25
It was dark, and yet it was also bright.
It was cool, but it was also warm.
Her sight was clear, but she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.
"Where am I?" Leanne asked quietly, looking around at the strange scenery. She didn't remember coming here. The last thing she remembered was… it had slipped her mind at the moment, but she was sure it had something to do with the Thunder Cats. "Hello?" She called out into the dark brightness, "Lion-O? Cheetara? Anyone there?" She walked around a little, finding the ground to be incredibly soft underneath her feet
"I'm here."
She whirled around to see a young woman, with dark hair that was a little longer than hers, and a pair of warm brown eyes. Her face, though her features were sharp, moved into a friendly smile, and Leanne recognized her right away.
"Nana?" She called to her, she nodded. Leanne walked up to her, "Nana, what's going on? Where am I?"
"I called you here." Nana said, "I've been watching over you since you arrived in Thundera, and I've watched as you've grown in your powers." She placed her hands on Leanne's shoulders, "And I can't tell you how proud I am of what a great witch you've become."
"Really?" Leanne asked.
"But you still have a lot to learn." She said, her smile falling and pulling her hands back. She turned and held her hand out to her granddaughter, "Come." Leanne took her hand and they began to walk across the strange expanse before them.
"Nana, where are we?" She asked as they walked across the soft ground.
"Limbo." Her grandmother replied, "It was the only place I could meet you without causing any trouble." Leanne watched as her mother raised her hand, and a white couch appeared before her. She sat down on it, but Leanne didn't follow.
"Trouble? For who?" She asked.
"Well, I think that should be obvious." Her grandmother said with a humorous smile, pointing upwards towards the sky. Leanne looked up, but found she couldn't, because above her was the brightest light she'd ever seen, and it almost blinded her. She flinched when it hit her eyes and began to rub them, and her grandmother laughed, "I am dead, you know. And even when you're dead, you need to follow certain rules." Leanne looked at her grandmother once her vision cleared and she patted the couch beside her, "Sit with me. Please." Leanne sat beside her grandmother and she smiled. "Now, Leanne, I know that you've been using your magic in Thundera, and you've been doing so wonderfully, but you're not doing well enough."
"Look, I know I could use some improvement, but I'm not doing terrible, am I?" Leanne asked.
"No, but rather, you're not doing well enough." Her grandmother said, "Do you still have the rune circle that Nick gave you back in the forest of Magi Oar?" Leanne nodded, remembering where she had put it, "You'll need to learn that. Mumm-Ra's army is growing stronger, and you need to be prepared."
"But isn't that spell supposed to be really powerful?" Leanne asked worriedly, "What if I screw it up?"
"As long as you wear the Jewel of Omens, you can never lose control of your magic." Her Nana said with a smile, "I know that you can do it. You're a Redoric." Leanne returned her smile.
"Thanks, Nana." She said, grasping the Jewel of Omens.
"Now," her grandmother stood up, "I do believe our meeting is over. It's time for you to wake up."
"Huh?" Leanne asked, confused.
Her grandmother turned to her and smiled, opening her mouth and saying in a much deeper, much more masculine sounding voice, "Lee, get up!"
Leanne jumped awake to see Tygra standing over her, "Finally," He sighed, "Get up, we're about to head into town."
"We are?" Leanne asked, getting up from where she had been laying down, "Oh yeah, we're running out of supplies…" She sleepily rubbed her eye. Remembering her dream, she looked over at the bag where she kept her things and began rummaging through it, finding the rune circle that Nick had given her. She folded it up and put it in her pocket, making sure to keep it there, should she ever need it. She would be sure to try and learn it at another time.
The Thunder Tank sped across the flat terrain as they headed to a nearby town. Once they were close enough to the outskirts of the city, everyone filed out and approached the town. The town seemed to be some kind of large rock formation that had been dug out to create homes for the citizens of the people. If that was the case, Leanne thought, then it was very resourceful of them. At the center of the town was a large semi-circle rock that must have been hollow inside, and it had no roof over it. When they came in, they seemed to enter the slums of the city, which was filled with dog citizens, all going about their lives, no one really paying any attention to the Cats as they came in.
"I say we find the supplies and get out of here." Panthro said as they walked in, "Got some real bad memories of this town."
"You've been uneasy all morning." Lion-O said, "What exactly happened here, Panthro?"
"Forget it, kid." Panthro said, "I don't wanna give you nightmares."
"He's probably just worried about catching fleas from the locals." Tygra said with a grin. Leanne punched his shoulder, "Ow! What was that for?"
"That was really rude, Tygra." Leanne said, she looked back at Cheetara, "…It was rude, wasn't it?" Cheetara nodded in confirmation and Leanne punched Tygra's shoulder again.
"Ow!" Tygra glared at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Come on, guys," WilyKit said, "Dogs aren't so bad."
"Yeah, we used to hang out with them all the time in the slums of Thundera." WilyKat said, he smiled dreamily when he said, "They made the best bone stew." He started sniffing the air for the food in question.
"Mm! Bone stew!" WilyKit said eagerly, "Let's find some while we're here!" She and her brother began to separate from the group to look for stew.
"Maybe you two should stay close." Cheetara said.
"But we can take care of ourselves!" WilyKat said, before he and his sister ran off.
