"Status report!" Lion-O barked on entering the control center of Cat's Lair. Laheela sat before the main console at the front of the spacious chamber - called Ops, short for Operations - with a diagram of the Medical Wing blown up on her screen. Numerous data call-outs indicated closed shutters.

"Full lockdown in place," she said. "Cause is unknown."

"Air ciruclation reads clean," Bengali called from his position behind the Braille Board, the white Tyger using the augmented controls which translated what Lynx-O could directly interpret into visual data on his own transparent screen.

"Systems check out," Panthro added from his normal duty station, "this isn't a malfuntion that I can see

"Unknown bio-form detected!" Bengali shouted.

"Localizing!" Mandora exclaimed from the secondary Ops panel. While one person could - in theory - run all of the Lair's systems from this central point, at least three were on duty during the day. An alert signal would immediately call up others on the roster to take emergency stations at night. Lion-O knew this would have to be rectified. He watched as her data appeared on the main monitor.

"Got the visual back in the lab," Panthro said. The image appeared forthwith.

"Pumyra!" Bengali yelled. The dedicated section of the main screen showed smashed equipment and tables, debris strewn around the floor. Beneath a crumpled cabinet was a slender female hand. A shadow appeared before her which resolved into Siberias struggling to move the cabinet.

"Audio's still out," Panthro said, working on it.

"She's alive," Mandora said, aiming her words at Bengali who relaxed slightly. "I have visual."

"What in the hell is that?" Lion-O breathed. "Where's its skin?"

The creature upon the screen was an abomination of the sort they had all thought only Mumm-Ra could have conjured. Raw, exposed muscle and sinew bulged on its massive frame. Its fingers and toes ended in wickedly sharp claws, the latter of which had dug furrows into the floor with each step. It had no neck, rather another camera revelaed layers of ultra-thick musculature forming growing ridges which hunched up to bulbous shoulders. Its head was a nightmare, mouth open to an impossible degree and filled with dripping fangs beneath two milky eyes. Lion-O found his gaze drawn to its forehead where a growth of flesh rose, and beneath it...

"Does that green orb look familiar to all of you?" The air in the control chamber cooled at Lion-O's question.

"No way," Panthro said, astonished as he made the connection. "No fucking way..." The rear doors slid open to admit Tygra who ran up next to Lion-O. WilyKit, Kyranna, and Torr were close behind.

"Jaga's Beard..." It was at that moment that it charged the sealed bulkhead and began ramming its fists into it with murderous force.

"It's denting the partition!" Laheela exclaimed.

"Can it break through?"

"If it can keep that up," Panthro replied, "eventually."

"Lion-O to all Royal Guards near the Medical Wing," he said into the comm, "hold position. Repeat, hold position!" Several ackowldegments returned over the channel. Mandora placed the locations of the Royal Guards onto the main screen.

"Maybe we should recall Sho," Mandora suggested.

"No," Lion-O replied. "We can't lean on him for everything. Besides, I don't want him having to pop off any of his weapons in the Lair. We have to deal with this." Lion-O felt every eye on him as he considered. "It seems to be ignoring Pumyra and Siberias. If it wants to get out so badly, we'll give it a way."

"The Depot," Panthro said at once. "I can alternate the security shutters to steer it out to where the wrecks are." He referred to the outdoor area in which the wrecks of the ships they had scavenged parts from were stored.

"No. We can't let that thing see daylight."

"It bears some small resemblance to..."

"Yes," he said to Tygra's observation. "If that thing has even a shade of his power we can't let it out."

"Whatever we do, we have to do it fast," Laheea said.

"I have something in the Depot that might take care of that thing," Panthro offered. "I just need someone to take control of security from here."

"Kyranna and Bengali, I want you to link up with the Royal Guards at Lair East-Seven. Panthro, you and Tygra get to the Depot." He had seen the Sword and the Claw on the latter's hip and nodded with approval. "Kit, take over the Board. Torr, you have the security systems." At once, the other ThunderCats moved into position with Panthro and Tygra racing out the far door and Bengali with Kyranna the other. "Torr, we need some time. Give that monster something to think about."

