Yakko woke up the next morning feeling happy as usual. Getting out of bed, he changed into his slacks, then went to the bathroom to brush his messy fur. He brushed a couple times on the ears, then on his chest. So far, his day was starting out normally. After making breakfast for his siblings, the three of them would leave the tower, outsmart Ralph, and partake in whatever punny shenanigans the scenery around them had to offer. That is, if nothing out of the ordinary interrupted them. But they were ones to talk; almost nothing about them was ordinary. He headed to the kitchen, putting some waffles in the toaster. Two for himself, three for Dot, and seven for Wakko. As soon as the toaster went off with a ding, the smell of the waffles was alluring enough to wake up Wakko and Dot. They prepared themselves the same way as Yakko, then entered the main room right as he set out the plates for them.

"Good morning, brother sib!" said Wakko.

Morning, Wakko!

Yakko gasped, his ears slightly perking up in shock. For some reason, when he tried to greet his brother back, he only mouthed the words...He turned around and looked down at the sink, making sure his siblings would not suspect anything was wrong.

Did that really just happen?

He clamped his hand over his mouth, more alarmed than before. It was as if the words he wanted to say refused to come out of him. Not even the slightest whisper escaped when he tried to talk. Although Wakko was too busy devouring his waffles to pay attention, Dot took notice of her brother's frightened state.

"...you okay, Yakko?"

He turned his body towards her and opened his mouth, wanting to say something back. But knowing his predicament, he closed it and put his fingers by his chin, trying to think of another way to tell his siblings what happened to him. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared over his head as he smiled and snapped his fingers, getting an idea. He waved his hands in a circular motion as if to tell them to gather around. Wakko looked up from his plate and got excited when he saw Yakko's movements.

"Ooh, charades!"

Wakko and Dot moved from their positions and stood in front of Yakko. He opened his mouth and pointed at it.

"You're hungry?" Wakko asked.

Yakko shook his head. He clenched his fist and put it by his lips, then opened it alongside his mouth.

"Ya wanna sing?" Dot guessed.

Yakko then slid his finger across his neck. Wakko gasped as Dot made another guess.

"You chopped somebody's head off?"

Yakko shook his head and waved his hands.

"Hmm," said Wakko, "I can't tell what you're trying to say..."

"It's on the tip of my tongue," said Dot, "I know it! But the clues aren't adding up. That's probably because you suck at charades."

Yakko rolled his eyes. Giving up, he took the easy, less fun way out and grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper. He wrote down "I lost my voice!", then showed it to Wakko and Dot.

"Ohhhhhhhh," they said in unison.

"That makes a lot more sense," said Wakko.

"Is this true?" said Dot. "Did ya really go mute?"

Yeah, listen! I'm tryin' to talk, but nothing's comin' out!

"Oh, the censors are gonna be so happy!"

Wakko rolled on the floor, laughing his butt off.

"Out of everyone it just had to be you, didn't it?"

Yakko was not amused by his siblings expressing joy at his discovery. He put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot to show his annoyance. Dot crossed her arms and scoffed at him.

"Oh, great. We have to deal with a Tinkerbell over here. Or an Ariel, both work."

"What are we gonna do about it?" said Wakko.

Yakko put his hands by his mouth and pantomimed what looked like him vomiting; he rolled his hands downwards and bent forward. Then he reversed the motion and shoved the spilled air back inside him.

"I guess we got no choice," said Dot, seemingly agreeing with him. "Getting your voice back might be the only way to progress the plot."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Wakko. "But how are we gonna do that?"

"We could ask Dr. Scratchansniff," said Dot. "He'd know what to do. But I don't think we'll be able to get near him after what we did last week."

The three of them giggled, Yakko dismayed at the fact that even his giggles were rendered silent. It was only a few minutes after he found himself unable to talk and he already hated it.

"Good idea!" said Wakko. "But let's go after we eat breakfast. I'm still hungry."

He patted his stomach as Yakko nodded in agreement.

"Right," said Dot, giving him one of her waffles.


As soon as they finished eating their breakfast, they sped off to Dr. Scratchansniff's office.

"Ya know he's probably not gonna let us in," said Dot.

"It's still worth a shot," said Wakko.

Yakko knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the doctor himself opened it, but quickly showed a look of annoyance when he realized it was just the Warners.

"Vat do jou kidses vant?" he asked. "Jou don't have an appointment today."

