Hey! I'm back! Thanks to preciouslittletoonette for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who's favourited and followed this thus far.
See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.
*Approximately 5 and a half hours later*
"There." Marvin removed himself from the underside of Sam's newly-fixed car, with an air of someone reaching the end of his tether. "You will not find a more ready-to-go car than that, Yosemite."
Wile.E closed the bonnet of the car and, handing a tool of some kind to Raodie, gave a thumbs up.
The others all hopped down/stood away from the bits of the car that they were working on, revealing the whole thing in it's shiny, gold-painted glory to Sam.
It was beautiful, the pirate thought while staring at it in amazement. It had been good before, but now it was great! The two canon muzzles that stuck out the end of the car had been modified so they were now ready to hold anything and Wile.E had done something with the amount of stuff the car could hold so it was, in a word, better.
Sam smiled and ran his hands over the paintwork. "It's as good as new." He said, trying not to get to emotional. "I-I don't know how ta thank ya all."
"You know..." Pepe said, coming over to stand next to Sam and putting his hand on the car door in what could only be described as a seductive manner. "We technically still have ze time? You could probably still run ze race if you wanted...?"
Sam gave it serious consideration, but then shook his head reluctantly. "Nah. I ah couldn't do that. Not when we're missing several relatives. I mean...if it all ends up coming down to the last couple of hours ah don't wanna be thinkin' 'if only I hadn't run that race!' Ya know wha' ah mean? Besides. The track does darn go on forever. Nah, les leave it."
Just at that exact moment day turned into night, as it tended to do. There were no sunsets or sunrises in the serververse, [unless you lived in a live-action world, such as Harry Potter] the sun just went up and down without any warning.
With a cry of alarm Bugs signalled to Marvin and the Martian sped-walked towards him with a placating: "Do not worry yourself, my furry brother, I have a torch somewhere in my hammerspa-"
"What?" Bugs looked at him like he'd lost the plot. "Oi'm not scared of de dark, Marvin. Oi scurry me little hide through pitch-black tunnels most of the time, how can I be scared of de dark? No, I want ta plan wit' ya where we're going next as - and you may not have noticed this - IT'S DE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"
Marvin's eyes narrowed and he put his hands on his hips. "I appreciate this is a stressful time for us all, Bugs, but if you would kindly refrain from shouting at me-"
"Who's shouting?" Bugs yelled.
Marvin's eyes narrowed even further so they were practically one eye and he said, with dignity. "I shall attribute your attitude to both your concern about our siblings and lack of sleep. Now-" Marvin began, his tone, bearing and general attitude reminding everyone why he was in charge of a planet and they were not. "-Listen to me and listen well. We are nearly out of both water and fuel. We forgot to bring food with us, although I am willing to take responsibility for that as it is my ship, and we now have a car to transport. So I propose we go back to Warner Brothers Central for 12 hours exactly. I shall stock the ship with supplies and fill it up with fuel, Sam can take his car somewhere it won't be a nuisance and we can all get some rest. We'll then head straight off and decide who to get next after we all have clearer minds." There was a pause during which Marvin looked at Bugs like he was expecting a reply.
Bugs blinked back at him, trying to process what he'd just said. His head felt foggy. He ran a hand across his forehead and smiled what he hoped was a nice smile and not a deranged one.
Marvin cleared his throat and said, slowly and clearly. "I propose we do that right this minute as - as you keep reminding us - time is off the essence. Is anyone against that plan?" He asked, looking round at the rest of the group.
If Bugs had been thinking clearly he'd have seen that everyone else was completely cool with Marvin's idea even Tweety, who had been on edge for about the last 10 hours, seemed happy with it.
As he was not thinking clearly, however - far from it, he was tired, hungry, stressed and worried - Bugs said with the kind of ferocity you might expect from a wolf, should you ever meet one. "Okay, Oi get it. Ya want ta leave our family alone to fight for dere lives!" Voice rising, he spat. "Granny an' Speedy are in 'The Matrix'! Dey could be dead-!"
