Summary of the Last Thing Expected:

Please note: This is not a fanfic of its own. This is  a summary of the fanfic "The Last
Thing Expected" for those who want to try reading the sequel, "Lesser Toons" but who
never read the original and for whatever reason can't go back and read the first one. The
story was 63 pages, so this summary obviously is going to leave things out, but it will
give you enough to understand the second one. The sequel, by the way, is a mere 45
pages. After the summary there is also a little extra information pertaining to the
creation of the story and the original characters.

                     Prologue:

     The first 14 pages basically gave a history between four characters that was very
necessary for understanding the rest of the story - the four were Shirley, Danforth,
Pollard and Cone. Who are Pollard and Cone? Read on.
     This story begins about a year before Tiny Toon Adventures was on the air, and so
Shirley and Danforth were at a school besides Acme Loo or Perfecto. The school they
both attended was called Tooningwood Heights, and actually both of them were in the
same class. As the story opens, it is shown immediately that those two already have a
heated rivalry going, one that Shirley's friends find a little strange and that Danforth's
friends find amusing. One of these friends of Danforth is Cone McKatton, a dark red cat
with a rather short temper and a long mean streak.
     Also in the same class as Shirley, Danforth and Cone was Pollard Fowler, a pudgy
blue duck who was much more on the shy and awkward side. He normally wouldn't
have had anything to do with these two sides and their respective social groups - he was
fine with the smaller circle of friends he already had anyway. One day, however, an
incident in the cafeteria changed this. During one of their countless food fights, a bowl
of soup launched at Shirley by Danforth happened to catch Pollard halfway. Pollard, not
really thinking about it and going against his usual nature, turned around and threw one
back at Danforth. This naturally annoyed Danforth and dragged Pollard into the rivalry.
Shirley, feeling partly responsible for this now being Pollard's problem, decided to help
him out with this. Cone spent a lot of his time trying to make Pollard miserable now -
Danforth and Shirley continued their rivalry, but there were several crossovers.
     It seemed as if everything would be the same for the rest of the school year now with
the just these rivalries going on and all other things being roughly normal, but this in fact
was not the case. Pollard, who lived just a few houses down from Shirley, came home
one day to be told that his family had basically gone bankrupt and that they were now
moving in with the McLoons as they were known at the time. The one upside to all of
this was that Pollard and Shirley started to develop a good friendship and one that was
becoming very important to both of them. Once again it seemed as if things might
actually turn out normally when another strange development happened.
     One day the students arrived at Tooningwood Heights to discover flyers everywhere
advertising a tryout for a cartoon called Tiny Toon Adventures that would be starting up
in the fall. The students found out later that day that these tryouts were mandatory. So,
Shirley and Pollard both attended the audition - Shirley got a part on the show, and
Pollard didn't. It was decided after this decision that the Fowlers were going to go with
the McLoons to Acme Acres, and this was fine until they received a phone call offering
Pollard a part on a different cartoon. Knowing that his family needed the money, Pollard
accepted and the two families went their separate ways. Shirley and Pollard would not
hear from or see each other for the next three years.

                    The Story:

