They walked into the studio building and looked around. Similar to the activity outside, several people and toons worked on various sets that would be used for the show. The Warners noted that some of the sets resembled areas they had seen before, such as the inside of the studio's administration building, the water tower, and even a park with trees, bushes, benches, and a concrete statue.
As they walked through the building, a voice called, "There they are! Hey, kids! Over here!"
The three kids turned around and spotted another set featuring a tug-and-groove wooden floor against a greenish-looking background containing odd-shaped mountains. Amid that set, they spotted several toons looking in their direction. In front of the small crowd was an elderly female toon resembling a gray-furred tree squirrel, wearing a green hat decorated with a drooping yellow flower and carrying a green umbrella and pink purse.
The Warner siblings smiled before racing towards the group. Upon reaching them, Dot greeted the old squirrel. "Hey, Slappy."
Shooting the three Warners a look, Slappy Squirrel crossed her arms. "About time you kids got here," she said, her words laced with a strong New York accent.
"Yeah!" a young voice chirped. Standing slightly behind Slappy was another toon squirrel, though this one was male, younger looking, and seemed to possess a much more cheerful personality compared to Slappy's. "We almost thought that something bad happened to you guys again. Aunt Slappy was just about ready to send me back to our treehouse and get the explosives from her not-so-secret stash, the big ones."
"Well, as you can see, we're all right," Yakko said.
"But we do appreciate your concern," Wakko added, looking at both squirrels. "So, thanks, Slappy. And you too, Skippy."
While Skippy happily accepted the praise, his elderly relative shook her head. "A'right, enough with the sugary, sweet stuff, already. Between you kids and Skippy, I'm surprised the rest of us ain't got cavities from all this mushy junk. Eck!"
Everyone rolled their eyes at Slappy's words, and Skippy looked as if he would say something to his aunt when another toon caught their attention. He was a short toon, standing only a few inches in height, and resembled a white-furred mouse with large ears, a red nose, pink skin on his paws, and a crooked tail. However, the most striking thing about him was his head, which was very large and wide.
"The elderly squirrel makes a good point," he said, his voice deep and foreboding, holding his arms behind his back. "It's time that we all get down to business. We only have a few minutes before Mr. Ruegger, the lead producer, summons us. I don't know about the rest of you, but I, for one, am looking forward to this new venture."
Before anyone could say anything, another toon also resembling a white-furred mouse, with similar features to the other except that he was taller by at least two inches, with a straight tail, blue eyes, buck teeth, and three tufts of fur atop his head, suddenly appeared behind the other toon. "Me too, Brain. Narf!" the toon male, judging by his voice, which was higher pitched and possessed a slight lisp, said. "But, eh…just one question, Brain?"
"Yes, Pinky?" Brain asked, though, bracing himself for the headache that always came when dealing with his friend's antics.
"What type of produce do you think that Mr. Ruegger will have? Eggs, fruits, vegetables? It'll have to be very small for us to venture with."
Everyone looked at the insane toon mouse briefly while Brain shot his friend a look. "Not that kind of producer, Pinky. I'm talking about the ones who produce movies and television shows."
"Oh well, that's different then, isn't it?"
Brain sighed before glaring at Pinky. "Yes, it is. Now, if you don't mind, please stop it, Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you."
"Oh, right! Sorry, Brain. Narf!" After apologizing, though, Pinky did have one more inquiry, "Say, Brain, do you think we'll still have time to continue our plan to take over the world tonight?"
This caught Yakko's attention, who interrupted the Brain. "You two still going on with that?"
"Of course," Brain declared, turning towards the eldest Warner. "It is my destiny to rule the world, and I will not rest until I have succeeded in complete global conquest, where all will bow before me. And once I do, I will do everything in my power to make this world a better place. It will be my greatest work, my magnum opus."
Yakko blinked and shared a quick look at his siblings before turning back towards the tiny toon. "I'm sorry, your what?"
"My magnum opus."
Yakko grinned before blowing a kiss with his right hand. "Goodnight, everybody!" he said, much to The Brain's confusion.
"Oh, brother," a female voice said, catching their attention. Off to the side were two toons: a short, gray-and-white-haired cat with bluish-green eyes and a brown-and-white-haired dog with dark brown spots along his back, brown eyes, and shaggy, unkept brown hair upon his head. Laying atop the dog's head, the cat rolled her eyes at the eldest Warner's actions. "Looks as though the show's newest stars aren't as bright as we thought. Go fig." She muttered sarcastically.
