Hydro-Kat

Prologue :

Megakat City 1987

Max Ray, a kat of 25, with a huge body, orange fur, brown hair, and a sports hero, was looking out the window of his apartment at the setting sun, which was producing a red like sea on the city.  Max felt at peace with himself for that golden moment, but the current problems that he was facing quickly brought him back to earth.  He was looking at his time on the tread mill, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t too pleased with it.

“FIVE MINUTES!!”, he screamed.  “If  ten kilometres is the best I can do for five meters, I’ll never make it to the games!”

“Easy, Max”, a voice said behind him.  Max looked up to see Jonathan Train, ( his manager ) walking  though the door into his apartment.

“Johnny!?”, Max said in suprise, “How did you get in here?”

“The door was unlocked, so I came in”, said the caramel fur coloured kat in the blue business suit.  “I don’t understand you, Max,” he said, walking up to his partner.  “That’s very good for five minutes, you know you’ll make it with a time like that, so why are you complaining?”

“Because”, Max started, “I have to be the best of the best, I have to get to the top, and win, I have to be the champion.”  He looked at Johnny, who was giving him a funny look.

“What the hell are you talking about, Max?” he cried. “You are already the best of the best, you make public appearances nearly every week.  You’ve got your face on nearly every frekkin’ product that has to do with sports, or an activity of some kind, and you’ve been on god knows how many t.v. commercials, and now you still want more?”

Max didn’t smile.

“That’s not good enough; I have to get better. I want people to remember me when I’m gone.”

“Yea yea”, Johnny said, “but how are you going to do that without taking drugs?”

“I’ll find a way”, Max complained, then he smiled, a sile shark like smile.  “I always do.”

Two weeks later…….

Max Ray looked out the broken basement windows.  He shivered, not from the cold, but from the atmosphere this place was giving.  This kind of hole was too low rent even for rats.

“You know, Purvis” Max said to the figure over by the Bunsen burners, and beakers,  “You sure pick the best spots to have your secret labs.”

The kat was not amused.

“If you can think of a better place to hid stolen chemicals, I’d be more than happy to hear it.” He turned around so that Max could see the displeasure on his face.

Max looked at the device in Purvis’s hand.  It was a small syringe, with a white label on it.  As Purvis came closer to him, Max could make out the writing on it; ‘HYDRO’, was all it said.

“And what is water going to do for me?” he asked.

Purvis didn’t think that was funny.

“You fool”, he said rolling his eyes, “the feline body is made up of  70% water. This formula is like a strength enhancing drug.  It will mutate the liquids inside you to make you stronger, faster, and batter than you’ve ever been before.”

Max was not yet impressed. “But will they be able to detect it in my systems?” he asked.

“Off couse not you idiot”, Purvis said with a smile.  “I perfected it so that it will be undetectable.”

“It’s perfect”, Max shouted, and with that, he grabbed the needle out of Purvis’s hands.

“HEY!”, Purvis cried.  “I sti…”, but he stopped, and smiled.  He hadn’t fully tested the drug yet. Perhaps he could turn this towards his advantage.  Yes, he liked that idea.

        Megakat City 1993

“Look, tell the kids down stairs that I can’t sign anymore autographs today.”  Max Ray closed the door to his new apartment.  He sighed as he walked towards his bed room.  He’d have to move again, this time in secret, so no one would know where he was.  He was now a mega superstar; Purvis’s drug did the trick.

“Hard day, huh Max old pal?”  Max stopped, dead in his tracks; he knew that voice.

“Purvis?”, he said in a shaky voice.  “Is that you?”

“OOOOH, isn’t that nice”, Purvis said sarcastically as he walked out from the shadows.  “He remembers me.”

Max didn’t like this.  He hadn’t heard, or seen, Purvis for nearly five years, and all of a sudden, he pops up out of the blue.

However, Max had other problems.  He didn’t have a clue why Purvis was here; he had gotten Purvis a position at Megakat Biochemicals, like he wanted, but what did he want now. If reading his thoughts, Purvis spoke up.

