//------------------------------// // Spike: Who Else But Quackmire? // Story: Room Mares // by TJW //------------------------------// "YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS TO ME? I let your scrawny ass off last time, but now? I'm gonna beat you 'til you can't feel feelings anymore! Once is a misunderstanding, but twice... then it becomes a matter of principle!" The large muscle bound canine forcing the entirety of its weight onto the vulnerable neck of his victim. Despite his aggressor's far larger and more intimidating frame, Quackmire somehow managed to retain his nerve, through the air which was quickly exiting his lungs. "Principle? I don't need a lecture on principle from an animal that goes around sniffing butthole all day and chasing its tail! Maybe if you had a bit more class like me, we wouldn't be in this mess!" "You? Class?" The canine eased a slight bit of tension off the duck, "you're an abomination! I could kill you right here and now, and the world would throw me a parade!" "Listen Baxter, these things can happen to the best of us!" Justified Quackmire. To Bill's relief, the door creaked open, followed by the entrance of Spike and Butch, deep in conversation, (as deep a conversation one could possibly have with Butch anyway). At this instance, the fuming Baxter relinquished his attack, taking several steps back. "What is going on in here?" Screamed the dragon, rushing over to the scene, closely tailed by Butch who positioned himself between his friend and the other growling dog. Spike held out a helping claw to aid Quackmire in returning to an upright position. "Ha! I thought you were a MALE dog Baxter, but all it takes is Butch here to turn you into a BITCH!" Laughed the duck as he feigned victory. "The next time I see you Bill, you're dead, you hear me? DEAD!" Baxter cautiously made his way out of the room, keeping a firm view on the beefier dog, ready to make a run for it at the first sign of movement from Butch. Baxter knew his place with Butch, learning this lesson after the last encounter with Quackmire, in which Butch truly dominated him while defending the duck. Once Baxter had fully vacated the area, Spike's attention was fully directed at Bill, "What happened there? Why was he attacking you like that?" Bill waved a dismissive wing at the dragon as he made his way out of the corner, "Oh don't worry kid, Baxter just seems to think I had an affair with his girlfriend". "Really? Why would he think that?" "Well... because I DID... twice actually" Spike exhaled deeply, "you know, Bill, not a day goes by where I don't wonder how you haven't got yourself killed yet". Quackmire grinned as he reflected on all the past incidents that he barely made it out of in one piece, "I guess it's just one of the perks of being friends with Butch. He always knows how to 'negotiate' when I'm in trouble and get me out of there." "S'up?" Bill turned his back on his friends, the deep throbbing, pounding his neck becoming too unbearable to leave untreated so massaged each side with his ruffled wings, completely undetectable to anyone else. Though the silence in the room was established enough to hear a heart beat, Baxter's words still resonated in his head loudly, as if his presence was still felt. "You know, I've gotten into a lot of trouble in my time, made a lot of enemies... but none of them are like Baxter. He's the most aggressive, violent and unreasonable guy you'll ever meet!" Spike struggled to feel empathy toward's Quackmire's predicament, reading through his performance as if it were an open book, "Yeah... he wants to hurt you after you try and steal his girlfriend... he's so unreasonable." Bill reeled back, over emphatically gesticulating to fake being appalled at Spike's blunt sarcasm, "Steal? Please! All I did was give the dog a bone! You can't blame a duck for diversifying!" "Errm... what's that supposed to mean?" A large bubble of air caught in Quackmire's windpipe to stop any further speech. He'd forgotten he was speaking to a BABY dragon here, but was addressing him like a group of thugs down at the local quackhouse. He swallowed the air as his mind changed to use more universally friendly language. "Well, what happened was: I saw her alone... and we had a 'special' hug... and then we had a nice meal... and then we went to her bed for a fun sleepover... and then I NAILED her! Oh bucking hell I can't control it!" Spike, who was on a completely different wavelength, decided to move the conversation forward before his friend had a meltdown. "So what are you gonna do now? You can't spend the rest of your life hiding from him, and Butch won't always be around to save you". Spike's sobering words hit Quackmire like a direct strike to the chest. He was so absorbed by past incidents, he was paying no regard to what lay in the not too distant future. He began to pace the floor, the anxiety dripping from his image as heavily as the sweat dripping from his head. " Oh my Celestia! You're right! I've given myself a bucking death sentence! Wait! I know what I need to do here. Just leave it to me, I'm a master at this sort of thing". "No! Please don't even say that anymore!" The dragon insisted, " You have a terrible judgement, then end up doing the exact OPPOSITE to the right thing to do!" "What? I was just going to suggest that we head over to his room and I'll try to talk things through with him, to verbally reach an understanding". Spike was impressed, this was not the response he'd come to expect from Bill, "Wow! I have to admit that's actually a good idea. Hang on... HE has a room? I thought we didn't have rooms?" "No, we don't have any designated bedrooms in the building, but that didn't stop Baxter and his gang from ' occupying ' one of the leisure areas for themselves. It's not exactly fair, but to be honest it's not my main concern at the moment. Now let's go, it's just down the hall". ------------------------------------------------------- The crudely written sign 'Baxter's zone' signified that they had reached their destination. Even through the thick walls, the trio could hear the uncontrolled chaos that must have been taking place inside, forming doubts of whether verbal negotiation was really the best strategy. Bill approached the door before turning back to his companions, "listen, I know