"Second floor. Have a nice day."
Johnny was still reeling from the shock of landing on the cold, solid steel floor of the elevator; the metal sound still ringing throughout the elevator, or was it just Johnny's ears? Only now did Johnny realize there was a faint light jazz tune being played in the elevator, over crackly speakers. Looks like the Cogs wanted to play this off better than it actually is, Johnny thought cynically, rubbing his throbbing head.
The doors opened, shedding harsh white light. As the light dimmed through the adjusting of eyes, the doors revealed a spacious gray interior, barren except for the elevator on the other side of the room, its doors hiding away its exposed nature. Johnny walked in, taking it all in.
"Ugh... where are we?" Omicron groaned as he rose, clutching his forehead. His baseball cap was on the floor, which he also noticed, picking it up and placing it back upon his furry head. To be honest, Johnny had forgotten Omicron had been traveling with him; then again, he had forgotten he went in the building to begin with. This was a leap of faith that Omicron had forcefully lassoed and hogtied Johnny into, and if they both died from this, then both of them would know whose fault it was.
"We're in your mess, idiot." Johnny shot him an indignant look as Omicron walked in to join him, to which Omicron laughed off, his eyes brightening up.
"Nah, it's all good. This is a new adventure! I haven't had this much excitement in years!" Omicron slapped his hand on Johnny's shoulder. "And, looking at you, rubber ducky, you look like you haven't had excitement in a long time, either." At least that statement was true. For years, Johnny exponentially grew bored of what was on TV, what the news had to say; basically, he was bored of being a Toon. Nobody knew how to get to him, and that bored Johnny even more. Although, was it... sadness? Johnny frequently got the two words mixed up.
"I suppose. I also suppose this is why you wanted to run in here like a madman; for a rapid heartbeat. Am I right or am I right?" Johnny crossed his arms, eyebrow raised.
"Ah, you gotta let go of the diamond-encrusted, tea-sippin' by the fireside lifestyle. Get some dirt on your feet and live life on the edge a little. That's what I did, and I'm happy."
"You were rich?" Johnny was surprised at the mention of diamonds being a part of Omicron's former lifestyle. Was he on the Furbes Top 100?
"Well, not really," Omicron shrugged, slightly disappointing Johnny. "My dad owned a small company, a shoe business, and my mom stayed at home. Long story short, we ended up having to close it down, and now we're living off the funds he made there. I kinda miss the smell of the leather." Johnny could see a note of wistfulness in Omicron's eyes, along with a hint of a grimace. Looks like Omicron knew firsthand what a blue-collar lifestyle was like, something Johnny had always respected, unlike him being born into a rich family, which felt like cheating.
Johnny noticed the room was still silent, and the elevator on the far side of the room still had not opened. What was supposed to happen?
"Uh..." Omicron looked at Johnny dumbfoundedly, his gaze following Johnny's. Then Omicron realized what he was looking at, and let out a small "oh" of clarity.
As if the elevator had heard him, there was an audible ding, and the elevator doors opened, a brown suited figure walking out. It had the same physique as the robot from the Elections: same balding hairline, same muscularity, same giant, unmoving smile that, looking at it closer up, freaked Johnny out. Yet it seemed distracted, which might be opportune.
"Oh." Omicron sounded in a more disagreeable tone.
The way it's twin talked at the Elections sounded almost like those yesmen you heard about in businesses... wait, that's the perfect name for it! Snapping back to reality, Johnny looked back at the Cog. The Yesman seemed startled at the sight of Toons in the building, and so readied itself. The elevator closed behind it.
"Hah, you ready for a fight or something? Or no?" Omicron taunted.
"I don't know the meaning of no." The Yesman droned, confirming its identity. Then a brick wall hit Johnny: what if the Yesman had a revolver like the other one? They'd be dead on the spot. But then, he noticed that there was nothing in the robot's hands, and there was no kind of holster to hold the firearm; oh, what a relief. But an aftershock stumbled in: how would the robot be beaten?
