"Those accursed Earthlings!" snarled Kang of Rigel 4. Yet another of his plans to destroy his six greatest Earth enemies had failed and he was furious. Not even the screams and cries echoing from the walls of the torture chamber, which he was inspecting with his sister Kodos at his side, could soothe him.

"Your highness, what should we do with this one?" Transom, a Kang henchwoman, asked him, shoving an unlucky Ugopotamiun before him.

Kang looked coldly at his female cohort. "Take him to Cell 3 and chain him. Let the Hood take care of him."

"No! Mercy, Mister! I'll never fail you again!" pleaded the Ugopotamiun as Transom dragged him away.

"If there were only some way I could accurately predict what the human family known as the Tracys were going to do, I could use that against them," Kang mused.

He paused to watch two orcs slowly lowering a metal-and-glass cage over a large fire. The King & Queen of Ugopotamuia in the cage were shrieking more in terror than in pain. "Lower the cage more and add fuel to the fire!" he ordered. "They defied me when I took over their kingdom and I ordered that they suffer for it!"

As the Rigelians scrambled to obey, he continued, "Yes, if I know what those young human fools will do, Rigel 4 can finally defeat Earth forever, and then use the power of the Thunderbirds to destroy International Rescue."

"But, Kang, will you be able to see enough of Earth's future to use it in your plans?" asked Kodos.

"No. Alone, I could only catch glimpses of what will happen. I need a seer to tell me the future so I can use it to make plans and carry them out." Kang looked directly at Kodos as he spoke. "I may need you to find me one International Resuce agent, some tough guy with a lot of experience battling others. An agent with rather good sense of humor. I want one who knows how to pilot a better plane than our pods."

Kodos was about to say something, but another Rigelian interrupted them. "Commander Kang, the teenagers of this planet are healed again."

"Use the Flames of Truth on them and find out if they still oppose me. If they burn them, tear off their limbs and blind and deafen the enitre species." As the Rigelian left, Kang commented, "Those Ugopotamiun fools are always difficult to discipline, the way they regenerate."

"Wasn't there the head of International Rescue from Earth here once?" asked Kodos. "He would be a good choice. His life has been a pampered and sheltered one."

Kang stopped in his tracks and turned back to Kodos. "The one known as Jeff Tracy? He would be perfect!"

He whirled and stalked back to the entrance, Kodos in his wake. When he reached the door, he stopped so quickly that Kodos almost bumped into him. "I'll be in my office. See that I'm not disturbed!" he ordered over his shoulder before leaving.

* * *

Kang stood at a small table, gazing into his VIDCAM. "Show me the Earth man Scott Tracy as he was when he was on this pathetic planet," he commanded. "Show me every detail of his time here, including anything he told Prince Mark of Ugopotamia."

The VIDCAM clouded, then cleared. The image of a dark haired young man appeared. Kang smiled an evil smile. Yes, he's the one, he thought. With his help, the entire universe will soon call me Commander Kang.

Kang recalled some of the events the VIDCAM showed him because he had seen them as they took place, and had gotten reports of others. But the Tracys expidition in Springfield was new to him. He studied them carefully, comparing the conversation on Tracy Island which Jeff had with his five sons. His last visit to Springfield, the one where he and his sons had met the Simpson family, especially attracted Kang's attention.

This vision is limited and often symbolic. But this last visit in which he, his brothers and their father met the Simpsons is too clear to be a mere clue to the future. How can I appear to let it take place while using it as a lure to bring him here and trap him? He knew it was very difficult to interpret visions of the future accurately. Often what seemed to be one thing was really another, no matter how clear the vision was. This meeting must take place, but he will meet one of my servants in his father's form, Kang decided. He'll fulfil his 'oldest son's' fantasy, then turn it into a nightmare. Once he's in my power, I can force the visions from the Earthlings to grow more clear and frequent, and tune them to International Rescue's finest agents.

The images in the VIDCAM faded as Kang turned away from it. "Ensign Kodos!" he called, knowing that his sister could hear him no matter where she was. It took only a moment before the Rigelian was right beside her brother.

"What do you want, Kang?"

"Bring me the doppleganger Fo-Ne. I've got a mission for him."

As Kodos left, Kang turned toward his workspace. I must create a false International Rescue pendant for him to give that human, something that will help him bring the oldest son of that Earth fool back.

This time, I will succeed.

* * *

Fo-Ne was typical for a doppleganger in many ways. In his natural Rigelian form, he was about five and a half feet tall and he could take the form of any humanoid creature between four and eight feet tall, duplicating it exactly, even down to its clothing and other items worn or carried. He could read the surface thoughts of other creatures at will.

However, neither his shapeshifting nor his mind-reading were perfect. One time in every ten his disguise failed to fool others, and if too much stone or metal was between him and another creature, he couldn't read the other creature's mind.

