The three occupants of the workshop stood around the viewscreen watching the planet. As they watched, the normally pink planet started to change color. Streaks of white appeared underneath the focus of the cannon. They slowly spread out along the planets rotation to cover the whole thing. Red Eye punched up the temperature of the planet. It was dropping, even now it was several degrees below zero. He also pulled up a view of the planet in the infra-red range. The thermal output of the planet was dropping. It was definatly cooling off.

"Nice work, planet wide nuclear winter." said Red Eye grabbing Vultureman's shoulder firmly. "Another hour or so and there won't be any living thing on that waste of a planet worth the protiens it's built from."

Unknown to Red Eye the sensors of Skytomb had picked up a small craft closing rapidly. Down in the main control room, the craft's position was displayed on the viewscreen. Tug Mug was supposed to be on watch, but he had taken the opportunity to attend to his nap. The whereabouts of the other occupants of Skytomb were unknown.
 

ThunderClaw

Nayda and Pumyra flew across the valley to Skytomb as fast as the ThunderClaw could go. "I guess you were right then." shouted Nayda. As they got closer they could see that Skytomb, while functional, was still a long way from the mobile threat it once was. Most of it was in the process of being reassembled, the engines while functional, were not in any shape to move the place. They pulled alongside where they estimated the laser to be.

"O.K. Nayda, get up to that window and see what's going on!" Pumyra shouted above the roar of the engines of Skytomb and the ThunderClaw. Nayda reached back and pulled out a grappling hook arrow. She aimed for a vent and let the arrow fly. It caught and she swung over to the fortress. Pumyra stayed with the ThunderClaw keeping Nayda in sight. Nayda pulled up to a ledge and looked in.
 

Skytomb

Red Eye was busy watching the planet freeze when something moved by the window. He motioned for the others to keep talking while he slowly walked to the window. Reaching out he grabbed Nayda by her shoulder and hauled her in. "Well, lookee here, spies." With more force than was necessary he threw Nayda to the waiting arms of Alluro. Red Eye looked out the window in time to see the ThunderClaw flying off with all the speed its pilot could muster. "Alluro, take our guest and see that she is properly attended to." Red Eye said. Suddenly his day was taking a turn for the better. "Vultureman, target that ship."

"Already doing that." he responded. The great cannon swiveled with a surprising amount of speed considering its size. "I can't get a fix, it's moving to quickly."

"Move out of the way, featherbrain." said Red Eye shoving Vultureman out of the way of the control panel. His fingers practically dancing across the keyboard, he had Skytomb's main sensor pack and targeting computer networked with the computer that ran the cannon. The cannon was now moving in concert with the doomed vessel. Vultureman adjusted the firing computer to allow for a fire with a solid lock of three guidance beams. The main cannon now drew a bead on the ThunderClaw and fired.
 

Skytomb dungeon

"Comfortable?" asked Alluro, "You might as well get used to it. You'll be here for quite a while I assure you." Nayda just glared at the Luna-tak. "Since we have some time, we might as well get to know each other better. My name is Alluro and I'll be one of many of your tourters during your stay. What's your name?" Nayda just spat in his face.

"You really want to be in a better frame of mind, Tug Mug may not be so understanding. He should be along to properly restrian you in a few minutes." Alluro left the cell, shut the door and Nayda was a guest of Skytomb. She looked around. Thankfully, she was alone. The moans coming from down the hall did not give her much encouragement of fair treatment. Nayda slumped down in one of the corners, preferring not to think about what may or may not lie in front of her. "What have I gotten myself into? Why did I agree to join? If I hadn't I would still be at home with Willa." Emotions that were taken a dim view of in general Warrior society started to well up inside her. Emotions that weren't proper, but somehow, in this metal box Nayda suddenly didn't give a damn. This was family and she would have whatever emotions she wanted to. She touched the steel walls, cold, damp. What was that rusty-brown stain on the wall? An inquisitive finger told her more than she wanted to know about what it was. She hoped that whoever left the stain died quickly. Tug Mug wheeled by, finshing up his rounds. He looked in on Nayda. "She's not going anywhere, besides it's time for my break." he thought, visions of a cold beer dancing through his head. As soon as she heard the dungeon door clang shut behind Tug Mug, Nayda got up and wandered around the cell. She could not see it but, she was not alone in there. There was someone else with her, someone she had never seen, and barely heard of in passing.
 

Cat's Lair

Tygra kept replaying the scene that played itself out in front of him. Data from the planets weather satellites told him exactly what he didn't want to know. The planet was dead. There was no possible way anything could survive at the temperatures that the planet had reached in a remarkably short period of time. Imagery told him that the entire planet was covered in clouds. As much as he tried to deny it, the Luna-Taks had succeeded in destroying a planet and every living thing on it. "Pumyra and Nayda are over there with the Luna-Taks." he thought. Immediatly he regretted sending them over. A familiar feeling began to creep over him. "No, now is not the time. I cannot do it." It had been many years since Tygra had partaken in illicit substances and he never really got over it. The feeling that he needed to escape into a drug induced fantasy was especially strong during great stress. It was a struggle everyday to deny it and stay clean. The picture of the small stash hidden in his room floated into his mind. "No, that's enough, no MORE!!" he shouted to the celing. Running from the control room he made his way to his room. Putting a shoulder to his dresser, Tygra shoved it aside and pulled out the remains of Silky's "Fruit" from a secret compartment in the wall. Walking to his window he threw the stash out of it with all the strength he could call up. It landed in the meadow directly in front of the Lair. Returning the control room Tygra decided that now would be an excellent time to test the new lasers. Cranking them up to full power, he targeted his supply and fired. The lasers blew a 20 foot deep crater in the meadow. The "fruit" was nowhere to be seen. Tygra suddely felt a great weight lift off of his shoulders. The air had the sweet smell of victory, "No, that's ozone" he thought. "No matter, it's gone. Never to torment me again." Tygra slumped down in his chair and let out a few deep breaths. Just then, he looked over at the control board to see the emergency communication lights blinking. Tygra opened the emergency channel. There was nothing there except for a regular beeping. "The Thunderclaw, something happened." He pulled up the Lair's map of the Third Earth and plotted the location of the signal. "Darkside, crap. They're in real trouble now." Tygra radioed Willa and told her to get ready to move out. He would be by shortly in the ThunderStrike to pick her up.
 

