Escape to Third Earth

[Tigress]

Chapter 1 - Crash Land

A young woman watch in horror as the flight deck flared into flames. Her long brown hair, which was originally up in a bun, was hanging down, almost in her face. Though the bridge was in flames that did not stop her from yelling out commands to the people who were still alive on the bridge. She knew half of the bridge crew were already dead but she couldn’t worry about that now. She had to keep the ship from being destroyed. She was being perused by another ship, which was firing upon her.

She knew who her pursuer was. And she knew they would stop at nothing to prevent her from escaping. She had been held against her will. While being held captive, she made friends. At the first chance, she and many of her new friends stole a ship to escape. She even learned that some of her family and older friends were helping her. Her new friends were also being held against their will.

“Damage Report!” She looked around her bridge. Debris was everywhere as were bodies. She quickly snapped her head to look at the view screen, which for the moment was showing nothing but static.

“We have hull breaches on levels two through six! Force fields in place but I do not know how much longer they will last!” A male voice was heard from somewhere.

“What’s our heading!”

“Unknown,” another voice yelled. “Navigation has been knocked out. Weapons unresponsive. Wait…”

“What was it?”

“We’re in some sort of pull.”

“The enemy?”

“No, it’s not a tractor beam. We’re being pulled downward. I think we’re approaching a planet’s atmosphere!”

“Put it on screen.”

“Unresponsive.”

The woman slammed her hand on the arm of her chair. A single tear slid from her eye, as she knew it was the end.

“We have fought bravely,” she said quietly with her head bent, but then looked up with determination in her eyes. If they were going to die, she wasn’t about to show her emotions in front of her crew, especially over the deceased.

“All hands! Brace for impact!” Just as she was about to brace herself, the lights flickered out for a moment. She suddenly felt herself being pulled out of her seat and off to one side. A clang was heard and she noticed she was incased in something. She knew who did it and knew whatever she was in was useless to try and get out. She slumped to the floor and cried for everyone.

For several minutes she felt the floor shake as the ship began it’s descend through the atmosphere, but once it was through, she felt nothing. She quickly heard a few screams and then silence. She prayed that when they landed there would be some survivors.

Suddenly she surged forward, banging her head, then flew back. Once she got her bearings, she huddled her legs together, ignoring the pain in her back, as she knew they were vastly approaching the ground of whatever planet they were about to crash on. The last the thought that went through her mind was hope the planet was inhabited.

-

Cats’ Lair was full of activity. The swivelling head moved from side to side, doing it’s normal routine of checking the premises. Just outside the lair, two children, about the age of 12, were playing around in the snow. They quickly seized their play as an explosion was heard. They turned to the sound and watched whatever it was begin a descent to the ground. But they weren’t the only ones that witnessed it. The head stopped its movement and minutes later; four adults came running out of the lair.

“What was that?” one of kids asked.

“From the scanners,” the leader said. “It’s a ship crashing to ground. And from the looks of it, it’s on fire.”

The leader slightly turned as one of his friends was heading towards their vehicle. “It’ll be faster with the Thundertank.”

“Panthro is right,” a tiger looking humanoid said. “We’ve already projected it’s landing.”

The four adults and two kids quickly climbed into the Thundertank and drove off to the crash sight. The six people were known on the planet as Thundercats. The two kids were called Wileykit and Wileykat, as the four adults were Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara and their leader Lion-O.

When they reached the sight, they were shocked, the ship was still in flames. It wasn’t a very big ship but was big enough to fit at least fifty people. The Thundercats knew they had to act fast if they were to try and save anyone that might have been alive. Tygra immediately had a plan formed as he jumped out of the Thundertank.

“There isn’t enough water in the tank to extinguish the flames. We’ll need to get some sort of pipe or tube there so we can transport the water, as there is a lake nearby. It won’t take much to break the ice and with the ice water, it will put the fire out quicker.”

Panthro snapped his fingers. “I have the perfect transportation. I just installed an extendable pipe for these type of purposes.”

“I can get to the lake in no time,” Cheetara offered.

Lion-O nodded his approval of the plan. His team-mates quickly went to work. Panthro ejected the pipe and when Cheetara had a hold of it, she fled to the nearby lake.

Lion-O’s eyes widened in surprise as the pipe kept on coming out. When it finally stopped, it took a few minutes before Panthro noticed water was starting go into the pipe. “Water pressure is building up,” he announced. “I’m flicking the switch so watch out.”

Within seconds water began to spout out of one of the claws from the Thundertank. Panthro drove the tank around the wreckage until the fire was out. When the fire was out, Panthro turned off the pressure and began to extract the pipe.

Within moments Cheetara came running up with the pipe in hand. She dropped the pipe, allowing the tank to do the rest and looked at the wreckage. “From the looks of things, this ship was under attack and judging by the holes in the hull, it was in hot pursuit.”

“I agree,” Lion-O agreed. “We should find out if there’s any survivors.” He grabbed the sword of Omens, which was strapped to his left leg in the claw shield. “Sword of Omens. Give me sight beyond sight.”

Through the eye, Lion-O saw the debris all over the floor. Scorch marks everywhere indicating the fire began from the inside. As the eye looked, Lion-O’s eyes widened in horror. Dead bodies laid everyway some were slumped over consoles while others laid on the floor with burn marks. He was about to give up on his search when something caught the eye’s attention. Zoomed in, the eye revealed him a hand slowly, trying to move from a fallen bulkhead.

Wileykat walked close to the wreckage. “There’s something written on the side of the hull.”

“It looks like,” Wileykit said. “The name of the ship? This ship is human designed.”

“There’s someone trapped inside, alive,” the leader said as he placed the sword back in the claw shield. “Who ever it is, is on the flight deck trapped under debris.”

“Let’s move,” Tygra announced.

“Wait,” Panthro called. “It may be too dangerous. It may be wise for only one person to go in. The floors could collapse. Cheetara, can you sense any other life signs.”

Cheetara close her eyes, placing her fingers to her temple. During the past four years the Thundercats have been on Third Earth, Cheetara had been able to harness her sixth sense better. Though it still weakened her but it wasn’t like it was before. Through her mind, she scanned over the bodies.

Her body went limp after a few moments. Tygra, who was standing behind her, quickly caught her before she fell back.

“What did you see?” Lion-O asked.

“Many dead bodies,” she answered weakly. “There was more in that ship than we expected. There’s only one survivor.”

“Tygra,” Lion-O said. “Go in and rescue the survivor.”

Tygra nodded. He gently placed Cheetara in Lion-O’s arms and quickly made his way through the snow to the wreckage. All around the ship, the snow had melted away leaving the frozen ground visible. He jumped up as close as he could get to the bridge before entering through one of the many holes in the hull.

Lights flickering all round as Tygra slowly made his way through the sea of bodies and debris. His stomach tightened at the thought of the people who died and felt sorry for them. It made him remember when his people died when trying to flee from Thundera, just before it exploded.

When he reached the bridge, he quickly found the survivor. Bulkheads trapped the person, with a hand sticking out. As he began to move the bulkhead and other debris, he noticed the hand belonged to a woman. He also concluded that she was still conscious as he heard her moan as the debris moved.

“Help is here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll get you out.”

Several more minutes traveled on before he was able to get enough of the debris out of the way. He crouched down and slid one hand under her back as his other went under her knees and gently pulled her up.

“T…Thank…you…” she tried weakly.

“Don’t speak. Save your strength.”

When he knew she was secure in his arms, he quickly made his way back through and out the ship. Once in the brisk air, she shivered, which did not go unnoticed by Tygra. He quickly made his way to the ground.

When he landed, Lion-O was already waiting for him when he reached the bottom with a blanket in hand. Lion-O wrapped the woman in the blanket and when she was secured, Tygra and the rest of the Thundercats climbed back into the Thundertank.

Tygra noticed that she was now limp in his arms, which started to worry him as she had lost consciousness. He looked into her face. Her once nice face was smothered in dirt and scratches. Her hair was a tangled mess. One couldn’t even tell what her hair color was.

Panthro switched the tank into gear and quickly traveled back to Cats’ Lair. When the reached home Snarf came running down the snow covered steps.

“What happened, Lion-O? Snarf.”

“Not sure,” Lion-O said. “There was only one survivor and she’s now unconscious.”

“That’s bad.” Snarf turned and quickly took off back into the lair.

Tygra, guessing Snarf was off to set up one of the guest rooms for the woman, jumped out of the tank and preceded to the warmth of indoors.

-

Soft, warm blankets were the first things she noticed as she began to regain consciousness. She felt very safe within the walls of the blankets. But how is that possible? She did not remember climbing into bed nor were her blankets ever this soft. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a darkened room with moonlight shining through a weird styled window.

“Where am I?” she asked softly not expecting an answer.

“Cats’ Lair,” a male answered gently. He noticed she started to tremble at the sound of his voice. “Do not be afraid. I’m a friend. Careful, you are injured.”

“Who are you?” she asked.

“My name is Tygra and you’re safe on Third Earth.”

“Third Earth? The home of the Thundercats.”

“Yes. Actually I am a Thundercat.”

The woman quickly relaxed. She was in the home of Thundercats, which meant she was safe. A slight smiled began to grace her lips but quickly faded as she remembered what happened. “My ship!” She bolted up but immediately regretted it.

Tygra was at her side in an instant, gently pushing her back down. “Easy now,” he said. “You’re ship was badly damaged and from the looks of things, it’s no longer space worthy. However, some of the parts maybe salvageable.”

“My crew?”

“Gone, I’m afraid.” The tone in voice was saddened. “I pulled you out, you were trapped under debris.”

“Bastards,” the woman cursed as tears formed in her eyes. “It should have been me, not them.”

Tygra, unaccustomed to the curse, held her hand gently. “Who are you referring to?” He noticed that she had the prettiest pale green eyes he had ever seen. All the warrior maidens from the tree top kingdom had dark eyes.

“My fiancé. The marriage was to be an arranged marriage by my father but I escaped. Him and his brothers came after us and hunted us down like animals. My crew died protecting me, my brothers died protecting me.” More tears flowed.

“What is your name?”

“Alana.” The woman blinked a few times, trying to be rid of the tears and for the first time, she saw her rescuer. She looked into his eyes, which were strange but amusing as he was a cat. From the features that she could tell from the moonlight, he looked to be a tiger. She slowly moved her other hand and gently touched his face. The touch slightly startled him.

“You saved my life, a complete stranger.”

“That’s the purgative of a Thundercat.”

“So the rumors are true. For the past year I’ve been told a lot about the Thundercats.”

“I should let you rest.” Tygra gently pulled her hand away from his face. “I need to let my leader know that you have awakened.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Three days now. Panthro has been looking at the wreckage.”

Alana moved her head away from Tygra. “What is happening about the recovery of my…crew?”

“Nothing as of yet. We’re waiting until you are strong enough.”

“I would like to be part of the cleanup operation…please.”

“Why? Seeing the destruction will be devastating.”

“I don’t care. I knew each and everyone of my crewmembers. They were my friends and they deserve proper burial in the way they want. Especially my brothers.”

“Your brothers?”

“My brothers did not agree with the arranged marriage. My other sisters were forced into arranged marriages and I haven’t seen them since the wedding day. I don’t want to end up like that.”

“Thundera was never into arranged marriages.” Tygra backed away from the bed and began to walk to the exit of the room.

“Tygra,” Alana called with a weak voice. Tygra turned back to her. “Thank you. I’ve never met a man who sounds as kind as you and for that it sooths my heart to know my crew’s death wasn’t in vain.”

“Your welcome. In a few hours, someone will wake you to have something to eat. It will soon be sunrise.”

“Tygra.”

“Yes.”

“I want to see my ship as soon as possible. The sooner the crew is laid to rest the better.”

“I’ll see what I can do. For now, rest.”

Tygra quickly walked out of the room before she asked him another question. He walked up to the command room and waited for his leader to awaken. When he woke, the command room was the first place he went.

“Morning, Tygra,” Lion-O said.

“Lion-O,” Tygra said. “Our guest has awakened.”

“That’s good,” Lion-O answered. “Did she give you any information?”

“Her name is Alana and she was running from her fiancé.”

“Her fiancé?” Panthro questioned as he walked into the command room. “Why would she do that?”

“An Arranged marriage that she disagreed with. With help of her brothers, they escaped and he hunted her down.”

“You mean,” Lion-O started. “A man caused all that damaged to the ship over an arranged marriage. That’s a shame. What is an arranged marriage?”

Panthro looked at the young lord. “It is when a person is forced to marry someone he or she doesn’t want to.”

“That’s just plain cruel,” Lion-O said. “She lost her crew to a madman.”

“People are just plain cruel in general, Lion-O,” Tygra said. “When Alana is strong enough she wants to see the ship and wants to oversee the recovery operation of her crew.”

“What!” Lion-O burst. “That’s a lot of bodies lying in that ship. That ship is a tomb.”

“Even so, she wants to give them a proper burial of what they wanted.”

“That makes sense,” Panthro agreed. “I’ve taken a look at the ship and it looks like some of the computer components could be used to power our weapons better and perhaps I could make few new additions.”

“Before we take apart her ship, we’re going to ask her permission if it would be alright. Even though she has been marooned on Third Earth, the ship is still hers to do what she pleases,” Lion-O said.

“How are her injuries coming along?” Panthro asked.

“Luckily,” Tygra said. “Most of her injuries are minor. The worst is a cut on her head and few bruises. It would seem it was caused from the bulkhead that covered her. I’ve inspected the spot where I found her and it looks like the bulkhead was placed there to protect her.”

“If it weren’t for the bulkhead, she would have died,” Panthro concluded. “Snarf has started on breakfast and it will be reading in an hour or so.”

“Good,” Tygra said. “I told Alana that someone would go and wake her so she could eat.”

-

Alana was awakened to someone slightly shaking her. When she finally stirred and looked at the person. She quickly recognized the person as Tygra.

“I wanted to let you know,” he said. “That breakfast is ready.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She peered over to the window, seeing that the sun had risen.

“Would you like to eat here or in the dinning room?”

“The dinning room. The sooner I get back on my feet the better.”

Tygra turned and grabbed an article of clothing from a nearby chair. “Here wrap up in this. It’s one of Cheetara’s robes.”

“Can you help me to sit up?” Alana asked.

Tygra nodded. He grasped her hand and gently began to pull her up. When she was a little off the bed, he placed his other hand behind her to support her back. When she sat up, Tygra placed the robe around her shoulders so she could put her arms in the sleeves.

Tygra pulled back the blanket and pulled her legs around to touch the cool floor. With his help, she stood and with one arm around her waist and the other holding her hand they walked slowly to the dinning room.

Upon reaching there, Alana saw five other humanoids and one four legged creature sitting at a rectangular table and there was two empty spots. One for Tygra and the other must have been for her.

“Alana,” Tygra said. “Meet Cheetara, Panthro, Wileykit, Wileykat and Lion-O our leader and Lord of the Thundercats.”

Lion-O knew the woman was suffering from loss. He looked at her and gave a small smile. She now looked better than she did. Her face was cleaned up as her hair was pinned back into a bun to keep her hair off her wounds.

“Who’s the creature?”

“That’s Snarf,” Panthro said with a smirk. “He has many talents.”

“One of which is preparing food,” Wileykit said.

Tygra walked over to an empty seat and helped her to sit. The other empty seat, which was quickly occupied by Tygra, was beside her. On her other side was Lion-O. It was a quiet meal and surprisingly, Alana ate more than what she expected but less than what the Thundercats wanted her to eat.

“Alana,” Lion-O said when the meal was finished and Snarf began to clear away the plates with the help of the Thunderkittens. “As soon as you’re strong enough, someone will take you to what’s left your ship. But I should warn you…”

“I know, there are seventy bodies lying around like rag dolls. I suppose Tygra said that I wanted to help in the recovery operation.”

“Yes, he did,” Lion-O said. “I know right now, you’re grieving but with your permission, Panthro could use parts of your ship to upgrade Cats’ Lair and other objects.”

“Do with what you need. Tygra already said that the ship maybe salvageable but will never be space worthy again. If I didn’t have too, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the ship but my brothers are in there and they deserve to be buried by me.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Panthro said. “But how many brothers did you have?”

“Six brothers. I have four sisters. My father ended up marrying a three times. Two of his wives died during childbirth. Lion-O, if you don’t mind me asking but did you fight a man name Safari Joe?”

“Yes, actually we did,” Lion-O answered. “Why?”

“He’s my father.”

“You’re father,” Cheetara eyes widened in shock. “That man almost killed us, if it weren’t for Lion-O. He used our greatest weakness against us to render us almost useless.”

“Thunddrainium,” Alana said. “My father told me about that. That is actually how I heard about you but I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth about hunting you guys. My father, is many things and a coward is one of them. He also is a liar.”

“That,” Lion-O said. “We figured out for a ourselves.”

“He’s a big show-off but when it comes down to action, he’s worthless. Yes, he’s hunted other creatures but when he met a creature who could think for themselves, his coward comes through. He mostly relies on his weapons to protect him and when they fail…you know the rest. When I fled from my fiancé I had full intention of coming here but part way here, we were attacked…” tears began to flow down her cheeks. “I have lost everything that meant anything to me.”

Alana went to stand and leave the room. She did not want to cry in front of strangers who helped her. But as she stood, her legs gave out and she began to fall. Lion-O was quick in getting to her before she collapsed.

“Tygra, why don’t you take her back to her room. She’s been through a lot.”

Tygra nodded. He picked Alana up and carried her out of the room and into hers. When he sat her down, he noticed that she was trying real hard not to cry.

“You don’t have to hide just because you’re within strange company,” Tygra said softly.

Either through his gentle words or softness of his voice, she couldn’t figure out which one, tears began to flow out of her tightly closed eyes. “Please…leave.”

“No,” he said gently but sternly. “You are in pain, in more ways than one. I want to help.”

Alana opened her blurry eyes to stare at the tiger. “Why do you want to help a stranger? Much less a daughter of the man who tried to kill you.”

“From what I can see and what you’ve said, you don’t seem to be anything like your father. You would not be the first human to be our friend. There are several humans on Third Earth.”

“Please, Tygra. I would like to be left alone. Besides, I should get more rest. The more rest I have the quicker, I’ll heal.”

“I agree with you there on rest. If you need anything, there’s a button to the left of the bed. Just push it. Someone will hear it. My room is just around the corridor, Lion-O is at the end of the hall and the others are on the level below you.”

Alana nodded. She pulled her feet on to the bed and removed the robe. Tygra took it from her hands and place it on the chair. When he turned to help her lie down, she was already lying on the bed facing away from him. He knew she was silently crying. Without saying anything, Tygra left the room and once the doors were closed, he could hear heavy sobs, faintly, coming from the room.

It soared his heart knowing what she was going through. A few times, when the Thundercats first crashed and Cats’ Lair was complete, he would hear Lion-O grief over the lost of Planet Thundera. When he returned to the dinning room, Lion-O was the only one left.

“Will she be okay?” Lion-O asked.

“Physically yes, but right now emotionally, no. Actually knowing that her father hunted us down and he tried to force her to marry someone and then that someone hunts her down and kills her friends, is taking a lot out of her.”

“I would imagine. I know I remember when I grieved over Thundera and you overheard. She tried to leave the room without help.”

“Yes. She wants to grieve alone but I won’t let her just as I wouldn’t let you. Tomorrow I’m going to change her bandages and hopefully she’ll be a little more open.”

“Give her time Tygra. She’s not like me. Perhaps if she sees someone of her own kind. Tomorrow I’ll go and see Willa. Willa might be able to help.”

“Then again, maybe not. Willa will be just as much as a stranger as we are.”

“That maybe so but Willa is also human. From what I’ve learned about humans, they like to consult with their own kind more than other races.”

“I’ll take first watch tonight.”

“No. You are almost just as drained as she is. You have been up most of the time, keeping watch over her. I’m going to get Panthro to take the first watch. And if anything, you’ll stay in bed until morning.”

“You’re right. I’m going to head out to the wreckage to see if I can piece together of why the damage is so extensive.”

“That does puzzle me. There must have been some sort of faulty circuits somewhere. The holes are too rounded.”

Lion-O watched Tygra leave the room. Lion-O sat back at the dinning table pondering how he should approach Willa, if he should even approach her at all. Alana was a stranger to Third Earth and she may not want to see another human just yet.

“Something troubles you,” a voice said.

Lion-O looked up and saw the ghost of his mentor. “Jaga. I’m not sure what I should do.”

“The woman is stronger than she looks. She may grieve now but she’ll soon learn how to live again, just as you did.”

“Is it actually wise to allow her to help in the recovery operation?”

“It may not be wise but it is her wish. It will also help in her healing in the end.”

“Thank you, Jaga.”

“Take care Lion-O.”

When Jaga was gone, Lion-O headed out to get some fresh air. He knew Cheetara was in the control room and the Thunderkittens were playing in the snow.

[Tigress]

Chapter 2 – Discoveries

Three days had passed since Alana learnt who her rescuers were. In that time, she had got to know the Thundercats. Where she didn’t want to grieve in front of the Thundercats, she tried her best to only grieve in. She even wanted to get out, but Tygra had insisted that she was not well enough to venture out in the cold weather of Third Earth in her condition.

As much as she didn’t like the idea, she agreed. She knew physically that she wasn’t ready to see the wreckage but wanted to give them a burial as soon as possible. And even if she were able to handle the wreckage, it wouldn’t be until the ground thawed before she could properly bury her friends.

As she woke for the new day, she felt she needed a bath. She knew Tygra would soon be in to change her bandages, she was hoping maybe she could get a bath before he changed them. She slowly got up out of bed and walked over to the window. She stared out over the vast white valley for a few moments before moving away to a door, which led her to the bathroom facilities.

When she emerged from the room, Tygra stood by her bed, waiting patiently for her.

“Hello,” she said. “You know from all those oils and ointments and the fact it’s been three days, I could use a bath. I know I was cleaned up when you first brought me here.”

“Yes, Cheetara cleaned you up as soon as we got you here.” Tygra chuckled. “After breakfast and when Cheetara returns from her run, I’ll have her help you get cleaned up. But in the meantime, I’m going to change your bandages.”

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “I was hoping you could hold off until then.”

“The more ointments are rubbed on, the faster you heal. At least it doesn’t have a vapor.”

Alana chucked as she walked over to the bed and sat down. What she hated most about the bandaged changing, Tygra had to rub a cream on to her back to help heal the bruises faster.

“I’ll check the cut on your head first.”

Alana pulled her bangs out of the way to allow Tygra to remove the bandaged. He soon washed around the cut, put more cream and a fresh bandage.

“You’re quite skillful with medicine,” she responded as she let her bangs fall loose on her forehead.

“Back on Thundera, our home planet, I learned medicine, even though I had no desire to. When we crashed here, and where it’s just Snarf and the six of us, I was the only one with knowledge of medicine. So it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

“But I’m sure, you’ve learned more about medicine since you’ve arrived then you did before.”

“That is true. Thanks to Willa, I’ve become quite the medic when needed.”

“When will I meet this warrior woman? Yesterday I overheard Lion-O speak about her and that he wants me to meet her.”

“I’m not sure. Willa is quite busy these days.”

“How did you guys build this place?”

“Where I wasn’t very skillful on Thundera with medicine, I decided to take up architecture instead. Turn around so I may check on your bruises.”

Alana cringed but turned and then raised her nightshirt so he could see her back. She carefully kept the shirt up against her chest. Though she did not like this part, she continued. “So you designed your home?”

“Yes and with some friends, they helped us build this within a matter weeks. Your back is looking pretty good. After today I may not need to put any more ointments. Your bruises are healing up good.”

“Good,” she said nervously. She slightly jumped when she felt the ointment hit her skin and then Tygra’s fingers rubbing it in gently.

When he finished, he stood up from the bed. “I’ll leave you now. Breakfast will be ready soon. And I’m sure, you’ll want to change.”

“Tygra, how much longer will I be confided indoors? Not that I’m grateful for your hospitality and all but I would like to try and see if anything of my belongings are salvageable.”

Tygra chuckled. “I suppose Cheetara’s outfits that were given to her since she came here are starting to get uncomfortable?

“No it’s not that. It’s just…ok that is part of it. I’ve never been comfortable in wearing someone else’s clothing.”

“I’ll give you an answer later today.” He turned and left.

-

Soon after breakfast was done and over with Cheetara helped Alana get cleaned up. When Alana was all cleaned, Tygra came into the room, to give a fresh bandage on her head. He smiled as he watched the two women begin to bond. He noticed, while they spoke, Alana was in the process of brushing her long brown hair.

He did not think her hair was that long. When he first saw her, there was too much worry in making sure she was going to all right plus dirt over her face to really notice. Also parts of her hair were still up in whatever hairstyle she had it in. When Cheetara, cleaned her wounds and washed her hair, she had braided her hair and pinned it in a bun to keep if off her back.

Cheetara turned to Tygra. “Anyway,” she said as she stood from the bed. “I’ll leave you now. Panthro has asked me to take the Thundertank to the crash sight. He’s found a few items that are still in good condition.”

Cheetara walked passed Tygra on her way out. But before he moved away from the door, she whispered. “She’s hiding something. I can’t figure out what it is but it’s something to do with her father, that I’m sure.”

Tygra nodded and walked into the room, allowing the doors to the room to close. “You look better.”

Alana placed the brush done on the bed. “It feels good to have my hair lying down. Before I was engaged, it hardly ever was up out of my face. But when I left my planet, it hasn’t been down since.”

“What planet is that?” he asked as he sat on the bed and went to work on placing a new bandaged on her head.

“This will sound funny, but it’s called Second Earth.”

“Second Earth?”

“See there’s a reason why this planet is called Third Earth. Ages ago, this planet was home to all humans and was called just plain ‘Earth’ or in what other inhabitants call it ‘First Earth’. And humans were the only humanoids.

“After the humans began to explore the galaxy, a great disaster happened and almost wiped out the planet. Most areas for vegetation withered away; so most humans left, leaving only a certain amount to stay behind to keep the planet thriving and begin its healing process. After so long, the planet healed itself and vegetation began to bloom as it once did.

“Settlements began again as alien races began to land here. When humans learned that Earth was flourishing again, there was more than one Earth. The alien inhabitants adopted the name ‘Third Earth’ as it’s the third planet in the solar system. The humans agreed to its name, as there was now a First Earth and Second Earth. However after so long, a cursed creature, Mumm-ra was released from his coffin prison.”

“How do you know this?”

“For one it’s common knowledge amongst the humans who travel the stars. Before my ship crashed, we had a database on Third Earth’s history. All the way from when it was first formed, or at least the theory of formation, to now.”

“Perhaps, we could check to see if the databanks are still functional. And if they are, we could download the history into our computer.”

“Well if the databanks are still functional, you could probably integrate the computer into your systems.”

Tygra thought for a moment. “I never thought of that. What sort of studies do you have?”

“Science, medicine are my majors but I do have some off to the side as hobbies.”

“You were saying about Mumm-ra. What is his story? We’ve been battling him since we crashed here.”

“Ages ago, in a country once called Egypt, there was a priest. I don’t know the whole story but legend has it that this priest had done something that was forbidden. So he was placed in a curse. The curse was called Undead. It was designed that if evil beings not from this world would come, He’d arise and create all sorts of havoc.”

“Well that explains a lot,” Tygra fingered his chin. “Willa said that Mumm-ra had never caused any sort of havoc until we had arrived.”

“What would have happened that would have caused him to arise? You don’t seem to the type to be evil.”

“We aren’t but the Mutants are. When we fled Thundera, the Mutants attacked us. During the attack, our guidance system was damaged. We were placed into stasis as our ship guided us here, which was the closest planet. The Mutants followed.”

“Well you can’t blame yourselves for Mumm-ra’s release. You were just trying to survive. For two alien races, we have a bit in common.”

“By the way I have great news. With the ointments and your rest, you have recovered enough that you could venture outdoors. But not too far, I’m afraid, it’s still too soon to see the crash sight.”

Alana leaned her head down. “I figured that but at least I can get some fresh air. Fresh air will also help get my strength back.”

“I agree.” Tygra stood up. “I almost forgot. Willa is here and she’s waiting for you in the conference room.”

Alana stood up. “Let’s meet this woman.”

-

Willa was sitting in the conference room, waiting patiently for the human to arrive, with Lion-O sitting across from her. As she waited, she thought back to when she had watched the woman’s ship crash but at the time, she did not know what it was. The next day, she confronted the Thundercats about it and learned what it was she saw.

It annoyed her to know that it was another ship had crashed but her annoyance soon turned sorrowful when she learned that all but one female crewmember died. When she went back to her kingdom, she decided she would help the woman, who ever the woman was.

A couple of days later, Lion-O arrived requesting an audience with her to ask if she would visit Cats’ Lair to meet the woman. To her surprise the person was human and was a daughter of Safari Joe and she was running from her husband to be.

Feeling sorry for the woman, she agreed she would meet her and hopefully help her anyway possible. Perhaps the woman could actually answer a few questions. Willa had met other humans but none were from space.

Willa’s thoughts were interrupted when the doors opened, revealing Tygra escorting the woman in. The woman was wearing an outfit Cheetara wore a couple years during a ceremony the Warrior Maidens held in which a young woman was declared a warrior.

“It’s nice to see you Willa,” Tygra said.

“Likewise,” Willa answered.

“Willa,” Lion-O began. “This is Alana.”

“It’s the first time, I’ve come across another human that does not live on Third Earth.”

For the moment Alana was silent. Tygra escorted her to one of the vacant chairs as he descended in another, beside her. “It’s all right Alana, she’s a friend.”

“Is something wrong?” Willa asked, concerned.

“After she met us, she became somewhat shy around us,” Lion-O said. “She’s most comfortable with Tygra, though she shows a little nervousness around him too.”

With her head down, Alana said, with a lace of anger, “I don’t appreciate being talked about when I’m in the room. My father always did that and it made me feel small.”

Taken aback by her comment, Lion-O looked as if he just got slapped in the face.

Ignoring the Lord of the Thundercats, Willa quickly rushed out of her chair, pulled Alana’s chair out a bit and knelt down next to her.

“It’s ok,” Willa started. “I suppose you’re not use to being around strange people.”

“It’s not that I’m not use to it. Its just…” she trailed off.

“Its just what?” When Willa got no response, she sighed. “I understand, you don’t want to talk about it. That’s ok. If and when you’re ready, you will.”

Alana looked up at the warrior maiden. “You can fight?”

“Why, yes I am. I’m Queen of my tribe, the Warrior Maidens.”

“I’ve heard of you. You reside in an jungle and in the middle of it is the Tree Top Kingdom.”

“How did you know that?” Willa asked, surprised.

“When humans left Earth, a tribe of women and tribe of men were two of the groups, of a few others, that stayed behind to allow the Earth to heal. In time, they became known as Warrior Maidens and Warrior Men. But the Warrior Men turned into a savage group and ended up being separated and forced to live in caves.”

“You have quite the knowledge of the Third Earth,” Willa stated. “More knowledge it seems than myself.”

“One of my favorite hobbies is learning up on human history.”

“Maybe sometime we could get together and you can tell me a little more about human history. What I know is either myth or legend. I’ve heard so much, I’m not even sure what is fact anymore.”

Alana smiled. “I’d like that. I’m sorry for not speaking sooner.”

“Don’t apologize. I sometimes have one of those moods and Lion-O has witnessed a few of them first hand.”

“I’m sure he has,” Alana agreed.

“Unfortunately, I can’t stay long,” Willa said as she stood. “I have a kingdom to run and I think there’s been a little mutant activity.”

“Anything we can help?” Lion-O asked as he stood.

“Not at the moment.” Willa stood and looked at the Lord. “If there is, you’ll know. Nayda knows how to work the communications to contact you if there is.”

“I’ll see you out,” Tygra said. He stood and began to walk out of the room. He knew what Alana said was wrong but she did have a point and he figured she probably regretted it to. He hoped that she may apologize to Lion-O had her words.

When they left, Alana pulled herself around to face and look at the Lord. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

“No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have spoken out about you. But I was only trying to help.”

“I know. Tygra tells me that you are originally not suppose to be as old as you are.”

“No,” Lion-O agreed. “When we left Thundera, I was a mere child, about the same age as Wilykit and Wilykat. But when I arrived here, I was a man. My stasis capsule was damaged and I aged. I had a lot to learn and even to this day, I’m still learning.”

“That’s only being mortal. Everybody learns something new, all the time. I’m sure even Panthro still learns.”

“That he does.”

“Tygra told me that I could start venturing outside but not too far. I was wondering where I could find something warm to wear. I’m sure you Thundercats are not as vulnerable to the cold as humans are.”

“We, Thundercats are more immune to the cold. Though there are some occasions the brisk cold weather will chill us but its not as often as humans.”

If a human were to venture outside in what you wear, they’d die of hypothermia.”

“Hypothermia? What’s that?”

“It’s a condition most mortals can get when they’ve been exposed to the cold either too long or not wearing enough clothing.”

“When Willa arrived, she left a bundle of clothes for you. She said that when you got strong enough to venture out, that they will keep you warm.”

Alan rolled her eyes. “Great more borrowed clothing.”

“Actually it’s not,” Tygra said as he came back in the room. “Willa had the clothes specially made for you.”

Alana turned at the sound. “You guys keep coming up with surprises. First it’s rescuing me, then it’s your medicine and Cheetara giving me some clothes and now this.”

Tygra chuckled. “Like I said when we met. We like to help.”

“Tygra can I speak with you for a moment,” Lion-O said.

“Sure, Lion-O.”

Both men walked out of the room, leaving Alana to ponder. “What was I thinking?” she degraded herself. “They are trying to help me and I practically shove their hospitality down their throats. Josh why did you protect me? Why did you want me to survive?”

“He wanted you to live,” a voice said.

Alana whipped her head around, wondering where the voice came from. “Who are you? Where are you?”

“Not from this world.”

Alana turned to her left and saw a man appear standing in front of her. The man was transparent and wore a Thundercat symbol on his clothing. She gasped at who the person was. Tygra told her that a man, who sacrificed his life to save them, would appear in front of Lion-O and he was the only one to see him.

“You’re Jaga,” she gasped.

“That is correct,” the man smirked.

-

Out in the hall, Lion-O talked to Tygra, not knowing Alana was talking to Lion-O’s mentor. Lion-O was just a little curious how much longer it would be before she would see the wreckage. Seeing the broken ship was not something he was looking forward to but she was determined to help bury her friends.

“How well is she?”

“She’s healing pretty good. I don’t know if it’s the ointments from Thundera or what I learned here. Either way, she’s actually ready to travel but I don’t want her to. The grief is still too new.”

“That may so but how do you think I felt when I was forced to watch Thundera explode. Jaga had Cheetara wake me from my sleep to witness the destruction. I wasn’t ready for that just as I wasn’t ready to lead you all as an adult. I was forced into both.”

“You maybe right but you also had all of us to back you up. Alana on the other hand is only getting to know us. She doesn’t trust us as well as we trust each other. I’ve noticed how she accepts my help but then shies away. Cheetara told me that she’s holding something back.”

“I agree with you there. She was about to tell us something of why she is shy but she stopped.”

-

Meanwhile in the conference room, Alana talked Jaga. “But I was told you only appear in front of Lion-O.”

“I can appear in front of who I want. It’s one of the many wonders of the Astral plain. You are in great sorrow. And for that I am sorry but you know yourself, everything happens for a reason.”

“You know about me.”

“Yes, I do and I have a message for you. Someone who wishes to speak but cannot has asked me to speak on their behalf. Your brothers are happy to know that you survived. And they want you to know that they’re sorry that you are alone.”

Alana looked at the ghost in front of her as tears sprang from her eyes. “My brothers.”

“Yes, but you are no longer alone. You have the Thundercats to help you and the Warrior Maidens. You’re grief is strong but in time, it will mend.”

“Can you tell them, I love them?”

“I can do better.” Jaga smiled gently. “Even though you cannot see them, they are in this room, hearing every word you say.”

More tears streamed down her face with a slight smile. She felt a cool breeze touch her shoulder. She looked to the shoulder but saw nothing.

With her mind focused on Jaga, she did not know she was no longer alone. At the entrance of the room, Tygra and Lion-O stood amazed. Both men were stunned as they saw their mentor stood before the woman, speaking to her. Normally Jaga was not seen by others, other the Thundercats and Mumm-ra.

“Your eldest brother has placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. He wants me to inform you that your safe and he’ll, as the rest of your brothers, will always be with you in heart and soul.”

Jaga looked up and saw the two Thundercats. He smiled at the both then turned back to the grieving woman. “It appears we are not alone. I shall leave you now for another time.”

Speechless, Alana watched as Jaga threw is cape over himself as he disappeared. When he was gone, Alana felt the cool breeze leave. She slowly stood up but quickly collapsed to the floor, crying.

Tygra and Lion-O were quick to her side. Tygra pulled the woman into his arms and rocked her softly until her tears turned to whimpers.

“Why don’t you take her back to her quarters?” Lion-O suggested softly.

“No,” she said weakly in Tygra’s chest. “I’ll feel better if I went outside.”

Tygra looked down at her. “Why did you break down?”

“Jaga, he…he…”

“We saw,” Lion-O said. “It surprises me that he appeared to you. Normally he only appears to me and if the others around, they see. No one outside of the Thundercats have been able to see him. What did Jaga tell you?”

“He said…” she started as few more tears streaked down her face. “That my brothers are happy that I’m safe and that they are sorry that I’m alone. But he also said that I’m no longer alone.”

Tygra looked at Lion-O with a slight smile. “He’s right you know. You are not alone.”

“Did Jaga say anything else?”

“He told me that my brothers are with me all the time. They are even in this room as we speak.”

Lion-O looked at her with a known smile. “So it lightens your heart to know that have haven’t completely lost your brothers.”

“Yes.”

Tygra curled his arm under her legs and lifted her up. “Why don’t we get you dressed and then go outside and get some fresh air.”

With her arms wrapped around Tygra’s neck, she nodded in agreement.

-

When she was dressed in the clothing Willa gave her, her, Tygra and Lion-O ventured outside. When the cold air hit her face, she covered her face with her covered hand, until she was use to the cold. She removed her hand and took a big breath of air.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to see the sun glisten off snow. When I was child it always reminded of what thousands upon thousands of diamonds would look like glistening in the sun.” She looked down and saw the Thunderkittens playing in the snow.

Tygra and Lion-O looked at each other with a smile. This was the best thing for her. They both wanted to ask her what diamonds were but right now sided against it, as they just wanted her to enjoy the outdoors.

“Wilykat,” kit called to her brother as she looked up at Lion-O. “Look who has joined us.”

Wilykat looked up to the top of the steps to see their guest standing beside Lion-O and Tygra, wearing the warrior maiden’s winter clothing. She was dressed in a brown fur coat to the hips and light brown fur leggings. The boots were also furred and tied around up to mid calf. Over her hands were covered in leather mittens with fur on the backs

Before Wilykat could say anything, he was suddenly hit in the back of the head with a snowball. He turned to see Wilykit sprawled on the snow laughing.

“Oh really,” he said. “You think that was funny.” He picked up a snowball and was about to throw it at his sister when he was hit again. But by who? He looked over at the direction where the ball came from and saw Alana chuckling. Her hands and coat were dusted in snow. Wilykit laughed even more.

“Sorry, I had to do it.” She wiped the snow off her mittens.

The two men beside her also laughed.

Wilykat quickly turned around and whipped the ball at his sister, getting her right in the face.

“Come, let’s take a walk,” Tygra offered, controlling his laughter down. He grasped her hand and began to walk down the steps.

Not knowing what to do, she allowed him to lead her, for now. When she first met Tygra, she felt relieved but as she began to know him, she began to feel scared. She had been hurt before and didn’t want to be again.

When they reached the edge of the drawbridge, she began to pull out of his grasp. Tygra immediately noticed this and stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said as she walked away towards the closest tree.

Tygra followed her and when she stopped, he placed his hands on his hips and giving her a soft but stern look. “There’s something bothering you, I know it. All day I’ve noticed you are pulling away from my help.”

Alana turned her head so she wouldn’t have to look into the unusual eyes. “It’s silly.”

“Nothing is ever silly,” Tygra tried.

“It’s just…It’s just you’re the only one giving a lot of fuss over me and I’m just getting a little nervous is all.”

“Why would you be getting nervous?”

What would she say? She couldn’t and didn’t want to tell him what had happened to her in the past. It was a private matter that was between her and her friends and they were all dead. With the thought of her dead friends, she looked at the tiger. “When will I be able to see the wreckage?”

Tygra noticed she avoided his question. “When you would like? After speaking with Lion-O, he has suggested that I give you more space. I have been holding back in letting you know that you are doing better than I expected.”

“That’s probably because of Josh,” she said sadly. “Josh was my eldest brother and just when I had yelled ‘all hands brace for impact’, he grabbed me out of chair and threw to the side. Before I could protest, the bulkhead was covering me. I could here my crew members screaming as the ground came closer.”

Alana was grateful for the crisp air. With the cold air, kept her tears at bay. “There was nothing I could do. All I could do was curl up in a ball and wait to find out what the fates were going to do.”

“Well that bulkhead is what saved your life.”

“I figured that and probably so did Josh. With what I witnessed today, I’m not ready to see the wreckage. But it’s good to know that I can go at anytime. Do you mind if I stay out here a bit by myself. I need time to think and being outside has always made feel better.”

“Sure, under one condition, you stay on the other side of the bridge. I want to make sure that nothing is going to happen to you.”

Alana nodded.

Tygra went to grasp her hand but she pulled away. A little disappointed, Tygra shrugged and began to walk back to Cats’ Lair, walking beside Alana. With her withdrawing was starting to annoy him. Perhaps maybe he was spending too much time with her. He did after all save her, cleaned her wounds and always escorted her to dinner. She hardly had any major chances to see the others. One thing he needed to do was seek a woman’s point of view over the situation. He was feeling drawn to her and wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

[Tigress]

Chapter 3 – Doing the Hardest Thing

The sun glistened on the fresh fallen snow from over night. The Thunderkittens groaned at breakfast when they were asked to help clean up the snow. Cheetara couldn’t do her morning run as she spent her hour getting rid of snow. The only spot that wasn’t cleaned off was the bridge. Alana slightly chuckled at their displeasure. She didn’t think it was right for the Thundercats to have the kids to so much work but the kids were part of the team so they had to work just as hard as the others.

“Sometime kids I’ll show you a way to have fun while working,” Alana said when she finished eating. “When my sisters and I were kids, we used to have certain chores to do and we made a game out of it.”

“Alana how are you feeling today?” Lion-O asked.

“Ready to see the ship,” she said with confidence. “It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve crashed here and it’s time I get this done and over with. I know my fallen friends cannot be buried until spring but I’m tired of being on the sidelines.”

“After the drawbridge is cleaned off, we’ll head over. Wilykit. Wilykat. You two can stay here and look after Cats’ Lair,” Panthro suggested. “I should warn you there are a lot of holes in the hull”

“Holes?” Alana questioned. “There shouldn’t be. We only took one major hit, which caused a hull breach, but it was contained.”

“There were several holes and when you crashed, your ship was on fire,” Lion-O said.

“Well yeah that was true. The flight deck was on fire. The fire first broke out in the engine room, source unknown. But it was after our first minor…” she paused. “…Hit.” She went quiet.

“Is something wrong?” Wilykit asked. She noticed, as did the others, Alana’s face turned white.

For several minutes, Alana went through her mind everything about the fight. When the color returned in her face she slowly answered more to herself. “If you say there were many holes and the fire only broke after the first minor hit…that would mean…those Bastards!” She bent her head, slamming her fist on the table hard enough that everyone’s glasses slightly vibrated.

“What?” Lion-O questioned, confused at the word.

With glassy eyes, Alana lifted her head at the Lord of the Thundercats. “Sabotage. The ship was sabotaged before take off. Someone must have found out that I was about to escape and knew I was looking for help. I have in mind of who did it.”

“Before we saw the ship crash,” Panthro started. “What were the reports?”

“For the first little bit, it was smooth sailing. On the tenth day through, strange events started to occur. Minor systems were shutting down, but my youngest brother was able to get them back on line in no time.

“After a couple days of going through system malfunctions, the attacks began. At first we couldn’t see where the attacks were coming from. But we were only getting warning shots. I ignored the warnings. My fiancé figured I ignored him so demanded we surrender or he would shoot us down.

“The cat and mouse game lasted for a couple more days until I lost him in a nebula. We stayed there until we thought it was safe. Tony is scared of nebulas and he knew I knew that. When we emerged, the real attack began.”

“How long were you traveling before ending up here?” Tygra asked.

“A month. I don’t even know where the nebula is. When the attack began, that’s when things really started down hill. As soon as we exited, we were hit, that was fine. I ordered all weapons fire at will.”

“I suppose that went on for a few days,” Panthro offered.

“Yes. Both ships were built well. Tony wanted it that way. I never knew why he praised his ships but I do now. But suddenly we had a power drain and from that, Tony fired a shot. It was only a minor hit. A small fire began in the engine room but it quickly manifested when we were hit again, which then caused a hull breach. More minor damages happened shortly afterwards until the flight deck started in flames.

“Soon afterwards I was about to order abandoned ship but quickly learned that the escape pods were malfunctioning and that was when I ordered a damaged report. There was a hull breach from levels two through six; emergency force fields were in place. I then ordered what was our heading; navigation was out. Suddenly we were in a pull downward, we were being pulled down.”

“You were entering the atmosphere,” Tygra concluded.

“That’s what we guessed. I then ordered ‘brace for impact’. I had already had known there were already lives lost. My eldest brother grabbed me and pulled me off to side and a bulkhead was pulled over top of me.” A few tears unwillingly

“I checked the ship all over, hoping not to disturb your fallen friends,” Panthro said. “But I found the living quarters were untouched by the fire. Why is that?”

“Tony has all his ships made like that. He wanted to make sure that if he or anyone else was trapped in their quarters when attacked, they would be safe. He is also greedy. If anyone loses their life, he would take their belongings.”

“That’s heartless,” Tygra spat out. “Why would someone do that? That is something I’ll never understand with humans.”

“Humans are not the only beings out there that can be heartless,” Alana said with slight anger. “There are other alien races who would be just as heartless and some even merciless as well.”

“After today, I could start moving the bodies to a location so there all together when we help you bury them,” Panthro suggested.

“Are you sure, you’ll be all right with that?” Alana asked. “I know it would be hard on me to move…”

“It won’t be too hard,” Lion-O offered.

“Well we better let the kids get the bridge done so we may inspect the ship,” Cheetara said. “In the meantime, I’m going to be in the control room.” Cheetara stood and quickly sped away out of the room.

“Does she do that all the time?” Alana asked.

Panthro crossed his arms and smirked. “Yup. It’s one thing you’ll get use to. Well you two better get started.”

“We’re going,” Wilykat whined. The two kids stood and left.

“That is if I’m here that long,” Alana said.

Tygra looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Well I don’t want to impose or anything. I’m not a Thundercat, I doubt I’d fit in.”

Lion-O looked at her. “You are more than welcomed to stay here for as long as you wish. You may not be a Thunderian, but I’m sure you’d be useful here and even if you are not, we could always use other companionship.”

“Lion-O’s right,” Panthro agreed. “And you would not be imposing.”

“But what can I do? I don’t have super strength. I wouldn’t be able to help you if you were in trouble.”

“That maybe so about strength,” Tygra said. “But you never know about helping us if we were in trouble. You are the daughter of Safari Joe, you may know a few tricks from him that could be useful.”

