This oneshot is set in season 1 before the ThunderCats reach the Elephant Village.
Disclaimer: I do not own Thundercats.
It was another day for the Drago Tribe.
Fighting another one be of Mumm-Ra's monsters from getting Ralph.
"LEOP, LOOK OUT!" Lizadro hollered, but it was too late.
Mumm-Ra's latest monster swung its tail at his adoptive daughter, sending her flying across the air and crashing to the ground, landing in a puddle.
"LEOPHELIA!"
Even though she only fell into a puddle, anyone and anything that hurt his daughter was going to get a taste of his wrath.
So, he unleashed the power of his fatherly fury on Mumm-Ra's monster.
Fortunately, Leophelia was unharmed. Disgusted, but unharmed.
"Gross!"
Half of her body was soaked in mud and dirty puddle water. Then, some kind of an insect made its way into her mouth. She could it crawling down her throat. She tried to cough it out, but it didn't bulge. And then she felt a bite inside of her. She groaned, slowly feeling sluggish.
Meanwhile, her tribe had just defeated the monster. Lizadro finished it off with a few slashes of his swords.
"That's for my daughter." He stated.
The monster exploded into a confetto of dust.
"Ralph, you can come out now!" Lizadro called out loud.
Ralph and Flou peeked out of their hiding spot behind a rock. Seeing that the monster was gone, Ralph ran straight to Lizadro who scooped him up.
"Where's Leophelia?" Ralph asked.
Lizadro turned his head left to right to left-right to right-left until he finally spotted his daughter
"Leophelia!"
Relieved that she was alive, he trotted over to her.
"Leophelia… Thank goodness you're ok."
His daughter slowly rose from the puddle. But instead of the smile she usually flashes whenever she sees her beloved father and little brother future, she fixed them a glare.
"Leop?" Ralph said.
She didn't answer. She didn't even open her arms for Ralph to jump in and hug her like she always does.
"Lizadro, why is she staring at us like that?" He asked.
"I don't know…" Lizadro replied. "Sweetheart, if you feel embarrassed or overlooked, we can talk about it."
The Breaded Dragon Lizard took a step closer and noticed that his daughter's bright light-blue eyes were turning red. As red as blood. He also noticed that a nasty rash was forming on her neck and blistering red spots were popping upon her black rosettes.
"Leop, you don't look well. Let's have Chamel-"
The black pupils in Leophelia's bloody red eyes straightened up into slates. She suddenly pounced at her father, claws out and canines bared.
"Catch Ralph!"
Lizadro acted fast, throwing Ralph right before Leophelia tackled him. Chamelyon was the lucky one who caught the flying child.
"Chamelyon, get Ralph out of here!" Lizadro ordered while holding Leophelia above him.
Chamelyon ran back to the rock the boy was previously hiding beside during the monster attack. He was about to go back and aid Lizadro when Ralph stopped him.
"Chamelyon, what's happening?" Ralph asked, looking up to Chamelyon with big, pleading eyes on the verge of crying. "What's wrong with Leophelia? Is she sick?"
Chamelyon didn't want to lie to him. But he didn't want to scare him with the uncertain truth.
"It's gonna be okay, Ralph. Don't worry." Chamelyon assured. But he was secretly worried.
Leophelia had never acted like this before. She was fiery and headstrong but never aggressive. She would never attack her own father and brother figure.
"Hold her down!"
Komo and Snakayla yanked Leophelia off Lizadro and held her down on the ground. She growled at them. Then one of her hands broke free and slashed at their faces. The two lizards pulled back before she could scar them.
"Whoa! Leophelia, what the heck?" Snakayla screeched, alarmed that her best friend and only sister acting so feral.
"What's going on with her?" Komo demanded, not liking how Leophelia was behaving as well.
"She must've picked up some kind of infection in the puddle." Lizadro theorised. He came over to them and knelt beside his daughter. "Darling, it's me."
She snarled at him while foam bubbled in her mouth.
"Oh, my scales, she's got rabies!" Snakayla screamed.