"On it!" Torr accessed the security panel and, on the screen, tendrils of electricity arced across the creature's body once its fist smashed the increasingly dented barrier once again. They watched as it howled silently and its exposed musculature seized up. Torr deactivated the electric shock and the creature backed away from the damaged barricade before charging again with the same result.

"Can we pump enough juice through there to kill it?"

"I'd advise against that," Kit replied. "We could blow the grid for that whole sector."

"Agreed," Mandora said. "We need eyes on that thing, sir." Torr relented again and the creature stepped back once more with its hand smoking and scorched.

"Either that critter can't take a hint or..."

"It's healing!" Kit shouted before zooming in on the hand. Burnt tissue was rapidly giving way to restored muscle. "Whatever Panthro has in store, it better be good!" It did not charge a third time, rather staring at the offensive barrier with its clouded eyes narrowed.

"I show Bengali and Kyranna in position," Kit said.

"Right. Torr, open the barrier to East-Eleven." As if on cue, the monstrosity looked in the direction of the opening barrier and ran for it.

"I'll close the door behind him," Torr said, "and I got the next one charged up. I'll juice this one behind it too." With only two doors in that section of the Medical Wing, it would be contained for a while. He hoped.

"Kyranna and Bengali, move in!" Lion-O commanded over the comm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"By all that's sacred..." Jagara gasped as she and Mumm-Rana beheld the image in crystal waters of the scrying pool. Within they saw the alien being slam into a sealed metal door only to howl as lightning coursed across it.

"It does bear a resemblance to..." Mumm-Rana gazed over at the slowly pulsing control medal still encased in ice.

"How little we understand of them," Jagara said.

"Worse, how little the rest of us do," Mumm-Rana replied, shaking her head sadly. First the Unknown and now this. They had both known of Pumyra's experiments with those samples taken from Sho, but neither of them could have predicted this. The fact that the Thunderians could not have either was of no comfort.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bengali rushed ahead of Kyranna and the Royal Guards with his heart in his throat and his nerves singing a dischordant song. He could hear the creature's muted roars of rage in the distant corridors as they ran into the Medical Wing and toward the sundered door to the laboratory. The door lay against the far wall, dented and amid a web of cracks. Bengali rushed in to find a scene of devestation. The scanning microscope was smashed into junk along the left wall. Tables were overturned and splintered with shattered equipment leaving a trail toward the door. To his right he saw Siberias straining to lift the cabinet off of Pumyra.

He joined the elder Tyger and heaved. The cabinet flipped over to reveal Pumyra lying unconscious and face-down beneath it amid a small pool of blood.

"Don't touch her!" Kyranna shouted as she darted up and slid on her knees to the Puma's side. In seconds she had her hand scanner out and taking stock of the unconscious woman's injuries. "Two broken ribs, oh, shit, I got internal bleeding here!" A battered Siberias rose and pointed to two of the Guardsmen.

"You two!" he bellowed in a voice which belied his years, "fetch a gurney from the treatment ward!" The two dashed off at once to comply before Bengali knelt beside his mate and stroked her hair.

"You're gonna be okay," he said in a hoarse whisper. "You're gonna be okay." He stood as the gurney was brought alongside her prone form.

"Grab her ankles and shoulders and roll her over. And by Jaga be easy about it!" Bengali watched as they slowly rolled Pumyra onto her back and then eased her up and onto the gurney. Siberias and Kyranna were rolling it into surgery as soon as she was atop it with the elder ThunderCat barking orders as Kyranna read off the vitals. Bengali suddenly felt lost but beneath that he felt a rage burning brighter and brighter. His wife, the mother of his child, had been wounded and the thing responsible was not far away...

"Status report," Lion-O's voice commanded over the comm.

"Pumyra is injured. I don't know how badly," Bengali said. "The lab is a total wreck."

"We can worry about that later. Bengali, stay with her."

"Understood." And thank you, he added silently.

"Sir Bengali?" a Guardsman asked, "what the hell happened here?"

