Inside the Shuttle
"This is great! Are you sure it's even bigger than Disneyland?"
Aroma turned around and quickly turned back.
"Hi, Honey." Yakko joked from behind. "Decided to go ahead and check this place out too. Once I told my sibs what you said, they were all too happy to take the trip."
"And you!" Dot pointed at Aroma. "You lied about being pregnant. That's not nice, we all had our hopes up we could see a baby warner."
"So?" Wakko grinned at Aroma. "Do others act like me? Do we have anything in common?"
Aroma watched the way he continually bounced in excitement as he listened. The original source of it all. "That bouncing in anticipation was passed on as well as several other traits. You are also highly intelligent and I encourage you to use your intellect more."
"Really?" Wakko asked. "How do you know that?" He was smart, but he just didn't talk up a storm about everything like Yakko did.
"According to the documents for the machine which created us, each of 30,000 had a different qualifier of interest and/or mental capacity. The fact that brilliant scientists came from your scan is reason enough to understand that fact."
" . . . okay." Wakko stopped talking and looked at Yakko, his body language signifying annoyance.
"She takes some getting used to," Yakko simply said to him.
Aroma caught the hint. "If you refrain from trying to drive me mad, I will take you to Chez Casa's Mallet and Anvils Museum."
"Mallet and anvils? Okay!" Wakko agreed.
"Mallets and anvils?" Dot just looked at Aroma. "You're telling me that your planet has a museum dedicated to mallets and anvils?"
"Why not?" Aroma asked. "Without mallets and anvils, how could our great civilization ever come to be? Everyone must have some form of respect for these amazing yet primitive inventions. Even I have a small collection."
"You mean had," Yakko corrected her. "I'm sure after being gone for a year your stuff is probably just a memory."
"I doubt it," Aroma said. "I do not pay that thing called rent. We use money for other goods and services and we all have a specific set of skills that we use to contribute to society. My home is always my home."
"Okay. Shut up," Dot warned her. "You're getting pesky."
"Sorry." Aroma looked out a nearby window. "I'm just eager to get back home." She smiled. Finally, back home. She watched outside of the window for more warners to come. She continued to stare for some time, but no one showed up, not even Preston.
Preston. He'd have broken anything to go back home. His real estate was his world. The world he missed so bad. He'd do anything to be there.
"That place sounded interesting," Dot whispered at Yakko. "Too bad we can't really go."
Yakko shrugged his shoulders and watched Aroma by the window. Knew everything about them, did she? Well, everyone had their faults and when he discovered hers, he couldn't stop his sibs. They all needed revenge somehow, she didn't just stand them up. She was studying them, and probably going to write a book on how best to deal with them. That wasn't right, they weren't objects of study. "See anyone else yet?"
Wakko tried to hide a snicker, but Aroma heard it.
Aroma stopped smiling but did not turn around. He would have done anything to get back home. She had been so happy and so hopeful, so sure of herself from how Yakko acted, that she didn't even realize. Yakko is also a great actor.
She had been conned. Reputation destroyed, marriage would definitely be ended, and she had a deep sadness within her heart. So, they did it. Altogether, they took her on. Logically when a person gets duped, extremely hard, they blow up at the warners and yell. I've come close to that, and many times before that on Chez Casa. She smiled at the window. I won't though. I'm Aroma Therapy the Warner. Obviously, if they have this ship up here they are doing something, I must watch it more carefully. I will get home, just not today. I will not give up. I will admit defeat, but I will never give them what they want.
A reaction. They thrived on reactions. Even if they won, they'll never feel like they won, if they didn't get their reaction. "Hm. No one seems to be coming." She chuckled. "Why, Yakko Warner, did you trick me?"
Yakko looked at her oddly. Why did she chuckle? He looked at Wakko and Dot and they just shrugged.
"Nice try. My own home world too, extra hurtful." Aroma sighed dramatically. "Oh well. Anyhow, I better get back home. I'll have to find another warner just as good as Preston and it's not gonna be easy. So long, Originals."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Dot protested with a yell as she got in front of her. "Aren't you even upset?!"
