Chapter XX
There was nowhere to run and no place to hide that he could not find. Mumm-Rah knew this, so he felt no discontent when Tygra fled. How strange, after so long, to find another who bore his flesh so neatly and carried a trait that his own personalized mech recognized that other as it's master.
It was a strange and thrilling feeling. He had failed with Leo, his first son, perhaps he was too new to parenthood to realize what was necessary as a father. A strange coiling smile warped Mumm-Rah's face as he walked. News had been brought that the resistance groups were banded together and launching their attack on his stronghold. Strange, but ultimately fruitless, they would not win for he could not die and therefore never lose.
The wraith of what was once a man approached the metal behemoth the gleaming black and steel of the Everlasting. The belly of the beast hissed open and he mounted to the pit within limbs seizing onto the controls. The effortless activation set a whirring sound as the mechanical structure came to life.
Mumm-Rah reached out separately and felt the pounding pulse of the mana stream filling him. He pulled and bent that energy, a thousand lives and voices that roiled and screamed to deafened ears. The same new life that circulated through him he channeled through the metal construct reinforcing its deadly purpose. How fitting that his newest acquisition should bear his own name.
Mumm-Rah the Everlasting took to the field. None would fell this immortal shell.
OoooooooooooooooO
All around the stone of the citadel came crashing down. Weapons fired in bursts of light and the roar of several species filled the air. "Back inside!" it was impossible to tell which of the three gave the harsh command as they rushed back through the doors swinging shut behind them. Outside the sound of crushed stone, gunfire, and soldiers bellowed.
"We need to find our weapons!" Panthera declared looking around the open corridor and attached hall. "If I remember the layout of most forts correctly they would have stored our gear on the opposite hall to where we were held."
As she spoke she took off retracing their steps back toward the dungeon. As they went the sounds of soldiers on adjacent paths and the boom from cannons and blasted rock could be heard. They stopped short as the lights ahead flickered and the hurried clanking of armor came from ahead.
"We'll go around, it connects on the other side," Tygra said, rerouting them through side corridor. Their pace grew faster with their urgency.
"How do you know?" Cheetara asked, momentarily confused, "Did you come this way before?"
Tygra's hackles rose, but he couldn't bring himself to answer. It would be fine. They would have no reason to go down that hall, to that room. Even if somehow they did Mumm-Rah shouldn't be there now.
"It doesn't matter," Panthera said taking the lead, impatient, as she approached the likely room across from the dungeon hall as they turned back down the first hallway. The door was locked. Panthera looked at Tygra, they nodded. In a movement two pairs of powerful legs crashed against the door. The flimsy rusted lock shattered. The door swung open.
Cheetara entered first. Tygra's gear was set above any others and Cheetara's hands seized on the bolas and firearm. Panthera located her gunblade, mask, and other packetted weapons. She hissed, irritated, when she realized the guards that took hers must have stupidly played with some of her smoke-bombs depleting her supply somewhat. Cheetara handed Tygra's weapons to him as the three turned back towards the door.
"Didn't you have any weapons with you?" Panthera asked, confused that Cheetara was empty handed.
"My best weapon is already disabled. They activated the ansiblars a while ago," she explained, acutely aware of two dual forces blocking the use of her personal mana as well as blocking her access to the planet's energy. "My best bet is to deactivate as many of those as I can so I can at least access my personal mana. Mumm-Rah's still keeping me out of the mana stream."
Tygra grabbed her arm before she could take off without them. "I'm not as useful without the Plun-Darr, our best bet, on the ground in a mech battle, is to stick together." He reasoned.
Then the ground shook. Dust from the ceiling slipped through the cracks and poured in short bursts as the stones were loosened. "I suggest we do that fast and get outside, away from this death trap." Panthera said leading the way out from the dungeon area.
Their initial target was the nearest ansiblar that Cheetara was aware of. A three-man team of lizards were guarding the construct from attack from the lower half of the wall. It was apparent that clerics were among the rebel forces and had a similar plan to dismantle the devices blocking their main weapon. Cheetara and the others had an edge, they were approaching the guards from behind. The ambush worked well disabling the mana disruptors in the small section of the field. Panthera sliced through the device so it could not be easily repaired and reactivated. With the guards gone the rebels were able to scale the walls at the points that Tygra and the other two were taking down.
Below the roar of battle raged and the familiar static sensation of mana began to fill the air as the ansiblars were destroyed. Still the mechs of the enemy advanced. Mumm-Rah's army had been trained more completely in the control and maneuvers that the mechanical constructs were capable of.
