Chapter Eight: Busted!
Puar cowered near Oolong, as the grinning Teal caressed the tip of his switchblade with his tongue. Oolong gulped, and his whole body trembled. If he had been able to sweat, he would have. All he could do was fan himself rapidly with one hand.
"Well, little piggy," Teal crooned, "how do you think Suiza's going to react when she finds out that her new boyfriend's literally a pig?"
"You're one to talk," Puar huffed before she thought. "I can see why Suiza dumped you. I don't blame her; she deserves better."
Leaping forward, Teal lashed his knife out at Puar, who meowed a scream and fell back. Unfortunately, Teal's blade sliced a cut into Puar's left arm.
"Meowww!" Puar shrieked in pain. The cut wasn't deep, but it still bled and hurt. She held her arm to prevent further bleeding.
Oolong clenched his fists. "That was uncalled for! She did nothing to you!"
"Next time I use my blade, piggy, I'll be enjoying some sliced ham," Teal replied nastily, glaring as Oolong examined Puar's injured arm.
Trembling, he turned his head towards Teal and asked shakily, "What do you want from us?"
"Simple, piggy," Teal replied with a grin, as his two friends chuckled maliciously.
"Break it off with Suiza, or I'll reveal who you really are."
"What if we were to tell you that Suiza already knows the truth?" Oolong asked defiantly, hoping that Teal wouldn't call his bluff.
"Yeah!" Puar cried, a bit braver that she felt she should have. "You're bothering us for nothing!"
One of Teal's two friends, Hatchet, scratched above his eyepatch. He was a bald, huskily built man, about the same size as Oolong in his Nappa-like disguise had been. The eye patch concealed a glass eye underneath. He commented to Teal, "Hey, Teal, what if the piggy and the kitty are right? What if Suiza already knows?"
"Yeah, Teal, what if they're telling the truth?" asked a short, somewhat muscular man in his late teens named Beerbell. He was called that because he used cans of beer in his weight training.
"Don't be stupid," Teal scoffed. "If Suize already knew the truth, the piggy here wouldn't have panicked when I busted him. He wouldn't have cared that I found out who, or rather what he really was. Nah, boys, Suiza knows nothin' at all about her new boy toy, or should I say_pig toy!" Hatchet and Beerbell laughed at this because they knew it was expected of them.
A pale Oolong continued to shake. Seeing that Teal hadn't fallen for his and Puar's bluff, he tried to think. Just how would he and Puar escape?
As he was frantically thinking, Teal asked almost sweetly, "So, Piggy, are you going to be a good hog and give up Suiza, or I am going to have to expose you? Do you really think Suize is going to want to stay with a non-human?"
Oolong gulped, and he was near tears. Teal was right; Suiza surely wouldn't want him, knowing that he was not human. Seeing his distress, Puar yelled at Teal, "Well, guess what? Oolong was already going to tell Suiza today, as soon as we got back. So, you're wasting your time. We're telling Suiza ourselves!"
"Really?" Teal asked smoothly.
"That's right!" Oolong cried.
"Well, go ahead and tell her, and see, if she'll accept you then. Yeah, a human woman's really going to date a pig! Can you imagine how her fellow Leathernecks would feel about it? Suiza's very close to her friends, and she cares what they think. Why would a babe like Suiza want to date an ugly little piggy when she could be dating a real man like me? Get real, porky; it ain't happenin'."
"Let Suiza decide that!" Puar insisted.
"I dated Suize before, kitty, so I know what she likes, which is strong, good-lookin' men, not someone she could turn into pork chops or ham. But yeah, you and Mr. Piggy can go ahead and tell Suize everything; really, go ahead. I'm all for it actually; that means Suiza will come back to me much sooner."
"Yeah!" Hatchet declared. "And even if Suize were to accept a piggy as her boyfriend, her pals sure wouldn't! That fat friend of hers, Handyman, would be cravin' some ham right afterwards."
Oolong felt discouraged. He gulped again.
Teal chuckled, licking the tip of his switchblade again. "If Suiza did accept a porker, and her buddies were okay with it, well_there'd still be a problem."
"Wh-why's that?" Oolong asked shakily.
"'Cause I want Suiza back myself, and I'm not givin' up 'til I get her, and if I have to eliminate the competition, that's just what I'll have to do. So either way, porky, you ain't getting her. She's mine."
"Suiza belongs to nobody but herself!" Puar declared, again before she thought.
"That's right! And..." Oolong began, frantically trying to think of more of a comeback."I've got really, really powerful friends! Friends who are capable of fighting monsters like Cell...in fact, they whooped his tail and saved Earth, so if you mess with me and Puar, they'll whoop you guys too!"
Teal, Hatchet, and Beerbell snorted and laughed contemptuously. "Hope one of those 'powerful' friends of yours is Hercule!" Teal jeered. "Everyone knows that it was Hercule who saved us all from Cell!"
"Oh, please!" Puar sneered. "Hercule didn't beat Cell; Gohan did!"
"Gohan! Just who the hell is he?" Beerbell demanded to know.
Oolong jabbed Puar in her ribs, and Puar realized that she had forgotten that no one outside of the Z fighters and their friends knew the truth about who had really destroyed Cell.
"Who cares? They're just messin' with us!" Hatchet insisted. "But they better quit smearin' our hero's good name! Nobody puts down Hercule or lies about him!"
"That's right!" Beerbell added. "Hercule could beat us all in one blow!"
"Exactly," Teal agreed, crossing his arms and glaring towards Oolong and Puar. "We're among Hercule's biggest fans, and we won't let anyone mess with his good name."
Foolishly, Oolong jeered, "You guys are idiots, if you look up to that dork! Hercule couldn't even put a dent in Cell's scaly, green hide--"
His rash speech was cut off when Beerbell slugged him across his snout, sending Oolong crashing to the floor. Puar zipped down towards her friend, but before she could reach him, Teal seized her tail and yanked her towards him, ignoring her loud, shrieking meows of pain and fear. Puar turned around and lashed at her captor with her claws, but Teal punched her hard in the back of her head, knocking her out. She was now hanging limply by her tail in Teal's tightly clenched fist.
Oolong sprung from the floor to confront Teal, but Beerbell and Hatchet fell upon him, slugging and punching him so hard and so fast that he was unable to react in anyway; he couldn't even shape-shift. Ringed and tattooed fists hammered at him repeatedly, and by the time, Teal's henchmen were through, Oolong was no more than a heap of bruised, bloodied pigskin. He lay on his side with his face turned down towards the cold floor.
As Oolong gasped and wheezed for air, Teal casually tossed Puar's unconscious body towards Beerbell, who easily caught the base of her tail. Teal then bent down towards Oolong and said with a sly smile, "Now, piggy, I'll tell you what: I'm going to give you a chance to have Suiza for yourself and make me go away for good."
