A New Beginning? -- Chapters 7, 8, and 9
Chapter 7 On New Thundera, the ThunderKittens were wondering what to do next. Mumm-Ra had used his remaining strength to completely empty the power supply in Cat’s Lair. They were now without defenses or anyway to control anything inside the entire Lair. Without the power to run things, doors would remain stuck in their positions and weapons would cease to function. “We’re stuck in here.” WilyKit said. “I know but there has to be something we can do.” Her brother told her. “Snarf and Snarfer are tending to the wounded recruits and the rest are trying to pry open the doors but what can we do?” Kit asked. “Well there has to be another way out.” Kat said. “But we can’t move some of the injured recruits. We need to get to the sick bay and get more supplies.” His sister told him. “Do you think we could use our exploding pellets?” Kat asked. “And have more people get hurt? No way.” Kit said. “What are our other options?” Her brother wondered. “Until we can think of something, I suggest we help out the others the best we can.” She said. Kat nodded and the two moved back toward the group. ************************ “How much longer until we reach New Thundera?” Lion-O asked Cae. “Approximately forty blasknots.” Cheetara told him. “What?” The lion shook his head. “Sounds like some sort of strange time measurements.” Panthro said. “It would be roughly thirty of your minutes.” The cheetah informed them. “Ah, that makes more sense.” Lynx-O smiled. “That’s much faster than we could ever travel. What takes us six hours only takes them an hour. How do they do it?” Panthro asked. “I don’t know but I hope we can be in time to help the ThunderKittens and the recruits.” The Lord of the ThunderCats said. “I feel so foolish for leaving them alone down there.” He continued. “The immediate threat was to Third Earth. We had to go to Pumyra and Tygra because they were in danger. There was no other decision.” Lynx-O said. Lion-O only made a tight smile and tried to realize that his friend was right. ***************************** “MUMM-RA! MUMM-RA!” The Ancient Spirits of Evil called to him. The lid of the mummy’s sarcophagus slid back and he walked forward. “Yes, oh Ancient Evil Ones?” He asked. “The ThunderCats are making their way back to New Thundera. They bring with them the Lockti. The Lockti are an alien civilization from a planet far far away. You must prevent the Lockti from giving the ThunderCats any of their technology. That technology will cause the balance of power to shift and we will not be able to survive. You must make the Lockti disappear.” The Ancient Spirits told him. “How can I get rid of these invaders?” Mumm-Ra asked. “The Lockti keep a deep secret. They are severely affected by violent vibrations. They feel with the little hairs that cover their entire bodies; cause the earth to shake beneath their feet, bring large and damaging thunderstorms to the sky. They will flee the planet for their own safety and leave the ThunderCats to fight you in their own.” The large animal statues told him. A smile crossed Mumm-Ra’s face. “I shall make them regret the day they were born!” He cackled. Chapter 8 “We’ll be landing in five blasknots.” Cheetara said. “Translation please?” Lion-O asked. “Roughly three and three-quarter minutes from what I can figure.” Panthro told them. “That is correct.” The cheetah smiled. “Nice work, Panthro.” Lion-O said. “It wasn’t that hard. Do they have the exact coordinates to Cat’s Lair?” The panther wondered. “I gave them the right coordinates, Panthro. I even gave them the right frequency to try to contact the ThunderKittens but they haven’t been able to get any response.” Lynx-O told them. “I don’t like this.” The Lord of the ThunderCats said. A silence settled between the ThunderCats. They all hoped that everyone was all right down on the planet. “We’re landing now at Cat’s Lair. Sensors indicate there is outer damage to the fortress. Prepare to disembark.” Cheetara interrupted the silence. The three male cats stood as the long silver ramp lowered from the Lockti’s ship. Quickly, they disembarked and made their way to the large front door on Cat’s Lair. Once at the front door, Lion-O couldn’t get the code to work. He poked the buttons on the keypad and nothing happened. “They’ve lost power. We’re going to have to force the door open.” The lion said. “Sounds like a job for brute strength. Think you can handle it?” Panthro smirked. “If you can.” Lion-O smiled. The two ThunderCats placed their fingers in the crack separating the two doors. “On three. Ready?” The panther asked. “Ready.” Lion-O told him. “One, two, three!” Panthro said. The two pulled and the doors slowly came apart. Cheetara watched as Lion-O’s muscles bulged and rippled. She quickly shook the feeling away as he spoke to her. “Cheetara, we need your bo-staff to keep the doors apart.” Quickly, the cheetah grabbed her staff off her cuff and extended it. Jamming it in between the doors, the ThunderCats and Lockti were able to pass through. Bol turned to some of his men and told them something. They went back to the ship. “What’s going on?” Lion-O asked Cheetara quietly. “Bol told his men to return to the ship and pull out their Extractor and something called the doocube.” She whispered. The Lord of the ThunderCats raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Whatever it is I hope it helps us with the ThunderKittens.” He muttered. “Lion-O, up ahead the control room door is closed.” Panthro said. “Come on.” The lion said. Quickly they rushed to the doors. “WilyKit? WilyKat? Can you hear us?” Cheetara called. “I doubt they heard you. Those doors are six inches of reinforced steel.” Panthro said. Lynx-O moved to the front of the door and pressed his right ear up against it. “There is movement from inside. I hear about twenty pairs of feet.” The lynx said. “Let’s get this apart.” Lion-O placed his fingers in the crack and Panthro did the same again the pulled on the count of three. The doors came slightly apart. “Again!” Panthro shouted. The two pulled again but the door only moved fractions of an inch leaving but a small six inch gap between the large heavy