[This is a cross-over story between one of my favorite cartoons, SWAT Kats, and one of my favorite games which I used to play all the time in college, Werewolf: the Apocolypse (with some of the other World of Darkness stuff thrown in). All of the mentioned WoD characters are either characters I've played in the past, were 'made-up'on-the-spot', or are based on characters played by friends. Most of the mentioned SWAT Kat characters are form the cartoon itself, of which I have no affiliation. This fan-fic is rated "Mature" due to violence, gore, and sexual content (including rape and beastiality). Of course, anyone familair with the World of Darkness should expect that!]
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There was no rain yet, but the wind was fierce and lightning split the sky. The battle had been inevitable, and would possibly be the one to determine who would keep the territory, and who would be driven out, if not outright killed. The warriors of Gaia were outnumbered by the Wyrm's minions, but their resolve was strong. They would not let these corrupt monstrosities destroy the land that had been their pack's home for three generations.
The Wyrm's creatures were strong, formed of a dark alliance. Ghouls, both human and animal, formori, and Black Spiral Dancers all had joined forces under the command of a strong Sabbat vampire against the Garou pack. But the Garou had allies as well.
Twin-Tree grappled with the twisted gray-furred Garou, but the dark beast was stronger than she. As a young ragabash, she didn't have the strength and size that the Dancer ahroun did. But she had another advantage. Help. A loud roar behind her caused the red-furred werewolf to drop quickly to the ground, narrowly avoiding the massive reptilian tail that swung over her head. The spikes on the end of the tail speared into the Dancer's chest as the full impact drove the beast off it's feet and flying through the air. The impact had killed it instantly. Twin-Tree got quickly back to her feet and looked over her shoulder at the large beast behind her.
"Thanks, Blackwater!"
The Mokole nodded her large head, her bright green and red crest feathers ruffled by the wind. Blackwater looked up at the sky. Another bright bolt of lightning split the sky. The clouds seem to churn and swirl. She didn't like this storm, something about it felt very wrong. Then something else caught her attention. She stood high, lifting her body up to full height, towering over the massive werewolves beneath her. That's when she saw the shape. The dragon roared out, her reptilian jaws forming the more comprehendible words thanks to the bird spirit's gift.
"It's Angelida! I see her!"
Daemon turned his head sharply at the dragon's words. She had spotted their true target, the leader of these tainted monsters.
"BackWater pack! Our prey has been found!"
The Garou howled out in fury and bloodlust, and began to fight with renewed strength towards their intended target. A sudden golden blur flew past the crinos wolves, cutting a bloody trail through the formori and ghouls.
The large chatro cat used her size and power to basically bull her way through the smaller opponents, leaving the Dancers for the Garou to deal with. She had tracked the vampire, Angelida, across half the continent. Let the dogs have their little war. She only wanted one thing. Vengeance! The blood-sucker was responsible for killing off her pride, and she would take her revenge for them.
Six years ago, Angelida had broken away from the Sabbat who had ruled her since her 're-birth'. She was young, naive, and head-strong. And reckless, even for a Sabbat. Having been a Hunter before her Embrace, she knew a good deal more about shifters than most other vampires. Yet, though she hunted werewolves and their kin, she knew next to nothing about vampires. When she chose to ally herself with 'Fallen' shifters, and leave the Sabbat, her choice did not go over well with those in power. Her destruction was ordered by the local Archbishop, and several Assamite Antitribue were sent for her, including her former lover. They all failed, ripped apart at the claws of her 'pets'. Except for Delex. Her lover she kept at her lair for quite a time, tortured and made to suffer for his 'betrayal' of her love.
But this jaguar was tenacious. And dangerous. It was more because of the so-called 'Hellcat' that she moved to Florida than it was to get away from the Sabbat. The Sabbat sect seemed happy to simply be rid of her, but the jaguar wouldn't let her be. Ange had found that a local pack of Gangrel had made an uneasy truce with the local werewolves. They were weaklings. She and her pets destroyed them easily and she fed on both their blood and their souls. Now she was stronger, and this time, she was ready for the cat.
