July 11.

            "Now, you called me here for more than to discuss how things were going.  What is it, sir?"

            Tygra read the readings on the console from which he was calling and said, "It appears that two things are happening.  Firstly, there is a great increase in electrical energy around Mumm-ra's Pyramid.  Secondly, for a few moments, there was increased ground-quake activity near Fire-Rock Mountain."

            Wilykat knew what he meant.  Mumm-ra and the Luna-tacks could definitely jeopardise anything.  "Not good," he said.

            "Not good at all," replied Tygra.  "Lion-O's keeping an eye on the main monitoring system, and Panthro is checking all the vehicles.  Bengali, Pumyra, and Lynx-O are keeping an eye on things at the Tower of Omens.  We've alerted Hawkhaven and you.  You'll need to be ready in case Mumm-ra decides to pay a visit."

            "I know," said Wilykat.  "Has Steelheart made any mention about the Mob?"

            "No," said Tygra.  "It should be expected, though.  We know how powerful a punch those guys can throw when they work together."

            "Right."  He thought.  "Tygra, call Link and Zelda on Hyrule.  Tell them to keep the Triforce under an especially heavy number of guards."

            "Why?"

            "Call it a hunch, but I half-expect Ganon or Agahnim to burst in and swipe it.  Also, you should tell all N-Team structures to be at Yellow-Alert Number 2 at all times."

            "Thank you, Wilykat.  I honestly had not thought about it.  I'll see you later."

            "Okay.  Until then."

            "Tygra out."  The screen turned blank.

            "Sir," said Wilykat to Picard, "I should suggest the same to you."

            "Thank you," said Picard.  He tapped a comm-key on his desk.  "Lieutenant Worf, push us up to Yellow-Alert."

            "Sir?" asked Worf's puzzled voice.

            "I'll explain when I get out there."

            "Aye, sir."  The panels shined a bright yellow.

            Wilykat tapped his communicator.  "Wilykat to 'Kit."

            * * *

            Ten-Forward, Deck 10.

            Wilykit asked, "Wesley, why did the fluorine atom cross the road?"

            "I don't know," said Wesley.  "Why?"

            "To get charged by the sodium cop!"

            "Ooh," said Wesley, smiling.  "Rotten joke."

            Panels in the lounge turned a bright yellow, and Wilykat's voice came over the comm-circuits to say, "Wilykat to 'Kit."

            Wilykit tapped her communicator.  "What's the problem, brother?"

            "Tygra just called me," said Wilykat.  "I'd prefer to discuss it up here in Captain Picard's Ready-Room."

            "Okay, Wilykat.  I'll be up there.  Wilykit out."  She tapped her communicator.  "Darn.  Come if you want, Wesley."  The two left Ten-Forward in very even steps.

            Once they were out of Ten-Forward, Wesley asked, "Is something wrong?"

            "Yes, there is," she said.  "I recognise Wilykat's different tones of voice.  This one indicated a great level of urgency."  She left it at that, and they continued on to the nearest turbolift.  Once in it, Wilykit ordered, "Main Bridge."  The doors closed, and the lift started up.

            "Wilykit," said Wesley, "I heard hardly any urgency in his voice."

            "He learned to keep that control long ago," said Wilykit.  "In fact, he developed it so well that only I can really detect it."

            "You know, the more I see the way you perform things, the more I like you."

            "Thank you."  They rode the rest of the way up in silence.  When they arrived on the Main Bridge, they went directly to the door to Captain Picard's Ready-Room (wherein Picard and Wilykat were waiting) and Wesley tapped the signal button.

            "Come," called Picard's voice.  The door opened, and the two entered.

            "Good evening," said Wilykat.  "Hope I didn't distract anything interesting."

            "That, my dear brother, is none of your business!"

            "Okay, 'Kit!  Okay!"  He got up.  "Have a seat."  Wilykit did so.

            "Thank you," she said.

            "You're probably wondering why you were called here," Wilykat, leaning against a wall, told her.  "Tygra just called me and told me that there was a strong possibility that Mumm-ra and the Luna-tacks might be acting up soon.  The other Thunder Cats are also on alert, and Hawkhaven has been called.  Frankly, I have an awful feeling that something terrible is going to happen soon."

            "I agree," said Wilykit.  "Hm.  The Mob?"

            "We agreed that we should expect something from them," said Wilykat.  "And I'll be darned if the whole Extended Brain-Team isn't planning some offensive.  I told him he should have all of the N-Team on Yellow-Alert Number 2 and to increase the guards around the Triforce."

            Wilykit considered this.  His actions demanded respect.  She said, "Pretty good, Wilykat.  Steelheart made an excellent decision."

            "Thank you.  Captain Picard, is it of your opinion that Wilykit and I should discuss with your senior staff a brief history of the Brain-Team and the N-Team and who's who of those teams?"

            "Well, if it's not any trouble for you."

            "None at all, sir."

            "All right.  How long would you need for preparation?"

            "Ah. . . give us about an hour."

            "Very well.  One hour, in the Observation Lounge.  I'll have Data record what will be said."

            * * *

            Observation Lounge, Deck 1.

            Wilykat went to the monitor as Wilykit handed a cartridge to Captain Picard, who inserted it in a location on the control panel on the table.  Wilykat activated the monitor, and the symbol of the Brain-Team - the B superimposed over the right hemisphere of a human brain - appeared on the screen.  "The Brain-Team," began Wilykat, "has five main base-planets throughout the galaxy.  Their name comes from their leaders, MotherBrain and Prince Baron Ludwig 'Kooky' von(Bowser)Koopa, whose family has an extremely powerful telepathic connection.  This. . ."  He pressed a switch on the monitor.  MotherBrain appeared on the screen.  ". . .is MotherBrain.  She and four others of the Brain-Team Base were the main enemies of the N-Team Base.  As it is, since she became married to the father of Ludwig, King Bowser Koopa, about a year ago, she is the queen of the Kingdom of the Evil Koopas.  This. . ."  He pressed the same switch, and King Bowser appeared.  ". . . is King Bowser Koopa, king of the Kingdom of the Evil Koopas.  He became evil extremely early in life. . . when he was, in fact, born.  His brain was about to explode with a very rare disease, and he got the first successful brain transplant in VideoLand from MotherBrain just in time.  That transplant turned him into the repulsive reptile he is today, and that brain was linked telepathically to MotherBrain's.  That telepathy transferred down to Bowser's seven despicable offspring:. . ."  Their images flashed on the screen at his mention; he was sure to talk slowly enough for the senior officers to get a mental picture of the Koopalings.  ". . .Prince Baron Ludwig 'Kooky' von(Bowser)Koopa, prince and actual head-of-state of the Kingdom of the Evil Koopas; Prince Judge Larry 'Cheatsy' (Bowser)Koopa, the head of the judiciary system of the Kingdom of the Evil Koopas; Prince Roy 'Bully' (Bowser)Koopa; Princess Wendy O. 'Kootsie Pie' (Bowser)Koopa, who fancies herself an incredibly gorgeous being; Prince Morton 'Big Mouth' (Bowser)Koopa, who can out-talk an android; and the Terror-Twins, Princes Lemmy 'Hip' and Iggy 'Hop' (Bowser)Koopa, only four seconds apart in being born, extremely united, and extremely mischievous."  He went to his chair and leant on the back of it.  "The nine of the Bowser Koopa family are united telepathically, and they feel whatever happens to another or to Metroid,. . ."  Metroid flashed on the screen.  ". . .a planet about the size of Venus.  Metroid is actually another extension of MotherBrain's brain.

