28
Lucas yawned as he walked down the hallway of Mumm-Ra's temple. He was still losing sleep, and it was getting… well, tiresome. He wanted to stop waking up in the middle of the night because of nightmares. He wanted to stop feeling so uncomfortable in the temple. He also wanted to stop interacting with Kanar and Atticus, but there was nothing he could do about that. The first two he could do something about.
Now, he had to endure the soldiers calling him 'General Lucas' and bowing to him, treating him with the same respect and fear that they did to the other generals.
He hated it.
He just wanted to leave, but how could he? He needed to gain a lot more magical power if he was ever going to help Elizabeth.
He paused for a moment as he passed by Mumm-Ra's throne room. He looked to see him standing in front of the Well of Souls. He moved carefully to the side of the door to make sure Mumm-Ra didn't see him as he did… whatever it was he was doing.
Mumm-Ra's hands moved over the Well of Souls to show the ThunderCats camp, "You lost the Sword of Plun-Darr, Lion-O." He said, "A fatal blow." Mumm-Ra let the corners of his mouth turn upwards into a malicious grin, "And with the ashes of the demon Sycorax," Mumm-Ra pulled out a container and poured the ashes inside it into the Well of Souls, "I will transform myself into the instrument of your final destruction." Once the remains had been poured in, Mumm-Ra stepped into the well and began to speak, "Ancient Spirits of Evil, I call upon you to resurrect this titan and imbue it with my soul!" He raised his hands, his fingers glowing with magical power as the eyes of the statues around him changed to a bright red. Bolts of red lightning shot out and surrounded the well, and Mumm-Ra's form began to change to that of a huge monster. Lucas backed away from the door as he saw this display of magic, his eyes wide. He moved all the way to the other side of the hallway, his back hitting the wall. He stared at the door as he heard the roar of the beast Mumm-Ra had turned into, and he ran from the door, heading straight to the only place he felt somewhat comfortable in the temple, and that was in the room he had been given. Lucas quickly shut the door behind him as he heard the huge footsteps of Mumm-Ra shake the entire building.
Lucas's heart was pounding. He felt as if he were in a nightmare again, but this was real.
He knew about the magic that allowed things like resurrection. He knew they were dark magic, never to be attempted by a novice, but only by the most advanced of warlocks and witches, and even then it was forbidden. The dead should not be brought back, whether they've been dead for a day, a year, or a million years. The consequences of such actions could be incredibly dangerous, including the possibility of causing a zombie apocalypse.
"This is…" Lucas slid down the wall to the floor, his eyes still wide as he stared at the floor without really seeing it, "This is wrong…" He reached up and threaded his fingers through his hair, "This is so, so wrong." Now he realized just what side of the war he had joined. Mumm-Ra wanted order in the universe, which meant there couldn't be a chance for things to be out of order. There could be no emotions, which meant no joy, no happiness, no laughter, no love, no compassion, nothing. The other side of the war was fighting so they could have that.
This wasn't the right side.
Leanne looked up at the sky as it changed from orange to a lovely purple. They had just started to set up camp for the night, and everyone had been assigned various jobs. Leanne had finished hers, which was foraging for some food to eat to go along with the rations they were supplied with. She had found various berries that looked good enough so she took that back. Now, she was just lying on the ground, staring up at the darkening sky as the sun sank beyond the horizon and the second moon started to rise.
She heard rustling and soon saw Cheetara's face blocking her view of the sky. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"Relaxing." Leanne said.
Cheetara's face moved out of the way and Leanne looked to her side when she saw her sit down beside her, "Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead." Leanne said. She looked back up at the sky, and Cheetara did the same from where she sat. After a moment of quiet, she said, "Can I ask you something, Cheetara?"
"Of course." Cheetara replied.
"Do you think it was a good idea to bring Pumyra with us?" Leanne asked. Her hand went to the Jewel of Omens around her neck, remembering how many times it had told her that Pumyra was lying.
"Well, she certainly is helping us in our mission." Cheetara said, "So, yes, I think it was a good idea." Leanne let out a small hum, "Do you think it was a good idea?"
"…At first." Leanne said after a moment, "But now… I'm not so sure. There's something off about her Cheetara, and I'm not sure what it is, but I don't trust her."
"I'm sure you'll trust her over time." Cheetara said.
"…Maybe." Leanne replied. She sat up, and looked around the camp, seeing that only she and Cheetara were the only ones outside the tank, "Where's Lion-O?"
"I don't know." Cheetara stood up and Leanne followed her, stretching out her limbs as they walked over to the Thunder Tank, where Panthro and Tygra were just coming out. "Has anyone seen Lion-O and Pumyra?"
"He invited her to the woods to, uh, 'collect firewood'." Panthro said, a knowing look on his face.
"The poor kid's only setting himself up to get shot down." Tygra said, shaking his head. Leanne frowned and looked away from them, trying not to let her unhappiness about the idea of Pumyra and Lion-O alone together show on her face.
"Pumyra isn't exactly the friendliest Cat…" Cheetara said.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." Tygra said dismissively, "It's not like it could be any worse than the times when he and Leanne went to get firewood…" He trailed off, noticing that Leanne was still standing near them. She looked up at him, raising a curious eyebrow, "Um… never mind."
