6
She was floating.
Floating in darkness.
There was nothing. Just her and the darkness.
She didn't know if she was actually falling, but there was no wind. All she knew was that she was suspended in the air by an unknown force in some place she didn't know. She couldn't have cared less. In this place, she had no worries, there was no Mumm-Ra, there was no Thundera, and there was no Lion-O. She was at peace.
"Leanne."
Someone was calling her.
"Leanne."
She didn't recognize the voice.
"Come on, Leanne, wake up."
It was a man. A man was calling her name. She felt something touching the side of her face, and she reluctantly opened her eyes to the world, quickly shutting them when she was blinded by sunlight.
"Leanne!" She blinked many times as she got used to the light, and saw Lion-O's face looking down at her in relief. Beside him was Tygra, and on her other side was Cheetara. She was lying on the ground, and they were looking over her. "Are you alright?"
Before Leanne could answer, Cheetara put her hand over her mouth, "A lot of life-force was taken from her, Lion-O." She chided him, "She shouldn't use too much energy after something like that."
"I can still talk." Leanne said, her voice hoarse and rough. Cheetara looked at her with wide eyes and moved her hand away, letting Leanne turn her head to Lion-O, "I'm fine."
"Liar." Tygra said, she shot him a look that shut him up.
"Okay, I will be fine." She said, she sighed, "I just need a little time to rest."
"More than just a little." Cheetara said, "Three days, at least."
"Three days?!" Leanne exclaimed in shock, pushing herself up on her elbows. She suddenly felt pain in her arms from the sudden motion, and her throat stung from when her voice had risen. She coughed harshly and rolled onto her side, curling up as she coughed. When she was done, she let out a moan of pain, "Ow…"
"That's exactly what I mean." Cheetara said, "It'll be at least three days before you're able to walk normally again. Maybe a week to get back to normal completely."
"Oh, joy." Leanne muttered sarcastically, "How am I supposed to get around?"
"We're going to have to take turns carrying you." Tygra said, he reached down and picked her up like a child, with one hand under her rear, and another on her back. Leanne blushed embarrassedly.
"If you're going to carry me, at least do it with dignity!" She said, smacking his chest.
"I'm not carrying you." Tygra said as Lion-O turned around and he carefully had Leanne be piggy-backed by him. "He is." Lion-O hefted her up slightly so it would be easier for him to carry her.
"Oh." Leanne said, smiling a little as she made herself comfortable. She looked around, and was surprised to see a burning funeral pyre a few feet away from them, and saw what must have been Claudus's corpse.
Lion-O turned to it, "Rest now to rise again, father." He said.
"May your next life show you peace." Tygra said. After a moment of respectful silence, Lion-O turned to the others.
"We should move out while the lizards' trail is still fresh." He said to them, "Mumm-Ra's lair is probably past the sand sea, so we have quite a journey ahead of us."
"Mumm-Ra?" Cheetara repeated in confusion, "Jaga told us to first seek out the Book of Omens. Those were my teacher's last words to us…"
"The Book can wait." Lion-O said, "It has for centuries."
"But only the Book can provide us answers, Lion-O." Tygra said.
"Answers?" Lion-O repeated angrily, "I already who destroyed our city, who killed our king! What other answers do you need? If it was either one of us on that funeral pyre, father would have already buried that demon! I intend to do him the same justice!"
"You're angry, Lion-O." Cheetara said, trying to reason with him.
"I should hope I'm not the only one!" Lion-O snarled, "We're going after Mumm-Ra, and that's a command." He turned and started walking, Leanne still on his back.
"You are the king." Tygra said, his tone showing that he didn't think he should be king.
"Um, Lion-O?" Leanne began uneasily, "I don't think any of us are very keen on going to see Mumm-Ra, and I'm definitely not in any condition to help you with revenge."
"You'll be ready to fight once we get there." Lion-O said.
"Ah… but, I don't exactly want to see him." Leanne said, she began to shake a little out of fear, "I mean, he just tried to kill me, Lion-O."
"We're going." Lion-O said firmly.
"Well, I really don't want to go!" Leanne snapped, getting aggravated with his stubbornness, "If you're really so set on getting your revenge, you better just leave me behind, because the second I'm able to walk again, I'm going to walk away!"
"Fine!" Lion-O snapped, he dropped her and Leanne fell on her backside. Leanne looked at him with wide eyes. She didn't think he'd actually leave her behind! She watched as he walked away, pulling on a cloak. Leanne felt someone pick her up and saw it was Tygra, who carefully moved her so she would be piggy-backed by him. They walked through the city, and after a moment, Cheetara came up to her, holding up a bag.