“But I’m not Thunderian.”

“Even though you are not Thunderian.” Lion-O and Alana turned from the table. Before their eyes was Jaga. “You can be useful and with some work, you could become a Thundercat without being a Thunderian. Lion-O has the power to allow you to become a Thundercat and with his words, the Sword of Omens would call for you as well when danger is near.”

“I can do that?” Lion-O asked.

“Yes, Lion-O,” Jaga smiled. “With the Sword of Omens and a test, she can become a valued Thundercat, considering Snarf is one.”

“But I don’t find I’d be worthy,” Alana said. Through the corner of her eyes, she could tell the other two Thundercats were intrigued in what had to say Jaga. They were leaned back, smirking.

“Never say you are not worthy, until you try,” Jaga said as he disappeared.

Lion-O turned back to his friends as Alana leaned her head down.

“That’s the second time he’s appeared in front of Alana,” Tygra stated.

“I’m having a hard time believing, with a successful test, you could make Alana a Thundercat and the Sword of Omens would summon her if needed,” Panthro said.

“Me too,” Lion-O looked down at the sword.

Tygra stood and walked over to the woman. “Even Jaga says you are not imposing.”

“I don’t deserve your kindness,” she said with sadness. “But I am grateful. How long does it take the kids to clean off the bridge?”

“Usually a half hour,” Panthro answered.

“Perhaps I’ll go and help them.” Alana stood and walked away as tears came to her eyes. She needed to leave the room before Tygra or the other two noticed she had tears forming in her eyes.

Tygra, as he watched her turn away from him, noticed her eyes were blurred with tears. He closed his eyes for a second and sighed. “She is still hiding her grief from us.”

“Give her time,” Lion-O suggested. “She has only known us for a week. She isn’t going to tell us what is on her mind over night.”

“That is true but her grief is starting to drain her and if she soon doesn’t talk to someone, it’s only going to get worse.”

“There’s no sense in talking about her,” Panthro stood. “She is about to get the biggest shock of her life and we’re going to need to be there to help her through this. It is hard for me to work around those bodies. But it’s no worse than helping Willa when the Mutants attack her village or when they attack anyone else’s village. They are friends.”

“Tygra perhaps you should be with her. Out of all of us, she’s more comfortable with you,” Lion-O suggested.

Tygra nodded. “She is also comfortable with Cheetara. This is going to emotionally drain her.”

“All we can do is give her any support she will offer us,” Panthro said. “In my opinion it’s too soon for her to see that ship.”

“Even so,” Lion-O intervened. “We have to respect her wishes and it’s for the best in the long run. If the mutants were to get wind of the ship, they would not have any regard for the deceased.”

Tygra nodded in agreement. “Well we better get ready. Today will be a long day.”

-

The ride to the crash was silent. Alana, still feeling like she would be imposing didn’t feel like striking a conversation. A few times Cheetara or Lion-O tried to strike a conversation but she would just apologize and didn’t feel like speaking. While she waited for the worse to come, she glanced around the small space.

Her and Cheetara sat at the very back as Lion-O sat in one of seats in front. Snarf lay on the floor near the opening to the front where Tygra and Panthro were. She could hear the two silently talking amongst themselves. She couldn’t make out what they were saying.

When the tank stopped and the top hatch opened. She watched Cheetara jump out and noticed Lion-O had a hand out towards her. She slowly stood, taking a few quick breaths. She didn’t bother to look behind her knowing she would see part of the ship.

“We can come back on another day,” Lion-O offered softly while he gently grasped her hand so he could pull close to him.

“No. I want this over with. I need to be strong. If I don’t do it now, I never will have the stomach to do it.”

Lion-O nodded. “Careful now. I’m about to jump.”

Alana nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. When she was secured on the ground, she slowly stepped away from the Lord of the Thundercats, keeping her eyes averted to the ground.

She slowly bent down in the snow. She clasped her hands together, bending her head further and said a pray. When her prayer was finished, she stood back up and turned to her new friends.

“It’s called a prayer,” she said as she looked at their confused faces.

“Is it another human custom?” Panthro asked.

“Actually it is. It’s a custom that dates back to when the humans were on this planet. The humans once called it the ‘Lord’s Prayer’.” Bending her head back down, she turned to face the ship and slowly raised her head.

A slight gasp escaped her lips and she took a step back. She suddenly felt Tygra’s presence directly behind ready to give any support she needed. She took in a quivering breath before taking a step forward.

“We can start where ever you like,” Panthro said. “The flight deck and engine room took the heaviest.”

“Start…” she paused. “Start from the bottom. My brothers are on the bridge. After I get this done, have all the…” she wasn’t sure what she wanted to call her friends. “…Fallen placed neatly in the rooms until we can bury them.”

“I have an idea on that,” Panthro said. “I have been doing an experiment with the Thundertank. And I think I have found away to bury them now instead of waiting until spring.”

Alana swiftly turned to the panther. “How?”

“I made a slight modification to the guns on the Thundertank. I believe I could thaw the ground to bury everyone. With the scrap that I’ve been able to salvage so far, I made crypt for your fallen friends. From what I’ve found you had a crew of 69. And I made the crypt to fit all of them.”

“Including myself there were 70. The ship looks small on the outside but inside is another matter. Tony wanted small looking ships but crew capacity of more. So small bridges and engine rooms were built.”

“All we have to do is get everyone in the crypt and create a burial sight.”

“If it’s all right with you, I’d rather the sight be here. Will this crypt be crowded?”

“No. Each person will have it’s own pocket as if it were a coffin.”

“Thank you.” She turned back to the ship and began a slow journey to where the engine room was located. She entered through one of the holes in the hull. Other than the hole there was no other light shining through.

Behind her, Tygra climbed in, though he had good eyesight, he produced a light for Alana.

“Thank you. I’ve always heard that cats had good eyesight in the dark and I figured yours were no different.”

“Not only do we have good eyes in the dark but we have a good sense of direction as well.”

“Is it going to be hard to get to the engine room?” Though still saddened, Alana was able to control her emotions as if she was doing a salvage operation for another ship.

“No we already cleaned the debris away from all the major areas,” Panthro answered. “Just be careful as you walk, there is some loose bulkheads and some of the floor could buckle.”

Alana led the way down to the engine room. When they reached the room, Alana quickly noticed bodies. Some laid as if they were sleeping while others were leaned over consoles. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she refused to let them drop. She needed to get this over with so the Thundercats could get use of the ship and so she could complete her grieving.

Closing her eyes from the pain. “Can anything in here be salvage?”

“We haven’t really taken much of a look,” Tygra answered. “We didn’t want to disturb anything until you looked at it. But I’m sure there is.”

“Yesterday when I was here. I came across one of the quarters that may still have an operational computer.”

“That would be the master’s quarters, which would have been set for Tony.”

“I take it,” Cheetara said. “Tony is the guy you ran away from?”

“Yes. And he built his ships so certain rooms would withstand anything.” Her voiced suddenly began to whisper, head lowered. “Megan, Trish, Michael, Dan, Tracey, Francine, Chris, Jason and Travis. May you rest in peace. I might not have known you for too long but understood my views. I wish you were all here but I need to live on and make sure Tony doesn’t win by allowing my grief consume me.”

She lifted her head up to look Lion-O. “Over in the corner was the main console for the engine room. Later we if can get the computers back up and running we could find out if anything from the hyper drive is salvageable.”

Lion-O nodded in agreement.

“Just beside the console there is a hatchway that leads to crawl space where you’ll find most of the computer chips that ran the ship. There is many different crawl spaces across the ship.” She turned looked at her fallen friends again and quickly regretted it. “Can we leave this room? Please.”

“Of course,” Lion-O said. “We’ll go to the next room.”

They went to every room of the ship and whenever they came across a room with bodies, Alana whispered a prayer to them. When they finally reached the flight deck, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with but she knew she had to.

Tygra, for support, grasped her hand and gave it gentle squeeze before entering. She quickly closed her eyes as they entered, she didn’t want to back out as they entered. When they stopped, she forcefully opened her eyes.

She quickly scanned the room and just as she came across her chair, she gasped. Before her eyes she saw her brothers. Her eldest brother lay beside the chair, eyes wide opened as dried blood stained his face. She gasped in horror and quickly turned, covering her face in Tygra’s chest as heavy sobs came out.

Tygra wrapped his arms around her and with quick observation; he noticed her legs were starting to give away. He slowly lowered himself and her to the floor as he looked at Lion-O who shrugged.

“Maybe you should take her home,” Lion-O suggested.

“No,” she cried in Tygra’s chest. “I need this,” she whispered.

“Lion-O,” Tygra said softy. “As much as we don’t like this, she needs this. With this out of the way, we can place her friends and brothers in the crypt and bury them.”

Alana, feeling comfortable wrapped in Tygra’s arms, cried. She tried to cry silently but the sobs just wouldn’t stay silent. As she listened, she felt a cool breeze brush past her shoulder. Though she was wearing thick clothing, she was able to feel the breeze. It made her remember what Jaga said that her brothers were always with her.

She began to calm her tears as she remembered the good times with her brothers and the last few moments of their lives. Josh pushed her out of the way for her to live. He knew everyone’s lives were gone but he wanted her to live.

She remembered back when they first departed…

Flashback

“Is everything ready to launch?” Alana asked.

“We are ready at your command. But we should soon hurry. It won’t take Tony long to figure you are not in your chambers getting prepared for your wedding.” A young woman with short black hair said.

Alana snapped her head away. “Megan, I don’t need to be reminded of that. I will not marry someone I do not love nor will I allow my father to do what he pleases to me as he did with my sisters.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. Megan turned towards the ship and read the name. “Renegade. That’s a fitting name for the ship.”

“That’s why I chose this one. It’s befitting to our departure.”

“Yo, sis.”

Alana turned to see her eldest brother coming around the corner. She smiled as he approached. “Josh.”

“Well I better make sure the engine room is secure,” Megan excused herself. “I’ll be chief of engineering.”

When Megan was gone, Josh spoke. “Listen, what we are about to do is treason. Are you sure you want to go through with this.”

“Josh you are the eldest sibling. You have seen our sisters be forced into marriages and we haven’t heard from any of them and they were married off when they turned eighteen. My eighteenth birthday is soon arriving, I will not be like my sisters.”

“I know. I just want to make sure that this is what you want. All of us in this together and we back you up all the way. I just want to make sure you are not getting cold feet.”

“I am not going to marry that monster. He locks me in my room when I’m not needed. I can’t go anywhere without an escort. I have no private time.”

“What is our heading?”

“Third Earth. I want to enlist the help of the Thundercats. If what father says is true, they can stop father and we can finally be free.”

“Are you sure these Thundercats will help us. They are complete strangers.”

“From what father has told his friends, the Thundercats are a kind race who fight with honor and loyalty. They do not stand by and watch the helpless get hurt. Besides Manadora has said the same thing. When she visited last month. In secret, I had a private meeting with her and she told me the same thing father said.”

“And Mandora doesn’t lie.”

“No, she doesn’t. But I need to keep Mandora out of this as much as possible. When we meet the Thundercats, I do not want them to know that she knows our father.”

“I agree. Well we better board. Tom, Terry, Steve, David and Carl are waiting for us. They are already aboard and waiting on the bridge for us.”

“Six brothers, helping their youngest sister run away. How weird is that?” Alana asked but quickly changed the subject. “Then let us get moving before we waist anymore time.”

“One more thing before we go. When he finds out you are missing, and he will, he will come after us. He’ll either try and retrieve us or shoot us down as we are taking one of his best ships and he doesn’t like seeing his ships in anyone else’s hands.

“I just want you to know, if my life is lost during this, I want you to live. Tony will want to try and ruin your life and the best why to do that is by destroying everything that matters, including your spirit. That spirit was almost lost once and if it weren’t for me and our brothers, that spirit would have been lost forever.”

“And I thank you everyday for that.”

“Yes and I don’t want the spirit to die because of me or the brothers.”

“Josh…”

“No. I don’t want to hear buts or anything. I want you to promise me that you will live if we don’t.”

“I promise.” Alana hugged her brother and the two entered the ship to begin their long journey to Third Earth.

End flashback

The words Alana said to her brother suddenly kept going through her mind over and over again. ‘I promise’. She couldn’t ignore nor break a promise. She looked up at Tygra as she realized they were on the floor.

“I need to be strong,” she whispered. She gently pushed herself from the tiger’s arms and slowly stood.

Lion-O was going to help but she held her hand up to stop him. He took the silent jester and backed away from her, leaving Tygra beside her. When she was completely on her feet, she moved towards the main part of the bridge where her brother laid, broken.

“You feared this would happen,” she whispered to the body. “I will not break my promise but it will not be easy but I will allow these Thunderians to help me move on. I know you are standing beside me.”

With shaky hands, she covered his eyes, to close them so she wouldn’t have to look at the haunting look. When she removed her hands, she felt her body begin to fall. She knew darkness was about to envelop her as seeing her brothers was too overwhelming.

Before falling too far, she felt herself being slowly lowered. She knew Tygra had caught her before she fell too far and held her in his arms. She managed to look up with blurred vision to see the concerned look of her tiger friend darkness consumed her. There wasn’t anything more she could do. She wanted the darkness to take over. She needed peace and get out but didn’t want to venture back through the darkened tomb.

[Tigress]

Chapter 4 – Why is Alana Scared?

Moving quickly before the woman fell he caught her before she had any chance of falling too far. He looked down upon her and saw that her eyes were no longer in focus. He knew she was loosing consciousness. He watched as her eyes slowly closed for the final time, giving indication that she was no longer conscious. He looked up to his leader as his spoke.

“Is she all right?”

“I think so. It looks like she fainted.”

“We should get her out of here,” Panthro suggested. “She has been through a lot and from seeing her brothers, I’m sure it has really taken a toll on her.”

“Tygra, why don’t you take her home? Wileykit and Kat can keep an eye on her. I want to start getting these bodies out of here so we can work.” Lion-O suggested, taking another look at Alana’s oldest. “The sight of this is starting to make my stomach queasy.”

“You’re not the only one,” Cheetara said. “But we have done this before.”

“A few times actually,” Panthro stated.

Tygra nodded. He easily lifted the woman into his arms and left the flight deck. Lion-O followed just to be on the safe side in case Tygra had any problems getting out. Considering Panthro did say that the floor could give or the bulkheads could let go.

“Tygra, a few days ago, Alana started to seem a little distant and each day it seems to get worse. I’m sure she is hiding something. Something that could either get us into trouble.”

“I feel the same Lion-O but she has to come to us. If we were to push her to tell us what is wrong, she would back away from our friendship and she did come to us. Not the way she wanted, but she did make it to her destination.”

It took only a few minutes for the two of them to exit the ship and into the open brisk air. Tygra wasted no time in getting over to the Thundertank and placed Alana in. He jumped in as well, putting it into gear and headed back to Cats Lair. He didn’t even say anything more to Lion-O.

When he reached the lair, the two Thunderkittens waited for him at the steps. “What happened?” Wileykit asked with concern.

Tygra carefully picked Alana up before answering. “She fainted. Lion-O has asked for me to place her in your care and get back to the sight.”

“Ok, but first lets get her inside.”

Tygra nodded and went inside, the two kids were behind him. When they reached Alana’s room, Tygra carefully laid her down on the bed. With the help of Wileykit, the two removed her winter gear so she could rest peacefully. When the woman was comfortably in bed, Tygra quickly left.

“I’ll let you know if she awakens,” Wileykat said as he met Tygra at the doors leading outside.

“Thanks.” Tygra moved away from the window. “I better get back.”

“I’ll send Snarf to keep an eye on her.”

When the Thundertank was out of sight, Wileykat went back in and to the control room where she knew Snarf would be.

“Snarf,” he called as he entered the room. “Tygra has just brought Alana back. Right now she is resting in her room.”

“Snarf…What happened?”

“I guess from seeing her fallen friends, put too much strain on her and she collapsed.”

“I suppose you would like me to keep an eye on her in case she wakes up?.. Snarf.”

“If that isn’t too much trouble for you.”

“It shouldn’t be. I took care of Lion-O, didn’t I?”

“And once in awhile, you go overboard. That is from what I’ve seen and heard from Cheetara.”

“Snarf…can I help it. He was only a boy when we left Thundera and when we arrived he was a grown man. He lost the best years of his life.”

“You have a point there.”

Wileykat sat back down in his seat while Snarf left the room. Though still young, he was just as concerned for the young woman as Tygra was. But he had a feeling that Tygra seemed a little more concerned for her than anyone else.

-

While Tygra headed back to the crash sight, he was confused and concerned for Alana. He never knew a woman who was like Alana before. She was beautiful and mysterious all at the same time. She had been within the Thundercats’ company for a week and they were no closer in finding out more of who she was than what she had told them. She was only telling what they needed to know at the time it was appropriate.

What Lion-O said was right, but Tygra knew his point was also right. He soon was going to have to come to decision. He already knew what his course of action was going to be but he was dreading it if it came down to it. He was afraid of having to put the pressure on Alana to be more talkative, knowing she had been through a lot.

Tygra was also afraid, either Tony or even her father may come looking for her and they wouldn’t have any way to protect. They were completely vulnerable at the moment. Even their own enemies, Mumm-ra or the Mutants could attack and they wouldn’t be ready.

When he arrived, he saw Cheetara carrying one of the bodies, wrapped in a blanket, towards a bunker. Tygra guessed the bunker was the crypt Panthro spoke of. He quickly jumped out of the Thundertank to help the young male cub. There were five separate sections, able to fit fourteen bodies in each one. When one section was filled, another one would lay on top of it, until all five were on top of each other, making it ten feet high.

“Is she all right?” she asked.

“She should be,” Tygra answered. “She’s resting right now. The kids and Snarf will keep an eye on her and let us know if she awakens.”

“It’s not fair. She shouldn’t have pushed herself into this so quick.”

“Nobody said life is fair. What are the others doing?”

“Working as quick as possible in covering the bodies. This is the first one.”

Tygra could tell on the cheetah’s face she was having a hard time with this. She seemed to have a hard keeping her emotions in check. “Why don’t you go for a quick run. You missed out on it this morning. Perhaps it will help clear your head.”

“Are you sure?”

Tygra slightly smiled. “Go.” He took the body and watched Cheetara disappear around the corner of the ship. When he had the blanketed body placed gently in one of pockets of the nearest section, Panthro came up behind him with another body.

“Where’s Cheetara?” he asked. “I thought she would have come back for another.”

“I told her to have a small run. She never had it today and it’s starting to run her down. She probably will be back in a few minutes to continue to help us.”

“I noticed that too,” Lion-O agreed as he came up beside Tygra and placed another body in the makeshift crypt. “We have everyone covered in blankets since Alana showed us from the quarters. It’s making it a lot easier to not loose my breakfast.”

“Perhaps it’s a good idea to take a break and wait for Cheetara to come back.” Panthro suggested. “With her speed, we could get these people out of that ship before nightfall. The sooner this gets done, the better I’ll feel. I haven’t been able to eat properly since Alana arrived.”

“I know what you mean,” Tygra agreed. “Alana isn’t eating much either.”

About a half hour later, Cheetara returned. She seemed a little more energized than she was when she left. Lion-O quickly noticed that she did not run like she usually does. That would mean that she did not go very far from the ship. For a quick moment, he went around the corner of the other side of the ship and noticed that Cheetara’s trail let to the forest that was nearby.

She must have rested at the edge of the forest, giving herself some private time. All the times they ever had to help bury bodies from the Warrior Maidens or anyone else, Cheetara always seemed to do the moral around the group, either with helping Snarf prepare food or rebuild the damaged homes.

Lion-O turned back to his friends.

Cheetara looked at her friends. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Here’s the plan,” Lion-O commanded. “Cheetara and I will start with the engine room and you two work from the flight deck. We’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”

“Good plan,” Tygra agreed.

-

The sun had just gone over the west horizon when Cheetara brought out the last blanketed body. She laid the body down in the final pocket. Together her, Lion-O and Tygra placed the slab that would be the cover for the crypt.

Panthro jumped into the Thundertank and using the paws of the tank, he grabbed a hold of the final section, placing it a top the other four. He used a low setting on the guns, sealing the last section so it wouldn’t come apart. When each section was put on top of the other, Panthro did the same.

Panthro wiped his brow. “There. Now the stomach squeezing can stop. Let’s head for home and try to stomach something. We don’t want to be weak in case we’re attacked.”

“I guess Alana hasn’t woken yet,” Lion-O said.

Suddenly, Wileykit’s voice came through over the Thundertank’s communicator.

“What is it?” Panthro, still in the tank, answered.

“Alana, she’s gone. An hour ago, I checked on her and she was still in bed. I just checked on her again and she’s gone.”

“We’re on our way.” Panthro looked up to his comrades. “Let’s go. We have ourselves a missing guest.”

Tygra shocked his head. “I had a feeling she would do that. She could have been pretending to sleep when Wileykit checked on her and when she left, Alana snuck off.”

The three remaining Thundercats jumped in the tank and headed back to Cats’ Lair. As soon as they arrived, Tygra jumped out and quickly made his way into the lair. He wanted…needed to find her. He went to the control room, where he began to do a survey of the whole lair. For an hour he looked but found nothing. He was starting to get a little frustrated.

Cheetara came up behind him with a tray of food and a drink. “Nothing?”

“No. She has to be here somewhere. There were no fresh tracks in the snow, indicating she’s somewhere inside.”

“Here, I brought this up for you.” Cheetara offered the food to him.

“Thanks.” He turned, generously taking the tray and nibbled a little. He was still overwhelmed from cleaning Alana’s fallen friends, but he needed something in his stomach. He took a small drink, when something caught his eye. He turned back to the monitor, bringing a closer image of what had his eye. His eyes widened as he smiled.

“Found her,” he announced. “She’s hidden down in the green house.”

As he stood, forgetting about his food, Cheetara got his attention. “You like her.”

He turned to her and stared at her for a few minutes. “I believe it’s going further than that.” He turned away from the woman and left before she could utter another word.

-

As he approached the doors to the green house, he slowed to a walk. He knew if he approached the doors too quick they would swish open fast and he did not want to startle the grieving woman. The doors slowly opened, barely giving a sound when he was close enough to the sensor. He began to search around for her, not exactly sure where she was. He knew she was still in the room as he could hear her occasional whimper, indicating she had been crying.

When he located her, she was in a far corner, surrounded with crates of food. The crates created a huge shadow over her, keeping her well hidden. If it weren’t for her crying, no one would be able to find her.

He took a closer look at her condition. She had a blanket wrapped tightly around her with a bucket beside her. The blanket, she probably took from her room. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking and it wasn’t from crying. He speculated she had been throwing up.

Not being able to take her hurt anymore, he kneeled down beside her and placed a gentle hand on her shaking shoulder. “We were worried about you,” he said softly.

She slightly jumped and looked at him. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying making the rest of her face look very pale.

“How did you find me?” she asked hoarsely, barely above a whisper.

“Checked every room and corridor by the monitor in the control room. We’ve been back for an hour.”

She turned away from him. “I can’t feel my body.”

Tygra gasped slightly at her statement. She was basically telling him, from all her crying and throwing up; she lost all feeling in her body. He sat on the floor; stretching his arms and pulling her towards his warm body.

She tried to fight his arms away from her but she had no strength left. She was amazed she was able to hold herself up for so long. Giving up, she leaned her head against his chest, allowing the rhythm of his heartbeat to calm her nerves.

For about ten minutes she sat in his lap, the warmth to his body to warm her up. When she stopped trembling, he felt it was time to leave the room. Switching his arms around her to carry her, he slowly stood and slowly walked up to her quarters. She had her arms loosely wrapped around his shoulders. He knew the whole time; she was still awake, as a slight sniffle would break the silence.

When he had her safe and warm in her quarters, he came to the realization that he was attracted to her…and it was vastly turning into more of an attraction. He knew that caring for her the way his feelings were starting to want him to, was dangerous. He didn’t really know anything about her and it wasn’t fair to her as she just ran from her fiancé and just lost her brothers and closest friends.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” she pleaded in a whisper when he laid her on the already opened blankets.

“As long as you promise me that you won’t hide from us again.”

She slight nodded as her eyes began to draw heavy. Sleep was very quickly starting to take over her body.

“On a lighter note, everyone is now in the makeshift crypt. When you have the strength, we’ll do a memorial for them before burying them.”

“Thank you.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head slightly away from Tygra.

He quietly stayed in the room, sitting on the side of the bed as she fell asleep. When he knew she asleep, he slowly stood.

“I shouldn’t have these feelings,” he whispered. “I wish you would open up. We need you to be more open up so we can protect you from our enemies and yours.”

He turned away from the woman and left the room. Just outside the room, Cheetara waited. He had no idea how long she was there, but figured it was shortly after he arrived.

“I noticed you two were no longer in the green house, so I figured you brought her back here. From your looks, it looks like she wasn’t in the best of shape when you found her.”

Tygra shock his head. “Worse. I’m surprised she was still conscious. She has just made me promise not to let anyone know of her condition when I found her.”

“At least she’s putting her trust in you.”

“I wish she would tell us what she is hiding from us.”

“Well at least she’s safe. Why don’t you finish what I gave you and then head to bed yourself. Panthro is taking first watch.”

Tygra nodded. “I think I’ll just skip dinner and just get some sleep. From today and seeing her in the green house has completely made me lose my appetite.”

Cheetara watched as Tygra walked down the hallway and into his own quarters. When the doors were closed, she quietly peered into the human’s room to make sure she was asleep and not pretending and then made her way to the conference room, where she knew Panthro and Lion-O were.

“Did Tygra find her?” Lion-O asked as Cheetara entered the room.

“He found her. She was in the green house. She’s now back in her quarters, sleeping. Tygra has gone and done the same.”

“Perhaps she should have something to do here so she isn’t so lonely.” Panthro crossed his arms. “But the question is what? I have no idea what type of talents she has.”

“She told Tygra she had knowledge in Science and medicine and that she has other hobbies but what they are, I’m not sure. I could have a talk with her when she’s feeling better,” Lion-O suggested. “She might feel more useful if she was doing something. I have noticed she has been admiring the structure of Cats’ Lair.”

“Lion-O,” Cheetara interrupted. “She maybe more responsive if I spoke with her. I’ve noticed she is not always comfortable around you.”

“I’ve noticed that to,” he agreed. “And it’s starting to get troublesome. She’s most comfortable around you and Tygra.”

“Lion-O, why don’t you get some rest? You will be taking the next watch after me.”

Lion-O sighed. “You’re right Panthro.” He stood and walked past Cheetara.

When the Lord of the Thundercats was gone, Panthro looked at Cheetara. “Why do I get the feeling that there may be something trying to develop between Tygra and Alana?”

“Maybe from Tygra’s end but I think Alana is scared to start over. From what I gather, she looks as though she’s afraid that all men are like her fiancé.”

Panthro shock his head. “Even if that is true she must realize that we are nothing like humans. So what that are appearances are different. We are a race who respect our women and others.”

“I think she’s starting to see that now. I’m quite surprised there hasn’t been any Mutant activity. Not even the Warrior Maidens have had anything.”

“Something is brewing, I can feel it. As soon as we can get Alana’s friends buried, the better I’ll feel. If the Mutants see that crypt, they may attack it or steal it. Either way, it will make Alana drawback even further than she already has.”

“I agree. In the morning, I’ll go to the Tree Top Kingdom and see if they know anything.”

“Why you’re out, see if we can get the help of the Robear Berbils. They helped us build Cats’ Lair. I want to see if they can help us get the ship disassembled and the parts here so we can work with it better.”

“Let’s just hope we do not get another snow storm. This year is terrible for the storms.”

“Perhaps the storms is what is causing the Mutants in not being able to make an appearance,” he chuckled. “They probably don’t know how to get by a storm.”

“But we can never be to careless,” Cheetara stated. “That would be something if that were true, but we shouldn’t speculate on why they haven’t showed.”

“Any idea what the kids are doing?”

“Yeah they said they wanted to make something for Alana. They feel real bad for her and want to try and cheer her up. She has not smiled since the day she first ventured outside.”

“Lion-O said she threw Wileykat a snowball right after Wileykit hit him with one. Well I’m heading up to the control room.” Panthro stood from the table. “I’ll first check in on the kids before heading there.”

“I will. The kids are in one of their rooms and that is the opposite direction than where you are heading.”

-

Cheetara came up to the kids’ quarters, almost expecting them to be in there. When she came close to the sensor, she noticed they were in there. She entered the room, as the two were busy working on something.

“How is your project going?” she asked.

“We should be done by morning,” Wileykat answered. “I hope she likes it.”

“I’m sure she will. Lion-O and Tygra have gone to bed and Alana is now resting back in her quarters.”

“Where was she?” Wileykit asked as she placed down the wood she was using.

“She was hiding in the green house. I’m not sure why she was there. But I would have to say she was probably wanting to get away from everyone and she got lost.”

The kids shock their heads in sadness.

“I’ll leave you two alone now. Whenever you’re ready, you may head to bed.” Cheetara turned and headed out. She decided she was going to take another look in on Alana.

When she got to Alana’s Quarters, she saw Snarf standing outside the doors. “What are you doing here?”

Snarf looked up to the owner of the voice. “Keeping watch…Snarf. Snarf.”

“Snarf that is not being nice. What do you think she’ll say if she sees you? I’m sure she’ll stay in her quarters. Tygra said she was quite upset and tired.”

Snarf crossed his arms and huffed. “Fine.” He turned away and walked over to Lion-O’s quarters. He laid down beside the doors. “If I can’t watch her from there, I will here. This way if she sneaks off again, I can follow her and let you guys know.”

Cheetara shook her head and walked away. She didn’t need to check on the human now since Snarf was taking care of that. She continued up to the control room and sat at one of the empty seats, helping Panthro for a little while before turning in. When she finally decided to turn in, another storm began its approach towards the Cats’ Lair.

She heard Panthro curse at the weather. “Blasted storms. With these storms we can’t do much. This is the third storm in the past week. Third Earth hasn’t had one of these type of winters in a long time.”

Cheetara came up behind Panthro. “How large will the storm be?”

Panthro punched in a few numbers and was given the answer. He gasped at the size. “It’s huge, ranging 45 degrees south to 30 degrees north.”

“That’s the biggest storm we’ve had all year so far. And it will reach all the way to the Castle Plun-darr,” Cheetara mused. “At least that will answer a question about them. They will, at least for now, be digging themselves out before they get to us.”

“Unless Mumm-ra decides to interfere.”

“In reality we haven’t heard from him since the winter began. In fact every winter so far, we never hear from him. When will the storm reach us?”

“It will reach us, if the winds keep going the way it’s going, by tomorrow night. I have noticed that about Mumm-ra. Maybe the cold weather doesn’t suit him. Or perhaps sometimes the snow can make a reflection or the ice will when he crosses it and it’s bare.”

“I’m heading off. If it hasn’t starting snowing yet by morning, we should get as much done as possible tomorrow.”

Panthro laugh quietly. “Have a good night.”

With Panthro now alone, he decided to get some work that he had wanted to get done since before Alana arrived. And with the storm, it was a perfect time for him to do it. He had wanted to see if the scanners could work through a storm. So far they wouldn’t but he figured he probably could configure it somehow. If that could work, then they would be able to scan for ships approaching Third Earth.

[Tigress]

Chapter 5 – Revealing Talents

It was near the beginning of daybreak when Tygra woke. He couldn’t believe he slept for so long as he turned in very early. He quickly got up and made his way to Alana’s room. He did feel a little guilty in wanting to see if she stayed, but it was necessary to make sure she was safe. He was about to open the door, when he noticed Snarf was nearby, one eye opened. Tygra slightly smiled. Snarf felt the same way; he kept an eye on the grieving woman.

Knowing that she would be in quarters, he shrugged his shoulders, and made his way to the control room, to relieve who ever was on watch so they could get a few more hours of sleep before the sun completely was in the sky.

“Good morning,” Tygra said as he noticed it was his leader who was up.

Lion-O turned. “You’re up early.”

“I’m surprised I slept this long. Why don’t you head back to bed? I’ll take it from here. I’ve slept for quite a long time.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I have had plenty of sleep.”

“Go,” Tygra said.

Lion-O stood. “I’m sure you saw Snarf next to my door.”

“Keeping an eye on Alana I guess. She’s been through a lot these last few days.”

“And it may get worse. There’s another storm heading our way. At its present course, it will catch up to us by nightfall. So far it will be the worst and it will eventually reach all the way to Castle Plun-Darr, no matter what the wind does.”

“That’s quite the storm.” He watched the Lord of the Thundercats leave before he took his position where Lion-O was.

Not long after Lion-O left, Tygra saw activity just outside the Cats’ Lair walls. He homed in on the source and smiled. It was only Cheetara getting ready for her morning run. This was her normal time in getting. He watched her for a few minutes before she disappeared in a blurr.

“I probably could use some food.”

Tygra turned at the sound, seeing Alana standing in the doorway. She looked a lot better than she did when he found her. A little ways behind her, he saw Snarf, but quickly noticed Snarf took off. With Alana with Tygra, he was no longer needed.

“I’m sure we could find something.” He quickly turned back, pushing two buttons before putting his attention on getting the human some food.

“What did you just push?” she asked as Tygra approached her.

“Recording outside activity in case of an attack and turned on the alarm. When Cheetara comes back inside, she’ll deactivate the alarm and head up here.”

They silently walked to the kitchen and Tygra began to take a look around on the shelves to see if there was anything edible for Alana to eat without having it cooked. He was surprised that Snarf wasn’t in the room.

Alana saw a small table with a couple chairs and sat down. She didn’t want to over exert herself after throwing up for so long. From that, her stomach was now sore and was giving quite the discomfort.

“I’m not sure what there is without having to cook.”

“Can you cook?”

Tygra whipped around and stared at her. She looked up with a slight smile.

“I’m kidding.”

Tygra smiled with her. “Well actually I can cook, but I’m not as good as Snarf.” He turned and in on the last shelf he found some of the left over candy fruit from the Robear Berbils. He turned back and sat at the table.

“There’s not much but there is a little bit of Candy fruit.”

“Candy fruit? What is that?”

“It’s fruit in the shape of different types of candy. It’s really good.” He handed her the candy fruit.

She carefully took it out of his hands and took a bite. Her eyes lit up with the taste. “Amazing. I’ve never had anything like this before. But I don’t want too much or I’ll ruin my breakfast.”

“Snarf will probably come in at any time and start breakfast.”

“I suppose this will hold me over until then. Will I be able to see the ship today?”

“That may not be possible I’m afraid.”

Alana stood, suddenly angry. “Why because of how I reacted last night?”

Tygra placed his hands up in defense. “I’m not saying that at all. But if you were to take a look at the sensors, you will find a storm heading this way. At the rate it’s going, it will start at nightfall. I’m not sure how much will fall, but it’s rating the worse storm this year.”

“Snow.” Her anger increased. “It’s going to snow again. What is this? Is this the God’s way of not allowing me to grieve the way I want?” She slammed her fist but quickly regretted it. She hissed in pain as she grasped her hand.

Tygra noticed she scratched her hand when she hit the table. He guessed it must have been caused from her weaken condition. He went over to help her but she cowered away.

“I should take a look at that.”

“No. I’m fine.” Her anger was now gone but was slightly irritated. “This was my fault. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Its just…” she trailed off.

“It’s just what?” He watched as she turned away from him. “Look,” he sighed. “You are hiding something and I understand that you don’t want to talk about it, but I want to be your friend and frankly you are making it really difficult.”

She turned back to him, with her head down. “I know you want to be my friend and I’m not helping. But I have a dark past and it’s hard to speak about it. The only person I ever confided in…you just took off the flight deck. I’ve never been good at being open.”

She turned back away from Tygra and was about to walk out but he gently grasped her arm. “Can you at least tell me why you keep shying away from us?”

“I…” she looked at the arm that was holding hers. She took a deep breath. “Believe me when I say I want to trust you but…” she paused and then rushed out. “I have a hard time trusting men. My brothers were the only ones I’ve ever been able to trust completely.” She pulled her arm away and ran out of the room, leaving a startled tiger in the wind.

After she was long gone, Snarf walked in to prepare breakfast.

“Snarf… Why did I just see Alana come running from this direction?”

“She’s troubled and she’s having a hard time trusting people,” Tygra explained. He walked out of the kitchen so the small Snarf could get his work done. He went back up to the control room to monitor Alana in case she was to get herself lost again.

But he quickly realized she had gone back into her quarters.

“I see you had turned on the alarm. Alana must have woken up.” Cheetara asked as she came into the room. She looked at the disturb tiger. “Is something wrong?”

Tygra turned to the woman. “I thought you were out for your run?”

“I decided to talk a small run. We have a busy day and we need to start as soon as possible.” Cheetara took a seat near the tiger.

“I just found out one of many reasons why she’s not comfortable around us.”

“Let me guess, she’s afraid of men.”

Tygra turned in his seat. “Exactly. And I don’t know how to help her.”

“Why don’t you let me talk to her?”

“That might be a good idea. I was just with her a few minutes ago and she had suddenly got angry at the weather.”

“These storms are keeping her from being able to put her friends to rest.”

“I know. I’ve never met a woman like her. She reminds me of Willa when we first met her, but short time after meeting Willa, she began to open up to us. Alana on the other hand, keeps backing away from us.”

Cheetara looked at the monitor, watching the storm, closing in towards them. “From the looks of that storm, it’s going to take us a few days to get through the snow.”

Tygra shock his head. “At least we were able to get Alana’s friends out of the ship.”

Cheetara nodded. “Perhaps we can get them buried before the storm hits us.” She turned and left, making her way towards Alana’s room. When she arrived, she could hear muffled cries coming from the room. She slowly made her way into the room.

“Alana,” she called softly.

“Go away,” Alana cried.

“Alana I want to just have a small talk.” Cheetara walked over to the bed and carefully sat down. “It will just be a conversation between you and me.”

Alana sat up and looked at the cheetah woman, wiping her tears. “How can I trust you?”

“You can me believe or not but only you can decide that. If it makes things easier on you, why don’t I tell you a secret? I’ve never told anyone this and I’m not sure if it’s proper for me to feel like this.”

A little interested, Alana curled her legs under her, leaning her head against the back of bed, allowing her tears to subside slowly. “And what is that?”

Cheetara blushed as she spoke. “For quite some time now, I’ve had these feelings but have never acted upon them. See when we first left Thundera, Lion-O was a child. Now, he’s a grown man.”

“Handsome at that,” Alana added.

“Yes, he is. But that is where lies the problem, I’m attracted to him and I’m not sure if I should feel like that. He might have the body of a man but in reality he should only be in his teens.”

Leaning forward, Alana said. “Are you telling me that you care for him more than a friend?”

Cheetara nodded, as her blush brightened but she did nothing to conceal it. “I care for him as a friend, my leader and…would like it to become more but I don’t know if I should pursue it.”

“Does he like you?”

“As a friend yes but something more, I’m not sure. I don’t even know if he knows what love is. He still has a lot to learn.”

“If you ask me, I think he does like you. I have noticed a couple times in the way he looks at you when he thinks no one else is looking.”

“Perhaps.” Cheetara noticed the human woman had stopped her tears. “Can I ask you something? Are you distancing your self from us because you’re afraid of men?”

“You spoke to Tygra.” A slight anger whispered through her words.

“No,” Cheetara white lied. She did speak to Tygra but he never said she was afraid, she guessed it herself. “I guessed this on my own. One minute you are getting close to guys but then suddenly you back away as if they are one of Tony’s people.”

Alana looked away, sadness reappearing. “I guess I’m that transparent.”

“Only to me. The others are not sure what to make of your actions. They are only wanting to help.”

“I know they are but it’s hard to trust men.”

“Were you hurt by one?”

Alana looked back at Cheetara as a new onslaught of tears brimmed her eyes. Cheetara pulled her close as Alana silently cried. “I don’t know how to trust men. The ones I trusted are dead.”

“It will take time but just talking to me is a big start. Start out small.” Cheetara soothed. “Tygra, Lion-O and Panthro are the most trusted men I’ve ever met. Why don’t we dry those tears and join the others. And after breakfast…”

Alana suddenly moaned in pain. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, making Cheetara lightly push Alana away, putting her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong?”

Alana hesitated for a moment before slowly answering. “Last night, when Tygra found me…he saw that I had thrown up and now, my muscles hurt.”

“That’s terrible. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone. Tygra is concerned for you and it’s not completely because you are alone on this planet with no one you know to trust.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Alana whispered.

“No. But I would like to but in time. Why don’t we go and see if there is anything to eat yet?”

“I can’t face him.”

Cheetara nodded in complete understanding. “You can’t avoid him. And he wants to help, we all do. Later on today Panthro would like to talk to you and I would like to see if you have any fighting skills. But since you have sore muscles…”

“Did you bring back what I asked for yesterday before I fell all to pieces?”

“You mean…” Cheetara stood up and walked over to the closet. “This.” She pulled out a gray box.”

“You found it.” Alana got up from the bed and walked over to Cheetara. She took the box from the woman’s hands and opened it. She pulled out a bottle and quickly drank what ever was in it.

“What is that?” Cheetara asked when Alana placed it back in the box and closed it up.

“Before I left Tony, I took one of his first aid kits and what I just took was a pain killer. By nightfall my muscles will be healed.”

“Ok, while your muscles are healing, we can talk about your fighting skills. But right now, you need food in your system. We could probably end up burying your friends today if everyone agrees. But we also need to dismantle the ship before our enemies rear their ugly heads.”

Alana nodded.

-

During breakfast, it was agreed the Thundercats would bury the fallen before the storm began but first they would do what they could about working with the ship. After breakfast and knowing she wasn’t strong enough too venture too far, Alana stayed at Cats’ Lair, everyone else but Panthro were going to go to the crash sight. Everyone stood; ready to begin their day. Alana watched Panthro got up and left just as Snarf began to clear the dishes.

Not long after he left, Lion-O commanded for the rest of the team to head to the Thundertank. Alana walked with them and watched them leave. When they were away from the lair, she went back inside and helped Snarf with clearing the table then went in search of Panthro. She knew Cheetara was right about needing to trust her new friends.

When she found Panthro he was hard at work in his workroom. She took a quick look around; there were parts of her ship all around the room. Some of the parts were flattened out, while others were still in its original shape.

“Hello.”

Panthro turned. “You found your way here?”

“Actually Snarf told me where to go. Cheetara had said you wished to speak with me.”

“After yesterday, I’m surprised you would be willing to socialize.”

She walked up to him. “I need to start doing what I had promised to my brother and that is to live on. I’m also getting bored. I have no idea what I can do around here.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” He turned his full attention on her instead of the small piece of metal that was laying in front of him. “I was wondering what sort of talents you have. I know you have knowledge in science and medicine but what other talents do you have? Or do you have any?”

“I have a few others but they are mostly hobbies. But one of other best techniques is architect.” Alana looked down at what Panthro had been working on when she walked in. “You know with a little more pieces, you could make an alarm with that. It could be something that could be attached to the Thundertank.”

Panthro blinked in surprise. “That is exactly what I’m making. You know more than you let on.”

“That’s a talent that has been with me since my mother died. “Alana turned away from the man. She swung her arms out as she spoke. “With the salvageable materials from the ship, you could create a whole new level in Cats’ Lair.”

Completely intrigued in her idea, he leaned on his arms on his knees. “How could I do that?”

“At a slow pace, we could build underneath the foundation, creating a whole new level.”

“I have thought of building below the foundation but how could we do that? That is the problem about that the idea.”

“No, there isn’t.” Alana walked back over to Panthro. “Start by making a hole in the foundation. Once the hole is big enough, begin to dig on the sides. When there’s a big enough hole start enforcing the hole with the salvaged metal. Before you know it, there will be a whole new level, without having your enemies knowing.”

Panthro fingered his chin for a few moments, letting the idea sink in and placing in a few of his own ideas. “What would we put down there?”

“Glad you asked. You built this,” she swung her arms around, “to protect. But there isn’t anything here for fun. It’s just a work facility. You have a hanger for the Thundertank and Feliner, then there’s the command center and of course sleeping quarters. And if I’m going to become a part of your team, I would like something to do other than military work all the time and someplace to relax besides my quarters.”

“Where did you learn all this?”

“A couple years ago, my brothers and myself built a secret room that nobody knew and it was my room to relax and I was the only one to get in. My brothers never even came in. I was never able to go anywhere unless there was an escort. Mind you after so long, Tony did find out about it, but my brothers forced him not to do anything or there would have been hell to pay. That’s where the idea of building under the foundation came from.”

“That could work.”

“And with the others on their way to speak to the Robear Berbils, who ever they are, it will make things easier.”

“And if they agree, faster. With the Berbils help, Cats’ Lair was built in a matter of weeks.”

“Wow, they’re fast.”

Panthro nodded. “I’ve never seen structures built as fast as Cats’ Lair.” He turned to what he was working on. Knowing Alana would soon shy away, Panthro came up with an idea. “You know, I could use a hand in building this alarm.”

“Sure, but to make a really good alarm, you should wait until more parts arrive. I have a better idea of what could be made, or at least started on. You have complained of your enemies getting too close.”

“How did you hear that?” he turned back to the woman.

“I may fall to pieces, but I do listen. It’s something my mother taught me; if I want to know something without asking, be busy at something else but keep the ears open. You’d be amazed at what you can hear when everyone thinks you’re not listening.”

Panthro nodded his head in agreement. “You heard me speaking to Lion-O yesterday at the crash sight. Ok. What could we make to help boost up the defenses of Cats’ Lair?”

“Place weapons on the outer walls. We could make weapons from this scrap of metal. The weapons array is damaged but can be repaired. But until we can get the array, we can build shells for the weapons.”

“What are we waiting for?” Panthro was now excited at her knowledge.

-

Three hours after Alana and Panthro started working, the Thundercats arrived back with a makeshift wagon, full of parts from the ship. Alana and Panthro went out to investigate the parts. When Alana arrived outdoors, two small creatures greeted her.

“Alana,” Lion-O spoke. “Meet Bobear Bill and Bobear Belle of the Berbils.”

“It’s nice to see that you survived that awful crash,” Robear Bill said.

“Yeah,” Robear Belle agreed. She handed Alana a covered item.

Alana took the item with gratitude. She unwrapped the item and found a small bouquet of silver-blue lily flowers. They looked freshly picked. She looked at the Berbils with surprise.

Robear Belle bowed. “They are the only flowers that grow in the winter. Our ancestors planted them when they immigrated on Third Earth.”

“Thank you,” Alana said. “They’re beautiful.”

“Your welcome,” Bill said. “You are luckily to have friends like the Thundercats. They came to us and we started to help them with your ship. Others from our village are at the wreckage, working on getting the easy parts off before the storm reaches us.”

Alana looked past the two Berbils as she saw Cheetara and the Thunderkittens unloading the parts. Before she could blink, Panthro ran past her to help them. Before too long, everything was unloaded and left just inside the doorway of the lair. Alana watched as the Thundertank pulled away, leaving to get another load.

When it was only her and Panthro again, Panthro began to inspect the pieces. “There’s enough here to finish the shells of the weapons but it might be a good idea to work here instead. The workroom will be too small.”

“I agree. Why don’t you head and get whatever supplies we need and we’ll start working with this instead. I’ll start going through this and see what we’ll use.”

“Good idea.”

By nightfall, it began to lightly snow. Lion-O called it quits on the salvage operation. When the last load was in Cats’ Lair, half of the foyer was covered in pieces of metal. One side of the stairwell, leading to the rest of the lair was blocked off. Alana was surprised at how much was gathered in a small amount of time.

