TRAINING TO WIN.
"Eagle Girl to Pumped Dog, reporting. There's no suspicious activity. Over." Sweetie talked to the communicator hidden on her pilot-like helmet, while flying around the Looniversity.
"Big Sneeze reporting as well, sir. No spies detected around here, either. Over." Sneezer talked to his communicator as well. The little mouse was walking on the woods surrounding the school. Arnold, on the football's field, was pleased. He had the idea of asking Sneezer and Sweetie to work as Surveillance Officers during the team's practices in case the Perfectos were still sending spies to check on them; since both toons were quite small, it was easier for them to locate the spies without being discovered themselves, and, if needed, they had communicators to contact Arnold and ask for back-up.
"Vood. Now, keep with your duties while I make these weaklings do something okay, for a change. Over." Arnold replied, and directed his attention to the toons in front of him. As usual, he used the P. E. class to start the students' training; Max was the only one running on the track, since he wasn't on the team. Hillary, as agreed, was there as well, practicing some plays with the boys.
Arnold was actually pleased with the new students. Hillary was as good as she claimed, and, along with Dizzy, Ronald, and Marcus (who was on the team as well), Acme had a good strength's reserve, something they had lacked for a while. Wally proved to be the fastest runner, right after Beeper and Calamity, and was quite good coordinating the plays. Add Buster's leadership, the other toons' skills, and some new plays both Arnold and Buster designed, and the team's chance to win not just the Acme Bowl, but the Nationals, was quite good.
However, not everyone adapted so well. Skippy, just like it had happened when playing dodgeball, was a magnet for the balls, but, sadly, wasn't so good catching them, so the little squirrel always ended getting his face hurt, even with the helmet's protection.
"Squirrel, stop playing. Vo to the bench five minutes, puny rodent. The rest of you, keep playing, girls." Arnold said, but was cut by Hillary's angry glare. "I mean, people…or animals, or vhatever you are." Arnold corrected himself. Hillary smiled, and kept practicing tackling with Ronald and Dizzy.
Skippy sat at the bench, feeling terrible with himself. He had become better on the classes, but the P.E. wasn't easy for him. What hurt him the most, however, was the fact Wally was performing much better than him, and he felt that would make his aunt angry, or worse, sad. Skippy sighed, and took a drink from a water bottle. If he couldn't find a way to play better, he might as well end running alongside Max, or as the team's waterboy. While he was sulking, however, Skippy noticed a metallic bright coming from the bleachers. Since everybody was busy with the training, he sneaked away to check it.
The bright came from a video camera; holding it, there was a weasel, who had a cell phone on his other paw, and was narrating the whole training to the guy the other side of the line.
"These guys are good, Mr Rat. Even that hyena girl can kick some butts… and she doesn't look bad on the uniform, either. Our inner agent is doing it well. Wait to see the video." The weasel said. Then, he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around to see Skippy disguised as a hotdogs' salesman.
"Here you have it, chum. One with lots of chili, courtesy of the team." Skippy handled a hotdog to the weasel, and then dashed away.
"Hey, thank you… but I don't like spicy meals. Hey, wait a minute!" The weasel then gave a second look to the hotdog, and noticed that he was holding a dynamite stick, covered with catsup, inside a bun.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The charred weasel flied right in the middle of the field, with his camera and phone totally destroyed. When he recovered his senses, the toon gasped; the whole team was surrounding him, and Skippy was next to Arnold.
"I caught him passing information to the Perfectos. He was even tapping us." Skippy informed the coach. Arnold growled at the little predator, and then looked down at the squirrel.
"Nice job, puny squirrel. Well, since you are not a vood player, maybe I can use you as another vatcher. From now on, you will be in charge of the surveillance around the field while we train." Arnold informed Skippy, who now had a proud look for finally being able to do something useful. Arnold returned his attention to the weasel, and sounded his whistle.
"Okay, team, tackling practice. The puny wimpy weasel is our dummy." Arnold said. One moment later, the whole team was taking turns to tackle the fallen weasel. After Plucky did it, he walked away from the rest of the team to wait for his next turn, and then Skippy took his chance to talk to the duck.
"Psst. Plucky. There's something I didn't tell Arnold. The weasel said the Perfectos had an inner agent. Maybe is Wally." Skippy murmured the duck. Plucky got a sly look and watched the wolf, whose was now on his turn to tackle the weasel.
"Maybe you're right, kid, but let's keep it for us by the moment. The Perfectos always threat their spies so they don't say a thing when they're captured… I know it well." Plucky sighed, remembering the time he spied his team for the Prep. "So, this weasel isn't going to say a thing. We'll better open our eyes, and be ready to act if the wolf is the spy." Plucky concluded, and returned to the practice.
