"A WHAT?" The Warners shouted in unison.

"A poem." Their teacher Mrs. Flamiel said sternly. "That is you homework assignment for tonight. Class dismissed."

"Can't I just draw something instead?" Wakko asked in his low Scouse accent. When it came to school, writing wasn't his strong point. He was more interested in art or science and taking things apart. Yakko called him a gear-head. Dot called him annoying.

"No." Mrs. Flamiel wouldn't budge. "Class dismissed."

"Can't I just use one of my old poems?" Dot asked, sweetly. "Pwease?" She made her cute face, the one that Yakko can't resist.

"No." Mrs. Flamiel said sternly. "Class dismissed."

"But!" Yakko made one more attempt. "We don't know anything about writing poems!"

Mrs. Flamiel stood up angrily. "We've been going over poems for 3 weeks now! How could you not know how to write one?"

Ooh... wrong thing to say. "What we mean is ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Yakko couldn't get out of this by himself. " A little help?" He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants and looked to Wakko.

Mrs. Flamiel grabbed the yardstick and slammed it down on the table. "All of you have to write a poem for tomorrow. No if's, and's, or but's! CLASS DISMISSED!"

The three Warners raced out of the classroom and up to the tower at record speed. Closing the door behind him, Yakko entered the tower. There was a moment of silence before both Dot's and Wakko's excuses started flying at him for them to procrastinate on their homework. He sighed, not even listening to them. "Fine!" He said, his voice reverberating throughout the tower. "You get an hour." Wakko and Dot started bouncing with joy. "But after that, you need to start your homework, 'No if's, and's, or but's!'" Yakko said, mimicking their teacher.

That got a laugh out of Wakko and Dot, who ran off to play in the tower. Yakko, on the other hand, sat down with a notebook and a pencil, attempting to finish this assignment.

20 minutes later all he had was doodles. He sighed and slumped back onto the wall. "Forget it." He muttered. "You've got to be kidding me. Oh, sing the nations of the world? Easy. Sing all the words in the English language?" He shrugged. "I'll do it. Raise two rambunctious kids on my own while only being a few years older than the youngest and try to explain why are parents aren't around in a way that 5 and 8 year olds can understand? It's been done! But write a poem?"

Yakko suddently sat up. Wait... Grabbing his pencil, he jotted down what he just said, as best as he could remember.

Forget it

You MUST be kidding

Sing the nations of the world

Easy

Sing all the words in the English language

I'll do it

Raise two rambunctious kids on my own

While only being a few years older than the youngest

And try to explain why are parents aren't around

In a way that 5 and 8 year olds can understand

IT'S BEEN DONE

But write a poem?

You've gotta be kidding me!

Ha! He thought to himself. Now all it needs is an ending... hmmm...

Time's up? Uh oh!

All I have is a dumb list of excuses.

You like it? Really? No kidding.

Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

Yakko read it over, checking for spelling or grammar errors. Perfect! He looked over his final result again.

Forget it

You MUST be kidding

Sing the nations of the world

Easy

Sing all the words in the English language

I'll do it

Raise two rambunctious kids on my own

While only being a few years older than the youngest

And try to explain why are parents aren't around

In a way that 5 and 8 year olds can understand

IT'S BEEN DONE

But write a poem?

You've gotta be kidding me!

Time's up? Uh oh!

All I have is a dumb list of excuses.

You like it? Really? No kidding.

Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

-Yakko Warner

"Well... that wasn't that bad." Yakko mumbled to himself. "Maybe Mrs. Flamiel is teaching us something!" He looked to the clock. It was exactly an hour after Yakko had let his siblings go do God know what. He stood up and called out, "Hey sibs! The hour's up!" Two groans came from the bedrooms. "Come on guys! You promised!"

Grudgingly, the two came out from their bedrooms. "Is the hour up already?" Dot asked.

"Yes, now get to work young lady." Yakko said sternly. "I gave you an hour already, because this was a hard assignment. But the hour's over. So you two better get to work!"

Wakko rolled his eyes, but sat down at the table. Dot wasn't giving up without a fight though. "But it's a really hard assignment! Can't you just give us a little more time to prepare?" She started talking in her cute voice. "Pretty please?"

Yakko sighed and put his hands over his eyes. "No Dot. The assignment isn't that hard. It's only the idea of it."

"It can't be that much harder than fractions." Wakko chimed in, doodling on his paper.

"Stay out of this Wakko!" Dot exclaimed, glaring at Wakko.

Yakko didn't actually think fractions were that hard. All you really had to do was find a common denominator between the two fractions and the rest was just basic math. But this wasn't math homework! "Dot, you can think in that chair." He pointed to a chair at the kitchen table. "Now go sit down."

