Toon Town dreaded the fact that April Fools day was tomorrow and with good cause. It was an unspoken fact Luan Loud was known throughout town as the most feared prankster for the fact that she went absolutely nuts on this day. Even the likes of Bugs Bunny and Jerry Mouse were reluctant to even think about going up against her. Now add in the fact that Michael Desmond Francis (or Mike Df as he preferred) was very good friends with Luan and staying for the week. This gave the citizens even more of a reason to prep for the Prank-pocalypse, which was an unspoken rule. Speaking of Luan, she was in her room, going over her plans for tomorrow.
"This is gonna be so good." Luan snickered to herself as he got up from her bed and went downstairs. "I'm gonna need some more whipped cream and cement, but that shouldn't be so hard."
She just so happen to have the house all to herself for a few hours. Just then, a knock on the door. Luan answered it and it was none other than Mike standing there with the box of supplies.
"Mike! I was wondering when you'd show up." She greeted as the green feline made his way inside.
"So, you got everything mapped out?" He asked with a smirk.
"Yo know me too well." She replied, showing him the blueprints. "You got everything we need?"
"I bought everything in bulk."
"Good."
Just as they were about to review and revise their dastardly pranks, they felt their phones buzz. Picking them up, they saw the notification. It was an emergency message from the CDC. Now, seeing that put them slightly on edge, but as it was important, they tapped them and read the message. It read as follows:
Numerous reports have been coming in about a new virus that seems to be an extremely mutated form of the rabies virus. It only seems to affect canines, both sentient and non-sentient. It is highly contagious and takes affect within five minutes of infection, transmitted through saliva, blood, sneezing and coughing and causes victims to gain increased strength, speed and stamina, insatiable hunger and uncontrollable rage. Citizens are advised to steer clear of canines for maximum safety and canines are to quarantined until tested.
After reading that message, the two looked at each other in dread. They couldn't believe what was happening.
"This is a joke, right?" Luan chuckled nervously.
Before Mike could say anything, screams, barking, sirens and cars crashing could be heard outside. The two rushed to the window and peeked outside. Their eyes widened on horror at the carnage that beheld them. Canines of all species, both anthropomorphic and feral, rampaged through the streets and feasted on any poor soul they could get their jaws on. From Tanya Keys sinking her teeth into Mao Mao's throat to Spike Bulldog running down and tearing into Elmer Fudd to police dogs turning on their partners, the sight made them sick as they closed the curtains.
"What the hell?!" Mike gasped. "Oh God, this is bad."
"Well, at least things can't get worse." Luan said.
Suddenly, they heard a low growl behind them.
"Don't ever say that in scary situations." Mike said.
They both turned around and saw the family dog Charles covered in blood and growling with his teeth bared. They both screamed as the dog then made a mad dash for them before being caught in a net trap, much to the pranksters' relief.
"Good thing we set that one up." Luan said.
Before Charles could bite his way out of the trap, Mike quickly took down the net and threw it and the dog into the backyard before locking the back door, even barricading the doggy door. Once that was done, they decided sit down on the couch to think about their next move.
"Okay, think." Mike said. "We have two options here: either stay in here, hoping someone helps us or leave hoping to find help."
"Well, I'm definitely not going out." Luan replied. "I mean, we still have enough food to last us a while."
Before their conservation could go on any further, a desperate pounding on the door could be hear. Peeking through the window, they saw their friends and family, to whom they obliged and opened the door before locking it back up.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Luan sighed in relief before she noticed something. "Wait, where are the others?"
"We got separated." Lincoln answered.
"We literally have no idea what happened to Mom, Dad, Lola, Leni, Luna, Lynn and Lily." Lori added.
"And Mike, we have something we need to tell you." Shiano told him.
"What?" The green guy replied.
His friends were reluctant to tell him, but ultimately did as it was the right thing to do.
"Ezain... was eaten." Ryuken confessed.
Those words pierced Mike's heart like bullets as tears gradually built up in his eyes.
"No..." He denied breathlessly.
"It's true. He, Mach, Leo, Zero, they were all torn apart right in front of us." Mestello said, the usually calm girl struggling to fight back her sobs as she recounted seeing her lover and friends devoured with their own eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, Mike plopped onto the couch and broke down, crying into his hands. His tears burned his cheeks as his friends surrounded him to console him. Suddenly, their emotional moment was interrupted by vicious slamming, scratching and barking. Thanks to his newfound strength, Charles was cracking the back door as he repeatedly slammed his body into it. If that wasn't bad enough, Puppycorn, Dr. Fox, Brian Griffin, and Wil E. Coyote were barking and screeching at them through the window.
