Author's Notes: Well, it's happened. I've found another franchise with great world building opportunities. I thought long and hard before I posted this story because I know it isn't one of my typical fanfics, but I just love this idea so much and wanted to explore the Tooniverse through my writing. This is the first franchise I've ever seen on this site where almost any character I use has to be an OC because there is no real protagonist in the game (Flippy doesn't count because he's an NPC). This first chapter will have a slightly different feel to the game because it's a prologue and the Toons aren't that familiar with the Cogs yet. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Thank you to anyone who reads this story, and I would love to read some reviews from you guys :)

Chapter 1

The Invasion

For as long as any Toon could remember the world of Toontown had been an unchanging utopia. Everything was funny, colorful, and full of laughter. Even things that were technically considered work melded perfectly with play so that no one could tell the difference. There were schools that taught improv and had lots of recess time, snowcapped mountains with sparkly snowflakes, and parks with gag shops and ice cream parlors at nearly every turn.

Deerborne, a sienna colored female deer, had lived on the outskirts of Daisy Gardens for many years and had never seen pain or extreme sadness in her life. She had even bought a special Toon Maker pencil and drawn her first child; a baby deer girl with aqua colored fur. Her small estate was quiet, her garden was well tended, and her neighbors were friendly as could be.

Everything was perfect...until the Cogs came.

It had happened without warning, thousands of robots propelled down from the sky like a giant swarm of angry bees. It was as if the very sky had turned grey to announce the presence of this new threat. No Toon had ever seen a Cog before and didn't know what they were at first. Everyone was unprepared for the eminent invasion.

Unfortunately for Deerborne and her friends, they were right in the path of a swath of land the Cogs wanted for their Sellbot HQ, and large ugly grey buildings fell from the sky and destroyed many homes. Most of Deerborne's neighbors were flattened by the buildings and never made it out. Deerborne had been outside tending her garden at the time with her baby on her back, otherwise she would have perished along with her house.

For weeks Deerborne watched and ran as the Cogs took over more and more of Daisy Gardens. A few of her surviving friends joined her as they ran for the safety of the playground. The refugees had to sleep at their local Headquarters because the hotel was too close to the danger zone. Everyone in Daisy Gardens was afraid, and Deerborne was sure that this was the end of the world.

Many Toons became chronically saddened, a condition that causes sickness and lethargy in Toons, and the doctors did everything they could to keep their patients' Laff energy up. The ice cream and flower supplies ran low, and the normal remedies of jokes, tickling, and dancing for their patients only delayed the inevitable waves of sadness that would overtake the Toons when they so much as thought about the cold robotic drones that had stolen their homes and destroyed many of their friends.

Deerborne rocked her baby to sleep on the floor of the HQ. She had one thin blanket to keep her warm, a pillow, and one blanket to sleep on. It was a kindness of the HQ Toons to provide these things to her and the others, but it was uncomfortable to try to sleep this way. She just couldn't stop thinking about that horrid Sellbot HQ that spewed smoke over where her house and her garden used to be. That was where her daughter was supposed to grow up, and now it was all gone thanks to those heartless machines.

"We have to do something," Deerborne whispered to herself, though in fact someone else was listening.

"I hear that," A pink dog in a white tutu agreed, "Listen hun, a couple others Toons and I have been talking about taking back our land, and if you want you can help us out. We figured out the Cogs have practically no sense of humor when it comes to physical comedy, and they can't handle gags nearly as well as we can, so we're gonna load up on ammo at Goofy's Gag Shop and storm that awful HQ. What do you say? Are you with us?"

"Um, how many of you are there exactly?" Deerborne asked apprehensively.

"Well...three," The pink dog admitted sheepishly, "It's just me, McBroface, and Sir Oscar Clawed. By the way, my name is Princess Poodle. What's yours?"

"Deerborne," the titular deer replied cautiously, "I don't know if I should. I have a baby to look after, and those Cogs are really powerful. Most of them are so tall and big, and even the little ones are terrifying and cold. I don't know if I can do it."

"None of us know, but if we don't try those monsters will mow down Toontown like overgrown grass," Princess Poodle pointed out, "Everyone else here has been too cowardly to help. If you don't help us, then it'll be three against thousands."

"If I do join it's still just four against thousands," Deerborne pointed out pessimistically, "Yeesh, my Laff is dipping into the single digits just thinking about it."

"Fine. I understand," Princess Poodle reluctantly said, "If the boys and I have to go it alone, then we will. Just think about it though. We're leaving the playground in three hours. I'll pick up some extra gags for you just in case you change your mind."

With that the pink dog got up and joined a yellow monkey and a green bear. Deerborne assumed those were the other questers. They didn't look very tough, but then again nobody in Toontown looked too intimidating. It just wasn't the Toon way to be mean and scary.

Deerborne knew Toontown was likely doomed. Everything they had built up was being torn down and stolen by the Cogs. She looked down at her infant daughter, and her baby girl looked up at her with innocent looking black eyes. Deerborne hadn't even had time to go to the Toon Council building to get her child named yet. She had been too busy running from Cogs in an effort to keep her and her baby alive. Was that what forever was going to look like? Her daughter's Laff never developing because running from Cogs made her too sad? Grey smog and colorless landscapes for as far as the eye could see? The Cogs taking everything they had and forcing any surviving Toons to conform to their way of life?

