Chapter 5 – The cause of Dottie

As if it wasn't bad enough that Dot couldn't stand Wakko? Now she was working out like crazy, she had bulimia, she hated both her brothers, and she was planning on getting a plastic surgery! The thought alone was terrifying. What could have clicked in her head to make her think she was getting cuter? If anything, she was getting uglier!

But still, Yakko couldn't help but think that it was somehow his fault. He knew it wasn't, but felt like it. Every time he were to get a glimpse of Dot's face (which was very rare, now that she hated him) he got a pang of conscience as if he had poured acid on it. More importantly: he was worried sick. He was afraid that Dot would one day end up killing herself or that the bulimia would get the better of her. Whatever was about to happen, he would consider it his fault.

Wakko, however, wasn't worried about the consequences of the bulimia. He was more concerned about Dot's mental state. She had never thrown a tantrum like that! And to her brothers, no less! But if there was anything that disturbed him, it was the article about him in 'Seen and Heard'. Where did they get that photo of him? He had never in his life passed the 'Here and Now' building, let alone with a stack of notes! There was definitely something fishy going on, and the survey had started it all.

After her tantrum from the day before, Dot had run out of the water tower almost without a trace and now the Warner brothers were standing on the tower balcony, doing some mean thinking. In between, they exchanged random, useless facts, such as: "I'm hungry" or "That lady's shirt is enjoyably tight" or "There's a crack in the street". But after a while, Wakko was getting tired of it.

"Hey, Yakko, I think I'll go take a walk," he said.

"Uh huh," Yakko said in a low, depressed tone, like he didn't even know what Wakko just said.

"Yeah," said Wakko. "I'm going now . . . "

"Uh huh."

"Bye."

"Uh huh."

Wakko gave his brother a look, shrugged, and jumped down the tower, landing softly on a mattress. He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he just wanted to get out of the whole thinking situation. But sadly, being alone didn't help much in that matter. He quickly began thinking again. This time, he developed a crazy theory. Maybe the publishers of 'Here and Now' were either mean Dot-haters or obsessed Wakko-lovers. It could be that someone in the magazine's crew had slipped a few fake votes for him or took out some votes for Dot.

"It could just be . . . " Wakko said to himself.

He stopped in his tracks and ran back to the tower. Yakko was still standing on the balcony, staring blankly into the air. Wakko ignored him and went inside. He rushed to his room and reached for his gag bag from behind his back. He dug his hand in it, trying to find a map at some sort. Finding it wasn't easy. Before he did, he had to pick up a telephone, a flowerpot, three pillows and a stand lamp. When he finally reached it, he slammed it on the floor and began scanning it.

Wakko had no idea where the 'Here and Now' building was located, but still continued to search. There was just something about the whole thing that was too fishy to ignore. If he had won fair and square, the gap between him and Dot would have been way smaller. But there was definitely something wrong, something weird and something strange.

Wakko kept scanning the map until he figured out that it was no use. He just couldn't find the building. The only thing he saw was outlines and some funny images. Wait a minute, he thought. This is an atlas! He picked it up, placed it back in the gag bag and reached for a simple road map of Burbank. That had to be accurate enough.

And wouldn't you know it? There it was, right in the center of North Buena Vista Street. Wakko didn't even bother to put his stuff back in place, but simply threw it away and ran out of the tower.

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As Dot walked the crowded streets of Burbank, she couldn't help but notice that people were staring at her. Well, she didn't care. She liked the attention! She also liked the fact that some people weren't staring at her with a shocked face. Some people were practically drooling over her! How could they not? She had just become one of the hottest toons in toon history.

She walked with one hand on her hip, wiggling them with every step, making her new, Japanese-style skirt swing around as well. She used her head to flip her now straightened hair from her face while thinking: I look too good.

Before she could go on admiring herself, someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to see a young girl, possibly aged fourteen.

"Excuse me," she said. "Are you Dot Warner?"

"Who wants to know?" Dot said, trying not to sound snobby.

"Um, I was just passing by, and I thought I saw someone who reminded me of Dot," said the girl. "Are you related to her or anything?"

"Puh-lease!" Dot exclaimed. "The only ones related to me are my stupid brothers and a weird cousin. I, my good girl, am the one and only Dot Warner, thank you very much!"

"Really?" said the girl. She was now looking at Dot like she was a museum piece. "You look so different. I hardly recognized you."

"Well, duh! I've been working on my looks for days," said Dot. Geez! Didn't that girl know anything?

"I can see that," said the girl. "But there's something about your face too. What did you . . . "

"Oh, you noticed?" said Dot, cheering up immediately. "Don't you think it's awesome? I look way better than before, right?"

