Chapter 8: The Toon Games

Fifteen years had past and Marvin was now 21-years-old. He had graduated elementary, middle and high school with flying colours, exceeding at the top of his class grade after grade. He was still close to Lilly and he had grown closer to her every year, his heart now raced whenever he was around her. He knew he loved her dearly, but he did not have the courage to ask her out or if she loved him too. Would Lilly be happy with dating him? He was still an outcast amongst their peers. Marvin was working part time in his father's robot repair workshop. He was coming towards the end of his shift when he let out a heavy yawn. His father looked down at his small son. "Tired Marvin?" He asked.

"Just a little. I've just been so very busy, that's all." Marvin replied, looking up at his father with heavy eyes. He felt embarrassed, he was normally more productive than this.

Z9 paused his work repairing a centurion and sat his son down on a nearby bench. "I know you've been working hard on your training for the games tomorrow. How are you feeling about the games?"

"Nervous."

"No matter what happens Marvin, your mother and I will always be proud of you."

"Thanks."

"Have you thought what you want to do if you are not chosen?"

"That's not something I want to consider at this time, but I was thinking an actor, army commander, or teacher."

"Well we don't have wars anymore, but actor and teacher sound good. What would you want to teach son?"

"Science, astronomy or drama."

"What age would you like to teach son?"

"Middle or high school. Middle school preferably."

"What ever you chose son, I will always support you. I love you."

"I love you too father."

Marvin and Z9 hugged in a tight embrace, Z9 being careful around his small son. "Why don't you go back to your room and get some rest, come off early today."

"Thanks father." Marvin smiled, his eyes clearly tired and glowing slightly. He was about to leave the room and go to bed to sleep for a while, but Bender came through the door moaning and groaning. Bender was a pale grey instead of a greyish blue. "Bender what is wrong?" Asked Marvin concerned.

"I'm sick." Groaned Bender coughing and sneezing.

Marvin looked up at Z9. "I'll take this one." He smiled. Marvin knew that Bender helped him 19 years ago. He led Bender to an examination table and quickly detected a blockage of a golden watch in his cogs which he quickly removed, recovering Bender instantly. Bender thanked Marvin and gave him the golden watch as a tip. "I knew you would turn out great kid." Bender smiled before singing his way back home. Marvin then hugged his father and left the work room and walked towards his bedroom.

Meanwhile Tyranhee was looking at her eBay on her laptop computer, she caught Marvin out of the corner of her eye. "You're out early Marvin." She commented, wondering why her son was out of the work room two hours early.

"Dad let me off early." Marvin responded. Tyranhee then looked down at her son, noticing his sluggish appearance. "Are you ill dear?" She asked, feeling a little concerned.

"No mother, just tired. Dad let me off early."

"That's only natural. You have been working very hard lately with your work and your training. Why don't you go up into bed and have an hour, I'll bring your favourite takeout up in bed."

"Really, thanks mom." Marvin smiled and trudged sleepily upstairs. He entered his room. It had not changed much over the years. It still had the same night sky wall which he had when he was six, but the floor was now a grey and plain, instead of made to look like the moons surface and the ceiling was now painted jet black instead of a continued night sky. Marvin's furniture had mainly changed to a more mature design.

The rocket shaped wardrobe was replaced with a large walk in wardrobe with a black reflective surface with bright, shiny red handles, specially adjusted to Marvin's small stature. His drawers and bedside table matched. The toy boxes were now gone and replaced with a tall, silver shelf filled with books, DVDs and video games. Marvin still had his play station, but had an updated laptop and an adult iPad. He had a green metal flask by his large, red double bed with galaxy style covers. The night light had gone and in his place was a mini fridge of snacks, fruits, beers and soft drinks for the Martian to enjoy right by his bed side. The mini fridge resembled the wardrobes and drawers.

