"Wolf Toon"
                            And so it Begins.
                       By Ghostwolf and Rottin Kid

                        Chapter 1, or I'm WHAT?!

     Erik sat down in the office chair, and booted up the computer as he
started his night at work. 'Man, I'm bored' he thought. As he turned to the
comp he faced a choice. 'Do I feel like writing tonight?' He closed his eyes
for a second as he decided that no, no writing tonight. 'If I do it's likely
to be crap that I have to go back and fix later.' With that thought he brought
up Winamp, or Wacamp if you believe the skin, and started up several mp3s.
Next on the list were the web and his bookmarks. 'Forum, forum, nothing new,
forum, comic...' Erik looked through his list and found nothing that grabbed
his attention, except, 'TTA... just the thing, I could use a bit of
silliness.'
     Having read for a bit, Erik left the office (well he was at work you
know, he did have to do some). About an hour later Erik returned. "Blast, that
storm came up fast." He shook his head and sat back down at the comp. 'Now
where was I?' he thought. 'Oh yeah, the fan fics.' A flash of light and a
blast of thunder snapped his head up to look out the window. 'Man, it's coming
down ugly out there.' Erik went back to his reading, not thinking much about
the storm, except that in an hour he'd have to go back out into it.
     "Bloomin' Loonies is right, makes me wish that these people were writing
for the show." Erik sighed, as he knew it wouldn't happen. He felt a bit
sadder for the thought that one of his favorite shows would never come back
and looked down the list for something of a similar mood. 'Alright, where is
it... ahh, here we go, The Reluctant Toon.'
     The storm outside, forgotten for the moment, made its presence known
again. With an earth-shattering roar, a massive bolt of lightning slammed into
the office. Just as the bolt hit, Erik's finger twitched. The resulting click
hit the hyperlink for the story. The next morning all that was found was a
blackened and broken office, and no sign of Erik.

============================================================================

Ghostwolf (ghostwolf@planetfurry.com): Ok folks, here it is. This is my first
attempt at a Fan-fic. I literally could not have done this with out the help
of Rottin. I had first talked to her about the use of her Characters, then
things just kind of grew. (It's Alive!) I would like to thank Rottin for her
help and her continued interest in the story. With out her help this would
have been a much poorer bit of writing. I would also like to say that I hope
you enjoy the story.

Rottin (rottinkid@aol.com): I think it all started when he asked me to check
out his idea. He'd sent it to both Jerry and myself in an Email. Then
Ghostwolf discovered me on AIM and we started talking about the story, which
grew into chatroom musing sessions, which grew into this story. Which will
probably be a relief to RuBarb. Though now I have to go back and reference
this story in Akron 2.

============================================================================

     "Oh man, did anybody get the number of that bolt?" Erik held his head as
the pain from his headache started to go away. At first Erik didn't notice
anything but the sharp throb in his head, but after a while something twigged
as being not quite right. His hands, as they sat on top of his head, felt the
change first. A bit of fuzziness. Actually, a bit of furriness was what he
felt. The fuzziness was just his head trying to work again. Erik stilled as
his hands found his ears. No longer were they on the side of his head as they
were supposed to be, they were on the top, and quite furry as well. "What in
the blue hell is going on here?" Erik didn't open his eyes, he wasn't sure
he wanted to see what was going on. He examined the rest of himself using his
hands, err, paws. Not quite believing what his paws were reporting, he finally
opened his eyes. "Great Scott! I've been turned into a wolf!" Erik spent a
while wide-eyed, and somewhat cross-eyed when he looked at his muzzle, as he
checked himself out. "Well, well, well, not bad on closer inspection." He even
liked his new tail. "Fascinating." He sounded, for all the world, like Spock.
With a shake of his head he continued to check his surroundings. The cave he
was in seemed to be fair sized, rather larger than most apartments. Not much
in the way of amenities however. "Man, no TV, music, or comp. This sucks, I
gotta do something about this."

     Walking outside, he found himself in the middle of a forest, the end of a
trail stopped at what would be his doorstep. "Great, I'm in the middle of
nowhere." He looked around at the peaceful forest and took a deep breath of
the fresh air. He started to think that maybe this wasn't so bad. "Well, when
in doubt, follow the yellow brick road." As he walked down the trail,
something else started to tug at the back of his mind, something he should
have been noticing. He knew that he had missed something, but he continued his
walk, and let the back of his mind work on it. Otherwise, he enjoyed the day,
the serenity of the woods, the brilliant blue of... the... sky...? Again he
felt that something wasn't quite right, or, more so than before. With a shake
of his head, he started walking again. The pleasant day, and the refreshing
walk started to relax Erik. Fairly soon he was singing as he walked along.

"When darkness falls,
  leaving shadows in the night.
"Don't be afraid,
  wipe that fear from your eye.
"The desperate love,
  keeps on driving you wrong
"Don't be afraid,
  you're not alone."

"Run with us, we've got everything you need. Run with us, we are free.
  Come with us, I see passion in your eye, run with us."

"When the cold wind blows,
  turn your collar to the cold.
"Don't be ashamed,
  if you need someone to hold.
"If you're sinking in quicksand,
  and it's dragging you down.
"And you feel you're going under,
  we'll be around."

"Run with us, we've got everything you need. Run with us, we are free.
  Come with us, I see passion in your eye, run with us."

"When you're behind closed doors, all alone by yourself.
"And you're longing inside to be someone else.
"You pick up the telephone and there's no one on the line.
"Don't be afraid cause there's still time."

"Run with us, we've got everything you need. Run with us, we are free.
  Come with us, I see passion in your eye, run with us."

"Run with us, we've got everything you need. Run with us, we are free.
  Come with us, I see passion in your eye, run with us."

"Run with us."

     As he finished the song he walked into a small clearing. On one tree was
a basketball hoop, and on the ground next to the path was a mailbox close by a
hole in an old stump. Again something tugged at the back of his mind, 'this is
familiar.' Then, with a sudden and very audible click, everything came
together. Where he was, just exactly what he was, and how likely he was to get
home. His last thought before his mind shut down was, 'Acme Acres, cool!' At
that point both his eyes rolled back in his head and reveled little tilt
signs.

     Inside the burrow Buster and Babs both sat working on papers for their
classes at the Looniversity.
     "Buster, did you hear something outside?" asked Babs as she looked up
from her assignment.
     "What, you mean like the sound of someone making a mind shattering
connection, acknowledging it, and then having their mind crash from it?"
replied Buster as he frowned at something in front of him.
     "Yeah."
     "Nope."
     "Think we should go check on him?"
     "Yeah. I need a break anyway."

     Outside they found Erik flat on his back, the tilt signs slowly fading
from his eyes as he came back around. "Ohhhh..." Erik brought his paws up to
his head, rubbing his eyes.
     "You ok?" asked Babs with a look of concern on her face.
     "No, but I think I will be in a bit. Thank you for asking. I'm Erik, and
you are?"
     With a grin both bunnies started their intro. "I'm Buster."
     "And I'm Babs."
     Together both of them said, "Relation," with a fond look at each other.
Looking back they saw that Erik had frozen, except for a small tic at the side
of one eye.
     "Maybe we do need to get a new intro if it's starting to do this to
people," said Buster.
     As Buster and Babs watched, a bright blue replaced the white in Erik's
eyes. In letters almost too small to make out, unless you're a rabbit, it
said, Warning- Fatal Exception Error-to reboot wolf please press the nose.
With a shrug Babs reached out and pushed Erik's nose, the blue fading,
replaced by black. A long series of gibberish could be seen to scroll upwards.
At the end of the gibberish Erik's eyes returned and in the background could
be heard, "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that."

     "Wow, that was like, really weird, or some junk." Both Buster and Babs
blinked for a second as Erik now sounded exactly like Shirley the Loon.
     "You feeling ok there, Erik?" asked Babs.
     "Like, I think so, but I think something is still out of whack."
     "I believe it's your voice." This came from Buster as he tried to hold a
smile in check.
     "Like? Like...? Like I don't _say_ like, or some junk." Erik looked
cross-eyed at his own muzzle for a second. "Like, what is going on here? Why
do I sound like...?" With a shake of his head Erik started muttering about a
glitch in the system. "Like, where's that system profile..." From the start of
the muttering, Erik's eyes went back to the gibberish scrawl. Buster and Babs
looked at each other with raised brows, and wondered what was going on. "Ahh,
here we go, speech patterns and sound profiles, or some junk." After a second
or two the scrawl went away leaving Erik's normal eyes behind. "Well, that's
fixed then."
     "Are you sure you're ok?" asked Buster as looked on with a bit of a wide
look in his eyes.
     "Yeah, just fine. It was a small glitch in the Wolven Operating System."
Erik went off into a technical explanation that caused both bunnies' eyes to
glaze over. Noticing the lack of a response from his audience, Erik stopped
talking. "Man, this is just like back home. Wonder how long it will take for
them to snap out of it?" Having taken a good hard look at just how thick the
glaze on Buster and Babs eyes was, Erik went over and sat on the stump. "Well,
might as well do a revue on all those fics. There's obviously something
there."
     As Erik sat down to review the fan fics, he stopped to wonder for a
second just where that bit about the Wolven Operating System had come from.
Then he stopped completely as he wondered how he could review the fan fics
with no computer.
     "That would be because of me," a voice whispered in the back of his head.
     "Who?" he thought back, and suddenly found himself face to face with what
could be his twin.
     "Me," the other wolf replied. "Name's System. I'm what amounts to that
computer you went through." Erik just stared, open-mouthed. System sighed and
closed Erik's mouth with a click. "I understand how you feel. It's a bit of a
shock for me as well."
     "Do you mean to tell me I've got some nut-case AI running around in my
head?"
     "Well, aside from the nut-case bit, yes." Erik shook his head as he tried
to put logic to the situation, and then sighed when he failed miserably. "I
wouldn't do that if I were you, normal logic doesn't always work here. This
*is* Acme Acres, remember."
     "True... so what do I do with you?"
     "Not much you can do with me, but I would suggest going back to the, ahh,
real world now. Buster is starting to come around."
     Buster came out of the fugue state that Erik's explanation had put him
in. Blinking his eyes to get the glaze out of them, he shook his head in an
effort to clear the cobwebs. "Hey Babs, you ok?"
     As she came around a few seconds later Babs replied, "I think so. That
was as bad as one of Fudd's lectures."
     "Worse, the Professor you can understand."
     "Oh great, he's back to doing that creepy eye thing again."
     "You want to go tap him on the shoulder, Babs?"
     "No, that's ok, you can do it." Babs said this with a grin on her face.
     "Not necessary, I was just doing a... an information review," said Erik
as his eyes went back to normal.
     A slightly awkward moment passed until Buster thought of something to
say. "So, are you going to the Looniversity?"
     "Higher education and lower humor? Yeah, and I could sure use some lower
humor right now."
     "Ok, there once was a girl from Nantucket..."
     "Rope it in, Babs." Buster said rapidly, stepping on Babs' limerick. Both
Erik and Babs favored Buster with cheese-eating grins.
     "Speaking of the Looniversity, when's registration?"
     "Well, classes have already started, but it's only the first week of them
so you might be able to get in on this year's batch." Babs glanced at her
watch. "In fact, if you hurry, you might be able to get it done today."
     "Well then, I'd best be off. It was very nice meeting both of you, hope
you have a nice day."
     "Bye," both bunnies chorused.
     As Erik strode off, Buster looked over at Babs. "You think he'll fit in?"
     "Well, he is strange enough. Anyway, we've got papers to work on."

     Moving off down the path, Erik started to run. 'Well, at least this body
is in a better state than my old one, younger too." As Erik started picking up
speed he felt something next to his right hand. "Oh, cool, a phantom
gearshift." With a flick of his wrist, Erik sent the shifter through its
paces. "At this rate I'll be at the Loo in no time." Racing around town Erik
found himself behind Beeper, now a little older and a little faster that the
Tiny Toon days.
     Beeper glanced to his rear, only to find some strange wolf passed him
close enough to draft him as well. 'Well now, somebody new to have some fun
with. Let's see just how fast you can go, wolfy,' Beeper thought to himself,
as he added to his pace as he headed towards the Looniversity. Behind him the
wolf matched him speed for speed, though he did have some problems with
maneuvering. 'Gotcha wolfy, same problems Calamity had. When he could get to
my speeds that is.' Beeper saw the wall of the Loo at the end of the street.
As he hit the corner Beeper turned a hard right, leaving the wolf with nothing
left to draft. Behind him could be heard the squeal of brakes, and the wolf
said, "NOOoooo...." followed by a slightly sickening crunch as he hit the
wall. 'Better work on that suspension wolfy, gotta be able to take the turns.'
     "That was stupid, Dave."
     The reply was muffled by the wall Erik was buried in. "System?"
     "Yes Dave?"
     "Shut up."
     Having pulled himself out of the wall, Erik rotated his head. The cracks
and pops could be heard for quite a ways. "But the look on your face was
priceless, Dave."
     "Shut up, System."
     At this point the Carrottes came walking up. Lizbeth looked at the wolf
as he pulled himself out of the wall. "Oh my, but don't that bring back the
memories?"
     Erik looked over at the Carrottes, still a bit miffed at what had
happened. "Ahh, well then, good for you..."
     Lizbeth's brother Leo glanced at her, "What? Of our first day 'ere?" He
turned back to Erik with a grin. "Oh, yeah. We were a bit of a _smash hit_
with the school ourselves."
     Erik raised a brow, "So you three were, ah, into, school as well?"
     At this point Nigel, Lizbeth's other brother, kicked in with, "Yes,
actually. No thanks to not-so-honest-Bob, and his rip-off scooter."
     "Well, you do have to watch out for stuff like that. What was wrong with
it anyway?"
     All three of the Carrottes chorused, "No brakes!"
     Nigel continued, "The brakes, of course, are part of the options package
you 'ave to pay extra for."
     Erik replied, with a bit of a grin, "Well, those _are_ the breaks of
course."
     Lizbeth just gave him this *look*. "Yes, an' keep THAT up, an' you'll be
on the skids."
     Erik responded as he gave an even bigger grin and said, "I think I'm
gonna like it here, the people are sooo nice."
     Lizbeth said, as she beamed a smile back at him, "Why, thank you, dear.
Welcome to Acme Looniversity."
     Leo nodded at this and said, "We, bein' from England an' all, can't bring
ourselves to call it 'The Loo', unless we're feelin' kinda *flushed*."
     With a slight wince, Erik shook hands with Carrottes. "Thanks for the
chat, now all I need is to go get registered."
     The Carrottes walked off towards the Looniversity. "Have fun."
     As Erik finished getting the rest of the dust from the wall removed,
System spoke up again. "Flushed, I like that. Though you have to watch it with
jokes like that, they can *stall* out on you."
     Erik just rolled his eyes. "Crap, snake eyes."
     "Bad joke! Bad!" said Miranda as she walked past him on the way to her
classes.
     "But, those are the best kind," replied Erik as he headed for the main
office of the Loo. At the office door Erik knocked lightly. "Hello?"
     "Oh, hello there. New student?" said Sylvia Pussycat as she looked up
from her work.
     "Well, I hope so. Is it too late to register?"
     Sylvia shuffled some forms and handed them over to Erik. "Almost, but you
made it just in time. You'll have to see about some tutoring for some of the
classes you've missed... once you choose them, that is."
     Erik nodded, filling in the paper work in front of him. 'Now, just how
much of this do I tell the truth on? I mean, just how would they react to
somebody that wasn't always a toon? Oh well, when in doubt, obfuscate!'
     As Sylvia read the forms she said, "Looks like you're in Elmer's home
room. But since the bell's about to ring for first period, mayhap you should
go on to there."
     "And that would be?"
     "Chase Scenes 101."
     "Uh, ok." At this point Erik gulped, as he remembered what happened
earlier. "Room number?"
     Sylvia pointed to a box on the schedule. "It's on your schedule, dear."
     "Ok, shoot me please, I've gone blind," said Erik as he turned to Sylvia
with a bow. "Thank you for your help Ma'am."
     With a smile Sylvia returned, "You're welcome. But please watch phrases
like that around here, somebody might take you literally."
     "Then they better get me on the first shot, I like to make things go
boom."
     "You'll fit right in here, then," Sylvia laughed.

     Walking around the hallways of the Loo, Erik caught sight of the room he
was supposed to go to. Even with being a large dark wolf, Erik was bumped
around a bit as he came up to the doorway. Having forcibly stopped himself
from running over a small bunnyfemme at an open locker, Erik said, "Hello
there."
     Jessimyn DuVrees turned and looked *up* at the wolf, eyes getting just a
bit wide. "Er... *ulp* Ah, hallo..."
     Erik looked at her with a bit of concern. "You ok, miss?"
     "Er... do you always *loom* like that, or is it something you can't
'elp?"
     "Loom? Hmm... I don't see any textiles around here."
     "Er, no, Not a weaving loom. I meant the way you were standing close by.
I guess predators don't know when they're doing it, I guess."
     Erik looked around a bit. "Predators? Where? I don't see any aliens..."
     Jessie gave a small sigh, "I twas talkin' about you bein' a wolf, not the
movie. Ahh well. You new 'ere too?"
     "Yeah, I just got in today. On the other side of that, being a wolf...
the only hunting I do is at the store. Though, from what I've heard, I might
have to do it at lunch."
     "Just, hopefully, none of your classmates are on the menu," said Jessie
as she headed for the classroom. "Believe me, it WON'T do wonders for your
popularity."
     Erik followed, with a shake of his head. "Oh, of course not. Well, maybe
that roadrunner fella I was draftin' earlier."
     "Little Beeper? You were drafting Little Beeper? Oh my, are you in for a
long chase. Calamity, from wot I've 'eard, 'as been chasin 'im for years..."
Jessie sat next to Erik as he snagged a seat in the back of the room. "I've
been terribly rude, I'm sorry. My name is Jessimyn DuVrees. Actually, I'm
*Lady* Jessimyn DuVrees, not that it means anything."
     Erik stood back up as Jessie offered a paw. "Very nice to meet you." As
Erik gave a small bow over her paw he said, "I'm Erik Wolf."
     Jessie blinked and looked down a bit coyly. "You're a charmer, aren't
you? It was nice meeting you too, Erik."
     Erik looked a bit nervous at this. "Umm, shouldn't we get ready for
class?"
     System picked this time to quip, "Oh, that's right Dave, run away."
     Jessie said, "Have you got the books for your classes?" and started on,
"If you don't 'ave them yet, you can..." Erik sank down into his chair as the
entire class looked around for the source of the voice. "Run away from wot?
An' WHO said that?"
     Dropping even farther down into his seat Erik said, "Excuse me a second."
     Jessie shrugged, "All right, I think they're doing cat and mouse today,
so it should be entertaining, when they start the demo."
     By this time the comp scrawl had appeared on Erik's glasses, and he
muttered, "Come here you..."
     System replied with, "Now, Dave, let us not do anything hasty here..."
     Blinking slightly as she looked at Erik's glasses, Jessie muttered,
"Whoa. Too technical for me."
     Erik risked a quick glance at Jessie, "Just so long as they don't pull
students for it."
     "They do, actually. Nigel is the only rodent in the class, so he gets
picked a lot. Though that backfires, since the only cat in the room is his
fianc‚e, RuBarb."
     System spoke with a worried tone, as the rest of the students still tried
to find the source. "Dave, you don't want to do that... ouch. That hurt me,
Dave..."
     Erik, still trying to pin System down, risked another glance back up.
"Say what?"
     "Whoever that loud-mouthed fellow is, he might want to turn it down or
Professor Coyote might pick you... say what, what?"
     After taking a second to roll his eyes again, "Blast, craps again."
Erik went back to gazing into his glasses. "That loud-mouthed fellow, would be
me, or at least part of me."
     "Now, Dave, we can talk about this can't we..."
     "It doesn't *sound* like you, Erik," said Jessie.
     "That would be because it's System."
     Jessie paused for a second or two. "System...?"
     "I sorta integrated a computer..."
     At this point the Professor made his presence known to both Erik and
Jessie, the rest of the class having been watching with interest. "AHEM." The
Professor interrupted Erik's explanation. "MISS DuVrees!"
     "Unfortun... uh oh..." Jessie grinned sheepishly at the Professor. "Yes,
Sir?"
     "Would you and your friend care to demonstrate a Wolf Vs. Rabbit chase
for the class?"
     System quipped in with, "Oh, look, I don't think he's happy."
     "System, SHUT UP!"
     Jessie replied to System with, "Really? I would have *never* guessed
without your input, you chip brain idiot."
     "Ohh, I'm scared... Herk!"
     "Well now, that's got that," said Erik with a bit of pride, which
vanished quite rapidly as he noticed Professor Coyote looking down on him.
"Err... Sir?" Erik gulped as he looked kind of nervous.
     "Front of the class, Mister Wolf."
     Moving quickly, Erik slid up to the front of the class.
     "Found the volume control, did you?"
     "Something like that, but I'm not sure how long it'll last."