Ralph heard her loud and clear. At the very mention of rabies, he remembered of an incident at his mother's animal clinic. A cat was brought in by its owner, stuffed in a carrier cage. Foaming at the mouth, clawing and yowling at everyone, just like Leophelia. His mother hurried him into the staff room. But he snuck out, too curious for his own good, and listened to his mother talk solemnly to the savage cat's owner.
"There's only one way to deal with a cat with rabies. I'm afraid I'll have to put her down."
Put her down…
Put her down…
Put her down…
"Leophelia is going to die!" He cried, bursting into tears.
"She is not dying!" Lizadro declared. "Not on our watch! Chamelyon, is there any medicine you can give her?"
Chamelyon quickly put together a mixture with potions and herbs from his pouch.
"I'm giving her the regular cure-all medicine!" He announced, running over.
"But that's for colds and stomach bugs!" Snakayla retorted. "We have no choice. We don't even know what's wrong with her."
"It's worth the risk. Give it to her." Lizadro ordered.
Chamelyon tilted the bowl in Leophelia's mouth and poured the cure-all mixture down her throat, careful to avoid getting bite. Then Leophelia stopped struggling, and he pulled away with the bowl.
And then she started to shake, worse than when she has one of her visions.
"She's having a seizure!" Komo panicked.
"Turn her on her side or she'll choke!" Lizadro ordered.
Snakayla and Komo turned her on her side. She coughed and then threw up.
"Ewww!" Snakayla squealed.
In the vomit, a small, centipede-like insect squirmed around before curling up and stayed still.
"….What the heck was that?!" Snakayla shrieked.
Komo took a stick with his tail and used it to poke at the insect. The thing didn't move when he picked at it.
"I think it's dead." He concluded.
"It looks like some kind of a parasite." Chamelyon said, looking over. "Might be one that reveals a toxin that causes the host to go nuts."
"Looks like your medicine killed it." Komo retorted. "Kinda like how your bad driving almost killed us."
"I only ever driven once in my life." Chamelyon defended.
"And that's enough for our lives!" Snakayla responded.
Ralph stopped crying upon hearing the young lizards joke and jab.
"Is Leophelia better now?" He asked.
Snakayla and Komo turned Leophelia over on her back. Fortunately, she stopped shaking and went still. The red spots and rash disappeared, and the foam dissolved from her jaw. Her eyelids lifted slowly, revealing the red irises of her eyes returning to its original yet unique bright blue colour.
"Daddy?" She spoke, her voice hoarse.
"Darling…"
Lizadro scooped her up. She shrunk in size in his arms, turning into the frail little cub he met 11 years ago.
"What happened to me?"
"You had a parasite within you that turned you feral."
"I felt like I was dying…"
"You're not dying. Not before me. Not before you meet Lion-O again."
"Leophelia!" Ralph ran over. "You're ok!"
"Fou!" Flou chirped, happy as well.
Lizadro smiled down on the child, relieved that everything had worked out and that his daughter was safe. But Mumm-Ra could send another monster after them and they were down a member.
"We gotta go now. We're too out in the open. We have to find shelter and treat Leophelia there. Go!"
Komo picked up Ralph and Flou. Then Lizadro, Komo and Chamelyon grabbed onto Snakayla, who used her speed to zoom away, taking her tribe with her.
Just a few hours later, the ThunderTank drove into that very same area until it stopped right in the middle of it.
"Panthro, why did you stop?" Lion-O asked.
"There was a battle here. A big one." Panthro answered.
The ThunderCats got out of the ThunderTank to inspect the site. Like Panthro had said, there were signs of a battle.
"There was an explosion here." Tygra noticed, pointing at the marks on the ground.
Snarf sniffed at the footprints. Some were big, one was medium, and one was very small with one side made up of strange, jagged lines.
"I wonder what kind of creature made those tracks." WilyKat wondered as he and his sister started at a hollowed-out trail in the grass that seemed to have no end.
"These track marks look like it was made by a big, long tail." WilyKit observed.
Lion-O was looking around when a gleam caught his eye. He turned and saw silver arrows lying on the ground.
"Is that real silver?" He wondered to himself, reaching out to take one.
"STOP!" Cheetara screamed.
Lion-O jerked away from the arrows, startled by the sudden scream.
