SITS Cliff Notes – Era One

Scarred But Smarter(Ch 1):

Lion-O answers distress call from kittens that came from largely unexplored jungle. Goes out to rescue, without calling for help. Kat found injured by some sort of forest creature.

Mutants attack having intercepted the distress call, and poison Lion-O with blade soaked in managona berry juice. He falls ill and is in need of intervention. Mutants leave with Sword without finishing Lion-O or Kat – figure them for dead and don’t want to stick around given they got what they came for.

Kit has gone to get their spaceboards, and came back on the scene just as the Mutants were about to leave. Doesn’t act seeing she’s outnumbered – waits for them to leave. But then two figures emerge on the scene and Kit hangs back a moment. Kit confronts them, and Felina reveals herself as a fellow Thunderian. Convinces Kit to let her and Emite friend, Amenita, take Lion-O and Kat back to their village.

At the Lair, Snarf notices Lion-O missing and a meeting is called to try to figure out what to do. But then Mutants attack and the Thundercats are at battle stations.

In the jungle, the injured ‘Cats are loaded onto a damaged spaceboard and taken to the river. But the boat is missing. However, Amenita finds a dropped Sword of Omens and another river barge from the village is spotted and gives them a lift. Felina guesses by the seizures Lion-O is having that he’s been poisoned by the managona.

Dusk in the village, Alderan (village elder) confirms diagnosis and gives antidote. Kat is also patched up, given blood from his sister, and all will survive. Felina notes Lion-O has aged now that she’s told who he is, and Kit notes Felina has aged herself. Asks how Felina got to Third Earth. Felina tells of how she went back for the Book of Omens, which she was entrusted to study and keep, and was left behind from being on the flagship with the others. She made one of the last ships to launch and they missed the mutant ambush. But a meteor shower damaged the ship and they all went into suspension. She woke up half grown and in that jungle, with no other survivors to be noted. Her snarf companion, Bela, is there though and scoffs that Jaga left his own daughter behind.

At the Lair, it’d been a hard battle with the Mutants. Lots of damage and Cheetara’s leg was a bit hurt. They worry about Lion-O/kitten’s fate and when the Mutants will return to attack again – when the signal goes up. They jump in the tank.

Lion-O and the Kittens wait to be picked up, and Felina comes out to give Lion-O the rest of his meds. She’s urged to come back with them to the Lair, but she hesitates. The others arrive and remember her, and she them. She’s talked into going “home” with them.

Maps and Legends (Ch 2):

Mumm-Ra lectures the Mutants for their failure at the Pyramid. Tells them only with him can they beat the Thundercats. He’s also upset they’ve added to their numbers with Felina. He has a plan.

At the Lair, Felina awakes from her first night’s stay and doesn’t know how to tell the others she doesn’t wish to make it permanent.

Learn she’s from a long line of scholars and among few the know the old tongue – which the Book of Omens was written in – and she studies hard to master the language and how to interpret the information and spells inside the Book. Cheetara comes to tell Felina breakfast is ready and is amused by the girl’s study habits. Cheetara notes Felina is a lot like her mother, Leonda, one of the best scholars in the lion clan, whom Felina never knew.

At breakfast, Felina notices romantic vibes between Cheetara and Tygra and is happy for them. She hopes to find a love like that someday. She’s asked to go on a hunt later that day, which will be Kit’s first time out, and Felina agrees.

Mumm-ra interrupts Felina’s hunt and, despite her shooting him with an arrow that does no damage, she’s struck with energy bolts and taken.

At the Lair, Lion-O is still fatigued from his poisoning and Tygra offers to give him a break in cleaning the kills brought in by Cheetara. The sword warns him that Mumm-ra has taken Felina and put her in some sort of maze of ruins.

Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara go off to find out more about the Ruins of Artis, which Tygra had been warned about before by the warrior maidens. Panthro (and the snarfs/Kat) is left behind to work on Lair repairs/carcass cleaning.

Willa explains the curse of Artis, telling them that because its citizens were greedy they were cursed to not be able to leave the city without going mad. It would be impossible, she said, to rescue Felina. The others want to regroup at the Lair, but Nayda comes out before they leave and gives them some maps she says will help them overcome the maze. However, the Cats fail to realize it’s Mumm-ra in guise, not Nayda.

The Cats find and locate Felina and free her from Thundrainium bonds. She tells them they’re trapped. The maps got them in, but they still can’t get out. Cheetara suggests that maybe she can run fast enough to escape the curse. Tygra worries about Cheetara placing herself in danger and he’s not one for PDAs, but his love for her is sweet and clear. He hands over the maps and tells her to go.

It doesn’t work and Cheetara is overwhelmed with visions or her worst nightmares – both real and imagined (including her parents’ murder by Mutants). The others soon find themselves locked in the same fate til Tygra realizes he has to use his gift to override the curse illusions and create one that will guide his friends out of the maze. They make it, but Tygra is exhausted from the effort.

Meanwhile at the Pyramid, Mumm-ra is incensed that the Thundercats thwarted him. The Mutants snicker and it only infuriates him more. He sends them packing in a rage.

Afterward, the Thundercats relax at the Balkan Bar with drinks and light conversation. Snarf and Bela, it’s revealed, don’t exactly get along – Bela is too bossy! Tygra and Cheetara aren’t present as Tygra is recovering. Felina has her first drink – tequila.

Tilted (ch 3):

Opens with kittens pulling a prank on Panthro, and Lion-O using the Sword’s second sight to see the reaction. Tygra interrupts and scolds Lion-O for using the Sword for something so trivial, thus showing Lion-O’s lack of maturity yet. Felina sees Lion-O in the hall and was going to speak with him but notices he seems distracted…so she confides in Cheetara instead about her desire not to make her stay at the Lair permanent. Scholars are reclusive, non-warrior types and Felina feels out of place at the Lair. Plus she is better able to study in the villages, away from the commotion of the Thundercat way of life. Cheetara says she has to take it up with the council and abide by their decision. Since Felina is a Thundercat and a scholar, there is pull and valid points in both directions.

At the pyramid, Mumm-Ra talks to Grune who is in the flesh and back from Plundarr where he’d gathered an army to go up against the Thundercats. Mumm-ra had brought Grune back to the realm of the living so that now he could do evil away from Jaga’s spiritual influence. Grune is anxious to exact revenge.

Meanwhile, Felina gets her first driving lesson being 18 and all, and has Lion-O, the Kittens and Snarf as an audience for her first attempt. Her lesson is cut short by news of a big Mutant army on the move.

The Thundercats and their allies – Tuskas, Berbils and Warrior Maidens – all prep to meet the threat. The Maidens were trained to run the Lair defenses, and the others were scattered about. When the Mutants arrive, the Cats are shocked to see Grune in the flesh, leading the pack. They remember him from the “Ghost Warrior” clash, except for Felina.

Huge clash ensues, the main struggle being between Grune and Lion-O. Grune once again used Thundrainium in his mace, giving him a deadly advantage. Grune reveals why he hates Jaga so much – for stealing his wife – before moving in for the kill. A tuska pays a high price for intervening, and Lion-O is injured in the shoulder by a skycutter’s laser fire clearing the way for Grune to do him in.

Tygra uses his whip to disarm Grune, but Lion-O is still weak and can’t even lift the Sword to fight back. Jaga appears and urges Lion-O to rely on the other cats to save the day. They eventually all lay hands on the Sword and send Grune and the Mutant army packing. But the price was high for the death toll of their allies was great.

In the aftermath, Tygra and Felina took care of the wounded in the Lair foyer. Lion-O was among those they had to patch up (the shoulder), which required some stitches and numbing cream. The subject of Jaga comes up and Felina learns for the first time that he speaks to Lion-O from beyond. She’s a bit jealous and Lion-O deals with some conflicting feelings about his mentor given what Grune had said. Lion-O asked Felina about her mother, to which she could offer no info given she died when Felina was but an infant. Tygra does not miss the fact that the subject of Jaga seems to have tweaked both Lion-O and Felina.

The Lifting (ch 4):

Felina gets her council meeting and she and Lion-O get a shock when they learn about their betrothal. She has to stay at the Lair, and neither like the idea of marriage at all given they never got time to get used to the idea under the circumstances. But tradition had it that the Lord of the Thundercats’ first born son was betrothed at birth to his closest advisor’s first born daughter – and since Jaga was Claudis’ closest advisor…

The pending nuptials were just months away. Lion-O and Panthro both have emotional outbursts opposed and for the worth of some Thunderian traditions. Panthro’s outburst in particular is brutal as he storms off after giving Lion-O and Felina a piece of his mind.

Afterward, Felina prepares to leave he Lair with a storm brewing in the south. Cheetara sees her off, giving her a communicator and some advice. Felina swears she’ll return in time to wed Lion-O, but would like some time alone to prepare thinking it best. Cheetara show sympathy for the girl’s predicament and does not try to stop her. Bela goes with her.

Later, the storm hits with a vengeance, the Thunderkittens caught in it on their way back from the Berbil village. Lightning knocks them off their space boards and into the moat gorge. Cheetara and Tygra rescue them, only to have Cheetara struck by lightning and in trouble.

Nothing seems to bring Cheetara out of her trance and her heart rate starts to drop. Not even the Sword of Omens coaxes a reaction. The kittens suggest calling Felina to see if she and her friends have an herbal cure. Lion-O tells them to call her.

Felina and Amenita were having a conversation about her situation over tea when they got the call. Felina takes back off in the storm to help, Amenita having given her some potion to try.

She arrives and gives the liquid to Cheetara, only to have it make her convulse. Tygra is upset and is hard on Felina, and the girl leaves to take stock of what to do. Overhearing the kittens remark on Cheetara’s sixth sense, Felina remembers something from the Book that gives her an idea. She tells Lion-O the Sword and Book together may be able to save Cheetara.

Tygra is unsure but let’s them perform a Lifting – a spell that will help Cheetara come back from the limbo she was trapped in between the realm of living and the dead when the lightning struck. Felina also knew cheetah’s get their ESP info from astral world.

The trick is performed with the Sword and the Book, and Cheetara is in obvious pain. Felina tried to get her to “come through the Eye” but she’s not listening. Tygra freaks out begging Felina to stop, but she can’t. Tygra calling to Cheetara now is her only hope.

