The Dover Boys, v2.0
Note: I don't own the Dover Boys and their affiliated characters. They're property of the Warner Bros. Studios and of Chuck Jones (God rest his soul). Mina is a character I added in here; she is of my own creation and isn't to be used without asking me first. I decided to write a Dover Boys-related fic because they're not as well-known as Bugs, Daffy, and the others. They deserve to be recognized since they're Looney Tunes characters, too, but people just don't know it.
The dagger haunted him. It appeared in his dreams at night, except as a larger replica of its more inconspicuous form. Although it was small, he knew it was a dangerous weapon if it fell into the wrong hands, since there seemed to be some magical quality about it. Yet he could not resist it much longer. It was almost as if there was some sort of gravitational pull that it had on him. Sooner or later, Tom Dover would claim the Centurion's Longsword.
"56! 83! 15! Hut, hut, hike!" The ball was snapped to the quarterback, and grunts were heard as football players slammed into holds, playing man-to-man.
"Hey, Dover, my mother can tackle harder than you," a player on the other side taunted. He stared straight into the deep blue eyes of a tall, blonde young man with muscles practically the size of the IronMan tires on his sports car in the parking lot some ways down the campus. "Come on! You can do better than that." The player making the snide remarks had almost a manic look in his eyes.
"Don't push your luck, Gurvin," the blonde replied in between grunts, his ocean-colored eyes flickering angrily. "You just might get what you ask for." His teeth, hidden by the mouth guard he wore, were bared in a snarl as he struggled against Gurvin when suddenly a whistle blew.
"Alright, guys!" the coach shouted. "That's enough for today. Hit the showers." Players straggled off the field one by one, and a few gathered up equipment to put it away in the storage shed. The blue-eyed player removed his helmet and shook out his thick, wavy hair, which was now mussed up from being pressed underneath his headgear. His name was Tom Dover, one of the wealthiest students at Pimento University; a handsome guy of 21 with a smooth square jaw, broad shoulders, a tight body, and a charming personality, many girls swooned over him and considered him a god. However, there was only one girl that Tom was interested in. He turned to watch the marching band, which was having a dress rehearsal for the first home game of the year.
The members of the color guard—dressed in black shirts and sequined gold bolero jackets with glittery red back capes, loose black pants, and black boots—expertly tossed and twirled flags, rifles, and sabers. As they showed off their techniques, the band was playing the music selection to accompany their performance, which would be at half-time the night of the game. He looked at their crisp new uniforms, just recently bought and on the cutting edge of style; the regular members had white jackets trimmed with black, red, and gold streaks, all of which were the school's colors. Gold Spartan-style helmets, topped by black plumes flecked with red, were strapped on their heads. And falling back from the jacket shoulders were full, draping black capes with red "liquid" satin lining and shimmery gold fabric streaks on the polyester outside. Tom then turned his gaze up to the director's platform, and perched atop it was the girl he had eyes for. He could pick her out easily not just because of her position, but also her uniform, since whatever was white on everyone else was black on her, and the cape she wore was fuller. She was Mina Prier, drum major of the Pimento University Marching Centurions, a fun-loving, adventurous girl who had been in her school's ROTC program for two years. Since going co-ed in 1960, Pimento University had a student body that was fifty-two percent female, which was slightly over half the population on the campus. Tom waited until the band took five to go over and say hello to his girlfriend.
"Hey, Mina," he said, approaching her as she stepped down from the platform.
"Oh hey, Tom!" the girl with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes said brightly as she turned to face the football player in front of her. "What brings you over here?"
"Football's done for today and I thought I'd watch you guys practice," Tom replied matter-of-factly. "How's the routine coming along?"
"Excellent," Mina said as Tom put his arms around her. "I couldn't have asked for better from this band." She smiled up at him.
"I love your uniform," he said, admiring her outfit. "The white looks good on the other people here, but black suits you better. You think you could get me one like yours? I'll pay for it myself."
"Well, you're not a band member and I don't know how well the director's gonna take that," Mina answered, the smile disappearing from her face for a few seconds. "But since I'm the drum major I think I could finagle it for you." Her grin returned wider than before.
"Thanks, sweetheart," he said, his smile reappearing as well.
"Listen, I have to get back to work with the band," Mina said, backing out of their embrace. "I hate to run you out of here like this, but we still have a lot of rehearsing to do. I'll see you later, though, okay?"
"Yeah, later," Tom replied, then he and Mina quickly smooched before he headed off to the locker room, while Mina climbed back onto the platform and called the band back to order. Later that night, the two met up again at a university-sponsored party. They were having a good time dancing in the main lounge of the student center, grooving to the beat of popular hits pounding from huge speakers at the DJ's table. However, when they tried to talk, they had to yell in each other's ear, as did most of the people there, in order for one to hear the other.
"Isn't this a great party?!" Tom said as loudly as he could while he and Mina were dancing.
"What?!" she shouted back. Her boyfriend leaned down so he could project his voice into her ear.
