Chapter 4

     I watched Rosie stomp away angrily and grab a pie from the extra-large wheelbarrow, and just like before a whole bunch of them shrunk and flew toward her automatically. The extra-large wheelbarrow of pies was dwindling down now, running low. But Flippy kept pulling out pies from the oven and restocking them. I noticed that pies shrunk and flew out into the battlefield every so often, probably refilling Toons’ Gag Pouches as they ran out. I had to admit, it was some really admirable technology. Such a thing definitely didn’t exist where I came from.

I watched the battle rage silently, unmoving, still stunned by Rosie’s remarks. Traitor. No. That can’t be right. Is it? Not the first time they call me that, though…. Maybe there’s something to that. I shook my head. That was ridiculous. I wasn’t a traitor, here in this boring small town or--

“Holy smokes, look! More of them!” a voice cried, and pointed to the sky in horror, snapping me out of dark thoughts. Sure enough, more cogs came down from the sky, but they weren’t short and round, these were a bit taller and skinnier. Different types of Cogs? What? My eyes went wide as I realized this. How many types were there? Looking closer, I noticed the Cogs were wearing four different suit colors: maroon, green, blue, and brown. Their basic body types seemed to stay very similar, but the overall design changed; I saw some blue-suited ones that looked like a vampire, fangs sticking out and everything. It even had white-colored “skin”, if you could call it that, I guess. Some of the brown-suited ones had really pointy heads, while some of the green-suited ones had angry-red heads and a more muscular build. These Cogs seemed to be pushovers, as the Toons around me easily dispatched them with a single pie throw.

“Excellent, keep it up! Two waves down! Third wave incoming!” Dr. Surlee cried. Third wave? There’s more?! And, wait, how does he know that? My eyes narrowed, and I studied the doctor carefully. Nothing seemed out of place, other than his apparently lack of fear or worry. He just watched the chaos, yelling words of encouragement to Toons as they ran around the entirety of the Toontown Central Playground, throwing pies. I saw a flash of red and yellow as Jenny ran quickly down the path in-between the gazebo in the middle of the playground and the steps leading up to the stage and Toon HQ, throwing two pies at a time, each one landing perfectly on a Cog’s face, as she ran.

“These people don’t really need help, they’re doing fine,” I said to myself. “Don’t know what Rosie was blathering on about. I’m no traitor for leaving. They’re fine,” I repeated, doubt creeping in my gut. I started to turn to leave when I saw more types of Cogs arrive. They still had the same four different colored suits, but these had a wider, slightly more muscular build. Well, most of them; I saw some with green suits that were short and rounder than the others. The ones with blue suits seemed to have two faces instead of one, which was really creepy. One of them landed right in front of me and I freaked, cringing, covering my eyes at the freakiness of such a sight; ever see four eyes glaring at you menacingly at once? I don’t recommend it! Two eyes glaring at you menacingly are bad enough as it is—believe me, I know that firsthand.

 Another of the same two-faced Cog landed next to it as the first one started walking toward me. Then one more appeared and landed next to that one. I heard a propeller noise from behind me and gasped, turning completely around now. Right behind me, landing next to the stage was a fourth Cog, this one with a purplish head and a maroon suit. It started to walk toward me.

“N—no! Get away from me!” I cried, backing away from that hideous purple face.

“You’re not going to like my double play,” the first two-faced Cog said from behind me. I turned around and cried out. It was coming closer to me! And the purplish-headed one from behind was, too!

“You may want to double up against me,” the second two-faced one said, stepping toward me.

“Get ready for a double TAKE!” cried the third one, following the other two.

I tried to back away, but I tripped over the rope surrounding the stage, landing hard on my butt on the other side. I bumped into the purple-headed Cog, knocking it backward. It tumbled and turned, landing face down on the ground. Oops. Sorrynotsorry, I thought, my feeling of triumph fading quickly as the other three Cogs didn’t stop coming. They were only a couple of inches from my face now, separated from me the tough, fibrous ropes separating the stage.

“Stop! Please!” I cried as I backed up against the wall of the stage. I tried to step to the right away from them, but the third Cog had closed in, blocking my escape. They formed a mini-circle around me and there was no room to maneuver around them. I looked around frantically, but there was no one in sight, most of the fights were happening towards the middle of the playground and was keeping everyone else busy. We were alone. Except…. I looked at Dr. Surlee, and he had his back to me. Did he not see what was happening right behind him?! Next to him was Flippy, frantically making some more pies as the supply in the wheelbarrow dwindled quickly.

“There is no stopping my double TAKE,” the third Cog spat as they closed in on me

“Time to do some double-dealing,” said the second.

“See if you can stop my double-cross,” the first one said, as it reached behind it and some kind of large paper check appeared in its hand. The other Cogs did the same motion, and the same thing appeared.

“No! What are you doing with that?! Get away!” I cried, blocking my face with my hands. From behind me I heard metallic footsteps as the fourth Cog, the purple-headed one, got back on its feet and started walking to me.

“I’m in the mood to drop some Toons,” it said in a metallic voice. It pulled out a placard from behind. It had some large, shiny teeth with big red lips painted on it. From it came out white sparkles, grouped in a circle, which headed toward me. At the same time, the blue-suited Cogs threw the checks they were holding at me.

“Help! HELP ME! Please!” I cried frantically, but Dr. Surlee didn’t turn around. Flippy’s oven kept making loud ding ding ding noises over and over again as he frantically made more pies. The sound of that plus him rapidly opening and closing the door loudly must have drowned out my shouts because he didn’t look my way either. Six angry, ugly faces plus a hideous purple one glared back at me, pure evil in their eyes as the checks and the sparkly thing flew toward me.

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