I used to think that this prologue… well, could've been done MUCH better. Especially on my part. As my recent mentor has told me in no uncertain terms that I am no longer allowed to degrade myself, I must now say with a straight face that this prologue isn't too bad. After all, if I wrote this YEARS ago and still think it's readable and only needed a tweak here and there; that's got to count for something, right? Whether or not anyone else does thinks as much is beyond my control, and therefore none of my concern. Anyway….

This little prologue starts off before the series ends. However, it takes place exclusively on Third Earth, rather than New Thundera. I suppose one could call this my own personal guess as to why Pumyra and Tygra didn't return to New Thundera with the others right away.

Enjoy!

5/6/2006?


Prologue: Field of Fertility

Pumyra sat in the command chair in Cats' Lair, none too happy. Only after everything exciting was over and everyone had gone home to New Thundera was she finally put in charge of something. Not that she'd want to be on New Thundera right this moment, but that was beside the point. Maybe it's because I wear a skirt, she thought. Maybe they think it's too girly. She sighed unhappily, leaning back in her chair with a scowl. And now there's no one to have sex with… except the homosexual Tygra.

At least… I think he's gay. He certainly hadn't taken part in any sexual activity that I know of. To her knowledge, he'd never laid a finger on Cheetara, but neither had he tried to hit on Lion-O, Panthro, or Bengali. Not even Lynx-O.

Tygra had been upset when he found out that he and Pumyra were going to be forced to stay on Third Earth to make sure everything stayed perfectly fine. Pumyra, for her part, didn't really care. New Thundera was her home reformed, it's true, but she had her reasons for wanting to stay away. The biggest reason was that, when she was barely nine, she'd been betrothed to a fat, disgusting man that was a good thirty years her senior.

It wasn't his age that bothered her, or even the fact that he was fat. Lynx-O was nearly forty years older than her (and, boy did he know how to have sex!); when she'd been imprisoned by the Luna-taks with Lynx-O and Bengali a while back, Tug Mug had "taken advantage" of her plenty of times (and he wasn't too bad, either; needed a bath, though). No, it wasn't even the fact that her betrothed had insisted that his little bride be a virgin when they wedded on her nineteenth birthday (thank you, Jaga, that Thundera had blown to pieces a week before then; it would've been very embarrassing for her new "husband" to discover no hymen where there should've been one… assuming that the man had found her).

There was just something about him she couldn't put her finger on, as if, despite all his riches and power, he needed to have more. She had seen how he treated his "indentured servants," and been appalled to discover that they were little more than slaves forced to do his will. Maybe that was it, but she couldn't be sure.

Why would he have insisted that I be a virgin, though? she wondered. Perhaps he has a tiny penis, knows it, and doesn't want to be teased about it from his bride? Maybe it's a male dominance thing?

And as long as she was NOT on New Thundera, she could be certain she wouldn't run into him by accident.

One of the controls beeped, signaling the arrival of someone reasonably friendly. She reached out and turned on the screen, lifting an eyebrow when she saw Tygra approaching. He looked a little nervous, as if he was certain she'd kick him between the legs on the slightest provocation.

Have I ever remembered him acting quite like that? She thought back carefully over all the times she'd been anywhere near him. No, he's never really acted like that before, but then, he's never really been alone with me on a non-business occasion. There's always been someone else in the room, or we've been together trying to beat the shit out of one person or another. Even then, he's never really talked to me unless he had to.

She danced down the steps, skipping every other one, and walked calmly to the front door. Maybe I can seduce him. Jaga knows I'm getting sick of bananas.

Ha, ha. Like the homo would let me.

She opened the door and smiled charmingly at him. If nothing else, I'll have fun doing something other than watching porn films and digging through the vegetable drawer for another carrot or cucumber. "Tygra, what brings you here? You're not in a rush, so can I assume it's just a social visit?"

He deliberately looked down at his feet. "Um… I know we really don't know each other that much… um… but I figured that since we're… we're… going to be spending some time together… uh… we might as well… you know…." Right about here he panicked, as if realizing he'd said something naughty. He looked up at her, turning red, eyes wide and a little frightened. "I mean… that's not what I mean…!"

She let him babble on for a moment, only somewhat aware that her face had taken on a rather blank look. What's he up to? Is he so horny he'll take anything? Wonder what he's been screwing with before this. Snarf? A tree? This is not the attitude of someone who has sex with sentient beings on a regular basis.