“You want to know why I’m here?” he said, a little smile was trying to escape his lips.  Max nodded. “Well, it’s like this”, he started.  “I’ve been working on a new project at Megakat Biochemicals.  It’s called ‘Viper Mutagen’; it should have the ability to re-grow plant life, like a lizard can with its tail.”

“That’s really nice, Purvis”, Max interrupted.  “But, what does that have to do with me!”

Purvis’s smile grew even larger. Max didn’t like this one bit.

“It has everything to do with you, Max”, Purvis said.  “You see, one day I tried to mix an old formula with the viper mutagen to help it along.  However, the Viper Mutagen sped up the process of the old formula, and well …., the plant, I was experimenting on, kinda disintegrated.”

Max’s eyes went wide with horror.

“You mean the formula is unstable?!” he yelled.  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?!”

“Because, you never gave me a chance to test it.”  Purvis said, walking towards the door.

“Wait!” Max yelled at Purvis.  He moved quickly to block Purvis, but he just pushed him aside saying, “It’s too late, Max; look at your arm.”

Max looked at his arm and recoiled back in horror.  It was turning into water and dripping onto the carpeted floor.

“Look, Purvis”, he said in desperation.  “We’ll cut a deal; you help me, and I’ll give you anything you want.  What do you say to that, Huh?!”

Purvis just kept on walking.

“It’s too late for that now, Max”, Purvis said, walking out the door.  “Maybe this’ll teach you to look before you leap.”

Max stared at him in disbelief.

Just then, his legs gave way as they turned to water.  He gave one last look at Purvis leaving. “PURVIS!!” he cried out.  “If I ever live through this, I swear, I will come back and kill you, I swear.  Do you hear me, Purvis?  I’LL FIND A WAY!!”   Just then, the rest of his body gave out.  And, he was nothing more then a water stain on the carpet.

Purvis smiled and walked out the door.  “Not bloody likely.” was all he said.

———————————————————————

PART 1 : Enter Hydro-kat
Megakat City 1997

Charlie, the security guard, made his one hundred and tenth trip past the vault of the Megakat Savings Bank.  He had been the guard here for ten years, and no one had ever been successful with making off with all the money here.  He chuckled at the thought of someone trying to break into this bank.  He sighed and wished for a laugh, that someone would break into this bank, besides the fact that he was bored.

He stopped and listened to the sounds around him.  The hum of the laser sensors, the dripping of a tap, the sound of a fire hyrdant bursting….  Charlie suddenly became aware of what was happening, fire hydrants don’t burst all by their own.  He rushed towards the door, but there was someone already there. Charlie tried to see what
it was, but it was too dark.

“Go away”, he told the stranger.  “The bank is closed for the night.”

“Not anymore it isn’t.” the stranger said.  There was something weird about the way he spoke.  It was like he was speaking under water.  Charlie could see pools of water at the stranger’s feet.

“Who are you?”  Charlie said walking towards him.  Now that he was close, he could see that he was wearing a scarf, trench coat, and an over sized top hat.

“Why me?”, the stranger said; he sounded different now, but it sounded familiar.  “Why I’m you.”

He took off his coat and hat.

Charlie gasped.  It was himself.

“Nighty night” the kat said.  And with that, he punched Charlie in the head with what looked like a watery mallet, being where his paw should.

“Now” the stanger said. “Let’s get to work.”  He then morphed into a kat made completely out of water.     “Time for Hydro-kat to take centre stage.”  Hydro-kat then turned
both his paws into huge, double bladed axes, and proceeded to open the vault like a can opener.  He then took all the money he could, then exited by the back door.  “This is too easy.” he said in his strange watery voice, as he opened a kathole cover and jumped down into the inky darkness.

The next morning…….

Commander Feral never liked doing  midnight bank robberies, but there was something odd about this one, something that made him go to the scene of the crime.  Could it be the strange story the guard gave, or could it be the strange trail of water left behind?   Maybe, but Feral did it because of  his instincts.  He trusted them with his very life, and they told him that something was not right about this particular crime scene.