"You can finish whatever you were going to say." Leanne said, "It's no big deal. I'm over it." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Uh… I forgot what I was going to say. Excuse me." Tygra walked away from the group just as Lion-O and Pumyra were returning with the firewood. "Gah! What the—?!" He stared at Pumyra, whose head had swelled up to almost twice its size, her face was very puffed up, and it looked like she was squinting almost.
Everyone else looked over to see the same thing and stared at Pumyra with wide eyes. She noticed their stares and growled out, "What?"
"What happened to your face?" Leanne asked.
Pumyra turned to Lion-O with a scowl, "'You can barely tell' my foot!" She stormed off, heading into the Thunder Tank. The others all looked at Lion-O, who held up his hands defensively.
"What?" He asked.
"Do I want to know how that happened?" Leanne asked, pointing at where Pumyra had just stormed off.
"He probably gave her a poisonous flower or something." Tygra said with a chuckle.
"S-Shut up!" Lion-O said, walking after Pumyra to try and talk to her. Leanne watched the two of them interacting and frowned, still remembering how many times the Jewel of Omens had called Pumyra on her lies. She looked down at the little red stone, thinking about what she should do. From what she could tell, she was the only one that knew Pumyra was lying. No one else doubted her, and Leanne didn't want to doubt her, but the Jewel of Omens wasn't going to let that slide. It was trying to warn her, as it always did, but Leanne just wanted to know what she was lying about. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe she just made up a little story so she could be more readily accepted. Maybe she had a bad past she didn't want to talk about and was trying to cover it up.
I bet if I talk to Pumyra, I can get this all sorted out. Leanne thought, she looked up at where Lion-O was still talking to her and sighed, feeling a little alone.
Because she was still angry with Lion-O for… whatever it was he had done, Pumyra had chosen to eat her dinner away from him and by herself. She sat next to the Thunder Tank, eating her portion of food. Her swollen head looked up when she saw someone getting closer and Leanne gave her a small, friendly smile, holding up her food.
"Mind if I join you?" Leanne asked.
Pumyra shrugged, "I don't see why not." Leanne sat down next to her, both of them eating some of their dinner. The silence between them was very long. Leanne wasn't sure if she should just outright call Pumyra on her lies, or try and just talk to her about it. What made it worse was the fact that she couldn't look her in the eyes because she was pretty sure Pumyra knew how she felt about Lion-O, or… used to feel. No, she still had feelings for him. There was no point in denying that.
"So… did you want to talk or… something?" Pumyra asked after a long and awkward moment of silence.
"What? Oh, yeah, um," Leanne cleared her throat, "I was… wondering if I could… ask you about your past."
Pumyra tensed a little but she still said, "What do you want to know?"
"Just… the basics." Leanne said, "You know, how long you were in slavery, a little thingy or two that happened while you were there, etcetera." Pumyra quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Why do you want to know that?" She asked.
"Just… to confirm a couple of things." Leanne said vaguely, "So, if you would…" She made a gesture for her to speak. Pumyra shrugged.
"There's not much to say." She said, "I was in slavery for a few months…"
"Lies." Leanne heard in her ear.
"The only thing good that happened while I was there was when I escaped…"
"Lies."
"And then I was in The Pit for a while." She took a bite of her food. "You know the rest from there."
"Um… yeah…" Leanne said unsurely, "There's… more to it, though, right?"
"What do you mean?" Pumyra asked.
"Well… I just, um…" Leanne wasn't sure if she should call her bluff, "I just… get the feeling that you're lying to me."
"Why would I lie?!" Pumyra asked, insulted, "I have no reason to lie to any of you! I'm here to make sure Mumm-Ra goes down like he should!"
"Lies." The voice whispered again.
"Yeah, um, I'm still getting the feeling that you're lying." Leanne said, not making eye-contact with her. "So, if you could just, you know, tell the truth…"
Pumyra stood up angrily, "I'm not lying!"
"Lies."
"Look, if you don't trust me, just say it already!" She growled.
"It's not that I don't trust you!" Leanne said quickly, standing up as well, "I'm trying to, anyway. I want to believe you, Pumyra, but I just get this feeling that you're lying and—"
"I'm not lying!" She snapped.
"Lies."
"I'm just trying to clear some things up!" Leanne said.
"Well, I think you cleared up some things, alright." Pumyra growled, "You don't trust me, and you don't think I have what it takes for this mission. I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm on this mission, I'm part of this team, and if you don't like it, then maybe you should go back where you came from!" She grabbed the remains of her food and stomped away from Leanne, who sighed.
"That didn't go half as well as I hoped it would." She muttered. She plopped down where she had been sitting a moment ago. She ate the remainder of her dinner in silence. She looked up at the sky, gazing at the three moons and sighed. Just what was she supposed to do now?
The next day, Pumyra's facial swelling had gone down a little bit, but not much. She wouldn't look at Leanne while they traveled in the tank, and when she did it was with a glare. Leanne felt a little guilty for what she had done, but if she was going to stick to her story, then she had no choice but to believe she was some kind of threat. She glanced over at Lion-O, who was trying to distract Pumyra by talking to her about something Leanne couldn't hear. She would have to tell him that she was lying. He was the leader, he could decide what would happen from there. Who knows? He might just get her to tell the truth.
After a while, Panthro pointed out that there was someone on the side of the road with their tire blown off. The tank rolled to a stop near the little man and his vehicle that was pulled by some kind of giant caterpillar.
"Need a hand?" Panthro asked him.
