Episode 31 – Geyser of Life
"Previously on Thundercats" (scenes from the last three episodes show, before the title finally appears with the show itself)
Now, this episode was, essentially, opening up from where the last one had left off: with Lion-O standing right next to Mumm-Rana as she showed him a mildly tall hill with a very large stream of water coming out from right at its very tippy-top. The stream itself was very reminiscent of a geyser of some sorts, and apparently, once it reached up into the sky, it formed the very same mist that was surrounding the whole of the hill itself, which made this hill all the more entrancing of a sight to see, that much was for certain.
"W-what…w-w-w-what am I looking at here, I…?" Lion-O asked, still in total awe
"Beautiful, isn't it, my dear little king? I mean…" said Mumm-Rana in between her short chuckles, in obvious joy "…Just imagine it; for countless eons, this has been one of Third Earth's most glorious of all natural sights, while still being one of its most mysterious of all natural phenomena at the exact same time as well. A true testament to all of Nature's many amazing abilities, if I do say so myself…"
"So, basically, you're saying that you have no idea at all about how that hill is doing what it's doing either, do you, Mumm-Rana…?" said Lion-O
"Mmm, no, but, then again, nobody really does, to be perfectly honest…" said Mumm-Rana, in a very nonchalant way of speaking, right before she clears her throat "Still though, if there is one thing that any traveler can tell you about this place, it's that this hill, this "Geyser of Life", as it's known far and wide as, is a place of very powerful, and very pure, mystical energy, a kind unlike any other to be found here upon Third Earth, to be precise…"
Now, that last part was exactly the thing to capture Lion-O's full attention, and it showed in the way that he looked surprised, right before he looked back towards Mumm-Rana and replied-
"Uh, what…w-w-what kind of mystical energy are we talking about exactly, hmm…?"
"The Healing variety, my young friend, the healing variety…" Mumm-Rana answered, albeit rather ominously
However, before Lion-O could get any more real details on this subject, he heard a rustling going on in the foliage that was found just to the left of him at this specific time. He readied his sword for battle as a result of this, all while saying-
"Uh-Oh, get ready for trouble, because I think we just found some of it right now"
"Oh, no-no-no, not at all, my dear little king, not at all…" Mumm-Rana replied while still maintaining her cool demeanor "…In fact, this is precisely the thing that I have been waiting for all day long…"
Now, of course, Lion-O had no real response to what he had just heard, but before he could give the matter anymore actual thought, he finally saw who it was that was coming his way: Pumyra (the Armored Pumyra to be precise).
"Pu-P-P-Pumyra…?" Lion-O said in near shock
It was there that the armored Puma in question was, at last, able to get a good look at the young Lion monarch before her and thus gasped and said-
"Lion-O…?"
-right before she snarled and attempted to charge him at top speed.
However, before she could get too far, Pumyra felt a strong pull that stopped her dead in her tracks. It was then that Lion-O realized that Pumyra was not only in chains, but was also being handled by someone else: Pumyra (the blue robed one to be exact).
"Nut-tut-tut, don't you even think about trying to do anything like that, you nasty little She-devil, you!" said the Blue robed Pumyra, as she held the chain that connected to her counterpart's shackles "Especially not when you're in the presence of someone like me, of all people, you horrible little Cat monster…"
Now, this was, of course, more than enough to make Lion-O feel just teensy-weensy bit disconcerted. He was, after all, seeing two of the exact same person at the exact same, and one of them was growling like a wild animal as she was attempting to attack him in a very vicious manner. However, the blue robed Pumyra was doing an, apparently, excellent job of keeping her counterpart under control. But that didn't stop Lion-O from saying the following things-
"What…w-what in the name of…"
That's when Mumm-Rana walked up to his side and said-
"Ah, Pumyra, my dear sweet little girl (chuckles); I'm so glad to see that you were quite successful with all of your efforts whilst you out there, in the field and everything. (Chuckles) so, shall we proceed with the next phase of our plan then, hmm…?"
"Oh, absolutely, O' great Mistress and mighty sorceress of the light, ma'am…" said the Blue robed Pumyra, as she pulled the chain that she was holding and drew her prisoner in more closer to her "A-absolutely, your grace…"
"Good, because, from I can gather from things, right about now; I, uh…" said Mumm-Rana, right after she giggled for a brief moment, and right before she turned herself away from all of the Cats and looked back towards the mildly tall hill that she and Lion-O were both just looking at a little while ago, with her face implying that something was not right in her eyes "…I do believe that we may have all gotten here just in the nick of time, hmph. So, then, shall we get things over and done with around here or what…?"
Mumm-Rana then began to walk forward towards the mildly tall hill at this point, but while she was doing so, Lion-O was still at a complete loss about thing here. And it showed in the way that he sighed and said-
"Get what over and done with around here, Mumm-Rana? And what, exactly, is this 'big plan' of yours, hmm? What on all of Third Earth is going on around here, sorceress, huh, can you, at least, answer me that one little thing, hmm…?"
It was at that very same moment that the young angry Lion monarch was suddenly approached by the Blue-robed Pumyra, who was, essentially, force-walking her armored counterpart to move right past him at this particular moment in time. Then, once the two of Cats were both very, very, very close to one another, the blue robed Pumyra suddenly said to the young king-
"Steady there, Lion-O; look, I can promise you that there will be plenty time for explanations of all kinds later on. But, for right now, you just need to trust Mumm-Rana to finish up what she's trying to do for all of us here. Because, believe me; she knows what she's doing, your royal majesty, on that one point; you can be as certain as Jaga to say the least…"
Now, Lion-O was still not entirely certain about all of this, of course, but, once again, his instincts just made him simply swallow up all of his suspicions and he just followed Mumm-Rana and all of the others as they made their way up towards the hill as a result.
Meanwhile, all of the way up in the high blue skies, Mumm-Ra was still in his dark raven form and he was currently circling the small group from above, while watching them with his bright red-colored evil eyes, much like he did in "Between Brothers", as a matter of fact. And just like it was in "Between Brothers", he spoke while still in his flying raven form, via an astral projection of himself found way up in the sky-
"So, was this your whole plan this entire time, Mumm-Rana? First: you lure me away from my own Cat "puppet", and then you capture her, just so you could deliver her straight to the Lord of the Thundercats himself? I cannot even begin to imagine what type of plan that you have conceived here, Mumm-Rana, nor do I have any real interest in knowing what it is anyway. For you see, by coming here, you have only handed me the means to destroy you in the most ironic way possible. As well as presented me with the perfect opportunity to retrieve both the War Stone and Spirit Stone…"
After that, Mumm-Ra's image disappeared and he kept on flying in his dark raven form.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, Lion-O, Mumm-Rana and the two Pumyras were all still walking, and as Mumm-Rana led the troop at the front, she looked up at the hill straight ahead of them and said-
"Hmm, from what I can tell; if we can all continue to keep up this current pace of ours and stay on this specific path while we're at it, then, I estimate that we'll soon be at our next planned-out destination within the next half-hour at the very latest…"
"Oh, great, so do I have to wait until then for you to actually tell me something about all that is happening around here, or are you going to just stop keeping me in the dark about everything right now and finally give me some real answers for once, hmm?" said Lion-O, who was clearly starting to lose his patience.
"My-my-my, aren't we an impatient feline monarch today, hmm…?" Mumm-Rana replied, rather nonchalantly
"I mean it, Mumm-Rana, you clearly had a very good reason for wanting to bring me all of the way out here just to meet up with you and everything, and I think that it's well past time for you to tell me what that reason was, exactly, okay…?"
"Ah, yes, and that's, precisely, what I intend to do, your majesty, on that you have my absolute word, I can assure you. But, for the time being, though; I'm afraid that all questions and explanations are just going to have to wait until a much later time for now, okay? Things are not entirely on our side on this particular endeavor, you understand, so, I'm afraid that …"
Now, of course, Lion-O was not entirely accepting of this answer, but before he could actually say anything more, Mumm-Rana gestured everyone to stop right in their tracks.
"Mistress…?" asked Blue-robed Pumyra, while still handling Armored Pumyra "Mistress, what is the matter, is there some type of problem occurring or some…?"
"I can sense that there is a great deal of danger to be found within this very same area, and yet, I cannot tell what it is, exactly. Although, what I can tell with complete certainty is the fact that it is something very, very… familiar…" Mumm-Rana replied
Then, all of a sudden, everyone within the group was able to hear a loud creaking noise coming from all around them. They weren't able to tell what it was at first, but they certainly knew what the answer to that question was when they saw the most unsettling of sights: the trees all around them were actually starting to move and eventually became growling monsters. It was then that Lion-O said-
"Oh Whiskers"
(Commercial Break)
The demonic trees all then began to advance upon Lion-O and the others. But, just as she usually does, Mumm-Rana was, apparently, treating the whole situation rather nonchalantly. So much so that she, basically, just looked up at the tree monsters that were right in front of her and sighed before saying-
"So, this is the big issue that we're all being expected to deal with right about now, is it; a bunch of moving trees that are being made to think that they're a pack of ravenous monsters, of all things? (Scoffs)… Well, I suppose that I could, at least, spare just a few minutes or so to deal with this complete and utter nonsense all around us, if only to get us back on track, if nothing else…"
-right before she rose up her right hand and released a large cloud of green dust that completely doused the monstrous trees.
