Hachiman
danced aside as a blast caused the rock he had been standing on to shoot
straight up in the air. Tug-Mug readied
another shot with the gravity carbine.
Slightly behind him were an ice woman and a Berbil. "Dishonourable opponents," said
Hachiman, readying his sword, the Thundercutter, "Release your hostage and
fight me fair."
"We
like cheating. Sorry," said the
woman, who was tapping a few buttons on a remote control.
As
the samurai advanced ( and Tug-Mug kept missing ), the rotund Lunatac hissed,
"Why eesn't that stupeed invention of yours workeeng?"
"I
don't know," Psikaris whispered back, looking mildly panicked,
"Everything shows normal. It
should... Of course! It only works on
Thunderans. Hachiman is
human." She sat down on a nearby
rock and fixed the samurai with a steady gaze.
"But I can change that."
While
not painful, the transformation caused Hachiman to take a couple steps back in
surprise. His clothes were the same, but
his hands had gone orange-furred with black stripes. While he couldn't see it, his ears had
pointed and he now had the face of a tiger.
The
Berbil, which until now had been placidly standing by Psikaris, changed as
well. Its eyes flashed red, and its
hands withdrew, becoming rotating blades.
Spikes shot up along its arms and shoulders. Tug-Mug stopped laughing long enough to scoop
up the remote control. Hachiman barely
dodged as the Berbil shot lasers from its eyes at him.
Hachiman's
thought was to get the remote control away from Tug-Mug. He leapt over the attacking Berbil, slapped
the remote from the laughing Lunatac's hand, and proceeded to stomp on it. Tug-Mug just laughed harder. "You eediot. Thee control was just an on/off sweetch. And now we can't turn eet off!"
A
rotating blade passed through where Hachiman would have been, if he hadn't
jumped out of the way. Before it could
do its laser attack, again, the Thundercutter arced through the Berbil's eyes. Unfortunately, it had stepped back quick enough
to avoid any other damage.
With
its range attack gone, the samurai thought that the battle would quickly turn
to his favour. He revised that opinion
when one of the rotating blades detached itself from the Berbil's hand and flew
at him. Hachiman jumped back, and
slashed the Thundercutter through it.
The two halves of the Berbil's blade veered off harmlessly to either
side of the samurai. But even now the
Berbil had replaced his thrown blade and readied to throw another one.
Hachiman
thought quickly. He could wait until the
Berbil exhausted its supply of blades, but there was a lot of storage space
inside a Berbil. And until it ran out of
blades, Hachiman couldn't get anywhere near it.
His only solace was that the Lunatacs weren't attacking him as
well. Tug-Mug was too busy laughing and
the ice woman was still staring at him.
The
Berbil hadn't attacked until he looked like a tiger, thought Hachiman, and he
looked like a tiger when the ice woman started concentrating on him.
He
ducked another thrown blade, and before either Tug-Mug or the Berbil could stop
him, much as he hated to do it, he knocked the ice woman on the back of the
head with his pommel. Psikaris let out a
startled cry before collapsing unconscious.
Hachiman watched as his hands lost their fur, becoming again human. The Berbil stopped its attack, retracting its
blades and again standing quietly.
"Come
on, Psikarees, get up." Tug-Mug had
hauled the ice woman to a sitting position and was trying to revive her.
Deciding
that the Lunatacs were no threat, at least not for a few minutes, Hachiman
turned to the Berbil.
"Berbil," he said, "I know you were a good and honourable
creature once. On some level, you must
understand what I must now do."
Shouting his usual war cry, Hachiman slashed the Thundercutter through
the Berbil, which toppled to the ground.
Then
he had to dodge another blast from the gravity carbine. Hachiman snatched up one of the Berbil's
blades, then threw it. It lodged in the
carbine, throwing off a few sparks.
Tug-Mug
considered his options. He could stay
and fight, but he'd be at a severe disadvantage. Or he could retreat. Tug-Mug picked up Psikaris and decided to
exercise his second option.
* * *
"Well,
that was fun while it lasted," said Luna, after thoroughly railing out
Tug-Mug and Psikaris. "In any case,
who cares about the samurai? One we take
off, he'll be unable to reach us."
"Wait,
Luna. Let me try my hand against
him."