"I have something for you." She said with a small smile. Leanne reached out with a shaky hand and opened the bag, finding two things inside. One was the scroll that bore her family tree. The other was a flashlight. "I'm not sure what the other thing is, but Lion-O said it was a gift from Jorma." Leanne pulled out the flashlight and switched it on and off with a smile.
"Well, this will definitely come in handy." She said, she turned it so she would see the bottom where the batteries went in, and was met with an unusual surprise, "And it's solar powered! I didn't know they made flashlights like this…"
"Is that… bad?" Tygra asked, not knowing much about technology at all. Leanne shook her head.
"Actually, that's really good." She said, "The sunlight is what's used to power the battery, so if you just leave it out in the sun for a couple of hours, it will be fully powered for tonight." She tucked the flashlight back in the bag and Cheetara carefully put it on her shoulders like a small backpack.
They walked through the gates of the city, past the battlefield where the lizards fought the cats. Bits of technology were lying around everywhere, be it guns, or robots, or some kind of other piece of technology. As they walked along the path, they were met with a surprise. Two young cat kids (Or kittens, Leanne wasn't entirely sure what the right term was) ran out and smiled, looking up at Lion-O in awe.
"I can't believe it!" The little girl said, "Prince Lion-O and Tygra to the rescue!" The other one, presumably her brother, came up in front of Lion-O.
"The names are WilyKat and Kit!" He introduced, "We thought we were the only cats left!" Lion-O ignored them and walked on. The two kids glanced at each other confusedly, wondering why he was acting like this, but they didn't give up. They ran up behind Lion-O and kept speaking to him.
"Maybe we can join you until we get where we're going." WilyKit said, "El Dara, the city of treasure!"
"Never heard of it." Lion-O said.
"Of course not!" WilyKat said, pulling out a scroll, "I've got the only proof!"
"No." Lion-O said firmly. The two kids stopped walking, and pouted sadly.
"Please?" WilyKit begged. Lion-O didn't say anything.
"We can't just leave them here, Lion-O." Leanne said from Tygra's back, catching the two kids' attention for the first time.
"We're on a mission to avenge my father, and you want to play babysitter?" Lion-O asked incredulously, "They're just gonna have to take care of themselves! Now, let's go." He walked on. Tygra and Cheetara exchanged uncertain glances and followed Lion-O. Leanne saw the two kids go up and started making cute little mewing noises and big doe eyes at Lion-O in order to convince him to let them go with him. "I said no." They frowned when their attempt didn't work and stopped walking.
As Tygra walked past them, he said, "Sorry, kids." The two siblings glanced at each other, then started walking behind the group.
"Just so you know, we're not following you." WilyKat said.
"You're just walking in front of us." WilyKit finished. Leanne smiled at their words.
Leanne laughed a little when the two kids started shining her flashlight in each other's faces at the camp they had set up after dark. WilyKit squealed, holding up her hands to try and block the light from getting in her eyes as WilyKat shined it at her face.
"Don't start blinding each other!" Leanne said as WilyKat started chasing his sister around with the flashlight. WilyKit ran behind where Leanne was sitting and hid behind her, poking her head out of either side of her as WilyKat ran over to her, shining the light whenever he saw her face. Leanne couldn't help but laugh at their playful behavior, and she reached out and grabbed the flashlight from WilyKat and turned it off. "Okay, now you're starting to blind me. No more." She put the flashlight away, and they whined sadly. Leanne moved carefully, trying not to hurt herself as she moved to sit on the ground in front of the fire with the log behind her. The two kids sat on either side of her with a pair of smiles.
"What did you say your name was again?" WilyKat asked.
"Leanne." She replied.
"And what species are you, again?" WilyKit asked.
"I'm a human." She said, turning her head to her.
"How come we've never heard of that before?" WilyKat asked.
"Because there aren't any humans around here." Leanne explained, turning her head back to him. "I'm the only one in the entire world."
"Whoa!" WilyKit gasped, "So, does that mean you're on the verge of extinction or something?" Leanne giggled.
"No, I'm actually from another world." She said, "We don't call it Third Earth, we just call it 'Earth'. It's totally different from this place." She held out her hands when Snarf came walking towards her and curled up in her lap, letting her pet him.
"How's it different?" WilyKat asked, Leanne looked back over at him.