Meanwhile, at Perfecto Prep, Roderick was angrily smashing his phone. According to the exploding sound he heard, it was obvious his spy was caught, and now the Acme's guys would be even more cautious. Rhubella was next to him, sighing.
"Look, Roddy, why don't you forget about this? You already have a spy on the team… one you hadn't told me who he is, by the way, and are preparing another surprise for the game, something you are keeping secret as well. You used to trust me, remember?" Rhubella said to her boyfriend, more than a little upset. Roderick's rivalry with Acme was slowly taking his toll on the rat, and started having frictions with Ruby because of that. Roderick glared at the girl.
"I know, Ruby, but I must be sure! Those Loosers had laughed at me too many times in the past, and they'll pay for it! Oh, yes, they will, especially that stinky rabbit!" Roddy snapped. Rhubella frowned, and walked away. Roddy was never perfect, but now he was a total jerk, and she was getting tired of him.
Much later that day, the Acme's girls were having their boxing practice. While Babs was punching the bag, and Fifi was practicing some moves with Lola, Mary and Hillary were at the ring, wearing protective gear, on a sparring match. The hyena was really good, and her punches were quite solid, but Mary had an equally strong defense and some cool moves as well, so they were perfectly matched. Sweetie was flying over them, doing the referee's labor. After five rounds, Lola decided they were tied, so stopped the match. Mary and Hillary shook gloves, and walked out of the ring, while Babs and Fifi entered for their match. While the human and the hyena were resting, Wally entered the gym to do some cleaning, but stopped a moment to see the rabbit and the skunk's fight; Babs had the speed's advantage, and could hit Fifi almost 3 times for each punch the skunk gave to her, but Fifi's stamina was much bigger, and every hit she gave to Babs was extremely powerful, so Babs was actually lucky for wearing the protection.
Unknown to everybody, Plucky, on his Hudson Duck's outfit (a hat and an open trench coat, both gray), was hanging from the top of the gym, observing the wolf. He suspected that, if he was the Perfectos' agent, might be spying the girls' practices as well (even if the Perfectos had no female boxing team, they liked the bets, making information about any sport valuable), so decided to keep an eye on him while the wolf was doing his janitor's job. However, the duck got distracted by the girls' match, and slipped, falling to the ground. Luckily for him, everyone was so focused on the match that nobody saw him, but had to hide quickly. When Wally turned to go back to his job, Plucky was already out of sight.
Lola stopped the fight after five rounds, just like she did with the previous one, and congratulated the girls.
"You all had done it great today, girls. Now, go shower, and see you in a couple of days. By the way, Buster told me he is organizing a group's night out at the Cool Club this Friday, and asked me to tell you after the practice. Have a good night, and have fun this weekend." Lola smiled. The girls nodded, and gave each other a high-four.
"Of course, you're invited as well, Wally. You work so hard, you really deserve a night out." Lola said to the young wolf. Wally smiled as well, and thanked her. The girls walked through the gym, directing to the bench to deposit their gloves there and take a sip of water. Lola decided to do some training as well, and started making some shadow-boxing.
"Hey, Mary, you are really good. I had fought guys that can't stand me for half the time you did it. By the way, why there's no male boxing team?" Hillary asked the human maid.
"Well, there's the weight detail. Most of the guys that can really fight without using toon tricks don't have anyone suitable for the sparring matches, so it's quite hard for them to practice. Besides, Buster and Calamity, who are two of the best, actually don't like fighting that much. However, Dizzy sometimes comes here with us to serve as a sparring partner." Mary informed the hyena. Hillary nodded, understanding.
"Hey, maybe we can convince Ronald to serve as a sparring partner as well. It would be funny to kick his tail without actually being angry with him." Hillary joked. The girls laughed, as well as Wally.
"Hey, girls, I'm curious. Hillary obviously is a tough girl, but why the rest of you are into this?" Wally asked. Babs directed to him.
"Well, in my case, the rabbits and hares are natural boxers; we are used to play that way. Fifi here used to practice fencing and savate, a French martial art, back at her country, and Mary's uncle is a great boxing fan, so she got hooked when she was younger, and even learned a few things from the old guy." Babs ended. Fifi spoke next.
"What about vou, Wally? If zhe Loo has many interested boys, vou guys might have vour own zeam." Fifi said. Wally shrugged.
"Well, I don't like boxing that much, but I sometimes do it as an exercise. You know, just hitting the bag and so." Wally informed the girls. Lola overheard, and had an idea.
