Prologue
One Hour Before the Election
Ah, Toontown. Your typical tiny town in the middle of nowhere: nice, chill, and kind residents, super calm environment, with hardly a care from anyone, the occasional Gag War, the usual things. Birds were chirping, horses were neighing, dogs were barking, and on this particular afternoon, it also had the wails of an extremely frantic cat.
“Noooooooo, no no no! Oh, where are they?” Alec Tinn cried as he turned his entire house upside down, quite literally, actually; the Loony Labs contraption the Upsidedown-itron extended its arms, grabbed his house by the sides, flipped it upside down, and shook it, speweing everything everywhere. No sign of them.
“I know I had them here somewhere!” Alec was a rather tall, bright red colored cat with a long head. His long blue shirt was kind of ruffled a bit, and his brown shorts looked like they’d been put on in a hurry; they were a bit lopsided and the belt wasn’t looped all the way. He was the Toontown election manager and stressful didn’t begin covering how it was like sometimes, according to Alec. His organization skills weren’t exactly top notch either, and he tended to misplace things, such as his oh-so-important cue cards right when he needed them the most.
Alec’s Communicator rang, and a transparent image of Slappy appeared on the screen. Oh no. He checked the time on the Communicator screen. Whew! Still an hour to go! Alec answered the call.
“Alec, my dude! You’re wanted down here in Toon Hall for the final preparations! Where are you?”
“ Oooo, Slappy! This is terrible! You won’t believe it! I can’t find my cue cards!”
“Your what?”
“My cue cards! They’re used to, you know, cue me on what to say next.”
“Oh no, I know what they are, that’s not what the what was for,”
“Oh. Well—”
“Why do you need cue cards?”
“Well, to help me know what to say! Of course!” Alec sputtered.
“Alec, buddy, forget about them. Things will be fine—”
“No! I get so nervous on stage, alright? I clench up, and can barely speak. I’m such a scaredy cat, I’m afraid of my own shadow, much less being on stage in front of dozens of people!”
“Really? Could have fooled me, you’ve done a fantabulous job so far, I never noticed every time you’ve spoken on stage. You even did a piece for Robyn Rasmoussen’s news blog, remember?”
“Well, that’s cuz I’ve had my cue cards the whole time, every time!”
“Ah. Well. I see. Okay then. What should I tell Mayor Mickey, then? That his election manager, the person in charge, is not coming?”
“No! I’m honored by Mayor Mickey that he chose me for such an important ToonTask! No way will I let him down!”
“Okay, so you are coming?”
“Yes! I just gotta find these danged cue cards!”
“Okay, well, hurry it up then, I’ll try to stall em. Flippy’s a bit antsy, but I can’t blame him for that. You know how dogs are.”
“Err…Right. Definitely. Thanks, Slappy.”
“Don’t mention it, bud. See you soon. Maybe?” Slappy hung up and the Communicator screen went dark. That was Slappy as in Slappy Quackintosh, a medium-sized green duck with long legs and one of the candidates for the upcoming Toon Council Presidential Election. So far, Slappy was his favorite of the two candidates, the other being a medium sized aqua dog called Flippy Doggenbottom. While the battle for the spot of Toon Council President has been a long, fierce one, both candidates have given it their all, and have done their best to win the votes of the town, as well as the other incoming toons from all over the country.
Slappy’s campaign involved giving free balloon rides to Toons, handing out free jellybeans to everyone, and even coming up with a snowball fight back during a freak blizzard in December. That was also the around the time Slappy brough Polar Bears to Toontown, and even created a few more, too. Slappy showed initiative and that he’d always find creative solutions to difficult and unexpected situations, such as the freak blizzard that rampaged the town that week. That was the moment that made Alec a Slappy fan, and he decided he’d vote for him in the Election. Many Toons feel the same way.
Then there’s Flippy Doggenbottom and his own campaign. So far, it’s consisted of handing out free pies to everyone, and even turning a spooky holiday even spookier by bringing the fabled Black Cat into town. Oh, and there were fireworks too at one point. The freak blizzard ruined Flippy’s plans for a hot geyser funanza in the Basmer Woods, an unplotted and unincorporated region behind the town filled with tons and tons of trees, and acorns all over the floor. And a hot geyser, apparently. Flippy was supposed to host picnics and even set up tables with minigames, but the freak, sudden blizzard derailed those plans unfortunately. The trees didn’t unfreeze at all until just last week, too, never giving Flippy the chance to have his outdoors picnic fun.