            "When MotherBrain was born and given an alteration of some vaccination, her brain grew to this enormity.  It actually detached from her.  The only parts of her once-human body that remained useful were the brain, the face, and part of the spinal cord."  The image of MotherBrain reappeared.  "That liquid in her jar is similar to blood, supplying nutrients.  Her two tentacles are really altered nerves capable of extending outside the jar and grasping objects."  The screen replied by extending MotherBrain's tentacles outside the jar.  "The three metallic objects in sort of a triangle formation on top of her jar are able to send out shocking waves of electricity.  Before she and the other eight Koopas reunited, MotherBrain inhabited Metroid.  Those who worked for here were the following Brain-Team Base members:. . ." - who each flashed onto the screen at his mention - ". . .Eggplant Wizard, King Hippo, Dr. Jerome Wily, and Ridley."  The symbol of VideoLand - Hyrule, Mount Icarus, the Palace of Power, MegaLand, KongoLand, Dragon's Den, and Metroid united in a circle - appeared on the screen.  "Eggplant Wizard came from the Kingdom of Mount Icarus.  King Hippo came from the world of Punchout!!!, which is spelled with either two or three exclamation marks on the end; whether it's two or three doesn't matter.  Dr. Wily came from the Republic of MegaLand.  Mount Icarus is a myth-related world with all kinds of monsters, the queen of which is the evil Medusa, of whom I am sure you have all heard.  Eggplant Wizard has the ability to produce produce.  The most dangerous of this produce is his eggplant, which can turn any living being it touches into an eggplant."

            "What a way to go," remarked Riker.

            "Yeah.  That is what Kid Icarus, leader of the army on Mount Icarus, told me.  He got zapped several times by that renegade vegetable.  Fortunately, the condition can be cured.  Mind if I talk about the Brain-Team's and the N-Team's allies as well?"

            "If you don't mind," said Picard.

            "Thank you."  He switched on a view of Medusa.  "Don't worry; you won't turn to stone."

            "Absolutely repulsive!" exclaimed Troi.

            Worf said, "I would say exactly the opposite.  She is marvellous."  Wilykat almost laughed.

            "Too bad Thunderians don't share Klingon beliefs of beauty," said Wilykit with the slightest bit of sarcasm in her voice.

            "Indeed," Wilykat said.  "Now, if we were really in her presence, all the males among us would be turned to stone.  Somehow, the double-X genes make females resistant to the stone-spell except for Medusa herself.  She has also made appearances on other worlds, such as the Republic of CastleVania, which I shall explain later."  He switched to the world of Punchout!!!, represented by a boxing glove against a building with a sign saying 'Punchout!!!'  "This is Punchout!!!.  King Hippo, as I showed you, is a boxer.  And, in case you've never heard of boxing, it is a sport using fists as the primary weapon.  King Hippo is the worst villain on that world, and a rock would seem to have more IQ than he.  I am being facetious, Data.  Eggplant Wizard is not much more intelligent.  Those two work for MotherBrain for no compensation whatever, except room and board.  Yet, they are very loyal.  They know that MotherBrain would crush them like eggshells if they became disloyal.

            "The Republic of MegaLand, whose capital city is the huge metropolis of Monsteropolis, is a quartet of solar systems joined by a combination of powerful metals.  It is the technological centre of VideoLand, with robots, androids, and other wonders.  Its many provinces also comprise the mining capital of VideoLand.  It has more metals and objects than mines in other areas of that part of the galaxy.  Mines for dilithium, areas where aurum and argentum are in great supply.  I believe you call aurum and argentum gold and silver respectively," said Wilykat.  "Thunderians use the classical names of the transition metals.  Anyway, it is the revenue from the goods produced in the mines and all the elements and compounds from them that makes MegaLand the technological capital that it is.  Robots were created to mine these places safely.  Dr. Wright is a foremost expert in the field of cybernetics.  His speciality is Robot Masters, androids that control the lesser robots mining the areas.  Dr. Wily was his assistant.  One evening, Wily suffered a lab accident that relieved him of his sanity.  He attempted conquering Monsteropolis by reprogramming Dr. Wright's androids, who were CutMan, ElecMan, IceMan, FireMan, BombMan, and GutsMan, each with specific capabilities.  Wily had already bent the will of ProtoMan, who was to be one of MegaMan's most powerful adversaries; ProtoMan is Wily's greatest servant.  It would have worked if Wright hadn't already been in the process of making MegaMan, who thoroughly trounced the six reprogrammed androids, ProtoMan, and Wily.  Actually, MegaMan was already around as a robot named Rock; his 'sister,' as it were, is Roll, who is programmed to be a housekeeping robot.  MegaMan, Roll, and ProtoMan are almost humanlike.  They are 'living machines'; strange things happened to make them that way.  Wright even made MegaMan a robotic canine named Rush, who can transform into a jet, a submarine, or almost anything else to help MegaMan trounce Wily's robots; Rush can be very silly like a real dog sometimes.  Wily, vowing revenge, joined MotherBrain, who suggested he make some more robots:  AirMan, CrashMan, MetalMan, BubbleMan, HeatMan, WoodMan, FlashMan, and QuickMan.  MegaMan had already joined the N-Team Base at Wright's suggestion.

            "At that time, the N-Team Base was composed of Princess Lana, ruler of the Kingdom of VideoLand; Kid Icarus, already identified as head of the armies of Mount Icarus; Simon Belmont, Vampire-Hunter, from CastleVania; and the newest member, MegaMan.  When they attempted to blast the androids, - heh, heh! - the N-Team was defeated.  MotherBrain was closing in, conquering VideoLand, when Captain N - whose name is Kevin - was drawn into VideoLand and, after having to realise that he was really in VideoLand, whomped MotherBrain.  In time, they whacked the androids before the androids whacked VideoLand.  So, at the time, the Brain-Team Base was MotherBrain, not yet married to King Bowser Koopa; Eggplant Wizard; King Hippo; Dr. Wily; and Ridley.  Also, the Brain-Team was allied with Ganon, head of the villains on the Kingdom of Hyrule, who would remain mainly an ally; Agahnim, Ganon's assistant;. . ." - Ganon and Agahnim appeared on the screen - ". . .Count Dracula, head of the villains on the Republic of CastleVania, with creatures from horror-stories, such as Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, all sorts of stuff like that."  Dracula appeared on the screen for several seconds.  Then, CastleVania appeared on the screen. . . an evil castle looming over an apparently defenceless town.  "A rather loose ally of the Brain-Team was Donkey Kong, an ape or whatever from KongoLand, a jungle kingdom.  He is extremely tall."  Donkey Kong, an overgrown primate appeared on the screen.  "A definite ally, from Dragon's Den, was Dragon Lord, head of the evil dragons on that world."  Dragon Lord appeared on the screen.