Cheetara was reduced to a consciousness, floating through the abyss of space until the Cat signal shattered the peace and caused conflict and pain. Tygra’s voice made it clear what was going on and Cheetara was brought back to her body by the Eye’s power. But at first on the side of the living, it seemed as though she’d perished. She awakes, however, to the joy of her friends. Felina slips out during the celebrations.

Befoe Felina leaves, Tygra apologizes for how he behaved before and she accepts it. He goes off to get her some food for her journey, and Lion-O has a discussion with her as well. Lion-O remarks he’s impressed by the Book of Omens. Felina acknowledges that it does have some hefty power, and that night was the first she’d ever seen it unleashed or attempted to use it in such a way. But in light of this, Lion-O now worries the Book may fall into the wrong hands and asks Felina to leave it at the Lair. She gets defensive, and Lion-O relents, hesitant to actually order her to leave it. She leaves in a huff, leaving Tygra and Lion-O to ponder the moods of women.

Great Fire (Ch 5):

Thanks to the theatrics to save Cheetara in the previous chapter, the ASOE and Mumm-Ra become aware of the fact that Felina has the Book of Omens and is schooled in its use/secrets. Mumm-Ra plots to kidnap her and get her to reveal the Book’s secrets before he destroys her.

At the Lair, Tygra and Lion-O have a heart-to-heart, concerning Lion-O’s feelings of powerlessness as the responsibilities are heaped on him and his free will stripped from him. Lion-O also confesses that Panthro’s outburst in council was troubling, and Tygra explains why Panthro is such a staunch believer in the codes and laws that rule the Thundercats.

Tygra explains that back on Thundera, during the war with the Moons of Plundarr, Panthro was a youthful man with a young family. They were all captured and Panthro could not betray the Thundercats by breaking the Code to tell the Mutants information they wanted. So his family was murdered before him. Since then he’s clung to the Code as it’s all he’s left to live for/by.

Lion-O is shocked, but sees now why Panthro gets so aggravated when the laws of the Thundercats are questioned. Lion-O then goes on to discuss the Jaga/Grune issue with Tygra. They conclude that since an affair between Jaga and Grune’s wife would have constituted Jaga breaking the Code, that Grune had to have been lying.

Alarms sound and trouble is detected in sector three where the Emite village is located. In the Village, Felina and Amenita were about to start off on the daily chores of the day. Felina would skip her studies, given Lion-O’s warning about protecting the Book prompted her to bury it underground for her stay just in case…

And it was a fortunate move when Mumm-Ra and Grune show up to flex their power and try to take her and it. Grune is struck by how Felina favors her mother, and tries to kiss her. Her rebuke angers Grune and he strikes her, while Mumm-Ra demands she give up the book – this, after a search of the village turns up nothing. She’s bound by oath not to give up its secrets, and tells Mumm-Ra they’ll go to the grave with her. Mumm-Ra orders the village destroyed by fire.

When the Thundercats arrive, they use the Tank to burrow underground and turn up in the river by the Village. Thick smoke and heat keep them back (they don masks so they can breathe), until they spot Bela. The injured snarf tells them Amenita and Felina are in the river, and they’re found lying there overcome by smoke. They’d been going back to the Village to rescue children and bring them to the safety of the water. Tygra has to resuscitate Felina, and both are given oxygen and taken to the tank. The rescued children scattered in the commotion.

Amenita’s heart stops on the way back to the Lair, and Felina is aware enough to be stricken by the loss of her friend. She is so distraught she’s sedated by force.

In the morning she awakes, and Tygra assesses her condition. He notes the bruise on her face and concussion, which were bestowed on her by Grune. Felina remembers what happened and worries about the Book, determined to go back and retrieve it before Mumm-Ra somehow locates it. She’s still reeling from her injuries, but Lion-O agrees they should go back and get the book. In the meantime, Amenita’s body is prepared to go with them…it’s Emite tradition to dispose of the dead in a pyre set afloat on the river.

Lion-O and Felina make the trek back to the charred jungle to retrieve the Book. Felina confesses Lion-O was right that she wasn’t capable of protecting the Book and feels the destruction was her fault. Lion-O uses Second Sight to locate the Book, given the landscape is so unrecognizable to Felina. They find it, and since it’s made of steel, it’s undamaged.

No other survivors were found as they prepared Amenita for the pyre. As her friend’s body floats down the river, Felina vows never to be a victim again.

Powerline (ch 6):

A month after the blaze, Tygra finds Felina in the Treetop Kingdom taking a break from her archery lessons. He finds out Felina has been neglecting her studies in favor of honing her skills as a warrior. She’d been practicing with the other ‘Cats trying to get fit and trained in some fighting skills, and this worries Tygra. He thinks it’s a mistake to be something one is not, and even though Felina is in the unique position of being scholar and Thundercat, Tygra feels her knowledge and continued studies will be more an asset to the team and it was they which fail her by not protecting her. Felina does not want to hear it at this time, and ignores Tygra’s sage advice for now.

At the Lair, Tygra catches Lion-O up to speed on the situation with Felina, expressing a fear she may permanently abandon her scholarly calling. He urges Lion-O to talk to Felina, as they have much in common. Tygra then leaves Lion-O alone in the council room, where he’d been looking over the book and getting the idea of why it took so much work to understand it. Lion-O then realizes that if anything DID happen to Felina, the knowledge in the Book would be lost. So, remembering how Felina had used the Sword and Book in tandem, he figures maybe Second Sight would show him the Book’s secrets. However, he only succeeds in getting himself sucked inside the Book.

Felina returns to the Lair in the evening, and finds Snarf fretting over Lion-O – he can’t be located. Snarf’s hysterics are largely blown off until the power to the Lair goes down and the reserve power fails to kick in. They soon figure out nothing’s wrong with the generator and the whole countryside is blacked out. They suspect Mumm-Ra, and all are now worried that Lion-O has not showed up to ponder the power situation with them.

But then an energy beast shows up in the Lair basement by their generator, and starts fighting the Thundercats. Tygra had explained just before that how he failed to find Lion-O, but did find the Sword just lying around near the Book of Omens. Felina has a hunch what happened, and gets Tygra to give her the Sword so she can fetch Lion-O. She slips out while the others fight on, and goes to the Council Room where Tygra had found the blade. Felina goes into the Book and sure enough Lion-O is there dodging fiery volleys. She doesn’t have the key the Guardians demands, but she tells Lion-O he can call to the Sword and get them out of the Book. They scold one another, Felina scolds Lion-O for messing with that he doesn’t understand. And he counters that if she was doing her job, he wouldn’t have to try to do it for her.

They get out of the Book, and Lion-O is brought back up to speed on the situation. The two go to the basement and find no trace of their friends. Then Trollogs attack outside and the two must deal with that. They end up driving the Trollog’s off, Felina’s determination and improved skills paying off a bit.

Jaga then appears to Lion-O and tells him about Ergus, the energy beast that defeated the other ‘Cats, Mutants, and Mumm-Ra, and who will be back for the power of the sword. The way to defeat him likes in the Book of Omens. Lion-O relays this info to Felina, who cannot see the ghost of her father. She has trouble finding the right passage in the book.

As Ergus returns, Felina finds a promising passage and uses the Book to energize the Sword to reverse polarity on the beasts’ energy. She explains to Lion-O what he must do and the danger involved. Felina is defeated by Ergus, leaving only Lion-O to fight. He struggles mightily with the super-powered and energized Sword, and ends up burning his hand in the process. But he manages to hold and defeat Ergus, his friends – and enemies – materializing from the sparks. They are all too bewildered to fight, and Lion-O is exhausted from the fight, and his hand is badly burned.

Later, they celebrate in the Balkan Bar, reveling over their victory and how they worked together to achieve it. The Thunder Tank was destroyed by Trollogs, which had Panthro sore. Lion-O’s hand had been tended to, and bandaged and all seemed well. For now.

Tenderness (ch 7):

Lion-O confronts Felina on the eve of their wedding, as she reads in Tygra’s room. She missed the council meeting to go over the last minute details of their nuptials. Felina insists it’s nothing personal, but Lion-O is disturbed she’s got no enthusiasm for it – and a bit jealous of her hanging out in Tygra’s room. Not to mention her insistence on always formally addressing him. They discuss their mixed emotions about their impending union, and share a brief tender moment. Felina has some child-like romantic notions, though she’s sad Lion-O seems to look at the marriage as something he’s resigned to. She wonders if they ever would have fallen in love on their own if given the chance. When Tygra enters the room and he and Felina engage in light conversation, Lion-O once again feels a bit jealous they have a bond.

The next day, Felina is being prepared for the big day. She asks Cheetara some sensitive questions having to do with sex, worried as she is about consummating the union. Cheetara tries to reassure her, and Kit comes in gushing wistful well-wishes of the innocent young-girl variety. Felina is given an necklace by Kit to wear, that belonged to the twins’ mother. And Cheetara gives her a tiara worn by previous brides to the Lord of the Thundercats in generations past. Felina is speechless, nervous, and excited, all at once.

Meanwhile, Lion-O and Tygra wait anxiously before the ceremony, Lion-O confessing his worries and doubts. And again, more bitterness at not having control over his destiny. Tygra tries to assure him, but Lion-O’s apprehension gets the best of him, and he comes away simply resentful. When Tygra mentions Felina confessing her feelings about the wedding to him the other night, Lion-O snaps at Tygra, demanding Felina not spend time with him alone in his bedchamber from now on. Tygra is taken aback, having no interest in Felina and vice versa. Jaga then appears to Lion-O, trying his best to give encouragement and his blessing on the union. Lion-O is still uncertain.

The Thundercats meet in the hall of the Lair, and Panthro gives Felina his gift – a steel bow to replace the one the Trollog’s smashed. Everyone wishes her well and goes outside to take their places, leaving Felina behind. Lion-O then appears, and his resentment is felt by Felina. Robotically, they go out to fulfill their predestined roles with Tygra presiding over the ceremony.

