Chapter 4

Wakko woke up to the sound of traffic, like he had every morning for the past few weeks. He say up, yawned, then looked around. Yakko was still asleep, curled up next to Dot, and Rita was gone, probably off looking for food.

He stood up, then thought a moment. His memories of the past were fuzzy, but Wakko realized that as long as he could remember, he had been following Yakko around. Not that he had a problem of this, he loved his big brother, but just for once he'd like to be able to go off exploring on his own. And now seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The first thing Yakko felt when he woke up was that that something was wrong. A quick glance around and he knew what it was: Wakko was missing! He got up at once and completely (and frantically) searched the shelter they were in (under the deck of an abandoned building), but came to the sad conclusion that Wakko was gone.

He also noticed that Rita was missing, but he wasn't too worried about her; she was smart and knew her way around the city. Wakko on the other hand..

Yakko crawled outside, then stood up and looked around. Noone was walking along the sidewalk this early in the morning, but there was still a lot of cars on the road. Suddenly Yakko had a horrible thought; what if Wakko had wandered into traffic somewhere? He shook his head as if to push that thought away, took a deep breath, and went off to look for his brother.

For once, Wakko was the center of attention. Bored and curious, he wandered into a schoolyard, planning on playing on the playground equipment. Scampering excitedly over to the slide, he came to a halt as a loud buzzing noise filled the air. Suddenly kids began to pour out of the building like a yelling, screaming, hyperactive tidlewave. They ran this way and that, calling to each other and trying to get to things first.

Terrified, Wakko climbed to the top of the big kid's slide and clung to the railing for his life. His wild imagination began to run loose, and soon he was convinced that he was on the top of a cliff, with a tribe of cannibals below him.

A young human toon girl with bright red hair and rather large front teeth reached the top of the slide.

"Move!" She snapped at Wakko, then gave him a small shove. Terrified, Wakko clung to the railing desperately howling. The girl glared.

"Move it you little brat before I shove you off here myself!"

After a moment, Wakko realized that yelling at the top of his lungs wasn't working, so he turned to face the girl and made a weird face at her. Puffing out his cheeks, and making his eyes all swirly, the effect was rather.. strange.

"What kind of a face is that?" The girl demanded, but after a moment she began to get the giggles.

"Stop it!" She ordered to the young Warner boy between fits of laughter. Wakko just peered over the edge of the slide, took a deep breath and went for it.

"Wheeee!" He giggled, then landed on the ground with a soft 'thud'. A young girl about the age of 13, a mink, came over to him. She was dressed in a maroon pleated skirt, cream colored blouse, and a large maroon bow was tied around her golden blond tail. A pair of glasses rested upon her nose, and she was clutching a book to her chest as if to protect it.

"Hey look, Minerva likes the freak kid!" The red haired girl sneered, and Minerva blushed.

"Like attracts like! Hey, are you two related?" A boy called, and a few other snickered. Minerva face felt hot and she clenched her teeth in rage, but said nothing. Instead, she picked up Wakko and walked away over to a secluded corner of the schoolyard. Wakko examined Minerva for a moment, then became interested in a fuzzy caterpillar that was crawling across the ground. Minerva sighed and watched the young boy. He was kind of cute, she wished she could have a brother like that. Instead, she had three older sisters, all perfect. None of them had ever been made fun of in school...

"Fuzzy wuzzy!" Wakko exclaimed, the caterpillar on his finger. Minerva smiled. Cute, she thought. Then Wakko ate it and made that weird face again. Minerva cringed.

"You're one strange kid, do you know that? And what do you call that face anyway?"

"Go.. goo..gookie!" He smiled, then made the face again. Minerva couldn't help but giggle, and then realized that maybe the kid was hungry.

"You want to have some of my lunch?" She asked, then reached inside her bag and passed him half of a peanut butter sandwich. He ate it in one bite. Minerva made a face.

"You just keep getting stranger and stranger don't you?" She asked, then realized something. "What's your name?"

Wakko looked up. "W...w..wakk..wakko" He said with a little difficulty. It was obvious that he hadn't quite mastered talking yet, but he seemed not to mind.

Suddenly a woman with frizzy orange hair, perfectly white teeth, and way too much tacky jewlery came up to them. Wakko looked up at her confused, and had a weird sense of deja vu...

"Hello!" She said rather loudly, "Thank you for finding my kid!" Minerva cringed and Wakko made a gookie. She bend down to pick up Wakko, and he bit her.

"Yeeeoooowwwww!!!!" The woman screeched, then picked Wakko up by the tail. Minerva started to protest, but the red haired girl with buck teeth appeared and held her back.

"Don't mess with my mom or you'll regret it."