4

Evolution

They stared for a full three minutes, at least, at what should have been a place that was full of life. "Wh-what happened?" Wilykit said, her voice a whisper.

"I...I dunno Wilykit...there's nothing alive on this island though. Let's - let's just go."

But Wilykit was shaking her head and looked very unhappy. "Wilykat, it's nearly dark. I-I don't think we'd get far. Or we'd get lost or stranded."

"I don't care, Wilykit!" Wilykat sounded like he was on the verge of panic. "Something...something terrible happened here, the whole place's destroyed! I can't-I can't land here!"

Wilykit frowned and looked at her brother; moved her board over to where she could look him right in the face. "Wilykat. Listen to me. Whatever happened here, it happened a long time ago, it won't hurt us. There's nothing here that can." But even as she said it, there was a piercing cry overhead, and a largish bird was silhouetted against the last brave ray of Sol before it flew into shadows. Wilykit tried to ignore it. "You're a ThunderCat, Wilykat, you can handle this. Come on, we can camp here a few hours and leave when it gets light." With that, the young Thunderian brought her board down and jumped off onto the sand.

It happened that it wasn't sand at all, but solid, fused rock. Making a face, Wilykit rolled out her bag and grumbled about having seen metal slabs softer than this. After a long moment, Wilykat's bag was unrolled alongside hers.

It was a long, bad night. They both ended up in the same bag, clutching each other in fright as the sounds of the sea and the odd birds that flew around in the marine environments kept them jumping every three seconds. A few hours before dawn, they did manage to get some sleep, but were not very amiable in the morning.

They did make their way back in the early evening and professed both their weariness and their appetites. They were just in time for supper, and the adults all asked how their trip was, and what they did and where they went. They said something about the Unicorn Forest, way off towards the west end of it, where they hadn't gone yet. As they'd checked in every so often, no one doubted their story.

They went to bed early.

It was a few weeks before the twins went again to the Forest of Mists. They had been quite unnerved by their last investigation of the mystery, and wanted a little normal life for a while. Of course, there was a battle with the miserable Mutants, who decided that day would be a good time to rid themselves of their new enemies, and attacked the Lair. So much for normal life.

It was quite satisfying, however, as the ThunderCats won with little effort.

But when they did go again, they had made a decision; this time they would be doing in.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Wilykat asked for the tenth time as the twins stood by the building they'd found the map in. They were peering into the gloom.

"No..." Wilykit said, also for the tenth time. "But let's do it anyways. Got your flashlight?"

Wilykat nodded. "Yeah." Holding each others' hands, the kittens crept into the forest.

The first thing they noticed was how abysmally dark it was inside. Nearly the only light was from their own flashlights, and as they crept deeper inside, they began to see phosphorescent plants now and then that sent off on eerie glow. "You look like a panther in that weird light," Wilykat whispered, looking at his sister's face.

"You too." They both giggled nervously, and trekked on. "Make sure you keep your compass ready...I don't wanna get lost."

It was like nothing they'd ever seen before in their lives. As they walked on, the ground became more and more muddy, sucking at their boots as they walked. The more observant Wilykat noticed it first. "Wilykit," he whispered after about twenty minutes. "Wilykit...this mist isn't really mist!" He was shivering by now, as the cold mist was all around them.

Wilykit wrinkled her nose. "Well whatever it is, is stinks." The mist had an odd, acrid smell to it.

"Yeah...that's another thing I don't think makes it mist. Look..." He crouched down, and shoved a clump of mud aside. A tendril of the fog swirled up from the hole and joined the rest. "It's more like...swamp gas! It's not a forest, it's swampland! That's why everything was so damp."

Wilykit blinked. "Swampland..." That did make sense, but the trees were so tall! Unlike any swamp she'd ever studied. And so dense, and thick. "I thought swamplands were always warm."

"Yeah me too. But we're on a different planet, Wilykit. Or maybe something weird caused this, a magical accident, or something like that. Maybe someone's magical weapon got out of hand."

