The Guardian Series: Growing up with Chance By: Star Phoenix For all of you who read my last story, this is the chapter that has a SWAT Kat character in it. This story goes into why Chance wanted to be an Enforcer pilot. It also tells of what happened to Princess Dawn after Avalon was destroyed. Send me e-mail and tell me what you think. Now on with the story. = 6 year-old Chance Furlong was waiting in the hospital waiting room with his mother. They had brought his pregnant 15 year-old aunt here to have her kitten. Chance was getting impatient. He wanted to see the kitten. His mother kept telling him to sit still and be patient, but he kept pacing around like the kitten's 16 year-old father, Joseph Leslie. Suddenly, a kitten's meowing rang through the sterile halls. Mrs. Furlong took her son's hand and led him to the room his aunt Tessa was in. She sat him down in a chair and handed him a tiny bundle. The little kitten was unusual, especially for his family. First off, she was unusually small by any standard. Second, her coloring was wrong. Instead of the blond, fair furred, light eyes that both sides of her family had, she had tan fur, black hair, and dark brown eyes. Her odd, forward pointing, wolf-like ears and long, unusually fluffy tail were both white with black tips. Even so, these strange features only made her look more adorable. Chance felt strange as he held his cousin. He didn't feel like her cousin. He felt like her big brother. He swore then, that he would be her big brother. He would protect her from anything that would hurt her. Then, as if she had read his mind, she raised a tiny tan paw up and grabbed his much larger finger. She smiled and gurgled. Then, she yawned and they both fell asleep. * * * It was now four years later. The kitten, Dawn, grew into a quiet reserved four year-old, except around her 'Big Bro' Chance whom she called Tigger because of his stripes and the fact that when she had first called him that, she couldn't say Tiger. It came out Tigger and stuck. Even though they were six years apart, the two were inseparable. Chance discovered that she learned things early and even though he was much bigger and taller, she could do almost anything he could do better. She was a regular Tom-boy. She always won races, climbed trees better, could out wrestle him, but she could never out socialize him. Chance's entire family was out going, so he couldn't figure out why she was so quiet and shy. And smart. She was always inventing new gadgets and gizmos. Now, he was walking into her workshop where she was hard at work on her latest project. "Hey, Zipper(His nickname for her),What are you working on now?" "I'm workin' on makin' the car use less gas."she replied."It will make Mommy and Daddy so happy. Then they might stop fighting and I might even get a hug!" 'Poor Zip."he thought.'She has tried all her short life to get her parents to love her and stop fighting. I haven't the heart to tell her that that will never happen.' "Tigger, hand me the screwdriver, please."Dawn's voice broke through his thoughts. "Sure thing, Zip." He handed her the screwdriver. He knew she loved to shoe her work to him. She wanted him to be proud of her. And he always was. "Tig, I wanna ask you a question."she said. "Sure, go ahead."he replied. "I wanna know why Mommy and Daddy fight. I know it's something about me. I'm not bad, am I?" "No!" If one thing was certain, Dawn was a goody two-shoes. She always did as she was told."The problem is your parents. They haven't grown up at all yet. It is definitely not your fault." Dawn considered his answer for a moment, then decided it must be true. Chance never lied to her. Even around his friends. She had always believed that he was the only trustworthy Kat in the entire world. He was the only person she trusted at all and she trusted him completely. She had even told him about the strange dream she always had about having wings and flying in a bird with some other girl, then dying. Chance made everything bad go away and he kept her safe. Then, Chance had to leave her for football practice and Dawn tinkered away at her project. He hated leaving her alone, but he knew that she had always been a loner. Always calm and quiet. He had never even seen her cry before. She certainly was strange for their family. * * * Six year-old Dawn Leslie was walking home from school to her house. She always walked alone through the forest path. She could never figure out why she had such a strong pull towards nature. It was like that dream she always had. Suddenly, a large figure jumped from the trees at her. She had already sensed that someone was there with her strange sensing ability and simply stepped aside and let the figure fall to the ground. Not only had she sensed someone was there and about to attach, she had also sensed who it was. "Charlie Pantherson, when are you going to learn that you are never going to be able to sneak up on me? Get that through you thick skull." Charlie was the only Kat who could even get Dawn to be even slightly annoyed. "I almost had you that time." the burly eight year-old Kat stated. He was about to attach her and try to beat her up when a larger, familiar shape strolled up. "I think you need to be moving along, Charlie." 