Into the Fire

**"Into the Fire"**is the thirteenth episode of *Contact* and the 48th episode overall. It is the second in the two-part season finale, preceded by "Out of the Frying Pan."

The episode was published on March 22, 2020.

In the episode, the utopia of Toontown is buried forever as centuries of isolation from the Kingdoms of Cartonia are undone.

## Promotion

   On March 12, 2020, ahead of the premiere of the first episode of the season finale, a trailer was released. The video is to the left. The trailer depicts floating embers before flashing into fire burning on the Bay of Toontown. It ends with the familiar warning: "Never trust a fox." The music used is "Noble Blood" by Tommee Proffitt.

## The Episode

—The Vixen Cliffs—

-Three Centuries Ago-

Diana Loudoun was breathless, speechless. The reservoir continued to drain in a relentless torrent, cascading over the demolished Vulpus Dam. With the flood went the bodies.

*The Vixen Queen was dead*.

Fate would dictate that Diana was not to leave Cartonia, nor the War. But Lana was. Her beautiful daughter had escaped, with her Diary. She carried with her a written history of her home, and what had become of it. When she began her chronicle, she was just a young woman on the precipice of adulthood. Now she was a hardened veteran of war.

Diana pressed her shaking trotters to her forehead and prayed that the escapees were safe. That they would live in peace and happiness, bereft of Cartonian misery. That their children would grow up in a world free from evil.

And that their lives would never again be threatened by a Vixen Queen.

—The Docks—

-Present Day-

Toons flooded onto the docks at midday as the Vulpus Armada breached the Bay of Toontown. Constance found herself being pushed further away from the harbor. She lost sight of Eileen and the others. Most of the arriving Toons carried gags, which were worthless. Only drop and trap could inflict real damage, but they’d almost never been used in moving battle. Throw and squirt were far preferable, since a misplaced pie would not harm a Toon in the same way a misplaced piano would.

Some carried sticks, hammers, kitchen knives. Makeshift weapons.

No one had guns. No one had bombs. The foxes would have those in plenty, and assuredly worse. Three hundred years of technological advancement would place the Cartonians far beyond Toontown in the weapons field.

Constance was tall, and could see over some of the heads. Near the gag shop, where Cale Metfin was still being held captive, the remaining Clark children, conspicuously grief-stricken, were providing toonups. Constance couldn’t even imagine how the family would be feeling, having just lost half their siblings and children in the bombing. Doe Clark had been aboard. Since joining the Council, Doe and Constance had gotten to know each other quite well. It was heartbreaking to know she was gone. She had revitalized Melodyland’s dedication to the Toon cause.

The Vulpus Armada was getting closer. The sinister black, red, and white flags were billowing violently in the harsh ocean breeze. One ship, the largest of them all, was in front, approaching.

Seconds later, it rammed into the harbor. Unlike when the *Chipper* crashed months ago, this ship destroyed the docks. Toons screamed and ran out of the way as the boat didn’t yield. Toon boats capsized and sunk instantly. Constance craned her neck to look at the monstrosity. The ship’s bow was sharp, and she knew that thousands of foxes could fit aboard. Thousands.

“See the name?” a terrified Toon squeaked. “*The Imperial Conqueror*…”

Constance tried to move forward, since she should be at the front of the crowd. She was Toontown’s leader, and had to defend them. But the throngs were too thick, and no one noticed she was behind them.

A gangplank extended from the front of the ship, dropping on the docks. Several foxes, adorned in black military uniforms, marched off. No one moved, and no one protested. Not even Mata Hairy, whose neon orange fur Constance could clearly see from the back. The Vulpus soldiers flanked either side of the docks, ignoring the Toons gazing at them with terrified expressions. They carried barbarous weapons of war. Constance knew they were guns. Automatic guns that could spray bullets faster than it would take anyone to scream.

Foxes, dozens of them. Hundreds more on the ships. She never thought she would see this in her lifetime. She never thought Toontown would fall, not to the foxes.

The soldiers lined the docks, pressing into the Toons as if they were inanimate objects. There was no regard for Toon life. Those nearest the front scampered backward, away from the foxes, but there was hardly enough room for everyone to stand on the planks, much less retreat. Constance found herself further and further from the harbor.

One more fox stepped onto the docks of Toontown. She was rather tall and thin, with long claws and luscious tan fur. Her posture was perfect, her face unblemished, and the regal horned crown upon her head told Constance that she was looking at none other than the Vixen Queen of Vulpus.

The screams that accompanied her arrival were widespread, and Toons began teleporting away en masse. Constance could barely breathe, hardly move, but Toons took flight.

*The Vixen Queen herself had come to Toontown*. The last time Toons had interacted with a Vixen Queen, they killed her.

“Citizens of Toontown,” a computerized voice said over an intercom attached to the one of the ships. The sudden blaring noise stopped several teleporting Toons in their tracks, still holding their holes. Despite the mass exodus of Toons from the Docks, a significant number still remained, standing tall against the invaders.

“Citizens of Toontown,” the voice repeated. “Your rightful ruler, the gracious, formidable, and honorable Empress Vixen of the Vulpus Empire, Queen Vixen XXXI of Vulpus, Leader of Cartonia, stands before you. Kneel before your Queen.”

No one moved. The Vixen Queen was glaring at everyone with ire. Sizing them up. She wasn’t old, nor young. Properly middle-aged. The crown that rested on her brow did not look like the Harmony Crown that had been sketched in the Diary of War. It was sinister, the twisting metals spiraling toward the sky.

The Vixen Queen. *The Vixen Queen*. Here. Constance couldn’t stop repeating that thought in her mind. For most Toons, the Vixen Queen was a piece of history; anything beyond what was explicitly described in the Diary of War pure fiction. But she was real. The one in the Diary had died, but her daughter carried on the dynasty. And so did her daughter. And her’s. Until today, when the Thirty-First Vixen Queen came to slaughter the only town on the continent beyond her grasp.

“Who is the leader of this community?” the Vixen Queen asked to the crowd, and Constance suspected she was rigged with a microphone, for her voice carried. Constance began to push her way forward, but someone else had already spoken up.

