February 10, 2006 10:25 pm
Underneath Toontown, Bugs drove the Warners onward through the earthy tunnels. The looney rabbit never gave the kids a chance to slow down or dawdle. No one spoke, only panted. Bugs blew off steam by chasing the Warners' tails all the way home. When they arrived in the garden, Yakko was the first one above ground. Bugs let the Warners scramble upward. If not for a reasonable amount of restraint, the rabbit would have physically booted the kids out of the burrow. Bugs leapt up, finding the petrified Warners staring at him. The rabbit glowered, and pointed to the front door. The Warners scurried to the castle. When Yakko yanked the grand doors open, he had half the mind to slam them shut in Buster's face. Wakko noticeably gasped at the sight of the blue rabbit. Clyde was there too, but the Warners hardly acknowledged him. Bugs lightly shoved the Warner siblings over the threshold, to make his way in. The heavy door latched close like rolling thunder. Bugs marched away from the younger toons, with his fists clenched at his sides.
"Family meeting. Dat means you too, Buster." The grey rabbit informed. Hesitantly, the five younger toons followed some distance behind Bugs. Yakko and Buster walked shoulder to shoulder, as did Wakko and Clyde. Dot lingered in the back of the group.
"Thanks a lot, Traitor." Yakko hissed under his breath. Buster looked alarmed.
"What?!" The tiny toon exclaimed.
"Next time we need help stabbing our own backs, we'll call you." Yakko growled.
"I had to do something..." Buster began.
"You're one to talk, Yakko." Clyde interupted. "And Wakko and Dot. You guys locked me in a room and ran away!"
"Put a sock in it, Clyde. You weren't hurt." Yakko snapped.
"On the outside." Clyde huffed.
"It's not like we could risk putting our faith in you. You're too loyal to Bugs for your own good." Dot claimed. Clyde looked ready to defend himself and his uncle's good name, but Dot shot back first. "That's why you lied to cover up Art too." She blamed. The Warner brothers glared accusingly at Clyde.
"That makes you just as guilty as Bugs." Wakko stated as a matter of fact. Clyde nervously glanced at Buster. But the blue rabbit kept his back to Clyde, with his eyes trained ahead.
"I was waiting for Uncle Bugs to tell you." Clyde cautiously admitted.
"Yeah, right!" The Warners chorused. The group halted suddenly when Bugs opened a door for them. Yakko slowly lead the way into the light emerald office space, the same place he hacked Bugs' computer for a hint of Oswald's identity. A chill ran down Yakko's spine. He dreaded he and his sibs were in even more trouble than Bugs let on. The looney rabbit held the door until Yakko, Buster, Wakko, Clyde, and Dot walked into the office.
"Wait here." Bugs ordered, and shut the door on the five toons. Yakko took the opportunity to corner Buster.
"You promised you wouldn't turn stool pigeon." Yakko berated. Buster folded his arms and eyed the wall to avoid Yakko. He didn't need to be lectured about what was at stake. "I thought you were supposed to help us." Yakko continued.
"I did help you. I told you everything I know about Art, didn't I?" Buster spoke up.
"Yeah, and then you ratted us out to Bugs!" Yakko argued.
"It was the right thing to do! As your friend, I told you the truth. Also as your friend, I never should've let you go kidnapper hunting or whatever." Buster hastily justified. Buster's complete lack of faith in the Warners' toony abilities shocked Yakko. Animation wise, Buster and Yakko were both drawn to be fourteen years old. Yet the blue rabbit treated the Warners like infants: So Yakko thought.
"We were doing just fine at that party!" Yakko shouted. "We're zany, for Friz's sake! Do you really think we can't handle another bad guy?!"
"No!" Buster cried. "I know you can! That's why I had to stop you!" Yakko's jaw twitched awkwardly.
"What do you mean?" The teen Warner spat out. The blue rabbit fidgeted nervously with his gloves. Sweat drops rolled down his face. With every word Buster dug his grave deeper, and Yakko showed him no mercy. Stares from three sets of black eyes and one set of blue, urged Buster to keep talking.
"I know you guys can handle anything. You're too crazy to quit until you get what you want. But that's your problem." Buster responded bitterly. He scowled at Yakko. "You think you're invincible, but you'll just burn out trying to find Art. Just like Bugs did." Buster warned. Something struck Yakko mentally. A lightbulb sparked in his mind. 'I just wanna know why Bugs kept his son a secret.'
"Who said anything about finding Art?" Yakko wondered out loud. Buster's eyes shifted to the right for half a second. Sensing a change, Wakko and Dot moved to Yakko's side to defend him. "You didn't talk to Bugs because it was the right thing to do. You snitched because you don't want us searching for Art." Yakko speculated.
"It's a lost cause!" Buster yelled.