"Wh-what?" Oolong coughed, as a trickle of blood oozed from his already swelling lips.
"All you have to do, piggy," Teal said silkily, "is defeat me in a motorcycle race over on Bloodstone Road, twenty-five miles from Suiza's bar. If you win, Suiza is yours forever, and I'll never tell her what a pig you really are. But if you lose, porky, then Suiza gets to know about Mr. Piggy, and you have to ditch her for good. Is that clear?"
Oolong gasped, trying a last-minute attempt at bravery, "What if...I tell Suiza...before this race...then...you can't--"
Teal interrupted him by lightly stroking his chin with the tip of his switchblade. "I thought you might be stupid enough to go that route, piggy, so I'm going to give you an incentive to cooperate: me and my boys are taking the kitty-cat as an insurance policy. If you beat me in that race, you can keep both Suiza, your dirty little secret, and the cat. But we'll just hold onto Puar until then, and if you tell Suize the truth 'bout yourself before the race, I'll be makin' myself a brand new kitty-cat stole. Got it?"
"Leave...her...out of this."
Teal chuckled. "You're the one who dragged her into this, piggy, so if she winds up as a new accessory, you'll be to blame. But, I'm sure you're not always as stupid as you've been acting, so I'll expect to see you race against me three weeks from today at 2PM sharp. It's been fun, porky, but me and my boys have got to take our feline insurance policy and go. See ya soon, pig-boy!" And he arose, ordering Hatchet to undo the emergency elevator stop. Hatchet pressed the button for the first floor, instead of the one where Oolong and Puar had been originally headed.
As the elevator restarted and arrived at the first floor, Teal called to Oolong, as the heavy doors opened, "You're a braver piggy than I thought, Oolong, but no matter what, Suiza wants a real human man, not a piggy one! You wasted your time posin' as a human to get her, porky, so bye now!" And laughing confidently with his buddies, they strolled out the door, with Puar's body still swinging from Beerbell's tightly clenched fist.
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However, a strange sight greeted the gangsters when they left the elevator: a large Siberian husky was hunched down, growling menacingly at them. Beerbell merely laughed and swung Puar's body towards the dog's direction.
"Hey, doggy, want a free meal!" he jeered. He stopped his teasing when Teal smacked him hard on the back of his head.
"Don't start with the mutt!" Teal hissed. "We can't let anything happen to our insurance policy...yet. Let's go!"
The gray-and-white dog's growls turned to snarls, and then it flung itself at them. Panicked, Teal yelled, "Let's split now!" And the three men fled the furious animal, as the dog continued to bark and snarl, but oddly enough, did not give pursuit.
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Groggily, Oolong slowly awoke in what seemed to be hours later. Still in the elevator, he sat up unsteadily, as the Siberian husky continued to lick his face and whine piteously. Earlier, it had even barked repeatedly until Oolong had awoken. He smiled slowly and looked at his rescuer out of two blackened, puffy eyes. "Thanks," he murmured gruffly.
The dog merely nodded, and then to Oolong's surprise, it spoke in a husky, feminine voice:
"You don't recognize me, do you?"
"Can't...recall..." he puffed.
The dog favored Oolong with an almost human smirk. It chuckled, as it momentarily vanished into a puffy cloud, and then reappearing as--
"SASSY?" Oolong exclaimed.
Crossing her now human arms, Sassy leaned against the elevator back wall. The elevator was stalled, with Sassy having pushed the emergency stop button earlier. "So, you're a shape-shifter too," she affirmed.
"Yeah..." Oolong admitted miserably. "I really am a pig."
"You've got that right," Sassy agreed with a smirk. "So, when were you plannin' to tell Suize?"
"Today...I swear," Oolong moaned. "I-I know I was wrong not to tell Suize before, and I'm sorry...just didn't think she'd want me, if she knew that I was a pig, instead of a human."
"She still had the right to know," Sassy insisted sternly. When she saw Oolong's pained expression, she added in a softer tone, "But I can understand why ya didn't, really. But you're not giving her enough credit; Suiza looks on the inside of a person, not the outside."
"I know, but she'll be even madder at me now 'cause I didn't tell her from the start."
"So when are ya plannin' to tell her? When you two are grandparents?"
"After the race, I swear it! Look, Sassy, please, please don't tell her!" Oolong begged, clasping his head and looking at her pitifully. "I'm not who she thinks I am, and what if you're wrong; what if she really wants a human guy?"
"What if I told you that I knew Suize from the time I was a pup?" Sassy replied with a snort. "And that I know her better than anyone?"
"A pup?" Oolong exclaimed, evading the real issue. "You mean that you're originally a dog, instead of a human?"
"Of course I am! And she knows it too! Now why don't you just go tell her the truth! She already knows what a scumbag Teal really is; this will just confirm it!"
"'Cause of Puar--oh, I forgot about her! They took her away!" Oolong cried. "Teal said if I told Suiza the truth before the race, he'd make Puar into a stole!"
Sassy sighed. "Teal doesn't make idle threats, I'm afraid, but look, if it's your kitty friend you're worried about, I'll get the other Leathernecks, and we'll all go after the Rumblers together. Bigfoot and the other guys have been wantin' an excuse to rumble with those bastards for the past month, since that time they invaded our territory. Give us a day or two, and we'll get your friend back to you. Just don't get the cops involved 'cause if they catch Bigfoot and Scam fightin', they'll arrest them automatically. Bigfoot's on probation for the last time we fought against the Rumblers, and we don't want him to go to jail. And Scam also got in trouble for fightin' them, as well as couple of his get-rich-quick schemes--he's not called Scam for nothin'. I don't want my buds behind bars."
"But the Rumblers still have Puar now!" Oolong insisted. "What do I tell my friends? They'll wonder what happened to Puar!"
"Just tell 'em that Teal and his thugs beat you two up and snatched your friend--and tell Suiza the truth about who you really are!"
"I can't do that!" Oolong argued. "She'll hate me, I know it! Please, Sassy, at least let me wait until after the race to tell Suiza the truth! If I lose, I swear that I'll go away and never bother her or any of you guys again. And if I win, I'll tell her then, I promise! Even, if Puar gets rescued before the race, Teal and his thugs will never leave me alone, unless I can stand up to them and show Suiza how much care I truly care about her. I've got to be a man now, Sassy, even if I really am just a pig."
Sassy scoffed, "Um, there's just one problem with all this bravery of yours: your hundreds of potty breaks a day! You can't tell Teal, 'Oh, Teal, let's stop for five mins, so I can run to the bathroom!' You'll be laughed right off the road!"
