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From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter One

Mumm-Ra stared into the cauldron, tapping his fingers against his arms impatiently as he stared at a lone tent pitched a few hours outside of the Rock Men's kingdom. "One would think," he said aloud to no one in particular, "after a year those Thunderkittens would've gone insane trying to find the Color Kids. To their credit, they're doing a far more thorough job of it than I would've thought possible, though. If I keep a close eye on these two, I'll learn the locations of those brats, then I can take care of them all, Thundercats and Color Brats both, for good. I'd have gotten rid of them years ago if the cauldron was able to find them; unfortunately, their being from another dimension seems to protect them from my grasp."

He started pacing back and forth between the cauldron and his sarcophagus. He spared a moment to glance at the lid Bengali had shattered to pieces; Mumm-Ra scowled as he remembered how he'd painstakingly put it back together one piece at a time. "One of these days, white tiger," he snarled, momentarily distracted, "I am going to throttle you with Panthro's nun-chucks and hang your body on a wall."

After muttering angrily to himself as he continued to pace, he eventually ended up back next to the cauldron. "There's still at least an hour until dawn. I probably ought to find something to do in the meantime, but I honestly can't decide on anything…."

---

I must go to him.

The fact she was in pain herself meant nothing to her, that he cared almost naught for her mattered little; he was the only one she'd known for millennia, the only one she could waste her affections on. Ignoring the agony ripping through her frame as she got further and further from her assigned rooms, she crawled onward, determined to make it to the throne room where he would be.

I don't care that he cursed me to never leave the treasure chambers. I don't care that the curse will kill me if I continue on like this. I don't matter.

He's the only one who matters. He is all that's important.

Just as she got to the final doorway, she collapsed against the stone floor, unable to go any farther. Her sight fading out, the image of her master standing by the cauldron as he looked over his shoulder at her incredulously, she held her hand out to him imploringly. "Master," she gasped. "Please… let me… appease you…."

Everything went black.

---

Mumm-Ra stared at the prone figure of Stormy in bemusement as her body twitched on the stone floor. In a perverted state of mind, he studied her form for a moment: the long violet hair which covered her face even though it was pulled into a tail, breasts squashed by the weight of her torso, loincloth tossed aside by the fall, revealing her bare ass and the gold thong he forced her to wear for his amusement.

"Hmm… I should double-check the efficiency of the curse I placed upon you," he sighed, half to himself and half to her. "This is twice as far as you got the last time. Oh, Stormy, my little slave, you are such a thorn in my side… and yet I still can't bring myself to just get rid of you already. It's bothersome, really, I never had this problem with any other woman I took as my own." He grinned lecherously. "Then again, no other woman has stayed as young and obedient as you."

He turned away from her, returning his attention to the tent the Thunderkittens were sleeping in, waving a hand carelessly in her direction as if she were still conscious. "I'll return you to your chambers after I've determined whether or not the Thunder-brats will find any of their quarry today. I have a few bones to pick with you concerning MoonGlo's escape anyway, you little bitch." A brief flash of movement caught his attention from the pool, but no matter how he moved the view in the water, he didn't see what caused it. "Hmm… that keeps happening around those two lately. I wonder if they're being followed—but who would be following them? Surely not Slythe?"

He waved his hands over the cauldron, intoning a chant which would change the image from Thunderkittens to Castle Plun-Darr. "What the—what is that idiot doing?!" He clapped a hand over his eyes in exasperation, dragging the palm down across his face as if doing so would wipe away his frustration. "Why in the name of all the Ancients is Slythe wasting time digging an enormous hole next to the castle? What do I have to do to keep that idiot under control?!" Crossing his arms, he contemplated various ways he could bring the mutants to heel again. "Rataro isn't as useful as I would like, and there's no one else currently running around Third Earth I can use. Wait… weren't the ancestors of the mutants called Galra?" He glanced over his shoulder at one of the many passages leading deeper into the pyramid. "I do have that prince… he's certainly intelligent and powerful enough to easy bring the mutants to heel… although…."

He sighed in resignation, changing the vision back to the Thunderkittens. "Mm… whatever. I'll think on it later."

---

Slythe glared up at the lightening sky; though he should have been angry since the brilliance of the moon and stars meant MoonGlo was still using her magic, he was instead far more irritated at himself for finding the enhanced sky striking. I've never once looked at the stars before, he thought bitterly. There was no need to. How dare that slip of a female find something within me that appreciates beauty… even if it is beauty of the night.

To try and make himself feel better, to assure himself he was still evil through and through, he was forcing the slaves to dig a pond next to Castle Plun-Darr. There was absolutely no reason for it, but he pretended to act as if there was. Any excuse to whip the slaves mercilessly eased his heavy heart as he secretly admired the atmosphere.

Growling, he forced himself to bring his gaze back down to Third Earth; the pit he'd ordered the slaves to dig had already gotten admirably deep. It was probably in part because Monkian and Jackalman were both down in the sludge with the slaves, screaming orders, threatening beatings or even death, and generally making sure the work continued fairly steadily. Even as he watched, the latter of the two took a peevish pleasure in attacking some slaves that had stalled in their digging for whatever reason.

"Mumm-Ra wasn't joking about the power of those brats," Vulture-Man cawed as he stepped up beside Slythe. "The little bitch's power to enhance the stars and moon make it harder to plan evening attacks. We'd be seen miles away."

"Indeed," Slythe agreed, only vaguely aware dawn was starting to break. "She might be one of the four most powerful, but the thought of any of the less powerful ones creating similar problems is just as unnerving—what in the name of Plun-Darr is going on down there?!" The slaves had all stopped digging and gathered at one end of the enormous ditch; Monkian and Jackalman were in the center of it, but for whatever reason weren't paying a single heed to the crowd surrounding them. "Come on, Vulture-Man, let's see what those idiots are doing."

Sliding down the muddy edge of the hole, the vulture and reptilian forced their way through the crowd, beating, kicking, and punching to do so. As they neared the center, they both slowed down, just as startled at the unexpected discovery as both Jackalman and Monkian had no doubt been.

"What in blazes is this?" Vulture-Man asked curiously, falling to his knees beside the object. "A funeral casket?" He wiped the mud off of the cut-crystal top, peering into it and trying to comprehend what he was seeing. "Alright, who murdered a woman and then went through the trouble of burying the corpse beside the castle? You could've just thrown the body in the moat."

"That's what I thought at first," Monkian stated, "but she was found nearly twenty feet below the surface. We would've noticed a hole that deep being dug out."

"I thought we might've stumbled across some ancient burial ground," Jackalman added, "but she looks… well, like she's still pretty fresh."

Slythe studied the casket in his own manner as Vulture-Man proceeded to crawl on all fours to examine every inch of it with the various instruments he pulled out of his pockets. "If she was buried twenty feet below the surface," he thought aloud, "then the weight of the earth piled upon her should've crushed that crystal."

"Not necessarily, Slythe," Vulture-Man said, finally getting back to his feet and holding out a detection device to the reptilian. "Look at the readings on this: there's powerful magic surrounding her. Inside the coffin is a spell that just reeks of goodness, but the outside is encased in magic so similar to Mumm-Ra's I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was his handiwork."

"So, she's good?" Monkian frowned.

"I didn't say that," Vulture-Man sighed, probably more patiently than he normally would have. "I said the magic inside was good. She could be a good person, but she could just as easily be evil."

"I think she'd kind of pretty," Jackalman blurted out. Several of the slaves nodded in agreement. "Especially all that long, midnight-black hair. Can we keep her, Slythe?"

"I'm not having magic spells taken into Castle Plun-Darr without first determining what they are!" the reptilian snapped. "If you want her, then you better convince Vulture-Man to get those spells off her." He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Though I have to admit… clean the mud off the casket and she'd certainly make an impressive decoration for the front hall."

Jackalman looked pleadingly at the vulture. "Please, Vulture-Man? Please?"

Vulture-Man just rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever." Taping a series of buttons on the detection device, he muttered to himself as he continued to examine the casket, mutants and slaves watching him curiously. "Mumm-Ra's spells tend to have a very obvious weak point… looks like it pertains to the casket only… I'm having a difficult time reading the second spell… maybe if I look at it from the inside-out…. Oh, no wonder I'm having difficulty, the two spells merged over time…."

After seemingly spending hours on the problem—though from the moon's position it wasn't nearly as long as it felt—Vulture-Man finally ruffled his feathers and said, "Alright, I think I have this figured out. I'm still not sure yet what the spell on the inside does, but I'm positive I know how to break the outer one. Slythe, if you could hit this spot right here with your axe," he tapped the crystal dead center in the middle of the cover, "then I can figure out what to do with the 'good' spell."

"Won't that break the crystal?"

"Nope. Trust me."

Resisting the urge to come back with a snarky reply, Slythe hefted his axe off his shoulder, lifted it high over his head, and slammed the blade down onto the spot indicated, fully expecting the crystal to completely shatter.

Something shattered, but it wasn't the crystal. Sickly red light appeared around the casket, breaking into millions of sparkling pieces before disappearing or catching clothing of unaware observers on fire. The clear top of the casket remained unharmed; there wasn't even a scratch where the blade of the axe had hit it.

The vulture nodded. "Okay, that was the first one. Now, I need some slaves to gently lift the top of the casket off her. The crystal is interfering with my ability to examine the spell around her." Several slaves stepped forward eagerly to obey, lifting the crystal part of the casket off of her; all it did, however, was reveal a second cover over her, this time a simple dome of plain glass. "Well, that explains a few things. At least this is a much simpler spell, though…"

"She looks like a Warrior Maiden," Monkian said as Vulture-Man continued his examinations. "Except, well, I've never seen a Warrior Maiden dress so… frilly before."

"She's certainly dressed to the nines," Slythe mused. "If she was royalty of some kind, or maybe a powerful sorceress, it might explain why Mumm-Ra tried to hide her away."

"Probably with the intention of eventually releasing her for his own purposes," Vulture-Man added. Pulling out an awl, he held it in careful position right over the face of the woman. Cracking his neck, he gently smacked the instrument with a hammer while the others watched, wondering if anything was going to happen. Unlike the crystal, the entire glass cover smashed to pieces beneath the awl's point, though the many sparklers and miniature explosions surrounding the destruction indicated more than just glass was broken. Pulling back the awl, he, the other mutants, and all the slaves leaned forward to get a better look at the woman to see if anything else would happen.

At first it seemed as if she was just dead, but suddenly she took a deep breath. It wasn't quite a yawn, but it was certainly reminiscent of someone waking up from a long, deep sleep. Sniffing, her eyes fluttered open as she slowly sat up, nonchalantly brushing glass shards off her face and chest. She glanced around, a slightly puzzled look on her face as she stretched. "Something tells me I was in there way longer than promised," she said blandly, flipping her long dark tresses with her hands, sending glass pieces flying out all around her. "Where on Second Earth am I?"

Slythe stared at her, unable to believe what he'd heard. "S… Second Earth?" he asked, apparently the only one who wasn't completely stumped by her question. "We're on Third Earth, sweetheart."

Her head snapped around, her deep violet eyes sharp and angry. He leaned casually on his axe; he wasn't sure how he knew, but he was quite certain he wasn't the one she was angry at. "Third Earth, you say? Oh, yeah, there will be hell to pay."

"Well, since you're up, girly—" Monkian reached out and grabbed her wrist, probably intending to yank her out of the casket roughly.

Faster than anyone would've thought possible of a woman who'd been asleep for at least centuries, she snatched her arm away from him and backhanded him across the face so hard Slythe could hear the vertebrae in Monkian's neck pop in protest. "Do not treat me in such a manner, you uncouth ignoramus!" she snarled, her tone brooking no argument. Her eyes settled on Vulture-Man, and it was only a split second later she was pointing at him. "You. You look intelligent enough to know how to treat nobility. Help me out of this thing." As Vulture-Man took her hand and helped her first to stand up, then step down out of the casket, Slythe admired the way the woman slapped away any fingers attempting to feel her up. "Keep your hands to yourselves, slaves!" she snapped. "I'm not in a lenient mood!"

"Alright, sweetheart," Slythe said as she reached back into the coffin and pulled a small onyx vial out of it. "I'm officially far more interested in you now than I was five minutes ago. Who are you?"

She flipped her hair again, sending a few stray shards of glass flying into the air as she stuck the bottle into her cleavage. "I," she replied in a stately and important manner, "am Duchess Ravenwaves."

---

Dawn slowly broke over the tent, sunlight seeping through the break in the cloth and landing right on Wily Kat's eyes. Scrunching his face up in frustration, he rolled over and pulled the top of his sleeping bag over his head to block the light.

"Get up, Wily Kat!" his sister called out to him from outside. "I know you're awake!"

"It's warm in here," he complained, "and freezing out there."

"I don't care, you've no excuse to be lazy, and if you want breakfast, you have to come out here to get it. I'm not bringing it in there for you."

"I never asked you to make breakfast."

"And I never asked to be kept up until midnight. Get out here, or I'm going in there and dragging you out!"

Growling in frustration, he reluctantly crawled out of the sleeping bag, immediately put his winter coat on, and stepped out into the bright and sunny day. The grass was still green, but any trees visible had either already lost all their leaves, or the green foliage had faded to dusty yellows and oranges. Few enough animals were out and about that it was easy for him to notice a pair of horses grazing nearby, one deep violet with lavender mane and tail and a white lightning bolt of his forehead, the other a beautiful white stallion with rainbow mane and tail and a golden star upon his forehead.

Dismissing the creatures as just more of Third Earth's strange occupants, especially since the lavender one seemed to be breathing out smoke like a dragon, he snorted as Kit handed him a mug of coffee, sitting down on the log beside her as she scrambled eggs, veggie fruit, and dry fish together. "The stupid weather was actually nice last week," he grumbled, watching his breath puff out in front of him like fog. "I hate fall."

"Oh, get over it," his sister replied, dividing the eggs between their two travel plates. She pulled the tracker out of her coat pocket and handed it to him. "Take a look at what I saw when I got up. It's still there."

"The phantom blip or something else?" he asked, looking at the small radar screen of the tracker. He blinked, took a long drink of the coffee, then looked again. "There's two of them."

"Three, actually." She pointed to the new blip on the screen. "If you watch this real closely, you'll see it's actually two of them practically right on top of each other."

"I'll take your word for—phantom blip disappeared again." He scowled at the tracker. "I know Panthro said this thing was working perfectly fine the last time we stopped by the Lair, but by Thundera, that phantom blip has got to be a glitch! When we try to follow it, we come up empty handed, and when we try to ignore it, it follows us!"

"The other two blips have been stable, though."

He studied the radar for a moment, glanced at their surroundings, and felt his lousy mood take a nosedive. "I think we've got a problem. If my guess is correct, our two new blips are inside the Rock Men's kingdom."

She sighed. "I was hoping I might be wrong when I guessed where they were. How the hell are we going to get in there? King Tork made it pretty clear he doesn't want a single Thundercat setting foot in his domain."

He picked up their travel bags and glanced inside them, one after the other. "Well, we do need supplies, and we're legitimately heading in the direction opposite the Lair, which means going home would put us way off-course. Maybe if we beg them to let us in to buy supplies, he might allow it as long as we remove ourselves within a decent amount of time. It'll be lunchtime by the time we get there, so it's not like we'll have to pretend to be hungry."

"I wonder if they're having any better luck freeing Shining Glory at the Lair."

---

"Remind me how we got into this mess again?" Panthro queried no one in particular, tightening a bolt onto the machine he'd spent the last year putting together.

"Concerning this blasted machine," Bengali asked, hammering out a plate to protect wiring, "or concerning Lion-O and MoonGlo?"

"The latter."

"They're young, they're in love, they're exploring a previously unknown part of life together, they're technically incompatible species so it never occurred to any of us to teach them how to prevent pregnancy—"

"I'm fine with it," Tygra stated, soldering wires cheerfully. "The timing might be lousy, but it takes at least one big weight off my shoulders."

"It's the timing which bothers me," Panthro sighed. "All I can think of is Slythe or one of his ilk breaking into the Lair and—"

"Do not bring that up with Lion-O," Tygra ordered sternly, pulling up his safety goggles briefly to give Panthro a hard glare. "The fears of being a first-time father are bad enough, and he's already fully aware of the other dangers involved. It's difficult just convincing him he doesn't have to be at MoonGlo's side every hour of every day as it is."

"I know. Trust me, I know. My concerns don't change the fact that we're just going to have to compensate for what's coming." Sighing, Panthro sat back on his heels and critically studied the work he'd just finished. "Speaking of changes… have there been any with MoonGlo's friend?"

Tygra replaced his goggles to keep working on the wiring. "Sadly, no. Wisp is as much of a blank slate as the day we brought her here."

"'Wisp'? I thought her name was Rainbow Brite."

The tiger visibly resisted the urge to scowl. "I refuse to call her that. MoonGlo told me 'Wisp' was her name before she became their leader, and I think it's a better one."

Panthro glanced over at Bengali, who merely rolled his eyes. "If she comes to her senses, she might not care for you calling her by her old name."

"She can bring her complaints to me when she does. Until then, I'm calling her 'Wisp'."

"She still looks up when you enter the same room she's in, doesn't she?" Bengali jabbed, clearly feeling impish. "I can draw a few conclusions from—"

"And I'm going to tell you to keep them to yourself," his brother snapped. "Until we can get her mind back into the here-and-now, there is no point in speculating why she responds when she does."

"Don't start another sibling fight in front of me, Bengali," Panthro ordered before working on the machine once more, "or I'll knock both of your heads in. Tease Tygra when you're not helping me work on delicate equipment."

"Should I be grateful you stopped him or annoyed you told him to save it for later?" Tygra asked flatly.

The door opened, Snarf walking in with a tray of mugs. "Alright, the three of you have been working on that thing all night and it's almost time for breakfast! You're taking a break right now! That sorcerer is just going to have to continue being patient!"

"It's been that long?" Bengali mused, setting down his hammer and stretching. "No wonder Tygra's grouchy."

Snarf held a mug out to Tygra, but didn't let him take it right away. "Don't you dare throw it at your brother."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Snarf," the tiger replied, standing up. "I'm actually contemplating smothering him in his sleep."

"Why can't you two get along as well as Wily Kit and Wily Kat?"

"But we do get along, Snarf," Bengali said with a grin. "He threatens to kill me, I guilt-trip him into letting me live, rinse, repeat. It's fun!"

"Besides," Tygra added, "Kit and Kat are brother-sister twins. I've got more than a few years on that youngster over there, and brothers generally tend to be rougher with each other."

"How are Kit and Kat doing, anyway?" Panthro inquired. "They've been gone for over a month this time."

"Well, every time they call in, Wily Kat complains about the 'phantom blip' you supposedly fixed. Other than that, they're coming up just as empty handed as before." Snarf looked around at the mess of wires, metal plates, joints, screws, and bolts. "So… how much longer are you going to be working on this thing?"

"Hopefully not too long. The spell keeping Shining Glory sealed within the Sphere of Light is surprisingly complex. The way the situation was described, Mumm-Ra must've had the spell pre-prepared and ready to use at a moment's notice; there's no way he could've cast it on the spot."

"So in other words, Galra attack upon Second Earth or not, it was only a matter of time before he trapped Shining Glory within the Sphere."

"Seems like it. I hate wasting material like this for a single one-time objective, but I can at least take it apart and reuse everything. Just a few more tweaks here and there—"

"—which you can do later," Snarf interrupted sternly. "You're done for now, and that's an order! Dining room for breakfast, all of you, now!"

"Yes, Snarf," all three replied, pretending to be annoyed.

---

Duchess Ravenwaves crossed her arms, refusing to move from the table. "No," she insisted firmly. "I will not answer any of your questions until I've been fed." She leveled a glare at Slythe, her violet eyes flashing angrily at him. "I've been asleep for centuries. I am starving."

The reptilian refused to be cowed by this woman, no matter how much she made him pause for thought; no bluffs were forthcoming from this female. "After you've been fed," he growled, "then you'll tell us how you ended up in that coffin?"

"Yes."

Slythe looked at the other three mutants commanders, all of whom simply shrugged. "Fine." He turned around to shout, "Slaves! You heard her! Feed the wench!"

"Duchess," she corrected instantly.

He shrugged as he took a seat beside her. "Whatever." Raising his voice again, he shouted after the scrambling creatures, "And bring food for the rest of us while you're at it! I need a good breakfast."

The others sat down as well, Vulture-Man the only other one who didn't mind sitting directly beside the duchess. For her part, she'd closed her eyes and continued to keep her arms crossed, deliberately ignoring them all.

The reptilian leaned back in his seat to study her more thoroughly, using her apparent disinterest to his advantage. The first thing anyone would notice about her was her height; she was tall and slender, though not so helpless appearing as MoonGlo, with long tresses of deep black hanging down to her knees… or, at least, where he assumed her knees were. A long dress of violet covered her form, tight around her torso; it no doubt sucked in her waist and pushed her ample bosom up delightfully. Starting at her hips, though, was a skirt flowing out into wave upon wave of cloth trailing behind her quite impractically. Though the cut was simple, it was clearly made out of very rich silks and velvets, even trimmed with metallic blue ribbon and nonsensical swathes of delicate pink veil around her upper arms and waist.

After years of no real female companionship, she looked good enough to eat.

Finally, the slaves returned and a dish was set before her. With a slow blink she raised an eyebrow at the slop's presentation. Without saying anything, she daintily ate a single bite. Scowling, she slammed the spoon onto the table. "Let me guess," she snarled, "you men have been eating this swill without a second thought."

"Well, we've had second thoughts over the years," Jackalman replied, the only one who was happily eating the sludge.

She snorted. "Clearly a woman's touch is needed around here." Grabbing a slave by the scruff of its neck, she commanded, "Take me to where this crap was made!"

"I'm starting to like her," Slythe admitted to Vulture-Man as he watched her walk out of the room, closely following the slave.

The vulture smiled. "I agree. Let's follow her and see what she does. If she fails, we can rub her face in it, and if she succeeds, maybe we'll enjoy better meals."

Curiosity overpowering hunger, the mutants got up from their chairs again to follow after the duchess as she was led down to the kitchen; once there, she pushed aside the slave, crossed her arms and ordered, "All of you, stop what you're doing and present your dishes to me now!" The ten slaves did as they were told without hesitation, clearly understanding to disobey her was dangerous. As they lined up, she started at one end of the line, handed the slave a spoon, and commanded, "Taste it."

Confused, the creature obeyed, eating a spoonful of the food. It grimaced a little.

With her own spoon, she tasted it herself, then sighed as she shook her head. "Not very good, is it?" she asked sarcastically. As the creature shook its head, she moved on to the next slave. Each one was forced to eat the dish it was preparing, and the duchess closely observed their reactions to their cooking. Halfway down the line, however, she reached a slave that absolutely refused to eat the food. "Eat it," Duchess Ravenwaves snarled, "or else."

The creature looked her square in the eyes and shook its head.

Snatching the dish from it, she threw it against the wall. "Yeah, that's what I thought!" Grabbing the slave by its ear, she yanked it over to Vulture-Man. "Hold onto that one. We'll deal with him later for trying to poison us!"

The slave looked shocked. "What? But I—"

"Shut it! You had your chance!"

