2. Welcome to Burbank-

Yakko threw open the water tower door and flung himself over the railing, barely dodging a strong shot from his little sister. The water balloon soared through the air with a whistle and hit Mr. Plotz's window with a burst of water. Inside, Thaddeus Plotz, the angry little CEO of the studio, grabbed his phone and barked, "RALPH! They're out again! Yes, I'm sure, you lazy, good-for-nothing union worker! Now get off your lazy butt and deal with those WARNERS!"

"Ha! You throw like a girl!" Yakko yelled, flinging another balloon at her with his free arm.

Dot squeaked, "That's alright, at least I don't throw like you!" as she dodged the balloon easily.

Yakko barked back, "Ha! I'm just going easy on you, Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bobesca the Third!" He threw another, but Dot jumped up and it splashed right under her.

She giggled and fluttered her eyelashes coquettishly. She responded, "I can't help it, Brother Dear, if I'm a princess. I'm just too good at everything! I'm fast, and smart, and c-,"

A sharp strike and cold explosion of water on her back made her freeze in her tracks. The Great Wakko had struck.

What had started as a simple game in the bathtub led to a full-fledged war amongst the siblings, and it went on around the water tower and eventually ended up outside. The inside of the tower, completely soaked, was draining from the opening base and leaks in the bolts. Water pooled around the platform, and Yakko and Wakko dripped with water. But Dot had remained untouched… until now.

Now Dot stood on the threshold of the door, her brow sinking down into a murderous glare over her flaming red eyes, and her lips curled into a monstrous snarl. Her fur stood up on end.

Yakko strapped an M1 helmet under his chin and shrieked, "Run, Wakko, run for your life!" He wildly slid down the steel support beams holding up the water tower and dived headfirst into a metal trashcan behind the service building. He was just in time.

It came with a boom, a splash, and a wild scream; waves and torrents of water spewed from the water tower door, washing out the pathetic remnants of colorful rubber balloons. Wakko was creamed, Dot taunting him all the while with a sadistic, accomplished grin.

Yakko stayed curled up in the trash, relishing the thought of his aggressive kid brother getting what was coming to him (and praying that Wakko didn't pull out his mallet, even though Wakko never purposely hurt his little sister), and a small part of him wished he were there to laugh. But then he remembered that Wakko would surely turn on him, so he decided hiding was a better option for the time being.

Finally, being brave, he peeked over the rim of the trashcan at the sound of another's cry for help. Poor Ralph, the helpless, dim-witted security guard, was being washed away with the current, his net drifting pathetically beside him.

"Help! Help!" he croaked, waving at Plotz in his office window, who stood tearing his feathery gray hair out in tufts. Yakko ducked back down into the can before anyone spotted him. He could still hear the water and the wild shouts for help, but they began to die down until there was only the sound of water trickling off down the side of the tower platform.

When he was sure his kid brother had surrendered, Yakko hopped out of the trashcan and warily watched for another attack. When it didn't come, he threw his helmet up in the air with a gleeful laugh.

"Dot won! Dot won!" he cheered, kart wheeling across the parking lot and sang "There'll be a Jubilee". Dot's little body emerged, her fur spotless and dry aside from the damp spot on her back where she was hit. She cheered along with her big brother, shaking her clasped hands in the air triumphantly.

Of course, the commotion caught the attention of everyone in the general area. Ralph popped up from a box pile behind the prop department, Rita and Runt hiding behind him warily. Plotz was still at the window, his mouth moving into his phone in what was most certainly a stream of obscenities. Dr. Scratchansniff and Hello Nurse emerged from the p-psychiatry office and Yakko grabbed the no longer surprised nurse, tipped her back, and kissed her full in the mouth. He let her go casually and winked before climbing back up the steel beam.

He landed lightly on the platform and shook Dot's hand with a salute. "Dot Warner, you have single-handedly stopped the Great Wakko Warner, and have saved the water tower."

Dot batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. "It was my duty," she informed the ogling audience below, and with that, she and her big brother turned to enter the tower. But a low hum could be heard and their ears perked up considerably.

"What is it, Yakko?" Dot whispered.

Yakko looked up to see a small shape in the distance. Wakko came out behind them, soaking wet and pouting, but nobody noticed him. Yakko held out his gloved hand like a surgeon. "Wakko, binoculars."