Later that evening, there’s a feast of celebration. The kittens end up stealing wine and getting drunk, and Kit decides to deride Lion-O for ignoring his bride all night, noting how Felina slinked off early. Lion-O decides to try to find Felina and apologize for his behavior as he’s got nothing against her but the situation they got forced into. He finds her on the way to the bed chambers, longingly looking on as an unaware Cheetara and Tygra share a moment nearby. Once she notices Lion-O, the wine goes to her head and she tries to snag a kiss, but he won’t take advantage of a drunken woman. He carries her to bed and helps her dress, giving her water and aspirin for the pending hangover. She’s left to sleep it off.

Reign of Blows (ch 8):

Two weeks have passed and Lion-O is restless that the Mutants and Mumm-Ra have been quiet for so long and calls a meeting. But the Thunderkittens and Felina fail to show. He finds them in the courtyard outside, having a water balloon fight. He’s set to give a stern lecture, when an errant balloon thrown by Felina soaks him. Embarrassed, she dashed over the bridge and out into the meadow, with him giving chase. After a playful romp in the mud, they return to go back to the serious business of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Mumm-Ra is in his pyramid watching the playful scene and sneering at it. As always, he has a plot to shatter their peaceful merriment.

The next morning, Cheetara rises early for she has a mission – to head to Castle Plundarr and find out what the Mutants have been up to. Tygra and she had spent a romantic night together, and both were worried about the task ahead. They note that Lion-O and Felina exit separate bed chambers and Cheetara wonders if that bodes well for the marriage while Tygra reasons it will take time for them to grow close given their arranged marriage.

All the Cats meet in the control room, and Lion-O gives out orders as to who is to start their search where for the Key to Thundera, which Felina had taken with her from Thundera but it got lost in the wreckage of her ship. The Sword is blocked from finding it with second sight so they have to do it the old fashioned way. They’re all given communicators to keep in touch.

Mumm-Ra spies on the conversation and the ASOE tell him he cannot let them find the Key. With it, they can unlock the mysteries of their own histories as well as his own. The Guardian, the ASOE explain, knows everything about the universe since its inception and will tell the Key holder anything they wish to know. Mumm-Ra decides he will find this Key first, but also will confer with the Mutants and convince them to step up their own plot so the Thundercats are kept busy.

Cheetara gets inside the Castle and eavesdrops on a Mutant meeting. She learns they’re building a bomb in the desert meant to be detonated over Cats Lair. Afterward, they plan to terrorize the meek of Third Earth. Mumm-Ra’s spirit appears to the Mutants and tells them to terrorize first so he has time to locate the Key. Slithe reluctantly agrees, although he wants Vultureman to finish his bomb as well. Cheetara narrowly escapes the Castle afterward, and heads off to the desert to learn more about this bomb.

Tygra calls Lion-O over the communicator to tell him what Cheetara learned, and that she’s waiting in the desert for Vultureman to arrive, hoping he’ll reveal this workshop and the bomb. Lion-O tells him to put their allies on guard against the Mutants. Then Felina appears, also having found nothing of the Key. Lion-O catches her up to speed and asks for the Book, knowing that Mumm-Ra will be after that and the Key. Just as she relents, Mumm-Ra appears.

He attacks and grabs Felina in the confusion, flying back with her – and the Book – to the Pyramid.

Lion-O calls the others to him, but tells Cheetara to stay put and try to rescue Felina when she arrives, figuring Mumm-Ra will take her back to the pyramid and Cheetara is already in the desert waiting on Vultureman. The Berbils are already under attack, so Lion-O has everyone split up to help their allies, save for Kit who is told to stay in the jungle and find the Key. Lion-O plans to go to the Pyramid as well.

Mumm-Ra takes the Book, looks it over and leaves it on the altar. He then chains Felina and leaves to get the Key. She picks the lock on the ankle bindings with a dagger, but can’t get the shackles off her hands. She gathers her belongings and runs for it despite it.

Felina almost falls into a trap, but Cheetara saves her from the drop. Cheetara frees her from the bonds, and the two head out in hopes of intercepting Vultureman.

Once outside, they see the Flying Machine in the distance. Cheetara calls Lion-O to let him know what’s going on and that Mumm-Ra is gone, headed toward the jungle – when Monkian shows up on a skycutter and starts shooting. Cheetara makes it behind some cover but Felina goes missing in the fray.

In the jungle, Kit only finds Mumm-Ra and runs for it. Alderan, the Emite elder, grabs her and brings her into a hollowed out tree. Though Kit is glad to see her survived the fire, she knows a tree stump will not hide them long from Mumm-Ra. So Kit taunts the mummy, scaring him off with a mirror. Alderan is gone without Kit noticing him slip away.

Felina fell into the underground base, which is quite a modern looking series of corridors, and overhears Vultureman. Before following him, she calls Cheetara to tell her what’s going on. Lion-O has joined Cheetara on the surface, and they’re going to try to find a way in. But she tells Felina to find the bomb then call Panthro to get instructions on how to defuse it.

Felina locates the bomb and investigates while Vultureman is away, and tries to disarm it. But the Mutants return and shoot at her, damaging the bomb and setting it to detonate in the process. Felina runs back to where she came from but notices a Mutant child and stops to rescue him. They barely make it but the exploding bomb buries them in the sand of the desert.

The other Thundercats that were there or on their way hear and feel the explosion and at first think Felina lost. But Cheetara senses otherwise, and together with second sight, find her alive. She then tells them of the jackal pup she rescued and they soon unearth him as well, though he needs medical attention. Just as they’re about to leave, they realize the Mutants are stealing the ThunderTank.

The bumbling Mutants get the Tank going but Cheetara is in hot pursuit. They try to shoot at her, but miss. The second shot was wild, as they crashed the Tank, but the errant shot ends up striking Panthro. The Mutants, fearing the Thundercats ire, flee. Vultureman eavesdrops though and notices Felina with the jackal pup as well.

The blast took off Panthro’s right leg below the knee, and everyone had a late and harrowing night trying to save him. He’ll survive, but without the leg. Cheetara ponders the cruelties of war as she thinks about the child she’s carrying and what kind of world it will grow up in – or if she’ll even live to see the child grow up. Her joy is overshadowed by the uncertainty of the times they live in.

Destination (ch. 9):

Jaga inspires Felina to dream deeply, of her flight from Thundera in the hopes of her tracing the whereabouts of the Key of Thundera.

Felina goes back to her last day at Thundera Academy, where she’d expected to spend another day studying the Book of Omnes with her mother’s friend and instructor, Miss Katya. Lessons were not on the agenda, and Katya tells Felina they must go to Thundera City as Jaga requested her presense. Felina sensed some urgency, but still goes back to her dorm for Bela and some personal effects.

They take off for Thundera City in a hovercraft, and Felina is told she should ask her father why Thundera is dying. Felina is perplexed by this, as well as saddened to learn Katya won’t be boarding the same ship as her. But Katya assures Felina that they would all meet up on a predetermined new world and start their lives over again. Felina is happy to know she’d ride with the other nobles, for she looked up to Tygra and was glad he’d be there with her. Katya gives Felina the Key on the ride to the city, which Felina wears around her neck.

They meet up in the crumbling city outside the Lair, and head on to the city’s center where the ships are. Felina notices Claudis is not there, and figures Lion-O is in a somber mood because of it. She also overhears Katya tell Jaga that Grune died in exile so he no longer has to worry of any vengeance from the ex-Thundercat. Felina is confused by this but says nothing.

On the way, another tremor makes their hovercraft crash and causes Felina to drop the Book, which almost slides into a chasm. She saves the Book, but a huge column falls between her and the other Thundercats.

There’s no time to fight the obstruction and the choking dust it kicked up to fetch Felina, so they leave without her, barely clearing the launch pad as it is. Katya’s ship, unfortunately, blows up on the pad. On the ship, Jaga struggles with his decision and Tygra tries to comfort him, urging him to use the Eye to find out for sure if Felina survives. Jaga chooses not to know, for the worst case would be too much to bear confirming.

Back on Thunera, Bengali saves Felina from the debris of another quake, and the trio plus Felina and Bela try to find a ship to board. But the last one leaves them there and they feel hopeless. However, a pair of Thunderians take a small ship back down to rescue them. There’s too much interference to contact the flag ship to tell Jaga his daughter is safe. But Felina takes the key off as she lies down to rest.

A meteor shower damaged their small vessel while she slept, and their course was altered. They would also have to go into suspension, and she awoke to being placed in a capsule. She had the book, but the key lay forgotten where she left it on a crate beside her cot. Jagget and Ocelia, the pilots of the rescue ship, decide Jagget will stay and pilot the ship, rather than Lynx-O who volunteered.

As the ship falls apart in Third Earth’s atmosphere, Felina’s spirit sees Jagget didn’t survive without suspension and Ocelia died when her capsule opened too soon flinging her to her death. She also sees the Key fall near the bottomless chasm. Then she’s slammed spirit-wise back into her dream-body, inside her capsule. She emerges amazed at her new adult body. Then, she turns to see her father’s spector urging her to remember the Key. She’s panics when he starts to fade, begging him not to leave her again.

She awakes in her bed in real time, half-asleep and shouting for her father not to leave her. Lion-O, Cheetara and Tygra come in to see what’s going on and finally get Felina to wake up. She remembers the bit with Tygra and Jaga in the sword chamber in the flagship and Tygra is amazed Felina has this information. They agree they’ll analyze what Felina’s “vision” means over dinner, for Felina had been out 12 hours and it was almost nightfall again.

Pray (ch 10):

Felina fails to show for dinner, so Lion-O goes to see what’s keeping her. When she’s not in her room and he notices she left behind the Book of Omens, Lion-O has a bad feeling and goes out to find her. He comes upon her in a moonlit path midway between the Lair and Balkan Bar, and wards off attacking trollogs and a tabbot. She is dead set in her mission, and refuses to Lion-O when he urges her to come home with him. Some hurtful words are exchanged and Felina openly defies Lion-O’s order for her to return to the Lair.

Panthro wakes up and finds out his leg is gone. Instead of feeling bad, he wants to avenge himself against the Mutants and it takes Cheetara and Tygra sedating him to calm him down. Cheetara then tells Tygra they are expecting and he is overjoyed. They decide not to tell the others just yet.