"We'll find that out, soldier," he replied. We just found out that the Guyver is a fuck of a lot more dangerous than we first thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lisker sat atop the roof of the home he shared with Natalee and Maria while refusing to ponder how life could continue to throw such insane curveballs at a man. His life since awakening after that fateful incident in some South American hellpit or another - he honestly did not recall the name of the region - had been a revelatory experience to say the least then to be followed by his revival on Third Earth and all the madness which had followed. He'd made the mistake, he realized, of thinking that things were finally settling down with the strengthening of Watershed's defenses. Then Sho Fukamachi comes wandering in with this fresh pile of shit.

Grune as a Guyver.

That thought kept ringing in his head. How could it be possible? How could there have been more than three? He'd picked up the fact from Sho's memories that all three had been activated during the time of Second Earth, which fully eliminated the chance that the missing third unit had been stashed somewhere all this time. Could there have been more?

The rank of Inspector in Kronos roughly translated to a hatchet man. True, he'd been given some special information as part of his inspection of the three units before their aborted transfer, but not very much. He'd thought little of it at the time. In Kronos as in the Marines Need To Know was Need To Know and that was that.

He glanced over as Maria emerged through the trap door with a worried expression on her face. Of all the curveballs life had thrown him, he was the most grateful for this one. As their relationship had developed he had watched her bloom into far more than what her parent society would have allowed. And she loved him fiercely for it.

At least I've done something good with my life, he thought as she walked over. She leapt atop him without words and rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms about her, drinking in the love she felt for him. That, more than anything, had been his turning point. His true rebirth.

Not that he'd ever tell Sho that, even if the kid would believe him.

"I thought that nightmare was over," she said. "I thought Grune was behind us."

"Me, too, babe. Me, too."

"Why are you waiting?"

It was a damn fine question, Lisker had to admit. He recalled the ancient Afghan saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. CIA had exploited the ever-loving shit outta that maxim against the Soviet Union way back when the latter was invading Afghanistan. By the time the Soviet Union had fallen, he was well on his way up the Kronos ladder and had watched the fall of the Berlin Wall. Despite his new allegiance and new outlook on the world, he had taken not a small measure of pride from seeing the Iron Curtain come down.

"Lisker?"

"Oh! Sorry. I was lost in my head for a minute there."

"Why are you waiting?" she asked again, this time turning her face up to his.

"It's... It's a lot to take in," he replied. "What I saw in his mind..." The raw power of Grune with a Guyver unit. That thought sent chills up his spine.

"It seems simple to me," Maria said. "Put your differences aside and work together. Wollos have been doing that for as long as our history goes back. Same with the Bolkins and the Tabbots."

"Maria..."

"There's bad blood between you. I know that. But put next to what could happen what does that matter? You can always settle your differences later." Her gaze hardened. "Unless some stupid pride is getting in the way."

"It's not, and you're right."

"Of course I am," she said in a prim voice, "I'm a woman." They rested in the sun as it neared its zenith in the sky. The sounds of Watershed reached them as a muted roar of commerce as the breeze brought scents of foodstuffs and manure and livestock.

"I hate to uproot us again."

"Huh?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Whatever you're planning," Tygra said as he and Panthro charged into the Depot, "I hope it's good!" Tygra slowed as the former charged toward a cylindrical machine which rested in chains from a hoist in the ceiling. Panthro grasped it and heaved, turning one end of it toward the door. Despite his limited knowledge of engineering, Tygra recognized the business end of an afterburning engine. He raced to help his friend as they lugged it toward the door.

"Maneuvering thruster I pulled off the Gelnika," Panthro explained as they muscled the engine into place. "It oughtta be hot enough to kill that thing."

"I guess the Sword is the backup plan for if it can't."

"From what I saw, that thing isn't armored. This oughtta work." They finished muscling the engine into place and securing it to the floor with lengths of chain.

"I assume you won't crank this up to full power," Tygra said as they anchored the chains.

"Not at first," Panthro replied as the first dull thuds of the creature pounding the barricades began to reach them. "No way..."

"Depot, come in!" Mandora's voice cried. Panthro dashed over to the central computer he had cobbled together and activated the comm.

