Lost Battles
Octapon and the
She-Cats
Part I
Cheetara stood in the main hall of the Lair, pacing back and forth, trying to make sense of the images that bombarded her mind. Images of black flames and horrible darkness flashed before her eyes.
"Cheetara," Lion-O called from the end of the hallway, "what's wrong?"
"I don't know," she stuttered, "my sixth sense is telling me something, but it doesn't make any sense."
Tabbirra hung upside-down from her knees in the unicorn forest, her eyes closed. Pumyra stood on a stone many yards away, her eyes closed as well. For a long time, all was still. A stately unicorn stepped in between them, looking at them strangely then continuing on his path. Again, nothing moved.
Suddenly, in one swift movement, Pumyra drew her sling, loaded it, and flung a bomb at Tabbirra. The small explosive flew through the trees until
Tabbirra's chacraam detonated it only a few feet from her face. She jumped down from her perch and walked over to Pumyra.
"A bit closer than I would have liked," she sighed, picking up Dragon from his nap on a sunny rock.
"A bit, nothing! I didn't even see you throw your chacraam."
Tabbirra sighed again, "is this all there is to do around here when no one's causing trouble?"
"Usually, it's not this calm. There was one time when . . ."
She was interrupted by a shrill cry. The two Thundercats turned to see the warrior maiden Naida tearing through the woods. They ran up to her, drawing their weapons.
"What happened," Pumyra asked hurriedly.
"The Lunattacks . . . Willa . . . the warriors . . . all captured . . ." Naida panted.
"Sounds like it's not as calm as you thought, Tabbirra. You take Naida and fly back to the Lair. Tell the others what happened. I'll scout on ahead and see what I can do."
Tabbirra lifted herself and Naida off the ground, "be careful, Pumyra. We don't want you to get captured as well."
Pumyra nodded and ran toward the warrior maiden treetop kingdom.
Tabbirra and Naida were at the Lair in a matter of moments. Lion-O and
Cheetara still stood in the main hall, contemplating Cheetara's plight.
"What is it, Tabbirra," Lion-O said when they ran through the front door.
"The Lunattacks have attacked the tree-top kingdom. Pumyra went on ahead to see if she could help."
Lion-O looked from Tabbirra to Cheetara's anguished face, "I'll call
Bengali and Tigra on the communicator in the Thundertank and have him meet you in the tree-top kingdom. Naida, you stay here where it's safe."
Naida was too exasperated to object. Tabbirra took to the winds and was just beyond the treetop kingdom when she spotted the Thundertank below. She landed, searching for Pumyra on the way down.
"I don't see Pumyra," she said, landing on the back hatch of the tank, "she may have been captured."
"Do you see the Lunattacks," Tigra asked.
Tabbirra shook her head, "they may have already left; the warrior women are gone too. Half the forest is frozen."
"Chilla's work, no doubt," Tigra growled, wrapping his bolo whip around himself, disappearing in a blue flash, "I'll check it out. Wait here for my signal."
Tabbirra sat down on the back of the tank and toyed with her jewel.
Dragon crawled out of his pouch and paced nervously.
"He seems to think something is wrong," Bengali said, turning around toward Tabbirra.
She looked absently at the animal, shrugging, then back at Bengali, "whatever happened to you after you left Uncle Sabro employ, cousin?"
"I tried to open up my own smithing shop, but I couldn't find the funds or the time. I had almost gotten all the money I needed when Thundera began to shake apart," he sighed.
Tabbirra climbed into the passenger seat; "you look older then you did at the last clan reunion, what happened?"
"Didn't Lynx-O tell you?"
Tabbirra shook her head, "I had just assumed you arrived on the Thundercat flagship or in a suspension pod."
Bengali began to tell her of his trek when three balls of fire exploded in the sky.
"Tigra's signal," Bengali stated, starting the tank.
Tabbirra lifted herself out of the seat and flew on ahead. Tigra stood before the first tree of the kingdom, frozen solid. Tabbirra threw a bolt of lightning in front of the tank to stop Bengali. He took the hint.