Thunderclaw

The blue beam hit, completely destroying one of the Thunderclaws wings. Every one of Pumyra's instincts were screaming at her to bail out. "No, I must stay with it." she thought, gritting her teeth. Quickly, the rational side of her brain informed her that if she were to survive, her best chance is to stay on the stricken craft and ride it in. The engines were still running allowing Pumyra to maintain some sort of control. Not wanting to be burned alive, Pumyra shut off the engines and let the crippled Thunderclaw plow into the ground. After it came to a stop Pumyra opened her eyes and took a look at the scene around her.

"Doesn't seem to be anything broken, much." There were shooting pains in her shoulder and hip. "I hope that's only a sprain. "She said wincing as she touched her shoulder. She attempted to get off the Thunderclaw and stand up. It was no good, her leg crumpled underneath her, she fell to the ground, white hot streaks of pain running down her leg and back up again. It was all Pumyra could do to stop herself from crying out. "Can't yell, they might be looking for me." She looked over at the wreck, the emergency beacon was thankfully still functioning. "Thank Jaga, the signal is coded." Tygra had anticipated the fact that hostile parties may evesdrop and engineered the emergency radios on all their vehicles to change braodcast frequencies on a irregular basis. She attempted to make herself as comfortable as she could, there was nothing do to but wait until rescue, "or capture," she thought.
 

Skytomb dungeon

"Tygra has chosen well." he thought. "She has a fire and determination, qualities that we have been missing for quite some time. Perhaps we have been to selective about our ranks." The time had come to announce himself.

"Nayda." he said.

Nayda stopped, "Who said that?"

"Who I am is not important now, but know this, I am here to help."

"I'm going crazy, that's it. I'm hearing voices that aren't attached to anything and want to help." she thought.

"I ask you to simply listen." he continued, "The fate of New Thundera is depending upon you and the others. It is imperitave that you destroy that machine."

"That's fine, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm a prisioner!" she snapped in the general direction of the wall.

"Look up." the voice said and then left.

Nayda figured that she wasn't in much of a position to argue at this point so she looked up.

"A vent, so what? It's got bars across it and even if it didn't it's still to small to crawl through. Aww hell, I've got nothing to lose."
She jumped and managed to grab the bars. Pulling herself up to them, she took a closer look.

"Seems fairly solid, but kinda rusty." she thought. On a hunch she wiggled several of the bars. One squeeked.

"What the--," Nayda looked as closely at the squeeky one as the dim light would allow.

"Hey, the welds corrodded open." Turning and pushing the squeaky bar she managed to worry it loose and finally out of the grate.

"Hey, maybe that voice was on to something." There was no response.

Hefting the bar in her hand,"Not enough." Jumping up again she grabbed another bar and looked at the remaining ones. They all seemed to be attached fairly solidly. Examining the welds on all of them, Nayda picked on the one that seemed to be the weakest. She stuck the first bar between the weak one and it's neighbor and attempted to pry another bar out of the grate. It took most of the night, but eventually she was able to crack both welds and wiggle another bar out of the grate. "Finally, now, to leave." It all depended upon who was doing the morning rounds.
 

Cat's Lair

Deep within the darkest recess of Tygra's mind, a small voice was busy telling him that something like this was bound to happen. "You gave them no training, no nothing. Just hi-ho and away we go. You knew this was beyond them. Somthing like this takes a full compliment of trained, skilled ThunderCats. You send in a human and an untested ThunderCat."

"What other choice did I have?" he asked to the empty room. Then he remembered something Jaga had told them on the way to Third Earth. "Sometimes difficult choices will have to be made."

"Come what may, I have made my decision." Tygra spent the ride over to the treetop Kingdom trying to think of best way to inform Willa of the whole situation. "Best to just come right out and say it." Landing near the kingdom Tygra approached on foot. Once he got within sight of the Kingdom's mighty trees, a guard appeared, "Halt and state your business."

"I am Tygra, I have need to see queen Willa. It is of great importance."

"Tygra," the guard frowned in thought, "Ah, yes, your arrival has been expected for some time. Follow me." She waved to someone in the trees that Tygra could not see. A few seconds later, a platform decended from the canopy. The guard stepped on and motioned for Tygra to follow. Within minutes they were getting off the platfrom and the guard was leading Tygra toward the royal chamber. As they walked along, many of the other madiens stopped whatever they were doing to watch. Some looked with fear, others hatred. The news of Nayda's disappearance spread quickly, despite Willa's efforts to keep it quiet. They blamed him along with the rest of the ThunderCats.

"Wait here, please." said the guard as they stopped in front of the throne room. The guard disappered inside and Tygra was left alone outside. He could feel the glares being leveled at him, the sly, whispered conversations and furtive glances. Tygra tried as best he could to maintain a level of effiency and an aloof business-like appearance. The guard re-appeared and asked that he follow her inside. Inside, Tygra looked around. Willa was nowhere to be seen. The decor was spare, yet comfortable, afew chairs along the wall, a brightly patterend area rug on the floor, a small table tucked in the corner. Nothing that wasn't necessary to the efficient running of a monarchy. It appealed to the architect in Tygra. Selecting one of the chairs, he attempted to make himself comfortable. Within seconds it was clear to Tygra that these chairs were made for a somewhat smaller frame. Just then there was a motion behind one of the curtains, "Tygra, thank you for coming over so quickly." said Willa coming through the curtain. "You must know that your presence here is not especially welcome by many of my subjects."