“What are you guys working on?” Tygra asked.

“Alana came up with the idea of boosting Cats’ Lair’s defenses by adding weapons on to the side of the walls, hidden from plain view,” Panthro explained. “We have been making the shell casings for the weapons to be used.”

“That’s a great idea,” Lion-O complimented. “However, if we are to bury your friends, we should head out, it has begun to snow and soon it will be a all out blizzard.”

Alana nodded, allowing soar to fill her heart once again. All day, she was not plagued with burying her friends. But now…was a different matter. It was time to place them to rest before the storm became worse.

With a sadden voice, Alana stood. “Well there’s no time like the present. Let’s go.”

Panthro came up beside her. “Are you sure you want to do this now. We could wait until the storm is over.”

“I want this done as soon as possible. They deserve that at least from me.”

Lion-O walked up to her. “Would you mind if our friends are there?”

Alana looked at him and then past him. She saw, standing at the entrance, Willa and two other Warrior women and six of the Robear Berbils. “I don’t mind,” she whispered. “They have helped in the salvage operation. That is more than I’ve expected from strange people.”

“Everything will be ok,” Lion-O said quietly then walked away. He didn’t have see but he knew that she left the main room to dress for the winter weather.

When she was dressed, everyone was waiting for her at the Thundertank. Willa and another Warrior maiden, Nayda, helped her into the tank as everyone else jumped in. Panthro pulled the vehicle into gear and traveled to the crash sight.

Once, getting there, Alana climbed out of the tank herself, not wanting to have help from anyone and moved away to look at the ship. She quickly noticed they did not start on the outer hull but from somewhere inside. When she turned, she saw Panthro, in the Thundertank, burning a hole into the ground.

She didn’t bother to ask what he was doing or how long it was going to take. At the moment she wasn’t in a talkative mood. When the hole was large enough, Panthro extended the paws of the Thundertank and picked up the crypt. It was slowly moved from its spot and carefully placed over the hole.

“Stay back everyone,” Panthro called. “This is going to make a huge sound. The best way to place this in here is by letting it drop.”

The front seats were suddenly closed over by a protective shield. The paws were extracted and the crypt fell with a loud thud, shaking the ground. Alana watched it and only blinked when it crashed into the hole. She didn’t realize that when she blinked, a single tear slid down her cheek. This time the brisk air was not going to hold back the tears.

When the Thundertank was away from the hole, Panthro jumped out and walked over to Alana. “It’s all yours.”

Alana nodded and slowly walked over to the crypt. She crouched down and grabbed some of the soil that was loose from the sides and threw it onto the crypt. “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. May you find rest here together.”

Tygra came up beside her as she continued to speak. He wanted to help her but wasn’t sure what other kind of support he could give besides what he has.

“We left Planet Seris, in search for help. I found that help but at the expense…of your lives. But that was a risk…you were willing to take.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “Some of you were born on Seris, while others were from another planet. But all were forced to live a life under the command of Tony. I will…visit you as often as possible and…keep your memories alive.”

Uncontrollable tears were now streaming down her face. “The planet that you now rest on is once the planet known as Earth but was renamed Third Earth by the alien natives that now reside here.”

Alana didn’t realize that she was not alone at the edge of the crypt. Everyone was standing directly behind her, all giving their own soars and prayers. This was the first time, the Thundercats seen the Robear Berbils give their own kind of burial service. They had seen what the Warrior Maidens did.

“My brothers…I know you’re with me and I can’t see you. But I want you to know…that I will not let go of my spirit and let Tony win. I will be…strong and someday will pay him a visit and give him a piece of mind. But until then…” She lowered her head to whisper, “I need to start over and become strong again.”

She trembled as she stood back up and walked away from everyone. She didn’t notice that she wasn’t walking away alone.

“Alana,” Tygra said softy. He gently grabbed her arm and pulled her to look back where her friends were about to be buried.

She watched with blurred vision, not able to turn away, as the Warrior Maidens dropped a knife, a few flower headpiece, a few cloaks, a couple bows and quivers of arrows.

Willa turned away and looked at Alana as she spoke.

“The weapons are to help the fallen find their way to the land of peace and if there is problems, they can fight their way through. The flower headpiece is for the women to arrive with their dreams up high. The cloak is for the men to arrive being known for their bravery.”

The Robear Berbils stood forward and threw down a large amount of the same flowers they gave Alana. Robear Bill turned, as did the others as he spoke. “The flowers are to give them peace and know they will now be in a better place.”

Alana wasn’t sure what do think or do as the strangers gave their own burial rituals. The only thing she could was stare as tears heavily streamed down her face. By this time, Tygra had an arm wrapped around her shoulders in case she was to weaken in the knees. His other arm was curled around her arm with his hand tightly holding hers.

Lion-O waved his friends away as he brought out his sword. She was a little nervous at what he was about to do. Suddenly he shouted. “THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER!” Alana watched with wide eyes as the sword grew in length. “THUNDERCATS! HO!”

A huge Thundercat symbol glowed out of the sword. Suddenly all Thundercats eyes lit up and their symbol as well as they shouted.

“THUNDERCATS! HO!”

Lion-O aimed his sword at the crypt. A white light came out of the sword, circling around the hole. When the light cleared, a solid level of ground covered the grave sight. She couldn’t even tell the ground was even touched. But Lion-O wasn’t done. Lion-O touched the ground with his sword. Again a light appeared but this time, it made circles. When it was done, Lion-O’s sword went down to normal size and he placed it back against his leg.

“To be sure we all know where this is.” He kneeled down as the snow started to cover the spot. “A script has been placed. ‘Here lies the friends and family of a brave human friend known as Alana. May you all rest in peace by allowing the Thundercats to take care of your friend’.”

He stood and walked over to Alana with his arms open “And allow yourself to grieve when needed and not try to hide from us. We are here to help and we cannot honor our pledge to protect you unless you let us.”

Knowing Lion-O was being sincere, she moved away from Tygra, forcing him to release her. She quickly rushed into the Lord’s arms and cried. He wrapped his arms around her as she cried as the others surrounded the two. Everyone quickly noticed that the weather was starting to get worse. Lion-O swung his arm around, curling under Alana’s legs, carrying her to the Thundertank. Everyone else followed suit, with the Robear Berbils and Warrior Maidens climbing into the makeshift wagon. When her tears began to slow, they were moving away from the sight.

Before getting back to Cats’ Lair, Panthro dropped their friends off at their villages. When the Thundercats were safe at home, Alana was asleep in Lion-O’s arms. He was astonished that she cried on his shoulder. It was the first time she went to him for support. It didn’t take him long to get her to her quarters and left her with Cheetara to care for her. Lion-O left the room, finding Panthro and Tygra in the conference room.

“Is Cheetara with Alana?” Tygra answered. When he saw Lion-O nod, he continued. “That’s good. At least now they are at rest.”

“While you were doing the salvage operation, Alana came up to me and gave out some good ideas. She even knew what I was working on. She even said we could build a whole new level under the foundation.”

“What would we put under there?” Tygra asked, intrigued.

“She was talking about making it into something for fun. And I tend to agree with her, Cats’ Lair is for defense, there is nothing for her to do.”

“Then we’ll do it,” Lion-O said. “As soon as the weapons are complete, you two work with Alana in making that new level. Tygra, you and Alana work together in designing in what will be down there.”

“Perhaps we can get the Berbils to help.” Tygra nodded. “Where did this idea come from?”

“She said, her brothers had built her a secret location so she could relax. She was never able to go anywhere alone.”

“That’s terrible,” Lion-O said. “She was a prisoner.”

“That it is,” Tygra agreed. “Changing the subject. Has anyone seen Snarf?”

“He’s in the kitchen preparing some food,” Wileykit said as she walked into the room. “How bad is this storm going to be?”

Tygra turned to the young female cub. “This is going to be the worse one this year.”

Wileykit groaned. “Well at least Alana’s friends are buried. Is there going to be another salvage operation?”

“As soon as we can,” Panthro answered.

The Thundercats knew at least for the next couple days, they would be enemy free and they were going to take the time and use it wisely. There was no sense in keeping their guards up when they knew the Mutants couldn’t stand the cold, neither could Mumm-ra as well. But one thing that weighed heavily on their minds was what was Alana hiding. They now knew she was into forced life that she didn’t want to be. What more was in her dark past that she didn’t want to speak about?

[Tigress]

Chapter 6 – Grievance Turns Work

With her friends now buried, everyone felt a little more at ease. They knew their new friend still had a long way to go but at least they were able to work. The only thing that kept slowing them down was the salvage operation. Even with the Warrior Women and Berbils help, the Thundercats were only able to get the engine room dismantled. A hallow room was all that was left after one week. But the alarming part was hearing about the Wollo village seeing signs of the Mutants roaming about. As much as the information bothered Lion-O, he was glad they decided to start now.

Lion-O was also a little disturbed with Alana. Ever since the day her friends were buried, she had busied herself with helping Panthro in building the shell casings for the new weapons. He wasn’t sure if it was healthy for her to bury herself into work so quick and soon. The grief was still too new to her.

He remembered how he felt when the Thundercats arrived on Third Earth. He felt lost and lonely. He lost the best of his learning years. He had gone straight from a twelve-year-old boy to a twenty-two year old man. It wasn’t fair for him and he had to make the most of it. Luckily for him, he had understanding friends who guided him to be the man that he was now and a good leader. He knew once in awhile he’d still slip up but it never stopped him. Alana was a different matter.

Alana not only lost the best years of learning, though she did live through it, but she also lived in a trapped life. Lion-O still did not know what had happened in the human’s past but he knew enough to know that it wasn’t pretty. Her past was a secret but from placing two and two together, he was able to figure out that she hardly had a life. He realized that his twelve years were as bright as the sunshine but hers was dark as the midnight sky.

“Is something troubling you?”

Lion-O, sitting by himself in conference room, seemed to stare off into space until a voice brought him out. He straightened himself up before turning to see the transparent image of his mentor, Jaga.

“Many things Jaga,” Lion-O admitted. “We have been able to put Alana’s friends to rest and were able to get some of the ship dismantled but now the Wollos have given us information that they have seen the Mutants roaming the country side.”

“The Mutants are always troublesome.”

“But that isn’t all. I fear Alana is burying her grief.”

“That can be a problem. She knows that you have gone through a great deal but she doesn’t want to see that you two have more in common than is actually said.”

“I’ve tried to convince her to do other things but she just won’t listen. I’m not sure what more I can do.” Lion-O looked away, as anger started to seep into his voice.

“You and I both know that if she continues at the rate she’s going, she will snap. Maybe you are being too hard on her.”

Lion-O turned back to the ghost. “You know something about her, don’t you?”

Jaga sighed before allowing his arms to fall limp at his sides. “Yes but it’s not up to me to tell you. She must be the one. It’s only the way for her to be able to put trust into another person. There were only her brothers to trust.”

“And now she has no one.”

“What I can tell you, you will soon learn from the database from her computer. Her mother died shortly after her 13th birthday. From that day her life fell apart. Her life wasn’t easy before her mother’s death.”

“So she only had Safari Joe and her brothers.”

“As well as her sisters until they left her, unwillingly. There is more to Safari Joe than when you met him a couple years back.”

“I’ve guessed that. I wonder if he’ll come searching for Alana.”

“From what I’ve been told, no. He had…” Jaga suddenly coughed into his fist.

“He had what?” Lion-O stood.

“I said too much. Just remember she will need all of you if she is to survive this.” Jaga swung his arm up and disappeared.

“What was Jaga going to say?” Lion-O mumbled to himself. “Now he’s got me curious. But I can’t stick my nose where it doesn’t belong. Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long before getting the answer.”

-

Alana sat on the floor of Panthro’s workroom, alone. Panthro had just left to grab a few more items to finish one of the weapons. He had only been gone a few moments before Alana realized she was on longer alone. She quickly snapped her head around, hoping to get the intruder by surprise. But she was the one who was surprise.

Standing before her was Jaga. She still couldn’t get over how she could see the spirit but no body else outside of the Thundercats could.

“I hope I didn’t startle you.”

“No, not at all,” she said soberly. “How are my brothers?”

“Peaceful. They watched as the Thundercats buried everyone. They were quite impressed as the others showed their respect. They were particularly impressed with Lion-O’s show of respect.”

“Even me.”

“I know, I was there as well, watching from a distance.”

“You did not come here to talk to me on the funeral.”

“No.” Jaga bent down to the girl and placed a hand on her leg.

Alana gasped as she could feel his hand. A slight breeze is what she would feel when her brother would touch her. This feeling was different. It was as if he actually was alive and kneeling before her. The only thing that stopped her from believing that he was, was the fact that she could see right through him.

“I came here to let you know that I know everything.”

She looked into his concern face. “Know everything?”

“Your brothers have told me what has happened. Why you are scared and why you ran away.”

Alana turned away from the man, as a single tear slid from her eyes. “Why would they tell you?”

Jaga placed a gentle hand under her chin, moving so she was looking at him again. “They love you and want to help. I have promised not to tell Lion-O or the others. It’s up to you to tell them.”

“They don’t have a right to know.” She pushed away from his hand in anger.

“Are you sure on that?” he asked gently. “You only know what you have seen. Soon you will meet, the Thundercats’ enemies are they are less merciful than your father.”

“I’ve heard.”

“I’m not here to tell you what to do or who to talk to, but I am here to offer suggestions. That is one of the big reasons why I have been able to appear to you. I am here to help you to move on but at your level and time.”

“I suppose you’re going to suggest for me to allow the Thundercats to know my past.”

“Like I already said, it’s up to you to tell them. I will suggest that you eventually tell them. To get past the shame and pain, one first must admit that pain and then move on.”

“Even they were to learn what happened, how could I move on. The ones that helped me to get past the worst parts are gone. The Thundercats would never understand.”

“Don’t be so sure. They may have lived a more peaceful life than humans but they have had their own share of guilt and pain.” Jaga lowered his head down.

Alana slightly cocked her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I once placed all my trust into a person and they went and betrayed me and the Thundercats. This was back when we were on Thundera.”

“Who was that person?”

“Grune. I had banished him from Thundera and he traveled here and created havoc. But he was sealed up by a magic spell. A few years ago, he was let free, but as a ghost. He began to terror the people of Third Earth. I was called to battle him as I was the only one who could.”

“I heard of that legend. He had the name of ‘Grune the Destroyer’ and he had the looks of a saber tooth lion but was missing one fang. He was a Thunderian?”

“And a Thundercat.”

Alana’s eyes widened in surprise. “Someone betrayed the Thundercats? How was that possible?”

“Once he became a Thundercat, he wanted more power. That power turned to greed and he even tried to overthrow me, as I was the Lord of the Thundercats at the time, which was before Lion-O’s father.”

“I never knew that.”

“It’s something the Thundercats are not proud of or like to talk about. If it was to get to the enemies, the Thundercats could be overthrown. Grune could return.”

“If it’s that important for only the Thundercats to know, why are you telling me?”

“I’ve already told you that you could become one. And if you were to take the trials, you would be one and would have the right to know. Plus it’s to let you know that the Thundercats are not perfect, as they have been led to believe. I should leave you now, Panthro will return in a few moments.”

Alana watched as he stood back to his full height, the Thundercat symbol on his chest glowed for a few seconds before he swung his arm up and disappeared.

When there was nothing left, Panthro walked in. “Sorry for taking so long, I couldn’t find the right…” Panthro trailed off, looking at Alana staring towards the opposite walls. “Alana, are you alright?” He knelt down to the woman. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump.

“Panthro. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I noticed. Why were you staring at the wall?”

“Jaga was just here.”

Panthro slightly smiled. “He makes the greatest entrance and exits. What did he have to say?”

“He wanted to tell me about Grune and why he was banished from Thundera. I didn’t even know he was Thunderian. I only had heard the stories that he terrorized the country. He also said it’s something that the Thundercats are not proud of.”

“He’s right. But we can’t let that control our lives. Our enemies would be able to stomp all over us so quick, we would not know what happened.”

“I take it that it’s almost happened before.”

“A few times actually. Whenever we have gotten side tracked, Mumm-ra ends up taking it to his advantaged. Luckily, he’s not a winter person. So we’re usually pretty good during the winters. But at the first sign of warmer weather, he strikes with a vengeance. Something usually ends up waking him.”

“Waking him? I’m not sure I understand.” Alana stood to stretch her legs.

“When winter comes, he ends up going into a sleep and as soon as evil creeps its ugly head, he awakens.”

“Let’s get back working on the weapons. We should have one ready by the end of the day.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

-

Cheetara was in the command room, watching for the unexpected. From being told of the Mutants being near the Wollo village, the Thundercats did not want to rule anything out. She did the routine maintenance check on the neighboring villages before keeping a close eye around Cats’ Lair. Every once in a while she would change her scans to the villages again.

She was a little troubled herself. She knew Alana was still grieving but she was going about it wrong. She knew she wasn’t the only one who felt like that. She knew Tygra felt like that and she was sure Lion-O did as well. But there was nothing neither of them could do to help her. She had to come out of it on her own.

“Mind for some help?” Lion-O asked.

Cheetara turned. “I think I have everything under control. Is something wrong?”

“I just spoke with Jaga and it was something I’m not sure I can handle.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Jaga said that we might be too hard on her. I’m not sure if I understand his meaning. He also knows everything about Alana and will not tell me.”

“Chances are he has his reasons for knowing and why he isn’t saying anything. And as for his meaning, he’s probably trying to say that we are pushing her too much to talk to us. She will come to us on her own.”

“Have you had any progress?”

“I have but that is something between her and myself. I don’t know anything about her past but I do know why she keeps backing away.”

“And I suppose it’s something between women,” Lion-O slightly smiled.

Cheetara nodded. “If the Wollo leader is right in seeing a sign of the Mutants, they are probably wanting to find out what crashed on Third Earth. They could have seen Alana’s ship crash but haven’t had the time to investigate.”

“I’ve sent Wilykit and Kat to check things out at Castle Plun-Darr.”

“I suppose Tygra is helping the Berbils?”

“They have just arrived with another load. Even with the Berbils help, the process is slow. If it was summer, it would have been done in a week.”

“I agree with you there. The snow keeps getting caught in the treads of the Thundertank. Before I forget, Snowman contacted us just a few minutes ago. He asked about the crash. He said he has been trying to contact us but we have been too busy.”

Lion-O shook his head. “If the Mutants were to attack, we would be defenseless.”

“Well we’re now back on full alert. Perhaps we won’t be as defenseless as we are leading on for everyone to believe.”

“Perhaps. But I would feel better if Alana was being more cooperative and her ship was disassembled. If the Mutants were to get a hold of the ship, we would be in a whole lot of trouble.”

“Have you had anything to eat since breakfast?”

“No, why?”

Cheetara stood and walked over to her friend. She quickly turned him around and started to push him towards the door. Lion-O tried to protest but she wouldn’t stop pushing.

“You are to go and get something to eat. You will wear yourself down and if you want to defend the Mutants, you need to have your strength.”

When she got Lion-O out the door, she turned away and walked back to her seat. Lion-O smiled and did what she requested. Well it was more of a command than a request but he shrugged it off and left to find Snarf. She was a good friend and she wouldn’t have done that if she weren’t right.

Lion-O found Snarf sifting through the salvaged equipment from Alana’s ship. Also with Snarf was Tygra and three of the Berbils.

“There’s more here than what we can do with,” Lion-O said.

Tygra looked up. “Not really. Alana and Panthro have some good ideas and this equipment is right for their equipment. We’re going to have to place the rest outside, though. Luckily with the Berbils help, we are able to get the ship dismantled.”

“I agree. But it’s still going at a slow rate. And it’s all caused from the cold of winter. At least if the Mutants try and break there way through, they may have a little trouble getting past the front doors.”

Tygra chuckled. “That they would,” he agreed. “How is Alana doing? I haven’t seen her all day.”

“I haven’t really seen her myself. But she has been with Panthro all day.”

“She’s working too much. Her friends haven’t been buried a day and she’s got her sights set on work.”

“Either she is doing that to prove she is worthy of being with us…”

“Or it’s just a cover up to hide her true feelings. If it weren’t for the fact that she has some good ideas, I’d probably would want her to take it easy.”

“Perhaps, when her and Panthro are finished with the new weaponry, I’ll insist she take some time off.”

“She may not want to listen.”

Lion-O sighed. “I know. Jaga appeared to me a few moments ago.”

“Oh.” Lion-O now had Tygra’s full attention. Tygra moved away from the equipment to stand beside his leader.

“He says that we are could be pushing her. He also knows more than he’s telling us.”

“I’m sure he does, considering her brothers in the astral plain with him. They could have told him what we should know about Alana and her troubled past.”

“Tygra. Lion-O.”

The two Thundercats turned to see Robear Bill standing beside them.

“I couldn’t help but over hear and I have possible solution.”

“We’re opened to suggestions,” Lion-O said.

“Why don’t you let us handle the salvage operation and you guys help Alana. She might not want to admit it, but she seems more social when she’s around you. I feel sorry for her loss.”

“We don’t want you to do all the work,” Tygra protested.

“We’re aren’t. The toughest job right now is making Alana feel safe and secure in her new home. She’s surrounded by strangers on a strange planet. I know she wants to be your friend, but she’s scared.”

Lion-O looked Tygra and smirked. The irony of the conversation was slightly similar when they had first met the Berbils and they offered to help build Cats’ Lair. He turned back to Robear Bill.

“We accept your offer.”

Robear Bill nodded and quickly ran over to his fellow friends. The three burbled together for several minutes before turning to the Thundercats.

“Leave everything in our hands,” Robear Bill said.

“Keep an eye out for the Mutants,” Tygra warned. “Apparently there’s been sightings of them near the Wollo village.”

“We will,” Bill said. He turned to his friends and the two quickly scrambled out the lair.

“Even after four years,” Lion-O commented. “They still amaze me. They are small robot creatures but they have the strength and the intelligence like a regular humanoid.”

“They are one of a kind,” Tygra agreed.

A slight noise interrupted the two. Lion-O first gave a blank face before laughing. “I forgot. I came down here for a reason.”

Tygra smiled. “Let me guess take Snarf away.”

“That about sums it up.”

“What about me? Snarf, Snarf.” The small Snarf came up to Lion-O.

“I’ve been given orders by Cheetara to get something to eat.”

Snarf quickly scrambled up the stairs and towards the kitchen to make Lion-O something.

“That is something else that amazes me,” Lion-O said when Snarf was gone. “Even though I’m grown, once in awhile he still thinks of me a child.”

“In reality, you should still be a teenager. But thanks to the Mutants when they attacked us, your stasis pod was damaged. Thus allowing you to grow ten years during our long journey. Not even Jaga expected that to happened.”

“I have come a long way since the day we reawaken here on Third Earth. And the same will happen with Alana. We just need to be patient. I just hope we don’t have too many problems with the Mutants or even Mumm-ra until she’s used to the place.”

“I know the feeling. Come on, let’s get some food. I haven’t eaten in awhile and I know my body is starting to tell me so.”

The two Thundercats walked away not knowing there was something lurking in the shadows. It was too dark to get a good view of the lurker but was it friend or foe? The figure in the shadows watched for several more minutes, looking at the debris of the crashed ship.

“We shouldn’t be here.”

The figure quickly turned. “You can be just as bothersome now as we were alive.”

“What if they were to see you? They are not suppose to know we can see more than what’s let on.”

“I know, but I just can’t sit around and watch her suffer. She’s been through enough, you know I’ve always hated her like this.”

“She’s in good hands. Besides, I’ve noticed someone has fancied her. He will help her. It will take time but she will learn to trust new people and perhaps learn to love.”

“But she doesn’t share the same feelings. Her heart has already been damaged with the death of her mother and now her friends. I don’t know how much more she can take.”

“And if she were to see you, it would make it that much harder for her to move on. Look at her already, the funeral was only yesterday and she’s busying herself as if the crash happened years ago. That is not normal.”

“No it isn’t. But what can we do?”

“Nothing.”

“That isn’t good enough!” the first shadowed figure slammed his fist at the wall. To his surprise, his fist connected with the wall.

“That’s new,” the second said, astonished.

“We can do more than what’s let on. I have an idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Before I say anything, I’m going to see if it will work.” The figure quickly disappeared, leaving the other alone.

“I hate it, when he does that.” The second figure disappeared.

Jaga, however, watched the whole conversation from the other side of the room. He shook his head in sadness. He knew who the two were and had tried to reason with them not to interfere when Alana first arrived. He knew they wouldn’t directly contact the Thundercats but there was other ways to communicate with the living and he was afraid they would figure the other ways out. But he knew he couldn’t stop them, they were free to do what they pleased.

Whatever they did could end up having repercussions and could make Alana draw away further than she already were. And if that were to happen, the Thundercats would really have their work cut out for them. Then again, it could help Alana get back on her feet again.

[Tigress]

Chapter 7 – Minds Do Snap

Waking early the next morning felt like an obligated routine than just getting up for herself. Ever since the crash, getting up in the morning had been a chore and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. She knew she was doing something she swore she’d never do, which was hide her grief in work. But it just seemed natural. When her mother died, she was forced to hide her grief. However, she had her brothers to help her. This time she had no one, unless she was to include the Thundercats, but she barely knew them, but knew they were friends.

She got dressed quickly, and headed for breakfast. While during breakfast, she engaged herself into a conversation with the Thunderkittens.

“So how did you two become part of the Thundercats?” she asked.

Wilykat looked at his sister and shrugged. Wilykit shock her head at her brother and then looked at the human woman. “Before we left Thundera, our parents were part of the Thundercats. We had just finished taking the trials to become Thundercats when our planet exploded. We are the youngest…other than Lion-O to become Thundercats.”

“So being a Thundercat is hereditary?”

“Not exactly,” Panthro answered. “In some instances it is, like Lion-O and the Thunderkittens but myself and Cheetara became Thundercats by other means.”

Alana looked at Tygra. “What about you?”

“Born as a Thundercat,” he answered simply.

“How can one become a Thundercat?” she asked.

Lion-O looked up at her. “Are you interested in becoming one?”

She leaned her head, wishing she didn’t bring up the subject. “I’m not sure. I know Jaga said I could. I was just curious.”

“To become a Thundercat,” Tygra answered. “One must pass five trials; trail of strength, trail of speed, trail of cunning, trail of the mind and finally trial of evil.”

“Trail of evil? What is that one?”

“That is when one must face their greatest enemy,” Lion-O answered. “And even if one is the Lord of the Thundercats, he also must prove their worth by also going through the trails as well.”

“I take it that you experienced it first hand?”

“I did. And let me tell you, it was hard going up against my friends. I had to defeat the Thundercats in order to be the true Lord of the Thundercats. Every Thundercat must face these trials.”

“You had to defeat everyone at this table to be the true Lord of the Thundercats. That’s cruel. One shouldn’t have to face their friends as if they were enemies!” Alana slammed her fist on the table. Before anyone was able to ask her what was wrong, she stood from table and walked out.

When she was gone, Wilykit was the first break the awkward silence. “What did we say to set her off like that?”

Tygra shook his head. “Something more she’s hiding. Someone should really talk to her. How are we to know which conversations are sensitive to her when she won’t talk to us?”

“Well she did ask about the trails,” Wilykat said. “We only told her the truth.”

“Wilykat is right, Lion-O.”

Everyone turned to see Jaga standing in the room.

“Jaga,” Lion-O said. “What do you mean?”

“You can not go around and carefully talk to her. She needs to know what she’s up against.”

“Jaga, if she was to go through with the trails,” Tygra asked. “Who would be her greatest enemy?”

“Only she can tell you that. You need to give her space but you cannot keep your heritage or anything else from her. Giving her your trust will help her to give you hers. She’s keeping many things from you because she doesn’t trust you. She needs to trust you before she can let her past be opened.”

“Does this have anything to do with her being afraid of men?” Cheetara asked.

Jaga looked at her and nodded. “It does, yes.”

“Is there anything you can help us on that?” Lion-O asked. “Anything that could help us to get that trust.”

“She has lived a hard life and it became worse in the last five years. That is all I can tell you without betraying her trust and her brothers.”

-

Right after she left the dinning room, Alana went to her room. She was angry with her new friends that she didn’t want to see them. She wasn’t even sure if they were her friends yet, only that they were friendly and helpful. But what they said about the trials disturbed her.

For an hour, Alana wrapped up in a blanket and sat on the bed. Deciding staying in her room wasn’t the idea, she wrapped up in the warm clothing that was given to her by the Warrior Maidens and made her way towards the outdoors. When she reached the foyer, she quickly noticed the clutter of ship parts. A slight gasp came out as she stared at the equipment. Whipping her head away in fright, she quickly turned, running down the stairs and leaving Cats’ Lair in a hurry.

Hidden in one corner, examining the equipment himself. He couldn’t figure out what he was going to do with it all. He knew some of it was going to be used but what could he use. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when he saw Alana enter the room. He backed further away, not wanting to scare the woman. He watched as she quickly turned away and ran out into the cold air, leaving the door open.

Knowing she was doing something no one would approve and wanting to be sure she was safe, he brought out his whip, wrapping it around himself. If one were walk into the room, they would see nothing but the door closing, keeping the heat in and the cold out.

-

Alana kept running, not sure where she was going, but she quickly found herself, heading towards the ship. She looked back to see if anyone followed, when she was satisfied, she stopped to caught her breath.

After she had her breathing under control, she continued at a slower pace to the crash sight. It took her a little while but when she arrived, she walked over to the burial sight, gave a small prayer and then proceeded to one of the lower holes.

Once getting inside, she pulled out a flashlight from her jacket before going any further. She slowly made her way through the darken corridors until she found one particular room, untouched by damage.

Once safely inside, she placed the flashlight down on a desk and then opened one of the drawers. She sifted around the drawer until she found what she was looking for. She slightly smiled when she pulled a mirror. She shined it against the flashlight towards the ceiling; suddenly the flashlight lit up the whole room. All through the room, light bounced from one mirror to another. One could see a mirror in the ceiling and one on each of the four walls.

With the room, lit, she took a look around the room. She still could hear the last happy moments of her brothers’ lives. They were all in the very room having some laughs and playing card games.

Flashback

Alana and her six brothers, Josh, Tom, Terry, Steve, David and Carl, were sitting around a rectangular table playing cards. Her youngest brother was making everyone laugh at his jokes and wisecracks. Alana wasn’t sure how much longer she could continue laughing. She knew she was going to hurt in the morning.

“You got to be kidding me,” she continued to laugh at a more calmer level.

“No, it’s true,” her youngest brother, Carl said through his chuckles. “Seeing Josh limp around on the ice was just too irresistible.”

Josh looked at Carl. “What is that suppose to mean?”

Before Josh could raise a fist, Carl produced a picture to prove his point.

Alana took one look at the picture and fell out of her chair laughing.

End Flashback
Alana looked at the table and there near the chair she sat in, still toppled over from when she fell, was a turned over picture. She walked over to the picture and turned it over. She gasped in shock as it was the picture that Carl showed her.

She dropped the picture quickly as if it were poison. She dropped to her knees and began to sob, heavily. She was sobbing so much her shoulders shook violently; she was even having hard time breathing.

Suddenly she was pulled from her kneeling position and pushed against something. Through her blurring eyes she saw an arm with tiger stripes. She tried to look at his face but something held her head down, cuddled close to his chest. She quickly started to feel fingers in her hair. But then all sensations left her as she continued to sob uncontrollably.

When her tears quieted down to whimpers, she allowed the rhythm of his heart to calm her. Feeling had begun to return to as she felt his arms were wrapped strongly around her holding her to him like she was about to disappear or something.

“How did you find me?” she whispered harshly. She wasn’t sure if her voice would go any higher after her sobbing.

“I followed you when you left Cats’ Lair.”

“You followed me? I didn’t see you.”

“I was invisible. My bolo whip, when wrapped around me, can make me invisible. It comes in handy when the Mutants are around. What was the picture you held?”

“It…” she wasn’t sure if she could say it without sobbing again. But she knew she had to. “It’s…a picture of when…my youngest brother, Carl, took a picture of…Josh when he was ice skating. Just after he showed me the picture…we were attacked.”

She clenched her eyes shut, trying to block out the memory of that very moment. She remembered just as she started to calm her laughing down, not realizing that it would be the last she would ever see her brothers smile, the ship rocked, knocking everyone down. The sound for red alert also blared off.

Knowing he needed to change the subject, he quickly took a look around the room, marvelling at the light. “Lighting this room is very impressive.”

Alana pushed her head away and looked at the flashlight. “It’s an old Third Earthen trick. The Egyptians created it, a race of humans that Mumm-ra was once from before he was cursed. All you need is some sort of light and mirrors. Angel the mirrors just right and the light will bounce off each mirror, illuminating the room.”

“Is this Tony’s quarters?”

“Yes. This room is the only room equipped to have light when systems fail. I never slept in here, just hung out with my brothers.”

Not wanting to talk any longer, Alana went to lay her head back on Tygra’s chest but he quickly pushed her to arms length.

He looked softly at her as he spoke. “You shouldn’t have gone out alone. Someone would have been worried about you.”

“I needed to see this room one last time.”

“Why? Because this is where to spent your last happy moment? Someday you will move on from here and you will smile again and laugh like you did.”

“Let me guess, you speak from experience.”

“Yes, I do but I also speak as a friend. You must never give up hope for happiness. Back before you came out here, you were the one who asked us about the Anointment Trials and you find them cruel. There are things about the human culture we find cruel but just because we don’t like them doesn’t mean we criticize someone else’s beliefs or customs.”

“I know,” she bent her head. A small amount of her voice began to return. She never realized but being with Tygra, she did feel safe. As safe as she did when she was with her brothers. “And I’m sorry. I just wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s all right.”

Alana looked at Tygra with a frown. “How can you say that? How can you kneel beside me, talk to me nicely when I’ve insulted your customs? I basically insulted your leader and previous leaders.”

“Thundercats are more understanding than most give us credit for. But I have a question for you. And this is only an observation. But how can you work when you only buried your friends just a week ago. How would your brothers feel if they were to see you working yourself to exhaustion?”

Alana slightly gasped at the statement and turned her head. She never really thought about that. If her brothers were still alive what would they say if they saw her working herself to death. Her shoulders went slack as she went through her mind what Josh would say to her.

“Josh would give me the third degree. Saying it’s not healthy. He would slightly slap me on the hand forcefully make me take rest, even if it meant locking me in my room. I would listen to him knowing that I hate being locked up.”

“Perhaps you should listen to what he would have said. You got to stop working so much.”

“Perhaps,” she whispered as Tygra allowed her to lean against him once again. “But I don’t know what to do? How can I get through an ordeal like this?”

“I’m not exactly sure how to answer that question but I do know that letting us help you would be a big start. But not talking to us in what’s wrong will not help you deal with your problem.”

Alana looked up at Tygra. “How dangerous are your enemies?”

Tygra thought for a moment. “Sometimes they can be more dangerous than your fiancé.”

Alana gasped. “I’m a hinder to you. If I weren’t around, you would be able to keep an eye for enemy activitiy.”

“Alana, if we weren’t helping you, it would be someone else. You are not hindering us. We came to you.”

“But I originally was heading here for your help.”

Tygra sighed as the same conversation kept coming up. “Please, let us help you. If you were to leave, we would worry about you and that would leave us more vulnerable than we already are.”

“Are you sure?” she asked in a hopeful jester.

“Yes.” He took a look around the room for a moment. “You said there’s a computer here.”

“Just above bed. If it’s still functional, it can tell us what exactly the reports were just before the ship crashed. It can also tell us what which systems would still be repairable. I already know most the ships systems are beyond repair but some may still function after some repair.”

“Why don’t we head back to Cats’ Lair before the others worry. You were pretty angry when you left dinning room.”

“I had to blow off some steam.”

“I’m sure you did.”

-

Lion-O was looking about Cats’ Lair everywhere looking for Alana. But he couldn’t seem to find her; even Tygra was missing as well. He was starting to worry. He was sure that if Alana had taken off from the lair, Tygra probably would have followed. But if he didn’t and she was in trouble there was no way for him to know if she needed help. He only would know if Tygra was in danger.

He walked into the command center and saw Panthro working on installing something into the main computer.

“Have you seen Tygra?”

Panthro moved away from the computer to look at his leader. “Nope, not since this morning when Alana rushed out of the dinning room.”

“I’m getting worried both Tygra and Alana are missing. If Alana gets into any trouble, I can’t help her.”

“I’m sure Tygra is with her.”

“Tygra to Cats’ Lair.”

Lion-O looked up at the monitor, hearing Tygra calling over the communicator. He walked over to the computer and pressed a button.

“Cats Lair here.”

“Sorry for not calling sooner,” Tygra said. “Alana was in a real rush in wanting to show me something at the crash sight. We are there right now and are about to head back.”

“When did you guys leave?” Lion-O asked.

“Alana wanted some time to herself. When she felt better, she came looking for me, knowing that we wouldn’t want her to travel away alone. We’ve been gone since an hour after breakfast.”

Lion-O sighed in relief. “Thanks for checking in. Did you want someone to come and get you with the Thundertank?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. It would be faster.”

Panthro stood up. “Tygra I’m on my way.”

“We’ll be waiting, Panthro.”

“Cats’ Lair out.” Lion-O announced before shutting off the communications.

Panthro looked at his leader. “See, nothing to worry about. But I understand that you would be worried. She’s vulnerable right now and the Mutants would love to find something new to annoy.”

“And seeing Alana grieving, would greatly satisfy their twisted pleasure,” Lion-O said in disgust.

“One day we’ll be rid of those blasted Mutants for good.” Panthro turned and walked out, heading towards to the Thundertank.

“I hope Alana comes around soon,” Lion-O said to himself.

“She is now starting to see why the Thundercats are worried for her safety,” Jaga said from behind.

“It would be nice if she did,” Lion-O answered without looking at his mentor. “Jaga what can a leader do when one of the Thundercat customs has been criticize?”

“Does this have anything to do with what happened this morning?”

Lion-O looked at his mentor. “What Alana said this morning kind of hurt and I’m not sure what to do.”

“You must realize she has lived a controlled life. Here’s a question for you. How did you feel when you learned that you had to go up against your friends to become the true Lord of the Thundercats?”

“I hated it. I thought it was ludicrous.”

“Now take your comment about how you felt before you realized that it was important and put Alana into the picture.”

Lion-O’s eyes widened at the realization that Alana was feeling the way he felt. “I never realized that. But I felt kind of hurt when she said that the anointment trials were cruel.”

“And you think your friends didn’t feel the same way when you said it to them.”

“Thanks, Jaga. That helps a lot.”

Jaga chuckled. “I’ll always be here for you Lion-O.” He swung his arms around himself and disappeared.

-

Alana and Tygra sat just outside the ship waiting for Panthro to arrive. They knew it wouldn’t take too long for him to show up.

Alana looked over to where her friends were buried and then looked at Tygra. “Why did you lie to Lion-O about why we’re out here. I mean I came here by myself and you followed.”

“It would upset Lion-O if he knew you left without telling anyone. We’ll let this be our little secret. I won’t let Lion-O know that I lied to him under one condition.”

Alana rolled her eyes. “What’s that?”

“Never leave again without telling someone first. It probably would be better if someone was with you if you left Cats’ Lair.”

Alana bent her head down as she could hear the Thundertank in the distance. “I suppose I could do that. I wouldn’t want him to know that I was in the ship grieving.”

Tygra gently squeezed her hand just as the Thundertank came into view. When the Thundertank stopped, Tygra and Alana stood and walked to the tank.

“So what did you discover?” Panthro asked as Tygra helped Alana into the tank.

“Alana wanted to show me a neat trick in how to illuminate a room with a small amount of light and mirrors. The computer console she mentioned before, she wanted to show me where it was so we can take a look at it. It can tell us what the reports were just before crash and if any of the computer systems are still able to function after some repair work.”

“That would be great.”

When Alana was secured in the back, she noticed she was not sitting alone. Snarf was also sitting in the back, lying on the floor. She watched as Tygra jumped into the front with Panthro before the shutters on the back closed in over top of her. Just as they closed a hatchway opened up revealing the front of the tank.

She looked at the little Snarf. “You know you didn’t have to come to.”

“I wanted to keep you company. Snarf.”

“Thanks.” Alana leaned her head back, listening to the tank’s movements and Panthro talking to Tygra about his ideas of what to do with the new level that was going to be made. As much as she still grieved for her friends, she knew that she would be safe with the Thundercats and they would do anything to help her through her tough time.

She also knew she had to get her life back on track for her brothers sake if not her own. They were watching her from above and she knew if she wanted to know how they were doing, all she had to do was ask for Jaga, another Thundercat who was also dead.

[Tigress]

Chapter 8 – Light Starts to Shine Again

Keeping to his word, Tygra never told anyone about Alana leaving the lair without an escort and that was something Alana was grateful for. With that done, she kept up with her end of the bargain and decided to take some time off. Of course she did help Panthro finish the new weapon shells but afterwards she said that she wanted to take a rest. It surprised both Panthro and Lion-O but were also grateful.

As time progressed, she started to feel uneasy again but this time it wasn’t from grief or not trusting the Thundercats. This time it was the lie that she and Tygra shared. She felt it was time to start with a clean slate with the Thundercats.

Knowing where Lion-O would be, she left her room, searching him out. She found him in the conference room, looking over the blue prints of the new level of Cats’ Lair.

“Lion-O,” she said, getting his attention.

He looked up. “Hi, Alana. What brings you here?”

She quickly moved towards the lord and sat beside him. “I have a confession to make. Tygra knows about this but I don’t want him to get in trouble for something I did. He made a promise to me that he wouldn’t say anything if I promise to stop working so hard.”

“Whoa,” he said, raising his hands. “Calm down. Now what did you do?”

Alana lowered her head for a moment before taking a deep breath and looked at him. “The day Tygra said that I wanted to show him that one room in the ship is a lie.”

Lion-O stayed silent not wanting to scare her.

“See I was so mad at you guys for your beliefs that I…I ran away to the ship. I wanted some alone time without being around beings that I didn’t know very well. Tygra followed me.”

“Then why did he lie?” he asked. If he was angered, he didn’t show it.

“I didn’t want you to worry or be angry at me for being so foolish. For being foolish enough to venture in the one room that I last saw my brothers smile.”

“I just don’t want you to be mad at Tygra for him lying to you to protect my sanity. You guys have given me so much and all I have done was disrespect you and your beliefs. The treatment I placed upon you was the worse. I was wrong for saying the anointment trails are cruel.”

Lion-O grabbed her shaking hands and held them gently in his large ones. “Alana I won’t lie to you when I say that I am a little angered that you tried to run or the fact that Tygra outright lied to me. But you coming to me and letting me know what has happened is very honourable and brave.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “Josh always told me that I was brave.”

“Well he’s right,” the young lord said. “You are brave. You ran from someone who treated you badly. You allowed total strangers to help you bury your friends and family. And you also allowed those same strangers take you in and care for you.”

Alana slightly snorted. “You know when I was told that you were only a child when you left your dieing planet and landed here as a man, I never realized until now that in reality you are younger than I am. You said you landed here four years ago. That would only make you sixteen. But here you are, older than me.”

“I’ve realized that,” he said. “Thank you for telling me about what really happened at the ship.”

“I should go. I promised Cheetara that I would help her with the crates that were found in one of the vacant rooms. Yesterday she and a few of the Warrior Maidens and Berbils moved some crates that I didn’t even know was on the ship. I am curious to what’s it them.” Alana nervously pulled her hands away from Lion-O’s and stood.

“All right. But be careful. I don’t want you to have another break down.”

Alana turned from door and smiled. “I won’t. I’ve learned my lesson.”

-

“So where do you want to start?” Cheetara asked.

The two women were in the hanger with the Feliner, which was where the crates were stored. Since there was no room in the main lobby of Cats’ Lair, they had to place the crates somewhere. Alana was a little confused as when Cats’ Lair was built why they built it with two hangers, even though Panthro had told her that he had plans for other vehicles when he had the time.

As the two women began to work, they noticed that some of the crates were sealed shut and weren’t sure how to get them opened. Alana was beginning to get frustrated and after what seemed like forever she threw up her ups.

“I give up,” she yelled, causing Cheetara to look up. “How the hell to get these opened?”

“Get what opened?” Panthro asked as he walked into the hanger.

Alana turned to the panther. “These crates. They are sealed somehow and I’m tired from trying to get them opened.”

“Well,” Panthro started. “Perhaps I can help out. I have the right tool that would be able to help.” He quickly left the room.

“Where’s he going?” Alana asked as she saw a smile on Cheetara’s face.

“These crates will be opened in no time,” Cheetara answered. “But he is going to need to help. He’s going to get Lion-O and Tygra.”

Alana rolled her eyes. “Figures, he’d come.”

Cheetara looked at the human woman with a raised brow. “Is something wrong?”

“No…Yes…I don’t know.” She confessed. “He caught me last week doing something that all of you would be upset about. I don’t want to get into what that it was. But the point is he lied to Lion-O. I confessed to Lion-O about it and it still bothers me that he would do that.”

“Tygra is trying to get your trust,” Cheetara explained.

“I know that but…” she trailed off.

Cheetara hid a smile as she realized that the woman was trying to deny what Cheetara was already figuring. She was denying an attraction to the tiger Thundercat. The other guys would not see the hidden denial but being a woman and having her own inner demons about Lion-O, Cheetara was able to pick up on it.

With her hearing she was able to pick up footsteps heading towards the hanger. Cheetara walked over to the woman. “If you ever want to talk about it…”

“Thanks, Cheetara. I’ll take that under consideration.” Alana realized the guys were about to walk in. Out of the corner she saw Lion-O entering the room. “How do you handle yourself when you’re surrounded by men?” By this time all three male Thundercats were in the room.

Cheetara leaned close to Alana’s ear as she slightly whispered. “Every once in awhile, someone has to whip them into shape.”

The men looked at each other as they watched Alana blurt out a laugh at whatever Cheetara answered Alana’s question.

“What’s transpiring in here?” Lion-O asked, taking note of the laughter.

Cheetara looked to her leader. “Just female bonding.”

The comment caused another slight chuckle out of Alana. Tygra and Panthro looked at each other and shrugged as they also took the time to enjoy the sudden laugh outburst from Alana.

“Now lets get to work and these crates opened,” Panthro suggested.

With that said, Alana sobered up as she stood and placed a little distance between her and the crates so that guys could get the crates opened. Like Panthro said, it didn’t take long to get the crates opened. When they were all opened, the Thundercats moved out of the way so Alana could take a look at them.

She found that some of the crates contained personal belongings from her crew, while others were filled random books and other ornaments. When she came to the last two crates, she took a deep breath before opening one of them. What she found in it surprised her.

In the crate was clothing. Cheetara helped her pull out the clothing. “What are these?”

Alana looked as Cheetara had one outfit draped over each arm.

“They are called formal gowns. Every once in awhile there would be a formal gathering of some sort. We would dress into a nice dress. Of course we’d have to choose the best dress for the right occasion.”

“Who owns or owned these clothes?” Lion-O asked.

Alana leaned her head down before answering. “I do. My brothers must have snucked into my room when I was looking and snatched my favorite clothing.” She continued to rummage through the clothing finding more formal gowns and many outfits for everyday wear. “They must have wanted me to make sure I had clothing, considering it was something I wasn’t thinking about before leaving.”

“Why don’t you check out the last crate?” Panthro asked.

Alana nodded. She stood from the box of clothing and went to the last crate. She noticed Cheetara placing the clothes back into it. As she pushed the cover over, she gasped.

