Note: If you aren't one of the three people or so who read the first
story, this isn't going to make a whole lot of sense to you.
Therefore if you're going to read this you'll probably want to read
the original or at least the summary of it.



Lesser Toons

(The Sequel to the Last Thing Expected)

By Dark Helmet

darkhelmet47@hotmail.com





Chapter 1



      The van came to a screeching halt on the cracked road, barely
avoiding tipping over as it finally stopped. Cone and Margot stepped
out with their hearts pounding.
      "You know what I miss?" Cone said as he stepped out of the
driver's side. "Decent brakes."
      "I miss sitting in vehicles with people who know how to drive!"
Margot answered as she got out of the passenger side. "Why can't you
just let me take over?"
      "Because it's my van, and I don't think you could find where
we're going anyway."
      The two took folding chairs out of the back and set them up in
the middle of the sand of the desert they were driving through. It
had been two weeks since they last saw civilization. From the moment
Cone and Margot took the old, rusty van away from the red cat's
mountain home they had not seen a whole lot of anything but open
spaces and sand.
      "How much longer are we going to wander out here doing
nothing?" Margot asked as she shivered. "This is not what I expected
when you promised me something better than Danforth."
      "We'll be where we're headed soon enough. By then everything
should be starting to come together, and I'll have more then enough
money to do everything and anything we want. Until then, shut up
about it!" Cone shouted. He then turned to the newspaper he had
pulled out of the back of the van and started reading and almost
ignoring Margot.
      "All I can say is that your idea had better work or I'll run
back to Danforth," Margot told him.
      "It'll work. Trust me. Now can you leave me alone for a minute?
I'm trying to read."

      "And that is how Perfecto will continue to crush Acme Acres at
every single thing we do," Roddy said. The audience at his
inauguration speech stood and applauded, and Roddy appreciated them
about as much as he does anything. Danforth was sitting in a chair at
the back of the stage, watching and only barely paying attention.
This was not the way it was supposed to turn out - just a couple of
weeks ago he was looking forward to having control over this office
without actually holding it, and he had a girlfriend that made other
guys go crazy at his side. Neither one of these things had turned out
right. Still, he pretended to look pleased as Roddy's speech came to
a close and the Perfecto President's perennial advisor followed him
off stage.
      "These speeches get easier every year. Of course when you've
done as many as I have, how could they not?" Roddy said as the two
walked away.
      "Yeah, I'd bet..." Danforth commented quietly as he followed
his school leader down the hall and to the door of the student
president's office. After a handprint and retinal scan, the door
opened and the two walked inside. Roddy sat down at the large chair
at the end of a long table, which was next to a fireplace, sat back
and put his feet up. A butler walked up and handed him a cigar, which
Roddy put in his mouth but didn't light.
      "So... what do we do first?" Roddy asked. "We need something to
completely humiliate Acme to kind of get the ball rolling on another
year."
      "What, beating them in the Acme Bowl doesn't count?" Danforth
asked.
      "I wasn't technically in charge then, though even back then
there wasn't any doubt that I would be again," Roddy said. "Now then,
do we do something to ruin one of their shows or just beat them in
another sport?"
      "Wrecking a show is more complicated if we want to do it right,
and it's harder to take credit for," Danforth pointed out as the
butler handed him a glass of champagne. "I say let's just set up some
pointless other sports rivalry after we've set up a good way to
cheat. We'll move onto bigger stuff after that."
      "Is it just me, or do we start off every year like this?" Roddy
asked rhetorically as he took a sip from the glass that was just
handed to him. He then started admiring the office that would once
again be his for the year.
      "Excuse me, but I caught a whiff of something just awful,"
Danforth remarked. He then stood up and walked out of the room and
into the hall, leaving a confused Roddy sniffing around his office.
"I need a break from listening to him talk about how wonderful he is.
Of course if Cone wasn't a complete idiot I wouldn't have to." After
a few seconds with his own frustrated thoughts, Danforth stood back
up and returned to the President's Office and prepared to pretend to
be pleased.

      "Like Pollard, what are you doing? It's lunch - I think you can
stop studying er some junk," Shirley said as she saw down next to him
at lunch. The round blue duck had his face hidden behind a large book
with "The Physics of Acme Acres" printed on the front.
      "Sorry. I got this book from Calamity Coyote this morning and
I've already found out some stuff that should help," Pollard told her
as he closed it. "Even after being here for a while, I'm still not
used to how some of this stuff works. Besides, I've already learned
some stuff - in a few weeks, my body should finally work with
everything here the way you all do." Pollard set the physics book
down next to his crutches on the floor.
      "Here, I picked up some food for you," Shirley said as she
placed a tray in front of him. "I totally don't think you'll get used
to it, though." Pollard chuckled a little. After a few more seconds,
the rest of the usual occupants of this table sat down. As Fifi sat
down next to Hamton, she started looking over at him with a clearly
annoyed look on his face.
      "Hamtone, why don't vous show zem what vous brought?" Fifi
asked him after a minute or so of saying nothing. "Shirley would want
to see zat."
      "Okay, but I hope this doesn't cause a bunch of flashbacks,"
Hamton replied as he reached down into his bad, pulling out a dusty,
hard covered book. Shirley took it from and read the front - it was a
Tooningwood heights yearbook. "I found it in my basement last night."
      The whole table crowded around and looked as Shirley, Pollard
and Hamton relived a few moments through the pictures. About halfway
through the book, they saw a picture of Shirley and Danforth standing
next to each other, looking annoyed but not hurting one another.
"Like bleh, I remember when they made us take that picture. Those
yearbook people thought we looked cute together."
      "I don't see it..." Pollard commented quietly.
      "You and Danforth? Looking cute together? Ha! Who came up with
that one?" Plucky remarked.
      "Maybe they thought you two could pretend to get along for a
picture," Hamton said.
      "Yeah, but there was no way that was happening.  I had been
getting a bad vibe from him from the second I met him. There was no
way that was going to work." Just then the air around them started to
get hazy - a sure sign of a flashback, but before that could begin
the bell rang.
      "Looks like we don't have time for that," Plucky remarked as
everybody stood up and started walking out. Just as Pollard made it
out the door of the Acme cafeteria, Bugs appeared in front of him and
stopped him.
      "Um, yes sir?" Pollard asked.
      "Eh, could ya come wit me to my office for a second."
      Bugs led Pollard to his office and the blue duck sat down. Bugs
pulled a file out of his desk and opened it. "We just need you ta
fill in da rest of dis," Bugs said as he handed a blank profile page
to Pollard. The round fowl looked it over and saw spots for
information about his friends, home, and even a quote.
      "What's this for?" he asked.
      "Just information we keep about all da permanent students
here." Pollard still loved the sound of that, even though he had
officially been a 'permanent' student there for a couple of weeks
now.
      "I guess I'll just bring this back to you later..."
      "It would be better if you could fill dat in now," Bugs told
him as he passed a pencil over his desk. Pollard started writing took
out another piece of paper and started writing something himself. As
soon as he finished, Pollard handed it back over and hopped out of
the office on the wooden poles at his sides. As soon as Pollard was
out of the office, Bugs took the file, stamped something on it,
placed it in an envelope and walked out with it in his hand.

      "How much longer until we reach Acme Acres?" Margot asked.
      "Just a little longer."
      "You know if you hadn't tried that detour we would have been
there already!"
      "Okay, let's never speak of the detour again. Anyway, you know
it's all going to worth it, so don't complain too much. Besides, I
thought we had to find another way around. How was I supposed to know
they left the gate open? It was supposed to close just after we
left."
      "Fine, I don't care," Margot said as she curled up against the
seat. "Just wake me when we get there." Cone's foot pushed down
harder on the gas and they sped faster towards their destination.

Chapter 2

      "We need to take a break!" Babs declared as she collapsed into
the corner of a booth in the food court at the Acme Mall. The other
six toons there with her followed quickly - after three hours of
Fifi, Shirley and Babs shopping and the four guys trying to keep up,
they all needed a break.
      "Who's hungry?" Buster asked. He then looked over and saw that
Plucky and Hamton were already stuffing their faces with 'food' from
the Weenie Burger stand.
      "Like you want anything?" Shirley asked Pollard as she stood
up.
      "No, I'm alright."
      "You sure?"
      "Yeah..." Shirley shrugged and stood up. She only got a chance
to take a few steps before a familiar group stepping around the
corner grabbed her eye - it was the Perfectos, minus Margot.
      "Well look who it is," Danforth remarked as he saw Shirley. By
this time the other Acme students had noticed this and were walking
over beside the Loon.
      "I didn't know they gave out food to beggars at this mall,"
Roddy said as he saw the squad of Acmes now standing before him.
      "Roddy, why don't you go somewhere more fitting of your class -
like the sewer," Babs said. The Perfectos laughed.
      "Oh, big words bunny," Roddy said as he continued chuckling.
      "Why don't you just get out of here? You're bringing this whole
place down," Danforth said.
      "So Danforth, you seem to be missing somebody," Plucky
commented, noticing the female duck that had once been used to get
his help in the Acme Bowl was absent. "Could it be she's found
somebody else?"
      "Alright, that's it!" Danforth shouted. The Perfectos picked
food up off of tables and started throwing them. After Buster was hit
in the face with a plate of nachos, the Acmes responded in kind. As
the food continued flying, Pollard was unfortunate enough to get hit
by most of a large pizza that was still sitting on a table and it
knocked him to the ground. Danforth started approaching Shirley with
a bowl of soup in his hand. He drew it back and spoke.
      "Hey, does this remind you of anything?" he asked. Shirley, who
had just been unarmed, prepared to try and get out of the way. Just
before Danforth could fire, his cell phone began to ring. Being
startled by this, he dropped the hot soup on his foot and shouted,
"Great timing!" into his phone. He hesitated for a second, hearing
the voices on the other end, and then subtly ducked out of the
conflict to continue his conversation.
      "I know... alright, I will try that... okay, I'm kind of in the
middle of something..." Danforth said into his phone. "No, I didn't
say they are more important than this. Don't worry - I will do that.
Just... just... fine. I will meet with you again tonight. Okay, fine.
Goodbye sir." Danforth then turned off his phone and started to walk
back for the fight, but noticed that the other Perfectos were walking
away, now covered in food. "I guess it didn't go so well."
      "No thanks to you!" Roddy shouted. "Never walk away like that!
What could have been so important that you would ditch us?"
      "Uh... nothing," Danforth replied insincerely.
      "That had better never happen again. I can't have somebody on
my school staff that would do that," Roddy said in a very angry tone.
He then walked away with the rest of the group, leaving Danforth by
himself.

      "Well that was fun," Plucky remarked as he started to wipe some
of the food off of him. Everybody else was doing likewise. Pollard,
who hadn't gotten up again until the projectile dinners had stopped
flying, had the least to clean off. Shirley was busy pulling noodles
out of her hair.
      "Like at least they didn't throw any meat my way er some junk,"
Shirley said as she removed a particularly long noodle from her
yellow hair.
      "Almost Shirley. Almost," Danforth muttered as he walked past
the Acme group, making sure to duck behind people so as not to be
noticed slithering out. He disappeared as fast as he could, his focus
already starting to change to the phone call he just received.

Chapter 3

      "Relax Margot, were finally here," Cone told her as the van
pulled down the final stretch on a long dirt road. Margot, who now
had messy hair and obvious bags under her eyes from not getting
enough sleep in weeks, was just happy to be up and moving around
again.
      "This is the place? This is what you had waiting back in Acme
Acres?!" she screeched in disbelief as she saw the building they
stopped in front of. It was what appeared to be an old warehouse with
the entire front removed, and it had sunk halfway into the ground.
Margot walked up and looked down into it, only to see a jagged,
makeshift stone staircase leading down. The rest was completely dark.
"How could this be part of whatever your plan is?!"
      "I know what I'm doing. Trust me - it's perfect," Cone assured
her. Just then, another car pulled up next to the van with the Acme
Real Estate logo on the side, and a man in a suit stepped out and
approached him.
      "Ah, there you are. I think we spoke on the phone," Cone said
to him.
      "So you're the one here to see about this place, huh?" Cone
nodded yes. "Well, since there is no front wall and it did sink
halfway in an earthquake, the price has been reduced dramatically,
making it a great buy."
      "Just let me see the inside," Cone told him. The real estate
agent started leading the way into the building, but he missed one of
the uneven steps and fell several feel down.
      "Watch out for that first step!" the agent yelled from the
bottom.
      "I think that's obvious," Cone answered as he slowly started to
climb down. As he made it to the bottom with Margot in tow, the agent
had already dusted himself off and turned the one light in the place
on.
      "It's a real fixer-upper opportunity," the agent said.
      "Assuming you want it fixed," Cone commented under his breath.
"Well, hurry up and show me around."
      The agent took him into each of the eight branching rooms,
including the smallest one that appeared to be a very wide closet.
There were wires sticking out of the wall, pipes leaking, little or
no paint left on any of the walls, and a pungent odor coming out of
several rooms. Margot was resisting the urge to throw up or scream,
but Cone walked around the entire tour with an odd smile plastered to
his face. After the tour, the three stood around back on the surface
and the agent started talking again.
      "So, what do you think?" he asked nervously.
      "It's perfect," Cone answered dryly.
      "Perfect?! Are you crazy? Cone, it has cracks in the wall,
sparks shooting out of the wall, pipes leaking and it's practically
underground!"
      "I said it's perfect," Cone reiterated. "How much?"
      "Two-thousand dollars. But, that's just the asking price."
      "Doesn't matter," Cone said as he pulled out a stack of bills
from his pocket and handed them over. "That should do it." The agent,
with his eyes flashing dollar signs, threw the deed down and ran out
of there as fast as he could. As soon as Cone picked up the deed,
Margot grabbed him by the collar.
      "Are you insane?! You just paid a couple of thousands dollars
for this dump! Even Loser Loo is in better shape than this!"
      "Okay, first of all, I don't care about the money. Like I've
said all along, in a little while I'll have more money than I know
what to do with. For right now, Warner's hush money will more than
keep me going. Two thousand dollars is nothing. Second, once you see
what I'm doing with this place, you'll know why this is what I need."

      Pollard stepped in the front door of his Acme Acres home and
immediately noticed a note waiting for him on the kitchen table.

Pollard -
      We'll be gone with the Mc... I mean Loons for most of the
evening. We left some money for you to get dinner with. Oh, and a
package came for you. Have fun honey and don't do too much. We don't
want you to get hurt again.
      Love,
            Your Parents.

      The Blue duck looked at the package. The return address on the
thin mailing had a Warner Bros. studio return address. He tore it
open and inside was an envelope and a small stack of papers.
      "What the..." he remarked out loud as he started browsing
through the contents of the envelope. The first item he noticed was a
check from Warner Bros. - that was expected, and it included a note
reminding him of what it was for - they called it payment for
"inconvenience" caused by the Last Thing Expected situation, and for
not continuing to talk about the matter - hush money, so as not to
disrupt the lives of anybody else involved. The rest of the papers
were much less expected, however.
      Pollard saw a paper that said "WB contract application to join
the cast of Tiny Toon Adventures." As soon as he saw this, Pollard
filled it in as fast as he could and then jumped out of his seat with
excitement, forgetting he wasn't in great shape to make a landing. He
fell awkwardly to the floor. As he pulled himself up with his injured
leg dragging behind him, the doorbell rang.
      "Umm... it might be a minute," Pollard called. He hard the
front door open and saw Shirley walk in from his position near the
ground. She walked over to him and helped him back to his feet.
      "Like Pollard, what are you doing?" she asked.
      "Well, I was reading that and I guess I reacted a little too
much," the mallard replied as he held out the contract application.
Shirley took it and read it over.
      "Pollard! This is totally great!" she exclaimed.
      "I guess I probably shouldn't get my hopes up, though."
      "Like come on Pollard - I'm sure you'll get it. Then you can
actually appear in episodes. Hey, like maybe some of the professors
at Acme Loo can recommend you er some junk."
      "Just not Daffy."
      "No, not Daffy."
      "Well, I might ask Bugs... hey Shirley, you could always use
your crystal ball to see if this is going to turn out."
      "Well, I guess..."
      "Shirley, I was joking. They might not like that anyway. I can
wait and see." The two moved onto other topics, and inevitably
started talking about their old school again. Across Acme Acres, one
of the people in these stories was continuing what he had started
earlier that day.

