Episode 29- Balance of Power

The story begins in the open sky, where the Feliner could easily be seen flying through the air. As usual, Tygra was at the controls while Cheetara and Lion-O sat in the two chairs next to him. Snarf and the Twins sat in the passenger seats and Panthro manned the instruments (anything to keep him away from the windows).

There was complete silence on the bridge of the Feliner, but eventually, that silence was broken when Tygra looked at Lion-O and said-

"So, just so we're clear, Lion-O, the vision you saw, it proved that we were right, right?"

"Yep, the last stone is definitely with the Tigersharks, Tygra, just like we thought." Lion-O replied

"And did you manage to find out what this stone actually does while you were at it?" asked Panthro

"'Fraid not, in fact, all I could find out about this last stone was that, apparently, the Sharks were the ones who retrieved it"

"Well, the Elephants were a "spiritual" culture and the Birds were big on technology. Maybe the last stone benefits the Tigersharks in someway" Cheetara concluded

"Like how, it makes flash floods or something?" said Panthro, much to the annoyance of Cheetara, who was now looking at the general with a look of annoyance

"I think she was referring to how it might be benefitting their civilization, Panthro" Tygra replied, who was now sharing his mate's look of annoyance

"If it even is benefitting their civilization" Lion-O added "For all we know, the Sharks could've had just as much trouble with their stone as the Elephants did with theirs. And judging from what I saw in my vision; that was a lot"

"Well, if that is the case, then we'll have no trouble getting the stone from them. Which reminds me, Cheetara, how long until we get to the stone's location anyway?" replied Tygra

It was at that moment that Cheetara brought out the full map of Third Earth and observed the group's current bearings.

"Hmm, given our current position, I'd say we'll be there within…5 days, if we stay on schedule that is"

"Then we will stay on schedule, no more distractions" Lion-O replied

However, right after Lion-O said that, the TCats all quickly noticed that the Feliner was flying right into a large storm cloud. Once the airship was inside the large cloud, everything went dark.

"Well that was out of nowhere" said WilyKat in a nonchalant kind of way

Suddenly, the thunder and lightning started to act up, and when that happened, the Cats all became a little bit unsettled. Mainly because the crackling bolts of lightning were drawling dangerously close to the Feliner. They were so worried about all of this; they barely even noticed that the lightning was colored a shade of green for some reason. Tygra did his best to keep the ship as far away from the lightning as possible, but it was not an easy task.

"Easy now, Tygra, just take it easy" is what Lion-O said while his brother did so

(Lightning is always drawn to the tallest object after all)

But right after the Feliner narrowly dodges a very large lightning bolt, and the Cats all take a moment to sigh in relief, a much smaller one lands a direct hit on the airship's wing. The electricity from that one hit was so strong; it surged through the entire airship, making all of the Feliner's instruments go crazy. Some of them even started to break and smoke.

"What's happening?" asked WilyKat

"Why are we shaking?" his sister added

"It was that blast of lightning, it's making all of the instruments go haywire!" replied Panthro as one of said instruments broke right in front of him

It didn't take the Cats long to figure out that they were in trouble, especially when they felt the Feliner start to lose its momentum.

"Brace yourselves, we're going down!" yelled Cheetara as the Feliner began to head towards the ground below.

Tygra tried to hold the Feliner steady as best he could and, eventually, it paid off. It was a bumpy ride, but the Tiger prince managed to land the Feliner safely on the ground (relatively speaking that is).

"Heh, guess I can land pretty well too, eh, Panthro?" is what Tygra said afterwards

(Obviously a callback to what Panthro said in "What Lies Above part 2")

The spot that the TCats landed in was a clearing outside a nearby forest, and right after they landed, the storm cloud above them just vanished, as mysteriously as it came. Lion-O saw this and it made him a little concerned

The TCats inspected the damage done to their airship and Panthro and Tygra attempted to fix it. But, unfortunately, after the thrashing the Feliner took, this was not an easy task, even for them.

"So, how bad is the damage, you guys?" Lion-O asked

"Well, the good news is; the ship's hull didn't get too banged up from the landing. But the bad news is; that bolt of lightning really did a number on the Feliner's insides" answered Panthro as he lifted open a hatch and allowed some smoke to escape to prove his point.

"But, you both can fix it, right?" asked Cheetara as she walked up to Lion-O's side

"Well, between the two of us, yes, but it'll take some time, and that might not be something we have much of" Tygra answered

"(Sighs) great, one step forward then two steps back, story of my life" said Lion-O in a very angry yet despondent voice "Can anything else go wrong?"

