Allies

This was Dark Kat’s work all right. It was his style; large craft and some sort of doomsday device. Felina Feral was intent on not letting him get away with his plans. She was leading her squadron against this large craft. She got a lock on the engine. “Say goodbye Dark Kat!” she screamed as she opened fire.

Unfortunately for the shekat, the airship was more maneuverable than she thought. It quickly evaded her shots. Fortunately for Megakat City, the Swat Kats were right behind her.

T-Bone steadied himself right behind the enemy craft. “Razor, ya gonna shoot or are we gonna just sit behind him?” T-Bone shouted.

“Hold on. I’m getting a lock as we speak. Bingo! Missiles away!” Three missiles zoomed out of the TurboKat and went straight for Dark Kat’s ship. The missiles exploded several yards from the craft.

“Crud! He must have some sort of barrier surrounding the ship!” exclaimed T-Bone. “See if ya can’t short circuit it, buddy!”

“Right! Let’s see what 1000 volts will do to that shield!” Two missiles shot out and hit the shield. After send their lightning payload, they fizzled without any effect to the shield.

“It’s unstoppable!” Razor cried.

“That’s cuz you’re attacking the problem at the wrong end!” A voice crackled through the TurboKat’s radio system.

A jet zoomed up alongside the TurboKat. It was similar to the TurboKat except it was metallic silver. It also had what looked to be a spot for a third person on top of the jet. In the third man’s station was what appeared to be a Gatling gun.

“Who are you guys?” T-Bone asked.

“You can call me Griffin!” the pilot said.

“And call me Ace!” the gunner replied.

“What did you mean by saying, ‘We’re attacking the wrong end’?” Razor asked.

Ace spoke, “Well Dark Kat has put all the barrier’s energy in his rear. His front is exposed! It’s also where the barrier’s generator is. Here’s my plan: You guys stay right on Dark Kat’s six. We’ll fly ahead and play chicken with Dark Kat. Once we knock out the shields, you two open fire. Afterwards, the Enforcers can clean up. Got it?”

Razor answered, “Alright, but you better be able to knock out that generator! You only get one pass!”

“That don’t call me Ace for nothing, ya know!”

Felina received the whole conversation. “My Uncle’s gonna love this. Now Megakat City has two vigilante groups!” She could hear the rest of her squad chuckling at her last remark. “Good luck guys, you’ll need it.” She whispered under her breath. In her normal tone, “Alright squad, let’s follow these kats! You never know when we might be able to help them!”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ace spoke up, “Hey Griff! You realize that you’ll need to pull Mach 1 at 50 yards altitude, right?”

“So? If this bird’s capable, then so am I!”

“Sorry. It’s just NOBODY has ever pulled that speed at this altitude!”

“Well then, just call me nobody!” Griffin ended the dispute. As he put on his oxygen mask. He pushed the throttle to the max. He went right over top of the large enemy craft. The stick was nearly impossible to control. He finally heard what he was waiting for; the sonic boom. He’d broken the speed of sound. “Ace! How long ’til we reach the turning section?”

“45 seconds!”

“So, at that point I pull a U-turn?”

“Yeah. Anything wrong with that plan?”

“What distance will we be from the craft?”

“Uh, 2.5 miles, Why?”

“Make that 2.7 miles, unless you have the desire to pull a U-turn at Mach 1!”

“2.7 miles it is!” Ace replied as quickly as he could, realizing his compatriot was more than willing the pull off the insane stunt.

There was a long pause as the two screamed out of the outer limits of Megakat City. The terrain was now all flatlands.

“Are we there yet?” Griffin asked.

“We’ll be there in T-minus 5…4…3…2…1…Now!”

Griffin eased down on the throttle and pulled back on the stick. When they were upside down and heading towards Dark Kat, Griffin completed the maneuver by rolling the craft over. “There ya go! It’s your turn Ace!”

“MiniMissiles oughta do the trick! How bout’ five?”

“Sounds good!”

“I’m locked on! I’ll be in range in 3…2…1…Fire!”

