DISCLAIMER: I do not own Thundercats in any way shape or form. Sorry forgot it for the other 5 stories so this one is for all those as well.
Thundercats
ThunderKids Part Six:
Present Meets the Future
Deep in the Black Pyramid, Jaguarondi and his comrades waited for the arrival of Lion-O. The Thundercats were chained to the walls awaiting the arrival of their leader. Leona and Manuelle stood guard over the Thundercats while Oclian and Pampiana were preparing for the summoning of Aelurus. Jaguarondi stood before the large vat in the center of the main room. He was holding the Sword of Omens and had a rueful smile on his face.
"You will not be able to defeat Lion-O," Tygra said defiantly.
"Your Lord has already fallen to me once, insolent fool. I have given him this chance only for you all to see his demise. And for him to see yours as well," Jaguarondi laughed. The sound chilled Tygra's blood.
"Evil cannot defeat the Eye of Thundera," Panthro said.
"You fools. I hold the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera answers to me. That sword that Lion-O holds is nothing in comparison to mine. His will never hold the true power of Thundera," he hefted the sword for them to see. "This sword passed through the very hands of Grune the Destroyer and Jaga. My grandfather left this sword for his family to use in case the Thundercats of Old Thundera were incapable of fulfilling their duties. And since you betray the name of Thundera to have peace on Third Earth the Eye has reawakened and thus empowered me to position of Lord of the Thundercats."
"And if Lion-O defeats you and your Sword of Omens? Does that not prove that he is the true Lord of the Thundercats?"
"Ha. There is no way that he will be able to defeat me. His sword will not attack a fellow Thundercat no matter how hard he may try. He will be powerless to fight me. Plus as you may be very aware of our weapons all contain Thundrainium. So if he is able to ward off my attack he will still fall victim to the Thundrainium in my sword. There is no way for Lion-O to win," Jaguarondi fell into a fit of laughing.
The pool of water in the vat became to move as if alive. Deep within its depths an image started to appear. The figure was of Lion-O. He had regained his strength and was making his way down from Hook Mountain. The Lord of the Thundercats was moving slowly and clearly still feeling the effects of the Thundrainium.
"Lion-O heads this way to your rescue," he said the last word as if it were a punch line to a joke. "He has quite a walk before him."
"Lion-O has been through tougher things than a walk to the Black Pyramid," WilyKit said. "He defeated Mumm-Ra, the most evil creature of Third Earth."
"And once it was even without the help of the Sword of Omens," WilyKat added.
"So he defeated Mumm-Ra," Jaguarondi said a look of distaste on his face. "It is quite easy to defeat ones allies when they are unsuspecting."
"Ally?" Cheetara practically yelled the word. "Mumm-Ra was no ally to us."
"He imprisoned me and my companions," Lynx-O supplied.
"Lies," Jaguarondi said as he returned his attention to the pool of water and the image of Lion-O. "If Mumm-Ra was as evil as you say and you did not release the Mutants to ravage New Thundera, then why is the Eye of Thundera now awake in this, my Sword of Omens, and not that of your Lion-O's? This eye was permanently closed by Jaga himself and was not to reawaken until a time when it was needed to rid the universe of evil when the Thundercats could no longer."
"But are you not yourselves Thundercats?" Bengali asked.
"Yes we are Thundercats," Leona said as she neared him. "Some of us direct descendants while others of us are from the same line, while others still are children of you," she looked at all the Thundercats, each in turn.
"What?" Pumyra said shocked.
"Yes," Manuelle said. "I am such a one," he walked over to Panthro, his eyes still on Pumyra.
"As am I," Leona added as she stood by Cheetara and Bengali looking from one to the other with a look akin to hatred and disgust.
"And so are we," said Oclian, him and Pampiana were standing by the ThunderKittens.
"And you know about me, dear brother," Margarie said.
"But how?" Tygra asked in surprise. "My sister was no older than the ThunderKittens and if they," he indicated all the others. "Are the offspring of the other Thundercats then how are you still so young?"
"I was near death by the time we made it to New Thundera," she started sadly. "I was put into a type of cryogenic sleep. While I was in the chamber they allowed for Thundrainium to flow into my chamber making me as immune to it as my fellow Thunderians. The Thundrainium mixed with the contents of the cryogenic chamber and it slowed my aging process to practically nothing. I will still seem a youth when all my fellow Thunderians are long gone." The Thundercats all looked at her with sorrow in their eyes.
"Ah," Jaguarondi said from across the chamber. "It seems our dear Lion-O will not make this journey alone," his eyes were locked on the vat of water in the middle of the chamber. "He has gotten a ride from that snow cat. Seems like he is eager to meet his demise."
"It is your demise he rushes to," Tygra said.
