Chapter 3: The Gathering Begins
"** There's another one S-S-Slithe!" called Monkian.
"Yess, I ssee it!" Slithe responded as he piloted his nosediver toward the fleeing unicorn and captured it with a net missle.
Slithe called through the communicators, "Mutantss report!"
"Vultureman here, ** I have the female guardian in sight and am proceeding to ** capture her staff **."
"** Jackalman here S-S-Slithe. I've captured four unicorns and in pursuit of two more."
"Monkian, go help Jackalman round up those two unicorns while I search for the male guardian. Yess."
"** Right S-S-Slithe." and Monkian flew his skycutter towards Jackalman's position.
"No.. you must not do this!" the female guardian cried.
"** Quiet! Guardian! ** You, cannot stop us!" Vultureman cried as he swooped down in his flying machine to make an attempt at the guardian's staff.
The guardian dodged just in time and began running again.
"I, I must make it to the river of Despair!" She thought.
"** You cannot not escape me gaurdian!" Vultureman cackled, "** I will hunt you down!"
Vultureman swooped down again, and again, the guardian managed to elude his flying machines grasp.
"The river! I've made it!" she thought. Turning she called to Vultureman. "You miserable mutant! You've captured many of the unicorns in our care and disturbed the tranquility of the forest! Well, I'm not running now so take your best shot you molting old feather duster!"
"** How dare you ** talk to me that way! ** You insolent guardian! I'll ** destroy you!" Enraged, Vultureman puts his flying machine into a dive and fires several blaster bolts at the guardian.
As the guardian stood her ground she thought, "I must hold my ground a little longer.. and.... now!!"
The guardian quickly rolled to her left as Vultureman passed over where she had stood. As he began to circle around for another pass, the waters in the River of Despair began to swirl and a dark sihliouette and glowing eyes appeared from beneath the water.
"** What is that?! **" Vultureman cawed.
Suddenly, the swirling waters shot up into the sky in a water cyclone nearly hitting Vultureman's flying machine. "**" Vultureman cried as he banked sharply to avoid it.
But it wasn't over yet, as through the raised torrent of water burst the Black Widow Shark! Screeching it's song of death the Black Widow Shark launched itself at Vultureman. Shrieking in terror, Vultureman turned sharply to avoid the Black Widow Shark only to have a bite taken out of his flying machine's wing.
Activating his communicator Vultureman screeched back to Slithe. "Mayday! ** Mayday!"
"What is it Vultureman?" came Slithe's voice over the com.
"** I've taken damage, S-S-Slithe. The guardian ** is at the River of Despair, I would've had her ** but this huge shark took a bite out of my flying machine's ** wing."
"You featherbrain! That wass the Black Widow Shark! The guardian probably lured you there hoping you'd be fool enough to fly over the river! Yesss! Very well, I'll ssend Jackalman and Monkian to take care of the guardian."
"What about ** me?!" Vultureman squaked.
Slithe responded, "Who caress? Yess! Get your carcasss back to the casstle, repair your flying machine, if you can, and get back here! We're off to the Geyser of Life for some of it's mysstic waterss after we finish up here."
Meanwhile, Ma-Mutt has reached Sky Tomb and imparted Mumm-Ra's message in the same manner as at Castle Plun-Darr. The Lunatacs were none too happy about being ordered around by Mumm-Ra, but Luna sees what may become an oppotunity for them just as the mutants. Unbeknownst to Ma-Mutt or the Lunatacs, Lynx-O had managed to track Ma-Mutt down and was able to overhear the conversation of Mumm-Ra's instructions. Feeling his way back to the Thunderstrike, Lynx-O heads back toward the Forest of Mists.
*Author's note: Like the mutants, some of the lunatacs also have signature sounds they make. Again I will mark them with a double ** when a character makes their characteristic sound. For Tug-mug it's sort of an annoying chortle/laugh that has a kind of metalic sound to it, for Amok, it's usually sounds that resemble gutteral grunts and snorts, Red-Eye has sort of a hissing sound. Like you drink something cold, inhale, and give it an "h" sound as you do. Chilla has a similiar sound, though it's more like an icy wind blowing through an empty cavern. As for Luna, sometimes she wails akin to a banshee. And like a banshee her wailing is very hard to listen too. Basically she does this when she throws a temper-tantrum.*
"** Luna! I'm getting some sort of transmission!" Red Eye exclaimed.
"Well then put it on the screen Red Eye." Luna demanded.
"No, Luna, it's not coming through Sky Tomb's systems, I'm getting it direct. It's, it's the Thunderstrike!"
"Well then do something Red Eye!!"
"These signals, I've seen them before, they act like radar. ** That must be how they can navigate the Forest of Mists. If I can generate a scattering pulse I can ** disrupt these signals and those thundercats won't have a chance of navigating through there."
"Don't talk! Just do it Red Eye!"
"** There, it's done Luna, I've jammed the signals. They should crash anytime."
"Well done Red Eye, unfortunately we don't have the time to take care of the thundercats properly. Get Sky Tomb airborne and let's go capture some magic."
Luna continued, "Tell me Red Eye, why didn't you notice those signals before?"
Red Eye replied, "** I was too busy tracking the distortion that turned out to be Mumm-Ra."
Luna laughed, "Well, no matter now, with the Thunderstrike out of commision, and your jamming signal in place, we won't have to worry about the Thundercats navigating to Darkside ever again."