Luna
looked Tycho over carefully. Well, he
had captured Tygra and Panthro, so maybe he wasn't a total loss. "Don't fail me."
* * *
Knave
waded swiftly through the long pipe, no doubt designed to drain the water away
from some part of the Lair. Soon, though, he came to the end of a passage.
There was a solid piece of metal before him. It appeared that the piece could
slide up into the wall, but that there was no way of doing so from within. This
wasn't really a problem for Knave, an inconvenience at best. Lowering the
temperature of his breath drastically, Knave, like many Ice Lunatacs, could
cause metal to become brittle. He breathed in and exhaled in a long burst. The
metal panel crumbled away and Knave found himself being battered by gallons of
water. He moved Alluro's breathing apparatus back into place and used his
icepick to wedge himself in place. Soon the water was gone and Knave crawled
through the hole into the Thundercat pool.
* * *
Tycho
watched as Hachiman walked closer to Skytomb. The samurai looked suspicious but
determined. Tycho's blade rested comfortably in his hands. His defeat of
Panthro had boosted his self confidence. Soon Hachiman would fall prey to his
superior skills.
* * *
Knave
ran at breakneck speed through the halls of Cat's Lair. Every minute he spent
could cost his friends. Chilla and Shade were out there, providing him with
enough incentive. The control room was up several floors from the pool, but
this ground was covered in under a minute thanks to his Cheetah heritage. The
doors hissed open, Black Claw and Cheetara spinning around, and Knave breathed
his icy breath.
* * *
Tycho
jumped down from the rocky outcrop onto Hachiman's back, the hilt of his sword
crashing into the human's spine. Hachiman toppled and rolled over, his massive
bulk forcing Tycho to let go. "What have you done with my friends?"
Hachiman demanded.
"Wouldn't
you like to know? Surrender now and they might live," Tycho said.
"Never!
You will likely kill them if I do. This, Hachiman cannot allow!" The legendary
sword, Thundercutter, swung in a wide arc, its purpose to decapitate the
Plundarrian prince. Tycho ducked down and rolled to the side.
* * *
"You
won't get us that easily!" Cheetara said, though Knave's blast had frozen
Black Claw.
"Then
I'll just have to try harder," spat Knave. The young woman charged at him,
her bo staff extended. Knave's icepick was ready to meet it though and the two
weapons clashed together. There was a blinding flurry of activity as the two
traded blows.
"Give
up, Cheetara. You can't possibly defeat Knave. You've lost. You might as well
admit it," came a soothing voice. Knave glanced up and saw Alluro, on the
Ice Runner with Chilla, holding his psyche club down on the beleaguered
Cheetah.
"I
can't defeat Knave, I've lost," Cheetara said.
"Excellent.
Now you will drop your weapon and let us tie your hands together," Alluro
said. Cheetara's weapon clattered to the ground as she placed her hands behind
her back. Knave bound her at the wrists. Soon she joined Black Claw and the
Thunderkittens in the prison.
* * *
If
he were any other man, Mystan would be hopping up and down in a ridiculous
victory dance. As it was, Mystan was
Mystan, and merely smiled at the news.
"Excellent work, my friends," he said over the intercom to
Cat's Lair. "Very nice. You three stay where you are. Red-Eye and Shade are back in the
Skycruiser. We will await Skytomb and
any other... guests that may come behind the cliffs. Our sensors will be constantly on. After this message, there will be radio
silence between us. Mystan out."
Actually,
all was not quite as Mystan had wanted.
If he had it his way, Red-Eye would be in Cat's Lair and Knave would be
back on the Skycruiser. Red-Eye had
actually been in the Lair a couple times before, and could help Alluro rewire
the security systems. Also, Knave and
Alluro in the same room usually meant trouble.
Mystan hoped he could trust his crew to behave themselves.
* * *
Luna
watched the battle between Tycho and Hachiman with a sort of morbid
fascination. Tycho couldn't fight worth
beans, but he was easily holding his own against a proven warrior. Something was wrong.
"When
Tycho was fighting Panthro, did anything seem odd to you?" Luna asked
Psychro. Psikaris was sulking in her
workshop, nursing a headache.
The
ice/psi hybrid walked over and shrugged.
"Aside from Tycho winning? I
don't know. There's something weird
about his style, but I'm no swordsman."
