them as he seemed to feel a bit better. She tried to focus, carefully pouring her essence into curing the disease, but she could feel the thing hiding in the background of his health. With each time she chipped away and cleansed his body, a previous area would become diseased once again. It was as if she couldn't keep his body cleansed for long, and she was slowly causing problems for herself if she didn't stop. She broke away and slowly slumped to the ground holding her head.

"My lady! That was… I could almost feel the effects that you were causing, healing what ailed me. It did not work, though I have never seen anyone do that. Not one of our healers knew of that magic you used." He said as a cough erupted from his mouth, his hand coming up to cover it.

"I'm not strong enough. Maybe if Celica was here she'd be able to handle it… as if she'd be willing to help someone else beyond herself…" Cheetara said more to herself than him.

"You did your best Cheetara."

"No. This was why Snowmeow brought me here, and I failed. I'm sorry. If only I had something to keep the disease from spreading so quickly…" she replied sadly, her voice carrying mixed feelings of distress and disappointment towards herself. What was the point of her being able to tap into her own essence if she couldn't cure the affliction that Mumm-ra could cause? She might be able to cure wounds, but if they ever got infected she'd simply be there to watch her friends wither away.

"Maybe the healers medicinal herbs might help" he told her as he sat on his bed.

"Herbs?"

"Yes. They were further in the castle. They are the main reason I have survived until now. What few poultices I was given have staved off the disease for this long. I don't know if it has anything to do with the mixture or the preparation, for that was not my duty here."

"But they couldn't cure it… yet they might give that little edge I need…" she said to herself. She slowly got up, her head pounding from her previous attempt at healing him, and looked at Snowmeow. He seemed to know what she was thinking, and bounded to the door waiting for her to follow.

"He shall lead you to the apothecarium where they have the ingredients stored. I warn you however; they have other herbs and plants there as well that may not go into the poultice. Be careful, as some are poisonous by all accounts."

"Your healers made poisons?"

"To bring painless deaths to wounded animals. Some creatures are beyond saving, and so are allowed to move into the hereafter quietly and without fear." She thought on it for a moment as she followed Snowmeow out through the bedroom door and down the hallway, now on a mission to save the last Snow Knight in this castle. Her thoughts were scattered so much between this intelligent creature, his companion, where she was, where her friends were as well as if they were safe, and how to get back to them. She would have to focus on the immediate concerns first.

[Meanwhile]

"Lion-o! Lion-o!" Tygra yelled as Lion-o pressed on the button of his flashlight and pointed it at his brother. They looked around at themselves to see if either was hurt before shining the light further away.

"Oh no…" Tygra sighed out as they both looked at the entrance to the small cave they were in. The front was completely covered in large pieces of ice and snow, with bits of rock and even some metal ore seen in some places. Just under one of the boulders were the straps of one of the breathing gems, with a cracked gem sitting right in the middle, useless. Both brothers weren't wearing one, so logically one of them must have belonged to them and the other was lost during the trip down.

"Can't go that way" Lion-o grumbled as he shined the light in the opposite direction… towards a concave ice wall.

"Whiskers…" he whispered out loud as he looked at Tygra.

"How long have we been in here?" the young king asked as puffs of his breath could be seen past his mouth.

"I don't know, but we can't stay here forever. We'll either freeze to death or run out of air to breathe."

"Both ways are blocked, so it's not like we can just walk through ice."

"We can always start digging."

"And risk even more collapsing in? I don't think that's such a good idea." Tygra waved him off as he got up from his sitting position and slowly climbed the wedge of snow and debris that had pushed into the cave with them. The amount of space they actually had wasn't much; a mere five square meters in total was the only empty space around them.

As Tygra got to the top and started to shovel away snow with his hands, Lion-o watched.

"Hey, I don't think that's a good idea, we don't know how much more-" he started to say just as Tygra fell back with even more snow collapsing down towards him, cutting the amount of space they had even further "snow is out there…"

"I know, I know, it was worth a try ok? We could have been at the edge of it for all we knew."

"I was hoping for that too." They both looked at each other, as Lion-o really did wish that Tygra was right and that they just needed to dig a bit to get out. How wrong his brother was.

