Hey, Readers!

I've always been a fan of nineties cartoons (and the whole decade in general), so I mainly watch all those old shows like Ninja Turtles, Carmen Sandiego, Duck Tales, and, of course, Swat Kats, in my free time. I decided to write a FF about the latter show, since it was pretty cool, and it had an interesting concept. Also, because I wanted to write something different from my Marvel stories, but I'm still working on those as well.

I hope you all enjoy this first chapter, and please favorite and follow for more!

-aggiefrogger

Act One: The Arrival

Worlds Collide:

Max was already having a crappy day before he ended up in the scrap yard.

His older siblings weren't kidding about college being rough, but it seemed that he was starting to hit his first real wall at Blair College. He had major papers due on the same day in three classes, and he had two quizzes worth 20% of his grade in two other classes that day. Add that to the fact that someone had thrown up in one of the restrooms he had to clean for his student job (he was a custodian), and he had a perfect day.

At the end of the day, he straggled towards his dorm, deciding he was too tired to even call his family and say hello. Sure, his mom would be disappointed, but he'd just text her instead, claiming that he had homework (which technically wasn't a lie, but he'd still feel bad about it).

"This ain't worth it," the student muttered, kicking a can as he took a shortcut between two dorm buildings. "Even without having to pay twenty grand a year just to have anxiety is not worth-"

He stumbled back as his leg swung out, hitting something soft and large. It made a loud screeching noise, and a street cat ran out, hissing indignantly. The young man hissed back, annoyed; he hated cats, having grown up with dogs his whole life, and quickly got over this accidental kick. Cats were nasty, and it was some comfort when the small feline ran off.

"Damn animals," he muttered; he just wanted to go back to his dorm, take a shower, and go to bed. Max knew that most students would usually be partying tonight, since it was the Friday before a big game, but he just wanted to get some sleep.

Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the end of the alley. The student shielded his eyes, blinking against the sudden light.

Great, he thought, continuing to walk towards the light. Now some idiot's trying to drive down the alley. He knew they wouldn't get far; the alley was too narrow for a car to fit through, so he wasn't scared of getting hit. It was probably some clueless parents trying to visit their daughter or trying to find a place to park for tomorrow's football game.

"Hey," Max called out, walking towards the light, still shielding his eyes. "Hey, you! You can't park here! The nearest parking lot is on the other side of-"

He tripped over something, falling forward. However, the scary part was that he didn't hit the pavement, but kept falling, flipping several times in the air, feeling weightless for a few seconds.

What the f-

He landed hard on his stomach, the area suddenly brightly lit around him.

"Oww," he groaned, pushing himself up, starting when he noticed that he was no longer on pavement, but dirt. Plus, it smelled awful; like rusting metal mixed with sewage water. Blinking in the sudden light, he looked around, his mouth dropping open as he realized that he was no longer in the alleyway.

He was in some sort of scrap yard; mountains of metal bits surrounded him, towering twenty or more feet into the air. The sky was still lit, even though it was night time back on campus, and a few birds flew overhead.

"What the hell," Max muttered, pinching his arm to see if he was awake. It hurt, but it didn't prove that he wasn't asleep, since he didn't feel any different; because of course he had to be dreaming. There was no other explanation; he'd tripped in the alley, hit his head, and he was now dreaming that he was somewhere else. However, it almost scared him how realistic the setting was around him; the most noticeable feature being the smell.

"Well, if I'm stuck here," the student rationalized, "I might as well look around." Just curious, he jumped into the air, seeing if he could fly, like most people could in dreams. No such luck; looks like he had to climb the mountain of metal parts.

Max turned towards the nearest mountain of metal parts, slowly starting to climb it. The backpack on his back didn't make it easier (he had no idea why he dreamed he still had his homework), but he wasn't just gonna get rid of his backpack, whether it was real or not. As he climbed, he saw a lot of regular old devices; car parts, old fridges, broken washing machines, and a few crushed dryers. They looked pretty different from most appliances he'd seen, but he figured that since this was a dream, of course things would look a little different. Ten or so minutes later, he reached the top of the pile, staring out over the top at the setting around him.

He was right; he was in a scrap yard, and a large one, too. There were at least twenty or more of those metal mountains around him, the sun reflecting off the metal surfaces. To his left, he noticed something that looked like an auto shop, and figured that was where the scrap people probably worked. To his right, he noticed a large city in the distance, full of tall metal building that reminded the college student of a Picasso painting, they were so bizarre. In front of him, there was a pool of dirty water at the base of the mountain, a rope hanging nearby for someone to swing across.

