6

Battle and Revelations

Months after this discovery, a cry went through the Control room of the Lair. "That blasted mummy!" These words were all the warning that the rest of the Lair received before a barrage of fireballs began striking the lair, and rocking the whole fortress.

It had been three months since Wilykit and Wilykat had gone to the village near the Forest of Mists, as they'd been far too spooked to go back. They'd hidden the books in one of the many secret compartments in their bedroom, and taken a break.

But apparently, the lair was under attack by the creature, Mumm-Ra, who'd they'd met only twice before, and who seemed to think that he ruled over the people. The ThunderCats (and most of Third Earth) felt otherwise, and Mumm-Ra somehow thought this was the ThunderCats' fault, and so had been determined to kill them since the beginning.

The twins ran into the control room to find it in a state of disorganization. Panthro was running out, just as the twins ran in, with Cheetara and Tygra close behind. "We're taking the 'Tank!" he yelled over his shoulder to Lion-O, how nodded briefly.

Lion-O was at a weapons console, and returning fire with some fireballs of his own from the lair's defenses. "Twins!" he exclaimed. "Take a console! Wilykit, you're the better shot, take the other lasers, Wilykat, make sure our shields stay up and running!" He knew more about mechanics, anyway.

With hardly more than a nod, the twins took their stations, suddenly warriors instead of children, at least for the time being.

At first, they seemed to be holding the mummy at bay, even though he could fly, and was deftly avoiding most of their attacks. But then the Mutants arrived to help! They heard the warning from the ThunderTank, Panthro's voice sounded angry. "Mutants!" he snarled. "Be ready, they've got...some kind of flying craft!"

"Will do Panthro, be careful," came Lion-O's reply. He looked at the twins. "I may have to go outside and help with the Sword of Omens, kittens. You two stay inside and keep up the fire."

He was right. Not too long after S-S-Slithe and his subordinates joined the battle, the ThunderTank's crew sent a call for help, as they were being mobbed. Growling, Lion-O ran out, the Sword of Omens drawn and in his hands.

And the twins kept firing.

Just then, the fighters were beginning to tire, the Lair got a message form the ThunderTank. It was Tygra. "Twins, be careful. Mumm-Ra has disappeared, and we're not sure where he's gone."

"Will do, Tygra," Wilykat responded. It wasn't a minute later before an amused chuckle was heard behind them.

The twins spun around to see the frightening figure of Mumm-Ra, in full battle form, his unnatural red eyes narrowed down at them. "And so they leave the babes in command of the stronghold," he rumbled. "That only makes things easier for me."

The twins gaped for a moment, and then Wilykit bristled about being called a baby. "We are not babes, We're ThunderCats, you big bonebag!"

Mumm-Ra's eyes flashed redder for a moment, and then he laughed. "Such spirit for someone to tiny!" he mocked, his grotesque mouth twisting in a mockery of amusement. He raised his hands suddenly and sent a jolt of electricity at the pair that stood before him. Agilely, they leapt out of the way, crouching down in fighting positions on either side of the undead creature.

"It was you, wasn;t it?" Wilykit said, narrowing her own eyes.

Mildly interested, Mumm-Ra turned his head to look at her. When Wilykat took the opportunity to try and attack, Mumm-Ra zapped him without even looking; barely avoiding the full brunt of the blow, Wilykat took a graze and sprawled on the floor.

Wilykit gasped and looked to ehr brother, who signalled that he was all right. When she was sure her brother was not badly hurt, Wilykit turned back to Mumm-Ra. "You were the one that turned Second Earth into Third Earth!"

Mumm-Ra looked very surprised. "Clever kitten," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "And how might you have come across this information?"

"I read a journal," Wilykit said with a defiant tilt of her chin. She watched as Mumm-Ra's eyes narrowed once more and continued. "Why?" she demanded. "Why did you kill all those people. Spew all that magic...destroy so much?"

Mumm-Ra laughed, then, a horrible sound without sanity or humanity. "Control, child! When people advance too far, when they get too populated...it is then a ruler loses his control over his servants..." he smiled wider at Wilykit's look of horror and then he suddenly realized something. "So you discovered the old Thunderian village, then?" he chuckled. "There are none still alive, you know. Well not that you'd recognize, at any rate. it's really too bad...that was a nice island." he sighed with mock regret. "Amazing what a few hundred meteorites can do to so many beings of flesh."

Wilykit gasped. Island...did he mean the one that she and Wilykat had found, destroyed? Black and burnt? "Y-you killed them!" she said, sounding horrified. "And they had no bases, no protection!" Before Mumm-Ra could even answer, Wilykit snarled and lunged at him, her capsules forgotten, at the mummy. Her claws extended, she growled as she collided with her powerful adversary, but she did hardly more than make him sway a bit as he rose an inch into the air. Cackling loudly in amusement, he took her with one hand by the scruff of her neck and threw her against the door.

