A/N: I can't believe how quickly this chapter was written! In 4 days? Sheesh! Well, it just means that you guys have more story to read. :3 Anyway, please enjoy!

Key:

Flashback = Flashback (Obviously)

Dream: Dream

- (BORDER) - = perspective change

Anyway, chapter information:

Genres: Friendship and Drama

Warnings: Graphic scenes of violence, gore and explicit language

Date started (Chapter): Saturday 11th April 2015

Date finished (Chapter): N/A YET

Song/s: A Favour House Atlantic by Coheed and Cambria

Chapter 4: A Favour House Atlantic

"Lion-O! Get up, you ignorant brat! I said WAKE UP!"

I shudder as ice-cold water is thrown over me. A bright light is shone in my face as I hear a rattling sound in the lock of my cell. The room is uncomfortably cold, almost polar. A strong gust of wind rattles the bars of the window as snow swirls in the grey sky outside. I roll onto my back as a dark shadow looms above me. Still under the heavy effects of having Satos use my soul as his own, I half-heartedly search for my shirt on the floor.

I look up and watch with caution as Slithe and Mumm-ra approach me. Slithe grins as he turns a little remote in his hands. He presses a button as he turns a dial. I scream in agony as an electric charge shoots through my body from the shock collar that is tied around my neck. Mumm-ra laughs and says "Do it again Slithe! It's teaching him a lesson on messing with us!" I scream again as another agonizing electric current jolts through my body as Slithe presses the button again. Shaking, I beg and plead "Please, no more!" Slithe grins and pushes the button once more. I scream and roar in agony again and pull with all my might against the cruel shackles chained around my wrists as my fur stands on end from the electricity coursing through my body.

"SLITHE! MUMM-RA! STOP IT! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!" I cry.

"That's enough now, Slithe," Mumm-ra cackled "Unchain him and tie this collar around his neck then throw him into the pool."

I pant as Slithe slips the inhumane shock collar from around my neck, but I realize that the other one is a thousand times worse; my strength drains almost instantly as he ties it around my throat. "There's Thundrainium in that collar, so if you try and tear it off, it'll severely burn your hands." Mumm-ra snarls. The pair drag me down the corridor and into a massive room. I smell chlorine, and realize that there is water, far too late to react. I'm thrown over the ledge, falling until I hit the surface with a splash. My thick mane sticks to my face and I try to keep my eyes closed. I swim to the surface, choking and gasping for air, before water washes over my head, dragging me under whilst I'm still breathing in. Water gushes down my throat as the muscles in my neck spasm, making me breathe in more water. I struggle to swim towards the surface again, but my muscles are cramping and seizing. I can feel my consciousness slowly draining as I struggle for air. I'm going to die. I claw at the tiled edge of the pool, but it's far too slippery for me to get a decent grip...

I weakly open my eyes as water is thrown over me like this morning, and look up at Jackalman as he stands above me like a master above his dog. The miserable mutant bends down over me and pulls something from my throat. I look at the tube that is dripping with water and my saliva. I violently choke as more water flows from my mouth and nose. Has that really been down my throat? I groan as my gag reflex kicks in and I begin to vomit up water. Jackalman jumps aside as the contents of my stomach spill onto the floor.

"Do you even have any dignity, Lion-O?" he barks cruelly.

"Yes..." I gag as I heave again, violently throwing up more water. My throat aches but I feel better now that most of the water is gone from my stomach, but it's all over the floor. Jackalman looks disgusted as he starts to mop it all up.

"What's wrong Jackalman? Don't like mopping up vomit?" I taunt him.

"Shut your face or I'll shut it for you!" he snaps..

He grumbles and backs out of the cell, carrying a bucket filled with vomited water before slamming the door closed and twisting the key in the lock. I close my eyes, sit back and relax. "Lion-O? Are you awake?" I hear Cheetara say. "Yes and Jackalman's in disgrace!" I laugh, and look up as Monkian stops before my cell. He gibbers before saying "Enjoy it whilst it lasts! You're not getting anything else to eat or drink for the rest of the week!"

There's a rattle and the hatch on the bottom of my cell door opens; a plate of raw meat is pushed into my small cell along with a bowl of water. I glare at Monkian as I growl "What do you take me as, you bastard? A wild animal?"

The hideous mutant grins then walks off.

