4

"Transform this decayed form..."

As the mummy wizard completed his incantation, the two trespassers had coaxed all the speed they possibly could from their lithe spaceboards, Wilykat gripping his board with one hand and still on his knees, and clutching the large chip of stone in the other tightly enough to hurt him, although he could not open his hand anymore than he could keep his heart from racing, or his teeth from clenching. It was a reaction of pure fear.

Wilykit had gotten to her feet, although somewhat shakily, and was soaring ahead of her brother, urging him the whole time to hurry before that blasted mummy caught up to them and turned them into frogs of something. Mumm-Ra had never done such a thing so far as they knew, and it was her stressed attempt at a joke. That was how Wilykit dealt with fear, she joked or got angry.

Wilykat could go no faster, not being as skilled with the spaceboards as she was. He looked behind him, his eyes open in am expression of terror, as an unholy shriek erupted behind the fleeing Thunderians, a shriek of anger, and of aggression. It was a battle cry.

Mumm-Ra flew behind them, rushing them in a fit of anger, even as they retreated without further fight. "Wilykit look out!" the boy cried, and took his board into a dive as Mumm-Ra came straight for him.

Diving was not something he had to think about, as more often than not that is what he ended up doing if he did not pay attention while riding, and the mummy sailed over him.

He cursed the miss, which had been intended to knock the young ThunderCat to the ground several feet below, where he would fry him. But he would see to the girl first, as she was the bolder of the two, and most likely it had been her idea. She was also the bigger threat, although Mumm-Ra would have either laughed or electrocuted the one who was foolish enough to suggest he feared the attack of two kittens.

Warned by her brother's cry, Wilykit also turned, and dropped to her knees to clutch the spaceboard, as she had no time to duck as Wilykat had done. She let out a screech as Mumm-Ra's outstretched fist struck her in the side, and she spun several times on her board, managing to hold on the entire time. Closing her eyes as she held back a wave of nausea from the blow and the spin, she only knelt clutching the sides for a moment as the board righted itself. She coughed and started once again to get up, interesting now in only getting away.

"Lords of Thundera!" Wilykat watched this with a degree of horror and stood up on his own board, even as Mumm-Ra laughed nastily and rose up, splaying his fingers to unleash a deadly barrage of energy at the temporarily helpless kitten. "NO!!!" Wilykat howled, and dove from his own elevated position. He was not sure exactly what he would do at first, but as he saw the glint of sun on his sister's board, he knew.

As Mumm-Ra looked up in annoyance, Wilykat dashed between him and his sister, pulling up on the spaceboard so that it was perpendicular to the ground, as he strained to keep the board steady. The repulsors that made them hover or gave the boards height turned, trying to accommodate this unusual angle, but it was hell keeping it steady, and already it began to wobble.

But it had been enough. As Mumm-Ra snarled and prepared to blast the male kitten from his way, he saw what Wilykat had noticed: the boards were highly reflective.

As he caught sight of his own face in the reflected image, he saw what he really was, what not even the Mutants saw when they met with him in his diminished form at the pyramid. He saw a face of depthless evil, and ancient, rotten skin that was more bandage that had seeped in and out of his very flesh. He saw an emaciated body, without the borrowed power of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, power that was given him only when the ancient ones were in need of him, or when he left to do their bidding. The only thing about his true form that was really alive were his eyes...not alive as a natural creature might be, but alive with eons of power being pumped into his body, blazing a livid red with ages of hatred and murder and the torment of others that personified the blackened entity that passed for his soul.

Confronted with this horrifying image, and the knowledge and realizations that always came with it, Mumm-Ra shrieked, and covered his face, as if to block out the specter. But for now it could not be banished; the picture was etched into his consciousness as he backed away in the air, growling an infuriated threat, and retreated to the sanctuary of his pyramid.

It was a good thing he did. At that moment, Wilykat lost his tenuous control of his board and fell from it, landing to sprawl ungracefully in the dirt. He scowled and rubbed his posterior, which he had landed on. "Ow..."