Five small missiles shot towards Dark Kat’s airship. They smashed into the generator, completely destroying it. The small ship zoomed over the large ship performing another 180, so to get back on course.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dark Kat picked himself up off the floor of the bridge. “What’s the damage report?” He screamed. One ninja came up to him. “Engines…100%. Weapons…80%.” the lackey replied.

“I don’t care about those! What about the shields?”

“Shields…0%”

“NOOOOOOOOO!” Dark Kat’s voice echoed throughout the ship.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“The shields are down! I repeat, the shields are down!” Ace reported to the other jets.

“They actually did it Razor!”

“They’re pretty good, T-Bone” Razor replied. “We might have some competition now!”

Felina took charge of the situation. “You heard the man! Let’s give ’em hell guys!”

Razor got an idea. “Hey Lieutenant Feral! How ’bout your wings dealing with the outside engines and us working on the middle one?”

Felina liked the idea of helping in the taking down of Dark Kat. “Alright! Did you all get that?” the frequency was filled with agreement.

T-Bone spoke next. “Razor, why are we giving the enforcers the kill?”

“Knowing the commander, he’d blame us for anything that went wrong and take the glory himself! At least this way we only use 1 missile, not 5!”

“Good thinking! Less time for reload,” T-Bone commented.

“I’m locked on! Are the Enforcers ready?” Razor inquired.

“Yeah! Fire on 3. 1…2…3!” The missile and bullets destroyed the engines sending the airship crashing into the ground. Everyone was so excited that only the Shekat noticed the small black pod exit before the crash…

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Six jets landed right beside the wreckage. The pilots went in and arrested the whole lot of them. One thing they did notice was that their boss was not in the wreckage.

“Hey! Where’s Dark Kat?” Griffin wondered.

“For that matter, where’s Lieutenant Feral?” T-Bone asked.

“Could she’ve been blown up by attrition?” one rookie asked.

“No way! She’s too good of a pilot to be taken out by attrition!” T-Bone answered.

Both questions were answered as they heard two crafts fly overhead. One was Felina’s jet and the other was a black pod.

“Not bad. She saw it while the rest of us missed it. We better be more aware next time,” Ace commented.

The whole group had their necks craned towards the sky as the chase continued. It wasn’t long until she nailed his engine and he started spiraling downwards. Felina landed right next to the pod. She hopped out with her shotgun pointed at Dark Kat’s emerging figure. He saw the enforcer and decided it was fight or be jailed. The fight started and ended with Dark Kat’s first move. Felina blasted away his right shoulder. She grabbed his arms, cuffed him, and threw him with the rest of his lackeys.

“Well that pretty much wraps things up,” Razor commented. “Oh and thanks you guys!” he said, looking at their mysterious aides.

“No problem. How’s the jet?” Griffin asked.

“A few dings. Nothing we can’t take care of,” T-Bone replied.

“I’m starved! How would you two like to have lunch with us at our HQ?” Ace asked.

T-Bone and Razor exchanged glances. They both nodded.

“Great! Just follow our lead,” Griffin said. “That is, if you can keep up with us!”

“I call that a challenge!” T-Bone barked back.

With that the four hopped into their respective spots and took off. The Katseye News chopper landed right behind Felina.

“This oughta be fun!” Felina said to herself as she walked up to Ann Gora.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The two jets soared over the middle of nowhere. The lead jet began to descend and was followed by the other jet. The sand seemed to split revealing a hangar. The two jets landed and activated the reverse thrust engines. They eventually slowed to a stop. The four pilots jumped out of the jet. Razor noticed several news clippings posted around the walls. He suddenly realized who his benefactors were.

“So you two are the Katsonville Krusaders?” Razor commented.

“I’m surprised you’ve heard about us. People in Katsonville talk more about you guys than about us!” Griffin added.

“We keep up on that subject,” T-Bone added.

“Understood. Now how about some subs?” Ace asked. Ace walked over to a ladder and jumped up it. The other three followed him. They entered a room that was an all-purpose room. There was a couch, a TV, a counter, and a kitchen. Ace opened the cupboard and pulled out 4 cans of tuna. Producing his claws, he ripped off the four lids. Griffin pulled the mayonnaise out of the fridge. He spread some on the buns as Ace poured on the tuna. With the four subs now assembled, they sat down to eat. There was a long period of quiet, until Ace spoke up. Never did he know one sentence that had so much power.