"Wow," the young man muttered, examining the area. "This is certainly new; I must've been more tired than I thought." For some reason, he was still tired, even though he was now asleep, but he figured he should still climb down; maybe there was someone at that auto shop that could tell him where he was.

Wait, why do I care where I am if I'm just drea-

"Hey," someone yelled from his left, and he whirled around to see who had spoken.

At that moment, a piece of metal shifted underneath his feet, causing him to lose his balance. Yelping, he tried to grab the nearby rope but failed, falling off the mountain and landing in the pool beneath him.

The water closed over his head, and Max tried to swim up. He was never a strong swimmer, and was especially terrified of swimming since he nearly drowned when he was twelve. So naturally, he started to panic as he struggled to bring his head above the water, flailing around in the dirty pool.

Wait, he thought, why am I worried? If I'm just dreaming, I can't drown, right?

But the water was too cold and too real, which did little to calm him down. And if it was a dream, and he was truly terrified now, why wasn't he waking up?

"Wake up," he tried to tell himself, but water filled his mouth, and he thrashed around even more, the weight of the backpack weighing him down.

This can't be a dream, he realized, feeling his lungs scream for air. If it was a dream, I couldn't drown, right? So how am I-

Suddenly, someone roughly grabbed his arms, bringing him up above the surface. The student coughed, trying to breathe in fresh air, and vaguely heard someone breathing behind him, pulling him towards the edge of the pool.

"Hurry, Chance," someone yelled.

"I'm… tryin'... my… best," the person pulling him gasped in protest, struggling to keep them both afloat.

Eventually, they reached the edge, and Max felt someone else drag him onto solid earth. The student turned on his side, coughing up some more water (which tasted nasty), trying to purge his lungs of the liquid.

"Get that pack off of him," someone commented, and Max felt the weight of his homework being pulled off his back.

"C'mon, dude, breathe," someone else said, and he felt someone hitting his back to help him cough up the last of the water. "Were we too late?"

"Doubt it, Jake. If he's coughing up water and breathin' that must a good sign."

Eventually, the student stopped coughing, his breathing deepening as (mostly) clean air filled his lungs again. He was still hunched over, trying to calm his beating heart; it was too scary, nearly drowning for a second time, and he made a mental note to avoid all water in the future.

"You okay… sir," that Chance person asked, a note of uncertainty in his voice.

"Sir?"

"I don't know what he is! He doesn't even have a tail!"

Doesn't have a- "What're you talking about," Max groaned, turning towards the two speakers. Upon seeing them, he gave another scream, falling back in an effort to get away.

He had to be dreaming now, despite nearly drowning confirming otherwise; because, as he knew, giant talking cats didn't exist.

There were two of them, both standing on two feet as if they were human. One of them was smaller than the two, maybe five foot eight or so, and had cinnamon-colored fur. The other one was much bigger, and looked even taller than Max (who was six feet tall), and had blond fur. They both wore a pair of blue jumpsuits, like something mechanics would wear, along with backwards red baseball caps on their heads. Behind them, the student noticed two bushy tails poking out from the back of their pants. The larger one was soaking wet, indicating that he was the one that had jumped in and rescued him.

"Oh, shit," the human screamed, trying to back away, stopping as he backed into a telephone pole. "Talking cats!"

"Oh, he speaks English," the larger one commented, turning to his pal.

"Oh really, Chance? What gave you a clue," the smaller one asked sarcastically.

"Please don't hurt me," Max cried, grabbing a metal pipe from nearby and holding it in front of him like a sword. "I'm sorry for kicking that cat in the alley earlier; it was an accident!"

"Jeez, dude, we aren't gonna hurt ya," the small one said, rolling his eyes a little; hearing his voice, the college student realized that he was Jake, meaning the other must be Chance. "It'd be kinda stupid, since Chance just went through all the trouble of saving your life!"

"And I'm still learning to swim," the large cat added, wringing some water from his hat. They had four fingers on each hand, Max noticed, not paws, but they still had claws and their hands were covered with fur.

"S-S-So," the human muttered, still holding up the metal pipe, "you… you don't eat humans?"

"Is that what you're called," Chance asked, putting his wet cap back on. "We've never seen one before, and we've seen some pretty crazy stuff!"

"But… how did…" The student's brain was working hard, trying to rationalize what was happening. "I'm dreaming, right? You guys aren't real"

"I doubt it," Jake answered. "We seem pretty real to us!"

