Chapter 4: They're Coming
It was hard to meditate. Elijah could feel the vibration from the Thundertank through the floor. He was holding the metallic sphere in his lap, channeling his spiritual energy into it, trying so hard to unlock its secrets but that was proven pointless.
"Oh God, what am I doing?" he thought, putting the ball back on the nightstand beside his bed. He realizes that the Thundertank had stopped. Elijah walks outside of his door to see what's going on. He walks into the control room, seeing that only the Wilys, Tygra, Panthro, and Cheetara were the only ones around.
"Huh, where's Lion-O and Pumyra?" asked Elijah, looking at Panthro as he was doing maintenance on the Thundertank with Tygra assisting him.
"Lion-O and Pumyra went out to the marketplace to get more supplies," Panthro answered Elijah's question, keeping his eyes on the wires he was fixing, not turning around to face the human. "They'll be back in a while. Why do you ask?"
Elijah shrugged, replying with "just curious" and turned towards the twins, sitting at the table, staring at him.
"I heard what you did to Panthro's practice dummy," Wilykat was smiling as he continued talking. "Slicing it in half with an energy sword; I should've been there to see it."
Mentioning the practice dummy being destroyed pushed one of Panthro's buttons. Anger started emanating from the panther, turning around to face Elijah with a big wrench in his left, metallic hand. You could see it on panthro's face that he was pissed.
"You were the one who wrecked my practice dummy!" shouted Panthro. "I had that thing back when I was a rookie! It was an antique but now it's just a piece of junk!"
Elijah tried to reason with the angry panther. It wasn't afraid of Panthro hurting him but he was afraid of hurting the general.
He responds, calmly, "Panthro, I swear to you it was an accident. It's been a while since I'd used my energy blade so I had forgotten how powerful it can be."
"Saying you're sorry won't do! Unless you know anything about wood carving, then I'll have second thoughts on hitting you with this wrench!" Panthro roared.
"I swear to you in the names of my ancestors, in the name of God, and in the name of the Man Jesus that I'll repair your practice dummy," Elijah's promise actually eased Panthro a little, even though he didn't get the other parts he said. "Now, if I'm going to repair your dummy, I'm going to need materials. So where is this marketplace?"
"It's about 1-mile-away from the Thundertank," answered Cheetara, walking down the latter and stood between the two cats. "But, before you go, you're going to need to where something that doesn't reveal your...unique appearance."
"Indeed, I do not want the indigenous population to be thrown into mass hysteria from my human appearance. So what kind of disguise do you have in mind?"
15-minutes-later, Cheetara returned to the control room from her room and brought a long cloth and gives it to Elijah. He wraps it around his head, covering his entire head, except for his eyes. Out of the Thundertank, he notices that it's parked on top of a hill, preventing it from being spotted.
"Wow, now that's one steep hill," he says while looking down.
"Eh, what did you expect? This hill is a perfect spot to hide from any enemy," Panthro was standing behind Elijah with his mechanical arms crossed. "Besides, the view of the marketplace is nice from up here."
"Yeah, you're right. The view is nice," Elijah agreed. "Now, how do I get down from here?"
Panthro points at Elijah's right side and explains, "There's a road leading from here to the market on your right. All you have to do is walk down and it'll take you to where you need to go."
Before Elijah starting walking down, he was given a bag full of money from Cheetara. He places it in his pocket and began walking. The walk down from the hill reminded him of his training days on Caldrak 5 where he had to run 30 miles across the brutal landscapes to beat his 'siblings' in a race but walking down a hill wasn't that brutal.
Making it to the marketplace, he sees many life forms, animal and humanoid, buying and selling merchandise. Elijah spots three that he recognized: Lion-O and Pumyra. Walking towards them, he places his hand on the lion king's left shoulder, making react and was about to punch the light out of Elijah until he saw his eye color and knew who he was.
"Elijah, what are you doing here?" asked Lion-O.
"Well, funny story. Remember Panthro's training dummy I sliced in half?" he explained while scratching the back of his head. "Panthro got mad when he heard and sent me down to the market to buy materials to repair it."
"And the disguise?" questioned Pumyra.
"I wear it so that my human face wouldn't attract attention or cause mass hysteria. Now, if you wouldn't mind, may I tag along with the three of you?"
"Sure," responded Lion-O. The lion king was the only one comfortable with the idea, except for Pumyra. Even though Pumyra accepts the human, she's still edgy to be around him.
They walked around and stopped to buy what they needed. Sometimes, while they walked, Elijah would take glimpses of the Sword of Omens. Why was he looking at the Sword? He didn't know why but Elijah felt an aura coming out of it.