Tygra led their charge as they abandoned the falling walls of the fortification. His gun aiming energy blasts at the weak joints and briefly uncovered portions of wiring as the mechs moved to attack. Most stumbled, some fell. Overhead further blasts from mechs, ground weapons, and clerics drowned all sound. Orders, and sometimes warnings, were shouted loudly over the din but often no words were distinguishable.
An enemy mech fell to the ground and a cloud of dust and dirt flew into the air, the cracking quaking sound of the stone covered ground resounded. Rebel soldiers swarmed the mech before it could right itself and continue its assault. Cheetara leapt to the throat and center of the control wire channels. Claws slashed through wire spilling black oil as blood, an animalistic roar erupting as the primal surge of blood and energy filled her. The gunsword swung down to crush through metal severing the still moving limbs as the construct tried to lift itself again.
Tygra went straight for the heart firing his gun through the metal chest until the whole construct fell still. One mech lay fallen and still and five more appeared to take its place. The cleric line advanced, personal mana charging and throwing, pulling and tearing at the advancing metal beasts.
The mech's arms raised the cannons glowing hot and red before firing. A blast of dirt and blood billowed into the air before falling to the ground. Another rebel dead and thousands more that swarmed Mumm-Rah's fortress like spiders.
Tygra whipped around to check again on the group of fallen warriors. Cheetara was not among them, and he had no time to mourn the cleric or the thundercat soldier who he recognized from their journey to the Thundera, though they had spoken several times. He turned back to the battlefield avoiding fire from ground level soldiers, not just lizards, but jackals, and even cats. Tygra launched himself at one such spotted feline, his bolas whipping out at his feet to bring him down. Gun firing to prevent the soldier from rising again, he tried to take in his surroundings.
Cheetara was flanked by a group of the clerics. She was using her mana to head an attack on another mech, leading by example to show the machine's weak points. Tygra also spotted Panthera slashing her gun sword at her closest assailants before drawing the blade straight to shoot down approaching attackers.
Tygra turned to a new enemy and found himself strangely alone in a small open pocket of the battlefield with a mech already bearing down on him. Its shadow falling across the ground and cannon already charged to fire. Tygra bolted toward the mech. The energy cannon missed him but he felt the ground shake all the same, and his steps faltered as he aimed his gun upward as he approached the mech, aiming for any open areas. His steps were shaken by the weapon blast and the shots missed.
As the mech turned next Tygra's gunfire landed uselessly on the outer shielding, abandoning it's weapon and relying on it's speed to bring a colossal metal fist down towards him. Tygra imagined the feel of bones breaking. He had no time to dodge the blow this time. Still he ran, and he fired, as he imagined the broken pile of flesh he might leave behind.
A second shadow moved between the metal monster and Tygra. For a moment he could only stare. It was clearly a mech, but it was so rudimentary and plain it looked nothing like the metal beasts he was so familiar with. A construct of plaster and wood as much as sheeted silver metal it's weapons were haphazard and seemingly affixed after initial construction. It was also smaller.
"Tygra! Are you okay!"
The voice snapped him back to reality as the smaller of the two mechs averted the larger one's blow and darted forward. The smaller one was faster than most and apparently light enough to perform an aerial attack. It did so, launching itself into the air and barreling towards the larger mech, the blow to it's center topping it backwards where the ground soldiers swarmed to attack.
Tygra broke from his daze as he ran after the smaller mech. "WilyKat?" he shouted in disbelief, recognizing the voice but needing confirmation.
"Of course!" WilyKit's voice chimed in from the small maneuverable mech as it quickly moved back towards him, pausing briefly in battle to open the cockpit revealing an odd two-seater arrangement where the controls appeared divided between the two co-pilots. "The berbils let us use it for the attack, pretty great, right?"
"Get in, we'll take you to the Plun-Darr!" WilyKat yelled over the screaming of battle cries and weapon fire. Tygra couldn't hear much but he did make out Plun-Darr and it seemed apparent that he could ride along with the kits if they had it with them.
"You have it?" he asked as he got closer, knowing that the last he had seen of his mech was back at the cliffs where they had gone after the Thundera.
"Yeah, we're really fast in this!" WilyKit told him, "The berbils have it; we can take you to it and head back here in a really short time!"
Tygra turned back to the battlefield briefly. He spotted Cheetara and she was looking at him now, she'd seen the kits as well. She couldn't know what was going on but she smiled at him, and then was off on another charge. Tygra agreed and in moments they were hurtling over the battlefield dodging between volleys of the ground warriors and the many mechs firing weapons and swinging metal limbs capable of massive damage. The battle was in full swing and chaos was everywhere. As yet, no clear victor had emerged.
