The elevator trembled lightly as it ascended towards an upper floor. With a ding, the doors slid open and a set of stairs came in the view. Flippy stepped out and motioned everyone to follow him.
"Come on guys, this way!" He chimed. Kelly and Vincent looked at their surroundings, the hall they were in looked slightly more colorful than the plain gray room they were in when they arrived. Flippy opened the door on the end of the stairs, revealing the bright and colorful sight that was the Toontown town hall.
The architecture that the place sported was wacky to say the least, everything was orderly and symmetrical in a way, of course, but the way it was decorated made it seem surreal. The inside of the town hall was very colorful and vibrant; all the decorations seemed to be placed asymmetrically: paintings, pictures, everything that hung from the walls weren't placed properly, but it wasn't unnerving; on the contrary, it looked quite amusing. Everything that wasn't a wall also seemed to be rounded; the moldings on the walls and some of the furniture were proof of that.
"Wow… Where are we?" Kelly asked, looking in all directions.
"This is the Town Hall!" Flippy replied, "All of the things that happen in Toontown are managed from here."
The blue dog motioned the group that was following him to go along with him to the exit door. Some of the toons in the building looked over at the human teens with curiosity, some looked at them bewildered, and others were too busy to stare at them.
"And this…"
Flippy grabbed the doorknobs of the double doors in front of him and twisted them, then pushed the doors open, revealing the bright landscape in front of the hall.
"Is Toontown Central!" He chimed, making his arms form a V pose. Outside the walls of the Town Hall the sky was blue and the buildings were colorful. Lots and lots of toons ran about, adorning the sight with all sorts of colors here and there. The view was so cheerful-looking; you could have probably wanted to go in yourself.
"Ohh! This is so pretty!" Kelly cheered, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and shaking him.
"Yeah! It's pretty neat!" Vincent smiled, grabbing Kelly's hands and pulling them away, "Do you… Think you can show us around?" he asked.
Flippy's muzzle then showed the biggest grin he could manage, earning him weird looks from the two siblings, "I'd be more that happy! Haha, I thought you'd never ask!" he eeked, "Come on, this way! I'll give you a tour!" he requested and began walking away from the group, Kelly and Vincent followed, but Clancy and Shade stayed behind.
"Hey Clancy…" Shade muttered and Clancy looked over at her.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Is it me or… Do they look a lot like Cogs…?" She inquired.
Clancy looked over at the humans who were walking away and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah… They do look at lot like Cogs…" he whispered.
==MEANWHILE==
"This is the main plaza," Flippy said, motioning the setting around him and the teens, "You can find the Town Hall, the bank and the library here!" he explained. They were surrounded by the 3 buildings, with the remaining 4th direction leading to the park in the playground. The three buildings were all neatly decorated, all of them adorned with columns on the entrances and rising several (but not quite many) stories tall. Neatly crafted lamps were scattered around the plaza, and below everything was a nicely-kept cobblestone floor, ending orderly at the start of the park.
For a place as seemingly wacky as this, the town surrounding them was very pretty.
"Aw!" Kelly cooed, "This place is so cute!"
"Haha, thank you! Me and the rest of the Toon Council work hard to keep the whole town nice and clean, even more so with what's going on right now…"
Vincent tilted his head, "What is going on, though?" he asked.
Flippy looked over at Vincent in slight embarrassment, "Oh, excuse me for not telling you guys! Really, I'm sorry for not filling you in earlier," he excused himself, "Toontown is… basically being invaded right now," he explained, "Large and weird-looking robots started coming down from the sky one day and have not left us alone since…"
"Wait," Kelly said, "If they haven't let you alone, how come this place is still so nice looking with toons running about and stuff?"
"Well that's where the somewhat good news kick in!" Flippy assured, "One day, one of us discovered that those robots have one general weakness: gags!" he explained, "If you pelt them down with pies and seltzer bottles they eventually explode, but we have yet to conclude why they do that."
"So, if you pretty much got it all under control, why do you need us?" Vincent asked.
"Oh well… About that…" Flippy muttered, "I feared things would get out of hand," he explained, "I mean, they haven't, and I sure hope they don't! But just in case, you know?"
Kelly and Vincent exchanged glances and looked back at Flippy, who had a sort of forced flat expression.
"But that's enough chit-chat about that, guys!" Flippy assured, clapping his hands, "I've got to show you the rest of the playground!"
The toon urged his human friends to follow him to the rest of the hub in Toontown Central, whom promptly followed him. Some toons that were running about stopped to look at the humans with curiosity, but most didn't really seemed to mind after seeing them following around Flippy leisurely.
