6

It had taken Lynx-O only minutes to remember where the manhole covers were, and he looked upward, rather he would have looked upward had he had his sight. As it was, he turned his head up as if to look. He chuckled. "What's so funny?" asked Snarfer.

"Oh, just being here is strange to me, Snarfer. I 'look' at things and expect to see them. I come to places and move my head, used to doing so to look where I am going. I find myself doing these things back in this place."

"Oh," Snarfer said, sounding a little sympathetic. "I guess you probably miss your sight more than ever here. I know if I couldn't see now that we're back on Thundera, I would be pretty sad, yessir."

Lynx-O smiled a little sadly. "No, I don't miss any more than I ever did, Snarfer," he replied. He was lying a little bit, but now was not the time for self pity. "It's only peculiar. Now there should be a ladder set into the concrete." He reached out his hands to feel and smiled. "Yes. All right, let's get out of here." He started to climb.

One by one, they climbed out of the manhole, getting some very strange looks from the passers-by. The manhole covers were set a good distance away from the road, so that when maintenance was needed, there was greater safety to the workers, and roads did not need to be closed. "People are looking at us strangely," Pumyra said. Her voice was distant and far away. It was so strange, she was acting normally, as if she were used to the everyday life of Thundera. She was, she supposed. She had lived it so long, that even after such a long absence, walking the streets of Thundera felt natural to her, although she gawked like a tourist. "What city is this?"

Lynx-O shook his head. "It is not our city. I would take the hoverbus here, this is the neighboring city." Lynx-O sounded a little dreamy himself, a tone that his companions were not used to hearing in his voice. "I would sneak out and hop on the back bumper where the driver could not see me and come here. I found it one day when I was visiting my cousins here in this city. I discovered that my uncle had a forgotten manhole just outside his property and this is one of the places the tunnels led. I thought that was so neat, that it was like my own private secret passageway. I went there often, even sneaking out of our own city of Claudon to do it." He laughed. "Had he only known. It was dangerous, being in a storm sewer, especially if it was raining."

"So this is Felis then?" Pumyra said, then answered her own question. "Of course it is, Lynx-O, look, it's the Tyger's Monument! Well I mean don't look, but-"

"I understand, Pumyra. Yes the Tyger's Monument would be in Felis." The trio approached the large statue, depicting a Thunderian of the Tyger clan, a feral Thunderian with a tail, and a muzzle rather than a nose and mouth. He was one of a rare few Thunderians born with the more feral features. Many were scorned, but this one, Tygresan, was a great war hero. There was a period of peace on Thundera for the moment, though the last war had been only a half a decade past, with Plundaar. Lynx-O smiled as he ran his hand over it. "Okay, we know where we are," Snarfer said., "But now what?"

Lynx-O shook himself out of his reverie. "Now we must find out when we are. Since this monument is up, it is not too far in the past, as this was a monument of the last war before Thundera was destroyed." He spoke in a low tone so that only Pumyra and Snarfer could hear. "That gives us a fifteen year time period." He thought a moment. "Pumyra, do you see a garbage can anywhere?"

Pumyra looked around. "No, well wait there's one across the street. Why?"

Lynx-O started that way carefully, walking with his hands in front of him. He did wish right now that he could see, or at least that he had brought his portable Braille board on the picnic. It would be handy at the moment. "I will need help getting across," he said. "We can simply find a newspaper and find the date. If we cannot find one, we will have to ask a passerby." That would probably not be a good idea, as Lynx-O did not want to draw too much attention to themselves, but as they did have to know, it might be necessary.

There was no paper there, but they did manage to find a receipt from a shop that had the date on it. "Ten years," Pumyra said softly. "Thundera will not be destroyed for ten years."

"Yes. All right." Lynx-O sighed. He could feel the eyes of the others on him, and he did not have a single idea of what to do. "First of all, try to attract as little attention as you can. As we are in the past of our own world, we would not want to do anything to change history. Next, we have to see if there are any jaguars here that have a magic powerful enough to get us back to our own time. If not, then we will have to find out what caused us to be transported here, and who cast the portal.

"Maybe it was Mumm-Ra!" Snarfer said. Lynx-O frowned. "Do you think?"

