> >SwatKats: The Gathering #6: Backgrounds >by Ace > >Notes and stuff: > >Hey! Contest Here! I'm putting in a quote at the beginning of each chapter, and the person who emails >me with the most detailed and correct answers gets to have/be a character in one of my future stories (Kat >Dwarf #1). Example: > >"Giant Monster of the Week" > >The correct answers are: > >SwatKats >SwatKats: Unlikely Alloys >SwatKats: Unlikely Alloys: Razor > >The best answer is the last one, because it's the most specific. > >All quotes are from TV, Musicals, or CD's. Answers will be revealed in an `edited' version that will be >released after a winner has been selected. All answers must be in by the time "Barry Gordon Gets a Vocal >Cyst" comes out (appx. 3 weeks: I have SK:TG #seven to right first.) > >What you need to have read for the series: > >SwatKats: The Gathering #1-5 > >This story's for: > > -everyone who's written a part of this so far > -dj > -the sk rpg > -all my influences > >The rating is PG-13 or so because it handles subjects that you can only cover in classes that need a parent's signature for you to have, and has a couple naughty words in it. > >Let's begin, shall we? > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter One >260026002600260026002600260026002600 [edited out for content] >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Two >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"Did you ever see the faces of the children? > They get so excited." > > Christmas time was approaching. Jake had always liked the Christmas season, even though he was Jewish. People always seemed to be nicer, and since he moved out from the Salvage yard, life was >getting a bit calmer. The outside was nicer too: all the pretty lights were making it a lot warmer then the temperature should be for that time of year. After moving in with Abi, he became self-employed putting together computer networks for large businesses, even doing the work on the new network for MegaKat towers, and he was getting more money then ever. He was making enough so that he could have an >amount to actually live on even after paying off his enforcer debt! People were so fond of his work that he was able to get most of the city off of Evil 95 by Bill Gates, and to see the light for Wozikat's System 7.5. Enough people did this that Jake had almost single-handedly saved Apple Computer from bankruptcy, and >the wedding was just five months away.Life was good. > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Three >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"I'm not a loco with motives to suture myself." > > Chance was working on an engine when the computer near him beeped. Jake's card finding program had found a new set, and without a thought, Chance was off getting the set from its location. >The blackness took him out. When Chance woke up, he was in a part of Dominia that he had never seen >before. > > "Well, SwatKat, it looks like you and your friend haven't recovered from that little tussle of yours, has it?" > > "Pastmaster! If you have anything worhty to say, then spit out, because I don't want to hear it." > > "Very well, then. Dominia's ecosystem collapsed, causing the massive Ice Age that most of the land is currently experiencing. In order to maintain something of its self, it sealed off part of the land which we are now in, while the rest of the world is trying to regenerate itself into something new. All of us are being forced to face our pasts, our heritages, our legacies in order for it to do so. The land has locked in some of its possession of the cards, and when your area has been revived, you get the set. >Unfortunately, Clawson's got a head start, and has faced his ancestry of religion. His area's almost totally done, and he'll be able to keep us from using any of our horrible hordes." > > "What about the dark one?" > > "Sidney? He's a write-off. I'll kill him when I have the time." > > "I know where I'm left, but what about you? Where do you stand?" > > "Here, giving advice to one of my worst enemies. Goodbye." > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Four >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"I offer you fear in a handful of dust." >{note: this one's worth double} > > An infernal device on Abi's dresser began to ring. A machine beeped. "Speak.*BEEP*" > > "Abi, it's your mother. Please call me dear, thank you." > > Abi sat on the couch. As her shaking hand reached over to pick up the phone from it's recharging cradle, something put its hand over her mouth and grabbed her. Before she knew it, she was out cold, and on her way to something bad. > > The sun was setting over the MegaKat city skyline when Jake opened the door. He nearly dropped the bag of groceries he was carrying when he saw the condition the apartment was in: thoroughly >thrashed. "Abi? Abi, where are you? Abi---?" Jake was getting panicked. As he threw the bag on the >couch, he ran into the bedroom where he saw the note: > > If you ever want to see your beloved fiancee again > Come to where this all began. > > "CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Five >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"I don't know you, but I think I hate you." > > The hunt was on. Jake knew in his abdominal area that Chance had kidnapped Abi in some >insane desire to get him out to where there would be a fight. When Jake got his hands around that thick >neck, hell would be paid. > > Abi came back to the land of the living with her hands behind her back, and her entire body bound to a chair. "Where am I?" > > "Right where I want you." > > The voice sounded like Chance, but had a much more reptilian sound to it, like Chance had bonded with Dr. Viper, but the voice wasn't quite there, and there was just an edge to his vocal sound. >"Chance - Is that you?" > > "Yes." > > "Why