Welcome back everyone! Today, we begin Native Son! It was one of my favorite episodes, I just wish it didn't take place right after Trials of Lion-O tbh- another victim of the episodes being written out of order. I hope you enjoy my rendition :)

The Thundertank tore across the distance like a ravenous beast clawed towards its prey. It roared and bumped over the uneven terrain it raced over- eating up what would have been many days worth of travel by foot. The mountains distant on the horizon the night before grew ever closer, reflecting sunlight from its snow-caps like a row of many dazzling beacons.

"So, what's the plan when we get there?" Panthro asked gruffly.

"We'll have to find a pass through the mountains to get to the city." Lion-O explained. He shot a glance towards the Book of Omens, which projected its armillary sphere. The arrow pointed them straight and true ahead.

"And if there isn't one?"

"I guess we'll just have to go around then, General."

Panthro grunted, apparently finding that agreeable enough.

Leopara fiddled with her braid, unable to take her eyes off of Lion-O for more than a heartbeat at a time. The way the muscles in his neck flexed as he spoke, the calm clarity in his eyes and relaxed expression. His emotions matched his exterior for the first time in a long time- well, not quite the first. He was so calm, it was almost intoxicating.

She became abruptly aware of Cheetara's gaze on her, and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"You're watching him." Cheetara murmured quietly. Over their discussion, Lion-O and Tygra probably couldn't hear her.

"Someone has to." Vainly, she hoped Cheetara would leave her alone; she wasn't ready to forgive Cheetara yet. Not for shirking her duties as a cleric- how could she trust her so soon?

Cheetara did not leave her alone. She was nothing if not disciplined and persistent. "I noticed you were sleeping together this morning."

Leopara jolted with alarm, dropping her braid. "It wasn't like that!" she hissed.

"I didn't say it was." Cheetara smiled. Then, her expression changed, becoming more serious. "Are you okay, Leopara? Tygra told me how you struggled to sleep."

"I'm fine." she huffed.

It wasn't a lie, no matter how skeptic Cheetara looked at her. She was fine. She slept fine.

…once Lion-O woke her from her nightmares.

They were more of the same. Lion-O, Claudus, Jaga- all of them dying. The whistles of missiles racing through the skies, the Ka-BOOM as they smashed into stone. Splash! as her king plummeted into water. The screams, the fires, the shaking of the ground. The breaking sounds of rocks as they collapsed between her and Jaga, from under Lion-O. She spent the whole dream crying out without a sound, running without moving, reaching out with magic only for lightning to sear her flesh.

Then, she woke up to Lion-O looking down at her, his hand on her shoulder. His beautiful blue eyes were wide with genuine worry.

It was embarrassing. Snarf woke him up when he heard her whimpering. Without needing any more prompting than her mumbled, "I was having a bad dream," he stayed and watched the stars with her until she slept. All the while, her heart thump-thump, thump-thumped in her rib-cage.

When she finally fell asleep again, it was peaceful.

A little crowded with Snowmeow pressing against her on one side, Lion-O laying an arm's length away on the other, and Snarf nestled between them. But peaceful.

Leopara smoothed her hand down her dress.

"I know you're upset with me, Leopara, but that doesn't change how I feel about you. You can always talk to me about your feelings." Cheetara implored her.

Leopara shot her a sharp look and opened her mouth to respond.

"Whoa." WilyKit interrupted.

"Cool!" WilyKat exclaimed.

She looked ahead and stared up at the snowy mountains displayed in the screens with awe. Majestic in their size, they towered high into the clear blue skies and glistened in the sunlight like a thousand precious jewels. They arched like the spine of a felyne beast with its hackles raised, possessing many peaks that reached even higher like spines.

The whites, blues, and greys contrasted against the autumn colored forest nestled at its base. The leaves were a myriad of orange and yellow- an abrupt change from the lush green forests Leopara had grown used to.

"Take us close, General. The book should lead us to the pass."

"All we have to do," Tygra reasoned beside him, in the secondary driver's seat, "-is find it."

Panthro grunted.

"It's a good thing we have cloaks." Cheetara added.

The brothers shared a look, then looked back at her. "Sorry, Cheetara. You and Panthro are staying behind with Kit and Kat to protect the book while we look for the pass."

Leopara straightened a little. Panthro and Cheetara were staying behind? But Lion-O didn't mention her. "'We?'"

Lion-O nodded. "You and Snowmeow are coming with us. I thought he'd like the snow, and you'd want to keep your eyes on me."