Suddenly, Johnny remembered how the robot would be beaten: pies. He had seen Flippy throwing one of these creamy cakes at the exact kind of Cog at the Elections, but wondered how it would have the knockback it did. Must've been a hard throw, Johnny reasoned. Then Johnny remembered the bag of pies he had brought. He looked around for it, and noticed it was still in the elevator they came in from. There was another ding, and the doors began to close. He would lose the bag! Sprinting, he got to the bag, but just barely got it out as the doors closed.
Take up arms. Surlee's words still rung in Johnny's ears, making him a little dizzy. He ran back to Omicron, and pulled a pie out of the bag.
"Here, throw this." Johnny blurted out, out of breath, throwing a pie to Omicron, briefly puzzled but then got the message. Pulling back with his arm, Omicron launched the pie at the Yesman's face. It landed with a surprising force, any more and the robot's head would've come clean off. No wonder this guy is athletic, Johnny thought, impressed. The robot staggered backwards, and bent forwards, the tie insignia on the suit flashing red. This time, Johnny instantly knew what was happening, but doubted Omicron knew the same.
"Get down!" Johnny shouted to Omicron over the intense echo of the robot's hydraulics being worked to the core and the glissando of maniacal, toony laughter. Almost belly flopping, Johnny covered his head as he lay face down on the floor, Omicron imitating after a bit of confusion.
The robot's head squashed, and briefly stretched before rocketing upwards towards the ceiling. The body soon followed, propelled by a scorching fireball, but not upwards; outwards, and towards the two Toons. The torso just barely missed Omicron's long, furry tail, and slightly disturbed the feathers on Johnny's leg. It landed behind them with a massive clang, distastefully reminding Johnny of his elevator escapade earlier.
Several moments passed before either Toon spoke, still shaking from their near-death experience.
"Is... is it over?" Omicron wavered, his teeth slightly chattering. Johnny looked up: flames licked at the floor where the Cog was standing, and scattered metallic debris lay around the room. The elevator opened, but no Cogs came out.
"Yeah, it's over, I think... wait." Johnny noticed that there were two dots on top of the elevator, one that was displaying a white light, the other was blank. Did that mean there were two floors to this building? That means they conquered the first floor! Johnny picked up the bag of pies, and walked into the open elevator.
"I think there's more. C'mon." Johnny motioned Omicron over, who did so. Suddenly, Omicron looked nervous.
"Wait, I forgot something!" He looked around the elevator, and it made Johnny's heart fall. Then he noticed the smug look on Omicron's face- oh. Either that was a very bad impression of me or he's just messing with me. Probably both.
"Haha, very funny." Johnny remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Ascending to third floor. Have a nice day." The elevator PA announced in her sweet, slightly computerized voice.
The doors slammed shut, reminding Johnny of the clang that he had heard just a couple of minutes ago. This time, Johnny and Omicron were not cloaked in darkness, but rather bathed in a soft, yellow light from a fluorescent rod that was installed in the ceiling. Already, Johnny could tell this was going to be a much smoother ride than before. Did they ride in a service elevator before? But it was literally the building's front door... Ah, no matter.
The ride was a bit slower than the last time, which relieved Johnny, but soon there was an air of stillness, apart from the hum of the elevator, just waiting to be broken by awkward conversation.
"So, uh..." Johnny decided to break it, knowing full well that he didn't have a topic in his head. "Tuesday's coming."
"Yeah." Omicron replied nonchalantly, hands in his pockets.
"It's gonna be a bit colder than usual, might wanna get a coat."
"I'll be prepared, don't worry."
The doors opened with a ding, revealing a grand penthouse, with two sets of stairs descending down. Two statues of Cogs sat proudly on the tops of each one, one skinny, tall Cog, the other a stocky, fat one.
That wasn't what caught Johnny's eye, however. What caught Johnny's eye was the large, muscular Cog, whose head was so small that it seemed even it's foot was bigger, yet it still seemed seething. Two others flanked it, both short, stocky Cogs with a frown and oversized blue-lensed glasses.