Felina meanwhile, shows up at the bar and finds forlorn patrons – it seems a frost came early and most of the wolo’s crops are ruined. Focused, Felina grills the bartender – a Balkan named Tague – about the location she saw in her dream. He thinks it’s the Bottomless Chasm but it’s a day’s trek away on foot and Felina berates herself realizing it would have been faster to go home as Lion-O asked and take the Tank in the morning.

She orders some food and while waiting, Lion-O shows up, his mood different. He wants to accompany her now, not try to stop her. The two exchange a few more barbs and coy talk, before sharing a meal and a laugh. Lion-O tells Felina he wants her to start teaching him the language of the Book.

They set off at midnight, and decide to make camp in the woods. It’s a chilly night, and Lion-O wakes to note Felina shivering, with the fire died down and having lost her cloak earlier. He stokes the fire and lain beside her to help warm her with his own body and cloak. They spend the night snuggled together.

Meanwhile, Jax (the jackal cub) awakes and recalls how he came to Third Earth on a Plundarrian ship he stowed away upon, running from an unhappy home life. He was taught to fear Thunderians, so his new surroundings make him nervous. He does not respond well to the Thunderkittens’ friendly overtures.

As dawn arrives, Felina awakes alone at the campsite and finds a note left by Lion-O explaining that he was out on a hunt and would return soon. She decides to go wash in the nearby river, but notices movement near the forest and hurries her time in the waterfall.

When she gets back to camp, she ends up figuring out it was Lion-O spying on her and he’s quite embarrassed. She doesn’t seem too bothered. They then discuss the dream more, and Felina confesses she used to be jealous of Lion-O’s relationship with Jaga. But then she understood that her dream showed her Jaga’s reaction to leaving her behind on Thundera was by design – it was Jaga’s way of showing her that he does care for her. She tells Lion-O to tell Jaga, when next he appears, that she understood why he left her and that she loves him.

At the Lair, Panthro gets Snarf to fetch his toolbox, as he intends to waste no time moping and get to work on building a leg.

As night falls, a storm approaches so Lion-O and Felina have to take shelter in the Tabbot Inn. Felina also addresses Lion-O casually for the first time. After a run-in with the greedy clerk, they settle in and call the Lair. They reminisce some more and enjoy a little playfulness before they share their first kiss. It quickly becomes passionate, and Felina backs out before it goes too far. Lion-O is confused by her behavior and his new feelings for her.

Felina does something risky to get an item in the chasm they thought might be the key, but since the Eye doesn’t work near the rays, they can’t tell for sure. But she doesn’t want to wait, for the blasts send the key closer to teetering off the ledge and into oblivion. She gets the Key but almost falls off the edge in the process. Lion-O follows in time to save her and they make it out of the chasm in the nick of time.

Cheetara, Tygra, and Snarf arrive in the Tank to take them home, and Felina ends up in Lion-O’s lap in a mishap, and they share another teasing moment. It’s then that we learn Cheetara had convinced Lion-O to follow Felina that night after their confrontation in the path and she hoped they’d grow closer on the journey. She senses their happiness is important to the clan’s survival.

Panthro has built himself a bionic limb and info on Jax was gleaned through a serial number stamped on his arm. Lion-O and Felina have decided to use the Key to go inside the Book and ask the Guardian about Mumm-Ra’s past.

Everything Falls Apart (ch 11):

The Kittens turn 13 and get to go to the Balkan bar. Jax comes along too, having developed a bond with Felina, though he’s still quite skittish. Cheetara’s pregnancy is now fully known, and she is starting to show a bit. Panthro has a prosthetic leg that’s got allsorts of gadgets hidden within.

Felina and Lion-O continued to grow close in the months since the Tabbot Inn stay, but she kept stopping him short from getting too close. He refuses to dance with her, and when Tygra does, he gets aggravated again. Panthro goes to talk to him up at the bar, but Lion-O insists he’s not jealous. But before he can explain further, mercenaries enter the bar and a brawl breaks out. The Thundercats leave, preferring to come back and help Tague out when his anger isn’t fresh, given Panthro threw the first punch.

Back at the Lair, Felina is trying to study but can’t concentrate. Snarf then comes to her room to tell her Lion-O wishes to see her. She notes it’s late, but figures maybe he wants to study. Snarf remarks that it’s unlike Lion-O to be interested in books. She arrives in Lion-O’s chambers to find him nearly naked and desiring her. Though she briefly wonders why he’s not focused on the task the Guardian told them to focus on – learning much about Egyptian culture as possible before Mumm-Ra’s past is revealed – she’s soon sucked into the quest for a different kind of knowledge as well, curiosity on carnal matters getting the best of her and overriding her fears. The experience was not quite what she expected, and neither was the pain. She was left feeling conflicted about it.

In the morning, Lion-O leaves Felina to slumber while he heads out to the Thundrillium mines. Bela and the others realize Felina spent the night with him and are amused.

Lion-O and one Berbil are buried in a mine cave-in.

Meanwhile, Felina woke up late and is smarting from the aftereffects from her first time as well as a sense that everyone else knows her business, and goes out on a hunt. But then Cheetara arrives, telling of a vision of Lion-O trapped in a cave-in with a Berbil, and Robear Bill’s call confirms it. They rush to the Village to help get him out of there.

They arrive to find him dirty but safe, and wonder how he got out on his own. Lion-O is edgy and angry, and all return to the Lair. Felina, deciding she can’t stand the tension after taking Lion-O’s attitude personally, goes out to pick Berbil fruit and takes the Book and Key along as well. “Lion-O” arrives and confronts her, demanding the Book and declaring her unfit. She can’t believe he’s being such an ass til she realizes the bruise she saw on his chest and shoulder the night before is gone. Felina concludes that this isn’t Lion-O but creepy Mumm-Ra and makes a run for it. Monkian shoots her in the shoulder with an arrow, and they take her and her items back to the Pyramid.

Cheetara’s senses lead the cats’ back to the mine where they find a skycutter and conclude Lion-O must be down there and the one who emerged was a fake. It’s decided to rescue Lion-O first, then find Felina.

Lion-O is running out of air and hope until Jaga’s voice encourages him, telling him to use the Sword to call his friends. He’s rescued and badly bruised but will live. Now they have to fetch Felina. She tries to stab Mumm-Ra though very wounded and weak, but only stokes his anger. Then the others arrive and Mumm-Ra stabs her with her own dagger I her shoulder wound. It breaks Lion-O, and he gives into the demand to give up the Sword. Before it can reach him, Felina shouts a chant in Thunderian that makes the Book and Sword react – and together they unleash a power that brings down the pyramid around them.

Felina awakes, recovering in the safety of the Lair. It was a dangerous spell, the wrath of the gods, and it nearly finished them too. But they’re not sure Mumm-ra is down for good, just out for the count. So the plan is to still go in the Book and learn about him once Felina’s shoulder heals. Lion-O also apologizes for hurting her the night before, showing he’s not quite a complete ass.

Egoverride (ch 12):

Months later, Felina and Lion-O oversleep a little on a big day for them. They discuss her healing shoulder and the Emites – as in, how they’ve been long persecuted and are kin to the underground cave dwellers Lion-O met during his trial. They get playful, but Snarf interrupts them – he’s worried their breakfast is getting cold.

Meanwhile, at Castle Plundarr, Monkian’s source had tipped the Mutants off to what the Thundercats are up to, and they plan to break into the Lair and steal the Sword of Omens while Felina and Lion-O are inside the Book learning about Mumm-Ra. Mumm-Ra still hasn’t been heard from and the Pyramid is still in ruins, but everyone figures he’ll be back eventually.

At the Lair, Felina is dressed in Egyptian attire and goes to Tygra’s room to get a book which references the language. She and Cheetara have a light conversation, in which Felina makes an odd comment about love lacking between herself and Lion-O. The baby Cheetara carries kicks for the first time, and Felina’s naivety shows through.

They prepare to go back in time to ancient Egypt and Snarf is worried. Jax doesn’t want Felina to go either. But after some reassurances, the duo disappeared into the Book of Omens.

As the Mutants prepare to leave for the Lair, Grune shows up and invites himself on the mission, noting it’s just as well Jackalman isn’t coming along.

Meanwhile, Jax is having a hard time being separated from Felina. In an emotional panic, Jax destroys a bunch of the consoles in the control room, and Tygra is upset when he walks in on the scene. Jax is afraid he’ll be beaten, and then slowly realizes it was he that caused all the damage – he didn’t even remember doing so.

Lion-O and Felina have been in the time warp 3 months (though a day in time warp only translated into a minute passing in their own time) and have learned much about Pharaoh Mefeset. He’d received a gift from the rulers of Upper Egypt and something was in it that injured him, and eventually caused his demise. He was being mummified as Lion-O and Felina camped out discussing what they’d seen and trying to figure out the significance, while laying low as not to alter the past.

In the Sword Chamber, Snarf frets why they’ve been in the book for an hour but nobody else seems too worried. Bela also reveals his real name, Osbert, which amuses Cheetara and Panthro. We also learn Snarf once had a crush on Bela back on Thundera. The arrival of the Mutants and Grune in the chamber shatters the jovial mood, and a fight ensues. Grune wants Monkian to take the child from Cheetara’s womb, while Panthro moves to protect her.

In the timewarp, Mefeset loses his battle for his spirit to the ASOE, after his mummified body animated and scared his priests off. He says the transformation spell for the first time, giving into the madness in his mind, and takes his everliving form for the first time. The canopic jars that held his organs become the four statue idols and the Black Pyramid rises from the desert floor.

In the Lair, the kittens alert Tygra to the situation, as he was keeping watch over the disturbed Jax, and they come to the chamber too late. Panthro is gone as is the Sword, and Cheetara lies hurt on the floor though Monkian did not have time to cut the cub from her as intended. Jax then appears with the Sword in hand, and throws it back on top of the Book of Omens. Monkian pursued and was enraged by the boy’s actions, but fended off by Tygra. Monkian cuts his losses and takes the jackal cub with him when he leaves. Tygra was going to follow, but Cheetara’s injuries put her in pre-term labor and he must stop it for the unborn cub to survive.

