Remembrance

**"Remembrance"**is the third episode of *Rewritten* and the 3rd episode overall.

It was published on June 9, 2017.

In the episode, the first Cog attack on a Toon leaves Toontown scarred. The Toon Council calls an emergency meeting. In Fantasyland, Professor Pete experiences a lifechanging event.

## The Episode

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Piggy Pie scanned the shelves of the Emporium for the bath mud she desired. There was nothing more soothing than a traditional mud bath. Why pay hundreds of credits for a professional, a stranger, to rub mud on you when you could do it in the comfort of your own home? Violet and Clara thought it was an eccentric practice but for whatever reason, Piggy Pie thought it felt...natural.

As Piggy Pie filled her basket, a cold sharp voice cut through the Emporium. The drone of a female.

"I sense a portal opening to a Toon world. Have you seen this portal?"

Piggy Pie peeked her head around the aisle. Her eyebrows knit in confusion. That fortune teller box was floating off the ground. The voice belonged to the machine inside.

What the hell was a Toon world?

===TOONTOWN===

=Three Years Ago=

Flippy reached for the phone on his desk in Toon Hall. Dr. Nimbus was leaning against the wall, wiping his brow in an absent attempt to cope with the rampant humidity. The new climate.

"He won't be happy," Flippy said meekly. Dr. Nimbus crossed his arms. To Flippy's occasional dismay, Nimbus was never one to hide his opinions. He was quite an honest, direct, and blunt man.

"Are you afraid of Dr. Molecule?"

Flippy's hand hovered over the phone.

*Yes.*

"No, of course not. I'm just...rattled. It's been a long day."

"Indeed," Nimbus said.

Flippy paused again.

*I'm stalling.*

"Do you think...everything is going to hell?"

Nimbus frowned. Clearly he wasn't expecting Flippy to return the bluntness.

"I think the Cogs have left and will continue to leave lasting repercussions on our lives. Our culture."

Flippy met Nimbus' eyes. Grey, genuine eyes, locked behind antiquated glasses.

"Will it come to the Emergency plan?"

Nimbus didn't even blink.

"It may."

Flippy drew in his breath. He remembered when he was briefed on that plan. The Emergency Portal. It was on the night he was inaugurated. He hardly paid much attention to it. Toontown was such a happy place. There was no War to be spoken of, to be anticipated. There was no fighting, no crime, the specism had almost entirely evaporated. All was peaceful.

But now he had doomed his town. And that Emergency Portal was becoming a veridical option. It was plausible.

"Call him," Nimbus repeated.

Flippy took a large breath. And began to dial.

Until the doors to his office were unceremoniously thrown open. And Chief Constance Miller of the Toon Patrol ran inside, a yellow dog in tow. He was rubbing his chest. And he was pale. Terrified. Mortified. Petrified.

"Billy?" Nimbus gasped.

"Mayor!" Constance cried. "A Toon has just been attacked by a Cog."

Flippy dropped the phone.

*No. No no no no no no no.*

"Billy, Billy sit down."

Dr. Nimbus had blanched at the sight of his friend and was guiding him to a chair. Chief Miller was up against the desk, staring intently at Flippy. Her face said it all: do something.

"What happened?" Flippy said, but he could hardly hear himself. He sounded so far away. In another life. The one before all this mess. The mess he created.

Constance composed herself before reciting the facts as if the dog, the apparent victim, was not present.

"The attacked, Billy Silley was leaving his workplace at the fishing pond on Silly Street. It was around 11:00pm, or several minutes ago. He had just passed Mary's Go Around Travel Company when he bumped into a Head Hunter Bossbot Cog. As you know, Cogs do not wander the streets at night. Or so we have come to believe. The Cog told the Toon that he had trespassed on his territory and attacked him."

Flippy was in disbelief. This couldn't be happening.

"I don't understand," Nimbus said. "What did the attack consist of?"

Billy now spoke. His voice was weak and it trembled with every syllable.

"It was...jargon. He called it jargon. He held out his hand...and red words swirled into his palm. It came out of nowhere. It was like magic. Words just formed and he threw them at me. They struck my heart."

"Your laff," Constance corrected.

"It feels like my heart."