"We know," said Dot, "but it's kinda urgent."

"Yakko's gone mute!" said Wakko.

Scratchansniff seemed genuinely surprised.

"Vat, veally? No jokes zis time?"

Yakko nodded.

Do ya REALLY think I joke about this kinda stuff?

"See?" said Wakko. "Not a sound!"

"Vell, how did zat happen?"

"We have no clue," said Dot.

"Come in, I'll zee vat I can do."

Yakko gratefully smiled at Scratchansniff as he let them in.

"Tell me, ven did zis shtart?"

"This morning," said Dot.

Yakko pretended to fall asleep, then yawn awake. After this, he put his finger on his wrist, then slid it to the other side in a semi-circular motion.

"Vat's he trying to say?" Scratchansniff whispered to Wakko and Dot.

"He woke up," Dot translated, "probably a half hour before us."

When not having to play charades, Wakko and Dot surprisingly understood what Yakko was trying to say perfectly. They continued to translate Yakko's strange pantomiming as he told Scratchansniff about the events leading up to the discovery of his problem. Yakko pointed at his pants, then brushed some of his chest fur.

"He changed, got ready, the usual kinda stuff. We woke up when we smelled the waffles he made for us."

Yakko pointed at Wakko and mouthed the phrase "good morning". He did it again while pointing to himself, then drew an x-mark in the air.

"I told him good morning," said Wakko, "but when he tried to say it back it didn't come out."

"Zat is very interesting," said Scratchansniff. "Did anyzing happen last night zat could have made jou lose jour voice?"

Yakko shrugged.

"We had that concert," said Dot, "but he was fine after that."

"No hoarseness or anyzing?"

"Nope."

"He didn't even make horse noises!" Wakko exclaimed.

Yakko got on his knees and appeared to beg, tugging on Scratchansniff's smock.

"Ya gotta help him, doc!" said Dot, voicing Yakko's exact thoughts.

"Vell, since zis is a very recent dizcovery, I am not sure vat I can do vor now. Yakko, I vould suggest going on vocal rest vor a little vhile, but try to shpeak only vonce every morning to check jour progress. Come back in a veek; if jour voice does not get better at all, I vill look vor another way to help you."

Yakko stood back up and put his hands together. He turned them so his fingers would be facing the doctor; it was his way of thanking him.

"Thanks, Scratchansniff!" said Wakko.

As they left, however, Yakko started to worry. What if he remained completely mute for the rest of the week? What if Scratchansniff was unable to help him? What if he could never talk again for all eternity? Wakko could tell he was worrying and patted his back, comforting him.

"Don't worry, Yakko. I'm sure we'll get your voice back!"

Yakko smiled and nodded.

"Maybe ya left it back home?" said Dot.

"Ya!" said Wakko. "Let's go look for your voice!"

They ran back to the water tower.

"I'm sure it's here somewhere," said Wakko, checking the kitchen.

Yakko disapprovingly crossed his arms and shook his head, knowing what his brother was doing. Finding his voice was more important than getting a snack!

"But what does a voice look like?" Dot asked.

They stopped what they were doing as Yakko started to sketch. As soon as he finished, he showed them what he drew. It was a picture of a music box, captioned "This is a voicebox". The oval cylinder was roughly colored gold and seemed to have a few holes in it as if to add some details. Yakko added an extra note saying "The handle turns by itself when I'm talking".

"Huh," said Dot, "when they called it a voicebox I didn't think they meant an actual box!"

"Faboo!" said Wakko.

Yakko pointed his finger as if to tell them to keep looking. Yakko checked the rooftop and the exterior of the tower, Wakko continued looking through the kitchen and the living room, and Dot inspected the bathroom and the bedroom. They checked every nook and cranny three times, then regrouped back in the living room.

"Well," said Dot, "I found nothin'."

"Same," said Wakko. "Any luck, Yakko?"

Yakko sadly shook his head.

"Then I guess Scratchy's right," said Dot, "maybe ya just wore out your voice."

Yakko highly doubted it. It never happened to him before, so why would it happen now after all these years?

"Well," said Wakko, "I'm headin' out."

"Ya comin', Yakko?" Dot asked.

Yakko shook his head and flicked his wrist in a shooing motion, as if to tell them to go on without him. He instead sat by his computer and cracked his knuckles.

"Suit yourself," she shrugged.

Wakko and Dot left the tower. Yakko sighed and started typing, looking for tips on how to cure his voice.