"Oh boy…" Leanne sighed. She looked at Lion-O when she saw him kneel down, gently putting his hand to Snarf's head.
"Just make sure they stay out of trouble, Snarf." He said to the little creature, who mewed happily and took off after the two kids.
Leanne looked at Lion-O oddly when he stood up, "You really think Snarf is going to be able to look after those two?" She asked.
"Sure, he looked after me when I was a kid." Lion-O said, Leanne's eyes widened.
"Really?" She asked in surprise, she looked back at the path the little creature had taken, "I didn't think he was that smart…Or that old."
"He's smarter than he appears." Lion-O assured.
"If he could take care of you, I believe it." Leanne said with a smile as she walked past him to the others. Lion-O raised an eyebrow at her back.
"Just what does that mean?" He asked as he approached her, and she waved it off.
"Don't worry about it." She said, she looked at Panthro, "So, what all do we need?"
"We need to refresh our rations, and we'll need some more oil." Panthro shifted his arm a little, "These joints are starting to get a little creaky."
"Hey guys," Tygra's voice called to them, "Look at this." They went over to where he was and saw a poster depicting a female Cat holding a spear and shield, looking very fierce. In the background behind her was what looked like the town, the strange dome-like thing at the top. There were some words written, but the script wasn't a language Leanne was familiar with, but it resembled something of an advertisement.
"A cat? What's she doing here?" Lion-O asked.
"She must have survived the fall of Thundera." Cheetara said.
Leanne noticed how Lion-O's gaze seemed to be completely focused on the drawing of the Cat on the poster. He reached up and tore it off the wall where it had been placed, looking over it.
"Now all she has to do is survive The Pit." Panthro said with a dark underlying tone.
Leanne looked up at the Cat, "What's the pit?" She asked him.
Panthro sighed, "Given where we are, I should have seen this coming." He looked up at the dome-shaped building up ahead, "Come on." Everyone followed after him.
Once they arrived at the building, Leanne saw it was much bigger than she originally thought, and from where they were outside, she could hear the loud cheers, howls, and barks of the Dog citizens inside. It kind of reminded her of the sounds she would hear at a football game, where everything was a continuous stream of noise from the fans around the stadium. The entrance was guarded, but when Panthro handed them some money, they let them in with no trouble. As they went further in, the cheers became louder and louder, and once they were on the other side, Leanne saw that it was, in fact, a stadium. It was as big as a football stadium she would find back home, with just as many seats. In the middle of the stadium, however, was no football field. She saw three other dogs, and a strange, teal-colored robot. The dogs all had spears and shields, but the robot appeared to be unarmed, but with technology on Third Earth, she knew better than to suspect it was unarmed because it showed no weapon.
They walked up the steps and found some seats in the stadium, Leanne sat next to Panthro and Tygra, and Lion-O sat next to Cheetara. They watched as the three dogs ran at the robot, hitting him across his face. A second one came around from his side, trying to jab him, but the robot grabbed it and landed a hard punch in the dog's side, flinging him into the wall of the stadium, where he crashed with a whimper. Leanne winced in sympathy for him as the two other dogs still remained standing, still ready to fight. They went on either side of the metal fighter, and he reached up, and removed his head to reveal it was a sort of spiked metal ball. He flung his head at one of the dogs, and it rolled at a high velocity, easily knocking him out and up into the air. The head kept rolling until it hit the wall, where it used the leverage it got to thrust itself forward, barreling into the last remaining dog, and defeating him.
The head came rolling back to the body it came from, and it held up the head as some metal coiling on its back began to spark wildly in the robot's victory. The crowd's cheers were thunderous, howling and cheering loudly for the robot.
"This is The Pit." Panthro said after the match was over, "It's where slaves and criminals fight to survive."
"And to entertain…" Tygra spat out, "Like I needed another reason not to like dogs."
"You can't exactly blame them." Leanne said to him, "Humans did the same thing back in the days of Ancient Rome. Stuff like this is good, cheap entertainment for a lot of dogs that don't have a lot of money."
"Do they still do it now?" Tygra asked snappishly.
"Um… well, we still have professional wrestling." Leanne said with a shrug, "It's kinda the same thing, but it's more of a television drama on steroids. There's some risk of death and injury, but it's not that high because it's all faked."
Lion-O looked down at the poster he still held that had the picture of the Cat. He looked over at the dog next to him and asked, "Who's in charge?"
The dog pointed up at an elevated balcony near a tower that was shaded under a tarp. He got up and started heading back down, and the others followed, knowing what he planned to do and that he might need some help doing it.
It was easy enough to pass by the guards at the entrance. The flight up the stairs to the top was a relatively short one, and they walked through to see a single chair resting on the balcony, and they could see the back of some dog's head sitting there. Lion-O marched forward towards him and held out the poster to him.
"What do you know about this cat?" Lion-O demanded. The dog turned his head to face Lion-O.
"She's a fighter." He said, his voice deep and gravelly, "Belongs to me."
"She doesn't 'belong' to anyone." Lion-O snapped. The dog let a slightly terrifying smirk come onto his face.
"That so?" He asked.
"Yeah, she's a free cat now." Lion-O retorted, "So we'll be taking her with us." A low growl sounded in the back of the dog's throat and he stood up, showing everyone that he was well over six foot five, with a slim, but very muscular body. Seeing his entire appearance in full view, Leanne noted that he looked like a breed of Doberman. He easily towered over Lion-O and glared down at him.
