Welcome back, everyone! We're here today with part one of Soul Sever! And a new cover photo for Hiraeth! Sadly, this one isn't posted on tumblr yet as I'd like to post it together with another commissioned artwork by my friend, Plaguebunny (on twitter). Soon-ish!
"We don't have time to be tinkering with tank upgrades," Tygra complained. "Mumm-Ra already has the Sword of Plun-Darr. If he gets to the next stone before us-"
"We're doomed. I know." Panthro twisted to look over his shoulder at them. "But until that blasted book decides to point anywhere but straight up, we're stuck here."
Leopara hummed to herself. It was strange that it was pointing straight up. When they went searching for the Spirit Stone, the arrow pointed them to the mesa of the elephant village, and then up. But this stone… the arrow just kept pointing up. But there was no way they could beneath it this whole time, right? They'd traveled so much, at times with nothing but blue skies above them.
A sharp chink! interrupted her thoughts.
With a frustrated groan, Panthro discarded his wrench and grumbled, "Well, there just went half a day's work."
Lion-O sighed; standing beside him, Leopara could feel his exasperation. "We're getting nowhere with this. There has to be another way to find the stone." He glanced down at the Sword of Omens, safe and sound in the gauntlet at his hip. "Maybe if-"
"Do my eyes deceive me?" an unfamiliar voice suddenly exclaimed. With a jolt of surprise, she whipped around in unison with Lion-O to face the voice's owner. It was a thin, wiry old dog with long, floppy brown ears, a walking stick, and an overstuffed backpack with bits and bobs poking out of it. "Your Highness! Thank the stars you're alive."
"Jorma?" Confusion and relief washed over Lion-O, and excitement began to swell; they knew each other? How? Leopara looked back and forth between them. "What are you doing here?"
The dog, Jorma, approached. His walking stick made a soft thud-thud sound as he did so. "After barely escaping the fall of Thundera, I moved the old junk shop back home."
Junk shop?
The dog's eyes lit up with excitement and awe. He let out a whistle, "Oh my. Why do we have here?" Leopara glanced back over her shoulder at the Thundertank, and then took a step aside as Jorma approached it. "Never thought I'd get to see one up close." He rested his hand on the smooth metal surface. "You sure know how to travel in style."
Leopara had to admit, she had gotten pretty used to the Thundertank, but it was still a rare sight.
Panthro chuckled, clearly feeling flattered. "She's my pride and joy." He closed the access panel and straightened, rubbing his hands together.
Jorma began to circle the Thundertank with appreciative eyes while Leopara snuck a glance at Lion-O and leaned in. "You know him?"
"Yeah," Lion-O said with a lopsided smile. "I used to buy 'tech' from his shop all the time. My father hated it."
Leopara could only raise a brow.
"Ah, the fabled Book of Omens." Jorma gasped. "For so many years, I've dreamed of just seeing it."
"Maybe you can tell us what's wrong with it?" Tygra asked.
Jorma nodded. "Let's get it back to the shop and I'll have a look."
Lion-O grinned. "I can't wait to see the new shop, Jorma. Is it far?"
"Not too far, just on the outskirts." Jorma raised a wizened finger to point.
"Come on, you can ride with us in the Thundertank." Lion-O offered with a grin.
Jorma regarded the tank with thinly concealed glee. "You're sure?"
"Yeah!" Lion-O exclaimed. More coolly, he repeated, "Yeah, of course. It'll be quicker and we can tell you about the book."
Jorma smiled. "Of course, of course."
Lion-O hopped up in a single, effortless bound and held his hand down for Jorma, helping pull the older dog up the tank. While he did, Tygra and Panthro slipped inside.
Leopara lept up beside him, carefully balancing as he rested his hand on the small of her back. The tank rocked ever-so-slightly as Snowmeow clambered up after her. She reached out her hand to stroke his fur as he passed by her and into the cockpit. Over her shoulder, she looked back at the others.
Cheetara and Pumyra leaned in close, murmuring quietly. WilyKit and WilyKat huddled in to overhear what they were saying.
