E-mail: Bosco_Gurl@hotmail.com

Rating: K+

Summary: How did Chance take to hearing about them crashing in ‘A Bright and Shiny Future?’

Author Note: Well hello, guys (waves). This one kind of came out of no where actually wrote it within an hour, so hope you like it. I was watching “A Bright and Shiny Future” and I just watched T-Bone’s feature and an idea sparked. So hope you like it! So enjoy!!! BTW, the words in italics are words used in the episode.

Disclaimer: Do not own anything, not making any money!

Weight of the World

The Turbokat glided into the closed runway coming to a soft stop as the lift then activated bringing the jet to the upper hanger, spinning and coming to a loud halt. Razor waited for T-Bone to activate the canopy release button, so they both could climb out. But silence was coming from the front of the cockpit, and the only view Razor had was the back portion of T-Bone, and all he was doing was just sitting there.

They had a rough night, more so than usual. That night they had been thrown into the future to find things had been changed drastically. The Pastmaster had struck a deal with the Metallikats, which allowed them to take over the city. Everything they knew was gone. The Salvage Yard, their home, was turned into a slave camp. Its sore purpose was to make more robots, to enslave even more kats. It was a hellish nightmare, brought right out of a horror movie.

That hadn’t even been the worst part for them. When they were forced to make an emergency landing, due to being struck a few glancing blows while fighting off the robots that wanted their tails, they ended up crashing in the Megakat Swamp where they soon quickly meet up with the refugees that had been in hiding.

It was amazing for Razor and T-Bone. The ones they had known and had treasured and sworn to protect were now complete strangers to them. They had their bodies, sure, but they had aged. With years passing by slowly for them, they had become hardened from fighting for so long, just trying to survive. Their young faces now old and wrinkled from age and worry.

Razor’s thoughts were quickly interrupted with the sound of the canopy snapping open as T-Bone began climbing out. He still wasn’t saying anything, and Razor couldn’t blame him. Climbing out himself, Razor slowly became Jake as T-Bone became Chance. Jake looked over at Chance, as he slowly closed his locker with a soft click. He turned around and walked to the ladder and climbed it and opened up the secret door.

Jake followed pursuit and finally came up from the hanger, closing the door and throwing the rug over the entrance to the hanger. At first Jake thought Chance had gone to bed, but when he walked towards the TV room he was startled to see Chance was just sitting there staring at the blank television set. Jake wasn’t sure if he should just leave his buddy to his own thoughts or go and sit with him. He knew what was troubling his best friend.

Deciding that Chance needed some company he sat down sinking into the coach, and also stared at the blank box sitting in front of them. Jake stole a quick glance at his buddy and saw his eyes were not after all staring at the TV, but he was looking down at something on the carpet.

Jake’s eyes traveled back and was lost in thoughts. He could hear Hackle talking about how the Metallikats had begun taking over the city through his robot kats. Turning them bad, and having them terminate anybody that resisted them. They, their future selves, had tried to help the resistance, but it wasn’t enough. Jake could remember seeing tears coming to Callie’s eyes as Hackle then told them, “Nothing could stop them, not even the Swat Kats.” Hackle continued explaining how everybody watched as their jet had been struck twice, and then smashed into the Mayor’s office. Killed. Both of them never made it out of the jet and with them they took the only hope Megakat City had of fighting off the robots.

He caught the twitch in Chance’s ear, when they were told what had happened to them. He had been standing behind the tabby, so Jake wasn’t sure what his face was projecting but Jake was pretty sure it didn’t show any emotion. Jake knew nobody had caught it, and he was pretty sure even his buddy didn’t know.

“I killed us.”

Jake’s eyes immediately caught Chance’s features as he was still staring at the same spot he had been doing for the last few minutes. At first Jake wasn’t sure Chance had even spoken, that maybe it was some kind figment of his imagination. That he had made up what Chance had said, but he knew that wasn’t true.

“No you didn’t.” Jake felt himself wince on that one, 'Nice going, could have made it sound a little more convincing,’ he thought. He was still staring at his buddy when Chance met his eyes and pain was the only thing visible, nothing else. Then it was gone, he closed his eyes turned his head. He sat there for another second, shook his head as he got up and walked into his bedroom slamming the door.