“What’s it like being grease monkeys and Swat Kats at the same time?”

The two stopped suddenly with a look on their faces like they had just been shot.

“Oh yeah. I forgot to mention, we know who you are,” Ace added.

“What do you plan on doing?” T-Bone asked.

“Nothing Chance,” Griffin replied.

“First off, with the mask on, I’m T-Bone. Second, how did you find out?” T-Bone queried.

“We started by looking through the air force. Nothing popped out at us,” Griffin said.

“Then we checked enforcer records. We found a team of pilots who owned 60% of all enforcer records between themselves. These two friends were kicked off the force for destruction of property. All about 6 months before the Swat Kats appear. We check you guys out a distance. You both fit the build of the Swat Kats, And to top it off you guys have the material to build the TurboKat. We even used some of your stuff to build the V.C.C,” Ace said.

“The V.C.C?” T-Bone asked.

“Vigilante’s Choice Craft,” replied Griffin

“I see. Now, this whole encounter wouldn’t happen to be a chance to try to join up with the Swat Kats would it?” Razor asked.

“Actually, we were gonna propose a merge, but if you’re that against it…” Ace said.

“Wait, let me and T-Bone discuss this in private,” Razor said.

“Sure thing,” Griffin said as he and Ace got up.

“One thing. If you join the Swat Kats you also join the Chance and Jake’s Auto Repair club!” T-Bone said.

“We expected to help out with your ever present backlog difficulties.” Ace said. With that, the two left the room.

“You gotta admit, they’re being awfully fair about this!” Razor commented.

“Yeah. I say we wait until another crisis happens. See how well we work together,” T-Bone replied.

“Affirmative,” Razor said. “Hey, guys, you can come back in!” he yelled.

The two Kats entered the room.

“We’ve decided to wait until we get another crisis situation. Then you’ll accompany us and we’ll decide from your performance,” T-Bone told them.

An alarm on Razor’s glovatrix went off.

“Look’s like you’ll get your chance sooner than you think…” Razor mumbled. He pressed the flashing button. “Yes Ms. Briggs?”

“Swat Kats! The little gnome is back in town and he brought some flying friends! The Enforcer’s are trying their best, but aren’t getting very far!” Callie screamed.

“We’re on it Ms. Briggs!” T-Bone barked as Razor shut off the communicator. “The only thing is were low on fuel!”

“We’ll refuel. It’ll take 5 minutes. Then we can jet off! Who are we talking here?” Ace asked.

“Heard of the Pastmaster?” Razor asked.

“So we should expect some medieval monsters? Great,” Ace added.

“Let’s go!” T-Bone barked. The four jumped down to the hangar, where they refueled. “You guys haven’t told us who you are yet!”

“Do you want to delay any longer? We’ll tell everything after the mission,” Griffin said.

“At either our place or here!” Razor added fiercely. With that, the two jets blazed off towards Megakat City.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Pastmaster stood atop city hall. On his head was what looked like a dragon’s skull. In his hand was a staff with a talon on it. Flying around him were several dragon-like creatures of various colors. Around those are several large birds with a lions body.

One of the birds shrieked.

“What do you mean? Can’t you capture one person? The enforcers can’t be that hard to deal with!” yelled the Pastmaster. He noticed one jet tear through four dragons. “Concentrate your attack on that jet. It’s the only one doing any real damage!”

The bird swooped down behind Lt. Felina Feral’s jet. Just as it was preparing to attack, a mini missile rammed into it’s side vaporizing it instantly. Felina saw the TurboKat and the VCC streak by her. “About time, boys!”

“Sorry, we had to refuel. What are those things?” T-Bone asked.

“The birds are Griffins. The reptiles are Drakes,” Griffin commented.

“Well, the ‘drakes’ have thick skin and a soft underbelly. Aim for it,” Felina said.

A blue drake spotted the 2 new jets. It opened its mouth and shot out a misty blue beam. The two jets evaded.

“Oh yeah! Blue drakes have the power of ice, red drakes are fire-breathers, and green drakes are lightning elementals,” informed Griffin.

