Chapter 7

I looked up in surprise. The wail was coming from a girl chubby green dog that was being carried by one of the tall skinny Cogs with the head of a shark. Two Cogs were flying next to it, also carrying two other Toons—a boy royal blue cat and a boy red cat. The Cog carrying the royal blue cat was one of those eagle-heads and the one carrying the red cat was one of the new cheese-headed ones.

“Whoa!” I cried in surprise as they flew overhead toward us. Rosie gasped when she followed my gaze.

“Help! Somebody HELP!!!” the chubby green dog exclaimed as the Cogs carrying her and the two other Toons flew over the gazebo, right above us. I stared in stunned surprise. Whoosh! SPLAT! A Cream Pie flew through the air, landing on the blue-suited eagle-headed one carrying the royal blue cat. I looked down and blinked in surprise. Rosie had been the one to throw the pie, her face red with fury. She quickly threw another one at the same Cog, which caused it to sputter and short-circuit in mid-air. It fell through the sky, disappearing somewhere beyond Toon Library in the general direction of the street tunnel leading to Silly Street Two pies now? The heck? I wondered as I saw it go down. I shook my head, snapping out of my shock and threw two more pies quickly at the Cogs carrying the toons right over us. Rosie did the same. One of my pies landed on the cheese-head, while the other one landed on the shark-head. One of Rosie’s pies hit the shark-head again and it started to explode. As it fell, it flung the chubby green dog away from it and she flew through the playground and disappearing somewhere beyond Toon HQ.

“You’re welcome!” Rosie cried after her. Meanwhile, the cheese-head had made a sudden beeline toward the Toon Library, narrowly avoiding Rosie’s other pie.

“Crud!” I muttered. The cheese-head stopped in mid-air and turned around quickly.

“Curse you, Toons! Curse you all to—” it boomed in a loud metallic voice. Whoosh! SPLAT! Rosie had thrown another pie, shutting it up before it could finish. In its surprise its grip weakened and the red cat it was holding fell out of its grasp and landed with a loud SPLAT… in the large wheelbarrow of pies. He sank all the way and I couldn’t see him anymore.

“Oops! You’re welcome, though!” Rosie cried with a laugh. Before the cheese-head had time to process what had happened, I threw another pie at it and this time it went down, finally.

“Got him!” I cried triumphantly.

“I’m going to cream you!” a metallic voice growled behind me, and I whipped around quickly, pie in hand. It was one of those cheese-head Cogs and it leaned forward quickly, one foot in front of its body. Some large metallic darts shot out of its eye and they hit me right in my gut, knocking back and onto the floor at the sudden pain. My pie fell to the floor, with a dull splat sound. Just as before when the Cogs’ had hit me the first time, a sudden rush of sadness hit me, only this time it was much stronger and quicker. I gasped, as the feeling rushed over me. The Cog repeated the motion and more darts shot at me. I rolled away from them, but my motions were sluggish and I couldn’t avoid the whole thing. One of the darts scraped my foot as it passed by, and I cried out in pain.

“Kit! Leave her alone you creep!” Rosie cried and threw a pie at the Cog from behind. It turned around completely unfazed and did the same motion. The darts shot out of its eyes again but Rosie saw them coming and had jumped quickly to the left. Before the Cog could react again, she threw another pie, hitting squarely in the face. Still unfazed, the Cog again leaned forward, foot in front and shot more darts at her, which she avoided by jumping to the right. She then quickly retaliated with another pie.   I tried getting to my feet, but they were wobbly from the pain. I steadied myself, wobbling, and raised a pie. I tried to throw it in a straight line, but I wobbled to the left and my aim was off, missing the Cog by a few inches. It spun around at me and threw more darts at me. I tried to scramble away, but some of them got me, and I fell to the ground as extreme pain flowed through my body. My body spasmed as a wave of crushing pain and depression hit me

“Kit!” Rosie cried. The Cog leaned over me triumphantly, an evil glint in its eye.

“Ending you will be a breeze,” the Cog mocked. I tried to roll away, but I couldn’t get my body to move. SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT. Pies from Rosie came in quick succession. I could see the frantic panic in her eyes. The Cog didn’t seem fazed at all and its smile grew. It leaned forward, looking straight at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the crushing pain.

“No! Get away from her!” Rosie cried, and threw another pie, and this was the final blow needed, and it finally went down. I exhaled sharply.

“Holy crud,” I breathed, my shoulders sagging in relief. Rosie stepped up to me and held out her hand. I grabbed it, and waves of dizziness hit me. I stumbled, and Rosie grabbed on to me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know,” I said weakly, my head drooping. “My energy seems to be zapped.” Rosie took a step back and studied me, looking me up and down. My shoulders sagged, and I couldn’t my head up. My face was stuck in a sad expression that I couldn’t get rid of.

“I’ve seen that look. Rarely, but I have. You need a Toon-Up!” she said with a laugh.

“A what?” I said weakly.

“Here.” Rosie took out another pie and threw it right at my face. Just like before, a rush of happiness hit me, and I could lift my head properly again. She hit me again, and my shoulders didn’t sag anymore, and my posture straightened. One more time and the sense of depression dropped dramatically. One more and joy started trickling up my spine. She kept that up, and 5 pies later I suddenly burst out laughing, and a rush of euphoria rushed through my system. It wasn’t as extreme as the first time Jenny had done it.

“There it is! Wow your Laff must have been pretty low, took me a lot more pies than it usually should,” she mused, worry on her face.

“What does that mean?” I asked, unable to keep a big grin on my face despite the seriousness of the question.

