12

Not even twenty-four hours after he had lamented his frustration at not being able to see what was happening, Mumm-Ra was called out by his masters. Grumbling something he would not have enjoyed had the ancient ones heard, he came out. "What would you have ne see, great ones?" he asked humbly.

But the answer was self evident in the cauldron. In silent pictures and images, Mumm-Ra watched, eyes narrowed in fury, at what he saw.

He did not need to ask what the Ancient Spirits of Evil wanted him to do, as it was obvious. "Ancient Spirits of Evil," he began, raising his hands to the ceiling. "Transform this decayed form to Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living!"

The cauldron had shown the wretched ThunderCats tending the injuries Wilykat had inflicted unwittingly on himself in his mad destructive spree. He saw them leave Wilykit watching over him. He saw Panthro and Tygra going to work repairing the control room and its sensors, weapons, that kind of thing. Power was out in the whole Lair, so they had portable lights, and the like. The infirmary was in emergency power from the generators.

Snarf paced back and forth outside in the sun, not wanting to be in the dark Lair, and needing some space to vent his worry and agitation. Lion-O and Cheetara were out making their rounds, as even now they couldn't let the daily patrols lapse.

Mumm-Ra laughed. Like taking candy from a kitten. He took a potshot of lightning at Snarf as he paced, hitting him from behind and ending him tumbling several feet away, out cold. He laughed unpleasantly, amused, and then faded out to reappear in the infirmary.

Wilykit never noticed him, as she was too concerned about her brother. She did not sense him until he grabbed the half conscious Wilykat and turned the heavy bed over on Wilykit, eliciting a sharp outcry of startlement and indignation. "Hey!! Mumm-Ra! You jerk!"

Mumm-Ra cackled and overturned a cabinet on top of the bunk to pin the young ThunderCat under the bed, as he held her groggy brother by the scruff of the neck. "Hey!" came a slightly frantic, muffled voice from underneath the bed. "Hey!! You let him go, you miserable mummy!" The furniture shifted as she struggled to get out from underneath the bed.

Mumm-Ra only laughed at her and left the Lair, Wilykat not yet awake enough to know what had happened.

Several miles away, Lion-O and Cheetara patrolled. The Sword of Omens never made a sound. Although since Wilykat had been at least temporarily stripped of his title, the Sword would not have sensed his danger in the first place, neither did it detect Wilykit's, as the massive presence of evil was quite deliberately blocking it. Lion-O never knew what was happening to the ThunderCat twins.

At Cats' Lair, Wilykit growled in frustration as she could not lift the bed and the cabinet off of her, but slowly was edging out from under the medical bed. It was soft, and so did not hurt her, but she'd hit her head on the tile floor, and now she was mad.

Finally scooting herself out from under it, she brushed herself off and narrowed her eyes. Looked like her little trip to the Black Pyramid would be moved up a few hours.

Not telling anyone she was leaving, Wilykit got her spaceboard from the hangar and headed west.

***

"Hey." Wilykat blinked his eyes. He realized he'd been flying through the air. A dream? If so, it was a change from the daily hell his subconscious had been put through when he slept. It was a good reason for his lack of sleep; he didn't want to sleep.

But after a minute, he realized this was not a welcome change of dreams, but he actually was flying. "Hey!" He was alarmed at first, but then he looked up. "YOU!"

Mumm-Ra laughed as he brought the boy to his abode. He said nothing.

"Put me down!"

Still Mumm-Ra said nothing, as he approached the Desert of Sinking Sands, and thus his pyramid. He flew in through his entrance at the top and swooped down to the cadence of Wilykat's insistence to put him down. He'd begun to fight with him. "Certainly," Mumm-Ra finally said, and still several feet up, he dropped him.

With a yelp and a thump, Wilykat landed hard on the floor of the pyramid, and clenched his fists. Shaking, he slowly stood up, tears in his eyes. "YOU!" he repeated, but this time it was not a word of surprise, but of accusation. "It's your fault, this is all YOUR FAULT!"

