Thundercats Fan Fiction ❯ Last Life ❯ Chapter Two: S.O.S. ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter Two: S.O.S
It was quiet in the Cat’s Lair. Everyone was fast asleep, all except for one person. Tygra. Tygra found that he could not sleep. Not that he would be able to if he wanted to. He had spent the last several months of sleepless nights searching through the Thundercats’ Computer for any distress signals or any kind of sign that she was still alive. One of their own had somehow gone missing during the Mutants’ attacks while they were fleeing Thundera. It was his student and close friend, Lina.

His dark red gaze watched the computer screen as many colors flickered across its surface. It was scanning all lines of communications on the radar for her. He felt that his student was still alive somewhere. Even after Panthro had told him that she might as well have been dead, but they had found Pumyra, Lynx-O, and Bengali didn’t they? Moreover, they were still alive and well. So, maybe there was a chance, no matter how big or slim, that she might be alive as well.

Whenever a Thunderian had a strong feeling on something, then they are to act on, even if it seemed impossible or illogical. Maybe Jaga had accidently pressed the wrong button shortly before he faded away and that simple mistake had sent his daughter somewhere safe. Only she just was not with them.

Tygra quickly tapped on the keyboard interface, his fingers flying across the numerous buttons as he input some new possible coordinates. However, no luck. He even had Mandora keeping an eye out for any distress signals from anyone or even Lina herself. He got an inkling feeling that Lina would not be her old self-when they find her.

Exhaustion itched at his eyes but he refused to give up. Tygra let out a soft growl of a yawn and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before pulling up his chair. He could not stop not while the others were still asleep and not with this inkling feeling still burning in his heart. If Lina had died then he would have felt it. Hell, even Lion-O would have felt it as Lina’s betrothed.

Tygra was so caught up in his work that he had failed to see two naughty Thunderkittens watching him from behind the door. Usually his telekinetic powers would help him sense if someone was watching him and he would be able to quickly hide what he was doing to address his visitors. Wilykit frowned a bit, her red eyes narrowing slightly as she leaned against her older twin brother.

“He’s at it again, Wilykat.” She whispered quietly. She had been worried about their oldest member doing all of these secret late night searches on the computer. Ever since they had found the three new Thundercats, something had clicked within Tygra and he became more quiet and distracted. His mind had been preoccupied with something else. He had often had a lapse in thought during their council meetings.

Wilykat crinkled his nose a bit, his own eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the determined Tygra at work. He finally looked at his twin. “What do you think he’s lookin’ for?” He asked, with a scratch to his ear. He watched the concern break across his sister’s face.

“I bet it’s Lina.” Wilykit said softly. She tore her gaze away from her brother’s and felt a pang in her heart. “She’s been missing for too long, Wilykat. Where do you think she could have gone? Is she…really dead? ” She could barely say the dreaded word without breaking out into tears. It hurts to have actually thought that one of their own was dead rather than be missing completely.

Lion-O and Tygra had both gotten angry that Panthro even said that she was dead if they had not found her by now. It was then that a rift had started forming between the three. Tygra becoming obsessed with his computer work, Panthro immersed himself in his training and tweaking all the Thunder Equipment and Lion-O had been, well, sulking. Cheetara had tried to keep the peace between everyone, but even her kind words were at a loss. Life had been stressful in the Lair lately and to top it all off, Mumm-Ra had been too quiet, as were the mutants and the Lunatacs.

Wilykat frowned and he slipped his arms around her, drawing her to his body in a hug. “Hey, if Tygra and Lion-O believes that Catlina is alive then, she is. I believe she is, too. Heck, we all do, Kit.” He pulled his sister’s face to look at him and wiped her tears with his hand. “Panthro believes it; he’s just hurting like the rest of us.”

“Y-yea.” Wilykit managed to smile through her tears and she gave a weak nod. “Thunderian law Number 23: Never give up hope.” She stated, remembering the laws that had been instilled into them and their fellow Thunderians since the beginning of time.

“Uh, right. I mean, yea.” Wilykat blinked a bit but he forced himself to smile anyways. He knew all the laws but he did not know which law was what number. He left the entire know-it-all attitude to his little sister while he relaxed about trying to remember this sort of stuff.

Wilykit cracked a grin at her twin, giving him a knowing look. “You didn’t know that, Thunderdork.” She said as they stood up now. She shook her head at seeing Wilykat blush and she smiled more. She was glad that Wilykat was there to cheer her up.

“Come on, we have to get to bed before Tygra or one of the others catches us.” Wilykat stood up as well and he took his sister’s hand into hers before leading her away.