Then, as if in direct response to Lion-O's question, the young Lord of the Thundercats noticed something rustling in the bushes nearby the crash sight. Cheetara and the Kittens noticed this as well and when they joined their king in approaching said bushes, they were shocked to see that it was a none other than a Lizard soldier. He hissed angrily at the Cats after being spotted, but right after he did, the Lizard quickly made a run for it into the forest.

"If there are any more Lizards around, we can't let him warn them, after him!" Lion-O roared as the others followed him into the woods. "Panthro, stay here and guard the ship"

Panthro complied and stayed with the Feliner, ready for action, just in case this was a trick.

The Tcats followed the Lizard closely and eventually they managed to cut him off, thanks to Cheetara. But before they could detain him, the Lizard displayed a level of agility and stamina not normally known to his species and briefly overpowered the Cats. Even Cheetara was in awe.

"Okay, even I'll admit, I'm impressed" is what the Cheetah said, as her Mate and king both helped her up

Afterwards, the Tcats all continued to pursue the Lizard, without even noticing the most interesting fact about him: he was unarmed. That's right, this Lizard had no blaster, he had no rifle; he didn't even have a club or anything. He was completely unarmed. However, that fact didn't stop him from snickering a bit as he looked back and saw the Tcats pursuing him. Apparently, weapons or no weapons, he was doing exactly what he was trying to do.

Meanwhile, in another woodland area somewhere else, Mumm-Ra's Storm-Charger was making its way through the forest at a very rapid rate. Slithe and the others were following closely on their hovercraft, but the whole time, Vultaire did not stop complaining-

"Ugh, another filthy, insect infested forest…? We've already searched two of these already and have still yet to find anything. I'm beginning to believe that Mumm-Ra's only real goal is to intentionally expose me to every form of disease on Third Earth"

"Oh, what's the matter, Vultaire, afraid you'll actually have to do some real work?" said Pumyra in a chastising voice

"(Scoff) what do you know about work, Cat? You've done little more than serve as Mumm-Ra's personal pet since the fall of Avista" Vultaire replied "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he made you clean his wings later"

This made Pumyra growl and show off her new weapons (razor sharp blades that extend from her armored gauntlets) as she held them up to Vultaire's neck and replied-

"Keep talking, vultureman, and you won't have any wings!"

"Knock it off, you two!" Slithe interrupted "Lord Mumm-Ra is stopping; we must be at the right place"

"(Scoffs) that's what you said about the last forest we investigated" said Vultaire as he and the rest of the crew got off their hovercraft and approached the Storm-Charger, just in time for Mumm-Ra to exit it. The evil mummy then inhaled and exhaled after coming out and said-

"I can sense my enemy's presence, generals, she is nearby, and clearly still on the move"

"(Moans) when isn't she on the move, this is the third forest we've searched in 12 hours and I have yet to actually see this enemy of yours" Vultaire lamented, up until Mumm-Ra silenced him by, once again, blasting him.

"That's because she is afraid of me, Vultaire, she knows that her end is at hand and she is afraid to face me like a warrior"

"With respect, Lord Mumm-Ra, you still have not told us the nature of this enemy of yours" said Slithe

"That's true (hooping), we don't even know what her name is or even what she looks; who is she? (Hooping)" added Addicus

"They'll be plenty of time for explanations after my enemy is no more, my dear Monkey. Now come along, we are definitely close to her location"

Mumm-Ra and his followers kept on moving after that, but what they didn't know was that a trio of strange creatures was watching them from the treetops. They all remained in the shadows, but they also looked armed and looked like they were planning on doing something to the undead warlord and his horde.

Meanwhile, the Tcats were still chasing the one Lizard soldier, but, eventually, he was starting to get further ahead of them.

"Hurry, we can't lose him" Lion-O called out as he and the other Cats started to pick up the pace, as it were.

However, once he was far enough away, the Lizard chuckled one last time before actually vanishing into thin air. The Thundercats did not get to see this however, so they kept on running, still believing that their quarry was still right in front of them. Eventually, the group arrived at a clearing within the forest and when they did, they found something far more shocking and breathtaking than any Lizard Soldier: a pyramid, a white pyramid.

(Commercial Break)

The Thundercats were, understandably, left in awe at this amazing structure, so much so that they had almost completely forgotten about the Lizard they were chasing.

