The following story is based off the childhood fantasies of two brothers who watched way too much television in their day. This story is actually the first part of a series we're hoping to do featuring our original characters and favorite cartoons. Part 2 includes a lot of explanation of Toon World's background; boring, I know, but it has to go somewhere. Enjoy and tell us what you think.
The author does not own any existing cartoon characters, products or locations used in this story. The author is not receiving any monetary gain from this story. No copyright infringement in intended. Any resemblance of original characters, products or locations to real life is purely coincidental.
By the Power of Toon World-Part 2
"A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat."
--- The Emperor of China, Mulan, 1998
The world spun wildly out of control. At least, that's what it felt like, even though there wasn't anything to actually see spinning; just a bright white light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. How long he was in this place, Tony could not say, but it seemed an eternity. After what was probably only a few seconds, Tony caught one glimpse of a square of even brighter light right in front of him before he landed on his stomach onto some very hard ground. It took him a minute to catch his breath, in which time Penny also exited the square of light, albeit much more nimbly than Tony did, and landed lightly on her feet beside Tom. The portal promptly disappeared.
After Tony had recovered, he stayed where he was on the ground, very disoriented. He was sure that he must have been dreaming and had fallen out of bed, but when he looked down he saw bright green grass and not the dull blue carpet of his room. Slowly, thinking he might puke, he looked up to see the blue sky, confirming he was indeed outdoors. Puzzled, Tony searched his brain for an answer and abruptly remembered the events of that day: school, classes, swiping the frogs, getting suspended, Penny and Tom… Tony jumped up. Penny and Tom! Those two were the cause of his troubles. He whipped around to find them staring at him with concern.
"Are you okay?" asked Penny. "It's always rough the first time."
"That's an understatement," spat Tony. "Why did you push me? And what was that thing I just went through? Who ARE you people?"
Penny took a deep breath and ticked off the answers to Tony's questions on her fingers. "I pushed you to get you to come with us. We told you that was a portal and Tom and I are part of a fighting team called the Super Stars."
Tony stared at her for a moment. "I saw your lips moving, but all I heard was blah, blah, blah".
"Look, we don't have time for jokes," say Penny, impatiently. "This is very serious."
"Okay, okay," said Tony, holding up his hands. "So, if that was a portal, where did it lead."
"To our home. To Toon World," answered Tom.
"Toon World?!" asked Tony, incredulously.
"Yeah, we told you about it. Remember, in the closet, we…"
"I remember, I remember. You guys must think I'm stupid. Well, it's been fun, but I'm out of here." Tony turned to leave expecting to see the back of the house that Penny had lead him behind, but he didn't see the house. He didn't see any houses, or the street, light posts, sidewalk…nothing. What he did see was that the three of them were standing on top of a huge grassy hill with a stone path leading up from one side. The path led to a moat that must have been fifty feet wide and was filled with pure blue water. The moat circled around a large island in the center and on that island was the most gigantic building Tony had ever seen in his life.
It was a castle made out of grey stone and had to be at least a hundred times bigger than his own house. The stone path he had seen ran over the moat and right up to the castle's gates which were securely closed. Trees sporting leaves of deep green flanked the sides of the castle entrance. Countless flowers, each one brilliantly colored, grew in patches outside the walls and even from flowerboxes outside some of the castle windows. Tall towers sprang from inside the castle and seemed to scrape the sky. Flags and pennants flew on each tower, whipped by high wind. The largest and seemingly most important flag hung directly over the castle entrance. It was a red rectangle with 2 thick white stripes making an X and dividing the flag into four quarters with a symbol on each quarter. One quarter showed a black anvil, one a large yellow banana peel, one a blue musical eighth note, and the last one had a bright pink heart. It had to be the weirdest flag Tony had ever seen, but at the same time, he liked it, and it seemed to stir some deep patriotic feelings within him.
Someone important must live here, thought Tony. The White House is just a shed compared to this place. He turned around to see Penny and Tom grinning at him.
"Uh, nice castle," said Tony, lamely. "Whose is it?"
"The king's," answered Penny, smugly.
"King? What king?"
"My father. The King of Toon World."
Tony was astonished. "King of… Whoa. Wait, did you say, your father? So you're…"
"Princess of the Toon World, but please, restrain yourself from groveling."
"Don't worry, I will."
Tom turned a shocked face to Penny. "You're the Princess. Wow, you think you know someone."
Penny sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Tom, we've known each other for years. You know I am a princess."
"Oh, yeah."
"So, you," said Tony, addressing Tom. "Are you a prince?"
"No," answered Tom. "At least I don't think so."
Penny was quick to confirm that Tom was indeed not a prince. "He, like me, is a member of the Super Stars. We're a group of super heroes that serve the King and protect Toon World."
