To Save the Future

Part Three

"What are you doing here?" Tamar asked.

"You know exactly what I'm doing here. How dare you--" Lord Lion-O stopped when he saw Cheetara behind Tamar. "My love?"

Cheetara eyes widen. She looked around to see if the future Lion-O was talking to someone else. "Who, me?"

Lord Lion-O moved passed Tamar and hugged Cheetara. "I've missed you so much."

"W-Wait a sec--" Cheetara words were cut off when Lord Lion-O kissed her.

Lion-O kept his mouth from falling. Not only was he stunned to see what his older self was looked like, but now he was kissing Cheetara. Cheetara seemed to have forgotten everyone around her as Lord Lion-O kissed her. She was eagerly kissing him back.

Tamar cleared her throat. "Mother? Father?"

Cheetara and Lord Lion-O broke apart and looked back at the group.

It took a moment for Cheetara to recover. "Uh…what are you doing here?" Cheetara asked.

"I've come for Tamar. As you might have guessed, she's our daughter," Lord Lion-O answered back.

"I'm not going back, not until the rest of the ThunderCats come with me to stop the Great Evil." Tamar stated.

"Tamar, you said that your father was dead. You said he died because of me. Why did you lie and what is the Great Evil?" Lion-O asked.

"Tamar explains that better than I. Go ahead, Tamar, enlightened your future father of why you think I am dead," Lord Lion-O said.

Tamar glared at her father angrily and looked at the ThunderCats. "Before my mother was hurt, my father was a kind, peaceful Lord, but after my mother was put in a coma, he got revenge for it and became the dark and evil person before you. In my eyes, the father I knew was dead. The Great Evil is something my father help create."

"I told you, Tamar, he will not betray me. We are allies now?" Lord Lion-O said.

"Allies with who?" Cheetara asked.

Lord Lion-O looked at Cheetara keeping his arms around her. "Mumm-Ra."

Cheetara was appalled. "Mumm-Ra? Why are you allies with him?"

"I needed his help to avenge you being put in a coma," Lord Lion-O noticed Cheetara's confusion and continued. "The Mutants and Lunatacs escaped Way Outback. During their escape, they killed Captain Bragg and Cronan before they could tell Mandora on the Prison Planet. They secretly went back to 3rd Earth. The Mutants fixed the RatStar and helped the Lunatacs get the power they needed to get Skytomb to travel in space. They also killed Lynx-O, Snarf and Snarfer who were monitoring on 3rd Earth, but we didn't find that out until later, much later. So, we were surprised that they attacked us. The Mutants and Lunatacs were so quick in attacking us and invading our lair that we had to split up. The other Thundercats had already gotten their children to safety and were fighting outside, you and I were to fight inside, but first we had to get to our children to safety."

"Children? I thought we had or will have one child," Cheetara said.

"No. We have two children. A boy and girl. I was to get Dante, our son, and you were to get Tamar. We were to meet at the secret passage to put our children there so they will be safe."

Lion-O opens a door and walks down the long stairs. Behind him was Dante. He opens another door and checks it out to make sure it was safe. He lets his son go in. Another attack shook the lair and his son lost his balance and stumbled to the floor. He quickly got back up.

“I should go with you, father. Help you fight the Mutants and Lunatacs. You told me how evil they were. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“No, son. You are to stay her and protect you sister when she gets here, and you’re too young to fight.”

Dante frowned and folds his arms. “At least you didn’t say it would be safer for me here.”

Lion-O chuckled. “You got too much of me in you.” Another crash was heard, louder than the last one. "Your mother and sister are taking too long, so I'm going to go look for them. Stay here, and don’t open this door to anyone.” Lion-O ordered and left.

Lion-O searched the halls and rooms for Cheetara and Tamar. The Lunatacs and Mutants were destroying the Lair on the outside and inside.

"Cheetara! Tamar!" Lion-O called out and another blast shook the lair. He reaches for his communicator as the ceiling weakened. Lion-O looks up and the ceiling crashes. He jumps out of the way but dropped his communicator. The ceiling above destroyed the communicator.

"I've got to find them," he said to himself as he got up. "Cheetara! Tamar!"

