Disclaimer: I have an important announcement to make but you'll find out when the chapter ends. I own nothing so enjoy!

Chapter 22

"Fifi?" Hamton called out to the skunkette as he entered the old Duff residence, he remembered that this was where she said she would be at, with Furrball. The pig looked around and saw red paint stains and couldn't make anything of it. He then looked upstairs and then he started to make something of that. That hurt a little, thinking that way but still, he sucked it up and went up.

"This is it, Hamton J. Pig," he quietly told himself, "if she really is up there with him, don't be a fool about it, we've already decided that we need to move on..."

Hamton walked up the stairs and prepared for what his thoughts were foreshadowing but once he reached the top he saw the door broken in two pieces by the doorway.

"Oh my…" the pig slowly looked inside only to see a beat-up mattress on the ground. Entering, he looked all over the room and saw everything else, the window was shattered, there were dents on the walls, switchblades on the ground and a fedora just inches away from his feet. Hamton picked it up and examined it.

"This looks like…" he gasped, that's when he remembered, "this belongs to…that Alley Cat from Dizzy's, I've seen him there with the long-tailed one!" Hamton started to panic, he ran to the window and looked out. He saw the red-stained picket from the white-painted fence and started to assume the worst.

"What happened here?!" he shouted worriedly, "where's Fifi?!"

He quickly took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Shirley?! I need your help, it's about Fifi!"

…

Lious looked at Furrball and chuckled, he wasn't intimidated by the fierce look on the cat's painted face.

"Well well, Furrball," the big orange cat stepped up, "never thought I'd say dis' about'ya but…I'm proud'a'ya!"

Furrball just looked at him, he was waiting for Lious to stop talking, if there was anything the painted cat remembered from his old alley days it was that Lious loved to boast in any situation.

"Look'it ya'!" Lious continued, "there's no stoppin' ya'!"

Lious walked even closer to him but Furrball stood his ground and didn't flinch.

"Ya' took down my whole entire Alley Cat gang single-handedly, most of 'em in a single night!" the cat wasn't pleading for his lives, but Furrball didn't know if Lious was impressed or just sarcastic, "but hey, I ain't complianin', if anythin' ya did me a favor. Clawz was weak to begin wit', Whisk had nothin' goin' for'im, Tus' eye was startin' to drip on us, O'Wildec was only in it for da' food, damn freeloader, Feral will be missed, but you can make up for his muscle. You n' yer' girlfriend here can be da' new Lid'n'Mestic, ya' make a better couple dan' dem' anyway! I can make an exception for yous' love since ya' have no heart to love her wit', ya' make an even better Nicus."

Lious stopped and looked directly at Furrball's eyes, "join me, Furrball," he offered, "join me n' toge'der we can rule da' alley, ya' have da' power so make da' call!"

Furrball stayed silent, Lious waited for his response until he received it in the form of the painted cat jumping high above and over him, landing in front of a bondaged Fifi.

"I'll never join you, Lious," Furrball sadly answered, "I could never live with myself doing the things that you do."

"Tha's hypocritical! Ya' can't preach like dat', ya' jus' wasted my entire gang!"

"I only did it because it was the right thing to do, I righted the wrongs that you committed!"

Lious pitifully shook his head, "…den' you'll pay for dat'."

The two Alley Cats then went at it, both jumped towards each other with their claws unsheathed. Lious felt him strike the painted cat's side but say that it left no pain in him, Furrball glared back and leaped with his left paw aiming at him. Lious dodged it and struck him in the back, causing him to hit the ground. Furrball immediately got up and leapt away from Lious' next strike, he didn't have any weapons or anything to defend himself with, just his immunity but even that was at risk. His crow was now inside Calamity's truck being tended to so it was up to the cat himself to end a life from Lious in order to have enough time to get Fifi to safety and have Eric healed up.

The skunkette witnessed the two cats fighting it out, she was shocked that Furrball actually came for her, he really did have a big heart. That's when she started to think, if her stench was strong enough to melt even metal then that could be her way out. Unfortunately for her, she also remembered that Nicus spent a good amount of time throwing tomatoes at her, causing her musk to be tamed. She wasn't going to give up, the only times when her stench was at its strongest was whenever she was in love. With Furrball right in front of her and resembling a skunk, it was too perfect, all she needed was to wash off the tomato juice and it could work. They were in a warehouse so a hose or maybe even a bucket of water would do it but she needed to be washed of it. it would be easy to find some, this warehouse apparently had everything.

