A Battle of Her Very Own

The dark clouds of the stormy skies swirled overhead, looking to be their own chaotic force of nature except for the way they would seem to separate for the single airship cruising directly beneath them. It had a strange visage, yet not one belonging to any of the animal races seen on Third Earth. Was it ancient, or otherworldly? Only one being could be described with both terms. Mumm-Ra, The Ever-living.

Indeed it was. He was returning to his pyramid and with him was one other, a young and beautiful maiden of the Cat race. In the dark interior of the ship, dimly lit by the lights emanating from the control panels and viewscreens, she stood at his side while he sat as the ship's only pilot. Each arm of the chair had controls at the ends that only fit Mumm-Ra's hands. She stood in admiration for her new master, thinking him to be as powerful as he was intelligent. "This is what a true leader looks like," Pumyra thought to herself. She felt thrilled by the prospect of serving at the side of someone with such strength and enlightenment. What's more is that she would share in them. She found the idea of helping to shape a new world exciting to say the least. She only hoped she would prove worthy of her lord.

The silence of the ride back to the pyramid was finally broken when Mumm-Ra calmly spoke.

"Disappointing."

Pumyra tensed up. "What is master?" She hoped he was not referring to her performance, or lack thereof, just an hour or so earlier at Avista.

"That the wretched Bird city did not crash into Third Earth and bury those meddlesome ThunderCats under its smoldering wreckage."

"Yes my lord, you're right... but they will still fall before your might, as will all those who defy you."

Mumm-Ra glanced at her and smirked, "How right you are beloved. The other races that have elected to help the Cats will be dealt with in the harshest manner. Also remember that great will be the rewards of those who faithfully serve me. ... As you have." He added.

And Pumyra bowed her head saying, "I am honored to serve at your said master."

Mumm-Ra turned his gaze back to the main viewer, as did she. As the ship approached the pyramid Pumyra began to reflect on her accomplishments thus far. Her thoughts turned to the events in Avista and the humiliating defeat she helped deal to Lion-O. She remembered the look on her so-called king's face when he realized what a fool he had been to trust her. It was she who secured the Tech Stone, and it was she who turned it over to Mumm-Ra in Lion-O's most desperate moment.

The two set down in the pyramid's main hanger and began walking into the inner chambers. As they did she mused further on the events that had transpired. Her rage against Lion-O was so strong that she delighted in hurting him the same way he hurt her when he left her to die in Thundera. So in addition to being the one to help Mumm-Ra track Lion-O she was also able to use his own feelings against him. To take Lion-O's foolish admiration for her and crush it with the confession that she would rather see him dead herself... it felt... exhilarating. Though not as satisfying as actually ending his life, she predicted. If only the others had not interfered. She wondered if she should have just killed him in The Pit when she had the chance. How she longed for another battle of their own, a battle like the one they had in The Pit. A battle to the death... his death. She replayed the thoughts over and over in her mind as she walked with Mumm-Ra, a feeling of pride running through her.

Finally, Mumm-Ra stopped at a door that was large enough for him to pass through even in his Ever-living form. The panels that made up the door split almost completely down the middle except for a sudden diagonal section where the panels locked together. With a slight motion of his hand the door opened and he spoke.

"I have prepared a place for you beloved. Here you will be safe from our enemies as well as... some allies who may not yet trust you."

Without so much as an ounce of doubt Pumyra eagerly complied. "Yes master. I understand."

"I must attend to my army and oversee its recovery. Then, the Cats and their feeble resistance shall pay."

"I only wish I could be of further assistance to you my lord," she said sounding somewhat let down.

"And still you shall", Mumm-Ra reassured her. "But first you must become stronger. You must gain more power. Do not worry beloved, I will spare the one you so hate, that you may end his life yourself."

"Thank you master," she replied.

"Now, give me your old weapons. Such primitive toys are unworthy of you", the dark lord requested as he reached out his hand. Again, Pumyra complied, turning over her wrist-bow, her pellets, and her bola.

Weapons in hand, Mumm-Ra bid her a short farewell as she took her place inside her quarters. She turned and bowed to him as the door closed and locked. Walking toward the center of the main room she observed her surroundings. A deep-purple hued light beamed down from a barred window in a slanted direction and fell upon her. It illuminated the oval-like octagon shaped platform beneath her feet, which had detailed carvings that Pumyra found absolutely beautiful. This work of art really stood out from the rest of the flooring that was plain and flat. Glancing upward she realized where the light was coming from. Through the barred window, shaped in the same way as the platform, she could see Mumm-Ra's chambers. It pleased her that she would be kept so close to her master. Straight ahead of her were the actual living quarters, separated by a short dividing wall and dimly lit by lights fixed firmly into the walls and ceiling. A place for eating with some fruits already on the table, a blank panel next to that for a viewscreen, then a bed draped with a silk canopy, and finally another room to the side of that for all hygienic purposes. All necessities were well met. Pumyra marveled at her room. It would be a nice change from all the camping and shared space in that old clunker of a tank she was forced to endure for the past several weeks, she thought to herself.