"Yes, I gathered that." answered Tygra.

"Please, have a seat." Willa motioned to the chairs Tygra had just vacated. Not wanting to appear rude, tygra once again attempted to have a seat.

"Here is the situation as it stands now." began Tygra. Willa motioned to the two guards that stood inside the chamber to leave
"We are not to be disturbed, under any circumstances."

"Early this evening, the Lair recieved a signal on the distress channel from the ThunderClaw. It was traced to DarkSide. As best as I know, either Pumyra or Nayda set it off. At present, that is the limit of what's known. However, the reciept of that signal does lend hope that at least one survived."

"I see, not much to go on. I assume you are going to attempt a rescue."

"Yes, but I cannot ask you to come along. The loss of one family member is bad enough, two would be right out of the question."

"I'm going, that is my sister. I will not entertain arguments to the contrary. Let me tell the others and I will be right with you."
Tygra was amazed that she was taking this so well. Suddenly he felt better about his choice.
 

Skytomb dungeon

"I don't see why I have to check these prisioners. Just becuase Tug-Mug's not sober, Luna tells me do it. Like I have nothing better to do." groused Chilla. Nayda woke with a start. "Chilla?" she thought, Sizing up the situation, it occured to her that she must only delay Chilla enought to get out the door, anything other damage would be a bonus. She took quick inventory, two steel bars and that's about it. She frantically looked around for something, anything. 'That's it, the leather straps on my leggings." she thought. Removing them, she tied each end to a bar. She then jammed one of the bars into a small hole in the wall. Pulling back, Nayda was able to catch the bar inside the hollow space between the cells. Taking hold of the other end she pulled the line tight. "Come on, open the door." she thought.

"This must be the new one, but where is she?" Chilla looked in and saw no one. She looked at the prisioner list, this was where Alluro had deposited Nayda, but there didn't seem to be anyone in there. "Stupid idiot could never keep anything straight." she thought. "If his head wasn't attached to him, he'd lose it as well." Then, it occurred to her, "Why should I care, this is TugMug's duty, not mine. Still, if I don't account for everyone, Luna's gonna have my head on a platter courtesy of Amok."

The idea of actually entering one of those cells made her skin crawl. Nayda heard the lock code punch into the door's keypad, the door's hydraulics presurizing and the heavy steel door clang open. Still examining the prisioner manifest, Chilla stepped into the cell. Nayda raised up the trip wire and caught Chilla around the ankles. It was not the clean trip as Nayda had hoped. Her timing had been off and she managed to knock only one of Chilla's legs out, but it was enough to upset her balance. Lunging at Chilla, Nayda shoulder tackled her. The force of impact was great enough to send Chilla straight into the far cell wall, head first. Seizing this opening, Nayda was through the door, closed it and locked it while Chilla was knocked for a loop on the floor.

"Now, to find a way out of here." She looked up and down the hallway. There was a door near her end of the hall, she could not see the other end due the curve of the hall.

"This looks as good as any." she thought turning to go out the door. As she approached the door, it opened. Expecting the worst, Nayda jumped and flattened herself against the wall. The door started to close again. "Must be motion activitated." she thought. Quickly moving through the door, Nayda found herself in another curving hallway. This one smelled different however, the stink of decay and death was replaced by a sharp metallic smell, not unlike that of an air conditioning system that needed it's filters changed.
 

The Thunderstrike

The Thunderstrike took off from the Treetop Kingdom. Tygra and Willa sat in the center pod, Willa in stoney silence, Tygra wondering just how he could pull this one off. Apart from the muffled roar of the engines, the only other sound was the quiet clinking of various objects in the storage compartments. Tygra made a coursry glance at the instruments.

"Lasers, check. Thunderillium supply, nominal. Engine pressure, normal. Flight computers, check." In reality he was only going over this to keep his mind off of what could possibly lay ahead. As much as he tried to distract himself, scenes of devistation keep creeping in. He saw the Thunderclaw destroyed, with no pieces bigger than a hex nut remaining. As for Nayda and Pumyra, Tygra definatly did not want to think about the possiblity of red smears on the landscape. "It's your fault." his brain kept telling him.

"No." he said out loud.

"No, what?" asked a surprised Willa.

"Oh, umm, nothing," replied Tygra, "just going over some things."

"Tygra, there's something I want to ask. Every other time when you guys have shown up, you've always seemed so confident about what to do. Why do you seem so unsure now?" asked Willa.

Tygra breathed deeply, "It's time to level with you. This is not going to be easy. Even with Pumyra and Nayda, we are still outnumbered. We could depend upon the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera to give us the edge in just about every battle. Now, we don't have it."

"Not so sure once victory is no longer a given." replied Willa, still looking out the window.

Something in Tygra's mind clicked. "Have the ThunderCats become dependent upon the Sword and the Eye?" He thought back to just about every battle they have been in. "Have we become addicted to it's power and neglected our own talents?" he thought. Every one played itself out the same way. The opposition was either winning or just keeping up until Lion-O showed up with the sword and then the enenmy was handily dealt with. "Not this time." he told himself.

He turned to Willa, "Fasten your seatbelts, we're going in." Tygra reached over, grabbed the throttle and pushed it to full burn. The sudden surge of speed, shoved both of them back into their seats.
 