No. Deerborne would not let that happen. She was tired of running. She was tired of depleting her own Laff with these bleak thoughts of the future. She was going to fight and her and her baby were going to have a bright future and live to see a colorful world again.

"Princess Poodle!" Deerborne yelled across the room to where the pink dog was standing, "I'm in."

This infiltration had been a terrible idea.

When the clerks at Goofy's Gag Shop heard about the brave Toons that were going to liberate them from their Cog oppressors they had allowed the Toons to buy every gag they had available. As it turned out, that had been a grave mistake.

McBroface, the yellow monkey, hurt his arms trying to throw a wedding cake that was bigger than he was, which caused part of his Laff to deplete because he was in pain. Deerborne tried to use a megaphone to tell jokes to the other Toons to heal them, but she held the megaphone the wrong way, which caused her voice to not be heard and the Cogs to smirk in amusement at her foolishness. Princess Poodle lost their magnets when she accidentally aimed them all at the wall (which was made of metal), and no one was strong enough to get them back.

Sir Oscar Clawed was probably their best fighter since his Laff was at 76 and he knew how to use the elephant trunk sound gag. He had been a professional stunt double for their community theatre, so he was better at gags than a normal civilian. The only problem with his skills was that the Cogs could tell he was the biggest threat and therefore often aimed most of their attacks exclusively at him.

Deerborne followed the others wherever they went in the Sellbot factory. They hoped that by destroying the factory they could interrupt the flow of new Cogs and give the other Toons a fighting chance. The baby would occasionally stir and cry a little when jostled too much inside the carrying sack on Deerborne's back, so Deerborne would have to slow down every now and then to comfort her, which would result in Deerborne getting separated from the group.

It was at the third level that the group received its first casualty. A Mover and Shaker Cog caused an earthquake that made Princess Poodle fall on her arm wrong. The arm broke at the elbow, but the real damage was to her Laff meter. Princess Poodle sat on the ground and began to cry uncontrollably, and the other Toons didn't know how to revive a Laff meter that was at 0. The Mover and Shaker came forward, and the other three Toons tried to shield Princess Poodle from his advances, but he merely swatted them away.

Princess's color was draining, and she was losing consciousness. The Mover and Shaker picked her up, and despite the Toons trying to throw any gag they could at him he opened a window and threw Princess Poodle over the edge! The others gasped in horror. Under normal circumstances a Toon could survive a bad fall. At most it would merely flatten them for a few minutes. Princess Poodle however had no Laff energy, and without it the impact would likely kill her.

The others were angry at the Cog for what he had done to their friend, so they threw every pie, cake, and whatever else they could find at the Cog. The Cog exploded into a million little metal pieces, and the Toons got onto the elevator for the next level; unable even to mourn.

The factory seemed endless. With only three of them left the battles were taking even longer, and Sir Oscar Clawed was running low on Laff. Deerborne tried to heal the others every chance she got, but she didn't know what she was doing so most of the time her attempts at jokes did nothing. They made it to the top floor (which they hoped was the right place to go) and there they were confronted by several smaller Cogs surrounded by a Mingler.

"I'm the boss," The Mingler informed them in a clipped yet monotone voice.

The Toons gulped in fear. There was the Mingler as well as two Name Droppers and a Mover and Shaker in the room, as well as about a dozen or so Cogs waiting in an open elevator on the other side of the room. Everyone was running low on Laff and their gags were nearly depleted. They had lost Princess Poodle, and now it looked as if they were next.

Finally, gathering up all of his courage, McBroface lifted a whole cream pie and shouted "For Toontown!". He threw the pie at the Mingler, and the projectile gag hit its target. To everyone's shock and dismay however, the Mingler merely looked down at where the pie had hit her chest and wiped off the offending foodstuff with a detached expression. She then glared back at them, and that was when McBroface knew he had messed up.

"You seem to believe you have the upper hand in this negotiation," The Mingler said coldly, "Well, I believe it's time for a paradigm shift."

That was exactly what she did. She used an attack called Paradigm Shift, an attack that hit every Toon at once with incredible damage, which caused McBroface and Sir Oscar Clawed to pass out. Deerborne had taken the least damage since their quest began, and now she was the only one left. She only hoped her baby couldn't feel the waves of sadness generated by the Cogs. She didn't want to lose her only child this way, not when they were so close to freeing Daisy Gardens.

Deerborne searched for gags but could only find a green squirt gun. That wasn't going to even make a dent in the army of Cogs standing before her. She considered surrender, but she knew these robots would show no mercy. Deerborne honestly didn't know what Cogs did to prisoners, or if they even took prisoners. The thought was terrifying enough to keep her from considering this option, however.

Deerborne aimed her gag at the Mingler since it was the only Cog already damaged. She fired, but the Mingler stepped out of the way. Deerborne had missed with her only gag, and now she was out of ammo. She was doomed.