"What the hell's going on?"

"That thing... Panthro, it's getting stronger!"

"WHAT?!" Tygra exclaimed before shooting a glance back at the mounted engine and then the door.

"The electric shocks aren't working as well now!" Mandora shouted.

"Ah, fuck," Panthro groaned. If they couldn't guide that thing...

"Mandora," Tygra said, "Open all partitions leading to the Depot. We're as ready as we're going to get here."

"Tygra, are you sure?" Lion-O's voice asked.

"This is our best chance," he said. "And it looks like putting it off isn't an option any more."

"Very well." With that, the connection broke and Panthro rushed to power up the engine. Its inner working started up with a low whine that quickly grew into a high pitched hum. Tygra stepped well away before drawing the Sword and willing it to battle length and donning the Claw. It was all happening far too fast, yet such was not unknown to either ThunderCat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Agito awoke from his doze soaked in sweat and shaking from the dream. The Clutch had stopped during the heat of the day on its way to the Tuska camp which had once been a primary redoubt of Sandalwood, not wanting to follow the escapees too closely. He sat up beneath the tree under which he'd sought shelter from the sun and cast his cloak open to allow the air to cool his skin while old memories danced in his consciousness.

After two millennea, no man could retain perfect recall of events. While the details had been somewhat washed, their meaning had not. Agito had not thought about that bastard since he'd arranged for that one's death. Somehow, he had ignored the possibility that he might return.

That had been a mistake.

He had arranged for the death of Guyver Four in a most dramatic fashion even if it had meant Kronos had laid hands on the control medal. Zeus' Thunderbolt had not been in possession of the necessary equipment to deep-freeze the medal and thus keep the last Guyver from making a repeat performance. Even the circumstances behind his arrival on the scene had been unprecedented. Not to mention what the bastard had done to Agito personally.

Was it possible? Could he return? Agito had to admit to himself that it was and that such was far from good news for anyone involved. Guyver Four was the only other being with intimate knowledge of Sho's past.

Agito took a deep breath that was redolent of moldering leaves and damp. Yes, he admitted to himself, it was possible. In regards to keeping Bio Boosters under wraps, the former global cabal had beeen woefully incompetent. Said fact had worked to Agito's own benefit, but now...

He had to face facts.

Sho's continued stability now rested on his lost memories, and Agito's plan to manipulate that had failed spectacularly. If that hotheaded psychopath awakened them before Guyver One was ready, then Sho would likely become a force that Third Earth could never deal with. Agito had never gotten the chance to really understand Guyver Four, but his insane levels of anger were more than worrisome. It had been a miracle that Randall West had managed any sort of control on the boy in the first place.

And now the son of a bitch could be about to awaken.

Agito rose, knowing that his time was even shorter than before. If Guyver Four reminded Sho of the power he held, or what the erstwhile Guyver had stolen from Agito himself, then all his plans were set to ruin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had barely finished and not a second too soon. With the last chain bolting the engine to the floor had come the pounding on the main door to the Depot. The metal began to dent with each blow as the creature howled from the other side. Panthro furiously worked the activation controls on the engine. The whine of its turbines spooling up nearly drowned out the roars of the creature as more dents appeared in the thick metal. Tygra stood in the corner farthest from the door with the Sword at battle length and the Claw on his other arm.

"DONE!" The whine had grown into a roar as the door slid mostly open. The creature burst in just as Panthro fired the afterburner. A jet of white gas leapt out from the engine and eveloped the now screaming creature in superheated gas. Panthro kept up the assault for as long as he could until the fumes began to replace the breathable air in the Depot. The assault ceased.

The ventilation systems activated and began pumping the toxic fumes out of the Depot. However, as the smoke cleared...

"No..." Panthro gasped. Its form was blackened from the superheated gas yet it still rose. Much of its flesh was scorched yet he could see the tendrils knitting and regenerating themselves. He checked the air sensors on the far wall to find them well within tolerances but nothing happened when he slammed his palm down on the activation switch again.

