"WAHOOOOO! Now THIS is living!" howled Wilykat, sitting on the back edge of the Thundertank's hold, gripping the back of the rear seats against the rush of wind in his face.

"You said his name is Wilykat?" Panthro asked Gatotrueno who had insisted on squeezing into the front of the tank between the panther and Lion-o.

"Yep," confirmed Gatotrueno, holding Jetkitten on her lap.

"Somehow I'm not surprised," the warrior said drily. Lion-o coughed, hiding his laughter.

"That's hardly fair, Panthro," he smiled. "We have a Wilykat back at the Lair ourselves," the young lord told the sabertooth. "He actually has similar markings, but is much younger."

"Well...I understand it's a fairly common name," grinned Gato nervously.

Lion-o shrugged. "Common enough on Thundera, I suppose. Although I can't say that I've had much contact with the outside world...we left the planet when I was twelve and I spent most of my time before that in training. Your friends...you're not all Thunderian, are you?"

"Um...no," said Gato uncertainly. "I'm not sure where everyone is from. We...we only met up recently. Travelling in a group simply seemed safer than travelling alone. Even the Thunderians only met for the first time yesterday."

"What part of Thundera *are* you from?" asked Panthro suspiciously.

Gatotrueno nearly panicked, but reminded herself that it was really just a game and managed to keep her cool. "I...I can't say that I remember," she said quietly with all the sadness she could muster. "I was so young when we left. Everything before the suspension capsule is hazy...although I know there was a lot of panic." This, she thought, would tie in nicely with the Mutant attack on the Thunderian fleet. "I remember getting picked up by an intergalactic cruise ship...well, being revived by their medical staff. I don't know what happened to the others on my ship. Eventually I heard there were Thunderians here and booked passage to Third Earth," she hoped that the Thundercats would be satisfied and leave her alone...she had not even considered that she would need a background! And not just any background...one that could not be verified by whatever Bast had programmed into the heads of these characters.

For a moment it seemed as though Panthro would press on with his questionning; he didn't seem to trust the newcomers. But Gato's luck held strong as choas erupted in the hold.

Okay, the hold was already in chaos...but this chaos was considerably louder.

"Let me try it now!"

"I'm not done!"

"Xahji, you've been playing with the guns since we got in the tank and we're almost at the Lair!"

"No I haven't! Ruka was looking at them first."

"And you can get more rounds if you just..."

"It's still my turn!"

"In a minute!"

"Sit down all of you or no one will get to play with the guns!" snapped Tygra suddenly. Then he sighed. "I can't believe I just said that."

"Trouble, Tygra?" asked Lion-o, turning to look back as Panthro kept his eyes on the terrain ahead.

"Nothing too drastic," he told the young lord. "Our guests seem fascinated with the munitions systems and are reluctant to leave them alone."

"Alright...alright. Rhy...Wind, you can take a look now," said Xahji, stepping down. It had been fun to stand on the elevated platform and get a look a how it must feel to face down an enemy. Rhythm leapt up to take his turn as Tygra sighed in exasperation and rubbed his temples.

"Could be worse," offered Ruka.

"It could?"

"Wilykat could want his turn," said the tiger, jerking a thumb at his fellow player who was dangerously close to being blown off the back of the tank.

"Or he could fall, forcing us to turn back," muttered Tygra.

"Nah, if he falls, he'll catch up," Ruka dismissed the worry with wry smile and a wave of his hand. "I'd love to get a look under the hood of this thing some time though."

"I'm afraid you'll have to check with Panthro first," grinned Tygra. "No one touches his 'baby' without permission."

"So what do you say, Panthro?" asked Ruka through the partition. "Think you can give me a guided tour of the tank's mechanisms?"

The panther made a slight noise of indignation, prompting Lion-o to reply, "I think he'd be more comfortable if we got to know you before letting you mess with our equipment."

"Hey, I'm cool with it," assured Ruka, raising his hands in surrender. "Can we at least get a CD player in here or something?"

"Better an MP3 player," Xahji pointed out. "Remember, we..." his voice trailed off as he remembered that, as far as the Thundercats were concerned, this was the real world and not that of a computer. "We...can get a better variety of music on MP3," Xahji corrected himself.

"Yeah! Tunes!" shouted Wilykat, adding to the vote.

"Well you don't have to worry about *us*," sniffed Gatotrueno, scratching Jetkitten's ear. "We have no intention of messing with your vehicles. Right, Jet?"

