Chapter 3: The Cost of Change
That afternoon, Furrball had just finished up his homework at his apartment home. He didn't want to tell his Mom or his sister, Terry about leaving ACME Looniversity or they will share his pain too. He would heave a big sigh as he thought about the events that occurred earlier leading up to this. Perhaps the Looniversity wasn't meant for a cat that didn't chase mice or birds anymore.
He soon heard a knocking at the door and his Mother looked in the peep hole and said, "Hey, Ryan, it's Fifi." At the sound of his girlfriend's name, Furrball immediately went out to meet her. They both hugged and kissed each other.
"Hey, Fifi." greeted Furrball politely. "What's up?"
"Nozeeng much." said Fifi. "Do vous want to take a walk?"
"Sure, I'm game." He turned around and called out, "Mom, I'll be home to set the table for dinner!"
"OK, honey!" called out the Mother. And with that, the skunk and the cat joined hands and they both walked down the sidewalk.
About 5 minutes later, the two passed the hot dog stand and Furrball asked, "So, how was school today?"
Fifi replied, "Oh, eet's been going well I guess. Ze work eez getteeng toughair, but we are getteeng ze hang of eet."
"That's good. How are the ratings on Tiny Toons?" There had been some tough competition lately from other shows on television today with the exception of their neighbors, The Animaniacs.
"Oh! Vous know we are always getteeng good results for our show."
"I know. It's because what happens in ACME Acres, stays on YouTube." Fifi giggled at his joke and they continued their stroll. Then, they stopped at an old alley where no one can see them, and we all know Furrball usually gets scared in these kinds of places.
"Uh, F-Fifi, wh-why are we here?" Furrball asked in confusion and with a shiver.
Fifi looked at her lover's eyes for a while, then suddenly she wrapped her arms around his body and she started to cry in his bare chest. "Please..Please, don't leave us!"
"Fifi?" The blue cat felt surprised as he held his girlfriend in his arms to try and comfort her.
"I don't want vous to leave ACME Looniversity; we all care about vous, even ze viewers care about vous. If vous go, Tiny Toons won't be ze same weezout vous." Her tears were starting to stain his fur, but it was all because she cared so much for her boyfriend.
"I know, Fifi." Furrball hugged back and gently stroked her hair. "But I don't want to go back there. You know Sylvester, he'll only want to try and change me back to the way I was before being reunited with my family. I'm tired of being a canniball, even Sylvester Jr. knows what I'm talking about. I want to make peace, not war, so I don't know what to do now."
"But who's goeeng to be a replacement for vous? Who's goeeng to relate a bad day here in ACME Acres to zheir world today?"
"I don't know, Fifi." Furrball gently broke from the hug and put his paws on her shoulders. "But I do know that I need to handle this on my own."
"But Furrball..." She would look up at the cat with tears still streaming from her eyes constantly.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." The little blue cat put his little paw under her chin and gently kissed her forehead. He continued to walk without her. Tears were still streaming down her eyes as she felt the old familiar pain of being alone again.
Calamity Coyote and Cosette La Fume came over to her from behind one trash can in an effort to reassure her. "Don't worwy, Couseen." said Cosette hugging her. "He'll find heez own way."
"Indeed." said Calamity without the sign. "With a little time, he'll be okay."
"I hope you're right." said Fifi watching Furrball go out farther and farther as she wiped her tears away.
While walking past the Beauty Salon, Furrball soon met Sweetie Bird and Lil Sneezer getting some ice cream bars. They were awfully surprised to see each other again.
"Hey Furrball." greeted Lil Sneezer nicely.
Furrball smiled and said, "Hey there, pal." He reached out to the little grey mouse to give him a handshake, but Sweetie smacked it away again.
She gave the cat a stern look as she said, "Don't even try and play nice with us, we already know you're scheme."
"We do?" asked Sneezer.
"Of course we do, Sneezer!" The little pink bird turned to Furrball and said, "And let me tell ya, it's not going to work."
"I'm not doing anything wrong!" exclaimed Furrball being defensive.
Sweetie puts her feathers on her hips as she continued, "Oh really? Well, how do explain the pack rat incident back at school? You weren't doing your own job!"
"I'm serious! I don't even like pack rats!"
Sweetie then got in front of Furrball's face and shouted, "Hmph! Well, if that's the way you're going to be from now on, FINE!"
Furrball shouted back, "FINE! I don't even need you two around if I'm not even trying to chase ya!"
"OK, FINE! We'll find someone else to chase us if you're still gonna play the scaredy cat!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!" Well, after it was over, the three toons turned away and walked away from each other. And with each passing step, Furrball's blood began to boil more and more. For Lil Sneezer, he would feel bad for them both. If only there was a way to make them understand and come to some agreement.
