Chapter XVIII
Wiley Kit screamed as she felt her feet left the ground. Fear shot through her as the wind whipped around her drowning her cry for help. She squeezed her eyes shut as an image flashed through her mind. Just as she thought it must be the end she felt an iron grip grasp her thin wrist. Her eyes snapped open, to see a very different image than the one she had imagined. Once again backlit by the sun she saw flaming hair and sea blue eyes.
Lion-o easily pulled WileyKit to him; she clenched his shirt in her tiny hands and buried her head in his chest as she willed her heart to stop pounding and the fear to leave her.
"You okay?" WileyKit released his shirt at his words and allowed herself to be set back down a good distance from the cliffs edge.
"Yeah, thanks." Kit murmured embarrassed.
"This is the second time now isn't it?" Lion-o smiled trying to lighten her mood, but it only mortified her even more and she could feel her face burning. She was always getting into trouble and needing saving, wasn't she?
"Kit!" WileyKat was between her and Lion-o in seconds clearly giving Lion-o the message that he was no longer needed. The message was received. WileyKit's eyes followed Lion-o as he walked towards Panthera. "Kit?" WileyKat asked, "Why are you blushing?" His tone seemed almost accusatory to her ears, but maybe it was just her own embarrassment. She could not be crushing on Lion-o again! But then she wondered whether she had ever really stopped.
"I'm not blushing!" Kit replied hotly turning away from Kat quickly. Kat's jaw clenched and he balled his fists as he followed Kit's line of sight.
"Is she okay?" Panthera asked as Lion-o approached the group. Lion-o nodded.
"Right, so the amulet identified that," Tygra pointed at one of the tornados, "as the location of the temple. I'll pilot the Plun-Darr, we'll get this 'treasure,' and then defeat Mumm-Rah." Tygra summarized the group's plan.
Lion-o directed Panthro to wait with the troops as there wasn't enough room for them all to go, and Tygra started up the Plunn-Darr.
WileyKit started walking towards the mech when WileyKat grabbed her arm holding her back.
"You guys coming?" Tygra called out.
"We'll stay here with Panthro, it'll be less crowded," Kat said nodding towards the Plun-Darr. Tygra called out an 'alright', before the mech's chest slid shut with a bang sealing him, Cheetara, Panthera, and Lion-o within the mech.
They heard the revving of the engines and the hiss of air as the Plun-Darr slowly began to rise off the ground. In seconds the mech's speed shot up and it darted out into the sea of tornados. On the far end from the cliffs, that was when Kit whirled on Kat teeth bared and claws out.
"What do you mean 'we'll stay here'?" Kit hissed. "What you think I'll just be falling off cliffs the whole time?"
"You know that's not why." Kat said forcefully, grasping her arm and pulling her away from the troops who had started looking over at them and their budding argument.
"I'm not always getting into trouble," Kit said miserably.
"That's not it, Kit," Kat mumbled.
"Then why?" Kit looked up at him a mixture of hurt and anger. She wanted to feel like a part of the Thundercats' team and not just some kind of tag along or sidekick, which is exactly what she felt like the majority of the time.
"Because I didn't want you near Lion-o." Kat sighed. Kit felt her chest tighten, but she wanted him to explain regardless of the feelings in the pit of her stomach. "I saw the way you were looking at him Kit, just like before. He saved your life… twice now. I just don't want your feelings for him to develop…"At the realization of his own words he hastily added: "I just don't want you to get hurt, I mean he and Panthera seem to be…" he trailed off scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"I do like him though, maybe I do even have feelings for him…" Kit said softly, Kat turned to walk away but Kit stopped him by grabbing his hand in both of hers. "But Kat, he's not who I was thinking about when I thought I was going to die." Kat looked at her questioningly. She opened her mouth, but nothing would come out.
"Why have you never told me Kat?" Kit asked suddenly. "Why haven't you ever said it?" She couldn't help but wonder why she herself had never been able to. Kat could hear the tinge of sadness in her voice.
"Said what?" Kat answered back, but he knew what she meant. Kit hesitated, but then seemed to make some sort of decision; she seemed to have formed some kind of resolve.
"Why haven't you ever told me that you loved me?" Kat was absolutely speechless and he could feel his face turning crimson. "I know you do Kat, so why haven't you ever said it?" She sounded almost hurt. Kat covered his face with his free hand and mumbled something incoherent. "What?"