     "So, just how fast _are_ rabbits, anyway?" asked Erik.
     "Depends on the rabbit," said Jessie. "I am, however, not very fast. I
haven't been in the best of health, most of my life."
     "Anything I should know about?" A look of concern was across his face.
     "Panic attacks, mainly. Thought they were heart attacks. Oh well. To the
fray we go."
     Erik, in the middle of his stretches, thought she had started the chase.
Turning in her direction, he noticed that she hadn't taken off yet. "Hey!"
     Jessie turned towards him, "Wot?"
     "RUN!"
     Seeing the larger wolf lumbering down on her, Jessie let out a massive
yelp, and turned into a fading streak of blue and white as she entered the
scenery. 'Panic can be good for SOMETHING, after all.'
     "I am, however, not very fast... right..." Erik shook his head in
wonderment. "Well, here goes nothing." Shifting into first and then second,
Erik had no idea that Jessie had stopped up ahead to set a trap. Again
shifting upwards Erik wondered at the speed she had produced. After shifting
to fourth and really laying some speed on, he called out, "I will find you
young lady." His speed was abruptly ended as a log fell on him. "Ouch..." was
muttered from underneath.
     Jessie grinned as she popped up from her hiding place. "By Jove, I think
you 'ave. Tata 'andsome." Giggling like a maniac, Jessie sprinted off to set
up another trap.
     "Ohh, she got you there."
     As Erik pushed the log off of himself, he muttered, "Shut up, System."
     "Yoo hoo! Over 'ere!" Jessie called from in front of a bridge quite a
bit a ways. At this point, in the background can be heard Duran Duran's
'Hungry Like the Wolf'. "I prefer Depche Mode, m'self."
     "There you are! You're not getting away now!" With that Erik tore off
towards her and the bridge. As she scrambled out of the way, Jessie watched
the bridge crumble under Erik's feet.
     "You ARE the weakest link! G'bye." Jessie grinned wickedly as she watched
Erik fall.
     Having made it almost all the way across, Erik shrugged, "Buh-bye now,"
and then started to fall.
     Jessie called after him as he fell, "I'll send you flowers at the
hospital." She then sped off to set the next trap.
     Erik, as he grabbed the side of the chasm wall, thought 'Ok, nobody has
it all.' He reached into his vest, and pulled out a stick of TNT. 'Air mail!'
The stick went out and up, headed for Jessie.
     The next trap set, Jessie wondered where Erik was, until she saw the TNT
flying towards her. She acted quickly, and whapped it back using a tennis
racquet. As he crawled out of the chasm, Erik wondered what happened to his
explosives, only to look up and see it headed his way. "Oh no... not again..."
     Jessie, in a thoughtful voice, said, "Isn't that wot the pot of petunias
thought, when it appeared on Magrathea?"
     Erik stopped for a second and looked at her, "Ok, now you're getting
esoteric there."
     Jessie popped up beside him. "Thank you wuffie, You're far too kind."
She then grabbed his face and planted a lip-lock on him. She then disappeared.
     "Dave, stop using large words. That's _my_ job."
     "Uhhh...???" Erik's eyes faded to tilt signs. The TNT exploded over him,
and added to Erik's bewilderment.
     Jessie stopped at the next area. "Wots this, he's not moving?"
     She came back to see that his eyes had changed to a blue screen.
"Warning, this wolf has performed a fatal error, it will now shut down. To
reboot wolf, press nose." Jessie shrugged and pressed the nose.
     "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
     "Do wot?"
     Erik blinked his eyes, "Hate it when that happens." Then in a quick flash
of intelligence, reached out and snagged Jessie's arm. "Gotcha..."
     Jessie smiled at this, "Why so you do. Wot are you going to do with me?"
     A slight gleam came to Erik's eye as he swept Jessie off of her feet.
"Why, this..." Having said so, he dropped her into the chasm. Jessie SCREEMED
on the way down, and then in the river, appeared unconscious. "Oh, for the
love a' Mike!" Erik dove into the chasm, and pulled Jessie to the side of the
river.
     Jessie laid limply on the ground, her glasses askew. Then she slowly
blinked, and shook her head. "Good lor..."
     Erik reached out and fixed her glasses. "You ok?"
     Jessie blinked and blushed a bit. "Er... yes... quite. Could you do me a
favour?"
     "Hmmm?"
     "Could you please, in the future, refrain from doing that?"
     "Oh, uh, sure. Sorry about that. It just kind of came to me and I
couldn't help myself."
     Jessie gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek, "That's all right. Thanks for
savin' me."
     "Oooo, he likes that, yes he does." System chortled gleefully.
     Erik hid his face in his hands. "Pardon me, I need to go off myself now."
     "Oh... keep your silicon nose out of his business, you twit." System
replied with what sounded very much like a raspberry. "I'd really rather you
not, Erik. This could get interesting."
     Erik looked a bit nervous at that. "Err... interesting? Eh heh..."
     Jessie grinned, and looked back over her shoulder, as she headed back up
the ravine. "Oh yes, quite. Oh, by the way... could you relay this," At this
point Jessie made a rather rude and truly unladylike gesture. "To that System
of yours? For that raspberry, earlier."
     As Erik followed her up the ravine side, he muttered under his breath,
"Oh, joy. You're in it now, aren't you? Right up to your hairy little ears..."
     While System replied to Jessie with, "You don't need him to relay, I'm
right here."
     "System, shut up, blast it."
     "I was just letting him know it wasn't aimed at *him*." At that point she
pulled an imitation of the computer from Courage the Cowardly Dog. "You twit."
     "Dave, I think I like her. In fact, I think I've found my new _Special
Friend_."

     By the time Erik had reached the top of the ravine, Jessie had vanished.
Though her voice was still heard to mutter, "'Special Friend'? Probably means
as in Animaniacs."
     An image of a slightly evil grin appeared on Erik's glasses, "You got it,
you win a prize..."
     As Erik stalked through the brush after Jessie's voice, he rolled his
eyes at the byplay. "Craps, again..." Erik continued towards the next area.
"If you'll give me a sec, I'll deal with this."
     Jessie called from the staging area, "Oh, I'm SO scared."
     As he came out of the brush, Erik stopped and looked at Jessie, "I meant
the blasted comp."
     "So did I."
     "Hey, wait a second... I caught you... I won the chase... I think."
     Jessie replied, "Don't you ever watch cartoons, luv?"
     "Well, yeah. But what's that..." Erik looked off to one side, "Hey, what
IS that?"
     Jessie raised an eyebrow, "Old trick."
     Erik stepped back as an elephant thundered past. "New twist."
     Jessie and Erik watched as the elephant was blown into air by one of the
traps. "I'll say," was Jessie's comment. "Glad I didn't step on that."
     Erik had worked his way a bit more towards Jessie and then leaped, an
attempt to pounce on her and end the chase. Unfortunately Jessie had seen him
and triggered one of the other traps. It snatched him up in a net that tied
itself to a nearby tree.
     Erik glared at her, "If you say anything about my bark being worse than
my byte..."
     Jessie looked up at him with all the innocence she could muster, "Would
I do that?"
     Erik and System both answered at the same time, "Yes."

     With a bit of effort Erik shredded the net. While working on that he
decided that he had to get rid of all these traps, and he had to do it fast.
"Time to fall back on the basics. If you can't catch it, level it." At that he
started pulling, and throwing, lit sticks of TNT everywhere.
     Jessie didn't even wait around, she ran for the hills as fast as she
could. "Too volatile for me."
     Erik realized that he had no place to go himself. "Uh oh."
     Jessie looked on from a safe distance. "Methinks he hath discovered the
flaw in his plan." A massive explosion followed shortly there after. "Looks
like Team Wolf is blasting off again!"
     "Ewww. Pokemon clich‚." However, even as she said that she was watching
Erik's flight path.
     "Wonder what those losers are always complaining about, this isn't that
bad, kinda nice actually," asked Erik of the air around him.
     Having come to the point where Erik's flight would terminate, Jessie
pulled out a large safety net. Unfortunately Erik was off by two feet. Jessie
winced as she looked over at the hole in the ground. "I did try..."
     A small white flag appeared over the edge of the impact point. "You
win..." Erik managed to crawl out before falling over with a thud, out like a
snuffed candle.
     "Are you all right?" Jessie went over, and pulled out a first aid kit as
she got there. "Me thinks we over did it." She was cleaning and bandaging Erik
when he came to.
     "Ugh, no more chases. They hurt too much."
     "Not today anyway. Are you all right? Do you need to go to the hospital
wing?"
     Being a bit of a stoic, he replied, "No, I think I'm ok... mostly."
However, as he still wasn't fully 'with-it' again, he continued with, "At
least I got trashed at the hands of a rather nice young lady..." Jessie
blushed at that, as Erik snapped fully awake. "Did I say that out loud?"
     "Er... yes, actually." Jessie smiled down at Erik. "You're, uhm, not so
bad yourself." She then turned and walked out of the scene, to the applause of
the class.

     Professor Coyote nodded at Jessie, "You and Mister Wolf did rather well."
     Erik looked up from his seat. "And you did this on a regular basis?"
     Wile E. returned his look with a small smile. "You wouldn't *believe* my
medical bills."
     "I don't think I want to." Erik mused to himself, "I think I'm gonna stay
with something safe, pyrotechnics maybe, or HazMat services..."
     "Maybe you could take some classes in Special Effects, next term, then."
     "Now that does sound like fun."
     "Well, I don't know about you, Dave, but *I* had fun."
     "Keep it up System, and I'll build a virus to shut you up," returned
Erik.
     Jessie looked up from her books, a hint of red was still visible on her
cheeks. "My friend, Miranda, could help you there." Jessie paused for a
second. "You... you meant that, didn't you?"
     System snapped back with, "Right, like you, or... or even that washed up
old coot up there could shut me up!"
     Erik looked back at Jessie, a bit of red visible on his cheeks as well.
"Err, yes, yes I did... and now I think I'm about to become a dead wolf."
     "I have to say I'm flattered... I've never had somebody seem interested
in me for me, as such. Most have been interested because I was an aristocrat."
     "Pfft... rank means nothing. You are who _you_ are, past that, nothing
else matters. Tho, I must say I'm glad the Prof didn't seem to have heard
System there."
     Jessie smiled, "Me too, to be honest. As for the rank business, tell it
to those idiots at SoHo Preparatory." Her smile turned wan at that point. "Oh
well, next class coming up. See you later."

     Erik leaned back in the chair, his eyes half closed. 'Oh man, I HURT.'
Contrary to what he had said, Erik was not in the best of shape. He had been
doing ok until the explosion, even the log falling on him didn't really do
that much. But the blast and subsequent landing had taken their toll. Erik was
just glad that nothing had shown through his clothes and fur. 'Well, better
get to my next class...' Erik tilted his head from one side to the other as he
headed for the door, the joints popped loudly enough to make Professor Coyote
wince as he walked out the door. "SoHo Prep, huh? System, you wanna make
yourself useful?"
     "Hmmm?"
     "Get me everything you can on that place. I think I just found *MY*
special friend..."

     Erik had seen Jessie walk out with an albino rat and a black cat, but
when he got to the hall, they were nowhere to be seen. Just Jessie, who held
several forms similar to his own. "Oh, hello again. Wild Takes? Wot on
earth..."
     "Well, as that's my next class as well, how about we go find out?"
     "'Ave we got much choice?"
     "Well, we could stay home and pray for the lotto..."
     Jessie chuckled, "Which is about as likely as a snowball surviving in the
Outback."
     Both headed to class, making better speed after Erik cleared the hallway
by lighting off a rather large grin. (Predators, like wolves, having a rather
great number of very sharp pointy teeth.)
     As they walked into the classroom, they saw Bugs standing off to one
side, talking to one of the other students. "Not only the Dean and Principal,
but an instructor as well," mused Jessie.
     "Oh joy... In this class I don't have to be sent to the office..."
     "They do that anyways. For the sake of drama, don't you know?"
     Erik just shook his head and headed for the back of the room. After class
started they watched Bugs as he demonstrated several "takes" which proved to
be wild looking overdone reactions to various stimuli. Jessie winced at an
Avery Ah-oog-ah. "Owch. That looks like it *HURTS*."
     Erik yawned, as the events of the day started to catch up to him. "Ahh,
so that's it..."
     "If *I* have to sit through this, so do you, wuffie," said Jessie as she
reached over and nudged him.
     "I'm awake, you just took a lot out of me, ok." Erik endeavored to sit
up, and leaned forward as a result.
     "One can take that so many ways... Good thing it's only the first day,
don't want to try any of those yet."
     At that point, the day caught up with Erik. His head dropped onto the
tabletop as darkness fell behind his eyes. His arms hung at his sides as he
drifted off into sleep. Worse yet, he started to snore. Jessie just sighed,
and pushed Erik off of his seat. Which did nothing to wake Erik up, he kept
right on sleeping and snoring, albeit on the floor. Jessie reached behind
herself, glad they were in the back of a large class, and pulled out a bucket
of ice water.
     System, having taken a break from his search, said "Err... Dave, maybe
you should wake up..." At which point, Jessie dumped the water on him.
     "YIPE!" The ice water woke Erik instantly, made him leap into the air and
perform an Avery Ah-oog-ah in fact. Erik landed and started shaking himself
off.
     "Good one 'dere, Doc. Ya get a credit for today. Makes up for yas
sleepin'."
     Erik glared at Jessie for a second. "That were bloody cold!" Then he
turned to Bugs, "With respect Sir, you try dealin with draftin Li'l Beeper,
and then getting thrashed by the young lady here in Chase Scenes 101. You'd be
tired too."
     "Foist day, Doc? An' wadda ya mean 'young lady'? She looks oldah than
youse."
     Erik sighed at this and seemed to come to a decision. "Yeah, you could
say that. It's my first day as a toon... and as for age, well, I'm better than
half of yours... so yeah, young lady..."
     "Dat's gotta be quite a story, Doc. An' have ya looked in a mirror
lately? Ya look fifteen, ta me."
     "Oh, the new body's great, but I was born in 1974."
     Jessie blinked at this, "You're twenty-seven, and look fifteen."
     "Heck, I remember watchin' your cartoons while I was growin up." Erik
looked over at Jessie, "Yup... sorry, guess I need to be goin now..."
     "Tanks, Doc. Nice to have a fan in da class. Now let's see about
finishin' this, ok?"
     Jessie asked with a puzzled voice, "Going where?"
     Erik stopped, stunned. "That's it???"
     Jessie laughed at this. "You're wanting a huge production? You're a toon,
now, so it's here you need to be, apparently."
     Erik, still a bit stunned, said. "I think I'm gonna have to go back to
the office and set a few records straight."
     "Eh, don't boddah, wolfie. Would be too strange for Sylvia ta take."
     Erik looked a bit embarrassed. "Uhh... I kinda lied outright on most of
it. I wasn't sure how you guys would react. Too much bad sci-fi, I guess."
     "Loik the da goil said, youse a toon, so here youse are." Bugs said with
a bit of finality.
     Erik wondered for a second if there was a failing here, and if there was,
whether it was his or not. Even as battered as he was, it was a very short
decision. "Looks like I gotta lot of work ahead of me." he said as he pulled a
notebook out to take notes in. He looked over next to him. "And maybe it's not
so bad being fifteen again."
     "Got a thing for older girls, do you?" asked Jessie with a small smile.
     "She's got you there, Dave..."
     "System... ahh, what's the use... cause I think he's right..."
     "Wot do you mean?" asked Jessie.
     "I wouldn't worry about it..." replied Erik with a small smile.
     Jessie shrugged at that. "Well, all right, then. Back to the fray, ay
wot?" Her statement was then shortly followed by more snoring.

                         Chapter 2, The next day

     Erik was jerked awake by the alarm on his radio. With a thud, he fell off
of the sandy ledge that he was using as a bed until he could get something
better. Muttering several things that would have impressed Fowlmouth, he
headed for the coffee maker he had gotten yesterday after school. Erik walked
over and turned his new radio on. K-ACME came up on the dial.
     Erik thought about the day before. His announcement in Wild Takes 101 had
met with little or no reaction. Most of it had been along the lines of, "Ok,
that was then, *now* you're here." It had, quite frankly, left him a bit
confused. But, he kept reminding himself, you're a toon now. A toon wolf, in
fact. To be honest, he was rather proud of that. Toon wolves were a bit
uncommon. There were a few who were wary of him because of it, but it didn't
really bother him. _He_ knew he wasn't about to eat anyone, well maybe that
Beeper, but he'd have to catch him first. The rest of his classes had gone,
well, not great, but they went. Bugs had let him sleep through the rest of the
class, or at least hadn't said anything to him later. His Toon Physics class
was actually interesting, and the American History class was as well. Lunch
had been of interest only cause it was the first time he'd ever had to pull a
gun on something that was supposed to be dead already, first time his food had
tried to eat him as well. His Phys. Ed. Class had been a bit of fun, but the
truly enjoyable part was the fact that the sub that day had been Lola Bunny.
He had gotten to match sarcasm and one liners, puns, and even some small bits
of off-color humor. The movie had not done her justice.  After that he had
been able to get his books, as well as a coffee maker and a clock/radio before
he headed back to his cave for the night.
     "You ready for some info this morning, boss?" came the cheery voice of
System. Erik again muttered something unprintable; he just wasn't a morning
person. "As Shirley might say, "like, mondo groady man.'"
     "You gonna make with the info, or not?" growled Erik.
     "By your command." System pulled off a perfect imitation of one of the
Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. "Ok, first on the list is SoHo Prep. -Not a
nice place. I feel unclean just from talking to their computer. If you're not
royalty of some kind, you don't matter. If you're not royalty of some import,
you matter very little." Erik slugged down some of his coffee, and grimaced at
both the lack of sugar and System's description. "Next on the list are the
three that you crashed in front of. Their names are: Lionel, Lizbeth, and
Nigel Carrotte."
     "Nigel by adoption, I would assume?"
     "Correct. And would you believe that they also came here from SoHo?" Erik
slugged down more coffee, and then flicked an ear for System to continue.
"Seems the Carrottes know Miss DuVrees."
     "How?" asked Erik as he finished the dregs of his cup.
     "Well... I found reference to some kind of, well, for lack of a better
word, altercation."
     "Say what!" Erik's paw gripped the cup tightly.
     "I... couldn't get a full account, but I found something about Miss
DuVrees, Nigel, and something about putting someone in their place..."
     At that point Erik was fully awake, the cup in his paw shattered, and
the outline of a mouse appeared on his sunglasses, overlaid by a set of cross
hairs. "Nigel is a *DEAD* rat."

     "System, are you pondering what *I'm* pondering?"
     "That we're not going to steal someone else's bit?"
     "Well, yes... but that's besides the point. Surely you can see the need
for me to have a personal, er... tool, yes that's it. A personal tool."
     "Oh, and don't you have one already, Dave... and don't call me Shirley."
     Erik blinked for a second at this, then. "Get your silicone mind out of
the gutter, at least what mind there is. I was serious, and I was talking
about..."
     "I know what you were talking about, Dave. And if you're wondering, I
think that Nigel fellow uses a cricket bat."
     "Ahh?"
     "He was listed as being on the cricket team, as well as being on the
rugby team."
     "Oh joy, fast _and_ tough."
     "Personally, I think you should stick to the tried and true. It kinda
matches you..."
     Erik nodded at this, concentrated, and then reached into the back pocket
on his vest.
     Erik thought to himself, 'Ok, you can do this. Just, imagine it, and then
bring it out of the pocket.' Erik felt the handle, grabbed it, and pulled out
his new hammer. Ebony, it was, dark as night. The handgrip bound in gray
sharkskin. "Wow..," said Erik, as he looked at it.
     "That's impressive... how much does that thing weigh?" asked System in a
slightly hushed tone.
     "About thirty pounds... you know, they're right."
     "Hmmm?"
     "If you hold a hammer, everything does look _a lot_ like a nail." With
that, Erik took a few sample swings with the hammer and then put it back in
his pocket.

     Erik was in a very good mood as he headed off for school. He had a new,
and rather pretty, friend, he was being taught by some of his childhood
heroes, and he had what he thought was a perfectly legitimate target to go
pound on. He was happy enough that he actually danced a bit on the way. System
had a constant stream of music going as he came up the path towards the Bunny
residence.
     "Well now, he seems in a much better mood today," said Babs from her spot
at the breakfast table.
     "Yeah, hey, I think he's even dancing a bit."
     "It's understandable. Harriet seems to think that him and one Jessimyn
DuVrees have a _thing_ going."
     "Oh really? It's his second day, and he's got a girl friend...?"
     "Well I wouldn't say girl friend, more like a friend who's a girl... even
if they _do_ seem interested in each other." This was said with a grin from
Babs.
     "Well, I wish him luck then... maybe he'll get away..." Buster gave Babs
a grin to let her know he was joking.
     Babs smiled back at him, "Buster Bunny, I'm gonna _get_ you..."
     The chase didn't last long, since Buster wasn't even trying to get
away...

