THE CLASS' NIGHT OUT.
"Quick. We must hurry with the installing of these spy cameras before the Loosers arrive to the field." Roderick whispered to the mole digging in front of him. They were both underground, wearing miners' outfits, including the helmets with lamps. The mole was doing all the digging, while Roderick held the little cameras. His plan was to place as many as possible in various parts of the Looniversity's football field, to have some shots at field's level.
"Why we have to do it? You said you have an inner agent to tell us about the new plays." The mole asked the rat, without stopping his digging. Roderick cleaned some dirt from his eyes, and talked.
"Yes, but I have had bad experiences hiring those fools as spies. I'll rather have at least a back-up plan to have extra information, just in case." Roderick explained. Suddenly, the mole hit a metallic object. When he tried to remove it, he found it was a magnet; suddenly, the spies' helmets were attracted by the magnetism, and smashed against the device; as a result, the lamps were destroyed, and the mole and rat were now in total darkness.
"Man, I can't see a thing!" Roddy said.
"Don't worry. I can still guide you down here… but is gonna be hard installing the cameras. Wait, there's something next to the magnet." The mole said. Roderick lighted on a match, and moved it next to where the mole was. They saw a sign.
"This is the Anti-Underground-Spies Device designed by Skippy Squirrel. If you are reading this, get ready for the blast. By the way, you'll better look where you put that match." Roddy read. Then, he got a closer look to the match, and saw in horror that all the upper part of the tunnel was covered with little bombs, and he had turned on a couple of them when turning on the match.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
There was a little earthquake felt on the Looniversity's grounds, and some students saw a couple of figures popping from underground and being ejected through the skies. Skippy, whose was carrying some bombs to set more traps, smiled to himself. A few minutes later, he arrived at the field to see if the Perfectos had handled to set any camera or microphone before getting blasted; luckily, they hadn't. After a while, the team entered the field, and started their practice. Skippy took his chance to take out his cell phone, and talk to Plucky. The duck reported himself sick for the day because the previous day, he said, was hit by a dozen trucks, one after the other.
Plucky was at home, covered with bandages, resting on his bed. He really felt as if a dozen trucks had hit him, and hardly could move; the duck had to crawl out from the punching bag once Lola and Arnold were done and left the gym, and called Hamton so the pig could take him to his house. Plucky was about to turn on the TV when his phone rang.
"Hello? Plucky? Is me, Skippy. I'm calling to know how you are feeling, and to inform I just blasted some spies with my traps." Skippy said. Plucky, at the other side of the line, smiled.
"Good job, buddy. Had you seen Wally doing anything suspicious?" Plucky asked.
"No. He is just practicing alongside the other guys. Maybe we should tell Buster or Arnold about this. After all, I am sure that weasel said there was a spy on the team." Skippy said. Plucky shook his head.
"That wouldn't help us, Skippy. Buster is a very decent guy, and has this "responsible leader" complex, so he'll never accuse anyone without proof. And, if we say it to anyone else, we'll be helping the Perfectos by making the guys distrust each other, a very bad thing for teamwork." Plucky explained. Even if he was a major fool at times, Plucky really cared about his school and classmates (at least, most of them), plus he didn't wanted to end like an idiotin front of everyone, so this time he was extra careful with the detective work. Skippy sighed.
"Fine. I'll set more traps. Call you if I find anything. See you later." Skippy hung off, and returned to his job.
On the field, the team was doing a terrific job. Marcus didn't like working alongside the other guys, but Arnold solved this problem by assigning him positions where he could just attack the other team, without getting very involved with the most complex part of the plays but allowing the guy to cover his teammates, so he was a good addition to the team. Ronald and Hillary, now that they had stopped their little personal feud, became an excellent pair on the field, helping each other and covering their smallest partners; at times, it seemed they could read each other mind, because the coordination was almost perfect. Wally made a very good job himself, and he and Buster could do very elaborate plays, plus the wolf could coordinate his teammates every time Buster got covered or was too busy to do it himself. The other guys were good as well; Vinnie was as agile and fast as Buster, and Calamity and Beeper could dodge the rivals' attacks with relative easiness, while the rest of the team backed them up perfectly.