"Oh, poor Toon," The Mingler cooed mockingly, "It's okay. Personally I think this is all for the best. I think this has been a very productive meeting, however I will have to reject your resumè. You're simply not qualified to work with us."

The Mingler then used her Paradigm Shift attack again, and Deerborne fell to the ground defeated. The Toons were all passed out and likely wouldn't survive. The Cogs had won the day.

"HDH-489," The Mingler addressed one of her Name Droppers, "Call a cleaning crew to dispose of this mess."

"Yes, ma'am," The Mingler's assistant replied dutifully.

The Mingler and her employees then left the room, leaving the remains for someone else to deal with.

A few minutes later, a Telemarketer, a Cold Caller, and a Name Dropper entered the room with their cleaning supplies to clean up the mess left behind by their boss's battle. It was an ugly sight to see three Toons drained of color and lifeless on the ground, but the Cogs thought little of it.

"Alright everyone, pick a body," The Telemarketer, FTR-416, ordered his colleagues, "You know the drill. Check the pockets and gloves for anything worth taking. Finders keepers. I choose the deer."

"I get the bear!" The Name Dropper, DD-2831, called out greedily.

"That leaves me with...the monkey? Aww, man...," The Cold Caller, RJ-5252, whined dejectedly, "He's only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He probably doesn't have anything."

"Just take what you can and then let's get these things out of here before their ink drains all over the floor," FTR-416 ordered curtly, "We have to get back to making calls as soon as possible."

With those words the three Cogs started looting the corpses of their enemies. This was a common practice among Cogs ever since one Toon that had passed out awoke and started pelting them with leftover gags. Ever since then Cogs were ordered to remove all gags from a defeated Toon, and of course many Cogs also took valuables for their own coffers.

FTR-416 didn't find anything of use inside the skirt pockets of the downed deer, but soon he saw that the bag on her back was moving and making soft noises. FTR assumed it was a Doodle, which were worth a lot of money to Toons. He opened the crudely tied bindle and found staring back at him a wide-eyed blue baby deer! It was a Toon, but it wasn't fully developed. FTR's memory banks informed him this was what was known as a 'baby Toon'.

"Hey guys, come over here. I found something of interest," FTR called his colleagues, and they walked over to see what he had, "It is a baby Toon."

RJ gasped and took a cautious step back. DD scowled at the little deer in distaste.

"It's another Toon!" RJ overreacted, "Quick, somebody get me a water cooler. I'll drain its Laff dry!"

"Dry? With water?" DD asked cynically, "Calm down, RJ-5252. It's helpless. In fact all we have to do is make it a little sad and then throw it on the ground. That should take care of the Toon easily."

"That is not your decision to make," FTR pointed out as he shot a glare at his subordinate, "I am in charge of the janitorial staff and I found this Toon. Therefore I will decide how best to utilize this new resource."

"New resource?" DD-2831 exclaimed caustically, "It's a liability. Toons don't work and they break Cogs with their ridiculous gags. They have no purpose, and exist only to exist. That thing is as much a resource as the gum on the bottom of my shoe."

"I once used gum to plug up a hole in the boiler room," RJ-5252 mused, which caused both other Cogs to stare at him like he was crazy, "I'm just saying FTR-416 has a point. Just because the Toon is currently without purpose doesn't mean we can't give it one."

"Exactly," FTR nodded in approval, "I intend to fill out the proper requisition forms to make this Toon my intern."

"Intern?" DD asked, suddenly very interested, "You think that could actually work?"

"I do," FTR replied resolutely, "This will be a most interesting experiment. We will provide this Toon with on the job training and see if it will make a decent Sellbot someday. Who knows? Perhaps someday it can even learn how to work the phones and schmooze with clients."

"I've always wanted an assistant," DD said wistfully, "I can see it now. The Toon could get my ethanol, pick up my dry cleaning, and deliver my sales reports to the boss. I wouldn't even have to get out of my chair."

"Easy now," FTR stopped DD's daydreaming, "This Toon was found by me, and I am the one that will supervise its training. Therefore, the Toon is my assistant."

"Can I name it?" RJ asked eagerly, "I never get to name projects. Please let me name it boss, please!"

FTR sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before he turned to the Cold Caller and said "Fine, RJ-5252. You can name it."

"Yes!" RJ shouted and pumped his fist against his side, "Oh, this is going to be great. We're going to convert a Toon into an efficient intern."

"Or it'll murder us all," DD-2831 added sardonically, "Either way it'll be interesting. So FTR-416, can I borrow it?"

"Excuse me?" FTR asked as he scowled at his colleague.

"When you get the Toon trained. Can I borrow it?" DD asked as nicely as she could manage, "Just for important occasions like trying to impress clients and when I have too much work to do and not enough time."

"First let us see if this experiment works," FTR replied cautiously, "You and RJ-5252 will throw the bodies out the window. I will begin reading up on how to keep a Toon alive. The Toon will not be useful for a while yet, but I believe working with the Toon will pay off."

FTR-416 then left the room with the bundle of Toon in his arms. He just hoped when RJ-5252 finally came up with a name it wasn't something stupid or punny. The Toon would have a hard enough time being taken seriously without a bad name ruining its chances for a successful career.