16
"Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!" Leanne and Lion-O said simultaneously as they both held the sword. They got the same vision as the last time, still seeing the Spirit Stone in the elephant's hut. Lion-O sighed once the vision dissipated and put the sword away. They walked back to where everyone else was setting up camp for the night in the forest of Magi Oar. Leanne was amazed when she first saw it. The trees were as large as the redwoods in Canada, and had twice as much foliage. It was an incredible place, and ever since they came into the area, Leanne could feel a strange sensation, almost as if the trees were radiating some kind of invisible energy force that made her almost… depressed, but there was something else, too. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on, but there was a sort of… happiness somewhere, too. But it was almost impossible for her to realize it was there, because it was such a tiny signal.
As Tygra grabbed some blankets out of the tank, he looked over at Lion-O and Leanne as they walked past him.
"Anything?" He asked them.
"I don't understand why the elephants sent us here." Lion-O said to him, "The Book says the stone is in their village, the sword does, too."
"Maybe you're not seeing the forest for the trees, Lion-O." Cheetara suggested as she threw a tarp over a branch for a tent. She turned to face him fully, "We may not be able to see why yet, but coming here might be the key to locating the stone there."
"She's right." Tygra agreed, "You don't have to be a cleric to feel the forest's magic."
Leanne walked over to one of the trees, placing her palm against the bark, "There's something else here, too. It's a sad, gloomy kind of presence. It's like this place is being haunted by something."
"Like ghosts?!" WilyKat and WilyKit said excitedly, huge grins on their faces. They reached over and pulled the tarp over themselves, raising up their arms and making "Oowooh~!" noises as they walked around, bumping their heads once because they couldn't see where they were going.
"More like spirits." Leanne corrected gently, watching as they walked around.
"Ghosts, spirits, souls, I don't care what you call them, they all give me the willies!" Panthro said, looking around the forest.
WilyKat and WilyKit, still pretending to be ghosts, kept making cliché moaning sounds as they advanced on Snarf, who mewed fearfully and hid behind the nearest pair of legs he could find, which happened to be Leanne's, shaking and quivering. The twin kittens still advanced on the small creature hiding behind her legs. Panthro scowled when he saw them and walked over.
"You two!" They both looked up at the big cat curiously, wondering why he had interrupted their fun. "Go get some firewood."
"Why do we have to?" WilyKat groaned unhappily.
"Because you're smaller than me, you're younger than me, and you're not good for much else!" Panthro said.
"Ugh, fine!" WilyKit groaned, she and her brother shed the tarp and went to go look for firewood.
"I'll come with you." Leanne said, wanting to have something to do other than look at the same vision in a sword again. Snarf followed her.
"Maybe we'll see a ghost!" WilyKit said, thrilled by the idea of seeing the spirit of someone dead.
"In this place? I wouldn't doubt it." Leanne said.
Leanne walked between the twins, Snarf walking in front of them.
"Whatever you do, Snarf," WilyKat said in a deep voice, "Stay close." Snarf mewed worriedly, looking around at the trees that loomed over them.
"Guys, don't scare the poor thing anymore than he is now." Leanne said, her words were unheard by the twins as they dashed off into the woods. Leanne knew they were only playing a joke on Snarf, who was completely terrified by the thought of ghosts, so she wasn't worried about them. Snarf, trying to be brave, moved to keep on going without the twins with Leanne just behind him. He jumped when he heard the sound of a twig snapping, and Leanne turned her head in the direction of the sound, wondering if it was the twins trying to scare them, or just some animal running around in the forest. She brushed it off as nothing and kept moving and Snarf started walking as well, his four, stubby legs shaking as he walked. Another twig snapped, much more loudly than last time, and Snarf was so startled by it he started to run away. Leanne, not wanting to lose the little creature ran after him. "Wait, Snarf!" She called out to him, hoping it would get him to slow down, but it didn't. After a minute of straight running, Snarf finally stopped in front of a tree, panting heavily as he tried to calm his rapidly racing heart. Leanne was only a few steps behind him and rested her hands on her knees when she came up to him, trying to catch her breath.
"Boo!" The simultaneous shouts made Leanne jump to attention from where she was resting, and Snarf to jump up high in the air and land in Leanne's arms, scrambling to find protection on her shoulders. WilyKat and WilyKit laughed loudly at Snarf's reaction.
"What a scaredy-Snarf!" WilyKit said. Snarf looked at the two and, seeing that he was no longer in danger, began to give a little laugh of his own. Leanne patted his head to comfort him because she could still feel him shaking from his previous fright.
"You guys are awful." Leanne said to the two of them with a smile, "Clever and fun to be around, but awful." The two laughed and they got started on what they had been set out to do by Panthro and started gathering some sticks that lay around them. Leanne gathered up a few random sticks, and even found a fallen branch to use for their firewood. She laughed good-naturedly when the pair started up a pretend sword fight with two sticks of the firewood they had gathered. When her arms were full of wood, she said to the two, "I'm heading back to camp. Hurry up and get some more firewood and come back okay?" They both nodded and went back to their play sword fight. Leanne looked over at Snarf who rested on her shoulder, "Make sure they don't goof off the whole time, and get them back to camp before it's too late." Snarf gave a mew in return, his way of assuring her, and jumped down from her shoulders, taking her place as chaperone for the twins as she walked away.
While she walked, she couldn't see too well in the darkness, and had mistakenly left her flashlight at camp. She smiled when an idea struck her, and she shifted the wood in her arms so she could hold out her hand, making a small ember of fire appear in her palm. She had it move up beside her head, and had it grow into a small ball of fire the size of the average baseball to light her way as she headed back to the others. What she didn't know was that she had made her presence known to a certain person by using her powers.
A figure, who had been sleeping comfortably on the ground, also jumped awake at the surge of power they felt from Leanne's magic. He opened his brown eyes as he sat up and looked around, wondering where it had come from, then shrugged, thinking it was just the power of the forest itself and lay back down, attempting to go to sleep. He found he couldn't as he heard the sound of children's laughter and the sound of two sticks hitting each other. He groaned and covered his ears, trying to mute them out, even though he knew it wouldn't do much good.
WilyKat and WilyKit had heard his groan and stopped what they were doing, running over to where it had come from. They were surprised by the figure they found lying on the floor of the forest, covered in a blanket and using a bag as a pillow. Snarf came up beside them, and looked at the figure with wide eyes. The two twins shared a glance, silently communicating with each other, and suddenly held out their fist to the other, shaking them three times. WilyKit came down with her fist still closed, while WilyKat held out two fingers. He slumped when he realized he had lost their game of rock-paper-scissors while WilyKit did a silent fist pump in victory. He carefully walked over to the figure that was trying to sleep and poked him with a stick. The figure immediately sat up, and the twins screamed, jumping back.
"What was that for?" The figure demanded irritably, rubbing the spot on his neck that WilyKat had poked. Once they overcame their initial shock, they looked the strange person up and down, noting that he had very similar attributes to someone they knew. He had no fur on him, except for some light hair that grew on his arms. His head was covered in brown hair, and he had brown eyes.
He's human! The WilyKittens thought at the same time as they looked at him. He noticed their perusal of him, and gave them an odd look.
"What?" He asked. The two twins grinned widely at each other.
"Leanne! Leanne! Leanne!" The twins shouted as they dashed back to camp, their new friend in tow behind them. She looked up from where she had been chatting with Lion-O and Tygra as they prepared the place they were going to sleep. "Look what we found!" Leanne looked at their new companion with wide eyes, immediately standing up, as did the others. The person smiled at the sight of Leanne, he adjusted the bag at his shoulder before he walked over to her, holding out his arms.