"Uugh," Max moaned, rubbing his forehead. This can't be happening, he thought. This cannot be happening! I don't like cats, and now I'm talking to two of them?! What the hell is going on?!

"Where's my backpack," he finally mumbled.

"Oh, here," Jake said, picking up the pack and carrying it to the human, who recoiled a little as the creature approached. "It's okay," the cat said kindly, setting the bag in front of him and stepping back. "It weighs a ton, which is probably why you nearly drowned."

The college student examined his backpack, noticing that it was soaking wet. He quickly opened it, finding all his notes and books, as well as his laptop, were soaking wet.

"Shit," he muttered, pulling out his copy of The Odyssey, which was soaking wet. "And this was a library book, too."

"You have libraries and books where you're from," Chance asked.

"Of course," the human said. "I'm a college student; I wouldn't survive without books!"

"You also look very similar to us," Jake commented, peering at the young man. "But you don't have any fur or a tail."

"But he does has some hair," the bigger cat pointed out, indicating to the student's head.

"So where am I," Max asked, closing his backpack and getting to his feet, trying to insert some reality into his situation.

"Megakat City Salvage Yard," the small tabby answered.

"Um… I meant what planet."

"Oh, Earth."

"E- Earth," the student commented. "But I'm from Earth, and the last time I checked, we didn't have giant talking cats that can walk and talk!"

"Well, last time we checked, we didn't have pale, fur-less creatures here, either," Chance commented, crossing his arms, looking a little miffed. "What are you supposed to be, again?"

"Human."

"Never heard of them," Jake said, shrugging. "But we've had several creatures come here from other dimensions before, so… did you recall going through a portal of some sort?"

"P-Portal," Max spluttered, looking at the two tabbys unbelieving. "Other d-dimensions? Those aren't even real! That's like something you'd find in an old ninetie's cartoon!"

"You have cartoons where you're from," Chance asked, his expression brightening. "Do you have Scaredy Kat?"

"Wait, why do you say 'nineties' as if it were in the past," Jake asked.

"Because it's in the past; it's 2019 now, and-" The student stopped talking as he saw the two cats eyes widen, starting to feel some fear in his chest as well. "Wait, why are you-"

"Its 1995 here," the small cat commented. "You're… from the future?"

Max blinked at the two of them, processing this new information. Then, to their shock, the human burst into laughter.

"Oh, hell no," he laughed, snickering a little. "You… you mean to tell me that I, what, traveled through a portal to another dimension with talking cats, as well as gone back in time twenty-four years?!" He laughed again, running a hand through his hair. "Somebody better wake me up right now before I-"

Chance's fist suddenly shot out, hit the college student's face, and he fell over, unconscious.

"Chance," Jake snapped indignantly, glaring at his friend. "What the heck was that for?!"

"What," the large tabby asked. "His laughing scared me, and I figured that would be enough to show him he wasn't asleep."

"But now we've gotta carry him back to the shop!"

"Oh… right." He looked down at the unconscious human, nudging him with his boot. "And he's no featherweight, I tell you that!"

"He's still smaller than you," the smaller tabby commented, grabbing the backpack.

"Shut up," Chance muttered, groaning as he hefted the human over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "But in all seriousness, how do you think he got here?"

"It had to have be a portal; I mean, how else could he have gotten here? He seems disoriented, and that's a usual sign of most of the creatures that come through the portal."

"That's true, but this guy seems different." The two best friends were now walking back towards their garage, both struggling under their burdens. "He's… smarter than most of the monsters and stuff that come through portals."

"And more articulate, too," Jake added. "And to think, he seemed to think we were the monsters!"

"Yeah," Chance laughed. "But we'd probably think the same if we ended up in a dimension full of these human creatures! Speaking of which, what should we do with him?"

"Leave him on the couch, I guess," Jake suggested. "We could set out his backpack and stuff to dry, but he'll need to shower and maybe a new change of clothes." He looked at his friend. "My clothes would be too small on him, and he's closer to your size-"

"No."

"But Chance-"

"I ain't givin' him my clothes!"

"At least give him an old jumpsuit and a t-shirt," his friend snapped. "We can dry out his shoes, and you know I'd give him clothes if he wasn't bigger than me!"

"Fine," the large cat relented, shifting his weight as he tried to ignore the load on his shoulder. "Can't believe we're helping this guy."

"Hey, we're Swat Kats, remember," Jake said, smiling a little. "It's what we do!"

Chance glanced at his friend, smiling as well. "Yeah. Helpin' others, even if they've got a mouth on them!"