"I take it you aren't coming with?" Lion-O asked.
"Hah," Pumyra scoffed, "I finally have my freedom. I'm not going to spend it in some dingy junk shop."
"What Pumyra means," Cheetara smoothly interjected, "-is that we need supplies."
WilyKit and WilyKat burst into a flurry of excitement. "We're going shopping!" WilyKit exclaimed with glee. "Yeah!" WilyKat agreed.
Snarf let out a "snya- snyaaa!"
Leopara raised a brow. "You too, Snarf?"
"Sny, snya, snyarrr."
"Okay then." She looked at Lion-O and then down at Tygra and Panthro in the cockpit. They were giving Jorma a small tour of the controls, which he marveled at with overflowing wonder and amazement. All the while, Snowmeow curled up behind all the chairs. "I guess it's just us then."
"Guess so." Lion-O shrugged and jumped down.
Leopara followed him. With a mechanical hss, the cockpit hatch began to close. The many holo-screens flickered to life and she took her seat next to Lion-O.
As promised, Jorma's shop lay on the outskirts of Dog City, well outside the spires of stone that offered the promise of shade from the overbearing desert sun. His shop was not devoid of such luxury, being tucked directly into the edifice of desert stone that built up the very foundations of the city itself.
If they didn't have Jorma with them, they would probably have passed over the crevice completely, and never known his shop was there.
Jorma's shop was a small thing at the very back of the cave, with just enough light for the five of them to see. Scrap metal lay in untidy heaps around the shop, some of it in big, open crates, others arranged on shelves, and even more propped up against the cave walls- there was clearly an attempt to organise it, but there was so much of it and its various sizes and shapes were too unruly to ever be neat.
Leopara drank in the cool, earthy scent of the cave. A metallic tang filled the air from the scrap, Leopara presumed.
"A priceless treasure like the Book of Omens requires the most delicate tools." Jorma explained to Lion-O. He continued sorting through all of the tools and apparatuses at his metal desk, near the center and back of the room. He donned a loupe over his turban, and then sat down. Lion-O gently set the book down and, with great deftness, Jorma began to connect wires to it, leading to two separate boxes.
"When you're done there," Panthro remarked, "-my right arm could use a tune-up." There was a whir as he rolled his wrist and then a loud, sighing hiss as steam vented from his arm.
Clitter clitter clitter. Leopara wasn't embarrassed to say she yelped when she felt something skitter over the top of her foot, sharp, metallic legs poking through the worn fabric of her footwraps and through her thin fur, making contact with her skin. "What was that?" she exclaimed, frantically looking down.
Tygra fixed her with an odd look. "What are y-"
BANG! With an immaculate leap and his crushing weight, Snowmeow pounced on… whatever it was. He raised his paw…
…and it quickly skittered away!
Snowmeow let out a deep, rumbling growl and began to size it up again. Leopara could not agree more.
With his loupe raised, Jorma remarked, "A nasty little pest. But don't worry. I'll take care of it." He raised two fingers to his lip and whistled.
From a darkened nook behind Jorma, with a whirring and beeping, emerged another small, curious creature. It was shaped similar to a cricket, in Leopara's mind, but instead of the buzzing of wings flapping, it had a spinning blur above its head and a small little light bulb on its back.
It raced after the scampering pest, quickly gaining on it with its aerial advantage. As it closed the distance, its light bulb illuminated brightly and a burst of electricity shot towards it, crossing the gap between them in an instant.
And that was that.
As the spark crashed into the pest, it burst into a small cloud of smoke and there it laid, destroyed. The curious creature trilled with a small spark of joy, the kind of joy that came from a job well done, and quickly buzzed around her and Snowmeow, and then Lion-O and Tygra.
"That's Flicker." Jorma told them. At the sound of his voice, Flicker quickly flew to him. Jorma simply held a hand out to allow Flicker to land in his palm. "He helps me keep the scavengers away. Isn't that right?" Warm affection pulsed through Jorma and was in turn reciprocated by Flicker, in a series of conversational beeps.
Curious.