"Mrowr!" affirmed the white cat.

"She talks to you?" asked Lion-o, raising an eyebrow.

"She talks to anyone if they listen. But she seems to talk to Lady Bast best."

"Lady Bast?" asked the Thundercat lord, puzzled. "Who is this 'Lady Bast'?"

"A...friend," replied Gato quickly. "She left us earlier. Had some...errands... to do. She wanted us to go on ahead to Cat's Lair."

"She won't be disappointed in you then," said Lion-o with amusement, pointing to a place on the horizon, "because that is exactly where you're going."

Gato looked up over the dash of the tank, holding Jetkitten up so that the white cat could climb onto her shoulder for a better view.

The bushes parted, revealing the form of a giant guardian cat, rising up over the plains.

*********************

"Ugh...I didn't think the pass was so *steep*!"

"Well it was this or the Forest of Mists...and you didn't want to go through there."

"Sorry for not having super-hearing and being able to fake sonar."

"Well, not everyone can be as perfect as me!" grinned Sonarion brightly as Cheezey turned to give him a questioning look, eyebrows raised.

"Well, if you stop walking we'll never get there!" said Sonarion in exasperation.

"I'll roll a rock down on your head," muttered Cheezey.

"Ooo...I'm *scared*," taunted the younger Lunatak. "Use your powers and make me a slave! I dare you!"

"I'd love to, but frankly...it's too hot," sighed the other. "We might be between volcanoes, but the underground Thundranium pits are still molten and the heat coming up through the cracks is killer. I'm too young to be parboiled!"

"You *say*," grinned Sonarion. "It could be worse, you know, you could be Thunderian."

"Never!" sniffed Cheezey. "Lunatak all the way for me! Watch your step," she sighed, yanking Sonarion back as he leapt forward to examine a crater. A jet of steam blew up through a hidden cravase a few feet in front of the Hyperaudio Lunatak. "I wasn't kidding about the parboiling!"

"I *heard* it coming," protested Sonarion. "Could have made it too if you hadn't grabbed me!"

"Right...but I want to get to Darkside this century."

"Well then, we should run some more!"

"If I run in this heat, I'll die. And I didn't come this far in the game to die."

"Actually, we aren't..."

"I wasn't being literal...I'm just not running," Cheezey interrupted the younger Lunatak.

"You might want to change your mind about that," said Sonarion cryptically, glancing over his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" Cheezey stopped to look at the hyperaudio Lunatak who's eyes were widening with alarm.

"BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BLOW!" yelped Sonarion, grabbing Cheezey's wrist as he bolted past her, dragging her along. Behind them came a rumbling and a hiss as a geyser of fiery lava burst skyward. Fountaining down to the stone, it began its sluggish way down the mountain, gaining speed as the hill got steeper. The two players could feel its heat on their heels in their mad scramble.

"This is the LAST TIME I go anywhere NEAR lava!" screamed Cheezey.

"It's your first time too," huffed Sonarion, unable to resist a joke.

"SHUT-UP!"

"Why don't you get that flying...thing...to help us?"

"WHAT flying thing?" panted Cheezey, frustrated.

"THAT ONE!"

Cheezey gasped as a large scaly thing swooped down at them, banking suddenly as the heat of the approaching lava drove it back, but not away. Apparently it was hungry enough to try and work around this particular menace of nature.

Projecting with all the force she could muster under the circumstances, Cheezey called out after the creature. "HEY!" she cried. "You can dip lower than that! Come on...you know you want to! You *have* to!"

The creature must have been one of average animal intelligence for it obeyed Cheezey's commands in moments. Knowing that it was far too dangerous to land, Sonarion grabbed the rope which he had hung on the outside of his pack for easy access and looped it into a lariat while the Psi Lunatak only commanded the reptilian flyer to come in low. Thinking it was in for a free meal, the creature opened its beak-like mouth to screech at the pair and found itself bound and gagged.

Grabbing the trailing end of the rope behind Sonarion, Cheezey felt her feet lifted off the ground as the creature - dragon-like now that she had a clear view of it - winged its way upward above the raging lava flow. "WOW!" cried Sonarion enthusiastically above her. "What a way to travel!"

"Just start looking for a landing place," gulped Cheezey, as she watched the molten rock pour over the area they had just left. "If we're going to fly Air Lunatak, it's not going to be hanging *beneath* the lizard from hell."

"Aye-aye, Captain," grinned Sonarion as the thing veered deeper into Darkside.