"You're welcome to try." He growled out, his fingers twitched at his sides, as if getting ready for a fight. Lion-O hesitated. It was obvious this dog was a seasoned fighter, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold his own against him.
"Don't let him scare you, Lion-O." Panthro said.
"Uh… Stay out of it, Panthro." Cheetara said tentatively, but Panthro didn't seem to listen.
"He may have been tough once," Panthro said, walking up to the dog, glaring back at him, "But now he's too old and scrawny!"
"Oh, brother." Tygra said with a sigh, shaking his head.
"This won't end well." Leanne sighed.
The dog snarled angrily, "You filthy little fur ball!"
Panthro let out a growl of his own, "You stupid, ugly mutt!"
The stood there, glaring and growling for a moment, before they both reached out and tightly grasped the other's hand, smiles coming onto their faces.
Panthro chuckled, "Been a long time, Dobo."
"A lifetime, Panthro." The dog, apparently named Dobo, replied.
"I can see that!" Panthro said in return, patting his shoulder.
"Are they… friends?" Tygra asked, looking at the pair with wide eyes.
"I can't tell." Cheetara said, turning to him, just as surprised as he was.
Dobo turned to Lion-O, "You wanna see your cat? Well, you're just in time." He pointed down at the arena, "She's up against Gormax next."
"The robot?" Leanne asked in shock. "The robot that has the disconnecting head with the huge freaking spikes on it?!"
"He's a cyborg, actually." Dobo corrected.
"Whatever!" Leanne snapped.
Everyone else moved over to the side of the balcony to look down at the stadium. They watched as one of the barred doors opened up, and out stepped the cat from the poster. She had orange hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, the end of it looking as though it had been dipped in white, reminding Leanne a little of a fox's tail, and the two long strands of her hair that hung on either side of her face were the same. Leanne thought her quite pretty, despite her dirtied and slightly disheveled appearance from being a part of The Pit.
"She doesn't have a chance against that thing…" Lion-O muttered, watching as she walked into the stadium, facing her opponent.
"We'll see soon enough." Dobo said, looking down at the stadium with a confident grin.
They all watched as Gormax pulled off his head and flung it at her, and she quickly dodged it. The head began to turn around, and again she dodged as it moved back into the body, hitting the open spot where the head connected to the body with a huge blast of sparks. Again, he reached for his head and threw it, and again, she dodged, but this time, she managed to grab a few small stones that had been lying on the ground, and she held them in her hand. She pressed a small switch on the large band she wore on her wrist, and a small bow appeared, she pulled it back with one of the pebbles and fired it straight into the hole where the head and body of Gormax connected. She shot in two more for good measure, and one of them must have hit something, because suddenly, Gormax's body let out a stream of sparks and fire and collapsed on the ground. The crowd cheered wildly as she came out victorious, jumping on top of the immobile body and holding her fist up to the crowd, who all howled and hollered at the show she had just given them.
The others looked at her with wide eyes, surprised she was able to beat something like that so easily and so quickly.
"And Pumyra wins again." Dobo said, a triumphant grin on his face. "You cats train your soldiers well. That warrior is making me a fortune!"
Down below, two huge guards came over to her, binding her hands together with handcuffs and leading her back inside the stadium.
Lion-O turned to Dobo, "Let us buy her freedom." He said.
"With what?" Dobo asked, "She'll earn her freedom if she survives one hundred fights."
"It'd be a shame if she escaped before that." Lion-O said.
Dobo let out a feral growl, glaring at him. He turned and looked back at Panthro, "Make sure your friend doesn't do anything stupid, Panthro." He said, walking off of the balcony to go and collect the money he had made off of bets for fights. Lion-O glared at his back and began to march after him, but he was stopped when Panthro placed his hand on his shoulder.
"The lizards are bad enough." He said, "We can't afford a war with the dogs, too."
Lion-O turned to look back at the stadium just as Pumyra was being led back into the rooms where the prisoners were kept.
"She's a ThunderCat, Panthro!" Lion-O said, "I won't let her be a slave."
"You might have to." Cheetara said, Lion-O looked at her with wide eyes, "This is Dobo's arena, and she seems to be an excellent fighter, I'm sure she can survive on her own."
"You can't be serious." Lion-O said in surprise.
"She has a point." Tygra said, "We don't have time for this right now. After we defeat Mumm-Ra, we can work on getting any of the cats out of slavery. Sort out your priorities, Lion-O."
Lion-O growled and stalked off away from them. Leanne sighed, and Cheetara looked out at the stadium to see that most of the dogs were starting to get up and leave.
"I guess she was the last fighter of the day." She said.
Leanne looked at the path Lion-O had left on, and sighed, "I'm going to go talk to Lion-O." She said, before following the path he had taken. She followed him out of the stadium, where many other dogs were leaving as well. "Lion-O, wait!" He stopped and turned around to face her as she came up to him, "I know you're upset about this, but they all make good points. We can't have any more enemies than we do now, and Pumyra looks like she can handle anything they throw at her. Besides, we don't even know anything about her."
