Chapter XI
"What do we do now?" WilyKit's question hung in the air amidst the group's silence, and worst of all Lion-o didn't have an answer. They had hunted down The Book of Omens, and for what? He'd left his army, his people, searching for this mythical answer to their problem: Mumm-Rah, and now that they had the book it was worthless to them; written in some kind of archaic ancient form of their language. It now seemed that their entire journey had been a waste. Lion-o sighed and ran a hand through his flaming hair.
"We go back." Lion-o answered, "We head north and find where General Puma has taken the army and refugees, and then we prepare for war." His voice was hard and even as his blue eyes. It was an absolute decision, one that left no room for argument; it was an order.
"In my mech we should be able to travel a lot faster than before, maybe cut several days off our journey." Tygra reasoned. Lion-o nodded in agreement, and he didn't miss Tygra's possessive 'my,' concerning the acquired mech.
"There's only a five northern cities large enough for Puma to consider," Tygra continued. WilyKat tried to ask a question but he barley got a word out before he coughed violently.
"Which one do we think they're they in?" WilyKit asked for her partner, his throat injury still preventing him from joining the conversation. This was something he was not pleased about. Kit patted his shoulder encouragingly.
"We don't know," Lion-o sighed. "We'll have to check each one."
Cheetara had been silent throughout the discussion. She had closed the book and was holding it against her chest when she felt it: Jaga's mana signature. She went rigid for a moment waiting to hear his voice.
"Tuskania," his voice whispered. She recognized the name; it was one of the five northern cities. "That is where they are."
Before when she heard Jaga's voice Cheetara had been sure it was only because they had been in temple, where both Jaga's spirit had been released and where there was a high mana concentration.
"Tell them and go." Jaga's voice urged breaking Cheetara out of her thoughts.
"Tuskania," She blurted barley realizing she had said it until everyone was looking at her. "That's…where we should go first." She ended lamely.
"That's the easiest to get to, since it was built along the river," Lion-o mulled over aloud nodding slightly.
"Exactly," Cheetara agreed. She could feel Tygra's eyes lingering on her, and she knew that he was probably recalling their last conversation, at least the part she told him about hearing Jaga. He probably knew she had heard her mentor again.
"You can trust them, as they trust you," Jaga's voice whispered before disappearing. His mana signature abruptly vanished leaving Cheetara feeling all the more alone. She couldn't help but frown at his parting words though. The brothers had already practically told her that they didn't trust her.
"Let's go then," Lion-o said, heading towards the mech. He was stopped by Tygra though as he neared the open pilot's chamber.
"Hey, no one pilots my new mech, except me." Tygra gave him a toothy grin.
"Fine," Lion-o smiled back and rolled his eyes, and Tygra nimbly climbed into the pilot seat.
"There's enough room in the cockpit for two," Tygra noted. A sudden smirk donned his features as he turned towards Cheetara. "Cheetara, how'd you like to join me?"
"No, thank you." Cheetara replied tartly. Aside from her aversion to being inside the monstrous piece of metal she was also still very stung and angry. "Besides, I think you and Lion-o could use some brotherly bonding time."
"Great!" Lion-o's eyes lit up at the prospect of being inside the machine. Tygra balked slightly, and tried to voice a reply, but was stopped when Lion-o hastily clambered up into the pilot chamber taking a seat on the metal bar behind the pilot seat. Tygra shifted uncomfortably, he could feel Lion-o behind him and could practically feel his excitement from sitting in the mech.
"Fine," Tygra muttered as he engaged the mech's systems. Tygra slid his arms into the metal encasements, he grunted in pain as the metal needle slid into his wrist drawing a blood sample before whirring to life.
The pilot's chamber doors slid shut with a slicing crisp click, sealing the machine's chest closed. For a split second Lion-o and Tygra were in pitch-black darkness. Then three aqua hued holographic screens manifested around the pilot seat. Lion-o gasped, he'd never seen anything like it. The center screen suddenly split into several sections depicting the outside world from multiple angles. The other two screens displayed some form of radar along with the pilots vital systems, available weapons, and shield capabilities and status.
