We've endured so much. It was all for this moment.
Chapter 25: Life
"Here's your hat." Rita spoke in earnest. She wasn't happy. Not in the slightest. This idea seemed so mindless. It was so incredibly foolish that she couldn't comprehend why she was just letting this happen. Maybe it was because realistically she couldn't really do anything. Maybe it was because she was just a cat who had been running around on this molten rock and her feet were now charred and jagged. Maybe it was because Wakko had a better chance no matter what state he was in then she would.
She rubbed her paws a bit and turned over to where Wakko was. He was slumped over Runt's back, bleeding all over the top of him and feeling rather ridged. "Ugh… th-thanks Runt. Please, you just need to take me the rest of the way to the tower. Then I'll be happy to get up to it myself."
"D-Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Um… but… are you sure yous can stand up right? O-or climb?" Runt was truly puzzled. He knew toons had reserves of stamina and resilience far surpassing those of normal people but this was ridiculous, even for someone like Wakko. He was bleeding out… pretty much everywhere.
"All pain stands as is a signal to your body that something is wrong." Wakko spoke with reverence. "I already know that there's something wrong with my body, so pain doesn't mean anything to me. Whatever I do to my body wouldn't come close to what I'd feel if I left Yakko trapped in that space between the after-life." Wakko explained.
The cat and the dog both looked at each other feeling slightly disgruntled but certain of allowing Wakko to do what he had decided. He had shown the conviction of a leader. They were a lot more confident in his choices now. He was certainly a lot smarter as well.
It was a very cruel way for it to happen, but he had matured.
Wakko looked ahead, seeing the tower at the center of the lot with the plume of darkness emanating from it. With a decent sized breath, he focused straight ahead and made his start. "Alright, let's go."
Lying across the rubble, injured but still alive, were the three birds that managed to stand their ground long enough to hold off the oncoming threat that was now on its way towards the water tower at the center of the studio lot.
Pesto, Bobby, and Squit were bloodied up and exhausted. The ground was hot, the rubble hurt to lie on. Not only that, but they still never got their paycheck.
"I guess this is it." Bobby sighed, laying on his back and staring at the red sky. It was a struggle to keep his mind cool and collected. The aura was starting to get to them. Pretty soon, they'd be crazy just like the rest of the people here. "That weird eye of his made me upchuck just lookin' at it somehow..."
"You think Wakko's made it?" Pesto asked,
"If he did and he doesn't face any danger ahead like the rest of us then he should be fine." Squit muttered. "If his drive fails then the world really is doomed. Feeling confident?"
"You betcha." Bobby answered immediately. "It's been a long time since I've seen the amount of grit that kid has. Hopefully, we bought him enough time."
"Have you made any progress yet?" Slappy asked standing to the side with the Mad Doctor wrapped up in chains, laughing like a maniac, on the floor.
"I'm starting to." Brain said back with a smirk. "Whether or not it'll be enough time to save ourselves, that's another story."
Slappy ducked her head back and sighed. Pinky sat there and played with his toes. They were basically waiting for death. That's essentially what this was and it was just as glamorous as it sounded.
'Whatever happens, I'm really happy and proud of what I've seen from those young'uns. I'm not worried if we have to go. We would have left the world in good hands.'
Wakko had finally made it.
He looked ahead and saw through the gates. It was a baron wasteland beyond them, with an expanse of broken wood and steel far off in the distance.
He was afraid. He knew that he was but it didn't matter.
"Thanks Runt…" Wakko climbed off the dog's body, grateful for the free ride. Once he stood on his two feet he wobbled about in place before finding himself, dizzily, bashing against the front gate. Runt winced but managed to keep composure, fighting off that urge to go and help him stand his ground.
Wakko wouldn't have it though. He knew what he was going to do and he knew that anyone else being around would just be cause for more worry on his part.
Wakko pushed the gate open and stumbled inside but managed to keep standing upright. "Runt… go on ahead back to Rita. She'll need your support should any more crazies still be around."
Runt nodded and turned to head back. Wakko was officially alone now.
That was alright. He was scared but he wasn't going to stop because of it. Whatever emotion he was feeling didn't matter at all except for the one that got him his brother back. The rest might as well not be there as far as he was concerned.
Wakko ran into the lot as fast as he could, realizing quickly that each step he took made the dense aura slam into him rather hard. He felt his brain start to hurt and his thoughts began to scatter and clutter up. Things were rather dis-jointed and confusing.
"The crazy is starting to get to my head. Ugh… it's making me feel real sick…" Wakko groaned as he rushed forward. The black and red sky and the mist the destroyed lot was engulfed in of the same color was trying desperately to take hold of him. All Wakko need do was focus on ahead and think clearly. It was his brother that he wanted and it was his brother that he cared about.
So long as he kept that image of his brother at the forefront of his mind there was no chance these spirits were going to turn him into a crazed mental patient.
He had to admit though; they could try and try hard. He was feeling his stomach churn and bile rise to his throat a bit. Resisting was making him sick, just like it had done for Yakko. The burn was rather bad as well. He couldn't imagine going for months on end with this feeling in his chest. He was certain that Yakko had been dealing with so much worse though.
Each step he took, he could feel them bombarding him harder. He almost tripped, feeling as though one of the angry spirits had tried to tackle his leg. He knew they were all trapped in the tower but their aura was slapping him all across the face and body. It was so dense and it was making his nose bleed just running head-long into it all.
He had to keep focus or else he'd lose himself. He could feel his mind start to slip a little bit.
"Come on… let's go play with our special friend…" Wakko muttered under his breath. "I'm gonna get my big brother some new underwear this year. Erm… United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama…"
Wakko was scurrying through every memory he had of his brother and the things he's said to him and the things his brother had said back. With each slap across the face this air dealt to him, came a need for each new thought Wakko conjured up.
"We'd love to but the fox censors won't allow it. Um… y-you want us poor innocent children to climb up dangerous scaffolding and paint naked people all over a church? We'll DO IT!" Wakko pressed on.
The air was getting a lot lighter. He was getting closer. The resistence was letting up.