"Go! Go! GO!" Lincoln cried as he, his sisters, Shiano and Viola ran up the stairs as Mike, Ryuken, Ezina and Mestello opted to buy them some time by fighting them off just as the the bloody canines broke in.
Meanwhile, the group upstairs was looking for any means to escape. Lincoln checked his room only to find a vicious Mr. Peabody climbing in through the window. He slammed it shut and locked it, trapping him inside.
"No good!" He called in fear.
When Lori and Leni's room was checked, they found Santa's Little Helper and one of Mr. Burns' hounds smashing through the window.
"Nope!" Viola gulped as they slammed it shut and leaned against it as she felt them ramming against the door.
Lucy and Lynn's room was no good either when they found Blue and Magenta in there.
"Yeah, no." Lucy deadpanned, slamming the door.
"We're trapped!" Shiano cried. "There's no other way out!"
"Oh yes there is." Luan pointed out as she stood in the still clear bathroom.
Just then, there was a series of loud crashes downstairs which was shortly followed by Mike, Ryuken, Ezina and Mestello rushing up the stairs, battered and bloody.
"I'm assuming your altercation with the canines didn't go as expected." Lisa said.
"That's a little bit of an understatement, Lisa." Ryuken panted. "DAMN! Those guys are dynamite."
Just then, they heard the sound of barking and growling ominously approaching.
"Quick! In here!" Luan called.
As the others rushed for it, Mike stayed behind to do something first.
"What are you doing!?" Ezina exclaimed. "Come on! Let's go!"
"Just gotta do something." Mike replied, tying a tripwire few steps down.
It was at that moment, the dogs rounded the corner and bolted up the stairs. After the first few steps, one of them gave out, causing Brian to fall through it. Dr. Fox then tripped the tripwire, causing a bucket to pour grease down the stairs, resulting in the rest of the dogs sliding down.
"Nice." Ezina commented as they joined their friends in the bathroom.
Once the were all inside, it was locked.
"Well, what now?" Lori asked before barking and growling could be heard outside.
Several seconds later, a set of jaws smashed through it. Shiano looked at the window and had an idea.
"Guys, you're gonna have to trust me on this." The white cat said.
Opening the window, he channeled all his training and experience into his paws before conjuring up an ice slide.
"I hope you like slides." He said as they took a look at what he had done.
"I love you, bro." His brother said.
Their attention returned to the door, which was slowly being chipped away.
"Mike, give me a boost." Luan requested.
The green feline obliged and lifted her up. Once she reached the ceiling, she opened up a hatch and pulled down some sort of contraption with a boxing glove attached to it before setting it up.
"The hell is that thing?" Mestello asked.
"Just an annual hit." Luan punned. "I'm sorry. But this will slow 'em down."
Ignoring her awful pun, they began sliding down the ice slide one by one. Suddenly, the door gave out. Fortunately, the machine activated and the punching glove sprung out, sending them flying down the hallway and into Lincoln's door.
"What do you know. It worked." Lana said.
"Told you." Luan smirked.
Soon, the only people left were Lincoln and Lori. Just as the middle child got ready to slide, Lori screamed in pain. Lincoln looked behind her and saw Mr. Peabody and Odie with their teeth sunk into her legs as they attempted to drag her away.
"LORI!" Lincoln cried, clutching her hands in his own
"Literally forget about me! Save yourself!" Lori screamed before she was dragged away as Lincoln slid into the front yard.
"Dude, what happened?!" Shiano asked.
"They got Lori!" Lincoln replied.
"We can mourn about it later!" Ryuken pointed out. "We got company."
The group looked to where the blonde was pointing. Fast approaching them was every single member of the Dalmatian family, with Dylan and Dolly leading the charge. Not wanting to wait any longer, the group climbed into Vanzilla, but not before Luan was able to retrieve a pistol from a dead cop. Mike got in the driver's seat. Once the engine started, they sped off, leaving the dogs in the dust. Everyone inside took their time enjoying to solace the van provided them.
"That was a close one." Ezina sighed in relief.
"You can say that again." Mestello said.