The next slave she turned to refused to eat its own dish as well, but instead of just defying her, it looked up at her beseechingly. "I… I can't…" it whispered.

"Oh?" The duchess leaned in close and held a hand up to her ear. "Do tell me why." Upon hearing the barely audible response, she stood up and took away the dish. "Really now?" Instead of throwing it aside, she instead handed it to one of the previous slaves and calmly ordered it to throw the food out. "You," she said firmly to the cowering slave who'd tampered with the dish, "are forbidden from ever cooking again. You are now the lowest rank in this kitchen. You will wash dishes, stoke the fire, take out the garbage—whatever the other slaves order you to do, you will do: you are their slave. Now, go clean something and be grateful I spared your life."

The next slave was practically dancing in delight as she handed it the spoon. It happily took a bite of the dish, eagerly holding the pot out for her; when she tasted it herself, however, she clearly gagged. "This is awful!" she shouted. "Have you no taste buds?!"

Crushed, the slave started crying. "I'm sorry," it said. "I just… I thought…."

She took the dish away, setting it aside. "Stand right here," she told the slave in a surprisingly kind voice. "I'll have a special job for you in just a moment." It stood where she indicated, silently weeping in dejection.

The last three slaves ate the dishes they held with no complaint. In fact, the last one enthusiastically ate two spoonfuls before she took her own. She raised an eyebrow at the creature, tasted the food, and told it, "It's bland."

"All the better to tell if it's been tampered with," the slave replied without missing a beat. "Most poisons have a strong flavor. If the food is bland, you know it's safe. Spice can always be added for flavor at the table."

She smiled sweetly at it. "This is true." She patted him on the head. "You, my dear, are now in charge of this kitchen. And you," she turned to the lamenting slave, "you can stop crying. You meant well, so you can be second in command. Be sure to learn well from the head of the kitchen." Facing the rest of the slaves, she crossed her arms. "That means the rest of you are to obey these two without hesitation."

She started back towards the door, stopped as if a thought had crossed her mind, and turned around again. "As a final warning to all of you: if I ever have to set foot in this kitchen again because the food is inedible…." She left the sentence hanging, slowly twisting about to smile at the slave Vulture-Man still held. "You know," she said sweetly, the dulcet tones hiding a sinister aftertaste, "that was a lovely coffin I was found in. It would make a wonderful decoration for the front hall of this castle." Her eyes slid to the side until her gaze met Slythe's. "It seems a shame to leave such a pretty casket empty, though. Don't you agree?"

Catching her drift, Slythe smiled back. "You're right, Duchess Ravenwaves. And what a coincidence—we seem to have a slave here that tried to poison us." Chuckling sinisterly as Vulture-Man and Monkian grabbed the protesting slave by its arms and hoisted them up, forcing it to hold its neck out, the reptilian lifted his axe up over his head. "He'll do quite nicely."

---

"You are not allowed in the kingdom," the first guard stated firmly.

"Not even to buy just a few supplies?" Wily Kit asked sweetly, holding out her empty bag to show her sincerity. "We're hours away from the Lair, and it's opposite the direction we need to go in. It would be really out of our way to go all the way back there."

The second guard made a noise in his throat which was a cross between a groan and a sigh.

"We promise not to be here too long," Wily Kat added, trying his best to sound harmless. "If you ask King Tork and he says no longer than an hour, we'll be sure to leave ten minutes early just to be sure."

The two guards looked at each other, then back at the twins, saying nothing.

She gave them her most charming smile. "I could offer blow-jobs."

Kat choked, his head snapping around to stare at her in horror. "You would what?! You can't be serious!"

She batted her eyes innocently at him. "Why not? They're bored, I'm hungry, and it was worth saying just to see your expression!"

"Fine," one of the guards said after a moment. Before Kat could cough up a protest against his sister being used for sexual gratification, however, the guard continued, "You're clearly desperate, so I will send a message to the king asking if you could be let into the kingdom long enough to purchase supplies. He might demand something in return, though, so I might as well tell you to be prepared to oblige him."

"We can do that," Kat replied with a sigh of relief.

The guard disappeared for a moment, and told them when he returned, "You will wait here until we get an answer from the king."

"Can do. So… have either of you read any good books lately?" The two guards crossed their arms and ignored him. "Okay then." Kat glanced at his sister. "Apparently they're going to give us the silent treatment until the messenger comes back, Kit." He grinned mischievously.

Her smile mirrored his. "Ooh, let's see what it takes to get a reaction out of them!"

---

"So, let me get this straight," Slythe thought aloud, attempting to digest what he'd been told as he paced the meeting room. It had taken far longer than he liked for the kitchen slaves to produce a meal: considering it was far better than anything they'd had for years, though, he tolerated the tardiness. Turning his attention to the intruding female, he stated, "You're from a time when this planet was called Second Earth, specifically from the realm of Tangleland."

Duchess Ravenwaves nodded from where she lounged in the armchair the slaves had dragged into the room for her. "That's right."

Jackalman snickered. "Was the founder of your realm drunk when he named it?"

She considered the question for a moment, pulling the onyx vial out of her cleavage to study it. "No, I think he was actually high on mushrooms or something."

Slythe glared at the jackal before continuing. "And you briefly joined forces with your sworn enemy to give her sorcerer the power to defeat an invading alien army."

"Well, more rival than sworn enemy at that point. My father sure as hell wasn't making himself useful; he was probably hoping the Galra scum would wipe everyone—including me—out of existence so he could take over the planet for himself."

Vulture Man rubbed his lower beak thoughtfully. "My, my, she even knows the name of our ancient empire."

She grinned, an almost insane look of joy radiating from her eyes. "They were your ancestors? Did they win? Please tell me they won. If I ever run into Shining Glory again, I'd love to rub it his face his spell failed!"

"Unfortunately, no. What really happened has been wiped from our history books and replaced with the single sentence of 'we misplaced the empire and had to start from scratch again'. It's frustrating, really. How do they expect us not to repeat the same mistakes when we don't even know what those mistakes were?"

"Do you mind?!" Slythe snapped. "I'm trying to make sense of this foolishness she's telling us!" Turning his attention back to Ravenwaves, he finished, "And from what you recall, this 'Shining Glory' used the last of his power to cast spells upon you, your rival, and her two friends to restore your energy. It was to keep you asleep for no longer than a day or two."

"Exactly."

"So he betrayed you?"

"No. Shining Glory double-crossing anyone is like the sun forgetting to rise in the morning. He's got problems, but back-stabbing isn't one of them." She shrugged. "Sorry, I'd like to know how I got in that coffin just as badly as you do. I've got suspicions, mind, but no real proof."

He crossed his arms angrily. "Well, what are we supposed to do with you, then?!"

She glanced at the floor. "You know, I honestly don't care what you do, but I can tell you right now what I'm going to do." She stuck the vial into her cleavage once more, stood up and walked to the door. Upon throwing it open, she screamed at the top of her lungs out into the hall, "I want five slaves with broom, dustpan, soap, water, and rags in here immediately!" Turning back to the surprised commanders, she smiled charmingly. "I'm sorry, this room is a mess and I really can't tolerate it anymore. You can go do your battle plans somewhere else while I supervise the cleaning, right?"

---

Notes:

1. Did I happen to mention I really didn't like the 2000s comics? Bengali is my all-time favorite character from the TV show. Guess WHY I don't care for the 2000s comics.

2. Duchess Ravenwaves is the villain of Lady Lovely Locks, the second-most-interesting character the show has to offer, and is officially one of the lamest villains I've personally ever seen come out of the 80s. Hopefully I managed to keep her in character whilst making her far more dangerous… and competent.

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Two

Wily Kit and Wily Kat were playing an elaborate form of patty-cake by the time the messenger came back, both of them having long since run out of ideas to try and get responses from the two guards at the gate. The messenger, rather than say anything to the twins, opted to give the written orders to one of the guards. "So… did he say if it was okay to let us in?" Kat asked, freezing in mid-slap to watch the guard read the slip of paper.

The guard sniffed indignantly, crumbling the paper in his hand before glaring at the two of them. "King Tork says you are allowed into the kingdom to make your purchases, but only until the sun sets."

Kit glanced up at the sky. "Five hours then. We should be done long before that."

"As for the price he insists upon," the guard cracked an evil smile, "he says blow jobs from both of you can be considered appropriate payment—"

Wily Kat felt his body seize up in horror as his lungs attempted unsuccessfully to intake enough air for a protest. He did not want to see his sister in any sexual situation.

"—or you can leave all of your weaponry with us and collect them upon your departure."

"You can totally have our weapons," Kat insisted before his sister could open her mouth. Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately handed over his lariat and pellets. "You can even hold onto our spaceboards as well; after all, you wouldn't want us accidentally smacking someone in the head with them."

Kit rolled her eyes as she, too, handed over her lariat and pellets to the second guard. "See you guys before the sun sets," she told them as they walked passed and entered the kingdom. "Don't have too much fun with the boards, they've gotten twitchy from overuse!"

They followed the solid rock path without deviation, soon coming across a small town with an equally small marketplace. Even though the twins acted as if it were perfectly normal for them to be here, it was all too easy to see the inhabitants were extremely nervous around them. "I just realized," Kat whispered to his sister, pretending to count out moongems into her waiting hand, "it's going to be hard for us to check the radar without looking suspicious."

"Don't worry," she told him with a smile, "I've got it covered."

She headed straight for a small booth offering whole cooked animals and proceeded to bargain on an acceptable price for four small birds and a rumpa. Taking his cue from her, he stepped over towards another seller offering loaves of bread. Before long, the two of them had their backpacks full and were each carrying an additional bag of fruit and vegetables.

"Ah, you two!"

Kat glanced up in surprise, not immediately recognizing the young Rock Man who addressed them. Luckily, however, his sister did. "Why, hello there Prince Pek!"

"I'm surprised you were allowed into the kingdom," he told them, reaching out to shake their hands in a friendly manner. "My father is very strict on preventing another misunderstanding."

"We asked to stop by long enough to get some supplies as this was the closest place. Both the Berbil village and the Lair would've taken us way off course if we'd had to go back there for food."

"On a mission are we?"

"In a manner of speaking," Kat answered. "We're looking for the friends of a friend."

The young man's eyes lit up. "Oh? I assume it's the pink-haired woman your spotted acquaintance was asking about last year."

"Yeah, she finally regained most of her memories. Now we're just trying to reassure her that her comrades are alright, too."

"Are we having any success?"

The twins glanced at each other. "Not really, no. We keep coming up empty handed."

Pek considered what they'd said for a moment. "Well, if you don't mind giving me some of your time, I might be able to help you."

"That would be nice." Kit glanced up at the sky. "Hopefully it won't take long, though. We were told to leave before sunset, so we've only got a few more hours."

"I should hope it won't. Follow me." They did as he requested, glancing around only a little as he led them down several side streets and into a residential kind of area before stopping at one of the larger stone huts. Gesturing for them to stay put, he entered the hut alone, disappearing into the darkness in seconds.

"This should prove interesting." She stuck an apple in her mouth and rummaged around in her backpack while they waited for the old man to return. "Here, Kat." Handing him a leg of bird, she whispered, "We might've lucked out. Our blips look like they're in the house here!"

He gnawed on the meat, enjoying the flavor even if it was a little chewier than he liked. "And if we're not, we'll be told to leave before we can so much as say, 'Pretty please'." He pondered the odd situation for a moment. "Do you think it's the pair of strangers the prince mentioned to Cheetara last year?"

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point."

Before too long, Pek returned, smiling pleasantly at them. "My two guests will meet with you; however, I have some strict requests they would like you to adhere to. They're somewhat xenophobic, and you are offworlders."

"We'll comply if we're able to," Kit told him, "but I'm not killing anyone just to meet some strangers."

"Nothing that extreme. They merely wish for you to stay on the opposite side of the room from them, and if you want to hand them anything, you need to give it to me to bring to them. They also reserve the right to flee if they feel threatened."

"We should be able to oblige," Kat agreed after glancing at his sister. "We're not armed, anyway; we left all our weapons with the guards at the front gate."

The prince smiled. "Then if you wouldn't mind stepping inside…."

They didn't have far to go; they'd barely stepped through the doorway before stopping in their tracks. Pek's visitors were standing on the opposite side of the room, clutching each other's hands tightly and standing so close together they almost looked like they were joined at the hip. The taller of the two appeared to be a young man with bright blue hair, his slender frame fit snuggly inside an athletic outfit in shades of blue and white, barely visible under his traveling cloak. The shorter was a thin and wiry woman, long emerald and mint-green hair tightly braided into long pigtails, and under her own cloak wore a short-skirted dress dyed in various hues of green. The lovers—they were way too close to be "just friends"—whispered to each other briefly before turning to face the twins.

The prince waved towards Kit and Kat as he looked at his visitors. "They've agreed to your terms; these are the youngest Thundercats, Wily Kit and Wily Kat. Thundercats, allow me to introduce you to Buddy Blue and Patty O'Green."

Patty seemed more suspicious of the twins than her lover, but nonetheless it was she who continued the conversation, holding out a holo-image of MoonGlo happily running down the stairs at the Lair. "Where did you find MoonGlo?" she asked sternly, her freckled face scrunching up with dislike. "We spent millennia looking for her."

"It wasn't actually us," Wily Kit replied, her tone soft and gentle to try and put the pair at ease. Her brother watched the holo-image with some mild amusement, having forgotten precisely how tiny MoonGlo's waist had been at first. "It was our leader, Lion-O, who found her and freed her. Mumm-Ra had quite literally buried her deep inside the planet before First Earth ended, and Lion-O stumbled across her while mining Thundrilliam for Cats' Lair last year."

Patty looked at Buddy in horror. "Oh, Buddy…it never occurred to us to look below the surface for anyone…."

"Is she okay?" Buddy inquired, his voice a surprisingly deep baritone for his size. "She didn't—um—"

"Lose her mind?" Kit shook her head. "No, she managed to fend it off by concentrating solely on a myriad of ways to escape; she'd manage to break three of her chains on her own before Lion-O found her. She did have difficulty remembering anything for a while, and was quite sick for at least a couple of weeks after we brought her back to the Lair, but she's long since made a full recovery and… oh, how to put it… um…."

"She gets along very well with Lion-O," Kat finished for his sister as she started to stumble over her words. At the confused expressions of the pair, he clarified, "She's nine months pregnant with their first cub."

The couple looked legitimately astonished. "She's having a baby?" Patty looked at Buddy, who merely shrugged. "We've never even managed that, how did she?"

"Trust me, I doubt you're as surprised as we were. Thunderians aren't known for being able to interbreed with alien species, unlike the mutants of Plun-Darr. It was quite a shock when we got the news." On a hunch, he pulled a video communicator from his backpack. "Would you like us to contact the Lair so you can speak to MoonGlo directly? That way you can confirm for yourselves it's really her and ascertain she's doing alright."

Patty seemed to shrink uncertainly into herself, but Buddy smiled slightly at the twins. "That would be wonderful."

---

"By Jaga, I hope something happens soon," Cheetara sighed, folding her arms on the control board and leaning her head against her them. "I hate it when there's nothing to do."

"The most I can offer is a potential kitten-sitting job," Lion-O told her apologetically, clicking through the camera angles to see if anything unusual was outside the Lair. "Assuming the cub decides to make an appearance, that is."

"One, I don't do diapers. Two, the cub will come soon enough." She shifted herself, looking very much as if she wanted to take a nap. "Still nervous?"

He felt a flash of anxiety shoot down his spine at her simple question. "I think 'nervous' isn't a strong enough word for it. I keep thinking of everything which could go wrong, everything I could do wrong—and that's just my concern for MoonGlo, let alone the cub! A month after it's arrived I'll probably have convinced myself I'm insane."

"No. By that point you'll be wistfully dreaming of a full night's sleep."

He smiled slightly, mildly amused at her lack of concern. "So I heard." He glanced over at her. "Speaking of, you don't look like you've had a full night's sleep for a while already."

"No, the nightmares have been keeping me up. When there's nothing to do, I can't work myself into a dead-tired state, and that's when dreams mixed with Thundera's destruction decide to come crashing down on me." She twisted her head so she could stare longingly at the screens. "I suppose if nothing else happens before bedtime I can get an anesthetic from Pumyra. I'll feel like crap the next day, but at least the sleep will be dreamless."

He frowned; he'd only had to suffer through one of Pumyra's tranquilizers once, and he'd decided a sleepless night was preferable to the total darkness of drugged unconsciousness. "My nightmares can get frightening, but I'm guessing your dreams are really dreadful if her sedatives are looking attractive."

She smiled sadly at him. "I lost my whole family when Thundera was destroyed; my parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, all my nieces and nephews… I'm the only one left. It's a horrifying realization to wake up to in the middle of the night after dreaming of the feather meadows and singing rains being annihilated. Even Pumyra's drugs seem wonderful after that, rotten side effects and all."

"Well, when you put it that way—" He turned around at the sound of the door opening, jumping to his feet when he saw who came in. "MoonGlo! Shouldn't you be lying down?"

"I got sick of staring at a blank wall," his mate answered as she walked into the room, carrying three glasses of Snarf's homemade tea. Even with her bulging belly, she still looked beautiful to him with her long pink hair, sleepy blue eyes, and lengthy limbs. Rather than wear her usual outfit, she'd opted for a stretchy blue tube-dress starting just above her breasts and stopping mid-thigh. How she was able to still move around in those heels, though, he had no idea. "I can do some things around here," she continued, handing him a glass. "I'm only pregnant, not an invalid."

"Doesn't matter," Cheetara told her without moving as the young woman placed a glass next to her. "You're carrying the first cub we've seen in years, we're entitled to fuss over you all we want. Come sit down, Lion-O's been keeping the seat warm for you."

"I'm still concerned for you, my Star," he told MoonGlo, putting down his glass without tasting the drink and taking her hand to help her sit. "Can't I show it?"

"No," she replied facetiously, holding her own glass close to her face as she sat in his abandoned seat. "I don't like you anymore, you did this to me."

"Oh, don't give me that," he quipped back with a smirk, "the cub didn't happen in a vacuum. I had help."

"I do recollect helping." She put her free hand on top of her abdomen, adding, "Though maybe I wouldn't if I'd known I'd end up in this state. My insides rearranged themselves, I'm often uncomfortable and hot, my back hurts, I'm constantly tired, the baby enjoys dancing on my bladder when he or she isn't kicking my ribs—" She suddenly winced as a lump appeared briefly on her belly. Frowning, she pressed against the lump with her hand. "Oh, stop that!"

"Would it help if I told you I still think you're sexy?" Lion-O asked her, quickly crouching beside her and gently placing his hand over hers.

She blinked in surprise at him as Cheetara smothered her laughter in her arms. "I'm just going to have to take your word for it, Thundercat Lord."

An idea popped into his head as he felt a slight bump against his fingers. "How about an gift for the cub? I'm sure I could dig up a toy—"

"I told Snarf you still had Doofle stashed somewhere," the cheetah interrupted. "He didn't believe me."

He felt his face grow hot from embarrassment. "I didn't say it was Doofle."

"You don't have to. You were still sleeping with that bear when you were twelve, I knew you'd never throw it out."

He glanced up at MoonGlo, smiling when he realized she was trying very hard not to laugh. Feeling a little less mortified, he stated, "I think you can attest to the fact I don't sleep with stuffed animals, my Star."

"I know," she spluttered, still trying not to laugh. "But… Doofle?"

He was quick to answer her. "Snarf named him."

"That's not what I heard," Cheetara teased. "From what I understand, you were two-years-old when you stubbornly insisted on its name."

Before he could reply, one of the indicators on the control panel lit up and a familiar beeping rang through the room. He stood, momentarily concerned. "That's Wily Kat trying to contact us."

Cheetara sat up and stretched. "My sixth sense isn't bothered, Lion-O, I think he just wants to check in. Either that, or complain about the phantom blip on the tracker they're using. He keeps irritating Panthro about it."

Mollified, he reached out and pressed the necessary buttons to activate the video and audio. Wily Kat's face appeared on the screen in only a few moments. "Wily Kat to Cats' Lair, can you read me?"

"We've got you on visual," Cheetara replied firmly. "Are you able to see us?"

"Not—ah, there it goes." The young male grinned broadly. "And MoonGlo is already there, too! That's perfect. I'm just going to hand this over to someone, if you don't mind giving them a moment—"

MoonGlo glanced up at Lion-O in confusion. "Why would he want me to—" Two completely different faces appeared on the screen, and her reaction was almost immediate. "Patty!" she yelped in shock, trying to leap out of the chair unsuccessfully. Lion-O quickly grabbed her hand to steady her as she almost lost her balance. "Buddy! You're alright!"

The female with green hair smiled in relief, tears streaming down her face suddenly. "MoonGlo, it is you! We weren't sure, especially after all this time—we tried looking for you and the others, and failing that we attempted to track down the Sphere of Light—"

"I got caught trying to rescue Rainbow Brite from Mumm-Ra's Pyramid," she told her friend. "He's still furious with me for evading him as long as I did, even now."

"These two did tell us he'd trapped you far below the planet's surface."

The blue-haired man looked deeply concerned as Patty took a moment to compose herself. "Mumm-Ra knows you've escaped?"

MoonGlo glanced at Lion-O before replying. "Unfortunately, yes."

"He won't come after her anytime soon," Lion-O said firmly, hoping to reassure his mate's friends of her safety. "We learned how to handle him years ago, and he knows he'll have to get through the rest of us before he can get to her."

Buddy looked resigned as he sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped. I guess you're the Lion-O who saved her?"

"I think 'helped' might be a little more accurate, but otherwise yes."

Patty seemed to only just notice Cheetara. "And you must be the spotted lady who was looking for us last year."

The cheetah shrugged. "I was looking for answers, not necessarily you two in particular. I found them with your friends Indigo and Shy Violet." She raised her hands to forestall any inquiries. "They're fine, but under someone else's protection. Would you like us to start from the beginning, or are you fine with just asking specific questions?"

"It might be a good idea to start from the beginning."

"Please try to keep it brief," Wily Kit shouted from off-screen. "Kat and I have to be walking out of the Rock Men's realm before sunset or else King Tork will have our hides."

---

Tygra knocked gently on the infirmary door. "You can come in, Tygra," Pumyra called out from inside. As he stepped through the portal, she looked over her shoulder as she rummaged through her storage cabinet to ask blandly, "Let me guess: having trouble sleeping?"

"No, I'm here to check on Wisp." He was temporarily distracted by a movement near the back of the room. Wisp was sitting in a chair by the window, and had fully turned around to face him but not actually look at him. He felt sorry for her: a beautiful blond human with dark blue eyes, healthy, curvy, strong, but with a blank slate for a mind. He suspected the only reason her hair had even been pulled into a pigtail at the top of her head was an earlier visit from MoonGlo.

Sighing, he patiently walked over to her and sat in the chair opposite her. "Mumm-Ra must have done something to you," he muttered, reaching out to gently take her chin in his hand and study her face, taking in the smooth skin and odd lavender star tattooed on her left cheek. For a brief instant, her eyes seemed to focus on him, but he wasn't certain about it. "This isn't any form of mental trauma I've ever seen."

"Have you tried any of your illusions on her?" Pumyra asked him.