            Wilykat continued, "Allies of the N-Team Base were Princess Zelda, ruler of Hyrule, and Link, the hero who valiantly protects her and her kingdom."  Zelda and Link appeared on the screen.  "That kingdom now controls an empire, stretching around the Planet of Hyrule and into many surrounding solar systems.  It used to be a world of feudal kingdoms, which the Kingdom of Hyrule united in the Empire of Hyrule.  The feudal lands liked the sense of unity.  The chief language is German, but English is spoken almost as entirely throughout, and it is official.  Good thing, too, 'cause I don't know German!  Now, these kingdoms and republics and empires comprise the most important part of the Kingdom of VideoLand."  The symbol of VideoLand was once again shown.  "It is defended, as it always was, by the N-Team Base, comprised now of Captain N; Princess Lana; Kid Icarus; MegaMan; Simon Belmont; Princess Zelda; Link, the Hero of Hyrule; and Chief Samus Aran, who is chief of the Vice Squad of VideoLand and who was at one time the official eradicator of strange, dangerous aliens in VideoLand.  She still does that."  He drew in a breath.  "Wilykit, you continue with the Mason-Team, the Mario and Good Koopas Team, and the Evil Koopas Team."  He sat down, and Wilykit got up.

            Wilykit got a good breath before she even started.  "He already described accurately the leaders of the Evil Koopas Team.  It was led by King Bowser Koopa, who headed the Evil Koopa Army.  King Koopa began his life with his brain about to die, so his mother arranged for a transplant.  The first successful brain-transplant in VideoLand, I am sorry to say, caused a successful division of VideoLand."  She went to the monitor and pressed a series of switches.  The Mushroom World appeared on the screen.  "This is the Mushroom World.  It is, according to your standards, class-M.  It was once part of VideoLand, but Lana made it clear that the Mushroom World should secede, or it would be conquered in MotherBrain's conquest and King Bowser would unite with MotherBrain to help conquer VideoLand, so it did so."  She pointed to a point on a continent.  "The area to which I am pointing is the ruling city of the Mushroom Kingdom and, ultimately, the entire Mushroom World.  At the time, the Mushroom World. . ."  She smiled.  The humans had originally had this notion about Earth.  ". . .was believed to be flat."  She enframed a specific area with her right index finger while being careful not to scratch the screen.  "This was the Kingdom of the Mushroom World.  The Kingdom of the Mushroom World and the Mushroom Kingdom are different; the latter is part of the former. . . and it is the most powerful part of the former, its capital region.  It was and still is ruled by Peach Toadstool, once princess and now queen.  She was captured at the time of the Koopulan War, wherein King Koopa captured the Mushroom Kingdom.  He said good-bye to his seven brats before actually leaving to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom.

            "At the time, Evil Koopas Team was composed of. . ." - the ones she mentioned flashed onto the screen - ". . .King Bowser Koopa, whose plans of aggression on the Mushroom Kingdom matched MotherBrain's on VideoLand; Mouser, Koopa's original strategist, who was extremely instrumental in the Evil Koopa Kingdom's winning that war; Try-Clyde, a three-headed fire-ball-spitting serpent, with hardly any IQ whatsoever; and Koopa-Troopa, matching Try-Clyde in intelligence.  Koopa-Troopa also had no special skills; his kind composed most of the Evil Koopa Army.  The Evil Koopa Army, despite its lack of intelligence, had much physical strength and thoroughly whomped the inexperienced Mushroom Kingdom Army, and Bowser Koopa kidnapped Peach Toadstool, Princess and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom."  Who flashed on the screen.  "Koopa's scheme to reunite the Mushroom Kingdom, under his control and renamed it the First Koopulan Empire, with VideoLand, under MotherBrain's control, would have worked if Captain N hadn't shown up in VideoLand and if the Mario Brothers hadn't shown up in the Mushroom Kingdom."  She pressed another button, and Mario and Luigi appeared on the screen.  "Plumbers with a love of pasta, who ironically came from the same planet and the same country as Kevin, yet didn't know it.  They did come from opposite edges, though.  They came from Brooklyn; Kevin came from Northridge, near Los Angeles.  Mario and Luigi were working on a drain pipe.  Precisely on the stroke of midday, they unclogged the pipe, which pulled them both down into itself.  That pipe was part of a vast warping network belonging to the Mushroom World.  They arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom on a clear, vast plateau.  They saw Toad,. . ."  Toad, a small guy with a hat that made him look like a mushroom, flashed on the screen.  ". . .Princess Peach's retainer, running.  He explained everything to the two, and the three went and socked it to the entire Koopa Army.  King Bowser Koopa was so furious, but he had nothing he could do.  Mouser didn't have an underhanded scheme on his desk by the time Mario and Luigi arrived, and Mario and Luigi pounded Bowser out of the Mushroom Kingdom.  Bowser boarded his Doomship. . ."  The Doomship appeared on the screen.  ". . .and flew back to the Evil Koopa Kingdom.  So began Bowser's various assaults on the Mushroom Kingdom to gain control, and his worst ever was sending Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach to the Dream Kingdom."  When the Mushroom World had reappeared on the screen, she pointed to another area.  "Right here.  He had his pal, Wart, capture the Dream Machine and pollute the Dream Kingdom with wicked demons."  Wart appeared on the screen.  He was ugly, a green toad-like humanoid.  "Needless to say, the Mario-Team - comprised then of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach - whacked it to Wart, and, by the time they returned to the Mushroom Kingdom, it was conquered again.  Koopa's strategist, who had assisted Wart in Dream World, had made it ten times more difficult for the Mario Brothers to get to Bowser.  However, they did, and Peach was so angry that Bowser was afraid she'd blow up.  So, Bowser tucked scaly tail between legs and went back to the Evil Koopa Kingdom.  Soon, another part of the Kingdom of the Mushroom World was under attack.  Tatanga, an alien and another of Bowser's pals, had captured the Kingdom of Sarasaland.  Mario went after Tatanga and socked it to him so hard that Tatanga's head spun.  By the time he had returned, the princess was so happy that she made a new part of the Kingdom of the Mushroom World his own.  The Mario Kingdom.  Soon, however, it was attacked by an impersonator. . . Wario, another person in cahoots with Koopa, but this time only for money.  Mario successfully eradicated Wario from his kingdom."  She felt her throat beginning to dry and went over to the food replicator.  "Water, four degrees Celsius, please."  A glass of water appeared, and she drank some.

            "Soon after Mario had eradicated Wario, however, Bowser returned and conquered the Kingdom of the Mushroom World.  That time, Bowser had included his seven Koopalings, who conquered the seven main kingdoms of the Mushroom World.  Mario and Luigi knocked them down one-by-one, almost failing with Ludwig."  The name referring to him repulsed her.  She wished that Prince Ludwig von(Spike)Koopa, ruler of the Good Koopa Kingdom, had taken the French or Spanish form of the name instead of the German.  "They continued and stopped Bowser.  This time, Princess Peach ordered that Bowser be exiled.

            "Those guys learned the hard way that the Mushroom World was round."  The planet on the screen rotated half-way.  An enormous archipelago shaped roughly like an upside-down U existed on the planet's surface, and this archipelago's entirety was shown when the planet had finished rotating.  "This is Dinosaur Land.  When she exiled the Evil Koopa Team, Princess Peach inadvertently sent them here."  She pointed specifically to a circle of stones with a ship near it.  "That ship used to be that of Roy.  The Koopalings had used Doomships to conquer the Mushroom World, and Roy was sailing over this area when Mario and Luigi defeated him.  When they had defeated him, it went down into the Soda Sea.  They were transported out before they fell in the water.  Incidentally, Roy had conquered Sky World, which extended somehow over this part of the Mushroom World.  Anyway, Roy's Doomship was the one with the heaviest crew, who turned this ship into a regular horror-house.  Anyway, Koopa had long known about this land, and he heard about it from Roy, who had learned about this place; so the villains conquered it.  The dinosaurs and cave-Mushroomians native to that land were docile and altogether stupid enough to be easily subjugated by the Koopas.

