"Hey! This is kinda fun!" laughed Altaica, her bare toes trailing in the water.

"What do you mean, 'kinda'," snorted Axecat, chin resting on his arms. He had tried to entice the tiger into laying down to enjoy the full effect of floating in the sun, but Altaica had prefered to remain seated and alert forcing the inflatable cat to choose a belly-down position for comfort's sake. At least she'd had the foresight to remove her pack and strap them down opposite his own things to help with weight distribution, otherwise Axecat would be suffering from severe air displacement. He might be firmly inflated, but Bast's game equipment could be surprisingly heavey, especially after several hours of float time next to an eagerly squirming tigress.

"What can I say? I'm a woman of action!" declared Altaica, bouncing slightly to indicate her excessive energy.

"If I'd have known you'd be doing that, I'd have floated on my back," snickered the grey werecat.

"Be nice," admonished the bounty hunter, flicking the back of Axecat's head with a gentle *whump*. He wasn't exactly a tiger, but he wasn't exactly *not* a tiger and she was taking childish delight in administering her little "punishments". Axecat himself seemed amused by them, twitching his ears in acknowledgement and sometimes voicing a playful threat.

"Keep that up, and I swear I'll roll over."

"Promises, promises..."

They made the journey in silence for a while until the river became rougher. Small eddies of whitish water begat to appear in patches where the stone rose up from the bottom, breaking the surface. Before long, the gentle rapids were making the pair's downstream float a more than bumpy ride. Twice Altaica was forced to quickly pull her legs up to avoid tearing open her flesh and she finally decided to sit cross-legged and avoid the agony. But these close encounters posed another problem: if the jagged rocks could tear open flesh...

"Hey, Axe," began Altaica with mild concern. "Do you think you should really be swimming through this stuff?"

"I'm pretty good at navigation," the inflatable cat replied though his voice seemed a bit strained. "It just takes a little more concentration right now, that's all."

"Aren't you afraid of...well...popping?"

"Can't. I'm not inflated *that* much and my latex compound won't overstretch to that point anyway. Mind you, punctures and tears aren't exactly *fun*," grimaced Axecat, batting them away from a rather large stone obstacle. Altaica declined to comment again...she was more than happy to let her companion have all the concentration he needed.

On the other hand, his concentration would only do them good if he could see the danger before him. This left his rear and flank completely open but for the tigress' eyes and as swift as her reflexes were, Axecat could not react until she did, taking twice as long to respond.

Thus it was that a broken tree branch tossed about in the churning water could become a deadly weapon.

Altaica barely had time to gasp in alarm and cry "Left! Move left!", kicking off of a large rock to her right before the splintered tip of the branch rammed into Axecat's thigh, piercing the latex flesh and gouging a two inch tear.

Axecat could help crying out. He hadn't expected it to hurt the way it would on a normal body, but in the back of his conscious mind he remembered that the sensor suit he wore probably didn't care if he was inflatable or not. It didn't matter, really...what mattered was stopping the leak until he could seal it.

"Hold the edges closed!" he shouted to Altaica. The tigeress tried gamely to obey, but her position made it difficult to reach his leg and the pair took a couple of nasty dips into the water before she could manoeuvre herself around to clutch the edges together. And not a moment too soon! The tear was now three inches long and had been widening.

Altaica was almost surprised to see the latex knitting itself back together. Almost, but not quite. She tried to keep the edges even as the tear closed itself. When the repair was complete, she let go. It was a solid job though she could tell that Axecat had lost quite a bit of air...they were sitting lower in the river.

"We've taken on some water," Axecat called back to her. "I'm heading for shore." And with that, he made his way through the thinning rapids to the northern bank. Once there, Altaica quickly disembarked and removed both sacks of equipment so that Axecat could pull himself out of the water.

Checking himself for damages, Axecat cursed at the permanent tear in his clothing and at the water which had seeped into his "wound". With some creative wiggling, he managed to pool it all into his right foot which he carefully punctured with a sharp stone, wincing slightly. Cutting off the airflow at his ankle he allowed only the water to run out and held the edges of the hole together so that they would seal as they had before, leaving no trace of injury.

"How are you going to get your air pressure back?" wondered Altaica with genuine curiosity and thinly veiled concern. "You're looking a little...deflated."

"That's easy enough," replied the inflatable cat, rummaging through his equipment, "although I had hoped to wait awhile before needing these."

He pulled a small, capped pellet from his pack. Removing the safety lid revealed a small, needle-like protusion which he jammed into his hip, an easy place from which to monitor all-over body inflation. The capsule proved to be full of compressed air which was released with a squeeze to break the seal. The single cartridge quickly drained and restored Axecat to his previous state. "I'm glad I didn't have to use the bigger ones," he confided. "I can probably get more of these made, but I'd rather not waste them. Sorry I couldn't get you further downstream, but it looks like it's going to be rough sailing for the next little while."