"Ok, well, my idea went bust. You have any to try? I'm open" Tygra asked.

"Well, we haven't tried to go the other way yet" Lion-o smirked. Tygra looked up at the ceiling in thought, his mouth clinched in a thoughtful pout while his eyebrows raised.

"Worth a shot" he replied.

"Good. You take the first strike then." Tygra pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the wall, then fired. The pulse slammed into the barricade and ricocheted away, flying by the edge of the cave wall to the right as both brothers dove to the ground while it continued and hit against the wedge of snow that pushed in with them. It hissed as the snow melted to water and dribbled towards them. Out from the water a small data chip was carried along, which looked too advanced to have been made on Third Earth. It had to have belonged to Kalihara. She must have lost it when she cut across the snow to head after the tiger. He was worried about her more than anything right now.

"Ok, your turn tuna for brains." Lion-o winced as he got up from the ground and pulled the Sword of Omens. The Lion extended the weapon to its maximum length and slammed it against the wall… with no effect.

"Try again" Tygra said.

"I'm hitting it with all my strength Tygra! Ease up!" he snapped back as he struck again, with not even a piece of ice breaking away. He struck again and again, with no noticeable damage or cracks showing.

"Stop stop" Tygra finally said as Lion-o stopped and just looked dumbfounded at the wall.

"That can't be ice. Ice doesn't resist pulse pistols or swords."

"I'm surprised it resisted the Sword of Omens. Is it magical? Is it even ice?" Lion-o asked.

"What are you asking me for? Look, the way I figure it, we have three choices. Wait here and hopefully the others will find us-" Tygra started to explain.

"In which we may not be found" Lion-o whispered out loud.

"Oh my, our king losing hope this quickly? We're all doomed then, might as well roll over and die. Stop thinking that way. I'm getting out of here, you can submit if you want but I'm making it back to Cheetara" Tygra quipped as he put his hands palm upturned in annoyance at his brother.

"I'm not quitting alright? I want to get out of here too!" Lion-o snarled.

"Back to someone else as well correct?" Tygra smirked. Lion-o quickly looked away.

"Whatever, now isn't the time to give you anymore advice on women. The second option is to try and dig up."

"How? We don't have anything that can break rock. We have no pickaxes, nothing" Lion-o replied in confusion.

"The Sword of Omens may not break through that super ice, but I highly doubt it can be stopped by a few rocks. The problem with that is… well… the climbing bit." They both looked up. The ceiling wasn't much higher than their own heads, it was simply staying inside the tunnel they would make braced against the sides.

"Won't work. We'd waste too much air working, and we don't know how much is above us to collapse through the new opening" Lion-o countered.

"Then there is the third option. We make a tunnel forward and crawl through it" Tygra finished.

"Wouldn't we have the same problem as last time?" The young king asked.

"Not if we pull some of these rocks and metal ore to use as supports. Look, we just have to get far enough forward and then go left or right to get away from where the avalanche hit. Once we're far enough away, we just go up and we're probably out of harm's way." The young lion thought for a moment. It was worth a shot.

"Alright. Let's try."

[Meanwhile]

The snow was falling even heavier now as a lone figure trudged through knee deep snow and rounded a jut out of ice and rock, the ice frozen similar to a crashing wave. Her hood was up and her mask was engaged as she headed forward a bit more before stopping dead in her tracks. The trail she was following, the prints of paws had disappeared. The trail had just gone cold from the snowflakes falling around her. Kalihara looked around her, trying to find any sign as to where the tiger had gone with her companion. Nothing. To compound matters, she had no idea where she was.

"FRACK!" she yelled as she lowered her rifle and slowly spun around, looking for any marker as to where she was in comparison to the others. She couldn't recognize a single thing. She was lost.

"This can't be happening… this can't be happening… goddess this can't…" she said to herself as she shook her head in dismay, wondering why she blindly charged off without help.

"Lion-o… I am so sorry… I couldn't save her…" her legs crumpled under her as she fell to her knees, her body mashing snow around as she closed her eyes behind her goggles.