Lion-O and Felina witness Mefeset’s transformation into Mumm-Ra, tipped off by the screaming, and end up inside the Pyramid when it emerges. The hide behind a statue idol and feel it when the Sword is separated from the Book. They watch as Mumm-Ra becomes empowered, now totally bent to the will and mercies of the ASOE. He does get over-zealous when he learns his power comes with a price and the ASOE put him in his place, reducing him to his mummy form and forcing him into his sarcophagus. The lions feel renewed when the Sword is reunited with the Book and Lion-O calls to it, causing them to exit the Book. They quickly learn what transpired, and although Cheetara’s labor has been halted, Tygra advises against rushing off in the light of day to rescue Panthro and Jax. Lion-O reluctantly agrees.

Defender (ch 13):

Opens with Panthro chained in the Mutant dungeons and taunted by Mutants, Grune. Jackalman talks big with Panthro chained and ends up hitting him upside the head with his lantern when Panthro gets smart.

Lion-O prepares to leave in the Tank, going against his agreement to wait til nightfall. Felina doesn’t like it, but goes along anyway despite the fatigue they both felt from the time traveling ordeal. Bela goes along as well.

The twins, coming into the hangar to fetch some tools to work on the busted Lair controls, note the absent Tank and see the plume of dust it was leaving on the horizon. Miffed they were left out of the action again, they mount their spaceboards to pursue the Tank.

Tygra and Cheetara have a conversation about how to best infiltrate castle Plundarr, Tygra thinking of going alone and invisible. But then he hears the Tank leaving and realizes Lion-O is going back on his word. Furious at the Lord’s impetuous nature, Tygra is determined to get reinforcements just as Snarf arrives to note the Kittens also followed.

In the Castle, Grune makes his case for keeping Panthro alive – as bait to draw Lion-O alone to the Castle banking that the son is like the father. Monkian wants to get rid of Panthro and Grune makes his point by tossing Monkian around. Jax is then the object of Grune’s ire and he orders Jackalman to lock the boy up out of his sight. Grune tells the others to get the Thundrainum cannons ready to thwart any rescue attempts.

Panthro, having recovered enough from the Thundrainium exposure, breaks his bonds and tries to escape. Bats fly about and he’s temporarily crippled by the horrible memories of his time in the Pits of Plundarr decades ago. Moving on, he’s about to use a window to escape when Jackalman sneaks up on him. Panthro thwarts the attack and punches a hysterical Jackalman so hard he breaks his jaw.

Felina tries to get Lion-O to turn back one last time, and he stops the Tank in frustration inviting her to get out if she’s so worried he’s leading her to total disaster. Hurtful things are said, with Lion-O admitting he only took an interest in the Book and the old tongue to get Felina doing what she’s supposed to again. The Kittens catch up and Lion-O is surprised but agrees that they can help.

Felina realizes they’re surrounded by Mutants and Lion-O turns the tank around, calling to the Kittens to get in the back compartment. But Kit is hit by a Thundrainium shell and falls off her board, hurt. A thug is about to do her in when Bela intervenes, getting bludgeoned to death in the process. Panthro emerges in time to save Kit and get in the Tank, and Kit needs medical attention. Felina is at first too stunned at witnessing Bela’s death, but Panthro gets her back to her senses, though he failed at preventing her from seeing triumphant Mutants holding their kill up on a spear.

They all start to wonder if they’ll make it out of the gauntlet alive until Tygra shows up with Tuska reinforcements.

The Mutants and Grune argue back at the Castle, not thrilled that Panthro escaped and a dead snarf is all they came away with for a body count. Slithe and Grune blame each other but Slithe is secretly glad Grune failed. He doesn’t like being usurped by a Thunderian and he also wants victory to be his own to show Ratilla he can prevail even if he was put in charge of misfits. Jackalman can’t speak – his broken jaw wired shut – and Vultureman is too stoked to have Kit’s space board, eager to learn what he can about Thunderian technology from it.

At the Lair, Snarf is happy to see everyone and starts complaining about Bela. Finally, after Felina runs off, Panthro bluntly tells Snarf the female snarf died in the battle. He’s stunned, and the others awkwardly filter off to take care of their lingering business leaving Snarf and Lion-O alone in the courtyard. Lion-O mounts Kat’s board, and Snarf assumes he’s going after Felina. Lion-O admits that’s not his plan, for he figures he’s the last person Felina wants to talk to, feeling guilty that his rash behavior put everyone in that situation, and furthermore, they were unable to rescue Jax. Lion-O leaves to do some soul searching of his own. It is also found that Mumm-Ra’s pyramid stands again. Tygra is anxious to look over the info she and Lion-O gathered in the time warp, which Felina saved some documentation of on microfiche.

Felina runs into Alderan in the forest and goes back to his home amid an outcropping of rocks. He’s left with the bare necessities, for most of his belongings were lost in the Great Fire. She apologizes for the blaze, but he bids her not to feel guilty for Mumm-Ra had persecuted his kind for years, and it was only a matter of time before he struck again. She was happy to learn other Emites survived though they are scattered. But they see much of what goes on and Alderan already knew of Bela’s passing. Felina admits she sometimes resents the responsibility of being a Thundercat and having found them again. They talk, and try to sort out their feelings.

Lion-O, meanwhile, ventures aimlessly until he comes upon the wreckage of their flagship. He goes inside and looks around, though seeking nothing in particular. Jaga appears and the two argue over Lion-O’s decision to concede duties as Lord to Tygra. Jaga tells Lion-O that mistakes will happen, some with a severe cost, but one cannot let that cripple him or causehim to run from his responsibilities. Lion-O seems unconvinced, and Jaga disappears. Then Lion-O notices a metallic box and finds it’s full of old letters. The one on the top was penned by Claudis, his father, when Lion-O was but a small toddler. He wrote it on the eve of a great battle on Thundera, the one where Claudis lost his sight, and it basically implores in his young son – in case he does not live to see the boy grow – the importance of their work and sacred responsibility to be defenders of the meek. It contains an addendum added before Thundera died when Claudis stayed behind to guide the Flagship off the planet, and the words ring too true for Lion-O. Lion-O leaves determined to face up to his mistakes and learn from them, as well as find a way to cope with his position and make his father proud, wherever he may be now.

Bizarre Love Triangle (ch 14):

Felina comes back to the Lair fighting the winter cold and the coming of a snowstorm. She’s actually starting to feel like the Lair is really home, though her sorrow over Bela is still deep. Snarf runs into her in the hall and apologizes, expressing his condolences over Bela. She learns Panthro is fixing the Tank, and considering building some new vehicles, Tygra is trying to figure out how the Mutants breached the Lair security and got in, and Cheetara is resting from her ordeal.

Tired, she turns in but has a restless night. Unable to sleep, she wanders the Lair and finds herself eventually in Lion-O’s room, waking him from sleep and seeking comfort and closeness from him, just as he was thinking their relationship was going to be hopelessly damaged by his mistake.

Felina still couldn’t sleep afterward, the physical connection no substitute for a real emotional one. She notices the box of letters and starts reading, some of which dealt with her parents’ sordid love saga.

Felina’s mother, Leonda, was urged into a marriage with Grune though she did not love him. She agreed to it, and Grune went off to war while she got summoned to the Lair to be given the Book of Omens given she was among the few that knew the old language. In the interim, love surprisingly blossoms between her and Jaga. Jaga is unaware that she’d married Grune out on her family’s farm, and goes about having an affair with her and they soon have a child on the way. He does, however, learn of the marriage right before Felina’s birth and breaks off their relationship.

Leonda is determined to pursue Jaga even though Grune offered to forgive her and raise Felina as his own. Jaga insisted on taking an active roll as a father and soon Grune learns that their relationship rekindled. Furious, he reports the impasse to Claudis. Claudis does punish Jaga for his part, but he also grants Leonda an annulment to the marriage to Grune, thinking it best for all involved. Grune is shocked and feels beyond betrayed.

Felina is sent off with Miss Katya to the Academy, and Leonda is supposed to follow, but stays behind to pack a few more things and talk with Lionas, Lion-O’s mother. Grune appears and confronts her briefly before returning to the bar and drinking heavily. He blacks out, remembering nothing. However, he wakes up missing a saber tooth and finds himself arrested for the murders of Leonda and Lionas.

He’s put on trial before the Council, which only Panthro of the modern day ‘Cats was present for, and found guilty of Leonda’s murder and suspected in Lionas’ death. His punishment was to be stripped of his Thundercat power and exiled from Thundera. Grune couldn’t remember the attack, but the circumstantial evidence was pretty powerful.

The revelations stun Felina and she now understands Grune’s intense hatred of her father. She also doubts more than ever that there’s hope for her and Lion-O and their marriage to be a truly happy and loving one.

Whatever (ch 15):

At Castle Plundarr, Slithe raves at his underlings for failing to capture Lion-O and for Panthro’s escape, while Vultureman sulks at his misfortune of being a genius stuck among fools. He just wants to get back to his lab where he was dissecting Kit’s spaceboard. Slithe and Vultureman have words, and Vultureman stalks back to his lab angry. He’s even angrier when he finds Jax in his lab wreaking havoc. Vultureman decides to take the boy to Mumm-Ra to be disposed of.

At the Lair, Panthro had worked all night on a new flying ship he hopes someday will even go into space. He threw himself into work so he wouldn’t suffer nightmares sparked from his stay at Castle Plundarr. The Kittens come out into the hangar on the way outside and ask about a new spaceboard, which Panthro tells them the new ship is a priority. They muse about space travel and the possibility that others may have survived Thundera’s destruction. The kittens then notice a curious streak of light on the horizon and wonder what it was.

Jax finds himself waking up at his home on Plundarr with his parents, Aurea and Adustus. A sad picture of Jax’s home life is revealed, and he’s heartbroken to be back in the misery. He tried to tell them about his adventure, but they wouldn’t listen. He wonders if he dreamed up Third Earth to escape his miserable life.

Deliver Us From the Elements (ch 16):

Time passes and winter is about over. It had been a long winter full of a food shortage. And now spring flooding was becoming a bigger threat than the Mutants and Mumm-Ra had been in recent weeks. Cheetara was due to give birth anytime now, as well.

Panthro is going to set out to the Berbil Village to help sandbag against flooding there, and Lion-O and the Thunderkittens go along with him. Felina stays behind, for she and Lion-O were on shaky terms since Bela’s death and several clumsy attempts to mend their relationship. That and she’s having her first fertile time since being reunited with them all, so it was best to avoid him anyway. Tygra also stays behind to be with Cheetara just in case she goes into labor.

