Chapter 5: Sticking Up for a Friend

All was quiet and bare in ACME Looniversity, every room, every locker has been abandoned ever since the pack rat incident. One of them in particular was searching the place for food. Finally, it spotted Pepito's lunchbox and ran off with it. That was the signal to start moving.

"Alright, let's roll!" said Buster and the toonsters went off after him. The pack rat was so quick that it turned many corners of the hallways. However, the toonsters were able to catch up to him in spite of it. But little do they know that he wasn't alone, right behind one corner, they bumped into the white alley cat looking more fierce than ever. He would eye each one of the toonsters as if they were trespassers.

"Oh great." said Plucky. "Now what do we do?"

Then they heard a voice saying, "Guys! Over here!" It was Clay and he was waving at them. "Come on, follow me!" Without hesitation, the toonsters all followed the grey cat with the white cat not far behind. The orange alley cat showed up too and now they had two problems to deal with. They had to avoid every claw swipe that came their way and nearly got caught with each one, but they kept on going. Finally, they got to the cafeteria, but the alleycats were on their tail!

"Quick, guys, in here!" Clay led them inside the dark and smelly cafeteria, and both alleycats passed them. The toonsters felt relieved and were panting hard, even Little Beeper.

To their surprise, Clay suddenly disappeared.

"Uhh, thanks, Clay." said Hamton nervously. "We owe you one."

"Hey no problem." said Clay hiding in the shadows. "Those alleycats needed more excercise anyway. Still can't believe the mess that those pack rats caused, and Furrball is going to be expelled from ACME Looniversity.

"Don't you worry about a thing," said Babs with confidence. "Once we testify to Sylvester on what really went down here, Furrball will be okay." Suddenly, the doors burst open and the two alleycats came in!

"I knew we'd find you here!" screamed the white alleycat. The toonsters all gasped and tried to get away. Unfortunately, the black alleycat with the rest of the pack rats surrounded them and the toonsters found themselves trapped.

"Hey boss," said the black alleycat. "We got them all inside."

"Very good." said the boss in the shadows. Finally, he turned on one of the lights to reveal himself, and the toonsters were all shocked to see who it was. They were expecting a dog or even a cat bully, but instead it was someone they knew. The boss cackled and said, "I'm afraid no one's going to testify today." Cosette looked behind the counter and found their lunches, then she was grabbed by the white alleycat and held her to make sure she doesn't escape.

She then spoke to the boss face to face. "Clay Fitzgerald. You were ze mastermind behind ze Pack Rat Ring. I should'ave known."

Clay had an evil smile on his face as he said, "You shoulda, you coulda, you didn't."

Shirley looked at him with angry eyes as she spoke. "Like, you had us all set up from the beginning!" Flashbacks were beginning to show of what Clay really done as she continued. "Pretending to act dramatized, the pack rats trippin' us, gettin' Furrball beat up in the streets; you had it all figured out or some junk didn't you?"

"Well, what a loon you are. And yes, I had it planned from the start. You guys came too close to stopping me, in order to get to your friend, I had to take care of you all permanently."

Unknown to Clay, the black alleycat was first grabbed from behind.

Hamton then broke out in intense rage. "I thought you wanted to help make a difference at ACME Loo!"

"And make good profit out of it. But jobs are getting so expensive these days, so you could say I was kinda lazy into trying to get some extra cash and the one that I thought would be my soulmate just let me go."

Calamity would say, "But I'm presuming that this "soulmate" was Terry?"

Clay looked angry and frustrated when the coyote mentioned Furrball's sister, but he would say, "Yes...and I don't know why. All she told me was that I was only a friend, we had gone out with each other one special occassions, but only as a friend! I've known her since high school and college and I did everything in my power to show that I care. I thought we had something real...but she had to break the news to me as if I was nothing!

So, I hired the pack rat ring and those three alleycats to do my bidding. We didn't just go to your school, but to other places too such as banks, restaurants, even clothing stores. When it came to Furrball however (other than his sister), I had to agree with Sylvester, he wasn't doing a very good job as a cat now that he got a new life. So, think of expelling the little blue runt as taking out someone who didn't matter, and keeping those who did." While Clay was still speaking, the other two alleycats were grabbed from behind.

Fifi then said, "Everyone matters een ACME Loo, Clay."

"Well, the only thing that matters now, La Fume, is getting your boyfriend to pack up his locker and get goin'. 'Cause now that we got you toonsters trapped in here, there's no way you can save Furrball now. Right guys? Guys?" Clay turned around to see that the three alleycats got tied up and are unconscious. He looked at one of the tables to see Sweetie Bird, Lil Sneezer, and the mice and bird that Furrball rescued earlier.

"Furrball is not alone on this." said Little Sneezer. And out of the shadows were the Looney Tune mentors including Sylvester.

"Eh, sorry, Clay," said Bugs Bunny. "But, I'm afraid it's ovah now."

"That's right, there's no escape on this one." added Buster. "So, we may have to ask you to come with us." The toonsters were prepared to bring this cat down.

But Clay wasn't giving up. "Not if I can help it." He immediately flipped over one of the lunch tables near the toonsters to catch them off guard and ran to bust out the door.

"Guys," said Sylvester. "You grab Clay, we'll handle the pack rats." And immediately, the toonsters ran out to put an end to this once and for all!

Clay first ran around the corner of the hallway and the toonsters quickly followed, only to be tripped by the mop Clay was holding. He then broke the fire extinguisher case and took the container out. He got on the nearest mop bucket and seeing the toonsters about to grab him, he sprayed the extinguisher in their faces and began to accelerate down the hallway.

In another corner, a wheelchair was slowly rolling along and the figure sitting in it began to hear the commotion coming along. He began to take action, knowing that Clay may be trying to escape to the front door. First, he pushed himself up from his chair and swung himself to only hold on to the handles. Then he raised himself up in a handstand and at just the right moment, he drop kicked the back of the chair, making it go forward really fast!

You could guess the look on Clay's face when he saw the wheelchair moving towards him, and the crash sent him flying in the air and landing himself flat on the ground. He looked up to see Pepito and Terry standing there and Furrball was laying on his stomach.

"Looks like your clean getaway got a little dirty." said Pepito.

"Real dirty." said Furrball.

Terry would add, "And yet, you were obsessed with getting what you want and still had to go so far as to hurt others to do so. That's also the reason we can never be together." The other toons came in and stood around Clay. He sighed and hung his head knowing that it's all over.