Vulpus Aflame

**"Vulpus Aflame"** is the thirteenth episode of *Revolution* and the 88th episode overall. It is the first in the two-part series finale, followed by "Toontown Asunder."

The episode was released on April 24, 2022.

In the episode, Toontown rises in rebellion against the Vulpine occupiers. Simultaneously, the Free initiates their revolution against Vulpus's tyranny.

## Promotion

On April 19, 2022, the finale trailer was released. The video is to the left. Part of the *Revolution* season trailer's footage was recycled. The music is "Dark Matter" by Dean Valentine. Though few title cards are used, similar to the season trailer and the finale trailer of the previous season, all of the footage is significant and foreshadows the events of the two-part finale.

## The Episode

—Vista, Vulpus—

—April 30, 1051—

—1 Day to Revolution—

On the eve of revolution, Eileen Irenic found herself once again in the capital of the Vulpus Empire. It had been over a month since she was last here, on that fateful night when the fourteen Toons arrived in Cartonia for what became their last night together. From here, they were shipped to Yefoxerinburg, to the House of Intended Design, the site of the first murder attempt.

The city was silent. The early hours of the morning turned the bustling city into a sepulchral jungle of buildings and roads. Especially in the Central District, where the Mausoleum was located.

Eileen, Alice Carver, Piggy Pie, and Usa Uhuru were being driven by two foxes associated with the Free. All six had been equipped with doctored passports, identities, and a cover story as a cleaning crew for the centuries-old Mausoleum.

Eileen was anxious. There was great potential for things to go awry. And if things did, she’d be deep underground the Rook of Vulpus in a very vulnerable spot.

At the same time, she was eager to confront Vella Vixen. She had likewise not seen her for a month, and yet she could sense her on their trail the entire time, constantly searching across the continent for the Toons that eluded her. Vella was prone to anger—Eileen knew firsthand—and she was fearful that at any point Vella could have taken out her anger on Toontown.

The prospect of returning home remained slim and marginal, but a possibility nonetheless. Eileen had decided that she’d rather live in a Toontown drastically different than she remembered than stay here in Cartonia. At least Toontown was familiar to her, if only slightly. This place was a nightmare.

The foxes parked the car on the street in front of the Mausoleum. The six clambered out and gathered the cleaning supplies from the trunk. The two foxes posted guard at the entrance while the other four entered the darkened chamber. Eileen’s ears were pinned down under a cap. It was painful, but she gritted through it.

The Mausoleum was a monument to Queen Vixen VII as much as it was a final burial place. The structure was mammoth and took up an entire city block. Four flights of stairs ringed the building forged in white marble. Elevated above the city streets was the interior of the Mausoleum. A cavernous ceiling towered above them. Eileen craned her neck to squint into the black abyss but it was too dark to see if anything was up there, such as a mural. The way the foxes revered Queen Vixen VII, Eileen would have expected some sort of godlike painting of her in the rafters.

The base was actually quite simple, deriving its majesty from the lack of pomp. Extending from each corner of the room was a thin creek of water, flowing delicately from tasteful waterfalls pouring from the corners. The four creeks converged in a rectangular basin upon which the coffin of the Vixen Queen rested. Her name, VIXEN VII, was carved into the side. A bouquet of fresh red roses was laid over the top. Eileen stepped over the creek—making note that this facility was not conducive to anyone with a walking disability—and approached the tomb.

“The water is so blue…” Alice remarked, gazing down into the basin.

“It’s tinted,” Usa said. “And those flowers are exchanged everyday. There are rumors the coffin is empty.”

Eileen turned to stare at her.

“Empty? What do you mean?”

Usa smirked.

“Some think it’s impossible the Vixen Queen’s body could have been retrieved after the Dam broke. Her successors may have just told us she’s in there. I bet it’s empty.”

There was no word about that in the Diary of War. The Vixen Queen definitely died, but whether or not the foxes were able to retrieve her body was lost to time.

“It’s beautiful,” Piggy Pie said, “though I hate to admit it.”

So was Eileen. It was a serene location befitting a ruler’s burial. It was just unfortunate that ruler happened to be the evil Vixen Queen. The opulence of this mausoleum far eclipsed the Mayor’s Mausoleum in Toontown. That was really just a collection of urns on a shelf. Pomp and ceremony were nonexistent in Toontown.

“Here,” Usa said, crouching over the basin’s ledge. The water was trickling through a grate to be recycled into the waterfalls. She took a drill and sliced at the top of the grate so it could be pried open. She wrapped the drill in a plastic bag and then lowered herself into the basin. It was only waist-deep water, but she submerged herself in water so she could wriggle through the opened grate. Piggy was the largest of the four so she went next. Usa pulled from within while Alice and Eileen pushed. Poor Piggy blushed red when Alice had to squeeze her waist fat to get her through. Alice and Eileen then wriggled inside, and Usa sealed the entry by replacing the grate.

They waded in the cramped, dark passage until they reached the end, where pipes were sucking up the water for the waterfalls. Due to the four of them displacing so much of the water, the tunnel quickly dried out. Usa used the drill to open another grate, which was even smaller than the first. It was another challenge to get Piggy to fit in the gap, but she eventually did. Once they were through, water quickly filled the space.

The second passage was slanted downward, almost like a water slide. Eileen held her paws on either side of the tunnel to prevent herself from slipping.

“Be really careful,” Usa warned. “If we slip and slide, we might crash at the bottom. This is the way into the catacombs.”

“Uh,” Alice voiced, “why is this even here?”

Usa started heading downward, and the Toons followed.

“The Mausoleum’s overflow water keeps the catacombs from drying out. It’s just a little bit of moisture.”

“And uh,” Alice returned, “what exactly is buried in the catacombs?”

Even though Eileen was behind Usa, she could sense her smile.

“Let’s put it this way,” she said. “The Vixen Queens get mausoleums. Everyone else is down here. The men, the unimportant, the slaves and servants, the princesses that never became Queen, and some of the traitors.”

“Traitors?” Piggy said.

“The deposed Vixen Queens,” Usa chuckled. “Lose your throne and lose your mausoleum.”

“OW!” Piggy suddenly cried, and then she hit the ground. She slid into Alice and Usa, and then all three were screaming wildly and zooming out of sight. Eileen was frozen in place, having taken up the rear, but she made the fast decision to drop onto her butt and slide along with them.

The water moved her at an alarming pace, but eventually the tunnel spat her out onto a hard surface made of dust and sand. It was pitch black in here, but Usa lit a flashlight. Alice and Piggy were assessing for injuries, but both looked okay. Eileen rolled over onto her back, and her ears popped out of her cap. She lay there panting, until her head lolled to the side and she came face-to-face with a fox skull. She yelped.

“Ah,” Usa said. “Welcome to the catacombs of the Vixen Royal Family.”

—Toontown Central—

—11:29am—

The tall building in Toontown Central had at one point been known as the Trolley Depot. Goods had passed between neighborhoods through the depots on its final stop before hitting shelves in shops. They were retrofitted and renamed the Gag Shops during the era of the Cogs. There had been speculation as to what the shops would become once the Cogs were defeated, but that never actually became much of a debate because the foxes invaded right after. Today, the Gag Shop was the central command of the Vulpine army stationed in Toontown Central.

Constance Miller checked the clocktower before she entered. 11:29. Right on schedule.