"A couple small ones. I've gotten bigger responses from rocks." He noticed her hesitate, as if she wanted to say something but wasn't sure if she dared. "I'm guessing you've tried a few medical tricks to see if you'd get a response?"

"A couple of hallucinogens," she admitted, pulling out a bottle and popping the top off to look inside it. "She's currently doing a wonderful imitation of her reactions to them, and one of those was a pretty powerful drug."

"In other words, no reaction whatsoever." He let go of Wisp's chin to take her hand, and as he'd thought, she immediately stood up and allowed him to lead her to the other side of the room. "We can't even classify her as comatose; she's capable of moving under her own power, we've seen her feed herself—"

"—she knows to use the toilet properly and even gets herself dressed," Pumyra added, putting the bottle away and taking out another one. "I came in this morning in time to see her pulling those pajamas on. If she were having monthlies, I wouldn't put it past her to deal with those properly, too. I agree with you: Mumm-Ra had to do something to her, but I'll be damned if I know what."

"And the only ones she seems to acknowledge to any degree are myself and MoonGlo." He pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes in exasperation. "Maybe if we can figure out why that is—"

"It's been over a year. I seriously doubt we'll ever figure it out." Pumyra took Wisp's hand and led her to the bed; the young woman crawled into it, but instead of lying down, she sat in the center of the mattress and pulled her knees up to her face, wrapping her arms around her legs both lazily and childishly. "I feel like we've tried everything. Last night while you boys were working on your machine, Cheetara tried taking her to what're-their-names there—Violet and Indigo? Wisp had no reaction to them, and they have even less of an idea of what's wrong with her than we do."

"We still have at least one option: the sorcerer who's trapped inside the Sphere of Light might be able to see something the rest of us can't."

"Panthro has to get him out of the Sphere first."

---

"So, while you're fine, Rainbow Brite isn't," Patty said, looking quite miserable. "I wish Buddy and I had some sort of miracle cure to give you—"

"We'll figure it out eventually," Lion-O reassured them. "We've managed to solve worse situations than this."

Buddy sighed. "I hope so. At any rate, she's safer with you than she is with Mumm-Ra."

"Well, now you've heard what happened to Shy Violet, Indigo, and me," MoonGlo told them, "but what happened to you two?"

"Nothing special, not really. I don't know what happened between you trying to break Patty and I out of our comatose conditions and when we woke up; all I can say for certain is when I did wake up, in was in the middle of an underground catacomb, complete with hundreds of corpses. I nearly went insane trying to get out; I think the only reason I managed to keep my head was because I found Patty in there, too, but she was still unconscious. I picked her up and concentrated on nothing else but getting us both out of there. She only came to after I finally found a way out.

"For the next several centuries, we wandered from place to place, working what small jobs we could to get the money we needed to survive, trying to find everyone else, to come to terms with the reality we were slowly aging. When the Galra empire attacked… it was awful. I mean, we'd seen people die over the years, but nothing like the massacre that ensued during that war. It left a very, very bad impression of offworlders on us."

"The only peoples on Third Earth we stay in contact with are those rare few that existed before the fall of Second Earth, including the Rock Men here," Patty added. "They remember, even if only in legend, the horrors we saw. They understand our fear.

"After Second Earth fell, we mutually agreed the odds of anyone else having survived was too slim, and concentrated instead on trying to find the Sphere of Light. I'm sure you can guess how much luck we had." She smiled slightly. "It's kind of funny to think the sorcerer of the Kingdom of Lovely Locks had it; I'd be curious to ask him how he got ahold of it."

"According to him, Mumm-Ra has a tendency to misplace things," Cheetara answered. "It does sound right. We're constantly finding objects and people he'd thought forever lost."

"I hope you don't mind if I say this," Patty told them, "but I really hope you find our home dimension. I don't like it here in this universe."

Lion-O felt a sad smile cross his face. "We'll do all we can to get you home. We'd do the same ourselves if Thundera still existed."

"I suppose asking to stay in contact with you might be too much for you," Cheetara mused. "If we do find your dimension, how do you want us to tell you?"

"Tell Prince Pek," Buddy stated firmly. "His father's advisor knows how to get ahold of us. It would only take a few days."

---

When Stormy opened her eyes again, slowly coming back to her senses, it was to the relief of the pain ebbing away from her body. Looking up, her heart fluttered uncontrollably as she gazed up at that morbidly handsome visage. He's carrying me back to the treasure chambers, she thought, her heartbeat pounding a fast-paced rhythm against her chest. He became powerful just to carry me back to where I belong. Overtaken with emotion, she reached up, hoping to be allowed to touch his face. "Master—"

He dumped her ingloriously on the floor of her assigned rooms. The bruises the stone would no doubt leave against her skin were nothing compared to the agony of the curse he'd put upon her, and secretly delighted—him wasting his powerful form for her meant one thing—she scrambled to her knees and bowed before his might. "You," he said, his tone deep and brimming with accusation, "let them escape."

Only through millennia of practice was she able to withhold any immediate reactions, remaining frozen on the floor before him. Which escape is he talking about? she pondered, quickly running through every memory she had of someone breaking into the Pyramid that she'd chased down for him. There were very few who had gotten away. Does he mean MoonGlo getting Tickled Pink out? Shy Violet and Indigo stealing the Sphere of Light? The three separate times Rainbow Brite managed to escape on her own, only for us to recapture her every time? Or last year when MoonGlo successfully got out of here with that tiger carrying Rainbow? "I don't understand, Master," she replied, hoping he might offer more information.

"Look at me, Slave."

She obeyed, bracing herself for what was to come. As expected, he backhanded her without a moment's hesitation; his strength knocked her to the floor, a move which would no doubt add to the growing number of bruises she would be nursing later. "What have I done, Master?" she begged, pushing herself up. "Please tell me."

He glared down at her, crossing his arms. "You let MoonGlo and Tygra escape with Rainbow Brite."

She winced, more for his benefit than for hers. "Yes…."

"It's taken me over a year to put my sarcophagus back together and regain my strength from that ordeal," he chastised her. "More than an entire year! The amount of time it takes for this planet to rotate around the sun! Wasted, all because of you!"

She bowed her head, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Master…."

"It's through sheer luck alone I thought to give the remedy for Rainbow Brite's condition to one who'll hold onto it for eternity! As long as the Thundercats have no idea what I did to her, she'll continue to be a vegetable taking up space in their Lair."

Unsure of where he was going with this, she remained quiet rather than risk further wrath from him.

"But MoonGlo—MoonGlo! Of all the things that tramp could've managed, she had to go and get herself knocked up by the Lord of the Thundercats! How she regained her powers while playing slut to the cub is beyond my understanding; as soon as she spread her legs open for him, that should've been the end of her control of the night sky!"

She continued to let him rant, keeping her thoughts to herself. Or, she pondered, MoonGlo figured out what her true nature is to regain those powers… just as I regained mine when I figured out what my true nature is. She surreptitiously peeked through her lashes to look up at him, admiring the way he paced back and forth and brandished his fists. Not that I would let you know, Master. You have enough control over me as it is.

"And Tygra—well, he's just a pain in the neck, like the other Thundercats. Much as I hate to admit it, he was probably destined to escape anyway. He usually does."

Hoping his tirade was nearing its end, she looked up at him once more. Seeing his glowering expression aimed directly at her, however, made her realize her mistake. "Master—"

"WHY?!" he screamed down at her. "WHY DID YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?!"

She stared back at him in sudden fear, her jaw clamping shut in terrified defiance. No. No, I will not tell you that! I will not reveal the illusion the tiger showed me! NO!

"Answer me, Slave," he threatened, "or you will regret this day more than when you sold yourself to me!"

Despite her intentions, she couldn't hold back her feelings. Throwing herself at him, she grasped tightly onto his leg, shrieking at the top of her lungs, "No, I won't let you replace me with that pink-haired pussy! She can't have you! You're my Master, mine, MINE!" She wasn't entirely certain what kind of a response she'd get from him; this was the most open she'd ever been around him. So, when he started chuckling, legitimately amused at her outburst, she continued to embrace his leg, blinking up at him in bafflement.

In a rare show of affection, he reached down and gently petted her head, just as if she were a pet. "Well, well—my little Slave, jealous her Master would choose someone else over her! I didn't know you cared so much about me!"

He was mocking her, but the words still filled her with warmth even as they stung her painfully. Unable to help herself, tears slipped from her eyes. I will do whatever you want, Master, she thought at him, closing her eyes, degrade myself in whatever manner you choose, as long as you never leave me.

"There's no need to worry about being replaced, Slave," he continued, proudly standing up straight as he crossed his arms again. "I wouldn't dream of touching someone else's leftovers; all that whining of, 'but so-and-so does this or that so much better,' would get on my nerves in a matter of seconds. Besides, I'm far more fond of a woman who knows her place in my Pyramid."

Recognizing the turn the conversation was taking, she finally released his limb and bowed down before him once more. "I am yours to do with as you wish, Master."

---

Notes:

1. Yes, Lion-O's teddy bear's name is Doofle-thank you, comic books!

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Five

Duchess Ravenwaves sneered as she followed the four mutant commanders into the cauldron chamber. For crying out loud, she thought peevishly, I haven't stepped in here for centuries, yet he hasn't changed a single thing. Turning her attention to the frail figure robed in red on the other side of the bubbling water, she asked, "Seriously, Father, don't you ever redecorate?"

"Do not take that tone of voice with your sire," he ordered her sharply.

"Tell me where you got the shiner," she replied, "and I won't."

Ignoring her statement—although he did pull the edge of his hood over to cover the black eye—he focused on the mutant commanders. "Tell me, Slythe, of the greatest figure idolized in all of Plun-Darr's history."

"The legend or the few facts that are known?" the reptilian asked. "Because if you want facts, it's Vulture-Man you'll have to speak to."

"Oh, by all means, you tell me the legend, and I'll have Vulture-Man tell me the facts."

"The legend calls the greatest figure of our history Lotor, son of Zarcon, one of the most powerful kings of the Drule empire. He faced off against the strongest fighting team in the universe, Voltron. He was never able to defeat them, but they were never able to defeat him, either. He was intelligent, strong, an excellent warrior, a ruthless man who used his own father as a battle weapon, and a handsome brute who got his good looks from his mother. There's something about a betrothal as well, but I never cared about that crap."

"I did," Monkian complained. "Merla was every bit as impressive as—"

"I care not about the female," Mumm-Ra interrupted. "Only the warrior interests me at the moment. So, we have the barebones of the legend. What of the facts, then, Vulture-Man?"

"His real name was Sincline," the vulture lectured with a sigh, "prince of the Galra empire, son of Emperor Daibazaal and some alien concubine. The prince was the best commanding officer ever to lead the armies of the ancient Galra empire, but had the unfortunate luck of being crowned ruler just as the empire was crumbling around his ears." He crossed his arms and glared at Monkian. "There was never a betrothed in the picture."

Ravenwaves listened to all of this carefully, wondering what tricks her father was up to this time. A thought crossed her mind. Hmm… he couldn't have grabbed this prince for his collection, could he?

The ancient sorcerer chuckled. "You are far more accurate with your facts than Slythe is with his legend, of course, Vulture-Man. I know very well of the prince Sincline and his many successes and failures. After all, not long after I contrived the ending of First Earth did the Galra Empire appear upon my doorstep and throw all my plans into disarray. Follow me into the pyramid, my duplicitous allies—yes, Ravenwaves, even you—and I will give you a little history lesson of your long-forgotten past." He frowned at the groans that followed his statement. "Oh, knock it off, all of you! Yes, you have to listen to me!"

They reluctantly shadowed him as he placed a hand against the wall, revealing a hidden passage, and then headed down a nearby hallway, none of them really wanting to be there but unable to come up with excuses to leave.

Mumm-Ra cleared his throat. "Now, since you're clearly lacking in appropriate leadership, I find myself having to take a route I've long since tried to avoid. In order for you to understand the full meaning of my plan, turn your minds back to the forgotten First Earth.

"Not long after I stopped the Color Kids, the humans turned against each other and waged a terrible war, larger than anything that had ever been seen. Without the magic of Rainbow Brite and her silly friends to soothe the humans, they set out to destroy each other. Quite literally. And, of course, yours truly was egging on the conflict from all sides."

"What a surprise," Monkian muttered blandly under his breath.

"The fighting raged for over a decade," Mumm-Ra continued, "until finally I suggested to one leader a forbidden drastic measure. You see, approximately fifty years before this terrible confrontation took place, a weapon of immeasurable destruction was created and 'tested' during a previous war. The results were devastating… and that was just from using two of these little weapons. In the year 1999, I convinced this leader to use as many of these weapons on his enemies as possible. He got most of them, but the ones he didn't get retaliated in the exact same fashion on his country and allies… mostly because I gave them the same idea, too.

"Needless to say, the human race was nearly annihilated. Of the few who survived, most were too physically and mentally damaged to prepare for what came next. The Galra Empire, the far ancestors of you Mutants, landed on the remains of First Earth and captured the remaining humans, turning them into lowly slaves, destined to fight each other to the death.

"Only five were the exception. These five men had been on a space mission during the mass destruction; upon returning, their shock at the devastation was so great the Galra Empire captured them with ease… but these men were neither physically nor mentally damaged. Once they gathered their wits about themselves, they were able to escape. They found refuge on the world of Altea, what was thought to be a dead planet, and found not only the civilization still alive but also the most powerful weapon ever created in the history of the universe: Golion."

Someone burst out laughing.

"Jackalman, if you laugh one more time, I will rip your face off and hang it on my wall!" Mumm-Ra shouted, startling the group as he turned to glare at them, his eyes flashing a brighter red for a moment. "Do not laugh at the 'silly' name of this mechanical monstrosity. Golion was a battle machine so great it makes Castle Plun-Darr look like a grain of sand; separated, one of its lion counterparts would make the Cat's Lair look like a mere toy! Even I was never foolish enough to challenge Golion at the height of its power; I made sure it wasn't even aware I existed! If it hadn't been for the Goddess of the Universe cursing it and breaking it into five mechanical lions, I wouldn't have even stepped out of my pyramid on First Earth!

"Yes, you heard me right; this war machine scares me. Before Altea finally became a dead planet for real only a century or two before the fall of Second Earth, I had to keep my activities to a bare minimum while that blasted thing was running around. Thankfully, it's been a worn out husk since its last pilots passed on, leaving it unable to move on its home world. While it was active, any person who faced it and lived was both foolish and insanely powerful."

"What the hell does any of this have to do with us?" Slythe asked in annoyance as they continued on down the hallway once more.

"Funny you should ask," Mumm-Ra chuckled. "I'm now going to speak of the Galra prince who did just that: your impressive Sincline. If he had won, he would've been a fearsome opponent, one even I would hesitate to face in battle. It was really only through pure rotten luck he was stabbed and thrown off a tower by a stray human who had it in for him.

"I bring up this Sincline for numerous reasons. If he was powerful enough to face Golion and live, then he will certainly be a match for the Thundercats. Though a half-breed, he is still an ancestor of the mutants of Plun-Darr, honored among even you as the most admirable warrior your planet has ever produced, meaning you will have far more respect for him than you've certainly ever shown me. And finally, Ravenwaves, it is long past the time I married you off to a man who will beat your spoiled ass into a proper lady!"

She snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that." So he does have this prince in his collection.

"But Mumm-Ra," Vulture-Man interrupted as thy all stopped in the middle of a blank hallway, "you're speaking about someone who's been dead for millennia as if he's still alive."

Mumm-Ra laughed. "You underestimate the length of my reach, Vulture-Man." He placed a hand against the wall, and a door suddenly opened before him, revealing an area that was startling.

It was an enormous room, easily the size of a lake, filled with row upon row of large upright glass cylinders. Inside each tube was a person; creatures from across the centuries and universe were represented here. Humans, Martians, Thunderians, mutants—so many races, so many time periods—all placidly floating within a faintly glowing red liquid. Thousands of them.

The commanders and duchess followed the ancient sorcerer down one of the many rows quietly, unsure if they should be terrified or awed by the unbelievable collection. "You know," Slythe said after a moment, clearly disliking the silence, "most sane people collect stamps or bottle caps."

"Or bugs," Ravenwaves added.

"I'm partial to scarves myself," Jackalman chimed in. "Those thin frilly ones that fall apart if you so much as sneeze on them."

"Oh, will you all shut up?!" Mumm-Ra finally snapped. "I don't tell you what junk to collect!" He stopped in front of a tube and pointed up at its unconscious inhabitant. "Here, mutants, is your legendary warrior: Prince Sincline of the Galra Empire, in precisely the same shape as he was thousands of years ago when I used the cauldron to cross the universe and pull his dying body here."

"He does look like he fell off a castle tower," the duchess sniffed. "You kept him in a near-death state for millennia because—why? Couldn't be bothered to make sure your collection actually looks good?"

Mumm-Ra glared at her for a brief moment. "Do not underestimate this man," he informed her sternly. "Even half-dead and defeated, he fought against me as I dragged him in here and sealed him away. If I had healed him, he would've escaped within moments."

"He really did get his mother's good looks," Vulture-Man muttered, looking the prince over carefully. "Not something from the legend I would've suspected to be true."

Ravenwaves returned her gaze to the frozen prince; he was tall, his slender form covered in tight muscles (though he looked a little deflated from his injuries), his pale blue skin an ironic compliment to the shoulder-length snow-white hair crowning him. His uniform was simple enough, dark and light blue with a bright flash of orange trim around the shoulders, tight without being constricting, and white elbow-length gloves. The cloth was all worn and torn, though, clearly having seen better days. "So, what do you plan to do with him, Father?"

"Heal him and wake him, of course," her father explained. "You and the mutants are clearly lacking a real leader who's stubborn enough, strong enough, and quite frankly dangerous enough to take on the Thundercats and win." He turned a mocking smile to her. "A man such as this would have no difficulty bending a certain female to his will, finally making a decent woman out of her!"

"I'll be sure to wish him luck with that."

"Wait a minute," Slythe suddenly erupted. "You're going to wake up this legend among mutants?! Are you nuts?! This man was the heir to an empire that engulfed galaxies, Mumm-Ra! He's not going to be satisfied leading a band of exiled and weary soldiers trapped on a backwater planet like Third Earth!"

Mumm-Ra chuckled. "He is still young by the standards of your ancestors, barely out of his adolescence, making his accomplishments even more impressive. Once healed, he will still have a good century or two left in him to start rebuilding the empire of Plun-Darr's lost past!"

Ravenwaves narrowed her eyes suspiciously at this ludicrous explanation. I don't trust Father one whit, she thought. I'm going to keep my mouth shut and observe for a while, see if I can figure out what he isn't telling us. Having decided on her plan of action, she clasped her hands behind her back and stepped away slightly from the party, watching everyone's movements carefully.

As soon as she'd done so, Mumm-Ra reached forward and placed his hand against the glass of Prince Sincline's cylinder, mumbling one of his many ancient spells just barely loud enough to be audible to her ears. With each word, the prince's many wounds healed a bit by bit, rebuilding the man before their eyes. Whether as a side affect of the spell or her father being disinclined to gaze at a half-naked body, the prince's clothing repaired itself as well. As his body reformed, the prince moved as if in the grip of a powerful dream.

Suddenly, Sincline's arm shot forward and smashed through the glass. The tube shattered to pieces, showing everyone with the red liquid, especially Mumm-Ra, and the restored body of Plun-Darr's legendary warrior collapsed upon the floor at the ancient sorcerer's feet.

"As you can see," the mummy said, "even unconscious he is a dangerous man." Waving his hand over the prince, he cast another spell, this time to levitate Sincline above the floor. "Come. Let's bring him to Castle Plun-Darr, so when he wakes from the effects of my preservative potion, he will already be at his new base of operations."

"I still think this is a stupid idea," Slythe insisted. "What do you think he'll do when he finds out he's millennia in the future?"

Mumm-Ra shot a glare at the mutants, his gaze particularly sharp when it landed upon his daughter. "He cannot know how long he has been asleep. The knowledge would drive him insane. So, do your best to avoid mentioning that to him at all—he just might get it into his head to take out his fury on all of you."

---

Traveling in utter and complete blackness was absolutely terrifying. The Thunderkittens put up with it, though, despite their misgivings, determined to trust the Under-Earthmen leading them deeper and deeper below the surface of Third Earth.

"I'm beginning to get a better idea of why Lion-O flipped out on us when we pulled that dirty stunt on MoonGlo," Wily Kit sighed to her brother as she followed the Under-Earthman who held her hand and directed her forward through the darkness. "It really is a miracle the only mental damage she suffered was temporary memory loss."

"Being unable to remember life on the surface would certainly make living in the dark easier to bear, I guess," he agreed reluctantly from somewhere beside her. "We've only been down here for three days, I can't imagine how she put up with it for centuries."

"Unlike us, she didn't have a choice. She had to put up with it—I can only imagine how she described it to Lion-O. When we get back up there, I think I'm going to apologize to her again; once doesn't seem to be enough now."

"I wouldn't overthink it, Kit. She certainly isn't holding a grudge against us for it."

"Maybe…."

"We're almost there," one of the Under-Earthmen said suddenly, interrupting the two of them. "Just around the next two corners, we will reach them. You can see the light Red uses."

She blinked, squinting slightly in a futile attempt to see better. "I think your sensitivity to light is making it easier for you to see at the moment," she admitted. "It's still too dark for us."

"Red is careful not to injure our eyes," someone else told her. "He reads behind a screen, so he can see and be heard without harming those who sit and listen."

They eventually reached an area with light low enough it wouldn't harm the Under-Earthmen but still bright enough for the twins to see without needing to be led everywhere. The cavern they entered was large, like a dome, with book-laden shelves covering every available inch of the vertical walls. In the center of the room was a tent, the light within it bright enough for the shadow of its sole occupant to be seen against the sides. A deep and melodic voice rumbled from the confines, reading steadily and avidly through the cloth to the silent crowd of Under-Earthmen surrounding it.

"I think we should wait until he finishes," Kit whispered to her brother. "His listeners might not appreciate it if we interrupt." At his nod, the two of them sat down on the floor, shooting each other knowing smirks as the small men who had led them underground quickly joined the crowd to listen, entranced by the book being read aloud.

After an hour, the twins were finally rewarded with the man named Red putting down the book and declaring he needed a break. The Under-Earthmen dispersed, chatting amiably among themselves, acknowledging the addition of the other Under-Earthmen, and some of them exclaiming in delight at the newcomers. "Have you come to read to us, too?" a rare female asked the twins curiously.

"I don't see why not," Kit replied as her brother shrugged, "but it wouldn't be for long as we need to get back to the surface. We actually came to speak with Red." As she said it, the tent flap opened only just enough for its occupant to squeeze out, blocking as much of the light as possible. She quickly stood up, and as she'd hoped, her height towering over the small inhabitants caught the man's attention.

He looked at her in surprise for a moment, was distracted by one of her own Under-Earthmen tugging at the golden cloak he wore, and upon speaking to him, nodded and headed for her. Like the other Color Kids, he appeared to be quite human, dressed in an outfit in shades of red, his bright orange-red hair and beard a startling contrast to his pale skin. Unlike the others, however, he was quite heavily muscled, a potential match for Panthro.