"Lion-O!" Cheetara called from behind. She jumped over the rubble and ran into Lion-O's arms.

"Are you all right? Where's Tamar?" Lion-O asked.

"I'm fine. Tamar's with her brother."

"We better go then. The others need us to take care of any Mutants and Lunatacs inside the lair."

Cheetara nods and hand in hand they went into battle. They walked down the shaky steps when Cheetara screamed in pain. She clutches her head. Her sixth sense was running wildly in her mind.

Lion-O took hold of his wife. "Cheetara, what's wrong?"

"Tamar. I must check on her."

"I'll go with you."

"No, Lion-O. You find the Mutants and Lunatacs, I'll check on Tamar and I'll come back to you," Cheetara said and ran off in a blur.

Lion-O ran down the steps to the Main Hall and saw Tugmug entering the lair.

"Tugmug!"

Tugmug laughs wickedly and pulls out his gravity carbine on Lion-O and fired. Lion-O dodged out of the way. "Payback time, Lion-O!"

Lion-O pulled out his Sword of Omens, "HO!" It fired at Tugmug when he shot off another gravity blast. Lion-O forced the Lunatac back. "HO! HO!" he shouted twice and the power of the sword knocked Tugmug out of Cat's Lair causing the Lunatac to take the lair's doors with him. Lion-O charged on him. Outside, Panthro, Tygra, Bengali and Pumyra were in the Thundertank, Feliner, and the Thunderstrike fighting the RatStar, Lunatank and Skytomb. Kit and Kat were fighting Slythe and Monkian. Lion-O was going to join them when his son called for him.

"Dad! Dad!" Dante called.

Lion-O turned around. "Dante! What are you doing out here? Why aren't you with your sister?"

"Tamar ran out and I couldn't catch her. She was looking for mom but Alluro and Chilla got a hold of her. Mom saw them and told them to let Tamar go but they wouldn't." Dante explained.

"Let's go," Lion-O said. Lion-O followed his son as he showed him where his mom and sister were.

"They're just around the corner, Dad."

"Tamar!" Lion-O called going around the corner.

He saw Alluro holding a deeply beaten up Cheetara. Chilla nods at Alluro and he nods at her. He pulls Cheetara's neck.

"Cheetara, No!" Lion-O called out.

"No, mommy!" Tamar shouted.

Alluro let Cheetara go and she fell to the floor unconscious. Alluro and Chilla left laughing. Lion-O, Dante and Tamar went to Cheetara. Lion-O cradled Cheetara in his arms. "Cheetara," he cried.

Tamar shook Cheetara. "Mommy, wake up," Tamar cried. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you listen to your mother and stay with Dante?! Why didn't you stay with your brother?!" he asked angrily.

"I wanted to be with Mommy," Tamar said quietly.

"You should've stayed with your brother otherwise this wouldn't have happened!" Lion-O growled angrily.

"Uh.." Cheetara struggled to speak and Lion-O looked down at her. She tried to say something, but blood sputtered out of her mouth. "Lion-O..." she whispered and closed her swollen eyes again.

"No, Cheetara, don't leave me. Come back to me."

Pumyra and Tygra came down the hall. The Lunatacs and Mutants were retreating and Pumyra and Tygra came back in the lair to see if Lion-O and Cheetara needed any help.

"Lion-O, we were able to--" Pumyra gasped as she saw Cheetara on the floor in Lion-O's arms. Pumyra and Tygra hurried to check on her. "We have to get her to sickbay."

Hours later Pumyra and Tygra stepped out of sickbay looking tired and distressed. Lion-O was waiting outside impatiently with his children.

"Well?" he asked and saw the looks on their face. "No, she's not," Lion-O said hoping it wasn't the worst news.

"No, she's not...not exactly." Tygra said.

"What do you mean?" Lion-O asked.

"Cheetara was beaten up pretty bad. Three of her ribs were broken, her right arm was broken, she has bruises and cuts all over her body, and Alluro nearly broke her neck, almost killing her. We were able to repair the broken bones and it'll take some time for them to heal..." Pumyra paused.

"Say it, Pumyra," Lion-O said.

Tygra spoke, "But as we were fixing her, she had cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma."

"A coma? How long will she be in it?"

