At nighttime, the Thundertank barely made it to a wet forest made of trees with the aspect of giant mushrooms, when an even rainfall came upon the cats. All in bad luck, the giant vehicle suffered a breakdown once more, to its driver's grief. Using the mushrooms top as a shelter Panthro jumped off his seat and with his toolbox he engaged himself in the tank's repairs. He pounded his hammer against the metal hull trying to fix it.
"Problem with a tank this old is it keeps breaking down." Panthro muttered to himself as he unscrewed one of the bolts on the engine. "Junk cylinder…blew the whole drivetrain." He said finding the reason why they've stopped moving, he wiped away some sweat mixed with raindrops on his forehead. "Let's see how this works." He reached in and tried again starting the engine. It hummed as it powered up, but something went wrong, and everyone heard something popped. Next smoke came out from the engine, and Panthro snorted. He didn't expect the tank's door opening, and saw more smoke billowed out as everyone hurried outside the tank, coughing and trying to breathe in some fresh air.
"I guess we're sleeping outside tonight." Cheetara coughed out.
As they each found a spot to sleep the kids looked for a higher place away from the soaked grass. As they climbed the nearest mushroom they saw the puma girl had the same idea and was half sleep. She was snuggled very close to the giant log away from the rain, sensing their presence; Pumyra opened one eye and saw the Willies climbing up to the mushroom she was resting on.
"You too like to sleep away from the ground, Pumyra?" Kit asked her.
The puma tightened her arms around her body trying to keep the warmth inside. "No, it's not that." Her eyes dropped a little, watching the other Thundercats below still trying to go to sleep. She was caught by the two cubs staring at her. "What?"
"Were you and Lion-O on a date?" Willykit asked excitingly. And suddenly changing the subject.
"What?!" Pumyra returned raising her voice a little this time, but shut her mouth quickly so the others would not hear. "No. You already know what happened." She said. "We went looking for supplies, Lion-O lost his sword and then he won it back." She explained.
Kat scooted to the spot next to her and sat down. "You two sure took your time doing all that stuff." And he curled up in a ball. Showing himself slightly less interested on the matter then his sister.
"And you were together all day." Kit added knowingly.
"And that's the definition of a date for you?" The adult female questioned the two kittens with a subtle smirk. "We were scouting. Splitting up is not part of it when you just arrive a place you've never been in before."
"Alright, alright. We get it." Kat said lifting his head at her. "But you like him, don't you?" Pumyra stiffen in her spot at his comment, her eye growing a bit wider over the cub looking at her expectantly.
"Yeah, you call him Majesty all the time, when none of us does." Willykit hurried to say. "Like you're trying to escape him. And when you escape someone that's close to you is either because you fear them, or like them."
Willykat grinned at his brainy sister and then looked at the brown-haired female. "You're not scared of Lion-O. Are you, Pumyra?" He asked teasingly.
Pumyra couldn't react as she was deciding if these two were just trying to make fun of her, or were too smart for their own good. It started to feel like they were cornering her having Kat sitting next to her and Kit in front of them leaving her no way out. "Look…" She sighed trying to jump out of the subject. "He and I are…Just friends." Pumyra tried to assemble a sentence that would leave the two cubs more satisfied. "What happened back there helped, to know each other better, but that's it." She told them as she remembered the lion's words. Her voice also becoming slightly maternal as she added. "Now, let's go to sleep."
So the kids felt like it and apologized for meddling in. As her brother prepared to sleep, Kit took out her flute from one of the pockets in her outfit and continued to play their lullaby. As the music went on Pumyra realized she was paying more attention to the sound than to her need for a good rest.
"What a beautiful song…" The puma whispered as it fielded the air.
Then she felt Willykat rubbing his face next to her and said. "That's our mom's song. She hummed it to us to go to sleep." And finished with a yawn before dozing off beside her.
Pumyra listen carefully to the little boy as it was the first time either of them has spoken about their parents and it made her think back. For as long as she's known them, Kit and Kat have always been on their own. Then she remembered what Tygra said once they found them outside the walls of Thundera. They probably had no one else now. She focused on the cub playing the music now and quickly gazed down seeing Kat snuggling up against her escaping from the rain. The rain she, for a moment, forgot was falling. The puma girl mirrored the boy's actions and let herself carried away by the sweet melody closing her eyes, dozing off as well.