"Yes, Flicker, your gigaspark gets them every time. Good boy!" With Flicker still in hand, he approached the pest's corpse and bent down to pick it up by a leg. It was… vaguely scorpion-shaped. He continued, "This spider-bot probably sniffed out the book's energy." And then, Jorma simply tossed it into a junk pile, where it underwent a second short-out and began smoking anew.
"We've never encountered those before." Leopara murmured.
Lion-O glanced at the small smoke cloud. "Where do they come from anyways?"
Jorma shrugged a little, "No one knows, really…" He sat back down with the book, his eyes sweeping over his instruments. Something about his words just seemed… troubled.
"What do they do?"
At this, his troubled expression doubled down. "Siphon energy, mostly. They cause a lot of damage doing it, too. Cut wires, holes bored into metal…" he grimaced. At the thought of something like that near the Book of Omens, Leopara cringed. Jorma lowered his loupe and began inspecting it again.
They all lingered close to his desk while he continued working, mostly looking around with a newfound sense of unease. There didn't seem to be any more pests, just Snowmeow sniffing around curiously before chuffing and laying down.
"Good news," Jorma said suddenly. "The book is in perfect working order."
"So what, the stone is just hanging out on a cloud?"
"The sky may not be as empty as you think, Panthro." Jorma stood up. "Let me show you a secret." Holding the Book of Omens, he passed by them and made his way to the Thundertank.
With a consensus of mild confusion and piqued curiosity- confirmed when the four of them exchanged a series of quick glances- they followed Jorma. "Where to?" Panthro asked.
"North. You'll know it when you see it."
Jorma was right: they knew it when they saw it.
At first, they just saw misshaped towers glinting on the horizon. The closer they drew, the more of it that came into view: an entire scrapyard. Mounds and mounds of scrap metal, all of it glinting in the sunlight. There was more of it than Lion-O could have ever dreamed of.
Is this where Jorma got all his tech Lion-O had bought from him in Thundera? It would take days, weeks- years, even!- to sort through all of it!
Lion-O knew he wasn't the only one gaping at it on the holo-screens.
"Where did it all come from?" Leopara wondered aloud beside him.
Jorma looked at them with a wide grin. "That's a surprise."
He exchanged a glance with her, just as confused as she looked, and then with Tygra. Panthro kept his eyes fixated on the stretch of desert ahead of them with that unwavering focus of his.
They watched in awe as the mountains of scrap grew larger and larger as they got closer and closer. He could see shapes more clearly, massive mounds of twisted and tangled metal. Long metal beams, crumpled, bent, and warped in places pierced the ground and lay scattered amongst the rest. Large enough to engulf the Thundertank, hollow half-cylinders dotted the landscape, the metal torn and jagged. Huge chunks of welded together sheet metal, thick enough to form walls, made up a larger chunk of the scrap, but making up the true majority were small- by comparison- pipes and junk that Lion-O couldn't even begin to put a name to. Thick black cables wove through the heaps, torn or cut so the wires showed through.
He expected them to crackle with electricity, but they didn't.
I didn't know something like this could exist.
The Thundertank rolled to a stop with a low grumble, rumbling in place for a few moments as they took in the enormity of what lay before them. Some of the piles of scrap were big enough to practically be mountains.
"Come, let me show you around." Jorma said. "I have a surprise for you."
"Is the surprise where this all came from?" Lion-O asked.
"I sure hope so." Tygra remarked. He tried to hide it, but Lion-O could tell he was in awe as well.
Panthro grunted. "Hmph. Might be able to find a few parts I need for the tank."
The cockpit hatch hissed open. Panthro and Tygra climbed out first, with Jorma. Lion-O paused, looking back at Leopara. With a bit of a frown, and that furrow between her brows that she got when she was thinking, she stared at the Book of Omens.
Taking a wild jab, he asked, "Worried about those pest… scavenger things?"
She snapped her attention to him with a sheepish expression. "A little…"
He took a step back towards her, one two, and crossed the span between them easily. "What is it?"
"I…" Leopara grimaced and hesitated.