"Yes, as you so believe Thundercat."
Lion-O rode SnowMeow from atop Hook Mountain and through the snow filled land. They headed south towards the Black Pyramid. They traveled all night to their destination and fate. When they reached the ruins outside the desert surrounding the Black Pyramid, Lion-O halted SnowMeow.
"Thank you my dear friend," he said patting the snow cat. "I must make the rest of this journey alone. Head back to Hook Mountain and make sure Snow Knight is alright," SnowMeow looked at Lion-O as if he did not want to leave the Lord of the Thundercats. "I will be fine SnowMeow. Go check on Snow Knight," the snow cat slowly turned and headed back to Hook Mountain. When SnowMeow was out of sight Lion-O turned to face the Black Pyramid and his destiny.
The sky over the Black Pyramid was like a thunderstorm in the dead of night. Lightning flashed across the sky above the pyramid and streaked the sky with red light. Lion-O made his way slowly towards the Black Pyramid. As he neared the first obelisk he heard a voice off to his right.
"Lion-O," the all too familiar voice said. "You are going to face fellow Thundercats, although they are from the future. Your sword will not work and they have the upper hand in that they are in the service of Aelurus, daughter of the mighty Mumm-Ra. There is no hope for you Lion-O," Jaga looked at his old friend with sad eyes.
"Jaga," Lion-O said shocked. "I have never heard you speak so. I have faith that good will triumph here today."
"Good will triumph Lion-O. It may not be you who is victorious."
"If they work for an evil like Aelurus then they cannot win."
"Although Aelurus is Mumm-Ra's daughter she is not evil like her father. She spent many years trapped in the void in which Mumm-Ra has now been sealed. Her temple lies below that of the Black Pyramid. Mumm-Ra, in his ambition, overtook her lands and banished her to the void. He then built his fortress of evil about her once beautiful palace and has ruled since. It seems that they both escaped the void sometime in the future and send the new Thundercats back in an attempt to stop you. My guess it was Mumm-Ra who sent them and not Aerulus. But when the Thundercats are banished from this world and sent to the void in exchange of Aerulus, she will rule and Mumm-Ra's plan will have succeeded."
"But I must stop them from doing the will of Mumm-Ra. It is my sworn duty as Lord of the Thundercats."
The image of Jaga faded without another word and Lion-O was left with his thoughts and what Jaga had just told him. They are fellow Thunderians yet they are doing the work of Mumm-Ra. I must make them see the error of their ways. I cannot let my fellow Thundercats down.
Lion-O continued into the Black Pyramid. He headed through the long corridor that leads to the main chamber. On the left wall he saw his fellow Thundercats in chains being guarded by Manuelle and Leona. In front of him, on the other side of the vat of water, stood Jaguarondi, waiting. He held the Sword of Omens out for Lion-O to see.
"I hold the power, cub. The Eye of Thundera answers to me."
"Yet your master is one of evil. The eye will never be used for evil."
"But you forget that this is the very sword of Jaga and Grune. The ultimate good and the ultimate evil. They both wielded this sword, Grune after his banishment and Jaga after that. There is no defeating me."
"You shall fall like all the evil before you have fallen before the forces of good," with that said Lion-O rushed Jaguarondi.
Caught off guard Jaguarondi fell back and rolled away before Lion-O could land another blow. When he had returned to his feet he held his sword before him and awaited the next move. He slowly made his way towards Lion-O when he saw that he would not make another move forward. Jaguarondi swung his Sword of Omens and Lion-O blocked the attack with little effort. The two swords sparked as they touched each other, the forces within battling for control.
Lion-O jumped back as he felt his strength slowly drained from him by the Thundrainium laced weapon. He circled around the vat as he tried to regain his strength. He stopped as he braced for the next attack. He put on the Claw Shield and headed towards Jaguarondi. He lifted his arm and blocked as the sword came down. The claw shield stopped the blow and Lion-O pushed back and swung his own sword.
Jaguarondi, shocked that the last blow didn't seem to affect the Thundercat, blocked Lion-O's swing and backed away from him. Is it possible that the Claw Shield can negate the effects of Thundrainium? he thought to himself. He brought his sword around for another attack which caught Lion-O off guard and cut through the front of Lion-O's chest. Lion-O backed away slowly feeling the effects of the Thundrainium as it coursed through his body. The cut was shallow and the Thundrainium amounts low enough that Lion-O soon felt his strength returning.
The Thundercats watched in awe as Lion-O and Jaguarondi fought. The two seemed evenly matched even with Jaguarondi having the advantage of the Thundrainium Sword of Omens. The two fought hard and they both seemed to be wearing down, Lion-O from the obvious amount of Thundrainium and Jaguarondi from exertion.