OoooooooooooooooO
The air was thick with the smell of blood and the ozone and static of energy blasts, gunfire, and mana. The madness mounted, injured warriors charging on and ever more swarming the field as they could, volley upon volley released as the varied hordes reached and were able to enter the fortress through crumbling walls and siege mounts.
Many had fallen and many more still remained standing, breathing, bleeding, sweating, throwing themselves again into the fervid fray and swell. There was the sound of screams, gunfire, stone, bones, steel and steel, guns, animalistic roars and howls and shouted words that were lost in the cacophony that filled the air. Both sides struggled onward and both felt the shift when the jet-black mech tinged in silver took the field. It smelled of death and carried the wraith of all nightmares.
Mumm-Rah had finally taken the field. A massive figure of doom and destruction swept over them, it tore though every opponent and appeared to offer no vulnerability to attack. Each exposed wire and core pulsed with something alive, something stolen, and writhing, from the heart of the earth.
This was around the time that the Plun-Darr entered the field as well. Tygra stood alongside Shen and Rezard, each army leader outfitted by the berbils with their own mech the three saw clearly as the Everlasting moved across the field felling all in it's path.
"We have to take him down here, and now." Shen declared over the com-link, decisive and oddly resigned.
"Can we?" Rezard wondered, examining the wake of damage that Mumm-Rah and the Everlasting painted over the battlefield. Where was Lion-o? How much time did he need with the berbils to enact his master plan?
"Yes." Tygra said, determined, his voice more confident than he felt. But even if all they could do was destroy the mech, they could still win the battle and strike a devastating blow that would set back Mumm-Rah and his armies. Three attacked as one.
The cat, the jackal, and the lizard fell on the dark beast, lunged, slashed, and struck against the metal tearing through wire and striking the structure into the ground. In a moment it might have all been over. Mere moments and these three might have been the heroes of legend.
But Mumm-Rah laughed and the severed wires made no difference. Mana was the life blood of this beast thanks to him, they could sever its arms and destroy its fuel tank and it would still move. From the ground the Everlasting reached out its arms, and duel cannons fired ripping off the jackal mech's armored shoulder plate and nearly severing the lizard mech's arm from it's body.
"What was that?" Shen demanded, outraged, "The cannons have no charge time?"
"I cut the fuel gauge to the weapons systems!" Rezard relayed, anger born of the unknown laced his voice. "How are his offenses still functional?"
A villainous laugh echoed back at their confusion. "You cannot hope to beat me," Mumm-Rah declared, lurching forward, faster than the mech's systems should have allowed. He lashed out knocking one mech backward, and turned to the other. The heavy leg of metal slammed into the second mech's side. The third he reached out and the Plun-Darr systems began to buzz uncomfortably as excess energy was flooded through them frying circuits and downing entire system drives. Tygra attemped to regain control and reroute the power circuit to circumvent the overload! Mumm-Rah's cold voice loomed over them all. "I am Mumm-Rah the Everlasting!"
Tygra froze. There was nothing he could do. Plun-Darr wasn't responding. They would lose this. A blinding blast of white light shot in a clear arc. The Everlasting's hand was still clenched on the Plun-Darr but the energy was gone. The mech's hand was disconnected from the rest of the Everlasting. The unpowered limb dropped to the ground in front of the Plun-Darr.
All turned to see the gold and white shining behemoth. The Thundera, Lion-o, and Tygra couldn't help grinning. Lion-o charged across the ground straight for Mumm-Rah. The Everlasting plucked its hand from the ground and met the lunging blow without resistance. The dark mech careened backward into the wall of the fortress but remained largely undamaged. Mumm-Rah reattached the severed limb, the threads of mana sparking at the joint where the metal reconnected.
Tygra's face fell. Even the Thundera would be useless against the Everlasting! "Are you all okay? Shen, Rezard, Tygra?" Lion-o's voice broke him from his defeatist daze.
"I'm fine. Mech systems still functional." Shen reported.
"My systems are a little fried, but movement and most artillery are still working." Tygra told them, and then to his brother, "Glad you're okay."
"We can still fight," Rezard concurred, "You can take it from here?"
Lion-o did not respond and instead stepped to meet the Everlasting as it came forward, flexing it's reattached limb. The Everlasting moved to fire its cannon at Thundera's head. A golden fist smashed unceremoniously into the dark mech's face.
For a moment all was quiet. Then Mumm-Rah's voice boiled like black ooze reaching out at Lion-o. "You will regret that…" he warned, with a hiss.
"Make me." Lion-o dared, the flight engines roaring to life with a blast of light as he took off from the ground. Enraged the dark mech followed after a similar burst as its engines came online. In a moment two shapes were hurtling up and past the clouds. Tygra could only watch in shock.
