The fight was getting ugly. Weapons were clashing among the fighting enemies on the ground while the vehicles were firing on each other. Such fighting was common in the life of the Thundercats on Third Earth. This particular fight was taking place in the dark and bleak mountains that surrounded the area known as Dark Side. Cheetara, Tygra, Pumyra, and the Thunderkittens were fighting on the ground with Monkian, Jackalman, TugMug, Chilla, and Alluro. Panthro and Lion-O were in the Thundertank holding off Slythe in the Nose Diver and Vultureman in yet another menacing flying vehicle he had just built. Lynx-O and Bengali were in the Thunderstrike firing at the Lunattacker, which was occupied by RedEye, Luna, and Amok. They were all fighting over the same thing-- a newly discovered Thundrilium deposit that could power either side for weeks with energy to spare.

It was Pumyra who had made the discovery that morning, while investigating some ruins that were in the mountains from a civilization they believed was dated sometime in Second Earth. She had found some Thundrilium pebbles while sifting among debris on the ground, and later brought Panthro back to check it out. Sure enough, there was a fair amount of Thundrilium present in the soil. They had returned to get it and had just finished loading it when the Mutants and Lunatacs ambushed them. Their enemies’ plan had been to wait until the Thundercats were finished doing the hard part, and then steal it from the Thundercats once it was all excavated. It had started a battle that called in all the resources from both sides.

The battle on the ground was a stalemate. Five against five, with no one having any appreciable advantage. A stray shot from above landed in the middle of them and caused them all to scatter, forgetting their fight for a moment. Cheetara, Alluro, and Monkian all ended up in one of the ruins, while the others scattered in the other direction. Before they could start up again, another stray shot, originating from the Thunderstrike, blew open the wall of a sealed temple ruin that Cheetara, Alluro, and Monkian were standing near. A putrid green haze escaped from it and engulfed the three of them. All three struggled to breathe, but the rotting stench overpowered each of them and brought them to their knees, gasping for air. Within seconds, they each fell to the ground unconscious. The haze dissipated as quickly as it had formed, but the three still laid there unmoving.

The others on the ground saw what had happened to their comrades and ran to the site, their skirmish temporarily forgotten. "Cheetara, NO!" Tygra cried. He was the first on the scene, and he scooped her limp body up, willing her back into consciousness. "Cheetara, please, you have to wake up!" The others surrounded them seconds later.

"Great Jaga..." Pumyra whispered, tears in her eyes.

"She’s not!"

"She can’t be!" cried the two Thunderkittens, rushing over to the fallen Cheetara.

Jackalman whimpered. "Monkian, man, you ok?" he asked apprehensively, kicking his friend’s still body lightly, waiting for a response. There was none.

Chilla silently knelt next to Alluro and felt for a pulse. She looked over at TugMug, her stony face showing a trace of distress.

TugMug returned her gaze. "They’re dead?" he asked hesitatingly.

The ground group was so wrapped up in the scene that they hadn’t noticed the other vehicles stop the fight to find out what had happened. Lion-O and the other Thundercats surrounded Cheetara, who was being examined by Pumyra. "She’s not dead—not yet anyway. She’s got a faint pulse, but whatever that green fog was must have poisoned her. We have to get her back to the lair now." she said authoritatively.

Lion-O nodded, and Tygra, WilyKit, and WilyKat carried Cheetara to the Thunderstrike. He then turned to his foes. "Are they alive?" Lion-O asked.

Luna turned around, her eyes blazing. "What’s it to you? Haven’t you Thundercats done enough? This is all your fault! That shot came from the Thunderstrike!" she screeched.

"My fault? You ambushed us! We were only defending ourselves. I was just trying to find out what’s going on! Cheetara was taken down by the same thing that got them."

Chilla stood up. "Alluro’s still alive. He has a pulse, but he’s not doing too well." she stated.

Vultureman, who was trying to determine Monkian’s condition, turned to Luna. "Same with Monkian. That fog did something to them."

Lion-O took a deep breath, preparing to do what was probably the "right thing" but was undoubtedly going to cause them a heap of trouble. "We’re taking Cheetara to the medical facility in Cat’s Lair. Since those two were hurt by the same thing, I’ll offer our medical facility to them as well—"

Slythe hissed. "We don’t need your help, Thundercat. We are capable of taking care of ourselves, yesss! Vultureman, get ready to take him back to Castle Plundarr immediately!"

Lion-O turned to Luna. She narrowed her eyes. "We don’t want or need your charity, Lion-O. We’re taking Alluro back to Skytomb." she snapped as TugMug and RedEye carried Alluro to the Lunattacker.

Lion-O shook his head. "Suit yourself. I was only trying to help." He turned and went back to the Thunderstrike, which promptly took off and carried the sick Cheetara back to the lair.