In other ways, however, he was different from others of his kind. Most dopplegangers were lazy, greedy, cowardly and worked in groups. Fo-Ne was always busy researching different people and trying to perfect his mimicry of them. He desired not gold, but the praise of a powerful master, preferably an evil one, for a job well done. He was very brave, often finding it difficult to act in character when he was impersonating someone with less courage. And he worked alone by preference.

When Kang heard of Fo-Ne, he had instantly tracked down the doppleganger and offered him a position as a spy and assassin. Fo-Ne had accepted at once, and had served Kang faithfully and well for many years.

Fo-Ne stood before a mirror, watching as he transformed from one being to another, recalling each mission as he took on the shapes he had used during it. While he was in mid-transformation, Kodos poked her head through the mirror, startling both.

Fo-Ne recovered first. "What does Kang want from me?" he asked, taking his normal form.

"He told me to bring you to him," Kodos replied. "More I can't say for sure, but I think he wants your help in luring a young human known as Scott Tracy into his power."

"Then bring me to him." Fo-Ne took the form of a harpy and followed Kodos.

* * *

"What did Kodos tell you of your new mission?" Kang asked once Fo-Ne had arrived.

"Only that he thought you wanted me to lure the Earth man Jeff Tracy into your power, Commander Kang."

"He was right, but this mission is more difficult and dangerous than most. The man you must bring to me is the famous Thunderbird 1 pilot of International Rescue. He had a vision of Springfield involving an enemy of mine who happens to be his father. You must play the role of that enemy and fulfil my vision. Only then can you lure him to me without trying to thwart Fate."

He gave the doppleganger a heart-shaped locket and a dark blue star on a chain made of gold. "This will give you the magic you need to survive and keep your assumed form. It will also open a gate between this planet and Earth, but it will open the gate only twice. If you're not through the gate when it closes for the second time, you'll die."

Then he indicated the VIDCAM on the table beside them. "Study this carefully. It's the vision you must fulfil, and shows you the form you must take and the human I seek."

Fo-Ne gazed into the VIDCAM as the images played, memorizing every detail of the scene. His photographic memory and strong insight into human's personalities, two more qualities most dopplegangers lacked, made a second viewing unnecessary.

He turned away when the ball clouded over, taking his new form as he did so, that of a middle aged man with neatly combed dark hair, brown eyes and a Steve McQueen-ish exterior wearing a blue polo neck, a gray suit and black boots.

"No problem, Commander Kang!" he said in Jeff Tracy's voice. "I'll bring him back!"

* * *

The voice calling a flight from Peru to Springfield yelled out, startling 24 year old Scott Tracy out of his half-doze. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before worrying about one Homer Simspon and the city of Springfield.

How long has it been for them? he thought, gathering a few bags from Thunderbird 2 as his father and 3 youngest brothers streamed out the doors of the Thunderbirds and headed for the city. Are they here today? I wish I could've stayed at the airport long enough to see them wish for us to come back, but after I vanished for a few hours, Dad insisted we go home right away.

There had been only two good points about the previous day and night after he had come back: the rest of the family, except his other brother John, had believed him when he said he'd gotten away from Homer and couldn't see them when they asked him where he'd been and how he'd gotten lost, and he'd been able to figure out that a day in Springfield equalled 6 hours on Tracy Island. If they're here today, that means they spent about a month and a half there, he reasoned as he wandered into the door of the Springfield Mall.

"Hey, Scott!"

Is it really...? Scott looked in the direction of the so-familiar voice.

"Lose something?" Sunlight glinted off a golden heart-shaped locket on a chain, held by a familiar person in everyday clothes.

the bags in Scott's arms fell from suddenly nerveless arms. "Hey, Dad!" he cried dashing to his father.

He dropped his bags and reached out to him an instant before he flung himself at him. Locked in an embrace more characteristic of two lovestruck teenagers, they spun around a turn or two from Jeff's momentum, holding each other close even when they came to a stop. It's my pendant, Scott thought in esctasy, and I can't believe it.

They broke and stepped back a pace holding each other at arm's length. "How did you get back so quickly? What did you tell the others? How long have you been back? Did you finally stop...?"

"Whoa! Slow down, Boy-o! I'll tell you everything I can." Jeff looked around. "But not here. Let's talk in the bathroom."

"But that's off-limits," protested Scott. "The security guards told us so and we can't do anything like in Happy Days."

"OK, but Laura's going to be disappointed that you didn't come see her."

"Laura Powers's here? How?"

"When we were here last, Laura was alone in the record store and I wasn't gonna leave her and hope someone would find her," Jeff explained as he put Scott's locket back around his neck. "Wiggum said he heard a lot about here." He stooped and picked up his bags. "Can I put these with yours till after lunch?"

"Sure." Scott gathered his bags. A few minutes later, they were both in the men's bathroom. Jeff looked around, then pushed Chief Clancy Wiggum aside, revealing a hole in the fence.