"Bugs!" Penelope cut in, with an urgent nod at Tweety, who had gone ashen.
Not even noticing her Bugs steamrolled on. "-Or bein' attacked or somethin'! Sentient A.I's who knows what damage dey cahn do! An' Porky and Daffy are in DC World! An Lola's dere as well! Villains! Superhero's! Oi mean sure-" Bugs rambled, his voice becoming progressively higher-pitched as his body also started to shake. "All de times we've been dere it's been fine, bit who knows now? Acid vaults! Incineration rays! Plants! That..." Here Bugs struggled for a few seconds to find the words, then managed to grasp them. "...weird egg man...what was his name? - Humpty Dumpty! I mean-" At this point Bugs found himself unable to talk properly and made motions with his arms that, to him, represented sewing and to everyone else represented a nervous breakdown. "Oi mean..." He repeated. Slowing down now he looked at his family with wide eyes and a trembling frame, saying in a small voice. "...Oi don't know what I mean." Before bursting into tears.
There was a long pause while the others tried to remember the last time they saw Bugs cry. Genuinely cry I mean, not for a cartoon or the like. Quite a while ago now...
It was Penelope who finally got enough wits about her to go and actually comfort the rabbit. Making soothing noises and reassuring him that Daffy, Porky and Lola would probably be fine as would the rest of the family, she enveloped him in a hug.
One by one the other toons moved in and hugged Bugs as well. It took a while but eventually the rabbits breathing evened out and he started calming down. A little while longer and Bugs said, somewhat shakily. "Okay...Oi'm alright now. Jus' lost me senses for a few minutes."
"It's perfectly logical." Wile.E said, in what was meant to be a reassuring manner, but came across as lecturing. "This has been a stressful time and the human - or in your case - the rabbit mind can only deal with so much. After a short while-"
It was at this point that Roadie elbowed his twin and held up a sign that said. 'I don't think he needs a lecture, Wile.E.'
Wile.E, massaging his arm, saw this and muttered something agreeable.
"Marvin-" Bugs muttered, sounding exhausted. "-take over will ya? Oi don't feel good." And he sat down and put his head in his hands.
"Right." Marvin wasted no time. "Wile.E and Roadie pick Bugs up and carry him back to the ship. It's clear the poor rabbit's suffering a nervous breakdown of some sort. We'll do what I said. Hopefully sleep will restore everyone's minds. Let's not waste any time now, Wile.E, Roadie?"
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Meanwhile, watching all this from the monitors Pete smiled [as much as a blob can smile] and dreamed about what it would be like if he could be so lucky as to be one of the 'Looney Tunes'. He didn't see why it couldn't work. HIs jelly-like body was practically made for squashing under anvils...
After indulging this fantasy for more than a few minutes Pete slapped himself and started checking the other monitors.
Elmer was still fine. No change there then. Still showing a resistance to Mama's Yak Stew and the like, but that was understandable.
Gossamer and Witch Hazel...Pete zoomed in and grimaced a little. Interesting. Very interesting. Amazing how people will change when you give them a little power...
On the bright side the guards were reacting well to Hazel. Pete had been worried about that...
Granny and Speedy...Pete zoomed in just in time for a fighting scene. Pete winced...he'd never seen a handbag used quite like that before...
Lola...still good. She was certainly improving. All that training must be paying off.
And finally Daffy and Porky. Last time they'd been fine...
Pete zoomed in and - ah. How interesting. He leaned forward and linked his tentacles together. Really, he should have expected this. What was it Rhythm always said? There are ways round everything? How clever...
His last thoughts, before he stopped his monitoring for a few hours, was to wonder how the other toons would react to this?
If anyone wants to hazard a guess as to where Elmer as well as Witch Hazel and Gossamer are, feel free!