By Bill Taylor

NOTE: This is a total work of fan fiction. I have no rights over these characters and I’m certainly not getting any money off this story. The Thundercats are all trademarks of Rankin-Bass entertainment, LORIMAR Television, the late Ted Wolf, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It has no connection to the show in anyway, shape or form. Words in italics represent Lion-O’s thoughts or other people’s thoughts. This has been rewritten because there were a few other things with the other one that I really wasn’t satisfied.

Mumm-Ra’s Pyramid…

Mumm-Ra stood at his cauldron, watching as the Lunatacs and mutants rendezvoused at the desert of Third Earth and headed for the Tower of Omens.

"Today, Lion-O… Today shall be your end!" Mumm-Ra cackled malevolently.

Cat’s Lair…

It was an average morning. Lion-O was up first for morning watch. The 45-year- old-Panthro was working out in his room. Snarf was visiting Snarfer at the Tower of Omens to give him some cooking tips and help educate him on the heritage of the proud species known as Snarfs. Tygra was in cleaning himself up for the day while his 32-year-old Cheetara slept in his bed, resting from the night before. As Tygra opened his door to go out, Cheetara groggily called to him.

"Where are you going?"

"To see how things are going this morning."

"Lion-O’s on watch. Come back to bed."

"That’s exactly why I have to check," Tygra said flatly.

"Lion-O’s a big boy now. He can take care of things. Come back to bed."

"I just want to make sure."

"Oh, all right," Cheetara pouted, rolling over, pulling the blanket over her head. "Just don’t expect me to still be here when you get back."

Tygra blew Cheetara a kiss and closed the door. The 36-year-old tiger’s heart begged him to listen to her, but a guilty conscience kept demanding him to go check on Lion-O. Only then, would his soul be able to rest. Lion-O was big, no argument there, but he could be hapless and was as prone to getting himself in trouble as the kids were. Perhaps just peg down from them.

Lion-O was up with the kittens, Wilykit and Wilykat, in the control room. There was not much going on, so he agreed to play a little ball with them. They stood in a large triangle, throwing an old volleyball back and forth that had survived the trip from Thundera to 3^rd Earth. No team and no score, all they had to do was keep the pace going, seeing which one of them broke rhythm. Lion-O threw it to Kit, and Kit threw it to Kat, and Kat threw it back to Lion-O.

"Hey Lion-O," yelled Wilykat, "don’t throw the ball so hard! You’ll break it!"

"I’m throwing it as lightly as I can, Kat," Lion-O laughed. "Can I help it I was cursed with big muscles?"

"Better brains than brawn, Lion-O!"

"Even better brain’s and brawn, Wilykat!" laughed Wilykit.

"Oh sure, take his side!"

"Just making a point!"

"Maybe you haven’t noticed Lion-O, but Kit has a little crush on you!" Wilykat slandered.

"I do not!" Wilykit protested.

"Oh don’t embarrass yourself! You know you want to marry him and be his queen!"

"You’re sick, Wilykat! By the time I’m old enough to marry, he’ll be an old man!"

Lion-O just stood there with the ball and laughed at the kids as they argued. But when it looked like they were about to get up in each other’s faces, he yelled, "Think fast!" and threw the ball the Wilykat.

"Lion-O broke first!"

"Lion-O broke what first?" They turned to see Tygra enter the doorway. "Lion-O, shouldn’t you be watching the monitors?"

"I checked them all already. There’s nothing going on out there, Tygra. For once, there’s harmony."

"Harmony doesn’t last long on 3^rd Earth," Tygra said sternly. "We’ve always got to be on the look out."

"Aw, let up Tygra," moaned Kat.

"Yeah! It’s a beautiful morning and nothing’s happening! Enjoy it for once!" encouraged Wilykit.

"They’ve got a point, Tygra," Lion-O grinned. "Don’t be such an old tiger."

"Only if you agree to stop acting like a young lion who shirks responsibilities." Tygra sighed. Sometimes, he felt Lion-O hadn’t grown up at all and was still the wild youngster he was when they left Thundera. Tygra tried to get some sense into his head, but it wasn’t easy. Lion-O had missed so much in his capsule only time would tell if he truly became a man not only in body but also in mind and spirit.

The monitor went off. Something was happening. They all rushed to the console, but Tygra was the one who picked up the message. "Cat’s Lair. What’s the-"

"We’re under attack here!" Snarf screamed over the other line. "We’ve got both mutants and Lunatacs attacking the Tower of Omens!"

"Mutants and Lunatacs?" Tygra repeated, stunned.

"They’re working together?" Lion-O asked in disbelief. "As allies?"

"That’s the look of it!" Snarfer bursted onto the screen shoving his uncle aside. "The other Thundercats are outside fighting, but we need you here fast cause we’re not gonna-" The line went dead.

"Snarf? Snarfer? Tygra, get the Panthro and Cheetara, and have them meet me in the Thundertank!"

"Right!" Tygra ran off to do as Lion-O ordered, with his lord unintentionally following but going in a much different direction. Tygra gave Lion-O credit, he could think fast when he had to.

"Hey wait for us, Lion-O!"

"You two stay here and guard the lair!" Lion-O yelled over his shoulder. The Thunder-kittens heard him and ignored, held back and quietly followed and snuck on board the Thunder Tank while he was gassing it up.

The Tower Of Omens…

"I can’t believe I’m actually working with mutants!" Chilla yelled while aiming her ice at the Thunderstrike with a sound of disgust, as though it was something violating.

"This is most sad indeed!" yelled Tug-Mug over the radio from the Lunatacker.

"We our just actors playing our parts," Red Eye said, trying to hide his own unhappiness. "If our new friend comes through, then this will all be worth it!" yelled Red Eye, aiming his cannons at the tower, which was now smoking.

"Slythe, it’s degrading working with these Lunatacs!" sneered Jackalman as he made his passes at the Tower in his sky cutter, trying not to be hit by the Lunatacker or by the Thunderstrike.

"Yessss, Jackalman, but we musssst remember our goal!" Slythe replied over the radio of the nose diver. "Monkian, Vulture Man, give Jackalman some cover fire, yessss."

"HOO-HOO, you’ve got it, Slythe!" Monkian hooted over the radio of his Sky Cutter.

"For the goal!" Vulture Man cackled over the radio, trying to hide his disgruntlement at the fact that he had sold out his dignity to work with Lunatacs.

Vulture Man and Monkian fired on the Thunderstrike, and eventually managed to drive it away from the tower and pursued it. How blind Lynx-O flew the thing was beyond them, and why Bengali and Pumyra let him fly it was even further beyond them. They tried not to think about it. They just kept firing.

"This is getting to be more than we can handle!" Pumyra observed from her pod as Vulture Man and Monkian came after them.