Tygra, crouched along the wall in which the door rested, wasted no time in charging forward with the Sword in hand. The monstrosity had been badly wounded yet he knew that all Panthro had managed to do was buy him a little time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sho emerged through the trap door leading onto the roof of Lisker's home well before sundown, having been summoned just after lunch. He reached the roof alone to find Lisker sitting in one of a pair of reclining chairs in the waning day. A large wooden bucket rested between the chairs with several brown bottles settled within it. As advanced as Watershed was by local standards, it had not discovered the art of making and transporting ice much less the even more evolved art of refridgeration. Sho shrugged before approaching the reclining form of Oswald Lisker. The atomic bombs which were the local brew were good both warm and cold. Without looking up, Lisker waved to the other chair with a lazy motion. Sho briefly wondered how many of those beernukes he had indulged in before this meeting and found he honestly did not care. Sho reclined in the offered seat and the silence grew between them, pregnant with anticipation.

"Help yourself," Lisker said. Sho obliged by plucking a bottle and pulling free the cork before taking a sip. "I guess you don't believe in not drinking with your enemy." Sho remained silent. "So, which one of us is Richard the Lionheart and which is Salah ad-Din?"

"What?" Sho asked after his first sip went down.

"Guess Japanese high schools never covered the Crusades very well."

"Can't say as they did," Sho admitted. His knowledge of those wars for Jerusalem was limited to what he had found on the internet back in the halcyon days of dial-up connections. Given his exposure to Thunderian technology, though, he did wonder just how far network connectivity could have gone then remembered that Kronos had likely pioneered most of the advances he'd seen on Second Earth for their own ends. Wireless and satellite connections in homes had been unheard of in the lead up to X-Day.

"They met, y'know. Broke bread and talked like friends. They would have killed each other gladly on the field, but in that moment they were just people."

"What are you saying?"

"If they could do it, then so can we."

"A truce," Sho said after a sip, feeling himself relax from the beer and the direction of their talk.

"A truce. But, I have terms."

"You..."

"I will not go after your precious queen." Lisker took another sip. "You remember what the Afghans said?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"I always preferred ally, but the principle holds," Lisker replied. "I'll help you. I want some things in return."

"Like?"

"I want Maria and Natalee in New Thundera. They'll be safest there." Lisker took another sip.

"Why?"

"Because that's my condition," Likser retorted. "Can you agree to that or not?"

"Yes," Sho said without hesitation. Lion-O had given him a blank check, after all.

"Next," Lisker said, "What are your orders about Grune?"

"Stop him," Sho said simply. Lisker blinked once and turned his head to face him.

"Do you have any idea how open that statement is?"

"I do," Sho said. "If I can deliver him to New Thundera, that would be optimal."

"And if you can't?"

"Again, my written orders are to stop him." Silence stretched between them for several moments as both drank their beers.

"I get you," Likser said, and indeed he did. Much to his surprise, Sho had been given a hunting liscense with no bag limit. Whatever it took to stop Grune. If it meant he never faced Thunderian justice, then it was not an issue. Lisker understood clearly. Dead or alive, and they did not care which. Neither did he, for that matter. Lisker was still unsure of Grune getting a Guyver, but he was still loose and still a threat. Lisker's own presence in Watershed was probably why he had not attacked. However, Lisker had come up in world of conflict and most of it had borne little resemblance to set piece battles.

"Guyver or no," he said, "Grune has to go."

"If he dies, don't expect anyone in New Thundera to shed a tear."

"Can you guarantee Maria and Natalee space in the colony?"

"Can you guarantee you'll abide by our laws and our agreement?"

"Yes."

"Then we have a truce," Sho said after finishing his beer. "Pack your stuff. We leave tomorrow."

"Already barking orders?" Lisker asked.

"Sorry, but I still don't have much in the way of trust for you."

"But here you are."

"Yeah." They fell silent as the sun began to sink. "What about Watershed?" Lisker took a deep breath before opening another beer.

"I've done all I can here," he said before a short sip. "They can look after themselves. But, I gotta admit, this did not come about the way I'd thought it would."

