"Pantro! Give me a hand will ya?" Cheetara called down the chairs.

The panther hurried up the stairs to help her before her yelling got any louder. She was struggling with some of the computer councils. The Thundercat smiled and easily snapped the plate that had been loose into place. Then, he scolded.

"Cheetara! By Jaga, shhsh!" she flushed as the panther continued. "The kittens just went to sleep. No need to wake them up!"

"Too late," she concluded pointing behind him. Turning, Pantro was greeted by two sets of spontaneous eyes. Kit’s hair was frazzled and her nightgown ruffled. The silky purple coloring was tousled. Her twin brother, WilyKat, was just behind her. Judging by their blurry eyes, he guessed they'd been asleep for maybe an hour, probably less.

"What are you two doing?" Pantro asked, gruffly but not unkindly. "Did we wake you up?"

"Nah," the two responded in unison. "We weren’t asleep yet." Kit concluded. Cheetara and Pantro exchanged a look that said plainly, "Kittens!"

"Well, go now." Cheetara said as she approached the two. Guiding them from the room gently, she shot the panther a smile. He shook his head as the trio left the room and the female tucked the twins in. As troublesome as they were, he felt a comfort and compassion for them he’d never felt. His thoughts were interrupted as the door reopened and Tygra and Lion-o came in.

"What was all that shouting about?" Tygra asked. The panther smiled and shook his head.

"Oh it was nothing. The computer was actin’ up but we got it fixed. Unfortunately, not fast enough. The twins woke up. Cheetara took them back to bed."

Lion-o shook his head. "Well you must have been pretty loud to wake up the twins. Those two are deep sleepers."

The three burst out laughing. The door welcomed Cheetara back into the chamber. She saw the men laughing and immediately for no good reason, started laughing herself.

"What are the kittens’ stasis?" Tygra asked with a small chuckle. The cheetah smiled and slugged him on the shoulder, playfully.

"Sleeping like kittens,"

"Good. The way those two run around all day they need the rest."

The group immediately cracked up again. They loved those kids but by Jaga the trouble and energy they had! They sat back for watch and enjoyed the peace and quiet while they could.

"WilyKit where are you going?" Cheetara asked the young girl with a warm smile as she bounded down the stairs, nearly mowing her down. The female child flushed.

"Oh, sorry about that Cheetara. Kat said he was meeting me outside."

"Well, I won’t keep you. Try not get into too much mischief okay?"

Kit smiled. She giggled and said, "That’s what I’m good at."

As the kitten ran through the doors, the cheetah thought, "That was exactly my point."

She smiled to herself and turned back inside. Pantro was sitting in the control room on watch. The spotted female sat down beside him and laughed. He was fiddling with the controls. He was always tinkering with something, whether it was necessary or not.

"What’s so funny Cheetara?" Pantro demanded, turning around. She slugged his shoulder playfully and laid her arm on his. He seemed a bit uncomfortable at first but quickly got over it. Instead he felt the uneasiness that comes from worry. He turned to the female Thundercat.

"Cheetara? What’s wrong?" he asked kindly as she sighed. Her face seemed stressed and almost frightened. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t but the worry was still present.

"I…I don’t know Pantro. My sixth sense isn’t bothering me but for some reason, I’m tense."

He shrugged. "Don’t worry about it. I get tense all the time."

Cheetara giggled. "More so, when a couple of females are around."

Pantro glared at her coldly and she left laughing, leaving the warrior to fume.

"Come on, why can’t we go with you?" WilyKat demanded as Lion-o pushed him back down onto his bed. He crossed his arms and sat back up.

"Yeah," his sister chimed in. "It’s not fair!"

Lion-o hid a smile as he pushed the kitten back down and covered him up. "You’ll learn that not all things in life are fair, Thunderkittens. Anyway, you two need to get some sleep."

"Aw…"

"But we…"

"Listen to Lion-o, Thunderkittens," Tygra cut in from the doorway. "I know you hate to miss a festival of any sort but you need to stay away from this one. There will be alcohol and Jaga knows what else there at the Wollos’ village. Besides we need to install some communicators and things. If you two came, we wouldn’t be walking back to the Thundertank. We’d be walking and carrying you."