"But-"

Yakko raised an eyebrow. "What was that? Remember our deal?"

Dot closed her mouth and rolled her eyes. "No if's, and's, or but's." She mumbled.

"That's right!" Yakko exclaimed. "As your prize... you get to do your homework."

Dot sighed. I'll sit, but I won't write a poem. "Fine." She calmly walked over to the chair that her notebook was at and sat down. She looked back at Yakko to see him walking out of the room. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Me?" Yakko asked. "I'm done! Good luck!" And with that, he walked out of the room.

Dot's jaw dropped, but only for a second. Figures. She thought to herself. He always was the good one in school. She looked over to Wakko, who was scribbling furiously on his paper. "What are you writing about?"

Wakko shrugged without looking up from his paper. Because he honestly didn't know what he would write about. He thought about it for a while, doodling while he thought.

"Wakko!" Dot's voice interupted his thoughts.

"Wha?" he asked, looking towards her.

"You're drawing on the table!"

Wakko looked down at his paper. It was completly filled with doodles, so much so that he had started doodling on the table. His ears flattened against his head. "Uh oh..." He frantically erased the doodles as best he could, but he could still see the faint outline of the doodles on the table. Oh man, Yakko is going to kill me!

On the other hand... this gave him an idea for his poem! He quickly tore the doodle page off and set it next to the clean note book. Without thinking, he began to write.

There's pictures in my head

Not voices like Scratchy seems to think

They crowd my head and distract me

And some of them beg to be let out

They flow through my veins and into my fingertips

They control me

So well, in fact, that I can draw them without thinking about it

They'll come pouring out of my pencil and splash onto a clean sheet of paper

They crowd each other,

Pushing to have the supreme spot in the middle of the paper

Some of them don't realize that they're better off at the edge of the paper

That their destiny is to be drawn there

And sometimes, they fall off the paper and onto the table

They scramble to get back on, but it's no use

They're spot has been taken

I feel bad for them

But at least they're nice and secure on the table!

And that's my excuse for drawing on the table.

-Wakko Warner

Wakko read it over when he finished. "Perfect!" He exclaimed.

"Wakko." Yakko said, walking back into the room. "Dot tells me that you doodled on the table... again."

Oh... right... "You can hardly notice them though!" Wakko stated, feeling giddy about his homework. "And I finished my poem!"

"What?" Dot and Yakko exclaimed together.

"Yeah!" Wakko said excitedly. "And it's really good too!"

"Okay... but you better have an excuse for drawing on the table." Yakko said sternly.

Wakko shoved the paper towards him. "Of course!" Wakko gloated.

Yakko read through the poem, and was laughing by the end of it. "Completing homework and making up an excuse all in one poem. I'm impressed Wakko."

Wakko beamed, his tounge lolling out of his mouth. "Thank you."

Yakko ruffled his cap. "Dinner will be ready soon. I'll call you when it is."

Wakko jumped down from his chair and went to his room to work on his newest invention, the Wakkogularfied-Transgobulator 2! (patent pending)

Dot watched him leave. Wakko finished before me? This is bad. This is really bad.

"Well how far have you gotten Dot?" Yakko asked, looking over her shoulder at her paper. Dot kept staring at where Wakko just left, still in shock.

"Dot?"

Dot snapped out of it and looked up at Yakko. "Yeah?"

"Writing a poem isn't that hard." Yakko told her again. "All you have to do is find something to write about." He sat down in the chair next to hers. "Now, do you have any ideas?"

"Um..." Dot had to think about it. Did she really have nothing to write about? "Well, I have some ideas... I just don't know how I should start."

Yakko just smiled. "Come with me." He got up from the chair and walked over to the computer. Dot followed behind, eager to see what he had found. Yakko sat down and typed in the name of a website. The page instantly loaded with the words "Instant Poetry Generator" across the top. To the left of the page, there was a scroll bar, with a whole list of poetry forms.

Dot's eyes widened in amazement. "How did you find this?"

Yakko shrugged. "I typed in 'poetry generator', since I figured you and Wakko would need help on your poems, and it was the fifth down. It was also the simplest. But, since Wakko finished his poem, you can use it." He got up from the seat and let Dot climb up. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks Yakko!" Dot exclaimed, hugging him briefly before sitting down and scrolling through all the different forms of poetry. Look at all this! She thought to herself. There's got to be at least a hundred! Where should I start? Emotional Animal? Love That Poem? Oooh... how about the All About Me poem! She clicked on that and read over the directions. Nah... I'll come back to that. Another one caught her eye. How about...

