Disclaimer: I do not own Animaniacs. Yakko, Wakko and Dot and all of the other characters belong to their own respective owners. I claim no rights to any of this. This was made purely for entertainment. No profit is made off of this.
Animaniacs Return
Chapter Fourteen: As The Tower Falls
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"Zenny!"
Zenny turned around and saw Yakko and Wakko headed straight for him. "What?"
"Who else lived here with you?" Wakko frowned.
"Yeah! I thought you guys were the only ones," Yakko complained.
Zenny didn't seem too happy at the question. "You have your business and we have ours. Right?"
"Not anymore." Yakko crossed his arms. "Whoever this guy is, he's coming to stay in the tower."
"What?" Zenny growled. "Heck no!"
"Apparently heck yes according to the chairman," Wakko frowned. "So who is he?"
"Over my dead body. There's no way he's coming to live back here!" Zenny shouted angrily.
Aroma and Arni looked over at Zenny and the Warners.
"...Renraw." Aroma said softly.
"There's just no way." Arni growled. "There's not!"
"There be."
Everyone turned around and saw a stranger with Dot.
"Hi guys!" Dot cheered. "Look who I met." She pointed over at the stranger. "His name is Ren."
Yakko and Wakko didn't know what to make of the guy. He seemed pretty okay. Dot seemed okay with him at least. Zenny, on the other hand, was seething. His fists were curled up in a ball. Aroma and Arni both stayed still.
"Long time no see." Renraw chuckled. "Long, long, long time no see Zenners." He looked over at Arni and Aroma. "And who the heck are you?"
Busted.
"What do you mean?" Yakko frowned. "You've lived with them before, right? That's Arni and Aroma."
Renraw started to laugh. "Hell naw, that's not my Aroma!"
"She ain't your Aroma!" Zenny yelled at him angrily. "What the heck are you doing back here?"
"Eh. The show needed some spice, something to mix it up." Renraw just smiled. "A little of this and a little of that and I'm out and back." He just pointed over at Arni. "So when did this sex change happen, Desie?"
"Sex change?" Dot frowned. She looked over at Arni.
Arni grumbled. Everything was falling apart now!
Dot looked curiously at her brothers. "What? You two don't look like you didn't know!"
Yakko and Wakko shrugged their shoulders.
Renraw just shrugged and smiled over at Aroma. "Miss me?"
"I don't care what the chairman says you are not moving in!" Zenny yelled angrily.
"Come on Zen, didn't you miss me just a bit?" Renraw joked. He smiled at Dot. "Well I guess I'm not too welcome yet, am I?"
"Not surprising." Dot crossed her arms. She knew something was going on.
"I'm not so crazy about this look." Renraw started to walk toward Aroma again. "Your other look though, now that is a keeper. Tell me, how come you never acted that way for me?"
Yakko and Wakko looked over at Aroma. What was Ren talking about?
"Renraw!" Zenny growled.
"What? Come on, I haven't done anything bad yet, have I?" Renraw smiled innocently. He looked over at Dot. "He was never much fun, was he? I'm a lot more fun than him."
"I'm inclined to agree." Dot smiled back.
Uh oh. Aroma glared at Renraw. She knew exactly what he was doing. "Don't do it."
"Don't do what?" Renraw whined. "Come on, I missed the tower and you guys," he chuckled. "Besides! If I can't stay then why should I work out a compromise with the script, huh?"
Nailed it. "We aren't doing that script." Wakko insisted. "I guess he should just stay."
"He is not staying," Arni yelled at Wakko. "You don't know him!"
"And I sure as heck don't know you!" Dot stood up to 'Arni'. "You've been a girl this whole time? I knew Pleasure wasn't the only one hiding things."
"Pleasure?" Yakko frowned. "Wait, what about her?"
Dot still angry about not knowing about Arni pointed over at Aroma. "She's right there!"
"Huh?"
Aroma sighed. It didn't matter anymore anyhow. The Warners weren't as bad as she originally thought and with Iridescent's secret now exposed she didn't have to worry about Yakko anymore. Besides, the Warners were not the pressing issue at the moment.
Renraw just clapped his hands. "It's like a soap opera with all the secrets in this place. You should just make a separate show called 'As the Tower Falls.' It'd get ratings I guarantee it."
Yakko just looked in disbelief at Aroma. Pleasure? SHE is Pleasure? The manipulative, sexy little thing that lives with Minerva who doesn't do anything but b-? It just couldn't be, could it?
"Too bad there's no popcorn." Renraw just smiled. "Unless you've got any Dot?"
"Will you stop getting so chummy with her?" Zenny growled at him.