"What if it was one of your kind in there, Leanne?" Lion-O asked, Leanne stopped short on her response, "A human, just one, that you didn't know anything about, but they were being forced to fight in near impossible battles! How would you feel about it then?"
"That's a completely different situation, Lion-O." Leanne said.
"Answer the question." Lion-O replied firmly. Leanne's mouth moved into a firm line as she looked at him.
"Okay, I would want to do the same thing you do, but that is completely different!" Leanne said quickly.
"It's the same thing!" Lion-O shot back.
"There are next to no humans here, they're not supposed to be here." Leanne argued.
"A cat shouldn't be here!" Lion-O snapped, "She should be away from here!" They didn't see how their argument was starting to draw attention.
"It's not like she's the last one!" Leanne replied.
"She may as well be! We almost haven't come in contact with another cat since we began this journey!"
"Belata and Banvor don't count?!"
"I said almost!"
"And what about their cub?"
"I said 'almost' Leanne!"
"She'll be fine, so leave her be!"
"I can't let one of my own kind live like that!"
"We can't afford something like this right now, Lion-O!"
"Yes we can!"
"Why? Because you're king?! And everyone has to do what you say?!"
Lion-O growled, hating when she mocked the title he was given, "That's not it!"
"Then what is it, Lion-O?! What?!"
Lion-O didn't respond, and Leanne crossed her arms, waiting for an answer. It was then that they noticed the dogs around them, all staring at the pair with wide eyes. Leanne's face flushed in shame, not realizing just how much attention their argument had drawn. Once they were noticed, they all looked away and began to go about their own business. Leanne and Lion-O looked back at each other, significantly much calmer than they were just a moment ago. And now that she was thinking with a much clearer head, she felt a little guilty for yelling at Lion-O like she had.
"Um… Lion-O, I—"
"I'm going back to the others." Lion-O said, interrupting her apology. He walked past her and out of her sight. Leanne was quiet as she watched him go. She put a hand to her forehead. What the heck was that about? Why had she gotten so angry with him? And so quickly, too? She sighed, not really sure about what was going on inside her own head anymore. She headed out through the crowd, deciding to get started on some of the supply-finding. She didn't have any money, but she could at least look for places that sold what they were looking for. As she walked, she heard something rustling in her pocket. Curious, she pulled it out and saw it was the elemental rune circle that Nick had given her. She suddenly remembered her dream, and how she needed to practice this. According to what her Nana said, she needed to be ready, but ready for what? Surely Mumm-Ra's army couldn't get much worse with his new generals, and Lucas.
Her thoughts stopped for a moment. Lucas, the English boy with the sweet little girl Elizabeth… She still didn't entirely know who she was to him. She was obviously related to him, because she was far too young to be a lover of any kind. She would have thought her his sister, if it weren't for the fact that both times she had seen them, there were mentions of an aunt and uncle. Perhaps she was his cousin? She wasn't sure. But one thing was certain, he cared about her a lot. She was very sick, with what she didn't know, but she was sick, and Lucas was looking for some kind of cure. Maybe magic was the cure? It would explain why he was coming after her powers. Her hand went to her neck at the memory of him taking it from her. And when she had been in the prison cell with him and Kanar, he had looked so uneasy around the Jackal. He was probably afraid of him, then again, who wouldn't be? She was surprised the psychopath hadn't broken any of her ribs with that kick. But when he had looked at him, she had seen complete terror on his face. Just what was it that made him so afraid of Kanar?
"Miss?"
She was broken out of her thoughts and looked to the vendor who had spoken to her, "Ya alright there? Ya been standing there for five minutes now." Leanne hadn't realized she had stopped moving.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said, "Just a little… lost in thought."
"Well, ya best not stand too long 'ere." The vendor said, "Pickpockets like to roam t'ese parts, stealin' from those 'lost in thought'."
Leanne's hand immediately went to her pocket, finding that the paper from before was still there. "I… I will keep that in mind, thank you."
"No problem." The vendor said. Leanne nodded in goodbye and headed through the market, looking for her friends in the crowd.
She eventually found them going over some food at one of the small shops in the town. "Hey," She greeted them, she looked around, seeing only Cheetara, Panthro, and Tygra. "Where's Lion-O?"
The other three stopped, looking around, "We… thought he was with you." Tygra said with wide eyes. Leanne raised an eyebrow curiously.
"He said he was going to find you guys…" She said her speech slowing slightly when she realized what might have happened, "Oh no…"
"He better not have gone back to The Pit." Panthro grumbled, marching towards the stadium, the others followed behind him.
Once they arrived at The Pit, the guards wouldn't let them in, saying that it was closed, but once Panthro told them that they needed to see Dobo about Lion-O, one of them went to go see him, and a little while later, the guard came back with Dobo in front of him. In Dobo's hands was an all-too-familiar gauntlet with a sword inside it.
"Your friend did something stupid." He said simply, before handing the gauntlet to Panthro.
"That's our king you've got in there, Dobo!" Panthro said.
"He tried to steal from me, Panthro." Dobo replied, "Would you rather I turn him over to the authorities? In The Pit, at least he's got a chance of getting out."
"After he wins a hundred fights." Leanne scoffed.
Dobo eyed her for a moment, and she eyed him right back, showing him she wasn't in the mood to deal with something like this right now, "Since Panthro's a friend, I'll make an exception. If Lion-O wins, he's free."