"I don't know. With the extent of her damages, who knows--weeks, months, years."

"Years, Pumyra? What about the Totem of Dera?" Lion-O asked.

Pumyra shook her head. "It won't work. We tried the Totem of Dera and it didn't revive her. Her body is different from ours. Her telekinetic power is blocking out any other power from entering her body."

"My guess is that at moment Alluro pulled Cheetara's neck, she summoned what little telekinetic power she had left to protect her from anymore harm. I believe it's still doing that now as well as healing her. There is a strange golden aura around her body," Tygra explained.

"I want to try the Sword of Omens to revive her," Lion-O said and left his children in care of Pumyra and Tygra.

Cheetara laid in her bed sleeping peacefully. There were bandages around her head, ribs and right arm. The scars and bruises were clean and in time, it will heal. He pulls out his mighty blade. "Sword of Omens, Eye of Thundera use your healing powers to heal my wife, Cheetara."

A blue blaze of light left the sword and flashed on Cheetara. The golden aura around Cheetara repelled the Sword of Omens healing power. The power from the sword stop flashing on Cheetara and the eye closed.

Lion-O sighed defeated. "They're right. It won't work." He leaned over Cheetara and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, Cheetara. The Mutants and Lunatacs, especially Chilla and Alluro will pay for this. Vengeance will be mine."

"I was crushed when I learned of your condition. I thought I'd never see your eyes, smile, and hear your voice ever again. It's so nice to see that, even though you're the past Cheetara," Lord Lion-O said and kissed her again.

After the kiss, Cheetara asked softly, "What did you do next?"

"I wanted vengeance, but the Sword of Omens wouldn't comply. It became useless since it wouldn't help me. So I had to go to another source."

"Mumm-Ra," Cheetara guessed.

"Yes. I went to Mumm-Ra in the Book of Omens."

Lion-O walked in between the poles holding the four fire-breathing dragons. In the darkness of the book, Lion-O saw a familiar person in a red cloak, hiding. "Mumm-Ra."

Mumm-Ra removed the cloak from his face. "Lion-O, long time no see. To what do I owe the honor?"

"I'm here on a business proposition," Lion-O said.

"And what business would that be?" Mumm-Ra asked.

"The Mutants and Lunatacs lead a surprised attack on us. My wife, Cheetara, has suffered greatly from this battle, and I want revenge. If you help me, I will free you from the Book of Omens, but you must promise not to continue your evil ways and live on Thundera in peace or I'll put you back in the Book of Omens and never free you again," Lion-O warned.

Mumm-Ra smiled wickedly. So Lion-O's wife is deeply wounded by the Mutants and Lunatacs attacked. I can certainly use Lion-O's anger to my advantage. I'll help him and I'll kill two birds with one stone: The Mutants and Lunatacs will be gone forever and I'll soon be rid of Lion-O once and for all without him even knowing it. Mumm-Ra thought.

"I'll help you, Lion-O. Anything to get out of here."

"You joined forces with Mumm-Ra?" Cheetara asked.

"The Mutants and Lunatacs had to pay for hurting you and they did. With Mumm-Ra's help, I tracked them down and murdered them all. I love you, Cheetara, and I wouldn't let anyone harm you without paying the ultimate price. The Thundercats didn't know that I did this until after it was done. When they found out, they weren't pleased about it, but I didn't care."

Tamar decided to speak. "The Thundercats were divided by this. Panthro and WilyKat agreed with my father while Tygra, Bengali, Pumyra and WilyKit disagreed. They argued that father did the wrong thing. More arguments broke out between the Thundercats, particularly between father and Tygra. Tygra thought Lion-O should resign because of his murdering. He felt my father lost his way when Cheetara got injured and his belief in the Code of Thundera."

"Tygra was only saying that because he wanted to rule," Lord Lion-O said and glared at Tygra.

Tamar continued, "The fighting became so high and momentous that the Chain of Loyalty broke."

"The Chain of Loyalty broke?" Tygra repeated.

"There are two ways the Chain of Loyalty can break. One, someone could break the chain or two, the hatred, disloyalty and distrust among the Thundercats were so calamitous that it will break and it did."