Panthro, WilyKat, and WilyKit entered the medical room of Cat’s Lair. "Is there any change?" Panthro asked.

Pumyra looked up, her eyes red from crying. "I wish I could say there was. She appears to be in a coma. Tygra’s running a bloodscan on her to figure out what happened, but I don’t think..." her voice trailed off.

"NO! Cheetara can’t die!" WilyKat exclaimed.

Lion-O and Tygra entered. Tygra cleared his throat. "I’ve finished the bloodscan. I know I’m not a doctor, and the life sciences aren’t my specialty, but... anyway, I have determined that inhaling that fog caused some sort of irregular protein to form in Cheetara’s bloodstream. I don’t know how or why, but it seems to be what is keeping her in this unconscious state. The good news is that I don’t think it will kill her-- its growth has stopped, and we can keep her alive on an IV in this state. That leads me to believe her condition won’t worsen, but the bad news is that neither Pumyra or I have nearly enough medical knowledge to find a cure. Lion-O and I have determined two courses of action that we need the Thundercats to undertake. One involves a complete investigation of the temple ruin that the green haze originated in. Perhaps something there can tell us what we’re dealing with and how to cure the condition it causes. The second is a little more difficult. In order to learn more about the condition, I need more blood samples for analysis. Specifically, ones from Monkian and Alluro. It would be ideal if we could convince the mutants and lunatacs to allow us to observe them here, but if that is out of the question, perhaps they’d be willing to allow us to take blood samples if they knew we would share the cure with them." Tygra said.

Lion-O picked up where Tygra left off. "I have decided to investigate the ruins myself, with the help of Bengali. Pumyra, I want you and the Thunderkittens to go to Castle Plundarr and Skytomb to get samples from Monkian and Alluro."

"But Lion-O, I’m the only one of us with any medical training! Who will watch Cheetara?"

"Snarf is somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to dealing with illnesses, and Tygra has to keep on top of the scientific sample analyses. You know the proper anatomical sites to take blood from and make the logical choice to be the one to handle it." Lion-O asserted.

Pumyra nodded. "Come on Kit, Kat, let’s go." she said. The kittens followed her out. Lion-O went to find Bengali and they left for the ruins.

Luna sat in the sickbay of Skytomb next to Alluro’s still form. She was alone in the room with him, the others were busy trying to think of a solution to their dilemma. Even Amok was elsewhere. "I hope you know how much trouble you’ve caused." Luna grumbled, sounding more depressed than angry. She frowned at him as she felt emotion building up inside her. She hated the way this was getting to her. Sentimentality was for the weak, and Luna was not weak. So why was it that she couldn’t bear the thought that he was likely to die?

A buzzer sounded on the intercom. Luna hit the button automatically. "What?" she asked.

"Caw, Luna, is that you?"

"Vultureman?" Luna asked with surprise.

"Yes, Luna, I need a favor."

"Don’t you mutants always need something?" she grumbled. "What now?"

"We don’t have adequate facilities at Castle Plundarr for Monkian. I brought him here hoping you would let us keep him with Alluro. We both need a cure, Luna, and if we pool our resources..."

"Whatever." Luna answered flatly. "I’ll have the doors opened and you can bring him in."

"Cawww, thanks Luna." Vultureman answered. "You won’t regret it." The communication clicked off.

"I’ll believe that when I see it." Luna muttered. She turned to Alluro. "When you wake up, I’ll get you back for sticking us with those mutants."

Lion-O and Bengali were searching the ruins. They hadn’t had much luck. The temple wall that had been blasted during the fight had an inscription on it that they had determined was some sort of warning, but beyond that, they couldn’t make anything out.

"Lion-O, I found something!" Bengali shouted.

"What?"

"Scrolls. Ancient scrolls! If we could get these back to the lair and translate them, maybe one of them could tell us what we’re dealing with." Bengali said hopefully, holding several rolled up pieces of parchment in his hand.

"Yes, we can use the Eye of Thundera to show us their meaning and how to save Cheetara’s life. Come on, let’s get back to the lair now!"

WilyKit shuddered as she, WilyKat, and Pumyra stood outside of Skytomb. They had just seen Vultureman and Jackalman carry Monkian in, and she wasn’t looking forward to being the next to deal with the lunatacs and mutants. "At least we won’t have to go to Castle Plundarr now." she remarked.

"We just have to convince our enemies who outnumber us two to one and are armed to the teeth that we want to take their sick friends to our home base, that’s all." WilyKat stated sarcastically.

"We have to try. Cheetara is counting on us. Come on." Pumyra stood and bravely walked to the main doors of Skytomb. The kittens followed. "Lunatacs! Mutants! We have come in peace! We request an audience with you!" she called out.

