Well, here it is. Chapter 2, where we finally meet Pinky and the Brain and are told of their plan. Will it work...? If you've read the summary, you should have some sort of idea. Please do the usual stuff - read, review, enjoy. This one's considerably longer than Chapter 1, so good luck getting through it!

Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and copyrighted by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. I own nothing, this is purely for my own enjoyment.

Chapter 2: "Gee, Brain – what do you wanna do tonight?"

The Warners had returned to their water tower, Slappy and Skippy to their tree, and the rest of the Animaniacs cast had gone back home – those that had one, that is. The sun had begun to set over Burbank, signalling the end of another day on the Warner movie lot. But, in the outskirts of the city, it might as well have been rising. The dark, somewhat sinister building of ACME Labs was coming to life once more. Through the hallway, in the main laboratory, the lab's head scientists were wrapping up for the night.

"Come on, make it quick" one said to the other, "I've got a date tonight with the wife, and if I'm not there on time I'm really in the doghouse"

"OK, OK. I just need to run one more experiment so I can get the results in the morning..." said the other, mixing together the contents of two strange looking bottles of fluid. The resulting concoction was green, and began to emit small puffs of mist until the scientist quickly bottled it in a steel container and put it, under lock and key, in a safe-like opening in the wall. "That'll do."

"Alright. Let's go. Oh, and make sure the mice are back in their cage before you leave, you know what they're like"

"Check" said the other man, as he picked up two mice from the workbench – one with a cranium the size of a large walnut, the other sporting a pair of buck teeth that rivalled Bugs Bunny's – and returned them to their cage, locking it and pocketing the key. After watching the rodents safely fall asleep, the two men headed out of the door, switching off the light as they went.

The large-headed mouse slowly opened one eye. Then the other. Once he was sure that the men had left, he made his way over to the other mouse.

"Pinky, it is safe. You may open your eyes now."

Pinky's eyes flew open and he practically jumped to his feet. "Egad, Brain! You astound me! The old "pretend-to-be-asleep-until-the-annoying-scientists-have-left" routine never fails! Narf!"

"Yes, Pinky. Sometimes I even astound myself" The Brain said, making his way to the lock of the cage. Pulling out a paperclip and reaching through the gap in the mesh, he picked at the keyhole and the door sprang open. "Now come. Tonight's plan to take over the world will undoubtedly be my best yet!"

"You know, Brain, I sometimes think you're obsessed with taking over the world. I mean, we've been doing it since 1993, and we never get any closer, and..."

The only response he got was a swift blow to the head with a pencil.

"Don't talk nonsense, Pinky" muttered Brain, "though, I suppose we lost any chance of that happening a long, long time ago. No, surely you can see that due to my superior intelligence, I am best suited to guide the destiny of this planet!" He hopped across the work surface, kicking over a syringe as he reached the edge, forming a bridge to the next table. He skilfully walked to the other side. Pinky, however, made a feeble attempt at tap-dancing across, causing him to lose his balance and tumble down to the floor, letting out a loud "zort!" as he landed.

Brain shook his head. "You amaze me, Pinky."

"I do my best, Brain."

Brain tossed down a nearby piece of string, which Pinky quickly shimmied up, grinning at Brain as he reached the top. "Troz, Brain. You're too kind. You're nicer to me than Elmyra ever was."

Brain cringed. "Don't ever mention that programme in my presence Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you."

"Gee, calm down Brain. After all: it's what the network wanted. Why bother to complain?" Brain said nothing, but bopped Pinky with the syringe.

"Now, come, Pinky. We're wasting time."

The two mice made their way over to the safe in the wall which the scientist had put the strange concoction into. Brain stopped in front of it. "Now, listen carefully, Pinky. I have been observing the humans at work today. The green fluid which you witnessed being created is none other than the yet-to-be-discovered-by-man element Transmorphinius. Do you know what that is?"

Pinky scratched his head. "Uhhh... oh! A robot in disguise?" He received another bash to the head.

"No, Pinky," sighed Brain. "It is a highly reactive chemical that, when mixed with common everyday water - or H2O, to use the proper term – produces a powerful toxic gas which has the ability to render any human being unconscious for hours, and once they awaken, they have no recollection of the events that occurred before being knocked out. Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"Uh, I think so, Brain, but – if an orange is an orange, then why isn't a lemon a yellow?"

Brain barely managed to stop himself from hitting Pinky again.

"No, Pinky! You remember what I said about it not being discovered yet? Well, here is the critical point – it has yet to be discovered by humans. I, being a highly intelligent mouse, discovered it long ago."

"Really, Brain? I thought Billie just told you about it not long ago, in the maze."

Brain's heart sank a little when he heard that. "Don't bring her up, Pinky. You know what happened to her."

"Oh, sorry, Brain..." Pinky muttered, letting out a little depressed "narf" as he sighed. The two remembered it well. One morning they had gone for their daily walk-and-talk in the maze and Billie hadn't been there, as she usually was. They hadn't spoken about her since.

