Disclaimer: I'm back! Thanks to you all for the reviews and to welcome our new follower, JulesSOD27. I'm taking this story very serious because even though a lot of its elements follow the movie it's based on, it's only following the basics, the subplots are all my idea because then it would be boring after a while, that was the downfall of the sequels. All with my own twist to the story. Now, on with it! I own nothing so enjoy!
Chapter 9
He hated to leave Calamity hanging like that but Furrball didn't have much time, seeing Sylvester was too important to pass up. "I'll see him again," he said to himself, "this time, when it's all over, I won't leave without saying goodbye." The night still wasn't over yet, Furrball and his crow walked down the halls of the old school. It wasn't abandoned or anything, but from the looks of it, time wasn't too kind to it. The cat continued to walk until he reached a specific room but it was at this point that he finally realized he was actually inside Acme Looniversity! Once touching a locker, he envisioned himself from back in those days.
Furrball's visions included himself, Concord and Fowlmouth dressed up as the Three Stooges walking to their Improv Class. He remembered how they acted in that class, Daffy called it near-perfection. Furrball smiled at that memory, he had a lot of fun that day, he touched another locker and caused another vision to appear. This one was of him walking down the hall to a new class. On the way there he saw Fifi waving at him. Hamton was with her so he continued walking, not wanting to distract himself with what he was seeing. That was his last day of living, the day Lious captured him.
The crow cawed and Furrball snapped back to reality and he continued to his destination. He was finally here, Principal Bugs' office, the records must be in here, the cat thought, if I can find Sylvester's file then I can find him out there. The door was locked but that didn't seem to stop them, the crow flew to the two chairs sitting by them and cawed once more. Through its eyes, it allowed Furrball to see what it was cawing about. The black bird went under one of the chairs and saw a key tapped to the bottom of the seat. The blue cat reached for it and unlocked the door. He was now in the Principal's office.
Never in his past life did Furrball ever step paw in that office, all that time avoiding trouble seemed to have paid off. The place looked so new to him, he could only imagine how it looked like back in the day. He and the crow searched the office for any leads to finding Sylvester in Acme Acres, the bird didn't take long in taking care of that. Through the eyes, Furrball found Sylvester's file, he skimmed through it until he found something interesting, his address. "I found you, Professor," Furrball softly stated, "it's time you knew the truth."
Furrball hurried out of the school, although it was a pleasant visit he needed to get out of there. Despite the many memories, good and bad, it was best he left as soon as possible, he didn't need to relive any more memories of what he had missed out.
…
Hamton drove until he reached an empty lot. He parked and just sat there with his thoughts racing through his mind. "Fifi…" he muttered under his breath, "May…" He couldn't get his mind in one place, he was stuck in the middle of two girls, one whom he loved deeply and the other…whom he didn't know how to feel, but which one was it? The pig pounded his head on the steering wheel, "I need a sign," he pleaded with himself, "just give me a sign, why am I feeling this way? I love Fifi…but I'm so…ughh, then there's May…what is wrong with me?" Hamton was a little far away from his house, Fifi would be worried about him if he came back late. That didn't matter right now, he had to take care of this, he needed to take care of this problem. Hamton turned off the car and stayed there for a few more minutes. There was no way he would ever come home to the bed that he and the skunkette shared with May on his mind, it wouldn't be fair to either of them.
…
Fifi finally arrived home, after a long night like that one she probably wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. The skunkette walked up to her room and noticed that Hamton wasn't there.
"'E 'asn't come 'ome yet" she said, "probably vorking' ze' nightshift, je vill' vait' for 'im."