Later, Felina’s nodding off over her studies when Cheetara cries out. Snarf and Felina run to her aid and find her water had broke – the baby is coming two weeks earlier than expected. Felina goes to find Tygra, as she is not one who is experienced in child births, and locates him checking out the Lair’s basement. Tygra is tells Felina they will have to evacuate the Lair due to the rising flood waters.

At the Village, sandbagging is interrupted by lightning that takes down a giant oak, and pins Panthro’s good leg under a splintered bough. Lion-O and the Kittens think of ways to free him only to find reasons to nix them. Meanwhile, Panthro grapples with the possibility that he could lose this leg too and he’s not happy with it. The Berbils offer a solution.

Meanwhile, Felina and the others evacuate, coming out of the Lair head. Tygra takes Cheetara across and gets her situated. Felina and Snarf get impatient, so Felina tries to reach the other side of the bluff behind he Lair with a rope arrow, the desire to get out of the cold rain prompting the move. They almost make it when the water breaks loose and the Lair ends up half-submerged.

Kit and Kat head back on their boards to the Lair, to find it in flood waters – Kit, it seems, got the new board. They find Snarf hysterical on the cliff, and he explains what’s going on. Kit stays with Snarf to tend to Cheetara, who’d been set up in a sheltered area in a rock outcropping nearby, while Kat tries to see if he can find any sign of Tygra and Felina in the raging flood waters. He comes up empty and heads back to the Village to tell Lion-O.

Tygra and Felina got out of the flood, and cold and drenched, head back toward the Lair, just missing Kat’s fly-by.

At the Village, Lion-O uses he Sword to see Tygra and Felina are safe. Kat worries about Cheetara, and Willa who had come to help make a makeshift crane to lift the limb off Panthro, overhears and offers to assist in the birth. Kat leaves to show her the way.

There’s a problem during the birth, and Willa has to do an emergency c-section to save the cub and Cheetara. It’s done without anesthetic. It’s successful, but Cheetara cannot have anymore children. The child, a daughter, is named Velouria, after the old world word ‘velour’ which means “great hope”. Panthro was also rescued and nursing a broken leg. They’re invited to stay in the Treetop Kingdom til the Lair is livable again. But before they go, Felina confesses she lost the Book of Omens in the floodwaters when the pack came off her back, and Kit thought she heard Mumm-Ra’s cackle carried on the wind.

The Devil You Know (ch 17):

The next day, Lion-O is out looking for the Book but Mumm-Ra gets it first and goes into the Book before he or the Kittens can prevent it. Furthermore, Lion-O realizes Mumm-Ra used it to go back in time and is uneasy about the damage the mummy could cause.

Back at the Treetop Kingdom, Felina and the others are recovering from the illnesses and injuries they acquired. Tygra had checked on the Lair and it’s unlivable for now, and then he goes to check on Cheetara and their daughter. Felina and Panthro then have a talk, and it leads to an awkward heart to heart about love and what Lion-O believes where that is concerned. Felina also offhandedly speaks of Lion-O in a way that suggests she’s in love with him. She also feels guilty he is currently out looking for a Book she lost in the first place, and worried it’s taking him so long. She notes Panthro may have a little crush on Nayda.

Lion-O pursues Mumm-Ra and Kit into the Book and finds himself in an oddly familiar jungle. He comes upon two men in a jungle and eavesdrops, learning they’re scientists who created some sort of animal-human hybrids. One wants to destroy the “experimental” mutants while the other finds casually destroying such sentient and intelligent beings highly unethical. Using the term Mutant throws Lion-O off, and he doesn’t quite understand why Mumm-Ra chose an African jungle in the past to return to, but he aims to find out.

He soon comes upon Kit at a compound in the jungle, where she had followed Mumm-Ra. They get inside through the air ducts and find a room full of cages containing creatures that resembled what could be their and the Mutants’ ancient ancestors. They strike up a conversation with a cheetah hybrid, and when Lion-O responds in the old Thunderian tongue the cheetah used, the hybrid trusts him enough to reveal they’re aware of what the scientists plan to do with them and that they have a plan for survival. A vulture hybrid is skeptical of the strangers, but the cheetah is more concerned about the night’s other “visitor” – a devil he’s seen before.

Mumm-ra reveals himself and his hostage – Leonus the Wanderer, patriarch of Lion-O’s line. He plans to do away with Leonus, thus doing away with Lion-O in the process.

Meanwhile, a group of escaped hybrids are traveling to the desert, coming to the same underground passages Felina had found Jax in. Some sympathetic humans are helping them flee the planet by ship, but a Vulture hybrid takes a detour and finds Mumm-Ra’s treasure room. He ends up grabbing a treasure chest and a strange ruby gem and risks Maftet’s wrath to procure it. He’s hoping the offerings will impress Leonus, their organizer and leader, enough to make hims someone of import in the new society they planned to forge.

Meanwhile, the fight at the compound was so fierce it was in flames. Mumm-Ra was fought off and Leonus saved, thanks somewhat to Kit’s quick thinking, but Lion-O had to rescue the rest of the hybrids from the flames. He passes out when saving he last one, a simian, from the building.

Lion-O awakes in a ship with other hybrids and a few humans, on its way to what would be Thundera. Avis enters where he and Leonus had been speaking, and gives the leader the treasure box with the Eye in it. Lion-O is stunned to see the same chest they kept the Treasure of Thundera in not to mention it held the Eye. When he learned where it came from, he really was stunned. The human explains some of the legends surrounding the devil priest of the desert, and then Mumm-Ra appears to try to take the Eye, though in his weakened Mummy form. Lion-O attacks while calling to the sword, hoping to transport them all back to their own time and keep Mumm-Ra from taking the Eye back.

Kat arrives at the Treetop Kingdom in a panic with the Sword and the Book and explains what happened. Felina considers risking a recall spell to get them back post haste, but it’s dangerous and she can’t recall it immediately. But luckily, the others come back on their own, even Mumm-Ra, who simply is too worn to fight and disappears. Lion-O is too exhausted to go into exactly what happened, but everyone is relieved all worked out. Panthro then makes a jab about Felina’s love confessions and Felina shoots back something about his feelings for Nayda with the warrior maiden in the room. This embarrasses Panthro enough to shut him up.

Runaways (ch 18):

Lion-O is made to recover with the others in the Treetop Kingdom, and his mind starts to wander regarding the Sword and Jaga’s connection to the Eye. Desiring the same connection, Lion-O tries to mentally command the Eye to no avail.

Tygra comes in and the two have a conversation about the Eye, Tygra assuring Lion-O that with time his connection will become greater. Lion-O was encouraged and fearful of the prospect at the same time, once again pondering the weightiness of his birthright and how it all seemed to be swallowing his identity.

Felina awakes rested and feeling better, so the two set off to help at the Lair despite Snarf’s standing orders to park it and rest. They sneak off. Seeing the spire of Castle Plundarr in the distance puts Felina’s mind on Bela and Jax again, but most of all Jax for his fate remained forever uncertain. Lion-O feels bad again for his role in that mess and he fears they’ll never know what happened to the small Mutant after attempts and spies turned up nothing of his fate.

Jax is on Plundarr, and has run away again wandering about the capital on Plundarr. He’s miserable and oddly dreaming of the Thundercats. Nobody had believed his fantastic tale of where he had been before, so he was left just with his own memories of his time on Third Earth. During an outing at night in the city, he wanders into the industrial district only to get abducted.

Meanwhile, Jax’s father, Adustus, took a bundle of the boy’s drawings in to show some other military personel. At first, they found it laughable until they realized the implication of one so young knowing what the Eye looks like as well as able to draw Thunderians – the likes of which he should have no memory of – and Slithe’s crew. They soon realize this means the Eye, the nobles and Slithe’s crew all made it to some place the child had called “Third Earth”. The others want to inform Ratilla of these developments and ask Adustus to bring his son in for questioning, though he doesn’t want to admit the boy is missing again.

Jax’s tenure in child labor was brief for he had another episode in which he used a sharp object to do in the monkian that kidnapped him, after defying a fellow child’s suggestion that he had no choice but to do as told. When he comes to his senses, he’s back on the streets and bloodied. He’s found by other military officers, who also soon find his father murdered nearby. Jax has no idea if he is responsible for his father’s demise for he can’t remember what he’d done, though a similar object as he’d used on the monkian lies near his father’s body. The others take him into Ratilla for questioning. He doesn’t actually see the aged rat, but is questioned by his underlings. He tells some of what he knows, but not how he befriended the ‘Cats. It’s enough to get the Mutants excited and make plans to capture the Eye. He does find out later they assumed the monkian thug, whom he did not kill initially, but the girl at the factory helped distract to help him escape, may have caught up with Jax and his father and fought the man for Jax. Though Jax always wondered if he did play a larger role in his father’s death, but he can’t remember. He’s released into the custody of his mother, who ironically sells him back into the child labor industry to finance her drinking habit. It would seem misery would be the sum of Jax’s life.

Invisible Man (ch 19):

A few months have passed, and Tygra is on his way to the Berbil Village for supplies when he overhears some Mutants talking near the River of Despair. He decides to eavesdrop. Vultureman has invented a device made from the stolen space board that he hopes will be the downfall of the Thundercats. The device will scramble the Thundercats’ vehicles, rendering them useless, then Vultureman planned on using Thundrainium to subdue them. Tygra decides to go back and warn them, not figuring he can take them on alone if they have Thundrainium handy, but is detected by the keen nose of Jackalman. He’s attacked and in the struggle, falls into the river without his whip. Gripped by his fear of water, Tygra is helpless in the current and is swept toward the Whirlpool of Infinity.

We flashback to a summer on Thundera, when Tygra was in his teens and just starting his rigorous training to become a ThunderCat. He’d been honing his skills, including his mind powers. During a break in all the work, he found time to visit his favorite swimming hole late one evening. He floated out to the center of the cool lake and relaxed enough to astral project a little. But then he’s grabbed by something in the water and pulled down, nearly drowning. He makes it out, but realizes the tales of a beast that lives in the depths of the lake is not so much a myth. Though nobody else really believes his ordeal, Tygra doesn’t talk about it much. He’s left, however, with a fear of being visible while in a body of water.

