Author's Note: Once again to all followers of this story, sorry for the long wait. Got a bit slowed up with the usual work and/or writer's block business, but here it is and I hope you all enjoy it!:D
00000000000000000000000000000000000000
"So you're telling me that what we're looking for is in the forest!? The forest where those dangerous wolves live!? Are you serious!?" exclaimed Tygra in disbelief.
"Well yes and no, you see like I said before the wolves are very secretive, so they wouldn't tell me or anyone here directly about any magic they have. However back when things were peaceful and they came to our town regularly, I would often overhear them talk about some secret power their leader possesses, supposedly it has something to do with the staff he always carries with him." Explained the Mayor.
The Thundercats looked to each other, unsure of what to make of this information. They knew going into that forest was risky considering all the frightening things they had heard about the wolves, but if there really was some kind of magic there then they couldn't just ignore it should it fall into the clutches of Mumm-Ra.
"I understand this is going to take some time and planning before taking action, but in the meantime why don't you all come over to my home. We also have a guest house so if you're all going to be here for a while you can stay there if you'd like" the Mayor offered kindly.
"That's so generous of you sir! Are you sure it's alright? I'd hate for us to impose" replied Lion-O.
"Nonsense! It's no trouble at all! My family loves having guests over and besides with the way things are now I highly doubt you'll have much luck finding a hotel in town that'll let you in"
"Good point, thank you very much Mayor Gophertan" said Lion-O.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000
That evening the Mayor escorted them back to his home paying no mind to the worried and confused looks his guests were attracting. Once they had arrived the Thundercats took a moment to stop and stare in amazement at the immense grandeur of his home, it was a huge three storey mansion with beautiful flower gardens splayed out front. Gophertan then led them round to the guest house which while not as large and impressive as his own home still had an elegantly cosy vibe to it.
"Whelp, here's the guest house, five bedrooms with two single beds in each, two bathrooms one upstairs and one down, a fully prepped kitchen and a big ol' living room for relaxation."
"Again sir, this is incredibly generous of you!" said Lion-O happily.
"Indeed, despite our previous encounters this is definitely the kindest welcome we've had, thank you" agreed Cheetara.
"Only the best for my guests! Now then I'll let you all get settled in, it'll be a while until dinner is ready, I'll have a maid come and let you know when food's ready and I'm sure you all need time to discuss what your plans are regarding the…um 'forest magic'" said Gophertan before heading into his home.
This last statement snapped the Thundercats out of their initial wonderment over their surroundings and back to the task at hand. Once they entered the guest house they all sat together in the living room to talk about their next move, and Tygra was the first to jump in.
"Well I think it's pretty safe to assume that going into the woods is out of the question" he said.
"Wha-!? Tygra, if those wolves have a magic stone then-!" protested Lion-O.
"That's just it Lion-O, Gophertan only heard about the supposed magic from overhearing wolves talking, for all we know it could be a load of nonsense!"
"But Tygra, just because it sounds vague doesn't mean we shouldn't look into it. The Book of Omens sent us here for a reason, this might just be what we're looking for, and so wouldn't it be worth the risk!?"
"That all depends on who's taking the risk!"
Cheetara then stepped in "alright, cool down the pair of you! Now listen, you both have good points, there could be real magic out there in the forest that we need to find before Mumm-Ra does, but there's also the problem of the wolves. So let's think about what we already know, Gophertan said that his Great Grandfather earned the respect of the wolves right? So perhaps we could do the same?" she suggested.
"We'll ask him about that at dinner, but I'm still concerned as to how we'll go about getting close to them" said Panthro.
"Well you can count us out of going near those things! I don't know about the rest of you but I don't really like the idea of going up to someone who might try to eat us!" exclaimed Wilykit.
"You said it Kit!" replied Wilykat with Snarf meowing in agreement.
"Relax you three, you can hang back here in town when we meet the wolves" said Lion-O
"You mean IF, we meet them. What do you think is going to happen when we see them? That we'll all sit down and have a nice little chit chat?" said Tygra bluntly.
"Come on Tygra, don't you think you're being a little prejudice here? So far everything we've heard about the wolves has been totally one-sided, there's always two sides to a conflict. What we need here is someone on the inside to explain things from their point of view; surely one of them will listen to reason after all they were at peace with the townsfolk before all this trouble started" explained Lion-O.
"What about that Leopard girl? Maybe we can talk to her?" asked Wilykit.
Lion-O couldn't deny that the prospect of meeting this mysterious leopard had peeked his interest in more ways than one, and it didn't go unnoticed by Tygra who gave him a knowing smirk.
"I'm afraid there's still a problem with that Kit, we don't know anything about her apart from that she's lived among wolves her whole life. She might be just as dangerous as the rest of them!" replied Cheetara.
"So what're we gonna do!? We can't just go waltzing onto their turf without a plan!" said Panthro impatiently.
There was a moment of silence as everyone struggled to think of something, just then Lion-O perked up with inspiration "hey how about this, instead of us going to them, we wait for them to come to us. The next time they raid the town, we catch one of them and get them to explain their situation to us".
"Catch one of them!? That's even more insane than your first plan!" exclaimed Tygra in disbelief.
"I know it sounds crazy Tygra but what other plan do we have? In the forest they'll have the home-field advantage, but if we wait for them to enter the town we may have a shot!"
"But Lion-O, won't that just make them angry? Mr. Gophertan said to never get on the wrong side of a hungry wolf!" aksed Wilykat.
"I know Kat, but anything we decide to do will still be dangerous and have just as many risks, so unless anyone else has a better idea I say we bite the bullet and go for it" replied Lion-O turning to the others. At first no one said anything, they were at a loss for ideas, despite their best efforts they just couldn't of a better or safer plan of action.