"Hey, Leanne!" He greeted cheerily, "I haven't seen you in forever!" Leanne took a step back from him, and he stopped when he saw her apprehension.
"Do I know you?" Leanne asked, looking him up and down. He seemed only vaguely familiar, but she assumed that was because he was the first actual human she had seen in a long time. The person frowned.
"You don't recognize me?" He asked, "Well, I guess it has been a good ten years since I saw you last…" He reached up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"You know him?" Lion-O asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the newcomer.
"…I don't think so." She said, carefully eying him. He was a little taller than her, in fact he was a bit gangly, he had brown eyes with messy brown hair to match on top of his head, he was wearing a pair of worn-out looking jeans and a plain grey T-shirt underneath a plaid collared shirt.
"Really?" The person asked, "You honestly don't remember me?" Leanne shook her head. "Okay, let me try this: When we were little kids, like really, really little, you came over to my house, and when we were playing in the garden, you found a caterpillar, and I dared you to eat it." Leanne's eyes flashed at the memory, "You got so sick that you were in the hospital for three days." Leanne looked at him in surprise, remembering where she had seen his face before. She had been very young, but she remembered him from many family reunions she had gone to.
"Nicky?" She asked in surprise. The person smiled widely.
"Yes! Nicky!" He said, holding out his arms to him, Leanne instantly jumped into his arms, hugging him.
"It's been ages!" Leanne said happily, "Can I still call you Nicky, or…?"
"Actually, it's just Nick." Nick said, releasing Leanne from his hug.
"Wait, you do know each other?" Tygra asked, looking between the two of them.
"Yeah!" Leanne said happily, turning to the others, "Guys, this is Nick. He's my cousin. Nick, these are my friends, the—"
"—ThunderCats." Nick said, grinning at them, "I've heard about you guys. It's cool to meet you." Leanne looked at him curiously.
"How do you know about the ThunderCats?" She asked, "And for that matter, how'd you even get here?"
"How'd you get here?" Nick asked in return, "I thought Aunt Marissa cut you off."
"Cut me off from what?" Leanne asked.
"Everything." Nick said, "The history, the practicality, the usage in general."
"The usage of what?" Leanne asked.
"The family magic." Nick replied, Leanne looked at him with wide eyes, "You seriously don't know? We have a huge standing in America's magic community."
"Wha… huh?" Leanne looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Well, how else do you think I got here?" Nick asked pointedly. Leanne couldn't reply. She wasn't sure what to say. Nick sighed, reaching up and scratching the back of his head, "Okay, you know what? Come with me, I'll explain it to you." He put his arm around his cousin's shoulders and they walked a little ways away from the ThunderCats, taking a seat where they were out of earshot, but not out of sight. Lion-O looked at Nick curiously as he spoke to Leanne, who seemed completely engrossed in every word he said.
"I didn't know Leanne had a cousin." Tygra said as he looked at the pair.
"I don't think she did, either." Cheetara said, when Lion-O and Tygra looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she meant. "Didn't you hear what they said to each other? They haven't seen each other in at least ten years. That means the last time they saw each other was when Leanne was only seven years old."
"And what was that stuff about being cut off?" Panthro asked, "Wonder why she would be cut off from… what was it?"
"He called it 'the family magic'." Tygra said.
"I think I might know why." Lion-O said quietly, remembering the story Leanne had told him of how she had gotten the cross-shaped scar on her back.
Leanne listened intently as her cousin went on, explaining the family magic. Apparently, Alphonse Redoric was the first man to discover that he had magical power in his body, as a select few people do. When he had a child, that power was not only passed onto him, but had grown in strength. With every new magical generation, the magic grows more and more powerful. It had remained in a steady chain for decades, the Redorics being the average magical clan until about sixty years ago, Erica Redoric accidentally discovered a parallel universe filled with unusual species the likes of which no human had ever seen before. Somehow, she gained a huge boost in magical power, breaking the steady chain of the Redoric line and shooting their family up to be the most powerful in the country, and the third most powerful magical family in the world (The most powerful clan was a family called the Potters in the United Kingdom. They both laughed about it.) Since then, generations of Redorics had gotten three times as more powerful as the generation before them.
"…So, I'm six times stronger than Nana?" Leanne asked.
"Not exactly." Nick said, "See, the thing with you is Aunt Marissa wasn't a product of her and Grandpa Frank. Nana had a relationship with one of those weird species, and their magical power was passed onto her, as it was to you." Leanne looked at him, eyes so wide they were ready to pop out of her skull. She knew about the lieutenant her grandmother had met because of the Book of Omens, but she didn't think that the child actually lived and was her mother!
"But— What about Aunt Clara?" Leanne asked, wondering about Nick's mother.
"Well, she's only your mom's half-sister, so…" Nick took a minute to think, "I think that makes us… what, second cousins, maybe?"
"No, no, no! I don't care about that!" Leanne said quickly, she looked her cousin straight in the eye and asked in a serious voice, "Are you telling me that my mom is half ThunderCat?" Nick took a second to think.
"Yeah. I think so." He said, he was surprised when Leanne grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
"And that makes me one-quarter ThunderCat, right?" She asked, Nick gently pried her fingers off his collar.
"…Yeah, pretty much." Leanne's arms went limp at the news, flopping down on the ground as if they were useless pieces of meat. She was part ThunderCat?
"But the rest of me is human, right?" Leanne asked, Nick nodded.
"Yeah, your pops was human, but he was a pretty bad guy." Nick said, "He was a human who didn't have the ability to take on magic, so when he tried to perform this one powerful spell with your mom, he, kind of… blew up." Leanne looked at him, she groaned and held her head in her hands, feeling a piercing pain in her skull.
"My head hurts…" She moaned, Nick pulled the bag he had from his shoulders in front of him and rifled through it, pulling out a box labeled 'Advil' and a bottle of water.
"Here." He said, handing them to her, she took the two items gratefully, swallowing down two pills with the water before handing them back to him, "I know it's a lot for you to handle right now, given that you've probably never even used magic before, but it's all legit."
"No, no, I'm not saying I don't believe you." Leanne said, "It's just… I mean… holy f***ing crap."
"Yeah, I know." Nick said, "I was always a little jealous of you for the whole one-quarter not human thing, if it makes you feel any better."
"Not really." Leanne said, Nick shrugged.
"Sorry." He said.
"Let's just… get off that topic for a minute." Leanne said, trying to find a way to stop her head from spinning. "How did you get here? How do you even know about Third Earth?"
"Third Earth?" Nick asked, looking at his cousin confusedly, "Is that what this place is called? I thought it was called Garflin."
"You didn't know?" Leanne asked in surprise. He shrugged. "And what the heck is Garflin?"
"Well, I found this old spell of Nana's in one of her journals," Nick said, reaching into his back and pulling out an old book, "It was written back when she was pregnant with Aunt Marissa. It talked about using a spell to get back to Garflin." He handed the journal to Leanne and she thumbed through the pages, seeing that this was before her Nana's writing became completely illegible, "I just assumed that Garflin was this place." Leanne saw the word 'Garflin' written on one of the pages and read over the words.
June 14th, 1971—
Today, I met up with Francis again. He took me to the park and we just walked and talked. He was very sweet throughout the whole thing, and a complete gentleman, only holding my hand and never once going out of line. We ate some lunch, then he took me home, where he kissed my cheek goodbye before he left. While I do enjoy my time with Francis, and he's been so kind to me, even though the child in my womb isn't his, I can't help but think of Garflin when I think of my baby. I wonder if I should have stayed until the baby was born so it could grow up there…? But, my baby will see her father before I die, I promise it that much. Currently, I'm working on a spell to get me back to Garflin. Back to my home.
