Hey, Readers! Here's Chapter 14, which I'm posting along with Chapter 13 for your Thanksgiving Break enjoyment!
For the main Thanksgiving message, see Chapter 13.
Enjoy the chapter! Also, shout out to 3D-FragMast3r, the eighth person to follow this story! Thank you for your support!
-aggiefrogger
New Years Reflections:
Johnny POV:
It wasn't until after New Years that the steady stream of villains returned to Megakat City, as if they'd been hibernating through the festive part of winter. In fact, the day after Johnny returned from visiting his family, the Swat Kats (including their new member) saved Mayor Manx from Morbulus, and the kamerakat was forced to cover that instead of going to Movie Night. He later apologized to Max and the mechanics, but they were understanding; he had a job, and between watching a movie and seeing the Swat Kats fight crime on TV, they'd choose the latter.
It was Johnny's first time seeing the new Swat Kat up close; the first time the new member had gone public, the trio had disappeared before he or Ann could get a glimpse of them. However, since the fight against Morbulus had made its way into the street in front of the Mayoral building, he was able to get a good look at the new tabby.
For one crazy second, he thought it was Max, since the feline didn't have a tail, but it couldn't be the human; this new member obviously was a kat, given the shape of his head, and he had four fingers like all kats. Besides, whoever this new kat was, they were faster and more agile than Max; so fast, in fact, that sometimes they were like a blur. And, of course, that would've meant that Jake and Chance were also Swat Kats, but they didn't know anything more than how to fix cars and bikes, which made that highly unlikely.
The only odd thing about the Swat Kat was the fact that they wore a uniform that covered their whole body, leaving no fur visible. They were probably paranoid about being recognized, unlike the original Swat Kats, who weren't scared to show some fur, but based on the kat's missing tail, they were probably scared of some kat figuring out who they were.
This kat's fighting style was also different from Razor's and T-Bone's. This new kat, Lonestar, wasn't afraid to get up close and personal, and used a retractable bo staff full of hidden tricks to take down his enemies. He seemed more like a ninja than a Swat Kat, even using a smoke bomb to blind Morbulus before taking him down. It surprised Johnny, since he thought that the kat would probably work better alone, but he still followed the original Swat Kats, assisting Razor as he disabled the bomb that the villain had planted on the side of the building.
They also learned that he was the silent type; whenever he and Ann went up to interview the Swat Kats after a defeat, the third member stood slightly behind them, not offering a comment when asked. However, he still seemed friendly (though they couldn't see his face), giving them a small wave as the trio took off in the Turbokat.
All in all, the newest Swat Kat member was mysterious, skilled, and probably what the City needed at this time, in the tan tabby's opinion.
Kitty Karrington POV:
Kitty was scared.
It had started a few weeks ago, around early to mid-November. Every week it seemed another homeless kat went missing. No warning, no explanation. They just… vanished, as if they'd never existed. First was Old Kat Karaval, then Mags, and then, to Kitty's horror, the two kitten twins that performed on street corners for money, Ash and Ashera.
Being homeless herself, she was naturally frightened, even more so when the News barely seemed to care about it. Why would they; Megakat City had hundreds of homeless in her area alone (the homeless shelters and soup kitchens could only handle so much), and with super villains and mutant monsters attacking the city every week, a few missing felines probably warranted little care.
However, she made sure that she was safe; she moved around, avoiding the areas where kats were vanishing (which were starting to grow more numerous), and stayed in groups, since there was safety in numbers. She wouldn't get taken; she was a survivor, since she'd gotten this far, and she refused to get taken. She wouldn't get taken!
Until one night, shortly after the New Year, she was.
Feral POV:
Commander Feral was annoyed, to say the least, about the newest Swat Kat member. As if two vigilantes that made him look stupid was bad enough, now there were three.
Crud.
What's even worse, this new member was particularly diligent with keeping his identity a secret; Feral barely heard him speak the first time they met, but after that, they remained silent, not responding to the Head Enforcer's questions. It reminded him of an angsty teenager, but this kat was somehow able to take down Dark Kat on his own in about five minutes, which was something even the original Swat Kats couldn't do on their own.