Lious grabbed Furrball by the neck and brought him close to his eyes, "last chance, runt," he said while panting a bit, "join me now while I'm still goin' easy on ya'!"

"Ne…ver," Furrball wheezed out and with that Lious threw him towards the windows he broke into earlier, he saw him struggle to get up.

"Make dis' easy on us both, I let ya' go n' I don't have to look for more cats to recruit!"

"When it's all said and done, Lious…you'll never recruit a new cat ever again!"

Furrball turned and noticed some shards of glass, a few were long enough to use so he quickly took them and hid them in his coat pockets.

"There's a way to weaken him out quicker," he thought, "I need some water, I need a hose!"

The cat disappeared in the shadows looking for something to blast Lious with water.

"Come out, ya' lil' punk!" Lious yelled, "come out here so I can cut ya' in two right in front of yer' woman!" he turned around to see her and smirked maliciously. He walked up to her and held an unsheathed claw to her neck while looking on all directions.

"If ya' don't stop hidin' from me den' da' skunk bit-"

He was silenced by the sound of a faint fire truck sound, almost as if it were ominously imitated. From a different direction appeared Furrball making the sound while holding a hose. Lious' eyes widened as his enemy held the hose up and aimed it. Fifi struggled in her chair frantically while Lious slowly shook his head.

"No…don't ya'…I will ki-"

"Fire."

Furrball blasted the hose right at Lious. Unfortunately he wasn't successful as the big orange cat leapt out of the way in the last minute, instead, Fifi was soaked with the hose. Furrball gasped and immediately dropped the hose, "Fifi!" he called out worriedly, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't aiming at you!"

He ran up to her and saw the opportunity to finally un-strap her, he started with her gag and removed it.

The skunkette gasped upon its removal, "uhh, merci! Oh merci, Furrball!"

"I'm so sorry I got you wet-"

"Non, non, vous did zhe' right zhing', jus' go 'old 'im off."

"But-"

"Go, je's got zhis'!"

Furrball didn't have time to react as Lious struck him from the back and angrily tossed him near the hose he dropped. This time, he was fast enough to make sure the painted cat didn't reach for it. Lious held a knee on Furrball's back, pinning him to the ground.

"Ya' were tryin' to soak me?!" Lious yelled, "now I'm done playin' wit' ya'!"

He raised his paw, claws ready to strike, "goodbye Furrball, wish I had my gun but da' claws'll have to do, I'm sendin' ya' back home!"

Furrball knew that he wouldn't be done with whatever strike or blow to anywhere he received but he knew that he was now at an even greater disadvantage. With Lious literally having the upper paw, Furrball couldn't complete his mission anytime soon.

Fifi took full advantage of the situation, she shut her eyes and tried her hardest to relax by remembering all the times she fell in love, not just with Furrball but the others too. For his sake, she had to think of others in order to help him so she thought of Furrball first. Encountering him in his skunk disguise at the carnival and then the other times during their last summer together, it was her first time falling in love. Fifi then reminisced on Calamity on his skunk disguise and even let out a small and weak laugh. Even thinking about Johnny Pew seemed to be working, that was even harder but it obviously didn't last long so she quickly turned her attentions to Hamton.

That thought alone wasn't doing anything, Fifi's heart wasn't even pounding and she could feel her stench fading within her tail. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that thinking about the pig was what made her lose focus. The skunkette turned around only to come face-to-face with her own musk in the form of a cloud, filling in the warehouse.

Lious coughed while holding his nose and looking around, claws still ready to strike. The orange cat had lost Furrball when he started to detect the smallest hint of Fifi's skunk smell. When it was becoming stronger, he jumped up and held his nose but scolded himself when he saw Furrball get up and run into the cloud of musk, disappearing in it. Once he turned to his left, Lious saw Furrball pounce directly at him at full force. Furrball's eyes were still feral and his mouth was open, hissing viciously as his two paws came down on Lious' shoulders, gushing as hard as he could. With the painted cat's already-weakened state, Lious only lost just one life and would be revived soon after.