The rest of the day's classes went smoothly. Skippy made a good job in the Wild Chases one, tricking Dizzy, while Wally and Babs gave a great exhibition, spin-changing into different characters during their chase; it was hilarious to see Wally as BirdWolf flying behind a pink rabbit flying a broom on her Babsy Potter impersonation. They both needed some rest after the class, and Babs, for the first time in months, had no energy to spin-change for almost an hour.
On the Cartoon Violence's class, Slappy paired the students to practice some classic Three Stooges slapping comedy; Ronald and Hillary were paired, and Slappy was tempted to videotape them, because they were great! At the end of the class, Hillary had to rub some ice on her cheeks because of Ronald's slaps, while he had to put some eye-drops because of Hillary performing the eye-poking trick on him a number of times; they actually laughed when realized that they didn't laid a finger on each other when Hillary was hostile towards Ronald, but had a major fight as friends. At lunchtime, Hillary, Ronald, and Dizzy had an eating contest; actually, they did it after lunchtime, to get rid of the leftovers. As Hillary pointed, hyenas are more predators than scavengers, but never said no to a free snack, so she could eat as much as Ronald and the Tasmanian devil.
The next day, Plucky could return to the Looniversity, and reassumed his unofficial job as Wally's stalker. The duck made his best to follow him all the time, while Skippy kept an eye on him during the classes they had together, but, like the previous days, they found nothing. However, they still suspected from the wolf, especially since, at times, he still went to secluded places to speak at his cell phone with the mysterious girl. Plucky thought that, maybe, he would see her after the gang's disbanding that night, after their time together at the Cool Club, so decided to follow the wolf the moment he'll leave the place.
After classes, the girls met to their boxing practice. The boys decided to divide themselves to help the ladies with the training. Buster and Calamity asked to help next class, since the rabbit had to do some stuff with Bugs, and Cal had unfinished work concerning his own business, attending a property he inherited some months ago, where he built low-priced homes, and had to prepare some details for a family that would move next month. So, Wally and Ronald were the ones helping this time.
While Lola was with Babs and Fifi practicing some moves, and Ronald and Hillary were at the punching bag, Wally and Mary entered the ring, and, to make their practice more interesting, the wolf spin-changed into a red karate's uniform, complete with a black mask.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Mary asked.
"Howl Kong Phooey. Number One Superwolf." Wally replied. They both chuckled, and put their protective gear. Since they didn't wanted to hurt each other, they wore the heaviest gloves, with extra protection, so the hits were less powerful; the practice was mainly to improve Mary's speed, so there was no need to use strong punches. Lola rang the bell, and the other students stopped to watch them.
Mary threw a rain of punches against Wally, who dodged or blocked most of them with relative easiness. Then, once Mary left her guard down, the wolf shot a few blows of his own, connecting many of them. However, even if Mary got surprised, she quickly recovered, and, after Wally threw a jab, she could avoid it, and, in a dashing movement, placed behind Wally, who got caught between the girl and a corner. Mary took her chance to hit Wally a number of times, while the wolf tried to block the attack. When Mary stopped for a moment, Wally placed his back paws on the ropes, and sprung himself over the girl, making a summersault to escape from the corner. Lola and the other guys were cheering both fighters, pretty excited about this fight. Mary and Wally noticed this, and smiled to each other before re-starting their exchange.
Lola stopped the fight after three rounds, not wanting to get them exhausted on their first practice together. Mary and Wally shook gloves, and left the ring so Ronald and Hillary could enter. The hyena made some shadow boxing movements at her corner, while Ronald stretched his legs and arms in a true feline way before they both put on the protective gear; unlike Mary and Wally, they were using regular boxing gloves. Lola then called them at the center of the ring, and they touched gloves.
"Nothing personal, Snagglepuss, but I'm going to enjoy changing your face a little." Hillary smirked. Ronald raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I hope you don't mind if I protect myself by sending you to the canvas, Hill." Ronald replied. Hillary smiled at him, and had an idea.
"I have a proposition for you, Leo. Let's have a rough match. No fancy moves, just plain and simple hitting. The loser pays for the winner's drinks tonight at the Club; no alcohol, of course, since we're still underage. Deal?" Hillary proposed. Ronald thought for a few seconds, and nodded.