"Lion-O, don't move!" Cheetara shouted at him.
"What? What's wrong?"
"There's a puddle to your right!"
"Okay…why is that bad?"
"Because it's swimming with Feramite!"
"WHAT?!" Lion-O and the other cats cried.
Cheetara pointed to Lion-O, fear stretched across her face. At his right side, there was a puddle nearby, filled with muddy water, topped with milky-white foam. Inside, wiggling within the foam and water, were tiny centipede-like insects.
"Everyone back to the tank NOW!" Lion-O shouted.
"Don't need to tell us twice!" Tygra shouted back.
The ThunderCats dashed back to the ThunderTank. Once inside, Panthro got behind the controls and drove the tank as far away from the site as he could.
"Is everyone ok? Did anyone get infected?" Lion-O demanded.
"I don't think so." Cheetara glanced to each cat "No one is getting spots or rashes. We're good."
Every cat released a heavy sigh of relief. They were scaredy-cats for good reasons.
"Gods, I hate those things!" Tygra exclaimed, exhausted.
"I do too." WilyKit agreed.
"Yeah, we had an uncle who died of it." WilyKat mentioned.
"Those things wiped out whole platoons." Panthro remembered grimly.
"The Feramite are only found in dirty water. It's so easy to get infected, even in Thundera." Lion-O said solemnly.
Snarf shivered from the very mention of the parasites.
Then Lion-O turned to Cheetara. After running after from the puddle of Feramite, he managed to make sure to sit beside her inside the tank.
"Thank you for warning me, Cheetara." He thanked her.
She smiled at him, grateful. "I didn't want you to get infected. We need you."
He grinned at her words. His infatuation of her was growing more and more. In his mind, she was returning his feelings. But what he didn't realise was that she was just being protective and polite towards him.
"Aw, is the great king scared of a little bug?" Tygra taunted from his place beside Cheetara.
Cheetara turned to the tiger, frowning. "Tygra…"
"Maybe you should get infected since you think it's no big deal." Lion-O retorted, becoming angry and embarrassed.
"Hey, getting infected is nothing to joke about!"
"Then you should've kept your mouth shut for once!"
"Boys!" Cheetara cried, sandwiched between the brothers. "Enough! We got away from the Feramite. We are safe. So, let's leave it at that."
The brothers stopped fighting, yet they settled for glaring at each other, with the girl they love caught in the middle of it.
In the front seat, Panthro rolled his eyes.
"We just had a brush with death from the most dangerous parasite known to cat and they're acting like a bunch of teenagers in a stupid love triangle." He muttered to himself. "Well, they are a bunch of teenagers in a love triangle…"
A year later…
"TYGRA!"
Leophelia had just put Ralph down for bed when she heard a loud commotion outside. The noise work Ralph up.
"What was that? Is something wrong with Tygra?" He asked, yawning.
"I don't know. Stay here."
She exited the Feliner and when she got outside, she found a sight that shocked her.
Tygra was tied down to the ground, growling and foaming at the mouth. Everyone else was surrounding him at a distance, their heads low as if they were at a funeral, mourning for someone that wasn't even dead.
Leophelia looked around and saw her boyfriend embracing Tygra's girlfriend. The sight didn't anger her, but it did make her curious.
"Lion-O!" She trotted over to him. "What's going on?"
Lion-O looked at her with watery eyes filled with sadness. Cheetara clung onto him as if he was her lifeline, crying into his shoulder.
"Tygra is dying." He explained softly. "He caught the Feramite."
Leophelia didn't understand why was that serious. "Feramite?"
Lion-O didn't pick up her confusion and glanced to his brother. "He'll be dead in an hour."
Leophelia's heart broke for her boyfriend. Despite how she felt about Tygra, he doesn't deserve this, neither does his girlfriend and brother. Losing Lizadro almost destroyed her. She can't imagine how Lion-O would pull through after losing his father and how would Cheetara recover, knowing how much the cheetah loves the arrogant tiger.
The rest of the Drago Tribe stood at sidelines with everyone else. The ThunderCats had told them Tygra was doomed to die soon so they mourn along with them. Chamelyon felt a presence next to him. He glanced to the right and saw nothing. He looked down to find Ralph staring at Tygra's tied-down, ferocious body with wide eyes.