“I am,” Barnacle Barbara announced, stepping right up to the Vixen Queen. She was significantly shorter than the fox, but stood just as erect, just as tall. “I am the Leader of the Docks.”

Barbara spat at the Queen’s paws. The Vixen Queen smirked and snapped at one of her soldiers. He handed her a sword.

Constance went cold as the Vixen Queen, in one clean slice, lopped off Barbara’s head.

The chaos that followed eclipsed any panic Constance had experienced. Toons fled without regard for those around them. Stampedes poured into the tunnels, and countless Toons were pushed into the water as others sprinted for safety. Constance pressed herself flat against the harbor wall and tried to erase the image she had just seen. The blood that spurted from Barbara’s neck as her lifeless eyes rolled back with her head.

“HALT!”

The Vixen Queen’s voice reverberated over the ports. She was glaring at the scattering masses with contempt. “Stay still or you’ll all die.”

No one listened, no one cared. Better far away than here. Teleport holes opened everywhere, and Constance had to be careful not to fall in. She didn’t want to run. She had to defend Toontown. She may be useless against the Vulpus Armada, but she had to try.

The Vixen Queen’s soldiers began aiming their guns at those near them, the ones trying to flee.

“CONSTANCE!” someone cried. She didn’t see who. “RUN!”

She did the opposite. She glided forward, over a stack of bodies, and up to the Vixen Queen herself.

“Stop this,” she demanded. The Vixen Queen, her brown fox face frowning at her. The crown atop her head was spiky. With it, they were the same height. But Constance was stronger. What if this bitch died? What then?

“Who are you?” the Vixen Queen scowled.

“Constance Miller. Mayor of Toontown. I am this town’s elected protector. And I order you to leave. This is an independent state, and you and your ships are an unwelcome visitor. Leave at once.”

The Queen scoffed. Constance didn’t care. It had to be said. Someone had to say it. She could feel the eyes of those left on the Docks behind her, watching their leader defend them. Unarmed. In her periphery, she saw Eileen tending to a wounded Toon, but her eyes locked on Constance.

The Vixen Queen drew her sword, and Constance stepped backward. Eileen bolted forward, and Toons began to cry out. Sword raised, the Vixen Queen swung.

A transport hole opened between them, and Blair Fawkes shot out. The Vixen Queen froze, and dropped the sword.

“Vella,” she gasped.

“Mother,” came Blair’s response.

Constance’s jaw fell open. *Mother*?

Then, Blair pulled a pistol—a real pistol—and shot the Vixen Queen through the heart.

Constance stumbled, and Eileen pulled her away. She nearly vomited as she caught sight of Barbara’s head rolling along the slip. The Vixen Queen fell with a declarative thunk on the dock, blood dripping into the water below.

Did…Blair just save them?

Constance would receive her answer almost instantly. Blair plucked the crown from her mother’s head and lifted it onto her own. The soldiers on the Docks bowed. The entire Armada’s command saluted the fox. The chant that followed was most terrifying:

“The Queen is dead! Long live the Vixen Queen!”

Blair Fawkes turned around and smiled at Constance and Eileen. Constance knew that Blair was responsible for the attack on the *Chipper*. She had just murdered her mother too. She was evil.

They never should have trusted this fox.

“Your Imperial Majesty,” a soldier addressed the new Queen. “I humbly ask for your regnal name.”

Blair grinned.

“I think we’ve had enough Vixens, don’t you? Vella.”

“Long live Vella I!”

“LONG LIVE QUEEN VELLA!” the foxes echoed.

*Vella*?

Constance swallowed hard. Blair was an alias. This whole time, they weren’t harboring a damaged fugitive from the Kingdom of Vulpus. They had imprisoned the heiress to Vulpus, the daughter of the Vixen Queen. They should have killed her immediately.

Queen Vella toed her mother’s body and scowled at it.

“*Weak*,” she spat, which seemed like the most villainous thing to say. Constance wanted to run far away, as far as she could go. But she also wanted to confront this harbinger of misery.

Vella turned to the remaining Toons and smiled at them. Not a kind smile.

“Say hello to the Vulpus Armada,” she taunted. “We’ve come to conquer the rest of the continent. You were hiding from us, completely invisible. Thank goodness we found you! Mother here…”

She nudged the dead Queen again. “Mother didn’t believe that the expedition had succeeded, and no one would have thought they got this far. Imagine *our* surprise when we sailed into your port. Such a sophisticated society, albeit run by infidels.”

Constance rolled her eyes instinctively. Vella saw and pointed at her.

“You. Mayor Constance. You have gumption. You may not be a fox but I respect your fervor. I give you a choice. Whether you resist or not, Toontown will be conquered and become the new shiny jewel in the Vulpus Empire’s crown. You may keep your position and become the Colonial Governor of Toontown. All you must do is swear fealty to me, your Queen.”

“Or?” Constance replied. Vella’s eyes narrowed.

“Or I slay you right here. And no one in this town survives. We don’t need Toontown. What’s left of it anyway. And we don’t need the Toons. What we want is the land.”

Constance stared.

“The land?”

“The land,” Vella nodded. “Your town. The foxes need living space. These beautiful streets and buildings would do very nicely.”

What could Constance do? She had to accept the post. Buy herself and the town time.

“Constance?” Vella scowled. “What’s your answer?”

“I accept the role of Colonial Governor of Toontown.”

Vella clapped her paws together. She snapped at a few of the nearby soldiers. They hurried back onto the main ship for something. Clearly all of this was planned. No one seemed at all fazed that the Vixen Queen had just been murdered.

“Toontown is now and forevermore a colony of Vulpus!” the new Queen announced. She lifted her arm toward the glaciers behind Toontown. “A land invasion of Toontown is underway, and soon Vulpus order will be established. Governor Miller, do you hear that?”

Constance heard a distant rumbling across the Bay. They got louder, and smoke began to appear on the horizon. The foxes were destroying the crags. They were disintegrating into the sea. Even if the Toons managed to drive out the foxes, the natural  barriers would leave them permanently exposed to Vulpine conquest.

“Governor Miller,” Queen Vella commanded, “I order you to produce the heirs to Cartonia.”