Aroma shrugged. "I'll get back home one day." She walked off calmly.
"I don't get it! She studied us and everything, and we-we can't shake her up!" Dot started to cry. "How can we lose?"
"Yeah. This didn't turn out right," Wakko agreed. "Yakko, your plan didn't work."
"It did too," Yakko disagreed as he watched her leave as well. "She was here, and she admitted she fell for the con." Egh. "Just calmly."
"I feel dissatisfied." Wakko moaned. "She's doing something with that research in studying us, she deserves to feel something for it. What's she doing? What are you- what's?" He grumped and tugged his hat down, crossing his arms. "What's she doing?"
"This blows," Dot said as she also crossed her arms.
"Look, we got her back, what else do you want?" Yakko said to the two. "She isn't going to be shaken that easily. Her field is us for some reason."
"She's gotta at least grab her ears and yell," Dot complained back. "This was ultimate revenge! One shot! What's left?"
Yakko didn't want to play anymore. This was bad enough. "Nothing. We got the revenge. It's over."
"It isn't," Dot insisted, "and we still have your marriage. You didn't spill it, did you?"
"Of course Yakko wouldn't spill," Wakko said coming to his defense. "It's his last ace in the hole. Right, Yakko?"
I don't want to play anymore. "We got revenge, dictated and we'll get it notarized if you want."
Neither Dot or Wakko was happy about that.
"What is she doing with the research on us?" Wakko asked again. "Nobody should be studying us but Scratchy."
"She needs to pay, and that wasn't paying. That was a chuckle like it was a joke." Dot's eyes weren't taking no for an answer.
I can't believe I fell for it. Aroma groaned. All that time and all that patience just waiting. Oh how she just wanted to fly off the handle but then the originals would get the satisfaction they wanted. No, that would have only made her feel even worse.
"Oh don't tell me I am early."
Aroma's ears perked up as she heard a familiar sound. A sound she had not heard for a long time. "H-hopper?" She turned around and saw a warner she hadn't seen in a long time. Not since Chez Casa. "Hopper!"
"Aroma?" Hopper watched as Aroma came over and gave him a great big hug. "Nice welcome."
"Hopper. What are you doing here?" Aroma wasted no time.
"I took the last shuttle and figured I would check out my roots," Hopper said. "It was an interesting experience, but I will be heading back home soon. Warners are not very welcome here, but it was educational." He sighed. "You seem very happy considering how we parted."
"Hopper, you're one of the few sane warners I've met in a long time." Aroma smiled. "I don't care about anything else." Finally! Home. "When is the next ride back?"
"A couple days. There is about one every couple of months. You see, after our so-called creators came and hijacked 30,000 of us, we decided to sit down and have more of an equal discussion with them. We've actually found one of their shuttles quite useful and have developed a form of gas that is much better than this planets. They were intrigued. With their shuttle though, who knows what else we shall find out there? By all means, I am rambling though." Hopper felt her forehead. "So much so, I hadn't noticed your weary appearance. Are you alright?"
"Fine. Just under the weather," Aroma said. "A little more than usual." Thanks to that sick joke.
"Aroma. Your nose is pink." Hopper felt her head again. "Why is your nose pink?"
"I must be sick again." Aroma rubbed her head. "I think I'm getting a fever. I feel dizzy . . ."
Hopper watched as Aroma hit the ground. " . . . interesting."
Three days later...
"Congratulations, I suppose."
Aroma opened her eyes and saw a doctor. "What?"
Her doctor wrote on a notepad. "Fainting next to a street. A simple test was all it took." He groaned as he said the statement. It was not what the world needed. "Your pregnant."
" . . . excuse me?"
"You are pregnant. Rule number one, wear protection with everyone, including fixed cartoons. You never know when an error can occur." Her doctor shook his head. "The father had been called down, it was his right to know too. However, he also mentioned something that made me stop."
Stop?
"There is no way I am touching you if Yakko Warner is the father. Preston Carrington said you made out with him. Is that all you did?" The doctor was meeting her, eye to eye.