At the Lair, the others are taking a break from the ongoing Lair cleanup. It’s been livable, but there was still some remaining issues caused by the flood to deal with, including restocking. Cheetara prepares to go out on a run, and Panthro volunteers to keep watch on tiny Velouria, who is now a few months old. Panthro teases Lion-O a bit about when he’s going to have a cub of his own, to which Lion-O seems not at all eager to start his own family. Cheetara takes off and shortly after, the sword alerts Lion-O to danger. He only sees part of Tygra’s predicament, for when Vultureman fires off the Thundrainium, it blocks the Sword and he fails to see that Tygra fell in the river. They speed off, leaving the baby with a somewhat reluctant babysitter, Felina.

Cheetara joins the crew at the site of the struggle after her sixth sense tips her off to trouble and guides her there. The Mutants are long gone and the signs of Tygra’s presence aren’t promising. They soon conclude he fell in the river and that the current would carry him to the whirlpool. Cheetara fears he worst knowing a bit of his phobia and the fact that his whip was found without him. They Eye still sheds no light on Tygra’s fate, and Cheetara can’t quite get a sense of him.

Meanwhile the Mutants had followed Tygra’s progress from shore, and seemed satisfied to see him swallowed by the whirlpool. Vultureman decides to wait to go back for his invention, which Tygra had managed to fling far into the forest during the earlier tussle. He fears the Thundercats will be arriving too soon to do so now. Vultureman goes back with the others to the Castle, daydreaming of he accolades Slithe and Mumm-Ra will shower him with when they find out he’d finished Tygra.

Red Mosquito (ch 20):

Tygra is alive, though the whirlpool – acting much like an outerspace worm hole – spit him out on the shores of some tiny tropical island. Sore and slightly injured, he goes about making the best of his situation hoping the others will eventually find him rather than assume he perished. In the course of building a shelter, he stumbles upon some wreckage and when he finds a suspension capsule among the debris, he realizes other Thunderians are on Third Earth.

At the Lair, Lion-O goes into the Book to find Tygra seems how the Sword is having some difficulty. He’s shown where Tygra is and everyone, save for the Kittens, rush off to rescue him. Kit and Kat are bummed to be on babysitting/watch duty again.

The activity does not go unnoticed by the Mutants, and instead of praise Vultureman is met with Slithe’s contempt for assuming Tygra was done for. The Mutants then launch for the island themselves, following the path of the ThunderTank in the hopes of staging an ambush.

At the Lair, Kat notices the Mutants in pursuit but can’t alert the Thundercats by radio – they’re out of range. So he and Kit decide to leave, taking Velouria right along with them, in order to warn their friends.

The Thundercats arrive at the island by daybreak, and have a happy reunion with Tygra though he is tired and weary. He shows them the wreckage and at first, Felina keeps quiet about to whom she believed the capsules belong. Tygra also points to evidence that these Thunderians had long since fled on some sort of raft they fashioned.

Before much more can be mulled over, the Mutants arrive on the attack. After much maneuvering and quick thinking, the Thundercats take care of the threat. The kittens arrive too late, but their intentions were good so the adults let it slide. All are ready to go home with the insects and other island pests becoming too much of a bother.

On the way home, Felina reveals that there were others on the ship with her when she came to Third Earth and she believes those capsules may be theirs. She had assumed they’d died, as she’d seen of the pilots in the dream she had about the Key. By the condition of the capsules, it’s obvious their occupants survived the impact and are out there somewhere.

Once they arrive back at the Lair, Felina notices Lion-O is feverish, warm to the touch. He soon displays evidence of delusions and paranoia and Tygra concludes he must be suffering from the same thing Tygra dealt with overnight on the island. Tygra knew it would pass, but in the meantime, Lion-O needed to be subdued so he would not hurt himself or others in a delusional fit. Their troubles are quickly compounded when Velouria shows signs of illness as well.

Tygra and Cheetara are up all night holding a vigil over their daughter, her young age casting doubt on whether she could even survive it. Meanwhile, Felina cared for Lion-O in the infirmary. Trouble came about when she and Panthro tried to move Lion-O to another bed, and he attacked the both. Jaga’s ghost intervened long enough for the pair to once again get Lion-O subdued and secured to a bed.

The Thunderkittens feel horrible about Velouria’s situation given it was determined a bite from a mosquito on the island caused the illness. In particular Kit feels the guilt as she did most of the convincing for them to go. She considers going into the Book to ask the Guardian for guidance, but ends up deciding against it, actually realizing it would be a mistake to try to make amends by doing something that dangerous and irresponsible.

By morning, Velouria is resting peacefully. The Twins along with Tygra and Cheetara rejoice at the good news. In the meantime, Lion-O also awakes recovered and is told a little bit by Felina about his exploits while under the strain of the fever – though she omits the part where he nearly choked her. She teases him about his impromptu stripping in the courtyard. The topic turns serious as they discuss the fate of the missing Thunderians, and Lion-O vows to find them.

What Difference Does It Make? (Ch 21)

Monkian meets up with his source that turns out to be a Warrior Maiden by the name of Arilla. She has a bone to pick with Willa and doesn’t much care for the Maiden alliance with the Thundercats. Hence, she has been feeding Monkian tidbits of information in the hopes of both weakening Willa’s reign and thwarting the Thundercats. This time, she’s ended the flight of a carrier pigeon meant to carry a message to the Maidens’ southern tribe in regards to the missing Thunderians – info she was sure Monkian would be interested in. They have words, and Monkian leaves vowing to never grovel before Arilla again.

Meanwhile, Lion-O and Panthro return from failed efforts to try to gain news or clues from their numerous allies as to the whereabouts of the three Thunderians. Using the Book and Sword together is considered but only as a last resort given the Guardian’s warning to Lion-O last time he went inside the Book. Felina follows after the aggravated Thundercat Lord against Panthro’s advice, and finds him taking a shower. She tries to distract him with seduction, which is not received well. The two commence to engage in an argument where all their pent up frustrations with one another bubble to the surface. Tygra walks in the middle of it all, and Felina gets the notion that he shall from then on be the benefactor of her language lessons. This is fine by Lion-O, who has more pressing concerns than “learning a dead language” and heads out to attend to the business of the heading over to the TreeTop Kingdom to see what the Maidens have heard.

Tygra was left stunned by the encounter as he meets Cheetara out in the hallway. They wonder if Felina is just using studies with him to make Lion-O jealous, although both decide it is beneficial that someone else learns the language.

Panthro listens to Lion-O’s account of the fight on their way to the TreeTop Kingdom and offers his own advice about making up. His own marital life is touched upon a bit, stirring up both pleasant and bittersweet memories for the panther. They arrive only to find out there’s still no word from the Southern Tribes, though Willa takes Lion-O to double-check anyway, leaving Panthro alone with Nayda. The two have an awkward moment, but soon discuss the Lair’s security briefly, unaware at first of Arilla lurking nearby. Panthro had blamed the prior break in of the Mutants on knowledge they gained from Grune, given Tygra built the Lair based on the old one that was on Thundera. The ‘Cats are invited to the Maidens’ annual festival the next evening, to which Lion-O thinks it unlikely to attend with all that’s going on.

Lion-O returns to the Lair that evening and finds Felina had moved out of their shared room and back into her old one. She feigns sleep and he “wakes” her to make his apologies. She seemingly accepts it easily enough and then grows concerned about his decision to go into the Book. She confesses that her spell a while back at the Pyramid may have been too powerful, coupled with the fact that they’d been leaning on the Book and Guardian’s assistance too much lately, would likely make the attempt more dangerous than they thought – and Lion-O very well could get lost in time and space fore eternity. Nevertheless, they’re out of options so to the sword chamber they go.

The Book fails to draw Lion-O in, and instead knocks him back. The ruckus brings Tygra and Cheetara into the room, where she decides to have a trance to see what she can visualize. Her vision reveals the Thunderians are alive and near a large amount of Thundranium. This is alarming news and explains why the Sword’s sight and Book would show nothing. It is decided that they must wait for the Feliner to be complete to make any further searching more fruitful.

The affection between the elder couple sets Felina’s mood dark again, and she rebuffs Lion-O on the way back to their chambers, still preferring her own room to sharing his. Mystified by her change in attitude, he goes to bed alone and finds his bed short-sheeted by a pair of mischievous Thunderkittens.

Standing at the Gate (Ch. 22)

Felina pushes in Council to go to the Warrior Maidens' festival - mostly out of spite against Lion-O - and later tries to cop out with a feigned headache. Cheetara guesses something is amiss, and Felina admits most of her stalling stems from having nothing suitable to wear. Cheetara suggests they alter Felina's wedding gown, and after some convincing, Felina agrees to it. Snarf's help is enlisted in the transformation.

Meanwhile, Lion-O waits impatiently for the ladies outside - particularly irritable seems how he'd rather be helping with the Feliner instead of socializing anyway. He wonders if Felina is stalling to further get his goat, and stews over that possibility. He and Panthro, and then eventually Tygra, try to sort through Lion-O's relationship problems and offer advice. His effort to compliment her when she does appear falls flat.

They arrive at the party at nightfall, and are surprised to see nude maidens, save for some blue body paint. Debate follows whether to stay or go, and when Willa arrives - somewhat clothed - they decide to be sociable. Willa explains their festival celebrates the summer solstice.

They also meet Celpa, a male tribesman, and his "keeper", Rintal. The ThunderCats are fast schooled in Warrior Maiden social ways, and find them a bit bizarre. Willa's inviting the 'Cats seems to have hurt her standing with some in the tribe, as well, seeing their presence as an unprecedented intrusion.

Panthro gives Felina more advice following another snippy episode between her and Lion-O, and later he has a moment alone with Nayda in which more is revealed about the Maidens' traditions and political pressures. Panthro finds them odd, but then considers his own cultural norms and let's it go. He can't deny he feels something for Nayda and senses she may feel the same. But his mood darkens when he thinks of the possibility of loving again and losing it all so painfully.