Marvin removed his green helmet which was the same as his childhood and toddlerhood helmet, only it had a brush coming out of the top, not a propeller. He had lost the propeller on his 16th Birthday and went with the brush ever since. He was outgrowing the propeller since he was 15 and a half and was overjoyed with the new helmet, he received on his 16th Birthday. Marvin had flat and thick blonde hair under the helmet which was finally aloud to breathe. He then removed his green, metal shirt, followed by his red jumper and trousers and large tennis shoes, leaving him down in his white underpants. He reached his white gloved hand under his pillow and pulled out a pair of purple pyjamas and purple night cap. He put on his purple pyjama bottoms on first, followed by his purple pyjama top and then finishing with his night cap. He then pealed his blankets back slowly and climbed into his bed and tucked himself in. He finally opened the drawer to his bedside table and pulled out his teddy bear which shared a drawer with his red scarf. He placed the bear comfortably in his arms and lay down on his side, staring at his closed black curtains with stars on it and fell fast asleep.

About three hours later he felt a gentle hand on his visible shoulder and the gentle whisper of his name. Marvin slowly and smoothly opened his eyes with a struggle, everything was blurry at first, his eyes still adjusted, he was looking up at Tyranhee. He sat up in his bed, carrying his pillows up with him. "What time is it?" He yawned heavily.

"6:30pm. Here is your tea." Tyranhee smiled down at her sleepy son, handing him a plate of duck, orange source, spring rolls, prawn crackers, chips, rice and chicken curry on a large plate and trey which was accompanied by two cans of beer. "Your favourite take out."

"Gee, thanks mom." Marvin smiled.

"Good luck for tomorrow son, and I love you."

"I love you too." Marvin dug into his tea whilst Tyranhee put on the TV for her son and placed the remote by his beside. Marvin turned the channel over to American Dad and watched that followed by South Park. He ate, drank and watched the adult comedies until 10pm when he decided to call it at night and sleep.

The following afternoon Marvin was wide awake and ready for the games and was in the trophy room of the gym. He stared at the plaque on the wall presenting the name of all of the flyers, including Z9. He lay his hand on his father's gold engrained name. "Here I go." He whispered to himself.

"Marvin?" Called a voice from behind him. It was Lilly she was wearing a plain cyan blue t-shirt with dark blue denim jeans with long blue boots matching her t-shirt with a medium blue hairband in her long black hair.

"Hi Lilly. I was just talking to myself, that is all."

Lilly rested her hand on Marvin's shoulders. "I'm sure Aladdin will notice you in the games, Marvin."

Marvin rested his arm back on Lilly's shoulders. "I'm sure that he'll notice you too Lilly. I'm really glad we are friends."

"Me too." Lilly then reached into her t-shirt and pulled out a gold chain pendant with a heart attached to it and slowly placed it around Marvin's neck. "It's for luck."

"Thanks Lilly."

Lilly then kissed Marvin on the cheek, causing him to blush a deep purple, before giving him a gentle punch on the shoulder and running ahead of him shouting, "last one outs a rotten egg!" Marvin quickly caught up to Lilly, leading to them both been out at the same time.

The booming sound of trumpets erupted through the outdoor arena, each being played by Donald Duck, Professor Paracles, Daisy Duck and Beaky Buzzard. The crowd cheered loudly, causing a startling reaction from Marvin and Lilly. They were led by Genie to bobble sleds for the first race. Lilly was in sled seven between Diesel and Little Critter, who now just went by the name Critter or Big Critter. Diesel now resembled his father, Doug, as a full grown dalmatian and critter was now large and beefy and had a mature appearance with large and intimidating bucked teeth, despite the fact he still wore the same blue overalls as he wore at age 6, only in a larger size.

