Chapter 10

Things were only going to get worse from here, Bengali thought to himself after he'd finished explaining the entire situation to Lynx-O who said he would be on full alert before the call ended and the white tiger Thundercat was left alone in the control room. If the Mutants knew, it was very likely the Lunataks would soon. He hoped he was just being paranoid about that but one couldn't be too careful.

But maybe the Lunataks wouldn't find out at all, he told himself. Those beings and the Mutants didn't exactly get along and, if they could take over Third Earth without their rivals finding out, they would. If that were true then the remaining Thundercats on the planet couldn't have as big of a problem to deal with that, he thought.

One couldn't be sure, though. It was best to be safe than sorry. If his guess proved to be wrong he wanted to make sure they had a plan and it was about time he got to work on it.

Getting up out of the chair he headed toward the door just as Ma-Mutt and the twins rushed past. He watched them go by, relieved to know that the two Thunderkittens hadn't tried to sneak out of the lair while he'd been talking to Lynx-O. Still, he would have to talk to them both later on not just to scold them again for going outside in the first place but also to relay the plan to them.

First thing's first though.

Bengali turned and headed into the lower floors of the building to find the blue prints Tygra had made for the lair and figure out the next course of action.

Pumyra got together with Lion-O after she'd left Cheetara sleeping in the bed chambers of the ship. She explained to him what the other female Thundercat had told her and she and Lion-O both agreed that the reason she was picking up on Mumm-Ra's feelings was indeed because he was in trouble. The two Thundercats also decided it might be time to try to reach Eris a bit more quickly than their current speed. Hopefully Panthro and Tygra would be able to get the ship to accelerate just a little bit more without the ship falling apart in the process.

The only way to find that out was to ask the two about it.

"I don't think we have much time left," Pumyra said as they walked toward the control room to discuss things with the other Thundercats.

Lion-O shot her a questioning look.

The female Thundercat clarified. "I'm going to guess by what Cheetara is picking up from him he's on Eris and they're doing something unpleasant to him," she explained. "For all we know what she felt was them attaching him to the device the Ancient Spirits had spoken about and when the pain went away it might have been because him being inside it caused so great an agony he'd lost consciousness."

Lion-O didn't like what Pumyra was suggesting but he really had no way to question her words. He knew she was only making a guess so arguing with her about it would be foolish. For all he knew she was absolutely right.

"Let's just go in and ask Panthro if he and Tygra can get the ship to move faster," she said, breaking into his thoughts. "That's where we were headed anyway, right?"

He noddeed. "Right."

With their thoughts back on track, the two entered the control room to talk to the other Thundercats about getting the ship to move faster.

Ma-Mutt led the Thunderkittens to the entrance of Cat's Lair and barked, getting up on his hind legs and placing his paws on the door as he looked up at them.

"Does he want us to go outside?" Whileykit asked, watching the dog, her head cocked to the side.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Whileykat said, looking at his twin sister. "You know how Bengali acted when we went out earlier. If we go out now we'll only be in even more trouble."

Whileykit went over to the mummy dog and knelt down to pet him. "I'm sorry, Ma-Mutt but we can't go outside," she told him, scratching the top of his head. "If you want to go for a walk you'll just have to wait awhile."

Ma-Mutt looked at her and whined pathetically. It was obvious the dog wanted to go outside for some reason, though the twins couldn't think of a single reason why. They looked at each other and shrugged. The dog went over to Whileykit and jumped up, catching the skirt of her dress in his teeth, he began to tug on her, pulling her toward the door.

"Whoa! Hold it!" she exclaimed as the the dog drug her toward the door. "Ma-Mutt, stop! We can't go outside, Bengali will scold us and the Mutants know your master is gone! If they see us they'll come after us!"

But the dog didn't seem to be listening. He continued to pull her along, making whining noises.

"I don't think he's going to stop until we go wherever he wants," Whileykat remarked after this continued for a moment.

"But we can't go back outside!" his sister exclaimed. "Bengali will spank us if we do!"

Ma-Mutt didn't seem to understand anything she was saying and continued to pull on her skirt. She reached down and grabbed onto it, trying to pull the fabric free of the dog's teeth. "Come on, Ma-Mutt, quit playing around! We can't go outside!"

Whileykat laughed. "Kit, I believe he thinks otherwise. Maybe he has to go to the bathroom? I am pretty certain if we let him tinkle in the lair Bengali will yell at us anyway." he walked toward her and Ma-Mutt. "Let's just let him do his thing and then we'll come back inside. It will only take a minute."