About an hour later, Yakko called her into the kitchen for dinner. "Come on Dot!" He called. "We're having tacos!"

Dot looked towards the kitchen, and then back to the computer screen. She had only gotten through about half of the list, and none of the poems seemed right. She had even filled out a couple of them to check.

I'll just come back to it later, after dinner. She told herself. ... but just one more poem! She quickly clicked on the next poem template and looked it over.

"Dot! You're taco is getting cold!"

"Hold on!" She called back, filling in the blank boxes.

"Dot!" Wakko shouted. "If you don't come in here right now, I'm going to eat your taco!"

Before anyone could blink, Dot was in her chair at the kitchen table, taking a bite out of her taco. She glared at Wakko. "It's mine." She said through a full mouth. "You can't have it."

Wakko just smiled. "It's ok, I already licked it."

"Ewwwwwww!" Dot squealed, setting the taco back down. "That's disgusting Wakko!"

Yakko rolled his eyes. "He didn't lick it Dot." he clarified. "But another excuse, and I would have let him. Did you finally finish your poem?"

Dot looked down. "No." She mumbled.

Yakko raised an eyebrow. "Dot, you were in there for an hour. How could you not have a poem done?"

"I was looking through all the poems to see which one I liked best!" Dot answered, defending herself.

"Are you sure you weren't looking at some pictures of Mel Gibson?" Wakko teased.

Dot glared at him. "You're the one who was doodling on the table!"

Wakko was about to answer, but Yakko interrupted him. "He's also the one who has his homework done!" Dot sank a little in her seat, the taco now unappealing to her. "Come on Dot. You're the one that had their own poetry corner!"

"Hey! The poems were written for me!" Dot exclaimed. "That doesn't count!"

"But shouldn't that give you an advantage?" Yakko explained. "I mean, you did read it. Which is more that Wakko or I have ever done." Dot was about to point out something, but Yakko held up a hand. "The Midsummer's Night Dream monologue doesn't count. That was a play, not a poem."

"But..." Dot sighed and crossed her arms. "I can't think of anything! I'm stupider than Wakko!"

"Hey! I resent that!" Wakko protested.

Yakko looked over to Wakko. "Are you done eating?" Wakko nodded. "You can be excused." Wakko thought about it for a moment, but then pushed back his chair and went off to work on his machine again.

Yakko looked back to Dot, who sank lower in her seat. "Sit up," he said. "If you go any lower, you'll be on the floor." She sat up, but avoided his gaze. "Dot..."

"I'm trying, ok?" Dot shouted. "I'm trying as hard as I can, but nothing's coming to mind! I can't do this! I'm stupid! I'm so stupid that I can't even write a dumb poem!"

"Dot." Yakko said seriously. "You're not stupid. You're just having trouble coming up with an idea. Writers have that problem all the time! Do you know how long Shakespeare took to write Romeo and Juliet?"

Dot looked up to him. "No."

"Well, neither do I."

Dot giggled. Yakko could always make her laugh, even when she felt the worst.

"There it is," Yakko said, pointing at her smile. "There's the smile that could light up all of Hollywood!" He leaned in close to her, like he was telling her a secret. "You know, whenever you frown, some big star stubs their toe in the dark?"

Dot started laughing and Yakko smiled. "And every time you laugh, a new, talented star gets their big break. Why do you think there are so many bad stars on Disney Channel now?" He didn't give her time to answer. "Because you haven't been laughing!" Dot laughed harder. "So, do you think you're ready to take another shot at writing the poem?"

Dot frowned, and Yakko kicked the table, stubbing his toe. "Ow!" Yakko yelled, grabbing his foot. "My toe! Oh, woe is me! That cute little girl in the water tower must have frowned! Room, spinning... turning... black... Oh no!" He fell back on the floor in an exaggerated faint.

Dot started laughing again. "Fine... I'll try again."

Yakko jumped up from the floor. "Good. I'll call you when it's bedtime. I'm going to see if I can figure out what the heck Wakko's machine does. Good luck."

"Oh, believe me, big brother, you'll need more luck than I will."

Yakko frowned. "You're probably right." He shrugged. "Still. Start working on that Dot, you only have an hour until you have to get ready for bed." And with that warning, he walked out of the room.

Dot went back over to the computer and started scrolling through again.

About 45 minutes later, she reached the end of the list. She bit her lip and looked to the clock on the wall. 15 minutes left, and still no good poem! She sighed, and scrolled through the list again, trying to think of something!

Ok... something, something... anything...

