"Then a few weeks later, my mom goes missing. At the time the Rangers didn't think it was related. But could it not have been? I mean, someone killed dad and left him in a garbage can. Mom even told me about that green cat as soon as she got home that night. I remember how guilty she felt that she let him go.." Bloople rubbed his face, placing how elbows on the table. Clover listened shocked and saddened by the terrible fate Bloople's parents had met. "Anyways, about three days later a family is fishing on Tenor Terrace and I guess one of them found her in the pond. I remember getting when the Ranger came to the house to tell us the news. Guy didn't know what to say, think he started crying too. Some lime green dog, the image is burned in my mind now. Anyways, after that I felt like my life was over. I skipped school for a month straight. I started entertaining the idea of trying to hunt down that green cat myself, but I knew that's not what Pickle would have wanted."
Clover grabbed Bloople's hand and squeezed tightly. "Bloople.. I didn't know. I'm so sorry.." reflecting, she scrunched her face. "I remember now. You weren't in class for a long time. Everybody wondered what happened. None of the teachers would tell us anything and we assumed something bad happened to you."
"Yeah, I still think back on it sometimes. I mean how many Toons lose both parents, let alone within a month of each other. The worst part was never knowing what happened. I was lucky to have Pickle here with me, because I really think I would have crazy otherwise. It's really why I took in Miko and Hula. I mean, I love them to death and I can't imagine life without them now, but I felt like I owed my parents something y'know. Plus I know what it is like to not have any parents.." Bloople inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to keep himself calm.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Well I know they love you to death, too. I mean just look how upset when you got mad at them earlier. They looked really hurt. You did an incredible thing. Not many Toons would ever have the courage to do that. You've gone through so much, I can't believe I never knew how much pain you've been through. I feel awful now!" Clover rubbed her arm in frustration at her own anger earlier.
Bloople smiled and scooched his chair over, wrapping his arms around the green cat. "Clover, you've been through a lot too. But you know what? I met you and I thank the heavens for that, because I don't know where I'd be without you right now." the pair kissed and the mood began to lighten a bit. "You know I should really go apologize to the girls. They didn't deserve to see me acting like a jerk, earlier."
"That's probably a good idea. Maybe we can surprise them and do something nice? Do you know what they might want?" Clover pondered.
Deep in thought for a few moments, an idea spring into his brain. There was only one thing two sweet-hearts like them deserved. "You know. I did promise I would take them to Silly World.."
"SILLY WORLD!" Clover had to restrain her excitement. "I've never been before! I've always wanted to go, but I just never really had the time!" pumping her fist underneath the table, the pair started making plans and arrangements. Bloople was right, they needed something nice. But so did he, and honestly so should she. All of Toontown had been suffering, and maybe now things were finally starting to look up.
Raindrop sat in his backyard, looking up at the sky. He still hadn't gone over how terribly he had botched things yesterday. Why was he so awkward? Plus he had heard that Charles asked out Pippy to the dance and apparently she said yes. What did it matter though? Even if he had gone, he'd probably just embarrass himself somehow. Best that he just stay home where he couldn't ruin anybody else's fun. As he watched the clouds, a voice called out from behind. "Rain, honey. You have a visitor!"
Rolling around, Raindrop squinted through the glaring sun as he watched his mom approach with an older black cat. She kind of looked familiar, but he couldn't remember why. "Hey there Raindrop. Long time no see!" the sound of the cat's voice immediately hit him as he almost fell backwards in his chair. "Thank you, Blossom. Mind giving us a few minutes?" placing her hands in her pockets she nodded to the red dog who left the pair alone and walked back inside of the house. Walking over, she sat down in the grass next to Raindrop who stared at her, confused.
"Um, Officer Reessess? What are you doing here?" the dark blue dog continued to stare. He hadn't seen her in several months. Not since his last day of training camp.
"Well I'm actually on my way home for a few weeks and I was passing through the playground. Figured I'd stop by and say hello and see how you were doing. I hope I'm not taking you from anything?" Reessess calmly spoke, watching the dog's expression change from confusion to a fake smile.
Shaking his head he pointed up at the clouds. "Nope not me. Not anymore. What does a worthless cripple like me have to offer to the world?" slumping forward, he tried to ignore the cat's stern face as he spoke. "Look at me, Captain. Why didn't those cogs just kill me when they had the chance and do me a favor?"
