Hey guys, back with another chapter. Hadn't intended it to be this late but life and my other stories got in the way. But I'm back! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 6: Teary Reunion
It was Foghorn's turn to clean the house this week.
Since Daffy disappeared, the Looney Tunes had to create a specific order on who would clean Daffy's house every week. The order was made by Granny, who was one of the few toons who believed Daffy will come back, so that when Daffy DID come back, he came back to a clean home. There were only two rooms the younger Loonies never touched and that was Daffy's office and bedroom, those were left to be cleaned by the older Loonies.
Back to the story, it was Foghorn's week to make sure Daffy's house was as clean as the duck would want it to be. Usually, Miss Prissy would accompany him as a sort of emotional support... despite crying herself, so Foghorn had asked her to remain in the truck they drove to get here.
To see the door opened wasn't a weird occurrence, he knew about Bugs popping in to see memories of happier days, but Foghorn was sure the hare was at home sick, so the open door worried him.
He tentatively walked up the steps, the wooden boards creaking under his weight before reaching the door. He mentally sighed in relief when he saw 'Marvin' sitting on one of the barstools, tinkering with the remote.
" Marvin! I say I say, It's been a while brother!", Foghorn said boisterously, scaring the martian out of his daze.
Something bothered Foghorn about the martian in front of him. Marvin, despite changing clothes majority of the time, always wore a turtleneck with whatever ensemble he had, this martian wasn't wearing anything except that militarily uniform, which set off Foghorn the most. Marvin wasn't all-out brute like Yosemite or Nasty, he was more brainy than brawny.
" What's with the ridiculous, I say I say, ridiculous outfit ya wearing, Marvin?", Foghorn asked suspiciously.
The martian dared look a bit insulted but said nothing, which was the final set off. Marvin would always retort when someone insults him, whether it be his clothing or his intelligence, it was something he had picked up when he spent his early cel days with Daffy by his side. From Daffy and Bugs, Marvin was taught not to take those insults to the heart, but instead say something that will make the person shut up. And he didn't say anything, which meant that he wasn't really the Marvin Bugs and Daffy had to mentor at a young age.
Foghorn growled," Who are you?", he asked.
The martian's eyes widened in fear," Don't you recognise me? I'm Marvin", he said unconvincing.
" YOU'RE NOT, I SAY I SAY, YOU'RE NOT MARVIN!" Foghorn exclaimed angrily taking his mallet out of his hammerspace.
X-2 dodged as the mallet came crashing down on the barstool chair, his eyes widened in fear and confusion. The rooster was at first quite friendly with him, until he really looked at X-2, and then the differences could be seen.
X-2 ducked his head as the mallet came swinging over again. Despite his size, the rooster was quite fast. Almost as fast as Dodgers. X-2 clutched his heart as he ran away from the crazed rooster, hoping things would get better.
" What in carnations is goin' on in here?!"
Yosemite and Elmer heard Foghorn's scream before rushing inside the house, guns ready. Yosemite saw the martian who barely escaped Foghorn's swings and got the feeling he knew what was up.
" This imposter tried to fool, I say, fool me into thinkin' he's Marvin!", Foghorn exclaimed," Cap 'im fellas".
Immediately, Yosemite and Elmer started shooting at X-2, who barely had time to dodge bullets and swings. He cowered in the corner as the toons approached him.
" That'sth enough!"
Never in his entire life had X-2 been so relieved to hear Duck Dodgers' voice, even if it sounded more tired and angry than annoying. The toons whipped their heads around to see the annoyed duck standing at the end of the staircase.
" Gunsth down. Foghorn put that mallet away or stho help me I'll have all three of ya sthayin' the weekend trapped in Disney'sth It's a sthmall world ride. Am I clear?", he said sternly.
" No, you're opaque", Foghorn said quietly as his mind reeled.
Daffy's stern glare broke into a grin at the unintended joke that just happened. He laughed, walking over to the still toons.
" Y'know, when I imagined comin' back here. I kinda wanted to have a welcome party as well, but alasth, my sthiblingsth would rather wreck my home than to have their big brother back to a clean home", Daffy said dramatically.
" ...Is it weally you?...", Elmer said quietly.
Daffy smiled softly," It isth", he said.
The three toons all together tackled the duck to the ground in hugs. It was an extremely sappy moment, but they didn't care, all that mattered was that he was back.
" Alright fellasth, pull yaselvesth together, we can all cry later at Bugsth' burrow", Daffy said, even though he too was tearing up.
" Sorry Daff", Foghorn sniffed, a little ashamed that he was crying this much.