"Hey!" Wakko shouted, glaring at the feline-like toon.
Before he or his siblings did anything else, the dog, who had been silent, looked up at the cat with a concerned look. "Geez, Rita, that wasn't nice. Nope. Definitely, definitely not nice."
"Just stating the facts, Runt. But hey, what are you, my conscience or something? I'm pretty sure that job's more fitting for a bug than a dog." Rita huffed before looking away with her front paws crossed, seemingly ignoring the heated looks she got from the group.
However, while everyone glared at the gray-and-white cat, Dot noticed that her eyes and face had softened when she turned away as if trying to hide her true feelings from the others. It was then that a faint memory filtered through her mind, something that she remembered overhearing only once or twice when she and her siblings had met with Tom Ruegger to discuss their involvement in the show.
Eyes widening upon realization, Dot walked up to the duo and looked at Rita before asking softly, "You're not still mad at us for replacing you and Runt as the stars of the show, are you, Rita?"
The cat was surprised by the female toon's words. Before she could do anything, Runt gazed up at her. "Rita?"
Despite her best efforts, Rita couldn't resist the questioning looks of both Dot and Runt. As her ears lowered to the sides of her head, a sigh escaped from the feline's mouth before she looked between Dot and her brothers, who had stopped glaring at the toon upon hearing their sister's words. "Not 'mad,' exactly," she admitted. "More like, 'annoyed.' Not with you or your brothers, mind you, but with Ruegger. After auditioning for Spielberg, the guy had originally made us the stars of the show, saying that we had the potential to be the toon versions of Abbott and Costello."
"But we came into the picture and stole your spots." Dot deduced, feeling guilty.
However, Rita shook her head. "Nah. You see, the day before those three would-be animators tried kidnapping you kids, Ruegger decided that me and Runt wouldn't be right as the stars of the show; said that we didn't align with the show's 'energy' or some nonsense. So, he knocked us down to side characters."
"Ouch," Wakko winced, feeling like he had been punched in the gut.
"Yeah, ouch." Rita sighed before continuing, "I had planned on going straight to Spielberg and persuading him to convince Ruegger to let us be the stars, but then you guys were kidnapped, and then you fought back before calling us to help with the fight. And it was during that fight that Spielberg saw you kids in action, saw what you could do. You know the rest of the story."
Everyone looked at the cat and couldn't help but feel sorry for the two toons, the three Warner siblings most of all. As Dot contemplated Rita's tale, a thought suddenly flowed through her mind and caused her to raise her head, catching everyone's attention. "What if we talked to Steven? We could ask him—"
Rita held her front right paw up, stopping her. "I'm gonna stop you right there. Look, me and Runt appreciate you wanting to help us—"
Runt jumped in excitedly. "Yeah, we do appreciate it, kids. Definitely, definitely appreciate it!" he exclaimed, nodding his head and jolting the cat slightly.
"Glad to know you support me, Runt…" Rita uttered, slightly dizzy from her best friend's actions, before shaking her head and continuing, "As I said, we appreciate it, but that's showbiz for ya. These things happen, and there's not much you can do about it, at least not without jeopardizing your toon careers. So, let it go."
Despite her assurances, the kids still looked unconvinced. "Still, maybe if we could—" Yakko started to say before the toon cat interrupted him.
"Hey, take it from a couple of stray toons who have been down on their luck: when opportunity knocks, don't hesitate to answer. This right here is an opportunity for all of us, especially you kids." Looking at them, Rita gave them a reassuring smile. "We'll be fine, kids. Besides, being a side character is much better than having no role in the show at all. So, don't worry about us, 'kay."
After a bit more persuasion, the kids eventually dropped the subject. However, unknown to Rita or Runt, the Warner siblings shared a look before nodding, mentally agreeing that they would try to help their friends one way or another.
As he looked away from his siblings, Wakko spotted two toons standing to the side. The first toon appeared to be a little girl no older than three, with platinum blonde hair and green eyes. She wore lilac overall shorts, a white short-sleeved shirt underneath, white socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. As customary with some toons, the girl's hands possessed three fingers and a thumb rather than four fingers and a thumb.
The other toon was a brown-and-cream-furred male dog resembling a German shepherd. He stood to attention next to the little girl and whirled his head around as if searching for any danger or mishap.
