Flippy stood in the doorway to the large tree-based house and fidgeted around with his shirt. He had already been standing outside for five minutes, too anxious to make his presence known. Ever since his hospitalization a few weeks ago, he had been running this night through his mind, and none of the outcomes were favorable. Although it was something that had always been in the back of his mind, it didn't come to the forefront until that day. He had put this off for too long. He couldn't hide it from her anymore, it wasn't fair. But how was he supposed to tell his baby girl. The reason he had made it this far, that he was actively dying. She was already quite emotional, and they had a very close relationship. But it would only make it harder the closer that day came. Building up enough courage, he slowly knocked on the door and heard a high-pitched voice call out. "I got the door, Marky!" shortly after a tall pink cat wearing a purple shirt and shorts and a pair of pilot's goggles answered the door and hopped up and down excitedly. "Dad you made it! We thought you weren't going to show up!" Grabbing his arm, she pulled him in from the chilly, October air. "So dad. You have got to tell us what you have planned for your Halloween Celebration this year.. well not now when we're eating!" he watched the pink cat skip into the dining room. Although she was already thirty-four, she still had the energy she had as a child, something that always warmed his heart. Joining Cupcake in tha e dining room, he sat down at a large table covered with a fancy white cloth and decorative plates.
"Good evening, Mr. Doggenbottom." Mark nervously greeted his father-in-law. Very aware of how the plans for the night were about to go, he gulped as he watched Cupcake bring out a large tray of blueberry muffins.
"Hope you guys are hungry! Sorry dad, I know they're not your famous muffins, but I really wanted to show you how much better I've gotten! I've been practicing!" Cupcake grinned as she placed a muffin in front of her father, who did his best to stay in a positive mood. Mark, unable to eat Toon food, instead dined on a bowl of spicy oil soup.
Picking up his muffin, he took a large bite into it, chewing delightfully at the fruity flavor. "Mm, buttercup this is amazing! You've been holding out on me this whole time!" he teased his daughter who blushed at the compliment. Looking across the room, he gazed upon a framed picture. It was him and Cupcake when she was seventeen. He had taken her out for driving lessons out at Goofy Speedway and he surprise her with her own pink Roadster. She had almost feinted from excitement. In the background Cupcake had continued speaking.
Speaking through a mouthful of muffin, Cupcake continued her earlier question. "So, dad. Halloween is right around the corner and I haven't heard anything about your plans! I mean, not just me but all of Toontown! It's not a Halloween with your Halloween party!"
"Ah yes. I have been a bit preoccupied with other things. I promise I will have everything in place before then though! I wouldn't want to ruin Halloween.." he stared down at his plate. He felt his heart being squeezed and his stomach churning. "Um, Cupcake. Before we finish, I have something I need to talk to you about.,"
Mark pushed his chair back away from the table. "Um, sir would you like me to step out?"
"Wait, what's going on?" Cupcake asked, confused by both her father and husband's reactions.
"No, Mark. I think it's best if you're here.." placing his interlocked hands on the table he took a large breath. "Cupcake.." he suddenly froze as the words that were in his find had hit a roadblock on the way to his mouth. "Um, Cupcake.."
Cupcake stood up and placed her hands on the table, leaning forward. "Dad! What is going on?" she exhaled nervously.
"Buttercup. There's something I've been meaning to tell you.. but I've been putting it off for a long, long time. I can't keep lying to you about this." Flippy gulped, his heart now nearly tearing out of his chest.
"Dad, you're scaring me. Please just tell me what's going on!" Cupcake nearly screamed in angst.
Closing his eyes, he visualized the young girl that he had found at the Animation Agency all those years ago. The one who had won his heart with her adorable smile and chaotic nature, the one who had matured into the beautiful young woman sitting in front of him. He had to get it out or he was never going to able to say it. "Cupcake, I have Copyright-Syndrome!" he sucked in air as soon as he released the horrible words.
Mark and Cupcake stared at Flippy who was hyperventilating, afraid to hear his daughter's response. "D-Dad. What does that mean? Copyright-Syndrome? A-a-are you going to be okay?" the pink cat stuttered over her words, her voice breaking as she spoke. "Please, dad!"
"Buttercup, please sit down, okay?" he waited for Cupcake to sit down, who was joined by Mark as he moved closer to her and held her hand. "First, I want you to know that this is something that only affects me, this is not something you will ever have to deal with.."