"You know, you don't have to stare at it. If you're wondering about the Sword, you can just ask," Lion-O remarked.
Pumyra disagreed to Lion-O's idea, looking at him and shaking her head. He, briefly, glanced at her but looked away, facing Elijah while they walked.
Stopping at one merchant stand, Elijah responds in a curious tone of voice, "Yes, well, I am curious about your sword because I've been sensing a strange aura coming out of it, even during our temporary brawl, I sensed something from it. Elaborate, please?"
Lion-O explained as best as he could; making it easy to understand, "This is the Sword of Omens, the most powerful weapon in all of Third-Earth. Believe me; it's not technological but magical, made to subdue evil."
Elijah stood, responding with "magic, you say?" with his right eyebrow raised, almost looked like he was about to smile in amusement. "Eh, I've heard stranger things," he comments while shrugging his shoulders.
"What do you mean?" asked Lion-O.
"Technically, many of my people do not believe in magic, thinking of it as complete nonsense. However, there is a minority of humans that still practice magic, causing many to label them 'witches' out of ignorance," that explanation was somewhat ironic to Lion-O since his people thought that technology was a myth, as well. "Instead of believing in magic, the majority of the human species rely on science and technology, which has made some of us arrogant but not to the point where we look down on other sentient life forms."
Pumyra crossed her arms and says, "So, let me get this straight. You're part of the majority that believes in…science, was it?"
"Sort of," Elijah replied, tilting his head back and stared at the sky for a few second before looking at the puma. "Though, I do follow the concept of science, I tend to have a spiritual point-of-view on life, believing in a mystical force powering the universe."
Eyes widened, Lion-O noticed how weird-out Pumyra became from listening to Elijah. An-hour-later, Lion-O, Pumyra, and Elijah were finished with their supply gathering and headed back to the Thundertank. The two Thundercats were both surprised and amazed at how Elijah was lifting 5 heavy, wooden logs, over his head, at once. For a time, Elijah wondered that since Lion-O was Lord of the Thundercats and that the others cats were his subjects wouldn't that make him a king without a kingdom?
"Lion-O, I've had another question on my mind. Are you and your group the last of your kind?" He questions while walking. Lion-O turned his head to Elijah and responded, "No! What makes you say that?"
Elijah didn't know how to put this in words without offending the young king. He explains in a stoic manner, "Because I notice that, while you are a king, you seem to have a small number of subjects. Also, I don't see any other felines in this marketplace, excluding you two, of course."
Pumyra stared at Elijah with such aggressiveness, mentioning the outcome of their people brought bad memories. Lion-O explained as they walked back to the Thundertank. It was hard for him to talk about it all since it, also, brought terrible memories but it was he who saw Thundera's destruction before it happened. He explained everything: The Fall of Thundera, the Death of Lion-O's father, King Claudus, the Crusade against Mumm-Ra, The Quest for the Book of Omens, The Astral Plane, the Search for the Stones, and the Liberation of the cat slaves in Mount Plun-Darr. Elijah was stricken with remorse and sympathy for the Thundercats and their struggle.
"While stands the Coliseum, Romes hall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; and when Rome falls - the World," Elijah quoted, confusing the two.
"What?" said Lion-O.
"Nothing, it's just a sentence from the poem, the Coliseum, written by Lord Byron, a poet from 19th century Earth," Elijah replied.
They finally made it back to the Thundertank and saw Panthro standing at the entrance and when he saw Elijah's heavy lifting; it caused his jaw to drop. "How could a man with such a slim appearance have such immense strength?" Was what Panthro was thinking. Well, that's the benefit of being a super-soldier.
But before they could rest, Lion-O, Pumyra, Panthro, and Elijah heard screams coming from the control room. Pumyra, Lion-O, and Elijah, carefully, dropped what they were carrying and ran Panthro into the control room.
"I heard screaming!" shouted Lion-O. "Is everyone okay!"
Tygra, Cheetara, and the cubs turned their heads to their king and the others that stood behind him. It would seem that everyone was alright. Running in the control room under a false alarm made the four feel stupid, however, they arrived at a perfect time.
"Lion-O, we're all Okay," said Cheetara. She was sitting with the cubs, keeping an eye on them as they played with Snarf.
"But you did come at a perfect time," Tygra added as he sat in front of the monitors.
The screams were not coming from the other cats but, in fact, were coming from the monitors. The marketplace was under attack. Bandits, at least fifty of them, mounted on raptor-like creatures began vandalizing the merchant stands and pillaging their goods. Lion-O ordered the other Thundercats, including Elijah and excluding the cubs, to move out. As they reached the market, they split up.