The moment Lola rang the bell, Hillary and Ron started making circles around the ring, testing each other speed and guard. Hillary decided to surprise him with a dashing hit, so he would get stunned and she could then finish the fight in one round; after all, she recognized Ronald was slightly heavier and bigger than her, so it was better to finish him fast. Hillary threw a punch with all her might…
POOWHAAM!
Unfortunately, Ronald had the same plan, so they connected a major hit to each other's jaw at the same time. The impact was so powerful, they were sent flying to different corners of the ring, and hit with the poles. Lola, Wally, and the girls gasped, and rushed to enter the ring. However, they stopped when both toons shook their heads, and started returning to their feet.
"Are you guys okay?" Babs asked. Ronald and Hillary nodded.
"Yes… I knew you were strong, Hillary, but that one…ouch! What do you have in your glove? A horseshoe?" Ronald asked the hyena while rubbing his jaw. Hillary shook her head while rubbing it as well.
"No… but I think you have a whole horse on yours! I'm surprised to still have all my teeth." Hillary replied. Then, the fighters stared at each other, and, after a moment, laughed.
"Tell you what… let's have a decent practice, just like Mary and Wally did, and I'll buy you a drink at the Club, and you can buy me one next time." Ronald proposed. Hillary nodded.
"That's fine for me. If we keep fighting the other way, we will need to go to the Club on wheelchairs." Hillary said. Lola smiled while shaking her head, and rang the bell again, since it was obvious they were both okay.
They had a three rounds match, just like the previous pair; Ronald was kind of paused to throw his blows, but was very precise doing it, while Hillary could throw so many punches it was hard to cover from them. As she had explained to Babs earlier, this is the way hyenas use to hunt in the wild; since they have no claws to grab a prey and finish it quickly, they have to throw a series of fast and strong attacks to different parts of the animal's body to weaken it.
Much later, that night, Hillary, Wally and Mary were outside the Cool Club, waiting for the rest. Since the predators were still new at the city, the girl offered to pick them up at the Loo and lead them there; none of them had a car, but Mary was quite fast on her skates, and both Hillary and Wally could run for a long time without panting, so they arrived at a good time without being tired. Wally was on his usual outfit, but added a black jacket; Mary was wearing pink shades, a white bow, blue jeans, and a green top; Hillary decided to wear a black top instead of her usual crossed bones-symbol one, but kept the rest of her outfit unchanged.
Vinnie and Fowlmouth arrived next, on their regular outfits, and gave the girls a good look, followed by a little whistle. Hillary was tempted to make a sarcastic remark, but was cut by the deer, whose cleared his throat and pointed to the building's corner.
"And now, presenting… The Blue Brothers!" Vinnie announced. A second later, Buster and Furrball emerged from the corner, wearing black shades, hats, pants, coats, and ties; the coats were open, so a white shirt was visible on both toons. The rabbit and cat made then some cool dancing movements, causing everyone to laugh. They stopped the moment Fifi's Cadillac arrived.
Calamity was driving it, and, after stopping, rushed to open the other side's door; he was wearing an open black and white jacket and a blue T-shirt with a bright red "C" on the middle of his chest. When he opened the door, Buster and Fowlmouth wide opened their eyes, and howled; Babs and Shirley emerged from the car, wearing their Amazing Three's outfits. Fifi left the car a moment later, with her special outfit as well, and Calamity kissed her hand while kneeling in front of her, causing the girl to blush. Fowlmouth tried to make a move on Shirley, but Plucky and Skippy arrived at that moment, and the duck had a reaction similar to the chicken's, and rushed next to the loon, stopping FM from trying anything.
Beeper and Concord arrived next, and Sylvester dropped his son a minute later. Gogo Dodo arrived driving an invisible motorcycle and holding his date, a toaster. Dizzy arrived on his trademark way, in tornado's shape. Sneezer and Sweetie arrived last, when a more than slightly overweighed bald eagle (Sweetie's adoptive father) dropped them, transporting the couple on his back; the mouse was dressed with a little tuxedo, while Sweetie was wearing a bright yellow bow and a fake pearls necklace.
"Well, I guess we are all together now… except for Ronald and Hamton. Where are them?" Wally asked.
"Well, Hamton is the Club's DJ, so I guess he already is inside. About Ronald, I have no idea." Sweetie said. Hillary, surprisingly for her, felt a little disappointed, and sighed. At that moment, a pink convertible arrived, and everyone turned to see it; they recognized the car, especially the boys. Shirley moved next to Plucky to keep him on control, just in case.