Marvin was placed in sled 5 which was between Squirt and Daffy. Squirt had grown over the years and was now a fully grown sea turtle sat in a sled filled with water, he still had an angel face; due to the turtle's amazingly long life-span his growing was slower. Daffy was now fully grown and was dressed in a space man's turquoise jump suit. He really thought he was a hero in it. This just shows how childish Daffy was. Word had it that Marvin and his other peers had went on to do great things: Lilly was an apprentice in a dog grooming salon; Kion was a bodyguard; Rani was a healer; Diesel was an archaeologist, despite the fact he'd been held back twice; Critter was now a carpenter with his own business and ran a cub scout troop for 8-11 year olds in his spare time; Lola was an actress; Lana owned her own zoo; Fievel was a historian who had two books published already and was planning to travel the world some day; Furball was a musician, he still did not speak, but his musical talent sang volumes; Koda was a fisherman; Nemo helped clean the oceans as an environmentalist; Squirt was a swimming instructor; Franklin was a taxi driver; Beaver was the new 3rd grade teacher as Velma Dinkly had moved on to crime and mystery solving; Bear was a chef; Fox was an actor and had worked with Lola many times; Goose was an athlete who played winter sports; Otter was now teaching kindergarten as Shaggy Rogers had gone with Velma to solve crimes and mysteries; Skunk was a fiction writer; Snail worked in engineering in designing tunnels and bridges; Scrappy owned his own theme park; Bugs was a comedian; Taz was still in the 6th grade and had been held back in grade 1 twice and was sent back to kindergarten for a fresh start, but he did odd jobs around the kingdom and was trying his best; Tweety was a postman; Penelope was a rich artist; Porky was a magician; Foghorn worked on farms; Pepe was a tour guide in the museum, and Hazel was currently working in the local supermarket, but was saving up to open her own magic school. Daffy, however still lived with mom and dad and did nothing but lounge around the house watching TV, playing video games, reading comics and playing pretend games by pretending to be a hero in his stupid space suit. It was like he was an 8-year-old trapped in the body of a 21-year-old.

Marvin was focused on the track he had to navigate laid before him. "You're wearing Lilly's pendant, you stole it, thieth!" Spat a lispy voice.

"For your information she gave it to me for luck, Daffy!"

"That's not true, you're lying, demon!" Daffy shouted, pointing at Marvin's eyes. It took all that Marvin had not to burst into tears at that moment. Fortunately, Beaver intruded on the scene. "Lilly did give it to them, I saw her! Grow up Daffy!" She defended Marvin, stepping in. Marvin gave her smile from across the starting line to say "thank you." Beaver gave him a thumbs up to confirm that she understood.

The racers quarrel was interrupted by Zazu's voice amplified by a large microphone as he announced from a brick watch tower. "And now for our first event today, the sleigh race." The racers sat to attention as a ninja referee called Spongebolt came out in front of the racers. He was wearing a full black ninja outfit with a white bandanna covering his eyes and white gloves, he had a sliver whistle around his neck. "On your marks…" He announced. "Get set." The racers were ready to go. "GO!" He yelled tooting his whistle and the racers raced down the track.

The race got off to a peaceful start with good sportsman ship. Koda, now a fully grown grizzly, was in the lead and from using the intelligent tactic of cutting across lanes. Daffy saw this and was green with envy. He deliberately smashed his sleigh into Koda's when Koda got to the far lane, causing Koda to fly over the rails and get knocked out under his sled to the audience's horror. Kenai ran down to the centre of the ring, not caring about the danger he was putting himself in to see to his younger step-brother. He roared with fury and disgust as Daffy passed him. Lilly and Marvin were level at that point. All racers were astonished with Daffy's behaviour but continued regardless, determined to beat Daffy.

"Daffy's racing dirty." Stated Lilly.

"We can still beat him!" Boasted Marvin.

"Yeah Marvin's right, I don't care who wins this, as long as we all beat that dirt bag!" Yelled Lana, making sure to get the attention of her fellow racers.

Daffy then knocked Lana from her sled which lead Lola to stop and race to her twin sister. Whilst this distraction occurred Marvin caught up with Daffy, he could hear Z9 cheering him on amongst the crowds. Marvin was happy to go on, because he knew Lana would be ok with Lola. He took a glimpse back and saw the twins were now sharing a bobblesled and weren't far behind. He was soon neck and neck with Daffy. "Lilly's only nice to you, because she feels sorry for you." Daffy sniggered.

"That's not true!" Marvin responded, trying not to let Daffy get to him.

"Yes, it is! She told me so!"