"You sure do!" said the girl. "Your eyes look so big and slit, your lips are so puffy, and you've even got a decent chest! Needless to say, but you look awesome!"

"Thank you," said Dot and smiled. "I also got rid of the flower and bought some new clothes. Believe me, 'cute' has just become a word not suitable for me. I think I'm more like 'adorable' now."

"I totally agree," said the girl. "Hey, I better get going. It was great talking to you, Dot."

"You too," said Dot and walked away. She was happy to know that people were already noticing her good looks, even if she had just stepped out of a mean make-up treatment.

Little did she know that while she reached out of sight, the girl stood perfectly still, thinking about how the once cute Warner sister had now become a . . . she had become a . . . a . . . Well, she wasn't the cute Warner sister anymore, that was for sure.

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Wakko had been walking North Buena Vista Street for about ten minutes and he still hadn't reached the center of it. The street was much longer than he expected. Who would've known? Still, he knew that the walking and searching would be worth the effort. He would finally get to the bottom of the survey thing. The writers and publishers of 'Here and Now' had to have answers, and if they didn't, their paperwork would.

And there it was: the tallest building in the street, practically a skyscraper. It looked just like in the photo: big. Wakko's neck ached after looking so high up. He then stormed inside the building, not having the slightest idea where he was going. Lucky for him, there was a desk in the first room. It looked a lot like a hotel lobby. Wakko walked towards the desk. Of course, he was too short for the guy behind it to see him, so he raised his hand to let him know.

"Who's there?" said the guy. "What's the meaning of this?" He stood up and bent down on the desk to take a look at Wakko. He was not very old, 31 Wakko guessed, pretty slim with brown hair. "Well, well, if it isn't the cutest of the Warner siblings. How may I help you?"

Wakko growled. "Don't call me the cutest. It makes me feel sick."

"Why?" said the guy. "You won, so it's natural to get such reactions."

"And that's why I'm here," said Wakko and jumped on the desk. He looked at the guy threateningly. "Listen, you." He looked at the guy's nametag. "Ray. I don't think I won. I think you guys made it look like I won so you could make me popular."

"What? Now why would we do that?" said Ray. "We weren't in charge of the results. They were just the public's opinion."

"No, it wasn't," said Wakko. "If it had been the public's opinion, Dot would've won. Everyone knows she's the cutest of us. It's just common sense!"

Ray shrugged. "Don't look at me. I didn't count the votes."

"Well then, who did?" Wakko asked, still looking at Ray with angry eyes.

"It was the head of the writing department, Sheila," said Ray. "You should go talk to her."

"Okay," Wakko said happily, which made Ray look a bit confused. Wakko jumped off the desk and was about to go when he realized that he didn't know the way. He sheepishly turned to Ray again and said: "Can you lead me?"

Ray chuckled. "Not a problem." With that, the two strangers walked appropriately into the building. It wasn't any smaller on the inside and everywhere Wakko looked were people working. They were probably working on the newest issue. Ray led Wakko to a room that looked like a combination between an editing room and a classroom.

"Sheila? Are you in?" said Ray. No sound was made but after a while, Wakko heard the sound of a computer chair being rolled. It came closer and closer and finally, Wakko saw an image of a woman. Then he saw her blond hair, and then she was close enough for him to shout "Helloooooooooo nurse!!" and leap into her arms. The woman quickly let go of him and stood up from the chair.

"Yessirree!" she said. This had to be Sheila. "What's up? And what's the Warner brother doing here?"

"I don't know," said Ray. "He said he wanted to know who counted the votes for the survey."

"Right!" said Sheila. She bent down and shook Wakko's hand. "Hey, nice to meet you, chap! Name's Sheila, but you probably knew that. So, now you know who counted the votes, so you can go. Bye!"

"Hold on a second!" said Wakko and pulled his hand out of Sheila's shake. "I'm not here to just know who counted them! I want to take a look at them for myself!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said Sheila and crossed her arms. "Only those who are workers here are allowed to see anything that's written before the issue is published. So I'm going to have to ask you to leave and--" She couldn't finish her sentence. Wakko was giving her the 'Why me?' look and it made her smile and say "Aww" instead. "No wonder you won!"

"Just let me see the votes," Wakko groaned.

Sheila hopped on her chair and made it roll along some shelves. Wakko followed. After about 30 seconds, Sheila stopped so quickly; Wakko crashed on her chair. She stood up and reached for a folder.

"Here you go," she said and handed it to Wakko. "All you want to know about this survey is in there. Just put it back in place when you're done."

"Okay," said Wakko. He walked to one of the computer tables in the room and opened the folder. There were a few papers in there. Wakko had a look at all of them. One was a list of ideas for surveys; one had the results as seen in the magazine; another was a draft of the article; and yet another was simply a picture of him and his siblings. Also in the folder was a diskette. It was labeled: "Who do you think is the cutest Warner? – Results". That had to be it.