Meanwhile, Luan comforted her siblings over the loss of their eldest sister. Just then, the van stopped.
"Hey, what gives?" Luan asked.
"Keep it down!" Mike hushed. "Look."
They looked down the street and saw canines everywhere, many of them gorging themselves on corpses while others napped the calories off.
"Does anyone here know any alternative routes around here?" He asked.
"Well, I think I know one way where we can go." Luan said.
With that, they set off in another direction. Luan guided Mike until they reached a wooded area where they could use the foliage as cover. So, they went down that path.
"Mike, where exactly do you plan on taking us?" Mestello asked.
"Lady Catterly's mansion." He answered. "Where bound to find her and other survivors there. Lana, you're the animal person here. There's safety in numbers, right?"
"Yeah, most canines are pack animals, so I guess we can fight fire with fire." Lana agreed.
"I guess it's decided then." Ryuken remarked.
About 20 minutes of driving had past and, true to the green cat's word, there were fast approaching the magenta aristocat's mansion.
"I hope you're right about this." Lucy said.
Suddenly, the van stopped again, only this was a lot more abrupt than the last one, much to everyone's annoyance.
"Mike, what the hell? What are you stopping for?" Ryuken asked.
"I don't know!" Mike said as he floored it.
The tires screeched and squealed at the friction, but they were stationary. Then, the squealing stopped, but the engine continued to rev. They were all bewildered until they realized the van was tilting forward. The passengers looked behind the car and were horrified at what they saw: Three foxes, Todd Hayseed, Nick Wilde and Robin Hood had a firm grip on the van's rear as they effortlessly lifted it up until the van was completely flipped upside-down. The mansion was so close, yet seemed so far away.
As they tried to regain their bearings, Nick kicked one of the windows out and dragged Lana out of her seat and away from the wreck to devour her, all the while she screamed out in terror and agony.
Todd tried to do the same to Luan, grabbing her by her neck, when she remembered something: the gun! Reaching for it, she aimed it it at his head and pulled the trigger... only for a little 'BANG!' flag to pop out.
"SERIOUSLY?!" Luan growled as she instead poked him in the eye with it.
The fox sheriff reeled back and fell onto his butt, clutching his eye. Getting tired of of this, Robin simply walked up and ripped the door straight off, only to be met with a plasma bullet to the face, courtesy of Ryuken. The same fate befell Nick while he was trying to drag away Viola.
"Bullseye." He smirked.
"Thanks, babe." She panted.
"No prob."
Without wasting another second, the cats used their claws to cut themselves and their friends free. Unfortunately, while in the process of freeing Mestello, Todd recovered and dragged her away, his teeth sunk deep into her shoulder as blood dripped and stained the ground. They stared in horror for a brief moment before booking it to the mansion. With adrenaline coursing through them, the pain was the last thing on their minds as they ran.
"Guys, we have something to tell you and we're gonna make this quick." Luan panted.
"You better!" Shiano replied.
"We're so sorry for going crazy every April Fools." Mike apologized. "We'll make it up to you. We promise."
"That is if we make it out of here alive." Viola said, pointing out the growing pack of canines in the distance.
At long last, they made it to the mansion. With no time to knock, they barged in and slammed the door behind them.
"Sorry to barge in like this, but we really need to- OH MY GOD COME ON!" Viola growled in frustration and fear when she and her friends turned to see Miguel, King Nacho and Mayor Wags feasting on their feline mates' corpses.
The three dogs noticed them, growled menacingly and slowly stalked towards. They tried to leave back out the door only for the Heeler family to try and force themselves in. As they struggled to close the door, Ezina put up a shield to prevent Nacho, Miguel and Wags from getting to them. They were now stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Crap. NOW WHAT!?" Luan screamed.
"Guys, I think I have an idea." Lincoln said. "It's risky, but we might just pull it off."
"Well, you better hurry! This is is tiring!" Ezina said, struggling to keep the cracking shield up.
After he whispered the plan to them, it was put into action. The blonde feline dropped the shield letting the dogs charge towards them, only for Shiano to freeze their legs to the floor. Once that was done, they were able to fully close the door and lock it.
"That was a close-"
Ryuken was cut off when three pairs of paws smashed through the door and grabbed hold of him on different parts of his body.
"RYU!" Shiano cried out for his brother as he and Viola grabbed hold of his hands in a futile attempt to pry him free of their grasp.