Using
her riding crop as a pointer, Luna said, "Me either, but I see it, too. Hachiman has a grace to his style, no
movement is wasted. Tycho staggers
around almost mechanically, but he manages to block every thrust of the
Thundercutter." Luna laid the
riding crop across her knees and scowled.
"The idiot. The way Tycho's
lurching about makes him look... like... a..."
"Marionette,"
Psychro finished, the thought hitting him at the same time. "He's not using the sword, the sword's
using him."
Something
else occurred to Luna and she asked, "Did Psikaris come up with a way to block
Lion-O's Sight Beyond Sight?"
"No,"
replied Psychro, brow furrowing in confusion.
"Why?.. Wait, no. No.
Luna, you're not saying..."
Luna
sighed. "Why not? Sword of Omens, Sword of Plundarr, Sword of
the Moons."
* * *
"Wonderful,"
muttered Alluro disgustedly from a Cat's Lair monitoring station. "Thunderclaw at five o'clock."
"Great,"
said Knave with equal enthusiasm.
"What do we do until then?"
Alluro
ignored the younger Lunatac. "I
don't understand the weapons systems well enough yet to shoot him down. We can either try to get him with the Ice
Runner, or let him in and ambush him."
"If
he sees the Ice Runner emerge from the Lair, he will know something is wrong
and alert the others. I say we let him
in," Chilla finished.
* * *
Not
having Tycho's strange protection, the Sword of Omens flashed the danger
warning as Lion-O climbed the stairs to Cat's Lair. "Come on, Snarf," he said. "We'd better get inside and find out if
Black Claw and the others have any more news."
"Snyarf,
good idea. Who knows what those creepy
Lunatacs are up to."
"Creepy?" A mildly insulted, faintly accented voice
echoed down the dimly lit corridor. Then
the hall was not so dimly lit, though the new source of illumination was the
blue glow of the psyche crystal.
"Intimidating, yes. Weird,
some..."
"Desperate,
Alluro," came a raspy whisper.
"Shut
up, Knave." The hypnotist
composed himself. "Back to
business. Surrender, Lion-O. You cannot win. Resistance is futile."
"I'll
get him, snyarf, snyarf," said Snarf, seconds before being frozen in a
block of ice.
"You
owe me now, Alluro," Chilla taunted from down the other hall. "Saving you from a dangerous
snarf."
The
various jibes from the other two annoyed Alluro enough that his concentration
wavered. Drawing the Sword of Omens,
Lion-O called, "Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats..."
Knave
spat ice, freezing the Thundercat lord solid.
"Ho."
* * *
Hachiman
recoiled a step as Tycho's sword cut deeply into his forearm. "I will
never give up," Hachiman growled, "but I cannot fight you here."
Hachiman turned and began running.
Tycho,
exhilarated by his marginal victory pursued shouting, "I won't let you get
away that easily!"
* * *
"Luna!
The Thunderstrike! Hachiman is leading Tycho straight for it!" Psychro
shouted, from his monitor position.
"That
idiot will get himself captured. Fire up the engines. We must overtake those
two bumbling fools and prepare to battle Thundercats!" Luna said. Psychro
nodded and turned in his chair.
* * *
"Oh
no! Skytomb! I cannot defeat both Tycho and Skytomb!" said Hachiman out
loud.
"That's
right, but only partly so. You cannot defeat me alone!" Tycho said
thrusting his sword violently. The weapon fired a single blast of energy,
causing Hachiman to double over in agony. Tycho stalked over to him and removed
the Thundercutter from the ground. "No man is a match for me," he
growled.
* * *
"Here's
another prisoner for you, Psikaris. Maybe you'd like to cut him apart and
reprogram him," Luna snickered to the young woman, guarding the prisoners.
Psikaris
looked up at the Lunatac leader through strands of white hair. "I've
learned my lesson," she said softly.
"Excellent.
Come on Amok, let's go check on Tug-Mug," Luna barked.
* * *
"Sorry.
I couldn't find the 'Meow Mix'. I guess you kitties will have to go without
food," Knave said, seated by the door.
"You'll
pay for this, Knave!" Wily Kat shouted.
"Oh
yeah? Who's going to stop me, you?" Knave asked.
"You
bet I could. You don't look so tough," Wily Kat said.
