Chapter 5

The five of them decided to finally head back to the playground so that they could warn someone about everything Nathan had just said.

“So, you are telling me Flippy did not meet the same fate as Slappy?” Nathan asked Jenny as they ran. The sky had grown darker, but there didn’t seem to be any Cogs coming anymore. What the heck? Where are the Cogs? Tyler thought.

“Yes. He managed to destroy the Cog that saddened Slappy with a Cream Pie. It’s how we found out their weakness. Me, Kit and Rosie, two Toons that I met while I was there, took charge and got the others around us to use the pies against the Cogs. It worked, and we were fighting them off just fine until we got separated,” Jenny explained. “I hope they’re okay…,”

“Interesting. My megaphone sound blast worked on them, and so do the pies. But why? What do they have in common?” he mused.

“I’ve been wondering this too. The only thing I can come up with is that they’re Gags—that’s the similarity they share,” Jenny said.

“Well, of course. They are our classic Gags—nothing gets more classic than a Cream Pie in the face,” Nathan said, chuckling.

“Loads of fun!” Jenny agreed, laughing. Tyler smiled, glad to see her out of her dark mood. She looks great like this, he thought. They turned the corner and saw the tunnel leading to Toontown Central up ahead.

“There it is! Things still look bleak. Maybe we can still help them!” Jenny cried, quickening her pace. The others did the same, and they ran into the tunnel in silence. Fifteen seconds later, they burst out of the other side of the tunnel. To their surprise, there wasn’t much chaos going on. In fact, as they appeared in the playground, the sky brightened. There weren’t any Cogs anywhere to be seen, and there were Toons cheering everywhere.

“Looks like they’ve won!” Gustavo cried excitedly, finally speaking for the first time in a while.

“Perfect! Let’s split up! You guys go find Flippy and tell him what Nathan said, and I’ll go look for my friends to see if they’re OK,” Jenny said. Hopefully they’re ALL okay, she thought. Tyler grabbed her arm and turned her to face him as she started running away.

“No, wait, I’m… I’m coming with you,” he said. She pulled her arm away and didn’t look at him in the eye.

“Don’t. Find Flippy. That’s more important.” she ran into the crowd of toons heading for Toon Hall and disappeared. Tyler sighed. Gustavo put an arm on his shoulder to comfort him, and he smiled at Tyler.

“Don’t worry, Ty. I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s tough.” Tyler smiled weakly.

“Yeah, she is. She’s awesome,” he said softly, longing in his eyes. At that, Maria’s eyebrows shot up, and understanding filled her eyes.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, she’s not exactly uninterested in you just yet. I can tell,” she said with a serious expression. Tyler’s mood lifted a little bit.

“Thanks for the hope,” he said, laughing. He relaxed a bit.

“Don’t thank me, I’m not saying it to be nice. Only saying what I think,” Maria muttered.

“How great,” Tyler said dryly.

“Guys, let us go do what she said before it is too late,” Nathan interrupted them, a frown on his face as he looked at both of them.

“You’re right. Let’s go,” Tyler said, trying to push away his dark thoughts. They pushed through the bushes behind the Toontown Library, to squeeze past the Toons who were trying to push themselves to the front of the crowd that had formed in front of Toon Hall. Deep down, Tyler knew he was only bothering to go along with this and not go straight home because there was a chance he’d see more of Jenny if he did.

“…we will make the Cogs answer for what they did here today. We will make them take responsibility,” Flippy was saying to the crowd as they approached.  “They brought the fight to us; so, I say we bring the fight to them! 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 and their whereabouts. Other Toons? Tyler wondered. What other Toons? “For now, though, everyone go home, take a break and relax. You all deserve it.” Flippy took a bow and jumped off the stage. The crowd around Toon Hall applauded and cheered after him, then started to disperse. Nathan took that moment to approach Flippy.

“Flippy! I have something important to tell you!” he cried. Flippy turned to Nathan in surprise, then his eyebrows raised when he saw Tyler, Maria and Gustavo following behind him. Intrigue filled his eyes.

“Nathan? What a surprise. What can I help you with?”

“I think I know what happened to Slappy,” Nathan whispered. Flippy froze, and his eyes went wide. He shook his head, recovering, and grew serious.

“I think we should step into my office to discuss this privately…,” he said quietly, and motioned for everyone to follow him as he went into Toon Hall.

 

****

 

Flippy stared at the group in front of him in shock.

“You believe that Slappy went sad?” Flippy asked incredulously after Nathan had told him what he’d concluded from Jenny’s story.

“All the evidence points to that being the case, yes.”

“Based on Jenny’s eyewitness account,” Tyler added, and Nathan nodded. Jerkwad or not, Tyler did believe in giving credit where credit’s due, in his mind Jenny more than deserved credit. And then some, he thought.

“That is correct, yes.”

“I see… I appreciate you guys coming here to tell me this. And you said this Little Jenny Hulaswirl was instrumental in keeping all of you safe?”

“She was, indeed. She came to my aid when I thought all was lost. She inspired me to do the same for my friends,” Gustavo said with awe and admiration.

“That’s true. She threw caution to the wind and plunged headfirst when she knew someone was in danger,” Tyler said with equal awe and admiration.

“These guys did the same for me, they’d come by to help me, that’s how I met them,” Nathan added, gesturing to Tyler, Gustavo and Maria.

“And apparently, Sound-based gags damaged them?” Flippy said.

“Yes! They have more weaknesses than just Cream Pies it seems,” Nathan replied.

“Very interesting. I will get Loony Labs looking into why this is the case right away, and to find some way to harness it, if it is at all possible,” Flippy said, standing up from the spot he was sitting in. They were in a cramped space; Toon Hall was ironically enough not very huge at all and consisted of one tiny room with barely enough room for three people, let alone 6. There wasn’t even a proper desk, it was just the room.

“It’s a work in progress,” Flippy had mentioned when Maria pointed that fact out. Tyler was almost glad Jenny hadn’t come with them or they’d even more cramped than they were now. Almost.

“Once again, I’d like to thank you all for your help and cooperation. It will not go unnoticed or unappreciated, that I can promise you wholeheartedly,” Flippy said, shaking each of their hands. “I have a few things in mind that I’d like to set in motion, and I think you guys would be perfect to help with that. Would you be OK with me contacting you guys in a couple of days for more details?”

“Yes, for sure, totally. Anything you need,” Maria said right away. Gustavo nodded his approval.

“Me too,” Nathan said, nodding. Tyler hesitated. What would Jenny say? he thought, and he immediately knew the answer to that.

“Sure, you can contact me for whatever you need…,” he said slowly, uncertainly, and forced a smile to his lips.

“Excellent! I’ll be in touch. For now, go home guys, get some rest. You all deserve it,” Flippy said with a huge smile on his lips.

“No need to tell me twice!” Tyler quipped. Nobody laughed, and Jenny simply rolled her eyes as she walked out the door.

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