And Then There was One
A Tiny Toons/Looney Tunes Fanfic
By Kevin Mickel
(HKUriah@AOL.com)


June 15th, 2002

	And so comes the end of another year of higher learning and lower
comedy at Acme Looniversity.  The 2001-2002 school year was fairly typical for
Acme Loo, if anything at that weird place can be called typical.  As the toonsters
left their last class and headed for the end of the year assembly, Babs Bunny had a
look of puzzlement of her face.  "Buster?" she asked the blue bunny who was
holding her hand as they walked.
	"Yeah Babs?"
	"Why are we here?"
	"Whattaya mean?"
	"Well, I mean, we sorta *graduated* from this place years ago, we're
happily married, and so are most of out classmates, or at least weirdly married,
and we all have complex and full lives.  But we also all *still* have lockers here
at Acme Loo, we still take occasional classes, and have to attend Looniversity
functions.  Heck, I'm *still* a cheerleader and your still captain of the football
team.  And to top it all off, we are all still half the size of the Looney Tunes. 
What gives?"
	Buster just smiled and shook his head, he opened his mouth to explain, but
before he could, Babs said, "And if you say, 'It's a toon thing,' I'll tie your ears in a
knot!"
	Buster could only cough and swallow hard when Babs said that.  After
taking a moment regain his composure, he said, "Well, it's like this.  We may be
all those things you said, but we are also *still* the Tiny Toons.  We'll always be
short, and we'll always be at Acme Loo for some reason or another.  It's our
schtick.  Just like Bugs saying 'What's Up, Doc?' or Sam being a hothead.  It's what
we do."
	"Oh..." said Babs as she nodded thoughtfully.  "Gotcha!"
	As Buster and Babs entered the Looniversity Auditorium for the End of
the School Year assembly, they, and all of their friends and classmates, could not
help but notice that there was a very somber feeling in the room.  None of the
usual year end decorations were in evidence, and the lights were even a little
dim.  "Did Bugs forget to pay the bills?" Babs asked Buster quietly.
	"Shh..." said Buster.  "Here he comes."
	As Bugs slowly walked up to the center of the stage, he looked out at the
gathered Tiny Toons and smiled, but there was something very sad about his
expression.  "Hi, kids," he said slowly.  "We'll we's come ta da end of annuder
school year, and it's been rocky one t'be sure.  Youse may all be wonderin' where
all the special stuff is fer dis years enda school t'ing, but, well, dis year we gotta
be a little different about it.  And in just a moment, I'm sure you'll know why."
	With that, Bugs nodded to his left, and he was soon joined by all of his
Looney Tunes costars.  They all looked rather sad, and some, most notably Pepe
Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, The Road Runner, Hubie & Bertie, Sniffles, Ralph Wolf,
Sam Sheepdog, Marvin Martian, Marc Antony, Pussyfoot, Hugo and Gossamer
had tears in their eyes.  Once they were all assembled, Bugs looked over to them
all, and with a nod he said, "Daffy?"
	Without comment, Daffy went over to Bugs, and the two of them reached
up to pull down a new background for a very special room at Acme Loo. 
Suddenly staff and students were in the Director's Lounge, and all eyes were
drawn to the rear wall of that very private room.  Several large pewter mugs were
neatly arraigned on a mahogany shelf, and all but two of them were upside
down.  The inverted ones had the names, Harman, McKimson, King, Tashlin,
Hardaway, Avery, Davis, Ising, Dalton, Clampett and Freleng engraved on them.
The two upright ones had the names McCabe and Jones on them.  After looking
at the display for a long moment, Bugs stepped aside and said, "Wile E?"
	Going over to the display, Wile E. reached out a trembling hand to take
down the mug with Jones on it.  He regarded it quietly for a moment before pulling
a canteen out from behind his back to fill the mug with water.  He took a small sip
and passed the mug to Daffy, who did the same before passing it onto Elmer Fudd.
In this manner, it slowly made its way through all the Looney Tunes, until it got back
to Wile E, who gazed at it for a long moment.  After draining the last of the water,
he held the mug up high and said, "To you, Mr. Jones.  You were the true genius."
	Pausing just long enough to wipe a tear from his eye, Wile E. reverently set
the empty mug back on the shelf, but it was now upside down like all but one of
the rest.  He let his fingers linger on the mug for a long moment, before dropping his
hand to his side and looking over to Bugs with a nod.
	Bugs looked over at the Tiny Toons and saw that all of them, like his
costars, were on the verge of tears.  Taking a deep breath, to calm himself, he
said simply, "Class dismissed."
	Slowly and with a silence that was very unusual for the end of the last day
of the school year at Acme Loo, the Tiny Toons filed out of the Lounge and
headed for home.  Once they were gone, the Looney Tunes started to leave, each
of them pausing by Chuck's mug to touch it in tribute one last time.  Bugs, being
the last to leave, looked over at each of the inverted mugs one at a time, remembering
what they all stood for.  He let his gaze rest on Chuck's for a long moment, and then
with a heavy sigh, he turned out the light.

The End

This fanfic is dedicated to the memory of Chuck Jones.  Director of many a wonderful
cartoon.

A special "Thank You" to Leloni Bunny for drawing the very special Title Card for this
story, wasonecard.jpg, and for inspiring me to write the thing in the first place.  Thanks,
Lel.

"And that's a wrap..."