3

"Hey!" Bengali called, not quite in sight of the group yet. "I hear a game of Kick the Can going on!" There was no answer. For that matter, he actually didn't hear the game anymore. "Pumyra? Snarfer?" he called, and stepped into the clearing where he had heard the frolicking sounds. "Lynx-O?" The young man set the can he was keeping the fruits in on the ground and scowled a little worriedly. "Okay guys, this is not funny, come on out." He hoped it was a prank, but something was gnawing at his instincts. There was something very wrong here.

Bengali searched for a long time, but he found no one. He did find the foot tracks, and the scuffs from the can, all of which ended abruptly, as if they were carried away by something huge, or perhaps spirited away. No signs of a struggle; it would have to have been very sudden. The can they had obviously been using sat to the side, looking almost lonely by itself.

That did it. Bengali re-sheathed his hammer, which he had taken out, and ran for the Tower of Omens.

"Cats' Lair! " came an urgent voice. "Come in, quickly!"

Wilykat recognized the white tiger's growl, and switched on the screen. At Bengali's worried face, both twins were instantly alert. "What's wrong, Bengali?" Wilykat asked.

"Lynx-O, Pumyra, and Snarfer are gone," came the terse reply. "I have searched all over the place and can not find them. I don't know where they are." He the told them of the picnic and what he had found in the forest.

"Okay, hold on, Bengali, we're gonna get Lion-O. We can send a search party!" It was nearing the end of their shift anyway, and they thought that Lion-O would allow them to go with them on this search.

"What?" said a puzzled Lion-O, as the twins burst in on the kitchen where he was getting a snack and explained the situation. "What do you mean they disappeared?"

Wilykat shrugged. "That's what Bengali said. We don't know."

Lion-O frowned. "Okay. I'll take Panthro and Cheetara and go take a look. You two stay at your posts here at the Lair and wait for instructions."

"Awww, Lion-O, can't we come?" Wilykit said, her voice sounding a lot more whiny than she had intended it to. She changed her tone with a flush of embarrassment. "I mean you know we're good at tracking."

Lion-O stifled a smile and spoke seriously to the hopeful twins. "Not this time, Thunderkittens. In this case, Cheetara's sixth sense will be of more help, and your shift isn't over yet."

"Aw, Lion-O." came the disappointed reply from Wilykat.

But argument was futile. Both twins sighed in resignation and grumbled their way back to the control room.

"Okay," came a dejected sounding voice. Wilykit. "Lion-O and Panthro and Cheetara are coming over."

Ah, that explained it, Bengali thought. They were told to stay behind. "Good, thanks, guys. Stand by for updates." He switched off the screen.

Deciding that he wanted to meet the incoming group in the hangar, Bengali took a step...

...and stepped into thin air. He let out a startled yelp as all of a sudden he was falling where it should have been impossible to fall...

"Did you hear something?" Cheetara asked. She had gotten a brief mental flash that was so short her mind could not tell her if it had been heard or only felt.

Lion-O looked at her a little strangely, and shook his head. "No, I didn't hear anything. What's the matter?"

Cheetara shook her head as Panthro drove the ThunderTank into the opened hangar doors. "Nothing. It must have been a noise of the 'Tank." But it had sounded like a scream.

Lion-O frowned a little, but let it go for the moment.

Once at the Tower of Omens, the trio jumped from the ThunderTank, landing lightly on the floor of the hangar. "Bengali?" Panthro called in his strong, penetrating voice.

"The intercom might have worked a little better, Panthro," Cheetara said, her own voice carrying the slight exotic accent of her species.

Panthro laughed. "Maybe, but I am letting out pent-up energy." Cheetara laughed, and followed Lion-O up the stairs. He admonished them to at a little more serious, as this was a serious task. Three ThunderCats were missing. A little chastised, the other two quieted down.

"Bengali?" Lion-O said into the empty Control Room.

"He's not here," the panther said. He looked puzzled.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom," Cheetara suggested.

Lion-O didn't answer, he only went to the console, raised the Lair on the radio, and asked the twins where Bengali was. His voice sounded loud and somehow out of place in the quiet Tower.

"We don't know, Lion-O. We were telling him that we'd stand by like he asked, then he left to meet you. He's not there?"

Lion-O looked at the radio and the screen for a moment, a cold chill making its way down his spine. An unpleasant worm of paranoia was squirming into the young lord's mind. "No," he said to the wildcats. "He isn't here, Wilykit. Listen, you and Wilykat be very careful, there's something going on here that I don't like. Tell the others. Will get back to you soon."

Wilykit frowned, but to her credit did not waste time with questions now, only did as she was asked. "Good luck, Lion-O!" her brother added.

"Well," Cheetara said. She had her eyes closed in thought. "It's strange; no matter how I focus or concentrate, I cannot track any of them. I have never not been able to feel any of your presences before."

Lion-O frowned thunderously at this. No, he did not like this at all. "Something's screwy here," he said, unsheathing the Sword of Omens. "And I intent to find out what. Sword of Omens, give me Sight Beyond Sight!" he commanded, and the crossbars curled upward, as the distorted tunnel vision of the magic was made known to Lion-O's eyes.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to see, only what looked like the interference one sometimes got on a viewscreen if the connection was bad. "Nothing. The Sword showed me nothing." That was not good. It either meant that there was some strong magic blocking the Sword; the events of the day were too horrible for the Sword to be able to reveal; or Lynx-O and the crew of the Tower of Omens were too far away to track.

"Blast!" Panthro spat, and clenched his fists. "I guess we do this the hard way. To the forest!"

"Yes," Lion-O said grimly. "We will get to the bottom of this."

The trio left the Control room, passing the point where unbeknownst to them, the young white tiger had stepped only moments ago, and vanished. Nothing happened, and they passed the spot with no trouble, without giving it a second glance.

Part2

Part 4

Table of Contents
ThunderCat Stories Page
Main Page