Little did he and the authors know that this particular sunset was not an
ending. It was a beginning.

"Cat's Lair," the Lord of the Thundercats sighed, taking in the towering
structure backlit by the last of the sun's rays. "I can't believe we made
it."

"Neither can I," Thundera Tiger growled, glancing over her shoulder through
slitted eyes. She'd been throwing looks at the forest around them since
they'd begun traveling together, but for all her attempts she still had no
idea who or what followed them. Her tiger's instincts told her that
*something* was back there, but their stalker had given new meaning to the
word illusive and not even Tiger's woodcraft could track their mysterious
follower.

"Home to my family for seven generations," Lion-O continued, oblivious to
Tiger's unease. He still felt as though he was being watched, but since
nothing had happened, he was willing to pass it off as a result of his
imagination.

"I thought Panthro and Tygra built it when you landed on Third Earth,"
Kamanchee commented.

Lion-O growled something that might have been obscene, but it was too low to
make out. They stood there for a moment longer in silence. Lion-O was
savoring the might and splendor of the nearly impenetrable fortress.
Thundera Tiger was trying to identify the stalker in addition to spying game
trails that might come in handy for dinner later on. Kamanchee was looking
thoroughly bored and attempting to stifle a yawn. Peachyra was tapping her
foot impatiently and throwing looks at Lion-O that suggested he might want
to invite them all in sometime before the story ended.

And then they were rudely jolted out of their individual activities when the
entire Lair began to move.

While parts of the Lair were designed to move, such as the head and the
paws, some parts of the Lair were specifically designed to be stationary,
such as the foundation. But before the four travelers, mobile and immobile
objects alike began to move west.

"What the--"

Lion-O stood frozen in shock, Thundera Tiger tensed and sunk into a crouch,
Peachyra continued to tap her foot impatiently, and Kamanchee become less
bored but no less exhausted. As for the Lair, it continued to slide
sideways.

"I don't think Tygra designed it to do that," was Kamanchee's observation.

"So are we going to keep standing here or are we going to go check it out?"
Peachyra demanded.

It took Lion-O a little longer to comprehend the situation, but he
eventually acted. Racing toward the moving Lair, he began hollering at the
top of his lungs. "STOP!!!"

"Stop what?" Thundera Tiger wondered, racing after the enraged lion. "What
can possibly be pulling the Lair?"

"Why did you ask a question like that?" Peachyra demanded. "You just know
that if you ask that kind of a question we're going to get a really
psychotic answer."

"And we did," Kamanchee noted as the three caught up to Lion-O.

Slinky Avenger squealed with glee as she twirled her whip expertly over her
head and lashed it toward a large squadron of reptilian mutants. Every
mutant was straining at a cable attached to the Lair's base, and they were
making a surprising amount of progress.

"Come on, get those lazy butts moving!" Slinky commanded, having more fun
than was probably healthy for the deranged mutant.

"STOP THE LAIR!" Lion-O ordered, trying to channel all his Thundercat Lord
authority into that single command.

Slinky tipped her head to the side and realized she had visitors. "Hey
there. Anything I can help you with?"

"Let me try," Kamanchee whispered. "We British seem to go far with women,
especially if you toss in the accent."

Lion-O stuttered and stammered for a moment before finally nodding and
stepping back. With a reassuring smile, Kamanchee moved forward.

"Now, Slinky, isn't it?" The reptile nodded. "Right. Slinky, could you call
your workers off for a minute? We need to discuss something."

"Sure," Slinky answered. Putting two green fingers in her mouth, the mutant
let out a shrill whistle that captured the attention of everyone in the
immediate vicinity as well as the attention of almost everyone in a 50-mile
radius. "Hold it guys," Slinky told the stunned workers as they began
rubbing their ears. She turned back to Kamanchee. "What's up?"

"I demand to know what is going on!" Lion-O growled, storming his way back
into the conversation.

"Just how did the Thundercats survive with him as a lord?" Peachyra asked
Tiger.

"Beats me. I always said they needed someone with stripes in the driver's
seat."

"Yeah, but then who would get the backseat with you?"

Thundera Tiger was fortunate that she was already a deep orange in color
because the crimson blush was barely noticeable. "I'm a quadruped, he's a
Thunderian. We're not compatible," she growled defensively. "We're just good
friends. And we cuddle a lot. But other than that.."