She stopped reading and went through some more pages, seeing various doodles of rune circles, and where different spots in each of them had been pointed out as some kind of flaw.
"I used those circles to get here." Nick said, pointing to them as she looked over them, "Since then, I've been using this place as an escape whenever life gets to be a little too much for me. I always end up here, though. Every time." Leanne looked up at him.
"I wonder if Garflin is some other place on Third Earth?" She asked curiously, Nick shrugged.
"Don't ask me, I found out about this place three months ago, and I've only come here twice." He said.
"I'll ask Lion-O, hang on." Leanne got up and went over to Lion-O, "Hey, Lion-O!" He looked over at her when his name was called, and looked up at Nick as he walked behind her, "Where's Garflin?" Lion-O looked at her confusedly.
"Uh… what?" He asked.
"Garflin." Leanne repeated, "Isn't that some place on Third Earth?"
"Garflin is a name for a cat." Tygra said from where he was setting up the fire pit, "An old name, but it used to be pretty common a long time ago."
"Hey! It's not that old!" Panthro said from where he was handing a blanket to WilyKat and WilyKit, "My father's name was Garflin."
"Again, it's an old name." Tygra said pointedly, Panthro scowled and grunted unhappily, but said nothing more.
"Garflin is a person…?" Leanne asked quietly, looking at the journal entry.
"Why would Nana need to see someone named Garflin?" Nick asked her. Leanne thought about it. The entry mentioned her baby, and someone named Garflin and about going back to him. The answer struck her like a bolt of lightning.
"Lieutenant Tabby Cat!" She said suddenly in her epiphany. Everyone looked at her oddly.
"Lieutenant who?" Cheetara asked, Leanne looked over at Lion-O.
"Remember? In the Book, Leo had a girlfriend, I don't remember her name, but my Nana was with—" Lion-O cut her off, coming to her same realization.
"A lieutenant in Mumm-Ra's forces!" Lion-O finished.
"Voila, Lieutenant Tabby Cat." Leanne said.
"Garflin was a cat?" Nick asked, "Doesn't that mean that Garflin was your grandpa?" Lion-O looked at her with wide eyes.
"Your what?" Lion-O asked.
"My grandpa." Leanne said to him, "Apparently, the baby my Nana got pregnant with was my Mom. So… that makes me part ThunderCat."
"Really?!" The WilyKittens asked excitedly, thrilled by the idea that Leanne was a ThunderCat. Leanne nodded at them.
"I think so, yeah." She said. She was surprised when the twins cheered happily.
"That's so cool!" WilyKat said.
"Does that mean you're part ThunderCat, too?" WilyKit asked, looking up at Nick.
"Um… no." He said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm actually all human. My mom was Leanne's mom's half-sister, because my mom came from our Nana and Grandpa Frank."
"So… Nana was trying to get back to him." Leanne said, looking at the journal, flipping through the pages, looking in interest at one particularly large circle that had been drawn on the entire page.
"Ah, that was the circle I used to get here the first time." Nick said, pointing to it on the page.
"Is this the circle you use to get back?" Leanne asked, hoping she had found a way home. Nick shook his head.
"Not exactly. I use reason to get home." He said, Leanne looked at him confusedly, not understanding.
"Huh?"
"Come on! Reason! It's the basis for all magic!" He said pointedly, "You learn this in grade-school! You can't use magic without a reason!"
"So…what's your reason to get home?" Leanne asked, Nick sighed.
"You don't use reason to get home!" He said, "You use reason to come here! Otherwise, the circles are just useless drawings!"
"Then how do I use reason for rune circles to get home?" Leanne snapped.
"Calm down!" Nick said, "Look, I'll explain, okay? You need a reason to come here, once you fulfill that reason, you can go home." He pointed to the Jewel of Omens, "From what you've told me about how you got here, Nana placed her reason on that necklace, so that whenever she put it on, she could come here. It's a very simple spell to perform."
"So… in order for me to get home… I need to find Garflin?" Leanne asked incredulously. Nick seemed to think it over for a moment.
"…Yeeeah." He said at last, "That sounds about right."
"But the last time Nana saw him was over five centuries ago!" Leanne said, "He's been dead for hundreds of years!" Nick took a step back when she yelled at him.
"Look, I'm sorry!" He said, holding up his hands in a surrendering way, "But that's just how the magic works! If you can't fulfill Nana's reason, you're never getting home."
After much debating and begging, Leanne got Lion-O to allow her cousin to stay with them, if only for a little while. They decided to share a tent for the night, while the others made their own places to sleep. Lion-O and Tygra were on watch for the first half of the night. They looked over at where Panthro was snoring loudly, it was a surprise no one else had woken up from it.
"He sounds like the Thunder Tank." Tygra said with a smirk.
Lion-O let out a small laugh, "Father used to snore like that, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Tygra replied, "It's the one thing you inherited from him!" Lion-O frowned as he looked at his brother.
"You still don't think I should be king, do you?" He asked. Tygra frowned as well, glancing away for a moment.
"…Does it matter what I think?" He said, choosing his words carefully, "The sword picked you." Lion-O looked away from him.
"Maybe it chose wrong." He said, "No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to master sight beyond sight."
"You just need to believe in yourself." Tygra said, he nodded towards Leanne's sleeping form, "She seems to." Lion-O looked back at Leanne, sleeping beside her cousin Nick, who had his back to her back as they both slept soundly. He smiled at the peaceful look on her face as she breathed softly, then scowled as he turned back to Tygra.
"You know, we're gonna have to settle this eventually." Lion-O said, "May the best cat win." Lion-O reached over and picked up some more firewood to keep the fire going, but when they were thrown in, the fire suddenly turned a bright, blue color, with grey smoke billowing up from it. The blue light began to take form, turning into huge, wispy, blue creatures with glowing eyes, and mask-like faces, as if they were some type of creature in a former life. They let out shrill cries that woke up everyone else, and they all jumped to attention, ready to attack.
"Ghost!" WilyKat and WilyKit exclaimed when they saw the creature.
"And they're coming from the wood!" Cheetara said, looking at them. Tygra pulled out his gun and started shooting at the spirit, but the blasts were useless, because they went right through it. The ghost let out another shrill cry as it disappeared, then reappeared behind Tygra. He quickly jumped back from them and joined where everyone was grouping. Out of all of them, Nick was the only one that didn't seem completely scared. Cheetara leaped up the trees, pulling out her staff and spinning it expertly, planning to knock each of the ghosts on their heads, but the staff phased through each of them, doing nothing. She backed into the group, looking around as the ghosts seemed to multiply, completely surrounding them as they let out their shrill cries.
"Always say… The problem with ghosts is you can't punch 'em in the face!" Panthro said as he held out his weapons, unsure of what to do with them.
"Don't worry." Lion-O said, "I've got something that never fails." He pulled out his sword and held it up high, "ThunderCats! Ho!" When the sword did nothing, everyone was surprised, "…Until now."
"Nick, can't you do something?!" Leanne asked her cousin.
"About what?" He asked, "It's not like they're hurting us."
"Not yet they're not!" Leanne said, she held up her hands, "If you won't do anything, then maybe I can—"
"Whoa! Stop! Are you nuts?!" Nick exclaimed as he grabbed her hands, pulling them down before she had a chance to do anything, "You can't use our magic on ghosts!"
