Chip had never been this far outside of Toontown. Mostly due to the fact that he had become a full-time caregiver and provider for his family, and that work really never needed him to leave. He had gone to Kingdom of Valentoonia once before, shortly after they and Toontown had agreed upon a new peace treaty, connecting the two towns together, but that was as a novelty experience. Out here on the road it was nothing but sand and the open road. Why somebody had paved hundreds of miles of road out this far was beyond him, but he had just assumed that whoever did it was probably feeling pretty good about themselves now. Chip had stopped at the convenience store and stocked up on supplies; chips, drinks, and other snacks. Fortunately for him he had only seen one other vehicle on the road in two hours since he left, so bathroom breaks meant pulling off to the side of the road. There had not been another building, or any sign of civilization in over a hundred miles. While he had smartly left early in the morning, the bright August sun was starting to make an appearance and cast a blinding light in his eyes. Reaching over to his cupholder, he nabbed his sunglasses and struggled to open them before shoving them onto his face, providing his eyes with some respite from the burning brightness. He had already cycled through a large section of his playlist, reaching over he lowered the volume on the stereo and adjusted his glasses. Off in the distance it appeared that there was a Toon... and they were walking? In the desert? Chip knew that it was common to see illusions in the desert but wasn't that when you were out there? Pulling off the road once again, Chip quickly jumped out and walked a few feet into the burning grains of hell beneath his feet. Hopping back onto the also warm pavement, Chip jumped back inside. The monkey hated to drive with his shoes on, but he wasn't going anywhere without them. Slipping on a pair of his converse sneakers, he jumped back out and held his hand cupped above his forehead. Sure enough there was a figure about half a mile into the desert. They continued to move forward at a stringent pace and made no notion that indicated they had seen Chip. "Hey! Hey you there! Can you hear me!" Chip screamed out.
He couldn't just stand here while there was someone wandering the desert, hundreds of miles from civilization. What if this was one of the missing Toons? This could be huge. Clamoring down a small hill of sand, Chip struggled to keep his balance as the shifting sand beneath him was barely stabilized by his quick and fluid motions. Just minutes away from his air conditioning had brought the brown monkey to his knees. The intense heat scorched the back of his neck, his throat had shriveled up as he continued to scream out to the other Toon, and his body was beginning to weaken. The closer he got to the Toon, the further apart they seemed to be. No matter how loud, or how often he screamed, his warnings appeared unheard. Pulling out his whisper device be began typing a message in to Flippy. "Hey. I'm about two hundred miles outside of Toontown headed towards Funny Farms. There appears to be a Toon out in the desert wandering alone. I've tried to reach them but it seems they are either purposely ignoring me, or are unable to hear me. The closer I get to them, they get further away. Not sure if this is a mirage or not, but if you could send someone out as soon as possible, I can't take my vehicle off road. I don't want to leave them out here alone but I'm not going to be able to stay out here alone this long. The heat is killing me." hitting send, Chip waited as the small circle for the message send rotated. After a minute a red exclamation mark alerted him that the message had not been sent. "Ugh, no service out here. Why would there be, I guess." putting his whisperer away, he looked back up where the Toon had been walking to find that not only was the figure gone, but he seemed even further away from the road than he was when he had started his message. Unsettled, Chip began to lightly jog back. Whoever that was, they would have to be on their own. He'd send for help once he hit Funny Farms. As he made the trek back the once blinding sun had slowly begin to disappear and a freezing chill was overtaking him instead. How could this be happening? It was only noon when he had left. It couldn't have been much later than three? Maybe the days worked differently this far outside of Toontown. He certainly was scientoonst. Picking up intro a sprint, Chip finally made it back to his car and jumped inside. Rubbing his hands together, he breathed into them, hoping to thaw the frozen fingers with his own warmth. Almost immediately once he had gotten back into the car, the darkness began to fade and once again the sun took its' rightful place in the sky. "What the hell is going in here?" Chip wondered. Before his own thoughts could overtake his mind, the monkey's whisper device began to rumble. Whipping it out, he flipped it open immediately. Somehow he had gained service in just a few hundred feet.