Wakko watched as the girl's head swiveled around, her eyes looking at everything with wonderment and curiosity before something grabbed her attention. Following the toddler's gaze, he spotted one of the camera technicians walking by a line of short crates with a spare camera when they were hailed by some other staff members requesting their assistance. Prompted by their requests, the technician sat the camera on the crate at the end of the line before rushing to help their coworkers, leaving the piece of expensive and fragile film equipment out in the open. The sun's rays then filtered through the studio's windows and struck the camera, causing the lens to shine brightly.
Unfortunately, the sparkle of light was enough to attract the child's attention, who yammered with delight, "Oh, shiny!" Before she stumbled towards the camera, her arms stretched out before her.
"No, Mindy! Stay away from that camera; that's not a toy!" Wakko cried out.
The dog, alerted by Wakko's outburst, spotted the wandering toddler and began chasing her. After a short sprint, the dog almost reached Mindy when a soft breeze passed through the building, hitting a prop rake that leaned against the park set and causing it to topple. Eyes widening in fright, the dog tried to slow down but could not avoid stepping on the rake's head and getting smacked in the face with the pole!
Mindy looked back and saw her canine companion get hit in the face with the pole before falling backward onto his back. She smiled obliviously as the dog lay stunned on the ground, with tiny little toon birds appearing and flying around his head. "Buttons funny!" giggled Mindy, finding her dog's actions humorous. However, another glint of light from the camera lens caught her attention again, and she began approaching it.
By the time Buttons had regained his senses, Mindy had climbed on top of a crate and began to run along the tops, jumping over the gaps to reach the camera. His eyes widened in horror, and he started chasing her again, running alongside the line of crates. However, as he got closer, he didn't notice the small number of paint cans left by the set designers who had gone to help on another set.
"Oh, no!" Dot yelled.
"Buttons, stop!" Yakko exclaimed.
"In front of you!" Wakko warned.
Hearing their warnings, Buttons looked ahead and yelped upon seeing the cans. Eyes bulging, the dog tried to stop, but, in true toon fashion, he crashed into the paint cans with a reverberating, metallic "Clang!" The Warner siblings and the rest of the toons cringed at the noise and the scene as Buttons' accident caused several paint cans to fly in the air and spill their contents, covering him in several layers of colored paint.
Mindy, who had stopped upon hearing the commotion, giggled at Buttons, the toddler believing that the toon dog was playing a game and having fun. "Silly, puppy." she said before resuming her trek across the crates, shortening the distance between her and the camera.
Instantly, everyone cried out, yelling at her to stop, and the Warners were just about to race after her…
When, just as Mindy was a foot away from the camera, a pair of feathered wings grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off the crate.
Everyone was stunned by the appearance of three toons, who had come in through the other side of the studio. The first toon, resembling a giant rooster, held Mindy with his wings, looking over the girl with his large, expressive, black eyes. The other toons, who stood behind the giant chicken, were a pair of hippos: a male, who was blue and possessed black eyes, and a female, who was purple, had blue eyes, and wore a red bow atop her head, round, white earrings, and lipstick.
They watched the female hippo peering around the giant chicken to look at Mindy. "Oh, dear, is the little niña okay?" she asked, her voice laced with a Spanish accent.
"Ah, ha! Of course, she's okay, Marita, my beloved." Her male counterpart assured her before shooting the giant chicken a proud look. "Wonderful catch, Chicken Boo, mi amigo!"
Chicken Boo, who had finished examining Mindy, smiled and gave a brief "Bwak!" to his friend before lowering the girl to the ground. Yet, when she was placed on the ground, Mindy again tried to reach the camera atop the crate, though Marita quickly got in her way.
"Sorry, niña, but that cámara is not something you can play with, right Flavio?" Marita said, looking towards the male hippo.
"Sí, you are so right, my princess." Flavio agreed, picking the camera up. "It would be a tragedy if she were to damage this cámara. I recognize it from one of our trendy catalogs—it is compact, versatile, can hold approximately four hundred feet of film, and, most importantly, very expensive. I would hate for something to happen to the niña or the cámara, so allow me to put this where she cannot reach it." After a quick scan of the area, Flavio spotted a steel storage rack against the wall and placed the camera on the top shelf.
