"I've found that the best way to wake somebody up when they're sleeping is to wave your hands over their face," I told the teacher in front of me.
"Oh? Why do you think that is?"
I had to think about this for a few seconds. Yes, it worked almost every time; at least more than other strategies, but why did it work? I would poke somebody and they wouldn't wake up, but if I waved my hand over that same person they would… What was the difference?
"Let's see… When you're sleeping, obviously you can't see anything." I closed my eyes then waved my hand over the closed eyelids. "Even if your eyes are clenched tight you can still see the change in light," I concluded.
"So you think that people wake up because they're seeing a change in lighting?"
I nodded.
"It has to be. I mean, I don't know exactly why; it's probably just some natural instinct or something."
The sienna-haired man in front of me nodded, but didn't make eye contact. He stared at the floor, lost in thought.
"You can call me Professor Wiggle. I understand that your school was demolished?" I shrugged.
"I guess you could say that. It wasn't purposeful, though." Professor Wiggle nods- again.
"I guess I have to teach you then. I'm sure you're aware that I teach older people as well?" I nodded. "I guess we'll have to work around that. Neapolitan, can I ask you something?"
This was definitely odd. Teachers never asked me if they could ask me something. They were always rude and condescending; never cared about my feelings.
"Of course!"
"How are you planning on paying for this course?"
Boom.
Just like a bullet in the chest.
I didn't have an answer to that, so I just stayed silent. After a few moments passed, Professor Wiggle said, "I see." He stood up from his sitting position on the edge of his desk and walked around to the other side of it.
"Luckily for you I don't believe guided education should cost anything. However, if you want to help me, I might consider cutting back some of your class time." I shook my head.
"Professor Wiggle, I'll help you. But please don't cut back my class," I said. He smiled.
"That's good to hear. Do you know Sir Astro?"
Sir Astro… The name sounded familiar. It sounded like something that I might have heard on TV or something.
"I think I might've heard of him," I say, "but I've never met him personally."
With my response, Professor Wiggle walked around to the corner of his classroom and took out a small brown paper bag.
"It's likely that you've heard of him," he started, still making his way back to me. "He became a general at the age of twenty. A remarkable accomplishment. Anyway, he's not a very decent guy. He's in a more sketchy business now. With that being said, I don't want you to deliver this directly to him." He held out the bag and I cautiously took it. In the exchange I heard a small clank, which told me that there was probably glass inside it.
"I want you to take this to Ned Slinger. He owns a store called "The Flying Pie" on Punchline Place. Have you ever been on the streets?"
I had been on the streets a few times, but it was always quick; go out, stay on the sidewalks, and travel. That was all. I had never fought a cog. I was hardly ever even on the streets, most of my time was spent in Toontown Central.
That always bothered me. I had heard stories about Donald's Dreamland all the time, and it sounded great. All of the other lands sounded great. Except I would never be able to go until I started training. Even then I would have to spend my first year in Toontown Central .
"A few times. Just passing through, though," I told Professor Wiggle. Professor Wiggle nodded, then disappeared behind his desk. He bended over and grabbed his leather bag, then took out a bottle.
"I want you to take this with you," he told me, and handed me the bottle. I examined it.
It was a clear glass bottle that was filled with water. It had a top that squirted out water, and a small handle. I assumed that if you squeezed the handle water would squirt out.
"It's a seltzer bottle. Usually toons don't use them until their second year, but I trust that you can use it. It's not glass; just really sturdy plastic. And it isn't shatter resistant either, so you won't have to worry about being injured if it happens to break."
I held the bottle in my left hand and the bag in my right.
"Hmm. It will be hard to carry all of that." He took out a brown backpack from behind his desk. "This is a good sized backpack. I think I have a few other things in there, but you can keep it and whatever is in it. I haven't used it in forever." I put down the seltzer bottle and paper bag then examined the backpack. It had darker brown vertical stripes on it, and the black zipper stretched around the top like a normal backpack. I opened it up and examined the inside.
There were a few off-white objects in the backpack. I didn't look at them too closely, but just from a quick glance one object appeared to be made out of canvas. I stuffed the paper bag into it and zipper it up, then put it around my back. After some quick strap adjusting, I picked up the seltzer bottle again. Professor Wiggle handed me a map and I eyed it curiously.
"This is a map of Punchline Place. See number sixteen? That's where the Flying Pie is." I stared at the map. Sixteen was almost at the end of Punchline Place.
That meant I would see the tunnel to Barnacle Boulevard.