"Oh." Embarrassed to have been caught, she slouched in her seat in a very un-ladylike manner. Jaga would have scolded her.

Trees flashed past them on the screens, little more than blurs of brown and orange and yellow. She could hear foliage snap! and crack! under the treads of the Thundertank and winced apologetically. This is why I didn't let Panthro bring the tank into the Magi Oar. She shuddered to think of how angry the spirits would have been by the damage inflicted by it.

Cheetara watched Tygra with disappointment and longing. First, her seat beside him was taken by Lion-O, and now they were scouting without her.

But even more disappointed than her were WilyKit and WilyKat.

"Aww, why can't we come?" WilyKit complained.

"Because you're loud." Tygra said. "And I would rather not get caught in an avalanche."

"What does that have to do with anything?" WilyKat demanded.

"Loud sounds can trigger avalanches, Kat." Leopara explained.

They crossed their arms and plopped back down in their seats, sulking. "We could be quiet." WilyKat grumbled.

Lion-O twisted around to look at them. "Sorry, but Tygra's right. We don't have enough supplies for everyone to go into the mountains anyways- we're going to rely on Leopara and Snowmeow just to take care of ourselves."

"How come Tygra gets to go, then?" WilyKit guffawed.

"Because I am a master navigator."

"Why do you have to go?" WilyKat challenged Lion-O.

Lion-O tapped the gauntlet with a metallic click, click, click sound. "I also have a trick up my sleeve for navigating."

They both pouted, thoroughly put out over being left behind.

Leopara stood. "I should saddle Snowmeow up before we get there."

"Won't be long now." Panthro agreed.

She gave them all a nod and slipped out of the cockpit. Well… no. 'Slipped out' implied she took a couple steps and slunk out of the door. But the cockpit was not so small anymore, and to reach the door leading to the corridor, she had to pass through the large, open lounge between the proper cockpit and the door. She could still hear them all just fine as she crossed the room.

Which was… a little awkward.

"Is Leopara queen now?" WilyKit asked. Leopara jolted with shock.

"Is that why she gets to go?"

"What?" Lion-O asked. "Why would she be?"

There was a lapse of silence. Leopara could only imagine the twins were miming something to Lion-O. He sighed heavily. "No, it's not like that. She's my friend and I care about her."

"Uh-huh…" the twins murmured in perfect, harmonious unison.

Face burning, she swiped the button for the door and stepped through the moment it swished open.

It seemed like a lifetime since Leopara's feet had crunched snow beneath them. The last time she really trudged through it… oh, she must have been a little girl, enamored with the sight of it and the ability to make a snowcat. That was a long time ago.

It was exactly like she remembered: cold and wet, a little uncomfortable. Pretty, but not so nice when it began clumping in her fur.

Snowmeow was far from bothered, rolling around in the white powder before bounding ahead of them. His dash through the snow kicked up a cloud of frosty dust that showered on their cloaks, turning them from dark blue to dusty white.

"At least someone is having fun." Lion-O commented, grinning as he watched Snowmeow play.

Tygra spared a glance towards the felyne. "We're not here to have fun, Lion-O."

Lion-O rolled his eyes. When Lion-O settled his gaze on Tygra, who marched forward through the snow, crunch, crunch, there was a clear tone of mischief that resonated in him. Tygra, unsuspecting of the snowball Lion-O was gathering now- how could he possibly tell apart Lion-O's crunching of the snow from Snowmeow's, after all?- stopped and looked around the wind-swept slopes around them with scrutinising eyes for the sixth time in the last hour with increasing frustration each time.

Leopara took the opportunity to pause, lifting her foot to clean the snow out of her fur, then shaking her skirt and cloak free of the icy clumps. She sighed blissfully, feeling lighter and less uncomfortable.

"Are you sure it was-" The ball of snow Lion-O had been meticulously preparing splattered against the back of Tygra's head. Tygra took a moment to compose himself, calming the burst of anger that exploded like the snow that struck him. Annoyance replaced his anger as he turned to look back at Lion-O and level him with an stern glare. "What are you doing?"

Lion-O grinned at him, his cheeky, lively grin that Leopara adored. "Aw, come on, Tygra. Lighten up a little." He bobbed a second snowball.

Tygra began brushing the snow off himself. "Grow up."

He made it about five feet before Lion-O, not to be deterred from his antics by his brother's dour attitude, let loose his second snowball and splattered him in the back of the head again.