"I don't think you believe that, Buster." Yakko challenged.
"Yakko..." Dot gasped. Yakko didn't take back a word.
"What?! You're insane!" Buster exclaimed.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Wakko, the least keen on badgering Buster, remarked. Dot picked up on the unintentional cue.
"Is it a bad thing, Buster? To search for Art?" The cutest Warner inquired.
"Yes!" Buster blurted without thinking.
"Why shouldn't we look for Art?" Yakko sternly interrogated.
"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT ART TO COME BACK!" Buster hollered.
"SHUT UP!" Clyde exploded. The tiny rabbit's shrill voice silenced all noise in the office. Shakily, the kit vented out his anger. Buster and the Warners whipped their heads towards Clyde. To their right, the elevator doors surprisingly slid open. Bugs numbly walked into his office, with a burgundy book in hand. He took Clyde in his arms, and gently placed the book on his desk. Solemnly, Bugs rounded the desk, took a seat in his chair, and hugged the distraught kit on his lap. Buster and the Warners unsurely waited for some sort of signal from Bugs.
"C'mere. I won't bite." Bugs sighed tiredly. Yakko, Buster, Wakko, and Dot approached the desk. "I won't yell anymore." Bugs promised. "Neider will anyone else. So we can all stop screamin' at each uddah like a pack of foxes. Undahstood?" Bugs stated sternly. Buster and the Warners nodded. "So, about me son. How much do ya t'ree know?" The guardian rabbit inquired.
"As much as he does." Wakko answered, pointing to Buster. Bugs rubbed over his eyelids, pondering.
"Okay." Bugs mumbled. The looney tune addressed the children he mentored with a dire tone he never used before. "What you kids need ta know right now, is dat... everyt'ing I do is ta protect you. All of you." Bugs declared. He nudged the burgundy book towards them.
"Go ahead. Look." Bugs permitted. Wakko dared to touch the book cover. The middle Warner flipped to a random laminated page. Suddenly Art Bunny's life was laid out before the young toons in photographs. In the top left picture the little grey, dark eyed kit fed carrots to a non-animated donkey. Below that was a photo of Art, wearing half an ice cream sundae on his face. Buster eagerly turned pages. In other photographs, Art played the guitar, rode his bike, ran in blurred motion with Road Runner, and played hopscotch on his hands. To Yakko, Art was no longer the stuff of legends. Of course Yakko still imagined the kit as Bugs' perfect protégé. But now he knew Art was a regular toon kid too.
"Art and Clyde were my whole woild. When we lost Art and Salem, I felt like I couldn't breathe. And it only got... hardah n' hardah ta breathe as da months went by." Bugs shuddered. The grey rabbit held his nephew a little tighter. "During Tiny Toon Adventures' run, I struggled da most. I was at constant war with meself, makin' sacrifices for my son or my students. Eventually it all became too much, and I had ta make da choice... ta help da kids who was here, instead of da kids who was missin'." The rabbit grimly confessed. Subconsciously, Bugs looked to Buster for forgiveness. The two had this talk before. "I'd nevah say time heals all wounds. But den time can make a good anesthetic." Bugs riddled. "I'm sorry if I evah neglected ya for Art's case, Doc." He apologized to Buster.
"It's not your fault, Teach." Buster sympathized. "He was your son. You were still grieving." Yakko glared suspiciously at the tiny toon's apparent change of attitude.
"So, correct me if I'm wrong." Yakko interrupted. "Your son was kidnapped, and it's painful to talk about forevermore. That's the only reason you never mentioned Art to us?" The eldest Warner inquired.
"I almost wish I had a bettah reason. But dat's th' truth." Bugs admitted.
"So you adopted us because you didn't want any more toon kids, especially three orphans, to go missing." Dot figured. Bugs' gaze fell to the desk. He remained silent for a suspenseful amount of time. There was no going back from here, Bugs accepted. The rabbit slowly met his former students' eyes again.
"Dat n' more. I nevah wanted you t'ree ta go missin'... or be found." Bugs revealed. His former students glanced to each other in shock and confusion. Their hands gripped the edge of the desk anxiously. The photo album was completely forgotten. "I had a responsibility ta protect you t'ree long before you was drawn. It's da biggest secret I evah kept from anybody." Bugs informed. Finally Clyde showed signs of animation as he curiously peeked up at his uncle. "Talk about Art all ya want. But what I'm about ta tell ya nevah leaves dis room. Is dat crystal clear?" Bugs steadily proclaimed. Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and Buster nodded. "Clyde?" Bugs checked.
"Uh-huh." The kit muttered.