"You're okay now," Nimbus said. He turned to Flippy. "Do you have any ice cream?"

Flippy smacked a paw to his forehead. Of course! Toonups! He reached into his desk and removed an emergency toonup pack and handed it to Billy, who gladly took it.

Nimbus walked up to Flippy and put a hand on his shoulder. Speaking softly so Billy and Constance couldn't hear, he said what Flippy was scared to hear.

"If a Cog attacked a Toon unprovoked, there will be more. It's clear now they have their own agenda and we have to stop them before they destroy us. You have to call Dr. Molecule. NOW."

The last word came out as a hiss. Flippy swallowed his fear and snatched the phone. He dialed the number in less than two seconds. He held the phone to his floppy ear, earnestly awaiting the doctor's voice.

Only there was no answer. Not even the familiar answer machine. The line just ended.

"No answer," Flippy said.

"Who are you calling?" Constance asked, but Nimbus blocked the desk.

"You should take Billy to the station to make a full report and brief the Toon Patrol of this new potential threat. The Mayor and I will handle the Cogs."

Constance, ever the professional, bowed her head and escorted Billy from the office without a further question. But as she was leaving herself, Flippy called her back.

"Yes, Mayor?" she asked.

Flippy clenched his fists and tried to push the image of the doctor's green face out of his head.

"I hereby give the order for the extradition and arrest of Dr. Adam Molecule for treachery against Toontown. We need him alive, we need him here, as soon as possible."

Flippy looked at Nimbus. "He needs to undo his evil."

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

"Your reflexes are good," Doctor said, marking on his clipboard as Violet lowered his legs.

"Thanks, doc," Violet said.

"Open wide," Doctor said and pressed an uncomfortable brown popsicle stick in Violet's mouth.

"Good tonsils," he remarked.

"Thanks," Violet said with more sarcasm. As Doctor finished the routine checkup, Violet glanced around the office. There was a fake plant in the corner, though it was a different fake plant since the last time she was here. On the wall hung two Van Gogh paintings, copies of course. A certificate of Doctor's was between them. And a map of Fantasyland was next to the door.

"Have you ever thought about the name of our country?" Violet asked.

"What?" Doctor said, looking up.

"Fantasyland. It sounds whimsical. And dumb."

"We don't get to pick the names of the places we live," Doctor said, waving his pen.

"I know. But Fantasyland is extra dumb. It sounds fake."

Violet then pressed a hand to her forehead. She suddenly got a headache. Thinking about the origin of Fantasyland was clearly not worth it. But something was definitely amiss. Maybe they weren't supposed to question it. Maybe the name was just coincidentally odd.

But Violet couldn't help shake the thought that the whole world was a facade.

Flippy flipped over the stack of papers and started reading the briefings. Crime report: zero. Deaths: zero. Threats to Fantasyland: zero. Easy as ever.

The time for an election was coming up. Although, now that Flippy thought about it, it kind of seemed that it was always almost time for an election. There hadn't been one in three years.

Campaigning seemed unnecessary. No one else had even expressed interest in running.

The phone rang. Flippy answered on the first ring. No reason to delay.

"This is Mayor Flippy."

Nothing. Flippy remembered the cryptic phone call from a few days ago and gripped the phone tighter.

"Who is this?!" he demanded.

A metallic voice resounded through the phone, chilling Flippy to the bone. It sounded like a robot asking a question, but the words, the language, was indeterminable. A grinding noise was heard, like a cog in a machine.

"Who is this?!" Flippy shouted again. "Who is calling? This is the Mayor of Fantasyland and I demand..."

The robot hung up.

===TOONTOWN===

=Three Years Ago=

Months after the climate shift devastated Toontown, the town was still in disarray and despair. All the neighborhoods were still under their new climates. The sun-scorched buildings of Dreamland began to deteriorate. Many buildings in the Docks literally broke in half in the frozen tundra. Power outages in Melodyland made it impossible to walk the streets without a flashlight. The flowers in the Gardens had wilted and died due to excessive moisture.

But in the Brrrgh, all was well. The Blizzard Wizard had summoned an intense blizzard that kept the Brrrgh delightfully chilly. Slate Oldman was proud of himself for saving his neighborhood and only wished he could have helped the others.

