Chip swung out, striking a purple horse's pumpkin head straight off, crashing to the ground. The brown monkey had gotten quite accurate with his weapon, as goopy pumpkin guts and seeds spilled over the floor. Chip tried not to stab out if possible, just to be safe not to accidentally take out an actual Toon. Although he was putting up a good fight, he was beginning to get exhausted. After all, there was only so much he could do against a horde of hundreds. Leaping up onto a golden pew, he ran along the slim edge and swinging wildly and taking out anything in his way. Jumping back off into a small gap on the other side, he used the opportunity to catch his breath. Looking over at Jack, he narrowed his eyes and growled. "Call them off! What is your problem! How can you say you are trying to save lives if you're trying to kill me?"
Jack chuckled as he crossed his arms. Lightly tapping his fingers against his shoulders, he smiled and tilted his head. "He wishes to bring salvation to all. But He can only do that for those who are willing. I cannot allow one defector to bring down everybody else. Sacrifices must be made sometimes." Turning, the green duck walked back up to his pastor's stand and watched as his subservient dummies continued to be mowed down like grass.
"You're not going to get away with this! Even if you do kill me, Toontown is resilient. They would never let someone like you take over! I don't know how you fooled these Toons, but it isn't going to work twice!" Swinging out the eraser end of his pencil staff, he clubbed a pink cat in the ribs, knocking them sideways tumbling into a smaller crowd of pumpkin-heads. "Although, if you want to take me out you're going to have to d a bit better than this!"
As Chip fought, the front doors to the church burst open, momentarily pausing the fighting. Everything went quiet for a brief second as the light from outside flooded in, reflecting off the small areas of polished floor that had not been covered in smashed fruit. Standing in the doorway was a light blue dog. One that Chip was very familiar with. "Good Lord..." The dog whispered as he seized an opportunity to take in everything he was witnessing. Quentin had warned him, but even he could not have prepared himself for this. Headless Toons, Toons with pumpkins for heads, gushes of smashed pumpkins, and a monkey with a giant pencil which had been broken in half. After he gathered himself, he stepped inside, shivering as he landed foot-full into a pile of pumpkin guts. "Jack! I should have known you were behind this!"
"Ah, if it isn't my old friend, Flippy. Or should I say my brother's old friend. I would say I'm surprised, but you were always a thorn in our side, so I guess I'm not. Have you come here to finally revere in His amazing powers and give yourself to The Great Gourd?" The lime green duck fluttered his robes as he flung his arms up to the sky theatrically.
"Not quite, Jack. Actually, I haven't seen your brother since I banned him from Toontown. Kind of like your dad. Although he had real powers... unlike you. You're just a wacko who accidentally stumbled upon some magic that he didn't deserve. Why don't we just go ahead and make this easy. Give everything up and I guess I'll go easy on you. This town does not deserve to be stuck under your control. Your Pumpkin God? He doesn't exist. Maybe you don't actually believe that and you're just a terrible Toon who wants to cause others to suffer! I'm not really sure. Either way, this comes to a stop today!
As Flippy gave his speech, he didn't notice the enemies approaching from behind him. Quentin, in another surprise action, leapt forward, tackling the counciltoon forward and out of the grasp of the pumpkin-heads. "There's no time for your grandiose speeches, Flippy. We need to get out of here!" Now both on the ground, the circle of pumpkin-heads and hypnotized Toons encircled the pair of Toontowners. "Great, now we're surrounded!" The black cat shrieked as one reached out and grabbed his foot.
Before the dummy could do any further damage, it was stopped in their tracks. Protruding through its' chest was a sharpened pencil shaft. Sand began to pour as the dummy's body deflated. "Well don't just sit there! Fight back!" Chip screamed as he continued to use his blunt edged stick as a barrier, pushing back on incoming foes.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Flippy yelled back as he hopped to his feet. Yanking the sharp weapon from the incapacitated pumpkin-head, he began to swing around in a circle like a merry-go-round. "Keep your head down, Quentin!" Neither Toon had ever seen anything like it. Spinning faster and faster, the blue dog knocked back anybody or anything that dared get within a ten foot radius. Once a proper arena had been cleared, he stopped and helped up the black cat. Handing him the pencil, Flippy grinned. "You take care of them, I'm going after Jack!"
"Hold on! You don't understand! He has magic powers! He could turn you into one of those hypnotized Toons! Then what do we do?" Quentin begged the dog who pushed him off his shoulder.
Flippy shook his head and kept his eyes laser-focused on the duck. "Magic? Hah, that is a good joke. This duck is no more magic than you or me. No, you see his true "magic" lies in two things. One is that pencil you're holding. That's not any good to him now. The second is the sands of the desert! I don't know if you guys know, but about fifty years ago there was a large deposit of magical power that was discovered out here in the desert! Funny Farms was created in response to that. A town of miners and discoverers who went out to get their own little slice of the pie. Unfortunately concentrated magic is quite difficult to use unless you know how to use it, and only one Toon was able to get it to work. Jack Frost!"
"Wait. Jack Frost? Why does that name sound familiar?" Chip pondered.
"He was my father, you fool! A true fool if there ever was one! While he may have discovered the power, he would never use it for its true purpose! We were gifted this power from Him to bring us an eternity of fruitful living and salvation from the pains of the world! He tried to save us from ourselves, but these idiots could never use it! My father only saw an opportunity to bend the world to his will, against the wishes of The Gourd! When he was banished, he left me and my brother the knowledge of how to use it. Unfortunately, my brother took after my foolish father, and refused to follow our true path. Instead he wished to cause chaos and seek havoc! So I came here to finally free this town from the restraints that was placed on them by their own ignorance! Yet here you stand, casting me as if I was unfounded in my knowledge or His wishes? You three are no better than my father or brother! I will show you the true powers He has bestowed upon me!"
