ThunderCats vs Masters of the Universe

Chapter 3: The ThunderCats

The old ratty cloaked figure made his way up the marked way that led to the fortress called the Cat's Lair. It hobbled along leaning heavily on the gnarled wood that formed a makeshift crutch. When it reached the end of the road that dropped off into a deep chasm, the figure stopped and simply stood there. The figure stood there as it waited to be noticed by the inhabitants.

Merely a few minutes passed before one of the great paws of the Cat's Lair rose up a small bit to allow two figures to emerge from under it. The figure on the left hand side, and the one in the lead was a big man. His well-muscled body was covered in blue fur all over his body. He wore nothing on his head that most would call hair, only the fur covered it. His ears were pointed and even managed to twitch a little as if he were trying to sense any sounds around him. His raiment was only spiked chest harness that attached to a large belt and a pair of blue shorts. On the part, that most people would consider to be the belt buckle, was a large red badge with a stylized cats head. He wore a pair of tied boots that seemed to be made of the same material as his shorts. His companion was similar in many ways, but while the first man was large and well-muscled, his companion was a bit leaner in nature. The fur that covered him was tawny in color except for his hands and half his forearms. Unlike the first man, the second man had a large mane of reddish brown hair. It was wild and carried with it a feeling of wild untamed manner. His garb was similar to the first man's, but instead of the spiked chest harness, his more mimic an old cuirass with the abdomen removed for an unknown reason. His belt was almost a mirror image of the first man's. Only the boots were different. This man wore more standard boots of a black nature with some white trim. Both of the new comers stopped on their side of the chasm that separated the Cat's Lair from the rest of the world.

"Ho there," the first man called. "Can we help you?"

"I'm looking for the one known as Lion-O of the ThunderCats," the ratty cloaked man called back. "Perhaps you can help an old messenger with some guidance?"

"I'm Lion-O," the second man called. "How can I help you?"

"Could we talk a bit closer? My lungs are old and no longer able to sustain such a constant yelling." The shabby one called out in answer.

Lion-O started to move to set the drawbridge into action but was stopped by a hand that gripped his upper arm from the first man. The first man whispered softly into Lion-O's ear, "Take care, Lion-O. This could be a trap. He wears a cloak similar to Mumm-Ra."

"I noticed Panthro," Lion-O whispered back, "but we have to see what he wants. Perhaps that will help us."

Lion-O finished his reach and triggered the lever that sent the drawbridge sliding out from its usual place until it reached the far edge of the chasm. Once it had reached the edge, Lion-O and Panthro began to walk across and were met halfway across by the raggedly cloaked figure as it hobbled its way with the crutch under its arm.

"As I said, I'm Lion-O. How can I help you?" Lion-O said.

"And who are you?" Panthro added.

"I'm just a humble messenger, no one of consequence. I've come a long way to deliver a message to a Lord Lion-O. Will you hear the words of a humble messenger?" The raggedy one asked.

"Of course," Lion-O said quickly, "but I must tell you, one of the things every ThunderCat learns is that no one is of no consequence. May I know your name messenger?"

"Does it really matter so much to you oh great Lord of the ThunderCats?"

"Yes," Lion-O answered. "I always like to know the names of those I consider friends."

"Ah, I see," the raggedy one murmured. "I see the tales of your kindness are more fact than legend. Since it means so much to you, most call me Tor, a simple name for a simple messenger."

"It is nice to meet you then Tor, now what is the message that has brought you to us."

Tor took a deep breath and proceeded to tell the two ThunderCats his message. "There is a powerful man in a far distant place who has decided to come to Third Earth and conquer it."

Panthro and Lion-O exchanged a glance before Panthro said, "That can't be all of the message."

"I'm afraid, mighty one, that it is. I'm told it is of a major importance."

Lion-O regarded the messenger carefully, "Can I ask who gave you the message to give to me?"

Tor nodded his head, "Indeed you can Lord of the ThunderCats. In fact the one who sent me is known to you as Mumm-Ra."

"Mumm-Ra?" both exclaimed.

"What are you playing at?" Lion-O growled at the messenger. "Or what is it that Mumm-Ra is trying to do? What's going on?"

