"We shouldn't do this," Felline said, all the while thinking that yes, yes, she wanted to do this.
"You don't mean that," Lion-O said. He ran his fingers along her bare arm, claws not quite catching in her fur. It made her shiver.
She couldn't deny it. The need to be alone, to get away, to enjoy the sunshine free from the squabbling of her comrades, was enough to smother her sometimes. But he was here, now. He'd followed her, the sunlight burning in his mane, a softness she'd never expected to see in his proud, blue eyes, and it was all right. He was the only one who understood the need for solitude, and that sometimes, solitude wasn't enough.
"I knew you were the one," he went on, his gaze not on her face, but on his own hand, running lightly up and down her arm. "From the first time I saw you, I knew it was you. I want you by my side."
He looked right into her eyes then, and she trembled with the strength of the emotion she saw there.
Never taking his eyes away, Lion-O kissed her.
Felline began to lose herself in the kiss, all of her senses alive and full of him. Not sure who ended it, but aware that it was with regret on both sides, she glanced down at his fingers still combing through the dark spots in the sunny gold of her arm.
Wait, that wasn't right. Felline was a cat of winter, not summer. . . .
She frowned, looking at the solid spots. Neither she nor Lep had spots, but beautiful, irregular rosettes. . . .
Lion-O rested his face in her hair. "I love you, Cheetara."
Cheetara? No! I'm Felline! Felline!
..::~*~::..
Felline jerked awake.
It was still raining. The unnaturally perfect sunlight of her dream vanished like a shout in the wind, though there was no wind among the massive toadstools of the fungal forest. The rain fell straight down.
Whiskers, when had she fallen asleep? Twenty minutes ago? Five? She sat up, rubbing the back of her hand across her mouth, checking for drool. There was none, but Panthro was eyeing her with his customary scowl and Lion-O, crouched very close to Cheetara, glanced back at her sudden movement.
Felline swallowed a groan. A dream! What on Third Earth had that been about? Her, kissing Lion-O? As if!
Besides, the thought of kissing anyone right then was about as romantic as a smashed mushroom. The stink of wet cat and fungus permeated everything. Felline expected mold to start growing in her hair if she didn't dry out soon.
"You okay?" Panthro rumbled as quietly as he could.
Still blinking the fuzz away, Felline managed a nod. She was exhausted. They'd stayed up all night trying to repair the ThunderTank, and waited all day for their mysterious benefactors to arrive. Now, because of that ridiculous dream, she hadn't gotten the rest she sorely needed. She could swear she heard her subconscious mind laughing its stupid head off.
She heard something else, too. A sound like a ratchet, only quieter, and it was multiplying. She and Panthro crept forward.
At Tygra's direction, the ThunderCats had hidden at the far end of the clearing, out of reach of the tarp shelter but with an unobstructed view of the tank. What looked like furry wheels, round as balls, zipped into the deserted clearing and unerringly leaped for the tank. In mid-leap, they unfolded into animals.
They were smaller than the twins, their pelts ranging from dark brown to pale yellow. There was even a gray one, overcast as Panthro. With the sound of gears and robotic joints, the furry, expressionless creatures began to remove panels from the tank.
"What are they doing?" Lion-O asked the hide in general.
A specific general answered. "I'll tell ya what," Panthro snarled. "They're messin' with my baby!"
And he was off, sprinting for the clearing.
"Panthro, wait!" Lion-O hissed, far too late.
"What are you furry freaks doin' to my tank?" the big cat yelled.
As one, the creatures looked blankly up, and then rolled into wheels and scattered. They squeaked when they bounced on the muddy ground, like toys, and Panthro pounced.
"Got ya!" he crowed. He lifted a struggling ball-creature by its arm.
"Put me down," it pleaded in a distorted voice. Felline had never heard anything like it. It wasn't like a living animal, speaking with lungs and vocal cords. It sounded more like it was replaying a voice that had been captured, somehow, and stored in a can.
"What is that thing?" Cheetara asked when they all caught up.
"Put me down," the thing repeated, its – mouth, Felline supposed, although it didn't open and was just a light shaped like a mouth – flashing blue with each syllable. It didn't look frightened, but its free arm flapped anxiously.
