AN: I've been messing around with alternate realities in a TC RPG game and decided to mess with a little of the TC canon history to suit my needs there. I really enjoyed how this turned out and thought I would share. :) -RL
Summary: What If the escape from Castle Plundarr in the episode Out of Sight didn't go as planned? And what if, the Sword of Omens wasn't completely successful in restoring Tygra and Nayda to the land of the visible?
Bolded text is original dialogue to the episode, Out of Sight (#54.)
(Picks up after Willa has been captured by Monkian and after Nayda insists on accompanying Tygra to rescue her.)
Tygra stealthily made his way to the bog. He reached out and caught Nayda's hand and pulled her down beside him. In front of the stagnant water rose the shadowy vestige of Castle Plundarr. "Willa is most likely inside under heavy guard." Even though it was unlikely that anyone was around, he felt the need to whisper.
"Then let's get going." Willa's sister rose cautiously to her feet and waited for the ThunderCat to join her in a small clearing.
Tygra smiled to himself as he admired the young maiden. She had always been willing to do anything for her sister, her people, and on numerous occasions the ThunderCats. He didn't doubt her skills or bravery, but he also needed to warn her. "I've never tried to make two people invisible before, but here goes."
Tygra concentrated on the whip in his hand and the soft weight of the human as she pressed her back into his. With a flick of his wrist, he unfurled the bolo whip and wrapped it around them. As the cording surrounded them, the light around them refracted, and they were no longer visible. The whip that held them back-to-back suddenly slipped and then rewound itself back into the retractable handle. Tygra fully expected them to go visible as the whip released, but they didn't.
"Nayda are you all right?" he asked and carefully felt along the invisible bolo for the answer as to why they remained concealed. Maybe this is a fluke on using my whip-augmented psionics on two people, he decided.
"Oh, yes, I think so," the warrior princess answered, oblivious to the tiger's concerns. She was too busy testing out this new sensation. It was very weird not being able to see where her feet were going. She looked at her footprints in the sandy mud; they were the only indications of her presence. "It is a funny feeling being invisible."
Tygra laughed in agreement. This time it did feel different to him as well, but he again chalked it up to the novelty of the situation. He was glad that he could pick up on her aura though. He was reassured that he could still "see" her.
"You'll soon get used to it," he promised and reached for her elbow, catching it on the first try. "Now, let's get into that castle."
They had operated as a flawless team – almost as if they had been doing this type of thing for years rather than hours. It had been sheer luck that it had been Jackalman who had answered their knock on the fortress door. Of all the mutants, he was the most superstitious, probably because of the werejackals on Plundarr.
They had exploited his weakness to its full potential. Nayda had tossed rocks at the canine, and Tygra had tormented him with the skull of an unfortunate resident that had been left in the rock pile. During Willa's escape, they left Jackalman in Willa's cell with the skull now set on top of his own and had trussed up both Slithe and Monkian on their way out of the castle.
After running several miles, Willa finally stopped to rest against a tree trunk and catch her breath. Even though they had managed to outwit the commanders of the mutants, there had still been a possibility that an alarm from Willa's escape might be raised. If that had happened, the underlings would have severely outnumbered them.
Finally getting enough air to speak, Willa turned to the empty space behind her. She was pretty sure she could hear her sister laboring to catch her own breath. "All right, you two." She panted a few more times and continued, "We're miles from the castle. You can make yourselves visible again."
"Good idea," Nayda agreed. "I've had enough of being heard but not seen."
"Right, Nayda, here; stand back to back with me again. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
Tygra took a deep breath and wrapped the bolo around them. "All right count down to visibility. Three – Two – One – Zero." On the last word, he pulled the bolo tight and then retracted it back into the base. He looked down at his hands and saw nothing.
"What's happening Tygra?" Willa had seen a slight glimmer where she believed the two to be, but they did not materialize.
"I'm not sure." Tygra answered. Quickly, he repeated his steps. "Three – Two – One – Zero." Once again, nothing happened. He sighed quietly, steeling himself for the reaction the two humans might have to his words, and then explained his theory, "Making two of us invisible must have overloaded the whip."
"You mean…" Nayda gasped.
"…we're stuck," Tygra finished for her.
As Tygra's affirmation took hold, the horror of her situation dawned on Nayda. She had been half kidding when she had said she was tired of being heard and not seen, she hadn't meant... "But, we could be invisible" – Nayda heard her voice beginning to quiver – "forever."
"It looks that way." Although Tygra heard the fear in the Warrior Maiden's voice, he refused to candy-coat the outcome for her. He knew that it was a possibility and that Nayda and Willa, for that matter, always did better with information. They were not the kind of women that needed protection from the truth. They would not take kindly to anyone – especially a male – handling them as if they would break.
He thought quickly, his analytical brain looking for another possibility another way out of this mess. "There is just one chance for us to become visible again – The Eye of Thundera."
Willa turned to the tiger's voice and watched a stick glide into the air. "Yes, the source of the ThunderCats' power."
Tygra moved the stick in his hand in frustrated gestures, smacking the palm of his hand with the wood. "It just might be strong enough to reverse the invisibility process." He broke the stick in two and was suddenly grateful, if only for a second, that neither woman could see his face.
They headed as one back to the Warrior Maiden Village. Unfortunately, Vultureman spotted Willa as she was running and in a moment of rare accuracy hit the queen in a strafing run.
"Willa!" Nayda shrieked as she saw her sister fall unmoving to the ground. The invisible princess ran and rolled Willa to her side. The ground beneath her sister was already becoming saturated with blood.