"At any rate, Pinky, we're getting off topic" Brain said, a bit forcefully, shaking his head. "The plan is this: since the humans have yet to identify the element, we have a sizable advantage. We will take the Transmorphinius from the safe, and, as soon as possible, alert the press of its discovery. Within days, our faces will become known across the globe as the mice who added element 119 to the Periodic Table. Then, as is customary when a scientific discovery of this magnitude is made, all the world leaders will gather in one room to hear a speech from us, or rather, me, about the new chemical. We will feign an "experiment" in which we "accidentally" add water to the Transmorphinius, resulting in the gas knocking out all the world leaders, and, once they awaken, we will rush in and seize power, leaving them to believe that they are inferior to us, thanks in no small part to the memory erasing side effect of the element. Now, Pinky, do you know what you have to do?"

"Yes, Brain" said Pinky, looking at his wrist where a watch would have been on a human, "I need to feed Pharfignewton, it's an hour past her breakfast time." Brain whacked him again.

"Have you really not been listening, Pinky? Listen carefully. I will go through this once more only..."

And he did.

"Egad, Brain, brilliant!" shrieked Pinky when Brain had finished. "Oh, no, wait, no. The world leaders aren't just going to let you into power, it takes people years to become popular with the public."

"Yes, Pinky. But I'm different. I'm actually likable."

"Oh. But, hang on – didn't we try something like this before in the episode "Where Rodents Dare"? That didn't go too well! Narf!" chuckled Pinky as he remembered their disastrous attempt to freeze the world leaders at a banquet in the Himalayas.

"What have I told you about breaking the fourth wall, Pinky?" growled Brain, grabbing Pinky by the fur on his chest.

"To not to."

"Precisely. Now wait here while I get the Transmorphinius."

Brain returned to the cage and retrieved a small wooden mousetrap. He carefully took it back over the syringe-bridge and positioned it so that it was facing the safe in the wall. He sat squarely on the tab.

"I'm ready, Pinky. Throw the switch!"

"Are you sure, Brain?"

"Yes! Have I ever not been sure?"

"I guess not. Narf! 'K, here we go!"

Pinky proceeded to rip the pressure-sensitive spring off the mousetrap and lob it across the room.

"What are you doing?!" yelled Brain.

"You said to throw the switch, you really did Brain, you said to throw the switch!"

"Ignore what I say! In fact, no, forget I said that. I remember what happened the last time I said that to you. I'm getting a rather bad case of "déjà vu", Pinky."

"Zort, Brain. And you tell me to not break the fourth wall."

"If I could reach you, I would hurt you. Now pick up the switch and thr- I mean, press it."

Pinky gave a small salute and did as Brain asked. When he put pressure on the little tab Brain sailed through the air, propelled by the mousetrap, and somehow managed to grab onto the handle of the safe, dangling four metres above the ground. Clambering up onto it, he casually made his way to the keyhole, which was large enough for him to stick most of his head inside. Feeling around, he located the weak spot in the mechanism ("all locks have a weak spot, Pinky") and with a click the door sprang open, sending Brain sailing across the room, landing hard in a sink, which was unluckily devoid of any water.

"It's times like this that make me wish Animaniacs wasn't cancelled," he muttered to himself, "it was much less painful, both mentally and physically."

After pulling his tail out of the plughole with considerable difficulty, Brain made his way back to the open safe, climbing up the shelves this time – he didn't want to have to brave the mousetrap (or Pinky) again. He seized what he could of the canister containing the Transmorphinius, and managed to heave it over to the edge. "Pinky, catch this," he called, pushing it over the side. He heard a crunching sound which made him cringe. Cautiously, he peered over the edge to see the canister rolling off a now pancake-flat Pinky.

"And that was no stunt mouse. Narf..." Pinky said weakly.

Brain hopped down carefully and managed to reinflate Pinky by cranking his tail in a circle.

"Egad, Brain! Thanks! You're the best!"

"I try," murmured Brain, "unlike some".

Both mice combined their efforts and managed to roll the canister over to the lab door. Brain told Pinky firmly to stay put while he fetched their transport. He disappeared out of the door and came back dragging something under a large tarpaulin.

"Troz, Brain..." said Pinky in awe. "Is that...?"

"Yes, Pinky!" grinned Brain, tugging the tarpaulin off, revealing a very familiar contraption. "Our Da Vinci Air Screw!"

"Egad, Brain! They let us keep it?"

"Warner Bros. seemed to consider it a make-up gift for cancelling our spin-off series", Brain said, "but mostly I just rewrote the script of Wakko's Wish so that it doesn't get sucked into that avalanche. You'd be surprised what a bit of rewriting can do."

"We can do that?"

"You can't. Now help me load this onto the Air Screw" grunted Brain, pulling at the canister.

With a considerable amount of effort (and duct tape, which took a little longer than Brain had anticipated; Pinky seemed to have an insatiable desire to constantly tangle himself up in it) the two mice managed to stick the Transmorphinius canister to the bottom of the Air Screw. Pinky took his seat in the pedaller's chair, and Brain took the steering wheel. Within minutes, they had flown away, leaving ACME Labs behind, zooming through the night air.

"Time to conquer a planet, Pinky!" Brain yelled at the sky.

"To the ACME Broadcasting HQ!"