A loudspeaker crackled. "We have nothing to say to you, Thundercats!" TugMug’s voice answered.

"We want to help you. Cheetara is suffering the same ailment as Alluro and Monkian. If we work together, we can find a way to cure everyone. All we ask for is a truce. We’re all on the same side this time!" Pumyra argued.

"We’re only on one side—ours." TugMug replied.

Another voice broke in. "No, TugMug, let them in. We will hear you out. Enter." Luna commanded. TugMug started to voice an objection, but the doors opened anyway.

WilyKat gulped. "Ladies first." he gestured to Pumyra and his sister. Kit shot him a look, and the three entered. Luna, TugMug, and Vultureman greeted them inside.

"What do you want?"

"Tygra has figured out what’s causing the condition. It’s an abnormal protein in the blood that has them comatose. It won’t kill them, but we don’t know enough about it to awaken them yet. We were hoping that we could take Alluro and Monkian back to Cat’s Lair so we could have more samples to find a cure. We will treat them with anything we find in exchange for your cooperation, and you have it on our honor as Thundercats that we will not attack or take undue advantage of any of you. We’ll grant you full immunity during our truce. You will all be free to go your separate ways afterward."

"Out of the question!" Luna snapped. "Alluro stays here."

Vultureman nodded in agreement.

"All right then... may we at least take some blood samples for analysis? We’ll share anything we find, including a cure, if you help us. Just a few samples, I swear, nothing harmful." Pumyra asked.

"Come on Luna, please? You don’t want to let all three of them die because you were too stubborn and proud to work with us, do you?" WilyKat asked.

Luna took a deep breath. "A few samples, nothing more. And if I find out you found a cure and double-crossed us..."

WilyKit smiled. "Thanks Luna. We promise we’ll get you the cure if we find it. We really appreciate your help."

"I didn’t do it for you." Luna answered.

Pumyra and the kittens took the blood samples from Monkian and Alluro, and left for Cat’s Lair as fast as they could. They handed Tygra the blood samples and he analyzed them, and found the same protein anomaly in their blood that was in Cheetara’s. Lion-O and Bengali returned to the lair with the scrolls and worked to translate them. Once they did, the Thundercats gathered together to discuss a plan of action.

Lion-O stood and faced the others. "We have some good news. This scroll tells us of an elixir that can be found to cure the condition of the green haze, to revive those that fall under its deadly influence."

"An elixir? There’s a cure for it?" Tygra asked.

"According to the scroll, it’s in the hands of a people native to a hidden grove near the unicorn forest. The main problem is that these people are very secretive and not much is known about them. They are fabled to have great magical powers but use those powers to protect themselves from outsiders. No one knows who they are exactly or where in the deep forest they live." Bengali told them.

"And then we can cure Cheetara once we get the elixir?" WilyKit asked.

"And Alluro and Monkian too. We did promise to help them since Luna and Vultureman gave us those samples." Pumyra said.

"Yes, but we shouldn’t tell them yet. Once we get it, we’ll give it to them, but if we tell them too early they may try to get it themselves and if that happens, Cheetara will never see that cure, you can guarantee it." Panthro said.

"We still have to find these mysterious people of the unicorn forest in order to get the elixir from them, that’s our main concern at the moment. We’ll have to send out scouts to scour that entire area. Can I count on all of you?" Lion-O asked.

"You know you can." Pumyra said.

"Pumyra, I want you to stay here and make sure Cheetara stays in a stable condition. I also want the kittens and Snarf to stay on watch. Lynx-O is on duty at the Tower of Omens with Snarfer. That leaves the rest of us to search the forest."

"Let’s go. Cheetara needs us." Tygra said.

"Thundercats—HO!" they shouted in unison, and left for the unicorn forest.

What the Thundercats didn’t know was that Chilla, out in the Ice Runner, picked up a transmission between the Thundertank and the Tower of Omens that spelled out the whole plan. She headed back to Skytomb at top speed and filled the others, including Vultureman and Jackalman, in on the Thundercats’ plans to find the elixir.

"Those double-crossing hypocrites! They are going to find the cure, and they didn’t say one word to us about it!" Luna fumed.

"We’ll just have to, caw, beat them at their own game. We can find the elixir ourselves and cure our friends, and leave the Thundercats hanging at our mercy to save Cheetara. They’ll do anything we say!" Vultureman said.

"We’d better get out to the unicorn forest right away then." RedEye said.

"I agree. Chilla, RedEye, you two split up and search the forest." Luna ordered.

"Nyah, I’ll go too." Jackalman offered. "I don’t trust those two lunatacs to not keep the elixir for themselves and not give it to Monkian."

The three of them left for the unicorn forest.