The next day was a regular Wednesday morning for the Warners. The trio was in the middle of their daily chase with Ralph the security guard. Ralph pursued them holding a large butterfly net in his hands. He swung at the Warners constantly, but only got near misses and slight grazes. The Warners were too fast and nimble to be captured. At one point he almost caught Wakko who was bouncing away from him on his tail. The guard hopped up and swung at Wakko in a huge arc. He missed and accidentally trapped the lower part of his body in the net. This caused him to complete a full front flip in which he landed flat on his back. The Warners quickly distanced themselves from Ralph as they continued to run away. They were about to turn a corner when a sticky substance suddenly caught on to their feet, stopping them in their tracks. They lifted up their feet to see pink gum had placed on the ground. "I've been in sticky situations before, but this is way too literal to even compare" Yakko complained.
Tango appeared around the corner of a building carrying a large red backpack. He blew a pink bubble while holding a stick of chewing gum. "Hey thanks kid" Ralph spoke out of breath as he had finally caught up with the group. "Hey whose side are you on?" Dot asked angrily. Tango blew another large bubble until it popped. "I'm on no one's side" he replied casually. He then ran towards Ralph and pressed himself against his backside. "Now I'm on someone's side! Backside that is" he laughed. "Ha-ha, very funny!" Yakko uttered in a sarcastic tone. Tango walked away from Ralph and faced the Warners as he took off his red backpack. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to catch up with you guys to let you know what our musical choice will be for Saturday's party" he explained. The Warners immediately perked up after hearing this. "Finally! So what is it?" Yakko asked. "Our musical choice for the party will be none other than, 2 Tone Ska!" Tango replied ecstatically. The boy was met with puzzled looks from the Wanrers. "You guys have no idea what that is, do you?" he said flatly. Yakko raised his hand as if to protest. "Yeah Uhh… No we have no idea" he answered.
"Well I guess I should explain it to you" Tango replied. "2 Tone Ska, or second wave ska, was started in England back in the late 1970's. This was back during the disco days folks. It was a type of music in which the Brits took Jamaican ska and reggae and sped it up with punk rock and new wave influences" Dot pulled held out two country flags, one for Jamaica, and another for England. "Music from these two countries mixed together?" she asked. "You sure you're not pulling our legs?" she added. "No, you guys are doing that to yourself just fine" Tango chuckled as he glanced at Yakko and Wakko pulling up their legs to free themselves from his gum trap. "No I'm not kidding. These two music styles mixed together. It became popular in England, especial among the mods, rudies, and skinheads." He explained. "Skinhead? Would Ralph be considered a skinhead?" Wakko asked innocently. "No Wakko, Ralph is more of a bald cue ball head" Tango laughed. "Hey!" Ralph exclaimed behind him. "So what do you guys think?" Tango asked.
Both Dot and Wakko smiled with much interest. "Ahh... well. The concept sounds really good. But I still think we still need a little more persuasion." Wakko replied somewhat skeptic. Tango chuckled, "I thought you might say that, so let me persuade you" he answered coolly. Tango opened the red backpack and took out a stack of old records. "Wakko you got a record player in that gag bag of yours?" "Of course!" said Wakko as he took out a large brown bag and pulled out a small purple record player. Tango pulled out a black vinyl record and put it on the record player. He then placed the needle gently on the record as it began to spin. A loud echoing voice blasted from the record "Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this!" The Warners immediately froze and stared wide-eyed at the record player.
"This is the heavy heavy monster sound! The nuttiest sound around!" the voice continued. "So if you've come off the street, and your beginning to feel the heat, well listen buster, you better start to move your feet! To the rockinest, rock steady beat of Madness! One Step Beyond!" A blaring lead saxophone with an upbeat ska rhythm followed after the man's voice. The Warner's started dancing around Tango and the record player as if they were in a trance. In fact, they had unintentionally freed themselves from Tango's gum trap. Yakko waved his fingers around while kicking his legs to the beat of the music. Wakko shuffled his feet while flapping his arms. He occasionally did a spin and hopped on his tail. Dot stepped bouncing to the music while grabbing both of Tango's hands, forcing him into dancing with her. Tango was almost having trouble keeping him from falling as Dot dragged him down to her eye level. Everyone continued to dance as the song's lead saxophone continued to play throughout, along with an occasional "One Step Beyond" from the man's voice. Tango gave Dot a final twirl before standing up straight. "I see you all like this music!" Tango spoke over the music. "We do! We do!" The Warners cheered in unison.
