This Fanfic takes place some time before the events of The Animaniacs Episode 83: One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock. By the way, I highly recommend that episode. It's definitely one of the top 5 best episodes of the entire show.

I wasn't at all concerned about Skippy when I discovered Walter's note. In fact, I was surprised the old wolf hadn't tried the old "kidnap my archenemy's nephew to lure her into a trap" trick sooner. Then again, he is an idiot . . . or maybe I'm just so smart that he looks like an idiot to me. Either way, I have no reason ta worry. Ya see, I know how these stories work. Skippy will be tied up to a tree, Walter will have a complicated trap laid out for me, and I'll just effortlessly step out of the way as the trap goes off, preferably on Walter. But in the odd situation where the trap doesn't spring on Walter, then I'll slip him a few bombs, maybe do a switcheroo with Skippy and a nine-year-old squirrel sized bomb. Yeah, I never leave 'em holding the bag, I leave 'em holding the bomb.

Now, as for Skippy . . . eh, he'll be alright. The kid's got a lot of spunk to him . . . at least when he's not watching sad movies . . . or getting hit in the face by a soccer ball. . . Eh, he's gotten over that. He is my nephew, so of course he'd remind me of a very young . . . well, me from time to time. Just ask Duke the bully . . . no wait, Duke the X-bully. Heh-heh. He made me so proud.

So it was clear that no matter what that dim-witted wolf tried, this whole thing was gonna end with me and Skippy leaving Walter charred black and crispy as I say "Now that's comedy!"

So yeah, so I go ta the "secret location" Walter wrote in his note, and as expected, Skippy's tied up to a tree. I see that he'd already been trying to escape by chewing on the ropes. He had done some pretty good damage on them, and it looked as if one could tug would snap them.

Skippy noticed my approach and looked up at me, panic evident in his eyes.

"RUN, AUNT SLAPPY! RUN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

I just raised an eyebrow at him. Why the hay was he worried? He should really know by now that no matter what Walter tries or who he gets to help him, that wolf just can't beat me.

Then, out from behind a tree stepped Walter John Wolf himself. He smiled wickedly at me and said, "Aha! So you came, Slappy! All alone! No witnesses!"

I just rolled my eyes and replied, "No witnesses to me beating you, you mean. Don't you have a trap or-?"

Without warning, Walter threw what appeared to be a medium sized water balloon at me with all his might. At that exact same time, something slammed into my side and knocked me over. It was obviously Skippy, having managed to snap the ropes and pounce forward at me.

As I hit the ground, I heard the sound of the water balloon breaking and the contents splashing all over the ground. But what really caught my attention was the horrible shriek of unimaginable pain.

Okay, that shriek is the only thing I can think of right now that ever messed with my nerves. I rolled over in a panic, stuck in a frantic state as I tried to figure out what was happening. I know for a fact that I've never been filled with such panic before. I'm always in control, nothing's supposed to phase me! I'm Slappy the Slap-Happy Squirrel for Pete's sake.

Anyways, as I turn over, a horribly foul order invades my nose. I look across the ground and see a horrible green liquid seeping into the ground, sending up wisps of smoke as it burned a deep hole into the ground. I stared blankly at the green chemical with utter disbelief.

Dip.

Skippy's tortured screaming and crying snapped me out of my trance. Part of me really did not want to look at him. From what I've heard about that stuff, it made sense for me to fear the worst, and I was truly terrified at what I might see. Actually to be honest with myself, if I wasn't so afraid right then, I'd probably have burst into tears.

I forced myself to looked over at the small brown squirrel as he lay curled up in a fetal position, rocking back and forth. I noticed that he was gripping the lower part of his tail and squeezing it with all his might. I could see wisps of smoke coming through his fingers, as well as the growing bald spot on his tail.

I turned slowly towards Walter, who for some reason was still standing there. His mouth was hanging open slightly. Maybe he couldn't believe he had missed his intended target. Maybe he felt about hurting a kid by mistake. Well quite frankly, I don't give two bits about what he's thinking or what he's feeling. All I want right now is revenge.

When Walter's eyes moved up to my face, he immediately turned and ran as if his life depended on it. Gosh, I must have had such an angry face on. Ya know, "if looks could kill" and all that. Anyway, he didn't have a snowball's chance of getting away. In a few seconds I had grabbed him by the tail, swung him over my head, and slammed him onto the ground. I stomped on his chest hard and brought my face inches away from his.

"Dip?" I said in a voice that seethed with intense anger, "You had the nerve to try and use Dip?!"

Walter opened his mouth to speak, but I silenced him by shoving a bomb straight into his mouth and down his miserable throat.

"You . . . psychopath!" I screamed as I shoved two more bombs down his throat. I could feel the three round objects rolling around in his stomach with the foot I still had pressed inta his gut. I quickly got offa him, giving him one last kick in the side for good measure, and then ran over ta my sobbing nephew. I quickly picked him and carried him in my arms as I ran away from the scene as fast as I could.

I didn't even smile as I heard the loud explosion behind me. He'd live, of course. He always does. But he'll be in a lot of pain for quite a while. I'm not a nice squirrel, I'll admit that, but I'd never stoop to the level he stooped too.