"And who can I thank for coming to a poor wallow's rescue?" The man asked. Leanne got a better look at him to see the man was very short, about four foot one. His fur was white with his age, and he had little laugh lines across his face. Leanne couldn't help but notice he only had four fingers on his hand, not five. Lion-O came forward, about to tell him who they were, and then the man caught sight of Pumyra's swollen noggin and let out a surprised yelp.
"What?" Pumyra snapped.
"Never seen a head that big." The man said.
"Lion-O!" Pumyra growled, glaring at him.
"Worry not. It's nothing a bottle of Ponzi's Miracle Elixir won't take care of." The man said, reaching into his coat and pulling out a bottle of bluish liquid. "Guaranteed to make all your problems disappear!"
"I definitely have a few problems I could use disappearing." Lion-O, taking the bottle. He glanced at Pumyra, and she frowned, crossing her arms and turning away from him, "I'll take it." He handed the man a few shillings and he stuck them in his pocket as Panthro went over to his vehicle, looking at where the wheel had fallen off. He held it up as Ponzi rolled the wheel back over to start reattaching it. After they started working, Leanne got Lion-O's attention.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked. Lion-O nodded and the pair walked over to the other side of the Thunder Tank where they could have a little privacy, "Lion-O, I don't think it was such a good idea to bring Pumyra with us."
"Why not?" Lion-O asked, "I think she's doing really well here."
"It's not because of that." Leanne said, her hand went to the Jewel of Omens, "Whenever Pumyra talks about her past, the jewel keeps going off. It's telling me she's lying. I thought, you know, maybe there was just some little thing she was trying to hide, like something she was ashamed of or something, so I tried to talk to her about it last night. She just kept lying to me."
"You think she's a liar?" Lion-O asked.
"I know she is." Leanne replied, "I think it's best if we just not take her with us anymore." Lion-O's eyes narrowed.
"Wait a minute… I get it now. I see what this is about." He said.
"You… You do?" Leanne asked, confused as to why he was taking such a suspicious tone with her.
"You want Pumyra gone because you're jealous of me spending time with her!" Lion-O said.
Leanne's eyes widened incredulously, "Jealous? You think I'm jealous of Pumyra?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like an impossible idea." Lion-O said.
"Don't flatter yourself, Lion-O." Leanne scoffed, "We already broke up, and I'm over it. I have no desire whatsoever to get back together with you."
That wasn't a response Lion-O was expecting, "Well—good! Because— I don't want to get back together with you either." There was a hiss of a whisper in Leanne's ear, but after all the whispers she had heard from talking to Pumyra, she ignored it.
"Good to know we're on the same page." Leanne said, "But I'm serious about this, Lion-O. She's lying about something. I don't like the idea any more than you do, but she is."
"Maybe she's not." Lion-O said.
Leanne looked at him dubiously, "Lion-O, the Jewel of Omens wouldn't lie about someone."
"No, but you would." Lion-O said. Leanne's eyes widened.
"You think I'm lying to you?" She asked.
"It just proves my point about you being jealous about Pumyra." Lion-O said.
"I'm not jealous." Leanne spat out.
"Then why are you making such a big deal about this?" Lion-O asked.
"Because I don't want something to happen to us!" Leanne said.
"I thought you said you don't want to get back together." Lion-O said, sounding a little smug.
"I meant us as a group, you idiot!" Leanne snapped.
"Don't call me an idiot!" Lion-O snapped back.
"Well what would you like me to call you? Stupid? Ignorant? Moron?"
"Leanne—"
"There's also imbecile, dumbass, dumbs**t—"
"Enough!"
Leanne stopped, looking at him with a scowl. "Pumyra stays. She wants to help us, and I'm going to let her. I don't care what your reasoning is, she's staying."
Leanne scowled and was about to snap something at him again, but she stopped herself and tried to calm down, not wanting to shout at him like she had done in Dog City, "Fine. But when I turn out to be right, I expect a serious apology!"
"Like you're going to get one." Lion-O scoffed. He walked away from her and she glared at his back as she walked around the other side of the Thunder Tank, going over to where Panthro had just finished fixing Ponzi's wheel.
"There," He said, screwing in the last bolt. "That should hold."
"Thank you, my feline friends!" Ponzi said, tipping his hat to them, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way." He hopped up onto the driver's seat of his vehicle, "Somewhere out there is a town filled with poor, tired souls in dire need of rejuvenation! Onward, Lucy!" He picked up a long stick, and at first Leanne thought he was going to whip the giant caterpillar thing, but it just placed a leaf on a string in front of her face. She let out a joyous squeal and charged forward towards it, going down the path Ponzi wanted her to go on.
"There goes one strange life form." Panthro said as he zoomed off.
Lion-O reached into his pocket and pulled out Ponzi's Miracle Elixir, uncorking it and holding it out to Pumyra. She glared at it as best she could with her swollen face.
"Don't even think about using that on me!" She snapped.
"It might work." Lion-O said, Pumyra turned away and Lion-O curiously sniffed the stuff inside the bottle. With a grimace, he pulled away from it, "Or not."
The ground beneath their feet rumbled, and everyone looked around.
"That can't be good." Tygra muttered as another one came.
Something hit the top of a nearby cliff, making rocks fall to the ground in a huge dust cloud. They couldn't see what was coming towards them, but they could tell that it was big.
"What is that?" Leanne asked, looking at the creature as the dust began to clear. The creature raised its head and she was amazed to see it looked something like a T-Rex, only with a protective shielding made of bones on its head and along its spine.