For a moment, Wilykit lay stunned on the floor, her eyes crossing. That had hurt! Okay...now she was mad! She hissed and stood again, wincing as a pain in her side let her know that she'd made a stupid move. but the Mummy's laughter was so infuriating!

She pulled a capsule of light and broke it at Mumm-Ra's feet, blinding him for a split second while she tossed anther one, a dragon-capsule. Mumm-Ra had never seen quite such a thing before, such an illusion of puppetry and illusion. Thinking it real, he snarled in surprise and unleashed his lighting at it.

The dragon roared, shot fire...and then slowly began to deflate as Mumm-Ra bombarded it.

In the meanwhile Wilykat was on the radio with Panthro and telling him frantically that Mumm-Ra was here and that they needed help, and that Mumm-Ra was a jerk! Wilykit was getting ready her next weapons, as Mumm-Ra suddenly growled low, and turned slowly to face Wilykit. He was angry at having been deceived so easily by a mere child.

As he brought his hand up to let loose with his deadly electricity, Wilykit leapt and snapped out her lariat like a whip, smacking the mummy right in the face. He yelped in pained surprise while Wilykit threw yet another dragon-capsule at him. it provided at least a shield, a distraction.

Wilykat now rejoined thew fight, tossing a few pellets into the air, and breaking them with his own lariat. hordes of tiny biting insects swarmed Mumm-Ra, and he was getting mad.

The twins were lucky that Lion-O arrived just then with the powerful Sword of Omens, else they might have died that day. The Mutants had been driven back after one of them was shot down by Cheetara's excellent marksmanship, and the others were not far behind.

Mumm-Ra finally took wing, with a curse in a language so ancient than only he and the spirits knew it, and vowed they'd not seen the last of him. Panting, Wilykat picked himself up off the floor, where he usually seemed to end up when everyone fought. And sore! "That miserable jerk!" he said, tucking his capsules away. He scowled and kicked the dragon's pump-valve and it deflated, and the insects had followed Mumm-Ra out of the lair.

"Are you two all right?" Tygra asked, pushing forward while Panthro went to examine the damage to the computer consoles. Some stray bolts had fried a few circuits.

"Yeah," Wilykit said with a wince She lifted up her tunic to reveal a dark, spreading bruise on her side where she'd hit the door. "That hurts, though...boy, have I got things I owe Mumm-Ra! Like a few dozen knuckles!"

Cheetara laughed quietly and put a hand on Wilykat's shoulders, looking over him at the angry girl. "I think he might be regretting attacking you two, thinking you were helpless," she said, and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Ow," he said, scowling at her and rubbing his head. "Great...I found another ow!"

"Come on then...let's go up to sickbay. Come on Lion-O, yes, even the Lord of the ThunderCats needs to have his injuries tended." Lion-O did not protest too much as he was led upstairs.

***

"Lion-O?" Wilykit asked, once Tygra was done and declared that he wanted a full day of rest for all of them and some good cooking. Snarf was in the middle of seeing to that last order.

"Yes, Kit?"

"Mumm-Ra said something about Thunderians being here before..." she said cautiously. It wasn't an exact lie. He had mentioned them. "Were there ever any other settlements here from Thundera? Like a really long time ago maybe?"

"Yeah, since the bag of bones never seems to die," Wilykat muttered. he had a few bandages on his fur from burn marks, and wasn't happy. He hated bandages. He scowled, holding out his arms out disgustedly "Look at this, I look like him!"

Wilykit giggled. "Maybe you should try to take over the world, too," she said

"Oh shut up."

"Anyway..." Wilykit looked back at Lion-O to see what he would say.

Having been amused at the twins' bantering, he now looked serious once more. "I don't know for sure, Wilykit. Remember I know so little about Thundera. You two remember more than I do." It had always been a sore point. but they had all figured that his rapid rate of accelerated age had been the reason for his loss of memory, his mind was still adjusting to its rapid development. "But...it does seem that I have heard of groups being sent out a long time ago to see if they could make it to other planets. long before we knew of most of them."

"Oh..." Wilykit frowned and looked down at her plate. "That's creepy... I guess that's how they knew of this place?"

Lion-O considered. "Maybe," he said. "It has been on our star charts for a long time now, but it's so remote that no one had reason to go there."

Wilykit nodded and went back to her food. But she'd decided that it was time for another visit to the Village of Mists.

Part 7: Sentience

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