"I was afraid of what you'd say…" Kat repeated from behind his hand. Kit pulled his hand away from his face and did the last thing Kat expected. She kissed him square on the lips. He was so shocked he didn't even have time to appreciate it before she pulled away.
"Well, I love you too." Kit smiled up at him at the still frozen Kat.
"You..." Kat stuttered.
"I"
"…love me?"
"Love you." Kit's wily grin made his heart thump. "And I think it's about time we finally said it. Which remind me, how long am I going to have to wait for you?" Kit asked coyly. Kat couldn't believe how much she seemed to be enjoying this. But he felt so happy he didn't really mind just then. Kat smiled and cradled her head in his hands.
"WileyKit, I love you," he whispered. And then he kissed her.
OooooooO
"It's still crowded in here even without the kits," Tygra muttered under his breath, annoyed. The immense turbulence had sent Lion-o careening right into his brother, his elbow having knocked the wind right out of him.
Tygra continued to maneuver the Plun-Darr through the storm of tornados, the mech shaking and whining dangerously in the powerful winds.
"This thing, or mech, will hold together right?" Cheetara asked just as the wind currents shook the Plun-Darr like a toddler's rattle. Tygra answered with a sound indicating something between a yes and a no. "Tygra?"
Instead of answering her with an 'I sure hope so', Tygra pushed the mech to full speed sending his three passengers flying against the back of the compartment. Between the sounds of the mech being pushed to it's limit and the deafening outside wind from the tornados Tygra could barely hear any of the comments his teammates were making. With a lurch the Plun-Darr practically crashed onto the floating island within the tornado.
"Nice flying." Lion-o murmured sarcastically. Tygra rolled his eyes in response and looked back at his passengers who while not too pleased with the shaky ride and crash-landing, were all still in one piece.
Tygra opened the mech and powered down the systems. The sound of the wind was still audible but from within the eye of the tornado everything seemed calm and silent.
"There it is." Lion-o followed Cheetara's gaze and saw the Temple.
Its age was evident in the decay. Most sections of the round temple had lost the marble covering on the bricks and what marble did remain was stained with dirt and time. But despite its crumbling exterior it was still impressive. Standing forty-three meters tall with an impressive triangular portico supported by fourteen highly decorated Corinthian columns still covered in the deep green marble they had been originally coated with. Finely etched letters were elegantly engraved on the front of the portico written in the ancient language, and while Lion-o could not read the inscription fully he recognized a name within the writing: Leo I. Finally two solid iron doors at least ten times his size stood imposingly before him, the seal of Thundera was painted imposingly across the doors.
Lion-o led the way towards the temple, Tygra, Cheetara, and Panthera following silently behind him all of them a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size and impact of the temple. As they approached Lion-o noticed a lock in the center of the door. Looking down at his gauntlet, which the berbils had called a key, he placed it onto his hand and fit it into the lock. Lion-o could feel his own mana being drawn out of him and flowing out through the gauntlet and into the door. The door glowed white and with a hiss of air and the sound of the scrapping of rusted metal the door opened. Lion-o gasped.
The interior of the temple was circular in shape, huge and daunting. Ornately decorated, almost gaudy in places. Ruby red, sapphire blue, emerald green, and every other bright, but now age faded, colors laced the interior. Complex mosaics depicting the rule of Leo I from his rise to the throne after his overthrow of Mumm-Rah up to his death covered the floor in circular rings starting from the outside and moving towards the center. The walls were coated in fading frescos showing Leo I and his rise to power, from his birth to his war against Mumm-Rah, however much of the frescos were badly faded and damaged making them nigh impossible to decipher. The impossibly high ceiling was frescoed with a scene of the night sky, the most famous constellations practically glowing above them.
But that wasn't even the most impressive part. There were no torches or electric lights, instead in the very center of the very top of the ceiling was a large perfectly round hole allowing the natural light of the sun to fill the temple. Illuminating the most beautiful thing Lion-o had ever seen. It was the treasure.
Kneeling in the center of the room directly below the circle of light was a snow-white mech. Golden armor shined blindingly giving the mech an artificial yellow-white heavenly glow. The seal of Leo I, and indeed of Thundera, graced the breastplate glowing deep red with mana. The eyes too glowed red as though the beautiful beast were actually alive.
Cheetara shivered, she'd never seen mana that red before, nor had she ever seen mana flowing through any non-organic being.
In its right hand the mech held a colossal sword, it's sharp tip balancing on the floor of the temple, looking at it there was no doubt that the sword was almost an exact copy of the Sword of Omens. Lion-o could see an indent within the massive sword in the shape of its earthly counterpart.