     Erik stopped as he reached the Looniversity. 'Now to make some Carrotte
sticks,' he thought. He whistled 'Making Plans for Nigel' as he waited, his
new hammer in hand. "All right, so where is the little..."

     Nigel walked along the side of the Loo. He hummed to himself as he went,
feeling that all was right in the world. "Ah, good morning, Erik." Nigel
wondered for a second why Erik was fingering that mallet so much.
     "Ahh, hello Nigel. I have something for you..." replied Erik as he
stepped forward and swung at him.
     Nigel ducked, as his red on salmon eyes went wide. "YaiIEE! Good 'eavens,
wot was THAT for?"
     Erik looked back at him, anger evident on his face. "I know what happened
at SoHo, Carrotte!" And with that pronouncement he flipped the mallet into the
air and went into a spin-change. Nigel stepped back and then looked up at an
Erik that now resembled Darth Vader. The, now, Wolf Vader then said, "And now,
young Ground Hopper, you shall die!" The spinning mallet fell back into his
outstretched hand, a red glow appeared, along with a hum.
     "Any particular happening, or just the whole sorry exper-" Nigel stopped
for a second, "Somebody's been watching Star Warners, haven't they?" With that
he did a spin-change of his own, only he came out as a lavender haired Qu-gon
Jin, his cricket bat out. It glowed an energetic green. "This is SO silly," he
said.
     "I know about you putting Jessie, and I quote, 'In her place'!" stated
Wolf Vader as he stepped forward, his mallet light in his hands as he
attacked.
     Nigel blocked and looked quite astonished. "WOT?! 'Old on there, old
lupine, you've got the whole affair turned about!"
     "Your mind tricks shall not work on me!" Wolf Vader glared at Nigel. "Now
stand still, blast it."
     Nigel blocked the vicious swing that followed, "Oh great. From Darth
Vader ta Jabba the bleedin 'Ut."
     "Ohh, now that was just insultin..." With that Wolf Vader made with a
massive overhand swing.
     "Excuse me," came Jessie's voice from behind both of them, "but just wot
is goin' on 'ere?"
     Nigel thought to himself as he deflected the swing, 'oh thank you lord.'
"Oh, and I was talkin' about the quote, silly."
     As Erik swung around, he caught sight of Jessie through the eyes of his
mask. Being as Erik was alive, male, and infatuated with the girl in question,
he froze. Jessie was still in her usual blue color, but today she wore a
midriff top with flared sleeves and a pair of hipster pants. Drool could be
seen to come from the Wolf Vader mask. "ARRRROOOOooooooo...."
     "Thank you, Erik. Now wot was all this about?" Jessie asked with a raised
brow.
     Nigel replied, as Erik was still a bit out of it. "You know that business
back at SoHo? This lout got it mixed up."
     Erik seemed to have pulled himself together a bit. "Oh, right, SoHo, the
blighter that..." he was heard to mutter.
     Jessie looked stunned. "You're kidding." She then went over to Erik and
pulled the mask off. "Erik, dear, if you wanted to know about SoHo, all you
had to do was ask me."
     "There ain't no way! Jessie couldn't have done that!"
     Jessie smiled sadly at that. "You didn't know me, when I was going to
SoHo, luv."
     Erik looked down, the rest of his costume gone. "You're much too nice a
young lady."
     "You remember how I introduced myself, when we first met, Erik?"
     "Well, yeah." Erik reached up and scratched an ear like he wasn't sure
how everything had gone so whonky on him.
     "Lady Jessimyn DuVrees. One time member of the SoHo girls clique." Jessie
paused for a second. "At one time, Nigel here, had a huge crush on me. And, to
be honest, I thought rather well of him as well. But I allowed my so-called
friends to tell me to 'put him in his place', since he was but a so-called
peasant and in their eyes not right for me." Erik looked on, wide eyed, and
nodded for her to continue. "It was after that incident that I started having
my panic attacks. Only we thought they were heart attacks. That's when I
decided not to be under those snobs' collective thumbs any longer. So here I
am. Sans shallow father, of course, but that's another story."
     Erik seemed to deflate some as his head hung down. "Ni... uhh, Mister
Carrotte, sir... I think I owe you a major aploa, apllao... er... I'm sorry...
eh, heh." He looked back up with a small smile.
     Nigel had spun back to his normal self, and looked rather relieved.
"That's all right, Erik. Mistakes happen, especially in the morning, ay wot?
An' don't call me 'Sir'. That's my da."
     "Well, if you insist."
     "It's a good thing you got over this before Rue got here. Else we'd be
sweeping up wolf kibble," said Jessie.
     Erik had recovered enough to look affronted. "Say what?!"
     Jessie pointed to the drop-dead gorgeous feline that had come up and
greeted Nigel. "RuBarb. She slices, she dices, and she has claws that should
be illegal. Oh, and she's Nigel's fianc‚e. She'd have taken exception to you
attacking her husband-to-be."
     "Then why'd you tell her about it?" asked Erik with a raised brow.
     Jessie pointed back at the two lovebirds. "I didn't. They're too busy to
notice."
     Erik looked impressed. "They should get a room..."
     Jessie walked with Erik towards the school. "They will after the
wedding."
     "Ahh... so how long?"
     "This July fourth, Miranda's birthday, and the occurrence of a double
wedding. I'm Miranda's maid of honour. We'll meet her later, by the way. I'll
ask her if she can tutor you as well."
     Erik pulled out the paper work from yesterday, he was still getting used
to going back to school. "So what does she tutor in?" Erik continued to look
at the papers and muttered under his breath, "Now where's that home room?"
     "Everything, cos she's a flippin' genius. Helps me a lot, believe me."
Jessie slipped her arm around Erik's arm, and escorted him to the homeroom.
"So... you like my outfit, do you?" Jessie asked with a small smile. "And you
appear to like me well enough to try and leap to my defense?"
     "Ahh, you look great Jessie." Erik tugged at the top of his shirt, a
small amount of steam escaped. "And as for the other, well, that's what I was
taught..." Erik looked really nervous at this point, like he had no idea what
to do.
     Jessie smiled at him. "You're a sweet fellow, Erik Wolf. A truer
gentleman than any of those aristocratic blokes wot went to SoHo. Though, do
please look a bit before you leap? Saves you from getting into pickles." She
patted him on the shoulder and then kissed him on the cheek. "See you in
class, luv."
     Erik pulled his brim down, he looked to be as bright red as the band of
his hat.

     Erik heard Jessie being teased by a female with a rapid-fire giggle.
System quipped, "Erik and Jessie, sittin in a tree... Herk!"
     Jessie glared at a mink with gold-rimmed glasses, her hands on her hips.
"Oh, and you and Lionel are any better?"
     Erik walked up behind the mink, as soundlessly as he could. Miranda just
looked innocent, as Jessie sat behind her. Erik looked down, his grin cranked
to the max, to show off the maximum number of teeth. "Hello there, you must be
Miranda..."
     Miranda just looked back up at him and giggled. "And you MUST be Erik!
Hi!"
     Erik looked shocked for a second, and then muttered, "Ok, what went
wrong, that should have scared her silly!" He then pulled out a mirror and
began to check his teeth.
     "Jessie's been telling me about you." She then whispered to Jessie, "Hey,
not bad."
     Erik checked the effect on the rest of the class, who collectively
cringed. "Oh, well, that explains that... so how are you?"
     Jessie looked at Erik, "Easily amused are we?"
     Erik sat beside Jess. "Only when it involves scaring the wits outta
people. Hold over from my past life..."
     Jessie shrugged, "Got to have a hobby I guess."
     "I'm doing fine. Jess mentioned that you might need some tutoring," said
Miranda.
     "Yeah, hopefully I'll be a fast learner."
     System stated, "Ohh, she's cute..."
     Jessie smiled, "Thankfully, Miranda here, is very good at explaining
things." To System she said, "She's taken. Engaged, even."
     "I thought I shut you up?"
     "What... was that?" asked Miranda, as she looked around a bit.
     "Nope, just kept me from singing, Erik and Jessie sittin in a... Herk!"
Jessimyn blushed at this, while Miranda giggled again. "Now cut that out!"
said System, in an irritated voice.
     "I'm trying," replied Erik.
     "Want help? I'm something of a techno-wiz," asked Miranda.
     System continued, "So, Jessie, you said the young lady here is taken...?"
     "Yes, System, she's engaged to Lionel Carrotte."
     Erik looked surprised at that, while System went on. "Ok, so where is the
poser...?"
     "EXCUSE me?" Both Jessie and Miranda were understandably angry.
     Erik looked quite angry himself, "Excuse _me_, I'll be right back."
     "Uh, Jess?"
     "Erik somehow got a computer system in his 'ead with a mind of it's own."
     "Oh, weird."
     Erik had dropped down into his seat, "Now you little... COME BACK HERE!"
The comp scrawl in Erik's eyes began going in multiple directions at once. He
started muttering several things very deeply under his breath, "Now you've
gone too far, you annoying little twit."
     System could be heard to say, "Eh, heh, ok, ok, so I went too far... I'm
sorry, I can learn, it won't happen again. Dave, watch it with that cattle
prod... YOUCH! That hurt! Like I said, I can learn... Dave, put down the
chainsaw, there's no reason to go there... Yipe!"
     Erik came out of the interface a few seconds later. "Well, *that* will
hold him for quite a while." Erik looked up, towards the front of the class.
"So when does homeroom start?"

     Elmer had started, oblivious to the little drama that took place behind
him. The announcements were, as usual, boring. Erik, who had never
particularly cared for Elmer in the cartoons, started making faces at his
back. Jessie giggled a little and whispered to Erik, "Stop, you'll get
detention..."
     Erik did so with a sigh, then asked, also in a whisper, "Does it _ever_
stop?"
     Jessie took a deep breath and just as the bell rang, said, "Yes."
     "Oh, good."
     Jessie smiled, "Shall we go?"
     Erik replied, in a fake upper class British accent, "Yes, Ma'Lady."
     As Erik and Jessie headed for the next class, she said, "Oh PLEASE."
     Erik changed to a cheesy German accent, with a bit of a grin. "J„ w”hl,
Herr Kommandant." Jessie just rolled her eyes. Erik shifted back to his normal
voice. "Anyway, do you think we could keep it low key in class today? Cause as
much fun as it was yesterday, I'd rather not get thrashed by you again today."
     "I think that would probably be best. Besides, this is a new outfit."
     "Oh? Well it looks _very_ good on you."
     Jessie grinned, "I noticed that particular opinion, before we got to
school today."
     Erik muttered, "Yeah, gonna have to go clean that mask out, later," then
nodded to Professor Coyote as he headed to the back of the class. Jessie
smiled and did the same. "Man, it's nice not having that nut running around my
head. No snide remarks, no side remarks, no snide side remarks..."
     "No disembodied voice disrupting the class."
     Erik pulled out a cheap sci-fi book as he sat down, and then hid it
behind the book for the class.
     With a snicker, Jessie said, "Sneak, I'll take notes for you, and tell
you when things get entertaining."
     "Oh, wait, that's right it's chase scenes." Erik put the book up and sat
forward, an attentive look appeared on his face. "I will not get pulled into
another chase today."
     "Smart move there," Jessie smiled at him.
     System's voice came to Erik then, muffled as though from a great
distance. "Oh yes you will..."
     Erik looked worried for a second. "Jessie. Who's pulling computer
security for the school?"
     Jessie looked back questioningly, "Rhubella Rat. Why?"
     "How good is she? System's making threats over here."
     "Pretty darn good, from wot I've heard. Hacker an' everything."
     "Oh good. I was a little worried there for a second." Erik then muttered
back to System, "Shut up you little twit."
     "I think he's just trying to spook you, luv."
     Erik, snapped his head back around, the last word she had used had
finally registered. "...luv...?" he said in a small voice.
     Jessie smiled at him. "Don't worry. It's just an affection."
     "...oh..." Erik continued in the same small voice. He then seemed to yank
himself back to the class at hand, unsure whether to be happy for the
affection, or sad that it was only that.
     "If I call you 'luver-wuffie', THEN you worry," Jessie whispered.
     Erik just flat out melted at that. Two eyes were left on the desk, with
the words 'OH MY' across them. Jessie just gave another grin and started
taking notes for the both of them as Erik slowly started to pull himself
together.

      The rest of Chase Scenes 101 went well. Erik managed to avoid another
chase; instead, they got to watch Nigel and RuBarb do a Cat vs. Rat. This
proved to be rather entertaining, because of the couple's chemistry, and good
sense of comic timing. Never mind the particularly flirty dialog.  Wild Takes
had gone smoothly as well. Erik had learned several more takes, including a
good one to use on any future new outfits from Jessie. Erik was happy about
that as it involved eyes fwonging, instead of drool puddles. After Wild Takes,
Erik and Jessimyn had to part ways. Erik had Toon Physics and American
History, while Jessie had Toon Law and Props 101. The Physics class had rolled
along and Erik had learned some of the reasons why he had felt so much better
that morning, than the day before. He had picked up a few new tricks as well.
American History proved to be enjoyable as the teacher was none other than
Honey Bunny. Honey turned out to be very astute when it came to the subject,
enough so that she kept everyone interested.
     As Erik left the history class to head to lunch, he hoped he wouldn't
have to repeat yesterday's 'shooting of the lunch'. On the way he heard a
heavenly voice call him.
     "Erik! Would you care to sit with me, this time?" asked Jessie as she
strolled up.
     Erik nodded in return, "Be happy to. Just let me get something from the
counter." He waited to see where she sat, then headed for the counter. As he
walked up, he checked the available grub, if it could be called that, and
decided that hunger was better than a fight. Returned to the table, he found
the Carrotte sibs, Miranda, and RuBarb had joined Jessie.
     Miranda grinned at him, "So, which is it? Tomato Surprise or attack of
the living ooze?"
     "I may be hungry, but I'm not even gonna try today. One attempt on my
life was enough." Erik sat down across from Jessie. "So how are ya'll doin?"
     RuBarb nodded, "Good thing Nige has Home Ec before American History."
     Nigel grinned as well, and pulled out his Three Cheese Grilled Veggie
Lasagna. "Much better, now, old sport."
     From Rue came, "I'm good."
     Liz said, "Doing well, m'self."
     And Leo, as he gazed at Miranda, "Fab as always."
     At this point, Erik's stomach decided to let loose with a rumbling growl
that caused the entire room to freeze for a second. "Ignore that, please,"
said Erik, he looked completely embarrassed.
     Nigel passed Erik a plate of his lasagna. "Here you are." He then served
the rest of the Bloomin' Loonies as well. "Can't let a new friend go 'ungry."
Erik, being as the only thing he had had since yesterday was his cup of coffee
that morning, picked the plate up and slid everything in at once. The English
toons looked at Erik in surprise as he munched away, they ate much more
genteelly. The two American toons just snickered a bit.
     Jessie looked over. "So *that's* how one 'wolfs down their food'."
     Erik swallowed and sighed with satisfaction. "Now that was good food."
     "Seconds?" asked Nigel with a grin.
     "Yes, please."
     "Do 'ope you brought your Chocolate Mint Dream Cake, Nige," said Jessie.
     "Of course I did. Don't want everybody to bomb the rest of their
classes." Nigel handed Erik another plate.
     "Thank you very much." Erik ate the second plate at a much more normal
rate.
     "In case you're wonderin' about the minty desert, it's cos Nigel uses his
Garlic Annihilation Marinara on the lasagna."
     "Well, I thought it had a little kick to it, but it's not that bad.
Tastes really good."
     Nigel gave a small bow. "Thank you."
     Jessie went on, "Nigel, here, has head chef potential, and is an
excellent cook. So he takes Home Ec for the economics."
     "I'm gonna have to do some Chili, I see." Erik looked off into space for
a second.
     "Vegetarian chili? Sounds smashing!" said Jessie.
     Erik rubbed his paws together. "Oh yeah! Gonna have to make some five
alarm..." Erik stopped and blinked for a second. "Whadda ya mean, veggie
chili?"
     "The majority of us can't eat meat, luv. Nigel and Miranda can, but
choose not to, for the sake of their loved ones. Lizbeth, Lionel, and I are
rabbits, so we are by nature vegetarians. Lastly, RuBarb is highly allergic to
meat."
     Erik's mouth moved in reply to this, but no sound came out. He finally
managed to say, "But, I'm an Omnivore..." and continued in a small voice, "And
I *like* meat..."
     'We won't hold that against you. Just so long as you keep the bunnies
and rodents off your menu you'll do fine. Just make two batches of chili. One
with meat and one without."
     Erik nodded and sighed. "Well, if that's the way I have to do it..."
     "Now there's my considerate wuffie," said Jessie.
     "Well, I'll try," replied Erik.
     At that the Bloomin Loonies just grinned at the couple.
     Rue slid in, a smirk on her face, "About time."
     Jessie looked back at her, "Wot?"
     Erik started, "But I---and just what are ya'll looking at?"
     Miranda giggled like a crazed thing, while Leo said, "Oy, I think it's
nice."
     Erik just shook his head. "As I was saying, I make no promises about a
certain rather speedy bird."
     Jessie grinned at that. "Another hobby. Along with scaring folks out of
their wits."
     Erik glanced at Jessie for a second before he nodded in agreement, but
he couldn't figure out what every one else was going on about. "Am I the only
one out of the loop here?"
     RuBarb, still with a little bit of her smirk, said, "Nothing much to be
out of the loop about, Erik. We're just glad that Jessie seems to be getting a
significant other of her very own."
     Jessie drooped an ear, her head tilted to one side. "Am I so very nosey,
Rue?"
     "Just a bit, yeah," was Rue's reply.
     Erik turned to look at Rue himself. "Really?" He looked around at some of
the other tables. "So who is this lucky fellow?"
     Jessie reached over and casually elbowed Erik, "Nobody not at this table,
luv."
     Erik sat, confused for the moment, until his mind finally caught the
double negative in what had been said. Then as his mind made the connection, a
sound rather like that of a car crashing came from him. Erik looked stunned as
he said, "Me?"
     Jessimyn smiled at him, "You're a better choice than some of the others
I've met, and we get along rather well."
     Erik still looked a bit like he had been pole-axed. "I've never had a...
a girlfriend... " He then shook himself, a look of concern came over his
features. "Are you sure this is what you want, Jessie?"
     Jessie chuckled, "I'm not asking for the two of us to be engaged. Let's
see how things turn out, all right? Like I said, we get along rather well, so
far. We'll just have to see how long things last. One day, and one thing at a
time, ay wot?"
     Erik deflated a little and nodded, "As you say, let's just take it as it
comes."
     Jessie gifted him with a small kiss on the cheek, "That's the way to go,
wuffie. Don't want to get too serious too soon."
     Nigel broke things up with the question, "Who's for cake?"
     Erik looked pleased, a rather, well, wolfish, grin on his frizz. One that
he quickly suppressed, lest he cause any discomfort to his friends. "I'd like
a piece, please."

