Chapter 7: A Red Panda's Rescue

This was the morning of a special gift. Lola was getting her first red panda and I have to go with her. She gets to buy it, but pays with my money. Hopefully, this red panda won't give me a hard time. I'm getting me a water dragon. No, it's not an actual dragon. It's actually a small lizard with blue scales mixed with green ones. They feed on mostly vegetation and fruits, but for a small snack, they could eat whole grain bread and cereal (without milk, of course). Finally, I'm gonna name him whatever Lola suggests because I really like her 'naming pets' skills. That moment where she named the smallest cub, I was impressed. So, I wanna have her decide a name for me. It'll probably be very fancy. Hopefully, she'll name her red panda the same way. We were riding in Lola's shiny blue 2003 Chrysler Concorde and she was driving. What she settled me in wasn't very funny to me, but it was funny to her. She actually placed me in a baby seat. I was leaning back, having my arms folded while she giggled endlessly.

"I'm sorry to giggle at you, but you look too cute in you baby seat. It's a good thing my mom gave it to me as a memory of my childhood." She said to me between giggles. I sighed angrily.

"Tell that to someone who gives a shit." I said cooly. She immediately stopped giggling after that remark. Everything was quiet now. All we could hear was the motor running and our breathing.

"Sorry, Zeon." She said in her normal tone. I uncrossed my arms as she continued. "I didn't know that you took it seriously."

"That's a'ight, Lola." I apologized. "I get teased like that everyday... and it never gets out of my head."

"At least, I still get my red panda, right?"

"As long as you don't tease me in public."

"Got it."

We continued driving until we stopped at the ACME Animal Sanctuary and parked near the entrance. Lola turned off the car, took her keys, and got out. Then, she walked around the car towards my side and opened my door. She unbuckled me, picked me up, and settled me down. I felt like a baby alright, but... I gotta admit. I kinda like this kind of attention, as long as I'm being noticed. She held my hand, like a mother and toddler would, and we walked inside. We saw a whole variety of animals. There were acres and acres of lions, tigers, raccoons, weasels, meerkats, wolves, coyotes, foxes, pumas, servals, red pandas, water dragons, crocs, minks, zebras, leopards, jaguars... (inhales tiredly)... phew! I could name more, but there's so many animals, I can't name them all in one sentence. I'm telling ya! Any animal you mention, they're in this place! Anyway, we were walking through the galleria of animals until we came to a cage full of red pandas. All of them look the same, but they're all too adorable to hate.

"Aren't they cute?" Lola asked me. I nodded. I was too speechless when one of them walked up to me behind the bars and stared right at me. I smiled as he slowly poked his nose between the bars and I slowly laid a finger on it. At first, I thought he was gonna bite me. But, he turned out to be very affectionate to new people. I started to rub his wet, moist nose as he closed his eyes and growled with satisfaction. He chuckled.

"This fella seems to be a little friendly. How about you take him?" I asked her. She kneeled down towards me and the red panda and giggled.

"He's curious. That's the cutest thing I love about these animals. They're so curious about everything they see, including people." She replied. I chuckled.

"Well, he's a keeper. How much do we pay for this fella?"

"That's the thing I don't like. They're 500 a piece."

I looked at her with a confused look on my face.

"500 for a red panda? Your kidding, right? I only have 400 on me."

"I'm not joking, Zeon. Even all the other animals are worth that much."

"Shit! Well, we'll just gonna have to set a sale... MY style."

We walked up to the cashier counter and Lola settled me on the counter. I walked up to the bell and rang it three times. I was ready for a showdown... big time.

"Yes?" The cashier called as he walked out from the back. My ears perked up straight.

"Why are you chargin' these animals 500 an animal?" I asked with determination.

"Why do you wanna know, shorty!"

"HEY! I'm askin' the questions here, bitch!"

"You wanna take it on me, pal?"

I was getting really furious with this son of a bitch! I dove to his neck and held a choke-hold on him, causing him to fall backwards on his back. I managed to jump on his chest and stare at him, death in my eyes.

"You're gonna wish you've never met me, bastard!" I started making multiple punches across his face. He grabbed my tail and I froze.

"Uh, oh." I swore before he threw me off of him and into the closet full of cooking utensils. I nearly got cut by a pizza cutter when it fell, but I received a small cut from it on my right arm. I held it and cringed in pain.

