Yeah. I know I said I'd be quicker with these things, but I've been busy! Nya! :P Well, anywayz, here's number 3! Yay!! SWAT Kats: The New Breed. Pt.3: Why Do They Rock So Hard? When we last left Chance and Mike, they were on their way to get Mike's 4X4, which had decided it wanted to be annoying and blow a head, at least, that's what Mike believes to be the trouble... Crash went on his way to renew his friendship with Stacie Feral, whom he had not seen for a while... and what about J.P. and Adam? Think they'll get into too much stuff in the hanger...? Finally, and this is an easy one: Jake is still in snoozevile. Let's get to Chance and Mike and see how they're doing... "There it is. Over there," Mike tells Chance, pointing to the huge-tired Bronco II parked on the side of the highway. Chance nods. "Got it." He gets off of the highway, and gets onto the onramp heading back to MKC, stopping in front of the red Bronco. He and Mike jump out. "Pop the hood. Lemme take a look," Chance says to Mike, who's looking for the doorlock keychain. "Uh oh..." he mutters. "Uh oh? I hate the sound of that. What's wrong?" "I think I left the power door lock switch at the garage..." he explains, as a look of annoyance and frustration spreads across Chance's face as the cold October winds start whipping. "Don't worry. I might just have it and just keep missing it. Hold on," Mike says to Chance, hoping he doesn't blow a gasket, like his Bronco... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in Megakat City, Crash makes his way to Enforcer HQ, where Stacie is getting ready to go on his usual break for lunch and a little driving through town. "Here you are sir," a middle-aged secretary says, handing him a sign-out paper so it's known he'll gone for a half-hour. "Thanks Millie. Now, what should I have... huh?" He looks outside, thinking he saw a familiar, red hatchback Daytona zoom by. He sighs. "For a second there, I thought I saw Crash's car... Oh well," he thinks to himself, getting a large winter coat with an Enforcer symbol on the back. He heads out to the parking garage. Just as he gets to his car, he sees a car he recognizes parked next to his. Suddenly, two paws cover his eyes! "Guess who!" Stacie first freaks out at the shock of being scared, then busts out laughing. "Umm... a young friend of mine that should know better 'cause he knows that if he does that again, he'll get his TAIL KICKED?" "Nope! Try again! Okay, here's a hint!" the voice says, spinning Stacie around to meet him face to face. The face is... Crash! "Oh. It's only you, Crash..." Stacie says with a smirky grin. "You do that again, and you'll pay!" "Cash or credit?" Crash responds, giving Stacie a hug afterwards. Stacie responds in kind. "Missed ya man!" Stacie tells him, obviously happy to see his friend. Crash looks Stacie up and down after the hug is over. "So, the little pipsqueak for a Feral finally GREW some!" he jokes, looking over the tall, lanky son of Feral that really doesn't look all that much LIKE the elder Feral at all! "Yep! Just shows ya what happens when you have too much of a good thing, and let me tell ya, all that weightlifting, exercise, and chowing on snacks all the time'll do ya good!" he jokes. "So, whatcha doing in MKC?" "Your tape. I finally checked my e-mail and watched it," he says, getting serious. "Ohhh. You okay from it? I know it musta been hard for ya to watch it," Stacie says, sounding sympathetic. "Yeah, but it's okay. At least I know a BIT of what happened..." Suddenly, Stacie's eyes light up. "Oh yeah! Got some stuff to give ya!" Crash looks at him, puzzled. "Huh? What do ya mean?" "Shh! Not here. Let's go somewhere that Steele can't come and annoy us, and besides... this is kinda top secret," he tells Crash, who is still puzzled, but curious about what Stacie has that he's so secretive about. Stacie gets in his car. "Let's go to the docks. I'll explain there." Crash nods and they head off. As the head off, someone watches, intently, and he follows them, also curious. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back at the hanger... ::The writer, yours truly, chuckles and snickers for some reason.:: "No no no... YES!! Take that! Hah! *BOOM* Dangit!" J.P. mutters as he gets blown off into space as little pieces of rubble in Chance's Spacekat arcade game. "What's the matter? Ya find out you suck at those games?" Adam jokes, snickering at J.P.'s problems. Then, he focuses back to something in his paws. "Whatcha got...? Um... are you supposed to be messing around with that?" J.P. says, wondering what the heck Adam's doing with a glovatrix. "Eh... They won't have a fit. I won't mess it up," he says, fiddling with it. Suddenly, an octopus missile fires, latching onto J.P.'s foot, and holding it to the floor. J.P. winces in terror, and when he finds out he's just fine, he gives Adam a look that you'd not like to see... "You may not mess the GLOVATRIX up, but if you ever mess ME up..." "Um..." Adam starts running, making sure to put the glovatrix where he found it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back along the side of the road, Mike has found the keychain. "Aha! Here it is! I put it in my secret pocket!" he cheers as Chance rolls his eyes. Mike presses a button, and all the doors unlock, and open up to boot! "As Crash's bro would