"Well, for one thing, humans are the dominant species." She said, "Cats normally end up being our pets. But they're nothing like you guys, of course." She added the last part quickly when she saw how they looked a little insulted, "The cats back home can't talk. They can't even walk on two feet, they just walk on all fours, and they don't have thumbs." She wiggled her thumbs when she said this, and WilyKit and WilyKat did the same. She smiled at them, "Thumbs are what separate humans from animals back home. The only ones that have thumbs are monkeys, and they're not too smart. They're smart for animals, but not smart enough to be like people." She ran her hand against the soft fur on Snarf's back, making him arch up in happiness, "And we don't have creatures like Snarf running around, either."
"It sounds like a weird place." WilyKit mused. Leanne chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess to you guys, it would seem weird." She said, "But for me, that's home." She looked at his bag, "Hey, can you show me that proof of… whatever that place was that you were going?"
"Sure!" WilyKat seemed more than happy to pull out the scroll and display the sketch of an elegant building to her.
"What did you say this place was called again?" Leanne asked as she looked over it.
"El Dara, the city of treasure." WilyKat said.
"Hmm…" Leanne thoughtfully hummed as she handed the picture back to WilyKat, "The name kind of reminds me of El Dorado."
"What's that?" WilyKit asked.
"It's this old legend about a city of gold hiding out somewhere in the Spanish Main." Leanne said, "They say everything in the city is made of pure gold."
"Wow…" WilyKit breathed in awe, "Have you ever been there?" Leanne laughed.
"No, it's just an old story." She said, "A legend. It's not real."
"Oh." The two kids said disappointedly.
Leanne, seeing their reactions to the news, quickly tried to salvage their hope, "Um, that is… I mean, you shouldn't give up hope that it doesn't exist! I mean, Third Earth and my earth are two totally different places. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a city of treasure hiding around here somewhere." The two of them looked up at her, excited smiles on their faces at the idea of finding El Dara.
"You think so?" WilyKat asked.
"Sure. You two are both very talented from what I've seen today. You could easily find a hidden city." Leanne said, relieved that the two children were happy and hopeful again.
Leanne looked up when someone held out a small plate of mush in front of her, and she looked up to see it was Cheetara. She looked back at the plate of mush, then back at her, "What's that?"
"Your dinner." Cheetara said, as if it were obvious. Leanne looked back at the plate dubiously.
"That is not dinner." She said, she looked behind Cheetara and saw Lion-O and Tygra eating solid food, "That is dinner." She pointed to it, and Cheetara ignored it.
"You can't eat solid food yet." She said, "You won't be able to for a while."
"I hope this is some kind of prank." Leanne said with a scowl, "I'm not eating it."
"Then you'll starve, because I'm not giving you anything else." Cheetara said, scowling back at her. The two of them had a small glaring contest, WilyKat and Kit could see the sparks flying between the pair. It finally stopped when Cheetara shoved the plate at Leanne, "Eat it."
"No." Leanne said stubbornly. Cheetara grabbed Leanne's hand and made her take a hold of the plate.
"You need to eat." She said.
"Then get me some real food." Leanne replied.
"Eat. The. Food." Cheetara said firmly, getting a little frustrated at her stubbornness.
"Leanne, just do what she says and eat it." Tygra said from where he was sitting.
"How about you eat it?" Leanne snapped back at him.
"Well, you're not getting anything else, so eat it." Cheetara said, putting the plate in her lap and walking away. As she passed by Lion-O, she said, "I'm going to get more firewood." Lion-O nodded once as she walked away. Leanne looked at the plate before her, then over at the two cat kids beside her.
"You guys wouldn't happen to have any real food on you, would you?" She asked.
"Sure we do." WilyKat said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a fruit. "Want it?"
"I'll take half." Leanne said, she didn't want to take all the food these two had, and she didn't really have much of an appetite, anyway. WilyKat, using his claws, cut the fruit into two crude halves and gave the bigger half to Leanne. She thanked him and gladly ate the fruit, savoring the flavor of it and letting Snarf eat the mush that Cheetara had given her. Lion-O saw her and scowled slightly.
"Cheetara told you not to eat solid food." He said.
"What, are you gonna tell on me?" Leanne asked with a sarcastic bite, making Lion-O glare at her, "I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen, anyway?"
Lion-O was awoken by the sound of retching, and looked up to see that Leanne was leaning over a log a few feet away from her sleeping bag, vomiting her guts out. He sighed and got up, going over to her side, putting his hand on her shoulder and rubbing it comfortingly as she kept retching. When she was done, she turned around, leaning against the log with a groan, holding her stomach.