"Hold on! We got you!" Viola assured.
"Don't worry about me! I'll be able to hold them off." He replied. "For them, I'm basically a walking buffe-AAAAH!"
Ryuken was then forcefully pulled through the door and devoured by the family of dogs. With no time to grieve, they wiped the tears and joined the others in running just as Nacho began smashing through his icy bindings with his fist. As the gang ran through the halls, they narrowly dodged many dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, tanukis and any other canine smashing through the windows. There were soon able to make out back, but not before losing Ezina, Lincoln and Lisa to the pack.
When they reached the garden, they used tipped over statues, furniture, ice; anything to hinder ravenous canids before they were able to escape the property. Unfortunately, they were now out in the open street and were without any sort of shelter to protect them from the growing mob of dogs. Shiano did his best to create barriers with his ice, but they merely dodged or smashed right through them. Not to mention, it would tire him out as they continued running.
"THEY'RE GAINING ON US!" Luan panted.
"This is it." Lucy said.
Just then they thought things couldn't get any worse, another pack of dogs were charging towards them in the opposite direction.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Viola griped before she noticed an abandoned apartment building next to them. "Quick! In here!"
Running up to the building's doors, Viola used one of her claws to pick the lock. She was successful, but before she could enter, she, Shiano and Lucy were all claimed by the dogs and devoured, leaving only Mike and Luan left. They rushed into the decrepit building and barred the doors with an old plank, but they knew they'd have no problem tearing it down and they had no where to run with the elevator busted and the stairs too rotten to climb.
"I guess this is it." Mike panted in defeat. "I didn't think it would end this way; devoured by dogs."
"It was nice knowing you, buddy." Luan sobbed, giving him what could be one last hug.
"The feeling's mutual." He replied.
Suddenly, the doors came crashing down as the feral canines growled and barked as they slowly approached their victims who were now backed up against the wall. Mike and Luan squeezed their eyes shut to brace themselves for their fate...
But it never came. This really confused Luan, but what confused her even more was when the growling stopped and was replaced by what sound snorting. She opened her eyes and saw the canids were no longer so vicious and looked like they were about to burst out laughing. And they did. A million emotions raced through her head when she turned and saw Mike laughing his tail off as well.
"OH MY DOG! WE GOT YOU SO GOOD!" Dolly screeched between her laughs
"I can't believe you fell for it so hard!" King guffawed, wiping a tear.
"And best of all, we got it all on video!" Bluey and Bingo laughed.
"Oh man! I can't breathe! My stomach hurts so bad!" Miguel gagged from the laughter.
To really hammer it home, the dogs took them outside and showed the 'victims' of the attack laughing their lungs out as well. Even their friends were alive, well and cackling. It took a minute for everyone to calm down, by which point Luan only had a few questions.
"How? Why?" She questioned, still dumbstruck.
"Well..." Mike began.
Montage time!
We see all the Toon Town citizens going over their plan which they named Operation: Rise Through the Pranks. It took months in advance planning as it involved many of the participants receiving acting lessons, Lucy helping oversee the production of all the fake blood needed and convincing city officials to allow the prank to happen, which was surprisingly easy when they found out it was going to be on Luan.
When it was all done, Mach designed a fake CDC message and Mike passed out shield and strength badges for them to be able to pull off the stunts without hurting themselves. The Kagura brothers even passed out earpieces for characters designated as directors to direct their movements and give them signals.
Montage over.
"So you see, it was a all a prank." Huey told Luan.
"And you fell for it so hard!" Webby laughed.
"So, what did you think of our prank?" Luz asked.
"Pretty good, huh?" Marshall added.
However, they didn't get a response out of her. She just continued staring into nothing.
"Uh, Luan?" Ryuken asked.
"Hey, snap out of it!" Stolas said, snapping his fingers.
Still nothing.
"Hello? Anybody in there?" Anne called, waving her hand in front of her face.
"Uh, you don't think we scared her that much, do you?" Stan wondered.
"I hope not." Little Cato gulped.
They did. Her family and a few other participants could only watch at what they had done through the one-way window as Luan barked insanely.
"Oh God, we did." Lincoln lamented.
"Yeah, no bones about. It's all our fault she's left barking mad." Ryuken punned before everyone else glared at him. "What? Someone had to do it. It's just not the same."
"Too soon, dude." Luna sneered.
"I'm sorry, I understand."