     "At any rate, before we got off onto such a lovely side track, I had a
question come to me." Erik looked around the table, "Just what do you do in
this town for fun?"
     Nigel replied, "Well, there's miniature golf, the arcade, the Acme Mega
Mall, and that new skate park... Oh, wait. THAT'S closed for repairs. Miranda
tested her new jet propelled skate board there, and they have to resurface the
place."
     "I *told* you, you had it set too high, Miranda," Jessie scolded.
     Erik looked over at Nigel. "You know, I think I may be getting numb to
this place."
     "Uh... actually, that was the only setting it had."
     Erik continued, "Any other time, that might have shocked me."
     "You're just getting used to the Tooniness. It took me a few days,
myself," said Jessie.
     Erik thought to himself, 'Hey, that means I could move out of here. To
someplace relatively normal.' This thought didn't last long as he looked at
what he might have to give up to do that. "So how did you guys get used to
it?" This was asked of the Carrottes.
     Lizbeth grinned and replied, "We stayed with cousin Lola for our first
few months, and she gave us some pointers."
     "Ahh, I had her as a sub in my P.E. class yesterday." Erik's eyes slid
over to watch Jessie out of their corners. "She's a bit of a hottie..."
     Erik mentally kicked himself as he saw the expression on Jessie's face
when she turned to him, the arched eyebrow and the slight glare told him
everything he needed to know. "Really? I 'spose you'd 'ave to be blind not to
notice..." The way she held herself back from saying something else, hit him
almost as hard. "But it did happen *yesterday*..."
     The controlled anger in her voice told him all he ever wanted to know.
'All right you stupid wolf, you've stepped in it deep this time, haven't you?
So you'd best get out there and try and save what might be the most important
thing in your life right now...' Erik turned to Jessie, "True, but on the
other hand... she ain't got nothing on you."
     Jessie blushed deeply, her anger of a moment before gone, replaced with
a smile of mingled shyness and pleasure. Erik continued, "And while, yes, she
is good looking, you are truly beautiful."
     Jessie's blush was still fresh. "Er... rather hot in here all of a
sudden..."
     He went on. "You are, to be truthful, the most stunning person I have
ever met."
     Jessie's blush got even deeper, if that was possible. "Oh my... if you
keep that up, I'm goin' to melt..." She then regained a smidgeon of composure.
"But then, you're rather impressive, yourself, you know?"
     Erik finished up by picking up one of her hands and giving it a small
kiss, as he replied, "But I would never want to do that to you... Goddess."
     Jessimyn avoided melting only through a sheer act of will, aided by the
fact that a collective "Awwww" from the other side of the table interrupted
them. Leo abetted this with a, "In't it romantic?" quip.
     Erik released Jessie's hand and stood. "That 'awwww...' I could have
ignored, but the 'In't it romantic' quip was just a bit too much." He reached
back and pulled out his hammer. "Nigel, my friend, I'm sorry. But I'm going to
have to abuse your brother for a bit." Erik winked at Nigel out of the eye
that Leo couldn't see to let him know he was just fooling around.
     Jessie stopped the by play, her hand on the hammer prevented it from
movement. "Now Erik, he meant it in a nice way."
     Erik set the head of the hammer on the ground. "Maybe, but some things
you just don't make cracks about." He then glared under the table where Leo
had ducked.
     "Anyway," Jessie continued, "I can't have you abusing band members, luv.
They've got a show, this week end."
     "Well, if *you* insist."
     Leo's muffled voice came from under the table, "It was a *compliment*. A
_Compliment_!"
     "I sort of have to, as the manager of The Bloomin' Loonies."
     Erik looked impressed at that. "So where's the band?"
     Leo popped up, now that he thought it was safe, "You're lookin' at 'em."
     Erik looked directly at Leo, "What? I'm sorry, but you're just not that
impressive."
     "That cos we're not on stage, wolf man," replied Leo.
     Erik pulled out an older and much more gravelly voice. "That's Wolfman
Jack to you..."
     Miranda jumped in. "Gotta keep a low profile in school, ya know."
     Leo grinned back at him, "I thought it was wolf man Erik."
     Erik blinked at Miranda. "You mean the whole lot of you are...?"
     "Nigel's lead singer, Leo's rhythm guitar, RuBarb's the bassist,
Miranda's on drums, and Liz on keyboards," said Jessie.
     "Ahh, I had Leo here figured for roadie myself..." Erik grinned to try
and take some of the sting out of the quip, and then noticed that Leo had
dropped back down at the sight of his teeth. He hastily continued when he saw
that. "At any rate, how long does it take ya'll to set up?"
     Nigel looked thoughtful for a moment. "Depends on how big a show we're
doing, and how large the stage is."
     "So what was your largest?" Erik then stopped and thought for a second
himself, 'What I should ask is, what kind of equipment you use?'
     Lionel sighed, "Believe it or not, it's the one we don't want to
remember. The Perfecto Cotillion."
     Nigel replied to the other question, "Marshalls, mainly."
     "So how long did that take to set up? And what about overheads, you know,
lights, sound systems and such?"
     "We use what we built, mostly," said Miranda.
     "What do you use for sound balancers?"
     Jessie stopped Erik before he got onto a roll. "We'll go to the
Carrotte's house after tutoring, and you can check it out, yourself, luv. The
way you talk, you sound like you wouldn't mind being a roadie, yourself."
     "Oh joy, what horrors have I unleashed on myself?" was muttered half to
himself, out loud came, "Might as well, I've got nothing better to do. But,
before I commit to anything, just what kind of music do ya'll play?"
     "British pop, mainly. Depeche Mode, The Motors, Sailor, Slade, and much
more," answered Nigel.
     "Oh, good. I was afraid you might be some kind of rap group or
something."
     Jessie laughed at that. "No chance of that. Hm. Better make your title
'equipment specialist' rather than 'roadie'. Looks better on both resum‚ and
payroll. I'll have to check things to see about pay scale, and all that, but
it's sure to be better than Weenie Burger."
     "Like I'd go work there... in a word, ick!" Erik went on, "If this hadn't
come up, I'd have gone with my other idea."
     Nigel looked curious. "Wot other idea?"
     Erik grinned, "I'm building an explosives workshop back at my cave."
Erik then looked around at the stunned expressions, "What? So I like making
things go *boom*."
     Jessie muttered, half to herself, "Why don't I think I'm going to go
visit anytime soon?"
     "Hey, don't knock it. There's good money in explosives."
     Nigel nodded, "Maybe you could expand on that, and put old Bobbo Acme out
o' business?"
     "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, either," quipped Leo.
     "Who?"
     "Bobbo Acme. The CEO of the Acme Corporation," said RuBarb.
     "You mean to tell me that loser company that makes nothing what works is
real?"
     Miranda nodded at him, "In a word, yes."
     Erik held up a hand to stop the Carrotte sibs for a second and looked at
Jessie, who said, "Oh, don't get me wrong, Erik luv. But I'd rather not have a
romantic evening interrupted by a loud *boom* and then suddenly be flyin'
through the air with the greatest of ease."
     Erik shook his head, "Oh no, never happen. I only work with 'stable'
explosives. Well, except for the TNT that *I* carry, of course."
     Leo looked at him. "Makes you a real blast to be with, ay wot?"
     "Well that's why I carry it in this special pocket." Erik reached in and
pulled a stick out. The entire group backed away rather quickly, as if to get
out of range of a blast. "What? It's not like it's lit..."
     Jessie sighed, "Yes, it is, actually."
     Erik held the stick up, sighed and then held it out at arm's length.
"Guess Team Wolf is blasting off yet again." A loud boom followed that
pronouncement.
     Jessie walked over with a clothes brush, and started cleaning the soot
off. "That's the way things work, here, I guess. If it's funny, it's going to
happen."
     Erik looked down and helped with the soot. "My fault for carrying the
stuff with me, I guess. But why the heck was it lit?"
     "I guess cause it's expected for you to throw it. It's what you've been
doing when you pull one of them out."
     "True enough." Erik froze for a second, an ugly thought had occurred to
him. "But what about the other 41 sticks I've got in there? I mean if that one
was lit..."
     Jessie shrugged at the thought, "You haven't blown up, yet. And DON"T
think about it, or it'll happen."
     "I'll try not to."
     "Good move, luv," said Jessie with a kiss to his cheek.
     "Well, looks like the bell is gonna ring. I guess we better head for
class. See you after school?"
     "Definitely. We've got to meet up for Miranda's tutoring, remember? Then
we watch the Loonies rehearse."
     "So where do you want me to meet you? And remember, I don't know the area
that well."
     "We'll meet on the steps, outside. We'll show you about before we get to
my house."
     "Cool." Before he left, Erik knelt in front of Jessie, lifted a hand and
gave it a chaste kiss. Jessie blushed and kissed his nose before it was out of
range.

                Chapter 3, Beeps and other Musical Sounds

     As Erik headed for his Phys. Ed. class, he reflected that he was a very
lucky person. He had new friends, a new life where it was rather interesting,
and a chance to maybe get things right. Especially as concerned a rather cute
bunnifemme.

     Beeper walked down the hall, headed to one of his courses. Buster had
talked him into a return, earlier in the year. He did have to admit, he had
picked up several new things, and, now that he was doing it on 'his' terms, he
rather liked his return to learning. Beeper broke off his introspection as he
caught sight of an unfamiliar form in front of him. 'Oh look, it's my new
friend from yesterday...' Beeper's natural pranksterhood came to the fore as
he stepped up behind Erik. "BEEP!" It was the same joke he had pulled on
Calamity, and even once on Professor Coyote, although that had not gone
anywhere near as planned. As expected, the unsuspecting wolf jumped straight
into the air, with the added bonus that his head became stuck in the ceiling
of the hall. Beeper chuckled at his joke, and then sped off to his class on
the upper floor of the Loo.
     "Hey Babs, what do you make of this?" asked Buster as he walked up the
hall.
     "Well, I'd say it was a wolf hanging from the ceiling," replied Babs as
she looked up at Erik. "You ok up there?"
     "Oh, I'm just fine," came the muffled return. "Just hanging about..."
Both bunnies smiled at that and grabbed a leg each. With a resounding pop,
they pulled Erik out of the hole in the ceiling.
     "Just how did you get up there anyway?" asked Babs.
     "A little sneak by the name of Beeper," was the slightly growled reply,
as Erik cleaned his hat off.
     Buster looked over at Babs. "So he's at it again..."
     "And here we thought he had given that stuff up," nodded Babs.
     "Again?" Erik had gotten most of the dust off of his hat, but not all of
it, which left it sort of gray toned.
     "Yeah, he used to do it to Calamity all the time." Buster shook his head.
     "He almost failed a year, cause he got obsessed with getting Beeper,"
finished Babs.
     Erik looked thoughtful for a second, "Ahh, well, thanks for the warning.
Thanks for the help as well. But I think we both need to be off." Both bunnies
nodded at that and waved as they walked off, headed up-stairs as well. Erik
headed for his gym class.

     Erik walked out of the locker room, having switched to a black tee shirt
and black shorts. He still had his boots on, however.
     Arnold the Pit Bull, the normal coach of the class had returned. He
looked pleased with himself as he walked down the line of students, until he
got to Erik that is. "Und what are tose doing on mein floor?" Arnold glared
down at the offending footwear.
     "I don't have anything else." Erik looked a bit taken aback. This was the
first toon that was really larger than him.
     "Und vat is with tat girly pony tail, huh?" The rest of the students
seemed to sigh a bit as Arnold found someone else to harp on. "Vell, vat do
you hav to say for your self?"
     Erik couldn't really decide what to do; he wasn't afraid, per se, but
Arnold _was_ a teacher. And this brought back memories of high school.
Fortunately his instincts took over while the rest of him was distracted. Erik
glared at Arnold, straight in his eyes and let off a low rumbling growl, a
slight snarl on one side to show off some of his teeth. Arnold realized all of
a sudden that he was not dealing with the average toon. He blinked for a
second as he the figured out that this was the new wolf toon that carried all
the explosives.
     "Yes, vell, gut answer. However, you cannot play in zose boots. Go und
sit on the bleachers."
     "Bitte, Herr Kommandant." Erik's answer seemed to mollify the teacher a
bit, as did the fact that he walked around the outside of the basketball
court. He then spent the rest of the class, alternating between plans on how
to deal with Beeper and plans for the Loonies' sound system.

     Jessie stood waiting outside on the steps of the Looniversity. "Now where
is he...?" The answer came from inside as she heard someone singing in a
moderate baritone.

"You worry too much, you make yourself sad.
"You can't change fate, but don't feel so bad.
"Enjoy it while you can, it's just like the weather.
"So quit complaining brother, no one lives forever..."

"Let's have a party, there's a full moon in the sky.
"It's the hour of the wolf and I don't want to die."

"I'm so happy dancing while the Grim Reaper cuts, cuts, cuts.
"But he can't get me, I'm clever as can be, and I'm very quick.
"But don't forget, you've only got so many tricks.
"No one lives forever."

     The song cut off as Erik came out the front doors to see Jessie waiting
on him. "Sorry to make you wait, Jessie."
     Jessie tilted her head to one side. "Din't know you could sing, Erik."
     "Ehh, not very well, if you ask me." Erik shrugged. "It's not like I
practice, or anything."
     "I thought it was rather nice," said Jessie with a smile.
     "Thanks," said Erik as he walked down the steps.
     Jess looked around. "Miranda will be along in just a bit."
     Erik nodded and tried to get some more of the dust from the ceiling off
of his hat.
     Miranda skipped up at that point. "Hey guys. Want to give Erik the tour,
Jess?"
     "We promised we would, just so he'd get the lay of town," was Jessie's
reply.
     "And how are you doing, Miranda?"
     Miranda smiled back at the wolf. "Doing good, Erik. You?"
     "Not bad... gonna have to get some sneakers, though, or the coach is
gonna try and kill me. He doesn't like my boots for some reason."
     Jess grinned, "Could go barefoot, 'cept you're a wolf."
     "Oh yeah, he'd love the claws."
     Miranda had a grin as well. "Prolly no worse than Furrball."
     "That, and Beeper has moved himself up from 'hobby' to 'fun'." Erik then
related what had happened in the hallway on the way to Gym.
     Miranda's grin erupted into giggles. "Sounds like you've made a new
friend."
     "Oh dear. A 'special friend' I take it." Jess shrugged and started off
towards town. "You're going to be busy."

     The trio walked down the sidewalk into the greater Acme Acres area. As
they passed the sights, Miranda gave a running commentary, while Jessimyn
interjected the occasional quip of her own. "And here's Honest Bob's Bike
Emporium," said Miranda.
     "More like the BILK Emporium. The scooter he sold the Carrottes was an
absolute lemon," stated Jess with a bit of heat.
     "Oh, I think I could get an honest deal out of him." Erik flashed a big
grin.
     "Either that, or have security called on you." Erik shrugged in response
to Jessie's reply.
     "Was that the one with no brakes?"
     Miranda nodded, "Yep. Oh, and here's Carrotte's. One of the best
restaurants in town, and only just above Weenie Burger in pricing, too."
     "They have those in England. It wasn't until I got here, that I found out
what I was missing."
     Erik stopped, his nose in the air, sniffing. "You know, for veggie stuff,
that smells remarkably good."
     "They do serve meat dishes, in order to appeal to a wide array of
customers, Erik," said Miranda.
     "Don't have any on, right at the moment," replied Erik, his nose still
pulling in the scents from the restaurant.
     Jessimyn thought for a second. "Humm, must be a slow period. But then
Nigel's lasagna is popular, here, too."
     Erik muttered under his breath, "Veggie burgers on the grill, spaghetti
on to boil, and Nigel's lasagna as well."
     "Hungry, Erik?" asked Miranda.
     "I... do you know, I'm not? That lasagna sticks with you." Erik shook
himself at that point. "Sorry about that, but this nose can smell food a good
bit away."
     "Specially if it's good food, ay wot?" teased Jessie as she patted Erik's
tummy.
     Erik jumped back a little with a bit of a squirm. "Would you not do
that..."
     "Tickly, are we?" Jess grinned at him.
     "I-I didn't say that... I have no idea what you're talking about."
     Jess and Miranda giggled at that, and then led Erik on past Carrotte's,
and the LonToon Bank. They then saw the infamous Weenie Burger, and Club
Swank. Miranda scowled across the street at Club Swank. "Too expensive, too
snooty, and owned by Bobbo Acme."
     Jess continued with, "Three excellent reasons not to recommend that place
to your friends."
     "Ahh, sounds like you *really* don't like him," said Erik as he looked at
the club.
     "Have a Marshall speaker fall on you, and you'd not like him either,"
said Miranda.
     "Say WHAT???" Erik looked at Miranda in shock.
     He then looked even more shocked as she related what had happened at the
Perfecto Cotillion. He stood still for a second as he absorbed the new
information. Erik's eyes then slowly traveled over to the club across the
street. At first nothing is heard, then a low rumbling growl can be, at first,
felt, and then heard.
     Jessie gripped Erik's shoulder. "Easy, luv. You can always put him out of
business, later, with that explosives shop you've planned."
     Erik nodded, and the growl faded. "System?" He asked as they walked away.
     System's voice could be heard, rather subdued and polite. "Sir?"
     "I want everything you can get on that... that..." Here words failed Erik
as he muttered off into indecipherableness.
     "Yes Sir."
     "What's wrong with *you*?" asked Jessie of System.
     System replied, in an aside to Jess, "I kinda, really made him mad
earlier. I mean really mad."
     Jess whispered back to System, "Ah. Saw that you sort of overstepped your
bounds, ay?"
     "I... you could say that," was the reply, still in the same low key.
     Jess went on, "Good thing you've decided to tone things down a bit. Less
odd looks."
     "Yeah, only gonna do that in school. That chainsaw *hurt*."
     Jess winced at the thought, and then said aloud, "Here we are, Chƒteau
DuVrees."

     It was a modest home, Erik saw, probably quite a comedown for a genuine
Lady. Jess seemed happy to have come here, though, as she opened the front
door, and gestured for them to enter. "Mom, we're here." Jessimyn called, as
she closed the door.
     Ms. DuVrees called from the kitchen, "Have a good day at school, dear?"
     "Yes, Mum. Brought somebody else along to be tutored by the resident
genius," Jess replied as she went into the kitchen herself.
     Erik pulled his hat off as he followed her. "Hello, Ma'am."
     Ms. DuVrees turned as Jess came in. "Oh that's..." She froze for a second
when she caught sight of Erik. "...nice..." Ms. DuVrees continued somewhat
nervously. "Er... Hello."
     Erik looked truly chagrined at the effect he had on Jessie's mother.
"Mum, this is Erik. Erik, this is my Mum, Dianna DuVrees," Jess went on,
oblivious to both her mother's and Erik's reactions to each other.
     Dianna looked from Jess to Erik. "Oh... A pleasure to meet you, Erik. I
do hope your intentions are honourable, else, wolf or no wolf, I'll kick your
tail all over town."
     "MO-ther!" Jessie exclaimed at her mother's statement.
     "Uhhh... and here I thought I made *her* uncomfortable..." said Erik,
half to himself.
     Miranda giggled from behind him. "Parents are like that, Erik. You should
see Leo, when he's visiting my house."
     Erik looked to Dianna, "Ma'am, I..." A large bead of sweat formed to one
side of his brow.
     Dianna smiled at him. "Yes, dear?"
     Erik found himself backing ever so slowly away from Jessie's mom. "You
have succeeded in scaring the heck outta me..." he said somewhat nervously.
     Dianna's smile changed to an impish grin. "Well, at the very least,
promise you won't *do* anything 'till after you're engaged."
     Jessie blushed beet red at that. "MOTHER!"
     "I think I can make that promise, Ma'am," was Erik's still nervous reply.
     Dianna continued with her grin. "Good man. Now get to your lessons. I
want you three to have a chance to eat before you go off to the Carrotte's."
     "Yes, Ma'am."

     Miranda giggled all the way up to Jessie's room.
     Jess was still blushing. "You're a fine one to laugh, Miranda. Engaged at
fourteen."
     "Jess, your mom scares..." Erik stopped as he caught sight of the
pictures on the walls of Jessie's room. "Well now, this is a new kink..."
     "Er... kink?" Jess blinked at him.
     "The pictures, the loads of pictures. All of that guy from the Mummy..."
     Jess looked around at all her posters of Brendan Fraiser. "Oh. I'm
something of a fan, you see."
     Miranda said teasingly. "The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, George of the
Jungle, Encino Man, Blast from the Past..."
     "A fan... I see," Erik said with a small grin.
     Jessie's blush came back. "IthinkIneedtoredecorate..."
     "Could be worse," said Miranda, "She could be into boy bands."
     "Eugh..." was Jessie's response.
     Erik paled for a second, then shook the image off. "At any rate, what are
we working on today?"
     Jess pulled out her books. "Well, MY worst subjects seem to be both Toon
Physics, and Props. I guess I've lived in England as an aristo for so long, I
find it hard to be properly toony."
     "She's getting better," said Miranda as she pulled out a few small
notebooks of her own.
     "Well," Erik thought out loud, "I don't have Props, but I do have Toon
Physics. So let's work on that."

     They worked for about an hour. Both Jessie and Erik learned a lot from
Miranda. "I told you she was a flippin' genius," said Jessie when their
session was ended by a call from Ms. DuVrees to come down to eat.
     "To quote a favorite song of mine," replied Erik, as they headed down to
the kitchen, "She blinded me, with Science!"
     "Science!" said Miranda excitedly.
     While Jess sang, "When she's dancing next to me/ I can feel machinery..."
     Erik shook his head. "I shoulda known."
     Ms. DuVrees grinned up at them. "Thomas Dolby. Fun song, there. Hope you
don't mind carrot noodle Alfredo, Erik. I don't usually have any sort of meat
in the larder."
     "Ahh, no Ma'am. Thank you. It's not a big thing, as it happens, I rather
like carrots."
     The grin turned to a smile as she replied, "That's good. Enjoy. I'll have
to see about picking up some frozen dishes, if you're going to be over often."
With that she patted his shoulder and then turned to Jess. "You're not going
out like that, are you?"
     "Ah. Yes, actually... You DID help me pick the outfit..."
     "I know dear, but you're wearing the pants wrong."
     "Too low?" asked Jess.
     Erik glanced over at Miranda, while he made his portion of the Alfredo
disappear. "They always like that?" he asked quietly.
     "Yeah, sure are. Just bantering," was the just as quiet reply.
     "No, actually you have them pulled a bit too high. They're *hipsters*,
after all," Ms. DuVrees winked. "Used to wear them when I was younger."
     "Oh. That's how you snagged Father."
     "Much to my dismay." Both Jess and her mother laughed about that. They
ate their meal, which was rather good, before they headed off to the large
Tudor that was the home of the Carrottes.
     "Big," was Erik's comment when he saw it.
     "Five to nine people," was Miranda's reply. "It has to be."
     Erik muttered to himself, "Gonna have to do some work on my cave."
     Miranda rang the bell, and was immediately pulled inside by Lionel.
Jessie followed, bemused by the mink and rabbit's intense, yet chaste,
embrace. "Having fun?" asked Erik as he walked in behind Jessie. They parted
leisurely, and both gifted Erik with their best cheese-eating grin. "So, where
is this sound system of yours?" Erik asked, not noticing a dapper older male
rabbit as he gazed at him curiously.
     "I say, who is this new fellow?" he asked.
     "This is Erik, Sir Carrotte, he's going to be the equipment specialist,"
said Jessie.
     "I'm Erik Wolf, Sir," Erik echoed her.
     Rupert smiled, "Ah, smashing. Carry on then. Don't shake all the
windows." They went to the elevator, and were taken to the special room that
the Loonies rehearsed in.