Ronald walked out from the car; he was wearing a black and white jacket, and a blue cap. At the same time, Minerva emerged the other side of the vehicle, wearing a red top and white mini-skirt; it was a tight outfit, so the guys who were without couple, except Skippy (used to the mink) and Wally (who could control himself just fine) couldn't resist doing a series of wild takes.
"Sorry about being late, but someone couldn't decide on what outfit to wear." Ronald pointed to the mink, whose just smiled and rolled her eyes. Then, she directed to the young toons.
"Hello, guys. Ronald told me you were having a night of fun, and, since I hadn't done it in a while, asked him to allow me to join you. You have no problem, right?" Minerva asked.
"NO!" Almost all the guys chorused. Minerva and the other females chuckled.
"Okay, toonsters, let's party." Buster motioned his companions and Minerva into the club. Arnold, who was on his second job guarding the door, allowed all of them to pass without losing a second, especially since he was also drooling at the sight of the gorgeous mink.
Once inside, the toons saw Hamton at his DJ's job. He was wearing a black vest, hat, shades and gloves, and a red shirt, and doing a terrific job. The club's owner, Cool Cat, greeted the group, and asked Minerva for a dance. The mink nodded, and separated from the students to have some fun with the feline.
The toons separated in groups and couples. Buster, Calamity, Sneezer and Plucky, obviously, went to the dance floor with their girlfriends, while the other males tried to find a couple among the girls at the club. Mary agreed to dance with Furrball and Wally in turns. Hillary separated from the group, dancing at her own. After a few minutes, Ronald approached to her.
"Hey, Hill, want your free drink now?" Ronald asked. The hyena shrugged.
"Sure. I'll take lemonade, please. Meet you at the seats in a moment." Hillary said. Ron nodded, and directed to ask for the drinks. Minerva then walked towards the hyena, while Cool Cat was attending some business with the waiters.
"Hillary, right? Guess we hadn't been introduced. Glad to meet you." Minerva and Hillary shook paws. "Ron talks a lot about you."
"Half of it is real, and the other half is just a bit of the awful truth." Hillary replied on a playful tone. Minerva chuckled.
"He was right. You are funny. He told me you guys had a rough start, but seems that's over now." Minerva said. Hillary wide opened her eyes.
"He said I am funny? That's very kind from him, considering how I treated him the first days. But yes, we are friends now. He is a very nice guy." Hillary said. Minerva smiled to her.
"Yes. He tells me almost everything; is like the little brother I never had. He also told me that you are a great girl, and not bad looking." Minerva informed. Hillary made a double take.
"Really? He thinks I look good?" Hillary asked, more excited than she would admit. Minerva chuckled.
"Of course. As her almost-sister, I can totally assure you he likes your company, even considering you made him see stars today during your boxing practice." Minerva said to the hyena. Hillary laughed nervously for a moment. The mink placed a paw on the hyena's shoulder.
"Then, the only question here is, why are you dancing alone? Take your drink with him, and then dance together. Trust your truly, he is good; I taught him the best movements." Minerva said. Hillary blushed slightly, but nodded and smiled to the mink. Then, she directed to the seats where Ronald was waiting for her, holding two glasses of lemonade.
"I asked your drink with lots of ice. Is okay?" Ronald asked. Hillary nodded while seating.
"Yes, I like it cold, thanks. Cheers." Hillary said while lifting her glass. Ronald lifted his, and both toons took a sip. Once they were done with the drinks, Hillary talked to Ronald, trying to hide her nervousness.
"So... would you like to dance, or something?" Hillary asked. Ronald gulped, but quickly returned to his usual mood.
"Hey, sure." Ronald said while leaving his seat, and offered his paw to the girl. Hillary smiled, and allowed Ron to help her stand up and guide her to the dance floor.
Dizzy, always the party animal, was already there, dancing with 3 girls at a time. Vinnie was dancing with a nice gazelle lady, Beeper with a black swan, Junior with a Persian kitty, and Skippy with a red-haired chipmunk, while Fowlmouth and Concord were still trying to get a girl to dance with. Wally had already left the floor so Furrball could dance with Mary, and sat next to where Ronald and Hillary had their drinks.