     Now that you know the history, here are the events of the actual story:
     On the first day of school the usual group of new toons was being oriented, and as
usual there was a pack of fan boys asking about the amazing three and how to find them.
One in particular, however, kept asking about Shirley. Shirley heard about this and
planned to go and find this particular supposed fan boy to make an example out of him,
until she found out whom it was. She saw Pollard waiting for her in the school library,
and the two had a nice reunion. It is explained that Pollard is there for the first semester
of the school year and he tells her where he has been. He explains he has been on a show
called "The Last Thing Expected" that didn't get any real airplay in the US, but it was
still a show. He also explained his role as prince on this show and the fact that he was
basically very rich on it, but it was obvious he was still the same guy she knew before.
He brings her a tape of the first episode, but explains that he has never been able to get
any tapes of any of the other eps. Once again things seem pretty normal and peaceful,
then something strange happens.
     During the Acme Bowl, as Pollard is hastily thrown onto the field when Acme runs
out of players that can still physically force themselves to play, Perfecto also makes a
surprise substitution - Cone steps onto the field, and makes the game-winning
touchdown catch. Acme is left in shock, and Perfecto is left with a new football hero.
Margot immediately takes a shine to his newcomer. Roddy is immediately angry with
him for taking the spotlight away. It is also revealed in this part that Cone is the main
villain on the Last Thing Expected.
     With this momentum behind him, Danforth convinces Cone that he should run for
Perfecto class president, and says he'll help him but it must be kept a secret from Roddy.
Cone goes for it, and a rivalry between Cone and Roddy begins.
     After the football game the morale at Acme Loo is basically destroyed, and in order
to try and fix this, Babs tries to organize a party. It is soon discovered that the school
doesn't have the extra money for this, so Pollard decides that he will pay for it - after all,
he has watched these toons on TV and this is the least he could do to repay them for
being so nice to him so far.
     So, events go on. Pollard gets a little more used to Acme Acres. Cone keeps up his
campaign against Roddy and the two argue while Danforth tries to work both sides.
Cone and Margot get a little friendlier, so on and so forth.
     When the Acmes find out that Cone is running against Roddy, Shirley and Pollard
manage to convince everybody else that he could actually be worse, and through a series
of different plans, manage to actually sabotage the campaigns of both of them, but Cone
a little more so than Roddy. When the Acme Loo dance arrives (taking place in a brand
new facility Pollard's money paid for) Cone and Danforth show up to crash it, but the
Acmes end up getting a picture of Cone in a situation where he actually appears to
intentionally be partying with Acmes. This picture is handed over to Roddy and that
pretty much kills Cone's campaign.
     When Cone loses the election, Danforth tells him that he was only brought in to win
the election and allow Danforth to remain in good standing in case he lost. Cone is then
told to get out of Perfecto. Cone goes on a rampage all over Acme Acres, which ends in
Acme Looniversity. Shirley and Pollard find him in the basement where, as they are
chasing after him, Shirley lets a little piece of information she knows slip - she tells him
that it was in fact Daffy who had purposely kept him from being cast in Tiny Toons
because he wanted a protégé that was more like him. This explained why Daffy hadn't
been the nicest guy in the world to him since he'd arrived there. This conversation
distracted them just enough to allow Cone to get the jump on them. In his rage, Cone
lets loose a wall of water out of the pipes in the basement. Just as it appears that Shirley
and Pollard are going to make it out all right, Pollard trips and the wall of water sends
him flying into a few other pipes, breaking his leg.
     As Pollard is laid up in the hospital after this (the physics on the Last Thing Expected
were different and as such he can't just heal instantly like a lot of toons since he hadn't
adapted to the Acme Acres physics) Shirley thought of what she believed would be the
perfect gift to help make him feel better - finding a tape of the other episodes of the
show. She searches the internet to find them only to come across a page that would
explain why they could never find any other episodes - there weren't any. It turned out
that the show had actually been cancelled after a single episode but all those involved
were lead to believe it was still going. This news was devastating to Pollard, and along
with the other things that had just happened, he was now convinced that he should just
go home before anything else goes wrong. It is revealed in there in one easily missed line
that Tiny Toons has also been cancelled, and of course none of those toons know it
either.  Anyway, back to what happened in the story. Pollard heads back home, but
Shirley follows him. She convinces him to return to Acme Acres permanently - after all,
there is no reason for him to stay in his home since there is no show anymore. His
parents even agree for him to go back to Acme Acres and they are going to all live
there.
     To be fair to the people and so they can still continue their blissful ignorance, with
the assistance of Calamity Coyote, they create what they believe will be functioning
copies of Pollard and his parents, and change them enough so they can tell the
difference. They leave under the impression that in fifteen minutes they would arise and
take over as if they had been there all along, creating what they thought was the best
way to make everybody happy. On the way out, Pollard tells Cone the truth about the
show as well, and it is also revealed that Margot and Cone are now together and she
came with him.  Pollard moves back into Acme Acres, and all seems to be settled, but of
course if everything were settled than the sequel would be rather dull.
      To answer one question, the reason that Pollard and Shirley never spoke to each
other over the course of those three years was that they were prevented from doing so.
There is a gate that separates the two 'worlds' that the shows were done in and it was
kept sealed - it is revealed that it was recently opened. All calls, letters, etc. were not
allowed because the two shows could interfere with each other without an 'official'
crossover and that was not allowed.
     So there you have it - the ultra-abbreviated version of a 63-page story that took
about ten months to write, although most of that time was planning.