"Why not?" Leanne asked.
"Ghosts have their own brand of magic," Nick explained quickly, "It's pretty much impervious to the style of magic I have, and it's definitely easy for them to turn your novice magic against you!" He looked up at the ghosts, "Trust me, if you piss these things off, you're gonna be one of them."
"Then what the heck do we do?!" Leanne asked him angrily. The ghosts flew over their heads, continuing their loud shrieks. Everyone looked up when, among the blue, ethereal glows, there was a bright yellow one, like a candle floating in the sky.
"Be gone evil spirits!" A voice said, everyone saw a man standing on a tree branch, holding a piece of paper with a glowing inscription written on it, "Or face the wrath of the Wood Forgers!" The ghosts shrieked again, and started heading towards the man, ready to attack. The man was calm as he called out, "Snips! Scatter these spirits to the winds!" A rather hefty man, who seemed to be flying, pulled out a huge barrage of paper windmills that floated in mid-air. They spun quickly, and the ghosts were sent back by the powerful gust of wind. "Gami! Fold them a nightmare so they can see what fear really is." A young woman came up, carefully folding up a piece of paper and throwing it to the ground, to have it transform into a huge paper dragon that used a fiery breath to blow away the spirits that came towards it. The man who was leading the two jumped down from the branch, holding a blank piece of paper, "And with a mere stroke of my brush, your frenzy is put to rest!" He tossed the paper up and pulled out a large paintbrush. When the paper came in front of him again, he quickly drew a vase. The paper was suspended as he held out his hands, and the vase drawing glowed, a powerful whirlwind coming from it that sucked in all the remaining spirits, filling the two-dimensional vase with a grey liquid. Once the magic was done, the place was silent, and everyone stared at the newcomers with wide eyes.
"Did they just defeat them with… paper?" Tygra asked, stunned.
"Nun-chucks are a weapon, swords are a weapon," Panthro began, "Paper isn't any kind of weapon!" Lion-O smiled at the group, grateful for their help and walked over to go and thank them as WilyKat and WilyKit broke from the group to go and look up at them with stars in their eyes.
"That. Was. Amazing!" WilyKit praised the leader.
"And just in time." Lion-O said, walking up to him, "I am Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats."
"Welcome to the Magi Oar forest, Lion-O." The leader said, "We are the Wood Forgers." He tossed a sheet of paper into the air and it glowed like a lantern. Soon, others began to glow, leading them in a glowing-paper trail to somewhere else. "Quickly now, it's not safe here." They all followed the Wood Forgers as they led them away from their campsite. "By the way, I am Zig."
"A pleasure." Cheetara replied.
"We're WilyKat and Kit!" The twins said as they ran up to Zig, looking at him in awe, "We're the ThunderCats!"
"Yes, I have heard of you." Zig said, he glanced back over his shoulder at where Leanne and Nick walked, "And I've also heard that you keep around a strange companion. What are your names?"
"I'm Leanne, it's nice to meet you, sir." Leanne said respectfully.
"Nick." He said, he frowned a little as he looked at Zig.
"Welcome to you, Leanne and Nick." Zig said, "It's an honor to have you visit our forest."
"Your forest?" Nick repeated, "Last I checked this forest wasn't anyone's property." Leanne smacked her cousin's shoulder.
"Nick, be nice!" She hissed to him, "Why are you in such a bad mood anyway?"
"There's something off about this guy…" Nick whispered to his cousin, "The way he uses his magic…"
"What's wrong with it?" Leanne whispered back, "It saved us back there!"
"Saved us from what?" Nick hissed quickly, "Those ghosts didn't do anything!"
"They would have if he didn't help us out!" Leanne hissed back, becoming angrier and angrier at her cousin. Why was he acting like this? Zig and the other Wood Forgers had saved their lives, and he was acting like they were villains!
"Having a little trouble back there?" Tygra asked, looking at the two of them.
"No." Leanne said, "Just my cousin being stupid."
Nick scoffed, "This coming from the novice…"
"What was that?" Leanne growled at him, "Watch your tone, buddy! I could burn you alive if I wanted!"
"I hope elemental magic isn't all you're able to threaten me with." Nick said, "If it is, my powers trump yours by a long shot. So don't try and take a bite you know you can't swallow."
"Excuse me?" Leanne asked angrily.
"Leanne," She looked up when her name was called by Lion-O, "Why don't you come over here and walk with me?" She gave her cousin one last nasty look before she jogged up and joined Lion-O's side, feeling a little bit calmer when he took her hand in his. "What's going on?"
"I don't know." Leanne said, "He's not acting at all like I thought he would. I mean, I know it's been a while, but I was hoping he'd still be that eight-year-old from my childhood. Now, he's kinda being a jerk."
"I'm sure whatever it is, he'll calm down." Lion-O assured her, "And if not, I'm pretty sure you could take him in a fight, if it came down to that." Leanne smiled up at him.
"You're sweet." She said, leaning into him a little as she walked beside him. The action wasn't lost on Nick, who looked at the pair with wide eyes.
Their attention was drawn away when they looked ahead of them and saw the end of their paper path. It was a huge building seeming to be made entirely of paper sheets.
"This is the School of Paper Arts," Zig said, "And I am its headmaster." Everyone followed him into the building as he began to explain the school to them, "Tasked with training our students in the various disciplines of wood forging, in order to carry out our mission to protect all in need." Leanne looked around the buildings with awe as they went through a hallway into a courtyard, "Magi Oar is an enchanted forest, whose power we harness through paper, in order to protect it."
"Protect it from whom?" Cheetara asked. Zig stopped walking and pulled out a piece of paper, drawing a small bird-like creature on it.
"Viragor." He said, the bird flew off the page and began to fly around them, "A monster known to swallow men whole, and snatch children in the night."
"Lies." A voice whispered in Leanne's ear, and she jumped, looking around. The last time she had heard those whispers, it was when she first met Grune, who destroyed Thundera only a day later.
"He doesn't look so tough." Lion-O said as he watched the glowing bird fly around their heads.
"I don't think he's been drawn to scale." Tygra said to him. The Viragor bird flew over to Zig, who made him disappear.
"He seeks to drive us from the forest," Zig said, "So he might use its power for his own, evil intent."
"Lies." The whisper came again, but this time, Leanne didn't jump. She only glared at Zig as he spoke. Nick was right. Something is definitely off about this guy.
Zig continued to speak, "Not long ago, it looked like he might do just that. Until we built this paper mill!" He gestured a small building adjoining the school with a large smokestack billowing up from it. He gestured for them to follow him as he toured them through it. Nick scowled as he saw the paper that was being made by cutting through the logs.
"Once it took an entire day for a Wood Forger to produce a single sheet by hand." Zig said as they walked through the mill, "This mill can produce thousands in the same time."
"Can the forest sustain such loss?" Cheetara asked.
"The forest is big, and only through its lumber can we protect it from Viragor." Zig said.
"You sound like the guys chopping up the rainforest back home." Nick said scathingly as he looked at Zig, who stopped and looked back at him in surprise, "Look, Zig, I get what you're doing, and I'm sure that the people in need appreciate your help, but… This kind of magic feels… wrong."
"And what would you know of magic?" Zig asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone stopped to watch the oncoming spat between Nick and Zig.
