18

"Mumm-Ra!" Lion-O's voice rang out in the dead air around the Black Pyramid. The ThunderCats did not usually go there looking for a fight, but this time their friends' lives were at stake. "Mumm-Ra!" The young lord had the Sword of Omens drawn, and was ready for battle.

"We know you're in there, you miserable bag of bones!" Panthro added. He was not just ready for a fight, he was lusting for a fight. He was mad as hell, and he wasn't going to take it anymore. He didn't like being fooled with, and when people started messing with his countrymen, it angered the panther to no end.

Just as the group of ThunderCats thought that either the mummy was not there, or was simply ignoring them, there came an unpleasant chuckle from inside the oppressing pyramid. "So, you dare come here, to my abode, ThunderCats?" All of them jumped as a door opened in one side of the pyramid. "Come in if you dare, 'honorable' felines." This was spoken with a heavy scorn, and a mockery that made the little group of ThunderCats bristle with anger, none more than Panthro. He stalked in.

"Panthro! Wait for us!" Lion-O ran to catch up, and Tygra and the Thunderkittens ran in behind the pair. There was a scraping sound and a resounding thud as the doorway once again shut and was sealed. "All right, ThunderCats, be on your guard." Lion-O crept forward, Sword of Omens held out in front of him, ready to fight.

As they made their way through the sterile, almost complete darkness, towards a glow up ahead that could only mean the ancient being's main chamber, the ThunderCats heard words echoing though the corridors that they dreaded:

"Ancient Spirits of Evil..."

"He's transforming!" Wilykat cried.

"...transform this decayed form..."

"He's ready for a fight!" Wilykit said, and she ran with her brother to get there perhaps before the mummy was finished. They could hear the adults close behind them.

"...to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!!" the voice shrieked, completing the incantation. The group of uninvited guests burst in on the chamber where Mumm-Ra's sarcophagus and cauldron sat in time to witness the transformation as Mumm-Ra himself grew in stature, his emaciated form becoming that of a well-muscled warrior. The felines' manes whipped around wildly from the wind of the magic whose force had made this transformation possible, and Mumm-Ra turned to face them, a half grin, half sneer on his face. "So, you dare face Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living in his own abode, lion cub?"

"What did you do with them, you decayed bundle of Band-Aids?!" Panthro demanded, stepping forward. The Thunderkittens snickered.

Mumm-Ra laughed at them, hovering a few feet off the ground for intimidation. "Would you be referring to your little pussy comrades, Panthro?"

Panthro growled, spinning the tip off of his nun-chuck and firing a blast at him. "Where are they?"

The ancient mummy simply raised a hand and blocked the energy that had spewed from Panthro's weapon and growled, "They are in another time, other worlds, and even if I wanted to, Thunderpest, I couldn't bring them back." He grinned nastily. "This was a one way spell." With that, he raised his hands and sent his own energy coursing towards the panther, knocking his asprawl several feet away with a cry of surprise and anger. He got back up angrily.

"Hey!" Wilykit cried, as she and her brother rushed forward.

"You big bully!" her brother added. They ran at him, hurling capsules of smoke, and attempting to take the mummy down in the confusion that they knew their way through well. The mummy send another burst of lightning through his fingertips, channeling his energy this time into striking the young twins.

As they also were knocked across the room with singed fur, Lion-O growled. "Okay, that's enough, Mumm-Ra! We want to know where the others are and how to get them back. Tell us now and we will leave peacefully!"

Tygra had gone over to the twins and asked if they were okay. They were shaken, but unharmed, though they'd be feeling the effects of this fight in the morning. Mumm-Ra tittered. "You want to see where they are, young 'Lord of the ThunderCats'? Then come over here." He would enjoy showing them where they were.