"Where’s the god damn cavalry?!" Bengali growled over his intercom.

"They’re coming! I can hear it!" Lynx-O responded just before dodging another energy blast.

"The question is will we still be here when they arrive?" Pumyra asked, trying to sound calm despite her own growing fear.

"Snarf and Snarfer can’t hold down the tower much longer!" yelled Bengali. "And we’re running out of gas! Lynx-O, let us detach our pods, we’ll split up! They can’t follow all three of us!"

"Normally, Bengali, I’d say no," Lynx-O replied, "but at the moment, we’ve no other alternative. Detach, now!" Lynx-O pressed the buttons and released Bengali and Pumyra’s pods, letting them fly off in their own direction.

"They’re splitting up, Vulture Man! HOO-HOO!"

"CAW! Damn them! Monkian, you go after Bengali and Pumyra I’ll take care of that old geezer Lynx-O! CAW!"

Monkian hooted his approving response and flew after the younger Thundercats and allowed Vulture Man to take on Lynx-O.

"How long till we reach the Tower, Panthro?" Tygra asked.

"Just two more miles!" Panthro said. "We’re almost there!"

"We’ve got to hurry Panthro! Let’s push your baby to the max!" Lion-O yelled from the armored compartment. "I don’t think they’ll be able to hold out a lot longer!"

"Did the sword show you that, Lion-O?" Cheetara asked.

"No, it’s just a feeling I’ve got! Now push it!"

"Yeah, push it!" echoed a youthful voice.

"Huh?" Lion-O looked under the seat and what did he see but the youthful face of Wilykit and beside her Wilykat. "What’re you two doing here? I thought I told you two to stay back at the Lair!"

"You did, but we decided you might need someone to watch your back!" Wilykit replied.

"Besides, guarding the Lair is boring!" added Wilykat.

Lion-O groaned. "Well, we can’t turn back now, we’ve got to get to the Tower of Omens and help the Thundercats there. You two just keep your heads down and stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Right!"

Lion-O thought about the battle that lay ahead. "Mutants and Lunatacs working together. Man that’s strange…"

The Thundercats at the Tower of Omens were almost at the end of their rope. Vulture Man was still chasing Lynx-O. Bengali and Pumyra had managed to crash Monkian’s Sky Cutter, but Chilla had downed them with an arctic ice blast. They both crashed in what they called the tower’s front lawn, trying to hold the Lunatacker at bay using their crashed pods as a blockade between them and the Lunatacker.

Bengali shot beams from his hammer, but they weren’t strong enough to cut through the thick armor. Then he and Pumyra saw that Slythe was coming at them with the nose diver, shooting all the way.

"We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place!" noted Pumyra, hurling a gas pellet at Chilla who hovered above them, trying to bring them out with extreme cold. The pellet exploded right in Chilla’s face, covering her with a white substance known to help with bad ice.

"Rock salt!" Chilla gagged as she fell to the desert ground. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being run over by her own comrades.

"That’s one, now what about him?" asked Bengali, observing Slythe as he approached.

"Prepare to bite the dusssst in the wind, Thundercat! Yessss!" sung Slythe as he closed in on the Siberian blacksmith.

Tug-Mug jumped out of the front hatch of the Lunatacker and fired a green beam at their crashed pods. Glowing green, the pods began to float into the air, lighter than a feather. "Get ready to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, Thundercats!" laughed Tug-Mug as he shot another green blast at them. Bengali and Pumyra jumped out of the way just in time to let Tug-Mug hit Slythe, who hit the ground like a rock.

"Damn you Tug-Mug! Yessss!"

"OOPS. Sorry! My bad! Now it’s your turn!" Tug-Mug snickered before shooting at Bengali, but the black smith was ready for him. Bengali raised his hammer and fired a blue beam to hit Tug-Mug’s green beam just in time. Bengali and Tug-Mug held each other in a stand off locked in a battle of wills, for a moment, one beam would slightly over take the other, but then it would recede.

Red Eye saw the situation and decided he would help, tired of just sitting back and letting machines do all the work for him. Red Eye was about to throw his discus at Bengali when smoke suddenly exploded in front of him. It didn’t faze him, but it caught him off guard and he turned to see Pumyra.

"Don’t you know it’s poor manners to ignore a lady?"

"He might, but I’ll acknowledge a lady any day of the week!"

Pumyra looked above her and saw Jackalman swooping over her with his sky cutter, firing. Jackalman was by no means a poor shot, but Pumyra was too fast and agile for him to hit her. Red Eye tried hurling one of his discs at her again, but she leapt out of the way, and it eventually flew up and smacked right into Jackalman’s engine. Jackalman screamed his trademark scream of cowardice as he jumped out of his burning sky cutter, allowing it to fly wildly and finally head on a collision course for the Lunatacker. Red Eye jumped back into the driver’s seat and pulled back just as Chilla was climbing onto the side and managed not to be hit by the falling weapon. Tug-Mug, caught off guard by the sudden back motion, fell from his place and spring boarded up through the air and kept bouncing around, unable to stop himself and get a clear shot at Bengali.

Bengali, however, was still having his own problems and Pumyra had the misfortune to be apart of it. The two found themselves ganged up by mutants and Lunatacs. Jackalman had survived his fall, Slythe had finally broken out of Tug-Mug’s gravity pull, Chilla had recovered somewhat from the rock salt, and Monkian had made his way towards them on foot, having survived the crash of his own sky cutter.

"Suggestions?" he whispered nervously to his girlfriend as they backed up.

"Be afraid. Be very afraid."

"You wouldn’t happen to have an A-bomb in there with all those gas pellets, would you?"

Then the roar of a familiar engine was heard. Bengali and Pumyra looked over their shoulders and saw something coming in from the distance, big, silver, and chewing up a lot of dust. It was the Thundertank.

Tug-Mug landed in front of their view of the tank. He had finally stopped bouncing. "We’ve got you now, Thundercats! There’s no place to run! Just give up!"

"You’re finisssshed! Yessss!"

"It’s going to be a cold day in Hell for you two!"

"If you see what we mean!"

"HOO-HOO! We’re going to pound you flat like pancakes!"

"NYEHEHEHEHE! Victory is ours!"

"Any last words?" Tug-Mug asked. Bengali and Pumyra looked at each other, and gave each other a wink.

"As a matter of fact we, do." Pumyra grinned. "Road,"

"And kill," finished Bengali.

"Road and kill? What kind of last words are those?"

"You’re about to find out!"