“Commander Feral?” a female’s voice interrupted behind him.

Feral looked up to see Ms. Briggs, walking towards him; she seemed very concerned about something.

“Good morning Ms. Briggs”, he said trying to sound cheerful.  “Does there seem to be a problem?”

“Yes, there does”, she said, not in a good mood.  “There are hundreds of unhappy bank customers out there wanting to know what has happened to their life savings.”

“Cheerful, aren’t you?”  Feral said, ignoring her.

Callie ignored that smart remark and changed the subject.  “So, Commander, do we know who we’re dealing with?” she asked.

“Not yet, Ms. Briggs”, Feral said,  “But, I have a chemical analysis team working on the traces of water that were left here from last night.”  That did not make her feel any confidence; she just wished that it wasn’t something where she would have to call in the SWAT Kats.

Just then, the kat in charge of the chemical team came over to them.

“Well?” Feral said impatiently.

“It’s just as I feared, sir”, the kat said.  “This sample of the water we found contains mutagen properties within its DNA structure.”

Feral didn’t look impressed.

“That’s very good, but what does that mean in English?”

“It means, sir”, the kat continued, “that whoever broke into the bank last night was a creature made completely out of water.”

Feral’s eyes narrowed.

“Dr. Viper.” he growled.  “That mad kat is at it again.”  Feral turned to the kat who was nearest to him.  “Sergeant, put out an APB on Dr. Viper and…..”

Callie Briggs didn’t hear what else Feral had to say; she had ducked out of the building and into her car.  She reached into her bag and pulled out the small communicator.  She knew who was fit for the job.

Chance, and Jake were in the hanger, working on the Turbokat when the alarm went off.  As usual, Chance was the first to reach it.

“Yes, Ms. Briggs.”  said Chance.

“Bad news, guys!” said Callie,  “Dr Viper is back, and he has some weird water creature with him.”

“Ahh yes, the bank robbery.”  Jake said.  “We heard about that.”

“Problem is, guys” Callie said, “we don’t know when, and where he’ll strike…..”

Just then, the kathole cover in front of Callie’s car shot straight up into the air.  Callie screamed and slammed on the brakes.

“Ms. Briggs?” Chance said when he heard her scream.  He heard the sound of rushing water, followed by what sounded like a door being torn off its hinges.

“HELP GUYS!!” Callie’s frantic voice came over the line.

Suddenly, her voice was replaced by someone new.

“Nice gal ya got here. boys.”  The voice sounded like it was underwater.  Whoever it was, it was not Viper’s.

“If you ever want to see her again, SWAT Kats, I suggest you come down to the old abandoned tuna factory on 21 Katscratch Lane.”  Then the line went dead.

“Ms. Briggs?” said Chance anxiously.

“CALLIE!” they both screamed together and ran towards the closet, leaving the phone hanging down.  In a flash, they were T-bone and Razor, together known as the SWAT Kats.  They jumped into the Turbokat.  The mighty twin engine plane roared into action, and they were off.

———————————————————————

PART 2 : The Big Splash

“This is the place, buddy” Razor said to T-bone.

“This place is very out of the way”, T-bone said.  “I keep getting this feeling whoever called us here wants to fight the SWAT Kats.”

Razor smiled.  He couldn’t understand why his partner was always so jumpy; he never was.

“Trap, or no trap, T-bone,” he said.  “Someone down there has Callie, and we have to rescue her.”

“Roger that, partner.”  T-bone said.  “Let’s land the Turbokat and go inside.”

The two kats loaded their glovatrixes and walked inside.

“Soooooo” a voice from nowhere said.  “These are the mighty SWAT Kats, huh?  When I’m through with you, you’re going to be swated kats, Ha Ha Ha.”

“Why don’t you quit yak’n, and show yourself!” T-bone said, aiming his glovatrix in the direction of the voice.

“OOOOOOOHHHH, brave words from the big kat” the voice said again.  “Very well, I will oblige.”