However, just when it appeared like the matter had been just as easily dealt with as it was, apparently, started; Mumm-Rana was shocked to discover that her magical green dust was having no effect upon the tree monsters whatsoever at all. In fact, each and every single one of them was being protected by what appeared to be a flaming purple aura of some kind, and then, once the green dust cloud had finally been completely dissipated, the purple aura started to go away as well and the tree monsters were all free to continue on with their initial advance.
This was, of course, the point where Lion-O decided to put on his gauntlet and bring out his sword, and then, before you knew it; he was charging straight at the monstrous tree horde and was soon fighting them all off in the best ways that he knew how. He was able slash through one tree's "arm", then another one's "leg", and then, he actually used the Spirit Stone itself to blast a third tree straight into oblivion, right on the spot.
The two Pumyras were both watching the whole thing at this time, and while they did, the Armored Pumyra said-
"You know, with so many of those horrible tree monsters walking around here and everything, I'm starting to think that you guys could probably use some extra pairs of hands…"
-while holding up her hands as a gesture to un-cuff them.
"I'm thinking not a chance" replied the Blue robed Pumyra, right before she pushed her armored Counterpart flat on her side within the next few seconds or so
Then, she almost immediately tied the chain that she was still holding on to around a nearby tree right afterwards, so that she could quickly run off and join Lion-O in the ensuing battle that was still going on. And, what's even more so is the fact that once she had completely discarded the blue robe that she was originally wearing right then and there, she thus revealed herself to be wearing the exact same type of clothes that she was sporting when Lion-O had (supposedly) first met her back within the Pit. She was even still carrying her old bolas and wrist-bow, which she, of course, used against the attacking tree monsters without hesitation.
The two Cats soon took down as many of the tree monsters as possible together. But, all of the while, Lion-O couldn't help but look surprised as Pumyra helped him every single step of the way. Mumm-Rana also tried to help out as well, but, for some strange reason, her magic was doing very little to the tree monsters at all. It was just so inconceivable to her to say the least.
"I-I-I just don't understand, what-w-what exactly is going on here…?" is what the sorceress asked, right before the tree that she was fighting suddenly came in for a very close swipe.
Fortunately, though, Mumm-Rana was able to dodge the attack with relative ease, which was yet another thing that helped separate her from her counterpart, Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living. For, you see, while Mumm-Ra is, essentially, a decrepit bag of bones, barely able to move at all, Mumm-Rana is able to move with as much agility, stamina and dexterity as anyone that was much younger than she was. This was only proven even further when yet another tree monster attempted to attack the old sorceress and she dodged it by doing a rather perfect summersault.
Then, once she had landed herself down upon the ground, rather skillfully, she then looked directly at the two tree monsters that were fast approaching her and then, she decided to give her magic one more chance to see if would work this time around. Now, just like before; she attempted to douse the two wooden brutes with a cloud of her green magical powder, but, just like before; it did not work in the slightest. And, then, once she saw that they were both right coming, all at her at once, she realized that she had only mere seconds left to dodge their attacks once again, which she did, with a surprisingly great amount ease and style I might add as well. But, once she was finally able to get clear of them once again, she then said to herself-
"This just isn't making any sense to me right now, I mean; I've always been able to handle plants and trees of all kinds before. In fact, the only other time that this sort of thing has ever happened to me in the past was when…"
It was at that very moment that Mumm-Rana suddenly came to an instant realization about what was going on around here. And then, she looked straight upwards to see that there was a single flying raven that was currently circling the area overhead, which then made her finish her sentence by saying-
"I should have known"
But, right after she did get through saying all of that, a third tree monster then came straight at her and, thus, forced her to do yet another perfect summersault as a means of dodging the attack.
Then, once she had finally landed down upon the ground once again, she then stared directly at the three tree monsters that were advancing right towards her and said-
"Well, alright then, you bunch of ill-tempered, wooden behemoths, if I can't rely on my more direct methods of dealing with the likes of you right now, then, I guess I'll just have to make do with some of my more 'indirect' methods instead…"
And with that, the blue-robe wearing, elderly sorceress was then in the process of making both her eyes and her hands glow a bright tinted shade of green, which was actually what caused exactly two out of the three tree monsters that were right in front of her at the time to start sinking hopelessly into the dirt, all while the third and final one was quickly becoming ensnared by a great deal many vines that were actually shooting up from straight out of the ground itself. Now, the Armored Pumyra was actually able to observe a great of all of this from her current position. But, suddenly, she soon noticed that the very same tree that she was currently chained up to was actually starting to move and saw that it was because this very same tree was quickly becoming yet another ravenous tree monster. What's even more so is the fact that this actually worked to the armored female Puma's advantage, because, right after the tree's transformation was complete, the wooden brute inadvertently broke the Armored Pumyra's chains and set her free as an indirect result. And as the horrible tree monster quickly began to advance towards Lion-O and her unarmored counterpart, the armored Pumyra decided to take this as an opportunity to flee with her life, with a wicked smile placed across her face no less, as well.
But, in any event, though, Lion-O and Pumyra were both attempting to keep up a good fight against the tree monsters for as long as they could, and it was, definitely, starting to pay off for the two of them, in full, as a result of things. For, you see, every single tree monster that was actually bold enough to come directly at either one of the two Cats was either sliced to pieces and/or blasted by Lion-O himself or was smashed to tiny splinters by Pumyra and her trusty bolas. Eventually, though, the fighting was finally over and done with, and when that happened, Lion-O made his sword revert back into its dagger-like form and said-
"Well, then, that was certainly a real random turn of events, to say the least, now, wasn't it, hmm…?"
"Oh-ho-ho, I'm afraid that it most certainly was not, my young feline friend" replied Mumm-Rana "For, you see; I was just recently enlightened to the fact that an old adversary of mine was actually behind all of this madness that we just encountered around here…"
"Surely you don't mean that Mumm-Ra is out and about around here, do you, mistress? B-because-b-because, you said that we wouldn't have to…" said Pumyra after gasping a bit
"Yes-yes, Pumyra, yes, I know, I, too, was hoping that we wouldn't have to deal with any of Mumm-Ra's interference in all of this. But, it appears that I was foolish to think such a thing. No matter, though, we still have enough time left over to use, so, I suggest that you and Lion-O here take our prisoner and…"
It was at that very moment that Mumm-Rana and her two Feline allies all noticed the shattered chains on the ground and the fact that the Armored Pumyra was completely missing
"She's gone!" said Pumyra, after gasping once again
"Oh great, now we have to worry about her being on the loose in this forest all around us now too? (Sighs) this day just keeps getting even better and better with each passing minute, now, doesn't it…?" said Lion-O in a very annoyed tone
Mumm-Rana was then very quick to close her eyes, as she placed one of her hands right over her forehead and began to, apparently, concentrate on something very, very specific. Afterwards, she then said-
"I can still sense her presence being very close by; she's near, very near, in fact. Pumyra, you and Lion-O must track her down and bring her straight to the Geyser up ahead; I'll meet up with you just as soon as I can"
"B-but what about you, Mistress; where-where will you be, exactly…?" Pumyra asked
Mumm-Rana then turned around to a different direction and replied-
"I'll be having a very long overdue discussion with an old friend of mine, my child…"
And, with that, the elderly sorceress then let out a very loud bird-like shriek and engulfed herself within a very bright burst of blue light. Lion-O and Pumyra were both shielding their eyes from the bright light at this point, of course, and once they were able see again, they saw that Mumm-Rana had, once again, taken on her blue-eyed Dove form and thus, watched her as she flew off into the sky.
Then, once she was finally gone, Pumyra almost immediately began to head towards the direction of the apparent Geyser hill and gestured Lion-O to follow suit as well.
"Come on!" is what she said as she called out to the young Lion
And in response to that, Lion-O just simply shrugged and sighed, as he said to himself-
"Well, this day just keeps making less and less sense with each passing minute, I can tell you that much…"
-right before he began to (begrudgingly) follow the young Puma female, as she continued to lead the way that was right in front them.
However, while all of that was going on, we are then shown what was happening within yet another part of this mysterious forest, one that was found just north of the Geyser's hill, to be precise. It was here that we are shown where the Armored Pumyra had disappeared off to and she was currently taking a brief moment to catch her full breath. This was actually rather understandable, to be perfectly honest, considering that she had just run a very long distance while wearing a very heavy suit of battle armor. But, in any event, though, once she was finally done resting while rapidly catching her breath, she then began to take a seat down upon the ground, all while saying-
"Ha, it looks like those three, pathetic fools back there still haven't gotten around to actually chasing me down just yet. (Chuckles) that was the easiest escape that I've ever had to make in my entire lifetime, that much is for certain... (Sighs as she sits herself down) although, if I did, at least, have one regret to admit to anyone about it all; it would definitely have to be the fact that I didn't get the chance to see how those ferocious tree monsters back there actually finished them all off (chuckles again), and I'm certain that that would have been a most marvelous sight to behold, up close and in detail, no questions asked about that one at all..."
