"TOONBUSTERS II" By Ryan J Farnsworth Featuring: Buster, Plucky, Hamton, Babs, Shirley, Fifi, Bugs Bunny, Yosimite Sam, & Montana Max It has now been five years since the ghost incident that rocked the once peaceful town of Acme Acres. The Toonbusters, Buster, Plucky, and Hamton, have been run out of buisness and were placed with a judicial restraining order since they were unable to pay for damages at the Acme Mega Mall. The order read that they were forbidden from performing any investigations or eliminations that involved ghosts. As for Montana Max, he was forced to pay for any and all damages resulting from the ghosts rampage. But unknown to anyone, trouble is brewing deep beneath the streets of Acme Acres. When all the ghosts had been destroyed, piles of slime were all that remained of the once hostile spooks. After a while, the slime began to melt and turn to liquid. The puddles of goo soon flowed into the sewer and began to mix with polluted water. Year after year, the slime spread throughout the sewer gathering strength from all the hatred of the city. Whenever some yelled or cursed or called someone a name, the slime would grow. Meanwhile, across town, Babs Bunny was off skating in the park with Shirley & Fifi. Babs spun around, performed flips, and just plain showed off. "Like golly Babs, you should be careful," Shirley said as she skated along side her. "Oui, you could fall and get how you zay, hurt," Fifi concluded. "Relax, I'm a pro," Babs said confidently as she skated off. Up ahead only a few inches from the girls, purple slime squirted out through a small crack in the sidewalk. Babs skates right over the tiny puddle of purple sludge without even knowing it. "Babs vait, ve're not as fast as vous," Fifi cried trying to catch up. "Oh, all right," Babs said preparing to stop. But something was wrong. She was starting to pick up speed. She waved her arms franticly in the air trying to slow down. Babs was heading right for a busy street full of cars zooming by. Shirley and Fifi were right behind her trying desperatley to catch her. Cars came to schreeching halt as Babs shot across the street. An Acme tour bus was speeding down the street in front of Babs. She knew that the bus would never stop in time. Babs closed her as she continued to skate towards the bus. She felt the wind pick up as the bus whizzed by. She slowly opened one eye. She was surprised to see she was still in one piece. Babs had come to a halt in the middle of the road just as the bus passed her. When the dust from the road kicked up from the speeding bus cleared, Babs was right in front of the Looniversity. Fifi and Shirley had arrived just in time to catch Babs as she fainted. "Can't say ve didn't warn her," Fifi said as they carried her off. Later, back at the Looniversity, Fifi searches for Hamton in the library to ask for his help. Fifi finds him and begins to explain the bizarre incident. "And did anyone else see this happen?" he asked politely. "Of course, hundweds of people," Fifi replied. "Are vou calling moui a liar?!" "Oh no!" Hamton cried backing off. "It's just that sometimes I always look for the simplest explanations." Fifi handed Hamton one of Babs skates with the purple gunk still dripping from the wheels. "I'd like to bring the guys in on this too if you don't mind," Hamton asked. "Of course," Fifi said handing him a small peice of paper. "Here's my number, call me if you vind anysing," Fifi said. "And I appreciate everysing you're doing to help." Fifi leaned over and gave Hamton a quick kiss on the cheek before she walked out of the library. Hamton turned bright red before collapsing to the ground. Later that day, Hamton, Buster, and Plucky met with the girls near where Babs had stopped in the street. The streets weren't very busy, so the girls stood on the sidewalk as the boys pulled out shovels and began to dig. Half an hour later, there was a fairly large hole in the street. "We'll need a deeper look," Buster said gazing down into the dark hole. "Which means someone'll have to go down there," Hamton concluded. The two turned with grin on their face, looking at Plucky. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?!" Plucky asked. "Oh no! Not this little green duck! There is no way you're getting me down there," Plucky replied. Minutes later, Plucky was being slowly lowered into the hole with a long peice of rope tied around his waist. Deeper and deeper, Plucky plunged into the hole with a flashlight in one hand and a walkie talkie in the other. "Buster?" Plucky spoke into the walkie talkie,"How come you're not doing this?!" "Because I get more fan mail," Buster ansewered,"besides I'm too important." "You're off my Christmas card list," Plucky said as he continued to descend. A few minutes later, Plucky had come to solid ground. He walked very carefuly shining his flashlight in front of him. "Buster, I'm in some sort of abandoned tunnel," Plucky whispered. Continueing to examine the tunnel, his hand suddenly felt a metal railing. Plucky turned noticing a long metal railing, covered in cobwebs, that led to a crack in the wall. He followed the rail to the crack in the wall. "Buster, I'm in some kind of a chamber. It looks like. . . . . SLIME!!!!" "What !?, Buster yelled into the walkie talkie. "It's a river of slime!!!" Plucky replied in shock. Below a maintenance platform where Plucky was standing, a large flow of purple slime covered the ground below him. At that moment, topside, Bugs Bunny was strolling about the premisis. "Eh, Buster? What's goinin' on here," Bugs questioned. Buster and Hamton turned around slowly grinning, sweating nervously. Below the streets, Plucky was collecting a sample of the strange sludge into a plastic cup. Plucky dropped his flashlight by haste into the river of gunk as he lifted the cup full of goo up. The slime suddenly reacted as the flashlight disappeared into the bizzarre purple mucis. The slime began to rise higher and higher, closer and closer to Plucky. "Uh guys. . . . " Plucky said into the walkie talkie. The slime rose on top of the platform barely touching Plucky's webbed foot. "GUYS!!! GET ME OUT OF THIS