Hey Readers! Happy New Year!

I hope you all had good holidays with your families and friends. I don't know about any of you, but it feels weird and different, being in a new decade, though I haven't changed at all as a person yet. My resolution? To write more, of course (though I wouldn't mind reading more books, either)!

Anyways, here's Chapter 18, along with the promised time jump (sorry to have to do it to you), as well as seeing the aftermath of Utter Turmoil. I know you all have been waiting since before Christmas, so I hope that you enjoy it!

Act Three: Worlds Collide

518 Days Later:

Max POV:

Max wasn't sure of himself.

It had been a long time since Max had been in a mall, even back in the human world, so he naturally had his reservations about going to one again. However, he was also excited to go; Johnny had some time off from work, and had offered to chaperone him. Still, there was one big change that he figured he'd need some time to get over.

He ran a finger over the plain metal band around his pointer finger, which was currently a tiny device that the Professor had made for him; several months after T-Day, he, Jake, Chance and the elderly Professor decided that he needed some time to be a normal individual again with a life outside of hero work. So on Christmas Morning of 1996, he had received the tiny ring from Hackle; inconspicuous, simple, and not likely to fall off if there was a scuffle. They started off small; a green pasture outside of Megakat City, a small convenience store along the highway, slowly working their way up to larger and more crowded places as he became more confident again.

It still scared him sometimes whenever he passed a store window and caught a glimpse of his reflection. He still wore the same clothes he'd always worn (he was still a tailless kat), but he now looked exactly like a kat; the ears, the whiskers, and the fur, which was the same rusty red as the hair on his head. His hands were something to get used to, however; he still had five fingers, but the holo display showed only four, which made grabbing things a little freaky. His eye color was still the same as well, which is what reassured him each time that the kat in the mirror was him. Still, he only wore it when going outside, electing to look human as much as he could; just because he'd been in this felin world for nearly two years didn't mean he had to become one of them.

The Megakat City Mall was their biggest endeavor yet; two stories tall, and over 187,000 square meters of shops, restaurants and a movie theatre. Naturally, with so many shops under one roof, it was a pretty crowded place, and it was a wonder as to why no villains had ever tried to attack this place, given how popular of a spot it was. Usually, they wouldn't think of going anywhere like this, but today was a special day: today was Max's birthday, and he was now an official adult (in both worlds) at the age of 21.

It was still the Nineties, though, so it was unlike any mall he had ever seen, but it was still impressive and new-looking, since it was built less than a decade earlier. Even after walking in, he simply stood in the atrium, looking down the long hallway lined with shops that seemed to stretch on forever.

"Doin' okay so far," Johnny asked, still wearing his signature shades and baseball cap, though his sweater was now blue (Ann's favorite color). "We don't have to stay for long, by the way."

"It's fine," Max told him. "I mean, it's my birthday today; might as well enjoy it."

His friend gave him a grin, leading him farther into the complex. "Then let's go, then! There's this really cool tape and CD store I've always wanted to show you!"

About an hour-and-a-half later, the two friends were in the food court, enjoying a couple of fish burgers with fries, watching the other patrons around them. Once again, Max was struck by how normal it all was; if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that he was back at a mall in his own world. Then, he opened his eyes, saw the lack of humans, and couldn't help but sigh as he realized that he was all alone in this universe.

"Anyplace in particular you wanted to go after this," Johnny asked, taking a sip of his Orange Julius, which was something the human vaguely remembered used to be big in the past. "We can go by the bookstore or video store if you want. Besides, I still need to buy you a gift."

"You don't have to do that," Max told him, grabbing the bottle of ketchup and dumping some onto his fries. "Makes me feel like a crappy friend that I can't buy you anything."

"Technically, you could get a job now, seeing as how you look like one of us now."

"Yeah, but I would need to get identification papers, a birth certificate, and a S.S. card; how exactly would I explain to them where I've been for the past 21 years? Also, I'm going to go home someday, so what's the point of getting identification?" The tan tabby quickly looked down at that, but the move didn't go unnoticed by his friend. "You disagree?"