He bowed like a gentlemen before the twins, stating, "My name is Red Butler. I heard you wished to speak to me about my friends?" He sounded a little skeptical.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the holo-image of she'd carried for such an occasion. Turning it on, she asked, "Do you recognize her?"

He watched the image of the young woman running down the stairs, momentarily confused. After a moment, a slow and relieved smile crossed his face. "My sister, MoonGlo." He cleared his throat, glancing away for a moment before asking, "I'm sure you'd like some light after your journey. Come to my tent so we can talk further."

---

Sincline slowly opened his eyes, momentarily confused. He remembered the battle against Golion, killing the awful witch indirectly claiming to be his grandmother—a terrifying thought, that—and even vaguely recalled falling from the top of the tallest part of the castle, the arms of that vengeful Ryou refusing to let him go.

He remembered a few faces: his father's (may he rot in Hell), Honerva (she could rot in Hell, too), Akira (him he had fond feelings for, as the human had kept life frustratingly enjoyable), and one other: the beautiful golden-haired and blue-eyed beauty who filled his mind. Princess Fala. The only creature he desired more than anything else in the universe…

…well, except maybe her cousin, Princess Amue. He would've settled for her if given no other choice, but only because of how much the two looked alike.

Then came the not-quite-as-clear memories, the inexplicable visions that shouldn't have happened because they made no sense. The withered and bandaged arm reaching out from thin air to grasp him by the neck as he lay dying, the explosion of liquid as he was impossibly pulled through the top of a pool of water, the brief glance behind him and seeing a lifeless doppelganger in the place he'd just been, the struggling as his agonized body was dragged through increasingly darker hallways by a figure cloaked in red….

He wasn't alone, and he knew it. Staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, attempting to make sense of it all, he ignored the sound of whispered conversation beside him. Whoever they were, if they had wanted him dead, they should've known to kill him long before now.

So, deciding he'd grasped as much of the situation as possible, Sincline sat up.

"Ah, so good to see you've awakened, Prince," said the creature dressed in a red cape and bandages. The prince had once thought it was impossible for someone to be uglier and older-looking than Honerva, but here this monstrosity went and proved him wrong. "I'm sure it feels incredible to know you still live. You need not worry about giving me any thanks for saving you."

The prince briefly glanced at the others in the room: four males, one female. The latter was clearly human, but the others could've easily been plucked from varying points in the Galra Empire, forced to work together for whatever reason. "Who are you?" he finally asked, swinging his legs off the bed and standing. "All of you." He felt a single eyebrow lift slightly in amusement when he noticed the looks of awe the four males were giving him.

"I am Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, ruler of this planet we stand upon, one Third Earth. These four commanders here are the leaders of the pitiful remnants of your Galra Empire: Slythe, Jackalman, Monkian, and Vulture-Man. And the lovely woman is none other than my daughter, Duchess Ravenwaves."

Sincline swept his gaze over each person as they were introduced, his fast-paced mind scanning and identifying the hints and traits that betrayed who and what each person was. An over-confident sorcerer, no different from Honerva. An idiot who succeeded through sheer stubbornness, a coward, a fool, a brow-beaten scientist, and a manipulative slut. In other words, he thought, they're a desperate lot who need a real leader. His eyes darted back to the reptile, and he felt a hint of irritated fury at the challenging glare meeting his. Hmm… a little too controlling to just outright kill… but I am going to have to make it crystal clear to him just who exactly is in charge. He looked back to figure in red. "What is it you want of me?"

"My request is a humble one," the sorcerer replied. "While you rebuild your empire up from its ashes to restore its former glory, all I ask for is the elimination of my personal enemies, the Thundercats, and that the sword their leader carries be turned over to me." The reactions of the commanders to this statement were fascinating; the reptile scowled crossly, the simian and jackal gave each other knowing looks of exasperation, and the vulture rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.

The prince nodded slightly, pretending to agree. Note to self: eliminate Mumm-Ra. This monster is a dangerous creature I have no intention of obeying, and if my theory is correct, he's been the one ordering my people around during my absence. I will soon put a stop to that.

"As a sign of my good will," the sorcerer continued, clearly unaware of the prince's inner thoughts, "I also offer the hand of my obedient daughter to you." To this statement, the duchess glared at her father.

Sincline could certainly relate to her reaction. Hmph. Another child attempting to break away from an overly-controlling parent. She might prove a useful asset against this Mumm-Ra; there is certainly no love lost between the two. "I will consider your request," he stated carefully, "but I'm sure you will understand the need for me to regain my authority first." To himself, he mentally added, I will need to make sure I am fully prepared before I chop you down to size, Mumm-Ra. I need to know the strength and intelligence of my army.

"Oh, it's perfectly acceptable. I will leave you, then, to become reacquainted with your people." There was a flash followed by a puff of smoke, and Mumm-Ra was gone.

Sincline scowled. "If he thinks I'm impressed by such a silly trick, he has another thing coming." He cracked his neck and crossed his arms. "Alright, which of you is the highest ranking here?"

"I am," Slythe replied, his gravelly voice punctuated by snake-like hisses. His grip on the battle-axe he carried tightened. "What of it?"

"Debrief me on our situation here."

Assured for the moment his position wasn't being challenged, the reptilian relaxed, but only slightly. "The empire you knew is gone, and every attempt that's been made to rebuild it has been thwarted by our mortal enemies, the Thundercats. We're the last survivors of Plun-Darr; our planet was destroyed by a freak natural phenomenon, and we followed the Thundercats here, where we've all been stranded. We've attacked them head-on multiple times, but they always manage to win by the skin of their teeth." His lips pulled back into an irritated sneer. "Mumm-Ra was supposed to offer his so-called limitless power to us as an advantage, but all it's done is made us his unwilling pawns."

"I had a feeling. Those who rely on magic tend to have delusions of grandeur." He nodded slightly to Ravenwaves. "My condolences on being related to that atrocity."

"My thanks," she replied dryly. "Something tells me you were related to one yourself."

He grimaced. "I prefer never to be reminded of that again."

"Leave me to do my thing while you do yours, and I won't."

"Agreed. You may leave; you seem as if you don't want to be here anyway." As she walked out of the room with a satisfied smile, he motioned to the commanders to take a seat. "As for the rest of you, it appears I have been out of commission for longer than I thought. I need to know all of what's happened since I blacked out." He raised an eyebrow at the jackal's slight hesitation. "You. What is it?"

"Well," Jackalman said slowly, cringing slightly under the glares of his comrades, "there were a couple of things Mumm-Ra told us not to tell you… in case you took it the wrong way… he implied it might affect your sanity…."

Sincline felt a small smile grace his lips. "Oh, don't worry. Feel free to withhold the information he requested; we'll play the sorcerer's game for now. Once I've established exactly who he is, what his weaknesses are, and how to take him out, then you will be free to speak as you will."

"So sure you can take him out, are you?" Slythe asked sarcastically.

"Absolutely. Only five of my enemies ever escaped me, and it seems they aren't here at this time." The prince allowed the reptilian to get away with the insult for the moment. These were clearly soldiers who had not heard very much about him, and as such were understandably distrustful. No matter, he mused. They are my people, and I'll lead them properly. They've probably been previously led by braggarts full of promise rather than action.

They will learn otherwise about me soon enough.

---

Mumm-Ra chuckled to himself as he returned to his Pyramid, walking slowly to his sarcophagus. "Rataro might no longer be around," he said aloud, pleased at his own self-cleverness, "but this could prove to be an even better situation. I might not be able to hone in on any of the Color Brats with my cauldron, but Sincline's singular obsession with blonds, especially those that look like the princess he craved, will prove to be useful in manipulating him. All it will take is one moment for him to lay eyes on Rainbow Brite, and he will want her for himself.

"Of course, that's the real reason the prince mustn't ever find out how long I've kept him sealed away. As long as he thinks his precious princess is still alive, all I have to do is conveniently point him towards a blond, and he'll go straight for the bait. 'Lose his mind' indeed." Cackling as he entered the sarcophagus and the lid slowly closed, he couldn't resist adding, "Oh, he'll lose his mind, alright! He'd probably commit suicide if he realizes how much he's truly lost in this day and age!"

Six months later, the mummy would be wondering how the hell he could've been so stupid and dead wrong.

---

"I wish I could help you," Red admitted with a sigh as Wily Kit finished telling him what had happened over the past year. "Rainbow Brite was never the rescued-maiden type, and it seems to me Mumm-Ra would have to have done something to her to keep her imprisoned."

"Panthro will figure it out," Wily Kit reassured him, "he always does. He's had to break Mumm-Ra's enchantments before."

"I don't suppose you might know where the last three Color Kids are?" Wily Kat asked, tearing his eyes away from their study of the inside of the bare tent. Aside from the oil lamp, pile of books, and sleeping bag, there was nothing to see.

Red shook his head. "I have been hiding beneath the surface of this planet since it was known as First Earth. I was imprisoned underground by Mumm-Ra, and underground is where I stayed when I awoke and the Under-Earthmen's ancestors fled down here. I guess in some ways I've proven to be more cowardly than the rest of my family, staying in one place with the hope I might be found."

"And you were found. The way we've been combing this continent, it was only pure luck we found Buddy and Patty before you. If the others are moving around, it certainly makes our jobs all the more difficult."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it. I've spent so long mourning for my brother and sisters, I guess it's hard for me to believe there can be some good to come from this." He glanced at his bulging arms. "After centuries of mining precious stones and metals for food and lamp oil, it'll make mining crystals easier if your Panthro ever finds a way to get us back home."

"Out of curiosity," Wily Kit asked suddenly, "the other Color Kids aren't really, well… blood-relations, are they?"

He smiled slightly, his eyes twinkling. "No. It is how I've always viewed them all—as my brother and sisters—but none of us are related. I'm guessing Buddy and Patty are still close enough for even you two to see it."

"You did keep referring to them as 'family', and I didn't want to mention it in case they, well, were—"

He shook his head. "You needn't worry. It doesn't surprise me, really, that they took their relationship further as they aged; those two were always particularly close."

"I suppose asking you to come up to the surface to say 'hi' to at least MoonGlo is out of the question."

"For now, at least. The Under-Earthmen have gotten quite used to me, and it will take some time for them to understand I need to leave. You can reassure MoonGlo I will come as soon as I am able to do so." His grin broadened. "It will be fascinating to meet her as a mother. She was always the one who played 'house' the most."

---

"So I hear the mutants have a female now," Pumyra asked, not bothering to turn around as Tygra came into the infirmary. She examined one of her bottles closely, shaking it slightly before putting it back into the cabinet and writing something on a piece of paper. "Anyone we know?"

"No," he replied with a sigh. "I just got back from the Warrior Maiden's kingdom; Willa and Nayda noticed her, too, but they have no idea who she is or where she came from."

"She seems to be keeping them in line, so I'm hardly going to complain. Any news from the twins yet?"

"No, and we're not due to hear from them for at least another day. They were going to be traveling underground for a week, remember?"

She paused in her examinations. "It hasn't been a week yet, has it? It's harder to keep track of days when nothing's happening."

He spotted Wisp sprawled out on the bed, her blanket on the floor and one foot dangling off as she slept peacefully. Picking up the blanket, he shook it out and gently draped it over her still form. "I don't know why I bother coming here; I've already tried every trick I know, and still Wisp doesn't respond."

"Pretty female in distress?" the puma offered, closing the cabinet and pulling open a drawer, never once bothering to look at him.

He glared at her, the innocent question nonetheless feeling like a vicious stab to his back. "Have you been talking to Bengali?"

She didn't turn around, acting as if she noticed nothing wrong. "No. In fact, I've hardly seen him. I suspect he's moping again." She suddenly froze, staring into the drawer with a horrified expression. "No…."

"What is it?" Tygra asked, concerned at her reaction.

Her lips moved without making a sound as she silently counted pre-measured tranquilizer shots a second time. Slamming the drawer closed, she immediately opened one of the cabinets and started throwing various bottles, syringes, and implements into a small bag. "Tygra, we need to get to your brother immediately." Without another word, she flew out the door with the bag and dashed down the hall.

Alarmed, he followed after her to Bengali's bedroom. He closed and locked the door when he realized she was checking his pulse. "Pumyra—"

"He took two of my tranquilizers," she explained, immediately pulling out a syringe and a bottle out of her bag. "His heart's still beating, but he's not breathing."

---

Notes:

1. Sincline (better known as Lotor) is the main element from Beast King Golion in the fanfic going forward. As I know I've stated before, all one needs is to be familiar with pretty much any version of Voltron. He's also the reason Rataro had to die—it would be a guaranteed fight to the death between the two of them the moment they met… and I just couldn't find a way to make it interesting. :(

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Six

"I'm honestly kind of surprised you're not out scouting the situation yourself," Slythe said, his tone not exactly accusatory as he worked the controls reluctantly. "You don't seem the type to let others do the dirty work for you."

"And I'm not," Sincline replied calmly, leaning back in his chair as he watched the viewing screen closely. "I admire a man willing to risk his life in unknown territory, but I feel the need to point out few of them survive for long. I'm confident you and your men are familiar enough with this Cats' Lair to avoid that trap. I'm also sure you won't begrudge me learning as much as I can before I set foot there."

The reptilian muttered something beneath his breath, though it was hard to tell if he were being insulting or complimentary.

The prince didn't care; this commander would come over to his side or perish, as many had before him. Putting the matter out of his mind, Sincline concentrated on the night-cam video feed the two monkian scouts were sending back to the castle. It's a brilliant stronghold, he thought, admiring the structure of the cat-shaped fortress. Built into the cliff in that manner, it's impossible for them to be snuck up upon from the rear and sides by an attacking force. The chasm before the building makes a frontal assault very difficult. There are few windows, and the only obvious entrance is dead-center in the front, no doubt monitored carefully to prevent subterfuge. An unexpected grin crossed his face. I'm beyond pleased with what little I've seen of these Thundercats so far—I enjoy worthy opponents who put up a decent fight. "Do we know where the control room of this Lair is?"

"Yeah, it's right under the head," Vulture-Man said from the controls, pointing at it. "We've managed to tear it off a couple of times to expose them—"

Sincline felt his hand squeeze the arm of the chair eagerly. "And they replaced it? Without so much as a single scratch from the conflict visible?"

"They're very meticulous about that sort of thing. Every time we find a weakness and attempt to exploit it, they immediately correct the fault as soon as the conflict is over. We're constantly having to come up with new ways to defeat them."

"They regroup, recover, and adapt…."

"They certainly keep us busy," Slythe sighed.

A flash of motion caught his eye, even in the darkness. "Zoom in on the head," Sincline ordered, sitting up straight. As the video feed changed according to his orders, he felt the air still in his lungs. It… it's her….

Fala….

The image wasn't entirely clear do to the distance, but he was certain it was his princess. Who else had such a tall lithe body, the perfect face crowned with waist-length locks of golden curls, the graceful and almost wraith-like ability to glide while walking? As he took one careful yet shuddering breath, another female—quite obviously pregnant—came out onto the balcony, took his princess by the hand, and led her back inside.

"Don't know who the blond is," Slythe admitted in the silence, unaware of the mental state of the prince, "but the pink-haired twit is MoonGlo, Lion-O's pet hussy. She's not a fighter, so I assume they keep her around for housework."

Sincline only half-listened, his mind dancing in circles as the object of his desire disappeared from view. "Vulture-Man," he asked slowly, "do we have any maps of the inside of this stronghold?"

"A few, why?" the latter replied.

"I need them, and I need you to debrief me on every single Thundercat and their fighting styles. I plan on attacking within twenty-four hours. I want that blond." The last sentence slipped out before he could stop it, but he kept his face frozen to prevent the commanders from picking up on the mistake. You won't escape me this time, Fala, he thought, feeling satisfaction fill his entire core. How you ended up in the hands of these Thundercats, I don't know nor care. All that matters is you are there.

You shall be mine yet.

---

That was an interesting experience, Vulture-Man thought to himself as he walked to his laboratory. I wonder if the duchess has any thoughts on this Sincline…. He paused upon opening the door, noticing the young woman had preceded him there, pacing around the center table with a deeply thoughtful expression. "Well, since you're already here," he said as he closed the door behind him, "what do you think of his highness? I'm honestly not sure if I should be concerned or impressed."

"I'm not sure I want to be around when he figures out what we're hiding from him," Duchess Ravenwaves replied, clasping her hands tightly behind her back. "He is a dangerous man, quite possibly insane. I don't know what Father is trying to pull, but there's absolutely no doubt in my mind he's up to something."

"I think it's safe to say we've established Mumm-Ra's always up to something."

She spun suddenly in place, her skirts flowing around her legs as she sat on the bench opposite his usual seat. "This Sincline is not an idiot."

"I was afraid you'd say that. I mean, I suppose I knew on an instinctive level—after what he accomplished in his time, I'd have to be a moron not to figure that out." He sat down in his spot and crossed his arms, sighing. "The smarter they are, the harder they are to manipulate."

"Harder, yes, but not impossible. The trick to manipulating a smart person is to know exactly what motivates them." She laced her fingers together in front of her face as she leaned her elbows on the table. "The problem with this man is he hides what's going on in that head of his very well, and his actions are just as enigmatic. I don't have the slightest idea of what to do."

"Hmm… I might have something for you, but I don't know how much help it will be. I just came back from helping him scan the Cats' Lair, and he did a couple of things that seemed… unexpected, at least for someone like him."

She raised her eyebrows, her full attention on him. "Oh?"

"The Thundercats have a blond human in their Lair—I've seen her a time or two, she's been there for quite a while—and Sincline immediately honed in on her and said he wanted her. I'm sure the others didn't notice it, and he was too careful not to mention it again."

"That's interesting." She closed her eyes, no doubt organizing whatever little information she had to examine further. "Someone like him, though… is probably used to getting what he wants, which means he'd definitely want what he can't have." She slowly opened her eyes again, a dark look in her gaze. "I think… I've figured out why Father doesn't want Sincline to know how long it's been. If this prince wanted a woman, it would be a specific woman."

"And such a woman," Vulture-Man added, comprehending her line of thought, "would no longer be alive…. You're right. I don't want to be around when he finds out what we're hiding from him, either."

---

Tygra watched his brother carefully as he sat in a chair beside the bed, keeping an eye out for any warning signs. Bengali slept peacefully on, unaware of his two observers or of the breathing mask clapped over his lower face. "Pumyra…." He hesitated, afraid of what the answer might be. "As much as I hate to say it, I think you know Bengali better than I do at this point. Would he have done this on purpose?"

"You know him better than that, Tygra," she replied firmly, checking the white tiger's pulse yet again, then reading the numbers on the small machine hooked up to the mask. "If he could choose his death, it would be by hang-gliding off the top of the tallest mountain on Third Earth. No, this was just him being incredibly stupid." She sighed with relief. "He's out of the danger zone now."

"Why would he take any of your tranquilizers in the first place?"

"To sleep." She gave him a sharp look. "He's not the only one who uses them, but he is the only one who sneaks in when I'm not around to take one; he's the reason I count the damn things every day."

Tygra placed his elbow on the edge of the bed and then leaned his forehead against his hand. "In other words, Thundera's destruction," he stated.

"It's more the knowledge he sent Snow Leopard on ahead of us to get onto the ship, only to watch it destroyed before our eyes. He's been blaming himself for years now, no matter how hard Lynx-O and I try to convince him he wasn't at fault." She scowled. "He should know to only take one. What I want to know is what possessed him to take two of them this time."

"We should be getting an answer soon, it looks like he's starting to come around."

Bengali's eyes slowly opened, and for a split second he appeared to be completely confused. As soon as he spotted Pumyra's frowning expression, he started to get up, stopped in surprise, and gingerly removed the mask from his face. "How badly did I screw up?" he asked sheepishly, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position.

Tygra felt his teeth clench together angrily. "Guess," he hissed.

Bengali's head snapped around in shock, and from the groan that immediately followed, it was pretty obvious he had a splitting headache. Putting his hands to his forehead, he growled, "I swear I didn't do it on purpose."

"Why did you take two of them?" Pumyra inquired sharply.

"I hadn't slept in four days, I was desperate and probably not thinking clearly. I just wanted some damned sleep."

"You almost got it permanently."

"You're going to let me suffer through the after-effects of this, aren't you?"

"Oh, good, you remember my torture methods." She stood up, putting her things back into her bag. "I'm also going to further imprint on you to never do this again by leaving you alone with your brother."

Tygra leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, waiting until Pumyra walked out. "I thought I'd lost you once before," he said quietly as the door closed behind her. "I'd prefer not to repeat that experience."

Despite the agony he was no doubt in, Bengali managed a pained smile. "By all means, please add guilt on top of my embarrassment, horror, headache, and—and I think I'm going to throw up." He clapped his hand over his mouth as he gagged.

"No, you won't. After injecting as much of that stuff as you did, though, you're going to be very nauseous for the next few days."

"I am fully aware I am not going to get any sympathy from you. Can you at least give me the curtesy of not rubbing it in?"

"How long have the sleeping problems been going on, Bengali?"

Turning to sit on the side of the bed, the white tiger considered the question carefully. "Nightmares," he corrected, "not sleeping problems. They come and go every other month or so, especially if things slow down and there isn't as much work to be done. If it makes you feel any better, they're getting less frequent."

"Not particularly, especially if it means they're getting worse."

"They're not getting worse; I haven't had a spell this bad in a long while." He glanced at his brother curiously. "You're going to tell the others, aren't you?"

Tygra pondered for a moment. "I don't know yet. On the one hand, you really gave Pumyra and I a scare. On the other hand, I doubt anyone would be able to stop you."

"I generally try not to be seen when I grab a tranquilizer."

"I'm sorry I can't bring Snow Leopard back for you, Bengali." His brother flinched sharply. "I know you won't believe me when I tell you it isn't your fault, but you'd believe her, and I can assure you she'd agree with me."

Bengali covered his face with his hands again, though this time it was possible it had nothing to do with his headache. "I know, but… my head understands it, Tygra. It's my heart that isn't convinced."

Tygra opened his mouth, then closed it again, realizing he had absolutely no idea what to say. The two of them sat in silence for a minute before he finally managed to ask, "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No." After a moment, the white tiger removed his hands, smiling wanly at his brother. Whatever he was feeling at the moment, he hid it well beneath his satirical demeanor. "After all, I might overdose on tranquilizers again."

"Can't you just drink your sorrows away? I have an easier time handling you when you're drunk."

"The only thing easily available is tequila, and there's no point in touching that unless it's to convince Lion-O he can beat me in a drinking contest."

---

Slythe was fascinated by Sincline. On the one hand, the prince made it crystal clear he was in command of all the mutants, like it or not. On the other hand, he rarely bothered ordering any of the lower-ranking mutants around, leaving that more to the commanders. Needless to say, it made the reptilian all the more curious to see how this prince would handle the Thundercats in a full-on confrontation.

They were currently standing just outside the range of the Lair's defenses with a small force of mutants, probably visible to everyone inside the Thundercats' stronghold. As the group was just standing there, however, whoever was on watch in the Lair wasn't showing itchy trigger fingers.

"Is everything prepared?" Sincline asked, his eyes never once wavering from the entrance to the Cats' Lair as the reptilian walked up to him.