"I said, isn't this a great party?!" he repeated.
"Yeah!" Mina replied.
"What?!" This time it was Tom's turn to ask for a repeat.
"I said, yeah!" his girlfriend yelled in his ear. Just then, the intro to "Sandstorm," a big hit in the clubs around the area, blasted from the speakers.
"Hey, Mina! It's time to do our pairs rave routine!" Tom shouted.
"Alright!" Mina said in return. This time they were just barely able to hear each other as they got into the center of the floor and each pulled a pair of glow sticks from their pockets, Tom locking red ones between his fingers while Mina did the same with two purple sticks. As the music went into full swing and everyone gathered around them to watch, the two in the middle started to rave. They started off with simple techniques, like the ball, and moved to more difficult ones. The glow sticks they used also had lengths of string attached, and as their routine progressed with the music they began to twirl them with ease. Soon, all that could be made out of the colored phosphorescent sticks were rings and twisting lines of colored light, and the people watching them ooh-ed and ahh-ed in amazement. When "Sandstorm" came to an end, the others who had gathered around to watch their raving burst into applause and cheers. While everyone was whooping it up for Tom and Mina, Dan "Jawbreaker" Backslide (slightly more muscled up than the original character) slipped through the crowd with his gang: Chainsaw, Sledgehammer, Flamethrower, and Crowbar. (Side note: Unlike the original character, the updated Dan is a biker who wears leather, torn jeans, and combat boots; he is also meaner and tougher than his original personality. Tom Dover, also upgraded in appearance, likes wearing tight T-shirts or tank tops—to show off his musculature, of course— under his varsity jacket, wide-leg jeans or cargo pants, expensive Victory sneakers, and his favorite wraparound shades.) The crowd saw Dan and his goonies in the center, facing Tom and Mina, and suddenly there was not a sound.
"Hey, Dover, who's that babe you got with you?" Dan asked, smirking at Tom, his dark eyes flashing evilly.
"This 'babe' here happens to be my girlfriend, Backslide," the broad-shouldered blonde replied unflinchingly. He folded his bulging, muscular arms over his large chest, pushing it out as he looked down his nose at his nemesis. "Now if you're smart, you'll make like a tree and leaf her alone because she's not interested in you. That is, of course, unless you'd like for me to make your exit more painful than you doing it yourself." Tom narrowed his eyes and unfolded his arms, then proceeded to crack the knuckles of his fisted hands.
"I think I make my point?"
"You looking for a fight, Dover?" Dan said maliciously, not moving from where he stood. "You want to fight? We'll go at it, then." He motioned with his hand, as if to say, "Bring it on, pretty boy." But Tom remained where he was, hands on his hips.
"I won't fight if I don't have to," the taller of the two guys replied. "But you're welcome to take a shot at me." He had purposely left his torso wide open for a hit, knowing that Backslide would practically break his hand trying to punch the rock-solid abdomen Tom had developed from working out at the gym.
"Come on. I'm giving you a free chance to hit me." Dover paused. "Or are you chicken?" Now he had a defiant smirk on his strong-jawed face as he waited for Backslide to make a move.
"Chicken?! No way!" the punk sneered, trying to act as if he was not afraid at all. "Here I go!" He pulled his fist back and swung a hard right at Tom's midsection, connecting with a brick wall of tight muscles.
"Yeeeeeeeeoooooooooowwwwwww!!!!!!!!!" The bully held his hand, shaking it in pain, then looked up incredulously at Tom. "Man, how'd you get such strong abs?!"
"Four hours every day at the gym will do it," the blonde boasted. "You still want to take me on?" Dan and his gang simply slunk off without a word, shooting dirty looks at Tom, but he allowed their glares to bounce off of him harmlessly. Once they were gone, a professor chaperoning the dance stepped into the circle.
"Okay, everyone, show's over," the professor said, dispersing the crowd. The DJ put on another song and everyone got back to dancing. Tom and Mina, however, did not; instead, they went outside the student center into the cool nighttime air.
"Whoa. What was that all about?" asked Mina once they were away from the music thumping inside the main lounge. "I mean, why did it look like he wanted me?"
"I've been keeping an eye on him, and it's becoming apparent that he's got a thing for you," her boyfriend said in reply, putting an arm around her. "But as long as I'm here, he doesn't stand a chance of taking you away from me. Come on, I'll walk you back to our residence hall." So, the two made their way to Culverton Hall, Tom intent on dropping his girlfriend off at her room, then he would head up three floors to his own dorm. As they strolled along, each with one arm around the other, a shadowy figure watched from behind some distance away. He motioned to the bushes, and out came four other figures, also obscured by the darkness. Tom was careful to stick to lighted areas, just in case someone should be stalking them; in the light, at least, he would be able to see the attacker. Soon, he and Mina could see their residence hall, so they knew it was not much farther. They did not realize that five other people were shadowing them, and trouble was creeping up from behind.