Skytomb

Nayda was slowly wnadering the twisting passages of the fortress, everyone seemed alike, it was difficult to tell exactly where she was going. Her first inclination was to leave as soon as she found a way out, but there was something incessant about that voice in the cell, it was just to real to ignore. "Aww, crap," she said out loud to nothing, "I'm probably not gonna make out of here alive anyway, might as well break a few things while I'm here." She stopped and looked around. "Seems like I want to be going up." Nayda struggled to recall the route that Alluro had taken while bringing her down. "Dammit, everything looks the same." Just then, she heard something, a faint screeching, like nails on a chalkboard. A cold shiver went down Nayda's spine, she hated that sound, reminded her of certain events from elementary school. That sound was followed by lower pitched hissing noise, "Chilla, how did she get out?" she thought. They were getting louder. Frantically, Nayda looked around for a place to hide, all the doors were locked, except for one. She opened it and ducked in. Nayda left the door open a crack, and looked around at where she was. The room was no larger than some of her storage spaces, there was a sink, some mops, a broom and several unmarked bottles. "Judging by the condition of this stuff, it's not used very often." she thought, squeezing a bone dry mop and listening to it crackle softly. Nayda waited for what seemed like an eternity but gradually the noises grew louder and more distingushable finally condensing into actual understandable speech.

"I don't understand, how did she manage to escape?" asked Luna.

"She pulled the old trip line routine and then played football with the rest of me. Tug Mug forgot to strip her of anything that could be used as a weapon." replied Chilla.

"That's it he's going on report. He'll have latrine duty for a month for this."

As they passed by, Nayda looked with some satification at the sizeable purple lump forming on the side of Chilla's head. "A nice black eye would match that perfectly, perhaps accessorized by a fat lip." she thought. It occurred to her, "I need some sort of weapon." Looking around, she grabbed a mop and carefully unscrewed the handle, "These chemicals could be useful." Pulling down a bottle she tried to determine what was in them. "Empty, all empty. Well, that shoots that idea." Parking herself on the edge of the sink, Nayda tried to think of what to do next.
 

Thunderclaw

"Approaching the tunnel, prepare for entry." Tygra announced. As the Thunderclaw shot into the tunnel, the sudden plunge into darkness pulled Willa out of her revirie. "What happened, I can't see anything." she asked nervously.

"Relax, that's normal." Tygra said. Looking over, Willa could just barely make out the pilot with the aid of the cockpit lights. Willa was just about to say something, when she heard a switch click and suddenly the cockpit was bathed in a flickering white light. She looked out the front and saw everything bathed in a strange white light. Tygra saw the confused look on Willa.

"You're seeing an infrared picture of the tunnel. The whole thing is filled with a dense fog that absorbs visible light, but the longer wavelengths of infrared, heat, blow right through it. The computer just interpretes the data and produces the picture you see in front of you." Willa still looked confused. "I'll explain it all later." Amazed, Willa sat there watching sharp, impossibly jagged stalagtites, razor sharp stalagmites pass within inches of the ThunderStrike. Dodging left, a quick right, suddenly diving for the ground and finally pulling straight up, they made their through the tunnel towards Darkside. Willa spent most of the trip with her eyes screwed tightly shut, however towards the end she finally worked up the courage to watch the various obstructions in the tunnel pass harmlessly by. Terror was replaced with a rush of adrenaline. Just as she got used to the tunnel, the ThunderStrike emerged from the darkness and shot upwards toward the sun. Sensing the light, the computer shut down the infrared and returned the cockpit to normal viewing. Collecting her insides, Willa turned to Tygra, "Nothing to it, childs play."

"Easy as pie." Tygra returned. He knew exactly what she felt, only he wasn't about to tell her that his first time through was in the hands of a blind pilot who felt his way through it.

Circling high in the sky, both occupants started looking for any signs of a wreck or life.

"There, a plume of smoke!" said Willa execitely. She pointed to a thin trail of smoke slowly rising into the sky. Tygra turned the craft towards it and flew low along the ground. It seemed to take forever to get to the source of the smoke, but as they got closer, wreckage started appearing. Stray pieces of metal here and there were replaced by progressivly larger chunks of debris. Finally, they got to the remains of the ThunderClaw, Tygra brought the craft to a hover as they surveyed the wreckage. Setting the ship down a safe distance away from site, Willa was the first to get out.

"It looks bad," she said picking up a mangled piece of the ThunderClaw. "Do you think...Tygra?" she turned around fully expecting to see him standing there, ready with some educated statement. Instead, he was still seated in the ThunderClaw.

"Tygra, are you coming?" she asked.

"Um, yes, be right there, just have do a few things." Tygra returned. He hoped that his reply would cover up the silent prayer being offered to the appropiate higher powers that he did not see what he expected to. Collecting himself and retrieving the med kit, Tygra hopped out.

"Looks pretty bad." he said.

"How do you think it crashed?" Willa asked.

"Probably shot down."

"How can you tell?"

"Look, over here on the wing, well what's left of it, scorch marks." he said kneeling down to examine the remains of the vehicle. Indeed, there wasn't much left, just the body. What was left of the body was covered with carbon streaks, evidence of a recent explosion or fire. Standing up again, Tygra continued, "See that trail, leading back away from the wreck, judging by the distance and how far this thing plowed into the ground, who ever was flying was going at a pretty good speed. I'll bet if we look just over that...Willa?"

Tygra looked around to see if she was listening. Willa was nowhere to be found. "Dammit, where'd she go?" he asked out loud to noone.

"Tygra! Up here! I've found something!" Willa shouted down from the top of a nearby hillside.

"I always thought Kit and Kat were hard to keep track off. They've got nothing on her." Tygra muttered. He spotted Willa and scrambled up the hill. "What'd you find?" he asked rapidly running short of breath.