"It's just… we're here… they're not…."

"Tygra, your stuttering is literally painful," she told him. "Calm down, gather your thoughts together, and whatever it is, just say it slowly."

His mouth snapped shut, his face darkened another few shades, and he looked down at his feet again. Humiliation radiated from him.

She took pity on him. "What you wanted to say is that you're lonely and want some company, right?"

He nodded, but he didn't look up.

She waited a few moments to see if he'd do anything else. When he didn't, she sighed and said, "Well, are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?"

He looked up at her again, a little surprised. "Can I?"

She debated saying something acidic, and decided against it. She might scare him off. "Yes, Tygra. How about we go to the kitchen and have a cup of tea?"

"Um… sure, I guess… I…." At this point, he was practically the same color as the Cat Signal. Pumyra half expected him to faint, but he didn't. Instead, he wordlessly held out a flower to her.

She was rather touched despite herself. It wasn't much of a flower, just a little white thing on a stem that had been gripped too hard by a nervous hand, probably something he had picked randomly on the walk over here. Still, it smelled very sweet, and she couldn't help falling in love with it. She took it from him and held the little blossom to her nose so that she could revel in its scent. "Thank you, Tygra. It's lovely."

He looked like he was about to start stuttering again, so before he could say anything, she took his hand and led him to the kitchen. Well, so does the amateur want to seduce the master? she thought. Because if he does, then he's in for a surprise.


Tygra obediently allowed himself to be led to the kitchen, his thoughts in a tumble. Everything had seemed to make sense before, when he'd been in the Tower of Omens, memorizing the speech he'd written out over the course of a week. Now that he was actually here, however, with Pumyra just within reach, he'd forgotten every word and only wanted to hide and pretend he didn't exist.

What am I afraid of? he thought. It's not like she's going to eat me alive and gnaw on my bones afterwards. Why can't I just tell her that I want to court her?

Because she'll think I'm a creep for only noticing her after everyone else is gone. Because she's a pretty woman who could have her pick of young stallions and certainly wouldn't want an old man like me. Because she'd freak out the moment she found out my first—and let's not fool ourselves, Tygra, only—lover was Panthro. Because she's probably emotionally attached to Bengali and wouldn't care anything about his older brother.

With each depressing thought, he felt more and more like snatching his hand away from hers, turning around, and running off as fast as he could. What am I doing here? I'm only going to make a fool of myself.

Just when he really was thinking of running away, they entered the kitchen, and he found himself sitting in a chair before he'd even realized what happened. As Pumyra flitted around the kitchen putting together a snack and a pot of tea, he made his plan of action. I'll just wait until her back is turned, then make a break for it….

Her back was turned to him as she was putting the tea kettle on the stove, but before he could even rise up half an inch, she said, quite calmly, "If you run, I'll catch you."

He froze, and started feeling like a fool all over again.

She turned around just in time to catch his guilty look. "I thought so. I'm not a cannibal, Tygra, and I'd rather like some company myself." He noticed with some bemusement that she still had the flower he'd given her; she'd tucked it behind her ear at some point. It made her look so innocent.

And it made him feel like a pervert. "I'm sorry, Pumyra… I'm just not used to being"—he almost said, "being in the company of a beautiful woman, such as yourself," but stopped himself in time—"being alone with someone I barely know." While it wasn't technically possible to kick himself later on for his idiocy, he could bang his head against a wall when he got back to the Tower.

"I see."

The next five minutes were full of total silence, broken occasionally by Pumyra humming random songs under her breath. Tygra convinced himself that it was only his imagination that she was humming such tunes like "Candy Shop", "Sexual Healing", "Freak-A-Leak", and "Sex on the Beach". Surely a lady such as Pumyra couldn't know raunchy songs like that, right?

Finally, she placed a cup of tea in front of him, then sat down across from him with a cup of her own. She seemed to be waiting for something, lifting the teacup to her lips and taking a delicate sip, occasionally sending him a querying look.

I'm going to tell her, he firmly told himself taking a mouthful of tea and hoping he didn't look uncouth while doing so. I'm going to tell her now, before I lose my courage….

Pumyra put down her teacup. "So. Want to have sex?"

