Edicts of War

**"Edicts of War"**is the seventh episode of *Justice* and the 25th episode overall.

It was published on July 21, 2018.

In the episode, a statement is released by the Cogs, confirming the fears of many Toons.

## The Episode

===Excerpt from the Diary of War===

=Centuries Ago=

An Edict was issued by the foxes today. It was posted on all the shop windows, lampposts, kiosks, message boards, and homes of the occupied zones, and printed in every newspaper around Cartonia. I saw it first at breakfast. I’ll transcribe it here:

*“As one of the first species of Creation and the first in Cartonia, it is known and validated as fact that the Skulk of Foxes is the most superior and intelligent of all the species. It is wise and therefore recommended that all other species of the Granite Bloc submit themselves to the foxes as faithful servants. The Kingdom of Vulpus will stretch from the Vixen Cliffs to the Pinnacle Ice Sheet. The Kingdom of Vulpus rejects any leader of the Kingdoms that align themselves with the Granite Bloc and only recognizes the Vixen Queen as proper head. All other Kingdoms are moot and their leaders mere figureheads. The foxes will emerge supreme, the foxes will rise over the ashes of War, and the foxes will reign Cartonia from this day until the end of days. It is so delivered.”*

===Lawbot Headquarters===

=Four Weeks After the Inauguration=

It was eerily silent here.

Dr. Kilo Byte and Horace Calves listened to the absolute silence of the area. The sleek reflective floor seemed to sparkle. Horace looked down at the face of the statue of the Chief Justice reflected on the ground. The Chief Justice had yet to be seen in person, but with the billowing robes of the statute and sinister grin, it was very likely that was him.

Kilo and Horace were in Lawbot Headquarters on the theory that maybe there was something hidden in the reflection of the floor. One Toon had suggested that maybe the floor was not a reflection at all, but a mirror image of a headquarters built upside-down. That could then be a hidden Bossbot Headquarters. But as Horace and Kilo entered, they could tell that was not likely. Since they too could see their reflections. And the Cogs were not smart enough to create mirror images of Toons.

“Well,” Horace said. “Another dead end.”

“Back to the Playground,” Kilo said, readying his transport hole.

When the doors of the District Attorney’s office flew open.

Kilo and Horace whirled around. Cogs were churning out of the buildings. They started descending from the sky. Lawbots. Thousands of them. They were flying over the tunnel. Toward the Brrrgh. Toward Toontown.

“Oh no,” Kilo said.

Horace grunted.

“They’re back.”

===Toon Hall===

The Cogs had returned. After more than ten weeks.

It had all happened simultaneously. The lights of all Cog headquarters had switched back on. Cogs began then to pour of out every edifice. Cog buildings fell like rain. Cogs stormed the streets. The Toons were not unprepared and continued to fight them off. No word from the Chairman or any of the bosses, but Cashbot and Lawbot Headquarters were officially online. Mata Hairy in Cashbot HQ had sent a flurry of notices that morning about the Cashbots mobilizing but she had been unable to see the full scale. Sellbot Headquarters was still inaccessible due to the collapsed tunnel, but surprisingly the Cogs were rebuilding it. The Toon Resistance estimated it would be about a week before the Toons could return to that HQ.

But they were now back. And Constance’s work was cut out for her.

Her first four weeks as Mayor had gone extremely smoothly. She *adored* the new Toon Council. All were so eager to help and were dedicated to the Resistance. Gag purchases and training program attendances had skyrocketed since Slate Oldman’s impassioned speech at the Inauguration. Eileen was up to her eyes in designing new training regiments, but was glad for the additional time afforded to her now that she was out of the Mayoral office.

Aleck Harding and Susan Fletcher were hard at work too ensuring the safety of Toontown. And today, with the return of the Cogs so sudden, they were zooming all over the place with neighborhood Deputies to see that the Playgrounds were, as ever, hidden from the Cogs.