"I am the last thing you'll see before you're torn to pieces!" A familiar voice roared out of the creature.
"Mumm-Ra…" Lion-O growled as everyone got ready to attack.
The huge Mumm-Ra swung his tail, throwing boulders at the group, which they were all able to avoid easily enough. They all spread out as Panthro ran to the Thunder Tank to get the heavy artillery. The creature swung his tail along the ground, trying to squash them with it, and they all avoided it again by diving to the ground or jumping above it. Panthro rolled up with the Thunder Tank, firing a huge barrage of missiles at it. Each one struck the creature with a huge explosion, but once the smoke cleared they saw it was still standing.
"Those missiles didn't even leave a scratch!" Tygra exclaimed.
"In this form, I will not tire, I will not break, and I will not stop until you are destroyed!" Mumm-Ra shouted at them before letting out a huge roar that had Leanne covering her ears. There was a certain screeching to it that caused her pain to hear. Panthro drove the tank, planning to try and run over the beast, but it used its tail to knock it out of the way. With a swift turn, it blew back Cheetara and Pumyra. Tygra tried to stop it by using his whip, to wrap around the creature's claws. Mumm-Ra only used that to his advantage and pulled Tygra up and into the air, throwing him back down to the ground. Leanne tried to stop it using the earth below her, shooting boulders at him, but the creature's hard skin was unaffected by her efforts and she found herself being blown back by his tail, tumbling onto the earth.
Mumm-Ra turned to Lion-O, knocking a group of boulders to him with the tail, and he used the Sword of Omens to slash through each one before they had a chance to hit. Mumm-Ra tried to hit him with the tail like he did with the others, but he avoided it. He raised his sword and let out a battle cry, a red beam shooting out of the Eye of Thundera and hitting the creature straight in the face. Like the missiles, it didn't do anything to stop him, and the creature's arm reached out and grabbed Lion-O, picking him up.
"You have taken your last breath Lord of the ThunderCats!" Mumm-Ra's voice roared out. Lion-O struggled in the creature's iron grip, trying to find a way to reach his sword, but his arms were pinned. In his struggling, the elixir he had bought fell from his pocket and smashed on the ground, letting out a strangely colored mist that covered Mumm-Ra and Lion-O. To him, it just smelled as nasty as it did when it was in the bottle, but it had a completely different effect on the creature Mumm-Ra had possessed. It dropped Lion-O, letting him run back to the others and out of the way as it fell to the ground, unconscious. It took everyone a moment to realize that he was out and they were safe.
"How'd you do that?" Cheetara asked, looking up at the creature.
"It wasn't me." Lion-O said, "It was Ponzi's 'Miracle Elixir'."
"You mean if it wasn't for that crackpot's potion, we'd all be dead?" Panthro asked as he walked up to where the beast was lying, rapping his metal knuckles against its nose.
"I have a feeling the effects are only temporary." Leanne said, she looked at Panthro.
"Then we'd better get our paws on more of that elixir before this thing wakes up." Tygra said. Everyone quickly filed into the tank and took off, heading down the path that Ponzi had gone down only a little while ago.
It didn't take them very long to catch up with him. Just when they were getting close to him, Ponzi saw that they were following him. Instead of slowing down like they had hoped he would do when he saw them, he started going faster.
"Why is he running?" Tygra asked when he saw this.
"I don't know." Cheetara said, "But we have to get that elixir!"
"Panthro, after that wagon." Lion-O commanded, "I'm gonna try and signal him." He went over to the tanks opening and called out to Ponzi, telling him to stop while waving his sword. He just kept going, making no sign of stopping, even as he approached a very curvy road filled with many hairpin turns. He just kept speeding up. They were able to follow him in the Thunder Tank, although they came close to falling over the edge on a couple of the turns. Ponzi wasn't so fortunate, and he fell over the edge and below, taking his giant caterpillar with him. The tank rolled up beside where his carriage had fallen from the road and looked to see him helping Lucy get back on her many feet as a strangely colored mist floated up from the broken bottles of his elixir.
"Ponzi!" Lion-O shouted at him.
"Stay back!" Ponzi shouted back quickly, "It's right there on the warning label! Unwanted body hair, facial tics, and explosive gas!" Leanne's eyebrow quirked up at the unusual list. Had his 'Miracle Elixir' done that to some poor soul?
"We're not after you." Lion-O said.
"…You don't wanna string me up?" Ponzi asked, a little surprised by Lion-O's words.
"No, we need your help." Tygra said.
"We're kinda being hunted by a giant monster, and your elixir is the only thing that seems to stop him." Leanne said.
"My elixir…?" Ponzi echoed, he smiled brightly and quickly said, "Of course! My elixir! Didn't I tell you it would solve your problems? Rickets, warts, giant monsters…!" He turned to Lucy, "Remind me to add that to the label." He turned back to the Cats, "Unfortunately, I have suffered a serious shortfall in my supply." He gestured to the broken bottles on the ground.
"That was everything?" Pumyra asked, her swelling having finally gone down after the battle with the beast.
"Never fear!" Ponzi said, "Ponzi's Miracle Elixir is distilled from the leaf of the rare and beautiful kara-kara tree. We shall travel to the hidden spring, where the only kara-kara tree in existence flourishes! There, I shall," Under his breath he added, "For a very reasonable price, brew up a fresh batch in no time!"