As the two Toons ran out to face them, they noticed the elevator closing behind them, much quicker than before. Geez, if the elevator had closed that fast before, we'd be screwed. Looking at the Cog with the small head again, Johnny didn't think he was threatening, but rather quite funny.
"Hah, don't get ahead of yourself, mister!" Johnny decided to follow in Omicron's footsteps; it felt like a weight off his chest. Maybe he should stop being serious all the time? It'd probably make Omicron happy. Looking at Omicron in the meantime, he seemed to approve, giggling to himself. The taunt seemed to hit close to home with the Cog, prompting Johnny to call it a head hunter.
"I'll have your head for this!" The Head Hunter shook a fist.
Johnny and Omicron wasted no time in flinging a pie each at the two frame-donning Cogs, removing the Head Hunter's bodyguard rejects. As Johnny and Omicron took cover, Johnny noticed that as they exploded, the flames from the explosions didn't seem to phase the Head Hunter one bit. So they're immune to fire, but not immune to laughter? Very strange...
Johnny's brooding was interrupted by an attack from the Head Hunter.
"Heads up! Or should I say, down?" The Head Hunter wiggled its fingers, emitting a trail of yellow sparkles from each hand, towards Omicron! Omicron desperately tried to get out of the way, but he was still getting up from his belly-down position, and Johnny saw the sparkles wrap around his head. Omicron grunted in pain as his head shrunk, almost down to the size of a cupcake. He shook his head to try and defy the sparkles, which miraculously worked.
With Omicron briefly stunned, Johnny took it upon himself to throw his next pie, which proved to be a difficult task; with a head as small as that, it'd be like trying to shoot a pincushion with a very small pin. He tried anyway, and was very close, but the Cog dodged to the right, making Johnny curse in frustration. The Head Hunter sidled back to it's original position, and proceeded to attack again.
"Here's a kink: have some ink." The Head Hunter pulled out what looked like a fountain pen, clicked it open, and sprayed ink towards Johnny. Unlike Omicron, Johnny dived out of the way, landing on his back. In a flash, Johnny got up and leapt for the bag, taking a pie, and throwing it, this time with pinpoint accuracy. Omicron followed suit, just not in as dramatic a fashion. Both pies landed on their target gracefully, although the same could not be said for the Head Hunter's head being knocked off. I knew it! I knew it was possible! Johnny celebrated in his head. Taking cover with Omicron, he painfully noticed that the fireball was much bigger, and it singed his feathers a bit.
Getting up, he noticed that there was a tiny flame on Omicron's hat. Not wanting roasted cat for dinner, Johnny hastily put a finger on it to put it out, a sizzle escaping before it died. Omicron didn't seem to notice at first, but then seemed thankful.
"T-minus 30 seconds until building vaporization." The computerized PA announced, the elevator doors in front of them opening. The building started to shake, was there an earthquake?! Building vaporization... did that mean they were going to fall if they didn't escape?
"Come on! No time to lose!" Johnny ran to the elevator, dragging Omicron with one hand and hefting the pie bag with the other. When they were in the elevator, the doors shut slower than before, adding to the already sky-high tension. The light that was in the elevator shut off, returning the confined space to darkness.
What was not expected was the freefall that ensued. One moment Johnny and Omicron were standing upright in the elevator, the next they were on top of the ceiling screaming. The sound of rushing air creeped in through the crack in between the doors, almost turning it into one of those indoor skydiving places.
Then, just like that, it was over, although endings like these usually come to a very hard stop. Very hard was the exact way to describe the floor, for the cold steel could've shattered even concrete. Thanks to Toon anatomy, however, their rubber bones allowed Johnny and Omicron to spring back up without being implanted into the floor (nor get bones shattered), albeit it was still very painful. So painful, in fact, Johnny couldn't even move without a fresh sense of hurt.
"Ugh... good grief." Omicron groaned, slowly lumbering himself up.
The doors to the elevator opened, the harsh contrast of the sunlight outside and artificial light inside making itself clear, also making Johnny squint.