Constance heard the beep of her telegraph machine and she hurried over to it. She had it installed the day she took office so she could communicate directly with Mata. The telegraph machine was designed by the Cogs and was used quite regularly by Toons in the days before Exodus and the rise of the evil Cogs. But Mata had one in Cashbot HQ and Constance had one here. A notice printed and Constance read over it, her heart tightening.

The trains had become operational and were once again ferrying Cogs. The Cashbot CFO had arrived on the train from an undisclosed location, most likely Bossbot HQ. Which meant that Bossbot HQ was indeed attached via the train network.

The phone rang again for the umpteenth time. Constance snatched the receiver, pen in hand.

“Mayor Miller,” she said.

“A duck from the Docks is here to see you,” the receptionist said.

“A duck?” Constance asked. “They don’t have an appointment.”

“No,” the receptionist said, “He said its urgent. He looks a bit…confused.”

“Send him in,” Constance said. The door opened and a gaunt-looking duck came in. His eyes were frantic.

“The Cogs are back,” he said.

Constance almost laughed.

“Yes,” she said. “They are. What is it I can do for you? I trust you have more to say than that.”

“Oh,” he said, “yes. Well. You see, Mayor Miller, I was one of the scuba divers on the team that Mayor Irenic sent into the Bay to look at the Cog train tunnels. Do you know about that?”

“I do,” Constance said. “We have the pictures from that expedition.”

“Well,” the duck said a bit impatiently. “Why haven’t you followed the tunnels?”

Constance stared. Followed them?

“I don’t understand,” she said. “The tunnels go in a circle around the Bay, from Sellbot HQ to Lawbot HQ.”

The diver shook his head.

“No they don’t. The tunnels turn southeast.”

Constance felt her throat close, as if she was going to choke. She recognized the same sense of disbelief as the day that Sepulchra Rigor informed her that the body found at Chipper Acres was not Alice Carver after all. That same suffocating feeling.

She began rummaging in her desk for the photographs from the expedition. She laid all of them out on her desk and arranged them the way Ahab had indicated to show a continuous loop. The diver inspected the photos.

“You’re missing a few,” he said. “Right there.” He pointed at a place where the tunnels did not quite line up. “The tunnel turns there. It goes southeast. We couldn’t see how far. Ahab just said he’d send the pictures to you and we’d done our work.”

Constance wanted to scream.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’ve been very helpful. Do you have copies of the pictures?”

“I can get them,” the diver said. “Can I bring them over tonight?”

“Yes,” Constance said, snatching up the phone. She didn’t care that the diver was still there. She barked into the phone with calmness she no longer possessed.

“Get Eileen, the Council, Aleck, and Susan in the Council Chamber immediately. Call for Ahab Ishmael to go to Toon HQ and that Aleck will meet him there. Don’t take no for an answer. And get the map of Toontown rolled out in the Chamber. We have something.”

===Toon Council Chamber===

Eileen watched with wide eyes as Constance frantically laid out the map of Toontown over the Council table. The Councillors were sitting around, mostly openmouthed. Constance had just briefed them on the scuba diver’s revelations. The fact that Ahab Ishmael had concealed information that was critical to the rescue operation of Doctor, Smokey Joe, Silly Sal, and Lucy Tires, was a horrific miscarriage of power. Constance had dispensed Aleck Harding and Susan Fletcher to make an immediate arrest. Aleck had asked Constance to wait until after the arrest was completed so that he and Susan could hear what else Constance had to say.

And so Eileen and the others waited. Eileen knew that as soon as this was done, she would have to go see Piggy Pie and the families of the other missing Togs. Piggy Pie would be irate.

Aleck and Susan then entered the chamber, looking satisfied.

“He’s imprisoned beneath Toon HQ,” Aleck said. “He’ll wait trial there. The Togs will keep him company.”

Barnacle Barbara winced.

“Is it safe for him there?”

“Sure,” Aleck said. “The bars are sturdy.”

“A trial will be arranged,” Susan said, making notes in a notebook, “He’ll be tried for abuse of power and treason. I’ll ask Judge McIntosh to take up the case.”