“It means… these Cogs lower our Laff it seems with every hit. Normally our Laff doesn’t go down that quickly, we’d have to go years without happiness or gags. That’s rare. You looked like someone who’d gone decades without any of that stuff!”

“Whoa. How is that possible, then? Why are the Cogs able to do that to me?”

“I’m not sure… but’s a scary thought,” Rosie with a frown. She looked around.

“Chances are it’s affected other Toons in the same way…,” she mumbled, and my eyebrows raised. How many other Toons had been hit by Cog attacks? I glanced around, but I was surprised to see the playground pretty empty. There were no Cogs at the moment. Was it over? Did we win?

“Did... did we get them? That had to have been the last wave, their field levels don’t go any higher,” Dr. Surlee said, his voice carrying over the suddenly silent playground. “Why are the skies growing darker, though…?” He was right. The sky grew darker, and loud propeller noises came from all around us. I gulped.

“I don’t think it’s over yet…,” I whispered.

“Oh no. Nonono. We’re destroying the Cogs faster than they can be built. Skelecogs inbound!” Dr Surlee cried in a panic.

“Skele--what?” I cried, panic building in my gut. At that moment, more Cogs landed, but they were vastly different than anything I’d seen thus far. These Cogs were all large, with muscular builds. The similarities ended there, however… for these Cogs were all gray-colored. They all had big smiles and all of their gears showed on their bodies. Their eyes stuck out of their heads and they were cylindrical in shape.  Green bulbs were right underneath the eyes and went around their head.

“Wha… what?!” Rosie gasped. These things looked scary, with their big giant white-toothed grins looking at us as they charged up to Toon Hall. I shuddered as one of them glanced at me. Creepy!

“Take them down!” I cried, and rushed forward, euphoria in my veins, pumping me, giving me energy. I threw two pies at a time at one of the so-called Skelecogs and it just shrugged them off, continuing to walk toward me like nothing happened. Rosie came up behind me and joined in, throwing two more pies. I continued and threw two more, taking down the Cog.

“Yes!” I exclaimed triumphantly, fists in the air. I whipped around as I heard a Cog come down behind me and threw two more pies without missing a beat. Rosie joined in again and together we tag-teamed it and took it down.

“Hey, where’s Jenny anyway? She’s been gone a while,” Rosie said after we took down a fifth Cog. I gasped. She was right! I’d forgotten about her in all the commotion. I scanned around, looking for a flash of red and yellow but I didn’t see anything. A sense of dread crept my spine. Did she get hurt? Is she alright?

“Let’s go look for her,” I grunted as I threw two pies at a time to an oncoming Skelecog. It dodged out of the way and did the whole dart thing again without missing a beat. I stepped quickly to the right, heart pumping quickly and narrowly avoided them.

“Hah!” I taunted and threw a pie at it. It dodged again and once again threw darts at me. “Gah!” I jumped aside, and the darts flew past me.

“They’re much harder to hit!” Rosie cried as the Cog dodged her pies too. SPLAT! SPLAT! Two pies came from behind the Skelecog, hitting squarely on the back of its head.

“Not if you distract it first!” a familiar voice cried. The Skelecog quickly whipped around to glare at the Toon. I recognized him right away. It was the brown monkey from before, with the blue shirt and orange shorts with the red stripe.

“You!” I gasped.

“Me,” he said with a smirk and threw a pie, which the Skelecog promptly dodged.

“Stay still, you metallic piece of rust,” Rosie growled and threw a pie at the back of its head. “And stay away from him!” The Cog looked back at her and glared, and the brown monkey hit the back of its head with two more pies. I get it! Distraction! Clever monkey. As soon as the Cog turned back around to face him, I threw two more pies in quick succession at the back of its head. It worked, and the Cog exploded.

“Whew! Nothing like good ol’ teamwork to save the day, I always say” he said, laughing. Rosie joined in, laughing alongside him. My lips formed into a smirk as I studied her. She seemed really pleased to see him again.

“Where have you been? Are you okay?!” she asked him, eyes bulging. He grinned.

“Me? I’m always A-OK. It’s my personal motto!” Rosie giggled

“Where’s Jenny?” I asked him, and he looked me with a raised eyebrow. “Who?” I blushed, realizing he never knew her name.

“Uhh, tall pink cat, with a red shirt and yellow skirt,” I told him.

“Oh, right, her. Not sure. I lost track of her,” he replied with a shrug.

“What? Why? How?” I cried, my hands turning into fists at my sides.

“Calm down,” he said, raising both hands in front of him. “We were—”

“Are you ready for your final scene?” a higher pitched metallic voice said from behind him, and he turned around. There stood one of those large muscular Skelecogs. It looked like any other except it was wearing a maroon tie.

“Hey, buddy! How rude! I was talking here!” the monkey cried and promptly threw two pies at its face. Rosie quickly joined in and double pied it, and I did too, and it went down. The brown monkey turned back to us nonchalantly, as if nothing happened.

“As I was saying, the pink cat and I were fighting side by side over by the Silly Street tunnel. Those Cogs had cornered me, and she came in to help. She literally saved me.”

“Yep, that definitely sounds like her,” I said, a small smile forming on my lips.

“I lost track of her because the Cogs kept coming and I got turned around, ya know, pieing multiple ones from different angles. When I looked again, she was gone. I don’t know where she went, but I think she shouted something to me before leaving. I wasn’t paying attention though, so I have no idea what she said or where she went after that.”

“Hmm,” I said as more dread crept up my spine. I hope she is okay…

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