"Now, use that seltzer bottle wisely. Stay on the sidewalks, and don't go anywhere except the Flying Pie. And tell Ned that I sent you. Meet me at the library here when you're done."
I was surprised at how trusting Professor Wiggle was. I had never met anyone that trusted me the first day they met me. Let alone a teacher. The fact that he does trust me makes me trust him, though, which I guess could be one of the reasons that he chose to trust me.
"Alright. I'll be quick," I said, and left the room.
His class was one of the many classrooms in the Toontown Schoolhouse. Professor Wiggle was pretty commonly known, but not for the best reasons. He was notorious for being rash and having a hot temper. However, he was a pretty good teacher once you got on his good side. Because of this, there were often rumors of Professor Wiggle having his own business and building. I didn't know if those were true.
Professor Pete was much more popular than Professor Wiggle. Pete actually looked like me in a way; he had blue hair and was kind of short. He was known as being nice and always helpful. I didn't have that much communication with him, but he seemed very kind. Apparently the two professors were competitors.
I left the schoolhouse and was greeted by Toontown Central sun. There were a lot of toons out right now; the fishing spot was full, toons were running in and out of the gag and pet shop, and the trolley was making rounds left and right.
I bounded over to the tunnel to Punchline Place, but was stopped by a piece of paper taped onto the stone wall.
The paper read: "MISSING: SID SONATA. LAST SEEN IN MINNIE'S MELODYLAND. HAS PEACH COLORED HAIR AND IS VERY TALL. OWNER OF THE STORE "SONATA YOUR FAULT! DISCOUNT AUTO INSURANCE" ON BARITONE BOULEVARD. IF SEEN PLEASE REPORT TO MINNIE."
I stared at the paper. Toons didn't go missing that often. Or, if they did, they would be found soon in one of the cog buildings. This wasn't the same a few years ago, though.
Julius Wheezer was a guy that owned a theatre company in Minnie's Melodyland. He was pretty well known, so when he disappeared everyone was worried.
Julius simply disappeared. There was absolutely no evidence. He was just… Gone. There were a lot of theories on where he went; some thought he was taken by the cogs, and some thought he wanted to disappear. Like it was all a plan- he left on purpose and didn't want to come back.
I wondered if that was what Sid Sonata did.
I traveled down the tunnel into Punchline Place. It was weird seeing the streets again; I always forgot how compact they were and how cogs could only travel if they were directly behind each other.
I got to the Flying Pie easily, since there were hardly any cogs on the street. I opened up the yellow doors and was greeted by a tan haired man.
I had never seen Ned Slinger before. He was a bit overweight, but not by too much.
"Welcome! What brings you here?" he asked me.
"Professor Wiggle sent me. I'm supposed to give something to you, and you're supposed to deliver it to Sir Astro," I said as I zipped open the backpack.
"Professor Wiggle? Is he your teacher?" I shrugged as I took out the paper bag.
"I guess you could say that. More of a private tutor thing, though," I said as I handed him the bag.
"Private tutor? Interesting. I didn't know he did that." As Ned Slinger examined the contents of the paper bag, I examined the contents of the backpack.
The white things turned out to be a pair of gloves and a small canvas bag. The gloves were a nice material, and they were very clean and new. I was very tempted to put them on. The small canvas bag was only about two inches tall and its inside was stained with many colors. I assumed it was for holding small amounts of jelly beans.
"Oh! Those gloves!" I looked up to find Ned Slinger examining the gloves in my hand. "They used to belong to this guy named Waylon. Everyone calls him Worn Out Waylon, though. He's a pretty overworked guy. Anyway, he only made one pair of those gloves. Apparently he made them so that they would only be stained by jelly beans, and nothing else. Just to give it an authentic Toontown look, you know?" I stared at the gloves in my hands.
"Now I feel bad about having them," I confessed. Ned shook his head.
"Don't be! Put them on! They're pretty small anyway, you're probably the only one that could fit in them." I looked down at the gloves.
"Are you sure?" I asked, just to make sure that it was okay for me to wear them, He nodded.
I gingerly fitted it into my hand. The knuckles had holes in them, and all of the finger tips were cut out. They were actually really cool.
"With gloves like that you should start training," Ned commented.
"Training? No way. I can't do that for another few years," I said, although I thought that I was ready to train as well.
"Hey, what's your name kid?"
"Neapolitan."
"Neapolitan, get Professor Wiggle to talk to Flippy. You should start training. Hell, you're already running errands for shop owners. You deserve it."
Me? Training early?
Actually, that didn't sound too bad.
Woo! Flash backs! I wonder what's happening to him in the real world?