Everything that Mumm-Ra had given her seemed so much better than anything Lion-O had ever provided. She turned back to face the door and stared at it as if already wishing for her master's return. Her thoughts again turned toward her hatred for the king who abandoned her.

Within minutes the Ever-living source of evil had departed the pyramid to rejoin his generals and lead the next assault on what Mumm-Ra saw as a resistance to his empire. The airship flew toward the lines with great haste. Mumm-Ra could not allow Pumyra to enter into the battle that was to come, for she was still too weak in both body and spirit to execute the plan he had set in motion for Lion-O. However, little did Pumyra know that she was about to face a battle of her very own. A battle Mumm-Ra had also planned for.

A feeling of curiosity and excitement crept into her as she wondered what role she would serve in her master's expanding empire. She hoped it would involve making Lion-O suffer even more before she took his life.

"I want him to suffer like I suffered. I want him to feel the same pain I did when he left me to die. That must be why I didn't kill him in The Pit, even if it had meant my freedom. Yes, I wanted him to suffer for leaving me behind... for causing me to end up in that wretched pit in the first place. Killing him would have been so easy too. What a fool... He was the one who put me there but he didn't even want to fight back against me. It's so ironic... He didn't care about my freedom and yet he was so willing to die for it."

Pumyra paused herself in thought as a twinge of confusion struck her. "... W- Wait... ...what?" There was nothing ironic about that concept. In fact it now seemed downright incoherent for some reason. "He... was willing to die for... That... That isn't right... Is it? But..." The thoughts and desires of hatred and revenge so clear to her just mere seconds ago now seemed to slip away from her as if she were trying to grasp wisps of smoke with her hands.

"He... He abandoned me! But, he came to save me... that... that doesn't... Was he just... he didn't really... or..." she babbled out loud. For a few seconds she just stood there in a daze, not quite knowing what to think, but the young feline soon found herself with plenty to think about.

Her expression of confusion and uncertainty slowly tensed up into one of fright and horror. "Wh... What?" She whined. "Wha... What have I done?"

As an unseen veil of darkness lifted from her soul a harsh reality came crashing down upon it.

"Oh no... No... no no NO! It isn't possible," she choked out as her eyes filled with tears. "This can't be happening!"

Her attempts at denial were short-lived, the painful memories of what happened in Avista's tech chamber echoing ever louder in her mind like a haunting melody comprised of anguish and despair.

The memories of those events were clear. She had the Tech Stone in her grasp. She even remembered how her heart fluttered when she picked it up and saw Lion-O battling the evil Mumm-Ra. Finally she would prove herself to her king, the Cat she had come admire and care for so much. The opportunity to do just that came. "Pumyra! Throw it!" Lion-O shouted. She looked at the Tech Stone, and then back at him. "Pumyra!?" Lion-O exclaimed, wondering why she was just lying there. "Lion-O... you are my king..." but as she said the words a fiendish desire filled her heart.

Breaking from the memory Pumyra brought her hands up to her temples, desperately hoping that it was all just a bad nightmare from which she'd immediately wake. "NO! Please! Don't let it be true!" she cried, but her pathetic pleas won her no reprieve from the devastating reminders that came flooding back into her thoughts; as real and obvious as the tears now flooding down her cheeks.

"...but he is my master!" the memory continued. She had thrown the Tech Stone to Mumm-Ra, and in so doing betrayed her king. In addition to this was the feeling of glee while she did so, but worst of all was the look on Lion-O's face. It was the look of one whose heart had been broken.

Remembering this sight seemed to sap all of her strength. Her legs gave out and she fell to her knees in defeat. Her kneecaps slammed into the raised edge of the platform beneath her, the carvings digging into her shins, but she was too distraught to even notice the pain. Then again, such pain was nothing in comparison to what she felt within.

"It can't be," she protested. "How could it? How could I? ...I was there for you Lion-O. The whole time I wanted to help you," she stressed. "I would never side with..." she stopped short of saying the fiend's name, but the detestable memories resurfaced again to torment her regardless. She recalled how it was Mumm-Ra who brought her back to life with the aid of the Ancient Spirits, and how she knelt down to him to kiss his gauntlet.