Getting up was probably the biggest challenge of the entire building; it was like trying to move with your entire body being made of cement. But, Johnny miraculously got up, like if Stephen Hawk-Ng suddenly wasn't paralyzed anymore. Johnny sighed.
"That wasn't so bad." Omicron seemed happy to hear that, and slapped him on the shoulder.
"See? What'd I tell you? I think you'll find rapid heartbeats, as you said, to be quite fun." Johnny could see that now; it felt quite exhilarating to finally have some excitement in life, although it felt a bit strange at the same time.
"Now beginning building vaporization. Goodbye." The sweet PA voice sounded one more time, before the the Cog building started to squash and stretch, making wacky noises in doing so. As the building faded away, the Toony building sprung up, in a breath of fresh air. Finally! No more gray! Johnny thought triumphantly.
Although, another scary thought entered Johnny's mind. If Cogs can take over buildings, this was just one. There must be hundreds more in trouble! We'd need coordination and critical thinking... wait, that's it! The solution to the Cog building problem!
Johnny had a childhood friend named Joseph Dandysqueak, a transfer student from Chezia (a city in Toontown like Duckburg for mice), whom he had met back in kindergarten. Thinking now, he might still live around here in Toontown Central. Last time Johnny had seen him, though, he was working for Loony Labs, under the moniker Prof. Beppo. Johnny used to always call him Joey, but Joseph would always get confused with Sir Max, the Speaker of the Funhouse, whose nickname was also Joey to the public.
"I have an idea." Johnny blurted out, surprising Omicron. He shrugged, going along with it. "We need somebody smart to figure out a plan, right?"
"We're smart ourselves, though." Omicron crossed his arms.
"True, but three is better than two. I have a friend I know over on Punchline Place, near the border of Donald's Dock. He's a scientist for Loony Labs, and with our heads put together, we could really bring down the threat of these Cogs. You in?"
Omicron looked thoughtful for a moment, and shrugged again.
"I mean, I don't really have anything else going on, so... I'm in." That sent Johnny's heart soaring, excited for things to actually come into play.
"Great! I think I still remember his address." Johnny wasted no time in getting a move on, which made Omicron run to try and catch up.
Coming up on a relatively well-kept house with a brown wooded façade, Johnny reckoned this must've been the place. Going up to the door, he knocked thrice, after locating the absence of a doorbell. He waited for a bit before the door opened. He was greeted by a stocky, scruffy periwinkle mouse about Johnny's height who looked much older than Joseph. His clothing appeared quite tattered, which discouraged Johnny, as Joseph had come from a decently well-off family. He had never met Joseph's father, but something about him seemed familiar.
"Er, hi, sir, uh... is Joseph there?" Johnny meekly inquired. The mouse looked between Johnny and Omicron several times. When he looked at Johnny again, he seemed to recognize him.
"Eh... he's downstairs. Joseph!" The mouse, presumably Joseph's father, called behind his back, a heavy accent distorting his words. "Friends are here to see you!"
"In a minute, papa-" A slightly annoyed voice was briefly interrupted by silence, and then the crashing of shattering glass (followed by a curse) and what sounded like moving furniture. A door opened squeakily from somewhere behind the mouse, and slammed shut. There was a faint sound of someone running up the stairs.
"Who's here? Nobody ever comes to see me." The slightly out of breath voice was much closer, this time wavering a bit with excitement.
"See here." The older mouse moved out of the way, giving Johnny a view of his old friend.
Joseph was a periwinkle mouse that looked a bit like his father: stocky, a bit chubby around the belly, but still had at least a little muscle definition on him. He wore rimless wayfarer glasses, behind them sparkling ice blue eyes. His hair didn't match his fur, oddly enough: it was sandy brown, possibly a bleach and dye, and was cut in a swoop to the side, a popular style that Johnny could somewhat see in the crowd back at the Elections. His orange T-shirt bore the tagline √-1 3 π, a clever mathematics joke. Completing the outfit were navy green cargo shorts, and black sandals.
"Hey, Joey." Johnny couldn't think of anything else to say, despite years of pent-up sadness at Joseph's absence. and was prepared for a witty remark from Joseph for his lack of words.
