There was a light knock at the back patio window, then...
"...Andy!"
The word came, rolling out upon a sigh of happy welcome and grateful return. Slappy jumped up and wrapped herself around her husband's body, melting into it like it was a warm, comfortable blanket, her paws filling with wads of soft red fur as she clung to him tightly. She buried her face in his side and gave a deep audible sigh, re-affirming that the warm furry body was real by squeezing it tightly with her arms, legs, and tail. Her feelings were returned as she felt Andy's paws wrapping around her back to embrace her back, completing the warm glow of love and tenderness that was enveloping her.
"Hello, Slappy," he said in a low and warm tone that send waves of comfort through the squirrel at hearing it. Slappy looked up at Andy's face, her white cheeks matted with tears running from her eyes. She opened her mouth, but no words came out, her eyes suggesting an odd, pleading and desperate nature to them. Andy nuzzled her ear and brought his lips to hers, and never before had the two toons realized their love for each other more than those few moments, and all of Andy's vast powers would never compare with the warm feeling of his wife in his arms.
Smiling, Slappy looked into Andy's large green eyes. "I... you don't know how long I... em..." Her words faltered as she sobbed quietly. "I love you, Andy. Glad... glad you're back."
Stumbling slightly, Andy made his way inside the mansion, Slappy still locked in her hold around his middle. He made his way through the kitchen and stopped as his eyes met Skippy's. He knelt down and stretched out a free arm to the beaming squirrel, who ran over and embraced him almost as tightly as Slappy had. Looking beyond the two squirrels in his arms, Andy saw a third figure standing quietly off to the side in the shadows. "Hello, fox," came a deep, familiar voice. The two squirrels released Andy, and he walked slowly over to the figure, who stepped forward to meet him, his green and white pendent shimmering slightly.
"Hello, rabbit," Andy said back, wrapping an arm around Fluffy and hugging him tightly as Fluffy nuzzled his chest back.
Momentarily, Andy began to feel eyes upon him. He turned to see Slappy and Skippy both staring perplexedly at him.
"Fox," Slappy gasped slightly,
Andy looked back, confused. "What?"
Slappy's tongue was hanging out slightly, her eyeballs momentarily changing to little red hearts. "Oh, my man!"
Andy stood, still unsure of what she was going on about. "Em... yes?"
The squirrel began to snicker. She waved her paw dismissively. "Nothing," she giggled.
Andy scowled back. He looked over to Skippy, who was busy trying to hide a grin. He looked back to Slappy and repeated, "What?"
Slappy covered her mouth with one paw and giggled into it, pointing with her other paw to the fox's legs. Andy peered down at himself for the first time and gave a small *eek* of surprise. His haunches and thighs were now considerably wider and thicker than before, bowing out slightly to give him a sturdy stance, and resembling the look of a normal quadruped animal's haunches, while his feet had remained unchanged, his heels still planted firmly upon the floor.
"What the..." he began, looking down. "I, uh... I didn't do it!" he protested, a bit panicked.
"Heh ha!" Slappy laughed, almost falling over. "Way to go, Fox! You really musta' had a good time. Heh ha!"
"But I..." Andy stammered, examining his husky muscles. "Crimany!"
Slappy continued to snicker with happiness, finding the fox's new red bushy furred lower quarters very attractive. "My mom got dexterous paws, and my husband gets a set of vulpine haunches and a pelvic bone adjustment. Heh ha." She paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up with an idea. "Say, lemme see somethin." She sprinted over and leapt up on Andy's back. As the fox was knocked down on all fours, only then did he suddenly realize the benefits and purpose of the "gift" he had been given as, on all fours, his new physique allowed his feet to stand digitigrade on the floor, with knees slightly bent and heels raised and only his toes touching the ground, again, as a normal fox. The position was never uncomfortable for him, but now it felt downright natural, and quite agreeable.
"Oh no. You've got to be kidding," he muttered, still smirking and shaking his head. "That bloody..."