"Well well," came a hissing voice from the ground below Tabbirra, "if it isn't the newest Thunder-brat."
Tabbirra turned in time to see a gust of gaseous ice fly from Chilla's mouth and engulf her. For a moment, all she knew was the cold. Then, her emerald stone began to glow and the ice shattered off her body.
"Guess again, Lunattack," she hissed, materializing a heated rainstorm over her foe.
Chilla screamed in agony as Aluro stepped forward, heaving his psy-club at her. Its blue light enveloped her and she fell from the winds, unconscious.
She woke in a dark room, seeing nothing but hearing some one else breathing. Her eyes quickly adjusted and she could see a faint light along the floor and small window on the wall facing a dark hallway.
"Can't see a thing in the dark," she growled and a small bolt of lightning flew circles around the top of the room.
The room was metal, with a metal door and two small cots attached to the walls. On the cot opposite Tabbirra, Pumyra slept restlessly. She tossed and turned, almost falling off of the small piece of wood. The lightning bolt disappeared in a fizzle and Tabbirra lay back on her cot.
"No point in wasting my energy," she thought as she fell asleep.
At the Lair, all the Thundercats were gathered in the conference room.
Bengali wore a bandage on his arm, and Tigra was wrapped tightly in a blanket.
"We can't wait any longer, we must attack," Bengali slammed his fist on the table.
Lynx-O placed his hand on his shoulder, "if we attack without a plan, we shall be captured as well."
"Lynx-O's right," Panthro said, standing, "still, we have to do something, and soon."
Lion-O stood and raised the sword of omens, "first, we must know where they are. Sword of Omens: give me sight beyond sight.
"They're in Skytomb, on Darkside."
"We have to get them out of there," Bengali jumped from his seat.
"I'm with you," Cheetara announced.
"Cheetara," Lion-O said surprised, "you've barely spoken since this morning, are you sure you're okay to fight?"
Cheetara placed a hand on her head, "the images are not so fierce now. And, anyway, Tabbirra, Pumyra, and the warrior maidens need all of us."
"Then let's go," Panthro yelled.
"Wait," Lion-O said, "we need a plan and I have one."
A loud bang woke Tabbirra and Pumyra. The room was now dimly lit by the small hole in the door and a tiny, barred window through which gray sunlight shone.
"Wakey wakey, she-cats," came a shrill voice from the hall.
"Pumyra, are you all right," Tabbirra said, slipping on her belt.
"A few bumps and bruises, but okay. And you?"
"Been better," Tabbirra growled as a small, old face appeared at the whole in the door.
"Well, well, well," Luna said, "you're already up. Good, that means you can suffer longer."
Tabbirra looked at Pumyra and nodded meaningfully at the outside window. Pumyra glanced quickly toward it and saw Dragon swooping outside, growling and spitting.
"Who gets to go first," Luna laughed as Amuck opened the door.
The Thundercats remained where they were. Amuck lumbered toward Tabbirra and Pumyra.
"I'll go first," Pumyra said, stepping into the center of the room,
The others stared at her for a moment before Amuck grabbed her arms in one of his hands and dragged her. As soon as the door was locked, Tabbirra ran to the window. Dragon darted back and forth. Past him, hidden in a far off cloud, hovered the Thunder-strike, the Thunder-claw, and the Hoover-cat.
She knew she needed to signal them, but lightning was too dangerous with everyone in the clouds. She called Dragon to the window and gave him quick instructions, and he flew into the clouds. Then, closing her eyes tightly, she manipulated the clouds that Dragon now flew circles around, shaping them into the Thundercat symbol. All of the other saw this, knowing there was urgency.
Dragon, having done his job, returned to the window, attempting to squeeze through. The Thundercats moved forward, firing on the grounded tower. Bengali, in the Hoover-cat, moved to the small window where Tabbirra waited.
"Where's Pumyra," he asked frantically.
"She's been taken somewhere else by a little old woman on a really big thing."
