The Fruit Nut Trilogy
By Purrsia
Part Two: The Statue Got Me High
Though his expression remained stern and even, on the inside Lion-O was a nervous wreck. He hid his anxiety well as he stared at the monitor that showed Third Earth fast approaching.
“What is it, Lion-O?” Cheetara asked softly, placing a comforting hand on Lion-O’s shoulder.
He wasn’t sure if it was Cheetara’s keen extra sensory abilities that clued her into his distress or just the fact that she knew him better than anyone else. He glanced at her and offered a fleeting smile. “I’m wondering what awaits us down there.”
The Berbil ship they were traveling in was entering Third Earth’s atmosphere at that moment. It wouldn’t be long now. Lion-O’s mind replayed the weak distress message received by the Lair back on New Thundera from Queen Willa. She hadn’t been able to tell them anything specific, but Lion-O couldn’t help but shudder inwardly as he recalled the sheer terror in the voice of the normally poised leader of the Warrior Maidens. Something was horribly wrong down there. But with Mumm-Ra long disposed of, Lion-O couldn’t for the nine lives in him guess who or what would have the power to wreak such havoc. Nobody had heard from Tygra or Pumyra. Luckily, they had been able to commission this ship from Planet Robear for the journey, since the Feliner would never have had enough fuel to make the trip.
Removing the Sword of Omens from its resting place within the Claw Shield, Lion-O said, “I’m going to try to see if the Sword can show me anything now that we’re closer to Third Earth.”
After briefly gazing through the holes in the Sword’s hilt, Lion-O slowly lowered the mystic blade.
“Anything?” Cheetara asked hopefully. Lion-O shook his head, a scowl wrinkling his brow. “Still nothing. Whatever is happening down there, it’s blocking the Sword’s power of Second Sight.”
Panthro entered the ship’s bridge area and looked eager to disembark. “You two ready?”
Lion-O turned and greeted Panthro with the traditional Thunderian salute. “Yes. Are the others?”
“Bengali, Lynx-O and Snarf are already down by the docking bays,” he replied. The Thunderkittens were the only ones left behind on New Thundera and were annoyed to have been left out of such an adventure to say the least.
Lion-O turned his attention to the Berbil piloting the craft. “Try to land as near to the Lair as possible. And if you wouldn’t mind, could you try contacting Tygra and Pumyra there again?”
“Of course, Lord Lion-O,” the berbil replied in its emotionless, robotic voice.
The signal went out to the Lair, silence once again the only response. Lion-O avoided Panthro’s and Cheetara’s gaze, lest his unaffected facade crumble. What in Jaga’s name was wrong? His gut felt like it was in knots.
“The Lair...it’s in view,” the berbil announced.
Grateful for the diversion, Lion-O looked upon the Lair looming on the ship’s telescreen. It was nearing nightfall on Third Earth, and the Lair looked decidedly abandoned. No lights or activity could be discerned within the fortress.
As the ship touched down in the middle of what used to be Tygra’s thriving garden, but was now a wilted and dead wasteland, Lion-O motioned for the others to follow him to the docking bays.
“Thank you, Robear Bob, for bringing us all this way. We’d have gone in our own ship, but as you know, Thundrillium supplies aren’t up to what they should be on New Thundera.”
“It’s no trouble, Lion-O,” he replied. “You and your people have been generous and valuable allies with not only our kind here on Third Earth, but also to those of us on New Thundera’s neighboring planet, Planet Robear. We’ll wait for you here.”
------
The ThunderCats cautiously approached their former stronghold. Panthro actually had to pry the lofty entrance doors open, for there was no power turned on in the Lair to make use of their remote opening devices. They stood in the darkened foyer for a moment, each experiencing their own unease from the eerie silence within. It was clear that someone had ran sacked the place; debris and such were littered about. And something smelled awful.
“Just look at this mess, rrrrrwl,” Snarf declared, breaking the silence.
“That’s the least of our worries, Snarf,” Panthro replied.
Bengali rushed ahead of the group, making no effort to disguise his rising panic. “Pumyra!” he shouted. “Pumyra!”
“Bengali, wait!” Lynx-O pleaded to no avail. The young Bengal was already dodging through the debris and up to Pumyra’s room.
“I was going to have us split up anyway,” Lion-O said distractedly, his keen eyes still scanning the area.
“Well, I’m going with you, Lion-O,” Snarf insisted. Lion-O wasn’t in the mood to argue with him on the matter. It was then the ‘cats all went their separate ways, unknowing that was the last time they would be together...