"Willa?" she whispered, gently stroking the side of her sister's face. Blood smeared itself across her hands, and they became visible in a macabre red.
Tygra kneeled next to the two humans. He noticed the rise and fall of Willa's chest and put a hand on Nayda's shoulder. "She's not gone yet."
The whine of Vultureman's Flying Machine changed pitch, drawing Tygra's attention. He watched as the mutant vehicle landed a few meters from their location. "Nayda, we need that vehicle if we want to make it back to the village in time. Do you think?"
"Leave him to me," she answered and wiped her hands in the thick grass, ridding them of blood and making her completely invisible once more.
Tygra carefully gathered the queen in his arms. He could feel her blood running down his tunic, beginning to soak it. Carefully, he deposited Willa back on the ground and ripped his bloodied tunic from his body. It was terribly difficult using invisible cloth to bind wounds. He wasn't sure that he was being very successful. A shadow flew over the ground, and Tygra looked up in time to see the body of Vultureman flying through the air and landing high in the trees. Some vines caught the avian before he fell to what would have been a certain death.
Tygra felt a presence beside him and caught the hue of golden aura. It was his only way to see Nayda. He briefly wondered if she could see him the same way, but now was not the time for that conversation. "You showed restraint."
"Even the trees are against me, it seems," replied Nayda. The rage in her voice was not well hidden.
"C'mon." Tygra again picked up the injured queen and walked over to the Flying Machine. "You get in the back and take care of your sister. I'll see what I can do to fly this monstrosity."
As they flew along, the mutant communicator came to life. "Vultureman, approaching from the south." Monkian's voice hooted over the speakers. "Rendezvous at coordinate 43, hoo, hoo."
Schooling his voice into a high falsetto that sounded remarkably like the avian, Tygra replied, "I read you."
Nayda looked up suddenly into the empty driver's seat. Relief flooded through her. "You are quite good at that."
Tygra gave a brief laugh that held no humor. "Years of practice." The two mutant SkyCutters came into view. Coming up behind them, the Flying Machine opened fire. Tygra managed a hit on both aircraft but felt little satisfaction from the air combat. "How is she doing?"
Nayda reached around her sister's long hair and felt her neck. There was still a faint pulse. "She's getting weaker."
A mutant NoseDiver began firing up at the Flying Machine. Smoke began to billow from the right engine. Tygra quickly toggled the switch flaming out the engine and then restarting it. "Make sure you both are strapped in tight!" he ordered. Not waiting for a reply, he barrel-rolled the aircraft into a line-drive pattern at Slithe's ground machine. During the roll, he hit the chain gun lasers and blew a path through the forest and across the NoseDiver.
Slithe threw himself from the vehicle as weapon's fire strafed across the pilot's seat. Angrily, the reptilian pulled out his battle axe and aimed at the Flying Machine again, but before he could fire, something large crashed into the clearing. His yellow eyes focused on new quarry as the young Lord of the ThunderCats made an appearance.
"It's Lion-O. Get him," he ordered to the two other Flying Machine victims that had come to a stop not far from the damaged NoseDiver.
A great volley of weapons fire bathed the clearing in a bright golden light. Tygra saw that the young lord again was in danger and turned the not-so agile aircraft back toward the clearing. Within moments, the ThunderCat signal split the sky next to him. A rush of power filled his veins, and he knew that if he were visible, his eyes would have responded to the call with an eerie glimmer of light.
"Tygra," Nayda called out. "I just lost Willa's pulse!"
Fury spurred the ThunderCat to push the mutant vehicle past its potential. Reaching the clearing, Tygra saw that his friends had the battle in hand but appeared to be at a stand off. With a roar of rage, he opened fire on the mutants scattering them into a disorganized retreat.
The ThunderCats eyed the mutant vehicle with suspicion as it made a less than perfect landing in the glade, skittering to a stop by plunging the nose of the fuselage into a wide tree. However, when Willa's injured body floated from the hold, they sprang into action.
----
The ThunderCats gathered outside the hut leading to the room of the mortally wounded Queen of the Warrion Maidens. They had come to pay their respects, and hopefully offer solace to the grieving clan by giving them their princess back.
"You have to try the Sword of Omens, Lion-O; it is our only hope," Tygra pleaded. He wrapped his hand firmly around both of Nayda's offering support. He had not let go since they had returned to the kingdom and the news of Willa's imminent death from her injuries had been given.
"I don't think I can be invisible forever," Nayda whispered to the tiger.
"Let's take this to a more secluded spot," Lion-O suggested and pointed to a small clearing several meters from the main village.
In moments, the group slid down vines and made their way to the new location. "Nayda, you and Tygra stand over there. All right, prepare yourselves."
The Sword of Omens growled to life. The entire clearing was set afire with blue magick. Very slowly two shapes took form, one the solid build of a Thunderian of the Tigris Clan, the other a slighter, humanoid female. The sword fell silent after it expelled the extent of its power into the figures.
Tygra grinned as he looked at his familiar striped body. More of his stripes were showing since he had sacrificed the majority of his uniform for bandages. He looked to his left, and his face fell. Standing next to him was a faint impression of Nayda. She was not invisible, but she was less than corporeal. She was a translucent image of herself – like a ghost from the old Thunderian Tales.
"Nayda, I…"
Tears poured down the young maiden's face. "How am I supposed to lead my people like this?" she wailed and ran into the forest.
Tygra pursued her, but while she ran, her transparent image began to grow fainter. Soon, she was only a glimmer of golden aura.