-right before she chuckled again and smiled a smile that was the same type as the one that she made whilst still on Avista city.
That was when the wicked Puma heard someone else say-
"Mmm, perhaps, my sweet little Puma child, perhaps, but, sadly; I'm afraid that that is not the way that things turned out within that very same battle…"
The Armored Pumyra could easily recognize this voice as the one that belonged to Mumm-Ra himself, but, when she looked all around to try and find him, she saw no sign of her mummified master.
"Mumm-Ra…?" is what she said as she continued to look all around her "W-w-where are you hiding right now, my master…?"
"Oh, there's no need to concern yourself with that sort of thing right now, my dearest little lost kitten, just follow my every single word extremely carefully…" said Mumm-Ra, still nowhere to be found "…I'm afraid that you left the battlefield a bit too abruptly, Pumyra, for, you see; my attempts to destroy both your king and my ancient enemy fell flat on its face shortly after you managed to escape…"
"W-w-wait a minute-wait a minute, th-those tree monsters were all your doing, Master?"
"Yes, and I thought for certain that, after I had enhanced them with the Ancient Spirits' dark magic, they would've wrought Mumm-Rana's destruction, if given enough time. But, no matter, it is of no concern to us right now, for you see, I still have come up with yet another plan for us to attempt, my dear…"
"Oh and how might I be of assistance to you and your plan, O' Lord and master of mine…?"
"(Chuckles) you already are, my beloved little Puma; Mumm-Rana has already just dispatched both your king and your counterpart to go out and find you. So, all you have to do is make sure that they keep following you all the way to the Geyser of Life"
"The Geyser of Li…w-w-wait a minute-wait a minute, my master; a-are you referring to that weird…thing that I was being…? B-but, Master, they were-they were already planning on taking me all of the way out there anyway, so…"
"Oh-ho-ho, I am well aware of that indeed, my young feline beauty, and that is exactly the thing that will make Mumm-Rana's destruction all the more sweeter and delicious for me to enjoy (chuckles). Just make sure that your former king, Lion-O, and Mumm-Rana's pathetic little pet Puma both follow you all of the way out to the Geyser of Life and, then, once all of our enemies are in position, I will take care of them all by seeing to everything else, understand…?"
"Yes, My Lord Mumm-Ra, as you wish…"
And with that; the evil Armored Pumyra was soon quick to be off on her merry little way, in order to fulfill her master's very specific demands and instructions. But, as to where Mumm-Ra himself actually was during the entirety of this mysterious conversation; well, as it would happen to turn out; he was merely using his magic to project his voice all around the Armored Pumyra, whilst he was still high up above in his dark raven form. And once he was finally done with all of that, the dark bird was then quick to start flying south, straight towards the very same Geyser that laid within that very same direction. But, just before he could actually get too far ahead towards his planned destination, he was soon quick to hear what sounded like a very loud screeching sound coming from even higher up above of him at this specific time.
The raven was then very quick to start looking straight upwards right after that, where he was soon able to see that there was a pale white dove that was actually swooping right down at him at a very high speed. So, the dark bird quickly attempted to dodge the bright dove in one swift maneuver, but, the dove still was able to land at least one small hit right on the raven's right wing and the raven screeched loudly in pain as an immediate response to it. Then the dove soon started to fly straight back at him once again. However, this time around; the raven attempted to counter this move by swooping right at the bright white bird. The two birds then began to engage each other in a very epic aerial battle, one that consisted of a great deal of various aerial maneuvers, as well as a whole lot of screeching and scratching to go along with it. Now then, the two birds seemed to be quite evenly matched for much of the fight, but eventually, the raven soon found himself in need of a last-ditch escape maneuver in order to make a clean getaway. The dark bird then began to fly directly upwards, straight towards the sun at that point, where he then used its bright light to temporarily blind the enemy dove, thus allowing him to make his escape without any trouble whatsoever. The dove was only able realize this a bit too late soon afterwards and, once it saw that its opponent was truly gone without a trace, it simply decided to let the raven go for now and, thus, flew right back downwards, towards the thick-looking forest that laid just right below it. Now then, I'm certain that, by now, it is, of course, no great secret as to who that dove really was or why it was so ferociously attacking that raven in the first place.
Meanwhile, though, back within the general area of where both Lion-O and Pumyra (formerly known as the Blue robed Pumyra) could still be found, we are then shown that, per Mumm-Rana's earlier request, they were both still on the hunt for the recently escaped Armored Pumyra. In fact, they were both soon able to find what looked like some of their quarry's recently made tracks and, thus, they followed them even further and further into the woods, with the hopes of actually catching up to her within the next few minutes at the very least. But, what they didn't know, however, was the fact that the Armored Pumyra was actually watching them both from afar, and was, purposefully, making more tracks for them to follow as she continued to maintain her solid lead ahead of them, by being, at least, half a quarter mile up in front of them.
"Ha, it looks like we're, finally, starting to catch up to my missing counterpart right about now, your majesty..." is what Pumyra said, during the time that all of this was happening "Although, I must admit, however; it does seem just a tad bit suspicious that all of these tracks seem to lead us straight forward, towards the Geyser hill, of all places, I mean, doesn't it…?"
"Hmm, yes, yes, it does seem just a tad bit suspicious, Pumyra, almost as if it was all just one enormous trap of some kind, set-up for the sole purpose of catching whoever was being led right into it…" replied Lion-O in an almost accusing tone
"Why-why, Lion-O, you don't honestly believe that I would actually try to do such a thing like…?" said Pumyra, after gasping, in a half insulted/half hurt tone
"Mmm, yes-yes, Pumyra, actually, I do believe that you would try to do such a thing. I mean, after all, if my memory serves me correctly; you've never had that much of a real problem with stabbing me right in the back before. And it would certainly not be the very first time that you've ever worked together with a very powerful monster in order to steal the Sword of Omens from me, now would it…?"
Pumyra looked briefly sad after all of hearing this, but then she finally sighed and replied with-
"Look, Lion-O, you have every right to be mad at me, but please don't take it out on Mistress Mumm-Rana. All she wants to do is to help you; she just wants to help all of us"
"(Sarcastically) right, the all powerful sorceress, who shot down my airship, lured me into her fancy pyramid, separated me from the rest of my group and brought me out here to the middle of nowhere to meet the very Cat who twice tried to kill me, just wants to help me. Oh, and of course, she must be doing all of this out of the goodness of her own heart…"
"No, not just out of the goodness of my own heart…" said Mumm-Rana, as she flew down in dove form and reverted back to her real self "…out of regret, regret for the evil that I allowed to befall Third Earth"
"Mistress…" Pumyra said as she reached out her comforting hand towards Mumm-Rana
But Mumm-Rana simply gestured her to stop and said-
"No, Pumyra, Lion-O has the right to hear the whole truth. I had hoped to save the explanations for a much more opportune time, but I now see that if we are to truly have his trust, he must know the whole situation, fully"
"I'm listening" said Lion-O as Mumm-Rana approached him
"Actually, I believe that the whole thing will progress much faster if I just show you"
And after that, elderly sorceress attempted to place her hands upon Lion-O's head, but the young Lion simply backed away. To which, Mumm-Rana simply replied by saying-
"Lion-O, you have my word, I am not trying to hurt you. All I want is to be your ally"
"I'm not sure if I can trust you, Mumm-Rana" said Lion-O
"Then trust your instincts, young one, trust your heart, they will give you the answers that you need"
Lion-O first stared at the mummified woman distrustfully for about a few seconds or so, but then he walked right back up to her and finally allowed her to put her hands upon his head. After that, the eyes of Mumm-Rana suddenly began to glow a bright shade of pure blue, and an aura of the exact same color soon began to engulf her and spread to Lion-O's body as well. The young Lord of the Thundercats could definitely feel something quickly coming over him at this point and it was only further proven by the fact that his eyes started glow bright blue as well.
Suddenly, Lion-O was starting to see more visions yet again, but, unlike the ones that he saw while he was still in the Plains of Was, these new visions were actually much more clearer for him to see. And they showed him, not quite Pumyra, but, instead; Mumm-Rana herself as she and Mumm-Ra were ferociously doing battle with each other in some remote location. While we are shown this, Mumm-Rana's voice could be heard in the background saying-
"Well, as you probably already recall learning from the wall-carvings of my very own white Pyramid, young Lion-O; the war between Mumm-Ra and myself has been going on for a great many years now, centuries, to be exact, actually. And, as all of those years just continued to come one right after the other, it truly did start to feel like, no matter what either one of us did to the other, our ferocious fight with each other was just fated never to have a proper end to it. Or at least that's what I thought, up until I heard about how his very own personal Cats servants actually rebelled against him and then, actually sealed him up inside of his very own wicked Pyramid to top it off, as well…"
The last part of Mumm-Rana's comment was illustrated by visions of Leo leading the rebellion and defeating Mumm-Ra, and the Animals initial arrival on Third Earth.