------
That smell. It was getting more and more intense as Bengali neared Pumyra’s room. By the time he arrived at the threshold, he had to choke back the urge to throw up. It was truly the worst thing he’d ever smelled. His hammer out, he boldly pressed on into her chambers. It was then he saw the silhouette in the dim light fading twilight provided.
His gag reflex was back in full force as he realized the decomposing body hanging from the makeshift noose was that of Pumyra. After several moments of alternately gagging and whimpering, Bengali finally had an opportunity to let forth an anguished wail. In his grief, he executed a well-placed shot from his hammer and freed her corpse from its hanging position. He caught the decaying form and sank to his knees. He cradled it as he wept.
Why? What happened to you my dear Pumyra?
A familiar, wicked cackle filled the chamber, and Bengali snapped his head up. Mumm-Ra? But...but that was impossible! Gently, he laid what was left of Pumyra down on the floor and stood ready for combat. His grief segued into rage as the laughter continued, the tone of it becoming increasingly mocking.
“Rrrrrowwl!” he roared mightily. “Show yourself! Show yourself so you can pay for what you’ve done to Pumyra!”
Suddenly, he caught sight of Tygra standing in the corner of the room.
“Tygra?” he asked, stunned. His anger evaporated from him almost immediately. “Brother, what happened here?” As he neared Tygra, he took note of his hollowed, sunken eyes, and the fact that Tygra’s clothes were in tatters. His alarm grew anew out of concern for his fellow ThunderCat. “Are you alright?”
Bengali was flabbergasted when Tygra grinned widely in response. He stopped in his tracks and scowled. What in the seven seas was going on? His jaw went slack when Tygra’s eyes glowed red, and fear stabbed at the pit of his stomach. No. No, that wasn’t possible.
“Mumm-Ra lives,” Tygra rasped in a voice that was only a shadow of his robust baritone. “Congratulations. You killed Pumyra when you abandoned her here on Third Earth and married that refugee slut. But there is a happy ending after all. You get to join her.”
Bengali stepped back, the reflection of the object Tygra brought forth gleaming in his wide eyes. “Tygra...Tygra, no....”
------
Lynx-O paused in his investigation of the lower chambers, his keen ears twitching as they picked up on Bengali’s anguished wail. He immediately headed off toward the source of the disturbance, his pace quickening as he heard more and more disturbing sounds -- was it possible that he heard Mumm-Ra, too?
He quickly honed in on Bengali’s location, and had similar difficulty stomaching the stench of Pumyra’s decayed body as he neared. He knew it was the stench of death, but of what or who he could not say.
“Bengali?” he choked out between gags as he entered Pumyra’s chamber. No reply was forthcoming.
When Lynx-O’s hand brushed across the footboard of Pumyra’s bed, it was coated in a wet substance. Bringing the hand to his nose for a sniff, he surmised it was blood. Lynx-O surely was blessed at that moment to be spared from the sight of that room. Not only was Pumyra’s body inches from his feet, but Bengali had been mercilessly murdered with the Sword of Plundarr. The room was decorated with his remains as if he’d been put into a giant blender set to puree. Blood that had stuck to the ceiling began to rain down on the lynx, and he knew he had to get out of there and warn the others. The fur on the back of Lynx-O’s neck stood up, and a sinking feeling settled in his stomach. A shadow blocking the exit loomed behind him, bringing with it the same fate dealt Bengali.
------
Panthro tinkered with the power controls in the Lair. He’d succeeded in getting some emergency power on, but the main source eluded him. If he could get some juice flowing in the Lair again, they’d be one up on whoever was toying with them. He was leaning over a panel, cursing softly as wires touched and arced, when he was picked up off his feet and thrown roughly onto the ground.
“Alright, wiseass!” he growled. Panthro leapt nimbly to his feet and whipped out his nun- chucks. “Let’s see if you can take it as well as you dish it out.”
While twirling his nun-chucks menacingly, he scanned the control room for the offending party. The ‘chucks lost all their steam and went limp when he spied Tygra emerging from the shadows.
“Tygra...what the hell was that all about?” He was still kind of pissed Tygra would play such an odd prank on him, but also quite relieved to see a familiar face. He sauntered over to his friend. “So, what’s been going on here? We got a distress call from Willa saying Third Earth was under siege. You look like hell, by the way. You okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” Tygra replied in a near-whisper. “That do-gooder bitch won’t be sending out any more distress calls. Not after the attitude adjustment I gave her and a bunch of her maiden friends.”
