A/N:

Suggested by 'kisa sohma cookie'!

After another day of toon training, Yakko still senses some hostility from Flynn and thinks it's time the two had a talk. Does Flynn still blame Yakko? Or is he just an angry kid in general? Yakko can't help but do his best to find out, in his own way. Set after Inkstained.

*Yakko's POV*

Jeez if Little Red tried any harder she'd pop a blood vessel. Was is really that difficult for the newbie's? All they had to do was change the colour of their shirts, it's not like we were asking them to pull a Ennio Marchetto or anything! Come to think of it, that guy's a little too good at his job to be normie… Well now I know what I'm doing this weekend! Anywho, we'd been at this for ages. Heck even kiddo had managed this a while back. But they were still new to the gig, they'd get there. And what better place to start than the basic of basic in toon-change?

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, I must have been internally monologing for longer than I thought; in a blink Red was in a totally new outfit. What was once a pink T-shirt and denim skirt was now a pair of blue shorts and a green cami-top. Overal, I gotta say the green clashed with her hair and made me think of Christmas but in general ,pretty impressive. And I admired the attitude, why just change a colour when you can go the whole hog and change it all?

Dot gave her a high-five, "Not bad, kid, now we just need to work on your fashion sense."

"I like it." Wakko nodded.

Of course he liked it, I mused, "Of course you like it." I smirked. Oh come on, when do I keep my thoughts to myself? "But really, Red, you're turning into a regular PowerPuff girl." Frankly, those bug-eyed chicks made me want to gag, but she's a kid, she'll learn better taste soon enough.

She grinned and made a curtsy, "Thank you." Her eyes turned hopeful, "Do you think if I get good enough I'll meet one?"

What have I started, "Where'd that sprout from?"

"I just figured, before you guys showed up, I always thought cartoons weren't real, but here you are… so…"

"So now you're thinking that it counts for the rest." I finished. Not bad logic there, "Sorry, Red, we're one of a kind."

"Three of a kind." Dot corrected.

"Plus the extra three sometimes." Wakko winked.

Speaking of which, I know kiddo was doing extra work today, but where was Slugger? Oh I know. You know how you get that one kid in the group that just sits and observes everything, kind of the silent Hawking type? Well guess who was playing that part today. No prizes sorry, we just gave the last away to the state-the-obvious champion.

"Any luck, Slugger?"

He shrugged, still in the same old hoodie, "I don't need lessons, I can handle it myself."

"Fancy demonstrating for the class?"

"Not really." He mumbled, staring at the floor, "I can do it… just, it's Poppy's go, that's all. I uh, I've got to head home. Homework and stuff, you know?"

"But it's Saturday, and you've finished you hom -"

"I got extra." He jumped in, "Not that it really matters now but… I'll see you guys later, okay?"

The kid had been like this for a while. Don't get me wrong I was used to the strong-independent attitude he gave off, heck it wouldn't be him without it, but lately it had gotten more intense. It was like he was joining in, but not; coming along for the ride but sitting in the side-cart if you get my meaning. Okay, Slugger, you want to play this game? What kind of guy would I be if I refused? A boring one that's what.

*Flynn's POV*

You're alone now, the house is empty, you can practice without people poking fun. All I wanted to do was toon-jump or speed or whatever, to my room. Simple. Basic. Come on, you've done it before! By accident sure but that's not the point. And if your eight year old sister can do it, why can't you? Why do I even want to do it? It can't be that hard to control; all I have to do is not use it, right? But that didn't stop it before by accident… God why was this so difficult? You know what, forget it. I'm using the stairs!

"Agh! Damn it!" I grunted as my forehead smacked against something solid, making me fall backwards into a comfy surface. Looking around, I saw that I'd run head on into my closet door, tumbling back onto my bed. I glared at the ceiling. Why couldn't I do it on purpose, why was it always by accident or when I didn't want to do it anymore? "This sucks…"

"The crash, sure, but you're improving."

I sat upright at the voice and instantly collapsed down again to shove a pillow over my face, "Aren't you meant to be teaching Poppy how to jump out of a hat or something?"

"That's rabbits, Slugger, we're not the circus." Yakko quipped jokingly.

Sure, how could I mix up red noses and white faces and constant tricks and jokes with anything from the circus? "If you say so." I muttered, removing the pillow and sitting up again.

He stepped from the doorway and jumped up to lean casually against the head of the bed, "I'm sensing a little reluctance here, Slugger, care to enlighten me?"

"Not really." I sighed, "I'm fine."

He rolled his eyes, "Wow, no one would ever tell that you and kiddo are related…" When I didn't answer, he tried again, "Hey don't worry about it, you should have seen Wakko getting used to toon-speed back in the day; but then again he actually liked crashing into walls."

Explains a lot, I thought, "And so do I apparently"

"Think of this as riding a bike, once you get it, you're not going to forget it."

Why was he still trying to help, I didn't want it! "I'm not like you guys! I don't want to pop out of thin air or smack someone with a mallet for a laugh! It's not me; and now I'm stuck with it, we all are! We're just… stuck…"

He looked at me knowingly, "So in short, you don't like staying a kid? Jeez, kiddo got you good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, "What's Talia done now?"

He flashed his palms in defence, "Nothing at all; I'm just saying, she threw a hissy because she was struggling, and threw a dozen others when you guys got the shot; but she got over it. Now here you are starting the loop up again. You didn't want it; fine, I'll try not to take it as an insult." He winked, "But you're not really stuck, as far as I can tell you're freer than ever! What's stopping a kid like you doing whatever you want?"