"Ah, maravillosa, my love." Marita complimented her spouse, walking up and kissing her spouse's cheek.
While the Hip Hippos were occupied, the Warner siblings approached the paint-covered Buttons, who had been trying to clean his fur by rolling around on the ground without success. The three felt sorry for the dog, especially Dot. "Ah, poor Buttons. Just look at your fur—it's all covered in paint."
Buttons whined upon hearing her words, a look of embarrassment on his face.
Fortunately, the Warners knew how to fix this. "Now, don't you worry, Buttons," Yakko assured. "We'll have you cleaned up in no time. Wakko?"
"On it!" Pulling out his gag bag, Wakko rummaged around momentarily before pulling out a water-filled wooden tub. After setting it in place, he once again reached inside his gag bag and retrieved a box of instant bubble bath powder, which he then dumped all the contents within the tub. The reaction was immediate, as hundreds of soapy bubbles began forming.
All the toons watched with rapt attention as Dot hoisted a wide-eyed Buttons over her head, showcasing her incredible toon strength, before plopping him in the soapy water. As the toon dog recovered from the sudden drop, Yakko pulled three scrub brushes from his hammerspace and gave each sibling one before rapidly scrubbing Buttons, causing a large blanket of bubbles to cover Buttons until only his eyes were visible instantly. After several seconds, the three stopped cleaning, and Yakko looked at his sister. "All right, Dot, I think he's ready."
"You got it!" Summoning a rope that appeared to stretch toward the ceiling, Dot wrapped both her hands around the rope and gave it a good yank. Instantly, a miniature waterfall appeared over Buttons; the poor dog yelped in surprise as gallons of water poured on top of him. A few seconds passed before the sudden torrent stopped, revealing a water-soaked but otherwise clean Buttons sitting in the tub.
After yanking the soaked toon dog out of the tub, Yakko dried Buttons with a hairdryer, blowing hot air across the dog's body for several seconds before turning it off. However, the result was not what he had been expecting…
"Bro, I think you dried him a little too much," Wakko stated, looking with disbelief at the large, furry fluff ball that used to be the soggy Buttons. The dog's eyes, visible against the fluffed-up surface, had widened by this point before he whined, which was somewhat muffled by his fur.
Yakko grimaced. "Oops."
Before the siblings could do anything, laughter erupted above them, catching their attention. Turning their heads skyward, the Warners caught sight of three small toons resembling anthropomorphic male pigeons with turquoise, gray, and lavender feathers, respectively, atop one of the horizontal support beams holding the studio building's roof. The three pigeons hooted and hollered with laughter, grasping their sides with their wings.
"Batta-bing! Hey Pesto, is that a dog down there or a cotton ball?!" the turquoise pigeon howled, looking towards the lavender pigeon.
"Whatcha talking about, Bobby? That's, obviously, a huge piece of cotton candy!" Pesto exclaimed before looking over at the gray pigeon. "What about you, Squit?"
"I think you might be right, Pesto." Squit cackled.
However, upon hearing those words, Pesto stopped laughing and whirled around to face Squit. "What do ya mean by that?" he demanded.
Startled by Pesto's question, Squit shrugged his wings. "I just said you were right, that's all."
Yet, this response didn't satisfy Pesto; if anything, he got more aggressive. "You saying that I'm some kinda professor, is that what you're saying?! That I'm some sort of know-it-all schmuck who possesses all of the answers and is here to amuse you?! Is that what you're saying?!"
Squit held up his wings and shook his head rapidly in denial. "No! No! I'm not saying that! All I said was that you were right."
"I am right?" Pesto said, his anger seemingly diminishing.
Squit nodded rapidly, shooting Pesto what he hoped was a friendly, toothy smile. "Yeah! Yeah! That's what I'm saying."
Pesto was silent for a few seconds and turned away from the gray-feathered toon. Squit almost thought that the haughty toon had finally calmed down when suddenly…
"Dat's it!" Pesto whirled back around with no warning and proceeded to pummel Squit with his wings, causing a small cloud of dust to build up until the birds were barely visible.
Observing the heated exchange, Bobby laughed at his friends' antics, falling onto his back, clutching his stomach, and kicking his legs with apparent mirth. However, the turquoise-feather toon had not realized that, while he was entertained by the brawl, both Pesto and Squit, who were still fighting, were moving close to his position. They were several inches from him when he realized what was going on. He tried to back away, only to discover that he was sitting on the edge of the support beam.
