Sunrise Phoenix: Again: I'm sorry this took so long, and I thank you for putting up with me. MEGA thanks to SuperSonic22 for helping me out with part of the battle scene in this. And now on with the show!
Part X
Battles, Plans, and
Mummies Oh, My!
Lion-O awoke with Atem's head still in Jaguar-a's lap, a smile broke on his face as he remembered what happened last night…Atem was now part of their soul circle. Carefully, Lion-O put his arm around his sister and had to chuckle when he heard Jaguar-a mumble something about 'candy fruit tea'… she clearly missed her favorite treat. He saw the guards change shifts with others and could glimpse the sun slowly coming up over the mountain. Being careful as before; the Lord of the Thundercats kissed his sisters forehead…causing her to slowly open her eyes and smile at her brother.
"Morning, Lion-O."
"Same to you, Jag. We should wake up our new family member don't you think?" He replied while gesturing to Atem.
Jaguar-a shook her head. "No, let him sleep. He needs his rest…I was the same way when I did the ritual, remember?"
He chuckled, remembering that she slept 'til noon after the ritual that happened the night before. "Alright, five more minutes. But then we should clean ourselves up, before the whole village wakes."
She nodded, and stroked Atem's messy tri-colored hair like a mother would do for her child. He looked so peaceful that she didn't want to wake him. But he did need to get up. So Jaguar-a slowly leaned down and kissed Atem's cheek; causing him to stir and open his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision and then a look of shock came across his face, and quickly sat up…but quickly regretted it when his head swam and throbbed. "Oww. Why does my head hurt?"
"One of the side-effects from the ritual." Lion-O calmly explained. "It's natural, little brother."
Atem froze. "What did you say?"
Lion-O smiled, "I said: Little brother."
The prince suddenly remembered what happened last night…the ritual, the bond, running through the forest, howling at the moon, watching the stars…it was all real! "So it was real! You both are my family now!"
Jaguar-a nodded and ruffled his hair, "That's right Atem…you're one of us now."
Atem hugged them both, he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. When they separated, Lion-O and Atem went to the bathing chambers to clean up before breakfast.
The water was warm and a fresh batch of fruit sat in a bowl by the tub; Lion-O took off his shirt and Atem saw a mark on his left shoulder. It looked like the Eye of Thundera, but it had a cat's eye in its jaws. It faintly glowed before disappearing from sight…making Atem think that he was just imagining things. He removed his clothes and got in the water to wash up; getting rid of the dirt and sap that had been stuck on his skin and in his hair. He sighed in relaxation when he felt clean again, and nibbled a piece of fruit to clench his hunger.
Lion-O went under the water to rinse his hair…but then he didn't come back up!
Atem began to panic and stood up to pull Lion-O out when his new brother came up for air. "Lion-O, you scared me! I thought you drowned."
"Nope, I just needed to get all the soap out of my hair…and the only way to do that is to go underwater." The lord of the Thundercats replied. He got water out of his ears before adding, "Something's on your mind, huh?"
The prince nodded, "Yeah…how'd you-?"
"I can feel and see your aura. That's how I knew; so tell me what's wrong?"
Atem took another bite of fruit, "Well I thought I saw a mark on your shoulder…but I don't know if it was real."
"It was. It's the mark of the bonding ritual we did; Jaguar-a has one on her right shoulder exept hers has a flowery vine encircling the Eye Of Thundera than a regular circle. The marks are different for everyone that undergoes the spell…take you for example."
"Me?"
Lion-O took a small mirror from the side of the bath, and handed it to Atem. "Look for yourself."
Atem took the mirror and thought it was on his shoulder 'til Lion-O gestured to his forehead. The prince looked again and nearly dropped the mirror in surprise; the mark of the millennium items was still there but now it had the Eye Of Thundera for the middle circle!
"That's Jaguar-a's mark. Mine's on your back." Lion-O explained. "Each of us placed a mark on you. Normally only one mark would be present after it's agreed by the casters but since Jaguar-a and I are different species-wise….she felt that two choices were good to decide."
Atem had gotten out while Lion-O was talking and turned his back to the mirror to see Lion-O's mark; the mark was on the middle of his back and was an image of the Millennium Puzzle that was held in the Eye Of Thundera's jaws.
