RedEye, TugMug, and Alluro arrived at the ruins. "This shouldn’t take long, maybe fifteen minutes, to load all the Thundrilium." RedEye said, operating the controls.

"Good. I’m exhausted. I want to get back to bed." Alluro complained.

"It’s your own fault. You were the idiot who forgot to go to bed and fell asleep at the computer console." TugMug said, using a gravity ray to move some of the Thundrilium.

"I was busy working, something you two don’t seem to do much of, otherwise you wouldn’t be making someone who just recovered from a coma help you load this stuff."

"Working? Come off it, you were just killing time waiting up for Chilla to come back!"

"I was not. I was reprogramming some of the computers, fixing some of those annoying bugs in the system. It needed to be done." Alluro insisted.

"Yeah right! Even though they’ve been messed up for months you chose to pull an all-nighter doing it the night after you woke up out of a coma just because you love Skytomb’s main computer so much? I don’t think so." RedEye asserted.

"You don’t think at all." Alluro grumbled, dropping an armful of Thundrilium into the storage tank.

The Thundertank roared onto the scene. It fired on the three lunatacs and stunned them. TugMug jumped to their defensive weapons and fired back on them. He wasn’t fast enough, and Lion-O was able to shoot their vehicle’s engines and shut it down. He stopped the Thundertank and climbed out with Cheetara.

"I believe that Thundrilium is ours! We found it first, and mined it yesterday!" Lion-O said authoritatively.

"You know how the saying goes, Thundercats. Finders keepers..." RedEye said, and then fired an electrical beam at them. Both Lion-O and Cheetara ducked. Cheetara then jumped at lightning speed and knocked him to the ground with her staff.

TugMug raised his gravity carbine to fire on Cheetara, but Lion-O predicted the attack and raised the Sword of Omens. "HOOOO!" he shouted, and a beam from the sword knocked TugMug’s aim off, sending the shot meant for Cheetara off into the sky.

Alluro swung his psyche club and dislodged the crystal over Lion-O. "Give up, Lion-O. We outnumber you. You cannot defeat us. You are helpless... OW!" he cried out as Cheetara interrupted him and pounced on him.

"Don’t make me put you back into a coma." she threatened.

Lion-O, now free, shot all three of the lunatacs with a beam from the sword to stun them, and tied them up loosely, just enough to keep them out of their way while they decided what to do with them. He and Cheetara excanged a look, then loaded the three lunatacs into the Thundertank’s storage bay. They then proceeded to load the Thundrilium into the tank right next to them.

"You can’t just hold us prisoner!" TugMug complained.

"Believe me, we don’t want you. We’ll be sure to drop you off somewhere near Skytomb before we take our Thundrilium back to the lair." Cheetara told them.

"Of course, riding with the Thundrilium in the back, the ride might be a little bumpy..." Lion-O laughed.

The Eye of Thundera pulsed with energy. "The sword! Someone’s in trouble!" Lion-O lifted the sword and held it to his eyes. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!" he commanded. A vision of the Thunderkittens being cornered, struck at, and overpowered by Damien came to him. "Oh no!" he breathed, dropping the sword.

"What happened? Snarf forget to use the litterbox?" sneered RedEye.

"Shut up!" Cheetara snapped. "Lion-O, what is it? Is it Tygra?"

"No... it’s the Thunderkittens. They were attacked and captured by some evil supernatural demonic-looking creature named Damien, in a palace somewhere in the unicorn forest."

This announcement stunned everyone, including the lunatacs.

"Did you say ‘Damien’?" Alluro asked worriedly.

Lion-O turned to the captives. "Yes, why?"

"Damien is the name of the guy that Chilla..." his voice trailed off.

"Ran off with?" RedEye finished. Alluro shot him a dirty look.

"It can’t be the same guy. Chilla said he was good looking, not demonic!" TugMug argued.

"It’s in the unicorn forest isn’t it? Plus that’s where Jackalman disappeared!"