"Just as you ordered," Slythe replied. "The Sky-Cutters are ready to fire from above, Vulture-Man's going to shoot off the electrical bomb to short-out their control panels himself from his flying machine, and I've men standing by to storm the Lair. I'm not sure how well this will work, though, if you don't mind me saying."

A corner of the prince's lip twitched slightly in amusement. "There is a pregnant woman in there," he stated, "and the two strongest Thundercats left earlier this morning on a daily routine. From what I understand, two more have been searching the countryside for quite some time and are not here, either. This leaves five Thundercats to guard the Lair. At least one, more likely two, will rush to protect the expectant mother during an attack—which means I will only have to deal with three or four of them."

"Don't you mean we'll have to deal with them?"

"No, Slythe, I don't. I will deal with them."

For the first time in a long while, Slythe felt a twinge of fear touch his heart. This was no bluff on the prince's part… nor was it a boast.

---

"That is not the female we knew about," Cheetara stated unnecessarily, rubbing her eyes as if attempting to wipe away her visible exhaustion. "Does anyone recognize him?"

"This is the first time I think anyone's seen him," MoonGlo replied from the chair to the right. She clicked a few buttons, zooming in the view to try and get a better look at the blue-skinned man with Slythe. "Whoever he is, he's either only just arrived or kept himself well-hidden until now."

"I'm more concerned with the mutants," Lynx-O said, using his Braille board to "see" the area better than the camera could manage. "They don't normally just stand there. They're tense, too, as if they're waiting for a signal of some kind."

"Since when are mutants that organized?" Snarf asked derisively. "They're always too busy backstabbing each other to work together."

Cheetara winced a little, her sixth sense sending a sharp warning to her mind. "Something tells me they wouldn't dare backstab this man. Lynx-O, I'm going to—"

An explosion from just above them rocked the surface beneath their feet. Cheetara and Snarf, the only two standing, lost their balance and fell to the floor; MoonGlo clutched the arms of her chair and tried to shrink into herself; Lynx-O barely managed to stay seated, but only by pure luck. The computer screens went haywire, alternating from color to color rapidly before shutting off with an abrupt zap. The buttons, dials, and indicators on the control board lit up all at once just before the entire thing went dead.

Lynx-O tapped a few buttons on his board fruitlessly, scowling. "Whatever that was, it knocked out the control panel completely. Communications are out, I can't even get any feed from what's going on outside."

"Lock the door behind me, Lynx-O," Cheetara ordered, scrambling to her feet and then heading for the hallway. "I'm going to tell Pumyra to get Rainbow Brite to a safe place, then find Tygra and Bengali. I think we're going to have visitors in a moment. Snarf, get communications back up and tell Lion-O and Panthro we're in trouble."

She barely heard him reply, "I'll try, snarf, snarf," as she sprinted out of the room.

---

Tygra glanced up in shock from the door panel he and his brother were repairing as the first blast shook the Lair to its foundations. "What the—a direct attack on the Lair?"

Bengali was far less surprised. "It has been a while. I've honestly been thinking the mutants were a little overdue." He winced slightly, placing a hand against his forehead.

Tygra frowned, listening to the sound of the successive attacks carefully. "It's cover fire so someone can get in." He glanced at the white tiger, slightly worried. "Are you going to be up to handling this?"

"Knocking in a few heads will make mine feel better."

Cheetara dashed into the room. "Communications are out; the mutants threw something during the first volley that shorted out the control panels completely. Snarf's going to try and get us help, but we're on our own for the moment."

"Where's MoonGlo?" Tygra asked, concern for her and the unborn cub temporarily overtaking his desire to protect his home.

"In the control room with Lynx-O; he sealed the door and is ready to protect her should anyone get through. Pumyra's gone to move Rainbow Brite to a safer area."

"Leaving the three of us to deal with the numbskulls." Bengali picked up his hammer. "Good. This'll be fun."

Tygra closed the panel he was working on just as a loud crash echoed through the hallway. "That's the main entrance. Cheetara—"

"Got it! I'll hold them back!" She turned and flew down the hallway, a yellow streak of light disappearing in moments.

---

Sincline walked casually up the stairs, smiling a little when he spotted the female waiting for him at the top landing. From her stance, he could tell she was more than prepared to hold him back, no doubt to give some of the others time to get here. "What kind of people send the females out to fight?" he queried out loud as he got closer to her, pretending to be insulted.

"I'm not just any female," she replied, whipping out a small stick that lengthened into a staff with only the slightest touch of magic. She smiled confidently at him as he reached the last step, and he was quite impressed to see she was slightly intimidating. She might've even been more intimidating if he hadn't noticed her sleep-deprived eyes. "I prefer to be the first one at the fight." She lunged at him, her expression calm and calculating, not at all emotional.

He was going to enjoy this.

Deciding he didn't need his sword, he waited until the last possible second before stepping aside and grabbing the staff as she swung it at him, throwing his full weight into the move to unbalance her. She recovered quickly, letting go of the staff, and using the move to maneuver herself towards the wall to leap off it. Heading right back at him, she aimed a swift kick at his head. He ducked, let go of the staff, and punched upward as she passed overhead. She shrieked in surprise, his blow landing squarely against her sternum; when she landed, it wasn't as gracefully as before. To her credit, she managed to stay on her feet, but she couldn't quite hide the spasm of pain crossing her face.

Without a moment's hesitation, he flew at her before she could collect herself, kneeing her roughly in the chest as he grabbed her head. "This was fun," he told her as she dangled helplessly from his hands, trying in vain to catch her breath. "Maybe you should've gotten some more sleep!"

---

The tigers entered the balcony of the main hall just in time to see Cheetara's face slammed mercilessly into a railing three times; the first blow split her lip, the second broke her nose, and the third left a large gash on her forehead, hopefully doing no more than knocking her out cold. The perpetrator barely seemed to be paying attention to her as he let her hair go and turned towards the brothers, her unconscious body hitting the floor at his feet. "So," the blue-skinned man said calmly, "these are Thundercats." He smiled slightly, stepping leisurely over the cheetah's prone form. "I do believe you will find I am not as soft as your other enemies."

Before either of them could respond, he zipped forward, unsheathing his sword and attacking expertly. Within seconds, the two Thundercats were on the defensive, an uncomfortable position to be in against this new unknown threat. It was all Bengali could do to block every blow, and Tygra didn't even have a single opening to turn invisible and attack without being seen. How the hell this stranger was able to fight one of them with a sword and the other with a bare fist while ducking and dodging like a snake was baffling.

The bastard couldn't even be distracted. Bengali tried to hold his attention while Tygra moved to get behind the attacker. However, a swift punch to his left eye momentarily stunned him, causing him to fall back against the wall as he tried to regain his equilibrium. This inopportunely left Bengali alone to deal with the intruder, something which wouldn't normally have been a problem. The white tiger, however, was still recovering from his unintentional overdose. As if the enemy somehow knew this, he didn't bother using the blade of his sword against Bengali once it was just the two of them. He first disarmed his opponent, slammed his shoulder into the tiger's chest to drive out all the air in his lungs, snapped the hilt upwards into his jaw to daze him, then swiftly kicked him in the stomach so hard he was thrown backward—

—right over the railing, three floors above ground level.

"Bengali!" Tygra screamed helplessly, the cry ripped form him involuntarily as he knew there was nothing he could do to save his brother. As soon as the intruder's eyes locked with his, the tiger immediately wrapped his bolo-whip around himself and became invisible. This is bad, he thought, quickly and quietly moving before he was attacked. I don't know who this man is, but he's no pushover!

The enemy's eyes widened, but any thought it might possibly be from fear was wiped away at the broad smile spreading across his face. "Really, now?" the man asked, his voice revealing his admiration. He slowly turned in place, his eyes darting around eagerly, attempting to find the tiger. "My, you Thundercats are just full of surprises, aren't you? I've crushed men's skulls with the blows I gave your female friend. Lesser adversaries were killed with the kind of treatment that 'Bengali' just received, and they both took it all with barely a grunt." His smile turned nasty. "It's a shame, really; maybe she should've considered sleeping aids and he should've held back on whatever drugs addled his brains."

Tygra resisted the urge to snarl. He's baiting me.

"And now there's you, Grandpa: that was no magic trick you just used, though I can certainly tell each of you has a little of it. Oh, this will be fun! I love decent opposition!"

"Who are you?" Tygra dared asking, making sure to move swiftly so his location couldn't be pin-pointed. Whether through luck or some unknown ability, the intruder seemed to keep revolving in the correct direction, and it was unsettling the Thundercat to no end.

"I am Prince Sincline of the Galra Empire," was the calm reply. This prince acted as if he didn't even care where the voice came from. "And you… were related to Bengali, weren't you? I've never had much of a family, I must admit, so this is a golden opportunity for me. Tell me, how did it feel when I so handily defeated your… brother, was he?"

Tygra bit his lip angrily, refusing to take the bait. An emotional outburst… that's what you want, isn't it? I'll be damned before I give it to you! Realizing the prince had stopped rotating, he took the opportunity presented to him. Silently, he snuck around behind Sincline, intending to take him by surprise.

"Your answer is dead silence? Interesting. You called out to him, clearly you do care for his well-being… which means you've got enough self-control over yourself to prevent your loved ones being used against you. I'm impressed!"

As the tiger moved to attack, Sincline moved as well. With only a split second to react, the Thundercat recognized the danger and stepped to the side quickly, crying out as the prince's sword stabbed backward, slicing into the tiger's upper right arm. Tygra immediately backed off; his concentration broken, he was visible again to the enemy. Not that invisibility would do much good now; the blood dripping everywhere would give my position away….

Sincline was visibly enjoying himself. "I much prefer one-on-one battles," he said, turning to fix the Thundercat with a sharp gaze. "I never did care for cowards who hide inside their overblown machines when entering the fray." He tapped the flat side of his bloody sword against his empty palm, leaving stains on the pristine white gloves. "So, now I fight a master of illusions, one who is skilled enough to dodge what should have been a lethal blow."

Tygra snapped his whip taut between his hands, ignoring the pain from the wound oozing blood down his arm. Prince Sincline… Galra Empire… why does that sound familiar?… His eyes widened as he suddenly strung two-and-two together. "No… impossible… you're the half-breed prince?! You should be dead!"

Sincline's face twisted into a furious expression; without any hesitation, he flew too fast for Tygra to properly react. The prince slammed into him, driving his sword right through the tiger's gut. As the Thundercat froze, paralyzed by the excruciating pain shooting through his entire frame, the prince leaned forward and growled in his ear, "If by some miracle you don't bleed to death from this experience, Grandpa, take care to never call me that again."

"The next time we meet," Tygra coughed, almost choking on the blood coming up his throat like bile, "I will be far better prepared, and I will call you whatever I want!" He gasped as the prince twisted the sword, opening the wound further; with a shove, he felt the weapon pulled from his torso. No longer in control, he felt himself falling face-forward, his sight turning black. He could feel the blood draining from his veins as he became light-headed.

"Slythe," he heard Sincline say blandly, "go fetch the blond; I'll keep the other commanders from getting distracted."

Tygra passed out before he even hit the floor.

---

Notes:

1. I honestly can't remember if Sincline was even called a half-breed at any point in Golion, but he strikes me as someone who would NOT take kindly towards it.

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Seven

Rainbow Brite wasn't exactly being cooperative.

"Come on!" Pumyra hissed, endeavoring to keep from screaming in exasperation. She was attempting to get the female to follow her into one of the storage rooms, where it would be much easier to hide an adult. Awkwardly, the blond kept twisting away and struggling to head towards the sounds of fighting. "This is a real lousy time to start showing some curiosity, especially after a year of just sitting around like a sponge cake!" The puma snarled as the woman pointed down the hall. "I know, that's what I'm trying to get you away from!"

Smacking the door button with her elbow, an action that smarted a fair amount, Pumyra grabbed Rainbow's wrists and dragged her forcibly into the room, throwing her full weight into the move. Reluctantly, the blond followed her in, still blatantly facing down the hallway. Once inside, however, she turned right back into her usual docile self as the puma closed and locked the door.

"By Jaga, this is frustrating!" Pumyra moaned, leading Rainbow towards the back of the darkened room and shoving her roughly into a shadowed nook to hide. "I'd give Mumm-Ra a thirty-minute blow-job to find out what's wrong with you at this point!" She was interrupted by the door being blasted open and Slythe walking in. She ripped her slingshot from her waist, loaded it with a mild explosive, and swung it threateningly over her head. "Take another step closer, Slythe, I insist! I'm in a rotten mood, and I would just love to take it out on somebody!"

The reptilian smirked, leveling his blaster at her. "None of my business if you're PMSing, Pumyra. Give me the woman and I'll make sure Prince Sincline is nicer to you than he was towards your friends!"

Like hell I'm telling you where MoonGlo is, she thought. You took her to Mumm-Ra once, that's more than enough! She threw the explosive at him, and he shot it midair; the resulting detonation knocked them both backwards, throwing him to the floor and her into a pile of boxes.

As she attempted to disentangle herself from the mess, he got to his feet first, running forward to point the blaster in her face. "Last chance," he told her. "Give her to me. Sincline's already killed Cheetara, Tygra, and Bengali; it'd be a shame if he had to snuff you, too."

She felt her breath catch in her throat. "He… what?!"

"Yup, took out the three of them one right after the other without even breaking a sweat. It's not often I'll admit this, but the man is starting to frighten even me."

Fury overcame her shock; with a swift kick, she knocked the gun from his grip, reached forward to grab his hands, and pulled hard and fast, yanking herself up and smacking her forehead against his, giving them both an immediate headache. Since she was expecting the pain, though, she managed to ignore it and got to her feet, grabbing a nearby crate and smashing it over his head.

She scrambled to get her hands on her slingshot, screeching in anger as the reptilian tripped her with his tail. She kicked at him again, making contact with his knee, and she grinned viciously as she felt the cap pop out of place beneath the blow. She tried again to grab her slingshot again, only for his axe to sweep it aside as he kicked her in the chest, driving the air out of her.

"Word of advice," he told her, only wincing slightly as he roughly popped his own kneecap back into its designated spot, "don't try these tricks if you face Sincline. Now where's the woman? I know she's around here somewhere."

"MoonGlo isn't here," she gasped, trying to convince her lungs to take in more air, "and if you lay your slimy hands on her, Lion-O will—"

"Not the pink-haired slut! She's Mumm-Ra's affair, not Sincline's! Where's the blond?"

She resisted the urge to stare at him in shock, unable to figure out how he knew about Rainbow Brite. I can't let them take her, she thought, leveling a glare at him. She's in absolutely no shape to defend herself! "What blond?"

He raised his axe threateningly. "Don't play stupid with me! Tell me where she is or else I'll be tempted to try completing for the prince's body count! You have to the count of three: one, two—"

She leapt to her feet, still short of breath, and grabbed a pellet to fling into his face.

"Three!" The axe fell.

Clang.

The pair stared in surprise at Rainbow Brite. She stood between Slythe and Pumyra, holding his blaster firmly between her hands as a shield to block the axe. The blow had caused her to slide back across the floor a few inches, but other than that she held her ground. "Well, well, looks like the little lady has made up her own mind." Pulling back the axe, he snatched the blaster from her and grabbed her wrist. Her loose hair snapped about her as he yanked her towards him. "Alright, let's go! Don't give me any trouble and I won't hurt your friend!"

"No!" Pumyra dashed forward and slammed her full body into Slythe, knocking him off-balance. Before she could grab the blond's hand and lead her away—preferably at a dead run—the reptilian round-housed her, throwing her off to the side like a rag doll.

"That's not how this works, Pumyra!" he chided her, grabbing Rainbow's wrist again. "She comes willingly, I spare your life!" He reached into a pocket and pulled out a gas canister, pulling the stop and dropping it on the floor before leading the blond towards the door. A familiar red mist expelled from the item, quickly filing the room and enveloping Pumyra. "Enjoy the Thundranium fumes!"

With that, he reached into the room, grabbed what was left of the door, and jammed it into the exit, trapping her.

---

Jackalman and Monkian did as they'd previously been told, attempting to break down the door to the control room… without actually breaking down the door. They would've griped about the bizarre order, except the prince stood only a few feet away from them, watching them with those sharp yellow eyes. Unlike Slythe or Rataro, Sincline didn't boast about what he had accomplished or would do in the future—his actions alone reinforced the legends of his previous undertakings.

And any man who could take on three Thundercats without breaking a sweat was too dangerous to pick a fight with.

"Sincline!" a familiar reptilian voice spoke over Monkian's communicator. "I succeeded, I've got her on the Nose Diver, and I'm taking her in!"

The prince smiled slightly before returning his attention to the two attacking the door. "You heard him. It's time to go."

Reluctantly, the two mutants put away their weapons and headed down the stairs before the prince. "I don't get him," Monkian muttered.

"Neither do I," Jackalman replied, "but I'm not going to dare cross a man who makes Mumm-Ra look like a dried-up has-been."

---

Covering her face with her hand in a fruitless attempt to block the gas, Pumyra crawled over to the door as quickly as possible, hoping to make it before the Thundranium made her too weak to do anything but lay on the floor helplessly. She collapsed only a few feet away from the exit, dragging herself across the floor in sheer stubbornness. Propping herself up against the wall, she pulled an explosive from her pouch and reluctantly flung it at the jammed door, wrapping herself into a fetal position to cover her eyes and make herself as small of a target as possible.

The detonation flung shrapnel everywhere, but it also opened up the doorway again, making it possible for her to get out. Ignoring the many scratches and scrapes she'd received from the blast, she crawled out into the hallway, smacked her hand against a secret panel to reveal a number pad, and quickly punched in her code. An iron door crashed down over the hole, sealing the Thundranium gas in the room.

She lay on the floor for a moment, panting in desperation as she felt her strength slowly return. I have to remember to tell Tygra to pump the air out of that room before anyone else goes in. At the thought of him, she felt her blood suddenly turn to ice. No… Slythe said… no, he had to be lying… there's no way….

Fear helped her dredge up energy from an unexpected source, and clambering to her feet, she stumbled down the hallway, attempting to sprint at her usual speed but slowed down by the effects of the gas. The further she got away from the store room, the faster she was able to run.

She skidded to an alarmed halt when she reached the main hall, staring in absolute horror at Bengali lying flat on his back upon the floor in a growing puddle of blood. Looking up, she froze at the sight of the blue-skinned man who stood at the damaged exit, smiling smugly before turning his back to her and walking casually down the stairs outside.

She didn't need to be told who he was.

"Prince Sincline," she growled through clenched teeth, dashing after him. As she ran out the front entrance, she only got a glimpse of him on a Sky-Cutter behind Jackalman, shooting through the air like a bullet.

If he's with the mutants, she thought angrily, running down the stairs, then he's heading to Castle Plun-Darr, and that's no doubt where Rainbow Brite will be as well.

---

"I really don't understand why we didn't just break into the control room," Jackalman whined to the prince, heading back to Castle Plun-Darr as fast as he could with two people on the Sky-Cutter. "Wouldn't it have made our lives easier?"

Sincline snorted. "There's no glory in killing a blind man or a pregnant woman, and I have no gripe against either one."

"Well, I suppose… but Lynx-O isn't exactly a pushover, and MoonGlo has a mean kick."

The prince rolled his eyes. "Somehow it doesn't surprise me you would consider them threats." He smirked slightly, glancing over his shoulder at the retreating Lair—and the lone figure which followed after them at a much slower pace. "Besides, the fun isn't over yet."

---

Lynx-O's ears twitched spontaneously as he listened carefully to what was going on outside the control room doors. His hands were against the door, attempting to back up every miniscule sound he heard with even the slightest of tremors. "The mutants have left," he told MoonGlo and Snarf, "but I'm having a difficult time trying to pinpoint where the other Thundercats are." I dare not tell them what I'm really afraid of, he thought. MoonGlo is in no condition for it, and Snarf won't be able to keep his mouth shut. I don't know who that Sincline Tygra fought was, but he's not to be taken lightly. A familiar set of footsteps caught his ear, but the direction they took alarmed him. His head snapped around, facing the other two. "Snarf! Get the communications back up immediately and connect with Pumyra! Find out why she's chasing after the mutants!"

Snarf, who'd been attempting to reconnect the wires for the communicators, stood helplessly in the middle of the mess. "I'm trying, I'm try—SNAAAAAAAAAAAAARF!" A brief electrical surge shot through him, causing his fur to stand on end before it stopped.

"Snarf!" MoonGlo gasped, horrified. "Are you alright?"

He coughed up a small puff of black smoke. "Don't worry," he told her with a weak smile. "Snarfs ground well. It'll take more than an electrical surge like that to knock me out!"

The control panel blazed into life. Quickly, MoonGlo leaned forward as far as she was able to and connected to Pumyra's communicator. "Pumyra, what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going after that bastard Sincline!" was the furious response. "If he thinks he can get away with—" The puma's voice was covered with a loud buzzing noise, blocking whatever else she might've said.

Under the noise, the sounds of two wires within the control panel starting to melt together caught Lynx-O's ears. Before MoonGlo could try to reconnect, he grabbed her arm, yanked her out of the chair, and got between her and the control board just before it erupted. Thankfully, there wasn't much in the way of shrapnel, but he wasn't going to risk any harm to the woman or the unborn cub. He heard the panels warping from the force of the electrical discharge as black smoke billowed from the wiring, filling the room with the foul smell of hot metal and burned plastic. I can't keep them in here… and Pumyra isn't here to help the others….

Snarf peeked over the edge of the chair he'd hidden behind. "I'm not going to be able to fix that," he said reluctantly.

Lynx-O grimaced. "We're on our own, then." Running to the door, he put in the code to unlock it. "Snarf, I need you to run to the infirmary and get bandages immediately!"

"Why did the mutants leave?" MoonGlo asked, watching the furry creature dash out of the room to do as he was told. "It's not like they were beaten off."

"No… in fact, it's more like they're leaving because they got what they wanted. What concerns me is what that might have been." Reluctantly, he turned to her. "MoonGlo, I don't want to do this because of your condition, but Tygra, Cheetara, and Bengali are not in good shape. I'm going to need your help with them." He winced at the snarf's exclamation of horror, even though he'd been expecting it.

She nodded. "I'll do what I can, Lynx-O."

---

Sincline strode into the main hall of Castle Plun-Darr, smiling slightly to himself. Not a bad run, if I do say so myself, he thought, feeling deservedly superior. Glancing around, he felt the smile grow at the looks of awe his subjects gave him. I think that's sufficiently cleared up any doubt of my skills to them. His attention fell upon Slythe, who'd returned to the castle before him. "Did the woman cooperate?" he asked the reptilian.

"She did," was the confident response. "She's in your room now, just as you ordered. Don't know what you want her for, though."

The prince didn't hesitate for a moment with his response, already having previously decided on the answer he would give to anyone who asked. "You will know in due time." They need not know how long I've wanted to make Fala mine.

As he'd hoped, the vague answer was enough for Slythe, who merely shrugged. "Suit yourself. By the way, Vulture-Man said you were followed."

Sincline smiled. "Oh, good, I'd hoped the little female would take the bait."

"I don't see why you didn't just kill her, too."

The prince raised a finger. "I am beyond curious to see what that tiny female does in an attempt to get our prisoner back—she is the one your spies know the least about, after all. If she amuses me enough, I just might keep her as a pet. After all, I find her pretty." He turned away and headed for his room. "Let little Pumyra sneak around to her heart's content. When I tire of playing games with her, you'll know."

