A/N: I had a hard time organizing this story's content, so please forgive me if some details look a little badly arranged.
Disclaimer: I do not own Thundercats or it's characters. Rankin/Bass owns them.
This really hurt like hell. The Thundercats had defeated the Mutants once again, along with their unwilling allies, the Lunataks. Again, the Lunataks had blamed the Mutants for the failure, and again, Slithe refused to take the blame, passing it on to the "incompetence" of Monkian and Jackalman and the clunky inventions of Vultureman. And of course, that louse Mumm-Ra believed that everyone was to blame for the failure except for him and his Ancient Spirits of Evil.
Monkian and Jackalman sometimes wished that they could have a life somewhere else. It seemed that the Thundercats were too formidable, even for their enemies' best efforts ever. But there was another reason for this. These two Mutants originally came from a more peaceful upbringing than their cohorts. Slithe had to grow up all on his own, Vultureman abandoned his family, and Ratar-O was raised in the elite warrior culture of Plun-Darr, but Monkian and Jackalman had learned how to enjoy life when they were young.
Monkian was a Simian Mutant who grew up much the same way a standard gorilla or chimpanzee would, with friends, a clan, a strong body, and good food. His mother had raised him with love, and had taught him how to use the same sorts of tools that chimps and gorillas traditionally used in their own families and communities. He was also very proud to be a Simian with skin and hair different than the usual dark colors of apes and monkeys. Far from feeling like the odd man out, he wore his skin and hair like a badge of pride. And Jackalman, a Jackal Mutant, had grown up with a similarly compassionate family, though he lived a somewhat rougher life, being a dog-like creature that adapted to the wild plains. This Jackal was able to frolic to his heart's content as a pup, and loved living like a prince among his own clan. Of course, he was somewhat spoiled by it, but he still knew how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
As the Mutants came back to Castle Plun-Darr to lick their wounds, Vultureman went to his personal hanger to fix his Flying Machine for the umpteenth time. Slithe, meanwhile, cursed his bad fortune, kicked his Nosediver, gave the other Mutants a withering look, and stalked off to find something to eat. Monkian and Jackalman remained alone together in the main hanger with the Sky-Cutters. For once, their aircraft had survived without any damage.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!" said Monkian, "Do you think Mumm-Ra, Slithe and the Lunataks are ever going to give us a break, Jackalman? I mean, I'm beginning to wonder if the Thundercats can be defeated at all. Even Mumm-Ra can't seem to do it."
"Nyah," said Jackalman, "Seems to me that they'll never stop blaming us for everything. They're the most arrogant scoundrels I've ever come across in my life, and they always think they're inherently better than us."
Monkian thought for a moment, and said, "Do you ever miss the old days on planet Plun-Darr? Our home world wasn't always warlike, and I still like to reminisce privately about the carefree days of my childhood."
"As a matter of fact, I do, Monkian," replied Jackalman, "You know I wasn't interested in conquest when we first started out together. Unlike Slithe, Ratar-O and Vultureman, we served in and led the Mutant military because it seemed like a good way to bring glory to Plun-Darr. The Thundarians of Thundera always got in our way, though, always so full of themselves, thinking that their Code of Thundera was inherently superior to our own ethics."
"Ooh, ooh, do I know that feeling," Monkian said, "Plun-Darr has its own morals, too, and the Thundercats have never once thought to look for them. They just see us as evil incarnate, like Mumm-Ra. We Mutants have always said that worlds want to run their own affairs, including our own, and the blasted Eye of Thundera has opposed our confederates and us from the beginning. The Code of Thundera and the Sword and Book of Omens are the worst possible dictatorship, saying that people always have to live a certain way, their way, and count the Thundercats as their friends and saviors. It's like a pseudo-democracy."
Jackalman was moved by this speech, given by the Mutant who was normally labeled as the stupidest member of their team. He knew that low intelligence didn't make for a really great person, same as his own innate cowardice, but intelligence wasn't everything, and Monkian was surely faithful to the Plun-Darrian cause. True, he had once struck a bargain with Mumm-Ra for ultimate power, but that wasn't exactly intended as a betrayal, and it was part of the Mutant's own code of ethics to desire power and use it for ruling purposes. Every Mutant on Third Earth had tried that out at least once, even Slithe.
What these two old friends knew better than anything was that, while their friendship wasn't always strong, their faith in the power of the weapons of Plun-Darr would always be strong. Every Mutant was also a patriot, who served the cause of Plun-Darr without stinting. But Monkian and Jackalman knew that they had only each other to rely on when their more hubristic allies put them down. Jackalman had never had any true friends except his family, mostly dead, his friends, largely killed by the Thundercats, and Monkian, and it was basically the same for Monkian in return.
But most important of all to them was the fact that, due to their having better upbringings than their arrogant leaders, they both preferred a life of peace and frivolity, with or without glory and power. Monkian longed for the day when he could once again swing from trees, sit in a rainforest, and eat to his heart's desire. As a Simian and an ape, he wanted to live in the moment like he did as a child and a youth, and climb around making simple tools like the chimps and bonobos did, using them for clever things. He even wondered if it could be possible for his people to inhabit their own world called the Planet of the Simians, or the Planet of the Apes. As an ape, he also felt like he was as close to an ordinary human as any Mutant could get, and that included the Thundercats.
Jackalman, too, wished for the gentler years he once knew. He wanted to run with a pack again, explore the Savannah's where the Jackals lived, and hunt for delicious meat. Glory was the vocation of the average Mutant, though even more so with the elite Mutant, but he dreamed sometimes of nuzzling some of his own kind and sitting down to a choice feast, whether they hunted it themselves or scavenged it from other predators. And that was what bonded him and Monkian. Unlike Slithe, Vultureman and Ratar-O, they had a slightly gentle side hidden behind their grim, cackling aversion to the Thundercats and their self-righteous ways.
"I say that we Mutants are tainted by our alliance with that bag-of-bones, Mumm-Ra," continued Monkian, "Our cause is not evil, like the Thundercats think it is, but while we fight alongside Mumm-Ra, they see us as his enforcers of his ever-living evil. We made the wrong ally. We should work to bring Mumm-Ra down, once and for all."
"Nyah, sounds scary," said Jackalman, "Easier said than done. But I guess it has to be done if we're going to get out of our rut."
"Don't worry about it, Jackalman," Monkian reassured him, "We'll get him, and as for the Thundercats, I don't know what to do about them. We'll just have to keep hoping that Ratar-O returns someday-did I just say that?-or that Vultureman makes just the right invention."
Vultureman came into the room just then. "Haaww," he grunted, "Are you two going to go do something, or are you just going to stare at your Sky-Cutters all afternoon?"
"Leave us alone, bird man," said Jackalman derogatorily, "We're going for a short ride, to get some air."
"Well, at least that's something," hissed Vultureman, "And don't go flying over any of the Thundercats' allies' territories. I have enough problems with repairs as it is!"
Monkian and Jackalman took off while Vultureman joined Slithe in the dining room. Yes, thought Jackalman, that's exactly what all of us Mutants need to do, something.