A/N:

Hello again! This is a slower chapter, again I'm sorry, but still brings up some questions. I'll admit it, this story is not wanting to come out on the page as easily as the past two, but I'm trying and I'm sorry if it's, no not if, that it's crap. You've all been really supportive and I know I keep saying that it'll get better, but I promise it really will.

So R.J's back on the scene, but he's trapped in Toon Town because he doesn't know a sure way out. But then again, who does? Anyway… onward!

*Yakko's POV*

Jeez that guy vanished faster than a geek with a rocket shoved in their pants; hey that's not a bad idea. Note to self, sneak into Slappy's secret stash… What was he getting at this time? As if we were really going to help him out. If he wanted answers then he'd just have to take some of our own medicine and find it out himself. And then we can steal the answers from him. Morals kids, priorities outweigh them. I'm kidding! (I have to say I'm kidding or the censors will sue me for giving a bad message so play along) You know, I'll redeem that right now by asking just why we were standing here when we could be giving in to the chase!

Ah, that's why. Hey kiddo didn't look so good. I don't blame her, that guy would leave anyone feeling sicker than parents after a trip through the kids section at Walmart. Worse. But after her little episode back there, I wasn't risking another one. Heck holding her back was like keeping the fan-girls at bay! The merchandise was looking, well, it's had seen better days. And her shivering didn't exactly help the image either.

"Don't worry, kiddo, we'll track him down." I scoffed, "Always do!"

"Yeah… until the next time."

"Okay here we go; spit it out, kiddo, why the doubts this time?" I asked, giving her a playful nudge.

She was frozen, heck I'm surprised the toon reflex hasn't kicked in to frost her over, "Nothing. Can we go and find the others now? Before… anything else happens."

I looked at her closely and then off to where our version of the phantom vanished oh so ominously into the night. Hmm, oh I see… I arched an eyebrow at her, "Don't tell me after what happened last time you're still scared of that schmuck?"

Come to think of it, she really didn't need to be. That time when she went full Twilight Zone on his keister I figured she'd be able to send him running for his money. And to be honest it surprised me that he didn't run for the hills the minute she almost went again. But then again, the guy is a padded cell away from a nut job. Oh don't get me wrong he is one, but if he was in a cell then it would be official. Yet there she was, looking as shivery as the cast of Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Wait, she stopped going full toon. Don't tell me she doesn't like it or something? Hey, things are starting to make sense. Oh kiddo…

"You are still scared of him, aren't you?"

She glanced at me before staring at the ground again, "The others are waiting."

If she don't want to talk; she don't have to… yet, hehe. Oh come on, I live for the drama; especially if it's not me causing it and in that case I have to be involved some how. So for now I'll let it slide. Things don't stay quiet around here for long after all. But kiddo was right, the sibs and sub-sibs were waiting for us. Although no doubt they'd been listening in, or they should be if I've taught them anything about not slowing down a plot anyways. Last thing we needed was re-telling everything.

I followed behind as she headed off towards the bushes that our old 'pal', I use the term loosely, was peering though earlier. A little creepy if you ask me but hey, that's his style. So if he was stuck here, was that a good thing or was it something to worry about? Well let's weigh it up shall we? Good to the bad; well that's a weird choice of words thinking on the situation but what can you do? Good; he's stuck, so he isn't going anywhere and if everyone in theses parts know the back-story, they're not exactly going to be giving him a hand. But bad; well he had access to other toons and that was never a good thing even if he said he wasn't interested, and let's not forget that it meant he was closer to the studio. Well this wasn't getting any easier.

Point being, the cons outweighed the pros, mainly because the con in question was a pro. And just as I was about to start wondering why I was starting to sound like the voiceover narration for a blank-and-white detective show; a Little flash of Red (get my drift) shot out and crashed right into her sis. For a second, kiddo looked jumpy, but then recognised the scamp and wrapped her arms around her. Awe, how sweet. Now why the heck aren't my sibs giving me a welcome like that?