Constance waited for more, but Vella did not say anything else. Constance looked back at the Toons behind her, hoping someone would know what the Queen was talking about, but everyone seemed confused.

“The…who?”

Vella rushed forward and slapped Constance, which enraged her.

“Don’t be coy. Where are they?”

“Who!”

“The *heirs!* The ones whose ancestors murdered Queen Vixen VII and escaped Cartonia after obliterating the Dam. A heinous crime that went unpunished. This town was built by the survivors of the royal dynasties. I know their descendants are still here. Where are they?”

Constance’s mind was spinning. Was any of this true?

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

At that moment, Eileen came beside Constance.

“All the royal lines have been extinguished, except Willie. Its dynasty lives on through me. I am the heiress to Willie.”

Gasps rippled through the docks, but Vella sniffed.

“You’re lying, Eileen. I’ve known you to always put the town first, even before yourself.”

“What I say is true,” Eileen said. “I am the heir to Willie.”

Vella smiled.

“Alright, but you and I both know that more royals are alive. And they’re here. Tell you what. I’ll give you an ultimatum. For every hour the heirs are withheld, an entire neighborhood will be executed.”

“Why!” Eileen screamed.

“What do you need the heirs for?” Constance demanded. Vella clucked her tongue. She snapped her fingers again, and one of the warships crashed into the docks. Troops of foxes dismounted and began racing onto the docks.

“Let’s see,” Vella mused. “Six neighborhoods. Six hours. I’ll be here.”

Rook James and Tick Hunter, who must have been in the crowd the whole time, pushed past Eileen and Constance and joined Vella on the main warship.

Wasting no time, Eileen and Constance teleported to Toontown Central.

---The Mayoral Vault---

Piggy sat with her compatriots, the fellow heirs to Cartonia, in a state of disbelief. She was too stunned by the crowd around her—Alice, Bradley, *and* Slate were all heirs too!—to tell anyone about what she had discovered in the Bank of Toontown. That her mother was descended not only from Porcinian royalty but the Diary Pig herself.

Mickey was desperately trying to reach someone by phone to learn what was going on in the Docks.

“Rocky!” Mickey exclaimed when he finally got through to Deputy Rocky Shores. “Rocky, it’s Mickey! What’s going on?”

Piggy watched as his face choked in horror. He lowered the receiver and faced the room.

“The foxes are invading by land and sea. The Vixen Queen was here, but she was killed by Blair Fawkes. Blair is the new Vixen Queen.”

Piggy saw her life flash before her eyes. This was it. This was the end. The end of Toontown, the end of all of them.

Hog was dead. Mom was dead. Dad was dead. She was next.

She looked down at her torn, dirty, once glamorous evening gown. It was a stark reminder of how drastically the night had progressed.

“Rocky!” Mickey pressed. “You need to get Hyla Sensitive to safety. She’s at Dr. Tom Foolery’s. Bring her here, please. *Please*.”

He hung up, and the room was quiet.

“Her name is Vella,” Piggy said. Everyone looked at her. “Blair Fawkes is an alias. She’s Vella.”

“She’s the Vixen Queen now,” Bradley muttered.

“Mickey,” Cornelia Caligari, the heir to Equine Island said, “how safe are we here, truly?”

Mickey didn’t answer.

---Toontown Central---

The Playground was in disarray. Toons were running in all directions, trying to find loved ones. Doctor and Eileen emerged near each other, across from the schoolhouse. Doctor saw Constance running toward them.

“Foxes,” Eileen gasped.

“Vixen Queens,” Doctor stated.

They gazed at each other in incredulity. The Cogs were nothing compared to this. Doctor thought that life with the Cogs was the absolute worst, the bottom of the barrel. Turns out the Cogs were just the frying pan, and now they had fallen into the fire.

“What does she want with the heirs?” Constance panted.

“To kill them,” Doctor said hurriedly. “That’s the only thing I can think of. They’re trying to solidify their power up north. If heirs exist down here, then they pose a threat.”

Eileen shook her head.

“How are we going to find the heirs to protect them?”

Doctor grabbed Eileen and Constance’s paws and pulled them toward Toon Hall.

—Mayoral Vault—

Eileen was stunned. Mickey was hurrying through his evidence and Maximilian Walters’ letter, but Eileen was unable to focus. None of this seemed plausible. Royalty was frowned upon in Toontown. Monarchies were antiquated, failed systems of government that led to the outbreak of War. One person holding onto power for an extended period of time was a threat to democracy. Everyone knew this. But this new truth would mean that the founders of Toontown had warped their history and the bedrock of the town’s eventual values in order to protect a long-guarded secret.

The royal families lived on. Their scions were in this room.

Cornelia Caligari, an accountant from Dreamland. Heir to Equine Isle.

Katherine Becker, an author from Melodyland. Heir to Mallardia.

Slate Oldman, her colleague. Heir to Leprolia.

Alice Carver and Bradley Wolfe, newlyweds. Heirs to Simeone and Canis.

Piggy Pie, one of Eileen’s closest friends. Heir to Porcinia.

Hyla Sensitive was missing, but she was the true heir to Willie.

There had been others. An heir to the elephant kingdom of Phantine and the crocodile kingdom of Eusuchia, before their extinctions. No heir to Bovo, Felexa, or Ursus. Nothing for the cows, cats, and bears.

No one in Toontown, except Mickey Elias apparently, knew this secret. Then how did the Cartonians?

“Did you tell anyone?” Eileen asked Mickey. “Did you tell Blair Fawkes or any of the others?”

“Of course not,” Mickey exclaimed.

“Then how…”

“They must have always known,” Mickey sighed. “That’s why they came. The whole time they were lying to us. They were just biding their time to earn our trust. It was all just a masquerade to find the heirs to Cartonia.”

“Jerockle Padraic learned that Mickey was researching genealogy,” Doctor said. “We would often see him at the Library. Jerockle was probably their researcher. He was a librarian, after all. Blair—Vella—probably brought him deliberately to figure out who was royal.”

Alice scoffed.

“It shouldn’t matter if we’re royal. We don’t behave any differently.”

Mickey shook his head.