      "Well, my room is done," Cone said as he stepped back into the
main room of his dilapidated building. Margot got up off the old
folding chair she was perched on and walked in only to see an old
mattress propped up on boxes and an old lamp.
      "Let me get this straight - you actually plan to live in this
room?"
      "Why not?"
      "Because this room is disgusting and the building looks like
the Paper Street Soap Company!" she shouted. "If this is how things
are going to be I'm getting out of here."
      "You want something nice? Fine." He then handed her a handful
of bills. "Buy something nice. Just don't bring it here - you'll kill
the mood. So - where are you going to stay tonight since this little
hole repulses you so much."
      "Home."
      "And what do you plan to tell your 'rents?"
      "I'll make something up."
      "Don't let anybody see you, especially Perfectos."
      "Alright, but this had all better be worth it!" Margot hollered
as she walked out the door. Cone headed back into his room and came
out with a box full of envelopes. "Now to spread the word about what
we're doing." He then started out the door, but turned around and
added one more thing to his items to mail - a package addressed to
Pollard with no return address. "I can't forget this. That would
wreck half my fun."

Chapter 4

      "Good news Roddy," Danforth said as he walked into the office
of the president of Perfecto Prep. "We have set up our first chance
to rub Acme's face in our superiority for the new term. They're
coming here for a basketball game in a little less than a week."
      "Good. Make sure to set up enough traps so they can't win by
game time then."
      "Relax. We can easily get it set up by next Wednesday."
      "Good. Now, have a seat," Roddy told him. Danforth took his
usual spot to the right of Roderick Rat. "There's another issue we
need to deal with."
      "What would that be?" Danforth asked as he pulled a cigarette
out of his pocket.
      "Public image. To look better as one of the head students on my
staff, you need to show that you have everything better than most
people, including... companionship."
      "Huh?"
      "You need to replace Margot, and fast."
      "Oh, replace that little sl-"
      "Danforth," Roddy cut him off.
      "Right. Stupid TV-G rating. Anyway, don't worry - finding a new
girl will be a piece of cake at this school. Between my money, my
power, and my charming good looks, I can't see it exactly being
hard."
      "Just make sure she has some of the same... qualities as
Margot."
      "I wouldn't settle for less."

      "Yeah, right up there," Cone ordered as two trucks parked
outside his half-sunken building began lifting the two huge green
spotlights he ordered up to the roof on cranes.
      "The speakers too?" one of the drivers asked.
      "Yeah. Put one at the back behind each light." The enormous
speakers were lifted up onto the roof as well, completing one of the
finishing touches to Cone's building.
      "None of this stuff will explode or backfire, will it?" Cone
asked.
      "Nah," one of the delivery people answered. "It's not like
we're with Acme."
      "Alright. Now, just go up on the roof and hook this stuff up.
I'll be inside." Cone then disappeared into cavernous home. "Now for
a little more redecorating." He retrieved a box of posters from his
room and started to put them up around the various rooms of his lair.
Most were Tiny Toons, a couple showed the Perfecto students, and one
was a giant poster of the cast of "The Last Thing Expected." After
putting them all up, he took out a can of black spray paint and
grafittied or blacked out parts of all the Tiny Toons cast. He did
the same to the Perfectos, and the members of the cast of his old
show except his friends and one special exception. He then drew his
claws and made slashes all over the posters to give them a worn and
destroyed quality, and he walked back out just in time to see the
trucks pull away. He peered up at the roof and saw his spotlights and
speakers set up - his tools of general disturbance were ready.

      "What was that noise?" Danforth asked as the helicopter
transporting Roddy, Ruby and himself made a loud sound like metal
slamming into metal.
      "The engine is having problems," the pilot said. "We're going
to have to set 'er down here." AS they started their descent, the
Perfectos within looked down at the area they were landing on, and
they were not happy when they saw what it was - Acme Looniversity was
right below.
      "Of all the awful places to have to set down!" exclaimed
Danforth. "Couldn't you have found a volcano or dump filled with
radioactive waste instead?"
      "This is just perfect," remarked Roddy sarcastically. By the
time they had slowly drifted to the Earth several Acme students had
gathered outside to see what was going on. As soon as Danforth
emerged from the vehicle, Shirley was already standing by the
entrance with Buster and Babs right behind her.
      "Like I think you missed your landing spot," Shirley told them
as they stepped out.
      "Oh, I really wanted to be here," Danforth said back. "Is there
anywhere we can call for assistance or can this place not afford
phones?"
      "Just use the payphone at Weenie Burger," Buster suggested.
      "Relax Danforth," Ruby said as she pulled out her cell phone.
"I'll go call for help over there, away from these people." Two of
the Perfectos started to step away to place the call but Danforth
remained. The Acme students started to clear out as well, but Shirley
stopped walking when she saw that Danforth was still hanging around.
      "What are you doing?" she asked as she walked back over to the
lingering snob.
      "I've never really sat back and admired this tribute to low-
budget construction," Danforth commented as he started at Acme Loo.
"I really admire how you manage to tolerate it day after day. Of
course, you're probably used to the lesser things in life." By this
time Shirley's face was turning red and she was obviously one remark
away from erupting. "Well, I guess you rich new/old boyfriend could
buy you something nice. Actually, most of us agree that if he didn't
have more money than all of you except maybe that kid with the giant
head then you wouldn't really have any reason to associate with him."
Shirley had now turned a very dark shade of red, and just before she
was going to let loose with a volley of whatever power she was
conjuring up, she stopped and walked away. Danforth started to walk
away too when he heard a voice from above.
      "Like I totally got you a gift to remember this visit to Acme
Loo by!" Danforth looked up and saw Shirley standing near the top of
the Looniversity with a piano being suspending in the air a few feet
away from her. She positioned it with her powers right over Danforth
and let it fall. It crushed him into a small disc and the loon walked
back inside.

      "Let's see," Cone said to himself as he surveyed the items he
spread around the main room of his run-down old building. "Anvils and
other heavy objects, spray paint, enough cigarettes to last all of us
at least a few days, and many cots and a few chairs and tables. Yeah,
it looks like I'm all set for Monday. These next two days can't pass
fast enough."

      "So... what happened out there? I couldn't see much of anything
from where I was," Pollard said to his loon friend.
      "I should have turned Danforth into a lobster er something like
that!" she said loudly.
      "Was it just Danforth being Danforth or was it something else?"
      "I don't want to talk about it!" shouted Shirley. Pollard
turned away with a  hurt look now on his face. "Sorry, but you
totally know what that jerk does whenever I'm around."
      "Yeah, I know. I remember so many times back at Tooningwood
Heights where that happened. Actually, if it weren't for him being
like that we probably never would have become friends."
      "Like that isn't true," Shirley assured him, not sure if she
believed that herself. Pollard smiled a little - he appreciated her
saying that, but he didn't really believe it. They met because of
that one common problem and more than likely without it they would
have been classmates and nothing more.

      "What were you doing back there?" Roddy inquired as the limo
that called to get the Perfectos arrived near Acme Looniversity.
      "Taking care of some old business," Danforth answered.
      "You know, this is the second time you've ducked out on me
around Acme. I don't bring you along on everything so you can run
away and do whatever with those Looniversity Losers."
      "Well sorry," he responded insincerely. "I didn't know I wasn't
allowed to have rivals too. You know, Buster and Babs aren't the only
two at Acme who need to be put in their place."
      "I don't think you get it," Ruby interjected. "Dealing with
Buster and Babs sends a message to our whole school about how much
better our best our than their best. You can't show off by saying you
angered some flaky loon."
      "It also has to look a lot better than the messy fight with
that idiot who was here a while ago and tried to beat me in the
election and then took off." Danforth slouched down and turned away,
trying his best to duck this subject - he didn't want to be reminded
of the situation that blew up in his face so bad that he was
surprised his beak was still attached. In an attempt to change the
subject he made some random comment about the service at Perfecto
Prep and the conversation shifted.

Chapter 5 - Saturday Night

      "Don't feel like you have to thank me for spending so much on
dinner," Cone said as he sat down across from Margot at a table in
the center of the elegant restaurant they had chosen. For the first
time in quite a while, Cone had actually dressed up and neatened up
the spikes on the top of his head. Margot was wearing a short, black
dress and her hair was pushed up. Both of them had money, and
sometimes they would actually like to reinforce that fact, Margot
more so than Cone.
      "It's not like you can't spare the money," Margot said. "You
seem to be doing well right now, never mind what money you might be
able to gouge out of your little recruits."
      "Gouging? I'm barely charging them anything. This isn't about
money - I have more than enough of that on the way." The two talked a
little more, not noticing who else was entering the building. Roddy,
Ruby, Danforth and a few assorted Perfecto girls walked in.
      "I just love eating in a place so disgustingly expensive only
people worth seeing can afford it," Roddy remarked as he sat down.
Roddy pulled Danforth over about an inch away right after they sat
down and started talking in a low voice.  "Now don't mess things up
with these girls. By the end of the night you'd better leave with one
of them hanging off your arm." Danforth began making conversation
with the girls, throwing in several references to how rich he was.
      "Well look who's here," Margot said as she caught a glimpse of
the Perfecto table out of the corner of her eye. Cone peered over and
saw them, causing him to clench his furry fist. "Hey, don't even
think about going over there and starting something."
      "Oh just relax," Cone assured her. "I don't want them to see me
yet. They could find out what I'm planning and try and wreck my fun
before we even get rolling."
      "Well I just hope they don't notice us," Margot said as she
subtly kept looking over at them. Suddenly something struck her about
the Perfectos. "Hey! I know those girls sitting with Danforth!"
      "Gee, Perfecto girls willing to jump all over a guy with money.
Never would have seen that one coming," he commented. Margot pushed
him a little for that comment. Just then the three candidates for
Danforth's 'affections' all got up together and headed for the
ladies' room.
      "Excuse me a second," Margot said as she stood up and headed
that way herself. Cone just raised an eyebrow.
      "Are you sure you don't mind paying for all this?" Babs asked
as the large group from Acme Looniversity walked in the door of the
restaurant.
      "I don't mind at all, really. Just, don't ask me that anymore.
It makes it sound like you think you should owe me or something. I
just want to thank you guys for all the fun we had today, so don't
worry about it," Pollard explained as they waited to be seated.
Pollard was the last toon that cared about showing off his money, but
for different reasons than Cone. He figured in this case that he
might as well use it and help his friends have a little more fun,
much as he had when it came to the new Acme Loo dance hall a while
before.
      "Excuse me sirs and madams," the greeter said as he saw the
group. "We have a dress code." The usual Acme students all instantly
did a spin change into more appropriate clothes, including Hamton who
rarely did such things. Pollard, however, did not.
      "Um, I still don't have that one down yet," Pollard said. "We
couldn't do that back on my last show." The greeter disappeared into
a small room to the side and returned with a  jacket for the pudgy
fowl. They were then led towards the table. They were just about to
make it when they were spotted by Roddy and Ruby.
      "I thought this place had standards," Ruby remarked as she
spotted them.
      "Oh great. Just the people we need to wreck our dinner," Babs
answered. "Why don't you two go spend some time in the kitchen
freezer?"
      "Hey losers! I bet you could find some food in the trash that
you might be able to afford," Roddy said.
      "Hey Roddy, we should eat quickly. Between the pig and that
blue duck they might clean the whole place out," Ruby chimed in.

      "Greetings ladies," Margot said as she entered the ladies'
room.
      "Hey... do we know you from somewhere?" one asked.
      "No," Margot lied. "But, I do know the guy you're with."
      "Isn't Danforth's money just dreamy?" another asked whispfully.
      "Sure... but, there's something about him that's not so cute."
Margot then whispered the same thing in the ear of each one. They all
stormed out of the room and out into the dining room. Each one threw
their drink on Danforth and made a comment.
      "That's disgusting!"
      "I can't believe I sat next to you!"
      "Even money can't make up for that!"
      They all then stormed out, leaving a confused Danforth and an
angry Roddy.
      Margot, confident she had just ruined her ex's night, emerged
from the room just in time to see the three Acme girls entering. They
didn't say anything - they just exchanged uncomfortable glances and
kept walking.
      "What did you say to those girls to make them run away like
that?" Cone asked as Margot returned to the table.
      "I can't say it out loud - this is a family show we're on
remember?" Margot explained.
      "Okay, well, whisper it to me." Margot leaned over and said it
in his ear. "Ah, you're right - you can't say that out loud."
      "There's more bad news besides just the Perfectos - I saw some
Acmes on the way out of the washroom," Margot told him.
      "Great. I think we have to get out of here before any of them
see me." Margot agreed and they stood up to walk out just in time to
see the tensions between Acme and Perfecto explode. It started with
the Perfectos throwing some pastries and sending terrible smelling
goo over to the Acmes table. It quickly reached a level where the
Perfectos were stopping the desert tray, picking items off and
throwing them at the Acme table. To retaliate, Babs stopped a waiter
pushing a tray with several other food items and returned the favor.
Soon the whole dining room was involved and in the commotion, Cone
and Margot started to make their way out. As they slipped out towards
the door, Cone found himself standing back to back with Pollard, who
was just trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Pollard
didn't notice him, but Cone did recognize him. He also spotted a bowl
of soup of the table right in front of the blue duck, and Cone
proceeded to push him forward, making his face splatter into the
bowl. Cone then slipped out, avoiding detection.
      When things calmed down finally, the room was in shambles. The
Perfectos ducked out before they had to pay for any of the damage -
the Acmes were not nearly as lucky. They had to shell out for the
food and other damage.
      As the toonsters started walking out, they noticed one waiter
walk by carrying a tray with duck for a customer. Plucky and Shirley
both scowled while Pollard almost fainted in shock. With Fifi helping
to prop him up they got Pollard out of there very quickly, and none
of the fowls said a single word for the remainder of the evening.

      "That was really stupid. What if he would have seen you?" an
infuriated Margot asked as Cone started to drive her home.
      "Relax, I know what I'm doing. He probably would have had a
heart attack if he would have seen me anyway." Cone finally pulled up
in front of Margot's house in his busted up van. "I'll see ya Monday.
Remember, we're gonna change the face of Acme Acres - wear something
nice."

Chapter 6

      The group of about thirty assembled toons huddled under one
small light bulb in the center of the devastated, half-submerged
warehouse. Cone walked out and stood in the center of the room. He
paused for a few moments and then spoke.
      "Ladies and gentleman, welcome. I know each and every one of
you has their own reason for being here, but we don't have time for
that right now. Each one of you has been kicked of some show or been
cancelled our thrown out on some animator's floor. Now, here we are
in beautiful Acme Acres, home of the characters of Tiny Toon
Adventures, and now finally home to some toons that aren't. I don't
hold anything against the Tiny Toons - it's fine that some toons can
find a good life on a cartoon. It's just some of us were pushed aside
without so much as even being told our services were no longer
required. It's clear somebody at Warner Bros. one day just decided
that all of us weren't worth it. What better place to prove them
wrong than on their previous Tiny Toons. So, welcome to the School
for Rejected Animated Creations - SRAC." Cone surveyed the students
and saw characters of different types and in all different drawing
styles all around the same age as him.
      Cone went on to explain that in this half-sunken, dank building
classes wouldn't be like in other schools - they would be more like
discussions without teachers. Students would stay at the school in
the main room with cots except Cone who had his small room off to the
side. A friend of Cone's from the Last Thing Expected that he had
sent on 'scouting missions' had tracked down each student.
      Margot was standing in the back watching Cone tell this small
crowd about what SRAC students would have to do. She had seen the
first part of his plan go through, but the part about where all of
the extra money was coming from remained a mystery.
      Cone finally finished addressing the crowd and they started
setting up. Cone walked over and put his arm around Margot.
      "Unlike a certain other person, I've now actually accomplished
something since getting here."
      "I'm very impressed. Now what do you plan to make this little
crew do? Hopefully it somehow gets us all that money you promised."
      "They have nothing to do with the money as I already told you.
Anyway, class starts soon - feel free to stick around." Cone then
placed a cigarette in his mouth, lit it and walked over to some of
the students who were busy setting their stuff up.