"Why are the bad people back again?" Red asked, not so much scared, but definitely looking a little worse for wear.

I looked at kiddo, waiting for her answer. She took a breath, "I don't know…" Don't leave it there kiddo. Oh good, she didn't, "But you don't have to worry, I won't let him hurt you. Any of you."

Well thank ya kindly, kiddo… And here comes the hero complex, again. Guess I'm being hypocritical here after last time but, hey, what can you do? "That's right, and just to back up that plan… where's the sibs and Slugger?"

"Flynn started getting angry and wanted to come rushing in and, well…" she looked over her shoulder, and when we followed her gaze, well all I can say is that as an older brother I've never been so proud of what I saw there.

The bushes parted to reveal my sibs making their way towards us with rope hand and dragging something heavy after them. The thing in question turned out to be Slugger quite literally all tied up. Good thing too, because he looked just about ready to go full Balboa on us and live up to the nickname. And I'm sure he'd have a few choice words to say on the matter too, if his mouth wasn't covered with a 'censor' sticker. Good timing sibs. Hold the metaphorical phone, that wasn't one of ours. Ah, quick learner, Slugger, he had put it there himself. You can tell because ours are designed to actually shut someone up; he was still moving his mouth behind it, just silent words blanked out… Smart kid.

Dot smirked, "And what have we learned?" Obviously he couldn't answer, and the muffled yells left something to the imagination, so she nodded, "That's right, we don't go rushing towards toon-hating mental-cases without a mallet. Good boy."

"He could have borrowed mine." Wakko offered.

Nice to offer but that's the thing about toons, you toon-up your mallet and that's that, it takes skill for another toon to take it from you and use it. Even if it's offered. Lesson of the day, done! Why'd you think these scamps haven't used one yet? Heck, kiddo only figured out how to work a hammerspace last month!

"I take it you heard everything." I stated, "Make any sense of it?"

"Well it was definitely English." Dot answered.

"And confusing." Bro-sib nodded.

Slugger finally took a breath and the sticker was gone, "But we're not just going to sit here, right? We're going after him!"

Maybe I should put a sticker there myself… Kiddo bent down to untie him and looked him in the eye, "No, we're not going after him; but we're not just going to sit here either."

I rubbed my hands together, "Oh yeah? What's the plan kiddo?" She gave me a look which let me know instantly that she didn't have one, but she just didn't want Slugger running off and doing something like… well like her, or me, or… never mind! Sheesh! So quick to judge lately, "Anywho…"

Red looked up hopefully, "He won't follow if we go home will he? He doesn't know where we live, right?"

Poor kid, but she made a point, he wasn't around anymore and he couldn't get out, "Not a bad point." I muttered.

"Yeah…" kiddo nodded, the Rupert Grint look of worry still etched on her face, "Home sounds pretty good right now."

"Uh… Which way's that again?" Wakko asked.

Looking around, it kind of seemed that everything looked the same. Sure I could take a guess at which way was the right way, but even then I'll admit I wasn't sure. In my history I take guesses with confidence and act like I planned where we wend up is the right place! But this time, uuuuuhhhhh-I'm gonna play it safe all things considered.

Jeez, the look on kiddo and the sub-sibs faces was enough to make Goofy look brave. They didn't know either then by the looks of it. And I figured now was a good time for a plot-hole, but I can't exactly place it down to go somewhere when I don't know where I am to start with. The only reason it worked it Red and Wakko was because she was aiming it at a person, not a place. Don't go thinking we toons have it easy, there's tactics to it. And… a lot of improve, hehe… To be honest, we were going to continue the awkward silence, when we were interrupted by a smooth voice from above.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

I looked up and instantly my jaw hit the floor so hard it smacked back up again only to end up on the ground again. My brother followed my gaze, and in a split second his tongue was rolling out in front of him. Indeed, what do we have here? Well, I could sum it up in one word mentally: grraow! But I was to say some more aloud and with Wakko, I think we all know what they'd be.

