Psiarik stormed downstairs into Vultureman’s lab. He was hoping he could find some gadget that would send out a nice destructive blast for him to let off some steam. He was thinking of going outside to shoot at some of the boulders in the field behind the tower. Preferably a boulder that was about five feet tall and had a big head—something that could pass for his irksome brother in law, Prince Silvian. The angry psychic entered the lab and slammed the door behind him. He started rifling through a mass of odds and ends on one of the benches looking for one that worked.

"Hello Psiarik," a familiar voice spoke from behind him.

Psiarik turned and saw Alluro standing there. "What are you doing here?" he asked accusingly.

"Vultureman said I could take a look at some of his newer inventions. I used to build and invent things myself a long time ago. He and I worked together occasionally back on Third Earth," Alluro replied. "Why are you here?"

"I’m looking for something I can blow up boulders with while visualizing them as being Silvian," the other Psi grumbled. He picked up a small gizmo that looked as though it had destructive potential and examined it. Actually he wasn’t looking at it so much out of interest than it was out of a need to not look at who was talking to him. He knew on some level that if he looked at Alluro straight on, then he’d have to face him, and he’d have to face all the issues buried deep inside himself that his long absent father brought up. He had no desire to deal with that on top of all of the other stress he was under between the horrible dreams and Silvian’s annoying behavior.

"You don’t get along with him very well, do you?" Alluro asked casually.

"Don’t get me wrong, he’s Selene’s brother and I do like him, but he really gets on my nerves. He has a big mouth and rubs me the wrong way. He doesn’t know when to quit."

"Sounds like Luna," Alluro said with a smirk.

"Yeah well, they are related. Maybe annoying tendencies are hereditary," Psiarik remarked. As soon as he spoke the words he then realized how he’d inadvertently opened the door for the discussion he’d been trying to avoid, and he kicked himself inwardly. He saw Alluro give him a questioning look, and he sighed in annoyance as he realized there was no easy out now. "Look, I didn’t mean—"

"I know what you meant," Alluro cut him off. "It doesn’t take empathic powers to pick up on the fact that you don’t hold a very high opinion of me. If I had known about you, maybe—"

"Maybe what? Would it have changed anything? I don’t think so," Psiarik snapped, his buried anger surfacing again. "Mom told me all about you, and to put it politely I’ll just say most of it wasn’t very flattering. You used her and lied to her. Do you even know how she finally found out the truth about you? She saw it on the news of all places—that you’d been named as a fugitive with one of the most wanted criminals of the time. It wasn’t until then that she found out how many lies you’d told her, one of them being how much you loved and needed her, while the whole time you were just there to get your hands on her money. No, it wasn’t until after you were long gone that she found out how you’d screwed her—both literally and figuratively—but by then it was too late. You were history and she found out she was pregnant. That’s where I came into the picture. I was probably better off without you anyway. But I never should have even been born. Maybe then I wouldn’t have had to deal with all this hell that’s been my life," the younger psychic said venomously.

If he hadn’t been angered and on some level hurt by his stinging words, Alluro would have laughed out loud at his son’s melodramatics. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Yes, he had treated Lurella horribly, and he’d never said he didn’t, but how Psiarik could possibly think that he’d had such a miserable life was beyond him. He had everything—money, power, and love—and here he was complaining about it? And even worse, blaming everything that was wrong with his life on him? What a brat! Alluro thought angrily.

"Well you certainly inherited your talent for whining from your mother," Alluro replied irritably. "She used to have the same ‘victim’ attitude that you do. How rough could it have been being born into her rich family never wanting for anything?" he challenged.

Psiarik flew into a rage. "You don’t know the first thing about me! How about seeing your family that you’ve just had a horrible fight with die in front of you while you can’t do anything but watch helplessly? How’s that for tough? Is that bad enough for you?" he shouted back.