The jaguar's ears flicked at the sound behind her. Massive clawed feet covered the swampy ground quickly. Blackwater was coming too. Fine. She'd take Blackwater's help over the dogs. A ghoul fired a barrage of bullets at her, but she simply ducked her head and continued her charge. They weren't silver, so she didn't care. Her long saber-fangs made short work of the ghoul as she passed. It was his master she wanted anyway. She couldn't see the leech, but she knew where it was. Glancing up, another flash of lightning illuminated the small black form circling overhead, trying to dodge the bullets as he pointed the way towards the vampire below him.
The pair of shifters finally passed the rear line of the enemy, and now there was only a short stretch of marshy ground between them and the leech. Angelida stood alone, clothed in her black kevlar body armor, the lion-skull helmet on her head with it's dark visor up, revealing her young-looking face, and those piercing golden-hazel eyes. The vampire smiled at the jaguar and the dragon, holding her machete in her right hand.
Blackwater slowed down. Something didn't seem right. The vampire was facing them alone? Even as strong as Angelida was, she couldn't hope to take on both a Balam and a Mokole! The chatro jaguar didn't seem to have noticed. She closed the distance fast. Blackwater suddenly yelled out to her friend.
"Sarita! Stop! I think it's a trap!"
Too late, her suspicion was confirmed. Sarita triggered one of the land mines as she ran by, and it exploded, throwing the jaguar high into the air. She landed in a heap, her fur singed and a large wound burned into her right rear flank. Thankfully, she was moving so fast that she had missed most of the damage. Still, she hurt, and she wasn't alone either. The air shimmered, and two dark-furred crinos Garou lept out at her. The first was small but quick, and he jumped onto her back, grabbing both of her ears in his sharp claws, jerking her head back. She was about to throw him off when the larger, and far stronger, werewolf slashed his claws against her throat, drawing three deep lines of blood that soaked into her golden fur. She glared hatefully at the beast in front of her. She knew the black & red wolf well. And he remembered her.
Stephen quickly jumped back away from the jaguar as a pair of large jaws snapped shut where his head had been. The dragon had caught up, somehow having avoided the mines. A cawing noise which resembled laughter could be heard above him and he glared skyward, his ears pinned back. 'Damn corax! Must have shown her where the mines were!' The small werewolf yelped out in surprise and jumped off the cat's back, running back towards his vampire master as the Mokole's claws slashed at him. Stephen snarled at the large beast. "Darian! Now!"
A black shadow lifted from the tall grass near where the vampire stood. The form towered over her, his black fur glistening from the water of the marsh where he as hidden. He held up the large gun,, the gun and his fur both dripping with fetid water, and fired at the dragon. Several bullets hit, since it was kinda hard to miss something twice the height of an elephant, and the feathered reptile roared out in pain. Stephen grinned darkly from his blood-colored muzzle. The gold bullets were a good investment.
The Backwater pack was still fighting their way towards their other allies, but the land mines had slowed them down. The corax didn't pay much attention to them, and had only told the dragon where the mines were. Still, he knew they could find their way through now that Blackwater had 'cut' the path. They pretty much had to travel in the large Mokole's footprints, not an easy task considering her stride-length. The bird also knew that the vampire was the greatest threat, and the jaguar and dragon were the most likely ones to stop her, since they knew her and had faced her before.
Another flash of lightning lit up the sky, and the clouds began to rapidly churn. The wind picked up even fiercer, buffeting the raven who could barely stay aloft in the gale, despite his being such an agile flyer. A swirling vortex appeared in the sky directly over the vampire and nearby shifters. The wind swirled, and created almost a vacuum. A powerful twisting force pulled the corax first up into the vortex, the raven screaming at the top of his avian lungs as he disappeared into the swirling clouds. Angelida, small and lithe, turned to run, but the force lifted her off her feet. The large werepanther dropped his gun and grabbed her, trying to hold her down and carry her to safety. The small werewolf however was lifted up, and pulled up into the vortex, making a sound that was half canine yelp and half human scream. The power of the vortex became stronger. Stephen and the panther, along with the vampire, were also pulled up.
