ThunderCats

Bio-Booster Armor Guyver

Eye of the Storm

Episode Nineteen

The Spire's main control center called to Tygra's mind the image of Cat's Lair as it had been in life. The air seemed to thrum with the hushed sounds of computers monitoring the systems of the structure that, with its brothers, had drained the very life of the planet. He banished the thoughts with some difficulty as he and Myrlha accessed the main console. Being in such a clean space - no dust, filth, or grime anywhere - was something he had forgotten he'd even missed.

"Running scan," Myrlha said from his right as the image of the former colony coalesced on the monitor. "I think I have it!"

"Yes," Tygra said after reviewing the data. "The anomaly is still there. Now, let's..." The scream with burst from the recessed speakers brought them both up short. In the upper right section of the screen the image changed to a view from the security systems. Sho was on his knees, blood pumping from the stump of his severed arm. Grune, transformed, stood laughing at the other Guyver. Tygra's heart sank at the sight.

"Sho..." Myrlha's voice was a choked sob as the man she loved rose to his feet once more.

"We have to focus!" Tygra snapped. "We can't help him now!"

Growing. The tingle at the rear of his consciousness increased second by second. Sho had no idea what it was, what it meant, and the pain in his arm kept trying to overwhelm it, along with the certainty that he was outmatched. There was no way he could win, not against a monster like this. He rose, snarling at Grune. He would not give in. Sho let rage replace fear, hatred replace pain.

"Still got some fight in you?" Grune asked, amused at his suffering. "I'm duly impressed. Lisker would have run off to lick his wounds by now. But then, he doesn't have friends," he spat the word, "that he thinks he can protect."

"You... won't hurt them..."

"Oh, on the contrary. I WILL hurt them. Very much. And very slowly. I mean, to have the audacity to break into my own home!"

"How could you do this?" Sho asked in an effort to buy Tygra and Myrlha time.

"I suppose you're hoping for some grand monologue of my life," Grune began, "But there is little point. I've learned many truths over the years."

"Like?"

"Might makes right. It always does. You and I, Sho, we are little different."

"How do you figure?" Grune took a step towards him,then another.

"Might makes right," he said, sweeping his arms about the ruined throne room. "Those who can fight for what they want, take what they want. I did."

"THERE!" Tygra shotued as he made the final connections and the power built. Damage alerts immediately flared on teh monitors as his fingers flew over the keys. "No. NO!"

"What is it?"

"It's bad, Myrlha," he explained. "The Spire's systems were damaged from that fight. We can open the anomaly, but only for a few minutes. Once we do..."

"The Spire will expode," Myrlha finished.

"There might be enough time. Now, Sho just needs to get away from that bastard..."

"What you did isn't right. It's MURDER!"

"I could say the same for you."

"WHAT?!"

"Think about it," Grune took another step closer, every inch of him bragging over what he had done. "Those who are strong fight for their ideal world. You fought for yours, I fought for ThunderCats fought for it, and they lost. Just like you."

"I havent't lost yet!"

"Oh, there it is. That famous optimism. 'I'm the good guy, I'm gonna win!' What a load of SHIT!" Grune rocked back on his heels from a fit of laughter. "You and yours won the Mutant War because you had the might to back up your beliefs. I won because I had the might to back up mine. It's all about power. Codes of conduct and ethics make the weak feel more secure in life, but power is all. I think, since you're now lacking an arm, you see my point."

"Shut... !" Blood welled up in his throat when, quicker than he could respond, Grune closed the distance between them and one of the vibrating blades sank into him. The tip emerged from his back, dripping the same red as the flow from the exhaust vents. The pain faded slightly once Grune slid the blade out, leaving Sho to crumple on the floor in a quivering heap.

"Bas... tard..." Sho fought for all he was worth past the pain and rose a few inches before his flagging strength proved insufficient to the task. The Guyver was healing him, but not fast enough, damnit! "How can you call this an ideal world?" His words were choked, and blood spattered onto the floor with each one, but if he could keep Grune talking long enough...