Constance nodded, the only indication that what was said was acknowledged. She was scanning the map. She looked down at the photos of the underwater tunnels.

“Southeast,” she muttered. She placed her finger on the Docks and traced the tentative lines of where the tunnels were thought to be. Then she turned southeast and drew her finger along the Bay, toward the cragged mountains that blockaded the Bay from outside invaders. But she stopped just short.

“What’s that?” she asked, looking right at Barnacle Barbara.

Barbara crossed the room and stood behind Constance, peering down at the map. Constance’s finger was on a small unmarked brown dot near the center of the Bay, southeast of the Playground of the Docks.

“Um,” Barbara said, “let me think. It’s…I think it’s a crag. Like a large collection of jagged rocks sticking up out of the water. One of the Councillors from the Docks once tried to build a lighthouse there but there was no place to dock.”

“A crag,” Constance muttered. “Do you think it could be big enough to sustain a Cog headquarters?”

Barbara looked stunned. “No,” she said. “I can’t imagine so…but then again I haven’t seen it in person. It’s almost always concealed by fog.”

Constance looked ready to throw up, or maybe cheer. A combination of both? Finally a lead in the hunt for Bossbot Headquarters. A crag located in the Bay of Toontown, hidden by fog.

===Piggy Pie’s Estate===

There was a picture of Piggy Pie and Doctor on the mantlepiece above the fireplace. It was them in front of an exploding Cog. Hyla Sensitive had taken the picture. It was quirky, but also telling of their friendship. The Cogs had brought them closer together, Piggy Pie hated to admit.

Ten plus weeks without her best friend. It had long since taken its toll. She had lost a ton of weight, had trouble sleeping, and wandered around with a continuous feeling of uselessness. If she had been taken by the Cogs, she would have rested well knowing that Doctor would have done everything in his power to rescue her. But she was here, and he was there, and she could do nothing. He probably had lost hope in her. If he was ever recovered, would he even want to talk to her?

Demoralizing, was the word Piggy Pie would use to describe the situation. And how did she feel? Defeated.

Piggy Pie pushed a tomato across her plate. Her pet doodle, Lasagna, rolled around on the floor, begging for food.

“Here,” Piggy Pie said and put the plate near the doodle so she could eat it.

As Lasagna chowed down, someone knocked on the door. Piggy Pie was slow to answer it.

“Sorry to interrupt your lunch,” Eileen said as soon as the door was open a crack. The maroon mouse then pushed her way inside. “I have urgent news. Constance thinks she found Bossbot Headquarters.”

Piggy Pie gasped. She moved herself into a chair.

“What?” she managed. “I thought we weren’t looking anymore…so we could find the mole?”

“Constance had a breakthrough this morning. Apparently Ahab Ishmael withheld photographs showing the underwater tunnels turning southeast toward a crag that is not even marked on our maps. The Bossbots may have built there. No one can really see the crag because it’s ensconced in fog.”

Piggy Pie’s gaze wandered to outside the window. She imagined seeing Doctor racing toward her door, to tell her he was alright.

“When can we make landfall there?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Eileen said. “Constance is working everything out and I’m about to head back to help. But Piggy…this is huge. We may have found him. And the best part is, the Cogs don’t know.”

===Bossbot Headquarters===

“The Toons are making inquiries about the location of Bossbot Headquarters,” the Chief Justice informed the Chairman. The crack in the Chairman’s face from his last outburst had not been fixed by the cosmetic staff. At certain angles, the inside of his head could be seen. It was unnerving for the Chief Justice. That odd color within the cracks of a grey eerie face. So the Chief Justice opted to look downward in respect.

“And?” the Chairman said simply.

“And they may be getting close. They’ve noticed the tunnels.”

The Chairman scoffed.

“Slow on the uptake are they? The Cogs have returned to the streets and will soon succeed in taking back what is rightfully ours.”

“And the Edict?” the Chief Justice mentioned.

“Yes,” the Chairman said. “Have the new Vice President use his marketing skills to release it to the public. Tonight.”