*Talia's POV*

"Helloooooo mystery lady!" they chanted.

Oh great, that's all we need, more mystery. A slim figure jumped, or rather glided to the ground, all the time remaining in the shadows, but not enough so that we couldn't see it, or rather her. She was tall and very pale, practically grey, or was it just the shadows? No, even shade didn't have that much of an effect. Skinny jeans, knee-high boots and a low cut top showed off her figure; her thick black hair that travelled down past her knees kind of made me envious. Her smug and slightly suggestive grin exposed two elongated fangs…

"Mystery lady, huh? I kinda like that." She chuckled.

While the brothers were in a state of awe, Flynn swallowed and seemed to tense up a little. I arched an eyebrow at him, "You know her?"

"Remember you watched Adventure Time once?" he muttered.

Tried more like. Sure it was an interesting watch but in honesty one episode was all I could manage before having to get a bit of air. I left feeling like I'd just had a major dosage of something I shouldn't have… I took a wild guess by the way this girl was set out in form, and Flynn's reminder, that she was from the show. At my nod, my brother lowered his eyes and shrugged, acting like it was no big deal to him, but the light blush on his face said otherwise.

"That's, uh… Marcy."

"Marcy?" said-character asked with a hint of surprise. It hit me why she looked so tall, she as actually hovering a few inches in the air. She glided towards him and used a finger to gently lift his chin, "We're already on nickname terms already are we halfa boy? But it's Marceline, the Vampire Queen if you want to be formal. But I guess Marcy will do."

Poppy squeaked and clamped her hands around her neck in protectiveness, "But… you don't sparkle!"

Dot face-palmed. Marceline gave me a tired look, which I couldn't help but return, "Man, I hate today's media…" she sighed, crouching down to my sisters level and putting a hand on her shoulder, "No, sweetie, those are called posers."

"Tell me about it." I muttered, trying to break the ice a little and reaching out for a handshake from habit. She wasn't in the episode I watched, so her personality was something to be discovered. "I'm Talia, this is Flynn and Poppy and Dot. I would introduce the two droolers over there but then I'd have to admit I know them." At that she gave a wry smile and flashed the boys a wink, only making their jaws loosen all the more. "So… you know us too?" I asked, a little tired of being labelled like this.

"Course she does." Dot muttered sarcastically, "I think we're going to have to stop being surprised at this!"

I agreed with that, even if I was uncomfortable with it. Marcy looked wryly entertained with the situation and instead of returning the hand gesture, moved in her fist for a 'bro-fist' instead, to which I hesitated before going along with it.

"I take it that it was Jack who filled you in?" I asked with a hint of distain.

"Actually, I preferred to figure things out alone." She stated, and then added with a sly tone "A lot of people have computers around here and frankly it's not that hard to hack into the system. And if it's not my computer… I'm not getting blamed."

"And what was on the system?" I wondered, half from plain curiosity and half annoyance that we hadn't been told about this.

"Just stuff like… Oh!" Suddenly her eyes widened and she sniffed the air as if noticing an appealing scent. She turned towards the boys and smirked, starting to circle them. Her arms came to drape over their shoulders, her hair swishing around them. "Well don't they look just… delicious." She cupped Yakko's cheek as if to try and get a better look at his face.

"And don't you look just deadly." He returned, eyebrows arching cunningly.

Her attention turned to Wakko, hand smoothing over his cap, "And such great taste in shades."

Not really knowing how to react to this, he just sighed dreamily, "Faboo…"

If she was thinking what I thought she was thinking, she was mistaken. Dot seemed to read my mind, "They're toons, missy, you won't get any of the red-stuff outta us. Dumber than advertised."

"Actually I can." She nodded, leaning forward to flick Dot's nose, "And I plan to."

Her fangs shot down and she looked back at the boys, hovering in the air as if she was laying on her front and pressed her forehead against Wakko's and looked like she was about to either steal his hat, or lick his nose, she hadn't made up her mind yet, "You'll let me have a taste, won't you?"