say, Bingo." Chance looks under the hood. "Hmmm... yup. Busted head," he confirms, noticing a weird wetness on the engine and around the tailpipe. "Tough luck, but don't worry. I'm sure we've got one around the yard somewhere, and if we don't, I can try fixing this one." "Thanks man. Um, I got a question for ya." "Fire away." "Just how do ya think Jake's gonna act when we ask about me and the others becoming SWAT Kats?" "I think he'll, like me, want to make sure you can handle the rigors of being a SWAT Kat, and if you seem good enough, then I'd say you're in." "That easy?" Chance looks up at him. "Far from it. Being a SWAT Kat isn't an easy job. You can either take the pressure or you're not good enough. Personally, at times, me and Jake have found ourselves upset, down, under major pressure... we've almost DIED out there for God's sake!" "Wow. Jeez. I knew it was tough, but coming from you..." "It's because I've been in that situation. I know from experience." "I guess. Well, are we all set?" "Yep! Let's get this big thing back to the garage!" Chance says, hopping into the tow truck. Mike follows his lead, but stops. "Oops! Forgot something!" "What is it?" Mike presses a few buttons on the keychain. Weird sounds come from the wheels. "Wheel locks. Whew... good thing I remembered that!" "Don't forget to put it in neutral too!" Chance yells out to Mike. "Yeah yeah..." is Mike's response, and he puts it into neutral. He hops back into the tow truck. "We all set?" "Yep!" Chance starts raising the front end of the Bronco for towing, but... *CA-RASH* The truck comes back down with a bang. Chance gets out to inspect it. "Well, uh... heh... I guess it wasn't totally secured...," Chance says sheepishly. Mike gives him his "Don't even TRY it!" look. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back at the hangar... "Hey Adam! Check this out!" J.P. yells, making Adam come in a flash, of course. "What is it?" he says, wearing the glovatrix again. J.P. motions for him to take it off, to which Adam obeys. "Okay, it's off, now whatcha want... oh... heh... cool....," he says, looking at the Turbomole. "Nice set 'o treads! Sure an easy way to get through traffic!" J.P. says from the driver's seat. "This would be a blast to drive!" Adam steps back. "Please... don't touch anything..." "Oh stop it! I'm not gonna do anything!" he says, getting out. As he gets out, he turns it on and it backs into the wall. Adam jumps into it and finds the switches to shut it off. "Um..." J.P. backs away. "I'm gonna hurt you. BAD!" he says, going after J.P., who has already ran off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the docks... Crash is finding out just what Stacie has discovered... "Dad wanted me to work on his files a bit, not knowing I could get into his private stuff," Stacie tells Crash. "What didja find?" Crash asks, very curious. "Well, it seems that the machine they were working on was some kinda inter-dimensional portal device. Apparently, it worked, since we have proof it did... The machine was destroyed in a bomb blast that occurred a few minutes after the security cam was destroyed. Two skeletons were found inside the room when it was finally unsealed... the heat had melted every last bit of plastic in the room and welded the doors shut... the hard copy of your dad's work is now at two places - Pumadyne itself and at Enforcer headquarters. "How can I get my paws on the plans? I want to rebuild dad's work and see if I can't find where he is... " Stacie hands him two discs. "This one has the plans copied to it, and this one has an advanced version of our virus killer prog." "How in the heck did you improve it?" "I found flaws in it that I repaired, and I added some technology from some other progs that are good, so now there are more ways to kill a virus," Stacie says with a smile. "Too bad it don't work against low cash flow bugs..." "Oh well. So, anyway, have you heard from Melanie in awhile?" "Nope, Ms. Manx has been silent. I miss her..." Crash looks down, kinda bummed. As the boys talk about things, The Pastmaster has been listening to the conversation, and is now contemplating the situation. "A device that can take one to another dimension... hmmm... interesting. I think I shall find a way to get this device, and use it for myself...," he says to himself, disappearing into a portal. Crash looks back. "Did you hear that?" Stacie nods. "Talk about weird... oh well. Let's get going back to headquarters." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When they get back... "Mister Feral! Where have you been? You TOTALLY went too far THIS time... Going out, not telling anyone, and to make matters worse, you were supposed to be back FIFTEEN MINUTES ago!" a VERY annoyed and bossy Lt. Steele yells at Stacie as he and Crash walk back into Enforcer HQ, still talking and so on. "Well excuse me, lieutenant, but I distinctly left a message for my dad that I would be going out a little while and who cares if I'm a little late! My dad's not gonna throw me offa the force for that!" "We'll see about that! I am sick of you-" "Well maybe you oughta quit being such a know-it-all, or at least a THINKS-he-DOES, and butt out of other kat's lives, capiche?" Crash mutters VERY audibly, which sends Steele into a stammer fit, after which he storms off. Stacie looks