Still kneeling the mech lowered its hands, palms up, to the ground. WilyKit grabbed her partner's hand and pulled him excitedly onto one of the hands. Cheetara took her time in approaching the mech, her distaste clear. As she stepped onto the hand she felt the cool unnatural metal under her feet and shivered in revulsion.
The mech stood and lifted its hands, the kits and Cheetara grasped the large fingers of the metal hands for balance as the machine gained its full height.
"Ready?" Tygra asked, his voice boomed from the amplification provided by the mech's systems. The three of them answered in the affirmative, however WilyKit, and presumably WilyKat as well, were far more ecstatic in their reply than Cheetara was.
With that the mech began heading north towards Tuskania, its long strides covering more than twice the distance the group would have made on foot. The suns set quickly, sinking beneath the horizon leaving the world in darkness save for the bright stars that dotted the heavens.
They had made nearly more than half the trek by nightfall. The group had chosen to stop for the night, WilyKit and WilyKat helped Lion-o build a small fire. After portioning out their rations for dinner the kits sat alone by the fire while Lion-o looked over the mech with an annoyed Tygra standing close by. Cheetara was on the opposite side of the camp from the dead machine. She was sitting against a tree holding the book, the light of the fire just barley illuminating her feet.
OoooooooooooO
"How's your throat?" WilyKit asked turning to her partner, both curious and concerned. She had noticed WilyKat unconsciously rubbing his throat. He stopped when she asked him, drawing attention to it.
"It's…" WilyKat started his voice barley above a whisper, "Alright." WilyKat frowned rubbing his throat slightly.
"Cheetara said that it's mostly healed, all that's left is the scar tissue," WilyKit smiled brightly trying to cheer him up. "Your voice should be back pretty soon." WilyKat gave her a half smile in response before they lapsed into silence.
WilyKit fiddled with the gold amulet around her neck, her nails gliding along the crevices. WilyKat just stared into the fire. Kit sighed before letting her head drop down to rest on Kat's shoulder and curled her tail around herself.
"Kat, I…" WilyKit started still fingering her locket. She sighed, smiled and closed her eyes, relaxing. "I think everything's going to be okay for us." WilyKat put his arm around her and stroked her hair in answer, and he smiled for the first time that night.
OoooooooooooO
"Lion-o, don't touch that!" Tygra was becoming ever more aggravated as Lion-o explored every inch of Tygra's new mech. He'd found where the weapons systems were and was currently examining what he thought to likely be the power source, although Tygra wouldn't let him turn it on so he couldn't be sure.
"I'm not going to break it," Lion-o replied tersely, "And I have more experience with tech than you do." He added for good measure making Tygra cross his arms and frown in response.
"Look I'm not going to try to pilot it, without your permission, alright," Lion-o sighed "Why don't you go…talk to Cheetara or something? " He was surprised at himself for even mentioning the idea, considering. "She seemed a little upset about not being in on the plan, earlier." Lion-o qualified.
"…Fine." Tygra conceded begrudgingly. "But don't touch anything." He warned his half-brother. Lion-o watched Tygra drop down from the cockpit and head towards Cheetara. He watched Tygra approach her and felt a pang of something, maybe jealousy. But then it was him who suggested it in the first place. Turning back to the mech, however, Lion-o quickly became entranced with the beautiful and destructive technological force, completely forgetting both Tygra and Cheetara.
"You okay?" Tygra asked Cheetara as he lowered himself down to the ground to sit beside her. She shifted when he sat, turning so she was leaning away from him, something that did not escape his notice.
"Fine." Her answer was short and sharp. There was an awkward silence, at least for Tygra, for a few beats.
"We didn't leave you out of the plan because we didn't trust you," Tygra began.
"Oh really?" Cheetara snapped her voice rising, turning to look at him her countenance portraying a myriad of emotions, though irritated skepticism was at the forefront. "Then what was the reason? We've been in this together since day one, I have never kept anything from either of you, so please tell me the important reason why you 'left me out'?" Tygra was taken aback by her outburst.
"Cheetara," Tygra started trying to defuse the situation, "We just thought it would be more dangerous the more people who knew." Cheetara tried to retaliate but Tygra pressed on, "And it wasn't exactly 'planned out.' It was more of a spur of the moment gamble." Cheetara pursed her lips but didn't reply.