T-bone, and Razor both gasped in amazement.  This kat was huge, a little bigger than T-bone even.  However, the thing that caught their attention the most was that he was completely made out of water.

“Who are you?” Razor said, not taking his glovatrix away from the water kat.

“Who am I?” he said.  “Why my name is Hydro-kat, but I am also your worst nightmare.”  He turned his right paw into a gigantic double bladed axe.

“Whoa” said T-bone, “this guy means business.”  He leapt out of the way, as Hydro-kat brought the axe down.

“Mini Octopus missiles, Deploy!”  Razor shouted.  Three octopus missiles launched from his glovatrix, only to pass right though Hydro-kat.  “Crud!”  He cried.

By now, Hydro-kat had morphed both his paws into axes and was attacking the SWAT Kats with full force.

“Crud, Razor” T-bone said.  He was getting very tired from dodging Hydro-kat’s axes.  “How are we going to stop this liquid nightmare?”

“I see the heat is really on you guys,” Hydro-kat teased.  “Perhaps I can cool you off.”  He converted his axes into one, big spinning whirlpool.  “Ice anyone?” he said.

Razor sharp icicles shot out of the whirlpool, straight at the SWAT Kats.

“DUCK!” T-bone yelled as a barrage of deadly ice came their way.

Razor looked at his partner in disbelief.

“Besides the fact that this guy can morph into other kats, change into water, create sharp objects, and make ice, is there anything else he can do?”

“Why sure.”  Hydro-kat said, stopping the barrage of deadly ice.  He then smiled, and the water pipes on the walls suddenly burst open, and gallons of water floowed out.

“Oh, great,” Razor said.  “He can control water.”

Even as Razor spoke, the raging, snake like river slithered towards the SWAT Kats.  The two ran off in separate directions, but the watery snake split in two and proceeded to follow them both.

Razor suddenly got an idea.  “Where are you holding Ms. Briggs, Hydro-kat?” he yelled at him.

“She’s in good paws.”  Hydro-kat called out to them.  “In fact, she’s in the janitor closet over there.”   He pointed to an old door at the far end of the factory.

“That’s all I needed to know.” Razor said under his breath.  With that, he aimed his glovatrix at Hydro-kat and shouted.  “Freeze missile, deploy!”  Razor caught a glimpse of shock on Hydro-kat’s face before the missile hit its target.  There was a hissing sound and a lot of smoke.  And, when it cleared, Hydro-kat was now completely
covered in ice.

“Nice work, buddy.”  T-bone said as the watery snake, which was following him, suddenly stopped and turned back into water.

The two took a moment to admire Hydro-kat in his frozen form before going to the closet to rescue Ms. Briggs.

“I heard everything out there, guys.”  Ms. briigs said.  “Are you both OK?”

“We won’t be in a moment.”  Razor said; he was looking at Hydro-kat.

Hydro-kat was glowing bright red, and the ice was slowly melting off him.  The SWAT Kats, and Callie, began to run towards the exit very fast.  They didn’t suspect that Hydro-kat would fall for the same trick twice.

“Drat!” Hydro said from behind them.  They turned around to see a half thawed out Hydro-kat; he wasn’t looking too pleased.  “Master Viper isn’t going to be too pleased with me.”  And, with that, he leapt out the window, and into the ocean.

“So, Dr. Viper really was behind it all.”  Razor said.

“Do you think we’ve seen the last of him?” Callie said, looking at Razor.

Razor shook his head.

“I doubt very much we won’t see him again.”  T-bone interrupted.

“Well,” Razor said.  “We’ll be ready for him next time.  I will have to work on some new suprises, for Hydro-kat though.”  They walked out of the factory, not knowing that Hydro-kat had an ace up his sleeve.

He stepped out from behind a nearby create.

“He, he he.  The fools think that Dr. Viper is behind all this.  If they only knew that I’ve been manipulating every event… from the bank robbery, to my defeat.  Well, when they find out the truth, it’ll be too late for them all.”  He smiled at the thought of his latest trick, which he had learnt only a few months ago.  Until then, he never knew that he could create a double of himself.