"I've just about gotten myself killed too. Please forgive me…" she whispered. No voice answered her words aside from the wind and snow moving about her body.

"Goddess, please help me. I know I haven't been a saint… hell, I've lost count of how many lives I've taken; but I need your help… please. I'm trying to save a life here, and hopefully save a man from the pain of losing a life dear to him. I don't know what he'd do if he knew she was eaten, so if you can hear me, please show me some sign to send me to get Cheetara back… and preferably without getting myself killed… or having another avalanche start…" she prayed. No answer from anyone, and for several seconds she just sat and listened.

"Sheck, I should have left that last bit out… sorry…" she half-heartedly chuckled as she shook her head in dismay. She sighed as she almost felt at peace with her fate of dying in the snow, away from everyone else, alone and afraid for the safety of Cheetara. Cheetara… she'd been focused entirely on her wellbeing that she had done her best to keep her mind from not drifting to Lion-o. He was buried under unknown amounts of snow and ice. She was worried sick for his life. Was he alive? Was he a corpse? How would she react if she did survive this and found out he didn't make it? What did she feel?

[Music: Epic Score – Don't Forget Us]

Her mind started slowly winding its way back to what she did feel, about how he had treated her and what it meant. Did she feel anything towards him the same way? She had nearly found the answer when suddenly her right knee shifted under the snow and hit something hard. When she moved it and pushed her hand under the snow to feel for the item, it turned out to not be a rock or ice. When she grabbed it and pulled it up, she was pleasantly surprised to find Cheetara's staff in her hand.

"Thank… you… goddess…" she sighed in relief as she looked up at the sky, and could've sworn she saw through the clouds a twinkle of a ray of light show through before disappearing. Further ahead, from just where she was sitting, she could see a rocky wall with scratches on it. She tried to use her goggles to zoom in, but there was so much interference that she had to pull them away. Her communications gear in her ear immediately started to squeal and distort into odd garbled sounds, which made her pull it away.

"Frack, it's gotta be the shard then…" she groaned as her ear felt better from no longer hearing the painful noise. The lioness got up from her sitting position and walked to the outcrop, pressing her gloved fingers against the scratches. These weren't made by flying rocks or debris. The tiger had most likely done it to mark its territory or to act as a way to navigate the land. Considering smell seemed useless during harsh snowstorms, it would seem logical the animal would find some other way to get back to its home.

"Alright, just gotta find another… there…" she said to herself as she charged through the knee deep snow and made her way to another rocky outcropping, heading further around the mountain until she stopped for the last time.

"That was not what I was expecting!" she yelped as she stared in awe. There, attached to the side of the mountain, hidden from view even from Lyon, was what looked to be a castle made of ice. Were the sun shining, the spectacle might have blinded her. She noticed there were no guards at the front entrance, no torches, and no markings letting anyone know who owned it. For all she knew, it was abandoned. A perfect home for a snow tiger with no one to contend against. She just had to make her way down to the door. There wasn't even a need to knock.

[Meanwhile]

"They could have at least left some sort of recipe book somewhere before they… alright Cheetara, stop bad mouthing the deceased…" she mumbled out loud as she looked through the cupboards and drawers in the small medical room. Despite no torches seen anywhere or even a candle, the place seemed relatively well lit simply by some sort of radiating light softly pouring through the facets of the ice the castle was made out of. Everywhere was fairly easy to see, with no shadows of any kind emitted.

Snowmeow nuzzled her hand as she dug through a drawer, and she turned her attention to him.

"What is it?" she asked as he padded over to a cupboard she had overlooked and tried to pull at the handle with his teeth. She walked up to it and, having let Snowmeow back away, opened it for him. Some pots and pans fell out immediately, nearly braining her as she ducked away. A small sigh escaped her as she looked at the big cat.

"I don't think there's anything that can help us in there" she responded as she saw more measuring cups and pots. The herbs were growing in pots around the room, with cut pieces in jars of all shapes and sizes. There was an extremely large assortment of material to deal with, and most of it was not for the poultice she was trying to make. If she put in even one wrong ingredient… the outcome could be disastrous. She closed her eyes as she shook her head and looked around at the herbs and parchment strewn about.

