What Would Life Be Like? -- Chapters 13, 14, and 15
Chapter 13 Now sitting in the library, Panthro flipped through the Book of Omens trying to understand what seemed like absolute gibberish to him. It hadn’t made sense the first time and he highly doubted it would be any better this time but something had to be done to help his friends. “Panthro.” Jaga’s voice shook his nose from the Book. “Yes, Jaga.” “It seems as though you did not get Lion-O and Cheetara back the way you had intended.” The wise ThunderCat said. “No and I was trying to figure out what to do.” Panthro told him. “Lady Bast granted Lion-O and Cheetara a reprieve from their deaths. Why I am not sure, but I imagine those two have some important unfinished business that they must accomplish first.” Jaga explained. “But I thought the Thunder-Granter brought them back.” The panther was confused. “No, it has been tampered with as Lady Bast told me.” Jaga said. “Mumm-Ra.” Panthro clenched his fists. “Yes, Mumm-Ra. He has once again meddled in the lives of the ThunderCats. But there is a way to reverse what has happened.” The mentor told him. “Why didn’t Lady Bast send Lion-O and Cheetara back as their normal selves? Why as cubs? How can I reverse all of this?” Panthro bombarded the astral figure with questions. “Cubs are innocent. They will be the only ones who can pass the test that is coming.” Jaga’s message was cryptic. “What test?” The panther wanted some answers. “When the time comes, you must call the ThunderCats. Be sure to put the fake Thunder-Granter directly in the path of the Cat Signal. Only then will things return to normal. Only then will Lion-O become the Lord of the ThunderCats again.” Jaga said as he began to fade from view. “What test?” Panthro raised his voice. His question would remain unanswered, as Jaga was gone. Quickly the panther picked up the Book of Omens and headed for the control room. “What did Jaga mean?” WilyKat asked after hearing about Panthro’s encounter. “I have no idea. Mumm-Ra must be planning something else and that is why Jaga warned me.” Panthro said. “The ThunderStrike’s estimated time of arrival is one hour and thirty minutes.” The computer told Lynx-O. “Should we radio them and appraise them of the situation?” The lynx wondered. “I don’t want Mumm-Ra picking up anything. The less he knows about how much we know the better. How are the cubs holding up anyway?” Panthro asked. “Oh no worries there. Snarf is taking good care of them. I knew he was a babysitter but I’ve never seen him act like a baby. It’s so weird.” WilyKat shook his head trying to get the image to go away. This made Panthro chuckle and it lightened the mood in the room a little. Meanwhile, Mumm-Ra emerged from his sarcophagus. The encounter earlier had drained him and he still wasn’t strong to change from his bundle of bandages but the Ancient Spirits of Evil bid him to leave the safety of his sarcophagus and disobeying them wasn’t an option. “Mumm-Ra! You must confront the ThunderCats one more time. They bring the others from Third Earth and now is the perfect time to strike. With all of them here, you can use their lust for power against them and destroy the ThunderCats!” The animal statues boomed. “I am still weak, oh Ancient Ones. I cannot take on the ThunderCats yet.” Mumm-Ra told them. “Cast the spell, Mumm-Ra. You do not need your full strength to cast the spell.” They reminded him. An evil smile crossed Mumm-Ra’s face as he began to recite the incantation, in the ancient language. Chapter 14 Pumyra, Ben-Gali, and Tygra landed the ThunderStrike outside Cat’s Lair and quickly disembarked. The moment they set foot on New Thundera strange feelings came over them. “What is going on?” Pumyra asked. Her answer was Ben-Gali’s massive hands around her throat. The puma’s instinct to survive kicked in and she fought back. Her foot found his stomach but that didn’t seem to deter him. The white tiger’s grip tightened and she clawed at his hands and arms. Ben-Gali howled in pain as blood came from the gouges in his arms. He let go of Pumyra and she fell to the ground. The puma tried desperately for air to come back into her lungs, however she didn’t see Tygra coming up next to her. The orange tiger punched her in the face and her world went black. Next, he turned around and faced his brother tiger. Ben-Gali now saw that it was just to two of them and he quickly forgot his pain. Tygra pull his whip from his side and became invisible. Suddenly Ben-Gali found himself knocked back on his backside. A kick had been squarely placed on his chest. Only down momentarily, the white tiger bounced back up. Trying to fight an enemy he could not see, he threw punches and kicks wildly in the air. Tygra laughed and revealed where he stood by removing his whip. In an instant he flicked his wrist and the lash came down on Ben-Gali, sending a jolt of electricity through him. With the white tiger unconscious, Tygra made his way inside Cat’s Lair. Inside the scene wasn’t much different. In fact, the first ThunderCat Tygra come upon was WilyKat. The young man lay on the ground, bleeding from a wound in his stomach. He wasn’t a threat anymore and the orange tiger moved on. Next he came upon Snarfer. It was obvious that two of his legs were broken. Moving on, Tygra saw Lynx-O’s body on the floor just outside the control room. From all appearances there weren’t any injuries on the lynx but he bent down to feel for a pulse, just to be sure. There was none and he stood up. Throwing his whip around him, he went invisible and entered the control room. Looking