"You can decide which one you feel should be the permanent mark later. It took our sister a week to figure out which one to keep." Lion-O continued. "It was funny through…she kept asking me what I thought of the two. When she finally choose the current one she has now; I was grateful that she wouldn't be pestering me about me about it anymore."
Atem finished bathing with Lion-O and dressed in his now mended/washed clothes; before joining his brother outside the Dining Hall. Jaguar-a joined them a few minutes after as the rest of their group awoke for breakfast.
They were enjoying some fruit and milk when screams sounded from outside…followed by unearthly roars and battle cries.
Willa ran out with the others behind her, calling for her spear. Atem came to a halt when he saw what was attacking the Tree Kingdom…Mummies! But these weren't like the ones he'd always see at the House of the Dead; these were different.
Their skin was a bluish black, small red eyes glowed like coals from hallow sockets, some of the skin was peeling away to reveal the black bones underneath, yellow or brown teeth gashed at the people who fled and strips of cloth hung from their bony bodies. Each one held a weapon and wielded it with skill.
"They must have been soldiers in their past life." Atem thought, before Panthero yanked him on the arm.
"Snap out of it, boy! Need to help these people…now move!" The martial arts master hissed.
Atem came to his senses and hurried over towards a mummy that was about to hit two children. He rammed the creature in the back…sending it to the forest below. He turned to the children as Willa ordered all the women, elderly and children to the safe house. He picked them up and followed the crowd to where the women were going. The safe house was deep underground and lead to a cavern which would serve as protection.
An elderly woman took the children from Atem and ushered them inside as the last of the women and children ran in before the door slammed shut. The prince ran back up the stairs and quickly went to his room to grab his sword but had to dodge a couple of enemies along the way. He grabbed his sword and ran back out to help his friends and family.
The kitten were using their bags of tricks, Cheetara was using her staff, Lynx-O his shield, Tygra his whip, Pumyra her bolo sling, Bengali his hammer, Panthero his num-chucks, Lion-O the Sword of Omens, and Jaguar-a her arrows.
Joey and Tristan were having trouble with two mummies that wouldn't stay still. The blonde cut off one of its arms causing it to turn its attention to Atem and giving Tristan time to stab it through…causing it to dissolve into black sand like substance.
"What are these things?!" Joey yelped as he stabbed the other.
"Who cares, man?! Just knock'em down." Tristan yelled back.
Atem heard a scream and saw a young woman being pulled by the hair towards the end of the platform by a mummy. Clearly it wanted to throw her over the edge. Atem was about to help her when the mummy was thrown backwards by something that Atem couldn't see or figure out till Tygra became visible again; he realized then that Tygra used his special ability to gain advantage over the enemy.
"I wish I could do that." Atem thought, before ducking as another mummy swung a sword near his neck. He got down before kicking the mummy in the abdomen and under the chin…then thrust his sword through its stomach. The mummy let out an inhuman roar before dissolving.
He heard a feral roar and turned to see Bengali using his hammer to hurl explosive pellets at the incoming enemies. Pumyra was doing the same with her bolo sling. The prince jumped out of the way as Cheetara sped past, knocking down mummies with her staff like a pile of clay jugs.
Lynx-O was holding out pretty well for a blind man, he would simply listen for the enemy to make their move before attacking with his light shield. Panthero meanwhile used a lot of hand-to-hand attacks and movements to bring these creatures down.
Atem ran through the mummies while slashing them as fast as he could…before seeing Wiley Kit and Kat through a capsule on the ground, causing slippery grease to ooze out and making the mummies near them fall in a tangled heap.
The prince felt something bump into him and turned to see Lion-O. Both were stunned for a moment before they ducked at the same time to avoid having their heads chopped off…letting the two mummies they been facing cutting off each other's.
Before another mummy could try anything, Lion-O climbed onto the roof of a hut and raised the Sword of Omens to the sky. He began to chant: "Thunder…"
The blade grew.
"Thunder…"
It grew again
"Thunder…"
The blade became the length of a long sword.
"Thundercats, HOOO!"
Atem watched in amazement as a beam of light shot out from the jewel in the hilt of the sword; and the Eye of Thundera appeared in the sky. He felt something pulse in both his blood and veins…as if the magic in his being was reacting to the Eye of Thundera itself.