Alluro frowned. "I imagine it feels about the same as it did to watch Luna shoot my sister dead when she was out to kill us all." He reigned in his temper slightly and continued. "I won’t say it’s not terrible that you had to see your family die, but I’m sure you weren’t the only one who had to endure a lot when the disasters hit the moons. From what I was told, Selene and Silvian watched their palace and everyone in it, including their family, get doused in lava. I heard Frostor say he was the only survivor when the entire campus center of the university he worked at caved in on itself."

Alluro’s words were not what Psiarik wanted to hear. The younger psychic had heard just about all he could take from him. Even if he was his father in the biological sense, Psiarik couldn’t believe he had the nerve to come out of nowhere and think he could tell him anything after all that he’d done. What does he know? Psiarik thought angrily. He doesn’t have a clue about anything! He was too busy having a good time running around with Luna and her buddies terrorizing the universe to know a damn thing about me or my life. Where does he get off?

Psiarik shot Alluro a disgusted look. "What do you know about the disasters anyway? You were living the good life on Third Earth!"

Alluro let out a cynical laugh at that statement. "The ‘good life’? Is that what you think? Let me tell you something… when we weren’t trapped in molten rock, we were getting our asses kicked on a regular basis by the Thundercats, putting up with the idiocy of Vultureman and the other Mutants, and worst of all, the ridiculous whims of that gods damned mummy. You have no idea what we endured on Third Earth. My sister—your aunt—went insane and was killed by Luna. Mumm-Ra sealed us up in lava for over a decade, and when he let us out, he virtually enslaved us. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Thundercats then locked us up and exiled us on Way Out Back. After escaping there we had to live in hiding for another decade or so. Don’t you talk to me about the ‘good life’. You’re the one living in a palace, a king by marriage no less, married to a pretty and devoted queen. If you stopped your childish self-pity for two seconds things might not look as bad as you seem to think they do," he retorted heatedly.

"So I’m supposed to feel sorry for you?" Psiarik scoffed.

"No. But you’d better damn well stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"It’s a little late for fatherly advice, don’t you think?"

"You’re right. Forget it," Alluro said, deciding he’d had enough of this nonsense. "That’s the last time I listen to Luna on any personal matter. Her advice was useless," the hypnotist grumbled. He had lost his patience with trying to talk to his resentful and rather obnoxious son. Lurella had obviously spent her years with their son convincing him that his father was nothing less than the incarnation of pure evil and nothing he said or did was going to erase that image now and convince him otherwise. Alluro headed for the door, determined to forget the whole thing entirely.

Psiarik, however, felt a flash of remorse for his behavior when he’d heard Alluro say he’d discussed him with Luna. "You asked Luna about me?" he asked.

Alluro paused at the door. "Yes. Why?"

"You… you cared enough to ask?" he said, his voice betraying a hint of feeling.

Alluro turned to face him. "Whether you like it or not, you’re the only family I have left. That I care about. But not if you’re not even willing to give me a chance. If I want to be verbally attacked, I can just go and talk to Luna. At least her abuse I’m used to."

"All right… maybe I did judge you a little harshly. It’s true that I don’t know you personally. I only know what Mom told me about you," Psiarik conceded feeling genuinely contrite for his rudeness. "But you do have to admit you treated Mom very badly."

"I admit to that," Alluro replied evenly.

"And I’m going to say now, if you ever do anything to me or Selene or anyone else I care about, you’re going to regret the day you laid eyes on my mother and allowed me to be born," Psiarik warned him, but from his tone it was clear that it was more defensive than angry.

Alluro turned and took a few steps toward him. "I have no intention of doing any such thing. I wouldn’t betray my own son. I admit I’m not by any means a ‘nice guy’ but I’m not the root of all evil either, as you seem to think I am."

Psiarik’s voice softened considerably. "Well ok then... maybe we can work something out," he offered.

A faint smile crossed Alluro’s face. "All right. Talk to me."

