Exodus by Servali Part 2: Lion-O stirred and awoke. He sat up and looked to either side of him, wondering why he was sitting in a capsule. His memories were still a bit hazy. "Oh-- the suspension capsule,” he realised, “but, what am I doing… here?" Lion-O looked around, scanning the world around him. It was all so different. So alien, yet so peaceful. Then, he heard a voice. A very familiar one. “Lion-O! Get out of that capsule! You’re in trouble! You’re all in trouble!” Lion-O’s eyes grew wide upon realising to whom that familiar voice belonged. Lion-O immediately got out of the capsule and noticed…. “Snarf!” he shouted as he ran to him, to hug him, but he was quite surprised when he fell right through his guardian and landed on the ground behind him. Lion-O shuddered upon the ground, having felt an inexplicable tinge of cold as he passed through Snarf. He turned onto his back and looked perplexedly at Snarf. “Snarf, what’s going on? Why did I--” “No time for that!” Snarf yelled franticly. “You’ve got to find Grune and the others. The Mutants! They’re coming!” Lion-O was extremely confused. He examined “Are you really Snarf, or is this some sort of--” “I’m dead, all right? Deceased! A ghost! An apparition! A spirit! Got it? Good! Now GO FIND GRUNE!” Not sure what to do at the moment, Lion-O opted to obey this snarven spirit. He silently scanned the area looking for signs of the others. Moments later, he finally felt the nerve to speak to the azure spectre. “I’m worried. I don’t see any other suspension capsules around here. What if I don’t find the others? What if the mutants arrive before I find them? How do you even know the mutants are coming? Why did I feel so cold when I fell through you?” Lion-O glanced at Snarf. “Why are you blue?” Snarf sighed in frustration as he trotted along side of Lion-O, but he realised that now was not the time to stress the cub. “Look, they’re around here somewhere. They didn’t fall far from the crash site. And I just know the mutants are coming.” Lion-O nodded, still not sure what to make of everything that was going on, but at least he was getting something that resembled answers. Lion-O then glanced at Snarf. “Hey, you didn’t tell me why you’re blue, or why I--” Snarf sighed again. “I‘m a ghost.” “So… that means you really are dead?” Lion-O asked, looking a bit saddened. Snarf wondered how many times he was going to sigh today, as he had just unleashed another one. He rolled his eyes, too, for good measure. “Yes, Lion-O.” Lion-O continued along, searching for other pods, but he was still full of questions. “Why are you a ghost? Are you haunting me?” Snarf shrugged, slightly amused by the cub‘s questions for a change. “No, I’m not haunting you. Well, I don’t think. I guess I’m just keeping my word, to watch over you until whenever. If that means haunting you, then maybe I am.” “Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Lion-O admitted with a shrug of his own. He continued on for a moment more, when he finally saw something gleam in the distance. “Hey! A pod! Maybe Grune’s in there!” Lion-O shouted, proud of himself that he had actually found one of the capsules. He then broke into a run, with Snarf following closely by his side. Lion-O peered into the window, and he saw Grune within, still asleep. “Hey, it’s him! I found him!” Lion-O nearly cheered. However, Lion-O’s revelry ended quickly. Snarf had turned around, bristled, arched his back and hissed. “Mutants....” A mutant ship had flown overhead, in the direction of the wreckage Snarf and Lion-O had left far behind. "Mutants?" Lion-O asked quizzically. “That sounds familiar, like.... I don't know, I should remember them." "Trust me, they’re not people you’d *want* to remember,” an irritated Snarf answered. “I was hoping they wouldn’t get here so soon.” Snarf turned to Lion-O, and he was overcome with an air of urgency. “Hurry, Lion-O, open the pod!” Lion-O looked for some way to open Grune’s pod. He scanned up and down the length of the pod before he turned to Snarf. “Hey, just how *do* you open one of these things?” he wondered aloud. Snarf sighed once again. This was definitely going to be a rather bad day.... The world, to Grune, was cast in a red haze, and the landscape was severe. He realised that he was standing in the middle of nowhere, yet somehow, it was all too familiar. The landscape