"Talk now," Panthro growled as his muscled flexed reflexively. "What is that bag of bones up to?"

Tor flinched back from both of the angry ThunderCats. "I'm afraid I don't know or understand. He only told me the message that I have given to you. Then he gave me this sack of gold coins and walked behind a copse of trees and disappeared. The only bit of information he gave me was the name of yourself and where to find you. After the meeting, I made my way here."

Lion-O stood there for a second as he let the words soak in. "Stand down Panthro; it does seem like something Mumm-Ra would do. He likes to use people to do his dirty work. Thank you Tor for delivering the message. I would be leery of that money Mumm-Ra gave you, I'm sure there is more to it than just being gold."

Panthro gave Tor a look through narrow eyes and began to relax a bit. "Yes, thank you Tor."

"Well if neither of you is in need of my services anymore, I'll take my leave." Tor said and then bowed his head to each of them and turned away. He hobbled back across the drawbridge as he leaned heavily on his makeshift crutch.

Panthro and Lion-O watched him go until he disappeared into the forest edge before they too turned and walked back across the drawbridge to the Cat's Lair. Once they crossed, Panthro reached out and flipped the lever to retract the drawbridge back to its normal place.

"What do you think he's up to this time Lion-O?" Panthro asked.

"I'm not sure Panthro," Lion-O answered. "It seems odd that he would send us a warning of impending danger…"

"…Unless he was setting us up again." Panthro caught on. "You think he's trying to get us to square off against some group or person he's conned into helping him again?"

Lion-O nodded. "It would seem like one of Mumm-Ra's schemes, but I don't know. The message doesn't really have a lot of information in it."

"Lion-O! Panthro!" a feminine voice called out as a woman emerged from a door in what was the chest of the sculpted cat styled fortress. She wore dark brown dress with the same stylized cat's head medallion on the center of her chest and a worried expression on her face. "Come quickly! Cheetara has gone into a trance or something! She's not responding to us!" She called to them as she fiddled with the light tanned bag that hung from a belt around her waist.

The two ThunderCats looked at each other for a second, and then they turned in unison and made a run back into the Cat's Lair to see their comrade in arms. Lion-O arrived first and demanded of the woman, "What's going Pumyra?"

"We don't know," the woman started. "She and I were talking while we were doing the adjustments to the scanners for more Thundrilium deposit locations. She started to say something and just stopped. When I looked over at her, she was standing completely still. I tried calling her name but she didn't respond. I even tried to shake her gently to get her attention, but nothing worked."

Lion-O looked a bit worried as he listened, but Panthro just smiled a bit. "I think she's having one of her visions is all. Perhaps we should head upstairs to see what it is she's seeing."

Lion-O nodded his head and gestured for the others to follow him. "Come on then, and thanks Pumyra, you did well."

The three of them turned headed inside as Panthro stopped briefly and pulled a small box from under his belt. He pushed a button on it, which caused the raised claw of the Cat's Lair to lower back down sealing the vehicle bay. Satisfied that it was down, he closed the door and followed his fellow ThunderCats inside.

Out beyond the clearing around the Cat's Lair, the person they knew as Tor stood smiling as he watched the heroes enter their home. "This is almost too easy. Though Mumm-Ra was right, the psychic cat is going to need a special handling." He weaved his hands in the air and muttered a few archaic words that have never heard on this world. His eyes glowed with a malevolent red glow as he raised his eyes as if he could see past the physical walls and his targeted victim.

Inside the scanner room, Lion-O, Panthro, and Pumyra arrived to find the rest of ThunderCats standing around the stationary member of their group. She was tall for a woman of their species. Her long blonde hair with black spots, framed her face. Her body was covered in a light yellow fur and dark brown and black sports like her hair. Her orange body suit covered another layer of light brown leggings, as well her left arm. Her eyes were completely white and framed with a set of orange markings around them. She stood completely still and didn't even appear to be breathing.

"Cheetara," Lion-O started, "Cheetara, are you there?"

"I tried that Lion-O," Pumyra said.

"I know Pumyra; I just wanted to check to see if maybe something had changed. She does seem to be in some kind of trance."