"Jackalman disappeared?" Cheetara asked. "This is wierd! First Tygra runs off with Celeste, now this Damien creep captures the kids, then we find out Chilla’s involved with the guy, and to top it all off one of the mutants is missing, vanished in the same forest! What in the name of Thundera is going on?!"

"Who’s Celeste?" RedEye asked.

"She’s the one who gave us the elixir to save Cheetara-- wait, didn’t she give it to you guys too? I mean, I know you must have gotten the elixir or Alluro would still be comatose."

"No, Damien is the one who we got it from. He gave it to Chilla. That’s how they met." Alluro answered.

"That sounds like Tygra and Celeste. He came home and gave me the elixir, and then ran off to be with Celeste. All he could talk about was how beautiful and sweet and wonderful she was. We haven’t seen him since." Cheetara mused.

"That’s just what happened with Chilla!" TugMug exclaimed. "She was acting really wierd, like she was hot for the guy, and when we made jokes about it she got all mad and left to go see him, we think. We haven’t talked to her since then either."

Lion-O groaned. "So if Damien is really some demonic evil creature, and he showed the exact same m.o. with Chilla as Celeste did with Tygra, then that means Celeste must be—"

"...just like him. And she has Tygra, while Damien has the kittens! We have to call the others and get to the unicorn forest now!" Cheetara exclaimed.

"What about us?" Alluro demanded.

"You’ll just have to hang out in the storage compartment in the back for a little while longer." Lion-O said as he slammed the hatch shut and the Thundertank roared toward the forest, much to the lunatacs’ discomfort.

* * *

The bird slowed in flight and swooped downward into the unicorn forest. The mutants followed. They parked their vehicles on the forest floor as the bird perched on the branch of a tree at the edge of a path and cawed loudly many times.

"What now, Vultureman?" Slythe asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"You’re the bird-mutant, yesss? You tell us!"

"I guess we just follow this path. The bird stopped flying."

"Hoo hoo, I could have told you that much. Let’s get going. The sooner we get Jackalman back the sooner I can go back to sleep." Monkian grumbled as he started down the path. Vultureman and Slythe followed.

The group of mutants soon came upon the mysterious village. They saw the palace and decided that had to be the place where Jackalman was, and defiantly stormed towards it. They saw Chilla dressed in a wierd outfit sitting on a chaise lounge eating what appeared to be some frozen confection, with a handsome human-looking male sitting with her, his arm around her shoulders in what seemed more of a possessive than affectionate fashion. They also saw Tygra talking to a woman who looked similar to Chilla’s boyfriend. There was no sign of Jackalman. The three mutants jumped up onto the patio armed to the teeth.

"What have you done with Jackalman, yesss?!" Slythe demanded.

"Slythe?" a sedated Tygra asked. The appearance of a fellow "outsider" seemed to take him by surprise, as though he hadn’t expected to see any of them again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chilla snarled.

"Cawww, we have evidence that Jackalman’s disappearance is related to someone in this village. And you’re here, Chilla, and you were the last one to see him. What a coincidence."

"How dare you come here and accuse me of anything you walking feather duster?"

"You dreadful mutants have the audacity to come into our home and accuse my dear sweet Chilla of treachery?" Damien asked angrily.

"Hoo hoo, Chilla sweet? That’s a good one! She’s the biggest bitch that’s ever set foot on Third Earth!" This comment inspired a chorus of nasty laughter from the mutants.

"You will apologize to the lady, mutant." Damien said coldly, and grabbed Monkian’s arm roughly, holding it in a painful supernaturally strong grip.

"Show ussss one and we will!" Slythe roared. The mutants laughed again.

Damien’s blue eyes began to flash red, but Celeste interrupted. She wasn’t about to let her brother lose it and cost them both their latest victims by showing them their true natures too soon. "Damien, cool down. Do not waste your energy on these loathsome creatures. If you have come here to say something, say it." Celeste challenged them.

"Our fellow mutant Jackalman has disappeared, and we have reason to believe he was in this vicinity when he disappeared, cawww, and Chilla was the last one to see him."