"Ah, shit! You're gonna lower these prices whether you like it or not!" I yelled out the door. I furiously ran out and tackled him again, continuing my punches on his sore face. This fight lasted for about 25 minutes before the animal control guards came and leashed me, like a dog. They were pulling me back, but I refused to let a few damn guards stop me. I pulled as hard as I could, but the harder I pulled, the more the rope choked me. I was starting to have a hard time breathing, but I still hung in there. I was in a rage of anger. I was barking, drooling, and scratching the floor like a mad dog. Finally, I gave up. I was getting tired of the choking and stopped and let them pull me. They stopped near the counter and one of them picked me up, like a puppy. The cashier was unconscious on the floor with an extremely bloody face. It was so bloody that some of it stained the collar of his shirt. I was sitting like a dog as I watched them pick up the cashier and carry him out the back door to the ambulance. Then, I turned to look at Lola, but she was gone!

"Lola! Where'd you go!" I asked, but still no reply. Then, I heard screaming through the crowd of the common folks. When one of the guards managed to get the crowd moving, I saw three more of them having Lola pinned down on the floor, clipping cuffs on her wrists. I was shocked. She just continued to scream, as if she was trying to call for Bugs, but it turned out that she was actually screaming because of the pain that the guards were inflicting on her. Two of them were holding her down while the third had a small animal tazer. It was this really small electric device that common animal hunters use to tame wild animals. I expected them to use it on me, but the did it on Lola. I'm guessing that they're trying to stop her from screaming, but it made it worse. She finally managed to scream out:

"ZEON! HELP ME!" She was crying tears as she screamed. I was about to help her out, but one on the dog catchers snatched me up and placed a muzzle on me. I looked over at Lola with my eyes and she was finally unconscious. I started to whine like a dog as I tried to struggle free. Bugs would kill me if he found out about this. Same for Celica. I was scared now.

"Hey, boss." One of the dog catchers called. "What do ya suppose we do wit dis killer?"

"Take him to the dog pound for now. I'll think of a way to kill him later." The boss replied. I went wide eyed as I heard this. I could tell that Celica and Bugs were both gonna be furious at me.

'Goddamn!' I cursed in my head. That was all I could say before they carried me to the dog pound truck and tossed me in. I tried to run back out, but the closed and locked the door before I could try to save Lola. I managed to look out the window and see the guards pick her up and carried her out here and amazingly, they opened this door and tossed her in here with me. I was speechless, but this was my chance to try to revive her. I ignored the door closing that time as I rubbed her back gently. She was out cold. So, I just laid beside her and rested my head on the cold truck floor, looking at her unconscious face.

'What the hell have I done?' I asked myself in my head before I fell asleep.

A few hours later...

I heard the dog pound doors open and it woke me up. I looked at Lola and she finally opened her eyes. I smiled.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. She nodded slowly as she sat up.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just feel a little shaky from that tazer." She replied. I looked down at the floor with a guilty look on my face.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. It was just the fact that he called me 'shorty'. That's why I got so pissed off."

"I never expected that kind of behavior to come out of you like that. Maybe that's why your mom kicked you out in the first place."

"You might have a point on that, but what if Bugs and Celica finds out about this?"

We looked at each other in silence after that question. We both had concerned looks on our faces. Then, the door opened, interrupting our thoughts. One guard took Lola while the other took me. They took us to the boss's office and he was sitting at his desk, smoking a pipe. They settled us in separate chairs and left us with just us and the boss. He sat up and placed his pipe down before he spoke.

"Alright, now." He started. "Explain yourselves, both of you."

"I'll start." Lola pleaded. "Ya see, Zeon wanted to buy me a red panda for a personal pet and unfortunately, he wasn't very satisfied with the prices."

"Zeon is his name, huh? Explain yourself, small boy."

I was getting angry again, but Lola looked over at me and shook her head. I calmed down and replied.

"It's true. I thought that 500 a pet was crazy, so I tried to convince the cashier to lower the prices a little, but then he had to go and call me 'shorty' and that's what got me into the mad dog situation."

"So, that's all that happened?" The boss asked. We both nodded simultaneously.

"Okay, then. I'll let both of you go for now, but one of you enter that shelter again, I'll make sure that you'll die for what you've done." Lola leaned foreward in her seat, but almost fell. She almost forgot she had her arms tied up behind her seat.

"But, you can't do that!" She yelled. The boss got furious.

"Why not?" He asked cooly.

"I'm a supervisor volunteer for that shelter. I really respect those animals! Honest."

"Well, now your supervisior licence is being denied as we speak."

Her pupils shrank at that reply. She couldn't believe that she was banned from her favorite shelter. She started to leak tears as she allowed the boss to continue. I just stayed cool.