Kit tossed her hair and sighed as she turned in her bed. "Fine, go but we would not."

Tygra walked out and called back, "Yes, you would."

"No we wouldn’t."

"Yes,"

"No."

"Yes,"

"Kit, Kat?" Lion-o asked after they didn’t answer. The twins were asleep, thank the Lords. The tiger knew how to get them tired and knock them out. The adults left quietly and headed for the Wollos’ village.

"Thank you for installing those warning systems, Thundercats." The lead Wollo, Minion, said as he took another sip of berbilberry red wine. The adults were taking some time to relax but didn’t take any alcohol. Just in case of an attack, they needed to stay subtle.

"You’re welcome," Pantro responded. "Now maybe we can have a more acute warning so we can be prepared easier."

Cheetara nodded. Tygra put a hand on her shoulders and pushed her back down into a chair. He felt bunched muscles underneath her skin and began to massage her tense collar. She moaned in response and twisted her neck to loosen the tense muscles. He moved his hands up and started rubbing the yellow spotted fur that covered her neck. She sighed and leaned further back in her chair.

"Jeez, Cheetara," Tygra committed as he continued to rub her neck. "Get a grip. Lighten up a tad."

She sighed again but smiled. He slapped her cheek lightly, playfully.

"Sorry," she admitted. "I’m just nervous for some reason."

The tiger smiled. He started to tickle Cheetara. She giggled like a young Thunderian schoolgirl, like a young girl, like WilyKit. Her face flushed soon from laughing so hard. Finally, Tygra stopped.

"Would you all like to stay for the night?"

Lion-o shook his head. "No thanks. We should get back. Snarf will start to worry and the kittens will get jealous. Thank you again for the offer but we can-"

A loud scream cut Lion-o off. A young Wollo girl, about half as old as WilyKit ran into the village. Her thick black hair flew out behind her as she tore into the marketplace and threw herself around a young Wollo girl, maybe two years older, assuming her big sister.

"What’s wrong, sis?" the older child asked. The child was shaking. She pointed behind her. The Thundercats turned. Rushing in through the clouds came Mumm-ra!

"Mumm-ra!" the Thundercats rushed at the demon priest, waving their weapons threateningly. He easily dodged and laughed at their futile efforts.

"What do you want with the Wollos you bag of bones?!" Pantro demanded firing a blast of fire from one of his nunchucks. The mummy crept closer and flung a blast of lightning at them. Tygra flashed his whip, Cheetara flung her staff. Lion-o lifted the Sword of Omens and shouted "HO!"

The mummy was flung down to the ground by the blue blast. He growled and measured his odds. The Thundercats were all present except for the Thunderkitttens but they were just young cunning brats. He climbed to his feet and took to the air. Firing another blast at the adults he shouted a threat that chilled them to their bones.

"I know your weaknesses Thundercats. After much thinking-"

"I’ll make sure to mark the extraordinary event," Cheetara mocked, swinging her staff.

"Shut up, female!" Mumm-ra sneered back, "I have finally found it. The one weakness that is strung through you all. Value it while you can!"

With that the mage let out an icy cold laugh and disappeared.

"That was fun," Pantro said as they reentered the Lair. Cheetara shifted her position a tad.

"Men-I mean, BOYS," she laughed as they glared at her. "I don’t know. He sounded serious."

Tygra put a hand on her shoulder. "But Cheetara, there is no weakness that links us all except Thundrainum and he’s tried that already. I think he was trying to scare us."

"Well, I think I’ll go check on the twins once more before we all call it a night." Lion-o said as the others nodded. He ran up the stairs toward the kittens’ shared chamber. He didn’t want to admit it but that threat had spooked him into a state of paranoia. Whenever, he felt anticipation, he tended to become more protective of the twins.

He slid the door open quietly and tiptoed into the room. The two fraternal twins were asleep, their heads turned into their pillows. He sat on the edge of WilyKat’s bed and stroked the child’s cheek, almost silently. The fur that covered him and his sister was young and not frazzled or calloused. The hair that his fingers touched was feather-soft, like rabbit fur.