"I guess it was a little too much to expect the recipe to just pop out for me" she said solemnly. Just then, a book fell right out of the cupboard she had just open and fell flat on the ground, with a few pages falling around it as well as one bent partly with the cover resting on it. The cleric picked up the book, carefully holding the pages that had fallen out of it and tried to rearrange them back into place. Two were dog eared, with the corners nearly about to fall off from so much use. As her hands pushed the pages back, she saw recipes for all sorts of medicines, poisons, sleeping potions and painkillers. She even found one for making different fuels depending on the ingredients.

Her fingers flipped to the two that were dog eared and found lying on the first page the poultice recipe.

"Finally. So much time wasted on simply figuring out what to put in this. Alright. Let's get started." Snowmeow had a pot held in his teeth waiting for her to grab it and use to hold the ingredients.

"At least I have an assistant to help with all this" she chuckled. He made a soft purring sound in his throat as he rocked his head up and down, his fur around his neck shaking a bit in response. She started to read through the list, picking out what she needed as Snowmeow grabbed different measuring tools that had been knocked about. Once she had what she needed, she quickly used a piece of flint to start a small cooking fire in a circular patch in the corner of the room. There seemed to be a contraption that allowed multiple pots to be rotated into place, with some sort of thermal sensor built to rotate it when it reached a specific temperature for a certain time. The snowmen had created a crude cooking timer.

"No need to wonder when it's done then." Cheetara read through the list and poured what she needed into a pot, double checking each amount. Nothing said she couldn't put more of an ingredient in than was needed, but she didn't want to give snowman an overdose. Once everything was in the pot, she started the odd timer with a small dial attached to the wall. A clicking noise could be heard, along with the pot slowly lowering just over the fire.

"Now we just wait. I only hope snowman has enough time for it to finish" she said to Snowmeow, who laid his head against her foot as she sat and waited. His fur was soft and warm compared to all the ice, as her feet were by now freezing.

The wait wasn't long, as the pot just reached a boil and promptly moved out of the way and was lowered to a counter waiting to be doled out to alleviate some medical problem. The apothecaries of the snowmen were ingenious without the use of magic to heal. Not even Thundera had as robust a medical provider for any ailments. As she ladled out a cup of the brew into a strainer, the sludge above collected and produced a very foul stench.

"Oh goddess… and that's what I have to use too… if only the liquid was the medicine…" she grumbled as she held her nose. Snowmeow looked like he had a hairball, as he scrunched up his nose due to he not being able to cover it with his paws to block the smell. He backed out of the room and headed down the hall, waiting for Cheetara to head after him.

"I take it you'll supervise from a distance now with that wafting through the hallways" she said with a clamped closed nose making her voice sound nasally. She spread the mixture onto multiple bandages and placed them on a plater, and then walked out of the room. Snowmeow was down the hallway slowly slinking back to her, trying to keep his head low to the ground to keep away from the smell. It didn't exactly work, but he was trying. He looked like he was about to pounce on her. She already knew he wouldn't, but still it was a little startling. Her eyes wandered behind her down the opposite way, and her jaw dropped for a moment. Kalihara jogged a bit forward from the entrance, and upon seeing her waved… and immediately brought her rifle to her shoulder on Snowmeow.

"Cheetara! Back up quick! This way!" She yelled as she disengaged her safety and aimed down her scope. The tiger growled in response, his teeth baring as he got ready to dodge and attack.

"Hang on! Kalihara stop!" Cheetara yelled at her as she put her hand up and got between the commando and the tiger.

"Cheetara it's gonna kill you! Get the hell out of the way!" the lioness responded.

"Kalihara put your weapon down! He's not hostile!" the cleric pleaded.

"Put my weapon down? In front of an angry carnivore? He must have hit you on the head harder than I thought. Cheetara, he smashed into you and then dragged you all the way here! I drop my weapon, and he charges and takes me apart! No way!" she growled out.

"He's just trying to protect Snowman and me. You are the aggressor here. I'm fine, really. Lower your weapon." Kalihara glanced at Cheetara as she kept her sights on the giant tiger, the beast clearly ready to leap at her.