"Huh?" Tug-Mug looked behind him, and being too late to shoot his gravity cannon, threw his arms up to shield his face. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Bengali and Pumyra leapt to opposite sides of the battlefield as the Thundertank ran into Tug-Mug and sent him flying, and bouncing off into who knows where. The Thundertank then mowed through the Lunatacs and mutants. Lion-O leapt out of the armored cargo bay with the Sword of Omens drawn. "HO!" he said, shooting out beams of light to send the mixed up bunch of villains into a fray of confusion, with Cheetara backing him up with the cannon on the Thundertank.

"Look! Look! Uncle Snarf! Look! Out the window! It’s Lion-O! He’s here! He made it! We’re saved!" Snarfer hopped up and down, pointing out the window to show his uncle, who smiled with approval.

"That’s my boy!"

Panthro, Cheetara, and Tygra were handling Slythe, Monkian, and Jackalman with considerable ease, while Pumyra handled Chilla, and Lion-O and Bengali took on Red Eye.

Chilla was not back at full strength yet, but she was giving Pumyra considerable trouble, taking her on an up, close, and personal battle. "I’ll spoil those good looks!" Chilla screeched, clawing at Pumyra’s face. Pumyra remembered Bengali once showing off, slamming his fist hard and solid into a bag, keeping his fist as solid as a rock and his arm as straight as a branch. She decided to apply it to Chilla, slamming her own fist into the ice mistress’ face as hard as she could. Remembering that bit of masculine showing off actually came in handy.

Bengali and Lion-O were keeping Red Eye at bay, on opposite sides, either zapping his discs as he threw them or physically hitting them with their sword or hammer. They both tried to zap fast enough to actually shoot at Red Eye, but he was in good form today.

Lion-O was hitting the discs with no particular care, sending them flying any which way there was. Some of it went back at Red Eye, some of it drifted over towards the others who were still fighting the mutants.

"Watch you’re hitting those discs, Lion-O!" Panthro roared, blocking a blow from Slythe. "You might kill one of us!" Lion-O did not acknowledge that he had heard he just kept hitting the discs. "Lion-O! Did you hear what I said?! Watch it with those things!" Lion-O still did not respond. He was too far into battle now to pay attention to anything but his target, Red Eye.

No one noticed Wilykit and Wilykat getting out of the Thunder Tank and heading in the direction of Pumyra and Chilla. "We gotta help her, Wilykat!"

Chilla was strong enough now and shooting full ice blasts, with Pumyra leaping and narrowly dodging them. But narrowly wasn’t very much, so little that Pumyra didn’t see Wilykit and Wilykat sneaking up behind Chilla till it was too late.

"Wilykit, Kat, don’t!"

They did. Wilykit jumped on Chilla’s back and started biting her neck. Wilykat was on her leg and biting at the meat there. "You wretched brats!" Chilla kicked Wilykat off and fought to throw off Wilykit. But in a few seconds, she didn’t have to someone else did it for her. Wilykit felt something sharp and metal bang into her back, followed by an explosion of pain. All strength left her body and she fell to the ground.

"Wilykit! NO!" shouted Wilykat and Pumyra. Just as Chilla was about to waste both of the kittens, Pumyra leapt over, threw down a gas pellet, grabbed the kittens made good an escape.

"Pumyra, what happened?" growled Bengali, snapping his head in Pumyra’s direction, his concentration lost from the moment of fighting Red Eye.

"Bengali watch it!" Lion-O shot a bolt of energy from the sword at the disc Red Eye through at Bengali, letting off an explosion of light that blinded the hulking Lunatac.

"ARGH! White out! Can’t… see…"

"HO!" Lion-O shot out another beam from the sword, this time, at Red Eye. After the huge form of a barbecued Red Eye fell to the ground, Lion-O and Bengali rushed over to Pumyra, both Thunder twins in her arms, a sharp piece of metal in Wilykit’s back. Shrapnel. From one of the discs Lion-O had deflected. This was where it landed. "Oh God… No…"

"Lion-O? Pumyra! Shit!" Panthro picked Slythe up over his head and threw him forward, head first into the Lunatacker. Slythe left an impression on the tank’s hull as he banged off of it. "Let’s put this fight up a knot, cause Wilykit’s been injured!"

"Right ahead of you, Panthro!" Cheetara went into a whirlwind on Jackalman, cannon balling him in the stomach and hitting him like lightening all over with her staff.

"Consider it done!" Tygra landed a solid blow on Monkian’s jaw that knocked the simian down and had him whimpering.

"Retreat!" Chilla yelled. "Retreat!" Chilla rushed over to Red Eye and tried to drag him over to the Lunatacker. Monkian rushed over and started helping her, with some unexpected assistance from Jackalman and a half dazed Slythe. The villains either crawled into the Lunatacker or inside it as Chilla revved up its engine and drove off.

Cheetara, Panthro, and Tygra ran to Wilykit’s side, where Lion-O was trying to slowly pull out the shrapnel and Bengali kept her still, with Pumyra and Wilykat standing vigil.

"Shrapnel hit her in the back," Pumyra explained, sounding like reflex.

Panthro grabbed Lion-O by his red mane and yanked him aside.

"Outta the way Lion-O! You’ve helped Wilykit enough for one day!" Panthro knelt down where Lion-O had been and slowly finished in taking out the shrapnel.

"What happened?" Cheetara asked.

"Shrapnel!" answered an angry Panthro. "Courtesy of Lion-O deflecting it from Red Eye!" Lion-O looked away guiltily. Bengali and Pumyra didn’t notice. "It’s his fault!"

Lion-O stood up and Panthro took him by the throat. "God damn it Lion-O! I told you to watch where you were hitting those things! Weren’t you paying any attention to what you were doing or what I was saying?!" Lion-O tried to force an explanation out of his throat, but Panthro’s grip was too tight.

Tygra grabbed Panthro by the shoulder and pulled him away. "Save it, Panthro! We’ve got to help Wilykit!" Panthro looked from Lion-O to Tygra and then back, and let go of his grip with a growl. The three Thundercats ran after Bengali and Pumyra.
 
 

Sky Tomb…

"Then, those other Thundercats showed up and-"

"And whipped your asses!" Luna finished for Tug-Mug.

"So you failed?" inquired Alluro, who had not taken part in the attack.

"In other wordsssss, yessss." Slythe replied. Alluro and Luna looked at each other and smirked.

"Excellent." All the villains in the room, Lunatacs and mutants alike, began laughing maniacally, knowing what was next what fate would befall the Thundercats.

The Tower Of Omens…

Pumyra walked out of the infirmary looking like she was sleep walking to the Thundercats who stood waiting results. The surgery on Wilykit had taken all day for the sake of care, but it didn’t look like a happy ending.

"How is she?" asked Lion-O immediately.

"Stable, and that may be the best she gets." Pumyra answered wearily. Bengali followed out, having assisted, he too look tired, but not as tired as Pumyra.