———————————————————————

PART 3 : Questions & Answers

The t.v. was showing Katseye News, and Ann Gora was reporting on the midnight robbery at Megakat Savings.  Ann was talking all the way. “The daring midnight robbery was performed by a watery creature created by the biological terrorist, Dr. Viper….”

The television screen shattered from a test tube which had been thrown at it.

“WHAT!!” the unhappy scream of Dr. Viper was heard.  “Who issss thissss sssssecond rate imposssster who thinkssss he can pull off a crime, and blame it on ME!”  He stormed out of his self made lab and into the sewers of Megakat City.  Dr. Viper had been hiding there for nearly, two months now and already, he was beginning to get frustrated.  “Who ever thisss impossster issss, I’ll rip out hisss lungsss,and feed it to him on at ssstick!”

“I suppose that would be my lungs, Purvis.”

Dr. Viper froze.  Nothing ever in his life had scared him since his mutation, but something did now.

“Oh come on, Purvis, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already.”

Viper turned around slowly and realised he hadn’t thought wrong.  For behind him stood his old employer, Max Ray.

“Hey, you haven’t forgotten about me, Elrod.”  Max said as he leaned closer to Viper.  Then in a low voice he added, “That’s good, because I never forgot about you.”

Viper gulped; he was scared, but not that scared.

“Nice to sssssee you, Max.”  Viper hissed in a friendly way.  “Sssssso, where have you been, buddy?”

Max recoiled back.  “BUDDY!?”  he cried in both amazement and sarcasm.  “That’s a very nice thing to say to me after all theses years.”  He walked up to Viper and put his paw on Viper’s shoulder.  “Do you remember what happened to me five years ago?”  Viper nodded.  “That’s good, because I never forgot what happened five years ago.  It changed my life, forever.”

He pulled back his paw and continued with his story.  “You see, like you, I made a little discovery too.  You know, I spent a year on that lousy, stinking carpet, Purvis.  Do you hear me, ONE YEAR!  I lay there, still alive, thinking of all kinds of ways to make you suffer.  However, after that year went by, I learnt that I could transform my body into both fur, and water, with a simple thought.”  He demonstrated by turning into Hydro-kat, and then back again.  “Over the next, two years, I learnt how to do other tricks like morph, create knifes, and blades, and my personal favorite, ice.”

Viper was not impressed.

“But what doessssss that have to do with me, Max?” he hissed.

Max smiled, and continued.

“You see, Purvis, the last two years, I’ve been plotting my revenge on you.  Sitting down and thinking about the perfect way to get at you. And, even though your life is ruined, I’m going to make you public enemy number one.  What I plan to do is first pin a small petty crime on you so that the enforcers will be on the look out for you. Then I will engage the SWAT kats in a game of mortal combat and let them win.  Now, the first two steps in my major plan are completed, and the third step is already being taken care of.  Deputy Mayor Briggs will find some information about YOUR big plan, which will have been delivered to her by mistake, and Dr. Viper is going to kill her.”

Viper’s eyes grew larger as Max spoke…..

“Once she’s dead, you’ll be the most wanted kat in the city, plus you’ll have some over the edge SWAT Kats to deal with, because I noticed over the years they seem to have some kind of thing for her.  But, it won’t be the enforcers who will bring you in, nor the SWAT Kats.  It’ll be me, Hydro-kat.  I’ll just say I broke away from your control
and decided to do what was right.”  He shoved both his paws up into the air. “I’ll be a hero again!”

Viper still wasn’t impressed. “You’re mad, Max.  Do you honesssstly think you can get away with it!” he screamed.

“Why yes I do.”  Max said.  “Who do you think they’re putting out an APB for hmmm?  Viper, or Hydro-kat?”

Viper’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits of yellow.  “You’ll never get away with thissss!” he hissed, swinging his tail at Max.

Max just morphed into Hydro-kat, and Viper’s tail went right thorough him.