     "So this is what you have." Erik looked thoughtful, one paw on his chin,
as he gazed around the room. He took in the equipment, the Marshalls, the
small balancer board, and the few spare parts available.
     Nigel sat tuning his guitar. "Not bad, I think, for a limited budget.
Don't want to depend totally on upon Rue's allowance for supplies."
     Erik nodded to himself. "Ok, I can work with this..." He looked up and
made shooing motions with his paws. "Now, everybody out. I need space to
work."
     RuBarb looked at him from behind her bass. "What about our rehearsal?"
     "Don't you want to hear it first, at least?" asked Miranda.
     Jessie raised a paw as the others started to say something as well. "Hold
on. Erik just MIGHT know to improve things... But then it's probably better to
hear it, so he knows wot needs improving."
     Erik sighed and leaned against one wall, "Ok. Miranda and Jess are right.
I do need to hear it first." At that, the band set up and played through a
set, including She Blinded Me With Science. Once they were done, Erik had been
busy analyzing the sound, he looked rather impressed. Mostly cause of the
quality of the sound they had been able to pull out of the equipment they had.
"Very good, impressive even. Now, with respect, please, out. So I can fix
things."
     The merry troop collectively shrugged and departed, chatting about their
next gig, which seemed to be a snake charmers convention.
     Erik looked around with a grin and a gleam in his eye. "Ok, System. It's
time to rock this house."
     The last thing the troop heard before the doors of the lift closed, was
the opening strains of 'Weird Science'.

     The group went into the sitting room off from the rehearsal room. There
they sat, and relaxed. Nigel started off the conversation with, "Jessimyn?
About this weekend's gig..."
     "I know I just took over from Roddy's management schedule, and all that,
but I've been running about trying to get you better shows. Even being an
aristo, it isn't an easy task," was Jessie's reply.
     "Er, yes. I was wondering why you just kept the show. After all, they're
probably not going to listen to us."
     "It's because I couldn't line up any other prospects that paid quite as
well as that one." Jess sighed, "And I thought that after I got Miranda off
the hook with her parents, that this would be an easy job."
     Lizbeth stepped in at that point. "It's never easy, Jess. Despite his
connections, and deliberate attempts to get us booked into shows we'd not want
to show for, Roddy still had a hard time of it."
     Miranda kicked in with, "Anyway, you've only just started, right?"
     Jess looked thoughtful at that. "Well, yes. You do have a point there,
Miranda."
     "So relax a little, then," said RuBarb. "You'll come up with something.
And I'm sure that anything you come up with will be more suited to us, than
anything Roddy could get if he was even half trying."
     Jessimyn smiled back at Rue. "Now there's a vote of confidence I
appreciate getting."
     "Hey, what's past is past, so it won't affect Nigel and my future."
     Jess smiled wryly at that. "Not unless you *want* me to be a godmother
for you too."
     RuBarb gave Jess a startled look, then gazed over at Miranda, who just
shrugged with a sheepish grin.
     Erik showed up at that point. "Well, that's that," he said as he scrubbed
his hands with a small towel.
     Jess looked up. "Hello, luv. How's it going?"
     Erik waggled one paw in a so-so gesture. "Not interrupting anything, am
I?"
     "Not really," said Jess with a shrug. "Just chatting. Have fun playing
with the electrical bits?"
     "Yeah. It's done, by the way."
     The Loonies and their manager looked somewhat amazed at this. It had not
seemed like any significant time at all had passed. With a brief look at each
other, they all trooped back into the rehearsal room to look things over.

     Erik led the troop back into the rehearsal room. "Well, folks. There it
is. Your new sound and light system." He pointed over to one corner. There was
an eighty-eight channel balancer- eight channels per, eleven inputs total; a
small sound effects board, three small light sets, a digital recording unit,
and a computer control unit for all of it. All of it had hard cases, and all
of it was portable. "The Marshalls are Marshalls, and, as such, well nigh
indestructible if taken care of. But I did find two loose wires in one, they
had stared to work their way out of the solder." Erik waved a paw at the
stuff. "I can pull input from all the instruments, as well as all of you, and
even that thing-a-ma-bob of yours, Miranda." He then waited for the reactions.
They murmured amongst themselves, and checked out the new settings and
riggings. That done, they set up and played through a couple of songs. When
they stopped, they all looked and stared goggle-eyed at their new equipment
specialist.
     "I'd say you're going to be worth the money... More than worth the
money," said Jessimyn.
     "I... I, well, I couldn't let my band keep going with substandard
equipment, now could I?"
     Jess gave Erik a hug. "I guess not, luv."
     "I just hope the snakes can handle the lows," quipped Leo.
     Erik grimaced at the joke and hugged Jess back. "Not to be down on ya'll,
but I've seen better stuff in a garage band. Who set you up with that stuff,
anyway?"
     Nigel looked a bit sheepish. "Er... we did. Our allowance isn't much, to
be honest."
     "Ahh, all self-built then?" Nigel nodded. "In *that* case, not bad."
'That also explains why they're having so much trouble in getting a gig,' he
thought to himself. "At least you have the Marshalls," Erik said aloud.
     Nigel grinned. "We did wot we could... and as for the Marshalls, we have
Rue to thank. She got them for us after the Cotillion fiasco."
     Erik looked over at Rue. "Thank you. Those make me very happy. Means I
don't have to try and build something."
     RuBarb grinned back at him. "My father likes to spoil me."
     "For which we are eternally grateful," quipped Nigel.
     "I do have one small question, though." Erik looked over at Miranda.
"Just what is that thing-a-ma-bob?"
     "WHAT thing-a-ma-bob?" asked Miranda with a confused air.
     "Well, I found this strange connection for *something*, over by your
drums."
     "OH! That's for my voice modulator," said Miranda as enlightenment
struck. "Normally, I sing in the worst way. Then, when I wanted to sing in the
worst way, Leo and I hashed it together, and now I can sing rather well with
it. We've got some other plans for it, though, besides enhancing my vocal
ability."
     Erik blinked for a bit when he heard that. "Sounds like you could do *my*
job."
     Jess grinned at him. "She probably could. But then, I *did* tell you,
luv."
     Erik nodded at that, and then decided to change the subject. "I bet ya'll
are wondering how I did all this so fast."
     "Skill, luck, and a little help from the computer in your head?" asked
Jess.
     "Ahh, no. I have to confess that I cheated." Erik reached into one of his
pockets and pulled out a Radio Hack charge card. "All of this is off the shelf
components."
     "In debit, again," Nigel sighed.
     "No, it's all on me." Erik winced a little inside, he had in fact maxed
the little card out. "All fifty bucks of it." For the most part, that wasn't a
lie, but the digital recorder and the computer unit had slammed his card to
its thousand-dollar limit.
     "Fifty bucks? Was THAT all?" asked Leo.
     "That's why I use Radio Hack. Cheap, but good."
     "Looks like you're a flippin' genius with electronic bits, ay wot?" asked
Jess.
     Erik just shrugged it off and asked, "So, when and where is the first
gig, boss?"
     "This Saturday, in the Grand Ballroom of the Acme Hotel," was the reply.
     "Cool," said Erik as he stretched. The cracks and pops of his back caused
most of the Loonies to flinch. Jessie winced at the sound and ran a hand
gingerly down his back.
     "That sounded like it hurt..."
     "Nah, always been able to do that," was the reply as Erik then leaned his
head from one side to the other. Several more cracks and pops resulted from
that and caused the rest of the crew to drop their ears.
     "Still quite distressing... had an uncle who couldn't move for
arthritis," said Jess in a concerned murmur, as she ran her fingers lightly
across the back of Erik's neck.
     The fingers across his neck tickled, and caused him to squirm a bit.
"Gah..."
     "Find another tickly spot, Jess?" asked Miranda with a bit of a giggle.
     "Maybe," said Jessie with a speculative look on her face. "Now, perhaps,
I'll find out what's so appealing about that Tickle Me game you and Leo play
so much." Erik caught sight of the speculative look on her face and started to
sidle towards the lift. "But not now, of course. We need to finish up for
tonight." Erik sighed to himself as Jessie whispered to him, "Not something
I'd want to try in public anyway, luv."
     "That's not what the look on your face said..." whispered Erik back,
while Jess tried to look innocent. Erik looked around at the Loonies. "So how
often do ya'll practice? I need to know when to be here to pack the gear up."
     "Practically every night," said Nigel. "Friday night's a good time to
get things started."
     Leo nodded and said, "We'll help, too."
     "Ahh, well then. I'll see ya'll tomarra then," said Erik as he yawned.
     "Sure thing," said Liz as Miranda, Rue, Jessimyn, and Erik headed for the
front door. They said their goodbyes to the Carrotte family, and headed in
their separate ways. Rue headed off with Miranda, before she made for the
school dorms. Erik and Jess went towards her house.

     "I'd be happy to walk you home, Jess. If you want me to, that is," said
Erik as they turned from the Carrotte's house.
     "I'd like that," replied Jess with a smile.
     They walked on for a bit until Erik noticed that Jess had to walk a bit
faster than normal to keep up with him. After a second's thought, he lifted
her up and set Jess on his shoulder.
     "Yeep!" was the noise that she made as he picked her up. "That was
unexpected," she laughed, a merry sound.
     "A bit easier this way," replied Erik as he strolled off towards Jessie's
house. "My legs are just a bit longer than yours."
     Jess leaned over a little and kissed one of his ears. "Thank you, luv."
     Erik just grinned and asked, "So how are things in the manager biz?"
     "Could be easier. But my background, and my studies in Toon Law helps me
a bit." Erik nodded and then lapsed into a companionable silence. He walked
on, happy to have found that maybe he did belong in this world after all, and
glad to have found someone worth caring about. Jess sat on his shoulder and
thought about the band and everything she could do to help them. "I'll make
sure they don't get cheated," she said, mostly to herself, and half under her
breath.
     Erik still caught most of it. "Hmm?" He glanced up at Jess, one brow
raised.
     Jessie sighed, "Unfortunately, there are dishonest furs out there. Not
just Roddo, but folks wot will book a band. It's part of my job to be sure
they don't get bilked. And considering what all I know about it, I'll always
have the Law on my side."
     Erik walked on, if a bit slower than his normal pace, as he absorbed what
Jess had said. After a small bit, he stopped and set Jessie down in front of
him. "If those are the kind of people that I'm thinking about, then from now
on, I'm also your security guard. If you need help of any kind, *any* kind,
then let me know."
     Jessie smiled, touched. "Why... thank you, Erik. I appreciate the offer."
     Erik put a hand on her shoulder. "Jess... before anything else, you are
my friend."
     Jessimyn looked down sheepishly, "I don't know wot to say, Erik, but
thank you."
     "The same goes for the rest of the band." Erik's hand fell, and a
slightly darker look came to his eyes. "Not all of the training I have is in
sound equipment and explosives." He looked a bit down at that admission, but
he also looked firm in the offer.
     Jessimyn looked back at him, and wondered at the dark look. "It's good to
know that you're on our side, luv. Sometimes we need a friend like you."
     They both stood there for a few more seconds before Erik shook the mood
from himself and with him, Jess as well. "Nuff 'o this dark side stuff." Erik
grinned at Jessie and picked her back up. "Time to get the pretty lady back
home," he said as he headed off towards Jessie's house once again.
     Jessie blushed a bit at the compliment. "Thank you, gallant sir."
     Erik decided that they needed a bit of excitement after the bit of
seriousness, and so deliberately misunderstood Jess. "Gallop, you say? Weeell,
ok..." He clamped an arm around her legs and put his phantom gearshift into
first and then second as he picked up speed.
     Jess held on with a yelp. "No! I said 'Gallant'! I said you are gallant."
     "Gallop, gallop you say?" He shifted into third as Jess hung on for dear
life. After a short bit Erik saw Jessie's house in the distance. With a short
hop, he slammed the brakes on, his feet set as if he was on a surfboard. They
stopped with a rather loud screech, and left black rubber marks on the street.
     Jess cautiously opened one eye, then the other. She realized that they
had stopped and looked profoundly relieved. "Ah... we're here."
     "Well, of course," said Erik as he walked over and used the hose to put
the fires on his shoes out.
     Jess sighed as she slipped somewhat shakily off of his shoulder. "That
was... interesting."
     "What?" Erik looked over at her, as he had no idea what was wrong. "You
ok?"
     Jessie sighed again, as she relaxed. "It's all right. I'm just not good
on fast rides, is all."
     Erik hung his head as he remembered her trouble with panic attacks. "Oh
man. Jess, I am sooo sorry, I totally forgot about the panic attacks..."
     Jessie put her hands on his shoulders and smiled up at him. "It's all
right. I AM getting better, you know? It takes me a bit to get used to things,
is all. I was only a little shaken, not much."
     Erik still looked downcast. "I... I should have remembered though, I
shouldn't have done that. Not without warning you first."
     Jessie tilted his head up, so she could look into his eyes. "You were
just playing, luv. That's hardly something to hold against you. You're sure to
remember next time."
     Erik nodded, and the slowly and carefully enfolded her in his arms. "I'm
sorry, Jess."
     Jessimyn sighed, as she returned Erik's embrace, and nuzzled his
shoulder. "There's nothing to be sorry about, luv. You were playing, and I
know that." she said, muffled against his shoulder. She leaned back, and
looked into his eyes, again with a smile. "I'm ok, now, so don't worry."
     "Well, if you say so... luv." Erik looked a bit sheepish at this point,
Jess insistent as she was.
     Jessie grinned at the affectionate nickname, and leaned in a little, nose
to nose with Erik. He matched the grin with on of his own, and then reached
around with both hands and tickled both sides of her. Jess squealed with
laughter, then retaliated in the only way available. She went for him as well,
attacking his stomach for all she was worth.
     "Ack... !" he said, and used his tail to go after one of her feet.
     "Oy!" she yelped, as she leapt out of the way, still laughing. "You...
you... Wolf!"
     "Woof..." Erik woofed at her. "Woof, I say, and you're worth woofing at,
too. Actually, I'd say you're worth howling after..." he continued with one
brow raised and a slightly evil grin on his fizz.
     "Barking mad." Jessie giggled, as she got up. She then went over to Erik
and threw her arms around his neck, still giggling. "Now what was I about to
do?"
     "Go in, I think," was the reply. "Mind you, I'm not sure."
     "Well... *that* too, but I think... oh yes, that's it." With that, she
tilted her head a bit and gently kissed Erik on the lips. A more tender
gesture than her attempt at comedy in the chase scene, and a bit more
meaningful, too. It was a kiss with more emotion behind it than Erik had ever
encountered before, and before he could start to kiss back he started to melt
under the effect of the kiss. After a few seconds however, he snapped back to
his normal shape, as a count down rolled backwards in his eyes.
     System took this moment to quip, "Houston, we have a problem..."
     "Wot did I say about keeping your silicon nose out of his affairs?" Jess
said as she broke off the kiss with a glare. "Oh dear. Erik?" she asked just
as the timer hit zero. With the count down finished Erik took off rather like
a Titan booster, in short, he literally howled off into the night.
     "AAAAAARRRRRRROOOOOOO!"
     Jessimyn giggled. "Team Wolf is blasting off, again."
     Erik could be heard faintly, "Hey! That's *my* line..."
     Jess laughed merrily as she watched Erik fly through the air with the
greatest of ease. She hoped he would come down, soon, and safely. But, this
being Acme Acres, the latter was well nigh impossible.

   Chapter 4 Hey, you think it's easy to come up with chapter titles?

     "Having fun, Dave?" asked System as Erik flew through the air from the
kiss at the end of the last chapter.
     "System... if she hadda kissed you, you would have melted down. So I
wouldn't say much, ok?" Erik replied as he noticed the he was headed for the
area of his cave. With a massive THUD, Erik landed head first on the rocky
path, not far from the entrance to his home. "Ouch..." he said before passed
out for a bit. As he came back around, about half an hour later, his thoughts
turned to what had happened earlier. A smile crossed his face as he thought
about that kiss.
     'If you want to keep seeing her, you better get off your butt and start
working.' he thought to himself. 'I better get to work on that lab, and see if
I can't get this place up to snuff.' He started to worry now, to wonder about
Jess and himself. "Am I really the best she could do?" Years worth of
questions about his self worth flowed through his head. By the end of it he
was no longer sure she liked him, he wasn't even sure *he* liked him. Choked
with emotion, he did the only thing he could... he sang.

"I'm so cool; too bad I'm a loser.
"I'm so smart; too bad I can't get anything figured out.
"I'm so brave; too bad I'm a baby.
"I'm so fly, that's probably why it feels like I'm falling for the first
time."

"I'm so green, it's really amazing.
"I'm so clean; too bad I can't get all the dirt off me.
"I'm so sane; it's driving me mad.
"It's so strange, I can't believe it feels just like I'm falling for the first
time."

"Anyone perfect, must be lying; anything easy has its cost."
"Anyone plain, can be lovely; anyone loved can be lost."
"What if I've lost my direction, what if I've lost sense of time?"
"What if I nurse this infection, maybe the worst is behind..."

     As he paused for a bit more breath, he heard a single set of hands
clapping behind him. "Bravo, now are you done beating up on yourself? Or is
there going to be an encore?" asked Buster as he walked out of the shadows.
Erik just blinked, shocked at what Buster had said. "What, you think I don't
know what's going on in that head of yours?" Buster walked over and sat on a
tree stump. "You aren't the first person to go where you are, you know. I've
been there myself."
     "But what if I'm *not* worthy of her?" asked Erik.
     "It's not about worth, Erik. The only thing it's about is whether or not
the two of you care for each other. That's the *only* thing that matters,
nothing else." Erik looked at him, comprehension just beyond him. "Think about
it," said Buster as he turned and walked off into the night. "And stop being
such a morose wolf, Erik. It doesn't suit you," came from the darkness after
he left.
     Erik got up and headed into his cave, still without quite understanding.
He laid out on his sand ledge, he still hadn't gotten a bed, and did what
Buster said, he thought about it. After a while he was able to grasp it.
"Buster's right, I am a morose..." With that, he dropped off into sleep.

     Four hours later, System woke him. "Get up, get up, get out of bed! Rise
up, rise up, you sleepy head!"
     Erik cracked an eye open. "System, now I'm going to terminate you..."
     "No you aren't, you have to get up and go to school. Not to mention see
Jess again."
     "You just saved yourself." He slowly rolled himself off of the ledge, and
reached blindly for the coffee maker.
     "Well, you shouldn't spend so much time thinking about stuff that doesn't
matter."
     Erik just growled, as he slugged down his coffee and got himself ready
for school. "Now I remember why I never liked school. Too bloody early in the
morning for this."

     Erik trudged up towards the Loo, he was a bit ragged and didn't look like
he had had much sleep, or had paid much attention to where he was going. Jess
blinked, and looked a little embarrassed. Her outfit today was a bit more
demure than it was yesterday. "Erm... morning, Erik." she said.
     "Wot happened to you?" was Nigel's slightly shocked question.
     "Oh, hi, Jess, Nigel." Erik looked up, a bit bleary eyed. "Hmm... oh, not
much. Just had a friend point out a few things after I got home last night, is
all. You know, food for thought kinda stuff. That and that landing last night
were kinda rough."
     Lionel glanced over at Jessie. "I'm NOT goin' to ask about the landing,
but wot is this 'food for thought' you're talkin' about?"
     System tried to distract everyone with, "He landed on his head last
night, so I wouldn't pay much attention to him right now."
     Jess was still a bit flustered. "Let's go on in, shall we?"
     Erik looked a bit more aware and nodded along with the rest of the crew.
He hung back a little to talk with Jess. "Oh, and Jess?" he whispered.
     Jessie grinned sheepishly. "Yes, luv?" she returned his whisper.
     Erik gave her a warm smile. "That kiss was fantastic."
     She smiled back. "I was hoping you liked it."
     "You couldn't tell? You nearly sent me into orbit last night," he said as
they walked along to homeroom.
     Jessie's smile turned a bit shy. "I was hoping for a kiss back, too...
but maybe later, hm?"
     "I'll see what I can do, luv." His hand sought out hers and interlaced
fingers while Jessie smiled as they walked, hand in hand, to homeroom.

