"Oh come on, Nakela. Just try it!"

"It's not that simple!"

"If you can grow gills and fins to spend three hours under water talking to a pair of Rokea, then simply growing fur and a tail shouldn't be a problem."

"Says the jaguar who was born with them!"

There was a bit of stifled laughter from around the den. Jake wasn't sure though about what the shifters were talking about half the time, especially with their strange language.

"Okay, question. What exactly is a Rokea?"

Sarita glanced up from where she lay stretched out on the floor in her sokto form, her head resting on Chance's leg as he sat against the wall.

"Rokea are were-sharks."

"Were-sharks? There really is such a thing?"

He gave the Balam a curious look as she nodded her head yes. It was incredible at how many shape-shifting creatures existed on her home world. Sharks, spiders, coyotes, ravens, snakes, bears, rats, several different species of cats, more than ten different wolf tribes, and even the dragons could be of many various forms of crocodilians and monitor lizards. Even gila monsters.

The red-haired teenager, Sarah, taunted Nakela from where she sat near the crinos form of the younger jaguar brother.

"Come on, Nak! I thought you Midnight Suns were supposed to be like us Ragabash? Since when are you afraid of a little embarrassment?"

"Hey, when it comes to pulling pranks, the point is to put someone else in the spotlight!"

This brought out another round of soft laughter. The human woman stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the rest of the group in the den. It was late at night, and they were all relaxing before finally going to sleep. All of the shifters had fully healed their wounds by now, and even Sarita and Akin both had partial use of their damaged arms. Sarita's wound had caused severe damage to the shoulder blade, which meant she no longer had full motion of that shoulder, even though she could still use her arm and hand normally.

Akin's wound however was far more severe, and since it was caused by an Asura, there was a possibility that it would never fully heal. Despite the rest of his injuries being fully healed, his badly damaged left shoulder continued to cause him pain every time he moved it, and in both feline and chatro forms, he had to walk with a severe limp, barely putting pressure on it. This had made the young warrior, a Guardian among his pride, very depressed as he felt he could no longer continue to protect his brother and sister, or their rainforest home. In fact, he was the only shifter not present in the den, as he had spent much more time alone since the Cleansing Rite almost ten days ago.

Felina also was not there. Akis-Bahati had managed to fully heal the she-kat's wounded leg, though she would always have a slight scar. Only a few days after the death of the vampire, the doctors at Megakat Hospital were shocked to find that Commander Feral had not only awoken from his coma, but his injuries which were so life-threatening, had seemed to have mostly healed overnight! No-one could explain it, save for a very grateful Felina and the reclusive white were-cat. Within only two days Feral had straightened out the entire mess over Felina and T-Bone having been accused of murdering the chopper pilot. Steele, under Angelida's influence, had covered up the actual evidence reports, and the large-caliber silver bullet was obviously like nothing anyone on the force had ever seen. It was even taken to a ballistics expert who couldn't identify it, or explain why it was made of pure silver.

After having to explain, several times, about the vampires and were-beasts that now lived in Megakat City to her uncle, as well as the secret war they had fought, Felina had convinced him not to further pursue the case. They would never find the real killer anyway, since the vampire had finally been destroyed. Also, nothing much could be done about Steele since he was under the vampire's control at the time as well.

As far as the SWAT Kats were concerned, Nakela and Bahati had finally convinced Jake to allow Nak to use the Rite known as Silence the Oracles. It was the same one she had performed on Sarita to help her get past her being raped. Jake at first had refused. He felt that it would probably be better for him to keep the guilt, feeling that he had earned it. To his shock, it was actually Chance to practically ordered him to go through with it.

Not only had the tabby forgiven him for everything he had done, but he didn't even blame him for it in the first place. Jake was sure that Chance would hate him for luring him into the trap that nearly got him and Nakela killed, and did cause the deaths of Sarita and Sawgrass. Jake had actually shot his best friend in cold blood, and then taunted him about it later. Chance did have a temper sometimes, but his concern for his partner, best friend, and 'brother' far outweighed any grudges he would have had. Hell, the tabby actually knew what it was like to attack others with no control over himself, courtesy of Dr. Viper a few years ago.