Panthro did a double take. “What in the--??” His posture returned to a defensive one, but it was too late. Tygra’s eyes glowed red as he gripped Panthro’s ‘chucks in mid-swing.
“Time to die, wiseass,” Tygra cackled.
Panthro leapt back and prepared to fight in hand to hand combat. He didn’t need nun-chucks to put this Tygra-imitating joker in his place. “We’ll see about that,” he growled.
Tygra dived for the panther. Panthro responded by bringing his foot up into what should have been a powerful blow to the gut. Instead, Panthro gasped as his leg was grasped powerfully, and with a sickening pop, ripped out of its socket.
------
Cheetara looked up when the amber emergency lights hummed to life overhead. Panthro must be trying to get the power on, she thought to herself. Abandoning her patrol of the halls, she made her way to the control room in hopes that there’d be enough power to run the Lair’s scanners and com devices. That would make their search much faster, and speed was always a concern of the swift one.
She breezed into the control room, only to stifle a scream at the sight that greeted her. Panthro lay at the room’s center, in a pool of his own blood. He’d been dismembered, with only his head intact upon his torso. He was barely alive when she knelt by his side.
“Panthro,” she gasped. “By...by Jaga!” She tentatively patted his chest.
His glazing eyes fixed on her worried face. When first he tried to speak, bubbles of blood merely formed on his lips, a sick wheeze the only sound he could produce. Finally, after much effort, he uttered Tygra’s name.
“Tygra?” she echoed, bewildered. Her puzzlement went unknown to Panthro as he succumbed to the shock and blood loss.
Blinking back tears, she rose to her feet. She whirled around when Tygra spoke to her in a barely audible rasp. “Tygra?” She began to rush toward him but stopped mid-way. Her sixth sense and Panthro’s dying word giving her pause. Something was all wrong.
“Yes, Cheetara,” he replied with a grin. “I want to see your tits, my dear.”
“You’ll have to catch me first,” she announced, getting out her bo-staff and twirling it skillfully. This was not Tygra she was dealing with -- this was a demon from the depths of hell.
Tygra raised his hands and shot searing red beams of energy at Cheetara, which she easily dodged. “Come on, is that the best you’ve got?” she taunted. He was blocking the door. If she could just get around him and get to Lion-O... Stepping back to get a running start, she attempted to use her staff as a pole vault to leap over Tygra. She gasped when she was stopped by some invisible force at the apex of her vault. She stared at the ceiling above her, terrified to be in such a precarious position.
“Yes, I can do better. Much better.” Cackling evilly, he released his magical grip on her, causing her to fall upon her erect staff, which fatally impaled her.
Tygra knelt beside her body, and with ironic tenderness, removed the blood streaked staff. He proceeded to disrobe the she-cat, intent on pleasuring himself with her. What was an act of necrophilia to the undead, after all?
------
“Rwwwwrl, I don’t like this, Lion-O,” Snarf fretted.
They entered the great room adjacent the Lair’s foyer. Lion-O gazed out the open doors at the last remnants of a magnificent Third Earth sunset. “Perhaps we should gather the others and take this search elsewhere. Apparently, there’s nothing here.”
“The others...are...gone,” came a shaky voice from behind them.
Lion-O whirled around and couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. There was Willa, nude and barely able to keep herself upright despite using one of the Lair’s great pillars to steady herself. “Willa!”
“Sneeeyaaa-arf! What in the name of Thundera happened?” Snarf lamented as he dashed after Lion-O to Willa’s side.
Lion-O hastily tore down a nearby tapestry and draped it around the battered woman’s shoulders. He seemed at a loss as Willa sank to her knees and wept. The tough leader of the proud Warrior Maidens was reduced to a weeping mess. She finally got a hold of herself after a moment, and wearily looked up at Lion-O, who was now kneeling beside her. Her eyes fell from his concerned face until they fixed hypnotically on the mystical blade he held. She fantasized about throwing herself on it to put a definitive end to her long-standing misery. It had only been a month since that thing -- that thing that was in the guise of Tygra -- began its reign of terror on Third Earth. But the things she’d been put through -- the things she’d seen -- made her want to tear her own eyes out. The memories of watching what he’d done to her people -- but most of all, her little sister, Nayda -- was more than she could bear. Even her own sufferings at the hands of that monster paled in comparison to the horrific last hours of Nayda’s life. All of which Willa was forced to witness. Nayda was really the lucky one, she told herself. Her suffering was over, while Willa lived on, forced to come along as that hideous beast preyed upon the people of Third Earth.