“Impossible,” she whispered.

On the top of the pile of belongings were a couple pictures, a bag of jewellery, a letter, which was folded and many other small trinkets. She slowly lifted the two pictures as tears formed in her eyes.

Lion-O peered over. “Who’s the woman?” One picture was of a woman wearing fancy jewellery and was wearing some sort of long dress. Her brown hair was done up in some sort of ringlets. The other picture was the woman again wearing a nice outfit, revealing she had long hair, posing with a young girl with long brain hair also, who also was wearing a nice outfit.

“She’s…she’s my…mother,” Alana managed.

Tygra also took a peak. “And the young girl is you?”

“Yes,” Alana answered as more tears came down. “The two pictures were taken near the same time. The one of her and me were on my birthday when I turned twelve and the other was taken three days later. But I thought these were destroyed.”

“Destroyed?” Cheetara asked.

Alana looked at the female Thundercat. “Yes. After my mother…died, father threw out everything that reminded him of her, including pictures and clothing.” She placed the pictures on the floor and picked up a black box the pictures were on and opened it.

“Oh my god!” she gasped. “My mother’s wedding dress!”

“There’s a letter here,” Tygra said as he pulled it out that was on top of something dark blue and soft feeling. “Perhaps maybe you should take a look at it.”

Alana peeled her eyes away from the neatly folded dress and looked at Tygra’s hands. On one side of the letter, Alana was able to make her name and she recognized the hand writing as belonging to Josh. She began to move her hand to take the offered letter but she suddenly snapped her hand back and looked away.

“I can’t. It was written by Josh.”

Lion-O leaned closer to her. “Would you mind if Tygra reads it? If your brother wrote it and it was in this crate, there has to be an important reason why it’s here.”

Alana nodded her consent, not able to get the words to come out. She stood from the crate and moved away, standing with her back to the Thundercats.

She heard as Tygra unfolded the letter.

“Alana.

If you are reading this than that means I’m no longer able to protect you but hopefully you are near someone who can. There are many reasons why I wrote you this. But first I should explain to you the two crates that you have come across. One, in case you haven’t gotten to it yet, is some of your personal and favorite clothing. The gowns are the ones that we, your brothers, thought you looked best in, even though they came from Tony. They made you look a like a Princess.

The crate you found this letter in is the one I want to tell you about. As you guess the things in there belong to your mother. After father threw your mother’s things out, he didn’t destroy everything. When father left and you were crying yourself to sleep, myself and the rest of the brothers went out and gathered up what we could that wasn’t destroyed. Many things were but we did manage to save some very important things, like her wedding dress.

I remember the day when she married father. She looked a liked one of those mythical Greek Goddesses from Earth…well actually Third Earth. You remember hearing all the stories about Zeus and the other Gods.”

During the whole time, Tygra could see Alana trying very hard not to burst into tears as she listened to what the letter said. But he notice that she was trembling as she kept her tears silent. He continued reading as she cried. Cheetara went over and wrapped her arms around the woman.

“Anyway I’m getting off topic here. I just wanted to have more than just memories of your mother. She was a wonderful woman and step-mother. I wish she was still near to help you through tough times that I’m sure are going to be coming your way.

This letter was written the day before we left Seris. On a lighter noted I’ve got word that our sisters are still alive and well. They might have been forced into a marriage but apparently their husbands have been treating them nice unlike father. One of our sisters lives someone on the planet that we were heading to, Third Earth.”

At the word of one of her sisters living on Third Earth, Alana whipped her head around. She brushed off Cheetara’s comforting hands and moved closer to Tygra. Her silently sobbing seized though her tears did not.

“Apparently she lost her husband and lives somewhere on the planet. I’m not exactly sure where or even if she lives near where the Thundercats live. The sister to look for will also surprise you as well…it’s Vanessa, your one and only full-blooded sister who is two years older than you.

Alana, like I said if this letter has reached your hands that means I can’t protect you anymore but I do hope that you won’t stop living just because I’m not there. I know you almost lost your spirit once because of father, I would hate for that to happen again.

Love Josh

May love find you where ever you are”

“My sister is alive?” Alana asked no one in particular.

“Perhaps we should start a search for Vanessa,” Cheetara offered.

“I agree,” Lion-O agreed. “We’ll start first thing in the morning. I’ll get the Thunderkittens to show us where all the human villages are and we’ll begin our search there.”

“I want to be part of the search,” Alana said. “If my sister is living on this planet I want to be there the day she is found.”

Lion-O nodded his approval.

“Lion-O! Lion-O!”

Lion-O shocked his head as he recognized the voice. “I guess Snarf has dinner ready.”

“Are you up to eating?” Cheetara asked Alana.

Alana nodded. “Yes. Panthro is it alright if these crates stay in here until the lower level is complete?”

“I can’t see a problem with that. But wouldn’t you want the ones that are yours in your room?”

“I have my clothing in my room but…mother’s…I’m not sure what I want done with it.”

“Alright,” Panthro said. “After we eat, I’ll help you with getting the crates out of the way and get the one you want in your room up there.”

-

As she stood outside at the top of the steps of Cats’ Lair, she watched as the Thunderkittens played out in the snow. She couldn’t help but marvel at how the kids acted though they were close to being teenagers. Soon they would be and their child like games would seize. And when the childish games would end, their growing hormones would take over and they would want to do things adults do. Of course being an adult, one can learn how the heart can be broken from love and that was something Alana feared.

Though she was saddened that her brothers were gone at least she wasn’t going to be spending her eighteenth birthday being with someone that she didn’t want to be with. With no doubt that she would have been forced into something that she wasn’t ready for.

She took a gasping breath as she realized when her birthday was. Her thoughts were interrupted as Tygra came up beside her.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I suppose so. My brothers went behind my back for good reasons to give me something that I thought I would never see again at the same time I learn my sister is somewhere on this planet. The disturbing thing about the whole thing is that Josh wrote that letter in possible chance that he wasn’t going to make it.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe your brother wasn’t expecting to survive at all?”

“That has crossed my mind. I don’t want to think of it’s starting to look that way.”

“Are you sure, you’re ok? Because you seem a little disturbed and I don’t think it’s about finding your mother’s belongings hidden on the ship.”

Alana slightly snorted. “You’re getting to know me too well.” She looked at the man beside her. “I’m just going over the fact that if I didn’t escape when I did, I’d be getting married tomorrow. Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday and I was supposed to get married to Tony. So I’m upset at the same time as being relieved.”

“I see. And this was arranged by your father.”

“Safari Joe was never fond of his daughters.”

Tygra snorted. “He doesn’t seem to like much except sick pleasure of chasing cats that can’t fight back.”

“Yeah that’s my father all right. He also likes to have sick pleasure seeing his daughters helpless.”

Tygra placed his hands on either side of her shoulders. “Alana, did your father do something to you?”

Alana glared at Tygra and tried to move away from him, but his hands were securely on her arms. “Like it’s really any of business. But no he has never done anything to me sexually.”

A slight look of relief crossed over Tygra’s eyes. He gently pulled his hands away and turned away, heading inside.

Alana looked at the retreating tiger with wide eyes. He had just asked her a personal question but did not press further into it. She continued to stare off even after he was gone. “I don’t understand?” she said quietly to herself.

“He’s giving you the trust you need.”

Alana whipped around to see the transparent figure of the Thundercats mentor.

“I’m not following.”

“The Thundercats know you’re hiding something and you don’t want to talk about. You know very well they would like to know so they can help you. But they know that you need to go to them. You have done something that your brothers are proud of.”

At the mention of her brothers, Jaga knew he had her full attention.

“You mean informing Tygra that I wasn’t harmed in any sexual way.”

Jaga nodded. “Once you can get over what the past has dealt you, you will be able to do anything. I know in my heart that you will be able to move on without the constant reminder of your father or the man who held you against your will.”

“I do want to tell them. But how do I tell them when I can’t trust men.”

“That’s not true. You do have trust but not enough to speak of your past.”

“I don’t have trust in them,” she shot back.

Jaga shocked his head, ignoring her angered voice. “If you did not have trust in them why do you keep asking them questions? Why do you cry on Tygra’s shoulder? Why did you admit to Lion-O that you ran to the ship and Tygra followed?”

Alana gasped and looked away. “I…I don’t know.”

“You are learning to trust the Thundercats, but it’s not enough to tell them your past.”

Alana was silent for several minutes looking down at her feet, thinking to what the Thundercat ghost just said. She gasped again as she came to the conclusion that the old man was telling her the truth. Why would she go up to Lion-O and tell him that she ran away to the ship if she didn’t trust him.

“I never realized it,” she finally said, breaking the silence.

“You have hid yourself for so long that you don’t know how small trust can start.”

“Jaga. Lion-O told me that you’re his mentor.” Jaga nodded. “Well I think you have become mine as well.”

A soft smile appeared on the old man. “You better head inside as it’s starting to get on night fall.”

“I wish I had a father like you,” she said as he disappeared.

“Wish you had a father like who?”

Alana turned back towards the entrance to Cats’ Lair and saw Panthro coming up to her.

“Oh. You startled me,” she said.

“Sorry. I just heard you say something and wasn’t sure who you were talking to.”

“Jaga,” she said simply. Though she only said one name. The name answered two questions, who she referred to and talked to.

“You wished that he was your father?”

“Well he’s turning into a mentor for me too. He’s also so nice to me and he seems that he was a good man when he was alive.”

“He was. Why don’t I tell you a secret? Jaga is closer to Lion-O than even he realizes.”

“How close?” she asked now curious in why the panther was telling her.

“Jaga is Lion-O’s grandfather.”

Alana dropped her jaw. “Grand…father.”

“Yes. I’m entrusting you that secret as no one else knows about this, except for me and now you.”

“Why would you entrust me with a big secret like that? Is it because you want my trust?”

“I would like to have your trust BUT… I wanted to entrust the secret with you because I have been carrying it for so long and with no one to share. Back on Thundera, my whole family knew the secret.”

“But entrust a stranger. Why didn’t you entrust it to one of the Warrior Maidens or the Berbils?”

“Both races were introduced to Lion-O first. I wanted to entrust it to someone who isn’t real close to him. Come on we better go inside before the temperatures start dropping to fast. Pretty soon the cold weather will be over.”

As the two walked into the lair, Alana wasn’t sure what to make what Panthro had just told her. He told her a great secret that no one knew of. When he left her, after she had taken off her warmer clothing, she went in the opposite direction, heading towards her room.

Safely in her room, she stared at the one crate near her bed. She noticed that it was opened and guessed at who opened it. Cheetara must have helped Panthro in getting the crate in the room. She also must have opened it to reveal the gowns. With nothing else better to do she decided to check out what other clothing and belongings her brothers gave her. While going through the crate, she decided to put the clothes away.

She had several gowns and a good amount of clothes. With her clothes away, she went to her adjoining bathroom, to clean up before bed. When she was on her bed, she began to brush her hair while looking around the room.

She looked at the simple room. The bed stood in the middle of the room, with the headboard against the wall. On either side of the bed she placed to nightstands that were not badly damaged from the ship. The only other piece of furniture was a dresser in the far corner of the room, near the door to the room, leading to the hallway.

She knew she was going to have to decorate the room, so it didn’t look so boring. But she couldn’t figure out what to use. She knew she could use what her brother’s had left for her from her mother but she wasn’t sure if she could place it up just yet.

She looked out the window when her hair was brushed and walked to the window. From her window she was able to see the courtyard of Cats’ Lair. She never realized until now that her room was directly in front of Cats’ Lair, giving a good look out of the countryside. In the distance she was able to make out, barely from it being dark, that spring was beginning to take form over Third Earth.

She couldn’t wait to see Spring. It was going to be the first time in two years that she was going to see snow melt as the warmer weather reached the corner. She turned away from the view as her mood went soar again. This was going to be her first birthday without any family members around her.

-

Tygra was talking with Cheetara when Panthro walked in to the command center. He quickly noticed that neither of the two heard him come in. He cleared his throat, getting the two his attention.

“What’s up?” Panthro asked.

“Tygra was telling me that tomorrow is Alana’s birthday and she was upset about it. Tomorrow she was suppose to marry that man she told us about.”

Panthro clenched his fists at the mention of why Alana was on the planet in the first place.

“I was about make a suggestion about that,” Tygra said. “The Thunderkittens made a present for her but have not had the chance to give it to her. I was thinking of giving her a surprise party. Snarf could make a cake for her.”

“That’s a great idea,” Panthro agreed. “She would like that, I’m sure. We can plan for this surprise at lunch. She will be surrounded by friends.”

“That is a great idea.”

The three Thundercats turned at the sound and saw a ghostly figure of a man standing in front of them.

“Who are you?” Cheetara asked.

“Alana’s brother,” the ghost answered.

“Josh?” Panthro questioned. “But how?”

“I have always been able to do this but Jaga believes it’s too soon for her to see me, therefore he won’t allow me to walk the plain when Alana is around. You all have been so wonderful to my sister and I am glad that she has found friends in you.”

“Why are you showing yourself now?” Tygra asked. “There has been plenty of opportunities when Alana’s not around.”

Josh chuckled. “You are as bad as my sister. I have been waiting for the right moment to come to you. I just wanted to say to you that I’m glad she has found some friends. She’ll open up eventually. Tygra, I was wondering if I could have a word with you for a moment, alone.”

The ghost watched as the Thundercats looked at each other before Cheetara and Panthro stood and walked out of the room. They were a little confused as why someone who was a ghost wanted to talk with the tiger alone.

“What did you want to speak with me about?” Tygra asked.

“I know of your growing feelings of my sister. I’m not sure how obvious it is from your friend’s point of view but from mine, they are quite noticeable.”

Tygra blinked. He was taken aback from the comment.

“I wanted to tell you that if you are interested in my sister, go for it. She needs someone who will treat like a person. Not a woman to crawl in bed with or even a possession. What I’m saying is you have my blessings. All I ask is for you take care of her. Father on the other hand will probably be furious when word gets out that she is staying here. If he shows up here and Alana is still mourning, it won’t take long for her to start standing up for herself.”

“What happened to Alana?” Tygra asked, finally finding his voice.

“You know I can’t answer that. Only she can. Mind you, I would love to answer it but it will ruin what little trust she has for you. The Safari family is one family you don’t want to mess around with when it comes to secrets and histories. I must go now. I only can stay in this world for a few minutes. Oh and thank you for the funeral service.”

Tygra watched as he slowly disappeared. He sat down as he went thought over Josh’s words. He knew he was beginning to have feelings for the human woman but had no idea that they were becoming real strong. He wondered how Alana felt, or if she could ever return the feelings. And if she did, how long would take before her feelings would begin to show. One thing was for sure; Tygra knew he had a long way to go before she would ever consider him slightly more than a friend.

[Tigress]

Chapter 9 – Glooms to Gleams

Waking the next morning seemed more as a chore than a normal activity. The sun shone brightly through the window as it rose, gleaming off the snow like sparkling diamonds, except the day was not going to be nice and shiny for Alana. It was her eighteenth birthday and it was anything but a good day for her. It was going to be the first birthday where she wasn’t going to be able to celebrate with any family member. She slowly pulled herself out of bed to get ready for breakfast that Snarf would be serving soon.

When she reached the dining room, something seemed a little out of place. She couldn’t place her finger on it but she was sure something was a miss. But there wasn’t anything out of place that she could recall. The Thundercats were waiting for her before eating. She ate quietly beside Lion-O, but as he began speaking, Alana remembered what Panthro told her about Jaga being Lion-O’s Grandfather. For the most part, Alana ignored what he was saying and just remember what her last birthday was like.

When breakfast was done, Alana quickly disappeared. She did not want to be around anyone. When she was gone, the Thundercats began their planning.

“So why did you guys wanted me to wait until after Alana left for me to figure what we’re going to do today?” Lion-O asked.

“Today is Alana’s birthday,” Tygra explained. “She is eighteen and she was suppose to be getting married today. But instead she’s spending her birthday in solitude.”

“We figure,” Panthro started. “That we will give her a surprise party when we have lunch and we’re going to have some help.”

Panthro pointed behind him. Behind the panther stood two ghostly figures. One was Jaga and the other was someone Lion-O never saw before.

“Thundercats,” Jaga began. “May I introduce you to someone who Alana is not permitted to see right now. Her eldest brother, Josh.”

Lion-O stood and slightly bowed. “It’s an honor.”

“No,” Josh said. He walked over to the young lord. “The honor is mine. You are the one who leads your group and you gracefully took my sister in, even though she was a complete stranger. You are also the one who marked our grave with a nice inscription.”

“We, the Thundercats, are very honorable people and we have a code, called the “Code of Thundera; Truth. Justice. Honor. Loyalty”. We give help to people who need it.”

“And my sister needs it. As you all know today is her birthday and it’s not a very good day for her. Her last birthday was a birthday she’ll never forget. We were able to get permission from Tony to take her out while he had other matters to attend to. We never saw him for several days. I’m here to help you plan a birthday that will be nice but a different one than she ever had. I don’t want her birthday to have any remembrance to her previous ones.”

“He is here,” Jaga interrupted. “To give you advice so she’ll have something she never had before and will not think you had help.”

“Jaga,” Lion-O said. “If you don’t mind me asking but why are you both here?”

“Josh only can stay in limbo for so long. I’m here to help him to be able to stay longer. Now let’s get to work. We have much to plan and not much time to do it in.”

“Does anyone know where Alana is now?” Snarf asked.

“She’s in her room,” Josh answered. “She’ll stay in her room until lunch. When she is like this, she doesn’t like to be around people and she surely doesn’t like to be seen so she keeps herself completely out of trouble.”

“Where should we begin?” Wilykit asked.

“I have noticed that she likes those flowers those robot bears had given her the day we were buried,” Josh said. “Perhaps, placing a nice flower arrangement on the table would be nice. Getting some of the people who have helped you would be great too.”

“Wilykit and Kat,” Lion-O turned to the kids. “Why don’t you two go to the Berbil village and see if some of them would like to come. Also stop by the Tree Top Kingdom and get Nayda and Willa. Having a couple humans here would be nice for her.”

“Sure,” Wilykit said. “While we’re at it, we’ll see if we can get some supplies from the Berbils.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Snarf agreed. “I could use some more candy fruit.”

The Thunderkittens quickly ran out of the room.

Josh turned to the Thundercat mentor. “Is there any way I can get you to convince Alana to put on one of the dresses she came across yesterday?”

“That would make her think of you.”

“Yes but it will also show the Thundercats how beautiful she looks when she’s dazzled up. From that she’ll know that I’m with her on her birthday. We may not be here physically but we are here in spirit and memory.”

Jaga nodded in understanding.

Josh looked at Cheetara. “With your speed, you could take some silk material found in one the crates and string them around the room.”

Cheetara nodded.

“My Lord,” he said looking at Lion-O. “I have been told many things about your abilities and some that are not known to you yet. I would like you to use your sword and with it, you can place yourself and Alana in a trance where she could see your past. I would like her to see your struggles of trying to lead but making mistakes along the way and learning from them.

“Showing her that you can be just as vulnerable as she is, will help ease her pain a little more. I would greatly be happy if she became a Thundercat, though she’s human.”

“Jaga, is that possible?”

“Yes, Lion-O. It is possible. I have never told you because there was never a need.” Jaga turned to the other ghost. “But I should warn you, doing that will cause Alana to loose consciousness for a couple hours for she is human.”

“I understand that but she will have friends around to protect her.”

“That she will,” Tygra agreed. “Is there anything you would like us to do?”

“Show her some of your traditions when it comes to birthdays.”

“She would be happy to see you,” Lion-O said.

“No,” Josh jumped. “It’s too soon for her to see me. She hasn’t had time to adjust to me being gone. I was her strength.”

Lion-O quickly nodded his agreement. “I understand. This has been a very difficult time for her.”

Josh nodded. “What sort of traditions do you have for a birthday?”

“Mostly the same as a human one,” Tygra answered. “Though there are a couple differences. Normally instead of blowing out candles, we just have a cake.”

“She’ll like that. She was has never been into candles ever since her mother died.”

“That’s a shame,” Cheetara said. “Her losing her mother at a young age.”

“We all lost your mother at a young age.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Lion-O asked. “How many years are there between you and Alana?”

“I have been waiting for you to ask me that,” Josh smiled. “There is 15 years between myself and Alana. That would explain why she always talks about me the most. I have been there for her since day one. When father learned that he was going to have another daughter, he did not do anything to help Alana’s mother. I was the one who got Leanne to the hospital in time for Alana to be born. I almost had to deliver my own sister.”

“Where was the rest of the family?” Tygra asked.

“The twin brothers, Tom and Terry were only thirteen and were busy getting ready for a tournament. Steve, only a year younger and Rachel, a year younger than Steve was with the twins. David was only ten and he was with me trying to keep Leanne calm. The others were just too young.

“Theresa was mad that father ignored her eighth birthday. Carl, being only nine was trying to comfort Theresa. Courtney was only four so she didn’t realize what was going on except that she was going to have another younger sister. And then there was Vanessa who was only two.”

“That’s a large family,” Panthro commented.

“It is, but as the years progressed, all the brothers began to band together to take care of the sisters as they were emotionally hurt by father.”

“As much as it’s nice to talk about the past,” Jaga said. “But we need to get ready for this party or it won’t be a surprise.”

-

Alana was busy hanging up her clothes in the closet when a sudden blue light appeared from behind. She turned to see Jaga before her, sitting on the bed, looking at the gowns that were still on the bed.

“Happy Birthday, Alana,” he said.

“There’s nothing to be happy about,” she answered. “I have no one to celebrate it with.”

“That’s not true. You have the Thundercats.”

“I suppose. But today is so wrong. I was suppose to marry someone I don’t even like and my brothers are gone.”

“That maybe so but you have a sister somewhere on the planet. That should be something to look forward to.”

“I guess. It will be nice to see Vanessa again. I haven’t seen her in two years.”

“I have been given a request,” Jaga changed the subject. He patted the bed for her to sit beside him. When she was sitting beside him, he continued. “Your brothers would like you to wear one of these dresses to lunch.”

Alana jumped. “What? Why?”

“Though you can not see them, they can see you and they would like you to wear one of these. I myself am curious as to what they look like. We never had anything like this on Thundera.”

“You want me to wear one of the dresses to lunch. Lunch will be soon.”

“Please,” Jaga encouraged.

He looked at the dresses and saw one that reminded him of Thundera. “Wear the red one.”

Alana looked at the red one. She smiled at it. It was the one dress that Josh had never seen her in but her other brothers had. She couldn’t remember why he didn’t see it.

“Only because you have asked and you said my brothers have asked, I will.”

Jaga nodded. He reached out behind him and brought out a simple beaded necklace.

“It’s beautiful. Where did you get it?”

“Though I am no longer in the world of the living, I have do have adventures of mine own. I found this and would like you to have it. Being on the Astral plain, one can travel back through time. I traveled to Thundera before it’s destruction. This is a necklace that I had given to my wife for a wedding present and now it’s yours.”

Alana gasped. “I can’t take something that meant to you.”

Jaga grasped her hand and placed the necklace in her hand. Before she could protest, he backed away and disappeared.

“Figures,” she said. She looked at her hand. “I take it, he wants me to wear this too.”

She grabbed the red dress and quickly changed knowing that Snarf doesn’t like when people are late. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dress was simple but lovely nonetheless. She felt the material, remembering what velvet felt like. The sleeves hang down the arms but slightly puffed out at the wrist. The neckline was modest but had a white lacey sequence around the chest. It hung loosely to her ankles.

When she was going through the crate, she found a few pairs of shoes. Picking out a black slipper like shoe, she quickly put them on before putting the necklace on. Normally one wouldn’t wear a necklace but she got the impression that Jaga wanted her to wear one and she usually wore a necklace with the dress anyway.

She quickly made her way down to the dinning room. When she opened the door, she found the room to be darkened. For a quick moment she felt panicked that something happened and no one informed her that they were leaving.

But as she entered a light was suddenly turned on. She turned around at the sound of surprise.

She gasped as she saw the Thundercats, Queen Willa and her sister Nadya and a few Berbils around the dining table.

Tygra walked over to her. “You look wonderful.”

Alana slightly blushed. “Thank you. Jaga asked me to wear it. I guess he knew about this…what is going on?”

Tygra smiled. “Well I knew that you were not looking forward to today, so I convinced everyone to give you a party. Jaga heard about it and wanted to help.”

“He said that Josh had wanted me to wear a dress. But now I see why. Josh must have known about this too since Jaga knew.”

“Come,” Tygra grasped her hand. “We’re not going to stand here in the doorway while lunch is about to be severed and dessert.”

As Tygra escorted her to the table, she noticed that there were silk sashes draped over the walls as there was a bouquet of those silver-blue lily flowers on either side of a cake that was sitting in the middle of the table.

As soon as everyone sat down, Snarf came in and served lunch. While eating, Alana heard Lion-O saying to everyone to keep on their guard. She didn’t know what he meant but hoped that she would soon. She didn’t like the way he made his request. It sounded like he was not going to be around or he was going to do something that wasn’t going to be able to involve him.

Before she knew it, she saw Panthro getting ready to cut the cake.

“Wait!” she blurted.

Everyone looked at her with wonder.

“It’s tradition for the one who is having the birthday to make the first cut. Then afterwards someone else cuts the cake and the hands the first piece to the birthday girl or boy.”

Panthro smiled. Just before Josh had to leave he told everyone that normally Alana would cut her own cake. He wasn’t sure how she would act but just in case Josh asked Panthro to cut the cake unless Alana wanted to.

Panthro offered the knife out towards her. She stood and walked over to him. Taking the knife she made her cut and then handed it back to the panther. She went to turn and walk away but stopped and turned back. She picked up a plate and handed it to Panthro. He took the plate before making a slice and then giving it to Alana. She walked back over to her seat.

Alana noticed Wilykit and her brother were quietly talking amongst themselves. She was quite curious as she was able to make out her name a couple times but she didn’t want to alert the kids that she was partially listening.

“Alana,” Wilykit said.

Alana looked at the young girl. “What is it?”

“Wilykat and I have something we want to give you and we have been wondering when to give it to you. But we’re going to give it to you now. So if you don’t mind, could you close your eyes?”

Alana’s eyes widened for a moment before closing. They were giving her a birthday gift. Something she was not expecting. She noticed the kids had gotten up and stood on either side of her. She noticed that her plate was pushed out of the way.

“Ok, you can open them,” Wilykat said.

Taking a deep breath, she did as asked. She gasped as a plaque was sitting in front of her. It wasn’t big but size didn’t matter, it was the thought. In the middle was a Thundercat signet sign with “For bravery” written on the bottom. She turned it over and saw their names on the back with “Though you have lost, you are free and brave”.

She looked at the kids. She first hugged Wilykat and then Wilykit. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

“I hope the words are ok,” Wilykat said.

“They are great. Just reading it, I can see what it means. I am brave for getting away from Tony even if it did cost some lives.”

“But bravery also has many other reasons.”

Alana stood and turned to see Jaga. Willa, Nayda and the Berbils looked at each other and shrugged. Though the Thundercats and Alana could see the ghost, the others couldn’t.

“You were brave into venturing into the ship when it was nothing but a tomb. You were brave into allowing strangers to take you in and care for you while your injuries healed. Most importantly you are brave to start a new life. Beginning a new life is also a frightening experience. If you would allow it, Lion-O could take you on a journey into his past to see his past adventures of starting a new life.”

“He can do that? But how?”

“He sends himself and you into a trance by using the sword. If you agree, I will instruct how to proceed. However I should warn you that once you come out, you will lose conscious for a few hours.”

She looked at Lion-O and then back to Jaga. “I will. If I’m to understand the Thundercats better, I should learn more about them.”

Jaga nodded. “Lion-O, sit on the floor.” Lion-O stood, taking the sword out of the claw shield and sat on the floor, away from the table.

“Alana, go and sit in front of Lion-O and lean against him.”

Tygra felt a slight pang of jealously as he watched Alana lean against Lion-O. Josh’s words quickly filled his mind. ‘I know of your growing feelings of my sister’. Ever since Josh spoke to him, he kept looking back and realized that he was unconsciously flirting with the human woman. He had no idea when the flirting began to turn into feelings. His thoughts were broken when Jaga spoke.

“Put the sword out in front of both of you. Alana, place your hand on the bottom of the hilt. Now summon the sight beyond sight, the sword will do the rest. The Eye of Thundera will know what you are seeking and it will give you what you seek. You both will feel like you’re back in the past, you’ll be able to communicate each other but the past events will not see you as you won’t really be there.”

“You ready?” Lion-O asked.

Alana nodded as she stared at the sword.

“Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight.”

For a moment, the eye opened before a blue glow surrounded around it. Both Lion-O and Alana gasped as the eye seemed to glow into their eyes and they felt like they were pulled into the sword.

Everyone in the room watched as the Eye of the Thundera created a dome around the two. They watched for several minutes as the two went into a trance.

“You all might as well go about your duties. I will keep watch over them.”

-

Alana felt quite disoriented as she began to feel her bearings. Beside her she noticed Lion-O was staring at something. She looked towards where Lion-O was and gasped.

“What’s going on?”

“We are on our spaceship, leaving Thundera.”

“You are all naked.”

“No. We didn’t need protected clothing, as we weren’t full Thundercats, yet. We had to wait until the current ones handed down their power to us. Thundercats in training all wore a slick cloth that made us look like we weren’t wearing anything.”

“I don’t see you around.”

“Remember I was only a child when this happened. Jaga has just asked Cheetara to get me. I of course, at the time was sleeping.”

Seconds later, Alana watched as child Lion-O and Cheetara walked on to the flight deck. She heard as Jaga asked the kid to come closer. She watched as the planet before her started to grow violently red before exploding. She looked at Lion-O, who had his head turned away from the explosion. A single tear tracked its way down his cheek.

“It must have been hard for you to see that.”

“It was and still is.” He looked at her. “Even to this day, I have dreams of this moment.”

Suddenly the Eye of Thundera blinded them and then were suddenly standing on top of rumble of rocks looking down as Snarf came across one of suspension capsules.

“What the…”

“This was when we crashed on Third Earth and I was no longer a kid. The Mutants had followed us from Thundera and tried to attack us while we weren’t ready. When I took the sword in my hand, I felt I had the need to call the Thundercats.”

They watched as younger Lion-O came out of the capsule and was confused. They watched for several minutes before the Mutants showed up and Lion-O used the sword for the first time to call the other Thundercats.

Alana and Lion-O were quickly pushed away from the scene to another scene that was few days later after the battle.

“Now what?” she asked.

“This was when we met the Robear Berbils. At first I thought they were being hostile but after awhile I realized they were only trying to stay alive from a brute force, which I stupidly interfered but it also ended up being the beginnings of a good friendship.”

She watched as the Thundercats talked about building their Cats’ Lair when suddenly a noise was heard from behind. To their surprise it was the Berbils offering their friendship and help in building the lair. They had quickly set up a huge table that would fit the Thundercats and a group of Berbils

Lion-O stood beside her and watched as the memory happened. “From here, I’ve had many events. Some were good while others were a learning experience.”

When the Thunderian Eye caught the two again, it had sent them to many different times. Alana saw when her father had taken the Thundercats hostage and it took great thinking with Lion-O to free his friends. She saw Lion-O had tried to do things on his own and then get caught by the Mutants or Mumm-Ra and then had to call for help. But as the memories went through, she noticed that he began to have responsibility. She even saw how Grune the Destroyer was trying to get rid of Jaga. But what caught her eye the most was when Lion-O had to start his Anointment Trials.

She watched as he protested against having to do the trails, but he did them anyway so he could be named officially the Lord of the Thundercats. She was able to see a few minutes of each trial and then the ceremony of him being crowned as Lord.

As the celebration went on, Alana turned to Lion-O. “I never knew.”

“Besting my friends at their level was one of the hardest things I had to do. But then when I went up against Mumm-Ra as my final trial, that was turned out to be the hardest.”

“Mumm-Ra looks scary.”

“He can be. But he has a weakness. He does not like his own reflection.”

“So that is why you used your claw shield against him many times. He was able to see his own reflection.”

Lion-O nodded.

Alana moved away as she saw Tygra congratulating Lion-O on a job well done. She could see that he was still exhausted from using his mental powers. She turned away from the group as she felt a pull. She realized the Eye of Thundera was about to grab them again.

She looked at Lion-O and then hugged him. “Thank you for allowing me to see your painful but eventful past.”

Lion-O wrapped his arms around her. “No thanks are necessary. Now you realize that I did not do this for your trust.”

“I know you showed me this so I won’t keep feeling sorry for myself. I have now been able to see that you also feel sorry. You watched as your fellow people were killed when you left Thundera, your planet explode but you also found friends when you landed on Third Earth. I guess you and I are a like. We both lost loved ones but then gained new friends.”

She moved away from the young Lord as she felt eye directly behind her. She turned as the eye began to envelop them. She was expecting to see another past event but she found herself sitting on the floor, in front of Lion-O. She realized that she was back in the present, on her birthday.

Not far off, she saw Jaga smiling but the smile didn’t last long as she felt another pull and this time it was the pull of darkness trying to enfold around her.

“Lion-O,” she whispered.

She felt Lion-O’s arms shift around her. “It’s ok. I’m right here.”

Whatever words he might have said we left hanging as the darkness completely claimed her.

-

Lion-O slowly slid his arms under her and picked her up. He looked at Jaga. He was about to ask Jaga a question when suddenly he saw Tygra run into the room.

“Is she all right?” he asked.

“She’ll be fine in a couple hours,” Jaga answered.

Lion-O noticed how Tygra’s eyes looked concerned over the girl. His eyes widened slightly as he figured Tygra seemed to like the girl.

“Lion-O,” the tiger said. “Jaga went and got us to make a makeshift bed for Alana to rest on over in the corner. He said that we should keep an eye on her.”

“I agree,” Lion-O said. “She has seen a lot and she’ll no doubt have some questions for you guys when she wakes.”

Lion-O moved swiftly away from his tiger friend and gently set her down in the corner where a bunch of pillows laid. He grabbed a nearby blanket and covered the girl with it.

“How was the trip?” Panthro asked as he and Cheetara walked into the room.

“Painful as ever,” Lion-O answered. “The Eye of Thundera took us where she needed to be most. It wasn’t by my choice. Though some of the places I wanted her to see.”

“What did she see?” Cheetara asked.

“Thundera exploding. Me all grown and seeing my mistakes but learning from them. But most importantly see saw the trails. She watched as I had to best all of you at your strengths.”

“It sounds like the eye of was giving her hope,” Jaga answered. “Perhaps with this new experience, she will be able to help more and trust.”

Lion-O turned. “Jaga, it isn’t about trust. It’s about her trying to start over without anyone she knew to help her. She has a difficult past, which she just is having a hard time getting over.”

“You are right.”

Lion-O looked up to see Josh standing beside him.

The spirit of Josh knelt down to his sister and placed a cool hand on her forehead. “She has been through so much. This is why I wanted you to take her on your painful journey. You and her have a troubled past. You both lost and gained. You two are like siblings.”

“That’s right,” Cheetara agreed. “You two have a lot in common.”

Lion-O looked at the sleeping girl and then at Josh. “Well I do seem protective of her.”

Josh smiled. “It pleases me to know that she has a brother again.”

“A brother?”

“Lord Lion-O, you have treated her like a sibling. Your feelings for her will never go beyond a love of a family member. I was with you the whole time through your vision and I must say admitting where you were wrong and having the hard task of going against your friends are tough choices. I must go now.”

Josh walked away from the group and quickly vanished, as did Jaga. With the two spirits gone, Tygra smiled at knowing that he wouldn’t have a competition. He looked over at Cheetara and noticed that her eyes seemed to show off some emotion towards the Thundercat leader that he never saw before.

‘Does Cheetara have feelings for Lion-O?’ he wondered. ‘It almost seems like she does. I wonder how long she has had this feeling?’

“Any new developments?” Lion-O asked, getting back to business.

“It’s been pretty quiet for the past three hours,” Panthro said. “Willa, Nayda and the Thunderkittens went to the Wollo village. I’m not really sure why but they said that they would be back before nightfall.”

“Keep me informed. I’m going to stay here and watch over Alana until she wakes up.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Tygra offered.

Panthro nodded. “Cheetara and I will take turns in watching over the land. You never know when the Mutants may attack.”

“Good thinking,” Lion-O agreed.

-

Lion-O and Tygra were quietly talking when a noise suddenly caught the tiger’s attention. He turned to see Alana slightly moving. He indicated that she was waking to Lion-O before standing from the dining table and walked towards her. Lion-O followed suit.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the concerned look in two set’s of cat eyes. At first the look slightly startled her but she quickly realized, by their hair, who the eyes belonged to.

She smiled as she remembered when she first met Tygra and how his eyes were different. She had never seen eyes like the Thundercats.

“How do you feel?” Tygra asked, breaking her thoughts.

“Tired, but fine,” she said quietly.

“You remember your vision?” Lion-O asked.

“That was an experience that I’ll never forget. I got to see the Thundercats at their vulnerable points and when my father had taken you all hostage and was trying to after Lion-O.”

“Lion-O said that you saw parts of the Anointment trials,” Tygra said, giving her hand so she may be able to stand.

She pushed the blanket off of her and noticed that she lying on several pillows. She noticed some of the pillows were from her ship, which was not damaged too much. Realizing she still had on her gown, she grabbed Tygra’s proffered hand and he gracefully pulled her to her feet.

“I’ll let the others know that you have woken. I’m sure everyone is hungry.” Lion-O quickly turned and left the room.

Tygra helped her over to the table. The table still had her cake, which was covered and a picture of water with a couple glasses.

“I never knew you had mental powers.”

“It’s not something I use often as it leaves me exhausted for days.”

“I noticed that you were tired when Lion-O was crowned as the true Lord of the Thundercats. You guys have been given a great gift.”

“Would you like some water?” he asked, offering a glass of water.

“Yeah, my throat is very dry.” She gently took the drink. “I now understand you all better.”

“You know we have always been open if you ever want to ask us questions.” He suddenly noticed her necklace. “Where did you get that necklace?”

Alana fingered the necklace. “Jaga gave this to me. He said that though he is no longer with you, he does have his own adventures. He’s able to travel into the past and he came across Thundera before it’s destruction. The necklace was a wedding present to his wife. It must have been lost to her.”

“It was. When she had disappeared, the necklace did as well. Jaga never knew what happened to it.” Tygra quickly turned as someone entered the room.

She turned to see the Warrior Maidens walk in with the Thunderkittens.

“We heard you were awake,” Nayda said. “I have known the Thundercats for a few years and I never even knew that Lion-O could travel into his past.”

“No one really did,” Tygra said. “That is until now.”

“I suppose it came from that ghost who appears once in awhile though we can not see him.”

“Actually it did,” Tygra answered.

“Alana,” Nayda said. “We were at the Wollo village while you were in your trance and we have something to give to you but we’ll wait until everyone is back in here.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” Alana answered. “Just being here is a good enough gift to me.”

“Nonetheless,” Willa said. “It’s something that we felt that we should give you.”

“I can’t see why. You have given me enough. You gave me something to wear outside and help with burying my friends.”

Willa smiled. “You’ll see.” She turned in time to see the other Thundercats enter the room with Snarf.

Snarf ran over to Alana and jumped on the table. “Are you sure, you’re ok?”

“For the last time, I’m fine,” she said with a slight smile. “But what I could use is some food. I have been out for a few hours and it’s after dark.”

Snarf stood up and saluted. “And what would the birthday girl like to eat.”

“Surprise me,” she smiled.

Snarf’s eyes lit up. He turned to the Thunderkittens. “Could you bring in that cart that is just outside the door?”

The kids turned and ran out, giggling.

Alana raised an eyebrow. What was going on that the kids would start giggling about. Moments later the kids walked back through with a cart of food. The food was covered with a piece of cloth but she could tell that it was hot. She turned back to the little Snarf.

“How can that food be hot? You had no idea when I would wake.”

“That’s a Snarf secret, snarf.” He jumped down on the floor. “Oh and I thought that should tell you that the Robear Bill and Belle had to leave. But there is something for you.” He ran out of the room but quickly came back in.

Alana stood as she looked at the person who came in from behind Snarf as he came back in. “Mandora!”

“Happy Birthday, kid,” Mandora said.

Alana ran to Mandora and gave her a quick hug. “How?”

“Well for starters, I had heard of a crash on Third Earth, so I came to investigate. When I arrived, a few hours ago, I learned that you were here. I had to tell the Thundercats that I knew you and your father. And you look wonderful.”

“Mandora, it has been hard.”

“I’m sure it would be but you are surrounded by good friends. Now we should eat before Snarf’s food gets cold and he takes a fit.”

As everyone took their seats and Snarf served, everyone was interested in how Alana’s trance went. She explained how the Eye of Thundera transported her and Lion-O all over and what she was able to see in the memories. Over in one darkened corner Josh and his six brothers stood. No one was able to see them. They watched, as their youngest sister was finally a bit happy.

“She’ll find happiness again.”

“That she will Carl, that she will,” Josh answered.

“Why is it that you can travel through the plain and we can’t?”

“Steve, you know as well I as I do that I have been the one most connected to her.”

“What is thing about feelings I’ve been hearing?” Carl asked.

Josh turned to the youngest brother. “The tiger has feelings for our sister. Strong feelings. But at the moment it is not being reciprocated. Alana still has her fear of men. But I’m sure that fear will vanish, once she learns to trust the Thundercats completely.”

Carl looked at the tiger and then to his sister. “From what I’ve been able to see of the man, he seems nice.”

“Nice,” one of the twins said. “I hope she will fall for him. He’ll be good to her, I watched as he had lied to his leader to protect her.”

“And that is something that I’m not impressed with,” Josh said. “She shouldn’t have gone out alone without telling someone where she was going.”

“There was no harm done,” Steve said. “The tiger followed her.”

“Why don’t we leave them for now and allow our sister to have fun for once,” the other twin said. “She now doesn’t have to look over her shoulder.”

“She may not have to fear Tony, but she will need to keep on the look out for the Thundercats’ enemies. From what I’ve seen in the vision, the Thundercats’ enemies will want to use her to get at the Thundercats. But I do agree for leaving her for now.” Josh gave one last look before vanishing with his brothers.

Alana slightly turned as she felt a presence leave the room. Lion-O noticed that her attention was somewhere else. He leaned forward and whisper. “Is something the matter?”

Alana turned to him. “I just felt as if something left the room,” she whispered back.

“Didn’t Jaga say that your brothers are always with you?”

“Yeah, he did. My brothers must have been just hear and have decided to leave.”

“Alana,” Willa said getting Lion-O and Alana’s attention. “I would like to now give you your gift from my sister and I.”

Nayda stood and pulled up a knapsack that was attached to her hip. “We found this a few years ago and entrusted it to the Wollos. We would like you to have to it.”

Nayda pulled out a wrapped item. She then handed it to Panthro, who was beside her and he handed it down until it reached Lion-O. He handed it to Alana.

She unwrapped it carefully as it was heavy. Her eyes sparkled with amazement at the object. It was a globe with a figure inside. The base was designed as a forest.

“Perhaps you could tell us what it is,” Willa said.

“It’s an ancient Third Earthian ornament. Ancients called them Sparkle globes. How it’s still in one piece is beyond me. My mother had one of these when she was young but after meeting my father, it went missing.”

Alana held it up and showed everyone why it was called a sparkle globe. Inside the globe were two women and they looked they were protecting something.

“You know,” Wilykat said. “The figure inside looks like two Warrior Maidens ready to battle something or protect something.”

“When we found it,” Willa said. “There was also a note, stating that it was made for the Warrior Maidens to remember the past when everyone left Third Earth. The leader, at the time, must have decided to bury it to protect its value. We found it buried beneath one of the trees near the base of our kingdom.”

“You must have found it shortly after we landed here,” Panthro said.

“We did,” Nayda nodded.

“What makes the sparkles float around like that when you tip it upside down?” Wilykit asked.

“It’s full of water. There’s so much water that there is not a bubble.”

“Well it’s starting to get late,” Willa said. “And there’s things to be done early tomorrow.”

Willa stood and walked over to Alana. She slightly wrapped her arms around the woman. “Happy Birthday.” When Willa moved away, Nayda came up and hugged Alana. The two women said their farewells and left.

“Would you Thundercats mind if I stayed here tonight before heading back out?” Mandora asked.

“Not at all,” Lion-O answered. “I’m sure you remember you’re way around.”

“I think I’m going to go to my room,” Alana said. She stood. “Snarf the food was delicious and I want to thank you all for everything. Wilykit and Kat, your gift is precious. Mandora seeing you again, is like a dream and…” she looked at Lion-O. “And seeing your past has showed me that I’m not the only one who has hard times.”

“And if it’s all right with you,” Lion-O smiled. “I would be honored if I considered you a sister.”

Tears brimmed Alana’s eyes. She lost her family but gained a new one. “I would love that.” She quickly began to make her way out of the room when Mandora slightly touched her arm.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to accompany you to your room.”

Alana nodded and the two women left the room.

-

Alana came out of her adjoining bathroom to see Mandora looking out the window. She had excused herself to change for bed. To Alana, she felt somewhat comfortable now that she had her own clothes and not borrowed ones from Cheetara.

“You have quite the view,” Mandora said as she heard Alana come in the room.

“I know. What did you want to talk about? Because I know that you did not come in just to look at the view.”

“Did he hurt you?” Mandora asked as she turned.

“Tony? No. At least not anything you don’t already know.”

“Good, but the same time not good. Though you have survived. I can’t bring him to justice.”

“Why not?” Alana asked, annoyed.

“There is no solid proof. It’s his word against yours. And you know yourself that will not hold up in a court of law.”

“So you’re saying that there has to be more than one witness to his dirty work?”

Mandora walked over to the woman. “Look, I swear to you now that I will more heaven on Earth to get that bastard. I know he killed his parents and he has hurt you. I just need to get solid evidence. I haven’t heard much, but I did hear there was a ship that crashed on Third Earth. That came from Tony but he did not say what happened and why.”

Alana snapped. “I’ll tell you what the jerk did. He hired one of his henchwomen to sabotage the ship. But soon afterwards Tony in one of his ships attacked us. The attacks happened for about a month before we were hit bad enough that we lost control. Now mind you we had a power drain, which was how Tony was able to cripple us.”

“Did you ever find the saboteur?”

“No. I think she escaped before we lost control. I think when she escaped, she prevented us from being able to get to the escape pods.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what?”

“Getting your side of the story, which is the truth, before I interrogate Tony.”

“Oh, I have learned that my sister Vanessa is living somewhere here on the planet, but where.”

“If that is true, Vanessa would have been smart by going into hiding. But if I know her, she’ll hide in plain sight. Have you told the Thundercats about your past?”

“No. I would like to but I’m scared of what they would say.”

“Don’t be. Lion-O has just declared you his sister and I think you have someone who likes you.”

“Who? Tygra? He just sees me as a friend.”

Mandora slightly chuckled. ‘From what I saw, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. Especially you wearing that gown, which I haven’t seen on you in long time.’ “How did you get the dress?”

“My brothers snuck it on board along with other dresses and clothes. They also went behind my back and secretly kept some of Mom’s things when father threw everything out. They also got them onboard as well.”

“They have always caused some sort mischief but it was always cleaned and there was always a purpose. Listen why don’t we talk more in the morning before I leave. I would like to see the crash sight.”

“Sure.”

Alana quickly embraced the policewoman before allowing her to leave the room. She dimmed down the lights before climbing into bed. While trying to go to sleep, she went over the day’s events. She suddenly felt a cool breeze on her shoulder. A big smiled appeared on her face.