Commandant Hans Einfach was behind the counter with a soldier, going over supply records. He dropped his clipboard when he saw her.

“Constance!” he scowled. “Where the hell have you been? Soldier! Arrest her!”

She pulled her arm away as the soldier made a grab for it.

“We have a problem,” she said gravely to Hans. “There’s an outbreak of disease in the marshes.”

Hans narrowed his eyes.

“So that’s where you’ve been hiding. I care not for your diseases. Soldiers, take her into custody.”

She wasn’t able to resist his grasp this time.

“It’s not just a disease!” Constance cried. “It’s a plague! I’ve never seen anything like it. Old and young are affected the same, and we’ve lost so many. The victims have these…black sacs on their bodies…”

Hans looked up. There was a look of concern on his face.

“Black pustules?” he repeated. “High fever? Lethargy and paralysis?”

“Yes,” Constance gasped, eyes wide. “You know this disease?”

Hans ran a paw through his fur.

“Blind me, it’s the War Plague. Soldier, file a report. Constance, take me to the marshes.”

“It’s not safe!” Constance protested, thrilled her ruse was so far working. “We have to do something! The War Plague…? Is there treatment?”

“I’m vaccinated,” Hans said, which was not really an answer. He affixed his cap to his head and followed Constance out the door and toward the marshes.

It was 11:31am.

—Lyme, Cervidium—

Doctor was freezing.

Though he supposed, since the events at Antlerstag, that word took on a whole new meaning. He was certainly cold, but he hadn’t turned to solid ice as Slate had in his final moments of life.

After Slate exploded with a blizzard, Doctor was blinded. He ducked, expecting the snow to hit him as hard as it struck the castle and the hedge mazes of the gardens. But Slate had cast a bubble over Doctor and Bradley, and they were shielded. Slate’s fur hardened and cracked, the old rabbit literally turning to ice. Dr. Czufran Monet was still going to hurt him, experiment on him, but Slate pushed her with the force as if she had been launched out of a cannon. She broke Antlerstag like a baseball would a window. Antlerstag collapsed, and Slate shattered like glass.

Doctor and Bradley tried to revive him, but there was nothing that could be done. So they ran.

It was Bradley’s idea to go to the radio tower that loomed over the city. They would never make it far outside Lyme with their limited knowledge of Cartonia and the high price that would be on their heads for the destruction of Antlerstag and murder of the Doe. Bradley also hoped they could contact Toontown from the tower.

After nightfall, as dozens of ambulances, armored trucks, and reinforcements bolted toward the ruins of the castle, Doctor and Bradley surreptitiously climbed the radio tower’s access ladder. Neither had a fear of heights, *per se*, but by the time Doctor reached the apex of the tower, the city spinning below him, he felt nauseous.

There was a control box at the top of the tower, non-operational. It was frigid up here. No heat, no insulation. Just the cold air slashing the tower. There was—miraculously—a box of matches from some Cervidian smoker who left them behind the last time someone came up here. They burned a calendar and other miscellaneous papers for warmth.

Bradley’s ear was blown off, a casualty of Dr. Monet and her frenzied attempt to keep Slate and the Toons inside Antlerstag. Doctor wrapped the hole where his ear had been with tissues and tape. Bradley would need medical attention, but Doctor had no idea how to get it.

“Got something,” Bradley said, bent over the control box’s sole panel. A phone was attached to it, and Bradley was desperately trying to find a signal. He kept spinning the dials and flipping switches. “Here, listen.”

Doctor took the phone and held it up to his ear, silently grateful he still had two. A dim static seemed to buzz on the other end.

“I don’t hear anything,” Doctor said. Bradley’s eyebrows fell.

“You don’t hear that buzz?”

“Oh!” Doctor chirped. “I didn’t realize that was what you meant…yes, I hear that.”

Bradley grinned, in surprisingly good spirits for someone who just lost a friend and an ear. “Static means voices.”

Did it really? Doctor wasn’t so sure. It had been two days since they climbed up here, and Doctor was desperate for information. Cervidium seemed relatively the same below, but a power vacuum was surely sucking all political wannabes and Vixen Queens to the crater that was Antlerstag. The Doe was dead, as was her mother and likely her entire government. Who was in charge now? Antlerstag was demolished, meaning the nation was in crisis.

From the vantage point of the tower, Doctor could see the snow had entirely melted around Antlerstag. It was ephemeral, just like Slate’s life. The warming spring air melted all the ice and snow by afternoon the following day. There was nothing left of him now. Only his memory, which Doctor was adamant to keep alive.

—Toontown—

—11:46am—

School was in session, but no one was paying attention. The upper classes were part of the uprising too, carrying sharp pencils, pens, and scissors in their pockets. Each classroom was monitored by one or two armed guards. It wouldn’t be an easy fight.

Professor Pete Ingalls, the schoolmaster, was in the large lecture hall proctoring a phony test. The students were bent over their papers, pretending to write long theses on the inspiration and devotion one should experience when thinking of the mighty Queen Vixen IX.

Fourteen minutes to go. Pete eyed the two guards, one on either side of the hall. Pete’s son, Ash Ingalls, was in the front row, nearest the guard. He was too old to be a student here, but the guards didn’t seem to notice.

Pete checked the clock.

Thirteen minutes.

—Outside Vista, Vulpus—

—11:49am—

The women went to Vista, leaving Mickey Elias alone with the Free. He was acutely aware that if Eileen, Piggy, and Alice all died in the Rook, that Mickey would be the only Toon left. He lacked the optimism of Alice and Piggy in regard to the disaster in Antlerstag. Slate’s powers as a BioFreak were limited. If he really froze the entire castle and the gardens in an icy blast, he likely froze his companions too. Doctor and Bradley would not be able to survive the cold.

All morning, Free troops were arriving. Shea Ernestevara, one of the Big Four, was corralling them. They were of all species, but they came in small groups so as not to raise suspicion. They were armed, prepared to go. Mickey shuddered when he thought about the bloodbath tomorrow. Revolution was not without its carnage.

“How do you feel today?” Flo asked, sitting down beside him. They were inside a safehouse, which was actually a large grain silo.

“Anxious, I suppose,” Mickey replied. Flo giggled and pressed his arm.

“I mean physically. Is your heart rate still quickened?”

She was a genuinely kind medic; Mickey knew she actually cared about him.

“I feel fine. How do you feel?”

Flo’s face fell. She glanced through the open silo door at Shea speaking to the newest soldiers to arrive. Beyond them was an open field, the skyline of Vista twinkling in the distance.

“I’m not looking to tomorrow,” she admitted. “The bloodshed…it’s a medic’s worst nightmare.”

A shadow cast across the doorway, and Benjamina entered. She had been with Mickey and the Toons since they linked up in the west. Mickey always viewed her as Usa’s right-hand person but with Usa not here, Benjamina had taken on leadership of her own. She was wearing a bulletproof vest. Grenades were strapped to her legs. A knife was sheathed around her waist.

“You’ll stay here tomorrow,” she said to Mickey. “Flo, you’ll be needed on the field.”

Flo nodded grimly.

“Alone?” Mickey asked. “I’ll be here alone?”

Benjamina crossed her arms.

“We will do our best to keep you safe, but we need everyone we can. Usa insisted you stay behind, but let me make it clear that you are not a priority. The battle for liberty begins tomorrow. Solitude for one day is the least of your worries. Just hope we come back.”