Fifi didn't seem that tired so she just pulled up a chair and sat by the window. The view could easily point to when Hamton would arrive. She sighed, out of sheer boredom her thoughts started to drift into what happened earlier in the night. The skunk. The one from earlier who was seen fighting with the Alley Cats. Who vas' 'e? she thought, an' vhy' can't I seem to stop theenking' about 'im? Fifi remembered how he looked like, he had to have been a skunk, he was black and white, but there was that lower part of his body that had blue fur. 'E vas' dressed in black, she concluded after the image cleared up in her mind, 'e vas' painted vhite'…but…ze vhite' stripe…
Fifi shook her head, those thoughts shouldn't be inside her, but she couldn't help but wonder what was so…interesting about that 'skunk.' Why did she release her scent when she saw him? What was it about him that made her content yet edgy? "E's nobody," Fifi reassured herself, "oui, nobody important." The skunkette continued waiting but from the boredom once again, she couldn't help but close her eyes and fall asleep, now she was tired.
She started dreaming again. In that dream Fifi saw that she was back in the carnival where Furrball was supposed to meet up with her.
"Ughh, not again!" she pouted, "vhy' do I 'ave to keep living zis' nightmare over an' over again?!"
With no other option she just shrugged it off and sat by one of the rides to kill the time until she woke up again. The poor girl lived this dream so much that she started to get used to envisioning it, so much so that she started to notice when she was dreaming it. Her surroundings started to darken, this never happened before. Fifi looked around, now she was surrounded in fog. She heard something, paw steps. "Ello'?!" she called out, "iz' someone 'zhere?" No reply, just more pawsteps. Zis' iz' starting to get a little too real! She thought, her hearing led her to the direction where the paw steps were coming from.
She turned to the direction and saw a shadow. She tried walking towards it, "who…are vous?" she asked, again no reply but the steps were getting closer and the shadow seemed to enlarge. Fifi grew closer to the shadow and started to recognize the silhouette it became. "F-Furrball?!" Fifi saw the Furrball shape turn its attention to her and started running to her direction. "Now vous 'vants to chase moi?" The skunkette immediately turned her back on him, "vous 'az run away from moi for ze' last time, you can keep runneeng' Furrball but je iz' not going to vait.' Whether it was a dream or not, Fifi didn't even care about enjoying it, this time wasn't so depressing for her but it wasn't that pleasant of one either.
She ran until the shape stopped. In a split second the Furrball shadow sprung out of the fog and out flew a crow! Fifi yelped, she fell back as the bird circled her. A crow? That wasn't a good sign. The crow flew around her and started to caw at her. Those caws echoed through her head loud enough to hurt her ears. So much for a pleasant dream, Fifi collapsed to the foggy ground while holding her ears, frustration overwhelming her. That's when she heard an even louder noise…
Fifi woke up to the sounds of fire trucks riding past her house. From the looks from where she was seeing them, they were called in for quite the emergency. The skunkette sighed, "bummer," she said, she decided to leave the room and head downstairs for a small snack until Hamton got home. "'Amton…!" she completely forgot about him in her dream.
…
The Alley Cats arrived at the alley by Dizzy's club, all they saw was garbage everywhere. "Remind me again why I recruited him," Lious looked to Nicus, referring to Tus, "and remind me one more time as to why he only has one eye?!"
"This is the work of Furrball!" Clawz yelled out, "he's come back for us! He's come back for you!" The tall Feral 'lightly' smacked him in the back of his head to calm him down. Lious looked back at him, "there is no Furrbal and he's not back for anyone!" he called out, "we were idiots to believe Tus' story, Whisk is still nowhere to be seen an-"
"Then how do you explain everything that's been going on?!" Mestic pointed out, "O'Wildec is dead and Whisk is apparently missing, there's no trace as to who is responsible!"
"You shut up!" Nicus pointed at him, "you don-"
"Leave him be, Nicus," Lious held him back, "da' bad boy's got a point…and Tus is gonna' feel the other end of it!" The big orange Alley Cat found a pointed piece of glass, picked it up and threw it at Mestic. The blue cat caught it and looked at it.
"What is this for?"
"For him lyin' to us, you'll be takin' care of him."