The power grew, and the chatro Balam was lifted from the ground, but the dragon grabbed onto her with her powerful front arms, her claws digging into the cat's flesh in an attempt to hold her down. But the vortex seemed determined to take them in, and pulled both the half-ton cat, and the six-ton dragon, both up and into it.
Garou, Formori, and Ghouls alike stopped their fighting and stared at the warriors were pulled up onto the mass of swirling clouds. After the dragon was pulled through, another powerful blast of lightning, purple in color, shot out of the portal. It then vanished. Their master gone, the ghouls quickly turned and fled, followed quickly by the remaining formori and Dancers. The Backwater pack had held their territory, but at what cost? What had happened to the Corax, Mokole, and Balam? And what had also happened to the vampire? They wondered if they had seen the last of any of them, and some believed that the spirits, perhaps even the Wyrm itself, had seized them up into the Deep Umbra, or the darkest pits of Hell.
Twin-Tree looked up at where the vortex had been, her ears laid back.
"Daemon? What happened?"
The large speckled Garou shook his head as he also looked up.
"I don't know, cub. I just don't know."
Another wolf, a large gray hispo, stood beside his alpha and the cub. He growled low, speaking in their own lupine language.
"The Wyrm himself took them up, most likely to Malfeas."
Daemon turned and snarled at the Get.
"Stains-the-Tides, that's enough!"
The Get pins his ears and snarls back.
"What else could it have been? The Wyrm has taken it's draugr and her foraths back to Malfeas, along with those other fools! I say good riddance to them all!"
Twin-Tree spun around and glared at the Get, tears of both sorrow and rage in her eyes.
"Fool! They were our allies! So what if they weren't Garou? They were still warriors of the Great Mother!"
"That's enough! Both of you!"
The large Glass Walker philidox stepped in between his two pack-mates, pushing them aside with his massive clawed hands.
"We don't know what happened to the Wyrm-spawn or to our allies. We must cleanse this place of the foul taint, then return to the Caern. Hopefully Sees-The-Beyond will be able to tell us more of this strange occurance. Stains-The-Tides, you are dismissed. Go calm your rage and let us handle the cleansing."
He turned and looked back up to the sky where the vortex had taken their allies, as well as the Wyrm-spawn.
"Great Mother, protect our friends, wherever they may be."
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The sky was clear in the late afternoon. It was about three hours until sunset. Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson were inside their auto garage, working on an old car that they wanted to get finished up by tomorrow. A sudden crack of thunder caused both kats to jerk their heads up. It was clear outside! No storms were in the weather forecast for the next three days. They both jumped up and ran to look outside. A thick blanket of clouds had formed over the southern half of the city, and the clouds were swirling, in a vortex. They watched as what appeared to be two large objects were dropped from the portal, and apparently landed at the other end of their salvage yard!
The larger kat stared in disbelief.
"What the heck was that?"
The smaller kat was also quite surprised at the sight.
"Got me, buddy. But it looks like one of the Pastmaster's time vortexes! And something came through it!"
"Yeah, and we better find out what! FAST!"
There was no time for them to change, so they grabbed the nearest weapons they had, concealed behind a hidden panel in the garage. Moving quickly through the salvage yard with their weapons, a laser gun for Chance and a smaller glove gun similar to the glovatrix for Jake, the two kats prepared themselves for whatever sort of creatures the Pastmaster had sent their way. But one thing bothered them. Why here? Was it an accident, or did the skeletal sorcerer actually know where they were? And if he did, could that mean he also knew who they were?