“Royal blood means a lot to Cartonians. Having just an ounce was enough to set you above others back before the War. That culture is not likely to have changed, especially under the Vixen Queens.”

Constance wrung her paws.

“We don’t know anything about them, really. All the information we have is three decades old.”

“And yet,” Bradley muttered. “They’re just as ruthless as we’ve been told.”

Eileen suddenly wished that the founders were here, that real Cartonians with honest intentions were present to explain and advise. The Cogs were one thing, but with this, Eileen felt completely out of her depth. She didn’t want to be the leader of this. She wanted to turn to someone knowledgeable and follow them to salvation.

“So Jerockle found Mickey’s research, and told Vella?” Cornelia Caligari asked, her arm around one of her grandchildren.

“He did,” Doctor said. “They already know who the heirs are.”

Cornelia buried her face in her son’s shoulder. Piggy pressed her trotters to her face. But Katherine Becker paused.

“How did they know? I thought they weren’t allowed to talk to each other.”

“That’s true!” Alice said. “They were always with their sponsors. They were never left alone. How did they manage to spread all this information to one another? How did they plan the bombing?”

Constance groaned.

“So many questions.”

“Were the foxes waiting beyond the Bay this whole time?” Piggy asked. “Chilling on top of the mountains? How did they know the time to invade was now?”

No one had an answer.

“We need to find out what the Cartonians want with us,” Katherine said bravely. “And we won’t figure that out just sitting here.”

“None of you are leaving!” Mickey yelled. “This is the safest place for you.”

Eventually, Constance and Eileen decided that they would have to negotiate with the Vixen Queen herself. Doctor mentioned the idea of a parley, an old term taken from the Diary of War, to peacefully speak to the Vixen Queen about her intentions. There wasn’t much hope, since she had the power to obliterate everyone. The first hour of her ultimatum was almost half over.

Did Eileen want to board the Vixen Queen’s ship and speak to her? Absolutely not. Did she have much of a choice? Unfortunately, no.

“How long have you known, Mickey?” Constance suddenly asked. “How long did you know about the heirs?”

Mickey was silent. Finally, he spoke.

“I’ve known since I was Mayor.”

Eileen glowered.

“And you didn’t tell…*anyone?”*

Mickey shook his head.

“I didn’t want to. It was too awful of a secret. This was before the Cogs. This was when we were happy. I had completely forgotten about it until the Cartonians arrived. But they were so few, and we were so many. Their arrival compelled me to research and locate the descendants of the original heirs, but I had no idea we would need to protect them so soon. I had every intention of making the letter and the heirs known to the government once I located them…”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Eileen said coldly. “If we had known about this from the start, we would have killed all six Cartonians on the dock.”

“Would we have?”

Alice Carver stepped forward. She looked skeptical. “I don’t think so. We were never battle-ready against Cartonians. We have no weapons, no means of execution.”

Piggy Pie groaned.

“I guess we were right, then. Those six were just the first wave. The ones to test us. The rest came later.”

Eileen hung her head. Toontown was combusting around her, and she was powerless to stop it.

“Did anyone else know?” Bradley asked Mickey. “About the heirs?”

Slate Oldman lifted a hand.

“I suspected my own lineage. But I didn’t necessarily *know*.”

Piggy scratched her forehead.

“My mother knew. She told my dad on her deathbed. He hinted at it to me, but I didn’t understand at the time. My mother is descended from the Diary Pig. Her name was Lana Loudoun.”

The room went quiet. Eileen was blinking dumbly at Piggy. Did she just say the Diary Pig?

“Lana Loudoun?” Slate Oldman repeated, quietly. “How do you know?”

Piggy hurriedly explained what she had uncovered inside her mother’s safety deposit box at the Bank of Toontown.

“Oh, Piggy,” Alice said with a crack in her voice. “I haven’t even told you how sorry I am for the passing of your brother.”

Piggy dropped her head.

“How many survived the blast?” Slate asked.

“Three,” Constance replied at once. “Piggy, Harmony Swell from Melodyland, and Cale Metfin.”

“Where is Cale?” Bradley asked.

“Gag shop on the Docks,” Eileen said. “And with luck, the Cartonians will finish her off.”

Had Cale survived and no foxes were invading, she would have been imprisoned and put on trial. They would have determined the exact cause, reason, and details of the attack. She would have been sentenced to death. The first execution in Toontown.

But no. Foxes were here now. The Vixen Queen was among them. All bets were off.

“Eileen,” Constance said. “We should go.”

As they took their transport holes in their paws, about to jump toward what could be their deaths, Eileen stole a glance at the heirs to Cartonia. They were watching her with blank expressions. They, like her, were incapable of grasping onto even a glimmer of hope.

—Sleet Street—

The Toon Resistance were mounting a final defense. Horace Calves, Tori Dorrance, Mata Hairy, Vidalia VaVoom, and many others dropped dozens of pianos, safes, and big weights to barricade the street from the invading foxes.

But they were climbing over the obstacles with ease, clambering down on the other side knowing that the Toons had nothing more substantial with which to properly defend themselves.

Their largest barricade, with was piled in front of the Sleet Street tunnel, was firmly rooted with over fifty pianos and one hundred safes.

Horace and Tori were tightly gripping each other, but Vidalia stood alone. Her gag pouch was completely empty. She silently willed the barricade to hold. She could hear the marching phalanxes of foxes growing nearer.

Mata stepped forward and plucked one of the lowest keys of the piano.

“I don’t suppose…” she began but she was promptly cut off by the sound of something firing. Vidalia instinctively dove away from the barricade as something on the other side struck it, demolishing the wooden pianos and blasting the safes backward. Vidalia heard the *crunch* of Toons pinned between them. She kicked away, scurrying away with Mata, a bleeding Horace, and screaming Tori.

In the darkened night of the Playground, a couple of Toons came to their aid. But most had already hidden themselves, or were running for their lives.

“His leg,” Vidalia gasped, staring down at the mass that had once been one of Horace’s defining features. The piece of flesh and bone between his knee and foot was half-missing. Blood poured onto the stones.

“We have to get him to a doctor,” Tori cried.

