Rain

**"Rain"**is the fifth episode of *Rewritten* and the 5th episode overall.

It was published on June 20, 2017.

In the episode, the Exodus occurs as Toontown is destroyed.

## The Episode

===TOONTOWN===

=Exodus=

Slate Oldman went to the window of the trolley depot, pressing past huddled frightened Toons. Outside, the snow of the Brrrgh had subsided. Strange, he thought. He was about to go outside to reignite the blizzard, but rain clouds were forming. Rain.

"We have to go outside," Slate announced to the gathered Toons. Their terrified faces indicated they had no desire to go outside where the Cogs could get them. But Slate was one to lead by example. He tossed open the wooden door and strode outside. The rain began to fall heavily.

Impressive, Slate thought as the rain brushed his fur. He couldn't help but smile and marvel at the scientific genius of it. Memory rain. Of course. For the Emergency Portal. They would be saved after all.

But losing his memories would serve him no good in the new world, wherever they were going. Slate placed his paws on either side of his head and squeezed, freezing his memories in place. The Blizzard Wizard would have work to do in the new world. Namely, how to stop the Cogs. It wasn't likely he would succeed, but perhaps he could try. The Cogs would still be here when they returned. They were not going anywhere.

Around the playground, the rain fell in a torrential downpour. The Toons were convulsing, their eyes closed and heads shaking. The memories slipping away.

Then came the transport holes. Everyone, robotically, dropped their portals on the ground and fell--not jumped, fell--into them.

Slate glanced around. It appeared only those who had their memories wiped were going into the portals, as Slate couldn't get his to work. He walked over to a Toon who was just now pulling out their hole. When it fell to the ground, Slate jumped into it, just as the Toon fell. Together, they were reborn.

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Pete found the castle empty. It was home to the Mayoral Office and...well, that was it. When Pete couldn't remember, he always just viewed the castle with indifference, though that was now replaced with ambivalence. What was the point of it? Was Prepostera trying to suggest or favor a monarchy?

Pete found the stairs to the highest tower in the center of the castle. Unlike the rickety staircase of the schoolhouse, these stairs were impeccably cut and in beautiful condition. Pete ascended them with ease. He kept thinking back to Esmeralda's message. To Nimbus' death. To the last moment with his family. Before everything was wrenched away from him. The grief he harbored must be put aside, he told himself. Duty called.

The only person who can lead us back, Pete thought, is me. The only other person who probably maintained his memories was the Mystery Man. But he was no where to be found.

Pete reached the roof and stepped out into the chilly air of Fantasyland. He smiled at the facade of a world they lived in. Soon they would never see it again. It was time to go home. Pete approached the enormous weather vane fixated to the spire of the tower. Embedded in the center, matching the drawing in Nimbus' notebook, was a glass orb matching the one in Toontown. Orange lightning was storming inside, swamped by grey clouds. Pete reached for it.

"Is it time?" a voice said.

Pete spun around, clutching the journal to his chest, taking a step back, mindful of the edge. Slate Oldman stood before him, in his human form. It took a moment to get used to that fact. Even though Pete had seen him before in Fantasyland when he couldn't remember, it was strange to see the rabbit as a human.

"Time for what?" Pete answered meekly.

"Time to go back to Toontown," Slate answered as if it was obvious. Pete let out his breath.

"You remember?"

Slate nodded.

"Was it a pie?"

Slate blinked. "What?"

"Nevermind," Pete said quickly. "How do you remember Toontown?"

"Eh," Slate said with a flop of his human hand. "I didn't see a point in forgetting. Froze my memories." He snapped his fingers. "Didn't follow you up here by the way. I was just curious to see it happen in person." He rubbed his hands together.

"Do your magical powers or whatever work here too?" Pete asked, perhaps rudely. Slate shook his head.

"Kind of a cruddy deal."

Pete let his arms fall and his shoulders slump. Slate furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

"My family," Pete said. "They're gone."

Slate looked at the ground.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that. The Cogs have taken everything from us." He looked up with a ferocious glare. "We will not let them take it from us again."

Pete nodded. He stood on his tiptoes to reach the orb. For Ash and Laura, he spun the weather vane. The orb dissolved away and its contents rocketed into the sky. The cerulean abyss darkened at once, grey clouds streaming in from the horizon. Soon, all of Fantasyland was domed by thick cumulonimbus clouds.