"Dot is a nut so we call her macadamia… Oh sure, take all the umbrage, don't leave any for us… You'd make a fortune renting your head out as a balloon…" Wakko kept going, digging up anything he could remember Yakko saying in the past.
The air was at a stand-still. The aura was as strong as ever but it no longer started to pound hard against Wakko's body. The middle Warner and de-facto leader took to a stop and panted hard with his hands on his knees.
"W-We're zany to the max… th-there's baloney in our slacks… we-we're…" Wakko stopped with his hands on his knees, coughing and dripping blood from his nose, arms, legs, stomach, and head all at once. It mixed with his sweat and got to some of the bruises on his body to. Considering that he had been in the hospital not too long ago for something almost just as bad, it was a miracle he hadn't already gone insane from the torture he had to endure.
Still, when he looked up and saw the tower in front of him, he couldn't help but smirk.
Success! He had made it!
"Faboo!" Excitement overcame him and he just blurted that out with both his fists raised. Wakko stopped and stared at the top of the tower, his eyes wide and his face emanating surprise.
Did he really just say that? When was the last time he had said that catch-phrase of his? He honestly couldn't remember…
Wakko suddenly grew a more straight-laced and serious look on his face, putting his arms down and swallowing hard. With a roll up of his sleeves he took to climbing the ladder in front of him. Each step he took irritated his bones and made more blood spurt out. He really didn't care though.
"Urgh… th-this is nothing. I'll feel a lot worse if I fail to save him…" He took another step and almost yelped as the pain from the next step shot a volt of electric agony up his leg and all the way to one side of his brain! It hurt so god-damn much it almost made him let go and fall back to the ground.
Wakko held on though. He let his head duck back as the dizzy spell claimed him. Normally he would have just let himself pass out but that clearly wasn't an option. When his vision cleared again he immediately took to walking up the steps some more. He was now half-way there…
With this next step, he felt more blood rush down the side of his body. "Gruh… I-It's okay… if my guts fall out then I'll just shove em back in! I'M COMING YAKKO!"
He screamed and pushed forward, climbing as hard and as fast as he could before reaching the top.
Finally; he had made it.
Wakko panted with one eye half open, staring at the steel front door of the tower.
The voices of the spirits were loud and clear now. He could literally see the dark aura that awaited him behind the door oozing through the cracks like inky crimson and black musk. Just getting a whiff of it made him curl up and vomit over the side.
His stomach emptied its remaining contents and he panted, shaking his resulting dizziness away once again. He was a wreck. Clearly he was in bad shape but so long as there was a chance to save his brother and the world they lived in, it was going to have to be as it was.
Wakko climbed all the way up and stood in front of the door. He took several steps forward and found himself grabbing the door.
"Alright… you revenge hungry jerks… you want to destroy our world and kill everyone I love? You're gonna have to answer to me first…!" Wakko growled and spun the crank on the front of the door and finally grabbed the edge of it so that he may pull it open…!
A booming sound sprung from below that turned into the sound of air wafting straight up and behind Wakko's back! The middle Warner's eyes grew large in fright as he felt the empty presence shoot up from behind him, having glided up the ladder so fast that it would have given him whiplash had he been hanging on to the figure.
Wakko turned his head around and saw the man in the black cloak, suspended a bit in the air from his tremendously quick scale up the ladder. When the man landed, he landed hard and sent off an imposing sound that made Wakko shiver.
"Those birds almost made me miss my chance. One second later and you would have beaten me. I'm sorry but, I must ask you to not open that door." The masked man took up his boot and shot it at Wakko's face!
Wakko moved surprisingly quick, dropping to the ground and leaving for the boot to collide with the steel door. Wakko rolled to the side and struggled to get up onto his feet with his fists raised.
The masked man quickly turned back to Wakko, not wasting time with any formalities and taking jabs and strikes at his already destroyed body. Wakko managed to dodge a good number of them and tried to land a few hits as well. Ultimately, and realistically, it wasn't enough and the masked figure managed to boot Wakko so hard in the stomach that he almost flew over the railing.
Luckily enough Wakko's head collided with it instead, making him slump to the ground and lay there, indisposed. Wakko coughed up some more blood, feeling as though he were some kind of faucet as there was seldom an area on his body were some kind of fluid wasn't exiting out of him.
The masked man saw Wakko groaning and whimpering on the ground and quickly shifted to grab the door that had been unlocked by the downed Warner already.
"If you had opened that door, the spirits would have tried to possess your body, though it wouldn't have worked. Because Yakko is dead, they can't use him as a connection to the living world anymore. They may have wanted to drag him to their side and choose him as their vessel, but I harbor even more hatred in my heart then he did. I will be accepted with open arms!" He growled as he was about to open the door.
Wakko tossed his hat right at the guy's hand, making it smack painfully enough against it for him to let go for a split second. Wakko shot up and jumped at the guy, biting into his arm as hard as he could!
"ARGH!" The masked man growled angrily and slammed Wakko's body against the tower. Wakko coughed and let him go, only to slide down the side of it and land on his feet. He quickly scurried towards the front of the door and put his hands out, covering the front entrance.
He was shaky, wobbly, bleeding all over, dizzy, and tired to boot. This man didn't really need to exert himself at all to get Wakko to move. They both knew that. It was probably that reason why the man began to laugh a little to himself.
"I've never seen anything so desperate before in my life. And to think I wanted to be like you." The man chimed.
Wakko was caught off guard by that remark. "Wha… what did you-?"
A bright red light from behind the man's mask flashed into Wakko's eyes all of a sudden. The Warner's bugged out eyes took to staring right at the singular point until his numb body began to relax. He felt himself slumping down, sleepily going down into a dark and deep pit despite still feeling the cold metal against his back.
He was going deeper and deeper. His mind was reeling, the red light acted as a lone star in the surrounding blackness that began to enshroud the area and claim his person. His eyes, half-open, looked around him and saw that he was stuck in this endless void. The man in the black cloak still stood in front of him, his attire blending in with the empty environment so that only the figure's punctured white mask could be recognized as a lone visible obstacle.