Oolong gulped, knowing Sassy was right. "Well, Sassy, there's something I have to tell you..." And he admitted shamefacedly that his "potty breaks" existed because he could only maintain his shape for five minutes. Sassy burst into laughter, and she fell against the wall, pounding at it.
"Five minutes! What kind of shape-shifting school did you graduate from?"
"Okay, okay, stop laughing, will ya? Alright, so I cheated on my exam at the Shape-Shifting Academy and later got my diploma revoked when I was caught." He wasn't about to tell her that he had been booted partially because it had been discovered that he had stolen all of the female teachers' panties. She already had enough to pick on him about, and he'd be a bigger joke among the Leathernecks than he was now.
Sassy just shook her head. "Pitiful, but who am I to judge? After all, I nearly got booted from my shape-shifting school when I got caught impersonating this old fart of a teacher I hated named Mr. Lodraft. While I was disguised as him, I got drunk on purpose and made a pass at some sweet young thing, so I could get him fired, but it didn't work. Seriously, though, if you really insist on going through with this race that Teal demanded, I'll help you work on shape-shifting for longer periods of time."
"And I don't have to tell Suiza 'bout my really being a pig until after the race?"
Sassy sighed heavily. "I should make you do that before the race, but you've...been punished enough. And for now, I'll keep my mouth shut. But for now, Oolong, I've got to take Suize home. I went to Kame Island to pick her up, and some strange, big green guy with a turban and cape told me you and she would be here. By the way, give my congrats to Candy Apple Roshi, if she already had her baby. Here, I'll carry you to your friends." And, with an unusual gentleness, she bent down towards him and cautiously lifted him into her arms, cradling him.
It was then, that Oolong remembered that Sassy was pregnant. "Are you sure you want to be carrying me in your condition?"
"I'm a strong woman, Oolong. I can handle almost anything. Just hang on to me and try not to move too much, 'kay?" And she arose with him in her arms, walking towards the direction of the emergency stop button.
"Wait!" Oolong insisted, as Sassy pushed the button. "You know, Sassy, I've got really strong friends who can save Puar too. Can you tell me where the Rumblers normally hang out?"
Sassy looked skeptical. She seriously doubted that Oolong had any friends who were that much stronger than him, but she reluctantly told him where the Rumblers' hangout was, which was thirty miles from Suiza's businesses. She planned to have her fellow Leathernecks attack the Rumblers' place anyway, not truly believing that Oolong's friends would be of much use.
She then handed Oolong a slip of paper. "Here's my number. Call me. And I'll let you know when we saved Puar. Now call me, Oolong. And I mean it. Don't be like my recent dates who tell me they'll call and then don't."
"Gotcha."
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Thirty minutes later...
"C'mon, Vegeta, Puar needs us!" Krillin pleaded.
"Yeah, for once, don't be such a jerk," Juuhachigou insisted.
"I don't want Puar left alone with those creeps any longer than necessary!" Yamucha added furiously.
Vegeta growled, crossing his arms. He could have honestly cared less about going to rescue the pet of his former rival for Bulma. But it wouldn't be Krillin's pleading and Juuhachigou and Yamucha's demanding that would get him to help; in the end, as usual, the thought of Bulma giving him no peace later that evening would sway him. Besides tonight was supposed to be "their" night, and if he didn't make Bulma happy, he knew he'd likely spend that night on the couch.
"Fine, let's hurry up and go!" he ordered. Bulma smiled at him and kissed his stiff cheek.
"I knew there was a reason I stayed with you all this time," she said happily.
"I thought it was because I knew how to please you between the sheets," he told her bluntly. He grinned when he saw Bulma clench her fists; he knew she wanted to pummel him for saying that in front of their friends.
But when he saw a trembling Oolong out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly snapped at him, "You and that cat are more trouble than you two are worth! If you had told that new woman of yours the truth about you being a pig in the first place, this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"
A now bandaged and cleaned Oolong hung his head in shame, knowing that Vegeta was right. Krillin patted his shoulder and said to the others, "Look, let's just get Puar back, okay?"
"Whatever," Vegeta replied. "Anyway, it's been a while since I had a good fight. At least I'll get to use my fists again, even if they'll only be on cowardly humans who have nothing better to do than terrorize animals. Let's go. Now."
Juuhachigou, Krillin and Yamucha gave him no argument, even though Yamucha thought that Vegeta could have been more sensitive to Puar's plight. But then sympathy had never been one of the Saiyan prince's strong points. He and Krillin followed Vegeta down the hallway.
Holding an ice pack over the worst of his swollen eyes, Oolong, ashamed of his earlier cowardice and weakness, sank to the floor. The guilt in his heart twisted and poked like a corkscrew. Still, he felt eternally thankful that Sassy had only told Suiza that the Rumblers had kidnapped Puar without revealing that Oolong had been exposed as a pig. Sassy and Suiza had wanted to gather their fellow Leathernecks and go after the Rumblers, but Yamucha and Krillin just barely convinced them that it would be best, if they handled things.
"What? You don't think Suiza and I can fight?" Sassy had asked indignantly, clenching her still human fists. "We've been in plenty of fights before, especially with the Rumblers! You guys don't know what those bastards can be like sometimes. We know how to handle 'em!"
"So do we," Krillin told her. "Look, unless these guys have any special superpowers or are anything other than human, we can deal with them."
"Alright," Sassy said, a little grudgingly. "But, we're steppin' in, if you guys get trampled by those creeps!"
"Give them a chance to handle this, Sass," Suiza finally said calmly. "Besides you're about due to give birth anytime. You don't need to risk your baby's life, nor do Bigfoot, Scam, and Handyman need to risk another run-in with the law."
Reluctantly, Sassy gave in, and she and Suiza had finally left, after Suiza had assured Oolong that she didn't hold it against him because he couldn't defeat Teal and his bunch. She had hugged him and offered to stay, but Oolong repeatedly and firmly told her to go with Sassy, that he would be alright. Suiza wasn't happy about leaving him, but for once, Oolong stood his ground with her and told her to go home and rest. But, even after Suiza's promise to call him the next day, Oolong still didn't feel any better, and he felt like a true wimp.
His remaining friends didn't help much to make him feel better . "Oolong, you should have told Suiza the truth before she left!" Bulma declared after Vegeta and the others had left.
"I know, I know, but I was afraid that Teal would hurt Puar, if I did. And I promised Sassy that I'd tell the truth after I won the race against Teal."
"You're still going through with that stupid race?" Chichi fumed, shaking her fists at Oolong. "Just like men! You fools always have to think that you have to challenge or fight each other to prove your manliness!"