At the same time, Panthro continued working away on the Thundertank leaning against the driver seats until he finally fell asleep. Lion-O just finished making a little fire for them to help warm them up, though it came out as a small fire due to the wet atmosphere surrounding them.
Cheetara sat comfortable against a mushroom away from the rain. Who wasn't that comfortable was the tiger prince, who rested closer to the edge. "Tygra, you're almost under the rain." Cheetara told him worriedly.
The prince gazed over the raindrops coming down over his armored shoulder and shifter his body to lean on his other shoulder. The cleric watched as the position he was taking wouldn't do for a good rest. As Tygra closed his eye they opened again at the sudden tug on his arm and saw Cheetara drawing him closer and away from the rain so he would lean against the mushroom now. After a few seconds Tygra just blinked slightly shy at her.
"You welcome." The cleric finally said, smiling quietly. He returned the smile and remembered when he held her hand that day, before going to sleep. The cheetah soon followed his example folding her arms around her chest and unnoticed by her she leaned against the tiger already asleep. The two hiding from the pondering rain as their sleeping bodies sought the other's warmth. Across them and the small campfire, Lion-O looked discontent at them as he was, perhaps, feeling the cold more than anyone else.
"Things are looking up." The lion commented sarcastically to no one. "No transportation, nothing to eat, and no shelter." Shifting against the mushroom's log he was resting on, trying to get himself more comfortable. "If the rain stopped, it might be bearable." Nighttime passed for the Thundercats, as they were unaware of the presence of unknown creatures as they slept. The strangers kept hidden yet their shadows cast over them as they moved around circling in.
The next day, morning was anything but sunny as the rainfall continued. Tygra and Cheetara were the first to wake up strangely feeling the water drops coming down around them no more. Tygra let out a sounding yawn as the blonde cat looked above their heads and shoved the tiger a little to lift his eyes as well.
Snarf, that was sleeping on Lion-O's lap accidentally rolled off his knee flopping down on the floor waking him up. The lion stretching his arms out yawned and noticed the same as the others. Getting on his feet he turned around looking at Cheetara standing close to a mushroom.
"Rain finally stopped? He asked.
"No." Tygra responded. "But Panthro was nice enough to this shelter while we were asleep." Pointing up at the large tent over the mushrooms covering all of them and the tank included.
"It wasn't me." Panthro said suddenly peering his head from the driver's seat as he woke up. "I figured it was one of you." Speaking at the two brothers, who looked at each other wondering and directed their gazes over Cheetara.
"Don't look at me." She jumped under their stares.
At the same time Pumyra and the twins woke up. The puma looked up asking herself about the large tent like the others did as Kit and Kat climbed down with the others.
"We're starving!" Willykit whined.
"Yeah." Willykat went over to one of the bags that carried all of their food. "What's there to eat?" He reached inside and lifted the bag to see only a few crumbs falling on his face. The two cubs groaned due to their empty tummies with a sad whine.
"We're gonna have to do something about our food situation." Lion-O said.
Pumyra jumped down the mushroom landing next to him. "Too bad we did not think about that while we were still on the swordsmen town." Her shoulders lowered with a little sigh coming from her lips. "I'm feeling a little hungry too."
"Looks like someone had that covered for us, guys!" Kat said pointing forward. The other Thundercats followed his finger and noticed some baskets fielded with colorful fruits. The kittens ran to them, chewing down on the food.
Panthro got off the tank and went over to the baskets picking up one of the fruits, taking a bite out of it. "Mm…Candy fruit!" He said smiling.
Tygra frowned at the two cubs at the word 'candy'. "Uh, take it easy!" Tygra said. "We don't need you anymore hyper than you already are." In bad timing as they were already chewing fiercely hyperactively on the candy fruit, as if they couldn't get enough of it.
"Seems like we have someone helping us out." Cheetara said, looking around for said someone.
Lion-O turned to her intrigued. "Question is, who?"