He wiggled through, then took Scott's left arm through his right and finally helped him through. "Come on," he urged. "She's close, but I don't want anyone to see her."

"Or catch us," Scott agreed. They started off together, Jeff carrying the bags.

* * *

When they were out of view of the police, Scott heard a sound like a combination of a girl's voice and Virgil's own. Knowing what it was, he looked ahead was a brown haired girl. "Laura!" he called, rushing ahead with Jeff barely a half-step behind him. He passed between the cubicles which seemed to be framing a golden light--

--and his clothes suddenly transformed. He had been wearing normal clothes: a white shirt, a dark blue jacet with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans and sneakers. But in a heartbeat, he wore the same outfit his father wore but these clothes were all black.

The chain around his neck, its power gone, crumbled to dust.

The instant Scott noticed what had happened, he stopped short, about halfway between the trees and Laura. The young female Springfieldian abruptly turned from a young woman into a tall bald headed man who looked familiar to Scott, it had been none other than the Hood.

The men's room had a pod in which Scott was pushed inside and then he whirled, ready to run through the doorway but an empty-handed Jeff blocked him path.

"Don't go now!" he said. "We just got here!" As he spoke, he dissolved into an eerie green light, and returned to the natural form of a doppleganger from Rigel 4.

Scott looked around hoping to find some familiar sight but his search was in vain. Even the city of Springfield was gone without a trace. He finally faced the Hood again. "What happened?!" he demanded trying to hide his fear while letting his anger loose.

"My plan has succeeded, Scott," The Hood gloated. "Kang's doppleganger servant of Rigel 4 Fo-Ne lured you through a trap in Ugopotamia and you're now my prisoner."

Run, Tracy! Scott yelled in his mind.

But before he could move, the Hood raised his hands over his head and an invisible shield stopped Scott from leaving the ship and his whole body went limp. Unable to stand, he fell flat on his face.

"Soon all the Universe will be completely helpless before me," predicted a voice from the Hood's VIDCOM. The Hood looked Scott straight in the eyes and caused him to look rather tired. It circled in his kind, then Fo-Ne pulled him up and onto the Hood's left shoulder.

The pod landed on Ugopotamia as the Hood and Fo-Ne headed for a range of black mountains where no plant grew or animal roamed--the Mountains of Misery, where Kang kept a favorite fortress.

At the Springfield Park after their shopping trip sans Scott, Jeff tightened his grip and braced himself, ready for what he knew was coming. Even so, the sphere was surprisingly fast. He swung with all his might, and was rewarded with a sharp CRACK! as the object changed direction, flying up and away from him as fast at it had approached.

"I got it! I got it!" hollered Virgil running backwards with his gloved hand raised to catch the baseball.

"Run, Mr Tracy, run!" Laura called but Jeff had discarded his bat and was already halfway to first base.

Dad's pretty good, Virgil thought, but he's still just a bit too tough for us. Then his heel caught in a rabbit's burrow, throwing him off-balance and spinning him around. "Ay carumba!" He landed hard enough to knock the wind out of him, closing his eyes reflexively. When he opened them again, he saw a familiar face in his watch. "Go ahead, John."

Gordon caught the baseball cleanly in one hand as John told Virgil "Time for fun and games is over, Dude."

By this time, the other three brothers had jogged up to where Virgil had sat and gathered around him.

"What's the haps, John?" asked Gordon as he and Alan helped Virgil to his feet.

"The Hood and the Rigelians of Rigel 4 have lured Scott to Ugopotamia where the people of the planet, except for Prince Mark, are being tortured and Kang intends to use him against us. We've got to save him from his power." John seemed unconcerned that his brothers wore red or blue baseball caps and tan baseball gloves.

"Prince Mark? Who's that?" asked Alan.

"The Hood's got Scott?" asked Gordon.

"Where?" Jeff asked John.

"We gotta save him!" Virgil told his brothers who were already arguing about a trip to another planet.

"Hold on, Dudes." John told his brothers as Gordon and Alan both stopped arguing. "The Hood's taken him to a fortress in the Mountains of Misery." John showed them a range of forbidding black mountains on the horizon of Ugopotamia. "Kang's got a servant we've never met before who'll attempt to deceive you, but the touch of the heart'll reveal the truth." As he spoke, John disconnected his contact to Virgil's watch.

Jeff knelt to unzip his 3 younger sons bags and Gordon tried to calm Alan down. Virgil sighed thinking about what the Hood might do as Jeff began passing out the backpacks, prompting them to fling them on their backs. "We'd better get going." Jeff commanded.

* * *

Kang studied Scott carefully from where he lay sprawled on the floor behind narrow beams of sickly green energy. These beams radiated from a huge crystal in the ceiling and formed a cone-shaped cage.

Although he was coming round and lay still, Scott could feel his arms and legs tingling as the paralysis wore off.