“Willa...” She lifted her eyes to meet Lion-O’s gaze. He gently held her by the shoulders and shook her. His eyes sparkled with compassion and concern, but Willa barely recognized the show of a kind emotion. “Please tell me. I must know so I can help you,” he urged her.
“Bengali...Panthro...Cheetara...Lynx-O,” she began. “He’s killed them all. Just get out. Get out while you have the chance.”
“No!” Snarf declared. “Th-that can’t be true. Lion-O?” Snarf looked anxiously at the ThunderCat Lord, on the edge of hysteria but certain he, too, would debunk Willa’s claim.
“But,” Lion-O reasoned, “the Sword would have warned me if they were in trouble...” Snarf nodded vehemently in agreement.
“He...it...that *thing* put up a magnetic force field around the Lair. The Sword, it won’t work. That’s why you have to get out.”
Snarf gasped and Lion-O’s expression was that of great alarm. “Willa...who is it that is doing this?”
Willa shook her head sadly. “He claims to be Mumm-Ra--”
“Mumm-Ra!” Lion-O declared with surprise. “But...but that’s impossible!”
“I’m not so sure it’s really him,” Willa continued. “But I must warn you, whoever or whatever you’ll be dealing with -- he’s in Tygra’s body.” Lion-O stepped back, glancing down at Snarf, who was still reeling with disbelief. “Oh Lion- O! This -- this is just horrible!”
Lion-O swallowed hard before asking, “What makes you think it’s not Mumm-Ra?”
Willa’s eyes misted over and she visibly shuddered. “The evil within him...it’s more powerful, more destructive than Mumm-Ra ever was,” she softly explained. “It would be near impossible to beat him *with* the Sword, Lion-O, that’s why you’ve got to--”
Willa’s stopped short, as Snarf leapt up and dived toward Lion-O.
“Lion-O, look *out*!” the creature wailed.
------
Before Lion-O knew what was happening, Snarf was lying in a heap against the adjacent wall, smoke billowing from a gaping wound.
“Snarf, no!” he cried, rushing to Snarf’s side. Snarf slid to the floor limply upon being jostled by Lion-O. His insides had literally been cooked by the blast he sustained.
Hot tears burning in his eyes, Lion-O turned and angrily faced the aggressor. “You won’t live to regret that,” Lion-O growled at the haggard-looking form that resembled Tygra.
“Come now,” Tygra said calmly, a tinge of amusement in his husky voice. “Such boasting from a boy without his little magical crutch.”
Roaring fiercely, Lion-O charged at Tygra. The magical aspects of his weapon may have been disabled, but he could still use the blade to inflict harm.
Tygra responded by drawing the Sword of Plundarr. Willa sat by helplessly as the two battled, putting up a fantastic fight. Metal clanged and sparks flew, each seemingly an equal match in agility and strength. Lion-O fought with more heart and courage than he ever had before. He meant to rid Third Earth of this scourge, not only for the sake of the planet’s besieged citizens, but also so his beloved friends’ deaths wouldn’t be in vain. Eye of Thundera be damned, this was one battle he had to win at all costs.
After much struggle and more than a few close calls, Lion-O finally saw an opportunity. Thrusting his Sword deep into Tygra’s gut, Lion-O’s eye’s glowed a bright amber, and he roared the ThunderCat battle cry. Tygra’s power being weakened by the blow, the Sword reacted to Lion-O’s command. It grew to its full length, at which time an unprecedented amount of energy shot forth from the Eye of Thundera. Amid clashes of thunder and blinding light, Tygra disintegrated.
Meanwhile, in a desert cooled by nightfall, there was a great and dark pyramid. And in that pyramid, the statue of the Vulture King crumbled to dust.
Lion-O stood for a moment, before collapsing to his knees. Though exhausted from the intense battle, he was overjoyed. He did it. Suddenly, he remembered Willa.
“I did it, Willa. It’s over.” He looked up, expecting to see her still seated by the pillar. He scowled slightly when he saw she wasn’t there. He opened his mouth to call out her name, but instead spewed forth his own blood. He looked down in disbelief at the blade of the Sword of Plundarr protruding from his chest.