Leona and the others seemed nervous that their leader was seemingly losing to the defiler of their home world. Many times Leona tried to help out Jaguarondi only to be restrained by Manuelle.
"He will not lose, not in the Palace of Aelurus," he told her reassuringly.
"I don't like that he toys with him. He should finish it off and we can avenge our fellow Thunderians," she replied with a stern look on her face.
The two combatants battled back and forth. Neither gained any ground but neither gave any up. Lion-O got weaker with each swing of his sword and had resorted to blocking the onslaught. Each block rocked him back yet he didn't feel drained. With each attack, Jaguarondi seemed to lose more patience and attacked more recklessly. When it seemed that he would make a perilous error that would cost him the battle Jaguarondi backed away from Lion-O.
"I tire of this game Lion-O," he said as he held his sword with the blade pointed at Lion-O. "I shall end this now. HO!" he yelled and a blast of energy flew out of the sword and right for Lion-O who ducked behind a statue. The blast blew the statue to bits and left Lion-O pinned to the ground. As Lion-O struggled to get up from under the wrecked statue Jaguarondi pointed the sword at him again. Another blast of energy was emitted from the sword and destroyed the wreckage and knocked Lion-O out.
Jaguarondi turned and left the lifeless form of Lion-O on the ground. He strode across the room to stand in front of the Thundercats. They hung there shocked that their leader had been beaten. Jaguarondi looked at Leona and the others and nodded. They took the Thundercats down. They led them to the vat in the middle of the room and dropped them to their knees. As his fellow Thundercats watched over them, Jaguarondi went back to Lion-O and dragged him to lie in front of the vat, across from his comrades.
"Ancient Spirits of Third Earth," Jaguarondi intoned. "I, Jaguarondi, follower of Aelurus, beseech you." The waters in the pool seemed to come alive as he spoke. "Bring Aelurus back from the void, oh grateful spirits."
"A sacrifice is needed for such a task. Someone must take her place if she is to return to this world," a mysterious voice said. Its voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"We have such a sacrifice," Jaguarondi continued. "Our mistress asked that we bring her the Thundercats as a sacrifice and we have them all right here awaiting her return." The Thundercats struggled futilely to get out of their Thundrainium chains. Across from them Lion-O still lay unmoving.
"Present your sacrifice so that we may bring Aelurus forth," the voice replied back in what seemed to be glee.
Leona and the other Thundercats pulled their fellow Thunderians to their feet and pushed them into the pool one at a time. The first to go was WilyKit, followed by WilyKat, pushed in by Oclian and Pampiana. When the ThunderKittens had vanished in the water Leona stepped forward and kicked Cheetara into the water followed by Bengali. Magarie stepped forward and threw her brother, Tygra into the water. She then pushed in Lynx-O and watched as their figures disappeared in the depth. When the figures of Lynx-O and Tygra had vanished, Manuelle pushed Pumyra and Panthro into the vat.
Once the Thundercats had been pushed into the vat Jaguarondi picked Snarf and Snarfer up and held them over the vat. "Ancient Spirits," he started. "I have fulfilled what Aelurus has asked and delivered the Thundercats into the void. Now I send you their companions the Snarfs," with that he flung Snarf and Snarfer into the vat and their figures vanished.
"Where is the leader of these Thundercats?" the voice asked.
"Lion-O, I fear, has been killed in the battle that we had," Jaguarondi said as he hoped that whoever spoke could not see the former Lord of the Thundercats lying on the floor barely breathing.
"Then so be it," the voice said. The waters in the vat churned and bubbled. A pillar of water shot up to the ceiling and a figure could be seen within. As the water receded back into the vat the figure of a beautiful woman was left standing on the water. She walked towards Jaguarondi and his companions.
"Who is it that summons Aelurus back from the void," she asked as she stood in front of Jaguarondi.
"It was I, Jaguarondi, Lord of the Thundercats of New Thundera."
"Thundercats?" Aelurus asked. "I thought that the Thundercats were sacrificed to bring me back."
"Yes, they were the Thundercats of Third Earth. We have ridden Third Earth of them."
"Good," the voice changed from the sweet sound of a female's voice to the harshness of that of a man's. The figure cackled as it stood in front of the Thundercats of New Thundera.
A flash of light seemed to come from all around them. The Thundercats were blinded by the sudden brightness. When they were able to see once again Aelurus was no longer standing in front of them but a figure definitely masculine.
The being in front of them cackled with wicked glee. "Who are you?" Jaguarondi asked slightly intimidated.
The being cackled again, "I am Mumm-Ra, the Everliving source of evil." Lightning flashed and Mumm-Ra laughed again.
Stay tuned for more.