He unintentionally spat the tea out all over the table, coughing a bit as some managed to get down his wind pipe. Thankfully, Pumyra waited patiently for him to stop, only pulling out a towel from somewhere to mop up the tea. He cleared his throat a couple times to make sure he was alright, then looked back at her. "I'm sorry, I thought you said—"

"I did. I want to know if you want to have sex."

The illusion of an innocent maiden who had never done anything more shocking than a gentle kiss to someone's lips that Tygra had been cherishing for quite some time now was shattered. Only then did it occur to him that he really and truly did not know who this woman was. Ridiculously, knowing she wasn't an innocent maiden untouched by man made him far less nervous. "Yes—I mean, no! I just… I just wanted to get to know you better… and maybe…." He was getting nervous again, and looked down at the table so he wouldn't have to look at her. "Maybe I could… court you?"

When there was no immediate reply, he glanced up at her. She was once again delicately sipping her tea, and some hope was regained when he saw that she looked flattered. "Courting," she said in a rather girlish way. "I've never done that before. It sounds like fun!"

He found himself wondering just what it was she had done before.

She put down her teacup, and he was heartened to see that she was delighted. "Courting! Okay, I accept!"

"You… you do?" He was pleased, but be couldn't help but feel a little stunned at the same time.

"Why not? Who's going to stop us? The Mutants and Luna-taks are gone, Mumm-Ra's rampaging around on New Thundera according to Lion-O, there's hardly been anything around here for us to do, we're both lonely, and probably bored as well." Her expression suddenly became rather sneaky. "Besides, it'll be fun to see who seduces whom first."

He stared at her for a moment, not quite sure he'd really heart that. "'Seduction' is not part of 'courting', Pumyra…."

"It isn't? Oh, well, it'll still be fun."

A small bit of doubt crept into his heart. Is that all I am to her? he wondered. A convenient amusement? He gave himself a mental shake. Don't be such a jerk! She's a fellow Thundercat! She'd never do anything like that!


Despite his secret doubts, Tygra nonetheless found himself courting Pumyra and enjoying it. He loved mysteries, there was just something so fascinating about solving them, and Pumyra seemed more and more like an exotic mystery every time he saw her (bringing with him a not-necessarily-required-but-what-the-hell-why-not flower each time). Even when he thought he'd finally figured her out, she'd pull out a new myriad of questions that needed to be answered, and the answers always surprised him. She was, to his mind, the best mystery ever.

And he hoped that he'd never solve her, because then he would have an excuse to never leave her side.

Somehow, his visits to the Lair ended with the two of them taking long walks all over Third Earth, just talking about random things. Sometimes, like now, he managed to pluck up his courage just enough to reach out and take her hand, and he'd feel a smile on his lips every time her fingers tightened around his.

"Have you had sex before?" she asked after there had been a minute or two of silence. The flower he'd managed to find this time was rather large, pink, and she didn't seem to want to put it down or behind her ear. In fact, she just kept holding it under her nose, breathing in its scent, and managing to look so beautiful and innocent, which he now knew she was not.

"Is that to be the new topic of conversation?" he replied. They were currently walking through the Warrior Maidens' forest, where the shade was cool and provided a small respite from the summer heat.

"Well, it only seemed natural to ask. I get the impression you haven't been with that many people, and you seem a little panicky whenever I bring up the subject."

"Uh, well…." He guessed she was right. He was terrified to admit that the only other person he'd ever been with was a man (and whether or not the other Thundercats knew it, he'd heard those rumors flying around), and there was a small part of him that really did not want to know just how many men Pumyra had been with. He had a nasty feeling it was a two-digit number.

"Either that, or you're frightened to admit that you've been with a person of the same sex."

He froze in place. How does she DO that? he wondered. This was not the first time Pumyra had said something that struck a little too close to home; he briefly wondered if she could read minds.

She stopped a few feet from him and looked over her shoulder at him. She looked so innocent that way. "Am I right?"

"Um... well..." He found himself looking at his feet again. "Yes..."

"Then I guess that makes two of us."

It took a moment for that to sink in. As a matter of fact, they'd actually started walking again before he once again froze in place. "What? You've been with a woman?!" The realization immediately brought to mind some very interesting—and very pornographic—pictures of Pumyra with Cheetara.

"A woman? Hell, no. Several women."