      Pollard arrived at home that afternoon in the same manner and
at the same time as he always did. As usual, his parents were gone
when he got there. Like everyday there was a pile of mail on the
table. In the center was a bulky, hastily assembled package with his
name on it. Confused, the blue duck ripped it open and examined the
contents. After a second of looking at what was inside, his heart
started to race, his arms started to shake, and he almost passed out.
From the floor, he managed to pull himself over to the phone and
press Shirley's speed dial button.
      "Like hello?" Shirley said as he answered the phone.
      "Shir... Shir... um, uh... Shir..." he forced out.
      "Pollard, is that you? Are you like alright?" He tried to
answer, but the sound that came from him next could hardly be
described as words. "I'll be right over er some junk." Shirley raced
over as fast as she could to find Pollard on the group propped up
against the leg of a chair. He pointed up to the table and Shirley
immediately discovered what it was that had caused him to react like
this. It was all there in black and white - a newspaper sat there
from Pollard's old home, and the headline was as shocking as could
possibly be expected.
      PRINCE POLLARD'S TURN TO TYRANNY CONTINUES - Town enraged as
once beloved leader betrays citizens.
      "What the..." Shirley asked as she finished reading the
headline.
      "The replacement we left..." Pollard choked out.
      "This just totally can't be right!" Shirley shouted. "Where did
this come from?"
      "I don't know... they didn't put any return address..." Pollard
said as he slowly tried to pull himself up from the floor. Shirley
started reading the rest of the article.
      "I just don't get what happened," Shirley remarked," but this
other Pollard has got some totally bad karma going on."
      "What am I gonna do?" Pollard asked with obvious worry in his
voice as he pulled himself up to the table. "They think it's me
trying to turn that nice area into a terrible place to live." Shirley
placed her hand on his shoulder and tried to think of something to
say, but nothing came to mind.

      "Cone... um, sir..." one of the members of SRAC said as he
approached the dark red feline standing in the corner. "I found out
about that thing you wanted to know." He then handed Cone a printout.
      "Excellent. Wednesday night at a basketball game between Acme
Loserversity and Perfecto Punk we make our debut."

Chapter 7

      "Wow Pollard, you look awful," Babs remarked as she walked up
to Shirley's locker and saw him sitting on the floor next to it.
"What happened? First Elmyra run-in or something?" He didn't answer.
A few awkward seconds passed before Shirley approached.
      "Um Babs, could you like excuse us for a second er some junk?"
      "Sure. Fine." Babs then walked away and commented to herself,
"Sometimes Pollard even makes Hamton look like a barrel of laughs."
      "So like... what's up Pollard?" Shirley asked anxiously.
      "I still don't know how to fix all this..."
      "Well like, what did your parents say?"
      "I didn't tell them," he told her. "They worry about me enough
as it is."
      "Hm..." Shirley thought out loud. "I know how we can check on
what's happening there."
      That day at lunch the two ducked into a small room off from the
film vault in Acme Loo.
      "What are doing here?"
      "I always keep a spare crystal ball down here," Shirley
explained. The two sat down at the small, dusty table and Shirley
cleared the buildup up off the crystal. Shirley waved her hands over
the ball and an image of Pollard's last house with what looked like
guards standing outside and a crowd assembled facing them - not a
single soul in the group looked very pleased. Before they could see
anything else, the picture faded out.
      "We have to go there," Pollard stated.
      "How can we? The gate is probably closed, and we can't just
like take off, and plus you're still hurt er some junk."
      "I don't care. I can't just leave things like this." Shirley
thought about trying to talk him out of it again, but stopped. She
was well aware that he was right, and she knew him well enough to
know he would have to fix this before he would be all right.
      "Okay Pollard. I just got an idea."

      "So you need to go film something on location?" Bugs asked
Shirley as she sat across from Bugs in his office.
      "For sure," Shirley answered. "Me and Plucky are like going to
film this short and Pollard's coming along to help er some junk.
Here's the letter we got to go film it." Shirley handed over the
letter she had Calamity make up for her right before she went to see
Bugs. Acme Loo's leader didn't look all that convinced, but he didn't
say anything that would indicate he didn't believe her.
      "Eh, well, have fun kids."
      "Thanks. We'll leave first thing tomorrow."

      "So you want me to go away on a little trip with you Shirl?
Well sure," Plucky said with a lecherous tone in his voice.
      "Plucky, Pollard would be going too." The smile immediately
vanished from Plucky's face.
      "Look Shirley, I don't know what you have in mind here, but..."
      "Plucky! We have to go there to take care of a real problem,
and it's like not hard to see Pollard can't handle it himself."
      "Fine," Plucky said unenthusiastically. "I guess at least its
some extra time off school."
      "Great. See ya tomorrow morning."

Chapter 8

      "How much longer?" Danforth asked the single other person in
this dark, cold room.
      "They will see you when they are ready."
      It was past midnight and Danforth had already been waiting more
than an hour. Finally, after an eternity of sitting in the same
uncomfortable chair in the waiting room, the large, ominous door
creaked open and Danforth walked inside. Once past the door, Danforth
could see the faces of his 'backers' but just barely with the few
lights in the room.
      "Hello, um, ladies and gentlemen," Danforth said nervously.
"How are you?"
      "We have little time for small talk," one booming voice
declared. "As you are well aware you failed in our last assignment
for you. However, you did not get caught, so it is forgivable."
      "Thank you, and I apologize. I had no idea I had chosen such a
complete idiot for a candidate."
      "On the contrary," another voice argued. "Without the temper
and some of that interference he could have done something. He had
definite potential."
      "If you say so... sir."
      "Danforth, surely enough you will get another chance to show
how valuable you truly are. Our main goal from before is the same -
we just have to take the long way around to get to it. We will be in
touch."
      "Of course," Danforth answered. He then slowly walked out after
being reminded of Cone's failure to win the Perfecto Prep Presidency.
At least, he thought, he wouldn't ever have to lay his eyes on him
again.

      "You still up?" a SRAC student asked as she knocked on Cone's
door.
      "Yes. I'm usually up until at least three most nights," Cone
answered.
      "Cool."
      "Hardly."
      "Listen, everybody noticed the big lights and giant speakers on
the roof and wondered if we could maybe get a little party going with
them."
      "What would happen if we blasted lights and music outdoors in
the middle of the night?"
      "Um... chances are we would wake up all of Acme Acres and make
a lot of people really mad."
      "Yes. Therefore, we have to save it more for a special occasion
when we want to do those things. Besides, most of those kids out
there are drunk or crazy to begin with - they don't need anything
extra to get a party out of them." Cone then slammed the door shut
and flopped forward onto the bed. "Two more days," he thought out
loud," and I finally get to make my mark. I wonder if any of the
others really appreciate what I'm trying to do here."

      "Pollard! Pollard, wake up!" his mother said as he nudged him
awake. "What is this note about?" she held up the note he left saying
he was taking a road trip with Shirley and Plucky for a few days
because he 'forgot something' important back at the old house.
      "It's just what it says there," the groggy duck said.
      " Are you sure? This sounds a little strange. What is it that's
so important you want to drive all the way back for?"
      "Um, I can't really explain, but, uh, could you try and make
sure the gate is open when I get there tomorrow? I really need to be
able to get through."
      "Alright, I guess that can be arranged... so, who's driving?"
      "Plucky, I think."
      "Okay. Well, I guess you can go - just make sure you call us
when you get there." Pollard nodded and his mother closed the door to
his room and walked out.
      "Something's going on here with him," Mrs. Fowler said to her
husband as she walked out of their son's room.
      "I know, but it's obvious he doesn't think he can say what it
is. It must be something big for him to go all the way back there."
She nodded in agreement, and they continued talking a while longer,
but said nothing more directly to their son that night.

      The beat-up station wagon pulled up in front of Pollard's home
early the next morning.
      "Now you're sure you don't just want to get a hired driver to
take the three of you?"
      "No mom, we're fine."
      "And you're sure your leg's alright?" she asked, noticing his
cast had been replaced with a lighter bandage.
      "Yeah. Maybe some of that Acme Acres healing is starting to rub
off on me." Just then Plucky started honking the horn of his barely
working automobile. Pollard picked up his suitcase and walked out to
the car.
      "I didn't know you had your own car," Pollard commented as he
reached the end of the driveway.
      "This is a loaner from the mechanic. He said not to take it on
any long trips or it might break down and - oh, um, never mind,
hehe..." With that, the three ducks sped off.

      Cone woke up after an hour or so of sleep to the sound of two
of his students arguing. He walked out in his bathrobe to the main
room of his half-sunken warehouse and saw the two positioned to hit
each other. Right before they made contact, Cone grabbed them both by
the back of the neck and separated them.
      "What exactly are you two doing?" the irritate feline asked.
      "Hey! This jerk started it!" one shouted.
      "Yeah right! This is your fault!"
      "Shut up both of you!" Cone ordered. "Now listen - and this
goes for everybody - we can't afford stupid little arguments with
each other. WE are here because for one reason or another our work
was ignored and the cartoon powers that be turned on us. We are up
against those too concerned with their own wackiness and those too
caught up in themselves that believe they can walk all over the rest
of the world. To get noticed in a place where the only schools that
get any attention are Acme and Perfecto we have to work together. To
make them notice how we can still contribute something we need all
the help we can get. Therefore we can't act like morons and fight
each other. The next two people that get into a fight here have to
fight me. And, since none of us have adapted to these 'generous' Acme
Acres physics yet that would not be fun. Now, I'm going back to
sleep. If anybody wakes me up they won't like what happens next. I
want all of you to started learning or something." Cone then walked
back into his room and slammed the door shut. The two toons that had
started to fight reluctantly apologized and the rest of the students
went back to whatever they were doing before.

      "Are we almost there?" Plucky groaned after their third
straight hour of driving, the last two being in what appeared to be
the middle of nowhere.
      "Actually, yeah," Shirley replied. "The gate is right there.
We'll either pass right through or get knocked back, depending on if
its open." Plucky and Shirley watched nervously as they approached
the borderline. Meanwhile, Pollard remained asleep in the back seat.
      They crossed the line and the car shook violently, but that had
more to do with the failing engine than the gate. It was obvious that
the passage was unlocked. They were now drawing near to Pollard's
last home where nobody really knew what to expect.

      "Danforth, you look like you were hit by a truck," Roddy
remarked as his top assistant walked into the Perfecto Presidential
office. Danforth said nothing and instead just sat down. "Are all the
arrangements finished for tomorrow night's game?"
      "Yes," mumbled the exhausted Danforth. "There will be so many
sticks of dynamite, anvils and traps in the floor not only will they
lose but they'll be flattened more times than you can count."
      "Hm. Normally you sound more excited when we plan Acme's latest
humiliation."
      "I had a very late night."
      "I hope this late night had something to do with a replacement
for Margot." Danforth fell asleep with his face on the desk before he
could tell Roddy it didn't.

      The old station wagon finally parked on an empty side road a
few blocks away from the town square. Even from there the three
beaked toons could hear the angry shouts of the crowd. The trio
walked forward a little to see a huge mass of people that spanned
further than they had imagined - it seemed to lead all the way back
to Pollard's former home. Before walking on, the three of them donned
black robes with hoods to help disguise their faces - after all, it
definitely wasn't safe for anybody to know they were there until they
knew what exactly was going on.
      "Come on - I know a shortcut to the front of the group,"
Pollard told them. He led the other two through a series back alleys,
dodging obstacles and trying to ignore how out of breath they all
were. Finally, they emerged in the middle of the crowd with the old
Fowler home in plain view, with a few small changes - there was now a
small moat surrounding the hill it sat on and guards stood all around
the edge of the water. A stage sat on the people's side of the water
and a band playing a fast rock song was on it. A tan-colored cat with
long, blonde hair was singing and playing lead guitar.
      As the band finished that song, the crowd clapped until a
figure appeared in the window of what passed for the castle. The
curtains were drawn open and out onto the balcony stepped a tall, fit
blue duck wearing a crown, a black shirt and the same kind of pants
as Plucky.
      "We want the old Pollard back!" someone in the crowd shouted as
soon as he walked out.
      "You mean the old, fat, weaker me? Look, I can't help it that
the animators improved me for this season. Oh, and I don't really
like that name anymore - I think Pike is much better sounding,' the
imposter said.
      "Where are the King and Queen?"
      "They were... written out of the show," Pike said. "Now, I
don't know what you guys are here to complain about but..."
      "The higher taxes!"
      "The guards all over town!"
      "The fact that our nice, shy prince has become a loudmouth
loser," the girl on the stage chimed in.
      Pollard looked mesmerized by Pike. "You know where he came
from, don't you Shirl? Remember the... replacement we left? It's gone
bad," Pollard said with obvious concern.
      "Totally," Shirley said with some worry in her voice.
      As the very front of the discontented mass of citizens, the cat
girl leapt down with her guitar in hand and started back through the
crowd. She soon ended up approaching the spot the three Acme
Looniversity students were standing in. When she reached that
position Pollard ducked his head a little more.
      "So, what'd you three weirdoes think of the concert?" she asked
as she stopped walking.
      "Um... great," Plucky said.
      "Totally," Shirley followed up.
      "Thanks," she said. "I don't know what happened to the Prince,
but something is definitely wrong here. I can't find out what it is,
but damn if I'm not going to complain about it, and I can't think of
a better way than with my band." Shirley and Plucky gasped a little.
"What, the little slip there? I try not to do it, but the TV PG
rating lets me get away with it every now and then." She then
remembered the third member of this trio didn't say anything. "Hey,
um, third person? Didn't you like the music?"
      "Well... of course. I always do... I mean, I did," Pollard said
quietly as he put his hands in the pockets of the robe. The girl's
eyes immediately attached to the blue hands and the familiar sound of
his voice. She waited a second, then grabbed him by the back of the
neck, pulled him into an alley further away from the crowd and pulled
his hood down.
      "I KNEW I recognized that voice!" the girl said. "Pollard, it's
really you! The real you! Now we can kick that imposter out and..."
      "It might not be that easy," Pollard replied.
      "Pollard, what is going on?" Shirley inquired as she walked up
to the two along with Plucky.
      "Oh, um, Plucky, Shirley, this is Charlene. She... she..."
Pollard struggled.
      "On the show I'm supposed to chase after him and he always
turns me down. It's kinda like Pepe LePew in those old WB cartoons,
only without the awful smells or faux French," Charlene explained.
"Off-camera, we're good friends."
      "Camera? I thought this show was -"  Plucky started before
Shirley elbowed him in the side.
      "So why can't we just go out there and bust that creep acting
like he's you?" Charlene asked.
      "Because we don't know what could happen. The people might not
believe me, we don't know who we could be working for and those
guards won't make it so easy," Pollard said.
      "Oh, you need to stop worrying so much!" Charlene exclaimed.
      "Like that's what I always tell him!"
      "Listen blue face, Cone hasn't been seen since... well, since
the last time anybody saw you, so it can't be him behind this. Where
have you been, by the way?"
      "Seeing some old friends," Pollard told her as he gestured to
Plucky and Shirley. "And my parents are still taking care of some
business."
      "Oh. So, where are you three going to hide out while you're
here?" The three Acmes exchanged uncertain glances. "Don't worry -
I'll take care of you."

      "This is a pretty nice place," Shirley remarked as they walked
into Charlene's home in the middle of the town, a few miles away from
Pollard's old home.
      "Whatever you do," Pollard warned Plucky and Shirley quietly,"
don't ask where her parents are. It's like asking Buster - you won't
get an answer, but it makes for a really awkward moment."
      The three of them left their belongings on the floor for the
moment while they parked the run-down station wagon outside. They
hoped they could quickly remove the imposter, but all doubted it
would be that easy. In fact, as of right now they had no idea how
they were going to do it. The first step was to figure out a plan -
this alone could take a few days.

Chapter 9

      "Hey, look who's back!" one SRAC student hollered as Cone
walked back in.
      "What class are you guys doing right now?" he asked.
      "Cartoon ethics," one replied.
      "Nice," Cone remarked. "Memorize as many rules as you can so
you know to break them tonight." Cone then walked into his room and
slammed the door shut. It was Wednesday afternoon now - the night of
the big basketball game that existed just to help those two schools
hype themselves and their rivalry, according to Cone. He sat down on
the bed and ran over what he and his friends could do for the
thousandth time in his head. You only get one chance to make a first
impression, or so the cliché goes, and he had to make a big
impression tonight if he had any hope of doing what he was there for.
He was excited about this, but also somewhat nervous - after all, you
can't predict everything.