I cautiously walk up to the bowl and sniff the meat. The animal side of me wants to eat it, but my human side tells me to leave it. After minutes of fighting my instincts, my desire and hunger take over, so I devour the meat, realizing that it is rabbit. It barely even touches the sides of my throat as I hungrily swallow it whole then turn my head to the bowl of water and drink it instantly. "You're actually eating that meat? It could have been poisoned!" Cheetara says, but I ignore her and finish the rabbit before licking the plate clean.

"I'm going to get us out of here today, Cheetara! I may have failed first time round, but I'm sure that I'll get us out!" I say as I look out of the window.

"I don't think that that's a good idea, Lion-O. Ever since you were captured, Mumm-ra's had loads of traps installed. Our chances are incredibly slim." she says as a gust of wind blows snow into my face.

I sigh before walking up to the door of the cell. I grab the bars and lean against them, not expecting them to swing open with an ear-piercing screech. Jackalman didn't lock the door! But...why? I look up at Cheetara as I get to my feet. "Looks like the luck's finally going our..." I begin, but I get cut off by the sound of a guard running towards us. I glimpse at the wretched mutant, and see that it's brandishing a laser rifle like a machete. "Cheetara, I'll be back for you! I promise!" I shout, then I turn around and run towards the open door. Instinct takes over and I run left, which leads me down a long, winding corridor. My footsteps echo in the cavernous interior, sounding like gunshots in my mind.

The alarm blares throughout the castle as I run on. I can hear heavy footsteps behind me. Shit! They've found me! I frantically look around, and the air vent catches my attention. I start to edge my way into it as the voices get louder. I gulp, before starting to crawl through it. I can hear the metal creaking as I go further into it. I only hope that this thing can support my weight. I look out of the grills on the side, and see Mumm-ra with Slithe, Jackalman, Monkian and Vultureman around a table. I press my ear against the cold metal in order to hear what they're saying, but what I hear doesn't make me want to hang around very much longer.

"He's escaped!"

"It's your fault, you son of a bitch!"

"Well, little does that wretched Thundercat knows is that we can turn on the incinerator and burn him to death if he's in the ventilation system, yesss?"

Without thinking, I throw my head back, hitting the roof of the vent with a dull crash. "Shit!" I snarl, and then I clamp my hand over my mouth when I realize what I've just done.

They all turn to look at the vent, as if they can actually see me. "And, it seems that the Lord of the Thundercats is eavesdropping on us. Slithe, Jackalman, get in there and get after him!" Mumm-ra shouts as they run up to the vent.

"Well, looks like I'm stuck for sticks. Can't go back; have to go forwards!" I mumble beneath my breath, before starting to crawl through the ventilation shaft. It starts to get slightly bigger, so I start to run on all fours.

"He's getting away! Come on, Jackalman! Get your fat arse out of my face!" I hear Slithe shout, his voice echoing in the vent.

"I'm trying Slithe, but Lion-O's faster than we are! He can actually fit down here! We're not agile enough!"

"Well, it's your fault for eating the bones from the kitchen, isn't it?"

My footsteps echo loudly as I pick up the pace. I come to a fork in the vent, and decide to take a right turn this time, which is a mistake. The vent begins to get thinner, meaning that I can only just fit through. I put one hand on the grills before me, and fall through the vent as my weight breaks the rusted metal. My head is the first thing to hit the hard ground, knocking me senseless momentarily. I can hear Slithe and Jackalman laughing at me from above. I look up, just as they pull the vent closed. I hear them laughing again.

"He's still conscious after that fall! Mumm-ra, you have to shoot him with that tranquillizer gun, yesss?"

I hear a deafening explosion, then something stings my right shoulder. I grab whatever's lodged in my flesh, and see the tranquillizer dart in the palm of my hand. The effects are instantaneous. My eyesight starts to blur as I look down at my hands, and refuses to clear when I blink or shake my head again. I can feel my arms and legs deadening. I fall to my knees as I feel increasingly drowsy and light headed. I lie on my side with my eyes closed, breathing deeply, hoping that it'll pass quickly...

I open my eyes to the soft, flickering light of a candle. The wind howls outside, extinguishing the candle and swamping the cell in darkness. I shiver in the cold, damp corner of the room, pulling the thin blanket around my shoulders for warmth. An owl screeches from overhead as snow blows into the window. It's so dark that I can't see anything. I bury myself in the pile of straw that I'm lying on, and find that it actually makes it warmer, but only a little.