"Look, a trail." Willa pointed at a rather generic patch of ground.

"What, I don't see anything?" he asked quite puzzled at how she could possibly call that piece of hard packed dirt, a trail.

"Come over here and look. Don't they teach you ThunderCats anything about tracking? See that foot print there?"

"No."

"Here, I'll trace it and you'll see it." Willa kneeded down and with an outstreached forefinger she began to outline a smallish footprint. Moving up a little, she traced another print. Suddenly Tygra saw the path. "I see it now, it seemes to lead."

"...Right to that cave there. Since this isn't Nayda's print..."

"...Pumyra probably survived." This was the best news Tygra had heard in a long time. Tygra ran for all he was worth towards the cave. "Ho! Is anyone in there?" he shouted.

"What? Who's there?" came the response from the depths of the cave.

"Tygra." he shouted back. By this time Willa had caught up to him and took up position next to Tygra.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I think we found Pumyra."

Just then they both heard the sounds of crunching gravel, it was getting louder and closer. Squinting through the gloom, they were just able to make out a feminine form moving towards them. But something was not right. It seemed to be limping and picking its steps carefully. As it reached the mouth of the cave, growing amounts of daylight started to clarify the mystery.

"It is you! Great Jaga, what happened?!" exclaimed Tygra as the sun fell full on the lost ThunderCat, "You look like something a snarf dragged in."

"Ha-ha, funny." The sight that greeted him was not at all pretty. She had cuts and bruises all up one side of her body, several crude splits were trying to immobilize her shoulder, and every step brought grimaces of pain.

"Come on let's see if we can get you patched up." Pumyra wrapped her good arm around Tygra and all three of them slowly walked back to the ThunderStrike. Tygra sent Willa to retrieve the mad kit that he had left near the wreck. Gently he eased Pumyra into one of the ThunderStrike's seats. "What hurts, or more exactly what doesn't hurt?" he asked.

"I don't see how you guys do it. I mean, go out battle mutants, Luna-taks, Jaga knows what else and come back fresh as a daisy. Whereas the first time I go do something, I practically get myself killed." Pumyra said while a rageing headache started to set in. "Could I have something for my head? It really hurts."

"Um, no. Not until I can do a full exam. You may have a concussion and pain relievers are the last thing I want to give you for that. Where's Willa with that kit?" Almost as if on queue, she showed up with the needed medical supplies. Tygra opened it and began to rummage through. He handed Pumyra a clean cloth and some sterile water. "Here, try and get some of that dirt out of those cuts. Don't want them getting infected." He also pulled out a tube of first aid cream, some bandages and a cold compress. Tygra placed Pumyra's arm in a sling. "Now, about that leg. What seems to be the problem?"

"It hurts when I move it. Shooting pains up and down my leg." she said.

"O.K. Well then, don't move it and you should be fine."

"Ha-Ha. Everyone's a comedian when Pumyra's injured. Just fix it."

"Sorry, a little physician humor there."

"Very little."

"All right, just hold on, I've got something that'll fix you right up." Returning to the med kit, he removed several trays and pulled out a rectangular box and another smaller box containing numerous small vials of fluid. Tygra pulled a syringe out and plunged it into one of the vials. Removing the syringe, he turned back to Pumyra.

"Needles? I hate needles." Pumyra's eyes got big as they fixed on the loaded syringe.

"Relax, there's nothing to it. I'll do it on the count of three O.K.?" Tygra said as he walked around behind her.

"No."

"Too late, already done." he said as he retured to the front.

"But, I didn't feel..."

"Short needle, just needed to get it into muscle."

"You bastard!"

"What do you mean you hate needles, you're a healer."

"There fine when I'm giving someone else the shot."

"Third Earth to Tygra, I hate to interupt this happy little renunion here, but my sister is still out there." said Willa waving a hand in front of Tygra.

"Yes, right. Pumyra, status report." said Tygra, trying to regain his compsure. Pumyra was busy wiggling various portions of her injured parts. Much to her amazement, the swelling was subsiding and the wash seemed to be relieving her headache.

"Yes, Nayda has been captured by the Luna-taks. I flew close to Skytomb, told Nayda to look in a window and see if she could get a few pictures. Next thing I know this hand is reaching out the window, grabs Nayda and pulls her in. That when I left. I was attempting to return to the Tower when I was shot down by some sort of laser. I let her down. I should have stayed."

"No, you did the right thing. If you both had been captured, Jaga alone only knows what would have happened. The problem now becomes, retrieving Nayda. No doubt they'll be expecting us. Just one more question Pumyra, did anyone come around after you crashed?" asked Tygra.

"No, why?"

"Just asking."
 

Skytomb -- Control room

"Alluro, where's Tug Mug? I need everyone here." announced Luna.

"How should I know? I'm not his keeper." said Alluro without bothering to look up from his reading. The rest of the Luna-taks were sitting around the large table in the control room, Luna and Amok were, of course, pacing the floor waiting for Tug Mug to show. Finally the doors slid open, and Tug Mug rolled in. He looked at the three sets of glaring eyes and commented, "What, can't a guy get five minutes around here?"

"No, you can have five minutes on your own time." said Luna waving her crop at him.

"Chilla, what happened, your head seems to be bigger than usual today."

"Shut up, you overgrown ball bearing. If you had done your job, I wouldn't have this lump." she hissed at him.

"My job?!"

"Quiet!! Both of you! This meeting will come to order, NOW!" Luna screeched while Amok emphasized the point by pounding the table. "Tug Mug, I will deal with your derlicetion of duty later. Right now we have bigger problems. Namely that warrior human has escaped and is now somewhere in Skytomb."