But Vidalia knew how hard it could be to find one at this dark hour.

“Dr. Artery,” Mata growled. “He’ll be there.”

Tori and Horace transported away.

“Will they be safe there?” Vidalia asked Mata, who had already began to run back to Sleet Street.

“Nowhere is safe,” she called back.

—The Docks—

*The Imperial Conqueror* was heavily guarded by fox soldiers. Their uniforms were red and white, shielded with black iron armor. They all held guns. Scary, long guns. Eileen saw them eyeing her and Constance with unbridled hatred as they approached. Sickeningly, the corpse of the previous Vixen Queen still lay on the docks. As if the body was nothing more than a scrap of seaweed strung over the planks. Someone had taken Barbara’s body and head away.

“HALT!”

A soldier near the gangplank aimed her weapon at Eileen and Constance, and they promptly froze.

“We wish to speak to the Vixen Queen,” Eileen said as if she was in a movie. That’s what this felt like. Fiction. Foxes did not exist in Toontown. Vixen Queens did not camp out on large warships in their harbor.

The soldier took their name and “rank.” Constance said “Colonial Governor,” her new position. Eileen just said “Toon.”

After a few agonizing minutes, the soldier returned. He led them up the gangplank and onto the floating monstrosity. They immediately emerged in a narrow hallway outfitted with few luxuries. There was a blank portrait frame on the wall opposite the gangplank entrance, and Eileen suspected that might have held a portrait of the Vixen Queen before she was murdered in cold blood by her own daughter.

Or it was an ugly decoration.

The soldier continued to weave through a series of tight corridors. Some of them were awfully short and Constance even had to duck to get through a few of the doorways. At last, they arrived at a set of double doors. Below them, the flooring had changed from hardened steel to plush red velvet carpet. The soldier pushed open the doors, and Eileen heard a sound escape her mouth.

The chamber was enormous, instantly grand and impossibly cavernous. They must be in the very heart of the ship. The walls were white, and probably marble. And not the fake marble that Toons used since there was no quarry. No, this was *real* marble. Spiked around the room were lavish columns. It felt as if they were in a royal palace, not aboard a ship. The carpet stretched out before them like a runway, all the way to an elevated platform upon which an opulent chair—throne—rested. It was here that the Vixen Queen reclined herself. She was watching them idly as they walked in. The crown atop her head was still caked in her mother’s blood.

“Hi,” she said casually once Eileen and Constance were close enough. She grinned at them, and it reminded Eileen of the smiles she had given when she was still pretending to be Blair Fawkes. It was bizarre to imagine that the fox that had saved Alice and Eileen from death was now this epitome of evil.

“We’re here to parley,” Constance said with confidence. The Vixen Queen cocked her head.

“You have barely twenty minutes to produce the heirs before we start conducting pest control. And you came here…to talk?”

“Yes,” Constance replied. “We want to…”

“Why did you save me?” Eileen blurted. She had to know. Vella looked confused.

“To gain your trust. You would have easily re-imprisoned me after the Deluge had I not made some sort of impression. Now, as it so happens, I like you quite a lot. So it wasn’t too difficult to muster the strength to push that insipid cow off the roof. You would not believe how agonizing it was to toil in those dungeons with her for all that time. She talked about *nothing* except Bovo and babies. Anyway, that’s why I saved you. I needed you to trust me, to let me out of prison. And you did.”

She said it coyly, to tease Eileen for her negligence. “Now, obviously I’m a tad bit cross with you Eileen. You told me you’re the heir to Willie. But you and I both know that this is false. Hyla Sensitive is the heir to Willie. I wish it was you, honestly. You would be an excellent Queen.”

Eileen suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

“Why?”

The Vixen Queen adjusted her crown.

“Your loyalty, Eileen. You would die for this town. You’d die for your friends. You were prepared to die in the Deluge. Unwavering loyalty like that is not ubiquitous. I believe you can be loyal to me, and to Vulpus. And *that* is very valuable.”

“If you know who the heirs are,” Constance spat, “why don’t you find them yourself?”

Vella snorted.

“Don’t you understand, Governor? This is your golden opportunity to show support for your proper Queen. We may have been absent for the past few centuries, but you have always been citizens of the Vulpus Empire.”

Eileen’s stomach turned. She was forced to picture an image of a map of Toontown ensconced in shadow, the umbrage of the Vulpus Empire. Just out of reach, but still watching and waiting.

“Did you know…” Eileen said quietly, “that we were here this whole time?”

Vella sighed.

“No. We assumed everyone died when the Dam burst, including the heirs.”

“How do you know who the heirs are?” Constance asked, crossing her arms.

“Jerockle. He watched Mickey Elias in that back room of the Library. All Jerockle had to do was wait for Mickey to unlock the tiny little padlock keeping his research secure, snag the code, and slip in after Mickey left. We knew the heirs before the Deluge.”

“Do you?” Constance goaded. Vella extended her paws and counted the fingers.

“Cornelia Caligari: Equine Isle. Katherine Becker: Mallardia. Slate Oldman: Leprolia. Alice Carver: Simeone. Bradley Wolfe: Canis. Hyla Sensitive: Willie. Piggy Pie: Porcinia. Did I miss anybody?”

Eileen was shaking. They knew everything.

“I don’t understand,” Eileen muttered. “How did you know before the Deluge? You were in prison! No one had access to you. We never let you all out of our sights…”

Vella was already laughing. Giggling incessantly.

“Oh, I have been *waiting* for you to ask me this! Because I think you always thought you had the upper hand on us, technologically I mean. Granted, we were shocked to find a civilization as sophisticated as this one when we first landed on your docks, but you probably viewed us lowly refugees. You had no idea we were equipped with a tool beyond your comprehension. We had Whisper Chips.”

Eileen and Constance stared. The name had no meaning to them. Vella was standing now, gliding across her throne platform.

“Implanted inside each of our brains is a little chip. It gives us the power to communicate telepathically with one another. You split us up when we first arrived, but we were never alone. We kept ourselves company by a flurry of whispers. We shared information with one another, theorized, planned, plotted, prepared for the day we would inevitably gain your trust.”