He remembered this.
This was that move he had used on him before. The hypnosis beacon in his eye. It had made the area pitch black before and had started screwing with his insides.
In fact, he was feeling it happen again! No. Not now. His body really couldn't take anymore punishment.
It was just hypnosis from some mechanism in his eye and darkness that clouded everything from his cloak. That's what he said it was. Mind tricks and freaky fog. It was nothing.
Wakko's nose bleed got even worse. His eyes were a bit red as well. He had already vomited so his stomach merely burned to an unbearable degree, flooring him instantly.
Still, he wouldn't submit. This guy wanted the satisfaction of seeing him lie down and die? He wasn't going to give it to him!
"You're beyond pathetic. There's nothing around for you to cling to but the sound of my voice." The mechanical eye that the Mad Doctor had made for him, same with the wrist weapons Buster and Max had, was working it's enticing magic.
When the man spoke, it came out like an echo that wouldn't end. It drove Wakko crazy.
"You know good and god-damn well I could just kick you to the side and be done with you. I'm merely offering you a chance to end your life with dignity. I talked down to you, choked you, and humiliated you but deep down, I still held some respect for you. I still do. You were my favorite."
The words he just spoke mixed in with the still ongoing echo of his previous statement. Wakko felt like he wanted to pass out now. It was too much.
Still, he wasn't about to let up. Not to him!
"Yeah... I'm quite the ch-charmer. St-still..." Wakko winced. "I have a hard time caring if you liked me best on the show or not..." He took in a long gasp of air and felt his chest. His heart was going a mile a minute. This wasn't good. It was beating in a way that was trying to tell him he was about to die if he exerted himself too much. The guy was using his weird eye to screw with his body and mind at the same time and it didn't need that.
Before he could savor what little comfort the simple act of taking a breath granted him, he felt the air in his throat get unceremoniously cut off when the masked man clutched Wakko's throat violently!
"Deja vu. Maybe I should have killed you back then. If I had known you were crazy enough to jump straight into the pits of Hell, literally, on a hunch that there was a small chance at saving his spirit... well, I suppose that's my fault for doubting how insane you were."
Wakko was hanging on by a thread. It was the smallest, most insignificant thread in existence but it was still something tying him to his consciousness. His body was screaming, crying, and begging to be allowed to fall into a recovery slumber but that just wasn't happening. The instant he went to sleep, it was all over.
"The darkness; the death; the destruction. It's all here, poking at your synapses, oozing into your brain until it grows cold and dead under the weight of despair. Even if your brother lived, he'd have felt it heavier then you are now. He'd most likely be unable to function again as he'd be forced to live the remainder of his days, contemplating the true weight behind the massacre he helped insight. Someone so young falling pray to the tendencies of a murderer never truly heals when brought back from the brink. Time doesn't heal your wounds. It makes way for new memories and wounds to temporarily distract you from the old ones you had."
Wakko's face was drenched in sweat and blood. He was breathing really hard from exhaustion...
... but now, also from rage! Pure, unadulterated rage!
"Oh? What's that blood-thirsty look in your eye? What do you plan to do to me in your state?" The masked man asked, his sentences blending together maddeningly, like multiple tape-recorded shout-boxes stuck on replay.
It was making him not want to lose even more if that was possible.
This guy could take his unwanted, dead-pan taunts and head on back to the hole he crawled out of! He was done listening to this! He didn't want any part of this! Not anymore!
Wakko squeezed his eyes shut and swung his head back. At first, the man thought he was trying to merely close his eyes really tight to avoid taking the hypnosis on any further but then saw that his head was flinging forward.
It was a headbutt right into the center of his mask!
With a loud crackle, Wakko's bloodied head bashed against the white mask, making it's already cracked features break off and fly back. The man dropped Wakko in surprise and went to clutch his face. Half of the mask was gone from the lower part up.
Shards of it flew back as Wakko fell to the ground, quickly grabbing one of the sharp pieces and raising it up.
"HYAAAAAAAH!" With one swift jab, Wakko took the broken shard and flung it down hard!
It was a stab straight into the back of his hand!
More blood spurted out of the freshest wound on his body and seeped right through the hole in his glove. Wakko's sweaty face and tired eyes re-opened after he did this. He saw the area around him and noticed that the pitch blackness had zapped back to reality. He was back on the Water Tower where he belonged!
The man clutched the piece of his mask that was still on his face and groaned, clearly very annoyed he had let that happen.
"Puncturing your hand so that your brain would jolt out of the hypnosis. My, my. And I thought you were the dumb one. What a brilliant maneuver."
Wakko was panting really hard. He gripped his fallen hat and placed it back on his head with his shaky arms. His pupils were just as shaky and small. He was a mess and it was clear the only thing keeping him standing was sheer force of will.
The man sighed.
It was silent for a bit.
The spirits behind the door were getting restless. It was telling just how impatient they were now due to the rustling behind the door. They sensed people just outside the now unlocked door, just waiting for the essence of hell to spew out and enshroud their vessel.
Yakko was gone. They were desperate. They'd take anyone who harbored hatred in their soul now!
The man looked at the door and then back down at Wakko. He saw the Warner's foot slip a bit but he quickly fixed himself, making sure to keep his back pressed to the door. He was determined not to let this man through.
The man didn't understand.
"Take a look around you." He decided to speak up once more. "Surely from this high up you can make it out right? This place; this city; hell the entire world all look the same way. They all share the same sky; they all share the same amount of destruction. They all have an abundance of crazy people going around and killing each other. Even if you were able to stop this, the world's been crippled to hell. The army's all over have been severely ruined, the governments have probably all collapsed, the economy would take forever to get set right again. Countless factions and organizations would still be sunk after this. The world is already in ruins, in more ways then one." The man explained.
"… You know… I don't see that as too much of a bad thing…" Wakko swallowed.
"Hmm?"