The Chief Justice closed his padfolio, content with the conclusion of the meeting. The Chairman turned to the Tog called Smokey Joe, who was standing stolidly by the door next to the one called Doctor.

“You,” the Chairman said. “How long do you think it will take the Toons to arrive?”

“Hard to say,” Smokey Joe said in a mechanical voice. “The one known as Piggy Pie will be earnest in her attempts to get Doctor back.”

Doctor’s head twitched.

“Hmm,” the Chairman said with a smirk. “Yes I remember the spunky pig. The one who screamed so loudly when Doctor was taken away.”

“It might be wise,” the Chief Justice said, “to eliminate Doctor. The pig will not want to come if she knew he was dead.”

“That may be,” the Chairman said. “I’ll consider it. BC9032! Take the Togs back to their cells. And give them new batteries.”

“Yes, sir,” the Big Cheese near the window said. Smokey Joe and Doctor went willingly with the Cog.

Doctor had no chair or bed in his cell. There was no need. Cogs did not sit. Had no need to sit. Doctor was shown back into his small chambers and the door was closed. Doctor did not resist. The cell was his home.

With nothing more to do for the day, Doctor stood in the center of the room and stared straight ahead.

It was like being trapped in a box. A transparent box inside your eyelids. And you could see out of your eyes, but your actions were not your own. Doctor sometimes could physically feel himself pounding away at the glass of his eyes, begging his self not to do what the Chairman asked.

There were myths about ghosts and demons and being possessed, and this is what Doctor would think possession would be like. Being able to see yourself do unspeakable things and not be able to stop it. From your own point of view.

Doctor tried to break the trance, tried to think of happy thoughts. But they seemed to die as soon as they came to his brain. The Cog part of him rejecting them.

Doctor was lucky—if you can call it that—that his body had not reacted negatively to the Tog conversion procedure. Lucy Tires had spasmed and her arm had to be severed. She now had a metal arm and of course the horrible green light fixed to her chest. If she were to get free and get home, those disfigurements would be permanent.

Doctor couldn’t make his eyes look down, but he knew that his own green light was shining. He could see it reflecting on the opposite wall. Could the doctors in Toontown save him from this?

As always, Doctor ended up thinking about Piggy Pie. His poor friend was probably worried sick about him. It had been an inexhaustible period of time since Doctor had seen another Toon and he imagined that the search effort for the Togs was not doing so well. But Piggy Pie he knew would be doing *everything* possible to save him. Everything. And she would find him. He knew that.

He would keep fighting, he told himself. For her. He would fight to regain control of his body.

===Toon Headquarters===

The major issue with the Togs had been their mumbling. The 27 Togs beneath Toon HQ had, as Slate Oldman determined, a psychic link between them and the Cogs. Which meant the Cogs could feed them information, instructions. And the Togs could in turn communicate with the Cogs. Their cells had been quarantined, and no one was allowed near them except for authorized personnel, like Alice and Bradley. And Professor Pete and Slate Oldman. The four of them had begun the taskforce to cure them. Over the past four weeks, they worked nearly around the clock. Neat and tidy office hours were ruled an impossibility with so much at stake. Professor Pete began to shoulder more of Slate’s load when Slate began his Councillor duties, but as Pete got bogged down with schoolwork to grade, Bradley found himself becoming the de facto leader of the team. Which surprised him.

Bradley had never considered himself much of a leader. Then again, with only Alice as companion in perdition, they never had much chance for leadership.

Now that the Cogs had returned, the demand to find a way to stop the Togs communicating with the Cogs was essential. Pete suggested muzzles, but Bradley and Alice detested the idea. It sounded too Molecule-esque. That afternoon, while they ate lunch together with Slate, discussing their developments, Slate had a thought. He said he knew someone who may be able to help. She was a sleep therapist from Dreamland. And Slate agreed to talk to her to see if she could come over to the station after lunch.