"I agree with Chichi," Bulma snapped. "Oolong, just tell Suiza the truth and forget about that race!"
"No way!" Oolong repiled vociferously. "Look, I have to do this on my own and stand up to Teal once and for all. It's the only way. If I still wasn't so messed up, I would have gone with the others to go rescue Puar. Since I can't do that, I can at least try to beat Teal at his own game. I owe that much to Suiza--and Puar. I especially owe Puar, because I got her into this mess."
"What about the fact that you can only keep any form for only five minutes?" Bulma demanded to know. "How are you going to handle that during the race?"
"Sassy's going to help me train to shape-shift for longer periods of time."
Bulma and Chichi looked at him in skeptical disbelief, but gave no further argument. However, Bulma, almost always having to have the last word, said:
"Well, don't do anything stupid like try to take her panties."
Oolong, strangely enough, hadn't thought about Sassy's underwear, but now that Bulma had mentioned it, trying to snag a pair of Sassy's panties didn't seem like such a bad idea. Sassy was almost as hot as Suiza, even if she was pregnant.
But then again, he better not. He'd have a hard time explaining to Suiza later, as to just how he ended up with a pair of her best friend's underwear.
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"Sass, can I talk to you about somethin'?"
"Sure, Suize, what's on your mind?"
"It's about Oolong...and Puar."
"What do you mean?"
Now in her pig form, Suiza sighed, as she leaned into the passenger seat of Sassy's candy-apple red aircar. She knew that Sassy, now back in canine form, usually preferred using her motorcycle, and it was only when she was taking more than one other passenger, shopping, or traveling a great distance, that she bothered to use her ten-year-old, battered vehicle at all. Yet, for such an older car, it was in unusually good shape, thanks to the Leathernecks' extensive knowledge about car and motorcycle parts.
"I know this is going to sound selfish, Sass, considering what happened to Puar today, but I think that Oolong...may like Puar more than I thought."
"No way! He's into you, that's clear!"
"Is it, Sass?" Suiza asked worriedly. "During those numerous potty and coffee breaks of his, I've had to wonder. Puar always left with him each time. So, couldn't it be, that maybe Oolong is seeing...both Puar and me at the same time? I know it'd be strange or a human man to date a cat, but then, he's seeing me too, and I'm a pig, and...oh, Sass, what if it's Puar he really wants? He felt awfully bad that he couldn't help go save her."
"He's just feelin' bad 'cause he couldn't protect her against Teal and his gang, and that he can't make it up to her; don't worry about it for now. Besides, Oolong's not the sort of guy who can pull off being a two-timer and get away with it; even, if he was, I don't think he'd do it to you. Puar's just his friend, I promise; I doubt a little kitty would really be his type. I got to know him a bit, bringing him to you and his friends. You're right, Suize, he's not such a bad guy. A bit of a wimp at times, perhaps, but basically a good fellow."
Running her hand through her sweat-soaked hair, Suiza was considerably relieved. She had felt a bit jealous when she had seen Oolong and Puar go off together so many times. Maybe they were just overly chummy with each other; at least she hoped so.
"Oolong definitely wants you, and only you. Relax--and let's hope that Oolong's human buddies can really take on the Rumblers. If not, Bigfoot and the others will be glad to go in."
"Those Rumblers aren't for amateurs to mess with."
"Don't I know it! But if Oolong's pals have as much brawn as that Vegeta guy has temper, they'll have a good chance." Sassy saw Suiza's house below them on the ground, and she prepared the aircar for a landing.
As the aircar gracefully touched the ground, Sassy said softly, "Hey, Suize, can I give you a bit of advice concernin' Oolong before you go in?"
"Sure, I'm all ears."
"Tell Oolong the truth about yourself, okay? Soon."
"Can't do it, Sass. If he wouldn't have a cat for a girlfriend, he's sure not going to have a pig for one. 'Sides, maybe it'd be better, if I broke things off with Oolong anyway."
"Why?" Sassy exclaimed, horrified.
Suiza could no longer look at Sassy. Instead, she looked at the window, into the dark, cloudy night. Carefully and slowly speaking, she whispered, "'Cause of Teal. It isn't right that any guys I date get beat up by Teal and his buddies. I think I'm just putting Oolong in danger, and that's not right. I-I can't let Oolong continue to live in fear of Teal and those other bastards. Yeah, Sass, I...think I am going to end it between us. It's over."
Sassy nearly seized her friend's shoulder, wanting to shake her. "Suiza, you're crazy! If you break up with Oolong just 'cause of Teal's bullying, Teal wins! He'll know that he'll be able to keep any other guy away from you, just by beating them up!"
"And he's right! Oolong could have died today!" Suiza suddenly screamed. Tears glossed over her eyes, but she refused to release them. But she did punch her fist into the dashboard. "I should have stayed with him, instead of having you take me home!" She then smashed her fist against the leathery dashboard once more.
"Suize, he wasn't left alone, okay? 'Sides, you can call him tomorrow!"
Restraining for now any further emotion, Suiza slowly leaned back into her seat, as her hands slid onto her lap. "I will," she replied, now strangely calm. "To end things. I'm not going to risk having him hurt any longer. It's better for both our sakes, Sass. I'll end things tomorrow with Oolong and then go get a restraining order against Teal and his bunch. It's better this way." Her voice was now robotic, bled dry of all passion.
"I don't think so," Sassy retorted, still having plenty of spirit left.
"I do; it's my decision, Sass. I'm telling Oolong goodbye."
Sassy sighed in heavy disapproval, but didn't argue further with her. Perhaps, tomorrow, Suiza would be better able to see reason and maybe reconsider things. She'd talk to the other Leathernecks, and they'd be able to bring Suize back to her senses.
Suiza was quiet for a few minutes, and Sassy dared not to say a word just yet. But she did notice her friends's chubby, white fists clench once more. Suiza's eyes were now shut tight, and low hissing sounds escaped through her teeth. Two small, soft sobs popped up from her throat.
Before Sassy knew it, Suiza slammed her fist into the dashboard again, and she saw several unwanted tears creep down Suiza's pale, plump cheeks. Sassy promptly gathered her friend into her embrace, and Suiza, who hadn't cried since her Aunt Louisa had died, burst into further tears, worn down by her friend's sympathy.
"I hate that bastard, Teal! He's ruining my life, and my chances of moving on! What did I ever see in him, Sass? And now, I've got to tell Oolong it's over! I HATE TEAL! I HATE HIM! Why, Sassy, why can't he let me go?"
Sassy, for once, couldn't give Suiza any advice or clever remarks. Instead, she hugged her friend tighter, as Suiza wept on her shoulder. Outside of the car, they both heard the gentle, unexpected rumbles of early thunder.