"Yes, I think it is very possible." Lynx-O was thinking fast. "If that is so, as he is an ever-living creature, then he would be alive now. Hmm." That could be useful information, but how would they contact the evil being? He would not know who they were, which could help them get what they needed, but they would need to find their way to Third Earth.

As Snarfer and Lynx-O thought things out, Pumyra heard little of it. Her mind was still on one thing that Lynx-O had said: "As we are in the past of our own world, we would not want to do anything to change history." She had not even thought of it until now! If they could find out what had caused Thundera's destruction, then maybe... "Huh?" Lynx-O had said her name, snapping her out of her thoughts. "What?"

"Are you all right?" The elderly lynx sounded concerned.

She forced a smile. "Of course I am. What were you saying?"

Lynx-O frowned a little bit. He was worried. It was a shock, being here on Thundera, but it had been done before. Lynx-O and the others had been told of the time Lion-O did so one time. "I was saying we need to seek out a magic user. Let us ask around. But be descreet." He paused a minute as a realization came to him, and he felt a bit of a chill go into his mind. "Pumyra, take off your insignia. We are not ThunderCats at this point in time, we should not be wearing them." He removed his own hastily, hoping not many had seen him. It was against Thunderian laws to imitate the nobles. Too many evil beings had done so and caused trouble.

Pumyra grinned and did as he suggested, putting the disk into her pocket. "Let's do it!"

"Yeah!" Snarfer agreed, rising up on his tail, and totally oblivious to what Lynx-O had sensed. "Let's do it! Yep! Yessir, we're gonna beat this thing, snarfer, snarfer!"

"Indeed," Lynx-O said. "Let's head into town." The two Thunderians and the Snarf walked down the streets of Thundera, gaining hardly a glance from the others. They were Thunderians in a place of Thunderians, why would anyone look twice?

***

At Cats' Lair, Cheetara and Snarf were left. She called him up to the Control Room and told him of the situation. He panicked and became very agitated, and once she had calmed him down, she told him that he needed to go and look after the Tower of Omens.

"Ohhh, snarf, snarf, okay, Cheetara. But I won't be any good worrying about that nephew of mine! He gets into more trouble without me to look after him!"

Cheetara laughed. "Perhaps so, Snarf, but for now you can look after the Tower."

Just then, a call came over the radio. The droning, dual-tone voice that belonged to a Berbil crackled through it on a frequency that sounded like it might break down at any second. "ThunderCats! This is Roberbill! The Mutants are here, and we are powerless to stop them, oh please heeelp!"

Cheetara growled as she stood. "Those miserable Mutants have the worst timing!" She got on the radio. "We'll be right there, Roberbill, hang tight! Snarf, get to the Feliner--no, Lion-O took it. All right, get down and pilot the Hovercat. I'll take the ThunderClaw. Go!" As Snarf nodded and hurried down to the hangar, Cheetara radioed Lion-O's team and told them what was going down, and they said they would be there as soon as they could. After a quick acknowledgment of the information, Cheetara ran downstairs, her feet scarcely touching the cool stone.

At the Berbil Village, things were havoc. S-S-Slithe, Monkian, and Jackalman were strafing the small huts that housed the half-mechanical bears. Mothers towing children ran from them and hid. So far no one had been killed, but there were injuries. "Nyah-hah-hah!" Jackalman cackled. "Run, you pathetic creatures!" He fired once, and hit the large building in the center of town, their meeting place. More than a dozen Berbils ran from it, yelling in their monotones. The jackal laughed again. "This is fun, don't you think, Monkian?"

"Hoo, hoo, yeah, these bears are even more pathetic than you, Jackalman!"

"Me?! You're the one with no brain, Monkian!" Jackalman brought his Skycutter up and squeezed off a couple of blasts at his comrade's vehicle.

"HEY! Watch it, scavenger!" He pulled up and threw a few shots of his own.

There came a growl over their communicators. "Cool it, morons!" It was S-S-Slithe. "We have a job to do! You two can kill each other later!"

There were a few grumbled replies when Jackalman spotted the two vehicles, coming fast. "Here they come, S-S-Slithe! But it looks like it's only the cheetah woman and that wretched Snarf!"

"Good enough! You know where to lead them, yeeesss?" Two eager affirmatives. "Take care you don't fly in yourself, you incompetent fools, or you'll be trapped there!"