"No,
Wily Kat, don't encourage him!" Cheetara said. A wave of ice covered
Cheetara and Knave opened the prison door.
"Come
on then, Kat, give it your best shot. Look, I'll even get rid of my
icepick," Knave said, tossing the weapon aside. As soon as Wily Kat
emerged from the cell Knave hit the button to close it, preventing the unfrozen
Wily Kit from making any escape attempts. Wily Kat barrelled into Knave's
chest, sending a punch into the gut. Knave brought his leg up swiftly and
caught the young cat's chin. A second kick took out Wily Kat's knee cap.
"Wily
Kat! Stop. You're hurting him!" Wily Kit shouted.
"Would
you care to join him?" Knave asked.
"No."
"Then
shut up." Knave picked up Wily Kat by the throat and pinned him to the
wall. "I've often wondered. What colour is Thunderian blood? Let's find
out." Knave reared back his free hand, preparing to strike.
"That'll
be enough of that. Mystan wants them alive," Alluro said, walking up,
"and as much as I'd like to see the runt dead I think we should keep him
in one piece."
"It's
too late for that. His knee's already in more than one," Knave said,
tossing the cub into Alluro's arms, "since you're so concerned, you deal
with it."
* * *
Skytomb's
thick hull provided some protection against the Thundrainium fumes, though
Tygra and Panthro still felt the effects.
Psikaris kept a few mental notes without much interest. She was an engineer, not a prison guard. Lousy Luna.
The Killer Berbil was a good idea, the test conditions just weren't
right. It wasn't fair. Psikaris would get even with the Lunatac
princess. She would...
Psikaris
sighed. She wasn't going to take action
and she knew it.
* * *
"Loona! Thee Thunderstrike! Eet's..."
"I
can see it, Tug-Mug!" hollered Luna as the small ship strafed
Skytomb. The Lunatac princess was torn
between cutting through the Thunderstrike like so much butter and continuing
their mission to Cat's Lair, and retreating so she could deal with Tycho. In the end, she decided Tycho could
wait. "Charge up the moon-cannons,
Psychro. Don't waste any shots. Those things pull a lot of power."
"Yes,
Luna." Psychro took his time aiming
at the small ship. Much as he disliked
the fact that the Thunderstrike was getting many hits in on Skytomb, he forced
himself to be careful. Besides, the
Thundercats' small lasers would barely damage the hull of the flying fortress.
* * *
"They're
just sitting there," said Ghost from one of the Thunderstrike's pods.
"Rowl,
I don't like it," said Bengali.
"It means they're up to something."
Lynx-O's
hands danced across the braille board.
"I'm picking up a power surge in the Skytomb," he
reported. "I'm not sure what
they're..." The lynx's thought was
interrupted by a beam of silvery-blue light from Skytomb's left turret. "We're hit!"
"We
can see that!" snapped Ghost, frantically working her controls.
* * *
"Yes!"
cried Psychro, punching the air. "A
not-so direct hit, but the cats are goin' down!"
"Good
work," Luna agreed. "Tug-Mug,
continue our course to Cat's Lair. I've
got some other work to do."
* * *
"The
main engines are off-line," said Lynx-O.
"Both of you activate your pods without separation. Maybe we can pull out of this dive."
"We'll
have to do it at the exact same time or we'll pull ourselves apart," said
Ghost. "Ready, Bengali? On 'three', we turn on our engines and pull
up thirty degrees. One... two... three!"
The
Thunderstrike made a few threatening noises, but the dive was levelled off. "Now let's get this thing down without
causing any more damage," said Bengali.
* * *
Luna
found Tycho in his quarters, looking far too pleased with himself. The Lunatac princess got right to the
point. "Your sword, Tycho. Where did you get it?"
"So
you guessed, eh? It's always been
mine," he replied, "Passed down through my family for
generations. I carried it around for
show until..." He paused. "Until I figured out what it was."
"Liar. Tell me the truth or Amok will beat it out of
you."
The
sword was in Tycho's hand before Luna even realized he drew it. "Will he? Ah, well, I suppose I can tell you. You are family, after all. If you must know, Mumm-ra told me. His Sword of Plundarr picked up on the power
of the Lunar Blade and he decided to tell me what I had. He said that if I can defeat Lion-O, he'll
send us back to the Moons."