"Ohh, Lious are you serious?!" Lid threw her paws in the air aggravated, "you're wasting your own soldiers?! Do you have any idea how stupid that is?! You don't know if Tus was lying!"
"A dead cat is brought back to life by a little black bird, does that sound like it could happen?!"
"We live in a world where rabbits, ducks, skunks an' half the zoo and jungle walk freely on two paws, I think by now that anything can happen!"
Lious stepped up to Lid while Mestic joined her side. Nicus joined Lious and the other cats were spread out, waiting for something to happen. The orange cat sighed, "a'right then," he calmly said, "Mestic, put down the glass, matta' fact, smash it!" Mestic was hesitant but after a quick glance by Feral he obeyed, "Tus owes you," Lious pointed to the both of them, "a'right let's get outta' here, all these sirens are crackin' my ears." More fire trucks drove past them as they started running back to their hideout.
Lious run up to Nicus, the two were taking the rear while Mestic and Lid led the way back. He pulled him close by, "I want you to keep a close eye on those two," Lious referred to the 'cat couple' in the front, "I don't trust dem' so make sure they's not up ta' any'ding." Nicus nodded, "duh, consider it done, Boss."
"If you see any sign of wrong between dem'…you have my permission to off eitha' one you want."
"Duh, as you wish."
…
Furrball and his crow arrived at what they hoped was Sylvester's, the place was a broken-down condo, "this must be it," he said to himself, his crow cawed in response. The two looked at the small house, it wasn't much but back then it must've been a worthwhile bargain. The crow was about to fly around the house to look for Sylvester but Furrball raised a paw, "no, stay back," he commanded it, "I want to see him…with my own eyes." The painted cat hesitated but complied when he walked closer to the door. He slowly knocked and waited for it to open. No one answered. He tried again but still there was yet someone to open the door for them.
"It's late," Furrball observed, "maybe this was a bad time-" his crow didn't wait, it flew over the condo and inside a vent. Before the painted cat could protest his eyes saw what the bird was seeing, a black cat's body sprawled over a couch. That was enough to raise his fears, Furrball rammed through the door but it easily swung open that he ended up crashing onto the floor. He quickly dusted himself off and looked back at the entrance.
"It was unlocked?" he rolled his eyes, "unlucky even when dead!" His vision reverted to the crow's and saw where to go to see his old mentor again. He walked the small hallways, no time to admire what little it had or complain about the stench and mess it had. Furrball arrived in what seemed like the living room with what was apparently Sylvester passed out on the couch the crow was looking at.
"Professor?!" Furrball yelped out in fear as he ran towards him, "speak to me! Tell me you're-" The older cat moaned, "ehhh," his breath reeked of alcohol, "are you a ghost?" he drunkenly asked, "cuz'sf' I'm ready for ya!" Sylvester slowly tried to move his head to see Furrball, "Sylvester, I've been gone for so long," the revived cat told him, he was so sad that his mentor has been reduced to a slacker with no will left to live, "you need to know the truth-"
"You…remind me of fss'omeone," the older Toon interrupted, "fss'omeone I used to know back in my day."
"Don't you recognize me? It's-"
"Furrball! That's him! Now I remember."
"Really?"
Sylvester belched as he shifted his focus on him, "he wassf' my old fss'tudent, ugh how I failed him."
Furrball was confused, he was still drunk but Sylvester wouldn't talk about him in that way would he? "I couldn't teach my own fss'on how to cat'ffch his own prey ff'or real," he continued, "an' I couldn't even teach some alley cat to cat'ffch his own prey on ff'the big ffs'creen! I'm a fucking failure!" He took another dose of the drink in his bottle as Furrball's praise for his former mentor was slowly shattering, "then he jufs'st got up and left! No wordf'ss or nothin'!". This is what he became after Lious took care of him years ago, his mentor, his teacher, was nothing more than a washed-up, drunken has-been without a care for his own health, this was not the Sylvester Furrball grew up idolizing.