"We'll find out later." His brother said walking up to the baskets. "The important thing now is to have some breakfast." Drawing one candy fruit to his teeth.
The lion King and the cleric exchanged a small smile and went over to take a bite for themselves. Lion-O handed one fruit to her, with gentlemanly intentions as she thanked him for it. This innocent-looking action caused the tiger to take a rough bite from his piece, looking to another direction.
After all finished with the baskets, the rain stopped. "Now that we know we're not alone in this forest we need to discover if our mysterious helpers are truly friends or not." Cheetara finally commented to the others.
"Come on. How bad can they be if they brought us some food?" Lion-O said.
"Don't rush into conclusions, Lion-O." Tygra told him seriously. "If they're not that bad why are they hiding from us?"
"I agree." Pumyra said sat on rock beneath a giant mushroom.
Panthro looked around the zone and then at his tank. "We have to make them come out from wherever they are."
Kit and Kat looked at each other and then at the panther. "Maybe Lion-O's right and they're just playing hide and seek with us." Willykit suggested.
"Unlikely." Cheetara returned not convinced. "But that gives me an idea." She added resting her fingers under her chin thoughtfully.
The Thundercats did as the cleric suggested and walked away from the Thundertank, out of the shelter to hide behind the foliage where they would not be seen and waited. Soon enough It worked like the cheetah hoped because after some time their secret helpers showed up. They all surprised saw the little balls of fur rolling around their campsite and towards the tank. They unrolled their bodies to reveal they were some kind of robot bears. They went straight to the tank and started registering it, opening up different compartments for some of its mechanical components.
"Animal machines?" Panthro pointed warily.
"What are they doing?" Lion-O asked as they opened up the engine compartment.
"I'll tell you what." The panther growled angrily, "They're messing with my baby!" And jumped out of their hiding place.
"General, wait!" Pumyra hissed, unsuccessfully stopping him.
"What are you furry freaks doing to my tank?!" Panthro demanded running towards the creatures. The little robot bears saw him coming furious and so they coiled back into little balls and started rolling away from him, but Panthro managed to snag one before he could escape, "Gotcha!"
"Put. Me. Down." The creature said in a metallic voice as it squirmed suspended in the air. "Put. Me. Down."
"What is that?" Cheetara asked as the Thundercats came over to Panthro.
"Ro-Bear-Bill. A Ro-Bear-Berbil." The small bear said as the General put him down.
"Did he say gerbil?" Tygra asked, not understanding the bear's mechanic sounding words.
"Berbil." The bear repeated.
"Derbil?" Panthro asked.
"Berbil." The bear repeated.
"Erbil… derbilly berbil erbil." Lion-O blurted out unsure.
"Nice to meet you, Ro-Bear-Bill!" Willykit said fast-talking, with a half-eaten candy fruit on her hands, proving she was still on a sugar rush, like her brother was too, chewing at two candy fruits at the same time next to her. "I'm Willykit, and this is Willykat, and we're Thundercats!" And continued devouring on her candy fruit again.
"Thunder. Cats?" Ro-Bear-Bill repeated, like trying a new word for him. "Berbils. Help. Thundercats." As Ro-Bear-Bill spoke the other Berbils that escaped came out of their hiding approaching the cats and stared up at them with their robotic eyes.
"I've never seen anything so…" Lion-O said trying to define the Berbils' aspect. "Cute."
Meanwhile the little bears jumped into the Thundertank and started working on it testing its mechanics. "They'll be cute and dead if they hurt my tank." The panther grunted looking their every action. After a few adjustments, they tested the engine seeing it worked perfectly.
"It looks like they fixed it, General." Pumyra smiled at the Berbils and then at him.
"Hmph, It's just a patch. I could've done that." The panther scoffed at her, the puma smiled teasingly at his denial.
Ro-Bear-Bill jumped off the tank close to Lion-O. "Come. With. Ro-Bear-Bill." He said, grabbing his hand trying to take him somewhere. "Berbils. Fix. Machines." The Lord of the Thundercats pulled up his arm with Ro-Bear-Bill still holding onto it. "Berbils. Give. Candy fruit. Berbils. Help. Thundercats." Lion-O looked over at Tygra and put the bear down, seeing him walk away.