"The world… the past of the world we lived in before… it's true that tragedy exists and that there's nothing we can do about it sometimes… but for the hatred of how the toons were being treated to extent THIS far? That's proof that the world we lived in before was broken almost beyond the point of repair. I say, if we take this destruction as a chance to start over again from zero… if we can start over from the ground up, I swear I'm gonna make sure we don't live in a world where something this messed up can happen again! EVER!" Wakko screamed at him.
"… Oh? All by yourself?"
"I have friends doofus. I'll have my brother and my little Warner Sister… and I've got loads of hope. I can do it." Wakko grumbled.
"The world's a big place. How are you gonna get through to them?"
Wakko grinned the brightest grin he had ever had since this whole ordeal started.
"I'll make em laugh."
They stood there in silence for a bit.
The cloaked man began to laugh and laugh hard.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Yes! I see! You sure are good at making THAT happen at least!" He had to admit, what he was hearing was pretty funny.
"Yeah… keep yucking it up. Laughter's a real powerful thing." Wakko was struggling to even stand up now. "Someone like you probably couldn't grasp the concept behind that. Maybe that's why you ended up where you are today."
The man stared down at Wakko.
"… You're probably right."
Wakko was surprised by that answer.
"As I stated before, I looked up to you. Hell, I wanted to be you so badly. However, the very reason I was cast aside was because I couldn't. I felt I was born for the sake of living up to someone like who you are today and I couldn't hack it, much to my life-long shame." He said grasping really hard at the rest of his broken makeshift mask.
Wakko blinked in surprise, watching him clutch the thing in anger while it was still on his face.
"I tried to change my face to match what I was supposed to be even more, hoping that I could rekindle my chances once you were gone but it only shamed me even more. Such a desperate, hopeless existence I was. What kind of a person goes on living and accepting his place in the world when the very reason he exists is to live up to someone else's expectations! Why would I feel grateful or sympathy to a world like that!"
The man clutched his mask extraordinarily hard, to the point where the puncture cracks around his eyes expanded.
"Answer me!" The man demanded.
"I-I don't… kn-" Wakko began.
"ANSWER ME!" He screamed and broke the rest of the mask into several little pieces. They all crumbled and splattered along the ground in front of Wakko.
The figure pulled his hood back and let his face be shown. It was over. The mask has served its purpose but now it didn't matter anymore. He was about to get his due.
Wakko, however, was frozen, staring right up at the guy's face with shrunken pupils and beads of sweat covering his matted fur.
"I… you… you… me… how… how…?" Wakko's voice was a whisper. It was too much for his body. He collapsed onto his knees, still staring up at him.
His face had stitches on them, sure, but it wasn't enough to keep his face from looking exactly the way Wakko knew it was supposed to look.
"Th-those stitches… T-Toon surgery… y-you… but… why…? A-Are you insane? Who the heck are you?!" Wakko yelled.
The man shut his eyes and sighed.
There it was out in the open and the reaction was just as he expected it to be.
No one knew what species the Warners were. It didn't matter though. Replicating the face of a species like them was still easily done when it came to reconstructing your face.
That's exactly what he had done.
He looked like an older, taller Wakko, only with a much darker colored nose.
"Rest assured. I am not your father or your long lost uncle or anything like that. I made sure my face was changed to match how you looked to a T. This will probably be close to what you'll look like when you grow up. Judging by the look on your face, it was an impressive job well done." He said back.
"… My… my face…? Why my face…?" Wakko was horrified. Looking at someone who looked like him from the future, turning the world upside down for an unspecified reason. It was too much for him to take.
"I was a huge fan of your cartoons. I wanted so desperately to be like you. I watched all the tapes of your old cartoons and years later I took a liking to Animaniacs after I had already resigned myself to getting revenge on the world. I know pretty much all the episodes by heart. I thought, that if I could BE you, my favorite of the Warners, perhaps then I could turn my life around and be accepted. But fate is much crueler then that as you might have guessed. For no matter how popular a toon is we're all handed the same pink-slip at the end of our run and doomed to a life of mediocrity afterward. I realized that soon after I had gotten this face change and wore the mask to hide the shameful act." He stared right at Wakko.
Wakko was engulfed in fear right now, way too shocked and scared to budge. "Y-You're insane."
"Probably. But hey, you guys prided yourselves on being that on the show all the time. I would think I'd be a little more accepted."
Wakko twitched all over, feeling like he was about to keel over and finally pass out. "B-But… why me… j-just because I was the favorite? A-And how did you know about the Tower's curse? And what happened to you to make you go so off the deep end! WHAT IS THIS?!" Wakko screamed, getting back on his two feet again, not even noticing that there were water droplets falling on him from the sky a bit.
The look-alike noticed though. He stared straight up at the sky and saw the droplets come down a bit. "The aura is too dense. If the normal sky is trying to rain it won't come down all the way… Heh, even the heavens above can be replaced by something better it seems. Our new red sky is going to be the dominant reign forever now."
"Shut up and answer me!" Wakko had a growl in his voice. This was way too freaky. It was making him sick just looking at him.
The man sighed once more and looked back at Wakko. "Didn't I already say? I wanted to be you... though, I guess an answer like "because you were my favorite" makes little sense still. How about I rephrase that, "I felt that I was supposed to be you". That help a little?"
"It doesn't help at all. Stop beating around the bush and tell me!" Wakko took a furious but wobbly step forward.
"Haha. I felt I was supposed to be you as in, I was willing and ready to be the next Wakko Warner in your place when you left all those years ago."
Wakko's bug-eyed face just stared at him again, his mouth hanging a little bit open in dull surprise by what he was saying.
"You remember being locked away 60 years ago right? You, your sister, and your brother. It was all for the sake of keeping you guys in check because the studio couldn't handle you. Your parents were nowhere to be found and you were running amuck all over the place. So they locked you away and you stayed in that tower, festering with spirits that kept the three of you young for 60 years, only infecting Yakko with the amount of hatred they were harvesting for a vessel to eventually take over once they had enough power. The reason I know about it though, is because I had already died once."
Wakko was still staring at him, frozen in abject shock and awe.