But I couldn't do whatever I wanted. I wasn't going to turn thirteen now, I wasn't going to get out of school. Heck, I wasn't even going to finish school, or even get to go after a year or so. I can't stay the same when everyone else grows up. And as for getting into policing… well it was a stupid idea anyway. But it was my idea. But it's not like they would understand anyway. They were toons, they didn't age anyway, they wouldn't go out into jobs or anything. They just didn't work that way.

"We don't need to have this talk," I shrugged, "It doesn't matter."

"Sure," he rolled his eyes, "Because, you know me, I'm all about the serious talks around here."

"Then let's forget it, please? There's really nothing to say."

"So you'd rather just sit in silence?" he challenged, "I'm no kiddo, I can keep this up for as long as it takes."

He had a point there, and he knew it. I huffed and looked away, "I just had other plans that didn't involve, you know, this kind of stuff."

"To be fair Slugger, you can still do that with the oil voodoo-hoodoo that Jar-Head was gaga over but you won't do that so…" he paused, a knowing smirk spreading on his face. I waited anxiously, "You're stuck between doing what you want to do and staying with the rest of us aren't you?"

"You think it's funny?" I snapped.

"As funny as I found Will and Grace…" he said, deadpan, so from that I guessed he didn't find it funny, that was one good thing, "Heck, I like it."

"What?"

"Heck, I like it." He repeated, "It's not a bad thing. The way you act, it's like you're trying to choose between watching shaving your head or watching a movie with David Schwimmer." I never understood his references, he had his opinions and I had mine, "Just relax, stick around, you've got all the time in the world now to figure out what you want to do."

Again, he had a point, "But I shouldn't."

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine today?" he mused, "But I'll say the same thing to you as I did your sis; your problem is that you've had to grow up too quick and now you're not growing up at all. So now, as much as it'll scare the living ink out of you, you actually get a chance to be a kid for a while longer. To me, that sounds like a sweet deal!"

But I didn't want to be some kid, kids are just useless. But still, he wasn't wrong. And maybe that's what was annoying me a little, was that he was making some sort of sense. Yeah I could have more time to think about it, but that wasn't the point. The point was that… Well, it wasn't that I wanted to be normal, because that was never going to happen, but I didn't want to be some freak either. Okay, thinking about it, I guess what I wanted was to stay like this, but still be able to do what I wanted before. It just kind of gets me down that I had plans. Had being the main word there. And sure, I could just drink that oil stuff and have done with it. But if Talia wouldn't just so that she could stay with us, then why shouldn't I? I wasn't selfish, they were still my family, right? And lets face it, they're all I've got, and they'd be lost without me there… I guess…

I looked up to find Yakko pressing a stethoscope to my head, "Hey you can actually here the cogs churning in there!" he commented, "What you thinking about now? I charge by the hour, just so you know."

"I just thought, if I've, you know, got more time on my hands, as you put it… I suppose a few, you know," at the slightly smug expectant look he was giving, he knew what I was saying, but he still wanted to hear it, "Maybe a few lessons wouldn't hurt."

He brushed my shoulder with his knuckles, "Sure thing, Slugger, besides you need to catch up to Res, you can't have your little sis outshining you now, can ya?"

"Yeah, how is she so quick with it? Me and Talia, well it's not as easy as you make it look."

"What can I say, we're professionals! But thinking about it, Red's gonna catch on faster because she's a kid. Smaller form but bigger mind if you get catch my drift." He explained, tapping his temple.

Bigger imagination, I think he meant, well kids are more likely to believe in all that magic stuff so that kind of made sense that if she 'expected' something to happen, it would. Hmm, maybe being a kid wasn't so bad in the long run. But… there was still something bugging me.

"Be honest, and if this sounds harsh then I'm sorry -"

"Considering it's you, I'll let it slide." He mused.

"But, say Talia, me and Poppy weren't given the 'shot' as you call it; how long would you have stuck around before moving off again?"

I meant it. Sure, it seems like it came from nowhere, but it had been eating at me for ages. Think about it, when Talia was Poppy's age, they left her. Sure it couldn't really be helped and they did look for her, for a little while, before waiting years to look again. And they stuck around for the past few years with all of us, and I liked having them around no doubt! But, they were known for roaming out alone, I just couldn't help but wonder if they'd be this bothered with all of us if we weren't all tooned up. Great, now I felt bad for even bringing it up.

*Yakko's POV*

Are we still on this old chestnut? Wow and I thought kiddo was a hardboiled egg of over an hour! But sure, it was a valid question, can't blame the guy for asking. Sure we cut loose every now and again but it wasn't much fun anymore without having some complaining or grumbling from the sub-sibs. And that was before they had the special ingredient. With it, it just made things more fun then they were before, so in the long run not much changed. Much like Will Smith's age, they now there's a thought…

"You know what, Slugger, in total honesty; you were never going to be rid of us that easy from start to finish."

Was that a look of tiredness or relief, hard to tell. But there was a hint of a smile, "Good, okay. Is that you, you know, making the moves that count or something?"

I shrugged, good to see him actually paying attention to me for once, "Now those words sound like they came from someone wise, handsome, trustworthy -"

"Actually it was just some nut-job that hangs around the lot."

Ladies and Gentlemen, the kid is finally catching on!

A/N:

Sorry it that seemed a little OOC or anything, I was a little tired XD Still I hoped you liked it and I'll be uploading R.C.3 pretty soon.

Oh and please please please take a look at 'kisa sohma cookie's' Looney Tunes fic 'Insanity Breach', it's a fic set along side (or technically after) Reality Check and a collaboration after R.C.3 and I.B is already in planning! She's a great writer as well as a great artist (you've seen the fanart she's done for R.C) and I really think you need to take a look.