"Tell me of your power, Scott," Kang commanded. "Tell me how you imagined this vacation to Springfield and if you see waking visions as well as sleeping ones."

Scott remained silent.

"Tell me or I'll force it out of you!"

"I'm not telling you anything!" Scott defied him, although his heart beat faster. Don't let him see you're scared. "You're just a Rigel 4 version of the Hood!"

"A Rigel 4 Hood? I'm more than that, foolish mortal." The Hood made a gesture and spoke a word that no one form International Rescue, not even Scott, understood. A bolt of fiery red energy leapt from his hand, striking Scott in the head and leaving it surrounded with an aura and his eyes glowed the same colour. "Since you won't tell Kang what he wants to know, I'll drag it from your mind!"

Scott wasn't sure if he'd spoken the words or simply thought them. His magic tore through his brain, seeking the information he wanted. He struggled mentally to keep it hidden--any way he could. Wounds won't last long But an insulting song Burns will always carry with him.

"Attention, Scott Tracy," said a voice from Scott's left earpiece. "This is Prince Mark of Ugopotamia in Springfield with your father and three of your four brothers, you can't keep that up long enough to stop those Rigel 4 dudes!"

* * *

"Come on! Who knows what he's doing to your brother?"

"Yo, Dude, wait for us!" Bart responded.

"What's gotten into you, Bart?" griped Milhouse. "We don't know any better than Mark where Ugopotamia is, so why do you keep running ahead?"

Lisa shaded her eyes and looked at the Ugopotamian prince, far ahead of the main group with Alan, Gordon and Virgil at his side. "He can't go much farther before he gets to the mountains. Maybe they'll slow him down long enough for us to catch up."

The others did finally catch up to Mark by his princly pod. Close-up, they looked even more forbidding than they were at a distance. The light of the sun gleamed on the smooth, glassy surfaces and sparkled from the ship.

"Be careful, Boys!" Jeff intercepted his remaining sons, who were ready to go to Ugopotamia without slowing down more than he had to. "You'll cut yourselves to ribbons, look!"

"You know, Dad," Virgil mused, "Mark reminds me of Scott when the Hood had Lady Penelope prisoner."

Gordon blocked Jeff from Virgil's view in a feeble attempt to hide his father's blush. "That is sooo totally weird, Virg." Gordon said chuckling.

"What?" Mark knew too well what the word meant.

"It's an expression, Dude," Alan explained. "I think it's used to mean, in parent talk, I don't believe that for a second."

"We're not going in there without space suits." Lisa's voice was firm.

"Then teleport us in, Dr Lisa!"

"Bart." Lisa scolded her older brother as Mark stepped back a few paces and looked at his pod. He could just see the top half of the sun. He studied it carefully, trying to visualize what it would look like from behind the battlements, then took out his pod keys and opened the pod door.

Alan and Gordon glared at Mark but said nothing. Bart burst into laughter.

"Huh? I was sure I had that combination right, Dudes! Something felt wrong, like outfits for you dudes would be your International Rescue outfits would be so awesome. Could you dudes do that?"

"F.A.B, Mark!!!!"

Remembering what Mark said, Bart looked at his outfit, then Milhouse's outfit and Lisa's dress. Those eath clothes won't last. He glanced over at Virgil, Gordon and Alan. Gordon's space suit probably isn't any less weirder than Alan's. Virgil's too. Then he looked at Jeff. His outfit's the same as the others. Finally he turned his gaze to Mark. But, AYE CARUMBA, he's naked! "Yo, Dude, find three more space suits, two for two 10 year olds and one for an 8 year old."

Mark gave Bart a funny look as he caught his breath. "What?! No problemo, Dude!"

"All of us need space suits to go to your planet without Lady Penelope, Mark." Virgil told Mark.

This time, Mark winced at the very mention of his one true love, Lady Penelope Crieghton-Ward who he dubbed as 'the posh Earth babe'.

"If only you had recruited my beloved Lady Penelope!" Mark told the Tracys.

The kids and the Tracys had put on the International Rescue outfits. Then, Jeff was ready before anyone else.

"Hurry up! We've got to rescue Scott!"

* * *

"Most unexpected," the Hood mused. "I had expected your power to be weak and vague, but to find so much potential is most gratifying."

Scott, exhausted from the mental battle, made no comment.

"You have no control over your visions. This must end now." Kang spoke in an almost scolding tone, as if it were Scott's fault.

Suspecting what was coming, Scott gathered up all his strength. Kodos's ricochet ray fired another bolt, icy blue this time. Jeff felt as if his brain were being stretched, and fought back desperately with a fragment of a song he remembered from a Tito Puente performence his parents had seen 3 weeks before Alan was even born. So I'll settle my score On the Salsa floor With this venegful Latin rhythm.

* * *

The climb up was difficult. The sharp, brittle obsidian tended to break under the weight of the climbers, forcing them to test their handholds and footrests carefully before putting their entire weight on the tiny projections and crevices.