Aroma glanced around. "Months ago."
"Every species is different on their first displays. Without a taste, I suppose you aren't sensitive enough to notice within a decent amount of time."
"How'd I get here?"
"You fainted and were brought in. If anyone asks, you received an abortion. Meanwhile, you figure out something else," he demanded. "I have seen what Warners do for a stolen booth at a restaurant. I do not need to know what they'd do if . . . just go to a different city if you need to."
Aroma glanced around again, bit her lip, and looked back at the doctor again. "I was brought in unconsciously, tested and . . . I'm pregnant?"
"Which is illegal, so figure out your own next step," he insisted. "In the meantime, your 'husband' is waiting outside." He had made quotation marks though.
"Why did you do that with Preston?" She raised her eyebrow, already guessing. Yakko Warner wasn't done with her yet.
She got up and started to walk away. As she did, she got the sensation she was on a treadmill. She kept trying to move faster, but felt like she got nowhere. Strange motion feeling. She swayed her body left to right, and found herself almost falling down. Limited motion control.
Her next step was obvious.
Aroma stared out the window, lost in thought as she sat somewhere she never expected to be. In Otto Von Scratchansniff's office. Preston. Yakko. A baby. Everything happened so fast. This was a nasty situation, and she would have to consult with the largest expert around for them.
"You'll be fine."
Aroma looked around herself. She heard her old friend's voice. Someone who wasn't there on Earth. "I'll be fine?"
"You'll be fine."
"No, I won't." She knew these signs. It was even confirmed as other people looked at her. Well, one person.
"Aroma Therapy?" Scratchansniff snapped his fingers at her. She seemed to be talking to a voice that wasn't there. When she made an emergency appointment, he had already been iffy about the moment. He often didn't work with copies, only the original Warner Brothers and their Sister Dot.
However, she sounded within reason on the phone. Even when she first came into his office and sat down, she introduced herself just fine. Then, she seemed to start to turn into not fine.
"I'm not talking to anyone," Aroma said toward him, looking toward him. "I know no one is there. It's psychological." Still, she looked around oddly. "I made a biiiig boo-boo with the warners. I mean. I. Mess, I made a mess. My diction is going to increasingly insufficient stuff."
Scratchansniff scratched his head. "Are you the one who made the appointment with me, ja? You said it was important."
"Most important. I am in bad place." Her hands tightened on the chair she sat in. "I am Aroma Therapy, like the pretty scented candles of yore. Your. You're? You are? Scratchansniff. Otto Von. Auto Bon. Good car. Mister Good Car, I need to talk to you."
"It's Doctor Scratchansniff."
"I'm going craaaaazy," she whined. "That's not good, it's the, if you, the research." She pointed out the window. "My research." She pounded her chest. "My research, get it. Get. You'll."
Interesting. While she certainly wasn't all there, it was like she was trying to tell him something. Like she was sinking away in a . . . in a way he had not seen before. "What are you trying to convey?"
She grasped her head. "I'm brain studier. Can't remember the words." She looked like she was about to cry. No. No, she was crying. "I'm Aroma Th-?" She hit herself on the back of the head. "Therapy!"
"Just settle down," Scratchansniff said, trying to calm her. "The more worked up you get, the harder it will become."
"Warners aren't humans, the cartoons, they don't. It's not the same. You can't, 'cause we're different. The. Research." She held her finger up. "Original hosts host of the hostiest hosts. Him." She pushed her hands out toward him, while her eyes looked so scared. Lost. "Personality. Disrupt."
Mmm. "Do you perhaps know the Warner Brothers?" That must be some reason as to why she was there.
She patted her hands together like a slow, hard clap. "Ya-kko! Ya-kko! Ya-kko! Ya-kko!"
"Okay, okay." Scratchansniff picked up his phone. When he heard a familiar voice in the middle of 'Helloooo-' he interrupted. "Get down here. Now." He moved away from the phone.
Yakko, Wakko and Dot all arrived through his phone. A move he was always familiar with.
Now. What had these three caused to happen now?