"Lion-O! Lion-O, wake up!"

I open my eyes and try to make out my surroundings in the pitch blackness.

"Che...Cheetara, is that you?" I say weakly, hating the loudness of my own voice. I hear the strike of a match, then there's a light that starts to burn brightly, bathing the room in bright light. I can just about make out the faces of my friends as they huddle round the candle.

"Come on, Lion-O. We're getting out of here today!"

I rub my eyes then stand up. Barely able to stand on my own two feet, I weakly stumble towards the door of my cell. "How come you're all out there, but I'm still stuck in here?" I ask, then Wilykat holds out his hand, in which are the keys to the cells.

"How'd you get that? They guard those keys like they're the crown jewels." I say as the young wildcat unlocks the door of my cell.

"Those mutants aren't going to outwit us Thundercats! They were so wrapped up in arguing about how you escaped that they didn't notice that I took the keys from their belts."

The door swings open with a deafening creak and I step out. "So, we're finally getting out of here, then?"

"Yup. Can't stand being here, if I do say so myself!"

We sneak past the other cells, our footsteps echoing in the cavernous hall until we stop in front of the dungeon door. I sigh as I place my hand on the cold steel. We're going home.

"This is it. Our way out. Now, once we get out of this dungeon, we're going to have to split up. We'll meet back up in the jungle, near the ruins of the old Cats lair. I've got to get the Sword of Omens from Mumm-ra and the mutants, then fight my way out of this castle through possible hordes of guards, so don't get worried if I'm not back before you are." I say as Wilykat slots a key in the lock. The door creaks, but doesn't open.

"Uhhh...slight problem, guys." Wilykat says as he looks at us.

"What?"

"I don't think that the key for the door is on here..."

We begin to push the door with all our might, but it's not getting us anywhere. The bloody door won't budge. "The key's gotta be on there somewhere! Are you sure that you're not looking properly?" I say as I push the door.

"I've tried all of them! It's not on here!"

I've had enough of this.

"Everyone, move out of the way!" I snarl as I step back.

I roar then run at top speed, towards the door. I'm not as fast as Cheetara, but I'm twice as heavy as her. I collide with the door, sideways on, knocking all the breath from my body. Howether, it works, though; the door swings outward, and we flood into the corridor. "Lion-O, take this." Cheetara says, and she presses a shard of metal into my palm. I nod before I put my hand out in front of me; the other Thundercats put their hands on top of mine.

"THUNDERCATS, HO!" we shout in unison, then turn and run in different directions. I run in the direction that I believe is the direction of the control room. My ribs ache from throwing myself at the door and my abdomen is wet and sticky with blood. I skid to a stop as I hear voices. I sniff the air cautiously, and detect the all too familiar stench of mutant. "Oh God! That smells awful!" I think to myself. The mutants have never been very good with personal hygiene. One of the voices is croaky and the other is harsh and ape-like, embellished with a slight gibber. Great. Just great. Mutant guards. Exactly what I need, right now. In blind panic, I flatten myself against a side wall.

The mutant guards walk straight past me; they haven't seen me! I sigh with relief and turn to walk back out, just when the ape-like mutant appears in the doorway.

"I thought could smell a cat! But, it got better! It's a lion!" he roars with laughter as he grabs my mane and hauls me out into the main corridor, in front of his frog-like friend. I growl, snarl and hiss menacingly at them, showing my fangs as much as possible. I still have the metal shard. The monkey throws me against the wall, and I slide down it, the blunt end of the shard digging into my chest. I throw the jagged metal at the ape, and it hits him in the right eye, blinding him because the other is milky white. He screams in pain then attempts to pull the shard out, ripping his eye out in the process.

I turn then start to run, but the frog throws something hard and heavy at me from behind, which knocks me over. I sit up then edge away from it. "You're not going anywhere, cub!" the frog croaks. I keep backing away until I find myself pressed against a wall; I'm cornered. I can feel the frog's hot breath on my face. Horrible creature. I stand up as the frog hops towards me, and the monkey blindly stumbles towards us. Claustrophobia washes over me and I leap at the frog, sinking my fangs into his throat. Salty, metallic blood fills my mouth as I slowly tear his throat out, spraying his lifeblood onto the floor and walls.

His lifeless body goes limp, so I release him. I spit the mutant's blood at the ape, and then leap at the wretched creature. His scream echoes in the corridor as I brutally kill him. I hate the taste of mutant blood. The stuff drips from my mouth and chin. I bet I look crazy.