And so Bradley, Pete, and Alice waited. About an hour after lunch, Professor Drema Yawn arrived. She was a tall peach cat with thick glasses and a spiritual aura about her. She moved graciously, and wore long billowing robes. Her dangling earrings clattered against her neck.

“Good afternoon,” she droned. “I am Professor Drema Yawn.”

“Pete Ingalls.”

“Bradley Wolfe.”

“Alice Carver.”

“Ah,” Yawn said. “I sense the dog and monkey have seen extreme trauma. Is this true?”

“Have you picked up a newspaper in the past few months?” Alice snapped.

“What my friend means,” Bradley said, “is that we’re glad you’re here. Slate said you can help us with the Togs.”

Yawn inhaled, taking in the scent of the headquarters.

“Yes,” she gasped. “I can. I specialize in sleep in all its forms, including manually induced.”

It clicked for all three at once.

“Hypnosis,” Alice and Pete said together.

Yawn tilted her head back and twitched as if in a trance, and then slammed her head downward.

“Yesssss.”

“I see,” Pete said. “You want to hypnotize the Togs so they cannot communicate with the Cogs.”

“Pre*cisely*,” Yawn postulated, stressing the last syllable with strange emphasis. “I will do so now. Take me to them.”

“Okay,” Bradley muttered. Alice, Pete, and Yawn followed Bradley as he led the way down the locked staircase to the cells. As they reached the landing, the mumbling grew louder. The Togs had been ferociously speaking in near-Cogspeak ever since that morning when the Cogs returned. The twenty-seven cells containing them echoed with the noise.

Yawn stopped at the bottom of the staircase and took a long dramatic breath. She then proceeded to twitch her face and make swooping motions with her hands, her leg twitching. She rotated and looked at the first Tog. Then snapped her fingers. Instantly, the Tog stopped talking and collapsed to the floor.

Alice started forward, but Pete held her back. They watched, stunned, as the Tog began to breathe, deeply, in sleep.

Yawn pivoted and marched across the aisle to the other cell and snapped again. The Tog fell.

Down she went, along the cells, snapping and muttering as if enchanting them. One by one, without fail, they fell asleep. The noise died out entirely. Bradley, Alice, and Pete were in complete awe. When she reached the end, she bent over as if in agony.

“Sleep, children,” she chanted. “Sleep!”

No one said anything. Bradley and Alice were openmouthed. Pete then leaned forward.

“I think,” he whispered, “she may be a BioFreak.”

“I thought Slate was the only one,” Alice whispered back. Pete just shrugged.

Yawn turned around, and jumped near the end of the hall. She peered into one of the cells.

“You’re not a Tog,” she said.

“No,” a voice said. “But I can see you’re a witch.”

Yawn scoffed.

“Parasite.”

She stalked down the hall, back toward Bradley and the others. He, however, had not noticed there was a 28th inhabitant of the cell block.

“Who…?” Bradley began, but the prisoner was already screaming.

“You can’t talk to me that way!” he bellowed, his paw sticking through the bars, trying to grab at Yawn who was already far away. “I’m Ahab Ishmael! I’m a Councillor! How dare you! Come back and apologize!”

Alice smirked. She pushed past Bradley and headed to the cell. Bradley followed. Yawn and Pete watched. Alice paused in front of Ahab’s cell and Bradley came up behind her. The brown bear was standing in the center, arms crossed. He looked angry more than anything. The food on his table was untouched and the bed had not even been sat on.

“When did you get in?” Bradley asked. Ahab shot him a glare.

“This morning. I’m not staying. I’m posting bail.”

“Why?” Alice asked. Bradley alone could detect the malice in her voice.

Ahab gave her a condescending look.

“Because I did nothing wrong. All I’ve ever wanted to do is protect Toontown.”

“Protect Toontown from what?” Alice glowered.

“From lies,” he said. “From panic. From war.”

“War is already here,” Alice said. “No one can deny it. The Cogs are evil.”

“And so is the fear that Eileen Irenic and Constance Miller spread. They belong behind these bars, not me.”