"Is she gonna be okay?" asked Wilykat.

Pumyra shrugged. "Shrapnel went in deep. I did all I could, but…"

The other Thundercats didn’t like the pause and they immediately exchanged looks of sadness. Cheetara put her head on Tygra’s shoulder, and he put a sympathetic hand on her back. Panthro’s eyes seem to vibrate as he closed them, like tears were trying to escape and he wouldn’t let them. Lion-O just stalked off down the hall, his shoulders shrugged, his head down. Panthro watched, then followed.

Lion-O stopped at the end of the hall, putting his arm on the wall, then resting his head against it, so that he could cry with no one seeing him. Well, at least he tried to cry. His eyes felt watery, but tears didn’t come out. He was still angry with himself, couldn’t believe he had made such a damned fatal mistake. He remembered the words of the others when he explained what happened.

Cheetara. "What the Hell’s the matter with you, boy? I thought you knew these weren’t games!"

Tygra. "If you were a man, a real man, a real leader, you wouldn’t have let this happen!"

Panthro. "I thought you knew there was more to this job than just waving that sword around! Looks like I was wrong! If you can’t take care of your own, then you’ve got no business being the Lord of all the Thundercats!"

"Lion-O." The Thundercat lord shot his head over his shoulder and saw Panthro.

"What?"

"This!" Panthro kicked Lion-O in the stomach as he turned around. Lion-O fell back, surprised, felt Panthro’s hands around his neck again, hoisting him back to his knees. "You stupid over grown boy! If you had just listened to me!" Panthro rammed his knee into Lion-O’s stomach, then hit him in the face.

Lion-O felt his guilt burn into anger and he charged Panthro, slamming him into the wall, punched him in the ribs. Panthro kicked Lion-O away, hit him in the jaw, Lion-O hit him back and they grabbed each other by the throat, circling in the hall, trying to find a nice place where they could kill each other.

"Hey!"

"Hold it!"

"Are you two crazy?"

Suddenly, there were hands trying to pull the panther and the lion away from each other. Bengali and Pumyra managed to pull off Lion-O while Tygra and Cheetara pulled away Panthro.

"Killing each other isn’t going to help anything!" Tygra yelled at the top of his lungs. "This is pointless!"

"Mind your own business, Tygra!" roared Lion-O.

"I was just trying to beat some sense into his head." Panthro said sounding calm.

"Cheap shot!" Lion-O accused.

"Not as cheap as that shrapnel you hit at Wilykit!" Panthro shot back.

Lion-O tried to charge at Panthro, and it took all Bengali and Pumyra’s strength to hold him back.

"Let him!" bilked Panthro. "Let him prove he’s a man!"

"The measure of a man," Pumyra said as she fought to restrain the much bigger lion, "should not be that of how strong a fighter he is!"

"Common sense you mean!" Panthro spat out. "Where was Lion-O’s when he was fighting Red Eye, I wonder?"

"One more word from you panther and I’ll-"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Cheetara took out her bo-staff and extended to stick both Panthro and Lion-O in their stomachs. "It may be Lion-O’s fault that Wilykit got hurt but fighting each other won’t help her. We have to think about Wilykit. And if you two can’t get that through your heads, then maybe one of you should leave."

Lion-O noticed Cheetara was looking at him when she said it. She tried to make it sound like there was a choice between the two to leave, but he knew no choice was being given. He realized who was meant to leave. "Fine. I’ll go." Lion-O broke Bengali and Pumyra’s grips and stalked away to the elevator, shoulders shrugged and head down, and pushed the down button.

Tygra released Panthro, immediately evaluating the situation. "Wilykit’s injured, Panthro’s making a bastard of himself and it seems that we have turned on our Lord who admitted to being at fault but as that was not enough, we’ve driven him away." It meant only one thing. "Shit."

Wilykit had watched everything from down the corridor. "Maybe we should’ve stayed at the tower."

Lion-O sat down on a rock outside, a million thoughts all going to Wilykit. "I can’t believe I let that happen. What the hell IS wrong with me? I never did that before, so why now, why today? Wilykit… Oh god I’m sorry. You have to believe me Kit I’m sorry. If I could do anything…" Anything. Anything.

Somehow, Lion-O’s thoughts shifted towards Lynx-O and when he got injured during that Berserker attack. Remembered Jaga showing up, saying something about the Sword of Omens having many powers in his hand…

The Sword of Omens…

"God I’m an idiot! Of course! The Sword of Omens! If it was a snake, it would’ve bitten me!" Lion-O sprung up from the rock feeling a sense of happiness and relief fill his veins as he rushed back around the Tower. He took out the sword from the claw shield, held it to his face and intoned "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!" Used the sword to locate the infirmary from outside. Ran around to that side of the Tower, watching through the sword as the other Thundercats, Snarf, and Snarfer filled the room by the young girl’s side with sad faces. Lion-O swung the sword to shake off the sight beyond sight and held it above his head.

"Sword of Omens, Eye of Thundera, I, Lion-O, command you to use your powers to give life back to Wilykit, so that she may live the life she was meant to live!" The Eye glowed, began to grow, ready to carry out the task. "Thunder… Thunder… Thunder… Thundercats! HO!" The Cat Signal shot out from the Eye of Thundera, embedded in the hilt of the Sword of Omens, penetrated the stone and filled the infirmary.

The other Thundercats stood back, watched Wilykit be engulfed in a brilliant red light, saw her eyes shoot open, glowing yellow. When the red light faded, Wilykit sat up, slowly, blinking her eyes, let out a big long yawn.

"What? What happened? How’d I get here?" she asked, looking around the room.

The other Thundercats, snarfs and all, immediately cried out, "Wilykit! You’re okay!" They gathered around her, patting her on the back, hugging at the confused girl as she tried to ask what happened.

Lion-O watched it all through the Eye of Thundera, and smiled, tears streaking from his eyes. He wanted to go up and join the rejoicing Thundercats, walked over to the door, tempted, but then decided not to. He put the sword back in the claw shield and began to walk away when he heard a familiar voice call him.

"Lion-O!" It was Snarf. Fast little critter, all the way down from the infirmary to outside. "Wilykit’s gonna be okay! You gotta come see it!"

"I saw it Snarf," Lion-O replied without turning around. "I watched it all through the Eye."

"Well come see it in the flesh!"

"Nah, I’d just ruin it for everyone."

"No you wouldn’t! This is a time for all of us to be happy!"

"I can’t go Snarf. Not now, not ever."

"Lion-O?" Snarf felt his joy turning into confusion and worry. "Hey now, we all know you made a mistake, you admitted, and you fixed it. Now it’s time for all to be forgiven."

"Fixed it? Did I really fix anything, Snarf?" Lion-O shrugged his shoulders beyond what the Snarf thought was possible. "I screwed up."

"Everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah yeah." Lion-O started to walk away.

"Lion-O wait! There’s no need to go!"

Lion-O stopped, turned around. "Snarf, do me a favor. Tell them I’m sorry." Lion-O stammered for a second. "Tell Wilykit that I’m sorry about what I did. And tell all of them… I tried. Tell them I tried. I did my best. I tried to be what they all wanted me to be, I really did. Tell them that I appreciated everything they did for me these last few years, and tell them that I’m sorry for today. The sword will be waiting for them when they get back to the Cat’s Lair."

Snarf was shocked, to shocked to say anything, just watched as Lion-O lurched off into the darkness.

"They hate me. They all hate me." That was all Lion-O could think about as he trenched through the forest. He was too depressed to even notice the mosquitoes biting him. It was a muggy night, everything seemed moist. Lion-O stepped on what appeared to be a piling of leaves, then felt something wrap itself tight around his ankle and yank him off the ground and into the air.

"What-"

"Lion-O!" came a familiar shaky voice. "What are you doing out here in the dead of night?" asked Willa, queen of all the Warrior Maidens.
"Nothing," Lion-O replied, looking at the upside down warrior maiden queen, or at least that’s how she appeared to him, as he was hanging and she was standing on the ground.

"Well, cut yourself down from there and let me reset that trap for an animal I can eat without too much guilt!"

Lion-O took out the sword and cut himself loose and landed on his feet like any cat would. "Sorry."

Lion-O lurched past Willa, and she caught the feeling of guilt by the shrug of his shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"I think you should."

"I want to be left alone." Lion-O looked up to a sound he heard bouncing from tree branches. Then Willa landed in front of him. "You’re just gonna keep following me till I talk, is that it?"
Willa grinned. "Pretty much."

Lion-O shrugged. "Okay." The lion sat down against a tree and Willa came by to sit next to him. "There was a battle today, at the Tower of Omens. The mutants and the Lunatacs teamed up to attack Lynx-O, Bengali, and Pumyra."

"You were too late on arrival to save them?" Willa asked as the lion paused in his explanation.

"Oh no, we got there in time, we drove off the bastards, but Wilykit got hurt."

"Wilykit? Why did you let her come along?"

"I didn’t. I told her to stay at the Cat’s Lair with Wilykat, but they disobeyed me and came along anyway."

"Is she-?"
"No. She’s alive and well now. Nothing the Sword of Omens couldn’t fix. But…"

"But what?"

"I’m an idiot," Lion-O stammered.

"You really think that’s true?" Willa asked.

Lion-O nodded. "Yes."

Willa shook her head. "I don’t think that’s true."

"I should’ve been paying more attention. Hell even Panthro saw it coming. Tried to warn me. If only I’d listened to him…"

The lion paused again, trying to gather together a coherent sentence for the warrior queen.

"Well, they got mad at me, I got mad at them, finally, one of them who shall remain anonymous indicated that I should leave, so I left."

"I see. And now, you’re questioning yourself as to whether or not you should still be the Lord of the Thundercats, is that right?"

"Pretty much." Lion-O sighed. "They tried, you know? They tried, I tried, we all tried."

"Could you elaborate on tried?" Willa leaned closer.

Lion-O huffed, looked up at the sky, filled with stars. "They tried to be patient with me, tried to help me catch up on some things I missed out on. They tried to help me with making decisions and judgment calls and all that. And in return I-I tried to be the best Lord I could be. I listened to what they said, I took their opinions into consideration, I tried to make decisions that would benefit everybody, and that’s not easy cause… well, you’re a leader, decisions for a whole community are hard, you know that. And… and…"

"And you expect yourself to be flawless because you think they expect you to be flawless?" Willa offered.

"Yeah, I tried to be that. I mean, I know I’m not flawless, I’ve made mistakes before it’s just that… that it never almost got anyone killed before. Have you ever made any mistakes where one of your warrior maidens almost got killed?"

"As a matter of fact I have." Willa wiped some muggy sweat from her forehead. "In fact, I made a decision once that cost a friend her life." Willa admitted sadly.

Lion-O’s eyes widened. "Sorry."

"But this is about you, not me," the woman quickly shifted the subject back towards Lion-O, preferring not to remember Joanna.

"Who warded off the mutants when they attacked your ship after you left Thundera? Who saved the Thundercats when they landed on 3^rd Earth when they were locked in their capsules, unaware of the mutant threat hanging over them? Who freed them of Mumm-Ra’s control when he took over their minds that one night you were out camping? Who blocked out the eclipse that could have left your equipment malfunctioning for a hundred years? Who out did them in all the fields where they consider themselves specialists? You did!" Willa pointed out, trying to boost Lion-O’s ego, remembering the conversations and stories she had swapped with him over the years. "You did because you believed in yourself." Willa paused a moment, trying to think up some more material to boost Lion-O’s ego back to its regular size, as it had always appeared to her at least.

"You’ve been a better Lord than anyone’s had any right to expect it seems. You’ve never been strung out on some addictive binge, you’ve never had to be afraid that what the Sword of Omens shows you has been wrong-"

"The sword does just about everything for me."

Willa groaned, rolled her head, feeling defeated. "You know, it’s not easy to lift your spirits when all you do is bad mouth yourself."

"I never wanted to be Lord of the Thundercats, Willa."

"What?"

"I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, Willa," Lion-O said sad and quiet. "I’m gonna tell you something I’ve never told anyone else, not even Snarf. I never wanted to be lord. But I didn’t have a choice."

"Oh?"

Lion-O stood up and paced around for a few minutes before turning back to Willa. "I never wanted this job, this responsibility, this title. I never wanted any of it. I never wanted an empire with people bowing and worshiping me and asking me for help or if there was something they could do for me or any of that. I wanted a simple life. A farmer, a blacksmith, a sailor, anything but what I am, just getting by would be good enough for me. People think the lord lives a grand life and has everything, but I don’t have everything. I have nothing."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "I only took to this job because it was what they all wanted. It was what everybody else wanted. Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara, they wanted me to be the Lord of the Thundercats, so I decided I’d give it a shot, even though I didn’t know what the Hell I was doing or what the Hell I was getting myself into. I never wanted the job; I just took it because no one else would. Or could. I didn’t have a choice." He paused again until finally saying, "But they did."

"They what?" asked Willa.

"Tygra. Cheetara. Panthro. Jaga. Even Wilykit and Wilykat. Now Willa, I know you’d think that the Lord of the Thundercats would have more than those who follow him, but he doesn’t. They have more than I do. They certainly had more when they started than I did. Believe it or not Willa, they all had more as the backup Thundercats than I, the Lord, ever did. They had a choice. They chose to become Thundercats, when they could’ve chosen not to. They were already nobles of the court, but that wasn’t enough for them. They had to be Thundercats. They had to have the title, the symbol, the power, everything that goes with being a Thundercat. No one said they had to become Thundercats. No one forced them to become Thundercats. They chose it."