Their slow pace made Alan a bit impatient. "Stupid mountain!"

"Take it easy, Al," Gordon told him. "We'll make it."

Bart poked his butt, then scrambled up a bit higher. Small fragments of the volcanic glass broke away under his space sneakers and tumbled down the slope. Jeff, behind him, saw the sharp bits and raised one arm in front of his eyes to protect them. At that moment, his other handhold gave way. "Kids, help me!"

"DAD!" Virgil yelled.

Jeff tumbled over and over down the steep slope, trying desperately to grab onto something-- anything-- to stop his fall. Had he been more observant as he passed a large crack in the mountainside, he would have seen two familiar "eyes" looking out as he used his hoverboots.

Commander Kang will have two Tracys less to worry about, Kodos thought as Jeff's office-ish bag dropped below his line of sight. Slipping silently from one shadow to the next, he went to the fortress to make his report.

Although the others had frozen, Jeff's danger lent wings to Prince Mark of Ugopotamia. He quickly scrambled up to a nearby ledge wide enough to stand on, then shot two golden energy-arrows into the rocky slope below his friend. As they bit into the volcanic glass, a matching net stretched between them. Jeff landed in it a heartbeat later. The arrows bent and the net stretched under the force of her body, but both held.

For a few moments, Jeff just lay in the net as if it were a hammock, trying to catch his breath and slow his racing heart. It wasn't until one of Mark's arrow-lines fell gently against him that he looked up at his sons and their new friends. Mark and Virgil still on the ledge and the others were carefully crossing to the arrow- line, which extended up the cliff as far as he could see.

"You OK, Dude?" For the first time since John had told them of Scott's plight, Alan was concerned about more than his oldest brother. What good would it be if someone got killed during this really important rescue?

"I'm fine! Thank you, Son!" Jeff called up a bit breathlessly, reaching for the arrow-line.

"If I'd thought of this sooner, you never would have fallen in the first place!" Gordon berated himself.

"But you did think of it," Virgil responded, "and you suggested that me and Mark save Dad."

"Yeah, Dude, don't beat me up 'cause you're not perfect. Who is?" Mark declared.

"You haven't made a single mistake we couldn't recover from," Jeff added as he began his climb.

Yet, Bart added in his mind.

* * *

The last of Kang's spell-light faded from around Jeff's head, but he had fallen unconscious long before. Kang gazed down at his human captive smugly. "So, Scott, you've learned it's stupid and useless to oppose me." He snapped his fingers, and a Rigelian soldier who had been waiting in the doorway entered. The Hood pointed at the jewel in the ceiling making it pull a section of its energy-bars inside itself so the Rigelian could reach in and pull Jeff out. "Take him to the dungeon and lock him in a cell alone," Kang ordered. "Keep watch over him and when he awakens, bring him back to me. I must test his power. My spells've never failed to force the growth of another's magic, but I have never tried to force the growth of psionic powers before. I must know if I've succeeded."

"Yes, Commander Kang," the Rigelian responded, scooping Scott up and flinging her over his shoulder as if he were no heavier than a rag doll. The Rigelian left the chamber just as Kodos entered, and if both had been solid they would have collided.

"Commander Kang, Jeff Tracy is dead," reported Kodos. "The Ugopotamian prince, three children, he and four of his five sons were climbing the mountain when he fell. I can take a few soldiers to recover his body and his bag."

"Do it," Kang ordered, "but summon Fo-Ne first. With his help, the Thunderbirds'll be mine before you return."

* * *

"You're sure you saw Kodos heading this way, Mark?" Bart asked as he and Milhouse helped Scott up the last of the slope. When he let go of the arrow-line, it and the arrow stuck in the ground at the top of the mountain vanished.

"You think I don't know that creep when I see her?" Mark was indignant. "I saw her, and I don't think she saw Mr Tracy hit your arrow-net. With any luck, she'll tell Kang he's at the bottom of the mountain."

"Then here's a plan for getting inside to rescue Scott." Milhouse outlined his thoughts, and Lisa added a few suggestions as Virgil collected his, Gordon's and Alan's backpacks. The others discussed the plan, Mark, a bit impatiently, and by the time they were ready to go again, they all knew what to do.

* * *

Word of Jeff's fall had gotten around the fortress quickly, so when Rigelian watchers at the fortress battlements saw six young humans and a Ugopotamian prince trying to sneak up, none of them wondered where the seventh one was. Instead, a Rigelian captain sent a lieutenant and some soldiers out to capture them.

Truly understanding humans, the Rigelians didn't suspect anything when all it took to capture them was surrounding them and threatening them with their swords. They thought it was perfectly normal for Milhouse and Lisa to be terrified and the Tracys, Mark and Bart to show helpless anger as the backpacks were taken away and stowed in a sack the lieutenant had brought. They never dreamed that Mark's escape attempt, which ended when a soldier grabbed him long enough for the lieutenant to slip a teleportation- blocking collar around his neck, was anything less than genuine. However, wrapped in her cloak and hidden nearby, Jeff winced at his sons overacting. When the Rigelians and their captives headed back to the fortress, Scott followed silently, careful not to get too close.