"Why? What's wrong with him being nice?" Dot frowned. "At least he hasn't been hiding stuff."
"Oh, you've got no idea." Arni growled at Renraw.
"Come on Iri. Desie, you remember me?" Renraw faked hurt. "We knew each other from the beginning, how could you be like this to me?" He sighed. "You know I could have easily told everyone that you really were a guy and made sure you didn't get a penny for that contract." He shrugged his shoulders. "With this treatment though, why should I?"
"You..." Zenny growled. "You're gonna blackmail your way in this tower, aren't you?"
"Guilty," Renraw chuckled. "Come on, blackmail's nothing new around here. I mean with Yakko and Wakko and your sisters. I mean, you did know that right?"
"What?" Zenny looked over at Yakko and Wakko. "You were blackmailing my sisters?"
"I didn't know I was," Yakko protested. "I thought I was dating Pleasure not Aroma!" He crossed his arms angrily. Aroma and him had been decent friends, why would she do that?
"So you're dating Iri?" Zenny growled at Wakko. "How'd you find out?" He looked over at 'Arni'. "How long has this been going on?"
"...since he caught me in the shower." Arni confessed in her original voice. There was no more need to hide anymore in the tower.
"You walked in on her in the shower?" Zenny yelled angrily at Wakko.
"Hey don't act so high and mighty! What are you hiding?" Yakko stood up for his brother. "Are you a girl? Are you hiding your appearance? What?"
"Aw, Zenny doesn't have anything to hide." Renraw sighed. "He's just a boring guy. A real flop to how he was supposed to turn out."
"Quit that," Arni yelled.
"You quit it!" Dot stood up to Arni again. "I can't believe everything that's been happening in here."
"Yeah, really fun." Renraw joked. "Oh yeah, now would be a good time for the Warner Brothers to discuss the court stuff. I'm guessing you didn't tell the others about their part yet."
"What?" Dot looked over at her brothers. "What about it?"
Yakko frowned but held up a document. "Yeah. We're not supposed to go though." He gestured toward Aroma. "Those wannabe's are supposed to take our place."
Nice name. Zenny thought sarcastically. "How can we? It's not like you've told us anything about it anyhow."
"Well it wasn't exactly your business," Yakko snapped. "It's not like we were lying though! Not as bad as you guys." His attention focused strictly on Aroma. "Gal in particular."
Arni just looked over at Renraw's smiling face. "Forget it. Spill the beans, I don't care. You are not living here."
"Why not?" Dot humphed. "All he's done is expose all your dirty secrets! I'd rather live with him than any of you."
"You've got no clue what you're saying," Aroma warned her.
"And my sister should listen to you for what reason?" Yakko growled at her.
Zenny sighed. As angry as he was about not knowing about the blackmail there wasn't much he could do right now. "Let's settle down for a moment, we're all pretty high strung." He glared at Renraw. "You are not welcome here and you know it. You are only starting trouble to make yourself look good."
Renraw shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I never said I was a saint."
Zenny looked over at the Warners. "If you want us to play you for this court thing, then you have to refuse to live with him too."
"Oh? More blackmail?" Yakko smiled sarcastically. "That's pretty much the word of the day."
"Yakko. You don't know him." Zenny warned him.
"Yeah? And we apparently don't know you guys either. Oh, I mean guy and girls." Dot growled. "I say we can handle the court without you. It's none of your business anyhow."
Zenny just glared at all the Warners. "So you really want him to stay?"
"At least he's not pretending to be someone he isn't," Yakko said as looked back at Aroma.
"We need to get our scripts changed," Wakko added.
"And he hasn't lied to us yet like you have." Dot finished. "All in all, yeah I'd say he's welcome here!"
"Fine." Zenny held up his hands. He looked over at Aroma and Arni. "Aroma. Iri. Pack up. We're outta here."
"Outta here?" Wakko said sadly. "Wait, you're just leaving?" He looked at Arni questioningly. "Where to?"
None of the Therapy's answered him as they all started to leave.
Wakko looked at the ground sadly. He had really started to like Iridescent.
"Forget it. She's about as worth it as Pleasure slash Aroma is." Yakko scoffed. He couldn't believe her! He thought he knew that girl. She was sincere, nice, mellow and liked paddleball. Well, that was far from the truth. She was Pleasure?
"Audios," Dot smiled as she saw the Therapy's all packed up. "Please forget to write."
Renraw just smiled at the Therapy's. "Hate to see you leave just because of me."