Eileen was horrified. Vella was right; they did have an upper hand. Eileen could not even fathom the technology required to link people telepathically.

When the Cartonians first stepped onto the dock all those months ago, when Bossbot Headquarters was collapsing into the sea, they had been staring at the Toons, often in silence. As if trying to communicate without words. They weren’t trying to speak to the Toons telepathically, they were talking to each other. All those distant gazes or pauses before answering were subconscious whispers.

Jerockle had opened Mickey’s research, and whispered his findings to the others. They had schemed to bomb the dinner cruise without anyone knowing. Keeping them separate was meaningless, except they were able to exploit the harsh treatment to curry guilt and spark those petitions for their releases.

But if they had planned the bombing, why were Jerockle and Evelyn dead? Was it truly a suicide mission for half of the Cartonians? Before Eileen could pose this question to the nefarious Queen, she asked one herself.

“How much do you know about your homeland?”

Constance shrugged.

“Cartonia?”

“Ursus. Willie. Your true nationalities. What do you know about them?”

Eileen shook her head.

“Only what we’ve read in the Diary of War.”

Vella sunk back onto her throne.

“I keep hearing about this book. The one you hid from us. Not even Jerockle could acquire a copy. You!”

She barked at the soldier that brought Eileen and Constance in. “Fetch me a copy of the Diary of War.”

The soldier bowed.

“Yes, your Imperial Majesty.”

When Eileen turned to look at him, she saw that Tick Hunter and Rook James were sitting in simple chairs on the side of the room. They were both smiling at Eileen, and both were now wearing simple grey military uniforms. A medal, probably of honor, was pinned to lapel of each. Vella beckoned to them and they approached.

“These are my most loyal allies,” Vella crooned. Tick and Rook bowed dramatically before her. “The ones I trust with my life. Without them, it would have been insurmountable to take this town.”

Tick and Rook were smug, an expression that fit better on their faces than the softer countenances they pretended to adopt. She could see now that the trio was evil, wicked, and unkind.

Yet, Eileen did not necessarily feel in danger before Vella. Despite her station as Vixen Queen, paramount of evil, she was still Blair Fawkes. The one who had saved Eileen’s life. She had done that for a reason, and had just espoused her admiration for Eileen’s loyalty. She had to change her strategy, and adapt as they had done. She must ensure that the Vixen Queen continued to see value in her, or else she would die and could not protect Toontown from its doom. She wished she had a Whisper Chip so she could feed this strategy to Constance, but that was impossible.

“What about the others?” Constance asked. Her tone was still angry. Maybe Vella saw value in her as well, or else she wouldn’t have named her Colonial Governor.

Vella twisted her wrist.

“Cale and Evelyn were expendable. They were filthy BioFreaks. A necessity, unfortunately. We needed them to parse the waves and dissipate the monstrous hurricanes on the eastern shores of the continent in order to get this far south. Something you don’t know about them is that they were both criminals. Cale and Evelyn were plotting against the Crown. They were given a second chance to prove themselves if they joined us on this expedition, and they played their parts marvelously.”

“But they were always going to die on that ship,” Tick said deliciously.

*They don’t know*, Eileen thought suddenly. They thought that Cale was dead, along with her sister. The Vixen Queen lacked that one piece of crucial information. Cale was alive in the gag shop, unless the foxes had found her. Eileen stayed quiet.

“Criminals?” Constance asked. “Cale and Evelyn were criminals?”

“Traitors, more like it,” Rook spat. “Their affliction was their punishment, and their deaths were our justice.”

Their affliction? The Diary of War had made it clear that all BioFreaks were created during the War by gruesome experiments carried out by the Kingdom of Cervidium. The deer, like Tick, were wicked in their pursuit for biological purity. Was Vella implying that Cale and Evelyn were recently-created BioFreaks?

“Jerockle,” Vella mused, “was another ally of ours. But he was weak-willed. He had not the stomach for the invasion. What he told you about his occupation is true. He was a librarian, and a historian. He specialized in royal genealogy. That’s why we brought him here. We assumed we’d find a relatively small community with technological capabilities but nothing on this level with your high population. We estimated it would take only a few weeks for Jerockle to discover the current heirs; all he would have to do is ask questions to the locals.”

“We assumed,” Rook picked up where Vella left off, “that anyone would be enthralled to be named as a long-lost heir to Cartonia. We did not expect the vitriol this town bears toward its ancestral homeland.”

“Yeah, what the hell is that about?” Tick glowered. “Ungrateful…”

“Ten minutes,” Vella said, tapping her wrist as if there was a watch there. “You have ten minutes to produce the heirs. As much as I’d love to continue to talk about all the ways we duped you, and how effortlessly we carried out our subterfuge, I will not be distracted from my true purpose for coming here.”

“To become the Vixen Queen?” Constance scowled. Eileen wanted to slap her. She had to stop the attitude if she wanted to live!

“That,” Vella snapped, “was a byproduct of our mission. We came for the heirs. Mother did not recognize their value, but I do. She just wanted the living space. I want peace in Cartonia!”

Eileen’s eyebrows fell. Peace?

“How are the heirs to bring peace?”

Vella squirmed in her throne and sighed.

“A rebellion has started to fester in Cartonia, fueled by those who wish to restore the Cartonian monarchies. A non-entity at first, it has begun to gain ground. My predecessors, Mother included, failed to stamp out the resistance. Even though the former Kingdoms have been wholly incorporated into the flourishing Empire, some have called for home-rule once again. Autonomy, I suppose. On some level, I understand this. I would hate to be ruled by another species, but then again all species are inferior to the foxes.”

Tick and Rook didn’t even blink. They believed that.

“The rebellion leaders insisted that the old monarchies be restored to the proper dynast, essentially since the Vulpus monarchs abolished the old monarchies, it is our responsibility to find each house’s current head. This is…tricky since certain evidence has led to widespread belief that the heirs to the old Kingdoms fled over the Vixen Cliffs near the War’s end and died.”

Eileen’s heart was beating fast. Vella was giving them way more information than she expected. Worse, she was confirming what Mickey had found. The heirs had indeed been a part of the original expedition to Toontown. They had been the heart of it.

