Mason's Old Office, California, Kevin's Earth.

Even in California, USA, on an Earth which was only a slight deviation from our Earth, it still was raining to no end.  At Mason's old office, he, Ken Malanski, Paul Drake, and Paul Drake, Jr., were talking.  Both Ken Malanski and Paul Drake, Jr., were younger than the other two.  Paul, Jr., was much like his father, except he was a little shorter (around Mason's height), he wore a blue suit, and his hairdo was not as smooth as his father's.  Malanski was about as tall as Paul, Sr.  He had sandy-blonde hair, and he wore a black suit like Mason.  Normally, though, these two usually dressed up only on court dates and days of all sorts of hearings.  "So," said Mason, "we need your help.  You in?"

            Drake said, "You'd tell yourselves that you were damned if you ever went to any of those crazy places."

            "We can look out for ourselves, Dad," said Drake, Jr.  "Of course we'll help you.  Right, Ken?"

            "Sure!" said Ken Malanski.  "Just to help out.  I seek no financial gain in doing this, though I would like a - ahem! - small amount of money for pulling off something for Mason."  Mason smiled.

            "Maybe, if we succeed," said Mason.

            Drake said, "Damn, Perry, that Mega Volt has the electricity to shock an army.  He appears to be second on the list of public enemies in Saint Canard, with Dr. Slug at the top and Liquidator right below."  A bolt of electricity blasted by them.  "What the hell was that?"

            The extremely wicked Mega Volt was in the doorway.  He said, "It was I, Drake!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"  Ken Malanski went over to the water fountain, got a big cup, and poured a lot of water into it.  "Now, Mason, prepare to eat wattage!  Ha, ha, ha!"

            "Have a drink, Mega Volt!" said Malanski, tossing the cup at Mega Volt.

            "Oh, no!" shouted Mega Volt.  When the cup hit him, it went up into the air, hole-end up.  "Ha, ha, ha!  Missed me!  Ha, ha, ha!"  Near the ceiling, the cup turned around and descended toward Mega Volt's helmet!  "Now, suck volts, do-gooders!"  He looked up.  "Yaaaaah!  No!  I'll short-circuit!"

            "How shocking!" said Mason.  The water cup hit Mega Volt's nose, and the water got all over him.  He shorted out.

            "Yaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"  When he was fully shorted-out, he lost consciousness and fell on the floor.

            "What a shocking experience!" said Drake, Jr.

            "How punny," said Drake, Sr.  Something snapped on his rear end.  "Yowwww!!!"  He leapt high in the air and crashed.  "All right!  Who did that?"

            "It was that larcenous toy-master of crime, Quacker Jack!" said Malanski.

            "That's right!" replied the larcenous toy-master of crime, Quacker Jack, with his army of villainous snap-teeth.

            "What are you doing here?" asked Drake.  "And why did you have your snap-teeth snap my posterior?!?"

            "Merely," replied the nutty duck, "for the sheer delight!  Oh, such classic humour my snap-teeth create when they snap onto someone's rear and make him jet up into the air in extreme pain!  Ha, ha, ha!  For extra fun, I would to have told them to bite something else in the area of the rear end!!!  Ha, ha, ha!"

            Mega Volt said, "Oooh, Quacker Jack, get that blasted Ken Malanski!  He shorted out my blasted circuits!  Oooh, he made me mad as hell!"

            "Oh, very well," replied Quacker Jack.  "It's play-time!!!  Hoo, hoo, hoo!  Liquidator!  Bushroot!  Come on in and join in on the fun!  Hee, hee, hee!"  Liquidator and Bushroot sprang into the office.

            "We'll put an end to your vegetable-devouring days, you cannibals!" said Bushroot.  Neptunia leapt into the room.

            "Don't count on it, Melon-Head!" said Neptunia.

            Bushroot shouted, "Oooh, don't call me that!"

            Liquidator said, "Well, well, well!  Look what the wave washed ashore:  the big-mouth of the sea!  Hee, hee, hee!"

            "I may be a big-mouth," said Neptunia, "but I'm not as much of a big-mouth as you are!"  She blew her shell-trumpet.  A tentacle burst in the window, grabbed Liquidator, Bushroot, Quacker Jack, and Mega Volt, and carried them out to sea!  Neptunia went to the window and shouted, "THANKS FOR THE HAND, HARRY!!!"  She turned to the others.  "Sorry about that window, guys, but I just had to do something about those supervillains before they clobbered you."

            "Well, I'm glad that you thought about us before the window," said Drake, wiping his forehead.  "That crummy Quacker Jack!  He ordered his snap-teeth to bite my rear!"

            "I know," replied Neptunia.  "He always does that.  His teeth bit my butt last week, but that was right before I washed him up and stole Darkwing's stage.  Boy, were both of those nuts mad!  I thought that DW would never stop yelling!"

            "Hey!" said Malanski.  "Aren't you a criminal specimen of aquatic life?"

            "I was never a criminal!  I was merely the adversary in one of Darkwing Duck's cases.  DW and his pal, Launchpad, made me see the error of my ways in destroying the city.  I was only trying to get rid of those who polluted my waters, but Launchpad sure made me realise that flooding the city was not the way to go.  I have a hard time explaining that to the Liquidator, but, of course, he is truly a villain.  Well, no sense in hanging out here any longer.  Let's get to Hawkhaven before Ludwig von(Bowser)Koopa finds us here."  They entered a warp to Hawkhaven.