"We'll get both of you out of there," Bengali said, backing the vehicle away, "stand away from the wall."
"No," Tabbirra yelled over the firing going on by the other vehicles, "I'll attack from the inside."
With a fit of sudden fury, she exploded a huge cluster of lightning against the door, blowing it to pieces. There was little ventilation in the outside hall, making it to difficult for Tabbirra to generate the required wind to fly. She had to go on foot.
The battle outside raged on, now joined by the Lunattacker, Chilla's aircraft, and Aluro's jetpack. Neither side landed a blow throughout the titanic battle, though the countryside blazed with the crossfire. Every so often, a shot from a Thundercat ship would land on Skytomb, shaking up the occupants.
Tabbirra struggled to keep her balance as another crash rang through the tower. She ran from hallway to hallway, searching for her chacraam, Pumyra, anything. She had just reached a dead end when she heard a familiar cackle. A door at the other end of the hall was just slightly open. She peeked through the crack and saw Amuck with his back to her. Beside him, on the table, was her chacraam and Pumyra's sling. Edging closer, she saw Pumyra strapped to a table and Luna sitting on a high chair with a control board. Every time she pushed a button, a shock ran through Pumyra. She knew she'd have to act fast.
Tabbirra slipped into the room and inched over to the table, hearing
Luna cackle something about them being bait. She had almost reached her weapon when Amuck grabbed her from behind. Without a word, she tossed a handful of lightning into his face and he dropped her. She grabbed her chacraam and tossed it at the control board, throwing it from Luna's hands; then it bounced across the metal shackles that held Pumyra's wrists.
Pumyra vaulted off of the table and over to where her sling lay and hurtled a bomb at Luna, which exploded into a bright light. Another explosion rocked the room and Bengali hovered outside the hole he had created in the
Hoover-cat.
"Pumyra, you go with Bengali," Tabbirra hollered, "I'll free the warrior maidens."
Bengali eased the Hoover-cat through the huge hole, "it'll take all of us."
The trio ran down the hall, Bengali and Pumyra far ahead of Tabbirra, with Dragon trailing them all. They ran down the tower's spiraling stairway until they reached the boiler room, where they could hear the cries of the warrior maidens. Bengali quickly drew his hammer and blasted all the doors, as
Tabbirra finally caught up with them.
"Thank you, Thundercats," Willa said, running ahead of the other warriors.
"You can thank us after we get out of here. The battle is tearing this place apart," Pumyra cried as the wall opposite them exploded.
Everyone ran through the charred hole into the open, where Tabbirra took to the winds, unstable. She flew to the Thunder-strike and reclined on one of the dorsal wings. She had not the strength to fly home.
"How are we going to get the warrior maidens out of here," came
Panthro's voice over the communicator he had implanted into her chacraam.
"Maybe Tabbirra's winds can carry them," suggested Lynx-O.
"Negative," Tabbirra panted into the communicator, "I'm too weak. I'm afraid I won't be of much help for a while."
"Then we'll just have put our trust in the Sword of Omens," Lion-O said, standing on his seat on the Thunder-claw, "thunder ... thunder ...thunder ... Thundercats HO!"
The Thundercat symbol rose high into the gray sky, calling the
Thundercats who were there, for none were not. Then, a beam of red light emanated from the symbol and enveloped the warriors and the Thundercats, transporting them to the treetop kingdom in a flash of light. For a moment, all (even Lion-O) stood bewildered. Then came a great cheer.
That evening, at the Lair, Tabbirra could barely keep from falling asleep at the conference table as the others asked her and Pumyra about what they had heard while prisoners. Bengali noticed this and stood as soon as he had an opportunity to speak.
"I'm going to take Tabbirra to her chamber," he announced, "she's exhausted."
Without waiting for permission, he lifted his now sleeping cousin out of her chair and carried her to her waiting bed. Dragon stuck his head out from his cove under the bed and yawned, angry at being wakened. Bengali smiled and pet the animal.
