Hello everyone! QueenofWords1 here to say I'm changing how long updates take. With school coming up I will be more busy. So with that said, my stories will be updated monthly. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but that's what must be done for me to maintain my school schedule and keep up with chapters.
Thanks everyone for listening and enjoy reading!
"Well, open it already, Yakko!"
"Already on it, sis!" Yakko says as he grabs the envelope cutter off the table and rips open the letter in one single swipe.
All three siblings were at the center of their living room and crowded around the letter. Yakko dumps the letter out and in his hands two things fall. A folded up sheet of notebook paper and a key. Wakko snatches the key and looks it over.
"What kind of fan mail is this?" Wakko asks. He notices a little card attached to the key. He extends it out to read. "Animation Cels 29.'"
Dot snatches the key. "Maybe it's some type of code."
Yakko unfolds the letter. "Sibs, look at this."
They all crowd around the letter. It had the fanciest cursive they've ever seen. It read this:
Hello Warners,
You do not know who I am, but I am a friend. I've been watching you all very closely. Despite the danger it might lead you to, I have gifted you this key. Unlock the studio secrets. It's time you know. They're in your hands now. Please stay safe.
Your friend, AG
The Warners look at one another and then at the key in Dot's hands. Yakko looks over the letter again, rereading every word.
"Well…ehhh for once I'm speechless." Yakko says, gulping.
"Worst fan mail ever!" Dot huffs, but then she snatches the letter and looks it over. "But then again, studio secrets do catch a girl's eye."
Yakko takes the key from Dot. "It does sound intriguing. But to where o' where does this key belong?"
Yakko looks over the key, reading the words on the card. Animation Cels 29'. Now what could that mean?
"We do have the animation department." Yakko points out. "Maybe something in there can help us."
"Shouldn't we be a bit worried that someone has been watching us?" Wakko asks.
The Warners are silent.
"Nah." They concluded all together.
"To the animation department!" Yakko shouts and they all run over to the water tower door.
The Warners slip open the door and peek out. The sky was growing dark as the studio lot neared closing hours. Down below they could spot Ralph at his post. He was busy with guiding the traffic of outgoing cars. They each looked at each other before Yakko guided them out the door and down the ladder.
Each one slides down the ladder and once they hit the pavement, they rush off before Ralph could spot them. They hide behind one of the movie set buildings.
"Okay, here's the plan." Yakko says to his siblings. "Using intricate disguises we find on this costume rack-" Yakko says as he pulls a costume rack out of nowhere. "-we will get past security at the animation department with a show that will blow their minds! Once they're distracted we let Wakko test out the key on everything and then-"
"Yakko not to burst your creativity bubble here." Dot interrupts. "But there is no way I'm wearing those hideous costumes!"
"I'll throw in a set of pearls." Yakko says, fishing the necklace from his pockets.
"Fat chance!"
As the siblings begin to bicker, Wakko notices something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was watching them…
Mr. Reflection.
Wakko turns around. He catches the copycat as they run away. Wakko growls.
"Not this time Mr. Copycat!" Wakko grumbles.
Wakko runs off, his siblings not noticing him run off. Wakko finds himself in another set of alleyways and charges down them. The copycat makes a left. So does Wakko.
"Get back here!" Wakko shouts.
The copycat makes a right and disappears down a darker alleyway. Wakko is quick to catch up.
"Got you!" Wakko shouts victoriously, but then sees the alleyway empty. "Hey-"
Thump.
"What was that?" Wakko asks aloud. That's when he spots an open vent. He walks over and bends down to peer inside. Laying inside was a single sheet of paper with a detailed map on it. Wakko picks it up and turns it over.
"Hope this helps. My only copy. Find the star." Wakko reads. "Your friend, AG."
Weird, how would this help him…unless-
Wakko stands up and looks around. The garbage cans nearby have signs on them. Animation Department.
Wakko smiles and then looks at the vents. "Thanks Mr. Reflection!"
With that said, Wakko runs off. He had to get back to his siblings.