doors. “Kit? Kat?” Cheetara called. “Cheetara! Boy, are we glad to see you.” Kit said. “How are you guys holding up?” The cheetah asked. “We’ve got fifteen moderately injured and five slightly injured. The rest of us are basically just dealing with bumps and bruises. How’d you get here so fast?” Kit asked. “A long story, we’ll tell you when we get everything under control.” Lion-O said. “We have to get that door open. With the power off they’re going to be breathing in each other’s carbon dioxide and this six inch gap won’t supply enough clean air for them to breathe properly.” Panthro told the Lord of the ThunderCats. Lion-O nodded and wondered, “Any ideas?” Before they could answer, Cheetara spoke up. “We have something that will help getting the door open.” “What do you have Sen?” Lion-O asked. The Lockti had one of his men bring a small cube forward. “This will solve all your problems.” Sen smiled as Cheetara translated. Panthro gave a Lion-O a skeptical look. “Well go ahead.” The Lord of the ThunderCats said. Sen moved forward and placed the cube in the gap between the two doors. “Get everyone back from the doors.” Cheetara told them and Cae motioned with his hands. “Kit, Kat, get everyone back!” Lion-O shouted. “Right! Give us a few minutes.” Kat told them. Five minutes passed and then they heard Kit say all clear. Sen moved and pressed the side and top of the doocube and then he backed up. Everyone watched as the cube expanded and forced the door open. It formed an upside down ‘T’ and kept the door open with almost six foot tall clearance for someone to walk through. When it was done moving, the ThunderCats and Lockti went through the gap. Back on Third Earth, Qual had his men using the Extractor on Pumyra. She was taking longer to heal than Tygra and it was making Ben-Gali nervous. The Lockti leader could sense the worry and the tension. He wished he could comfort the white tiger but with their translator off helping the others, Qual could not reach Ben-Gali telepathically. So the alien did the only thing he could do, he placed a reassuring hand on the white tiger’s shoulder. At this Ben-Gali smiled and Qual smiled back. “I appreciate everything you’re doing but there has to be a way to talk to you. If only Panthro were here he’d be able to whip something up.” Ben-Gali said. “Any translators we had were destroyed in Cat’s Lair. We don’t even have anything to modify.” Tygra told him. The two tigers thought for a few minutes and then Pumyra spoke up. “Isn’t there any translators at the Tower?” She asked. “That’s true but our vehicles are under the rubble.” Tygra pointed out. Ben-Gali was about to say something else when the ground beneath them shook. Chapter 9 As the ground shook, the Lockti dropped to their knees. Their mouths opened but no sound came out. The ThunderCats realized that the earthquake was causing their new allies immense pain but they didn’t know how to help them. The tremor stopped and Qual slowly stood up. He spoke to his men and they quickly headed back to their ships. The ones that were helping Pumyra removed the Extractor and they ran to the almond shaped spaceships. “Wait! Where are you going?” Ben-Gali shouted. Of course he got no answer and watched as the spaceships shot off toward the atmosphere. “What are we going to do now?” Pumyra asked. “We have to get to the Tower of Omens and try to contact New Thundera. Ben-Gali, help me see if we can get the ThunderTank out of what the Lockti cleared away. We’ll be right back Pumyra.” Tygra said. Quickly the two tigers raced to Cat’s Lair and looked around. “We might be able to get the ThunderTank out if it didn’t sustain too much damage.” Ben-Gali said. “We have to give it a shot.” Tygra nodded. The two crawled in through the gaps in the giant Cat Paw. Luckily there was enough space for both to climb into the driver’s section of the ThunderTank. “Fire it up.” Tygra said. Ben-Gali used the controls and soon got the engine to respond. “Locking traction and sliding protective steel cover into place. All systems go.” The white tiger said. Hitting the gas, Ben-Gali plowed the ThunderTank through the space that they had crawled through. Once out in the open he removed the protective cover. “Boy am I glad Panthro built this thing to handle just about everything.” The white tiger smiled. “So am I. Let’s get Pumyra.” Tygra said. Ben-Gali cut the engine, popped the back hatch, and the two jumped out of the tank. “We’ll have to carefully lift her into the back.” The orange tiger told him. Ben-Gali nodded and carefully grabbed the puma’s ankles. Tygra carefully grabbed her shoulders. “I’m glad they healed my left shoulder before you guys moved me.” She smiled. Tygra could tell she was putting up a brave face and he wanted so much to comfort her but they didn’t have the time. “Can you feel my hands?” Ben-Gali asked. Pumyra bit her lip. The truth was that she couldn’t but she didn’t want them to worry so much. “Oh is that what that is?” She asked. It wasn’t a good cover but she had to try. Carefully the two tigers laid her down across the seats in the back of the tank and then they moved to the driver’s compartment. “We’ll try to give you as smooth a ride as possible.” Ben-Gali called back to her. Pumyra only nodded and the two tigers fired up the ThunderTank. *********************** Mumm-Ra smirked as he watched the scene before him the spell he had set to Third Earth worked. Any minute now the Lockti would call their men on New Thundera and tell them to pull out. There they would float in space until they located their home planet. “Mumm-Ra, there is a flaw in your plan.” The Ancient Spirits of Evil boomed. “How could there be, oh ancient ones?” He asked. “The Lockti were traveling back to their home planet after a long and devastating war on one of their allies’ planets. They do not know that their home planet of Locktus was obliterated by their allies’ enemy. Their tracking sensors were damaged in the war and they have no idea that there is no home to go to. You must find another way to send them away or we will send you away.” The Ancient Spirits told him. “Yes Evil Ones. I will find a way.” Mumm-Ra promised. To Be Continued...