“I have a family again,” she whispered. “I love you, Josh.”

A cool breeze brushed past her cheek. Her eyes flew opened and she could swear that she saw her brother standing right beside the bed. She shook her head, thinking it was just her mind playing tricks. She closed her eyes and allowed the world of dreams to take over.

[Tigress]

Chapter 10 – Confrontation

As the days began to get longer and the snow melted, it felt like opening your eyes for the very first time. Seeing birds of different colors chirping away and beginning to make their new nests was quite the sight as was seeing grass begin to poke out over the snow. No longer needing to wear such heavy clothing was joy enough. But with the warmer days came also new fights.

Alana sat at the top of the stairs waiting for the Thundertank to return. The nearby birds gave a nice tune for the worrying heart but it wasn’t enough to distract her. It was the first time the Thundercats were called to battle since she arrived two months ago.

Earlier, Alana walked into the command center and to her surprise, Lion-O and Cheetara were not present. Panthro had told her that they went to see the Berbils. Not long after saying where they were, the cats’ signal came souring through the sky. The remaining Thundercats jumped and told Alana to stay. She watched as they ran to the Thundertank and took off towards where the signal came from.

Beside her, Snarf came up and told her that the Mutants must have attacked and Lion-O was in trouble. She could tell he was worried. But it was not worry over the Thundercats but over Lion-O. She had quickly walked back inside but came out a few moments later wearing her warmer clothing.

For over an hour she waited when suddenly in the distance, something caught her eye. She pulled out her binoculars, which she found in amongst one of the crates that survived the crash, and saw the Thundertank. She ran down the steps to wait for them.

“What happened?” she asked in concern when Panthro pulled the tank to a stop and allowed his teammates to jump out. She wasn’t sure if she was angry or worried.

Lion-O walked up to her. “While we were visiting the Berbils, the Mutants decided to finally attack. They must have gotten wind of your ship crashing and decided to try and make the Berbils talk. Of course, they weren’t expecting us to be there.”

“And I suppose they started to overpower you?” Alana asked.

“And that’s why I summoned the other Thundercats.”

“Did the Mutants find anything out?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure they soon will. With their attack, Mumm-Ra probably has awoken as well and he usually somehow can finger out what has been going on,” Panthro answered. “I’m just glad that we have the supplies needed to complete the lower level. When the Mutants retreated, I asked if the Berbils could come by tomorrow and give us a hand with the new level.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Alana agreed.

“I for one,” Tygra said. “Would like to check out to see if the Mutants are trying any of the other villages to get the information they need.”

The Thundercats began to make their way up the stairs, when Lion-O looked back and saw Alana still standing where she was, head bent. Excusing himself, he went back over to her.

“Is something the matter?”

Alana looked up at the sound. “I was worried about you and when you came back, it was as if you never left. I’m sorry but to me, that’s upsetting.”

“After fighting the Mutants and Mumm-Ra for so long, one gets use to it.”

“But it was the first time that you left me here. I don’t know about you, but after gaining a new brother…it just scared me. All the other times, you left, hearing rumors of Mutant activity, someone always stayed behind. I wasn’t even told what was happening.”

“I understand. But with the Mutants finally showing their ugly heads again, we can’t take any chances. I’m sorry for leaving you behind with no one for company.”

“It’s not that you left me with no company that I’m upset about, I was a little worried that one of you might have been hurt badly. I don’t think I could stand in losing another friend so soon.” A single tear managed to make its way down her cheek.

Lion-O’s eyes flashed with total understanding. It wasn’t the that they left her behind with no one to talk to, except for Snarf, but it was the fact that one of them could have been hurt. He brought his hand to her cheek, wiping the tear.

“Thank you, for your concern,” he finally said. “It means a lot. Now why don’t we go inside and cheek out to see if the Mutants are trying to cause more trouble?”

Alana nodded.

-

When the two entered the room, they saw Panthro busy checking out other populated areas. When he came up with nothing, he turned and announced that everyone could take it easy. Alana quietly excused herself, still upset with the Thundercats leaving her. Tygra noticed her distress and was about to follow when Lion-O stopped him.

“Leave her be,” he said. “She’s upset that we left her here. She was worried for our safety.”

“That is something that she’ll need to get used to,” Snarf said. “She needs to realize that we can’t always be here to keep her company.”

“Snarf,” Lion-O turned. “It’s not keeping her company is the problem. It’s the fact that she is beginning to trust us and she doesn’t want to lose her new friends too soon. She is still grieving over her brothers.”

“Perhaps next time,” Cheetara came out. “We could set up a link for her to see what is going on. You know as well as I do that we can’t keep her away from the Mutants. They will learn of her and when that happens, they may try something to use her against us. We have to prepare her for when that happens. From what I have gotten to know of her, she has never gone up against someone like the Mutants. She’s only had her father and Tony to deal with.”

“I agree,” Panthro said. “She needs to learn what to expect. We are not asking her to do anything just get her to be alert.”

“But how,” Lion-O asked. “Do we prepare her for a Mutant attack?”

Tygra placed a hand on his leader’s shoulder. “That is something we haven’t quite figured out yet. Perhaps you should speak with her.”

“Actually,” Cheetara came out. “I should speak to her. She seems most comfortable around me when you she’s hiding in herself.”

“I agree,” Lion-O nodded.

Tygra sighed. “I just wish she would get over this fear of men, we want to help her.”

“I’m sure she’ll tell us on her own time,” Lion-O concluded. “In the mean time, Cheetara why don’t you go and speak with her. Tell her our concerns while the rest of us start working on the new level. It’s near completion and I want it to be a surprise.”

Cheetara nodded.

-

When Alana walked into the room, she decided to leave the door to her room opened. She never liked keeping the door closed. She looked at the wall where she hung her plaque and remembered how her birthday went. She had noticed several things that day, though it took her a few days to figure it out.

She noticed as much as Lion-O was concerned for her, he kept averting his eyes to Cheetara. But Cheetara wasn’t the only one who had the eyes; Tygra was eyeing Alana. Every other time Alana had ever been eyed by a man, she always got a creepy feeling but this time she wasn’t. When Tygra watched her, she never felt tensed. Even now, she had noticed that he slightly stared at her but it wasn’t a creepy stare.

His stare felt warm and understanding. She didn’t feel that he looked like he was undressing her with his eyes, which was something she received a lot from Tony and his friends. She soon realized Mandora was telling the truth about Tygra couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

She looked out her window and saw the Thundertank still sitting where Panthro stopped. She quickly turned away, remembering why she went to her room in the first place, she was upset that the Thundercats left her alone without telling her what was going on, or where they were going.

“Why?” she said suddenly.

“Why what?”

Alana quickly turned to her door to see Cheetara standing in the doorway.

“Why do you have to fight? Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?”

Cheetara walked in and sat on the bed. “I’m sorry for not telling you, but when Lion-O calls, we know we need to get to him, fast. We never know how much Lion-O needs us until we get to him.”

“So you’re saying that you didn’t know the Mutants were attacking?”

“No. Sometimes he has called us because one of our strengths is needed for something. Once he called on us but he needed me most because Tygra was endanger and I was the only one who could help him.”

“What happened?”

“When we first landed here, we need to find Thundrillium. It’s the source of power that runs the lair and our vehicles. We went scouring the land to find some. Tygra ended up traveling into a cave that ages a person. I was the only one who could travel in the cave and it wouldn’t effect me.

“There has also been times where Lion-O led us to his location because we were looking for something.”

“I never knew that,” she said. “I thought the sword was used when there was a fight.”

“The sword has many talents. Lion-O can call forth the sword when it’s out of his hand. You have already seen some of its talents.”

“The sword is powerful.”

“And that is one of the reasons why we fight. Our enemies want to obtain it so it can be either destroyed or somehow used against us. They know it can’t be used by evil but it can be manipulated. Look I didn’t come here to justify why we left you behind but I did come to talk.”

“Why am not surprised?”

“We need you to understand the situation you’re in. The Mutants are trying to learn about you and when they do, which they will; they will come after you and try to use you against us. You need to be prepared for that.”

“How can I be prepared when I don’t know why you’re leaving?”

“I have a solution for that. The next time Lion-O needs us, we can create a linkup where you can see the action, no matter what it is. From there you can see the Mutants.”

“But I saw the Mutants in the vision I had with Lion-O.”

“Yes, but that was only for a few minutes, try having to witness a battle that can last for a few hours. You need to know how cunning and manipulative they can be. Especially Mumm-Ra.”

“Well maybe a linkup would be a good idea. Then I can see how severe these Mutants really are.”

Cheetara nodded. “So what are you planning on doing for the rest of the day?”

“I was wondering if you could teach me some tricks with your staff.”

Cheetara smiled. “That’s something I can do. Let’s go.”

-

Panthro walked outside, wondering where Cheetara went. But it didn’t take him long to find her when he saw her showing Alana something. He took a closer look and noticed that Alana had Cheetara’s staff in hands. Cheetara was standing behind her, giving her instructions. Panthro turned to see Lion-O and Tygra heading towards the upper level of the foyer.

“Take a look at this,” Panthro got to the two Thundercats attention.

The two Thundercats, curious, went up beside the panther and to their surprise; they saw the two women, training. They were so immersed into the training, they had no idea they were being watched. After a couple minutes, Panthro decided to head in, leaving the women and the other two Thundercats.

“Why don’t we try something else,” they heard Cheetara say. “Why don’t we try sparring without a weapon?”

“Sure,” Alana breathed.

Cheetara walked away from Alana for a moment to put her staff down on the steps. She quickly noticed they weren’t alone but didn’t want Alana distracted. Cheetara wanted to see what Alana knew with defense. The cheetah walked over to Alana, getting in front of her so Alana couldn’t see her audience.

Lion-O noticed Cheetara noticed them. “I think Cheetara wants to see what Alana can do?” the young lord said quietly.

“I don’t blame her,” Tygra answered in the same manner. “There may be a time where Alana may have to defend for herself. I’m actually curious what Alana knows.”

The two men turned back the women.

“I want you to come at me as if I’m the enemy,” she said.

“What good will that do?” Alana asked. “I already know that you can over power me.”

“In order to get away from your attacker, you need to have the speed. Pretending to attack me, will show us how fast you are.”

For the first couple of times Alana went towards Cheetara, the cheetah avoided her by quickly moving to the side.

“You need to know what your enemy could do before he makes his move.”

“Easier said than done,” Alana slightly breathed. “You’re fast, therefore, it’s hard to catch you off guard.”

“Perhaps so, but my enemies have been able to slow me down. Ready. Let’s go.”

Alana ran knowing Cheetara was going to move out of the way. Seeing which way the cheetah moved to, Alana went and tried it again, but Cheetara only dodged once again. It was really starting to frustrate her. An idea quickly came to mind as she tried once more. But this time, when Cheetara moved, Alana jumped up and kicked out as if she was doing the straddle, catching Cheetara in the back.

The cheetah fell to the ground.

“Are you ok?” Alana asked with concern.

Cheetara smiled and stood back up. “That was good. But why didn’t you try that before?”

“I’m not sure. I guess I was afraid that it would remind me of when my brothers taught me some defense lessons.”

“Alana,” Lion-O called. She turned to see the lion and the tiger. “That was great foot work. Where did you learn that?”

Alana blushed realizing the two Thundercats watched the sparring match. “I was taught by my brothers.”

“Perhaps we could see what other talents you have. They could save your life sometime.”

Alana felt not only her cheeks were burning but also she felt hot all the way down her toes. “I guess I could do that.”

Her blush quickly faded as something caught her eye. She quickly looked up before quickly running into the lair. She charged into the command center, almost running down Wilykit before reaching Panthro at the main station. She leaned over his shoulder. She didn’t even take note that Wilykat was also in the room.

“I see something up in the sky. Is there anyway to get a fix on it?”

The three Thundercats soon entered, wondering what was wrong.

Panthro nodded. “Sure.”

Seconds later, Panthro had the camera pointing to the sky. “There,” Alana pointed. “Do you see it? It’s a small dark object.”

“I see,” he said. “I’ll magnify it.” When it was magnified at fullest strength, Panthro said. “Well it’s a ship that’s for sure, but I can’t get any further.”

Alana seemed to recognized the ship from somewhere but she wasn’t sure where. She stared at it for a few more moments before suddenly gasping. “It can’t be,” she whispered.

Her gasp caught everyone’s attention.

“You see something?” Wilykit asked.

Alana walked away from Panthro to one of the other stations. In the past month, Panthro showed her how to use the computer. She pressed a button, bringing the picture of the oncoming ship on her screen. With some calculations, she projected where it was landing. She then was able to make out the dimensions of the ship. Everyone around her was curious as to what she was seeing.

When her calculations were done, she clenched her fist. “I don’t believe it,” she whispered.

“Don’t believe what?” Cheetara asked, coming up to her.

“I know that ship,” she said, turning towards the Thundercats. “And I don’t like it. I didn’t think that model was still commissioned.”

“Who is it?” Tygra asked.

“It’s…” she looked away. “It’s my father…Safari Joe.”

“Safari Joe!” Lion-O gasped. He looked up at the main viewer to the oncoming ship.

Wilykat threw up his arms. “Just what we need. Another run in with him.”

“He’s not here for you,” Alana said. “He’s probably here for me.”

“How would he know that you’re here?” Lion-O asked.

“Chances are Tony probably came up with some sort of lie when Mandora questioned him by saying that I went on a trip and he was escorting the ship.”

“And if that’s the case,” Tygra sounded angry. “He would have said that your ship malfunctioned and crashed here.”

“But how would Tony explain how he wouldn’t have helped,” Wilykit questioned. “Like I mean, ‘if’ Tony escorted your ship and you crashed, why didn’t he check to see what happened?”

“No one ever underestimates Tony. Usually, they don’t question why he didn’t do things. Mandora probably would have but he would have eluded her questions to just accusations. She has to be careful around him or she could lose her job.”

“He’s about to land,” Panthro said.

Alana looked up at the main viewer and noticed that it was no longer magnified. In fact it was reduced magnification to its lowest settings and she could see the paws of Cats’ Lair. The ship was landing directly in front of the drawbridge.

“Thundercats,” a voice said through the comlink. “This is Safari Joe and I’m not here to fight. I’m here to talk.”

“Well we should find out what he wants,” Lion-O said. “But to be safe, be prepared.”

The Thundercats began to walk out but Alana ran and blocked their way. “I can’t let you guys go out there. My father is tricky.”

“Alana,” Cheetara said. “We need to find out for sure if he is here to find out about you or not. And if he’s here for you, we can also tell him that he no longer has any sons.”

“He won’t believe you. If Tony fed him lies, father will not believe anything you say.”

“We’ll soon see. If you don’t want to see him, that’s your decision but we can’t ignore him,” Lion-O said. He slightly pushed Alana out of the way and continued out to the entrance of Cats’ Lair.

Alana followed but stayed just within doors so she wouldn’t be seen but was able to hear everything that was said.

“All right, Safari Joe,” Lion-O began. “Here we are. What do you have to talk about?”

They watched as a hatchway opened and a ramp leading from the hatchway to the ground was revealed. At the opening, Safari Joe stood but he had no weapons in hand or his little robot friend, Mule.

“I have been under the understanding a ship crashed here a few months ago. I want to know a little more about it.”

“Why do you want to know about the ship?”

“My daughter was on that ship. The ship ran into an asteroid and crashed here.”

Alana clenched her fists and ran out. “That’s a lie!” she yelled.

“Alana!” The Thundercats called at the same time Safari Joe did. The Thundercats called in alarm but Joe was in surprise.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Tony has lied to you,” she blurted. “I was not hit by an asteroid. I was fired upon and we crashed here. Your sons have been killed from it.”

“That’s not possible,” Joe argued. “My sons would not have been on that transport.”

“You’re delusional. Why would I have asked the Thundercats for help if I wasn’t escaping that bastard.”

“Don’t call him a bastard, you are to marry the man.”

“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “One, I will not marry that bastard and secondly Tony probably thinks I’m dead, considering I was the only survivor. You can even ask the Thundercats yourself. They buried my brothers, your sons, and my friends.”

Joe walked along the drawn drawbridge and stopped just in front of Alana. He looked at the Thundercats and knew she was telling the truth about his sons. He turned back to his daughter. “I want you to return with me, you were suppose to marry Tony two months ago.”

“I am not leaving,” she stated firmly.

Joe grabbed her arm. “Yes you are!”

Lion-O’s eyes flashed angrily. He jumped down the steps, grabbing Joe’s wrist, forcing him to release Alana. Tygra came up behind her, pushing her behind him.

“You heard her,” Lion-O said angrily. “She’s not leaving.”

Joe was shocked that the Thundercats were quickly at her side. “Why are you defending her? She’s a woman.”

“Just because she’s a woman,” Cheetara came up to him. “Doesn’t mean she is to be mistreated. I like to see you try and force her on to your ship.” She brought out her staff, extending it to full length. “You have to get past us first.”

“Alana, please,” he tried to reason. “If you are telling the truth about my sons being dead, you are the next thing I have left for family.”

Alana snorted. “Well then I guess you shouldn’t have ignored your daughters or force us to marry people we did not want to marry when we were only eighteen.”

“I was never taught how to take care of daughters,” he pleaded.

“Then,” Panthro said, nunchucks in hand. “You shouldn’t have mistreated your wives.”

Joe stood at his normal height and flashed his angry eyes. “I never mistreated my wives. And how did you know I have had more than one?”

“You’re pathetic,” Wilykat said. Him and his sister stayed on the top of the steps.

“Never mistreated your wives!” Alana screamed. She forced herself away from Tygra. “Why would I wake in the night, seeing mother on the floor, crying her eyes out with bruises forming on her face? Why on some nights I’d wake with mother’s clothes slightly in shreds and she’d be, what I thought at the time, sleeping on the floor in a weird position?!” The last line she shrieked. The Thundercats had to cover their ears. “I want you out of here NOW before I kill you where you stand!”

The Thundercats and Safari Joe looked at her with surprise.

“And don’t think I won’t, because I will,” she said in a low voice. “I could easily grab a weapon.”

“Alana…”

Alana walked closer to her father. Not caring, she quickly swung her leg around, kicking Joe in the stomach. He flew back, landing on the ground with a thud.

“That was learnt by Josh. He had taught me some defense lessons so I wouldn’t have the same thing happen to mother to happen to me.” She abruptly turned and stormed away, back into the safety of Cats’ Lair.”

The Thundercats didn’t know what to say. They watched as she quickly ran up the stairs, rushing past the Thunderkittens and disappeared into the lair.

Lion-O was the first to recover. “You heard her!”

With the sound of his voice, caused Safari Joe to scramble to his feet and run back to his ship. He didn’t even stop to say anything before he climbed in and blasted off.

When his ship was no longer in sight, the Thundercats made their way inside. But just as they entered, they heard heavy sobs coming from behind one of the bigger pieces of debris from her ship.

Tygra looked behind one of them and found her. He was about to cuddle her but Cheetara beat him to it. She came over and placed a gentle hand on Alana’s shoulder.

Alana looked up, with a blurry vision, but quickly collapsed into the cheetah’s arms.

“I’m sorry for your mother,” she said, softly. “I never realized that your mother was put through that kind of abuse.”

“That would…have happened to me if it weren’t for…Josh and the others. But it would…have been by Tony,” she sobbed.

“It’s all right,” Cheetara said. “You’re safe here, with us.”

Alana moved herself away from Cheetara and looked at the Thundercats. She could see the concern look in their eyes and the friendship. She wiped her eyes, calming her tears and stood up. “I don’t deserve your friendship but I’m glad I have it.”

Lion-O smiled. “And you’ll always have a place here for as long as you want it. I will not allow anyone to hurt my sister.”

Alana slightly smiled. “You know, you sound a lot like Josh. Could I have a word with you for a moment.”

“Sure,” he said. He helped Alana to her feet before the two went outdoors.

The two walked until they were a little distance from the entrance, near the drawbridge.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked.

“This is something I would rather to stay between us.”

Totally curious to what she was about to say, Lion-O remained silent while she collected her thoughts. He hoped that she would open up but he had a feeling that wasn’t what she was going to say.

“You remember when Jaga said I could become a Thundercat.” She watched as he nodded. “Well I have been thinking about that.”

“You want to become a Thundercat?”

“I would like to, however, I don’t feel like I should be one right now. I feel, for I’m only human and not a Thunderian descent, I should earn the right to become one. You may have taken me in and even became my brother but that’s not enough for me to consider myself as a Thundercat.”

“But you want to become a Thundercat? That would be great.”

“Can you keep this to yourself, please. I don’t want the others to find out in case they start unconsciously push me towards doing the trails.”

“If you don’t mind me asking but what made you decide to consider in becoming a Thundercat?”

“The vision. Seeing you as you went through the trails, though you hated it. It must have been hard for you to go up against the ones who go to you when you the Eye of Thundera roars.”

“It was hard. But in the end, I learned things about my friends that I never knew. Cheetara only can run at top speed for so long, Tygra becomes exhausted when he uses mind abilities. The Thunderkittens can be cunning but they think they are the only ones.”

“I’m sure after seeing father, I’m sure Tony will eventually come. He’ll somehow learn that I’m still alive and either want to get rid of me and you or try to take me back and make everyone think I left on my own accord.”

“I will destroy the sword before I let anyone take you.”

Alana smiled. “I wish I had your confidence. You have been through so much in such a short time. I haven’t even begun to experience what you have been through.”

“Perhaps, but there is something that you have that I don’t. You were able to grow up. I never had that.”

Alana turned away. “Sometimes, growing up isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be.”

Lion-O placed both his hands on her slumped shoulders. “You’re growing years weren’t the best but at least you have been able to experience the small things; your first crush, your first kiss.”

“I suppose so.” She turned back to the young lord. “I guess that is something that you were only able to experience here.”

“And some I still haven’t experienced.”

“If you don’t mind me asking but is there someone that you have eyes for?”

Lion-O slightly inclined his head. Alana smiled as she hit an embarrassment button.

“I suppose I do. But she never could return my feelings. In all accounts I should only be a teenager. Even yourself is older than I am.”

“That doesn’t matter. You are now older than that and age doesn’t matter. So who has caught the Lord of the Thundercats eyes?”

“Perhaps we should head back in,” Lion-O said, trying to evade the question.

“Oh no you don’t,” Alana said sternly. “You’re not getting out of that one.”

Lion-O sighed. He looked into her eyes and saw determination that she was not going to let him leave until she got her answer. And seeing her standing with her hands on her hips, having a slight chill, as she wasn’t wearing her warm coat, he knew he wasn’t getting out of the conversation. “Cheetara.”

Alana’s eyes widened. She was shocked but she didn’t show it. Cheetara liked Lion-O and he liked her. “Why couldn’t you have said that in the first place instead of trying to dodge the question?”

“I shouldn’t have feelings for her,” Lion-O defended. “I’m younger than her even with the aging from the suspension capsule.”

“Like I said before, age doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that you like her. What if she feels the same?”

“I’m not sure.”

A sudden shadow came from overhead. Lion-O looked up. “What’s that?”

Alana looked up as well and gasped. “He’s back.” She looked at the lord. “Father has returned. But why?”

“Let’s go find out.” Lion-O grasped Alana’s hand and ran to the safety of Cats’ Lair. When the two reached the command room, they saw Panthro was quickly dancing his fingers along the panel.

“What’s Safari Joe doing back?” Lion-O asked.

Panthro turned in his seat. “He wants to talk to Alana.”

“Well I don’t want to talk to him.” Alana crossed her arms.

“Alana,” Cheetara said. “He may not leave us alone if we don’t find out what he wants.”

“All right,” Alana sighed. “But only in here.”

Panthro smiled. “That’s what I told him.” He turned back to the console. “Safari Joe. This is Cats’ Lair. Alana agrees to speak.”

Safari Joe’s face appeared on the main screen. “Good. Why are you here in the first place?”

“Well that’s a nice way of starting a conversation,” Alana said sarcastically. “Josh and the other brothers did not like how I was being treated by Tony. They made arrangements for me to escape. When I got word what they were doing, I involved myself as well. But I wasn’t the only one.”

“What did Tony do?”

“I wasn’t finished,” she fumed. “After we left, there were several mishaps that were revealed as sabotage. But not long afterwards we were attacked by one of Tony’s ship. Tony, of course, leading the attack. A cat and mouse game began and before long we were under serious fire. The next thing we knew, the ship was in flames and we were crashing on Third Earth, which of course was our heading anyway.”

“Why were you on your way here?”

“To enlist the help of the Thundercats for our freedom. It may seem selfish for us to find the Thundercats but to me it was essential. Mandora…”

“Mandora! You know Mandora?”

“Of course I know her,” she snapped. “After Mandora would have her meeting with you, she would talk to me. She kept it secret between the two of us. She told me about the Thundercats.”

“You know what she is?”

“Do you want to know why I’m here or not,” she said angrily. “Because if not, I’m sure Panthro can cut the transmission. And if you so much as try to attack the lair, I’ll have Mandora here faster than two shakes of the tail. I’m sure she would just love to arrest you.”

Joe cleared his throat. “Please, daughter continue.”

“When we crashed, Josh threw me out of the way. A bulkhead surrounded around me, which was used as a protective shield around me, and that is why I’m standing here today. Everyone else was killed. And if you want to know where everyone is buried just look at what’s left of the ship.”

“What’s left of the ship?”

“As I said the ship was in flames when we crashed. I’m lucky to be alive in the first place.”

“And all my sons are gone?”

“All,” Alana emphasized the word. “You have left is your daughters.”

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me young lady.”

“What are you going to do?” Alana challenged. “You have never been good with threats when you know other people are breathing down your neck. Now you have what you wanted.”

“Daughter…”

“Don’t call me that!” Alana yelled. “You are not my father. You might have given me life but were you ever there when I fell and scraped my knee? Were you ever there when I made my great achievements in school? Were you ever there for any of my birthdays? No you weren’t. I always spent my birthdays with my brothers, sisters and mother. And this past birthday I was alone except for my new friends. To me you are as dead as my brothers and mother.”

Alana walked over to Panthro. “Oh and another thing. Something I also forgot to mention. Something Carl taught me.” She hit several buttons before looking up and smiling. “Time for an overload.”

No one had the chance to ask what she meant by that before sparks began flaring out of Safari Joe’s panel and the communications went dead. Satisfied, Alana turned, about to walk away when Panthro grabbed her arm.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“Overloaded his circuits. He won’t be able to contact anyone for a while.”

“How?” Tygra asked, fingering his chin. “All I seen you do was pressed random buttons.”

Alana turned to her tiger friend. “From where you stand it was random buttons, but when a communication line is opened, certain buttons can cause an overload from the opposite end.”

“Why did you overload his systems?” Cheetara asked.

“Well I didn’t want to be rude in front of you by allowing that S.O.B. to win, by making me turn tail and run from the scene. That is what I’ve always done in the past. In the past couple months of being here, you have taught me that I need to fight my own battles, not let everyone do it for me. Safari Joe loves seeing people cower in front of him.”

“What’s S.O.B.?” Wilykat asked.

“It’s an old Third Earthian phrase. Something that’s not good for the young ears. How is the new level doing?”

Panthro and Tygra looked at each other with a known smile. Alana noticed this. She placed her hands on her hips. “What’s going on? When ever I see smiles like that I know something is up.”

Tygra turned. “Well like Panthro said, with some help with the Berbils we’ll have the new level done soon.”

“But why the smiles?”

“Just that you’ll like it, when it’s finished,” Panthro answered.

“You let me be the judge of that,” Alana said.

“Trust us,” Tygra said. “You’ll like it. I am glad that you have taken some time to relax.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Is there any way that I could start helping out?”

“Actually,” Lion-O said. “We would like the new level to be a surprise. But if you want to start helping out, I’m sure we could find you something.”

Alana was a little disappointed. It was her idea in making the new level in the first place. But she understood that they wanted to surprise her. She nodded and walked away. Before walking out of the room, she turned and looked at the Thundercats quietly talking. She knew it was about the room. But she also knew that they would protect her. No matter who tried to go after her, if it was her father or Tony, the Thundercats would protect her. But how long would it be before she was faced to face with their enemies. She knew they were right that she had to prepared and it made her feel comfortable to know they were willing to train her.

What Josh and her brothers taught her were only defense, to protect her self from unwanted men. But the training wasn’t enough to protect herself from other enemies who wouldn’t harm in the sexual aspect. She wasn’t even sure the Mutants or Mumm-Ra would be capable of doing something like…or at least she hoped they didn’t but even if they did, she was prepared for that. But she wasn’t prepared to protect herself from life and death or anyone else for that matter.

[Tigress]

Chapter 11 – Sister Fix

Watching from the top of the stairs as the Thundertank sped off towards the direction of one of the human villages, the watcher wondered how long it would take before finding their human friend’s sister. All they had to go on was that she was somewhere on Third Earth. He hoped it wouldn’t take too long, as the Mutants were getting real close to finding about Alana.

The Thundercats had battled the Mutants three more times since the first time leaving Alana alone. Out of those three, twice Alana was with them. But luckily the Mutants never saw her. When the Thundercats were finally able to chase the Mutants away, they would head back home. The second time Alana was with them when the Mutants attacked, Lion-O decided to delay the search until the Mutants stopped attacking.

Ever since then, whenever Lion-O called the others, Alana was able to use a linkup and see the battle. The last time, she was ready to head out and give them a hand as the Thundercats were having a hard time, as it was Mumm-Ra, who was also now looking for her. But as she was about to head out to help, Lion-O was able to make Mumm-Ra retreat back to his Black Pyramid.

When the Thundertank was no longer in sight, the watcher turned, heading back inside. This was the third day the Thundercats searched for the missing sister.

“Tygra.”

Hearing his name, he turned to see his leader coming towards him. “Is something the matter?”

“Not so far,” Lion-O said. “Alana left with Panthro?”

Tygra nodded. “The Thunderkittens as well. Alana is quite excited in the hopes of finding her sister.”

“That I have noticed. May I ask you a personal question? It’s about Alana.”

“What about her?” Tygra asked, giving Lion-O the permission to ask his question.

“Is it just me or does there seem to something between you two.”

Tygra sighed, realizing that everyone was beginning to notice his attraction towards the young human. But of course he wasn’t the only one with attraction on their minds. Tygra turned towards the opened doors, leading outside and looked at the horizon.

“I guess there’s no way around it. I have been pondering about this for the past few months, ever since Alana’s brother appeared to us the first time. What he told me in private has really made me think and I have to admit, though I didn’t think it could happen…”

“You’re falling for her…aren’t you?”

Tygra turned, swiftly. He was silent for a moment. “I never thought that was possible. I am older than her. She is barely an adult.”

“You’re not as old as you let on.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Since we met Willa and she helped you to become young again from the Cave of Time, I’ve noticed you seemed to be more active. You have become younger?”

Tygra raised his hands in defence. “Guilty as charged. At the beginning I thought I had returned to my normal age but eventually I began to notice that was not the case.”

“Did you deduct how much younger?”

“Ten years. And I only found this out shortly before Alana crashed.”

Lion-O thought for a few moments of the age difference. “That only makes you 10 years older than Alana.”

“That’s still a large amount of years between us.”

“You know she told me that age doesn’t matter after reaching adult hood.”

Tygra looked at his leader. “I’m not the only one who’s having a falling heart.”

Lion-O slightly snorted. “I don’t need to get cornered by that one again. I better go and check to see how things are in the control room.” The Thundercat leader quickly left the room before Tygra was able to ask what he meant by that. Tygra knew he was going to have to ask Alana when she returned.

-

Tygra was sitting in the conference room when Alana walked in. She noticed quickly that he was immersed in what he was looking at. She figured it was the plans for the new level. Not wanting to have the surprise spoiled, she quickly left the room and returned with a crumpled up piece of paper. Holding back a giggle, she threw it at his head.

“Hey!” he jumped. He looked angrily around until he saw Alana giggling. But upon her smile, his anger was gone.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I wanted to get your attention. But didn’t want to get too close in case you were looking at the plans for the new level. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise you guys are doing.”

Tygra folded the plans. “I was, actually. But it’s nice to know that you’re not trying to take a peek.”

“Where would be the fun in that? Although, sometimes trying to take a peek and not succeeding is fun. But it’s also fun trying to guess and the anticipation is also fun. It’s something that keeps my mind off my father or my friends.”

“That’s understandable. There’s something Panthro wants to add and I was checking to see if it could be added.”

“I see. I just figured in letting you know that we were back. We’ve been to three human villages and there’s nothing. There isn’t even anyone with the name of Vanessa.”

“Give it time.”

“I know but finding my sister…”

“Is important. There are still other villages that could be checked out. After you left, Lion-O and I were talking,” Tygra said. He wanted to know why his leader averted his statement about having an attraction to someone. “I have noticed he seems to be distracted lately.”

Alana smiled brightly with a giggle, knowing that he had asked if he liked someone. “Oh. And you think I would know. Well what if I do? But it probably isn’t my place to say but I can tell you that he does like someone…but who…that I’m not giving away.”

“I don’t need to know who it is, I just wanted to know if he was.”

“You have your answer.” Deciding to change the subject, she walked over to the tiger and sat across from him. “When Lion-O went through the trails, how long did it take you to recover?”

“Days. I had to force myself to move around when Lion-O was crowned as the real Lord of the Thundercats. Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking back when I saw the trails and how exhausted you were.”

“I see.” In the back of his mind, he thought that maybe she was considering on becoming a Thundercat. The choice had been offered to her. “I better go and find Panthro. Do you know where he is?”

“The last I seen him, he was heading down below.”

“Thanks.” He got up and left.

She wasn’t alone long before Lion-O walked in. But she was so deep in thought that she didn’t even noticed that he came up beside her until he sat beside her. The realization made her slightly jump.

“How was your search?” he asked.

“So far not so good. We traveled to three villages and didn’t find anything. There’s not even a person with the name of Vanessa. They never heard of that name. But as Tygra said, there are other human villages.”

“There is.”

“I know, but I don’t want to set myself up to disappointment in case the letter was wrong.”

“I don’t believe your brother would have wrote that letter if he wasn’t sure that your sister was living somewhere on Third Earth.”

“But it’s hard. Tomorrow why don’t we go to the Tree Top Kingdom? You have never been there and I’m sure Willa wouldn’t mind seeing you. Perhaps seeing the Warrior Maidens will ease your mind.”

“I haven’t really seen them since the day we buried my family. I would like that. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy your company, which I do, but it would be nice to be surrounded by people who are the same race as myself.”

“Good. In the morning, if there’s no Mutant activity, you and I will go to the Tree Top Kingdom.”

“In the meantime,” Alana stood. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be outside enjoying what’s left of sunlight. Snarf should have dinner ready soon.”

“Someone will come and get you when dinner is ready.”

Alana nodded and walked out.

-

As the sun began to rise, Alana sat on the steps of Cats’ Lair. She woke just as dawn began and seeing that the sun would soon rise, she quickly climbed out of the bed and dressed before heading outside to enjoy the beautiful spring air.

As the sun began to crest the horizon, Alana felt a presence behind her. She never gave any indication that she knew someone was behind her.

“I’ve almost forgotten how beautiful the sunrise is. I never had the chance to see it much on Seris.”

The figure behind her pulled himself out of the shadows and sat down beside her. She slightly sighed as she realized who came out.

“I honestly didn’t think you would be up this early. I thought only Cheetara was up this early,” he said.

“I don’t even know if she is up.”

“She is.”

“So what brings you out here?” she turned to the tiger.

“I was patrolling the area and saw activity in the main entrance. I came to investigate.”

“You seemed to always be on duty first thing in the morning. Is that something you’ve always done?”

“Ever since my mother died, I had always been up early. So naturally when we came here, I always volunteered to take the last watch.”

“When did your mother die? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all. My mother died of a Mutant attack. I was only small at the time and she was protecting me. I was too young at the time to understand what was really happening. My father found us after the Thundercats chased off the Mutants. But it was too late; my mother was too badly hurt. She died a few hours later.”

“That’s sad,” she said. “You were so young.”

He noticed that she was wondering how old he was. “I was only five.”

“You never really knew your mother,” she stated in a matter of fact.

“No. But I do have that memory. But other than that, I never really knew her. I don’t even remember what she looked like.”

“What about your father?”

“He passed away, peacefully a year before Thundera exploded. He never had the horror of watching our planet be destroyed. But I couldn’t let that bother me, where I had Lion-O and the Thunderkittens to think about.”

“I suppose not. None of you guys have actually been able to grieve over the planet exploding.”

“Actually, we have, but only in the privacy of our quarters. We could never openly show our feelings about Thundera.”

“But still, you watched your planet die. Everyone you loved or were friends with are gone. You don’t even know if all ships escaped the wrath of the Mutants when you fled, which means, as far as you know the Thundercats are the last of the Thunderian race.”

Tygra looked at the horizon as the sun was almost completely cleared the horizon. Alana was right, he did lose a lot, just as much as she did. “We’re alike,” he said suddenly.

Alana blinked. “What do you mean?”

He turned and looked at her. “We both have lost much but have gained a new family, new friends.”

Alana turned away and slightly snorted. “I suppose you’re right. And Lion-O lost most of all.”

“That he did. But he has taken leadership and responsibility well. He has come a long way from the day we crashed.”

“Speaking of Lion-O, he’s going to take me to the Tree Top Kingdom. I have never been there yet and I’m sure Willa would like to know how I’m doing.”

“I’m sure she would. Cheetara and I will be heading towards the Wollo village to get some supplies so we’ll be gone most of the day. Well we better get inside or Snarf will have a fit.” He stood and offered to lend a hand to Alana.

She took the hand and as she began to turn towards the entrance, she noticed something in the distance. She quickly turned. “I guess Cheetara is done her run.”

“Huh?” Tygra turned and looked towards the forest edge and saw a cloud of smoke coming at top speed. He couldn’t even make out what was causing it until the Cheetara was standing in front of him.

“Enjoy your run?” Tygra asked.

“Immensely,” she answered. “It’s nice to feel the warmer air hitting my body as I run.”

“I’m sure it is,” Tygra said as he turned back.

-

Lion-O and Alana, in the Thundertank, entered an opened field with five huge trees standing in the middle. Alana whistled as she saw the huts donning on the top parts of the trees. Bridges made of rope and slabs of wood as its walkway went from the center areas to the tree lines where more huts were in amongst the trees.

“Alana,” Lion-O smiled, pulling her out of daze. “Welcome to the Tree Top Kingdom.”

Alana looked at the young lord before staring back out of the front of the tank. Lion-O pulled the tank to a stop as Willa and her sister Nayda came to greet the two.

“Lion-O,” Willa called. “This is a surprise.”

Lion-O jumped out with Alana following suit. Alana stayed near the tank as Lion-O met Willa part way. “Yeah. I wanted to show Alana your Kingdom.”

Nayda walked to Alana. “Welcome,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“I see you have been doing well, since we last saw each other.”

“Yeah, well the Thundercats have been really generous and kind.”

“When we first met the Thundercats we weren’t sure what to make of them, that was until Willa learned differently.”

“Really, so you’re saying that it wasn’t always easy for the Thundercats to make friends?”

“Not really, but soon everyone learned that they are really nice people.”

As the two ladies spoke, Lion-O and Willa spoke. “You normally don’t come here unless you need something,” Willa said.

“Normally, but I wanted Alana get her mind off certain things.”

“What kind of things?”

“We have recently learned that one of her sisters left her husband and she’s living here on Third Earth. Alana is very determined to find her.”

“Really? Have you any leads?”

“No. We’ve searched a few villages yesterday. The problem is and I never told Alana this. In fact neither have the other Thundercats. There is only a hand full of villages and you’re one of them.”

“So you fear that this lead may not to be true.”

“Yes and she’s been through so much. And now her father has learned that she’s still alive.”

“You’re kidding? Safari Joe.”

Lion-O nodded. “She’s still grieving and when we cleaned out the ship, we came across some crates. The crates contained items from her friends and something that her brothers packed for her. There was clothing and personal items that she never thought she see again. And in amongst the items was a letter stating about her sister.”

“That is a lot for a person to go through. I’ll talk to some of my warriors. Perhaps they maybe able to help in the search.”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” Lion-O agreed. “Right now I’m going to give Alana a tour, that is if you don’t mind.”

Willa smiled. “Not at all. But I’ll be the tour guide.”

Lion-O smiled. “Alana,” he called. Alana turned at the sound of her name. “Willa has agreed to give you a tour of the kingdom.”

“Sure,” she said. She walked over to Willa. “It would be amazing to see what you warrior maidens are like.”

Willa nodded and turned. As she walked away, Lion-O began to follow her. Alana guessed that was Willa’s way of saying ‘follow me’. As the four, Nayda taking up the rear, walked; Alana saw many different things happening. She saw children, but all were girls in training, while others were practicing their skills. She saw some warriors sparring with hand to hand combat.

“Willa,” Alana said. “I didn’t know you guys knew combats other than fighting with bows.”

“After an attack by the Mutants, the Thundercats began to teach us how to defend ourselves other than using arrows. Before then, we never had any use for the skill,” Willa answered.

“And since then,” Nayda intervened. “We have been able to beat the Mutants without having to call the Thundercats.”

“That’s good. Those Mutants are a pain in the ass.”

Willa stopped and looked at Alana while Lion-O shock his head. For the past few months, he had heard her use many weird words and he was starting to get use to her speaking words that he never heard before.

“Sorry,” Alana apologized. “I keep forgetting Third Earth natives are not use to profanity.”

“I haven’t heard words like that in a long time,” Willa answered.

Now it was Lion-O’s turn to look. “What do you mean?”

Willa turned to the young lord. “Lion-O, you know full well that not all of the warrior women are born into the tribe. A year ago, we found a woman wondering in the jungle. She barely was able to see and she looked awful. Just as we approached her, she had collapsed.”

“What happened to her?” Alana asked.

“She has never really told us. We healed her back to health and she told us who she was. When I showed her around, she was inspired to become one of us. She is nearing the completion of her training.”

Alana turned. “Really?”

“There she is,” Nayda said.

The three women and Lion-O turned as they watched a woman come flying out of a tree. While in mid air, she let go of the vine she was holding and did three summersaults before landing on the ground.

Lion-O noticed Alana seemed stunned. He was surprised that a woman could reflex like that but Alana seemed like she was slapped in the face. He came up to her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

With wide eyes, she answered. “That stunt, I’ve seen that somewhere before.”

The woman in training had her back turned to Alana.

“Nessie,” Willa called. “We have guests. I’d like you to meet the Lord of the Thundercats.”

Nessie, as Willa called her, slowly turned. When she was fully turned, Alana gasped as she recognized the face of the woman. Nessie at the moment couldn’t see Alana as she was mostly blocked by Lion-O.

“This is Lion-O,” Willa said as Nessie came closer. “And this is their new friend…”

“Alana!” Nessie yelled when Alana came into view.

Willa and Lion-O looked at Nessie with wide eyes.

Fresh tears began to track a moist line down her cheeks as Nessie walked closer and stood in front of her. For several moments, no one said a word. Alana was the first to speak.

Lion-O noticed she was trembling as a word began to form. If it weren’t for his good hearing, he wouldn’t have heard her whisper.

“Vanessa,” she whispered, barely audible.

Her legs began to wobble as she took a step back. Or at least she thought she took a step back. She heard Lion-O shout her name and then warmth was against her arms and back. She tipped her head back. “My…sister…has…been…found…”

Lion-O watched with concern as she formed the words with pauses between each before suddenly he felt her weight suddenly get heavier.

“Alana!” Nessie yelled again, this time in alarm.

“She fainted,” Lion-O answered. “She’ll be all right.” He looked at the warrior. “We have a lot to talk about.”

Nessie looked the young lord. “We do. We should get her inside where it’s warmer.”

“I agree,” Nayda said.

Lion-O picked her up and followed the warriors inside the closest hut. When she was comfortably lying on a bedroll, Lion-O stood back up. “I’ll be back.”

Nessie stood quickly, blocking his path. “Where are you going?”

“I’m getting the other Thundercats. They should be here.”

Nessie nodded and moved out of his way, allowing him to quickly move to the Thundertank. She watched from the hut, as the tank sped off towards the Cats’ Lair. She couldn’t stop thinking how Willa said a woman crashed and was in the care of the Thundertanks. She had lost her brothers. At the realization, that the brothers were also hers, two tears slowly made their down her cheeks.

-

Wiley Kit was picking some flowers near the drawbridge for Alana when she heard the growl of the Thundertank coming towards her. She quickly jumped from the ground and ran towards the Lair. She almost made it to the doors when they were thrown open as the other Thundercats came rushing out.

“What’s going on?” Wily Kit asked.

“Lion-O just radioed us,” Panthro answered. “He wanted us out here and be ready.”

“Be ready for what?”

Wiley Kit’s questioned wasn’t answered as the Thundertank came across the drawbridge. When it stopped, Lion-O jumped out. The Thundercats met him at the bottom of the stairs.

“Where’s Alana?” Panthro rushed out.

“She’s still in the Tree Top Kingdom. But something has happened. Nothing bad. But something we all need to be there. Is Cheetara and Tygra at the Wollo village?”

Panthro nodded. “Let’s get moving,” he blurted. “We’ll make our way towards the Wollo village and get them.” He quickly jumped in the tank, opening the hatchway to allow the other Thundercats to jump in.

With Lion-O and Panthro in front, the tank sped off towards the jungle, leaving the hatch opened. When they reached the Wollo village, it didn’t take Tygra and Cheetara long to jump in.

“What’s this about?” Tygra asked after being told Alana was still at the Tree Top Kingdom.

“You’ll see when we get there. And there’s going to be a lot of explaining to do. However, Alana has fainted from the shock of what happened.” Lion-O could see the worried look of his tiger friend. He inwardly smiled, as he knew there was nothing to worry about.

Within minutes the tank arrived at the base of the Tree Top Kingdom. The Thundercats jumped out and rushed to the hut where Alana was resting in.

“Thundercats,” Willa said.

Kneeling beside Willa was a woman who was hovering over Alana. Tygra took a step forward. Lion-O held out his arm for Tygra to stop.

“So you are the Thundercats,” Nessie said. “Well it’s a pleasure to finally meet you and it’s even better with what has just happened.” Nessie stood and slowly turned.

Her face reminded Tygra of Safari Joe but softer.

“I was just told that you are looking for someone. Well I…”

“Thundercats,” Lion-O interrupted as he noticed Nessie wasn’t sure what to say. She was still in shock at finding her sister. “Meet Alana’s sister, Vanessa.”

“What?” Panthro jumped.

Tygra and Cheetara gasped.

“Are you kidding?” Wiley Kat asked. “We found her.”

“There is a lot of explaining and I rather explain why I’m here when Alana awakes,” Nessie said. “Please tell me what happened to my brothers.”

Lion-O stepped forward. “Alana was being chased from her fiancé. Apparently she was being held prisoner on his planet and your brothers helped her to escape. But from her fiancé, they lost their lives as the ship crashed. She has been with us since.”

“I remember seeing a bright ball of fire crash into the ground. That was Alana?”

Lion-O nodded. “I’m Lion-O, her new brother. I am very protective of her.”

“That is understandable. And you seem like a big brother.”

“If you are Alana’s sister, why aren’t you sad about your brothers?” Wiley Kit asked.

“I am but I haven’t seen my brothers in two years and that was only on the day I was forced into marriage. Though my husband treated me with respect and kindness. But I haven’t really been around them in four years when I was forced to move out of my parent’s home, which I was happy about. Father is a real jackass.”