            * * *

            Cat's Lair, third-Earth.

            At Cat's Lair, in the control room, the Thunder Kittens kept their eyes on the monitors.  "You know," said Wilykit, "I wonder why we couldn't go along."

            "So do I," said Wilykat.  "I don't see why we can't face a little danger now and then."

            "Me, too," said Wilykit.  "It's not as if we drowned or anything."

            "Hmph!  Just a momentary difficulty brought on by a liquid-bodied mutt.  If you want my opinion, they are too darned - and I would use another word if my conscience would let me - concerned about our getting hurt.  Of course, it may be that they want to hog all the glory."

            "Hmph.  We reveal the identity of that idiot A-Tom-U-Lar, and no one gives us credit."  A button on the control panel flashed yellow.  Wilykit pressed it.  She said, "Cat's Lair here.  Wilykit speaking.  Go ahead."

            GizmoDuck appeared on the screen.  "Hello, Thunder Kittens," said he.  "This is Hawkhaven.  There seems to be a - ahem - difficulty.  See, the Thunder Cats and Silver Hawks going to New Thundera were supposed to report in by now.  Kevin went to join them.  Some heat records indicate that a warp was opened from a cloaked ship to a point on New Thundera's surface near the Pyramid."

            "Hm," said Wilykat.  "It may seem as though Ludwig has captured the other Thunder Cats, the Silver Hawks, and Captain N."

            "I think so.  I. . . wait a sec.  A transmission is coming in."  He pressed a button on the computer console where he was.

            Ludwig's voice flooded over the communicator circuits and said, "Ha, ha, ha!  You do-gooding N-Team will be no more once I've come to Hawkhaven!  I've caught your precious pals who made the mistake of encountering Mega Volt on New Thundera, and Mega Volt also brought to me Mumm-ra, the Luna-tacks, and the Mutants!  I also have those who made the blunder of finding Negaduck's hideout!  It appears that I have the upper hand now!  I'm coming to Hawkhaven in order to fry some Justice Duck and some stone. . . to save Mason the trouble of doing it!  Got it?  Ha, ha, ha!  Have a nice day. . . until I arrive!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"  A beep was heard.

            "That was Ludwig!" exclaimed Wilykit.

            "Yes," said GizmoDuck.  "I believe that he does not know that you are there."

            "He's certainly going to attempt grabbing the others at the Tower!" said Wilykat.  "We should. . ."

            ". . .not go anywhere!" Wilykit cut in.  "Why do you think Lion-O sent us here?  To keep us out of his claws!!"

            "I know, 'Kit," her brother replied, "but we also have a responsibility to tell them."

            "Well. . . all right."

            "Be careful, Thunder Kittens," said GizmoDuck.  Static appeared in the transmission.  "Egad!  What's this that's happening?  It would seem that. . . transmission . . . being . . . cut from . . . outside source."

            "GizmoDuck, increase your signal!"

            ". . . trying!  I . . .-not do much; the frequency . . . up much higher."  The screen turned blank.

            "Uh, oh," said Wilykit.  "There's trouble up there."

            "That's probably an understatement," said Wilykat.  As suddenly as the screen had blanked, it flashed back on, with Ludwig's evil face at the centre.

            "Ludwig!" exclaimed Wilykit.

            "That is I, Thunder-twerps!" said Ludwig.  "Ha, ha, ha!"

            Wilykat said, "You won't be laughing so loud when the Justice Ducks pulverise you, you rotten, low-down, stinking,. . ."

            "Oh, you'll swell my head, Wilykat.  I should just like you kids to know that I, the devious, despicable Prince Ludwig 'Kooky' von(Bowser)Koopa - the 'Bowser'-part in parentheses - have recently scored a point by having Mega Volt electrically collar the Silver Hawks, your fellow Thunder Cats, and Kevin, who vainly attempted to discover the Luna-tacks, Mutants, and Mumm-ra before we.  We pulverised those N-Team members who attempted to free Darkwing from Negaduck's lair.  In addition, we did secure an unconditional alliance with the two aforementioned groups and the specified mummy, and we shall soon vanquish your pals at Hawkhaven and at the Tower of Omens."

            "And what of us?" asked Wilykit.  "What do you intend to do with us?"

            "Squirts," said Ludwig.  "I doubt you're much of a threat, you juvenile little twerps."

            "And all this time I thought you were above petty insults," countered Wilykit.  "And I halfway respected you.  About your pal, the Liquidator.  Cheetara said he was a blatherskite."

            "Maybe," said Ludwig, "but you'd best not tangle with him. . . or with me, for that matter.  So, stay put.  You little guys can do nothing to stop me.  Tah-tah!"  The screen again went blank.

            "The nerve!" said Wilykit.  "He absolutely revolts me!"

            "Me, also," said Wilykat.  "But as long as he thinks we're harmless, I think he'll leave us alone."

            "Come on," said Wilykit.  "Let's secure the Lair.  Then, we'll eat and rest.  We're going to the Tower after all that, and I want us to be well-rested and well-nourished so we can fly through all that rain again."

            "All right.  Good game plan, 'Kit."  They did as Wilykit had suggested.