"Alright, alright. I suppose I should be completely honest. I didn't really die. More so, I had a near death experience. I was alive and kicking 60 years ago as well and after having been rejected by the Warner Brothers studio so long ago, I fell into a depression and tried to commit suicide. I ended up on the other side for a bit and overheard the plans the spirits had to get their revenge on the world of the living. I knew what was going to happen 60 years before it did so when I woke up in the hospital I was able to gather resources to prepare for it. I set up my cult, I recruited the Mad Doctor, we gathered up resources to create planes, jeeps, and high-tech weapons, all gearing up and getting ready for this day." The man spoke.
Wakko was still speechless.
"I knew they were planning on possessing someone full of hatred and I felt that mine, burning as strong as it was, would surely be chosen… still, I had a counter-measure for it just in case I wasn't. As you know, I wasn't chosen. Your brother was. That was fine though. It made me unbelievably angry but I was able to work around it. The only thing standing in my way now, is you. Ironically, the figure I wanted to be so much."
"60 years ago…" Wakko muttered.
"I loved your cartoons so much Wakko. Even 60 years ago when you were in black and white. You were always my favorite. I tried to make it big and was rejected. Soon after, you were locked away in the tower. After that, I changed my face with surgery and tried again. They were creeped out by what I did and rejected me again. That's when I tried to commit suicide. When even THAT failed, I started to wear the mask and never took it off unless I needed to eat or wash my face. When you guys got out 60 years later, I was still wearing the mask but found myself loving your Animaniacs cartoons even more than the old black and white ones. I was too huge a fan of your show and I was a huge fan of you. I looked up to you, as around that time I was about your age."
Wakko looked at him, his pupils shaking a bit. "Okay… I get it now… "
"Oh? You do? Well, then can you let me by. I have a 60 year long plan I need to finish." He smirked.
"Just one more thing… who were you before you changed your face?" Wakko asked.
The man stopped and his face went blank. With a calm motion he reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture he had folded up. With a flick of the wrist it unfolded and revealed to Wakko what it was.
He was there, a little kid of an unidentifiable species with black fur playing in the backyard with a smiling little girl, and a happy, taller boy.
"… I was a kid named Den. A wide-eyed little brat with a younger baby sister and an older brother and no parents to look after me. Sound familiar?"
Wakko let himself stand there and stare at the man in front of him. Just like Bugs, Mickey, Slappy, The Mad Doctor, and a few more countless legends, he had been around for a long time. The toon surgery kept them young looking and despite the life-span of a toon being far more impressive than that of a regular human, it only served as something to delay the inevitable.
Nothing could go on forever. Not even them. For this man to dedicate such a large chunk of his life for this pivotal moment was unreal. All this for the sake of revenge against the world…
Wakko, once again, started flashing back to all the things he had said to Yakko before he had opened his eyes to how horrible a person he was being.
"I guess being told my career was being halted throws me right the fuck off."
"I doubt pointing out how much of a disturbing husk of my former self I've become is supposed to entice me to talk more."
"You relish in the idea that I could behave and be just as good a butt kisser as you?"
Wakko grumbled and felt his eyes get angry as he looked back up at the man in front of him. The man, his name now revealed to have been Den, folded the picture back up and put it away.
Wakko couldn't stop looking at him. It really was like looking at himself from the future… if he had stayed wrapped up in his anger and revenge, THIS is the guy he would have become.
And he'd wear the same face too.
"Is that all? Are you satisfied? Despite the mask that hid my shame being gone I'm still no one special. I'm just the one whose path was chosen to mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. You and me aren't so different. It's too bad you had to go against me in the end." The man spoke back at him.
"No… no it's not a bad thing…" Wakko felt himself smile. "I… I was turning into you and I didn't even know it. But I was lucky enough to have my siblings around. With a supportive sister and an older brother who needed me to finally step up and stop whining all the time, I was able to get out of the rut. It's too bad for you though… seems like you couldn't find that same solace when it came to your sibs." Wakko said.
The men swung his boot forward and struck Wakko hard in the gut! Wakko spat out and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Ah. I see. So that's where I went wrong. Not finding solace and comfort in my older and younger siblings. If I did I would have remained as delusional as you are. Well then I suppose it was a good thing for me that I killed my siblings right before I tried to commit suicide."
Wakko's eyes broadened and he jolted when he heard that.
"Y-You really did go totally insane…" Wakko muttered, getting back onto his hands.
"Yes well, it's too late to change what happened. I had no parents and no P-sychiatrist to help keep my mind from collapsing, if that's truly what happened. So what though? It's time the world got what it deserves…" The man, know referred to as Den spoke solemnly.
"You said you were about my age when you did that? The world turned you into a psychopath at my age?" Wakko choked out while laying there.
"Hmph." Den, nudged Wakko to the side and grabbed the door once again.
"That's way too tragic… that's terrible…" Wakko groaned and managed to get back on his feet. Den was surprised by what Wakko had just said despite that.
"What…?" Den grumbled.
"You killed them and then tried to take your own life… just so that you could escape the reality you live in. You… this is all the more reason why I can't let you do this! I won't!" Wakko turned on a dime and went to jump at him.
"It's too late."
Den immediately swung the door open as soon as Wakko came toward him!
Just then, the spirits burst threw the open door and a wide open expanse of red and black ghostly faces circled all around them and the front entrance of the water tower! The area was kicking up wind and spiraling around the two of them until their field of vision could only see a sea of spirits and their spiritual essence. They didn't even feel as though they were in the waking world anymore.
Wakko and Den looked on as the spirits flew around and around, dragging their bodies into the Water tower once their essence latched onto them.
"ONLY ME! TAKE ME!" Den shouted as loud as he could towards them all, and felt his body start to become infused with their power. They knew which one to choose out of the two of them instinctively. Wakko had been trapped within the tower for 60 years. They already knew that he was of no good use to them. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY!"
Wakko felt his body still being pulled in as well. He knew it was happening as something he couldn't outright control and knew that the power of these spirits most likely didn't want him as a vessel. He, however, did not want them either.