The crow flew up to Sylvester's head and began to peck at him. The drunken Toon gave a slow attempt at swatting him away but collapsed his paw to the side, "ehh why fss'hould I bo'ther, Furrball and Junior didn't." He looked at the heart-broken Furrball, "I'm too old for thi'fss, Death, ju'fsst do me a favor…and take me now, no one will care."
It was at this point where Furrball finally realized that his crow was trying to get him to see Sylvester's memories. He hesitated at first but he couldn't ignore this so he reached out his paws and wrapped them around Sylvester's head. There he saw the memories that haunted him. The first one he saw was of Sylvester himself with his wife Sylvia, a yellow female cat, and their son, Junior.
Sylvetser! I told you not to teach our son to hunt prey! His wife Sylvia scolded him, Junior hid behind her, if he doesn't want to do it then don't force him into it!
He'fss a cat! He ha'fss to learn! Sylvester shot back at her, he keep'ffs makin' friend'fss with everybody, he won't learn that way!
Junior's a kitten, he's not ready to be hunting yet, not every cat needs to be raised like our generation, he doesn't even have to hunt at all! This discussion is over, I don't ever want to hear or speak of it ever again, your own son is embarrassed to be seen with you!
Furrball entered a new memory in Sylvester's psyche, this one with his son a little older and his wife scolding him again for something else.
You're teaching that Furrball kitten how to hunt, aren't you?
What'fss got your tongue thif'ss time? It'fss only for his TV career, itf'ss not real.
Do you know how many tiny creatures are afraid to go near him? He keeps chasing after the same bird and mouse from your school and you're doing nothing to stop him!
He'fss in character, he know'fss not to eat them, I won't make the ffs'ame mi'fsstake like I did with the boy over there!
I don't like what you're doing Sylvester, your job, it scares me to think you're creating monsters out of young kittens, I want you to quit.
I'm not doing that, I love you and I love my son de'fsspite not being much like me but I want to support you both while giving advice to a young mind like Furrball, and he fs'seems to be lifs'stenin' to me.
Furrball entered the final memory which consisted of an exhausted Sylvester slouched on the couch with his wife and son behind him.
Sylvester, we're leaving. Sylvia and Junior had luggage and were close to the door, go ahead and take that job with your new show, teach more alley cats to be predators on the big screen, chase after Tweety some more, fail miserably in the end, it's what you do best. Sylvester didn't seem to care, he just sat there as his leaving wife concluded her final speech, just do yourself a favor, get yourself a mentor, that way the next student you teach won't see right through your crap methods and run off to take his chances out on the streets! She shut the door and left him, Sylvester looked out of the window to see them get in the car and drive off. "Furrball'fss gone," he muttered, "my bef'sst fs'student ran off with my time and effort I spent on him, what'fss the point in goin' back now?!" The cat lowered his head in shame, "my family'fss gone, my f'sson left with my heart and fs'soul." Sylvester turned around and broke the glass to their liquor cabinet. He pulled out the first bottle his paws clutched and poured it down.
"I failed afs's a father…and I failed afs's a teacher."
…
The rest of the memories he received were of small glimpses of Sylvester and Tweety doing their usual routine and going to a bar to drink his problems away. Furrball noticed that he didn't make a full habit of it until their new show ended. The revived cat came back to reality, Sylvester's memories made sense to him now. His disappearance caused so much trouble all those years ago that even he wasn't the only victim. If it wasn't for Lious then maybe Sylvester's marriage would've had a chance, he never would've quit his teaching job at Acme Looniversity and he never would've spent a chunk of his life trying to find answers to his problems in the bottom of a bottle.
"Our fs'show didn't even lafs'st three yearfs's!" he angrily shouted out, "not even three yearfs's!"