"I'm a Redoric." Nick said, "My family is the third most powerful magical clan back on planet earth. Our power is only outweighed by the Nay-Chung Clan in Hong Kong, and the Potter Clan in the United Kingdom." Leanne let out a snort of laughter at the name, and Nick allowed himself a quick smirk, but it quickly disappeared as he continued to speak, "Magic is the family business. We use magic in harmony with the world around us, doing our best not to harm the land around us, or the things that live on it, be it people, animals, or plants. What you're doing is out of harmony with the flow of this forest, and it doesn't feel right."
"Some sacrifice must be made to protect the innocent." Zig said, "A few trees, I believe, is a reasonable exchange for a few hundred lives." Nick sighed.
"Yes, but the trees are just as alive as the people you're trying to protect!" Nick insisted.
Zig held up his hand, giving the young man a harsh glare, "Enough. I will not have my own way of magic challenged in my own school. In times of desperation, the ends justify the means." He walked away, gesturing for the others to follow him, "Come, there is more to see."
"If times are so desperate, then why are you so prepared…?" Nick muttered to himself as the ThunderCats walked past him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked down at his cousin.
"You were right." She said, meeting his brown eyes with her silver ones, "There's something wrong about this place." She glared at Zig's back, "And Zig is a liar."
"How can you tell?" Nick asked, Leanne pointed to the Jewel of Omens around her neck.
"The bearer of the Jewel of Omens can see the truth in all things." She said.
"Huh." Nick said, glancing down at the necklace, "I didn't think Nana's old necklace could be so handy." They both followed the ThunderCats through the rest of the school.
After a lengthy tour of the school, Zig offered them shelter for the night before they set off to do whatever it is they were supposed to do in the morning. Leanne's room was just down the hall from Lion-O's, and when she couldn't find any sleep, she got up to go and see him.
She walked down the hall, and was surprised when she ran into Tygra.
"Where are you off to?" He asked when he saw her.
"Nowhere." Leanne lied, walking around him, "Just on a little evening stroll." Tygra watched as she walked past him, staring at her backside.
"…Just what is it that you see in him, Leanne?" He asked. Leanne stopped, but she didn't turn around to look at him. "I mean… I just can't see it." She turned around to face him.
"What are you talking about?" She asked him.
"You and Lion-O." Tygra specified as he walked up to her. Leanne gave him a hard look and stood her ground, "He's not even the same species as you—"
"My mother is half ThunderCat." Leanne said, "Remember?"
"Right, right…" Tygra said, rubbing the back of his neck, "And that makes you part ThunderCat, too. I remember." He continued to look down at her and put his hand at his side, "But what is it exactly that makes him better than me?"
"Well, for one thing," Leanne began, "Lion-O's different from you. He's not quite so… oh what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, right, arrogant." Tygra scowled.
"Leanne, I'm being serious." He said.
"So am I." Leanne replied, Tygra stared her down, and Leanne shifted, a little uncomfortable under his gaze, "What do you want to hear Tygra? I'd choose Lion-O over you because he's a better person. Not that you're not a good person, but he's just…" She jumped back when Tygra pinned her to the wall, his hands on either side of her head.
"Just what?" Tygra asked, "I just don't see it, Leanne. Anything you could get with Lion-O, you could get with me. I really don't see it." Leanne looked at him worriedly.
"Tygra, what is this about?" She asked.
"I like you." Tygra told her.
Leanne's face bloomed in a blush, "…Huh?"
"I like you." Tygra repeated.
Leanne looked back at him apologetically, "Tygra… I'm sorry." She said, "I've always seen you as… more of… the big brother I never had. I've never seen you like that… I'm really sorry." She moved in between his arms and continued to walk down the hall. She paused and looked back at him, "But, I'd try Cheetara." He looked up at her curiously, "She really likes you, you know." She turned around and went back on the path that led to Lion-O's room, which rested just around the corner.
Lion-O smiled at her when he opened it, "Come to spend the night with me?" Leanne snorted and gave him a light shove as she walked in.
"I can't sleep." She said, "And I wanted to hang out with you."
"Well, I could use the company." Lion-O said, Leanne walked out to the balcony to his room, and he came up beside her. "I can't sleep either." He pulled out his sword and looked at it, not lengthening the blade, "I can't stop thinking about the sword."
"How come?" Leanne asked.
"I can't help but think that I'm not the right person to wield it." Lion-O said, "The visions the sword shows me aren't doing me any good, and I can't seem to find out where exactly the Stone is, even with your help."
"Lion-O, stop that." Leanne said, putting her hand over his as they leaned against the railing of the balcony, "You can find it. I know you can. You just need to believe that you can." She squeezed his hand gently, "You need to stop being so down on yourself and buck up! Be a little more optimistic." Lion-O sighed.
"I'm not really sure what to believe anymore." He said, "Especially after today. The sword wouldn't work for me."
"I'm sure there's a reason." Leanne said, "We'll figure out the problem and be back at the elephant village before you know it. I'm certain."
"Tell me, Lion-O." A voice said from behind them, and they looked back to see Zig, "What brings you so deep into these woods?"
"I was sent here to learn to… 'see'." Lion-O said to him.
"Then you should know 'seeing' is about perspective." Zig said, he tossed up a large group of papers and had them be suspended before Lion-O and Leanne. "What do you see?"
"Doesn't look like anything." Lion-O said.
"Not from here." Zig said, with a wave of his hand, the papers began to move a little farther away and grouped together, creating a familiar face.
"Huh. It's me." Lion-O said with a smile when he saw the picture.
"While details are important," Zig said, "It is only when you step back that the entire picture comes into view."
"No wonder you're the headmaster." Lion-O said. Leanne gave Zig a small glare, knowing that somewhere, he was holding back something that could hurt them later, and she was about to tell Lion-O, when a loud screech caught her attention. Immediately Zig turned around, glaring at the sky.
"He's here." He said.
"Who?" Leanne asked, curious as to why he reacted so strongly.
"Viragor."
Everyone ran out to the courtyard, where they saw a huge, bird-like creature circling the school.
"Get out of my forest!" His deep voice boomed. He flew over to one of the towers and, with a powerful thrust from his clawed feet, knocked it down, the papers it was made from scattering everywhere.
"I will not let you terrorize us another day, beast!" Zig shouted up at him, he took a special martial-arts pose and covered his arms with paper sheets, making it look like sleeves, Gami and Snips doing the same thing. "Wood Forgers, attack!" Snips was the first to strike, taking some sheets of paper and using a small pair of scissors to cut up strings of paper snowflakes to use as sharp, six-pointed projectiles against the large bird, who was able to avoid most, but not all of them. Gami folded up a piece of paper and tossed it into the air, having it turn into a flaming paper phoenix. Viragor only flapped his huge wings to get the creature to turn into flaming sheets of paper and blow back the Wood Forgers. Leanne looked at the group, and then glared up at the bird. Zig may be hiding some kind of dark secret, but that was no reason to go and attack them like that! She glanced over at her cousin, who had come out in all the commotion, and they both nodded, silently understanding each other.
"You forget!" He said, "I'll always be stronger than, you Zig! I don't need paper to harness this forest's magic!"
"And neither do we!" Leanne said, dashing forward and jumping up, fire bursting from her heels. Nick raised up his hands, chanting in some foreign language that sounded like Latin and a rumbling could be heard as a circle appeared beneath his feet. Leanne paid no attention to it, trusting her cousin to know what he was doing, and flew towards the bird, who was one hundred times her size. She hovered in the air and, concentrating as hard as she could, she held up her hands, fire shooting out from her palms in huge quantities towards the bird, who blew it back. Leanne covered her face to try and protect it from the sudden oncoming wave of heat, which didn't burn her in any way, and had it blow back to the buildings of the school. Nick, seeing what was happening, ceased his chant and raised his hands towards the flames. Immediately, they moved towards his hands and disappeared into his palm. Nick looked back at where his cousin was hovering in the sky.