"Don't worry about it," grinned Altaica, slipping on her boots and picking up her pack. "At least I can't say it was boring! Besides...we're pretty close to where I wanted to be anyay. But how are *you* going to get back across? You can't swim through *that* again!"

"Well, I might be able to; there's less chance of another puncture with less weight on me. But the Tower of Omens is still a ways East of here. I might just follow the river awhile until it smooths out. Either way, I'll get across," Axecat grinned.

"In that case, I guess this is where we part company," said Altaica. "At least until we meet again under entirely different circumstances."

"Yeah, you with a whip and me with TNT."

"Ha! You will not defeat me *that* easily!" laughed the tigress. "But thanks for the ride."

"Anytime. And good luck getting your ship," grinned Axecat, shouldering his own equipment.

"Thanks," waved Altaica and the two made their separate ways.

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

The wall of flaming trees was an impressive sight.

"Holy sh..." Auroara's voice trailed off into a hiss.

"I'm with you," said Capresono, staring. "Is it me or are these things not even burning?"

"They're not burning," confirmed Darrell. "Well, they're *burning*, but the wood isn't being consumed."

"Huh huh huh...consumed wood," snickered Auroara, Beavis and Butt-head style. "What?" she protested when her two companions gave her a questionning look. "If I don't laugh at something, I swear I'm going to go nuts! This is so weird..."

"Well, we ARE in a game," shrugged Darrell. He had some experience with games himself. "Anything can happen in a game although it's always more interesting when it defies convention, yet can still logically be explained." He kicked around the outside of the wood for a long branch. He found one that must have been broken off of one of the burning trees...it was still smouldering lightly on one end. Shielding his face, he inched in close to the treeline and drew the stick out.

"What are you doing?" said Auroara with curiosity.

"The fire *feels* hot enough," huffed Darrell, lungs burning. "But that could be as much illusion as anything else."

"You think we can just walk though this thing?" mused Capresono. "That would save us a *lot* of time. From what the map was showing, this wood is pretty big, ending near a chasm on one end and a swamp on the other."

"Acutally, no...I *don't* think it's illusion," said Darrell, wrapping layers of grass around the end of the stick. "The fire was sucking up oxygen, remember? It's harder to breather here than it was further back. But you're right about the distance around the edge so I just want to check to make sure I'm right. No sense in knocking ourselves out for nothing."

Many layers of grass later, the end of the branch sported a nice, visible ball of flammable material. Inching his way cautiously over to the edge of the wood, Darrell pressed the torch right up against the nearest flaming tree. The grass evaporated almost immediately into flames.

"Guess it's not an illusion," said Auroara, wide-eyed as the stick was pulled out of the fire, completely bare.

"Guess it's time to go around," sighed Capresono. "So what do you guys vote? Canyon climbing or marsh mucking?"

But before anyone could offer their opinion, a cheery voice resonated in the fevered air.

"Salvation! My salvation!" cried an anthropomorphic Canine, approaching the group swiftly from a Westernly direction. "Say to me that you have transportation of a vehicular nature!"

"Er...no," said Auroara, drawing her pistol. "What the hell are you?"

"It is I! The feared pirate Don Karnage!" announced the canine. "But you may call me 'Master'."

"Or Donny...that always works," grinned a tall man, running up behind him.

"Ack! I have told you never to call me by that name!" riled the first.

"I know."

"You're both players, aren't you?" said Auroara, relaxing and lowering her pistol a little.

"Aye! Indeedy! And we are weary from travel! I demand anything you have to save my footsies!"

"We just hiked it around the canyon...after the first laser blasts shot out of it, it seemed the safest course," grinned the man.

"And you are?" prompted Darrell after taking careful not of Don Karnage who was currently smoothing out his blue coat and trying to polish his buttons.

"Most people call me 'the snarf'."

"*You're* the snarf?" said Capresono sceptically. "Somehow I expected someone...well...smaller."

"Never judge a book by its title," said the snarf cryptically, peering down over the rim of his glasses.

"Alrigh...you're coming from the direction we were headed. Let's have a quick overview of where everyone is going," said Darrell. "Then we can figure out the best way to get there. I have a hot date and I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Castle Plun-darr!" cried Don Karnage.

"Skytomb," declared Carpesono.

"Warrior Maides to contact the Thundercats and find friends," said Auroara.

"Just wandering," shrugged the snarf.

"And I'm going to the Tower of Omens," finished Darrell. "Now tell me...what kind of obstacles did the two of you encounter?"