Dot yawned. It had been an early day today. Mrs. Flamiel wanted to see "the children" at 7 so they would have enough time to get through a few lessons (given how the Warners act around her, this was probably a good idea.). Dot had to get up at 6 am instead of her usual 7 am. It didn't help that she was up until 11 reading magazines until Wakko finally malleted her reading light so he could sleep. She still had to get him back for that. But how...?

"Dot! Bedtime!" Yakko called.

Uh oh.

Quickly, Dot opened one of her "not-so-good" poems and maximized it so it filled the computer screen. And just in time too. She turned around in her seat to see Yakko walk in the room and up to her. "Did you get your poem done?"

"Uh huh!" She said, nodding. "I want to tweak it in the morning though, is that alright?" She asked him, making her cute face and looking up at him."

Yakko sighed. "Alright, fine."

Dot kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you Yakko..." She said before hopping down and racing to the bathroom. That at least bought her some time. She brushed her teeth and put her hair into her curlers before putting on her nightgown and entering the bedroom that they all shared.

Wakko was already asleep on the top bunk, snoring loudly and in the strangest position that she had ever seen him fall asleep in. His head was on the pillow, and one arm looped through his leg, while the other hung over the side of the bed. Dot rolled her eyes. Boys. Go fig. She climbed up the ladder and into her bed in the middle of the three-bed bunkbed. Yakko entered the room soon after.

"Good night Dot." Yakko said tiredly.

"Good night Yakko." Dot answered, just as tired.

Yakko turned off the lights and crawled into the bottom bunk, falling asleep almost instantly, snoring as loud as Wakko.

Now this, caused Dot to open her eyes. Hearing all this noise, when she was trying to fall asleep. It was impossible to fall asleep to two brothers snoring. She tossed, and turned, and tried covering her head with the pillow to block out the sound. But it was no use. There was no way to dampen the sound. Why, it was as loud as an earthquake!

... wait a minute!

Dot raced down the ladder as quietly as she could and made her way to the computer. She opened a Word document and began typing.

Louder than a earthquake

Louder than Red Sox fans at to '04 World Series

Louder than a crowd applauding

Or a bloody murder scream

Louder than a raptor

Or a monkey scream

louder than the honking horns of New York's traffic

Louder than a speeding train

Louder than a thunderclap

Louder than your heart

when you're alone in a dark house during a thunder storm

Louder than a fire alarm

Louder than a twister

Louder than a nuclear explosion

That's how loud my brothers SNORES!

- Dot Warner

Yes! She thought, yawning. Now... I can fall asleep... She trudged back to her room, the snores not bothering her anymore.

"Well students," Mrs. Flamiel started. "I trust the homework wasn't very difficult."

"No Mrs. Flamiel..." The Warners said in unison, Yakko leading them

"Good." Mrs. Flamiel said happily. "Now, give the homework to me."

Dot stepped out from her desk first, walking up to Mrs. Flamiel with the poem she had written printed on pink paper. "Here you go!" She said cheerfully.

"I assume that your poem was the easiest to write, Dot." Mrs. Flamiel said, smiling a creepy smile.

Dot just smiled back. Oh, lady, if only you knew. She took her seat, and Wakko came up to present his poem to Mrs. Flamiel.

"Ahh... Wakko. I'm sure your poem will be very... interesting to read." Mrs. Flamiel said, hesitating to come up with an adjective.

Wakko's tongue lolled out of his mouth. "I'm sure you will!" He said enthusiastically, taking his seat again.

Lastly, Yakko walked up to the teacher. "Here you go Mrs. Flamiel." He said. "I wrote it with you in mind."

"Thank you Yakko." Mrs. Flamiel said, putting it on top of the other poems without giving it a second glance. "You may take your seat."

Yakko smirked. If only you'd read it... "Did ya here that sibs. Let's take our seats." Before Mrs. Flamiel could stop them, the Warners had picked up their desk chairs and ran out of the room, laughing.

"You kids!" Mrs. Flamiel shouted, chasing after them. "Get back here! I'm warning you! You'll all get an F! Do you hear me? An F!"

The End.

Phew. First story: complete! Hey, maybe I'll get extra credit for writing this as an example story! *hint hint Mrs. K*

The website that Yakko shows Dot does actually exist! (and believe me, you can get lost for 2 hours on there.) If you want to find it, just Google "Instant Poetry Generator". You might want to check it out if you have to write a poem for school.

Don't forget to review! Click the little button that says, 'Review This Chapter', even though this is a one-shot.

I do not own Animaniacs. Though that would be SO cool if I did! The poems, however, are mine. No stealing. (And that goes for "borrowing" too!)

Review, stay in school, join the Animaniacs revival project, and wash your car. For heavens sake, wash your car. It's filthy. Do it. Now. I order you too...

Goodnight everybody!

-Elsie Warner