And now, less than an hour away, the two Toons would find out who the winner was when they counted the votes in upcoming Election event.
‘Yipes! Less than an hour?!” Alec cried frantically, as the reality of his situation snapped him back to the present. “I gotta find these cards! There can’t be yet another delay!” style='font-size:14.0pt;line-height:102%;mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri'>Earlier in the year, the Election event had been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances, namely with the organization and planning and whatnot, but also due to the freak blizzard; that’s what caused the first delay originally, causing a delay of several weeks. More delays came after that, due to technical issues and bugs with the Election vote counting process, and then an accident or two revolving around Loony Labs contraptions here and there. But after yet more continuous delay, Alec became furious about it, proudly and loudly walking right up to Mayor Mickey himself and demanding it to be expedited, tired of so many delays. And so, it was decided that April 19th, 2003 would be Election Day. What a glorious date it’ll be in the history books! Alec shook these thoughts and memories away and focused on the task at hand, finding these danged cue cards. What could he do? He flipped out his Communicator and dialed Robyn Rasmoussen’s number, probably the only one in the entire town that was so meticulously organized, she can find what clothes to wear with her eyes closed. If anyone knew where they were, it’d be her. It rang ten times before Robyn answered.
“Hello? Robyn speaking! Sorry, I was in another call.”
“Robyn! How’s my favorite gal doing?”
“Good,” Robyn said with a wary tone. “What is it this time, Alec? What do you need now?”
“What? Can’t a guy just call his best gal and ask her how she’s doing?”
“Perhaps some other guy can, but I’ve noticed a pattern with you, Alec, you only reach out to me directly when you need something from me. Last time you couldn’t even get out from under your bed due to that one movie you saw—”
“Alright, alright, I get it!”
“So, what is it this time?”
“I… I lost my cue cards!”
“Again?”
“Yes!” Alec replied sheepishly. Total disapproval was on Robyn’s mousy face, and she shook her head.
“I swear, Alec, you’d lose your own head if it wasn’t attached!”
“I have before, actually, one time it became unattached due to Loony Labs shenanigans. Not a fun day, let me tell you!”
“You literally lost your own head?”
“Y—yes…,” Robyn shook her head again.
“Well, luckily for you, Alec, I’m always prepared. Last time you lost em, I decided to make a back up copy just in case.”
“Awesome! I knew I could count on you, my best gal.”
“Oh hush, you,” Robyn said, but she was smiling now, a twinkle in her eyes.
“I’ll come on over now and you can give em to me—”
“Actually, I’m not in right now. I’m out of town. I have a meeting with Scrooge McDuck himself, remember? Over all the way in Duckburg? That super important meeting I told you about, like three times?” Oh crud. I forgot about that!
“Oh, uh, right, of course I remembered that, and called you already knowing that, not remembering it just now or anythimg!”
“Right. Uh huh. Anyway, I’ll have Fanny grab the copies for you, she should be in the office right now, probably getting ready to leave for the Election. I’m so jealous! She gets to see it and I won’t!”
“Thanks, Ro, you’re the best.”
“ Abupbupbup, don’t call me Ro. It’s Robyn.”
“Right, okay. How’s the meeting with Scrooge going? Is he as grumpy as they say?”
“I thought you were in a hurry to get those cards?”
“I meant it when I said I was calling to ask you how you were,”
“How kind of you. Well, it’s gone bad so far. Guy didn’t show, legit just stood me up, the nerve!”
“Oof. Yikes. Is he not coming at all?”
“Well, he’s the one I was just on the phone with. He says he’s on his way, I just have to wait for a little bit longer. Like I haven’t been waiting for almost an hour now! These Duckburg billionaires are all the same, Flintheart Glomgold did more or less the same to me last time I had an important meeting with him.”
“Well, hopefully you won’t have to wait much longer, eh?”
“I surely hope not! Talk to you later?”
“You bet! See you later… Ro!”
“Grr you!” Robyn cried teasingly and hung up. Alec smiled, and then immediately howled in shock as he saw the time on his Communicator. The Election was approaching, fast! Right on cue, Slappy appeared again on his Communicator.