The ancient being approached the cauldron and bid his visitors approach as well as a murky image began to show itself, clearing as it was conjured. It showed a scene in the prison of Plundaar that made Panthro cover the twins' eyes, and made Tygra and Lion-O clench their fists in fury. It showed a fight on the Mutant ships with Lynx-O and Snarfer and Pumyra before they won it. It showed Bengali, falling forever on a world with no land. "And as for bringing them back, there is no way." He sneered at them. "This was a one way spell, whelp!"

As the disturbing images faded from the cauldron, Lion-O growled and clutched his blade. "Then I guess we have nothing more to talk about! HOOOO!" The mighty Sword of Omens let loose an equally mighty lance of power at Mumm-Ra, and the mummy was thrown back, only to come forward again to lash out with the lightning. Tygra rendered himself invisible and lashed out with his whip at the mummy priest while Panthro attacked with his nunchucks, but Mumm-Ra had rested a great deal, and was completely recharged. He was strong.

***

The return trip to Thundera did not take as long as it had taken to get to Plundaar, only because the ship they had stowed away on had not been in any hurry. This time, had Mandora or any other CONTROL officers been out patrolling, they would have been slapped with a speeding ticket for sure. Snarfer, in particular, had a bit of a grudge against the woman.

Luckily they did not run into any such being.

They had had a bit of a problem as they approached Thundera, being in a Mutant ship, but they had finally proven themselves to be Thunderian, gotten their permission to orbit and land. It was a good thing, too. They were exhausted. They decided that they would land in an uninhabited part of Thundera and simply sleep in the ship where it was safe, which they did. Each fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the bunk of the dark, cramped Mutant ship.

***

"Snaaarf, why can't you miserable Mutants leave me alone!?" Snarf wailed, as he was taken by the tail yet again for a session in the laboratory. This Mutant didn't bother shaking him to shut him up, he only ignored the red and yellow furball as he carried him to the lab and strapped him in. Snarf still hurt too much to make much of a fuss about it.

"Good morning, my lab rat," the avian said with a grin. "How do you feel this morning?"

"I;m not a rat, I;m a snarf! Leave me alone!" came the reply.

"Now what good would that do? You would only rot in a cell if I did that." The vulture released the restrain keeping Snarf's upper body secured and pulled him to a sitting position. He handed the Snarf a bowl of soup and a glass of water. "Hurry up and eat, furball. You're no use to me if your diet doesn't keep your body in clinical condition. You see? Being my test subject can have its advantages. You'll be fed more than most of the prisoners here." He chuckled. Truth was, even with that perk, most of the prisoners would take almost anything to being a lab rat for the bird.

Snarf glared at him, but did not pass up the bowl of soup. He was hungry, not to mention cold, and the soup was good and hot. He ate quickly, though with painful, stiff motions, and finally drained the glass of water. He sighed. "Then why don't you get one of your own kind in here, snarf, snarf? I'm too little to take much of your darned experimentation!"

"Oh, but you aren't. You see in this time, my young friend, your kind has been exterminated. I want to find out how some of our common drugs and medicines, and toxins affect somone of your race, and after that perhaps if the time travel affected you in any way."

Snarf's ears folded down, but still he glared at the vulture. "Well at least I wish you'd let Cheetara stay with me! You don't have to be so mean and separate us all the time." He carefully crossed his arms and scowled. "I mean you don;t know anyhting about Thunderians, either!" Then he widened his eyes, clamping a hand over his mouth, as if he had said something he didn;t mean to say.

The vulture didn't say anything for a minute, but only thought. When Snarf finally looked up, wondering why he was so quiet for so long, the vulture grinned at him. "You know, that's a good idea! I have seen few of the Thunderian race either, and never got the opportunity to see how one ticks. What an excellent idea." He began to leave the room.

"Wait!" Snarf cried, trying to hide the smug grin that threatened to surface. That's exactly how he had wanted him to react. "That's not what I meant!"

The vulture didn't say anything, only slammed the door, leaving Snarf secured to the table by his legs. Snarf chuckled, then held his sides as the motion made them hurt. Well they had started it, could they finish?

Part 17

Part 19

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