At the marketplace, a squirrel woman, dressed in merchant clothing, ran for her life to a safer location. In her hands was a box filled with the profits she'd made. She tripped, falling to the ground with her money scattered. As she started picking the coins that fell back into her box, three bandits surrounded her. They were all coyotes dressed in rags and leather armor.
"Okay, hand over the box, lady, and we'll be on our way," the coyote in the middle demanded.
The squirrel woman stood up, holding her box, tightly, in her chest. She cried, "No, Please! This is all the money I've made!"
They pulled out their weapons; swords and axes. If she didn't hand over the money, then they would kill her. Out of the blue, a flashing, yellow light appeared. It was Cheetara, using her speed to save the squirrel merchant, beating up three of the bandits at once. Like that, the three bandits dropped to the ground.
The squirrel merchant was speechless. Elijah walked up and stood in front of her, saying: "Madam, please vacate the area to a safer location. We are trained professionals and we will be able to handle this situation."
The squirrel merchant did as she was asked and ran to somewhere safe. Five bandits were riding on their steeds, attacking anyone and anything that was in their way but they were soon stopped by Panthro. He was standing in front of them, wielding his nunchucks and was ready to attack.
"I have a word for guys like you," he said, running and swinging his nunchucks towards his opponents. He shouts while knocking three bandits off their mounts, "Cowards!"
He then grabs the other two before they could retreat and bashed both their heads together.
Cheetara was faced with twelve bandits. As they started swinging their axes and swords, she dodged every attack they through at her. She retaliates, striking 8 of them with her staff. Eight unconscious, the other 4 retreated but were stopped by vines popping out of the ground, caused by Cheetara planting her staff into the ground.
Now, Tygra thought he could handle the bandits he was dealing with. Seven bandits, to be precise, but it was that arrogance which made him vulnerable. Even though he was invisible, he underestimated the coyote bandit's sense of smell. He tried to attack from behind but they knew he was there and as he was ready to attack, one bandit turned and struck the invisible tiger with a mace. Now visible, the same bandit was preparing to bash Tygra to death but that's when he pulled out his laser pistol and fired at the bandits' abdomen. It was powerful enough to knock him out but not powerful enough to kill him. The tiger leaps away into the air and uses his whip, lashing at the other six, that is, until they had the upper hand.
One of the bandits was carrying a whip of their own. He throws it and latches it around Tygra's neck bringing him down from the air and dragging him on the ground towards the other bandits. The whip was too tight; Tygra could feel every bit of oxygen slipping away from his lungs.
Suddenly, the middle part of the whip snaps, releasing Tygra from his near death. From that, you could hear Tygra breathing, heavily. The one that saved him was Pumyra, standing on one of the merchant stands and firing her pellets at the six bandits, causing them to scatter like mice.
"You know, I didn't need your help. I had everything under control," Tygra remarked, looking at Pumyra, whom was standing behind him, while he rubbed the sore on his neck.
Pumyra, quietly, laughed at the stubborn tiger and replied, sarcastically, "Sure, I bet you did."
At another part of the market, four bandits surrounded Elijah against a wall. One of them, arrogantly, says to his comrades, "Hey, it's just one of him and four of us. We can take him at once."
Elijah started pressing the buttons on his gauntlet. From it, the gauntlet covered his hand in ooze, converting it into a metallic cone and from the pointy end of it an energy chain appeared and at the end of it was a spiky ball, resembled that of a flail. At first, the bandits were afraid of the trick Elijah had just pulled, calling it a form of black magic but that fear disappeared few seconds later and soon they charged at him. He dodged their attacks with quick speed. He was as slippery as an eel. He strikes one of the bandits right in the chest with his energy flail, flinging him 5-feet-away from him. The second bandit threw a punch at the human but Elijah dodged the blow, grabs the bandit's arm, and breaks it by jabbing his elbow into the bandit's lower arm with force.
"You call yourselves fighters. I've fought rookies with better fighting skills then you' all!" Elijah scolded the bandits, throwing the one with a broken arm onto the ground, watching as her screamed in pain. "You know what you' all are, rejects! You show know honor in battle, attack the weak and helpless!"
Clink! the sound of two weapons coming in contact. Elijah was sparring against a bandit with a scimitar-like sword. The metal from the sword was, slowly, melting due to the heat from the energy flail. As the coyote bandit's sword melted into a puddle of goo, Elijah tornado kicks him in the face, sending him flying and landing on a roof.
The last bandit was terrified and said, shivering, "W-who are you."
"Your worst nightmare," Elijah replies in a threatening tone of voice.