“Tisk, tisk, Purivs, I thought you would have learnt by now that you can never destroy Max Ray a.k.a. Hydro-kat!”

And, with that, he whacked Viper in the head with a watery mallet and watched as Viper fell, screaming, into the raging river of sewage water  below.  He knew that Viper would have survived that.  He smiled and headed towards the surface.  He had a date with his destiny.

———————————————————————

PART 4 : I Cry A River Over You

Callie Briggs looked out at the sun, setting over the city from her office.  It had been two days since that strange incident with that guy calling himself Hydro-kat, and they had not heard from him since.  It was then that she noticed the strange envelope on her desk.

“I wonder what this is?” she said, picking it up.

=====================================================================

Meanwhile, in the sewers below the city, a strange looking kat was running his paws along the pipes.

“No, not there, not there ether, hmmmmmm.”  he said as he walked down the row of pipes.

Suddenly, he stopped, and he smiled.  “Aaahhh, there you are, my dear.”

With that, he punched a hole in the pipe, and slithered into it, laughing all the way.

=====================================================================

Callie began to pack her things and was going to call it a day when she heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom.  Raising an eyebrow, she  walked over towards the door.

Suddenly, the door exploded in front of her with a shower of splinters and water.  Callie looked up only to let out a short scream, for standing in front of her were Hydro-kat and Dr. Viper.

“Good work, my creation, now block the exit. I don’t want to be disssssturbed.”  Viper said as Hydro-kat walked over to the door, leaving a small gap between him and Viper.

Viper walked over to Ms. Briggs and took the envelope off her, which was still in her paws.

“I was wondering what had happened to thisssss.”  Viper hissed as he opened the envelope with glee.

“What do you mean, Viper?” Callie asked as Viper put the envelope away in his lab coat.

Viper looked at her and smiled.  “Why, my dear, thisssss folder here containssss the information I need to put my big plan into operation.”

Callie looked at him, very confused.

Viper cursed under his breath when he saw Caliie’s expression; she hadn’t seen inside the folder.  Oh well, he thought, she will have to die anyway.

Viper, walked over to the nearby phone and picked it up.

“What do you plan to do, Viper?” Callie yelled bravely at him.  “Lodge a complaint to the postal service?”

Viper just grinned.  And, speaking in Hydro-kats voice, said, “Why, I plan to do something much more different then that.”

Callie’s eyes went wide.  She looked at Hydro-kat, then back at Viper.  Viper noticed her confusion and morphed into Callie Briggs.

“You’re not Viper!” Callie screamed.  “Who are you?”

“Why, I’m Hydro kat.” he said.  It sounded a little strange in Callie’s form and in her voice.

“You can’t be” Callie cried, looking at both the copy of herself and Hydro-kat.

“Oh, that.” Hydro-kat said, pointing over at the creature by the door.  “That’s just a clone of myself.”

And, to demonstrate, he morphed another Callie Briggs.  It looked a bit strange, for the clone walked out from behind Hydro-kat, then walked back into him.

“But, enough yakking, Callie Briggs has a phone call to make,” he said, picking up the phone.  “Hello,” he said into the phone.  “This is Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs speaking.  Please connect me with Commander Feral.  It’s an emergency.”

Meanwhile, The SWAT kats were in the hanger, working on the new devices that Jake had made.

“Its been nearly two days now, buddy.” Chance said to Jake, who was fiddling around with his glovatrix.  “If Hydro-kat and Dr. Viper were planing something, they would have done it by now.”

Jake didn’t look up from his glovatrix.  When he did, he had a smile on his face.

“Well, if he does, I’ve installed some new missiles in our glovatrix’s.”  He presented what looked like a small torch to Chance.  “This little baby I’ve installed on the glovatrix is like a heat ray.  It instantly turns water to steam.  In other words, it’ll evaporate Hydro-kat.”

“Is that all?” T-bone said, as he looked at the device.

“Unfortunately, yes.”  Jake replied.

Just then, the alarm went off.  Chance smiled.