      "Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Perfecto Prep Spectrum,"
the PA announcer said as the game was beginning. "Tonight we have the
only school that matters - Perfecto Prep - against the team from a
poor school." The crowd started to boo mercilessly as Acme's team
started to walk out. Members carried an umbrella to protect
themselves from the barrage that was surely coming. It was a good
thing they did.
      Next, the Perfecto squad - carried in on chairs by four workers
each - entered. They were set down and their servants walked off. The
crowd roared as the team, lead by Roddy and Danforth (much like the
school in general was) walked to center court. Buster and Roddy
prepared to go for the tip.
      "This will be so easy," Roddy remarked as he stared right at
Buster. The ref started to motion the ball up in the air for the tip-
off when suddenly all the lights went out. Seconds later, one green
spotlight shone down on the visiting player's entrance. One long toon
- a SRAC student wearing a black shirt with the school name written
in green across it - walked out eating off a plate from the Perfecto
Prep dining hall.
      "You know what? This caviar tastes like crap!" he commented.
Without saying anything the Perfecto Players started advancing on him
when three other pulsing green lights came down to reveal at least
twenty other SRAC students in the room. "So you know what the
downside to having electronic reclining chairs in the stands is?" the
student asked as he pulled a remote control out. He then pressed a
button on the control and the chairs all folded, striking each person
in the stands in the back. Everybody then stood up so that would not
happen again.
      "And just who do you think you are?" Roddy started.
      "Oh shut up," the SRAC student who had spoken before answered.
"Get ready guys," he then called back to his own students. Each SRAC
member, all wearing the same shirt, put in earplugs and another
button on the same remote was pushed. Suddenly a high-pitched wailing
came out of every speaker in the place. Both Perfectos and Acmes were
on the ground covering their ears. Windows and monitors shattered all
over the room. After about ten seconds the terrible sound ceased.
      "Now that we have your attention," the toon speaking for SRAC
said into a microphone," both schools here have a little something to
learn - despite what both of you think, neither of you is the center
of the universe."
      "Hey!" Buster protested. "We're not like Perfecto!"
      "You shut up, too. You can tell yourself that but both Acme and
Perfecto think you are the most important places on Earth. In time
we'll show differently. For now, I suggest that everybody clear out."
      "Who's gonna make us?" Roddy asked. To answer, three SRAC
students picked up ten-foot poles they had with them on the ground
and used them to knock down one of the backboards, shattering the
glass as it fell. "If you don't, the roof is coming down." Angrily
and with much protest the members of Acme and Perfecto cleared out.
"Cone will be so proud." Before leaving, the SRAC kids wrecked a few
seats and left a hole in center court. They also left a note on the
door saying "If you want to do something about it, come here"
followed by a map to SRAC.

Chapter 10

      Margot sat staring at her parents who were still picking their
jaws up off the dining room floor.
      "You left Perfecto?!" her stunned father finally said, breaking
the terrible silence.
      "The school I'm at now is much more exclusive," Margot said.
      "When can we see it?" her mother asked.
      "Never. I wasn't even supposed to talk about it at all."
      "But-"
      "But nothing. Now, I have to go meet a friend from school."
Margot then walked out and told her driver where to take her. Twenty
minutes later, she was let out of the cat, paid the driver for his
silence and took off. She walked the extra few yards to SRAC, which
only had a few small lights on now (the spotlights remained off). A
few students sat outside smoking, but it was getting colder so more
stayed in. Just as Margot went through the entrance, two pairs of
headlights appeared behind her. She turned around to see most of
SRAC's student body jump out of two vans and run inside. Cone was the
last to walk out, and he immediately spotted Margot.
      "How did it go?" she asked.
      "Wonderful. We ruined their game, nobody spotted me, and if all
goes well, Perfecto will stop by soon to get back at us." Cone put
his arm around Margot's shoulder and leader her into his room. "I
have a surprise for you. Close your eyes." She did, and seconds later
she opened them to see a giant stack of dollar bills sitting in her
hands.
      "Cone!" she shouted excitedly. He quickly grabbed the money
back.
      "Our income source came through. Every few days we'll be
getting this much. It's a good thing too - my WB hush money was
running low." The two kissed for a second before Margot pulled out a
cigarette and lit up. "Now, if I'm right Roddy would never come here
himself, but he will probably send Danforth. So, you might want to
watch from inside if they come here."
      "You sure?"
      "Positive. If you miss anything I'll get you the tape."

      "This is the best plan we could come up with in two days?"
      "I think it's fine Plucky," Shirley answered. "It's no so
complicated that we won't be able to do it. It's simple, but like
probably effective." It was now a couple of days later, and the
middle of the night. With what they considered a useable plan they
wanted to finally get some rest.
      The idea itself seemed simple enough at first - with the help
of Charlene's band to get them enough attention, they had to let
everybody know the real Pollard was still out there and say the
imposter had done something with him. How they could explain knowing
this was still being worked out. Pollard would have to be kept out of
sight this whole time. With enough of a rally against Pike the people
would rally against him, and the only way they saw that they could
truly to get the people to push hard enough against this fake leader
was to make them think the real Pollard - the one they all wanted
back in there, and the one they all genuinely liked - was in danger.
      Charlene's band would also be in charge of helping to organize
the wrath of the public. When the people were sufficiently together,
they would all get together outside of the mansion at once and demand
the safe return of their Pollard. This would not doubt draw out the
guards. As Pike's security was pushed out, Plucky, Pollard, Shirley
and Charlene would then go into the mansion. Yes, this plan depended
on a number of things going right, and yes, there were several
unanswered questions, but they knew full well they would be making
some of it up as they went along.
      They thought about just bringing out the real Pollard and
saying now that he's back Pike has to move out. However, with Pike's
control and the public confusion that would ensue, it was decided
this was a bad idea.
      "So when do we start this?" Pollard asked.
      "There's another public meeting tomorrow night, and my band is
the opening act," Charlene said. "We'll get the ball rolling then.
For now let's try and get some sleep."
      Making sure the windows were sufficiently covered, Pollard and
Plucky took the couches downstairs in the living room while Shirley
took the guest bedroom and Charlene returned to her room upstairs.
      "So what happens if we get this fake you out of there?" Plucky
asked as the two sat awake.
      "I think I have to tell them the truth this time, about the
show and where I was and everything else," Pollard explained.
      "You sure you wouldn't just rather take that giant house back
over and control a city again?"
      "No. I still love Acme Acres more than here, but these people
have a right to know."
      "I'd take the palace and the power, but whatever works for
you."
      "Plucky?"
      "Yeah?"
      "Thanks for coming to help."
      "No problem."
      In the spare bedroom with the door open Shirley could hear her
boyfriend and her childhood friend having a real conversation for the
first time she could remember, and she fell asleep with a little
smile across her beak.

      All of the main members of Roddy's administration walked in and
closed the door to the Presidential office.
      "Thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting. Of course
if you didn't you would be kicked out, so you should be happy you
did. As you saw some little upstart loser school wants to play with
the big boys. Tomorrow night Danforth, take whoever you need down
there and show them how over their heads they really are."
      "With pleasure, Roddy," Danforth said.

Chapter 11

      "That's a lot of people," Pollard remarked as he peered out the
windows at the crowd that was already gathering.
      "Just make sure nobody sees you or our whole plan is blown. You
sure you won't let me dye your feathers red to help protect you?"
      "No," Pollard said. "And anyway, you always used to tell me
before you thought I should try having red feathers, so it isn't just
about protecting me."
      "Fair enough," Charlene said. "Anyway, right now only the three
of us and my band know, and if any of those guys said anything they
know I'd mess them up. Anyway, see ya blue face." She then walked out
the door with Shirley and Plucky in tow. Pollard flipped the TV on to
see what was going on at the "Pike Reform Rally." As the sun started
to drop about half an hour later, the cameras switched to the stage
where Charlene and her band were finishing setting up. Plucky and
Shirley were up there with them, standing at the back and pretending
like they knew how to play - Shirley had a guitar and Plucky had a
triangle, or as Charlene described it, the only instrument he would
be believable on.
      The band opened with a very fast rock song and by the time the
minute - long guitar solo ended, the crowd was really into it. The
audience applauded wildly as the now eight - member band finished.
Shirley and Plucky were sweating trying to appear as if they were
actually playing along with the music.
      "Thank you!" Charlene exclaimed into the mic as the music
stopped. "Now you all know we are here to get 'Pike' out and our
beloved shy Prince back in place, right?" The crowd cheered in
agreement. "Well, what I've found out makes that even more
important." The confused crowd sat silent. Up above, out of a top-
floor  window, Pike started listening very intently. "Not only is
Pike not our Pollard, he isn't any Pollard. The real one is..." just
then the power to the microphone went dead. Charlene looked up and
saw Pike pulling away from the window. "Get ready to run," Charlene
said bluntly to those on stage with her as her feline heart began to
race.
      "Like what's going on?" Shirley asked.
      "I don't have to be psychic to know that Pike was just
listening and he isn't exactly impressed." Seconds later the small
bridge lowered over the moat and a row of guards rushed across. The
crowd started to scatter - Plucky and Shirley took to the skies while
Charlene ran as fast as she could, which was pretty fast considering
she was a cat. "We've got the people's attention now, and the tyrant
is worried - I'd say this is working."

      On the path to SRAC a scout could now see an approaching group
from Perfecto Prep with Danforth walking in front.
      "They're on their way, and guess who's leading the pack," the
SRAC scout said into a cell phone.
      "Perfect," Cone replied before hanging up. "Places people." The
lights on the outside of the building were turned off, as was every
light inside. Everybody watched as best they could for the Perfectos.
After a couple of minutes they could see faint approaching images.
Cone pressed a button on the remote he was carrying. Two massive
green spotlights started shining down from the roof. Danforth stopped
their advance and looked up.
      "The fun is over," Danforth called. "All the kids who so rudely
interrupted an event at a real school come out." A second later the
lights went out. A few seconds later they came on again and twenty
SRAC students were standing outside.
      "Can we help you?" one asked. Danforth didn't look impressed.
      "Yes. Playtime's over. The next time you want to take us on,
there will be quite a price to pay." The SRAC students began to
laugh. Just then some music with heavy bass started to blare out of
the giant speakers on the roof and the spotlights began to pulse.
Cone, wearing a long, black coat slowly walked up from the semi-
submerged school. Danforth froze on the spot.
      "Well well," the red cat said. "Look who it is."
      "Somebody get me an anvil!" Danforth commanded.
      "Now, you don't want to do that," Cone said.
      "And why not?"
      "Because," Cone whispered to him," if Roddy knew you tried to
stab him in the back your future at Perfecto would be ruined."
Danforth hesitated for several seconds.
      "Forget it for tonight. These people are hardly worth the
effort of a good fight." Danforth walked away and his confused
cronies followed closely behind. The SRAC group laughed and pointed
as the Perfectos slinked away. Margot ran right up against Cone.
      "What did you say to him?"
      "Just a little reminder of what he did." Margot smirked. Cone
turned to the whole group. "Everybody gather around. That was a nice
job out there - Perfecto knows we're here and what we look like and
that we don't care whom we have to go against to get our point
across. At the same time, you didn't run out there like a bunch of
morons looking for a fight in the way that Perfecto usually does. The
more attention we can get, the better off we are. It's true that
toons who are forgotten eventually fade away, well, if we keep this
up we aren't going anywhere for a long time." Cone then retreated
into his room with Margot to discuss what had happened in greater
detail.

      It was three in the morning at Charlene's house when a loud
knock at the door was heard. Charlene ran downstairs in her pajamas
and covered the sleeping Pollard with a blanket to hide his presence,
and opened the door.
      "I really hope this is important," she said as she pulled the
door open. Whether or not it was important was answered when she saw
over a hundred people behind the door. "Um... would you all like to
come in?"
      All of them started to cram into each little corner of her two-
floor home. They stayed off the couch that Plucky was trying to sleep
on, but Charlene saw somebody going for the couch without an obvious
person but with a big lump under a blanket. Just before this person
sat down, Charlene dashed over and sat across the whole couch, and
the person found a different spot. "Just sit perfectly still,"
Charlene whispered to Pollard who must have waken up by now. "Listen
everybody," the barely awake feline said," Let me finish what Pike so
rudely interrupted this evening." Charlene told them she overheard
Pike saying something about where they hid the real Pollard and,
although she didn't know for sure, she really thought he might be
hurt.
      "So what do we do?!" one person asked.
      "We need to get to Pike and take this town back!" Charlene
declared. "If we take everything back those guards will have to be on
our side and tell us where Pollard is. Or, if we get in, we could
always 'persuade' Pike to tell us what we need to know." The crowd
seemed receptive enough to the concept, much to the relief of
Charlene., who was doing her best to sell it. She didn't like lying
about the plan, but she had to. The people's role was just as she
explained it, but she changed the end part where they get into the
mansion, remove Pike and then reveal Pollard. She had to really make
them believe that this was some sort of search.
      Knowing now at least some of what was going to happen and what
they were expected to do, the people left Charlene's home and started
to head home. As soon as the last visitor had exited, Charlene took
the blanket off of Pollard. Plucky and Shirley sat up in the living
room.
      "I hate lying to the whole place like that," Charlene said,
"but I didn't really see another way."
      "I know that feeling," muttered Pollard. Plucky looked over and
saw the concerned look on his girlfriend's face.
      "What's up Shirl?"
      "I'm just getting a totally bad vibe about how this is going to
turn out er some junk."
      "Hey, relax," Charlene told her. "If you keep talking like that
you're going to sound like blueface."

Chapter 12

      It was now the middle of Friday afternoon in Acme Acres. Most
of the SRAC students were asleep or still recovering from the night
before, but a few were sitting around conducting the usual teacher-
less classes. Cone was awake but was sitting in his room still when
the phone rang.
      "Now why would anyone call here of all places?" Cone asked as
he answered the phone.
      "Um hello... is dis da principal of da school?" the voice on
the other end asked.
      "Who is this?"
      "Dis is Principal Bugs Bunny of Acme Looniversity."
      "No it isn't. Who is it really?"
      "I just told ya. Now it has come to my attention dat your
school ruined da Acme basketball game and..."
      "Well it has come to my attention that Warners doesn't really
care if any part of our lives get ruined, so excuse me if I'm not
crying for you. Why exactly are you calling? Are you afraid you'll
hear from us again? Maybe you're afraid we'll wreck an episode or two
of Tiny Toons? So what! You'll get to make hundreds more. I got to
make one lousy cartoon so don't look for any sympathy from me! I'm
not tiny, I'm not toony, and I definitely don't care if an Acme Loo
big shot is mad about what my school did. Get over it!!" Cone then
slammed the phone down.
      "Who were you yelling at?" Margot asked as she walked into the
room.
      "I don't think you would believe me if I told you."

      Danforth paced up and down the halls of Perfecto Prep trying to
think of how he was going to explain to Roddy why the previous night
was a failure. It was Friday so most students did not show up until
noon - being the president, Roddy came in at one-thirty. As Danforth
kept pacing, Roddy opened the door to his office and motioned
Danforth in.
      "I already heard," Roddy stated as Danforth took a seat.
      "Well, you see..."
      "Save it," Roddy ordered. "Danforth, you have been my second-
in-command so to speak for the last three years. Before now you had
done whatever was needed and done it well. But, since the start of
this year you have either not been doing what you are supposed to or
haven't been doing it well."
      "Roddy, you know that there have been... complications."
      "I don't care. Danforth, if you can't deal with this new
problem then maybe I should get somebody else who can!"
      Danforth considered arguing again, but decided against it.
Instead he just silently walked out.

      Charlene stepped in the door after returning home from school
and saw Shirley sitting at her kitchen table with her crystal ball.
      "Whatcha doing?" Charlene asked.
      "Plucky left like two hours ago to go try and find a Weenie
Burger," the Loon explained. "I'm seeing how lost he is."
      "Ah, you water fowl and your sense of direction," Charlene
remarked. "Pollard's ability to find his way home isn't great either.
Speaking of which, where is blueface?"
      "Upstairs."
      "Hm. Hey look, Plucky has managed to walk almost to the desert.
You'd think by now he'd just have figured out that there are no
Weenie Burgers here." Shirley chuckled a little. "So can you see in
anywhere with this ball?"
      "Some places are easier to focus on than others."
      "Could you see in the Fowler mansion?"
      "Kind of, but when I tried before the picture was all wonky."
      "Well, what helps you focus?"
      "Energy flow. We need some energy focused right at it."
      "In which case I have an idea," Charlene said. She then ran
upstairs and returned, pulling Pollard by his arm. Shirley tried to
bring up the image of the mansion again, and this time it came in
perfectly.
      "Can you maybe enlarge the picture or something?" Charlene
asked. Shirley pressed a small button on the base of the crystal ball
labeled "big screen" and the ball suddenly tripled in size.
      They could see Pike walking around the mansion. He went and sat
in Pollard's old room and lit up a cigarette.
      "Ick," Charlene remarked. "I hate it when people smoke. My
brother smokes and it just disgusts me."
      From there they saw Pike sift through some money and consult a
little with some guards, but they couldn't hear what was being said.
Then Pike walked over to a balcony and paused for a moment. Shirley
switched the image to the outside of the mansion where people were
gathering again.
      "Uh oh," Charlene said. "It looks like these people are about
to try and take the situation into their own hands. Problem is, they
normally can't organize anything themselves without it blowing up in
their faces. This is why I always plan these little public meetings.
I should really go help." Shirley followed her as Charlene ran
outside. Pollard started to follow but quickly remembered why he
couldn't.
      Charlene and Shirley reached the area outside the mansion just
in time to hear the crowd start a "We Want Pollard!" chant. A it
began, Pike walked over to the balcony and beheld the crowd.
      "I'm here," Pike said, "and I said not to call me that
anymore."
      "The real Pollard!" the crowd shouted back in unison.
      "Oh please. We've been over this - they redrew the fat, homely
me and made me like this."
      "He's lying!" somebody in the crowd shouted.
      "You're just saying that because you're mad about taxes being a
little higher and me not being the friendly sap I was before. I am
still the same guy, technically."
      "Tell us the truth! Where is the real Pollard?" one especially
irate person asked. Pike didn't answer, but the scowl on his face
told them all they needed to know about his response.
      "This is going to have to be dealt with," Pike said. "And
soon."