            "Peach and the Marios decided that they'd leave Toad in charge and go here on vacation."  She pointed to a small island off the southwesternmost main island.  "That was thought to be part of the flat world.  Anyway, there, the most diabolical part of Koopa's scheme came into effect:  to capture Princess Peach.  It was done easily, as the Marios were otherwise occupied with some other of Koopa's creeps:  Mario with a Chargin' Chuck, an overgrown type of Koopa-Troopa whose speciality in fighting is football tactics;. . ."

            "Kind of like the Steeltwins," said Wilykat.

            "Okay, Wilykat," said Wilykit.  "I didn't interrupt your explanation like that."  She cleared her throat and continued.  ". . .and Luigi with a Magikoopa, or a Koopa wizard.  At some point, Luigi fell down a warp pipe and found Yoshi, a small brachiosaurus-like dinosaur. . ." - who flashed on the screen - ". . .'re-egged' by Bowser Koopa.  Luigi found Mario here."  When the Mushroom World had reflashed back onto the screen, she pointed to the southern tip of the southwesternmost island.  "There, Yoshi told the Marios of what had happened to the land.  Mario told Luigi that King Koopa had, as expected, captured the princess and taken her to Neon Castle - which Mario specifically called his 'Coney Island Disco Palace' - in Koopa Valley."  Again, she pointed to the circle of stones.  "Right in here.  I think Mario used a reference to something on his world.  Anyway, Luigi, Mario, and Yoshi defeated the Koopalings who had taken over the islands."  She pointed to the southwesternmost island.  "Yoshi Island,. . ." - the island above it - ". . .Donut Island,. . ." - the dome-shaped mountain on it - ". . .the Vanilla Dome,. . ." - the two bridges in the northcentralmost area of Dinosaur Land connecting the tableland of the Vanilla Dome to another island's mountaintop - ". . .the Twin Bridges between the Vanilla Dome and Cookie Mountain,. . ." - the island of which the Cookie Mountain was a part - ". . .Illusion Island,. . ." - the brownish island south of Illusion Island - ". . .and Chocolate Island."  Chocolate Island extended south of the stone circle encircling Koopa Valley.  Wilykit tapped a series of keys, and a structure extended upward through the stone circle.  It was shaped like Bowser's head.  "That is Koopa Valley, where Luigi, Mario, and Yoshi socked it to Bowser Koopa, who was steaming mad.

            "The Mario-Team was. . ." - again, the characters flashed on the screen at her mention - ". . .Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Yoshi.  The Evil Koopa Team was King Bowser Koopa; Prince Baron Ludwig von(Bowser)Koopa; Prince Larry (Bowser)Koopa; Prince Roy (Bowser)Koopa; Princess Wendy O. (Bowser)Koopa; Prince Morton (Bowser)Koopa, Jr.; Prince Lemmy (Bowser)Koopa; and Prince Iggy (Bowser)Koopa.  Bowser was still residing there in the Koopa Valley when Ludwig had announced that he had almost finished opening a warp between the Koopa Valley and this awful place."  She pressed another series of keys, and Metroid appeared.  "Metroid.  MotherBrain's lines of defeat were deep.  The N-Team Base would continually defeat her.  Link, Zelda, and Samus hadn't joined the N-Team yet, but they would soon.  MotherBrain had constantly failed in her attempts when Wily told her that he was almost finished with the warp to Neon Castle.  See, Wily worked on one half while Ludwig worked on the other.  When they opened the warp, the Koopas had spread their power all over the Mushroom World and had captured the Mario-Team, who was being held in the Neon Castle dungeon.  When the Koopas entered the warp to go to Metroid, Bowser fell in love with that MotherBrain.  It must have been utterly disgusting.  Those two still love each other, and they have delegated leadership of the Brain-Team to Ludwig, though MotherBrain still exercises great power.

            "Anyway, several things began happening.  First and foremost, Bowser and MotherBrain decided to marry each other.  The two invited the N-Team Base.  The marriage was probably the only thing that those two ever legally did in their life.  Princess Lana has told us that the reception was very nice.  Bowser had arranged for the Marios to be able to attend that reception.  They did.  Bowser had arranged a pattern of enemies that Yoshi could eat.  When they escaped from that castle, Yoshi grabbed it with his tongue and hauled that huge place in.  When he had done that, he released what Mario described to us as a burp that would shake the very air between Earth and Mars.  According to him, it was extremely gross!  I think that even Data might have agreed.

            "When that wedding was over, MotherBrain, Bowser, and the Koopalings went from that CastleVania to where Neon Castle used to be, and King Bowser transported to there a huge castle Ludwig had made to be so challenging that it would boggle anyone's mind.  Next, Ludwig caught Princesses Peach, Lana, and Zelda, who were having a chat in the Palace of Power, and proceeded to arrest them.  He held them in his - pardon my extreme but probably most appropriate language - hell-castle.  The N-Team Base, the Mario-Team, Link, and Samus Aran held a conference.  Ultimately, they defeated the Koopaling's castles by using the Sacred Square, an object which was instrumental in building the World of Tetris, made entirely of tetrads, or Tetris Blocks, or blocks with four equal-sized squares.  The people are rather square, too, you know.  Anyway, that block controls tetrads.  The castles were made of those tetrads.  The N-Team completely demolished the castles.  When Kevin returned the Sacred Square to the World of Tetris, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard got that block and gave it to their bosses.  That despisable Ludwig had a one-inch-cubed piece of wire from the largest wire on Metroid controlling the Bowser Koopa Family's nervous activities and a one-inch-cubed piece of the Sacred Square cut.  The piece of wire was integrated into the Sacred Square, and the piece of Sacred Square was integrated into the wire."  Wilykat, instantly nervous, hastily scribbled something on his notepad.  Wilykit noticed this, but she did not give it much thought.  "Anyway, they decided to frame Kevin for the theft of the Sacred Square, so the Sacred Square was taken to Kevin's bedroom.  Kevin was arrested, and Lana needed to get a defence attorney and a prosecuting attorney.  Mario went to get from their world the best in both fields:  Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger, respectively.  Those that came with the two lawyers and came to help their group afterwards are the Mason-Team, comprised today of. . ."  As she said their names, they appeared on the screen.  "Perry Mason; Della Street; Ken Malanski; Paul Drake; Paul Drake, Jr.; Jackson; Hamilton Burger; Lt. Arthur Tragg; Lt. Andy Anderson; Lt. Steven Drumm; and Sgt. George Brice.  Mason; Street; Drake, Sr.; Burger; and Tragg were those who went originally to VideoLand.  Mason eventually cleared Kevin.  During that, Ludwig began the invention of a cloaking device.  His first attempt was surprising the heck out of everyone by having all seven Doomships decloak off the western end of the Palace of Power.  The device was still experimental, and the seven ships were detected before decloaking.  Mario and Kid Icarus went over to Ludwig's flagship and socked it to the Doomships by knocking out the power systems.