“I guess, you’ll have that chance to try that gadget out now, huh Jake?”  he said.

Jake smiled, as he ran over to his locker to change into Razor, and Chance went for the phone.

“Yes Ms. Briggs.”  He said into the phone.

“Guys, listen, you were right.  Dr. Viper is back, and this time he has Hydro-kat with him.  They’re inside cityhall, and they’re heading up here towards the office.”

“Hang on, Ms. Briggs” Chance said, turning into T-bone faster than Jake could turn into Razor.  “We’re on our way.”

Hydro-kat smiled as he crushed Callie’s communicator.  He had now morphed into Max Ray and had called both Feral and the SWAT Kats, giving the old, ‘help guys’.  He looked over at Ms. Briggs, who was being held by his clone.

“And, now, Ms. Briggs.”  He said, as he moved slowly towards her.  “Your usefulness has expired.”  With that, his left paw turned into a huge butcher knife, and he raised it high above her head.  “Too bad you won’t remain Deputy Mayor for much longer.”  He chuckled.  “I guess you couldn’t cut it!”

Just then, the door at the far end of the room burst open and in came Viper.  He was holding some sort of spray gun attached to a see-through back-pack on his back.

“VIPER!”  Max screamed.  “What are you doing here?!”

“Ssssimple, Max, old pal.”  He raised the spray gun.  “I’m jussssst repaying you for the little inssssident back in the ssssewersssss.”

Max was now boiling mad.

“Get him!” he yelled at his duplicate.  The copy leapt at Viper, who just fired the spray gun.  A yellowy, brownish type liquid came out of the gun and sprayed all over the clone.  They goo hardened as it made contact with the water.  Max, Viper, and Callie stared at the rubbery statue, which once happened to be alive.

“What is that stuff!?” Max yelled at Viper, not taking his eyes off the statue.

“It’ssss a little desssign of my own, Max.”  Viper hissed.  “Don’t forget, it wassss I who created the HYDRO formula in the first place.  I jussssst created a glue that reactsssss with your bodily fluidssss, and it hardensss on contact.”

Max Ray gave a roar of frustration, and he morphed into Hydro-kat.  And, with that, he leapt straight for Viper.  Viper fired another jet of his deadly goo at Hydro-kat.  Hydro-kat twisted and managed to dodge the spray, which hit the wall harmlessly behind him.  In retaliation, Hydro-kat threw some icicles at Viper, who easily avoided them.  While the two villains were fighting each other, Callie had managed to crawl outside, where she was greeted by both Commander Feral and the SWAT Kats.  They all entered the hall at the same time, both Feral and T-bone saying together, “What seems to be the problem, Ms. Briggs?”

Feral and T-bone both looked at each other and growled.

There wasn’t any time for this, Callie thought.  And, as quickly as she could, she explained everything that had happened to her since the arrival of Hydro-kat in her office.

———————————————————————

PART 5 : Wet ‘N Wild Weirdoes

By the time she had finished telling everyone what had happened, the fighting in her office had quietened down.  Feral, Callie, and the SWAT Kats slowly opened the door to Callie’s office and looked inside.

Hydro-kat and Viper were at a stand off, not doing anything, just looking at each other.

“Ya know, Purvis,” Hydro-kat said to his enemy, “I think I’ll go ahead with what I said, all those years ag..”

He paused when he heard a noise.  He looked over towards the door to see the group looking at him..  “Huh, what are y….?” he started, but that’s all Viper needed to attack Hydro-kat.  He squirted another round of his goo at Hydro-kat.  Hydro-kat saw this coming and jumped out of the way, giving Viper the diversion he needed to leave.  He jumped out the window, yelling something about vengeance not being Max’s.

“COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!!” Hydro-kat yelled out the window.

“Freeze, Hydro-kat, you’re under arrest.”  Feral said, pointing his gun at Hydro-kat.

Hydro-kat turned around and smiled at Feral.  “Freeze?” he said, smiling an evil smile.  “Not a bad idea.”

