Here's Chapter 2!
"Wh-what?" Tygra stuttered, completely taken back by the change in everyone's mood.
"You didn't figure it out?" Lion-O's question surprised him.
"Figure what out?" Tygra asked back.
Tygra then looked back at Agar who had moved to hold his sister. His glare seemed to glow and his voice came out as a growl.
"She hasn't said anything because my sister is mute."
Tygra felt horrible. No, he felt like the biggest, most insensitive idiot in all of Third Earth.
"I-I'm sorry." He whispered, staring at Era. He couldn't believe how oblivious he had been. "Really I-."
Agar growled, cutting him off, "Didn't mean it?" He spat angrily, "Of course not, just like that mon-"
Era stood, yanking herself from her brother's embrace, causing Agar to fall back. She glared at him, turned, and stormed out of the cavern, grabbing her weapon along the way.
"I-I really didn't mean it…" Tygra said at length. He looked to the others, a shocked look on their faces.
"You should go apologize, Tygra." Cheetara spoke softly. She could tell he hadn't meant to ask the way he did.
Agar let out a sigh and stood, "No, I will."
The sound of a whip cracking and steal hitting wood began to echo into the cavern.
"Is that a good idea?" Lion-O asked the older jaguar.
Agar gave a short, humorless laugh, "Let's see, walking outside to talk to my pissed off sister while she is probably butchering some poor tree to pieces. Yep. Sounds like a great idea."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Agar took a deep breath and walked outside.
Tygra started to follow but was stopped by Cheetara putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave them be. It's not you're place to intervene."
-Outside-
Era stood a few meters away from the entrance.
She glared as she pulled her whip back then let it loose again, slicing through the bark of a nearby tree. The force of each hit caused a tremor to run up the trunk, shaking the branches bare, and giving a satisfying THUNK.
She noticed her brother approaching but ignored him.
Agar approached slowly, being wary to stay out of the whip's range. He waited until the blade stuck for the last time, watching as Era's shoulders dropped as her anger dissipated.
She stood straight after a few moments and pulled her whip back. With is safely recoiled, Agar spoke.
"You're getting better with your whip. You haven't injured self with it in a while…" He gave an awkward chuckle.
She didn't look at him.
"..Uhh…we needed some more fire wood, so this should help…" Referring to the pile of splintered wood.
Era made no move to show that she had heard him.
Agar sighed, his attempt at lightening the mood had obviously failed.
"…Look, I know he didn't mean to ask like that but…" He shook his head in frustration, "I know I can be overprotective, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did and I'm sorry…Really. Can you forgive me?"
Era still didn't face him. She remained perfectly still, making Agar feel worse.
"Era…? Can you forgive your stupid, overprotective brother?" He asked softly.
She turned, her face was calm but he could see her eyes spoke differently. She was hurt, but she understood. He knew she had only been shocked by Tygra's question. He was the one who upset her when he overreacted.
After a few moments, she smiled, he was forgiven.
-Inside-
The sounds of metal hitting wood had been silenced for a while.
"Do you think they're okay?" Lion-O asked, concern not very well hidden on his face.
"I'm sure everything's fine." Cheetara reassured, keeping her own concern from her expression.
"But why would Era be upset with her brother and not Tygra? He's the one who brought up her not being able to talk." Wilykat asked, with Kit nodding her agreement.
Cheetara shrugged.
The jaguar siblings were very close, having to rely on each other outside the walls of Thundera. She assumed Era had been upset by her brother's reaction, not Tygra's question.
It didn't take long for the siblings to return. Agar walked in first, looking visibly relived. Era followed behind him, a subtle smile on her face.
Wilykit jumped up and hugged Era.
"Are you okay now, Era?" The young kitten asked.
Era smiled and nodded, rubbing Kit's head.
"Cause if Tygra made you mad we can get him back for you!" Kat exclaimed.
Lion-O laughed at that. "I would enjoy seeing that."
Era shook her head at Kat.
Once the young kitten had released her, the younger jaguar sat back down with the others. Agar rejoined them as well, holding a full sack.