“Slappy!” Alec answered.
“Alec, are you on your way? Mayor Mickey is getting antsy now, since his election manager is MIA with only less than thirty minutes to go before the Election,”
“Right! I’m sorry! His election manager—I mean, me, I mean, I’m… on my way!”
“Oh neat, you found your cue cards?”
“Uh yeah, sure, let’s go with that,”
“Okay then, I’ll let Mickey know. Get over here pronto, we still have some preparations to go through!”
“Got it! On my way now!” Alec hung up, and immediately pulled out a teleportation hole that took him to Toontown Central. From there he quickly ran over to the Toon News… for the Amused building, located in Loopy Lane, and got Fanny Pages, a tall pink rabbit and the editor of the news blog, to give him his cue cards.
“Don’t lose them this time!” she teased.
“I’ll do my best, but no promises!” he responded, and Fanny just shook her head. And, finally, with cue cards in hand, he teleported back to the playground and ran into Toon Hall for the remaining preparations.
****
5 Minutes Before the Election
"Are you ready yet? We're about to begin." Mayor Mickey Mouse said, a bit of impatience and apprehension radiating from him. He was a black medium-sized mouse wearing only red shorts with white spots on them and yellow shoes.
"I've been ready, mate. Alec is the one who ran off for a while, not me," Slappy
Quackintosh retorted. He was excited, nervous energy radiating from him. Slappy was a sea green colored duck with tall legs, a medium sized torso, and a slightly long
head. He was wearing light green clothing, both as his shirt and shorts. He’d led a rather long, exciting campaign trail that had consisted of free hot air balloon rides, turning bears into polar bears, giving
out free Jellybeans and starting the first annual Great Snowball Fight during the winter holidays last year. Those things made him really popular with the Toons in Toontown, and he knew his chances of winning
were pretty high.
Alec’s eyes
narrowed at Slappy’s remark, but he didn't say
anything. Technically, he was right, so who was he to talk back? Meanwhile,
Flippy Doggenbottom stood near the door, staring at them both quietly, a
thoughtful expression on his face. Flippy, Slappy’s
rival, had also led a long campaign trail, consisting of turning cats black for
Halloween, launching fireworks, pie throwing… and well, that was mostly it as
far as Slappy could remember. Definitely fun, can’t
lie about that, but Slappy knew there needed to be more than that to win
the hearts of the Toons. I know I delivered
fun to the max to those Toons, exactly what they’d want to see in a new, Toony
leader. The Tooniest Toon in town! And the wackiest! he
thought to himself.
The four of them were inside Toon Hall in Toontown Central, the playground where the Election was set to take place. Unfortunately for Slappy, it meant that the all of them were pretty cramped up in there, since Toon Hall wasn’t exactly a very roomy building, ironically enough. Alec and Flippy didn’t seem to mind, but Slappy was an overly active duck; standing around in cramped spaces was NOT his idea of a good time. His feet tapped the floor impatiently, and he grumbled.
“Don’t let the Election Jitters get to you fellas. Or you’ll end up attacking each other and we all know you’d regret that,” Flippy told them. Alec and Slappy stared at him for a few seconds. Moments of silence went by.
“You’re right.Slappy, Flippy, the time has finally come. One of you two will be our town’s leader. The thought makes me kind of excited.”
“I’m just glad we’re finally getting this done and over with. You have no idea how much waiting around through all these delays ate me up. I almost became a nervous wreck. But I stopped myself in time, of course,” Slappy said. style='mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
"Of course,” Alec said with a lopsided smile.
“Well, it gave me time to get to know the Toons of Toontown a little bit better. All of them have been super awesome and if I win, I’d certainly be honored to be their leader,” Flippy said. If he wins. Highly unlikely with me around, Slappy thought. He didn’t mean to brag or anything, but it did seem like whenever he did something he’d put his mind to, he always came out victorious. In fact, he’d won the Jellybean Eating contest they held in Pawnada Hills for the past three years straight, and this year would be no exception. No force in the world can keep me from losing that streak, he thought himself with a smile. Or this Election. I’ve got this in the bag. The gag bag, that is.
“Let’s do this, guys. Let’s go lead our town into a brighter future,” Alec said. And with that, the three of them walked out of Toon Hall, into the massive crowd of excited Toons that awaited them.