"That's good." Lion-O said, "Because no time is about all the time we have."
"Where is this spring?" Cheetara asked.
"Just down this road, it won't take but a day." Ponzi said, pointing down the path they had just been on.
Panthro helped Ponzi to attach his vehicle onto the Thunder Tank, which contained the thing he used to brew his potions, and so he would have a way to travel after he had finished making the potions they wanted.
After a long day of riding in the Thunder Tank, Panthro found some flat land for them to make camp for the night. He went to work tending to the damages that Ponzi's carriage had sustained in the fall while the others got to work on everything else. Once it was done, everyone started to relax a little as they prepared for the rest of the evening. Leanne was warming herself up by the fire, as was Pumyra. Neither girl looked at each other, neither spoke to one another. It was very awkward for the both of them. Leanne tried to distract herself from it by looking through her Nana's journal, and Pumyra focused her attention on the bow that was implanted in her cuffs.
Lion-O stood behind a tree a few yards away, looking at Pumyra. Why was it so hard to get her attention? He hadn't completely dismissed the idea that he could be in a relationship with her, but he wasn't sure he could even do that. He had tried to get on her good side before, and ended up giving her balloon-head for an entire day from a poisonous flower. It had never been this hard to get with Leanne. He glanced over at where she sat on the other side of the fire pit, flipping through her grandmother's diary. He had to admit, he missed being with her. He had tried to put it behind him, but he couldn't help it. They were travelling together, so he saw her all the time, and he had to cooperate with her in order to use the Sword of Omens' sight beyond sight (Which he had been avoiding using because he doesn't want there to be an awkward moment between them).
"You like her, don't you?" Lion-O jumped and turned around to see Ponzi standing behind him with a knowing smile, and Lucy standing behind him.
"W-What?" He asked in surprise.
"That puma girl." He said, pointing to Pumyra, "I've seen the way you eye her."
"Oh." Lion-O said, "No, I mean— Yes, I mean—" He sighed, "It's… useless. She lives with such passion and strength. I've never met anyone like her."
"Then you need to tell her how you feel." Ponzi said.
Lion-O scoffed, "I'm sure she's the kind of girl that's into 'feelings'." He said, he looked away, "And, it's a bit more complicated than that."
Ponzi only smiled, "Lucy," he turned to his caterpillar, "Our affection-challenged friend needs our help." Lucy let out a happy squeak as Ponzi reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle that held a pink liquid, "Ponzi's Love Potion, guaranteed to soften even the hardest heart." Lion-O took the potion from him, looking at the liquid, then looking over at the cup that was by Pumyra.
It couldn't hurt to try, Lion-O thought. He snuck over and poured the potion into the cup, ducking down to hide as Tygra came over to the fire.
"Boy, am I thirsty. Leanne, can I have some of your water?" He asked. Leanne looked up at him.
"My ration for the day is already empty. Sorry." She said, "But I'm a little thirsty, too." Tygra shrugged and went over to Pumyra's up and picked it up, taking a few sips from it.
Lion-O gasped and shouted, "Stop! That's Pumyra's!" Just as Tygra finished off the beverage.
"Whoops. Now it's all gone." Tygra replied with a smirk.
"I'm not even thirsty." Pumyra said with an indifferent shrug. Lion-O swiped the cup out of his brother's hands, shaking it to see if there was any love potion left in there, and there wasn't. He looked over at Tygra to see his fur stand on end for a moment before he relaxed a little.
"You feeling okay, Tygra?" Lion-O asked him.
"I don't tell you enough, but…" Tygra went over to Lion-O and hugged him, "You're the bestest little brother a big brother ever had!"
Leanne's jaw dropped and she looked at Tygra with wide eyes.
"Oh, what did I just do…?" Lion-O groaned to himself.
Tygra suddenly pulled away, shouting "Oh my gosh!" and ran over to another part of the camp, picking up something that was on the ground. His suddenly cry had caught the attention of the others and they all looked at him curiously as he looked at whatever he was holding, "Aw, he's so cute!" He turned and showed them that he had picked up a little green worm, "Isn't he adorable?" Everyone looked at him oddly.
"What is wrong with you?" Panthro asked him, voicing everyone's thoughts at Tygra's sudden mood swing.
"Why nothing, you silly goose!" Tygra replied cheerily. Leanne looked at him in disbelief.
"Did you just call Panthro a silly goose?" Cheetara asked.
Tygra only smiled as he came over to Lion-O's side, putting an arm around his little brother's shoulders. Lion-O smacked his forehead and said, "It's hopeless." As Tygra kissed the little worm on its head.
Leanne bent down to where Pumyra's canteen was, looking over it before looking over at her, "What did you put in here?"
"I just put water in there!" Pumyra snapped, "Nothing more!" Leanne let out a suspicious hum but didn't say anything else.
The next morning, everyone had packed up all their things, and Panthro noticed that Leanne hadn't even moved from her sleeping bag.
"She better not be sick again…" Panthro muttered as he walked over to the sleeping bag. He shook Leanne's shoulder, "Lee, get up. We have to get moving." Leanne groaned and turned over in her sleeping bag, getting more comfortable. Panthro rolled his eyes, "We don't have time for this, Leanne." He went over to the end of the sleeping bag and yanked it up, effectively throwing her out of the bag with a surprised yelp.