"And after the fifth wave of glitter and sparkles from the backup boy dancers-"
"Men." Dot emphasized to Yakko. "They're supposed to be men. I don't want stinky teenagers."
Yakko sighs. "From the backup men dancers, we then move onto your award winning song of I'm Cute. There. Are you happy now?"
Dot nods. "Much."
"Guys!"
Yakko and Dot snap their heads up. Wakko was running over to them, holding a piece of paper high in the air.
"I found a way in!" Wakko said with a smile. He gestures to them to follow. "Come on!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Yakko says as he pushes the clothes rack away. "Let's go!"
"But my show!" Dot rants.
"Next time sister sib, next time." Yakko said and followed Wakko into the alleyways.
"Oh…" Dot huffs and follows too.
Wakko leads them to the open vent and points inside. "This way."
Wakko immediately climbs in and begins following the map. Yakko and Dot look at one another before bending down and following Wakko inside.
"You know where you're going, Waks?" Yakko asks as they follow the middle child.
"Not at all." Wakko says.
"Reassuring." Yakko quirks.
"But this map will surely lead us to where we need to go." Wakko assured his siblings and looked over the note.
Hope this helps. My only copy. Find the star.
Wakko turns it back over and looks at the map. A small star was drawn over a part of the map. Wakko grins. He crawls forward, following the map's instructions.
"Just follow me! I'll get us there!" Wakko calls out.
And so they crawled within the vents of the animation department, Wakko taking the lead. They took lefts, they took rights. They even had to scale up high a bit. And after five minutes of this endless routine-
"Are we lost?" Dot asked.
"Of course not!" Wakko calls out. He looks at his map, rearranging it to his liking. "We just need to um…go this way! Yeah, that's right!"
The other two siblings look at one another and shrug. They follow Wakko forward. About a minute into going down a long vent, they begin hearing a very loud banging noise.
"Wakko, are you sure this is the right way?" Yakko asks.
Wakko turns his head to Yakko with a smile. "Positive!"
At that moment the middle child began to crawl forward…into the open air. With a scream, he plummets down.
"Wakko!" His siblings scream.
Wakko realizes the banging was getting louder and looks down mid fall. There below him was a giant running fan. He screams. Automatically he stretches his limbs in order to stop himself mid way inside the vent. He sighs.
"That was close-"
Squeak.
With a jolt, Wakko slides down just the tiniest bit. He begins sweating.
Squeak!
"Um-"
Squeak! Squeak! Squeeeaak!
Wakko slowly began sliding down the vent walls. His siblings looked over and saw the situation.
"Don't worry Wakko!" Yakko says, tying a rope around his waist and giving Dot the rest. "We're coming!"
Yakko lowered himself into the vent and began to descend. Wakko meanwhile was doing his very best to be calm and collected. And ignore the giant whirring fan below him that could absolutely cut him up into a million tiny pieces-
"NOT HELPING!" Wakko screams at the narrator.
Squeak!
Wakko yelps as he slides down once again before stopping abruptly.
"Now that's just rude." Wakko deadpans. But he gulps and looks below… "Yakko!"
"Gotcha!" Yakko says, wrapping his arms around Wakko. "Dot! Pull us up!"
"Got ya!" Dot starts pulling the rope up. She grinds her teeth. "My gosh, you both weigh a ton!"
"You okay, Wakko?" Yakko asks his little brother.
"Yeah." Wakko sighs. "That was a close one."
"Yeah, you almost became minced meat!"
Wakko huffs. "Don't you start too!"
Dot keeps tugging the rope until both brothers are safely on the vent with her and away from the fan below.
"Now that we're safe and all in one piece," Yakko says. He takes the map from Wakko. "I'll lead this time."
"Aw." Wakko pouts.
"Believe me, I would let ya, but I think it's in everyone's best interests I take the lead." Yakko says and starts looking at the map.
"...Wakko." Yakko says nervously.
"Yes?" Wakko says.