"I swear to the goddess, if I die, I promise you I am haunting you for the rest of your very short life" the commando begrudgingly growled out as she slowly turned the safety back on and lowered her rifle. She took a deep breath as Snowmeow closed his lips back over his teeth and no longer looked menacing.

"See? He brought me here to save his friend, Snowman."

"Friend? Singular?" Kalihara asked as she looked at the tiger and then around the hallway. The castle was quite empty aside from the three of them.

"Sadly, yes. I'll explain after we actually save him. I've gotta get these poultices to snowman or this whole thing will be a waste." Snowmeow bounded down the hallway with Cheetah racing after him, Kalihara sighing as she sprinted after, clearly outclassed by the two in the speed department. Once she reached the doorway, she saw Cheetara placing the poultice bandages all over a shaggy man that looked somewhere between a walrus and a bear.

"Alright, let's see if I can do this" the young cleric said to herself as she put her hands on his own and concentrated. Kalihara cocked an eyebrow and looked at Snowmeow. He simply groaned and laid down on the ground, watching.

"I guess I'm not much use either at the moment" she responded as her thoughts wandered to the others. Hopefully they had found Lion-o… and hopefully he was alive. She couldn't live with herself if he wasn't. She had abandoned searching for him to save his friend, just so that he wouldn't feel guilty about losing a comrade, and yet here she was perfectly healthy healing some new… thing.

Cheetara concentrated carefully, her focus slowly moving from Snowman's head down to his chest, then to his arms and finally to his legs. His extremities were the easiest, the chest and head the worst. She had no idea how long she was pushing her essence into him to cure the disease, but the poultices were slowing the infection enough to allow her to advance.

Just as she was halfway, Snowmeow perked up and growled.

"Oh come on, we went through this al… wait…" Kalihara grumbled as the tiger got up and popped his head out of the bedroom door. The commando quickly followed. What she saw immediately made both of them spring into action as Snowmeow shot down the hallway and slammed into Addicus who was flanked by multiple lizards with Kaynar taking of the rear at the main entrance. Pumyra was just in the back, firing at the huge tiger.

[Music: Epic Score - The Enemy is Coming]

"We've got company!" Kalihara yelled as she brought her rifle to bare and flicked the safety off instantly.

"I just need a little more time…" Cheetara seemed to be panting as she was being exhausted from the effort.

"How much more? This is a tight hallway damnit" the commando reported as she pulled back while multiple pulse shots flew by as well as a few bullets. She returned fire immediately after, as Snowmeow backed off and ran into the bedroom, ready to pounce on whoever came through after him.

"Frag out!" the lioness yelled as she threw a spherical object out towards the oncoming forces.

"Scatter you fools!" Addicus yelped as he whooped and hollered while diving back.

"I can't keep this up much longer. I really wish you had doors in this castle to actually take cover behind…"

The commando could barely swing her rifle out to counterattack as a withering wall of pulse shots flew by in the hallway.

"Almost… done!" Cheetara said as she felt relieved and almost ready to pass out as she slumped to the floor and rested her back against the wall. Snowman stood up and flexed his arms, feeling his strength return.

"Incredible… my lady, I must truly thank you. I did not think it possible. Were you to have been here earlier, you may have been able to save the others."

"Less talking more defending" Kalihara yelped as a lizard rounded the doorframe with Snowmeow leaping and tearing his throat out before dragging him back into the room away from return fire. His body took a few hits, though his fur was incredibly thick. He groaned from the pain of the rounds however.

"I don't think I have much… in me after that… to fight…" Cheetara panted as she tried to get up.

"Then let the spirits of the snow knights long since passed help us…" Snowman replied as he put a hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes.

"We're gonna lose this if we don't get more than spirits providing backup. Specifically suppression fire" Kalihara growled out just as Pumyra leapt through the doorframe and tackled the lioness to the ground. Snowmeow was jumping to her aide immediately, but Addicus was right behind his canine friend and battling the tiger away. The lioness roared as she tried to fight the puma away, rolling with her as she tried to slam her back against the wall.