"Hey, why don't you hit the bag now, Wally? I would like to see your style. Even if you don't box, this might help you to have condition for other classes, like Wild Chases, or the football team. That's why I started practicing it, to improve my reflexes for basketball." Lola said. Wally nodded, and took a pair of the girls' gloves. The wolf placed himself next to the bag, and started hitting it, with the girls cheering him. He actually had a good style, hitting with both rhythm and strength. Lola decided to test the wolf by directing him.
"Nice one. Now show me a left jab. A right one. Right uppercut. Left-right combination. A left uppercut. Left-right-left combination…" Lola continued for a couple of minutes, until she was satisfied.
"Not bad. I wouldn't like to face you in a dark alley, boy." Lola joked, and Wally and the girls chuckled. At that moment, Ronald, Calamity and Buster entered the gym, since the rabbit and the coyote agreed to pick up their girls after the practice, and Ron had to return a book to Mary. Babs waved her hand to greet them, making the other girls to notice them as well.
"Hey, guys, hello. We are watching how good Wally is using his fists." Sweetie said, standing on Mary's shoulder. Buster moved next to the wolf.
"Ah, the old bag. You know, I don't like hurting anyone without a reason, but I always liked to hit this when I had some stress left. Can I?" Buster asked both Lola and Wally, who just nodded and moved a step back. Buster made a spin-change into a boxer's outfit, and started hitting the bag with Lola directing him like she did with the wolf. Calamity decided to do it as well, and once the coyote finished his turn, they convinced Ronald to do the same. Ron wasn't so technical, but every punch made the bag to shatter and shake because of the impact; the girls cheered at him, just like they did with the other guys, but, curiously, Hill was the one doing it with more enthusiasm. The girls got so involved on the game, they also took turns to hit the bag, even if they already were a little tired because of the training. Once they were finished, Lola directed to the boys.
"You know, boys, all of you are actually good with this. I know you guys aren't interested in having a team, but maybe you can help me sometimes with the girls. If you don't feel like hitting a girl, is fine, and I actually like some chivalry; you just have to help me with the exercises and the shadow-boxing. That way it would be like giving every one of my girls a personal trainer." Lola explained.
The boys thought about it for a moment, and then all agreed to help Lola once a week. Lola assigned one boy to each girl; Buster and Cal ended with their girlfriends, Mary with Wally, and Hillary with Ronald. Once they all were satisfied, the girls finally entered the showers. Before doing it, however, Hillary turned to talk to Ronald briefly.
"You know, you don't have to worry about hurting me, right, Numa? Actually, I might feel offended if you don't make an effort to fight me properly." Hillary informed the guy. Ron smiled at her.
"Hey, don't worry about that. I have the feeling that, if I don't fight you with all my strength, you might end turning me into your living room's rug." Ronald chuckled. Hillary rolled her eyes, and went into the showers, with a smile of her own. Lola and the boys picked up all the equipment, and then the guys exited the gym, while Lola entered the showers as well. One moment later, a moaning sound came from the punching bag, and a totally bruised green duck emerged from it.
"Next time I should hide under the ring." Plucky said in a pained voice. Before he could totally get out from the bag, however, he noticed Lola exiting the showers, holding a gym's bag, and Arnold entering the gym, so he had to hide again in the bag.
"Hey, Lola, how are your girls performing?" Arnold asked.
"Very well, thanks for asking. Oh, and some of your boys agreed to help me with them once a week." Lola informed the dog while taking a couple of boxing gloves out from her bag. She and Arnold had some sparring matches as well once in a while, sometimes with the girls watching them, and were tied in the number of victories, since they were on a situation similar to Babs and Fifi (speed and technique versus strength and stamina). Lola gave the gloves to Arnold, and he quickly put them, while Lola took out another pair of gloves, and put them as well.
"Vood. I like to hear that my students aren't a complete bunch of wimps." Arnold said, ending putting the gloves.
"So, want to enter the ring now, or do some warming up first?" Lola asked him while throwing a few punches at the air. Arnold shrugged.
"Actually, I'm a little tired today. How about we just hit the old bag for half an hour, and then go have dinner with the other teachers at the café?" Arnold asked while flexing his muscles.
"Sounds good to me. Honey and Bugs are always inviting me, and I feel bad for rejecting them so much." Lola said. Contrary to popular belief, she and Honey weren't rivals, but cousins. Lola was the one who introduced Honey and Bugs on first place, and, a long time later, Honey recommended Lola to do the "Space Jam" movie alongside Bugs and the rest of the Tunes.
"Okay. Vant to make turns, or we hit it at the same time?" Arnold asked. Lola shrugged.
"What about both? First we do it at the same time for 10 minutes, we take turns for another 10, and finish hitting at the same time again." Lola suggested. Arnold nodded, and both toons placed each one on a contrary side of the bag.
"Mommy." A quiet and fearful murmur came from the bag one second before the hitting started.