Puar cowered near Oolong, as the grinning Teal caressed the tip of his switchblade with his tongue. Oolong gulped, and his whole body trembled. If he had been able to sweat, he would have. All he could do was fan himself rapidly with one hand.
"Well, little piggy," Teal crooned, "how do you think Suiza's going to react when she finds out that her new boyfriend's literally a pig?"
"You're one to talk," Puar huffed before she thought. "I can see why Suiza dumped you. I don't blame her; she deserves better."
Leaping forward, Teal lashed his knife out at Puar, who meowed a scream and fell back. Unfortunately, Teal's blade sliced a cut into Puar's left arm.
"Meowww!" Puar shrieked in pain. The cut wasn't deep, but it still bled and hurt. She held her arm to prevent further bleeding.
Oolong clenched his fists. "That was uncalled for! She did nothing to you!"
"Next time I use my blade, piggy, I'll be enjoying some sliced ham," Teal replied nastily, glaring as Oolong examined Puar's injured arm.
Trembling, he turned his head towards Teal and asked shakily, "What do you want from us?"
"Simple, piggy," Teal replied with a grin, as his two friends chuckled maliciously.
"Break it off with Suiza, or I'll reveal who you really are."
"What if we were to tell you that Suiza already knows the truth?" Oolong asked defiantly, hoping that Teal wouldn't call his bluff.
"Yeah!" Puar cried, a bit braver that she felt she should have. "You're bothering us for nothing!"
One of Teal's two friends, Hatchet, scratched above his eyepatch. He was a bald, huskily built man, about the same size as Oolong in his Nappa-like disguise had been. The eye patch concealed a glass eye underneath. He commented to Teal, "Hey, Teal, what if the piggy and the kitty are right? What if Suiza already knows?"
"Yeah, Teal, what if they're telling the truth?" asked a short, somewhat muscular man in his late teens named Beerbell. He was called that because he used cans of beer in his weight training.
"Don't be stupid," Teal scoffed. "If Suize already knew the truth, the piggy here wouldn't have panicked when I busted him. He wouldn't have cared that I found out who, or rather what he really was. Nah, boys, Suiza knows nothin' at all about her new boy toy, or should I say_pig toy!" Hatchet and Beerbell laughed at this because they knew it was expected of them.
A pale Oolong continued to shake. Seeing that Teal hadn't fallen for his and Puar's bluff, he tried to think. Just how would he and Puar escape?
As he was frantically thinking, Teal asked almost sweetly, "So, Piggy, are you going to be a good hog and give up Suiza, or I am going to have to expose you? Do you really think Suize is going to want to stay with a non-human?"
Oolong gulped, and he was near tears. Teal was right; Suiza surely wouldn't want him, knowing that he was not human. Seeing his distress, Puar yelled at Teal, "Well, guess what? Oolong was already going to tell Suiza today, as soon as we got back. So, you're wasting your time. We're telling Suiza ourselves!"
"Really?" Teal asked smoothly.
"That's right!" Oolong cried.
"Well, go ahead and tell her, and see, if she'll accept you then. Yeah, a human woman's really going to date a pig! Can you imagine how her fellow Leathernecks would feel about it? Suiza's very close to her friends, and she cares what they think. Why would a babe like Suiza want to date an ugly little piggy when she could be dating a real man like me? Get real, porky; it ain't happenin'."
"Let Suiza decide that!" Puar insisted.
"I dated Suize before, kitty, so I know what she likes, which is strong, good-lookin' men, not someone she could turn into pork chops or ham. But yeah, you and Mr. Piggy can go ahead and tell Suize everything; really, go ahead. I'm all for it actually; that means Suiza will come back to me much sooner."
"Yeah!" Hatchet declared. "And even if Suize were to accept a piggy as her boyfriend, her pals sure wouldn't! That fat friend of hers, Handyman, would be cravin' some ham right afterwards."
Oolong felt discouraged. He gulped again.
Teal chuckled, licking the tip of his switchblade again. "If Suiza did accept a porker, and her buddies were okay with it, well_there'd still be a problem."
"Wh-why's that?" Oolong asked shakily.
"'Cause I want Suiza back myself, and I'm not givin' up 'til I get her, and if I have to eliminate the competition, that's just what I'll have to do. So either way, porky, you ain't getting her. She's mine."
"Suiza belongs to nobody but herself!" Puar declared, again before she thought.
"That's right! And..." Oolong began, frantically trying to think of more of a comeback."I've got really, really powerful friends! Friends who are capable of fighting monsters like Cell...in fact, they whooped his tail and saved Earth, so if you mess with me and Puar, they'll whoop you guys too!"
Teal, Hatchet, and Beerbell snorted and laughed contemptuously. "Hope one of those 'powerful' friends of yours is Hercule!" Teal jeered. "Everyone knows that it was Hercule who saved us all from Cell!"
"Oh, please!" Puar sneered. "Hercule didn't beat Cell; Gohan did!"
"Gohan! Just who the hell is he?" Beerbell demanded to know.
Oolong jabbed Puar in her ribs, and Puar realized that she had forgotten that no one outside of the Z fighters and their friends knew the truth about who had really destroyed Cell.
"Who cares? They're just messin' with us!" Hatchet insisted. "But they better quit smearin' our hero's good name! Nobody puts down Hercule or lies about him!"
"That's right!" Beerbell added. "Hercule could beat us all in one blow!"
"Exactly," Teal agreed, crossing his arms and glaring towards Oolong and Puar. "We're among Hercule's biggest fans, and we won't let anyone mess with his good name."
Foolishly, Oolong jeered, "You guys are idiots, if you look up to that dork! Hercule couldn't even put a dent in Cell's scaly, green hide--"
His rash speech was cut off when Beerbell slugged him across his snout, sending Oolong crashing to the floor. Puar zipped down towards her friend, but before she could reach him, Teal seized her tail and yanked her towards him, ignoring her loud, shrieking meows of pain and fear. Puar turned around and lashed at her captor with her claws, but Teal punched her hard in the back of her head, knocking her out. She was now hanging limply by her tail in Teal's tightly clenched fist.
Oolong sprung from the floor to confront Teal, but Beerbell and Hatchet fell upon him, slugging and punching him so hard and so fast that he was unable to react in anyway; he couldn't even shape-shift. Ringed and tattooed fists hammered at him repeatedly, and by the time, Teal's henchmen were through, Oolong was no more than a heap of bruised, bloodied pigskin. He lay on his side with his face turned down towards the cold floor.
As Oolong gasped and wheezed for air, Teal casually tossed Puar's unconscious body towards Beerbell, who easily caught the base of her tail. Teal then bent down towards Oolong and said with a sly smile, "Now, piggy, I'll tell you what: I'm going to give you a chance to have Suiza for yourself and make me go away for good."