My abdomen burns and my back stings. It's awful what those mutants did to me. They tried to drown me earlier by throwing me into a deep pool of ice cold water. I run from the bodies and continue on to where I was originally headed. When I come to another door, I hear muffled voices. I skid to a stop, then press my ear against the wood.

"What do you mean, they've escaped? Do you mean to say that the wretched Thundercat Lion-O is roaming freely about this castle?"

"Yes, Mumm-ra. I found two of our guards, lying dead, with their throats torn out. They both had scarlet lion's hair under their claws. It was obviously Lion-O who killed them. He's the only Thunderian lion that we've captured."

Slithe.

I growl then pick up speed again, bursting right through the door.

"LION-O!" Slithe and Mumm-ra shout in unison.

"Yeah. So what? It's me." I growl. I raise my hand then shout "Sword of Omens, come to my hand! I, Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats command it!"

The sword flies out of Mumm-ra's hand and through the air, towards me, much to the displeasure of Mumm-ra.

"Ancient spirits of evil! Transform this decayed form to Mumm-ra the ever living!" he shouts, then he begins to transform in front of my eyes, his bones creaking as he grows. I catch the sword one handed then point it at Mumm-ra, placing my other hand on the silver hilt. "HO!" I shout. Blue lightning bolts shoot from the sword and fly towards the evil, ancient mummy. He roars then unsheathes the Sword of Plun-darr and blocks the bolts. "I liked you better when you were dead, Lion-O!" he snarls as we clash. I swing at the Sword of Plun-darr, wrenching it from his grip as Slithe grabs his axe then races towards me.

Steel strikes steel as we circle each other, swinging our weapons at one another and blocking fatal blows. "Give in, Lion-O! You will never defeat me!" Slithe snarls as he swings his axe towards me. I defensively bring the sword up in front of me and deflect his blow. He swings again, obviously trying to get at my throat. I catch his axe on the Sword of Omens and throw the axe blade away. Slithe hisses angrily then swings again. I misjudge the trajectory of his axe and jump.

The blade cuts across my sternum, catching me by surprise. I look down, expecting to see blood gushing from a gaping wound, but there's nothing except a shallow cut, no blood at all. Just a flesh wound. Slithe swings again, with far less power. I bring the sword up again and swing back at him, my timing off by miles.

The blade cuts deep into my forearm, down to the bone. Blood dribbles from the wound as I roar in agony and back away from the wretched mutant. I'm wasting time by fighting these two. I look down at my chest as I cover my bleeding arm with my right hand. Blood begins to trickle from the cut across my sternum. I back away from Slithe again before looking behind him, and seeing the open door. "If I could just..." I think to myself. I drop down then slide through Slithe's legs as he swings the axe downwards. I get up, run towards the door as fast as I can and wrench the claw shield from Mumm-ra's grip. "Stop him!" Mumm-ra shouts as he gets up "Don't let him escape!"

I keep running, my breath burning in my chest. I'm not free yet. The other Thundercats must all be free and waiting for me by now. I'm going to look quite a shock to them now. I'm out of the door. "This is it!" I think to myself "I'm finally free! I've only been enslaved for two days, but I'm finally free!"

But, it's not going to be as easy as I first thought; loads of guards swarm around the corner, towards me through the cramped corridor. "Oh! Not again!" I whisper. I run straight through the horde.

I'm cut in different places, but none are deep and they only bleed a little. Panting heavily, I struggle onwards until I'm clear of them, then I pick up speed again until I'm running at my fastest. I can hear the mutants' shouts behind me. I run through twisting corridors until I finally make it out of the main door. I leap into the moat and begin to frantically swim to the other side. I don't know why, but those mutants really hate cats. The 'water' stings all the cuts. My back burns and my scar tingles uncomfortably.

I hear splashes as the mutants push each other into the moat after me. I continue swimming until I reach the other side. I catapult myself out of the water and run through the thick shrubbery and scrub. My body aches. I look at the sky. The sun is just starting to rise. I look behind me as the mutants climb out of the moat. I run quicker, dropping down onto all fours, knowing that I can run fastest that way. A thick snow begins to fall. My footsteps crackle in the white powder, throwing it up into my face. I run as fast as I can, but my wounds are slowing me down. I feel so weak from blood loss.