Reessess scowled, standing up she reached out, lightly slapping Raindrop as he spoke. "Ranger! You're lucky your mother is not around to hear such a thing! Imagine how she would feel if she heard you say that? Or your father? What about your friends? Better off dead? What a horrible thing to say!" taking a breath she sat back down. "Sorry about that. I know that you are frustrated and probably unsure, but a lot of Toons HAVE died and I'm sure they and their families would have gladly taken them back like this."
"I'm sorry Captain.." Raindrop whispered.
"What did I say about all that captain nonsense, Ranger. Just call me Reessess, okay?" she smiled and the two sat in silence for a few minutes, staring forward. "Hey, how far do you think that tree is over there?" pointing to a large pine tree across a fence in the neighbors yard, she watched as the young dog attempted to gauge the distance.
Closing his eye, and sticking out his tongue, Raindrop calculated quickly. "I'd say it's about fifty, maybe sixty feet? Why?"
Reessess stood up and smiled. "That's pretty far. I wonder if it'd be possible to hit it with a pie from here..." yawning loudly she shrugged. "Nah, probably not."
"I bet you I could?" Raindrop smirked at the cat's ignorance of his skills.
"Hmm. I thought you said you were useless. Wanna put your money where your mouth is? I'll give you two-hundred jellybeans.. but if you miss?"
Raindrop puffed out his chest and chucked. "Don't worry about that. I'm not going to miss. Pie me."
Reessess giggled, reaching into her pocket and pulled out two cream pies. "Fine, but I want to see a direct hit. No scraping a branch and calling it a win! I'll even give you two chances because I'm that generous."
"Okay Reeessess, well prepare to eat your words and that second pie." grabbing the tin container from the black cat he angled himself. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the tree and let out a yell. Almost launching himself from his chair, time slowed down as the cream slowly flew off on it's aerodynamic path to glory. A few seconds later, the splat of pie on bark elicited an excited scream. "Yeah! Take that tree!"
Nodding impressed, Reessess applauded lightly. "Well I'm surprised. Maybe you're not so useless then, Ranger!" sticking out her tongue she narrowed her eyes. "How about we go double or nothing!"
"You're on!" Raindrop grabbed the second pie and quickly calculated his mark. Winding up his arm he let out another battle cry, watching as the pie once again flew through the air. Widening his eyes, the pair watched in surprise as the pie hit right in the same place as the previous pie had splatted and slid down the tree. "Well, looks like the champion still has it!" Raindrop gloated. Reessess cheered loudly, reaching into her pocket she pulled out a bag of jellybeans and handed it to raindrop.
"Hey, who threw that!?" an angry voice yelled from beyond the fence. Reessess and Raindrop started giggling before quickly turning around and running inside before they were caught.
Stupid Stupid Stupid Rabbit strode quickly through the hospital. Usually he would take great joy in watching all of these suffering Toons and hecticness, but today wasn't for fun. Counting down the rooms as he pushed his way through, he grimaced as he got closer to his brother's room. "299.. 300..301..302.." stopping in front of an open door, he looked up. "303." Peering inside, he watched an unconscious yellow rabbit hooked up to machinery, slowly breathing. The room was dark, aside from the small amount of light coming from the screens of the machines which were keeping the younger rabbit alive. Stepping into the dark room he closed the door behind him. Staring at the pathetic figure he showed no emotion. His brother was quite a bit younger than him, and they never really got along. From a young age, his brother always had to be a contrarian. When Stupid zigged, Dumb zagged. Stupid had tried to convince him to join the Anti-Toons, instead Dumb Rabbit had moved to Slapstick Villa and thought of himself as an "Elite Toon." he shook his head ad the absurdity. Yet it didn't take away from the fact that somebody had did this to his brother, and grudge or not, they were still family, which is something Stupid Rabbit did not take lightly.
Sitting down in a chair he spoke to his brother. "Beaten by a wimpy duck, brother. I guess I can't say I'm surprised. You were always clearly weaker." biting his lip he continued. "We may not have always agreed, and maybe we hated each other.. But sometimes I wish we didn't. What we could have accomplished if you just had some sense in that dumb head of yours." clenching his fists as he listened to the heart monitor begin to slow down to a crawl, he felt an odd feeling. His stomach was churning. Was this.. was this what it meant to be sad? It had been so long since he had any of those "Toony" emotions. Suddenly one of the machines started blaring out a loud noise and a nurse burst through the door, hardly noticing the older rabbit. The pink pig pushed a button and started calling for backup.
