Title: A Past Better Best Forgotten Author: Rebecca Mason Author's note: Hi there everyone. I know it's been a while, but I'm finally ready to write another fanfic. It's based on an RP with K.S, and, surprisingly enough, this is my first fanfic based on Viper so be gentle ^_^. It's a sort of look into his past about how he was an orphan and such... and here he is raising a child that's not even his. How will he do?... You'll have to read and see. And, just before I start, I'd like to thank K.S for giving me the idea. So, thanks lots K.S ^_^. In Megakat swamp there was the squelching sound of mud as Viper made his way back to his lair. He clutched a small bundle of cloth to his chest as he broke into a run since it had started to rain. Of course, Viper didn't normally mind the rain, but he suspected that the little creature he had with him didn't since it started to cry. He ran faster and faster until he was finally back at his lair, an old hollow oak tree that seemed to stand out from the other trees in the swamp. When he was inside, he put the bundle on a table and watched as the cloth slipped to reveal.... A tom-kitten. The kitten had black hair and light brown fur with chocolate coloured stripes on his cute little face. The kitten's tail, however, wasn't like a regular kitten's tail. It was slightly longer than a normal kitten's tail, and it was a dark brown colour, which didn't seem to match its fur colour or hair colour (Well of course it wouldn't ^_^;;) The little kitten's lower lip trembled, and the kitten started crying again. Only, this time, the cry began to raise in volume. Viper put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. he thought to himself as the baby began banging its fists on the table. Viper growled as he felt his tolerance going. "WILL YOU SSSSHUT UP!!" he screamed at the kitten. The kitten cried and banged its fists on the table even more... only harder. All of a sudden, the table broke and the kitten began to fall along with the table. Viper then sprung forward and caught the kitten just as it nearly hit the floor (The table was up kinda high). The kitten stopped crying and looked at Viper as he had parts from the table fall on him. Viper grumbled as he dusted himself off and glared at the kitten. "I bet you thought that wasssss fun!!" he said with a growl. The kitten blinked in response, and, all of a sudden, there was a small rumble coming from the kitten's stomach; it was hungry. "Oh alright.. I guesssss I have to feed you sssince there'sss no one elssse." Viper sighed as he went into his herb collection. He hadn't really thought most of these would come in handy for making baby food. "I don't know why I'm doing thissss. I mean...that kitten isn't even mine," Viper mumbled. "But, that Kickstart should've been grateful I saved her sssscrawny life... Insssstead, she went back to her husssband and friendssss... She would of made a great ssssnake kat," he carried on mumbling. And, it was true. *A few days back, Viper had discovered a female snake kat like himself and had practically nursed her back to health. However, it had really been the vigilante Kickstart who had been turned into a snake-kat by some scientists. The scientists lab had gotten destroyed due to her husband and his dragon coming to save her. Her husband and the dragon had survived the blast with a few injuries, but they couldn't find Kickstart, who had been pushed by the force of the blast all the way to Viper's lair.* Viper had wanted revenge, so, a few days afterward, he'd come in the dead of night and kitten-napped K.S and her husband's kitten. "I could just kill the kitten... but that would a waste.... or maybe I could make him like me..... but his body probably wouldn't adapt to the mutagen, and it would probably kill him anyway..." Viper was still pondering on what to do. By now, he had fed the kitten and such and he was still pondering on what to do. However, he soon drifted off to sleep. In his sleep... he began to remember what it was like for him when he was a kitten. Eleven year old Elrod panicked as he ran to the hospital. He'd heard about a crash involving his parents and how they'd been rushed off to hospital. he thought to himself as he pushed open the hospital doors. "Hello, nurse... do you know where Room.....13 is?" he asked a young blonde-furred nurse. "Room 13 is down the corridor on the your right," she said. Elrod nodded. "Thanks," he said and ran down the corridor despite getting yelled at by a few other kats to slow down. He reached the room and went in. His parents were laying on two separate beds, surrounded by wires, and they were both connected to this machine. Elrod felt a lump come up to his throat as he walked slowly over to them. "Mama.......Papa....." He whimpered as his mother opened her eyes. "Elrod....?" she said weakly, "I...Is that you?" Elrod nodded and ran to be near her bedside. "I'm here, mum...," he said softly. His eyes began to well up with tears seeing his parents in such a condition. His father seemed to open one of his eyes. "Son..?" Elrod nodded once again. "I'm here, dad... I'm with both of you.... Tell....tell me...what happened...," he said, trying not to cry as he managed to sit in between them. "Some idiot had put his brakes on too fast...," his father said, choking slightly. "It caused a chain reaction of crashes... This resulted in loads of casualties," his mum continued. Elrod nodded. "Elrod... we just want you to know that we love you more than anything.....," his mum said as she stroked his forehead gently with a soft warm look on her face. Elrod's dad nodded. "We'll always be there for you in spirit, son... and you know we've always been proud of you...," Elrod's father said as he gave a warm smile to his son. It was obvious that their lives were slipping away at that point, and Elrod could somehow sense that they were trying to be brave for him. "I love you both!!" he said as he hugged both of them before going to sleep. However, the next time he opened his eyes, they were motionless and that was when he realized he'd lost them. He had cried at their funeral, and he'd cried when he was put into an orphanage. It had bugged him when he heard about accidents involving cars. He remembered the cold behavior he received from some of the people in the orphanage. How some of them never hugged him when he was upset or scared, never made him laugh whenever he felt upset. They just told him to, "Grow up and get used to it." In the end, he ran away from the orphanage with help from one person who had cared for him, hugged him and cheered him up. However, he had so much pain in his soul it began making him turn sour and he became as heartless as a cold cruel snake... This, of course, all led up to the incident with the mutagen and that expression was used against him. Viper woke up with a start to find the kitten was asleep, clutching to his chest. Viper smiled slightly, which surprised him a little. "Hmmm.....maybe I sssshould return him to hissss parentsss...," Viper said. "But,....if I wassss to do that...they'd catch me..," he said, shuddering as he remembered K.S and her husband yelling in rage that they were gonna get him and that he would pay dearly for kitten-napping their baby. So, he decided that he'd raise the kitten himself. "Hmm... I guessss I'll keep the kitten'sssss name assssss Nathan," he said as he spotted the kitten's name tag on its little baby suit. Viper decided he would try and raise Nathan as good as possible. .......The End Epilogue Well... Me and K.S know how it really ends, but that ties in with a Swat Kat/Dragonball crossover, which stars mine and K.S's RP characters. All I can tell you is that Nathan does get reunited with his real parents and Viper gets turned back to being Elrod Purvis again, and it's there he meets K.S's fanfic char Kathy Peterson, so it's a happy ending all round ^_^. Credits. Like I mentioned earlier, I thank K.S for the fanfic idea. K.S "Kickstart" Claw and Nathan do belong to K.S. While Viper belongs to "Swat Kats," Yvonne and Christian Tremblay, Hanna-Barbara. As for K.S Claw's husband in this particular fanfic, he belongs to Dragonball Z, Akira Toriyama, Toei animations (Guess who he is ^_^) Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. See ya later Katfans ^_^. -Rebecca.