The coyote bandit drops his weapon and, cowardly, flees for his life. Elijah's energy flail morphs back into his hand. You could actually here his finger popping as he clinches. Since there was no one around and the other three bandits were unconscious, he presses a button on his gauntlet and starts dancing. Out of his gauntlet was music but it wasn't in English. In fact, it was in Japanese: "Sekaijuu no HAPPINESU ugokasu kagi ha mou uketotteiru HAZU nanda KIMI ga KIMI ga akeru ban! pittari no erande mune no naka nozoite mite? meikyuu iri shiteta namida mirai KIRAmeki dashiteru! mitsuke ni ikou!"
The Thundercats, excluding Lion-O, regrouped and went looking for Elijah and their king, lion-O. They started hearing noises but it wasn't noises, it was music. The Thundercats followed it and found Elijah. They stopped and were surprised at what Elijah was doing. Panthro's and Tygra's eyes widened with their jaws dropping, Pumyra started laughing hard, and Cheetara appeared confused.
"What is he doing?" Panthro asked while his eyes were still wide.
"I have don't know," replied Tygra, "But I think he's dancing."
Before he could continue dancing, Elijah was shocked, realizing his new friends were watching him. He asks them in a shocked pose, "How long have' all been standing there?"
"Long enough, my friend, long enough," answered Tygra. His facial expression changed from shock to amusement. Then, next thing you know, both Tygra and Panthro started laughing.
Annoyed, Elijah turns off the music playing on his gauntlet and crosses his arms. They' all stopped laughing and went to find Lion-O. They found him, sparring with four coyote bandits with the Sword of Omens, defeating two of them without having a scratch on him. He was exhausted; slouching and, heavily, breathing. Elijah and the Thundercats walked up to their king.
Pumyra asks the king, "Are we done here?" In which, he replies, "No, no yet."
20-minutes-later, they spotted a group of the eighteen, remaining bandits sitting, or standing, in the center of the market, just a mile away from where the Thundercats were. The Thundercats hid inside the merchant stands, listening on the conversation.
One of them, a big one, started pummeling another coyote. It would indicate that the big one was the leader. The coyote the big one was beating was the same coyote, the one that retreated after facing Elijah.
"What! You and your group were beaten by one man, just one man!" the big coyote roared.
The bandit being scolded replied, sniveling, "P-please, sir! You didn't see what happened! This guy used some kind of black magic and used strange fighting skills!"
The stern face the big coyote was showing was terrifying to the others. Now, this guy was more of a tyrant than a bandit leader.
"And what the hell is wrong with all of you! You let five cats get the best of you!" He turned away from the sniveling coyote and started scolding the others around him. "They're cats; we're coyotes! They're no threat to us anymore since they lost Thundera! We can easily take' em!"
"Want to bet!" retorted Lion-O, revealing his presence with the others following him.
The coyotes reacted to their presence, pulling out their weapons and were ready to attack. The coyote leader stares at Lion-O with a malicious grin and said to him, "Well, well, well, you must be Lion-O, the new king of Thundera. Pity you don't have a kingdom to rule over."
What he said angered Lion-O. Even though there was a Thunderian settlement in the ruins, it didn't count as a kingdom. The sniveling coyote noticed Elijah standing beside the lion king. Eyes widened, the coyote shouts, "That's him! That's the guy, the one with the cloth over his face!"
"What! That's him! He doesn't look tough!" The bandit leader retorted, staring at the human.
"If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril," Elijah quoted to the coyote leader. He didn't get what Elijah was saying, nobody did. However, Elijah calling the bandit leader ignorant made him furious.
The bandit leader bellowed, "Ignorant! I'm not ignorant! Nobody calls me ignorant!" he then orders his minions: "Men, kill the cats and bring me the head of both the shrouded one and their king!"
A loud battle began between the remaining coyote bandits and the Thundercats. Lion-O summoned the full power of the Sword of Omens, shouting his battle cry: "Thunder, Thunder, Thunder…Thundercats—Ho!"
Out of the blade, a blast of red light appeared out through the blade and into the sky, forming the Thundercats' symbol. Elijah was mesmerized by the sword's power, staring with such wide eyes. "Fascinating!" he says to himself, holding one bandit in a headlock.
Panthro used his martial art technique against 3 bandits, Tygra used his whip against 5, Cheetara used her speed and staff abilities against 6, and Pumyra used her bola against 3. Elijah, on the other hand, only took out one with the sleeper hold.
"Huh, usually you would at least take out 5 or 6," Tygra's comment was positive at first but soon became negative. "What happen? Did you do run out of energy to fight?"