After a few minutes, Hamton motioned the dancers to make a circle so the couples could dance in turns inside it. Buster and Babs were the first ones, doing a really good acrobatic dancing, while Calamity and Fifi, who were next, made it slower, but with a very good rhythm as well. Ronald and Hillary were cheering among the other toons, but, after Cal and Fifi left for the next couple, they were pushed inside the circle by Minerva. Ronald gave the mink an upset look, but changed immediately to a smile, and nodded to his almost-sister. Ron and Hillary were great; just like they did while playing football, the pair was perfectly coordinated, and had a lot of fun together. After a few minutes, they left the circle so Minerva and Cool Cat could enter, which caused a lot of guys on the club to whistle and clap.
About an hour later, the place's lights went off, as well as the music. The light returned after a few seconds, but the music was still off. Cool Cat calmed down the people, while one waiter left to check the generator. He returned a minute later, and whispered something to his boss. The feline sighed, and directed to the people.
"Sorry, buddies, but we have some problems with the generator. We have enough power for the lights, but not for the sound equipment, so I guess party is over for tonight. Again, I'm sorry." Cool Cat said. Calamity walked next to him, and tapped the feline on the arm.
"Can I take a look at the generator? Maybe I can fix it." Calamity said through one of his signs. Cool Cat nodded, and leaded Calamity at the club's back room, where the generator was. After a few minutes, Calamity emerged from the room, and called Shirley, Babs and Wally to assist him. A minute after they entered the room, the music returned at full volume. Shirley exited the room shaking her fingers slightly, while Babs and Wally were spin-changed. Babs had red bright cheeks, her ears were stiff, with their points blackened, and her tail was shaped like a lightning. Wally, on the other hand, had a black one-piece outfit, mask and cowl included, with lightning designs on it, and yellow boots and gloves; the disguise left his legs uncovered.
"We just needed a major charge. Shirley could do it without problem, but Babs and Wally had to change to generate electricity." Calamity said with another sign when exited the room.
"Pinkachu!" Babs said in a childish voice, and spin-changed back to her previous outfit.
"Wolf Vulcan!" Wally exclaimed, and changed to normal as well. Cool Cat was so pleased that he offered to pay for everyone's entrance and their drinks.
"Hey, it seems that you still owe me a drink, Ronald!" Hillary said to Ron, chuckling. The guy trifled, and offered to pay her lunch next Monday at the cafeteria.
Wally and Babs drank a couple of sodas and sat to rest after changing into super-powered toons. Wally then excused himself saying he had to do many spin-changes that day, and felt like going home to rest. He said his good-byes, and exited the place. Plucky then nodded to Skippy, and excused himself as well with Shirley, saying that he had promised Slappy to take the squirrel boy home early; since this part of the story was actually truth, Shirley felt no negative vibes from Plucky, and allowed him to leave after giving the duck a little kiss on his cheek.
Plucky and Skippy left the place hardly in time to see Wally crossing the street. Plucky knew that spin-changing a lot could be exhausting, but the wolf seemed to be as good as Babs doing it, and the bunny could do this trick plenty of times before feeling it. Even if Babs changes usually involved not-powered characters, she made a huge amount of impersonations every day, and still felt strong enough to keep partying, so the duck doubted Wally was that tired. He spin changed into his Toxic Revenger's outfit (blue shirt and mask, withwhite gloves and mask, and a white circle with a red T on the chest) to fly more easily, andstarted following the wolf by the rooftops, flying from building to building, while Skippy followed him at ground-level, covering himself with the light poles and the trees he could find in his way.
After walking a couple of streets, Wally stopped near a closed shop. Then, he took out his cell phone, and sent a message. A minute later, a Porsche stopped next to him, and Wally entered the vehicle. Plucky tried his best to see the car's plates, but failed since it was dark and he forgot his night-vision binoculars. Skippy wasn't luckier with that, but could see that the driver was a female; however, he didn't recognize the driver, or from what species she was.
Plucky tried to follow the car, but ran out of tall buildings, losing his flying cover, and couldn't follow it for a long distance anyway because he still had to take care of Skippy and return him home safely. However, this episode convinced him to finally talk with Buster about his suspicious; this wolf obviously was hiding something, and the duck was now more than eager to discover it.