"Lious," Furrball growled, "he destroyed…more than one life, he must be stopped!" The painted cat couldn't take it anymore, seeing Sylvester this way was enough to make him flip, he helped the drunken cat up and carried him over to the bathroom. Once there, Furrball stood up Sylvester and hugged him in a tight embrace. In the process, he sent all of his memories during the near-three-year gap to him, hoping that his plan would work. Sylvester's head was throbbing on all directions until he cupped his paw over his mouth, all of a sudden, almost all of the liquor he ever drank in his life was quickly coming back up. He pushed Furrball to the side and ran to the toilet where he threw up. Furrball watched him, "drinking's bad for you," he told his vomiting mentor, "you have a son who is in need of a father, a wife who misses the old you, the one who didn't try to live out his expectations through another's soul." Sylvester was getting sober, through each time he held his whiskers back and let the alcohol pour out of him he was getting better. "You still have a chance to make things right with your family," Furrball spoke out again, "go, go find them."
After a few more minutes of vomiting, Sylvester got up and wiped his mouth. While he was hovered over the porcelain, he envisioned what his old apprentice transferred to him. He looked over to his companion, "Furrball?" he asked him, "what happened to you? Are…you a gho's'st?"
"Boo," Furrball replied sternly, "now you know the truth, it wasn't your fault."
Sylvester was now sober but he was scared and confused so much that he was starting to get get dizziness out of himself, "how can you be here? We thought you ran away, I thought you gave up on me…"
"You did not fail me as a teacher, you taught me how to hunt my prey and that's exactly what I've been doing since I came back."
The older Toon rethought about the memories he received and realized that Furrball was right, he taught him well and that's what scared him. "I taught you to be a predator," Sylvester told him, "not a killer!"
"I'm not a killer!" Furrball snapped back, "they are, they're the ones who took my life, all of our lives!"
"And you think thifs's will make it alright?!"
"They took me away from you! From you, from Calamity, Acme Loo, Fifi, everything and everyone!"
Sylvester sighed, he lowered his head since he knew his apprentice was right. He listened as Furrball continued speaking, "I missed out on so much, Prom, Graduation, everything that I ever wanted to accomplish, and now because of Lious, a pig is living that life for me!"
"…I'm fs'sorry," Sylvester apologized, "you didn't defs'serve that." It didn't make a difference but what more could be done? The important thing was that he finally knew. With Sylvester now sober he also realized something else, "I…lofs'st my family…I don't dese'fve them-"
"Don't talk like that," Furrball reassured him, "I gave you a second chance, that's something I'll never get."
Furrball stepped up to the still-intimidated Sylvester, "go find your family, tell them you still love them, let them know that this isn't your fault, I can help you, I'll make Lious pay!" Furrball strongly motioned for him to leave out into the night, "go! Don't worry about me, they're more important right now!" Sylvester started to get himself together and headed out the door. He looked back at the revived cat, "but…what about yo-"
"I'm already dead, there's nothing else you can do for me, you've already done all that you can, now please, just go!"
Sylvester was already gone, heading to find his family and hopefully get them back. He had found the light through darkness, his own darkness. He wanted to know more about why his apprentice came back from the dead but even he wanted to make things right for him, neither of the two would take no for an answer.
Furrball wanted the same thing but knew that there was one more thing he had to do before he went back to hunting the Alley Cats. The revived cat and his crow knew who they would be seeing tonight as he leaped out of Sylvester's condo and looked at the night sky.
"Fifi!" Furrball yelled.
To be continued…
A/N: the scenes where Furrball and Sylvester meet after he was sobered up are from the original movie where Eric and Officer Albrecht met up, hence the "boo" part. Other scenes are from some of the episodes of TTA and also from my one-shots 'Who Do You Love the Most?' and 'Furrball's Confessions.' Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to review, new followers are always welcome! I'll be back next week with a new update. We'll be concluding the story's current night with Furrball finally reuniting with Fifi, don't wanna miss that! Until next week!