"Well..." The prince said expectantly, his little brother shrugged and stared following the Berbils. The other cats followed him as well after the Berbils, leading the way somewhere. Cheetara noticed Panthro was not moving and turned her head to see him standing next to his tank arms crossed.
"You coming?" She asked.
"Fine." Panthro snorted. "But I don't trust anything that adorable."
The Berbils led the Thundercats through the thick mushroom forest. They finally came out and met with the beautiful blue sky for the first time that day, Snarf followed the robot bears chasing after their ball forms, like they were his chasing toys. Panthro drove the Thundertank behind them, making no comments about how nicely the Berbils did with the vehicle once they repaired it. Lion-O and Tygra walked among them while Kit and Kat sat comfortably on the tank. Pumyra and Cheetara walked in front of it as Panthro drove at walking pace.
They arrived the Berbils' Village. The small town refuged itself under giant bushy constructions made of reddish flowers. Their houses were built with multiple rounded blocks that seemed to serve as rooms; all the buildings were of different colors, giving a very joyful feeling about the place. They also have their own reservation of candy trees.
"I've never seen anything like this place." Tygra said amazed.
"It's like they have a contraption for everything." Lion-O added looking at the other Berbils mounting some kind of extracting machines they used to harvest the candy fruit.
Pumyra smiled in awe at the village and turned to the young cleric. "It's like out of a fairy tale." The other female seemed to agree as she smiled slightly at the picture.
Panthro overheard the puma and said. "This place gives me the creeps." Mistrusting everything he saw in the village. "Don't you see? What you think a growing group of robots could do building a city of their own?" The two females looked strangely at each other at his comment.
As they came into the center of the village, Berbils gathered all around them, cheering in their metallic voices at their arrival. Two Berbils, a small blue one, and a pink one with a flower on its ear came down out of a building to greet Ro-Bear-Bill. He picked up the little one while spinning him around in the air before he put him back down and looked at the others. Lion-O looked stunned at the family picture.
"Meet. Ro-Bear-Beebo." Ro-Bear-Bill said, introducing the little one as the pink one stood beside him. "Meet. Ro-Bear-Bella. This. Is. Ro-Bear-Bill. Family."
One of the machines ran pass the cats and the twins gasped as they saw the cargo..."Candy fruit!" They ran next to Ro-Bear-Bill, who grabbed some from the machine and offered it to the kittens. Kit and Kat chewed on the fruit quickly going hyper again, chewing more eager now.
Cheetara watched as the other Berbils played around with Snarf and Ro-Bear-Bill giving food to the Willies, considering the little hosts a very friendly species. "Looks like you were worried about nothing, Panthro." She said to the dark cat that approached one of the robot bears sitting on the Thundertank.
"You really think this fur balls are helping us...and don't expect something in return?" Panthro questioned.
Lion-O looked at him. "Have you considered that maybe they're just nice?" And a second later an alarm began blaring, red warning lights shot from the spheres on top of Ro-Bear-Bill's house.
The Thundercats looked around for a possible threat. "What's going on?!" The lion asked.
All the Berbils turned into balls and rolled towards a hole in the ground leading to a bunker. A rare object like a mine came falling down on the village and exploded on one of the buildings, followed by a second mine forming a huge cloud of smoke.
Lion-O turned to Ro-Bear-Bill for answers. "Conquedor. Comes." He said to the lion. "Conquedor. Takes. Berbils. Sell. Berbils. As slaves." The ground shook again, but it wasn't because of an explosion this time. A huge yellow tank came through the smoke and stopped in front of the village. The hatch opened and someone came out, his face was completely covered by the heavy armor he wore. He searched around the village and he spotted one Berbils running from him. He commanded the tank forward and a huge claw coming out from it and grabbed the Berbil.
"Help. Ro-Bear-Bob." The purple bear cried loudly.
"We have to stop that!" Cheetara said with an angry voice, pulling out her staff making it spin in the palm of her hand ready to attack.
"What did I tell you guys?" Panthro asked rhetorically. "They're trying to use their cuteness to get us to fight their battle."
