Chapter 9

“Kit! Nooo!” Rosie cried. A wave of despair came over me as I fell to the ground from the hard impact.

“Ohh… I groaned. Crushing sadness rose from my gut. The giant Skelecog turned around and started walking toward Toon Hall again. Toons ran past me, chasing after it, pies flying through the air. Chim and Rosie came over to me, both of their eyes wide eyes with panic.

“Are you alright?” Chim asked

“No,” I snapped. “Help me up.” Chim held out a hand, and I grabbed it, using it to pull myself onto my feet. My shoulders slumped, and my head drooped.

“Not again! Toon her up, quickly!” Rosie cried and they both started throwing pies at me.

“ENOUGH!” the Skelecog barked again before they could finish, as Toons kept persistently attacking it, and it jumped into the air.

“JUMP!” I cried, and jumped as high as I could. Chim and Rosie did the same thing and avoided the ground shaking. We landed back on our feet just as I heard a loud CRUNCH! sound followed by sputtering, then faint dinging. I looked toward the sound and gasped—Flippy’s oven had been destroyed with the last jump! The buttons and dials on it were hanging out, and the oven sagged as it shut off.

“Crud,” Chim said softly. Before anyone else could say anything regarding that mishap, the Skelecog spoke again.

“Ah, finally. Just the Toon I’ve been searching for,” it said as it finally reached the stage where the Election was held. The three of us watched in utter awe.

“Here we go…” I heard Flippy mumble from under his breath and he ran over the fibrous ropes that were around the stage, jumping on to the stage.

“I hope you won’t pull out of the deal like your predecessor. Don’t worry, he's in safekeeping now,” the Skelecog said. I gasped. Predecessor? Slappy? Flippy held out his hand and a cream pie materialized on it. He threw it and splatted the Skelecog in the face alongside every other Toon that was still left standing.

“THAT’S for the election!” Flippy cried angrily. He held out his hand again and a large cake with candles appeared on it and threw it at the Skelecog. SPLAT.

“THAT’S for Slappy!” A large, white multi-layered cake appeared in his hand. It had two plastic figurines on top of the cake, one in a white dress and the other dressed in a black suit. Looked like something my date and I would wear to the ball, respectively. If I had a proper date, that is.

“AND THIS IS FOR TOONTOWN!!!” Flippy roared and threw the large white cake at the giant Skelecog. SPLAT. To my utter amazement, this finally was enough to take down the Skelecog and it started to explode in the usual manner as all the previous Cogs before it. As soon as it exploded, the sky brightened, and the darkness disappeared. Everyone, including myself, stared in shocked silence. Was it over? Nothing else happened and no more Cogs appeared. So, Toons started cheering and applauding, and some broke into some kind of Victory Dance. Chim, Rosie and I ran up to the stage alongside every over Toon still left standing. I saw the red dog I’d met earlier right in the front row. I realized then I never learned his name. Chim, Rosie and I were left standing towards the back as everyone else had crowded the stage, trying to get to the front

“Go Flippy!” some Toons cried. Alec Tinn came running out from behind the Toontown Bank building and ran onto the stage.

“Flippy, you did it!” he cried happily. Dr. Surlee stepped closer to the stage, a grim expression on his face.

“Don’t get too excited,” he said grimly. “We’ve only driven them back to the streets.” What? So they’re not gone?!

“The Cogs will be back, but I doubt we’ll be seeing them in the playgrounds again after this battle,” he continued. Oh man… and I was hoping we’d never see those things again… Dr. Surlee turned to us Toons that had gathered around the stage. “All of you here are today are heroes. You’re survivors! And I’m sure our new President is very grateful.” I blinked in surprise. New President? What? And then it dawned on me, just as Flippy started speaking.

“Surlee, I—" he started, but Alec interrupted him.

“He’s right, Flippy. You’re a hero and you’re the only leader we have left.” Flippy looked at him for a few seconds, looked at Surlee’s grim face, then turned to us crowding around the stage. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then re-opened them, looking at us thoughtfully.

“With a heavy heart,” he said after a few seconds of silence, “I hereby accept the Toon Council Presidency.” Everyone around me started cheering, including Rosie, who had tears in her eyes. “Only until these Cogs are gone, though,” Flippy continued after the cheering died down a bit. “If we’re going to get rid of them, we have to stand together.” He gave us a smile, then stood up straighter.

“Toons of the world…,” he started, and jumped into the air, his right arm outstretched and his hand form into a fist. “UNITE!” Everyone around me started cheering and hollering. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around. A very tall pink cat in a red shirt and yellow skirt stood behind me, a big relieved smile on her face, her eyes twinkling. I recognized her immediately.

“Jenny! I gasped, my voice almost drowned out by the cheering and hollering. Rosie heard me and turned around, too, her eyes wide with surprise. Chim turned around, too, when he realized we had. Jenny gave us a big grin and hugged me tightly, then hugged Rosie.

“Kit! Rosie! Chim! Great to see you! I am so glad you’re all okay!” she cried, and there were tears in her eyes as she said it.

“I’m glad you’re okay too,” I said, and I meant it.

“Where did you go? We were worried sick!” Rosie demanded. Jenny’s face turned dark.

“I was helping some Toons that got in trouble with those Cogs,” she said grimly.

“Are they alright?” Chim asked, and Jenny nodded, face grim.

“Yes, they’re fine. But we found out some serious things about what happened to Slappy, and they’re on their way to talk to Flippy about it.”

“What serious things?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“He—” Jenny started, but Flippy interrupted, telling everyone to quiet down for a minute.

“My first duty as your President is to express my sorrow and sadness to the Toons we lost today,” Flippy said, tears in his eyes. “I promise all of you we will do our best to find out what happened to them and why, and to see if there is any way to bring them back. Especially my good friend Slappy Quackintosh. I promise him, wherever he is, that I will find him and bring back home safe and sound.” He sniffed, wiping away his tears, clearing his throat. “We will make the Cogs answer for what they did here today. We will make them take responsibility. They brought the fight to us; so, I say we bring the fight to them!” Cheers rang out through the crowd. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Sure, the Cogs are terrible, terrible beings, I can totally see that. But I for one couldn’t have cared any less if I never saw any ever again. I was certainly not liking the idea of fighting them again.

“Toon HQ has long been a concept under construction; I will complete its creation and repurpose them as an all-in-one help center as well as a news outlet. I will have Toon HQs in every single street and neighborhood always have an up-to-date news bulletin. Through those news bulletins I will keep you all posted on whatever progress we make against these Cogs, or any information we uncover about Slappy and the other Toons we lost today their whereabouts. For now, though, everyone go home, take a break and relax. You all deserve it.” Flippy gave a bow, then stepped off the stage. Cheers and applause followed him. Everyone started to disperse and I turned back to Jenny, who had a questioningly look in her eyes.

“We lost other Toons?” she asked me right away. I nodded grimly.

“They vanished exactly like Slappy did, attacked by Cogs,” Rosie said with a sniff. Jenny’s face contorted to one of pure fury. There were angry tears in her eyes.

“Those danged metallic menaces! How dare they take innocent Toons away!” she growled, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

“We don’t know the Cogs took them away,” I pointed out.

“Still. They’re the reason they vanished in the first place when they shouldn’t have!” Good point, I guess. “They will pay. They have to pay.”

“And how do you plan on making them do that?” I asked her, biting my lip. She gave me a level look.

“Simple. As Flippy said, I will take the fight to them. They will rue the day they invaded our town,” she replied, an angry glint her eyes.

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