“Where do you get this stuff, Griffin?” inquired Razor.

“Mythology! My favorite subject!” Griffin exclaimed. “My question is why are drakes and griffins working together under the Pastmaster’s command? They’re rather independent creatures!”

“Well I see you are very good at Mythology, Griffin,” Dr. Abigail Sinian’s voice cackled on the onboard radios. “The Pastmaster’s using the legendary skull of Deathfang to control the drakes. He has the Gryphonspaw Staff for the griffins.”

“Dr. Sinian! How did hear our conversation?” T-Bone asked.

“This isn’t just a one way radio, T-Bone!” Callie barked over the radio.

“You’re with Ms. Briggs? Good! We can give both of you cover then!” Razor spoke over the radio. There was a slamming of a door heard over the radio.

“Deputy Mayor Briggs! What exactly can you tell me about this situation?” It was Ann Gora.

“Have fun with the press, Ms. Briggs!” Ace taunted. He was jerked to his senses with a severe turn. It noticed the ice beam barely missed them.

“Hey Ace! Is that Napalm Gun operational right now?” Griffin asked.

“Yeah!” Ace replied as we pressed a button. An 8-barrel cannon dropped out of the underside of the ship. “Locked, loaded and ready to go!”

Four fireballs shot out of the cannon at the large blue drake. As they hit their mark, the behemoth cried out in agony.

“Ok split up and take those monstrosities out of the sky!” Razor ordered.

The three jets went their separate ways. After 3 minutes of fight drake after drake, the VCC came upon a rather large red drake.

“Big red at 6 o’clock!” screamed Ace.

“I know! I know!” replied Griffin. The jet dived down and the drake followed. Griffin engaged the rear thrust putting him right behind the drake. “Use the Artica Missiles!”

“Right!” Ace replied. A blue missile zoomed out of the jet. The drake evaded it swiftly. The missile hit the pavement and turned everything in a 20-meter radius to ice. “Crud!”

The VCC chased the drake through the labyrinth of buildings. It almost lost the beast until it hit a straight passage. As the jet closed in, Ace readied the lock once more. Again, the Artica Missile was let loose on the beast, however it found its mark this time. The beast turned to ice and crashed into the ground.

“Alright!” Griffin cried out.

“Yes!” Ace exclaimed.

“They aren’t bad…” Razor said to T-Bone.

“Aren’t as good as us. You gotta admit, you could have gotten that beast on the first try!” T-Bone put in.

“I know and his flying wasn’t as tight as yours,” Razor put in.

“So, we break the bad news at their hangar?” T-Bone asked.

“Wait a sec T-Bone. You’re the one who always said there’s two sides to being a Swat Kat!” Razor added.

“So how do we test their fighting abilities?” T-Bone wondered.

An alarm sounded in the jet. Razor pounded on a button. “Yes, Ms. Briggs?” Razor stated.

“Not Ms. Briggs this time,” Dr. Sinian informed. “I found out that if you remove the artifacts from the Pastmaster’s possession, not only will he lose control of the beasts, but also that they will be sent back to where they were summoned from! As always I request the items be returned in pristine order, but it is not to be required!” Abi informed.

“No problem, Dr. Sinian!” Razor said. He turned the communicator off. “You were saying, T-Bone?”

“Did you guys get that?” T-Bone said into their radio.

“Affirmative. We’ll land as close as possible and do the rooftop hop ’til we reach Pastie!” Griffin said. “And we’ll try to return them in on piece. I want to see the artifacts in a less hectic environment anyway!”

Griffin landed the VCC on a roof two buildings away from City Hall. Griffin and Ace jumped out wearing what seemed to be glovatrixes.

Razor’s voice rang in their head. “Where’d you get those?”

“Found a blueprint for them just lying around,” Griffin remarked.

“So that’s where those plans went!” T-Bone growled.

“Can we talk later? We got a city to save, guys. Give us cover from the big ones!” Ace told them. “Why don’t those drakes and griffins have wings?” he asked Griffin, referring to the ones sitting on the roofs surrounding City Hall.

