3

"Campout"

"I hate Thunderian," Wilykit grumbled after their lesson, as she and Wilykat flew towards the Village of Mist. The twins had given it a name. The sun shone brightly once more, and her mane whipped wildly behind her as she flew, but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. She was too miffed at her Thunderian lesson.

Wilykat grinned at her; books and languages and history...those were his good points, and were among the few things he could do better than his sister in. And so naturally he had to be a bit smug. "Well there's nothing wrong with that,' he joked. "I mean it's only our native language and all."

"Oh shut up, Wilykat...just because you like speaking languages that no one speaks anymore..." she scowled. "It's been years since anyone spoke it, anyway, Basic's a lot easier and well known."

Wilykat shrugged, the motion making his wobble a bit on his board. "Well it's over with, so don't worry about it. Look, there's the village again."

"You know what's creepy?" Wilykit said.

"You mean besides everything?"

"Well yeah. but I mean...look at how the mist kinda oozes out beyond the forest...then just kinda quits. Is it that dense in there to never let the sun through?"

"I guess so..." They landed once more.

"I say we try some of the houses that are partially in the mist...look there. There's just some trees and bushes there over by those houses...I mean we can see, this far out," she hurried on, seeing her brother's expression. She was apprehensive, but had convinced herself she was being a coward, and her curiosity was getting the better of her. "It's not like something can jump out at us or anything."

"But-I dunno, Wilykit.' Wilykat bit his lip, looking into the gloom. "It's just...it gives me a bad feeling."

"So what's exploration worth if we don't take risks? Come on, Wilykat, you've fought Mutants and won...and generals, at that! Come on, let's go take a look. If anything scary jumps out at us, I promise we can leave."

"If we can leave," Wilykat said darkly, but finally he relented and followed his twin into the semi-gloom.

"Whoa...it's like the sun went behind a cloud..." Wilykat stepped back for a moment, and was in the sun, but the second he stepped back into the tendrils of mist, the sunlight dimmed, and shadows swirled lazily on the ground from the wisps of mist. "It's almost like it's solid..."

"Yeah... Wilykit said, then shrugged, trying to oust her uneasiness. "Well let's go into that one over there." She pointed to a house that was mostly covered in the sparse mist, and a tiny bit at the back was not visible. Wilykat gulped, but he nodded and followed.

It was odd. The explorers almost could not tell they had walked inside a dwelling. The mist was here, too, floating around like they were ultra-light streamers floating around in a slight breeze. Experimentally, Wilykat waved his hand through a dense-looking wisp and it parted, but it was very cold. He shivered. "No wonder it's so damp and cold...this mist, it's like ice mist or something." This was one of the homes that had been mostly emptied of its furnishings. Some books here and there stayed, all in the same odd language that Wilykat could have sworn looked familiar. Some papers and things that one might not feel he had to take along were left, along with some of the larger pieces of furniture.

A big cushy armchair sat next to the indentation in the carpet of a table or a nightstand or something. Wilykit went over to see if it would hold her, but sat up immediately in disgust, looking back over her shoulder at her rear end. "Disgusting.." she said. "It's all moldy and damp." Her tunic had been wet a bit by it and she made a face. "And it smells like old wet rags, too, this couch..."

"Well you shouldn't have sat in it," Wilykat said, peering into the kitchen. "There's not much in here...just some more mist and some plates and stuff. Looks like whoever was here only took what he thought he'd need."

"Or she," Wilykit said.

"Yeah." There was the sound of a door opening, and a cry of dismay from Wilykat. "This poor animal..." He came out looking pale. "Someone's pet's in there... He must've died pretty horribly...how could they have left him there? He was in a little kennel kind of place off the kitchen." He made a gagging sound. "Mostly bones now, but there's still moldering skin on him."

"Wilykat! That's disgusting." But she too, looked unnerved. "Forget that, Wilykat...come here, I found something."

It was a map. "Hey...that looks like this planet!" Wilykat said, looking at it closely. "Well part of it, anyway. More than we know, though! Look, here's the Forest of Silence, and the dumb Warrior Maidens' village...the Berbils...and what's this here? There's the ocean that Tygra and Cheetara found the other day! And some stuff the sensors have figured out..."

Wilykit laughed. "And look...a huge island over here, almost like a continent...and some littler ones...a medium sized one here...look. the big island's marked with some kind of pencil."

"And that looks like a flight-course," Wilykat added, racing his finger along a dotted line that ran straight from the Forest of Mists to that island. A chill went down his spine. "Wilykit..." he said, his voice a hushed whisper. "Do you get what that means?"

The girl's eyes widened as indeed she did. "They're there...maybe... Maybe they could tell us what happened here!"

Wilykat ginned broadly. "It would only take us eight hours or so to get there!" his expression ebcame that of concern. "Not long enough to get there and back in one day, though..."