"So, this place is secure."

"About as much as I can make it. You've seen the milita."

"That's not a guarantee."

"No, but it's the best I can do. Y'know, this did not turn out the way I'd thought it would."

"I never thought I'd be in a war against a global conglomerate which turned people into monsters then conqured the world . Cry me a fucking river." Lisker nearly choked on his sip of beer when the laughter bubbled up.

"Point, Sho. Point." God, what happened to this guy? Lisker thought. He shook that off as idiotic. He could easily guess. "I won't apologize for the fuckups of my past. You won't accept it and it's too late to do anything about it. This arrangement is about the here and now. Grune has to go."

"You almost sound like you want to atone."

"Don't worry about that," Lisker said. "We're never gonna be trading Christmas cards or anything, but there are things more important than rivalries and grudges."

"Like Maria and Natalee."

"I am not gonna go into that. I have your word, and that's enough. You also have mine that I will not attack you nor your precious queen. Or king. Or anyone."

"Fine," Sho said, feeling out Lisker's thoughts and finding his words true.

"You're surprised I wanna bring others with me," Liker said simply.

"To be honest, yeah," Sho replied before fishing out another bottle. While Bundan's brew was potent, Benjamin's made it look weak. "I mean, I know about you and Maria..."

"Is..."

"No, it won't," Sho said, cutting him off. "My wife and daughter are Thunderian." Sho tried not to laugh as Lisker nearly choked on his beer.

"Wh... WHAT?!" Lisker's eyes were wide in surprise and locked on his own. Sho tried harder not to laugh.

"We haven't had any kind of ceremony," Sho began and wondered if he and Myrlha would ever get the chance at this point, "But we've adopted a little girl. Her name's Leah." Lisker remained silent for several moments as he sipped his beer and stared out into the sky which was shifting from blue to reddish-gold.

"A child," Lisker said at length. "Well, I guess congratulations are in order."

"Thanks." Both fell silent once more. Sho realized that Lisker, like himself, was in a relationship which could never develop children. He had no doubt that the other loved Maria as much as he loved Myrlha but that did not change the fact that the women in their lives were of different species.

"Biology is a bitch," Sho let slip.

"I'll drink to that," Lisker replied before holding his bottle over. Sho watched the gesture and retuned it with a clink of the bottles. Both took deep draughts of beeranium 239 to the detriments of their livers. "Love makes fools of us all, don't it?"

"I don't feel very foolish about that, and neither do you." Sho met Lisker's gaze at that. "I've been in your head."

"Score one more for the Japanese team," Lisker said around a grin. "Okay, Sho. First light."

"We won't make that if we drink much more of this," Sho said before finishing off his second... or was it third?

"Bread and water," Lisker said. "They'll help. Sorry but we don't have aspirin here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Sword whistled as the blade descended in a glowing arc. The creature's arm was severed at once. Its flesh was charred and even burning in places yet it stll moved with terrifying speed. Tygra was only barely able do leap back ahead of the swipe from its other arm. Tygra landed squarely on his feet. The creature roared, a sound of pain and suffering that tore at the air itself. Tygra did not allow himself to feel pity or fear. He gave himself to the Eye, commanding the power to come to him.

"HO!" he levelled the blade as the sapphire beam lanced out and peirced its midsection. Yet, it kept coming.

By the gods, what IS this thing?!

Tygra broke off the attack before it could close on him again. He felt the displaced air against his chest as its remaining claws swept just where his chest had been a second earlier. He heard Panthro swear with a roar before the Panther opened the end of one of his nunchaku's batons and withdrew a handful of crystals which he tossed at its back as it raised its surviving limb for another strike. Tygra rolled clear as they broke against its back with a sizzling sound accompanied by a roar of pain and the smell of flesh being dissolved. Tygra regained his feet, sword at the ready, and saw it stagger slightly before turning to try and face the both of them.

"It's slowing down!" he exclaimed on a moment's reflection. Its flesh was not regenerating as quickly as before, still melted and scorched from the superheated gas of the booster engine with which Panthro had blasted it. Small rivulets of melting skin seeped down its back...