Lion-o was awe struck. He swallowed and took a step forward into the temple. Making his way towards the mech Lion-o stopped before it and looked up into it's glowing eyes. It crossed his mind that maybe he should be afraid as this seemingly living mech stared him down seemingly looking straight into his very soul, but he wasn't.
"Lion-o." His heart thudded at the sound of his own name. Rather he felt it more than heard it. None of his comrades had made any indication that any of them had heard it.
Reaching out with his gauntlet-covered hand he traced the seal. A series of locks clicked and shifted opening the chest cavity; the compressed air hissed as it left the mech's pressurized chest and the smell of steel and mana assaulted Lion-o's senses. The cockpit was smaller than the Plun-Darr's; there was certainly no extra storage room for passengers.
Without a seconds thought Lion-o climbed into the pilot's chair, ignoring the hesitant calls from his comrades, and placed his hands into the controls. When the gauntlet slid into its place Lion-o felt a rush of power as the mana within the mech suddenly surrounded him. It was a strange but not unpleasant sensation, as the mech's mana appeared to be testing his energy, searching for something. Apparently it found what it was looking for, as the systems came to life. The chest slid closed noiselessly and there was a whisper of air as the compartment pressurized. Lion-o could feel the mana pulsing around him, and indeed the system drawing upon his own mana as well. Multiple holographic screens sprung to life, giving the cabin a light blue glow, the displays showed outside camera angles, and a myriad of other controls and options. Lion-o noticed, though he expected it he was still disappointed and annoyed, that everything was written in the ancient language.
He felt a sudden surge of mana around him. Lion-o bristled slightly as it seemed to mold around him. The mana seemed familiar, as it pulsed he realized why: it was almost exactly like his own. Before Lion-o had a chance to do anything with the controls the screens suddenly cleared and seemed to merge into one huge screen. Words began to be typed onto the holograph in front of him. The words were in ancient but Lion-o could guess their meaning, as the mech seemed to be introducing itself, Lion-o smiled at its name: Thundera.
"Lion-o?" Tygra's voice suddenly filled the cockpit, and it was then that he noticed that there was silence all around him. Unlike in the Plun-Darr where the sound of the engines and other systems were constant background noise the Thundara was soundless. The screens reverted back and Lion-o messed around with the menus until he found a word that looked similar to the one in the Plun-Darr that controlled the communication systems.
"Tygra?" Lion-o answered tentatively.
"So I guess this means you can pilot this one huh?" The camera screen before Lion-o showed him Tygra's teasing smirk and Lion-o grinned back, even though he knew Tygra couldn't see it.
"I guess I can."
"We should head back then" Cheetara suggested shifting uncomfortably, unable to look away from the glowing red mana eyes of the Thundera.
"Great, I'll ride down with Lion-o, so it'll be less crowded in the Plun-Darr," Panthera nodded.
"That's going to be a problem. There's no passenger room in here" Lion-o wished there had been even a little extra room, he really wouldn't mind being in a tight enclosure with Panthera but he did need to be able to pilot the Thundera down from the temple.
"Oh," Panthera replied flatly. "Alright then." Lion-o sighed as he watched his three comrades get back into the Plun-Darr.
Lion-o tested some of the controls; standing the Thundera up to it's impressive full height, and sheathing its massive sword. Carefully Lion-o piloted the mech forward out the massive temple door. Tygra already had the Plun-Darr floating above the ground ready for the trip back. Flipping through the menu screens Lion-o looked in vain for any option that resembled the Plun-Darr's flight systems.
"Problems?" Tygra's voice echoed over the communication systems.
"I can't find the flight systems." Lion-o answered still scanning the menus and options.
"Too bad we don't have WileyKat to 'help'." Tygra joked.
Lion-o growled in frustration, as there didn't seem to be anything that looked even vaguely like the flight systems. He had begun to press the different options at random and hadn't found anything remotely like what he was looking for. In fact Lion-o noticed that all the menu options seemed to be for changing the camera angles or other menial tasks. He hadn't seen anything resembling a weapons system or any other higher functions.
The Thundara was supposed to be an advanced mech, an ultimate weapon, and yet it didn't seem to have any of the important functions. It was hidden in a tornado on a floating island it had to have a flight system, otherwise how did they get it into the temple to begin with?
"Can we use the Plun-Darr to get it down?" Cheetara asked, her voice crystal clear over the Thundara's communication systems.