An even more interesting picture came to mind, and Tygra had to quickly get it out of his head and concentrate hard on thinking of something non-sexual. Otherwise he might embarrass himself. That's interesting, though, he thought once reason had overcome his stifled sex drive. It had never occurred to me that Pumyra would have bisexual tendencies. Unfortunately, that thought brought yet another pornographic picture of Cheetara and Pumyra to mind, this time with Panthro added in, and Tygra was concentrating so hard on getting it out of his head, he didn't notice right away that Pumyra was watching him with a mischievous smile. Oh, no, not again….

"Want to have sex?" she asked him, as she did at least once every five hours or so.

And it was only getting harder and harder to say no to her. "Pumyra, 'courting' has nothing to do with sex…."

She pouted. How could she do something so childish and yet manage to look pretty anyway? "If you insist."

Right at about this point they came to the edge of a lake. Tygra couldn't remember what it was called, but he was pretty certain that it was relatively harmless. Pumyra seemed to think so, too; she walked right up to the edge of the lake, took of her boots, sat on a rock near the edge, and dangled her toes in the water. Tygra sat beside her and contented himself with just looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Why am I stalling? he wondered. Any other man I know would take her up on her offer within two seconds, and it seems to be exactly what she wants.

("How could you, Tygra? Look what you've done!")

He blinked and shook away the memory. Maybe it's because she expects me to take her up on the offer, or because any other man would accept it. I don't want… to be just "any other man." I just….

(Bengali, only fifteen years old, glared at him, while Serica slowly stood up, shattered glass crunching under her feet. "How could you, Tygra?")

He frowned. Or, much as I hate to think it, is that the reason?

"Thinking of something?" Pumyra asked him.

"Sort of. Did you have siblings, Pumyra?"

"No. Just an uncle that wanted to get rid of me as fast as possible. Why do you ask?"

"It just occurred to me why women make me nervous." He closed his eyes, tightening his hold on her hand. "I had an older sister that I did not get along with; we fought quite a bit. I always felt guilty afterwards, but I could never bring myself to apologize to her, even if it was my fault. I… I guess you could say she frightened me a little."

"You fought with her?"

"Yes. Mother died shortly after Bengali was born, and Father had to work real often to support three growing children, so my sister ended up being the one taking care of Bengali and me. She was only a teenager; she couldn't go out with her friends, or join the clubs she wanted, or even go to school regularly anymore, not with the responsibility of raising her two little brothers in the absence of our parents. She had to quit school and ignore her friends' party invitations just to make sure that she could upkeep the house and make sure Bengali and I were fed."

"She sounds like a responsible woman."

He sighed. "She was. I didn't quite understand that when I was a child, and I held it against her. Years later, long after I left, I realized just how much stress she must have been under, and felt horrible for all the things I did to her. I guess a part of me was terrified that I was going to end up doing that to every woman I met. And if I like someone, that's the last thing I want to do."

"Did you get to apologize to her?"

"No. She left herself, not long after Father died. I never kept in contact with her, and Bengali doesn't know where she went. That was years before Thundera was destroyed. Honestly, I don't even know if she's still alive."

"But if she is still alive, and you happen to meet her, would you apologize?"

"Yes."

She smiled at him. "You're nicer than I am. I don't care what excuses my uncle had, I'm not going to forgive him for what he did to me."

Tygra felt his curiosity peak. Especially as this was the first time she'd given him an opening to her past. "What did he do?"

"He betrothed me to some creep with a lot of money. And I do mean creep; the man positively terrified me. I'd sooner marry Slithe, Tug Mug, or Mumm-Ra." She thought about that for a moment. "Okay, maybe not Mumm-Ra…."

Tygra thought about that for a moment. "A betrothal? That's funny, only highborn get…." He stared at her in surprise. "You… you're a highborn? But… that can't be right! Lynx-O said that when he met you, you were a street rat!"

"And I was. I met Lynx-O nearly ten years after I ran away from my uncle; during that time I was sleeping in piles of garbage, stealing food, and having sex with whoever to get some money in case of emergencies."

The number of people that Tygra imagined Pumyra had been with went from a two-digit number to a three-digit number. A big three-digit number…. "You preferred that kind of life to marrying your betrothed?"

"I told you, he scared me. Or… it might be more accurate to say that I didn't feel safe with him. A lot of men I've met are like that."

"Is there any man you've been with that isn't?"