            "After Mason had cleared Kevin, - which occurred thanks to the fact that Kid Icarus obtained some information - he and the others decided to move to VideoLand.  By the way, Kid Icarus, one of the N-Team Base members most loyal to Kevin, obtained the information at great peril to his life.  Anyway, Lana granted them membership into the N-Team as the Mason-Team and stated that any legal, police, medical, or dental office held anywhere in the United States of that world could be held anywhere in VideoLand without the necessity of changing licence.  The N-Team Base was formed, also, in the way it is today.  The Mario-Team has had a slight revision, though.  Soon, Ludwig discovered that he and the eight others in his family had telekinetic powers, so Ludwig stretched his luck too far.  Suffice it to say that the Mario-Team and the N-Team Base stepped in and gave Ludwig a shock sufficient to knock out their telekinetic powers for a while.  Then, loud-mouthed Morton got the idea of sending the do-gooders into the Nightmare Universe with poisoned apples.  It worked.  Eventually, most wound up there.  They fouled up the Brain-Team's plans by reawakening.  The evildoers were in the middle of a toast.  The Brain-Team was, to say the least, extremely upset at the arrival of the N-Team, who gave the Brain-Team some of its own medicine.  That sent the eight of the natural Bowser Koopa family into nightmares in which they were beaten up by themselves.  Bowser was beaten up by himself, Ludwig by himself, et cetera.  It turned out actually being King Spike Koopa and his Koopalings, rulers of the Good Koopa Kingdom.  The Brain-Team sent some N-Team members into the Nightmare Universe once more to look for these guys.  Since Tragg was one that was made to sleep, Mason sent Drake to ask their pal Lt. Andy Anderson to come.  He did, and it turned out that the Brain-Team and the N-Team worked jointly to find the Spike Koopas.  They did find them.  The Spike Koopas were on our side.  It eventually was discovered that Wisenheimer {wahy-zehn-hahy-mur}. . ."

            "Wisenheimer {vih-zehn-hahy-mehr}, remember?" said Wilykat.  "Remember what Mario said he does to people who mispronounce his name?"

            "Oh, yes," said Wilykit.  "Thank you, Wilykat.  Wisenheimer {vih-zehn-hahy-mehr}, a Magikoopa, was discovered to have sent the Spike Koopas to the Nightmare Universe to keep them from interfering with the Brain-Team's affairs.  All that happened last year."

            "Yeah," said Wilykat.  "Ludwig is almost 20, right?"

            "Yeah," said Wilykit.  "Okay.  Spike Koopa's kids have the same first names and age differences as their evil cousins.  They have the 'Spike' prefix in parentheses before 'Koopa' in their names.

            "King Spike and Princess Peach fell in love with each other and married, and Peach took the title of queen.  The Spike Koopas joined the N-Team as part of the Mario-Team.  Lieutenant Steven Drumm entered the Mason-Team soon after that.

            "Now, on to Darkwing Duck's Justice Ducks and the Fearsome Ten."  She tapped some buttons on the screen, and Darkwing Duck was shown.  "Darkwing Duck became a hero for a simple purpose:  justice.  He became that at his graduation ceremony to save his school from his first supervillain."  She tapped another key.  Mega Volt was shown.  "The diabolical Mega Volt.  He was and is a science genius.  He was performing an experiment in his school's lab after school had let out.  It involved wearing a sweater while using a treadmill to generate power through wires to light an incandescent light bulb.  Two people - one overfit, oversized, sport-playing chunk of ham and one smarty girl - came in.  That young man taped Mega Volt's hands to the bar and turned up the speed of the treadmill.  Well, in several hours, an explosion occurred, freeing Mega Volt.  He was covered in little pieces of paper.  When he went to open the door by grasping the doorknob, he discovered by a severe shock that he had overloaded his neural system to the point of being able to control electricity.  He became bent on getting revenge on those who had fried his system, so he attacked the school on graduation night and was ready to destroy it.  Darkwing Duck, common identity Drake Mallard, was not the most popular guy in school.  He knew he had to save his friends but wouldn't try it as Drake Mallard, so he got clothes that conformed to the disguise he has as Darkwing Duck.  He appeared and stopped Mega Volt, who discovered that he had claustrophobia.

            "So, Darkwing's been going through life, stopping crime.  He adopted Gosalyn Mallard,. . ." - who flashed on the screen - ". . .who is very boyish for her race.  In Darkwing's society, there are certain girl-things and certain boy-things, and Gosalyn is that which would be called a 'tomboy.'  She has recently developed a disguise, too."  The screen superimposed Gosalyn's Quiverwing Quack costume over her.  "Quiverwing Quack, an aide to Darkwing Duck in her off-school hours."  Launchpad McQuack appeared on the screen.  "This is Launchpad McQuack, Darkwing's sidekick.  His motto is, 'If it can fly, I can crash it.'  Well, he has crashed cars, planes, just about everything that moves."  Honker Muddlefoot appeared on the screen.  "Honker Muddlefoot, here, is probably Gosalyn's best friend.  He has gone up quickly in the grade ranks, and he is presently in college.  No offence meant to him, but he still might be considered 'underaverage' in Thunderian society.  Of course, Thunderians are capable of absorbing information more quickly and efficiently than his species.  Anyway, it was soon that Darkwing would obtain an offer from Director J. Gander Hooter, the head of SHUSH." - who appeared on the screen - "Right before that, Darkwing had stopped F.O.W.L.'s top agent, Steelbeak,. . ." - who appeared on the screen - ". . .from stealing every cent in the First National Bank of Saint Canard.  During the battle between Steelbeak and Darkwing, Steelbeak threatened Darkwing with a bomb; Steelbeak ended that battle when he lit the fuse and blew off his own beak.  After getting away, the overgrown rooster had his real beak replaced with a steel beak.  The top SHUSH Agent, Agent Grizzlykov. . ." - who appeared on the screen - ". . .objected to Hooter's offer, saying that Darkwing was too radical to be involved with SHUSH.  The chief of science, Dr. Sarah Bellum,. . ." - who also appeared on the screen - ". . .approved, saying that Darkwing had managed to 'utilise physics to his great advantage in defeating Steelbeak, especially by letting Steelbeak light that bomb.'  Darkwing was then made a secret agent of SHUSH.

            "Darkwing soon encountered his weedy enemy, Dr. Reginald Bushroot."  Bushroot appeared on the screen.  "He used to be a duck who did scientific research on plants, which he simply adored.  His final experiment as a duck, performed upon himself, turned him into the vegetable he is today.  He has a control over plants, which can come to motion to perform his commands.  He hates it when people do anything destructive to plants.  He is intensely an environmentalist.  Needless to say, Darkwing whomped the fertiliser out of him, for Bushroot is weaker than a daisy.

            "Then, a few months later, Mega Volt dreamed up one of his most despicable inventions.  It was the tron-splitter, an invention capable of splitting something in two pieces:  a good part and a bad part.  Eventually, Darkwing got blasted by it just before Mega Volt was blasted out the window.  Posiduck, his nicey-nice little good part, annoyed everyone with his goody-two-shoedness, and Negaduck, his wicked evil part, decided to destroy the tron-splitter before he could be made to rejoin with Posiduck.  So, Negaduck found Mega Volt.  In Mega Volt's lair, the stinking electron accidentally blasted Negaduck with the tron-splitter to avoid Negaduck's destroying it.  That made Negaduck more powerful, and the crazed lunatic ran on a destructive rampage through the city.  Eventually, Negaduck and Posiduck were rebound, but Mega Volt decided to try out the zoom-lens on his device.  He blasted Darkwing many times, with Gosalyn attempting to keep Darkwing quite literally in one piece.  Well, when Darkwing was turned into an odd number - two evil and one good - one of the evils got away before being reblasted."  She pressed a key on the monitor.  Negaduck appeared.  "This is he, Negaduck.  That blast actually knocked him out of his own universe, parallel to our own, the Negaverse.  In his time in this universe, he has absolutely tormented Darkwing Duck.