this is risky, but this is the mature way to handle this situation and things can't get any worse than they are now, it's my only option. Wish me luck guys". The duck cautiously disappeared behind the door, making extra effort to maintain stealth to slip past most of Baxter's goons. A solid 10 minutes had passed without a sight or sound of Quackmire, in fact the general atmosphere of the room seemed unchanged by his arrival, at least that's what Spike and Butch could tell from their position outside. The growing concern between them almost made them want to burst into the room, but Spike knew that doing this could harm any progress towards peace that Bill could be making in there. "He's been in there a while now, surely if Baxter is as unreasonable as Quackmire said, negotiations wouldn't have lasted as long as they have, right?" "S'up?" "Yeah, I guess you're right, I really shouldn't worry too much". "S'up?" "You might have a point there, Butch. I think I judged Bill too early, and now I'm starting to see a new side to him". "S'up?" "This is really showing him in a different light, I'm so glad to see that he's handling this in a mature and sensible manner". "WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! IT BUCKING HAPPENED AGAIN! RUN!" The frantic duck came bursting through the door, streaming down the corridor before waiting for a reply. Spike and Butch shared a puzzled look before chasing after him. The three charged down the hall, despite the looming sound of running and barking behind them, none of them dared to stop and turn around. Once Spike had caught up to Quackmire, the questioning started while maintaining the same pace. "WHAT HAPPENED IN THERE? What did you say to him?" Quackmire made it obvious he was trying to avoid eye contact with the dragon, "Well... I didn't say anything. Baxter wasn't there" claimed the heavily panting duck. "So why are we being chased?" "When I saw that Baxter wasn't there, I thought the best thing to do was leave". Spike was clearly unconvinced, "That doesn't explain why his gang is after us!" "OK! OK! As I was on my way out, in the corner of my eye, I saw HER" Spike contemplated Bill's words for a second, "Her?... YOU CANNOT BE BUCKING SERIOUS!" Spike always felt a sense of guilt when he swore, due to his youthful innocence, therefore it was clear of the level of anger he was now at. "You don't understand kid! Baxter wasn't there, it was the perfect opportunity!" "Well if Baxter wasn't there, where IS he?" *SMACK* Quackmire's escape was abruptly terminated as he came crashing into the rigid Baxter blocking his path. As Butch turned back to try and rescue the pinned duck, he was intercepted by two of Baxter's henchdogs, wrestling him to the ground and subsequently immobilising him. Spike was handled with slightly more care, but was still forced to the floor, disallowing him from finding help for his friends. "Three. Bucking. Times!" Baxter clapped his paws together, signalling the remainder of his gang to circle around him and his prey, preventing any further escape. "This ends now". "It's not what you think Baxter!" Bill pleaded, "I can explain!" "After all that has happened before, you think you can just waltz into MY room, steal MY food and drink, then use it to get with MY girlfriend for the THIRD bucking time? NOT UP IN HERE!" It was a sorry sight to see the wimpering duck, on his knees and grovelling so pathetically. "Come on Baxter, you know how it is! You don't get the FINE unless you WINE and DINE!" Baxter had to restrain himself from prematurely snapping the neck of Bill, with the whole of his crew around, he had to display self control and dominance. "Here's what's gonna happen duck! I'm not going to kill you... YET. That would be too easy, and I have something else in mind for that. That doesn't mean I can't hurt you now though, and that's exactly what I plan to do. Me and you are gonna fight it out, right here in front of all our friends. No running, no escape, no Butch saving your ass!" Quackmire was overwhelmed by the uproar of cheers urging their leader into battle. He really had no way out this one, both his fight AND flight relfexes had abandoned him as neither of those options could possibly result in a positive outcome. He just had to accept that all his past mistakes had caught up with him, and that he would just have to sit back and accept the consequences. No, he couldn't just give up, display weakness and inferiority in front of everyone here. He felt something ignite inside him, a powerful will to stand to aggression, to fight back against his attacker and to win, or at the very least to go down in a blaze of glory. This feeling ran through every inch of his body and he could sense an increase of strength and power in his muscles. He couldn't lose, he refused to lose. He stood up, with a more firm and open stance, openly inviting the oncoming fight. This stark change in image was noted by Baxter, along with every member of the surrounding crowd. "OK Baxter. You want a fight? You got a fight! I'm tired of running from you, so I'm putting a stop to it. It's time to go hard or go home! It's time to grow some stones and break some bones! It's time to nut up or shut up! It's time to..." *SMACK* Quackmire's valiant speech was brought to a halt, as a strong paw lashed across his face and sent him toppling back down to the ground. The power of the hit was felt by even the crowd, who flinched in horror as the connection was made. All of Quackmire's self confidence was short lived and had completely vanished as he lay writhing on the ground. Baxter slowly stepped towards his fallen opponent, the fate of this face off was sealed and he intended to enjoy every moment of it before he truly beat up the duck. "So Bill, now you know. When you disrespect the likes of ME, this is what happens. It doesn't get worse than this, and it will be witnessed by us all. I would love to see you try and mock me now, to use your normal crap to fake dominance in the poor position you find yourself in!" He strected out his legs, making sure he would be able to use them with maximum effectiveness. "So... are you ready to get your ass pounded?" Quackmire turned his head, to meet the dog in firm eye contact, "That's funny Baxter... I asked your girlfriend the SAME QUESTION last night..."