"** There's another one S-S-Slithe!" called Monkian.
"Yess, I ssee it!" Slithe responded as he piloted his nosediver toward the fleeing unicorn and captured it with a net missle.
Slithe called through the communicators, "Mutantss report!"
"Vultureman here, ** I have the female guardian in sight and am proceeding to ** capture her staff **."
"** Jackalman here S-S-Slithe. I've captured four unicorns and in pursuit of two more."
"Monkian, go help Jackalman round up those two unicorns while I search for the male guardian. Yess."
"** Right S-S-Slithe." and Monkian flew his skycutter towards Jackalman's position.
"No.. you must not do this!" the female guardian cried.
"** Quiet! Guardian! ** You, cannot stop us!" Vultureman cried as he swooped down in his flying machine to make an attempt at the guardian's staff.
The guardian dodged just in time and began running again.
"I, I must make it to the river of Despair!" She thought.
"** You cannot not escape me gaurdian!" Vultureman cackled, "** I will hunt you down!"
Vultureman swooped down again, and again, the guardian managed to elude his flying machines grasp.
"The river! I've made it!" she thought. Turning she called to Vultureman. "You miserable mutant! You've captured many of the unicorns in our care and disturbed the tranquility of the forest! Well, I'm not running now so take your best shot you molting old feather duster!"
"** How dare you ** talk to me that way! ** You insolent guardian! I'll ** destroy you!" Enraged, Vultureman puts his flying machine into a dive and fires several blaster bolts at the guardian.
As the guardian stood her ground she thought, "I must hold my ground a little longer.. and.... now!!"
The guardian quickly rolled to her left as Vultureman passed over where she had stood. As he began to circle around for another pass, the waters in the River of Despair began to swirl and a dark sihliouette and glowing eyes appeared from beneath the water.
"** What is that?! **" Vultureman cawed.
Suddenly, the swirling waters shot up into the sky in a water cyclone nearly hitting Vultureman's flying machine. "**" Vultureman cried as he banked sharply to avoid it.
But it wasn't over yet, as through the raised torrent of water burst the Black Widow Shark! Screeching it's song of death the Black Widow Shark launched itself at Vultureman. Shrieking in terror, Vultureman turned sharply to avoid the Black Widow Shark only to have a bite taken out of his flying machine's wing.
Activating his communicator Vultureman screeched back to Slithe. "Mayday! ** Mayday!"
"What is it Vultureman?" came Slithe's voice over the com.
"** I've taken damage, S-S-Slithe. The guardian ** is at the River of Despair, I would've had her ** but this huge shark took a bite out of my flying machine's ** wing."
"You featherbrain! That wass the Black Widow Shark! The guardian probably lured you there hoping you'd be fool enough to fly over the river! Yesss! Very well, I'll ssend Jackalman and Monkian to take care of the guardian."
"What about ** me?!" Vultureman squaked.
Slithe responded, "Who caress? Yess! Get your carcasss back to the casstle, repair your flying machine, if you can, and get back here! We're off to the Geyser of Life for some of it's mysstic waterss after we finish up here."
Meanwhile, Ma-Mutt has reached Sky Tomb and imparted Mumm-Ra's message in the same manner as at Castle Plun-Darr. The Lunatacs were none too happy about being ordered around by Mumm-Ra, but Luna sees what may become an oppotunity for them just as the mutants. Unbeknownst to Ma-Mutt or the Lunatacs, Lynx-O had managed to track Ma-Mutt down and was able to overhear the conversation of Mumm-Ra's instructions. Feeling his way back to the Thunderstrike, Lynx-O heads back toward the Forest of Mists.
*Author's note: Like the mutants, some of the lunatacs also have signature sounds they make. Again I will mark them with a double ** when a character makes their characteristic sound. For Tug-mug it's sort of an annoying chortle/laugh that has a kind of metalic sound to it, for Amok, it's usually sounds that resemble gutteral grunts and snorts, Red-Eye has sort of a hissing sound. Like you drink something cold, inhale, and give it an "h" sound as you do. Chilla has a similiar sound, though it's more like an icy wind blowing through an empty cavern. As for Luna, sometimes she wails akin to a banshee. And like a banshee her wailing is very hard to listen too. Basically she does this when she throws a temper-tantrum.*
"** Luna! I'm getting some sort of transmission!" Red Eye exclaimed.
"Well then put it on the screen Red Eye." Luna demanded.
"No, Luna, it's not coming through Sky Tomb's systems, I'm getting it direct. It's, it's the Thunderstrike!"
"Well then do something Red Eye!!"
"These signals, I've seen them before, they act like radar. ** That must be how they can navigate the Forest of Mists. If I can generate a scattering pulse I can ** disrupt these signals and those thundercats won't have a chance of navigating through there."
"Don't talk! Just do it Red Eye!"
"** There, it's done Luna, I've jammed the signals. They should crash anytime."
"Well done Red Eye, unfortunately we don't have the time to take care of the thundercats properly. Get Sky Tomb airborne and let's go capture some magic."
Luna continued, "Tell me Red Eye, why didn't you notice those signals before?"
Red Eye replied, "** I was too busy tracking the distortion that turned out to be Mumm-Ra."
Luna laughed, "Well, no matter now, with the Thunderstrike out of commision, and your jamming signal in place, we won't have to worry about the Thundercats navigating to Darkside ever again."