He quickly looked back at his friends to warn them. "Hey, wait a minute, fellas! Don't come any closer—"
It was too late when the two other toons heard their friend's warning. They collided with Bobby, and all three fell over the edge. It would've been easy for them to use their wings to control their descent. Yet, because their limbs were entangled during Pesto and Squit's squabble, none of them could flap their wings and soon hit the pavement with a resounding thump!
The Warners and the other toons winced when the three birds hit the ground, and several of them checked on the trio to see if they were okay. Thankfully, because of their toon physiology, the three birds only had minor scrapes and bruises covering their bodies, which would disappear on their own quickly.
Slappy, who had stood on the sidelines of the action, shook her head at the toons as they untangled themselves and began to stand up. "You birdbrains remind me of a very young version of the Three Stooges. I swear, I saw this scene a mile away, and you still fell for it—no pun intended."
Pesto huffed, giving the squirrel a sharp look. "Ah, what do you know, you old squirrel."
"Enough to know that you birds are already skating on thin ice. Word of warning: if you Goodfeathers don't behave, I won't hesitate to whack you three with my purse." Slappy said, holding her pink handbag up for emphasis.
Realizing that Slappy was not joking, Pesto, Squit, and Bobby quickly nodded in understanding, not wishing to be on the squirrel's bad side any more than they already were.
Silently observing them, the Warner siblings smiled and shook their heads as they finished brushing Buttons' fur. "There you are, Buttons," Yakko said. "You're all clean now. Now, try and stay that way for the rest of the day."
Tail wagging and tongue hanging out in happiness, Buttons gave Yakko a sharp bark, promising to do his best, before walking towards Mindy to keep an eye on her. As they watched the dog go, Dot shot her eldest sibling a look. "'Stay that way for the rest of the day.' What is this, Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes?"
Yakko shrugged his shoulders and gave her a smile. "What can I say? Bugs said I was a natural wordsmith. The words just come to me sometimes."
Dot rolled her eyes while Wakko quietly chuckled at his siblings' antics.
Suddenly, a thick Austrian-German voice jumped in. "Now, if only you could be just as good at behaving during our therapy sessions as you are at coming up with songs and such, eh, Yakko."
Turning towards the voice, the three Warners spotted three more toons approaching the studio. The first toon was Ralph, who waved at the kids with one hand while his other hand held another donut that he was eating. The second toon was an older, bald-headed man dressed in a white doctor's smock, purple pants, black shoes, and a thick pair of glasses on his head.
However, Yakko and Wakko focused more on the third toon, who resembled a tall, blonde woman with blue eyes. She wore a white form-fitting nurse's uniform showcasing her eye-catching figure, white high heels with ribbons, and a petite white nurse's cap atop her head.
Upon seeing her, both Warner brothers let out a classic catcall before greeting the woman with, "Hellooooooo, nurse!" Their eyes became heart-shaped, their tongues rolled out in a comical fashion, and they even began wagging their tails like dogs.
Dot facepalmed at the display her brothers were making and glanced at Heloise Nerz apologetically. The toon nurse nodded at Dot, accepting the apology, before rolling her eyes at the male Warners; this was something that she had endured before—both with and without the Warners—and she had doubts that it would end anytime soon.
As her brothers had yet to regain their composure, Dot decided enough was enough. She did what she considered the most sensible thing she could do in this situation: pull a mallet from her hammerspace and reared back before smashing her brothers to the ground. While they were momentarily stunned by the blow, Dot slugged the mallet on her shoulder and shook her head. "Boys."
Recovering faster than Wakko, Yakko shot Dot a sharp look. "Was that really necessary, sis?"
Returning the mallet to her hammerspace, Dot met her eldest sibling's eyes. "In a word: yes. Or did you guys forget about what happened the last time you two pulled that 'Hello, nurse' gag?"
Yakko snorted. "Oh, like you're one to talk," he said before adopting a thinking posture. "Who was it that caused panic down at Venice Beach when Bugs took us there?"
Wakko laughed, and the young toon girl blushed momentarily as memories from their first (and hopefully not their last) outing to a beach flashed across their minds before composing herself. "Yeah, well, at least I don't always go gaga over cute girls, twenty-four-seven."
Yakko glared and was about to retort when the older toon wearing the glasses spoke up. "She has a point, though. You boys—especially you, Yakko—are obsessed with girls."
