ThunderCats
Bio-Booster Armor Guyver
Eye of the Storm
Episode 17
"So it's done," Mumm-Rana said as she, Jagara, and the spirit of Jaga peered into the scrying pool. Sho lay there on stone exposed to the night, being soaked in rain that fell like Third Earth's own tears. "The future we sent him to..."
"A possible future," Jaga corrected. "There is a chance this will not come to pass."
"There's also a chance that it will," Jagara replied. "Future time can be very tricky to work with. One can't forsee all the variables."
"So long as the important pieces are in place, then our purpose will be served." Mumm-Rana adjusted her cloak about her bandaged frame. "I must admit, though, that this is a drastic measure."
"Also a necessary one," Jagara said. "Sho MUST unlock the rest of his powers, if an outcome similar to this is to be prevented."
"So, this will accomplish your goals?" Jaga asked.
"If not, then it will go a long way towards it," Mumm-Rana replied. "We picked the most favorable future for our aims."
"That is hardly a guarantee."
"When it comes to the future, wise Jaga, there are no guarantees."
"How well I know that."
Sho awoke shivering, chilled to the bone and groggy. He had risen to meet with Tryphon and Fahd again, the short-maned Wildcat and the ponytailed Tyger, when blackness had overcome him. What had happened? Why did everything smell like burnt plastic?
He opened his eyes and stared at the tableaux of devastation with disbelieving eyes. Everything, the entire colony, was destroyed. Nothing but rubble and ruination as far as he could see. The night sky poured acrid-tasting rain down on his skin as he frantically regained his feet and got his bearings.
Sho forced the reeling horror back. Something had happened to the colony, but what? What the hell had he done, slept through it?! What was going on? He shook his head and calmed his thoughts. Blind panic would serve no purpose, but the horrorscape before him made the prospect tempting. Rain fell on the ruined colony as lightning flashed bright violet in the sky and turned the image before him into a snapshot from hell. He reeled backward, his mind fighting to wrap itself around what his eyes saw.
Destroyed, he thought, all destroyed... NO! Sho turned and dashed into the ruin of the door he had just vacated. The room was a shambles, and no sign of Myrlha anywhere. The drumbeat of rain fell to a dull roar. The roof here, at least, had not caved in. Sho stumbled to the wreckage of the sofa and sat heavily upon it unmindful of the scent of decay in the fabric.
"Tygra method," he said between hitching breaths. Stay calm, call no attention to yourself, make your observations until you can draw reasonable conclusions. Sho gazed about the ruins of the chambers he shared with Myrlha and pinched himself as hard and for as long as he could stand.
"An illusion?" he asked aloud. If so, it was a damn convincing one. The cold, the horrible smells, his soaked clothes, all of it was so real. Sho pondered that first of all, ignoring the rising tide of horror. The Guyver protected his mind from psychic assault, so this WASN'T all in his head. If it were an elaborate hologram or whatever, how had whomever put him here gotten him out of the colony, much less Cat's Lair itself? Mumm-Ra was still among the ranks of the deceased who didn't move about on their own.
"If this is somehow real," he began and the thought he'd been fighting not to have rushed closer, "then how the hell did I sleep through the damned apocalypse?" His stomach lurched, and it took all of his will not to dry-heave. Sho ducked his head between his knees and took deep breaths until the urge to vomit passed.
Okay, he told himself, assume this is real. What the hell is that stench?
Burnt plastic, along with odors he couldn't readily identify. Chemical smells. Even what rain which had landed in his mouth had tasted vile. Pollution, and lots of it. The air smelled worse than Tokyo during rush hour.
"We didn't do this," he said, more to hear a voice than anything else. Thundrillium was a rather clean fuel, and the ThunderCats wouldn't despoil the environment like this. There would have been no point at all.
With a few questions answered, hundreds more popped up. One, however, decided it was tired of waiting and leaped into the forefront of his mind. The one he'd refused to ask himself out of sheer terror. Where was Myrlha?