“We’ve met him,” Cheetara said. “And he was recently here too.”

“What do you mean treated?” Wiley Kat asked.

“I’ll explain that later.” A moan from behind Vanessa, quickly made her turn back around.

Tygra quickly moved to the other side and waited for Alana to wake. Lion-O stood behind him.

As Alana opened her eyes, blurred colors is all she was able to make out, but as her eyesight came into focus, she noticed three concerned faces were looking down upon her.

“You’ve been through a lot,” Vanessa said quietly when she knew Alana was fully awake.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Alana answered as tears began to form. “Vanessa.”

The two sisters quickly embraced each as both began to have tears. Both Lion-O and Tygra smiled as Alana was reunited with a family member. Something out of Tygra’s eye caught his attention. He slightly looked up and saw two ghost figures standing at the entrance behind the other Thundercats.

Lion-O looked up, wondering what had Tygra’s attention. He saw Jaga and Josh standing at the entrance to the hut. Everyone was so preoccupied at the two sisters; they did not notice the spirits. Josh looked with a smile and nodded. Jaga placed a caring hand on his shoulder and whispered something. The two quickly vanished before anyone else was to notice.

“I’ve missed you,” Alana said as she pulled away from her sister. But then looked away towards the doorway to the hut.

“I know. Our brothers are gone.” Vanessa noticed Alana was looking behind her. “What’s wrong?”

“Josh. I just felt Josh was here.” She looked back to her sister as she was confused. “Our brothers are always with me. I feel their presence.”

“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Vanessa said, changing the subject. “I have been so worried about you since the day you left Second Third and met your fiancé.”

“He’s a jerk,” Alana snapped. “He held me prisoner in my own room. Everywhere I went, he always had one of his followers to follow me around. I swear to you if I didn’t have the solitude of my room, he probably would have watched me bath.”

Vanessa clenched his fists. “How could he do that?”

“There has been no proof, but I know he killed his own parents because they said ‘no’ too many times. He doesn’t take kindly to that word or to whoever says it.”

“How did our brothers get involved? The last I heard, father liked his sons.”

“Me being the youngest, Josh took favoritism to me. When I left our home Tony…” Alana trailed off. “But then Josh and the others arrived on the Planet Seris and from there they protected me.”

“Did he hurt you?” Vanessa growled.

“No!” Alana snapped. “I wish people would stop asking me that. He has tried but Josh or Carl always intervened.”

“Then why did Josh protect you? I’m only asking because I’m your older sister. Full blooded at that.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Alana turned her head away but turned back. “How did you get here? The last I heard, you had recently gotten married.”

“Well the wedding was on Second Third as all you guys were there. My husband and I left for our honeymoon. We were gone for a whole month. When we left and headed for home, Planet Tyrin, we came across an asteroid field. It damaged our systems. We lost control of the ship. Somehow we entered a gravitational pull and crashed here, but it was too late.

“I was severely wounded as well. Somehow I managed to make it out of the ship and walked away. But I went back, realizing that no one was with me. My husband and the rest of the crew were killed on impact. I took what was left of my stuff and buried them outside of the ship, promising to be back for them. Afterwards the ship exploded.”

“I remember,” Panthro piped up, “hearing about a ship crashing last year. But when we went to investigate, the ship was in complete flames and there wasn’t much left.”

“You weren’t very far from me. I was hiding at the tree line, mourning over the loss of my husband.”

“So that’s why you said he treated you well. He died,” Wiley Kit said.

Vanessa turned to the young girl. “Yes and I wanted to wait and tell you all when Alana was awake so I wouldn’t have to retell it twice. It’s a painful memory but I have been able to move on.”

“How? How can you move on when you witnessed your family’s death?”

“It’s hard.” Vanessa turned back. “But I managed. As I said I was severely injured. When the Thundercats left, though at the time I didn’t not know it was them, I wondered off. I was bleeding, barely could see from my tears and had a concussion. I somehow came across the Tree Top Kingdom and from there the warriors saved my life. I was intrigued by their way of life and decided to become one of them.”

“So you wouldn’t want to return with me to Second Third, if the chances presents itself?” Alana asked. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to leave if the time ever came.

“No. I love it here. I’m free of father. Father doesn’t even know I’m here and he doesn’t, as far as I know, even know Jacob lost his life.”

“I’m free of father as well,” Alana agreed. “I don’t even know if I want to leave. The Thundercats have been taking care of me since I crashed and I have come to care for them.”

“Well then stay. I have heard of the Thundercats and their loyalty. They seemed to a great race and…” she looked at them. “I’m glad you have taken care of her. She’s my baby sister, though I’m not too much older but she still is the baby of the family, and she hasn’t had a good life.”

“We know,” Lion-O came out. “And we’re glad to help. If you ever want to visit Alana or if she wants to visit you, don’t hesitate to ask. Our door is always opened for you.”

“Thank you, Thundercats. And it’s nice to know that my sister isn’t far away either.” Vanessa noticed that Alana was trying to get up. Without so much saying, she wrapped her arm around Alana’s and helped her to her feet.

Alana nodded her thanks. “I don’t know what to say or do.”

“Well I guess this day has turned out good,” Panthro answered, crossing his arms. “And you know what would end the day with?”

Alana cocked her head and looked at the panther. She began to shrug her shoulders indicating she wasn’t sure what he was talking about. But her eyes widened and she smiled. “You’re going to show me the new level.”

Panthro nodded. “The final touches were just finished when Lion-O wanted us to come here.”

“Well then what are we waiting for,” she cheered.

Lion-O blinked in surprise. “What about your sister? You just found her.”

Alana turned to her brother. “I know.”

“What new level?” Vanessa asked.

Willa turned. “With the Berbils help, the Thundercats dismantled Alana’s ship and built a new level under Cats’ Lair. It’s a level that was Alana’s idea.”

“That sounds interesting,” Vanessa said. “Why don’t you Thundercats head back home and I’ll meet up with you. I have a few things I need to do first. If Alana is going to see this new level, I would like to see too.”

“Don’t be long,” Alana said, giving her sister a hug.

“I won’t be. I’m not leaving my baby sister again. You’ve already been fed to the fish and you were able to jump of the water.”

“The fish bit hard,” Alana whispered.

“I know and they will pay, but right now you have wonderful friends to take care of you. I would if I had the resources but I’m still trying to get over my fish bites.”

The Thundercats looked at each other wondering what the two women were talking about. Willa just smiled. She didn’t know what they were talking about but knew it was an old form of Third Earth.

“Now, go,” Vanessa said. She slightly pushed Alana away from her. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Without so much more of a word, Vanessa quickly walked outside and disappeared within the trees. The Thundercats were confused why Alana’s sister would leave like that, considering they hadn’t saw each other in a few years.

Alana looked at her friends. “Vanessa has never been one to say good-bye.”

“Well then,” Panthro said. “We better get going.”

-

It was nearing late afternoon when Vanessa arrived at Cats’ Lair. Alana and Panthro were in the command room. Panthro was giving the surrounding land a view and Alana was just sitting in another chair waiting to here from her sister.

“Alana,” Panthro interrupted her thoughts. “I believe what you’ve been waiting for has arrived.”

Alana looked up and saw two warrior maidens walking towards the lair. She smiled and quickly ran out of the room almost knocking down Cheetara as she was walking into the room.

“What was that?” she asked.

Panthro chuckled. “Just me telling her, her sister has just arrived.”

Cheetara smiled. “It’s nice to see her happy. She hasn’t smiled much since coming here.”

“I better go and let Lion-O know that our guest has arrived.”

“I’m sure, he’ll find out on his own. I just past him on my way and I’m sure Alana will run past him as well.”

As Cheetara predicted, Alana nearly slammed into Lion-O as him and Tygra were walking towards where Alana was coming from. In the last second, just as they noticed she was coming towards them, fast, she swung her leg out and skidded between the two.

She barely stopped to notice that she bunched up the carpet that was in the hallway.

“Whoa,” Lion-O said as he blinked at the way she avoided ramming into him or Tygra.

“Can’t talk,” she said hurriedly and then ran off.

“What was that all about?” Tygra asked.

“Either she has gotten upset about something or her sister has arrived.”

Tygra smiled. “I’m going to say that it’s her sister. Let’s go and check it out.”

Lion-O nodded and the two of them quickly ran off after Alana. When they reached the foyer, they watched as she slid down the stairs and quickly opened the doors, letting in the afternoon sun where she skidded to a halt and waited.

She didn’t realize she was not standing alone until Lion-O placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as Vanessa and another Warrior Maiden was walking across the drawbridge.

“You almost ran us down just because of your sister.”

“Sorry,” she said. “But…”

Lion-O laughed. “There’s no need for an apology. Your sister is important and I’m glad that you’re happy.”

The three were silent until the two women were in front of them. “Hello,” Willa said.

The two sisters embraced. “I have been anxious since we left the jungle.”

Vanessa smiled. “You have never been one to wait patiently when it came to surprises.”

“Nessie,” Willa said. “I’m going to head back.”

Vanessa turned back to her leader. “Thanks for showing me the way here. I probably won’t be back tonight.”

Willa turned and began to walk away. “I don’t expect you to. Enjoy your time.”

“Why do the warriors call you Nessie?” Tygra asked when Willa was out of earshot.

Vanessa turned to the tiger. “Nessie is my nickname Alana gave me. When I came here, I decided to go by that name. I missed the name. When Alana was able to say my full name, she called me by my normal name.”

“Would you like a tour?” Alana asked.

“I would love to.”

Lion-O nodded in agreement. He turned and led the way as he began the tour. The two sisters were behind him while Tygra took up the rear. Vanessa was able to see the hanger bays in which held the Thundertank and the new vehicle was built a short time ago, the Feliner. She was shown the many rooms including the dinning room and command center.

When they reached the command room, Panthro was busy on another console than when Alana was there and Cheetara was talking to him. The two turned to their leader. Alana remained quiet while Lion-O spoke to Vanessa in private for a few moments.

“Now that you’ve seen Cats’ Lair, I would like to show you both the new level that has been finished, but I want it to be a surprise for Alana.”

Vanessa smiled. “Once on Alana’s birthday, Carl blind folded her, keeping from seeing where he was taking her until we were all there. Mind you father wasn’t there, which in my opinion was good and it was Alana’s last birthday with our mother.”

“Why was the blindfold used?”

“Carl and mother wanted to surprise her with something that she had always wanted to see.”

“You want me to blindfold her and then take her below.”

Vanessa nodded. “If this new level is something that was her idea. I think it would make it all the more better if she didn’t see it until we’re all down there.” Vanessa reached into her quiver of arrows and pulled out a piece of cloth. “This was part of the clothing I was wearing when I crashed. Use this.”

Lion-O tentatively took in his hands. “I don’t know about this.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, where’s your sense of adventure.” She snatched the cloth from his hands and walked away.

“You know what would make this surprise even better.” She watched as Alana shrugged. Vanessa grinned and showed the blindfold.

“You got to be kidding me,” Alana slightly whined, taking one step back.

“Nope. The last time you wore one; you were more excited than I had ever seen you. Besides, I would like to see this room before you.”

“But…” Alana tried to protest, backing up…into Tygra’s chest. Tygra, on reflex, brought his hands out, preventing her from falling.

“Come on, for old time’s sake,” Vanessa pleaded. “I know it was your last birthday with mother but it was fun. Seeing your reaction.”

Alana sighed in defeat. Vanessa’s smiled widened, as she knew she had won. Tygra moved away, allowing Vanessa to place the blindfold on her sister.

Alana heard whispering going between Vanessa, Tygra and Lion-O then heard rustling of feet before hearing the door swish open and then close.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry,” Cheetara answered.

Alana felt someone grab her hand and pull her towards the door. She went easily, but wasn’t sure who had her hand. She knew from hearing Cheetara that there was at least one other person in the room. But who was that person, she didn’t know.

She slightly jumped when she learnt who was leading her towards where ever she was heading.

“Careful,” Tygra said. “We’re about to turn a corner and then head down the stairs.”

“You startled me,” she said.

“Sorry.”

When the reached the stairs, Tygra carefully walked down, keeping himself one step ahead of Alana, in case she were to loose her balance. As she began her descend down the steps, she noticed Tygra was slightly ahead of her. Her hand tightly gripped his when she felt something against her back. She recognized it as a hand and must have thought it was Cheetara’s.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Nearing the bottom of the stairs in the entryway,” Cheetara answered. “Afterwards we’ll be heading down a hallway that will lead to the secret doorway that has been kept from you.”

“I hate it when Vanessa does this to me,” Alana huffed.

“You didn’t have to agree,” Tygra said. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I know but this is my sister we’re talking about here. I haven’t seen her in two years and I do remember the last time I had to be a blindfold. It was fun.”

“Alana,” Vanessa called, running into the room. “You’re going to love it.”

Alana stopped, forcing Tygra to stop. She stomped her foot in slight frustration. Vanessa had enough time to see the new level and get back up before Alana even reached doorway that would lead her to the level. “That’s not fair.”

“You know what’s not fair is why didn’t we ever think of it when we were kids.”

Alana suddenly felt her other arm being grabbed and she was forced to continue moving. Tygra did not let go of her other hand. When Vanessa knew her sister wouldn’t stop again. She released the arm she held.

“Oh it’s so great. The colors, the designs and the fact that you were able salvage a lot from your ship. Oh you’ll love it.”

Just hearing what her sister was saying was spiking her interest. “Will you quit it already. You have my attention. I can’t really go any faster than I am without possibly tripping over something.”

The closer the group got to the level, the more Alana was getting excited. She wasn’t showing it physically but Vanessa could tell. The hand that was free kept fidgeting. The hand held by Tygra’s was twitching. For Alana it seemed like an eternity getting to the new level until she finally was forced to stop. A slight gasp was heard from behind her and she knew that it came from Cheetara. Well at least she wasn’t the only who hadn’t seen the level yet.

She felt someone behind her, slowly untying the blindfold. When the blind was off, it took a few minutes for Alana’s eyes to adjust to the lighting. The first thing she noticed, her sister was sitting on a sofa. The sofa was one of the sofas that was not badly damaged in the crash. She slightly turned, noticing it was Cheetara who removed the blindfold.

Pillars were all over the place indicating that there were no walls expect for the exterior and what looked to be a small room. The small room, Alana guessed, was a bathroom facility. In the room…level, there were pictures and other ornaments lining the walls. The ornaments and pictures were from the crates that were found. Bookshelves also lined the walls, giving a new home for the all the books that were also found in the crates.

“What kind of room is this called?” Wilykit asked.

Alana was too speechless to answer the question. She was amazed at how well the Thundercats built and of course she had to thank the Robear Berbils as well. They were the ones who were able to make it possible for it to be built quickly.

Vanessa looked at the young girl. “In ancient times of the human race, they would make rooms like these and call them recreational rooms. To this day we still have recreational rooms but they are nothing like they used to be. With technology we can make outdoor sounds and make it look like you’re outdoors.”

“I love it,” Alana said quietly. “It’s better than I hoped.” She looked at Tygra and then to the rest of the Thundercats. “Thank you, all of you. It’s beautiful.” She looked at her sister as as she smirked. Knowing something was up, she moved away from Tygra, forcing him to let go of her hand and she moved to her sister. “What’s up your sleeve?”

Vanessa looked innocent for the moment. “What? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, right.” Alana crossed her arms. “I know for a fact there was lots of time from the time you quickly ran out of the command center, with the other Thundercats to the time you came back to me and bragged about seeing the level.”

“Ah,” Vanessa had a known smile. “That will be a surprise on its own from me.” She sobered and placed her hands on her sister’s shoulder. “We have been reunited after four years. It’s time to leave the past behind and begin a new. There is so much I want to tell you and I’m sure you want to tell me as well and right now is not the time to get into details. Why don’t I stay here for the night and we can talk. Just like we used to. Besides, Willa is not expecting me tonight.”

Alana smiled. “I would love that.”

The two sisters embraced each other again. Tygra was happy for Alana and he knew Lion-O was as well. It seemed like a lifetime ago when Alana had crashed on Third Earth and now things were finally starting to look up for her. In the back of his mind, Tygra couldn’t help but wonder about Safari Joe. What would happen when he reached his home and Alana’s fiancé learned that she was still alive and well? He was slightly worried that Tony may decide to take a venture to Third Earth, seeing if Safari Joe was telling the truth or complete the job he started.

Lion-O was also thinking the same thing. He was more worried about Tony than what Safari Joe would say. He didn’t want Tony anywhere near Alana or Cats’ Lair. While watching the two sisters, he decided he was going to contact Mandora and give her update of what had been happening. If Tony were to come, he wanted to be ready and have Mandora on stand by. Tony was going to pay for the death of Alana’s brothers one way or another. But Tony wasn’t the only thing on the young lord’s mind, he was also worried about Mutants and Mumm-Ra. They were coming real close to learning of Alana and how she arrived.

[Tigress]

Chapter 12 – Calm Before the Storm

Far out in deep space, a lone ship carrying a crew of a hundred was flying at top speed towards a blue planet, known as Earth Third. The small flight deck consisted of ten crewmembers with their captain sitting directly in the center. A low growl was emitted from the captain as he remembered Safari Joe interrogating him when he arrived on his planet, returning from Third Earth. The man kept asking questions about his daughter and what happened to her. All his questions were eluded but the captain had to restrain himself from threatening the game hunter’s life.

It had been nearly been six months since he was suppose to have been married. A problem that he quickly eluded by saying that she died in an accident. No one ever questioned his words nor his orders. He was known very well on his planet. So well in fact that everyone treated him like a king. No one defied him, until he met his fiancée and her brothers. He was glad that they were gone but with Safari Joe asking questions, he began to wonder if they actually survive.

After being badgered by the game hunter, he quickly got a crew ready and launched one of his quickest ships to reach the planet that his fiancée had crashed on. He needed to know what really happened her. Was she dead or did she survive? He needed to know to either force her to come back to him or shut her up for good by his own hands.

“My Lord.”

The sound brought him out of his thoughts. He looked down at the crewman who interrupted his thoughts. The man stood before him, slightly bowing. “The coordinates have been set and we’re at top speed. So if I may ask, what is our heading?”

Evading the question, he asked. “Were you on the ship that attacked the traitors?”

“Yes, I was. I piloted the ship. They had good manoeuvring abilities. Whoever led the ship did a good job.”

A slight growl was heard before the captain said anything more. “Was there anything left of the ship when it crashed on the planet.”

“The ship was completely engulfed in flames before hitting the atmosphere. I can’t see anyone ever surviving.”

“But you never checked to be sure.”

The man slightly quivered in fear. No one ever tried to question their lord mainly because they were afraid of his wraith. He had been known to strike out when he didn’t get what he wanted. “Actually, sir…we did not. Our ship was too badly damaged. We had to make repairs or we would have ended the same way.”

The captain turned away in frustration. He had read the ship’s reports; they had sustained heavy damage. “To answer your question, we are heading to Third Earth. The planet the ship crashed on. She may have escaped destruction. If she has, she will pay for her treachery.

“Alana is a very resourceful woman. She is the daughter of the greatest game hunter in the universe, Safari Joe. She would have been the one who captained the ship, which was no doubt learned from her brothers. They have always been protective of her.”

A plumpy woman came up from behind him, with a plate of food. She pulled a nearby table and set it down beside the captain’s chair. “My Lord,” she said.

He turned away in slight disgust at the woman. From the time he was young, a big woman had always been the cook and she was no different. She was the cook and the cook only. That was her purpose. And her cooking was the only thing keeping her employed as his personal cook. He stood from his seat, getting away from the woman.

“Why is she so important?”

“BECAUSE!” he yelled, snapping around and glared at her. Though she was big, he marvelled at her courage. She was the only one who questioned his motives and she didn’t even fear him or at least feared him in the open. “She should be pregnant with my heir right now! But as you can see I’m not about to produce an heir!”

He stormed over to her, brining his hand up towards her neck but stopping just inches from her. In a very low voice, only she could hear, he spoke. “Leave before I strangle you where you stand. You are still alive because I like your food and your daughter begs me to keep you alive.”

The woman, without trembling, turned and quickly left the bridge.

The captain walked back to his seat and began to eat with a smirk. She may never show her fear openly but she did inwardly. He knew as she traveled back to her kitchen she would be weeping. But he didn’t care.

He didn’t care that when the elevators would close, taking her back to her kitchen, she would collapse to the floor and heavily weep. He was a monster. Her daughter was being blackmailed just so her mother would live. Every night her daughter had to don on a sexy outfit and spend the evening with her boss. The two women knew the dress never lasted long after dinner was through. In fact some nights dinner was only half eaten.

“Sir,” a feminine voice was heard from behind. The captain turned in his seat to face the woman. “We will reach our destination in three days.”

“Good,” he smiled staring at the cleavage that was clearly visible from the woman’s top. “I want to see you in one hour.”

She stood, and moved towards him. Her hips swaying as she went. She bent over towards the captain, giving him a full view of her chest. Her long black hair made a curtain around her face, covering the look he gave. She leaned into his ear and whispered. “Anything you want, my Lord.”

-

Three days of rain was starting to become depressing but the rain was needed. Throughout the spring, there wasn’t much rain and when it finally came it was a blessing but to the Thundercats it was trouble. The day it began to rain, Cheetara felt something was going to happen. Whenever Cheetara felt something wrong, everyone knew to believe her. All day everyone was cautious in what they were doing. Luckily Panthro and Alana had just finally refitting Cats’ Lair with all new weapons.

From watching in the window of the council room, Tygra watched as Alana ran out of Cats’ Lair like a child when it began to rain. He had watched as she spun around in circles, laughing. He was glad that the weather had warmed up considerably. He wasn’t worried about himself or the other Thundercats it was Alana that his worries laid. He knew she couldn’t within stand the colder temperatures.

But the day had quickly turned soar when suddenly a laser fire came from out of nowhere and fired down, barely missing the woman. Tygra quickly ran from the room, going to her aid. But he wasn’t the only who was alerted. The other Thundercats heard her scream. When the Thundercats ran out of the lair, they saw the two of the Mutants in the skycutters.

Alana was trying to slowly back away but she wasn’t doing to well. She had twisted her ankle as she fell from the surprise attack. Lion-O jumped down to her, quickly using the sword to deflect the Mutants attacks.

“You will drop your sword, Thundercub! Yessssssss!”

Lion-O didn’t have to turn around to know whose voice that belonged to. Just hearing the one word slurring, he knew. But why was the voice coming from behind him. Lion-O slowly turned around. His eyes widened as Slythe had Alana in a choke hold.

“Let her go!”

“The Thundercub makes demands. Yesssss. It has taken us awhile, but we now have found out that what you Thundercats have been hiding from us. And it’s this girl.”

Alana wasn’t sure what to do. Having a huge green arm around her, frighten her enough. She was petrified of the creature that had a hold of her. But that wasn’t the only thing that was preventing her from moving. Her ankle was throbbing from her fall and she was having a hard time concentrating. But hearing Lion-O demand for her release and the creature just stand there as if he didn’t know what releasing was, she felt a small amount of courage break her from her shock. She took her good food and slammed it as hard as she could on the creature’s foot.

The creature quickly threw her to the ground as he began to hop on one foot, yelling. Lion-O quickly lifted her up but he noticed that she was in pain and he couldn’t do anything for her at the moment. He had to tend to the other Mutants.

Another laser fire came from out of nowhere but Cheetara’s staff blocked it. No words were said between anyone as the fight continued. Tygra was fighting off one of the Mutants and that one couldn’t get a lock on Lion-O.

Lion-O guessed Mumm-Ra must have been behind the whole attack. He was the only one who could get the Mutants close enough without sounding the alarm but where was the everliving creature. Suddenly he felt his arm being gripped by Alana. He looked at her and she seemed to be staring out over the drawbridge at something.

“Mumm-Ra!” Cheetara gasped.

“So this is who crashed on Third Earth, during the cold winter. I hope you enjoyed your time here.”

“What do you want, Mumm-Ra!” Lion-O shouted.

“What I always want, the world rid of the Thundercats and now of this new woman child.”

Tygra, after finally fending off Monkian, jumped from the skycutter and landed gracefully beside Alana. “You can’t have her!”

Mumm-Ra laughed. His hands reached out and bolt of electricity was fired.

“HOOOOOOOO!” Lion-O yelled as his sword extended to full length and deflected the attack.

“Can’t you do better than that, Thundercat!”

No sooner said, Mumm-Ra was quickly thrown off guard. A missile was fired from out of nowhere and hit Mumm-Ra squarely in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Mumm-Ra’s eyes flashed before looking where the hit came from. He seen smoke coming from a canon that was lodged into side of Cats’ Lair.

The missile also distracted Jackalman and he quickly lost control of his skycutter as the Thunderkittens threw two their capsules at him. When the two exploded, one had grey smoke and the other was some sort of sticky substance. Jackalman barely missed the Cats’ Lair and began to move away from the fight, leaving Mumm-Ra and Slythe to deal with the Thundercats.

Realizing Slythe was behind them, Cheetara turned around and began to deal with the lead Mutant. Knowing he was no match for the woman, he fired his gun to distract her and made his way from Cats’ Lair.

Mumm-Ra growled in frustration as he watched as each Mutant fled the scene like cowards. He jumped off the ground and quickly tackled Lion-O, knocking the sword out of his hands. The force of tackle knocked Alana and Tygra to the ground.

Alana screamed out in pain once again as she fell on her ankle. She couldn’t see what was happening with Lion-O as the pain consumed her. She vaguely felt her arm being touched but wasn’t sure if it was real.

Mumm-Ra and Lion-O began to wrestle on the ground. Beads of sweat formed on the young lord’s brow as he began to feel his strength leave him, he tried to go after his clawshield. If he could get it, Mumm-Ra would coward away.

He went to gasp as Mumm-Ra managed to grab his neck and began to chock him. In the last moment when he thought he’d pass out from lack of air, he was able to get his hand into the shield. He swiftly swung his arm, connecting with Mumm-Ra’s head.

Lion-O began coughing and sucking in air while Mumm-Ra got to his feet. “You will not defeat us Mumm-Ra!” he said hoarsely. “For as long as…” he placed his shield in front of him, in the line of sight for Mumm-Ra. “Your own reflection causes you…”

Mumm-Ra shrieked and quickly made to the air, flying away.

“To be horrified.”

Lion-O quickly turned to see Tygra was cuddling Alana as she tried to calm her tears. He also noticed her ankle was swelling. “Are you alright?” He knelt down to her. He carefully reached his fingers over her ankle.

A quick jolt and another yell came out of her. Lion-O looked at Tygra with concern, the two weren’t sure what to do and the rain wasn’t making things any easier. When her cries went to soft whimpers, Tygra bent closer to her ear.

“We have to get you out of the rain. I’m going to pick you up. Cheetara and Panthro have gone to get your sister. Perhaps she could help.” Alana lightly nodded. She wrapped her arms around Tygra’s neck, giving him access to pick her up.

When her sister arrived, she wrapped the ankle in a moistened cloth and told her to stay off her foot as much as possible for a few days. Vanessa even appointed the Thundercats to watch her until the ankle was healed. So now three days had passed since her first real run in with the Mutants and Mumm-Ra and they knew she was on Third Earth.

She watched from her window as the rain continued to fall. She was told her sister would return when Alana could move around on her own. Slightly raising her head, she felt something was out of place. A long sigh was heard when she realized that she wasn’t alone. Not only did her sister appoint a Thundercat to watch her, but she also got the Thundercats to keep the door open in case she tried to get out, someone would see.

“Why does my sister have to be so protective?” Alana asked to the intruder.

“Because she cares about you.”

Alana snapped her head around to the sound. She was surprised who was watching her. She gave her intruder a good look over, realizing that he wasn’t nothing like the other Thundercats. His set face, one could tell he was stubborn and no one tried to cross him much. The spikes that poked out of his shoulder straps were something she wondered what they were for and that must sometimes be uncomfortable.

Alana figured it was Tygra who was in the room, but it was Panthro, the oldest Thundercat alive. “I haven’t seen much of you since I decided to stop helping you with the new additions.”

“That is true and I thought we could have a little talk.” He came up and sat beside her. “How’s your ankle?”

She lifted her ankle. “Well the swelling is going down and the cloth has helped a great deal. I just hope Vanessa comes soon. I’m getting tired of only being able to look out this window and watch the rainfall. For the past few days, I’ve only been able to leave the room when meals were ready and one of you guys would carry me to the table and then back again.”

“I think Tygra and Lion-O enjoy having to carry you. Though I’m not sure why Tygra does. Which is why I’m here. Dinner will be ready shortly and I’m going to escort you to the dinning room. Except I’m let you walk.”

“That will take sometime.”

Panthro grinned and stood offering his hand. “There’s still time.”

She smiled and took his hand and with a small tug, she lifted to her feet. She kept her sore ankle from touching the floor. He wrapped her arm around his shoulder and his went around her waist, bringing her injured ankle against his side.

She quickly noticed that his top two spikes had retracted into the straps. She was amazed that he could do that. She kept silent as the two began to slowly make their way to the dinning room.

“You know you can talk to me about anything,” Panthro said.

“I know,” she said. “But I’m not sure if I can speak to anyone about…Hey, how did you know something was on my mind.”

“Not something, someone.”

She looked at the panther with confusion. “What do you mean?”

Panthro looked at her, stopping for a moment. “Look I know I know you have been preoccupied lately and every time Tygra is in the room, you seem to shy away. I’m not asking you to talk about what is on your mind. I’m just offering a friendly ear. You know I keep secrets and I can tell you do as well, considering you’ve never said anything about Jaga’s relationship with Lion-O.”

“Well you said to keep it secret and I have.”

Panthro continued walking. “All I’m saying is if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here for you.”

“Thank you,” she said. “You guys are really great and kind.”

“Well you’re family and family doesn’t hurt one another.”

Panthro grasped the hand draped over his shoulder, shifting her weight. She gently squeezed his hand in thanks. The two then walked in silence to the dinning room. When they walked in, she noticed they were the first. She thought it was going to be amusing when Lion-O and Tygra learn that she wasn’t in her room. She had a feeling a look of disappointment would be noticed but not long enough to attract everyone else.

Panthro had gotten her to her seat when they could hear voices just outside the room. She recognized the voices and she began to smirk. She tried her best to hide her smirk when the doors swished opened. Panthro quickly moved away, going around the table to his seat.

“We have to train her,” Tygra said as he entered but stopped as he saw the woman in question sitting at the table.

Lion-O was about to say something when he noticed her as well.

She couldn’t tell which one was about to ask how she got there but before they could ask, Panthro answered for them.

“I decided to get her before dinner was ready.”

“Oh,” Lion-O said. He looked at Tygra and shrugged before walking over to her and sitting at the head of the table, beside her. Tygra sat on the other side of her.

“Alana,” Lion-O started, getting her attention. “Once your ankle heals, we’re going to need to train you. Yes we know you have some defence abilities, however, they are not enough. The Mutants and Mumm-Ra know who you are now; they may try and come after you again to get to us. We have to be ready.”

“I know,” she agreed. “I’ve been thinking about that. Well there isn’t anything else to think about while seating a windowsill, staring at the rain.”

“I don’t like this rain,” Tygra said. “It’s too suspicious.”

“Tygra, I remember on Seris when it would rain for almost a complete week. Now mind you that was when the weather control malfunctioned and the planet was experiencing it’s regular weather.”

“Now that is something I’m interested in,” Panthro butted in. “I’ve never heard of a planet that has a controlled weather system.”

Alana looked at the panther as the Cheetara walked in. “That can be thanked by Tony. He never liked unpredictable weather, so he had scientists to build a weather grid.”

“It’s like he rules that planet instead of just being a citizen,” Cheetara said.

Alana looked at the cheetah. “He has so much power, he controls the law enforcements on the planet, which makes him a king of the whole planet. No one questions him and if he wants something, he gets it.”

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Tygra asked.

“He blackmails people to get what he wants. It won’t matter what the circumstances are. He’ll use someone for sex just to keep a loved one alive.”

Tygra slammed his fist on the table. “He’s a beast!”

Lion-O looked disgusted. “I’ve never heard of anyone who would do something like that.”

“It’s hard to believe, men can be like that,” Alana continued, ignoring Tygra’s outburst though being beside him, his fist slamming down, startled her. “See many eons ago, even dating way back before Mumm-Ra’s true life time, men were the dominating sex and women had to obey but a couple thousand years after Mumm-Ra’s death, that had changed. But the dominating instinct never left.”

Tygra turned to her. “That’s not the point. No one should have to be forced into sex just because someone says so. It’s just plain wrong.”

“Nor is it fair for women,” Cheetara said.

“It’s not fair but it is part of human history. That is what happened to my mother.” She paused for a moment before leaning her head down. “I’m sorry.”

Panthro raised a brow. “For what?”

“Bringing up another subject that’s not to your liking. I’ve been having a habit of doing that and I don’t mean that.”

“We know you don’t mean to upset us,” Lion-O answered, slowly calming his anger. “Before there was a weather control, what kind of weather would Planet Seris get?”

“Everything Third Earth would get and just as unpredictable. Like when I first came, there was constant snow storms and you said that’s the worse you had ever seen while you have been here.”

“We did say that,” Cheetara said. She looked around. “Where are the Thunderkittens? They should be here by now.”

“Sorry we’re late,” Wilykit said as she and her brother walked in. “There was a transmission from the Tree Top Kingdom.”

Alana almost stood up before she remembered her ankle. “What did they have to say?”

“Your sister said she would be here first thing in the morning. And she said that she had found the place where she buried her belongings before her ship exploded.”

“That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Wilykat piped in. “She said, after you can walk on your own, she thinks some of the things would work nicely in the recreational room.”

Panthro smirked. “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Dinner!” Snarf called as he walked in with a cart full of food.

-

“Sir,” the helmsman called. “We have reached the coordinates of the planet.”

“Good. Stay in high orbit. I don’t want to draw attention to anyone down there who may have the technology and see us. If these Thundercats are as strong as they’ve been characterized, they maybe able to detect us, if we get too close.”

“Tony,” someone from behind said. “What is the plan?”

Tony turned to see his right hand man standing directly behind him. “The plan is to observe from a far. When we are in position, I want a scan of the planet of the wreckage. I also want to see the remains of it. If she’s alive, she will pay.”

“We are now in high orbit,” someone said. “Scanning the planet for wreckage.” A few moments went by before anyone said anything again. “Wreckage found.”

“Bring it up on the viewer.”

What came up on the viewer surprised him. The outer hall had holes through it. One couldn’t even tell that what kind of ship it was.

“Scan the interior!” he snapped.

“No life signs. What the…”

“What!?”

“Sir, you’re not going to believe this but most of the interior, computers and other equipment have been stripped from inside. It’s basically now a skeleton ship.”

“What happened?” Tony knew no one would be able to give him the answer. Something on the viewer caught his attention. “What is that?”

A few seconds went by while the scans did its job. “A bunker of some type. Built by material of the ship. It travels down fifteen feet with 69 pockets. Each pocket is filled with a humanoid, all dead.”

“There were seventy people on board that ship. That means someone lived. But who? Can you get a fix on everyone inside?”

“Sorry, sir. The scanners cannot penetrate the bunker. There are too many bodies inside. There is also an inscription but we can’t get a good fix on it.”

“Give me a visual of the surrounding land.”

Within moments an aerial view of three kilometres from every direction from the wreckage, was shown. Tony walked closer to the view screen. He pointed out to a structure that was near the edge of the top right hand of the screen. “What is the structure?”

“The structure is built from rock surrounding the area and…material from the wreckage…Sir…it’s the Cats’ Lair. Home of the Thundercats.”

“I thought they were just a story,” someone said.

“Apparently, you’ve heard wrong,” Tony said.

“Who ever survived the crash either found help with the Thundercats or perished before the Thundercats found him.” The right hand man said.

Tony turned to the man. “What if it was Alana? What if she is living with the Thundercats? We have to find out. But we can’t alert the Thundercats to our presence. Maintain high orbit. Change if scans are trying to be directed at us. I want Cats’ Lair monitored. But stay at this distance.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony looked around the flight deck. Everyone in the room were men. He had only allowed one woman on the deck but at the moment she was unavailable, sleeping in his quarters. When he was called to the bridge, he quietly left her. He had hoped by now he wouldn’t have had to pleasure himself with different women. He wanted one woman and she had betrayed him.

-

In the command room, Alana was busying herself with surveying the surrounding land. She was glad when it had stopped raining and she was able to walk again. She didn’t need the Thundercats to help her to get around. She had been alone for an hour and she was almost expecting Tygra to soon check up on her. She rolled her eyes when she heard the doors open and close but to her surprise the person who walked in, wasn’t who she was expecting.

Ever since the conversation about Tony and his taste for blackmail, Tygra back off from her, not too much, but it was enough for her to wonder if he was avoiding her.

“What brings you here, Cheetara?” she asked.

“Wanting to let you know that we’ve marked the area of where Vanessa buried her personal effects. It isn’t far from where her ship had crashed. I also wanted to see if you’re able to manage everything.”

“Yeah. I just finished giving the surrounding land a check. I was just about to check to see if there has been any Mutant activity in the regions away from the villages.”

Cheetara nodded. “Don’t forget to survey…”

“I know. Panthro already told me what areas to check out. I will make sure to check the skies. I don’t want another surprise run in with my father or anyone else.”

“If you need me…”

Again, Alana didn’t give Cheetara to finish. “Cheetara, could I have a private moment with you.”

Cheetara turned from just about leaving the room and walked over to the human. “What about?”

“I have been wondering. Ever since I upset you guys with Tony, I don’t seem to see Tygra much. I was wondering if he was avoiding me.”

Cheetara chuckled. “No. He has been busy setting up a training session with you. He believes it would do you good to learn how to use all our weapons in case we’re unable to.”

“That stands to reason. Will he be training me?”

Cheetara noticed a small blush, just enough to see her cheeks turn a shade darker. She smiled. Alana must like Tygra and she doesn’t realize it. “No. We all will be. We all have our own kind of fighting style. Lion-O wants you to know a little of everything.”

“Thanks. I better get back to my inspection.” Alana turned back and began her search once again. It didn’t take her long before she had the grounds scanned and found nothing with the Mutants. She then began scanning the skyline for any Mutant flying machines or ships about to enter orbit. Sometimes the scans are able to pick up a comet.

For a few quick seconds, something appeared on the radar but it disappeared. She thought that it was weird but didn’t think anything of it. She looked at the time, showing on the console, noticing that Panthro would soon be arriving.

She raised her arms, stretching, working out the kinks of being in the chair for the past couple hours. She couldn’t wait for when Panthro would relieve her. She didn’t have to wait long before Panthro came up behind her.

“Anything to report?”

“Nothing from what I can gather. Now if it’s alright with you, I’m going to go and relax.”

Panthro smiled. “I think the Thunderkittens are enjoying the recreational room.”

“That’s one of the reasons why I wanted it built. That way anyone can relax. Cats’ Lair is too much of a fortress. I understand that you guys have to protect yourselves from your enemies.”

“Your enemies now too.”

“Up until that day, they weren’t. It’s just when there’s down time and there’s nothing more to do, considering not everyone can stay on watch all the time, it’s nice to just sit back and relax your muscles. That way when ‘our’ enemies come again, we’ll be so energized, they won’t know what hit them.”

“That is a point.” To prove it, Panthro flexed his muscles. “But sometimes it’s hard to relax when Mumm-Ra and the Mutants like hanging around at the back door.”

Alana quickly tried to stifle a giggle, but failed.

“What is so amusing?”

“Just that, that’s an old Third Earthen phrase,” she giggled.

“Well we have been living here for four years and in that time, we have learned quite a few phrases from the Warrior Maidens.”

Getting her giggling under control, Alana stood up and started to make her way out of the room. “If you need me, I’ll be in the recreational room.”

-

For several days, Tony kept his men monitoring Cats’ Lair. In that time, they were able to learn the Thundercats had enemies and they were also able to learn that there were only six Thundercats.

“Any sign of someone staying with the Thundercats?” Tony growled to no one in particular.

“No, sir,” the helmsman said. “Either there isn’t anyone or he isn’t coming out.”

“Sir,” Tony’s right hand man spoke. “Alana always loved the outdoors. I cannot see that she would be down there. From what has been gathered. If someone were staying with the Thundercats, he probably would have been out by now.”

“Either that,” the only woman on the flight deck, turned in her seat. “Or their guest is subdued to bed by some other means. I mean what if it’s a woman…”

Tony quickly turned with a death glare. “Don’t ever presume a woman! I will not, nor cannot imagine a woman, let alone Alana, having feelings for an alien with cat like features! That’s just down right disgusting. If you ever want to keep your life, you’ll leave this bridge immediately!”

Everyone was quite surprised Tony kept his temper in check. The black haired woman slowly stood and backed away onto the elevator. She did not need to see Tony fly off the handle. The last time she heard of him doing that, it was rumoured that the person he yelled at was never seen again.

When the woman was gone, Tony made a slow circle around, looking at all his men. “Now,” he said. “Anyone else want to make possible presumptions?”

When he heard no replies, he smiled. “Good. Now I don’t want to here possible reasons, I want proof. Even if I have to go down there myself.”

Everyone knew not to get on Tony’s bad side and they also knew that Tony would do what he said. They all turned back to their stations and began more scans, getting back to normal duties. As for Tony, he walked to the center of the flight deck, where his chair was located. He slowly sat as he wondered if the Thundercats knew they were in orbit. But he honestly didn’t think he did. If they did, they probably would have made contact by now.

Standing from his seat, Tony ignored his men as he left the center of the flight deck to the elevator. He turned just inside. “Trevor. You have the Bridge.”

His right hand man, turned. “Yes,” and then a lower. “My brother.”

Tony made his way to his quarters. Upon entering, to his surprise, his quarters were empty. The bed in the far corner was the only indication there had been someone in the room. Even the wine glasses that were out on his little table near the bed were gone.

He glared at the room, realizing how much he hated his quarters. When he decided to make the venture to this part of the universe, he needed his fastest ship. He had to sacrifice his huge room to quench his questions about the Thundercats and his stolen ship. Normally his room would be bigger than the flight deck of the ship he was on, but size wasn’t needed. If he were to meet the Thundercats, he needed to make a good impression, by making whoever was with them to be a liar.

He had to some how trick the Thundercats into giving him the information that he needed. He couldn’t do it by the means of his normal ways. It had to believable that he was a good guy and that he was only looking out for the best interest of Alana.

He walked over to the small computer console that was nearby. He punched up the information that came from Safari Joe when he encountered them. He highlighted the key points and then gathered the information Mandora reported. With the information in front of him, he was able to decide what was useful and what was not. From there he then took the information that was gathered from the sensors. He leaned back in his chair in deep thought. From all the information, He had to decide what could be used to his advantaged.

It was obviously pointed out; the Thundercats were noble and trustworthy. They would help someone who needed help and give them the benefit of the doubt. They had their weakness, just like everyone else, but they were unique. He knew he was going to have to neutralize them differently than what Safari Joe did. The only one he had a hard figuring was the Lord of the Thundercats. There were only good things about him. No one who went up against the Thundercats could figure out what Lion-O’s weakness was.

Going back over the information again, thinking he missed something, he began to grin and leaned forward. Perhaps there was something that could neutralize the Lord after all. But it would take precious planning.

“I’ll find you, Alana, dead or alive. But I’ll find you and who ever is staying with the Thundercats. If you are one of the people lying in that underground crypt, I’ll dance over your grave. I will never allow you to rest in peace.” He laughed outright not caring who would have heard from outside his quarters.

-

Everyday Alana checked the scanners for any Mutant or Mumm-Ra activity, she always would see a blip for a second and then it would disappear. After the third day, she began to become nervous but didn’t find she had enough to alarm the Thundercats. She felt that it would have been silly with only able to report second blips on the monitor but then disappear. After a few more days she had decided it was time to speak to someone about it. After days of seeing blips, she was able to get enough information that here was a ship in orbit but was avoiding the Thundercat scanners.

When Panthro relieved her, she quickly went looking for Lion-O. She found him in his quarters. When she heard him say to come in, she quickly had the shut the door and addressed him, taking note that he was looking out the window. “Lion-O, I hope I’m not interrupting. I would like to talk to you.” She noticed that he seemed to be staring off into space at the window.

He turned. “Not at all. I was just thinking of how much has happened to us since we came here.” He turned back. “We’ve made new friends, new enemies. I was thinking back to all the achievements that were made. Especially how much I’ve had to grow up.”

“I’m sure your life has been nothing but dull. Ever since the day you allowed me to see into your past, I know you’ve had it tough. And having to adjust to a new planet to call home must have been the worst.”

“It was, but I’ve learned to accept it. What is it you want to talk to me about?”

She walked closer to him, seating at a chair near the window. “I thought at first I was seeing things and didn’t think nothing of it but as each day passed, I began to feel like I’m not imagining it. For the past several days when I’ve monitored for enemy activity, I’ve noticed a quick blip high in the sky as if it’s orbiting the planet. Today I’ve been able to confirm that there is a ship in orbit.”

The last line got the young lord’s attention. He turned from the window. “A ship?”

“Yeah. And from what I’ve gathered, every time I scan the orbit, the blip is in a different location. On the third day when I began suspecting that something was out there. I had the all around the planet scanned for ion trails. It has taken until now to confirm the ship. I don’t know what the ship is but…”

Lion-O noticed she began to tremble. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, waiting for her trembling to subside. When he noticed that she was calming down. He spoke. “I suppose you’re afraid that it’s Tony.”

His name brought back the quivering. He pulled her closer, lightly kissing the top of her head. The sound of his beating heart quickly calmed her but she couldn’t shake her shivering. She quietly gasped when she felt his lips touch her head. In that instant, she knew she was safe. The Thundercats wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“What should I do?” she asked, shaking.

He gently pulled her away from him to arms length. “Well, ‘we’ are going to call an emergency meeting and you’ll let everyone what you told me. I know right now it’s still speculation as to what’s out there but we can’t be too careless.”

“You don’t think of me as being a coward?”

Lion-O blinked in confusion. “Why would you think that? You are a very intelligent woman and if you say there is something out there, I’ll believe. Now let’s go round up the others.”

Alana nodded as she tried to fight tears from falling. It didn’t take them long to gather everyone in the conference room also known as the council chambers. When everyone was seated, Lion-O stood, addressing everyone.

“We may have a situation on our hands and thanks to Alana, we may be able to get a handle on it before it breaks out. We may have a spy orbiting Third Earth.”

“How can that be?” Panthro asked.

Alana watched as Lion-O sat down, giving her the room to speak. “As you all know, I’ve learned by Panthro to scan for enemy activity. Well during my search, I came across a blip in the sky. It only lasts for a second and then it’s gone.

“At first I thought it was my imagine. Thinking something there when there’s not. I didn’t want to alarm you in case I was wrong. But on the third day, I started to have my doubts. I began to scan around the planet for ion trails. I was able to find the trail no problem. I have no doubt in my mind that there is a ship in orbit and when the scans are aiming in their direction, they change their orbit, trying to avoid us.”

“Any idea of who could be up there?” Tygra asked.

“None. But I have my suspicions. It could be father…”

“Or Tony,” Wilykat said.

A low growl, barely heard, came out of Tygra.

“We have to be extra careful and we can’t let him know that Alana is here. If Tony is orbiting us, we have to be prepared.” Lion-O turned to Alana. “I want you to stay in Cats’ Lair. It’s a good bet, they are able to monitor us from a distance, trying to determine how much of a threat we are.”