"Johnny." Did he look... disappointed? But it's been years! I would've expected a better greeting from a cactus.
"Is something wrong?" Johnny asked, wondering if he should not have come. Then, he noticed Joseph's smug look.
"No, of course not, you big lummox." Joseph walked up to Johnny, not even noticing Omicron, and hugged him tight. Releasing, he got a closer look at Johnny. "It's good to see you again. Oh! Come down to my lab, I wanna show you something." Joseph was already on his way back to the stairwell when he was stopped by Johnny.
"Actually, before you do that, I need to ask you something."
"Sure, go ahead. I know practically anything." Prof. Beppo looked a bit distracted; Johnny turned to just see Omicron.
"Oh right, before I ask you the something, this is Omicron. I met him at a Cog building."
"Hey, 'sup?" Omicron greeted, trying unsuccessfully to seem cool. Joseph, however, paid him little mind, and was staring at Johnny, a quizzical expression on his face at the mention of Cogs.
"Cog... building?" No matter, Johnny would explain.
"Okay, so, you know those robots-" Johnny was interrupted by Joseph's stammering.
"I-I know what they are, I have a TV too. But... they have their own buildings?" Joseph seemed quite bewildered now, his hands clutching his head.
"Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you. There must be hundreds of these things around if there's gonna be a full-scale invasion of them, and we need your help to take them down."
"B-but that'd be so dangerous! And it would take forever!" Joseph paced back and forth, but stopped abruptly. He looked back at Johnny, cold determination in his eyes.
"I'll do it." His tone sent a chill down Johnny's spine, but was quickly warmed back up by the sense of relief. However, Joseph's father (even Johnny forgot about his presence), just even from a glance at him, seemed to have another idea.
"Giovanotto, may we talk somewhere quiet?" Joseph's father was trying very hard to disguise his seething expression, although Joseph seemed quite cold and calm.
"Sure, papa. Anything you wish." Joseph and his father went up the nearby staircase, and Johnny could hear a shutting of a door. Curious, Johnny went upstairs, Omicron in tow. He didn't like eavesdropping, but something didn't seem right. He wasn't even halfway to deciding which door they had gone behind before he heard yelling in a language he didn't understand, possibly Chezian.
"Tu non vai da nessuna parte!" Joseph's father initiated the yelling.
"Posso fare questo, papà!" Joseph retaliated, a whiny tone in his voice.
"E 'assurdo! Lo farò prendere i tuoi amici alle loro mamme!"
"Voi non si può fermare i miei amici! Andrò con loro!"
"Questo è inaccettabile! Non in casa mia!"
"Bene, lascerò! Non è la mia casa, comunque!" Joseph opened the door, startled to see Johnny and Omicron standing there, with a look of dread on their faces. He shook his head.
"It's nothing. Come on, let's go get some stuff from my lab." Joseph hurried down the staircase, Johnny and Omicron following suit. Didn't sound like nothing... Johnny thought worriedly.
"Si torna qui, giovanotto!" Joseph's father yelled after them.
"No!" Joseph yelled back. Finally, a word Johnny could at least understand. They went down the flight of stairs that supposedly led to the lab. Joseph opened the squeaky door, allowing Johnny to go in first.
He was greeted by the smell of various chemicals, and when he looked inside, he could see why. Broken glass blanketed the floor, a mixture of fluids around the edges in different fluorescent colors creating one super color. Looking beyond that, however, he noticed a rack of familiar objects in different sections. There was even a cream pie in an orange section, much like the cream pies Johnny and Omicron had used in the Cog building. Were these weapons to fight off the Cogs?
"Be sure to not step on the glass, unless you want the Somali treatment." Joseph sidestepped around it, and walked over to the rack. Well, I mean, we have shoes on, so... Johnny walked over the glass, his sneaker soles taking the brunt. Omicron wasn't sure, but did it anyway, making it to the other side.
"I'm sure you've both seen the rack by now," Joseph said, to which Johnny and Omicron nodded. "I call them gags. They're funny to us, and they could be even more funny to the robots."