As he turned to leave, he noticed the set of scrolls from Tabbirra's mother, lying on the desk. The one marked "II" was untied, but not unrolled. Looking back to make sure Tabbirra was still asleep, he sat down at the chair and opened the parchment.
"My daughter," it said, "as well as continuing your training as a priestess, you must also learn to control your elemental abilities. Take heed, little Tabbirra: the first thing you should always remember is that endurance activities are not easy abilities for one who flies. It uses too much of your stored energy. If you are extremely physically and elementally active for a long period of time without sustenance, you will be come very weak and..."
He did not read any further.
"So that's why she couldn't keep up with us in the tower. I had feared that she was not strong enough to be a Thundercat. I should go tell Lion-O just in case he feared the same."
But, he stopped himself in mid-step. How could he tell the others without telling them that he read her private scrolls. He knew that she would have to tell them, and that she would, once she knew the truth. He returned to the table where the others still discussed the day's events.
"I'll be returning to the tower now, if I'm not needed," he said from the door.
"I'll call ahead and tell Lynx-O and the Thunder-kittens you're on your way," Snarf said, leaving for the control room.
"Wait," Tigra said standing, "I didn't get a chance earlier to ask you what happened to your arm."
Bengali laughed lightly, looking at the bandage, "when Tabbirra saw you frozen, she tried to warn me with a bolt of lightning. I . . . kinda drove right into it."
"You're lucky she didn't burn your fur off," Tigra said, laughing.
Everyone laughed with him.
In Mumm-ra's pyramid, Luna and Mumm-ra watched this in the cauldron.
"You see, Mumm-ra? Those Thundercats are making life too hard for us.
We must find some way of disposing of them," Luna said.
"I may have one," Mumm-ra replied, "an ancient Thunderian wizard, imprisoned by the Thundercats centuries ago. He was release when Thundera was destroyed, so now he drifts in space. His powers may be of use to us."
The sound of their cackles resounded off the stones of the pyramid, as they rejoiced in their latest plan to dominate Third Earth.
Octapon and the
She-Cats
Part I
Cheetara stood in the main hall of the Lair, pacing back and forth, trying to make sense of the images that bombarded her mind. Images of black flames and horrible darkness flashed before her eyes.
"Cheetara," Lion-O called from the end of the hallway, "what's wrong?"
"I don't know," she stuttered, "my sixth sense is telling me something, but it doesn't make any sense."
Tabbirra hung upside-down from her knees in the unicorn forest, her eyes closed. Pumyra stood on a stone many yards away, her eyes closed as well. For a long time, all was still. A stately unicorn stepped in between them, looking at them strangely then continuing on his path. Again, nothing moved.
Suddenly, in one swift movement, Pumyra drew her sling, loaded it, and flung a bomb at Tabbirra. The small explosive flew through the trees until
Tabbirra's chacraam detonated it only a few feet from her face. She jumped down from her perch and walked over to Pumyra.
"A bit closer than I would have liked," she sighed, picking up Dragon from his nap on a sunny rock.
"A bit, nothing! I didn't even see you throw your chacraam."
Tabbirra sighed again, "is this all there is to do around here when no one's causing trouble?"
"Usually, it's not this calm. There was one time when . . ."
She was interrupted by a shrill cry. The two Thundercats turned to see the warrior maiden Naida tearing through the woods. They ran up to her, drawing their weapons.
"What happened," Pumyra asked hurriedly.
"The Lunattacks . . . Willa . . . the warriors . . . all captured . . ." Naida panted.
"Sounds like it's not as calm as you thought, Tabbirra. You take Naida and fly back to the Lair. Tell the others what happened. I'll scout on ahead and see what I can do."
Tabbirra lifted herself and Naida off the ground, "be careful, Pumyra. We don't want you to get captured as well."
Pumyra nodded and ran toward the warrior maiden treetop kingdom.
Tabbirra and Naida were at the Lair in a matter of moments. Lion-O and
Cheetara still stood in the main hall, contemplating Cheetara's plight.