Rain fell.

===TOONTOWN===

==Three Years Ago==

=Exodus=

Piggy Pie and Doctor rushed to the aid of an attacked Toon, struck by a Spin Doctor by the tunnel to Silly Street. The Cogs were flying, marching, and by all means entering the Playground. It had been compromised. They were all going to die. Grey buildings fell from the sky, consuming the Pet Shop, Trolley Depot, Headquarters, bank, library even the Schoolhouse. Only Toon Hall stood stalwart against the attack.

"Do you have any Toonup left?" Piggy Pie asked desperately, searching her own backpack for an emergency toonup. Doctor shook his head sadly.

"Oh..." Piggy Pie whispered. Doctor threw his arms around Piggy as the same Spin Doctor stomped on the Toon, killing her. Doctor gasped in sadness.

"Our laff..." Piggy Pie muttered. She could feel it in her chest, dropping significantly, approaching total sadness.

Above, the clouds was getting darker. Rain had started to fall. Piggy didn't have time to worry about the weather. She held on to her friend, her eyes closed, waiting for a Cog to murder her and end the torment.

Then came the downpour. Piggy Pie was wet in seconds. The rain was splashing everywhere. The sound of electricity wrenched Piggy's eyes open. Standing above her and Doctor was a Backstabber, arm raised. But the rain had fried him. He was shaking vehemently. And then he exploded.

All around the playground, the Cogs were exploding, destroyed by the water.

"Water," Piggy Pie said in a hurry. "Water kills them!"

Doctor pulled Piggy to her feet. The Cogs in the sky were falling now, breaking apart when they hit the ground. Doctor and Piggy hurried under a tree. In Piggy's head, she could feel a lightness. Was she going to faint? When she looked at her wet skin, however, she was surprised to see the water was going inside her. As if she was a sponge. What...

Doctor seized next to her.

"Doctor!" she cried. His eyes traveled over the Playground. Piggy Pie looked too, in case she saw Clara or Violet. She saw Eileen Irenic, the founder of the Resistance, over by the gazebo. She was pulling out her transport hole. Many Toons were. Mayor Flippy was no where in sight. Piggy Pie grabbed Doctor's hand. The rain continued to pour over them. Toons were disappearing in droves. And Cogs lay dead around them.

Piggy's brain went fuzzy. She began to forget certain things. What she did that day. Who some of the people around her were. She soon couldn't even recognize the Cogs. She held onto Doctor's hand.

Together, they pulled out their transport holes and dropped them.

What are those holes? Piggy Pie thought dumbly.

She and Doctor leaned forward and fell into the abyss. She let go of his hand.

She flipped on her back and fell, the light above her closing, encompassing her in darkness. Piggy Pie lifted her trotters, which she could still make out even in blackness. They were changing. Five long appendages sprouted from each.

*Fingers.*

*Hands.*

Her pink pigment drained away.

She felt sick and dizzy.

*Human.*

She closed her eyes as she fell.

The center of the hedge maze in the Gardens playground was inundated with hiding Toons, all cowering beneath the shrubbery. Violet and Soggy Bottom were among them, crouching as the Cogs stormed the playground. In the sky, hundreds of Cogs were flying from the South.

Buildings were falling too, crushing the Trolley Depot, the Pet Shop, clothing store...even Toon HQ fell victim.

The grass turned brown and the hedges that were their only source of protection were withering.

"This is it," Soggy Bottom whispered. Despite the swelling sound of screams, shrieks, and final words, Violet could hear her friend clearly.

Above them, the clouds were turning grey too. The Cogs had taken everything indeed.

A Mr. Hollywood emerged from the clouds and landed in the center of the maze. Around Violet, Toons tried to scamper away, through the destroyed hedges. But Violet couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot, facing her soon-to-be-killer.

Rain began to fall.

"Here," Soggy said quietly, pressing a large flower into Violet's hand, making her heart flutter, if only a little. Toonup.

"Are you ready for your final scene?" the Mr. Hollywood said mechanically. Soggy gasped and began crying, just as a loud thunder clap reverberated throughout the playground. Rain fell in a torrent. The Cog was fried almost instantaneously, exploding in a cacophony of death. It fell with a thud. But its hand spiraled away, sending a wave of red sparks flying at the Toons. It struck Violet and Soggy. She felt her laff decrease.

"AH!" Soggy screamed.