This was just getting uncomfortable. If she wanted to flirt with them then that's her bad taste but acting on the vampirism is going a little too far. Sure none of us had blood technically, but she was a toon vampire so I didn't know how things worked. Flynn seemed to know more so I gave him a questioning look as to why he looked so entertained with the situation.

He shrugged, "It's just the colour she likes."

"The colour?" I repeated.

"Well look at that, the kid gets me." Marcy sniggered as she nudged Flynn playfully, then folded her arms at me, "What? You didn't think I was going to drink their ink did you? Gross! No, it's the colour red I eat. Wow people are so quick to judge." She added, removing the younger Warner brothers cap and sticking a fang into it. Instantly, it was as if the red was being sucked through a straw into her tooth, leaving the headwear pure white, "Ah, much better, thanks for the snack, baby."

Wakko was still in a love-struck state and grinned goofily, but still didn't stop himself from pulling out a red marker and re-colouring his hat back to normal. I got to say, I was a little relieved at her intentions, but I still kind of felt guilty about making assumptions, even if it was what everyone else was thinking too, "Sorry."

"Forget it, I'm used to it." She shrugged passively, "So what brings you misfits to this part of the isolation?"

Nice choice of words, "To be honest, trying to get out of it."

"And looking for something more interesting to get into." Yakko interjected, unable to lean on her shoulder due to her gliding and instead rested against her hip. For a second she looked down on him with a smile, but in a split second her eyes turned savage, jagged teeth on view and giving a threatening hiss. Yakko blinked and swiftly retracted his hand, "I said interesting, but I guess temperamental will do."

My heart hammering from the shock, and having both Wakko, Dot and Poppy hiding behind me, I braved it, "You wouldn't happen to know the way back to the studio would you?"

I wanted out. R.J admitted that he was trapped there, and that meant he was helpless; the way I wanted to keep it. So if the rest of us stayed away, at least until we could figure something out, then that's what was going to happen. Time was all I needed, and time was something I apparently didn't have according to him. And I'm sure that the others would be arguing with me if he wasn't lurking around here. Telling them that it was going to be okay, that they were safe, that I knew what I was doing and the rest. But it was a mask.

And frankly, I wanted to know exactly what Jack had been telling the people in this town. I was getting a little irritated with the 'half' and 'misfit' labels that they'd been coming up with for us. Yes, I understood that they had to be filled in on the story, but we were all being treated like a game. It was either mock us for not knowing as much as them, ironically; or it was try and get as close to us as possible and then running for it.

"We're in the studio, remember?" she smirked, leaning backwards in the air, arms behind her head like a head rest and hovering off ahead of us, "But if it's the outland part you mean; I can point you in the right direction."

"You don't know, do you?" asked Dot with folded arms.

"I know the way," she returned, pointing off to the right, "I've just got other things to do, music doesn't write itself you know." Before anyone could answer, she ruffled Wakko's re-coloured cap and continued to vanish into the shadows again, "Thanks again for the snack; see you around, misfits."

And here we go again, charming… Which way did she say? Off to the right, well, that's the way we were heading. R.J couldn't follow us, I knew that. But that it didn't reassure me as much as it should. I came back here to get my siblings and the Warner's, and I ended up with this added to it. Maybe Jack should know, but wasn't that what R.J wanted? I didn't know anymore. And if we just went home for now, then maybe things could make a little more sense.

But there was something that was making me wonder. Marceline had said that she had found out about us through hacking into the studio computers. No doubt other toons had done this too. So maybe there was more on the system than even we knew. And if it's not my computer… I'm not getting blamed… Actually, that gave me an idea.

A/N:

So Talia's getting ideas again, this could be dangerous. Again, I'm sorry that this is so crap, it seems whenever I get close to speeding things up, it takes another detour… I'm trying, and I know I'm repeating myself but it will get better! Please review XD