It would make sense. Between Mumm-Rah's attack and the sudden loss of the sword and book if they did form a plan it had to have been done and acted upon quickly. Silence filled the air between them once more, except for the occasional crackle from the fire.
"This morning you heard Jaga's voice again, didn't you?" Tygra stated more than asked in an attempt to change the subject. She gave a half nod in reply. "Did he say anything about the book?" he motioned down to the tome that she held against her chest.
"No," She answered, her voice once more soft and even, adopting its usual cadence. She placed the book back on her lap and opened it flipping through a few pages. "It's strange… Jaga's mana signature just comes and goes, and I'm not sure why."
"Maybe you should ask him the next time he's," he hesitated, "Here." Tygra suggested glancing down at the book. His eyes swept over the diagrams and scribbles of an ancient language.
"If he's around long enough," Cheetara snorted before shutting the book softly. She turned to look at him, and his looked away from the now closed book to meet her eyes.
"About what happened before…" his voice was suddenly soft and almost apologetic, but she didn't let him finish; she couldn't.
"It doesn't matter." She broke eye contact and looked back down at the book. "I meant what I said before. The war takes precedence." She heard Tygra exhale in annoyance.
"Sure, whatever." She heard Tygra, his irritation evident, as he got to his feet and left her alone in the relative darkness. Only once he was gone did she look up from the book and saw him stalking back over to stand by that metallic monstrosity.
In all honesty she knew how she felt, and knew what she wanted. But she tried not to think about it. What was important now was taking back the Thundercats Empire and defeating Mumm-Rah. Her life and relationship status would have to wait. In a way she was glad that she had decided not to deal with this issue now, she didn't want to be the cause of a breakup between the brothers as she thought she had been before. Watching Tygra she realized with a sinking heart that someday after the war she was going to have to reject one of them.
OoooooooooooO
The sun had barley risen when the group had once again loaded up into Tygra's mech, all of them in the same spots they had been the previous day despite Tygra's attempts to get Cheetara, or even one of the kits, to ride in the cockpit with him. Apparently Lion-o had a severe case of backseat driving.
By noontime the sun was high and bright, yet there was a slight nip of cold in the air. All around them the trees had changed into deep evergreen pines, the only kind that could survive the cold of the north. They were close now.
Inside the mech one of the screens suddenly made a beeping noise followed by the appearance of multiple red dots concentrated at the top of the screen.
"What is that?" Lion-o asked, but Tygra didn't answer him. Instead Tygra stopped the mech and lowered the kits and Cheetara to the ground.
"Stay here for a minute." Tygra told the three of them before continuing on in the direction of the red dots. Cheetara was about to protest but Plun-Darr had carried off Tygra and Lion-o long before she could open her mouth.
Cheetara could sense countless mana signatures ahead, but she stayed put with the kits. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth. As much as she hated to admit it, without her staff and amplifier she would run out of mana too quickly to be effective in a fight against so many. She had her nails and teeth as weapons, but against steel weapons she would just be in Tygra and Lion-o's way.
As they got closer Lion-o began to pick up the mana signatures that Cheetara had. His hand was already resting on his sword ready for battle. If the group the radar had picked up were enemies, Lion-o would be ready. What they found though was neither friend nor foe, but both. In the clearing ahead of them a battle was raging. On the one side were a mixture of lizards, dogs, and rabbits, and on the other were the jackals. At least one or two hundred in total, it was easy to see that the jackals were losing fast. Mumm-Rah's forces had two small mechs that were taking on full squadrons of the jackals with ease; the jackals needed help.
"Tygra let me out," Lion-o said, his sword half-drawn already, but Tygra acted as though he hadn't heard him. In one swift, seemingly practiced, motion Tygra engaged the weapons system and fired twin blasts of energy from the mech's cannons aimed at the two enemy mechs, destroying them immediately. Both Tygra and Lion-o were momentarily stunned; no mech that they had seen in action had had such magnitude of power. But then this was Mumm-Rah's personal mech, the Plun-Darr.
Both armed forces froze as their attention was pulled from their battle to the dark gleaming mech. Less than fifteen seconds after firing at the enemy mechs Tygra blasted a group of Mumm-Rah's forces that had been advancing on the jackals.