     Homeroom was its usual boring self, though a basketball game, scheduled
for next week, was announced. Erik and Jess then went together to Chase Scenes
101, where some other chase was examined; much to Erik, Jess, RuBarb, and
Nigel's relief. After that was Wild Takes, where they had a pop quiz with the
Prompt O Matic. They then had to part for their different classes. Erik made
his way to his American History class. On the way he was once again
interrupted by the humor of L'il Beeper, and found himself stuck in the
ceiling once again. After he freed himself, and found that Beeper had once
again left, he continued on. The class was about normal, as was his Toon
Physics class. After that he headed for lunch, and looked for Jess as he went.
     Jess walked up, a smile on her face, obviously glad to see him. "Hello,
luv. Ready for the attack of the living ooze, as Miranda calls it?"
     "Ick! I had forgotten about that." Erik stopped for a second. "But I
think I'm gonna have to try it anyway." He started to check his various bits
of ordinance. "Can't mooch offa Nigel twice in a row."
     Jess chuckled at that. "It isn't mooching, luv. If he didn't share it,
it'd just go bad."
     They walked to the lunchroom. "It looks bad... I'm a wolf, I should be
able to hunt my own food." He then muttered, half to himself, "Even if I do
have to do it with explosives..."
     Jess just gave him an exasperated look. "It looks bad for you to share
lunch with your friends?" She shook her head.
     "Ahh... " Erik realized that he might have just stepped on a land mine.
"What did he make today anyway?"
     She gave him a slight *look*. "I think it's vegetable stir fry, with
shitake mushrooms, and pine nuts."
     "On second, and even third thoughts, hunting sucks. It also occurs to me
that I ought to do my chili tomorrow."
     "Then we'll have to swing by the grocery store, ay wot?" After a second's
thought she added, "Er, not literally, of course."
     "True, and I'm gonna need an advance from you." Here he looked a bit
sheepish. "I'm kinda broke."
     They sat at the Loonies normal table, as Jess thought for a moment. "I'll
have to check into it, when we get to rehearsal tonight, luv. Thankfully,
despite the tendency for bad gigs, Roddo's management did leave us with some
cash to use."
     "From the sound of things, I'm a bit surprised at that. This Roddo,
Roddy, Rod-*what*-ever, doesn't sound like a nice person." Erik looked over at
Jess with his brows raised.
     Jess shrugged, "Roderick Rat. And no, he wasn't exactly nice, per se,
but he did get gigs that paid well, and it was Nigel that collected the money.
Nige did not trust Roddy as far as RuBarb could throw him, to be honest."
     "Ahh...thought he had some brains," Erik said with a nod.
     "No brains in here," said Nigel as he came up with a covered dish. "Just
pine nuts, veggies, and mushrooms."
     "Ok, so maybe I was wrong, then."
     Jessie laughed as Nigel blinked and said, "Oh. ME having brains. I think
I'd have to, else I'd never get about, ay wot?"
     "We were talking about one Roderick Rat, and the bit of distrust you had
of him. And besides, that's debatable, just look at Congress," said Erik.
     System piped up with, "Better yet, look at Erik..."
     Erik leaned his head to one side. "Do I need to get that chainsaw out
again?" he asked.
     "Ahh... no, no. Don't need to do that... I'll shut up now..," was
System's stammered reply.
     "An excellent idea," said Jessimyn. "Why don't you do that?"
     Nigel grinned. "Well, considering what he's done in the past, it was only
natural."
     "So where's the rest of the crew?" asked Erik. He then remembered that,
with the exception of him and Jess, everyone was either married or engaged and
said, "Or is somebody off practicing for the honeymoon?"
     "HEY!" exclaimed Miranda as she, Leo, RuBarb and Lizbeth finally showed
up. "Where did you hear that joke?"
     'Oh, freakin great, you stupid wolf. That was a joke they did in Akron 2,
and it was while they were at home, too. Better start digging wolf...' Erik
thought to himself, before he said, "Err... would you believe I read it
someplace?" He looked a bit nervous. "I can't seem to remember quite where
though."
     After a long pause Jess said to him, "You *read* it someplace?"
     "Ahem... yes, I read it someplace. Like I said, I can't remember quite
where though." They all looked at one another, and sort of shrugged. Nigel
then started dishing out his delectable dish of the day. Erik looked over at
Nigel. "You know, Nigel, you might almost get me to drop meat from my menu, if
you keep this cooking up." He then started to make his portion disappear with
a speed that said he was either ravenous, or ex-military.
     Nigel winked back at him. "Glad you like it. I do try."
     Erik then looked over at Rue, one of the other major carnivores at the
table. "Not sure I could get everything I'd need though, you know, minerals
and vitamins and stuff like that... how do you do it?"
     RuBarb replied, "Well, Nigel puts lots of protein rich stuff in his
dishes. You know, legumes, and mushrooms, and stuff like that. I also eat egg
salad, a lot. Mainly because it's my absolute fave. Most vegetarian cooking is
vitamin rich, because of the veggies themselves. If that's still not enough,
there's always multivitamins."
     "Ahh... still not sure I could handle it, though. Gonna have to think
about this." Erik looked thoughtful.
     "I've a couple of books you could borrow, Erik," Jess told him.
     "I think I ought to. Oh, and Nigel, you don't need to bring anything
tomorrow. I'm gonna do my chili, if you guys want me to, that is."
     The whole group grinned. "That sounds smashing, Erik," said Nigel.
     "Yeah," Miranda added, and giggled. "We could use a little excitement
around here."
     "Oh... it's *excitement* you want?" Erik gave a very evil grin, his ears
curved up to look like horns. "I would suggest that you bring some water
tomorrow, then. You're gonna need it."
     "Oh *dear*," said Jessimyn.
     Erik looked over at her. "Don't worry Jess, *you* didn't ask for any.
They did, their risk. They'll get to have some of the batch I'm gonna do for
myself. I'll do a normal batch for everybody else."
     "You *like* setting stomachs afire, then?" Jess chuckled. "But then that
does seem like *you*, luv."
     Erik looked over at Miranda and Nigel. "You two get to have *fun*."
     Nigel looked panicky. "Wait a min! *I'm* not the one who asked for
excitement!"
     Erik grinned back at the worried rat. "Oh, come on Nigel, you can handle
it. It's only going to be class 8 chili. And, even if Texas _does_ mandate a
biohazard marking on it, it's not that bad. Just has a bit of a kick to it."
     Miranda smiled. "Sounds like a real blast."
     Erik looked over at Miranda, a little surprised. "You like hot stuff?"
     She nodded. "Sometimes. Believe it or not, some Russian dishes can be
spicy. I'll have to bring some stroganoff, sometime, too."
     "Mmm... stroganoff..." Erik got a dreamy look on his face.
     Jess leaned over after a second, and whispered into his ear. "Erik, luv,
you're drooling."
     He recovered quickly and wiped up the drool. "Ahem... you didn't see
that."
     The rest of the crew just grinned at him as he composed himself.

     "So what are we going to do this afternoon?" Erik asked.
     "The usual, I imagine. Though, hopefully, without you being scared out of
your wits by Jessie's mom," answered Miranda.
     Leo raised an eyebrow at Erik. "Oh, she did the parental thing on you,
did she?"
     Erik looked a bit red at that point. "I... I wasn't, ah, scared." he
stammered. "I was... being respectful. Yeah, that's it. I was being
respectful."
     Miranda smirked at him. "That wasn't what you said, yesterday."
     "Ahem, I don't know what you're talking about. I was just a bit nervous,
is all."
     Leo looked at him knowledgably. "Parents go out of their way to do that
to a possible suitor."
     Erik had shrunk into his seat a bit by this time. "Oh? And just how many
times have Miranda's folks scared the stuffing outta you?"
     Leo looked thoughtful as he answered. "With Miranda's father, practically
every time I've been over there, which has been quite a lot, lately. All 'er
mum's ever done was hit me over the head with her purse."
     Erik stared at Leo. "What the heck did you do to deserve that? Or do I
want to know?"
     Leo gave a small smile. "I picked an inappropriate time to play me an'
Miranda's fave game. Then I found out she had several tons of bricks in her
purse."
     Erik winced. "Ouch... just, ouch..."
     "Precisely wot I said at the time, too."
     Erik shook his head at the thought of how much that had to have hurt.
After that the crew settled down to eating.

     "I'll have to remember to ask Mum about those cookbooks... " Jess
muttered to herself a bit later.
     Nigel caught the edge of her mutter and said, "Our mum's got a jolly good
one, too. '101 Ways to Fix Vegetarian For Good.' Best seller."
     Erik blinked for a second as he made a connection. "Your mom wouldn't
happen to be the owner of Carrottes, would she?"
     "Owner, founder, head chef," said Lizbeth.
     "Oh wow..." He sounded amazed. "That place smelled heavenly when we went
past yesterday."
     "Of course," replied Leo. "Our mum graduated from Cordon Bleu."
     Erik propped his head on his hands and looked dreamy eyed again, as
thoughts of food ran through his head. And drool from his mouth. He shook
himself and came back to reality, such as it was, when Jess put another
helping of stir-fry under his nose. "Thanks, Jess."
     "You're welcome," she said, as Erik made the helping disappear just as
fast as all the rest.
     "This stuff is great, Nigel."
     "Just the stuff for a growing wolf, ay?" asked Nigel with a grin.
     Erik started to nod. But, just at that point, a red and orange blur
passed the table. A loud BEEP was heard, as Beeper stopped behind Erik. Who
promptly jumped straight into the ceiling. The entire table turned and glared
at the youngish roadrunner. Above, Erik could be heard to mutter. What exactly
he muttered is best left off these pages, as he ended with, "...TWICE! In one
freakin day!"
     Beeper just looked back at the group and shrugged with a grin on his
face. He then held up a sign that said, "It's fun."
     Leo and Lizbeth pulled Erik out of the ceiling, as Nigel made a motion as
if he had pulled a rope.
     By then Beeper had flipped his sign over. "He jumps so high." As he had
been busy with chatting, he failed to notice the shadow that had appeared
around him. With a loud CLANG! a huge anvil fell upon the distracted, if
speedy, fowl. From under the anvil came a sign that read rather like Erik's
previous mutters.
     The Bloomin' Loonies crew simply gave him their best cheese-eating
grins, as he, and the anvil, started to waddle out of the cafeteria.
     "Care for pressed roadrunner, m'luv?" Jess asked sweetly. Erik, who had
been cleaning himself off, only now noticed that the roadrunner was still
there. As he looked up and caught sight of the bird, a pair of cross hairs
came up on the lenses of his glasses. He also looked about ready to do a Mt.
Saint Helens.
     "Want to borrow my bat, old wuff?" Nigel asked, a slightly concerned note
to his voice.
     Beeper looked back for a second as he finally got out from under the
anvil. The look he saw in Erik's eyes caused him to leave fast enough to look
like little more than an orange flash.
     "Thank you," was Erik's calm reply as he watched Beeper disappear. "But
if you don't mind, I have a hammer with his name on it."
     "Have fun," said Jess as Erik started after Beeper. He picked up speed
and then, with a low growl that caused the entire room to look over at him, he
turned into a dark flash of his own. 

     Beeper blasted out of the entrance to the Looniversity, Erik hot on his
heels. 'This is not what I had in mind for fun today,' he thought to himself.
'That wolf isn't just messing around, he wants a bite of me.' With that he put
everything he had into speed and led the wolf on a massive chase through Acme
Acres. Erik finally let out his last gasp as they passed the Loo one last
time. They had been all over the town and he was just plain tired. He stood
and puffed as he watched Beeper disappear down the road and went to sit
outside the school by the statue of Daffy Duck, as it cast a rather large
shadow and the stonework was cool. As he cooled off, the school let out and he
watched as a hoard of children headed off for wherever they were going. He
then sat back and waited for Jessie and Miranda, well, mostly Jessie, to show
up.

     Miranda skipped up and skidded to a stop. "Hey, Erik. You get him?"
     "Nah, the little feathered rat's too fast," came the answer. "Gave him a
good scare though."
     Miranda shrugged. "Oh well. Jessie's sure to be along in a bit." Then,
from the hallway, came an almost ethereal voice.

"Please forgive me if I act a little strange, for I know not what I do.
"Feels like lightning running through my veins, every time I look at you.
"Every time I look at you...
"Help me out here, all my words are falling short, but there's so much I want
to say.
"Want to tell you how good it feels, when you look at me that way.
"When you look at me that way..."

     That's when they saw Jessie, as she moved contemplatively through the
hall. As she sang, Erik felt some part of his heart melt, some part he had
forgotten that he had.

"Throw a stone, and watch the ripples flow. Moving out across the bay.
"Like a stone, I fall into your eyes. Deep into that mystery.
"Deep into some mystery..."

     Erik looked stunned, like something had hit him in his heart, in that
place he had forgotten. Like he had heard a part of himself in someone else.
"Jess...I..." Words failed him, nor could he put what he felt into song. He
looked unsure of himself as he walked up to her.  After a second he embraced
her, and then, as he looked down into her beautiful salmon colored eyes, he
gave her the kiss she had been after earlier in the day. He put every once of
feeling he had for her in it, all the friendship, the caring, and, now that he
knew what it was, all the love.
     To Erik, it felt as if Jess had melted into him, though, somehow, she
retained her shape. He felt her arms wrap around his neck, one hand gently
stroked his hair, as she returned his kiss with just as much emotion as he had
put in. Miranda watched, stunned, for a couple of seconds, before she quickly
turned away to give the couple some measure of privacy. After what seemed like
a short time to Erik, he pulled back out of the kiss a little, and said, with
every fiber of his being, "I love you, Jessimyn DuVrees."
     Jessie looked up into Erik's eyes, a warm smile on her face. "I love you
too, Erik Wolf. Don't know how it happened, but I do love you."
     Erik looked back at her, a warm smile on his face as well. "Does it
really matter, luv?"
     Jess hugged Erik tightly. "No, it doesn't"
     "Love at first sight? It's what happened with me and Leo..." That came
from the mink that still gazed stiffly off towards the horizon.
     Erik looked around, a bit red as he had forgotten all about Miranda.
"Ahh, really?"
     Miranda, who still faced steadfastly away, nodded. "Yup. Their first day
at the Loo. He landed on my desk after a mishap."
     "I think you can turn around now."
     Miranda peeked over her shoulder. "You sure?"
     Erik thought about it, "Jess?"
     "Yes, luv," said Jess.
     "We done, for the moment, that is?"
     Jessie looked thoughtful. "I'd say so, yes." She then whispered into
Erik's ear. "Lover-wuffie." With that she giggled impishly, and took one of
Erik's hands.
     Erik gave a truly impressive grin at the affection and said, "Sure,
anything you want, luv."
     Jess tapped his nose. "Down boy."
     "Yes ma'am."
     "Oh man, you two are gonna be fun." Miranda said with a small shake of
her head.
     "Ahh..." Erik looked a bit nervous again. "Just how long were we...?"
     Miranda grinned. "You think I was *timing* it?"
     Erik cocked his head to one side as he thought about it. "Yes."
     Miranda shrugged. "Man, you've figured me out, haven't you? I'd say about
twenty minutes. Mind you, that's both the kiss AND you two being lost in one
another's eyes."
     Erik looked a bit amazed that that much time had passed, it hadn't felt
anywhere near that long. "I think we need to make up some time then."
     Miranda smiled as she remembered some of her times with Lionel. "Good
'moments' are like that."
     Erik gazed back down into Jessie's eyes. "If they're all like that, then
I hope we have some more, luv."
     "Me too, luv," replied Jess happily. Erik then picked Jess up and set her
on his shoulder. "You are going to warn me before you shift into overdrive,
aren't you?"
     "Of course. Won't do that with out telling first. I promise."
     Jess nodded at that. "Good."
     Erik then looked over at Miranda. "You got a set of wheels handy?"
     "Sure do," she replied as she pulled her skateboard out from behind her
back. Erik then pulled out a rope and tied one end around himself and tossed
the other end to Miranda. She just shrugged and activated the acceleration
boots as she stepped on.
     Erik raised one brow at the board. "You do have good brakes on that
thing, right?"
     Jessie answered, "Of course she does. That's the skateboard with the jet
engine."
     Erik's eyes got a bit bigger as he looked at the device. "I'm not *even*
gonna ask..." He then shook his head a bit. "You ready Jess?"
     Jessimyn got a good grip, and took several deep breaths. "Ready."
     With a squeal of rubber Erik shot out of the entrance of the Loo. He hit
his third gear quickly, but went no further because of the tricks and stunts
that Miranda pulled. He did his normal screeching stop outside of the store.
"We're here, Jess."
     Miranda rolled past a few feet, a smile on her face, before she stopped.
"Oh, yeah. The chili."
     "You may be a genius," Erik said to Miranda. "But you're also a nut.
Pulling tricks back there..."
     "I tend to think she's a bit of a speed junkie..." said Jess.
     "I was not pulling tricks. Well, not many anyway," Miranda said in her
defense.
     "I'm surprised they haven't taken that thing away from you."
     "It had been... at least until I got my pilot's license updated," said
the mink.
     Erik looked shocked. "You mean to tell me that *thing* can fly?"
     "Yes," said both Jess and Miranda.
     "I give up." Erik muttered to himself. "Let's go get the stuff for the
chili."
     With that, they all trooped into the market. Miranda snagged a cart, and
Jess scouted the aisles. "Wot do you put in chili?" Jess asked.
     "Ahh, well, there's chili, of course, and onions, and peppers, and a bit
of garlic... just a whole slew of stuff. It differs by the person."
     "Chili? That's a pepper, right, or a powder?" asked Miranda, as Jess
said, "Beans too, ay wot?"
     "It comes in several forms." he said to the mink, as he headed for the
spice area. "If you would, please, Jess." he asked of Jessimyn while he pulled
about eight different bits. "Now to find some fresh stuff," he said as he went
back to the produce aisle.
     Miranda winced at some of the things he had picked out. "This stuff could
be used to clean rust, when he gets it fixed."
     "It's not that bad. Besides, it wouldn't fix the rust, just eat the
metal." Erik said that with a grin to let them know he was joking, mostly.
"Oh, this is gonna be some good chili."
     Miranda looked over at Jess. "Milk?"
     "Lots of it," replied Jess.
     "And here I thought you liked hot stuff, Miranda," kidded Erik.
     "I like hot stuff, but I've got my innards to think about."
     "You're young, they'll grow back. And you did ask for a bit of
excitement."
     "Hm. Weren't you going to fix a batch with meat for yourself, luv?"
     "Nah, too much trouble to do two batches of class 8, so I'm only gonna
do one. Plus the normal batch as well, of course." Erik scratched his chin.
"Besides, if I did two, they might want to fight."
     Jessie laughed and said, "Let's go and check out."