"It's- it's amazing" said Cheetara as she and others approached the Pyramid

"Yeah, but, what is it?" replied Lion-O

"Uh, it's a pyramid, Lion-O, a common geometrical shape that has four sides, four corners and a square or triangle ba…" said Tygra, semi sarcastically

"I know what a pyramid is, Tygra, what I meant was what is this one doing way out here?" replied Lion-O as he cut his brother off

"It must be the ancient remnants of some lost civilization or something" Cheetara added as she and the others all got closer and closer to the Pyramid.

"Well, if that's true, then where are all the other ruins?" asked WilyKat

"And if this pyramid is a ruin, then why does it look so – taken care of?" his sister added

"Hmm, good questions" replied Cheetara

"And here's another, why does this pyramid look so—familiar?"

Lion-O was right to say this, you see, because once you get passed the forest background and the bright coloring, this Pyramid looked almost exactly like Mumm-Ra's temple.

However, before anyone could answer their leader, Tygra noticed something and said-

"In more ways than one"

The other Tcats all looked in the same direction as Tygra at that moment and saw that a small group of Lizards was heading towards the north side of the Pyramid.

"More Lizards?" asked WilyKat

"This must be some kind of camp for their army" Cheetara replied

"Then let's take them out" Tygra continued as he got out his whip

However, that's when his brother stopped him and said-

"Hold on, there has to be a reason for why they would need all of this space. Let's find out what that reason is first, and then we can go get Panthro and Thundertank for a little surprise of our own"

The other Cats knew that their king was right, so they complied with his plan, and swiftly and silently followed the Lizard soldiers as they entered through the White Pyramid's main entrance.

Meanwhile, back at the Feliner, Panthro was still on high alert. But with no one to fight; all he really did was pace on top of the airship's wing.

"Hmm, still no sign of any other Lizards, I guess the one the others chased off was just a straggler" is what the old Panther said as he put his Nunchucks away

However, that feeling of peace quickly changed when old general heard a rustling sound coming from a nearby bush (not the same one as before, a different bush). He went over to investigate and even readied his Nunchucks in case it was an enemy, but in actuality, the bush wasn't shaking because someone was hiding behind it, it was shaking because three unnaturally green roots were actually moving on their own to shake it by the stem. And if that wasn't weird enough, while the old panther was inspecting the rustling bushes, the airship behind him started to glow with a mysterious green aura. Suddenly, as if by magic, all of the damage done to the Feliner's hull just went away and the airship looked like it never went down at all. Panthro didn't notice this until after the process was finished and the green glow was gone, but even then, he still could not believe his eyes. He approached the now fixed airship to inspect it, and when he did, he couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. Not even a single mud stain.

He went inside to check the instruments and saw that they were all fixed as well, all the damage that was there before was completely repaired, even all the glass pieces that shattered. The old general tried to start the Feliner and when he did, the insides sounded like they were working perfectly. All Panthro could say at that point was-

"Okay, I don't know what just happened, but whatever it was, I'm glad it did"

Meanwhile, back in the other forest elsewhere, Mumm-Ra and his minions were all still walking through the woodland area with their weapons ready for battle. But soon enough, they all stopped when Mumm-Ra halted them and said-

"Hold, the power that I have been tracking ends right here, we have arrived"

However, when Pumyra and the others all started to look around, they saw nothing but the trees.

"We have?" said Pumyra

"Yes" Mumm-Ra replied as he pointed up towards the treetops "There, up in the treetops"

This made Addicus particularly happy, as he just smiled and said-

"Sounds like the perfect job for me (hooping)"

And with that, Addicus scurried up into the trees with the greatest of ease and eventually vanished into the treetops.

"Ha, this is where being a Bird comes in handy" said Vultaire, as he spread his wings and flew into the treetops after Addicus

Mumm-Ra allowed them to do this, but not because he thought Addicus and Vultaire would succeed. He knew that they would be no match for his "enemy". But he did believe that Addicus and Vultaire would draw his enemy out into the open so that he could finish her himself. So, he anxiously waited for the sounds of a struggle and for his enemy to finally show herself. However, what he got instead was the sound of both Addicus and Vultaire screaming, as if they were under attack by a monster. The two of them both fell from the trees at that point and when they did, Addicus looked like he had just been pummeled vigorously and Vultaire had both of his wings tied up with bolas.

Mumm-Ra was completely at a loss about this, and it showed in the way he said—

"What?"