Wakko indignantly passed over a nonexistent pair of binoculars and Yakko peered through, immediately being able to make out the features. He blinked a couple times and looked again. But he wouldn't believe it. He pulled away and rubbed his eyes disbelievingly. "That's not possible…"

Dot tugged at his arm. "What is it?" she squealed impatiently.

Yakko took one more look. "I… I think it's another one… of us."

Alice drifted down to the white pavement, opened red umbrella in hand and the other folded neatly behind her back. She stood up and threw the umbrella away carelessly, then observed her surroundings. The ground was wet, and she immediately assumed that it was because she was in a more humid environment. She looked up to see the still-dripping water tower looming before her, and suddenly felt very small, almost timid. She inched up to it and tapped the steel beam gingerly, and suddenly, three black and white blurs swarmed in around her and she dropped to the ground, her legs balled up with her arms over her head and her eyes squeezed shut. But a voice caught her attention. She opened her eyes a crack to see three toons just like her, simply standing there.

The little one was the only girl. She had a pink skirt, button nose, and flower tucked by her ears. The overall cuteness in her grin was infectious. The littler brother was almost dog-like, with his tongue hanging lazily from his smiling mouth and his long tail wagging. He wore a soft, worn blue sweater with sleeves that covered his gloved hands, and a backwards, bright red cap. The oldest brother was slender and attractive, with bright eyes and a wide smile, the lovable mischief lying underneath his grin poorly concealed. He wore much-too-big slacks held on by a tight black belt tightly pulled around his thin waist.

The three stood before her, curiosity painted on their faces, their eyes darting over her. Behind the eagerness was a hint of confusion and something that looked like insecurity. But they all smiled kindly, and Alice felt her arms fall to her side. She smiled shyly.

It was the tallest that spoke first.

"Hello?"

"… Hello."

"Who are you?"

"…Alice."

"Well, Alice, where are you from?"

"Reno."

"What?"

"It's a city in Nevada."

"Oh, neat! Er, that's far…?"

"I suppose so. Just an hour away by air."

Yakko reached out and took her gloved hand to help her stand. "It's nice to meet you!"

He grabbed Wakko's shoulders and they said in unison, "We're the Warner Brothers!"

"And the Warner Sister," the little one chimed in.

"I'm Yakko!"

"I'm Wakko!"

"And I'm Princess Angelinca Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca III, but you can call me Dot! Tee, hee!"

And with that, they all jumped in and gave her a big kiss.

Having the same thoughts and feelings as her creator, Alice suddenly recalled memories that weren't hers, but the artist's, of rainy days sitting at the T.V, singing along to the theme song (even in French, once), reciting the nations she had taken to heart with Yakko, and blowing water out her nose at the 'Baloney and Kids' segment… literally. They were nice memories, when the artist didn't have to worry about anything but the show.

Alice was suddenly honored. She had been made in their likeness to be a substitute, a way for the artist to have her own adventures with the Warner Siblings and their friends. It was a refuge for her, and she didn't get to come.

Alice was overcome with emotion and modesty in their presence. She began to cry and took Yakko and Wakko by the hands. She said in a rush, "It's… It's such an honor, to meet all of you! I- I am a toon, too, but not an-,"

"Animaniac," Yakko finished. "Sure you are! You're cute, a cartoonus characterous, an Animaniac! Now, where you came from is the real question."

Alice was about to respond when Wakko interrupted, "Come inside, though, and we can eat! I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry," Alice responded, clueless to the fact that she had only known him for a couple of minutes. But she knew the show inside and out, whether it was instinct or memories. But the siblings didn't know that, and the petrified looks they gave her said it all. Alice coughed.

Yakko pointed his thumb at her and exclaimed, "Smarter than advertized."

Dot hastily squealed, "Let's go eat, and you can tell us all about yourself!"

Alice looked up timidly. "Eat?"

"Yeah, sure!" Yakko said, leading her with his arm around her shoulders, "We can have dinner, talk about copyright issues, et cetera et cetera…"

Alice stood at the threshold of the tower, gaping at the sight before her. Amusement park didn't begin to describe it, but neither did mini golf course, nor cluttered attic, nor cozy log cabin. It was everything, from the train track to the roller coaster, from the spacious kitchen to the cozy triple bunk bed next to the refrigerator, from the idealistic, cozy family room with elegant armchairs and a ping-pong table to the log flue under the fireplace, and from the full-scale frontier-style fort to the giant cannon next to the door.