I can hear someone calling my name. "Lion-O? Lion-O, is that you?" Wait...I recognize that voice. It's Cheetara.

"Cheetara! Keep running! The mutants are right behind me!" I shout. She comes into my view. She's waiting with the others. "Run! Quickly! They're right behind me!" I shout. They get up and run in front of me. They seem so fast to me. I can't keep up with them through the snow. I stumble and nearly trip over. "Come on, Lion-O! We've gotta get away quickly!" Cheetara cries. She grabs me then says "Hold onto me, Lion-O! I'm going into full speed." I lock my arm around her shoulder and she speeds up. Blood still drips from my wounds, meaning that Cheetara's arm is wet with the stuff, but she still holds onto me. We keep running until we can no long hear or smell the mutants. Then, we stop.

Cheetara releases me. I collapse to the ground, and I can't get up again. "Lion-O...OH MY GOD! What happened to you?" she gasps as she spots my arm. "Me...And S...Slithe fought. He...he hit my arm w...with his axe. C...cut down to t...the bone!" I stutter, and then I black out.

I open my eyes to a nagging, agonizing pain in my wounded arm. I can smell food cooking over a fire, and I can hear muffled, distorted voices. I weakly lift my head and look around. I can see that there are fat fish, various bits of wild pheasant and candy fruit cooking on spits over a roaring camp fire. The smell is making me hungry. I see the other Thundercats huddled around the fire, talking.

"He was seriously injured. The wound went all the way down to the bone. And, the cut on his chest was deeper than it looked. He's lucky that he survived. He could have bled out because of his arm. I'm surprised that he actually managed to fight his way out of that castle."

"But will he be ok?"

"He'll be fine Cheetara."

I try to sit up, but I can't. I groan in pain and rub my head. I notice the bandage that is wrapped around my left forearm before I realize that I'm topless. Mt shirt and belt are slung over a tree branch, obviously drying from having my blood washed from them. Cheetara is sitting right next to me. She obviously heard me groan because she turns around and looks at me.

"Lion-O. You're awake!" she says softly. I try to sit up again so she helps me sit up.

"I expect you're rather hungry and thirsty." Pumyra says as she walks towards us, carrying a water skin and three spits.

I eat ravenously, ripping into the meat and fish. It's smoked haddock; my favourite. I eat my fill then drink from the water skin.

"How...where are we?" I ask weakly.

Tygra replies "About a day's walk from the ruins of the old Cats lair."

"How long have I been unconscious?" I whisper as I lie back down on the ground in the sleeping bag.

"About 17 hours. We had to drag you here after you collapsed." Pumyra replies as she opens her medical kit.

I feel as if I've been drugged. "I've think I'm going mad. Why are the walls of the cave spinning?" I groan as I lie back down, feeling thoroughly nauseated.

"That'll be the wild herbs that we dosed you with taking effect on you. I know that they'll make you high as a kite, but they're natural painkillers," Pumyra explains as she pulls a hypodermic needle and phial from the bag.

"What's that?" I ask as she fills it from the phial.

"It's liquid penicillin. It'll help with getting rid of any bacteria in your wound." She presses the needle into my arm, making me yelp and flinch involuntarily from the pain. She pulls the needle from my arm before putting a piece of cotton wool on the injection site and taping it down.

"Anyway, how are we getting back to New Thundera? We've gotta get the Thundertank back, too, which will be a rather difficult task because of the thick undergrowth." I say to Panthro.

He simply replies "The Feliner is at the Tower of Omens. You see, I planned ahead, unlike you!"

I scowl and whisper beneath my breath "Show off."

"Oh, for Jaga's sake! Will you two stop it? What's with the hostility between you two? Anyway, we're leaving for the Tower of Omens about an hour before sunrise. So try and get the sleep that you need." Cheetara says as she drags a sleeping bag up to me and lies it down beside me. She gets into it then faces me. She's so beautiful...but I've never told her about the feelings I have towards her: I'm nervous that she'd hate me.

Her mane glows like polished gold and her eyes sparkle like diamonds as she looks at me. Just as I am about to speak to her, she rolls over, into my arms. I'm so shocked that I can't say anything. "Got you by surprise there, Lion-O." she purrs as she snuggles up to me.

The chilling winter wind sweeps through our makeshift camp. Thank Jaga we're shielded from the snow. Cheetara is asleep within minutes, but I lie awake. I have too many thoughts on my mind to rest. There's something malicious going on that no-one is telling me about. And I bet that I can guess who is behind all of this.