"Cogs." Johnny corrected.
"Cogs, right." Joseph amended. "I've devised seven gag tracks, each with their own pros and cons." He pointed to the the top track, with things like lipstick and bamboo canes. Those aren't weapons...
"The first track is called Toon-Up. This allows us to raise our Laff points in battle." Omicron raised his paw. "Yes?"
"What are Laff points?" Omicron asked. No matter, Joseph would explain.
"Have you ever played a turn-based RPG?" Joseph inquired, to which Omicron nodded. "Okay, good. In those games, each hero has health points. We're basically the heroes in those games, and Laff points are those health points. Toon-Up gags are the potions to restore the health of your fellow Toons."
That makes sense, Johnny thought. Still wish I had a cool sword to go along with that. Joseph pointed to the next track, directly below the Toon-Up track.
"This is Trap. You can lure Cogs to fall in the trap you've set, but how do you do that?" He pointed to the next track below Trap.
"Lure gags, of course! I have a feeling these gags may not always work, though." Next track.
"The next track is Sound. One of my lingering hypotheses is that these can take out a group of Cogs when used together. Although, there's a very rare chance that these could miss their target, due to a miniature vacuum that's created from the blowing of them, and then it dissipates. Very strange, even I can't explain it." Moving on, Joseph started to cover some very familiar looking gags.
"These are Throw gags-"
"We know what they are. We used them to defeat the Cog building. Throw the baked good at the Cog, real simple." Johnny interrupted Joseph, who turned from slightly annoyed to very impressed.
"Hm, okay. Anyway, these are Squirt gags." Omicron started snickering, to which Joseph gave a serious look. "What's so funny? It's just water." Joseph inquired.
"It's not that, just the word squirt... HAH!" Omicron guffawed, much to the chagrin of Joseph. To be honest, it was quite a funny word. Clearing his throat, Joseph continued.
"Uh... as I was saying. These are..." Cautious to not have another laughter storm from Omicron, Joseph hesitated as he thought of a better word. "...'water' gags. They're similar to Throw, but it always involves something with water. Say, a seltzer bottle or a water gun." Finally, for what seemed like forever, Joseph got to the last track.
"Finally, you have Drop. You hit a button, and pray to the Artist that something heavy will land on your target." His eyes darted between the two Toons. "Any questions?" Johnny raised his hand. "Yes, Johnny?"
"How the hell did you have time to do all of this? Toontown Central got invaded only an hour ago."
"I do have an IQ of 137, so that might've helped a bit. Anyway, I don't think we have any time to lose. We should pack up what we think is useful and head out. I've already spotted a peculiar building in Donald's Dock, so we can see if we can defeat it."
"Sounds good to me." Johnny walked up to the rack, taking a cream pie. He noticed that there were several lined behind each other, like you would find at a supermarket with the refrigerated doors. Taking his chance, he took a few more, but realized he had a hard time carrying them. This is gonna be the paper incident again, only much messier, Johnny thought in a panic, almost dropping them. Joseph seemed to notice, and hastily went to steady the pile. Looking around, he spotted a sack lying on a table.
"Need a carry-on?" Joseph sarcastically said, handing Johnny the bag with his free hand, a glimmer of amusement dancing in his eyes. Johnny nodded, and Joseph complied by opening the bag. Johnny dropped the pies in the bag, watching as they seemed to shrink as they fell, freeing up room for many more. He noticed the way Joseph looked at him, like someone who was unsure of what to say but had a topic in their head. Were there ulterior emotions in those words? If there are, that'd certainly be surprising. Johnny noticed that this bag had straps, which was perfect; no need to hang it over the shoulder, just wear it like a backpack.
When the trio packed up their gags in their separate backpacks, they got a move on. They were just about to reach the front door when they were stopped in their tracks by Joseph's father. Johnny was stared down, making him gulp.
"You're not going anywhere with mio figlo. Go make our minestrone, giovanotto, it is almost suppertime." Joseph stepped forward, cold determination in his eyes.
