Katse darted down another hall, away from the blaring alarms. The Kagaku Ninja Tai were in the base, and he had to get to his escape pod before those blasted birdbrains blew his installation sky-high! Suddenly, Katse heard a pitter-pattering from directly around the corner ahead. He backpedaled rapidly behind a convenient pile of boxes as the Swallow came flying around the turn. The Swallow didn't spare the pile of boxes a second glance, running past with all the haste of someone with a job to do and not much time. Katse released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and started moving again, albeit a lot more slowly and cautiously. Because of this, he was able to hear the beeps of the detonators before he went into the Swan's view. Suddenly, Katse had a brilliant idea. It might even work... Now where was his disguise kit? A moment later... Jun had just finished setting the fourth explosive when Jinpei rounded the corner. She smiled at the pint-sized ninja. "Done already, Jinpei?" Jun inquired, "Are you sure that you re-routed all of the systems into the correct areas?" "Of course, Sis!" Jinpei chirped, in a tone that was somehow both exuberant and annoying. Katse smirked inwardly. The foolish Swan could not see through his disguise! Jun brushed off her teammate's annoyance. "Well, if you're already done, then you can help me set up the detonators. There are still another six to go." Katse had not expected that. "Do I have to?" Jinpei whined. Jun lightly scolded back, "Yes, Jinpei, or do you want to be banned from video games for the rest of the month?" Jinpei gulped out a, "Yeah, yeah," as he picked up a detonator. Katse was sweating under his mask. He couldn't blow up the base while he was inside it! He had to do something about it, but he didn't know anything about explosives. Ah, well, he'd just have to make do. Katse placed the detonator against the explosive, pulling out a wire here, replacing something there, and plugging two wires into one slot with any left over. He felt satisfied with his sabotage and continued onwards, changing around all the sensitive electronics on the explosive devices as he went. Jun glanced over at Jinpei. He seemed to be working quite well, and all the detonators were almost wired up. She inserted a couple wires into the last few slots and called out, "Jinpei! I'm all done on my end, and we need to get moving. Are you done yet?" Jinpei jumped, startled, and mumbled something. "What was that?" Jun questioned. Jinpei repeated, "Yes, I'm finished with the detonators." Jun responded, "Good. Now, come on, we have to move!" However, she was slightly worried. Jinpei was never this quiet, ever. Something had to be going on... or maybe she was just being paranoid. Jinpei had probably just been concentrating, making sure he didn't screw up. Yeah, everything was just fine. Katse sighed with relief. He had messed up the detonators, nothing had exploded, the Swan hadn't seen through his disguise, and the Swallow hadn't shown up. Everything was just fine. Then Katse was bowled over by a huge explosion about two hundred feet behind him. Jun rolled with the blast, making sure she wasn't injured too badly. She immediately shot up, looking for Jinpei and calling his name. She found him crumpled against a wall, groaning and covered in soot. Katse groaned, rubbing his head, as he sat up. His surroundings were swimming and there was a loud ringing noise emanating from somewhere close by. He was probably suffering from the effects of a light concussion that he'd have to get checked out later. Other than that, he didn't really hurt all that much. Either the Kagaku Ninja Tai's bird suits were really good or the Swallow had a very thick skin and an even thicker skull. It was probably both. The Swan was calling out for the Swallow. Wait. He was pretending to be the Swallow, so he should probably get up. At least the Swan would probably have some sympathy for the poor, hurt child that she thought was the Swallow. Saying Jun was angry was putting it very mildly. Even saying that she was absolutely livid would have been a massive understatement. Jun was angrier than a sun going supernova. She had told Jinpei a million times that he shouldn't wire up the detonators that way, as it doubled the potency and halved the countdown on the timer, and apparently he had just ignored her. That simple fact would gotten them killed if they had been even a fraction of a second slower, and he had probably done it just because she had said not to! She was going to give Jinpei a piece of her mind! Katse suddenly grew very nervous. The Swan was not looking happy to see his face. He decided that the most prudent course of action would be to run away very fast. "Get back here, Jinpei!" Jun shrieked as the small boy ran for his life, somehow avoiding banging into walls. Jinpei, understandably, ran faster. Suddenly, Katse saw a flash of green down a hallway. His goons! They would slow down the Swan for him! He backpedaled rapidly, turning down the hallway. As Katse ran towards the goons, he felt that he might be forgetting something... something important... "Kuso! It's the ninja squirt! Open fire!" Oh, right. He was disguised as a ninja right now. Katse leapt behind another convenient box, leaving bullet holes behind him/her. He couldn't really think of a way the situation could get worse right now. He was getting shot at by his own goons, and there was an angry Swan right behind him. Really, the only possible way for things to deteriorate would be if... Suddenly, the goons pointed their guns elsewhere, and started to scream like they were dying. The sounds of several goons hitting the floor could be heard. Katse sighed internally. Of course Gatchaman would show up now. It was just his luck. Katse silently pleaded to Sosai X, "Please let him ignore me, please let him ignore me, please let him ignore me..." Gatchaman landed right next to Katse. K'so. Katse sweated nervously as Gatchaman coldly asked, "Are you alright?" Katse stuttered out a nervous, "Yeah." Gatchaman then snapped, "Then get back out there, Jinpei! We need to stop Galactor and destroy the base, and we can't do that if you're cowering behind a box!" Katse rapidly stammered a, "Yeahokaygottagobye!" and ran for his life. Ken turned back to his task as Jinpei ran off. Was it just him, or had that kid been terrified of something? He made a mental note to talk to Jinpei after the mission about it. Even if it wasn't going to affect the kid's performance, Ken was still a father figure to him. Ken needed to be there for Jinpei. Katse darted around one more corner, pausing to catch his breath. He had managed to get away from Gatchaman... Wait a second. Katse was suddenly giddy. He had managed to pull wool over the eyes of Gatchaman. Katse chuckled. If he could manage to fool Gatchaman, then he could fool the rest of the ninjas as well! Maybe he could even infiltrate the Crescent Coral Base! His mood almost didn't fail when she walked right into view of the Condor. However, the Condor didn't seem to be looking up. Maybe he could get away... "Hey, Squirt!" the Condor called out cheerfully as he looked up. Katse groaned internally, turning around to face the Condor, when suddenly, the real Swallow walked into the room. The Condor turned to face the new arrival, greeting him with a, "Hey... Squirt!?!" Katse didn't stick around for the Condor to reach the obvious conclusion. He bolted as the Swallow spoke the dreaded words, "Hey! That's Katse!" At least he knew the escape pod was just around the corner. He made it just in time, the Condor slamming into the escape pod's doors. Quickly, Katse booted up the tiny ship, setting the coordinates for flight to end up at Cross Karakorum. He wanted out of here, and he wanted it now. Katse shed his disguise and dropped it to the floor as the rumble of engines and crashing of collapsing rock and rubble revealed his launch. Katse smiled with relief. He had escaped the Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman again, and he was on his way home. Suddenly Katse was struck with a sudden dread. How was she going to explain the destruction of the base to Sosai X? He got started on composing a believable excuse. After all, the flight was a preprogrammed path, so he didn't really have much else to do. "Oh Great and Powerful Sosai, I was unable to prevent the destruction of the base due to the incompetence of my subordinates... No, wait, I've already done that before. I doubt Sosai will accept it one more time. Maybe I should blame the cleverness of the Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman again..."