"With my old longtime enemy, apparently, at last, vanquished, there was, quite literally, very little left for me to do in this big old universe of ours. I mean, yes, it is true that I did do my very best to try and help out with the colonization of Third Earth when I could, but, when it started to look like all of the free Animals were going to be just fine without me, my Masters and I all agreed that it was passed time for me to take a long and, frankly, much needed rest deep inside of my nice, quiet white pyramid, and so, that's exactly what I did end up doing, right here on the planet, Third Earth"
Now this part of the story was illustrated by a series of visions which showed off how Mumm-Rana was helping out the various Animals in a variety of different ways, all while they were all rebuilding civilization anew on Third Earth. Then, eventually, we are shown the visions that displayed her resting up on inside of her very own white pyramid. However, unlike whenever Mumm-Ra has to rest and regain his strength, Mumm-Rana doesn't use an intimidating-looking sarcophagus to do all of her sleeping. Instead, she does all of her resting by lying on top of an ornate-looking, smoothed stone platform placed on a dais.
"But, unfortunately, though, it was because of my long slumber that my worst nightmare was, at last, able to become a reality once again. For you see, while I was fast asleep, my dear old nemesis, Mumm-Ra, was, at last, able to make his return to the universe at large, and, as you and the rest of Third Earth's population know all too well, my dear little king; everyone was made to suffer by his terrible hands, because I was still lost in my very own personal dream land…"
We are then shown visions of Mumm-Ra's return, the Fall of Thundera and the attacks on the Elephant Village and Avista.
"The cries of pain and anguish that were all caused by this… horrific monster were all echoed very loudly and clearly across Third Earth's great lands. In fact; I, myself, could even almost hear them, while I was still lost in my own deep slumber. But, what really ended up waking me up right out of it was, actually, something a little bit more different, something a little bit more… powerful…"
That part of the story was illustrated by visions of Lion-O obtaining the Spirit Stone and the Astral Plane collapsing in on itself, ending with a vision of Mumm-Rana sensing the destruction of the Astral Plane and awakening from her sleep as a result of it.
Finally, Lion-O was, at last, brought right out of this trance-like state of his and when that happened, he immediately gasped and said-
"The Spirit Stone being retrieved…and the Astral Planes being made to collapse in on itself as a result of that… th-th-that was it, wasn't it? Th-the thing that finally woke you up from your centuries long slumber, after all these years! I-I'm right about this one, aren't I, Mumm-Rana…?"
"(Giggles) Oh, yes, yes, indeed, you are quite correct about that one, my young feline friend, and the reason behind that one is actually a very simple one, if I might be so blunt with you about it, your royal highness. For you see; in addition to having an extremely powerful connection with the forces of Nature that exist all around me, I am also very strongly connected to the Spirit realms that exist beyond most mortals' reach as well. And, so, when a rather small portion of one of those very same realms was actually destroyed a mere short time ago, that alone was enough to awaken me from my deep long slumber. It, um, also, sadly, um, allowed me the chance to, um, actually see all of the damage and destruction that was caused by my villainous counterpart, which, um, as I've already made clear to you before; has completely shamed me to no end, your majesty, I can most definitely assure you of that one, to be certain…"
Lion-O suddenly felt a sense of sympathy come over him, and it showed in the way that he asked—
"I, uh, I-I really am sorry to hear about that, Mumm-Rana, honestly, I-I really am sorry, believe me…"
"Oh, I was very sorry about it all myself when I first got wind of it all, my young feline friend, and I could have spent a large number of days on end just sitting around blaming myself for this unpleasant and unexpected surprise. But, instead, I decided to look at the much larger picture as a whole and then chose to spend my time doing something far more useful: rectifying my mistake, one step at a time if that was truly necessary for me to do"
Pumyra walked up to Mumm-Rana after she said that, and that prompted Lion-O to ask-
"Well, um, okay, but, um, how exactly does Pumyra here fit into any of that? I-I mean, it was Mumm-Ra who had her under his complete control this whole time, wasn't it…?" said Lion-O
"No, but he did have a certain portion of me under his complete control, that much is for certain, I'm sorry to say, your majesty…" said Pumyra after sighing in shame a little bit first
Afterwards, Mumm-Rana then sighed herself and began to say—
"Yes, for, you see, my dear little young feline king, our dear sweet Pumyra here was indeed a combatant during the initial fall of Thundera and she was indeed made to be a casualty in the aftermath of that very same horrible tragedy, that much of the story is most definitely true, I am sorry to say. But, I'm afraid that our, um, dear old friend, Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, was, um, not exactly being quite, er, honest with you about the, um, origin story that he told you all about, my young feline monarch-in-training, hehehehe…"
Lion-O could only give the sorceress a very interesting look after hearing all of that, and that's when Mumm-Rana simply continued by saying-
"Yeah, I know; not much of a big surprise to be hearing that sort of thing about him, I agree. But, that still doesn't change the fact that you should really be hearing the truth right about now, my young feline friend, the whole truth about what really happened during that fateful day…"
It is from there that we are treated to yet another flashback sequence, and this time it was of both Pumyra's death and her initial resurrection while she was on the inside of Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Mumm-Rana's voice could be heard in the background, and she was saying-
"…For you see, while it is true that when Pumyra first fell during the fall of your once mighty kingdom, she was, indeed, left with a great deal of emotions during her last solitary moments left within this realm. But, while Mumm-Ra would lead you to believe that those very same feelings were a sense of raw anger and hatred, they were actually nothing more than mere sadness and abandonment. From her point of view really did seem like she had been left behind, alone and forgotten. And that was, unfortunately, all that it took for her find her way into that horrible Well of Souls of Mumm-Ra's, which is where he and his vile masters would eventually find her and then, come up with a plan. For, you see, they decided to take all of the sadness and grief that she took with her into death, and then, they actually managed to change it and corrupt it into something far more terrible. They twisted it, tainted it, and turned it into what sadness has the potential to become when it is left misguided and unchecked; vicious and bloodthirsty rage. And, because of that; they had made absolutely certain that the She-Cat that they would soon resurrect was going to become nothing more than a mere personified vessel for pure anger and rage and hatred, all of which was to be directed specifically towards the Thundercats and all of the other enemies of Mumm-Ra that he would soon allow her to be let loose upon, freely…"
The Flashback was then suddenly brought to an abrupt end right after that. Although, that still did not stop Mumm-Rana from continuing to speak and saying-
"But, at least, I can honestly say that there was still, at least, one small flaw to be found within this horrible little plan of theirs and that was the case because of the fact that there was still only so much that even the Ancient Spirits of Evil could do with their, so-called, 'almighty', dark witchcraft and wizardry. For example; while they were still able to bring young Pumyra here back from the dead and all, they could still only do that by keeping, at least, one single piece of her original self still in the mix, and, in case you haven't already figured that one out by now, my dear little king…"
"…that one 'single piece' of her original self was me, the 'real' Pumyra…" said the "real" Pumyra, finishing Mumm-Rana's statement for her
It was then that Lion-O was struck with a realization-
"Those visions; the ones that I saw back when I was still within the Plains of Was; they were about you and your whole back-story this whole time, weren't they, Pumyra, your 'real' whole back-story, what really happened after the original fall of Thundera, when you first went down…?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I am truly sorry to say that what you are saying right now is the truth, Great King Lion-O, and believe me, your highness, I really, really wish that that was not case of things at all…" said Pumyra, after giving yet another sigh of complete and total shame, as we are then led into yet another flashback sequence
However, this time around; we are shown, specifically, the exact same vision that Lion-O was shown while he was traversing the Plains of Was earlier: the one where Pumyra was being attacked by those strange black vines and was eventually restrained by them in front of a large mystical window. Pumyra was then heard speaking within the background and she said-
"For you see, your majesty, once the Ancient Spirits of Evil actually did manage to "resurrect" me back into this living world of ours, they wanted to make absolutely certain that I remained under theirs and Mumm-Ra's complete control. And, so, to do just that; they locked away any real traces of who I was before, deep down inside of their little She-Cat puppet, and to make matters even worse, they actually gave me a clear viewing window right into the outside world. All so that I could just sit back and watch clearly as their vile little "creation" just ran about all across Third Earth and ruined my life, exactly one single horrible action right after the next and so on and so forth…"
The view that the 'real' Pumyra was shown during this vision, via the mystical window, was that of her attacking Lion-O while they were both still trapped within the Pit at Dog City. And, much like Cheetara did when she was forced to watch this horrible display, the imprisoned Puma looked away in a combination of horror and of sadness. She even shed a few tears from her eyes while she was at it, as well.
However, we are then shown that Pumyra herself was being watched at this time, via a large glowing green crystal, and the person who was doing all of the watching was none other than old Mumm-Rana herself. In fact, the latter even took over the job of narration for this flashback at this specific moment in time, and she started it all off by saying-
"But, fortunately, though; what Mumm-Ra and his four wicked masters all failed to realize was the fact that I too was able to hear Pumyra's cries from beyond the grave, except what I actually heard was mostly a cry for help. And so, I used whatever magical powers that I could to try and help Pumyra out in any way that I thought was possible and also to help you out in any way that could as well, my dear little king, if you can believe that one or not…"
We are then suddenly given a rather moderate close-up of Mumm-Rana herself, as she began to create several tiny green glowing bobbles out of nowhere and then made them sink directly into her large green "Crystal ball" of sorts. The bobbles are then shown to have all made it to the inside of Pumyra's "prison", where they are all, essentially, made to float all about for a few seconds or so, just before they began to sink directly into the black vines that restrained the 'real' Pumyra, thus causing the vines to boil just like they were being burned, which then loosened their grip on Pumyra just enough to allow her make her escape from them. This allowed the female Puma to make her way towards the mystical window that was right in front of her and then, reach right into it, which thus caused it to start glowing extremely brightly.