With a shout, he whipped around. "Lion-O!"

It echoed around them, ricocheting off of the snow-covered outcrops of stone and the high peaks. Icy cold dread flooded Leopara's veins, chilling her to the bone and making her fur stand on end, as the ground shook. The snow beneath her feet began shifting like loose sand.

And then, the roaring rumble of snow breaking apart began. In unison, the brothers cried out, "Avalanche!" Before the sheet of snow could crash into them, they began dashed across the snow to a rocky outcrop.

Leopara struggled to chase after them- with her first step, her leg sunk into the snow to her hip. She gasped, glancing down with alarm. The snow was shifting even faster, beginning to sweep her down the slope.

"Leopara!" Lion-O cried.

She snapped her head up to see Snowmeow bounding towards her with an alarmed expression, even for a felyne beast. The cloud of snow that heralded the avalanche was hard on his heels. As he barreled down on her, Leopara flung her hands up with a cry. Her barrier sprang to life just as waves and waves of snow crashed into it. The avalanche roared in her ears and filled her barrier like being inside of a drum while it was being played. She buried her face in Snowmeow's fur to drown out the sound. He whined and curled tighter around her.

And then, in what felt like forever but was just seconds, the world grew quiet and still. The heavy snows settled again.

Her heartbeat was loud in her ears and her breath shaky as she looked up at the watery dome. Her heart plummeted with a harsh, thump-thump.

Her entire barrier was buried under snow. The only light she had to see was by, was the soft light shed by the watery ripples.

She stared at it a little in awe. I didn't know my barrier glowed. she thought to herself. It was a startling reminder that there was still so much about her own magic she didn't know yet.

Snowmeow raised his head. "Rrrow…" he meowed.

Leopara took a shaky breath and clutched his fur to drag herself out of the snowy hole her leg was stuck in. He didn't react to the tugging, instead looking around the snow with ears laid back. "What do you think, boy? Maybe it's just a little snow…" She withdrew her staff and held it up to channel the barrier through. The strain in her muscles relaxed instantly and she breathed more easily.

Before Snowmeow could grunt a response or she could take a risk to find out, the snow was violently flung to the side. "Leopara!" Lion-O shouted.

She all but jumped to her feet and looked straight up at the cleared snow. "Lion-O!"

"Are you okay?" he asked, meeting her eyes through the barrier's distorting surface.

"We're okay. Just a little shaken up." she admitted, petting Snowmeow's head just behind his ears.

"Stay there, we're going to dig you out." Leopara nodded. As the seconds passed by, more and more of the snow was cleared away, letting in more and more of the sun's rays of light. Once it was cleared enough that snow wouldn't cave in on them, she released her barrier. Instantly, Lion-O's hands shot in and grabbed her hands, hauling her out of the hole. He looked her over with intense eyes before finally releasing the tension in his shoulders. "That was close." he huffed, relief washing through him.

Tygra glowered at him.

"Too close." Leopara agreed.

"Ahem." Tygra cleared his throat. "We still have to find the pass, Lion-O, if you're done messing around."

Lion-O rolled his eyes. "You're the one who- what is that?"

She and Tygra turned to follow his gaze. Near the top of the closest- and she used the next word loosely- peak was a dark hole burrowing into the stone. The darkness of it seemed to stretch on forever, pulling her closer and closer…

A shiver traveled down her spine as she snapped back to reality, but it wasn't from the cold. Dread filled her again, but it wasn't the sharp, icy certainty of immediate disaster. It was the slow nagging of something being very, very wrong. Her fur stood on end, just the same way it had on the day when Grune returned.

Lion-O's hands were warm compared to hers and grounded her in the moment.

Even Mumm-Ra's temple, against all odds, hadn't invoked such a reaction from her, but perhaps that was just because… because…

Lion-O let go of her hands and strode beside Tygra, closer towards it.

"Don't." she protested weakly.

Lion-O paused. "Leopara?"

"I… I can sense something… there's nothing good in that cave. We should stay away from it."

He and Tygra shared a glance. The crunching of the snowwas loud in her ears as Lion-O walked back to her. He took her hand again and squeezed. "You're freezing." he murmured, looking down at her hand with a troubled expression. He shook his head. "We'll be careful. But we need to rest, re-orientate ourselves, and warm up a bit."

Leopara's eyes flicked towards the yawning cave entrance. The darkness drew her in again and-

"Come on." Lion-O said, breaking the reverie again. He tugged her hand.