The orange cat just stood there as he groaned from the pain and the skunk smell invading his nostrils as Furrball still held on to the glass shards he dug right through his shoulders.

"I'll be back for ya,'" he rasped and he finally collapsed. Furrball watched him drop and immediately waved the musk-cloud until he got a clear vision of Fifi still on the chair. Fortunately for him, he lost his sense of smell so he wasn't distracted by her stench cloud. He got to her and clawed at the straps as fast as he could until they were weakened out to the point they were easily removed. Fifi let out a huge sigh of relief and hugged Furrball

"Merci, merci Furrball!" she exclaimed, "vous saved moi!"

She kissed his painted cheek but the cat turned to see the clearing cloud show Lious still out from another lost life.

"We gotta' get out of here now!" he exclaimed and he took Fifi by the arm and ran out of the warehouse.

Outside, he looked on all directions until the cat saw Calamity's car.

"Over there!"

The two ran towards it and made it inside, "drive, drive!" Furrball ordered and Calamity obeyed

"Where's Eric?"

"Riding shotgun."

…

"Can you make anything out of it?" Hamton asked Shirley as she examined the stained fence picket, "it's not hers is it?"

"Like, no it isn't," the Loon replied, "that I know for sure, Toons don't bleed and like, unless the picket was painted in DIP then I doubt Fifi would go through it like that."

Hamton sighed in relief but Shirley wasn't so happy about any of this.

"You're like, lucky I'm even helping you right now, in any other situation I would've hung up on you."

"Can we not talk about that, please?"

"Hamton, you know what you did, as a woman I can't just drop it like I would with Plucky."

"Oh so you're willing to brush aside what Plucky did with May but I'm still the bad guy? How is that fair?!"

"Like, Plucky and I weren't even together back then."

"But he still kept it from you, a lot longer than I did with Fifi."

"You were still with her when you were seeing May."

"You know, I decided to forgive them both and forget the whole thing but the fact that you're even defending Plucky for kissing the girl his own best friend tried to get with, makes you look just as despicable as him."

Shirley half-agreed with him but even the Loon had to admit that many were at fault here. In her eyes, the way everything was handled and revealed, Hamton had pretty much had his way with the skunkette while Plucky held her down.

"Like, how were you even able to forgive them?" Shirley asked the pig.

"If you must know," Hamton sarcastically stated, "I saw May a little while earlier."

"So after you like, left the hospital where you threw Plucky's bill across the room, you went to see her, what did you do?"

Hamton looked away embarrassingly as the Loon quickly put the pieces together.

"Oh you're even worse than before."

"Did you forget? Me and Fifi are on a break, technically we're broken up, besides, having me go see May was all Fifi's idea!"

Now Shirley was shocked, "why do you think we're even here?!" Hamton threw his arms in the air, "Fifi sent me to May's while she came here to see Furrball!"

…

Furrball, Fifi, Calamity and Eric the crow were in the coyote's car driving into the night. The skunkette was scared at everything that had happened on this night and shivered from it. Furrball noticed this and took off his coat to wrap it around her, hoping it would put her at ease a little.

"Cal," Furrball called to his friend, "drive over to Hamton's, we're dropping her off there."

"No!" Fifi yelled, "je can't go back zhere' 'e's not even 'ome!"

"Well we can't go back to Elmyra's house, that's the first place Lious will look into once he's back!"

"Everyone calm down!" Calamity raised his voice, "you'll be staying at my residence, Lious didn't see me and doesn't know me either so he won't find you there."

"You sure it's okay?" Furrball asked, "what would Camilla say to this?"

"You leave her to me, we have a spare bedroom so I'm positive you won't be considered a nuisance to us."

"Good, Fifi can stay there and I'll head back to the warehouse before Lious comes back, and finish the job."

"Exactly, Camilla will even help fix up your feathered friend here, she knows how to work with animals."

Fifi looked up at Furrball and then bowed her head, she then looked behind her to see them distancing themselves from the warehouse where they left Lious for dead. Wrapping herself up tighter in Furrball's coat, she then closed her eyes and put her head back against the window, relaxing for the moment.