The two of them were dragged into the Water Tower, which was now void of all the Warner's stuff. Their furniture and belongings were nowhere to be seen. The living room and the kitchen and the bedrooms were gone.
It was just a void of endlessly flowing and moaning red and black spirits, leading towards a point at the end of a long stretch that was fixated on a glowing bright red light and a horizon that looked like the edge of a river.
"YAKKO! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Wakko shouted out loud, feeling the veins in his body start to burn and glow red as well. He choked on his own saliva as he realized what was happening while flowing down this river of souls.
He was being dragged to hell. They didn't want his body.
Den was floating in the middle of this sea of spirits and his body was gladly being overtaken by them all. His eyes had gone white and his mouth hung open in an almost permanent smile. His black fur had red veins glowing through it as he began to take it all in.
"YES! COME ON! THE AMBITION YOU DREAMED OF...! I SHARE THE SAME DESIRE! WE'LL LAY WASTE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD TOGETHER! IT'S ALL OVER NOW!"
Wakko saw Den stay towards the entrance while he could feel himself being drowned in the sea of spirits and being led towards the edge at the end of the tunnel that would throw him into Hell. Wakko winced and swam through them all as best he could, despite constantly being pulled back towards the other end.
It wasn't hot. It was really cold.
Death is very, very cold.
He was dying and this time Hell was going to keep his whole body.
"N-No… Yakko… " Wakko grumbled tears quickly bubbling up and falling into the mass of souls. He kept swimming the opposite direction the spirits were pulling him. He even dived into them all and kicked the ones trying to wrap around him away as best he could. Wakko's struggling was the only thing keeping Den's transformation from being complete. They wanted to claim their body but they couldn't do it with another one in the way. They needed to drag him to Hell.
Only one may enter! JUST ONE!
"Give it up kid. Join your brother down there already. With all the bad stuff he's done, he's most likely kickin' it with the Devil!" Den grinned, no longer looking like Wakko, but a total and complete demon.
Wakko had never been more scared in his life! Nothing he had been through up to this point had been more terrifying! This was a bout that would determine not only his life, but the fate of his eternal soul! The road to eternal suffering and damnation was at the edge of this tunnel and these scary, moaning spirits were having an easy time pulling his destroyed and exhausted body towards the Devil's playground!
He was just moving on instinct now. He knew that there was no other choice. He had to keep moving through all these souls, all these spirits, and work against their flow.
"I CAN FEEL IT! YAKKO IS STILL HERE! COME ON YAKKO!" Wakko shouted out loud, starting to lose his flow. He was being carried back towards the edge. It was hopeless. He barely had any strength.
The closer Wakko got towards the edge, the more Den's body started to transform. "Oh man. I'm so close. I feel it. Half of my body has turned. When I go out there, it's all over!" Den's voice was a demonic echo now.
Wakko knew this was it. If he finished transforming there was no going back. Instantly, he'd be unstoppable and all he'd have to do is open the door again to spread his power everywhere. All his friends would go crazy and they'd kill each other. The world over would be doomed.
Wakko had started to cry as soon as the spirits had gotten a hold of him but now he was hysterical and overcome with fear!
"Come on! Just a little more!" The transforming Den kept urging his new partners on. "It's time we showed them all what the hatred of the damned can really do!" Den felt the transformation go down towards his knees. He was almost complete.
Wakko was almost at the point of no return. The edge of the point at the end of the tunnel was a light. The light was the edge of a waterfall. The waterfall went down.
Way down.
Wakko felt his eyes start to over flow with tears as he kept struggling to go back but it wasn't working. He was reaching the edge.
"YAKKO! PLEASE HELP MEEEEE~!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! He's not gonna show! He probably gave up and jumped down there willingly, the depressed little twerp!" Den screeched with his newfound sharp teeth.
Wakko pushed and prodded, feeling the spirits tangle him up and carry him over the edge.
"NO! NOOO!" Wakko screamed outloud. "Please… big brother…"
Wakko started to fall down the waterfall.
"WAAAAAAAH!" Wakko heard himself scream as he started to plummet…
And then he stopped.
Wakko had shut his teary eyes and looked back up. His hand had been grabbed by something. Someone. Wakko's eyes widened and his eyes teared up even more. Snot dripped out his nose and his mouth scrunched up in a bliss of thankfulness.
"YAKKO!" Wakko called out.
And true to his eyes, there he was. The spirit of his brother holding onto his hand the edge of the waterfall.
"I gotcha Wakko!" Yakko's spirit grinned brightly at him. He was happy that he had made it. Navigating through those souls to reach Wakko had been tough. Wakko could see a glow around him that made him feel warm and comfortable. He knew it was him and he was so relieved it was besides.
"Yakko… Yakko… Yakko…" Wakko said his name over and over as he hung over the edge. Down below was an endless abyss that led straight to Hell. There would be no return from it and they both knew it. Wakko was terrified beyond all rational thought and probable understanding. He could only stare at his older brother and cry heavy scared tears and repeat his name over and over.
"Don't worry Wakko. We've gotten through plenty together. We can get through this. Not even the afterlife can beat us!"
"Yakko… Y-Yakko…" Wakko kept repeating his name, his voice really shaky and his mind rather cloudy.
"It's okay. I've got you. Just listen to the sound of my voice. Don't look down. Don't look around me. Don't even look over me. Just look right at my face." Yakko said, pulling Wakko up and back towards the entrance of the Water Tower.
"… Y-Yakko…" Wakko was fidgeting and twitching all over. He was beyond the point of being terrified. The only thing he could do was keep a good grip on his brother's spirit.
"Don't worry. As if I'd willingly go down there. When I said I was gonna repent for what I did, I meant it. That guy came in here expecting only bad spirits with revenge on their minds. But he didn't expect me! I'm a spirit now. If I go into his body, it'll disrupt the flow. When I do that, I'm gonna start kicking all those spirits out of him!"
"…" Wakko was speechless, tears covering his face.
"The instant his spirits are gone, you kick him out the door! They all only have ONE chance at this and if we ruin this chance, they won't be able to do it again!" Yakko said, approaching Den as he stood there with only his feet waiting to be turned into the shape of a demon.