Whileykit looked up at her brother and sighed, nodding defeated. "All right," she looked down at the dog. "but we have to hurry, okay?"

Ma-Mutt finally let go of her skirt as her brother opened the door of Cat's Lair. As soon as he did Ma-Mutt took off running and he didn't just go to the end of paved courtyard area of the structure to do his business, he rushed across the bridge into the trees.

The twins, realizing that he hadn't had to go after all, took off after the dog, shouting. "Come back, Ma-Mutt! You can't be out here! You're going to get us in trouble!"

But Ma-Mutt kept on running making it clear he wasn't going to listen to a word the two Thunderkittens were saying. The kittens were forced to continue to chase him, hoping he would eventually slow down enough for them to catch him and take him back to Cats Lair before Bengali realized they were missing.

The dog seemed to be intentionally leading the twins as far away from the lair as he could before they managed to catch up with him and take him back to the Thundercat's home. He kept this up for about ten more minutes before Whileykit threw herself at him and caught him in her arms in a football tackle.

"Okay, Ma-Mutt," she said, collecting the protesting dog in her arms as she stood up. "We have to get back to Cat's Lair before Bengali realizes we're gone. I don't know why you ran off like you did but you put the three of us in danger. "

"Do you got him?" Whilaykat called to her from a short distance away.

"Yeah," she turned to her brother with the unhappy dog in her arms. "Let's get out of here-." she frowned, noticing the look on her brother's face. "What's wrong, Whileykat?"

Her brother, trembling and holding an "uh oh" look on his face raised a hand and pointed behind her.

Suddenly the Thunderkitten got the worst feeling that something unpleasant was standing behind her and she turned slowly, finding herself looking at the grinning face of Jackalman.

"Hello, Thunderkittens, fancy meeting you out here."Whileykat pulled out his weapon, ready to fight if the Mutant attacked him or his sister. "You get away from Whileykit, Jackalman!" he shouted at him.

Jackalman cackled at him. "And what will you do if I don't get away from her, boy?"

"Duck, Kit!" he exclaimed, pulling a capsule from off his belt.

His sister, still holding onto Ma-Mutt ducked as her brother pulled out his sling and used it to slap the capsule over her head and right into Jackalman's face where it burst open covering the Mutants with pepper gas.

"AHHH MY EYES!" he yelped out in pain, grabbing his eyes, as Whileykit got up and rushed toward her brother, holding Mumm-Ra's dog tightly in her arms.

"Quick!" her brother shouted back at her. "Let's get out of here before it wears off!"

The female Thunderkitten was more than happy to do so and she took off running, dog in her arms, and her brother running beside her.

"Get back here, you brats!" the twins heard Jackalman shout from behind them. "You're going to pay for for trying t blind me!"

"Run!" Whileykat shouted.

The twins sped up, going as fast as their legs could carry them. Jackalman gave chase and seemed to be getting closer and closer with each step. The kittens didn't look back though, focusing their attention on the Cats Lair looming far, too far, in the distance. Ma-Mutt had run further from the building than the two had thought.

"Keep running. Kit!" her brother shouted at his sister. "Don't slow down or look back, just keep running!"

His sister obeyed his words, running as fast her legs could carry her as she clutched Ma-Mutt to her chest and focused her eyes completely on the Cat's Lair ahead of her. She had to get there before Jackalman caught up with her and her brother.

She glanced sideways, relieved that her brother was keeping up with her. She didn't know what she would do if he was captured. She knew she wouldn't be able to just allow that to happen. But so far they both seemed to be running at the same pace, and would probably reach the lair before the Mutant chasing them caught up to them.

Or she would have made it if she hadn't looked over toward her brother. Doing so prevented her from looking where she was going and she didn't see the rock sticking out of the ground ahead of her. Before she knew what was happening the female Thunderkitten had fallen face first to the ground. She hit the grass with a yelp from both her and Ma-Mutt who was still clenched tightly in her arms.

"Kit!" Whileykat called back to her, turning to run back to her.

"No, Kat!" she called to him as she started to push herself up from the ground. "Keep running!"

"I can't leave you!" he exclaimed, starting to rush back toward her.

But before he got too close Jackalman had caught up with Kit and stomped onto her back, knocking her onto the ground. He cackled, grinning down at her. "I told you you wouldn't get away."

"Hey, you leave her alone!" he shouted, pulling out his weapon.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, looking up at the male Thunderkitten. "You try that again and I'll split your sister's head like a watermelon."