*********************

"Alright...that tree looks close enough."

"Close is not the problem, Telly...is it *strong* enough?"

"Okay, explain to me what we're doing again?" asked Suzene.

"Well, the river's too swift to swim at this point, even though that island over there narrows it at this point," explained Artemis. "But," she emphasized, "we can probably cross easily...maybe even walking if the river's shallow enough...if we have a tow-line to keep us from drifting downstream. I'm going to fire into that tree on the island," she continued, pointing it out, "with a rope attached, the other end of which Mummraa will anchor on this end magically."

Suzene shielded her eyes to look across the flowing water to the narrow island in the middle. "Sure you are," she smirked.

Artemis held up a silver arrow. "I'm an Avatar," she reminded them, "and one of the hunt no less. I can fire further and with more force than any human. And this arrow *stays* where it hits until its owner retrieves it. There's a greater chance of the tree being ripped out by the roots by the force of the water than of the arrow being ripped out of the tree. That's why we need a strong one."

"Oh...now I get it," mused Suzene. "That's why Mummraa was trying to cast a magic spell over the water...to make sure the tree stayed anchored."

"Yar...but it won't work," sulked Mummraa.

"I'm guessing she's not at a high enough level to cast remote magic yet," said Telly. "We figured we'd get her to anchor the rope on this end, cross while we hope to hell the tree will hold, get Lepraa to slash the rope on this end and hang on to it while she swims across the river so that we can tow her if she gets into trouble."

"You're not worried about her?" Suzene asked Artemis.

"Nah...Lepraa is strong. And exercising that strength might even increase it...this being the game that it is. Maybe make her strong enough to carry me eventually," grinned the Avatar. "Although I think that's a little ways away yet."

"Okay, ready to go," said Telly, presenting one end of a rope to Artemis. She had lashed the ropes from three of their packs together to make sure that their line was long enough and Mummraa had tested the bindings with her magical strength. Telly's Warrior Maiden know-how had proven to be more than strong enough to resist the female mummy's attempts and now they were ready to put their plan to the test. Impressed by her success with knots, Artemis allowed Telly to tie the rope around the silver arrow before nocking it and taking careful aim.

With a *thwang* the silver arrow arced across the river and, miraculously, appeared to bury itself solidly in the trunk of the tree with an *thunk* that reverberated across the water. All four women grabbed hold of the rope and hauled on it to test its strength and even Lepraa joined in, pulling on the line with her teeth. The arrow did not come loose and so they decided to chance the crossing.

"So...what do I do?" Mummraa asked looking at the other end of the rope, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Magically secure it," said Telly.

"To what?"

The four females looked around. "Good question...we didn't really consider that, did we?" said Suzene with amusement.

"Hmm...can you anchor it to a twist of grass?" wondered Telly.

"Dat's a little much," grinned Mummraa. "'Tis only grass!"

"Can you anchor Lepraa?" asked Suzene glancing at the large cat who looked up and cocked her head at the human. A frog leg twitched from the corner of her mouth.

"'Course!"

"Temporarily, I mean."

"Oh...dat's a little harder," grinned Mummraa even wider. "But it would have been fun."

"You're weird."

"T'ank you."

"We need a rock!" declared Telly.

"And a roll!"

"Good thinking, Mummraa," said Artemis, "if you've been licking toads."

"Lepraa's been licking toads..."

"Here!" called Suzene after beating through the marsh grasses. The others quickly responded to find her standing over a partially sunken log. Only a small end of the heavy piece of wood was above the marshy ground. "There's no way this is going to be pulled out...anchor the rope around the log."

Telly was given the honours of tying yet another knot and Mummraa used her magic to fuse the knot together and the rope into the log. "Just picturing the look on someone's face when they come across THAT mess," snickered Suzene when asked what she was smiling about.

"Well, let's get on with it!" said Artemis, mentally explaining to Lepraa her duties. The large cat flopped down on the ground beside the log and looked up at the humans expectantly.

"You heard the woman," grinned Telly. "Everyone grab a piece of rope, keep your packs up high, and hope you can ring out your underwear on the other side."

"Underwear?" mused Mummraa slyly as Suzene tied her footwear to the top of her pack and then jumped up to smack the giantess on the back of the head.

"Some things I don't want to hear about...and that's one of them!" said the human woman with a feral grin. "Now grab the line and lets get going," she told the mummy, taking her own place behind the warrior women and stepping out into the water.

*********************