Thunder Kittens
By Robin Gurl
Chapter 8
Pizza
(Hey guys long time no update! Hope you enjoy this episode. And if they can canonly have space tacos (if I remember right) then they can have pizza.)
"How were your lessons today? I heard you got pushed into them by a snarf?" Cheetara asks smiling as the kittens walk into their new living space. "Tygra said it happened so fast he couldn't stop it."
"They were boring but it was fun seeing Lion-O again. Snarf just kept going on and on.. I thought he'd never stop." Wily Kit groaned putting her new books on the table.
"He sure did when he tripped and rolled into the chalkboard though." Kat exclaimed snickering.
"Was he alright?"
"He just sat up and was going on about how things were in his way."
The Cheetah laughs a little at hearing what had happened. She sighed relieved, the kittens seemed happier. They had come in joking around like they used to before all of the nonsense at the last housing unit. "Well why don't you go put your things in your room and I'll get dinner started."
"Is Tygra coming home tonight?"
"He should be. He has an important meeting to attend to first." She walks into the kitchen and started to piece together a meal. She had never been the house wife type and preferred to work her own job. She had never wanted to be weighed down with kittens. She didn't even want a husband until she met Tygra.
A family just felt like so much extra work.
Then he showed up in trade school and swept her off her feet. She smiled a little as she corrected herself – he unknowingly swept her off her feet. He had no idea they were even dating until a year later.
While they dated and were together they fought a lot. Most of it was her fault. She didn't like how he agreed to everything she wanted to do. She wanted him to have an opinion and fight for it.
Any idea she had, he would jump right on it and try to make it happen. This bothered her so much. When she had an idea she wanted to be corrected. At home she had always had to fight for what she wanted to do. With 5 brothers and sisters it was hard to get a word in edge wise.
So to be catered to was something new to her and it bothered her that he did it. At first, she thought it was because he had no back bone and couldn't defend himself then she started to realize that he was just laid back.
It took her years before she started to appreciate it and realize that it was his way of showing he cared. As long as they were both happy, he was happy.
He wasn't without his own faults. She had to make sure he remembered to eat when working on projects. She used to bring him meals during school and would make sure he hadn't fallen asleep in the drawing room. He had a habit of not speaking up when he didn't like something and when he did speak up they'd get in a yelling match. He was always the one to apologize first and that bothered her as well.
Still most of the fights were her getting upset over something he'd unknowingly done and then she'd pull out and stop the relationship.
She never understood why Tygra waited for her. He could have had anyone else on Thundera and yet he sat there waiting for her to come back each time.
Cheetara looked down realizing she had over cut the vegetables up. They were more minced now instead of "chopped". She looks over at the receipe hoping she can still salavage some of it.
She had wanted to make vegetable soup.
It was one of his favorite meals.
She sighs before picking up the vegetables and pouring them into the big bowl then poured the broth in before turning the stove on.
Then she sits down at the table looking outside. Something was going on and it wasn't good. She could sense it.
First the quakes, then the secret meetings, something was up with Tygra as well. He sounded worried about something – more than usual. He only told her he couldn't tell her yet.
What was he keeping from her? They always told each other everything.
Cheetara sighs nervously looking down at the bracelets on her wrist. She had one for each year they had been together. Each full year.
There was no way he'd be cheating on her with another cat. He barely knew they had been dating at first. If anything like that were to happen, it would be the other female cat pulling the strings.
Her head jerked up as the housing unit started to shake again. She stood up looking outside and saw the other buildings were shaking as well. "Kittens – get down under your beds and stay there" She shouts as she gets under the table.
The shaking got worse and she could hear screams outside as things started to crumble and fall apart with the force of it all. She clenched her eyes shut trying to ignore the sounds hoping the kittens were ok.
In the other room the kids were laying close together hands over their heads as things fell off their shelves. "K-Kat, I'm scared…!"
"Me too, Kit. Just close your eyes and maybe it'll be over soon." Kat tried to reassure his sister but he couldn't even reassure himself.
The rumbling started to calm down around them. The lights flickered back on and everything went still. A picture fell off the wall of the four of them together cracking the glass. Cheetara reached out and picked it up before moving out from under the table. "Kittens are you alright?"
"We're ok…" Kat answered nervously.
"I think so. Is it over?" Kit asks afraid to move at first.
The Cheetah enters the room sighing with relief as she sees they are unharmed. She hurries over helping them both up and hugs them both tightly. She didn't want to let them go. She was scared.
"Cheetara?! Kittens?! Are you alright?" His voice echoed down the hallway as she looked up. He burst into the room looking around for them before running over.
Cheetara only reaches out and hugs him tightly burying her face into his shoulder. The kittens watched nervously but hugged him as well. "Tygra they are getting closer… what if one hits our compound?"
"Why do they keep happening?" Kit asked watching the two adults. She stuck close to her brother unsure what to make out of Cheetara actually being upset. The last two quakes she had remained calm and composed. She watched as Tygra just held Cheetara close not saying anything.
He looked at the kittens before sighing, "We're not sure. But we're safe. Nothing will happen to us. You both did well hiding under your beds."
He could see the others didn't believe him. He was barely believing it himself. The geological team had come back and informed the council that the planet was unstable and going through radical changes. The core was heating up and melting which is what caused the quakes as it broke down from in the inside out.