"Lion-O-"

"And then there’s Jaga. My friend, mentor, and surrogate grandpa. He had another choice. He had the choice of becoming Lord of the Thundercats after my father, Clawdus, was blinded fighting those damn mutants. Clawdus offered it to him. No one said Jaga had to become Lord of the Thundercats, no one forced him to become Lord of the Thundercats, he chose to become Lord of the Thundercats, when he could’ve chosen not to. A whole empire was laid before him, and he could’ve said no to it. He had that power. He had that advantage, and I didn’t. And I envy him. I envy him for that power."

"I see."

"But what about me? Huh? What about the big, strong, rugged, infallible, supposedly perfect Lord of the Thundercats? Did I have a choice? Was I given the option of being a Thundercat or not? Hell no! I was practically born for it! My whole existence was conceived for the purpose of replacing Clawdus when the time came."

"That oughta make you feel better, if not good," said Willa, trying to encourage him to keep going. "You were born with a destiny and a purpose. Most people don’t have that."

"Maybe it should, but it doesn’t," sighed Lion-O. "Ever since I was born, all I heard from anyone was how great a destiny hung on my shoulders, about how I had to be the Lord of the Thundercats. I never had a choice. I was never given an option. No one ever asked me what I wanted to do with my life. No, it was just ‘Here it is. This is what you are. Get over it.’ Why is it the other Thundercats were given a choice over their destinies and I wasn’t? It’s not fair." For a moment, Lion-O said nothing. Then he kicked a log and roared, "Damn it it’s not fair!"

Lion-O sat down, slumping his shoulders. "Wrong. Everything’s gone so wrong. Until today, I thought I had things under control; that I knew what I was doing. Then this happened. Now I feel like I lost my way. Like I’ve gone a crooked path." Lion-O dropped his head into his clenched fists, and his large body shook. Willa walked over and sat next him, put an arm around his shoulders that were almost too large for her to put her arms around.

"I know how you feel, I know where you’re coming from." Willa offered her empathy. "We’re leaders, we both made mistakes, and not every mistake can be rectified and fixed." Lion-O looked at her. "You should be thankful that this mistake could be fixed. At least you had the power to fix your mistake and I… I didn’t."

"Sorry if I-"

"No, you didn’t. Just give it some thought, alright?" Willa managed a smile.

Lion-O stood up with her. "Okay. I’ll do that. Thanks for hearing me out."

"Anytime." Willa kissed Lion-O on the cheek then took off into the trees. She was gone before Lion-O reacted to ask her why. Then he continued back on his way.

Back at the Tower of Omens, everything seemed to be bliss. Wilykit was alive and well, and all was relief. No one even bothered to ask what had become of Lion-O. Snarf’s conscience told him he should tell the Thundercats that Lion-O was about leave them and go whatever route he wanted, but he didn’t want to spoil the mood.

"Do you have any bottled up anger that’s kind of dissipating?" Bengali asked Pumyra. "I know I do."

"We were all mad at Lion-O," Pumyra replied. "We all wanted to say something, but it’s just as well that we didn’t seeing as how he saved Wilykit."

"Yeah, I guess it really doesn’t matter."

"Don’t get me wrong, there were things I wanted to say too, but when a life is on the line, I can’t waste my time pointing fingers and blaming people." Bengali nodded in agreement.

Panthro took Tygra and Cheetara aside for a second after they had finished gushing over Wilykit.

"Hey, listen," Panthro stammered quietly. "About earlier guys, when I… you know, was acting like an ass, um, I’m sorry about that. I was just pissed off and looking for someone to take it on and, well you know."

The tiger and the cheetah grinned at the panther fumbling with his words. "You’re terrible at apologizing, but it’s the thought that counts." Tygra slapped Panthro in the shoulder, letting him know it was alright. Then Wilykat came up to them and said, "Where’s Lion-O?"

The three adult Thundercats looked down at the kitten. That red bolt had to have come from the Sword of Omens, so Lion-O clearly had saved the life he nearly destroyed by means of accident, but that didn’t make them feel any better about talking about him.

"No idea whatsoever."

"Wilykit wants to talk to him, say she’s sorry."

The tiger, the panther, and the cheetah exchanged offended looks and walked over to the girl’s bed. "Hey do you guys know where Lion-O is?" asked Wilykit immediately.

"Why?" asked Tygra.

"I want to apologize to him for getting myself hurt earlier."

"Apologize?!" exclaimed Panthro. "What’ve you got to apologize for? You don’t owe him anything! He oughta be here apol-"

Tygra stuck his hand on Panthro’s mouth. "Now don’t start that again. Just calm down."

"What he means," Cheetara picked up, putting her hand on Wilykit’s, "is that it was Lion-O’s fault you got hurt and he doesn’t see why you feel like you should apologize to him."

Wilykit smiled. "Well, Lion-O told me and Wilykat to stay at the Cat’s Lair, and he probably told us to stay there for a reason. So I guess my thinking is that if I had done like he said, this probably wouldn’t have happened, so I guess its really my fault."

Cheetara, Tygra, and Panthro looked at each other, surprised by Wilykit’s answer, insisting that it was her fault and not the lion’s. "We’ll go look for him," Cheetara said after a few minutes silence. The three Thundercats disbanded and started searching the tower inside and out, then met back outside the infirmary.

"Did you find him?"

"No, did you?"

"No."

"Me neither."

"Uh…" Snarf came up from behind, trying to look all innocent. "I saw Lion-O earlier."

"Where?"

"Outside, he used the sword to heal Wilykit."

"We figured that out."

"Well, I asked him to come up, and he said no cause he didn’t want to ruin everyone else."

"Where is he now?"
"I don’t know, SNYARF, he left."

Panthro smacked his fist into his palm. "Damn it. Where’s that idiot gone?"

"To leave the sword at the Lair."

"Leave the sword at the lair?" Tygra raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I think he plans on leaving, cause he feels bad about what happened today and he doesn’t feel like he deserves to be with all of us no more."

"Oh shit, we’ve given him an inferiority complex."

"I thought something was wrong when he didn’t come back up after that red lightening bolt." Cheetara sweated out some guilt of her own. "Do you think we… we were too hard on him?"

"No," Panthro replied automatically.

"Maybe," Tygra replied.

"No time to reflect," said Panthro. "C’mon, let’s go find that idiot before he gets himself in trouble."

"Now, now, let’s be nice."