"And if he loses?" Cheetara asked, she turned to Panthro, "Remind me again how you know this 'friend'?"
Panthro sighed, knowing he should have seen this coming, but said nothing about it as he began, "A long time ago, Dobo and I met in The Pit. I was a prisoner of war, he was a thief. For matches, we were usually paired as a team." He let out a short, bitter chuckle, "Guess they thought it was funny to see a Cat and Dog fighting together." Leanne was tempted to reach out and see through some of Panthro's memories, but decided against it. She had seen how Panthro had fought in battles against the lizards, she didn't think she'd care to see him fight in death matches.
Dobo nodded in agreement with Panthro, "We beat everything they threw at us. No matter how nasty." It made sense how they were such good friends now, to Leanne. Panthro was a soldier, and she knew that in order to survive battles, you had to place a lot of trust in those who were with you, trusting that they would have your back when the time came that you were in trouble.
"While most warriors die here, Dobo somehow rose up to run the place." Panthro said, looking at him.
"Only slave that's ever done that." Dobo said, he looked at his old friend. "I owe it all to Panthro. He was like a brother to me. I wouldn't have lasted a day if he hadn't taught me how to survive."
"That's not true, we survived together." Panthro said.
Dobo nodded once, "Indeed." His eyes narrowed slightly as he glared at Panthro, "Until that morning I woke up and found out you escaped." He turned his back on Panthro, looking up at the walls of The Pit.
"I always regretted leaving you behind like that…" Panthro said.
"No, it was the best thing you could have done." Dobo said, "I was naïve to have expected loyalty from a Cat. I learned that day I was going to have to earn my freedom myself." He looked back at the group, "If your king wants his freedom, he can fight for it, too!" Leanne let out a breath in exasperation. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to set up The Pit for tonight's fight." He turned and began to walk away from them.
"Hang on!" Leanne said, going after him. He stopped and looked back at her, "Let me talk to Lion-O." He opened his mouth to offer his response but she beat him to it, "I understand the rules of The Pit, and I won't break him out. Believe me, I think he could do with a little time-out right now." Dobo closed his mouth and nodded.
"Just you, no one else." He said, "I don't want one of them to try and make an escape attempt." He nodded at the others. Tygra stepped forward.
"Leanne, what are you going to do?" Tygra asked her. She turned around and looked at him.
"I'm going to give that hard headed king the lecture of his life!" Leanne snapped, before following Dobo inside the pit, heading to where they kept the prisoners. He opened the door, but didn't go in with her.
"The guards will show you to his cell." He said, nodding at one of the bulldog guards. He got up and she followed him down the hallways. As they passed by the different cells, Leanne saw a lot of dirty-looking prisoners who all glared at her as she passed by. Considering this was a prison, she expected the men to hoot and holler at her like she had seen on television when men would react to a woman walking through prison halls. She had clearly misinterpreted. These prisoners were all hardened soldiers, or at least hardened fighters, who cared more about whether or not they would survive their next battle than whether they saw a woman passing by.
As they came closer to Lion-O's cell, she could hear his voice echoing down the hall.
"I was just trying to help you." Lion-O grumbled. An angry hiss responded to him, "You're a piece of work, you know. You act like I'm your enemy."
"That's exactly what you are to me." A woman's voice replied, Leanne assumed it was Pumyra's.
"I am your king!" Lion-O said sharply.
"A king would not have abandoned his people when Thundera fell!" Pumyra snapped back, "A king would not have let his people be sold into slavery! And a king would have done something for them by now!"
"I did what I had to do!" Lion-O said, "So I could fight another day!"
"And how many more days do you need before you free your people?!" Pumyra snapped, "So many waited for you to save them from their torment, and until their last breath, they waited!"
"I can't change what's happened!" Lion-O snapped, just as Leanne rounded the corner, and the guard pointed at his cell, giving her some privacy to speak with him. "But I can promise to stand by you now."
"Ha!" Pumyra scoffed, "I stopped believing you'd rescue me a long time ago, Lion-O. I will earn myself the freedom my king could not give me. And when we get in that arena," Her voice took on a much more threatening growl, "I'm gonna rip you to pieces." She smacked against the bars of her cell.
"Glad to know I'm not the only one that's angry with you." Leanne said, catching his attention. He looked up and instantly jumped to his feet when he saw her.
"Leanne!" He said, his hands grasping the bars of his cell door, "What are you doing here?"
"I didn't come here to break you out." Leanne said as she approached his door, "Unlike you, I'm abiding by what Dobo said. I thought you said you were going back to the others!"
"I was, and then I went back to The Pit." Lion-O snapped, "Or do you think I'm lying?"
"Lion-O, stop. I'm not here to argue with you." Leanne said, she fingered the golden chain of her necklace, "Besides, I'm pretty sure this would let me know if you were lying or not."
"Well if you're not going to help me, then why are you here?" Lion-O snapped.
"I'm here to yell at you and tell you what a colossal idiot you are!" Leanne snapped back. Lion-O groaned and moved away from the bars on the door, but Leanne continued to speak, "Is it so impossible to take in the opinions of someone other than yourself? We all agreed that we should just leave this place alone, but no, you had to go with your own little plan and play hero! Even she doesn't want you to save her!"