"What are you doing, Lee?!" He demanded angrily, "You can't use fire, here! These buildings will be burnt to a crisp!"
"I'm sorry!" Leanne shouted back, she let out a shriek as Viragor's wings flapped again and made her fly back to earth. Nick cursed quietly, abandoning his place where the circle was, having it disappear once he moved, and dashed quickly to where Leanne was going to land and caught her before she hit the ground, breaking her fall. He fell back to the floor and the two of them crashed against one of the walls of the building. Leanne instantly looked at him worriedly, "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah…" Nick groaned, Leanne immediately moved off of him and he held onto his middle, his face contorted into one of pain, "I think you just broke a couple ribs." He looked up at her, "Tell me you know a healing incantation, they've never been a specialty of mine."
"There are healing incantations?" Leanne asked in surprise. Nick groaned, leaning his head back against the wall.
"You are such a freaking novice…" He muttered.
Lion-O, oblivious to their conversation, glared up at the bird as he and the other ThunderCats stepped into the courtyard.
"They helped us, time to return the favor." Lion-O said, pulling out his sword and holding it up high, "Ho!" Still the sword didn't move for him and he glared at it, "Come on!" He looked up when he heard Viragor screech and saw that he was coming towards him, mouth open, ready to eat him. He flinched reflexively as he got closer, but the bird didn't get the chance to swallow him as something came dashing in front of Lion-O.
"Sorry, he's not on the menu!" Cheetara said as she stuck her staff in between the bird's beak. Lion-O looked up as Viragor continued to fly around with her keeping his mouth open with her staff.
"Maybe the sword's changed its mind about you." Tygra said with a smirk as he ran to go and help Cheetara, as did Panthro and Lion-O. WilyKat and Kit ran over to where Leanne was trying to help Nick. She was having him lean on her shoulder as she tried to get him out of the battle. When the two kids came up to her, she carefully handed him to them, telling them to get him somewhere safe. Once they went off, she dashed over to where the others were, and was amazed when she saw Cheetara holding the bird's beak open with her staff, which was slowly bending under the pressure of Viragor's mouth.
"Don't break on me now…!" Cheetara said to her staff just before it snapped, and just as Viragor was about to snap his beak down on her, something wrapped itself around Cheetara's waist and yanked her from the bird. As she began to fall, she shouted, "I love that staff!" Tygra, who had used his whip to pull her away from Viragor, easily caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground. He gave her a winning smile, and she looked at him with slightly dazed and wide eyes.
Lion-O looked up as he saw Viragor circling over the paper mill.
"If we lose the mill, we lose everything." Zig said, watching him.
"Don't worry." Lion-O assured as he looked up at the bird, "He's about to be grounded." He aimed his gauntlet at the bird, having the claws shoot out and wrap around his clawed ankle. As the lines between the claws of the gauntlet and the bird grew longer, Lion-O realized there was a limit to the lines, "Maybe this is a bad ide-AAAH!" He was suddenly yanked up into the air as Viragor flew away from the school.
"Lion-O!" Leanne cried as he flew further and further away. She used her powers to fly up quickly into the air to go after him as the others watched, unable to do anything to help them.
Leanne quickly caught up with the two as Lion-O pressed a switch that reeled him in closer to Viragor. When he tried to move, Viragor caught him in his claws and held him there. Leanne flew up towards the bird, moving carefully so she could land on his back. She pulled herself up to his head and grabbed two feathers on either side of his head and gave a rough yank. Viragor gave a cry of pain, and Leanne used the feathers to direct him downwards into the forest. She kept a firm grip on the two feathers, but not enough to pluck them from his head.
"Brace for impact, Lion-O!" She shouted down to him, hoping he could hear her from her place at the bird's head as she directed him to fly into one of the trees. Leanne and Lion-O shot away from the bird, Lion-O grabbing onto a tree with the clawed gauntlet, and Leanne tumbling into the ground. She groaned when she landed and held her head as she looked back at where Viragor was still against the tree and watched as he fell to the ground. Lion-O jumped down from his tree and was about to go and help Leanne up. He jumped back when he saw Viragor heading towards him and he dashed out of the way so the bird would chomp at a tree instead. He glared up at the large bird as he pulled his sword from his gauntlet.
"Eye of Thundera, spirit of Jaga, Sword of Omens, do not fail me now!" He exclaimed, he swung his sword once, "Thunder," He swung it again, "Thunder!" He swung it a third time, "Thunder!" He held his sword up high, "ThunderCats! Ho!" Still, the sword did nothing. Lion-O looked at it with wide eyes. Was Tygra right? Did the sword really change his mind about him? He looked up just in time to see Viragor charging at him and knock him down.
"Lion-O!" Leanne exclaimed. She willed her legs to stand, but groaned in pain as she saw her vision start to go black. She reached back and put her hand on the back of her head, feeling a bruise forming. She cursed mentally as she realized that she must have been at the back of her head, where the vision was controlled in the brain. She staggered, and fell to her knees, and Lion-O looked over at where she was and saw how she was struggling. He grabbed his sword and glared at it.
"Why aren't you working?" He asked it, "What am I not seeing?" His eyes widened as he realized the answer, "…The big picture. That's what." He stood up and sheathed his sword before going over to Leanne, having her lean on his shoulder. "Leanne, listen, I need you to trust me, okay?"
"I trust you…" Leanne muttered, struggling to keep her eyes open as she leaned on Lion-O, her arm over his shoulders.
Lion-O smiled, "That's good to know." Leanne's eyes went wide as he threw away his gauntlet as Viragor rounded towards them, "Because this is probably another bad idea." Leanne looked fearfully at the huge bird as he came closer and she grasped tightly to Lion-O's waist with her hand while the other still rested over his shoulders. Lion-O wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and kept her close as he stood his ground as Viragor came closer to them. Then, just before he was able to bring his beak down on the couple, Leanne's vision failed her at last as a result from the hit to the back of her head and she blacked out. When she was able to see again, she saw that she and Lion-O were captive in Viragor's claws, flying high above the forest. Leanne looked up at Lion-O, and he looked back at her apologetically before looking over at Viragor. "You're going to eat us, aren't you?"
Viragor glanced at the couple in his claws, then turned his sight back to what was in front of them, "…Thinking about it."
Nick groaned as he was placed down on a bed in the school. The ThunderCats had helped him into the nursing wing, where Gami promised she'd take a look at him. Nick waved her away.
"Don't bother." He said, "I may not be so good at healing incantations, but I am good at other things." He gestured for Panthro to come over to him, "Help me sit up." Panthro came over and did as he asked, trying to be as careful as he could with the injured boy. WilyKit placed a pillow behind his back to give him some support, and he thanked her with a smile. He took a deep breath in and out as he placed his hands on his stomach, just over where he had been injured, "Let's see… if I can remember…" He began to speak in the Latin-like language again. As he spoke the incantation, his body glowed beneath his hands, and he felt his ribs moving back into place. He sighed once he was finished and sat up straight, swinging his legs off the bed.
"Whoa…" WilyKat breathed.
"What was that?" Tygra asked, wondering what kind of magic he used to get himself healed.
"It was a reversal spell." Nick said as he stood up, "I had it put my ribs back in place." He put his hand over his middle, "Unfortunately, this is only temporary and I need to go home if I want to get it properly fixed. Or, I can teach the healing incantation to Leanne when she gets back…" He trailed off, remembering Viragor, "If she gets back."