HOLE!!!!!!" Buster and Hamton turned their attention back to the walkie talkie. Buster and Hamton grabbed the rope, pulling with all their might. A moment later, Plucky shot up from the hole and landed flat on his face. "Well," Plucky began to say," at least something cushioned my fall." Plucky looked down to see Bugs Bunny with a carrot stuck in his mouth and a fiery look in his eyes. The very next day in school, a meeting of the school board of Acme Loo was held in the auditorium. Fellow students and teachers watched as Plucky, Buster, and Hamton entered the room. The girls wished them luck just as Principal Bunny and Vice-Principal Sam approached the podium. Not a sound could be heard except for the three boys making a loud gulp. "Buster," Bugs began, "you and your friends are charged with defacing school property, how do you plead?" "Like this," Buster said getting down on his knees, "PLEASE!!!PLEASE!!!PLEASE!!!!" "Cut the comedy kiddo, you're in deep trouble." "That right ya no good varmint!" Sam interrupted. "If it were up to me you'd have your head in a noose a hangin' from a tree in the school yard," Sam finished holding up a noose in one hand. The three sank in fear under a table. Bugs stepped down from the podium and walked over to a nearby table which was covered by a large white cloth. Bugs yanked off the sheet revealing the gear he had confiscated from Buster and the others. "Buster, you had these gizmos with you when you dug that hole, correct?" "Yes, but I can explain you see......" "Quiet! Now I've seen these weird packs and zappers before, but what is that," Bugs said pointing to the container of purple ooze. "Them varmints must a dumped it there." "No we didn't!!!!" Plucky yelled. Just then the slime began to bubble and rise. As Sam continued to shout, the slime continued to feed off of his anger. The smell of O-zone filled the air as the slime forced the container over the side of the table. There was a great explosion as purple smog began to rise over Sam's head. The smog quickly began to take shape of gruesome spector, saliva dripping from it's chin on top of Sam's head. Sam jumped out of the way as the ghost swooped down. Sam pulled a pair of six-shooters from his pockets, squezzing off every round of ammunition. The bullets whizzed harmlessly through the ghost's body but managing to take off a huge chunk of the ceiling. "Ooops," Sam replied as he was buried under the mass of rubble. There was a mad rush for the door as the ghost continued to tear apart the lunch room, throwing milk at students who were fleeing in panic. The doors slammed behind the ghost as he chased students outside. "Buster!" Bugs yelled. "You gotta do sumtin.'" "But, Bugs what can we do?" he said as Plucky and Hamton grinned modestly. "Okay! Oakay! You're released from the restraining order. NOW DO SOMETHING!!!" With that, the three leaped over the tables towards their gear, scanning the room for any signs of the ghost. Their weapons were lying there, tossed aside as useless evidence. The boys strapped the packs and pulled the blasters from the holsters. "You know, Buster," Hamton said, "We haven't used these things for a couple of years, are you sure they'll work?" "They better!" Plucky added. They flipped the switches as they're weapons hummed to life. All was quiet. Too quiet. Suddenly, from the back of the lunch room, a strong wind kicked up. Bugs was knocked to the floor then crawled under a table. Lunch trays began to fly up in mid air and then drop harmlessly to the ground. Closer and closer, the trays flew towards them. The ghost shot up from the floor in front of the three. The room lit up with laser fire as they fired with their eyes closed. Having not used the weapons in five years, the blasts strayed off course. Hamton took out an overhead fan and Plucky and Buster managed to obliterate a couple of lunch tables. The ghost dematerialized into the wall as the Toonbusters, still with their eyes closed, continued to waste the auditorium. Buster slowly opened one eye, then the other. "Whoa!!!! Cease fire!!!" he yelled. Plucky and Hamton turned off their weapons and began to gaze upon the devistation. Smoke filled every corner of the room and clusters of fire covered tables that now looked like charcoal. "Do ya think we got him?" Plucky said. Suddenly, the ghost rematerialized over Hamton. The ghost picked up the poor little porker and hurled him across the room. Plucky fired,but missed by a mile. The ghost batted Plucky into the wall as it swung his fist across Plucky's body. The ghost then turned his attention to Buster. Buster raised his weapon, but all that was heard was a loud click. Click! Click! As Buster squeezed the trigger rapidly. His blaster was out of energy. The ghost drew closer to the defenseless rabbit. Buster closed his eyes waiting for the enevitable. He could feel the ghost breathing on him. Buster cracked his eyelids open to see the ghost's large eyes gazing down on him with an evil grin on it's face. Just then an energy blast whizzed by, narrowly missing the ghost. The ghost slowly turned around and his eyes widened. There, slamming the door behind them was Babs, Shirley, and Fifi in pink jumpsuits and each holding a blaster in their hands and a pack strapped to their back. The ghost levitated higher towards the ceiling. Just as he was about to dematerialize again, the girls opened fire. The beams of energy landed dead on target, popping the ghost like a balloon. "Is it over?" Bugs asked from under the table. Bugs crawled out from under the table as purple slime showered down from above, drenching him in purple ooze. The girls rushed to the boys aid. Fifi helped Hamton up from the floor, Shirley peeled Plucky off the wall, and Babs helped Buster to his feet. They all walked out the door to hundreds of applauding students. Bugs wasn't too sure what to do. He didn't know if he was glad or angry. There he stood, dumfounded, at the sight of the obliterated auditorium. THE END?! TO ALL AUTHORS: Should there be a TOONBUSTERS III? Whould you like to see more of the girls as TOONBUSTERS? Drop me a line or e-mail ideas to FARNSO@AOL.com. Thanks.