The tiger's witty comment had no effect on Elijah. As usual, he was like a machine. He turns around, facing Tygra, and replied, sarcastically, "No, I just wanted to observe your talents, Tygra. Your skills with a whip are far superior against my skills with this gauntlet."
The humans' sarcasm sounded too real to be sarcastic, causing Tygra's ego to inflate.
"Well, yeah, thanks for noticing, Elijah. I am great with a whip but I bet your toy will never compete against it," the tiger declaimed.
"Oh brother," Panthro sighs, placing his right, metallic hand against his face.
Lion-O was dealing with the bandit leader who was armed with a xiphos-like sword, sparring with it against the Sword of Omens.
"Like the rest of your people, you've become weak, falling down to the bottom of the food chain," Said the bandit leader. "No wonder why the lizards, easily, destroyed Thundera!"
"That's because the lizards had help from Mumm-Ra!" lion-O exclaimed.
"Mumm-Ra, ha, don't make me laugh!" the bandit leader retorted. He stopped sparring and stepped 3-inches-away from Lion-O. "Mumm-Ra is a myth and if your people still believe in fairy tales, then you' all are more pathetic than I thought!"
That comment was like being stung by a wasp to the Thundercats. Enraged, Pumyra nearly jumped into lion-O's fight, shouting "That's it!" but she was stopped by a calm, yet stern, Panthro.
His xiphos was no match against Lion-O's sword. With great power, lion-O fires a blast of lightning against the bandit leader, sending him flying over to another side of the market. It was finally over; everyone was cheering Lion-O for his heroic deeds.
Lion-O turned, facing the sniveling bandit waking up from his unconsciousness. He soon noticed Elijah's energy blade and saw that he was about to use it to execute the coyote. Lion-O was the only one who noticed.
He raised his energy blade, preparing to strike with one, fatal blow but as he was about to strike, Lion-O blocked his energy sword with the Sword of Omens, shouting out, "Elijah no!"
The metal from the Sword of Omens was far too powerful to be destroyed by Elijah's weapon. The other Thundercats turned towards Lion-O and Elijah's brawl.
"I knew he couldn't be trusted!" Panthro remarked, pulling out his nunchucks and was ready to fight.
Both Elijah and Lion-O gave stern looks at each other, having the human asking the lion, "Why are you preventing this fiend's execution!"
"I want to ask the same question of why you want to execute them!" Lion-O countered.
Elijah stepped back a few-feet-away from Lion-O, deactivating his energy weapon and continued giving the king a stern look.
Elijah hated answering questions like that, knowing that it would wake up his conscience. "Conduct 34 of the Terran Armed Forces states: 'If a war criminal is charged with acts unforgiving than he is either executed or exiled to a penal colony,'" Elijah stated. He continued, "And since I don't have a ship and since there aren't any penal colonies in this part of the galaxy, I had to choose the first part."
Lion-O tried to reason with the soldier, knowing it would be difficult to do so. He places the Sword of Omens back into the Gauntlet of Omens and tried to convince Elijah to spare the coyotes.
"Look, Elijah, you can't execute them. They didn't do anything wrong. The coyotes were, merely, following orders. Back in Thundera, I helped two lizards from execution and in return, they helped us survive Mumm-Ra's attack on the kingdom, and back at Mount Plun-Darr, I protected a rat from Pumyra's wrath…"
That part irritated the puma and she, quickly, cooled down. Lion-O continued, "…and in return, he helped me defeat the tyrant, Ratar-O. Can't you see? We have to show mercy to the coyotes because they were force to do so."
Head down, his eyes were staring at the ground. He started contemplating on what Lion-O said. "I…I guess you're right. Maybe mercy is the best choice in war."
What Elijah just said made Lion-O, and the others, smile with relief. "Thank you, thank you" the sniveling coyote started kissing the king's feet in gratitude, making him a little uncomfortable. "Th-that's okay! Go and get your other comrades, you're free to go," Lion-O responded with such uneasiness in his voice.
As the coyotes left the market, many people came out of hiding and started running towards the Thundercats so that they may thank their heroes. An-hour-later, Elijah and the Thundercats headed back to the Thundertank. As they walked inside, they were greeted by two energetic kittens and a happy Snarf.
"Welcome back!" shouted the Wilys in unison.
Snarf runs to his master, crawling up and sitting on his shoulder. "Hey Snarf, did you miss us?" said Lion-O, rubbing Snarfs chin with his finger.
"Meow!" replied Snarf.
While walking down the corridor, Tygra looked at Elijah and said to him, "You know, you can take off that disguise?"
A shock of realization went through his nerves; Elijah forgot that his face was still covered. He took off his disguise, removing the cloth from his head.