"So what? It's a single human. What harm can she do?" asked Chilla. "We track her down and kill her, no problem. Can I leave now?"

"No, she did not come here alone. Red Eye, report."

"After we captured the intruder, I observed a vehicle flying away at a substantial speed. We targeted the ship and managed to hit and destroy it."

"Are you sure it was destroyed? Did you send out someone to search for possible survivors?" Luna squinted at Red Eye.

"Well, no. Scanners indicated no life signs."

"Not good enough, who ever it was could have survived. You, of all of us, should know that our scanners are not yet at 100%. Never mind that now. We must assume that there were survivors and that someone will be coming to rescue their friend. Alluro, your input, now."

Alluro neatly stacked his reading in front of him, "What we have here is a simple divide and conquer. We can reasonably expect that 3 individuals will attempt to gain entry, rescue, and leave. The warrior we captured was named Nayda, she is the sister of the Queen. Tygra and Pumyra are still active on Third Earth. I say we let them enter and deal with them seperately."

"What about that blasted Sword of Omens?" asked Tug Mug.

"Ah, Tug Mug, good morning, so glad you could join us in this reality. There is no sword, no eye, no Lion-O. The odds are squarely in our favor." explained Alluro as he sat back in his chair with a smug look.

"Next order of business. Vultureman, his time with us is over. Dispose of him."

"Luna, we still need him. He is the..." started Red Eye.

"Dispose of him. NOW!" Luna interrupted.

"What Red Eye means is that Vultureman has completely rebuilt the weather cannon. He is the only one who knows how all of it works. Vultureman stays." said Alluro. They way he sat in his chair indicated that as far as Alluro was concerned, Vultureman stays and and he would hear no more about it.

"I want to see this new weapon, come Amok." said Luna.
 

Thunderstrike

Tygra stood next to the Thunderstrike deep in thought, Willa and Pumyra wandered aimlessly around the wreck of the Thunderclaw. Pumyra idely kicked a chunk of wreckage and watched it bounce around the rocks. She looked at Willa, "I'm sorry. I'm just so..."

"It's not over yet. There will be plenty of time for apologies later. Now it is time to fight." Willa was about to continue when they heard the engines of the Thunderstrike start up.

"Here's the plan. Pumyra, take us in to Skytomb, keep it close to the ground. Willa and I will go in, retrieve Nayda and get out. We'll signal you when we've got her." Tygra explained as he vacated the pilot's seat. "You wanted to be in the crap, this is as deep as it gets."

Slowly the ship moved along the ground toward Skytomb. Pumyra tried to keep it as close to the ground as possible. There was no talk as they flew. After what seemed like an eternity, the ominous hulk of Skytomb began to appear. "Put us down here." Tygra said. Pumyra brought the ship to a stop. All of them could feel the deep, almost percussive rumble of the engines. Swallowing hard, "Let's go." said Tygra.

For a minute, Tygraa and Willa stood looking up at mighty fortress. It was an awesome sight from a distance, but this close it was almost mind-blowing.

"Wait a minute, we forgot something." said Pumyra, "Thundercats HO!" she shouted, raising a fist into the air.

Hearing the battle cry, Tygra felt a familiar electricty run through him. "HO!," he shouted raising his fist in return. "Now get out of here." Turning back to Skytomb, Tygra pulled out his whip and cracked it in the air. He caught the end around a projecting beam and proceeded to hoist himself up. He looked over and saw Willa right next to him, doing the same thing.
"That window there" he said pointing to a nearby opening. The pair swung themselves over to it and and dropped inside.
 

Skytomb workshop

"They're in." said Red Eye watching two dots show up on the large viewscreen. Luna was carefully examining the weather cannon. "You say this thing froze the Planet of the Snarfs?" she asked Vultureman, poking at it with her crop. "Can it hit New Thundra?"

Vultureman looked at his creation and scratched his head. "Not until I repair the voice coils, clean the mix chambers and redo the firing capacitors."

"Of course, I knew that, get to work." said Luna, not going to admit that she had no idea what the bird just said.

"Luna, two persons unknown have just entered. I say we start the plan now." Alluro said.

"Make it so. Red Eye, you take one of them, Chilla find Nayda, and Alluro take the other one. I want them brought back here. Do not kill them! I have something I want to show them first."
 

The closet

Nayda woke with a start. Looking around at unfamiliar surroundings, she slowly started to piece together the events of the previous day. Taking her makeshift weapon in hand, she carefully opened the door and eased her way into the hall. All was quiet except for a mechanical hum the seemed to come from everywhere. Making her way in the direction Luna and Chilla went the night before, Nayda tried desperately to think of a plan. Finding them was the easy part, what to do after that was something else.
 

Skytomb

Tygra and Willa stodd in one of Skytomb's outer passages. "I think we should split up. That way we stand a better chance of finding Nayda." said Tygra stealing a quick glance up and down the passage."

"NO! Do not split up! That is what they want you to do." came a voice thundering down the hallway. Willa and Tygra both looked at each other as a purple cloud slowly began to materialize in front of them. They watched as it formed itself into first into an upright humanoid shape then finalize itself into an elderly Thunderian.

"Jaga! But how? I thought.." stammered Tygra.

"Nayda is safe, for now. However, you must stay together at all costs." Jaga said directly to Willa. Tygra just stood there, hoping to all the gods that this wasn't some drug induced flashback. Never before in the recorded history of Thundera had a Lord Emeritus revealed himself to anyone but the current Lord and absolutely not to off-worlders.

"Jaga," Tygra started, "Please, excuse my speaking out of place, but I..."

"There will be plenty of time for questions later. Even as we speak, the Luna-Taks are readying the weapon that killed the Planet of the Snarfs and are training it's gaze on New Thundera. I'm afraid the Eye of Thundera is helpless to stop it. The four of you are New Thundera's first, last and best hope." With that Jaga disappeared into nothingness.