"Ralph, you're supposed to be in bed!"
"I couldn't sleep." Ralph replied, his gaze still stuck on the sick cat.
Chamelyon knelt and turned Ralph around, trying to steer the child away from the sight. "Don't look, buddy."
But the curious child took a sneaky peek at Tygra again.
"Hey, he's got rabies like Leophelia did!" He commented.
"Wait, what?"
That made the chameleon snap his gaze on Tygra, realising that the prince was exhibiting the same symptoms as Leophelia when she was infected by a strange parasite a year ago.
Foaming the mouth…eyes red as blood…fangs bared…red spots on his stripes…a rash crawling up his neck…feral behaviour….
"Ralph, go back to the tank and get me my potions and herbs."
"OK!"
Ralph dashed to the tank. A few seconds later, he returned with a bowl and Chamelyon's herbs and potions. Chamelyon went to work, making the regular cure-all medicine that apparently saved Leophelia. Once he made the mixture, he approached Tygra to shock of everyone.
"Chamelyon, what are you doing?" Lion-O demanded.
"You're gonna get bitten and infected!" WilyKat exclaimed. "Wait, can lizards get Feramite?"
Chamelyon stood over the tied down tiger. "I know what he has."
"We know what he has!" WilyKit cried. "A parasite killing him from the inside!"
"I mean I know how to help him!"
"You can't help him! He's good as dead! Now get back here!" Panthro shouted, coming over to stop Chamelyon.
By then, Chamelyon already had the bowl of medicine in Tygra's foaming mouth. Then he flourished a dagger and cut the ropes holding Tygra down.
"Are you crazy? Don't free him!"
"We need to turn him on his side or else he'll choke!"
"Choke? Choke on what?"
"Just do what he says!" Leophelia exclaimed, already running over, and helping Chamelyon turn Tygra onto his side.
Then Tygra begun to shake violently.
"Tygra!" Cheetara cried, running over and dropping to her knees, looking him over before staring up to Chamelyon. "What did you give him?"
"Don't worry. It's the same stuff I gave to Leophelia when she had the parasite." Chamelyon answered.
"Wait, what?"
Every cat turned to Leophelia.
"She had the Feramite?"
Lion-O came over and knelt beside his girlfriend, his handsome face riddled with fear. "You had the Feramite?"
Leophelia blinked with confusion. "I did?"
"Remember last year, Leop?" Chamelyon said from across her. "You fell in that puddle and got bite by that bug that made you go wild?"
Leophelia blinked again. And then she smiled as she finally remembered. "Oh yeah. I remember."
"And you're lived?" Lion-O asked.
"What do you mean, lived? What are you talking about?"
"The Feramite!"
"Feramite? Is that what it's called?"
"Yes! I'd just told you!"
"Guys!" Cheetara snapped. "Tygra is convulsing! The Feramite does not do that! So Chamelyon, I'll ask you again. What did you give my dying boyfriend?"
Before Chamelyon could reply, Tygra suddenly threw up.
"Ew!" The kittens squealed, disgusted. "Gross!"
"Look!" Ocelota cried, pointing.
The parasite, a small centipede-like bug known to be known as Feramite, wiggled in the puke, and then curled up with its little legs in the air, and stopped wiggling about.
Every cat, except for Leophelia, stared at the dead parasite with astonishment.
"I don't believe it. You killed the Feramite!" Panthro exclaimed.
"Well, his medicine did." Dobby remarked.
"But what if it kills Tygra?" WilyKit asked worriedly.
Chamelyon and Leophelia turned Tygra on his back when he stopped shaking and went perfectly still.
"Tygra?" Cheetara breathed, stroking his face.
She watched the red spots, rash and foam vanish from his body. His face scrunched up and his eyes lazily opened, the bloody colour turning to its original warm shade of bronze.
"What did you give me, lizard?" He asked in between groans.
"Some medicine." Chameluon replied dryly.
Tygra coughed, flicking his tongue. "Why do I always drink stuff that humiliates me?"