She stalked out. Mickey turned to Flo, who lowered her head. She wiped tears from her whiskers.

“I’ll come back for you,” she promised.

—Toontown—

—11:56am—

Constance watched as Hans inspected Vidalia VaVoom, who was done up in sickly makeup to appear worse than she was. Every child in Toontown studied the Diary of War, and so every child knew of the War Plague. It took up a sizable chunk of the Diary Pig’s narrative. The pandemic lasted over two years and decimated the continent, so much so that the War came to a grinding halt as nations scrambled to fight the virus.

One of the hallmark symptoms of the War Plague was black pustules along the body, accompanied by high fever and sweats. Vidalia, a glamour girl at heart, applied black bubbly makeup to her face and neck, as well as several places on her arm. She had recently sprayed her forehead with water and held a lamp to herself so that she’d appear warmer. Hans inspected her with surprising gentleness.

“Well?” Constance said. “Is it that disease you mentioned? The…War Plague?”

Hans had read the Diary of War. It was one of his first commands upon arrival in Toontown. But Constance knew he wasn’t going to retain any of the information, nor would he be able to sort out the information that the Toons knew versus what they shouldn’t.

“It is,” Hans declared. “We’ll quarantine the marshes. She won’t be the only one that has it.”

Constance threw a paw to her mouth.

“Is it…fatal?”

“Invariably,” Hans said. He *tsked* at Vidalia. “You have days to live at most.”

Vidalia gasped.

And then the clocktower in Toontown Central struck twelve. The first chime rang out, distantly from the marshes but amplified to those who were waiting for it. Constance reached behind her for the handle of a broom she had spiked with razors.

*Gong. Gong. Gong. Gong.*

Vidalia threw back the covers. Hans narrowed his eyebrows.

*Gong. Gong. Gong.*

Constance brandished the broom. She pointed it at Hans.

*Gong. Gong. Gong.*

“Toons of the world!” Constance bellowed. Hans reached for his gun.

*Gong.*

“UNITE!”

Vidalia rushed at Hans, knocking him over. His gun clattered out of his holster, and she picked it up. She raced out of the tent and joined the hundreds of Toons shouting and marching toward the Gardens. Per the plan, she left Hans to Constance. He was now defenseless.

Hans was back on his feet in seconds. His fur was tussled, his eyes wild. He tightened his fists, all his knuckles cracking at once. Constance jabbed him with the end of the broom, pushing him backward out of the tent flap. The marshes were deserted, everyone having gone into town.

“It’s over for you,” Constance said. “We’re taking back our town.”

“You can’t defeat the Empire,” Hans sneered. “We’re stronger than one tiny village.”

Constance twisted the broom, exposing the blades. She swung at him, but he ducked.

“We’re not a village!” Constance retorted. “We’re an independent civilization!”

Hans charged at Constance, and she held up the broom as a shield, razors out. But Hans swerved around her and fetched a stake keeping a tent up. He wrenched it out of the ground and circled Constance. Both now had weapons.

“Your move,” he taunted.

—The Schoolhouse—

After the twelfth chime, Ash body slammed the guard nearest the door, who was taken by surprise. The other leapt to action, opening fire on the students. Pete charged him, but wasn’t big enough to take him down. He threw a textbook at his head. Three students swarmed him and wrenched the gun from his paws. With one motion, a student brought the weapon down over his head, knocking him out.

The classroom emptied, the students of Toontown joining the fray. Pete and Ash hurried to the smaller classrooms, where the little children were being taught. Pete tried to ignore the dead bodies, the ones that the guards had hurt or killed.

“Come on!” he shouted. “To the bunker!”

The teachers, covered in blood, one still holding the stapler that she had used to bludgeon a fox to death, ushered the children to safety.

Once the children were secured, Pete and Ash ran to the next battle.

—Glamor Grove—

The Commandant’s Mansion—once the home of Vidalia VaVoom—was home to a battalion of soldiers. As the uprising came to life, they headed outside, leaving Kilo free rein of the home. Vidalia, the town’s biggest socialite, had an extensive phone network coming in and out of the house. The foxes had used the grid to amplify the signal from their communications tower in the Brrrgh.

The Toons had been warned to stay away the phones, Kilo reminded himself as he rewired the grid in the basement of Vidalia’s house. His triplets were sleeping quietly in their bassinets. He hated the idea of leaving them alone here, but he couldn’t take them with him into battle.

He flipped the large red switch, and electrified the telephones. Anyone trying to call back to Vulpus would get the shock of their life.

—The Docks—

The Vulpus Armada began to fire on the Docks. A cannonball nearly took off Aleck Harding’s head. His hat flew off, pinned to the wall by a piece of shrapnel from the harbor itself.

“GO!” Aleck screamed at the Toons behind him, all carrying fishing spears. They stormed the gangplank of one of the ships. Aleck fought a fox in naval uniform, but the battle did not last long. A stray cannonball knocked him off his feet. The boardwalk crumbled from the fighting. Aleck leapt to the concrete siding, pressing himself against the wall.

“Bombs away!” a gleeful voice shouted overhead. It was Bodie Currituck, the reclusive lighthouse keeper. He was dropping rocks from the balcony above.

Aleck was distracted by the plucky duck, so much so that a cannonball struck the wall above him and the resulting shockwave propelled him forward. He stumbled over the edge of the shattered dock and fell into the water streaked with blood.

—Melodyland—

Clara Clark had lost seven siblings to the foxes. Six in the *Chipper* disaster, and one more in the pogrom against the Toons.

*No more*.

She perched the anvil—one of the few gags remaining—at the edge of the window of her friend’s apartment. A fox soldier was soon on the doorstep below, trying to knock the door down. Clara let the anvil fall, and smiled at the satisfying *crunch* that followed.

—The Marshes—

Constance and Hans reached the edge of the coal pit, swinging their blades at one another. Constance had learned from their last encounter. Hans was an experienced swordsman, but he had no sword here. Just a stake. Constance slashed her razor-bladed staff at his legs, nicking his knee. Hans reeled back his stake and threw it at Constance like a javelin. She tried to dodge but lost her footing and stumbled into the pit. The staff flew out of her paw as she fell. Hans jumped after her.

He landed on top of her. Constance could smell his sweat. He wrapped his blackened paws around her neck and squeezed. Constance immediately brought her paws up under his arms and pressed on his eyes. He let go, and she scrambled to her feet. She kicked him across the face. She saw one of his teeth fly out. She searched desperately for her staff, but it must have been caught up above. Hans swung a punch at the back of her head, sending her back onto her hands and knees.

“You crazy bitch,” he spat. Constance whirled around, the world spinning like hell.

“Lapdog,” she fired back and drove both feet into his groin.

—The Brrrgh—

“It’s not working!” Vidalia called to Kilo as he emerged from the street into the center of the Brrrgh. “The phones aren’t electrified!”

“I tried,” Kilo sighed. “I tried.”

“The tower, then,” Vidalia shouted. “The tower!”

The communications tower would need to be destroyed. It was for that reason that a large number of Toons had been dispatched here to help. They were engaging in combat with the foxes. The best chance anyone had was to disarm the foxes as soon as possible. Kilo saw one Toon using an oversized magnet to suck guns out of fox paws. It wasn’t working all that well, but he appreciated the ingenuity.