However, the new member had one feature that they couldn't hide; their lack of a tail. Given their stamina and skill, whatever feline was under the mask wasn't sick, but had probably lost their tail in an accident or from a birth defect. Fortunately, that was easy to check, and the Head Enforcer started to go around Megakat City, looking for the kat; if he found out who Lonestar was, he would find out who Razor and T-Bone were. Felina had joked that he was acting like that prince from Cinderella, but he ignored her; she was a good Enforcer, but if she ever wanted to take his place someday, she needed to stop joking around.
He'd already been to a dozen homes, but with no success. All the tailless tabbys he interrogated were either too old, too young, out of shape, or had some sort of alibi that proved they weren't fighting crime with the Swat Kats. However, he did learn one interesting fact.
"He's a good kat," one of the kats he'd interrogated told him, an ashy grey kat that was currently studying to be a lawyer; he obviously didn't have time to be a vigilante hero. "Besides, it feels good that he's not scared to hide his missing tail. Most of us wear fake tails in public because we're ashamed, but this Lonestar… he's pretty brave; just like Razor and T-Bone!"
"If they're so brave," Feral replied curtly, heading towards the front door, "they'd fight crime without masks!"
Ann POV:
When Callie told Ann her suspicions about the newest Swat Kat member, the reporter was surprised, though not for long. It made sense, when she thought about it, but now it made things more confusing. Who was this mysterious future kat, and why were they allowed to become a Swat Kat?
Whoever it was, they were agile as hell; Lonestar moved so fast, he was like a blur, taking down bad guys and thugs with skill and ease. With his bo staff and full-body uniform, the future tabby was like a ninja, disappearing and reappearing in and out of smoke bombs. Also, the kat was silent whenever she tried to talk to him, only communicating via hand signals with Razor and T-Bone, who somehow understood what he meant. They'd probably planned that from the beginning, and it was a little infuriating that she couldn't decipher what they were saying. He also didn't have a tail, but seeing that he was from the future, and only she, Callie, Felina, and the Swat Kats knew this, that fact didn't seem relevant.
Callie, meanwhile, was determined to find out who this feline was. Ann had done her best to help, but came up with nothing; only one professor, a Dr. Viverral Void, had worked on inter-dimensional and time travel in the past, but his work had failed, and when she went to visit the retired kat on his private island home, he could barely hear her. According to his butler, he was obviously old and senile, and blind, given the thick goggles he wore. However, she didn't give up; she kept her eye out, hoping that somekat, a scientist preferably, would be able to help her, while reporting the News: a monster attack on Tuesday, missing homeless kats, Pastmaster trying to destroy the city for the ten thousandth time, and boring speeches from Mayor Manx, trying to get kats to vote for him at the next election that was months away.
In the meantime, however, she started dating Johnny. He'd come to her apartment a few days before Christmas, giving her a present and confessing his feelings for her. She told him she'd think about it, then closed the door before she lost it. The gift was nice; it was a fancy container of that Christmas popcorn she loved so much, and throughout the holidays, she snacked on the savory treat while she collected her thoughts. Finally, after New Years, she made a resolution, called him up, and set up a date for that Saturday.
Now they were an item; Johnny was funny, sweet, and since he worked with her, it wasn't awkward trying to find topics of conversation, since they knew each other so well. He obviously liked her, and Ann felt the same way, surprised at how long she'd kept these feelings under wraps. Callie and Felina were thrilled when she told them, though the latter offered to run a background check on him.
Thinking back to her childhood, the she-kat was glad that she finally had someone in her life that not only was her friend, but made her truly happy. Her mom had told her to focus on her career before she found somekat, meaning she grew up home schooled and alone, but she was glad that they were together, walking hand-in-hand down the street as he walked her home after a day of work before going to his own apartment.
Max POV:
Max was amazed; it was now 1996. 1996! Even though Kat New Years was like human New Years, it was still bizarre, thinking about how long he'd been here, but by now, he'd started to prepare himself for what seemed to be the inevitable: being stuck here for the rest of his life.
It was tough, thinking about being 43 by the time it reached 2019 again, but it was even more concerning to think about the fact that he may have to stay inside for the rest of his life. Well, at least he could go outside as a Swat Kat, and bundled up when it was really cold. However, Megakat City's cold season only lasted for about six to eight weeks each year, meaning that the other ten months would be tough.
At least he had Chance and Jake, and Johnny when he came to visit. While they were older than him, they were still in their twenties, so they sometimes acted like college students: Max and the mechanics hung out, slept in, played video games and watched movies, and fought crime in secret while the kamerakat unknowingly reported their antics.