"No, no," the kamerakat said quickly, trying to backtrack. "Of course you're goin' home someday!"

"Whatever," he muttered, turning back to his food, deciding to let the matter drop. It was his 21st birthday; wherever he was, he deserved to relax, enjoy some fries covered in ketchup-

HE WAS FALLING INTO THE VOID, UNABLE TO ESCAP-

He shoved the tray of fries away, causing it to clatter to the floor while some nearby kats looked over curiously.

"Max," Johnny asked him, instantly sensing something was wrong. "Are you okay? Max?"

But Max couldn't hear him; his breath was quickening, his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to focus on what was in front of him, trying not to slip back into the memory. He grabbed the table edge, closing his eyes as he tried to calm down and follow the Professor's advice.

"Keep in touch with the world around you," the old kat had told him. "Focus on your senses; your senses tell you that you're not back in that nightmare of yours and keeps your feet firmly in reality." Max believed it was called 'grounding' or something, but he took a shaky breath and focused on his senses before he ended up in the nightmare again.

Smell: the smell of fried food, AC, and soda.

Touch: the table edge at his fingertips.

Sound: the chatter of the mall-goers around him, along with the sound of his friend asking if he was alright.

And I can still taste the saltiness of the french fries, he thought to himself. That leaves Sight. He slowly opened his eyes, his breath starting to slow as he took in his surroundings. Table. Tray. Chair. Johnny. Mall. Sun. Safe.

Max let out a sigh of relief, his hands relaxing as his heartbeat started to slow once again. "I-I'm fine," he whispered, feeling his cheeks redden as he realized what he'd done. "Sorry about the fries."

"It's fine," Johnny said quickly, still giving him a concerned look. Some kats nearby still gave the disguised human wary looks, but eventually returned to their meals as well.

"I think," the human spoke up, "I think I would like to go to the bookstore after this. If it's fine with you."

"No problem, buddy," the kamerakat said, taking another bite of his fish burger. "It's your day!"

"Yeah," the man replied, taking another bite at his own burger as he tried not to think about his family in another universe.

Callie POV:

Callie was excited.

When Jake, one of the mechanics that often fixed her car, asked her out, she said yes; finally, after years of hinting and toying with the kat, he finally straightened his whiskers and asked her if she wanted to see a movie! Of course, she pretended to think about it for a while before saying yes, but she couldn't help but grin as she drove back to the Mayor's office, not allowing the mayor's annoying behavior get her down.

"So he finally asked you out," Ann asked her as they talked over lunch, waiting for Felina to show up; they often met once or twice a week if there wasn't an attack on the city. "About time!"

"No kidding," the deputy mayor replied, smiling over her cup of coffee. "You've always been saying that you've wanted Felina or I to start dating so we could go on a double date with you and Johnny. Besides, isn't he friends with Jake and Chance already?"

"I think so; he's gone over to their place for movie night sometimes, but I don't think they're best friends or anything." The newskat checked her watch. "Wonder what's keeping Felina."

"Probably more duties; she mentioned on the phone last time that her uncle's been giving her more responsibilities."

"Isn't that a good thing? She's been waiting for this ever since she joined the squad, right?"

"Yeah, but not so much at once. She probably wanted to be let in gradually, but Feral seems to be taking a backseat on almost every new raid, stakeout, and drill exercise. That's not including all the paperwork that comes with it now."

"I wish I had known," Ann said sympathetically. "No wonder she wasn't able to come to the last couple Girl's Nights! D'you think we should get her something?"

"I'm not there yet," a voice spoke up, and they turned in time to see Felina slump into the third chair next to them, a small smile on her tired face. "But I wouldn't mind a bag of pistachios or some tea."

"You made it," Callie said happily. "Sorry we started without you."

