Author's Note: Quick head's up on this new chapter it's going to be pretty heavy on dialogue and exposition. Here I wanted to expand the world a bit and introduce part of the main conflict while still keeping things interesting enough to want to know more. Anyways hope you guys enjoy this and have an awesome day!:D
It had been an hour since the Thundercats started following The Book of Omens new direction and everyone was still pondering what could it be leading them to? Was it a new undiscovered Stone of Power? Perhaps something that would give them an advantage over Mumm-Ra? Or perhaps it really was just a glitch? No one wanted to believe that the great book of legend that was treasured and protected by their ancestors would actually glitch out and lead them on a false trail, but as they continued forward with no clue of what they were heading towards it made them sceptical. Still, the book continued to point forwards without any sign of letting up so they too remained steadfast in the hope that wherever they were going would yield some benefit.
"Hey look! Down there! It looks like a town!" exclaimed Wilykat excitedly pointing downwards.
Everyone turned to where he was pointing and sure enough there was a town coming up on the horizon and just beyond it was a huge forest that seemed to stretch for miles.
"Looks like we're in luck, if there is a magic stone around here then maybe someone in that town might know about it. Take us down Tygra" said Lion-O in higher spirits.
Tygra landed the Feliner in a sheltered area half a mile from the town out of sight from any opportunistic tech thieves. When they arrived at the strange new town they decided to split up into groups to ask around and agreed to meet back at the entrance by sundown with any info they found from locals. Panthro and Cheetara went off together, Wilykit, Kat and Snarf scampered off and Tygra and Lion-O paired up to investigate, but as they went around they began to notice something odd. They were no strangers to some scrutiny, the Thundercat's previous prejudice towards other races had not been forgotten and would require a lot of time and patience to forgive, however in this town they were met with a surprisingly high amount of suspicion and in some cases hostility.
"Excuse me sir, I am Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats, we've come looking for-"
"OH I KNOW YOU'RE A CAT! AND YOU'RE NOT STEALING ANYTHING FROM ME! NOW BEAT IT!" yelled a particularly grumpy old merchant waving his cane angrily.
"Steal?! No, no we're not going to steal from you! We just want-!"
"I SAID BEAT IT CATS!"
Needless to say the old merchant's outburst at him and Tygra was causing a scene so they moved on without another word.
"Geez! What the heck was his problem!? And what's with everyone giving us dirty looks?" asked Tygra.
"Don't worry about it Tygra, some people just aren't as trusting of strangers, we'll ask someone else. Let's just hope the others are having better luck" replied Lion-O.
Unfortunately the others weren't having any luck either and were met with just as much backlash from the townsfolk, however they did notice some unusual things being said such as:
"CLEAR OFF! You and the rest of your wolf friends aren't welcome here!"
"Come to steal more from my pantry have you!? Well you're too late! That leopard and her pack cleared me out last night!"
"That leopard friend of yours broke my arm when I caught her stealing my chickens!"
"Those wolves and that howling leopard are a bunch of menaces!"
It seemed that the townsfolk thought they were in league with some mysterious leopard girl and some wolves that had been pillaging from food stores and pantries all over town. With no chance of getting a civil response from the locals the Thundercats reconvened early at the town entrance to discuss what to do.
"Every person we talk to just yells at us and accuses us of being thieves!" exclaimed Wilykit annoyed with Snarf mewling in agreement.
"How are we going to get any information if they won't hear us out?" asked Cheetara.
"We need to find someone higher up, someone who'll be able to convince the rest of the town that we're not here to cause trouble" replied Lion-O.
"Well the sooner we do that the better, I for one am getting sick of trying to walk down these streets without getting my face bombarded with stones and rotten fruit" grumbled Panthro.
"I think I heard about there being a mayor who runs this town, from what I hear he sounds like a reasonable guy" suggested Tygra.
"Then let's go meet this mayor and get this mess straightened out" replied Lion-O.