"What is it, Tabbirra," Lion-O said when they ran through the front door.
"The Lunattacks have attacked the tree-top kingdom. Pumyra went on ahead to see if she could help."
Lion-O looked from Tabbirra to Cheetara's anguished face, "I'll call
Bengali and Tigra on the communicator in the Thundertank and have him meet you in the tree-top kingdom. Naida, you stay here where it's safe."
Naida was too exasperated to object. Tabbirra took to the winds and was just beyond the treetop kingdom when she spotted the Thundertank below. She landed, searching for Pumyra on the way down.
"I don't see Pumyra," she said, landing on the back hatch of the tank, "she may have been captured."
"Do you see the Lunattacks," Tigra asked.
Tabbirra shook her head, "they may have already left; the warrior women are gone too. Half the forest is frozen."
"Chilla's work, no doubt," Tigra growled, wrapping his bolo whip around himself, disappearing in a blue flash, "I'll check it out. Wait here for my signal."
Tabbirra sat down on the back of the tank and toyed with her jewel.
Dragon crawled out of his pouch and paced nervously.
"He seems to think something is wrong," Bengali said, turning around toward Tabbirra.
She looked absently at the animal, shrugging, then back at Bengali, "whatever happened to you after you left Uncle Sabro employ, cousin?"
"I tried to open up my own smithing shop, but I couldn't find the funds or the time. I had almost gotten all the money I needed when Thundera began to shake apart," he sighed.
Tabbirra climbed into the passenger seat; "you look older then you did at the last clan reunion, what happened?"
"Didn't Lynx-O tell you?"
Tabbirra shook her head, "I had just assumed you arrived on the Thundercat flagship or in a suspension pod."
Bengali began to tell her of his trek when three balls of fire exploded in the sky.
"Tigra's signal," Bengali stated, starting the tank.
Tabbirra lifted herself out of the seat and flew on ahead. Tigra stood before the first tree of the kingdom, frozen solid. Tabbirra threw a bolt of lightning in front of the tank to stop Bengali. He took the hint.
"Well well," came a hissing voice from the ground below Tabbirra, "if it isn't the newest Thunder-brat."
Tabbirra turned in time to see a gust of gaseous ice fly from Chilla's mouth and engulf her. For a moment, all she knew was the cold. Then, her emerald stone began to glow and the ice shattered off her body.
"Guess again, Lunattack," she hissed, materializing a heated rainstorm over her foe.
Chilla screamed in agony as Aluro stepped forward, heaving his psy-club at her. Its blue light enveloped her and she fell from the winds, unconscious.
She woke in a dark room, seeing nothing but hearing some one else breathing. Her eyes quickly adjusted and she could see a faint light along the floor and small window on the wall facing a dark hallway.
"Can't see a thing in the dark," she growled and a small bolt of lightning flew circles around the top of the room.
The room was metal, with a metal door and two small cots attached to the walls. On the cot opposite Tabbirra, Pumyra slept restlessly. She tossed and turned, almost falling off of the small piece of wood. The lightning bolt disappeared in a fizzle and Tabbirra lay back on her cot.
"No point in wasting my energy," she thought as she fell asleep.
At the Lair, all the Thundercats were gathered in the conference room.
Bengali wore a bandage on his arm, and Tigra was wrapped tightly in a blanket.
"We can't wait any longer, we must attack," Bengali slammed his fist on the table.
Lynx-O placed his hand on his shoulder, "if we attack without a plan, we shall be captured as well."
"Lynx-O's right," Panthro said, standing, "still, we have to do something, and soon."
Lion-O stood and raised the sword of omens, "first, we must know where they are. Sword of Omens: give me sight beyond sight.
"They're in Skytomb, on Darkside."
"We have to get them out of there," Bengali jumped from his seat.
"I'm with you," Cheetara announced.
"Cheetara," Lion-O said surprised, "you've barely spoken since this morning, are you sure you're okay to fight?"