However before he could ask the Monkey and the vulture what happened, several lines of rope came falling down from the treetops and the ones who threw said ropes came sliding down within mere seconds. They revealed themselves to be a tribe of primitively dressed females, and all of them were armed with bows and arrows and knives. This was a lesser known tribe on Third Earth, known simply as the Warrior Maidens, and what made them lesser known was the fact that they weren't Cats or Dogs or any other kind of Animal. They were humans, a rare thing for you to find on Third Earth, if at all

Any way, once the large tribe of primitively dressed women was on the ground, they all readied their weapons as the last two Maidens came sliding down from the treetops. One was a svelte yet muscular-looking young woman, who wore a form-fitting yellow dress and complimenting brown belt. She had moderately tan skin and had long, raven hair, which she ponytailed at the very tip. The other one next to her was a slightly younger and slightly thinner female with long brown hair that she kept in a full ponytail. She wore light yellow top and a brown skirt, and bore a striking appearance to the older female next to her. Like the rest of their group, they both carried weapons, which they immediately readied and aimed at Mumm-Ra and his minions.

"You are all trespassing on private ground, leave now or my warriors and I will be forced to throw you off our sacred land" said the raven hair maiden, who could definitely be the assumed leader of this band.

However, Mumm-Ra was not intimidated, nor was Slithe, Pumyra or Kaynar. In fact, the next words to come out of Slithe's mouth were-

"And who, might I ask, are you to make us leave, little lady?"

"I am Willa of the Warrior Maidens, queen of the Treetop kingdom, and I decree that you are not welcome here, Lizard. So I say one last time; leave now or face the consequences!" the lead Maiden exclaimed

But even then, Mumm-Ra was still not fazed; in fact, the first thing he did in response was chuckle and say -

"I'm afraid the only one who will be suffering the consequences, my dear, is you" is what the Evil Mummy said, as Queen Willa and all of her followers just glared at him.

Then, without a second thought, Mumm-Ra recited a very familiar mantra-

"Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form to Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living!"

After that, Mumm-Ra's frail, Mummy form melted away in favor of a more muscular, demonic, winged form: Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living

Surprisingly though, Willa and her fellow warriors were not intimidated by this. In fact, Willa and her brown-haired associate seemed rather happy that Mumm-Ra did this, as the first thing they did when they saw him transform was smile. They didn't even flinch when Pumyra, Slithe and Kaynar all readied their weapons.

"Alright, ladies, this is the moment we've all been waiting for" is what Willa quietly said to the warriors behind her, right before she turned to her brown-haired associate and said "Nayda, you know what to do"

The brown-haired Warrior Maiden (whose name is apparently Nayda) nodded in response to her queen's comment and proceeded to have four of the other Warrior Maidens follow her as they dodged Mumm-Ra's energy blast. Willa led the other seven in another direction and had them attack Mumm-Ra with a barrage of arrows. Mumm-Ra, of course, destroyed all of the arrows with a single energy blast, but right after he did so, Willa reached into the pouch she was carrying and pulled out a handful of small pellets. She threw them all at Mumm-Ra, and, of course, he blasted them with ease. But right after he did, the pellets exploded into a green cloud of sparkling dust, a cloud that resembled the green pollen that affected Slithe and the other generals. Now, at first, the dust didn't seem so bad, but as soon as it covered Mumm-Ra, it started to burn him, and he started to yell and moan as if he were standing in clear field at high noon.

That's when Willa called out to him and said-

"Oh, you're not afraid of a little dust, are you, Mumm-Ra? Our shamans made it just for you, after all"

This made the other seven Warrior Maidens chuckle for a bit and that made Mumm-Ra growl in anger. Afterwards, Willa led 2 of her team of 7 into the trees while the other 5 leapt back onto the ground.

"If you wanna make us pay, big ugly, you'll have to catch us first, if you even can" Willa taunted as she and her associates scurried further up into the treetops

"Do you honestly think that hiding in the treetops like cowardly Monkeys will be enough to save you, fools?" said Mumm-Ra as he spread his wings and followed them upwards.

