Chapter 4: The Nerdlucks' Transformation
As the students of Acme Looniversity were walking toward the field to meet up with their teachers, Furrball saw an adult toon that wasn't part of the teaching staff. It was a pretty looking, female black cat. Furrball was able to recognize her. I don't believe it! It's Penelope Pussycat, that girl cat that Pepé's always chasing!, thought Furrball. "Hey, wait up!" cried Furrball, running up to Penelope. She saw Furrball. "Oh, bahnjour," said Penelope. "Hello. You must be Penelope Pussycat," said Furrball. "You know who ahm I? Who ahre you?" asked Penelope. "My name is Furrball, I am a student who attends Acme Looniversity. My mentor is Sylvester. I saw you in the Pepé cartoons," said Furrball. "Y-y-you deed?" asked Penelope. "Yes. Are you heading to the field to practice basketball like the rest of us?" asked Furrball. "I ahm. Ahlthough, I'm nervous because I'm wahrried zat I may get a white stripe ahccidentahlly painted on my bahck ahnd get chahsed by you know who. Ahnd zat's exahctly why I hahven't tahken a pahseetion aht Ahcme Looniverseety," said Penelope.
"I know your pain," said Furrball. "You do?" asked Penelope. "Yes. At least twice, I got a stripe painted down my back. And I got chased by Pepé's student. That skunkette over there, Fifi La Fume," said Furrball, pointing to Fifi. Fifi was talking with the other girls. "Ahre you telleeng zat she chahses you ze sahme way zat Pepé chahsed me?" asked Penelope. "Unfortunately yes. But it isn't always me she chases. She's chased Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, Sylvester Jr. and others when they're painted like skunks," said Furrball. "Hahven't you even tahld hair zat you're naht a skunk?" asked Penelope. "The last time she chased me, I said I was a cat, but all she said was that she's a polecat. I haven't told her when I don't have the stripe cause I'm afraid of what was her reaction be. She's more sensitive to rejection then Pepé and I might make her cry if I tell her the truth. But getting chased by Fifi is not the worst of my problems," said Furrball. "Whaht do you mean?" asked Penelope. "Everybody, save for a few people, treat me like garbage! They persecute me just because I'm a cat. The majority of Acme Acres view me and other cats as nothing but bird, mice and fish eating monsters. I'm always being berated for my failures by Sylvester when he can't do anything right either. And worst of all, I have to live with an abusive owner, Elmer Fudd's protégé, Elmyra Duff. She's abusive not because she's doing it for kicks, it's because she has the mentality of a three year old and doesn't realize what she's doing is wrong," said Furrball.
Hearing this made Penelope mad. "Ziss eesn't right! Nahbody should hahte you just because you're a caht! Being a caht myself, I find ziss eensulteeng!" said Penelope. At that moment, Elmyra spotted Penelope Pussycat. Her eyes turned into red hearts to show she was infatuated by how cute Penelope looked. "Kitty!" cried Elmyra. She ran up to Penelope and grabbed her. And upon grabbing her, she began to give Penelope a bone crushing hug. "You're so cute! I wanna hug you, feed you and love you to pieces!" cried Elmyra. Suddenly, Penelope broke free and began to attack her with her claws and teeth, screeching and hissing furiously. After the attack stopped, Elmyra was covered and scratches and bites. Her clothes had tears and her wig was on incorrectly. "Hmph. Zere's no way I'm gahnna be your pet, especially ahftair I've been tahld by Furrbahll of how you ahbuse heem," said Penelope. She began to walk away. Furrball snickered and followed after Penelope. "Wow. You sure showed Elmyra," said Furrball. "Now I see why you dahn't like leeving weeth hair," said Penelope. "Yes. Her brother treats me better than her," said Furrball. "You ahre so cute. Eef eet weren't fahr my relahtionsheep weeth Pepé ahnd ze fahct you ahre leeving weeth zat ahneemahl ahbuseeng bleep, I would hahppeely raise you ahs my own sahn een a heartbeat," said Penelope. Furrball blushed due to being called cute.