He was already in front of a computer anyway, so Wakko slipped the diskette in it and turned it on. While waiting for the computer to start, he had another look at the picture of him, Dot and Yakko. It hurt him a bit to see all three of them so happy together, and Dot looking cuter than ever.

Finally, the computer was properly on and Wakko had a look at what the diskette had on it. He opened the file and was shocked to see how big it was. The ones who took part in the survey were so many; Wakko didn't even bother to count them. It could have been the whole US for all he knew. But he wasn't there to count people. He was there to look at the results. He looked closely at every person and who he or she had chosen. As expected, Dot had gotten most of the votes.

"I knew it!" Wakko exclaimed to no one. "It's all a fake!"

But then he scrolled down. That's when he realized that it wasn't faked at all. People had voted him the cutest Warner sibling. He couldn't believe it! He ran over the results again, and again, and again, but always got the same result: he had, in fact, been the winner of the survey.

Wakko kept going through the history of the project, but everything he saw was just someone typing in the results. No one had cheated. No one had faked votes. No one had slipped out votes. He had won, fair and square.

Wakko sighed, took the diskette out of the computer and turned it off. He then placed the diskette back in the folder and put it back where it belonged. He groaned in disappointment. All his hopes of finally wrapping everything up had been crushed like a bee on a windshield.

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"Hello, Nurse!" Dot greeted when she came to the psychiatry office yet again. "Notice anything new?"

Hello Nurse looked up from what she was doing and gasped. At first, Dot thought she was going to give her one of those 'What were you thinking?' speeches, but instead, she shrieked.

"Oh my god!!" she squealed and ran to Dot to have a closer look. "You look so hot! How did you . . . When did you . . . What did you do?" She suddenly looked very serious. "You didn't have a plastic surgery, did you?"

Dot laughed. "What do you think? I can't afford one anyway and besides, I don't think they'd want to do it on someone so young. Nope, I'm just wearing professional make-up . . . and a push-up bra under this schoolgirl outfit, in case you're wondering. Don't I look great?"

"Great? You look awesome!" Hello Nurse yelled. "It's like . . . wow! Oh god, I'm in shock! Holy . . . Wow! I don't think I've seen your chest so big since 'Roll over, Beethoven'!"

Dot flipped her hair and turned in a circle to let Hello Nurse see the whole image. "I like it a lot and I look so hot 'cause my name is Dot!" she said, licked her finger and put it on her side, making a sizzling sound.

"You should become a model!" said Hello Nurse.

"I should become a what now?" said Dot. She hadn't expected that random statement at all.

"I mean it!" said Hello Nurse. "Just look at yourself. You have the perfect body, a perfect face, perfect hair, and even a perfect voice! You should consider becoming a model! And think: if you do, you'll be one of the youngest in the business!"

"A model, you say . . . " said Dot.

"Yeah, definitely!" said Hello Nurse. "Think about it. You'll get your well-deserved attention on it. Guaranteed, you'll become one of the hottest models there are. I mean, you've already become one of the hottest toons, why shouldn't you go further?"

"You've got a point," said Dot. She was already beginning to like the idea already. And if she'd be a model, maybe her brothers would see why she always wanted to look good. But there was one thing . . . "If I do become a model, won't I need an alias?"

"Why would you need an alias?" said Hello Nurse, looking a little confused. "Don't you want people to know that it's you?"

"Oh no, I don't mean that kind of an alias," said Dot. "I mean that most of the stars have changed their names into something catchier. And Dot Warner or Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the third is definitely not catchy. I need something fresh, something hot, something . . . "

"Like Dottie?" Hello Nurse guessed.

Dot looked at the nurse with disgust. "No way! Anything but Dottie! I hate being called Dottie! It's one of those names I'll never call myself!"

"Exactly," said Hello Nurse. "It's so unlikely that you'd call yourself Dottie; it only makes it better, don't you think? Besides, it'll fit better on the billboards."

"I don't know," said Dot. "I don't think it's me."

"I can see it now . . . " said Hello Nurse with a dreamy look. "You'll be the one everyone talks about; the one model earning the most; the more you model, the more likely it is that people will recognize you; you'll jump from being an old cartoon star to being a celebrity."

Dot was getting excited already. "I'll get loads of fans! Wow, think of all the autographs I'll sign!" She paused for a bit. "I'm in!"

"That's so great . . . Dottie!" said Hello Nurse.

"It's going to take a while to get used to this name . . . " Dot sighed.

A/N: SORRY about the late update! I've been drowning in tests and schoolwork! TTTT