Despite the giant castle right in front of him, Tony still just could not believe what Penny was telling him. He wanted to; being in a place where he could meet all his favorite characters from television and not have them be broke teenagers in oversized costumes would be a dream come true for him. However, the more he tried to believe it, the more he clung to his logic that said cartoons were just lines on paper and weren't real. Penny must have guessed what he was thinking. She led Tony over to the edge of the hill and handed him a pair of binoculars from her pocket.
"Take a look down there," she said, pointing to a vast city in the distance. It looked like any other city must from on high. There were paved roads with cars, an assortment of buildings in all shapes and sizes, and (although Tony couldn't see them, he guessed there must be) lots of people going about their daily lives. The edge of the city came right up to the base of the hill and stretched out past the horizon. Feeling both excited and scared by what he might see, Tony slowly raised the binoculars to his eyes and peered down. He only looked for a minute before he started rubbing the lens of the binoculars furiously with his shirt, trying to clean them. He could not have seen what he just saw, but when he looked again, the view was the same.
He saw not people down there, but Toons. Cartoon characters. He saw Bugs Bunny going into a grocery store and buying a month's supply of carrots. He saw Donald and Daisy Duck having lunch at a quaint little café. He saw Josie and the Pussy Cats coming out of a music store. He saw the Mach 5 run a red light and almost crash into the Mystery Machine. He looked more closely at the buildings. There was the Mad Hatter's Haberdashery advertising an Un-birthday Sale Special. He saw the Hong Kong Phooey Dojo-two months of lessons for fifty dollars plus a free filing cabinet. He saw Gipetto's Puppet Shop; closed with a sign hanging on the front door that said "Gone Fishing". He saw the Alaquan Bird's Rubber Chicken Warehouse and right next to that, Mr. McBoing-Boing's Sound Effects Factory. Out past the commercial centers and industries, in a more rural part of the city, Tony saw row upon row of neat homes. They were just on the fringe of his field of vision, but Tony could have sworn he saw a house with two round ears and another with a baby frog and baby pig playing on a swing set in the front yard.
At last, Tony's disbelief melted away and was replaced with overwhelming excitement. "Oh my God, I don't believe it! It's true! It's true, it's true, it's true. A world full of Toons. This is so beyond cool. Can we go down there? I want to meet everyone. I want to see…"
"Whoa, there cowboy," said Penny as she restrained Tony, who was ready to run right down the hill and start collecting autographs. "We got some business to take care of first before you take the tour."
"Although, we do have to show you Justice League Headquarters. The Toon Town Historical Society gives walking tours every day," chimed in Tom.
"That'd be awesome," exclaimed Tony, completely ignoring Penny. "Justice League Headquarters. So cool. So this city is called Toon Town? Is this where all Toons live?"
"Oh, no," scoffed Tom, also ignoring Penny who by now was tapping her foot impatiently. "See, Toons usually live in their own towns, but a lot of Toons also like to travel to other cities, even other planets. Toon Town is kind of a combination rest stop-resort. Toons come hear for the day to visit or they stay for a while if they're on vacation or if their own worlds have been destroyed."
Tony just kept getting more and more excited as Tom was speaking. "Wow. I had no idea that cartoons mingled with other cartoons so much. How many…" Suddenly, Tony froze. His facial expression switched from joy to confusion in a heartbeat. "Wait…wait. What was that last part again? Did you say 'if their own worlds have been destroyed'?"
"Uh huh. Yeah," said Tom, nodding. Then he put his hands over his mouth. "Oops. Was I not supposed to say that until later?" he asked, looking at Penny.
Penny gave yet another exasperated sigh, then grabbed Tony's arm and lead him toward the palace gates. "Come on. We have a lot to talk about and there are some people you have to meet."
Tom's slip of the tongue was starting to deflate some of Tony's enthusiasm and replace it with some of his old suspiciousness. Still, it was hard for him to take his eyes off of the sprawling Toon city. Eventually, Penny lead him far enough away from the edge that he could not see the city past the crest of the hill, so he turned his eyes back toward the castle and saw that the castle gate was now open and three figures were rushing out across the bridge towards them. One was short and round and wore a purple skin tight costume with a C on his chest. He hopped rather than ran, owing to the fact that instead of legs, a large spring was attached to his feet. The second figure was taller and thinner and wore a green skin tight costume with an F on his chest. Instead of shoes, he has on flippers and wore a diving mask over his eyes. The third figure was even taller than the second, about as tall as Tony. His costume was red and black and he carried a black shield with a large M on it.
Tony became excited again when he recognized the trio. "Oh my gosh. You're the Impossibles. Coilman, Fluidman, and Multiman. I really liked you're show."
"Always glad to meet a fan," said Fluidman.
"Especially since there aren't many left," said Coilman.
"The Impossibles are now part of the palace guard," explained Penny.
"Do you guys still play your music?" asked Tony.
"There's still the occasional charity concert," replied Multiman. "And, of course, Thursday is karaoke night."
Tony would have liked to stay and chat longer, but Penny led him and Tom through the palace gates. The Impossibles saluted, and then returned to their posts at the castle gates.