Little Cheetaro, son of Lion-O and Cheetara, was sitting happily in his playroom building a pyramid with his toy blocks. Snarf had been watching him, but he’d left the room for a moment to check on a crashing noise that had originated in Pumari’s room. Chet didn’t know why he had built a pyramid with four towers on each corner, but he did it anyway, and when it was finished, he stared at it with rapt attention.

"Mumm-Ra," he said in an eerie tone. "Torlei." He spoke the two names aloud even though there was no one to hear him. Suddenly the room around him vanished, and all he saw was darkness. When his eyes adjusted he saw two terrible figures and a monster-dog that were large and scary. Monsters, he thought, they’re monsters. The two figures were standing over a pool talking and laughing wickedly. Then the boy turned and in the corner saw WilyKat.

The male Thundercat twin was bound in chains and shackles to a wall in the dark and frightening place. A strange glow emanated from the chains and surrounded him. It was an energy field that held the Thundercat securely and kept him weak and unconscious.

Chet also felt the intense evil and fear in the atmosphere of the pyramid, and when he saw WilyKat, he immediately started crying. The two figures then turned and saw him. When the cub saw the hideousness of their faces, he screamed in terror and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was in Snarf’s arms. The old nursemaid had heard him screaming and was trying to comfort him and calm him down. The dark pyramid was gone, the trapped WilyKat was gone, and the evil figures were gone.

"Snarf, snarf, it’s ok, little guy," Snarf said in an attempt to soothe him. "There’s nobody here. You’re safe with old Snarf." Chet started to feel better and relaxed. His sobbing ceased and once Snarf was certain he was all right, Snarf set him down.

Snarf then picked up a cookie off of a plate he had brought in earlier. "Here you go, Chet. I bet this will make you feel better, snarf snarf," Snarf said, and handed him the cookie.

Chet eagerly took the cookie and took a big bite. The scary vision was forgotten.

Silvian posed in front of his bedroom mirror with the MoonSaber. "Take that!" he said, and struck a defensive stance. He’d never been in a sword fight before, but it felt natural. And if he did say so himself, he was intimidating with his sword. He grinned. Not to mention damn good looking, even if he was on the short side. Nobody was going to mess with him. "I wonder how many good looking women I can get carrying this thing around..." he mused aloud.

Suddenly the mirror shimmered and glowed brightly with a brilliant white light, like the sun shining on the frozen snow. Silvian was surprised, but drawn to the lovely light. An image slowly formed, that of a frozen race woman who bore more than a slight resemblance to Chilla. However, it wasn’t Chilla. This woman’s features were less harsh but more determined. Her hair was longer and tied back an intricate style and she wore a cloak bearing the insignia of the royal court officers of days past. Her eyes shone brightly as she stared at the prince. "Prince Silvian!" her deep and commanding voice spoke.

"Who... who are you?" he stammered, awestruck.

"I was once known as Chillandra. Our kingdom is in terrible danger, Prince Silvian. The MoonSaber has been found," the spirit told him in an ominous tone.

"I know. I have it here. It’s safe," Silvian said proudly, and drew it from its sheath to show it to her.

The image of Chillandra shook her head. "It can never be safe as long as the Thundercats live and can take it from us. They will stop at nothing. As I speak the Thundercat Snoelle that I defeated so many years ago in the mountains of the frozen moon has been freed from her prison and now lives among the Thundercat nobles on New Thundera. She knows of the MoonSaber’s power and the Thundercats plan to take it from us."

"They’ll never take anything from me," Silvian said bravely.

"They must be stopped. They plot treachery against you and your people, Prince Silvian. Stop them."

Silvian was uncomfortable as he realized what she was ordering him to do. "I don’t like the Thundercats any more than any other Lunatac does, but they wouldn’t just come and attack us. They’ve got some Code of Thundera or something that doesn’t allow them to attack without provocation. It’s one of the reasons they kept getting their asses kicked in some of the ancient wars—they won’t fight dirty. Well that and the fact that they’re so self-righteous, thinking their ways are how everyone should live, that they make everyone want to attack them in the first place."