Lion-O let out a feral growl in the back of his throat, "Leanne—"
"I'm not done yet!" Leanne interrupted him. She shook her head, "You are just… such an idiot, sometimes! It's bad enough all of this is happening in the middle of a gigantic war, but it's even worse when you get sidetracked by the tiniest things!"
"I was not getting sidetracked!" Lion-O growled.
"Yes you were!" Leanne shot back, "If you had just kept to the original plan, you wouldn't be locked up in a cell right now!"
"Well I'm sorry I can't be as thick-skinned and hard hearted as you humans!" Lion-O snarled.
"Excuse me?!" Leanne exclaimed, her voice rising up a couple tenors.
"You keep talking about the mission, but have you ever thought about the people we meet on the way?!" Lion-O snapped, "Those who are hurt, or who experienced loss?"
"Of course I think about them!" Leanne said, "But no matter how badly we want to help, there's nothing we can do!"
"Yes there is!" Lion-O retorted, "You're just too much of a coward to try!"
"What?!" Leanne almost screamed it out.
"You heard me!" Lion-O snarled.
"I am not a coward!" Leanne shouted, stomping her foot on the ground.
"You're the first person I've ever met that was afraid of the sight of blood!" Lion-O shouted back. Leanne's silver eyes went wide, surprised that he would even bring that up, but her face soon twisted into an angry scowl.
"There's a reason for that, Lion-O." She said, her voice calm but just as venomous as it had been when she was yelling.
"Yeah, I know. And maybe if you'd had better control over yourself as a child, maybe you wouldn't have become so afraid of everything." Lion-O snapped.
Lion-O's head suddenly snapped to the side, a sharp pain on his cheek, and he looked to see Leanne with her hand raised, as if she had just slapped him… or, kind of slapped him. What had happened was Leanne had made the motion to slap him with her hand, but because of the distance between them, and the cell bars, her powers had made up for it, by creating a sharp wind to travel through the bars and hit him. He looked at her, shocked that she would do something like that. He saw her silver eyes filling with tears as she glared at him.
"I can't believe I ever saw anything in you!" She yelled, her voice breaking as if she was about to cry. "I wish I had never come here!" She turned away from the cell and stormed away from him, wiping away the wetness from her eyes. Lion-O watched her leave, guilt settling down in his stomach. He let out a sigh and leaned against the cell door, making sure his head hit the metal to give himself a little pain.
Leanne came out of The Pit, where the others were waiting on her. They could tell something had happened. She had a deep scowl on her face, and her eyes were slightly red from shedding tears. Cheetara was the first to approach her.
"Leanne, are you okay?" She asked.
"Fine." Leanne replied shortly, walking past her.
Tygra sighed, "You two had another fight again, didn't you?"
"Shut up." Leanne said, her tone dark. She walked past the group, "Let's just get the supplies. We can at least do that while we wait."
The group separated, Cheetara and Tygra going to get some food to refresh the rations, and Panthro and Leanne went to see if they could get some oil to help Panthro's arms. She was completely silent as they went around the marketplace. Panthro glanced uneasily at her, but she didn't notice, or if she did, she didn't acknowledge it.
"Lee, what happened?" Panthro asked, "It's rare that you and Lion-O fight."
"It's nothing to worry about." Leanne said, looking over the various black liquids, "Do you think this one would be good?"
"Lee, the last time you and Lion-O fought, you left the team." Panthro said, she looked up at him.
"I'm not going to leave again, Panthro." She said, she looked back at the oils, "I'm just… pissed."
"What did he say?" Panthro asked, Leanne shook her head.
"Something he'll hopefully regret later." She said, "But right now, he just called me out on some stuff, and I called him out and… yeah. It didn't end well." She looked up at him, "You don't have to worry about me leaving, Panthro. I'm not going anywhere." Panthro nodded quietly and she looked back at the oils, "So, do you think this one is any good or not?" Panthro looked at it and shook his head.
"Nah, too thick." He said, he pointed to another one and looked to the shopkeeper, "We'll take this one."
That evening, everyone returned to The Pit, and Dobo let them onto his balcony to watch the match. As the gates opened and Lion-O and Pumyra stepped out, the crowd of dogs let out loud cheers and howls, eager to see the match.
"It's a rare treat to see two Cats tear each other apart." Dobo said, "The crowd's excited."
"Too bad two Cats won't kill each other for some Dogs… sick pleasure." Tygra growled.
Dobo let out a laugh, "I have yet to see your species display such loyalty." He glanced at Panthro when he said this, and the cat said nothing in return.
As the two of them approached each other in the arena, they exchanged some words to each other.
"I know I failed you, Pumyra." Lion-O said, "But I ask again that we stand together as Cats."
"Only one of us will be left standing." Pumyra said, "Now enough talk." She loaded up her bow, and starting firing at Lion-O, who brought up his shield to defend himself. Once the onslaught was finished, Pumyra grabbed a new handful of stones and fired them off again. She made sure to stay in the air and out of his range of attack as she came closer. When she came close enough to Lion-O, she began to attack him, roundhouse-kicking against the shield he put up in defense. Once she had kicked it out of the way, she prepared to fire at him again. Lion-O quickly defended himself, but he wasn't as prepared as he was the first time, and he lost his balance and fell back. Pumyra came up in front of him again, and again, Lion-O held up his shield. Pumyra grabbed a sling from her side and put in a handful of stones, spinning it around to build up velocity, Lion-O just took a few steps back, keeping his shield raised.