"Toontown Central isn't just nice-looking in its buildings! The toons here are really nice, if I do say so myself!" Flippy bragged, "Come on, let me introduce you to one of our residents!" he chimed and approached a red monkey, who was busy fishing on a dock of the pond in the middle of the playground.
Flippy tapped the toon's shoulder, and the monkey turned around with (a somewhat cute) confused expression. The monkey looked at Flippy, and then looked at the humans in surprise.
"Um… Hello!" Vincent managed to spit out, waving a hand awkwardly at the monkey, "We're… Friends!"
The monkey's face then shifted from a mildly confused expression to a dead-serious face, staring at Kelly and Vincent like they were untrustworthy criminals.
"I know you," The monkey said, "You appeared in a dream of mine." he hissed.
Vincent immediately pulled Kelly close in an awkward, protective hug, "Yeah? W-Was the dream nice?" he blurted out. The two humans and Flippy had a mixture of confusion and fear in their faces.
"7 of you entered," The red toon explained, "Only 3 of you came out," he spat somewhat angrily, "You're going to doom your sister, mister Parker!"
The two siblings stayed close to one another, staring at the monkey who was still glaring at them. Flippy side-stepped and put his hands on Vincent's back, then began to push in order to get them away from the awkward moment.
"You know, err…? Let's ignore our residents, guys," Flippy eeked, pushing the humans away from the pond, which they gladly went along with, "Let's show you the HQ instead!" he ushered.
"Mark my words, Parker!" The monkey shouted out as soon as the trio walked away, "Mark them!"
"My last name is Peterson!" Vincent replied.
==A LITTLE WHILE LATER==
The trio stood in front of a small, cubical building with a gigantic firefighter hat that served as its roof. From said roof a radio tower came out, which had multiple alarm sirens attached to it. The building had light blue double doors, and above them was a cloth sign that read "Head Quarters" which was placed asymmetrically.
"This is the Toon HQ," Flippy explained, motioning at the building, "Each major location on Toontown has one of these, where everything that happens in our town is recorded and compiled."
Flippy pulled down the doorknob of one of the doors and opened it, stepping inside. Vincent and Kelly followed along. The inside was decorated with wood, one of the walls had a blackboard, and the other parallel to it had glass panels that protected, what the siblings assumed, was a laboratory. In the center of the building several stairs led to a reception desk where 4 toons were working, and in the center of the square said reception desk made was a tube with megaphones that seemingly connected to the radio tower from earlier.
Flippy turned around, "Would you guys really want to help us out?" he asked, "You don't have to stay here, I can promise you that."
Kelly looked at Vincent with pleading eyes, "Could we?" she asked, biting her lower lip.
Vincent scratched his head, but ultimately nodded, "Yeah!" he exclaimed, looking back at Flippy, "We could!"
Flippy grinned and clapped his hands, "Alright! Follow me, I think I know what you can help us with!" he said and turned around to walk down the stairs, with his new friends following after him.
A brown dog waved at Flippy, motioning to go with him since his co-workers were busy. "Hello, mayor! What can I… Do…" The dog trailed off as soon as he saw the two humans that were with Flippy.
"…Flippy what the heck." The dog said flatly, staring at Vincent and Kelly, whom looked embarrassed.
Flippy smiled in embarrassment, "No, Harry, I can explain!" he assured, which caused the brown dog, which was apparently named Harry, to raise an eyebrow in disbelief, "These are Kelly and Vincent, they're something called humans!" the mayor toon explained.
Harry looked over at the two teens behind Flippy, who waved awkwardly at him, then looked back at the mayor, "They kind of look like Cogs if you ask me." he said.
Vincent and Kelly exchanged confused looks.
"Cogs?" Kelly asked, "What's a Cog?"
Harry raised both of his eyebrows in slight surprise. To him they looked slightly like Cogs, but they didn't seem to act or talk like one.
"Cogs," Flippy began, "Are the robots I told you about earlier. Sorry for not telling you their name." he said, and then looked at Harry, "Anyways! Kelly and Vincent here are willing to help us with the Cog problem, do you think you can give them a hand?" he asked.
Harry smiled slightly; recruiting new people was something he really liked to do, "I guess I could! But I'm not really the one to introduce new toons… or humans… to the ways of fighting Cogs," he excused, looking at Kelly and Vincent, "For that you'll have to go to Tutorial Tom's office."
"…Tutorial Tom?" Vincent asked.
"Yes, Tutorial Tom!" Harry assured, "He can teach you all the basics you need to know, I'm pretty sure that Flippy can lead you to his building here on Toontown Central." he smiled.
"Oowooo!" Flippy cheered, "I sure can! Come on guys, Tom's building is near this playground at Punchline Place" he said.