Meanwhile, back on the ground; Slithe, Kaynar and Pumyra were all attacking Nayda and the remaining 9 Warrior Maidens, but none of them were landing any real hits. Finally, Nayda saw her chance to deliver a swift kick to Pumyra's side and when the angry Puma tried to counter it by slashing her viciously, Nayda dodged her rather easily and pulled a clever move where she jumped on top of Pumyra and used her as extra height to jump up into the trees. Three of the other Warrior Maidens scurried up into the trees with her and this, of course, made Pumyra very angry

"Come down here and die like a warrior, you cowardly…!" is what the evil Puma yelled to Nayda

"Oh no, pretty kitty, why don't you come up here and fight like a warrior? If you even qualify" Nayda taunted, much to the amusement of her three fellow Warrior Maidens and to the anger of Pumyra

Pumyra was so angry, in fact, that she leapt onto a tree trunk and started climbing up to chase after Nayda and her associates. She got close a few times, but Nayda and the others just kept leaping away from her on the tree branches. She followed after them, of course, but while she did, Nayda looked at one of her associates and smiled almost mischievously.

Only 6 Warrior Maidens remained on the ground now, and Slithe and Kaynar were ready to fight them all. Vultaire and Addicus both started to come to at that point, but when they did, they were both a little scared. These were the same women who got the drop on them after all.

Meanwhile, high up in the trees, Queen Willa and her 2 followers were still keeping ahead of Mumm-Ra, and when they finally had a moment, one of the Maidens approached Queen Willa and said-

"(Panting) he took the bait, my Queen, now what do we do?"

"(Panting) now, we keep playing decoy for that flying bag of bones and allow my sister, Nayda to do her part" Willa replied, almost out of breath "With any luck; it won't be long before she gets our target to the right spot. Then, we can begin the endgame"

Just then, Mumm-Ra made his presence known to the three warrior women and started to blast them without delay. They dodged his attacks with ease, of course, and then attempted to lead Mumm-Ra further away by leaping through the treetops like agile Monkeys.

Meanwhile, back at the white pyramid, the Thundercats were still stalking their squad of Lizard troops as they continued to walk through the Pyramid's dark corridors. They were still keeping their safe distance within the shadows, of course, but the whole time, Cheetara couldn't help but notice that the Lizards they were following were the only Lizards that they've seen so far. Tygra and Lion-O noticed this as well, and just like Cheetara, it made them a little nervous.

The Kittens, on the other hand, were more preoccupied with the pyramid itself, it was just so awe-inspiring to them. It was so different from Mumm-Ra's Pyramid, yet, at the same time, it was also remarkably similar. The structure of the interior was definitely reminiscent of the Black Pyramid, but while Mumm-Ra's pyramid was definitely scientific in design, this pyramid was clearly more primitive looking. It had stone walls instead of metallic ones; it had torches resting in holders attached to the walls instead of electrical lights, and the strange designs written on all sides but the floor, while similar to ones in Mumm-Ra's Pyramid, were more like archaic writing instead of circuit boards. This kind of supported the "it's just an ancient ruin from a lost civilization" theory, but even so, Kit and Kat both felt that this similarity in design was not a coincidence.

Anyway, the Cats suddenly found themselves caught off guard when everything went black. All of the torches in the corridor suddenly went out for no particular reason. And when they mysteriously came back on a few seconds later, the Cats were all shocked to discover that the Lizards they were following were gone, without a single trace to follow, I might add.

"The Lizards, where'd they go?" said Lion-O as he surveyed the corridor

"Uh, more importantly, where'd our way out go?" said WilyKat as the other Cats looked behind them and saw what the young Wildcat was talking about.

Apparently, the corridor that the group had just used had become a dead end. In a nutshell, that meant they were trapped inside.

(Commercial Break)

As one could imagine, the TCats were more than a little concerned about the sudden disappearance of their only way out, especially since that meant they were supposedly trapped inside with a Lizard Army.

"This doesn't make any sense, I'm sure that we came in this way" said Cheetara as she faced the dead end that used to be a corridor

"Looks like the Lizards set a trap for us after all" replied Tygra

"…and we fell for it like a rock in the river" Lion-O added in a very cynical tone, right before he sighed and continued with "Great, just great"

"So, what do we do now?" asked WilyKit in a combination of fear and concern

"Not much else we can do, except keep moving. If the Lizards really have set a trap for us, they've already got us right where they want us" said Lion-O as he then walked down the opposite side of the corridor with the other Cats following him

The group continued to walk like this for quite some time; in fact, within the course of 20 minutes, they had already made their way down three corridors in total. But the weird part of it all was that while the Tcats assumed that this was trap set by the Lizards, they had yet to see any more, not even the ones they followed in. Another weird part to consider was that with every new corridor the group walked down, the torches just automatically came on, almost as if they were lit just for them. This made the group a little uneasy, especially the Kittens.