"Al-Almost… there…!" Den grumbled, feeling Yakko head his way.
"The voices in my head told me that they collectively managed to work up this mound of spiritual hatred for over 60 years because of the essence in their very souls. The reason they only get one chance at this is because the essence they're using is the very thing keeping them connected to this tower and this world. If they fail they'll be brought back to the other side with no hope of being able to come back because of how drained their spirits will be. This one moment is as crucial for them just as it is for us! Understand!" Yakko said sternly.
Wakko gave a weak nod. His knees were shaking and he was crying rather hard but he was still paying attention. He was overcome with emotion right now. Extreme happiness at seeing Yakko's spirit, but extreme sadness at the situation they were in, and extreme fear considering how close he still was to the pits of Hell.
"We can do this. Let's do it together little bro!" Yakko said to Wakko.
Wakko gave a weak nod. He was standing a lot more firm in the River Styx now. It must have been the essence of Yakko's spirit helping him keep a much more firm ground. Still, it wouldn't be enough to keep them from completely pushing him over the edge again. He had to do this right.
Yakko's spirit stood back a bit but then raced forward and shot himself right into Den's body!
"GRAH! The hell are you doing!? GET OUT!"
Yakko was flung inside, seeing the endless sea of angry, flowing spirits shoot by his face before he reached the center of Den's soul. He was surrounded by the most terrifying melting faces he had ever seen in his life. Still, Yakko was already dead. He had no reason to fear them! One by one, as they attacked and came his way, Yakko grabbed each spirit he could and started to toss them out.
Wakko looked at Den's feet and saw his body started to reverse itself.
Wakko looked ahead and saw Den screaming his head off and demanding the spirits stay in. They could only possess a body once! They only had enough power to do it once! There was no other way! Getting kicked out meant being permanently locked out of the world of the living forever!
Yakko as a spirit shot throughout Den's body, grabbing at the spirits of the various cartoons and using his own antics on them. He kicked at them, malleted them with a spirit-mallet he pulled from a hammer-space, and headbutted them in the gut all the same.
They were all being flung out one by one!
Wakko stared ahead, teary-eyed, watching his older brother work his magic.
More flashbacks kept coming on. He could see his brother still there beside him, cheering him on to get his scene done correctly. He could see him and Dot going to him for comfort when they got discouraged. He could see him and Dot going to comfort him in return whenever Yakko was the one who was feeling blue. He could see the fights they sometimes had and the laughs they shared afterward, all at the forefront of his mind.
"Yakko… " He heard himself mouth again. "You're really awesome…" He felt even more tears fall.
Yakko's angry, determined, spiritual essence kept knocking all the jealous, depraved, and angry toons out one after another.
"DRAAAAAAH! STOP IT! CUT IT OUT!" Den screamed and launched forward rapidly, colliding into Wakko with his arms. This took Wakko by tremendous surprise as he was barely able to put his hands up to grabble with him. Wakko had so little strength left, it should have been an easy push, but he was pouring literally everything he had left to make sure he didn't get pushed back the other way. His very life energy was being used to grapple with this guy now.
"AAAAARGGGH! LITTLE BRAT! MOVE!"
Wakko managed to push back. The door was still open behind him. It was just a little bit more before the exit was in sight! He couldn't push him back through it until Yakko was done though!
Yakko kept fighting, kicking, pushing, and beating them all out on his own despite how many of them were starting to crowd around.
"Sorry guys! I really am! I know you all lived some rough lives! Even this jerk you're trying to possess did… even I did! I thought similarly to you guys even for a bit! But this isn't the way! I won't let you do this! It's a shame… it really is… and I'm not happy about it… but you guys are dead! You need to go to the other world and stay there!" Yakko sounded really angry and sad when he said all this, his own eyes starting to fill with tears.
He went around and booted out every single one that tried to stop him. He was a successful toon for a reason after all. On the outside of Den's body, his transformation started to sink. He felt it lowering and lowering more and more until only his head was still in the shape of a demon.
"… You're not… You'll not take this from me… I waited 60 years for this! YOU WON'T!" Den screamed and lifted up Wakko without warning. He laughed and squeezed his body with the intention of tossing him down the River Styx and back down the waterfall with all his remaining strength. "So long as I'm just a head, I'll still be able to take control of the world on the outside! Goodbye Warner brat! I was your biggest fan!"
Wakko heard his ear-splitting laughter come out after he had said that and growled at him. With one last determined reach, he managed to poke the guy in the eyes! Den growled and shut them closed, not letting Wakko go. He instead arched Wakko back and went to throw him.
However, with his eyes closed, he failed to notice Wakko's tail!
Wakko quickly wrapped his tail around the guy's arms as he went to throw him forward! He instead went forward and swung back around with a punch to Den's face!
Den stumbled back and was now at the edge of the door.
Yakko wasn't tired at all. He was dead after all. He kept punching and kicking the spirits out… that is until two of them took him by surprise and started to push him towards the edge of Den's body!
"UGH! Darnit! Only two left and I got caught by them both!" Yakko screeched in frustration as he fought against being the one kicked out. Even two spirits would have been enough for this to be a success. He couldn't let it happen.
Wakko stayed latched to Den, holding onto him from the front with his tail wrapped around his arm.
"Little brat! Let go!" Den shouted and punched Wakko in the face over and over and over again. Wakko bled on through. He wasn't letting go! NO WAY!
Yakko felt the two of them push him towards the edge. He knew he was close to being flung from the body. He had one more ace up his sleeve but it was risky, seeing as how his hands were already occupied…
Wakko kept getting his face punched in over and over. He held on but realistically, knew that he was losing consciousness. With a loss of consciousness met a loss of a grip. Yakko needed to hurry!
Yakko knew he was out of time. It was now or never.
With a swift move, Yakko flung his feet up and pressed them both to the chests of the two remaining spirits. He was now in a more vulnerable position on his back with the two of them grappling with both their hands against his own. He was obviously over powered in the area of hands but when it came to the leverage he was getting with his feet, he knew he could hack it!