He also saw each the Thundercats eyes glow gold, even Jaguar-a's eyes, when the symbol blazed in the sky.
Lion-O jumped from the roof and rejoined the fray, being even fiercer with his attacks; it was as if the symbol had rekindled the adrenaline and feral ferocity in his blood. The other Thundercats soon joined in, and even the Warriors under Willa's command hurled themselves into the fray, screams of battle echoing from their lips. The mummies turned their attention from the citizens of the Tree Top Kingdom and returned the cries with roars of battle of their own, rushing to them with weapons drawn.
"Come on Joey, Tristan! We gotta help them." Atem shouted to his friends.
"We need a plan before-Atem, wait!" Joey called, as the prince ran forward to join the battle. The smoke from the fire on some of roofs of the empty huts created ashy fog…making it hard to see where anything was. However, what really unnerved Atem were how the mummies could disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye.
Fear clawed and tried to grip Atem's heart as he tried to see the undead enemy…not to mention is was getting hard to breathe. He bumped into something and swung his sword in fright before it was stopped by a golden Lion's Paw-no-a Claw Shield.
"Easy Atem, it's me!" Lion-O shouted over the war noise. Atem was about to say something when Lion-O pushed him to the ground and cut off the head of a Mummy that was going to stab Atem with a spear. He turned back to Atem who was having trouble breathing before picking him up and carrying him to a spot where he could receive air. "Take a few deep breaths, little brother." Lion-O said, while looking out at the battle before them. With the life choking smoke all around them there was no way they could defeat the mummies at this rate. Unless….
Lion-O was suddenly struck with an idea. "Stay here where you can breathe, Atem. I'll be right back."
Atem watched Lion-O disappear into the smoke and got his coughing under control. He wondered what Lion-O had in mind.
The Thundercat in question, fought his way towards the princess who was back to back with Cheetara and Pumyra. The three ladies were doing pretty well on their own against these ugly undead.
"Jag!" Lion-O called, being careful not inhale the smoke.
The princess round-house kicked an oncoming mummy off the platform before looking at her brother. "What?!"
"Do you have enough magic energy?"
Jaguar-a ducked a swing from her opponent. "For what?!"
"That Fairy Spell you learned before we came to Egypt!"
She furrowed her brow a moment before a look of shock spread across her features and her mouth formed an 'o'. "Lion-O, you're brilliant! Just one second…"
Jaguar-a sheathed her bow and slapped her hands on the platforms wood….using her magic to morph the wood into spikes that shoot up. 'Causing all the mummies to be impaled and crumble to sand. She ran over to Lion-O who helped her leap up to the top of the Watch Tower that, thankfully, the fires hadn't yet touched. The princess closed her eyes and focused, "'Powers of the Earth, Water, Fire and Sky; come to me in my time need. Help destroy the evil that threatens me and my family…'"
Atem, who had gotten his breath again, looked towards the Watch Tower as Jaguar-a's form began to glow with a holy light. He then noticed that the other Thundercats were glowing gold as were their eyes.
Joey and Tristan, who had stuffed a crawling mummy into a pot, also looked up at the source of the light.
"'…I invoke thee; FAIRY LAW!'" (1)
With those last words, light burst forth from Jaguar-a's being, as well as the other Thundercats. Atem had to cover his eyes from its intensity, but the light was also warm and loving. As if it could keep darkness itself away.
Jaguar-a watched in satisfaction as the Undead Mummies squirmed and writhed in pain from the light touching them before they were incinerated to nothing. "This is a warning Anu; if try to harm any who stand with us…you will be destroyed."
Atem uncovered his eyes once the light disappeared and gasped in shock when he saw that not only that the mummies were gone…but the fires had also been put out. He ran over to help Lion-O get their sister down from the tower: she looked drained of all energy.
Jaguar-a groaned before looking at the two boys with a weary smile. "Heh, I think I might…have over done it…"
Lion-O grinned back while shaking his head, "Just a bit. You're always over doing it."
"I got…rid of them didn't I?" She panted. "The spell requires…lots of magic energy."
"And now you're exhausted." Atem added, earning a glare from her. "Just saying."
"As I said…'lots of…magic ENERGY'. Now can both…of you please let me…not talk? I'm…really tired." With that she fell asleep.
