Chapter 3

Dedicated to Mooncat, who got me thinking...

Mind me,boy, someday that temper's gonna get you killed.

Maybe, Paw-Paw, Panthro thought, glancing at the bandage covering the gash on his right hand.But it's gonna have to get me a piece at a time.

The roar of the Thundertank's engine filled the early afternoon sky as the powerful vehicle roared across the plains towards the forest.This region was still largely unexplored, and this was as good a time as any to rectify that.

Panthro, Weapon Master of Panther Clan, piloted his treasured fighting machine across the uneven terrain with a deft hand and unconscious precision.The golden Third Earth sun shone through the open canopy, warming the slate-gray fur that covered the panther's broad, heavily muscled shoulders.Unlike other breeds of Thundercat, Panther Clan sported no mane to play in the wind of the vehicle's passage, giving an illusioun of baldness that only added to the big cat's imposing presence.

He took his deep red eyes away from the windshield to glance at the scanner display mounted in the instrument cluster.He could see two transponder signals, positioned about forty miles north of his position: Cheetara and Lion-O.

Must be his turn, Panthro thought bitterly, stabbing a finger at the control panel and switching off the display.After this morning there was a hollow ache in him, which would sometimes flare up into a sensation of pain almost physical in it's intensity.

Give it over, boy.You two never had a single damn thing together, it was just your wishful thinking.No point making yourself sick over it.

Panthro nodded his head slowly in remorseful agreement.His thought process often took this form, an imaginary dialouge with his long-dead grandfather, Gideon.Gideon had raised Panthro after the boy's parents were killed in a suprise Mutant attack towards the end of the war.Gideon himself had died of natural causes when Panthro was a teen, the first Weapon Master in ten generations to die in any manner but battle.Panthro missed him terribly, and knew he always would.

Gideon had raised his grandson with the same pragmatic sensibility the elder panther had borne himself.Thundera was gone; there was nothing to be done about it.He and these others might be the last of their people in existence; there was nothing to be done about that either.As for Cheetara...

It was true; he had no claim to the beautiful cheetah's affections.Normally direct and fearless, he became very nervous and tounge-tied around females.Hell, he'd only lost his virginity when his army buddies had dragged him to a pleasure house before their first mission, three years ago.He shook his head at the memory, smiling a little; the embarrasment, the nervousness, the entire fiasco before he'd achieved a successful copulation with his rented partner.At the time, he'd believed his libido would never recover.

All of his buddies from that night, Pierce, Ender and the rest.They were all dead now.He was the only one left to remember that night.To remember them...

Don't go there boy.The past isn't a good place for you, 'specially now.

The panther focused on his driving as he neared the forest.He pulled to a halt and exited the tank, taking his hand scanner, a small pack containing food and a blanket, and his 'chucks.He shouldered the pack, tucked the weapon into the back of his shorts were he could reach it easily, then activated the scanner.

The device revealed a large clearing just over one kilometer into the woods.Panthro strode leisurely through the trees in that direction, occasionally practicing his iajutsu technique, whipping the 'chucks out, striking and returning them to his waist in one seamless fluid movement.It demanded clarity and focus, and kept his thoughts from wandering to unpleasant places.

The 'chucks, like Cheetara's staff and Tygra's whip, were among the gifts Jaga had distributed to the clan leaders years ago, after he'd returned from the desert with the Sword of Omens.Each of the weapons had it's own set of features, including a limited sentience and an ability to form a psychic bond with it's weilder, allowing the weapon to respond to it's user's will.

Panthro's nunchaku was a set of sturdy, stylized rods connected by what appeared to be a length of chain.The chain was, in fact, a form of microcontrolled force field, unbreakable and capable of extending to great lengths, allowing the weapon to adjust it's striking range or even be employed as a grapnel if needed.