Wilykit thought hard. "And we can't ask permission because then they'd know we were out of bounds..." She frowned, lost in thought, and Wilykat swatted at a thick string of mist that drifted between them. Again, it chilled his hand. "Hey!" she said suddenly. making Wilykat jump. "I've got it! Remember that camping trip we took a few weeks ago, right when the Lair was finished and we'd settled in completely? maybe they'd let us do it again..."

"But what if they checked up on us?" Wilykat said.

"Well they didn't last time. Come on, let's go ask them if we can do that next weekend! We can bring this map with us." Grinning, Wilykit took the map and stuffed it into her belt.

Wilykat stood. "You know...it almost seems like I would feel creepy about bringing that into our bedroom...but I dunno. It almost seems like we're rescuing it, bringing it into the light and safety."

His sister gave him a weird look. "You're strange, Wilykat. it's a *map* Come on, let's get back before they get mad. Then they'll never let us go."

***

It took some convincing, but they did eventually get the permission to go on their trip, and come next weekend, they loaded their spaceboards with the equipment they'd need to "camp". Sleeping bags, dinner, some plates and supplies in a knapsack, and a few tools were strapped to the end. they'd managed to get the adults to let them camp out towards the boundaries of where they were allowed to go, because it would be more exciting that way. They were to return before dark on the next day and report in via communicator.

The twins readily agreed to this, since the communicators were not traceable (although in time Panthro would remedy that). And so, once again, the kittens set off.

"Sure hope we don't get into any danger," Wilykat commented.

Wilykit raised a brow as they sped towards their destination. "Why not? we can handle it."

"Yeah, but the Sword of Omens always growls and makes a big deal if ThunderCats are in danger, whether they can handle it or not. And it can locate us."

Wilykit blinked, suddenly alarmed. "I...didn't think of that. but didn't Lion-O also say that if the person didn't want to be found, that it wouldn't find them?"

The boy frowned. "I don't know... I don't know much about the Eye of Thundera. If we're in danger, it might not matter."

Wilykit frowned, thinking, and then shook her head. "Well it's too late now. We'll just have to be careful."

Wilykat nodded, and the twins continued.

It took a great deal longer than they had anticipated to get where they were doing. Four hours alone getting to the shore. "I wish the was marked," Wilykit complained, scowling at the parchment map. "Then I'd know how far it was. I was only guessing."

The cool sea breeze chilled them both slightly, and he didn't know about his sister, but Wilykat suddenly felt lonely. He would have liked to be back at the Lair, in his nice warm bedroom, under the blankets with a book. Instead he was looking on the horizon of an unfamiliar ocean, headed for who knew what.

"Well...let's take a break before we go on," Wilykit said before heading out onto the water. "I think we can make it there by nightfall." I hope, she thought. "Let's eat supper first." Wilykit sat on her hovering board and checked in once more with the Lair, hoping the communicator would not catch the waves, hiding it with her hand to cause a bit of distortion. They'd been checking in regularly, not wanting to be caught.

Wilykat readily agreed, and they dined on a good sized ration of jerky and dried fruits, and Wilykat felt better once he'd eaten and drunk of the water they'd brought along.

Seawater was undrinkable on this planet, Lion-O had told them all as much. It wouldn't poison them, but wouldn't keep them from dying of thirst, either. The funny thing was that the streams that fed it were pure...and then were suddenly salt once they hit the sea.

Now what kind of thing was that supposed to be?

Wilykat thought about this oddity as he finished his meal and half of the fresh water he had brought. When they were both finished, they packed their things on their boards once more. "These bags are waterproof, right?" Wilykat asked, his voice shaking a bit with excitement and nervousness.

"Yeah..."

"And these boards can go over water."

"Yeah, we tested them that one time, remember?"

"Right... Well. I hope we don't fall." He knew how to swim, but somehow leaving the safety of the land made him extremely uneasy. How long would they be riding over blank, featureless, endless water?

The boy shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts. He kept thinking that, he'd never go.

It wasn't as bad as he'd thought. It made him a bit dizzy, to see so much water, but he'd remedied that by sitting down on his board. Wilykit snickered at him but he didn't care much, at lest he didn't feel disoriented.

After about five hours of ceaseless flying, Wilykit was even getting tired. "We getting close, even?" she asked, consulting the compass once more. It would be bad to get lost out on the ocean, or worse, stranded.

Wilykat, who had the map at the moment, slowed down to look at it., "Hey.." he said, looking out at a rock a good deal to their left. "I think so...look ahead! I mean I know it's almost dark, but look for it...it should be straight ahead!"

Wilykit squinted her eyes, then shook her head. "No...but let's keep going." After a half hour more, thought, the twins could see it. Their feline eyes caught sight of it as the last rays of sun began to fade. both stopped their boards and looked, their faces nearly identical pictures of horror.

What they had expected, based on the map, to be a tropical island filled with trees and even wildlife was a barren, black landscape of nothing but smooth ground, and nearly blended in with the darkening waters. Rocks jutted here and there, looming threateningly in the dim light. It wasn't even quite the right shape, Wilykat thought in horror, as part of it seemed to have broken off into the ocean.

Something terrible had happened.

Part 4: Evolution

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