Alice pressed herself against the bars, her snout inside his cell.

“You’re a weak Toon, Ahab Ishmael. You are pathetic. You are timid. You are nothing. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good Toons to do nothing. And that’s all you’ve done. Ever since the Cogs came you’ve been apathetic, passive. You never cared. And then you became an active counterweight to the Toon Resistance. You’ve tried to see them undone. You tried to get Constance unseated from office. You…”

She gasped for breath.

“The Cogs…are more capable of horror than you will ever know. You will never understand what I have seen. What I have experienced. What I have lost. You will *never* understand any of that. And I don’t understand you. But there is one thing that I can relate to.”

Ahab cocked his head, clearly unfazed.

“What’s that?”

“Indifference. It’s a comfortable place. It’s a safe place. You can hide there. I hid there. I was a wealth of knowledge on the Cogs and Dr. Molecule and I stayed silent because I was afraid. Maybe you’re afraid and too scared to admit it. But I hid in indifference. I forced the Toon I love to stay there with me. Until the truth came out and I faced the consequences of those choices. And now must you.”

Alice backed away from the cell.

“You deserve to be in that cell. There will be no happiness for you in Toontown so long as you refuse to help us.”

She took Bradley’s hand.

“Goodbye.”

Together, they walked back to Yawn and Pete, and then up the stairs to Toon HQ.

=Later That Night=

Slate Oldman accompanied Professor Pete down the stairs to the cell block to see the hypnosis for himself. Slate was eager to see Yawn’s work.

“She’s a bit eccentric,” Pete responded to Slate’s question of “What did you think of her?”

“Yes,” Pete said with a chuckle. “She is. Though if I can let you in on a secret…it’s all an act.”

Pete stared. “Really?”

They reached the bottom of the staircase and emerged in the silent, dimly lit corridor. The Togs were all still soundly asleep.

“Indeed,” Slate said. “Drema is one of the most knowledgeable doctors in Toontown on the science of sleep, perhaps in all of our history. But there’s a reason for that. Maybe you picked up on it. She’s a BioFreak.”

Pete tipped his head. That was exactly his guess. “That’s what I thought.”

“Her ancestors,” Slate said, slowly walking down the hall, peering into each cell, “were kidnapped by the Cervidium deer, who were notorious for their gruesome studies, and were injected with a poisonous toxin that gave them the power to induce sleep. Whatever the circumstances, the effect was that their children suddenly had the power to give others the gift of a long night’s sleep, or alternatively the short and sudden horror of a terrible nightmare. To my knowledge, Drema and I are the only two BioFreaks in Toontown. Whereas I have always been very open about my affliction, Drema has been less public. She instead disguises it through her work and through the whimsical persona no doubt she exhibited to you.”

“Incredible,” Pete said. “If I hadn’t seen her send the Togs to sleep with a snap of her fingers, I think I would have been totally fooled. So Yawn and you are the only two…”

“Well,” Slate interrupted, tapping the bars of Herb Clark’s cell, “I guess that’s not exactly true. Drema has a daughter, who now carries her affliction. There are three of us. But my disease dies with me.”

“Why do you call it a disease?” Pete asked. “It’s a beautiful ability.”

Slate sighed.

“All of the BioFreaks recorded were said to have untold power but it always comes with a cost.”

“What’s the cost?”

Slate paused. He chewed the inside of his cheek. “I can never get cool,” he murmured. “Never.”

“Ever?” Pete pried.

“No,” Slate said. “That’s why I live in the Brrrgh. So at least then I can feel temperate. But even then I’m sweating. I’ve gotten better at hiding it. But it’s uncomfortable. Always.”

“And Drema?”

Slate frowned.

“Drema has insomnia. She can hardly ever fall asleep. It seems to others that we have been given a gift from the past. But we were cursed by the deer of Cervidium.”

Pete placed a comforting hand on Slate’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.”

Slate nodded. “I appreciate it.”

He turned to look back at the cells. “I can see that the hypnosis is holding. They look soundly asleep.”