Even
Amok managed to look sceptical.
"And you believe him?"
"Not
really, no. But it is worth a shot,
isn't it?"
* * *
"Hold
still, you little fur ball. This won't hurt as much if you do," Alluro
said, grabbing the young Wily Kat's shoulder. He waved his psyche club and
repeated his instructions. Wily Kat's body went rigid and he held still while
Alluro put a cast on the leg.
"Excellent
work, doctor," Chilla hissed from the doorway.
"Your
brother did his job fairly well. The bone was in seven pieces, not counting the
little fragments," Alluro said.
"When
it comes to hurting people, we Iespyks know what to do," Chilla said.
"You'd better hurry up and get him to the prisons. Knave reported having a
visual lock on Skytomb. Long range sensors report no activity from the Tower,
yet."
* * *
Mystan
drummed his fingers across the arm of his chair. "Estimated time of
arrival," he said flatly.
"Two
or three minutes. They aren't going at their top speed," Shade replied.
"Do
they suspect anything has happened?" Mystan asked.
"Unknown,
but probable. Chilla did extensive damage to the head. There's also the hole
that Alluro used to thrall Cheetara," Shade replied.
"Lousy
Alluro. Can never do anything right," Nightshade hissed.
* * *
"Strange. It looks like we weren't the only ones with
this idea," Luna muttered, sizing up the damage dealt to Cat's Lair.
"Makes
eet easier on us," said Tug-Mug.
Cat's Lair shot a laser blast from its eyes, causing the Skytomb to
pitch. "Though eet seems their
weapons are steel workeeng."
"Psychro,
get a channel open," ordered Luna, then, "Cease fire,
Thundercats. We have Tygra, Panthro,
your samurai friend, and the usual allotment of brute men on board. You will stop your attack and surrender to us
at once."
The
reply came audio-only: "Oh, shut up, Luna."
"Knave!" Whirling on her crew, Luna shouted,
"Mystan and the others beat us here!
Tug-Mug, Tycho, get out there.
Tell Psikaris she's got a chance to field-test her new creation. Get those traitors!"
"But,
Luna," started Psychro, checking his instruments, "Where's the
Skycruiser? The radar shows
nothing..."
Over
the cliffs behind Cat's Lair, the Skycruiser slowly rose into the sky. "Alluro must have devised a radar
shield," said Luna. "You'll
have to target it manually."
* * *
Skytomb's
cannons fired at the home of the Thundercats, rocking it. Knave, manning the
controls, fired back with the Lair's own defences. "Get ready. We're about
to receive visitors!" Knave shouted as Tug-Mug and Tycho emerged from the
structure. The hangar doors opened and a strange craft, piloted by Psikaris,
emerged. "They've got a new ship. I'll continue attacking Skytomb. You two
deal with our guests," Knave said. Alluro ran for the Ice Runner while
Chilla went out on foot.
* * *
Despite
her troops being on the battle field Luna refused to cease firing on Cat's
Lair. While she expected it, Luna was still mildly surprised to see Chilla and
Alluro emerging from within. "At least we won't have to deal with the
Thundercats," she mused.
"No,
but we will have to deal with Skycruiser. It's coming in hard and fast!"
Psychro shouted as the Skycruiser let loose a barrage of laser fire. "Main
engine is going offline. Emergency power kicking in," Psychro reported.
"Fire
back, you fool!" Luna shouted. The cannons fired twice, crackling along
the underbelly of Mystan's vessel. "Minor damage to most of their systems.
Weapons seem to be stabilizing and the engines appear to be functional,"
Psychro said.
"Can't
those brute men work any harder? We need more power!" Luna said.
"With
all due respect, Luna. There's no one ordering them around. We set up Tug-Mug's
Thundrillium loading device. I'll set it to increase the flow."
* * *
The
Skycruiser rocked with the latest blast from Skytomb's moon-cannons. "Dammit, we're too big a target,"
growled Mystan, hauling himself to his feet and crossing the bridge to where
Red-Eye was piloting. "Move over,
Darkling. Let's see what this old pirate
ship is capable of."
* * *
Luna
let out a shriek of rage when the Skycruiser dodged the latest barrage. "Do you want me to focus on Cat's Lair
or the Skycruiser?" asked Psychro.