"They are hypocrites," Chillandra hissed. "They use their code only to suit their own needs. You don’t think that they would fight dirty? Snoelle broke into the palace and stole the MoonSaber fifty years ago. Now that she is loose, she will try again. It’s a risk that cannot be taken. I have come from the astral plane to warn you, the MoonSaber’s rightful holder, of this danger. You must stop them, Silvian. They must be stopped at any cost. They must all be destroyed," the spirit insisted.

As Silvian worried, she had confirmed her intentions for him. "Destroyed?" he said apprehensively. "But I’ve never just attacked anyone. Not without reason." Silvian was hotheaded, impulsive, and eager to fight, willing to use his sword and protect his kingdom, but he was not killer at heart. He didn’t like the idea of going in and just killing someone, especially if they hadn’t actually done anything against him yet, even if they were the enemy Thundercats.

"Is preservation of your kingdom not a reason?" the ghost hissed angrily.

"But they haven’t attacked—"

"They will, Silvian," Chillandra said with icy stubbornness and insistence. "You must stop them before it is too late. The fate of all five of Plundarr’s Moons lies in your hands. Save them. Leave for New Thundera and stop the snow leopard noble and her friends before they use your MoonSaber to destroy all you hold dear. Go now, or risk losing everything that ever meant anything to you," the ice sorceress threatened.

Chillandra’s words struck a nerve in Silvian. He remembered what it felt like to watch everything you cared about be destroyed. He and Selene had watched it happen back when Thundera’s explosion had ravaged the moons. He wasn’t about to let that happen again. And Chillandra was a respected officer and sorceress of the past. Surely her astral spirit wouldn’t have summoned him for no reason. "As you say, I will do whatever is necessary to defend this kingdom," Silvian agreed.

"Tonight. You must leave tonight. You must leave now," insisted the spirit.

"Right now," Silvian said obediently. He grabbed the MoonSaber and tore out of the room bound for the landing bay. If it was as urgent as Chillandra’s spirit said, then he couldn’t waste any time in getting to New Thundera. He stopped only to inform Selene, who was speaking with Frostor, Chilla, Luna, and TugMug in the lounge at the time. The Lunatac Queen agreed that her brother should follow whatever guidance the spirit had given him, and Frostor, Chilla, and TugMug volunteered to accompany him on the trip. Ten minutes later the crew blasted off in Silvian’s ship, bound for New Thundera.

Right after Silvian left the room, the vision in his mirror changed again. Chillandra’s image faded, and a more sinister one replaced it. The grotesque face of Mumm-Ra stared back out into the empty bedroom. "Yes, Prince Silvian," it chuckled maliciously. "Do go and attack the Thundercats. I’ll be there when the swords clash against one another and destroy both planets and all five moons, and I’ll take what’s left over. But you won’t be around to worry about that," Mumm-Ra said as he broke into maniacal laughter. His plan was working even better than he had thought.

Far away on the planet Plundarr, Ratar-O sat in the war room of the Mutant Warrior King’s palace. He was waiting for news of victory in subduing a rebellion in one of the outer territories of his planet. He tapped his fingers against the table impatiently, when a blinding flash of light interrupted his thoughts.

"Ratar-O, hear me," a savage-sounding voice called.

Ratar-O spun around in surprise. "Who dares to sneak into my private quarters?" he demanded, drawing the Rat’s Eyes from his belt and holding them in a vicious, defensive stance. The Rat-Mutant then saw the form of his ancestor Ratilla standing before him. "Ra-Ratilla? No, it can’t be..." he said, shocked.

"It is, my descendant," the ghostly image of the deceased rat said. "I am here to tell you that the time to fulfill your destiny has come. You must take back what rightfully belongs to our family and our people."

"What are you talking about?" Ratar-O demanded.

"The Sword of Plundarr. It belongs in your hands by birthright, but instead it’s in the possession of the devil priest Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living. He is now on New Thundera, and you must take the Sword of Plundarr from him and use it to destroy your enemies. He knows of your destiny, and he awaits your arrival."