"Good." Bugs acknowledged. The rabbit started off his tragic tale. "It all began in mid December, nineteen eighty-t'ree. My good ol' pal Mickey Mouse, stopped by da house ta ask me a favor. Walt Disney left a... magically cryptic last will. Da mouse, or rathah his creator, drafted me ta help decrypt some t'ings." The four young toons scowled skeptically. This story sounded like a thread only Bugs Bunny could spin.
"Are you serious?" Buster critiqued.
"As serious as I'll evah be." Bugs insisted. "Walt had somet'in' in mind for Mickey aftah he passed, and da mouse needed my help ta find it." He further explained. The term 'it' puzzled Buster and the Warners.
"Did he have lots of money buried somewhere?" Wakko asked. The edge of Bugs' mouth hinted an amused smile.
"No. Far from money." Bugs answered. "But dat's anoddah story. Da point bein', I was recruited ta help find da gold at th' end of da rainbow." He continued. "We was sent ta Two Tone Town ta track down some old toons. One of which was Sadie Cat, alias Ortensia Cat." Bugs noticed Wakko and Dot silently gasped. "I really had no idea da trouble Walt was gettin' me into. We showed up on Ortensia's doorstep in Two Tone Town with nothin' planned, nothin' ta say. She opened da door, n' gave us a mute earful. Basically she told Mickey what for in sign language, and slammed da door in our faces. Dat's when everyt'ing changed." Bugs indicated. "I knocked on da door, n' she tried ta pound me with a springed boxing glove. I dodged n' let myself in. Da mouse and I had an agenda ta speak with her, and I wouldn't be toined away so easily. Well Miss Cat tore da whole house apart tryin' ta kick me out. In all th' chaos, I accidentally picked up somet'ing of hers in me hammahspace." The looney rabbit told.
"How exactly does a toon accidentally use his hammerspace?" Dot interrogated. Bugs graciously diverted from the grave topic, even if only for a moment.
"Remember I always taught ya ta have a back-up hammahspace aside from da one on your back?" Bugs reminded his former students. "Dat cat lodged somet'ing in me ear by mistake." Bugs specified. "It wasn't until th' next morning I loined what had happened. I plucked an inkwell outta me ear. An inkwell with a name on it." The grey rabbit disclosed. Bugs wondered if he needed to explain what his actions meant in inkblot society.
"What was the name?" Wakko questioned.
"O.R. Junior." Bugs sighed. Suddenly Buster and the Warners voiced their comments, questions, and concerns in a loud incoherent noise. It seemed they understood the tragedy of Ortensia and her essentially unborn child all too well. Bugs blew a sharp whistle to silence them. "One at a time! Dot, shoot!" Bugs commanded.
"What happened to Ortensia and Oswald's baby?!" Dot inquired. 'Ortensia and Oswald?' Yakko echoed mentally.
"Wait, wait. Rewind a sec." Yakko interjected.
"Ybab s'dlawsO dna aisnetrO ot deneppah tahw." Dot obliged. Yakko paused to give his sister a half amused glance.
"Ahhh... Am I missing something? Are Oswald and this cat an item?" Yakko wondered.
"You met Oswald and his wife at the party just before Bugs caught up to us." Dot recapped, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, we weren't exactly properly introduced." The eldest Warner countered.
"Alright. That'll do, Docs." Bugs placated to cease the siblings' oncoming bickering. "It was my duty to retoin da inkwell ta Ortensia. Mickey and I went back to her residence at th' break of dawn. Howevah, da place was empty n' abandoned when we got der'. Th' cat skipped town." Bugs answered solemnly.
"And Oswald?" Dot wondered.
"He was... traveling da woild at da time." Bugs phrased carefully. The black rabbit's near fatal habits were better left unsaid. "So I held onto th' inkwell for a couple weeks, until one day in January... it slipped from me hand. To dis day, I don't know how, I don't know exactly when, but I lost th' inkwell somewhere on da Warnah Brothahs studio lot." He recalled sorrowfully.
"That's why Oswald hates you." Wakko learned. Something in Wakko's words surprised Bugs. Not that they weren't true, but still surprising.
"Who did ya hear dat from?" The grey rabbit queried.
"Mickey. When you were talking on the phone, he said Oswald didn't hate you anymore. But you didn't believe him because..." Wakko trailed off.
"I overheard you on the phone yesterday." Yakko clarified. "I got suspicious when you wouldn't tell us we were invited to Oswald's party. And it was my idea to sneak out of the house." Yakko admitted, taking full responsibility. "I'm sorry, Bugs. I had no idea." He genuinely apologized.
"It's alright, Doc. I was in da wrong too. I nevah should've kept secrets from you kids, no mattah how much da truth hoits." Bugs retuned. "Dat's why I gotta be straight with ya now, n' hope ya can forgive me." Before the kids could ask any more questions, Bugs let the cat out of the bag. "I know what happened ta th' ink in O.R. Junior's inkwell." He declared. Swiftly, Clyde squirmed out of Bugs' arms, and hopped up on the desk.