“We have to get to the top of the tower,” Kilo panted. “I need coverage.”

“Let me help,” said a grizzled voice behind him. Vidalia gaped.

“Mayor Law!”

Roy Law, the oldest living former Mayor, limped up to them with his cane. “Let me help you,” he repeated.

Vidalia shook her head.

“Roy, this isn’t safe. You need to hide with all the other—“

“The other old people?” Roy scoffed. “You said you needed every able Toon. Aren’t I a Toon?”

Vidalia closed her mouth and bowed her head.

“Thank you, Roy.”

“Duck.”

Vidalia and Kilo shrunk their heads as Roy swung his cane over them. A fox crumpled behind them.

“Go!” Roy called. The three hurried as fast as they could to the tower. Kilo squinted through the clouds at the tower’s apex. Orange light was flashing.

“It’s transmitting,” he said. “They’re calling for help.”

“Shit!” Vidalia moaned.

Foxes were everywhere, exhibiting much more military tact than the Toons. They were coordinated and calm, whereas the Toons were disjointed and frantic. It would be impossible for Kilo to climb this tower undetected. And if they were transmitting, there was no hope.

“I’m sorry!” he cried. Roy shook his head, eyes wide.

“Don’t apologize. Fight!”

He hobbled toward a fox whose back was turned, gun raised at a couple of Toons. Roy brought the cane down over his head. The fox whipped around and blasted Roy with bullets. Vidalia and Kilo cried out, earning the fox’s attention. They sprinted. Vidalia pointed her own gun at the fox—where did she get that?!—and fired. He fell.

“Oh gosh!” she shrieked. “I just killed someone!”

Kilo took the gun from her and with his free paw grabbed one of hers.

“RUN!”

—The Marshes—

Constance dug her feet into the slippery walls of the slushy coal pit and pulled herself up. Hans followed her. She kept searching for her staff, but it was buried. She instead ran toward the tent village. A fox was ahead of her.

“Oy!”

She turned and ran in the opposite direction. Hans was chasing her, gaining. The cliffs were ahead. She knew there were pipes lying around there. Most if not all had been taken for the uprising, but maybe…?

Hans suddenly caught up to her and pushed her. She was shoved forward, and couldn’t stop the momentum. The precipice of the cliff passed her eyes and she tumbled head-first over it. She flipped over and saw the ocean, then landed flat on her back on a ledge a hundred or more feet down. The wind was knocked out of her. Her skull was probably cracked. She coughed for air. Hans was standing on the ledge above her. He was furious.

“JUMP!” he screamed. “Jump off the fucking cliff!”

Constance just stared. He leaned over, picked up a rock, and chucked it at her. She heaved herself out of the way. The pain ricocheted across her body, but the rock landed inches from her head.

“JUMP!” he repeated. “Your rebellion will fail! And if you come back up here, if I ever see you again, I will rip your body limb from limb!”

Then, he was gone.

—Dreamland—

What were dreams, if not nocturnal hallucinations? People daydreamed all the time, imagining things that aren’t there. It could be done. It could.

Drema Yawn walked with her daughter along the streets of their former neighborhood, before they were evicted by the foxes. As soldiers charged at her, Drema used her BioFreak power to have them daydream they were alone on the street. They would then pass her by.

“Stay close,” Drema said to her young daughter. “Keep your hands up.”

For Drema, her ability was best effected by waving her paws and twisting her fingers like pulling on the strings of a dream catcher. That was how her mother taught her how to harness the power, and how she taught her own daughter.

They were heading for the center of Dreamland. This was her assignment from Constance and Vidalia. There were more soldiers here, and many more dead. Most of the deceased were Toons, but foxes had gone down with them. Blood for blood.

Drema moved slowly with her daughter to the very center of the main district. It was harder to cause multiple daydreams at once, so she dropped the power. The foxes noticed her at once.

“Arms up,” Drema instructed. They lifted their arms to the sky. Drema closed her eyes.

“A deep sleep,” she mumbled.

“Deep,” her daughter repeated.

The foxes surrounded them. Drema could sense them, but she remained calm.

“And drop.”

Their arms fell, and the foxes collapsed in waves. When Drema opened her eyes, over 300 foxes, maybe more, were fast asleep on the ground.

“Weapons!” a Toon cried. The foxes were looted immediately. Guns and knives were wrenched from their pockets and paws. Then, the Toons began to savagely attack them. The foxes roused as their bodies were pierced with their own weapons. Drema pulled her daughter into her arms, burying her face so she wouldn’t see the massacre.

—Cervidium—

“Hey!” Bradley shouted. He slapped Doctor’s shoulder. “Hey, listen! I hear voices! Actual voices!”

Bradley could hardly contain his excitement. The feel of exuberance eclipsed the pain radiating from his severed ear. Doctor lifted the phone and listened for a few seconds.

“Brrr…”

Bradley shivered.

“Yeah, I’m cold too, but you hear ‘em right?”

Doctor laughed.

“No, no! I said ‘Brrrgh!’ Someone said that on the phone.”

Bradley snatched the receiver. Someone was speaking.

“…widespread Toon attacks. We need reinforcements. Commandant Einfach is MIA, presumed in battle. The tower holds. Awaiting reply.”

Doctor was up against Bradley’s cheek, listening as well.

“Who’s Einfach?”

“No clue,” Bradley replied. “But Toon attacks? They’re talking about us, right?”

Doctor shrugged.

“I heard widespread.”

The phone line crackled. They were inside someone’s phone line, but they didn’t know whose.

“Commandant Einfach is here. Standby for his call.”

“Thank you, Toontown,” a voice replied. “Standby for the Vixen Queen.”

Bradley gaped at Doctor, whose jaw had dropped.

—Toontown—

Tori Dorrance was surrounded by foxes, cornered in an alleyway in the Gardens. Before today, she had never taken the life of anything except a Cog. By the time evening came around, she had killed more foxes than she could count on two paws. She would see the life draining from their eyes for the rest of her life.

Whether that lifetime would be long or short was still up in the air. And staring down the barrels of five guns was pushing her to assume the latter.

She wished she had Horace here with her, but he was dead. She wished Piggy and Doctor, her constant Cog-battling companions, could be here too, but they were probably dead as well.

Tori removed a paring knife from her breast pocket and hurled it into one of the foxes’ faces. He dropped his weapon as the blade pierced his eyeball. She reached for the fallen gun, but the other foxes began to fire. She was hit! As she struck the ground, she crawled into the fetal position and waited for death.

Three of the foxes then cried out in pain. She dared to open one eye. Three Toons were behind the foxes, stabbing them in the backs. The fourth fox turned and ran, calling for help. Tori unfurled herself, cursing with pain.

“You okay?” a familiar voice asked. Her focus cleared.

“Muddy Pie?” she stammered. Muddy and his two surviving brothers, Truffle and Hamlet, were armed with bloody knives and looking determined.

“Are you okay?” Muddy repeated.

“Hey!” Truffle called to someone on the street. “I have an injured person here!”

A nurse from one of the doctor’s offices ran over. Her white gown was also soaked in blood.

“You saved me,” Tori gasped. “Thank you.”

Muddy grinned.

“You’ve kept our sister safe from evil. Let us return that favor.”

Tori smiled. The Pie brothers were notoriously apathetic, even during the rise of the Cogs. They were too afraid, too cowardly, to engage in conflict.