OoooooooooooooooO
The kits looked up seeing the two rising streaks in the air. For a moment they were confused before their eyes grew wide as saucers and they looked at each other, something between horror and giddy kind of joy on their faces. "He's going to do that? Really?" Kit wondered aloud.
Kat could only nod, his shock giving way to excitement. "Will he be okay?" Kit asked again somewhat anxious.
"If the berbils okayed it," Kat barely shrugged, still watching the disappearing figures in the sky with wonderment and joy. The feeling was contagious, and Kit along with many others turned their gaze to the sky.
OoooooooooooooooO
Cheetara felt nothing but horror. No wonder, no joy, only a horrible loss as she felt Lion-o, with the mech, moving further away. She couldn't feel his mana signature. It was getting weaker and weaker the higher the mech went in the sky. In moments the shapes had disappeared beyond the clouds. She couldn't feel him at all. His energy was completely gone as if it had never existed!
Then she realized she couldn't feel Mumm-Rah either. He was gone too. She couldn't feel his ever-crushing presence in the mana stream forcing her out. Without hesitation she broke the seal in her mind and entered the mana stream.
She was wrong, Mumm-Rah was still there, but he was so much weaker now. The strong force that had pushed her out before was now too weak to do so. Cheetara steeled herself and set about her task.
OoooooooooooooooO
Panthera didn't know what to think when she saw the two shapes hurtling up into the atmosphere. She knew it was Lion-o and she knew that this was intentional. But she also didn't know how this would all finally end.
No one could and she could only hope along with many others that somehow this would all work to their favor. As for her there were a million things that she was hoping for but for the moment there was only one that seemed important.
She set her jaw eyes locked on the blinding white and gold mech disappearing past the clouds. She breathed and willed for him to hear her whispered prayer. "Don't die."
OoooooooooooooooO
The metal shuddered around him, and where before in flight Lion-o barely felt the outside world, he was keenly aware of the pressure bearing down on the Thundera. He could feel, as though it were his own nerves, the weight of the world pulling back at him as he tore towards its surface. Out and even further out. He ignored the strain and whine of the Thundera in his mind begging him to turn back. He could not. He would not.
Behind him he could still see that Mumm-Rah was following. Angry and insulted, he perceived himself willing and able to put the urchin, who offended, in his proper place. Lion-o had to make it so that Mumm-Rah would not be able to do so. If all went well Cheetara would catch onto his plan. Much rested on her, but it also rested on Lion-o. He would have to finish it. He had to win this fight.
Moments later. Past tearing and rushing, pressure and pulling, beating air and wind, the Thundera finally surfaced. The quiet returned and Lion-o felt again at ease in Thundera's seat. The energy of him and the machine mingled comfortably again. He looked out and inky blackness met his gaze. For a moment it felt cold, alone, and empty. So this was space.
He turned back to face Mumm-Rah. The dark mech came like a shadow from the darkness of the planet. Like a bat from hell, the great metal mech from the inky dark of what could be mistaken for an ugly dead planet. But then the great orb turned and light broke out over the edge.
For a moment the world was bathed in rainbows and then the light spread and revealed a thousand shades of greens and blues streaked with golden mountains. The sun was rising and it was probably one of the most beautiful things Lion-o had seen.
But Mumm-Rah did not see the thing of beauty. He was too focused on Lion-o, too focused on destruction. Lion-o prepared himself as the dark shadow fell on him.
Even though they were off the surface of the planet the pressure behind Mumm-Rah's attack was immense. Lion-o's back thrusters fired furiously to keep himself from being jettisoned outward. The Everlasting propelled itself forward, it's energy cannon warping into a laser weapon, it rained blow after blow upon the Thundera.
Lion-o's vision was flashing red and orange as the Thundera's energy thrust back at Lion-o prompting him to attack. Lion-o had precious little time to react or think of what to do. He knew he had to attack! If only the Thundera had a sword like his!
No sooner had the thought entered his head than he felt a warm weight at his side where on his physical person he knew the Sword of Omens to be. Breaking from Mumm-Rah's latest volley of blows Lion-o reached to the Thundera's side as if to draw his sword. Strange as it was it felt oddly fitting, and expected, that the Thundera drew a sword, similar in form to Mumm-Rah's energy weapon from his cannon.
The Everlasting paused, it's pilot momentarily taken aback by his opponent. Lion-o used that opening. He thrust straight and when Mumm-Rah recovered enough to dodge, Lion-o arced the movement slicing through the Everlasting's previously severed arm. Mumm-Rah sneered and reached out with the mana stream to reattach the limb as before. The detached limb wavered before continuing to spin outward into the black abyss.
