Chapter 13
"Somehow Red-Eye must have gotten away," Ben-Gali frowned. The group that had remained at the pyramid to search for their foe but they had come up empty after an hour. They had reconvened inside the ThunderTank to get out of the desert's cold night air.
"It's freezing out here in the dark. If he's on foot, he'll freeze before he gets too far. Perhaps a search radius is in order," Slythe suggested.
"I initiated a heat detection scan with the ThunderTank but so far nothing. If the Evil Chasers could do the same, we may have an answer," Panthro said.
"Our transports aren't equipped with heat detection since they aren't really meant for tracking vehicles. Only the Electro-Chargers and our small Search and Rescue vehicles are equipped with them. Where would Red-Eye go anyway? With SkyTomb destroyed and Mumm-Ra not available, I can't imagine he'd attempt to go to Castle Plundarr," Commander Tiberius had a point.
"Castle Plundarr is too far from here without crossing what would be a lot of hostile territory. Plus Monkian and Jackalman would probably turn him over, if they thought it would save their own hides," Slythe smirked a little.
"Panthro, signal the transports. Have them search for footprints within a five mile radius of the pyramid. If we still find nothing after that, then we should return home. He either managed to escape or he managed to trap himself inside the pyramid with that blast he set off," Lion-O said. Panthro nodded and they quickly got to work.
Meanwhile, Cheetara was growing worried that the group had not yet made it back to camp. Pumyra had wanted her to sleep but the cheetah just couldn't shake the feelings she was having. What if Kimoni was one of the survivors? Her heart was being pulled in so many directions that her mind couldn't decide in what direction to go. It was impossible to ignore Lion-O's kiss to her forehead. It was also impossible to ignore the flutter of butterflies in her stomach when he did so. She had only ever felt the same way with her fiancé.
She supposed she was getting ahead of herself. Kimoni might not be one of the survivors. Lion-O might have just been trying to make her feel better. The chances that Kimoni survived were slim. If he did, what was the likelihood he'd find Third Earth? The galaxy was a large place and there were many planets in it.
"I could hear you thinking a mile away," Lynx-O's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"You almost gave me a heart attack," Cheetara told him.
"A bad habit I developed after losing my sight. Sorry about that," he admitted as he carefully took a seat next to her bed.
"No need to apologize. You could hear me thinking huh?" She wondered.
"When I heard there were survivors I figured that we'd all be affected by it. We all lost people and we all have the hope that someone we know is on that battle cruiser. You've been through a lot lately and I was half hoping you were resting like Pumyra ordered but I kind of knew better," the lynx smiled slightly.
"I'm that easy of a read huh?" Cheetara asked.
"I know we haven't known each other long but I know a Cat just like you. You've even met her," Lynx-O said.
"Ah Pumyra," the cheetah said.
"On the nosy. Now you don't have to say anything if you don't want but I'm here to listen," the lynx smiled.
To Be Continued…