"Retreat!" One of the lizards yelled. From his attire it was clear that he was the leader of Mumm-Rah's operational army in this instance. Wasting no time the enemy quickly scattered into the forest. The jackals turned their attention to the dark mech as soon as their immediate enemy was gone. Their weapons remained drawn and a wary look was present in their eyes.
Tygra disengaged the weapons system and powered the mech down. The chest cavity containing the pilot's chamber opened with a hiss of air. Lion-o leap down from the mech, but Tygra stayed where he was feeling just as cautious of the jackals as they were of the two cats.
One of the jackals made his way to the front to greet Lion-o. He was exceedingly tall, and his black fur and golden eyes made Tygra wonder if the tales of the jackals were in fact true. Two vertical scars stretched from temple to cheek marking him as an experienced warrior.
"Thank you, for the assistance." The jackal's voice was warmer than would be expected from his appearance. But then jackals were never what they seemed, or so the stories go.
"We're all together in the fight against Mumm-Rah," Lion-o smiled, "My name is Lion-o, king of Thundera." The jackal's eyes widened slightly and disbelief swept across his face before he noticed The Sword of Omens and the gauntlet upon Lion-o's arm.
"If I'm not mistaken Thundera has fallen," animosity laced the jackal's voice, and his body shifted drawing himself to his full height, gaining at least a foot in height.
"We are at war, not beaten." Lion-o held his smile making no indication that he had picked up on the jackals underlying meaning. "This is a fortunate meeting. I have some questions, if you are willing to answer, for both you and your people. I assume you're in charge here?"
"I am Shen, head of the Jackal Clan." Shen replied giving a slight nod of the head, a flash of a smile crossing his face.
"How did the battle come about, Shen?" Lion-o asked, his gaze wandering over the numerous fallen, their bodies twisted at odd angles. The smell of blood was thick in the air. Shen regarded Lion-o for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to bother answering him. Despite his earlier warm tone it was clear to Tygra, at least, that Shen was not a trusting type nor did he seem to care much for Lion-o, or rather for the 'king' of the Thundercats.
"One of Mumm-Rah's generals tried to recruit some of us for his army." Shen answered, Lion-o said nothing so he continued. "We said no, and they burned our village to the ground. Now we are as hungry for their blood as they are for ours."
"You would fight them for revenge?" Lion-o asked his voice was suddenly steely and his gaze unwavering. Tygra smiled slightly, he was almost impressed by his brother. It truly amazed him how he seemed to be able to switch back and forth from being his kid brother who needed protection to a king that would have made their father proud.
"I would fight so that my people are safe. 'King.' " Shen snarled back, the title of 'king' was more of a sarcastic slur than anything else, clearly Shen was insulted by Lion-o's suggestion.
Lion-o's easy smile returned, the cold mask vanishing. "Then our goal is the same." Lion-o's grinned. Shen seemed startled by Lion-o's sudden switch.
"You're here to recruit?" Shen frowned, the scars across his eyes made him look menacing and his eyes darker, but Lion-o shook his head.
"As I said, this was a fortunate meeting, but entirely due to chance." Shen looked a little disbelieving but Lion-o pressed on. "The Thundercats are preparing for an all out attack on Mumm-Rah to take back Thundara. Any refugees you have will be safe with ours, we have a larger force than yours, right now. I think it would be safer for you and your people to join with us."
"If I refuse, then what?" Shen asked a slight snarl surfacing despite his attempt at an even tone, he glanced at the large mech were Tygra was. The jackals behind Shen tensed their swords at the ready. Tygra went rigid as well, preparing for a fight. The air was thick with hostility and potential for confrontation.
"Then, nothing." Lion-o calmly shrugged. He hadn't even reached for his sword when the jackals had. "We go our way and you go yours. I'd suggest you go north, though, the majority of Mumm-Rah's forces are lizards so the cold will keep larger forces away."
"Let's go Tygra," Lion-o gave one last smile before turning and heading back to the mech. "Good luck to you, Shen." Lion-o had climbed back into the chamber when Shen spoke.