In the control room, Lion-O, Tygra, Pumyra, Cheetara, and Panthro were looking into the navigation system, i.e. the Book of Omens, to search for the next stone. Seeing how the arrow was pointing to the sky, they knew that it was somewhere in the clouds.
"So, any ideas on how to get up there?" asked Panthro.
"Well, maybe we could use Elijah's ship to fly up in the sky," Lion-O answered Panthro's question. "I'm sure he'll let us use it."
"I doubt it, I don't think it's even able to fly," Pumyra commented.
Tygra thought up a solution and said with a small grin, "What if we return to the forest and get the ship. That way, we can take it to the berbils and see if they can fix it-"
"-Sorry, my friend, but that would be impossible," said Elijah, standing behind Tygra, almost scaring him to death. He continued, "After we left the forest, I destroyed the ship by rewiring the ship's tiberium engine to explode with this trigger."
In his hand, Elijah showed all of them the detonator.
"You blew up your own ship? Why?" asked Cheetara. Placing the detonator in his pocket, he answers the cheetah's question, "I had to do what I could to prevent its technology from falling into the wrong hands. At first, I didn't know if there was any threat on this planet but that was until Lion-O told me about Mumm-Ra and how he manipulated the lizards into destroying your home. So I knew I made the right choice to destroy my ship, even before I knew that there was any threat."
"But that means you can't return home," Cheetara pointed out.
Silence fell on the human, knowing that that was the sacrifice he had made but he didn't care because that wasn't his priority. His main priority was to protect the sphere.
"That's the sacrifice I had made and it's the sacrifice I'm sticking to," hearing his response, Cheetara respected the human's decision.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my chambers," Elijah walked out of the control room and into his chambers to continue his meditation.
"Great, now what do we do, little brother?" asked Tygra, facing his brother. "With no ship, how are we going to get the next stone?"
They all looked at their king, hoping he knew the answer. Lion-O didn't say anything, rubbing his temples to relieve the frustration. He sighed, leaving the room with an "I'm sorry" and went into his chambers to think.
Pumyra went after him, hoping that she would help her king. Both Cheetara and Panthro showed concern while Tygra, the arrogant prince he was, just crossed his arms, showing no concern for his brother. Panthro activated the Thundertank and drove to a new destination.
oooooo
In the forest where the Thundercats met Elijah, men wearing hazmat suits were walking in the crater that was made by Elijah's ship, using geiger counters to scan the background radiation from the tiberium. Behind them was their ship. It was small with a rectangular shape, having jet-like wings on both its sides. On its front was a glass frame with two Gatling guns on both its wings.
"Report, what have you found?" said a voice coming out of a walky-talky.
"Sir, he was here but not anymore," said one of the men in the hazmat suits. "He was smart enough to cover his tracks by destroying his ship. This whole crater is tainted with tiberium radiation."
In space, Governor Abdul-Muhib's ship was orbiting around Third-Earth, speaking to his men down on the planet through his communication device on the ships' control panel. "Well, keep looking! Search through the wreckage and find whatever you can that will lead us to him or else I'll have all your heads on pikes!" The Governor was so loud that every hazmat-wearing soldier heard and was terrified.
Anger was in his good eye, the governor was not a very patient man. He stood over the control panel with both hands touching the edge. Heavily breathing from yelling, he sits down with both arms on his arm rest.
"Guards, bring me my manservant!" he shouts.
"Right away, sir," the first, two guards replied. They walked out of the bridge but returned with a skinny, cybernetic man in front of him, bringing him to face the governor.
Bushing him to the ground, he stood up in front of the governor, all-jittery, and a responses, "W-what is it you need, your eminence."
Now, the manservant was dressed in a ragged tunic like that of a slave, having every part of his body replaced with prosthetics, except with the right side of his face and his upper right arm and shoulder.
"You know why I summoned you! I'm parched!" the governor barked, slamming his right fist on his armrest and scaring his manservant.
"Y-yes, right, well, how about some wine. M-maybe that would calm you down, sir," as the manservant waited for a response, the governor lifted up his right hand, appearing like he was about to strike him but he placed it back down on his armrest and replies with a calming demeanor, "Actually, wine does sound nice."
"Fetch me some wine so that I may quench my thirst," the governor ordered while, arrogantly, waving his hand in an aristocratic manner.
"A-at once, my lord," The manservant left the bridge but returned 5-minutes-later with a bottle of wine and a chalice made from the finest gold in the entire galaxy. He presents it to the governor and explains: "This brand is from the winemakers of the planet Taurus in 2246. A good year, is it not, your gloriousness?"
The governor held his chalice in front of his manservant, watching him pour the wine. He did not take off his bandana but, simply, lifted it and took a sip. Soon, he had an idea.