Slappy lit up with pleasure. "Woo-hoo!" She cried, bouncing up and down to test Andy's new "shocks". "New and improved Andy Fox!" she cried out.
Andy raised and lowered his feet experimentally and scowled slightly. "I take an ancient toon rite and this is what I get?"
Slappy slid off of Andy's back and took his cheeks in her paws. "Yeah. You got re-drawn to be a more natural fox--my big, strong, handsome fox. It's a very private blessing from the higher powers. Enjoy it."
Andy felt Slappy's fingers stroking his back and the smile returned to his face. Suddenly his stomach began to rumble quietly. Slappy gave him a quick peck on the cheek and straightened up. "All right, kids," she ordered, paws on hips and looking directly to Skippy and Fluffy, "go off and play or somethin'. I need to make this fox here some supper." Skippy and Fluffy eyed each other and ran off into the game room.
"God knows what you've had for dinner the last week," Slappy muttered aloud, brooding like a mother over an unkempt child. "Go sit down and I'll get ya somethin' that you won't have to chase down first, heh ha."
Andy went out to the patio table and sat down, the familiar smells of food being cooked drifting out to meet his nostrils as he shifted around in his chair, trying to become accustomed to his new vulpine haunches. A gentle rustling of leaves from across the yard caught his ears. He turned and saw, barely perceivable, a pair of dark eyes peering at him from behind the foliage at the edge of the yard. The eyes, accented by the white stripes of fur of a badger's head, quietly conveyed a message of happiness and warmth at his return. Andy silently raised a paw and waved back at the pair of eyes, which remained a few moments more before disappearing back into the darkness of the woods.
Eventually Slappy came out to join him, setting a plate before him containing a small pork steak smothered in a nut sauce she had invented herself. Andy looked up at Slappy with wide eyes. "Yeah, well," she shrugged, "bein' as it's a special occasion and all, I do know a few carnivorous recipes, heh ha."
Andy smiled meekly and began in on his dinner.
"Maybe we can test those new shocks of yours tonight at the Loo," Slappy began, casually.
Andy looked back, a bit lost. "What?"
Slappy gave him a conk on his head. "It's June 5th. The Tiny Toons graduated this afternoon, remember? And we're workin' security at the Loo tonight at their all-night party. I was almost ready to call in and cancel if you didn't show up in the next hour or so."
Andy's expression fell as he looked down at the table. "Yes... the graduation--shoot. I really wanted to be there for that."
"You can watch the tape of the ceremony later," Slappy quipped.
Andy nodded. "Suddenly time has jumped ahead a week around me. I, em... how have you been, Slappy?" he asked, taking his wife's paw comfortingly.
Slappy shrugged dismissively. "Same old, same old. Work, studio idiots... Skippy's been kept entertained by Fluffy."
Andy smiled. "Those two have really hit it off, haven't they?"
"Well, now that they can both talk to each other," Slappy answered. "Skippy's been chattering Fluffy's ears off. The two invented some odd game of tag. I donno... they seem happy to me. That's all I care about."
Andy chuckled to himself. "Fluffy never had any trouble understanding Skippy before. He always liked Skippy. They are good play mates."
"Daffy stopped by Tuesday to borrow your lawn mower," Slappy continued, reciting the week's events. "Oh, and you got a letter from Acme Labs... something about thanking you for the return of two mice. Um..." She paused for a moment, trying to remember something. "Uh, yeah," she finished, digging a small stone out of her pocket and handing it to Andy. It was an ordinary looking piece of gray rock perhaps three or four inches across. One side was completely flat, and a very detailed picture of an oak tree had been meticulously carved into it, along with a jumble of odd squiggles and shapes at the bottom. "Found it on the deck one afternoon," Slappy explained. "I ah... can't read what's on it."