“And if it is Tony,” Cheetara offered. “He would have already found the remains of his stolen ship and determined that there were survivors.”

“Right now,” Lion-O continued. “It’s only speculation. We will not draw any attention to him. If he’s out there let him come.”

Alana whipped her head at the young lord. Lion-O noticed she was about to ask why. He looked at her. “Let’s let on we don’t know anything about him. We have to let him believe that we don’t know who the survivor was.”

“That may not be possible,” Alana answered. “The way I know him, he’s like father. He will get to know his prey before going in for the kill. If Tony is out there, it’s a good bet he’s already learned of all our good points and bad points. He will come up with a plan to stop you. In a way one has to marvel at his intelligence. He probably could take you guys out without so much as breaking a sweat.

“If he has to, he’ll watch from a far for years before taking the kill. Unlike the Mutants or Mumm-Ra. They attack at the first sign of an opening. They don’t seem to sit back and study you. Getting to know your enemy and doing nothing about it, is the best way to rid your enemy.”

“Well we have had six months planning for Tony’s arrival,” Panthro answered. “I’m sure we know more about him than he has of us.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Alana defended. “We don’t know how long he’s been up there.”

“Well we do know that it’s only been a month since you’re father was here so Tony would have only been here for a short time,” Panthro countered. “And it must take a least a week to get here.”

“Two weeks, if Tony is using the fastest ship in his fleet.”

“Even if he knows about us,” Wilykit responded. “In the amount of time that he has been here, he wouldn’t have gotten to know us on a personal level. He may have our strengths and weaknesses but he doesn’t know who we are on the inside. He won’t know how well we work as a team or what motivates us.”

“No but he may have the strongest point to weaken you,” Alana countered. “Thundranium.”

“I can’t see him figuring that out until he was to arrive here,” Lion-O said. “Tygra, what do you think?”

Tygra leaned back. He had to fight back another growl. But he was the leader of the council and the decision was up to him. But he always knew that the decision had to be fair. He couldn’t put his feelings on the line about the man. Everyone else also didn’t like him. “I have to agree with Lion-O,” he finally said. “In order to get the best upper hand is to let him think he’s won.”

“Then everyone else is agreement then.” Lion-O watched as everyone nodded. He knew Alana was disagreeing but she knew that she didn’t have a say in the matter that was until she would become a Thundercat.

With that thought in mind, she remembered when she was given the opportunity to become a Thundercat. She didn’t feel quite ready. She felt that she needed to earn that right. Coming to a decision about being a Thundercat she stood, stopping everyone from getting out of their seats. “I have something to say. Nothing about the possible invasion.”

“What is that?” Cheetara asked, making sure Alana had everyone’s attention.

“When father came, I privately spoke with Lion-O about being a Thundercat. I didn’t want him to tell anyone in case you were to inadvertently push me to join. I know you wouldn’t have done it on purpose. I felt like I had to earn the right to become one. Up until my father arrived, I wasn’t always cooperative.

“I felt I had to earn your trust, not have it given to me freely. Trust can be easily be broken. Well I have now come to a decision.”

She leaned her head down for a second before taking a deep breath before answering. “I have decided that I want to become a Thundercat. To take the Anointment Trails.”

All six Thundercats, beamed with happiness. Lion-O stood and walked up to her. He wrapped an arm around her. “That’s great. Whenever you’re ready to begin the trails, let us know and we’ll make the preparations.”

“Thanks,” she nodded.

Tygra stood. “We’ve been waiting for when you would tell us what you will decide about that. There will be five trails to overcome. But there will be one change than there was with Lion-O.”

“What’s that?” Lion-O asked.

“Well when you were going through the trails,” Panthro offered. “You had to best Tygra with Mind Power but Alana will not need that. She will have to best you.”

“What?” she jumped. “Lion-O!”

“Yes,” Tygra agreed. “You will have to prove that you have good leadership skills. But the toughest is going up against your enemy. And only you know who that enemy will be. We can make our guesses but when the time comes, you will know who will need to defeat.”

“Alana, we are not pushing you to do anything you’re not ready,” Cheetara said. “You’ll let us know when you’re ready to begin the trails. But right now we need to make preparations in case that is Tony’s ship in orbit.”

The Thundercats quickly left the room, leaving Alana alone. She sat back in her chair with a thud, shock was evident on her face.

“Is something the matter?”

Alana slowly looked up and saw Jaga, standing on the other side of the table. Tears began to trail down her cheeks. “I have to go up against Lion-O, my new brother. I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Have faith,” the spirit said. “Doing the trails is never easy. For each hopeful, the trials can be different. At least you will not need to best Tygra.”

“I was expecting to best him.”

“Yes, but you are not as close to him as you are to Lion-O.”

“What should I do?”

“Relax. The next few days will become tiring for you that I’m sure of. I don’t like the idea of that ship in orbit no more than you. If that is the person who you ran away from, rest will not be easy. You’ll need the Thundercats to get you through this.”

Unknown to Alana but Jaga knew it was Tony that was orbiting the planet. He also knew that Tony was going to be her trail of evil. He had no doubt in his mind that she would succeed. But that didn’t make him feel useless any less considering what was about to transpire was going to deal with the Thundercats. Normally in the Anointment trails, the Trail of Evil is the last but he was going to make an exception where Alana was concerned.

When Tony would reveal himself, the Anointment trails were going to have to be put on stand by while they dealt with the evil man. He was quite hopeful that with him arriving, Alana would finally be able to be at peace and able to reveal her past. He hated not being able to inform the Thundercats of her past, but it wasn’t his place to say anything. He had vowed to Alana’s brothers that he wouldn’t say anything.

Jaga wanted to comfort the young woman but there were only two people who could. Her new brother and a man that she unknowingly was beginning to have an attraction to. He was surprised that no one else had really picked up on it. He hoped that she would see the attraction for what it was. Her brothers were already all for the relationship. Alana was the only one holding it back. Jaga knew that she was only holding back because she didn’t want to be hurt like the other members of her family, mostly her sisters and mother.

He inwardly smiled as he began to disappear. He had a surprise for Alana when everything was all said and done. Her struggles with Tony were going to be tough but she was going to have the Thundercats on her side and when everything would settle down, he would reveal his surprise to her.

[Tigress]

Chapter 13 – Deceptions and Leverage

Blackness was the first thing noticed but with a flash of his eyes, light began to shine through as a door slid open. A slight hiss was heard as he exited the door. He took one look back at his coffin, being sure no one else was in the room. He felt a disturbance and it wouldn’t be the first time someone broke into his pyramid. Sure that no one was around, he turned walking towards his bubbling cauldron. When the cauldron bubbled, it was an indication that something was about to happen, something evil.

“There is new evil,” he said. “But where?”

He looked in his cauldron. A few more bubbles disturb the liquid before showing Cats’ Lair. He did not need to look inside to know there was no activity going on there. The view changed to the Castle Plundarr, showing the Mutants looking bored. So there was nothing going on there. A big bubble rose from the cauldron before bursting, almost splashing the watcher. The view suddenly went all around Third Earth before settling on the stars and slowly moving towards a ship in orbit.

“So we have new visitors, here on Third Earth.” He swung his arms out revealing his bandage body that was normally being covered by a red cloak.

“Ancient Spirits of Evil. Transform this decay formed to MUMM-RA, THE EVERLIVING!”

The creature grew in height, shredding the bandages to only having a few wrapped around his legs and arms. “Now lets see what sort of visitors we have.”

He lifted off the ground, flying up towards the top of his pyramid and kept on going until he reached the sky before vanishing and reappearing within the ship. He remained invisible wanting to see what sort of people flew the ship and if he could use them to his advantage to rid himself of the accursed Thundercats and their new woman child friend.

We went through every deck, looking for the captain of the ship. So far what he could tell is that everyone on board were human. He hated humans almost as much as he hated the Mutants but not as much as the Thundercats.

Once reaching the flight deck, he smiled as he found what he was looking for. He saw a room with ten men and the man in the middle he presumed was the captain. He heard a growl come out of the man sitting in the center chair.

Tony was getting frustrated of the wait. He had hoped by now there would be some shred of evidence that the survivor was staying with the Thundercats, but to his dismay, they never revealed anything.

“Sir,” someone said from behind. He turned to the person who broke his thoughts. “I’m seeing an anomaly going around throughout the ship.”

“Isolate it,” Tony hissed. “Find out where it came from.”

Mumm-Ra’s eyes widened in fascination. He never countered a group of humans who could detect shadows. He was actually surprised that their sensors were able to pick him up at all as he was invisible. Not even the Thundercats possessed that kind of knowledge. If these humans were the evil presence, Mumm-Ra was going to have fun with them. They probably would be able to do what the Mutants could not.

“Sir,” said the one who got his attention in the first place. “I can’t determine where it came from. It had just appeared moments ago. There was nothing in the sensors before then. And it was everywhere on the ship.” The man paused as a slight gasp was emitted from him. “Sir, it’s on the bridge. The anomaly is on the bridge as we speak.”

Mumm-Ra watched as Tony turned several times, alert. In fact everyone did. Mumm-Ra began to laugh, as it was humorous to him. He watched as someone suddenly coward in fear as the laugh was heard all around the flight deck.

“You fools,” Mumm-Ra started. “Are exactly what I’m looking for.”

Tony slammed his hand on a button on his chair and brought out a laser gun in his hands. He pointed it towards where he heard Mumm-Ra’s voice come from. “Show yourself! This is my ship!”

“Yes, I have noticed,” Mumm-Ra smiled. In a blink of an eye, he was visible. “But my question for you is what do you seek?”

“Who are you?” Tony’s eyes narrowed.

“I am Mumm-Ra, the Everliving and could be your worse nightmare.” With a flick of Mumm-Ra’s wrist, he was able to take the gun out of Tony’s hands without touching it. The gun flew into Mumm-Ra’s hands so he could inspect it.

He noticed how everyone on the flight deck were shaking in fear but the captain wasn’t. The captain stood his ground, not allowing any of his fear to be revealed.

“What sort of weapon is this?”

“It’s known as a laser gun.”

“Lasers won’t hurt me. What are doing here, orbiting Third Earth?” Mumm-Ra was never into small talk. He wanted his answers and he didn’t care how he got them.

“Since you say you are the everliving and you’re able to take my weapon away without coming closer, I’m going to say that you could be formable foe. I am here to find out what happened to my fiancée. She and her crew crashed here about six months ago and…”

“And you want to know if anyone survived and where they are. I may perhaps have the answers you seek.”

“How can you have the answers?”

Mumm-Ra laughed. “I know many things on Third Earth and finding the only survivor of the crash will not be that hard as she lives with the Thundercats.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Who is she?”

“I have no knowledge, yet, of her name but I do know that she is a woman child and has very protective friends.”

“Woman child?” Tony thought back to everyone who was on board. There were only four women on board who had reached adult hood. “Alana! She could be alive. Either her or three of her new friends.”

“There were 70 people on board that ship. And you are able to narrow down to just four?”

“There were only four girls who were nearing adult hood when they left Seris.” Tony’s fist clenched. “Whoever she is, she is living with those Thundercats.”

Mumm-Ra’s plan was going better than he thought. He had this captain, exactly where he wanted him. The captain will soon ask for the everliving’s help and Mumm-Ra would give it, for a price. Mumm-Ra was going to send the human after the Thundercats.

Tony turned away from Mumm-Ra. “Any way to scan the Thundercats home?”

“We still haven’t been able to penetrate their structure from this distance and if we go any closer, they will detect us and know we are here.”

Tony slammed his fist on the nearest console. “Damn!”

“Tony,” his brother came out. “If we are to find out for sure, we’re going to need to land. If Alana is still alive, she would be the only who would know how to detect your ship. Her brothers are all dead and they would have been the only other ones. None of the other betrayers would know how to detect ion trails and the model of the this ship.”

Tony turned to his second in command. “Your right. If it is someone else living with the Thundercats, then they would not see us coming. Alana would and she would notify of our descend.”

“Then if I were you,” Mumm-Ra interrupted. “I would make a descend now. Who is this Alana?”

Tony turned back to the everliving. “She was suppose to be wife now but she stole one of my ships and betrayed me. Her and her brothers left my planet.”

“And what pray tell did you do that would have made her leave?” He didn’t really care about the answer but to understand the reasons why more evil arrived on Third Earth, he was going to make it his business to know.

“That is none of your concern. Though she did not like the idea of being in an arranged marriage.” Tony turned away from the everliving, addressing his men. “Bring the boosters online, we’re going to land.”

-

Keeping track of the ion trail, Alana had made sure whenever scans were done, a record would be recorded so she could take a look at them on her own time. Of course she had not much else to do. In a way she felt trapped but she knew it was for her own good. The Thundercats had all agreed for her to stay inside in case it was Tony that was orbiting the planet.

She was in the command room, scanning the skyline. She wanted to keep an eye on the ion trail. A blip on the monitor suddenly appeared and it was beginning to get larger. She homed in on the object at full magnification. She still couldn’t get a good look. For several minutes she watched until the blip formed into a ship and she was able to make out the ship and its name.

Her eyes blazed in fear as she recognized the ship. With shaky fingers she pressed the alarm button. She needed the Thundercats in the room pronto. After the alarm sounded, it did not take long before all the Thundercats were present in the room.

She stood, allowing Panthro to take the helm. He reduced the magnification as she turned and buried herself into Lion-O’s chest. He looked at the ship, puzzled at its design. He eyes widened as he realized what the ship was. He looked down at Alana.

“Are you sure?” he asked gently.

“It must be,” Cheetara said. “Why else would she tremble in fear?”

“Tygra, take Alana back to her room. We can not nor will not let Tony see her,” Lion-O said. “Alana, this is only for your protection. We don’t want you to feel like your being a prisoner in your own home.”

Alana looked up as tears threaten to fall. “I know. Could Snarf stay with me?”

Snarf rose up on his tail. “Snarf, Snarf. I’ll stay with you for as long as needed.”

Tygra, quickly escorted Alana back to her room. He watched as she entered, walking to her bed and wrapped the top cover over herself. Snarf entered from between his legs and jumped onto the bed. He climbed over her hunched shoulders and sat in her lap.

When he knew Alana would be safe, he turned to leave but stopped as he his name was spoken softly. He turned back and walked towards her. He knelt down when he was close enough. He could see her visibly shaking. He gently grasped her hands. For several seconds he didn’t know what to say to her. The Thundercats have gone up against many foes but none were like Tony.

“We won’t let anything happen to you, that I promise,” he said softly.

She looked at him before quickly reaching her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Snarf jumped, as he had to dodge Tygra’s body from colliding with his. Snarf’s ears, lay flat as he wasn’t impressed but decided that it wasn’t the time to be angry. Alana only wanted comfort and one look; he could tell Tygra liked her. His arms were secured around her back.

“I must go,” he whispered in her ear. “As much as I don’t want to.”

Alana reluctantly let go. She slightly turned, grabbed Snarf and wrapped the blanket around them both as Tygra stood and slowly walked out. He walked back to the command room, needing to know what the plan was.

“Good, your back,” Lion-O said. “Tony just landed.”

“However,” Cheetara replied. “As soon as he emerged, the ship lifted back up into orbit.”

“What’s his game?” Tygra slightly snarled. “He will not harm Alana.”

Lion-O’s eyes hardened. “That he will not. We are all going to greet him and we’re going to make him assume we don’t know anything about Alana’s ship. There is a possibility that me may already know Alana is here but probably doesn’t it’s Alana herself.”

-

When Tony emerged from the ship, and when he was completely away from the open ramp, standing in front of the cliff, facing Cats’ Lair, his ship retracted the ramp and lifted off back into orbit. Mumm-Ra had warned him that they had a drawbridge it wouldn’t be drawn until the Thundercats would decide to greet him.

He raised to his full height when he saw six people run out of the fortress. They stopped just before the end of the stairs, slightly ready in case of a battle, but giving the benefit of the doubt.

“Who are you?” Lion-O asked politely. He had to force down his anger to let his question slide out easy as if he didn’t know anything about the man.

“I am Tony, from Planet Seris. I noticed that one of my ships crashed here. I was wondering if anyone survived the crashed. My fiancée was on the ship. She and her seven brothers were taking a vacation and somehow lost control. The last I heard of their transmission, they were out of control and falling into orbit of a planet.”

Tygra clenched his fists as heard the lie come out so easily. The lie was so natural that if he didn’t know the truth, he would have believed it. But he knew other wise; all he had to think about was Alana, scared in her room, probably cuddling Snarf to death.

“What planet is this?” Tony continued.

“You are on Third Earth,” Lion-O answered. “I’m Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats and these are my friends.”

Tony slightly glared at them until he noticed Cheetara. His eyes widened with fascination. She was hot. He didn’t think Cat people would look attractive. Her spots on her shoulders made her look sexy. He slightly saw another girl but couldn’t tell if she was a child or woman. Three male Thundercats and one smaller Thundercat were mostly blocking her.

Cheetara noticed his stare and she slightly shivered. She walked over to Panthro. “I see what Alana means,” she whispered. “He’s staring at me and I don’t like it.”

“I’m getting the same feeling. He likes women but not fond of men.”

“Or perhaps certain men,” she said back. “If he suspects Alana is here, he won’t take kindly to you.”

“Neither will we be kindly to him. We have to hold back our temper and Tygra is the one I’m worried about.”

“Lord Lion-O,” Tony spoke, getting everyone’s attention. Not many people actually called Lion-O by his title. “Why don’t we speak in better surroundings other than shouts across a ravine.”

Lion-O turned to his friends. “Be ready for anything. He does have a point. Wilykit and Kat, take the spaceboards and advise Vanessa that Tony is here.”

The two kids nodded before running inside. One of them pushed a button, extracting the drawbridge as the two ran back out with their boards in hand. They got on the boards and left the lair. As Tony walked across the bridge, the Thunderkittens went past him on either side of the bridge, over the ravine.

“What was that about?” Tony asked when he was on the other side, where the Thundercats waited for him. He watched where the kids disappeared.

“Oh, they were heading towards a nearby village for supplies. We have a trade agreement with the villages,” Lion-O lied.

“But why did they fly off, one on either side of the bridge?”

“They,” Tygra answered carefully. “Didn’t want to get in your way.”

“Now you were saying about survivors?” Lion-O changed the topic.

“Yes, I was wondering if there were any.”

“When we say the ship crashed, we went to investigate. We did not find any survivors.”

“There has to be!” Tony snapped but then realized what he was saying. “Sorry. We say a bunker buried in the ground and it has 69 pockets with a body inside in each one. There were 70 on board. Someone must have survived.”

“If they did,” Cheetara answered. “They must have made their own escape as the flames engulfed the ship and we didn’t see.”

Tony had a feeling they would give an answer like that as it was Mumm-Ra who warned him that the Thundercats would probably lie about the survivor.

“Well I’m sorry for disturbing you. My fiancée and I were suppose to marry a few months ago and I’m worried about her. I want to know if she’s alive. If she did survive and you meet her, let her know that I’m worried. Her name is Alana. She was looking forward to our wedding.”

Again Tygra forced his anger into his fists. It was the only thing he could do to prevent himself from lashing out at the man for his lies. He noticed that he wasn’t the only one. Lion-O was also trying his best not to reveal his true feelings for the man.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to camp just along the tree line over there. My ship will come back down and get me in the morning.” Tony turned away and walked back across the bridge. He grabbed a knapsack that was on the ground near the bridge and walked off.

“That could have gone worse,” Panthro said quietly.

“I have a bad feeling about him,” Cheetara voiced her opinion to her friends. “He stared at me and for once I felt like running over and slapping him.”

Lion-O turned away from glaring at the retreating back. “I saw that. Let’s get inside and let Alana out of her room. I think next time he comes, let her be in the recreational room.”

“What was the real reason why you didn’t want the Thunderkittens here?” Tygra asked.

“I didn’t want them to be exposed to that womanizer. Especially Wilykit. She’s growing into a woman and she doesn’t need to be around him.”

“That I agree,” Cheetara said. “If he stared at her like he did to me, I don’t think I would have been able to restrain myself.”

Tygra slowly turned away in case Tony was watching from a far and walked inside, he noticed that he wasn’t the only one. The others had also gone in. But he didn’t stick around to see what direction they were heading. He quickly made his way to Alana’s room. When he entered, Snarf was about to jump and attack.

“Easy, Snarf,” Tygra said. “It’s only me. He didn’t get anywhere near the inside.”

At the sound of his voice, Alana jumped off the bed and ran into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She did not care who had entered she just needed to know she was safe.

“He’s gone, for now though he is camping at the tree line, but he can’t hear us. You’re safe,” he said soothingly. “I need to talk to you.”

She slowly untangled her arms and moved away. She wanted to look out her window but she knew Tony would be watching. She moved back to the bed, wrapping back up in the blanket.

“Will he stare at women that he doesn’t know?”

Alana snorted. “If she’s attractive enough and that’s quite a lot. All a woman needs is a good figure and nice size…” she blushed as she said the last word. “Chest.”

Tygra slammed his hand into the wall. She looked up at him as she saw anger. She had never seen anger like that in his eyes. Yes, she saw him mad but not like this. He looked like he was ready to kill. She stood and gently laid her hand on his, the one that hit the wall.

“What happened?”

“He made Cheetara feel uneasy.”

Alana slightly gasped. “What about Wilykit, she’s turning into a woman?”

“Luckily Lion-O sent her and Wilykat to the Tree Top Kingdom to let your sister know what’s going on. He never had a chance to set his eyes on her.”

“That bastard,” Alana cursed. “He’s such a pervert.”

“Pervert?” Tygra questioned, anger forgotten for the moment.

Realizing she said another word the Thundercats did not know. “It means someone wanting to see or touch what’s on someone else. A pervert can be classified as a man or a woman. Women have been known to do it to but it isn’t as often as a man.”

Tygra took his other hand and covered hers, which was still on the hand that slammed the wall. “I’m glad you came here.”

Looking into his eyes, she saw an emotion that she wasn’t sure if she liked. She knew that Tygra would never hurt her. But he seemed to look at her the way she had seen Lion-O do to Cheetara. She moved her hand away. “I’m going to go and calm my nerves. Don’t worry I won’t go anywhere near a window or outside. I don’t want him to see me as much as you do.”

She walked past him and when she got exited her room, she hurriedly went down the corridor. When she knew she was a good distance away, she stopped and leaned against the wall. She touched her hand that was held by his and she felt the tingling of his hand still on hers. She felt her cheeks flare with embarrassment. She wasn’t sure what to think and who to speak to. Jaga. Jaga would be able to help calm her nerves from Tony and what just inspired with Tygra.

She quickly made her way to the recreational room, where she was relieved that no one was there.

“Jaga,” she spoke out, turning around. “I need to speak with you. I’m confused and…”

“What could you be confused about?” he asked as he appeared beside her.

“Tony. You must know that Tony is here. I’m scared that he’ll put advances on Wilykit. She is turning into a woman and she’s not ready to enter the adult world. She doesn’t know she can be a target.”

“You’d be surprised what a young person knows and doesn’t let on. But Tony is not the only thing your worried about.”

“Tygra. I don’t fear him but he sometimes looks at me like Lion-O does with Cheetara. I’m not sure if I like it.”

“Well you are an attractive young woman. I’m sure Lion-O would look at you the same but he likes Cheetara and loves you like a sibling.”

“That doesn’t calm my nerves,” she said sarcastically. “What should I do?”

“Do nothing. Everything will reveal itself in due time. Right now you shouldn’t concern yourself about Tygra. Tony is up to something and I don’t like it. Be very careful. If you could, please stay close to one of the Thundercats. I also fear for Wilykit as well. Like you said she is growing. She needs a friend and it’s time for her to know the adult world. Cheetara is always too busy.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Alana offered.

Jaga nodded before disappearing.

Feeling better, Alana left the recreational room, to wait for the Thunderkittens. She went to the central hall in which Cats’ Lair main doors enters into and waited, knowing that it could be another hour before they were to show. When they did arrive she quickly got Wilykit’s attention.

“Wilykit,” she called when they closed the door. “Would you mind if you and I have a private conversation.”

“Sure.” She turned to her brother. “Why don’t you report what we found?”

Wilykat nodded and headed towards the command room. Alana left for the opposite side of the room and walked towards the hanger of the Feliner. Wilykit silently followed.

“What’s this all about?” Wilykit asked.

“I just want to have a woman talk with you. I’ve noticed that you have started to change into woman. Is there anything you would like to talk to me about?”

“I’m not sure,” Wilykit blushed. “I don’t really feel comfortable talking about it.”

“Wilykit, this is a conversation that’s between you and me. I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep everything to yourself.”

“Cheetara and I already have had this conversation. She already told me what can go on behind closed doors. Mind you I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be. Just because I haven’t had much luck with men doesn’t mean you will. Can you do me a favor? With Tony, can you stay as far away from him as possible.”

Wilykit looked slightly saddened suddenly before she quickly ran into Alana’s embrace. “I seen how he looked at Cheetara. I understood when Lion-O asked us to go to the Tree Top Kingdom. That man gives me the creeps. More than Mumm-Ra.”

Alana held Wilykit closely. Pushing Wilykit away slightly and the two of them went to the recreational room so the two could speak in more comfortable surroundings. For a couple hours the two sat in the recreational room talking about men and other private woman things. Both girls felt better after talking to each other, they never realized that it was nearing on dark, until Cheetara came down and found them.

“There you two are,” she said. “I have been looking for you. Dinner is ready.”

Wilykit stood and hugged Alana. “Thanks, Alana. I feel a lot better now. If you want to tell Cheetara, you can. At least I have someone else to talk to now.” She stood and ran out of the room.

“What was that about?” Cheetara asked.

“I wanted to talk to her about women and men. I don’t want her to have the same problems as I have.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. I have been slowly bringing her up to speed.”

“I know. But I wanted to let her know that back in ancient human society, when you were the age of Wilykit, you were a woman. Age did not make a factor.”

“And I suppose you never had anyone to help you with the changes.”

“Only my sisters and that was almost too late.”

“Wilykit is no longer the young naïve girl when we first arrived here on Third Earth. Anyway we better go up before we have search party on our hands.”

-

Early the next morning, Tony woke. Camping at the tree line, was not his cup to tea but it was the only thing he could do to make the Thundercats think he was sincere. Of course he wasn’t alone long before a miniature sized of Mumm-Ra appeared in front of him.

“I’m surprised you are out here and not in Cats’ Lair.”

“I want them to invite me. The best way to pull the wool over the eyes is by making the enemy think you’re on their side.”

“I have the feeling the Thundercats know who you are. I think the woman child inside has informed them of your arrival and they are pulling the wool over your eyes.” Mumm-Ra looked and saw Panthro coming towards them.

“Here comes Panthro. I want you to distract him. Keep him busy long enough so I can go in and check out who the girl is. I’m sure one of the Thundercats will say her name.”

“The one I’m looking for is Alana. She is the youngest daughter of Safari Joe.”

“Safari Joe, the game hunter? This will be interesting,” Mumm-Ra evilly smiled. He quickly disappeared as Panthro approached.

He didn’t want to greet Tony but the other Thundercats were not ready to face the evil man, yet. He walked over to where the man camped and he saw that he was having his breakfast.

“Good morning,” Panthro greeted, putting up a false grin.

“It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it?” Tony said. “I’ve never seen a beautiful sunrise before.”

“Don’t you have a sun on your planet?”

“Yes, but the planet is weather controlled. My parents had it installed when I was little. They never liked unpredictable weather.”

“Oh really.” Panthro couldn’t believe how well he man could lie. “I’ve never heard of a weather controlled planet. Has the weather control grid ever break down?”

“Once, yes and everyone rejoiced.” Tony wasn’t sure how much he could keep the pretence up. He had hoped Mumm-Ra wouldn’t take too long to find the answer.

-

Mumm-Ra, tiny as a fly, flew into Cats’ Lair, careful in not setting off the alarm. He wanted to surprise the Thundercats by taking the woman child. And if the she was the woman Tony was looking for, then he was going to use her as a bargaining chip. He couldn’t wait to figure what Tony would pay to have the woman brought to him.

As he flew around, he looked for the woman child. He didn’t have to look long as she was in the dinning room, still, with the Thunderkittens and Lion-O. Where Tygra or Cheetara were, he didn’t know, nor did he care. He found his target.

“I wonder how long Panthro will be gone for?” Mumm-Ra heard the woman asked.

“I don’t know,” Lion-O answered. “But I don’t want you anywhere near…”

“You don’t have to tell me again, Lion-O. I will stay away from the windows and doors. I don’t want to see Tony as much as you don’t. I hate him and what he has done,” she slightly shivered. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“Hey,” Wilykat spoke up. “Didn’t you say that a couple days ago, you and your sister installed a ball table? What is that?”

Alana laughed. “It’s called a pool table or the formal name, billiards. It’s game in trying to get a certain set of balls down the pocket before your opponent and then sink a ball that is black. But careful not to sink the white ball, which is known as the cue ball. It’s a very popular game.”

“Can you show me?” Wilykat asked.

“Don’t worry, I will. I want to show all of you at once,” Alana answered. “Lion-O would you mind if I watched over for any Mutant activity?”

“Not all,” he answered. “You’re more than welcomed to do what you like.”

Mumm-Ra frowned. He had hoped that he wasn’t going be within the group for a long period of time but it was beginning to look like he was. His thoughts were interrupted when Tygra walked in.

“Alana, Cheetara and I would like to start on your training.”

Mumm-Ra’s eyes widened. The woman child was the one Tony was looking for. Deciding to take the time to act. He loudly laughed, making the Thundercats jump to alertness.

Mumm-Ra appeared just behind Alana and grabbed her.

Lion-O jumped out of his seat. “Release her!” he demanded.

“You are in no position to demand nothing,” Mumm-Ra laughed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tygra slowly bringing out his bolo whip. He jumped into the air and landed near the door, leading to the hallway.

“You will drop your weapons!” Mumm-Ra produced a strange shape dagger and aimed it to her throat. “Or you’ll never see her alive again. She will be quite useful in my new plan, I could use her body as a host for an evil spirit.”

Knowing Mumm-Ra was unpredictable when it came to words, Tygra dropped his whip but remained in battle stance. Alana tried to struggle but it was no use as Mumm-Ra’s arm was wrapped around her neck, having a bit of trouble time breathing.

Not wanting to be injured again, Alana bit down as hard as she could on Mumm-Ra’s arm. He threw her as he shrieked in pain.

Panthro heard a shriek and didn’t like the sound. He looked at Tony, then back to the lair. The shriek came from the lair and it sounded like Mumm-Ra. “I must go.” He quickly turned and ran back to the lair.

Tygra, being closest, caught Alana easily enough. He quickly pushed her behind him as he picked up his whip. “You will not be getting anyone!” Tygra sneered.

“Sword of Omens!” Lion-O yelled raising his hand. Being in the dinning room, he had left the sword in the sword chamber. “Come to my hands! I Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats command you.”

Knowing it would take only moments to get to Lion-O, Mumm-Ra sent an electric blast from his hand, slamming against Lion-O, forcing him to hit the wall.

Cheetara suddenly appeared in the room, running circles around the everliving but it didn’t help. He was able use the same hand and another blast hit, slamming her into Lion-O’s chest just as the Sword of Omens flew into the room and into its leader’s hand.

The Thunderkittens threw one their capsules down, hoping to distract Mumm-Ra long enough for Tygra to use his whip. Just as Tygra was about to lash his whip, Panthro came barging in, using one end of his nunchucks to fire some sort to beam at Mumm-Ra’s back.

Mumm-Ra’s plan was working as he thought it would, he was going to take a hostage and to do that he needed the Thundercats attention. He noticed how protective Tygra was of the woman child. He was more protective than Lion-O. Mumm-Ra smirked as he realized Tygra had feelings for the human woman.

He watched as Alana ran away from Tygra and grabbed a nearby mirror from the wall. The mirror was nothing like Mumm-Ra had ever seen. He had to act quickly before the mirror was shone on him. He jumped into air just as Tygra snapped his whip.

Mumm-Ra tried to tackle down Alana but she ducked just in time. He tried again, Alana only dodged. The other Thundercats tried to attack but Mumm-Ra was moving too fast. The third time he tried, Alana ducked, just at Tygra’s feet. Tygra was not quick enough and he was caught in Mumm-Ra’s grasp. The Bolo whip dropped out of the tiger’s hands.

Alana screamed. “No! Tygra!”

“I didn’t get what I wanted but I do have a captive.” He quickly disappeared as Alana jumped out to grab Tygra’s hand.

“Tygra!” she screamed again as tears blurred her vision. She heard Snarf yell out to look out the window. She knew Lion-O looked as she heard a growl and hissed. “Tony.”

Alana didn’t have to be a genius to know Mumm-Ra reappeared in front of Tony with Tygra in his hands.

-

Mumm-Ra reappeared with an unconscious Tygra, tied over his shoulders. He dropped the tiger on the ground like a sack. When Mumm-Ra disappeared, the force of the magic caused Tygra to lose consciousness.

“What is the meaning of this?” Tony demanded. When Panthro left, Tony decided to see what the commotion was about. He had stopped just before the drawbridge as he heard battle cries. He did not want to get involved in whatever Mumm-Ra was doing.

“This Thundercat will deliver the woman you want. She is living with the Thundercats and he has feelings for her.”

“What? Alana!” Tony clenched his fists. He looked at the tiger again. “He has feelings for my woman!”

Mumm-Ra smiled. “That can be used as leverage. You want the woman child use Tygra to get her. She will no doubt answer your demands.” He jumped into the air. “We will see each other again. Those bonds will hold Tygra securely. He is quite strong.” He turned and disappeared into the horizon.

Tony noticed Tygra was coming around. He grabbed the tiger. “THUNDERCATS! I have something!”

The Thundercats were quick to run out to see Tony, holding Tygra, who was now fully conscious. Tygra was on his knees and Tony was holding him by the head.

“Let him go!” Lion-O yelled, running to the drawbridge.

“Don’t come any closer and drop your weapons!” Tony snapped, ignoring Lion-O’s outburst. He watched as the Thundercats stopped just before stepping on the drawbridge. “Good, now extract the drawbridge, I don’t want anyone to get across.”

Lion-O was about to make a step on the bridge when a knife came out of nowhere and was aimed at Tygra’s neck. “Extract the bridge and drop your weapons!”

Lion-O growled, taking a step back, dropping his sword. He could hear the other Thundercats doing the same. “Snarf! Retract the bridge!”

Tony smiled as he watched the bridge move. “Good. Now I’ll be the one making the demands. First, show me Alana! I know you are hiding her in your stronghold. We have led each other astray, trying to fool the other to get what we want. I admire that. If it weren’t for the fact that you have Alana, I would think you’re like me.”

Anger flashed throughout Lion-O’s body. “We are nothing like you! We do not use our women like you do!”

“That’s from one point of view!” Tony snapped. “Show me Alana or your tiger friend will lose his life!” To emphasize the point, Tony pushed the knife closer to Tygra’s throat.

“You BASTARD!” Alana shrieked as she ran out of the lair. She would have tried to jump over the ravine if Lion-O hadn’t grabbed her arm and held her back. “You’re quarrel is with me! Leave Tygra out of this!”

“Alana,” Tony taunted. “You are alive, I’m shocked.”

“No you’re not. My friends and brothers would still be alive if you actually cared!”

“You were supposed to be my wife! And what did you do, stolen one of my ships and left without saying bye. Now how does that make me feel? I’ll tell how it feels…I get PISSED OFF! You betraying bitch!”

“I’m a bitch am I? I guess you can add that to your other names you’ve called me. Hoar, slut, no good excuse for a woman and more but I don’t think I need to continue the long list. And the names are all because I would not share my bed with you. Don’t you know there’s more to life than sex? But that’s all you ever think of, isn’t? All you want to do is jump women until they are exhausted and when they are you throw them to the wind, not caring in what happens to them. Except for the ones that really pleases you. Well I care.”

Tony shock with rage. How dare she say that in front of aliens. “Surrender and return with me back to Seris and I’ll release your friend! You have one day to decide.” Tony reached into his pocket, pulling a black object out. “Get up!” he snapped at Tygra, forcing him to stand up. “You will throw this over to your friends.”

The knife still pressed at his throat, Tygra had no choice. He snatched the object. His arms might have been wrapped up with some sort of rope, which was around his upper body, but that didn’t mean he could not grab things. He gave a hard underhand throw and the object landed on the ground at Alana’s feet. Kneeling down she picked it up she knew what it was.

“Contact me,” Tony continued. “When you make your decision. And remember one day or he’ll die.”

Alana watched as he looked at his wrist and yelled. “Two to go up!”

The Thundercats watched as a yellow beam suddenly came out of nowhere. Tony and Tygra vanished. As Alana watched, she knew where they were going but that didn’t stop the sudden emptiness in her heart. She suddenly felt alone again. This was her fault. She should have been more opened and thanks to her Tygra was taken. She dropped her knees as the yellow beam disappeared and began to sob.

She felt Lion-O wrap his arms around her shaking shoulders but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t Tygra’s arms around her. It wasn’t his voice that was trying to sooth her tears. She knew Lion-O was very upset and angry but he was also concerned for her. But Lion-O wasn’t Tygra. From the first moment she met him he was kind to her. He had even cooked for her and now he was gone. She realized as Lion-O pulled her towards him, that her friendship with Tygra was quickly turning into love. As she buried her head in Lion-O’s chest, trying to get as much comfort as she could, she wondered if Tygra felt the same for her as well. She no longer could deny the attraction to Tygra. He was handsome, strong, quiet and smart. He was also kind but all the Thundercats were that.

[Tigress]

Chapter 14 – Preparations

As Alana continued to sob, she knew she had to get herself under control. Tygra was in the hands of Tony and they only had one day to try and rescue him. But either way, she was going to lose. She either had to surrender or Tygra would be killed. She couldn’t let that happen but she also couldn’t surrender to him either. What more could be done? She wasn’t as strong as the Thundercats nor did she have the experience in fighting. One question remained how did Tony know Mumm-Ra? Did Mumm-Ra find his ship orbiting the planet and he went to investigate?

As she continued to ponder the question, she could feel Lion-O gently rubbing her shoulders. She heard him say something to someone but she didn’t care nor did she need to know what he was saying. Her thoughts were full of Tygra. A man that she never realized she loved, love that quickly turned into something more than friendship. But when did this love begin?

It didn’t begin with this recent crisis. Was it when she had her birthday and he complimented on her dress? Or did it begin when snow began to melt and she was able to see the beauty of the land? She didn’t know, nor could she tell. There were too many times where it could have begun and she not realize it.

Alana briefly felt the spaceboards go past her. She slightly looked through her eyelashes as the Thunderkittens took off. She noticed they were heading in the direction of the Tree Top Kingdom. No doubt to get her sister. She looked down at her hands as she had Tygra’s whip, clenched tightly.

When he dropped it, when Mumm-Ra caught him instead of her, she had grabbed it just before heading out to follow the Thundercats. She thought they were heading to the Thundertank to go and rescue Tygra but that idea was shot when, just before reaching the doors leading outside, a shout was heard. The shout had come from Tony.

As the Thundercats ran outside, she stopped just before reaching the doors and quickly went to the side. She did not want Tony to see her. Snarf came up and wrapped one of his arms around one of her legs. She wasn’t sure if it was for her protection or he was scared as much as she was.

She couldn’t stop quivering as she heard him yell for the Thundercats to drop their weapons and retract the bridge. A few more words were yelled out over the ravine before Lion-O yelled to Snarf to retract the bridge. Alana being closer, and the fact Snarf was too petrified, she pushed the button. She quickly heard her name and that Tony knew she was there. Mumm-Ra must have told him.

She slowly peaked around the door and to her dismay, there was Tygra, tied and the back of his head was being forced up. She saw Tony flick out a knife and pointed it at Tygra’s neck. She couldn’t take anymore of it, she ran, cursing at him.

She quickly forgot that the bridge had been pulled back and she would have fallen into the ravine if Lion-O had not grabbed her arms, forcing her stop.

Now here she was still in Lion-O’s arms, blaming herself.

“This is my fault,” she whispered as she finally got her tears under control.

“Don’t say that,” she heard Lion-O say in her ear. “This is not your fault. How were we supposed to know Mumm-Ra teamed up with Tony?”

Alana looked at the young lord. “If I had warned you guys sooner of Tony’s cruelty, we would have been more prepared. You were right in saying that I needed to be more open.”

“Don’t blame yourself.”

Lion-O and Alana looked up and saw Jaga. Lion-O noticed that this time the other Thundercats could not see him.

“If I’m not to blame, who is?” Alana questioned. “If I was more careful to wear I was dodging, Tygra wouldn’t have ended up being on the receiving end of Mumm-Ra’s attack. He was trying to get me but he took Tygra instead.”

“In the heat of battle, there is no time to think and rationalize things. You have to react and if you’re not quick enough…you may not see the end of it. Mumm-Ra is fast. Right now there is no time to put the blame on anyone. You must come up with a plan to rescue Tygra.”

“But how? If I don’t surrender, Tygra will die. I can’t let that happen.”

“Nor can you surrender,” Lion-O said. “We have one day to come up with a way to rescue Tygra. Perhaps we can use this time.”

Alana was about to protest but Jaga interrupted. “Lion-O is right, Alana. For the moment Tygra is safe. From what I’ve learned, Tony is a man of word. Your best action is to come up with a plan. And you, Alana, know Tony best.” Jaga turned his head before vanishing.

Alana leaned her head down once again but not before looking where Tygra had once been before being transported to the ship, orbiting the planet. With Jaga’s words ringing in her head, she clutched the Bolo Whip to her chest she realized she had to rescue Tygra. She didn’t care what anyone said, it was her fault and it was her duty to rescue him. She looked back at the spot once again. Her eyes narrowed in anger. She was not going to let it end this way.

She stood, shrugging Lion-O’s arms off her, and looked at her friends, determination set in her face. “Jaga is right, we have to rescue Tygra and my surrender is not an option. I risked my life to escape that man and I will not allow my deceased friends or brothers to have died in vain.” She walked away from the group.

Though no one could see it, Lion-O was proud of her. He knew she could have the strength to help save Tygra. He watched as she walked inside with the other Thundercats following. He knew she would make a good Thundercat and having to wait for the trails, was going to better for her.

-

Tygra sat the floor of his cell. He looked around as he was trying to quench the pain out of his legs and butt. When Tony got him on board, him and two security guards took him to the brig. The brig wasn’t very big as it had three cells. Tony threw him, into one and some sort of invisible force field appeared. The magic rope that held him quickly disappeared. He landed none to gracefully on the floor of the cell. The security guards and Tony left without not so much as a word.

When the pain finally subsided, he stood up and looked around his cell. The cell was big enough to fit two people, lying on the floor, with a small cot in one corner. He looked out of the force field and saw the other two cells were the same.

A door swishing opened, brought Tygra out of his thoughts. He looked at the doors as a woman walked in. She didn’t look much older than Alana, but then again looks didn’t always mean anything. He watched as she carefully walked in. her dark cloak cover her whole body from head to toe. Her bare arms were the only other part showing besides her body out from two armholes.

Tygra crossed his arms. “Come to gloat?”

She ignored his comment. She couldn’t blame him. How many people on this ship actually defied their king? Who ever did, did not last long.

“Are you a Thundercat?” she asked softly.

“Yes.” At the sound of her voice Tygra noticed that she wasn’t there to gloat or taunt. She was there against Tony’s wishes. He uncrossed his arms and walked closer to the force field. “And you are?”

“My name is Trisha. I have one question for you. Is Alana alive?”

“Why do you ask?”

“She’s nice. She always made me laugh when things got bad. The last few weeks, she told me to hang in there and that she was going to get help. I wanted to be part of her renegade but I was preoccupied.”

Tygra noticed she was trembling.

“See.” She removed her cloak, revealing a very low cut, navy blue, spaghetti strap dress. The dress was simple with a slit high up her left thigh. High heel slip on shoes donned her feet. “If she is alive, Alana would have told you about me, that is if she told anyone about Tony. I’m Tony’s sex slave.”

She recovered herself back and jumped back as a growl came out of Tygra. She thought at first he was admiring her outfit, wishing it were him who would take it off. But looking in his eyes, she saw disgust. He was disgusted at her outfit, at the very idea of being a sex slave.

Her eyes widened. “She is alive. I’m glad. She was able to escape the monster.”

Tygra forcefully calmed his growling. “I suppose you are to meet with him.”

“Soon actually. Normally it’s at night but Tony stayed on the planet overnight.” She walked closer to the cell. She bent to her knees as tears began. “I don’t want to go. But it’s the only thing I can do to keep my mother alive. He already killed my older sister.”

Tygra knelt down. “If I’m able to get out of here, you and your mother would be welcomed to stay on Third Earth.”

Trisha looked up. “You would do that for me?”

Tygra nodded.

“What is your name?”

“Tygra, second in command of the Thundercats.”

“Are you and Alana close?”

“We are friends, yes. She even has a new brother, our leader, Lord Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats.”

“I’m glad she has a friend like you. I heard her brothers were killed as everyone else.” Trisha turned away for a moment. “I better go, Tony will be expecting me soon and I have to be in his quarters.”

Another growl came out of Tygra but this time Trisha didn’t jump back. She stood and slowly walked out of the brig. Tygra stood back to his normal height and sat on the cot. He wondered what the Thundercats would do. It was either his life or Alana’s.

He leaned his head back with nothing else to do but wait. He didn’t have to wait long before a guard came in with a laser gun pointed at him. He pushed a button and Tygra could see the force field flicker. Tygra never bothered moving, except to lift his head, as there was a gun pointing at him.

A big woman came into the cell and placed a plate of food beside him. With her body in front of Tygra, the guard couldn’t see what she did. She pulled a piece of paper out of her long skirt and grabbed his hand. She placed the paper in his hand.

Taking the hint, he clenched the paper in his hand as she whispered.

“I am Trisha’s mother. She just told me that she spoke to you.” Then she stood and raised her voice to normal tone. “Even though you’re a prisoner, you need to keep your strength.”

“Ok lady,” the guard spoke. “You gave him food and now step away from him.”

A single tear slid down her cheek as she step away from Tygra and walked out of the cell. Right after she passed, the force field flickered again, indicating that it was back on.

The guard walked towards Tygra. “Don’t think about trying to use anything of the tray to try and escape. You have one hour to eat and I’ll be right here watching.”

-

Alana sat in the council room, thinking. She was sitting, slouched, in Tygra’s seat, or at least the seat she seen him sit in most. She needed to find a way to outwit Tony but how? Tony was sneaky. He had always been able to get away with murder. If someone disappeared, no one questioned. So how was she beat Tony at his own game. Her thoughts were interrupted as Cheetara walked in.

“I’ve contacted Mandora. She is on her way here. With Tygra being taken, he will not get away with this. He will finally be stopped.”

“Thanks,” she said. She looked out the window for a moment. She had to think like Tony. What would Tony do if the situation was reversed? As an idea came to mind, she sat up, causing Cheetara to look.

Alana looked at the cheetah. “Get the others,” she rushed out.

Cheetara watched as Alana jumped out of the seat and ran over to where there was a cabinet near the window. She left Alana to whatever she was doing and went and get the Thundercats. It didn’t take Cheetara long to round up the Thundercats to the council room.

When the Thundercats entered, Alana was busy writing something. Lion-O walked over to her, and touched her shoulder.

“What is going on?”

Alana jumped. “Lion-O,” she gasped. “I think I have a way to stop Tony.”

Wilykat walked over to the table. “What are you writing?” He noticed her hand writing was nice and different from Thunderian.