"Why isn't he fighting back?!" Leanne asked, her hands gripping at the balcony.
Pumyra threw the sling at Lion-O, and instead of just hitting him, she made sure to knock the weapon out of his hands, throwing it well out of his reach. The sling then came back, like a boomerang, after Lion-O. He only ran for a few paces before the sling wrapped around his ankles, binding them, and making him fall to the ground.
The crowd howled and cheered at Pumyra's clear victory in the match. Her voice carried out over the stadium as she spoke to Lion-O. She scoffed, "It's easy to see why Thundera fell in a day. You're pathetic." She kicked him in the face and knocked him over. As he got up, she kicked him down again, and again, and again. Leanne's hands gripped tightly at the railings, unable to believe what she saw as Pumyra beat Lion-O again and again. Her eyes began to fill with tears at the sight of it.
"I refuse to fight you." Lion-O said.
"Then you will die!" Pumyra kicked him down again, "Stay down and I might end this mercifully!" Lion-O did no such thing, and got up again, holding his side where she had kicked him. "…Very well. You can suffer as your people did!" She punched him down again, and the crowd booed the fight, wanting Lion-O to fight back.
Leanne turned to Dobo, her eyes filled with unshed tears, "That's enough! Make it stop!"
"The fight has yet to end." Dobo said, keeping his eyes on the stadium.
"Does he have to be punished for what you think I did?!" Panthro asked him.
"Should I be the only one, old pal?" Dobo spat out, "When you ran, you didn't just leave me behind. You left behind all the enemies we had made together. I had to stand alone against that bloodthirsty horde."
"I ran because I learned my fight the next day was a death match!" Panthro said.
"So? It wouldn't have been your first." Dobo scoffed.
"It was going to be between you and me." Panthro said. Dobo's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but then narrowed as he looked at him.
"You were afraid you couldn't beat me?" Dobo asked.
"No…I was afraid I'd have to." Panthro replied.
Dobo's eyes widened again.
Below in the stadium, Pumyra kicked Lion-O down again and he tumbled along the ground. Once he stopped, he began to push himself up with shaking arms, but stopped when two stones were fired at him. They missed him by just a hair. He looked up at Pumyra, and saw she held the string of her bow taut. She was breathing heavily with the effort she had put into this fight.
"Why do you keep getting up?!" She growled out.
Lion-O pushed himself to his feet with a groan, "I said I'd stand by you…" He panted out, "And I intend to." Pumyra still held the bow taut, looking at Lion-O with wide, disbelieving eyes. Everyone in the crowd watched on the edge of their seat, waiting to see Pumyra deliver the final blow. Leanne's knuckles turned white because she was gripping the railing so tightly, keeping her eyes on Pumyra. After a moment, Pumyra opened her hand, but not to loose the stone, but to drop it. She tucked the bow away into the band on her wrist, and she turned to the balcony where Dobo stood.
"I will not kill my king, Dobo!" She shouted up to him.
"And I will not hurt a fellow Cat!" Lion-O shouted as well.
Dobo looked at the two and said, "The penalty for forfeiting is death." They both nodded in acceptance to it, but the crowd booed his choice. Soon a chant began to come out of the crowd, shouting 'Let them live! Let them live! Let them live!' Dobo let a small grin come onto his face and he turned to Panthro, "It seems loyalty is not only a trait of the dogs." He turned back to the two of them and spoke loudly so his voice would be heard over the crowd, "You have earned my respect! You both leave this arena as free Cats." The crowd cheered wildly at his choice. The two of them headed for the exit, and Leanne was the first one to leave the balcony.
She dashed down the stairs as quickly as she could and headed straight for the door where they would be coming out. Once Lion-O, who was thoroughly bruised and beaten, came into view, she ran at him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He grunted in pain and she pulled back.
"Sorry…" she said quietly, she looked over his arms, gently moving her hand along his fur and hissed in sympathy, "You're really beat up."
"I'll be okay. I've been through worse." Lion-O said, she looked up at him, and for the first time since their argument, their eyes met. Lion-O was surprised to see Leanne's eyes were filled with tears. He began to reach out to dry them, but stopped and pulled his hand back as she wiped her eyes on her own.
"I'm sorry I hit you." She said, sniffing a little.
"I'm sorry I brought up the… incident." Lion-O replied.
"I'm sorry I called you an idiot." Leanne said.
"I'm sorry I called you a coward." Lion-O said.
"I'm sorry I mocked your leadership as king." Leanne said.
"I'm sorry I was so stubborn." Lion-O said.
Leanne let a small smirk onto her face, "You should be." She looked over at Pumyra, "But, in the end, it was for the better." Lion-O smiled at her, and she smiled back. "We should bandage you up." She put her hand on his arm, but Pumyra grabbed his other one.
"Allow me." She said, surprising them both, "It's the least I can do after what I've done." Lion-O nodded and let her pull him out of Leanne's grasp and out of The Pit, where the others waited. Leanne stood still for a moment, her skin missing the feel of Lion-O's fur on her palm, but she shook it off and followed them out to the village, where they went to the tank and got some medical supplies for Lion-O.