"Hear me, guardians of the castle, ancient spirits of knights long passed. Help repel this evil force from our lands; help protect those who are your living brethren, who fight for the just and defend those who are innocent!" Snowman yelled to the room. The ice around them glowed as spiritual armored snowmen slipped from the walls. Pumyra landed a blow against the right side of Kalihara's jaw, making her see stars as she pulled her combat knife from its holster and fought to bring the edge against the puma's fur. The blade sliced into flesh as the Ex-Thunder Cat backed away, yelping like a wounded kitten as her eyes latched onto the guardians.

"Retreat might be in order!" Addicus yelled as he flipped Snowmeow away from him and ran, the lizards trying to fight against spirit snowmen attacking from all sides. Cheetara crawled over to Kalihara as the commando panted on the ground, her lip bloodied a bit from the hits Pumyra got in.

"Are you ok?" the cleric asked, worried she'd done more damage than she could see.

"I've had worse, trust me on that. She hits like a cub" the lioness mumbled out as she could feel swelling already take form. A huge black and blue bruise was slowly appearing on her jaw as Snowman helped both of them up.

"How in… I have no clue… ok, what am I seeing?" Cheetara asked, bewildered.

"Even in death, my ancestors can take form to defend this home of ours in our greatest need. We never renounce our duties, even in the great beyond of the afterlife. If even one snow knight lives here, then it will always be well defended."

"Talk about one hell of an automated defense system. The whole mountain can be protected" the commando commented as she leaned against the cleric, both women providing support for each other.

"They cannot leave from the castle grounds I'm afraid. They are only able to protect our home, not the surrounding land. That job belongs solely to the living snow knights, though I can rest easy knowing my castle will not be taken while I yet draw breath" Snowman chuckled.

"Alright, day saved here. Now, we need to get back to the others… and hopefully find the remainder still hidden under the snow…" Kalihara said as a small trickle of blood dried on her chin.

"The avalanche! Did everyone make it?" Cheetara asked her.

"I… I don't know… I shot off after Mr. Furry here while they were still searching. From what I saw, Tygra and Lion-o were still missing… they… might still be buried…" the lioness said softly as guilt seemed to wash over her face as she looked away, unable to make eye contact with the cheetah.

"You left before they found them?"

"I left to save you. I had no idea if that tiger was gonna eat you alive or not, and I wasn't gonna let it happen. Tygra and Lion-o wouldn't have forgiven themselves if we had just left you to your fate. How was I supposed to know he was bringing you here to save a life? If I had delayed… if I had delayed any…" Kalihara stopped talking for a moment and sighed.

"Who the hell am I kidding. I fracked up. I should have stayed. Goddess send me to hell, I should have stayed…" she finished as she kneeled down on the ground and picked up her rifle.

"You tried to save who you thought you could save. Your chances of finding me and bringing me back safe were higher than finding Lion-o and Tygra. The others, they were still searching right?" Cheetara asked. The lioness nodded as she sniffed, pressing gingerly at her chin.

"Then thanks. Without you here, the lizards might have stopped us before Snowman could have called for help from his ancestors." The cleric put her hand on Kalihara's back and patted it.

"Hopefully they're alright and above ground by now. I just hope it was the right choice… it's gotta be the right choice" the commando said as she stood up.

"Where was this avalanche by chance?" Snowman asked. Cheetara looked at the map on the table and saw where the castle was positioned, and where the path they were moving up was shown much further away.

"Right here" she replied as she pointed to a location between two lines.

"Hmm, I wonder if they might have fallen into one of the caves in that area" Snowman replied as he rubbed his chin between two fingers.

"If they are, then at least they didn't get crushed. We just have to find the cave they fell into. Maybe the others already got them out."

"If not, we have ways of finding them." Both ladies looked at him in confusion.

[Meanwhile]

"Back! Back! BACK!" Lion-o yelled as both brothers hauled back from the small tunnel they made as fast as they could crawl. The whole tunnel collapsed inward as more snow flowed towards them and closed off even more room that they were already sorely lacking.

"Whiskers! We nearly got a turn made!" Tygra snapped as they both laid there panting. The oxygen in the area was diminishing, and they were now feeling it.

"I don't think we have enough air in here to try another attempt" Lion-o mumbled out as they both lay on the ground, motionless.