(Insert "Alien Transformation" from Space Jam)
The sun was starting to set as the toons were practicing on the court. Bugs threw the basketball in the hoop. He turned to his fellow toons. "Okay, okay, now which of you maroons have ever played basketball before?" asked Bugs. The Tiny Toons raised their hands. "Other than the young ones," said Bugs. The veteran toons murmured among each other, until Daffy stepped in. "I have, coach, and there's an important stragetic question I need to ask you," said Daffy. "Yes?" asked Bugs.
(Pause Music)
(Insert "Givin' U All That I Got")
Daffy did a fashion show, showing on various jerseys until he was in a gold jersey, purple shorts, black sneakers, and green hair. "What do you think? I'm kinda partial with purple and gold myself. It goes better with my coloring," said Daffy.
(Record Scratch)
"Hey, bunny!" said an unpleasant voice. Bugs turned and saw the voice belonged to Roderick Rat, one of the students of Acme Acres' biggest rival; Perfecto Prep. Roderick was a rat with brown fur. He wore a light blue shirt and a blue tie. With him were Rhubella Rat and Danforth Drake & his girlfriend, Margot Mallard. Rhubella was a rat with orange fur and wore a purple shirt and a black tie & skirt. Both she and Roderick were smokers. Danforth was a drake with yellow feathers and brown fur. Margot was a mallard with light purple feathers, pink hair and blue eyes. She wore dark purple eyeshadow and was endowed for a girl her age.
"You a got a problem, Roderick?" asked Bugs. "Yeah, we got a problem! A big problem!" said Roderick. "We refuse to play alongside with those Acme Losers!" snarled Margot. "And why's that?" asked Bugs. "We have an image and reputation to keep up," said Rhubella. "And if word gets out that we played on the same team as your students, we'll lose our respect," said Danforth. "I know it's hard, but now is the time to not think about your reputation. Now is the time to think about your freedom. Besides, you're not the only one who's having a hard time accepting that you have to be on the same team as your enemies and rivals," said Bugs.
He pointed to where the other toons were standing. Buster Bunny and Montana Max were back to back, with sulky looks and crossed arms. Same thing with Fifi & Bimbette, Sylvester & Tweety, Furrball & Sweetie Pie, Roadrunner & Wile E. Coyote and Little Beeper & Calamity. "Some of the adults and my students who are rivals with each other don't want to do truces with each other. Most of the students don't want Furrball to play due to his bad luck. And all the students who are animals don't want to play alongside with Elmyra, fearing her obsession with having pets is going to doom the game. I'm trying to straight them all out," said Bugs.
Elmer Fudd was currently talking to Elmyra Duff. Hello Nurse was patching up the wounds inflicted by Penelope Pussycat. "Black kitty gave me boo boos," said Elmyra. "Well you shouldn't have tried to hug Penelope like some maniac," said Hello Nurse. "Wook, Elmywa, I know that I'm not your mentor ever since you got transfewwed to another school, but you must wisten to me. You can't have your mind be on having new pets. I know that a wot of your pets were killed by Hawey Quinn's hyenas and that you want to wepwace them with new pets. But now is not the time to get new pets. You must focus on the big basketball game so that we don't become swaves to those awiens. Your fweedom comes first," said Elmer.
(Resume "Alien Transformation" from Space Jam)
At that moment, Porky Pig approached Bugs and Daffy. "Hey guys," said Porky. He noticed Daffy in his outfit. "Nice outfit, Daffy," said Porky. He turned back to Bugs. "The little aliens say it's their turn to, uh, use the court," said Porky. The Nerdlucks were working out, but they were doing very badly. "Yeah sure, let the little pipsqueaks knock themselves out," said Bugs. "Too bad you can't practice getting taller, boys," said Daffy. The toons laughed as they started to leave. But Daffy should've kept his mouth shut.