Yakko rolled his eyes as he turned towards the speaker. "Gee, Scratchy, isn't that a violation of patient-doctor confidentiality, or does that not apply to P-sychiatrists?"
"First of all, I told you before to stop calling me that! My name is Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff." Dr. Scratchansniff grumbled, crossing his arms. "And, secondly, it isn't so much a violation as a fact, especially when you and your siblings make public displays like you did just now."
"He's got us there, bro." Wakko grinned.
Yakko shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, every kid needs a hobby."
Dot, however, was not through with talking to her older siblings. "Yeah, well, Bugs gave me permission to keep you two from going overboard with that 'Hello, nurse' bit while he's not around—said I can do whatever is necessary to keep you in line." She said before focusing on Yakko. "And he also told me to tell you something, Yakko: he said that if you get too zany around pretty girls or women, you and he would have another 'talk', whatever that means."
Upon hearing Dot's words, Yakko's eyes widened, and his body suddenly froze. A brief shiver traveled down his spine, and he immediately cringed as memories flowed through his mind of a particular conversation he had with the rabbit. This did not go unnoticed by either of his siblings, who looked confused by their older brother's actions.
"What's the matter?" Wakko asked.
"Trust me, guys: you're better off not knowing," Yakko muttered. "At least until you're older."
"Older?" Dot wondered.
"But Yakko, we're toons; age doesn't exactly affect us…at least, I don't think so?" The middle Warner sibling scratched his head in thought.
"C'mon, Yakko, you can tell us," Dot assured her oldest sibling.
Yet, Yakko remained adamant. "Uh-uh."
Feeling frustrated, Dot switched tactics and gave Yakko her best "cute" look, batting her eyes and pursing her lips into an adorable little pout. "Please, Yakko?" she asked, her voice lowered to sound like an infant's.
Dot was confident that this would work. As far as she can remember, one of her biggest assets was her cuteness. When utilized properly, she can get away with almost anything or make someone do nearly anything for her. She used this tactic a few months after Bugs had rescued them from the water tower when the Tasmanian Devil–or "Taz," as he's affectionately known–went on a brief rampage, and she managed to get him to stop while at the studio once. If I can get Taz to stop rampaging, then surely Yakko will…
"Nope." Yakko blandly declared, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.
"Why not?!" she shouted angrily.
"Look, it's something that neither of you needs to know about. Heck, I wish I didn't know about it, but unfortunately, brain bleach doesn't exist. So, please, just drop it!"
Dot and Wakko looked at their older brother, angry and confused by his behavior. What type of talk did he and Bugs have that would make him act like this?
Before either could further press him, Yakko tried to change the subject. "Anyway, we got something more important to worry about." he said.
"Oh, yeah?" Dot sarcastically asked, crossing her arms in disbelief.
"What's that?" Wakko asked, following Dot's example.
"I just did a head count and noticed that one of our friends is missing," Yakko stated. "Where's—"
"Ah, good, you all are here," a voice echoed within the building, interrupting Yakko and attracting everyone else's attention. The Warner siblings cringed when they turned to see the familiar form of Plotz walking up to the group, who was being followed by an unfamiliar toon.
Plotz stopped several feet from the group and gave them all a stern look. "Now that everyone is here, we can get started."
"Well, actually, TP—" Yakko started to say but was again interrupted by the CEO.
"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking, Warner!" Plotz warned, "When we get started, you'll have plenty of time to talk, dance, and everything else. But, for now, do not speak unless I say so."
"Yeah, but—"
"I said be quiet!" Plotz snarled, receiving glares from the Warners, their friends, and even the toon behind him. Ignoring the glares, the diminutive toon coughed slightly before gesturing behind him. "Anyway, before we begin, I wanted to introduce everyone to the show's two newest cast members. First, let me introduce you all to the Mime."
Everyone's attention turned towards the toon behind Plotz, who resembled a tall, lanky human male. His black hair was styled in a pompadour fashion, and he wore a red and white striped shirt with white gloves, black overalls, and black dress shoes. As with most mimes, his face was covered in white-colored skin makeup, and he wore a red, rubber nose. The Mime's dark-colored eyes brightened upon seeing everyone, and he gave them a friendly wave.