Leanne stood with the others on the side of the tank as Pumyra began to wrap the bandages around Lion-O's arm.
"Maybe you know how to act like a king after all." She said softly to him, giving him an apologetic smile. Lion-O returned it, but it dropped as he became more serious.
"You said you were among other Cat slaves. Where?" He asked.
"A mining operation, there," She pointed off to a high mountain in the distance, "In Mount Plun-Darr." Lion-O's eyes narrowed at the mountain, and he got up, walking over to the others.
"Panthro, set our course for Mount Plun-Darr." He said.
"What?" Panthro looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Pumyra said it's where the other Cats are." Lion-O said, "We need to hurry and free them. I don't want them to suffer any more than they have already." Panthro watched him, seeing the determination in his eyes, and nodded.
"I'll get the engines warmed up." He said, heading into the tank.
"What about the kittens?" Leanne asked.
"They'll be safer here." Lion-O said, "And they haven't shown up all day. I'm sure they're having a good time here." Leanne was quiet, but she nodded in agreement with him. Lion-O watched her carefully, "You don't have to come with us if you don't want to. You can look after the kittens." Leanne shook her head.
"No, I want to come." She said, she looked up at Lion-O, "The humans once made the mistake of enslaving more of our own species, just because their skin was a different color than ours. I don't think the Cats should go through that." Lion-O smiled gently at her, and she returned it, "Just as you stand by your people, I'll stand by you."
"I'm glad to hear that." Lion-O said, placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently, before moving into the tank. Leanne watched him leave with a small smile, but as she watched Pumyra walk into the tank, her golden eyes watched Leanne carefully, and her smile fell, wondering just why Pumyra was looking at her so strangely.
Lucas groaned as he walked down the hallways of Mumm-Ra's temple, rubbing his eyes. He hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately. After watching an entire day of Kanar and Atticus… 'training' the troops, he had every right to have a few nightmares. But recently, his lack of sleep had been getting worse and worse. He was sure it was just because of the new generals scaring the living hell out of him, but still… He couldn't help but feel his body wasn't comfortable being around so much dark magic. It seemed to ooze out of the walls and ventilation shafts, giving the entire place the horrible smell of death and destruction, although that might have been there long before he came.
He jumped when a lizard soldier suddenly rounded a corner and bowed to him, as Mumm-Ra dictated they do to those above them. Technically, Lucas wasn't above them, but since he spent so much time around the generals, they assumed he was.
"Oh God," He groaned, "Get up." He pulled the lizard up, "Do you need something from me?"
"Yes, sir." The lizard hissed, "Mumm-Ra is calling for a meeting with all the generals."
"I'm not a general, I'm not going." Lucas snapped at the soldier before brushing past him.
"He has specifically asked for you to attend." The soldier said. Lucas stopped walking and sighed.
He turned back to the soldier and raised an eyebrow at him, when the soldier did nothing, Lucas made a waving gesture with his hands. "Well, come on then! Aren't you supposed to escort me or some bullocks like that?" The soldier jumped and began to lead the way for Lucas as they moved down the hallways to Mumm-Ra's throne room. Already there was Kanar, Atticus, and Slithe, who all watched him walk into the room, taking a sit beside Slithe. He looked up at them, seeing as how all but Mumm-Ra stared at him, and he growled out, "The hell're you lot lookin' at?!"
"Calm yourself, Lucas." Mumm-Ra rasped at him, Lucas looked at the wrinkled demon and sighed.
"Why am I here?" He asked.
"I have called this meeting to discuss our next plan of action." Mumm-Ra raised his hands over what he had told Lucas was 'The Well of Souls' and they saw a picture of a mountain against a stormy horizon, with a dragon skeleton resting on the side, its body pierced with the strange red crystals that seemed to penetrate all parts of the mountain, "This is Mount Plun-Darr. It is where my most powerful weapon waits." He looked up at his generals, "There is a group of rats trying to take it from its resting place. We are going there to retrieve my sword from their filthy claws and bring it back into my hands. My generals, you are to lead my legions to the mountain and prepare for battle." He waved his hand again, and Lucas's eyes widened when he saw the Thunder Tank rolling across the terrain. "The ThunderCats are already on their way. They will try to take it." He looked up at them, "You are going to stop them."
Kanar let out an eager laugh, and Atticus grinned maliciously, Slithe looked up at his master and nodded, a small grin coming onto his face, "With pleasure, My Lord." He hissed out.
"Am I going with them?" Lucas asked, wondering if this was why he was summoned.
"No," Slithe said, "You are to remain here and watch over the temple. You are to find any soldiers who stay behind and punish them." Lucas inwardly winced at the thought of dealing out 'punishment' to the lizards.
"With all due respect, My Lord," Lucas began, "I don't believe I have the authority to dole out the punishment you desire." He waved at Kanar and Atticus, "Why not let them do it upon your return?"
"Because I am now giving you the authority you require." Mumm-Ra said, Lucas's eyes suddenly snapped wide and he looked to Mumm-Ra in shock, "Welcome to our army, General Lucas."
Tada! Chapter 25!
I wanted to hurry up and post this because 9/29 is my b-day! ^_^
Anyway, I hope you like it!