00000000000000000000000000
It took some time and some negotiating with stubborn locals but eventually they managed to find their way to the town hall in hopes of meeting the mayor. The building itself was remarkably grand made from white marble, above the entrance was a round plate with the town insignia of a sword and shovel crossed over each other and out front was a statue of a noble-looking gopher man holding a flag triumphantly. Upon entering the lobby they were met once again with vicious glares and people whispering comments such as, 'what're savages like them doing here?' and 'someone ought to call the authorities before something happens!'; still they kept their heads held high and paid them no mind.
Once they approached the receptionist desk she gave them a quick dagger-eyed glance and continued filing forms around her as if no one was there.
"Ahem, excuse me miss, I am Lion-O and we are the Thundercats, I was hoping if we could have a word with the mayor if it's not too much trouble" asked Lion-O politely.
The receptionist did not look up from her paperwork but answered disinterested, "actually it is. The mayor's busy right now. But even if he weren't he wouldn't talk you brutes. Now leave before I call security".
Her apathetic reply resulted in a low angry growl from most of the Thundercats; Lion-O was about to attempt to reason with her before anyone could lose their temper, but was beaten to the punch by another unfamiliar voice coming from a side staircase.
"As a matter of fact, I would like to speak with them!"
They all turned to find a portly yet tough looking Gopher man walking towards them. He wore a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up his burly arms and brown worn trousers with black suspenders over each of his broad shoulders, he looked more like a farmhand than a mayor and would've probably been mistaken for one if it weren't for the gold chain and amulet round his neck with the town insignia engraved on it. He was only a foot shorter than Lion-O but he made up for in sheer thickness and looked strong enough to take on Panthro in a fist fight; but despite his gruff exterior there was an underlying softness about him like a strict-yet-incredibly-loving father figure. Even so, seeing her boss appear so suddenly made the receptionist's face turn pale in shock.
"Uh-uh Mayor Gophertan!? I-I didn't- this isn't…I'M SO SORRY!" she exclaimed panicking bowing her head in shame.
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing too, there is no need for that kind of rude behaviour! As the receptionist, you're the first face people see when they enter here, therefore making a good first impression to visitors, ESPECIALLY out of town visitors, is an absolute must. Do you understand?" scolded the Mayor.
"Y-yes sir! It'll never happen again I promise!" she replied before turning to the Thundercats, bowing her head and deeply apologizing.
"Now then, Lion-O was it? Let's head on upstairs where we can talk privately" suggested the Mayor leading the way.
The Thundercats followed him up the stairs into a large impressive office, on one side was a huge bookshelf full of information about the town and its history. On another side was a fireplace with a portrait of the mayor and his very big family above and in the middle of the room were three plush couches and one matching armchair around a coffee table. The mayor sat down on the armchair and gestured for the cats to sit with him, once everyone was comfortable he turned to Lion-O.
"Alright now, first things first I just want to apologise for the behaviour of not just my receptionist but of the rest my people! When I heard earlier that some strange cats had arrived in town today I had a feeling the welcome would be less than friendly, and for that I am truly sorry" said the Mayor sincerely.
"Oh that's quite alright sir, we've gotten used to people having their doubts and misgivings about us" replied Lion-O.
"Even so, there's no excuse for everyone to treat visitors this way regardless of species"
"But why are they acting that way? We only just arrived here and we're not here to cause trouble!" added Wilykit.
"And I believe you little one, unfortunately due to recent 'incidents' it's gotten everyone else in town on edge" replied the mayor worriedly.
"These incidents wouldn't happen to involve some wolves and a Leopard girl would it?" asked Cheetara.
"Ah yes, I guess you've heard, in the past year the wolves of the neighbouring forest have been raiding and stealing from folks all over town!"
"Then why don't you just fight them off, drive them away from your town?" asked Panthro, this resulted in the Mayor letting out a chuckle much to everyone's confusion.
"You folks really are new to these parts, first of all the wolves here are incredibly big, strong and vicious when angered, and heck some of the teenagers are as big as you!" he said pointing at Panthro "even if we tried to attack them they'd wipe the floor with us before most likely eating us all"
"Woah, eating you!? That's pretty extreme!" exclaimed Lion-O shocked while Snarf ran and hid under one of the couches in fear.