"There's a reason you shouldn't eat solid food." Lion-O scolded softly, still keeping his hand on his shoulder.
"Fine… I'll eat the mush from now on." Leanne muttered, still holding her stomach. Lion-O noticed how she looked like she was going to start puking at any moment and quirked an eyebrow.
"Are you going to be sick again?" He asked, Leanne shook her head.
"No, it's just some left over nausea." She said, "I'll be okay… I think."
"How did you get over here?" Lion-O asked, noting the fact that she couldn't walk at the moment, and she was a good distance away from her sleeping bag.
"It's possible to move without using your legs." Leanne said.
"You mean you crawled over here." Lion-O said.
"…More like dragged myself." Leanne said, "It hurts to use my legs too much." Lion-O sighed and reached down, hooking his arm underneath her legs and her back, picking her up bridal-style. Leanne blushed at this, but didn't say anything as he carried her over to where her sleeping bag was and carefully lay her down on it and tucked her in it.
"Next time you need to get up, just come get me, okay?" He said, unconsciously moving some hair out of her face, "I don't mind helping you."
Leanne looked up at his face, and, even in the darkness, she could see the sullen look in his eyes. Although he was angry at Mumm-Ra and wanted revenge, he was still Lion-O. His eyes silently told her that he wanted her to know he was sorry for his behavior towards her, and he wanted her to know that just because of how he acted didn't mean that he didn't care about her at all. Leanne nodded once.
"Okay." She said quietly. She thought she saw Lion-O smile, but it was too dark to tell. He got up to go back to his sleeping bag, but Leanne stopped him, "Hey," He turned around, "About before… I didn't mean it. When I'm able to walk again… I won't walk away." Lion-O nodded.
"Thanks." Was all he said as he went back to his sleeping bag, and Leanne went to sleep in her own.
4 days later…
Leanne sighed heavily as she sat down in the shade of one of the huge stone pillars that surrounded the desert area they were in. The sand sea supposedly wasn't too far away from that place, but it was still a long journey. And trekking through sand was not helping Leanne get used to walking again.
"We've lost the trail, Lion-O." Tygra said when he saw Lion-O looking around for a sign of the sand sea.
"And our supplies are dangerously low." Cheetara said, checking the bag that held their rations and finding it to be empty.
"I don't care. We keep moving forward." Lion-O said firmly. He started walking away from their group, and Leanne sighed.
"But we just started resting." She groaned. Snarf collapsed on the ground tiredly. He looked ahead and let out a surprised cry. Leanne, WilyKit, and WilyKat looked to see what it was and their jaws dropped in surprise.
"What is that?!" WilyKat exclaimed. Lion-O ran back to their group and saw what they saw. The sand of the desert was moving and shifting like ocean waves, and it was even spilling out and crashing against the sand like a wave would.
"Snarf just found the sand sea." Lion-O said, "Mumm-Ra's lair must be just on the other side." They all walked to the shore of the sand sea. Leanne looked in awe at the way the sandy waves crashed in front of them. She looked out at the great vastness of the ocean, seeing that it was just as big as a normal sea.
"Do you see a way around it?" Tygra asked. Leanne gasped when she saw something she had been craving for a while.
"I think I see something better!" She said, pointing to the pile of fruit and meat sitting out on the waves.
"Food!" WilyKat and WilyKit cheered happily. Everyone cheered happily and ran into the sand sea, heading straight for the huge pile of food. The two kids were the first ones to reach it and they crashed down on it happily, making it go flying. Everyone picked up a piece of food and started chowing down, except for Leanne, whose food was snatched out of her hand by Cheetara.
"Seriously?!" She demanded angrily.
"Not until tomorrow." Cheetara said, "You can eat solid food then."
"Oh, come on!" She growled, "Can I at least turn it to mush in my mouth?" Cheetara thought about it for a moment, then handed her the food she had taken.
"Fine." Leanne did a victorious arm-pump and dug into the food, chewing it as much as she could, making it resembling the mush she had eaten for the past four days before swallowing it. "Hey, anyone else wondering where all this came from?" Everyone shared glances, a sudden sense of dread filling them up. Only a second later did something come rushing towards them through the sand, and the group was caught up in a hidden net and pulled into the air. Everyone screamed as they headed for a ship, landing on its deck. Lion-O growled furiously and glared at the fish man looking down at them with huge, green eyes. He reminded Leanne of a koi fish someone might find in a pond.
"Quite the catch, I'd say." He said, looking at them in the net. The other members of the crew gathered around the net, looking at them with hungry eyes.