"Wh-what?" Oolong coughed, as a trickle of blood oozed from his already swelling lips.
"All you have to do, piggy," Teal said silkily, "is defeat me in a motorcycle race over on Bloodstone Road, twenty-five miles from Suiza's bar. If you win, Suiza is yours forever, and I'll never tell her what a pig you really are. But if you lose, porky, then Suiza gets to know about Mr. Piggy, and you have to ditch her for good. Is that clear?"
Oolong gasped, trying a last-minute attempt at bravery, "What if...I tell Suiza...before this race...then...you can't--"
Teal interrupted him by lightly stroking his chin with the tip of his switchblade. "I thought you might be stupid enough to go that route, piggy, so I'm going to give you an incentive to cooperate: me and my boys are taking the kitty-cat as an insurance policy. If you beat me in that race, you can keep both Suiza, your dirty little secret, and the cat. But we'll just hold onto Puar until then, and if you tell Suize the truth 'bout yourself before the race, I'll be makin' myself a brand new kitty-cat stole. Got it?"
"Leave...her...out of this."
Teal chuckled. "You're the one who dragged her into this, piggy, so if she winds up as a new accessory, you'll be to blame. But, I'm sure you're not always as stupid as you've been acting, so I'll expect to see you race against me three weeks from today at 2PM sharp. It's been fun, porky, but me and my boys have got to take our feline insurance policy and go. See ya soon, pig-boy!" And he arose, ordering Hatchet to undo the emergency elevator stop. Hatchet pressed the button for the first floor, instead of the one where Oolong and Puar had been originally headed.
As the elevator restarted and arrived at the first floor, Teal called to Oolong, as the heavy doors opened, "You're a braver piggy than I thought, Oolong, but no matter what, Suiza wants a real human man, not a piggy one! You wasted your time posin' as a human to get her, porky, so bye now!" And laughing confidently with his buddies, they strolled out the door, with Puar's body still swinging from Beerbell's tightly clenched fist.
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However, a strange sight greeted the gangsters when they left the elevator: a large Siberian husky was hunched down, growling menacingly at them. Beerbell merely laughed and swung Puar's body towards the dog's direction.
"Hey, doggy, want a free meal!" he jeered. He stopped his teasing when Teal smacked him hard on the back of his head.
"Don't start with the mutt!" Teal hissed. "We can't let anything happen to our insurance policy...yet. Let's go!"
The gray-and-white dog's growls turned to snarls, and then it flung itself at them. Panicked, Teal yelled, "Let's split now!" And the three men fled the furious animal, as the dog continued to bark and snarl, but oddly enough, did not give pursuit.
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Groggily, Oolong slowly awoke in what seemed to be hours later. Still in the elevator, he sat up unsteadily, as the Siberian husky continued to lick his face and whine piteously. Earlier, it had even barked repeatedly until Oolong had awoken. He smiled slowly and looked at his rescuer out of two blackened, puffy eyes. "Thanks," he murmured gruffly.
The dog merely nodded, and then to Oolong's surprise, it spoke in a husky, feminine voice:
"You don't recognize me, do you?"
"Can't...recall..." he puffed.
The dog favored Oolong with an almost human smirk. It chuckled, as it momentarily vanished into a puffy cloud, and then reappearing as--
"SASSY?" Oolong exclaimed.
Crossing her now human arms, Sassy leaned against the elevator back wall. The elevator was stalled, with Sassy having pushed the emergency stop button earlier. "So, you're a shape-shifter too," she affirmed.
"Yeah..." Oolong admitted miserably. "I really am a pig."
"You've got that right," Sassy agreed with a smirk. "So, when were you plannin' to tell Suize?"
"Today...I swear," Oolong moaned. "I-I know I was wrong not to tell Suize before, and I'm sorry...just didn't think she'd want me, if she knew that I was a pig, instead of a human."
"She still had the right to know," Sassy insisted sternly. When she saw Oolong's pained expression, she added in a softer tone, "But I can understand why ya didn't, really. But you're not giving her enough credit; Suiza looks on the inside of a person, not the outside."
"I know, but she'll be even madder at me now 'cause I didn't tell her from the start."
"So when are ya plannin' to tell her? When you two are grandparents?"
"After the race, I swear it! Look, Sassy, please, please don't tell her!" Oolong begged, clasping his head and looking at her pitifully. "I'm not who she thinks I am, and what if you're wrong; what if she really wants a human guy?"
"What if I told you that I knew Suize from the time I was a pup?" Sassy replied with a snort. "And that I know her better than anyone?"
"A pup?" Oolong exclaimed, evading the real issue. "You mean that you're originally a dog, instead of a human?"
"Of course I am! And she knows it too! Now why don't you just go tell her the truth! She already knows what a scumbag Teal really is; this will just confirm it!"
"'Cause of Puar--oh, I forgot about her! They took her away!" Oolong cried. "Teal said if I told Suiza the truth before the race, he'd make Puar into a stole!"
Sassy sighed. "Teal doesn't make idle threats, I'm afraid, but look, if it's your kitty friend you're worried about, I'll get the other Leathernecks, and we'll all go after the Rumblers together. Bigfoot and the other guys have been wantin' an excuse to rumble with those bastards for the past month, since that time they invaded our territory. Give us a day or two, and we'll get your friend back to you. Just don't get the cops involved 'cause if they catch Bigfoot and Scam fightin', they'll arrest them automatically. Bigfoot's on probation for the last time we fought against the Rumblers, and we don't want him to go to jail. And Scam also got in trouble for fightin' them, as well as couple of his get-rich-quick schemes--he's not called Scam for nothin'. I don't want my buds behind bars."
"But the Rumblers still have Puar now!" Oolong insisted. "What do I tell my friends? They'll wonder what happened to Puar!"
"Just tell 'em that Teal and his thugs beat you two up and snatched your friend--and tell Suiza the truth about who you really are!"
"I can't do that!" Oolong argued. "She'll hate me, I know it! Please, Sassy, at least let me wait until after the race to tell Suiza the truth! If I lose, I swear that I'll go away and never bother her or any of you guys again. And if I win, I'll tell her then, I promise! Even, if Puar gets rescued before the race, Teal and his thugs will never leave me alone, unless I can stand up to them and show Suiza how much care I truly care about her. I've got to be a man now, Sassy, even if I really am just a pig."
Sassy scoffed, "Um, there's just one problem with all this bravery of yours: your hundreds of potty breaks a day! You can't tell Teal, 'Oh, Teal, let's stop for five mins, so I can run to the bathroom!' You'll be laughed right off the road!"