12 year-old Chance Furlong said through clenched teeth. "Ye-ye-yes, sir, Mr. Furlong." With that Charlie stumbled away as fast as he could. Dawn giggled to herself. Chance was well known around their town as being a strong fighter. Actually, she was the only one who could out weight lift him, although she and Chance both kept that a well guarded secret. Also, everyone except Dawn were terrified of Chance's anger. He had 17 and 18 year-olds scared of him. Dawn was the only one who didn't fear Chance in the least and she was the only one who had never made him angry. No. Her Tigger was her protector. She hated violence so Chance spared her from seeing it as much as he could. This is how it had always been. She loved him and looked up to him, but she could have handled this situation alone. Dawn was struggling to gain a little independence and Chance was trying to be more protective than ever. "I could have handled that on my own, Tigger. I'm not THAT little anymore." "Come on. I'm your Big Bro. I'm supposed to be overprotective. Especially when you start dating."he said with hi trademark grin. "I guess so. Hey, want to walk the rest of the way with me?" "Sure. Race ya!" And he was off. Dawn started off after him after giving him a one minute head start to be sporting. She still won the race. * * * Four more years passed. Dawn was 10 and Chance was 16. Dawn was studying to become a vet while Chance was still trying to decide what to do with his life. Both cousins were happy. They were living calm, peaceful lives. That is until Dawn's parents had one last fight... "Chance! Chance!" screamed Dawn as she came busting in the door of his house. It startled him to see her so upset."Daddy's killed Mommy! Call the law!" He rushed up and dialed the number and gave the situation and address. Chance hung up the phone and turned to a now shaking Dawn. Her adrenaline had worn off and she was too weakened to even control her own emotions. She had been doing that all her life to make people think that her parents fighting didn't bother her. She had even held this back from Chance. Chance now looked at his cousin. He had never seen her like this. She raised her eyes and head back to look up at him. Now he was scared. Her eyes were full of pain, sorrow, and even a little anger, but most shockingly, were the tears. Not even when she was a baby had she ever cried. It hurt him that he had been unable to protect her from this. That was when he decided what he was going to be. He would be an Enforcer and make sure things like this didn't happen to Dawn, or anyone else, ever again. Gently, he put his arms around her much smaller body and just held his adopted sister. She buried her face into his lower chest( the highest place she could reach)and let her emotions go. She cried out years worth of pain. Chance just rocked her and let her cry it out. Just as she finally stopped crying and got her tears under control, Chance's parents walked in. "What's going on in here, Son?" asked Mr. Furlong. Chance quickly explained what had happened. This sent Dawn into another round of crying. Chance held her again as his parents stood dumbstruck. "Good heavens, this can't be!" exclaimed Mrs. Furlong."My sister!" Just then, the police came in the house. They had a talk alone with Chance's parents while Chance continued comforting Dawn and vowing that he would get even with her father for this. Then the police and a very dejected looking husband and wife came back into the room. They ripped Dawn from Chance's arms. They had to tranquilize the 10 year-old to keep her from squirming and biting. The only thing keeping Chance from beating the living daylights out of them was his parents' assurances that they were only taking her to live with her grandparents on the other side of the country. The tawny young Tom-Kat watched helplessly as the drug took effect on Dawn's tiny body. "I love you, Zipper. You'll always be my little sis. I'll write you." Dawn struggled for consciousness. She saw the helpless look on her cousin's face. "I love you, too, Tigger. We'll be together soon. You'll see. You still have to beat up my high school boyfriends." The last thing she saw were the tears running down Chance's face. He saw her lose consciousness. He couldn't stand it. His cousin, no, his sister, was being taken away. He watched as they put her in the car and dive away. He never heard from her again.