Sho leapt from the remnants of the sofa and dashed toward their bedroom. He shouldered the closed door, then reared back and kicked it. Again and again his foot slammed into the weakened barrier until a dent large enough to get his fingers through appeared in the jamb. Sho strained, demanding all the power he could from his muscles until it slid aside with a screech.
The bed lay desolate, and the smell of mildew nearly made him gag again. No sign of her anywhere. He rused the closet, snatching the door open to reveal both of their selections of clothes hanging in the back, all coated with mold and reeking of neglect. Not here. Sho didn't allow himself to feel the horror which boiled in his gut. He would find her, or find what had happened to her.
The Royal Hall, which he'd only been in once, had been destroyed. The stone pillars lay shattered, their fragments strewn across the floor and the charred remnants of the carpet which led to the now-smashed throne. The windows had long since been shattered, allowing the wind to blow in the polluted rain. The stone floor was heavily stained from what had to have been years of water damage.
Skeletons. Even more in here, several with holes burned into the bones from what had to have been energy weapons. Others had littered the halls of Cat's Lair, some burned, some cut cleanly, others just smashed. Sho staggered at the thought of her, and forced himself to stand upright again.
"I don't have proof that any of them are hers," he said through gritted teeth, "and until I do, NONE OF THEM ARE!" His voice echoed in the Royal Hall. He had to believe that Myrlha was still alive somewhere. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her on top of the colony he'd helped build. Myrlha had to be alive.
He studied the bones, willing himself not to see them coated in her flesh. They were all white. He knew from his biology classes that bones turned yellow when not exposed to sunlight or caustic chemicals. Even unpreserved, flesh didn't just melt away that quickly. These skeletons had been here for years. Killed where they stood, and left to rot. But, by what? What could burn through solid bone, and had the strength to crush it so...
No.
The only anwer to that was all too simple, and all too horrifying.
A Guyver.
"Lisker?" he gasped. Did Lisker do this? But, why? HE was Lisker's enemy, not the colony, and certainly not the ThunderCats. Not even Cheetara, he knew. If it HAD been him, though, why take him out of the equation? The only plausible explanation made no sense. Even if Guyver Two HAD destroyed the colony, why cause so much pollution? Why ruin the planet you wanted to rule, especially if one lacked a way to leave it?
The stench was even worse outside. Though the rain had stopped and the clouds had slowly cleared during his hours of walking, nothing he saw was good. Buildings toppled. Streets littered with rubble and shattered bones. The moon's pale light revealed even more horrors. More carnage that could only have come from a well-equipped army or a Guyver.
Sho left the crumbled ruin of what had been Tryphon and Fahd's shop. The modest structure had been utterly destroyed, merely a pile of shattered stone, wood, and metal. If either of them had been in there, finding out would have involved digging through an insane amount of debris. His mind reeling, Sho said a silent prayer for their souls. The wind had begun to blow, carrying new revolting scents and freezing him through his soaked clothing. Sho walked onward, shivering from the cold without and within when another skeleton caught his eye. He shuffled closer, drawn by the unusual bone structure. After a moment, he realized why it stood out.
It wasn't Thunderian.
It wasn't human.
It was squat, the bones thick though cleaned of flesh and from the pelvis extended the separated bones of what had to have been a tail. The jaw was lined with fangs dulled from years of exposure to the elements and the nasal cavity was narrow to the point of being twin slits. A Mutant skeleton. Sho stood there, staring in horror at the thought of more Mutants on Third Earth. How had they found the planet?! He retraced his steps back several meters, this time paying closer attention to the dessicated remains. More Mutant skeletons leapt out at him from beneath piles of rubble or just strewn in the cluttered streets. A well equipped army, then... Sho whipped his head to the left and found one that was distinctly human and reality turned on its head for the umpeenth time since awakening.
Mutants and humans? Working together? He was the only human who lived in the entire colony, right? Had this been a merchant?
