Episode 2: "To El-Dara (part 1 of 2)"
Part 2:
Their journey had been a struggle, but the Thundercats finally reached and descended into the deep caves of the dreaded Baleful Swamp. They kept close together, all keeping one eye open for lizards that may have spotted them in their territory.
Panthro found the entrance. His memory rarely fails him. Cheetara led the team with the faint glow given off by her staff. Panthro directed her while Lion-O and Tygra tailed behind. At first it appeared to be no different than any other cave they had explored as cubs, but soon they found themselves in a long winding labyrinth coated in layers of soft sticky webbing. What little of the walls they could see was covered in a white-silvery sheen. It was tempting to touch, but Panthro strongly advised against it.
The air was thin and still. It carried no sound but the clicking of hundreds of insects legs scurrying about in sets of eight. "Nervous?" Lion-O asked his older brother slyly.
Tygra replied not with words but by elbowing him in the chest. "I kind of wish we had Kit and her flupe for this."
"We won't need her. I have something that should work no problem" The general tossed two small metal cartridges in the air.
Cheetara raised a brow at him. "Should?"
"When I was a kitten I used to help my father gather nectar from buzzer-wasps and make honey. We put the hive to sleep with smoke. Ro-Bear Bill lent me a few of these babies." He handed the smoke bombs to Cheetara who tucked them away in her back pouch.
"There you go, Tygra; we'll sneak right past her. We won't even have to use you as a decoy." Lion-O assured him, patting his back. His gesture was returned with another elbow to the chest. "Hey, I don't get to pick on you about much. I'm taking this opportunity."
"I just hope my baby is safe where I parked it. If not I hope the Tank's security system works." Panthro thought aloud.
Lion-O chuckled a little. "We'll know when we go back."
Tygra swallowed a lump in his throat. He found it impossible to breathe regularly then made the mistake of looking down. One of Spidera's hatchlings crawled past him. Its body was as fat as Snarf. He forced away the urge to scream and kept walking. "This is what I imagine Hell to be like… dark, cramp, humid and full of spiders."
"Try not to think about it. I'm not fond of spiders either." Cheetara admitted, looking over her shoulder. In the split second she did another hatchling tickled her calf with its fangs. She froze in fear, drawing in a deep breath.
Acting quickly, Panthro covered her mouth from behind. "Get! Scram, bug!" He hissed, shooing the infant away with his foot. It squealed a bit, but left them be. Panthro released her. "DON'T scream." He warned, pointing to the webs. "You see all this? Sound bounces off of this and Spidera can feel it all the way in her nest. The more noise you make the more agitated she's going to be when we get to her. "
"I wasn't going to scream-" Cheetara assured him. "It just startled me."
Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness some Tygra could see the soft red glow of hatchlings' eyes. They were following him; many of them. "Would any of you think less of me if I soiled myself and passed out?"
"I would." Panthro answered with blunt honesty.
"Don't be a bunch of cu- EUH!" Lion-O jumped in mid-sentence. "I think one drooled on me!"
Panthro glared at him.
Lion-O shrunk a little, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Panthro sighed, motioning for them to keep moving. "Hurry up. The slower we walk the more likely they'll swarm."
Tygra shoved the others along. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's get this over with!"
Meanwhile; Inside a forever bag inside the forever bag…
The kittens frolicked along the lush, blooming valley, enjoying the scenery and their youth.
"I thought of something, Kit. Maybe you could play your flupe to the snarfs. We'll search for Snarf while they're all asleep and we can get a good look at them."
"Good idea." Wiley Kit commended him. "We'll have to sneak up on them so Snarf won't see me coming."
They stumbled across a small pond. Wiley Kat stopped to skip a stone along the water.
It skidded three times before sinking, startling a pigmy froog. "Stupid cats!" It croaked, hopping away, laughing.
The kittens gasped, listing to the chorus of froogs laughing. They wouldn't stop.
They backed away. "Better not drink that water." Wiley Kat warned.
"Yeah. When do they breathe? "Wiley Kit accidentally knocked a winged water serpent's egg out of it's nest.
"Cats!" It hissed, flapping it's wings at Kit in warning. "Get away mean, hungry cats! CATS! Cats are raiding my nest!"Shet cried to warn the other animals.
"Sorry!" Wiley Kit motioned apologetically.
"We're just passing through." Wiley Kat added, pulling her along.
They ran a far distance away from the laughing pond. "I guess all animals can talk here." Wiley Kat wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead.
Wiley Kat scratched his head, looking around for any indication as to the specifics of their whereabouts. The sound of his stomach growling distracted him. "Oooh, dinner time. We should circle back for some candy fruit."
A large bunch of what looked like black day astrid flowers blooming among the trees in the meadow caught Wiley Kit's eye. "You can go back and grab lunch. I want to pick flowers." Wiley Kit walked away and started to pick a bouquet for herself.
Wiley Kat rolled his eyes. "Girls and flowers. Yuck."
"Cheetara told me day astrid petals are edible. I'll bring one back for her. I bet she's never seen black ones before." Wiley Kit sniffed her bouquet before plucking a pedal and popping it in her mouth. She chewed, savoring the flavor. "Wow, it's good!"