"AHEM!" Lion-O interrupted. "If you two are finished, we're going to let
Slinky explain why she is moving the Lair."

"Read this," the mutant told Lion-O, wearing a large grin that would have
sent a sane individual scampering for his or her life. Since no one in the
Thundercat universe is remotely sane, Slinky's smile had no effect.

"Hear ye, hear ye," Lion-O murmured as he read through the scroll. "Now
what is that supposed to mean? If I were to read this silently, I couldn't
very well 'hear ye, hear ye,' could I?"

"Just finish the stupid thing," Peachyra ordered, reacquainting herself with
the impatient foot tap.

Lion-O glared at her but continued nonetheless. "For failure to pay
backtaxes, all the lands and property of the Thundercats are to be taken in
lieu of payment. Signed, RD Rivero. RD Rivero? This is impossible! Since
when did he have justification to tax us?"

"Since when did Mandora have justification to impose Control law on
territories with growing civilizations?" Thundera Tiger countered.

"This is a sham!" Lion-O thundered. "I vow here and now to restore Cat's
Lair to its rightful place."

"Vow away, redhead," Slinky said with a careless shrug. "You vow, we move.
Head's up, boys!" she yelled, turning her attention to her mass of mook
mutants. "Best plough boy gets a special treat tonight!"

"We've just lost our base of operations," Thundera Tiger hissed.

"I've just lost my home!" Lion-O roared.

"I'm about to lose my patience," Peachyra warned.

"Is it time for tea?" Kamanchee asked hopefully.

The other three stared at him.

"What?"

Thundera Tiger shook her head. "I'm going to find Ayanna. She can spread the
word to the rest of our team and hopefully someone will know of a place
where we can establish a temporary base."

"Whatever," Lion-O growled, not really caring what became of any author at
this point in time. He stared in shock at the empty place where the Lair
used to rest. His mind dimly registered the fact that Thundera Tiger was
vanishing into the long grass and someone was still watching them, but his
attention was riveted to the space before him.

"Lion-O? What's that?" Peachyra asked curiously.

The lion looked over and started. In the fading light of day, his feline
eyes caught a hint of movement and he was immediately surging forward.
"Lynx-O?"

"Lion-O?" The lynx's head popped up. "Lion-O, is that you?"

"Yes!" By now, Lion-O had reached Lynx-O's side and was prepared for a warm
reception.

"Back from imprisonment?" Lynx-O continued, oblivious to the fact that
Lion-O was standing right next to him.

"Yes," Lion-O answered, feeling a bit of Peachyra's impatience creep into
his mood.

"And alive?!"

"Yes!" Lion-O shouted.

"Oh, happy day!" Lynx-O cheered. He flung his arm out before him and then
stumbled forward. "I was quite sure there was a door there," he murmured.
Lion-O cleared his throat and the lynx tried to refocus his attention.
"Lion-O!" Lynx-O reached out to take Lion-O's hand but ended up falling
against a potted plant. "Lion-O, you've lost your arms in battle!" the lynx
sobbed. "Oh, how terrible." He paused and a strange look came over his face.
"But you've grown some nice leaves."

"Lynx-O, I'm over here," Lion-O sighed.

"Now wait a minute," Kamanchee interrupted. "In the series, didn't Lynx-O
have a better sense of his surroundings?"

"Kam is right," Peachyra agreed, a suspicious light entering her eyes.
"What's wrong with this Lynx-O?"

"Good questions," Lion-O acknowledged. "Do you have any answers for us, old
friend?"

Lynx-O's face pulled itself into a puzzled frown. "I believe it all started
when your father Claudus was killed."

"My father's DEAD?!"

"Wasn't he dead for the entire show?"

Lion-O stopped, looked at Peachyra, narrowed his eyes, scratched his head,
and then shrugged. "It just seems to me that he was supposed to be alive."

"Let's go with it," Kamanchee suggested. "It can't be any stranger than some
of the other things we'll probably end up doing."

"True," Peachyra sighed. "Okay, continue."

"Thank you," Lion-O growled. He turned back to Lynx-O. "My father's dead?"

"Well, yes."

"What about my mother?" Lion-O pressed.

"She died of pneumonia while..oh, while you were away."

"Well, what about my uncles?"

"Did you have any uncles?" Kamanchee wondered.

"Of course I had uncles!" Lion-O roared. "What's a royal family without
uncles to provide power struggles and intrigue?"

"Ask a stupid question.." Peachyra murmured.