Orders all of his helmsmen, sternly, "Scramble all the scouts we have! Send them to every part of the planet!"
The helmsmen did what they were told but one of the soldiers in the bridge, a primus pilus, spoke out of terms and questions the governors' methods: "With all due respect, sir, but the planet is big and it would be a waste of energy to send scouts. Shouldn't we just send one teams in one area and do so, again, tomorrow?"
Bang! The primus pilus' head explodes, causing blood to spew out of his headless neck. His carcass falls to the ground with blood staining the metal floor. Horrified, every one turned their heads to the governor. In his left hand, he held a laser pistol, aiming in the direction where his primus pilus was standing.
"All of you listen and listen, carefully! I am in charge, I give the orders, and I'll be damned if any of you tells me what to do!" The Helmsmen went back to what they were doing while the Praetorian Guard dragged the primus pilus' carcus out of the bridge. Governor Abdul-Muhib placed back into its holster and returned to drinking his wine. He stared at the monitor, watching as scouting parties, all 200 of them, flew to the planet's surface.
He was smiling with ease, laughing, maniacally as scout ships flew to the planet.
oooooo
Night had fallen upon the planet, Pumyra stood in front of her king's door, having second thoughts about entering. She knocks on his door but there was no response from the other side. She opens the door and walks in but notices that Lion-O was not in his room.
The lion king was sitting on the hood of the Thundertank, staring at the stars, thinking of how they would get the stone from up there. The hatch opens behind him, Scaring Lion-O and causing him to turn to see who was coming.
"Pumyra," exclaimed Lion-O.
"I knew you would be up here," said Pumyra, stepping out of the hatch and walking towards Lion-O.
She sat beside her king and gazed at the heavens, as well. "You're still thinking about the stone, huh?" she asked, looking at her king.
"Yeah but there's something else," Lion-O turns his head, facing the puma. "It's Elijah. He destroys his own ship for what? What is he afraid of that would cause him to do so?"
Pumyra frowned, thinking the same thing. She then asked a different question, "You're still in love with Cheetara, aren't you?"
"What?" asked Lion-O as his face turned red. "N-no, I'm over her, way over her!"
"You asked me that back in Mount Plun-Darr but you still love her. I've seen the way you look at her," She gave her king a sly grin.
He sighed and said, "You're right, I'm still in love with her but she's in love with Tygra and there's nothing I can do about it. I guess that's why I tried to court with you, Pumyra, to try and move on."
"Well, what do you think of me?" Pumyra asked.
Shocked, Lion-O didn't know how to answer that question. Blushing and scratching the back of his head, Lion-O finally said his opinion about the puma, "W-well, you're beautiful, you're passionate, and, even though you tend to be mean..." That wasn't the right thing to say as Pumyra started giving Lion-O a stern look. He continued "...You have a soft, gentle side."
What he said about her being gentle made her blush a little. She was on all-fours, leaning in closer to Lion-O, making the king blush as their faces nearly touched. Pumyra places both of her arms around Lion-O's neck and, gently, gives him a passionate kiss on the lips.
That action left the king speechless. Pumyra leaned away from Lion-O, smiling while she removed the hairs away from her own face. Lion-O, finally, responded, "Wow, that was...I don't what to say?"
"How about amazing?" said Pumyra.
"Well...It's getting late. Maybe, we should head back inside before people start asking questions," said Lion-O to Pumyra.
"Y-yes, we should," replied Pumyra. They both walked down the hatching, closing it behind them as they entered the tank.
As they walked down the hall, side-by-side, they're spotted by Kit, hiding in a dark corner on the hall way, on the right, that led to the galley. She watched as Lion-O and Pumyra were walking together, which made her fluster with anger at the puma, looking like she wanted to pounce on her and yell "Lion-O is mine" in her face.
Her observation of the two was interrupted when a hand tapped her on the right shoulder. She jumps in surprise, turns around, and saw that it was just her brother.
"Kat, you scared me!" Wilykit whispered to her brother but it sounded more like shouting than whispering.
Raising his right eyebrow, Kat was chewing on what appeared to be a cookie. He looks at his sister, curious at what she was looking at. He asks, "What are you doing."
"N-nothing, I wasn't spying on Lion-O and Pumyra, if that's what you're thinking!" She replied, flustering in embarrassment and laughing, hysterically. "Nope, that's not what I'm doing, at all!"
Kat looked over his sister and saw Lion-O and Pumyra walking, together. He gives his sister and sly grin. "You have a crush on Lion-O, don't you?" Wilykat pointed out.
"I do not!" Kit exclaimed.