"Both of you are banned from the shelter and that's final! Now, get out of my sight! Guards! Release these two and send them back to..." He paused for a moment and stared at Lola, who rolled her eyes.

"Warner Bros. Studios." She boredly finished. I chuckled deeply.

Later...

We finally arrived back to Warner Bros. Studios and they rudely pushed us out of the car. We ignored that, though. We were as scared as hell and we knew that pretty soon, we were gonna get our asses kicked. We nervously walked up to the door and then, paused for a minute.

"Wait a minute." I said. "Whatever happened to your car?"

We looked at each other, then looked down the street. We saw a tow truck pick up her car and drove off with it.

"Well, there's goes my auto insurance." She pleaded to herself. I couldn't help but chuckle. Then, we knocked on the door three times and Bugs answered the door. He still looked happy, but he didn't notice that we were actually pretty scared and pissed at the same time.

"Hey, docs! What took ya so long?" He asked us. I ignored him as we walked in, but Lola acted normal.

"We had a small... problem." She replied as she closed the door. Bugs looked puzzled.

"What do ya mean?" He asked. I walked upstairs to meet Celica. She was enjoying herself playing "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness" on PS2. I really didn't wanna ruin her fun, but I had to tell her otherwise.

"Hey, baby." I greeted. She still had her eyes focused on the game, but still listened.

"Hey, Zeon. Back so late, huh? What happened?" She asked me. I sat down beside her and watched the game.

"There's something I gotta tell you." I replied.

"What is it?"

"We went to go and adpot a red panda like I said, right? But, then when I heard that the prices were outrageous, I got so pissed off that I... I... " I was starting to shake. "I... nearly murdered the cashier."

She paused the game, which caught me off guard as she stood in front of me.

"You nearly what!" She yelled out. I stood up myself.

"Murdered the cashier. I tried to ask him to lower the prices, but I couldn't control myself. You've gotta believe me."

"I'd rather dump you, bitch!"

"But, I'm serious, baby. I really want that red panda. If Lola asked for it, I'm gonna get it."

"Oh, yeah? How are you gonna get it?"

"We're gonna find some way to sneak in there and ask for it nicely. That's how! You've gotta a problem with dat?"

Celica backed away. "Alright, then. I'll help you out. I used to be a criminal, remember?"

I raised an eyebrow cooly as she asked me that. She smiled seductively as she wrapped her arms around me.

"And I believe and forgive you. Just promise me you won't do it again." She pleaded. I smiled as I embraced her.

"I promise. Now, let's not call this a steal. Let's actually call it a red panda rescue... and a water dragon rescue."

"A water dragon?"

"Yeah. I wanna get me a small lizard for a pet myself."

She sighed with relief. "For a minute there, I thought you literally meant a real dragon."

I rolled my eyes. 'So, what else is new?' I asked myself in my head.

So, it was settled. Tomorrow, Celica, Lola, and I were gonna go and actually rescue the red panda and water dragon. But, for now...

"How about you show how much you forgive me, baby?" I asked her seductively. She replied to this by pushing me down on my back on the bed and crawled on top of me. She had her knees on either sides of my waist as she undressed herself.

"How about we start this?" She asked me sexually. I nodded in agreement as I allowed her to take off my shirt. I managed to reach inside my pocket and pulled out a condom.

"Shall we?" I asked her. She nodded and chuckled.

"Oh, yeah." She replied.

The next day...

We were still sleeping as the sun rose up. Its rays shined on my eyes and made me open them slowly. I yawned as I sat up and stretched. Celica was still sleeping and I couldn't help but just watch her sleep. She looked like an angel that was just revived into a deep sleep. I smiled as I sat on the edge of the bed, still having my eyes focused on her.

'And she can't be any cuter?' I asked myself in my head. My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a shower running from the bathroom across from us. I looked puzzled as I walked up to the door. When I placed an ear to it, I heard two different voices, moaning with passion. I geered softly as I listened. This made Celica wake up with a start.

"Zeon, what is it?" She asked me. I held my laugh as I motioned my hand for her to approach me. She did so and placed an ear to the door as well. She began to giggle.

"Holy shit." She cursed silently. "What the fuck are they doing in there?"

"The real question is WHO is in there? Dare me?" I asked her. She looked at me with a disgusted look her face.

"Are you damn nuts? What if they see you?"

"Then, there's a better chance that I'll play along." I grabbed the doorknob, but Celica bit my hand. I cringed as I held my wrist and shook my hand.