"I'm nigh invincible, and my enemies are suffering beneath my heel. It may not be Thundera, but I'll take it. Oh, don't think I'll stop here. I know there are others out there. Little pockets of survivors dotted about. I'll find them, then do it all over again. I won't stop with being the mightiest Thunderian to ever live." Grune, who had been pacing back and forth during his rant, stopped before Sho and fixed him with his gaze. "I'll be the last."

"No..." Sho struggled to his feet, the wound in his abdomen nearly sealed. "No..." He raised his remaining arm, though exhaustion and agony were battling to bring him back to the floor. Rage, pure and clean and white-hot, filled his blood. "This ends here, Grune! HERE AND NOW!"

"Prophetic words, boy."

The air was suddenly filled with an intense energy as the white beams smashed down on Grune from above. Sho leapt back, agape as the megasmasher beam faded. Grune was nowhere in sight, a massive hole baving been blasted into the spot where he'd stood. Through the raining dust, the golden armored form of Lisker floated down into the chamber.

"Never thought I'd be glad to see you," Sho said as he staggered forward.

"Save it, that blast won't keep him down long."

"I guess I don't need to ask how you knew I was here."

"That's right, you don't." Lisker landed between him and the smoldering hole. "Get moving, kid. If you can stop this nightmare from happening, do it." He turned and walked to the glowing rim of the chasm. "I'll buy you some time."

"Lisker. Thanks."

"Just go." Lisker stepped into space and the gravity controller eased him down into the depths. Sho began to run unsteadily in the direction Tygra and Myrlha had taken before.

"SHO!" Myrlha cried on seeing his battered armor and the stump where his arm had been.

"I hate to say I told you so," Tygra added without looking up from his readouts.

"You just did. Is it ready..." The floor vioently shook, sending all three off balance. Lisker and Grune, it seemed, had gotten started.

"It's ready, but with all the damage this place has taken, we can only keep the anomaly open for five minutes." Tygra turned, his one eye burning. "Do you have enough power to cover the distance in time?"

"I have to. It's that simple." Tygra regarded him gravely for a moment before handing over the datapad. "It's all up to you now."

"Sho," Myrlha said as he turned to leave. Tears fell down her cheeks, though a smile was on her face. "It kinda feels like I'm losing you all over again."

"We'll see each other again, Myrlha."

"I hate to interrupt, but we're on a schedule here!"

Sho nodded to the both of them before leaving.

The spire was glowing from the energy roaring through it, sedning off minature bolts of lightning as the power built to a climax. From its tip, a brilliant stream lanced into the polluted night to vanish into a point of nothingness as the anomaly began to re-open. Clutching the datapad against his chest, Sho flew along the length of the beam. Each time his rate of movement tried to decrease, he demanded even more from the Guyver and his own dwindling reserves. Only raw determination fueled his flight near the half-way point.

In a flare that lit up the area for miles around, the spire exploded. The blast wave shoved him forward even faster. His sensor medals registered the anomaly as an unknown space which was now rapidly shrinking without the power feed dumping energy into it. He ignored all else, focused the entirety of his will and being into reaching the void in front of him...

"Experiment 33," Tygra said into his recorder. The corridor seemed completely innocuous, yet everyone gave one spot in particular as wide a berth as the floorspace allowed. "If my hypothesis is correct, the singularity into which Sho vanished is in fact a sort of temporal waypoint between one era of time and another. My findings so far indicate that, if this is true, the singularty's opposite end exists in the same space but in an unknown future time."

"A friggin' time hole," Panthro snarled as he consulted the scanning equipment that had been manhandled into place. "Exactly how can something like that exist?!"

"I'm no expert on quantum mechanics..." Tygra's words trailed away as the air in the corridor began to stir then violently blow about. "EVERYONE OUT! NOW!" No one was reluctant to obey as the anomaly grew from a single point to a gaping hole in spacetime. The blueish-green blur that raced out of its depths slammed into the curving wall hard enough to leave a sizeable dent in the stone. Sho stood embedded in the wall, panting heavily and shivering all over.

"Sho... JAGA'S BEARD!" Panthro exclaimed on seeing the stump of hsi arm and the full damage hsi armor had taken. "What the hell happened?!" Sho lucrched forward, thrusting a datapad into Tygra's hands.

"Transmitter..." he gasped.

"What?"

"TRANSMITTER!" he roared, making Tygra teke a step back.