"No trouble," the Enforcer replied, picking up the menu. "I cant stay long; I've got to lead a patrol in the Western part of the city, but I wanted to hear whatever news you have."

"They sure are working you to the bone, aren't they," the deputy mayor asked.

"Yeah; do you know what day it is," she joked weakly. "Just fill me in on the news, girls."

"That mechanic Callie's had a crush on finally asked her out," Ann said.

"NO," Felina gasped, giving her friend a huge grin. "Finally! It's been a long time coming now, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Callie agreed.

"What're you going to do? Classic dinner and a movie?"

"Most likely; that new movie's coming out this upcoming weekend, so we're probably going to see that."

"Whatever it is, I'll probably have to wait until I'm as old as my uncle before I get to see it on VHR," Felina said, checking her watch and standing up. "Duty calls."

"Don't let them work you to death," Ann called as their friend exited the coffee shop.

"I wish I could do something about the Enforcer work hours," Callie muttered unhappily.

"Well, the election is coming up next year," her friend told her. "And I think it's about time a certain Deputy Mayor add herself to the ballot."

"One thing at a time," the feline laughed, though she secretly had been wondering if she should run for the past few years. "Let's just hope I get through this first date without a super villain attacking the city!"

Chance POV:

Chance was tired.

After a nice birthday dinner for Max's 21st birthday (it was a big deal in his world as well as in this one), everyone had gone to bed after watching a movie, the birthday boy taking up his usual position in the living room while the blond mechanic sat in a recliner in the corner, waiting for something that may or may not happen.

The first few months after T-Day were the hardest for everykat, especially Max. Whatever the human had seen, he was too scared to tell anyone, and most of the time kept thinking he was back in that hellish nightmare. It took weeks for him to fully trust Chance, Jake, Johnny and Professor Hackle, since the majority of the time, he either cowered away from them or tried to attack them. The elderly tabby had said that the teen was showing signs of PTSD, which confirmed the Professor's theory that Lonestar had experienced the same terrors in his mind on repeat for thirty minutes; they couldn't tell how many times the human was forced to relive the memories, but they could only imagine a number that would reduce their friend to this state. The teen had stayed at the Professor's for nearly a month before he was comfortable enough to go back to the garage, but even then, Hackle sent a robot with him to check his vitals and visited once a week to check on the human's mental state.

One thing that remained constant since that day, even over a year later, were the nightmares that plagued Max whenever he slept. It used to be every night, but by now, it only happened a few times every month. The human would scream, cry, and writhe around until someone woke him up and calmed him down. By now, they no longer took turns staying up at night in case the teen needed them, but Johnny had mentioned that Max had nearly freaked out at the mall earlier that day, so the burly kat had volunteered to stay up in case their friend had another nightmare. They couldn't wake him up, since it could be dangerous, but they needed to prevent Max from hurting himself or breaking anything.

Now, as he sat in the recliner, his eyes drooping, he tried to imagine what life was like before Turmoil's second attack. They were a trio of vigilantes, fighting to help others, but now Lonestar wouldn't even step foot in the Turbokat again. The human started exercising and training again three months ago, but he still seemed scared to go out and fight crime. But that was understandable to the kat; they had no idea who the she-kat's Benefactor was, how much of that serum they had, or which other villains were a part of their group (though several fights with certain villains disclosed that they had no idea about this Benefactor). Still, he and Jake knew that it would probably be a while before their third teammate was able to rejoin them.

Chance hadn't even noticed that he'd fallen asleep until the sound of yelling jolted him awake. Looking up, he found Max twisting and turning on the couch, kicking the blanket off and falling onto the small mattress they'd set on the ground by the couch.

"Max," the kat called, instantly going over to the man and trying to calm him down. "Wake up! It's okay, you're safe!" He grabbed the human's hands, pulling him up into a sitting position as Max continued to shake and scream. Chance was by no means an expert, but he leaned the boy back against the couch, keeping him as still as he could as he waited for the man to either wake up or stop having the nightmare. Tonight, it was the former, and a minute later, the human woke up, looking around wildly and pushing the tabby away from him.