around, he could see the room was in complete shambles. Computer screens were bashed in. Control panels had large gouges in them and pieces of metal, plastic, and wires lay strewn everywhere. After making a thorough search of the control room and finding it empty, Tygra removed his whip and moved back into the hallway. A loud crashing noise alerted him to something going on down the hall. Quickly, he ran there knowing his next opponent would be waiting for him. A roar echoed in the hallway and he knew that Panthro was close by. He would be a challenge and luckily after defeating him, the cubs would be easy to take care of. The familiar sound of Snarf in his “attack mode” meant that perhaps the panther would make it easy for him and get rid of Lion-O and Cheetara for him. Cautiously, the orange tiger hid up against the wall next to the sick bay. Inside, Panthro was desperately fighting with himself. He knew that Mumm-Ra was behind his feeling that he must kill the cubs. Part of his mind told him it would be easy to break their necks and assume power, with the others dead no one would challenge him. Then he remembered that the ThunderStrike should have already landed and his rage grew three more people he would have to kill. No! He desperately tried to rid his mind of those thoughts, he’d already hurt too many. Snarf flung some medical instruments at him and one of those a scalpel stuck into his leg. A roar came from deep inside him and he snapped. He reached out and grabbed the furball by the throat. “It’s your turn to die.” The panther growled at Snarf. He could feel his hand tightening on the ex-nursemaids’ throat but his brain screamed to stop. Jaga’s words found their way back into his foremost thoughts and he let go of Snarf. Panthro reached for the Sword of Omens and pulled it from the Claw Shield. He lifted the Sword above his head and began to call out the famous words. Chapter 15 Tygra charged into the room as Panthro only got the first “Thunder” out of his mouth. The last thing the tiger wanted was for the panther to call upon the Sword to do his bidding. Panthro saw who the intruder was and quickly leveled his weapon at the tiger. All he wanted was to bide himself some time to do what Jaga had said. His body however had other ideas. “Ho!” He shouted. His unsteady hand moved the Sword’s tip and the energy blast came out lower than expected. However, instead of hitting Tygra, the blast hit Snarf rendering the poor creature bleeding and unconscious. Both Lion-O and Cheetara began to wail at the top of their lungs. Panthro looked over at them and this gave Tygra the opportunity to lunge at the panther. The surprise attack caught Panthro off guard and he dropped the Sword of Omens to the floor. Quickly, Tygra grabbed his whip and tried to give himself an edge. Panthro was prepared for this and grabbed his nun-chucks. The whip wrapped around the battle sticks and the panther yanked them hoping to pull the whip away from its owner but Tygra had other ideas. He flicked his wrist and the whip caught fire. The nun-chucks caught fire as well and Panthro dropped them. From there the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Tygra threw a punch, which Panthro easily blocked. Then the panther kicked at Tygra who quickly dodged out of the way. Next, the tiger came back with a kick of his own. Panthro grabbed the leg and spun Tygra around. The two continued for some time, neither one gaining or losing ground. In the back of his mind, the tiger knew that Panthro’s superior martial arts skills would beat him. He knew that he had to find another way. That’s when he saw the scalpel sticking out of the panther’s leg. Quickly, the orange tiger made a fast move and grabbed the surgical instrument. Tygra shoved the scalpel further into Panthro’s leg. The panther roared so loud that it shook the walls of the small room. He reached out and grabbed the tiger’s hand. He used the hand that pushed the scalpel in to pull the offending object from his leg. Then he grabbed Tygra’s arm with his other hand and bent in such a way that it wasn’t supposed to be bent. Tygra roared as he heard the bones in his arm snap and he could feel tendons snapping. He looked and saw that one of the bones had come out of his arm through his skin. The pain in the compound break was immense and he could feel the blood running down his arm. It was completely useless and now Panthro had him right where he wanted him. The panther picked up the Sword and moved to strike his opponent down. Tygra closed his eyes and prepared to feel the cold steel in his body. Mumm-Ra watched the ThunderCats battle from the safety of his pyramid. He laughed as Panthro was obviously the strongest and bested everyone he faced. It was no wonder he was selected to become the new Lord of the ThunderCats. “Everything is going according to plan oh Ancient Ones. As soon as Panthro dispatches Tygra and the cubs, I will swoop in and dispatch him. Then we will have the Eye of Thundera and the ThunderCats will be no more.” An evil cackle left his lips. He looked back down into the cauldron and saw that Panthro held both the fake Thunder-Granter and the Sword of Omens in his hands. “What is he doing?” The mummy wondered, concern evident in his voice. But the ever-living source of evil didn’t have to wait long to hear some familiar words. “Thunder…thunder… thunder… ThunderCats HO!!!!!” Suddenly the cauldron’s water began to roll and boil. Then the entire inside of the pyramid was filled with a large red circle with a cat’s head. To Be Continued...