Mumm-Rana proceeded to keep talking in the background during all of this, and what she said was-
"Now, at first, there was only so much that my powers and I were able to do when it came to helping out the original Pumyra. For example; in the beginning, my magic was only strong to give her soul just enough strength to resist Mumm-Ra's control for a very short while…"
The scenes shown after that were of Pumyra stopping her body from killing Lion-O in the Pit, but mere moments afterwards, the black vines that once held Pumyra began to start healing themselves and eventually came right at her again. At that point, Mumm-Rana could be heard saying-
"But, unfortunately, though, there are still places out there, like the Pit or Mount Plun-Darr, which carry a great deal of negative energy kept deep within them. So much so, that my aid was not able to last for very long at all, especially not whenever Pumyra was within the immediate proximity of that horrible Sword of Plun-Darr, I dare say…"
To compliment that very same part of the story, we are then shown specific scenes from "Curse of Ratilla" and "Birth of the Blades". That's when the flashback finally ended
"However, right after Mumm-Ra was able to retrieve that vile Sword of his, his magic started to weaken ever so slightly and his control over Pumyra's body and mind started to go out with it, as well"
"At least up until we first arrived at Avista City, that is, because, right after that, his control over me started to come back even stronger than ever before. I was even able to, practically, feel my real self starting to dim at that very same time, one piece at a time, in fact" said Pumyra after another sigh
"Ah, yes, and so could I, my dear, so could I…" said Mumm-Rana "In fact, it was so much so, that I knew that if Pumyra was ever going to truly survive, I had to take some real and immediate action and soon…"
"And, what did you do, exactly, hmm?" Lion-O asked, obviously still in the processing stage
It was at that point that we are given yet another flashback sequence, this time of Mumm-Rana looking deep into her "Crystal ball" of sorts, while she waved her hands all around it. During this flashback, she narrated-
"Well, I suppose that, in a way, one could honestly say that I, essentially, just copied Mumm-Ra's own vile little technique. For you see, I too decided to call upon my own 'Masters' for their assistance; the Ancient Spirits of Light in my case, and I asked them to not only grant me with enough power to free Pumyra's true self, but to also grant her a whole new body and a whole new chance at life as a whole, as well. And as luck would have it; they decided to comply with my simple and humble request…"
We are then shown just how Mumm-Rana was able to accomplish this particular feat; what with her causing her "Crystal ball" to, essentially, vent out a very large amount of very thick green mist from right at the tippy-top of it. All of the way up until it caused yet another Pumyra to actually materialize from right out of it. This was where the flashback ended, and once it was over, Mumm-Rana said-
"But, unfortunately, though, in process of doing all of this, I have also condemned this very same Pumyra to the exact same fate as her counterpart. For you see, while she might be…"
"For you see, while I might be, for lack of a better word, alive, I am also still, technically, just another shadow of my former self, a-a-a spirit, a shade, a-a-a-a puppet who has been enslaved by the magic of another to do their every bidding without any kind of real questions or any kind of real compromise, just like the Pumyra that currently serves under Mumm-Ra, to be perfectly honest, actually. (Sighs) I'm not a real Cat like you or any of the others anymore, Lion-O, I'm just a-I-I'm just a shadow of one now, nothing more, nothing less" said Pumyra as she continued her mistress' sentence after stopping her in the middle of it to do so
Lion-O was, of course, left completely flabbergasted by all that had just heard, but that still didn't stop Mumm-Rana from continuing on from there and saying-
"And that, my dear little feline friend, is precisely the reason why we must all make it up straight to that very same Geyser hill that lies straight up ahead of us now. I mean, after all; it is most certainly not called the 'Geyser of Life' for absolutely no reason at all, I can assure you of that point…"
Lion-O then gave Mumm-Rana a look of mild confusion after hearing that last part and she replied to it by laughing to herself ever so slightly and then by saying-
"Allow me to explain, my dear little feline royal: for you see; for centuries on end, there has been talk of an enchanted geyser that was blessed with a seemingly endless supply of mystical water which was said to able cure any illness or disease and heal just about any injury or ailment, no matter what the cause of them was in the first place, I might add, as well. Now then, as a protector of the forces of nature; I was, of course, able to sense the amazing presence of this magnificent geyser with ease, and, not only was I able to successfully confirm the existence of its mystical powers and abilities, but, in recent days, I have also been able to realize that it was the real answer to problems such as the one Pumyra here is subjected to right now. For you see, in addition to its healing abilities, the geyser has also been said to be able to revive those who have long since lost their lives as well. Now, while I will admit that this does indeed seem like a bit of a long-shot, it does still occur to me that if our Pumyra and her armored counterpart were to both step into the Geyser of Life's healing waters together…"
"…We believe that there might just be enough enchantment within it to not only set us both free from the Ancient Spirits' control, but to also make the two of us/me into one single Cat again, a real living Cat, if all goes well, that is, of course…" said Pumyra, once again finishing her mistress' sentence for her
"And just what makes you both so certain that this plan of yours is going to work out exactly the way that you want it to, hmm?" said Lion-O while he was still trying to process all that he had just heard
"Mmm, nothing really, you'd be surprised by just how many plans can go awry so easily, my dear little king, especially when they're as thrown together as my plan was, if I might be so bold as to say out loud, your majesty…" Mumm-Rana replied, right before chuckling ever so slightly, thus causing Lion-O to subtly raise up an eyebrow in response "I mean, when I first endeavored to try and liberate Pumyra from Mumm-Ra's evil grip, never did I once think that I was also going to end up trying to find a way to liberate her from my own brand of magic, restore her and her counterpart to their original singular state or actually go through such a great deal of trouble just to arrange it so that her place amongst her fellow felines would, at last, be restored. (Chuckles again briefly) not that I can actually say that I have any real regrets in regards to making any of those decisions, mind you, but, even so, this was, most definitely, not what I originally had it all planned out to be like, on that I can assure you of things, my young feline friend. However, after hearing so much about the Geyser's of Life's great healing magical powers, and, after having actually seen some of its mystical abilities in action once before, I am most convinced that this is our best bet for bringing this whole thing to a complete and total end. Although, I must recommend that we do so as quickly as possible, seeing as our best hope for success is to use the Geyser when its magic is at its absolute peak and there will only be a short window of opportunity for that…"
Now, at first, Lion-O was not entirely sure about what he was supposed to be thinking after hearing all of that. But then, all of a sudden, his attention was directed specifically towards a sound that he heard coming from afar. It sounded like a Cat roaring from far away, and when Lion-O looked right in the direction that it was coming from, he saw that that was exactly what it was, and that Cat was the Armored Pumyra
The wicked Puma then smiled a bit for a brief moment, and then ran off right into the woods. After that happened, Lion-O then said-
"Th-there she is, the other Pumyra…!"
"…Quick, go after her…!" Pumyra continued
And with that, the two other Cats and their tall Mummified friend all began to give chase to the Armored Pumyra, as she continued to stay way up ahead of them during this entire hot pursuit.
However, while all of that was going on, though, within this particular area, at any rate, we are then made to cut to yet another place, somewhere, elsewhere. There, we are then shown that the raven, whom we all knew to be Mumm-Ra the Ever-living himself, had finally found a place for himself to perch upon. And when that happened; he was very quick to notice that the ground beneath him was practically littered all across by what appeared to be the skeletons of various winged snakes. This was when Mumm-Ra, who was soon able see that the area was now dark enough for him to be safe, transformed back into his more menacing-looking form and then began to observe the skeletons a great deal more closely.
"Poor, wretched little creatures of a long forgotten past, it has been so very long since you last feasted upon the flesh of another living creature, hasn't it?" said Mumm-Ra as he actually picked up one of the skeletons "It has also been so very long since you last struck fear and terror into the hearts of all those who had dared lay their eyes upon you, too long, for my tastes, quite frankly. Well now, don't you worry, my dear little friends, for you will soon be able to hunt once more, and this time, you will have the chance to feast upon something very different; Cats…"
And then, after that, Mumm-Ra immediately set the skeleton that he was just holding back down and then, he started to wave his hands, while saying-
"Ancient Spirits of Evil: take these decaying remains of creatures long since forgotten and make them beasts that will live again by the breath of your great power…!"
Mumm-Ra's hands then began to glow with their signature purple energy after all of that and then, that very same purple energy quickly began to spread to the snake skeletons. Some of them actually started to move a little bit after that, and one of them even gave off a bright red glow via the eye sockets of its skull.
This made Mumm-Ra very happy, and it showed when he started to laugh his signature Evil laughter, which could be heard even from a bird's height view of his current location.
(Commercial Break)
Lion-O and his two friends were all continuing to follow the Armored Pumyra through the woods, and just when it seemed like they had finally lost her, they were soon able to see that they were, at last, at their premade destination: the hill where the Geyser of Life was initially situated. Now, to be able to simply see the Geyser from distance was one thing to be certain, but to actually get this up close to it was an entirely different experience all together. For one thing, viewing the Geyser as it swirled upwards first and then became a mist was a far more astonishing sight when it was viewed up close.
