Alluro and Tug Mug sped across the Third Earth terrain, the trees whizzing by at break neck speeds. The pair had one destination in mind. Cat’s Lair, home to the defenders of the planet, the Thundercats. In their possession was a shrinking machine stolen from Vultureman and the Mutants. "We’re almost within range," Tug Mug said.

"Excellent. I’ll shrink us down now," Alluro said, hitting a few buttons on the machine in question. Instantly the Ice-Hypno Flyer was shrunk down to the size of a caterpillar.

Panthro was in the control room, monitoring the sensors. "What the?" he exclaimed, drawing the Lord of the Thundercats’ attention.

"What is it Panthro?" Lion-O asked.

"I thought I picked up something on the radars. But it was gone before I knew it," Panthro replied.

"Maybe there’s something wrong with them. I’ll get Tygra to check it out," Lion-O said.

Tygra sat on the roof of the Lair, an open panel in front of him. He couldn’t see what the problem with the sensors was, if there was one. "Maybe it’s the emitter array," he thought, sorting through a tangle of wires and microchips.

Tug Mug flew the Ice-Hypno Flyer toward the main entrance to the Lair. When they were close enough, he slid the ship under the door and proceeded down the halls. "Now, the first thing to do is to get rid of Lion-O and that Sword of Omens," Alluro said, "and then we’ll put him in one of these jars that Vultureman had prepared."

"But where is he?" Tug Mug asked.

"Just keep flying around. How hard can it be to find him in a place like this? Besides, we’ll also need to be on the lookout for some place to keep our guests," Alluro replied.

As luck would have it, the Lord of the Thundercats was in the medical facility being tended to by Cheetara for a minor scrape he’d suffered when he’d tripped on one of the Thunderkittens’ toys. A miniature crystal soared above their heads as a tiny voice intoned. "You cannot resist me. You will cooperate. You will go to the back of the room and stand very still."

"You know what Cheetara? I think we should go to the back of the room," Lion-O said.

"I agree. And when we get there we should stand very still," Cheetara added, as the pair moved away.

Tug Mug waited in the Ice-Hypno Flyer as Alluro grew, holding two jars. He waited for the pair of Thundercats to be shrunk by his corpulent ally before scooping them up and placing them inside their containers. He slipped them behind some old herbs and motioned for Tug Mug to shrink him back down to insect size.

"Well, where to now?" Tug Mug asked.

"Let’s try the control room. Someone is bound to be there," Alluro said. So Tug Mug turned the ship around and went under the door heading for the nerve center of Cat’s Lair.

"Gee Panthro. What do you think Lion-O will do to us when he gets back?" Wily Kit asked.

"I don’t know. But if I were you, I’d be hoping he’s gone a long time. You know how he feels about you leaving toys in the halls," Panthro replied.

"I’ve already started praying for that," Wily Kat said.

"If it was me giving out the punishments, you’d be on top of the Lair polishing the head with toothbrushes," Panthro said.

Alluro couldn’t believe their good fortune. Once the three Thundercats in the control room were taken care of, that would leave the two Tigers, Snarf, and those living in the Tower of Omens. Certainly being able to take care of more than one was a blessing, one he planned to take full advantage of.

"What’s that buzzing noise?" Wily Kat asked.

"Don’t try and change the subject. You two are in very big trouble," Panthro said sharply.

"Oh, you’re quite right, Thundercats. But you’re not in big trouble, you’re in little trouble," Tug Mug said firing his gravity carbine. Alluro fired the shrinking ray and Tug Mug scooped up the prone Thundercats. "Where should I put them?" Tug Mug asked aloud, looking around. Then he saw a cabinet marked enemy records R-T. He pulled out his own folder and slipped the three jars into place behind the remaining files.

Black Claw attacked the practice dummy with great fervor. He hit it three times in the chest and once in the head for good measure. He then sprinted for the finish line and turned to Snarf, who held a stop watch around his neck. "How’d I do?" he asked.

"Well, you’ve done better on this obstacle course, snarf, snarf. I think that last punch may have cost you precious time. You completed the circuit in just under two minutes though," Snarf replied.

"I should have done better. Let me go again," Black Claw said.

"I don’t think you’ll be doing anything again. Two more Thundercats for our collection, coming up," Alluro said.

"Firing now!" Tug Mug said, whacking the shrinking ray.

Alluro walked up to the two puny Felines, standing dazed and confused in a puddle of sweat. He looked and felt quite smug as he placed Black Claw into his own personal jar. Snarf proved more tricky, slipping between his fingers and going under the mattress. "Come back here you little hairball. I won’t hurt you," Alluro said.

"Don’t worry, Alluro, I’ll get him," a shrunken Tug Mug said, sending the Ice-Hypno Flyer under the blue mat. Moments later he came screaming out, without the ship. Alluro picked him up.

"Where is he?" Alluro demanded.

"He got away with the Ice-Hypno Flyer and the shrinking machine!" Tug Mug shouted up at the hypnotist.

"Damn it. And there’s still one Thundercat out there. We’d better find him before Snarf does," Alluro said, placing Tug Mug on his shoulder and sprinting down the hall.

Tygra slammed the panel back in place and sat back. There didn’t seem to be any problems with the sensors. So what could have made them show Panthro a phantom blip? He opened a hatch leading back into the Lair and made his way through the air ducts toward his room. He pulled the blueprints to the inner systems out of his desk drawer and began to pore over them.