            "Gosalyn enjoys playing what are called video games.  You and Thunderians may think of them as being rather primitive, but they're still fun.  They involve a control device with a stick or a pad to control motion of a character on the screen and several buttons to control jumping, running, shooting, pausing, and selecting, and other stuff.  They employ a cartridge inserted into an interface slot on the main controlling part of the game-playing system. . . sort of like that arrangement. . ." - pointed to the cartridge inserted into the slot next to Picard - ". . .but less sophisticated.  Well, there was one such cartridge that was immensely popular; it was called Whiffle Boy.  A certain toy company, the Quacker Jack Toy Company, tried to outdo it, but it failed and went out of business.  The toys were dangerous, dreamed up by this mad lunatic."  Quacker Jack appeared on the screen with a set of snap-teeth in his hand.  "Quacker Jack.  He was so mad - well, so angry I should say, because he's always been crazy - that he wanted to destroy Whiffle Boy.  Eventually, he did, during a competition in which the two remaining players of the game were Gosalyn and Darkwing.  He ultimately arrived at his goal to destroy Whiffle Boy, but he failed to stop Darkwing Duck."  Tuskerninni appeared on the screen.  "This is Tuskerninni.  He commits crimes by using certain famous dramas as an outline.  He leads a gang of three penguins.  He has used several methods, most notably disguises.  He is one of the more defeatable characters we've met.

            "And this is Professor Moliarity."  Moliarity appeared on the screen.  "Professor Moliarity's natural element is underground, in the cavernous areas below the city of Saint Canard.  He is a scientific genius, and his first attempt to bring his people, a mole-like race, to the surface was stopped by great effort from Darkwing."

            "Pardon me," said Data.

            "Certainly.  What is it, Commander?"

            "The surface of Saint Canard would be much brighter than the caverns, would it not?  Therefore, how would the mole-race see?"

            "Ah, yes!  Moliarity made super-polarised sunglasses," explained Wilykit.  "He also invented super-powerful sun-tan lotion to keep his people from frying to death."

            "I see.  Thank you.  Please continue."

            "After Darkwing defeated Moliarity," said Wilykit, as if announcing the star villain, "he began the hottest summer of his entire life.  He described it as being so hot that it might have boiled the very metal out of which the streetlamps were made.  Many water-bottle companies were going out of business, as their water had become extremely unsafe to use.  At the time, Bud Flood, head of the Flood Bottled-Water Company, managed to keep his water safe."  Bud Flood, who would become the Liquidator, appeared on the screen.  "He said on the air that 'bad water molecules' had managed to work their way into the bottled water of most of his competitors but that he had a special process which kept his own water safe.  Darkwing found that only two companies still put out safe bottled water, and they were the Cukoo Fizzy Water Company and the Flood Bottled-Water Company.  Darkwing correctly concluded that the next 'to be blighted by the beverage-befouling bandit' would be the former.  He caught Bud Flood, who was in the midst of pouring a poisonous chemical in the main vat.  When Darkwing appeared and cited Flood his trademark narration nonsense, - 'I am the terror that flaps in the night' and other rubbish - Flood accidentally stepped back too far and fell into the vat.  The chemicals in the vat altered his chemical structure so that he became. . ."  The image of Flood switched to the image of Liquidator in an identical pose.  ". . .the Liquidator, the Master of All Fluids.  Sheesh, this guy was a real cornball at first, spouting advertising nonsense at every opportunity!  He was originally stopped by Darkwing, but only after he had given Darkwing an extremely tough time.

            "Next thing, another F.O.W.L. agent fouled up the scene royally."  Ammonia Pine appeared on the screen.  "This is Agent Ammonia Pine.  Originally, she was a cleaning lady at a company that made cleaning chemicals, but she was cleaning a lab when one of the experiments exploded.  The fumes of the experimental cleaning solution twisted her, turning her into the 'Queen of Clean.'  She cannot stand a single square micrometre of dirt, dust, or grime.  She almost defeated Darkwing with her sudsy nonsense, but Darkwing did stop her.  Ironically, her sister loves dust and all that is dirty.

            "Now, to Darkwing Duck's team, the Justice Ducks.  His first associate was Launchpad, but he eventually had to put up with a superhero from Duckburg."  GizmoDuck flashed on the screen.  "This is that hero, GizmoDuck.  He has a bunch of gadgets in that suit of his.  He and Darkwing originally encountered each other in a mission in which Darkwing was trying to stop Steelbeak from stealing a new government weapon, the EGRET.  The two heroes almost destroyed each other before getting Steelbeak, but they stopped Steelbeak and divided the credit equally on network television.

            "Soon after, a new hero was to appear."  Morganna McCawber, Darkwing Duck's eerie girlfriend, flashed onto the screen.  "Morganna McCawber.  She was the president of a company called McCawber's Mushrooms or something like that, and her associates led a crime spree around the city of Saint Canard to steal pizza toppings.  Darkwing fell in love with her at first sight.  In the end, she ended up helping him defeat her associates, who turned out to be mushrooms, but she disappeared with the dawn.  Later she would cast a spell that allowed her to exist in this dimension during the day as well as during the night.

            "Another hero to come onto Darkwing's Justice Ducks was a duck-turned-dinosaur."  Stegmutt flashed onto the screen.  "Stegmutt.  He worked for Doctor Fossil, a nut who was seeking to bring about a change that would give dinosaurs a second chance.  He was turned into a dinosaur by that creep, who was shaped like a pterodactyl.  Because he liked Gosalyn and Honker, Stegmutt decided to help Darkwing defeat Dr. Fossil, who got it in the end.

            "The final hero was a rather fishy character, called Neptunia."  Neptunia flashed onto the screen.  "Very much a marine environmentalist, she detests pollution and eutrophication or anything else which proves hazardous to sea life.  That shell she has is a powerful trumpet that allows her to control the animal sea life.  Fish, whales, dolphins, all kinds of aquatic creatures.  She was turned to her present form from a regular fish by radioactive plutonium toxins that were dumped into the sea.  She pledged not to let it happen to another fish living, so she decided to flood Saint Canard.  If Launchpad's convincing had not worked, Saint Canard would be the next Atlantis by now.

            "Another nominee for the evil guys was Doctor Norton Nimnul,. . ." - who appeared on the screen - ". . .another mad scientist who is a pal of Moliarity.  If he were any nuttier, the squirrels would go after him.  As it is, a good team of four rodents and one fly called the Rescue Rangers has consistently put a cramp in his style.

            "In the end, the Fearsome Ten were the following:  Negaduck, Liquidator, Mega Volt, Quacker Jack, Bushroot, Steelbeak, Ammonia Pine, Moliarity, Dr. Nimnul, and Tuskerninni.  The main part, the Fearsome Five, are the first five.  Darkwing Duck's Justice Ducks are Darkwing Duck, Launchpad McQuack, Gosalyn Mallard, GizmoDuck, Morganna McCawber, Neptunia, and Stegmutt.