…

Hamton and Shirley parted ways when they realized that there was nothing left to say or do. Fifi wasn't in any danger according to Shirley, and Hamton, despite the drama between them, trusted her visions. The pig went home to see that Fifi still had not arrived yet. He looked all over the house and saw that she never even made it back. He pulled out his phone and dialed once more but it went straight to voicemail. Now he was starting to worry, Hamton dialed 911 but hesitated when he was about to press the call button.

"If she's not at the Duff house," he said to himself, "and if she's still not back yet…then that means she's still out with him."

He put the phone down, "wherever they are, it probably means that she already broke up with me, she didn't even so much as make it official."

Hamton's ears started to droop, "I guess…I deserve this since…"

Hamton redialed Fifi's number and as he had expected, it went to voicemail. He spoke softly and even stuttered a little but took a deep breath and started his break-up speech over the phone. If she wasn't going to do it face-to-face then he had to do it over the phone, on the same night no less. And once he received a call from her, then he would go see May, this time for good and no guilt inside.

…

"Merci Calamity," Fifi thanked the coyote as he prepared the spare bedroom's bed for her, "je can't zhank' vous enough."

"I'm just glad that Camilla was okay with it," he replied, "she had a feeling that I'd return with something to shelter, she just assumed it to be Furrball."

The two looked over to see the black-clad cat sitting up at the windowsill looking at the moon. Fifi and Calamity then looked back and met each other's gaze simultaneously.

"Calamity, vhat' 'appened to us?" the skunkette asked him, her tone was loud enough for Furrball to hear, "ve' vere' once inseparable, ve' vere' like ano'zhere Babs, Buster an' Plucky, no?"

Calamity chuckled at her claim, "in some way, possibly, but you know, that was ages ago."

"Oui, but did ve' jus' grow apart or vas' it zome'zhing else? Like maybe our lives got in zhe' vay?"

"Again, possible, we all had our own paths to follow…some of us just lost our paths along the way."

The two looked back at the brooding Furrball again, he didn't seem to mind, he was more worried about Eric's wing. He needed him to be fully healed when Lious was revived and the cat could use all the strength he could get. Fifi looked back at Calamity and surprised him with a hug. Not seeing it coming, the coyote stiffened up.

"Je is so sorry," she sniffled on his shoulder, "je shouldn't 'ave let 'Amton get in zhe' vay' of us, all tre' of us."

"But you didn't," Furrball abruptly spoke up while still facing the moon, "this wasn't your fault, it's Lious', if it wasn't for him then we wouldn't have fallen apart, and once Camilla comes back with Eric good as before I'll make sure he-"

"Well it's gonna' have to wait until tomorrow."

Everyone turned around to see Calamity's wife standing by the doorway.

"What do you mean, wait until tomorrow?" Furrball asked, getting off the windowsill.

"Your bird can't be healed overnight, at least not by me."

"So what happens to him now?"

"He'll rest up for the night and then in the morning he'll start his healing process, I called one of Cal's bird experts to see what she could do."

"I don't have time until then, I need to get him now!"

"I'm sorry but according to Cal you need your crow."

"And unless you want to risk it with Lious again like you just did back there," Calamity spoke out, "then I suggest you rest up too, I don't know if you sleep but I don't want you out there with him, you're not well-prepared yet."

"If I don't go out there and finish him off then he'll just find someone else to either help him find us or use them to lure me into a trap!"

"Fine, the choice is yours, but just remember this, old friend, what happened to you the last time you decided to roam the streets late at night with Lious after you?"

The two glared at each other until the coyote nodded and turned around to exit the room. Camilla closed the door on their way out.

"Do you trust him?" she asked her husband, "with someone like him on the warpath, I wouldn't blame him if he did go out there without the crow."

"He's my best friend," Calamity replied upon entering their bedroom, "if there's anything death teaches you…is that in life, you don't want to make mistakes that already cost you much before."

…

Back inside the spare room, Fifi looked at Furrball and got on the bed, still wrapped in his coat.

"Furrball-"

"Fifi don't, I'm sorry but I can't stay and talk, I need to go back."