"What's all that racket?" A voice shouted, the crew looked over at another fish man who had lost one eye, and half a leg, "That better be the ramlak you spineless jellyfish are carrying on about." He walked up, going over the group with a discerning eye, and then scoffed, "Another worthless haul." He turned to a larger fish man next to him who wore a chef's hat and carried a pair of kitchen knives, "Take what the crew doesn't eat of them, and turn it into chum." The chef fish smiled devilishly and started sharpening his knives. The fish who had given the order kept speaking as everyone was pulled out of the net and tied up together with one rope. "That bait was meant for the beast! I'm tired of you lot pulling in more worthless catches like these!"
"I am Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats," Lion-O said, getting his attention, "And I order you to release us!" The one-legged fish man looked at Lion-O in surprise, then he and the crew laughed heartily.
"It talks!" The fish man said with a grin, "And it's still got some fight in it! Well, Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats, I am Koinelius Tunar, captain of this ship, and I order you fileted!"
"Let's start with the little ones," The cook fish said as he sharpened his knives, "Their meat'll be the most deliciously tender." WilyKit and WilyKat looked up at the big fish fearfully.
Suddenly, the ship lurched, sending everyone who was standing to the floor. Leanne watched with wide eyes as a huge, green tentacle came up to the ship and grabbed one of the crew members by the leg and pulled him into the sand sea.
"The ramlak…" Koinelius breathed, "At long last, my wretched quarry returns!" A loud, deep growling noise was heard from the sand as more tentacles poked out from below. One of them slammed down on the ship and one of the crew members picked up a harpoon gun and fired at it. The harpoon pierced through it and the creature roared out in pain, retracting its tentacle into the sand, pulling the crewman, who still held onto the harpoon, with it. It swung the fish man around, making the harpoon come out from the tentacle, throwing the crewman against the ship, making him drop his gun and having it slide away from him. Cheetara reached out with her foot to stop it and carefully moved it so the blade of the harpoon would go up against the ropes they were bound in. The creature below the ship brought up one of its tentacles and started tearing through the ship, making some of the crew members run away in fear. The captain watched them run with wide eyes.
"Come on, you filthy maggots!" He shouted at them, "This is the moment we've waited for! Fight!" As the creature tore up the ship, Cheetara and Tygra were carefully moving the blade of the harpoon to cut through the ropes they were bound in. When the ropes snapped, they all got up and went to help fight the creature that was attacking them. Once they got closer, a tentacle wrapped around each of them, pulling them up into the air. After a little squirming and struggling, Leanne managed to get one hand free and she created a wind that was sharp enough to cut the skin of the creature holding her. In its pain, it released her, and she got back on the deck, grimacing at the sudden pain she felt in her legs when she landed. Lion-O pulled out his sword and cut through his tentacle, and the tentacle holding WilyKat and WilyKit. Koinelius looked upon them in awe, and then turned back to his crew. "The food's fightin' better than you!" He walked over to Lion-O with a grin, "That's the spirit, boy-o! Show this cowardly crew how it's done!"
As a tentacle came closer to him, Koinelius sliced through it with his sword. Leanne was using her powers to keep the tentacles as far away from her as possible, and if they got too close, she'd perform that same slicing wind again to cut it away. Tygra was shooting each of the tentacles with the gun he'd stolen from the lizards, Cheetara was using her staff as a powerful weapon, her speed alone making the tentacles come off. WilyKat and WilyKit had bitten down on one of the tentacles, refusing to let it escape their jaws. All of this was too much for the creature, and it began to retreat, retracting its many tentacles and keeping itself below the sand as it moved away.
"Run you coward!" Koinelius shouted at it, "You can't escape me forever! I'll follow ya straight to the flamin' pits of Magmel before I give you up!" The creature disappeared completely from sight, and everyone was safe for now. Lion-O turned to Koinelius with an angry glare.
"Now, what were we talking about before the interruption?" He asked, more than prepared to fight the man.
"I believe we were discussing how we'd filet you," Koinelius began, walking over to Lion-O and putting his hand on his shoulder, "But had I'd known you were such fine warriors, I would have gladly served my own first mate to you on a platter." Leanne couldn't help but notice the look on the koi fish man's face when he said this. He must have been the first mate. "Listen up, fishies!" Koinelius turned to his crew, "These fine fellows are our new shipmates, so treat 'em like you would your own scaly brothers!" He turned to the cook, "And fetch the little ones some food."
"Food!" WilyKat and Kit cried happily, following the cook below deck to get something to eat.