He meant the question to refer to her sex life, but ironically, she didn't take it that way. "You." Before he could say anything else, she leaned against his shoulder. "I feel safe with you. It's like I instinctively know that no matter what, you'll never intentionally harm me, or force me to do something I don't want."

Even though a tiny part of him was terrified at her little confession, he blurted out the first thing on his mind without even thinking about it. "That's because I love you," he whispered. "I only want you to be happy."

He'd half expected her to freak out, or worse, laugh. However, she didn't; her fingers squeezed his briefly, and she wiggled a bit to get into a more comfortable position while leaning on him.


It was dark out, nearly midnight. Tygra wasn't technically asleep, but he was certainly in that state of dozing where he couldn't move unless something startled him awake. He assumed it was because of the hideous heat; he'd stripped naked and didn't even bother with the thinnest of sheets because it was so hot. He lay on his bed, eyes closed, only vaguely aware that outside it had started raining.

A huge crack of thunder, one that sounded as if it were directly above the Tower of Omens, caused him to jump at least three feet into the air. That was probably a good thing, as he found he was suddenly chilled. Grumbling a little, he got out of bed and left his room to get a few blankets. Except that he didn't get any further than two feet from his bedroom door.

Pumyra was in the middle of the hall, soaking wet, and utterly terrified.

"Pumyra? What—" Before he could say anything else, she ran over and clung to him, shivering. He debated asking her what was wrong, and decided that it could wait for later. "Let's get you dry before you catch a cold," he told her gently, leading her to the closet that had towels and blankets in it.

He pulled out a large towel and turned to wrap her in it, freezing for a moment when he saw that she was stripping off all her clothing. "I can't stay in wet clothing," she replied in a shaky voice, taking the towel from him and wrapping herself in it. As he pulled out blankets, she whispered, "Can I stay with you tonight?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and decided she didn't mean anything lewd by what she said. She must've had a nightmare, he thought, taking her arm and leading her (not entirely reluctant) back to his room. Although I can't imagine what kind of nightmare would send her flying from Cats' Lair in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm, just to spend the night with someone.

Five minutes later, they were in his bed, covered with the blankets. She'd curled up against him and almost immediately fell asleep. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and realized he felt very protective of her.

She believes that I can protect her from whatever it is that's frightening her. She trusts me without a second thought. Somehow, that thought gave him more confidence than anything else.

The next morning, Tygra woke up to find Pumyra had draped herself across him at some point during the night. He didn't mind it too much (her soft body felt so… uh, soft), but it made it damned difficult to actually get out of bed without waking her up. That didn't stop him from trying, though. He almost managed it, too.

"Is it morning yet?" she slurred, stretching on the bed without getting up. It revealed a lot more of her than Tygra was willing to view at the moment.

He quickly turned away, hoping she wouldn't see his immediate reaction. "Yes, it's morning," he told her, rummaging through a drawer to get clean clothes.

She chuckled. "Nice ass," she purred sleepily.

He felt his face flush and glanced over his shoulder at her. She was in a rather enticing position… and had fallen asleep again. Before she could wake up and try seducing him again, he quickly got dressed and turned to leave the room. However, he couldn't resist pausing just long enough to cover her with the blankets and place a gentle kiss on her cheek before he left.

He didn't see the mischievous little smile that graced her face as she slept.


"I wonder why it's called the Field of Fertility," Pumyra said as they walked through the tall grass. She was holding tightly onto Tygra's hand, and didn't seem as if she was going to let go any time soon. "Bit of an odd name..."

"The soil is very fertile, perfect for the Berbils to grow their produce in," he replied. "At least, that's what I'd assume. Their Berbil fruit orchards and fields are certainly planted on the edge of the Field of Fertility. By the way... why are we walking here?"

"Because it's a beautiful day, and after last night's rainstorm, it's cool enough to have a picnic in the middle of the field without getting roasted."

"Uh… we didn't pack a picnic basket."

"You said yourself the Berbils grow everything right at the edge of the field. All we need to do is find a good spot, then one of us can stay at that spot while the other gets lunch from the Berbils."

He jumped over a stone. "I suppose." He noted with a grin that the stone was the last in a line of little rocks, almost like a mother duck with her ducklings. "You can be the one to stay in the field; I can get us something to eat." He managed to pull her to a stop and say, "And you'll still be fully clothed when I return, right?" Because I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands to myself if you're not, he thought, but didn't say.