" Sthop apologisthin'", Daffy snapped as he got up.
" Where were you all these years?", Yosemite asked curiously.
Daffy whistled," It'sth a long sthory. I'd rather tell it when we get to Bugsth' place later", he said.
Slowly, his memories of schedules he had during the day resurfaced. He knew in exactly an hour's time, he would make his daily pop-in at Bugs' burrow to see how the hare was doing. Since he hasn't been doing it for the past six years, he knew he had a lot of catching up to do.
" Sthpeakin' of which, how isth Bugsth?", Daffy asked curiously, not even bothering to hide his worry from X-2 who was still in the corner watching.
Foghorn looked at his brother sadly," Not too good, Daff. Not too good", he said.
Daffy's heart thumped against his chest in worry," What do ya mean? What'sth wrong with him?", he asked.
" He's weally sick. Gwanny won't let him outta bed because of it", Elmer explained.
His big brother radar flashed immediately and Daffy could've sworn if he wasn't sitting, he would've toon-sped over to Bugs' burrow in a flash.
Daffy's eyes flickered to X-2 to check on the martian's sanity. No doubt is he traumatized by the whole endeavor.
" You okay there bowling ball?", Daffy called out to the martian.
" Where do those hammers come from?", X-2 asked.
" Don't questhion it", Daffy replied.
" Do you know this squirt, Daff?", Yosemite asked.
" Yeah... he's a... acquaintance", Daffy said shrugging as he went over to help pull X-2 to his feet.
" Is everything alright down there?"
Foghorn, Yosemite and Elmer turned to the direction of the stairs where the voice came from.
" Everything'sth fine. It'sth sthafe to come down", Daffy replied.
Tyr'ahnee walked down the stairs and looked in surprise at the damage of Dodger's lounge and the new arrivals.
Foghorn whistled quietly as he leaned into Daffy's side," Who's that, I say, who's that tall glass of fine wine there, Daff?", he asked.
" Fellast, this is Queen Tyr'ahnee of Marsth and that sthort sthack of pancakesth over there isth Commander X-2", Daffy explained.
" They're mawtians?", Elmer said quietly.
Daffy nodded. Tyr'ahnee and X-2 expected the earthlings to start screaming or fainting at the reveal of Martians existence, but what they didn't expect was the playful grins on the Loonies' faces.
" Wait until Marvin sees this", Foghorn snickered," The boy's gonna, I say, have a double take.
" You're not surprised?", X-2 said aloud.
" We've seen weiwder things in ouw lives", Elmer said casually shrugging.
Tyr'ahnee raised an eyebrow at the hunter's nonchalance.
" You'll understhand when ya meet Marvin", Daffy said dismissively.
" Foghorn! Foghorn!"
Miss Prissy Hen ran inside the house, with a nervous expression and a twitchy hand movement. She was twitching so much she didn't even notice Daffy's presence, which annoyed the duck greatly.
" Woah there, what's got your feathers in a cushion, Prissy?", Foghorn said placing his hands on the frail hen's shoulders.
" Hazel and Wile found three weird-lookin' men on the desert border", Prissy replied quickly.
" Oh geez", Daffy groaned, already knowing who she was talking about.
" Lola called in a family meeting, we'll have to clean- what happened?!", Prissy exclaimed as she finally noticed the state of the lounge.
" It's a very very, I say, very long story hon'. But on the bright side, Daffy's back!", Foghorn said moving aside to reveal Daffy, who waved at Prissy awkwardly.
Prissy clutched her head as a headache erupted," Maybe I shouldn't have drank so much gin this morning", she muttered crazily," Or otherwise I might've thought this was the real Daffy in front of me".
Daffy walked over to Prissy with a calm smile on his face before he squashed her with his mallet. Tyr'ahnee was about to scream before she noticed Prissy pop back up with stars around her head.
" Oh my...", she said in shock.
" Keep ya tearsth for Bugsth' place. Stho, what'sth thisth I hear about a family meeting..."
XXX
Darkness surrounded Cadet as he felt himself sitting upright and tied tightly to a chair. He tried reaching for the knot of the rope but he couldn't feel it.
" Wakey wakey, Pinky!"
Cadet opened his eyes to find a brown mouse wearing a large Mexican hat on his head grinning up at him mischieviously.
" 'Though you're not quite pink, man. Maybe, peach or cream... I don't know anymore", the mouse said before hopping off of Cadet's lap.
" W-Where... am I?", Cadet said as he looked at his surroundings.