“No one has ever been able to prove that the heirs had survived the destruction of the Dam. The carnage of the aftermath was…extensive. Most of the bodies were skeletons by the time we were able to get over the ruined Dam. The continent was searched over the centuries, especially as Vulpus pushed south all the way to the ocean. Or at least, what we thought was the ocean.”

*Lake Liberty*. A vast body of water just beyond the Unforgiving Mountains. When the original settlers stumbled upon its shores, they thought they had reached the end of the continent. But the land was unfit for settlement, and so they walked eastward, hoping to find a place to erect a new home. They discovered that though the sea was enormous, it was not an ocean. It was a lake. They followed the eastern bank to the Kinnar Mountains and the glacier, south of which was the site for Toontown. But clearly the foxes had not explored as far. They hit the water and thought they hit the ocean. Toontown was protected by that error.

Until now.

“Rumors prevailed, obviously. Spooky stories to tell others. There was even a movie about it. Did anyone survive the Dam’s destruction? Was there a secret colony south of Cartonia? I thought it was all hogwash, and we were in the process of tracking down the heirs in Cartonia, when we discovered a strange signal from the ocean. What we *thought* was the ocean. Right around here.”

Eileen felt herself go rigid. A signal? Who signaled?

“What?” Constance blurted.

“The University of Cervidium, about three years ago, received an access application from someone named Adam Molecule. He wanted to use the library.”

Constance and Eileen both gasped. Eileen’s throat clogged, and she couldn’t breathe.

It was Dr. Molecule. It was him *again*. He was the reason the Cogs had come to Toontown, and destroyed her family. Now he was the reason the foxes had invaded, and brought with them the Vixen Queen. One duck, a child with a laff deficiency, had opened the gates of hell and invited perdition into paradise.

Vella was still talking, explaining how the signal was overlooked for years, but she had understood the implications and arranged the expedition south. Obviously, everything the group had said in their television interview with Declan Antlin was false. Fabricated lies, invented on the spot via the invisible Whispers, to mislead the Toons. To get them to trust them.

Eileen could only think about Dr. Molecule. She imagined his dead face, eroded by the current of Chipper Acres, his heart carved out. He had not appeared to be evil incarnate when she stumbled upon his corpse. She had never met him. Her life this past year and the few months before Exodus had been devoted to avenging her family and purging Toontown of the greatest depravity ever seen, because of him. Their victory last November in Bossbot Headquarters was overshadowed by the arrival of the Cartonians, basically invited here because of him. Now the foxes had invaded Toontown and were willing to kill everyone, because of him.

The Cogs. Clarabelle. Something needed clarity.

“Why did you align with Clarabelle? Why did you go with the Cogs when they came for her? Why did you fight them in the Deluge?”

Vella inclined her head and sniffed.

“Clarabelle was insipid and absolutely stupid. When we were imprisoned alongside each other, all she did was speak of Bovo and her desire to procreate. She was useless to me from the start. It was apparent that the entire town hated her, and for good reason. Her betrayal was monstrous. A crime like that would not result in incarceration in Vulpus. She would have been immediately executed.”

Eileen didn’t blink. Sometimes she thought the same thing. Toontown was too nice, too forgiving. Dr. Molecule, Clarabelle, and the Cartonians had perpetrated evil. Why should their lives go on?

“The part about Clarabelle that *did* interest me was her relationship to the Cogs. We knew from the start that this Cog Nation was a far worse threat to Vulpus than we could have imagined. I understand their intention was to venture to Cartonia, and I fear we would not have been able to stop their conquest. It is a new kind of adversary, one which your town seemed apt to fight, but not us. It became imperative that we aided you in your quest to destroy the Cogs. At whatever cost. The others whispered to me everything they could learn about the Cogs, and I befriended Clarabelle. I promised her that I would accompany her to Bovo once the Cogs established contact. Once the Cogs came for her, she insisted they take me as well, as their compass back to the Kingdoms. In Lawbot Headquarters, I saw that Clarabelle was truly unhinged, and that if left in charge of Cog Nation, it would surely be driven to ruin.”

Constance smirked.

“At the Deluge, I saw the Cogs’ days were numbered, but I knew that Clarabelle wanted to kill you, Eileen. I ensured it did not happen. Clarabelle needed to die along with Cog Nation. Vulpus could easily conquer Toontown, but it would have been far more challenging to subjugate the Cogs.”

Eileen was silent. Had the battle against the Cogs raged longer, the Cartonians could have been kept at bay. But that was an idiotic thought at this stage. They had always had their plans, and they would have used the ensuing months to gain even more trust among the Toons. Toontown’s fate was sealed the moment Dr. Molecule sent his application to Cervidium.

“Five minutes,” Vella crooned. “Are you going to give me the heirs or not? I didn’t think you’d willingly condemn an entire neighborhood to death, Eileen. Shall I begin with the Gardens, your own home?”

“We’ll give you the heirs,” Eileen stated quickly. She knew there was no choice. She knew Alice, Bradley, Hyla, Slate, and Piggy were fighters. Cornelia and Katherine were members of the Resistance too. Not prominently, but still strong. “Once you tell us exactly what you’re going to use them for.”

Vella nodded.

“Fair enough. We intend to take the seven heirs north to the Kingdoms. They will be installed as lesser monarchs, still subservient to the Vulpine throne, but leaders of their devolved communities. I have no reason to harm them, as they will be a gift to the people, from their new Vixen Queen.”

Eileen pondered this. It made sense, but she didn’t believe her. The Vixen Queen had lied to them for months. Why stop now? The thought of the Gardens population being massacred quickly compelled her to accept the conditions of the deal.

“If the heirs are going to follow you north, they won’t want to abandon their families. Can they come too?”

Vella rolled her eyes.

“We’re not dragging your whole town with us. I’ll allow one additional passenger per heir. No more.”

“But…”

“Ah,” Vella grinned. “Time is almost up. My soldiers are going to start killing soon.”

Eileen bit her lip, hard. They had mere minutes left with the Queen. And she still had so much she wanted to say and ask. A few questions were lingering on the edge of her mind.

“Why did you change your name?” she asked. “Why did you tell us you were called Blair Fawkes?”