"Your uncles died in the plague," Lynx-O provided.

"My dog Kano?" A hint of desperation was beginning to enter into Lion-O's
voice.

"Run over by a carriage."

"The friendly little micrits?" Desperation crept up the scale toward panic.

"Eaten by Snarf."

"SNARF?!" Panic gave way to complete horror.

"He choked on the micrits."

Lion-O stood there in complete shock, his mouth hanging open and his eyes
beseechingly searching Lynx-O's face for some sign that this was all a cruel
trick.

"Well, look on the bright side," Kamanchee suggested.

"There's a bright side to this?" Lion-O choked out.

"Sure. At least you're home."

Peachyra cleared her throat and nodded her head toward the large vacant area
where the Lair used to stand. Kamanchee had the presence of mind to look
contrite and mumbled something of an apology.

"Am I missing something?" Lynx-O asked.

"They..they've taken the Lair," Lion-O stammered, still suffering from deep
shock.

"I thought it felt a bit drafty," the wise lynx said to himself as though
solving one of the great mysteries of life. "So with whom am I speaking?"

"Peachyra and Kamanchee," Lion-O murmured, still trying to recover from
shock.

"Oh, that's all right, my dear," Lyxn-O said in his best conciliatory tone.
"There comes a time in everyone's life when you must be common and cheap."

A blank silence followed during which Peachyra shook her head and Kamanchee
nearly exploded. "It's KAMANCHEE," Lion-O eventually explained, making
certain to stress every syllable.

"Oh." Lynx-O thought about that with as much energy as life's great
mysteries had taken to process.

"Hey guys!"

Four heads turned toward the sound of running feet as a hyperactive cheetah
raced toward them trailed by a bengal tiger. Peachyra raised her hand in
greeting, Kamanchee nodded his head in a way that can only be described as
British, Lion-O wondered if it was too late to swim back to the prison where
he'd begun this insanity, and Lynx-O continued to ponder life's great
mysteries.

"Tiger found me and told me about the Lair," Ayanna chattered as she skidded
to a halt, misjudging the distance and colliding with Peachyra. Peachyra
stumbled into Kamanchee who tripped into Lynx-O who landed on top of Lion-O
who fell flat on his face. "Um, sorry," the cheetah apologized. Coming up
behind her, Thundera Tiger tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

"42," Lynx-O said mysteriously.

"What?" everyone else chorused.

"The answer to life's greatest question," the lynx murmured.

"We must be mixing stories again," Thundera Tiger murmured with a shake of
her head. "Anyway, gang, I think we might have a problem."

"MIGHT?!" Lion-O screamed, pushing Lynx-O off and trying to get to his feet.
"The Lair is completely gone and you think we MIGHT have a problem?"

"Ayanna went looking for the rest of Team Tiger and couldn't find anyone."

"That's right," Ayanna confirmed with an excited and completely hyper series
of nods. "There's no sign of Fianna, Sher Kahn, or Axelle anywhere. It's
like they've disappeared."

"Axelle was with us in the prison," Peachyra remembered. "She was the one
who set me up to meet Lion-O. But I haven't seen her since then."

"It looked to me like she was working with Thunderwolf and Shark," Lion-O
growled.

"That's odd," Thundera Tiger murmured. "Okay, who've we seen so far? There's
the six of us, but Lion-O and Lynx-O really don't count. They're indigenous
to the land."

"But what about Tygra?" Ayanna asked. "He's usually in your fics, but we
haven't seen him anywhere, either. Or the rest of the Thundercats for that
matter."

"Snarf's dead," Lynx-O supplied helpfully.

"That accounts for one of them," Thundera Tiger nodded. "But I hadn't
planned on killing him. When did he die?"

"He choked on some micrits," Peachyra answered.

"Choked? How can anyone choke on micrits? They're too small." Ayanna
grimaced as she continued to think about the concept. "The most they'll do
to you is get caught in your teeth."

"Snarf wasn't particularly big," Kamanchee reasoned. "Maybe he was small
enough that they choked him."

"ANYWAY," Thundera Tiger interrupted, trying to get back on track, "we're
missing three members of Team Tiger if you count Axelle. And as for
Anti-Tygra, I've only seen Slinky and she wasn't being very Anti-Tygra. She
was only moving the Lair."

"ONLY moving?"