Instead of Leanne falling out however, it was a grey and black striped ThunderCat with black hair like Leanne's, and a striped tail. She groaned, scowling a little at Panthro.
"Okay, I'm up." She said, standing, not seeing how everyone was staring at her.
Meow was the first thought that came to Lion-O's mind when he saw her. The next thought was, Wait, where's Leanne?
After a moment, she saw how they all stared at her and she turned to the others, planting her hands on her hips, "What?"
"Leanne?" Panthro asked in surprise.
She turned to him, "Yeah, who else?" When her question was met with silence, she looked around her to see if Tygra had done something when she had fallen asleep, but saw that everything around her was fine. She looked back at the others, "What are you all staring at?"
"Leanne… you're…" Cheetara tried to tell her, but the words were lost.
"What?" Leanne asked, "Is there something on my face?" She reached up and touched her cheeks, her eyes widening when she felt soft fur on her palms. "What in…?" She felt the rest of her head, finding that where there had been skin, there was now fur. "What?" She stood up, looking over the rest of her body, seeing that she had turned into some kind of tabby cat, complete with a striped tail. With shaking hands, she reached up to find that her ears had become more pointed, like the ears of a ThunderCat. "…What in God's name was in that water?!"
Leanne looked over her new furry appearance in a mirror that Ponzi had somewhere on his carriage. She couldn't believe this. She had turned into a ThunderCat. She remembered that there was ThunderCat blood hidden in her somewhere, but still, she never expected something like this to happen.
"This is just plain weird." She said, her tail wiggled a little. She grabbed it and yelled, "You do not belong on me!"
"Suck it up. Looks like you're stuck with it until whatever this is wears off." Panthro said.
Leanne pouted and looked at herself in the mirror, "I look like a freak."
"Don't say that, Leanne." Tygra said to her, "You look pretty! You're a very lovely ThunderCat."
"Gee, thanks." Leanne said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "I suddenly feel so much better now."
"I'm glad!" Tygra said, giving her a hug. Leanne scowled and pushed him away.
"I think Tygra's right." Cheetara said, "You make a beautiful ThunderCat."
"But I'm not supposed to be a ThunderCat." Leanne said, looking at herself in the mirror, "I'm supposed to be a human. A semi-normal human with the ability to perform magic and junk." She paused, "…Okay, maybe that's not so normal, but still!" She looked over at Lion-O, "I know you had something to do with this."
Lion-O looked at her incredulously, "Why do you assume it was me?!"
"Because you flipped out when Tygra and I drank from some of Pumyra's canteen." Leanne said.
"I had nothing to do with this." Lion-O said.
"Lies." A voice whispered in Leanne's ear. She sighed.
"Who's the liar now?" She muttered to herself, but she didn't say anything to Lion-O about it. They were already plenty mad at each other, they didn't need to have another argument.
As she looked over her new fur, so did Lion-O. He had never pictured Leanne as a ThunderCat, but now that he was seeing her as one, he had to admit, she was beautiful. She may not have liked her new appearance, but he certainly did.
"Well, let's just hurry and get over to the tree." Panthro said, picking up the mirror that Leanne was using and sticking it back on Ponzi's newly-repaired carriage. "We can worry about your problem later." Leanne nodded and everyone got in the Thunder Tank, following Ponzi as he led them to the kara-kara tree.
It didn't take them very long to get there, seeing as they had made a majority of the trip the previous day.
"There it is!" Ponzi said when they arrived, "The kara-kara tree!"
"It's… so… beautiful!" Tygra said.
"Oh, brother." Panthro groaned, "It's like having to babysit another cub!"
"How many leaves do you need, Ponzi?" Lion-O asked.
"If that creature is as big as you say…" Ponzi said, thinking for a moment, "All of them."
Lion-O turned back to the others, "Alright, everyone. You heard him. Let's get busy."
"What about him?" Pumyra asked, looking over at where Tygra was sniffing a bunch of flowers.
"Just leave him." Lion-O said with an indifferent shrug. He seriously doubted Tygra would get into any trouble while they worked.
After getting some sacks to hold all the leaves they picked, everyone started climbing up the tree. As they did, Leanne noticed how easy it was for her to be able to climb. In her new ThunderCat form, she was able to use her claws to hang on to the tree bark easier, and she was able to do the same with the claws on her feet, so she kicked off her shoes and quickly climbed up, bypassing everyone else. She smiled when she got to the top, resting on one of the branches.
"Is this how it is for you guys to climb?" She asked, "It's so much easier than when I normally climb." She flexed the fingers on her hand, looking at her new claws, "These are very handy."
"I didn't realize it was such a challenge for you." Cheetara said. Leanne shrugged.
"I guess I'm just getting used to this." She said, she reached up and started collecting the leaves at the top of the tree.
The others started as well, some of the leaves going into the sacks they had brought up with them, and others falling to the ground in a big pile. They moved around from branch to branch to collect all of them.
Eventually, Leanne got to where she was picking leaves beside Lion-O, and he looked over at her. Even in her new cat form, he knew she was still the same Leanne from before. The same Leanne who wasn't so quick to judge him for his small mistakes, the one who cared about him from the beginning, and the one he had fallen in love with at the beginning. Why did he want to separate in the first place? It seemed like such a long time ago, the reason had slipped from his memory.
"Leanne, can we talk?" He asked. She looked over at him with a frown.
"I thought you didn't want to talk to me." She said.
He sighed, "You're mad at me."