"Where exactly are we on this map?" Yakko asks with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh gimme that!" Dot snatches the map and looks at it. "Well it's obvious we're just…over…somewhere…here?"
Wakko rolls his eyes. He takes the map back. "I'll lead."
"Sounds like a plan!" Yakko says.
"Never doubted you!" Dot says with a cheeky smile.
Wakko deadpans. But with a quick glance at his map, he then points left. "This way."
Wakko crawls onwards and his siblings follow close behind.
"Wakko, quick question?" Yakko says as they move forward.
"What is it?" Wakko asks, looking back.
"Where did you get a map of the entire animation department's ventilation system?"
"Oh! Mr. Copycat gave it to me!" Wakko says with a smile and crawls onwards.
"Mr. Copycat?" Yakko says, raising a brow.
"Is that the same person as Mr. Reflection?" Dot asks.
"Yep!" Wakko says. "He led me right here."
"This Mr. Reflection wouldn't happen to be the same person who gave us the letter would he?" Yakko asks.
"Oh." Wakko says and looks at the note.
Your friend, AG
"I believe so." Wakko says. "It says right here-oof!"
Wakko had been so busy talking, he didn't realize he had reached the end of the vents. A vent cover was right before him. It squeaked open the second he crashed into it and with a slam it fell down and came right off its screws.
Wakko smiles. "We're here!"
Wakko climbs out and finds himself standing in a room with a vault door within the walls before him. It reached as high as the ceiling, filled up half the wall, and the metal wheel on it was rusted from age. As far as he could see, that was the only thing of interest within the room. Wakko walked up to it, staring in awe.
"Look at the size of that safe!" Wakko says.
"It's huge!" Dot exclaims.
"I say we crack this baby open!" Yakko says with a grin.
The Warners walk up to the safe and Yakko puts an ear to the door. He begins twisting the combination lock on the door, waiting for the subtle clicks within the vault door. After a second, the door clicks open and Yakko turns the rusted wheel.
"Studio secrets here we come!" Yakko says.
As Yakko pulls the door open, the Warners walk back as the vault is revealed to them. Another room stood before them and inside the walls were covered top to bottom in large safe boxes. Each one had a single key hole.
"Would ya look at all this?" Yakko said, walking inside the room. "We've hit the motherload of secrets! There must be dozens of scandals just waiting for our peering eyes to look upon!"
"Hey look at this." Dot said, standing before one of the safeboxes. Upon closer inspection, she noticed each box was labeled. "This one says, 'Animaniacs 30'."
"Hey, look!" Wakko points to one of the higher shelves. "Buddy Cartoons 29'!"
Yakko scans the boxes. "Say, these numbers all end in double digits. They're labeled by the year!"
Dot looks at Yakko. "Say, what did that key say?"
Yakko takes out the key and holds it up for her to see. "Animation Cels 29'. Why?"
Dot grabs the key and starts scanning each box. "All we have to do is find the 1929 section and narrow down the search from there."
"Good plan, sis." Yakko compliments. "Wakko take the right, I'll take the middle and Dot's got the left."
"Right!" Wakko and Dot say and go to their sides of the vault.
Immediately, the Warners went straight to work. Wakko was at his side and overlooked the boxes there. His curiosity was getting the better of him and he wished he could spy inside some of these boxes. But they only had one key…
Wakko spies a familiar name on one of the boxes. Lon Borax 29' it read. Their animator! Oh, if only he could open it up. Then an idea sparked in the boy's head. Wakko looks at his tail. Grabbing it, he twists it around until he meld into the shape of the key hole. He sticks his tail inside and places his ear against the safe box.
"Come on." Wakko pleads, listening for the click of the box opening.
As Wakko struggled with the safe box, Dot had pulled out a ladder and was exploring her side of the vault. She had just located the area of safe boxes from the year 1929. She was currently reading every single label.
"Additional Funds, Psychiatrist Funds, CEO Spending-" Dot crosses her arms. "Why did I get the boring section?"
Dot continues looking and sees the number's crossing into the 30's.