Danger still lurked outside the weather. Cog attacks had increased, becoming almost daily. Always unprovoked, and always without a way of defense. Toons began to stay home all day. Shops were closing earlier. No one went outside alone. And the number of Cogs on the streets had increased. And most of them were higher-level, scarier Cogs. The ones that towered over Toons, with broad shoulders or morbidly obese bodies. Why the Cogs would manufacture themselves to be fat made no sense to Slate.

Slate stood on the stoop of his shop and watched Toons dart along the sidewalk, zipping into shops and hastening back out. The Cogs marched like soldiers down the street.

"Slate," a hushed voice barked. Lucy Luge, Slate's neighbor, was leaning out her window.

"Ah. Good morning, Lucy."

Lucy frowned.

"This blizzard you brought...how long will it last?"

Slate straightened.

"As long as necessary."

Lucy shook her head.

"How did you do it?"

Before Slate could respond, a metallic voice sounded loudly in the street. A squeak of a Toon followed. Then a flash of light. And a scream.

All the Toons on the street scrambled, shrieking wildly. Slate wasted no time. He pushed himself past the Cogs toward the commotion.

A Big Cheese was attacking. Sending rockets firing from his eyes toward Toons.

"GLOWER POWER!" the Cog boomed.

Toons had disappeared in seconds, flying into shops to watch in terror from the windows. Slate could see very clearly the scene before him.

Three Toons, a dog, a monkey, and a pig had gone sad. They were bent over, arms dangling sadly, heads hung low. They shakingly pulled out their transport holes. The pig fell into hers, going back to the playground. The monkey dropped his next as the Cog rounded on him.

"HEY!" Slate shouted and jumped in front of the Cog. The monkey fell into his hole.

"GLOWER POWER!" the Cog repeated and fired two rockets. Slate dodged them. The dog dropped his hole.

Slate moved behind the Cog and rolled up his sleeves.

As the dog jumped into his hole, the Cog attacked again.

No.

The dog was attacked in midair. He was already sad. Slate watched in unadulterated horror. The Toon, the sad Toon, fell dead. His transport hole closed up, leaving the corpse on the street. The Cog let out a shallow laugh before sprouting its rotor and flying away.

Before it got off the ground, Slate let out a primal yell and blasted the Cog with snow and ice. It exploded in a satisfying kaboom.

Breathing heavily, Slate dropped to his knees next to the poor dog. His eyes were lifeless. Slate ripped open his shirt and began to perform CPR.

But the area around his heart was green.

His heart, Slate thought sadly. He felt his own laff decreasing, his despair rising. But he did nothing to Toon himself up. He wanted to feel sad right now.

This had gone far enough.

Slate lifted the Toon and set off for the nearest Toon HQ.

Eileen Irenic's paw was frozen on the curtain, holding it back so she and the other four Toons in the shop could see the horrific display on Walrus Way. Slate Oldman was carrying the dead Toon away. The first casualty of the Cogs.

"They're going to kill us!" a rabbit squeaked in terror.

"Our children aren't safe!" a cat agreed.

"*We* aren't safe..." the shopkeeper murmured.

Eileen panted in anger.

The time to act was now.

"With the roll call, we will begin this emergency meeting of the Toon Council," Flippy said with a heavy heart.

In the conference room on the third floor of Toon Hall, Flippy and the six Leaders of Toontown sat around a circular table. Along the wall, several of the key advisors sat. Dr. Nimbus and Professor Pete sat together, a large binder resting on each of their laps. All the Leaders looked restless and frightened. And so, most likely, did Flippy. He hadn't slept in days. Especially not tonight. Not after a Toon lay dead at the hands of the Cogs.

Dr. Molecule was unable to be located in the past months. It was as if he had disappeared entirely from the map of Toontown.

"Mortimer Myles, Toontown Central," Flippy read from the roll.

"Present," the black mouse said quietly.

"Melville Jesop, the Docks."

"Present," the brown horse neighed.

"Heidi Babel, the Gardens."

"Present," the pink rabbit squeaked.

"Christine Colette, Melodyland."

"Present," the white duck quacked in a singsong voice.

"Paula Behr, the Brrrgh."

"Present," the polar bear said with a grunt.

"Ichabod Irving, Dreamland."