                   The Original Characters:

     As you can probably tell, the two original characters are as much of the focal points
of the story as the actual Tiny Toons characters, but most of their actions really depend
on the actions of the Tiny Toons characters. Anyway, just in case their role in the story
didn't make it too clear, here's a basic description of what the two of them are like:
 
   Pollard Fowler Age: 16 Physical description: Blue-feathered duck, slightly overweight,
tends to wear a green shirt and black pants.
                          Best Friend: Shirley the Loon.
                          Worst Enemy: Cone McKatton
                          Home: Five-story mansion on a hill in the city where the show "The
Last Thing Expected" was based.
                          Bio: It seems somewhat out of place that out of all the choices he
would be cast in a leadership position - he doesn't really fit it that well. He is pretty quiet
and shy, and he is much more concerned about the group of friends that he keeps close
to him than trying to get rich or famous really. This personality unfortunately leads him
to be a little more easily stepped on than most - even Hamton has a better tendency to
stand up for himself. Nevertheless, he is a well-meaning toon who will do anything for
his friends.
   Cone McKatton Age: 16
                             Best Friend: Depends on the situation.
                             Worst Enemy: Pollard Fowler
                             Home: Shack up in the mountains in the city where the show "The
Last Thing Expected" was based.
                             Physical Description: Tall, dark red cat that tends to wear mostly
dark colors. He also has a patch of spiky silver hair on the top of his head.
                              Bio: With sharp claws, a short tempter and a generally unpleasant
demeanor, Cone is not the friendliest person around. When he's around Danforth he
tends to take on the role of his lackey - when he is by himself, he can lead a group all by
himself. This is why he was the natural choice for a main villain on a show. He has spent
the past few years generally making Pollard's life more complicated. He is interested in
money and power, and both are things he has the ability to get very quickly, and lose just
as easily.

     For a better idea of what these characters look like, there are enough pictures that
accompany both stories to fill that in. For a better idea of what they act like, you'll have
to read the story.

                     A Little History on writing this story:

     This story took longer than any other fic I had ever written had taken - ten months,
which although not an excessively long time, it isn't like the story was written in less
than a day (and yes I have one fic that was written in less than a day - "Language of
Love"). The story changed drastically over the course of planning it out - it went from
looking like it would be a little more then twenty pages to over sixty. Originally Pollard
was a much more minor character, and Cone was actually the focus original character.
The title was different, the whole scenario about these toons being in Acme Acres was
different, and everything was pretty much different. A few months with no chance to
really write but a lot of situations where I could plan parts of it out allowed the idea to
turn into what it became.
     The original idea for the story came from the episode "The Looney Beginning."
There is the huge line of toons, and before the bunnies just decided to tell everybody to
come on in, there had to be come in the line that didn't make it through the audition, and
the idea of doing a story about one of those toons was the basis for this story. At the
time I was also looking to do a story involving an original character in a plot with
Shirley to make up for the once promising but ultimately failed "Rite of Passage."
      Anyway, that's about it. You can go one of three ways now - go back and read the
first one, skip ahead to the second, or read none of the above.
     
     
     
     
      -Dark Helmet
     
     
     
          darkhelmet47@hotmail.com