Alice whispered, "How did you do all this?"

Yakko whistled innocently. "Well, it was an accident, but The Pike in Long Beach closed because we may or may not have dismantled the Cyclone Racer."

"But you never left the tower before 1993!"

"Well, that's a more interesting and unnecessarily long and convoluted story, but I'm hungry and we want to hear about you, so it doesn't matter."

The Warners led Alice to the kitchen, where they sat her down on their nicest stool. Just up above their heads, the train rattled by with a whistle and Alice jumped. Dot laughed and said, "It's okay, we just ignore it. Hey! Wakko! Put it back!"

Wakko, a giant frosted cake positioned at his gaping mouth, frowned and put it back in the fridge with a grumble.

Dot was at a shelf and called over her shoulder, "How does Mexican sound?"

Wakko held up maracas and Yakko, a sombrero appearing on his head, began, "Jalisco, Jalisco, Jalisco tu tienes-,"

"No, not like that, you loon!" Dot snapped impatiently, and the boys threw away the costumes. Alice stifled a shy giggle.

Wakko plopped down next to Alice and said in a bored voice, "I wanna order pizza. Oh! And the twisty cinnamon things, too! With frosting!"

"Is that okay with you?" Yakko asked Alice.

Alice shrugged easily and smiled. "Yes, of course."

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot glanced at each other, the only sound being the train rumbling across the tracks, and suddenly, the three of them exploded- "I'LL DO IT!"

They were nothing but a blur- three black and white shapes circling the Bugs Bunny phone like sharks, and a wild wrestling match ensued. Alice froze, clutching the stool uncertainly. Yakko finally emerged on top, Wakko and Dot tangled in the chord. He picked it up and dialed. Then a muffled, 'Hello?' could be heard.

"Hello, Daaaaawling," Yakko crooned in a heavy Brooklyn accent, "Yes, yes… oh, you devil! Well, I'll order 30 of the extra large three-cheese, onion ring, Frito, and hot wing Diabetes Pies with bacon. Oh! And can we have bacon on the pizza, too?"

Wakko called, "And the cinnamon things, okay!"

Yakko, now lying across the table lazily, his feet kicked up behind him in the style of a pin-up girl, giggled sarcastically, "Oh, and Dawling, throw in 10 orders of the cinnamon twists. Oh, you silly thing, of course, I am very athletic… What? Oh, that's sweet of you, Honey, but I have plans for the weekend. Right, right, it's Warner Brothers Studios, the Water Tower. Oh, yeah, I guess I am eclectic, huh? Well, tootles." He hung up and hopped down from the table. "Pizza will be here in ten minutes. And I might be going to Burning Man with a guy named Armando. So, what's the plan, Wakko?"

Wakko grinned devilishly. "We still have some leftover water balloons." With that, he laid out blueprints on the counter and explained, "We will ambush him. I say Yakko, Dot, and I take the back while Alice takes the pizza and leaves the money. Then at the end, she gets him WHAM! Right in the face!"

Dot tapped Wakko's hand and said, "But Wakko, isn't that a little unfair? We don't usually torture somebody unless they were mean to us."

Wakko's tongue flopped out of his mouth, clueless. Then he shrugged. "Well, we don't have to do it in a mean way. Just a fun way."

Dot put her finger to her mouth in thought. Then she nodded. "We'll pay him a bigger tip. Okay, I'm in!"

"Me too!"

"I'm game! Alice?"

Alice, shocked that they'd include her, nodded slowly without conscious thought of what she was even supposed to do. "What do I do?"

Yakko shrugged. "Something funny, dur! You're an Animaniac, come up with something."

Alice nodded modestly. With the spontaneous wit of her creator and zany demeanor of a toon, she knew she could whip something up. It was more the matter of expertise the others had in the area, resulting from decades of practice, while she had been created about two hours ago. But she knew she'd get the hang of it sooner or later.