All of a sudden Wilykit gasped. Jumping about a mile in the air, Wilykat spun around to see what had alarmed her. She was staring at a little lizard creature sitting on branch of one of the misshapen trees, peering at them. But no, it wasn't a lizard, most lizards could not survive in such a chilly place for too long. Wilykat frowned and got a closer look; it had fur. Fur, and eyes big enough to cover most of its head. "Now that's weird..." Wilykat said.

"Adapted for the dark, I guess..." They stared at the creature for a moment before a noise behind them made them spin around once more.

There stood another creature, but this one seemed to be much more of an immediate threat than the little furry lizard creature. Huge, gleaming, yellow eyes narrowed themselves at the twins, and it growled deep in its throat. Three of four little ones ringed it, their own huge eyes peering warily at the twins. The things had pointed ears and thick fur, and ran rather awkwardly on all fours. Wilykit stared. "Um." For once that seemed to be all she could think of to utter.

The creature replied by snarling at her, and both kittens took a step backwards. Wilykat put up his hands in a placating gesture. "N-now... it's okay...we're not gonna hurt your babies... We're just gonna go nice and slow no--" but he never got a chance to finish, because the thing jumped on him.

Wilykit screamed as her brother was leapt on, and jumped on the creature's back, but it easily batted her off with its long, clawed paws. Shaking her head, Wilykit growled herself and got out a couple of pellets. Her normal smoke pellets would be of little use here, she realized, and then an idea dawned on her. Light! As big as these things' eyes were, it probably didn't like light!

Frantically searching for one on her belt, she winced as her brother screamed, when the creature sank its teeth into his arm. "Aha! Found it! Back off you stupid thing!!" she cried, darting forward and hurling two of them at the cat.

It howled, and closed its eyes, its head shaking back and forth. Wilykit kicked out at it, and it retreated, making a whimpering sound as it kept shaking its head. The little ones scampered after it, looking decidedly less awkward as they ran. "Oh jeez...oh man, Wilykat..." Wilykit knelt by her brother, but he was already sitting up, clutching his arm to his chest. She helped him up. "Hurry...before that thing comes to its senses!"

With Wilykit helping him, the twins ran for what they remembered the edge of the forest being...and ran into the sun.

They were able to come up with a convincing enough story. After all, the Unicorn Forest was highly unexplored, and even Snarf had seen wild, dangerous looking things in it. And the mud was easily enough explained. Of course it had taken some convincing to keep the ThunderCats from forbidding them to go there again. After all, they'd fought off the beast without causing it undue harm, and gotten back safely. Shouldn't that prove they could handle themselves? Lion-O reluctantly agreed that it did. But until Wilykat's arm had healed, they were to stay around the Lair.

"It looked like a cat," Wilykat said to their lord, as he watched Tygra bind up the bite marks. They'd been checked for disease or infection, and there had been none. "Ow, that hurt!"

"Sorry, Wilykat," Tygra said. "A cat? A feral one?"

"Really?" Lion-O's eyebrows rose.

"Not like us though," Wilykit said. "More like Kano." Tygra had insisted on looking her over too, but she had nothing more than a couple of bruises and scrapes from being thrown into the bushes. "Well and he was kinda more canine, wasn't he?" She couldn't quite remember, but Lion-O nodded. "It was like..." She sighed in frustration.

"Wait!" Wilykat looked at Tygra. "You remember those animals we found in those old ruins? I mean the book we found there? A creature of this planet form eons ago? Those wild feline things?"

Tygra nodded. "The ones that we think we might have been related to. The feral cats."

"It was like one o those, but mutated...I guess from living...so long." he'd almost said "in the swamp" but had caught himself.

"Hmm," Lion-O said. "Maybe we'll send a coupe of people out to check it out." He held up a hand. "No, I want you two to rest for a few days." He chuckled. "You did quite enough in discovering the creatures.

Deciding not to press their luck further, they agreed.

Part 5: Book Lessons

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