"WHERE AM I," he yelled, breathing heavily and trying to climb to his feet but slipped. "WHO-" His eyes landed on Chance, and he tried to attack him again.

"Max it's me," the kat told him, blocking the sloppy and frantic punches. "Snap out of it!"

Gasping, the human started to calm down, his attacks slowing and then stopping, his eyes seeming to recognize him.

"Ch-Chance," he sputtered, hand falling limply to the side. "I can't believe... I- what... Damnit; I thought I was doing better."

"Hackle said that you'd still have occasional nightmares," the feline reminded him. "Besides, it's been three weeks since your last nightmare; that's a new record!"

"Yeah, I guess so… Sorry if I woke you," the man apologized, sitting down on the couch, obviously embarrassed. "And on my birthday too." He looked down at his lap. "I... I just want it to stop."

"I know," his friend told him kindly, trying to figure out what to do next. His face lit up, and he gave Max a small smile. "But since I'm on watch tonight, you know what that means!"

Max grinned a little at that. "I Love Lucy?"

"You bet!"

Ten minutes later, the human was lying back on the couch while Chance sat on the ground at the foot of the mattress, watching the old black-and-white comedy at a volume that wouldn't wake Jake. They had a show like this in the kat world, but the mechanic had to agree that the human one was much better. Besides, it was the perfect way of helping his friend fall back asleep, and sure enough, looking back at the couch halfway through the episode, he found the human fast asleep, as if he'd never woken up.

"Sweet dreams," Chance said hollowly, turning back to the episode and watching it, along with the next one, before eventually falling asleep himself.

Feral POV:

Feral was dying.

Cancer. Damn thing snuck up on him, and here he was, thinking it was just chest pain due to old age, but a KAT scan revealed that it was a tumor. He had about eight months left, according to the doctors, but medicine could lengthen the time.

Crud.

He hadn't told anyone, not even Felina; especially not Felina. She was already busy with being a Lieutenant, only going higher up in the ranks, and he didn't want to bring her down. Besides, when he died, Commander Steel would take his place unless he could get his niece to do enough work and bring in enough bad guys in order for him to promote her.

Feral started small; he started giving her longer hours, giving her the opportunity to do more during her shift. Then, he started giving her more responsibilities with duties, paperwork, and the like, knowing that she'd either crack under the pressure or rise to the occasion. So far, she was taking everything with stride, though she did seem more tired. Feral had promised his sister that he'd look after her little girl, so even though he wasn't at the office as much (mainly going to doctors appointments and the like to try and delay the inevitable), he was able to check up on her. He was so proud of his niece, and he only hoped that he was able to tell her that before he died.

Ann POV:

Ann was suspicious

No, she didn't think Johnny was cheating on her; he was sweet, kind, and would never do anything like that. Besides, they worked together the majority of the day, so she knew where he was most of the time. What made her suspicious, however, was something she found in his apartment.

They'd stopped by on their way to a movie (they were supposed to go yesterday, but a visiting friend of the kamerakat's had a birthday, so they put it off until tonight), and as she was waiting in his living room for him to grab something from his room, she looked around, noticing a small notepad next to his answering machine. Probably for writing down information he wanted to remember, and she couldn't help but glance at it as she waited, and she froze.

It read:

HACKLE- NEED TO TALK ABOUT MAX. STILL WORKING ON HELPING HIM GET HOME. NAME OF HIS STATE IS TEXAS? ASK HIM NEXT TIME YOU SEE J & C.

She was only able to scan the note for a few seconds before the door opened in the hallway, and she quickly moved away from the phone before Johnny could notice.