"Protect your laff!" Professor Chortle, an orange monkey, was yelling, her eyes wide with fright. "If you're sad, you won't leave!"

"Leave?" Violet said.

But the rain was messing with her head. Everything was slipping away. She stood. Beside her, Soggy did the same. Violet reached in her pocket and dropped the transport hole on the ground. Tilting forward, on instinct, she fell.

Around her, Toons hit the ground in a dolorous wave of death.

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Clara stepped outside to inspect the rain. The first rainfall in Fantasyland. What an interesting weather phenomenon. She outstretched her hand to touch the falling droplets.

It hit her like a flying cream pie.

Memories.

All of them.

Toontown.

Cogs.

Murder.

Evacuation.

Exodus.

Rain.

*Herb.*

Clara's hand flung to her mouth as she remembered the last horrifying moment in Toontown.

===TOONTOWN===

=Three Years Ago=

=Exodus=

Clara and her siblings ran outside. Rain, in Toontown. How was that possible?

"OH!" Penny, Clara's sister, shrieked. On the horizon, surrounding the Clark estate, were Cogs. Hundreds of them.

"BACK INSIDE!" Clara's brother, Herb, was shouting. He started pushing his siblings back toward the door. Rain was falling harder now. Clara felt it graze her skin.

"HERB!" Ray, Clara's other brother, yelled. Clara whirled around. Herb had been hit by a Cog attack.

"Get him inside!" Mom was saying desperately from inside. She was splashed with rain from Will. Clara rushed forward to Herb, but he was hit again. His face lost all its happiness and he fell forward, drooping over like a dead flower.

"HERB!" several of the Clark children yelled. Clara reached out for his hand but someone pulled her back. The doors to the house slammed shut in front of her, leaving Herb outside.

"NO!"

"We have to go back!"

"He's..."

"We..."

Silence fell. Clara looked around the room. Who were these people? Who was she? Her mind was going blank, completely white.

She pulled out her transport hole.

And leaned forward, toppling headfirst into it.

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Piggy Pie reeled from the return of her memories. So much, she realized, had been lost. She knew now that Violet and Clara had survived. But who knew the real death toll? How many had been left behind? How many had been murdered?

She looked around her house, all the ersatz belongings she had accumulated in her three years here as a human. They meant nothing to her. They all belonged to a fake life.

But how in hell were they going to get back to Toontown?

Flippy let the pencil drop out of his hand as his memories came rushing back. The grief and guilt consumed him at once. And Molecule's last, cryptic message.

"I'll see you when you get back."

Flippy wasn't ready to return. Not yet. Not after only three years.

What was in store for the Toons now?

===TOONTOWN===

==Three Years Ago==

=Exodus=

Pete and Nimbus arrived at the Ingalls estate. The door to the house was thrown open and Laura Ingalls, Pete's wife, ran outside and threw her arms around her husband. Nimbus smiled as the red and blue cats embraced.

"It's time," Pete said. "Where's Ash?"

As if on cue, Pete's son came walking out of the house. His purple fur rustled in the augmenting breeze.

"The rain is coming," Nimbus said. You have to touch it for it to take your memories."

Ash gulped.

"It's nothing to be afraid of," Pete said, though he himself was terrified.

"I know," Ash said. "I'm not a kid anymore."

Laura forced a laugh. As much as any of them wanted normalcy, to have one last conversation together, they knew it was fruitless. Their lives were about to be torn apart.

"Come inside," Laura said, "before the rain. I want to say proper goodbyes."

Nimbus followed the Ingalls family inside the estate.

"Tell me about the rain, Cumulo," Laura said quickly as thunder clapped in the distance.

"Ah," Nimbus said. "The rain will wipe your memories and send you to a new world with your family. The three of you will live together in an artificial life until it is time to return to Toontown."

"What will you do?" Ash asked, his face full of worry.

"I will stay here," Nimbus said with more bravery than he probably felt. "I will research the Cogs. I know they've constructed a factory in the south. Perhaps I can infiltrate it."

"We haven't found anything in the south," Pete said glumly.

Nimbus' eyes twinkled.

"I may have pinpointed it."

Before Pete could express his jubilee at this revelation, Ash's voice cut through the room with a chilling shriek.

"MOM!"

Laura whirled around to her son, who was pointing in horror out the window. Cogs were swarming onto the estate. Rain was falling.