"And I told you losers that I don’t know—or care—what happened to him!" she yelled.

"You’re a liar." Slythe hissed.

"Now Slythe, I’m sure Chilla wouldn’t lie about that. Besides, she’s been here the whole time and none of us have seen Jackalman." Tygra spoke up.

The mutants turned and faced him, surprised not only to see him there but to hear him defending one of the lunatacs. "No one asssssked you, Thundercat. Besides, what makes you think Chilla wouldn’t lie? She would jusssst as soon kill you as look at you."

"Tygra knows our village is a peaceful one, and no villiany or treachery occurs here. It is unfortunate that your friend is missing, but I assure you none of us knows anything of the whereabouts of your fellow mutant. Now kindly take our information and leave our peaceful home." Celeste told Slythe.

"Immediately." Damien added.

The confrontation was interrupted when the Thunderstrike landed outside the palace grounds.

The three captive lunatacs were most unhappy as they were bounced all over the storage bay of the Thundertank, slamming into Thundrilium rocks and against the walls.

"Ouch!" Alluro yelled as he landed on a lumpy rock and RedEye fell on top of him. "Those Thundercats claim they’re so benevolent yet they feel absolutely no guilt in subjecting someone who was in a coma less than 24 hours ago to a ride like this."

"Oh will you quit whining about the coma crap?" TugMug yelled back. "That elixir fixed you up into perfect health, so you’re no worse off than we are, so shut up and get over it!"

The tank lurched again, and the ropes on RedEye’s hands snapped off as a jagged rock caught them and yanked them off. "Hey... my hands are free."

"Then shut up and untie us already." Alluro replied grouchily.

RedEye leaned over and untied his two companions. "We’re still locked in. Even untied, it’ll take us a while to get out of here, and they’ll hear us and stop us as long as they’re in the tank, so we’ll have to wait until they stop before we can blast our way out of here."

TugMug reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator. "Maybe I can call Luna and have her speed things up for us." He made the call and after a short whiny lecture from their petite leader, she agreed to fire up Skytomb’s main engines, follow the Thundertank, and bust her crew out of the holding bay.

Mirlana saw the mutants arrive and the Thunderstrike heading for the village. It’s time. Finally Celeste and Damien will be stopped, and I have to do my part. she told herself, took a deep breath, and ran for the dungeon.

She opened the door to hear Jackalman and the Thunderkittens trading insults.

Jackalman’s eyes brightened when he saw her. "Mirlana! Did you get us help?"

WilyKit and WilyKat stared at Mirlana with surprise. "You’re friends with him?"

"I am here to help all of you. What Celeste and Damien are doing is wrong. I am ashamed to say that I have condoned and stood by and watched for too many years as they’ve played their cruel games and tortured countless innocents."

"I wouldn’t call Chilla an innocent." WilyKat commented. His sister and Jackalman, in spite of his inherent dislike of the Thunderkittens, laughed.

"Nevertheless I cannot allow them to do to Tygra and Celeste what they’ve done to so many others, what they did to me. I know it means the end of me if I do this, but at this point I don’t care anymore. Eternal life as their slave and prisoner is far worse than any death I could suffer at this point. I have come to free you. Your friends from Castle Plundarr are here, as well as some others that wear the same insignia as you kids and Tygra. They will help me destroy Celeste and Damien, and so can you. Follow me." Mirlana said as she unlocked their cells. The kittens darted out, then Jackalman. "Come on. Let’s go and put those immortal fiends in their place." she said fiercely. The three followed her out of the dungeon towards the courtyard.

As they arrived at the archway leading onto the courtyard, Mirlana paused. "You three go out and join your friends. I will make my own appearance another way." The three of them were surprised to see the mutants facing off Celeste and Damien, while Tygra and Chilla watched on in a strange detached fashion. They saw the Thunderstrike land and Bengali, Pumyra, and Lynx-O running towards the patio. When they turned to speak to Mirlana again, she had already gone.