Cheetara placed a hand on her head, "the images are not so fierce now. And, anyway, Tabbirra, Pumyra, and the warrior maidens need all of us."
"Then let's go," Panthro yelled.
"Wait," Lion-O said, "we need a plan and I have one."
A loud bang woke Tabbirra and Pumyra. The room was now dimly lit by the small hole in the door and a tiny, barred window through which gray sunlight shone.
"Wakey wakey, she-cats," came a shrill voice from the hall.
"Pumyra, are you all right," Tabbirra said, slipping on her belt.
"A few bumps and bruises, but okay. And you?"
"Been better," Tabbirra growled as a small, old face appeared at the whole in the door.
"Well, well, well," Luna said, "you're already up. Good, that means you can suffer longer."
Tabbirra looked at Pumyra and nodded meaningfully at the outside window. Pumyra glanced quickly toward it and saw Dragon swooping outside, growling and spitting.
"Who gets to go first," Luna laughed as Amuck opened the door.
The Thundercats remained where they were. Amuck lumbered toward Tabbirra and Pumyra.
"I'll go first," Pumyra said, stepping into the center of the room,
The others stared at her for a moment before Amuck grabbed her arms in one of his hands and dragged her. As soon as the door was locked, Tabbirra ran to the window. Dragon darted back and forth. Past him, hidden in a far off cloud, hovered the Thunder-strike, the Thunder-claw, and the Hoover-cat.
She knew she needed to signal them, but lightning was too dangerous with everyone in the clouds. She called Dragon to the window and gave him quick instructions, and he flew into the clouds. Then, closing her eyes tightly, she manipulated the clouds that Dragon now flew circles around, shaping them into the Thundercat symbol. All of the other saw this, knowing there was urgency.
Dragon, having done his job, returned to the window, attempting to squeeze through. The Thundercats moved forward, firing on the grounded tower. Bengali, in the Hoover-cat, moved to the small window where Tabbirra waited.
"Where's Pumyra," he asked frantically.
"She's been taken somewhere else by a little old woman on a really big thing."
"We'll get both of you out of there," Bengali said, backing the vehicle away, "stand away from the wall."
"No," Tabbirra yelled over the firing going on by the other vehicles, "I'll attack from the inside."
With a fit of sudden fury, she exploded a huge cluster of lightning against the door, blowing it to pieces. There was little ventilation in the outside hall, making it to difficult for Tabbirra to generate the required wind to fly. She had to go on foot.
The battle outside raged on, now joined by the Lunattacker, Chilla's aircraft, and Aluro's jetpack. Neither side landed a blow throughout the titanic battle, though the countryside blazed with the crossfire. Every so often, a shot from a Thundercat ship would land on Skytomb, shaking up the occupants.
Tabbirra struggled to keep her balance as another crash rang through the tower. She ran from hallway to hallway, searching for her chacraam, Pumyra, anything. She had just reached a dead end when she heard a familiar cackle. A door at the other end of the hall was just slightly open. She peeked through the crack and saw Amuck with his back to her. Beside him, on the table, was her chacraam and Pumyra's sling. Edging closer, she saw Pumyra strapped to a table and Luna sitting on a high chair with a control board. Every time she pushed a button, a shock ran through Pumyra. She knew she'd have to act fast.
Tabbirra slipped into the room and inched over to the table, hearing
Luna cackle something about them being bait. She had almost reached her weapon when Amuck grabbed her from behind. Without a word, she tossed a handful of lightning into his face and he dropped her. She grabbed her chacraam and tossed it at the control board, throwing it from Luna's hands; then it bounced across the metal shackles that held Pumyra's wrists.
Pumyra vaulted off of the table and over to where her sling lay and hurtled a bomb at Luna, which exploded into a bright light. Another explosion rocked the room and Bengali hovered outside the hole he had created in the
Hoover-cat.
"Pumyra, you go with Bengali," Tabbirra hollered, "I'll free the warrior maidens."
Bengali eased the Hoover-cat through the huge hole, "it'll take all of us."