Chapter 13

      It was now Friday night and SRAC had moved into more of a part
mode. There was noise and spotlights going on even as it passed
midnight. At around half-past midnight, a police car pulled up in
front of the unorthodox school. As an officer got out of the car,
Cone approached her.
      "Do you have nay idea what time it is?" she asked.
      "I'm well aware. We learn well into the night at this school."
      "Mr. McKatton, we have received a number of complaints about
the disturbance you and your associates have been causing."
      "From Perfecto Prep, no doubt."
      "And from Acme Loo. Both also filed complaints about a
basketball incident, and we still have the incident from the Acme Loo
basement involving a small flood a few months back."
      "In his usual pathetic, over-done and clichéd way, Buster says
he does something 'Buster style.' I will take care of this Cone
style." Cone then handed the officer a bundle of cash. "We aren't
doing anything wrong."
      "I'll keep that in mind." She then drove off and the
festivities resumed.
      "It's that kind of display of guts and money that sets you
apart from Danforth," Margot said.
      "Not to mention looks," Cone added. "After all, that is what
made you ditch Dan for me. And the money I promised I'd get kept you
with me. We don't exactly have a deep relationship here."
      "Brutally honest, too," Margot remarked.
      "Can you believe Perfecto tried to get the law involved? They
must be desperate. I guess Danforth figured since he can't come down
here and get rid of me he'll try other ways."
      "Can we please just bust him?" Margot asked eagerly.
      "Not yet. We need to hold it over his head a little while
longer."

      Saturday night in Pollard's old town seemed to be going
normally for the most part. Charlene was giving Plucky a tour so he
wouldn't get lost again and Shirley was sitting with Pollard back in
Charlene's house.
      "I am really getting tired of not being able to leave the
house," Pollard told Shirley as they flipped through channels.
      "Yeah, it must be kind of a bummer." Pollard looked over at the
clock - it was just about to strike nine. Just as the hands crept
over to the new hour, a voice projecting outside could be heard.
      "Attention citizens," boomed Pike's voice. Return to your homes
at once. Guards will come around to ensure you're doing this."
      "What is this guy's problem?" Shirley asked.
      "I don't know Shirley... you know that I was nothing like this
when I was in charge, right?"
      "Duh Pollard."
      "Okay. Just making sure." Just then Plucky walked in the door
alone.
      "Where's Charlene?" Pollard asked. Plucky pointed at the window
where Charlene could be seen arguing with the guards.
      "Lady, get inside now. Orders of the Prince," the guard said.
      "Would you like to make me?"
      "Come on, don't make our jobs any harder." Charlene started to
back up and the guards moved in on her. They backed her into a wall.
Just as it appeared that she had nowhere left to escape to, a
motorcycle came barreling down the street. Without thinking the
female cat jumped out and grabbed onto the jacket of the rider with
just the edge of her claws. She was pulled away to safety just in the
nick of time.
      "That was unexpected," commented Plucky.
      "She sometimes makes exits like that.  She'll probably show up
back here in a few hours," Pollard explained.
      Surely enough at two that morning, the door creaked open and
the tan cat stepped inside. Pollard and Plucky awoke at the sound of
her entrance.
      "See?" Pollard remarked.
      "How did you get back?" Plucky asked.
      "Funny story about a garbage truck, a bat, and a trick wall,"
Charlene said. "But I don't feel like explaining it right now.:
Charlene then headed up to bed.
      "I can't wait to hear this one," the green duck stated.
      "Don't hold your breath," Pollard told him. "She never actually
explains anything she begins by saying 'funny story about...' and
sometimes I wonder if the explanation is as complicated as she tries
to make it sound."

      "I just got a brilliant idea," Cone declared. Their little
party was still continuing even now in the middle of the night. "I
would bet we could get the spotlight right into the Perfecto dorms
from here." Cone gave a signal and one of the SRAC students on the
roof pointed the bright green light in the correct spot, and surely
enough one side of the dorm was now being bombarded by this green
illumination. "Leave it there for a while." Cone looked over into one
of the pockets of toons standing outside and saw Margot speaking with
a  few other girls, laughing and actually appearing to be having a
good time. Cone figured maybe Margot could start enjoying the company
of other people there besides just him after all.
      "Maybe it's time to show Danforth how his old girlfriend is
really doing," Cone thought out loud. "By the time we're done with
him, he'll have so little respect he'd be lucky to get into Acme
Loo."

      At five on Sunday morning the pounding construction equipment
jolted the entire town awake, including the three visitors from Acme
Loo. Shirley headed straight for her crystal ball and watched the
source of the noise - a large fence was being installed in front of
the moat at the mansion.
      "Alright, this is getting ridiculous!" Charlene exclaimed.
"Guards everywhere, fences, moats, and gouging the citizens are not
my idea of a good time. We all live here to make a frakin' cartoon
and our lovely little city is being run like we're under marshal law.
Before that imposter moved in this was a nice place to live and well
worth moving from Tooningwood Heights."
      "Wait," Shirley interrupted. "You lived there too?"
      "Yeah. I went to a different school than you, though."
      "How do you know what school I went to?" Shirley asked.
      "Um... blueface mentioned it once," Charlene stated. Pollard
looked a little bewildered at this but said nothing. "Anyway, my
point was I used to like it here but now I can't stand it. We need to
deal with this soon - like today."

Chapter 13

      "So that's it. If you're in stick around," Charlene said.
Gathered in her house were all of the citizens in town who were
ready, willing and able to help try and take back the town. She had
explained every detail of the plan that Shirley, Plucky and Pollard
had helped devise early that morning. All she needed from the people
was for them to cause enough commotion outside of the mansion to
distract every available employee of their supposed leader. She would
then take care of the rest. Ideally, the plan would take a little
longer to make sure the time was right to act, but Charlene had
decided she couldn't wait any longer. "At midnight we begin." As this
meeting was going on, Pollard was hiding in the basement listening
through vents.
      The crowd left as silently as possible so as not to make it too
obvious in case Pike had any friends around. When each person had
cleared out Pollard emerged.
      "If all goes well we'll have you back home in no time,"
Charlene assured the blue duck.
      "...yeah, sure... home..." Pollard said quietly. Plucky and
Shirley just exchanged glances.

      Midnight rolled around and the four toons in Charlene's house
watched as hundreds filed out of their homes and began to walk
towards the mansion. It was becoming painfully obvious that they
hadn't figured out how to enforce curfew yet. The angry citizens made
little noise until they reached the newly raised fence. Once there
those in the front started rattling it. Others had brought megaphones
and were making irritating sounds into them. Charlene's band mates
started up blaring musical sounds.
      "Apparently these peons are insane!!" Pike shouted as the noise
awoke him.  He picked up a phone next to what was Pollard's parents'
bed, pressed a speed dial button and said, "Get everybody out there
now and shut these people up!"

      "Time to go," Charlene declared. Pollard put the black robe on
that they had arrived in just in case they were spotted. The four ran
out of the house and down the street to a sewer grate. Charlene
pulled it open and motioned for the three beaked toons to get in.
      "We used this sewer passage in one episode, remember?" she
asked looking at Pollard.
      "Yeah," he answered. "It lead right into my kitchen. If I
remember." As the three ran along the cement walkway off on the side
of the sewer they could hear a little of what was going on up top.
Most of it, though, sounded like yelling without distinguishable
words.
      After a very long walk the four ended up under a wooden trap
door.
      "With every guard in town dealing with our diversion, this
should be at least a little easier," Charlene said as she jumped up
and pulled the door open. Charlene jumped up and the other three flew
through the opening.
      "That flying thing must be really useful," Charlene commented
as she looked at the other three.

      "Yeah, it'll be ready first thing on Monday. I think we're
almost finished with part one of the plan," Pike said into the phone.
Just then he heard a creaking sound a few rooms away. "Something's
up. I'll call you back." Pike then started creeping around to find
out what the noise was.
      "Get down," Shirley whispered as she heard footsteps. In the
next room they could see Pike searching around for the source of what
he heard as they ducked behind a counter. Shirley waved her hands
slightly and immediately caused an effect. As Pike continued walking
around, he felt a few drops hit the top of his head. Pike looked up
just in time to see a massive rainstorm forming above him similar to
the one that Shirley summoned during the 'Amazing Three' incident.
The startled Pike quickly ran up a staircase to avoid the impending
flood. Shirley quickly halted the water and the group moved.
      The four of them tracked Pike slowly and quietly. Pollard was
familiar enough with the house to even know which stairs to skip so
they wouldn't creak. Pike had now retreated to a large room
surrounded on all sides by huge windows. The only lights came in from
the street lamps outside. As soon as Pike had taken a seat in what
appeared to be an expensive couch, Shirley concentrated on the
furniture and it started to lift. Shirley spun the couch in several
circles, eventually tossing Pike across the room and into a wall.
      "What is going on!?" he shouted out. "Whoever you are come out
now!" Nobody emerged. Pike walked over to the staircase to the third
floor and looked up only to see all the lights were now on. Pike
cautiously started walking up. The top of the stairs was right next
to the elevator, and when Pike reached the top the elevator arrived
and opened with a lamp inside. "This is getting ridiculous!" Still
unable to see what forces were causing this, Pike started dashing for
the room at the end of a long hall with his legs and arms shaking
violently. The room was already open - it was the safe, a room with a
practically unending supply of wealth in it. Just as he was about to
run through the entrance, the door snapped shut. Pike turned around
and saw Shirley, Plucky and Pollard standing right behind him.
      "Aw crap," was his only comment.
      "Like what do you think you're doing?" Shirley asked.
      "Yeah, after being copied off Pollard shouldn't you act like a
doormat, too?" Plucky asked without thinking.
      "Sorry, but that doesn't always work," Pike answered. "Now why
would the Prince have made a copy of himself? Could it be to go see
his old girlfriend but not have the town not get mad at him for
leaving?"
      "It's not like that," Pollard said weakly.
      "Maybe you just wanted your seat kept warm so you could go do
whatever you want and your nice little copy would just hold the
fort!"
      "Just shut up!!" Shirley ordered him.
      "It doesn't really matter. I own this place now anyway." Pike
did not notice the light-colored cat walking up behind him. Charlene
subtly crept towards Pike's back, grabbed the back of his neck and
pulled up, removing a mask and leaving a green rabbit with short ears
sitting before them.
      "What the..." Shirley said.
      "Pollard, next time you make a copy of yourself, do it right.
The copies you made ended up coming out as stuffed replicas, not
living ones. But, it gave me an idea of how to take over. After
getting a little tip about what you tried to do I moved right in.
Thanks to this place my associates and me now have more than enough
money. Even if I can't stay here this isn't a big loss now anyway. I
hope you enjoy trying to clean everything up." Charlene turned Pike
around and slapped with claws out. He was about to say something back
to her, but decided against it. "You're just lucky you are who you
are, miss." Just then several guards came running up the stairs and
pulled Pike out of there.
      "I have a question now," Charlene said after they watched Pike
get pulled out. "Why did he say you made a copy of yourself?"
      "Well... there's a lot of stuff I have to explain to you and
everybody else," Pollard told her. The confused Charlene just
shrugged.
      "Alright. Well, what do we do now? Tell everyone you're back?"
      "Yeah, I guess," said Pollard. "But, before I say anything
myself, I need to figure out how I'm going to tell everybody what
happened."
      "Plucky, you like go with Charlene to talk to the crowd. I need
to talk with Pollard er some junk." Plucky agreed and walked out with
Charlene while Shirley and Pollard sat down in what for the moment
was Pollard's room again.
      "So like... are you really going to tell them everything?" she
asked.
      "I have to," Pollard replied. "Lying was a mistake. If I keep
lying then I'm just like the people who didn't ever tell us the truth
for the past three years. I don't think they'll take it well..."
Shirley didn't look too optimistic either. "If they ever cancelled
Tiny Toons, do you think they would tell you?"
      "I guess so," the Loon answered without any real certainty.
      "I still haven't figured out why they never told us."
      "Ignorance is like bliss, maybe," Shirley theorized. Pollard
shrugged.
      "Maybe. I think I was a little happier before I knew."

      Outside, Charlene and Plucky told the anxious crowd what they
had been so wanting to hear - Pollard had been safely returned, and
that in a couple of days when he was ready he would address
everything. They cheered, marking one of the last times they would be
very happy with him.

Chapter 14

      "So it is agreed then," one suit in the dark meeting room said.
"We will begin shooting the new two-hour Tiny Toons feature on the
agreed upon date."
      "I'll contact Mr. Bugs Bunny in the morning and inform him of
our decision."
      "Excellent. Those kids never were told their show was
cancelled, were they?"
      "No, sir."
      "Okay. Now, onto some other, similar business. See that this
message makes it to Mr. Pollard Fowler first thing in the morning. We
have been monitoring this situation and I believe it is time we added
a little direction to it."
      "Yes sir."
      "Now then, I want preparations to begin immediately for the new
Tiny Toons special, including cast members, the final version of the
script, etc.
      "Now a problem, sir."
      "Excellent. I believe that's all. Goodnight gentleman."

Chapter 15

      "What are you doing?!"
      "Yeah, normally we can sleep until noon!"
      "Not today," Cone told the students. "There is a Tiny Toons
short being filmed this morning and I figured we could all make a
cameo appearance." Reluctantly, the SRAC students pulled themselves
up from their army-style cots. Margot was naturally still at home.
Cone picked from those that got up and selected give students to
accompany him to Acme Loo that morning. The part of six then started
walking.

      "Hiya toonsters! I'm Buster Bunny!"
      "And I'm Babs Bunny!"
      "No relation."
      "Today we have a special cartoon about..." Buster started. He
reached up and pulled down a little card, only it didn't have the
name of a cartoon on it. Somebody had spray painted over the title.
      "How many of you are sick of those two and their dumb little
catchphrases" it now said. Buster quickly pulled the card back up
only to see Cone and his companions standing behind it.
      "Excuse me," Buster said. He then walked over to a rope labeled
"Anvil." Cone looked up and saw the anvil hanging over his head.
      "I wouldn't if I were you," Cone told him.
      "And why not, bub?" Babs asked.
      "Well, unless you want your stupid little show get a TV-M
rating you shouldn't Remember, we can't stretch and bend and heal
like you Acmes yet, so you can imagine what a giant metal weight on
our heads might do. Of course, you should be aware of this."
      "What do you mean? I thought all toons reacted the same."
      "And you claimed you weren't self-centered. Remember when a
certain loser snapped his fibula in your basement? He didn't just
pull the cast off minutes later like you would, did he?" Buster and
Babs said nothing. Cone turned to face the camera. "Now I know this
probably won't make it to air, but I'll say it anyway. You know as
well as I do these two aren't funny. They're selfish and annoying,
and I really wish they'd just shut up already." Just as Cone and his
companions were about to give a gesture to the camera that would have
ruined Tiny Toons' status as a family show, Bugs came in and pulled
Cone away from the camera.
      "I thought you might do that," Cone remarked.
      "Eh, let's have a chat in my office." Cone followed while his
cronies hung around the halls. "I think ya have some explainin' to
do."
      "Sorry but I can't sit through another minute of that self-
promoting garbage. Their little gimmicks got old even faster than
yours." Bugs already looked very unimpressed.
      "What exactly are ya trying to do, kid?"
      "My school is made up of toons who were either turned down or
had their shows cancelled. Of course these are just the ones who know
they were cancelled. I'm sure there are others who were stuck like I
was and not ever told. You could have told Pollard while he was here
but instead he found out from his would-be girlfriend on a computer
printout."
      ""Eh, have you ever maybe thought there was a reason da shows
were cancelled?"
      "Maybe. But it doesn't excuse lying about it and it's hard to
accept when cartoons are supposed to be our lives. Now, we're not
going away, so I hope your idiotic protégés get over themselves, and
fast." Cone then walked out. Bugs just sighed as the infuriated
feline headed out the door. On the way out, Cone kicked down a door
and broke a window.