Cheetara let out a laugh, overjoyed that he was acting his proud self and alive, no longer affected nor dying.
"Tygra!"
She threw herself at him, engulfing him in a tight hug.
"T-That's impossible!" Lion-O stuttered with disbelief. "Nothing gets rid of Feramite!"
"Tell that to my medicine." Chamelyon remarked for the second time.
"But no one survived the Feramite! Ever!"
"I did." Leophelia mentioned. "So did Tygra."
"Leopy, this is serious. I can't believe you had it. And survived."
"Yes. Because of my brother." Leophelia directed a smile to Chamelyon.
Lion-O felt like he was losing his mind. So many things were happening at once and there was no clear answer. His brother was just dying a minute ago, only to be cured by his girlfriend's foster brother's medicine, and his girlfriend went through the same thing! Not to mention, she wasn't taking the topic of the incurable parasite seriously. As if she didn't know anything about it.
"You really didn't know about the Feramite? Every cat knows to avoid it."
"I'm not like other cats, remember?" She retorted. "I was a pariah cub in Thundera. No one told me about the parasite. No one wanted to talk to me. I wasn't even taught how to read or write. Then I was raised by lizards for the last 11 to 12 years, and it's not like there's another cat I could ask for help."
"Oh, right."
Due to the stress of the situation, he had forgotten about her life after Tygra scared her out of Thundera. So, he better explain it to her.
"Oh right. You see, Leopy, the Feramite is the cats' greatest enemy. More than Mumm-Ra and the lizards. It's extremely lethal because it only affects cats, causing us to go crazy on the outside while it slowly kills us from the inside. There's no way to get it out of our bodies. Once you're infected, you're good as dead. And there's no cure. nothing gets rid of it."
"But then Chamelyon came along with his wonder-cure!" WilyKit cheered.
"It's just the cure all for stomachaches and flus." Chamelyon admitted. "It's pretty basic."
"I wonder why your medicine managed to successfully treat the Feramite." Panthro questioned, curious. "Cats have tried to handle it with medicine for centuries, but nothing seemed to work."
"I guess lizard medicine is more powerful than cat medicine." Chamelyon said as he glanced down to the bowl which he made his medicine in. "I don't know if it's the herbs or the potions that kills Feramites. Most of my stuff is suited for lizards. Leophelia even adapted to lizard medicine."
"Like how you use a certain ingredient for a certain taste?" Dobby asked.
"Or maybe because lizards are always on the outskirts, so your medicine is from those harsh areas?" Lex-A theorised.
Chamelyon shrugged. "Something like that."
"Bwak!" Tygra coughed, trying to get the taste of Chamelyon's medicine out of his mouth. "Maybe the taste poisoned the Feramite. I felt better being seasick."
"Either way, this is a huge moment for us." Cheetara stated while rubbing his back.
"A huge moment in history." Lion-O declared.
As Ralph heard his favourite word 'history', he started writing in his journal.
"Lizard medicine got rid of the parasite cats feared for years." Lion-O continued.
Suddenly, Ocelota burst out laughing, startling everyone.
"What's so funny, woman?" Panthro demanded.
"I'm sorry, it's just the irony!" She said in between giggles.
"What irony?"
"That medicine made by and for lizards killed the Feramite! If you cats from your side of Third Earth made peace with lizards earlier, you would've got rid of the bug ages ago!"
The ThunderCats paled, realising she was right.
"So, you cats better treat us with respect from on all." Snakayla said smugly.
"Your sister is dating our king, ain't that enough?" Panthro retorted.
"We were thinking more of the lines of royal titles like duke and viscount." Komo replied.
Chamelyon rolled his eyes at his foster siblings.
"Don't you get Feramite in El Dara?" WilyKit asked Ocelota.
"Surprisingly, the Feramite is the only thing Muta bothered to be aware of since it can affect him and his precious soldiers." The former lady answered. "With sugar and gold mines, dirty puddles are a hotspot for it. He made sure the city was clean. Not from corruption and illness though."
"Done!" Ralph announced, holding up his journal. He had already recorded the whole incident. "I also wrote about Leophelia. Here."