"Shut up, Lion-O," the tiger ordered. "We've heard from RD, but we haven't
seen him. Thunderwolf and Shark were around for the beginning, but now
they've disappeared."

"Tatiana loaned me Imhotep," Peachyra remembered. "So we've heard from her,
too."

"Okay, we'll add Tatiana to our list," Thundera Tiger continued. "But that
still leaves quite a few who haven't entered the story in any form. We're
completely missing LT, LD, Zhie, Benni, and Spark."

"Is that a problem?" Lion-O asked.

"Actually, we're no longer missing LD," Ayanna warned. She was looking out
over the clearing as the last of the sun's light began to fade. Coming
toward them at a fast pace were a collection of riders who appeared to have
stolen some unicorns from the local herd.

"Now what?" Kamanchee wondered. "I'm hungry and tired. Is there a place
around here somewhere that offers bed and breakfast?"

"That's LD leading them," Thundera Tiger confirmed. "But who does he have
following him?"

"They look like they're made out of clay," Ayanna whispered, almost holding
still for a moment.

"Potential characters," Peachyra realized. Catching the blank looks that
were thrown her direction, she hastened to explain. "Characters that haven't
made it into published stories yet or characters who are still floating
around in the imagination."

"Weird," Kamanchee said.

"And dangerous," Thundera Tiger added, taking on a worried look as the
riders drew closer. "Potential characters can turn into almost anything the
moment someone takes control of one, especially in the fanfic world. They
range from mutant lackeys to superhero Mary Sues."

"The ultimate potential, as it were," Kamanchee summarized.

"Hence the name," Ayanna concluded, pacing around in a tight circle.

"I'll handle this," Lion-O announced, moving in front of the group. Content
to let him take the first hits, the authors and Lynx-O stepped back.

"Over yourselves hand!" LD ordered as he pulled his unicorn to a halt.

Six befuddled expressions were his reply.

"Why doesn't anyone around here understand me when I'm insane?!"

"What did you just say?" Lion-O finally managed.

"Hand yourselves over," LD sighed.

"Who demands it?" Lion-O questioned, trying his best to look in charge of
the situation despite the fact that he was favoring his side where Lynx-O
had landed.

"I, the Sheriff of Riveroland," LD announced proudly. "And I'm also the
regent of insanity."

"Fitting," Thundera Tiger sniffed, becoming bored with the proceedings and
going back to the problems that confronted what was supposed to be HER
story.

"And what have we done that we should hand ourselves over?" Lion-O asked.

"Impressive," Kamanchee whispered to Peachyra. "That almost sounded
intelligent." Lion-O shot them a glare that would have stopped Mumm-Ra,
though it had little success on authors.

"Well, you're trespassing, of course," LD said as though it was obvious to
everyone. "You've landed to cross into RD Rivero's dare without permission."
Seeing Lion-O's blank expression was a little more blank than usual, LD
thought back over his last statement. "Sorry. You've dared to cross into RD
Rivero's land."

"Ah." Lion-O nodded. "And this is an offense?"

"One punishable by death, where have you been?"

"A very good question," the lion murmured, trying to figure out if he
actually knew the answer to that one.

"Do you even know who you're dealing with?" Ayanna wondered, pacing around
LD instead of the others. "For your information, you've met up with the
incomparable Team Tiger. Or," she looked at her five companions, "some of
Team Tiger, anyway. So why don't you just get out of here while you still
can?"

"Team Tiger?" LD laughed. "After Anti-Tygra, the Ferocious Females, and
Fianna Must Die, Team Tiger is worthless."

Thundera Tiger's concentration was slightly disrupted at this announcement
and she broke off her train of thought to favor LD with a dangerous glare.
"Oh really?"

"Your group is useless. You've been off in Mundania too long to notice, but
protecting and torturing Tygra is a thing of the past."

"Maybe," the tiger growled, slinking closer to the mounted author, "but it
seems to me that torturing authors is still quite popular."

"And entertaining!" Ayanna voiced, giving LD's unicorn a slap on the rump.
The unicorn snorted and reared, LD toppled off and grabbed the horn, the
unicorn took off, and the confrontation was abruptly and ridiculously over.

"That was interesting," Kamanchee commented.

"Off in Mundania too long," Thundera Tiger growled angrily, stalking through
the long grass. "Come on, you guys. Let's see if we can find anyone else."

The others shrugged and followed.

Hidden in the shadows, another figure also followed.
________________________________
TBC

Robin Hood 4