"Get out of here, Kat!" she called to her brother. "Get back to Cat's Lair and warn Bengali!"

Jackalman stomped down on her back. "Shut up!" she cried out and he looked back at whileykat, grinning wickedly. "If you don't want anything bad to happen to your sister, you'll drop your weapon and surrender to me!"

"No, Kat, run!" she yelled at him. "I'll be fine! Just go."

Jackalman smirked at Whileykat. "It's your choice, boy."

Whileykat stood there, frozen, unable to decide what to do. He didn't want to leave his sister there, didn't want Jackalman to hurt her but he also didn't want to just let him have his way. He clenched his fist, his eyes locking on his sister's who was silently begging him to run. He couldn't. He just couldn't...

"Well?"

Whileykat stood there a moment and then... took off toward Cat's Lair without another moment's hesitation.

"Get back here!" Jackalman shouted. He would have given chase but doing so would mean he had to release his hold on Whileykit. The Mutant stewed for a moment then looked down at her. "I guess you're brother doesn't care about you after all. Leaving you here like that."

She glared up at him but gave him no come back. She knew Whileykat hadn't run because he didn't care, he'd run because she'd told him to. She was glad he did it was better one of them made it back to the lair than neither of them.

"Well no sense hanging around here any longer," he said. " Come on, get up. You're coming back to Castle Plun-Dar with me." He reached down to pull her up.

Ma-Mutt growled and snapped at him. He let out a yelp and pulled his hand back. "Stupid mutt!" he snapped at the dog. "Don't think just because you're a canine doesn't mean I'll be nice to you! I never did like you anyway and Mumm-Ra's not here anymore to stop me from beating your brains in."

Wjileykit glared at him, as she held onto the growling dog. "I'd like to see you try," she said, through clenched teeth. "I doubt you would have the guts to do it."

Jackalman growled at her, losing his patience. "Shut up!" he snapped at her. "Just get moving!" he gave her a kick with his foot and she quickly got to her feet and started moving. "and don't you dare try running off."

Mumm-Ra rested in his sarcophagus, not exactly sleeping and not exactly awake. He was in that state between the two stages. After the two Erisians had put him inside the stone coffin he'd tried to go to sleep so he could regain some of his power and heal up the wounds he'd managed to accumulate since his first encounter with the bounty hunter.

So far he wasn't having luck accomplishing this only be able to go into a dozing state. It wasn't what he'd wanted but it was better than nothing and much more satisfying than constantly being knocked unconscious by that awful hunter. That being said he wasn't sure if what he was hearing was actually real or voices from an oncoming dream state. Whatever the origins it was the voices were speaking too fast and in a language he couldn't understand.

He wasn't sure because of the language barrier but he got the feeling the voices were either talking about him or to him but he was too exhausted to try figuring it out. It didn't matter right now anyway.

All he wanted was to get some sleep and heal.

But those voices were preventing him from actually reaching that state and it became apparent pretty quickly that whatever conversation they were having it wasn't going to end any time soon.

"It will not be much longer," the voices said, suddenly in a language he could understand. "He has been inside for a few hours now. Remember the directive. Don't let him stay inside for any extended period of time."

"I am aware. He cannot be allowed to gain back all of his power. Only enough to heal him."

"Do they really think he will be the one who will actually be able to power the device without expiring?"

"Yes, he is immortal. He cannot die. Once he's placed in the device everything will be the way it should be."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"If the scientists calculations are correct it will."

I hope so. The last thing we need is to find out we went through all the trouble getting that creature only to discover it was a waste of time and energy."

"If that is how it turns out then we'll just have to discard him and keep looking. Don't look at me like that. You know as well as I do that if he cannot power it then we will have to ensure he cannot come back for revenge. He might not be able to die but there are still preventative measures out there that can and will be taken..."

The voiced faded as Mumm-Ra finally managed to drift fully into sleep. But even though he accomplished this he was unable to have even a minor moment of peace. His dreams had become nightmares and they were full of demonic voices and horrific images.

"So, what do you think? Would you be able to get the ship to move a little faster?" Lion-O and Pumyra had returned to the control room and explained everything to the two male Thundercats after doing so the Thundercat Lord had asked the question.

"I don't know, Lion-O," Panthro said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I've never really felt the need to push the Fe-Liner to it's limit before now, but maybe, just maybe, I could get the ship to reach a faster pace." He looked at Tygra. "What do you think?"

Tygra folded his arms and thought about it for a moment. "It might be possible," he said after a moment. "I did design the ship to be fast and the speeds it's reached so far aren't even half of what it can do."