A greater secret was concealed within the shafts themselves, however.The shafts were color coded, each containing three glands.In the red arm, the glands contained a fluid that burst instantly into flame on contact with oxygen.Within the blue arm, the fluid supercooled to near-absolute zero, freezing it's target solid.Both of these fluids were launched from the fist-like end of their respective shafts, which unfurled to reveal a discharge port.Each gland would replenish itself in about twenty-four hours after being expended.

Of course, it was still a set of'chucks, and could be used to bludgeon the hell out of somebody.In Panthro's opinion, the direct routes were usually best.

The woods were cool and peaceful, the air rich with earthy, fertile scents.The sound of his footsteps was accompanied by the occasional twitter of birds and rodents among the trees and underbrush.Despite himself, he found he was relaxing under the influence of the pleasant stroll.As his tension drained away, his thoughts began to similiarly loosen and flow.

Tygra, he thought.Smug bastard was a womanizer back home too.Just like him to take advantage of her in a weak moment.

"'Course, maybe she wanted to sleep with him," Gideon chimed in."You put her up on some pedestal in your mind, expecting her to behave as you think she should, then get mad at Tygra for knocking it all down.Fact is, son, you're really mad at her for breaking your illusion of her."

Panthro came to a game trail.He verified with the scanner that it led in the direction of the clearing and began to follow it.

I never put her on a pedestal, he thought.I just wanted to give her an honest courtship, something fitting to a pair of Clan Lords.

"You just wanted to see her out of her uniform," Gideon said with some amusement.

Not for the first time, Panthro wondered if he might be getting a little schizophrenic.

A few more minutes walking along the peacful trail brought him to the clearing.As he rounded a final stand of trees, he stopped, his eyebrows arching in suprise.

Gardening wasn't his specialty, but this he knew: corn.Row after carefully-planted row of not-quite-ripe corn.He approached the nearest stalk, plucked an ear and examined it.The fruit was small, whitish, but insect and disease free.He walked along the edge of the field, noting the carefully tilled soil, straight rows evenly spaced, and abscense of any weeds.

I'm too far from the Berbil villlage for this to be one of their fields, the panther thought.I don't remember any talk about other farmers in the area...

"Hold, demon!" came the cry from behind him.

Panthro stopped."'Hold, demon?'" he muttered to himself.He turned slowly in the direction of the challenge,His sharp eyes probed the near portions of the glade, seeking movement that would orient him on this possible enemy.

She rose out of a nearby stand of brush.She was a female mammal, that he knew immediately.She had no fur, but did have a thick head of black hair, which she wore tied behind her back.She wore a simple leather jerkin, long enough to cinch with a belt and serve as a skirt.In her hands was an effective-looking longbow, which she held drawn and trained on the Thundercat with the ease of long practice.She gazed down the shaft of the arrow at him with hard, slate-gray eyes full of mingled anger and apprehension.

Suddenly it clicked."You're a human!" Panthro exclaimed.

She replied in a version of Basic so stilted with dialect that the big cat could jut barely understand her."Say no more, devil, or I will dispatch you back to whatever Hell your master Mumm-Ra summoned you from!"

Panthro grinned.He couldn't help it.Does anybody actually talk like that? he thought.He raised his hands in a placating gesture, saying "I'm no devil miss.My friends and I are Thunderc..."

She released the arrow with a twang, sendingthe missle speeding it's way towards the panther's broad chest.His hand flashed up and plucked it from the air inches away from his skin.

"...ats," he finished, dropping the arrow on the ground."And you're going to need more firepower than that to dispatch me anywhere."

The woman threw back her head and issued a high, trilling cry.From all around the glade, over a dozen more warrior women stepped into view, each with an arrow drawn on Panthro.

Okay, so maybe you've got it, he thought.He looked around the scene and decided he could escape, but not without hurting or killing a few of the humans in the process.He mulled it over as moment after tension-laden moment crept by.

He raised his hands slowly above his head and said, "OK, you win.I surrender." 

Continued...