Pinky laid flat on his tummy and fell sound asleep, a side effect of the potion that had been administered to him by his captress.

"What a waste of time and materials that exercise was!" Hagar lamented to her cat, which growled its agreement. "The workings of this vermin's mind remain a complete mystery to me, even though he can actually speak!" She continued to rant.

The old witch had spent the previous hour acting as a pseudo-confidant to a mouse high on Anthraxian penathol. Alas, the costly potion had induced nothing but a speedy judgment on her part that here was a intellect that was so far off course, it would require an implant of a Terran GPS system for it to locate reality.

The crone eyed Pinky quizzically, as he snored and drooled on the tiny gurney to which she had strapped him. "He cares deeply for the Princess, there's no doubt about that, but why is he constantly babbling about someone called 'The Brain' instead? Unless maybe he's referring to that youngster that flies Green Lion." Hagar continued to mutter, half-aloud. "He seemed to know little or nothing about Voltron, the Castle's defenses, or even the other mice, so perhaps he's new to palace living. With those nauseatingly cute vocal tics and that asinine face, he must be a laboratory discard of some kind; either that, or those do-gooders rescued him from an exterminator."

She scooped her cat into her arms, scratched behind the animal's ears with talon- like fingers, and then smoothed down the wiry blue fur; the feline's yellow orbs narrowed in pleasure at his mistress' deft touch. "Well, too bad for him our little captive's luck just ran out. Coba, my pet, you look hungry, would you like this tender morsel as a reward for your trouble in bringing him here?"

The cat purred his assent. The witch cackled dryly, and deposited her salivating familiar on the table next to the slumbering mouse. "He's all yours, pussycat. Bon appetit!"

Coba's fangs, so like his owner's, gleamed wickedly in the laboratory's dim light, as he prepared to sink his teeth into a rare treat: mouse sushi.

"Hagar! I wish to speak with you at once!" The harshly imperious tone of the man entering her domain froze the sorceress and her pet in place for a moment or two.

"Prince Lotor, whatever brings you here today?" The witch sniffed disdainfully, taking hold of her cat once more. Ha! As if she couldn't guess! Lotor had a virtual sonar system in his leggings when it came to finding out anything about that Arusian trollop.

Hagar felt her ire starting to prickle. She prudently decided she would hold Coba for the time being, or she'd end up throwing something at the arrogant, pampered pipsqueak who had no respect for his evil elders. How dare he come in here unannounced and uninvited, disturbing her private time! Shifting the kitty to her left arm, she casually reached for her magic staff-just in case.

The cruel but handsome son of Zarkon strode toward her, dressed as usual in full battle regalia, the trademark bat-winged helmet firmly in place to hide the open secret of his rapidly receding hairline. The rest of the Prince's still luxuriant, snow-white hair trailed down his broad back and rippled in the breeze created by the movement of his hulking physique. His ochre eyes gleamed menacingly as they skewered the witch with a glare.

Lotor's cheeks had darkened from their customary light blue to an indigo shade, and his sensually full upper lip was folded behind his lower one, both definite signs that the Crown Prince was not pleased. He stopped in front of the sorceress, purposely towering over her hunched form in an attempt to intimidate her with his mass at least as much as she intimidated him with her magic. Hagar confidently stood her ground.

~If you think you can bully this old hag, you've got another thing coming, you whelp of a Drule!~ She thought sneeringly. Outwardly she smiled at Lotor, as if pleased her to see him.

"I heard from one of the drones that you have one of Princess Allura's prized pets in your claws, old woman. Why did you not notify me at once? You know I take a special interest in anything regarding that gorgeous creature." The Prince chastised the hag, and then stared at the reclining rodent in front of them. "Yurack's balls, what sort of mutation is that? Hagar, have you been experimenting on the thing already, without my consent?" He inquired, with extreme haughtiness.

