Edited: May 15, 2010

He was afraid this day would come. He felt it for some time now. Yakko Warner was beginning to show the symptoms. He just hoped that he would get to them in time.

Dr. Otto Scratchansniff was sitting at his desk, reading the notes he took during his session with the Warner children. Normally, he didn't take notes. Normally, he couldn't take notes, because they would jump on him or make him chase them around the room or studio. It got so bad once, he chased them all the way from Burbank to San Diego. That was the worst week ever.

But when they walked in, they walked in, he knew that this wasn't going to be a normal session. Yakko didn't even acknowledge Mara's presence. (Mara turned out to be Hello Nurse's real name, Dr. Scratchansniff learned not too long ago. He was so used to the Warner Brothers calling her "Hello Nurse" that he called her that, too.) So, he immediately grabbed is notepad, several pens, in different colors, and wrote as fast as he could while Dot and Wakko spoke.

That was something else that bothered him about the meeting. Wakko did most of the talking. When it came time for their sessions, Wakko was always eating his office and Yakko was doing all of the talking. . Today he sat down next to his brother, and just went on. Dot spoke once in a while, and Yakko stared off to his left into space.

"The past couple of days, he's been fidgety. He doesn't talk as much, and he avoids us sometimes."

"I yelled at him yesterday, and he went and drank half a gallon of milk. He said it was an accident, but the timing seems just a tad too, I don't know, convenient?"

"When we tried to talk to him about it this morning, he acted like nothing happened. And he was real mad about that package you sent us, too. It was weird. He glared at it for twenty minutes."

"I noticed that, too. Wakko, did he try poking you on the way here?"

"Yeah, he did. Like he was trying to make sure I was there, or something. And that's all I got, Doc."

Yes, he was going to have to keep a very close eye on the Warner children, especially Yakko.

Yakko was sitting on the couch in the dark, watching a blank screen, when someone jumped on the couch next to him.

"Ya know, they're beginning to get suspicious of you. They think you're going crazy, or something."

A second someone jumped on his other side.

"Scratchy's going to be very sad if that happens."

Yakko ignored them.

" Don't you mean when? Well, I think it's all very funny…"

"Nobody asked you!" Yakko yelled. He jumped off the couch, and started heading towards the entrance of the water tower.

"Ah-ah-ah, little Yakki! If you leave, who will take care of Dottie and Wakki?" said a third voice. The three figures all turned and stared at Yakko, who was trying to lean towards the door.

"If I leave, and talk to Dr. Scratchansniff …"

"You know what your problem is, Yakko? You talk too much. One day…" said the third figure.

"…that's going to end badly…" said the first figure.

"…and not just for you, but for your siblings, too," finished the second figure. Without wasting a second, all three figures were at Yakko's side, pulling him to the ground. The largest figure snapped its fingers and all the lights turned on, revealing three creatures that all looked like Yakko himself.

Tall-Yakko put his hand over Yakko's mouth to prevent him from speaking. Middle-Yakko sat on his legs. Little-Yakko pinned his arms to his sides.

"I just thought we would stop by and let you know that if things don't change soon, you and your siblings are in a lot of trouble," sneered Tall-Yakko. He snapped his fingers again, and out of the corner of his eyes, Yakko could see Wakko and Dot bound in a corner of the room. He could feel the tears gathering in his eyes as Tall-Yakko snapped yet again and his siblings' cries of pain echoed the water tower.

"Just remember, you have a big mouth, you might want to exercise precaution when using it."

With a final snap, Dot and Wakko fell to the floor, no longer moving.

"SIBS!" he cried, as he rolled off the bed. It felt like his heart was pounding so hard it would beat itself right out of his chest. Gathering himself from the floor, he wiped the tears from his eyes and sat on his bed. He fell to the floor again when his siblings came crashing in.

"Yakko, what's wrong?"

"What happened?"

You have a big mouth, you might want to exercise precaution when using it.

Yakko looked at his siblings and shook his head. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around both of them. And, for the first time since he could remember, he cried on their shoulders.