Which gave the two ThunderCats the warning needed. It turned and thrust its surviving hand onto the top of an engine block whose metal crimped beneath the pressure before spinning about and hurling in in their direction. The pair dodged left and right a hair's breadth before it smashed into the wall, a distance of over twenty meters.

"Slowing down my ass!" Panthro shouted. The Depot was being steadily wrecked. The enraged creature stalked forward and smashed aside the charred remains of a workbench. Panthro leapt to his feet and raced to the engine. Tygra saw its eyes narrow at that and rose with a cry of "HO!" and an outpouring of will into the Eye which resulted in another sapphire blast which staggered the abomination. He braced his arms and his will, committing body and will to the assault. The sapphire beam erupted from the blade to lance its chest.

Tygra kept up the assault as Panthro raced to the engine which had entered its cooling cycle.

"FUCK!" he roared. "Two minutes to restart!"

"You can't go any faster?!"

"Working on it!" The creature, even with most of its outer flesh burned and mutilated, was not out of the fight just yet, a realization Tygra came to when it reached out with its remaining arm to grasp a mostly disassembled machine whose purpose he had idea of and hurtled it at his head. He was forced to break off his assault before dropping down just as the mass of metal sailed through the space his head once occupied. It immediately turned toward Panthro and lurched forward in a staggering gait.

Panthro abandoned his attempts to restart the engine to dash across the room to a bench festooned with tools and loose parts as well as a long and heavy transaxle for use as a spare for the ThunderTank. Though the creature had slowed, its strength was still fearsome which it demonstrated by grasping another piece of equipment which it then threw with tremendous force. The Panther skidded to a halt and threw his weight backward in time to slide beneath the thrown machine. Tygra regained his feet as the creature lunged forward and grasped Panthro about the head. It hoisted him over its head with no visible effort.

Tygra did not hesitate. He charged forward with the Sword pointed low, demanding every ounce of power he could from his legs before it could toss Panthro into a wall and kill his friend. The second he was in range, he swung the blade upward between its legs where it bit deep into flesh and continued upward with his leap to sever meat and bone to emerge from its head. It seemed to hold its cohesion for a moment before splitting in twain and thankfully releasing Panthro. Tygra observed with far less gratitude that it also released its innards as it fell apart. He stepped over the steaming remains to kneel beside Panthro who was busily massaging the sides of his head.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Tell you when I get the blood back into my head," Panthro said. "Think you could've done that sooner?"

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Tygra replied with a smile before draping Panthro's arm over his shoulder and helping him up. "Tygra to Control," he said into his portable comm after sheathing the Sword into the Claw.

"We saw," Lion-O's voice said over the channel. "Get yourselves to the Medical Wing."

"Not yet," a steadier Panthro replied. "First we drag this thing out and roast it. I don't want any part of it alive."

"Understood but get yourselves into Medical soon."

"You realize you just drafted me into hauling half of this monster outside," Tygra deadpanned.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Panthro said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was gruesome," Mumm-Rana said on viewing the events in her cauldron. The two halves of the creature left an enormous stain on the floor of Panthro's Depot though the two had found sizeable tarps into which they wrapped its bisected form.

"Things are happening far faster than we'd hoped," Jagara asked before casting a glance at the frozen control medal which still slowly pulsed with light. "I must wonder if this is due to our interference."

"The forces of Light and Dark always take up arms before clashing," the ancient priestess replied as she watched Panthro and Tygra laboriously drag the remains of the vicious being outside to be incinerated. "What concerns me is the intervention of Chaos." She sighed. "The last time spelled the end of Second Earth. What will happen this time?"

"Was the Unkown a part of that?" Jagara asked. Mumm-Rana turned her own gaze to the control medal encased in ice.

"Without a doubt."

"And we're going to release him?"

"Or her. The Unknown may have been just caught up in the events of the time," Mumm-Rana said. "We cannot judge for things we do not know about. Besides," she continued, "he or she could not have been present at the end."

"I know. I only hope you have a backup plan for if this goes wrong."