Mumm-Ra was unimpressed, and landed close to Wilykat. Despite himself, the young feline backed away. "It seems to me," Mumm-Ra said, an amused tone in his voice, "That you were the ones to invade my sanctuary, young Thunderian." He smiled unpleasantly at Wilykat's sputtering, trying to think of something to say to that. He had nothing to say of course; Mumm-Ra was right, They had been the ones to trespass. "It also seems to me," Mumm-Ra said, his red eyes glowing the slightest bit, "that you had plenty of resentment for those miserable ThunderCats to begin with." Wilykat's scowl deepened, and the demon priest added calmly, "And rightly so." He turned away.

Wilykat's expression changed to one of surprise, astonishment. "Wh- what...what do you mean rightly so?" He wiped his eyes.

Mumm-Ra turned around. "Look at you. Bawling like a newborn cub." He saw a flash of hurt and anger, and smiled. "They expect you to act like a ThunderCat, but do they give you the tools to do so? Do they train your strengths? Do they commend you when you do something right, like killing that miserable excuse for a pirate?"

Wilykat's unguarded expression made it so simple to read him...and to use his emotions. He looked down at the floor. "W-well...I-I..." He stammered, not knowing what to say, but he did hastily wipe the tears from his eyes, determined to shed no more.

"No. They strip you of your title. They tell you over and over how weak you are, and yet don't allow you to grow strong." Mumm-Ra laughed, and with a lightning quick movement, lifted the boy by the scruff of his neck again. Wilykat squawked and clawed at him, but Mumm-Ra only opened the pouch on the boy's belt and removed the piece of the statue. Then he dropped the boy. "See? Pathetic. Scratching like a newborn kitten." Turning his back deliberately on Wilykat, he knelt in front of the statue the piece had been taken from, and placed the missing piece carefully against it. There was an increasingly powerful glow, and a low humming, almost like electrical build up, and the piece melded with the rest of the statue, sealing the cracks until it appeared as if nothing had happened.

Wilykat was the slightest bit interested, although he didn't want to admit it. "O-Oh yeah?" he countered. "They...I mean we're not the ones that always get our butts kicked, Mumm-Ra. You're the one that always runs back to your pyramid."

The ancient priest resisted the urge to simply twist the whelp's head from his shoulders. "How many are there of them against one of me?" he said simply. "You fought as a coward, seven of you against one. And still I manage to hold my own." He shook his head. "This verbal bantering is worthless. You've been cast from the ThunderCats. You've fought them, you've turned on them, and in return, they cast you out, as if you were no more than a rabid house pet."

Wilykat was crying again, but this time he didn't care. It was true. Mumm-Ra was right, they didn't care about him! He did them a favor getting rid of that pirate, and they took his rank away, his insignia. He said nothing.

Mumm-Ra smiled nastily. "So now what? You go back to their moralizing speeches? Their insults, and their babying?" Mumm-Ra cast his hand across the cauldron, and am image appeared. Despite himself, Wilykat stepped forward and took a look.

It was an image he knew well. It was an image of himself, fighting the ThunderCats, a black-bladed sword in his hand. But the image had a different feel to it; dark, but powerful. It also showed him fighting the Mutants...and not having to have his sister rescue him. It showed him fighting with courage and power. It was an attractive thought. He said nothing, only watched. But his rage and anger had dissipated, at least for now.

***

Meanwhile, outside, Wilykit had reached the boundaries of Mumm-Ra's territory. She stopped, hovering on her spaceboard, and gazing at the distant pyramid. She swallowed hard. Sneaking in to fulfill a dare with her brother was one thing, but to actually go alone, maybe to face the powerful demon herself...the thought made her insides feel like they'd turn to jelly. She was vaguely aware she was shaking as she stood easily on her board, the hot wind whipping her mane back.

It was insane. Except for Lion-O during his leadership trials, which would be in a couple of months or so, not even the adults would think of facing their greatest enemy on this planet alone. But she had to. She had to for her brother, or she was absolutely certain that she would lose him forever. She could not bear the thought.

And so, finally, she adjusted her stance and flew towards the Black Pyramid. It would end today, one way or another.

Part Eleven

Part Thirteen

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