"Present," the brown horse said.

Flippy closed the roll and looked around the table.

"Toontown is under attack," he said. "The Cogs have threatened us, they have attacked us, and now they have taken one of us. They have ruined our climate and will probably take more from us if we do not act."

"Are we going to fight?" Ichabod Irving asked.

"A War?!" Heidi Babel gasped.

"No. No," Flippy emphasized. "There will be no War. We are no longer fighting Toons. We are defensive Toons."

"So," Mortimer Myles said, "what do you propose?"

At this, Flippy gestured to Professor Pete and Dr. Nimbus, who stood.

"Oh no," Christine Colette quacked.

"This is Dr. Cumulo Nimbus and Professor Pete Ingalls. I'm sure you all know them both. They are here to propose an evacuation."

"To where?" Melville Jesop instantly asked.

Dr. Nimbus opened his binder and showed a map of a small town.

"There is a town that resides about 200 miles away from here. We could walk there and ask for refuge."

The room was silent.

"That's our best option?" Ichabod cried. "Walking 200 miles as a horde to a town that won't even know we're coming? What if they say no? What if they cannot accommodate the population of a town six times their size? What if the Cogs follow us? What if..."

"There is not time for 'ifs' sir," Professor Pete quietly meowed.

Ichabod shook his head.

"An evacuation is too risky."

"Staying *here* is too risky," Dr. Nimbus said. "I hate to say it but Toontown is no longer safe. The Cogs are the anathema to this Town. They have imprecated us, cursed us, and we will all die if we stay."

"There must be a way to fight them!" Paula Behr said. "There must."

"By the time we figure it out," Nimbus said, "it'll be too late."

The room was silent.

"All in favor of an evacuation of Toontown," Flippy muttered.

One by one, all seven hands rose.

"The motion carries," Flippy said. "The evacuation will commence this Friday. Word will be spread through telephone and broadcast. Someone tell Clarabelle Cow."

"Wait," Heidi Babel said. She looked at Dr. Nimbus.

"What happens in the case the evacuation becomes impossible? Say if the Cogs block our path."

Dr. Nimbus sighed.

"I'm sure you've heard of the Emergency Portal."

Heidi clutched her chest. Mortimer Myles shook his head. Christine Colette rose.

"It cannot come to that," she said with determination.

Flippy shook his head.

It will.

===FANTASYLAND===

=Present Day=

Professor Pete swung open the garden gate and strolled up the long drive to the opulent mansion atop the grassy hill. VaVoom Manor, the height of Fantasyland luxury. And home to the wildest parties, straight out of *The Great Gatsby*.

Even now, from the edge of the driveway, Pete could hear the enormous swell of music.

Vidalia VaVoom, the town socialite, the most lavish host of the most lavish parties, always extended open invitations. There was no limit to the amount of people with whom she could fill those halls.

As Pete passed a vivaciously dancing group of people on the front drive, he thought about the VaVoom family. They were certainly wealthy and famously so. They were old money. Vidalia was the heiress to her father's empire. Vavarro VaVoom was still alive but hardly ever seen. He mostly golfed with his comrades. Pete had the pleasure of once making his acquaintance, but Vavarro never showed much interest in continuing such a friendship.

Vidalia, however, was always very sweet to the Professor, her former teacher. And Pete was one of the few to actually receive a paper invitation to Vidalia's parties. He had never been to one, but almost everyone attended. And so it was likely that here Pete could find the Mystery Man.

Inside the main hall, music exploded through speakers. Alcohol poured from hundreds of bottles and glasses never seemed empty. Overwhelmed by the massive throng of people, Pete grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing tray and threw it back in one gulp. He shook off his nerves and pressed his way through the crowd, searching for a familiar face.

Clarabelle Cow was reclined atop a piano in a sparkling white and black dress. She was making out with the piano player. Pete stopped in his tracks and averted his eyes to spare them privacy. Although they were snogging in a room full of people who did not seem to mind at all.

Pete waited for probably five minutes before he realized it was no use waiting. He stepped up to the piano and cleared his throat, but the music drowned it out. He tapped Clarabelle, who rolled over casually.