For a moment Mumm-Rah balked. Lion-o attacked again, and the old wraith had but moments to block the next attack. He made it in time and glancing down at the planet below them he realized what had happened.
The cold laugh of Mumm-Rah rung loud and clear in Lion-o's ears as the dark one opened the link between them, a simple signal but Thundera and Lion-o received it all the same. "So that's your game," Mumm-Rah was smiling, Lion-o could hear it in his voice, "You think that with that shiny new toy, and by dragging me far enough from the planet and the mana stream, that you can beat me…"
He began chuckling again, and Lion-o felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, Thundera's energy coiled around him comforting and steely but he couldn't ignore the way that laugh made him feel. It was like something he had always recognized and associated with… good, and coming from one so vile it made his heart sick with palpitations.
"I will beat you." Lion-o said, more boldly than he felt, strengthening his resolve. Mumm-Rah only chuckled back at him, as if shaking his head at a small vindictive child.
"No." The wraith told him, a sense of finality in his tone. "Even without the mana stream, and even with the Thundera, you cannot hope to defeat to the Everlasting."
His voice slithered like a disappointed adult, a father dismissing his son, and it raised Lion-o's hackles. Every fiber in his body screamed, whether in rage, discomfort, or oddly enough guilt, he couldn't really tell.
Mumm-Rah's words, no matter what they seemed to say, unsettled him to his very core. "You will not beat me, Lion-o."
OoooooooooooooooO
On the ground the volley of fire continued. Mechs matched to mechs as ground troops swarmed Mumm-Rah's fortress, moving in smaller cohesive groups under strict direction form their cooperating faction leaders. The clerics charged the east side with the larger ground weapons capable of dispatching their mech allies. The lizards scaled the walls taking out the top guard and working slowly but surely deeper into the inner sanctum of the fort.
Tygra and the Plun-Darr led the ground mech assault, moving towards Mumm-Rah's hanger dispatches to keep more enemy mech suits from taking to the field. The smaller mech of wood and mortar as much as light metal and steel swiftly rushing around the field hitting small sectioned off areas of enemy soldiers disrupting their movements for the following teams to take down. Panthro led a ground force around the back exit to keep enemies from trying to double back and attack from the opposite side.
Panthera directed several ground groups to strategic positions that were transmitted by Shen and Rezard as well as other faction leaders. Tygra too reported to her to monitor ground movements and keep their attack plan as up-to-date with the current enemy movement as possible.
Cheetara moved as a great mass of burning energy across the field, her body shaking with the pressure inside her floating bubble, the mass of mana that surrounded her as she struggled to direct it across the field. Allowing the mana stream to flow freely while still maintaining as much control as she could.
There were a thousand voices in her mind and hers had to be the loudest, she could still hear it, and then there would be Tygra that would whisper back to her as the voices tried to drown her out again. More importantly, Mumm-Rah had been successfully expelled from the mana stream.
She could keep him out, if she was wholly connected like this, she could do so as long as he maintained his distance from the planet and the mana source. This was all she could do right now. The rest was up to Lion-o.
OoooooooooooooooO
Above the planet by many leagues, the two titans still faced each other. Lion-o refused to let Mumm-Rah's mind games get to him. It was just his voice, and once he was gone, Lion-o would never have to hear it again. He lunged, back thrusters firing to propel him forward.
The Thundera shot toward the Everlasting, sword raised to attack. The great beast before him barely wavered but in a moment had just side-stepped the swift motion of Thundera's blade.
A cold laugh echoed in Lion-o's ears, Mumm-Rah was amused, and Lion-o's blood felt hot. He turned and swung again, wider this time. The dark shadow shifted again and this time the cannon whip moved too and Lion-o felt the white hot pain as it lashed against the Thundera, burning his own skin.
Mumm-Rah was laughing again, a dark chuckle that slithered in the ear. Lion-o shuddered and turned again, sword raised, to face his enemy. He was losing his cool, and he needed that more than ever if he was going to beat him. He couldn't let himself be so unsettled!
"You don't even understand why you cannot beat me." Mumm-Rah mused, "Shall I tell you?"
"I already know!" Lion-o snarled, lunging forward to strike.
"Do you?" Mumm-Rah wondered, sidestepping the blow and lashing back with his own attack. Lion-o just dodged this one. "Did your brother tell you all about us, then?"
"My brother?" Lion-o asked confused, before catching onto Mumm-Rah's game. "My brother never betrayed me for you! But I know that you created us, the races. I know, despite that, I can beat you!"
"So Tygra didn't tell you?" Mumm-Rah laughed again, and Lion-o felt his skin crawl again, his insides squirming at the sound, because of some primordial familiarity. With what? Mortality, obedience, something Mumm-Rah bred into them, long ago? He had to regain control of his senses! Don't listen to him! He lies!