"Then we wait for the others to find us" Tygra panted out.

"Yeah, the others will find us soon."

"Maybe when they get to us, you might get a big smooch for scaring the lioness out of her wits for being gone for so long" the tiger prince chuckled out.

"Tygra…" Lion-o started to say.

"Yeah yeah. I'll shut up. She's gonna have to find the courage to tell you how she feels eventually, and you aren't the kind to give up to easily. You're too stubborn to give up." The young king looked over at his brother as the tiger winked at him. They just laid there as the air slowly lowered, and they started to get drowsy. Just then, the ice wall near them collapsed into the ground as a flashlight started to move across the floor near them.

"They're in here!" They both heard as they breathed deep from new waves of air flowing in. Cheetara ran to Tygra and helped him slowly sit up and Kalihara slid across the ground on her kneepads and helped Lion-o. Snowman and Snowmeow followed behind them, watching.

"Lion-o! Lion-o! Can you hear me?" the commando asked as he stared up at her face.

"Yeah, I can hear you. Took you guys some time to find us" he chuckled out. Kalihara's face was awash with guilt as she looked away and didn't respond. Cheetara looked over at her as her smile slowly faded from seeing her boyfriend again.

"I'm joking. It's good to see you in the land of the living. Where are the others?" he asked as he slowly got to his feet, a wave of dizziness washing over him.

"I'd guess right above us trying to dig down. Whoa there, easy. How many fingers am I holding up?" she said as she put her hand in front of his face.

"Four. Now two. Five. One" he replied as she finished with her pointer finger up before giving him a thumbs up.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Any wounds? Trauma? Anything feel broken?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Really. I'm more worried about you. Are you alright?" he asked as he stared at her. His hand came up to her chin where the blood had dried.

"I'm fine, just a scuffle with Mumm-Ra's forces. Nothing we couldn't handle." Lion-o looked worried as she looked her up and down.

"I said I'm fine." He wasn't sure she was telling the truth as she pulled away from him as she scratched away some of the dried blood.

"So how did you get that "wall" to open up anyways?" Tygra asked.

"Long story" Cheetara replied just as daylight could be seen with some hands pushing away snow on the opposite side at the top.

"They're in here!"

[Ten Minutes Later]

"Lion-o! My dear Lion-o! I was worried sick! We've been digging everywhere for you! I am so glad you are safe!" Celica wailed as she clamped her arms around him and hugged him close. Her eyes opened up as they locked onto Kalihara.

"You! You abandoned us without another word! This makes no sense that you would be found down there with him!" she seethed out as her eyes narrowed. Kalihara glared at her.

"I went to save the only person I had half a lock on! She could have been eaten!" the lioness replied.

"That cleric isn't worth the death of a king! You were willing to run off after her and leave him to his fate! Lion-o! She was willing to let you rot down there!" Celica yelled as she pointed at the woman.

"What's this all about?" Lion-o asked, confused at why Celica was snapping at her.

"Kalihara ran off to track the tiger and bring Cheetara back while... we worked to dig you out…" Panthro told him quietly. Lion-o looked at Kalihara and blinked. She didn't look back at him, just stared at the ground feeling guilty.

"I did it to save someone's life…" she replied softly, though even she seemed to not believe her reasons.

"Was Cheetara worth sacrificing Lion-o? Was it?" Celica asked.

"You can't compare one life to another! All are precious!" Kalihara snapped at her suddenly, losing her usually calm demeanor for a second.

"Kalihara… Lion-o's life is worth more than mine…" Cheetara told her softly.

"Cheetara? I wasn't about to just leave you to be some tiger's chew toy, even if it didn't work the way I was expecting."

"While I'm grateful for your help, if you have a choice between saving my life or his, the choice is obvious. You protect Lion-o." Tygra was about to speak up, but he shut his mouth just as quickly. Even he knew she was right.

"Work the way you were expecting? Oh, so because you thought she was in danger, and she wasn't, you believe your choice was right? All who serve royalty know their lives are for the king! Even she knew this! The fact that your actions were pointless to begin with proves where your loyalties lie! You don't care for the king at all!" Celica yelled right at her.