"Pete!" her mouth moved but no sound was audible. She gesticulated as she spoke and Pete was able to determine that she wanted to meet in a quieter room. He followed her around the piano, past the disappointed piano player, and through a closed door to a small sitting room. As soon as the wooden door shut behind them, all music died out. The silence was deafening in itself. Pete took a moment to recover and Clarabelle patiently sat on the edge of a purple chaise longue.

"Hi," Pete said after his moment had passed.

"Hello," Clarabelle said cheerfully.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something. I would find Vidalia, but it would be impossible to find her in this house."

Clarabelle waved her hand.

"I'm here. What can I do for you?"

Pete explained the Mystery Man in explicit detail. His appearance, that red sunburnt skin, but he left out the cryptic message. He still was not sure what to make of that.

"I was hoping you knew anybody like that," Pete finished. Clarabelle bit her lip.

"I have never seen anybody like that...ever."

Pete groaned.

"Perfect."

"Well," Clarabelle said, "if you ever learn his name, you are free to use my address book. Vidalia's too. But without that...I don't know how else to be of use."

Pete let his shoulders drop. He thanked Clarabelle and let her rejoin the party. Pete did not share the same urge to return to the crazed gallimaufry of partygoers. Instead, he leaned against the doorframe and thought about that man. Had it been a hallucination? Perhaps he should see Doctor. Or a real therapist.

Pete finally got the courage to leave and tried to remember the confusing set of hallways he took to get this deep in the house. He walked past Clarabelle and the piano player back at it with tongues down each other's throats, a conga line, a limbo competition, and several rooms with lustful individuals. As he past the kitchen, he saw Vidalia VaVoom doing a kegstand.

No thank you, he thought and kept moving.

Finally, he got outside. Several teenagers were throwing things. What were those? Pies? What a childish activity. He descended the front steps and moved around the drive toward the gate.

"LOOK OUT!"

There was no time to duck or even turn. The pie struck Pete across the face.

And it all came flooding back.

Memories assailed him.

Toontown.

The schoolhouse.

Toontown Central.

Silly Street.

Loopy Lane.

Punchline Place.

Docks.

Gardens.

Melodyland.

Brrrgh.

Dreamland.

Dr. Nimbus.

Mickey Elias.

Flippy.

The Cogs.

Dr. Molecule.

The climate shift.

The plan.

The evacuation.

Exodus.

The rain.

The portals.

Dr. Cumulo Nimbus.

C.N.

Dead.

Laura.

Ash.

His family.

Gone.

He was a Toon. The portal worked. He was here. They made it. For three years. And he remembered. He remembered.

The Mystery Man.

The sudden burst of excitement and remembrance was replaced with an ineffable inanition.

He remembered what he had lost.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

The attack on Fisherman Billy led to Flippy ordering the arrest of Dr. Molecule.

In Fantasyland, Flippy received a second phone call from the Cogs.

Three months have passed since the climate change (in the time before Exodus) and there has been no change. However, Slate Oldman somehow commanded a blizzard to save the Brrrgh from melting.

The first Toon dies at the hands of the Cogs, murdered by a Big Cheese.

An emergency meeting between the Toon Council votes in favor of a full evacuation of Toontown, though Flippy knows that the Emergency Portal will soon become necessary.

Professor Pete was hit in the face with a pie at the VaVoom party and thus remembered everything of his past life.

## Trivia

* The episode title is a reference to Professor Pete's scene at the end when his memories return and he remembers.
* Mortimer Myles is named after Mortimer Mouse, the proposed name for Mickey Mouse before Walt Disney's wife had him change it.
* Melville Jesop's name is a double reference to Herman Melville, author of *Moby Dick*, and Violet Jesop, the only passenger to survive the sinkings of the *RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic, and HMHS Britannic*. Both are nautical references and fit in the Docks theme.
* Christine Colette is a double reference to Christine Daae from *The Phantom of the Opera* and Cosette from *Les Miserables* (Colette is what Cosette's once-guardians, the Thernadiers, mistakenly call her). Both are musical references and fit in the Melodyland theme.
* Paula Behr is a real NPC in Toontown.
* Vidalia VaVoom's party was modeled after one from *The Great Gatsby.*
* Piggy Pie enjoys mud baths because of her former life as a pig Toon.