The automatic door opened as she stepped into the room. Cheetara saw the Thundercubs quickly darting into their room out of the corner of her eye. The blonde Thundercat just merely shook her head with a small smile. She knew they were worried about Tygra and the others. Not wanting to start anything or punish the twins, Cheetara pretended not to notice them and walked past their room as she made her way to the computer room to check up on Tygra.

Tygra was very quiet and muttering a few curses under his breath. His confidence was sinking lower now. There seemed to be no hope for finding her. His eyes narrowed as he finally sensed someone coming. The blue clothed tiger man quickly turned around, ready to scold the Thunderkittens when he noticed her standing a few feet away. He sighed in embarrassment at seeing Cheetara’s knowing gaze.

“I know what you’re going to say, Cheetara and I’m not giving up.” Tygra said before she could say anything. He turned back to the computer and began to type again.

“Oh?” Cheetara raised an eyebrow with a small frown. She was getting really worried about her friend. “Who says that I was going to tell you to give up?” She asked gently. Her voice was soft and quiet as she stepped closer to Tygra. She reached out with her left hand and touched his shoulder.

Her touch caused Tygra’s body to become tense. Cheetara smiled faintly as she finally got within his reach. Tygra gripped the edge of the table at feeling the woman’s hand on his shoulder. It was not that he did not like being comforted by her or anyone else; he just did not want to break down in front of anyone. Tygra was always seen as the one who kept his emotions in check. He was the heart of the Thundercats so to speak.

Tygra took in a deep breath, his body rattling from the intake. He focused his gaze onto the keyboard below. “I have to find her, Cheetara. She is alive out there. I just know it.” He whispered softly.

“I know and we’ll find her.” Cheetara whispered back. She started to rub his back gently in hopes of easing his tension. “But you really need to get some sleep, Tygra. All of these sleepless nights are unhealthy.”

It was then that he pulled away from her. Tygra pulled up his mental shield and locked it airtight so that she would not be able to see his mental strain. “I can’t. I have to find her, Cheetara.” Tygra said gruffly. He lifted his head and started to scope out another part of the galaxy on the satellite’s radar. He needed to find her and fast. He was not going to give up.

The satellite came to another part of the galaxy when an alarm went off. Cheetara looked up at the red flashing lights as Tygra quickly scanned all the security cameras. He frowned at finding no sign of an intruder. There was no one outside or inside the Cat’s Lair. Everyone was asleep or rather they were in their rooms to say the least.

“What could’ve triggered the alarm?” Cheetara asked over the wailing and screeching of the alarm. She looked over her shoulder at the doorway as the other Thundercats ran into the room. Lion-O was the first to arrive.

“Cheetara, Tygra. What happened?” Lion-O asked, his eyes were filled with worry but his face was grim as he entered the room. Lion-O had his hand over the hilt of the Sword of Omens, ready to draw it out in case of an attack.

Tygra ignored the presence of the others for a few seconds as he logged off the security cameras. This seemed more like a distress signal. Furrowing his eyebrows, he quickly pushed a few buttons. His eyes widened when he saw what the distress signal was about.

“Tygra? What is it?” Cheetara asked, walking back up to him. She could sense his mixture of emotions, but at least he was showing some sign of life now for Tygra turned back to the others. A smile was Tygra’s lips as he answered the question that everyone seemed to be seeking answers for.

“It’s a Thunderian distress signal.” Tygra felt his heart jump with happiness, or rather hope. He knew that all of these late nights of no sleep would pay off now. He knew it was her. That inkling feeling was telling him it was her.

Wilykit and Wilykat cheered, hugging each other with laughter as they chanted. “We found Lina! We found Lina.”

For the first time in a long time, everyone was happy and the tension between Lion-O, Panthro, and Tygra had disappeared. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted off their shoulders and Panthro even allowed himself to smile as he nodded.

“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s fire up the Feliner and go get her.” A wide smile graced Panthro’s face and with a loud cheer from everyone, the Thundercats went off to prepare for the trip.

---

Lynx-O could hear the sounds of the Feliner’s engine rumbling as he used the Braille board control system to carry him and his kinsmen to the set coordinates that Tygra had given him. Panthro had been working on the Feliner for the past few months. And after several flight attempts and whatnot, the Feliner was finally ready for lift off to space.

They had been traveling through space towards First Earth for at least a few days now. Lynx-O keeps his nonexistent gaze forwards as he prepares the Feliner to enter the atmosphere. “Do you really think Lina is somewhere on this planet, Tygra? Lord Lion-O?” The old Thundercat asked in a raspy voice. His whiskers quivered a bit as he spoke. His clawed hands remained on the Braille board.