"Damn, Celica! Are you out of you motherfuckin' mind?"

"No! I'm just keeping you from getting into someone else's goddamn business! You know better than that!"

She was starting to sound like my mom. "Could you stop acting like a damn drama queen? I'll be fine. All I'm gonna do is sneak in there, stand in the middle of the floor for 5 minutes, then, come back out. How hard can that be?" I continued to shake my hand.

"Alright, Zeon. You can go ahead, but if you get your ass caught, it's your fuckin' fault!" She fussed as she walked out of our room. When she was completely out the room, I silently held up my middle finger at the door entrance.

"She's a damn criminal alright, if she fucks with me like that." I swore to myself as I grabbed the doorknob and sliently opened it. I peaked in there and looked at the shower curtain. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear. Now, I recognized the voices.

"Oh, my God! That's Bugs and Lola. What the hell are they doing in that shower?" I wondered to myself as I walked up to the curtain and slowly pulled it open a little. They were fuckin' with each other big time. I was wide-eyed and speechless.

'What the fuck? I never knew those two could do that much sex in my life. If only I could speak, then I could ask them how often they do this. But, it's too good to watch.' I said in my head. I slowly closed the shower curtain back up and sat on the toilet, waiting for them. As I sat there, Lola's moaning got louder and louder by every 5 seconds, screaming Bugs' name. I was getting all shaky as I heard this. Then, I got startled as I saw her grab the curtain hard. She was in real love for sure. She screamed his name again and then, she screamed the same way she did back at the shelter. I could tell Bugs really did some fine fuckin' shit on her. When everything was cooled down, I heard the shower turn off and saw Bugs' head come out of the shower. He was almost surprised to see me.

"Hey, Z." He greeted. "What's up, doc?"

"Just curious. How often do ya'll do this shit?"

"Not too often. I just can't find da right time to do it. Now, I did."

"Is Lola alright? She sounds... exhausted." I could hear Lola breathing like a dog.

"Well, she wanted more of me. So, I did and look what happened. She's so damn tired, I have to carry her."

"I could imagine."

"Bugs," Lola called from behind the curtain. "I'm ready to get out now."

Bugs chuckled before he spoke.

"Told ya." He said before he closed the curtain again. I chuckled as I walked out the bathroom.

"Make sure she gets ready quick. We're gonna find some way to get that red panda of hers. Celica's already got a plan." I reminded before I closed the door. I was speechless when I walked downstairs. Bugs was pounding Lola like hell and I could've done the same to Celica. That's a bunch of bullshit.

A few minutes later...

I was in the kitchen, eating my breakfast when I saw Lola come downstairs. She was dressed in a purple and blue striped t-shirt with white khakis and around her ears was a purple ribbon neatly tied in a perfect bow. She looked adorable today.

"Hey, Lola." I greeted. "Aw! Look at you. You look cute."

She blushed as she sat next to me, pulling out a carrot from her one of her pockets.

"Thanks." She replied. She munched on her carrot as she continued to speak. "So, how exactly are we gonna rescue the red panda?"

"That's what we're here for." Celica said from the front of the kitchen as she approached the table. "We're here so I can create the ultimate rescue plan." She hopped up on the table and placed down a blueprint. Lola and I moved closer to the table to take a closer look.

"Alright, now," Celica started. "Now, here's what we do. Lola, you're gonna be a distraction to the guards. What's the best thing you can do to distract a group of muscular lookin' jackasses?"

Lola thought for a second before she spoke. "I could... 'reveal myself' right in front of them."

I raised my eyebrows in wonder. "Reveal yourself?"

"Yeah. Like this..." Lola stood up and stripped herself right in front of me! I was shocked to see her butt naked like that. I purred sexually as I stared at her sexy ass. Celica rolled her eyes and smacked me across the face, sending me to the floor with a loud THUD! Lola giggled softly as she dressed herself back into her clothes. Celica looked down at me with a serious look on my face.

"Don't make me smack you again, you tomboy lovin' bitch." She swore at me as I slowly stood up, rubbing my face in the process.

"Sorry!" I replied with an attitude. "Damn!"

"Now, as I was saying, Lola's gonna be a personal stripper for the guards while Zeon and I go find the red panda and water dragon and rescue them. Then, we have our pets. Does that sound like a plan?" Celica explained. I nodded.

"Sounds like a plan to me, but isn't there a spare plan we can use in case we get caught?" I asked. Lola sat back in her chair as she spoke.