"It'll be a cold day in hell before we ever live with you," Zenny growled at him. He looked over at Aroma and the properly dressed Iridescent. "Go on ahead. I'll meet you at the bottom."
Aroma and Iri just kept their heads down as they passed Dot and Renraw.
Renraw just smirked at Aroma. "See ya round?"
Zenny picked up his suitcase and looked over at the Warner Brothers. "I know neither of us are very fond of each other at this point."
"That's putting it nicely." Yakko humphed.
"But remember. Renraw is not what he appears to be. He isn't considered a copy. Watch him." Zenny warned them.
"Sure, right." Yakko said unconvinced.
Zenny just continued on his way. He tried to warn them as best he could. They would have to learn the hard way who Renraw really was. As Zenny came down and joined Aroma and Iri they all started to walk away.
"Should we at least tell them something about him?" Iri asked Zenny. "They're gonna assume he's just like us and them."
"No, they're not gonna assume he's like us." Zenny frowned. "The Warners think we are pretty boring. Even Dot is already treating him like an equal to them."
Aroma was silent for a time. "...I don't like this."
"We should at least tell them the difference." Iri continued as they continued to walk. "Zenny, he is not the same as us or them. I mean, at first I thought they would be like him, but they aren't."
Zenny rolled his eyes. "Wakko was blackmailing you."
"Yeah, but..." Iri shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know how to explain it. They just aren't the same."
"It doesn't matter, they won't listen to us," Zenny disagreed. "We'd be wasting our breath."
"At least tell Dot?" Iri pressed.
"She won't listen to me. She doesn't even like me." Zenny sighed. "She doesn't trust you either. She might slightly trust Aroma..."
Aroma didn't reply as she kept walking.
"...nah. They're all against us." Zenny shrugged his shoulders. "I warned them the best I could under the circumstances. It's up to them whether they'll follow the warning or not."
Back in the tower...
"So any of their rooms is mine now? Well too bad, I really liked those guys. They were something to poke fun at." Renraw chuckled.
"Yeah. So, about this script?" Wakko held up the script.
Renraw ran for a chair and started to spin around in it. "Let's see here! What's wrong with it?"
"It's not doable." Yakko frowned. "None of that is doable and there's no way we can do it."
"Alright Mojo Jojo." Renraw teased him.
"Mojo Whatsit?" Wakko didn't get it.
"It's edgy, it's now and hell I'd love doing it." Renraw chuckled. "But fine, let's see." He took a pen and started to mess with it. "How bout I cut the Internet part?"
"Eh heh. No." Yakko disagreed. "That's not gonna be good enough."
Renraw just rolled his eyes. "I thought you guys were the original rebels? Making me melt down a script." He shook his head sadly. "Would have gotten real high ratings. I thought that's what you guys needed."
Yakko examined Renraw closely. "What kind of name is Renraw anyhow? Isn't that Warner backwards?"
Renraw stopped smiling. "Yeah. Kinda." He seemed a bit disgruntled. "But hey, apparently I wasn't what they were looking for so they had to try for something a little 'tamer'. Eh, (censored) it." He smiled. "What if we 'tastefully' didn't show anything on camera?"
Nice language.
"What do you mean? What's the script about?" Dot frowned.
Wakko smiled. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we have ice cream? Dot?"
Dot smiled. "I'll get it!"
Renraw just watched as Dot took off.
Neither Wakko nor Yakko liked how the newcomer was staring as Dot left. Maybe they should watch out for him after all?
"You're gonna have to change more than that," Yakko continued. "This script is going too far."
"Yeah and the nurse is married with kids," Wakko agreed. "She can't play that role."
"Oh, it's because of her?" Renraw smiled. "I knew it. You guys aren't (censored), you just know she won't go for it." He chatted his teeth with his tongue. "Alright we'll move the scene from the shower to a pool and put on a bathing suit for her. How's that?"
"Oh, I..." Yakko's voice slid with uncertainty. "...I don't suppose you could change anymore?"
"Heck no, I already changed enough." Renraw growled. "You guys need high ratings and if you pussyfoot around then you ain't gonna get them."
Yakko and Wakko looked at each other. This would drive their old fans further away. The guy was right though, the newer crowd is what was driving the ratings. They wanted everything pushed to the limit and passed.
Yakko sighed. There just wasn't much choice! "Fine, we'll do it."
"Good to hear! Heck, I would." Renraw fixed the script. "There! Now instead of you guys spying on the nurse in the bathroom and uploading it onto the Internet you just spied on her in a pool, with her bathing suit, and you're gonna put that up on the Internet."
Yakko and Wakko glanced at each other. Yep, the old fans were being pushed further and further away...