Koinelius turned to Lion-O, "Let me give ya a tour of the ship." He walked away, Lion-O following him as they started walking around the deck again.
The first mate smiled as he came over to Cheetara, Tygra, and Leanne. "Welcome to the crew." He said, holding three brooms in his hands. He gave one to Cheetara, who didn't look very pleased about it.
"Why don't I feel good about this, Leanne?" She asked, she looked around when she noticed Leanne wasn't there, "Leanne?" She heard retching sounds and looked to see her hanging over the side of the ship, vomiting. Cheetara sighed, "I knew you weren't ready for solid food yet."
Tygra pointed to Leanne and laughed at her expense. Cheetara scowled at him and smacked the back of his head, making him stop. She walked over to her and rubbed her back comfortingly as she began to stop.
"Are you alright?" She asked, Leanne nodded.
"I think so…" She tried to stand up straight, but quickly bent over the edge again, puking out her guts.
"A little motion sick, is she?" The first mate asked, Cheetara looked up at him.
"Something like that." She replied.
"No problem, we got just the cure for that." He said, he left them and came back a moment later with a fizzing drink in his hands, "Here you go, drink up." Leanne took the cup, grimacing at the strong smell the liquid had, but swallowed down any disgust she had and gulped down two mouthfuls of it before spluttering it back up.
"This tastes like fish oil mixed with vinegar and ginger ale!" She said in disgust.
"That's because it is fish oil mixed with vinegar and ginger ale." The first mate said, Leanne let out a disgusted groan, holding her hand over her mouth as if she was going to puke again, "Now, now, this is the best cure for motion sickness. At least, for us, it is."
"Ohh, I'm gonna be sick again…" Leanne moaned as she leaned over the side of the ship again, her face pale with her nausea, but she didn't throw up. Cheetara sighed and stayed beside her. At this moment, Lion-O and Koinelius walked past them, heading for the crow's nest, but stopped when they saw Leanne. Lion-O instantly went over to her.
"What's wrong?" He asked
"Well, at first it was because she ate solid food," Cheetara explained, "But now it's because she drank some stuff that was supposed to cure motion sickness." Lion-O carefully came up next to her, and she looked up at him.
"You okay?" He asked, Leanne sighed.
"I hope so…" She said, she slowly tried to sit up again. She wobbled a little when she lost her balance, but quickly regained her footing, "Yeah, I think I'm good."
"Good! Then get to work!" Koinelius snapped, he motioned for Lion-O to follow him, and he did so, going up the crow's nest with him. Leanne stood up and took the broom the first mate handed to her and scowled when he ordered them to start cleaning up the deck. As they cleaned, Leanne couldn't help but be reminded of all the times she was told to clean the house for her mother. She unconsciously reached for the necklace she wore, wondering when she would be able to go back home. Of course, she wasn't looking forward to any of the chores her mother had planned for her, but she did miss her mom. She wondered if she was worried about her. Did she think something had happened? Did she think she had run away? Had her mother called the police? Sent out a search party? What if she didn't care? What if she had done nothing? Leanne didn't realize she had stopped moving until Tygra poked her with the end of his broom stick.
"Ow!" She glared at Tygra, rubbing the spot he had poked on her side, "What was that for?"
"Keep cleaning." Tygra said, "What's the matter with you anyway? Are you going to get sick again?"
"No, I'm not going to get sick again." Leanne snapped, "I was just thinking about something."
"What could you be thinking so hard about that you just stood still?" Tygra asked. Leanne said nothing, thinking the question was rhetorical, and kept cleaning. When he poked her again, he was telling her he wanted an answer.
"I was thinking about my mom, okay?" Leanne snapped, "I was thinking about my mom because I don't know when I'm going to get home, and I miss her." She turned her attention back to cleaning, not seeing the guilty look on Tygra's face.
"I miss mine, too." He said softly. Leanne jumped and looked at Tygra, but saw his back was to her, and wasn't listening to what she said. She looked up when she saw the sky was beginning to darken, and looked to see they were sailing into a storm. It was strange for her to see a storm in the middle of the desert, and it scared her a little when she realized it was a dry lightning storm, which was one of the most dangerous kind.
"Quit floppin' around, you lazy lubs!" Koinelius shouted down at his crew, "The chase is on!" Everyone dropped what they were doing and went to get prepared for the ramlak. Leanne looked over at Cheetara, wondering what they should do, but as more and more of the fish walked across the deck, Leanne thought it best to stay out of their way as they went about their work.