However, Lion-O's viewing pleasure was soon, abruptly, interrupted when he actually saw that the Armored Pumyra was starting to climb up the large hill, and she was gesturing for him to come follow her up too, in a very mockingly type of way on top of everything else. Now, this was what made the young Lion and his two female friends all started to climbed up right after her, but eventually, though, she was able to escape them all once again, this time via the thick mist that was surrounding the very near top. But, regardless of all of that, though, the trio continued to climb right after her, or at least they would have all done that if Mumm-Rana hadn't remembered something very specific that made her scoff and say-
"What was I thinking…? I have special abilities for this exact type of thing, for goodness sake, (chuckles to herself), duh…"
And then, without even giving the matter anything more than a single moment's thought; the mummified sorceress was then able to begin levitating herself straight up off of the ground below, with the two Cats that she was currently with both being lifted up right then and there, right alongside of her. Pretty soon, they were all levitated right up to the very peak of the geyser hill itself, and, once they were all there, they then all began to start searching all around the immediate area for any signs of the Armored Pumyra, although, their search yielded no visible results to speak of, at first. However, when Pumyra eventually came across a spot that placed her, exactly, a mere few inches away from young Lion-O himself, he decided to finally work up enough courage to actually approach the lady Puma that was standing so close to him and say something that had been dogging him for quite some time now-
"I need to know which parts of it all were true, Pumyra"
"I, err, uh, b-b-beg your pardon, your highness, uh…?" said Pumyra after hearing this question that came somewhat out of the blue
"You said that Mumm-Ra had only a certain part of you under his complete control and that there were certain moments where you were actually able to fight back against his control" Lion-O continued "I need to know, Pumyra, which times were the ones where it was the actual you that I was dealing with, hmm…?"
Pumyra was clearly not expecting to hear a question like that, but, nevertheless, she still looked right at the young Lion in the face and said-
"W-well, I was, uh, j-just barely able to control myself after our, uh, little fight, way back on the inside of the Pit, and I could most definitely feel the presence of Mumm-Ra's dark powers starting to come all over me as it we adventured at Mount Plun-Darr back in the day…"
"But, what about your "concern" for the other Cat Slaves, huh, was that actually you who was doing all of that talking or was it just another part of Mumm-Ra's plan to retrieve the Sword of Plun-Darr for himself, hmm…?" asked Lion-O
"That much of what I said at the time was true, I really didn't want to see any more of my own fellow Cats being made to suffer any longer. But, everything in between that and when Mumm-Ra was able to retrieve that vile Sword of his, that was all just his terrible control over me at work in full force, that much was for certain, your majesty, unfortunately…."
"Well, okay then, but … w-what about what happened when we were all away from the Mount Plun-Darr area, hmm? Do you still remember what happened when we first all came across that Wollo, Ponzi, hmm…?"
It was at that exact moment where Pumyra was able to see just where Lion-O was going with this, and she responded to it by blushing and nervously saying-
"Um, w-well, y-yes, of course, t-that was the time when my, uh, "Master" was starting to attack us with that horrific giant monster form of his, a-and, when y-you and I were, uh, just starting to, uh, g-get to know each other a little bit more…"
-right before she started to chuckle ever so slightly with nervousness clearly within her voice at the time
"Well, was that really you at the time, Pumyra, or was that just another part of Mumm-Ra's ruse over all? Seriously, Pumyra, I need to know which parts of it all were really the true ones…"
"W-well, um, like, uh, l-l-like Mumm-Rana herself over there just pointed out a mere short ago; the initial control that Mumm-Ra originally had over me did start to weaken and fade, uh, significantly, shortly after we all left the general area of Mount Plun-Darr. Though, to be perfectly honest with you, your majesty, I'm, uh, w-w-well, I'm, uh, I'm-I'm not entirely certain about when Mumm-Rana's very own magic was affecting me and my emotions as well. I-I mean, I-I-I-I could have been under their enhancing influence without even noticing it, especially seeing as I, um-uh, I-I already had a rather high opinion of you long before the Fall of the old Thundera…"
"A high opinion, of me, r-really…?" said Lion-O upon taking in the last few words spoken by the lady Puma right in front of him
"Y-yes…and that's because, I must admit that your initial drive to prove yourself and your compassion for other animal species, Cats or otherwise, is something that I can't help but admire. And, uh, during our brief time together, back in the day, I can honestly say that my real and honest opinion of you had only grown stronger and stronger, even when Mumm-Ra had more control over my physical body and its actions…"
"Is that so…?" said Lion-O softly
"Yeah, it, uh, it-it really is, (clears her throat) your, uh, y-your majesty…"
Our young Lord of the Thundercats then began to blush after hearing all of that and the lovely Pumyra almost immediately started to join him in that regard. But then, the two Cats were both hailed by Mumm-Rana as she soon called out to them to say—
"Pumyra, Lion-O, quick, over here; hurry…!"
The two Cats were then both very quick to come right over, just like the old sorceress had asked them to, but, that was mainly because they had both just assumed that she had finally found the Armored Pumyra. However, once they were both standing right next to Mumm-Rana, on both her right and her left side; she, instead, showed the two of them a certain sight that was actually even more important than the wicked armored Puma that they were all currently after: the amazing and majestic glory of the Geyser of Life itself. It was a very large and powerful-looking Geyser that flowed directly upwards, straight up towards the sky, and yet, it looked almost as if the Geyser was right in the middle of a very shallow pond. In fact, the water that was right underneath the Geyser's base was not even rippling even a little bit, during this entire time.
"Whoa, so, this is the famous Geyser of Life that you were going on and on about before, hu, Mumm-Rana?" said Lion-O
"Yep…" the ancient Mummified sorceress said with a smile
"It's…it-it's breathtaking, Mistress…and that-that-that can be said about it, with total honesty, because of just the first glance at it, all on its own…" Pumyra added
"Yes-yes, it is most truly one of Nature's most amazing of self-sufficient wonders to be found out there and, just think; it's still only just one among many other wonders to found here on Third Earth. They're all quite beautiful in their own unique ways, of course, but, still…" Mumm-Rana replied after sighing
"You really do enjoy all of this natural beauty, don't you, my Mistress?" asked Pumyra
"(Chuckles) well, of course I do, my dear little young Puma. I mean; it is, after all, a very large part of what helps separate me from that wicked Mumm-Ra, you understand. For, you see, I'm only allowed to use the purest forms and aspects of Nature itself in order to balance out all of the negative forms and aspects of the Technology Mumm-Ra that uses. And besides, there is something truly wonderful about the amazing beauty that the universe manages to create all on its own, let me tell you: the stars that fill up the dark evening skies, the amazing colors of the lovely rainbow, and especially the beautiful flowers that cover whole entire fields with a variety of colors, not unlike a rainbow of a very different kind, I might be completely honest with you"
It was at this particular moment that Mumm-Rana actually knelt down and began stroke a small blue flower, to which Lion-O and Pumyra both gave a subtle smile as an almost immediate response.
However, that soon came to an abrupt end when our Lion-O was able to suddenly hear what sounded like a person clapping from a direction that was just left of the three at this point. They saw that it was none other than the Armored Pumyra who was doing all of this clapping, and while Mumm-Rana shot back up, the wicked Puma began to say-
"Oh, how very touching, Mumm-Rana, really, I'm crying over here, I mean it. But, I'm afraid that the time for heartfelt sentiments is finally over"
"Oh, is that so…?" said Lion-O "Well, in case you hadn't yet noticed, uh, Pumyra, the odds are currently stacked up as three against one, and those odds are most definitely not in your favor at this moment, traitor…"
"Oh, I'd count again, if I were you, Lion-O" said a raspy voice from out of nowhere
Lion-O and the others all then started to look all around them and, sure enough, they saw that it was none other than Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living himself who had said all of that, and right after he revealed himself, Mumm-Rana glared at him angrily and said-
"Mumm-Ra…!"
"Ah, greetings, Mumm-Rana, it has been ages since we've last seen each other and, I must say that it was oh so very kind of you to make things all the more easier for me…" Mumm-Ra replied as he kept walking towards his counterpart "First you pick out the most perfect of spots to be your final resting place, and then you actually provide me with the exact means that I need to destroy you. But more importantly, you have also brought me both the War and the Spirit Stones, in a single package!"
Lion-O then readied his Sword and gauntlet after hearing that and said-
"You want 'em, Mumm-Ra, then come and take 'em!"
This made Mumm-Ra chuckle evilly for a moment, right before he replied-
"Oh, I intend to"
Then, all of a sudden, the young Lion, along with both Pumyra and Mumm-Rana, all heard what sounded like a very loud hissing noise coming from all around them. That was when, before any of them could even ask about what it was, the trio was suddenly surrounded, albeit rather vaguely, by what could only be described as a pack of long, winged serpent-like creatures (undoubtedly the very same creatures that Mumm-Ra called upon the ASOE to resurrect).