"I've had it with that canary! She's never gonna change. NOT EVER!" However, Furrball did feel sorry for Lil Sneezer, the little guy wanted to be his friend, but Sweetie was the only barrier that's keeping both of them away. He wonders if there was something he can do while hearing different noises from where Sweetie and Sneezer went.
First, there was Sweetie, practicing her vocal cords and suddenly she stops.
"Sweetie was getting loud and Sneezer stopped it." Then, there was Sneezer who, as usual, was about to sneeze, but then he stopped.
"Sweety stopped Sneezer before he can cause her to fly South for the Winter." Then there was silence, Furrball was relieved that it was finally quiet.
"Too quiet." He knew something's not right, so he went back around the corner to check up on Sweetie and Sneezer. To his shock, it turns out that the three alleycats had the two toons surrounded in the alley. They obviously had one thing on their mind: LUNNER. Furrball knew that if Sweetie is going to trust him at ACME Loo, then he's gotta prove it.
"Hey, put 'em down!" he called out to the alleycats. The three of them looked and were surprised to see the same blue cat who trashed them out.
"YOU." said the black alleycat with rage boiling in his blood.
"That's right, little ol' me."
The white alleycat growled, "Still, protecting the prey, eh? Man, you're so lost."
Furrball put his fists up and asked, "So, you wanna take another round?"
The orange alleycat began to curl up his hands as he said, "Ohhhhh, I've been sooo ready to pound you to dust."
"Bring it." Immediately, the orange alleycat began to charge at him, but Furrball grabbed him just in time and threw him to the open trash bin. The white alleycat abandoned Sweetie and Lil Sneezer and went out at Furrball with a couple of punches. The little blue cat dodged them both and grabbed the cat's arm. He flew him up into the air and threw him at the black alleycat, making him drop Lil Sneezer and Sweetie.
"Guys, get out of here now!" exclaimed Furrball to the two toons.
"Furrball?" said Sweetie quite shocked at what he did for them.
"There's no time for talkin', get outta here now!" Without hesitation to ask questions, both Sweetie and Sneezer ran out of the alley. They ran as fast as they could fearing that the alleycats might try and get them.
Meanwhile, the other toonsters were outside of the school talking about the issue of Furrball leaving ACME Looniversity. Plucky was the first to speak.
"So Buster, how exthactly are we gonna try to convinth Thylvester that Furrball has to sthay?"
And Buster replied, "Well Pluckster, the best way to do that is to testify about what happened."
"Like, how are we supposed to do that?" Shirley asked. "Like, he knows that the mice came in, left Clay dramatized, and even wrecked the entire school."
"Maybe so." began Calamity. "But pack rats are very small and all our doors had been locked and our windows have been shut from the inside. Someone must've opened one of the doors to let in that group of Neotoma cinereas."
"You're right, Calamity." said Hamton. "Everything, including the air vents, were secure
and protected like an impervious steel door. Maybe the person who let them in is the one controlling
them, that their following his orders and not letting us find out about it."
"Such as stealing our lunch bags?" asked Babs.
"Yeah, like that."
"Uh, guys..." The pink bunny pointed at the Western side of the building and the toonsters saw that the pack rats were already stealing their lunch boxes and sack lunch bags! The toonsters ran out to try and catch the pack rats. Unfortunately, they failed again.
"Well, that's another one bitin' dust." said Buster gloomingly. "If these things keep happening, ACME Loo will be closed down for good." Then, Sweetie and Lil sneezer came to the toonsters.
"Guys!" exlaimed Sweetie panting hard after a long flight. "Oh, I'm so glad I found you!"
"Hey Sweetie, hey Sneezer." greeted Plucky. "What's going on?"
"We just escaped from the old alley and we nearly got clobbered by three alleycats! But..."
"Furrball's still in there!" exclaimed Sneezer.
"WHAT?!" exlaimed the rest in unison.
"We gotta go find him." said Calamity. "Come on!"
About 10 minutes later, the three alleycats were all grogging as they tried to walk straight after their fight.
"Man!" said the white alleycat. "That cat is merciless!"
"Tell me about it!" agreed the black alleycat. "He sure can really pack a punch with those little paws!"
"Still," said the orange alleycat. "We got work to do before he's out for good! We gotta hurry so the boss won't get mad at us!"
As soon as they were out of sight, the toonsters came in and checked at the old alley. There, they saw a horrifying sight: Furrball was lying on the ground unconscious, bruises were all over his body and those alley cats did a lot more damage than they thought.
One by one, the toonsters all ran to Furrball to help him up. Fifi was hugging Furrball and she let her tears fall on his fur.
Calamity was checking up on his condition and said, "He's alive, Fifi." The violet skunk was relieved and gently rubbed Furrball's back. "But, he received maximum damage to most of
his body."
"We gotta take him to the hosthpital." said Plucky calling the ambulance. "Or he'sth gonna be in real bad shape."