"Cat's
Lair is the easier target, but the ground troops can handle it," said
Luna. "Renew the lock on that
ship!"
* * *
"Two
against one. That's hardly fair," said
Chilla, sizing up Tug-Mug and Tycho, then moving out of the way of a blast from
the gravity carbine. Deciding to even
the odds, she spat ice at Tug-Mug. With
his ranged weapon, the graviton was the more dangerous of the two.
Tug-Mug
jumped the attack. Using the sun as a
shield ( that is, Chilla was half-blinded when she tried to visually follow him
), he tried to land on the ice woman.
Chilla's trained reflexes got her mostly out of the way, but Tug-Mug
caught her cape on the way down. She
released the clasp before her ex-teammate could yank her to the ground. She turned quickly, coating Tug-Mug in ice.
"Clever,"
said Tycho. "But you're no match
for... eh?" Tycho tried to draw the
Lunar Blade, but failed. After a few seconds
of frantic tugging it occurred to him; this weapon couldn't be used against
Lunatacs.
* * *
"I
really am sorry I have to do this to you, Psikaris, but there simply isn't any
other way," Alluro said, tossing his psyche club's crystal over the
strange flying machine. It resembled a sphere with prongs sticking out. One of
these prongs emitted a ray of energy, shattering the crystal.
"We
wouldn't have to do this if you'd surrender yourself to Luna. I'm sure she'd
treat you better than if you were captured," Psikaris said.
"Thank
you for your generous offer, but I think I'll pass," Alluro began.
Suddenly Psikaris' ship was hit and spiralling out of control. Alluro turned
and saw the Cat's Eye lasers turning back on Skytomb. He nearly cursed Knave
and prayed, for the bastard's sake, that Psikaris was still alive. "It's
because she's a fellow Lunatac," he told himself, but another part of him,
buried in the deep recesses of his mind hinted that there was another reason.
* * *
Luna
screamed in outrage as Psychro pushed past her for the door. "Get back
here, you coward!" He didn't even
turn. "Must I do everything myself?
Come on Amok, let's show Mystan who's boss."
* * *
Wily
Kit slipped a tiny marble from her boot. She'd nearly forgotten it in all the
excitement. Luckily there seemed to be other things going on. "Cover your
eyes, Wily Kat," she said, tossing the projectile. It bounced once and
flared brightly. The ice around their companions was melted away from the heat
while the Thunderkittens themselves merely felt exceedingly warm. "Good
work, Thundercubs. Now, to get us out of here. Sword of Omens, come to my
hand!" said Lion‑O.
* * *
Knave
was impressed with the piloting of the Skycruiser. Whoever was at the controls
obviously knew what they were doing. Skytomb's weapons were, no doubt, running
out of power quickly and that meant it would fall soon enough. The Sword of
Omens at his side suddenly flared to life, rising out of its makeshift holster
and flying through the air. "Dammit!" he cursed. Knave quickly set
about sabotaging the equipment. He knew he stood little to no chance of getting
out in time, but he could prevent the Lair from being used against his allies.
* * *
Alluro
pried apart the door to Psikaris' little ship and pulled the unconscious woman from
the wreckage. She was alive, massive cuts and abrasions across the forehead and
arms. He gently removed a piece of metal from her upper arm and heard her
whimper softly against his shoulder.
Setting
the hybrid down a minute, Alluro went back to the Ice Runner. Chilla was sensible and should have some sort
of medical kit stashed on board her vehicle.
A few seconds of rummaging through the storage area behind the seat
proved him right. It wasn't much, but it
might be enough to stop the worst of the bleeding.
Psikaris,
only semi-conscious and in a sizeable amount of pain, tried to push Alluro away
when he set about trying to bind her wounds.
Regretting the loss of the psyche crystal, Alluro hoped his natural
abilities would be up to the task.
"Calm down, Psikaris. It is
only me. Only Alluro. Forget your pain. Let me help you."
All
his attention focussed, Alluro barely realized that someone began to help him
until he finished. "Psychro."
"Saw
the shot from Cat's Lair," replied the psi/ice hybrid. He looked down at his twin, then back up at
Alluro. "Thanks. I'll be taking her back to Skytomb now."
"You
will not."
Psychro
gave Alluro a dirty look. "Just
because I'm grateful doesn't mean I won't freeze you, Al."