That seemed to hurt her feelings, "vous can't go wi'zhout Eric," she told him, "vous needs 'im too."

"If I take him with me then Lious would hurt him too and weaken me out like the others did, I just need him healed so that I can have a fighting chance."

"But who vill' be vous eyes an' ears from ozher' directions?"

The skunkette had a point there, what good was a pain-free fight if he didn't have anything else to take full advantage of it?

"Don't you see?" Furrball asked her, "I'm doing this for us, for everyone, if t wasn't for him then you, me and Cal would still be friends, I could've had a career, Sylvester wouldn't have been drinking all those years-"

"-Vous would be vith' moi, no?"

Furrball stopped talking when he realized he was interrupted, "what?"

"Be honest," Fifi started, "if zhe' big cat never caught vous…vould' vous be vith' moi?"

The painted cat gave her a confused look, "is that really important?"

"Oui, vous said it, if it vasn't' for Lious zhen' every'zhing vould' change."

"Well yeah but-"

"I know how vous feels about moi, je sensed it from zhe' zhoughts' from zhat' night…"

Furrball knew what she was talking about so he tried to look away but couldn't help but keep that eye contact whenever Fifi was sad.

"I'm sorry," he told her, "that wasn't your fault."

"Vous right," she replied, "it's Lious', 'e's zhe' reason 'Amton 'ad 'is vay' vith' me zhat' night, zhen' to find out about May zhe' next day-"

"Wait, May? The pig girl he brought to the set years ago?"

"Oui, 'e's been talking to 'er zhe' whole time we've been toge'zher."

"Why would he do that? Did he…?"

"Non, but zhe' fact zhat' 'e never told moi, 'e might as vell' 'ave."

Furrball slowly walked it over to the bed and sat next to her, "he really hurt you, didn't he?"

Fifi nodded, "vhen' vous left, I zhought' zhat' I vould' never find someone else, vhen' vous didn't show up zhat' night, I called 'Amton, 'e asked moi out before je left to see vous."

"So he pretty much got to you first then? Then that must mean that I was taking you away from him."

"Non, vous asked moi to meet vous by zhe' carnival vhile' ve' vere' still at zhe' school."

Furrball nodded again, he understood now, his disappearance affected everyone in some way that he would forever walk the Earth with that guilt in his heart. The fact that he lost Fifi to Hamton was all for Lious to blame, the only silver lining he saw in this was that he at least now knew he meant something to so many of his peers. He was still a Toon and with a powerful fanbase no less, how sad he felt just by picturing everyone's sadness over his loss. He felt selfish for this, everyone's current misery from the outcome made him hate himself for this bittersweet pleasure from his well-being and self-worth.

"I didn't show up that night so you did what you had to do," the painted told Fifi, "you called Hamton out of spite."

Fifi nodded, "oui, je zhought' zhat' vous ditched moi on purpose…zhen' zhose visions from Shirley…now…"

Furrball looked over to her, "Fifi, why were you over at the old Duff house earlier?"

The skunkette didn't speak for almost a minute, she just stared ata the floor while lightly swinging her foot paws awkwardly. She sighed knowing that she couldn't keep it from him.

"'Amton was driving us 'ome," she started, "ve' argued about vous and May, an' about zhat' night."

Furrball listened closely as she continued talking.

"'E denied it for zhe' most part but je made 'im realize it an' it broke 'im, 'e vanted' to repair us so je gave 'im zhe' only choice ve' could make, ve' go see zhe' ones in our lives…zhat' ve' couldn't stop thinking about. Je sent 'im to go see May so zhey' could vork' out vhatever' vas' going on between zhem'-"

"While you…came to see me," Furrball finished that sentence for her, "well, I'm here now, is there…anything we needed to discuss before…all that happened?"

"Oui," Fifi turned to face him, "ever since vous came back, je couldn't stop thinking about vous, reminiscing about zhe' time ve' 'ad back zhen'calmed moi down vhenever' 'Amton vas' nearby."

"Me?" Furrball pointed at himself, "but, how?"

"Vhen' vous came to see moi zhat' night, zhose' memories an' zhoughts' 'elped too."

"So in your time of need I still helped you out?"