Once the ritual was complete, and Jake was now more at peace with his recent dark past, they had made the decision to once again become the SWAT Kats. With Hard Drive and Dr. Viper still loose, plus Dark Kat now being a vampire and more dangerous than every, they felt that they were still needed to help keep Megakat City safe. Felina had even offered to help them with rebuilding the Turbokat, again. In addition, the vampire's vitae was finally burned out of his system enough for Sarita to perform the Cleansing Rite on him. The memory of the past two months would always haunt him, but at least now he was fully capable of moving on.

For the rest of the shifters, Nakela and Sarita had already made the decision to stay in this new world. With Chigger still loose, at least two fledgling vampires, and the possibility of a new breed of Bastet soon, the pair of shifters had decided that it was not only their duty, but their destiny to take up guardianship of this world as their ancestors had done on their own. Akin, due to his injury, would have a difficult time making the trip back through the deep Umbra, and so it was decided he would stay as well. Bahati, Tommy, and Sarah would soon be leaving back for their home. The young Fianna werewolf had chosen to leave her pack and join forces with the Balam in the Amazon war against the evil corporation known as Pentex. It was widely believed by the Garou that the Amazon would be the location of the coming Apocalypse, the final battle between the forces of the Wyrm, and the shifters of Gaia. Sarita had performed a Rite the previous night that spiritually marked the wolf, so that all Bastet she would meet would know that, even though she was Garou, she was a trusted kin and ally to them.

Nakela glared at the kats and Bete as they continued to laugh softly. Jake smiled to the woman.

"Look, how bad could it possibly be? You turn into a fifty-foot long lizard with feathers all the time!"

She gave him a mock glare, but seeing that she was completely outnumbered, the homid sighed, and finally gave up.

"Okay, but if this botches, I swear you will all come to regret it soon!"

Concentrating on her connection with Gaia and the spirit world, Nakela enacted the Gift taught to her by the spirit, Finch. The small bird spirit was a master of adaptation, and the Mokole were the epitomy of adaptation and survival, having been the very first shifters long before the birth of the other changing breeds. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But then the others watched in amazement as a short, soft coat of fur began to cover her body, the same bronzish hue as her skin. Her facial features became slightly more feline, particularly her ears, and her spine lengthened to form a tail. Jake and Chance could both see that was fairly pretty for a human, but as a kat she was actually quite beautiful. Jake couldn't help but comment.

"Wow. Uh, Nakela, I think you should have learned to do that much sooner."

Sarita had to laugh.

"I agree!"

"Oh shut up! All of you!"

The homid-turned-kat glared at the others as they continued to laugh. Everyone was in good spirits finally, save for Akin who was asleep in his own tree-den nearby. Sarita worried for her son, but she knew that in time he would come to accept and cope with his disability, as she had done with hers from birth.

As the evening grew late, the rest of the pride finally began to disperse and go to sleep. Nakela decided to spend the rest of the night with Jake in one of the other tree-dens. Chance remained with Sarita in her central den. As he lay with his arm around his mate, there was something that kept bothering him which he finally decided need to be asked.

"Sar, you mentioned earlier that there could be more were-cats born, thanks to Darian. What will happen to them?"

Sarita opened her eyes, a thoughtful but sad look in their depths.

"I don't know. Being born of what we call the homid breed, if any of them do inherit the changing gene, they will take their first shift at around age fifteen. It will be up to me, Nak, and Akin to find them as soon as that happens, so that I can properly train them. I am what we call a Kuasha. I have the knowledge and skills needed to train a newly-turned Bastet. But my concern is that Chigger could find them first, possibly before they ever even change. If so, he will corrupt them like their father was."