Throughout the movie and now, as she sat in her own living room, she tried to remember why that 'Texas' word sounded so familiar. She knew that there was no place in the world named Texas, but she knew she'd definitely heard it before. But where? It sounded like some made up place from a book or-

She sat up with a gasp, quickly getting up and going to her desk, rummaging through the drawers until she found her old journal. Flipping through the pages, she finally found it, and sat down on her couch, staring at the words that Callie had told her about so long before. It'd been months since they'd had a lead on the mysterious kat from the future, but now it appeared that she had one, and her boyfriend was a part of it.

"What are you hiding," she whispered to herself, hoping that whatever Texas was, it wasn't anything bad.

..

Johnny POV:

Johnny was ready to ask Ann a very important question.

Johnny sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the small box that he'd picked up at the Jeweler's store in the mall the day before. It wasn't the fanciest or most expensive engagement ring, and he had no plan on how to pop the question, but he put it in his camerabag, determined to be ready for whenever the moment came.

"I just hope she says yes," he muttered to himself, turning off the light and settling into bed.

Void POV:

Dr. Viverral Void had an idea.

Finally, after years of patient work and hundreds of failed experiments, he finally had a super-soldier that was strong and smart enough to take down the Enforcers, the Swat Kats, and any army that the world could throw at him. However, it was also obedient to him and him alone, so he didn't have to worry about it turning on him. It took a little over a year to get him to act like a soldier, but the end result was perfection.

There was only one problem; he was able to take a bit of Gorgan's DNA to make a serum that would turn kats into his army, but none of them survived the process, and he couldn't risk anykat noticing that so many homeless were disappearing from the streets. No one was noticing now, but he knew that somekat would eventually; he'd already had to deal with a nosy reporter once, but pretending to be a senile old fool didn't help her with her story. He needed more test subjects like Gorgan, but he knew that since it was still 2019 in his world, that he couldn't just start kidnapping humans willy-nilly without anyone getting suspicious.

Then, that night, a plan came to him. Not just one that would solve his human problem, but also get the Swat Kats and their human friend out of the way for when he attacked Megakat City. The grey kat quickly got up from his armchair and went to his computer, pulling up a file from his first attempt at reaching the human world… the one he had thought was a failure, but had in fact worked. He'd stolen a computer from the human world long ago, so he compared the coordinate to see where the portal had appeared on the other side.

"Texas," he muttered, looking at the oddly-shaped state. "Hmm… it should work. And it's called 'The Lonestar State…'" He chuckled a little at that. "It's a shame that you won't be there to help your species, Lonestar, but hopefully you'll see what's left when I'm through with it!"

Gorgan POV:

Father was busy. I could tell that much, even though he was in another room.

He said I was his special pet; his pride and joy, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make him proud of me.

But there's that annoying dream that I keep having. There's some creature called a human there (I don't know how I know what she is, but I do), and she's crying, but smiling at the same time. She's looking at some sort of ring on her finger, and then she tried to hug me, saying yes, yes she'll marry me.

And then I wake up.

Funny thing is, I feel like I know her, for some reason...

... Emily?

But I don't know any humans, especially not a female one named Emily. I'll ask Father in the morning if he could help me get rid of it.

She said my name was Gary, but she's wrong. I know who I am.

I am the Solution.

I am the Cure for all of Katkind.

I am Gorgan.

And that's it for this chapter! Obviously a lot to take in, I know, and after over a year in the story's timeline, but I knew that healing from traumatic events takes time, so I needed to do the time jump.

But besides that, what a chapter! Feral's dying, Jake and Callie are finally going out, Felina is secretly being prepared to take her Uncle's place, Johnny and Ann are both thinking of each other, and Void is planning a little trip to our world! I also added the Gorgan POV at the end, since I figured by now he'd have grown smart enough to be more than a mindless killing machine.

As always, feel free to favorite and follow the story and/or me if you don't already, and feel free to leave a review with your thoughts and comments on the chapter and story so far. Have a great day, and a Happy New Year!

-aggiefrogger

Note: I do NOT own Orange Julius or I Love Lucy in ANY way, shape or form!