"After the chain broke, the allied groups turned against each other as well. The ThunderCats left Cat's Lair and went their separate ways. Bengali and Pumyra are the only ones who stayed at Cat’s Lair. They weren't true noble Thundercats so the loyalty chain didn’t affect them. The other Thundercats built their own lair in the shape of the cat they are. Time and time again they continued to fight each other. This war divided the planet. Some Thunderians fought in it while others stayed out of it. It came to an end as each Thundercat claim a part of Thundera as their own territory and ruled over their own clan, but every now and then a small war would break out."

"So, that's what happened to us," WilyKat said understanding.

“Yes, WilyKat.”

"So Mumm-Ra is the Great Evil," Lion-O said.

"Yes," Tamar nodded. "While your older self has been easily fooled and believes Mumm-Ra has changed, Mumm-Ra has been gathering more strength and power than ever before. His evil is growing on Thundera and he's going to attack soon."

"I told you, Tamar, Mumm-Ra has changed," Lord Lion-O corrected her.

"Lion-O," Cheetara turned his face to look at her, "Mumm-Ra will never change. He is pure evil. He must have used your anger as an advantage to get out of the Book of Omens."

"You're wrong, Cheetara. He will never do that. He's changed."

"Where is the Sword of Omens in the future now?" Lion-O asked.

Lord Lion-O looked at his younger self. "Where it has always been for the past thirteen years; in the Sword Chamber untouched, except by Dante who has practiced wielding handling it for he will take over as Lord of the Thundercats after me."

"Dante is a master of the Sword of Omens as you are, Lion-O," Tamar said and continued, "He was the one who trained me into becoming a great sword fighter. Dante was to use the Sword of Omens in the future and I was to use the Sword of Omens in the past to defeat Mumm-Ra. That's why I needed it so badly, Lion-O."

"How can you be so sure Mumm-Ra will betray me, Tamar?" Lord Lion-O asked his daughter.

"Dante has been having dreams and visions. He sees Mumm-Ra taking over and destroying all of us unless we do something."

"Dante has been having visions?" Lord Lion-O questioned.

"Yes. Now do you believe me since you like him better anyway because of what happened to mother."

"You held a grudge against our daughter because of what happened or will happen to me?" Cheetara asked angry.

"Yes, and I do regret pushing our daughter away, but I thought that was the only way I could handle your accident. As the years went by, Tamar spent more time with Tygra, looking to him as a father figure, and I deeply regret that. It took me years to admit it, but there's no way the damage could be repaired."

"Now is as good as time as any," Cheetara pointed out. "For both of you," she said looking at her daughter.

Lord Lion-O left Cheetara's side and walked to Tamar. "Tamar, I am sorry for pushing you away from me. I shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened to your mother. I know it wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry, too, father, for everything. I know you really love mother. I didn’t realize that until I saw you and Cheetara in the past. Dante also told me how you and mom were before the accident. I understand your heartbreak." She gave him a hug.

Tamar steps back with a serious look. "We must go back to the future, father. We have a lot to do. We have to revive mother, bring the other Thundercats back together, and defeat Mumm-Ra once and for all. Dante believes that Mumm-Ra merged his powers with one of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, the one that tried to stop you from entering the Book of Omens in your last battle with him."

"I see," Lord Lion-O said understanding. "We will all go to the future and if I can't stop him, then the rest of you will."

"But father," Tamar protested.

"No, I must do this. It's my fault. I shouldn't have sought vengeance and I shouldn't have freed him. I must do this."

Tamar nodded quietly understanding and hugged him again, praying that her father doesn't die fighting Mumm-Ra.

Lion-O looked around at his ThunderCats. They knew the battle facing them and they were ready to meet it. All they were waiting for was Lion-O. In a commanding voice he said, "Are you ready, Thundercats?"

"HO!" They all cheered.

"Looks like we're ready. Let's go," Lion-O said authoritatively.

Tamar stepped back from her father and nodded approvingly. She pressed the green button, opening the portal to the future. One by the one, the Thundercats stepped in with Lord Lion-O and Tamar in the lead. Lion-O and Cheetara were next, followed by the twins, Bengali and Pumyra, then Tygra and finally Panthro.

Go to Part Four

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