But to Wilykit, who had managed to gain her feet, it was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. She'd been afraid she was about to die, and then afraid Wilykat would be annihilated in front of her. She landed, fell to her knees beside her brother sitting in the dirt, and threw her arms around him. "I sure owe you one this time, Wilykat," she said, her voice only steadied by sheer will.

He hugged her back and laughed half-heartedly. "Yeah...well this make us even...for at least one of the time you've saved my butt..." He was still scared, and now sore and exhausted as the adrenaline rush waned, but he felt good. He felt great. he had just fended off Mumm-Ra with one quick-thinking act. Sometimes quick thinking was better than his sister's preferred style of out and out fighting.

"Let's go home." Wilykit stood and offered her brother a hand up. He nodded and took it, and the twins climbed back onto their boards, headed for home.

"What in the-what happened to you two?" Panthro asked as they walked into the control room, covered in dust and looking somewhat bedraggled.

"We were wrestling in the dirt," Wilykat said without missing a beat. The twins were very good at creative storytelling.

"Yeah," Wilykit said, and winced. Being Thunderian and not being shy about nudity since they sometimes went nude inside where the citizens of Third Earth would not be offended, Wilykit lifted her tunic to reveal her side, the one Mumm-Ra had struck in his angry attack. She winced again, more intensely, when she saw the bruise that covered her side. "Ow...man."

Panthro's eyes widened and he took a look at the kitten's side. "Jeez, Wilykit! Did this happen yesterday?" It was an ugly purple color with some hints of a greenish tint that was actually kind of interesting.

"Well I guess," Wilykit said. "It's been hurting." And neither was this a lie, as it had been hurting; all the way home it had been hurting, which was long enough in her opinion.

"Well that looks bad...go on and have Tygra look it all right?"

Wilykit nodded. "Okay..." She sighed and left the room.

After Tygra had pronounced Wilykit free of broken or cracked ribs, and sent her to bed with a salve to put on it every few hours or so, the twins retired to their bedroom to gloat over their prize. Wilykat had had to search for it in the sands of the desert after the tussle, but had easily found it in the bleached sand and put it in his pouch; he brought it out now and couldn't help but grin. "Jeez, Wilykit...this is one of the Ancient Spirits of Evil!"

Wilykit blinked, then a slow grin appeared on her face. "You're right! Wow...and we got away with it too!" She grinned. "We can't display it though, if one of the grown-ups ever figured out what it was..."

"No kidding. What should we do with it?" He grinned. "I want to keep it."

"Hmmmm." Wilykit got a mischievous grin on her face. "I dare you to carry it around with you in your pouch."

Wilykat laughed, then shrugged. After the day he had survived, he felt pretty agreeable. "Sure!" He put it in the pouch of his belt before hanging it on his bedpost for the night.

There was a soft rustle of sand as Mumm-Ra returned to the pyramid, a mere breeze wisping through the chamber as he swiftly transformed into his weak, energy-conserving form, and was prepared to creep into his casket to regenerate when he saw the image of a sniveling face in his cauldron. As his lip curled in intense annoyance, he considered ignoring it, but then the jackal would only persist. "What do you want, you craven, sniveling wretch?" he snarled.

Obviously cowed, but just as obviously having something he deemed of great importance to say, Jackalman stammered, "M-Mumm-Ra, I saw the Thunderkittens!" He let out a nervous laugh. "They were talking about heading for your pyramid and t--"

But the skinny jackal Mutant never got to finish his sentence, as Mumm-Ra roared in fury, blasting the cauldron with energy that with the sheer force of magic in the angry display of temper, transmitted through the communications at Castle Plundaar to arc from the control panel, frying it and coursing into Jackalman. He flew across the room in a sizzle of red electricity, howling in pain as it diminished. With a whimper of fear, he ran from the room.

This having drained what energy he had left, Mumm-Ra staggered into his sarcophagus, and the lid slid shut...

Part Three

Part Five

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