are you doing this?" > > "To lure your honey-boy out into the open so I can destroy him." > > "Why?" > > "Because he nearly destroyed ME!" > > "But you attacked him first!" > > "That doesn't fit into it!" > > "It's the whole reason you hate him now, isn't it?" > > "Be quiet. I need you alive and well for when he shows, and I can't afford any accidents, now >can I?" > > Chance walked into a thin beam of light coming into an otherwise dark room. He was all white now, except for his stripes, and there was a tattoo of a snake on his arm: The sign of the Mara. > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Six >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"the daytime crap of the folk singers slop, > he hung himself with a guitar string, > a slab of turkey neck and it's hangin' from a pigeon wing, > I can't write if ya' can't relate, > trade the cash for the beef for the body for the hate, > and my time is a piece of wax, fallen on a termite, > who's chokin' on the splinters" > > The door exploded. Razor had blown it to smitherines with a mini-matchead missle, and his >glovatrix was aimed straight at Chance. "Let her go." > > "Jake! Watch out!" screamed Abi. > > "You would be wise to listen to her." > > "Chance? What's happened to your voice? You don't look so good." > > "I am fine. Chance is no longer, however. I am the Mara." > > "The what? What the hell are you talking about?" > > "The Mara poseses the spirit of its prey, and then gets everyone and everything associated with them to get each other against themselves so it can kill them and consume their bodies." > > "Thank you, doctor. So how do I destroy this thing?" > > "It's got to be made to face itself." > > "Right. Come and get it. I'm ready for you, Mara, but the question is, are you ready for me?" > > "Foolish and Impudent mortal, you shall pay for this." > > Razor took off like he had never ran before. He zoomed through the garage towards the hanger, >with the reflective metal walls, and the Mara posessed Chance went racing after him. Razor got to his >target area first, and had enough time to hide and turn off all the lights. The stage was set, and it was >time to play the final act. > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Seven >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"This is the end. My only friend, the end." > > The Mara was in pursuit. The form it had taken was too slow, but it would have to do until it could get into face to face battle. It reached the hanger and left the body of Chance Furlong on the floor >and unawake. The hangar was empty, or so the Mara thought. There was total blackness, and no sound. >Razor saw this to be his opportunity that wouldn't knock twice, and turned on all the lights. He then saw >the Mara in its true form: tED tURNER. But this was only the disguise, as from tED's old and ugly body, a snake appeared that grew, larger and larger and larger, until it filled most of the hangar. It saw the mirrored walls, and began to shriek in pain. > > "YOU TRICKED ME!!!" hissed the Mara. > > "No, Mara, you tricked yourself. Farewell, it hasn't been pleasant." > > "I will never die. The Mara is not beaten with such low levels anymore. However, I am weak, but I will return! And then, nothing shall survive." A flash of black light knocked out the hangar area for a split second, and a fluorescent picture of a snake was embedded in a tile on the floor of the hangar, which Razor didn't notice. He walked past Chance, untied Abi, changed clothes, and went home. > >260026002600260026002600260026002600 >Chapter Eight >260026002600260026002600260026002600 > >"To riding your bike mid-day past the three-piece-suits > To Fruits, To No Absolutes > To Absolut, To Choice > To the Villaige Voice > To Any Passing Fad. > To Being an Us for Once, Instead of a Them." > > The next day, Chance had a large headache. Realizing what he had done, and what had happened, he decided that he had better not go near Jake for a while, although he did see the wedding >invitation on the kitchen table. > > Abi was doing something that she felt was going to regret, but never did. She picked up the >phone and dialed seven digits. It rang three times, and a she-kat answered. > > "Hello?" > > "Mom, it's me." > > Jake was feeling happy. Chance was deposessed, Abi's mom had seen the light, and realized that Abi was competent, he had a good job, and a great life ahead, and only one month to go until he was a >happily married kat. > > Little did anyone know, but a spaceship was going through space, and a picture of Jake was on >the monitor. > > "THAT IS THE ONE WHO STOPPED THE FIRST INVASION! WE SHALL SOON RETURN, AND WHEN WE DO, HE WILL BE EXTERMINATED!!!" > > "VERY GOOD. THIS TIME, NOTHING SHALL GET IN THE WAY OF THAT PLANET BEING TAKEN BY THE DALEKS." > > "WE OBEY." > >{play closing dr. who music now} > >NEXT UP: The wedding! The Daleks! The last part I'm writing for this series! Remember to enter the >quotes contest, and one more thing: > >If you have read: > >-Pre Wildstorm Rising Issues of: >WildC.A.T.S. >Stormwatch >Gen13 or >Backlash > >or > >Any issues from 1-20 of the Maxx, or seen the cartoon > >or > >Issues from after the second Rampage through #25 or so of The Savage Dragon > >or > >Any Issues of Spawn, or seen the HBO cartoon > >and feel like you know enough to do crossovers with any of the above comic books, please let me know, as I am looking for authors for my next series, I of the Storm, which will run the SwatKats throughout the universe of Image Comics. Don't forget to enter the quotes contest by emailing your answers to: > >pihackle@hotmail.com > >The due date is the day before "Barry Gordon Gets a Vocal Cyst" appears on the fanfic archive, as it will have the answers in it, and I will released a new version of this story with the answers in it. Good luck to >all > >Ace!