Snarf clutched the controls for all he was worth. He had to find somebody who was still normal size, and he assumed there was one. He briefly wondered how the shrinking machine operated, and considered trying figure it out, but he was not the one to do such things. That was best left to Tygra or Panthro. He decided to check out the personnel quarters in the hopes that someone would be there.

Tygra was disturbed from his studying by a small object landing on his shoulder and the incessant humming coming from it. "Pesky insects," he thought, brushing it away.

"Tygra, you’ve got to listen!" Snarf cried.

"Strange insect. It knows my name and, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it sounded like Snarf," he said aloud, turning to try and find the creature. It alighted on his hand and he realized for the first time what it was. "What in the cat’s eyed cosmos has happened to you, Snarf?" Tygra asked.

"Snarf, snarf, I don’t know. I was talking with Black Claw when Alluro came in and zapped us with some sort of shrinking device. I’ve got it here on the back of their ship," came the reply.

"Good going Snarf. Where are the others?" Tygra asked.

"I don’t know. I haven’t heard from them," Snarf replied.

"It’s time for a quick fade. Hop on my shoulder because, now you see me, now you don’t," Tygra said, spinning his bola whip about his body. Instantly he, Snarf and the Ice-Hypno Flyer became invisible.

The duo ran to the control room and began to undertake an exhaustive search for anyone. "Eureka!" Tygra said, as he discovered the three jars of Thundercats in the back of the file cabinet. "Quick, maybe Panthro can figure out how to restore you to your proper size," he added, opening the jars.

Lion-O raised the Sword of Omens to his eyes. "Sword of Omens, give me sight, beyond sight," he said, and was witness to Tygra’s rescuing of the Thunderkittens and Panthro. "They’re never going to find us in here," he said aloud.

"We can’t give up faith," Cheetara replied, desperately trying to work the lid of her jar off.

"Stand back. I’ve got an idea. Don’t fail me now. Ho!" Lion-O shouted, pointing the sword at the lids. Instantly they popped off and the jars tipped over. "Now to find the others!" Lion-O said, leading the charge down the halls.

"Where could Tygra be?" Alluro asked.

"He’s not anywhere obvious, like his room or the cafeteria," Tug Mug said.

"I told you he wouldn’t be in the cafeteria, but you insisted. I’m beginning to believe you only did that so we could pick up some snacks on the way," Alluro said, making once more for the control room.

"I’m hurt that you would accuse me of such a thing. I genuinely thought he might have gotten hungry. I know I did. All this walking around can do that," Tug Mug replied.

"Who’s doing the walking? All you’re doing is sitting up there like some kind of rock," Alluro retorted. The hypnotist reached the door and it slid open, causing the Lunataks to come face to face with the shrinking machine and five angry Thundercats.

It had been a piece of cake figuring out how the shrinking machine worked, even getting it to enlarge itself proved to be easy. The tricky part was figuring out how to get Alluro to come down to the control room to get blasted. Luckily the Lunatak was kind enough to solve the problem for them.

"Come now Panthro, Wily Kit, Kat, Snarf, Tygra. You aren’t going to hold this against me, are you? It was all a big joke, get it? I was pulling your leg," Alluro said, backing away quickly, looking for an escape route.

"Where are Black Claw, Lion-O and Cheetara?" Tygra asked.

"Black Claw is right here," Alluro said, holding up a jar, "as for Lion-O and Cheetara, they could be anywhere in this Lair, without food, water or much air. I guess you’ll have to let me go if you want them to live."

Tug Mug knew danger when he saw it, and Alluro was in great danger. He wheeled himself off of Alluro’s shoulder and proceeded down the halls.

"Going somewhere?" Cheetara asked, standing before him.

"Cheetara! Lion-O! How did you escape?" Tug Mug asked, reaching for his gravity carbine.

"That’s not important. What is important is that we get rid of that gravity carbine of yours," Lion-O said, motioning to Cheetara. The speedy Thundercat produced her bo staff and ran headlong into Tug Mug, sending him rolling across the ground. Lion-O and Cheetara then dragged him over to Tygra’s bare feet.

"How fortuitous. Lion-O’s found us. Enlarge him Panthro," Tygra said.

"With pleasure," Panthro replied.

"Uh, I still have Black Claw. You’ll have to let me leave," Alluro said, cursing himself for not having had his psyche club ready.

"Ho!" Lion-O shouted, even as he was being enlarged. The Sword of Omens tore through the glass jar and enlarged Black Claw for them. The elder Tiger grabbed Alluro and turned him around. "I think we have a new way of storing our prisoners," he said.

Alluro hung his head as he was enveloped by the Shrink-O-Matic’s beam of light and reduced to insect size. Soon he was placed in a miniature ant farm, minus the ants, along with Tug Mug and placed on a shelf in the Thunderkittens’ bedroom.

"That ought to teach Alluro to try and take us all on by himself," Panthro said.

"True. Next time he’ll think twice before trying," Cheetara agreed.

"But won’t Luna be a little annoyed that Alluro’s been captured?" Wily Kat asked.

"Not at all. She’ll be happy that there’s finally someone shorter than she is!" Wily Kit replied.

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