Dark clouds started to appear in the sky as Pound and Bang smiled evilly as they held up the bag. Bupkus, Blanko, and Nawt go to them as they unzipped the bag open, revealing the basketball glowing with the talents inside it. All five aliens began to touch the ball, causing them to yelp. The yelping got Bugs Bunny and co.'s attention and they turned around to see what's going on. "Ahh!" said Pound as his left arm started to grow bigger and stronger. He laughed as he grew those muscles. Blanko looked up toward his comrade until he grew big sneakers. He zoomed up as he grew taller. "Whoa!" cried Blanko. Bupkus enlarged in size and mass next. The same thing happened with Nawt as well. Even in his giant form, he was still shorter than his four companions. And last, but not least, Bang started to grow tall as he groaned in pain as he grew his muscles. Not only that, his spine got strong with the spikes popping out. He let out a chuckle before roaring like a beast. The Looney Tunes, Tiny Toons and Animaniacs' eyes widen with shock and horror as they looked up at the now, bigger and stronger Nerdlucks. The five resembled twisted, nightmarish versions of the Basketball players they stole the talents from. Pound looked like a colossal version of Charles Barkley. Bang resembled a perverted version of Patrick Ewing. In his transformed stated, Bupkus was a lopsided Larry Johnson. Blanko looked like a scarier version of Shawn Bradley. As for Nawt, he was a monstrous version of Muggsy Bogues. Each one wore a navy blue basketball uniform with gold trim lines, white zeroes and navy blue sneakers. They smiled and chuckled evilly at the toons. "Hey, little pig," said Blanko. He bent down til he was at eye level. "Boo," said Blanko. Porky shrieked. "I wet myself," said Porky, feeling embarrassed.
The transformed Nerdlucks chuckled as Bang picked up the basketball. "Time to play a little basketball," said Bang. He let out a yell as he slammed the ball to the ground, which caused an earthquake on the court. The toons ran around until they got stick in the middle. Foghorn, Elmer and Sam hugged each other in fright. Daffy, Porky and Sylvester looked up at them. "Those little pipsqueaks just turn to superstars," said Daffy. "They're me-me-monsters," said Porky. "Thuffering thuccotash! They're Monstars!" said Sylvester, pointing to the foes. "Monstars . . . has a nice ring to it," said Pound. Bang popped the basketball in his strong hands. After that, the Monsters began to they leave the court. "Bye Bye," said Bupkus. As they left the court, they shook the ground, causing a hotel to collapse. Plucky turned to a trembling Elmyra. "Still thinking about making them your pets?" teased Plucky. Elmyra was too scared to say anything. Bugs Bunny, eating a carrot turned to the readers. "Eh, I think we need a little bit of help," said Bugs.
(End Music)
Later that night, Fifi La Fume couldn't sleep after seeing the Nerdlucks transform into Monstars. Her mother was in a meeting with the veteran Looney Tunes and other adult toons at Bugs Bunny's house. "Zose ahliens ahre now geegahnteec. I dahn't know eef we'll stahnd a chahnce now. Whaht ahre we going to do?" asked Fifi. She looked at her Pikachu plush. "Oh Peekahchu, I weesh you ahnd Ahsh were here to help us out," said Fifi. It was at that moment that Fifi noticed a newspaper from about a couple of days ago. The headline was highlighting when Michael Jordon announced his retirement from basketball to play baseball. And then, that was when Fifi got an idea. "Zat's eet! I know whaht we must do!" cried Fifi. Fifi changed out of her pajamas and into the clothes she was going to wear tomorrow and made a mad dash for Bugs Bunny's house.
Fifi arrived outside of Bugs Bunny's house and began rapidly knocking on his door. The one who answered the door was Bugs himself. But Fifi was frantically knocking to the point that she didn't stop even after the door was opened. The young skunkette was accidentally knocking on Bugs' face. "Okay, okay! The door's opened!" said Bugs. Fifi stopped knocking and saw she accidentally scrunched Bugs' face in. "Oh! I'm so sahrry, Mahnsieur Bugs," said Fifi. Bugs pulled his face back to normal. "What are you doing up this late, Fifi? We're in the middle of a meeting," said Bugs. "I know, but I couldn't sleep. I hahve ahn idea wheech I know cahn wahrk een our fahvahr," said Fifi. "Go on. I'm listening," said Bugs.
Furrball has met Penelope Pussycat for the first time. I was originally going to have the two meet in a later episode, but after seeing Penelope actually appeared before Lola makes her appearance, I decided to have their first meeting happen in this story. As you saw, Penelope is already not happy about how Furrball's treated by everybody else. One thing that I thought that would make my adaptation more interesting is that the toons who are rivals and enemies are having trouble trying to set truces between each other, especially the students of Acme Looniversity and Perfecto Prep. And as you just read, it's Fifi that gets the idea to recruit Michael Jordon. Next chapter, the stage will be set for when Michael gets involved in the conflict . . .