"What?!" The kit squeaked. This was obviously news even to him. Bugs nodded in affirmation.
"Bugs, what did you do?" Buster beseeched. He could only imagine the worst. Carefully Bugs took one last look at Clyde, with a bleak hope that someone may still trust him after the night.
"Toons were brought ta life from dat ink. I didn't witness what happened, but when I hoid da stories I knew dat inkwell had ta be da cause of it." Bugs recalled. "As I hoid it, paintahs were ready ta paint in da foist living cel of t'ree new toon stars. An old inkwell spilled out and th' black ink took shape ovah t'ree anthropomorphic ducks. It weren't no ink splatter either. Witnesses say it looked as if da lifeless toons was paintin' themselves. Th' ducks was all goofed up with black ink over green feathers, long mammalian ears and tails, and such. It coulda all ended der'. Da cell coulda been scrapped and th' anomaly coulda been forgotten. Luckily th' animation director was in th' room and felt inspired. With a lot of touching up, and reuse of da classic ink for good luck, th' animation team tried again. Dey was aiming for ducks, but what dey got was you t'ree: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot." Bugs confessed. Clyde and Buster stared at the Warners like they had become complete strangers. Similarly, the Warners perceived their rabbit 'family' in a dimmer light. To cope, Wakko clumsily backed away from the desk and pulled on his ears. Yakko looked horrorstricken into Bugs' eyes. Dot picked up Art's photo album, and threw it on the floor.
"All this time we had a real mom and dad?!" Dot cried in outrage.
"Yeah. A real mom who abandoned us, and a real dad who's never around." Yakko muttered pessimistically.
"Shut up, Yakko!" Dot snapped without thinking. "How could you do this to us?" Dot demanded of Bugs.
"I did my best ta keep ya safe." Bugs proclaimed. "You t'ree were my responsibility before and afta' you was animated ta life. But den ya became my family too. Even now I find I love ya too much ta let you go." Emotion seemed to drain from Bugs' face with every word. A twenty-two year old secret no longer weighed on his chest. But he didn't feel any better; just tired. "What's done is done. Now it's best ya nevah see Oswald n' his kin evah again." Bugs stated stoically.
"What?!" The Warners gasped.
"But that's not fair!" Dot argued. Bugs stood up from his seat, signaling that the private discussion was over. With a blank expression, he rounded the desk and picked Art's photo album off the floor. Dot expected to hear a lecture for her disrespect, but none came.
"Off ta bed. We'll talk more in da morning." Bugs signed off. "Buster, walk with me." The looney rabbit invited. Bugs strolled to the office's doorway, and held the door open to dismiss his charges. Buster obediently joined Bugs at his side. One by one, the Warners plus Clyde filed out of the room. Dot's heavy steps paused at the exit. She glared up at Bugs.
"They deserve to know we're alive." Dot asserted in a low whisper. Bugs wasn't fazed. Clearly he stood by his judgement.
"Goodnight, Princess." The rabbit said calmly. Defeated, Dot stormed off. Meanwhile, Yakko kept a comforting hand on Wakko's shoulder, and led him up to their rooms. The brothers roamed ruby red hallways and a golden railed stairwell without haste. By Bugs' description, this was their last chance to move about freely, for a long time. When Dot stampeded by them, Yakko made a mental note to check up on her after lights out. He imagined bringing Wakko along too, so the Warners Three could take the most logical course of action during this state of crisis: Hide under the covers, and pretend nothing bad ever happened.
Yakko pictured the three hunkered under a pink blanket tent on Dot's bed. Dot would have her say about Bugs. But big brother Yakko, would qualm her fears by whispering haunting tales into a flashlight. Letting go of his daydream, Yakko agreed with himself to distract his siblings with plenty of ghost stories. He would tell his siblings anything to get their frightened and agitated minds off... their parents. In one night Yakko, Wakko, and Dot found themselves caught between two broken families. Rabbit and Bunny. Disney and Warner Brothers. Lucky for Yakko, there was no contest. He knew which toon was family and which studio was home. He and his siblings just had to carry Bugs' secret burden now. Yakko could cope, as long as Wakko and Dot could do the same. Together.
Yakko knew the Bunny family of five did not stick together this long, because of a secret. It took love, laughs, and some sticky tree sap. Yakko started to cheer up. He trusted that Wakko and Dot would be back on Bugs' side in no time. Their family would stick together for years to come, just the same. In his musing, Yakko's hand slipped from Wakko's shoulder. Wakko immediately grasped his brother's hand. Yakko looked down with some alarm.
"What's the matter?" Yakko asked out of habit. Wakko paused, looking anywhere but up.
"I miss Oswald." Wakko whimpered.