"What enemies are you talking about? The Thundercats?"

"Yes," Ratilla’s spirit said. "They are to be destroyed. A great battle is to be fought and you are destined to emerge victorious, but you must first get the Sword of Plundarr. From there you are to go and fight Lion-O and the other Thundercats, as well as the Prince of the Lunar-Plundarrian kingdom. The Sword of Plundarr has the power to destroy them all, and when you win, you will rule not only all of Plundarr, but all of New Thundera and Plundarr’s moons as well. Follow my guidance, Ratar-O, and be the ultimate ruler of it all."

Ratar-O’s appetite for power was tingling with anticipation. "All I have to do to have all of that is to get the Sword of Plundarr from Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living? Tell me, how do I get it from him?"

"Go to the black pyramid on New Thundera. Mumm-Ra knows that the Sword ultimately belongs in your possession and he will return it to you, since he does not possess the bloodline necessary to utilize its full power. Mumm-Ra will aid you if you allow him to do as he pleases once you have conquered the worlds. Our spirits have come to this agreement in the presence of the Ancients and it has been sealed by their power. Now, you must seek out the dark sorcerer immediately, Ratar-O. Do not fail me. Do not fail your people!" Ratilla’s ghost insisted.

Ratar-O nodded. "Yes, Ratilla, I will take the Sword of Plundarr and conquer all the worlds in the name of the Mutants!" He held up his Rat’s Eyes together, making them glow with power, then sheathed them on his belt once more and headed for the nearest ship.

Ratilla’s ghost changed form once Ratar-O was out of sight, back into his natural form of Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living. "I must say, I had forgotten how amusing it was to disguise myself and fool my enemies into thinking I am one of their trusted friends or ancestors," he cackled. "Not only was I able to fool that overconfident and naive Prince Silvian, but I was able to fool Ratar-O, the seasoned battle commander of Plundarr, as well! Oh, this day could not get any better! I can’t wait to see the look on Lion-O’s face when Silvian and Ratar-O show up ready to wipe the miserable existence of the Thundercats off the face of New Thundera forever! HA HA HAAAA!" Mumm-Ra laughed, and vanished from sight.

Back on the Moons, Psiarik was in a much-improved mood. He and Alluro had ended up having a very long talk together in Vultureman’s lab. As it turned out, the two of them had a great deal in common, and Psiarik found that he actually liked him despite Alluro’s less than honorable actions towards his mother in the past. The hypnotist did seem to genuinely want to make an effort, and that had impressed him. The two had agreed to look beyond the past and try to have some sort of a family relationship. After all, neither of them had any blood relatives left except for one another.

Afterward, the pair had gone into the tower’s main study where Selene, Luna, Vultureman, RedEye, and Lushara were all conferring on something that seemed to be of great importance, judging by the serious tone of the room when they entered. Selene glanced over, and when she saw the two of them together in the doorway, she smiled. "Does this mean what I think it does? Are you two finally working this out?" Alluro and Psiarik nodded back in unison.

"Well, it’s about damn time," Luna remarked in her usual blunt manner.

Selene giggled good-naturedly. "I see Silvian gets his big mouth from your branch of the family, doesn’t he, Aunt Luna?"

Psiarik scanned the room. "Where is the Prince of Obnoxiousness anyway?"

"Caww, you missed all the action," Vultureman informed him. "He came in here a little while ago saying some spirit told him to go and attack the Thundercats or they’d kill us, so he and Frostor, Chilla, and TugMug left in the royal battleship to go and confront them. They’re going to fight Lion-O and the other Thundercats to—and I quote Silvian—‘kick their self-righteous asses’." Vultureman laughed. "I bet they’ve all gotten so, caww, used to peace that they’re completely out of shape and can’t fight worth a damn anymore."

"A spirit said this?" Alluro asked with disbelief.