"I will melt the ice at nightfall," she said, "and allow it to regrow."

"Is that wise?"

"The Ancient Ones sent us to find the control medal."

"Maybe to keep it from awakening?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Mumm-Rana said.

"If we keep it here, it can't cause harm."

"Nor can it help." They moved away from the scrying pool with their eyes locked upon the pillar of ice and the control medal frozen within. "The Ancient Ones have kept their counsel on this matter."

"In other words, they don't know either," Jagara said with a shake of her head which sent her white and purple hair rippling. "Beings like them are quick on giving orders, but not so fast on giving answers."

"We have both had to do the same," Mumm-Rana replied as she raised her arms toward the ceiling of her chamber. A gentle azure glow seeped from her feet to flow across the floor and vanish beneath the walls. "That will keep the Unknown's presence hidden from the other Guyvers."

"We should tell the ThunderCats at least," Jagara said, knowing even so that the other woman's mind was set. She still had to at least make the effort. "This is a huge load to drop into their laps without warning."

"When troubles come, they come not single spies but in battalions." The sadness in the elder's voice was manifest.

"Well I know that," Jagara said.

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Lion-O had personally overseen the destruction of the creature which had rampaged through the lair. The fact that there had been no fatalaties had been nothing short of a miracle. Panthro had wheeled out the engine he had used to injure it and over the course of several maximum burns, cooling periods, and two hours had reduced every piece of it to ash. A small part of him found it ironic that it had gotten what it had wanted; a way out of the lair.

Standing in the Medical Wing, he saw Siberias and Kyranna exiting the recovery area with the former looking bedraggled, exhausted, and haunted. Siberias saw him there and had the dignity not to flinch.

"You can deliver your report in the morning," Lion-O said. He had to struggle to keep his voice calm.

"Of course, Your Highness." Lion-O turned and left without another word. As he trod the halls of Cat's Lair, members of the Royal Guard took one look at his face and practically leapt out of his way with the salute of bowed head and shoulders with right arms across their chests. He barely noticed the trek to his quarters.

Cheetara rose to greet him as he entered. She embraced him and as his arms encircled her he felt relief begin to dampen the flames of anger in his blood.

"I saw it all," she said simply. "Thank Jaga no one was killed."

"All I could think of was that... thing... within a mile of you and Leoran."

"You put that aside for the good of everyone." She leaned up and kissed him gently. "That's why it never got near here."

"You and Leoran were never far from my mind..." She slienced him this time with her fingers.

"I know that, too." She knew she did not have to explain further. Being a king and a father were jobs that could often be at severe odds with one another. Lion-O was realizing it, and such was a sign of how far he had come and how much farther he could go.

"You wanted to rise to the challenge, but you knew Leoran needed you." It was just the right thing to say. Cheetara had been practically raised as a warrior but having become a mother - of the next of the royal bloodline nonwithstanding - had given her as new a perspective as Lion-O's new responsiblities had for him. They were both responsible to the continuation of the current royal line as well as the welfare of the people and the continuance of their species. It was something they were mostly successful at not thinking about overly much lest they go insane from the monumentous scale of the dangers before them. Said dangers which only seemed to be growing.

Cheetara knew of the growing sentiment against Sho in New Thundera. It was still a small part of the population, and not yet overly vocal, but she had a feeling it would not stay that way. With the chaos that childbirth and nursing had brought to her body, her sixth sense was still mostly blinded. Even so, she knew that it was a chink in the armor of their nascent civilization. She pushed it out of her mind for the moment as she kissed him again. She would bring it up in council tomorrow. "It's late, love."

"I just want to check on Leoran and then hold you all night."

"Yes on both counts," Cheetara said with a smile. At least their son had gotten the hang of sleeping through the night.

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I wish to give many thanks to Shadowmane2001 for his input and ideas for this and a lot of future chapters. He gave my muse a good kick in the ass and has been a great sounding board and a fountain of ideas and thoughts. If you're into MLP, give his a read on fimfiction. MLP is not really my bag, but his fic is called A New Life Begins and is a Guyver crossover. Hey, tell him I sent you. ^_^