"(Shudders) this pyramid is giving me the creeps" said WilyKat "There's just something so…alive about this place"

"I know what you mean, Kat" said WilyKit "I keep getting the feeling that there's some kind weird force all around us"

"Uh, what kind of force, exactly, sis?" asked Kat

"That's the weird part about it, Kat; it's definitely something looming and it's definitely something strong, but at the same, it doesn't feel all that bad. In fact, it kinda feels… friendly"

Kat didn't know how to respond to that last part, so all he did at that moment was raise an eyebrow in confusion.

As for Tygra and Cheetara, their main concern was just how serious Lion-O looked while he was walking. Because whenever Lion-O looks serious, it usually means that he's upset somehow. And when he walked on ahead of the other Cats, Cheetara took the opportunity approach Tygra and say—

"Your deadline is almost up, Tygra, how's that "he'll be back to normal soon" theory of yours working out?"

(An allusion to Tygra's line in the last episode)

"I… really can't say anymore" said Tygra, in a semi-concerned, semi-serious tone. Apparently, he has all but lost faith in his own theory

Any way, the Cats soon come across a perpendicular intersection between corridors and when they do, they notice the strange carvings on the wall in front of them. Unlike the other walls, however, this one had carvings that almost made it resemble a tapestry, not unlike the wall carving that appeared in the Series premiere actually.

"Well, this is something different" said Tygra upon seeing the stone "tapestry"

Lion-O could almost instantly tell that there was some kind of message behind these carvings, so he moved in closer to get a better look. However, right after he did, WilyKat looked at him and said-

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out what these carvings say. We've been seeing them all over the place so far, so they have to mean something. They might even show us to the way out of here"

"And you learned how to read ancient text when?" asked Cheetara

"It doesn't seem all that different from the wall carvings in Thundera; I think I should be able to get the gist of it" replied Lion-O

"Then, by all means, O learned scholar…" said Tygra as he smugly crossed his arms

Lion-O could tell that Tygra was making fun of him, but he showed no signs of reacting to it. Instead, he just leaned in closer to the wall carvings and translated them for the others.

"From what I can tell, this wall tells a story about a war, one that was fought centuries ago, and from the looks of it, it was fought between 8 powerful spirits; 4 good, 4 evil." is what Lion-O said as he translated. And the pictures on the wall made it easier for him to illustrate his point "They battled for the longest time, but because the two sides were so equal in strength, neither side was gaining any real advantage over the other. So, in hopes of tipping the scale in their favor, the evil spirits created a Herald, a being who would act as the conduit for all of their dark energy"

It was then that Lion-O and the others noticed a carving that looked exactly like Mumm-Ra in his "Ever-Living" form. It didn't take any of them long to put two and two together after that.

"The evil spirits thought for sure that this would tip the Balance of power in their favor, but what they didn't count on was their rivals; the good spirits, doing the exact same thing… and creating a Herald of their own"

After Lion-O translated that last part, he and the others noticed another carving, a much different one. It was of a beautiful young woman dressed in a white and green Egyptian-esque skirt and a pale white armor top with a blue circle on her chest. She had green shoulder-guards; she wore white and blue colored boots over green stockings, and covered both of her arms with green gloves that were covered on the lower half with white and blue fingerless gauntlets. On her head, she wore a green and white tiara that was adorned on both sides by two golden wings and had a dove ornament decorating it on the top. This perfectly complimented the golden choker with a green emerald that she was apparently wearing. However, what made this woman stand out all the more (in addition to the fact that she was a human instead of an animal) was the large pair of golden angel wings that she sported behind her back.

Never had any of the Thundercats seen something so beautiful, and it showed in the looks of awe on all of their faces.

"She's so beautiful" said Cheetara

"—and you're saying that she's supposed to be Mumm-Ra's-opposite?" Tygra continued

That's when Lion-O continued to translate the carvings on the wall by saying-

"Yes, in every single way, it seems, and if I'm reading this correctly, she was also just as strong, maybe even stronger"

"Then what happened to her?" asked WilyKat

"Hmm, from what I can tell, it looks like when Mumm-Ra's ship went down all those years ago, his "rival" felt that she was no longer needed and apparently decided to take a good long rest within her own dwelling; here, on Third Earth"

"So, are you saying what I think you're saying…?" asked Cheetara

"… This pyramid is her pyramid" replied Lion-O

The Tcats were not sure on how to respond to this, so they mainly just looked all around themselves in awe.