"QUICKLY!" Pete shouted. "THE RAIN!"

Nimbus ushered the Ingalls family to the door. With a brief fumble of the doorknob, the door was pulled open.

A Corporate Raider was on the doorstep.

"RAID!" it shouted and its eye swelled to an enormous size. It flew off the body and struck Ash in the face. He doubled over.

"ASH!" Laura and Pete screamed together. Nimbus slammed the door and the rainwater from outside, now falling like a hurricane, splattered the family. Pete saw that Nimbus too had been hit with the rain.

No, Pete thought. That wasn't the plan.

Outside, the Cogs were beginning to explode from the water.

"Is Ash okay?" Pete asked, bending over his son, cradled in his mother's arms.

"He's good," Laura said, "but we have to go. Right now."

Pete stood. He could feel his memories slipping away, one by one. They hadn't been hit with enough rain to fall immediately. He rounded on Nimbus, who was scrubbing nervously at his hands.

"What's going to happen to you?" Pete asked, scared to hear the answer.

"I don't know," Nimbus said. "I might end up in Fantasyland. He clutched his journal close to his chest. The initials "C.N." gleamed off the back cover.

The door was kicked open. Cogs streamed inside, stepping over the shrapnel of their compatriots. Some were soaking wet, their gears rusting. Others were falling apart as they walked.

A Robber Baron wriggled his fingers and a wave of red sparks burst from them. Everyone was hit.

"AH!" Ash cried, sinking to the floor. He was a child, Pete thought wildly. His laff was not as strong as an adult. He could...he could die.

Laura leapt in front of a Micromanager who had screamed "DEMOTION" and was sucking air from Ash. Laura shook violently as the Cog attack consumed her. Pete tripped over the couch, desperate to save his family. Nimbus grabbed a glass of water resting on the coffee table and threw it into the face of the Cog, but it only momentarily slowed it. A Double Talker raised its wet arm, sending rainwater splashing on the family again.

The window burst open and a Pencil Pusher slunk inside.

"Trying to push your luck?" it spoke. It wagged its finger and purple words floated toward Ash. Nimbus deflected the blow by taking the full force of the attack in the abdomen.

A Mingler began a paradigm shift. Pete and Laura were lifted off the ground, shook, and dropped. Pete felt his laff decrease significantly. He gazed around the room, breathing fast. Dozens of Cogs were surrounding them. All of them were hurt. Nimbus was hit with rain. They all were. But the memories weren't leaving fast enough.

They were going to die.

This was a deliberate attack.

Pete met Nimbus' eyes. The look was the same. The moment of realization. Dr. Molecule sent the Cogs himself to ensure the architects of the Exodus would die.

Perhaps Prepostera was dead too.

Pete's laff continued to drop, the sadness, the toll of the situation, weighing heavily on his heart.

"Pete," Laura whispered as the attacks continued. "They need you."

Who needed him? Pete thought desperately.

A Cog stomped inside and attacked Laura directly.

"Mom..." Ash muttered weakly. Pete reached for his son's hand, but Laura's body fell in front of it.

Pete reached back for Nimbus.

"GO! TO THE BUNKER!"

His voice cracked at the command. Nimbus stood shakily and drew his transport hole. His face was white with terror. And then...

"RAID!"

Another enormous eye flew into Nimbus' head. His eyes lost their color. And then he fell forward, his shoulders drooped, his laff gone. He had gone sad.

Pete did not know how to react. He wanted to go to his friend, to try his best to toonup. Then there was Laura, about to pull out her own transport hole and go to a new world. And Ash, dying on the floor. What was he supposed to do? Who was he supposed to save?

Nimbus pulled out his transport hole, the automatic Playground teleportation kicking into effect.

Until a gust of wind blew in from the window. Rain came inside with the jetstream, striking Nimbus and Pete and Laura and Ash.

Everything was happening so quickly. Pete could hardly comprehend what was occurring around him. Nimbus held the hole in his hand, ready to drop it. When another attack hit him square in the chest.

As he fell, two more attacks hit Laura and Ash. Pete felt his laff draining to the last drop. He felt himself on the precipice of a world of sadness.

Ash went sad.

He would never see the new world. Sad Toons couldn't transport.

And Nimbus was dead.

Nimbus was falling backward, inches from the floor.