"What's that smell?" Kat asked covering his nose.
"It smells like something is burning."
Cheetara lifts her head eyes widening. She hurries past them to the kitchen where her attempt at soup sat there burned on the stove. "…that was dinner."
The kittens giggled as they followed her in. She sighs pulling the pot off the burner. "I guess I should be thankful it didn't fall off the stove."
He walked over and looked into the pot smiling, "I'm sad, I won't get to try it."
"You didn't miss much." She smiles nervously.
"Can we get pizza?" Kit asked hopefully.
"How do you two know about pizza?" Tygra asked wide eyed. Both he and Cheetara had done their best to feed the kittens only at home not wanting them to get used to the food in the big cities. Since they originally moved a lot, they thought it was best to keep their food choices simple and easy to move around with.
"Lion-O. He told us about these round …pies? That are covered in squished tomatoes!" Kat explained excitedly. He opens his arms wide, " And THIS MUCH cheese!"
"I've never had a pizza pie before. Is it a dessert?"
The adults looked to each other before smiling relieved that the kittens seemed to not be phased with quake anymore. "That's a lot of Cheese, Kat. Are you sure it's that much cheese?" Tygra teased as he opens the book Panthro had given them with the resturants near by.
"Lion-O said it was a big mound of cheese – like the most cheese anyone could ever see on a plate and then they melted it down."
"And you ate it out of the pie tin!" His sister chimed in bouncing excited.
"No he said you took a piece." Kat corrected her. "But you just ate it with your hands."
"Ok ok, we'll order some pizza." Cheetara smiles.
The kittens both started to bounce up and down happily as Tygra made a few calls ordering food. Cheetara keeps a hand on his arm as she watches the kittens play in the room together bring their new books out to show them.
She turns her head seeing the cracks in the walls from the quake. She shivered clenching his arm tighter. His head moved seeing what she had. He reaches out pulling her close and away from looking.
"While we wait on dinner why don't you two go take your baths and we'll start on your homework." Tygra finally said realizing Cheetara wasn't able to fully relax yet. They couldn't talk with the kittens in the room.
"Aw but it's not even night time yet." Kit pouted crossing her arms.
"And we had a bath last night."
"Every night you need a bath. Come on Kittens.. you're both old enough to do this by yourselves." Tygra pulled them both up and pushed them towards their room. "Besides I made sure you both had your own bathroom."
The kittens groaned but nodded as they went into their rooms closing the door. Tygra watches for a few seconds before turning back to Cheetara. "I can't believe Lion-O introduced them to pizza. This cub gets around more than I thought he would. Most cubs their age don't try things like "pizza" until they are in their teens."
This would usually get a rise out Cheetara but this time she was silent. She sits down quietly on one of the chairs, "Tygra. What is going on."
"With the pizza? Well I assume since he's royal he gets to travel around a lot and-"
"Not with the pizza. The planet. What is going on Tygra and don't lie to me. You are on the council. You are building these giant space ships. I've seen them. I've watched you work on them."
He sighs crossing his arms, "We were told not to tell anyone about it and I'm only hearing about it now so I don't know much or if it's even true."
She looks up at him, "Are we going to die?"
His eyes widened before he sits down on the coffee table in front of her. "I don't know. The geological team came back. The core of the planet is melting and breaking down. That's whats causing the quakes."
"There is no way to fix the core is there?"
"Of a planet? Hardly." He scoffs. "That would require technology that we haven't even scraped the surface of."
"Then those ships you've been designing?"
"Panthro told me privately that they were plans for evacuation ships."
She gasps gripping his arms. "Tygra, how fast is all of this moving?"
"Easy, Cheetara. They are gradually getting worse but its nothing to worry about. The epicenters have been well away from civilization and the geological team is tracking them. They are developing an early warning system that would let us know when they would be coming and where it would hit."
"Why don't people know about this yet?"
"Come now, you know what would happen. Mass panic would take over and innocent people would be killed by their own hand in their state of distress. Jaga is going to make an announcement at the end of the week. He's trying to get all of the information he can so he can reassure the people of Thundera that it will be okay."
"But will it? Are we just going to live with the quakes?" She asks.
"Right now yes. My plans have been approved as of this morning. Jaga wants to start building as soon as possible. I was told with the man power he has at his hands they can get hundreds of these made in six months. If he tells the public, we can get volunteers and even more can be built. We want to save as many as possible, Cheetara."
She sat back in her chair trying to take all of this in. "Tygra. How long do we have."
He looks up in thought as he calculates as fast as he can, "With the information I currently have – a year at most."
They both went silent processing what he just said. She then reaches out gripping his hand, "Tygra …about the mating ceremony-"
A knock on the door interrupts them followed by the kittens bursting out of their rooms. "PIZZA!"
"Kittens, calm down. Don't knock the delivery person over." Tygra instructed getting the money to hand over. He nearly fell in between them as they jumped around him. He takes the boxes holding them over the kitten's heads. "Ok, everyone sit down."
Cheetara just smiles watching him wrangle the two of them. It would be okay for now. She just didn't want to leave this planet without him. The only way to secure that was doing what she dreaded doing.
The mating ceremony.
She looks up just in time to see Tygra nearly spill the plates everywhere. She hurries over catching them ordering the kittens to sit down properly. She wouldn't worry about it for right now. She'd enjoy what they had and worry later.
It would be alright.