            "Wilykat?"  She sat down.

            "Oh, not again!" pleaded Wilykat.

            "I just did the Mason-Team and the Mario-Team and the Justice Ducks.  You finish."

            "Oh, all right!"  He got up and went over to the monitor and cleared it.  "The Mob, the Silver Hawks' enemies, developed over a period of some time.  First of all, Mon*Star."  Mon*Star, untransformed, appeared on the screen.  "Very little is known of his origin, but Mon*Star very early became a menace.  His transformation powers, supplied by the powerful Moon*Star, allow him to transform into an armoured demon."  The screen changed to Mon*Star's transformed image.  "His left eye harnesses the great power of the Moon*Star and can focus it into a 'piece' of extremely powerful energy, the Light*Star.  The Light*Star is under his conscious control, and he can render an enemy defenceless if he manages to hit him or her with that energy."  He activated a sequence.  The dark part of Mon*Star's Star*Eye glowed with unholy red light, and a shaft of star-shaped energy extended out about three centimetres.  It condensed to a depth of about one millimetre and flew out.  The screen scrolled forward to show he who was Mon*Star's target, running this way and that.  The star hit the person, encasing its malevolent energy around him.  "The Steeltwins tell me it's not a pleasant experience."

            "Does that pose any health hazards?" asked Beverly.

            "Not unless Mon*Star wants it to do so, Doctor.  He has full control over that Light*Star.  He can even use it to control others.  The Steeltwins are the only humans who have been blasted by it and who have escaped by using their own powers.  Mon*Star did not release them from it, and they were not blasted free.

            "Anyway, this is the Mob:. . ."  The ones he mentioned appeared on the screen.  ". . .Yes-Man, Mon*Star's ever-in-agreement assistant; Hardware, Mon*Star's evil mechanic; Melodia, an evil songstress who can pulverise many with the music laser from her Sound Smasher; Windhammer, he who can control the weather with his evil Tuning Fork; Timestopper, who can stop anyone and anything he wishes for up to sixty seconds; Pokerface, Mon*Star's gambling boss, whose Poker-Cane can use the four different card suits for the purpose of defeating his enemy; Zero, the Memory Thief, who can steal any computer's memory with his Memory-Stealer Staff and his discs; Mumbo-Jumbo, Mon*Star's strongman, who is extremely strong when he is angry; Buzz-Saw, who can release and manufacture extremely sharp saws; Mo-Lec-U-Lar, who can alter his structure on the atomic level to transform into certain things; and A-Tom-U-Lar, Mo-Lec-U-Lar's brother, who can alter his structure on the subatomic level to transform into the mirror-image of just about anything."

            Riker whistled.  "That's one tough group!"

            "Luckily," said Wilykat, "they are not overly blessed with intelligence.  In the beginning, Commander Stargazer. . ." - who flashed on the screen - ". . .defeated the Mob and placed the Mob behind bars, but he had become too O - L - D to fight them alone when they broke out."  The next Silver Hawks flashed on the screen at his mention.  "The following went out to help him:  Lieutenant Quicksilver; the Steeltwins, Sergeants Steelheart and Steelwill, who were extremely intelligent and extremely strong; Colonel Bluegrass, an expert pilot; and Copper-Kidd, the only alien in the group.  He came from the Planet of the Mimes, a planet using distinct chirps in Morse code instead of our speaking as a language; yet, he has learned to vocally speak English quite well without the chirp-to-speaking translator.  He even plans to stop using the translator altogether in a few days.  Anyway, these six showed the Mob its place until Mon*Star found a way to incapacitate them in his home planet, Brim*Star."  Brim*Star flashed on the screen.  "Actually, Brim*Star was an asteroid rammed in with a huge star-shaped meteor long ago.  Brim*Star has awesomely hot fires, and it is orbited by the Moon*Star.  The Mob uses the huge, natural fortress that developed as their base and added technology.

            "Anyway, a new Silver Hawk, Colonel Hotwing,. . ." - who flashed onto the screen - ". . .came along and defeated the Mob and rescued the Silver Hawks.  He has magical powers which help him immensely but which must be recharged every several years.

            "A new Silver Hawk shot up through the ranks. . . a Captain Flashback."  Flashback appeared on the screen.  "He was new to become a Silver Hawk.  He had an ability:  to travel through time.  He said that he originally tested this when he went back to save the original five from an enormous fireball, originating from a combustion crystal.  He said he saved the Silver Hawks from a burning fate that day, but we can't go back in time and prove it.  We do not deny his trustworthiness.

            "Soon, another couple of Silver Hawks came and filled things up."  Condor and Moonstriker appeared side-by-side on the screen.  "Captain Condor and Lieutenant Moonstriker.  Moonstriker was another hot-shot young Silver Hawk.  However, Condor had much more experience and was acquainted with Commander Stargazer.  Combining their talents, they made the galactic area of Limbo safer and safer.  The Steeltwins had more time to work on inventions that would help the Silver Hawks to maintain peace in the sector.  Soon, Steelheart managed to finally re-capture the Mob and get it back behind bars.  Mon*Star, I believe, began to detest that lady more and more.

            "Now, on to us Thunder Cats and the Plundarrian-Team."  He cleared the screen again.  It showed a galaxy.  "This is the Large Magellanic Cloud, the galaxy we Thunderians call Leos.  It was the home of the Thunderian Empire and Plundarrian Empire for centuries.  Those two empires were severe enemies, the former of whom kept attempting peace.  Troi, can you confirm this for any who may doubt my veracity?"

            "You are speaking the truth," said Troi.

            "Thank you, counsellor.  Jaga. . ." - who appeared on the screen - ". . .defeated and exiled Ratilla the Terrible, former emperor of the Plundarrian Empire.  The new emperor, Rataro, signed the Plundarrio-Thunderian Treaty, making half of the Galaxy of Leos the Thunderian Empire and the other half the Plundarrian Empire.  Well, actually, it wasn't really half-and-half."  A diagram of the Galaxy of Leos appeared.  "More like forty-eight percent for one side and forty-eight for the other.  Running right down the middle, taking up four percent, was the Leos Neutral Zone.  The Plundarrians decided to annex the Thunderian Empire, and that began the seven-year long War of Leos, which never ended officially.  At that time, Plundarrian technology was at its prime.  Those guys had foolishly foregone development of weapons to create a cloaking device, while the Thunderians didn't try.  The Plundarrian Cloaking Device was horribly flawed.  You could see a disruption in space wherever a cloaked Plundarrian ship was.  Anyway, life on all the worlds that belonged to either of the two sides, except for Thundera and Plundarr themselves, was all but destroyed, and Plundarr wasn't too well off itself.  Jaga advanced on the Plundarrian capital, and the Plundarrians gave up.

            "Rataro wanted revenge.  His Rat*Star was the most sophisticated Plundarrian ship at that time.  All the ships with cloaks had been rammed into space dust.  He and Vultureman had invented a biological weapon that would eventually destroy anyone over five years of age.  He first bombarded the Jaguar Race's area of Thundera with this poison, and all the life in that area was wiped out.  Five years after the bombardment of the Jaguar Race, the Jaguar Race died out except for Jaga, who remained in Thundera's capital, and Rataro bombarded Wilykit's and my race's territory.  Fifty years afterward, she and I were born. . . the date of 5 November 1775.  By the way, the year is now 1993, the date 11 July.  Anyway, we were transferred to the Tiger Race's territory by our mother one month later, where we were found by. . ."  Tygra and Bengali flashed on the screen.  ". . .Tygra, the yellow one, who was in the midst of some activity with Bengali, his bro.  He was 16, of proper age for a Thunderian of his race."

