2

"Come on, WIlykat!" Wilykit hopped after her brother, struggling to get her boot on. "I said I was sorry didn't I?"

Wilykat made a shooing gesture with his hand. "Go away."

"But Wilykat!" Wilykit was getting angry, and ran after him, her errant boot finally on. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Why won't you believe me?"

Wilykat jerked his arm away and scowled. "You only said that so I'd go to the infirmary!" Wilykat accused.

"I did not! Well...only partly. I said it for that reason, but I meant it, you jerk!" She had not intended to call him that, but she was mad, and when she was mad, she said things without even thinking.

Wilykat only narrowed his eyes and walked off.

Breakfast was a silent affair, the twins' dark moods casting a spell of sorts over the other ThunderCats, stilling the urge to converse. After the meal, they went their separate ways.

"It'll pass," Cheetara said quietly to Lion-O. "It always does."

The young lord sighed. "I know. But they're so inseparable, it's really disturbing to see them fight. And Wilykit needs to learn some control. She's a good fighter, but she needs control and to know when to keep her mouth shut.

"It gets her into more trouble."

Cheetara was right, as usual. Wilykat and Wilykit sulked for three days before they couldn't stand it anymore and Wilykat finally sought his sister out. "Wilykit?"

From where she was, in vain, trying to lift one of the weights in the gym that Panthro had shown off to the others one day, WIlykit looked up. "Yeah?" she asked cautiously. She had avoided her brother those three days, since he had surprised her with how he'd acted. She knew she'd messed up this time too.

"I'm sorry."

With almost as much surprise as when he'd slugged her the first time, she sat up. "Me too." She stood and put her arms around the other cub and they embraced for a moment. "Can you lift this thing?"

"What, are you crazy?"

Wilykit shook her head. "I can't lift it either. Come on, let's go take a spaceboard ride, see what's happening. You know those miserable Mutants have been causing trouble."

"Okay. but we have to check in with Lion-O first."

After doing so, the pair rode the winds, side by side. They weren't really looking for the villains, they needed to talk. "I can't believe you actually hit me," Wilykit said, still with some amazement. "Well I mean I can, but you've never hit me that hard."

Wilykat shrugged. "Well...you made me really mad, Wilykit. I know I can't fight as well as you, but I can't help it! I think about it all the time, and I hate it! I hate not being able to fight and having to be rescued more than I help anyone." When Wilykit said nothing, he continued. "I'm a ThunderCat, a warrior. And what good's a warrior that can't fight? When you said all that stuff, hearing you say the things that the Mutants usually yell at me when we're in battle, it...it really hurt, Kit."

Wilykit looked down. "I know. And...I-I meant it to. I was mad because I had to save you...and it made me scared! I don't like being scared. I couldn't take it out on them...so I guess I did on you." She sighed. "I guess I get mad too because you never want to do the exciting things I say because you think we'll get into trouble."

"That doesn't mean I'm scared to, though!" It did sometimes, but no wasn't the time to admit that.

"Well what does it mean?"

While the twins argued, a lone figure lurked in the bushes. Jackalman was out doing his own patrol and the Thunderkittens were in the viscinity of Castle Plundaar. Narrowing his eyes, and dropping to all fours to get a greater speed, Jackalman ran after them. If only he could hear what they were saying...

"It means I don't want to be grounded for a week!" Seeing his sister's skeptical look, he bristled in aggravation. "I'll prove it!" he said, stopping his spaceboard. Jackalman, trying not to pant loud enough to be heard was grateful he did. The jackal hid behind a leafy swamp tree and listened.

"You'll prove you don't want to be grounded?" Wilykit asked, a sightly puzzled look on her face.

"No!" Wilykat said. "I'll prove I'm not afraid!"

"They shoudln't ground us anyway," Wilykit grumbled, sitting on her board. "We're supposed to be equals. You don't see Panthro getting grounded."

Wilykat sighed with impatience. "That doesn't matter." He thought for a moment, then gave his sister a michievious grin. "I've got a dare for you."

Just the word "dare" made Wilykit's blood race. She was not the kind who could back away from a challenge. "Oh yeah?" she said, trying to sound tough but not able to hide a grin of anticipation.

Grinning now himself at his sister's reaction, Wilykat gestured with his head towards the Desert of the Sinking Sands nearby. It would take an hour or so to get there from where they were on their spaceboards. "I say we go to Mumm-Ra's pyramid." He felt a smile of satisfaction at his sister's quickly stifled look of alarm. "We find a way to sneak in, and we take something from there to prove we were there." He snickered. "We can frame it and put it on our wall."

Wilykit seemed about to protest, but then Wilykat said, "Or are you too chicken?" He knew that would get her.

Her courage having been challenged, Wilykit stood up. "You're on! I'll beat you there!" With that, she took off at full speed on her board. With a laugh of imminent adventure, Wilykat took off after her.

In the damp swamp-foliage, Jackalman grinned and ran for Castle Plundaar.

Knowing that the radio at the castle could contact Mumm-Ra via his cauldron, he figured he would give the mummy some advance warning and gain some brownie points...

Part One

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