"That might be the fastest option," Panthera agreed. "But will it hold the weight?"
"It should," Tygra sighed, not happy with the turn of events. The Plun-Darr was already heavily damaged and despite the few repairs the berbils had already made it was still in no condition for heavy labor or combat.
Lion-o maneuvered the Thundera onto the Plun-Darr's back and together they took off, granted at a much slower pace than previously. Once again Lion-o noted a difference between the two mechs, within the Thundara Lon-o felt almost no turbulence despite the violent outside winds.
As they wound their way through the maze of tornados Lion-o felt something. The Thundera itself seemed to be sensing something. He could feel the Thundera's mana shifting, sliding against his own, acting as though it wanted to merge with his, as though it were trying to tell him something.
With a thump the two mechs landed back on the cliffs edge. But something was wrong.
Cheetara gasped in horror. Lion-o saw it too, displayed all across his camera screen were the ripped and shredded bodies of their comrades. Blood was everywhere, hot and red staining the ground. Limbs were severed and bodies were riddled with bullet and laser holes.
The Plun-Darr's chamber opened and Cheetara practically leapt out of the cavity swiftly followed by Panthera. The scent of iron and death was thick in the air making both of them cringe. Panthera visibly flinched at the sight of the bodies, not because she wasn't use to the battlefield but because those bodies, that still had heads, had their faces contorted in such sickeningly horrific expressions as though they had been horribly tortured before finally being granted the mercy of death. These were their comrades, her men, and now they were dead.
Glancing all around the atrocious carnage they looked for WileyKat, WilyKit and Panthro.
"Panthro!" Panthera called. It was the first time Lion-o had heard such fear in her voice, or seen such abject fright in her beautiful face.
In a way Cheetara was glad to not find WileyKit, WileyKat, or Panthro in the massacre, but on the other hand she was anxious to know where they were. She noticed there were no berbils among the dead either. Then she felt it. Momentarily she was shocked she hadn't noticed it earlier, until she realized it had been masked. There were mana signatures all around them.
The area in front of them that had seemed to be bare suddenly shifted, wavered like a mirage before revealing Mumm-Rah in his new mech, which he had taken from the berbil city, and his troops. They had used some sort of cloaking device.
Mumm-Rah was the only one piloting a mech, but it was as frightening to look at as if there had been a hundred mechs before them. Momentarily the question of why the berbils would build such a chilling metal beast flitted through Lion-o's mind. Obsidian black with blood red armor Mumm-Rah's mech stood as tall as the Thundara. Mana the color of death flowed through the mech, but Lion-o could tell that the mana's source was Mumm-Rah himself and that the mech was simply a shell unlike the Thundera, which pulsed with life. A great laser sword was sheathed on the back of the threatening creature.
For a moment all the Thundercats were frozen in place. Plun-Darr's chest cavity slid shut just as Tygra began his attack. But without an active weapons system Mumm-Rah easily deflected him sending him crashing to the ground. That was all the Plun-Darr seemed to be able to take, after a few seconds of trying to get it back to it's feet Tygra drew his gun and exited the mech.
Cheetara immediately drew on the mana source but as soon as she touched it pain shot through her, she fell to her knees with a scream.
"Cheetara!" Tygra rushed to her side kneeling next to her as she gripped her head in pain.
"So it's been you, hmm?" Mumm-Rah sounded amused as his voice boomed from the mech.
"Where's my brother!" Panthera growled gun-sword drawn, teeth and claws bared. Mumm-Rah didn't even give her a second glance as he swept her aside with one smooth motion of his mech's arm.
Lion-o scrolled through the menus with inhuman speed searching once again for any kind of weapons system, finding none he drew the Thundera's massive sword.
"You think you can wield that, boy?" Mumm-Rah sneered. "You don't even know what it is." His hiss sent the hairs on the back of Lion-o neck straight up.
Lifting the mech's arm, in a split second Mumm-Rah shot off multiple rounds of laser blasts towards Lion-o. Lion-o blocked them with the sword but the force from the shots pushed the Thundara back towards the edge of the cliff. The mana flowed around Lion-o asking something of him, the problem was Lion-o didn't know what it wanted.
"Lion-o!" Panthera and Tygra's cries barley registered.
Before Lion-o had a chance to move Mumm-Rah shot another round and Lion-o felt as he left the cliff behind. The Thundara fell backwards off the cliff and began plummeting towards the icy jagged rocks below.
Lion-o knew he should be afraid, he was about to die after all, but he wasn't.
AooooooN
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