“No, we know she’s there.” The two said in unison. Lion-O blushed faintly while Tygra just gripped the arms of his seat. His entire body had become tense again and he sat there, his gaze focused on the image on the computer display. He wanted his findings to be right.

A blue planet that seemed much like Third Earth loomed in the distance. Wilykat’s eyes went wide at seeing the image. “What planet is this?” He asked, his red eyes staring in wonder at the planet.

Lynx-O was the one to answer. “This is First Earth. Its climate and atmosphere is much like Third Earth, only this seems to be much more populated with people like the Warrior Maidens of the Tree Top Kingdom, or so says the information I’m getting.” The old Thundercat replied, as the Feliner’s radar seemed to hone in on the signal. The loud beeping of the distress signal was louder now, signifying that they were close.

“It’s beautiful. As far as planets go.” Wilykit’s eyes widened in wonder now too. The picture on the computer changed, as they were now able to see specific details of their target location. Dusty plains filled with lots of grass and wildlife such as the animals that resembled those of Third Earth could be seen but everything seemed to become a big blur on the screen for the gravitic warp of the ship’s engines seemed to carry them to the location of the distress signal at the speed of light.

Pumyra seemed to lose her footing and she stumbled back a bit, only to be caught by Bengali. Blushing a bit, she quietly thanked him and regained her balance. She still clung to him just in case the ship jerked forwards a bit.

The Feliner finally came upon a small suburban community with many houses but its satellite honed in on a two-story house that seemed to stand out from the rest. Lion-O and Tygra both stood up in shock at what the monitor displayed now. Slithe and his cohorts were seen through heat vision radar, chasing two girls. Getting a small tingling sensation in her soul, Cheetara rubbed her temples to keep an oncoming headache at bay.

“Cheetara?” Panthro questioned, staring at her with concern now.

“It’s Lina. She’s in trouble.” The female Thundercat whispered quietly. She nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a loud scream on the monitor.

Tygra immediately got out of his seat, with his whip in hand. The girl he thought was Lina was about to fall. “Lynx-O, open the door now and bring us closer.” Tygra said hurriedly as he ran to the door.

“Tygra!” Lion-O followed him, but it was already too late. Lynx-O had opened the door and Tygra had already leapt out of the Feliner.

---

Catrina’s eyes widened as she fell backwards. There was a sense of fright that reverberated through her body. She felt Sammy clinging to her for dear life. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and the blood seemed to rush to it as well. The teenager held her stepsister closer, trying to turn over in mid air so that she could land on her feet, but it was not working. She could not concentrate with all the blood pounding in her ears.

“Hold on, Lina!” A voice yelled. Catrina looked up and much to her surprise, she saw a strange space ship flying over head but a tiger-like man had jumped out of its side door and was now falling towards her. Her whole body shook as the man caught her and her sister in one arm. In one instant, he cracked his whip, making the end of the whip to trail from the hilt he held in his hand and the actual whip flew to the branch of a nearby tree. With the whip’s end wrapped around the thick tree branch, she felt the three of them swinging to the tree trunk.

The blue clothed tiger man had managed to retract his bolo whip and he landed with perfect catlike grace as he landed on his feet on the ground. Sammy gripped her sister’s nightdress and buried her face into her neck. Her entire body was trembling. The three space pirates seemed to retreat at the sight of Catrina’s rescuer for in the next instant, she saw a huge beam of light hitting them and they were forced to disappear into an invisible spot in her yard.

Catrina’s eyes widened, as what she thought was her neighbor’s yard had quickly faded away into another air craft, only it was like shoddy looking. Catrina just held Sammy closer to block the strong gust of wind from the Mutants’ ship as it rose off the ground. She closed her eyes, burying her face into Sammy’s hair. She could not believe that all of this was happening. It seemed like one big dream that she might get after watching many science fiction movies or something, but no matter how many times she willed it, she could not wake up.

The ship flew off with a loud roar and what seemed like an idle threat from the reptile mutant. It took a few minutes for Catrina to regain her senses. Her rescuer finally released her since he had hugged her to his body to block the wind as well before he looked down at her. A big smile was on his face as he looked down at her now. She could see relief written on his face.

“Thank Thundera, you’re safe, Lina.” He said happily. He went to touch her again when Catrina just stumbled back, trying get away from him. Sammy was trembling in her arms, whimpering from the shock, and some other people had rushed out of the house now.

Hina: This chapter has been revised as well. Thanks for reading, for those who were reading it.