But not today.

—Vista, Vulpus—

Queen Vella Vixen stormed into the command room.

“Put him on speaker,” she instructed Skulksmarshall Tick Hunter. He pressed a button on the phone. Skulksmarshall Rook James was taking notes.

“Commandant Einfach,” Tick said, “we have you here with the Vixen Queen.”

“Your Majesty,” Hans Einfach panted on the other end, “the situation in Toontown is spiraling out of control. The Toons are not backing down. We are losing more soldiers, and we do not have the necessary reinforcements. I implore you to send more at once on the aerowings!”

Vella barked a laugh.

“Commandant, you are on your own. I have a full-scale revolution developing here in Vulpus, and you want me to expend my much-needed troops to help you control a single town? I sent you to Toontown because I trusted you could keep the Toons in line. How did you let this happen?”

Hans did not reply right away.

“Commandant, I asked you a question.”

“The Expanse, then,” Hans muttered. “Send us anything you can from the Expanse.”

“Not bloody likely!” Vella retorted. “*All* available troops are coming to defend Vista. Have you heard of the what’s happened at Antlerstag? We are under attack! Toontown is the least of my worries.”

Even if Einfach lost control of Toontown and the Toons regained their town, it was conquerable again. Once this revolution was squashed, Vella could return south and finish the job. Einfach was clearly ill-equipped to handle it.

“Majesty,” Hans said, “in that case, I make one final plea. Use the Horizon Bomb.”

Rook gasped. He shook his head at Vella.

“Absolutely not!” she yelled as she disconnected the call.

—The Catacombs of Vista—

The catacombs were dark, dreary, and terrifying. Alice didn’t like skulls or reminders of death. She had faced too many demons during her captivity with Dr. Molecule. She certainly hated small, cramped spaces, which were reminiscent of those dark years of her life. Piggy Pie held her paw the entire time, something that Bradley would do whenever she got scared.

She wished Bradley could see her now, being a part of the revolution. He resented their years of apathy and hiding after they escaped Dr. Molecule and the Toons returned from the Exodus. He was always trying to get her to fight the Cogs, to join the Toon Resistance. She refused, over and over again, until it was clear that those that stood idly by were part of the reason why the Cogs were remaining in power. There was no room for inaction, especially now. All of Cartonia and Toontown hung in the balance.

“Alice!”

Piggy tried to pull her back, but Alice had already began to fall into the trap. It was a gap in the ground, disguised as sand and dirt to fool trespassers. Alice fell and landed on her leg, which snapped underneath her. She howled in agony.

“ALICE!” Piggy screamed. “Alice, can you hear us? Alice!”

“I’m here!” Alice managed. “I…I think I broke my leg!”

They were above twenty feet above her. Usa and Eileen turned to Piggy.

“Lie on your stomach,” Usa instructed to Piggy. “You’ll be the anchor.”

“The…what?” Piggy replied. Her trotters went subconsciously to her large stomach. “Oh…”

“Sorry,” Usa murmured. “Eileen lower me down.”

They made a chain, Piggy holding Eileen holding Usa.

“Come here,” Usa said once she was within reach. Alice crawled on her good leg and grabbed ahold.

Once she was out of the pit, Usa assessed her injury.

“She can’t go on,” she sighed. “You’ll paralyze yourself. You’ll have to wait here until we get back tomorrow.”

Alice’s eyes bulged.

“Alone?”

“I’ll stay with you,” Piggy volunteered. Usa nodded.

“We’ll rest here for the night,” she said. “And then in the morning, Eileen and I will enter the castle. It’s not that much further ahead. Just a an hour or so.”

Piggy checked her watch.

“Can you show me? I’m curious.”

—The Rook of Vulpus—

The entirety of the Queen’s government assembled in the command room. By now, the extent of the revolution was coming to light. There were forces all over the Vulpine countryside, with a huge number amassing north of the city. Scuridian pirate ships were sailing toward the port cities in the west. Even echoes of rebellion were sounding off from the smallest villages and industrial communities across the nation.

“Your utmost priority,” Vella stated to the room, “is to protect the institution of the monarchy. This crown must not fall! War must not return! Does everyone understand?”

Everyone nodded.

“Skulksmarshall James will remain in Vista with me. Skulksmarshall Hunter will lead troops north as Captain of the Imperial Guard. He will head the offensive front whereas Skulksmarshall James will manage the defense of Vista and this castle. I appoint Skulksmarshall Hunter the supreme authority outside of this city, and leave Skulksmarshall James as my second-in-command.”

Tick and Rook swelled with pride.

“Skulksmarshall Hunter,” Vella said to Tick, “you’ll leave immediately from this meeting and give your instructions to the Skulkscolonels and Skulkscaptains awaiting orders. This revolution will be quelled!”

“Yes, your Majesty!” Tick bowed.

“What about Cervidium?” the one Skulksadmiral asked.

“If the Free takes Cervidium,” Vella said, “then that’s Cervidium’s problem.”

“Hear hear!” Tick echoed.

The Cervidians were without a government, and without proper leadership. Their outlook was grim, but who cared about them anyway?

“The Macaw is offering aid,” Rook said. “Ten thousand troops.”

“Ten thousand *untrustworthy* troops,” Vella scowled. “He can keep them to himself. Bear in mind that no support whatsoever will be provided to the parrots. Let the Free take them too.”

“When do we attack?” an advisor asked.

Vella glanced at Tick.

“Early morning,” Tick said. “The Free think they have the upper hand, but we’ll crush them on the battlefields!”

Rook stood.

“We must defend this city at all costs. I am ordering the palace guards to sweep this castle and all royal institutions. We will root out any moles and execute all traitors.”

The room rumbled with assent and excitement.

“One last thing,” Vella said, leaning over the table. “If you find a Toon, kill them immediately.”

—The Catacombs—

Usa slowed to a stop. She rubbed her palm over a skull marked with an emerald embedded in its forehead.

“This is it,” she whispered. “We’re under the Rook.”

Piggy glanced up at the ceiling, but it didn’t look any different than the rest of the catacombs. She shivered.

“Are all these skulls really from dead foxes of the royal family?”

“Not all,” Usa said. “I don’t know where most of these come from.”

Usa pulled a map out of her backpack and consulted it.

“While we’re here,” she muttered, “I think…yes, let’s go.”

“What?” Piggy blurted, turning around as if Alice and Eileen were right behind her. “Where are we going? Eileen is supposed to go with you—“

“Calm down,” Usa chuckled. “We’re not going to confront the Vixen Queen. I want to climb the High Tower.”

Piggy shrugged.

“You lost me.”

Usa pointed at the map.

“There should be an entry somewhere around here. The High Tower is the oldest part of the Rook of Vulpus. Only the Vixen Queen is allowed to go up there. Why, I wonder? Let’s find out!”

Piggy didn’t argue. Of course it wasn’t safe, but Usa was not someone who played on the safe side. Piggy was an adventure enthusiast herself, and if there was something the Vixen Queen was determined to keep to herself, well…secrets were more fun if shared.

Behind a rack of skulls, moved by pressing on the skulls themselves instead of the shelf, was a ladder. Piggy whimpered at it.

“That’s high.”

“Go on! It’s okay! It’s not as high as you think.”

It really wasn’t, as it turned out. At the top, Usa used a lock pick to open the trapdoor. She immediately ducked her head.

