-Chapter 6: A World of Darkness-
Amy Grant felt something hard below her body. She opened her eyes and saw the sky, nothing strange about that right? Pretty normal, except for the fact that the sky was gray. Amy looked at her watch and gasped when she realized it was only 3:00 PM. The weather forecast had promised blue skies all day, not a dark gray. She got up and took in her sorroundings, the somewhat unfamiliar sorroundings. Cog buildings were everywhere, the ground was paved with cement, not an inch of grass in sight, and there were no toons. It was like a nightmare. Yeah, that's it, she told herself. This isn't real. I'm just having a bad dream. I'll wake up any second. However, a few minutes passed and she was still in the business infested town.
"You are in violation of toon dress code," a metallic voice called out.
Amy whipped around and saw something that looked to be a cog.
"You are not allowed to wear anything besides gray and black. I will have to arrest you."
"Who are you?"
The cog seemed surprised. "Are you an idiot? I am the ruler of this pathetic place! My name is Leon Roder, the Chairman of Cog Nation!"
"Cog Nation? What happened to Toontown? Where in the world is everyone?"
Leon Roder let out an annoyed sigh. "I don't know where the hell you've been for the past twelve years, but Toontown no longer exists. There was no room in my organiztion for a bunch of useless and trivial little toys. What is your name?"
"Amy grant," she replied, sounding much braver than she felt. "What part of Toon- I mean Cog Nation am I in?"
Roder looked around, then fixed his cold gaze back on Amy. "Well, this place used to be Elko, but it is now the heart of Cog Nation, Central City."
"Where is everyone? Are they safe?"
"I grow tired of your constant blabbering. I am going to take you to the Cog Nation Prison for violating the toon dress code."
Leon Roder removed handcuffs from his pocket and started advancing on Amy. Suddenly, out of no where, a figure swiftly rammed into the evil cog. Someone grabbed her from behind, and started pulling her towards a forest of buildings.
-Elko Park-
Mark, Harvey, and Melody ran to the center of the park and found a blue dog standing motionless in a grassy spot.
"Zach?" Mark said. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
"H-he took her Mark," Zach said with no emotion in his voice. "He took her, then he just vanished into thin air."
"Zach, who did he take?" Mark asked.
"He took Amy," Zach said. "Some guy that called himself Dark."
Mark sighed, then took a phone out of his pocket. "Well, I guess our little vacation is over my friend. I'm gonna call Milton and tell him to meet us. I will find a way to get the others here soon."
"Hold on, timeout," Harvey said. "What's going on here Mark? I thought we were just going to see that Gyro dude."
"I'm sorry Harvey," Mark stated as he dialed a number. "But something far more important has finally shown itself. I will explain everything once things have settled down."
-Gyro Gearloose's house, Elko Woods-
Mark, Zach, Milton, Chief Trey Johnson, Harvey, Melody, Mr. Hollywood B-102, and Officer Apollo Browning stood in front of the entrance to Gyro Gearloose's house, which was located deep into the Elko Woods.
"I guess I'm gonna ring the bell," Apollo said when he realized everyone else didn't feel like doing it.
Apollo pressed his finger to the door bell and heard a buzzing sound go off inside the house. Everyone stood in front of the door for another thirty seconds, then the door was opened by an old chicken, Gyro Gearloose.
Chief Johnson stepped forward. "Hello Mr. Gearloose, my name is Chief Trey Johnson. We are the ones who scheduled this meeting to examine B-102's power source."
"Ah yes," Gearloose said. "Please, come in and make yourselves at home. There are snacks and refreshments in the kitchen, so please help yourself."
Milton started walking towards the kitchen, but Zach grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.
"That's not what we're here for man," Zach said softly.
"Aw come on," Milton complained. "I was about to eat lunch when you guys called me up for this crap. I'm starving."
Zach sighed. "Whatever, but just hurry up, and save me some!"
Milton ran into the kitchen in search of food. Zach and everyone else followed Gearloose into his lab.
"B-102 you will need to lay on your back on this observation table I have set up."
B-102 looked at the table. "Am I going to be awake for this procedure, Mr. Gearloose?"
Gearloose shook his head. "No sir, but you will have to shut yourself down, as we do not know how."
Gearloose then turned to Zach and co.
"But first, let's get introductions out of the way. Officer Browning, who are these people you have brought along today?"
"Oh uh, well that's My nephew Mark, that's Chief Johnson, those two to the left of Mark are Harvey and Melody, his agents in training, that's Zach, but where's Milton?"
"In the kitchen stuffing his face," Zach said. "The dude eats like a pig."
"Well I can understand Harvey and Melody being here, but why are the two younger children here?"
Zach bit back a smart-ass comment. This guy had no idea how important he and Milton were in the fight against the cogs.
"Sir," Mark started. "I assure you that Zach and Milton are probably the most important people here at the moment. I am not permitted to say why, but they deserve to be here."
Gearloose nodded and turned to B-102, who was now on the observation table.
"Let's get started, shall we? B-102, I will need you to shut down for about thirty minutes."
B-102 nodded and started to feel himself fall out.
-Somewhere beyond the former town of Elko-
Amy had fainted due to the confusion of the last few minutes, but now found herself in a bed in a small cabin. She sat up and saw three toons watching some cog news show.
"Um hi," she said softly.
They snapped their heads towards Amy. They were all men. There were two dogs, one was red, one was green. They were both about 6'2 with big biceps. the other one was a multicolored cat. He was about 5'10, but looked more muscular than the two others.
The red dog was the first to speak. "You're awake. You have been out for about three hours."
"Where in the world am I? What happened to Elko?"
"You are safe now," the cat said. "We are in a secret underground cabin. The cogs haven't found this place in the twelve years since Toontown's defeat."
"What is your name?" The green dog asked.
"Amy Grant."
The red dog closed his eyes and sighed. "Damn it. You guys, we were wrong. Amy said she went forward in time, but Zach and I didn't believe her. We were fools."
"Zach? Where is he? Who are you?"
"Amy," the red dog said. "Take a good look at me and you will know."
Amy looked into the dog's eyes for about a minute, then let out a shocked gasp.
"Milton?"