Felina goes off to find Lion-O and have that talk with him Cheetara had suggested back at the Lair. She finds him star gazing alone, and they discuss their troubles. She presses Lion-O to confess his feelings, or at least a desire to have what Cheetara and Tygra have - true love and a family - but he's still feeling too pressured and overwhelmed to give her a decisive answer. She suggests they spend some time apart as they can't seem to spend any time together without arguing or bickering.

Arilla has overheard everything.

She calls Monkian on a comm device he'd given her, and tells him about the squabble and Willa's woes. He's unimpressed for the most part, but agrees to meet her in their usual place on the morrow to discuss her latest observations.

Arilla then moves back into the crowd and seeks out Felina, feeling she can manipulate the more immature member of the newlywed set. She plays on Felina's feelings of frustration with Lion-O and the sense that she's underappreciated and used to get closer and fill the Thundercat's head with notions that will only further drive the pair apart. Such as, asserting her control over romantic situations and only accepting advances on her own terms.

On the way home, Cheetara's bid to ride shotgun leaves Lion-O in the back of the Tank with a sleeping pair of Thunderkittens. She breifly falls asleep at his side, and he begins to wonder if they'll be okay after all. Felina awakes and the two talk things over a bit more and even share a kiss - until Arilla's influence causes Felina to react badly to Lion-O's advances.

The Last Time (Ch. 23):

Lion-O has been on a weeks-long search for the missing trio of Thunderians with no luck. He found a few places that may have been part of Cheetara's vision, but turned up nothing. He also found many Thundrainium deposits, but wondered what a centuries supply would get them if there weren't anyone around to use them by then?

These sorts of thoughts push him to consider having a baby with Felina and make that part of a fresh start they can make to try to get it right.

At the Lair, Felina has spent the weeks tutoring Tygra in the old language and has found the experience enjoying. Perhaps too much. She’s more envious of his relationship with Cheetara than ever, and has allowed herself to even fantasize about Tygra romantically. Seeing them with their daughter and the happy family they portray only makes her more whimsical for the same, and the hurt that Lion-O left on his mission without so much of a goodbye hurt more.

When Lion-O returns, he seeks her out first and they have a talk. He proposes his idea for a fresh start and to try for a baby, which is fortuitous given Felina has entered her fertile time. She’s a bit hesitant, but so impressed by his new attitude and the idea that a baby might bring them closer together, she whole-heartedly agree. With renewed passion, they are set to while away the day making love until someone else’s name escapes from Felina’s lips at a most inconvenient moment.

Though quite an accidental slip, the damage is done and Lion-O, along with his ego, are sent reeling.

She doesn’t get much of a chance to explain herself for a Mumm-Ra shows up at the Lair disguised as a Berbil. He tells the Thundercats that the Warrior Maidens have word of their countrymen and they should follow him immediately. Tygra, curiously, got a call from Willa, noting the same.

Thinking nothing of it, they head out with the Berbil. However, Mumm-Ra’s plot is soon thwarted by the bumbling Mutants, who also were set to ambush the Thundercats and had sent the other message. The lot of them defeated, the Thundercats now know their enemies are also on the hunt for their missing friends. The pressure is on to finish the Feliner and beat them to it.

All the while, tension runs high between Lion-O and Felina, and an unwitting Tygra.

Shotgun Down the Avalanche (Ch. 24):

Tygra returns the book Felina had given him previously, and notes her odd behavior. He ponders why she would be so skittish around him, but can come up with nothing he’d done to merit it. Her sudden aversion to studying with him is also highly suspect.

Later, everyone attends the unveiling of the Feliner, which is finally finished. Lion-O insists on going on the maiden flight, even though Tygra cautions that some kinks in her design may present themselves. Lion-O decides he’ll go without the Sword of Omens, and then drafts Felina along for the ride with him and Panthro. She reluctantly agrees on his premise that she is the only one who has actually met the missing Thunderians and should they be lucky enough to spot them on the trip, she could prove useful. Tensions are still high between the couple, and Felina ponders an ulterior motive for asking her along.

On the trip, they get a bird’s eye view of Third Earth and discover many unexplored territories as well as take note of additional Thundrillium stores. The Feliner holds up well against just about everything Third Earth can throw at her. That is, until they near Hook Mountain. The cold has undesirable effects on the fuel mix, and the Feliner has to set down amid the ice and snow covered rocks.

They land with all on board in good shape, but the landing touches off an avalanche. Luckily, the waves of deadly snow miss the Feliner for the most part, and they only end up turned around and partly buried. With all power out in the ship, they have to think of what they’ll do for the cold night to keep warm.

Lion-O suggests they venture to Snowman’s castle on the mountain, given radio contact from the Feliner is out and he’s not got the Sword to signal the other Thundercats. The crash didn’t go unnoticed by Snowman, and he meets up with the Thundercats. He’s more than happy to escort them back to his home and have them as guests, having before met Lion-O (Lord of the Snows).

They are shown to their rooms before dinner, and Lion-O and Felina must share quarters. Having some time before the meal, they finally discuss the future of their marriage during which Lion-O drops quite a bombshell. He has determined that in order for them to avoid growing resentful of one another, that they are just too incompatible and should go their separate ways. They can’t exactly divorce, but they wouldn’t be the first couple in their situation to revert to being married in name only. Giving up on them hurts them both, and Felina begs for one last chance. However, fearing irreparable damage to even a friendship they might be able to salvage, Lion-O refuses. He realizes that nothing did happen between her and Tygra, but that’s a moot point in his mind for he sees many events as adding up too much. Adding insult to injury for Felina, he finally admits he loves her if only in past tense. He hopes she’ll understand where he’s coming from in time.

Panthro lets them know dinner is ready, cutting short the painful breakup dramatics. Lion-O leaves Felina to “freshen up”. She spends some time in the bathroom pondering what just happened and blaming herself for the relationship’s demise. However, she decides that whether it’s futile to try to impress him or not, she would pull herself together and go to the meal for she promised not to embarrass him. She would not make a scene.

Lion-O is impressed at her behavior and briefly entertains the idea that his decision was perhaps too hasty after all. But by the time they retire to bed, he has decided against back-sliding, fearing that failing on the “last chance” would be even more unbearable and so he resists Felina’s suggestion to share a bed and her kiss as well.

Panthro had called in to the Lair the night before, and Tygra promised to arrive by dawn the next day in favor of letting the storm passing over the Mountain clear out first. The fresh snow made it hard to find the Feliner, which had been buried by the storm. Snowmeow came in handy for that, and it wasn’t long before the others arrived to help hook the Feliner, more worse for wear than initially thought, to the Tank to be towed home.

Felina had not bothered with her brave front from the night before, though she didn’t make a scene in front of the others. Lion-O was agitated to find out it would be another few weeks before the Feliner could fly again, but then grateful the work would take his mind off his problems with Felina. He did wonder now if they could even manage a friendship or if they would forever be estranged now. He assures an inquiring Panthro that the problems in their relationship were taken care of, neglecting to mention why. None the wiser, Panthro is happy to see they’re handling things.

For now, Lion-O vows to focus on the Thunderians and keeping tabs on Mumm-Ra and the Mutants, to which he learns the Thunderkittens have been spying detail.

Science of Silence (Ch. 25):

Snarf mulls over the recent turmoil at the Lair. The pressures of finding the Thunderians and problems with the Feliner, coupled with what he sees as Lion-O’s wrecklessness giving him cause for worry. Plus, he’s noticed that Lion-O and Felina seem to be putting on a show of getting along, when he sensed something was wrong. For now, he vows not to pry.

He also suspects Felina may be expecting due to several signs he’d noted, and thinks about what this may mean for him. Snarf also ruminates on his role as Lion-O’s nursemaid, and what a joy it had been when Velouria was born – her birth somewhat restoring his role as caretaker.

Snarf tries to confront Felina about his suspicions regarding her condition, only to be rebuffed. He lets it go, for now, and continues on his way to baby sit Velouria for the evening.

Once Snarf leaves, Felina spends more time wretching and pondering the implications of what her illness may mean. She questions her sanity in ever agreeing to try to start a family, realizing that all the romance and bonding she thought would come of it was far from the reality she was experiencing. She goes over their breakup again, flaring her anger at him for such callous disregard for her feelings. She’s determined not to grovel before Lion-O or accept a reunion out of pity for her condition. Felina manages to put herself in a state of denial about the pregnancy, however, while trying to revel in the “freedom” of her own space and mess. Moments later, she contemplates leaving her room, but thinks better of it upon spotting Tygra coming down the hall. Things are still awkward where he is concerned, and for once she needs no excuse to avoid him – her illness flares up again giving her a perfect out.

Tygra notices her poke her head out of her room only to zip back inside, and feels more than ever she’s avoiding him. Puzzled, he’s too tired to go over possible reasons for now and has a good night’s sleep on his mind.

But Tygra pauses by the nursery, to find Snarf looking over a sleeping Velouria. The two have a conversation about the baby and her odd silence. Snarf suggests that the child is deaf, to which Tygra initially denies. But soon, after “testing” her, he realizes it’s true. Furthermore, they figure it must have happened after her fever following his rescue from the island. Tygra feels some guilt, and leaves with a determination to right the condition.

After running into Tygra in the hall and noting his flustered behavior, Lion-O ponders if he and Cheetara had a fight. Returning to his room, his thoughts turn to his own relationship with Felina, and how his pride got in the way of his decision to break from her. He’s missed her terribly, and finds himself second-guessing his resolve.

Seeking out Felina, they talk briefly in her room. He notices she seems ill and assumes it’s the stress of their current situation causing it. She acts strangely to his presence and his request to try again is rebuffed. Lion-O feels he missed something in the conversation, but can’t piece together what it is.

On his way back to bed, he spots Cheetara who is looking for Tygra. He points her in the right direction before retiring.

Cheetara finds Tygra poring over books in his study, knowing he’s troubled. She insists on hearing the news on the observation deck of the Cat’s head, amid the cool air of the changing seasons and under the stars. Tygra is shocked when Cheetara reveals she already knew Velouria was deaf, and it is her who ends up comforting Tygra.

The two draw strength from their love and resolve to help their daughter cope with the new obstacle, and Cheetara assures Tygra that he should not feel guilt in any way. They end up in a passionate embrace.