Hee -of all the Science Ninjas to impersonate, Katse really rose to the challenge here with Jinpei. Best impersonation since he did that scrawny little old guy at the end of episode 88! I rather wish that Katse had been able to go back to the Crescent Coral Base, just for the fun that would surely ensue.

That was fun! I agree, the havoc that would have been wreaked if Katse-Swallow had made it to the base! Except where would Jinpei be? Probably furious, watching the others fly away, hehe.

Gee, seeing how pissed Sosai is going to be, maybe it would've been better that he had been captured!

LOL! Katse- Swallow would find out what Jinpei's life was *really* like if he went back with them! Now I'm picturing Katse washing dishes at the J...LOL!! Great idea and story!

I loved this one - so light hearted and fun Though I agree, this should have been longer so more havoc could have taken place!

Jajajaja, just thinking about Katse going pail in front of Gatchaman and Joe.... It's hilarious! He got a glimpse of what our dear Jinpei has to go through everytime he disobeys Jun.....I bet it's easier to face Sosai than an angry Swan!

I agree, this one needs a sequel... Katse-Swallow at the Crescent Coral Base... It is impressive that Katse could fool them for that long, but how like him to make the explosives more powerful rather than defusing them!

Oh wow. I often wondered why Katse never impersonated any of the team in canon, since he managed to disguise himself as Nambu, but if this is the result, then maybe he'd be safer not even trying!

Originally posted by Transmute Jun I agree, this one needs a sequel... Katse-Swallow at the Crescent Coral Base...

I'd enjoy that! Thank you, Shiratori!

Originally posted by ChrisWExcept where would Jinpei be? Probably furious, watching the others fly away, hehe.

Maybe impersonating Katse? If he were only seen from the neck up, on-screen, he might pull if off...

LB: LOL that would be hysterical, until they noticed Katse never stepped too far from the monitor or an adult walked up beside him and the size difference gave it away.

They never seemed to notice that he was too small to be a goon...

Originally posted by Transmute Jun They never seemed to notice that he was too small to be a goon...

They probably figured that the quartermaster screwed up again and gave the goon a uniform 8 sizes too big!

I doubt Katse could have pretended to be anyone but Jinpei.