"No, papa. I'm tired of making you minestrone and having to put up with your constant criticism. Besides, the world is in danger, and we may be the only Toons in this world to actually stop it. Let us pass."
"No, Joseph. Don't leave me. What will I do without you?" Joseph got closer to his father, and whispered something in his ear; Johnny only just made out the words.
"Tornerò, lo prometto." Joseph's father got a bit teary-eyed, a surprising sight for someone who looked tough, and nodded.
"Fine. Go." Joseph's father got out of the way, allowing Johnny to release a sigh of relief. Walking out first, he made sure that the others were following, which they were. This adventure had officially started here, and although Johnny could think of several ways they could possibly die from this, he was determined to stop the threat, no matter what it took. Even if it took the lives of his friends, or his, or all. No, don't think of that, just keep walking…
The walk to the Donald's Dock was surprisingly silent and quick (the tunnel was just around the corner), and Johnny got an eerie sense of forthcoming doom, but quickly shook it away. Nobody is going to die. We will all be okay. Johnny tried praying to the Artist in his head, but he was unsure if it actually calmed him. He knew that the Artist was on his side before in the Elections, but it might've just been an insane coincidence. Religions like these are bound to be phony one of these days... it's like you're worshiping a stone wall and expecting something in return.
"It's not far from here, it's just around the corner." Joseph said, looking at a map on a watch that Johnny didn't notice at first. What he also just now noticed was a peculiar object wrapped around his arm, which looked like a miniature version of Joseph's profile, and numbers where the pupils should be. 56/56. What could that mean?
"Hey, Joseph." Johnny prompted.
"Yeah?"
"What's that thing on your arm? Not the watch, but your, uh... mini-me."
"Oh, this?" Joseph tapped the strange object. "This is my Laff meter. It tells me how many Laff points I have. If I ever hit zero, I'd fall into a pretty deep depression. You and Omicron have one, too. Check it out." Johnny never even noticed he had one on, and decided to check his Laff meter. 47/47. Darn it, you have more Laff points than me! Though, to be fair, Joseph was the one who invented these things in the first place.
"39/39... cool!" Omicron obviously found his Laff meter as well. "Did you invent these at Loony Labs or something?"
"Well, yes. They're still being distributed to Toons around Toontown, but it'll take a while before everyone has one. I don't like to talk about Loony Labs, by the way; I got kicked off." Kicked off? That was strange, Joseph was one of the smartest and kindest Toons Johnny knew. What had happened behind the scenes that was so drastic?
"Here we are. This is the building." Joseph's words had snapped Johnny out of his brooding, and prompted him to take his first look at the building.
He was expecting another tall, gray building like he had seen on Punchline Place, but this was much different. It was a much shorter building, but still had the prominent, glaring eyes that looked statically outwards. It also wasn't gray, but rather a dark brown with dark purple accents. At least it isn't gray, but it's still quite dark for my tastes. There were posters on the sides of the elevator entrance of a Cog that had a tall, cylindrical, pompadour-topped head, with a prominent smile and a thin, curly mustache. Its emblem that was emblazoned on the front of its suit was not a tie, but rather four vertical bars, one rising higher than the one before it. Was it a new type of Cog? There was a nameplate above the elevator, which read "Dime and Quarterdeck Bank, Field Office." A field office? That probably meant there's one main office somewhere, probably something huge.
"If I die here, I have no last words. Last words are for Toons who haven't said enough." Joseph coolly said, the salty wind slightly covering his words up.
"Then, let's go." Johnny stepped in first, followed by Omicron and then Joseph.
"Welcome to the DIME AND QUARTERDECK BANK Field Office. We hope you enjoy your visit." The PA voice was more manly, and the words "Dime and Quarterdeck Bank" sounded very computerized, as if a text-to-speech engine was to be used for every shop name.
"No turning back now..." Joseph ominously muttered as the doors closed, blanketing the space in darkness. Whatever new challenges awaited, Johnny still had a very strange feeling lingering in the back of his mind that something terrible was going to happen, and, judging by its intensity now compared to just a few minutes ago, it would happen very soon.