Lion-O and Tygra exchanged a look and then at the Conquedor. "Well, looks like it worked." The King said, putting on the Gauntlet of Omens. While Tygra pulled out his whip at the same time Pumyra deployed her mounted crossbow.
Lion-O ran to the tank about to drop the captured Berbil into a cell compartment, he jumped over it grabbing the Berbil in the air as they landed on the other side of the tank's track. He let the bear escape to safety while getting to his feet when the hatch opened again as the Conquedor came out to take a look at his new adversaries.
"So the Berbils have enlisted the help of the fabled Thundercats." He chuckled sarcastically and took a bazooka from inside the tank. "So you risk your lives to help a bunch of junk heaps. And I thought the robots were the brainless fools!" And bumped his fist against his helmet mockingly, then he aimed the weapon to the cats.
Lion-O drew his sword out of the claw-shield, extending it to its full sizes. "Thundercats! Ho!"
After his signal, the group scattered away from his fire range, Conquedor shot at Tygra who avoided his attack with a high jump and waved his whip making himself invisible. Seeing no target, the armored one changed his aim to Cheetara but he had as much of trouble shooting because of her incomparable speed. The cleric ran zigzagging around him drawing his entire attention, making him oblivious of the presence lurking behind. Suddenly the villain felt a strong hold around his neck making him stop the fire, after that Tygra became visible as it was him choking him. Conquedor reached a bottom on his wrist and pressed it, sending an electric jolt that traveled through his armor to the tiger; he growled in pain and fell off the tank completely knocked out.
"Tygra!" His brother shouted going to his rescue along with Panthro, but the conqueror trapped the later in the blue gum-like substance that was his ammo. The General got stuck struggling with it.
The tank began moving before Lion-O could get close enough to jump on, while its claw grabbed Bo-Bear-Bill's family along the way.
"Bella. Beebo." Ro-Bear-Bill cried, giving chase to the vehicle, he rolled and jumped onto the claw trying to save his family but it shook him off tossing him roughly across the ground, severely injure him.
Pumyra ran as close as she could an aimed to the tank before it drove off. "It's out of reach!" She grunted, lowering her crossbow at her far off target. She then turned around watching the outcomes of the encounter, smoke dissipating around the buildings and the other Berbils coming out of their hideout. One of the Berbils helped Tygra up as he recovered from the shock while Panthro managed to pull the blue substance finally off of him.
Lion-O came over and looked at Pumyra. "I'm sorry I failed." She said with a low voice and the Conquedor long gone.
"Lion-O!" Their heard Cheetara's voice reaching, she was holding a familiar Berbil in her arms. "It's Ro-Bear-Bill. He doesn't look good."
"We all failed." The lion told his friend worriedly and all of them came closer to look at the robot bear and like the cheetah said he didn't look good at all. Bo-Bear-Bill got his whole body dented from the fall and many cables hung out of him. The other Berbils took him off the Cheetara's hands taking him to a large building in the middle of the village to try and repair their friend.
Willykit looked at the others worriedly, "Can they fix him?" No one replied watching the Berbils fiddling around with Ro-Bear-Bill's circuitry. After some drilling and welding, the robots looked up, talking to each other in little, computer-like buzzes, which must have been some kind of language for them. Though their faces were emotionless, something told the girl cub something was not right and she covered her eyes behind her hands.
Panthro sighed, stepping forward. "I can't take watching these amateurs." He walked over to the table in front of one of the Berbils and swiping his instrument out of his hand, "Give me that! You're doing it all wrong." He leaned down and started working on Ro-Bear-Bill as sparks flew from his work.
"Good. Idea." One of the Berbils near him said. "Now. Reset. Function levels." Panthro glanced at him, and then back at Ro-Bear-Bill.
"Oh, yeah." He said, looking at the circuitry, "I see what you're saying." He went back to work, the instrument in his hands pressing down on different spots of the mechanical body. After a moment, he stood up with a sigh, wiping his forehead of sweat from the heat of the sparks he had made repairing Ro-Bear-Bill. Everyone gathered a little closer to see what had happened and Ro-Bear-Bill hopped up, looking as good as new.