As he headed up the stairs and down the hall, he smiled slightly, feeling the unfamiliar satisfaction of having finally gotten what he'd spent so long trying to take. My sweet Fala, I've waited so long for you I almost have no idea where to start. Do I take you hard and fast like a man starved, or do I take you slowly, thoroughly enjoying each individual second to its fullest extent? A different idea popped into his head, and he almost lost himself in the headiness of it. What if I prolong the agony until I've broken you completely, so you kneel before me on your own provocation?

Stopping before the door to his room, he took a deep breath to regain control, opened the portal, and stepped in.

She was sitting by the window, quietly looking outside with her back to him. Enchanted by being so close to her after so long, he closed the door and just stood there, admiring every inch of her. He was only slightly disappointed at the few strands of lighter blond streaking her waist-length golden hair, but taking in her smooth bare feet with a sigh, he was convinced that while it had been years, she was still young enough to please him. "That outfit suits you ill, Fala," he told her firmly, his voice softening slightly. "It hides too much of you."

She didn't respond to him, but he was perfectly prepared for such an attitude. After all, he'd had her kidnapped, and rarely did the victims look forward to such a thing. She would come around eventually, and he was perfectly prepared to wait for it.

He walked forward slowly, watching her carefully for even the minutest movement against him. Impressed at her even breathing and the lack of a single reaction, he stepped confidently beside her, looking outside the window and deliberately offering what would appear to be a moment of weakness, a chance for her to show her true colors. When she still continued to sit there calmly, he opened his mouth and turned to speak to her again. His voice died in his throat as soon as he saw her face—specifically the lavender star tattooed upon her left cheek.

Shocked, he crouched beside her, grabbed her chin firmly in his hand, and twisted her head around to get a better look at her. So similar, she was so close in appearance to Fala… but wasn't. Her eyes were too dark, the nose just a hair too long, her face slightly more youthful.

Ignoring her blank stare, he slowly stood up and walked away from her, his wrath slowly starting to mount. Did these Thundercats trick me? he pondered, clenching his fists in anger. Or did I trick myself?

Either way, he'd been tricked. With a furious shout, he grabbed the empty chest intended to hold his precious few items, lifted it over his head, and chucked it against the wall. As he glared at the destroyed piece of furniture, some thoughts started to connect together. No. It was not the Thundercats; the way they've been described to me, this is not their kind of trick. They protect the helpless, not put them in harm's way, even as a joke. I fooled myself because I still want Fala, and to be fair I probably should've double-checked who this woman was before jumping to conclusions—

He blinked, his anger still burning, but a different sort of kindling presenting itself. Unless…. The only way Mumm-Ra could've known when to grab me and keep me alive was by watching me… which means he probably knew about my desire for Fala….

---

MoonGlo felt her heart beat an erratic tattoo in her chest at the sight before her. Both Cheetara and Tygra were sprawled across the floor, the latter in the center of a growing pool of blood. "Lynx-O, are they—?"

"No," was the immediate reply, "but they need medical attention immediately." The old man's ears twitched. "Bengali appears to be the least damaged from this, though he's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up. I'll go downstairs and get him on his feet, you bandage Tygra as best as you can—he's the worst of the three."

She nodded, but just as she started towards Tygra, Snarf came running in with bandages. "Snarf," she told him, taking the bandages from the creature as Lynx-O rushed downstairs, "do what you can to wake up Cheetara, I need to start bandaging Tygra immediately!"

He nodded and ran over to the cheetah, grabbing her and propping her up against the railing behind her. "Cheetara, wake up!"

Trusting him to do what he could, she went straight to Tygra, knelt beside him—trying in vain to ignore the blood squishing beneath her knees—and immediately started bandaging his arm, gagging more than once. This is no time to be sick, she thought, making sure the binding was tight enough to stop the bleeding. He was cool beneath her touch, to a degree she knew was a bad sign. He groaned as she worked, and surprised, she hesitantly said, "Tygra?"

He blinked, his gaze sharpening slightly as he looked up at her. "I'm in bad shape," he gasped. "I need Pumyra—"

"She took off after the mutants," she told him reluctantly. "You're just going to have to tell me what to do."

He groaned again. "You better hope I don't pass out again, then…." Making a wad out of the bandaging, she pressed it against the stab wound on his back. He chuckled at her, though there was absolutely no mirth in it. "That's not going to work—Sincline's sword went right through me. You have to get both ends of the wound and apply pressure to them. That'll stem the flow."

"'Through'?" She blanched, realizing what he meant. "I can barely lift Snarf!"

"I know… hold on…." Straining, he forced himself to roll onto his side, barely managing to hold himself steady as MoonGlo did her best to bandage his torso. "Not good, I'm really dizzy. I've already lost too much—" He coughed into his hand, staring at the blood covering his palm with a frown. "Internal bleeding… and Pumyra's not here…." Just as MoonGlo tightened the bandages, he slowly rolled onto his back, clearly having trouble breathing. Closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the floor, he asked, "Where's Cheetara? She can manage field surgery, and I'm in desperate need of it right now…."

Panicked, she snapped her head around to turn her attention to the snarf. "Snarf! I need Cheetara quickly!"

"I'm doing what I can!" the creature replied, still slapping the cheetah's cheeks. At the fluttering of the Thundercat's eyes, the snarf cried out, "Cheetara! We need your help!"

Cheetara looked around, unable to focus well on anything around her, though it was debatable if it was because of her broken nose or the head wound. "Wha—Snarf? What happened?"

"Forget about that, Tygra needs help!"

"Tygra?" Cheetara's eyes finally focused, but when she looked over the creature's shoulder to where MoonGlo knelt beside the tiger, her entire demeanor changed from confused to petrified. She attempted to scramble to her feet, but kept collapsing right back to her knees. Giving up, she crawled over to him. "Tygra!"

"Please don't scream," he barely managed to cough. "I'm not dead yet."

"He says he needs field surgery, Cheetara," MoonGlo said, trying her best not to have an overly emotional reaction. "He's lost a lot of blood and says he's dizzy."

Cheetara put a hand over her forehead, her eyes losing focus briefly. "I… I think I can do that…." She sat back on her heels, put her palms firmly against her temples, and shook her head. "By Thundera, if the headache wasn't bad enough, my sixth sense is going insane! Pumyra's in grave danger!"

"If she took off after Sincline, I can believe it." Tygra's eyes opened briefly. "We can contact Lion-O and Panthro immediately, but they won't get there in time to help her, even with the Thundertank." He closed his eyes again, wincing. "Is Bengali alright?"

"I'm alive but not in good shape," Bengali replied just as he climbed the last few steps, a hand to his bleeding head. He growled when he saw the others, Lynx-O not far behind him. "And blurred vision or not, something tells me I'm still in better shape than the rest of you."

"Can you go after Pumyra?"

"Unfortunately, I'm in no condition to help to her at all. If the fall alone didn't give me a concussion, I'll be shocked. Besides, I hardly think either of you are in any condition to guard the Lair."

"Lynx-O—" MoonGlo started, but the old man interrupted her before she could continue.

"I can't keep up with Pumyra when she takes off in a rage," he stated. "By the time I get there, she'll already be inside the castle and beyond my ability to help."

Tygra's eyes flashed. "Shining Glory."

"Okay, you've entered the confusion stage of blood loss," his brother told him sternly, picking him up in his arms. "Lynx-O, help Cheetara to the infirmary. Snarf, get down to the Feliner and use the communicator in it to contact Lion-O and Panthro. It's the best we can do right now; we're just going to have to hope it's enough." Snarf took off like a shot.

"I'm not confused yet," Tygra snapped. He gagged for a moment, as if he was going to be sick, but managed to hold it back with a swallow. "The machine is finished, just untested. If we can get Shining Glory out of the Sphere, he'll be able to help—even if all he can do is teleport someone into Castle Plun-Darr."

"I'll do it," MoonGlo stated, getting to her feet, a hand against the wall to help her keep her balance. "You get Cheetara and Tygra to the infirmary."

Bengali looked at her in surprise. "You can't—"

"What else am I going to do? Sit around and twiddle my thumbs? Do what you need to, and I'll do what I can!" Without bothering to wait for an answer, she ran as fast as she dared down the hallway—not towards the control room, but rather to the weapons room. Opening the door, she stepped inside and grabbed the Sphere of Light. "Shining Glory, I know you can hear me," she told it as she took it from the weapons room and headed towards the spare room Panthro had been building his machine in. "We're in serious trouble! Pumyra took off after the mutants of Plun-Darr by herself, and they've got a dangerous man with them—he just took out three Thundercats without trying! Snarf's getting in touch with Lion-O and Panthro right now, but they might not be able to get to her in time. I hope Panthro's machine is able to get you out without destroying the Sphere; I'm taking a huge risk by running this thing without him having tested it!"

Placing the Sphere on the small platform built for it, she quickly started flipping switches and turning dials, watching the power levels carefully. Glancing at the Sphere, she tried to gauge the effect the electrical streams were having on it.

The shadow of a face appeared over the crystalized surface. "More… power…" an unfamiliar voice echoed through the room. "Spell… cracking…."

"MoonGlo!" Snarf pattered into the room. "Are you insane? Panthro hasn't—"

"Pumyra needs help immediately, and I fully agree with Tygra on this! Even if all Shining Glory can do is to open a doorway to Castle Plun-Darr for you to go through and help her, then it's more help than she had before!" Snapping a few more switches, and turning all the dials as high as they could go, she glanced at the power level and screamed in frustration, banging her hands against the panel. "I can't increase the power anymore! It's as high as Panthro designed it to go!"

"For a first test, maybe!" Snarf started dashing about the room and snapping power cables together. "I know how Panthro thinks, he always has ways to increase power if it's needed! Pop open the panel on the control board and hand me the cord end in there!"

She did as she was told; as she held the cord out to him, however, she noticed he'd hooked up his own set of cables to the power of the Lair itself without grounding them. She quickly dropped the cord, acting as if she were in sudden pain. "Ooh, my back!"

"Don't worry about—SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARF!" A massive electrical current surged through the wires as Snarf plugged the cord end into his cable. Electricity engulfed the creature as at least three parts of the machine blew up.

Covering her face with her arm, she dashed out of the room, leaning up against the wall as she stared in shock at the smoke billowing out from the doorway.

After a moment, Snarf stepped out, the intact Sphere in his hands, his singed fur standing on end as he gave her an incredulous look. "You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?" he asked her blandly.

"I'm sorry, Snarf," she replied with embarrassment. "I have to think of the baby first."

He sighed, probably unable to decide if he should berate her or not. "Well, I have no idea if that plan worked or not. I saw a figure come out of the crystal before disappearing again, but only Cheetara will be able to tell us if the sorcerer actually made it out or not."

Disappointed, she asked, "Were you able to contact Lion-O and Panthro?"

"They're heading to Castle Plun-Darr now. Lion-O already knows we were attacked, they were on their way back here when—" She gasped as an unfamiliar pain suddenly shot through her entire frame. "MoonGlo, are you alright?"

Feeling her legs shake beneath her, she gripped the edge of the doorway to keep herself standing. "Um… Snarf? I… I need to sit… and I'm not sure I can do it without help…."

---

Pumyra peeked out from behind the tree, studying the landscape around Castle Plun-Darr meticulously with a scowl. Someone's been busy, she thought. There's hardly a square inch left that isn't covered in something deadly. This is going to be difficult. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a flash bomb. This will give me just long enough to cross the bridge before someone comes out to look. She reached for her slingshot, stared in surprise at her bare waist, then cussed at herself. That's right. I dropped it and didn't think to pick it up again before taking off. Shoot, how am I going to….

She looked around, spotted a sturdy-looking vine hanging off a nearby tree, ripped it from its hold, and frowned at it. "This will have to do," she sighed, creating a sloppy makeshift slingshot out of it. She loaded the flash bomb and then swung the vine around above her head, trying to get a feel for the weight of it and its balance. Once she was sure she had it, she let it fly, then ran blindly into it as it went off, keeping her eyes covered with her arm and hoping she stayed on the bridge.

As soon as her feet touched soil again, she glanced around and leapt up along the edges of the front entrance until she found a decent perch on the carved head. Keeping herself flat against the stone, she watched as several mutants came out of the castle to look around, both of them looking bored. "What do you think caused the flash?" the reptilian asked the jackalman.

"I don't care, honestly," was the reply. "It looked no different from the gases reacting to each other at night."

She waited until the two of them went back inside, then pushed herself up to get a better look at the walls behind her. "Can't believe I didn't set off any alarms," she muttered. "I better proceed as if I'm walking into a trap." Glaring at the abused vine, she tossed it aside, turned to the castle wall, and placed her hands against the bricks, studying the wall for the nearest window. Well, I might not be anywhere near as strong as some of the others, she thought, digging her claws into the crumbling mortar around a brick, but I certainly find my own way to do things. She ripped the brick out of the wall, tossed it into the foliage, stood up, put her foot in the hole she'd made, then proceeded to repeat her trick as quickly as she could further up the wall, basically creating her own ladder to enter Castle Plun-Darr.

Just underneath the sill of the window she'd picked, she clung to her self-made hand-holds and listened intently to what was going on inside the building. When she was certain there was no one nearby, she took a peek over the sill, stuck her claws under the edge of the windowpane, and lifted it open just enough for her to squeeze inside.

She glanced up and down the hallway, cursing when she realized there was no cover for her to use. "Well, time to cross my fingers and hope for the best." With that, she dashed down the passage, hoping she was headed towards the dungeons.

---

Bengali carried Tygra into the infirmary, quickly getting him on a bed. He didn't know what was worse: the headache, the amped-up nausea, the blurred vision, or the fearful thought he might really lose his brother this time. "Tygra, how bad are you?"

"Very," was the reply. "I'm still losing blood…."

"I can stem the bleeding for a while," Lynx-O told them as he helped Cheetara into the room, "certainly long enough for you to patch up Cheetara sufficiently for her to perform a field surgery on him."

"Then get her seated until I can tend to her!" Bengali put a hand on his brother's chest to hold him steady while he quickly examined the situation. As if all the symptoms of a concussion weren't bad enough, now his brother's heartbeat was becoming erratic. "This isn't good at all. Tygra, I'm going to knock you out."

"Please do," Tygra groaned, as Lynx-O came over and applied pressure to the stab wound. "It'll slow my heart and the bleeding, and I need to be under for what Cheetara's going to have to do, anyway."

Without a moment's hesitation, Bengali dashed to the cabinet and quickly pulled open the drawer Pumyra kept her tranquilizers in, grabbed one, then ran back to his brother's side and shot the drug into Tygra's arm. "Here; this should knock you out for a few hours."

"Why did you know exactly where Pumyra keeps those?" Lynx-O asked suspiciously.

"This is hardly the time for questions like that!"

Once Tygra passed out, Bengali turned to Cheetara and swiftly cleaned the blood away from her head wound as she held a handkerchief to her still-bleeding nose and forcefully yanked the broken bone back into position with a gasp. Just as he finished bandaging her head and was about to work on her nose, she suddenly queried, "Where's Rainbow Brite?"

Lynx-O's ears twitched just before his head snapped up in shock. "She isn't in the Lair! The mutants must've gotten her; that would explain why Pumyra took out after them!"

Bengali growled, irritated at feeling so helpless. "How'd they even know she was here? We tried to keep her presence hidden so Mumm-Ra wouldn't find her!"

"They must've found out somehow—"

A familiar scampering noise echoed down the hallway, preceding Snarf's arrival by only a moment or two. "SNARF! We've got a problem!"

"A problem?" Cheetara snapped. "Try several!"

"Another problem, then! MoonGlo's water broke!"

The two Thundercats stared at the snarf in shock, stunned speechless. In the dead silence, Lynx-O calmly stated, "We just knocked out the only person aside from Pumyra who knows how to deliver a cub, didn't we."

Bengali clenched his teeth together in a combination of anger and panic, his mind racing despite the pounding in his head to come up with solutions. "Fu—fine! Everything's going to be just fine! Snarf, get back to the Feliner to tell Lion-O and Panthro the mutants must've taken Rainbow, she's not in the Lair! DO NOT tell either of them about MoonGlo's condition!"

"But—"

"Knowing that is not going to help the matter, and Pumyra's situation just got worse! Move it!" As the snarf hastened to do as he'd been instructed, Bengali turned to his patient. "Okay, if my exceedingly limited knowledge of birthing is correct, we don't have to worry about anything happening for a few hours at the least. Cheetara, get to work on Tygra. When Snarf gets back, I'm going to have him speed-read through Pumyra's books and look for step-by-step instructions on delivering a cub."

"But I'll be working on Tygra, Lynx-O can't see, and no one else is here," Cheetara asked, looking up at him in shock, "so who's going to deliver the cub?"

He grimaced, resisting the urge to throw up. "Worse case scenario, who do you think?" he replied through clenched teeth.

---

Notes:

1. Originally, I was going to have more characters from Golion appear in the story for Sincline to obsess over. I could not make it work. That's when it hit me: without them, Sincline has nothing left. If anything is going to make him incredibly dangerous, it would be that horrifying realization, and guarantee a serious enmity between him and Mumm-Ra. Much more fun to write about!

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Eight

Sincline threw open the door, glaring at the mutant commanders sitting around the table. They looked back at him in a combination of shock and guilt, the cards in their hands betraying the slightest of shudders, as if none of them knew whether to hide their game or not. The prince could've cared less about that; his people could do whatever they wanted in their free time. What did bother him was the unhappy idea of what, exactly, had been withheld from him when he first awoke. Something told him it was far more important than he'd initially thought.

On the opposite side of the room, relaxing in a chair from where she could easily observe the game but not bother to participate, Duchess Ravenwaves raised an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong, prince?" she asked, barely paying any attention to the lowly mutant soldier kneeling beside her, jerking off as she gently petted his forehead.

"I want to know what Mumm-Ra insisted I not be told," he stated. "I'm getting the very strong suspicion he did so to manipulate me."

She considered the statement for a moment. "It does sound like something he'd do," she admitted. "Especially if he'd been watching someone long enough to determine what—or who—they wanted or needed."

He shot her a sharp glare. That, he thought, confirms some of my suspicions… and I will have to be very careful around her from now on. This manipulator is a sneaky little—

Before he could finish the thought, Monkian interrupted. "But what if Mumm-Ra was right and telling you would make you insane?"

The prince felt a sharp flash of fury shoot through his entire frame, raising his body temperature a few degrees. That bastard, he thought. He's been influencing these idiots so long they fear distrusting him completely. A hint of movement caught his eye, and he turned his full attention to the coward. Within seconds, he'd grabbed the jackal by his neck and slammed him against the wall. "Tell me now," he ordered, his tone brooking no arguments.

As he'd hoped, Jackalman didn't bother trying to bluff. "He didn't want you to know you've been sealed away for longer than just a few months or years!" was the unexpected answer. "You're barely remembered as more than a legend of lost glory, the empire you were once heir to has been gone for millennia, and every mutant in this castle is all that's left of it!"

It suddenly felt as if his blood was replaced with ice water. "Everything… everyone I knew… is gone." Which means Fala… is forever beyond my reach….

Even though it wasn't worded as a question, the jackal nodded emphatically. "Mumm-Ra said you'd lose your mind if we told you that." His ears folded back. "Have you?"

Sincline slowly returned Jackalman to the floor. "No." Turning to Ravenwaves, he queried, "Where does your father live?"

"In the Black Pyramid," she replied. "I'm guessing you want me to let you in." As the mutant she was petting started to make a familiar guttural noise, she flipped around and snapped at him, "Remember what I told you! Don't aim for the dress!"

Livid, he aimed his attention at the reptilian sitting at the table. He rules my people like an idiot, lies to me like a backstabbing coward— "Slythe, once we've taken care of our little intruder, you and Ravenwaves are taking me to Mumm-Ra. I am going to have a very personal… discussion with him." His mind was already lining up the pieces and creating a mental picture which infuriated him further. That bandaged sack of bones knew I'd search for Fala as long as I thought she was still alive. If I'd known its been millennia since he trapped me, I wouldn't have fallen for that mistake.

He glanced briefly around the room. I better not let these idiots figure it out, though; let them assume I just have a thing for blonds and something else ticked me off. "It is time he learned who is truly in charge of the inhabitants of this castle."

---

She's not in the dungeons, Pumyra thought, poking her nose out the door cautiously as she snuck past the two guards she'd knocked out. I guess Slythe wasn't in charge of this operation, then. Now, if I were a smug newcomer commander with a penchant for blonds, where would I take her? She scowled, the horrible decoration of a decapitated corpse in a glass coffin gracing the hall making her sick. If he's a sleazebag, she's probably in his room. In her condition, she certainly wouldn't be able to fight back. Dashing into a darkened corner, she studied the inside of the castle. The next question, then, is which room would he be staying in? Second floor, where it would be easier to hear a fight before being involved in it? Probably. Whoever this man is, I doubt "idiot" is part of his personality.

Taking a risk, she kept quiet until she was certain no one was nearby, then swiftly ran across the hall and up the stairs, dodging down a hallway just before a door opened somewhere. That was too close. Glancing down the passage, she tiptoed to the closest door and put her ear against it.

Just as she did, the door swung open, almost throwing her off balance. She stared up in shock at Sincline, who glared right back at her as if she were the source of all his problems. Just as she realized the imminent danger she was in, he drew his sword and snapped it towards her. Jumping backward into a wall, she did the only sensible thing which immediately came to mind: RUN.

Flying down the hallway as fast as her legs could carry her, she resisted the urge to panic when she heard him head after her. By Thundera, I'd had no intentions of fighting him—he took out Bengali, Tygra, and Cheetara, I'm no match for that kind of brute force! And now he's catching up to me! She saw the dead end in front of her as she continued racing through the passage, immediately casting her gaze around in an attempt to find some sort of aid. What do I do, what do I—ah! Hoping Sincline would be caught off-guard, she leapt up to a ceiling light she spotted, grabbed onto it, swung her feet against the ceiling, and used the force of the blow to jump over Sincline as he skidded underneath her in surprise.

She yelped in shock as a throwing dagger smacked into her right shoulder, the metal missing her shoulder blade by only a fraction of an inch. She didn't waste any time looking behind her, though, taking off again at a dead run as she heard his cry of, "Slythe, NOW!"

She didn't have long to ponder the strange order, as the four commanders immediately crowded into the hallway from the room Sincline had been in, potentially blocking any possible escape. Yanking another flashbomb from her pouch, she threw it before her as hard as she could with her left hand, covered her eyes with her arm, and jumped. The sound of the bomb going off echoed in her ears, and as soon as she felt her feet touch something—head, shoulders, arm, she didn't care—she leapt forward again, daring to uncover her eyes—just in time to realize she was heading over the banister and into the entryway.

Reaching down in a panic, she barely manage to grab onto the railing with her right hand, yanking her entire arm and jarring the dagger still sticking out of her. Barely holding back the shriek of pain, she glanced up just in time to see Sincline raising his sword over his head, intending to hack her hand off. She immediately let go, twisting in the air to land on her feet, and took off again towards the dungeons. There was a thump behind her, and she knew without needing to turn around the man was still right on her heels.