"Maybe so, but considering the situation I wouldn't be surprised. But it wasn't always like this, we used to have a very peaceful relationship with the wolves thanks to our peace agreement, which is the other reason why we don't attack them" explained the Mayor.
"Peace agreement?"
"Yup, you see this town was founded by my Great Grandfather Gopherfield, he and his family originally came from a farming village but were attacked by bandits and forced to flee. It was a time when a lot of wars were going on so they and many other refugees had to keep moving, it was Gopherfield who lead the desperate people to this place. Here they found rich fertile soil for farming, clean running water from rivers and a huge forest filled with all the lumber, food and materials they needed, and best of all it was far away from all the fighting. But it didn't take long before they soon discovered that they weren't alone here, the woods were occupied by the Wolf Tribe and they were not happy about having trespassers on their land. My Great Grandfather was the one to earn the respect of their leader and together they came up with the Peace Agreement. The people of this town are allowed to take wood, food and other necessities from their forest only at certain times of the year, within a reasonable amount and are not to venture too far into their territory and in return we would share our knowledge and any valuable materials with them such as any useful tools, weaponry or technology. Since then we've maintained a pretty stable trade with them" the Mayor explained with a sense of pride at his ancestry.
"That's an amazing story sir, but then what's changed? Why are the wolves suddenly acting out now?" asked Tygra.
"Unfortunately I don't know for certain, even though we were at peace with them the wolves are very secretive, they don't like sharing any private information about their pack or their territory to outsiders. One thing that is for certain, they are desperate and hungry, and no one wants to get on the bad side of a hungry and desperate wolf".
"Then there must be some kind of food shortage going within the forest, but then why don't they just trade their stuff for food from the markets?" asked Lion-O.
"I'm afraid that's due to the merchant's greediness, you see when they realised that the wolves were buying up more of their food stocks they raised the prices and started demanding they pay with actual money instead of trading items like they always had. The wolves don't have the same currency system as us so when they couldn't pay or trade for the food, they resorted to thievery; and it's not just from shops they've been breaking into homes and raiding pantries all over. Thankfully they haven't seriously injured or killed anyone yet, and believe me if they wanted to they would if anyone got in their way".
"What about that Leopard we've heard so much about? Is she really associated with the wolves?" asked Tygra.
"More than that, she's part of their pack. Quite a mystery that girl, many years ago the wolf leader and his mate came here with her as a baby and were going around asking if anyone had seen her parents or if there were any other cats in the area. No one recognised her, some people round here had never even seen a cat before and ever since then she's been one of them." Explained the Mayor.
"They raised her since she was a baby? No wonder she thinks she's one of them, she's probably never met another cat before either" said Cheetara.
"Indeed, and it's clear to me that you all aren't involved with them. With all that's been happening the people here are very frustrated and paranoid, so seeing you they just assumed that you were allies with her, but not to worry I'll make sure to announce to everyone tomorrow that you are my guests here and to treat you as such."
"Thank you Mayor, that'll make things a whole lot easier, you see we really just came here to look for something. You wouldn't happen to know of any magical stone around here, or something of that nature?" asked Lion-O.
"A magic stone huh?" the Mayor looked concerned for a moment as he pondered over this question.
Noticing this Lion-O spoke up, "you see sir, we need to find these stones in order to stop Mumm-Ra, and we need to find them before he does or it'll be impossible to stop him!"
"Mumm-Ra!? I thought he was just a myth!" exclaimed the Mayor in fear.
"I'm afraid he's all too real, and we need any help we can get to stop him" said Panthro gravely.
"Indeed you will! Well I'm sorry to say you won't find any magic stone here in this town" replied the Mayor.
"Awww man! Does this mean we've been running around this grumpy town for nothing!?" exclaimed Wilykat.
"Not necessarily my boy, there may not be anything magical HERE, but you just may find what you're looking for out THERE" he replied pointing straight out one of the windows at the wolves forest.
"WHISKERS!" they all said in unison.