Yakko went around the corner and came back lugging a bucket of untouched water balloons and plunked it down on the concrete floor. Just then, out of nowhere, there came a loud electric guitar. "Eye of the Tiger" echoed through the tower and rumbled under the floor. The world became slow motion. Alice turned to see Wakko painting ink streaks across his white cheeks and Dot was picking out each pink balloon. She strained her ears, listening to hear where the music was coming from. "Hey, Alice!"

Alice turned around to see Yakko, Wakko, and Dot standing akimbo, ammo belts loaded with balloons over their shoulders. Yakko tossed her a blue one and smiled. "Just in case you have anything planned," he explained.

"Thanks," Alice said, taking it and stowing it behind her back.

Wakko scampered over to the wall, where he pulled down the handles of a periscope. He peered through and his head turned into a siren. "BEEP! BEEP! Pizza alert! Pizza alert! Battle stations, I repeat! Make your way to your designated battle stations! Dot- activate stairs!"

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot yanked on the wheel opening the skylight, and with the agility of ninjas, swung up and out of the hole. Wakko's head popped back in and he did the I'm-watching-you fingers before disappearing through the closing skylight. It slid shut with a clang.

Alice skid over to the periscope and peered through. She spotted the pimple-faced, straw-haired delivery boy hop out of the car and stare incredulously up at the spiraling stairs leading up to the tower platform. Part of her felt bad, the other part laughing. Then, three blurs streaked down from the roof and disappeared seemingly into thin air. She took a deep breath and shook out her arms. It was her first official time to use her tricks.

Alice waited patiently for the poor delivery boy to lug the stack of boxes to the top of the stairs and opened the door just before he reached out to knock. The door swung open and she smiled sweetly. His nametag said his name was Clyde.

"Hey there, Cowboy." She jumped in and gave him a big kiss.

The boy wiped his mouth and grunted, "Uuuuhhh… yer pizza's her. You ordered, right?"

Alice paused for a moment just to enjoy the confused look on his face, surely trying to understand where he was and what this… thing was. Then she coughed and replied, "Oh, yes, I did. You carried all that up here, Hercules?"

The boy blushed and grunted, "Yah. Uh, that'll be $201 bucks."

Alice pulled Bambi from behind her back. "How's this? It's the only one I've got."

The poor boy blinked rapidly and grunted, "Uh…"

Alice rolled her eyes and set Bambi down, who skittered off down the stairs. Alice grinned and called, "Disney's across Ventura! Careful of all the cars! Traffic's awful at this time of day!" She turned back to the frozen delivery boy and said, "Now where were we?"

The boy stood, mouth agape, and Alice giggled. "I have a dry sense of humor," she explained. "I guess I'm all wet then, huh?"

The boy coughed stupidly. "Eh, well, no… um, I mean- uh, you're all wet?"

Alice shook her head sweetly. "No."

SPLASH.

The blue balloon exploded across his face.

On cue, the Warner siblings dropped down behind him in fantastic stances and simultaneously threw water balloons, hitting the poor boy in the back. He screamed and flung the pizza boxes behind him, which soared through the air and landed neatly in Alice's outstretched arms.

The boy turned around to face her and back, but the Warner siblings were already gone. The siblings zipped behind him, unseen, and took the stack of pizza boxes from Alice quietly and bolted back inside. The poor boy was prepared to flee in utter terror when he turned once more to face Alice, who stood sweetly with her hands folded neatly behind her back. He stared in horror, and she just smiled back.

"You are."

The boy tumbled and slipped down the stairs, screaming wildly. He scrambled down as fast as light and leapt into his car, desperately revving the engine.

"Wait!" Alice called, and he looked up in terror for a split second. Alice took two $100 bills and folded them into a small bird that flitted down and through the car's window, a penny clamped in its beak.

The delivery boy screamed and peeled out of the lot before anyone could even see, and the Warner siblings and Alice waved goodbye from the platform. When the poor boy was out of sight, the three siblings turned to Alice and cheered.

"That was great!" Dot squealed, squeezing Alice tightly around the waist because she was too short to reach her shoulders.

Wakko heartily shook her hand and said, "Nice Disney reference! You did it without even getting copyright permission!"

Yakko took her by the shoulders and said, "Congratulations! You are officially and Animaniac!"

Alice wrinkled her nose. "I thought you said I already was one."

"Eh, it's just a formality." Yakko led her into the tower, still holding her by the shoulders. "Come on, let's go eat, Animaniac."