"Do you want me to be?" she asked mischievously.

"N—yes." He tried to ignore her pouting. "This is courting, Pumyra, not seducing. There's a difference."

"What's the difference?" She was wearing that naughty little grin of hers again, and he had a suspicion that she knew what the difference was very well, but pretended not to just so she could hear him say it again.

"The difference is that seduction usually ends in one-night-stands or affairs that only last for a few months. Courting is when the couple is seriously considering marriage."

"I'll take your word for it."

They actually spent the better part of the afternoon in the middle of the field, just snacking on what Tygra had brought back from the Berbils. It wasn't even remotely romantic, at least not by his standards; especially not when they deliberately started throwing pieces of candy fruit at each other. So, how it was he found her in his arms, kissing and groping, and he returning each caress quite shamelessly, he never quite remembered.


Perhaps making love—Tygra was somewhat nervous about thinking of it as "sex"—in the middle of the Field of Fertility was hardly the best way to seduce or be seduced. However, rather than frightening Pumyra off or, even worse, tempting her to turn her attention elsewhere, he found instead that she had suddenly transformed from an untouchable Venus at the top of a tall pedestal to a loving—and very much within his reach—woman that seriously wanted to stay by his side for life.

Six months had passed, and it still bemused him that she didn't turn away from him at any point. He'd asked her a few weeks ago why she stayed with him; she'd giggled quite girlishly and replied, "Because you don't automatically assume that if you've had sex with me once, you can get it anytime you want. If anything, you act as if you must work all the harder for the next taste!"

He supposed she meant it as a compliment, but he couldn't help thinking that it was more cowardice than good sense that prevented him from just taking her into his arms whenever he wanted and… well. Then again, to one who'd practically spent her entire life being used as a plaything by a fairly large number of strange men, perhaps the novelty of having a boyfriend who only managed to unbend enough to make love to her about once every two weeks or so was too good a deal to give up.

Wrapped up in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice Pumyra was walking to the Tower of Omens until she'd practically walked through the front door. A little annoyed with himself, he ran downstairs to meet her, and was somewhat surprised when she handed him a pink flower. "Here," she told him with that gentle smile of hers.

"Uh, thanks."

"Is there a place where I can sit down? I'm a little tired after that walk."

A few minutes later they were back in the control room, with Pumyra sitting in one of the chairs at the edge of the room, and Tygra standing beside her. "What brings you here?" he asked, trying to sound casual and not very certain that he was succeeding.

"I found out why it's called the Field of Fertility."

He looked at her in confusion; she was wearing a look he'd come to recognize over the past few months. It was a look that told him she'd given him a hint and wanted to see if he could work out the answer on his own. It was almost a game between the two of them, with him trying to figure out what was on her mind. He didn't always succeed, but it was something he enjoyed doing nonetheless. Except that this time the answer that came to mind was one he hadn't initially expected. "You're pregnant?"

She nodded. She didn't look pregnant, but he'd heard that there were some lucky women who didn't show until the very end of the pregnancy. Pumyra could easily be one of them.

Now he felt like he needed to sit down. First came the thought: I'm going to be a father. It was immediately followed up with: I'm going to be the father of an illegitimate child. Hard on the heels of that came: If my sister ever finds out, I'll never hear the end of it.

"So, any idea what we're going to tell the others?"

It hadn't even occurred to him to tell the other Thundercats. If anything, he wanted to go out of his way to make sure they never found out… except that little things like growing babies were rather hard to hide after a while.

"I'll tell them," he said quietly after a moment of some heavy thinking. "I… just need to think about how I'm going to tell them…."

"Of course."


The gods, on the other hand, seemed to have different ideas on how the other Thundercats would be informed of the forthcoming bundle of joy. The next day, while Pumyra was sitting in the control room at Cat's Lair, telling her queasy stomach to quit making a nuisance of itself so she could eat something, she jumped at the sound of the alarm.

"Who in the world—?" She reached out and hit the key that turned on the viewing screen, and stared unbelieving at it. "Cracker and the Luna-taks! How did they get here?" She hit the remote button for the drawbridge, but saw with annoyance that Captain Cracker and the Luna-taks had managed to jump on before it was too far from the edge of the cliff to cross. "So they want a fight, do they?" She stood up and pulled off her sling. "Then they'll get one."