“Two guards. Shh!”

She raised the trapdoor again and lifted herself out. She beckoned to Piggy to follow.

They were at the base of the High Tower. There was a spiral staircase that filled the cavity of the tower. There were no lights. A heavy iron door was closed, but two small windows showed the backs of the guards’ heads. Usa ducked down and slunk to the steps. Piggy followed. The guards did not turn around, nor did they hear them. Soon, Piggy and Usa were clambering up the rickety steps of this ancient tower.

A single room was at the top. No door or lock blocked it. The guards must not know about the entrance from the catacombs. Piggy squinted in the darkness. Usa tiptoed to the other side of the room and opened the window. Moonlight streamed in.

“What is this place?” Piggy Pie asked. Usa shook her head.

“A private study?”

There were bookshelves, a table with a lamp, several ancient crowns and regalia in display cases, and a large cage at the center. A sheet had been draped over the top, leaving only the bottom of the bars exposed.

“Oh, please,” Usa muttered, taking hold of the sheet, “let this not horrify me…”

She removed the blanket in one motion. Piggy had also been expecting a tied up body, a corpse, or something monstrous, but instead she saw a bunch of…things. Moving things.

“What…are those?”

They were round oblong creatures with four legs and a scaly head. They appeared to be wearing a rounded shell of sorts. A few were moving, and were extremely slow.

“They’re turtles…” Usa gasped. “But…they’ve been extinct for centuries!”

“Turtles?” Piggy repeated. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“You wouldn’t,” Usa grinned in amazement. “I’ve never seen one before, but of course they’re in books and drawings. The turtles used to be a species like us. Our size, our intellect. But they devolved over the years...how does the Vixen Queen have so many of them?”

Piggy’s gaze went up and settled on the far wall. What she had thought were cracks was instead writing. She pointed.

“Look.”

Usa read aloud,

*“In the Tower High of mortar and bricks*

*Turtles of the Crown must be kept in six*

*For if one or more should flee the coop*

*The Crown shall fall, and Vulpus too*.”

Piggy’s gaze returned to the turtles.

“It’s superstition. She’s got way more than six!”

Usa quickly counted.

“Forty-one.”

Both Piggy and Usa locked eyes with each other. They had the same thought. The Vixen Queen was paranoid about losing the turtles, dipping below that magic number of six.

“Find the key.”

“Find a hammer.”

—Toontown—

Constance at last pulled herself back onto the ledge. It took all the strength she had to climb up from where Hans had pushed her. Night had fallen, but the fighting continued. She could hear the cries and sirens in the distance. Smoke was billowing into the sky. Every part of her hurt, but she had to go back. She had to help. If she had only one breath left, she’d give that breath for Toontown.

—

Vidalia VaVoom tried to ignore the piling bodies in the grass of Toontown Central. She tried to drown out the screams of the wounded and the last words of the departing. Her focus remained on the foxes, the soldiers digging in and defending their conquest.

The assaults were continuing into the night. Until the foxes fell or crushed the uprising, the Toons would not stop.

—Outside Vista, Vulpus—

—May 1, 1051—

—The Next Morning—

A soft whistle drifted across the morning air. Mickey Elias froze. That meant enemy forces were approaching. He turned toward Flo, who pursed her lips. The armless chicken, Pyotr Osvoboda, sauntered into the grain silo where Mickey and Flo had taken shelter.

“We’ve lost the element of surprise,” he reported sourly. “Skulksmarshall Hunter and an army have been spotted crossing the river. They’ll be here soon.”

Outside, the Free troops were rallying together. Shea Ernestevara was hanging off the back of a truck, shouting orders.

“Are you going?” Flo asked Pyotr. He chuckled.

“Well, since your Toon friends demolished Antlerstag, my purpose in this revolution has already been accomplished. There are still BioFreaks to rescue and programs to shut down, but that is best achieved by capturing Vista. So, yes I am going. I have one good arm and I intend to use it.”

He saluted. Before he passed through the doorway, he turned back.

“Mickey, I never said…”

He paused, seemingly lost over his words. “I…never thanked you. For being here. I understand that it was against your will and under duress. However, you are like a myth come to life. Just knowing your tale, and where you come from, and how liberty is possible…well, that gives me hope. Gives a lot of us hope. Even if it’s minuscule, that’s something that may save us.”

Flo nodded.

“Deliverance.”

“Indeed,” Pyotr said. “Goodbye, Mickey Elias.”

The whistle returned, this time louder. Shea raised a sword over her head, and jumped off the truck. Mickey rose to his feet and stumbled toward the grain silo’s doorway. Flo held him back, but Mickey was too intrigued. The Vixen Queen’s army, led by Tick Hunter, was visible across the field. So many. Too many.

The Free were far outnumbered, but none of them looked scared.

“Mickey, things are changing. We have to go.”

“I thought you were going—“

“Follow me.”

Flo was now pulling him around the silo. Mickey saw Benjamina, whose last name he didn’t even know, joining Pyotr toward the front. They were all determined, hell bent. Which would win? The might of the Vulpus Empire, or the heart of the Free?

“ON ME!”

Shea charged, and the Free followed. A gasp escaped Mickey’s lips as he watched the first skirmish of the revolution. He heard the first shots. Flo dragged him to a truck, out of the line of fire and out of the fray.

Even with the doors closed, the sound of war did not diminish. Mickey could feel a rumbling underfoot. The continent was roaring to life, powered by the ferocity and anguish of those that had been oppressed by Vulpus for centuries.

—Vista—

Vella found Rook in his office. He had the schematics of the castle open on his desk.

“Seal the city,” Vella ordered. “The gates must be closed.”

Rook blinked.

“The ports too?”

“Of course. Secure the Vale.”

She was already starting out, but Rook caught her arm before she could go. She pulled away.

“Rook—“

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he blurted. She stared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about the camps on Eusuchia?”

Vella’s face didn’t budge.

“The labor camps?”

Rook sniffed.

“They’re not labor camps, Vella.”

She bit down on her lip, searching Rook for more. He tried to remain stoic. He wanted her to speak next.

“How did you find out?”

“The Free sent me,” Rook said. “That’s the only logical explanation. I was invited there, under your name, but I don’t think you sent me.”

Vella scowled.

“I didn’t.”

“I saw the exterminations.”

The Queen looked away.

“I didn’t want to burden you…”

Rook took her paw.

“I don’t care about my species. I care about you. I’m not mad about the extinction camp. I’m upset that you didn’t think you could tell me.”

Vella softened.

“Oh, Rook…I’m sorry. It wasn’t personal. My advisors, and Tick, feared…they were wrong. I should have trusted you.”

Rook nodded, feeling relieved.

“Just keep me informed, please. I want to be the best Skulksmarshall for you.”

They smiled at each other. The bond between them was strong ever since they went to Toontown together. For those months, they had only each other to rely on.

“You know,” Vella snickered, “you’re probably the last crocodile in Cartonia.”

Rook bowed.

“It is my honor.”

A soldier appeared behind Vella.

“Sorry, ma’am. Commandant Einfach is calling for you again.”

Vella groaned.

“I’ll take it here. Patch him through.”

Both Rook and Vella clapped their paws over their ears when the line connected. It sounded like hell.

“Majesty!” Hans Einfach’s frantic voice boomed. “Majesty, the situation here is getting out of control! The Toons have not relented, and many are now armed! They’ve commandeered the armory, and are boarding the Armada!”