“Those are adolescents. The have the same powers as their elders just no wings!” Griffin stated. “The jump’s gonna take our all. Remove the weights.” The two pressed a button on their G-Suit. Four weights dropped off each of the two Kats. They ran and jumped at the edge of the building. When they landed on the opposite building, they rolled to help absorb the massive impact.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“Well now, T-Bone. They’re showing a quite better proficiency out of their jet!” Razor commented.

“Yeah, well if they can keep it up the position will be theirs. But they better keep it up!” T-Bone replied.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Griffin came out of the roll and found himself face to face with a griffin. The birdbeast lunged his head forward to have a Kat snack. Griffin quickly threw his arm up, grabbing the beak in his hand. With all his might, he pushed up. The cracking sound followed by a blood-curdling scream confirmed his victory.

Ace was a bit luckier than Griffin. He was able to stand before being jumped by 3 green drakes. He rolled out of harm’s way and into stance. Two MiniMissiles shot from his glovatrix. On contact, the three green drakes were reduced to ashes. He backed up trying to keep an eye out for danger. Then he felt an extremely hot breath on his neck. The fingers on his glovatrix came to a very sharp point. He spun around and dug his claws into the belly of a rather large red drake. Focusing, he sent a surge of electricity, through the tips of his gloves. The drake cried out in pain. Ace slowly turned his glovatrix, trying to induce as much pain as possible. He pulled the glove out of the beast and punched it with all his might. Still dizzy from the pain, the drake stumbled off the roof. Ace looked around to see Griffin flinging a blue drake off the roof.

“Looks like we cleared the floor rather quickly!” Ace joked. Suddenly, he looked down to see himself in a rather large shadow. Looking up he saw an adult blue drake and an adult red drake circling them. He jumped to avoid the incoming ice beam. “I’ll take blue you take red!” Ace commanded.

“Got it! One drake, two drake, red drake, blue drake!” Griffin joked.

Ace deployed the mini-Napalm Gun. He slid across the already frozen section firing upon the icy beast. The drake evaded and came in for a pass. Avoiding the frost breath, Ace shot a grappling hook that embedded in the drake’s heel. As he came to the end of the rope, he wrapped his right arm around the foot, and held on for his life. He aimed his left arm at the underbelly of the beast. He unleashed a volley of fireballs at the drake. Ace jumped off as the blue drake crashed into the next building.

Meanwhile, Griffin was avoiding a fiery death. He notices that the drake was over the gap between the buildings. “Freeze!” he screamed as he fired Artica Missiles all around the drake. As the beast began to fall, Griffin jumped off the roof onto the freezing drake. Using him as a stepping stone, Griffin jumped onto the roof of City Hall. He was greeted by an adult griffin, towering over him at about three times the Kat’s size. The griffin thrust his talons down on Griffin. Griffin grabbed the claws before they could crush him. The large beast was putting all his force down on the Kat.

Realizing this weakness, Griffin capitalizes. “As a wise man once said, ‘Size matters not’!” Griffin said as he dropped down. The griffin fell onto all fours with Griffin under him. With all the force he could muster, Griffin kicked the bird off the building.

He ran up, the MiniMissiles screaming by him, felling an adult drake. He didn’t need to look back. He knew his friend would always be there to give him cover. He shot a grappling hook at the staff in the Pastmaster’s hand. Surprised at this, the gnome dropped the staff as it zipped towards Griffin’s hand.

All the griffins disappeared.

The Pastmaster tried to get his drakes to aid him, but Ace made this impossible. As Griffin got close enough he removed the Drake’s Skull. All drakes disappeared. Recognizing his defeat, the Pastmaster quickly vanished into a time portal. The TurboKat hovered on the side of Griffin. T-Bone and Razor were giving the two warriors the thumbs up sign.

Ace wrapped a grappling hook around the artifacts and slowly lowered them down the side of the building. He saw Dr. Sinian pull the items inside. Griffin called the VCC over with the computer on his glovatrix. The two hopped in.

Their radio cackled to life.

“Good job you two!” T-Bone said. “Time for another little chat. Meet at our HQ this time.” Griffin and Ace exchanged grins as the blasted off towards the outskirts of town.

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