"Gee, I wonder why?" Leanne said in a very sarcastic tone.
"Look," Lion-O moved a little closer to the branch she was sitting on, "I want to talk about us."
"Okay. Talk." Leanne said, not looking at him.
"I think I made a mistake." Lion-O said. Leanne looked at him curiously. "I… I want us to be together again."
"Lion-O…" Leanne breathed. Where was this coming from all of a sudden? "I…"
"I want to say I'm sorry for all the grief I caused you." Lion-O said, "I know that a lot of things that happened to you are my fault, and I know that I was a real jerk to you sometimes." He gave her a small, hopeful smile.
Leanne looked at him for a moment, surprised to hear this coming from him. What had brought this on? Had he been thinking about this a lot? Deep down, there was a part of her that wanted to be together with him again, but another part of her was afraid to try again. She didn't want to be hurt again, and this seemed to be a good fix so far as it hadn't caused any gigantic problems. On top of that, he had been trying to flirt with Pumyra since she had joined them. But yesterday, he had said that he didn't want to get back together with her, so why was he saying this now?
And then she realized she had been turned into a Cat only this morning. She frowned when she thought that Lion-O wanted to be with her because she was a Cat. If he had thought her attractive when she was human, he probably thought she was more attractive when she was like this. He was only interested in her physical appearance. She turned away from him.
"No, I… No." She focused on getting the leaves, "Look, I just…" She sighed, "No. We need to focus on this right now, okay?"
Lion-O's hopeful smile vanished as he watched her return her attention to the leaves, her new tail twitching back and forth occasionally. With a solemn frown, he went back to work as well. His thoughts filled with all kinds of questions as he worked, wondering why she would turn him down, and every time he came up with the same answer: She didn't feel the same as he did anymore.
The group kept working to get all the leaves down, and within a few hours the tree had been picked clean, all of the leaves sitting in one large pile in front of Ponzi's brewer machine.
"There. That's all of them." Lion-O said.
"Perfect!" Ponzi said, "In a short time, you will have gallons of Ponzi's Miracle Elixir at your disposal!" He looked over at Lion-O and saw that he wasn't even paying attention to the brewer as it boiled up the water in preparation for the work, "I thought you would be happier about this."
"It's… not that." Lion-O said, looking at the ground. Ponzi looked over at where Pumyra was sitting, Leanne not too far away, looking through her newly-found fur for… something. He wasn't sure what.
"More lady problems?" Ponzi asked.
"Something like that." Lion-O replied.
"Have you tried being yourself?" Ponzi asked. Lion-O looked up and was going to answer him, when he looked back and saw that Ponzi's caterpillar was chowing down on the leaves with gusto.
"No!" He exclaimed, yelling at her to stop.
"Heh, you're probably right." Ponzi said, a little surprised at Lion-O's reaction, "That never works for me, either."
Lion-O pointed behind Ponzi, "No, I mean no!" Ponzi looked back and gasped when he saw that Lucy was finishing off the last of the leaves.
"Lucy! Bad girl!" Ponzi snapped, running over to her as she swallowed her mouthful, "Oh, you selfish, thoughtless bug! We needed those leaves!" Lucy hung her head and started crawling away, heading up the tree with little squeaks and coos of sadness, "Wait! Lucy! Come back!" Ponzi ran to the trunk of the tree as she headed up to the very top. "I'm sorry! Aw, I didn't mean it! Please come down!" Lucy refused to do so and grabbed onto a branch at the top of the huge tree.
"She'll be okay." Cheetara assured him. It wasn't like there was anything that could eat Lucy while she was up there.
Everyone jumped a little when they felt the ground rumbling beneath them and they looked back to see a small silhouette of Mumm-Ra and his new monstrous form in the distance.
"Can't say the same about us." Pumyra muttered.
Leanne noticed that Tygra wasn't where they had left him and she looked around to see him chasing some sort of insect, waving his arms in the air and laughing like an idiot. "Oi vey…" She muttered, putting her palm against her forehead.
Panthro looked through his scope at where Mumm-Ra was coming from and scowled, "This might get ugly." Without the elixir, there was a good chance Mumm-Ra might actually kill them.
Ponzi snapped his fingers as if he had just realized something, and went over to some of the remaining parts that had broken off of his brewer. "Perhaps not." He pulled up a rod that had one of the leaves attached to it on a string.
"One leaf?!" Lion-O asked incredulously.
"It… may not produce gallons, but it might just make enough to help you subdue that beast!" Ponzi said.
Lion-O shared a glance with the others, wondering if this was their best option. They all gave a general consensus and Lion-O looked back at the wallow, "We'll keep him occupied as long as we can." He said.
Everyone dashed towards the oncoming beast as Ponzi headed over to his brewer, hastily throwing the leaf in. Mumm-Ra let out a roar as he came closer to them.
"Your long overdue end has arrived!" He shouted through the monster's mouth. Lion-O took out his sword, letting out his battle cry as they all ran to attack him. Mumm-Ra brought up his claw and tried to bring it down on Cheetara, but she was quick to avoid it. She held her staff, using its power to extend and let it grow over Mumm-Ra's mouth, trapping it shut. She tried to make sure it stayed that way, but the beast's jaws were too strong and it broke through the wood. He opened his mouth and shot out a beam of purple lightning, and she ran away from it. Leanne ran towards Mumm-Ra, fire enclosing around her fists. She shot a huge fire ball at his feet, but it didn't leave so much as a blemish on the beast's tough skin. It roared and shot another bolt of lightning at her, and she managed to bring up some boulders to protect herself from it. The creature slammed its tail down on the ground, making something of a crater in the earth. Panthro took advantage of its low level and started to run up its length, planning to get to Mumm-Ra's head. He saw Panthro running up the tail, and flung him in the air a far distance from him.