"Huh. Melody Cattington." Dot says to herself, reading it off the box's label. "She has one too? Weird."
"Who does, Dot?" Yakko asks, busying himself with labels of the various safe boxes before him.
"Your girlfriend." Dot smirks, jabbing a thumb at the box. Yakko glances her way. He spots the box behind his sister. Melody Cattington 30'.
Yakko shrugs. "Probably the whole Weed Memlo thing."
Click.
"I got it!" Wakko shouts.
Yakko and Dot look at their brother. Wakko pulls out his tail from the key hole and it puffs back to its regular shape. Wakko pulls open the safe box and it pulls out like a roll out shelf. He peeks inside.
"Look at all the files." Wakko says. Inside the shelf it was packed with unmarked files and each file had dozens of papers inside. Wakko took out one file and saw big block letters in red ink stamped on the front.
"Failure." Wakko reads. His siblings came over as Wakko noticed the next file had the same stamp on letters. And the next. And the next. "Why do they all read failure?"
"Lon Borax." Yakko read off the safe box. "You opened up Borax's box?"
Wakko shrugged. "Got curious."
Dot goes up to the shelf and skims every file. "Failure, failure, failure-geez, it never ends."
"Wait, look at that one." Yakko says as Dot reaches the last file. Yakko pulls it out.
"Classified." Yakko reads off the file. "Seems promising."
Yakko flips it open. Right away, the first page to greet his eyes was a page of doodles. Every character on this page was wacky and cooky as can be. From ducks to rabbits, every character wasn't the same. Some were practicing slapstick and others were just in dynamic poses. Yakko raised a brow. He flips through the pages.
"That's odd." Yakko says, confused. "It's nothing but doodles. Just endless character designs. A big ol' sketch dump."
"Lemme see that." Dot asks, grabbing the file. She flips through it. "Huh, you're right-hey lookit! It's us!"
"Lemme see!" Wakko hurries over and peeks at the file with Dot.
Dot holds up one of the pages. On the page were doodles of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot engaging in some shenanigans on page. Wakko was throwing a pie, Yakko had talked a random character to death, and Dot was off swooning over a hot male character. Dot laughs.
"Funny." Dot says. "But you are right. There's nothing but doodles here."
Wakko skims the other pages. "Hey, this one is different."
"What do you mean?" Dot asks.
Wakko pulls out the page. His siblings could see black blobs had been drawn all over the paper. The only clear doodles were some of a weird trio of ducks. Dot places the files down and grabs the page. She frowns.
"Huh, guess we found out why it's classified." Dot drawls. "I wonder what was on it."
"It's the only page with the blobs." Wakko said, skimming through the paperwork once more. "Why would someone classify fun doodles?"
"No clue, baby bro." Yakko said, taking the blobbed over paper and raising it high up. Even in the light he couldn't make out what was on the other side of those blobs.
"It's funny." Dot says, folding her arms. "We come looking for studio secrets, and we just end up with more questions than answers."
Wakko had begun skimming the failed files. "These are character sheets."
Yakko glances at what Wakko was doing. The first failed file he had opened up was with that weird trio of ducks. Lots and lots of character sheets inside.
"Failed projects." Yakko concluded. "Rejects from the studio."
"Poor Borax." Wakko says, frowning. He pulls out papers of character sheets. "They rejected him so many times."
"Though I can see why." Dot says. "Who'd wanna see three ducks?"
"Well, I've seen enough." Yakko says, putting the papers back in place. "Let's get back to what we're doing-"
BAM!
Each Warner stood up straight. They look at each other.
"Ehhh, we all heard that right?" Yakko asks his siblings.
BAM! BAM!
The Warners look up.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Right above them one of the safe boxes was making that terrible banging noise. The Warners start to back up as the banging noises continue. It was forcing the safe box to move and quake. Yakko squints at the label.
"Well sibs." Yakko says uneasily.
BAM!
"We found it."
The box shakes and rattles. There its label read clearly for all the Warners to see.
Animation Cels 29'.