"You only know a very small piece of the complete reality. Here, perhaps this will allow you to see."
Lion-o moved to attack, to silence the tauntingly familiar and hated voice of his enemy. He stopped short, because he wasn't looking at the cold exterior of the Everlasting anymore, and Mumm-Rah had removed his bandages. For a moment Lion-o swore he was looking at the face of his own dead father. Or Tygra.
Yes, he looked just like Tygra, the facial structure, the bones, that familiar sneer. But the coloring, it was that of his own face. Yet so much smoother, without vestigial fur or claws.
This was Mumm-Rah? "Now do you understand why you cannot beat me?" Mumm-Rah asked, that calm cool voice slithered over him again. Lion-o realized why he felt guilt, why it felt familiar, why that hated voice stirred up so much conflict in him. It was his own voice, the voice of his brother, his father.
"You are..." Lion-o didn't finish his thought. Mumm-Rah smiled then, and for a moment he might have actually looked friendly.
"Yes. I am the father of Leo I, and thereby a many great grandfather to you, and Tygra, and one less great to your own father." Mumm-Rah moved toward him now, and Lion-o couldn't move. "We are family."
Mumm-Rah knew he had won. The fighting light and determination in Lion-o had faded. He was completely still now, the Thundera drifting without purpose. Mumm-Rah allowed himself a triumphant smile. In the end, Lion-o was too much like his first son, the failure and usurper, Leo; he would die here.
Mumm-Rah moved to deal the final blow, and his thoughts turned to the other, Tygra. Now that one was clearly too much like a younger version of himself. But he would have another chance with that, to do it right, and he knew Tygra, at least as well as he knew himself.
This time there would be no problems. There would be no rebellion. His throne would remain as he had intended. But before that, Lion-o, the leader of this last vestiges of Leo's legacy, would end here.
Lion-o was frozen. He had been prepared that Mumm-Rah was their creator, that he had made them, that he might try and say his brother had truly betrayed him once, even if he later returned. He expected slurs against his father, his own abilities, to lead, to pilot Thundera, he hadn't expected something like this. Tygra knew? Tygra knew that they were related to the dark thing of legends and he didn't bother telling him?
No, Tygra wouldn't. Tygra was his big brother, he'd always try to protect him, or maybe there was just never an opportunity, everything had been building so quickly and so steadily toward this moment. Lion-o felt the stab of loss again, it seemed it was already over. No, if he could just move. But it felt like poison in him. He couldn't raise his head, he couldn't meet Mumm-Rah's eyes. They were his eyes, his brother's, his father's, he couldn't look at them and watch life leave them again.
But he will kill you. Thundera's energy wrapped around him, wavering, and warming; it was a warning to move, to attack or run, anything. The greatest mech treasure, the merger of mana and science, and in a moment it was reduced to a whining child begging Lion-o to do something for them. And Lion-o would have to be the one to do it, Thundera could not wield itself. But he had no will. If their whole family died, what was it, but the changing of hands of the same line of kings, wasn't it? It was pointless.
Everything they fought for, died for had no point from the start. Claudus was not murdered in cold blood for an evil creature that would spread death on the earth, but simply the old king returning for his crown, to take back from the usurpers after so many years. It made Lion-o feel sick, and the fact that he was frozen made some sense.
If he died here, what was it but the squash of a rebel, son of the last dynasty failing to take back his stolen crown. Didn't that sort of thing happen in histories all the time? If he died, it wouldn't matter.
"Don't die!"
Who said that? The Thundera's energy still tugged at him, but it was not the great golden mech that had spoken to him. He heard it again, louder, and for a moment a thousand voices rose as one. There were thousands who had staked their lives for him, to aid this battle, to stop Mumm-Rah. Shen, Rezard, Panthro, and so many other lords of their race, the Tuskans, jackals, lizards, cats, dogs, and many others. The berbils threw in their lot with him as well.
The kits, the both of them, had come this far as well. His brother Tygra was down their fighting, and he'd felt Cheetara before he'd left the surface as well. The ones he'd trained with and journeyed with, they were his family, and there was also Panthera.
His life may not matter, but theirs did. If he did die here, at the least he could not fail, he would not fail those that had put their trust in him.
Mumm-Rah nearly stopped as he propelled the Everlasting towards the Thundera, because the air of defeat was gone. He should have acted more quickly, in the future he would not make such mistakes. He fired the thrusters and lunged for the attack.
Lion-o felt his enemy's approach increase and the Thundera fired its engines as well. Two deadly forces sped toward each other. Neither one backing down. The final cut.