"Punchline Place you say?" Kelly asked.
"It's the name of one of the streets in Toontown Central." Harry added.
"Come on guys!" Flippy smiled.
==A LITTLE WHILE LATER AGAIN==
The trio of two humans and a toon had entered one of the big tunnels that were in the playground of Toontown Central, leading to its connecting streets. When they reached the other end they were in Punchline Place, one of the 3 streets that linked the playground with other areas of Toontown.
The streets had the same delightful set of cobblestone that the plaza in the playground had, and all the buildings were brimming with color, with wacky-looking windows and names.
Flippy led Kelly and Vincent to a small alleyway near the tunnel, which led to a small plaza surrounded by even more buildings and green-leafed trees. In the other side of the plaza was the office of Tutorial Tom, a comparatively small building (to the others in the street) which didn't have a sign on the front wall.
"Over there, guys!" The toon assured, leading his friends to the office and opening the door. Flippy peeked in, and inside was a tan dog signing a big pile of papers with a bored expression.
"Psst," Flippy whispered, "What are you doing there, Tom?" he asked teasingly.
Tom got out of his trance and stared at Flippy, then grinned, "Hello, Flippy! Do you need anything?" he asked.
"Yep!" Flippy replied, opening the door fully, "I got two new recruits right here that'd like to fight Cogs!"
"FINALLY- I mean, fantastic!" Tom exclaimed, staring at Flippy with a huge grin while shoving aside the huge pile of papers with an unexplainable audible crash, "Where are they?" he asked, and on the cue Kelly and Vincent stepped into the office.
Tom raised an eyebrow, "Uh, those are very funny looking toons."
Flippy sighed, "They're humans, not toons, and certainly not Cogs." he explained.
"We come from another dimension!" Kelly waved.
Tom pouted in confusion, "Okay, I guess I can buy that," he shrugged, and motioned everyone to come closer to his desk, "So… What's your name guys?"
"I'm Vincent, and this is Kelly," Vincent replied, motioning to his sister, "Our last name is Peterson, by the way."
"Alright guys, do you know what a Cog is?" Tom asked, putting his hands on his hips. The two siblings shook their heads. The tan toon then reached from below his desk and pulled out some slides made of cardboard.
The first slide that he showed to the teens was of several drawings of humanoid robots in business suits. All of them had very plain expressions and color.
"These are the Cogs," Tom began, "They, as you might have already heard, are robots that are trying to take over Toontown." he said, sure that Flippy might have explained that to them before.
"There are many types of Cogs and…" He continued, dropping the first slide, revealing the next one, which had a bunch of colorful toon buildings, "… they turn happy toon buildings…" he dropped the second slide, revealing monotone, tall and grey buildings with angry eyes painted on the upper floors, "… into ugly Cog buildings!" he whimpered with a sad face.
Flippy himself also cringed a little bit seeing the Cog buildings, Kelly and Vincent, however, didn't seemed fazed at all, you could even say that they looked slightly content with the design.
Tom dropped the slide and revealed the next one, which had an image of a Cog and a toon, seemingly in battle, "But the Cogs can't take a joke!" he explained and dropped the slide, the next one had more or less the same image, but the gag that the toon was holding was shot at the Cog's face, "And so a good gag will stop them." he finished, dropping the last slide and smiling.
"Wait, what's a gag?" Vincent asked, tilting his head.
Tom reached under his desk again and pulled out a large tray which was filled with undecorated cupcakes, yellow flowers and several blue boxes with a huge red button on them, "These are just some of them." he laughed.
Vincent looked at the cupcakes with wide eyes, and tried to reach for one of them hungrily.
"The cupcakes are poisonous, by the way." Tom added casually.
Vincent immediately retracted his hand in horror.
The tan dog guffawed, "Haha, just kidding! But if you could restrain yourself from eating them, that'd be appreciated." he assured, Vincent just stared at him with a "how dare you deny me of cupcakes" kind of look (why yes, there's a specific expression just for that).
Kelly picked up one of the flowers and studied it, "I don't get it, how does this one work?" she asked, to which Flippy handed her one of the buttons in the box, "Here," he said, "Just press the button and the flower will squirt!"
Tom picked up two cupcakes and another flower from the tray and then put it away, "For now, this is all you both need, because I'm about to assign you your very first mission, you guys!"
Vincent and Kelly looked at Tom eagerly, but something over on the window caught Kelly's attention. She turned around and almost had a heart attack.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" She shrieked, pointing at the window and gathering everyone's attention.
Tom immediately panicked and pointed at the window as well, "A Cog! A Cog is outside my building!" he screamed.