Luck was on the gang's side that day. Once in the fortress, just inside the heavy oak-and-iron door of the dungeon, the lieutenant dismissed his soldiers, eager to prove to Kang that he deserved a promotion and feeling that he could get one by locking up his master's worst enemies (barring only the Ugopotamian Royal Family and the Tracy family) by himself. "You don't need us?" one asked.

"For six humans and a powerless Ugopotamian prince? The lowest soldier could take them to their cells with no trouble! How can they get through this door?"

Jeff slipped inside, behind the guard's back as he argued with his soldiers, then got behind him again as the door shut and he turned to face the other humans. "Try to attack or escape and the nearest one dies! Forward!" he ordered his captives.

When they reached an intersection, Jeff attacked knocking off the solider's helmet. Before he could react, he smashed a heavy rock over his head then ripped the bag from his hand as he sank to the stone floor, unconscious.

"Way to go, Mr T!" Bart cheered as Jeff gave his sons their backpacks. Virgil and Lisa dragged the guard into the cell. Once they were back in the corridor and had closed the door behind them, Gordon relocked it.

"Bart, you, Milhouse and Lisa keep going straight ahead. Virgil, Gordon, Alan, take the left corridor. Mr Tracy, you're with me. We'll meet back here, hopefully with Scott." Mark struck off down the right corridor as the others obeyed.

* * *

Yet another iron-bound oak door flew into splinters and metal dust with a single blow from Bart's karate kick. Mark called into the doorless cell, "Scott! It's us!" When he got no response, again, he entered the cell while Lisa and Milhouse waited outside to watch for guards, only to come out alone, again.

"Where is he?!" Milhouse asked but still frowned.

"Calm down, Bart." Lisa's voice was soothing. "Just because we couldn't find her doesn't mean anything. Mark and Mr Tracy might have found him or maybe Virgil, Gordon and Alan did. Come on, let's get back to the meeting place."

* * *

Mark and Jeff were approaching a corner when Jeff abruptly pulled Mark up against a wall. "I think I heard something. Be quiet!"

They edged along the wall until they reached the corner, then cautiously peeked around it. There they saw a single Rigelian guarding a cell door, grumbling to himself. After studying the situation, they retreated down the corridor for a hasty strategy session.

"Can you make him fall asleep?"

Mark swallowed nervously. "I'll try, but you'd better be ready to stun him if my sleeper gun fails."

They returned to the corner, then Mark crouched down to give Jeff a clear shot if necessary. He took out his sleeper gun and edged around the corner in time to see the guard yawn.

Perfect! This'll make it easy! Thought Mark as he aimed his gun and fired and encircled the Rigelian's head. The already- sleepy humanoid didn't last long. In a minute or two, his eyes closed and he slumped against the wall, sliding down it until he hit the floor. A snore rose from his lips.

"Nice work, Mark!" Jeff led the way to the door, then knocked on it quietly. "Scott?"

"Yo, Dad, is that you?" The voice was full of hope.

"Yes, Scott and Prince Mark of Ugopotamia's with me. We're getting you out. Stand back!"

Jeff fired an arrow into the lock, melting it. The door swung open of its own weight, but it was barely open far enough before Jeff dashed out, obviously delighted to see them.

"Your clothes...." Mark's voice trailed off in surprise and Scott looked down at his outfit.

"Oh, these! My clothes changed into them when I got back here. Where's everyone else?"

Jeff recalled that both Scott and Virgil had worn casual jackets to the mall that day. But why had Scott still been wearing Earth clothes the first time Mark met the Tracys last? "In other parts of the dungeon, looking for you. We've got a meeting place. Come with us."

* * *

Virgil yanked Alan and Gordon back into the shadows. "Look up ahead!"

Alan and Gordon followed his gaze and saw a Rigelian soldier standing near a cell door, looking away from them. "I'd bet my entire trust fund he's guarding Scott."

"Get down!" Gordon hurled his backpack like a javelin, striking the Rigelian in the back of the head. He fell flat on his face and didn't move.

The three brothers dashed up to the door, leaping over the fallen guard and Alan and Virgil used the points of their backpacks to cut through the wood surrounding the lock.

They stepped into the doorway as the door swung open. "Scott? Are you in there?"

A figure huddled in the corner of the cell farthest from the door lifted its head revealing frightened eyes in a pale face. "Who's there?"

"It's Virgil, Gordon and Alan. Are you Okay?"

"Am I ever glad to see you!" The young man leapt to his feet and dashed to his three youngest brothers.

Once in the corridor again, Alan and Gordon looked at Scott. His jacket, shirt and pants were torn and dirty, part of his hair was rather untidy and one of his sneakers was missing its lace but other than that, he looked all right.