"Leanne's pretty tough." Cheetara assured him, "I'm sure she's fine."
"I wouldn't be so certain." Zig said grimly, getting everyone's attention, "It is only through Lion-O's sacrifice was the school saved. I'm afraid there's no way he could survive his encounter with Viragor, and I fear the same for Leanne."
"Don't you worry about Lion-O." Panthro said, "He'll be fine. Kid can take care of himself, and if Lee's there, then I'm sure they'll both be fine." He and the others walked away from the Wood Forgers, heading to the places they had been given for the night with Nick giving one last dirty look to Zig, not trusting the man.
Leanne was still as she and Lion-O were trapped in Viragor's claws, flying over the forest.
"You're getting heavy, bugs!" Viragor said, "Mind if I drop you off here?"
"You won't." Lion-O said, "Because you're not evil, are you?" Leanne looked at Lion-O with a quirked eyebrow, not understanding.
The bird looked down at him as they flew, "Have you not been paying attention?" Lion-O turned his gaze away ashamedly as he recalled everything that had happened.
"The Sword of Omens wouldn't work against you or the spirits." Lion-O said, "I thought it was me. But it's because the sword can't be used against a force of good."
"Interesting theory." Viragor said, "Willing to risk your lives for it?" Lion-O glanced at Leanne, who nodded once at him with a determined expression, showing that she would trust him, and he looked back at the bird.
"I am." Lion-O said firmly. Viragor stared at Lion-O a moment more, seeing the determination in his eyes.
"Let me show you something." Viragor said, he turned his eyes in front of him, and altered his course slightly, "The Magi Oar is an ancient forest. One I've cared for, for centuries."
"I thought that was the Wood Forger's job!" Lion-O exclaimed.
"They sure give that impression, don't they?" Viragor replied, "No, they're merely guests, and they've outworn their welcome. I allowed them into the forest because I believe in their mission." Leanne had a feeling about what came next.
"But Zig wanted more power, right?" Leanne asked, Viragor nodded his head once as he flew over an area where hundreds of trees had been chopped down, and an entire area of the forest had been stripped clean of any trees.
"And more power means more paper." Viragor said as he released them and landed beside them, looking out at the mass of missing trees. "So he built the mill. Once, they were content with fallen timber. Now, they strip my forest. Don't they understand? These trees are alive. That mill must be destroyed!"
"My cousin was right." Leanne said, "The Wood Forger's magic is unnatural. It's hurting this forest, and the creatures that live inside it." She looked over at Viragor, "I'll help you."
"So will I." Lion-O said, looking up at Viragor.
Riding on his back, Leanne and Lion-O were brought back to the Wood Forger's school. As they moved closer, they saw Zig come out.
"The beast returns!" He shouted, "Wood Forgers, ready yourselves!" As they prepared to attack, Cheetara ran out in front of them.
"Wait! Lion-O and Leanne are with him!" She said, stopping them. Viragor landed before them, the Wood Forgers were tense as he did and Lion-O and Leanne jumped down from the bird.
"You haven't been telling us the whole story, have you, Zig?" Lion-O asked him.
"What is the meaning of this, Lion-O?" Zig asked. Lion-O turned to the others.
"Viragor's no monster." He told them.
"He did break my staff." Cheetara said, crossing her arms across her chest angrily.
"Sorry about that." Viragor said.
"Viragor's the real protector of this forest, not you!" Leanne said. Zig dashed forward towards them.
"Is your vision so misguided, you've taken up his cause?" Zig asked angrily.
"You're one to talk about misguided vision." Viragor said, glaring at Zig.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Zig." Lion-O said, "Your school can exist in harmony with the forest!"
Zig shook his head in disagreement, "Some must suffer for the greater good, Lion-O."
"And who decides what the greater good is?!" Lion-O asked.
"You still can't see the big picture, can you?" Zig asked as Gami and Snips came by his sides, ready to fight. The ThunderCats and Nick came up beside Lion-O, showing that they were ready to do the same.
"I think I'm finally starting to." Lion-O said.
"You have failed to learn your lesson," Zig began, "So I must try a stricter approach." He pulled out a huge scroll that opened up on his back and attached more paper to it, making it larger, like a pair of wings, and jumped up into the air. "Wood Forgers, attack!" Lion-O jumped back up onto Viragor, Leanne following him and they took off into the air after Zig.
Gami pulled out a long sheet of paper and tossed it up, transforming it into a fearsome dragon. Tygra ran at it, using his whip to make himself invisible so Gami wouldn't be able to attack him easily. When he reappeared in the air, pulling out his gun to fire at the paper beast, the dragon roared and breathed out a fiery blast at him. Tygra fired at it once and missed. As he got closer he used his whip against the dragon on a couple strikes, only for the dragon to grab onto the whip before he landed and use it to throw him high into the air and land roughly on the ground. As Nick observed the battle, he couldn't help but notice how Gami was suddenly nowhere to be found. He narrowed his eyes and looked around the courtyard, wondering where she might have gone.
Meanwhile, Panthro had grabbed Snips by the straps of his clothing and was spinning him around, throwing him like a hammer throw. When Snips was in the air, he used some of the snowflake stars he had made before and fired them off at Panthro. He did his best to deflect the projectiles with his nun-chucks, but they were knocked out of his hand. Cheetara came after him, using her speed to get an advantage on him. Snips pulled out his paper windmills and began to blow huge gusts of wind at Cheetara, which she easily avoided and eventually jumped right over his head. When she landed, he immediately had a paper cage put over her, trapping her. She glared up at her paper confines.
"I really miss my staff." She growled.
"Good thing I still have my fling!" A voice said, Snips turned to where WilyKat had pulled out some very thin, yet very strong string. He went to go and stop him, and jumped back when he saw the gleam of one of the thin stings in the light of the moon. He jumped when he saw another gleam, and before he knew it, he was tied up tightly in the string and fell to the ground. WilyKit went over to him and pulled out the notebook that was attached to his chest, giving her brother a high-five at his success.
Nick looked around, and saw Gami watching the battle between her dragon and Tygra a safe distance away. He smirked and held his hands in front of him, closing his eyes in concentration, speaking in the Latin-like again as a circle began to glow beneath his feet. The dragon noticed his magic beginning to work, and heard the same rumbling as before, and turned to shoot his fiery breath at the human. Unfortunately, Nick had already finished his chant, and the rune circle's glow brightened, his eyes glowing a bright white color as his body seemed to change form, becoming a bright shade of blue, and becoming almost viscous. His body became translucent, his limbs becoming like water themselves until he was a being made entirely of water. A large puddle of water formed beneath where his feet were standing and he turned his glowing gaze over at where Gami was. His watery arm shot out like a snake and swiped the book from her person and brought it back to himself. She looked at him with wide eyes as he held the book up high.
"Not so tough without your notebook, are you?" He asked, his voice sounding different from before, as if he were speaking from under the water. He had his hand engulf the notebook, and his body moved it through his arm to his chest where, with a little concentration, the flowing water that made up his form at that moment made the book disintegrate in the liquid, turning to scraps. Only a moment later did the paper dragon explode, magic no longer able to hold the paper together.
Everyone cheered, but they knew it was too soon to celebrate, because, somewhere over the forest, Zig was still flying away from Lion-O, Leanne, and Viragor.
Suddenly, he turned around, the pages in his notebook flipping rapidly as paper projectiles shot out like missiles towards them. Viragor, who was very experienced in flying, was able to avoid the brunt of the attack. Lion-O and Leanne blocked away any paper that was coming towards them, Leanne burning them away with fire, and Lion-O using his sword. This kept up until one of them hit Viragor directly. He screeched out in pain and came crashing to the ground of the forest, Lion-O and Leanne going down with him.