Just then her stomach decided that she was going to be ill. Very ill.

She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach with one arm, and her free hand over her mouth. Damn it, what am I thinking? I can't fight them like this! One wrong slip and I'll miscarry! That was something she did not even want to think about. Tygra was the only man she'd even met that she'd even considered carrying a child for, and the thought of being unable to do that for him, something she'd never do for any other man, upset her.

She managed to get control of herself long enough to reach up and hit the panic button. It would send a distress signal to Tygra, and hopefully, he'd get here in time to do something. In the meantime, she proceeded to lock up as much of the Lair as possible, so that even if the Luna-taks made it to the front door, they'd have one hell of a time trying to get in.


And Lion-O saved the day yet again, etc., etc…. Please refer to the episode "Cracker's Revenge" if a reminder is in order. Thank you!


After Captain Bragg and Mandora had left, taking the Luna-taks and Captain Cracker with them, Lion-O looked around. "Hey, where's Pumyra? I thought she would've come out to see us."

"Well, the Sword of Omens told you she was in the Lair, so why don't we go look?" Cheetara suggested. "I'm sure she's alright."

Lion-O nodded. "Panthro, you stay here. Pumyra might've called Tygra for help, so he might be on his way. Cheetara and I will go inside and make sure everything's okay."

"Can do, Lion-O," Panthro replied with a smile. "Just don't take too long. I might get bored enough to jump off the cliff!"

Once inside the Lair, it didn't take long to find Pumyra. There was really only one place she could be, and sure enough, she was in the control room, sitting back in the main chair with one hand over her eyes and the other on her stomach.

"Pumyra, are you alright?" Cheetara asked, quickly going to stand beside the puma. "You didn't come out to see us."

"I couldn't," she replied in that calm way of hers. "The baby had other ideas."

"Baby?" Lion-O looked around the room, as if expecting a cradle would pop up out of nowhere with a child in it. "What baby?"

Cheetara caught on a little faster than he did. "Pumyra—you're pregnant?"

"Didn't Tygra tell you?" Pumyra queried. "He said he would."

"No. He was probably planning on getting around to it." Cheetara looked over at Lion-O, and found she had to resist the urge to laugh hysterically. The look on his face was one of total shock. "Close your mouth, Lion-O, you look like you're trying to catch moths."

His mouth snapped shut.

"How much longer before you're due? Do you know?"

Pumyra thought for a moment. "I'm guessing about two months or so from now. Why?"

"Patient as Tygra might be, I think even he might panic if he found out he had to help you give birth. I've noticed men seem to want to avoid that whenever possible." She looked at Lion-O. "I don't suppose you can have it arranged for Tygra to visit everyone on Thundera for a while in about two months, could you? That way, I can stay here on Third Earth in his place and help Pumyra when the time comes."

A little dense he might be on occasion, but Lion-O did have a tendency to grasp facts quickly when necessary. "Sure I can, and I'll have Kit and Kat stay here with you as well, so neither the Tower nor the Lair will be completely unguarded. That way, should anything happen, you'll have back up." He thought for a moment before looking at Pumyra and adding, "I… suppose that sooner or later I'm going to have to send someone else here anyway so that you and Tygra can be together…."

"If he agrees," Pumyra told him with a smile.


Please insert episode "Mossland Monster" here.


"No more moss monsters," Pumyra told Tygra firmly.

"I can guarantee that one. No more moss monsters."

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, and looking down at him disapprovingly. He was on one knee before her, holding onto her left hand, and trying to convince her he'd be a good husband. "And no more rushing through meteor showers. If we have the baby with us, then safety comes first."

"I've learned my lesson. No more rushing through meteor showers." To himself he thought, Definitely not. As it is, I'm lucky I'm alive right now. His eyes stole over to the little cradle in the corner of the room, where their daughter, no more than a few days old, slept quietly. When he returned yesterday from his trip to New Thundera, he'd spent the rest of the afternoon cradling her in his arms and just plain being a proud new daddy.

Pumyra noticed where he was looking, and smiled mischievously. "And one other thing…."

"What's that?"

"As soon as I've healed up from giving birth to your child, we're going to have Lion-O send Bengali over to baby-sit her so that we can lock ourselves into the bedroom and have sex for a week."


End of Prologue.