"I think she's having one of her visions Lion-O," a voice said from the side that drew Lion-O's attention away from the still form of Cheetara. "It seems to have all the ear marks of it." He stood off to the side next to some of the controls for the scanners. He wore a blue body suit with a darker blue uniform over it. His face was one of deep concentration as usual. "I think we may just have to wait for her to come out of it."

"You think so Tygra?" Panthro asked. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I'm afraid not Panthro, sometimes you just have to let these things work out. If we try to rush her, we could cause more harm than good."

Lion-O wasn't quite satisfied with that and leaned forward again and said a bit louder, "Cheetara, can you hear me?"

Cheetara stayed still for a few minutes and then intoned, "Hear me all, your powers are needed. You must save the world. A great threat is coming. You must find and defeat the forces of Eternia. If you fail, Third Earth will cease to exist and all will be lost. Go now and defeat them. You have little time to waste." Once she finished, she collapse like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

The group surged forward to catch Cheetara as she collapsed. Lion-O was the one who managed to catch her. He guided her to a chair and sat her in it. "Cheetara, can you hear me now?"

Panthro motioned to Tygra to the side. "Did you catch all that?"

Tygra nodded his head, "Yes I even recorded it just in case."

"Have you ever heard of this Eternia place? Or is it a person?"

Tygra raised a hand up to scratch at his chin in thought. "No, I do think it is a place. But I don't think it's anywhere on Third Earth."

Panthro blinked a few times as he took that in. "You think it's another planet? We scanned the other planets in the quadrant. None of the others could sustain life. In fact, there's not a planet that can sustain life within this part of the galaxy."

"I know. I'm trying to figure that out myself," Tygra mused. "It's altogether possible that whatever this threat is, it isn't something we understand as living."

"You mean another type Mumm-Ra?"

"No, not like Mumm-Ra. More like a new form of life that we know nothing about. Of course, it's also possible that this treat just comes from a longer distance away. It's hard to really guess too much with so little information. We may just have to wait and see."

"So we wait and see what happens from Cheetara's dream?" Lion-O interrupted.

"I'm afraid that's all we can do Lion-O," Tygra answered. "We must keep an eye out and be careful."

"Perhaps first we should find out what she meant," Lion-O mused. "Let's expand out our scanners to their max range."

Panthro headed over to the scanner control panel and began to type in the necessary commands to reset the scanners. The screens showed various systems that rested on the edge of the scanner's range. "Nothing unusual. Like I said earlier, there's nothing out there that can support life as we know it. And I have my doubts that any of them could sustain life of any form. None of the planets seem to have a breathable atmosphere, and most of them are too hot. A few are way too cold. I just don't see anything."

Tygra stood next to Panthro and studied the planets and the readouts as they scrolled by. "I have to agree with Panthro Lion-O. There's nothing in the immediate area nor anything in the range of our scanners. I think we need additional sources of data"

Lion-O looked up from his check on Cheetara. "What do you mean Tygra? What additional sources of data?"

Tygra turned back to face Lion-O. "Well we could check in with the Tower of Omens and see if Lynxo knows anything. Or we can check in with the other inhabitants of the planet. Though I will be honest, I don't think too many of the natives here know any more than we do currently."

"Mandora," Panthro said simply.

"What did you say Panthro?" Lion-O asked.

"I just said Mandora. It occurs to me that since we're dealing with a possible interstellar or at the very least something not of Third Earth, it would be a good idea to get a hold of Mandora. Maybe she could check in with her superiors and come up with some information for us."

"That's a very good idea, can we reach her Tygra?" Lion-O inquired.

"We should be able to reach her, or at least leave a message for her to come and talk to us. She does have access to more files and information on what is out in the galaxy than we do," Tygra stated. "I think that's a very good idea."

"What's a good idea?" A feminine voice whispered from the chair as Cheetara began to stir. "What's going on?"

Lion-O gestured for Pumyra to come closer and look over Cheetara. "You had another one of your visions. Let Pumyra check you over to make sure you're ok, and then we'll bring you up to speed."

Cheetara merely smiled, "I'm always up to speed Lion-O. Just let me catch my breath while you all talk."