Selene nodded. "It was the ghost of Chillandra, the Mistress of the Cold, the same one who hid the MoonSaber all those years ago. Silvian said that she told him that the Thundercat she fought had been freed and was planning to steal the MoonSaber from us, so Silvian had to go and make sure the Thundercats didn’t get away with it."

Psiarik’s face lost all color. "No... they didn’t... go to Thundera, did they?"

"Where else would they go to fight Lion-O?" Luna said. "All the Thundercats live there now except for one or two that guard Third Earth."

"Silvian took the sword to fight the Thundercats on Thundera?" Psiarik closed his eyes as flashes of his dream played before his eyes. "Oh no... and you let him go?"

"Why not?" Lushara asked. "If a ghost came all the way from the Astral Plane to tell him, it must be important." She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Why does this worry you so much? Silvian might be a hothead, but he’s not stupid. He’ll manage all right in battle, I’m sure of it."

"You don’t understand," Psiarik said. "What the rest of you just told me happened in my recurring dream. Only in the dream, Silvian ends up dead when he fights the red-haired Thundercat on Thundera. If that dream is a warning, then he’s going on a suicide mission. We have to stop him before he gets himself killed!"

"Red-haired Thundercat?" Luna repeated, staving off a feeling of nervousness. "Lion-O has red hair. So does the female Thunderkitten—well I guess she wouldn’t be a kitten anymore, she’d probably be closer to Selene or Psiarik’s age—but I mean WilyKit. Which one is it?" she asked.

"It’s a guy. The Lord of the Thundercats," Psiarik replied.

"Lion-O. That could only be Lion-O," RedEye said with a grave nod.

"Then he’s going to kill Silvian. Frostor told me that he thinks that nightmare of mine is a prophecy of some sort. If it is, Silvian is doomed. We all are, if he goes in there and starts that battle," Psiarik said, rubbing his temples as he tried to figure out what to do next.

"NO!" Selene cried out in horror at the thought of losing her brother. "No, not Silvian! I can’t lose my brother! Oh, gods of the moons, what have I done?" She buried her face in her hands. "I never should have told him to go ahead and go! I should have stopped him!"

"You didn’t know, Selene," Lushara said, trying to comfort her.

"I can’t let this happen. I’m going to go stop him." Selene stood and started for the door.

This time it was Psiarik’s face that took on expression of horror. He grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards as she passed by him. "NO!" he shouted, loud enough that it startled everyone in the room. "You can’t go, Selene! You’ll die too! I saw it in my dream! I won’t lose you."

"But I have to go!" she cried, trying to wrench out of his grip. "I won’t stand by and let my brother perish! Let me go!"

"I won’t stand by and watch you die!" Psiarik argued, tightening his grip on his petite wife.

"Let me go!" Selene insisted. "If there is any chance that I can save him, I have to do it! He would do the same for me in a heartbeat, and I won’t betray him by not trying to save him at any cost!"

"Selene, please, listen to me!" Psiarik begged.

"NO! Let go of me now!" the Lunar Queen howled. "Remember who’s in charge here! You may be King, but I’m the Queen and I’m the one of royal descent. Don’t make me pull rank on you," she raged. "My power supercedes yours, and my word is final. Let me go this instant and that’s a royal order!"

Psiarik scowled and dropped her arm. "If you love me, you won’t go."

"You know I love you," she snapped, angry at his blatant manipulation of her. "But you know I love my brother too. I must save him. Wouldn’t you have done the same for your sister if you could have?" she argued. "And no matter what you say, I am going, and nothing you can do or say will stop me," Selene said defiantly and headed for the door once more.

"Fine, then let me come with you," he said.

"No," Selene replied with a shake of her head. "If what you’re saying is true then you have to stay here. With Silvian, Frostor, and I all gone, someone in ruling power has to remain behind in case anything happens. With no government or rulers present, things could fall apart. That’s a royal order too. I’m sorry, but I have to go, and you have to stay."