Scott looked around, and jumped back at the sight of the Rigelian. "Where are the others?"

"Looking for you somewhere else," Virgil replied.

"Come on, let's get back to the rendezvous point before Bubble Butt here wakes up," urged Gordon.

* * *

Bart kept pacing back and forth between the two corridors the others had taken, pausing briefly at the mouth of each to peer down it in the hopes of seeing his new friends with Scott. Milhouse trotted behind him, while Lisa leaned against a wall and watched him, keeping an eye out for guards at the same time.

Finally she said, "Bart, you're wearing yourself out! Come on, take a break. You won't get them here faster this way."

Reluctantly, Bart headed for Lisa. "The sooner Scott's safe with us, the happier I'll be!"

"Then start cheering up!"

Bart turned to see Virgil, Gordon, Alan--and Scott!

"You found him!"

"If they found him, who did we find?"

Lisa, Bart and Milhouse looked back and forth between the two corridors, not believing what they saw. Mark, Jeff and another Scott were approaching. The only difference between the two Scott's was in their clothing: one wore Earth clothes, the other wore the same clothes as Jeff but black.

Earth-clothed Scott stopped in his tracks and pointed an accusing finger at black-clad Scott. "You tricked me, you phony! You took my dad's form and lured me here! You won't fool anyone else again!"

"YOU'RE the fake! Kang made you bring me here so he could make me tell him what was going to happen to my family!"

"Don't listen to it!" Earth-clothed Scott pleaded with his remaining sons. "I'm the real Scott Tracy! Remember how I was wearing normal clothes? Look!" He gestured to himself.

"I WAS wearing those clothes to school when that--shape-shifting THING showed up pretending to be you, Dad!" insisted black-clad Scott. "When it tricked me into coming back here, my clothes changed the way yours did when you got here! I'm the real Scott Tracy!"

Both Scotts tried to attack each other, forcing Jeff and Virgil to pin the identical mens arms behind them. They struggled to break free, each demanding to be set free and accusing the other of being Kang's servant in disguise.

"Who's who?" wondered Lisa. Bart looked from one to the other and back, then gave a puzzled 'beats me' look.

"Wait a minute!" Gordon had to shout to be heard over the racket. Both Scotts fell silent. "Remember what John told us?"

Alan's eyes lit up. "Yeah! He said the touch of the heart'll reveal the truth!" He reached inside his red backpack and pulled out a familiar heart-shaped locket. "This'll settle it!"

"My locket? What did you guys do to it?" asked Earth-clothed Scott.

"It's MY locket!" black-clad Scott insisted.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that it'll show us which one of you is the real Scott and which one's the fake!" Alan took off the locket and approached Earth-clothed Scott, holding it out. "Put it on!"

Virgil released his grip and Earth-clothed Scott reached out for the locket. Alan was only a few steps away when he stumbled on the uneven stone floor, dropping the locket as he flailed for something to grab to keep from falling. That "something" turned out to be Scott's wrist. He regained his balance quickly, barely touching him, but that one brief contact was enough.

"NOOOO!!" screamed "Scott" in a voice completely unlike his as a strange gray light surrounded him. When it faded, Mark, Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Alan, Bart, Milhouse and Lisa (barring only black-clad Scott) got their first sight of a doppelganger in its natural form. "You'll pay for this, humans!" Fo-Ne, knowing he couldn't win any fight he picked, ran off toward the mouth of the dungeon.

"I'm sorry we doubted you, Scott." Jeff let his father go. "That...whatever-it-was almost tricked us."

"It's Okay, Dad."

"But 'the touch of the heart'--it didn't mean the locket after all." Gordon was confused for a moment, then it dawned on him. "It meant someone who has feelings for Scott! Someone who cares about him! Someone who--LOVES him? No way, it can't be! Tin Tin's got a thing for Alan!"

As Alan retrieved the locket, similar thoughts were going through his head. Most boys say girls have cooties, and most girls say boys are dis-dis-something. But he knew Tin Tin wasn't even not like that. She was a better friend than my best friend back home. Someone really like Scott, maybe more than like. He straightened up and gave his oldest brother's locket back to him--the REAL Scott Tracy.

"Come on! Let's get outta here before this place is crawling with Rigelains!" Bart was already halfway down the corridor.

* * *

"Commander Kang! The humans have the Earth man!"

"WHAT!?" Kang whirled at Fo-Ne's voice to see him in the doorway. One glance told him that his plans had gone wrong, *again*. "Gather the troops! Kodos, accompany them! Recapture at least the older Earth man! I can't lose her. Even if those Earth brats escape, I can use their dreams and visions to capture them later."

* * *

Luck held for the kids, and they reached a narrow gap between two steep cliffs, the only pathway up the mountain to the fortress, long before the orcs were even out the door.