"Non, vous saved moi, vous doesn't know zhis' but je vas' a model for a vhile'…zhe' stress made moi smoke cigarettes."

Furrball widened his eyes, he looked back into Eric's vision and saw that he flew past Dizzy's one night and saw her with a cigarette in her paw. He also saw how hard it was for her to throw it away and who could blame her, it was the night after her night with Hamton. Watching her struggle like that and seeing one of Dizzy's girls there too, he understood that Fifi had a tough few years since leaving Acme Loo.

"Fifi," the cat spoke out, "you've been through enough, I get where you're going with this conversation but…you don't need me to make things more complicated."

"How?" she asked him, confused.

"I'm a bad cat, the things I've done as of late, the fact that I pretty much brought this on myself, Lious and Nicus hated me for painting their backs just so you could chase after them."

"But vous stayed be'ind an' watched, je already knows about vous discussion vith' Mizz' Penelope back zhen' je knows vous feels zhe' same way."

"But you shouldn't, you could do better, I'm already dead-"

"But je can't an' von't go back to 'Amton, je can only 'ope zhat' 'e finds vhat' 'e's been missing out on vith' May, but je zhought' zhat ve' 'ad some'zhing."

"That was then, this is now, my mess and I'm going to be the one to clean it off."

The skunkette cringed her face a little and used a different way of talking to the revived cat, "vous 'as a 'eart," she gently placed her paw on his chest where his heart was, "even zhough' vous 'as no life je can still feel vous 'eart beating, it's too big an' too strong to stop."

Upon realizing her touch, Furrball looked back up to her and she in turn realized it too. The two slowly started to get their foreheads closer until Furrball interrupted them.

"I should get going," he said, "Lious and uh…the, crow and, I should-"

"Furrball-"

"He's probably up by now so-"

"Furrball-"

"If I can get there in a minute then I could-"

"Furrball!" Fifi raised her voice a little causing the cat to stiffen up a little, he looked at Fifi and expected her to try another method in convincing him to not go.

"Vous forgot zhe coat," she innocently said, embarrassed, he went to her and he gently stripped her form it. His face-paint didn't show it, fortunately, but he started to blush from the act so he cleared his throat and proceeded to walk away, putting his coat back on in the process.

"Vait, Furrball!"

The cat turned around once again expecting the same thing as before but saw the skunkette untying the bow in her hair.

"'Ere," she said handing it to him, "please take zhis'…for good luck."

Fifi reached for Furrball's tail and began tying it around it, he like the touch of her paws on it, soft and caring, it relaxed him. That's when the cat realized it, just like when he saw the homeless boy and rich girl in that apartment with the grown-up cat, his lust for Lious' blood was no longer eating at him, instead he was feeling something else.

They grew a little closer as Furrball was given his tail back and touched the bow, "thanks Fifi," he said, "I really appreciate it."

She responded with a tight yet gentle hug and he in turn returned the embrace. Just as they were about to depart from their moment, their eyes met and they looked deeply for seconds. Fifi and Furrball's foreheads eventually met and soon, their noses too. Proceeding that, their lips eventually made their way to each other and they were swept up in their kiss. The skunkette's stench started to appear and it made its way all over the house where it would eventually make its way to the Coyote's master bedroom and knocked them out cold. Fifi and Furrball on the other hand were already making their way to the bed where he sat her down and began to remove his jacket.

"Non, non," Fifi protested.

"I'm sorry," Furrball apologized, "maybe I shou-"

"No, leave zhe' coat on, je likes it."

To be continued…

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone, as usual be sure to review and to welcome any new followers new to the story. My announcement, yes, the story will be put on hold so for the next month and a half, there will be no new updates. The reason I'm doing this is because I have other projects to take care of as well as the fact that it's still winter. Usually stories are checked out during the Spring and Summer time so I won't be updating until then, that way many others can still check this story out while it's still in the process of continuation. I learned my lesson last year when I received new readers checking out an old fic of mine only for me to end it just as they were starting to enjoy it. In a way, I feel like I'd be robbing everyone the opportunity from enjoying this story so please understand this. But thanks anyway and of course, this story is NOT being abandoned, just taking a little break from it so be sure to stay close and I'll see you in the next season, until then!