Meanwhile, back at the forest elsewhere, Queen Willa and her fellow Warrior Maidens were still climbing and leaping the trees in an attempt to keep ahead of Mumm-Ra. However, when Willa looked behind her, she was surprised to see that Mumm-Ra was no longer chasing them. She gave the order to halt after that and she and her follows settled on a tree branch so that she could think.

"Is there something wrong, my Queen?" asked the still unnamed Warrior Maiden as she caught her breath

"Yes, Ewa, I think there is, Mumm-Ra was just chasing us after a few seconds ago, but now, I don't see him anywhere. Where'd he go?" replied Willa

It was then that Queen Willa and her followers heard what sounded like an evil cackling in the distance and heard someone saying-

"Where am I, you ask, my dear?"

Then, out of nowhere, Mumm-Ra appeared out of the foliage in front of the Warrior Maidens and said-

"I'm right here!"

The evil Mummy then blasted the other two Warrior Maidens and made them fall for a few seconds before they could grab onto two different tree branches. Willa dodged Mumm-Ra's attacks, but they were no longer with ease, in fact, Willa was definitely showing some signs of fatigue this time. Regardless, she scurried up the treetops a little more and eventually found a branch to rest on. Unfortunately, Mumm-Ra caught up with her rather easily and then started to corner the Warrior Queen.

"(Chuckles) you gave me quite the chase, Queen of the Warrior Maidens, but now I think it's time to put an end to this little game of ours"

Mumm-Ra held up his right hand after saying this and then made it glow with purple energy as he prepared to deliver the final attack against the tired human. However, in a surprising turn of events, Queen Willa showed no signs of being the least bit scared. In fact, the most she did was stare directly at the undead warlord as he fired his blast.

When the blast made direct impact, Mumm-Ra was certain that this battle was over. But that was before the smoke cleared and the evil Mummy saw that Willa was still alive and well. She was surrounded by a mystical green aura and was shown to be wearing a strange glowing amulet.

"How-how can this be?" said Mumm-Ra in complete shock, as he back away while Willa walked forward

That's when Willa grabbed onto her strange glowing amulet, held it up for Mumm-Ra to see and said-

"A gift- from a friend, though I'm guessing it's not from a friend of yours"

After that, Willa held up her amulet, aimed it towards the treetops above her and fired a blast of green energy. This created a large hole in the canopy, which was wide enough for the sun to shine through, not a good thing for Mumm-Ra. The evil mummy decided to retreat, but not before yelling-

"A stroke of good luck, at best, savage, next time, you will not be so fortunate"

"Oh, I think I will" replied Willa rather smugly, even though Mumm-Ra was too far away to hear her

Any way, Ewa and the other Warrior Maiden both climbed back up the trees and eventually made it to where their queen was standing.

"My Queen, are you all right?" asked Ewa as she placed her hand on Willa's shoulder

"Yes, Ewa, I'm fine"

"W-where's Mumm-Ra?" asked the other Warrior Maiden

"Gone; we've done our part, Zera. Now it's up Nayda and her group to do theirs"

Willa walked away after saying that and once her two associates shared a brief look at each other, they walked after her

Meanwhile, back in the White Pyramid, the Thundercats were all still unsure about how to respond to the newfound knowledge they just learned.

"So, this is it, this is the same pyramid?" said WilyKit

"But then, doesn't that mean…?" her brother continued

"—Mumm-Ra's "rival", she could still be here" said Cheetara

"Maybe, but if she is, and she's working with the Lizards now, I don't think she's someone we want to meet" said Tygra

Suddenly, Lion-O noticed something further down the corridor and said-

"Speaking of the Lizards…"

The other Thundercats all looked in the same direction as their leader and when they did, they saw that, true to his words, there were more Lizards, 3-4 to be precise. This time, they noticed the Cats, but instead of attacking, they simply ran away.

"We can't let them sound the alarm, come on!" yelled Lion-O as he lead the other Cats in pursuit of the Lizards.

The chase initially led the group in a zigzag pattern and the Lizards did manage to escape the Cats sight after turning a corner. But after picking up the pace (so to speak) and turning the next corridor to the left, the Tcats soon caught up to their targets, just in time to watch them make their way through a large, strange looking doorway that, presumably, led outside.