I eventually fall asleep, but I feel absolutely awful when I wake up. My nose runs and my head feels extremely stuffy. "Come on, Lion-O! Get up, you lazy lion!" Cheetara snaps as she throws my shirt and belt at me. I get fully dressed. I can't stop shivering, even when I'm in my thick winter coat that the others stole from the castle.

We pack everything away. The rucksack on my back feels like it's increasing in weight as I trudge through the thick snow. I can feel my strength slowly fading the further we walk through the forest. Often, I would stumble and nearly fall over a boulder. The others are way in front of me. Every step I take sends pain through my body. My arm is pure agony and I don't want to go any further.

"Keep up, Lion-O! You're holding us all up!" Panthro shouts from way up in front.

"Give the guy a chance, Panthro! He's injured!" Pumyra says sternly.

"I think there's something else underlying that. Lion-O isn't usually like this. He's usually raring fit and ready to go; now he can't even keep up on us." Tygra says, as if I'm not even there.

We keep walking for miles. My body screams at me to rest, but I can't. It begins to snow even more at sunset. By nightfall, it's transformed into a raging blizzard. All of my limbs feel like lead weights and I shiver uncontrollably as I pull my coat around my shoulders and push my exhausted body to its limits. My breath forms mist in the air before me and snow flecks my blood red mane. I take one more step forwards. I can't go on. I'm exhausted. My foot gets caught in an upturned hidden tree root, making me stumble and collapse face down in the snow, unable to get back up. I'm extremely weak and cold. I don't have any physical strength left.

"There's definitely something wrong with him!" I hear Cheetara shout to the others. I can hear her approaching me. She kneels down in the snow, rests my right arm over her shoulders, and then lifts me up. "Come on, Lion-O. Just a little bit longer." she says softly, but her voice is filled with panic. I try walking again, but I can't. I trip over again, but Cheetara bears my weight until I can recover my stance. "Cheetara! Over here! There's a cave that we can shelter in overnight!" I hear Wilykat shout. Cheetara leads me in the direction of his voice, but I can't see anything through the thick, swirling snow. "Tygra! Help me!" Cheetara shouts. Tygra seems to materialize as he walks through the blizzard towards us.

He gently slings my left arm around his shoulder and says "We need to get him to the cave, quickly!" They half drag me and half carry me to the cave. Panthro is kneeling in the centre of the cave, trying to set fire to some kindling with a stolen flint and steel. Fire eventually roars to life, illuminating the cave with its soft glowing light and warmth, after 6 unsuccessful attempts. Pumyra's face falls when she sees me. "Lie him in his sleeping bag, and keep him close to the fire, but not too close." she says as she walks towards me, carrying her medical kit. "What's wrong?" I hear Cheetara ask. "He's ill. And judging on how pale he is, it's dangerous." Pumyra says as she pops a thermometer into my mouth. "Hmmm. His temperature is 38·C. He's got a slight fever," She takes a reading from the thermometer, then she presses her hand against my abdomen before putting a heat sensitive strip on my skin "And his body temperature is even higher; 39.47 degrees Celsius. I've got some medicine that should help."

She looks in her bag again then pulls out a jade phial. My abdomen is throbbing and my arm is excruciatingly painful. I feel so weak. I don't have any strength left to move my arms. Pumyra gently lifts my head up and holds the phial against my lips. "You've got to drink it all, Lion-O." she says, so I swallow the medicine, even though it tastes foul.

I look over at Snarf. He's by the fire, cooking some sort of delicious smelling stew. "H...how did you manage to...to get everything?" I whisper weakly. Pumyra replies "We stole most of the provisions from the castle. If we want to survive until we reached the Tower, then we needed food, water, medicine and other medical supplies, and stuff for sleeping." Cheetara walks over and kneels down beside me. "His health should start to increase overnight. If not, then I'll have to suspect that he's got influenza." Pumyra says as she walks over to Bengali then sits down with him, resting her head on his chest. "How long have they been in a relationship?" I ask, my voice no more than a weak whisper.

"They got together about two days after we thought that you'd been killed." she replies. I look over at Snarf again as he starts to dish the stew up.

Everyone collects their bowls from Snarf. Cheetara walks up to him and takes two bowls of the stew, then carries them towards me. She places one of the bowls on the ground then says "You're going to be happy after eating this. It's venison, your favourite."