"You…?" Oh whiskers, she hates the scrapyard, doesn't she?
Leopara turned her attention back to the book and took a few steps towards it, brushing her fingertips against the cover. Her claws scraped quietly against the jewel, with a slight clack-ing sound. "I need to use the Book of Omens."
Lion-O's eyebrows shot towards his hairline. "What? Why?"
She chewed on her bottom lip- and her thoughts- for a couple moments. "Trust me?" she finally asked. "It could be nothing- or it could change everything."
Lion-O opened his mouth to respond. From outside the Thundertank, Tygra shouted, "Are you coming or what, Lion-O?" Annoyance lanced through him. He thought he heard his brother mutter, "Those two are worse than me and Cheetara…"
"Hah." Panthro scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that, Kid."
"I'll be there!" he shouted back to Tygra before sighing again. Impatient much? He returned his attention to Leopara and reached out for her other hand. "I trust you. Just… be careful. The book can be a little intense." He still remembered his one- and hopefully only- sojourn into the book, and into the life of his ancestor, Leo.
Meet his eyes with a serious expression. "I will." Then, she smiled. "Besides, Snowmeow will be here to keep me company." Lying down a few feet away, Snowmeow chuffed conversationally, as if to agree.
Sometimes I wonder if he really understands what we say.
"Keep her safe, Snowmeow." he said gravely to the felyne. He turned once more to Leopara-
"Hurry up!" Tygra's voice interrupted.
"I'll be right there!" Lion-O snapped. He sighed again, for a third time, and composed himself. "I have to go, Leopara. Promise me you'll stay safe?" He squeezed her hand.
She squeezed his hand back. "I promise. You better get out there before Tygra comes back to drag out there."
Lion-O chuckled. "He is being pretty impatient." He loosened his grip on her hand and took a step away, then doubled back to lean in and steal a quick kiss- his heart sped up with exhilaration- before hurrying out.
The heaps of scrap greeted him with the smell of rust, dirt, and… well, metal. The unrelenting desert sun beat down on the mounds, casting deep shadows over the pathways weaving between them.
Tygra, Panthro, and Jorma hadn't gone far. Panthro was crouched down, digging through a small heap, while Tygra waited impatiently with his arms crossed.
"Cheetara and the kids are going to be sorry they missed this." his brother remarked.
Lion-O brushed off Tygra's sarcasm; it was nowhere near as biting as it used to be. Besides, he liked to think he was above letting Tygra get a rise out of him just because he was in a bad mood. Instead, he quipped, "It's not too late to head back to the city."
"Hah! I'm not trekking all the way back through this heat."
Lion-O approached Jorma. "Sorry to keep you waiting. What is all this?"
Older and wiser, Jorma nodded and beckoned for them to follow him deeper into the scrapyard. "I'm the only one who knows about this place."
"I find that hard to believe." Tygra said. "No one else has stumbled across this place?"
Jorma smoothed his hand down his jaw thoughtfully. "Well, there are the Necromechs…" his face twisted in a scowl like Lion-O had never seen. Something about the name made Lion-O's skin crawl.
"Who're they?" his brother asked.
"Nasty machines." Then, Jorma shielded his eyes to look up into the skies. A grin broke out across his features. He laughed, "It's almost time!"
"Time for what?"
Instead of answering, Jorma hobbled with speed Lion-O didn't realise he was capable of, deeper and deeper into the scrapyard.
Exchanging befuddled glances and a number of "I have no idea; I guess we just go along with him" shrugs, the three of them hurried after the dog. When they caught up to him, he was under one of the hollow half-cylinders, taking cover while still looking up.
"It's here!"
In unison, they looked up at the blue sky. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily above them; it was a beautiful day, all things considered.
And then, black shapes began to fill it, hurtling closer and closer, blotting out the sunlight-
"Head's up!"
With quick reflexes, they lept backwards and dove for the cylinder, taking shelter as solid metal panels, pipes, sheets, and everything else Lion-O could imagine crashed into the ground in a clanging, clattering, deafening cacophony. They stared out, dumbfounded by the new heap of scrap. It creaked and groaned as it settled.