"Thunderstorm just blew in ahead!" She heard the first mate yell, she looked to see he was talking to Koinelius and Lion-O, "I advise we sail around it!"
"And lose the ramlak's trail?" Koinelius asked incredulously as he snatched the telescope out of the first mate's hands and looked ahead of them, "Full speed ahead!"
"But captain! We'll never survive!" The first mate said. Lion-O dashed away from the captain and the first mate, heading to the ship's wheel.
"The only thing that's not surviving is the ramlak!" Lion-O said as he pushed the helmsman out of the way and took the wheel, "Into the storm we go!" He directed the ship into the storm. Tygra, Cheetara, and Leanne all looked at him incredulously.
"Lion-O! This is madness!" Tygra exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"
"Not letting anything stand in my way!" Lion-O replied, "Not a storm! Not you!" Leanne flinched back at his tone, having never been spoken to like that by him. The way Lion-O was acting was really starting to scare her. He was so set on revenge that he wouldn't let them stop him from wasting his life doing it, and the fact that he wouldn't even let them help was something that both worried and hurt her. She looked up as Koinelius came up beside Lion-O as they followed the ramlak through the sand.
"Faster! Faster!" He ordered Lion-O, "I can taste its foul breath on the wind!"
"Captain, please!" Cheetara pleaded with him, "The ship won't survive long in this storm!"
"We need to turn back!" Leanne said, siding with her.
"I see you're just as soft as the rest of the chum on this ship!" Koinelius said, he turned to Lion-O, "Come on, lad! It's you and me!"
"I'm right beside you, Captain." Lion-O said, he followed the captain onto the deck, and when he ordered him to, Lion-O climbed up the mast and onto the top of the sails, taking out his sword to slice any projectiles that were flying around in the storm. Koinelius went to a device at the front of the ship and started blasting away the bigger ones.
"Isn't it exhilarating?" Koinelius called up to Lion-O with a laugh.
"Don't forget to save some for the ramlak!" Lion-O called back, laughing with him. Everyone looked up at Lion-O worriedly as he kept slicing away. She looked ahead of them, and her eyes widened at the sight of the ramlak as it came up from the sand, giving a huge roar.
"It's surfacing!" Koinelius exclaimed, "Now's our chance!" The crew stood ready with their harpoons, but they certainly weren't ready to face the creature. Leanne could understand why. The ramlak was twice the size of the ship! It looked like a large tube flower of some kind, with red tentacles surrounding its mouth at the top of its body. It had tentacles that could crush the ship in two with a single blow. She couldn't help but be reminded of the story of Moby Dick as they went through this storm, and how the captain of that ship also had an urge to get revenge on the famous white whale for taking his leg. She had read the story for a class assignment, and she knew how the book ended as well. She prayed the same wouldn't happen to Lion-O. She almost screamed out his name when one of the tentacles slammed down against the ship. Koinelius went up to the blaster at the front of the ship, looking at Lion-O, "You ready, my boy?"
Lion-O held up a harpoon gun, "Always." He fired it at the ramlak, only to have it get stuck in its flesh and pulled away from him. He pulled out his sword and started slicing away at its tentacles while Koinelius blasted at its head. Leanne ducked down when one of the tentacles wrapped around the mast of the ship, breaking it off and having it crash down onto a part of the ship, destroying it. The tentacles easily knocked back the crew members that tried to keep it away.
"Take out the arms!" Koinelius shouted to the crew, "Then we go for the head!" Everyone did as he ordered. Leanne used her powers to start attacking it, slicing the tentacles off with her sharp winds. Tygra used his gun to take out each one while Cheetara used her staff like before. The ramlak grabbed onto the ship with its tentacles, getting a good grip on it and squeezing it. It slowly, but surely, began to crush the ship, and the device that kept it above the sands was broken, causing the ship to fall into the sand, and the crew members fell off the ship into the sand as well. The sand was shifting so much, they couldn't find the strength to get back to the ship. It was as if they were in water, and they were going to sink down in it. Leanne screamed when the ship was suddenly crushed in half, and almost all of the crew had fallen into the sand. She grabbed onto a remaining piece of the ship to keep herself from falling in and kept a firm grip on it. As the part of the ship she was on began to shift upwards, she went up higher and higher. Her legs dangled helplessly as she held onto the ship with all her life, turning away from the heights, afraid that she would slip and fall.
Lion-O saw the distressed crew as they called for help, and saw Leanne struggling to hang onto the ship. He looked at them worriedly, wanting to go and help them.