"You're good at this!" Shen shouted from behind Lion-o. Lion-o turned and looked down at Shen from the mech with a questioning look. "At getting what you want." Shen smiled and laughed. "You win 'king', we'll join with you."
"That's great-!" Lion-o started but was abruptly cut off by Shen.
"But don't think for one second that I'll be taking orders from you like some 'dog.'" It was said with a smile but Lion-o understood him all the same and gave a nod in agreement.
Shen gathered all his people, the hiding refugees included, and after burying their dead the jackals followed Tygra and Lion-o in the mech to meet back up with the kits and Cheetara and continue their journey north. They were at least fifty strong, not including the refugees. Cheetara and the kits had not been pleased about being left alone in the forest for an extended period of time. Lion-o offered an apologetic grin, and Tygra noted that Lion-o's strange smile had become somewhat permanent since meeting the jackals.
At last when both Lion-o and Tygra were sealed back inside the mech and their trek had resumed Tygra turned the outputting communication systems off and spoke.
"You've been smiling all day," Tygra said, his voice flat and curious. "What's wrong?
"Can they hear us outside?" Lion-o asked in a whisper. Tygra shook his head and smiled slightly. Lion-o gave a long sigh and his face crumbled.
"I thought he was going to kill me," Lion-o breathed. Out of the corner of his eye Tygra saw Lion-o look of extreme relief and he couldn't help but laugh a little. His baby brother was back. "Hey don't laugh! He had his hand on his sword!"
"I wouldn't have let him hurt you," Tygra chuckled, "And we have my mech."
"Well you weren't the one on the ground!" Lion-o defended. "I don't know how father did this!"
"I don't think father ever had to deal with an angry jackal." Tygra's voice was softer, he hadn't thought of their father in a long time.
"No," Lion-o conceded, "But he had to deal with all the other large cities and their governors. He was always so strong and…calm." Lion-o ran his hand through his hair and sighed again. Though he would never admit it to Tygra Lion-o sometimes wondered if he could do this. But he had to; he would not fail in this; that was his decision and no one else's.
"He would have been proud of you Lion-o." Tygra said, "I'm proud of you too." Lion-o barely caught the last part, as Tygra said it so softly.
Night fell soon, but the group pressed on, they were only a few miles from the outskirts of Tuskania. Suddenly Cheetara's voice came in through the input communication.
"There's something up ahead, I can sense multiple mana signatures." As soon as she said this, the radar screen picked up on them as well. What was worrisome was the fact that instead of being clumped together in one place the mech showed them quickly moving, and fast surrounding their travel party at the edges of the radar without closing in. Tygra halted the mech's progress, which in turn cause the rest of the group outside to stop as well. Tygra restored outer communications.
"How did we get surrounded?" Lion-o asked staring at the radar, it picked up large life signatures from at least a mile away all in a surrounding circle around the mech. Stranger still, the life signs indicated kept shifting around the screen indicating movement at tremendous speed.
"I don't know," Tygra shook his head "They must have encountered some mechs before and know the range of the radar." Tygra had shifted forward in the pilot's seat. He was tense and ready for battle.
"Tygra let me out," Lion-o said.
"It's more dangerous out there," Tygra reminded him, "Just stay here with me."
"I need to be out there; I'm no use to anyone in here. Let me out." Lion-o wasn't asking anymore, his tone was hard and commanding. Tygra exhaled annoyed, but complied. Lion-o deftly exited the mech and made his way to the front of the group where Shen was already.
"Why are we stopped?" Shen was tense as were his fellow jackals. Cheetara and the kits were back next to the mech.
"We're not alone out here." Lion-o said in answer. Shen drew his sword, as did Lion-o. "Wait here, please" Lion-o added when Shen raised an eyebrow.
Stepping forward Lion-o cautiously continued on their path. He had only made it a few yards from the rest of the group before it happened. All at once he heard both Tygra and Cheetara yell for him to look out just as he felt a mana signature shooting towards him.
He didn't even have time to lift his sword before he felt the cold metal of a gun against his temple. Turning his head just slightly Lion-o made out two shining golden eyes smirking at him in the darkness
"Don't move."
AoooooooooooN
Please Review.
The more reviews the faster a new chapter is posted.