     Jessimyn started to load stuff onto the conveyor. "Little of this, little
of that... oh wait!" she said as she handed the clerk her savings card. "This
should help."
     Erik, broke as he was, felt a little down at the cost of the stuff.
"Sorry about the cost, Jess."
     Jessie smiled at him. "Don't worry about it, m'luv."
     "She's sure to get it back in sweat, later," said Miranda with a grin,
and a bit of a nudge.
     Erik turned about as red as the band of his cap with embarrassment. He
pushed his sunglasses up and pulled the brim of his cap down, and, somewhat
ineffectively, tried to disappear.
     Jessie sighed. "If you weren't my best friend, I'd squish you with Erik's
hammer."
     "Not only a nut, but she ain't got no shame neither," was Erik's half
heard, muttered response.
     Jess then paid the bill, which turned out to be less what Erik was
expecting, and then looked at the load. "Now how are we going to get this
home?"
     Erik just picked up the first bag and put it in the back pocket of his
vest, and then followed it with the rest. "Like that." he said.
     "Cool," said Jess.
     "That's why it's called a cargo vest."
     Both Jess and Miranda groaned and rolled their eyes. "Very punny," said
Jess.
     "It's a failing, luv." Erik said with a grin. "I keep trying to stop, and
I keep failing..."
     Jessie grinned and then sort of leapt up Erik's shoulder as he started
off towards her house.
     Miranda grabbed the rope again, as Erik looked up at his girlfriend. "You
ready Jess?"
     Jessie nodded. "Sure am."
     Erik clamped an arm around Jessie's legs and slammed straight into third.
With a loud scream of rubber and twin trails of fire, Erik took off. Jess
laughed and Miranda gave a joyous whoop as they sped off.
     "And no tricks back there," Erik called back to the mink behind him.
     "Awww, you're no fun!" she replied.
     Erik shot through traffic, fast enough to satisfy the speed freak, as
well as cause Jess to grab hold of him, her eyes screwed shut. As he came to
her house he did his normal screech of a stop. "We're here, Jess," he said to
the albino bunny. Who was, if possible, even whiter than normal.
     Jessimyn pried her open her eyes and peered about, relieved to be done
with the wild ride. She then slid down to stand on the unmoving ground. "A
little too much excitement for one day, ay wot?"
     "Eh-heh, sorry." Erik put a hand to the back of his neck. "You ok?"
     Jessie took a deep breath. "Ah... yes. Thanks for asking, luv."
     "I didn't mean to get so close to that semi..." he said as they both
turned back to look for Miranda. Who was, at that point, curled over her
acceleration boots in a tight ball, a little pale herself. "Uh, Miranda... are
*you* ok?"
     Miranda slowly uncurled from the ball she was in. "Was, until the semi...
and you say *I'm* crazy?"
     "That's why I said no tricks... I saw what traffic was like earlier."
Erik got a thoughtful look on his face. "Come to think of it, that was the
same semi that almost got me while I was chasing Beeper."
     Jessie and Miranda chorused, "It's a conspiracy," with a chuckle.
     Erik shrugged and bowed floridly before the two young ladies, one arm
indicated the house. "Well, at any rate, we're here."
     "So I noticed," said Dianna from behind a suddenly nervous Erik. "What
took so long, everybody?"
     "We had to stop at the market, Mum. Erik's going to make chili," replied
Jessie.
     Dianna smiled at Erik. "Sounds intriguing. Tell me, Erik, do you have a
serviceable kitchen?"
     Erik was still a bit nervous, and now _very_ aware of just how
rudimentary his housing was. "Uhh... I'm sure I-I can fake something up,
ma'am." he stuttered. "D-doesn't take much but a pot and a fire."
     Dianna tsked. "Come in, all of you. I'll call Miranda's parents and let
them know she's going to be a bit late. As for you, young man, tell me what
you need for this chili." Jess and Miranda both nodded and headed up to her
room.
     "Well, like I said..." Erik told her as they walked into the house. "Not
much beyond a pot, well, two of those, and a heat source. I've got everything
else I need in my back pocket."
     Dianna looked at him, a bit bemused. "No knives, measuring spoons,
measuring cups, or stirring spoons, ay?"
     "A knife and a stirring spoon, yes, but everything else is done by eye.
You know, a bit of this, a smidge of that." Erik replied.
     Dianna stopped him in the kitchen and deftly unloaded his back cargo
pocket. "Good thing you told me about these. I'll put them in the fridge while
you're at your lessons. Then you can use our kitchen for your chili."
     "Ahh... thank you, ma'am. But that's really not necessary. It's not like
I'm putting any meat in."
     Dianna smiled at him. "It's no problem, Erik, really. And those veggies
still need to be chilled, or they'll go mushy on you. Also gives Jess a chance
to know you better, ay?"
     Erik sighed in defeat. "As you say, ma'am."
     Dianna gently tapped his nose, a small smile still on her face. "She can
help too. Now scoot. And relax, I don't bite."
     Erik nodded a bit sheepishly and headed upstairs for Jessie's room.

     Erik noticed a marked change in her room once he got there. The wall-to-
wall Brendan Fraiser had been replaced by walls. A couple of posters were
still there, but they were the better ones from better movies. "I was kidding
yesterday, Jess. You coulda kept them up," Erik said as he looked around the
newly redecorated room.
     Jessie scuffed a toe on the floor. "We-ell... Encino Man wasn't that
great a movie..."
     "She only liked it, and George of the Jungle, 'cause they both had
Brendan Fraiser in a loin cloth..." quipped Miranda.
     Jessie blushed at that and said, "Mir-RAN-da!"
     Erik raised his brows. "Okkay..." And then rushed to change the subject.
"Well, it looks like I'm going to be doing my cooking here, for tonight at
least."
     Jess looked at him with a slight smile. "Mum 'talked' you into it, ay?"
     Erik nodded in assent as Miranda grinned and said, "Now you know what to
wear for Halloween."
     "Huh?" replied Erik with a confused looked on his face.
     Miranda pointed over at Jess and mouthed 'Loincloth' with a wink.
     He went into a coughing fit as Jess heroically ignored Miranda. "Let's
get on with the tutoring, shall we?" asked Jess.
     "Yes, let's," agreed Erik as he recovered his breath.

     The merry trio was off and running again, their homework a breeze due to
the genius mink in the house. About an hour and a half later, Miranda's mother
came by and picked up her up. Jessie and Erik headed for the kitchen. Dianna
stood at the door. "I ordered a pizza, since the kitchens going to be busy.
I'll let you-." The doorbell rang, and cut her off. "Sometimes the delivery
service is too good, here."
     Erik looked over as she opened the door. "Is there anything I can...
do... to..." Erik trailed off as he caught sight of Beeper as he stood at the
door with the pizza. It occurred to him that this would be the perfect time to
nail him as Beeper didn't appear to see Erik. Just as he was about to start
after the small, if annoying, bird, Jess gripped his arm to keep him from
tearing off after the delivery bird.
     "Now, Erik, this isn't school."
     Dianna paid Beeper and brought the pizza inside. "Thank you, Beeper," she
said as Beeper beeped and then sped off to his next job.
     "Well, now you know wot Beeper does to earn sneaker money. Now let's get
on that chili," Jess said as she patted his arm.
     "I... yes, right. Sorry there, almost forgot myself," Erik replied as he
gathered himself and relaxed a bit. With that they headed into the kitchen.

     Jessie hummed as she gathered the cutting board, knife and some small
bowls to hold the chopped veggies. Jess and Erik worked side by side, as
Dianna brought the pizza in. "Let me know when you get hungry." They worked
for a bit longer, the two batches about half done. "Why the two pots, anyway?"
asked Dianna from the sidelines, a bit of curiosity evident.
     "Well, one's a normal batch. You know, nothing that'd kill anyone." Erik
paused for a second as he reached for the chili powders. "The other's my
batch, and I wasn't kidding about the bio-hazard stuff."
     Dianna chuckled as Erik added stuff to the lesser batch. "Run for the
nearest body of water, ay?"
     "Something like that," Erik said as he put the last bit into the other
batch of chili.
     Diana gave a wry grin. "NOW I understand the five gallons of milk."
     Erik gave the hot batch a last stir and pulled the wooden spoon out, only
to find that it ended at the chili. His eyes wide as a small bolt of lightning
crossed the top of the chili, he said. "You might want to step back now." A
low rumble started in the pot and small fizzes and sparks appeared as both
Jess and Erik moved away from the pot.
     "I thought the special effects budget was low...?" asked Jess.
     "It's amazing what you can do with a limited budget."
     "I imagine so, but one of the writers is STILL working at the Loo as a
teacher." Jess mused.
     The rumble in the pot had stopped by now, to be replaced with a
crackling. "Should be almost done..." Erik muttered to himself.
     Dianna looked thoughtful, if possibly a little worried. "Maybe I should
have used the cast iron pots..."
     "Shouldn't think so," said Jess. "It probably would have eaten through
it, by now." Back on the stove the crackling had stopped, only to be replaced
by a slightly ominous silence.
     "That's my point," replied Jessie's mom. "The cast iron pots were a gift
from your father..." At that point both Jess and Dianna looked over to find
Erik outside the kitchen, a worried look on his face as he gazed at the pot on
the stove. Dianna raised an eyebrow. "Should we be joining you?"
     "I think I may have over done it a bit here..." Erik murmured as he
faded back out of the doorway. Mother and daughter looked at each other for a
second, and then quickly moved to the doorway as well. Dianna grabbed the
pizza as she went. As all three gazed back into the kitchen, a swirl of dark
smoke appeared over the pot. The smoke twisted and churned, shot through with
small bolts of dark lightning. It slowly turned into a frenzy, a miniature
tornado. With a slightly disgusting sound it vanished into the chili. The
three looked at each other, not quite sure what had happened. Suddenly, and
with a fair sized boom, a smallish mushroom cloud arose above the pot of
chili. The cloud did not disappear, it simply reshaped itself into a small
version of the Grim Reaper, backlit by the same dark lightning as the other
cloud. It laughed manically as it faded out of existence.
     "I thought this was basic cookery, not the Rite of Aksh Ente." Jess said
as she looked on from the doorway.
     "Should be safe enough, now," said Erik as he walked towards the stove,
only to be fried by a stray bolt of the lightning.
     "Guess somebody just got grounded." Dianna said with a grin.
     Jess winced. "Ouch, Mum."
     Erik smoked a bit from the strike. "Ok, it's done now... and so am I."
With that he gave a small poof and fell down as a pile of ash.
     Jess got a drink shaker, broom, and a dustpan from the cabinet. She swept
Erik up, dumped him in the shaker, added some water, closed the lid, and then
shook it for all she was worth.
     "Be glad he's in there, and not out here." Dianna grinned at her
daughter. "I'd imagine the reaction would be worse than for your outfit,
yesterday."
     Jessimyn sighed as she poured Erik out. "Very funny."
     Erik, a dazed expression on his face, tried to stop his eyes from
spinning. "Whoa..."
     "Do we need a toxic waste barrel to store that chili in, Erik?" Dianna
asked.
     Erik shook himself as the spinning in his head stopped. "Nah, can't eat
through metal, or ceramic for that matter." He then walked over and dipped a
spoonful out. A quick sniff and down the hatch it went.
     Jessie counted down from ten. "...3, 2, 1. Blast off."
     A few small puffs of smoke came from his ears, then... nothing. Erik
blinked. "Well now, that's strange... tastes great, but where's the h-h-
heeeaaat!"
     Jess and Dianna looked at each other. "Delayed reaction," they chorused.
Erik's eyes turned a flaming red as the smoke from his ears returned with a
vengeance. He showed amazing restraint as he headed outside, and even made it
to the middle of the front yard, before he lifted his head and let loose with
a fifteen foot long jet of flame.
     Dianna blinked for a second. "I say, that's a serious case of heartburn."
     Erik walked back inside. "Man, now *that's* good chili." Small rings of
smoke came forth as he spoke.

     "On the plus side, he knows how to cook," said Dianna. "On the down side,
he's fond of fire to one's innards."
     Jess shrugged. "Who said love was totally sane?"
     "That's why there's two batches." Erik replied to Dianna. "The one has a
little heat, but not much."
     Dianna grinned. "Ah. So no dragon imitations with that one, ay?"
     "Nope, perfectly safe." Erik said as he looked back at her. "Would you
happen to have something I can put this in?"
     Dianna handed slices of pizza to Jess and Erik. "Enough excitement for
one day. Put up your stuff, clean up your mess, and get ready for to go to
sleep. I've a couple of old ceramic dishes that will be perfect for this."
     "Yes Ma'am/Mum," replied Erik/Jess as they made the pizza disappear.
After that they both got things cleaned up right quick, as Dianna set the
dishes in fridge until tomorrow.
     "Well, I better head for the cave now. Thanks for the use of the kitchen,
Ma'am."
     Dianna smiled in reply. "No problem, Erik. Glad to have you actually.
Though I was thinking of having you kip on the couch, it being so late."
     "Oh, ahh, no... that's ok. Wouldn't want to impose on you." Erik was
still somewhat nervous around Dianna, just why, he couldn't place. "Coward."
The back of his mind said to him. "Got that right, say hello to the talking
counterpart to Chicken-Boo. Bacaw." As he thought that to himself he slid
towards the door. "Well, I'll see you inthemorninggottagonowbuhbyenow..." Erik
zipped out the door in a blaze of speed, and left behind two rather perplexed
ladies.

             Chapter 5 The End of the Start of the Beginning

     Erik wondered, as he left Jessie's house, just why he was doing so. He
thought back upon what had happened to him. Not just since he had come here,
but his whole life. He stopped in a park, not far from where he had left. He
sat down in a small corpse of trees with a clear view of the moon. He
reviewed, the loss of his parents when he was young, the various foster folks
he had lived with, his time in the military after he had graduated from high
school, and then his life up to this point. 'Heck of a ride.' He thought to
himself. 'Now, I'm on a new one.' He searched through himself and the welter
of emotions he had going. With a sigh he looked back up at the moon and,
softly, to himself, sang.

"Every day is a new day.
"I'm thankful for every breath I take.
"I won't take it for granted.
"So I learn from my mistakes.

"It's beyond my control, sometimes it's best to let go.
"Whatever happens in this lifetime.

"So I trust in love.
"You have given me peace of mind.

"I... I feel so alive... for the very first time.
"I can't deny you, I feel so alive.
"I... I feel so alive... for the very first time.
"And I think I can fly."

"Sunshine upon my face.
"A new song for me to sing.
"Tell the world how I feel inside.
"Even though it might cost me everything.
"Now that I've seen this, so beyond, I can't hold this.
"I can never turn my back away.
"Now that I've seen you."

     Erik drifted off into sleep, his back up against a tree. He had something
of a restful night, only to be awoken be System early the next morning. For
once, he didn't snap or grumble, he simply thanked System and walked towards
Jessie's house. System, shocked for the moment, faded into silence. As Erik
walked up to Jessie's house, he noticed that he was a bit early, so he sat
over on a bus bench and slid into a half sleep.

     Jessimyn looked out the kitchen window and was quite surprised to find
Erik already there, in a way. She grinned and went out to the bus stop. She
stopped when she noticed that he was asleep. She leaned over his ear, gently
scritching it with a finger. "Aww, poor wuffie," she murmured. "You know, you
wouldn't be in such a state if you'd stayed like Mum suggested."
     Erik's ear twitched as she touched it and his head turned away a little.
"don' know how to act 'round 'er..." he muttered under his breath, a reaction
to the soft words of Jessie.
     "Oh, mum's alright." Jess continued, her voice just as soft as before.
"She likes you actually. Jus' 'ad to get used to you a bit is all." Erik
seemed to relax a little at that and looked a slight bit happier. "So why else
did you run off, sweet wuffie?" she asked in that soft and soothing voice.
     "don' trust ma'self..." Erik continued to mutter. "made a promisss...
gotta keep it..."
     Jess giggled softly. "Don't trust yourself? Would 'ave sworn wolves were
more reserved... It's *rabbits* you've got to worry 'bout. After all, there is
that old saw about rabbits and multiplication..." Jess noticed that Erik had
started to come around at that point and smiled down at him. "Hallo, Erik.
Would you like to come in?"
     "Uh, sure, thanks..." Erik yawned and blinked the sleep from his eyes, a
strange expression on his face. "I just had this really weird dream..." he
trailed off as if trying to remember it.
     Jess tilted her head to one side. "Really? Wot was it about?"
     "Somethin'... questions?" He shook his head. "I'm not real sure."
     Jess smiled to herself as she took Erik's arm and guided him towards the
house. "Oh. Well, speaking of questions, mum was wondering why you took off so
fast, last night. After all, she rather likes having guests."
     "Ahh... would you believe something akin to a panic attack?"
     Dianna stood at the door, a cup of coffee in her hands. "Panic attack?
Oh, must stem from when we first met."
     Erik jumped a little in Jessie's hands as his head snapped up and a small
squeak came from his lips. "Would you please stop sneaking up on me like
that?" he asked of Dianna.
     Dianna chuckled as Jess giggled a little. "I was standing here, all the
time, Erik." She offered him cup of coffee. "Coffee? Works better than tea
when one's starting reluctantly."
     "Please!" Erik almost begged as his eyes and nose fell upon the cup.
     Jessie laughed. "We've got scones, too."
     "I'm sorry." Erik said as he made the coffee vanish. "I'm just not a
morning person."
     Dianna grinned at him. "Neither am I. I'd still be abed, if it weren't
for Jess, here. She's worse than I am."
     "I'm STILL blaming it on the time difference," said Jess with a shrug.
     "And you've been here how long?" Erik asked.
     "Oh, about three weeks to a month. Why?" replied Dianna thoughtfully.
     Erik nodded, a grin plastered across his face. "Jet lag, riiiight..."
     Jessimyn returned his grin. "That's MY excuse. Get your own."
     "But good excuses are hard to find."
     Jess laughed as she pulled Erik into the kitchen for more coffee and
scones. She smiled up at him coyly. "Guess we'll be heading up to the
Looniversity together, then?"
     "Well..." Erik grinned a little. "I could leave you here and zoom up
there by myself, if you want me to."
     "Would serve you right, Jess," said Dianna with a matching grin.
     "MU-UM!"
     "Of course I'm gonna give you a lift," said Erik as he continued to try
and wake up.
     "None too enthusiastically, I hope. Don't want to ruin the ceiling."
replied Jess with a grin of her own.
     The joke went right past Erik as he muttered, "Think I'm gonna let a
chance to have a pretty girl on my shoulder go by..."
     Dianna looked down at him. "Oh, he's not a morning person at all."
     Jess giggled a little. "I think he just now heard wot I said."
     "Well..." Erik said in reply to Dianna. "There are some things that will
wake me up..."
     "Like a really bad joke?" Dianna asked.
     "Err...?" Erik blinked up at her rapidly as he tried to sort out what she
was talking about.
     "You said you'd give me a lift, and I said that I hoped you wouldn't be
too energetic about it. Since I didn't want to ruin the ceiling." Jess
explained.
     "You did?" Erik looked accusingly down at his coffee, and wondered why it
wasn't doing its job.
     "Yes, actually." Jess nodded.
     "Oh." Erik replied in a small voice.
     "You'll be fine, luv," said Jess as she gave him a small kiss on his
cheek. Erik just sighed and looked back down at the dregs of his coffee.
     Dianna smiled as she poured Erik another cup. "You need to finish your
breakfasts, luvs. Don't want to be late."
     "Yes ma'am," replied Erik as he started to go to get the chili out of the
fridge.
     "No, dear." Dianna stopped Erik before he got up. "Finish your coffee and
scones. I'll get the chili."
     "Yes ma'am."
     Dianna patted Erik's shoulder as she went past into the kitchen. "Such a
good boy."
     "Yes ma'am." Jess went into a giggling fit that Erik just ignored, which
only made her go at it all the harder. "Thanks again for the use of the
kitchen, Ma'am." 
     Dianna walked back in and set the containers on the table. "It was no
problem at all, Erik. Kitchen needed a good workout."
     Erik continued, "Sorry about the special effects bit though."
     Dianna just grinned at him. "Actually, it was quite entertaining. Got me
into reading Jess's Terry Pratchett books, though."
     "Good books." he replied as he set the batches of chili in the pockets
of his vest. "Well Jess, you ready to go?"
     Jess nodded as she grabbed her book bag. "Ready and raring."

     Erik stood and stretched. As usual his back popped and cracked, also as
usual, it did it loudly. Dianna looked over at him with a bit of concern on
her face. "Erik, dear, have you considered checking with a physician about
that?"
     "You're the second person to ask me that." Erik sighed and rolled his
eyes. "It's nothing. Been doing it my whole life."
     "Still, tis troubling. Could lead to arthritis," said Dianna as she
looked at him. Erik had no way to answer that so he just shrugged.
     "Erik, luv," said Jessie. "We'd like you to be able to actually *move*
when you get older. The children are sure to be fast." Dianna made a face as
she held in a laugh.
     Jessie's statement startled Erik, it wasn't that he was opposed to the
idea, far from it. It was just that he hadn't expected something like *that*,
that early in the morning. "Uhhhh...!" he trailed off as his mind wondered
down a few different tracks. Kids? That means... it took a massive mental
effort to derail that particular train of thought. So much so that his eyes
glazed over.
     Jess sighed. "I hope I don't have to reboot him again..."
     "Nope, just a minor fault this time," said System out of thin air. "He'll
be back in just a bit."
     "WOT was THAT?" asked Dianna as Erik's eyes lost the glazed look and he
shook his head.
     "Oh... System, this is my Mum, Dianna. Mum, that was System. Something of
a computer in Erik's head, can be a bit cheeky at times."
     "Hello, ma'am," said System.
     "Hallo, System. You'll behave yourself at school?" asked Dianna.
     "Yes ma'am," replied System with a bit of nervousness.
     Dianna nodded. "Good boy. Back with us, Erik?"
     "Yeah, I think so," said Erik as he rubbed his eyes.
     "Good." Dianna smiled at Erik and Jess. "You two have a good day."
     "Yes Ma'am/Mum," was the chorused reply.
     "Or should that be you three..." Dianna shook her head. "Oh well. See you
later."