Psiarik was not willing to let her leave so easily. "No," he said forcefully, and stared at her intently. He focused his mind as best he could. He was by no means an expert at mind control, but he could do it fairly well, if he tried. He had the power, but he had never formally trained it. He felt guilty about hypnotizing his wife against her will, but in this situation he felt it was the lesser of the two evils. If he had to stay, then he would stop her from going one way or another. "Selene, you won’t go," he insisted hypnotically. "You will stay here with me and you will not risk your life. You will not follow Silvian."

Selene paused at the door, and almost stopped. Almost. But then she turned and glared at him instead. "How dare you!" she snarled. "You lose an argument so you resort to trying to twist my mind to get your own way? How dare you try to control me!"

"It’s for your own good," he argued. "I love you too much to lose you! Why don’t you understand that?"

"Love is not control, and you know it," she said back tearfully. "If you don’t really want to lose me, you won’t ever try a stunt like that again. And I swear, if you hold me here against my will, and anything happens to Silvian, I will never forgive you. Never!" Her expression was angry and hurt, and he could see tears spilling down her cheeks. Instantly he felt like the biggest heel in existence, despite his good intentions. "Don’t do this to me," she sobbed. "If you love me as much as I believe you do, I know you’ll understand why I have to go."

Psiarik couldn’t stand her looking at him like that. He couldn’t bear to have her hate him, and if there was one thing that got to him, it was seeing her cry. She was the only thing that kept him sane, he felt, and one of the only things that really meant all that much to him. How could he do something that would cause her so much pain? He knew he had no choice but to let her leave, and turned away with a heavy heart. "Go on then. I won’t stop you," he said quietly. "If it’s what you really want, then nothing is going to stop you anyway. Chase Silvian. I hope in the name of the gods that I’m wrong and that you’ll both be fine. But if you’re not—"

Selene brightened, leaned forward, and kissed him gently. "I will be. I knew you’d understand. I love you. I’ll see you soon, I promise. With Silvian," she said, and then hurried out.

Luna spurred Amok to follow her. "I’ll go with her," she said. "She will get herself killed unless someone who knows how to deal with the Thundercats and fighting them goes along. I suppose that ought to be me. RedEye, Alluro, you come too." RedEye nodded and followed Luna.

Alluro shook his head. "No, Luna, I think I should stay here." He gestured toward Psiarik, who had slumped over the table, heartbroken and anguished.

Luna nodded. "All right then. Come on RedEye, let’s follow Selene and make sure she doesn’t do anything rash." Luna, Amok, and RedEye ran out after Selene. Minutes later the four of them left in the only other available royal space cruiser, bound for New Thundera.

WilyKit paced the control room of Cat’s Lair. Cheetara was in there with her, and Chet, now being watched by his mother, was nearby playing with some toys on the floor. "Kit, calm down. You’re a wreck," Cheetara noted.

"Why isn’t Kat back yet? He should have landed hours ago," WilyKit said worriedly. "I called Lynx-O and he told me when WilyKat left... and he’s beyond late. I can’t get a hold of the Feliner’s communication systems. It’s like he’s shielding all communications or something from reaching it or locating it. Why would he do that?"

"I don’t know," Cheetara said honestly. She had to admit, it did sound strange.

"Can your sixth sense tell you anything about him?" WilyKit pressed.

"It hasn’t alerted me directly," the cheetah answered, and then frowned thoughtfully. "Well, actually, it did tingle briefly a while ago, but it stopped even more suddenly than it had started. Just cut off. I never did find out what it was that caused it."

"Could you think about Kat and see if it gives you any images?"

"Sure," Cheetara agreed. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on WilyKat… but when she did, all she could sense was darkness and fear. And power. Such incredible power all around him, engulfing him, trapping him. An evil power. A familiar power. Cheetara gasped for breath as the sensations of it overwhelmed her as well. "Mumm-Ra..." she whispered.

"What?" WilyKit gasped as she heard the name.