It was at this moment that Tygra decided he should put his word in and ran up to Mumm-Ra shouting, "Instead of fighting, let's talk about our feelings!" Mumm-Ra roared and knocked him away with his claw.
Pumyra used her bow to try and get him down, but it didn't do anything against the thick skin. "In addition to invulnerability," Mumm-Ra growled, "This form gives me something much more powerful!" He slammed his foot down and snapped his jaw, "An appetite!" He roared and went after Pumyra, backing her up against a rock.
"Pumyra!" Lion-O cried, running to her side and jumping up, using the power of the Sword of Omens to generate lightning that pushed Mumm-Ra back while Pumyra managed to get out of the line of fire of the huge monster.
Panthro came back to the group in the Thunder Tank, barreling towards Mumm-Ra. "It's like I always say," His voice came from the tank, "If you can't beat 'em, run 'em over!" He headed straight for Mumm-Ra and rammed into his foot. He let out a cry of pain and fell back a step, knocking against the kara-kara tree, where Lucy had cocooned herself at the top. A muffled cry came from it as the force from Mumm-Ra's push disconnected her from the tree branches, and she fell to the ground.
As Mumm-Ra took a moment to regain his bearings, Pumyra ran over to Lion-O, planting a kiss on his cheek. "That was impressive." She said. Lion-O grinned a little, glad that he was able to get Pumyra's attention. The grin fell when he looked up and saw that Mumm-Ra was closing in on them. He let out a roar just as Ponzi called out to him.
"Lion-O! Catch!" He shouted, and threw a bottle of his just-finished elixir to him. He grabbed it and threw it at Mumm-Ra. The potion made direct contact with his skin, and a huge mist rose up from the bottle breaking. Everyone was still as they waited for the reaction. When the mist cleared, they saw the beast was still standing, and he roared at them in anger.
"It didn't work!" Leanne shouted at Ponzi, who was pressing his fingers together nervously.
"Er… bad batch! It happens." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
Mumm-Ra roared again, "There is no escape!" Everyone got in fighting positions, ready to fight this monster to the death, but before Mumm-Ra had a chance to attack, something flew at him out of nowhere, and knocked him down. The new creature that had come to them flew up in the air, circling around, letting out loud coos as it rounded back to Mumm-Ra. As it came a little closer, they could see it was something like a giant butterfly.
"Lucy!" Ponzi cried joyously.
"That's Lucy?!" Panthro asked, pointing to the huge butterfly.
"She's transmuted!" Ponzi said, "No wonder she had such an appetite!" Lucy flew directly to Mumm-Ra's face, latching on with her new legs and moving her wings around him.
"What's she doing?!" Lion-O asked.
"She's supercharged with Miracle Elixir!" Ponzi said. A bright green glow came from the center of Lucy's new body, shining brightly as she struggled with Mumm-Ra. The glow became brighter and brighter, covering Mumm-Ra's entire body. When she lifted her wings, the monster had become trapped inside a gigantic green crystal, and when she flew off of it, it shattered into a thousand pieces. A puff of purple smoke came from the remaining crystal, and a crow flew out of it.
"I shall return, ThunderCats!" Mumm-Ra cawed as he flew away. Before anyone had a chance to go after him, the bird was already out of sight.
"Lucy took that beast down!" Ponzi said happily as she fluttered down beside her master, cooing happily.
As the day went on, Panthro managed to fix the last parts of Ponzi's vehicle, and Leanne's skin was starting to shed the fur it had grown. She was filled with relief when she realized that whatever had happened to her was starting to wear off and she predicted that she would be returned to normal by morning.
As the sun began to set on the horizon, Ponzi situated himself on his vehicle, Lucy beside him with ropes attached to her six legs.
"Sure you don't want to come with us?" Lion-O asked.
"Thank you, but Lucy and I have a business to rebuild." Ponzi said. Lucy let out a coo of agreement.
"Good luck, Ponzi." Lion-O said.
"And good luck to you, my feline friend!" Ponzi said, he winked at him, "With everything." Lion-O let out a small, embarrassed chuckle, while Leanne and Pumyra quirked curious eyebrows at him. "Fly like the wind, Lucy!" She did so with a happy cry, flying up into the air, taking Ponzi and his brewer with her. As they flew away, Ponzi waved goodbye to them, and they returned the gesture.
A groan was heard and they looked to see Tygra approaching them with a deep scowl on his face.
"How you feeling?" Lion-O asked.
"Like you look." Tygra growled.
"Then everything's back to normal." Lion-O said in relief.
"It will be soon, anyway." Leanne said, scratching her arm, causing more of her grey fur to shed.
Merry Christmas! And any other holiday you happen to celebrate today! Here's my gift to you: The long-awaited chapter!
I'd like to thank loltroll22 for his insight on this chapter, and the idea of turning Leanne into a ThunderCat was his idea. I hope it's worth the wait!
Also, when Lucy was fighting Mumm-Ra, was anyone else thinking of Godzilla versus Mothra?