"No, my Prince, this is the creature's natural state." Witch Hagar informed him calmly. "However, you should know that even though the mouse has been in contact with the Princess, I have deduced that he is a complete simpleton, and is of no value to us."

"Not so, old witch. If he belongs to the Princess, then he will be of great value, whether he knows anything or not. Oh look, he's coming around."

Pinky's eyelids fluttered and opened. He stared blearily at the icy blue features of the evil Prince. He sat up abruptly and whispered, "Narf...Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas-"

The cruel looking man cut him off. confirming Pinky's worst fear. "I am Crown Prince Lotor of Doom, and you are a prisoner of war. Tell us what you know of the Princess and we will release you, unharmed."

Pinky shrugged helplessly, his oversized eyes wide with fright

"Do not attempt this foolish deception, we know you can speak the Common tongue, you did so with Hagar already." Lotor snarled, then smiled unpleasantly. "I am sure a lowly survivor like yourself will know what to do to save his own skin."

"You are Prince Lotor...you love the Princess of Arus!" Pinky blurted out.

To his surprise, the Doom Prince's blue skin darkened to a violet shade. "Quiet rodent! I merely want to add her to my harem, that's all." He quickly looked away, but not before the mouse had seen the torment in his expression.

"Poit! Yes, at first you had a really big crush on her, but it's a lot more than that now." Pinky replied softly. "You want to marry her. She's your dream girl, and you will stop at nothing to get her. You even saved her life a couple of times, but somehow your plans for her never work out because of Zarkon. Egad! You even just turned down Princess Korral for her!"

The Prince's eyes opened wide in shock. "How do you know this? That's classified material! Are you some sort of seer?" He leaned forward eagerly. "So does Allura have feelings for me? Any at all? Tell me! Does she talk about me? I would do anything for her, you know, I would lay my empire at her feet...."

Hagar stifled a yawn as Lotor continued to ramble on about Allura.

~Another 'I must have the Princess monologue', how refreshing,~ she thought sarcastically. The Prince's words became a faint 'wah-wah' sound in the background as she privately reflected on certain ironies in her existence.

If only she still had use of white magic, as in the old days when she had first met Zarkon! With it, she could've whipped up a simple love potion for the besotted Prince and the object of his affection, and then she wouldn't have had to deal with Lotor's silly obsession at all.

It was the single best incentive she ever had for considering letting her 'good self' out again.

Trouble was, the good side might decide to take control, and so she had never chanced it. She was beginning to think it might be worth the risk as time went on, though. Lotor's speeches were dreadfully mind numbing at best, and getting worse by the hour.

The old witch grudgingly tuned in to the scene before her. The Prince had finally finished his passionate discourse, unfazed by the embarrassing fact that it had been spoken to a little white mouse. Hagar shook her head in disbelief. The Royal Idiot wasn't very discriminating about confessing to his obsession for Arus' monarch; at this rate, he might just as well broadcast his Allura monologue and all its variations on every view screen across the galaxy.

"So that's why Allura should be with me. And she will be, make no mistake about that." Lotor vowed stridently, with a tortured scowl for extra emphasis.

Pinky blinked sleepily at the raving tyrant. ~What an old windbag, he makes Brain seem like a Smurf.~

"Well rodent? Are you afraid to tell me the truth about her feelings? And you better not tell me she cares for that bombastic, baby-faced Captain, like everyone else says she does, because I just won't believe it!" The Prince's hand rested on a sheathed dagger at his waist as he stared at his tiny prisoner. The implied threat was more than obvious, even to Pinky, who gulped and grabbed his tail, twisting it between trembling paws.

~Egads, now I know what those poor blind chaps must have gone through with the farmer's wife!~

He reflected on his dire situation. Playing off Lotor's one honest quality was a pretty awful thing to do, but he really had no choice, so he said hastily, "I think it's safe to say she has very strong feelings about you, Prince- Zort!"

