Cog - robot enemy

(Donald's) Dreamland - the most advanced main area in the game; its streets are Pajama Place and Lullaby Lane; the Playground (safe area) is shaped like a bed with a colorful blanket and pillow, its streets (battle/task area) are dream-like and very dark blue/purple; the entire area represents sleeping/nighttime.

Gags - Weapons; objects that are the "jokes" played on enemy Cogs.

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I can remember when my friends and I would play the Cog Destroyer game as kids.

"Willow! Come and get me! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" my friend Lollipop used to scream across the room. "Ooh-eh-ooh!"

"That's not what a Cog sounds like, Lollipop!" Her brother Louie would say. "It's sounds like this: Bhaw-bhaw-bah!"

"Ugh, I doubt it, Louie!" She always shot him this look.

Life at the Trickymonkey house was always bananas (Get it? Because they're monkeys? I'm a duck so I'm not monkey funny, I'm so sorry.).

"Willow, tell him he has no idea what a cog sounds like!" Lollipop would look at me begging for my favor with her statement. I just shrugged, and then she would scoff.

One time, I shot back:

"It's only a legend, Lollipop. No one knows what a 'Cog' sounds like. They're not even real!" I remarked.

Then they both turned their backs to each other and each looked at me with a raised eyebrow, saying, "How do you know?"

I sighed and sat down crisscrossed on the floor. "Because my mamma says so!"

The two monkeys sat down the same as I, but across from me on the floor. "Well," Louie said, "Maybe they are real, maybe they aren't."

"They aren't." I said with a slight touch of pique.

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One day, I remember I was walking home from school on Pajama Place in Dreamland, and I noticed this one building that looked very grey and towered over all the other shops. A nasty symbol with eyes and four ascending towers made it look ominous. All the framework and walls were built from steel and metals. The symbol inside the elevator was a dull pink, and it too had the towers, but no eyes. The sign above it had 5 dots on it. I wasn't sure what it all signified, but I dared not to step in, and instead ran screaming all the way home.

I slammed the front door shut. It was so loud that my mother came running in a panic for me. "What happened!?" she asked frantically.

"I unh-huh nuhh" I was so out of breath that I could hardly say a word.

"Breathe..." my mother said.

I stopped and took a deep breath before attempting to speak again. "I saw something!"

"What? What was it?"

"A scary tower - down the street!"

My mother gave me a confused look, and with one eyebrow raised, looked out the nearest window. I could hear her quiet gasp even though she tried so hard to keep it to herself. "Willow," her voice suddenly deepened, "Go to the basement - now! GO!"

"But Mamma!"

"I said go, child! Don't disappoint me now." She faked a smile as she pushed me into the backyard and opened the locked door. I stepped down the ladder and looked up at my mother. "I'll be back soon, dear."

"What?! NO, DON'T LEAVE ME, MAMMA!" I started to cry, but it was no use. She blew me a kiss, and waved goodbye as she closed the doors. I heard the lock click and knew she was gone. I reached out for the cord that would turn on the light. When I found it, I sat down in my place, hugging my arms and letting the tears fall from my face.

I couldn't see much of anything down in this basement. The walls were stone from the top to the middle. Dirt settled the rest of the way down, and included the floor. Everything smelled old and dusty, and the light would flicker. Around me, I saw boxes and boxes of things. Most of it food, some of it random items. I noticed a large book that seemed possible to retrieve, but when I tried to grab it, I found it was far too high up. I took the three smaller boxes on the ground beside me and stacked them like stairs. After making sure they were stable enough to stand on, I climbed them. This time, I was a tad too short, and could barely touch the edge of the cover with my fingertips. I stretched as far as I could, but then I slipped, hit the box below the book, and fell backwards onto the floor.

As I sat up, I saw the towers of boxes start to lean towards me. I slid away as quickly as I could, just enough to avoid being hit. A mess of TNT and cupcakes flew across the room, causing me to have to take cover with my arms.

When I couldn't hear anymore objects flying around in the room, I sat up and looked around. The oddity of the items confused me.

Who needs that much TNT, or that many cupcakes?!

Something very fishy was going on here. Between the strange grey buildings, my own mother locking me in a basement, and the crazy amounts of strange supplies, I had a right to be afraid. The worst part was that my mother already knew exactly what was going on. What if-

No way! I thought to myself. The Cogs aren't real! Mamma said so!

I shook my head in disbelief and quickly decided to take my mind off of the subject by reading that book I had tried so hard to reach. I looked around for a brown leather cover, and after about two minutes, I found it in a large pile of mushy cupcakes. "Ah, there it is." I said, still trying to calm myself. I dug my hands in the mushy mess of cake and started to pick up the book from the bottom. When I finally got it out of the mess, I sighed, wiped the cover off, and opened the book. To my utter horror, there were sketches and drawings of strange-looking robot men. "Baw-baw-baw!" It said on the sides in quotation marks, describing the sound the bots would create in real life. The memory of the Trickymonkey siblings' arguments replayed in my head over and over again. I was so shocked that I nearly fainted. How could I be considering this?

I remembered the old bedtime story my mother would tell:

"There is a legend, of evil business robot men who came to take all the fun away from the Toons. They are known as the Cogs. They try to change the world around us, and make us all like them: boring and dull robots, programmed to eliminate the wacky and fun from the world, and do business for all eternity. They wish us to become sad and alone, but we Toons fight back by making them laugh. We throw Gags at them; things that make them giggle, laugh and even smile. We destroy their cold hearts by warming them with foolishness."

When she could see the fear in my eyes, she would always end it with:

"But you don't have to worry about those things, Willow. The Cogs are not real, they cannot hurt you."

Had she lied to me to keep me from fearing them? It wouldn't have surprised me, I was a scaredy-cat in my youth.

What if this legend is real? What if we're all in great danger? I thought.

I shrieked when I heard the lock on the basement door disengage. I dashed into a corner where boxes would hide me.

"Willow?" I heard my mother call out. Then I heard a thud - she had accidentally ran into the book on the floor. "Willow..."

I peered out from behind the boxes. My mother was scanning the page of the book I had been looking at. She placed her hand on her forehead, realizing what I had learned. "Willow... Y-you... You know?"

I nodded fearfully.

My mother extended her arms. "Willow... I won't let them hurt you. I promise." I ran to her and let her pick me up in her arms. She carried me back out to the yard. "I suppose I should show you what happened..."

She set me down and we walked out to see the streets covered in cream pie and gears. I couldn't believe it. I scanned the area for a moment, suddenly realizing that my hometown had become a battleground. I knew that my life would never be the same from that moment on.

And in the middle of the street, I fell to my knees.

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Hope you're enjoying the Fanfic so far! Just so you know this will be an ongoing series and will most likely be about 8-10 parts when I'm finished. A second book is HIGHLY possible. So as they say in Toontown: "Stay Tooned!"

P.S. If you're having trouble figuring out some of the imagery at the moment it will be explained as the story continues, most of the details will be in the first chapters - so hold on tight!