They all sat on the oversized couch in front of the giant flat-screen television, watching Andy Griffith reruns for Wakko. Alice's creator grew up on the show, even naming her dog Barney, so Alice loved the show just as much as Wakko did. Greasy napkins, pizza crusts, and empty boxes littered the table, and. Yakko was sprawled across the left arm of the couch, his belt unbuckled, and Dot was curled up beside him affectionately with a mouth full of cinnamon sticks. Wakko sat with his own box before him, onion rings and bacon bits littering his shirt. Alice sat on Dot's beanbag chair that she had graciously offered, gnawing on a slice and trying to ignore the concrete food wall in her stomach. She noticed Yakko staring at her, and she smiled. He smiled back and said, "So… how was the pizza?"

"Not bad," Alice said, wiping her face off with a napkin.

Dot sat up with some difficulty, due to the pizza she was stuffed with, and said, "How do you like it here so far?"

"It's great! This is really, really fun. It's nothing like I thought it would be."

"Are you from the animation department?" Wakko asked through a mouthful of cheese.

"No, you bimbo, she's from Reno! She said that not even an hour ago!" Dot said.

Yakko leaned across the arm of the couch and batted his eyelashes at her. He was really quite handsome if one overlooked the frosting on the tip of his nose. "You haven't said much, you know," he said. "You can talk, right?"

Alice blushed and grinned. "I'm just shocked that I'm here with you all. This is such fun. My creator would never even believe me!"

"Tell us about her, would you?" Wakko said, pausing the T.V. The siblings leaned in expectantly.

Alice was taken by surprise at their enthusiasm. "Yes, sure, but why are you so interested in it?"

Dot shrugged. "We have pencil parents, and a crazy creator."

"We were accidents," Wakko added, and the room went strangely silent.

Yakko grinned and blew a kiss. "Goodnight everybody!"

Alice giggled and said, "Well, it wasn't anything special, being created. And my creator's really nice, really loud, and kind of crazy. But she really does love you three. She knows all of your songs, and she loves you, Yakko. She finds you very attractive and caring."

Yakko inspected his nails with a grin. "Ah, she has taste," he replied.

Alice grinned. "She thinks you're absolutely adorable," she said to Dot.

Dot flipped her ears sassily. "It's a living, being cute," she said.

"And she adores your gookie, Wakko. She thinks you're darling."

Wakko blushed and responded, "Well, shucks! She sounds wonderful."

"Oh, she is!" Alice said excitedly, her eyes wandering for a moment to the watch around her wrist. "She wants to know everything about it here, so when I go back to Nevada-,"

"Go?"

Alice's eyes met with Yakko's. Something plummeted inside her.

"Well… I have to go home soon."

The Warner siblings all looked up from their pizza. "Go?" Wakko repeated, as though he had misunderstood. Dot nodded.

Alice bit her lip. "I promised my creator that I would come home after I met you."

Yakko was looking down in his lap. He sighed and shrugged. "Then we'll come with you," he suggested, looking up into her eyes. He smiled hopefully.

Alice shot out of her seat in disbelief. "You'd do that? For me?"

Yakko assured her, "Oh, sure! They've got gambling there."

"And we can meet your creator!" Dot and Wakko chimed in.

Alice sighed. "How wonderful," she said quietly.

Yakko smiled at her. Alice smiled back, but something was obvious in Yakko's face that something was bothering him. She was going to say something, but decided against it. It wasn't the time. She coughed hastily, trying to think of a conversation starter.

"Um… do you all mind showing me the studio tomorrow?"

The Warner siblings all sat up at the same time ecstatically. "Sure!" they all exclaimed.

"We can show you the stages! And play with the cameras!" Dot squealed.

"And introduce you to Hello Nurse! And Minerva!" Yakko cried, wiggling his eyebrows.

"And drop anvils on Baloney!" Wakko said. When he received looks, he added quickly, "I meant visit the Princesses of Props." When the looks continued, he suggested, "Visit ACME Labs?"

Alice laughed. "I'd like that," she said. Wakko sighed, relieved.

The four Animaniacs just sat, smiling. They couldn't help it; tomorrow was a big day. Alice's insides were flipping at the thought, but something deep and dark in Yakko's eyes made her almost wish that she wasn't there at all.