Willa was first to speak. "What was that?"

"A very long story. If we get out of this, remind me to explain it."

"He can sure lay it on thick, can't he?"

"You don't know the half of it." said Tygra remembering the endless hours of council meetings that Jaga lead. He was but an intern at the time and it was all he could do just to stay awake. "A clear cut case of verbal..."

Tygra was cut short by a familiar scream echoing down the hall.

"Nayda!!"
 
 

Nayda was moving as quietly as she could through the maze of Skytomb's twisting passages. "Must stay alert" she kept telling herself. So intent was Nayda on what was happening in front of her, she forgot to check behind her. "Not so fast, human." the icy Luna-tak spat. "I should end your pathetic life now, but I won't. I want to see you suffer first."

Nayda wheeled around, her improvised weapon at the ready. "Go ahead, for it is a good day to die."

This time Nayda was ready, she waited for Chilla to draw in breath and just as she reached full capacity, Nayda ran straight at her. Holding the staff like a baseball bat she swung and connected with Chilla's midriff. Not having prepared for a frontal assult, Chilla had the wind knocked out of her, the frozen breath dissapating harmlessly on the wall. Nayda again, spun around and connected the end of the staff and Chilla's back with enough force to break the handle in two. Nayda had successfully laid out the queen of cold, spread eagle on the floor. "Who's pathetic now?" she panted. Nayda turned to walk away, she did not hear Chilla's raspy air intake. Slowly Chilla let out the sub-zero air. Chilla wanted Nayda to feel the same pain she was in right now. Inch by inch the ice built up on Nayda. First, her feet, then the lower legs, working it's way up the body, it encased her arms and finally the torso. Chilla did not cover Nayda's head, she wanted to hear her scream in agony as she felt the ice solidify, like a thousand tiny knives ripping their way through the skin. When Chilla felt that the point had been made she iced Nayda's head, thus ending the scene. For the next few minutes Chilla stood leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

Tygra and Willa ran towards the sound. They arrived just in time to see Nayda dragged off down the hall.

"We must go after her." exclaimed Willa.

"No, it might be a trap. Stay here, I'm going to check." said Tygra holding Willa back.

"But, how?"

"You'll see, or won't see." Pulling out the bolo whip he wrapped it around himself and disappeared. "Stay here, I'll call you when I reach the end of the hall." Willa heard Tygra walk away, she pressed herself against the corner, when a calming hypnotic voice called out.

"Willa, there's no need for all this messy violence. Come with me and we can talk about this like civilized creatures." Willa peered in the direction they came from. "Who are you and how do you know my name?" she asked the dark hallway.

"My name is Alluro. I mean you no harm, that is if you cooperate."

"Come out where I can see you." said Willa. She reached behind her and pulled out a fire arrow. Striking it on the floor, it lit. She held it above her head. In the flickering light she was just able to make out a tall purple creature with long grey hair. Alluro stepped into the light. "There, now you can see me and I can see you. See, I have no weapons." To prove it he held out his hands. "Now, if you'll come with me, I can clear all of this up."

"No...you...you're one of....of them." Willa stammered. Alluro narrowed his eyes as he got a mental hold of the madien. "You don't stand a chance. Come, it's easier."

"Yes, easier....No! I won't....I..must.....not," Willa had never known power like this before. It was something training had never prepared her for. Fighting a losing battle for control of her own facilites, Wila tried desperately to keep Alluro out of her brain. Once, twice, and not quite a third time she forced herself back into control, but each time Alluro redoubled his efforts. Only when the glowing crystal orb of the Psyche Club took up position above Willa's head was his hold over her complete.

"Do be so kind as to leave those weapons here. They will not be needed." he crooned to her.

"Not...needed." she replied. Willa dropped her quiver and bow where she stood and followed Alluro.

Having finally reached the end of the passage that Nayda had been captured in, Tygra turned around to summon Willa. "Willa! Willa!!" he whispered loudly, "Dammit, where'd she go."

"Tygra, we meet again." came a low chuckle. "You can drop the invisibility. You know I can still see you." From a connecting passage, Red Eye made his appearance.

"Red Eye, how'd I know it'd be you."

"Just lucky I guess." For what seemed like an enternity the two stood looking at each other. Each daring the other to move first. "I tire of standing here like elementary school children." Red Eye grabbed his light disc. He took direct aim at Tygra.

"Question, Red Eye. Which one of us is real?" right in front of him, Tygras started appearing. They began to move in a slow circle around Red Eye. Red Eye tried focusing on the direction of the voice when that too began to bounce from image to image.

"AAAUUUGGGHHH!!" Red Eye yelled, he threw the disc and bounced it off the wall. Suddenly the images collapsed into one as Tygra was forced to drop his concentration to evade certian evisceration.

Red Eye charged at Tygra. Backed against the wall Tygra had no choice but to stand his ground. Clenching his fist he pulled back and attempted to connect with Red Eye's jaw. Unfortunatly, Red Eye was prepared. He caught Tygra's fist in his own ample hand and squeezed. The pain of having his hand crushed, brought Tygra to his knees. Red Eye still had hold of Tygra's hand and was preparing to reduce Tgyra's hand to mush when the bolo whip wrapped itself around Red Eye's leg. With his good hand, Tygra pulled, Red Eye wa knocked off balance. He let go of Tygra to try to stop the fall. It was no good, Red Eye landed flat on his back. Tygra was on top of him instantly. Stepping on RedEye's throat, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now."

"You can't, it would violate your code."

"I reckon I could squeeze it in under justice." Tygra stepped harder, "Now talk, why'd you destroy the Planet of the Snarfs?"