Andy peered at the stone and nodded. "It's from Lady Amber--a token of thanks and respect for my services the other night." He tossed the small object into the air and was about to pocket it when his eyes spotted a small collection of marks carved into the side of the small stone. He scowled as he looked at them. Then he made a contemptuous grunt and stuffed the item in his pocket. "Know-it-all ferret," he muttered under his breath.
He went back to his meal. Suddenly he paused again and looked quizzically at a piece of steak on his fork.
"What?" Slappy asked. "Did I overcook it?"
"I've robbed you of your naturalness," he said heavily. "Taken one more delicate layer of your beauty away."
"Oh, please," grumbled Slappy irritably. She took Andy's chin and lifted his face to meet hers. "Didn't you learn anything from this little junket? Animal is up here," she said, poking his head with a finger, "not in where you live, or what you do for a living. Up here is where it matters. It's how you are to yourself in your own mind. I chose to live my life with a fox, and if he eats meat, then I'll cook him meat, but that doesn't make me any less of a squirrel. If I wanted a squirrel I would have married a squirrel--but I didn't. I wanted a fox."
"A fox who lives in a mansion instead of a den?"
"Dens come in different shapes. Maybe yours looks a bit different, but your heart is the same as the foxes out there. I know that." She laid her paw on his and squeezed it.
"Well, are you sure you wouldn't rather want, ah..." Andy dug in his fur and produced about a hundred pages of paper stapled together. He continued, reading from it, "...retirement in a giant acorn tree."
"Gimme that." Slappy grabbed the script from Wakko's Wish from Andy's paw and flung it away. "I'm happy right where I am."
"So you don't need glasses either then?" Andy asked innocently. Slappy gave him his answer by precisely aiming a paw at his nose.
"'Nuff said," Andy quickly insisted.
"Let the festivities begin!" was the word Bugs had given, and so they did--and how. Following the Tiny Toons' graduation ceremony, a post-graduation all-night party was in full swing at the Loo. Along with the Tiny Toons' class, nearly a hundred other toons had graduated that week, and all mingled gaily together, their final farewell to their education from Acme Looniversity.
With the exception one wing of the main campus building, the entire campus, the gyms, cafeteria, athletics fields, theater building, and clock tower were all open to them, decorated with streamers and balloons. The party was a lock-in event, and volunteers from the Looniversity staff and parents of the students worked to keep everything going smoothly. Some worked security along the perimeter of the Looniversity campus, keeping any ruffians from entering, or any class members from leaving. From six o'clock PM to eight the next morning, the class of two thousand and one was the Looniversity's responsibility--a final gift to the young leaders of tomorrow.
Of course, it wasn't like there was nothing to do inside the Loo. On the contrary. The gyms were the central party zones, with loud music and wild flashing lights sending the toons into energetic state of dancing. Several of the class rooms has been turned into make-shift game rooms, with foosball and pool tables brought in. Another room had been turned into a multi-player computer video game competition arena. A third had had several large couches and chairs brought in to serve as a quiet place for toons to relax and take a break from the festivities. Outside on the Loo's small baseball field, several inter-class competitions had been scheduled, giving everyone a chance to turn any excess energy into home runs and fly balls.
Mountains of catered food were brought in and set up in the Looniversity cafeteria, marking the one day of the year that edible food could be found there. And, down in the film vault, video compilations of highlights and academic achievements during their school years played to laughing audiences. And if that weren't enough, several entertainers had been brought in, including improv comedy by Robin Killems and live music by several local bands. All in all, it was turning out to be a spectacular time had by all, even the volunteer staff and parents, who couldn't help but sneak nibbles of the complementary food or steal a peek at the shows.
Fifi La Fume was relaxing in a folding chair near the cafeteria door, a glass of punch in her paw as she and Mary Melody surveyed the scene. It was around eleven o'clock and the all-night party was in full swing. Many of those that had been partying full-force since six o'clock were still going strong, running rampant around the Looniversity campus with squirt guns and mallets, while others had decided to take a small breather before continuing on with the remainder of the night.