"Yeah, we will have a group go out there. Glad to hear from you, Chip. We will expedite things, so you just worry about getting to your destination." the comfort that message brought almost washed away the anxiety and worry that were filling him. Not just about the mysterious Toon, but also of the strange occurrence that had just happened with the sky. Slipping his key into the ignition, Chip started his car and turned the volume back up on his stereo. He was going to need a distraction. Jamming to the music, Chip got back onto the road and back on his way to Funny Farms. As he adjusted his rearview mirror, something startled him. Just on the edge of his vision in the distance was a figure. It appeared to be the same Toon that he had witnessed earlier, except now it was in the middle of the road. Slamming on his breaks, Chip took a deep breath. That figure had seemed like they were even further than Chip was, and somehow they had reached the road almost as quickly as he did. What was going on? Spinning around, Chip hit the gas and started flying down the road. The figure was now getting closer. Once again, the gap began to close and the sun began to fade. Again the darkness was swallowing him, enveloping the desert in a light embrace. Now the shadowy figure was just a few hundred feet in front of him. Slowing to a crawl, Chip looked out in horror as the Toon became clearer. Was this a Toon? He wasn't sure. Whoever it was, they wore tattered and worn down clothing, and was covered in sweat and sand. That was strange, but what really confused him was that where the Toon's head was a pumpkin? Jumping out of the car, Chip ran over with his arms flailing over his head.
"Excuse me! Excuse me, sir! Can you hear me?" the Toon had their head slumped down facing the ground, trudging along the endless highway one pace at a time, unable or unwilling to hear Chip's squeals. As the brown monkey finally reached the Toon, he reached out and made a grab for the figure's shoulder. Immediately the one solid figure slowly dissolved into a pile of sand, leaving nothing but a single carved pumpkin in the middle of the road. Chip screamed in horror and hopped back. There was no way he had imagined that right? This Toon just turned into sand! They were there just a few moments ago! Heart racing faster than his car down the freeway, Chip tried to regain his composure. Taking short, rapid breaths, Chip stepped slowly towards the pumpkin. Kneeling down, he examined the orange gourd. Sure enough, it was real. Hollow, but real. Knocking on it lightly, he spun it around and lifted it to be sure. Maybe he had just imagined the Toon. Maybe the desert was playing tricks on his mind. But if so, how did this pumpkin get here? Placing the hollowed out fruit beneath his arm, he quickly made his way back to the car. He was taking this with him. If he had learned two things in his career, one of them was that you should never leave behind potential evidence, and the other was that you should always get the hell out of there when something seemed off. Hardly getting his seat-belt on, Chip did a quick three-point-turn and resumed his drive back towards Funny Farm. "Ugh, need to get my mind off things." switching from the music stereo to the radio, Chip began to rotate through the static. He wasn't sure if the radio reached this far, but hearing the voice of another Toon was what he'd need to calm himself. After a few rotations through, he sighed as nothing appeared to be getting through. Giving up, he just presumed he could have to be alone with his thoughts. Peeking to the backseat of the car, he couldn't help but continue to check to make sure the pumpkin was still there. Sure enough, it remained. Suddenly, Chip remembered, he better tell Flippy about this. Pulling back to the side of the road he yanked his whisper device from its position and cringed as he saw thirteen missed messages.
"Hey, Chip. We are sending the crew out now. Is there any specific spot you'd like us to look?" "Chip, I know you are probably driving, but if you get the chance, we really need some information before we go out blind." Chip continued reading through, more and more confused. "Hey Chip, are you okay? Haven't heard from you in two hours. We've sent the crew out and they were unable to find anyone or anything out there so far, unfortunately. Could you give me a call when you get this?" "Chip - it's been six hours, I know it is a long drive but if you get this please check back in. The crew came back and had no luck. It looks like our luck may have gone sour there." Chip became increasingly concerned. Six hours? It had hardly been twenty minutes since he sent the message. Was Flippy messing with him? He didn't seem the type to mess around like this though. Checking through his last message, the brown monkey felt the wind knocked out of him. "Chip, it's been two days and we haven't heard from you. I'm really worried and I'm sending out a search unit if I don't hear back from you shortly. I'm worried there's been an accident. if you get this, please call." Two days? All of these messages were received just seconds apart? Flippy had to be messing with him. Holding his device up to his ear, he waited for a moment as it rang before a sudden click and an exasperated voice on the other line sent a shiver through Chip's spine. "Chocolate, its about damn time you answered. Where the heck have you been? We've been trying to get in touch with you for two days! Why didn't you answer?"