Hydro-kat blew a cloud of smoke at Feral, who wasn’t expecting anything like this and didn’t have any time to react.  When the smoke cleared, Feral was frozen solid, still alive, but trapped under a block of ice.

The SWAT Kats and Callie all looked at Feral, who was trapped under the block of ice.

“Cool,” Hydro-kat said, admiring his handiwork.  He looked at the SWAT Kats.  “Now, let’s have a proper fight,” he said, creating his double bladed axes.  “I’m going to fight you both for real now.  My clone wasn’t as smart as me, so get ready to split and splash for I ain’t in the mood for taking a bath.”

Hydro-kat lodged both axes at the SWAT Kats, who just barely managed to dodge them, and Callie went outside in order to get away from all the distraction and to find a safe hiding place.

T-bone, when he saw that Callie was safe, aimed his glovatrix at Hydro-kat and shouted, “Freeze missile, deploy.”

However, Hydro-kat was ready this time.  He caught the missile and hurled it straight back at T-bone.  T-bone, just barely managed to jump out of the way before the missile exploded.

“Razor!” he yelled at his partner.  “Use that heat thingy, NOW!”

“Roger that, T-bone.”  He aimed the devise at Hydro-kat.  “FIRE!”

A red beam shot out of the end of the device, but Hydro-kat ducked, and the ray hit the wall.  The wall sizzled where the beam hit.

“Nice.”  Hydro-kat said, observing the effects of the ray on the wall.  “But, I can give out steam too!”  Hydro-kat’s eyes turned bright red, and red coloured water shot
out of his eyes, straight at Razor.

“Ohh water.”  Razor said, jumping out of the way.  “Like I’m really sc…”

He didn’t finish his sentence for, where the water hit, it sizzled, like Razor’s heat ray.  He touched the water and quickly brought back his paw.

“OWW!” he cried.  “That water’s hot!”

“Not just hot.”  Hydro-kat chuckled.  “It’s BOILING!”

Razor aimed his ray at Hydro-kat again, but Hydro-kat threw some more icicles at him.  Razor escaped, but his gadget didn’t.  He looked at it in disbelief as it sparked and flashed with a long piece of ice sticking out of it.

“AAAWWWW!”  Hydro-kat teased.  “I broke your new toy.  Well, I’m just going to have to break you!”

And, with that, he lunged towards Razor.  T-bone was the first to react.

“NO!” he cried out.  He raised his glovatrix and shouted the first thing that came into his mind.  “Mini cement launchers, deployed!”

In the time space of five seconds, Hydro-kat realised what T-bone said.  He screamed as he flew forward.  Razor jumped out of the way and shouted the same thing as T-bone.

Hydro-kat couldn’t react in time.  He felt the cement hit him.  He began to lose control of his body as he began to slow down.

“NNNOOOOOOOO!”  he screamed.  “I’M INVINCIBLE, I, AM, HYD…..!!”

T-bone and Razor stopped firing their cement launchers and looked at the rock hard, solid figure of Hydro-kat.  The statue stood there, forever frozen in an internal scream of frustration.  After what seemed like five minutes, Razor broke the silence.

“Should I free Feral, or should you?”

T-bone, looked over at the figure of Commander Feral, who he had forgotten about while they were fighting Hydro-kat.

“I’ll do it.”  T-bone said.  “I want to hear him complain that it was our fault that he got frozen.”

Callie came back in, looking at Hydro-kat, then at Feral.  “Do you think it’s finally over, Razor?” she asked, looking back at Hydro-kat.

Razor wasn’t too sure.  Hydro-kat could create clones of himself.  Was this another of his clones?  Or was he finally gone for good?

He looked out the broken window, at the now blood red city from the sunset.

“I don’t know, Ms. Briggs.” He said.  “Maybe it is, or maybe,” he hesitated.  “Or maybe he’s somewhere down in the sewers, laughing at us all, plotting his revenge.”

END.

( IS HYDRO-KAT REALLY GONE?   STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT. )