"No way. You're just trying to trick me."
"Really, try some!" Wiley Kit insisted, shoving the bunch of flowers under his nose.
Wiley Kat took a small bite. "Wow! Shove over, sis; give me some!" Upon realizing how sweet and delicious it tasted he picked a few flowers himself.
The kittens munched away, enjoying their meal. Little did they realize a large pair of gold cat eyes watched them through the trees with keen interest.
A female kitten no older than four approached the two older kittens cautiously. Wiley Kit heard a branch snap behind her. She turned around and clearly spotted a pale jaguar child hiding among the trees. "Aw, hi there!" Kat couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked. The kitten resembled porcelain dolls she used to see in the windows of toy shops. She always wanted one of the pretty dolls in flowing Thunderian tribal gowns, gold accessories and saber teeth woven into their mane, but her parents could never afford one in a million years. "Kat, look!" She tugged his sleeve, pointing to the cub.
"Hey, another Cat!" Wiley Kat waved to her. "Come here! We need to ask you something!"
The kitten kept her distance.
"It's okay!" Wiley Kit assured her. "We may be strangers, but we won't hurt you. I'm Wiley Kit and This is my brother, Wiley Kat. What's your name?"
The kitten didn't respond at first. She cocked her head at them for a moment. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was very mousy and meek, but she annunciated well for her age.
The Kittens decided to go to her instead. They walked over as slowly and non-threatening as they could. "We're lost." Wiley Kat answered. "Do you live here?"
The small kitten's tail swished back and forth nervously as they came within a few feet of her. "How did you get to the valley?"
The Thunder kittens exchanged glances. Wily Kit shrugged. "Through the forever bag. Isn't that how everything gets here?"
The jaguar kitten continued to look up at them. Her expression didn't change nor became any more readable.
"Do you know about the forever bag?"
Again she didn't answer, only looked to her feet sheepishly.
"Is that real?" Wiley Kat pointed to the fancy gold jewelry box the kitten gripped securely in her tiny hands.
"That's mine! Don't touch!" She pouted, turning to keep it out of his reach.
"Where did you get all that gold jewelry and stuff?" Wiley Kat made the mistake of reaching out towards the kitten.
"DON'T TOUCH!" She panicked and ran for the forest.
"Wait!" Wiley Kat called out as he and Kit chased after her. He growled in frustration. It didn't take long for the strange kitten to turn a sharp corner and disappear without a trace.
Wiley Kit swatted her brother across the back of his head. "Why did you scare her like that?"
"I didn't mean to!"
Wiley Kit frowned. "She might have known the way out of here."
"She might know how to get o El-Dara." Wiley Kit took out the drawing of the fabled city. "Remember how poppa used to tell us in El-Dara even the youngest kittens are dressed from head to paw in gold? Did you see how much gold she had on her?"
"How would she know where El-Dara is?"
"Maybe its here."
Wiley Kit shook her head no. "Kat-"
"Why couldn't it be here? Look at what ELSE is here!"
"We can't look for El-Dara now. The other Thundercats need us." Wiley Kit reminded him.
"If they need us so bad they would have let us come on the recon mission." Wiley Kat argued. "We owe mom and poppa proof of El-Dara."
"What good will finding El-Dara do us if we don't find mom again? I want to find Snarf. I want to go home. This place is starting to get creepy."
Wiley Kat's tail sagged.
She patted him on he back. "We have the forever bag. We can look for that girl again. Let's see if your idea will work on the snarfs."
"Okay sis…"
They started to head back through the valley. They kept a normal pace at first, but the farther they walked the more a drowsy feeling swept over them. The petals they had eaten before were already starting to digest. It calmed them to have full stomachs, but little did they realize just what the black astrid flowers were doing to their bodies. Their feet began to drag as fatigue weighed down their limbs and slowed their movements. Thoughts became fuzzy. They couldn't stay awake much longer.
Wiley Kit yawned, barely able to keep her eyes open. "Hey, Kat?"
"Yeah…?"
"I'm getting sleepy."
"Me too." Wiley Kat rubbed his eyes. He stopped in the middle of the meadow and laid his head down in the lush clover. "Good night, sis."
"Good Night…" Wiley Kit did the same, curling up next to Kat, her back against his. Within minutes the two were fast asleep; dreaming of fun adventures and happier times.
Several hours later…
"Narf narf narf narf…" Snarf nudged the Thunderkittens with his cold nose until they finally woke.
Wiley Kat stirred first, accidentally swatting at Snarf. "Errr…whu? Oh, Snarf you found us. Good." He yawned, stretching.
"Schnaaarrf- Do you realize what you've done?"
"What did I do?" Wiley Kat cocked his head in confusion. Something felt wrong… "Why does my voice sound weir-WAHHH!" He looked over where Kit had been and found a full grown female cat in her place.
Wiley Kit jumped, startled fully awake. "Kat, what's your-" She screamed in horror when she opened her eyes and found a fully grown male cat in her brother's place.
"How did you two manage this?" Snarf shook his head at them, with a "puuurrr" and a "Tsk Tsk."