Vella openly laughed. Rook followed suit.

“Commandant, your grasp over Toontown has been as firm as a noodle.”

Hans took the insult in strides.

“Majesty, I accept that, but I am afraid we cannot hold this colony! The Toons are savages! We must evacuate!”

Vella rolled her eyes. Rook was amazed the Commandant had let the uprising escalate.

“Fine. I permit you to withdraw the Armada.”

“Don’t let them get away with it, Majesty!” Hans begged. “Use it! I implore you to punish them!”

Vella glanced at Rook. She placed Hans on mute for a second.

“He’s desperate. I can’t reason with him!”

“Well,” Rook mused. “He has a point. That town is a beacon of hope to the rebels, isn’t it?”

“I suppose…”

“They all know the story of the heirs in the south. They’re the heroes. Once we get rid of the actual heirs, who’s to say they won’t eye the citizens of Toontown as heirs unto themselves? They are descendants of Granite Bloc Cartonians, are they not? All of them.”

Vella nodded.

“You’re right.”

She unmuted herself.

“Commandant Einfach,” she stated, “I authorize the use of the Horizon Bomb.”

—The Catacombs—

Usa had to find the Harmony Crown. She searched the High Tower from top to bottom after she and Piggy Pie massacred the Vixen Queen’s gaggle of turtles. It wasn’t there.

It was getting harder to deny the most likely scenario, that the Vixen Queen had destroyed the Crown immediately after it arrived in Vista. She would never forgive herself if she was the link that broke the chain stretching all the way back to Matthew Palmer and Hamish McRory.

“Usa?” Alice poked her. “It’s 8.”

She nodded. It was time.

“Are you going to be okay down here?” Usa asked Alice and Piggy. Eileen had deftly wrapped Alice’s leg in a makeshift splint.

“We’ll be fine,” Piggy asserted. “If you’re not back by nightfall, we find our own way out.”

It was a weak plan. Usa wished she had a better mode of egress, but she had no idea if they’d be successful or not. She hoped, but the revolution was happening beyond her scope of vision. She wouldn’t know until she and Eileen entered the Rook.

“We’ll go up through the High Tower again,” Usa said. “Piggy and I cleared the route.”

“I’ll see you to the top,” Piggy said. “I’ll be backup.”

Alice squirmed.

“Sorry I can’t go…”

“It’s okay!” Eileen insisted. “This could get ugly, anyway.”

Alice stared up at them from the ground, where she was sat.

“Who’s going to kill her?”

Usa and Eileen looked at one another. That was the one thing they had not discussed. Alice just nodded and looked away.

“I’ll be right back,” Piggy said to Alice. The three then headed for the passage into the High Tower. Usa went up first, then Piggy, then Eileen. They found themselves once again inside the vestibule of the High Tower. Piggy crept over to the windows on the heavy door.

“Two guards, same as yesterday.”

She suddenly ducked.

“What’s wrong?” Usa hissed, remaining low.

“It’s that maid! Vella’s maid!”

She flapped her trotter. Usa and Eileen clambered back into the passageway. Once Piggy was safely in, they sealed the trapdoor with just a crack for visibility.

The door opened a few seconds later. Usa recognized the person who entered: Jewellia, Vella’s precious lapdog. She was tempted to ambush her right there in the vestibule and slit her throat, but they couldn’t risk blowing their cover. The element of surprise was their strongest, and only, advantage.

Jewellia started to ascend the staircase. Piggy let out a little gasp.

“*The turtles!*”

“We covered the cage with the sheet,” Usa said. “She won’t notice.”

“Unless,” Piggy whispered harshly, “she’s here to feed the turtles!”

Usa froze. Oh no. Oh, no, no no.

“We should go,” she said. “Find another way in.”

Piggy started to descend. Eileen abruptly hissed. Jewellia was coming back down. Piggy pulled herself back up to see. The feeble fox was carrying a crown. Not the Harmony Crown, Usa noticed, but one of the tiaras from the High Tower. She had only gone up there to fetch it! Usa let out a sigh of relief. The door closed, and after many minutes, no one returned.

“I’ll go back to Alice,” Piggy said. “Good luck.”

She gave Eileen an awkward hug from their perch on the ladder. Then, she was gone, leaving Usa and Eileen to storm the castle.

—Lyme, Cervidium—

Both Bradley and Doctor were confused as to what a “Horizon Bomb” was and why it the Commandant in Toontown was so desperate to use it. Bradley realized after eavesdropping on several conversations that they had tapped into a line between Toontown and the Rook of Vulpus. Whenever he tampered with the other frequencies, he didn’t get anything as clear as the one from Toontown. There must be something boosting the signal.

“It’s definitely something bad,” Doctor said darkly. “Something big.”

“Big enough to hit the whole town?” Bradley posited. “I don’t think anything like that exists.”

There was commotion in the streets of Lyme. On the subject of bombs, things were definitely exploding down there. Some sort of uprising, like the one in Toontown?

“I think the revolution is here,” Doctor said. “The world is falling apart.”

He was worried about Toontown. So was Bradley, but he also wondered about Alice. Where was she in this whole mess?

“Whoa!” Doctor gasped. He backed away from the window and pointed. Bradley squinted at the sky. Something was flying.

“Is that a parrot?” Bradley asked. Doctor shook his head.

“That thing is too big to be a parrot.”

It was coming from the north, heading southward. As it got closer, Bradley saw the thing was made of metal. It had wings like a parrot, but was cruder in shape. Even though it had a wingspan that made Bradley’s head spin, they weren’t really flapping. It was almost as if the thing was gliding on air.

“That’s it…” Doctor muttered. “That’s the Horizon Bomb!”

“What?” Bradley said. “How can you be sure?”

“It’s going to fly to Toontown and explode…we have to warn them!”

—Rook of Vulpus, Vista, Vulpus—

Vella called the television broadcasters for an announcement. She was going to formally declare war on the Free insurrectionists and announce the destruction of Toontown. The aerowings was on its way to the Vista Aerobase to be outfitted with the Horizon Bomb. It was the most deadly weapon in all of Cartonia, in all of history. It had enough force to obliterate an entire civilization. Vulpus once tested it on an island off the coast of the Expanse, with beautiful results. The island was still uninhabitable.

If Vulpus couldn’t have Toontown, then nobody would. The Toons would pay for their uprising, and once the Free saw the footage, they’d realize what power Vulpus possessed. Surrender would be inevitable. The fight would not end all at once, but the average citizen would give up arms at the sight of such destruction. Both the aerowings piloting crew and the withdrawing forces of the Vulpus Armada would film the blast. Vella could not wait to see it!

“Jewellia, I want to wear the colors of fire.”

“Yes, Majesty!”

Jewellia scurried into the closet to pick out some choices. She had already been a good girl and fetched Queen Vixen VII’s diadem from the High Tower. It would bring her luck as Vulpus went to war.

“How’s this?” Jewellia asked excitedly, laying a red and orange dress with black trim over the back of a chair. Vella nodded.

“Perfect.”

Jewellia hurried to help her dress.

—

Eileen pulled back the High Tower’s door. Before the guards could even register the impossibility of someone being inside the High Tower without their knowledge, Usa skewered both through the neck. They choked up blood before collapsing. Eileen and Usa left them where they lay and sprinted across the courtyard. They took shelter in the shadows of the promenade. Panting, Eileen scanned the courtyard. No other guards were present, and none were coming to chase them.