"Say uh, before you go, SNYARF," they regarded the Snarf. "Lion-O told me to tell you to tell Wilykit he’s sorry about what happened, and to tell you all that he’s sorry he screwed up and that he tried to be a good Lord and everything and that he appreciated you all trying to help him over the years and that, you know, he’s sorry." Snarf felt like an idiot, but when he saw the guilty looks on their faces, he knew he had gotten his point across.

"He can tell Wilykit himself that he’s sorry," Panthro said, rallying them together, feeling most responsible. "And he can tell us himself all that Snarf told us he said."

Snarf smiled. There’s hope, he thought.

Mumm-Ra’s Pyramid…

"Now is the time," Mumm-Ra informed the shadowy figure who stood before him. "He is at a low, his integrity has left him, he is ready for you now." Mumm-Ra and the figure began to laugh, and their laughter echoed throughout the pyramid.
 
 

After a long walk that seemed to last all night, Lion-O finally arrived back at the Cat’s Lair, one of the two homes for the Thundercats, and soon no longer to be his. He entered, went to the supply room to get a bag and then bag up some food and brooded about which room was best to leave the Sword of Omens.

Lion-O didn’t feel any better now than he had before. He thought about his talk with Willa. He always liked Willa, and since she was also a leader, someone who knew how hard making large scale decisions were, talking to her should’ve made him feel better, but it didn’t. He tried to force himself to feel better, but it didn’t work. Part of him still said he should leave the Thundercats and live out the rest of his wretched life alone in some cave on Third Earth. The guilt. He just couldn’t get rid of the damned guilt.

Lion-O thought about all the battles and fights the Thundercats had won over the years, tried to think of the good times, the victories, the narrow escapes, the laughter, the alliances, everything good that had been and the possible good times that lay ahead. And he still couldn’t escape the guilt that seemed grow around him and threatened to cage him in like a box.

"Jaga, Clawdus, someone. Show the way in which to walk. Show me the thing I must do."

"I’ll show you what you must do!"

Lion-O stood up and looked around and suddenly felt a sharp pain dig itself into his right shoulder, causing him to yell out. The attacker then kicked Lion-O away, shoving him onto the ground. Clutching his shoulder, Lion-O looked up and saw Grune the Destroyer. "Die!" Grune jumped down and tried to land on Lion-O, but he rolled out of the way and managed to make it to his feet. Lion-O put his left hand into the claw shield and managed to take out the Sword of Omens, and extended it to combat size.

"I’ll give you this one chance, boy," Grune threatened, "Give me the Sword of Omens, and I’ll let you live!"

"Never!" Lion-O yelled defiantly.

"Then you will die!" Grune charged at Lion-O, swinging his spiked battle club at Lion-O’s head, which he blocked with the claw shield. Grasping the sword with both hands, his left guiding and supporting his damaged right, Lion-O managed to keep the sword up and blocked Grune’s attacks with it as he stumbled back.

"Go ahead, boy," Grune taunted, "Call your friends! Yell! Scream! Raise your sword! THUNDERCATS HO!" Grune mocked.

"I don’t need them to take care of a cowardly traitor like you!" Lion-O shot back.

"You’ll regret that, boy! Death to the son of Clawdus!"

"Oh yeah? Just try it, ya screw!"

On the defensive, Lion-O was already at a disadvantage. Grune had gotten the drop on him and had injured him. Lion-O was bleeding badly, and was exhausting much faster than he should have been. Much faster than he would be if only Grune hadn’t gotten the drop on him. For now Lion-O was holding his own but he couldn’t keep it up for long.

Grune struck hard and fast for someone as old as him, his rebirth sometime ago obviously re-energized him. Grune was wise to injure Lion-O when he did, or surely, the younger Thundercat would be doing much more than holding his own. Lion-O tried to switch around and get on the offensive, but with his shoulder injured, he didn’t have the flexibility to change his style of fighting for the battle. Lion-O managed to hit Grune in the face with the claw shield, but the blows only bounced off.

The combatants raged on through the hallway of the Cat’s Lair, steel clanging against steel, roaring, growling, oblivious to anything else. Finally, Grune struck Lion-O in the left rib cage with his club. Ribs busted into individual parts and small pieces within his body, and blood exploded from the surface of his skin. Dropping the sword, falling to the ground, Lion-O could only clutch his battered side, feeling that he was beaten.

"I’ll give you credit for standing up to me," Grune laughed, "but in the end it was all for naught!"

Then Lion-O heard a familiar cackle and saw a bolt of purple lightening strike Grune from behind, he nearly fell on Lion-O, but the Lord of all the Thundercats threw up his legs and pushed him away. Saw Mumm-Ra at the end of the hallway.

"I shall see to his end, Grune the Destroyer!"

"But Mumm-Ra! You promised-"

"I lied!" cackled Mumm-Ra.

"No! You won’t take this from me!" Grune picked up his battle club and charged at Mumm-Ra, and he was engulfed in pink and purple lightening.

"Now, return to the bowels of Hell form whence you came!" And in a purple explosion, Grune disappeared. Mumm-Ra stalked towards Lion-O, who was picking himself and the sword up off the floor.

"I guess you’re responsible for Grune, and for the mutants and Lunatacs working together." Lion-O grunted.

"You are correct, Thundercat! Only I, Mumm-Ra, could have devised such a plan!"

"And all to get at me. I’m touched."

"You shall be more than touched! Meet your doom! Mumm-Ra! The ever-living!" cackled the devil priest as he shot Lion-O with more lightening. He then narrowed two small bolts for the Thundercat lord’s eyes. Lion-O stood, smoking, his eyes burned and burning, tried to raise the sword but Mumm-Ra’s lightening tipped fist smashed into his face and sent him crashing through the steel wall and into the control room in the head of the Lair.

Lion-O tried to pick himself up as the 9-foot-1,000 pound mummy smashed his through the hole left by Lion-O and shot more lightening at him. "You will die, Thundercat!" Lion-O ducked and rolled, kept his eyes closed to protect them from the explosions of the computers.

Lion-O managed to roll to his feet but kept himself knelt down as Mumm-Ra jumped over to him, ready to smash his head in, and with lightening speed, Lion-O stood up and slashed Mumm-Ra’s throat with the Sword of Omens. Mumm-Ra staggered back, clutching at the wound, then felt Lion-O slash his knees and rammed the sword into his chest. Mumm-Ra let out a roar of pain that shattered the glass in the computer screen.

"Yes!" yelled Lion-O as he dug the sword in as hard and deep as he could.

Finally, Mumm-Ra reached down, grabbed the sword, pulled it out, then took Lion-O by the throat and flew through the roof of the Lair, with Lion-O’s back smashing all the concrete and flew out with him, cackling maniacally all the way.