Alluro
scowled back. "What I've done here
is merely a temporary measure. The only
Lunatacs that have any medical training whatsoever are Chilla and
myself..."
"And
Luna," Psychro added. "And why
don't I just take you back, too?"
"I
saw the hits Skytomb was taking. You'll
be lucky if anything works by the end of this fight."
"Cat's
Lair isn't in great shape, either."
"I'll
take her back to the Skycruiser, then," replied Alluro. "Report her captured or something. I promise Psikaris will be well taken care
of."
Much
as it annoyed him, Psychro knew Alluro was right. Psikaris would get the best treatment in the
Skycruiser. His personal communicator
chose that moment to go off, and Luna screeched, "Back to Skytomb! We are retreating! Back to Skytomb!"
With
a last dark look over his shoulder, Psychro hissed, "I'll deal with you
later," then disappeared back into the forest.
* * *
Tycho
got Luna's orders as well, though he had the slight inconvenience of trying to
avoid being flash-frozen or set on fire.
It was only natural agility and that it's easy to tell when an ice
Lunatac is about to attack that he was mostly undamaged.
And
his Lunar Blade refused to be used against a Lunatac! That removed what had been Tycho's main
advantage. Too bad Chilla wasn't dumb
enough to accidentally thaw Tug-Mug... but maybe the Lunar Blade could do
it. The Sword of Omens could melt
Chilla's ice, and he'd be helping a Lunatac...
The
sword allowed itself to be drawn this time, and Tycho fired off a blast of
energy. Chilla snickered when the beam
missed her by several feet, then let out a shriek of outrage when a blast from
behind her caused her to float several feet in the air. "Forget her," Tycho snapped at
Tug-Mug. "We have to get back to
Skytomb."
* * *
Knave
soon found himself bound at the wrists and ankles in the prisons of Cat's Lair.
Only Wily Kat stood guard. The others were going about trying to get the
systems back up and running. Knave had been informed that Skytomb and the
Skycruiser had left a short time ago. "I'll bet you feel pretty smug,
don't you?" Knave sneered.
"Why
wouldn't I? You're the one behind bars," Wily Kat retorted.
"The
indignity of it all. Held prisoner by Wily Kat. I'd rather be held by a slug,
or even a Snarf. Hells, your sister would make a better guard than you."
"You
can't talk like that about my friends!"
"Hit
a nerve, did I? Think how I feel, imprisoned by the weakest, most pathetic
Thundercat of all, the shame!"
"I
know what you're doing. You're trying to provoke me."
"Am
I?" Knave asked, flashing a toothy grin. "Maybe, but I don't have to
worry about a thing. I can be out of here anytime I please."
"Not
while I'm around!"
"You'd
be an inconvenience at best. Still, I haven't eaten in some time, you might
make a tasty snack," Wily Kat went pale, "and then of course I could
find your sister and let her join you in my stomach. Together forever to the oh
so delicious end." Knave began to chuckle drily.
"You
talk tough, but I don't see you doing anything," Wily Kat said, a little
unsure of himself.
"Aren't
I? Let me give you a little lesson. Ice Lunatacs can breathe in such a way that
metal becomes brittle and shatters with but a touch. Just imagine what it can
do to Thunderian flesh," Knave said.
"They
can?"
"Perhaps
a demonstration is in order." Knave raised his shackled hands and spread
them wide. A thin stream of extreme cold hit them and then proceeded to the
chains around his ankles. A gentle tug caused the chains to fall to the ground
like newly fallen snow.
Wily
Kat backed away until his back was against the wall. "Don't move. I've got
a bag of fire pellets here. Don't make me use them!" he shouted.
Knave
moved to the bars and knelt down in front of the lock. A pellet exploded behind
him. Although aware of the heat, his adrenaline was pumping through his veins,
allowing him to ignore it. A second went off beneath his hands, but the lock
was shattered.
"And
now, cub, it is time for you to die," Knave said.
In
a moment born of desperation, Wily Kat hurled the entire bag of fire pellets at
Knave, a short distance away. There was a deafening boom as the prison area was
filled with fire and smoke.
When
Cheetara came down a short time later there were two vaguely recognizable
corpses. Wily Kat and Knave had died.
To
be continued...
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