"What's that?" Kit asked.
Agar smiled, and opened the bag. It was stuffed with all sorts of meats, vegetables, and fruits.
"FOOD!" The twins exclaimed, their tails wagging with excitement. The older cats laughed, and instantly the dark mood was lifted.
The rest of the evening passed rather uneventfully, except when Lion-O and Tygra had yet another argument about where to go to next.
"We have to find those other crystals before Mumm-Ra does!" Lion-O exclaimed.
"And where do you suppose we should start looking? In case you haven't noticed Lion-O, we have no idea where to start!" Tygra growled.
"I don't know. But I'm sure the Book of Omens can tell us." Lion-O opened the ancient book.
"But it's blank!" Tygra gestured to the empty pages.
"No it's not. It's not a regular book Tygra, it's a form of technology!"
They continued arguing for a few minutes. Era looked to Cheetara and pointed towards the bickering brothers, her ears moved up and down just slightly.
Cheetara gave a small laugh and nodded, "Yes, they're always like this."
Era nodded, and opened her mouth as if to say 'Ah huh'.
"Before you two start clawing at each other, let me see the book." Panthro intervened, stopping the brothers' argument.
Lion-O handed the Book of Omens to the older panther.
"Hmm… if we hook this up to the Thunder Tank, it could probably give us a map."
"Great idea, Panthro." Lion-O said proudly, "At least someone is trying to help the situation." He added under his breath.
Tygra growled in response.
"So does that mean you will be leaving soon?" Agar asked.
Lion-O nodded, "We need to move on to complete our mission."
"Aww!" The twins cried. "Can't Agar and Era come with us?" The twins put on their best cute faces.
"Only if they want to." Lion-O answered, not falling for the kittens' faces, well maybe a little.
The twins then turned their cute faces on Agar and Era, making small mewing sounds to increase the cuteness.
"Uh…Era? What do you think?" Agar looked to his sister, who had a better immunity to the kittens.
Era looked to be thinking, then looked at her brother. She blinked a few times, her ears went up a little and she shrugged.
Kit hugged Era around the waist, "Please?"
Era looked at the small cat and smiled.
"Yay!"
Agar looked at Lion-O, "Looks like we're coming with you. Which is probably a good thing."
"The more of us the better." Panthro stated, nodding. He was happy to have some older cats join the group.
"Not only that, because from the looks of things yesterday, you guys need someone who knows a thing or two about medicine." Agar laughed when they all nodded, slightly embarrassed.
"Well that settles it. We'll head out as soon as possible." Lion-O ordered.
"We need to get more supplies first." Cheetara held up her half empty bag that held their supplies. "With there being more of us."
"And what myself and my sister have won't last very long." Agar agreed, looking at the small little cubby barely half full with food.
"Then first thing tomorrow, Panthro and Tygra, you two work on getting the Book of Omens hooked up to the Thunder Tank. The rest of us will work on getting supplies." Lion-O instructed.
"It's getting late. We should get some rest." Cheetara suggested.
Everyone agreed and spread out on the cavern floor, it wasn't long before sleep came to all of them.
Well, not all of them, Tygra couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened earlier. He had meant to apologize once the siblings had returned but he couldn't do it with the others around.
Now seemed like the perfect time to. He sat up, his eyes already adjusted to the dark cave. Era was asleep next to the burnt out fire pit with her back was to him. The Wilytwins were sleeping next to her. They had grown attached to her rather quickly. But that meant he had to be careful about waking her up, he would never hear the end of it if one of the kittens woke up.
He crept silently over to where Era slept, being careful to step around a snoring Panthro, who was sprawled out a few steps from him. And past Snarf, who had curled up next to Lion-O.
Once he reached Era, he knelt next to her legs, and lightly shook her knee a few times.
Era's eyes fluttered open, wondering what pulled her from her sleep, she looked to see Tygra, once her eyes adjusted to the dark, kneeling next to her.
When he saw she was awake, Tygra pointed to the cave entrance and whispered, "Can I talk to you outside?"