"What are you doing?" Koinelius demanded of him when he saw he was still, "Don't stop, lad! Its end is nigh!"
"The crew… they're going to drown!" Lion-O said, "And my friend—!"
"Never mind them!" Koinelius interrupted, "We can always get a new crew. We finish this now, before he submerges again!"
"Isn't it the crew we're fighting for?" Lion-O shouted back.
"Don't tell me you've gone soft like the rest!" Koinelius said in exasperation as he picked up a harpoon gun.
"I guess I am." Lion-O said, he jumped away on various pieces of the ship to try and help the crew. He looked up at Leanne, who shrieked as her grip finally slipped, and she began to fall. Thinking quickly, he jumped up and caught her mid-air and landed on a piece of the ship that was still intact. He put her down on it, and she still held onto him, shaking slightly from fear, "Are you okay?" She nodded numbly, unable to answer. She looked up when she saw Koinelius shoot a harpoon at the ramlak just as it began to submerge, he followed it down with a maniacal laugh. Lion-O stood up and shouted, "Everyone! Over here!" The crew followed his voice and swam through the sand to the wreckage that was still intact and stable enough for them to be on. Leanne reached out and helped WilyKat and WilyKit onto the wreckage, and Snarf quickly climbed up her arm and up to her shoulders, finding comfort there. Once everyone had at least grabbed onto the wreckage, Lion-O used a harpoon gun to shoot at the leftover piece of the ship's hull and began pulling it towards them so everyone would be able to rest on it until the storm passed. WilyKat and WilyKit cheered him on as he kept pulling on the rope. Wanting to help, Leanne created two small whirlwinds under her feet and hovered out over the sand to the other side of the hull. She put her hands to it, and she increased the flow of the whirlwinds at her feet, making her push the hull forward towards them.
Once it was close enough, everyone climbed onto it and rested, tired from the adrenaline rush of being caught up in the storm and in a battle against the ramlak. Leanne flew up once it was there, and rested on the hull next to WilyKat and Kit, who quickly grabbed onto her and huddled up for warmth in the cold winds as the storm went on. Once it died down, and everyone was calm, Cheetara and Tygra went over to Lion-O.
"You steered us into quite a storm, Lion-O." She said with a small smile.
"I know." Lion-O said, sounding guilty, "I lost sight of what's important, and for that, I'm—" He was interrupted by a roar as the ramlak resurfaced. Its mouth opened up and two tentacles came out and wrapped around Lion-O's body, pulling him up.
"Lion-O!" Leanne exclaimed.
"Give him back you slimy sack of tentacles!" WilyKat yelled at it. The beast didn't listen as it swallowed Lion-O whole and moved back down for another bite. Leanne grabbed onto the two kids, holding them close so they wouldn't be its next victims as they screamed in fear. Suddenly, the ramlak stopped, went back up, and cried out as something pierced through its skin. Leanne sighed in relief when she saw it was Lion-O cutting his way out of the creature. Following him out of the creature was a huge blast of water that quickly surrounded them. The crew cheered in joy at the sight of it, because the ramlak was defeated, and their oasis had returned to them. The ramlak turned into a shriveled up plant that was quickly burned by the fish men and had its ashes buried in a single hole outside the shore of their home. The first mate came up to Lion-O as a few other crewmembers were giving Tygra and Cheetara a special boat for them to travel across the sand sea with.
"Thanks to you, we have our home back." He said to Lion-O, clasping his hand with his scaly one.
"I'm sorry about your captain." Lion-O said.
"It was his own foolish choice that led him to his sandy grave." The first mate replied.
"We'd better get moving before the sun sets." Tygra said to Lion-O once he had taken his place at the small boat's wheel.
"So, what orders do you have for your crew?" Cheetara asked him, already having a pretty good idea of what he was going to say.
"Set our course for the Book of Omens." Lion-O said.
"Aye-aye, captain!" Leanne said with a wide grin as she gave him a salute, "And what should we do about these two stowaways?" She pointed her thumb at WilyKat and WilyKit, who gave him cute smiles in order to win him over.
"I said I'm not going to babysit." Lion-O said firmly, "It's a good thing they've proven they can take care of themselves."
"Yahoo!" The two kids shouted happily. Leanne laughed at their enthusiasm and she put her arms around both of their shoulders in a hug. They hugged her back, and the three of them laughed when Snarf jumped in between the three of them, wanting to join in the hug as well. Lion-O smiled at the scene as he stepped onto the boat and they rode off, away from the sand sea and going to find the Book of Omens.