Jake felt his shoulders droop a little more, wondering how he was going to convince his partner that it wasn’t his fault.

~*~*~*

Chance felt his body hit the bed as one arm hung over the edge, as he stuffed his face into his pillow. The same image kept playing over and over in his mind, it was like he had a mini movie in his head and it was on replay forever looping again and again. Turning his face finally after no longer being able to stand holding his breathe, and sucking in fresh air.

“I saw it with my own eyes, your jet exploded! How did you two hotshots manage to get out?”

Growling he turned around trying to shake the thoughts from his head, hearing Feral’s voice loud and clear in his mind.

“We thought you two were dead.” Callie’s voice smooth.

Sitting up in bed and putting his feet onto the ground he sat there again. Guilt was haunting him and was refusing to leave him. He could see their jet; his pride and joy get hit. Him losing control, and trying to gain back power and pull them out of the danger.

‘Why didn’t they,’ Chance smirked at that sudden thought. ‘They? When did we suddenly become, they?’ Looking up and catching the stars outside his windows, he knew deep down why they didn’t eject from the Turbokat. It was because of him. Razor, his buddy would want to, knowing better that if you lose one battle you end up winning the war but you have to survive the first battle. Razor could admit defeat when he saw it and knew the Turbokat could be rebuilt, just knew it would take a lot of time.

He knew what his future self was thinking. That he could pull them out of another close call, that he would rather die in his jet, quick and painless then to die any other way. It’s what a pilot can only wish for when you’re up in the air facing impossible odds. Nothing was like it, cheating death as you narrowly escape being blown out of the sky. Because of that stubbornness of wanting to die in a blaze of glory, he would end up killing his partner, his best friend. Jake.

Chance got up and walked to his mirror and glared at himself, as though by doing this he could change something inside of him. Once again he saw the Turbokat struggling to regain altitude and then black smoke trailing from the engines, crippled and bleeding as he tried to save his beloved jet. Then the jetfighter exploded in his mind as it did for the 100th time that night in his mind. Screaming out of frustration he brought his fist back and struck the mirror hard making it slam into the wall behind it and sending shards of glass everywhere as Chance stood there.

Jake had gone to the bathroom cleaning his teeth, and had just gotten out of the bathroom and was making his way towards his own room when he heard a loud scream and a crashing sound come from Chance’s room. He didn’t even hesitate to open the door quickly and turn on the light. Chance was standing with his chest heaving from rage, the mirror shattered into millions of pieces all over the drawer. He put two and two together; he then glanced down to see that Chance’s paw was bleeding, as drops of blood began to trickle down his knuckles and onto the floor.

He wasn’t sure how to approach the wild tabby, who was still standing there acting as though at any minute he could strike the same spot where the mirror used to be. Then suddenly his entire posture changed as his ears slumped as did his shoulders and his tail stopped moving furiously. This was the vulnerable Chance, the one that nobody saw, and the one that reminded Jake of being a helpless and lost kitten.

Moving slowly he walked into the room, the soft step from the boards could be heard and Chance glanced up. He let out a sigh. “I taught the mirror a lesson.”

Jake took another look at the thing once called a mirror and nodded his head in agreement. “You sure did, and that sure looks like a nasty cut you have there.”

For the first time, as though Chance hadn’t noticed it or felt it before, he brought it up watching as the blood still continued to drip off his paw. He shrugged.

Jake then moved his head, “Come on, let's get that cleaned up.”Turning around, Chance moved behind him and they made it to the kitchen where Jake pulled out the first aid kit. He then slowly got to work on his buddy’s paw, being careful not to cause more pain to the tabby as he stopped the bleeding and patched him up.

Chance brought his paw close to his body, moving his wrist and then closed his fists to test to see if it would cause any more pain. When it didn’t he glanced up and softly mumbled, “thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Jake and Chance caught each other’s eyes, and no words had to be spoken. Chance just nodded his head and got up and then went to his bedroom closing the door slowly this time instead of slamming it. Jake just sat at the table, knowing fully what Chance had said without having to speak any words. He slowly nodded his own head, and then went to bed, and the Salvage Yard became silent. The only thing you could hear was the soft snoring coming from both Jake and Chance’s rooms.

The End.