      The doorbell at the mansion rang at eight that morning.
Shirley, who had fallen asleep on a couch there the previous night,
woke up and answered it only to see a tall, ominous - looking man
before her.
      "Deliver this to P. Fowler please," he instructed her, handing
over an envelope. He then walked away and Shirley ran upstairs and
woke Pollard up.
      "Some totally creepy dud just dropped this off," she said.
Pollard pulled it open and read the letter within. As he finished it,
his face turned to a very worried expression. "Like what is it?"
Pollard handed it to her and Shirley read it over herself, and
immediately she figured out why it upset him. The letter read as
follows:

      Dear Mr. Fowler,
            It has come to out attention that you are planning to
inform the public about the cancellation of the series "The Last
Thing Expected." Please also note we are currently reviewing your
application for a role on Tiny Toon Adventures. Public disclosure of
your knowledge on the subject of the cancellation of "The Last Thing
Expected" will result in the immediate rejection of your application.
Please be advised that you are dealing with privileged information
and are expected to treat it as such.
                                                -WB Contract
Management

      "What are you gonna do?" Shirley asked. Pollard said nothing -
he just sat blankly staring at the wall.

      "Please come in," Pollard's mother said to the man in a suit
standing at her door. He came in and sat down in the living room.
      "Mrs. Fowler, there has been a change of plans."
      "What are you talking about?"
      "As you know our original plan was to tell your son his
application to be a member of the Tiny Toons cast was going to be
accepted knowing full well that Tiny Toons was no longer in
production. However, due to a recent decision to create a new Tiny
Toons special we can no longer do this. His application will be
considered as any other now." Pollard's mother looked upset now.
      "He'll be crushed if he's turned down."
      "That's not our concern."

      Margot walked into the crowded main room of SRAC where Cone was
leaning back in a chair smoking.
      "Check out what I found," Margot said as she handed Cone over a
newspaper. It was the Perfecto Prep Perfectionist, the school's daily
paper. The front page had an article on SRAC where both Danforth and
Roddy call it, "not a threat" "Not an issue" and "barely worth
mentioning."
      "Those mother-"
      "Cone, if you're ever going to make it on TV again you need to
keep the swearing way down."
      "Those as-"
      "Cone!!"
      "If I had a lousy automatic censor like Fowlmouth I could say
whatever I wanted to!" Cone stood up and walked to the center of the
room. "You know what this says?" he started as he pointed to the
paper. "It says we aren't an issue. We aren't important. Acme told us
the same thing - we aren't an issue. Very soon we will become an
issue." Cone then drew his lighter and scorched the paper.

Chapter 16

      A car pulled up outside of SRAC at three that afternoon. Cone
was the first outside to see who it was. He stopped running as soon
as he saw the familiar vehicle. A green rabbit stepped out of the
back seat.
      "So Pike, you're back," Cone said, not sounding very happy to
see him. Cone approached him and grabbed one of his ears. "Why are
you back already, Pike?"
      "We had a few problems," Pike pointed out. "I did manage to get
more money on the way out." Cone and Pike stood outside and discussed
what exactly had gone wrong with the plan to have one of Cone's
associates fill in as the new Pollard to fund SRAC.
      "So basically you are telling me that Pollard and two Acme
students were able to push you out of there in about five days? You
were supposed to collect money for a few days and then move into
phase two of the plan. Instead you come back here and report a
failure. If I was one of these Acme kids I would probably spin change
into the godfather right about now. Fortunately enough for you, I'm
not, and I have an idea anyway." Pike raised an eyebrow. "We can
still make this work. Tell your driver to get ready. I'll tell Margot
to keep an eye on things while I'm gone." Cone then went over to
Margot to explain the situation while Pike walked out to his car and
told his driver they needed to turn right back around.

      "So like, how are you doing?" Shirley asked in a very concerned
voice. Pollard had been sitting alone in his room most of the day.
      "I know what I'm going to do," he said. "I just have to explain
everything and why I did what I did. I guess I have to deal with what
they all think afterwards. I guess I also have to live with the fact
that they won't let me on Tiny Toons if I do this."
      "Alright. And hey, maybe like Bugs can fix it so they let you
off with just like a warning and still let you on Tiny Toons er
something."
      "I guess we'll see. Let everybody know that at about seven I'll
make a speech." Shirley acknowledged and walked out of the mansion to
go discuss this with Plucky and Charlene. Pollard sat at the desk in
what was his room and started planning what he was going to say.

      "So you still can't tell me what is going on?" Charlene asked.
      "You'll find out when it's time," Plucky told her. "Shirley
would zap me or something if I said anything."
      "Fine," Charlene finally said. "I just wish  blueface would
have decided to tell me first. I was pretty much his best friend
here. I guess Shirley, you'd be his actual best friend." Shirley just
shrugged. Outside they could see the crowd now moving towards the now
fenceless, moatless, guardless mansion (it's amazing how quickly they
undid all that Pike did).

Chapter 16

      Pollard sat in the room attached to the balcony in the mansion.
He could hear the boisterous crowd calling for him. Pollard paced
around for another few moments before he finally pulled himself out
onto the balcony. The crowd hollered at the sight of their real
prince. Just as he was about to speak, Shirley walked out behind him
and placed her hand on his shoulder.
      "I thought you might want some company up here," Shirley
whispered. He smiled and relaxed a little, but his heart was still
pounding out of his chest. Back in Acme Acres it would be beating
several feet across the room. He turned back to the crowd and
motioned for them to be quiet.
      "Um... hi everybody," he started. "There are a lot of things I
have to tell you... some are things I wish I would have said before.
You see..." and just then overhead the sound of a helicopter could be
heard. Everybody watched as this copter landed on top of a tall
building off to the side of the crowd and Cone stepped out. Pollard's
jaw almost hit the floor.
      "Looks like I got here just in time," Cone said. "What your
esteemed 'leader' is about to tell you is along the lines  of oh, I
made a mistake and I lied, and blah, blah, blah. So he doesn't have a
chance to sugar coat it, let me explain. First of all, the Last Thing
Expected was cancelled after one episode. It was created, released
and forgotten in favor of meaningless garbage almost instantly." The
whole crowd gasped at this announcement, and then stood frozen for a
moment trying to decide if they believed him or not. "You can choose
not to believe me if you want - after all, I haven't exactly been
your favorite person for the last few years, but just to be sure why
don't you ask somebody who knows that you do like. Pollard has been
well aware of the truth for a couple of months now and he hasn't
shared it with any of you. At first Pollard was just going to take
off to see that bimbo you see next to him for a few months and hope
you didn't notice he was gone - then, after finding out that there
was no show to come back to, he just came to the conclusion that it
was okay to ditch this place and try to pass of a fake in his place.
You all know what this fake then did." The absolutely shocked crowd
that had gathered to warmly welcomed back a beloved citizen now
stared at him with confusion. They all waited for him to say
something - anything that would tell them that Cone was lying and he
didn't really do any of this. "Am I lying Pollard?"
      "No..." he said weakly.
      "So now you know. He cared more about hooking back up with that
annoying airhead than about all of you. Now, I'm supposedly the
villain here, but nevertheless I have a choice to offer many of you.
I know that since they've been caught WB won't want to keep this city
going. I think you should all come to Acme Acres. WE'LL flood that
place full of the creations that they hoped had disappeared until
they have to admit we still exist. I've ever started a school for the
kids there who aren't toony or tiny but surprisingly enough are still
breathing." The crowd could now be heard talking amongst themselves
trying to make sense of what they had just learned. "Take some time
and figure it out. After I take care of some business I'll come back
- it shouldn't take more than a day or so. When I return I'll stick
around for a couple of days, and when I leave that time, I will
arrange for whoever wants to go to Acme Acres to come along. I am
pretty sure that nobody can stay here, so no matter what we'll all
have to go somewhere."
      "How do you know that?" one voice could be head shouting out.
      "Maybe instinct. Maybe the common sense of knowing that a huge
company isn't going to waste money on this place when they aren't
fooling anybody anymore. Or maybe it's the letter  I got expressly
telling me not to reveal what I know about it plus all the hush money
I've received to go along with it. However, I don't need their
silence payments anymore so I figured I'd tell you anyway." Cone then
stepped back into the helicopter that had flown him in, he waved
goodbye to the now very confused and upset citizens, and was taken
away towards Acme Acres again.
      The baffled and stunned masses now turned their eyes to the
balcony where Pollard stood once again. They no longer saw the
innocent leader they had embraced over the past few years - now they
saw a liar who acted selfishly and ignored them. Some in the gathered
group began to walk away and try to figure it out. Some sat silent.
Those in the crowd that were now beginning to feel a sense of outrage
began to boo, and this sound quickly grew into an overwhelming sound
of displeasure. Pollard was left speechless - the people now appeared
to hate him. His limbs began to shake and his eyes crossed and he
collapsed on the ground. His eyes changed from solid black circles to
two arches in each eye.
      "Pollard!" Shirley shouted. He didn't answer - instead he just
stared forward at nothing with a terrible anxious look on his face.
As the crowd continued to unleash their wrath outside, Shirley
dragged Pollard as gently as she could back into his room and lifted
him back into his bed. She pulled a chair up right next to him and
said," Come on! Answer me er some junk!" She shook him but the
distant stare did not leave his face. Shirley was now becoming very
worried. Even she could not have predicted how badly this whole thing
was going to turn out.

Chapter 17

      "We accomplished something important tonight," Cone told the
SRAC students as he arrived home that night. "Now I want to celebrate
this, and at the same time knock Acme and Perfecto off their high
horse for a while. Follow me." They all walked right behind him to
the outside of the building where a fleet of cars loaded with
implements of vandalism was waiting. "Ladies and Gentleman, let's
broaden our minds."
      The cars all raced off in different directions with a few SRAC
students in each one. Their activities for the night were numerous
and ranged from just irritating to destructive. One car poured cement
down the rabbit holes of Buster, Babs and Bugs. They also added a
large amount of salt to the swamp water around Plucky's house and
threw mud all over the outside of Hamton's home. Another car load
went right for Acme Loo where they painted the statue of Bugs purple,
green and pink and covered other parts of the outside in toilet paper
while knocking over the Daffy statue completely. Several lockers were
broken open and all cartoons in the vault were thrown on the floor
except the lone episode of the Last Thing Expected.
      Cone was attending to the treatment of Perfecto along with a
few associates. He had a giant picture of him kissing Margot
displayed outside the dorm room windows - it covered the whole side
of the building. On the front of the school they put up a huge Tiny
Toons poster with Buster and Babs in the center. This was definitely
work by SRAC that could not be ignored.
      All around Acme Acres there were landmarks being hit. They
placed a fake health inspectors notice on the front door of Weenie
Burger declaring the food unsafe for consumption. To show they were
equal opportunity food vandals, they released a large amount of
cockroaches into the kitchen at the expensive restaurant they had
visited earlier.
      In all, they spent four hours running wild and causing very
obvious demolition all over Acme Acres without any real attempt being
made to stop them. They were unusually quiet in doing this so as not
to be caught until the morning where everybody would see what had
happened all at once. It worked out exactly as Cone had envisioned
it.
      When daylight broke and all over Acme Acres toons were waking
up, each one of them discovered some result of what had gone one
while they were asleep. The three rabbits who had had pieces of their
rabbit holes filled in by cement struggled to chip away enough at the
hardened block to get out of their homes. Plucky's parents stepped
outside to see the heavy amounts of salt sitting very visibly in the
water. Hamton's whole family almost had a nervous breakdown when they
saw how dirty the home of this almost obsessive-compulsively clean
family had become.
      "This is despicable!" Daffy declared as he observed the damage
to the statue of himself. Bugs just sighed.
      "We try to teach da kids da right way to handle tings and den
dis happens..."
      "Wait 'till I get my hands on those little punks! They'll be
sorry they ever messed with Daffy Duck!" Daffy started to try and
pull his statue back up but it was far too heavy for him to budge.
When he finally gave up on being able to lift it he just tried to
clean it up a little in its fallen position. Bugs had gone inside to
try and assess the other damage and to place a few phone calls.

      When Danforth reached Perfecto, he immediately saw the banner
of Cone and Margot and nearly passed out. Roddy ran right up to him
and started yelling.
      "I can't believe you let this happen! Do you know how bad this
makes me look?! My second-in-command can't keep a girlfriend because
of a SRAC student, never mind that you can't stop them before they
went on a rampage. One more mistake and not only will I fire you but
I will see to it you're driven out of the school!" Roddy then stormed
off, leaving just a frustrated Danforth. He turned to members of the
hired cleanup crew and began ordering them to take the banner down
now, taking out some of his frustration by insulting them.

      Margot walked into SRAC just as Cone was getting up from his
nightly three hours of sleep. She walked right up to him in the
center of the main SRAC room and slapped him across the face .
      "That's not exactly the greeting I'm used to," Cone said dryly.
      "Just what did you think you were doing you psycho?!" Margot
screamed. "My parents are demanding I go back to Perfecto because
they know what school I'm a part of now and what kind of a maniac I
ended up with! And why did the whole Perfecto dorm need to see that
picture? Actually, when did you even take that picture?!"
      "Look, showing them that picture made a point - it showed
anybody or anything the Perfecto snobs can have one of us 'lesser'
toons can have too," Cone replied.
      "Well, I thought you had more sense than that, but between the
pressure, that picture and the fact that you have lost your mind I
won't put up with this disgusting little hole any longer. I'm outta
here!" Margot then stormed off. The gathered students stared at Cone
now.
      "Oh no," Cone said dryly. "Please. I'll get over it. Get back
to work." Cone then walked into his room and slammed the door shut.

      "So uh... how's he holdin' up?" Charlene asked as she stepped
into the room.
      "He still hasn't snapped out of... well, whatever it is,"
Plucky told her.
      "His aura is all out of whack and I can't even like begin to
read his mind," Shirley added.
      "Well, unfortunately everybody out there is still really angry.
A few people think all this could just be an episode plot, but I know
it isn't. Is there anything I can do right now?"
      "No. I think we've done everything so far," Shirley said.
      "In which case I'll try to do some damage control," Charlene
stated. "I'll start by trying to work it into tonight's concert."

      "Mr. Drake?" a deep voice on the other end of the phone said.
      "Yes, sir," Danforth said nervously. It was one of his backers.
      "You are dangerously close to losing our support, Mr. Drake.
You have shown time and time again that you have the inability to get
anything done and your public perception is awful. Furthermore there
are other prospects we have become interested in. Should you fail to
impress us again very soon our relationship shall be terminated." He
then hung up.
      "This is just not my day," Danforth said to himself.

Chapter 18

      It was now eleven that night and everybody in both locations
was still trying to deal with the various problems. Cone was sitting
outside on the roof smoking and just watching the outside of SRAC
when he saw a figure approaching. Cone turned one of the spotlights
towards the approaching persona and recognized him immediately - it
was Danforth. Cone leapt down from the roof and waited as his 'old
friend' finished his approach.
      "Now this is a surprise. No troops this time? No showing up
spouting threats?" Cone asked.
      "I'm not here for something official," Danforth declared in a
surprisingly weak voice. "I need to know what you want."
      "Excuse me?"
      "Whatever is making you go off like this. Do you want money,
girls, an apology... what? What will make you stop all of this?"
      "It's kind of funny. I'm not laughing, but it's still funny,"
Cone said with a little smile on his face. "A long time ago I was mad
at you because I was stuck on a second-rate cartoon buried on the
bottom of the WB depth chart and deemed not even good enough to show
in the states. I knew how much power and influence you had now and
that you could save your old buddy from Tooningwood Heights and get
him on a real show. I don't hear one single word from you for almost
three years then out of the blue I get a letter from you. I thought
you finally remembered your friends. So, I get here, you push me to
run for class president, I lose because of a certain common problem
and you have me kicked out of town again. Basically, I guess my
usefulness ran out. I then find out my show was cancelled a long time
ago and the powers that be didn't care enough to tell me. Apparently
none of us were good enough to be on the lowest show they had. We all
gave everything we had to make a decent cartoon but nobody cared. Our
work was rejected, ignored and basically a big fat waste of time. I
saw a chance to move in on the crown jewel of WB animation right now
and I took it. It was more about getting all of these toons to no
longer be ignored and not just getting back at a few individuals.
But, along the way, I happened to find an opportunity to combine the
two."
      "I wanted to get you here before but I was told no, and a few
of Roddy's friends made me remove you from Acme Acres," Danforth
explained.
      "Save it. Now, why do you care what I'm after?"
      I won't lie to you. My future depends on what you do next.
You've almost wrecked me. Now just tell me what you want so you can
stop doing this stuff!"
      "I knew your reasons had to be selfish. That's fine - so are
mine. You know what I want now? I want to be taken to Roddy."
      "I'll try."
      "You won't just try - you'll do it. Now."
      "Or what?"
      "Or tomorrow your little campaign against Roddy will be in the
paper."
      "Fine. Come with me." Danforth led him to his awaiting vehicle
and the drive to Perfecto began.