"Wha-w-w-what in the name of all that's…?" said Lion-O as he looked at the advancing serpents
"The Winged Serpents; these creatures, they're actually what the people of ancient times referred to as the legendary winged serpents, I'm sure of it…" said Mumm-Rana, just before almost getting struck by one of the winged snakes "…In ancient times, these ferocious little snake-creatures were once the mighty and staunch protectors of the Geyser of Life and all of its surrounding territory, but, they have not been gone for over 300 years of Third Earth's time at the very least. They were long thought to be long extinct by this point…"
"Oh, yes, they were indeed, my sweet, little naïve Mumm-Rana, but, it seemed like it was passed time for them all to be brought back to their original duty, which was devouring any who sought to use the Geyser of Life's ancient powers. Oh, and by the way; you should probably all know that these fine little winged reptiles here are all feeling quite hungry as a result of their incredibly long little nap, if you know what I mean…" said Mumm-Ra, in between his two wicked and raspy chuckles of pleasure
"Lion-O, Pumyra; you two go try and deal with the serpents and Mumm-Ra's little armored puppet, I'll handle this one myself" said Mumm-Rana as she stared angrily at her counterpart
It was at that very same moment that the winged serpents all then began to come at Lion-O En Masse and he then began to slash right through them, using nothing but the Sword of Omens, as a result of it. He was also able to blast a great deal more of them out of existence, with the help of Spirit Stone's powerful pink energy, but, even with all of that at his disposal, the serpents still all just kept coming right at him, and Lion-O was not about to start backing down now, I can assure you of that.
As for our two mummified sorcerers; well, they were both just staring each other down in complete silence. However, that very same silence between them was broken once old Mumm-Ra finally came right out and said-
"So, here we are again, my dear, blue robe wearing counterpart, hmm? It has been truly far too long since we last had the opportunity to have our usual romp with each other like this, I dare say, Mumm-Rana. It is only a real true shame that this will likely be the very last time that we ever do get to do this sort of thing with each other, (chuckles) almost (chuckles again)…"
"Oh, I quite agree with you there, Mumm-Ra; for you see, I too will likely start to miss all of these pleasant little romps of ours, once given time, but not half as much as I'll likely start to miss you yourself, "my dear hunched over little counterpart"…" Mumm-Rana replied with a smile
And with that Mumm-Ra then began to do his thing, as it were, all while reciting his usual mantra of-
"Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form into Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!"
This was when the fully transformed large, winged demon started to give out a very loud growl, while bolts of purple lightning began to surround him all around.
However, Mumm-Rana was far from being deterred by this, in fact, right after Mumm-Ra was finally finished with his own transformation, Mumm-Rana began to go through one of her very own, complete with her own personal mantra of-
"Ancient Spirits of Light, Transform this Gentle Form into Mumm-Rana, Guardian of Virtue!"
It was during this specific mantra that Mumm-Rana was suddenly surrounded by a bright green aura, all while her own personal whirlwind engulfed her completely. Afterwards, though, a bright light soon flashed within the whirlwind and thus caused the whole thing to start to dissipate. And once that had happened, the elderly mummified woman that was Mumm-Rana was immediately revealed to have been replaced by a much younger looking woman with long brown hair, dressed in Egyptian style clothing. This was Mumm-Rana in her Immortal form, and it was the exact same figure that Lion-O and the other Tcats saw on the wall carvings within Mumm-Rana's White Pyramid. Like that very same carving, Mumm-Rana was now a beautiful young looking 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 with two golden wings adorning it on the sides and a dove ornament right on top of the whole thing. This was all perfectly complimented by the golden choker with the green emerald that she was apparently wearing around her neck. However, what really made this new Mumm-Rana stand out above all else was the large pair of golden-colored angel-like wings that she was sporting behind her back. This was clearly meant to be in stark contrast with the large demon-like wings that Mumm-Ra actually had. And finally, while Mumm-Ra's transformation was given a sense of flash by the numerous bolts of purple lightning that it, apparently, managed to generate, in contrast; all Mumm-Rana had to do to complete the effect that she was going for was just stand there looking pretty, which was an easy enough task for her to accomplish, I can assure you.
However, Mumm-Ra was far from being deterred by all of this, in fact; the very first thing he did right after all of that was finally complete was blast at Mumm-Rana with a ferocious flurry of dark purple energy. But, fortunately enough, though, Mumm-Rana was able defend against that very same attack by firing out a blast of her very own bright green energy. And then, once the two of them were, at last, passed this particular moment in their battle, Mumm-Ra and Mumm-Rana then both began to fly directly at one another, head-on, in fact, and engaged each other in fearsome on-on-one combat.
Meanwhile, though, Pumyra was once again pitted against her very own armored counterpart, and just like before, the two Pumas both seemed to be quite equal in battle, however, the "Real" Pumyra seemed to be the one who was gaining the upper hand, mainly because of her vey own speed and techniques. This was actually quite understandable, though, considering that the Armored Pumyra was likely being weighed down by her heavy suit of silver armor. However, it was still this very same suit of silver armor that was able to give the wicked Puma some protection against her counterpart's ferocious attacks and it also did still provide her with the very same two razor-sharp wrist blades that she was currently using to fight against her identical opponent.
Lion-O, at this time, was still holding his own rather nicely against the numerous Winged Serpents that were all still trying to surround him. In fact, he was, actually, doing so well against these creatures, that, once he was able to actually grab one of them with his gauntlet hand and use the Spirit Stone's power vaporized it, he actually said to himself-
"Hahaha, nice try, Mumm-Ra, but, if you really want to try and get these two Stones of power away from me, then you'll have to do a whole lot better than just getting a bunch of tiny winged snakes to do your dirty work for you…"
And then, almost as if it was in a direct response to Lion-O's smug and cocky comment; the remaining Winged Serpents all soon began to en masse on each other and then, they went from being a massive swarm of tiny little flying snake-creatures into one gigantic Winged Serpent beast, complete with a mouth full of great big fangs and eyes as red as rubies, and a loud and thunderous roar taking the place of the original loud, but raspy, hissing noise.
"My own fault…" said Lion-O, upon realizing just what he was being forced to fight back against now
However, just before he was even able to put so much as a single thought more into this particular change of events, the very large serpent beast then began to attack by lunging itself directly at the young Lion warrior, with him just barely being able to dodge this attack right in the nick of time. Still, though, the great serpent beast was still a whole lot faster than it initially appeared to be, which made it considerably a lot harder for our young Lion-O to even land so much as a single blow against this gigantic monster. But, land a few blows against it he did, thank goodness for that, courtesy of both the Spirit Stone and the Sword of Omens, of course. However, while all of that was going on, both Mumm-Ra and Mumm-Rana were still both continuing their own personal fight against each other, and, what's more; neither one of them really able to gain the advantage over the other during it. They both grappled with each other, they both blasted at one another, they even both used their magic powers to create constructs to use against one another, but nothing seemed to be coming even remotely close to tipping the scale of power between them. Or, at least, that was the way that is was before a brief moment where Mumm-Ra misfired a blast of energy, and it came dangerously close to the Geyser of Life itself, which concerned Mumm-Rana greatly. This distracted her long enough for Mumm-Ra to deliver a mighty blast of purple energy, which sent the winged sorceress flying backwards towards the ground.
Pumyra witnessed this and when she did, she yelled-
"Mistress…!"
This distracted her long enough for the Armored Pumyra to deliver a swift kick to her stomach, a kick so powerful that it sent her flying backwards and knocked her completely senseless. The Armored Pumyra would then just start to smile a little bit right after all of that, but, then her attention was directed specifically towards the battle that was between Lion-O and the giant serpent. This only helped to make her smile become all the more larger and wicked-looking, with extra emphasis on the latter quality.
However, as for the old sorceress known as Mumm-Rana herself, well; while it was true that her crash did leave her feeling a tad bit disoriented for a few seconds or so, she was still able to, thankfully, come right back to her senses just in time and was able to skillfully dodge Mumm-Ra's next vicious attack as an immediate result of that. She back flipped right out of the way of his next few energy blast attacks and then, she got airborne once again, just so that she could counter him with a mighty blast of her very own. But, unfortunately, Mumm-Ra was still able to dodge it fairly easily, but, right after he did do just that, the cunning Mumm-Rana was then able get in up close in order to blow her signature magic green powder right in his ugly and wrinkled up, old face. Now, this is what truly caused Mumm-Ra to groan in real, pure agony for a couple of seconds or so (seeing as the powder was, apparently, able to hurt him in some weird way), but, what it was really only meant to do was to buy Mumm-Rana enough time so that she could charge up yet another magical energy blast to hit him with, and this time around, she was able to score a direct hit against her wicked opponent, much to her initial delight.
Meanwhile, though, as the battle between our dear young feline friend, Lord Lion-O himself, and the massive winged serpent monster that was still under Mumm-Ra's control continued to rage on, the final moment of truth was, at last, upon the two of them when the enormous Serpent beast actually began to lunge directly at him, once again. This only made the brave young Lord Lion-O ready his mighty weapon as an immediate result of all this and then, before the winged serpent creature could actually even begin to react to any of what was coming next, the young Lion was, at last, able to finally put an end to all of this with just one single swipe of his mighty Sword of Omens. And that was because this ferocious counterattack of his actually caused the enormous beast to be reduced to a light purple mist, which almost immediately dissipated like common water whenever it is made to touch something that is extremely hot.