Without a second thought, Lion-O yelled—

"Come on!"

-and the Thundercats all followed the Lizards through the doorway, thus causing the doorway itself to glow.

We are then shown Panthro, who was still observing the Feliner from the outside, still unable to believe that it was suddenly fixed without him having to lift a finger.

"I just don't get it" is what he said "a few minutes ago, this thing was as good as spare parts. But now, all of a sudden, it's up and running again? It just doesn't make any sense"

That's when Panthro noticed something coming his way and readied his nunchucks in response. However, this was an unnecessary action, because the people coming his way were none other than his fellow Thundercats.

The group was particularly disoriented by what just happened; one minute, they were chasing after a group of Lizards; the next, they're right back where they started. A lot of them even commented on this. However, what really grabbed everyone's attention was the fact that they were short one Lion.

Meanwhile, back in the forest elsewhere, Nayda and her three fellow Warrior Maidens were still keeping ahead of Pumyra in the trees. But as the evil Puma grew closer and closer to them, Nayda gave the signal to the others and they all stopped jumping after landing on one tree branch. When Pumyra finally caught up, she landed on a tree branch just across from them and looked like she was getting ready to pounce.

"(Chuckles) so, we're done jumping through the treetops now, are we? Fine with me" is what the evil Puma said as she got ready to leap over towards Nayda and her friends "Ready or not, here I co…"

But before Pumyra could make that leap, she was blindsided by someone leaping onto her branch from the right. She grabbed onto a much lower branch, but just barely. As for the person who blindsided her, it was none other than the same hooded figure that appeared two episodes prior, and her face was still shrouded by her dark blue robes.

Soon enough, Pumyra managed to pull herself up onto the tree branch (not an easy task, due to her armor), and when she did, she growled at the hooded figure as she leapt down to the lower branch and said-

"Who are you!? Who told you to interfere!?"

"Told me? TOLD ME!? Oh, no one had to tell me, Pumyra, I've wanted to do nothing else for the longest time!" said the hooded figure in a similar growling voice

That was when Nayda looked towards her friends and said-

"Come, sisters, we've done our part, it's all up to our friend now"

-right before she led her fellow Warrior Maidens away from the confrontation and left Pumyra and the hooded figure to themselves.

The two women stared each other down for a few seconds and both looked like they were ready to tear each other to bits.

"So, you've got some kind of vendetta against me or something?" said Pumyra in a sour tone

"It's hard not to, since you're one of the two monsters who ruined my life!"

"I see, and is there any chance you'll be giving me your name? Because, so far, you're not ringing any bells"

"Oh, you want my name, Pumyra? I'll do you one better than that, you traitor!"

And with that, the hooded figure at last removed her hood and revealed her true identity. As it turns out, she was, in fact, Pumyra! This was much to the shock of the armored Pumyra.

Meanwhile, in a completely random location, Lion-O found himself in a situation that he found very hard to believe, not unlike Tygra and the others actually. The last thing he remembered doing was going through the doorway that, supposedly, led outside the White Pyramid. And yet now, he was in the middle of a dense forest and was nowhere near anything that remotely resembled a white pyramid. He surveyed his surroundings for the others, but found nothing, he even called out-

"Cheetara!: Tygra!: Anybody!"

-but there was no answer, and that made the young king more than a little worried. However, that worry soon turned into surprise when the young Lion looked behind him and saw that a tall, elderly human female wearing a dark blue robe was standing right next to him. She had violet eye-shadow, purple lipstick, and a pair of golden wings that adorned the sides of her head. A much closer inspection would've also revealed that this woman was bandaged in a way similar to the way Mumm-Ra looks. The main difference, however, was that, unlike Mumm-Ra, this woman looked more like a healthy older woman who was just wrapped up bandages, rather than a decaying corpse that had just been uncovered. Even this woman's voice seemed more pleasing than Mumm-Ra's, particularly when she said-

"Welcome, King of the Thundercats"

(Episode Ends)

Notes:

1. This episode does not feel like my best and it was supposed to be the penultimate episode in this Story Arc I'm trying to tell. However, the story doesn't seem right and the writing doesn't seem very good at certain points

2. Tell me the truth; can you see any of the stuff I've written as actually episodes? Because that's what I've been striving for, and it's hard, especially when I'm trying to write a good plot and things that the characters would most likely say

3. If any of the stuff in my stories sound like something from another show or movie, it was most likely by accident. I'm trying really hard to write stuff that at least sounds original