The energy of Lion-o and the Thundera mixed, and a buzzing filled the air where it was soundless before. Blue eyes met blue, and this time Lion-o did not falter.
The Sword of Omens burned bright as it was thrust forward. Mumm-Rah's whip sailed through the air, enough drive to sever through to Thundera's core. One weapon of light died and faded before the other. Again space was dark and silent.
The Thundera and Everlasting drifted side by side. The Everlasting and its mana signature had gone dark; there was no more life in it. Black metal was now tinged with red as tiny droplets ran along the edges, some drops detached into the void and floated off to disappear into the dark beyond never to be seen again. Lion-o turned from the empty sight and against rested his eyes on the dawning day of the planet below.
While their fight had raged the planet continued to turn and the light spread eliminating darkness. It struck Lion-o that it was truly gorgeous, and there was nothing but this world and it's inhabitants that was worth protecting.
OoooooooooooooooO
"That's the last of them!"
"Good," Tygra was directing the last of the prisoners from the battle, the ground fight itself appeared to be over. Rezard and Shen had taken to the forest and mountains respectively to capture any remaining stragglers who had escaped during the fight.
Cheetara was returning from the battlefield beyond the fortress walls, the mana that surrounded her forming the giant mass was evaporating, and the humanoid form within did not appear to have strength enough to stand. Tygra ran toward her, the kits got there first, their rudimentary mech capturing her before she could fall to the rough leveled stones below.
"The perimeter has been secured." Panthera reported as she and her brother congregated at the central fort as well, it looked as though Shen, Rezard, and many of the others were returning at well. There was an odd levity to the air as the various soldier groups sent up a muted cheer.
If that was the deciding factor of victory, then they had already won. But if Mumm-Rah were to return, alive, that was a different story; and what of Lion-o? If he were gone, then all that had brought them together to do this much may crumble.
Tygra reached Cheetara's side. "Are you alright?" he asked her first and foremost, checking her over for apparent bruises. She groaned but shook her head; she appeared tired but unhurt.
"We did catch her in time," WilyKat reminded him, "We were careful to be gentle too."
"Connecting with the mana stream so long is probably really tiring though." Kit mused maneuvering the hands and arms so that Tygra could take Cheetara from them.
For a moment Tygra just held her. She was alive, in fact their casualties appeared to be a minimum, and even their enemies had for the most part made it to be captured, or else run for the hills when defeat finally became imminent. At some point the tides of the battle had changed for their favor, and with Mumm-Rah gone for the moment they had overwhelmed the fortress.
"I don't know." Cheetara finally said after a moment.
"What?" Tygra asked, confused.
"You wanted to ask, right?" she wondered, "If we beat Mumm-Rah? If Lion-o's alive?"
Tygra's throat clenched. Of course he wanted to know, needed to know, but he didn't want to ask her, not just yet, she was so strong moments ago surrounded in energy, a destructive force of nature. Now she was drained and lying still in his arms. Besides, there was little they could do, no matter how it had ended above them.
"It'll be alright, just rest." Tygra assured her.
"But I don't know." She insisted, "I can't tell. I can't feel them anymore, and before, I thought I couldn't feel Mumm-Rah anymore." she shook her head, as though momentarily confused. "So much shouting. But I don't know, I can't for sure."
"Then Lion-o?" Panthera asked gently. Tygra hadn't quite noticed when she had approached them. He wanted to tell Cheetara to just be quiet, that it would be alright; but Cheetara seemed to want to talk.
Tygra might have told Panthera to just leave it alone for now, since he too wanted to know about his brother but Cheetara needed to rest and they couldn't do anything. He might have, but her eyes were so sad and serious that he didn't say anything, and for a moment Cheetara looked almost as forlorn as Panthera.
"I don't know. I thought I could still feel him, but," Cheetara's head fell back against Tygra's chest, her eyes drooping closed, "I don't know. I can't feel anything now."
The fortress smoked, and the smell of blood and ash filled the air. Cheetara slept for less than an hour, but when she did wake her eyes turned skyward, it was for the same reason others looked to the sky. There was a hurtling mass of white and black metal streaking downward.
Then the two structures crashed to the ground and the victor of the above battle was obvious to all. A great cheer became a roar of sound and triumph as the white and golden mech, the Thundera, stood tall over the fallen Everlasting, blood spilling from the edges of cockpit.
"Mumm-Rah is dead!" Lion-o's voice announced and the roar became a din of sound and screams of victory and the unbridled high of victory and it's ego swept the field.
Leaders and their men all fell into the single-minded state of emotion. They had won. The great dark thing of legend was no more. Mumm-Rah was defeated, and the cacophony of joy swelled all the more.