Now then, as victorious as Lion-O was made to feel at this point, he was still left feeling incredibly fatigued after all that he had just gone through and the situation was only made to become worse for him when he was suddenly blindsided by the ferocious kick of someone else's left leg. It was, of course, the Armored Pumyra who had delivered this savage blow, and right after she had just delivered her fearsome kick and left the young Lion lying flat on the ground, she then extended her two wrist blades and laughed before saying-
"Oh, nicely done there, your Majesty, no-no, really, good job back there (chuckles yet again). You actually found a way to survive that horrible giant winged serpent, (chuckles one more time) which means; now, I get to have you all to myself, and you have no idea how long I've been waiting for that chance to finally happen"
The wicked Puma was then prepared to finally end the young king, once and for all. But, then, just before she was actually able to lower her right wrist blade for a fatal blow, she felt something suddenly grab her by the exact same right arm. She turned around fast and saw that it was, in fact, the "Real" Pumyra who was currently restraining her at this point, and she immediately said to her armor wearing counterpart-
"Stay away from him!"
-right before she smacked the evil armored Puma right clear away from the limp Lion.
The Armored Pumyra then got right back up after that and when she did; she and her unarmed counterpart began to resume their earlier battle with Lion-O watching this time around. Or at least that was what he was doing for the first few seconds or so, but, then he spotted the Sword of Omens, which had fallen out of his hands when the Armored Pumyra blindsided him, and then he went right over and picked the sword right up. However, while he was doing just that, the Armored Pumyra had just knocked her unarmed counterpart down to the ground and she was about ready to use her two wrist blades to end the other Puma right then and there. But, fortunately, though, before she could actually do such a thing, our dearest young Lion-O was able to block the wicked Puma's initial attack by using his very own gauntlet and then, he said to her—
"Back off!"
-right before he used a blast of the Spirit Stone's pink energy to send the Armored Pumyra clear and far away.
This allowed the "Real" Pumyra to actually get right back up on her feet at this time, and when she did; she was at a complete loss about what had just happened between the two of them. I mean, not too long ago, this was the exact same Cat who had made it quite clear that he trusted both Pumyra and Mumm-Rana about as far as he could throw them both. Yet, here he was now, coming straight to Pumyra's immediate defense, and right after he did do just that, he even looked right back at the unarmored Pumyra and said-
"I've got your back, uh, Pumyra… "
-which made Pumyra smile ever so slightly.
Meanwhile, though, Mumm-Ra and Mumm-Rana were both still having their own heated battle against one another, and neither one of them was really showing any actual signs of real winning or losing. This soon became rather taxing on Mumm-Ra's particular patience and it showed when he angrily yelled out-
"That's enough, I have had about all that I can stand from this pointless nonsense; this ends now…!"
-right before he began to fire out a dark magic blast from right out of his very own mouth.
But Mumm-Rana simply replied to all of this by saying-
"Yes, Mumm-Ra, it does…!"
-right before she began to fire out a blast of bright, pure, sky-blue energy from right out of her very own two eyeballs
This resulted in the two powerful and magical energy blasts actually colliding with one another for a brief few seconds or so, but, eventually, though, it was, ultimately, Mumm-Rana's bright blue energy eye beams that emerged as the victor. They were not only able to actually push back the entirety of the dark magic mouth blast itself, but, eventually, even the flying, undead warlord himself was actually pushed back, as well. All of the way up until the evil Mumm-Ra was, at last, overwhelmed by Mumm-Rana's bright blue energy blast altogether, and was nowhere to be seen at all, afterwards, completely gone without a single trace, with only Mumm-Rana herself being shown while she still hovering high above the ground, with a stern look placed heavily all across her humanoid face.
Meanwhile, though, way back down there on the ground, right below her, we are shown that both Lion-O and Pumyra were still both holding their own rather nicely against the Armored Pumyra and, pretty soon, their fight was actually starting to lead them all straight towards the Geyser of Life itself. However, just when it was starting to look inevitable that the wicked Pumyra was about to be actually forced right smack dab into the Geyser's mystical waters, she soon stopped herself right then and there, completely dead in her tracks.
"Nice try, you foolish felines, but, I'm afraid that I was able to overhear just about everything that you and Mumm-Rana all had to say about this precious little Geyser of Life of yours…" said the Armored Pumyra in-between two brief chuckles "And I'm afraid that you won't be getting me into its water quite so easily today, my dear Thundercats…"
"You wanna bet, abomination…?" said Mumm-Rana as she levitated herself down ever more closer to the three humanoid Cats that were right there below her and right before she let out yet another blast of her most powerful, bright blue energy beams from her very own eyes.
This blast hit the terrain that was currently located right where the Armored Pumyra was actually standing and it thus caused her to be sent flying straight forward as an instant result of it. She flew right towards her unarmored counterpart and Lion-O, which is when the former of the two actually leapt right up into the air and tackled the Armored She-Cat in midair, thus causing them both to be forced right smack dab into the Geyser of Life and its flowing Geyser waters with a moderately large splash happening as an immediate result of it. Mumm-Rana was most definitely both pleased and relieved to see that this was the initial result of her initial attack, especially since she could see that the Geyser of Life was actually starting to slow down in terms of its initial flow. And then, once the two female Pumas were both right there, smack dab in the middle of the Geyser of Life's rapid water flow, something soon began to happen to the two She-Cat warriors: the Armored Pumyra soon began to turn purple all over her physical body, while her eyes and mouth all turned a bright shade of red, and the "Real" Pumyra soon began to turn green all over her physical body, while her eyes and mouth all turned a bright shade of blue. Now, the Armored Pumyra then began to let out a very loud yell of pure agony during the entirety of all of this, but the "Real" Pumyra simply groaned in much discomfort, all while withholding a very powerful scream that was most definitely building up deep within the inside of her very being.
Eventually, though, the two Pumyras were both completely melded right within the Geyser of Life's mystical flowing waters and, pretty soon, a bright combination of both green and purple colored lights was shown flashing directly within the Geyser itself, just about the same time that the very same suit of silver armor that the Armored Pumyra was wearing was left completely empty and even left to begin disintegrating within the Geyser of Life's water flow itself, almost as if it were no form of armor of any type at all. But, in any event, though, within the next few moments or so, the combination of green and purple light quickly became a giant singular flash of yellow light, and after it shined brightly, within the next few seconds or so, someone emerged from the Geyser's flowing waters; and it was Pumyra, just one single Pumyra. She wobbled a little bit while she walked towards Lion-O and Mumm-Rana, and eventually, she collapsed to knees and starting breathing heavily. Lion-O and Mumm-Rana ran over to her at that point, and once they were there, Lion-O looked at her and said-
"Pu-Pumyra…?"
The young Puma looked at the young Lion face-to-face at that point and when she did, Mumm-Rana got a good look the young Cat's eyes and said-
"It's her, it really is the real her, I can just feel it, I am certain of it…"
Lion-O took another look at Pumyra after that, and after getting a good look at the Puma's eyes, he said-
"She's right, it really is you…"
Pumyra then started to get back up at that point, and once she was back on her feet, she said-
"Yes, my King, it is me"
-right before she wrapped both of her arms all of the way around the young Lion and gave him a big hug, to which Lion-O gladly returned, much to the happiness of the all-powerful Mumm-Rana.
However, happy time was soon interrupted at nearly a single moment's notice when Mumm-Rana was able to catch sight of the lone raven that was currently flying away, swiftly, just overhead of herself and the others. The two ThunderCats were also able to catch sight of it as well and it didn't take any of them very long to figure out just who it really was, exactly. No doubt Mumm-Ra was attempting to make an escape from area after suffering the injuries that he sustained from his battle with Mumm-Rana.
Lion-O, of course, was about ready to use the Spirit Stone to shoot down the dark bird, right then and there, but Mumm-Rana suddenly stopped him and said-
"No, Lion-O, let him go…for now, let him run like the coward that he is. He knows that his inevitable end is even closer to him now, and he also knows that I will not rest until I've made certain that that day arrives, that is my promise to him and to all of Third Earth…"
Lion-O and Pumyra both soon joined Mumm-Rana in watching as their common enemy made his getaway, and during this particular time, Lion-O took the opportunity to look at Pumyra, just before a look of both mild sadness and uncertainty covered his face. Something was still not completely settled within his eyes, at least not for him, personally.
But, in any event, though, the scene then cut right to yet another part of the forest surrounding the Geyser of Life, where we see that Mumm-Ra was coming in for a landing in his raven form, just before he returned to his true, decrepit mummy form. He was clearly in a large amount of pain, but that still didn't stop him from being angrier than he's ever been before, and it showed in the way that he said-
"Alright, Mumm-Rana, this is the final straw! For years I have put up with your constant interference, but that finally ends now. Mark my words, Mumm-Rana, I will retrieve all four stones, I will gain the power that I deserve, and most important of all, I will destroy you, and that is a promise!"
(Episode Ends)
Notes: Not as good as the endings from the real show, I know, but it's the best I can do right now