------
The blade made a sickening sound as she worked it out from where she’d plunged it into Lion-O’s back. Sobbing, Willa cried at him as he fell forward into a lifeless heap, “Where were you? Where were you when we were suffering? When we needed you?”
The ThunderCats. It was their fault. They’d abandoned Third Earth after awakening unspeakable evil, and her people suffered. But Nayda. Nayda suffered the most. Willa shook her head fiercely, as if she could jostle the horrendous memory of Nayda’s last moments from her mind. And her voice. Her voice pleading with Willa to help her.
“Yes,” she said as if replying to someone in the room. “I’ll join you.” Willa proceeded to take her own life with the Sword of Plundarr.
------
EPILOGUE
WilyKat stood in the meadow, staring at the Lair where his fellow ThunderCats were slain. He felt numb, barely aware of his sister’s sobs. RoberBob patted his arm in an effort to console him, but WilyKat continued to stare ahead. They were all gone. All of them.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t have come,” RoberBob said tentatively. When daybreak had come and the ThunderCats failed to emerge from the Lair, Bob had investigated and found all the carnage within. He then returned to Thundera to bring the sad news to the only surviving ThunderCats, young WilyKit and WilyKat.
“We had to,” WilyKit insisted between hitching sobs. “We *owe* them that much. We at least have to bring their remains back to Thundera and give them a proper burial.”
All remains had been removed, in fact. Except for Bengali and Lynx-O, whom of course, were disposed of in such a way where there wasn’t much to gather. Just their insignias had been collected.
“Who could have done this? Who?” Kit asked rhetorically.
It was Jagara who snapped WilyKat out of his grief-induced trance. She lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. “WilyKat,” she began, “here.” He blinked before slowly looking up at Jagara. After holding her gaze for a moment, his eyes finally fell upon the object she held out to him. It was the Sword of Omens.
“This is yours now. It is up to you and your sister to rule as proud ThunderCats and uphold the Code of Thundera.”
WilyKat stared at the Sword a moment, his mouth agape. It was like history was repeating itself in some macabre way. An insurmountable, destructive event was once again followed by a young boy of 12 taking on the lofty task of leading a people and fighting for survival. It was all too surreal. “O-okay,” he finally muttered, grasping the Sword’s hilt. Glancing back to Jagara with tears streaming his cheeks, he simply nodded solemnly.
With all the bodies recovered, they prepared to return to New Thundera with confirmation of the sad news. Curiously, Willa’s body was not among those recovered.
------
In the onyx Pyramid, a bloody girl with a gaping gash in her abdomen lay upon the altar. Three great statues seemed to be staring down upon her ashen form.
“We are weakened, yes,” the Ancient Spirits of Evil spoke through the statues. “Investing a fourth of our power into that tiger was costly, but it’s what it took to finally overcome those cats. The indirect way, as we used in channeling our energy through the likes of Mumm-Ra, let us remain powerful. But the cats lived on and the countless battles with them drained us. Even so, with them out of our way, we don’t need the power of the Vulture King.”
The eyes of all three statues glowed. Nearly simultaneously, Willa’s eyes popped open wide and took on a creepy red hue. “Rise,” the Ancient Spirits urged. “Rise and be our next agent of undead evil...”
------
The statue got me high
The statue got me high
The monument of granite sent a beam into my eye
The statue made me die
The statue made me die
It took my hand it killed me and it turned me to the sky
The stone it called to me
(And now I see the things the stone has shown to me)
A rock that spoke a word
(An animated mineral it can be heard)
And though I once preferred a human being's company
They pale before the monolith that towers over me
The statue got me high
The statue got me high
The truth is where the sculptor's chisel chipped away the lie
The statue made me fry
The statue made me fry My coat contained a furnace where there used to be a guy
The stone it called to me
(And now I see the things the stone has shown to me)
A rock that spoke a word
(An animated mineral it can be heard)
And as the screaming fire engine siren filled the air
The evidence had vanished from my charred and smoking chair
And what they found was just a statue
Standing where the statue got me high
And what they found was just a statue
Standing where the statue got me high
And now it is your turn
(Your turn to hear the stone and then your turn to burn)
The stone it calls to you
(You can't refuse to do the things it tells you to)
And as the screaming fire engine siren fills the air
The evidence will vanish from your charred and smoking chair
And what they found was just a statue
Standing where the statue got me high And what they'll find is just a statue
Standing where the statue got you high
--The Statue Got Me High, They Might Be Giants