"All. Servos. Functional." He said looking at Panthro and did a quick check of all his limbs rotations.
"He's looking good, now." Panthro said grinning, proud of his work.
"Looking…Good." Ro-Bear-Bill said, testing out a new phrase again. He came down from the table as the Berbils cheered. Ro-Bear-Bill went over to Panthro and hugged his leg. Panthro grimaced, "Cat. Save. Bill. Thank you. Cat. Cat. Builder. Too."
The other Berbils cheered for their repaired friend and its savior. "Ro-Cat-Panthro. Ro-Cat-Panthro." Coming over and hugging his legs as well. Panthro grimaced as they all clung to him and he groaned in frustration, grasping at his head trying to keep himself from kicking them all off and smashing them in a wall by accident. Lion-O and Tygra shared a glance, smiling in mirth at Panthro's situation.
"Okay, that's enough…" The panther held his head trying to take them off his body as careful as possible. "You're all machines. It's not like I brought you back to life or something." He added but the Berbils ignored him too into their own mirth. Kit and Kat stayed inside celebrating with them while Lion-O and the others went outside. Their Lord looked sadly at the damage caused by the Conquedor to the Berbils village and what was left of it. Cheetara knew exactly what was going inside his mind.
"I'm sure something can be done, Lion-O" She told him solemnly. He stepped forward staring closer to the village when Ro-Bear-Bill came beside him from out of the building sitting on the grass as the cat knelt down next to him.
"My Bella. My Beebo. Taken." Ro-Bear-Bill said. "Ro-Bear-Bill's Family."
Away from them the three Thundercats meditated the situation as well. "I suppose it would be shallow to assume more of them can be built to replace the ones the Conquedor's stolen right?" Tygra commented not really convinced of his words.
"That's out of question." Pumyra said.
"They may not look like it but these creatures are not just robots." Cheetara said to them. "They prove to have the same emotions we have as they also embrace the concept of family." Pumyra looked inside the building while Cheetara spoke to them, Panthro was now repairing a loosen Berbil arm to its body, as he was asked by them to help adjusting other damaged Berbils as well.
"Haven't you thought they might be programmed that way?" Tygra asked cautiously, arching a brow at her. "We don't know if they are but-"
Cheetara shook her head in respond. "Life is not just in the air we breathe, Tygra. I've spent half my life studying with Jaga and discovered life is within everything around us." Her words were soft but meaningful and powerful at the same time; they changed the prince's perspective making him agree with her about their new friends. Though they looked like machines, Berbils existed in their worlds and were living beings.
"You know where the Conquedor's taken your family?" Lion-O asked the brown Berbil.
"Conquedor. Sells. Berbils. Ro-Bar-Bill knows." He replied.
"Then you can take us there." The lion commented. Standing up he looked at his friends standing in front of the main building. "Panthro, you keep an eye on the village." He ordered.
The General headed him and stopped repairing the Berbil on the table."Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He ran outside. "There's no way you're leaving me with these things!"
Pumyra paid attention to the word 'things' Panthro used to refer to them. "Your Majesty." She turned to Lion-O. "I'll stay behind and help the General look after the village and the Berbils, if it's alright."
The puma and the lion held their gaze for a moment until Lion-O turned to the others. "Tygra, Cheetara let's go." The three cats followed Ro-Bear-Bill after the Conquedor's track.
Having Pumyra with him was a minor improvement to his situation. But in the end it all end up the same, despise the young female soldier offering to stay behind, Panthro was the only one ordered to not go into the action and hold his position to babysit the Willies and look after a bunch of robots, as he would call them, instead. "Great…"
.
I finally could finish with the first part of Berbils! Now's the time for some good news and bad news. The good news is I keep on writing this and Thundercats! Ho! is far from being felt unfinished as some of you would've thought.
Now the bad/terrible news is that due to mayor schedule problems I won't be able to update weekly anymore : ( Still it doesn't mean I will update every 5 months or something. Thanks for the support, I have the need to say that your comments and enjoyment is helping me whenever I have a creative block and there's no word to thank that readers!
Read you soon! (I hope)