"Ro-Bear Bill," it added emotionlessly, not acknowledging when Panthro set it on its metallic, clawed feet. Nor did it look at Cheetara, though it was clearly answering her. "A ro-bear berbil."
It stood there, looking like half a stuffed animal and half a mechanical one. Felline took in the round, furry ears, rotund body, and short limbs, and realized it was supposed to be a bear. Sort of.
"NicetomeetyouRo-BearBill," WilyKit said in an electrified rush. Her tail, and her brother's, stuck straight up behind them, and their eyes were stretched as wide as they would go. "I'm WilyKit, and this is WilyKat, and weeeee're theThunderCats."
In unison, she and her brother devoured another candyfruit at top speed.
"Thunder cats?" Bill repeated, the pitch of his canned voice suggesting a question. His black eyes, like ovals of onyx, never blinked, but his light-mouth continued to flash with each word. "Berbils help thunder cats?" As if he only had one recording for every word in his vocabulary, the pitch changed in odd places, so that berbils came out low, help high, and thunder cats exactly the same as the first time.
Felline's ears twitched. Too much of that, and she was going to get a headache.
At once, the four other berbils returned, rolling in and popping up. One, the pale yellow bear, seemed to be female. Large pink dots marked her cheeks, and a green flower was pinned to her left ear.
"I've never seen anything so . . ." Lion-O hesitated, stepping out of the way as the berbils rolled past him. He searched for the right word, and then settled for, "Cute."
"They'll be cute and dead if they hurt my tank," Panthro said threateningly.
Ignoring him, the berbils climbed all over the tank, their mechanical paws working busily. Within seconds, the engines fired up, smooth and smoke-free. The turbines shot a pair of blue-white flames, cleaner than Felline had ever seen, purring like contented cats. Her eyebrows jumped into her hair. With that amount of output, she wondered if the tank could fly.
"Looks like they fixed it, Panthro," Tygra said, grinning.
"Humph!" Panthro said through his nose. "It's just a patch. I could have done that."
"How?" Felline murmured, and Panthro glowered at her.
The berbils shut down the engines. The brown one named Bill somersaulted to the ground.
"Come with Ro-Bear Bill," he said, taking Lion-O's hand and attempting to lead him away. "Berbils fix machines."
Lion-O, however, wasn't going to be led. He lifted his arm, his blue eyes puzzled as he watched Bill continue walking, unperturbed by the fact that he was dangling in mid-air. The little creature kept talking, too. "Berbils give candyfruit. Berbils help thunder cats?"
It was a mark of how miserable things had been that no one objected, except for Panthro.
"You coming?" Cheetara asked when the general made no move away from his tank.
Felline touched his big hand, waiting until he looked down at her. "Come on," she murmured. "We can't leave you here."
"Fine," he conceded, crossing his arms across his massive, scarred chest, "but I don't trust anything that adorable."
A/N: Greetings and Salutations, Dear Readers!
Reviewer thanks! Momochan77 (Oh, I really hope you like the way I portray them! :3 Also, that is EXACTLY what I was going for between them, so I'm really happy you liked it. Thank you for reviewing!), KelseyAlicia (Thank you!), Blacktiger93 (Update FAIL! I'm so sorry. I can't tell you how humbling and exciting it is to have people reading my work and actually want more of it! Thank you for always reviewing!), Mooncloudpanther (Awwwww. This is going to sound cruel, but I was hoping for just such a reaction - so, yay! heehee Thank you for reviewing!), Night Whisperer (I love your review! I'm so glad you felt that way about the bonding moment on the one hand, and the neglect on the other. Thanks for such lovely words!), Darwin (omg, So I totally stole your term "fungal forest" because I KNEW I didn't have the right word. Thank you for that! And for the praise. :3 Always appreciated), Heart of the Demons (Aw, thank you so much for always being here to review! :3 Glad it's coming through right), and AllHailMedusa (Aw! Really? That's so sweet! Thank you so much!).
Until next time, Dear Readers, I hope you enjoy, and thank you for spending time with me, however short.
Yours,
Anne