" Wow you got the stutter!", the mouse said impressed before his expression changed to playful," But ya lack the memories and everything else. You, my dear friend, are definitely not the Pinky I know".
" Who are you?", Cadet asked.
" I asked you first!", the mouse sang.
" N-n-no y-you didn't", Cadet argued.
" Well I meant to. Name's Speedy Gonzalez, the fastest mouse in Mexico AND ToonTown", Speedy said with a smirk that strangely reminded him of his captain," Now answer my question".
" Y-You never asked a question!", Cadet said in frustration.
Speedy rolled his eyes," Well if ya want to be boring. What's your name, Peachy? Nah, doesn't have the same effect..", he muttered.
" Cadet"
" Well, 'Cadet', you're in the home of a legendary toon, amigo. You should be lucky, not everyone gets to see the burrow of the famous Bugs Bunny!", Speedy said dramatically.
Cadet blinked, causing Speedy to frown deeply.
" Please, por favor, do not tell me that you do not know who the famous Bugs Bunny is!", Speedy said shocked.
Cadet shook his head. He didn't know who the mouse was talking about, but the name seemed vaguely familiar, like it occurred in some of Dodger's rants.
Speedy gulped fearfully. If the pig didn't know who Bugs Bunny was then there was something definitely wrong.
" Oi Speedy! What you doing with that intruder?"
Cadet shuddered as a burly man stepped into the room and sneered down at him. His slick, dirty black hair was a mess and it seemed his beard hadn't been tended to in months.
Nasty Canasta glared down at the pig in distrust. Despite being a villain on television, Nasty was a okay toon to be around with, just don't get on his bad side.
He had his qualms about having the intruders be held in Bugs' burrow, especially with the rabbit sick and practically helpless. But it was arranged last minute and Bugs had the toon-proof rope.
" What can I say? I was curious. They said one of them looked like Porky. I had to come see for myself", Speedy said as he hopped off Cadet's lap into Nasty's waiting hand.
" Hardly an excuse small one", Nasty growled.
The door opened again and a large red monster carried in the two thrashing men into the room. The men, who turned out to be Star Johnson and Dr IQ, were thrown onto the floor at either side of Cadet.
" You're going to regret that", Johnson said as he glared at the monster.
Gossamer let out a deep chuckle that shook Cadet to his core. The monster walked over to the corner of the room, where the agents couldn't see him but could tell he was there. Soon, the room started to fill up immensely with different toons from Tweety to Hubie to Penelope Pussycat and Marc Anthony.
And they all glared at the agents with distrust.
Emma Webster, or lovingly known as Granny, stepped foward and stared down at the men and pig.
" Now don't we have a trio of fine men in the room with us boys", Granny said sweetly while her grin was vicious.
" Please ma'am, we mean no harm. We were only trying to find a way out", IQ said calmly while he bit back a shiver. For an old woman, she was intimidating. She could've been perfect for interrogation back at the protectorate.
" Why didn't you go back the way you came in?", Granny asked carefully.
The agents remained silent, thinking back to the Blot whom they had no idea where it was at the moment.
" Why don't we cap 'em alweady, Gwanny?", Tweety asked impatiently.
" Tweety, we don't resort to violence unnecessarily", Granny said.
" Is there someone other than you that may be in charge, ma'm?", Johnson asked.
" Why? Don't think we women are intimidating enough?", Granny said as she gave him a stink eye while the female toons around growled.
" N-N-No. Not at all, ma'am. But we'd like to speak with the leader of this entourage", Johnson said," We'd like to negotiate".
Granny's gray eyes searched Johnson's brown for the longest of time. Then, she sighed, breaking their gaze.
" Lola dear", Granny said turning to the female rabbit at the door," Go fetch Bugs. It seems like these hoodlums would rather speak to him than to me".
" Bad move there, mi amigos", Speedy whispered," Bugs is vicious".
Lola came back with another rabbit whose arm she was clutching tightly.
Cadet's eyes widened at the tall gray hare who's gaze was directed at the floor. But even from the floor, Cadet could see the hare grinning madly. Then, the hare looked up and Cadet couldn't tear his gaze away from those blue eyes that showed off his madness, his craziness, his lunacy. The hare grinned much more widely as he met the pig's stare.
For a moment, the image of Duck Dodgers replaced the hare in the agents' sight. Their grins were uncannily similar.
" Eh... what's up docs"
End of Chapter 6
People, Bugs has arrived! And the first thing the agents noticed was that he reminded them of Dodgers. How ironic. Remember to Read and Review and have a good day/night. Peace out!