At first, Dot and Wakko didn't know how to react to their brother's hug, but the second they heard him sob, they immediately knew what to do. They gave each other a look, and silently agreed, Yakko was not strong enough, right now, to stay alone. It took half an hour for Yakko's sobs to become silent tears. When that happened, Wakko lead his brother back to his bed and Dot tucked him in. Once they felt he was secure, Dot went to his left side and Wakko his right. The three of the spent the rest of the night like that. And Yakko felt slightly better, knowing his siblings were safe by his side.

At daybreak, things did not get any better. Wakko and Dot couldn't get Yakko to say a word about his nightmare. In fact, they couldn't get him to say a word at all. It was like he had taken a vow of silence.

"Come on, Yakko. Something, anything, and we'll leave you alone," Dot insisted. "Please? Pretty please? Cutie please?"

Yakko just sat there, shaking his head. Not even Dot's cuteness would work on him. Wakko was pacing around, pulling things in and out of his gag bag listening to Dot plead with Yakko.

"Dot," Wakko said, pointing to the grandfather clock half sticking out of his bag, "we have to go talk to Scratchy."

Dot nodded reluctantly, before giving Yakko a hug. "We'll be back, ok? Don't do anything stupid."

When Dot and Wakko finally stepped out of the water tower, Yakko collapsed on the floor. It was hard lying to his siblings and not telling them what was bothering him. But he felt the dream was right. And if that was the case, and if it meant being a good big brother, and protecting his siblings, then Yakko would never speak again.

"Hiya, Scratchy!" Wakko said, jumping Dr. Scratchansniff's lap. Scratchansniff sighed, half in relief that things seemed to be going back to normal, and half in misery that things were going back to normal. Actually, it was more like 97 percent in misery and 3 percent in relief. When the two Warners situated themselves on his furniture (not the couch) he grew worried again.

"Vere is Yakko?" he asked.

"He's not feeling well," Dot answered, looking out the window to the water tower. "He had a bad dream and then he stopped talking."

Scratchansniff didn't like the sound of that at all.

Wakko held Dot's hand as they made their way back to the water tower. They were there longer than he would have liked, but Scratchy was asking a lot of questions about Yakko. And they owed it to him to at least answer some of them. He could feel Dot scooting closer to him as the questions continued, and told Scratchansniff that they had to go and make sure Yakko was ok. Right before they left, Scratchansniff asked if they could get Yakko to visit next time. With a nod, they headed back to their brother.

Dot was the first one inside the tower. "Yakko, we're home! Just throw a chair if you're awake." There was no sound. The two siblings went looking for the third. No matter where they looked, Yakko was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe he just went out for a walk," Wakko chimed. He didn't like where this was heading.

Dot paced back and forth, not able to control herself. Why was this happening to them? Sure, they bothered people, but they weren't bad. It was just for fun. And now Yakko was missing? No, he wasn't missing, he just wasn't home right now. But, what if he was missing? What would they do? It's been Yakko, Wakko and Dot forever. They couldn't do it without Yakko. Never without Yakko. Without even realizing it, she spent the past three hours worrying about the whereabouts of her brother. This was too much, it was too real. And she was really scared.

"Wakko!" she cried. Immediately, he was at her side, holding her as she cried. It seemed that they were doing this a lot lately. And she did not like that one bit.

Two days had passed. Two days and no one had heard from Yakko. Wakko and Dot went door to door, person to person, toon to toon, asking anyone if they had seen or heard from the eldest Warner.

No one had. It was starting to affect the remaining two, and everyone in the studio was taking notice. Wakko was more outspoken, taking responsibility for himself and Dot. Dot was shying away from everyone, hardly talking to anyone who wasn't Wakko. Whatever was happening to the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) was turning from a small matter into a huge disaster. Even Thaddeus Plotz had offered to keep an eye out for Yakko.

Everyone knew something had to be done, and soon, or else they just might lose the last two remaining Warners.