All heroes have their origins of how they became great. One thing remained common in all their stories; they had motivations and hardships during their journey. While there are many stories, we can only look at one at a time. This is the tale of how a boy rose to the top and saved his town from possible devastation.

Loopy Leroy McToon ran through Loopy Lane, in a hurry to pick up Gags at the Gag Shop. Sweat trickled down his head and his sneakers squeaked as he ran across the pavement.

"Almost there… Almost there!" He said, out of breath.

Soon, Leroy made his way into Toontown Central and entered the Gag Shop. He stumbled to the counter and panted. Clerk Clara was understandably concerned for him.

"A-are you all right?"

Leroy weakly places his hand on the counter and pulls himself up, a bag of jellybeans in hand.

"N-need… a… refill of Gags…" He panted and coughed.

"R-right away!" Clerk Clara exclaimed. Soon, Leroy's Gag bag was refilled and he waved goodbye to Clara as he exited. Leroy put his hands on his knees and panted, about to pass out. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was none other than his lazy little brother, Deputy Beany.

"Gee, bro. You all right?" The younger brother asked.

"Y-yeah… I forgot to get some Gags yesterday, and Markus wants me to do a building with him today so I came here in a hurry." Leroy explained.

Beany chuckled at his older brother's klutzy habits, and gave him some water to help him recover from that tiring run. They sat down in the grass under a tree and relaxed.

"How is the Gag training going along, little bro?" Leroy asked.

"Ehh, I've been slacking off, what can I say? I love sleeping."

"Beany, if you wanna be the strongest, you're gonna have to stop being so lazy."

"Yeah yeah yeah, you always tell me that. I'll train more tomorrow." Deputy said while yawning.

Leroy couldn't help but chuckle, he took another sip of his water and sighed contently. The feeling of the slight wind brushing against their knees due to their shorts and the chirping of birds and flying butterflies is what gave Toontown Central it's relaxing atmosphere. Leroy couldn't help but smile up at the sky as he admired the sights of the playground, he listened to the sounds of other Toons catching fish, the ding of the Trolley departing and taking Toons to minigames, and the numerous silly chatter that made up everyone's conversations.

"Hey, Beany?"

"Yeah, Leroy?" Beany's ears perked a bit from his older brother grasping his attention.

"Do you think I'll ever be able to join the Toon Resistance one day?"

"I think so, you work harder than me that's for sure." Beany chuckled.

Leroy smiled.

"Sometimes, I wonder; will we ever fully defeat the Cogs? It leaves me with a weird feeling whenever I ask myself that. Probably because it's a big question… I don't know, maybe I'm just overthinking things."

"You talk too much as well." Beany said, while laying down on his back with his eyes closed.

"And you sleep too much." Leroy remarked cheekily.

"Can't hear you over the sound of my snoring." Beany said playfully as he made fake snoring sounds.

"Welp, I'm gonna head out and help Markus. See you later, little bro." Leroy waved goodbye to his already asleep brother and walked to Markus' location, taking his time and making sure not to exhaust himself this time.

xXx

Tammy sighed as straightened up a stack of papers and placed them in a neat pile on her desk. The papers were full of nothing but legalese mumbo jumbo she didn't bother to care about unless ordered to. This was her life, huh? Sitting at a desk and being sent out every now and then to the streets to risk her life? And for what? For some boss she utterly loathes? Tammy scratched her beak as she sat boredly in her cubicle. She hated how boring Cog life was, even if the pay was good, she couldn't help but resent the fact that they couldn't just live in peace with the Toons.

Why couldn't they just leave them alone? She asked herself this day by day. Unlike most Cogs, she found Toons utterly adorable! With their vibrant colors and pinchable cheeks, it made her wonder why the Cogs hated them so much, with their corrupt business ways.

Tammy's train of thought was interrupted by her boss Mr. Bucket O' Bolts, as usual he had a big stack of legal crap for her to look through.

"Sign these." He said bluntly.

"Yessir." Tammy replied quickly, not wanting to set off her hot headed boss. She took out her pen and got to work, as usual.

xXx

Leroy exited the Cog building him and his friend Markus had planned to take on. A three story Cashbot building, which wouldn't be much to a Toon of high laff and level 7 gags, but for a low level Toon; it was like hell.

"Phew, that was close!" Markus exclaimed, victoriously.

Leroy smiled at his friend.

"Thanks for the help, Leroy." Markus said as he gave him a high five.

"Anytime, I needed to train Squirt anyway." Leroy said with a chuckle. "How's your Laff meter?"

"I'm practically almost sad at this point, just five points left. I better head back to the playground, see ya later, Leroy!" Markus said before jumping in a black hole he placed on the ground like a mat.

Leroy waved goodbye and sat down on the sidewalk, he checked his Laff as well.

"Four points left." He said to himself, "I better get-" before he could finish that sentence, scream echoed. In a sense of urgency, Leroy rushed to the source of the sound, he found a Toon with two laff points left, fighting a level twelve Mr. Hollywood.

"What's a level twelve doing here?!" The Toon cried.

Leroy's heart raced as he weighed his options. Should he help this Toon? Or, save his own skin? Without thinking, Leroy's legs began moving, it was almost like it was on their own. Leroy took out a cupcake and readied it in his hand.

"Take this!" He felt the cupcake leave his fingertips as he threw it hard at the Cog harassing that poor Toon. It splattered all over the Mr. Hollywood's face, but it barely did a thing. The Cog wiped the cupcake off his face.