The trio ran down the hall, Bengali and Pumyra far ahead of Tabbirra, with Dragon trailing them all. They ran down the tower's spiraling stairway until they reached the boiler room, where they could hear the cries of the warrior maidens. Bengali quickly drew his hammer and blasted all the doors, as
Tabbirra finally caught up with them.
"Thank you, Thundercats," Willa said, running ahead of the other warriors.
"You can thank us after we get out of here. The battle is tearing this place apart," Pumyra cried as the wall opposite them exploded.
Everyone ran through the charred hole into the open, where Tabbirra took to the winds, unstable. She flew to the Thunder-strike and reclined on one of the dorsal wings. She had not the strength to fly home.
"How are we going to get the warrior maidens out of here," came
Panthro's voice over the communicator he had implanted into her chacraam.
"Maybe Tabbirra's winds can carry them," suggested Lynx-O.
"Negative," Tabbirra panted into the communicator, "I'm too weak. I'm afraid I won't be of much help for a while."
"Then we'll just have put our trust in the Sword of Omens," Lion-O said, standing on his seat on the Thunder-claw, "thunder ... thunder ...thunder ... Thundercats HO!"
The Thundercat symbol rose high into the gray sky, calling the
Thundercats who were there, for none were not. Then, a beam of red light emanated from the symbol and enveloped the warriors and the Thundercats, transporting them to the treetop kingdom in a flash of light. For a moment, all (even Lion-O) stood bewildered. Then came a great cheer.
That evening, at the Lair, Tabbirra could barely keep from falling asleep at the conference table as the others asked her and Pumyra about what they had heard while prisoners. Bengali noticed this and stood as soon as he had an opportunity to speak.
"I'm going to take Tabbirra to her chamber," he announced, "she's exhausted."
Without waiting for permission, he lifted his now sleeping cousin out of her chair and carried her to her waiting bed. Dragon stuck his head out from his cove under the bed and yawned, angry at being wakened. Bengali smiled and pet the animal.
As he turned to leave, he noticed the set of scrolls from Tabbirra's mother, lying on the desk. The one marked "II" was untied, but not unrolled. Looking back to make sure Tabbirra was still asleep, he sat down at the chair and opened the parchment.
"My daughter," it said, "as well as continuing your training as a priestess, you must also learn to control your elemental abilities. Take heed, little Tabbirra: the first thing you should always remember is that endurance activities are not easy abilities for one who flies. It uses too much of your stored energy. If you are extremely physically and elementally active for a long period of time without sustenance, you will be come very weak and..."
He did not read any further.
"So that's why she couldn't keep up with us in the tower. I had feared that she was not strong enough to be a Thundercat. I should go tell Lion-O just in case he feared the same."
But, he stopped himself in mid-step. How could he tell the others without telling them that he read her private scrolls. He knew that she would have to tell them, and that she would, once she knew the truth. He returned to the table where the others still discussed the day's events.
"I'll be returning to the tower now, if I'm not needed," he said from the door.
"I'll call ahead and tell Lynx-O and the Thunder-kittens you're on your way," Snarf said, leaving for the control room.
"Wait," Tigra said standing, "I didn't get a chance earlier to ask you what happened to your arm."
Bengali laughed lightly, looking at the bandage, "when Tabbirra saw you frozen, she tried to warn me with a bolt of lightning. I . . . kinda drove right into it."
"You're lucky she didn't burn your fur off," Tigra said, laughing.
Everyone laughed with him.
In Mumm-ra's pyramid, Luna and Mumm-ra watched this in the cauldron.
"You see, Mumm-ra? Those Thundercats are making life too hard for us.
We must find some way of disposing of them," Luna said.
"I may have one," Mumm-ra replied, "an ancient Thunderian wizard, imprisoned by the Thundercats centuries ago. He was release when Thundera was destroyed, so now he drifts in space. His powers may be of use to us."
The sound of their cackles resounded off the stones of the pyramid, as they rejoiced in their latest plan to dominate Third Earth.