As soon as she dashed through the door, she jumped again, clinging to another ceiling light, but this time anticipating he wouldn't expect her to stay still. Unfortunately, he seemed to second-guess her motives, immediately throwing another dagger at her as he crashed through the portal after her. She barely dodged it, threw herself at him with a yell, only to screech in fright as he stepped aside, grabbed her ankle, and tossed her into a wall. "Fool me once," he snarled at her, his sword swinging down at her just before she managed to roll aside.

Grabbing another pellet, she flung it at his face. It exploded just before it reached him, releasing a noxious gas that would cause his lungs to flare up in protest and his eyes to immediately tear up in order to prevent harm to his body. Not daring to underestimate him again—with her rotten streak of luck, he'd probably shake off the effects in less than thirty seconds—she flew out of the room again…

…and ran right into Slythe.

"What the—?" was all the reptilian had time to say before she kneed him in the crotch as hard as possible. As he fell to the floor with a squeak, she ducked beneath Monkian's mace, slammed her shoulder into his stomach—a move she immediately regretted as pain from her wound shot through her entire frame—and turned on her heel to run in the opposite direction as Jackalman and several other reptilians tripped over their fallen companions.

Thank Jaga I can deal with mutants, she thought dashing down another hallway, but I don't know how to deal with that Sincline! The only reason I'm probably still alive is because all I've done is run away from him!

A hand popped out of an open doorway, grabbed her right arm, and yanked her through the portal. Before she had time to screech in pain, another hand clapped over her mouth as the door shut on its own, somehow remaining impossibly silent. She was pulled against the wall, her back still to the stranger, and froze at the unfamiliar voice telling her firmly, "Keep quiet, he's still hot on your trail." The dagger was pulled from her shoulder and tossed aside, and a warm cloth pressed tightly against the wound. "The spell I just cast will only make us unseen to him, not unheard."

The door crashed open, and a furious Sincline shot through it, glaring about him in a murderous rage. Twice he seemed to look directly at her, but his eyes slid past, as if he was unable to focus on her. Spotting the bloodied dagger on the floor, he picked it up with a scowl, spun on his heel, and stalked out of the room, shouting angry orders at the mutants to find her.

As the door was slammed shut again by the exiting man, Pumyra twisted around to face her rescuer. She blinked in surprise at him, recognizing immediately he was blind from his blank and fogged eyes, and wondering how he had snuck into Castle Plun-Darr without raising any alarms.

He faced the wall separating them from the hallway, a finger pressed to his lips in a silent gesture that it was still unsafe to speak. It gave her a moment to look him over, taking in the silver hair which hung to just below his shoulders, his clean-shaven face, and the violet robe with white trim he wore tied at the waist with a white sash. Finally, he said in a low whisper as if to himself, "That is a dangerous man. My spells won't be effective against him for long." Turning to her, he asked, "You are the one called Pumyra, I assume?"

"Yes," she replied cautiously, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a roll of emergency bandage. "And you are—?"

"I am the sorcerer, Shining Glory. MoonGlo activated the machine that had been built to release me, begging me to help you until Lion-O and Panthro arrive." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I hope it wasn't revenge that caused you to come here."

She shook her head as she bandaged her own shoulder. "To be honest, not entirely. That bastard kidnapped my patient; she's in a partially comatose state and quite helpless—I can't leave her at his mercy!"

His eyes narrowed in thought. "Hmm… we'll have to find her, then."

"I can certainly tell you she's not in the dungeons. I'd thought he might have her in his room, but I ran into him before I could pinpoint where it might be."

"I'm not be a warrior like you, but I should be able to help. Is she one of the interdimensional beings like Indigo and Violet?"

"Yes."

"Then she'll have the same traces of their dimension they do." Closing his eyes, he held his hands close to each other, only the fingertips touching. A soft blue glow surrounded the digits as he suddenly drew strange symbols in the air, each one vanishing a split second after he finished them. There was a soft pop, and a moment later Shining Glory opened his eyes again. "She's four floors above us, sitting by a window… and there's something wrong with her."

Pumyra felt her hackles rise in fury as she pulled out a syringe with anesthetic and shot it into her shoulder. "Did that bastard already—"

"Not that," he interrupted gently. "He hasn't laid a hand on her. No, there's something else going on with her which bothers me greatly. I have vague recollections of Cheetara mentioning in passing someone was rescued from Mumm-Ra's Pyramid, and she wasn't in good shape. Is this the same woman?"

"Yes, she is, did… did Mumm-Ra do something to her?" Despite the danger the two of them were in, the potential answer to a question that had been bothering her for over a year nonetheless caught her full attention.

"I dare not speculate yet. I will need to examine her closely first."

---

Ravenwaves had watched almost the whole spectacle from the third floor, leaving the meeting room after the fiasco had started to climb the stairs and lean casually against the banister. "So that's a Thundercat," she said aloud to no one in particular. "Fascinating. If they're all like that, it's no wonder Father hates them." She tapped her fingers against her lips, thinking carefully. I wonder what would've caused the female to follow Sincline all the way here from the Lair, she pondered. Goody-two-shoes aren't known for revenge, so that can't be it. They were, however, well known for protecting the innocent, helping the helpless—

—and rescuing the kidnapped.

The duchess smiled, her gaze slowly moving upwards towards Sincline's bedroom. That Thundercat's here for the blond. It would certainly explain why she ran away instead of fighting. Alright, I have her motives figured out…

…now what about our dearly upset prince? Knowing Father, he really did want to manipulate Sincline, so the information he wanted withheld must've contained something which would… what? Hmm, let's think here…. Sincline said, "Everything, everyone I knew, is gone". He must've thought the blond was someone else, someone who isn't around anymore just from sheer amount of time.

An unfamiliar noise from outside caught her attention, and curious, she headed to the nearest window to poke her head out. A vehicle perfectly fitting Vulture-Man's description of the Thundertank was heading straight for the castle, and there was no doubt in her mind the two occupants were more than prepared for a fight. "Well, here's an unexpected distraction. I'll bet my last pair of panties the female will use this to get the blond."

She stopped for a moment, an idea popping into her head. "Sincline was adamant about getting his hands on the blond… if he thought she was someone else… my father might've taken that into account… which means Father wanted the blond kidnapped…." She reached into her cleavage and pulled out the onyx vial she kept there, staring at it for a moment. "I wonder…. Is it her?"

Rotating, she returned to the main hall, calling downstairs musically, "Sincline, we've got company! I think that Thundercat called her friends!" And while you're dealing with them, I'm going to see if my hunch is correct.

---

Though the blast rocking Castle Plun-Darr was unexpected, it wasn't unfamiliar. "That's the Thundertank!" Pumyra said, relief washing over her. "Lion-O and Panthro will keep the mutants occupied while we get to Rainbow Brite!"

"I hope they manage to survive," Shining Glory admitted, sounding a little doubtful. "That Sincline is not to be taken lightly."

"If they were told what damage he caused at the Lair, they'll know to be on guard. Come on!" Taking his hand, she opened the door and walked brazenly down the hall. As she'd hoped, all the mutants were flooding towards the front entrance, determined to protect their home against the Thundertank. Still on her guard, however, she acted as if Sincline was hunting the two of them down, and proceeded to head up the nearest set of stairs at a dead run, leading the sorcerer along behind her.

Just as they reached the midfloor of the building, Shining Glory stopped and pointed towards a door partially hidden by the strange design of the castle. "She's over there."

Heading straight for it, Pumyra opened the portal and stepped through. Rainbow Brite was indeed sitting by the window, just as the sorcerer had claimed, a master-less puppet with its strings cut and taking up space. The puma helped him over the wreckage littering the floor of the room as she asked, "Can you tell what's wrong with her now?"

As soon as he was beside Rainbow Brite, he put one hand upon her shoulder, then the other on top of her head. His frown deepened. "This isn't good. Her soul is missing."

"Her… what?!"

"It's an ancient forbidden spell. It separates the soul from the body, creating a false limbo absolutely torturous to the person it's cast upon. Her body will continue moving on its own without the ability to think, and her soul still wanders this life unable to affect anything around it. Unless Mumm-Ra deliberately trapped her soul in a vessel, there's nothing any of us can do to help her."

Pumyra stared at him in horror, attempting to wrap her mind around what she'd just been told. "Why? Why would he do something like that?"

"There are only two people who can answer that question: Mumm-Ra and Rainbow Brite. She's in no condition to answer, and I seriously doubt we could get him to tell us."

"There's actually three people able to answer her question, Shining Glory."

Pumyra flipped around, staring in shock at the midnight-haired human who had snuck up upon the two of them. Situating herself between the well-dressed woman and the pair by the window, the puma reached into her pouch to pull out a pellet for defense.

"Ravenwaves?" The sorcerer sounded absolutely astounded. "What—how are you here? You should be—"

"Dead, I know, but Father enjoys incarceration more than anything else. I'll even bet your precious Lovely Locks is still around somewhere, too." She held out a little black bottle, wearing a mischievously evil grin. "I know you can feel the magic in my hand, Shining Glory, even if you can't see it. Is this what the blond over there needs?" At his quick intake of breath, she laughed. "It is, isn't it? That answers my question! I remember the day Father ripped her soul out and stuffed it into this vial—that woman had escaped one too many times for his sensibilities, and he was quite fed up with her!"

Shining Glory's voice was calm yet commanding. "Ravenwaves, please give us the bottle. There's no need for you to prolong her agony."

The human smiled sweetly, an undertone of venom still touching her eyes as she looked over Pumyra's shoulder at the sorcerer. "I shouldn't," she chirped playfully. "Father gave me this soul and told me to keep it for all eternity." Glancing at it, she suddenly frowned, adding sourly, "Of course… I hate him more than even Lovely Locks at the moment." Without warning, she tossed the bottle into the air.

Pumyra leapt forward, snatching the bottle in both hands before it could smash against the floor. As she scrambled to her feet, she couldn't help asking, "Why?"

Ravenwaves shrugged. "Why what? I have no quarrel with you, Cat Lady." She grinned again. "Someone else, however—" She turned and screamed out at the top of her lungs, "Vulture-Man, the Thundercat is stealing Sincline's woman back!"

"You bitch!" the puma snapped, pushing the laughing human out of the room and slamming the door shut in her face. Grabbing a nearby bureau, she shoved the unit against the portal. Even with the anesthetic numbing her shoulder, she could tell she was damaging the wound further. "That's not going to hold them for long, but it might be enough for you to fix Rainbow! If we can get her to walk out of here under her own power, it'll be one less thing I have to worry about!"

"Give me the bottle," Shining Glory insisted. As soon as the vial was in his hand, he immediately started casting a spell. "This is not going to be an easy curse to counter. Are you able to keep anyone from disrupting me?"

"I'm certainly going to try," she answered. "Just do what you need to."

---

The mutants were all too easy by this point. No matter how many of them there were, the majority really weren't all that original, making them nothing more than a familiar exercise to Lion-O. It was clearly a thought Panthro shared, as he certainly didn't need to do more than knock a few skulls together with a snort. "I'm sure Pumyra heard our arrival from inside the castle," the panther stated, throwing an unconscious simian into a crowd of reptilians, "so what's taking her so long to get out here?"

"It's possible she hasn't found Rainbow Brite yet," Lion-O replied. "If she'd been captured, the Sword would let me know. What I want to know is the identity of the man who managed to incapacitate Tygra, Cheetara, and Bengali all by himself." The Sword suddenly growled urgently, a noise louder and more urgent than any other warning he'd ever gotten before. As if something within it was screaming at him, he rapidly twisted around and stabbed the Sword of Omens just over Panthro's head—barely stopping the blade that almost cleaved into his skull.

The blue-skinned man's lips twisted only slightly, as if he were amused. "You," he stated, immediately attacking the lion. "You're the leader!"

Lion-O felt anger surge through his entire frame. "And you're the one who attacked my friends!" he snarled back, deliberately holding back the fury so he could concentrate on the coldly calculated attacks raining down upon him. Dodging a potentially fatal stab, he wrapped his arm around his opponent's and threw him hard against the side of the tank, disarming him.

The blow should've dazed him, but with only a quick shake of his head, the stranger was back on his feet. Before he could resume his bout against Lion-O, however, Panthro's nun-chucks wrapped around his wrist and yanked him to the side, unbalancing him. Lion-O quickly took care of two reptilians as Panthro grappled with the strange man, who seemed to be the panther's equal in strength despite his smaller frame.

"Prince Sincline!" a jackal called out, tossing the dropped sword towards the newcomer. "Your weapon!"

The now identified Sincline easily plucked the blade from the air and turned it on Panthro, who barely managed to maneuver so the stab aimed for him instead thrust into the dashboard of the Thundertank. Lion-O leapt towards the pair, slamming Sincline's blade back against the controls with the Sword of Omens just as he freed it. His attention once more on the Lord of the Thundercats, the prince pulled his sword out from under Lion-O's, attempting to land a killing blow, only for it to be blocked by the Claw Shield.

This… wasn't so easy, anymore.

---

Notes:

1. Yes, I truly believe Shining Glory is that awesome—rescuing people he doesn't know, recognizing evil immediately, knowing how to fix problems, calm and collected no matter what situation he finds himself in (feel free to disagree with me). As far as I'm concerned, he is THE best character from Lady Lovely Locks.

From the Past of Third Earth, Part Two:

Lost Prince, Chapter Nine

Who… what… where…?

She blinked. Who… I… am…. Rainbow Brite… leader of the Color Kids… protector of Rainbow Land…. Closing her eyes, she rotated her head as it slowly became easier to connect her thoughts together. I've been… trapped… split in two… by Mumm-Ra… for daring to escape his control…. Opening her eyes, she looked up, and reality came crashing down on her all at once. Two sets of vision flashed back and forth before her eyes, momentarily making her dizzy: one she knew to be the real world, the other a visualization of light and color, including a ghostly layer or rainbows above it all, exposing the true nature of whatever she looked at. Normally she had better control of what she could see, but she could tell immediately it had been centuries since she'd done so.

Besides, right now she had a different concern. She was looking at a room and two people she'd never seen before.

"Where am I?" she asked, staring at them in confusion. She blinked, trying to control the visual layers and failing. "This isn't Mumm-Ra's Pyramid, is it?"

"Nope," the female replied, leaning her full weight against a bureau which had been shoved against the only door in the room. Something about her seemed cat-like, a trait somewhat humorous to Rainbow Brite, though the bloody bandage in her shoulder was far less amusing. Her coloring was bright and cheerful against the dull gray of the room, especially her browns and whites. Over her was a luminescence of additional colors, a veritable warm rainbow of positivity, though there was a condensed cold black around the general area of her heart. "You haven't been there in over a year. We're in Castle Plun-Darr, and we need to get out of here before the mutants get in!" A loud blast from the other side of the door caused it to shudder under the strain, splinters popping out of place with the force of the blow. "Ah, crap! If he keeps that up, I'm not going to be able to stop him!"

"I suppose the window is out of the question," the old man asked, facing the female but not looking at her. Just like her, he was more colorful than the room, but his ghostly layer was so bright it was almost lit from within. The undertones of warm indigos and violets were especially powerful, almost overshadowing the other colors.

"The Thundertank does have a zipline, but it requires someone to shoot it. I don't suppose you could teleport us out?"

"I can only teleport myself, I'm afraid. If I thought I could aim it accurately, I'd try shooting the zipline myself."

Rainbow Brite listened to this bizarre exchange, trying to figure out what was going on as she pulled her hair out of her face. Allies outside the building, enemies outside the door, a man who practically reeks of—"Can you seal the door with magic?" she asked the old man in a moment of silence, blinking deliberately as the secondary vision finally came under her control once more. Good, I can turn it off and on again.

"Only temporarily."

"Temporary is all we need." Standing up, she faced the nearest window, poking her head out of it to find the allies. Tank, tank… yeah, I guess that could qualify as a tank. She blinked, turning on the otherworldly layer, and watched the occupants for a moment.

It was easy to see who the allies were. They were practically a beacon on the gloomy landscape their colors were so solid; one's inner warm rainbow was dominated more by red and blue, the other of green, violet and a surprisingly warm black. The machine they were in practically blazed with white and black, almost blinding against the animalistic and depressingly gray monsters attempting to deluge it. Those poor creatures were so overwhelmed by their own cold drab colors, it was clear they were no match for the colorful men.

Only one creature seemed to be a legitimate problem: a blue-skinned man who engaged the red-head's sole attention when he entered the fray. His inner colors were also cold, but unlike the other monsters, they were bright and not even remotely steady. Frozen shades of orange, blue, indigo, and black especially surrounded him in a moving marbled mishmash, as if he were in a constant state of mental chaos.

She reached for her belt, planning to send a signal of some sort, scowling in anger as she remembered the Rainbow Belt had been destroyed. Blinking so she could see reality for what it truly was once more, she turned back to her two unexpected companions. "Do we have anything we can use to get a signal to the two down there?"

The female tossed her a small white ball, still holding the bureau against the door as the old man—clearly a wizard or something—finished writing strange glowing words in the air, creating a blue glow around the edge of the doorframe. "Smash that against the castle wall without looking at it, and it'll give Lion-O and Panthro a target to aim the zipline at!"

"Can do." Closing her eyes, she leaned out the window and slammed the ball against the outside wall has hard as she could.

---

Panthro glanced up at the noise, spotting Pumyra's flashbomb almost five floors off the ground. "Its about time," he muttered, tossing aside two jackals before glancing behind him at the struggling duelists. Lion-O was holding his own against Sincline, but only barely. We've got to take that bastard out quickly or we'll never get out of here, he thought. He blinked, knocking out a simian he spotted out of the corner of his eye as his idea slowly formed itself into something he could work with. "Bastard"… he's half-mutant! I bet I know what'll get this jerk's panties in a knot.

Leaping back into the fray, he wrapped his nun-chucks around the prince's arm again. "I've got to give you credit, young man," he taunted, smirking as Sincline's attention turned to him. "You fight pretty well for a half-breed." He deliberately added the emphasis on Plun-Darr's worst insult to really get the ball rolling.

As he'd hoped, the prince's expression twisted into one of unadulterated wrath. He almost ignored his opponent completely, giving the young lord the opportunity he needed to smack his Claw Shield into Sincline's face. It dazed him just long enough for Panthro to heft him up and toss him with full force against the nearest wall, hopefully knocking him out for a few minutes. "Where did he come from?" Lion-O gasped, clearly shaken from facing such a dangerous adversary.

"We'll figure it out later," Panthro told him. "Keep the mutants out of the tank, I've got to send the zipline to Pumyra."

---

It was with a cry of relief Pumyra heard the zipline's harpoon-like end slam into the castle wall just above the window. "Time to leave!" she shouted at Rainbow Brite, grabbing Shining Glory just as he finished casting his spell. "You first, missy!"

The blond made a face, looking quite as if she wanted to stay and fight, but also mature enough to recognize this was hardly the time to do so. With a snarl worthy of any Thunderian, the young woman reached up, grabbed the first of the three zipline pullies, and leapt fearlessly out of the window.

Shining Glory looked quite startled. "What in the world—"

"I trusted you," Pumyra told him, "now it's your turn to trust me." She helped him grab the handles of the next pully. "Hold onto this, don't let go, and jump out—it might be a rough landing, but you'll be fine. I'm right behind you."

"If you say so," he said with a wince, clearly not happy with this arrangement but knowing better than to argue.

As he jumped out, she turned, pulled another ball from her pouch, and popped it open. Fiddling with the tiny controls inside of it, she created a delayed reaction in the small explosive. "Enjoy the parting gift," she quipped, closing the ball, tossing it towards the door, and bounding from the window as she snatched the last pully. Though her shoulder was numb, she could feel the muscles around the wound pulling uncomfortably as she threw her weight out the window.

As soon as her feet landed inside the tank, Lion-O yanked hard on the zipline, allowing it to retract back into the tank's specialized storage for it. "Let's go, Panthro," he ordered, leaping into the front seat as she collapsed onto one of the free chairs in the back of the tank.

The explosive she'd left behind detonated, creating enough of a distraction for Panthro to reverse the tank, turn it around, and head right back to the Lair. With a deep sigh, she clasped her hands over her face, finally allowing her thoughts to stray back to the horror she'd left behind at the Lair. Too late to correct her mistake, she slowly realized she should never have taken Slythe at his word and checked her friends to see if she could've saved them. "Lion-O, Panthro," she started to say. "The others—"

"They're still alive, Pumyra," Panthro told her firmly, urging the Thundertank to move as quickly as possible. "None of them are in good shape, but they're alive." His tone wasn't entirely accusatory, as if he seemed to understand her split decision but just didn't agree with it.

"Cheetara and Bengali will be fine," Lion-O added, turning around to face her. He looked as shaken as she felt. "Our main concern right now is Tygra; Sincline did a serious number on him."

"I'm sorry," she sighed, resisting the urge to cry. "I screwed up."

"I would love it if someone could explain to me what the hell is going on," Rainbow Brite said suddenly, crossing her arms.

Lion-O turned his attention to her with a surprised look. "Well, I'm glad to see you got your mind back," he told her with a smile. "MoonGlo was starting to think she'd never be able to speak to you again."

The blond sat up straight like a shot, her expression one of utter astonishment. "MoonGlo?! You found her, she's okay?!"

"More than okay. She'll be thrilled to see you're alright again, Rainbow Brite." As the young woman made a closed-mouth squeal of delight, the young lord turned to the sorcerer. "Um… you, sir… I'm afraid I don't know you."

"You know of me, Lord of the Thundercats," the old man replied with a serene smile. "I am the sorcerer Shining Glory. MoonGlo released me with Panthro's machine, begging me to help Pumyra. She's lucky I found her when I did."

"It sounds like a lot happened all at once," Panthro stated. "I can't imagine the stress levels at the Lair right now—"

"Feliner to Thundertank," a familiar yet surprising voice crackled over the tank's communicator. "Feliner to Thundertank, please answer."

Lion-O immediately got back into his seat and pressed the button to reply. "Thundertank to Feliner," he answered. "Wily Kat, is that you? You're back already?"

"It is and we are," was the calm response. A little too calm, actually, especially considering what he and his sister must've found upon returning to the Lair. "I'm calling to see if you have Pumyra yet."

"We do." He blanched. "Don't tell me something else went wrong!"

"Well, not exactly. Tygra's stable, you don't need to worry about that, but… Bengali and Kit think the cub's turned the wrong way, and neither of them know what to do."

Lion-O must've been struck speechless, because it was Panthro who responded to the information. "Turned the wrong—MoonGlo went into labor?!"

"Labor?" Rainbow Brite asked, looking absolutely shocked.

"Kit says she's only dilated to five centimeters at the moment," Wily Kat continued. "Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to get Pumyra here as soon as possible. Just in case."

"We'll be there in ten minutes, Kat," Panthro said firmly.

---

Duchess Ravenwaves leaned against the banister, waving a hand in front of her face to try and keep the dust away. "Of all the people I would expect to carry a bomb," she mused as Vulture-Man pulled himself out of the rubble, "she wouldn't have been my first guess."