Across the room from the skunk and young girl, two food caterers were bringing out a new platter filled with cocktail shrimp and crackers topped with crab and lobster pate.
"Do you see zat one skunk over zere weeth zee seafood?" Fifi asked, nudging Mary. The brunet looked up from her own plate of food across to the blue-furred skunk Fifi had indicated.
"Yeah," she shrugged. "He's kinda cute."
"Ee 'as been watching me ever since I came in 'ere," said Fifi, looking thoughtful. "'e acts que strange, no? I wonder eef 'e eez really part of zee catering staff."
Mary returned to her food. "Eh. He's probably just never seen a purple skunk before."
The blue skunk had placed his tray of food on the buffet table, and began placing some napkins around it in a decorative pattern, always managing to keep one eye on the lavender skunkette. Fifi returned the skunk's gaze with a simple smile and polite wave. Her action was sufficient to send the blue skunk into a mild hypnotic state. His tail frizzed out like a surfboard behind him, and he absent-mindedly began re-filling the punch bowl with coffee.
Another food caterer yelled to him from the kitchen. "Hey, eejit! Get yer bloody tail back in here and help with the chicken wings!" The blue skunk snapped out of his temporary love trance, nervously smiled his farewell to Fifi, and scurried back into the kitchen.
Outside the cafeteria, Winnie and Wade, Hamton's parents, stood watching the east entrance to the Loo. Wade yawned, his sleepy eyes watching for any stragglers or party crashers. "Those kids can sure throw a party."
Winnie nudged him back to alertness. "Oh, Wade. They're just having fun. It's the biggest event in their lives so far, you know."
Wade yawned again. "I remember my graduation day," he mused. "Our party was about six of us going out to eat at White Castle. Mmheh heh."
Winnie sighed. "Our son's all grown up. Pretty soon he'll go off and start his own life, find someone special... start his own family."
Wade wrapped a comforting arm around his wife, glancing at his watch as he did so. "Sheesh. When are those second-shift parents gonna come and relieve us? It's ten past eleven."
"Never fear!" came a voice from behind them. The couple turned with a start to see a fox and squirrel approaching. The two were decked out in highly elaborate and ornate dressage for the gala event. The fox, standing on all fours, wore a colorful set of riding tack, with an ornately decorated saddle atop a lavish royal blue blanket complete with golden tassels. A set of embroidered reins attached to a jeweled bridle on the fox's head. In the saddle sat the squirrel, donned in a snappy red and gold guard uniform and hat, and wearing a smart pair of white gloves with gold accents. One glove loosely held the reins of her mount, the other held a green umbrella to her shoulder as if it were a riffle. "I hereby relieve you!" she commanded from atop her miniature steed. Slappy and Andy had arrived.
Wade wiped his brow. "You two are the Eleven O'clock shift for the east side?"
"Present and accounted for, Sir!" Slappy snapped back. She saluted and poked Andy with a pair of sparkling diamond spurs, rearing him up to enhance her stature. The fox tossed his head spiritedly and pawed the air as Winnie and Wade exchanged rye glances.
"Say, didn't we hear something about you two down at the Acme Dog Track last month?" Wade asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Something about challenging the rest of the dogs to a race?"
"The dogs didn't have a chance, Sir!" Slappy remarked, a hint of a smile evident. She raised her "riffle" and pointed it at Winnie and Wade, motioning them aside. "You two are dismissed. Go get some sleep before you two collapse. We'll take it from here."
"Yes, ma'am!" The two saluted back, then turned and walked off arm in arm. "Take care, you two!" Wade called back.
Andy dropped back to the ground and he and Slappy began their "patrol" along the east side of the Looniversity campus.
"Takes her duties a little seriously, doesn't she?" Wade chuckled to his wife.
"Oh, yes. Uh huh," Winnie agreed with a giggle. "Say, was it just me, or did Andy look different somehow?"