In that spare second, the one moment when there were no attacks flying, no rain falling, just the sound of Pete's anguished screams, and Pete could think of nothing to do except wait for death, with Nimbus' body about to make one declarative thud on the floor, Laura threw down her own transport hole, her ticket to the new world. But she didn't drop it in front of her. She didn't use it for herself. She threw it at her husband.

The black hole swallowed Pete whole and consumed the dead Nimbus. Together, they descended into the abyss, leaving Laura and Ash on the brink of death with no where to go. Pete did not stop screaming as he fell, his legs kicking desperately as if he could swim back to the surface and reclaim his family. His paws gave way to hands, his blue fur melted away to become skin. Nimbus, the corpse, plummeted with him.

The people that needed Pete were the Toons of Toontown, ensconced in a new world. Laura had sacrificed herself for her husband and for Toontown.

Pete fell backward, his heart breaking, his eyes streaked with tears, his life slipping away. Backward, into the unknown. The metallic, monotonous voices of the Cogs sounded so close, but now so distant. The blackness consumed him. For the first time in his life, he was truly, completely, distraught.

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Pete gripped the weather vane atop the castle, remembering Laura and Ash, his family. Below, in the streets, the human Toons were clamoring, shouting cries of desire to go home. To return to the place they had lost.

Above, the grey sky began to swirl, the clouds forming a great tourbillion, a gateway back. It resembled a black hole, the Toons rising toward it. All the inhabitants of Fantasyland were lifted off the ground toward the sky. Pete let go of the weather vane and allowed himself to fly upward.

He rose with hundreds of his neighbors, friends, fellow Toons. Their memories reclaimed, their lives redeemed, their stories rewritten, they flew toward their home.

Back to Toontown.

Back to destruction.

Back into hell.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

Three years ago, around Toontown, rain fell and wiped Toon memories. This automatically triggered the transport to Fantasyland. Toons were then converted to humans as they fell through the portal. In addition to all Toon buildings on the streets being conquered by Cogs, the Playground buildings were taken over as well, a phenomenon that is impossible in the actual game itself.

Rain destroyed Cogs, leading Toons to believe water was a way to defeat them.

Slate Oldman retained his memories in Fantasyland. He did this by freezing his memories with powers that are incomprehensible to other Toons.

Sad Toons are unable to teleport, which is what prevented many Toons from leaving Toontown during the Exodus.

What Professor Pete lost, as alluded to by the Mystery Man in "Genesis," was finally revealed to be Pete's wife and son, Laura Ingalls and Ash Ingalls. All three were attacked in their home, along with Dr. Nimbus. Valor on the part of Nimbus and Laura led to Pete's escape, but unfortunately resulted in Nimbus' death, Ash' sadness, and unknown fate for Laura.

Because Nimbus had gone sad, he was about to teleport back to the Playground but he was attacked again. This killed him, and he ended up in Fantasyland when Laura sacrificed her own transport to save Pete, swallowed in the same hole.

The rain fell in Fantasyland, restoring the memories of the Toons. They then began the return to Toontown after three years of exile.

### References

The line "the grief he harbored must be put aside...duty called" is a loose reference to the first episode of *The Crown*, in which a similar-sounding line was written in a letter from Queen Mary to the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II upon her ascension to the throne in 1952.

Soggy pressed a flower into Violet's hand directly before the Exodus, which slightly improved Violet's laff. This is a reference to the flower toonups in Daisy's Gardens in Toontown.

The prologue used in the beginning of "Genesis" was repeated during the scene of the attack on the Ingalls home.

The last line of the episode, "back into hell," is a quote from the *Doctor Who*episode "The End of Time" in which the 10th Doctor utters the line after banishing the Time Lords back into the Time War.

## Trivia

* The episode is named after the rain that Dr. Nimbus brings to Toontown as part of Exodus.
* In VMK Storytime, the castle in Fantasyland is the seat of the government of first the kingdom of Fantasyland, then the republic of VMK. That significance is paralleled in the alternate universe for the Toons, in which the Mayoral office is based in the castle.
* In "Doomsday," the orb Dr. Nimbus used to initiate the Exodus process contained blue lightning. The orb in Fantasyland used to return the Toons contained orange lightning. This is because blue and orange are complementary colors and suggests the difference between the Exodus and the return.
* The scene in which Pete's family is attacked was one of the first planned for the season and a great number of story arcs revolved around the idea.
* This episode has the shortest title, with only four letters.