"Let me up and I'll tell you." Red Eye coughed.

Tygra got off of Red Eye and Red Eye picked himself up. He started to dust himself off and adjust various portions of his armor. Tygra turned to pick up his whip and did not see Red Eye land a closed fist punch on the back of Tygra's head. Tygra was knocked cold. "Fortunately, I have no such code. All the answers will be make clear shortly." he said to the unconscious tiger.
 

Skytomb workshop

All three prisioners were lined up against the wall frozen into place. Chilla defrosted the heads but left everything else in a block of ice. "Are they awake yet?" asked Luna as Tygra started to come around. Various fuzzy images diverged and moved around, slowly combineing into one. Blinking several times Tygra focused in Vultureman looking at him very closely.

"Yes, Tygra seems to be awake."

"Any word on the others?"

"No."

"Good enough, they are not important. Red Eye proceed with the plan."

"Tygra, you wanted to know why we destroyed the Planet of the Snarfs, focus on the monitor. Recognize the planet?"

A bleary eyed Tygra stared at the monitor across the room. What he saw made his blood run cold. The cannon had New Thundera clearly in its sights. "You heartless bastard. There's millions of innocent Thunderians up there."

"Why thank you, but compliments won't change the outcome. They must die."

"Enough with the pleasantries," Luna interrputed, "Engage the weapon."

Turning back to the control panel, Red Eye started the firing sequence.
 

ThunderStrike

Pumyra had landed a safe distance from Skytomb. She was leaning back in the captians chair waiting for some sort of signal from the others. She was diddeling with the various buttons, "Hey, power seats." She found the recline switch and was leaning back when the familiar red beams shot out of Skytomb.

"That looks like a signal to me." Returning her seatback to a full upright position, she powered up the ship and headed for Skytomb.
 

Skytomb

The cannon powered up and started to draw a bead on the planet. "Targeting" came the computer's voice. Again the six red lights started to change to green as the lasers found their mark.

"What's taking so long?" asked Luna growing impatient that the planet wasn't already destroyed.

"Wait, it has to get..." started Vultureman.

"Enough." Luna switched the fire control from automatic to manual.

"Warning, fire control disengaged. Manual control ready." responded the computer. Luna flipped the rest of the lasers to green and pressed the manual fire switch. The large blue laser emerged from the cannon and shot towards New Thundera.

"Fool!" yelled Vultureman as the main power meter moved towards the limits of its range. "You're pushing to much power through it." The end of the gun started to heat, changing from a dull red to a bright white. "Get out, it's gonna blow!" as Vultureman ran from the room.

"Wait, that not the cannon, it's....." started Alluro. He was interrputed by the cannon exploding into shrapnel. The cannon was immediatly joined by the master panel exploding as well.

Tygra pulled himself into as small of a ball as his present state of confinement would allow. The explosions continued, filling the atomsphere with dust and flying debris. Several minutes later the clouds started to clear. Where a wall containg the computers, and the cannon used to be, was replaced with a large hole. Neatly framed by the hole, the ThunderStrike hovered with Pumyra in the pilots seat.

The cockpit opened, "Ho! Gentlemen, need a lift?!" Pumyra shouted. She hopped out and picked her way across the debris towards her teammates. Alluro managed to uncover himself and started to plead with Pumyra for assistance. Turning towards him "Alluro, shut up." She kicked a piece of debris over to him, "Damn, missed his head." Pulling out an explosive energy ball. She heaved it at Tygra and the still unconsious Willa and Nayda. It exploded near the base of the ice pack. Tygra and Pumyra each picked up one of the madiens and made their way back to the ThunderStrike.
 

Treetop Kingdom

"Will they be allright?" asked Tygra.

"Nayda should suffer no permanent damage. It's Willa I'm concerned about. She's still pretty out of it. I just hope Alluro didn't completely scramble her eggs." said Pumyra leaning on the rail. They were standing outside Willa's bedroom chamber. "I've had guards posted outside with instructions to call in if anything should change in any way. But, I'm just not all that familiar with human anatomy."

"Whatever happens, you did your best. That's all that matters. Come on, let's go get something to eat. I'm starved."

"I really shouldn't leave, I mean what if something happens?"

"Nothing's gonna happen. You need to eat."

"All right, if you're sure. And Tygra, no more detective stuff, it's much to painful," said Pumyra rubbing her still tender shoulder.
 

Epilogue

Tygra was wandering around the control room attending to the many odd things that needed to be done before the day could start. The morning sun streamed in through the panther eyes on the head of the lair. It lent a warm atomsphere to the ordinarly cold, sterile room. He had opened the windows in the hallway to let in some air and relieve the mechanical, processed smell of the Lair and was preparing to leave for the morning's patrol when the comm signal went off.

"Cat's Lair. Third Earth, Tygra speaking. Go ahead."

"Tygra, is everything all right down there?"

"Everything's just fine Lion-O. A little trouble with the Luna-Taks, but that's been taken care of."

"Yes, I read the report. We'll have to discuss Nayda's appointment, it has caused some controversy here. However, that's not why I called. Have you gotten any word from Pumyra lately?"

"No, why?"

"She didn't answer when I opened a channel to the Tower."

"Well, I wouldn't worry to much. She did mention having a few errands to run today. Perhaps she just wanted an early start."

Just then the doors to the control room opened. In walked a still damp Pumyra, she wasn't wearing much beyond a bathrobe. Pulling a few stray hairs out of her face, "Tygra, where's the...."

"Tygra?" Lion-O's eyes narrowing as he began to put two and two together.

"Lion-O, I can explain...You see," he said, reaching out a hand "It's...",

*click* the comm system went blank, "none of your damn business."