But after all battles there is celebration, and there was that, with all the food and drink and luxuries that Mumm-Rah had hoarded in his fortress. There was dancing and music and drunkenness, and merrymaking of all sorts.
Some, however merely slept to regain their strength, too drained in the fight before. Others could not sleep no matter how hard they tried. In the morning, as after all battles of a sweeping nature, the leaders met to talk.
OoooooooooooooooO
"You have done it!"
"You defeated him, as you said you would!"
"Not bad, for a cat." But Shen was grinning.
They were still congratulating themselves and their perceived savior, slayer of dragons. Yet the question remained of afterward. "Well of course, if was your victory, Lion-o!" Tumagar said, wide mouth smiling, tusks shining brightly, "It only makes sense to take up the mantle you fought for, for all of us."
"Of course Lion-o should be king! He is the son of the late King Claudus, who has better claim than he?"
Most voices appeared in agreement, but Lion-o felt the weight in the room and saw the narrowed eyes and the tensed shoulders of those who he knew would not be so shackled by another dynasty of cats so easily. The pressure grew and Lion-o wanted no part in it. Wasn't his intention to unite this world, and not further divide it?
"You give yourselves so little credit," Lion-o told them, diplomatically, "My part was small in this. You won this war, truly, not I."
"Nonsense!"
"Well actually, it was largely thanks to my armies that we took the eastern side, without that, at the critical point in the battle-!"
"That is not enough to say you have claim to the crown!" Panthro disputed.
"No, Lion-o," Tumagar looked to him pleadingly, "You should be king. You led us all out from Mumm-Rah, and further we know you, we know you would be a fair ruler. Like Leo I, you are the only one who can be king."
Lion-o smiled wryly a moment. Leo I was widely acknowledged as a good king, one of the best, and yet those that succeeded him by blood, they were a mixed bunch, and Leo IV brought about the technoclasm, didn't he? "I'm flattered," Lion-o told the old Tuska, "However I think I have a better solution as to who should rule."
"Really?" Rezard asked, his posture a mix of wary caution and a façade of ease, much like Shen.
"We all had equal part in this victory," Lion-o explained, "Furthermore we all have equal stake in this world. I propose that we should found a new world order together. We all had a hand in this, in fighting together, so surely we can find a way to govern together. We will establish a new government that will not fall prey should the next generation be unlike the last benevolent one."
"A republic?" Shen asked, his eyes less hard, and his ears pointed forward with interest.
"One where everyone's values and opinions will be shared and accounted for in their decisions." Lion-o confirmed. "There is much of our world to rebuild."
Shen's posture was relaxed, and even Rezard appeared to approve of this new idea. Those that had seemed skeptical seemed to be thinking and nodding, agreement seemed to be unanimous. His brother Tygra stood at the back, he had decided not to interfere this day, but he was able to grin, proud of his brother, and Lion-o returned the smile.
It had finally happened, Tygra thought to himself, his little brother had really grown up so much since they had started their journey. It was hard to equate the young leader with the brat who he competed with in their father's castle.
He felt Cheetara's presence, before he felt her hand rest on his shoulder drawing him to face her. "Feeling better?" he asked.
"Want to know how much?" she asked, drawing him back towards the doorway. Her scent had changed and he caught a whiff of sweet and pungent ardor. Her eyes glittered gold and who was he to refuse such an invitation?
Lion-o didn't notice when his brother left because further discussion of the republic and whether a senate or vote of representatives was a better check on power for an overly large population came to question had started.
It would remain a long time before he would be free of such discussions, and perhaps even longer before such a government was accepted and incrementally changed to fit their purposes. But right now he didn't mind. Panthera was sitting next to him, and her hand was gripped strong and warm around his, as much as his around hers.
It didn't matter how long it would take, how many battles, whether he was important or not. He would live for now. He had someone beside him, and he would stay by her. Nothing was impossible. Not anymore.
The End.
AoooooooooooooooN
Thank you all for reading! This has been a wonderful experience reimagining the ThunderCats Reboot and I hope you all were able to enjoy this with me! Your feedback and encouragement really helped me out and was tantamount to my ability to finish this. Again, thank you, I couldn't have continued as far as this without you all. It's been a pleasure!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the completed product, as well as your thoughts on the final chapter. Was this ending satisfactory? Would if have been better if Lion-o died in the end? Also there was a scene cut out between Tygra and Cheetara that I don't think would have fit with the rest of the story. Did anyone notice? :P
Also there's a missing scene for HOW DID LION-O GET OUT OF THUNDERA? Any guesses? :3
Again THANKS SO MUCH! Looking forward to your thoughts!