"You! Are you family?" the pig screamed at him.
"What do you think?" he snidely responded. Watching the pig panicking.
"Well I'm going to need you to step outside, your brother is going into cardiac arrest!"pushing the resistant rabbit out of the room, he watched as three other medical personnel ran into the room, closing the door behind them. The sound of yelling and panicked nurses and doctors rang out, as he took a seat on the bench outside. Slumping his head down, he did his best to recall the name of the duck. A few minutes passed before the pig came back out. "Mr Rabbit... I think it's time you came and said one last goodbye to your brother.."
Hopping up, Stupid ran inside the room and watched his brother convulsing, as a doctor tried his best to inject a needle into him. Looking over at the Stupid he frowned and sighed. "I'm sorry sir.. it doesn't look like he's going to make it."
Stupid walked over and kneeled next to his brother's bed. Grabbing his brother's shaking hand, he felt as the body jolted several more times before going limp. The heart monitor ringing out one loud continuous beep. Holding back his anger, Stupid whispered to himself. "Allen Duckowitz... You won't get away with this.."
Romeo rolled over in the large, empty bed and stared at the alarm clock. Last night he had called his team and let them know they would be taking the day off as a reward for their hard work. In reality, Romeo was just exhausted. Him and Rudy had stayed up the entire night catching up on previous work, and getting today's work done so they didn't have to pay the team to come in another day. His entire body was sore, and he could feel the pulsating pain echo through his entire body. Slinking from underneath the blankets, Romeo yawned as he scratched his butt and walked out of the bedroom. Entering the living room, Rudy was still sleeping on the couch, snoring like some kind of ancient, evil beast. Chuckling to himself he made his way through quietly and into the kitchen where he began preparing a pot of coffee. Reaching over he grabbed his whisper device off it's charger and furrowed his brow at the fifteen missed whispers. Wincing a bit, all of them were from his attorneys. "Mr. Duckowitz, we have some unfortunate news.." he read in unbelief through the rest of the messages, detailing the untimely death of one Dumb Dumb Dumb Rabbit from mysterious circumstances. That Allen's sentence was likely to become more aggressive, and that they would be researching more into it. As if that wasn't bad enough, the last message may have been the biggest gut punch. "Mr. Duckowitz, we have just learned that the deceased is brothers with a very notorious Anti-Toon. We're not sure about his relationship with his brother, but please contact us as soon as possible as we're a bit worried about you and your brother's safety."
"Good morning, Romeo." a voice whispered, causing him to jump up horrified. Turning around it was just Rudy, wearing an oversized t-shirt that she had taken from Romeo. "Coffee smells good!" walking over she took the pot off and took a large whiff. "You want any." Unable to speak still, Romeo shook his head. Walking out of the room silently, he took a place on the couch where Rudy was sleeping just a few minutes ago. He was followed by the brown cat who sat next to him, tilting her head to try and look up at his lowered face. "Romeo, what's wrong?" Handing her the whisper device, he continued his wordless demeanor. Listening as she read the messages to herself, louder and louder as she continued, she quickly leapt up and grabbed his shoulders. "Oh my cog. Romeo! This is awful!" trying to process everything she had read. "Wait does this mean you're in danger! Romeo we need to get you somewhere safe!"
Shaking his head, the blue duck sighed. "What about Allen, Rudy? He's stuck in Slapstick Villa all alone. I'm going to be fine.. you're going to be fine too, I mean.. but I will be fine. But Allen? If what the attorneys say is true, I mean what happened? That rabbit was doing just fine! He was on his way out of the hospital and then out of nowhere he just dies? From what? What the hell is going on here!" tossing his whisper device, he watched it bounce off a wall harmlessly. Putting his face in his hands, Romeo started to scream. It just seemed like things were getting worse and worse.
Fidgeting uncomfortably, Rudy moved closer to her estranged boyfriend. "Honey.. I mean Romeo.. I know you want to do this all alone. But maybe it's time we call your mom.."
"Yeah. You're right Rudy. I don't know if she's back yet.. but I will go try to give her a call." standing up, Romeo picked up his whisper device and nodded to Rudy, before walking back into his bedroom and closing the door.
Rudy shivered a bit. As much as she didn't like Allen, seeing how this affected Romeo hurt her. She had spent most of her jellybeans getting Allen's bail, although she wasn't going to tell Romeo that. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how. However Clara? If anybody could do anything about this, it was her. Now she just had to hope there was time.