"We've got to block the path!" Milhouse began firing arrows into the cliff on one side of the path. The obsidian broke up and fell to the ground, but it seemed tougher on the cliffs. No arrows hit brittle or fragile places that would have shattered and fallen easily. "Bart! Get the others to safety!"

"No way, Dude!" Mark began swinging his club with the intention of smashing the base of the cliff to the other side of the path, but Virgil and Gordon grabbed his arm.

"Don't, Mark!" yelled Gordon while Virgil added "Yeah, you'll just bring it down on our heads!"

"I'm the only one with a distance weapon! Even if I can't block the path, I can narrow it enough so they can't come after us quickly! Or so I can hold them off long enough to get the rest of you out of danger."

"You can't do that all by yourself!" Lisa turned to Mark. "Can't you pull out another phaser to help?"

"I'll try." Mark took out his freezer phaser but before he could say anything, Scott gasped. Something silvery and electric blue was appearing in his hands. As the details became clearer, Jeff's eyes widened. When the light faded, Scott was holding a very familiar trident.

"That thing shoots lightning bolts! I remember it from the Palace of this planet!"

At Jeff's words, Scott aimed it at the slope on the other side of the path. Bolt after bolt of lightning shot from the three points, breaking up the obsidian. Seeing both this and the Rigelian soldiers beginning to pour out of the fortress, Bart fired his energy-arrows even faster. The others headed a short way down the path, trying to stay away from the forces that shook the entire mountain.

The combined effort worked. Before the Rigelains were halfway to the path, Bart, Scott and Jeff had blocked it completely with razor-sharp pieces of obsidian. Nobody was getting through that unless they had dragon-tough hides or full plate armour.

Just as the trio turned away from their work, they felt the ground begin to shake. "An earthquake? Or do Kodos and Kang have something that could tunnel through the ground and get us?"

Scott ran up a small rise to where the others were, then looked back. He could see over most of their barrier from the rise. "No, Dad! We triggered another avalanche and it's heading right for the fortress!"

Jeff joined the others just in time to see Kang's army running from a veritable wave of sharp glassy rocks. It had already begun to destroy the fortress. The rumble drowned out any screams they might have otherwise heard, and the dust that rose blocked their sight, but they still turned away. When all was quiet and the dust had settled enough to see again, neither Rigelians nor fortress remained yet the Ugopotamians were still alive.

"That's ONE place Kodos and Kang can't use again." Mark made no mention of the Rigelains who had just left Ugopotamia.

"But what about Rigel 4, Son?" said Mark's father, who was the king of Ugopotamia.

"Does THAT answer your question, Dear?" Mark's mother, the queen of Ugopotamia pointed to the dust rising from the ruins of the fortress as it swirled and began to take on a familiar form: a bald man with a familar red kimino.

A voice, hollow and booming, rang out. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE!" Then the dust whirled and broke apart, and all trace of the Hood was gone--for the moment.

"Well done, Bros of mine!" The gang turned to see John (who had just beamed down from Thunderbird 5) seated on a boulder. "Your quick thinking and skill with the Trident of Lightning made the difference in this battle."

"I guess." Scott was doubtful. "Somehow I could see exactly where to hit the mountain, but I don't know how. I've never been able to see the future, just dream it."

"Scott, dreaming's just another way of seeing." John jumped off the boulder and approached his father. "The Hood's spells forced your power to grow far stronger than it was before, and now you can do more than you could.

"From now on, it appears that you'll have waking visions that tell of the near future, and your dreams'll tell of the more distant future. You might be able to control these visions and dreams if you focus on the time you wish to see, Brains told me so."

"Brains said that?"

"Afraid so, Scott. None of us'll have such power 'til we're about Dad's age." He turned back to Jeff. "Looks like you're still chief of this team, Dad. I'll see you guys after my Thunderbird 5 shift is over."

"Scott, you'd better stick with us. It'll be safer."

"Dad's right," Virgil agreed. "You know a too much about Rigel 4 and someone traveling alone is taking too big a risk."

"Besides, if you stick with your family, Scott Tracy, Kodos and Kang'll have to go through ME to get you again!" Mark readied his club, his whole attitude shouting, "Just LET those Rigeleian dudes try!"

Scott laughed. "Sure! Why make it easy for Kang and Kodos?"

"Yo, John, what do you...?" Gordon's voice trailed off.

"He's gone back to Thunderbird 5! Sure wish I could do that." Milhouse couldn't keep from sounding envious.

"Well, let's get back to Earth before the parents of Springfield go mad." Gordon started off down the pod, and the others followed.

Mark motioned to Milhouse and Lisa. "You two go ahead. I'll stay here as prince of Ugopotamia."

"Huh? No comments about my girlfriend?" Milhouse asked.

"First love's gotta happen sometime." And the Earth people, their number increased by one, turned their backs on the site of their latest victory over their worst enemy and headed back to their home planet.

THE END