at Crash, wide eyed, and then laughs a bit. "Holy kats... you made motormouth shut up... it's impossible..." "I have that effect on some kats like that...," he says, smirking widely. "Well, I gotta be off, to see if my bro woke up yet. See ya later, Stace!" "See ya, Crash!" As he leaves, Commander Feral walks up to Stacie. "And where have you been, son?" "Just spending some quality time with Crash." "Crash? He's back in town? Well then, next time you see him, tell him I said hello, okay?" "Sure thing pops." Stacie says, smiling, to which the Commander smiles back and gives his son a slight hug and noogie. Aww... how sweet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While all this has been going on, things have been getting very cozy between the Metallikats and Hard Drive... "Okay. The virus is all ready to go, and I expect you have some kinda plan, right?" "You got it, Sparky. With a disk we stole from Hackle a long while ago, we have the means to construct a ton of robot soldiers to keep the SWAT Kats and the Enforcers busy while we loot the city," Mac tells Hard Drive as Molly controls a set of machines that are constructing the drones in large numbers. "I expect I'll get paid a large amount for this, right? I mean, without my virus, this couldn't be possible." "Yeah, yeah! You'll get yer pay! Just make sure you don't doublecross us or else...," Molly threatens. Suddenly, the room's halfway dim light suddenly gets overshadowed as a portal appears in the middle of the room. "You three seem to have a very lucrative plan going now. I think I shall join you in this plot...," the Pastmaster says as he steps out from the portal. "All I ask is to be able to break into Enforcer Headquarters. They have plans for a device I would like to have in my grasp." "Enforcer Headquarters, eh? Well, if you go there, I shall have to go with you, since I have wanted to see what I can steal from their database..." Hard Drive says, thinking out loud. "Hold it one sec! Why should we let YOU in on our plans?" Molly suddenly bursts out. "Because, if you let me in, I may have a way of taking over the entire city and GUARANTEEING the destruction of those accursed SWAT Kats," he says confidently. Mac and Molly talk things over. "Okay, you're in. If you try anything stupid, though..." "Now, why would I do something like that?" The four exchange looks, and then they nod in agreement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back at the garage... Crash pulls back into the driveway. "Looks quiet... no explosions or absolute mayhem... that's a good sign," he says to himself as he gets out of his car and heads inside. As he steps in, some distinctive snoring is heard. "He STILL hasn't gotten up? My god...." He heads to Jake's bedroom and opens the door and he finds Jake sprawled out on the bed, still soundly snoring away. "Looks like it's time to apply the alarm clock riff technique." A few minutes later... "Uuurrrgh...." Crash groans as he lugs in one of the largest amplifiers the band owns, and he sets it in the doorway of Jake's bedroom. "Wakey wakey, Jakey..." He plugs in the guitar, and turns it on, and releases a barrage of LOUD, PIERCING guitar riffs, sending Jake abruptly jumping off the bed and onto the floor! As he recovers from the freight train of sound, Jake gets up and sees Crash standing in the doorway just smiiiiling. "When I get my senses back, I'm gonna hurt you, little brother." "Now now... you're not supposed to kill your little brother. Ya do and mom'll have SUCH a fit!" Jake goes over to the amp, pulls it out of the way, and proceeds to hug-knuckle sandwich his little brother quite brotherly. (Author has a smirky grin.) "Great to see ya, Crashie." "Same here, Jakey. Gee, we talk SO cute..." he says, making Jake smile. "So, where's the rest of your band?" "I'm guessing Chance and Mike still aren't back from getting the 4X4 from the side of the road, and the wonder twins, as we like ta call 'em, well... I danno." "Maybe they went to check the hanger out." "Uh oh... I forgot I left them there." "What's so bad about that?" Jake asks as they go down to the hanger. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Down in the hanger, the boys try to clean up their mess of cement, spilled parts, and a bit of a misguided missile... "No, that goes here!" "No! Here!" "Excuse me, I know where trash goes, and this is a trash can." "A trash can that says 'From Razor, with love'? I'm thinking no." "Oh fine." Adam and J.P. have the place mostly cleaned now, but... "AHEM," Jake and Crash both, at the same time, say, and the "wonder twins" look at them, and they look quite embarrassed. "Uhm... Hi Crash! When did ya get home? Uhm, this your brother? Hi! My name's Adam!" the kat with the big ole innocent grin says quite quickly, heading to meet them. And so they meet, and it's not pretty. Adam and J/P have some serious cleaning up to do still. Chance and Mike still haven't returned, though. Wonder what's going on... "Traffic jam, of course." Right Chance, right. I know. Now, as to the plans The Mks, Hard Drive, and the Pastmaster have cooked up... well, let's say it's not gonna be fun. "I should think NOT." "'Scuse me, Mac, but I'm busy. Don't make me kick your tin can." "Like you could. Oh fine, I'm going." Thank you. Well, that ends this part! See ya!