“Please, everyone sit,” she said. She remained silent until everyone was sitting. When they were, she continued. “As I said, I may have a way stop Tony. I was writing down everything I know about Tony, his weaknesses and strengths. My handwriting isn’t the best when it’s on plain paper. Mind you from the years I’ve been with him, I found more strengths than the other. But that isn’t the point.

“But not only did I write his strengths and weaknesses but also everything I’ve seen Tony do in the past to help get my thoughts straight. What we do is give him exactly what he wants.”

“No!” Lion-O barked. “I will not sacrifice you for Tygra.”

“But you won’t.” She smiled inwardly as she had everyone confused. “We will let Tony believe that I will surrender but in reality I won’t be. He’s never gone up against you before so there’s a big advantage to us. And I think Mumm-Ra will stay out of this. From what you’ve told me about Mumm-Ra, he probably wants to see if Tony will fail or win. I’m sure if Tony wins, Mumm-Ra will be displeased and discipline him some way.

“But we won’t know for sure,” Panthro intervened.

“This is true but even if he does, he doesn’t know the fighting style of Tony nor he doesn’t know how resourceful I can get. Cheetara, with your sped, you could easily make Tony confused. You could do circles around him.”

“What if he knows our weaknesses?” Wilykit asked. “He could easily render us useless. All he needs is Thundrillum.”

“If that is the case, then Tygra will already be weakened. But I don’t think he’ll have the time to get any. Besides, he may not know you’re there.”

Now quite interested, Lion-O leaned forward. “Let Alana speak with no more interruptions. What do you have planned?”

The Thundercats nodded, which Alana was grateful. She only had so much time and she had many things to do. “Ok. Here is what I think we should do. See Tony will think that I’m so upset that I can’t think straight, which has been the case in the past, but I’ve had six months of living free of him, I am stronger than he thinks and I will no longer let him control my life nor threaten the lives of my friends.

“I’ll go and make him think that I’m surrendering and that I’m doing it on my own. He will think you guys were against it and are trying to come up with a way to rescue Tygra on your own. However, that won’t be the case. I’ll tell him where the exchange will take place and in the meantime, you guys will already be there, waiting for the drop.”

“Use you as a decoy,” Panthro said, intrigued. “That’s risky.”

“No more risky than you guys risking your lives to stop Mumm-Ra or the Mutants from causing mischief with the other inhabitants of Third Earth. If you guys can show me how to use Tygra’s whip, I could use that as well. Tony will not be expecting me to use a weapon, even if he figures you guys are involved.”

“Just before you arrived,” Panthro offered. “Tygra was showing us how to use the Bolo Whip. He only got as far as showing me how snap fireballs.”

“That will be perfect,” Alana smiled, sadly. As she continued to explain the plan, exciting Panthro along the way, Lion-O was impressed. He didn’t think she could come up with something so quickly. Just a few hours earlier, she was blaming herself. He knew she had growing feelings for Tygra as he did for her, but hers took a little longer to come out.

Over in the far corner, Jaga smiled. He knew Alana had the power to take control of her emotions. She now was over her main grief and now was beginning a new life. He knew with her coming face to face with Tony, that she would finally get the courage to take control.

-

When the hour was up another guard came into the room. The guard, who watched from a seat, stood, pulling out his laser gun, aiming it at Tygra and disengaged the force field. The second guard grabbed the tray of eaten food and backed away. As soon as he was out of the cell, the force field reappeared.

The second guard left with the tray as the first guard remained. He looked at the tiger with what looked like guilt. He walked towards the field. Tygra, intrigued, stood and walked over as the man began to whisper.

“If I don’t do what I’m told, my life will be over. I know Trisha was in here and I know her mother left you a note. Don’t worry I won’t say anything. Mandora contacted me before leaving Seris. I have been working undercover for her for the past two years. I have been trying to catch him in the act. She told me that Alana has begun to move on. If that is true, she may try and trick Tony.

“If that is the case, whatever happens when she contacts Tony of her decision, don’t be led to believe that she’s sacrificing herself for you. I can’t see her doing that. Besides I don’t think her brothers, if they were alive, would allow her to do that. She seems to be a very talented young woman who would do anything for her friends. If she has the strength, I can see her trying to barter herself for your freedom but in reality it would be a trap.”

Tygra watched as the guard quickly moved away and left the brig. He moved back to the cot and unfolded the note Trisha’s mother left for him.

This could work. When Tony takes you back to the planet, my mother and I will sneak into a transport room, there’s more than one, and if the calculations can be right, we’ll transport the instant he does. We could slightly malfunction the other rooms so there would be a few second delay so we can arrive first and then hide. The next time my mother gives you food tell her what you think. Trisha

He slowly folded the note and hid within in his clothes. Tony had many enemies, more than he thought. If Tygra had the time, he could have started a mutiny, but that wasn’t going to happen within the next twenty hours. In that time, he was going to know more than he wanted to know about Tony.

To his dismay, Tony walked into the room, wearing a different outfit. Tygra guessed that it must have been some sort of formal attire. He stood a meter away from the force field.

“Well I suppose it’s time to have some fun,” he taunted.

Tygra did his best to ignore the man as he spoke but it was hard when Tony was referring to Trisha.

“Too bad it wasn’t Alana. She would have been more satisfying.”

Tygra’s eyes blazed in anger as he growled. He jumped off the cot, wanting to strangle the man. All Tony did was smirk.

“Ohhh, did I hit a button? Are you in love with my wife?”

“She is not your wife!” Tygra snarled. “Nor will she ever be.”

“She would have been if she didn’t leave me. Perhaps I may kill her when she’s in my grasp. She did run away from me. She is also thief as she stole one of my ships.”

“She had very reason to leave your planet. You treated her like she was just toy.”

“What do you know? You’re just an alien from a planet that no longer exists. You and your friends are the last of your kind. Maybe when I have Alana in my possession, I will do what Mumm-Ra could not. I have photon torpedoes on board and just one, would create a crater where your fortress stands. I would be able to destroy the legendary Thundercats with one shot.”

“Even if you could wipe us out,” Tygra snapped. “Mumm-Ra would not take kindly to that. He would haunt you down and destroy you with just a flick of his wrist.”

“We’ll see. Only time will tell.” Tony walked away from Tygra’s cell and over to a console. Tygra couldn’t tell what he was doing but guessed he hit a communications button as he spoke at the console.

“Trisha, come to he brig,” he commanded. He then turned back to Tygra. No words were said as the two waited for Trisha to enter. While they waited, Tygra had to force himself not touch the force field, while Tony kept on smirking. He was in control.

When Trisha entered, she was still wearing her cloak. She walked over to Tony, wrapping her arm around his and huddled herself close to him as if she loved him. At first she smiled. “Yes, my Lord.”

“Meet the one who Alana received help.”

She turned to Tygra and cuddled her face closer to Tony’s chest. Tygra noticed the smile vanished and a grim look appeared.

“This is Trisha,” Tony taunted. “She likes having me around.” He then slightly pushed her away from him. She almost slammed into the console but she held her ground. “You won’t be needed today.”

“My Lord?” she questioned, putting on a fake smile

“I’m in too good of a mood for bed play.” He smiled evilly before reaching out and grabbed the woman by the arms, squeezing. His face turned from smirking to almost anger. “And don’t pretend to think that I don’t know how you feel. Now leave my sight before I take you in front of this cat.”

Tygra and Trisha’s eyes widened in shock before she quickly ran out of the room. Tony looked at Tygra and laughed as he saw the horrified look. He turned and left the room, leaving Tygra to his thoughts. When he left, Tygra swung around and slammed his fist into the wall.

Never in his life had he ever been so angry as he was now. He never thought he would have an evil side but here it was. Tygra realized Tony wouldn’t hurt him physically but mentally and emotionally. Tony was going to taunt him with Alana and Trisha.

-

Panthro and Alana were in the recreational room, training. Panthro was teaching Alana with Tygra’s Bolo Whip. Panthro marvelled how quick she was getting it. They had moved all the furniture out of the way so they could train. They had only been working for two hours and she was starting to get progress. Panthro didn’t think she would catch on that quick. Learning to use the Bolo Whip takes time and patience. Wilykat and Wilykit were having tough time learning.

A year before Alana arrived, Lion-O requested for the Thundercats to learn how to use the each other’s weapons. One never knew when a time could come when knowing how to use another weapon could become useful. Learning to use the Nunchucks was not a problem. But learning Cheetara’s bow staff and Tygra’s Bolo Whip, took time.

“I don’t know why Wilykit had said this was hard,” Alana said, giving the whip another snap. “I think this is pretty interesting.”

Panthro looked up. “I’m sure they are not concentrating enough. I’m actually surprised you’re getting it quickly. I never even understood the powers of the whip when Tygra showed me.”

“I guess that’s what happen when two lives are on the line. I need to do something or one of us won’t be returning back. And I’ll be damned if it’s Tygra. He is needed here.”

Panthro released Alana’s hands. He was standing behind her, instructing her how to snap the whip. “You are needed as well and don’t think you are useless.”

She turned and gazed at the panther. “That is why I’m doing this. I’m using myself as bait and we will all come out on top. I will win my freedom and Tygra will be released. Tony will be the only one getting the rough side of the deal. He’ll lose me and leverage on Tygra as well as lose his freedom.”

“Why don’t we take a break? We don’t want to be exhausted,” Panthro suggested. “In a couple hours, we’ll continue.”

Alana nodded. “That will give me time to set my trap at the location. I could use your help though. I haven’t been shown how to drive the Thundertank and I need someone to take me where I want to get to.”

Panthro and Alana left the room, and went to the Thundertank. The two of them traveled to a cave, three miles away from Cats’ Lair. When they got out, Panthro looked sceptical.

“You want set your plan up here? That may give away your plan.”

“Not exactly,” she defended. “We are three miles away from home, which means it’s too far for Cheetara to run. She only can run for two miles at top speed. I’m sure Tony knows this. He would also know that you are afraid of fire bats and Tygra is afraid of water. With this on his mind this will be the perfect location.

“We’ll take a page out of my father’s book. When he captured you guys, he used your greatest weakness against you, thus putting you in his trap. I’ve heard from Willa this cave can be populated with Fire Bats but at this time of year they are not around. Not too far into the cavern, there is a water source, an underground lake. Vanessa says it’s deeper than she has ever imagined a lake to be.”

Panthro nodded as she said each weakness and finally agreed that it would be a perfect location. “And you’re sure there are no bats around?”

Alana rolled her eyes. “Yes. I was here just a few days before Tony arrived and saw the nests but they haven’t been used in a six months. Willa informed me that next month, when it’s the hottest, they will return for six months. They are like the birds. One of these days, I’m going to explore the cave, but not now. We have to get Tygra back.”

The two had been working for about an hour before Panthro’s communicator went off. He pulled it out to answer. Alana recognized Wilykat’s voice on the other end.

“Where are you?” he asked. “Lion-O has been looking for you.”

“I’m with Alana and we’re checking out the location she has decided to use.”

“Lion-O wants everyone to get some rest and he doesn’t want us over exert ourselves. The humidity doesn’t help much either.”

Alana walked over to Panthro and spoke into his communicator. “Tell Lion-O to give us another hour, we’re almost finished and I’m not going to rest until night fall and even then I probably won’t sleep much.”

The two could here Snarf grumbling about how Lion-O will not like it before the line went dead. Alana turned and went back to what she was doing. She felt like someone was looking at her and snapped her head around to find Panthro staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“Lion-O is probably right. You do need some rest.”

“I will not be able to sleep until everything’s ready and I probably won’t sleep. I’ll be too busy worrying about Tygra in hoping he’s ok. Tony can be very brutal to his hostages. I’ve seen it. When someone ever did something wrong, they were never seen again. I know Tony won’t harm Tygra too much, but what will he torment him with, that is what worries me.”

Panthro walked over to her. “I know how you feel. But for this plan to work, we need you to be rested or at least rested as well as you can be. Why don’t we head back? I know what needs to be done. Cheetara and I can come back and finish getting things ready. You already have told everyone what needs to be done. You know Tony best.”

Alana slowly sat on a nearby boulder as she leaned her down. “I just want this over with. The more I work, the…”

“We’ve had this same problem before. You were working yourself too much when you first arrived.”

“I know. And if my brothers were alive, they’d kill me.” She lifted her head. “Thanks, Panthro. I guess I needed a slap in the face. Tygra would also be upset if I did it again.”

“That he would,” he agreed. He hid inward smile. He had recognized the signs that the two were attracted to each other. And he for one was happy that Tygra was able to move on. It wasn’t fair that Tygra lost his girlfriend when they left Thundera.

-

When the Thundertank pulled up, Lion-O was waiting for them. Alana slightly flinched at the look he was giving her. Panthro noticed her slight flinch and he rested a hand on her arm and nodded that it would be ok.

“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to adopt a brother,” she mumbled as she jumped out.

Lion-O stood and walked over by her. He opened his mouth to say something but Alana raised her hand. “I know what you’re going to say. You are going to ask what the hell I was I thinking trying overexert myself when I almost did it before when my brothers died.

“Well here is your answer. I was trying to help. No one here knows Tony better than I do. I know what sort of moves he will and can make. I was trying to minimize as much as that as possible. I know you’re concerned and I’m grateful.”

Lion-O closed his mouth and sighed. “I just don’t want you to be too exhausted. What if the Mutants take this time to use to their advantage? I just don’t want you in the cross fire.”

“Lion-O, if I’m to be a Thundercat,” she crossed her arms, “there will be times that I’ll end up being in the crossfire. I’m not going to be a Thundercat and not pull my own weight around. That’s not fair to you guys nor is it fair to the code of Thundera.”

Both Panthro and Lion-O stared at the woman with wonder. For someone who was as young as she, had a lot of knowledge. Even Lion-O didn’t have that much wisdom but his lack of wisdom and experience could be blamed on the suspension capsules.

Lion-O suddenly felt sheepish. She was right, he was treating her differently than the others and it wasn’t fair to her or the others. “Sorry,” he apologized.

Alana smiled for a moment and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “That’s ok. You just need to be more of a leader sometimes. But it is nice to have a big brother who cares. Even if he is an alien with cat like features.”

Lion-O shared her smile before squeezing her hand back in understanding. “Can you please, slow down? You’re not giving the rest a chance to catch up to your plan.”

“There’s not much to catch up on. Everyone knows what has to be done. I just was getting Panthro’s help in setting up where this is going to go down.”

“What if Tony disagrees to the place?”

Alana snorted. “That’s highly unlikely. I’m sure he knows what weaknesses the Thundercats have. We’re going to use a cave that has had fire bats. It’s three miles from Cats’ Lair and not too far inside there is an underground lake that is very deep. It will make it easier for him believe that you guys are not there.”

Lion-O looked at Panthro with question. “The fire bats only nest in the cave for six months of the year. And they haven’t been there for awhile so it’s safe.”

“They could come at any time?”

“They will nest next month. That is when it will be the warmest and then they stay around until the cold weather hits it’s coldest. I believe it would be the perfect trap for Tony. Mandora is already on her way here and she’s coming by another ship, disguised. She will be here by nightfall tomorrow.”

“Disguised?”

“There’s an old style of ships, they are no longer used but once in awhile they are used when they’re tracking down criminals and they don’t want them to escape. Tony’s friends won’t have time to escape before she arrives and arrests them. And that is going to be a good sight to see.”

“Well standing here, talking,” Lion-O replied. “Isn’t going to help us in getting some rest. Please try and get some rest. I know you won’t rest too much, you’re too worried and frankly so am I. Tygra is a good friend.”

Alana nodded in agreement. She turned away from Lion-O and headed inside the lair.

-

Trisha was sitting in her mother’s quarters, waiting for her. It was the only room on the ship in which neither Tony nor his followers would go into. When her mother entered, she keyed the door to lock. The big woman walked over to her daughter and quickly wrapped her arms around her.

“It’s almost over,” she said soothingly. “I gave the Thundercat the message. I was quite surprised that you are here though.”

Trisha pulled away. “Yes. Well Tony doesn’t need me. He’s in too much of a good mood. He wants Alana back and he soon will have her. I wish there was a way to warn her.” She snarled at the name of the man who used her.

“How are we going to escape?” her mother changed the subject.

“You know that I work as an engineer when I’m not being the sex slave. I could tell the guards that I need to maintenance on the transport pads. I will set the phase variance to set us down, seconds before Tony sets down. We won’t have much time before Tony transports before we hide.”

“Where will we go?”

“Tygra, the Thundercat, has offered us to stay on Third Earth.”

“Are you sure this is what you want? Cause leaving this ship could be risky. We could get caught.”

“Mother, I would rather face the wrath of death with you and besides facing that is better than another night with that creep.”

“All right. I’m with you. I don’t him to put his hands on my little girl anymore.”

While the two girls were scheming to get away from the monster, the one in question was celebrating his triumph. He figured he would have Alana begging for mercy to let Tygra go. He couldn’t believe the blow he was able to deliver the Thundercats. None of their enemies were able to come close to what he has done. Safari Joe was the closest but even then they were able to get out of his trap. This time was different. This time it was only one Thundercat and it was for a trade, Alana for the tiger.

[Tigress]

Chapter 15 – Rescue

Sleep was the furthest on his mind. But he knew he had to try and get some rest, but it wasn’t coming easy. How could one person be able to sleep when a madman was holding their friend hostage? Who knows what the man was doing to Tygra. At least soon Alana’s plan would be put into action and hopefully her plan would go off without a hitch. Hopefully Mumm-Ra wouldn’t decide at that moment to interfere.

As Lion-O kept tossing and turning, trying to sleep, he kept thinking of Alana in how she first began to blame herself but then suddenly got the strength to pull herself together and work a plan to get Tygra back without turning herself in. Everyone knew Lion-O wasn’t impressed with the idea of using Alana as a decoy, but he understood that using her as bait was the best course.

Finally deciding sleep wasn’t going to take over, Lion-O pulled back his blankets and walked over to his window. He gave a long sigh as he looked out over the land. Nothing more could be done before daybreak and even that was a long way off. He heard his door swish open and then closed. He didn’t have to turn to know who was now in the room.

“I can’t sleep,” Lion-O answered the silent question.

“But you need as much rest as possible,” Snarf answered. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Lion-O turned to his friend. “I know. But I’m too worried about Tygra. How’s Alana?”

“Surprisingly, a sleep. Whatever her sister gave her must have worked. Snarf, snarf. But she said it probably wouldn’t last long. She’s guessed Alana will be a wake in about another hour. She’s slept two hours now.”

“Human bodies need rest more than ours. She’s not used to living like this.”

“You know, if Tygra was in real immediate danger, the sword would let you know.”

“I know, but that still doesn’t ease my nerves any. That man could be torturing Tygra and he wouldn’t have to lay use one finger.”

“How could he do that?”

“Either by insulting Alana in front of Tygra. Tygra does, after all, like Alana and if Tony realizes it, he’ll use that to his advantage.”

“I think it’s more than like,” Snarf answered.

Lion-O sighed and looked towards his bed to see the clock. He knew the sun would soon be rising. He moved away from the window and made his towards the command room. Snarf was hot at his feet. When the two entered, they saw Alana sitting on the floor with her back to them. They could not see what she was doing.

Snarf walked up to her and when he placed a paw on her leg, she jumped. Papers she was working on went flying as well as Snarf jumped too.

When she realized that it was only Snarf, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t do that,” she breathed.

“Are you all right?” Lion-O asked.

“I will once my heart stops thumping so fast that it might take off.”

“What is all this?” Snarf asked.

“I couldn’t sleep so I decided to draw. When I couldn’t do anything on Seris, I would always draw. It was something that I started after meeting Tony. I think that may be the only thing he ever praised.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

“Maybe two hours. Nessie gave me some sleeping pills but they wore off fast as I’m too worried about Tygra to sleep. I’ll just sleep good when he’s safe at home.”

“I’ll feel better too,” he agreed. “In a few hours, he’ll be contacting us.”

“Yes and in that time, we’ll have to set our plan into motion.”

“What are you planning on saying?” Cheetara asked as she walked in.

Alana moved away and picked up the scattered pictures. She carefully placed them on a seat before turning to the cheetah. “I’m going to tell him, I surrender. But I want to make sure Tygra was safe first before I surrender to him. I would suggest getting everyone up and heading out before daylight. Tony could have his sensors set to here.”

“Lion-O,” Cheetara said as she approached her leader. “She’s right. And as much as we hate this idea, it’s the only way to get Tygra back and keep Alana safe.”

Lion-O clenched his fist he wanted to be with Alana when Tony contacted. But he knew it was vital to get into position without Tony’s knowledge. “All right. Cheetara see to the Thunderkittens. Snarf get Panthro. We’ll have a quick breakfast, then head out to put our plan into action.”

-

Shortly after sunrise, Alana contacted Tony’s ship. Tony was still having his party when the bridge called. He quickly excused himself to answer the call in private. He entered the corridor.

“What do you want? I’m having a party.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I just thought to let you know the sun has just risen over the land where the Thundercats live. Plus someone is hailing us from the surface.”

Tony smiled evilly. “My I didn’t think 24 hours had passed already. Patch the transmission to my quarters.”

He quickly made his way to his quarters. He leaned over his desk as he pressed a button, showing Alana on the screen.

“Alana. I’m surprised you called me and not the other way around.”

He watched as she quickly turned away from the viewer and then she turned back.

“I don’t want the others to hear me,” she whispered. She knelt her head. “I’ll surrender.”

“Good.”

She snapped her head up, but quickly looked behind her again. “If you want me, I need to be sure that Tygra is safe.”

“Oh, he is.”

“I can’t take your word for it. If you want me, meet me at a cave that is three miles from Cats’ Lair. The Thundercats won’t think of following me there. They are still sleeping for one.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’m sure you already looked at all the data that could get your hands on. Including the data on their weaknesses. The cave has an underground lake that reaches about 30 feet deep and it’s full of fire bats.”

“You better be alone.”

“I will be. All you have to do is keep a radar lock on me.”

“I’ll be there in an hour for the exchange. And Alana.”

“What?”

“You’re mine.” He ended the transmission before she could retort a comment.

Tony quickly punched another button. “Celebrations are now called off. Head to your stations, we’re going in.”

He quickly made his way to the brig, where Tygra waited, restlessly. When he walked in, he saw the tiger kneeling on the floor.

“Well I guess your girlfriend came to her senses. Pity. With her young mind, she can be a formidable foe. But now she’s just a waste.”

Tygra lifted his head and growled. He didn’t dare to rise to his feet.

It didn’t take long before a guard entered and raised a weapon to Tygra.

“You see,” Tony continued as he walked to the force field. “Alana is very weak minded. She values your life more than your own. She’ll be very easy to tame and it won’t take long to break her either.”

That one hurt. Tygra jumped to his feet and came mere inches to the force field, fists clenched.

The evil smirk never faltered from Tony. “She’s surrendering in an hour and she’s doing it without your other cat friends knowing.”

Tygra’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it. Alana was surrendering to the filth.

Tony turned to the guard. “In one hour have him at the transport room.”

The guard nodded and watched as his boss left. When Tony was gone, he walked over to the force field. “Alana wouldn’t surrender,” he whispered.

Tygra realized it was the same guard who spoke to him about working undercover for Mandora. “I can’t be sure,” Tygra finally answered with a hiss.

“Put faith in Alana. That is all we can hope for right now.”

-

Alana turned away from the view screen and looked at Snarf. “I think I played him well.”

“Snarf. Snarf. You almost had me fooled. And pretending that the Thundercats could walk in at any time, really added a real feel to your lie.”

“I better get going. The others are already there. They went on foot. It’s going to take me almost an hour to get to the cave.”

“Be careful.”

-

Minutes after the guard left, Trisha came cautiously into the room. She quickly made her way towards the cell. Tygra noticed she was wearing the cloak still but when she raised her arms, he noticed that she was wearing some sort of dark blue body suit.

“What is going on?” she asked quietly.

“I’ll be leaving in about an hour.”

“That doesn’t give me much time without alarming the guards. Ok, thanks. Hopefully it will be enough to keep Tony occupied that he won’t realize that I’m not around. If you don’t see me on the planet, I never made it. But I rather die trying to escape than stay as a sex slave for the rest of my youth.”

She quickly turned away and rushed out of the room before anyone showed up. She quickly made her way to her quarters where her mother was waiting. She quickly rushed in and locked the door.

“Mother, we have to hurry. We have less than an hour before Tony makes his move.”

“What should we bring?”

“Nothing. If all goes well, we may not have to worry about our things. If Alana has made a plan to trick Tony, we may not be the only ones who will never have to worry about him again.”

“I better make my rounds, you start working on the transport pads.”

“Meet me in the emergency transport room. The other two, I’ll be sabotaging.”

Trisha watched as her mother walked out and began making her way to the kitchen. When the woman was gone, Alana casually walked out of her quarters and made her way to the ship that was hardly used. She knew a way to sabotage the transport buffers without having to be in the same room. When she made her way to the level that had minimal life support, she quickly rushed to the transport room. She knew the life support would slow her efforts down. Upon entering the room, she quickly set to work on the one of the wall panels. She only had a short time to do it.

-

At the appointed time, two guards walked into the brig. One held out a weapon while the other deactivated the force field. The one who held the weapon then gave the other guard some sort of hand restraints. When they were placed on Tygra, the guards quickly escorted Tygra to the transport room. It was the second time Tygra got to see the corridors of the ship.

When the three entered the transport room, Tygra quickly noticed the smug look on Tony. Tygra so wanted to wipe that smug off but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it. But too soon the smug look changed to a scowl.

Tony walked over to Tygra and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. “Better cherish the memories you had with Alana because soon that’s all they may be. But then again, maybe not. You won’t know. Once I have Alana back, you’ll wish that I did kill you because I’ll make you life a living hell. You touched my woman.”

Tony forcefully let go of Tygra and he stumbled back but not before getting a blow to the stomach by Tony’s foot. Tygra fell to the floor, trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t move from the hit. He could feel someone had grabbed his legs and restraints were soon against them.

Tygra was still catching his breath when he was forced from the floor to the transport pad. He was down on his knees, since he had no strength to stand, yet.

“Send us down,” Tony commanded.

Tony watched as his transport operations pressed a button, but nothing happened. This did not improve his mood. “What is wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” the man said. “Suddenly there seemed to be a drain in the system.”

“Isn’t that the third time in the past three months?” Tony snapped.

“Yes, sir.”

In the meantime, Tygra was able to get his bearings. He hid a grin as he realized what the problem was. Trisha and her mother must have made it the planet. Tony was about to walk away from the pad when the operations officer smiled.

“Got it. I’ll run a system dynastic when you leave to see what the problem was.”

“You do that. Now send me to the planet before Alana is able to find a way out of this.”

Within seconds, Tygra and Tony were just in the mouth of a cave. Alana stood not far away from them. She seemed a little nervous, but who wouldn’t be. She was standing in front of the man she ran away from, who caused her brothers’ death and he had the upper hand. Tony quickly produced a knife and held it to Tygra’s throat.

“Release Tygra,” she said, shakily.

“You are in no position to give me demands,” Tony snapped. “What is he worth to you anyway?”

“You should you know me by now,” Alana snapped. “I do not like people being held against their will. Besides he saved my life and he’s a Thundercat. An alien from another planet.”

“But he’s your friend.”

“All the Thundercats are my friends.”

“Now if you wish his life to remain you will take my hand.” Tony held out his other hand. Tygra was still being held at knife point..

“Alana, don’t!”

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “I will not sacrifice your life for mine.” She took a step forward, slowly.

When her arm was within reach, Tony threw away the knife, giving a kick to Tygra, knocking him towards the water. Tony pulled Alana towards his body and held her close.

“And I thought I would never have you this close again.”

Alana’s eyes suddenly hardened as did her voice. “Well don’t get used to it. I came prepared.”

“What are you talking about?”

“NOW!” she screamed as she jabbed Tony in the ribs and ducked.

Cheetara swiftly came out from behind a rock, extending her staff to full length. Panthro jumped down from the ceiling, nunchucks in hand ready to strike out. The Thunderkittens suddenly came out of nowhere on their space boards, lassos in hand. Finally Lion-O also jumped out from behind a rock, sword in hand, extended. Tony was completely surrounded.

Tony looked shocked for a moment. “You tricked me,” he said baffled. He looked down to the ground and saw Alana was no longer in his arm reach. His eyes hardened as anger took over. “YOU BITCH!”

When Cheetara jumped out, Alana rolled away coming up to stand by Lion-O as he jumped out from behind a rock.

“What?” she asked very innocently. “Can’t you take a page out of your book?”

“It pleases me,” Lion-O began. “We will put an ending to your terror.”

“I know everything about you,” Tony hissed. “I know your weaknesses and strengths. At any time I can contact my ship and you all will be my prisoner.”

“Oh, no you won’t.”

Wilykit quickly flew close to him and grabbed his communicator, knocking it to the ground. Wilykat scooped down and threw it into the water.

“You won’t be calling anyone,” Wilykat answered.

“You brats!” Tony swiftly turned to the cheetah. “I always come prepared.” He no longer saw a sexy woman before him. All he saw was someone he wanted out of the way and when he wanted something, he got it. He swiftly grabbed into his pocket and pulled out another knife and threw it at her.

She barely was able to dodge the weapon as she ran out of the way, further away from him. He then turned to Panthro and threw another type of weapon into the ceiling. Some loose rocks started crumble around the panther. That same weapon spun around and knocked the two Thunderkittens off balance. They fell into the water.

Lion-O and Alana jumped to the ledge of the water to grab for the kids. Tony took his chance and ran for Alana.

“Alana, watch out!” Tygra yelled.

Alana didn’t have time to turn before something grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away from the safety of Lion-O.

Alana began to scream and struggle out of Tony’s steal grip. Cheetara swung up her staff. She ran towards the man, aiming her staff to strike. In the last second, Tony saw the weapon coming towards him. He dodged down, grabbing her staff and swinging her into the pool.

Panthro got himself unburied as he saw Tony nearing the mouth of the cave with Alana struggling. He saw Cheetara and the Thunderkittens were in the deep water and they needed to get them out. He wasn’t sure what to do. Save Alana or his fellow Thundercats.

He didn’t have a need to choose as Alana snapped her head back, striking Tony in the face. He swiftly dropped her and she landed on her feet. She then kicked the man in the stomach before jumping out of the way. She wasn’t about to let the man take her again. Her brothers’ death was going to be avenged.

Remembering about Tygra’s whip, she reached behind her back and pulled it out from behind a hidden pouch that she had against her back. Her long flowing hair was covering the pouch. She turned to the man and snapped the whip, producing fireballs with a snap.

Tony jumped back in fright.

Tygra watch in awe as she snapped the whip. Either someone had been teaching her and he did not know or she was a fast learner. She had the grip down perfect. She kept snapping, producing more fireballs, making Tony back up more until he his back hit a wall.

“You pray on people’s fear but what can people pray fear on to you? I don’t suppose anyone knows that you have a fear of fireballs.”

As Alana had Tony pinned to the wall, Panthro quickly rushed over and helped Lion-O get their friends out of the water. When they were out of the water, Cheetara ran towards Alana. She noticed Alana was about to strike Tony with Tygra’s whip.

“Alana,” she said softly. “He isn’t worth it. If you strike him, you would be no better than him. Let Mandora deal with him.”

“He will pay for Josh’s death and my other brothers,” Alana snarled.

“Mumm-Ra!” Lion-O snapped.

Alana and Cheetara quickly turned to be standing no more than three feet from the everliving. The two women jumped out of the way as he brought his hands down to attack. The move was what Tony needed to get away from the wall.

Alana saw that Mumm-Ra was about to go after Lion-O’s sword. He had dropped it on the ground when he went after the Thunderkittens. When he helped everyone out of the water, he began to help Tygra but as he reached behind the tiger’s back, Mumm-Ra appeared. Why did Mumm-Ra show up? What was the villain’s plan and what did Tony have to do with it? Lion-O could see that the two shared a look for a moment before the man jumped out of the way and slowly made his way to the exit of the cave once again. The man was angry that his plan had gone up in smoke. But when Mumm-Ra turned towards the rest of the Thundercats, Lion-O realized his sword was vulnerable.

Just as Mumm-Ra was about to fly up into the air, Alana used Tygra’s whip and wrapped the end of it around Mumm-Ra’s foot. She gave the whip a hard tug, knocking the everliving on the ground. He fell with a slight yell. He turned his red eyes towards the woman child.

“You will pay for that!”

His eyes began to glow, bringing back Alana’s fear when she first met the thing. She tried to get up quickly but he was suddenly directly in front of her. She abandoned the whip and jumped back, getting to her feet. She slowly moved to the cave wall, shaking in fear.

Mumm-Ra rammed his fists into the wall on either side of her head. She felt the wall shake around her and she wasn’t sure if the wall would suddenly hold her. His eyes glowed even more and she could see her reflection in them. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting him to hit her with his magic, but it never came.

Two capsules came out of nowhere. They hit the ground and smoke spewed out of them, causing Mumm-Ra not to be able to see. Alana took that quickly to her advantaged. She carefully ducked under his arm and ran as fast as she could to Lion-O. She clutched his sword arm as he slid his other arm into his shield.

When the smoke finally cleared, Mumm-Ra snapped around with new fuel of anger. But his anger didn’t last long as Lion-O faced the shield in the everliving’s face. Mumm-Ra quickly screamed in horror. His face suddenly hid into his cape as he flew up towards the ceiling and disappeared.

With Mumm-Ra now gone, attention was brought back to Tony. Tony saw that the Thundercats were no longer distracted. He finally took his advantaged and fled.

“Til next time, Thundercats!”

Lion-O gently pulled Alana’s hand from around his arm and followed up in behind Panthro. Cheetara was already ahead of them. The Thunderkittens quickly jumped back on the space boards. They all were heading after Tony. It took Alana several minutes to register what had just happened. The plan worked. She was still free and Tygra was free as well.

She felt a little lightheaded as she realized that she went after Mumm-Ra first when he went towards Lion-O’s sword. What possessed to her used Tygra’s whip? One thing was for sure she had just proved that she worthy of becoming a Thundercat. If anyway would doubt that, she didn’t think they would anymore. Watching as she went up against the greatest enemy the Thundercats had. Mumm-Ra was even stronger than their long time enemies, the Mutants.

When Alana finally had her bearings under control, she looked up and saw Tygra was still on the ground, near the lake. And he was still in restraints. She walked over to him and first untied his legs, then his arms. The two stared at each other for several minutes, not saying a word.

Alana felt slightly uneasy, not because he was staring at her but because she knew that he felt something for her. From the time she crashed on Third Earth, she denied the idea of having any attraction towards the man but now she couldn’t deny it any longer. But she was still afraid of talking to him. She didn’t know how much he felt but she had an idea and that alone scared her. She never had anyone feel the same for her as she felt for him.

Breaking the silence, she turned slightly turned her head. “I’m glad you’re all right. I was worried.”

“I’m just glad to be free.”

“Did he do anything?” She moved away so he could get up. She was about to offer a hand but he was up before she had the chance.

“Not physically. Just taunted about what he would do to you and what he has done to Trisha. He kept threatening that he may kill you after getting you back.” He crossed his arms. “I get the impression that he treated you like you were no good. Had no talent. I don’t find any of that true. You have been quite helpful and you’re talented too. And the way you used my whip, that’s amazing. Who taught you?”

“Panthro showed me. He only taught me yesterday but I’m a fast learner when I want to be. He had said that you showed him how to use it and he showed me everything he knew. I would like to learn how to become invisible.”

“Perhaps in due time.” He noticed that her mood suddenly changed. “What’s wrong?”

“This is my fault,” she said sadly.

Tygra looked blankly at her. “Why is it your fault?”

“When Mumm-Ra went after me, I should have jumped to the left instead of right. You wouldn’t have been taken.”

“In battle, you don’t have time to think about that. You just to need to do what is needed.”

“That’s what Jaga said but that’s not all. If I didn’t leave Seris, my brothers would still be alive.”

“You already told me that they were planning your escape before finding out that your brothers were going to get you out.” Tygra realized that this was the same type of argument from before.

“But that’s not the point. I could have done things differently. In all accounts I shouldn’t be here. If my father didn’t do what he did, I would be happy with my mother alive.”

“There is no way you can change the past. All you can do is look for the future.”

“How can I look towards the future when lately everything that I go near constantly reminds of what I lost. I lost my mother, my brothers, my friends.”

“You may have lost much, but you’ve also gained as well,” Tygra was now angered but nowhere near to how he was held within the brig. “You gained a new family, new friends, and a new home. You have become a very valued friend.”

She stared into his eyes. “But if I wasn’t here, you wouldn’t have been taken hostage and used as a bargaining chip. He was planning on killing you if I didn’t surrender.”

“Perhaps so but you took control of the situation and came up with a plan to rescue me by making him think you were surrendering.”

“Only because I decided that it was high time to stop hiding from him and show him that I’m not a little girl anymore. I’m a woman who makes choices.”

“And the choice you made was to save me.”

Alana turned away. “I would have done it for anyone.”

“Alana.” Tygra placed his hand on her shoulder. “What you did was very brave. You have been scared of this man for so long.”

Alana shrugged his hand off and moved away. “But I shouldn’t feel like this,” she yelled suddenly.

Tygra was taken aback. “Feel like what?”

Alana quickly turned, realizing what she said, she said a little too loud. She didn’t know what to say. For several minutes she stared at him. Breaking eye contact, she averted her eyes to look at the ground as she turned her head.

“Talk to me,” he asked softly.

“How can I?” she asked quietly but then lowered to a whisper. “When I care about you, more than I should.”

He walked closer to her. “Why should that stop you?”

She jerked her head, eyes blazing in anger. “Why? Well for starters we’re two different species. I’m a human and you’re a Thunderian. A race I had never heard of until I met Tony. If I weren’t here, I wouldn’t feel this way.”

Tygra grabbed her arms firmly but gently. “You have been degrading yourself just so you wouldn’t feel an attraction? I wish you would stop running from your feelings. I wish you would be more open.”

“You want me to be more open?” she snapped her arms away. “I fear I will end up like my mother. A lot of men don’t treat their women very nice. I have already lost people I love. I don’t want to lose more.”

Realizing what she was saying, again, she began to back away. She had to leave she couldn’t admit her feelings. He noticed that she was about to make a run; he reached out to her once more, just as she began to turn away. His arm snaked around hers pulling her towards him. Before she had a chance to say anything, his hands quickly let go of her arms and rested against the sides of her face, bringing her face close to his.

At first contact, his lips were hard against hers but instantly turned gentle. Her eyes widened at his boldness but on their own accord, closed as his kiss became gentler. She never had a kiss quite like that before. Whenever Tony kissed her, it was always rough and all tongue. But Tygra’s was gentle. Her arms slowly wrapped around his upper arms.

When he moved away, several minutes went by without either saying a word until he decided to break the silence. He slowly dropped his hands to hers and moved them away from his arms.

“It’s better to have loved and lost then it is not to love at all.”

“Who told you that?” she asked quietly, still not sure what just inspired, happened.

“Your brother.”

Those two words got her attention from thinking about the kiss. “What do you mean?”

“We never told you, mainly because Jaga didn’t want us to but also because you weren’t ready. But your brothers can also appear.”

She was taken aback.

“We learnt they could do that when you had your birthday. Josh told us how humans celebrate and it was Josh who convinced Jaga to get you to wear one of the dresses. Josh also said not to say anything. But now I think its time.”

He looked past her as he said his last line.

She slowly turned and gasped at the sight behind her. All seven brothers were standing behind her with Jaga.

“Alana,” Jaga said. “I think it is time for you to move on. The Thundercats will take good care of you. You no longer need me as a main choice of guidance.” Jaga moved out of the way, letting Josh to step forward.

“It’s nice to see that your spirit has not been lost from our deaths. We want you to know that we’re with you always. And if you ever need someone to talk to, we’ll be there.”

Slight tears came out of her eyes at seeing her brothers. She barely felt Tygra wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“Alana,” Carl said. “We must go for now. We just came to tell you that we’re here for you.”

“No,” she whispered as she saw them slowly disappear, leaving only Jaga. “Please don’t leave me,” she pleaded towards her brothers, or was it for Jaga.

Jaga slightly smiled. “I’m not. I’ll still be here but you have others to help guide you.”

She did not realize the other Thundercats returned with Tony in hand with his hands tied behind his back. At first he couldn’t see anything and wondered what the Thundercats were looking at, but soon a transparent figure slowly took shape in front of Alana. At first he could see the figure’s lips moving but nothing was coming out. Soon though sound came from the figure’s mouth.

“And now you can concentrate in training and become a Thundercat.”

“I can, can’t I?” she mumbled. “And if I past the Anointment Trails, I can become a Thundercat?”

“Yes,” Jaga smiled and looked at the other Thundercats. “But right now, it’s time to get back to what is at hand.” He swung his cape around him and disappeared.

“How the hell can you become a Thundercat? You’re not even part of their race!” Tony snapped, getting the Thundercats attention when Jaga disappeared. “You’re supposed to be my wife. And here you are with another man’s arm around your arms. And he’s not even a man.”

Alana turned, realizing Jaga had allowed himself to be seen by Tony. “Just because Tygra, is not human that doesn’t make him any less of a man. And he’s more of a man than you are. Besides you have no right to me as you tried to kill me when I left Planet Seris. I was a prisoner on that planet.

“About the Thundercats, you have no idea what you are talking about. The Lord of the Thundercats is the one who makes the ultimate decision on if someone can be a Thundercat or not and they don’t have to be a Thunderian to be one.

“I should thank you though. Thanks to you I have lost loved ones but now have gained a new family and learned that not all men are like you and my father. You will answer to all the crimes you have committed, including the murder of your own parents and the attempts on my life.”

“I will answer to no one,” Tony hissed. “Besides you have no proof about my parents.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? You are so clueless to what’s around you.” Alana snapped. “You think you are so supreme! Get a life! You are nowhere near as strong as the people I have had the annoying incident of meeting. There is a creature, who was just here, lives on this planet and he is stronger than everyone, including yourself, on your planet. I’m sure you know him as well. Mumm-Ra.”

“Mumm-Ra? I don’t know Mumm-Ra? I found you on my own.”

“Don’t give me that shit! Tygra became your prisoner when he first was Mumm-Ra’s. You wouldn’t have figured out that I was living with the Thundercats without his help. Oh I’m sure eventually you would have found out, but that would have meant you would have soiled your own hands to do it. But what you don’t understand is Mumm-Ra used you for his own advantage. Do you have any idea why Mumm-Ra went to you? I’ll tell you why. For nearly five years now, he has been trying to wipe out the Thundercats. Well guess what, Mumm-Ra has failed time and time again.”

“You lie!” he snapped. That was not possible. He had never been used by anyone.

“I’m a liar, am I? Then why did Mumm-Ra go to you in the first place? Mumm-Ra has never liked any new enemy raining down on Third Earth. He wants to take control of the planet and the Thundercats are preventing him from doing just that. Mumm-Ra is like you. Use anyone to get what you want. At least one thing I can give Mumm-Ra credit for is he won’t blackmail women into sex so their loved ones could remain alive.”

Tony’s eyes blazed with fury. How dare the woman say such things in front of the cat people. “How dare you speak to me like that!”

“What are you going to do? Threaten to kill my father, go ahead. I’ve already lost my brothers at your mercy, what’s one more to add to the mix. I know for a fact you would never get to my sisters. And besides it’s the truth. I know about Trisha. You despise her mother because she’s not a small woman but she is a good cook so you have Trisha dress up in some sort of revealing outfit just so you can be satisfied. And of course Trisha does it, though she hates it, just so her mother will stay alive.

“At least I will be able to tell her that she is free from the confines of your bed and she will never have to wear so much revealing clothing. I suppose she’s probably on your ship.”

When Alana noticed that none of the Thundercats had tried to calm her from her temper, which she was glad about. They have wanted her to be more open, well she was being open about her feelings about her ex-fiancé. She turned to Lion-O.

“Is there any way we can get to his ship in orbit?”

Lion-O nodded. “The Feliner can travel into space. We could bring anyone down who wishes to stay.”

“Actually,” a female voice said, coming from behind Tony. “There’s no need, unless you want to get the others who wish to be free of our King’s rule. There will be some that won’t stay, like his brothers. His brothers will resist and try and get their brother.”

A young woman and a big woman stood at the entrance to the cave. The young woman was wearing a cloak. She pulled the cloak off of her revealing a full navy blue body suit. The bigger woman was wearing a long brown dress to the ground.

“When Tony beamed down here with Tygra, at the same moment my mother and I, in another transport room, beamed down as well. Luckily, we were able to get just seconds before he did and we hid behind a boulder.”

Alana turned at the sound. “Trisha! You’re ok.”

“Thanks to your friends,” Trisha smiled. “I now can actually smile and it won’t be false. I’m free.”

“How did you get down here?” Tony snapped.

Trisha’s mother looked at the tied man as tears of joy made their way down her cheeks. “Trisha is a very talented woman. We sabotaged the transporter that you used. Two of the transport pads were sabotaged, except for the one we used.” She jerked as her daughter moved away and stood just before Tony.

“I only endured your bed, your body, to keep my mother alive. This you knew, but here is something you did not. When you threw Tygra into the brig, I did the forbidden. I consulted with him, moments after you left. From there, we made plans for my escape. I would have left Seris with Alana if I wasn’t with you.”

The last word was a spit. She quickly brought her hand around and slapped him. “Never again.” Trisha turned to Lion-O. “You must be Lord Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats.”

“I am,” Lion-O nodded. All this new information was overwhelming.

“I request sanctuary for my mother and myself, until we can decide where we want to live.”

“Granted.”

Alana hissed. “Perhaps maybe it would be better if everyone else on the ship remain in the dark until Mandora can get here to take this sexual abuser away.” She pointed at Tony for a dramatic effect. “Is there any way we can detain him until then?”

“Cats’ Lair has a holding room,” Tygra answered. “And no one has ever been able to get out of it as I was the one who designed its layout.”

“Good, let’s get out of here. The Adrenaline rush is starting wear off and…” she didn’t get a chance to complete her sentence as her legs suddenly turned to jelly and she no longer could hold her own strength. She hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. That’s including the two the hours she was forced to endure by Vanessa giving her sleeping pills.

Tygra, still with his arm around her shoulder, felt her legs giving away. He swiftly caught her legs and picked her up. Her arms were instantly wrapped around his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder as her eyes began to get heavy.

“Get your hands off of her!” Tony snapped. “Alana you’re mine!”

Lion-O stepped up, anger clearly shown on his face. “You will not speak to my sister like that.”

Tony was taken aback as if he was just slapped in the face. “Your sister? She’s human.”

“To the Thundercats that doesn’t matter,” Tygra answered coldly, walking past the human male.

Tony tried to jump out but with quick action from Cheetara, Tony didn’t even see her move until her staff tripped him.

“Cheetara,” Lion-O said. “Will you be able to get back to Cats’ Lair?”

“I’m sure I will handle it,” she smiled. She picked Tony up, and then added. “I’m sure he maybe too frightened to do anything but want to get his bearings.” She slugged him over her shoulder and began to run out of the cave at top speed.

Alana slightly lifted her head with a smile as she heard Tony scream in fright at Cheetara’s speed.

“Rest,” Tygra whispered in her ear.

Not wanting to fight, she leaned her head back down as darkness began to envelop her. She knew she was safe and secured in Tygra’s arms. He was now safe and sound back on Third Earth. She was not going to let her exhaustion take over. The rhythm of his heartbeat allowed the darkness to take her sooner.