Oolong gulped, knowing Sassy was right. "Well, Sassy, there's something I have to tell you..." And he admitted shamefacedly that his "potty breaks" existed because he could only maintain his shape for five minutes. Sassy burst into laughter, and she fell against the wall, pounding at it.
"Five minutes! What kind of shape-shifting school did you graduate from?"
"Okay, okay, stop laughing, will ya? Alright, so I cheated on my exam at the Shape-Shifting Academy and later got my diploma revoked when I was caught." He wasn't about to tell her that he had been booted partially because it had been discovered that he had stolen all of the female teachers' panties. She already had enough to pick on him about, and he'd be a bigger joke among the Leathernecks than he was now.
Sassy just shook her head. "Pitiful, but who am I to judge? After all, I nearly got booted from my shape-shifting school when I got caught impersonating this old fart of a teacher I hated named Mr. Lodraft. While I was disguised as him, I got drunk on purpose and made a pass at some sweet young thing, so I could get him fired, but it didn't work. Seriously, though, if you really insist on going through with this race that Teal demanded, I'll help you work on shape-shifting for longer periods of time."
"And I don't have to tell Suiza 'bout my really being a pig until after the race?"
Sassy sighed heavily. "I should make you do that before the race, but you've...been punished enough. And for now, I'll keep my mouth shut. But for now, Oolong, I've got to take Suize home. I went to Kame Island to pick her up, and some strange, big green guy with a turban and cape told me you and she would be here. By the way, give my congrats to Candy Apple Roshi, if she already had her baby. Here, I'll carry you to your friends." And, with an unusual gentleness, she bent down towards him and cautiously lifted him into her arms, cradling him.
It was then, that Oolong remembered that Sassy was pregnant. "Are you sure you want to be carrying me in your condition?"
"I'm a strong woman, Oolong. I can handle almost anything. Just hang on to me and try not to move too much, 'kay?" And she arose with him in her arms, walking towards the direction of the emergency stop button.
"Wait!" Oolong insisted, as Sassy pushed the button. "You know, Sassy, I've got really strong friends who can save Puar too. Can you tell me where the Rumblers normally hang out?"
Sassy looked skeptical. She seriously doubted that Oolong had any friends who were that much stronger than him, but she reluctantly told him where the Rumblers' hangout was, which was thirty miles from Suiza's businesses. She planned to have her fellow Leathernecks attack the Rumblers' place anyway, not truly believing that Oolong's friends would be of much use.
She then handed Oolong a slip of paper. "Here's my number. Call me. And I'll let you know when we saved Puar. Now call me, Oolong. And I mean it. Don't be like my recent dates who tell me they'll call and then don't."
"Gotcha."
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Thirty minutes later...
"C'mon, Vegeta, Puar needs us!" Krillin pleaded.
"Yeah, for once, don't be such a jerk," Juuhachigou insisted.
"I don't want Puar left alone with those creeps any longer than necessary!" Yamucha added furiously.
Vegeta growled, crossing his arms. He could have honestly cared less about going to rescue the pet of his former rival for Bulma. But it wouldn't be Krillin's pleading and Juuhachigou and Yamucha's demanding that would get him to help; in the end, as usual, the thought of Bulma giving him no peace later that evening would sway him. Besides tonight was supposed to be "their" night, and if he didn't make Bulma happy, he knew he'd likely spend that night on the couch.
"Fine, let's hurry up and go!" he ordered. Bulma smiled at him and kissed his stiff cheek.
"I knew there was a reason I stayed with you all this time," she said happily.
"I thought it was because I knew how to please you between the sheets," he told her bluntly. He grinned when he saw Bulma clench her fists; he knew she wanted to pummel him for saying that in front of their friends.
But when he saw a trembling Oolong out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly snapped at him, "You and that cat are more trouble than you two are worth! If you had told that new woman of yours the truth about you being a pig in the first place, this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"
A now bandaged and cleaned Oolong hung his head in shame, knowing that Vegeta was right. Krillin patted his shoulder and said to the others, "Look, let's just get Puar back, okay?"
"Whatever," Vegeta replied. "Anyway, it's been a while since I had a good fight. At least I'll get to use my fists again, even if they'll only be on cowardly humans who have nothing better to do than terrorize animals. Let's go. Now."
Juuhachigou, Krillin and Yamucha gave him no argument, even though Yamucha thought that Vegeta could have been more sensitive to Puar's plight. But then sympathy had never been one of the Saiyan prince's strong points. He and Krillin followed Vegeta down the hallway.
Holding an ice pack over the worst of his swollen eyes, Oolong, ashamed of his earlier cowardice and weakness, sank to the floor. The guilt in his heart twisted and poked like a corkscrew. Still, he felt eternally thankful that Sassy had only told Suiza that the Rumblers had kidnapped Puar without revealing that Oolong had been exposed as a pig. Sassy and Suiza had wanted to gather their fellow Leathernecks and go after the Rumblers, but Yamucha and Krillin just barely convinced them that it would be best, if they handled things.
"What? You don't think Suiza and I can fight?" Sassy had asked indignantly, clenching her still human fists. "We've been in plenty of fights before, especially with the Rumblers! You guys don't know what those bastards can be like sometimes. We know how to handle 'em!"
"So do we," Krillin told her. "Look, unless these guys have any special superpowers or are anything other than human, we can deal with them."
"Alright," Sassy said, a little grudgingly. "But, we're steppin' in, if you guys get trampled by those creeps!"
"Give them a chance to handle this, Sass," Suiza finally said calmly. "Besides you're about due to give birth anytime. You don't need to risk your baby's life, nor do Bigfoot, Scam, and Handyman need to risk another run-in with the law."
Reluctantly, Sassy gave in, and she and Suiza had finally left, after Suiza had assured Oolong that she didn't hold it against him because he couldn't defeat Teal and his bunch. She had hugged him and offered to stay, but Oolong repeatedly and firmly told her to go with Sassy, that he would be alright. Suiza wasn't happy about leaving him, but for once, Oolong stood his ground with her and told her to go home and rest. But, even after Suiza's promise to call him the next day, Oolong still didn't feel any better, and he felt like a true wimp.
His remaining friends didn't help much to make him feel better . "Oolong, you should have told Suiza the truth before she left!" Bulma declared after Vegeta and the others had left.
"I know, I know, but I was afraid that Teal would hurt Puar, if I did. And I promised Sassy that I'd tell the truth after I won the race against Teal."
"You're still going through with that stupid race?" Chichi fumed, shaking her fists at Oolong. "Just like men! You fools always have to think that you have to challenge or fight each other to prove your manliness!"