He sighed in irritation, casually propping his laser gun on his shoulder. "I'm not. By this point in time, I've seen every single one of them pull out tricks I've never seen before on numerous occasions. I've come to expect them storing unexpected stunts." The two of them surveyed the damage curiously; every scrap of furniture was utterly destroyed, the walls were charred and cracked, and the door—having been attacked from both sides—was scattered throughout the hall in pieces no bigger than coins. As they watched, a few pieces of rock dislodged from the ceiling and plopped onto the floor. "Well, they certainly go away. I wonder how Sincline will react once he realizes the blond has been taken."

She glanced around, making sure there was no one else nearby. "He might not care. The fact that he came straight to us barely a few moments after heading to his room to check her out tells me Father's jig is up. How the hell the prince managed to put two and two together, I have no idea." She bit her lip in irritation. "And that's just going to make things all the more irritating. Whatever motivated him before might not motivate him now, not after this revelation. It is not going to be easy to figure out what he's up to."

---

Sincline picked himself up from the ground, barely wincing as he got to his feet and stretched slightly. He noticed Slythe and the other commanders walking over to him out of the corner of his eye and mentally sighed. And so it begins, he thought. Now comes the dick-wagging in an attempt to put me down—good luck trying to drag my name through the mud. "So, Your Highness," the reptilian started, no doubt thinking he had the upper hand. He stopped the instant he realized the prince's sword had materialized at his throat.

Sincline smiled slightly. "That was fun," he said, gently tapping the tip of the blade against Slythe's chin. "Later skirmishes will prove just as enlightening, I'm sure."

"Fun?! We're supposed to be wiping the Thundercats off the face of Third Earth!"

He's ballsy, I'll give him that. I might keep him around, but I'll have to think of a way to make him useful. "Only an idiot thinks he can win an entire war with a single battle." Turning his yellow eyes on the mutant commander, he asked with a frown, "Let me guess: the so-called 'ever-living source of evil' is just that kind of an idiot." Go ahead. I've given you an opening to redeem yourself in the eyes of all the other mutants here. Might as well take it.

He could see the wheels slowly turning in Slythe's brain, no doubt weighing the responses and the potential outcomes from them. In the end, the prince's weapon still aimed for his jugular made up his mind for him. "Yeah, Mumm-Ra is just that kind of an idiot."

"Then it's a good thing we'll be paying him a visit later today, isn't it? I have a very low tolerance for stupidity." Quickly sheathing his sword, Sincline clasped his hands behind his back, surveying the damage Castle Plun-Darr had sustained. He was pleased to note all the mutants around him had once again fallen back slightly, unnerved by the legend standing in their midst. It will be a while before any of them try to confront me again. I can tell I'm still far more dangerous than any other leader they've known, and they don't know how to respond. "You know," he stated, "I'm fascinated these Thundercats didn't blow our fortress to smithereens. They certainly had the firepower for it, and I'll wager more than enough motivation."

"They never do," Monkian explained, rolling his eyes. "Their Code of Thundera forbids it."

"Code?" He glanced around at the other mutants, raising an eyebrow. "They have a code no one thought to mention to me before this?"

"It's drivel," Slythe told him, crossing his arms. "Justice, truth, honor, and loyalty—outdated notions."

Sincline's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked up to the heavens, wondering if it would do any good to ask a deity for patience. He sighed, "And suddenly this entire mess makes all too much sense." Justice is a childish notion, he pondered, easily subjective from person to person, but truth is a tool to be used to its fullest extent, and honor and loyalty are far more important than these morons realize. Blast it all, my empire really fell upon hard times after it collapsed, didn't it?

"Well," Jackalman asked, scratching his head. "What do we do now? They got your blond. Do you want to go after her again?"

And thank you for providing me with an opportunity to explain away my desire for the blond. "No, she served her purpose. I now have a far better grasp of what we're dealing with here." Shaking his head, he headed to the castle entrance. "Come. I'm sure there's much we need to look at before we head off to Mumm-Ra's stronghold. After our visit to him, we'll discuss these Thundercats in far more explicit detail." I don't know what I'll do afterwards, he fumed mentally, but I can certainly take my frustration out on that backstabber first.

Before he could head too far, another monkian grabbed his arm. He turned to look at the simian curiously. "By the way, Highness… we don't care about your parentage." To his further credit, the monkian didn't even cringe under the glare the prince leveled at him, though his eyes did dart to the prince's grip on his sword. "If you're even a fraction as good as the legends we've heard of you, then you've a better chance of winning this war against the Thundercats than Mumm-Ra ever did."

For the first time in his life, Sincline felt… relief. Looking around at the remains of his people—and they were still his people, pitiful as they'd become—he saw, not eyes judging him on his lineage, but rather judging him on his actions. They were impressed with what they saw, even the commanders.

For the first time in his entire life, he felt truly respected and accepted.

It was something he'd craved without ever realizing it, and the experience was quite heady. Relaxing a little, he felt a genuine smile curl the edges of his lips. "You needn't worry about this war," he stated, loudly enough for all of them to hear, "I will win it."

The cheers following his pledge were almost satisfying enough to wipe away the concerns that would later overcome his thoughts, almost enough to quell the anger still boiling in his heart for Mumm-Ra, so for one sweet moment, he relished in the praise being handed to him. I'll think of something, he reassured himself. I'm not quite sure what, yet, but I will think of something. After all, at least I still have some of my people left.

---

"Sorry this isn't exactly the best welcome," the female called Wily Kit said as she led Shining Glory and Rainbow Brite into the meeting room. "Normally you'd meet with all of us, but… well…."

"Considering the circumstances," Shining Glory replied in a reassuring tone, taking a seat with a sigh of relief, "I'm more than inclined to be lenient. I just hope everyone is alright."

"Luckily, yes," Wily Kat answered as he helped the old man take a seat. "We've pulled through some tight spots before, but this was certainly the tightest so far. Of those who aren't recuperating or helping with the cub, we're the only ones currently available, so you're stuck with us for a while."

Rainbow Brite walked around the meeting table as they talked, preferring not to remain seated as she studied her surroundings. Unlike the Castle Plun-Darr they'd escaped from, this Cat's Lair was brightly colored and warm in her second vision, giving her a better idea of what kind of people these Thundercats were. Every undertone color is represented and warm here, she thought, pleased. Especially brown, blue, green, and violet. She glanced at the brother and sister. Those two… they each have that cold darkness around their hearts like the others, but it's not as strong, and they keep it controlled and overpowered by their colors.

I probably have some myself now, too. A deep sorrow threatened to overtake her for a moment. The Color Crystals destroyed, my friends comatose and captured… and I couldn't do a single thing to stop it—

"Are you okay, Rainbow Brite?" a patient voice asked, breaking gently into her thoughts.

She turned to see she'd stopped behind the sorcerer called Shining Glory, who faced her general direction without looking at her. This close, she could see the cold darkness of death over his eyes, indicating blindness, but it was almost invisible against the bright colors dominating him. "Oh, I'm fine," she replied with a false grin. "A little bamboozled, but I think that's to be expected."

He nodded understandingly. "You and me both."

"We'll have to talk later, you and I." She turned to the Thundercats, pulling her hair out of her face and attempting to tuck it behind her ear. It didn't really want to obey, falling back in front of her eyes within seconds. "You found MoonGlo?"

"We did." Wily Kit shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry you can't see her yet, Rainbow Brite. I mean, it was only a matter of time before the cub came, but I guess we'd hoped you'd get better long before it happened."

She shrugged, still attempting to sort through the mixed emotions roiling within her upon finding out her friend was in a serious relationship and pregnant. "I've been out of commission for centuries, I'd be an idiot to assume nothing would change during that time. Honestly, I'd thought Mumm-Ra had killed MoonGlo, so finding out she's still alive will sustain me for now." With a genuine chuckle, she added, "Besides, something tells me I need to be brought up-to-date with everything that's happened, anyway."

"Trust me, it's been a lot. Take a seat, relax—quite frankly, this is probably going to take a while." Kit smiled back. "Especially since we found more of your friends recently."

---

It was evening before they were able to leave Castle Plun-Darr and head for the Pyramid. The Thundercats had left a large enough disarray in their wake that the slaves had to be organized immediately into groups to repair and clean up the mess. Besides, Sincline had needed a few bandages himself after tangling with both Lion-O and Panthro, something which seemed to leave his pride bruised and his anger absolutely boiling.

Stress on "seemed to". Duchess Ravenwaves wasn't entirely certain why, but she was getting the impression the prince was far better at keeping secrets than most males.

"Well, where the hell is he?" Slythe asked, staring at the empty sarcophagus in irritation as they entered the cauldron room. He turned to fix Ravenwaves with a sharp look, echoed in a far more hazardous manner by Sincline. "Any ideas, wench?"

"Duchess," she corrected absentmindedly, tapping her fingers against her lips. "Hmm… he could honestly be anywhere inside this place, it's pretty big."

"Of all the blasted—" Furious, Sincline stormed forward and stabbed his sword through the lid of the sarcophagus. As he pulled the blade back, probably for another blow, the stone suddenly crumbled to pieces and fell to the floor. Despite his seething rage, he stood there dumbstruck for a moment, staring at the rubble with a look of surprise. "Well. I guess I'm not the first to do that."

Ravenwaves sighed, attempting to be patient. "Seriously? Give me a moment to try something, Prince." Putting the tips of her thumb and forefinger into her mouth, she whistled loudly, making sure the pitch was as high as possible. As she'd hoped, she got an answer almost immediately: barking echoed down one of the hallways, followed a minute or two later by the scrambling of an excited dog. "Ma-Mutt!" she squealed happily, squatting down to pet the delighted animal as he ran right up to her, his entire behind wagging with his tail. "Who's an evil doggie? Are you an evil doggie? Yes, you are, you cutie-patootie!" Scratching him under the chin, she asked sweetly, "Where's Daddy, Ma-Mutt? Can you show me where Daddy is?"

Ma-Mutt dashed away as he barked enthusiastically, turning and running in circles in front of one of the portals, looking at her expectantly.

"That was disgusting," Sincline stated flatly as she stood up.

"Oh, stuff it, Prince," she told him without missing a beat. "It worked, so what do you care? Come on, let's find Father."

Following Ma-Mutt down the hallways, she was partially surprised to find out her father wasn't anywhere near as deep inside the Pyramid as she'd first expected—and that he was a bit more occupied than she would've thought. The noise from the fight echoed down the passage long before they got to the treasure room, the debris from it blowing out the door as they neared the entrance.

A few puzzle pieces that had been missing from her manipulation repertoire suddenly appeared and fell into place. "Ah, he still keeps her around, does he?" she asked no one in particular, smiling smugly. "So that's where he got the shiner…."

"'Her'?" Slythe asked, surprised. "He's got a woman?"

"Of course he does. Stay here for a moment, I'm going to—" Suddenly Mumm-Ra was thrown from the room by an electric explosion, crashing into the wall so hard bits of stone and rubble fell from the ceiling. Quickly stepping forward, Ravenwaves smacked the button to close the door, sealing the room's upset occupant inside.

"What the—Ravenwaves!" Mumm-Ra got to his feet, glaring down at her furiously. His powerful form had impressed her as a small child, now she was merely annoyed by it. "What on Third Earth are you here for?"

"Oh, I'm not here for anything, Father," she replied sweetly. "I'm just the navigator. It's the prince who wishes to have a discussion with you—you know, the kind involving blades."

Before he could reply, Sincline attacked him, throwing himself bodily at the mummy and causing the two of them to tumble down the hallway in a violent struggle. The prince brought his sword down, but the ancient sorcerer merely grabbed it between his palms and wrenched it free, tossing it to the side without looking at it. This hardly deterred his opponent, as Sincline immediately started punching Mumm-Ra, who had no choice but to fight back with just as much violence.

Slythe watched the tussle with bemusement, crossing his arms as the two literally beat the crap out of one another. "Just when I think I have this prince figured out, he goes and throws me for a loop," the reptilian admitted. "I don't know if I ought to call him insane or impressive for daring to take Mumm-Ra on like that."

She shrugged. "Meh. He's probably both." She smiled sweetly at him. "How about you go tell Vulture-Man to warm up the Flying Machine? I suspect the prince won't be long."

"What are you going to do?"

"Find out why Father's fighting with his sex-slave, that's all. Why, do you want to help?"

He snorted, turning his back to her. "Nope. Have fun."

She waited until he'd disappeared down the hallway before opening the treasure chamber's door. A lightning bolt slammed into the floor just beyond it, and she waited patiently until the electricity in the air had disappeared before stepping over and entering the room. Alright, she thought to herself, let's see if we can't figure out what her problem is.

She smiled sweetly at the lone occupant, secretly disdaining the woman's skimpy attire even as she reminded herself the slave had no choice in the matter. Good grief, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind he enhanced those curves for his own perverted delight. She's probably super-submissive most of the time, too. "I remember you," Ravenwaves stated, heading over to the violet-haired woman and walking in circles around her. "Of course, you were much younger the last time we saw each other, but I do remember you. Stormy, was it?"

The slave didn't answer, narrowing her green eyes suspiciously at the duchess.

Ravenwaves continued, unfazed, "You used to babysit me. You were, what, fifteen or sixteen at the time? Still childlike and hardly as curvy as you are now."

Recognition crossed Stormy's expression, followed immediately by a sickened anger. "He didn't tell me you were his daughter," she quietly admitted, sounding as if it hurt to say.

The duchess's lips twitched in triumph. Ah, hah! So that's why she's furious with him! She's the only one he's been dancing the mattress mambo with, and she flipped out when she thought he'd cheated on her! Sex slaves are hilarious!

Resisting the urge to laugh at the absurd scenario—her father was pretty sadistic, after all—she pretended not to care in the slightest. "Oh, I'm not surprised he didn't tell you. He didn't want anything to do with either myself or my mother. When she came to him for help with her stupid little world-conquering scheme, he used it as an opportunity to get her permanently out of his life, and then left me with you until he decided I was old enough to live on my own." I probably shouldn't be helping the bastard, but maybe if he can get his rocks off with this chick, he'll leave me alone. That, and it's fun to see someone else be completely dominated just for the sake of sex. "He never could keep a woman for more than a month or two, and certainly never more than one at a time."

She pretended to be surprised, giving Stormy a look of confusion. "You know, now that I think about it—why in the world are you still here? I've been asleep for centuries, I'd thought he'd have ditched you for someone else long before now. How strange."

As she'd planned, the desperate light of hope twinkled in the slave's eyes.

"Well, not that it matters." Turning her back on the woman, she left the room with a careless wave, grinning broadly at the familiar scream of horror echoing down the hallway. Apparently, the prince had once again gotten ahold of his sword, and this time Mumm-Ra wasn't able to not look at it. "Nice to see you again, Stormy. Be kind to Father after Sincline's done with him; his pride is going to be more than a little beaten up."

As she closed the door behind her, a flash of red streaked by her; she ignored it, knowing full well it was only Mumm-Ra fleeing back to his sarcophagus in his weak form. Patiently, she waited for Sincline to reappear; by the time he did, she was quite bored and more than ready to return to Castle Plun-Darr.

He was scowling as he stormed towards her. "That was thoroughly disappointing," he snarled, barely noticing as she matched step with him. "The Thundercat lord put up a better fight, and he was as wet behind the ears as a boy of twelve!"

She almost pointed out he'd still gotten his ass kicked by said "wet-behind-the-ears" leader, but wisely chose to keep her silence on the subject. "Found Father's weakness, did we?"

The prince held up his sword, the tiniest hint of amusement managing to make itself known through the many layers of anger. "In a manner of speaking," he replied, looking at his own reflection with narrowed eyes.

"Still plan on telling him why you're furious with him?"

"Oh, I never intended to tell him that. I want him to know who is in charge of the mutants now." He gave her a sharp look and dared her to argue with him. "You and your vulture friend can play with them all you want, manipulator, but from this point on they answer to me—as do both of you."

She frowned, wanting badly to say something but unable to find any words suitable enough to express herself without being killed. Damn it… looks like I'm really going to have to think of a way to get rid of this son of a bitch now.

---

Much later than night, Mumm-Ra knelt upon the floor, slowly piecing together the bits of sarcophagus. "It is a damn good thing I like puzzles," he muttered, patiently searching for the one bit he needed to complete the large repaired section he held in his hand. "This would drive me insane if I didn't." Finding the piece he wanted, he gently inserted it in its place and with a quick—and thankfully magically cheap—spell, cemented it there. "By all the ancients, I am tired." He surveyed the pile of rubble before him, sighing. "And it will be a long time before I can sleep again…."

A scuffling noise caught his attention. He'd been hearing it for a while, but ignored it as inconsequential. As he looked up, however, he saw Stormy crawling into the room, panting and wheezing in pain. "Master," she begged, "forgive me…."

He watched her collapse to the floor, twitching and crying. "Seriously, what on Third Earth is wrong with you, woman?!" he snapped. "One moment you're obedient, the next you're trying to destroy me, and now you literally come crawling to me begging for forgiveness!"

"I'm… sorry…."

Ma-Mutt pattered into the room, sitting by her head and staring down at her, whimpering.

"And you, you horrid hound, you're no better for doting on her!"

The dog looked at him and whined slightly.

Ever-living source of evil or not, he couldn't stay angry at those adorable black eyes for too long. "Oh, alright, fine. For your sake, Ma-Mutt… and quite frankly, I need the help anyway." Pushing himself to his feet, he slowly walked over to her, muttering to himself with every step. "I must be getting soft in my old age, this is ridiculous…."

She looked up at him, reaching out with tears in her eyes as he stopped beside her. "Master… please…."

He sighed, crossing his arms. "You will help me repair my sarcophagus. I will lax the limitations of the curse, but it will only be for a short time. Do you understand me?"

She nodded, gripping onto his robe.

"Good." Reaching down, he touched the collar around her throat, making sure to use as little magic as possible as he tweaked the curse upon her. "Come, Slave. We have work to do."

Shuddering as she crawled after him—he wanted to make sure she was still in pain so she would behave—she wept the entire way, "I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry—"

"Oh, shut up and start organizing this mess! The sooner we get my sarcophagus fixed, the sooner I can rest, and then the sooner I can punish your disobedient ass!"

"Yes, Master… thank you, Master…."

---

Darkness… depression….

Rainbow Brite's eyes opened, her hand subconsciously reaching for her bag of Star Sprinkles of its own volition. As she grasped empty air, her conscious thoughts regained control, reminding her she was no longer in Rainbow Land. It was millennia later, she was devoid of the Sprinkles… and also of her power to use them. Sitting up, she stared around the darkened room, that part of her mind insisting someone needed her now.

At least she could still see the colors even if she couldn't affect them anymore.

Unable to ignore the strong feeling despite knowing she couldn't do much about the source of it, she got out of bed and left the room. Her bare feet tapped quietly against the stone floor, barely acknowledging the cold, hair constantly falling into her face no matter how many times she attempted to get it to stay behind her ears so she could see unimpeded. Wandering the quiet unlit hallways of the Lair, trying to pinpoint the source of the overall unhappiness she sensed with her second vision, she took in the warm colors infused into her surroundings. So much looked familiar to her, it was almost like an incredibly strong feeling of déjà vu.

There.

She stopped, her full attention on a door both familiar and unfamiliar. Cautiously, she stepped towards it, placing her ear against the metal and gently knocking on it. Someone with a nightmare, maybe? she pondered.

A moment after her knock, a deep voice said, "Come in."

A shudder ran down her spine; she wasn't sure how, but she recognized the voice. Steeling herself, she looked at the panel beside the door, pressing the button to open it with a raised eyebrow. Entering the lit room, her gaze focused on its only occupant, who sat up slowly upon her entry. Ah. Another Thundercat—a tiger, this time. She took in the blood-stained bandages around his arm and lower torso, as well as the pain he tried to hide from her. The one who was in critical condition when we got here earlier, I presume. He looks kind of familiar.

Like the others, his ghostly layer of mostly warm violet also had a black area around his heart—but unlike them, his actual colors were quite muted, almost gray. Her hand twitched, wanting to add color to the faded hues her second vision saw, but unable to do so. There's got to be a way I can go back to fixing these things, she mused.

The tiger stared at her, as if he was unable to believe what he was looking at. "Wisp?" he asked, his tone uncertain.

She was fascinated at the brightening of his colors with that single word, warm yellow and pink dominating his luminescence for a moment. Interesting. I've never seen the color return on its own before. Smiling slightly, she answered his vague query. "There's a name I haven't heard in a long time." Estimating his approximate age, she added flippantly, "I'm guessing you think 'Rainbow Brite' sounds too childish?" Her grin widened at his blatant embarrassment, and she quickly reassured him, "I don't mind, you can call me 'Wisp'. It's just been a few centuries, that's all." She glanced down at herself, reminded she was no longer a small child. "Well… millennia, anyway."

He looked acutely uncomfortable for a split second, quickly covering it up with a pretense of cool confidence as he leaned back into the pillows. "I'm glad to see you're better. The strange condition we found you in was starting to get more than a little unnerving."

"Oh, were you the other one who kept trying to bring me to my senses?" At his nod, she queried, "Tigro, was it?"

"Tygra," he corrected with a small grin. Every moment more of the gray slowly faded away, much to her genuine interest.

"Thank you, Tygra." Fascinated her mere presence alone seemed to bring the color back to him—maybe she could still affect the colors about her, just not in the same way as before—she continued, unfazed, "Why do I recognize you?"

Something she didn't expect happened. For a brief instant, his full colors returned, the luminescence dominated by warm yellows and pinks, replaced quickly with the cold black-and-white sepia tone she associated with insecure anxiety, and then back to the muted colors he'd had when she first walked in. His expression, too, changed with each swing—first something she didn't recognize at all, then a level of under-confidence bordering on fright, and finally the calm façade once more. "I don't know."

Clearly asking that question was a mistake, she chided herself, annoyed she'd accidentally undone what had fixed itself. She shrugged, hoping to put him at ease with a careless attitude. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." He looked as if he wanted to reply, but didn't know how. She gave him a once-over again, trying to think of a way to repair her blunder. "You're not going to be getting up for a while. Do you need me to get you anything?"

As she'd hoped, those muted colors slowly started to brighten again. He glanced to the side, as if considering something, and then he requested quietly, "I could use a book. I just woke up from the tranquilizer shot, so I'm not going to be able to sleep for a while."

"I can fetch a book. Any requests in particular?"

"There's one on the nightstand beside my bed that I was in the middle of. My room is one floor up, first hallway, third door on the left."

"Okay, I'll get it for you." She flashed him what she hoped he'd take as a friendly smile, and left the room, closing the door behind her. Hmm… not the most confident person, I suspect. I wonder… would he accept if I offered to stick around after bringing him his book…?

As she followed the directions she'd been given, she heard a baby start to cry.

---

Thank you for reading! Part Three to follow!… though not as soon as I'd like, as it's officially gone through so many rewrites it barely resembles its original draft…. One character in particular is a pain in the ass to write. Xp

Notes:

1. It was made VERY clear in the show Rainbow Brite literally saw faded colors and used the Star Sprinkles to add color. Trying to describe that in addition to how it would've "evolved" as she got older was such a pain in the neck I've been re-writing her scenes pretty much nonstop for the past month (including barely a few minutes before posting this, which should hopefully convey the annoyance I currently have with myself). It will be expanded further in Part Three what it is her second vision actually does.