      Shirley woke up still on the same chair she had been observing
Pollard in all day. A doctor had stopped by a few hours ago and had
revealed almost nothing - it was some kind of panic attack and that
it would take time for him to come out of it. There was nothing they
could do. Just then she heard the door open and Charlene ran upstairs
with Plucky close behind.
      "How'd the concert go?" Shirley asked.
      "Oh wonderful," she said with much sincerity. "Seriously,
nobody has any idea what to do and they're all still really confused
and seriously angry."
      "What about you?" Shirley asked.
      "What about me?"
      "Are you mad at him?"
      "No. Shirley, if you'd heard the way he went on about wanting
to see you again it makes perfect sense and I can't blame him for
what he did. He didn't do it just to make everybody here mad - that
isn't who he is. That's who Cone is. As somebody I know once put it,
it's like they were the perfect opposites of each other. Like Buster
and Babs against Roddy and Ruby. Besides, it isn't as if I've told
him everything about me."
      "I tried to read his mind again and I got a picture, but it was
just a jumbled series of images, but at least it's something."

      After managing to hide his 'guest' and making to the top floor
executive room where Roddy was living, Danforth knocked on the door
while Cone hid around the corner. A butler opened it and saw
Danforth, then he went and got Roddy. The Perfecto President came to
the door in a bathrobe and looking very tired.
      "Oh, this better be good," Roddy said.
      "Roddy, I'm sorry. I had no choice." Cone walked out and
Roddy's faced turned bright red. "He said if he could talk to you
he'd give up this whole destruction thing." Roddy paused for a moment
before reluctantly letting him in. The door was closed before
Danforth could walk inside, so he waited in the hall and started
pacing.
      Cone sat down on the leather couch in Roddy's living room.
Roddy took a seat in the chair across from him.
      "Cigarette?" Roddy asked.
      "Please," Cone replied as he was given one by the butler. "So I
would bet you'd like to know why I'm here."
      "Considering it's the middle of the night and you and I aren't
exactly the best of friends, it might help if I knew what you were
doing."
      "In which case I'll get right to the point - my actions, for
which I'm not sorry in any way, have had a lot to do with making both
you and Acme remember you aren't the only toons left in the world.
The sooner those in charge pick up on that the sooner the rest of us
might be able to actually accomplish something."
      "And that's an excuse to destroy property and make life
miserable?"
      "Hey, Acme got it worse than you did. Besides you aren't
exactly hurting for money to fix it with. Get over it."
      "So what do you want now?"
      "I think we already have your attention. The same can't be said
about the Acmes, and I don't think they will be too agreeable in the
future anyway, especially considering what a massive hypocrite their
Principal is."
      'So then... what's your idea?"
      "The viewing audience doesn't seem to have an attention span
over a few minutes - they want pretty pictures, they want stories
they can read in less time than it takes to finish a cup of coffee,
and they want self-indulgent crap. Our school doesn't fit into the
mold of any of that. Yours does when Acme gets involved, and I guess
to stay on as part of the show you have to. But, have you ever
noticed that your school is also pretty buried on this show? Even
Bookworm and those irritating fleas made almost as many appearances
as you. I am sure we can work to change some of that."
      "How can I trust you?"
      "You can't, and I can't trust you. Having said that if either
one of us broke up any sort of the deal I'm sure the two schools
would just fight all over again. But, there is a way I can show you
that I can keep a promise."
      "How's that?"
      "I have some information that would be very interesting to you
and the school in general. I could either give it right to the press,
or I could give it to you to do what you want with it."
      "Alright. What is it?"
      "Not so fast," Cone said as he put his feet up on the coffee
table. "First I want it in writing from you that there is a chance
that SRAC and Perfecto could work together. We don't have to tell the
public, but we would still assist one another if we can work
something out."
      "That's all you want? That's easy. I'll mail it to you
tomorrow."
      "Great. I'll mail you the information you want when I get the
written statement from you that there's a chance our schools could
work together." Cone then got up and started heading for the front
door of Roddy's dorm room, but Roddy ran out in front of him to stop
him.
      "Could you please take my personal elevator back down?" Roddy
said, motioning him to the elevator located in his room. "To be
perfectly honest I don't want to risk anybody seeing you here." Not
protesting that at all, Cone walked into Roddy's private elevator and
headed out of the building. Roddy sat down for a moment, trying to
decide to be happy that he might have solved this whole SRAC problem
or break things because he was just forced to negotiate with a school
lacking the resources and class level of his own. Also at the same
time, he didn't know what to do about Danforth in this situation, so
he just told Mr. Drake, who was still pacing in the hallway, to go
home.
      Cone walked right out the front door of Perfecto Prep ignoring
all the people who were standing around in the lobby completely when
the elevator dropped him off. He failed to even acknowledge the
security guards, check in personnel and the odd reporter that was
hanging around. He was about to go catch another ride to the airport
to get the helicopter to return him to finish his job in his old
home.

      "Shirley, why are you still awake?" Charlene asked as she
walked inside Pollard's room and saw her sitting there with her eyes
open. It was still the middle of the night and it appeared as if
Shirley had gotten no sleep whatsoever.
      "I dunno."
      "You look exhausted. How 'bout you go and get some rest in my
guest room or something. I can take over here in case anything
changes."
      "You like sure?"
      "Absolutely. Come on, I'll lead you back to my house."
      "What about him?"
      "If he snaps out of it in the next fifteen minutes I would be
very impressed. I think we'll be okay," Charlene assured her.
Shirley, in her sleep-deprived state accepted this pretty quickly and
the two headed out, forgetting completely to lock the front door
behind them.
      As the two got out of sight of the house, which didn't take
that long considering it was very dark out, another figure approached
it. This figure opened the door and walked right in, heading up the
stairs very quietly. This figure stealthily headed up to the third
floor where there was a bedroom door open. The figure walked in and
saw Pollard sitting there perfectly still. The figure turned on the
lamp with his red paw.
      "So this is what happens when public opinion actually goes
against you," Cone remarked. He was well aware that Pollard was too
distant at the moment to hear a single word he was saying, but
nevertheless the nemesis of Pollard for the past few years decided to
keep talking anyway. "We need to have a little chat, and this is the
only time we're going to get to do it, when you can't answer me and
none of your friends can tell me to stop talking. Quite simply, I
don't like you. You know that already. It's not only that, but I have
realized a few things over the past little while that should have
been really obvious. Buster and Babs have their opposites in Roddy
and Ruby, but I think this goes further than that. I don't take
anything from anybody. Basically people can walk all over you. People
like you. I'm not nearly so social except with those I want to
associate with. You shouldn't be in a leadership roll. I should. Yet
somehow in their amazing wisdom, the makers of this one-episode
wonder thought you should be in charge. That brings up one last point
- you would be happy just sitting in Acme Acres in anonymity forever
as long as you have Shirley and friends - I wouldn't. But you should
know that if you don't get on the show all those friends you think
you have there will forget about you."
      Just then Cone could hear footsteps coming from downstairs - it
was obvious the time to exit was now. He sat and listened to see if
the person who had just entered was going to take the stairs or the
elevator - the one who had just entered was taking the elevator. As
he heard the door close to the elevator, Cone headed down the stairs
very quickly. He moved fast enough to reach the ground level as the
elevator reached the third floor. Cone walked out the front door of
the mansion undetected and headed out. As this was happening,
Charlene entered Pollard's room.
      "Come on blueface, its time to wake up," Charlene said to him.
Naturally this did nothing except make the tan cat feel as if she was
contributing something. "You don't have much more time to sleep in -
if Cone is right we're all going to have to get out of here pretty
soon. This is assuming that he's right, which is a stretch, but you
never know." Charlene walked into the next room and fell asleep on a
small couch that was out there.
      At about ten the next morning, Charlene woke up and walked back
into the bedroom and saw that he appeared to be the same. She walked
up and nudged him anyway, and to her surprise he pushed back a
little. Charlene's eyes opened very wide and she watched intently to
see if he would do anything else. She saw him move a little back and
forth and after about a minute, push himself into sitting upright.
      "Can you hear me?" Charlene asked him as he sat up.
      "Wha... huh..." he said.
      "How do you feel?"
      "Everything is still kinda blurry... what... what happened...?"
      "Well, when the crowd started showing how upset they were with
you I think you kinda lost it."
      "Oh. So... where's... where's Shirley...?"
      "At my place. She needed the rest. She stayed here a couple of
days but it was obvious she just needed a break. She got really
worried when you went down."
      "She always does that... I wish I didn't worry her so much."
      "Well, she's concerned. Who can blame her? You haven't always
been the luckiest person out there."
      Pollard started to stand up even though it was pretty clear his
legs were a little shaky. He walked slowly around the room despite
everything still being kinda blurry. His eyes still looked strange,
although not quite as much.
      "Maybe you shouldn't push it right now," Charlene told him.
Pollard sat back down. "I'll call and tell Shirley and Plucky to get
over here."

      Cone slowly opened his eyes and looked around the small
mountain cabin that he had called home for three years. He inhaled
and remarked, "yep. I don't care what people say about fresh mountain
air - it smells terrible when you wake up in the morning." He walked
out the front door and waiting for him by the path back down the
mountain were fifteen SRAC students each wearing shirts to indicate
where they were from.
      "This came in the mail, sir," one said as he handed Cone a
letter.
      "I don't get mail. What is this?" Cone asked as he snatched the
letter away. He stopped and read it for a  moment. "Just as I
thought. This is a form letter letting everybody know that they want
all of the toons here to relocate within a week. They say that with
no reason to maintain the place they don't want to pay for it. It
hasn't occurred to them that living creatures actually call this
place home or anything."

      Just as Cone was receiving this piece of information, so was
Pollard. Shirley and Plucky had arrived and grabbed the mail on the
way in. Pollard couldn't believe it.
      "I was hoping he wasn't right," Pollard said. "If it wasn't for
me Cone never would have told everybody and this wouldn't have
happened."
      "You can't blame yourself for everything, you know," Charlene
pointed. Shirley looked at her accusingly. "Sorry, but its true.
Look, this is probably for the best. Everybody can actually start to
move on."
      "Maybe you're right..."
      "Can I talk to him alone for a second?" Charlene asked. Plucky
and Shirley agreed and left the room. "So, are you going to talk to
the people again?"
      "I don't think they'd listen."
      "So you're just going to let Cone have the last word on what
was your city for three years? Show or not, you and your parents
still ran this place and those people liked you. You can't just let
them all go their separate ways on such a bad note."
      Pollard stopped and considered that for a moment. "I guess
maybe you're right."
      "Great. Leave it to me - I'll get them to come listen one more
time." Charlene then ran out to go get that started and Shirley and
Plucky walked back in.
      "Where is she going?" Plucky asked.


Chapter 19

      "So you got the names of interested people?" Cone asked as his
subordinates returned from canvassing the city.
      "Right here," one said as she handed over a signup sheet.
"There were also a lot of people who weren't sure yet, but they know
where to call when they know. I told them they have until tomorrow
night to make up their minds."
      "I hate to rush them, but taking one last shot at getting
somewhere can't wait," Cone said.
      "I never knew you cared this much about being in cartoons."
      "We all need a purpose. There is no point in still doing this
if nobody cares - I get the feeling people would care if they took
the time to look, but they never do so we have to make them. If it
doesn't work, we're right here where we started anyway. We couldn't
be less noticed as it is."

      Up in the mansion, Pollard was still having some trouble with
blurred vision but it was getting a little better. He was also still
a little shaky, but it was not known if that was caused by the
condition or if he was just nervous about everything. Just as he was
going over what he was going to say for the hundredth time in his
head, Charlene came running up the stairs.
      "You've got five minutes until everybody gets out there,"
Charlene said.
      "What? How did you...?"
      "Funny story about a fake lottery, three elephants and a pizza
shop."
      "You have just managed to make Shirley's talks about the
metaphysical universe make more sense than something," Plucky told
her. Shirley elbowed her boyfriend.
      "I couldn't explain it if I wanted to," Charlene said. "The
point is they're willing to listen without unleashing anymore wrath
on you."
      The next five minutes felt like a million years - Pollard knew
what he wanted to say, but he also knew that he was so nervous that
he might just forget it all the second he walked out there. Finally,
Shirley grabbed him by one arm and Charlene the other and they
steadied him as he walked out to the balcony. Even through the blurry
wall in front of him Pollard could tell there were a great many
people down there all waiting to give him one last chance to explain
himself, one last chance to show he was the same toon they had liked
for all these years.
      "You sure you're ready?" Shirley asked.
      "It's not like he has much of a choice of times," Charlene told
her. Pollard pushed himself to the edge of the railing and cleared
his throat.
      "H... hi, um, everybody..." he stuttered out. "I... I want to
say that... that I'm sorry... I should have told you the truth. I
thought I could make everybody happy by letting this city have a
version of me and then I could be with Shirley... Shirley's been my
best friend for a long time... before I was here her family really
saved mine, and without her I don't know how I would have survived
Tooningwood Heights. I didn't get to see her for a long time... I was
told I couldn't visit her, write to her, talk to her on the phone or
anything else... the day I was told I was going to see Acme Acres I
nearly fainted... I won't apologize for going to see her and wanting
to stay... I would do it again, but this time I would tell you. I
tried to make everybody happy and it backfired. You all have a choice
to make now - you can go where you want and try to do what you want.
I am going to live in Acme Acres and I'm trying to get on Tiny Toons.
It's a nice place - some of you might really like it there, and you
don't have to go on the Cone plan to live there. There are a lot of
places out there - some are just being left open in case they want
them for cartoons, some have shows, some used to, or were only used
once by a show. It's up to you now. Just go where you will be most
happy - it's what I'm trying to do." Pollard's eyes were starting to
tear up a little. "Once again, I never meant to hurt any of you...
try and have some fun wherever you go... so, go on - I'm not in
charge here anymore..." Pollard then walked back inside. The crowd,
now feeling a little guilty for turning on him before, smiled up and
dispersed pretty silently to go and figure out exactly what each one
wanted to do.
      "What was great," Charlene told him. "It's too bad a lot of
people are going to have to make up their minds so quickly - Cone is
leaving tomorrow, and anybody who wants to get in on his plan has to
go then."
      "That's their choice," Pollard said.
      "Fair enough. You know, this might be the first time you were
more sure about what you are going to do than almost everybody else."