Quentin and Chip looked at each other confused, shrugging they looked to Flippy who seemed confident in himself. "What is he talking about, Flip?" Quentin sighed. "I'm getting tired of all this mumbo-jumbo. Why can't anyone just speak normally?"
Kneeling down, Flippy scooped up a pile of sand that had flooded out of the flattened dummy. "You see this sand? This is the magical sand from the desert. When Jack has possession of this, he is quite powerful. Freezing time wouldn't be possible without such a large amount of power. That is why he hasn't dared to attack Toontown. Because he can't. Well at least not alone. To bring this much power would require quite a large army. Such as an army of these... pumpkin things? There is a reason he's not doing anything, and that is because he can't. He can only rely on others." Pointing out towards Jack, he smiled and nodded. "You know this don't you Jack. Your God can't help you now. I would surrender now while you can, maybe I will be able to convince Mickey to go easy on you when we drag you back to Toontown!"
"Silence! Enough of your deceptive words! I will not tolerate this in His house of worship!" Taking a running leap, Jack began to charge Flippy. Fuming a bright red, the duck prepared to put an end himself to any disruptions. However he had not accounted for Chip. The brown monkey rolled into a ball, ducking underneath the arms of more dummies and stretching out his arms. Using his pencil staff, he stuck it out, tripping the duck who went falling forward. Barely catching himself, the green duck was not able to defend himself as Chip jumped on his back and wrestling his arms. "Get off me you fool!"
"No! No more of this! Take us to the Toons that you have kidnapped! I'm done with you!" Chip let loose all of the emotion inside of him. After what seemed like an actual eternity in this Hell, he had finally caught the one causing everything... for about thirty seconds. In their jubilation, the trio had failed to account for the still remaining twenty or so hypnotized Toons, and forty pumpkin heads who had seized them. Restrained at each limb, the three were hoisted up into the air an forced to watch as Jack regained himself. "Grrr. Let go of us! You have no right to do this!"
Bending over and picking up the fractured Illustrator, Jack bit his lip and sighed. "Look at what you have done. You have broken it." Shrugging, Jack laughed. "If only there was some way of magically fixing it. Too bad I don't have access to anything like that. Oh, how the tables have turned on you idiots. You will be my first three sacrifices to Him! It will be a grand ceremony. One that will be remembered by all when they are basking in the glow of salvation!" Leading the remaining army, he began to exit the church. "Now, we march! I hope you three have made your peace with The Gourd! If not, I guess you will have one last opportunity when we face him soon!"
"Let me go, duck! I still have a movie to make! I'm not going to let some untalented hack destroy my vision!" Quentin struggled, trying to break free from the dozens of hands that tightly clenched him and held him up. Swinging his head back, he tried to headbutt, bite, or rip at anybody to no avail.
"Oh yes. Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Quentin. How could I forget your purpose? Very well, go ahead and set him down!" All at once, the dummies and Toons holding up Quentin gently placed the black cat onto the ground feet first, all while keeping their grip on him as to not let him escape. "You have a much more important purpose to me... at least for now. Don't worry, you will still get to direct. After all, I will need a way to attract more Toons to their paradise. How else will they know that they are able to be saved if we cannot reach them? After all, television is a much more effective communicator, wouldn't you say?"
Flippy and Chip were paralyzed by fear. After all, if what Jack was saying was true, he would not need to bring the magic to Toontown. He could bring Toontown to Funny Farms. Even if he was just able to bring a few, combined with the power to create more dummies it could grow into a lethal army that would eventually be able to move onto Toontown. What about the Real Funny Farms? Without Mike, who would protect them? Would Jack continue to poach Toons from there one at a time, or just stage a full-blown takeover? Plus now they were utterly powerless. How could he let his own emotions blind him so foolishly. "Please, Jack. Please re-consider this." Chip begged.
"Now you want ME to go easy on you? Just a minute ago you seemed quite set on destroying my goals. Well, I don't forget that easily you fools. You had an opportunity, and now you will pay for your idiocy. I am not my brother, or my father. I am more powerful than either, and I will make sure you see that Flippy. I'll make sure to tell Mickey that you begged for your lives after he joins me." Without another word, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of hypno-goggles. "Now Quentin." Staring at the black cat, the dummies forced Quentin's eyes open so he could not resist. "You will obey me. Each and every one of my commands, directly from the Great Gourd Himself. You will be part of a higher power that will bring true salvation to a broken world. But to do so, you will obey. I will not accept any aversion to my words. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir. I will obey all commands as you wish. What is my first order, sir?" Quentin was immediately a different Toon. The normally angry, spiteful cat had turned into an obedient servant for Jack. His eyes had become purple swirls, similar to when Chip had first found him.
Swinging himself as much as he could, Chip scowled and yelled. "Damn it, Quentin. You're just going to let him control you that easily? You're such a wimp!" Directing his eyes towards Flippy, he was surprised to see Flippy remaining calm. "We have to do something! Don't just sit there!"
The blue dog inhaled and moved his head slightly to the left. "There's not much we can do now, Chip. We just have to accept our fate." Winking, Flippy kept his morose tone. "Sometimes you just have to realize that maybe you were wrong and there is consequences for such. Quentin has chosen his path, and we have chosen ours. Don't give him the satisfaction of letting you fear him. We will go down bravely, unlike the cowardly duck."
"Tell yourself whatever you want, fools. I am not going to spare your lives just because you antagonize me, or anything like that. Now dummies, we march!" Continuing their trek out into the desert, Flippy looked over one last time and smiled at his friend. Giving one more wink, Flippy closed his eyes. Chip felt his stomach churning, however he had to trust the dog. After all, what other choice did he have? He would just have to hope. One last time.