Zig came to where they landed, smiling when he saw that Viragor had been knocked unconscious. "The mighty Viragor, broken and defenseless!"
"Not completely defenseless…!" Lion-O grunted as he pushed up the wing he and Leanne had been trapped under. He glared at Zig as he stood up, "You see, my sword seems to be working again." Zig tensed up, knowing the power that lay in the Sword of Omens. Lion-O pulled the blade from his gauntlet, "It's time for you to start seeing things in a new light, Zig!" He swung his sword once, lengthening it, "Thunder," He swung it again, the sword lengthening again, "Thunder!" He swung it a third time, the sword at its full length, "Thunder!" He held the sword in front of him, the Eye of Thundera beginning to glow, "ThunderCats! Ho!" A bright red beam shot out from the sword, directly hitting the notebook Zig had at his chest. The power of it destroyed the notebook, and all the paper that Zig had disintegrated. Viragor, finally having regained consciousness, saw this, and walked over to Zig's fallen form, towering over him.
"You are no longer headmaster of this school." He told him, "I am."
They flew back to the school, Zig having fled the forest in fear of Viragor, and met up with the others. Immediately, they noticed Nick's watery body as he smiled and waved at them as if nothing was wrong.
"What happened to you?" Leanne demanded when she saw him.
"What?" Nick asked, then he looked at his body, "Oh, yeah." He put his hands together, murmuring something in Latin, and his body returned to its original state, his eyes no longer glowing. He smiled at his cousin, "Sorry, I thought you might have known about that already."
"Known about what?" Leanne asked.
"The elemental rune circle." Nick said, "It's a trait that's been passed down in our family for generations. It's what's made us as strong as we are." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, showing Leanne a circle drawn on it, "Only our bloodline has the ability to combine their body with the element they were born under."
"Can you teach me?" Leanne asked, Nick was about to answer, but grimaced, holding his side as he hunched over in pain. Instantly, Leanne put her hands on his shoulders to give him something to lean on, "What's wrong?"
"It's okay, it's fine." Nick grunted out, "My reversal spell just wore off, that's all." He put his hands at his abdomen, repeating the Latin he had said before, returning the ribs back to the position they had been at before. He stood up just a moment later, seeming perfectly fine. "Okay, I need to get back home."
"But, what about the circle?" Leanne asked, "If you leave and come back, it might be years! Time here moves differently than time back home!"
"I know, I know." Nick said, he put his hand to his chin in thought for a moment, then looked at his cousin, "You know what? Hang onto that circle. I can get a copy from Mom when I get home. All you need to know in order to perform the elemental rune is that circle, and these words." He flipped the page over, showing her the incantation's writing in the original language, which was far too complex to be Latin, but strangely, Leanne's brain was able to turn the strange symbols into words, and she understood it perfectly. "It's the language of Warlocks, it's only spoken for incantations nowadays, but way, way, way back when, it was used as a common language between other witches and wizards and stuff."
"Whoa…" Leanne breathed, looking at it in awe.
"Just try not to use it too often." Nick said, "Because it can cause some serious damage to your body if you're not careful. Like Bernie."
"Cousin Bernie?" Leanne asked, Nick nodded.
"Burned a couple of his internal organs." Nick said with a grimace, "Not pretty." Leanne grimaced as well.
"I'll keep that in mind." She said, pocketing the drawing and smiling up at her cousin.
The next morning, they met up with Viragor at the place where the trees had been cut.
"I owe you my thanks, ThunderCats," He nodded to Leanne and Nick, "And you…"
"Humans." Nick put in politely.
"Yes, you have my gratitude as well, humans." He said, he reached out with his wing and they heard the sound of something hitting the ground. When he pulled his wing away, a new staff lay there for Cheetara, "A gift. From the oldest tree in this forest. It's alive with great magic." Cheetara stepped forward and picked up her new staff with a smile.
"I accept it with great humility." She said.
"Any of you are free to return to my forest." Viragor said to them, he glanced at Nick, "You in particular, seeing as you've made multiple visits already." Nick grinned sheepishly as he reached up and scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, well… You know." He said with a shrug. Viragor didn't reply back.
"I wish you safe travels." He said, then he raised up his wings and took off into the air, going to work at protecting the forest.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye for me, too." Nick said, smiling at everyone. Leanne looked at him in surprise.
"What? Why are you leaving?" She asked.
"Well, seeing as my ribs are still technically broken," Nick began, putting his hand on his abdomen, "I need to have someone take a look at them, preferably a doctor, or Dad." He looked back at Leanne, "But as soon as I'm healed, I'll come back and help you out, if that's what you want."
"But the time flow is different here." Leanne said, "One day home could be ten years here!"
Nick shrugged, "I don't know! Maybe I can find a time-placement spell or something." He sighed, "But those are pretty difficult… Ah, screw it. I'll figure it out." He looked at Leanne, "In the meantime, watch out, 'kay?"
Leanne looked at him confusedly, "Watch out for what?" She asked.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that's found out about this place." Nick said, "And the Redorics have made more than a few enemies over the years. So… just… watch it, okay." He reached into his bag and pulled out a can of coke.
Leanne gasped happily, "You have soda?" Nick looked at her, and laughed when he realized she must not have had soda of any kind in weeks. He handed her the can and pulled out a second one from his bag. Leanne readily opened the can and took a big gulp of the carbonated liquid inside, smiling as she felt it run down her throat, "Oh, man… That's good stuff." Nick chuckled, opening his own can. "Exactly how long do you stay here? I mean, if you've got food and junk…" Nick shook his head.
"Actually, this is my reason." He said, holding up the can, "The reason I come here is to chug a can of soda out in this forest. So, that's all I have to do to get home." Leanne gaped at her cousin for such a simple reason. He held out the can to her with a smile, "Cheers."
Leanne smiled back, seeing that, while her cousin had matured some, he was still her cousin from way back when, "Cheers." She tapped her can against his, and took a good few gulps from it as he put his head back, chugging the can of soda down his throat. Once he was done, he became engulfed in a bright, white light, almost blinding everyone. Then, he was gone. As if he had never been in the forest in the first place.
"Well, now that that's over," Tygra said, turning to Lion-O, "Why don't you put what you learned to good use?" Lion-O nodded and pulled out the sword. Taking a big gulp of the can, Leanne finished off the soda, crushing the can and pocketing it to dispose of it later. She joined Lion-O's hand on the hilt of the sword and held it up with him.
"Sword of Omens," They said, "Give me sight beyond sight." This time, they saw the hut at the elephant's village, and inside it was the stone, but there was something more. They could see that the stone was hidden by a small wall, unseen to the naked eye, and they understood what they needed to do. When the vision ended, Lion-O turned to the others with a confident smile.
"Let's go get that stone."
Hello, everyone!
I'm sorry this came out later than usual, but I was dealing with some bad stuff. I won't go into details about it because it's depressing.
I just want to apoligize if this chapter has any suckishness in it because I didn't really feel it (If you guys love writing, you know what I'm talking about. That feeling you get when you're writing something, and you just can't stop because it's just that good? Yeah, that it) when I wrote it.
Also, I'm letting you guys know now, the next chapter's gonna be a little filler one.
And one more thing:
Do you guys want a little fun short thing for Snarf? Because I saw the cartoon 'butterfly blues' and I was thinking of turning it into an omake of sorts. What do you think?