What Would Life Be Like? -- Chapter 16 and Epilogue
Chapter 16 Suddenly, Panthro found himself in the ThunderTank watching the lava spewing out of one of the volcano’s in Sector O. Mumm-Ra was floating there shouting his usual insults and Lion-O was telling him off. He knew the next thing he would have to do was to drill into the earth but he also knew that while he was down there, WilyKit would be seriously injured and that Lion-O and Cheetara would meet their end. There had to be something he could do. “HO!!!!!” Lion-O shouting broke the silence and Panthro knew it was now or never. “Cheetara!” The cheetah turned and looked at him. “No matter what you do make sure you get Lion-O and the ThunderKittens out of there before the lava traps you! Watch out for WilyKit!” With that the panther pulled up the protective cover on the ThunderTank and pushed the tank into the dirt. Cheetara wondered what he meant and then she heard, “I’m out of pellets.” WilyKit shouted. A sudden case of déjà vu hit her and she quickly raced after the female ThunderKitten. Lion-O’s order to fall back came and the cheetah knew she had a matter of moments before WilyKit would catch Mumm-Ra’s energy blast in the back. At top speed, Cheetara ran, grabbed the young ThunderCat, and headed away from the blast that was coming. Mumm-Ra’s energy blast missed its target and this gave Lion-O the opportunity he was looking for. “HO!!!!!” The Lord of the ThunderCats shouted. The blast from the Sword of Omens hit Mumm-Ra in the chest. He tumbled down toward the ground. Meanwhile, the magma came closer every second to their position. Panthro would be back soon and Cheetara shouted to the lion. “Lion-O we have to get back! Panthro will be surfacing soon!” This time the Lord of the ThunderCats listened to her and quickly left the ever-living source of evil to wallow in his own problems. The ThunderTank surfaced and Panthro saw his friends safely on the correct side of the newly formed crack in the earth. Mumm-Ra stood up and saw the lava practically on top of him. He launched himself into the air and moved over the irrigation trench that the ThunderCats had formed. “You think you can beat me that easily?!” The mummy crowed. Lion-O just laughed. “You ever notice how many times you’ve that or some variation thereof and every time somehow, we manage to defeat you anyway?” The lion lifted the Sword of Omens and blasted the mummy into next week. ************************** Thirty minutes later the group arrived back at Cat’s Lair. Panthro parked the ThunderTank and the group went inside. The three adults went up to the control room while the ThunderKittens went off to see if they could help Snarf with dinner. “Welcome back.” Lynx-O greeted. “How’s the flow of the lava going?” Lion-O asked. “Thanks to Panthro’s expert digging the Braille Board informs me that the lava is filling up the trench quite nicely. Also the lava flow has slowed so there is no chance of the trench overflowing.” The lynx told them. “Any chance that this will adversely affect the planet’s stabilization?” Cheetara wondered. “I’ve alerted Jagara to the situation. She doesn’t believe that the gyroscope will be affected. In fact she didn’t even know that the two volcanoes erupted.” Lynx-O said. “Sounds like everything will go back to normal for a little while.” The Lord of the ThunderCats smiled. Panthro had remained quiet through the entire exchange and Cheetara decided to ask him what was on his mind. “Panthro, how did you know about WilyKit?” “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you.” The panther had a concerned look on his face. “When it happened, I had a serious case of déjà vu. Somehow I knew what you were talking about.” She prodded him for some information. Panthro nodded and started the story from the beginning. Soon the other three ThunderCats began nodding as everything came back to them. “So what happened to the fake Thunder-Granter?” Lion-O asked when the events had been recounted. “I have no idea but good riddance to bad rubbish.” Panthro said. “If your father ever did have the real Thunder-Granter, I’m sure that he didn’t use it.” The Lord of the ThunderCats nodded and his thoughts wandered to the scenes that he’d been shown before removing the Thunder-Granter from his eye. Were they real or just a trick played on him? Epilogue Lion-O sat by himself in the control room late at night. He had called Third Earth hours before and they confirmed Panthro’s description of the events that had occurred. It wasn’t that he had not believed the panther, far from it, he just wanted to make sure he had all the details. His mind churned through all the particulars remembering that he and Cheetara had been returned to their friends as cubs. The meeting between himself and Lady Bast was fresh in his mind. The cat goddess had told him that there was something bigger planned for him and that one day all of New Thundera and Third Earth would know what he had done for them. Lion-O hardly believed that he was to be so fortunate to receive an honor such as that. He was distracted by the sound of the control room doors opening. “Is my shift over already?” He asked his replacement. “Not quite.” Cheetara smiled. Lion-O looked at the time on the control board and realized that it was in fact three hours before the end of his shift. “Are you ok?” Concern was evident in his voice. Cheetara sat down in the chair next to him and looked at the computer screen. “I’m having trouble sleeping.” Was all she said. “Have you tried some warm milk?” He wondered. “That tastes awful.” The cheetah made a face. Lion-O laughed and decided to see what was really bothering his companion. “I know you didn’t leave your nice warm bed just to come sit on these cold, hard metal chairs.” Cheetara let out a sigh and turned to him. “I can’t stop thinking. I’ve always had that problem, even when I was little. There is no ‘off switch’ for my mind.” “Any hints as to what you’ve been thinking about?” He questioned. At first she hesitated to tell him. It wasn’t easy for her to open up about her feelings. As a ThunderCat you were trained to ignore emotions because they would get you into trouble. She had broken down when Jaga had said he would stay out of a time capsule and pilot their ship to their new home. That had been a very hard day, losing her home, her friends, and everything she knew. The stress had been too much and she let her emotions show. She had to be strong for the road that lay ahead of them would be tough and fraught with danger. The long pause didn’t go unnoticed by Lion-O who wondered what exactly was going on. “When you pulled me to you in limbo before we saw Lady Bast, I…” she paused. The words that she wanted to say escaped her. “I hope that I didn’t…” Cheetara put her hand on his lips, effectively stopping him from saying anything. “When you did that it felt good.” A smile crossed Lion-O’s face. Cheetara opened her mouth and was about to say something when she found her lips occupied by the Lord of the ThunderCats. At first, there was some hesitation by both parties but soon that was gone. Finally the two separated and no words were spoken. Lion-O took her hand in his and the two sat in the control room for the rest of the night. The End