"It's Prince Lotor, not Prince Zort, you fool!" The yellow eyes gleamed fervidly. "Aha, I knew she felt something for me! If not love, I will settle for abhorrence, for it is better to have earned her hate than her indifference. And if it is hate she feels, there is still hope, because hate can eventually become love."

"My goodness, that was really quite poetic, Your Highness," Pinky observed in surprise.

"Thank you, I like to be philosophic at times, mainly to vex my father." Lotor admitted with a smirk, while tapping his helmet with a forefinger. "And just think, rodent, there's much deeper stuff where that one came from."

~Come again?~ Hagar thought in amusement, now interested in trying to follow the odd conversation.

The Prince's sardonic expression had turned reflective. "Maybe if Allura knew about my sensitive side, she'd be more agreeable to our merger, and grow to love me after marriage."

Forgetting all about the dagger, and exactly who and what he was dealing with, Pinky protested, "That can't happen, you know, because you are a bad, bad man... and anyway, lovely Princess Allura won't ever love the evil Prince Lotor, even if he turns good, because she's in love with-"

"I think that's enough, vermin!" Lotor interrupted harshly, his face darkening. "Your prattle is tiresome and gives me a headache, although I am sure the Princess was unaccountably amused by it. I now plan to see what Allura will sacrifice to get her pet jester back in one piece!"

"Blackmail, eh? Now that sounds revolting. My kind of fun..." Hagar cackled. "May I accompany you to Arus to return a lost pet, my Prince?" She grinned nastily, her fangs glinting a brilliant white against her shadowed, leathery face.

"Why certainly, Old Witch, if you will do a small favor for me..." The Prince leaned over and whispered into the approximate area of Hagar's ear- assuming she had one, no one on Doom knew for sure because a hood always covered her head.

Witch Hagar's arm dropped in astonishment at what he said, and Coba fell to the ground with a startled mew. Tail twitching, he hissed and glared balefully at the smirking Prince, who ignored the unhappy cat.

"Him? Surely you are kidding, Lotor...he's too, well..." The crone shook her head and waved her index finger in a rapid, clockwise circle beside her head.

"I'm not joking! As you well know, we have no others available to us at present, furthermore, using him will be a final, demoralizing blow to the rest of those insufferable Lion twerps! I command you to do my bidding, Hagar, now!" Lotor barked out.

"All right, all right, don't get your jock in a knot," the witch snapped. "I'll do it."

"Good." The Prince chuckled fiercely.

As Pinky gaped at them with a fearful expression, Lotor's evil chuckle soon grew to a maniacal laugh, which bounced around the chamber. Hagar joined in eventually, more out of politeness than genuine amusement. The mouse shuddered at the grating sound, and covered his sensitive ears.

~I don't like this, not one bit. And Lotor's laugh reminds me of Acme's Dr. X, the one who does all the alien autopsies. Of course Brain said they were fake, but I know better!~

He gulped noisily as Lotor lifted him by the scruff of the neck.

"Time for a chat with the fair Allura," Lotor hissed. "Come, Witch."

They quickly exited the laboratory, leaving behind a very disgruntled and extremely hungry Blue Cat.

Back at the Castle of Lions...

"Incoming transmission!" Coran warned the Voltron Force, Cheddar, and their sole remaining guest.

The Brain cast anxious eyes to the giant monitor, hoping for promising news. The large view screen flickered and the hateful visage of Prince Lotor materialized. "Hello Princess, you are looking lovelier than ever," he said smoothly. "I always find the sight of you quite stimulating." His eyes greedily drifted over her body.

Allura flushed in anger and embarrassment. "Lotor..."

"Cut the crap, Lotor, what do you want?" Keith angrily interrupted.

"The question is not what, but who, Captain." The Doom Prince snarled back. "I have in my possession, one of the Princess' prized, perky pets."

~Great alliteration, wonder if he writes poetry?~ The Brain thought, irrelevantly.