            "Pardon me," said Picard.  "Just for the record, how about Bengali's age at the time?"

            "Thirteen years," said Wilykat.  "Anyway, five years later, Rataro tried to attack the Tiger Race, but Tygra, Bengali, and their father drove away the Rat*Star before Rataro did a thing.  The rat tried the same thing on the Cheetah Race two years later, but Cheetara whacked them really well.  In 1787, Thundera exploded."  The following appeared on the screen at his mention.  "Jaga, Lion-O, Snarf, Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara, Wilykit, and I escaped on the flagship.  That was 206 years ago.  We survived 200 of those years in suspension, in which the ageing processes are slowed 20 times.  So, we aged ten years.

            "When we arrived at third-Earth six years ago, the Planetary Plundarrians, or Mutants, headed by. . ." - who appeared on the screen at his mention - ". . .S-s-slithe, Monkian, Jackalman, and Vultureman attacked in a Plundarrian Bird of Prey.  We fought them off after Lion-O had awakened us with the Sword of Omens.

            "Soon, we would encounter Mumm-ra."  Mumm-ra, in his untransformed state, appeared on the screen.  "Centuries-old.  A controller of wicked, demonic powers.  Like Mon*Star, he has transformation abilities.  His one weakness is his own reflection.

            "Soon, we encountered others who had escaped from Thundera before its explosion:. . ." - who appeared on the screen at his mention - ". . .Bengali, Pumyra, and Lynx-O.  After an ordeal, we finally rescued them, and they became Thunder Cats.  Soon, the Lunar Plundarrians, or the Luna-tacks, appeared, too.  The ones we encountered were. . ." - who appeared on the screen at his mention - ". . .Luna, their leader; Amok, Luna's 'steed,' so to speak; Aluro, a creep with a knack for inventions and a strong mesmerisation capability; Chilla, an icy individual; Tug-Mug, whose Gravity Carbine can alter the effect of gravity; and Red-Eye, who can see the infrared spectrum.

            "A few years later, New Thundera formed in this galaxy, due to Mumm-ra's handiwork.  On it was the Treasure of Thundera.  Mumm-ra attempted to salvage it, as did we Thunder Cats.  Eventually, we Thunder Cats found all the pieces of that treasure."  He pointed to himself proudly.  "And I helped get rid of the Luna-tacks and Mutants."

            "Yeah," said Wilykit.  "Because you were hypnotised by that stupid Captain Bragg!"

            "Just a technicality."

            "Just a technicality?  You were almost killed!  You would have been if Lion-O and I hadn't saved you!"

            "Okay, 'Kit.  The Plundarrians were exiled, as was Mumm-ra after Lion-O had held him off with great difficulty.  The forces of evil gave Mumm-ra one final day to destroy us; Lion-O held off Mumm-ra until sundown, and the forces of evil said that Mumm-ra would be eternally exiled.  We thought that it would mean happiness for the Thunderians, but, well, there were no other Thunderians on New Thundera.  Just some other species that had escaped before the original Thundera's explosion. . . the loyal Snarfs.

            "About half a year after our enemies were exiled, they were brought back.  First, the forces of evil brought back Mumm-ra and his decrepit canine, Ma-mutt.  Then, they rescued the Luna-tacks and Mutants from exile.  Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro, and I organised a little 'welcome-home' party for those vile guys."

            "Yes," said Wilykit.  "They went out to Sky Tomb, the Luna-tacks' flying fortress, and knocked the Luna-tacks out!"

            "Soon, we Thunder Cats and the Silver Hawks joined forces because we found a threat that would have destroyed the Silver Hawks once and for all.  We took care of that, though.  Eventually, however, another threat grew to include the whole Milky Way Local Group.  The united Mob and Plundarrians and Mumm-ra devised a time-bomb in the centre of Automata, one of the planets in the Limbo System.  That bumbling idiot, Vultureman, accidentally pressed the trigger to that bomb, and, if it weren't for the evil-doers' co-operation with us, this whole intergalactic region would have gone up in smoke.

            "So, we Thunder Cats and the Silver Hawks united.  Eventually, circumstances which united the Silver Hawks, the Thunder Cats, the N-Team, - including the Mario-Team, the N-Team Base, and the Mason-Team - and Darkwing Duck's Justice Ducks occurred."

            "Yeah," said Wilykit.  "Unfortunately, the Mob, the Plundarrians, Mumm-ra, the Brain-Team Base, and the Fearsome Ten had the same idea.  During that case, the entire Extended N-Team, Wilykat and I excluded because Lion-O made us stay behind at Cat's Lair, was captured thrice by the Extended Brain-Team, thrice Ludwig mortally threatened their lives, and thrice the Extended N-Team's expertise let them out.  They finally agreed to a race.  When the players had been chosen and the race had begun, Steelheart ordered us to keep an eye on the Triforce, an object of great power, which was on Hyrule."

            "She and I were the heroes of that," said Wilykat, "because we yanked the Triforce right out of Ludwig's hands when the N-Team had won the race and into Steelheart's hands.  Eggplant Wizard was trying to tell Ludwig that we were preparing our ropes, but, hey, Ludwig kept shutting him up."

            "Then," said Wilykit, "Steelheart utilised the Triforce to get rid of the Brain-Team by warping them to Metroid and Metroid to its appointed position in space," completed Wilykat.  "That took place in December 1992, half a year after we had re-encountered the Plundarrians, some time after which we established relations with the Silver Hawks.  In early May this year, we grew curious about our background."

            "That began an adventure in which:  Steelheart was put to sleep with another poisoned apple; we discovered that we would be the inheritors of Lion-O's position; we used the Sword of Omens to defeat Mumm-ra and the Fearsome Four, or Liquidator, Mega Volt, Quacker Jack, and Bushroot; the Brain-Team failed in a darned good attempt to turn this galaxy into the Second Koopulan Empire; we asked Tygra about our background, and he gave us a book which explained our race; we searched New Thundera to find artefacts about our civilisation, in which we saved the other Thunder Cats; we found an artefact-city containing what we were looking for; we found and originally trashed the evil Ludwig's Warbird, just commissioned and with a perfected cloaking device; Wilykit found Rataro, who was arrested by Lt. Tragg; Rataro was put on trial for his crimes, which also included attempted murder of Wilykit; and we won that case."

            Wilykit said, "To boot, we obtained that which is allowing us to learn about our culture and such.  And Ludwig is probably seething on Metroid while trying to figure out a new attack plan."

            "Thank you," said Picard.  "You've been very helpful.  What should we do with the Fearsome Five?"

            "I don't know," said Wilykit.  "Just make sure they don't have the opportunity to escape."

            "Right," said Picard.  "Any questions?"  None.  "Good.  Let's stay sharp.  If any unauthorised entry occurs anywhere, go to Red-Alert."  The senior staff nodded.  "Dismissed."  Everyone got up.  Only the Kittens and Picard remained.  "Thank you very much, Thunder Kittens."

            "It was our pleasure," replied Wilykit.  The three left for the Main Bridge.