The rest chuckled a bit while Pumyra checked over Cheetara with one of her portable medical scanners. Tygra in the meantime had moved a bit to the side and started to fire up the long distant communications equipment. Panthro kept up his work at the scanner as he tried to coax as much distance as he could with the scanners.

"ThunderCats calling Mandora. Come in Mandora. ThunderCats calling Mandora." Tygra repeated into the microphone.

"This is odd," Panthro said in a soft growl.

"What's that Panthro?" Lion-O asked as he walked up behind Panthro as he looked over the scanners. "Do you see something?"

"Not so much that I see something," Panthro muttered as he would tweak a few dials and then look back up at the screens. His fingers would slide over to the keyboard as he quickly typed in a few commands. "It's what I'm not seeing that's got my attention."

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

"Some time ago, Lynxo, Tygra and I launched and placed a telescope in orbit over Third Earth," Panthro began to explain.

"Yes I remember you said something about at least we could map out this section of the galaxy while we rebuilt Thundera and were waiting for the rest of the Thunderans to make their way here."

"Yes, that was one of the purposes of the satellite. Another one is we set it up with a powerful communications array to help broadcast out the signal for the Thunderans to follow back to us."

Lion-O nodded a bit, "Yes, ok, why are you telling me this?"

Panthro turned around in the chair to face Lion-O, "The satellite isn't there now."

"What?" Lion-O gasped in surprise. "What happened to it?"

"I don't know Lion-O. I was trying to set up a link between the satellite, the Tower of Omens, and the Cat's Lair. I thought maybe if we combined all the scanners we could get lucky. Plus it would let Lynxo know to start looking into the heavens. But the signal wasn't reaching the satellite, so I set one of the scanners to look for it. I thought at first Lynxo had just moved it for some reason, but it's not up there at all. I don't know where it is."

"Could Lynxo have just moved it somewhere and you just can't detect it with the scanners?" Lion-O asked.

Tygra looked over as he stopped his broadcast, "If Lynxo had moved the satellite over the North or South Pole, the magnetic wavelengths would hide it from our scanners. But I don't think Lynxo would do that unless he had a good reason. Plus I'm sure he would have entered a note in the computer banks that he was going to do that."

"I'm sure Lynxo wouldn't just do something like that without making a note of it," Pumyra offered. "Has anyone called the Tower of Omens to check?"

Lion-O turned to look at Tygra who had turned back to the communication's console. "On it," Tygra said. "Cat's Lair to Tower of Omens. Come in Tower of Omens."

A burst of static erupted over the speaker only to be stopped with Tygra's voice as he repeated the call. After about the fifth repeat, the static was broke by something that sounded like a voice, but was hard to understand due to the distortion from the static. Tygra adjusted a few knobs and repeated his call. The distorted voice returned with a few of what the rest thought were words before it suddenly came in clear.

"Tower of Omens calling Cat's Lair! Come in Cat's Lair! Emergency! Emergency! We're being attacked!"

The ThunderCats exchanged a glance before Lion-O leapt forward to grab the microphone and yelled into it, "This is Cat's Lair! Who's attacking you? Come in Tower of Omens!"

"Help! SOS! This is the Tower of Omens! We're under attack." The voice continued.

"They can't hear us!" Pumyra exclaimed from the back of the room. "We've got to help them!"

Lion-O turned and regarded the young woman, "You're right, ThunderCats; Ho!"

With that cry, Tygra, Panthro, Pumyra, Cheetara and Lion-O dashed from the room as they headed down to the hangar where the various crafts of the ThunderCats was held.

Down still at the edge of the forest, a figure watched as the ThunderCats departed from their base. Their ships roared as they carried the heroes off in the western direction of their second known base. The figure smiled to himself as the illusion that surrounded him began to fade away. Instead of the humble, ratty clad man's place was a powerfully built man. His body was covered in muscles that made his blue tinged skin ripple as he moved. The crutch was also gone, with a skull mounted staff that had taken its place. The hood was replaced by a dark blue hood that covered a head that was completely bone.

As the heroes rocketed away, the figure merely watched for a second and then dropped his head back and began to laugh. He laughed hard and long before he settled into a chuckle and he turned to walk away as he muttered to himself, "All too easy."