Shark ambled along, more or less satisfied with the game to date. There hadn't been too much action, but the all-you-can-eat buffet had been a nice touch. As he picked his teeth he wondered if Molemen could be replaced and decided they probably could...every computer game needed an endless supply of nameless grunts.

Now if only he could find...

Shark stopped short. It wasn't so much a smell, nor was it really a feeling...but natural affinity allowed him to reorient himself in a way that no other sense could.

Shark had found water.

Calling up the computer map, Shark checked the layout. It was a little ways off, sure enough, but if he was reading the map correctly, it would bring him around to where Castle Plun-darr stood. Far better to make the short trip overland in order to take advantage of the coastal waters...the distance he would have to swim could be covered in half the time it would take to walk over land, all possible dangers aside.

Decision made, Shark grinned and closed down the map, heading generally Westward toward the sea.

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

"Okay! Okay! No pushing!"

"Quiet, man-creature," said a female voice and ThunderManx felt the butt of a spear prod him in the back once again.

"Ketani ami-ah!" came a voice from somewhere ahead of him. The sounds of movement stopped and the captured Thunderian came to a halt only moments before he felt a hand land heavily on his shoulder to stop his forward march.

"You are very attentive, man-creature," said the voice again and ThunderManx thought she might be smiling.

"I do have a name...you could allow me that much dignity," he said, though not without respect.

"When you are judged, man-creature. In the meantime, be content that we allow you your eyes."

With that the blindfold was removed and ThunderManx blinked and squinted in the bright daylight. His eyes adjusted quickly and he realized that it was not as bright as he had first thought; far above him was a canopy of branches so thick that the light which did penetrate did so in glowing shafts that were almost holy to look upon. The skylight effect managed to light the spaces between the trees just enough for human sight...and more than enough for feline sight. And what his feline sight revealed made the Thunderian gasp.

This was not the village portrayed in the cartoon. This was almost a working city with layered levels of huts built in and around the massive trees of the forest. In some cases the living foundations were set so close together that the buildings seemed to overlap, causeways of rope and wood stretched and turning about them in Escher-like design. But despite the disorganized appearance of the village, there was a natural harmony at work. It was organized chaos...an arial anthill.

"Your awe honours us," said the Warrior Maiden with only the barest hint of sarcasm...she seemed to be warming somewhat to her prisoner. "We will untie your arms now...you will need them to climb. But remember that you are watched and try nothing that might be mistaken for a threat."

"I wouldn't dream of it," said ThunderManx with relief. He was starting to lose the feeling in his arms. "But do you mind telling me what you have planned? I wouldn't want my reaction to an unexpected surprise to be mistaken for a threat."

The woman laughed with genuine humour. "I am inclined to believe that you truly might be an ally...but procedures must be followed. We will bring you to a holding room until such a time as we can arrange an audience with our Kyr, Willa. Then you will be brought before her and she will weight the truth of your claims. If you are indeed Thunderian," she said, indicating a roped that was being lowered from one of the bottom causeways, "then you can climb like any of the Ketani."

"Willa?" said ThunderManx with mild surprise as he was ushered toward the knotted rope. "Your leader would make time to personally speak with a prisoner?"

"Not just any prisoner," snorted the blonde woman, the very idea preposterous. "But you claim to be Thunderian and an ally of the Thundercats who are themselves one of our greatest allies. In this case, she will see you. I am surprised that you know of her."

"I have been travelling some time," said ThunderManx quickly. "You leader has been spoken of...as has her sister, Nayda."

"Nayda will be pleased to hear that. Move more quickly...we have less time than you might imagine."

ThunderManx muttered something about the circulation in his wrists, disguising it as a cough when the woman asked him to repeat it. Struggling with the pins and needles feeling that was slowly working its way up his arms, ThunderManx managed to pull himself up the rope to the platform above where he was met by two other women, armed with bows and spears. "Kelna and Atavi will take you into holding," the blonde woman addressed ThunderManx. Then she turned to the women. "Stay in the hut with him and watch him...you needn't tie him up again unless he gives you trouble. A few of my scouts will keep watch outside the building."

The women nodded toward the blonde who was obviously their superior and gestured in the direction that ThunderManx was to march. He went complacently enough though a motion from the corner of his eye caused him to turn his head.

On another causeway, the woman who carried his energy pike was making her way purposefully toward one of the huts on the far end of the village.

He followed the woman with his eyes until a prod in the back reminded him of where he was supposed to be going and he faced forward again. "I'm glad I'm a panther," he mumbled to himself. "The bruises might not show through." And, a little tired of being jabbed with the butts of spears, he picked up his pace.

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

"We meet again, Lady Bast. You will not dissuade me from my mission! All of Third Earth will bow before me and I will rule the unwashed masses with an iron fist!"

"Count me out...I had a bath," grinned Kith.

"He must be referring to the Wonder Twins," said Thunderwolf, jerking a thumb at Ian and Jazzman.

"We had an encounter of the slippery kind over on the Bridge of Slime," explained Ian, pointed back the way he'd come. "And you guys get to go through it next if you're trying to get to the Pyramid...or even to Castle Plun-darr."

"Hmph. I'lll take slime over bugs any day," snorted Demonprist irritably.

"At least you didn't *eat* them," snarled Thunderwolf.

"Ahem...I think we were discussing my supreme reign over all the beings of Third Earth," said Fuzzball, snapping his fingers to draw everyone's attention.

"No...*you* were discussing your supreme reign over all the beings of Third Earth," grinned Bast.

"Cats are going to be outlawed!"

"You're hurting my feelings," sniffed the feline Avatar with exaggerated woe.