He flipped through some pages until he found the chapter and gave the open book to Lion-O.
Lion-O enjoyed reading Ralph's journal. He was impressed by the passion Ralph puts into his words. The child had the potential to be a great writer. He catalogued every detail, right down to the Drago Tribe's escape. Maybe he could commission the child to write his memoirs…
Lion-O turned to the next page, which was a double spread of a drawing of the event, featuring an exploding cloud with the words BOOM! on it, Lizadro, Ralph, Flou, Snakayla, and Komo in a group, Leophelia with foam and spots, her sticks-as-arms waving around to show her infected ferociousness, and Chamelyon holding with a bowl with yellow sparkles to reflect the long-awaiting solution to the Feramite problem.
He also noticed that there was a stack of grey arrows and a brown puddle at the corner of the left page. The drawings on the corners sparked a memory. An incident last year. He and his team came across a scene of a battle, only to flee when they found a puddle riddled with Feramite. Just before Cheetara alerted him of the infected puddle, he was investigating some discarded silver arrows lying on the ground nearby.
"Wait a minute…"
He quickly looked to Leophelia's magical quiver filled with silver arrows.
"Leophelia, your arrows are silver."
Leophelia looked up from Ralph to her boyfriend.
"Yes." She replied. "Why?"
Lion-O turned book over to her, showing her the drawing.
"This is how did you get infected?"
"Yes. We were fighting a monster sent by Mumm-Ra when I got the parasite."
"It exploded?"
"Yes. Why are you asking? Ralph wrote everything down for you."
"Last year, my team and I came across what appeared to be a battle site with signs of an explosion when we came across a puddle of Feramite. There were silver arrows next to the puddle."
Leophelia's eyes widened as she realised what he was saying. "I fell in that puddle. The arrows were there because I was trying the monster down before it took me down."
Lion-O and Leophelia stare at one another, slowly understanding the connection. They were both in the same site. Hours apart. If her tribe stayed longer or his team arrived sooner, they could've been reunited earlier.
They were so close.
"You were there." He gasped.
"So were you." She replied breathlessly.
They continued to stare at each other, frozen to their spots. Well, frozen until their feet lifted as they sprinted forward. While doing so, Lion-O tossed the journal away.
"Hey!" Ralph cried.
Luckily, the flying book was caught by Snarf just as Lion-O and Leophelia ran into each other's arms in a tight hug and their lips collided in a desperate kiss, pouring all their emotions from the idea they could've been reunited earlier into their kiss.
Tygra rolled his eyes at the star-crossed lovers. "Oh sure, congratulate your girlfriend for narrowly surviving the Feramite a year ago. Not me, your only brother, who went through the same thing and nearly died of it a minute ago!"
Cheetara giggle, stroking his head.
"Oh, shut up, you big baby." Chamelyon retaliated.
Tygra glared at him, but Chamelyon wasn't fazed at the least, having been dealing with Snakayla and her snarky-ness every second of his life.
Eventually, the lovers broke their kiss and both turned to Chamelyon.
"Thank you, Chamelyon." Lion-O said, hugging Leophelia. "If it wasn't for you, Leophelia and Tygra would've died."
"It was Lizadro's idea to give Leop medicine." Chamelyon replied. "I only used the cure-all. It's basic medicine."
Leophelia cast her eyes as she thought of her deceased father, remembering how caring he was to her when she was infected. Lion-O kissed Leophelia's forehead, cheering her up a little.
"Either way, lizard medicine saves cats' lives." Lion-O continued. "We should be grateful for-"
"You threw away my journal!" Ralph interrupted him, hugging his journal in his arms. "It could've gotten wet, and all of my records of my journey would've been gone, including this historical moment, if it wasn't for Snarf!"
Snarf the hero was turning fully red all over as Flou rubbed up against him, purring in gratitude for his action.
"Sorry, Ralph." Lion-O apologised. He had forgotten how important the journal was to the little boy. "I've got carried away."
"Do you want medicine for that embarrassment?" Chamelyon quipped, making everyone, even Lion-O, laugh.
From that day on, the Feramite is no threatening than a cold. And the cats remembered Chamelyon for his 'basic' medicine which saved them.