The idle thought was forgotten as the terrified features of Pinky filled the screen.

He gawked in dismay at the sight of the bound and gagged mouse and then glared in hatred at the smarmy Prince, his expression mirroring those of the humans around him. Cheddar quickly scooted over to lay a consoling paw on his shoulder.

"Oh Antonio! Are you all right?" Allura cried out.

Pinky nodded sadly and then vanished, as a smiling Lotor reappeared.

"Antonio? My, such a refined name for such a bizarre creature." He mocked her.

"You don't know the meaning of the word refined, you brute!" The Princess raged at him. "You are sinking to a new low, picking on poor defenseless mice! What's next? Pulling the wings off flies?"

"Too mundane, you know I think in a much larger scale than that, Allura my dear." The evil tyrant laughed. "Here's the deal- I will return, ah...Antonio, if you agree to be my wife."

"What?!" Keith yelled, lurching forward. He stopped as Hunk laid a restraining hand on him.

"Cool it Skipper, you won't anyone do any good by getting irate," the big man said calmly.

Silence fell as everyone stared at him in surprise.

"What?" Hunk asked, a mite irritated now. "Why do I always have to be the hothead?"

A murmur of contrite phrases like 'of course you don't' and 'right, nice job, Hunk' was heard until Lotor put a stop to it.

"Excuse me, the bad guy is still waiting for an answer, here!" He bellowed, making his audience jump guiltily.

"Could you repeat the question?" Allura asked politely.

"I just asked you to marry me," Lotor replied, his expression softening at her courteous tone.

Allura's face darkened with her imminent refusal.

"Or else your mouse is history," the Prince added hastily.

She gasped, her beautiful azure eyes filling with angry tears.

The Brain paled, no easy feat, as he was already white.

"Get lost!" Lance sneered. "This is a new low for you, using a helpless mouse to bargain for the Princess."

"He won't be helpless for long, if you do not accept my proposal, Allura," Lotor addressed the Princess. He totally ignored Lance, knowing it was the one surefire way to aggravate the Red Lion pilot, whose ego was almost as legendary as his own.

Sure enough, Lance rose to take the bait. "Hey fancy pants, I'm talking to you! You can't just-"

"Lance, be quiet!" Coran spoke quietly, but effectively. He turned to the screen. "May we have some time to consider your request, sir?" he addressed the grinning Prince.

"Of course. You have...ten minutes."

The Brain flinched. Ten minutes? How could they form a plan in ten minutes?

But Coran was actually smiling! Maybe there was hope!

"Thank you." The courtly man nodded.

Lotor's eyes narrowed suspiciously at seeing the Royal Advisor's pleased expression. "No tricks, or the rodent is done for. I shall contact you when your time is up!"

"Understood," Coran replied, and severed the connection.

All eyes turned to the diplomat, expectation shining in each gaze.

The Advisor fell into the Ops command chair and sighed.

"Get ready for stage two, Witch," Lotor growled.

"Aren't you going to wait for their answer, my Prince?" Hagar asked in surprise.

"I didn't like that smug look on old Bore-an's face," the Prince replied curtly. "Prepare the mouse!"

Pinky swallowed hard as he was placed on the transporter pad. A shower of sparks suddenly shot out of the shower- head- shaped device above him and he tried to pass out, but couldn't, to his great distress. He was so unbearably scared, but what could help him get through this?

Pinky looked despairingly down at his feet, which seemed to be growing rapidly.

~Magic toenail... take me away!~ He thought suddenly.

A song his mother had sung to him as a child ran through his mind, bringing him comfort as intense bolts of lazon shot out of the massive nozzles that surrounded him on all sides.

I have a magic toe-o-nail,
I keep it on my foot,
It's always there when things get rough,
or when they go KA-PUT!

It has the cutest cuticle,
Free of all disease...
As toenails go, it's really quite
ext-ra-ordin-ar-y...

To be continued...