Fighting off a nervous breakdown, I soon managed to bring Skippy back to my tree house. I figured that taking him ta a doctor or a hospital would do any better. Dip isn't something they can cure, and anyway, from what I saw it didn't look like Skippy was gonna . . . he-he was gonna be okay . . . I just had ta fix up the part that got hit.

I gently placed Skippy on his bed, very much aware that he was still sobbing and clutching his tail. I swallowed hard, and then spoke gently to him, "Skippy . . . talk to me, please. Does it still hurt? How bad is it?"

Skippy sniffed, eyes still dripping tears as he looked up at me. He nodded slowly and said, "It burns. It burns, Aunt Slappy. It burns so much . . ."

Out of what I can only describe as instinct, I began stroking him gently on the head. I leaned over to look at his tail and said, "Take your hands away. Let me see it."

Skippy didn't move a muscle, except to sniff and blink his wet eyes.

"I want to help you, Skippy," I say with a bit more force, "Let me see it, please. It's the only way I can make it better."

Skippy sniffed a couple more times, and then finally let go of his tail. I couldn't help but flinch when I saw it. About two or three inches of the base of his tail had completely lost all its fur, leaving behind pale paper-white skin.

To put it short, I felt terrible. But as I thought more, I realized that I actually felt guilty. Now that's a new experience for me, I'll tell ya that.

"I'm . . . I'm gonna go grab some stuff ta fix it," I said, trying to keep from screaming, "Just keep still. Please."

As I quickly ran for a first aid kit, it occurred to me that I should've found out where Walter managed to get that stuff. From what I've heard about it, all of the Dip was rendered harmless and disposed of. Walter must have jumped through a lot of hoops to get enough Dip to fill that balloon. Anyways, after the punishment I dished out ta him, there's no way he'd ever try a stunt like that again.

I rushed back to Skippy's side and started to fix him up. I sprayed on that antiseptic stuff and slowly massaged in that aloe cream. As I did this, Skippy said something that caught me off guard.

"I'm sorry Aunt Slappy . . ."

I stared at him in disbelief and said, "Why you apologizing to me for? You're the one who's injured here!"

I spoke a little louder than I should have and he winced a bit. Oh man. I ain't helping am I?

"I shouldn't have let him catch me," he said sadly, "And then he told me about his plan to use the Dip. I tried to warn you, put I was so scared, and he almost . . ." Unable to continue, Skippy burst into a new batch of tears.

I put down the roll of bandages I was holding and took a handkerchief out of my purse. As I dabbed at my nephew's tears I said, "C'mon, Skippy. Don't think like that. It ain't your fault-."

"YES IT WAS!" Skippy shouted, "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have been able to lure you into the trap! It's all my fault! All my fault! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, all my fault!"

The whole thing was a shocking experience to me. It actually heart to see poor Skippy like this, and it felt just as bad to hear him say what he just said. Sheesh, the poor kid sure had some emotional baggage on him. And you know what else? Just having him around had actually started to give me a heart! Gosh, I'd been playing up the old bitter retired actress bit for so long that this was kind of a whole new thing for me. But what kinda worried me was whether or not he realized this.

Aw, of course he didn't! He's just a kid, what could I have expected? With me being me he's probably been going around thinking that he reminds me of a very young Thing That Wouldn't Leave. Heck no, Skippy's important to me! How come I never made that clear to him?

Oh crud, I just thought of something else. I don't think I ever told the little scamp that I actually loved him! Sure, we're always sharing hugs and stuff like that, but I never even thought of being more direct with it. I figured it was just something we both knew, but maybe kids still need to be told that they're loved every once in a while or, well, this happens.

Even worse is that there had been a very disturbingly high chance of Skippy . . . well . . . that balloon had a lot of Dip in it, and he's so small and cute . . .

That's it, after what we've gone through today, there's no way I'm waiting any longer.

I move closer to the bed, turn, and sit down on it next to my sobbing nephew. He stops his crying briefly to look up at me. I give him a reassuring smile as lift him up into my arms in a warm hug.

"Don't ya ever beat yerself up like that again, Skippy," I said gently as I rocked him in my arms slowly, "Taking you in was the best thing that ever happened to me. A gal can only be a lonely bitter curmudgeon for so long. Heck, if it weren't for you, I'd be committed into the Cartoon Motion Picture and Rest Home by now. I need you, Skippy, and I love you. I'm sorry for never telling you that sooner. I guess it never occurred ta me to say it, but I love you, Skippy. I really do, and I promise that I'll never let you down in anything."

Skippy's eyes were shimmering again, but this time I could tell that they were tears of joy. He climbed up onto my lap and hugged me in return. "I'll love you forever, Aunt Slappy," he said softly.

Oh man. . . well, just because I refuse to go soft doesn't mean I can't have one soft spot for my little nephew.

Skippy dried his eyes and said with a smile, "I feel much better now! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

Well, I was glad to hear that. Of course, I still had to bandage up that burnt spot. Surely I can figure out some way to disguise that bald section of tail.

A grabbed the roll of bandages and said, "Turn around and let me see it."

Skippy turned and showed me his tail.

My jaw dropped as I let the bandages fall to the floor. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The patch of white skin that had been burnt by the dip was now covered in normal tail-fur. It was as if nothing had ever happened to it.