"That was a mere pinch." Mr. Hollywood said was a toothy grin. As he got ready to harm both of them, he was hit with what seemed to be an entire wedding cake.

"Huh!?" Leroy and the harmed Toon both exclaimed. They looked up only to see an Orange dog with the Sellbot Smasher outfit, he looked old, possibly in his sixties. It was none other than the Toon Resistance's most highest ranked member, Resistance Ranger Leo. The harmed Toon, in desperation to return to the playground unharmed, jumped into a hole he quickly chucked onto the ground. While Leroy stood in awe.

"That was my eighth wedding cake today." Leo said with a heroic grin. Leroy was at a loss for words, he never thought he'd meet his hero, the one who solely inspired him to train for the Toon Resistance. What should he do? Or say? Or-

"Well, I best be off now. Be careful out there, young man." Leo hopped into a hole to the Toon Resistance HQ.

"Leo, wait!" Leroy exclaimed in a desperate attempt to get his idol's attention before he left, but he was gone. His hand had reached out to Leo, but it was too late. Leroy sadly lowered his hand, even while he was saved, he still felt defeated from missing his chance to talk to his idol. He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"At least, he saved me…" Leroy said to himself as he returned home solemnly.

xXx

"Tammy… Tammy… Tammy!" Tammy jolted awake, having fallen asleep at her desk. She looked up and saw her friend Stacy looking down at her in the cubicle next to Tammy's, who was a Legal Eagle like her, except two inches taller and had white hair.

"O-oh! Uh, apologies, Stacy. What's up?" Tammy asked, now fully awake.

"It's lunch break, I heard it's pizza daaay!" Stacy said with excitement, which made Tammy smile.

"Oh, great! Let's get going to the lunch room." Tammy said as she got up from her chair and headed to the lunch room with Stacy. Once they arrived they sat down together, plates with pizza and a can of oil in hand. As usual, Stacy loaded Tammy's hearing chip with various gossip of all kinds, such as who's dating who and all that nonsense. But, Tammy didn't mind it, it was made Stacy well, Stacy. Tammy has grown to live with it since they first met. After what felt like hours, Stacy had finally given Tammy a chance to speak.

"Y'know Stacy, there's something that's always been on my mind." Tammy said.

"What's that?" Stacy asked with curiosity.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but I never understood why we can't just live in peace with the Toons. I mean, they're innocent beings minding their own business until we started pursuing them, what's the harm if we just leave them be y'know?" Tammy said with slight grief.

"Truthfully, I know how you feel. But, I just choose not to think about it too hard. It's just how things are, at least until the Toons soon defeat us." Stacy told her close friend and sipped her oil.

"Something has to change someday…" Tammy thought to herself.

xXx

"Damn it…" Leroy said as he walked home, kicking a rock that was in his path. "I could've gotten an autograph, stupid me…"

It was until a certain someone hopped out from a trash can. Yep, it was Resistance Ranger Leo. The surprise from Leo popping out of a trash can so suddenly expectedly freaked Leroy out.

"What the- Leo? Why are you here? I t-thought you had some important Resistance stuff to attend to."

Leo chuckled, and smiled. "Well, there is a reason why I'm here, boy! For you specifically."

"M-me?"

"Who else?" Leo said with a hearty laugh. "There's something I'm here to talk to you about, boy."

"Hm?" Leroy's ears slightly perked as he listened to the old fighter in front of him.

"The Toon Resistance has been looking for new members rather than just waiting for people to apply, most people nowadays are retiring, and it could be detrimental to our cause. If you hadn't run in to save that Toon from that Mr. Hollywood, he would've been a goner in mere seconds. I could sense something in you, the need to be a hero. Is that correct?"

Leroy's eyes slightly glistened with tears, as he hoped he was hearing what he thought he was hearing.

"Today, what you did was an act of heroism, the most important part of being a Resistance Ranger. Even if you didn't defeat the Cog, you still tried to help. There are stories of every Resistance Ranger, and how they became great." Leo never broke eye contact with Leroy.

"They went through hardships but had motivations to pull them through. You're having trouble training your Gags, right?"

Leroy nodded, "Y-Yeah…" Tears began streaming down his cheeks.

"I deem you worthy of joining the Toon Resistance, you will soon be known as Toontown's greatest hero."

Hearing those words made Leroy fall to his knees, crying in joy. He clutched his chest and let it all out, not caring that he was crying in front of his idol. All the doubts he felt, all the trouble he had training his Gags, lead up to this.

"I will dedicate my time to training you until you are fit to join the Resistance." Leo said with a smile, those words made Leroy look up at him in confusion.

"...H-huh?"

Leo couldn't help but chuckle heartedly, "Hahaha! Don't worry, I'm not gonna force this on you if you're not sure."

"N-no! I'm sure! It's just… you? Toontown's greatest Resistance Ranger training me? Is this a dream?" Leroy pinched himself and immediately winced from the sharp pain it brought.

"Nope! This is reality, boyo. Listen well… uhhh… what's your name?"

"Loopy Leroy McToon."

"Right! Listen well, Leroy! If you want to become the best, you're gonna have to be open to improving yourself to make yourself the best you can be. Got it?"

Leroy smile with a look of determination on his face, "I'll do my best!" He declared.

End of Chapter 1...