Tentatively, they stepped out.
Tygra jerked backwards with a shout of, "Aah!" as one final chunk of scrap crashed into the space he had just occupied.
"Isn't it lovely?" Jorma exclaimed, throwing his arms wide open.
Lion-O couldn't help but stare up at the skies. If all this scrap just fell from up there, then that meant… "Something, somebody, is up there." And the Book of Omens kept pointing right to them.
"Whoever it is," Jorma began dreamily, "They have technology beyond our imagination."
No kidding.
"They also have the next stone." How were they supposed to get up there?
Suddenly, Flicker hurtled towards Jorma, beeping rapidly. Jorma's expression shifted from wonder to horror in an instant. With worry all over his features, he looked around, and then all at once burst into a frantic run, grabbing at a piece of scrap here and there. "We've got to go! Get back to the Thundertank!"
Behind Lion-O, Panthro asked, "Already? I'm just getting started. This place is a gold mine."
"You don't understand! They're coming."
"Who's coming?" Lion-O demanded.
And then, Jorma said that name again. "The necromechs."
This time when he said it, Lion-O's hackles rose. He turned, looking at the far horizon with a scowl. He could hear a thumping, a banging and clanging- cresting the top of a far scrap hill, a small swarm of mechs emerged. They marched forward mechanically, ignoring them and heading towards…
Jorma's earlier words rang in his head. "This spider-bot probably sniffed out the book's energies."
Leopara.
She was in the Book of Omens! She had no way to defend herself, or the book, or the Thundertank. There was no way Snowmeow could fend off all of those mechs by himself.
"Get back to the Thundertank!" he shouted.
"Oh cripes, my baby!" Panthro shouted.
"At least Leopara is there; she'll protect it until we make it there!" Tygra reassured him.
Lion-O drew the Sword of Omens as they sprinted. "No, she's not! She's in the book!" Before either of them could say more, he cried out, "Thundercats, HO!" The sword flared to life with a whir of energy.
They were quick, but they were also deep in the scrapyard. The nechromechs were quicker, leaping and bounding over the mounds of twisted metal with ease.
Whiskers!
Lion-O heard Snowmeow roaring and the sound of metal crushing before they got there. As the Thundertank came into view, he saw Snowmeow smacking a mech away, only to whip around and try to smash another. This mech was larger and caught Snowmeow, lifting him up high over its head with a familiar hissing, and then hurled Snowmeow into the nearest scrap heap.
"No!"
Lion-O brought the Sword of Omens to bear in front of himself, aiming it at the mech reaching inside-
With a warble, red energy lanced out from the Eye of Thundera and smashed into the mech, sending it staggering backwards.
Two more took its place.
Panthro rushed in while Tygra cracked his whip. Snowmeow let out a howl as he lept out from the scrap and pounced the nearest mech, crushing it under his weight. The rest was a blur. Lion-O raced forward, brandishing the Sword of Omens to fend off the mechs and punch through their swarm, to the Thundertank. Panthro and Tygra were right beside him, pushing the offensive-
It wasn't enough.
All at once, green light flooded Lion-O's vision. His head pounded and he fell to his knees, too dizzy and disoriented to stand. He couldn't even think-
And then, it was over. He blinked, opened his eyes to a smoking, ruined Thundertank.
"Leopara!" he cried. He rushed forward, jumping onto the torn apart tank.
There- crumpled on the floor near the console, Leopara lay. Relief washed over Lion-O; she was okay. He could see a few scrapes, but she was breathing. He jumped down, scooping her up. He turned to the console and froze as icy, cold terror clutched his heart.
"They got the book!" he shouted.
One thought rang in Lion-O's head:
What's going to happen to Leopara now?
Thank you for reading! A special thanks to The Night Whisperer, Hestia28, Heart of the Demons, and Frankannestein for your kind words! And to our guest, Geft: "Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy the changes I make to the episodes to account for Leopara. Stay tuned for the Pumyra betrayal, lol!"