"I don't care about that! What does that mean for you?!" she yelled out, unable to stay calm, she was shaking and confused.
Inhaling, Flippy began to explain. "Cupcake. I was born with an incredibly rare, degenerative disease. Basically what happens is that my silly system slowly deteriorates, slowly sapping away any silliness and well.. it doesn't end well."
"Wait! D-d-does that mean!?" Cupcake's eyes welled with tears as she attempted to look for a sign of hope in her father's unfortunate fate.
"Yes, unfortunately that is the case.." Flippy whispered. "I have been told I have about two years left to live.."
Cupcake jumped up, knocking her chair over behind her. "Wait, how long have you known about this!" she yelled, her tears unrestrained. "How could you hide this from me! I mean, isn't there a cure! There has to be something! We can call Matzoh, or Jenny!" reaching into her pocket, her arm was held down by Mark who slowly shook his head.
"Buttercup. I really wanted to. But, I didn't want to put this burden on you. It is a horrible thing to have to bear with, and it wouldn't be fair to have you worrying about me. You have your own life to live, I don't want to drag it down."
"Dad!" Cupcake ran over and held her father, sobbing along the way. Flippy held his daughter to him and rubbed her back. "Dad, please. Please tell me this isn't true. I'm just dreaming right? This is all a terrible nightmare!"
"I'm sorry buttercup.. I'm so sorry.."
Cupcake took her usual place at the Toontown Council meeting board room. It was an unusually empty meeting, as three council members had previously gone missing, including Devin which gave Cupcake a sort of horrible satisfaction. Mark was sitting with her, and behind them was a small team of specialty Rangers who had been assigned to guard Cupcake and Mark by Deputy Skids. It had taken a lot of convincing by Cupcake to get Deputy to limit the bodyguards to just work and not having people staring at her while she slept. "Okay everybody, it looks like everyone who is going to be here will be here. We're still waiting to hear back on updates on Raspberry, Sunflower, and Devin. Clara is handling a personal matter and said she will be unable to attend today. Anyways, we have a conference meeting with Queen Crayon from Valentoonia! But before that I just wanted to give everybody a few updates.
"Um, Mayor Cupcake. Does this have to do with those shape-shifting cogs that have been reported?" Lemon, the representative from the Brrrgh spoke up nervously. "I've heard they were the ones kidnapping Toons and that they could change into different objects and they're horrifying and.." the lime green mouse was cut off by Cupcake clearing her throat.
"Um, yes Lemon. Thank you for that. For the remainder of the council who may not be aware. We have become aware, through personal experience, of a new type of cog. These cogs appear capable of changing their form on a whim, and are much higher level that your run of the mill cog. If anybody here is not already aware, I ran into one of these cogs. I hit it with two birthday cakes and didn't appear to be harmed in the least." pulling out a stack of papers, she began sliding it around the table so each member had a copy. "So we had the remains analyzed by our top scientoonsts, who have discovered these monstrosities are made out of smaller nano-robots that can meld their shape in unison. This is likely why gags do not work as well on these cogs, as they have a much different structure."
A tall red deer scratched their head, spinning the paper around. "Um, Mayor Cupcake. You said you encountered one of these cogs and defeated it. If not gags, then how?"
"That's a good question Gusher. You see, these cogs are still susceptible to silliness, and actually, we have found more susceptible to it than regular cogs. Their nano-technology is unable to handle it when targeted on an individual level. So for example, you throw a cake and the hit is absorbed by the entire body and spread out." standing up, she walked over to a whiteboard. Drawing a crude picture of a cog and a Toon fighting, she did her best to explain. "So you see, we need to find a way to isolate the nano-bots and destroy them individually."
"Well that's all well and good. But how do we do that?" Gusher responded, still confused.
Cupcake nodded and motioned to Mark who stood up and pulled out a megaphone. "You see, we have found that concentrated silliness through sound, such as laughter works elicits a strong reaction from these nanobots. You do need to be close enough to the cog for individual sound waves to hit each nanobot, and we're not sure how close or how loud it needs to be, but we are making great progress!"
A small burst of applause broke out among the council. "Does this mean that we've won, Mayor?" a blue dog inquired.