Chip shook his head. Flippy's tone was not one of mire and silliness, but one of fear and frustration. "Flippy, I don't know what is going on. Listen, I don't know if you're going to believe me on this-"
"Yeah, I don't think I am. It better be one hell of an excuse to not respond that long, we were worried here!" Flippy yelled back.
"Listen. Just listen! So first off all, I sent that message twenty minutes ago. So if you're messing with me here it isn't appreciated. Secondly, I found that Toon. Well, it was a Toon. Then they just... disappeared. They melted and turned into a pile of sand. But their head was a pumpkin! I mean, it was on their head at least. Then when they disappeared it left behind the pumpkin! Then the sky kept flipping between night and day! Listen, I'm scared here. I don't know what's going on. I have the pumpkin though and I'm going to keep going! But I want to tell you, there's something funny going out here in the desert. Did all of the search crew make it back?"
There were a few moments of silence as both Toons tried to absorb everything that had been said. Finally, Flippy began to speak in a hushed tone back into Chip's ear. "Chip, you need to get out of there. I don't know what's going on, but if everything you said is true, then something is wrong. I think you might have hit your head or something. Get off the road and take a nap and then turn around and come back. I will make sure you are reimbursed for your trouble and we can try again later."
"I'm sorry Flip, I know it isn't my head. I saw everything with my own two eyes. I have the pumpkin to prove it. You know pumpkins don't grow this time of year. I'll send you a picture. Anyways, I'm going to keep going. I just need to shake it off. But I swear to you that I've only been gone for a few hours. Whatever is happening, I can't let it sit now. I have to figure out what is going on. You can't see what I saw and not follow through." hanging up the device before Flippy could respond, Chip turned back around and snapped a picture of the pumpkin. Still as orange as the desert sun above him, he sent the portrait to Flippy with a message. "Told you." He also took a screenshot of the date and time for added comfort. Sure enough it had been twenty-eight minutes since his last message to Flippy. Sending the second message to his boss, he jumped back on the road.
The next few hours flew by with no issues. Chip had turned his playlist back on and eventually the previous afternoon's strange happenings had almost been all but erased from his mind. He would continue to check on the pumpkin, but besides that he had no issues. "Spooky Scary Skelecogs" his favorite song was playing for the third time in a row. As the brown monkey sang along, tapping his free hand on his lap, the music suddenly stopped. "Stupid device. Somebody better not be calling me." picking up his whisper device, Chip furrowed his brow as he saw that neither had somebody called him, nor had the music stopped playing. "Must be the stereo having issues. Whatever." hitting stop on the music, he placed the device back into the cup holder. He had estimated he had about four hours left to go. Grabbing for a bottle of water, he held the plastic container against his rib cage with his right art and angled his hand to untwist the lid. Holding up the cool liquid to his dry throat he began to take a drink when suddenly the music on his device began to play again. "Spooky Scary Skelecogs. Spooky Scary Skelecogs." repeated itself over and over, never changing to other lyrics or another song. Frustrated, Chip ripped the device up and opened his music play. Strangely enough the music said it was stopped, yet the stereo continued to play, stuck on that lyric. "Really is broken. Gosh dang it!" flipping to the radio, the detective rotated through the stations again, hoping in vein that maybe something would pick up, and once again he was proven to be out of luck. "I guess no music then."
After about twenty minutes of driving, the silence was eating at Chip. He hated driving in silence. Especially with the tediousness of the entire thing. The road in front of him was bare and uneventful, just mile after mile of sand, shifting from light winds. Hoping against hope, Chip switched back to the radio and began to flip through the stations. Static was mercilessly pelted into his ears until one station seemed to get a hit. There was a light jazz music playing, almost as if he was on ab elevator. Whatever, it was better than nothing. Chip began to lightly tap his foot and enjoyed the brief respite from his own thoughts. Chip was surprised when a voice came on the other line. "That was Driving in the Desert by the Healing Pumpkins. Up next we will be taking requests, but first a message from our sponsors. A moment passed and a different voice came on. "Come on down to Funny Farms! Here you will find the charming atmosphere of a small town, combined with the luxuriousness and fun of a larger town. Whether you're checking out one of our many fine destinations, or just staying in for a night at one of our many local hotels, you will never want to leave! Trust me, we're not "monkeying around" here!"
"Yeah, as if." Chip chuckled as he turned down the radio and sped down the road. He would just have to see how true that ad was. "Watch out Funny Farms, here I come."