Lion-O chuckled before he and Atem took her to the safe where she could rest.
"May I ask what's so funny?" Atem asked.
"I never would've asked her to use that spell unless there wasn't another option. Those mummies would've kept coming if she didn't use 'Fairy Law'."
"What is 'Fairy Law'?"
"It's a spell that destroys all evil surrounding the caster. You can only use it once through…which makes it difficult since it uses all of the Magic Energy. Let this be a lesson Atem: Don't use a spell like that unless it's a last resort."
Atem nodded, and had to grin when the children ran out to find their fathers allowing the prince to see inside and the stairs that lead down into the room where the elderly, women, and children had been staying safe. There was a separate chamber where the food could be stored and a another which had beds.
Lion-O and Atem lay Jaguar-a on one of the beds, after removing her bow and quiver and placing it by the bed. The soon-to-be pharaoh raised his eye brows when Jaguar-a muttered something about 'Getting closer' and 'he's not gonna get away'; he looked to Lion-O for an answer.
"She sometimes dreams of past hunts we've had. The ones that got her adrenaline racing; trust me this'll pass. From what I can tell…this one's a small one. From time to time she'll have one that makes her act like she has her bow and arrows." HE cracked a smile. "This one time we were sharing a room at an inn which only had one bed-"
"You shared a bed?!" Atem half-shrieked.
Lion-O covered his soul-brothers mouth and shushed him. "I've never stepped over the line…furthermore; Jag hates to be rudely awakened. Trust me…she's a demon if you do that."
Atem nodded; signaling that he understood and breathed in relief when Lion-O removed his hand.
"Anyway," Lion-O continued. "As I said; there was only one bed. And that night, Jaguar-a had one of the more 'physical' dreams. Her voice kept waking me up every four hours. Then figured out that if she uses too much 'magical energy'; this happens."
"And to not share a bed or tent when she's like this." Atem added.
Lion-O nodded as Jaguar-a rolled on her side; while mumbling 'got you now…you mean old fowl'.
"We should go. Everybody needs help and we should let our sister sleep."
Atem didn't argue and followed Lion-O outside, smirking when he heard Jaguar-a yell when she tumbled off before the bed cursing in Celtic.
The people of the Tree Kingdom had wasted no time repairing the damage the mummies had caused to the houses and dining chamber. Even Joey and Tristan were helping. Atem helped with the repair work to the platforms.
Near noon, Lynx-O pulled Atem aside and they sat down. "Lord Anu will get stronger with each passing day. We must hurry."
"Hurry for what?" The prince asked, with curiousity.
"For the solution."
Atem turned to see his soul-sister behind them, stretching her arms. "So you woke up, finally."
Jaguar-a pierced him with a glare. "What 'til you use a maximum spell; then we'll see who jokes around here."
"You were saying, milady?" Lynx-O said, before things got ugly.
"I was saying; we need the 'solution' to stop Anu before he strikes again. And I know how."
"What's that?" Atem questioned, almost dreading the answer.
"We need to make a weapon of the metal that was created when Lord Anu was sealed away." Jaguar-a paused. "Once we have that; he'll be finished."
Meanwhile, in Egypt…
Akhenaten stood by Lord Anu who was sitting on an onyx throne that had once been white limestone. Lord Anu held a black stone goblet filled with wine as he watched his soldiers fight Atem and the Thundercats in a black marble slab which had been enchanted to be like a mirror of all-seeing. Akhenaten became frightened when Jaguar-a defeated all the mummies, he looked at Lord Anu from the corner of his eye.
"Interesting." The dark priest muttered. "Very interesting…for a young woman whose not a Thunderain to have so much power."
"Shouldn't we send more soldiers, milord?" Akhenaten asked.
Lord Anu gave a sly smile. "No. Not at the moment; this battle was just merely a test. To see what these 'guardians' of Atem are capable of." He sipped his wine. "I must say…it provided good enterainment."
"What shall we, er, you do now my lord?"
"We wait. But there is something I need you to do…"
(1): A spell used in the Manga 'FAIRY TAIL'. I love that one and it fit the battle perfectly!
Sunrise Phoenix: So...the MEGA question I have for you readers is: Which smybol should Atem keep? The one on the middle on his back? Or the one on his forehead? Tell me in your review!