Chapter 3

 

Tyler and the chubby green dog ran into the tunnel leading into Silly Street. Fortunately, the brown monkey kept the Cogs busy and they didn’t notice them sneaking by, leaving them alone.

“By the way, I don’t believe I’ve caught your name,” Tyler said in an overly friendly tone. The green dog raised an eyebrow.

“No, but I have a pretty good idea of who you are, Mr. Jerk. Only one family in this town has a son infamous for that behavior.”

“Doesn’t answer my question,” Tyler said with a smirk.

“Does it really matter right at this moment? Like you even care anyway.”

“Sure it matters! And of course I care. I like getting to my know fellow goody two-shooers,” he said in a sarcastic, mocking tone and a mischievous grin on his face. He gave her a wink.

“Oh, hahaha. Very funny, Mr. Jerk.”

“What? I’m being 100% serious. I swear.” Tyler couldn’t hold back a snicker. The green dog rolled her eyes and they burst onto Silly Street. Up ahead Gustavo was surrounded by a large group of 10 blue-suited eagle-headed Cogs. The pink cat had reached the group and was splatting the cogs with pies from behind. A few of them turned to her angrily and grabbed for her but she ducked out of their grasp. She rebounded quickly and threw two more pies at two different Cogs.

“Oh, she is good. Mmm, lovely!” Tyler said to himself softly.

“What did you just say?” the green dog asked, hands on her hips.

“I said, we have to help that poor, poor girl,” Tyler replied, and the green dog’s eyes narrowed at him. He grinned, winked at her and ran right up to the group of Cogs, three of them trying to corner the pink cat, and pulled out a pie he had saved from earlier. One of the Cogs grabbed the pink cat by the waist while another one grabbed Gustavo, who’d been cowering in the corner the whole time, covering his face.

“HELP!” he cried frantically. The pink cat struggled to free herself from the Cog holding her, but its grip was too strong.

“Never fear, Tyler is here!” he shouted triumphantly as he threw the pie he was holding right at bird-Cog holding the pink cat.

“Show off,” muttered the chubby green dog as the Cog was knocked back by the impact and its grip on the pink cat loosened. She immediately rolled out of its grasped and bounced away toward the bird-Cog holding Gustavo, pieing it in the face. Both Cogs turned to the pink cat angrily and grabbed for her, but Tyler pied each of them in the face. Now all 10 Cogs in the group turned on him at once and charged. He tried to pie two of them, but they jumped out of the way. They backed Tyler into the wall and he threw more pies at them, two at a time, but the Cogs seemed to have wised up and they kept dodging them each time.

“Dang it! Stay still!” he growled. SPLAT! A Cream Pie came from the green dog and splatted one of the Cogs cornering Tyler right in the back. The impact knocked it to the ground, face first. Tyler jumped onto it and bounced off its head, escaping the group cornering him. As he momentarily flew through the air, he turned and splatted the Cog that’d been knocked down right in the face as it turned around angrily.

“Ha! Avoid that you metal creep!” he mocked. He took out another pie and prepared to throw it. He landed safely…. Right in the hands of another bird-Cog, who’d been standing with its arms outstretched, waiting to catch him. The pie fell out of Tyler’s hands and fell uselessly to the floor, landing face up.

“And you avoid that, pesky law-breaking Toon,” the Cog counter-mocked him as his grip closed around Tyler’s waist.

“Curse you,” Tyler spat, struggling to free himself. He looked around for help and was surprised to see two different groups of bird-Cogs, one surrounding the pink cat, the other surrounding the chubby green dog, trapping them both. They both struggled, throwing pies to ward off the Cogs but there were too many of them, and they weren’t going down after just two hits like they were before.

“Why aren’t they going down?!” the chubby green dog exclaimed, throwing a third pie at one of the Cogs, and it still didn’t explode.

“I—I—I don’t know! These ones seem stronger!” the pink cat cried, frantically throwing pies two at a time. Dodge. Dodge. The circle around the pink cat closed in menacingly. She threw two pies again. Dodge. Dodge.

“This—this isn’t working! I need help!” she cried. Tyler struggled against his captor, but it was no use. He was trapped! And so was the pink cat! And he couldn’t do a thing to help her!

“Let. Me. Go!!” Tyler growled, feeling completely desperate. The circle of bird-Cogs closed in on the pink cat, and they grabbed at her. She ducked, narrowly avoiding being grabbed, but another one reached out and this time it was successful. It grabbed her by the waist with two large hands, its grip tight, and lifted her off the ground.

“No!!” she cried, struggling against its grip.

“End of the line for you Toons. Justice prevails!” the bird-Cog grabbing Tyler with its tight grip barked triumphantly as the Cogs surround the green dog also finally succeeded in grabbing her. A propeller appeared on top of their captors’ heads.

“You three are to be put on trial for civil disobedience and bodily harm,” the bird-Cog holding the pink cat said.

“No! No, let me go!” Tyler cried, struggling to free himself yet again as the Cog holding him started to fly into the air….

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