She lifts my head up then holds the bowl against my lips. I'm absolutely starving. I hungrily drink the stew. It tastes so good. I absolutely love venison. I remember that when I was just a little cub, my father would go out hunting and shoot geese, deer, pigeons and ducks. I was once taken with him when I turned 11. I can remember holding the hunting rifle and shooting my first goose. My cousins were always very jealous of me when I went round to their house. They were horrid to me. They pushed me in the lake, tried to get me eaten by a two-tailed scorpion, told me scary stories about the girl in the white dress. They even went as far as to take me into the forest and leave me tied up in a tree until my stepmother found me, when I was just 4. My father always called them 'devil cubs' as a friendly nickname. One day, I got my revenge by staging a massive prank. They shit themselves and ran crying to my aunt Laila. "Keep that little brat of yours under control, Claudus!" she'd yelled at the top of her lungs, holding me rather roughly by my mane as she dragged me towards my parents, ignoring my cries of pain.

Cheetara starts to eat her stew. Pumyra gently starts to un-wrap the bandage on my arm, and I see the wound which has been sutured the best that she could do. As she wraps a clean bandage round my arm, then checks the scar on my abdomen. It's not as inflamed as it was, but it's still rather red. As I huddle up into the thick fur blanket for warmth, a strong gust of glacial wind rushes through the cave. Once the sun starts to set, Pumyra prepares another dose of the medicine. She takes the bottle out of her bag, and another one. She mixes the two together, then holds my head up so that I can take it. This time, it's cloyingly sweet like syrup, but also has a slightly bitter taste. Once I finish the medicine, I begin to feel drowsy. Then, I realize that Pumyra put sleep syrup into the medicine. "Do you have to keep...knocking me...out?" I say as I lay my head back on the pile of pine needles. I start to drift off, but it seems that Mumm-ra's not going to give up...

"You thought that you could escape from me, Lion-O? It just so turns out that you were wrong!"

I look up at Mumm-ra as he looms above me. I growl, but no noise is made. Horrified, I reach for my throat, and my hand comes away bloodied. My throat's been slit...but, how? I look up at the ancient devil priest and bear my fangs. He laughs at my attempts and continues to taunt me. "You think that you're safe, but you couldn't be in more danger than you are now."

He waves a hand over his cauldron and forces me to watch the horrific images unveiling themselves in the vivid purple waters: the other Thundercats are all lying dead on the floor of Cat's Lair, and I'm standing over their bodies, covered in blood, wielding the Sword of Plun-darr. No!

"You see, Lion-O? That's your future! You think that you're a Thundercat and that you're of the purest, noblest blood, but at the end of the day, everyone is capable of immense evil. No-one is completely pure!" Mumm-ra snarls as he looks at me. I just bear my fangs again, unable to make a single sound because of my vocal chords being cut through earlier. "Greed, fear and ignorance are the factors that control our lives, Thundercat! No-one can escape it!"

"NO!"

My eyes fly open, and I sit bolt upright. I can feel the sweat trickling down my back, chest and forehead as I pant heavily, my breath rising to form mist in the midnight winter air. My body is hot, and my throat feels like sandpaper. I roll over and start vomiting violently. I feel so sick. I think Cheetara was right. Maybe that raw meat was poisoned. Maybe I'm dying. But, how could Mumm-ra get into my dreams?

"Lion-O! Lion-O, are you ok?"

Cheetara sits up and wraps her arms around me, trying to calm my mind as I shiver. "Jeez, you're absolutely boiling! I think that you need to be taken back to New Thundera ASAP! Hopefully, once we're back at Cat's Lair, you'll recover fully." she says as the others wake up. "Speaking of which, we'd better get moving. It's nearly sunrise." Panthro says as he sits up. I just look around at the little camp as nausea washes over me again. Finally, after 2 years, we're going home.

Next time on Thundercats:

The Thundercats finally manage to get back to their home planet of New Thundera, and love is in the air as Lion-O finds himself falling in love with Cheetara. Whilst he and his friends take time to recover from their traumatic experience on Third Earth, a problem crops up when Leo re-introduces himself to the Thundercats, whom he was part of as a cub, Will Lion-O recognise his older twin brother after so many years apart? Will Leo be able to make ties between the Ferrals and the Thundercats, both of whom couldn't be any more different?

Find out in the next chapter of Thundercats: Wake Up!