Slightly bewildered, everyone looked at the lanky toon as Plotz continued to speak. "This young lad will work on the show as a side character with one of our narrators. Mr. Spielberg felt he would be an excellent addition to the show. Though, how, I am not exactly sure." he said, muttering the last sentence to himself.
Slightly perplexed by the toon's appearance, the Warners looked at each other before shrugging, and Yakko offered their newest coworker his right hand. "Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Mime."
The Mime smiled and accepted the handshake, giving the oldest Warner a firm greeting.
Dot looked at Plotz with a hint of curiosity as this was going on. "So, who's the other cast member…and for that matter, where are they?"
"What do you mean? He's standing right behind…" Plotz said before looking behind him to see no one else was with them. Shock quickly filled his eyes as he swiveled his head in confusion and panic. "Where'd he go?! He was right behind me a second ago!"
"That's funny," Wakko commented, "Yakko was just saying something similar before you showed up."
"Wait a minute!" Yakko exclaimed, realization setting in. Looking at Plotz, he asked, "You said that this other cast member was a 'he,' right?"
Plotz looked at the eldest Warner in confusion. "Yes, why?"
Suddenly, everyone was startled by a woman's scream that echoed throughout the building.
"Does that answer your question?"
Before anyone could do anything, Yakko was tackled by a red, yellow, and white blur, sending them crashing to the ground. Quickly rushing to their brother's aid, Dot and Wakko found their brother lying on his back, groaning, while his arms were wrapped around the blur, which turned out to be a female toon. She resembled an anthropomorphic, white-furred mink with long blonde hair done up in a sheepdog haircut and an enormous soft blonde tail. She had a pretty face, including a pink nose and sweet, big, black eyes highlighted by blue eye shadow, and wore a red jumpsuit that emphasized her curvaceous figure.
Dot gasped as she recognized the toon. "It's Minerva!"
Minerva Mink, dazed after crashing into Yakko and falling on the floor, looked around before her eyes widened when she saw Yakko beneath her, who looked up at her equally stunned. "Uh…" she said, blushing with embarrassment.
With a faint blush on his cheeks, Yakko couldn't help but joke, "You know, under any other circumstances, I'd say this was a dream come true for me." He then looked at Dot briefly, who gave him a shrewd look before refocusing on the mink sitting on him. "However, as I would rather not face whatever my cute little sister might have in mind, can you please get off me, Minerva?"
Realization struck the female toon, who immediately scrambled off Yakko. "Oh, right! Sorry!"
After the mink removed herself, Yakko pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off. As he did this, his siblings looked towards Minerva. "Are you okay?" Dot inquired.
"I-I think so," Minerva said, beginning to look herself over. "Do I look alright?"
"I'll say you do." Wakko cheekily said; however, a shove from his sister stopped him from making further remarks.
Turning away from her brother, Dot asked Minerva, "What happened?"
Minerva sighed. "I went to the little girl's bathroom to freshen up and make certain that my outfit and makeup looked perfect for when we started shooting. I had just finished and was about to come over and join everyone when he showed up."
This caught everyone's attention, especially the Warners, with Dot inquiring, "He? He who?"
Before Minerva could say, they heard someone with a slight European accent calling from nearby, "Oh, my precious little mink! Where are you?"
Minerva's eyes widened with dread. "Oh, no."
The Warner siblings raised their heads and turned toward where the voice came from. A second later, they spotted a toon resembling a male gray-blueish-furred dachshund with long floppy black ears and a bright red nose making a beeline straight towards Minerva.
Eyes widening at the sight of the toon, the Warners sprang into action. Using their toon abilities and powers, the kids instantly changed into police uniforms and formed a protective line in front of Minerva before they each pulled out a stop sign and whistle. Holding their signs, the three siblings blew their whistles loudly before yelling, "Stop!"
The unknown toon saw and heard the Warners and quickly skidded to a stop until he stood less than a foot from the kids. Looking at the young toons, the dog glared at them. "Hey, what's the big idea?!"
"Seems pretty obvious, don't you think," Dot said, she and her siblings getting out of the uniforms while glaring back at the toon. "Of course, that might be asking a bit much for someone like you, Newt."
"Here, here!" Her brothers shouted in unison, with their arms crossed.
Newt opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Plotz, who had gotten in between them with his arms spread out. "Now, wait, just a minute! What's going on here?!"
"Oh, not much, Plotz," Dot muttered, still not taking her eyes off Newt.