Tango turned the record player off to hear a familiar voice humming to the music. The group turned their heads towards Ralph who was dancing just as silly as the Warners were. They had almost forgotten he was still here. "One Step Beyond!" Ralph shouted while pretending to hold a microphone. He blinked as he realized the music had stopped and saw Tango and the Warners were staring at him. He laughed sheepishly as his face blushed red. "I see you like this music too" Tango said with a smile. "Ah I haven't heard that tune in years!" Ralph chattered excitedly. "I love that band Madness!" he added. "You're a 2 tone fan?" Tango sparked. "You bet I am, let me see those records" the guard responded as he picked up the stack records. "Oh you got all the good stuff! The Specials, Madness, The English Beat! You've got good taste Tango!" The boy took the records from Ralph and put them back in his backpack. "I knew you guys would like it. Hooking you all was a breeze" Tango stated happily. "We got to hear more, this stuff is the bee's knees!" Wakko responded. "This was during the disco days? It certainly beats the Bee Gees!" said Dot. "I agree, our party will be success with records like these!"Yakko stated while taking out one of the records. He immediately frowned after realizing what he just said. "Are you trying to make this thing a running gag?" Yakko asked critically. "Me? Yakko please!" Tango replied innocently. "
"Alright, now that I have you all on board,all we need to do next is send out new invitations to let everyone who wants to come about our new theme!" Tango explained. "Sure kid, we made a list of people who said they would come" Yakko answered as he took out a long list of names. Tango read the list and saw that most of the guests were mainly recurring and supporting characters such as Slappy Squirrel, Skippy, Scratchensniff, Flavio, Maria, Ralph, and his name of course, and many more. "I don't see Mr. Plotz's name on here." Tango asked. "Well… we haven't exactly sent one to him" Yakko confessed. "You haven't? Well let's go send one to him. He's the head of Warner Bros. I'm sure he'll come" Tango said hopefully. The Warners started laughing uncontrollably, even Ralph was laughing too. Tango stood with a serious face. The Warners immediately stopped as soon as they noticed. "Wait, you're serious?" Dot asked. "It's rare condition, but yes. With him working all the time, he needs a break." he said honestly. "Listen kid, you know as well as I know from our old show, Plotz is not exactly the biggest advocate when it comes to parties" Yakko answered. "Yeah, but we're not on your show now. This is real life." Tango replied. "That's debatable. But I'll go along with your plan. Besides we haven't messed with old T.P in a while" Yakko answered. "Its official, were all going to Mr. Plotz's office now! We're going to do our best to convince Mr. Plotz to join our party!" Tango stated proudly.
"Correction…" Ralph interrupted as he swung up his net, capturing the Warners inside it. "You can go to Plotz's office, these guys are going right back to the tower!" he added tauntingly. Tango and the Warners forgot that Ralph was still chasing them, and this delay to discuss the party left them vulnerable for capture. "Hey when did you get so smart all of a sudden?" Dot asked irritably. "Duh I'm not always as dumb as you think I am" he answered proudly. "You won't be catching me with my pants down!" he added as he began to walk away with the Warners. Tango advanced behind him with a pair of scissors. "Uh –oh, Tango!" Wakko shouted immediately. Tango snipped Ralph belt causing his pants to fall, exposing his white with pink spotted boxers. Ralph gasped and dropped the net as he bent down to pick his pants up. The Warners scattered in all directions. "Not this again!" Dot shouted."Avert your eyes siblings!" Yakko called out. Tango leapt over Ralph's back before running off. He stopped briefly and looked behind him. "Me and the Warners will meet up at your toll both this evening to discuss the party! Cool with that?" He called out. "Sure, Tango. Okay" Ralph replied, who seemed slightly annoyed than upset.
Tango and the Warners regrouped a few yards away from Mr. Plotz's office building. "I think we lost him. Nice Danger Island reference back there Wakko! Random, but nice!" said Tango. "You're the first person to figure out I was referring to that show" Wakko replied astounded. "You could have just cut the net but no! You had to make Ralph expose himself!" Dot spoke critically. Yakko cut in and blew a kiss. "Mwah! Good night everybody!" Yakko retorted. "Hey, he practically set himself up saying that line! How could I not resist?" Tango laughed. "So what now what do we do?" Wakko asked. "We head straight towards Mr. Plotz's office" Tango replied as he and the Waners walked towards the office building.
This chapter turned out much longer then I intended, but then again my rough draft was twice as long as this. Stay tuned for chapter 3 everyone!