Chapter 20

      The next day passed and most citizens made up their minds as to
where they were going to go - there were busses, planes and trains
leading to several places that most weren't even familiar with. They
had a lot of choices of where to try to start over in - it was like
the same thing that happened three years ago was happening again,
with everybody going in a different direction. One thing that seemed
strange was that one of the locations they could choose was in fact
Tooningwood Heights where all of this had more or less started.
      It was now the early evening, and everybody who was going with
Cone was going to leave at one that morning. Several others were
going to be leaving forever that night, including Pollard and
Charlene. As of yet, Charlene had not told Pollard or anybody else
where she was going. The two were now sitting down by a lake a little
ways away from the mansion starting a conversation.
      "You know that some people are still a little mad at you,
right?" she started off by saying.
      "I know. I didn't expect everybody to just forgive me," Pollard
told her.
      "Are you okay with that?"
      "No, but I don't really have a choice."
      "True. You also know that I was never mad at you right?"
      "Yeah, and thanks."
      "Well, everybody has little secrets or reasons for doing things
that aren't so clear to the rest of the world..." Pollard sighed and
looked around at their surroundings. The sun was beginning to set,
and this would be the last sunset he would ever see in this place.
Unlike the last time when leaving was spontaneous, this time was more
like a long, drawn out farewell. It wasn't Acme Acres, but for three
years it was home, and he did have fun there even though he wished
more than anything to see Shirley during that time.
      "We did have some good moments in this place..." Charlene said.
      "Yeah... it was kind of weird, though, the whole bit where you
had to pretend to want me and I had to always try and duck you..."
      "True... you never took that too seriously, did you?"
      "What? No."
      "Good. I was always a little afraid that you would - don't get
me wrong, you're a good friend and I hope you always will be, but I
never thought about us as anything more than that."
      "Me neither."
      "Besides that there is one little awkward thing that would stop
that from working out anyway... and that little thing is one of the
reasons I wanted to talk to you down here along right now."
      "Okay. What is it?"
      "Remember when I said that everybody has little secrets... this
has something to do with mine. Pollard, what's my last name?" Pollard
paused and thought for a minute before realizing that he didn't
really know. "Pollard, my last name is McKatton. Cone is my brother."
Pollard paused for a second and looked at her as if he was trying to
figure out if she was serious or not. "I'm not kidding. I was never
allowed to tell you because the producers thought it was too awkward.
I love my brother, but at the same time I'm your friend. You can see
my problem."
      "Yeah..." Pollard said, still sounding shocked.
      "I'm sorry I never told you. I thought it might ruin our
friendship... has it?"
      "No," Pollard told her. "I just need some time to deal with
this."
      "I understand. I'll give you some time. And, just in case I
don't see you before I leave, I need to remind you to try and lighten
up. Remember, you're not grown up quite yet. You still have some time
to enjoy what are supposed to be the best days of your life."
Charlene then walked away and left Pollard to think alone. He did sit
alone for a while thinking about everything. After about an hour,
when the sun had fully gone down, Shirley walked down and put her
hand on his shoulder.
      "They're having a little party in the town square," Shirley
told him. "Do you wanna go?"
      "Sure," he said. The two of them met up with Plucky and headed
for the celebration. As all of this was going on Cone was sitting in
his cabin talking with his students - the ones who right now were his
best friends. He had no interest in heading down there to see
everything one last time. He wasn't going to be very sentimental
about the place that was nothing but lies now.

      The town square had been decorated with various party supplies
and several banners wishing everybody a great future in whatever they
do. It was like the final day of High School with friends saying
goodbye as they prepared to head off to different schools or places
of work. It was happy in the sense that everybody was entering a new
phase, yet at the same time sad that several friendships were being
sacrificed in the name of moving onto something else. Pollard walked
around and talked to everybody whether he even knew them or not just
to wish them good luck. Everybody had pretty much already forgotten
it seemed that he was the prince there, or that he had ever done
everything wrong. Everybody was now more interested in making
decisions and letting people know what they really thought now in
case they never got the chance later.
      At one point in the night, a slow song came over the speakers.
Charlene grabbed Plucky before he could go for Shirley and she
whispered, "Let blueface have this one, alright?" Plucky agreed.
Shirley walked right over to Pollard and put her arms around him as
the music started. Without saying a single word, the two danced the
entire song together staring right into the other one's eyes. For
these few minutes, Pollard put the events of the past little while
out of his mind while Shirley was able to stop worrying about him.
This moment would be the last one that they remembered about this
city before saying their goodbyes. Right after the dance the three
Acme Loo students headed out as Pollard wanted this to be his last
sight of his old home.

Chapter 21

      As they arrived back at SRAC, Cone found the letter from Roddy
promising that they could negotiate a deal between the schools
waiting for him. He read it over, and then immediately threw it in
another envelope and mailed that out along with his own note.
      "What are you doing, sir?" one student asked.
      "Do you think I want to get into a deal with Roddy? Why on
Earth would I trust him? No, this letter is to make a point - the
last thing Acme Loo wants is SRAC and Perfecto to have any sort of
partnership, and there is a certain principal with a lot of influence
that will want to be aware of this." After sending that information
in, Cone headed back into SRAC and pulled together a pile of papers
he had waiting - the proof that Danforth had worked on his campaign
to be Perfecto President. He then threw them in an envelope and
mailed them off to Roddy. He didn't really care if he gave up this
information now - he didn't need it anymore anyway. He had managed to
more than double the number of students at SRAC and even got some
parents of the students behind it. It was very clear that it wouldn't
be going away. As for what happened to Danforth once Roddy found out
what he had done, well, Cone didn't really care about that either. He
just headed back inside and started working with his own toons again.

Chapter 22

      A week later a letter from WB legal was waiting on the kitchen
table when Pollard arrived home from school.
      "You know that if this is what you hope it is," Pollard's
mother said, "that you don't get to start until they begin this
special of theirs in the beginning of December. That's still over a
month away."
      "I know," Pollard said. "Of course, that doesn't mean anything
to me if it's a rejection letter." Pollard reached down and pulled
the letter open. His heart was beating so rapidly now it could be
heard across the room. Actually, he noticed it was stretching a
little further now - a sign that the physics of Acme Acres were
starting to work on him. He took out the letter, began reading, and
his face dropped. He placed the letter down on the table and walked
upstairs and closed the door to his room. His parents both looked
very upset for him, but decided to leave him alone for the moment.

      On this same day, Cone also received a letter from the same
department at Warner Bros. Out of curiosity he ripped it open and
read it, even though he had never even applied. The letter explained
that they had seen his work as a villain and were now interested in
casting him as a villain in the new Tiny Toons special they were
filming at the beginning of December. Cone started laughing
hysterically when he read this. He thought it was a joke, but it
quickly became obvious that it was not.
      Cone ran out to the center of the room and announced what he
had received to the whole student body. After they all realized that
he was not kidding, Cone was asked if he was going to accept it.
      "This will sound strange, but absolutely. I don't fit their
show, I don't even like their show all that much, but it's the
biggest cartoon stage of the moment. I will show them what one of
their forgotten creations can do, and that will help all of us. It
leads to them thinking that maybe more of these ignored creators of
art might be worth a second look... and we can wreak a little havoc
while we're at it." The place cheered and Cone smirked from ear to
ear. This was finally his chance - one he could not waste. He did
wonder in the back of his mind if in fact letting Bugs know that he
might pair up with Perfecto could have led to Bugs wanting to pacify
him by helping him get this role, but frankly, at the moment Cone
couldn't care less.
      Just as Cone finished this speech, he saw that another toon was
walking in through the front entrance. He had thought that they were
all inside, but apparently he was wrong.
      "Well that's an interesting bit of news," the familiar voice
said. Cone smiled when he realized who it was.
      "So you finally showed up," Cone said. He watched as his sister
walked into the light.
      "That's right Cone. But, before I decide to stick around here,
I need to tell you about a few changes I want made. Plus, there are a
few favors you'll have to do for me."

Chapter 23:

 "And if I'm talking, my words are mocking the deaf ears they have
fallen on."

      It was now the middle of December. There was a layer of snow
four inches deep on the ground of Acme Acres. The Tiny Toons special
had started filming two weeks ago, and every student in it had been
almost entirely consumed by it. They were gone for great lengths of
time,  which was understandable. Cone had just begun doing his part
of it, but had yet to interact with any Tiny Toons regulars on it.
      Down by the lake, just past a small, snowy hill on the shore,
stood Pollard, waiting, standing in the snow. After an hour of just
standing there doing nothing, he saw Shirley walked over the hill.
She walked right up to him and apologized for being late.
      "Well, I guess doing the special is keeping you really busy...
after all, this is the first time in a few weeks I've even seen you."
      "Like Pollard, it's a totally stressful time. We're all trying
to make this special like mondo cool."
      "I know that, but it just seems... Shirley, we aren't even in
any of the same classes anymore. Ever since I found out that I wasn't
going to be in the case I've seen less and less of you. I have to
stay away to make sure I don't end up in the background of a shot or
they can't even use it."
      "Pollard..."
      "Shirley, I know it's not your fault, but as this special goes
on, I don't think I'm going to get to see much of you anymore, and
when episodes get going again, I would bet I won't see much of you
then either. It's not your fault - that's just the way it is."
      "I don't want it to be like that, but..." Shirley said, her
eyes getting a little watery. As much as she didn't want to admit it,
it semed like he might be right. They hadn't seen each other since
the special had gotten underway and there was no reason to believe
that this would change. Basically those in the cast had been
separated from all other Acme Loo students now, and Pollard felt more
alone than he even had back on his last show.
      "Shirley... I don't know what I should do. Acme Loo isn't
turning out to be the place I thought it would be."
      "But what else would you do?"
      "I don't know." He then paused for a second. "When I was in
that stressed out phase, I remember a little of Cone stopping in and
saying something to me... I get the feeling some of it was about how
not being on the show would eventually make something like this
happen... I can't believe he was right. Besides that, I also got this
letter from him today."
      Shirley began reading it - it was an invitation to SRAC, saying
as much as they didn't like him, he fit the criteria to the letter
and that he would try and deal with it if he wanted to go. It also
said that he owed part of this offer to a 'friend' on the newly
formed SRAC board of directors.
      "You're not like... seriously considering this, are you?"
      "No... but I don't know what else to do. This was just the
final signal to know that I just wasn't meant for cartoons. I'm not
wacky, I'm not silly, and I'm not really like the rest of you."
      "Pollard, don't say that. We will figure something out.
Maybe... maybe you could write or something. You're pretty good at
that. I will do whatever I can to make sure you can still do
something with the show."
      "How can I know that for sure?"
      "Look, I've been your friend for a long time, and I have helped
you with stuff that was totally worse than this. I have totally done
everything I ever said I would for you. You are totally deserving of
something, and I promise you that it will totally be worth it."
      Pollard looked at her for a long time and considered what she
was saying. He now had a choice of whether to give it up or to still
stick around and try to add something. Maybe being in the cartoons
wasn't what he was meant to do - or at least not yet, but that was
hardly all there was. This also came down to how much he believed
Shirley really cared about him and would follow through on this.
      "Shirley," he said, "I trust you."
      Just then Shirley heard her name being called from over the
hill. She gave Pollard a quick hug and ran over to see Babs and Fifi
waiting for her. She looked back, then turned to her two friends and
talking about something she wanted to do during the show, and in
between filming sessions. Pollard couldn't hear any of it, but it had
something to do with him.

      "Are you sure about this?" Buster asked as he started to walk
outside with Plucky and Hamton following behind him. They walked
outside of Acme Looniversity where there were cameras scattered all
over the place and a whole scene was set up for them to act out. Near
the cameras they could see one of the other toons they would be
playing off of in this scene - a dark red cat with a chip on his
shoulder. With claws out he waved to the three of them. The three
Acme Loo students shuddered, and despite their assurance that he was
simply going to do what was in the script, they still worried about
working with him.
      "Are you sure that he can do most of these scenes? I mean,
there are anvils and Dizzy and other tools of destruction," Plucky
said. Cone couldn't help but overhear this.
      "Watch this duck," he said. He then grabbed one of the anvils
that was sitting with the other props and dropped it on his own head,
flattening it out like it would any regular Warner Brothers
character. He then pulled it off, and his head quickly returned to
normal. "If I couldn't do that yet do you actually think they would
have let me do this?"
      "Maybe they were just hoping that you would get crushed by an
anvil," Plucky muttered under his breath. Just then they were told to
begin the scene, which would mark Cone's first Tiny Toons appearance.
With a deep breath, the Acmes started acting as the cameras started
rolling.

      In Perfecto Prep, Roddy was in the process of interviewing
several new students to decide on a new second-in-command. As soon as
he had found out Danforth had backed his rival he was let go. Roddy
told Danforth that if he had just ran himself he could still have
that job as it showed guts and a good use of power, but this was just
pathetic. Thanks to one final favor from his long-time backers,
Danforth was able to stay on as a student at Perfecto Prep, but right
after that those backers decided it was time to move on to somebody
else, and from watching Danforth in all of his recent exchanges, they
had a good idea of who they might want.

      Late that night, just as filming during another very long day
finished up, Shirley started walking through the school to get one
last thing out of her locker before she could finally go home for the
day. She noticed that the light at the end of the hall was on as she
retrieved the book she needed - it was the light in Bugs' office. She
walked down and slowly opened the door to see the legendary principal
still sitting there working on something.
      "Eh, Shirl, what are ya doin' here?" Bugs asked as he tried not
to yawn.
      "I was just like getting something and saw this light on," she
said. "Can I like talk to you about something?" Bugs hesitated for a
second.
      "I tink I know what dis is about," Bugs said. "Dere are a few
tings I need ta tell you about all dis, but don't worry - I still
have a few tricks to use. If I can help it your friend won't be left
out of all dis for long." Shirley sat down across from Bugs and
prepared to listen to what he planned to do - she knew that if
anybody could help her fulfill what she had promised, it was him.

      At this same late night hour, Danforth, who was sitting in his
living room alone at the moment, heard the doorbell ring. The rich
mallard walked over and opened it himself for possibly the first time
since coming into so much wealth after moving to Acme Acres. Standing
on the other side of the door was Margot.
      "Shouldn't you be off with your new boyfriend, or maybe you're
just here to gloat," Danforth said.
      "Danny, come on. You know I could never stick with a guy like
that. I want you back," she told him. Danforth chuckled a little.
      "You're serious. I can't even believe you. You left me for that
guy because he made a few nice sounding promises."
      "I know you need a new girlfriend, and I know that we both need
each other's help to get any sort of power back at Perfecto Prep."
Danforth stood, decided whether he wanted to slam the door in her
face or invite her in. After a minute of deliberation, he slammed the
door shut. Just as a frustrated Margot began to walk away, Danforth
slipped a note under the door. Margot just caught it out of the
corner of her eye, and ran up and grabbed it. She read it over
quickly and then started to run back home.

      Pollard had been wandering around Acme Acres for the past
several hours just thinking about everything that had happened and
everything that could happen from now on. He was pretty sure he was
never going to be a cartoon star like so many of his friends now, at
least not with the way he was now. Nevertheless, in spite of what he
thought about the situation, he trusted Shirley. He walked in the
front door and saw his parents were still waiting up for him. He had
said very little since he had received that letter and they had no
idea where he had been up to this point. They both looked at him with
a sense of relief when he finally walked in the door.
      "Where were you?" his mother asked.
      "Just going around, thinking," he told them.
      "About what?"
      "A lot of things. Mom, Dad, I've learned a lot over the last
little while." They both looked very confused now. "I have found out
that there are some people in Acme Acres you can always count on no
matter what, there are some that you can never count on no matter how
good their intentions are, and some that should just be avoided
altogether. I also learned that I am not cut out to be a cartoon star
like the rest of them - that's fine. I might find another way to be
involved. All I know if those that you can always count on will be
the ones that stop me from ever regretting coming here." With that,
Pollard ran up to bed. His parents weren't too sure what he was
talking about - they only knew that it sounded as if he had made some
sort of sense out of all of this finally.

      "Well look who's still awake," Cone said as he walked in and
saw his sister sitting on the SRAC roof staring up at the clear night
sky. "Isn't it a little cold for star gazing?"
      "That's what fur is for," she replied. "Look, I have been
keeping track of everything that's been happening with you and a
certain guy you don't like to talk about. Obviously he doesn't think
he should come here or he would have answered by now, but I can't
believe that he would just disappear from here altogether."
      "Your point?" Cone asked.
      "My point is he is bound to be involved in something at some
time in the future. If you mess it up, that's it. I'll leave." Cone
didn't say anything - he just nodded in agreement with her. This was
his little sister, and about the only person that was ever able to
calm him down or keep him out of trouble. This was part of why when
she left Tooningwood for an arts school to practice music he became a
little more violent. He just walked inside and let his sister
continue to look off at nothing.

      "What's up with you today?" Plucky asked Shirley as she saw her
sitting by herself looking into her crystal ball in the basement of
Acme Looniversity.
      "I think things might actually like work out," she said to him.
Plucky wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about, but it didn't
matter. He never quite knew what she meant half the time anyway. He
just pulled up a seat next to him and prepared to hear a long story
about what she was going to do next and what kind of strange
adventure he might be dragged into.





The End










Okay, just a few end notes here.

First of all, I would like to thank those who read the first one and
managed to make it all the way through this one. Especially a couple
of people: HKUriah, for posting this and all my other stories, even
when there were ones that maybe shouldn't have been, and the JAM, for
his reviews of both the original of this and all the other reviews.
They are a great and desperately needed source of feedback.

The title of Chapter 23 is a line taken from a song called "Forget
December" by a band called Something Corporate. I thought the line
was very fitting for what I was going for with that scene and with
many parts of the story.

Anyway, thanks for reading. If you want to send feedback, feel free
to do so.

Thank you.