Yep. Regular life stuff.
However, Jake and Chance could be serious when they needed to be. This was mainly in training, and even the large tabby was no longer joking around as much as he used to as they worked on punches, hand-to-hand combat, and, surprisingly, public relations.
Since there was still the slim chance that Johnny, Ann, or the Metallikats might recognize his voice, the two felines had decided that he'd be quiet whenever the News kats were nearby. Sure, Callie, Feral, and all those Mint employees had heard him, but there was no threat there, since they didn't know him before he became Lonestar. The only time he spoke was during combat, since they needed to communicate when fighting villains; with the cameras at a safe distance, he had no fear of being recognized . But as soon as the villain was defeated, it was back to being mute. Max didn't mind, though, and even came up with simple hand gestures between him and the two kats for the fun of it; it would also be useful if they were ever in a situation where talking was dangerous.
The young man still brought his phone with him, more out of habit of having it on his person at all times, but he didn't really use it after that first fight with Dark Kat. But in case he ever ran into those Creeplings again, he'd be ready. He hadn't needed to use Jake's sound weapon yet, but he got plenty of use out of the smoke bombs, which was handy in blinding his opponents before attacking them up close. Max tended to fight in closer quarters while the Swat Kats preferred to attack from afar before resorting to moving closer.
Of course, it being a New Year (despite not technically being born yet), the teen made some resolutions. He completed one a few weeks into January, when he sneaked out one night, went over to Burke and Murray's hut (they lived in a small shack-like home half a mile from the Salvage Yard that was just as grimy and smelly as they were), and splattered various cans of paint all over the outside of their house. Yeah, it was stupid and dumb, especially since somekat could've seen him in the Salvage Yard truck at one AM, but he'd promised himself that he'd get those two back for messing with his friends, and he did. By the time they woke up, the paint was dried, and their hut looked like an abstract atrocity.
But life went on; the couch was very comfortable (for a couch), and Max read and reread all the comics that Chance had given him. One day, he decided to wear his new sunglasses all day, even indoors, just to see how Johnny did it, but quit after half an hour, stuck with a wicked headache for the rest of the day. And, of course, whenever the siren wailed, he raced down to the lair, changed into his uniform, and took off in the plane with Razor and T-Bone.
Though, of course, he now prayed before each mission. Just in case it was his last.
Dr. Void POV:
He stared at his child, a sense of pride in his heart, as it tore into it's latest meal, the screams having been cut off a minute prior.
Out of all of his children, this one was by far his favorite. It was stronger, faster, and bigger than any of the others, though it had an annoying habit of craving kat meat. However, seeing as how this one was to be the leader of his group, he indulged it, though he was still trying to wean the creature of the fresh meat; besides, once he commenced the next phase, it would no longer be a savage beast.
In theory.
He didn't even remember the human's name, and the new kat creature didn't either. It had resisted him at first, but eventually, via electroshock therapy via a collar, the monster learned to obey, and, over time, slowly grew to love his master, only ceasing his tantrums when ordered by Void to do so. The creature even cared about his master, which was good; any sense of disloyalty, and the scientist would have to kill him, meaning the last four months would've been a waste.
Now, as the monster finished the last of his meal, nothing left but a few scraps and a lot of blood, the creature slowly crawled towards the bars of the cage, peering out at the kat that stood there, the goggles reflecting his glowing eyes.
"Good kitty," Void said, reaching through and patting the creature on the head, causing it to purr happily as he rubbed the monster's head.
"Don't worry, my pet," the scientist whispered, lovingly continuing to stroke his creation. "Soon, you shall be free."
Hope you enjoyed this little chapter! Figured that with kats going missing, someone would notice, so I added the Kitty addition.
And, on note with Max's view, I am in NO WAY encouraging people to damage property and/or hurt anyone else to get revenge.
Also, I have good news: the next few chapters will be another multi-part, multi-chapter story line! Haven't done one in a while (not since Halloween), but I'm excited for these next few chapters. Not gonna go into details, but I'll give you the title; I think you'll find it very interesting!
Next: UTTER TURMOIL: PART 1
Note: Also, I'm aware that Morbulus kinda died in the show (I think?), but seeing as how it's the Swat Kats, and based on a Ninetie's show, I brought him back. He was kinda cool, and he deserved to be in this story.
Review, Favorite and Follow, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Don't die trying to get Black Friday deals!