The high-pitched whine alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone mere seconds before the spotlights hit the soaked ground barely four meters away. His heart in his throat, Sho dashed for cover in time to see a shadow charge past the archway he'd chosen to hide in. The lights found the figure easily and time froze on that moment.
He was malnourished, trembling, clad in rags, and clearly Thunderian. He sheilded his eyes from the dazzling lights when an object slammed into the man's stomach and crumpled him like discarded paper. White-hot rage flared to life, yet Sho remained hidden as the strange platforms settled down to the street. He would see who was attacking...
Sho snarled as they dismounted the railed hovering platforms whose lights were now trained on the shivering Thunderian. He recognized them, all of them. Mutants. Fucking Mutants had come... Sho banished that thought. One of his countrymen was down and surrounded by four enemies. Besides, this was a prime chance to get answers.
"Didn't think any more were left!" the Simian said, and Sho bided his time. They didn't know he was there, and no other engine sounds were drawing near. The Thunderian whimpered in pain and terror, and he moved. Sho's feet slammed into the soaked hardtop loudly enough to get their attention, but the searchlights of their strange machines worked in his favor as he dashed between two Simians and slammed each elbow into their kidneys. He skidded to a stop and turned to face the Mutants, ready to give them more fight than they'd bargained for this night.
"What the hell?" the Scavenger of the party roared. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"Hey," Sho said when the Thunderian looked up at him. "Go. I'll buy you some time."
"Not enough," the other Scavenger said as he fingered the club at his hip. "Look at this! A lone HUMAN thinks he can take four Mutants!"
"Hey, GET BACK HERE..."
"HOLD IT, ASSBAG!" Sho roared, drawing their attention back to him. "I'M the one you're gonna deal with. Got it?"
"Nice necklace," one of the Simians chortled, pointing at the Vanguard Amulet on his chest. "Got some balls wearing that. 'Specially since those ThunderCats're dust."
"For your sakes," Sho growled, "that had better not be true."
"Get a load a' THIS shit!" the other Simian hooted. "Who do you think you are, Lisker?"
"So he's not involved," Sho said softly.
"C'mon," the other Scavenger said, "let's have some fun with this one. Since he chased off the cat, right?"
"Yeah," the first Simian agreed. "Not like he's a Guyver or nothin', right?"
"GUYVER!" The armor merged with him, and Sho felt a rush of vengeful glee at the expressions on their faces. "I'll give you one thing: you know how to give a guy a cue."
"It's a trick," the Scavenger said, shivering in fright. "An illusion!"
"Yeah! Lisker's the only Guyver that's given us shit here!"
"Wrong," Sho said simply before dashing toward the speaker. The Simian's head parted from his shoulders when the edge of Sho's palm tore through the flesh and vertebrea. Blood geysered from the severed stump and hand't yet hit the ground before the next one fell to the head beam. A quick punch crushed the skull of the other Simian, leaving only the Scavenger behind. Sho stomped up to him, reveling in the other's fear. It was against the Code to feel that way, but he was long past the point of caring.
"GET BACK!" The Mutant screeched just before tripping on his own feet and falling on his ass. Sho bent down and grasped him about the shoulders, yanking him into the air for his feet to dangle above the street.
"Listen up, asswipe. I have questions, you have answers, and that's why you're still alive."
"Uh... Whaddaya wanna know?"
"Good boy. First, WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?!"
"Uh... Are you blind?"
"I SEE that my HOME'S been destroyed, I see MUTANTS hunting down my COUNTRYMEN as though they were ANIMALS, and I'LL JUST ASSUME YOU FUCKERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF IT!"
"It wasn't me! I... I just got here..."
"WHAT. HAPPENED?!" Sho noticed the growing stain on the Scavenger's loincloth. Good. Let him feel some fear.
"It's been like this since I got here!" He could almost smell the Mutant's terror. "We just helped wrap up what Grune started!"