Wakko snorted, giving the toon dachshund the stink eye. "Yeah, just a bit of bad history."
"Most of which can be attributed to our pal, Newt, here." Yakko stated, pointing a gloved finger at the dog-like toon for emphasis.
Plotz owlishly blinked at the three kids. "Bad history?"
Minerva decided to intervene at this point. "It's a long story, Mr. Plotz, but to keep it short, Newt has been chasing me for months, never leaving me alone and causing trouble for me and everyone else in my life. In fact, the last time I had serious trouble with Newt was when I first met Yakko, Wakko, and Dot when he chased me in the park." She shivered as she looked at Newt. "Were it not for them…I don't even want to think about it."
"For your information, I was not chasing you; I was hunting you," Newt said, standing on his hind legs and striking a refined pose. "I am a professionally trained hunting dog who specializes in hunting minks for their fur, and you are a mink! Therefore, I will not rest until I have your fur."
"Yeah," Yakko muttered sarcastically, "Or until you decide to pull a one-eighty and ask her to be your girlfriend. Either way, it kinda makes you look like a Wile E. Coyote wannabe."
"Or a creep." Dot added on.
"That's enough!" Plotz barked, feeling his headache—which had been throbbing since that morning—getting worse. Shooting a look at the Warner siblings, he said, "Now, I already have enough on my mind without you pesky kids getting into arguments with our newest cast members. So, if you don't mind—"
This shocked the Warners and Minerva, and Wakko cried out, "He's the other cast member?!"
"Shocked, my friends?" Newt taunted.
"Plotz-y, tell me you're not serious!" Yakko begged, grabbing the CEO's right arm. "This guy will have the censors all over us before you can say 'Tex Avery!'"
"Let go of my arm!" Plotz demanded, pulling his arm away from the toon's grasp. "Look, I had no choice in this matter. Mr. Newt's owner-slash-creator is one of the studio's biggest investors, and they want Newt to play a role in Animaniacs. If we don't do as they ask, they might decide to cut funding to the whole studio."
Realizing they could do nothing about Newt's presence, the Warners glared at the toon dachshund, who smiled smugly at them and gave Minerva an infatuated look before wandering off to a different part of the set.
After ensuring that Newt was far away, the Warners turned their attention to their friend, who hung her head. Frowning, Dot went over and hugged Minerva, which the mink returned. "Don't worry, Minerva. It'll be okay."
"Thanks, Dot," Minerva said before looking at the other Warners. "Thanks, guys, for standing up to him again."
Wakko smiled. "You're welcome, Minerva."
"Hey, we always look out for our friends," Yakko promised. "Especially the pretty ones."
The toon mink smiled and gave the two boys a wink, causing them to smile brightly.
A sharp beeping noise erupted and filled the studio area where all the toons had gathered. Curious, everyone looked around until they detected the noise was coming from Plotz. Slightly embarrassed, Plotz reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black pager. "Sorry, folks, still haven't figured out how to work this new pager of mine." He admitted, fumbling with the buttons to make the noise stop.
"May I take a look?" Brain politely asked.
Plotz looked skeptical. "You know how to use one of these things?"
The Brain resisted the urge to roll his eyes and simply nodded. Plotz handed the device to the small toon, who looked over the item briefly before pressing one of the buttons. Immediately, the noise stopped.
"Oh…" Plotz said, looking a bit sheepish. "Thank you, Brain." Grabbing the device from the toon mouse, Plotz glanced at the screen, and his eyes widened. "Listen up, everyone! Tom Ruegger just sent me a message: they are ready for us to begin. Let's move it, people! Time is money—if you are wasting time, you're wasting the studio's money!"
As everyone began following Plotz toward where they would start work, the Warner siblings hung back briefly to talk to each other. "Well, sibs," Yakko said, "The day hasn't even started, and already we've seen more action than we thought we'd see today."
"No kidding," Dot stated, "From grand speeches of world domination and dog chases to pigeons falling from the sky and learning that we have to deal with not one but two special friends while working on the show. I'm almost getting a headache just thinking about it."
"Yeah. It's enough to drive even us zany to the max."
Wakko looked concerned as they continued following their friends. "I just hope nothing else will go wrong with everything that's happened."
His siblings shared a look for a moment before shaking their heads. "Wakko, I really wished you hadn't said that…" Dot muttered.