Cheetara shook her head and snapped herself out of the vision. "I got a sense that he’s surrounded by evil—an evil a lot like Mumm-Ra’s was."

WilyKit paled beneath her fur. "But Mumm-Ra’s dead."

"I know. That’s why it seems so strange. And I couldn’t get a sense of WilyKat per se, only what was around him and that he was afraid." Cheetara rubbed her forehead as she tried to sort out the feelings and vague images. "I’m sorry, but I can’t determine any more and ... oh—" Her voice trailed off, and she slumped backwards in the chair.

WilyKit rushed to her side. "Cheetara?" she asked worriedly, laying a hand on her arm.

Cheetara was shaking, but she took a deep breath and turned to meet the younger Thundercat’s gaze. "My sixth sense drained me so much this time. It was like finding out even that little bit took all my strength," she murmured, fighting off a dizzy sensation in her head. "I had to force my way past some mental power, some psionic shield. But it was also an energy field, not unlike that telepathy beam that Alluro and Vultureman built that time back on Third Earth. It was something telekinetic in origin."

From over on the floor where he was playing, little Chet looked up for a moment and spoke. "Mumm-Ra." He then returned to his toys as if nothing had happened.

At that, Cheetara and WilyKit exchanged worried glances. Chet had never encountered Mumm-Ra, and the Thundercats always made it a point not to speak of their experiences with the undead sorcerer around their young children, lest they scare him.

Cheetara, still somewhat shaky, got up from the chair and knelt on the floor beside Chet. "What did you say?" she asked her son gently.

The child looked up. "Mumm-Ra. Torlei." He spoke the two names and blinked at her.

WilyKit’s stomach tied into a bigger knot. "Torlei?" she repeated. "The bride?" The female Thundercat twin shook her head in disbelief and paced nervously. "She’s long dead and gone. And how does Chet know who she is? Nobody has even given that Lunatac witch a second thought in years, much less mentioned her. She bought the farm long before Mumm-Ra did, and hells, he shouldn’t even know who Mumm-Ra is! We haven’t fought him since long before Chet was even born!" WilyKit rambled.

"Got Kat." Chet babbled. "Pyramid."

"Kat?" WilyKit whirled around and rushed to Chet’s side as well. "What does he mean ‘got Kat’? Where’s my brother?" WilyKit asked, more to Cheetara than the cub. "Does Chet know where he his? Why did he say that?" WilyKit was already more than a little concerned about her brother, and hearing Chet mention him in conjunction with Mumm-Ra’s name really shook her. Mumm-Ra was supposed to be gone for good, and WilyKit definitely wanted it to stay that way.

Cheetara nodded and placed a hand on her son’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Chet, sweetie, what made you say those things?"

"Saw it Mommy. Bad. Scary," the cub replied with a frown.

"Saw it where?" WilyKit pressed.

"Saw it. Mumm-Ra. Torlei," the boy repeated.

The terrible feeling that she’d felt with her sixth sense flashed through Cheetara’s consciousness once again. "Holy Thundera," she whispered, "I wonder if he might have inherited my sixth sense. He’s seeing visions, isn’t he?"

WilyKit’s apprehension quadrupled. "No, Mumm-Ra is dead!" she insisted. "We defeated him! He can’t be alive!"

"Then where is WilyKat?" Cheetara questioned worriedly.

"Pyramid," Chet stated, watching both his mother and WilyKit intently.

"NO!" WilyKit cried. "Mumm-Ra can’t have him! Mumm-Ra’s gone, Torlei is long gone, and the pyramid is empty! And I’m going to go there and prove it!"

Upset almost to the point of not thinking clearly, WilyKit ran from the room before Cheetara could stop her. She hastily grabbed her weapons and ran to the vehicle bay, determined to go to the pyramid, find Mumm-Ra not there, and hopefully find her brother somewhere along the way. Finding the ThunderClaw available for use, she jumped into the driver’s seat and sped towards the site where Mumm-Ra’s "abandoned" pyramid stood.