Kat moaned in his sleep and turned but didn’t wake up. Lion-o got up and walked over to WilyKit. She was face down, her face buried into the cushions of her bed. Lion-o stroked her hair gently and felt her delicate smell enter his nostrils. Both of the twins had a special smell. Before the Thunderians had evolved, their mother would have told them apart by their smell rather than their looks.

Lion-o knew their individual smell anywhere. They were almost identical. Kit’s was a tad sweeter than her brother’s was because she was female. It was delicate and sugar sweet. The aroma of roses, buttercups, and cinnamon fit her perfectly because she was nice and kind but had a somewhat tangy temper.

Her brother’s was similar. It was pine, roses, and some spice. He had a more tender personality than most of the other males but he definitely had the masculine temper. Still, unlike Pantro he didn’t lose it often. He just wasn’t that way. The only time he’d lose it to Lion-o’s knowledge was if a threat was made to his twin.

Lion-o smiled at the two and got back up. He pulled the covers tighter around each and stepped outside. The children’s’ faces had calmed him but as soon as he lost sight of them the worry once more over took him.

"It just doesn’t make sense, Lion-o," Cheetara said, putting her head in her hands. She looked at her lord, seated in the driver’s seat of the Thundertank. Pantro and Tygra were inside trying to explain why the kittens were being left behind, again.

"Why? Why? Why can’t we go?" Kat demanded, trailing after Tygra. Kit had her arms locked around Pantro and refused to let go. The adults exchanged a look. Pantro gently peeled Kit’s arms off from his waist.

"Look, you two stay here!" Pantro spoke roughly. "It’s well past your bedtime anyway. So, while we go to help Willa with some detector problems, you two go get lost in dreamland."

"Aww," Tygra silenced them both with a look and with that pointed upstairs toward their bedroom. The twins scowled but reluctantly went up the stairs. Pantro looked at the tiger and rolled his eyes. Tygra shook his head.

The two headed outside and mumbled, "Kittens!"

They didn’t notice as they left the strange dark gloom that settled in the dark night sky.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about Thundercats," Willa said, exasperated. She looked at her friends confused faces.

"I swear Lion-o," she promised. "I didn’t call you,"

The adults looked at one another. "Well, then" Lion-o stated slowly, "We’ll go,"

Pantro spoke out and stepped closer to Willa. "Yes we will go. Sorry about the mix-up. I’ll have to see what’s wrong with the system when we get back."

Willa smiled. "Don’t worry about it."

The Thundercats joked with each other as they drove into the hangar. Tygra leapt from the tank and went to the door. "Hey, guys, it’s stuck," he called. Pantro hissed.

"Well, it won’t be for long. Let me at it." Tygra stepped aside and Pantro approached the door. He examined it. "Tygra it’s not stuck. The power’s out. The question is why?"

Pushing against the metal, the panther managed to force the door open. Everyone let out a gasp as they entered. Chairs were overturned. Lamps were broken. They instinctively drew their weapons.

"Snarf!" Lion-o called suddenly and darted for the door. The others quickly followed. Snarf was hurt but he seemed to be alive. He was crying. He had never cried before at least not in the open if he could help it.

"Snarf, what’s wrong?" Cheetara asked dropping to his level. He wiped away the tears.

"Snarff, I tried to stop him," he wailed. "But Mumm-ra was too strong!"

"Mumm-ra!" they all shouted together. Snarf continued.

"I tried to help. I tried. But I wasn’t fast enough."

‘Fast enough for what?" Tygra demanded looking at him.

"I came in and Mumm-ra knocked me aside," Snarf explained. "When I got up, the kittens were screaming!"

That got them all moving. Lion-o leaped over Snarf but Pantro soon tore ahead. He plowed in the kittens’ room crying their names, "WilyKit! WilyKat! Thunderkittens!"

As the others tore in, Pantro screamed for the first time in sadness and regret. The beds were empty. The Thunderkittens were gone…

Like Weaknesses © 1999, C. A. Angley (Thundercub) No one can copy this in whole or in part without permission of Thundercub. However, it may be posted on WebPages or downloaded for personal use as long as this notice and proper credit is given. Thundercub reserves the only right to reprint, write, or distribute this piece of work as she desires. This is a work of fan-fiction and Thundercats are property of Trademarks Production. © 1985