Era nodded and carefully got up, making sure not to disturb the sleeping kittens. Once she stood, Tygra quietly led the way out.
The night was very cool, with the half moon giving just enough light to see. They walked a few meters from the cave entrance so as not to disturb anyone.
Tygra noticed what remained of the butchered tree and took a calming, deep breath. He faced Era, who had a questioning look on her face. Her eyes seemed to glow from the dim moon light, almost causing Tygra to lose his nerve.
"L-listen…" He mentally cursed himself for stuttering, "About earlier…I…I didn't mean for what I said to…I mean… I'm sorry if I upset you…I really should have noticed-"
He was interrupted by Era putting her finger to his lips.
She removed it and smiled.
"You forgive me?'
Era nodded. Tygra felt instant relief run through him and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"Thank you…for everything."
Era looked confused.
"If you hadn't come along, Panthro might not have made it… and I'm pretty sure you watched over us last night."
Era looked down and blushed but nodded her head.
Tygra smiled, lightly taking Era's hand, causing her to look up surprised.
"Thank you. Really." He lightly kissed the back of her hand and smiled.
Era nodded, her blush darkening.
Tygra slowly released her hand, he hoped the dim moon light didn't reveal his own blush.
"We should probably go back inside and get some sleep." He whispered without realizing it.
Era nodded and lead the way back into the quiet cave.
Once inside, Tygra had no problem falling asleep.
-Morning-
The sound of tools echoed through the forest.
"By the time you get the Book of Omens rigged up, Mumm Ra will have conquered the planet!" Panthro stated impatiently.
"Never…rush…genius." Tygra grunted from underneath the console. The sound of a drill accompanying his remark.
Panthro sighed, and shook his head at the tiger.
Tygra sat up and smirked, "There. Fire it up!"
Panthro began cranking up the Thunder Tank, the engine whirred to life and a red hologram map flickered on from the Book of Omens before quickly disappearing as in short circuited and smoke began to fly out.
The rest of the tank didn't do so well either. The screens blacked out and the sound of the engine dying followed by a small explosion from the back echoed in the small clearing.
"We're gonna be here a while." Tygra said, rather unenthused.
Panthro glared at him slightly, "Let us hope your brother and the others are having more luck finding supplies."
The panther then looked over to the side where the young jaguar was sorting through the supplies they already had.
"I don't suppose you know anything about fixing a tank?" He asked.
Era just raised her eyebrow at him before going back to what she was doing.
Most of the day Panthro and Tygra worked on the Thunder Tank, with Era helping where she could. Eventually the Wilytwins, Cheetara, and Agar returned, each with a fair share of supplies.
The girls then worked to ration out what everyone had gathered while the boys continued work on the tank.
It wasn't until sunset that Snarf's meow informed everyone of Lion-O's return.
"What in the name of Thundera took you so blasted long!" Panthro ordered.
Lion-O set down the supplies he was holding, "I was…um…"
"Off enjoying the breeze while we do all the hard work." Tygra growled.
Lion-O shrugged, smiling at Snarf.
Tygra gave Lion-O stern glare, causing Lion-O to explain why he took so long.
"You mean you lost the Sword!" Tygra almost yelled.
"I got it back!" Lion-O yelled back.
"Yeah, but it was your stupidity that lost it in the first place!"
Lion-O growled but before the fight could escalate any further Cheetara interrupted.
"The tank is fixed, we should get going."
The brothers glared at each other but agreed.
With the supplies packed up into the tank everyone got ready to set out. But before they left Tygra noticed Agar and Era were just sort of staring out into the forest.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked, approaching the jaguars.
Agar shook his head, "It's just we've been living here for so long…It's kind of sad to leave." Era nodded.
"I see, I felt the same way leaving Thundera. But we can always come back once we've defeated Mumm Ra." Tygra said, understanding the siblings feelings.
Era looked at him and smiled, before climbing into the tank.
"Yeah…come back…" Agar whispered before he too climbed in.
Thanks for reading!