"Unfortunately not, Dr. Lax-Lax." sliding a large voice whisper device onto the table. "We still have the cogs from Cog Nation to deal with. We have fought hard and have liberated most of Toontown, so now is really the time to strike. This is where our friends from Valentoonia come in. Queen Crayon has been kind enough to take up the task of training a small army of fighters to assist us with our upcoming plans. We're going to discuss any plans and if anybody has any questions we'll take those at the end!" Cupcake and the rest of the council proceeded to take a very productive call with their counterpart from Valentoonia. The young leader was around Cupcake's age, at only thirty-six. She had been given control when her Aunt Jackie and Aunt Val had stepped down to tend to Val's medical condition.
"Thank you everyone for taking the time for me today!" the voice on the other end purred out softly. "I think that should take care of everything unless anybody had any additional questions?" there were a few mutters and no's from the group. "Great! Well actually, Cupcake if you have a moment could I talk to you alone please?"
Cupcake nodded to the group and waited for everyone to leave. Mark had hesitated, but was assured by his wife that it was okay, escorting the security outside. "Crayon, how is everything? It's been a while since we've had a one on one talk!" Doctor Matzoh, one of Cupcake's best friends, was sisters with Crayon. While they hadn't spoken in a few years, Cupcake did have the occasional conversation with Crayon and got regular updates from her.
"Well that's actually what I wanted to talk about.." there was a silence for a few seconds. "Cupcake. You remember my aunt Val, right?"
"Of course, Crayon. How could I forget her?" Cupcake responded, nervously.
The whisper device only output a few deep breaths, before continuing. "Well pal, as you know Aunt Val has been having some serious health concerns lately. She was hospitalized again a few days ago, and while she seems to be doing a little better.. I'm just scared. I know that isn't something the Queen should be saying right now, but I can't help it. She assures me that she's going to be fine, but.. I don't know. At night I can hear her up all night coughing, she has difficulty walking on her own and quickly runs out of breath, and this was the third time in two months that she's had to go to the hospital. Matzoh has been in Cog Nation and not having her around has been incredibly stressful.. and I'm just scared, Cupcake!"
Cupcake felt her breath disappear as Crayon spoke. The pain in her voice was palpable. Having lost her father just a year ago, she knew the pain that Crayon must be going through. On top of trying to lead an entire nation of Toons during the first cog war in over twenty years. "Crayon. I'm so sorry to hear that." pausing she struggled to find something to say that wouldn't come off as condescending or cheesy. "Crayon, I know what you are going through. I know you must be very scared right now, but please listen. Take some time and go be with your family. There are things that are more important an that is one of them."
"But, what about the Cog Nation invasion! I need to be there for you guys!" Crayon, now struggling to compose herself, choked out.
"No.. Crayon, you need to be with your family. I will make sure to get word to Matzoh as well. I want you guys to spend time with her until she's better.. because she's going to get better! I know it!" she did her best to sound optimistic, even though inside she felt the complete opposite. "Leave everything to us over here. I have a captain who is very well prepared to take charge. You need to be with your family.. please!" Cupcake didn't understand why she was shaking.
Crayon paused for a few moments and exhaled. "Thank you, Cupcake. Just.. thank you!" the two spent the next few minutes talking, before finally saying goodbye. Cupcake had already been overwhelmed, and now she was going to take on responsibility for another ten-thousands Toons. It was finally hitting her. Yet, part of her was happy. Because this is what her father would have done, and she wanted to make him proud.
Benny and Nightmare had waited patiently and nervously after the guard had ran away. They had overheard the signal call over the walkie, which had only intensified their anxiety. They had tried to track down somebody who could tell them what was going on, but most available personnel had ran off. Standing up nervously, Nightmare had begun pacing back and nervously. "Dad, what is going on! Why aren't they telling us anything?"
The dark red cat scratched his arm, unsure of how to respond. "I'm not sure honey. let's just wait until someone comes back!" this ended up being or moot as shortly after he said it, their guard had come back with a frustrated face.
"I'm sorry folks, we will have to end any visitations for the rest of the day." he sighed as he noticed Nightmare standing up, ready to argue.
"Um, not until you tell us what's going on! Where's my dad!" Nightmare screamed.
Benny reached up and grabbed Nightmare's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Honey, maybe we can just come back later."
"No! I want to know! I heard the walkie too. What is going on! Where's my dad?"
The guard rolled his eyes and sputtered his lips. "Ma'am. I can't release that information right now. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to escort you both out as we are not accepting visitors at this time." the father and daughter were quickly removed from the facility as well as other family and friends of inmates who were equally confused and frustrated. Nightmare was deliriously angry.
"Dad I'm going back in there and demanding an answer!" the tall black cat began walking back inside but was stopped by her dad.