"I agree with Chichi," Bulma snapped. "Oolong, just tell Suiza the truth and forget about that race!"
"No way!" Oolong repiled vociferously. "Look, I have to do this on my own and stand up to Teal once and for all. It's the only way. If I still wasn't so messed up, I would have gone with the others to go rescue Puar. Since I can't do that, I can at least try to beat Teal at his own game. I owe that much to Suiza--and Puar. I especially owe Puar, because I got her into this mess."
"What about the fact that you can only keep any form for only five minutes?" Bulma demanded to know. "How are you going to handle that during the race?"
"Sassy's going to help me train to shape-shift for longer periods of time."
Bulma and Chichi looked at him in skeptical disbelief, but gave no further argument. However, Bulma, almost always having to have the last word, said:
"Well, don't do anything stupid like try to take her panties."
Oolong, strangely enough, hadn't thought about Sassy's underwear, but now that Bulma had mentioned it, trying to snag a pair of Sassy's panties didn't seem like such a bad idea. Sassy was almost as hot as Suiza, even if she was pregnant.
But then again, he better not. He'd have a hard time explaining to Suiza later, as to just how he ended up with a pair of her best friend's underwear.
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"Sass, can I talk to you about somethin'?"
"Sure, Suize, what's on your mind?"
"It's about Oolong...and Puar."
"What do you mean?"
Now in her pig form, Suiza sighed, as she leaned into the passenger seat of Sassy's candy-apple red aircar. She knew that Sassy, now back in canine form, usually preferred using her motorcycle, and it was only when she was taking more than one other passenger, shopping, or traveling a great distance, that she bothered to use her ten-year-old, battered vehicle at all. Yet, for such an older car, it was in unusually good shape, thanks to the Leathernecks' extensive knowledge about car and motorcycle parts.
"I know this is going to sound selfish, Sass, considering what happened to Puar today, but I think that Oolong...may like Puar more than I thought."
"No way! He's into you, that's clear!"
"Is it, Sass?" Suiza asked worriedly. "During those numerous potty and coffee breaks of his, I've had to wonder. Puar always left with him each time. So, couldn't it be, that maybe Oolong is seeing...both Puar and me at the same time? I know it'd be strange or a human man to date a cat, but then, he's seeing me too, and I'm a pig, and...oh, Sass, what if it's Puar he really wants? He felt awfully bad that he couldn't help go save her."
"He's just feelin' bad 'cause he couldn't protect her against Teal and his gang, and that he can't make it up to her; don't worry about it for now. Besides, Oolong's not the sort of guy who can pull off being a two-timer and get away with it; even, if he was, I don't think he'd do it to you. Puar's just his friend, I promise; I doubt a little kitty would really be his type. I got to know him a bit, bringing him to you and his friends. You're right, Suize, he's not such a bad guy. A bit of a wimp at times, perhaps, but basically a good fellow."
Running her hand through her sweat-soaked hair, Suiza was considerably relieved. She had felt a bit jealous when she had seen Oolong and Puar go off together so many times. Maybe they were just overly chummy with each other; at least she hoped so.
"Oolong definitely wants you, and only you. Relax--and let's hope that Oolong's human buddies can really take on the Rumblers. If not, Bigfoot and the others will be glad to go in."
"Those Rumblers aren't for amateurs to mess with."
"Don't I know it! But if Oolong's pals have as much brawn as that Vegeta guy has temper, they'll have a good chance." Sassy saw Suiza's house below them on the ground, and she prepared the aircar for a landing.
As the aircar gracefully touched the ground, Sassy said softly, "Hey, Suize, can I give you a bit of advice concernin' Oolong before you go in?"
"Sure, I'm all ears."
"Tell Oolong the truth about yourself, okay? Soon."
"Can't do it, Sass. If he wouldn't have a cat for a girlfriend, he's sure not going to have a pig for one. 'Sides, maybe it'd be better, if I broke things off with Oolong anyway."
"Why?" Sassy exclaimed, horrified.
Suiza could no longer look at Sassy. Instead, she looked at the window, into the dark, cloudy night. Carefully and slowly speaking, she whispered, "'Cause of Teal. It isn't right that any guys I date get beat up by Teal and his buddies. I think I'm just putting Oolong in danger, and that's not right. I-I can't let Oolong continue to live in fear of Teal and those other bastards. Yeah, Sass, I...think I am going to end it between us. It's over."
Sassy nearly seized her friend's shoulder, wanting to shake her. "Suiza, you're crazy! If you break up with Oolong just 'cause of Teal's bullying, Teal wins! He'll know that he'll be able to keep any other guy away from you, just by beating them up!"
"And he's right! Oolong could have died today!" Suiza suddenly screamed. Tears glossed over her eyes, but she refused to release them. But she did punch her fist into the dashboard. "I should have stayed with him, instead of having you take me home!" She then smashed her fist against the leathery dashboard once more.
"Suize, he wasn't left alone, okay? 'Sides, you can call him tomorrow!"
Restraining for now any further emotion, Suiza slowly leaned back into her seat, as her hands slid onto her lap. "I will," she replied, now strangely calm. "To end things. I'm not going to risk having him hurt any longer. It's better for both our sakes, Sass. I'll end things tomorrow with Oolong and then go get a restraining order against Teal and his bunch. It's better this way." Her voice was now robotic, bled dry of all passion.
"I don't think so," Sassy retorted, still having plenty of spirit left.
"I do; it's my decision, Sass. I'm telling Oolong goodbye."
Sassy sighed in heavy disapproval, but didn't argue further with her. Perhaps, tomorrow, Suiza would be better able to see reason and maybe reconsider things. She'd talk to the other Leathernecks, and they'd be able to bring Suize back to her senses.
Suiza was quiet for a few minutes, and Sassy dared not to say a word just yet. But she did notice her friends's chubby, white fists clench once more. Suiza's eyes were now shut tight, and low hissing sounds escaped through her teeth. Two small, soft sobs popped up from her throat.
Before Sassy knew it, Suiza slammed her fist into the dashboard again, and she saw several unwanted tears creep down Suiza's pale, plump cheeks. Sassy promptly gathered her friend into her embrace, and Suiza, who hadn't cried since her Aunt Louisa had died, burst into further tears, worn down by her friend's sympathy.
"I hate that bastard, Teal! He's ruining my life, and my chances of moving on! What did I ever see in him, Sass? And now, I've got to tell Oolong it's over! I HATE TEAL! I HATE HIM! Why, Sassy, why can't he let me go?"
Sassy, for once, couldn't give Suiza any advice or clever remarks. Instead, she hugged her friend tighter, as Suiza wept on her shoulder. Outside of the car, they both heard the gentle, unexpected rumbles of early thunder.