Panthro drove the Thundercat anxiously through the forests towards the Cat’s Lair. Tygra and Cheetara were keeping their eyes peeled to spot Lion-O as they drove by, hoping he hadn’t made it to Cat’s Lair. Tygra spotted Willa in the trees and called out to her. "Willa! Hey Willa!"

Panthro stopped the tank long enough for the Warrior queen to jump down. "Yes?"

"Have you seen Lion-O by any chance?"

"About 6’7", 300 pounds, big sword, big red mane, kind of depressed at the moment?" Panthro offered.

"Yes, I saw him. He was very depressed."

"He told you what happened?" Cheetara enquired.

"Yes he did, among other things. He was heading back for your Cat’s Lair when we finished."

"How long ago did you see him?"
"About an hour, two hours."

"I hope he stopped to mope around a little-"

Then something landed in the hood of the tank with a sharp sound that caught them all off guard. Panthro reached and pulled it out, and saw it was the Sword of Omens. Then they heard a familiar cackle and looked up to see Mumm-Ra flying through the air with Lion-O by the throat.

"Looks like we found him!" Panthro quipped.

"Follow that mummy!" yelled Tygra as the tank turned around and sped in the direction of Mumm-Ra.

"Where would you like to die, Lord Lion-O?" asked Mumm-Ra. "In the tar pits or perhaps in a volcano! Or maybe I should just break your neck now, eh?" Mumm-Ra cackled so loud Lion-O thought he was going to go deaf.

"I can’t let this happen… I can’t let him win… I-I gotta… fight back…"

Lion-O hit Mumm-Ra in the face with his left arm, the claw shield. Mumm-Ra tightened his grip, and Lion-O felt himself throw up blood. Then, with all the strength he could muster, Lion-O swung his legs up and kicked Mumm-Ra in the face. Mumm-Ra, caught off guard, dropped Lion-O.

As Mumm-Ra’s vision cleared, he saw that they had flown out to the desert just above the Tower of Omens. He looked down and saw the Thunder Tank shooting at him. "Ah, the gang’s all here!" Mumm-Ra clamped his hands together, aimed at Lion-O and shot out the most powerful lightening bolt he of his after life. Lion-O was engulfed in its light and let out a roar of pain. The lightening also sent him sailing towards the Tower of Omens, and he smashed right through the Cat Signal that sat at the top of the tower, then crashed on the desert sands below.

"Lion-O!" roared the Thundercats in the Thunder Tank. Panthro stepped on the gas and sped the tank to the Tower as fast as he could.

"What the Hell was that?" asked Bengali as he saw red glass pour down in front of the windows.

Lynx-O’s ears twitched. "Lion-O!"

"Lion-O? Shit!"

Bengali rushed out of the control room and headed for the infirmary. "Pumyra, Lion-O’s in trouble, outside the Tower, he just smashed through the Cat Signal on top!"

"What?"

"Get your first aid kit and come on!"

Pumyra grabbed her bag from her desk and rushed outside with Bengali, with the Thunder kittens and Snarfs following.
 
 

"Lion-O!" yelled Panthro as he pulled up to where the lion had crashed against a rock behind the tower. They all jumped out of the tank and rushed over to him, tried to pick his head up, disgusted by how badly he was bleeding.

"Lion-O!"

Bengali, Pumyra, Wilykit and Kat, Snarf and Snarfer came around them, Pumyra knelt next to Lion-O and started checking for his pulse.

"Lion-O…" Panthro managed breath while gasping for breath.

"Are we too late?" asked Tygra.

"Will he be alright?" asked Cheetara.

"Of course he’ll be alright!" said Wilykit.

"Yeah, after all, he’s the Lord of the Thundercats!" agreed Wilykat.

"That’s no guarantee." Pumyra checked for a pulse. Lion-O was mumbling.

"Wrong… wrong… all gone wrong…"

Panthro put his hand on the lion’s mouth. "No Lion-O. Don’t try to talk." He looked at Pumyra. "Can we move him?"

"Might as well, get him inside while we can."

Panthro tried to get Lion-O’s right arm around his shoulder while Tygra took the left. They were about to stand up when Lion-O’s hand grabbed onto Panthro’s shoulder, squeezed with what little strength was left, opened his eyes, his black, burned eyes, tried to look at everyone, starting at Tygra, moving to Pumyra, Bengali, Cheetara, Wilykit, Wilykat, Snarf, Snarfer, Lynx-O, finally, Panthro.

"Thundercats…" he breathed. "HO…" his last words. Lion-O’s eyes rolled and closed, his head fell back with no support from his neck and his hand lost all grip. Panthro and Tygra let him down and moved aside for Pumyra to check the pulse in his neck.

"Pumyra?" everyone asked, anxious. Pumyra checked his pulse, then listened for his heart beat, heard nothing, realized there was nothing to be done that wouldn’t be too little too late. She turned to face everyone, and shook her head a sad, sorry no.

Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, Wilykit, and Wilykat stood there, frozen, blank with shock that slowly melted away as tears brewed in their eyes. Wilykit stumbled forward and touched Lion-O’s cheek. It felt numb and cold to her and she jumped back. She looked away and started convulsing, feeling like she might throw up. Cheetara knelt down beside her and started patting her on the back, trying not to let Kit see the tears in her own eyes.

Wilykat tried not to say anything. He tried not to cry. Real men, real Thundercats didn’t cry. He looked up at Tygra and Panthro for support, and when he saw that they too had tears in their eyes, decided it was all right to let his own tears flow.

A loud familiar and joyous cackling pierced their sad silence. "What a wonderful day it has been!" cackled Mumm-Ra triumphantly over the Thundercat, flying high in the air. "You’ve now a room to rent to the miserable Third Earthers, because your lord has passed on!"

Panthro broke his silence. "You’ll pay for this Mumm-Ra! We’ll hunt you down, rip your carcass limb from limb and see that you burn in Hell for all eternity!"

"Don’t threaten me, thunder-hypocrites!" cackled Mumm-Ra. "You wanted him gone, and now, he is gone forever!" Mumm-Ra’s cackling reached its peak as he flew away, back to his pyramid. "Have a nice day Thundercats EAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lion-O was 24 years old when he died. His time as Lord of the Thundercats lasted only about four or five years. The Thundercats carried him up to the top of the mountain where he loved to climb in his spare time, and gave him a private funeral, burying him underneath the rocks, marking his grave with the claw shield. They all wanted to say something, but no one knew what to say, so they said nothing. Taking the Sword of Omens with them, they left their Lord to rest in peace and went back to their respective homes, the Tower of Omens and the Cat’s Lair. Rain fell hard, as though the heavens were crying with the Thundercats, shedding tears for their lord, their friend. Shedding tears for Lion-O.

THE END?