"So then you'll give it a try?" Pumyra asked them.

The two looked at her and nodded. "We'll do our best." and they both turned to the controls and began to work on getting the ship ready for the risk they were about to take with it. As they did so Pumyra and Lion-O sat down in their seats and waited. As they did Snarf came wandering into the room to see what the Thundercats were doing.

"What's going on?" he asked when he noticed that Panthro and Tygra were hard at work at the monitors.

"We're getting ready to have the Fe-liner go faster than it ever has before," Pumyra said, turning to look at the snarf.

"Huh? Why? Snarf ,snarf."

"So we can get to the planet of Eris faster and free Mumm-Ra," she explained to him.

Snarf gave her a nervous look. "I don't know this is such a good idea," he remarked. "why do we need to risk the Fe-liner just to get to Mumm-Ra faster? If we take our time he'll still be there when we reach that planet."

"Because if we take our time it could be too late by the time we get there," she told him and then began to explain what Cheeterah was going through with her sixth sense being linked to the wizard lich.

"You mean to tell me Mumm-Ra had hooked himself up to Cheetara's powers?!" he exclaimed, getting up on his tail. He made a unhappy sound. "I don't like where this is going, snarf, snarf."

"Well we don't know why it happened or even if he's aware he's doing it," Lion-O remarked, looking at his childhood caregiver. "But we can't allow him to continue to suffer, because when he does so does cheetara and as much as you don't like him, Snarf, you do care about her, right?"

"Right..." he said, looking unhappy.

"So this is just what we're going to have to do," Pumyra said, giving him a look that said she felt bad for him. "We have no other choice." she patted the seat beside her. "Why don't you sit by me? If Tygra and Panthro can get the ship to move faster the thrust might knock you off your feet, it would be best if you were strapped in so that doesn't happen."

"Okay, snarf, snarf," he padded over to where the female thundercat was seated and jumped up onto the seat beside her.

"There, now," she said, patting him on the head reassuringly. "You really shouldn't get so worked up about these things."

"Easy for you to say, snarf snarf," he whined, getting comfortable on the chair. "You haven't been through as much as I have."

"Okay," Panthro said at that moment. "we're ready to try this. Hold onto your hats everyone!"

The other cats made sure they were securely strapped in before Tygra and Panthro checked the controls one more time and pushed the ship into overdrive. As the ship did snarf let out a cry of distress and put his hands over his eyes.

"We're all going to die, snarf, snarf!"

"Stay calm, snarf!" Lion-O called to him. "It won't be too long. If the ship risked any chance of falling apart Tygra and Panthro wouldn't be trying this."

But the snarf couldn't be consoled and he stayed in his hands over eyes, tail wrapped tightly around his body for the rest of the ride.

Mumm-Ra felt like he was floating through the vast void of space, lost in the open universe far from any stars or planets. He looked around himself, scared and lost, not knowing where he was or how he got there.

Suddenly before him there was a light that grew brighter and brighter. He put up a hand to keep from being blinded but could not block out the light. As the light grew brighter he became aware of a rumbling sound, which caused him to lower his hand and squint toward the light, trying to understand what he was hearing. But just as he did so the light before him changed, suddenly taking on a more sinister form.

The light grew brighter and suddenly there was a loud explosive sound that sent that light charing toward him, being lead by a violent shock wave that knocked him backward seconds before the light and sound caught up, engulfing him in fire and pain.

Mumm-Ra jerked away, gasping for air. His found himself in darkness and in a confined space that only served to make his panicked state worsen.

He cried out and struck out at the darkness, discovering he couldn't move his hands at all and that his feet which he could move bumped against some kind of cold resistance that only ended with him hurting his feed and nothing more.

"No! Let me out of here!"

There were voiced and then the sound of stone scraping against stone. A light slipped through a crack in his confinement that grew until there was enough of it that he could see again. He picked forward, landing on his face on a cold stone floor of chaotically dark colors.

There he lay for a few moments, breathing heavily and trying to calm himself down. It was a little longer before his mind finally started thinking rationally and he remembered where he was, though doing so did not help him feel much better. He might not being stuck in space being engulfed by an intergalactic explosion but where he was in reality any different. He was still in trouble and he had no way of getting himself out of it.

Mumm-Ra rolled on his left side and looked up, finding himself staring up at the face of that cursed bounty hunter. "Good morning Mummy," the hunter said to him, grinning wickedly. "Are you ready to be put to good use now?"

A/N

I don't care about this anymore and most likely will not ever finish it.