"And the cycle could start all over again..."

"Yes. We will have to locate these kits quickly once they're born, but this city is huge. Far larger than any I have been to or even heard of back where I'm from. I have heard that the citys of Asia could be quite large, but we are all from the Americas, and even our largest citys weren't near the size as Megakat City."

He decided to change the subject, and kissed the back of her neck gently.

"But what about you? Nakela said that if you ever had kittens again, they would be born as felis?"

She laughed softly, knowing exactly where that question came from.

"Yes, my kits will be born as jaguars. And shall age the same way. Akin is felis. At two years old, he took his first change. From that point on, their homid form appears as normal fifteen-year old teenagers, and they begin to age at the same rate as homids. The same is true for metis. When I first shifted at eight, my homid form appeared twice my normal age, and I've aged at the same rate ever since. Should any of my kits inherit the changing gene, they will change at two, the jaguar equivalent of teenagers."

"Great."

With an amused smile, Sarita rolled over to face her mate.

"Worried?"

"Huh? Why would you think I'd be worried?"

"Chance, if I ever do have kits again, who do you think I'd want to have them with? Could you handle your children being born, not as kats, but as jaguars... As animals... Living and dying the same way, unless one should become a Bastet, and be a teenager by only two years of age?"

"Heh. Then I guess that's something I'll have to get used to, if I want to stay with you. I swear, there seems to be no end to the strangeness and surprises your kind."

She smiled softly then gently kissed him.

"You have no idea..."

.

Two nights later, and the time had finally come. In the sky above, the moon was just begining to wax again, showing a small sliver of light among the sea of stars. Six shifters and three kats had gathered at what had been called the 'Rite Stones'. Sarita knew that she would probably never see her son and daughter again, but in truth, she had never expected them to find her in this new world, so far away from her original home. As they prepared to leave, Bahati asked Chance to speak with her just out of earshot of the others, which was actually a fair distance due to her mother having such keen hearing.

"When I healed your arm, you asked if there was anything you could do to repay me. Well, there is."

He had been wondering if she would ever bring that up before she left, and he was fully prepared for whatever price she would ask.

"Name it."

"Take care of my mother. She has been alone for so long, and her quest for vengeance has slowly been eating away at her, heart and soul. What she needs now is the love that has been denied to her for so long."

Chance had to smile. That was something that she didn't even need to ask.

"Bahati, that is something I can promise you. Your mother is very special to me, and I love her."

She nodded, satisfied.

"Good. And thank you, Chance. For everything."

"And you. I don't know what would have happened to any of us if you and your brothers had not come."

The albino simply nodded, then returned to the rest of the pride. When she spoke again, her voice was louder, and with the air of a born leader.

"It is time. We are not of this world, though some of us have found a place in it. But not all of us are destined to stay here. There is a war upon our home that we must return to. The final days are coming, and we must prepare for the final battle, by not letting the evil that serves the dark Unmaker destroy that which has been our safety for as long as we Folk can remember."

Bahati stood in the center of the ring of stones, Tommy and Sarah both just behind her. The rest stood back, outside the ring at the outskirts of the four monoliths. The blind crinos Bastet raised her clawed hands up and they began to glow with a pure silver light. A swirling mist began to form, and through the mist formed a bridge of silver fog. Shifting to their animal forms, Tommy and Sarah quickly passed through the portal and began to run along the Moon-Bridge, going through into the deep Umbra. Bahati turned, and nodded her head to those she left behind. She too them changed to her felis form and entered the portal, the mist swirling and vanishing again behind her.

.

THE END,

for now

.

[I hope you have enjoyed this cross-over story. Whether you're a fan of SWAT Kats, the World of Darkness, or both, I have done my best to make this story entertaining on a variety of levels, and hope that it may be one of the best I have written. I have already come up with ideas for a sequel, though I doubt it could compare to this original. Thank you so much for reading and I would look forward to any questions, comments, or simple reviews to my work.]