She took a deep breath and followed him.

Leopara wished she could say the cave looked more inviting when they peered inside, but it didn't. Little sunlight reached the interior. What they could see in the dim light was a zig-zagging path through grey-blue stalagmites, under a ceiling of stalactites. There was a single point in which the two joined together, becoming a thick pillar of stone, near the base of the trail. It marked the point where the cavern widened and the start of square structures that were carved out of the cavern walls. The styling of the buildings was remarkably cat-like, compared to the homes of all the other villages they'd seen thus far. It was even layered, with another set of buildings- or maybe continuations of the first ones- carved out under them, leaving a thick stone floor above to serve as a catwalk.

The path continued on, adorned with curved, tusk-like spikes on either side, protruding from the ground, from catwalks, from the exterior walls of buildings. It led to what looked like a large, central hearth not entirely unlike a bonfire.

There wasn't a soul in sight. No bones to mark their remains.

It was like whoever had lived here got up one day and just left.

Her fur stood on end and her uneasiness grew. "I don't think we should go inside." she repeated.

Lion-O glanced towards her and squeezed her hand again. Her stomach flipped, from her frayed nerves or his touch, she wasn't so sure. "Okay, we wo-" he cut off, attention snapping to his other side. "Tygra?"

It was like he hadn't heard her or didn't care. Tygra was already climbing down the path without them.

Lion-O looked at her apologetically before following his brother.

Leopara looked back over her shoulder nervously. Snowmeow glared into the cave. His ears were laid back, lips pulled up to let his sharp fangs peek out, and his claws flexed more than usual. "Maybe you should stay out here, Snowmeow." He looked at her with an expression of disbelief. Then, he took another glance inside, wrinkled his nose and growled deep in his chest. She gently bumped her forehead to his and carefully shuffled down the path.

The feeling of dread gripped her more strongly once she crossed the threshold. A hundred souls wracked with anguish clawed against her psyche, each one grasped tightly by-

Leopara bumped into Tygra's back, chest rising and falling quickly in time with her breathing. She blinked and the pain ebbed away like waves lapping at the shore. It came to her immediate attention that two dark figures stood before them, and two more slipped out of the shadows to stand behind them.

Lion-O grasped the hilt of the Sword of Omens but didn't draw it, while Tygra held up and clutched his whip. She turned to face the two behind them, drawing Jaga's staff and releasing the binding that held it in its short form. With a single exhale, she breathed a little light to life, illuminating the two hooded figures in front of her.

They flinched as the light fell across their faces.

She gasped.

Behind her, one of the figures spoke up. "Welcome."

"Hello." Lion-O said smoothly. "We mean no harm. We're looking for shelter."

She stared at the white fur of their faces, orange-brown fur sweeping down their noses, and the distinct black stripes on their cheeks. Tigers… "They're tigers! Tygra, they're tigers!" Leopara exclaimed, unable to hold her shock.

A ripple of murmurs arose. Tygra whipped his head around, gasping softly.

"Your name is Tygra?" the one in front of him and Lion-O asked.

Tygra turned his attention back to him and she looked as well, holding up her staff to shine more light on them all. Most of them flinched, as though they hadn't seen light in quite some time- the cave had been buried in snow, for who knew how long- but the tiger who had spoken to them had his hood down and merely squinted at the light. He had thin, pointed features, with a reddish mane. One thick stripe pushed through the center of it and two more stripes accented the edge of his mane, ending in an exaggerated curl at the ends and bleeding into the white half of his mane. A white goatee with a small stripe of black swept down from his chin a good few inches, looking rather elegant. His green eyes narrowed briefly at Tygra. Whatever emotion he was feeling, he kept close to his chest; Leopara couldn't sense it.

She could see the shock written plainly across Tygra's features.

"I am Caspin of the Tiger Clan." he introduced himself properly. The others followed Caspin's lead, removing their hoods. The few that wore masks over their faces pulled them down to reveal themselves. "We have long awaited this day, Tygra. Welcome home. Your father will be eager to see you."

"My father?"

Thank you for reading! A special thanks to Hestia28 (hehe, its sails are starting to finally catch some wind! And is moving closer and closer... I take your reader venting as a high compliment! XD),AndrianaWarrior7, The Night Whisperer, Heart of the Demons, and Frankannestein (girl, ffnet loves eating your reviews, smh). You guys are awesome! :D I'm so glad you all enjoyed last chapter so much!