"Hoo, where does it go?" the simian asked.

"How should I know? I didn't put it there!" S-S-Slithe snapped back. "Now shut up, they're getting close!"

The two ThunderCat vehicle soared into the village, the warm air whipping Cheetara's mane back from her face and making Snarf's fur stand up in clumps. "Cheetara! It's just three of them this time. We can take them!" Snarf said.

"Don't be overconfident. We must stop them, but be careful."

"Snarf, snarf, I know that, Cheetara. So let's go!" The pair charged.

S-S-Slithe snickered. How gullible the felines were! "All right, let's get them, Mutants!" He rose in the Nosediver, and fired at the approaching pair. "Give it up, ThunderCats! This time you're outmatched! This village is doomed!" He added a burst of maniacal laughter to punctuate his words.

Cheetara and Snarf split up, veering in different directions. While S-S- Slithe went after Cheetara, Jackalman cackled his own insane laugh and fired on the Snarf.

"Oh no you don't, Jackalman!" Snarf cried indignantly, and went into a dive. At the last minute, the little feline creature rose, hoping Jackalman would follow his lead, smashing into the ground instead of pulling up. It almost happened. But Jackalman was more skilled with his vehicle than Snarf had anticipated. "Drat!"

"Not so fast, Snarf!" the jackal cried gleefully. He could not do it yet, him and the cheetah had to be close together. "You won't get rid of me so easily!" Now chasing the small ThunderCat, he fired on him.

Snarf screeched as his vehicle was hit, and he fought to gain control. Meanwhile, Cheetara had the other two to worry about, and she was only barely keeping herself alive. She dodged, she swerved, she dove, and always it seemed she was only inches from disaster. But finally, she got a clear shot. "Take that, reptillian!" She fired three times quickly at S-S-Slithe.

He took the shots and dove, crashing to the ground and climbing painfully from it on all fours. "GET THEM!" he screeched into the radio of his ruined vehicle. Cheetara was fast on Monkian's heels so to speak, and Snarf made a quick loop in the air, ending up behind his own opponent. Jackalman and Monkian acted as if this was not supposed to happen, but it reality was exactly what they had wanted! At an unspoken signal, both headed for the same place.

"Oh no you don't!" Snarf cried, and dove after him. Cheetara soared in pursuit of the simian.

As they approached the outskirts of the Berbil Village, both at the same time baked a sharp turn, Jackalman tumbling through the air and crashing from a height of no more than ten feet. Monkian managed to stay in the air. Snarf flew by to gloat...and seconds later disappeared.

"What in the name of Jaga--!" Cheetara tried in vain to pull up as the last of Snarf's vehicle was disappearing, but she too disappeared, the nose of her vehicle inches ahead of the rear of the hoverCat.

Jackalman cackled, joined by his comrades. Even S-S-Slithe, who had injured his leg and blood poured from a wound in his head, laughed with them. "So much for them!" Monkian gloated. "Let's go back and tell Mumm-Ra, hoo hoo! That should make him happy."

"Later," S-S-Slithe croaked as Monkian landed nearby. Jackalman had restarted his Skycutter, which was not too damaged to run, and joined them.

"I've been injured, I am going back to Castle Plundaar to be tended. That bag of bones can wait. We did as he wanted us to, he can deal with it, yeees?"

"Yes!" Jackalman agreed. Then he looked u p. "Uh oh! The rest of those Thunderpests are on the way!"

S-S-Slithe looked up and staggered over to Jackalman's Skycutter. Getting on, he cried, "Back to Castle Plundaar!!"

As the Feliner approached, the Mutants fled.

Lion-O gaped for a minute. "Where are Cheetara and Snarf?"

S-S-Slithe needn't have worried about Mumm-Ra, as Ma-Mutt had awakened him when the fiasco at the Berbil village had started. Mumm-Ra smiled, pleased. "Good," he growled. "There are seven portals left. More than enough to take care of those infernal cats!" Ma-Mutt whined a question. The ancient being, after being with his pet for so many centuries, knew every whine and bark. "No, Ma-Mutt. If this spell fails, I cannot cast it again until there is another alignment of the heavens. But no need to worry, my putrid pet. This time should be plenty and enough." Chuckling, he sat back to watch.

Part 5

Part 7

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