“It’s amazing,” Pete said. “I think their psychic links with the Cogs have been broken.”

“With luck,” Slate said. “But it’ll be best of course never to discuss important matters down here where they can here.”

“Of course.”

They had come to the end. Slate checked on the last Tog and then turned to go. Pete, however, stepped closer to make sure that Ahab was asleep too. He had forgotten about him and would have been upset to know that Ahab had overheard Slate’s vulnerability. From where he stood, he could see that Ahab’s bed was stripped and unoccupied.

Strange…had he been…

“NO!”

Pete rushed forward. Slate whirled around, having cried out at Pete’s outburst.

“Get help!” Pete hissed, fumbling to get the key from his pocket. Slate turned and ran toward the staircase, calling out for the Toon Patrol. Pete opened the cell door and rushed inside.

But it was too late.

Ahab Ishmael had hung himself.

===In the Middle of the Night===

Clarabelle was roused from her sleep by noise outside. She groaned at having been interrupted. She tiptoed to the window so as not to wake her doodles and squinted through the window pane.

Silly Street was bustling.

Cogs. Dozens of them, moving slowly through the streets. They were stopping at shop windows and lampposts, posting what looked like advertisements. Clarabelle raised an eyebrow. Exhaustion consumed her more than curiosity, and she went back to bed.

===Lullaby Lane===

=The Next Morning=

Piggy Pie couldn’t move. She felt rooted to the spot, cemented to the sidewalk. Toons gathered around her, staring at the notice taped to the window of the diner. Piggy Pie no longer felt like eating. She had read the Diary of War. Several times. Including the Edicts. Enough to understand. To see the parallels.

“Cog Nation Edict #0001,” a mouse squeaked from the front of the crowd. Piggy Pie read over the document again, posted in the middle of the night by the Cogs.

“As the most advanced species in the southern region of the continent, it is known and validated as fact that the Cog Creation is the most superior and intelligent of all the species. It is wise and therefore recommended that all other species submit themselves to the Cogs as faithful servants. Cog Nation will stretch from the Bay of Molecule to the Vulpus Cliffs and Beyond. Cog Nation rejects the establishments of the Toon Council and Toontown. Only the Chairman wields true power over the region. All forms of Toon leadership are moot and their leaders mere figureheads. The Cogs will emerge supreme, the Cogs will rise over the ashes of War, the Cogs will return North to the Kingdoms, and the Cogs will reign Toontown and Cartonia from this day until the end of days. It is so delivered.”

So it was true. Dr. Molecule had designed his Cogs after something he read. In the Diary of War.

The Cogs were robotic reincarnations of the foxes of the Kingdom of Vulpus.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

This episode featured the first passage from the Diary of War, which contained the eponymous Edict that would later be matched by the Cogs. The Edict’s release by the Cogs confirmed that Dr. Molecule had modeled his Cogs after the fox species of the Kingdom of Vulpus.

The Cogs finally returned on a grand scale after ten weeks of silence. The lights were turned back on in HQ and the trains began running again.

The train tunnels beneath the Bay did in fact lead further out, and the Resistance had been unaware because Ahab Ishmael had deliberately held the photos from “Out in the Darkness.” Ahab’s treachery led to his arrest, and while in prison he took his own life.

The revelation from the photos led the Toons to suspect Bossbot HQ may be located on a small crag in the Bay of Toontown.

Slate Oldman, long believed to be the only BioFreak in Toontown, revealed that there was another: Professor Drema Yawn.

This is the first mention of the Granite Bloc and the Vixen Queen.

### References

Judge McIntosh, a NPC from Daisy Gardens was mentioned.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode is not a reference to any external source, but rather is representative of the parallel between the Cogs and the Foxes.
* The real Piggy Pie has a Doodle named Lasagna. The last time Lasagna was mentioned was in the pilot episode, when Piggy Pie had a dog of the same name in Fantasyland.
* Professor Yawn’s name is a reference to dreams and yawns, commonly associated with sleep.