     They headed down the street, Jess on Erik's shoulder as was somewhat
normal now, but at a slower pace than Erik usually went. It was a nice morning
and Jess seemed to be enjoying the ride as well, so Erik just kind of coasted
along. Before long they reached the Looniversity and slowed to a stop. Jess
slid off his shoulder and put an arm through his as they walked towards
homeroom.

     "You know, Erik," said Jess as they went up the steps out side. "You have
quite a volatile temper, I've noticed."
     Erik sagged a little at the topic. "Yeah, I know. Been trying to get a
grip on it for years."
     Jess looked relieved. "Ah, so I'm not alone in worrying that it's going
to get you into trouble, then?'
     Erik grinned a bit. "Heh... 'going' to get me in trouble?" He thought
about a few of the things he had done before he got where he was. "Been there,
done that."
     Jess just looked up at him with a wan smile. "I mean, something more
serious than Beeper."
     "Well, I think I can keep myself outta trouble... mostly."
     "Do try, luv," said Jess as they walked into homeroom. "And do try to
reign in your temper. I've dreams of a future I want to share with you, and
I'd rather you not be in a jam, somewhere."
     "I'll do what I can, luv." Erik replied and then gave a small grin. "But
I'm not adverse to having help. It's just that my control has been a bit off
for some reason."
     Jess nodded. "I'll help however I can. I'm no temper expert, meself,
though."
     "Yes, luv," said Erik as they sat down.

     Jessie sighed as she walked to the cafeteria; glad the morning madness
was once again over. Erik helped her a lot in getting through the first two
classes, but after... She looked, and beamed, as she saw Erik walk towards her
from HIS last class. "Hey Jess." he called as he altered course towards her.
     The albino rabbit could not fathom how he had come to mean so much to
her in such a short time, but he did. "Hello, Erik. Ready for the light show?"
She asked, as she placed a hand on his arm.
     "Yup." he replied, with a just ever so slightly evil grin.
     Jess gave a more lighthearted grin. "You are SO bad."
     "Even got the chili heated up."
     "Nice of you, in a way... good thing we brought the milk, too."
     Erik sat at the group's normal table. "So where's the vict... er...
crew?" After a bit, Nigel came up looking like a prisoner heading to his
execution.
     RuBarb walked next to him. "I hope you're not intending to make me a
widow before I'm even married..." she asked.
     "Nah, nobody has to have the hot stuff if they don't want to." Erik said
as Miranda, Lizbeth, and Lionel, who was pushing a cart loaded with gallon
jugs of milk, joined them. "Wouldn't do that to friends."
     "That's not what you were suggesting, yesterday," said Miranda as she sat
down next to Leo.
     Erik just looked over at her with the evil grin back on his face.
"Gotcha!"
     Jess looked over at Miranda. "I was there when he MADE the hot stuff. I
think they could use it in Explosives class."
     "And I'm the only one that's gonna have any... unless ya'll want to try
some," said Erik as he looked around the table.
     Leo nodded as he plopped a gallon of milk by his place. "I'll give it a
go. Just to be careless."
     "As usual," his sister Lizbeth muttered.
     "A fire breathing rabbit. Should be interesting," mused Jess.
     Erik shrugged as he pulled the still hot dish of normal chili out and
set it on the table. "That's the normal stuff."
     "Which will be what I'm having," said Jess.
     Erik nodded as he then pulled on a thick leather gauntlet. With that in
place he reached in to another pocket and pulled forth another still hot dish,
this one with a set of chains and a padlock. "That's the hot stuff."
     "That wasn't on there when you put it in your vest this morning, luv."
     "It got uppity when I was heating it earlier."
     Jess sighed. "Only in Acme Acres."
     "But it makes life interesting, luv," replied Erik as got the key for the
padlock out.
     Nigel looked goggle eyed at the dish as it moved a little. "Oh dear... I
think I'll have the normal stuff. After all, I didn't ask for excitement."
     Erik looked around the table. "Who's up for some of the hot stuff?"
     Leo set a hand on the gallon of milk beside him. "I'll have a bowl, even
have an extinguisher handy."
     "I'll try a little, too," said Miranda with a sigh. Everyone else opted
for the more normal and sane dish.
     Erik nodded and lifted the top on the chili... and nothing happened, just
a bit of steam. 'Must have been a one shot deal last night.' he thought to
himself as he dished up bowls for Leo, Miranda, and himself. He then did bowls
for everyone else of the normal stuff. Miranda gulps as she examines her bowl.
She and Leo look at one another, concern on their faces, then dip up a
spoonful, and eat it at the same time. They have the initial smoke-out-the-
ears reaction. Then Jessimyn ticks off from five... to one. Then they ran for
the blazes to the door, eyes bright red, and steam coming out their collars.
They didn't -quite- make it, and ended up charbroiling Li'l Beeper just as he
walked in for lunch. Erik fell over laughing as he caught the stunned
expression on Beeper's beak. Beeper, on the other hand, glared at Erik for a
second and held up a sign that asked the questions, "What just happened?" and,
"Why did I just get fried?" He was, for the most part, ignored.

     The rabbit and mink walked back to the table and calmly divided the milk
between them. "Rather good, actually," said Leo with a puff of steam.
     "I take it you like it?" Erik asked as he sat up on the floor.
     "It's pretty good," said Miranda, just before she killed half a gallon
of milk. "One question; does that happen after every bite, or just the first
one?"
     "Should just be the first one," replied Erik as he sat back down and
snagged his own dish of the food. After the amazing display of pyrotechnics,
the merry crew settled into eating and enjoying the chili.

     After a bit Miranda recovered from the effects of the chili. "So when are
you two actually going to go on a date?"
     Erik choked a little and asked, "Date...?"
     Miranda smiled at him. "Date, noun: An outing, usually romantic, with
one's significant other."
     "I... uh... I... uh..."
     "Dunno?" quipped Leo, with a small grin as Jessie giggled like a mad
thing.
     "I mean... that is to say..." Erik looked more than a bit nervous.
     "We don't have a tutoring session, tonight, and we really don't need you
two at practice..." said Miranda.
     "What he's trying to say is that he has no... herk!" System tried to say
before Erik cut him off.
     "Hints like lead weights," Jess muttered to herself before she said
aloud, "System, Mum told you to behave."
     "I am..," replied System, slightly nervous now himself.
     Erik sighed, downcast. "I would... but I don't have any money."
     "Do you Really want me to tell Mum that you were teasing Erik?" asked
Jess of System.
     System now sounded very nervous. "Eh-heh... um, no... that's quite all
right, Jess... there's no need to do that..."
     "Good boy," replied Jess. "Now, Erik, it don't cost a thing to go for a
walk in the park, and I think I'd rather enjoy one. How 'bout you?"
     Erik looked up. "I'd be delighted to. And how come I didn't think of
that?"
     "Cos you want to do a proper job of wining and dining the girl, but you
should know she inn't impressed with money," said Nigel. "She had her choice
o' blokes with cash, at SoHo."
     Jess sighed, lost in thought. "And all of them, to a one, were
practically drooling at the fact that I was so frail..." She drifted off as
thoughts chased each other behind her eyes.
     Erik shuddered at the mention of the Loonies old school. "Please don't
mention that place, System's still pulling info in on it." he blinked for a
second and asked softly, "Did I just say that last part out loud?"
     Nigel looked up, brightly. "OOOOoooh, so THAT's where you got the info
about me an' Jessimyn's little altercation."
     "Except for Nige." Jess said, almost as an after thought. "But then, I
was acting the silly, peer-led fool... Er wot?" she added as she caught the
last bit of Nigel's statement.
     Erik smiled at her innocently. "Eh heh... nothing, nothing at all..."
     The rest of the Loonies just snickered as she gave him a bit of a
suspicious look. Seeing as how the innocent look wasn't working, he gave her
the big soulful puppy dog eyes.
     Jess finally giggled at him. "Oh stop." she said as she gave him a hug.
"You're irresistible like that."
     Erik hugged her back, a look of relief on his face when she couldn't see
him. More giggles skittered around the table, and Leo attempted the big-eye
routine on Miranda, who just started laughing. "I don't think it works as well
with rabbits, Leo," quipped Erik.
     "Just needs practice, is all," Leo replied.
     "Oh man," said Miranda as she recovered. "That was too much, Lionel."
     "Bells 'bout to ring, twould seem," observed Jess. "Another fun lunch has
passed."
     "You can say that again," said Erik, who then thought about where he was.
"...or not, but the look on Beeper's beak was priceless."
     Miranda and Lionel both stood and took a bow. "Thank you," they chorused.
     "You're welcome, have to do it again sometime," said Erik as the group
broke up and headed towards the next set of classes.

     Erik sighed as he watched Jess walk off to her house, even though he knew
he was going to see her later that evening, he still missed her just a bit. He
turned and walked off towards his own humble abode, thoughts of just how he
was going to pull tonight off ran through his head. Before he had gotten very
far he found himself face to face with the rest of the Loonies. "Um... yes?"
He looked around at the grinning faces of his friends and was slightly
worried.
     "Not to worry, Erik, We're 'ere ta 'elp," said Leo as he and Nigel both
latched onto an arm apiece.
     Erik was no longer slightly worried, now he was *very* worried.
     "We're 'ere to 'elp you get this *right*," said Nigel as he helped carry
Erik along. What followed was a whirlwind of preparation, cleaning, primping
and advice, most of which made no sense to Erik. The only bit he really
remembered was a short period where RuBarb had pulled him off to one side.

     "You holding up ok, Erik?" Rue asked Erik as he sat down to rest for a
second.
     "Yeah, I think so. But most of this stuff is going right past me. Why?
Got a bit of advice for me as well?"
     Rue sighed and looked a little uncomfortable. "One bit. Just one little
bit."
     "I thought you and Jess didn't get along well?" asked Erik as he looked
at her from his seat.
     The black kitty sighed again as she leaned against the wall, her arms
crossed on her chest. "The first time I saw her I wanted to shred her. I
wanted to turn her into sliced rabbit for what she had done. Now... I'm not
sure."
     "You've had a chance to get to know her?" Erik asked.
     RuBarb nodded. "I don't think we'll ever be close, but I don't think I
can blame her for what happened any more." She trailed off for a second before
she shook her head and looked Erik in the eye. "Nigel is a dear and I love
him, but right now he and the others are being a bit foolish. My advice is
just, be yourself. Don't try to be anything or anyone else. She likes, and I
think, even loves, *you*. Not anyone else, just you. So be that for her."
     Erik nodded slowly as he absorbed what she had said. After a moment, he
came to the conclusion that she was right. He also decided that while Miranda
might be a genius, Rue had common sense to match. "Thank you," he said and she
nodded. "Well," he continued, "guess we better get back out there before they
come and drag us back."
     Rue smiled at him. "What do you mean *us*, wolf boy?"

     Erik walked up to Jessimyn's house with a nervous air. One would think
that going on an "official date" would be an easy thing to do, but no... Erik
had had his normal outfit cleaned and pressed to with in an inch of its life.
He had had advice from Leo and Nigel heaped upon him, even a few bits from
Miranda and the one bit from Rue. He had stopped and gotten the requisite
flowers and box of candy as he had walked to Jessie's house. He had,
unfortunately, not been able to lose his shadows though. He could still hear
them in the bushes off to one side.

     The Loonies were so busy watching Erik and talking amongst themselves
that they failed to notice Ms. Werekitty as she walked up behind them and
looked over Miranda's shoulder. "What are you doing?" she asked.
     "Keeping an eye on Erik," answered Miranda.
     "Why?"
     "Just nosy I guess..." It finally dawned on Miranda just whose voice it
was she answering the questions of. The whole crew, sans Jessie and Erik,
turned to see their Writer/Shticks 101 teacher standing behind them. The
responses to seeing her there ranged from Miranda's simply paling to Nigel's
quiet, if emphatic, "Oh 'eck!"
     "Why don't you just go home, and ask them how it went, tomorrow?" asked
Rottin in her persona of Writer. And that was just what the Loonies did. It
was either that, or risk Rottin's Authorpower (tm). "Well, that's my shameless
self-insertion cameo for this fic," she said as she looked over at a rather
stunned wolf. "Have fun, Erik."
     "Yes Ma'am." he replied to her as she dropped back into her persona of
Ms. Werekitty and headed for home.

     Erik finally made it to the door and politely knocked. Dianna opened the
door. "Why, hallo, Erik. You look spiffy."
     "Thank you, Ma'am." Erik replied a little absently as he stood at the
doorway and looked around for Jess. "I take it she's still upstairs?" he
asked.
     Dianna smiled at his slightly nervous air. "Yes, she is. She'll be down
in a mo."
     Just then, Jess appeared at the top of the stairs. She wore a dressy
blouse, with puffed sleeves and a bit of lace, and a pair of Capri pants.
"Woof!" Erik said as his jaw dropped to the ground.
     Jess grinned at him. "Thank you."
     "Now roll up that tongue," said Dianna as she chuckled. "Before you ruin
the carpet."
     Erik reached up a little sheepishly and tugged one ear to bring his
tongue and jaw back into line. He tried to regain his composure as he looked
at  Jess in open admiration. Dianna looked over curiously as Erik attempted to
pull himself back together. "Going out to dinner, or are you going to come
back here?" she asked the two of them.
     Erik thought for a moment, he had managed to come up with a little bit of
money, but it just wasn't that much. Of course, if Jess wanted to go out, then
he would, so he looked over at her. "Up to you, Jess, which would you like?"
     "I think it would be better if we come back here, luv. We both have a
limited budget, and home cooking is always good." she said as she slipped an
arm through one of his. This made Erik remember the flowers and box of
chocolates, not to mention the small smile it gave him.
     "Oh, these are for you." he said as he passed her the flowers and the
candy.
     Jess looked at him, a little surprised. "Oh, Erik, you dinn't have
to..."
     Erik rolled his eyes. "Not like I had a lotta choice..."
     "Er... wot?" Jess blinked as she looked up at him.
     "The rest of the crew descended upon me like, well, like Loonies."
     Jess shook her head. "Now why would they go an' do that?"
     "Leo and Nigel were determined that I do this... *right*, I believe was
the word they used." Jess made a face as her shoulders shook with barely
contained laughter. "I almost told them just _where_ they could stick their
*right*... but, they are friends. So..."
     "Anyone ELSE have any useful advice?" she asked as she laughed out loud.
     "Oh, Miranda had a few bits and pieces for me." Jess laughed a bit harder
as Erik thought to himself, 'Not that I plan on following any of them... file
them for later use maybe...'
     "Oh my... but then she is my best friend... who else?" she asked as she
recovered.
     "Ahh... RuBarb, actually. She gave me the only good bit of advice I heard
all day... she said to just be myself."
     Jess stopped and looked up at him, for a bit she said nothing. "RuBarb
gave you advice on how to date me...? Amazing... we dinn't get along when we
first met."
     Erik shrugged as she trailed off. "Maybe things change..." Erik gave her
a second to absorb that and then bowed before the quiet bunny. "Would you care
to go on a walk with me?" he asked.
     Jessie smiled. "I would love to."
     Erik looked over at Dianna. "We'll be back after while, Ma'am."
     "Don't stay out too late." she replied. "And no obvious hickies."
     "MU-UM!" Exclaimed Jess, as Erik ducked his head and said, "Ahh... Yes
Ma'am."
     Dianna looked at Erik with an impish grin. "Somethin' she can hide 'neath
her shirt. Don't want Jess to have to wear an ascot for a week or two." Erik
and Jess both blushed deeply as they headed for the park not far from where
Jess lived.

     "Nice to just *walk* someplace, for a change." Erik said quietly as they
strolled along, he had slowed his normal pace to match Jessie's.
     "Indeed it is. Less stress," replied Jess. "Company's wonderful."
     Erik looked down to see the light from the moon give silver highlights
to Jessie's fur. "Same here."
     Jess slipped close to Erik, her arm hugged him about the waist as his
arm went around her shoulders. "Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best,"
she said as she walked with him. Erik nodded and they fell into a
companionable silence as the slowly walked around the park. After a bit Jess
looked up at him and said. "Not bad for our first date, ay?"
     "Nope." he replied. "Just gotta find something to talk about."
     Jess chuckled at him a little. "Wot's there to talk about? We're here for
us, Erik, not anybody else."
     Erik blinked for a second as the truth of that hit him. "I do believe
you're right, Jess."
     She grinned up at him. "I can be right, sometimes, luv."
     "Sorry I'm not at my best here... never had a girlfriend before." His
shoulders drooped as his head came down. "Got no idea what to do... bit of an
undiscovered country for me."
     Jessimyn slipped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. "There's
a first time for everything, my love. You're the first honest to goodness
boyfriend I've ever had..."
     Erik gazed down into her beautiful eyes as the moon turned her fur to
quicksilver. "How did I ever get so lucky as to meet you, luv?"
     "You're a loomer, luv." she said as she grinned up at him.
     Erik shrugged, she did have a point. With that thought he leaned down
and gently kissed her on the lips.

     Jess kissed him back as they both put all of their feeling into the kiss.
Time lost all meaning, for a while, as they stood under the moonlight. The
kiss continued until System made a slight interruptive noise. The two paused
as Jess said, "Wot is it System?"
     "Um, sorry to intrude." System replied. "But it's been about an hour and
a half now."
     Jess blinked. "REALLY? Erik, you're some kisser, luv."
     Erik looked a little stunned himself, it hadn't seemed anywhere near that
long. "Does take two, you know."
     Jess bowed her head and blushed a bit. "Maybe we ought to go and see wot
Mum's got for dinner..."
     "Uh... yeah, that might be a good idea... I hope..."
     Jess grinned as they moved towards the park's exit. "Things may get out
of paw, else..."

     Erik looked over at Jess as they left the park. "Think we ought to hurry
a little?"
     Jess thought about it for a second and nodded. "Just a little, though."
He nodded as he gently picked Jess up and set her on his shoulder. With that
done, he set off at a very fast walk.
     "Hallo," said Diana as they came trotting up to the door. "Wasn't
expecting you back so early."
     "Umm, it is only a first date..." Erik replied as he set Jess gently on
the ground.
     Dianna smiled as Erik and Jess walked inside, hand in hand. "I know,
dear, but it's obvious how the two of you feel for each other."
     "True, she is the only one for me..." he replied with a kiss to the back
of Jessie's hand. "So I don't want to do anything that might..." Erik seemed
to think for a second, as if he searched for the right words. "...make her
uncomfortable." Dianna chuckled as they walked into the kitchen. "Not to
mention the promise I made..."
     "You're a good lad, Erik." Dianna said with a smile for him.
     Erik hung his head and looked a bit bashful as he gave Jessie's hand a
small squeeze. "What's the Night, without the Moon?" he asked with a shrug as
he looked at Jessie.
     Jess paused, as she thought it might be a quote from something, but then
she realized that is was just somewhat standard love-struck language and
smiled at Erik. Erik returned her smile as they sat at the table and Dianna
set the food out.
     He looked up at her as she gave him his portion. "Thank you..." he said
with a small grin. "Mum."
     Dianna returned his grin and gifted him with a kiss to the cheek.
"Welcome, son." she said as Jess hugged him.

     Erik sighed as he headed for his cave. 'I was right.' he thought to
himself. 'This is gonna be one heck of a ride... and to think, this is just
the beginning.' He stopped then as he noticed Beeper stood next to him. He
turned to look at the smaller bird with a raised brow. "What?" Erik asked.
     Beeper just grinned at him and gave him a raspberry. With that, the small
reddish toon streaked off into the night.
     Erik's brows lowered, an angry look on his face, and growled. After a
second, however, the growl trailed off into chuckles as he turned and headed
for home.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Copyright (c) 2001 by Erik Ahlstedt and Jennifer Cleckley. All Rights
Reserved.
ALL TINY TOON ADVENTURES characters (c) 2001 Warner Bros. Animation, Inc. /
Amblin Entertainment, Inc. used without permission, but with a whole lotta
love, respect, and stuff like that there.
Same goes for all LOONY TUNES characters (c) 2001 Warner Bros. Animation, Inc.
The following Characters are original, owned by their respective creators:

Jessimyn DuVrees, Dianna DuVrees (c) 2000-2001 Jennifer Cleckley
Lionel Carrotte, Lizbeth Carrotte, Nigel Carrotte, and Sir Rupert Carrotte (c)
1997-2001 Jennifer Cleckley
Miranda Mink, and RuBarb Purrenstein  (c) 1997-2001 Jerry D. Withers
Erik Wolf and System (c) 2001 Erik Ahlstedt

The following lyrics were used without permission.

Run With Us by Kevin Gillis (c) 1997-2001

No One Lives Forever by Oingo Boingo (c) International Record Syndicate
(I.R.S.), Inc.

Falling For the First Time by the Barenaked Ladies, (c) 2000-2001 Reprise
Records

Please Forgive Me by David Grey (c) 2000-2001 BMG Entertainment, from the
White Ladder album

Alive by P.O.D. (c) Atlantic Records.