Marvin then snapped, with pure hate and anger against the duck who had bullied him since pre-school his eyes glew red, releasing a blinding light which dazzled Daffy causing him to crash his sleigh leading to cheers coming from the other races and the crowd, with Kenai cheering the loudest. The finish line was in Marvin's sight. He put the pedal to the medal and crossed it first to the crowd cheers. Lilly followed closely behind coming second and Lola and Lana finished third. Within seconds every racer, except Daffy and Koda were over the finish line. Critter and Bear lifted Marvin out of his sled and held him high cheering for him, Marvin was a little nervous, but delighted all of the same, his eyes glew red with joy. The group was not just pleased for Marvin, but pleased they had beaten Daffy also.

IQ Hi came out with a golden trophy and reef and presented them to Marvin, which Marvin gratefully received. Everyone was cheering for him, until a loud whistle screeched through the stadium, it was Spongebolt and he was not happy. "You are disqualified for the illegal use of glowing red eyes!" He yelled.

"What!" Marvin shouted back confused; his friends just as confused as he was.

"You're banned from the rest of the games." Said Spongebolt removing the prizes from Marvin. IQ looked sad, he felt this was unfair. "Sorry son." He said, resting his arm on the Martian's shoulder, trying to comfort him. Marvin just burst into tears and fled the scene. The rest of the racers booed as Daffy was given Marvin's prizes as Zazu announced that Daffy had won by default.

Aladdin sat outraged with Jasmine in his watching tower. "I'm going down there to do something about this!" Aladdin was enraged. "Yeah, you do so Aladdin, this is just not fair." Agreed Jasmine, egging her husband on.

As Aladdin made his way down the tower Lilly confronted Daffy full of disgust and rage. "You cheated!" She scolded at Daffy in his face.

"So what sister, the point is I won and Aladdin is going to notice me."

"You're no flyer Daffy! Flyers are great and they have character and true hearts, like Marvin!"

"But he has red eyes!"

"You are immature, selfish and shallow! No one wants anything to do with you! Look around Daffy, everyone has left the stadium, because of you! There are no more games because the contestants have gone home and I am doing the same!" Lilly scolded, getting the last word before leaving the stadium herself.

Meanwhile Z9 was scolding Spongebolt. "You can't throw him out of the games!" Z9 chided.

"The decision is final Mr. Z9." Spongebolt retaliated.

"The eye problem is not his fault; he was born that way. Those eyes of his were an accident!" Marvin overheard this and ran through the snow sobbing his heart out home. He quickly packed a back pack with food and drink from his fridge; his scarf; his teddy bear; money; a photo from himself and his parents from his toddler days; a torch; a gun he received for this 21st Birthday this year with bullets, and his pendant from Lilly. He then wrote a quick note to his parents and left it on the fire place before leaving. He took one last look at the Martian palace before leaving. "Mother and father deserve better than me." He sobbed before walking off into the cold distance. He did not notice everyone leaving the stadium in protest and Scrappy posting a note through the palace door writing a note of apology to Marvin, explaining that everyone left the stadium after what had happened alongside VIP tickets to his theme park valid on any date within the next year. Scrappy was too late when he got his letter to the Martian palace, Marvin was already out of sight.

Marvin made it two miles away from his home and was on top of a hill, he could just see his house and he started to cry more and sing to himself, his face hitting the ground:

Marvin:
I'm out here on my own. To face the day alone. I need you, to get me through the night. I'm lost out in the cold. I want someone to hold. I feel you're near though you're out of sight.

Meanwhile Lilly was trodding through the snow to Marvin's house to check on him and to tell him about everyone leaving in protest on his behalf.

Lilly:
Waiting for a star. Wondering where you are. Where is the love, searching for me too? Oh, beyond the mountain top. The dream will never stop. Give me a sign. I'm running out of time.

Despite being far apart, Marvin and Lilly were now singing in cinque.

Marvin and Lilly:
Show me the light when I fear the dark.

Marvin:
Rain or sunshine

Lilly:
A rainbows ark

Marvin:
Show me the light.

Marvin and Lilly:
Show me the light