"Oh, yes you do!" Kat countered. He continued teasing his sister, singing while walked to their room: "Lion-O and Wilykit: sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!"
"Leave me alone," Shouted Kit, running to her room to get away from her brother. She jumped into her bed on her stomach and placed her face against her pillow.
"Stupid Kat, he know what he's talking about!" she thought, clenching her chest and feeling her heart racing. "But, still, if I was a few years older, then, maybe, Lion-O and I…" She shook her head in doubt and continued, "No, no, what am I thinking! He would never be attracted to me because there are other girls here, Pumyra and Cheetara, and both of them are prettier."
Kat was wandering the halls until came across Elijah's room. He was curious of what the human was doing so he knocked on the door when heard the words "come in," in which, Kat opened the door and walked in.
In his quarters, Elijah was sitting on the floor, leg crossed, polishing the metallic sphere on his lap. He wasn't wearing his gauntlet, feeling it wasn't necessary to wear it since there wasn't a battle going on. You could see the tan lines on his left wrist.
His gauntlet was placed on his nightstand with the music player on, playing the song "Cruel Angel Thesis" by Yoko Takahashi.
"Kat, was it? Tell me why you entered my quarters?" Elijah asked without turning his head. He knew it was Kat because he sensed his aura, which is pretty rare for humans.
"I don't know? I was just bored," replied Kat. He looked at the sphere in Elijah's lap, seeing how he was taking care of it. He asks while pointing at it, "Why do you have that metal ball? Is it valuable?"
Even though he said it was classified information, he tried to explain to the kitten, "Yes…no…well, you see…Oh God, can you keep a secret?"
"Sure."
"I don't know what it is and what it does. However, there have been many human factions, good and bad, who want their hands on it. So I was sworn to protect it from those who would use it for wrongdoing, even though I don't know what it does," That puzzled the kitten, learning that Elijah didn't know what he was protecting.
He says to him in a curious tone of voice, "But why are you protecting something if you don't know what it does?"
"Well, because I'm a Divina, a super-soldier. I was born and raised to be the perfect soldier: Loyal, obedient, and honorable, to never question my superiors and to answer to every command. In other words, I'm like an ant that always answers to the queen."
Wilykat grew tired of standing and sat down in front of the human. He was intrigued by the human, tilting his head in awe by his loyalty, yet he felt complicated by Elijah's obedience.
He soon changed the subject, "Do you think you'll ever teach those fighting moves of yours?"
"Sure but not until you're older," his answer was like that of a parent. Kat exclaimed, "Aw!" disappointed that he'll never learn the arts of Kung Fu unless he was older.
The cub stood up and left the room, leaving Elijah to continue polishing the sphere.
oooooo
Looking into his mystical pool, Mumm-Ra observed the new edition of the Thundercats, the human, Elijah.
"So, the Thundercats have a new member," said Mumm-Ra, dragging his weary bones to pool to get a closer look. "And it seems to be a human."
"A human, I've never seen one on Third-Earth before, master?" asked Slithe, standing on the left side of the pool.
"That's because they're not from Third-Earth but from small planet in the Sol System that shares a similar name, called Earth," Explained Mumm-Ra. "You see, Slithe, 5- Millennia-ago, before I came to Third-Earth, I visited the humans' home world but, back then, the humans lived in a primitive civilization, waging wars against one another for territory, wealth, and dominance. I was impressed by their ability to adapt and to advance. So I attempted to recruit them to further my cause but they soon retaliated with decisive tactics and, easily, defeated me and my army, believing we were demons, or dark gods, and kicked us off their planet. 5, 000 years had passed and it seems they have advanced to the point of space travel. "
"He looks good enough to eat," said Kaynar, laughing, insanely, while licking his lips. He was standing at the end of the pool, facing his master.
"You're right, Kaynar," agreed Addicus who was standing on the right, facing Slithe. "I wonder what his blood would taste like."
Mumm-Ra looked at his two generals, Kaynar and Addicus, and shouted "No!" to them. He continued as he stared into the pool, "We capture this human, learning what technology he possesses and we will force him to train our soldiers with what fighting techniques he knows. And once he is useless, then you can eat him."
All of them started laughing, menacingly, in unison. Mumm-Ra then orders his generals to prepare the lizards for battle.
"At once, Lord Mumm-Ra," Slithe responded. Addicus, Kaynar, and Slithe ran to do what their master ordered, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
To be concluded.
Trivia:
The Song Elijah was playing was the song 'Nazo Nazo Happiness' by Milky Holmes.
The song 'Cruel Angel Thesis' by Yoko Takahashi was used as the opening for the anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The word 'Divina' is Latin for divine.