The eight, fearful, wide-eyed Toons were lead into Toon Hall. The two guards that shuffled them in secured the doors and bolted them.
Aunt Poppy continually tried to contact Pickles, but their communication was broken.
"Don't try to talk to your friends, Toons, you chose this, and now you must follow out with the plan," Flippy barked.
Poppy ceased trying to contact her friends and looked around at the group of the other seven. They all looked as terrified as her.
"It'll be okay." Poppy stiffened, feeling a gloved hand pat her shoulder. She turned her attention to the blue dog known as Smirky Bumberpop, who was smiling at her and relaxed.
"I hope so," she replied.
Flippy continued on, "So, we have a plan."
Professor Dimm suddenly appeared, a blueprint shoved under his arm. Flippy quickly swiped the various items off his desk with a wave of his gloved paw and rolled out the blueprint.
"First, you will infiltrate the Sellbot HQ," Professor Dimm continued. Poppy was suddenly aware of the Toons around her breathing heavily, and she knew they were just as nervous as she was.
"That should be easy," Spiffy Twinkleswirl replied, "we're all fairly high Toons, it should be easy if we work together."
"We just can't let anyone die," Pink Candy mewed, swiping a few pink hairs out of her eyes before sighing heavily.
"No one will die… Not permanently, right?" The frightened-looking black cat, Thunder, interjected with a tinge of frustration lining her voice.
"No one knows," Flippy responded, "the Cogs have seemed more powerful than normal. A Cold Caller can do about -15 damage at this point. That's unnatural," he barked, his eyebrows lowering.
"But what about the level 12 cogs? Won't they be worse?" Poppy heard Smirky's voice echo in the large building.
"We don't know. The patrol we sent out from the Toon Valley Laboratories never returned to assess the situation," Professor Dimm responded grimly, rolling the blueprint back up.
Flippy waved a furry blue arm, motioning to the blueprint now situated tightly under the scientist's arm. "Then you will continue with the other three Cog bosses. They are stronger than ever. Many patrols we've sent out have not returned, including the one from Toon Valley Laboratories. We sent one out for Nutty River, and only one Toon returned, battered and Laff Meter low. He went completely sad before he had time to explain. So, we're thinking, according to the Cogs' wiring, that if a patrol of eight Toons defeats them…" He paused, "all eight of them… That the Cogs will be eliminated permanently and this town will be saved."
"But how can you know? How do you know about the Cogs' wiring?" Queen Rainbow Trickyhoffer, the pink rabbit responded skeptically.
"The old wiring blueprint found in the first documentation of a Cog was recently discovered by Sillyham Laboratories and was studied, although the language is completely different and there is too much dirt covering it to even try to decipher the strange language," Professor Dimm interjected, crossing his arms.
"So how… exactly… do you know that it will defeat them?" Mr. Meowsalot mewed, crossing his arms as well and narrowing his eyes.
"We don't know. It's all based on theory and the pictures of wiring for the Cogs," Flippy barked.
"Then can we go… Can we go now?" Poppy suddenly heard herself speak without thinking.
"Whenever you're ready," Flippy said, "though you will not have contact with your friends, we are going to be inserting a tracker under the skins of all of you so we will know where you are and your Laff Meter's level. We will be giving you all a minimum of three Unites that we can spare. Please request what kinds in my office," Flippy continued. "You will also know where your teammates are and you will be able to see their Laff Meters as well. Every Toon in this group is also required to have a partner for the battles. One to watch out for you. You might as well pick now," Flippy barked, and suddenly paused, lifting a gloved paw to his ear.
"I have to take a call, an urgent one about Silly Valley Laboratories. Excuse me for a moment. Dimm, you can take over," Flippy ended, walking out of the room quickly, arguing with the other official.
"Alright, " Dimm continued, "pick your partners, and hurry. Flippy needs to know your Unite requests as well." With that, Dimm exited the room through the sliding doors.
"Smirky," Poppy suddenly said, turning to him, "will you be my partner?" She instantly regretted blurting it out in the silent room, but surprisingly, he answered, "Sure, I'd love to."
The other six Toons began murmuring to each other. Queen Rainbow Trickyhoffer ended up with Thunder, Pink Candy with Spiffy Twinkleswirl, and Mr. Meowsalot with Chipzzy.
Poppy and Smirky exchanged glances as Dimm and two other scientists returned with needles in their hands.
"These may hurt a bit, but not for long. It's just a pinch," a purple dog dressed in a white lab coat reassured the Toons.
Poppy flinched as it came to be her turn, but just as the scientist said; it no longer hurt after the shot. No after-sting, nothing.
Flippy suddenly returned through the glass doors, his hand clicking a button on the small phone attached to his ear, "That was Silly Valley Laboratories. They've found footage of their patrol…"
The Toons waited for him to continue, "They all were killed. Permanently."
A few gasps rang out in the main room of Toon Hall.
"Unfortunately, it is classified video and no other Toons are allowed to view it. Let me just say – it's not a pretty sight," Flippy continued with a sigh.
"We've inserted the trackers," the purple lab dog barked, clearing her throat.
"Good. Show them how to use them," Flippy responded, rubbing his forehead with frustration.
"It must be hard, being him. His whole town is… Falling apart," Smirky whispered quietly beside Poppy.
"Yeah…" Poppy responded sadly, and turned her attention back to Professor Dimm.
"Okay, I want you all to think of your partner, the partner you just chose," Dimm started, glancing around at the Toons that stood before him.
Poppy heard a few surprised gasps and did as Dimm told. To her own surprise, the image of Smirky popped up in front of her – as a hologram of some sort. Though apparently, no other could see it. It came up as a flickering orange screen, and she concentrated on viewing his Laff Points, as Dimm continued to explain. A flickering bluish-orange laff meter appeared in front of her. Full.
"Now, we will be able to speak to you, but you won't be able to respond. We will also be able to view what you're seeing through your own eyes," Dimm said, "thank Toon Valley Laboratories. They've come up with this amazing technology."
A few happy applauses met Poppy's ears and she focused once again.
"Our transmissions will come in automatically into your hearing. You don't have to do anything. Also, it will take some practice to see the views of your teammates – the ones besides your partners. The first Toon you thought of, your partner, is now permanently linked to you. To view their screens, you can either think of them, or say their name out loud," Dimm continued.
"Aunt Poppy Twinklejinks," Poppy heard her own name as Smirky murmured beside her.
"Now, try to focus on your teammates. You will need to say their names out loud several times to reach them."
Poppy whispered Thunder, the black cat's name, three times and a weak, lighted screen popped up. Her laff meter was down a few steps, but it was still smiling.
"Wonderful, I see it's working for all of you," the purple laboratory dog suddenly interjected, and Poppy glanced at her, seeing she was holding a pair of orange goggles up to her eyes.
"Now that you all know how to use your devices, we will be able to enter the Training Facility," the purple lab dog announced. "Follow me."