"Grune?!" That one name sent a sensation of cold throughout his entire body. "He's alive?!"
"Large and in charge! C'mon, I'm just followin' orders here!" The sensor medals shifted in their tracks and Sho released the Mutant and leapt skyward in time to see the jade burst of energy fry him where he stood. He'd been careless, letting more of those flying platforms draw near. He fired the head beam, neatly beheading the Mutant pilots of those weird things to let them tumble to the ground and explode in balls of fire.
Grune... That name raced about his brain as he scanned for the Thunderian he'd helped to escape. Grune... How? The sensor medals jerked forward, showing even more of the flying platforms approaching. Someone had set off an alarm somewhere. Sho focused the sensor medals upon the ruins of the colony and spotted the lone bio-signature racing toward the perimeter. For the moment, that young man's safety was his chief concern.
The distance between them vanished as the gravity controller pulled him through the air and the still-falling rain. The falling droplets were chock-full of chemicals stored in the clouds above. Nothing would be nourished by THIS rain, he knew, and it couldn't be all that healthy for anyone caught in it. He saw the young man dashing for his life and dropped down before him. The unknown Thunderian skidded to a stop, and Sho saw just how bad off he was. The poor man probably hadn't eaten in days. They stared at each other across a gulf of polluted rain, and Sho knew he'd seen this one before but couldn't place where. He was shivering from the chill in the air, but also from stark terror. Sho stepped forward, his hands palm-out in a placating gesture. The man took a corresponding step back.
"I won't hurt you." From the amount of reaction, he might as well have said it in Japanese. "Just tell me what happened here." He clearly wanted to bolt, but also seemed to know that it wouldn't do him any good. Fear and resignation both tried to take command of his narrow face. "Was it Grune?" It was an idiotic question, but he had to start somewhere with... "I know you." The realization dawned over him and shed light on what had to have happened. "Darin, right?"
"How do you know my name?" he asked in a voice that was roughly as steady as a plucked string.
"Bengali and Pumyra's son," Sho went on. Finally, he thought, friggin' PROGRESS! "Where are they?"
"Dead," he replied, matter-of-factly. As though it had happened long before, possibly before he'd ever gotten to know them. Sho's heart clenched. "More'll be coming soon." It was obvious what he was referring to. "Who are you?"
"I'm Sho," he said. "I know... knew... your parents." Numbing horror kept his voice strangely neutral. "Where are the others?" Silence. "Look, I saved your life, and I know the ThunderCats..."
"What ThunderCats?" Darin replied bitterly.
"All of them...?"
"No, some're left." He shut his jaw with an audible click.
"Take me to them." A note of command slipped into his voice, something more alien to him than his armor.
"Kill me."
"What?!"
"I won't take you to them. I won't let you ruin what little's left! If I can't get away from you, then kill me and get it over with!"
Despite the tides of horror beating at his sanity, he noticed even more Mutants on those flying platforms coming closer. Having decided that they needed a more quiet venue to speak, Sho dahsed forward, slung Darin over his shoulder, and launched into the sky away from the oncoming Mutants. If nothing else, he had to find a place in which he could get the scrawny young man out of the rain.
The rain finally abated, yet the thick clouds above refused to part even an inch to allow more moonlight to fall. Not that it mattered. Sho was easily able to see the barren and wasted soil below. Nothing grew. No creatures burrowed within the dirt. Stripped of all nutrients, replaced with chemicals and waste. Where a Berbil settlement had once been was a collection of ruined huts. Animals which had once been plentiful were non-existent.
Darin hadn't spoken since their flight began. Sho searched desperately for any sign of life. Human, Wollo, Thunderian, anything other than the Mutants his sensor medals registered. He briefly wondered if this is what their home planet of Plun-Darr was like. If so, no wonder they sought out to subjugate and pillage other worlds!