"May I make a suggestion?" She asked. "If we do happen to get caught, Zeon and I can work together as a team and kick their asses down to hell where they belong."

Celica geered. "Oooooh! That's not a bad idea, Lola. Well, that's settled. We have our plan and we start... tonight." She showed a determined look on her face. We did the same.

Later, at about 10:30 p.m...

Lola, Celica, and I arrived at the shelter right when it closed. We were right on time. Celica lead the way as she took us to the back door and pulled out a hair pin from her pocket and used it as a key. When the door clicked, she smiled as she sliently pulled the door opened. When we got inside, all the animals were asleep, including the red panda and the reptiles in the other section. I was getting anxious as I saw five wolf guards sleeping in the same office. Lola smiled seductively as she walked inside quietly and closed the door, making the lock click. When it did, that was our cue to get the red panda and water dragon safely. As Celica went into the mammal section, I was about to enter into the reptile section. Then, I heard the guards howl from the door to the right of me and they were clapping with it. Lola must have been a stripper three years running or something, but I shook my head back to reality and started my water dragon rescue. As I entered the room, I saw millions of different reptiles to choose from. I'm pretty facinated with iguanas, too. So, instead of getting a water dragon, I was getting me an iguana AND a water dragon. I thought quickly and ran to the cages with a green iguana and a water dragon in the same cage. I smiled to myself as I pulled out a walkie-talkie and spoke to Celica.

"Zeon to Celica," I announced in the walkie-talkie. "Do you read me, baby?"

"Stop acting like a coyote!" She said through the mic. I chuckled.

"My bad. Anyway, did you get the red panda?"

"Yeah. I'm outside right now. He's a little hard to handle, but he'll behave."

"Be careful. Don't let him squeal whatever you do."

"I'll be extra careful. Did you get your lizard?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to get me an iguana with it."

"You're a reptile fanatic, aren't you?"

"Shucks, you're too kind."

She chuckled. "Well, that's a keeper. Anyway, get Lola and get out now! I have a bad feeling that the little stripping performance won't be lasting for a while."

"10-4." I clicked off the phone as I placed my two reptiles in the same carrying cage and ran out, closing the door behind me so I wouldn't leave any evidence. I ran to the room Lola was in and placed an ear to it, but the cheering stopped. I was confused as I tried to open the door, but I forgot that the door was locked. Celica was right. It didn't last long.

"Damn!" I whispered to myself as I placed the cage down and charged at the door, causing it to fall flat on the ground. I couldn't believe my eyes! They obviously knew that this was a distraction and had Lola pinned to the ground again, Luckily, she had her clothes on.

"Take one more step or the girl gets it!" One of guards demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you know that this phrase is really starting to get old?" I asked sarcastically. The guard chuckled.

"Don't play dumb with me, pal!" He crushed Lola even harder and her screaming was like an ear-piercing scream of terror. They pulled out the tazer again, but this time, Lola was ready. She looked slyly behind her and one of the guards noticed.

"Uh, oh!" He exclaimed as she used her legs and tossed them out the door behind me. I ducked just in time to see them fly out. I laughed.

"Ha, ha! Now, that is what I call taking crime and tossin' it to the dogs!" I exclaimed happily. She giggled along with me.

"Ya got that right." She agreed as we quickly ran out. I grabbed the reptile cage in the process as we headed for the back door where we came in. I poked my head out and looked around, just to make sure that there was no one else other that Celica, who was across the street with Lola's red panda. I smiled as we got out and walked across, but suddenly...

"FREEZE!" We were startled by the remaining officers that were parked secretly outside. We turned towards the light and we literally froze at our position alright.

"Alright! Just put those innocent animals down and nobody will get hurt!" One of the officers commanded. Lola and I looked at each other and when our faces met, we smiled slyly as we placed the animals down and I quickly kicked the cage to Celica as I formed my fighting position. Lola did the same.

"Alright, men. Fire at will." He commanded. That was our cue. We leaped for them and began our battle Lola planned. After a few minutes, 17 of them were knocked out. There were 4 officers left and amazingly, Celica shot all four of them. That surprised me as I watched her place her pistol back in her pocket.

"Nice shot, Celica." I commented. She nodded as she picked up the red panda.

"Thanks." She replied. I grabbed the reptile cage as we walked back to the studio with no problem. Our rescue mission was complete! Now, we just needed to get our privilage back to the shelter by having a talk with the boss first, then my mother. As for Jerami, he's gonna be my back-up, just in case. See ya in the next chapter. Wish me luck.