The group discussed their relative experiences, arguing over the details of the matter and finally managing to pinpoint various dangers and discovering on the computerized map. So engrossed were they that they failed to notice the faint buzzing in the air until the map suddenly snapped itself shut.

"Hey!" protested Auroara, but Darrell had a better mind for rules.

"Sentient characters are near or coming near," he said in a hushed tone.

"Indeedy," agreed Don Karnage. "That sound...it is musical to my ears! It is a flying machine!"

"Then it's either Thundercats, Mutants, or Lunataks," reasoned Capresono.

"Unless Mandora's in town," grinned the snarf.

"Rather sounds like a skycutter to me," said Darrell.

"Well, whatever it is," said Auroara, "we should find a place to hide until we know if it's friend or foe."

"I think not, cat-type person," said Don Karnage, scrambling back several steps and pulling his duel pistols on the group. "I am thinking that to me it is a skycutter too, as well. And what better gift is it to present new allies than with new enemy prisoners? Ha ha!"

"Donny, after all we've been through together..." mocked the snarf with excessive drama.

"Yes, *Donny*, just what do you think you're doing?" growled Auroara as she slowly inched her pistol up.

"I am taking you hostage! I'm a pirate...it's what I do," grinned the canine with genuine malice. "Of course, you *might* be spared if you cared to join me. And if you did not call me, 'Donny'."

"You've got to know by now that I'm a lover, not a fighter," said the snarf. Actually, he was a fighter as well, but he was curious to see where this would lead.

"This is *not* going to get me to the Tower of Omens," muttered Darrell as the droning engines got louder. "Who's going to kick Bengali's ass now?"

"Ooo! That sounds like fun! I must try that!" said Don Karnage brightly.

"You're an asshole," spat Auroara.

"Actually, I admire his initiative," said the snarf. "He wanted to play a villain and he's doing a perfectly good job."

"Why thank you," the canine pirate said, flattered. He gave a nodding bow in the tall man's direction. "You have been a good player too. Perhaps you will not be tortured *too* badly...after all you are not a cat-type lover!"

Auroara used the distraction to raise her pistol all the way. "Alright, Karnage, drop the weapon! Yours fire bullets...mine fires laser blasts. You'll be punctured and cauterized before you can pull the trigger!"

"I don't think so."

Auroara gasped to feel the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of her head.

"You see," said Capresono. "I signed up to be a villain too...of a sort. I work for me, and me alone...and I want to get to Skytomb. The Mutants might be just the connection I need. Remind me to thank you later, Donny...er...Don Karnage," the black-clad human addressed the canine. "I hadn't really considered turning mercenary *before* I got to Skytomb. Nothing personal," he said, as he reached for Auroara's pistol, "this *is* only a game. But it's one that I intend to 'win'...whatever that might mean."

"You know...it might be high time to disregard that little thing we talked about," hissed Darrell in the Thunderian's direction.

"Oh," sighed Auroara dramatically, turning on her charm. Damn Darrell for letting her get out of practise! She'd never have forgotten and could be halfway out of this situation by now! "Oh, two big...strong...*handsome*...men like yourselves couldn't possibly want to harm little ol' me, could you?"

Don Karnage's features began to melt into a sappy sort of grin, but Capresono...despite having fallen for the Thunderian's spell before...was able to recognize the attack and send out a warning. "Watch it!" he called to the canine, trying to block as much of Auroara's voice as possible with his free hand. "She can cast a spell on you! Think of something else! Something you love more than anything else in the world!"

It was obvious that Capresono was quickly falling under Auroara's spell, but his cry had brought Don Karnage's beloved plane to mind and the pirate captain was momentarily distracted from Auroara's charm. He fired off a quick shot before he could be snared again, the ball of his pistol passing a mere inch away from the Thunderian woman's cheek. In her surprise, Auroara forgot to maintain the illusion and Capresono was released long enough to snatch away her laser pistol.

"We will make it so that one cannot speak with the clothy thing!" declared Don Karnage, smugly.

"You mean gag her?" smirked the snarf.

"Indeedy! That is what I said, yes-no?" replied the pirate irritably. "But only once we have more hands! The planes are landing now...two, no? I can hear them both."

"The skycutters...yes," grinned Capresono who could see behind Don Karnage's back. "It looks like a Mutant patrol has come to investigate the activity." He stuck his pistol in its case and grapped the rope from the nearest pack, tying Auroara's arms behind her while Don Karnage kept the prisoners subdued. "I hope you all enjoy your time in captivity..."

"I think it might actually prove to be...interesting," said the snarf serenely. As Jackalman and Monkian approached the scene with caution.

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