Wakko was now glassy eyed. Den punched him again and again and again until finally, Wakko ended up letting go and falling back into the river of souls.
Den laughed and laughed hard, quickly turning around to leave with the two remaining ones inside of him!
"RAAAAH!" Yakko had summoned all the strength he could and pushed with all his might. His spirit was a strong one indeed as he was able to push the two souls out of Den's body by using the feet he had placed to their stomachs and sent them spiraling out the back!
Den was about to exit when he saw the last two souls leave his body!
"Wh-What-?!" Den's eyes widened and he felt his face. It was no longer the face of a demon! It was his normal Wakko look-alike face!
"NOW!" Yakko shouted loud enough for Wakko to hear.
"With one swift motion, Wakko called forth every last inch of his remaining strength and punched through the river of souls to jet back out at Den. Den turned slowly to see Wakko's angry face flying right at him and a fist with his name on it collided with the side of his face!
"SEE THAT!? MY BROTHER'S SOUL WAS STRONGER THEN ALL THOSE OLD FOGIES PUT TOGETHER!"
Wakko screamed this as he successfully knocked Den right back out of the opening they came in! Den's surprised mouth hung open as Wakko's fist dug into the man's mechanical eye, making it break into pieces while still in his socket! The two of them fell out the Water Tower, and fell over the railing, and plummeted straight down and onto the ground!
It was a hard landing.
...
Wakko coughed out more blood as he looked up at the tower with his eyes half-open.
The aura around it was gone.
The spirits had failed to claim their vessel in time.
It was done.
Wakko grinned, despite still shaking in fear of what had just transpired. He looked to the side and saw Den, lying on the ground, looking straight up.
He was bleeding from the mouth but other than that, he was awake… and drained.
"So that's it then… isn't it?… My 60-year-long plan just up and fails just like that…" Den's eyes shook a bit, staring intensely upward. "I was so close… TOO close…" Den raised his hand at the still red and black colored sky before clenching his fist.
He wasn't even happy that the world had been devastated by him still...
Wakko stared at him. He couldn't move. His body had been spent. There was no energy left.
"Do you still feel Yakko inside of you?" Wakko asked.
Den laid there and remained quiet for a good few seconds before answering. "No. That spirit left me the instant I was pushed out of the tower."
Wakko's heart skipped a beat. "S-So where is it now?!"
"How should I know?" Den muttered, completely solemn and lifeless with his manner of speech.
Wakko stared ahead, really scared all of a sudden. Did his spirit just fly to the other world then? He couldn't be gone could he?
"WAKKO!" Runt's voice echoed across the way as the dog approached his location.
Wakko's teary eyes started to water again. He turned his head slightly to see the dog coming at him. "Runt?"
"I'm sorry. Definitely, definitely sorry. I know yous told me to wait with Rita but she told me to come back to you and I couldn't say no to Rita. You know? I'm real sorry." Runt bowed his head.
"N-No… that's okay. I'm glad you came back." Wakko said. "Please, put me over your back. I can't move a single inch right now. I think I can turn my head and my hands I can twitch a little bit but that's about it."
"Oh! Oh okay!" Runt went down and bit on Wakko's collar. He then hoisted the rag-doll of a Warner over his back and started to go. He then stopped and looked back, seeing the man still lying there.
"Um… what about him?" Runt asked.
The red and black sky was finally starting to clear up, revealing the just as dark rain clouds that had been fighting to cut through the whole time. Droplets started to pour down on them a lot quicker then before.
Wakko looked over at the man lying flat on his back and grumbled. "Just leave him be."
Runt looked at him and sighed. "Okay."
The two of them took off, leaving the guy to lay there and stare up at the clouds.
The dog ran through the oncoming rain, the storm clouds letting lightning strike through next and thunder boom as the area started to get more and more drenched.
This was good for the city since it was entirely on fire still from the attacks from before. Looking to his side he could see countless bodies spread about. Many of them were dead. A sizable amount was just the ones that had gone crazy and had passed out when the aura driving them insane had disappeared.
Wakko knew full well that the entire world had pretty much been devastated. So many lives were lost and he felt a bit bad about caring so much about the survival of his brother when other people not even involved directly in the conflict had lost so much…
Still he needed to be sure. He just wouldn't be able to live anymore if he had failed!
Runt skidded to a stop where Rita and Yakko had been left.
"Rita! I'm back! And I brought Wakko!" Runt spoke up before going wide-eyed. Wakko stared ahead, slumped over the dog's body but was able to look ahead well enough to spot what made Runt reel in shock.
Wakko's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
Rita was crying as she looked at the figure she had been watching over since they had left. "Oh my… miracles do happen don't they?"
Sitting there on the wet ground, rubbing the back of his head was his big brother.
Yakko Warner; he was alive.
Wakko felt his wide-eyes cloud over once again. His reserve of strength was gone so he couldn't move but Runt could tell by the look on his face what he wanted to do. The dog rushed over to Yakko and skidded to the side, letting Wakko slide off his back and into the warm embrace of his older brother.
"Yakko!" Wakko's head was brushed up against his brother's chest as he cried. He couldn't help smiling despite the destruction and devastation that surrounded them both. He just couldn't help crying along with the Heavens above.
Yakko held his younger brother close to him and rested his head against the top of Wakko's head.
"Yeah… it's me. Thanks for coming to get me out of there. It's just like I told you, no matter what's standing in our way we can fight through it. Whether it be poverty or cancellation or the devil himself…!" Yakko pulled his brother into a tighter embrace.
"Right… I'll be sure not to forget that again…" Wakko cried silently, his eyes closed and his smile warm and bright.
Despite the atmosphere around them, the two of them felt no urgency to move away from where they were. The soldiers had backed off a while ago. Runt and Rita were content with watching. It was just the two of them.
Soon, and without even realizing, Wakko's body sent a signal to his brain that finally it was okay to shut down. With that, Wakko's beyond exhausted body, fell asleep in his brother's arms.