"Don't hurt Bast's feelings! She'll make a monster eat us!" joked Kith.

"Tell me," said Jazzman to the elven lord. "Just why are you the only person in your group who's in a *good* mood?"

"Because we just left fifty billion bugs and not only did I not have to eat any of them, but none of them crawled into my underwear."

"As good a reason as any," shrugged Ian.

"Bast's in a good mood," the elf pointed out.

"She knows what's going on...she doesn't count," the soldier replied, brushing more grit out of his hair and off of his uniform. He had discovered, quite happily, that the slime became powdery and dust-like when it dried. Though he was not so fastidious that he could not handle a little dirt, the wet slime had been itchy and uncomfortable...being able to simply shake it off after a while was a great relief.

"Look, it's nice meeting everyone, but we could be kicking the crap out of each other right now if we could all just get to where we're going," said Demonprist interrupting the general chatter. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I signed up for this thing for the express purpose of meeting Mumm-ra."

"True, I'm still looking for Laura," admitted Ian.

"And I wouldn't mind seeing what Mad Bassist is up to," added Jazzman. "We figured we'd head for Cat's Lair...are any of you going that way?"

"I'm not joining any goody-goody cats," said Thunderwolf firmly. "I want to make that perfectly clear."

"Again," said Bast.

"Hey, I just *left* a group of people who went to join a bunch of goody-goody cats!" snorted Fuzzball.

"What about you, Bast?" asked Ian.

"I'm still having fun bothering Thunderwolf," replied the Avatar with a feral grin as the huge lion groaned. "I'm not quite bored with it yet. But I can probably help the two of you out a little. I know ThunderManx - Mad Bassist - was heading to Cat's Lair because Jetkitten was headed there herself. And Laura..."

Lady Bast stopped a moment and seemed to go into a bit of a trance. Then she lifted her hand and snapped back to reality as an organic console spun itself up out of the ground. "Laura..." the feline muttered, keying in the information. "Laura is at Cat's Lair right now," she grinned, letting the console drop back into the ground.

"Wow! You can track people?" asked Ian, impressed.

"Not really...but I can break into the game from the inside and see the last place Laura's character file was when the game auto-saved."

"Not bad...that would come in handy for keeping track of my less loyal subjects," mused Fuzzball.

"You'd have to be a game function!" laughed Bast. "Otherwise you can't get in without hacking...and we wouldn't want to do that again. Would we?"

"Not if I'm going to get caught," replied the Snarf slyly.

"Well, if everything's settled, we'd better get going," said Ian. "Demonprist looks anxious and I'm in as much of a hurry now that I'm not running blind. Thanks for the help, Bast. See you later?"

"Oh...probably. Have fun," the cat-woman smiled as Ian and Jazzman headed off in the direction of Cat's Lair. "So, everybody, are we ready to go?"

"Oh, you just *assume* I'm going to follow you around? Look, lady, I'm not that kind of Snarf," sniffed Fuzzball.

"Come anyway," said Thunderwolf. "Save me from the insanity and I'll be your personal bodyguard."

"Watch it, pal! I know you! You think I'm going to let you get that close to me? You'll assassinate me first chance you get and take over the world I worked so hard to take over!"

"Hey, I don't want to *rule* the world...just break most of it," grinned Thunderwolf.

"True...true..." admitted Fuzzball. "Very well then. A truce for the journey."

"Great! *Now* can we go?" insisted Demonprist. "I think I went up a level just exercising my patience with you clowns."

"Don't look at me!" protested Kith. "I've been ready for a long time! But there *is* one problem," he added as they approached the Bridge of Slime. "I'm not looking forward to wriggling along on my stomach through *that*!"

"Problem, shmoblem," snorted Demonprist, unhooking her staff from the harness she'd rigged to her pack. Pointing the red gem toward the bridge and concentrating carefully, she forced a fist-sized beam of heat through the staff and over the surface of the bridge. Amplified by the staff, the fire spell vaporized the slime on contact. Walking forward as she swept the beam carefully over every inch of the stone in front of her, Demonprist took the first steps out onto the Bridge of Slime. The stone was bone dry.

"Okay, it's safe," she called over her shoulder. "You pansies can all follow along behind me."

And with secret vows to 'get' the red-haired Avatar for that particular insult, the rest of the group filed onto the stone arc behind her, crossing safely to the other side.

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

Casca walked gingerly along the rocky shoreline. The footing was less than solid and that last thing that he needed was to break a leg in the short time that he would be travelling alone.

Assuming the Mutants would take him.

But he didn't see why not. He was more than willing to help them out raiding villages and fighting the Thundercats. Rare was the game that allowed one to play the villain. There was just one thing...

Casca couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

"Boo."

"AHYARGH!" roared the jaguar, drawing his sword and turning to face his attacker who looked suspiciously like a shark-human hybrid and laughed in a disturbingly shark-like way.

"Player?" it asked him.

"Uh...yeah. Casca," the jaguar introduced himself. "And you are...Shark?" he ventured to guess.

"Yep," Shark affirmed, grinning wide to show all his teeth. "You jump real good. Going to Castle Plun-darr?"

"Of course! What better way to spend a game than to get piss-drunk and beat up Berbils!" Casca replied enthusiastically. He was in high spirits now that he'd found another player...and one that didn't seem inclined to eat him, despite appearances.

"Good. I'm tired of cat-lovers," snarled Shark. "But not Berbils...Wollos. No meat on Berbils..."

"Hey, whatever you say," laughed Casca. "I'm going to argue with teeth? Just as long as we can blow something up!"

Shark snickered again in his vaguely shark-like manner as they pair turned their attention to the looming Castle Plun-darr.

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