"I-" Kalihara was about to snap at her, but her voice caught in her throat and a sigh escaped her lips.

"My actions were not of the highest tier expected of Thunderian military, and I have dishonored my oaths made to the Special Forces. I expect punishment equal to my lack of-" Lion-o walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Good work." She stopped cold and looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"You did your best to save Cheetara. You had no idea where I was, so you went for the easiest lead. What would have happened if she had been in trouble? What would have happened if you had stayed? She would have died, and though everyone else here seems to think I'm worth more than her life-" he said as he looked around at everyone, his eyes meeting Cheetara's "- doesn't make it so. I'm the king, and if I had found out that you sacrificed her life for mine, I don't think I could have lived with myself. All of our lives are precious, and if we're going to defeat Mumm-ra, we have to know that someone out there is going to come running to help us in our time of need. If we can't rely on our friends, then we're just as bad as Mumm-ra and his army. So, good work, and thank you."

"Lion-o…" Kalihara whispered as she stared into his eyes, searching for a reason he said what he said beyond the obvious. He smiled at her as her eyes searched his. Her eyes finally broke away and looked at the ground as his hand dropped to his side.

"We should scavenge what we can now, shows over, everyone let's get the wagons back together" Panthro yelled out as everyone stopped milling around looking at the king.

"Besides, I already knew you'd come for me eventually, so I didn't really worry" the young lion grinned and gave her a thumbs up. She looked up at him as Bengali walked towards a wagon, his eyes watching both them looking at each other before helping to push the wagon back on its wheels. Celica looked ready to strangle Kalihara as she watched both of them before seemingly diffusing and walking away.

"Where are all of you going if I might ask?" Snowman questioned.

"We're trying to find a shard of a stone that fragmented. If we can get all of them back, we can put it back together and keep Mumm-ra from gaining power. Then we can defeat him once and for all. That's the plan anyways."

"And this shard, where do you think it is located?" the knight asked, a curious lilt in his voice.

"Probably at the top we're guessing. Everything has been telling us it's on the mountain."

"On? Or in?" Snowman commented as he chuckled and looked back at the mountainside.

"What do you mean?" Cheetara asked as she walked up and stood next to him.

"Remember the caves. They are connected to other exits in our castle. Mumm-ra was trying to gain access to our shrine. From it we were given the materials we needed to enchant our equipment. I would wonder if our shrine would also be able to give what you need right now, which would be the shard. Would it speed up your trip if requested?"

"You know, that couldn't hurt. We'd be grateful if given the chance" Lion-o replied and nodded.

"It would be my pleasure to let you use the shrine. I must warn you, it does not give you what you want. It gives you what you need. Considering you need this shard, I don't see how that would be a problem, but it will only answer to those it deems worthy. Our Knight Commanders were the few who controlled the shrine, as they were deemed the most honorable and willing to dole out what was given to be used by us. This would make us cherish what we had, and never want for more. If it does not find someone worthy, it will not answer your call for its use."

"Whoa whoa whoa, find someone worthy? It isn't going to be surrounded by spirits asking for a sacrifice or hoping someone is burned to a crisp is it?" Kalihara asked worriedly.

"No, why would you think that?" Snowman asked curiously.

"No reason" she replied and looked everyone else in the group in the eye. They all knew what had happened the last time.

"It simply won't respond. It will search your memories, your actions, your words to those around you, find you worthy of its use or find you wanton. However, from what I've seen of your people so far, I would guess it should have an ample amount to choose from to fill that requirement" he chuckled out as he surveyed the ThunderCats.

"Let's do it then. Let's get back to this castle."

[Author's Note: Yeah, It's been awhile since I've posted. Had difficulties with internet, time to write, and life matters to attend to. What a long strange trip it's been achievement unlocked for me. Should be smoother sailing from here on. At least no more phone calls from my friend saying "ahem, you said you would finish the story for me. I see no new chapters. This does not work. You will promptly fix this or feel my wrath." Not quite those words, but there were also some jabs to the shoulder to punctuate it so of a similar nature. Anyways, hope this is considered a decent continuation by all!