Tygra then gave a defeated sigh "Okay Lion-O, we'll go along with this idea of yours, but first we'll need to have a plan on how to go about doing it. We'll need to ask the mayor on how often do the wolves raid the town, where they might target next and what kind of weakness's they have. Hopefully we'll have some time to come up with something before-".
CRASH!
"WOOOLVVES!"
Within seconds everyone was on their feet running outside to find a gang of wolves and the leopard girl running from the Mayor's storage cellar!
"No time for planning now! Looks like we're winging it! THUNDERCATS HO!" yelled Lion-O unsheathing his sword in pursuit with the others following.
00000000000000000000000000000000000
Just as Gophertan described them the wolves were of great size, but one thing the Thundercats hadn't been prepared for was their immense speed and coordination. Anytime it looked like they were about to catch up, they would suddenly dart in another direction, they couldn't even get a proper glimpse of them they were so quick. Even Cheetara, the fastest cat among them couldn't predict their movements!
'Damn! These wolves are insanely agile despite their size! I bet they'd even give Jaga and his clerics a hard time if they were here!' she thought in frustration as a wolf she was tailing rushed out of sight again.
Despite their best efforts, chasing them was proving to be a lost cause and it didn't help that all the commotion was causing a town panic. Once the alarm had been sounded the people on the streets began running around looking to hide, protect their pantries and or grab a weapon to fight back.
"Lion-O! This isn't working! They're too fast! We can't catch them!" yelled out Tygra running behind Lion-O.
"Okay new plan! Cheetara, see if you can get ahead of them and cut them off! Try and drive them into the courtyard! Tyrga, Panthro follow me!" Lion-O ordered before running down a side street with his comrades close behind.
"I'm on it!" replied Cheetara before sprinting ahead in a flash of yellow light. She speeded her way through alleyways and over rooftops avoiding the wolve's line of sight and managed to jump ahead of them. Not expecting their path to be blocked they doubled back before being cut off again, not realising what they were running into, they ran in whatever direction was open to them. Once in the courtyard they finally realised their mistake, all other ways had been barricaded with junk, rubble and anything else the three cats had been able to find to block their escape.
Now that the wolves had stopped running, the Thundercats were able to get a better look at their cornered quarry. They wore primitive styled armour decorated in feathers, beads and shells and was mostly in differing shades of brown while the wolves themselves were mostly grey. The stuff they had stolen was strapped to their backs in huge bundles making them looked hunchbacked even when standing upright. Despite their seemingly hopeless situation they didn't show fear or worry, in fact they never ceased baring their razor sharp fangs or growling at the cats around them. Even the Leopard girl that was with them showed no alarm in their position and growled furiously at her supposed enemy.
At first Lion-O had no idea of what to make of this beautiful yet bizarre young woman among the wolves. She had jet black hair that went past her shoulders with a single tuft tied to the side with a blue and pink bead; she wore a brown red trimmed fitted vest top with a matching skirt that had a blue, green and orange diamond design stitched to the front, over this she wore armour made from machine parts. Her sandy gold fur was speckled with the famous black spots starting from the top of her face, down her back ending halfway down her arms and legs and all along her long fluffy tail. But what really caught Lion-O's attention about her were her bright blue eyes that despite being within an angered frown were the most enchanting part about her, he was so transfixed on looking into her eyes that he didn't realise at first that someone had spoken up until she looked away from him.
"Hey Lion-O, what now!?" called Panthro.
"Huh? Oh right! Alright wolves, there's no running away from here, just drop what you stole and let's talk about this peacefully!" he requested as respectfully as possible.
Unfortunately this did not pacify them, they only growled louder showing no backing down and made a slight move in his direction as if getting ready to pounce. Lion-O did not waver either, he got into a battle stance, extended his sword and said while the Eye of Thundera glowed with a threating red light.
"I don't want to fight you if I can avoid it. But if you don't back off I'll have no choice but to make you!"
The red light from the sword had a surprisingly quick effect on the wolves and Leopard, almost immediately they had gone from being full-on aggressive to shocked surprise, some of them had even dropped their bags at the sight of the glowing sword. At first they didn't say anything, they looked to each other in concern, one of them whispered something to the Leopard girl and she whispered something back too quiet for anyone else to hear.
"HEY! What're you wolves whispering about!? Are you surrendering or not?!" yelled out Panthro.
They paid him no mind as he hadn't said anything at all, they just whispered something else, nodded to each other in agreement over something and turned back to Lion-O.
"Well? What's your-"
The leopard girl stepped forward her face unreadable and took a long breath in. None of them were prepared for what she did next.
"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
She was howling! A leaoprd girl only half the size of the wolves that began howling alongside her, was howling like she really was one of them!
"What are they doing!?" called out Tygra over the noise.
"I don't know! Maybe they're giving up!?" replied Lion-O.
Once their howling chorus had ended and all was quiet again, the Leopard girl upfront pointed to Lion-O, looked him in the eye and said.
"You're coming with us"
Before anyone could react, a lone wolf had jumped down from the roof behind Lion-O and struck the back of his head. His whole world turned black as he fell.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000
End Note: Admittedly not a whole lot happened in this chapter and was again pretty dialogue heavy. At this point in the story I didn't know whether or not to continue onwards or leave it at that, in the end I felt that ending the chapter here would keep things interesting (even though I've always hated cliff-hangers LOL). But not to worry I've already made a start on the next chapter so it shouldn't be as long until we get the next part, hope you all enjoyed reading and an awesome day!:D