The haunting "melody" of anguish and despair had been leading her along thus far as if pretending to be an illusion consisting only of fear and doubt, but with that last recollection the song reached its climax. Pumyra was overcome with a dreadful panic she had never known before, accompanied by the feeling of absolute doom. The cold realization stung her from within, drawing more sorrow and more tears. It was far too much for her. She let out a shriek that carried through the opening above her into Mumm-Ra's chamber and then through the various winding passages connected to that room. The cry might have caught the attention of the various guards or slave laborers if not for such screams being so commonplace in Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Hers was merely another voice added to the evil conductor's aria of tormented souls.

For Pumyra, the term "tormented" would be an understatement. She had been used in a manner lower than even that of a slave, for her bindings were not those of steel on her wrists or ankles; no leash around her slender neck, but rather an inconceivable darkness that permeated her thoughts and compelled her to action against her will. A slave could at least be free in her own mind. Pumyra was not even granted that much, and now she was fully aware of that unfortunate truth. She felt like it was all her fault. She died with blind hatred and rage in her heart. She wouldn't accept her fate and just pass on. Because of this, Mumm-Ra's attention was turned to her restless spirit, and now she was his puppet.

The weight of her situation came crushing down on her, reminiscent of the debris that caused her death, and it seemed to have a visible effect. She slumped over onto her right side and curled up into the fetal position. Her heart pounded so hard from the stress that it seemed to hurt. Covering her eyes and mouth with her hands she wept uncontrollably. Never in her life had she felt so afraid, so thoroughly broken and violated, not even in The Pit with all the various... attempts that she had to defend herself against. This time however, the attempt was successful, and the violation ran deeper than any physical one could have. The evil was within her consciousness. It was now a part of her very being, and there was no defense she could possibly mount to protect herself from it.

This became more apparent, as she remembered the hurtful words she said to Lion-O back in Avista. She had blamed him for her death. She called him a fool for showing her such love and compassion. She said she wanted him to die, helpless and alone.

Pumyra couldn't help but think of Lion-O and how awful he must have felt when he heard her make all those terrible statements. "Lion-O... Please... Please don't believe any of that! ...Lion-O... It... It wasn't me. It wasn't me!" she whimpered.

Still sobbing, she recalled falling in battle and being pinned beneath the rubble that once made up part of her homeland. This was how she felt at that moment: trapped, unable to call out to Lion-O, unable to reach him; to touch his face again... to tell him that she was still there... there for him.

She remembered how she died hating Lion-O for not saving her. A notion she now rejected. "No! It wasn't his fault. I know that he would have saved me if he'd known I was there." She forced her memories to turn to that night in the mines, how Lion-O saved her life while risking his own in the process and even giving up the Sword of Plun-Darr to do so. She remembered how she told him to run away, to not let Mumm-Ra take the Sword of Omens as well. She wanted him to leave her behind, but he wouldn't. He really did care for her. He refused to abandon her. That's when she realized what kind of Cat Lion-O truly was. That was the moment she realized she truly loved him and would follow him anywhere.

And yet... in the end... even this knowledge could not avail her against the evil that now plagued her. Again, she felt defeated and disappointed in herself. How could she have been taken over so seamlessly? And what about now that they were separated? If she had lost control of herself even when she was with Lion-O, at a time when it could have cost him his life, what hope did she have in resisting now that she was alone? Doubt once again invaded her thoughts.

Again she cried and moaned uncontrollably. All she could do was place her right hand to her left cheek, close her eyes, and try to remember the moment they shared in the mines over and above the thoughts of despair that swirled about her. She knew what she felt that day on the floor of that cavern after he rescued her. She knew that even now she still loved him.

"Lion-O... I don't hate you. I don't want you to feel betrayed," she implored. "I wish I was with you to tell you all of this. To tell you that... I love you."

"Please know that Lion-O. Please don't be sad." This she hoped even as she was overcome with her own sadness.

Meanwhile, back at the salvaged structure of Avista, the young Lord of the ThunderCats sat alone on a hill outside one of the city's platforms. His head hung slightly as he reflected on all that had transpired. But when one of his more youthful companions inquired if he was okay, Lion-O replied...

"I was a fool to trust Pumyra, and now look what I've lost us."

It seemed Pumyra's last refuge of hope would prove to be fruitless.

Unless…

Please review. I would like to read anyone's thoughts on my take of the season finale and continuation of the series. Any criticism is welcome. You can even flame me if you wish.