reminded him of something… somewhere. Images then began to flood his mind. Memories. Memories of a dying world, with a fierce, stale wind wailing across a barren landscape broken by tremor after tremor after relentless tremor. Thundera, he realised. He was back on Thundera somehow, but... didn‘t he-- “Grune,” a familiar voice echoed out from the wasteland. Before him, a blue, ghostly apparition slowly appeared. “Grune, listen to me. You must awaken. The others are in grave danger.” Grune focused his attention upon the radiant blue figure now before him. “Jaga?” he asked uncertainly. “Have I died?” “No, Grune, you have not,” Jaga reassured, “but you and all the other ThunderCats might if you do not awaken immediately.” Grune scowled, or at least he felt as though he scowled. He felt disconnected from his body, as if he, too, were some wandering apparition. “What trouble? Why am I here? How do I awaken?” he asked with growing frustration. "I am speaking to you through your dreams, Grune. Your suspension capsule malfunctioned not long before the flagship entered the planet's atmosphere, and you were administered life-preserving medications shortly before you landed, in an attempt to keep you alive. Thankfully, you do live, but the effects of the medications have yet to wear off. That is why you still sleep. As for the danger, the mutants have arrived on the planet as well, and they are seeking through the debris of the wreckage of the flagship as we speak. It is only a matter of time before they find you and the others, and if they do...." Jaga’s sudden moment of silence allowed Grune to complete the thought himself. “You must concentrate, Grune. Concentrate upon the Eye of Thundera, and it will help you to return to the conscious world.” Grune nodded and began to concentrate as requested, but before doing so, he looked back to the ghostly image of Jaga. “Good to see you again, old friend.” Jaga nodded and grinned. “It won't be the last time,” he said before the dreamscape faded into nothingness. Lion-O looked all around, and he was still uncertain on how to open the pod. “I just can’t figure it out,” Lion-O whispered harshly in frustration. Lion-O looked into the pod again, praying that somehow Grune would just wake up and do it for him, when suddenly, Grune’s eyes popped open. Lion-O gasped and fell backwards. Snarf tried to catch him, but he forgot that, in his incorporeal state, the best he could do was watch helplessly as Lion-O fell through him again. Lion-O shivered. “That felt... weird. I just got a chill, worse than last time I fell through you.” Snarf sighed. Again. At least Grune appeared to be awake, though, and indeed, he was, as the hatch unlocked itself and the capsule hissed quietly. Grune pushed the hatch away and tried to sit up, but when he tried, the world spun so violently that he immediately fell back within the pod. He thought he had heard voices outside. “Who.. who’s there?” he asked. Lion-O jumped up and leaned over to get a better look at Grune. “It’s me, Lion-O,” he whispered, “and--” Lion-O stopped, realising that saying Snarf’s ghost was with him might not be the best of things to mention at the moment. “-- um, the mutants are here, too.” “I... I know,” Grune admitted quietly to the cub, his mind reeling less as he rested. “Lion-O, take the sword and the shield.” Lion-O reared his head back and gave Grune a very confused look. “Why? What’s--” “No arguing, Lion-O,” Grune demanded in a stern voice. “Take them, and hide. I’ll stall them until you can find the others.” “No, I can’t do that,” Lion-O protested. “ThunderCats don’t abandon others in need.” “And they don’t disobey orders from superiors,” Grune reminded Lion-O harshly. Lion-O nearly scowled, thinking that was a stupid rule, especially now. Once again, Lion-O felt like he was being kept out of a fight that he should be in. Grune opened his eyes. “And who said I’m in need?” “It‘s just that... you don’t look too good,” Lion-O admitted. “I’ll be fine,” Grune said as he started a grin. “After all, I’m Grune the Mighty. Now, take the sword and the shield and go, and whatever you do, *don’t* let the mutants get their filthy hands on it. That’s your duty.” Lion-O still felt that he should stay and help Grune and the others-- if they were awake already-- fight the mutants, but he also realised that Grune was right.