"Look," he said, rapidly running out of options and patience, "I need to find the others! I have to know what the hell happened here! I'm not here to hurt any of you!" Daring remained silent, and Sho began to get angry. The thing is, he thought, I'm not sure I can help either. Everything was so barren. As if all the vitality of Third Earth had been sucked away to leave a withered husk of a world behind. He remembered environmentalists warning about just such an apocalyptic scenario back in his life on Second Earth. If they only knew, he thought.
A presence at the edge of his sensor range made itself known; a blank space beneath a jagged spire of rock. Sho focused on it. The metal was definitely lead, which explained why his sensor medals couldn't penetrate it. He halted his forward momentum.
He hadn't found much of any sort of metals or ores in the ground on their flight, instead having found several invasive mining tunnels. He took a broader view of the deposit of lead and noticed gaps within it. Gaps made up of straight lines.
There were two things, he knew, that nature abhorred: Vacuums and straight lines. THIS was no natural deposit. Sho began his descent, and Darin's sudden struggles confirmed his hypothesis. Grounded once more, he set Darin down and strode purposefully toward the concealed entrance his eyes picked out. As he neared, two Thunderians emerged from plates of lead to level ion rifles at his chest.
"Hold it," the guard on the left hissed before hesitating. "So, back in our neck of the woods, Lisker?"
"I'm not Lisker," Sho replied, wishing for the clouds to break and let the moonlight reveal him. The two guards immeditely recoiled as though slapped, and a light shone on him from the hands of the one on the right.
"Jaga's cape," the Lynx breathed. "It you. You've finally come back!" The exaltation in his hushed voice caused Sho to become even more confused. "Darin, man, you scored big on this one!"
"I did?"
"Good job bringin' him here!"
"But... I didn't..."
"After all this time," the one on the left said. Sho took a long look at him and nearly froze at the sight. His black hair was mostly gray now, his body lean and thin, but Sho finally recognized the lined face of the Tyger as Fahd.
"Fahd, man, what the fuck is going on here?"
"Quickly, inside!" the Lynx hissed. He banged on the shadowed door three times, backing away as it opened. "Vanguard Sho, Darin, follow us." Sho and Darin did as instructed as two more guards rushed into the blind spots to replace them. Stone steps descended into the darkness which was lit mostly by torches. "We have special orders for if you should come here. Do you remember me?"
"You look familiar..."
"It's me, Lynxran."
"What?!" Sho looked hard at him, seeing the kitten he knew in the thin body of an undernourished man. Sho spared a glance at Fahd, who was not in much better condition. "Fahd, Lynxran..."
"All will be explained," Lynxran said with palpable hope in his voice. "If ANYONE can fix this, it's our Vanguard." Sho ignored him for the time being.
"Fhad, where's Try?"
"In... a better place, I'd think," Fahd replied.
"I know you miss him," Lynxran said. His voice told the tale of having said that numerous time.
"Is anyone going to explain what's happening here?" Sho demanded as they trod the stairs downward to an oaken door. Two more guards stood before it. They opened the door immediately on seeing him.
"Oh, God," Sho muttered. Refugees from all walks of Third Earth life found whatever refuge they could among the earthen corridors. Everyone was emaciated, starving. Every eye was filled to one degree or other with hopelesness. Some looked upon his armored form in anger, as if wondering where the hell he'd been this whole time.
They neared the center of the subterrainian shanty-town, with two figures poring over maps on a table. The first looked up.
"Tygra," Sho said in dismay. His face was lined with wrinkles, his striped mane going grey and a patch over his left eye. The man was haggard beyond belief. The other cloaked figure removed her hood, and Sho's heart stopped.
He could see her in the lines and rags, knew her. He was supremely grateful that she was alive, but the pain in her eyes mixed with the joy... She rushed his armored form and threw her arms about him.
"SHO!" a far-older Myrlha cried. "SHO!"
"I'm here."
"It seems we've finally caught up to you," a far older Tyga said. "About twenty years too late."
What dangers will Sho face in a ruined world? All this and more in the next episode of Eye of the Storm.