"Nightmare. Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere." he wasn't used to seeing her angry and didn't know quite how to respond. "Why don't we re-group and come back tomorrow."
Scowling, Nightmare glared at the jail. "They're not getting away with this!" pulling out her whisper device she scrolled down to the C-section and began to angrily type in. "If they want a fight, they're going to get one!"
A dark green mouse stepped into the room holding a clipboard and tossed it into a metal table near the door. Why was she assigned to do the autopsy of some elite toon from Slapstick Villa? Surely somebody else could have handled this. She hated elite toons almost as much as she hated Anti-Toons. Staring blankly at the corpse on the table, she exhaled. The sooner this was done with, the better. Apparently the Toon had gone into cardiac arrest about a week after arriving with a head injury from a blunt force attack. He had been in a medically induced coma and died suddenly, something that confused even the doctor and nurses assigned to this rabbit. There was still some noticeable bruising on the head and face, but otherwise this body was clear. Over the next hour, the mouse was exasperated as the cause of death became more and more convoluted. She had sent for a toxicity report and decided to sit back and wait. Looking at the rabbit's face a bit clearer, he began to look more familiar, as if she had seen him before. While she thought, a knock on the door interrupted her. Standing up she walked over and opened the door. A dark blue monkey handed her a manila envelope and nodded, walking away.
"Alright. Let's see what this bad boy succumbed to." scanning over the page she nodded. "Hmm. Sigh-anide. That would do it. That's weird though, how would an unconscious toon ingest such a rare poison?" The deadly poison was something a hospital would never carry, and at this dosage the rabbit clearly would have died well before he reached the hospital. This was certainly no accident. Somebody wanted this Toon dead. Honestly? He probably had it coming, she figured. Walking over she grabbed her clipboard and finished filling out her report, before sending it off to be reviewed. She had better things to be doing anyways.
"Violet. How long has it been since we last spoke?" Stupid Rabbit leaned back in his recliner, sticking his legs out as he spoke on the phone. Stupid didn't like to leave physical records when he was speaking with other Anti-Toons, preferring to do things by phone.
"Ah, Stupid Stupid Stupid Rabbit. Now there's a voice I haven't heard from in a while. If you must know, I'm doing quite well." the other Toon paused, knowing that something was going to be asked of her. "What do you need?"
Stupid Rabbit rubbed under his eyelid and chuckled. "Wow Violet, you get straight to the point. Can't a guy just check in with an old friend every once in a while? How's the crime sector going?"
"Well not good, if we're being honest with ourselves. With these new cog invasions, and the stupid In-Sells moving in, it's a lot harder to move around unnoticed. Buzz got picked up a few months ago and is looking at twenty years. Gale and Qia both retired, and recruiting has been an issue. Apparently Toons these days are way more patriotic or something." Violet responded angrily. "Anyways, can you just let me know what you want? I have other things I need to take care of."
"Alright then." Stupid sarcastically responded. "I need a hit done."
Pausing confused, Violet took a few seconds to process everything. "You're asking me to do a hit? I thought you did your own work? Why the sudden request?"
Gritting his teeth, Stupid Rabbit recalled the events. "I guess you haven't heard. My brother Dumb Dumb Dumb rabbit was attacked by some stupid Toon last week.. he ended up dying last night.."
"Hmm. I didn't realize you and your brother were closed. You've never really talked about him, and when you have it hasn't been positive."
"I don't need your input Violet. Regardless of our relationship, he was still my brother and nobody messes with the Rabbit family. Especially not same lame-billed duck Anyways, if anybody was to notice me around him it would be immediately suspicious. Plus I heard that his trial will be moving to Minnie's Melodyland. You have to have someone available?"
Exhaling, Violent pondered for a few moments. "Fine, but I want payment upfront. Nothing comes back to us."
"As expected, I know how these things work, Violet." he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Okay, well if that's the case I can spare Poppensticks I guess." the purple duck sharply responded.
Stupid Rabbit stood up and threw his arms in the air. "Violet, you can't be serious? That hot-head? I'm actually surprised he's not in jail? Don't you have anyone else?"
"Sorry, Stupid. Like I said, we're not doing too well ourselves. My other guy is already handling something else. Listen, do you want him or not?"
"Ugh. I guess I don't have a choice. I'll go ahead and send over the details. I want this duck to suffer. He needs to know he can't mess with the Rabbits!"