“Where is everyone?” Eileen whispered. Usa pressed a finger to her lips and gestured upward. Eileen listened. Out in the city, people were shouting. *The revolution!*

“Follow me.”

Usa ducked through a service corridor. She had memorized maps of the castle, something Eileen would not have been able to do within such a short period of time. She vaguely recalled some parts of the castle from her brief sojourn here last month. Seeing Jewellia had certainly brought back those memories, especially of the dinner they had with Vella’s family and comrades. It was almost the last dinner of Eileen’s life, had it not been for the Free.

They passed a Canisian servant, who barked in fright. Usa made another silent gesture at her, and the servant nodded. They continued on.

The halls were deserted. Eileen checked outside a window. Smoke was rising around the skyline. The flash of gunfire reflected off the streets. Vulpus aflame. How many foxes were part of the Free, anyway?

“Usa!” Eileen called as quietly as she could. Something in the sky caught her eye. She showed Usa.

“What is that?”

Usa’s face darkened.

“An aerowings…come on! She might be trying to flee!”

“Huh? What!”

Usa offered no further explanation. Eileen tried to remember where she had heard about an aerowings before. Didn’t Piggy and Alice tell her they had flown in some sort of flying contraption?

A guard emerged from an adjacent hall, and aimed his weapon. Usa shot him first, and they pressed on. Eileen emotionlessly stepped over his writhing body.

“This way to the royal suites,” Usa said, leading Eileen across a circular foyer and toward a set of stairs. They climbed them as fast as they could. Usa inspected around the corner, and held up the number 2 for two guards. Eileen cocked her own gun, which she had no idea how to use other than point and shoot. Usa warned it would recoil in her hand and hurt like a bitch.

They ran out together. Eileen pointed her gun at one of the guards and squeezed the trigger. Sure enough, the gun blasted backward and nearly hit her face. Her fingers cried out in agony, and to make matters worse, she missed. Usa, however, did not miss her mark and shot the other one too.

5 dead. Usa didn’t seem to mind killing. Eileen wondered if she would feel the same after taking a life.

“The Vixen Queen’s suite is up there,” Usa said, reloading her weapon. “Top of the tower.”

The winding stone staircase was not lit. There was some natural light from razor thin windows, but no lightbulbs.

“Looks creepy.”

“Are you surprised?” Usa said, cracking a smile. She started to go, but Eileen held her back.

“Listen,” she said, “I want to kill Vella.”

Usa inclined her head.

“I suspected you might. Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. I’ll be your backup if you miss again.”

Eileen tried not to be insulted. She’d only get one chance.

She took another look at the staircase. At the top was the Vixen Queen’s lair, where centuries of Vixen Queens had plotted and schemed. Vella was up there too. Eileen remembered all too well the conniving fox in Toontown, masquerading as a timid helpless refugee named Blair Fawkes. Blair had gained their trust, saved Eileen’s life even, and then took the town’s innocence and brought the invaders in. Eileen would never know a worse betrayal. For Toontown, as their representative, as their once-elected leader, she must be the one to end her life. Usa’s grievance was with *all* Vixen Queens. Eileen didn’t care about her title. This was about Blair Fawkes. Vella Vixen.

Eileen nodded to Usa.

“Let’s go.”

—

Vella stepped out onto the balcony and watched the aerowings land at the Vista Aerobase. She blocked out the disgusting images of rebellion in Vista’s sacred streets. The army would see to the traitors.

Vella was not afraid of the revolution. The greatest Vixen Queens in history had seen enormous adversity transpire under their scepters. She would never make her mark in history, live up to her individualized regnal name, if she didn’t distinguish herself. She may already be the Vixen Queen who achieved the Southern Sunset, but she would also be the Vixen Queen who crushed the Free once and for all.

“Your Majesty,” Jewellia called from the bedchamber. “It’s time for your crowning.”

Vella turned, letting the fiery dress billow in the breeze. Jewellia was by the vanity mirror, holding Queen Valda Vixen’s diadem. Vella headed back inside.

—

At the top of the darkened staircase, Eileen and Usa listened at the door. It was noiseless. Usa felt the handle.

“Unlocked,” she whispered. They kept listening. Then,

“Your Majesty,” a faint shrill voice chirped, “it’s time for your crowning.”

“Jewellia,” Usa mouthed. Eileen nodded. Usa cocked her gun, and Eileen did the same. Her heart raced. This was the moment. Usa twisted the handle.

“On 3,” Usa murmured. “1…2…3!”

Eileen and Usa burst into the room. It was a cavernous, circular bedroom split over two levels with tall ceilings. They were at the bottom in a space that looked like the Vixen Queen’s study and reception area. An ornate desk was to the left, spotless as if no work was ever done there. The windows showcased breathtaking views of the city. Straight ahead, up a flight of about ten stairs was the bed itself and a dressing area. Double doors opening onto a balcony were ajar, enabling a cool wind to ripple through. Atop the stairs, Vella Vixen was standing in front of a vanity mirror, mouth agape, with Jewellia perched behind her on a stepping stool, holding a tiara over the Queen’s head.

Jewellia dropped the crown, and a cry escaped Vella’s lips. Both Eileen and Usa aimed their weapons. Vella yelped and scrambled to hide behind Jewellia.

“Jewellia!” she shrieked. “Get help!”

Jewellia was completely frozen, quite literally shaking. Eileen could almost laugh at the pitiful image of the Vixen Queen, the most powerful woman on the continent, trying to hide behind her servant.

“Vella Vixen!” Eileen shouted. “You are guilty of premeditated murder and massacre in accordance with Toon law! You are guilty of terrorism and mass destruction! As Toontown’s Mayor, it is my duty to carry out your death sentence!”

Vella was whimpering. Usa suddenly shot the telephone on the table near her. Jewellia screamed. Usa then closed the door, sealing them in.

“You carry your mother’s legacy,” Eileen went on. “You carry a legacy of evil, of darkness, of senseless conquest, and all the misery the Summer Sun has wrought upon this continent. I’m ending this. Not just for Toontown, but for the Granite Bloc and all of Cartonia.”

She took a step forward, keeping her weapon aimed. Vella was not an easy shot, shielded behind Jewellia. Eileen shook the gun.

“Get out of the way, Jewellia.”

The maid burst into tears and stepped aside. Vella tried to move with her, but Eileen seized her moment. She pulled the trigger, and shot the Vixen Queen.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

The Mausoleum of Vixen VII is rumored among the Free to be empty, which is true (“Until I Die,” “Epilogue”)

Constance Miller tricked Hans Einfach into believing an outbreak of the War Plague was running rampant in Toontown. The disease played a prominent role in the fourth season episode “Remnants of the People” and was described in detail in the Diary of War.

Bradley Wolfe and Doctor were revealed to have survived the icy blast in “For Tomorrow We Die.”

Piggy Pie and Usa Uhuru smashed all the turtles in the High Tower.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode refers to the rising revolution against Vulpus. It was not quoted by any character, but merely written to describe the surging protests in Vista.
* The Catacombs of Vista are based on the Paris Catacombs.
* The original title of this episode was “Cartonia Aflame,” but was changed to “Vulpus Aflame.”