Vella smiled.

“Well, I didn’t intend to. It was a last-minute decision. We noticed how hostile you were to us, and how aggressively you reacted toward me. It was a precaution. How would you have handled me if I said I was Vella Vixen?”

Eileen did not respond. They would have killed her. Instantly.

“She communicated her alias to us,” Tick said proudly, gazing at his Queen, “via the Whisper Chips. She asked if any of us wanted to change ours, but in the end we didn’t.”

“Where did you get your gun?” Constance asked, which Eileen was wondering too. Vella had placed it on the armrest of her throne. She twiddled it around in her fingers.

“The *Chipper* had many hidden holes and vaults. It was actually a top-of-the-line vessel. We dressed it down and then it got battered by the storms. Once you let us back aboard to plan the cruises, I retrieved this.”

“And how did you do it?” Eileen asked, aware that time was ticking down to zero. “How did that ship explode? We searched it.”

Rook began laughing. Tick snickered too. Vella ignored them.

“We needed an exit plan,” she said. “A fail-safe in case any harm befell us in this unknown settlement. We thought we would have to activate it after you transported us for the first time.”

She shivered, remembering the vacuum of the transport holes.

“Ultimately, we waited. We bided our time. And it paid off. That ship was built specifically for this mission. During construction, we buried in the walls, in the floors, beneath the decks and behind the propellers, a network of explosives. Activated by a telepathic command from one of the Whisper Chips. A command only I could utter.”

Eileen was rigid. They were absolutely outmatched. Toons lacked the capability to rig such a device. This whole time, these past five months, the Cartonians had indeed just been waiting until the right moment to strike. They even managed to shepherd Toons into a trap. Had the ship merely exploded in port, maybe a maximum of a hundred Toons would have been hurt or injured.

Instead, over two hundred lay dead.

“Let me guess,” Constance said. “You communicated with the Armada through the Whisper Chips as well. How long have they been waiting beyond the crags?”

Vella shook her head.

“No. I told my mother that we needed a few months alone here. My command was that if we were not back by mid-February to send a convoy. We received Whispers from beyond the crags at the beginning of March. The invasion was planned from there.”

Eileen saw Tick check his watch. She quickly interjected one final inquiry.

“What was that music? Right before the ship exploded, we heard music on the Bay.”

Vella grinned, splaying her wicked teeth.

“The Vulpus Ballad of War.”

“War!” Constance exclaimed.

“Time!” Tick cried triumphantly. Vella clapped her paws.

“Ah, yes. Well, it was a pleasure speaking to you. But unless you want to witness a massacre, I suggest you return to the Mayoral Vault and retrieve the heirs to Cartonia.”

Eileen’s eyes widened.

“How did you know where…”

“Oh, for the love of Vixen, Eileen! Did you really think we’d just leave Piggy Pie to wander away from the Speedway without fixating a tracking device to her? This whole time we’ve been talking, and my troops have already found them.”

—Toontown Central—

Eileen knew time was running out. She and Constance teleported away immediately, and emerged inside the Mayoral Vault. The sound of drilling against the metal door greeted their ears. Mickey was leading the heirs in stacking everything inside the Vault against the door.

“The hour is over,” Constance panted. “We have to give you to the Vixen Queen.”

Cornelia Caligari’s husband threw himself in front of his wife.

“No!”

“What did you talk about?” Alice asked.

“How did they find us?” Slate cried.

Eileen focused on Slate’s question, and hurried to Piggy Pie. Ignoring her protestations, Eileen began picking at Piggy’s skin. She looked down her shirt and in her shoes, and finally in her ears.

A small little black dot was pressed against the cavity. She scratched it out and crushed it with her foot.

“They tracked you,” Eileen said sadly to Piggy. “They used you to lead them to the heirs.”

Eileen turned to the group.

“They already know about all of you! They know your names, that each of you is an heir. They want you to return to Cartonia and ascend the thrones to quell a rebellion. The people of Cartonia want home rule, but they also want their old monarchies restored to the exact dynast that would have been on the throne had it never been abolished.”

Cornelia gaped.

“What…leave Toontown? Forever?”

“Just a year…”

The Vault door clanged, and the drilling noise intensified.

“We have to go,” Mickey said desperately. “We have to move somewhere else.”

“Mickey,” Eileen pleaded, “if they stay here the entire town will die.”

“She’s right,” Piggy said. “My family is out there, and they’re not safe if we put this off. We have to go to the Vixen Queen.”

“My daughter…” Katherine began earnestly, but her daughter placated Katherine with a subtle squeeze of her paw.

“We’ll be fine,” Henry Yorcaster said to his wife. Katherine relented.

“What exactly did the Vixen Queen say?” Cornelia asked, still not convinced. Eileen quickly summarized the conversation, and warned that even though this is the best course of action, she only had Vella’s word that they would remain safe.

“Right,” Cornelia said. “Well. I guess we have a meeting with the Queen.”

Doctor shook his head.

“There’s no guarantee the foxes won’t slaughter all of Toontown once the heirs have gone north.”

Eileen shrugged.

“No. There’s not. I don’t see another way out.”

Dragging everything away from the Vault door, the Toons allowed the foxes to receive them.

—Silly Street—

Kilo heard screaming from the street, and tightened his grip on Hyla. The triplets were in their bassinets, and Dr. Foolery was trying to keep them calm. One of them, Samara, had not stopped crying.

Dr. Foolery had closed all the windows and shutters, but the heavy footsteps of fox soldiers was unmistakeable to the ears. They were murdering Toons. Kilo could almost feel the dead souls swirling through the ether.

The door burst open, demolishing the haphazard barricade Kilo and Foolery had quickly erected. Seven burly foxes with malice in their eyes approached them. The one in front lifted a square piece of paper—a photograph—and studied their faces.

“Found her,” he sneered. The other six pulled Hyla from the bed. She kicked and screamed and tried to get back to Kilo, but he was held in place by the seventh. The other two babies started crying, and Foolery shielded them from the foxes.

“Kilo!” Hyla shrieked. “Protect them! Don’t follow me! Stay here, and protect them!”

She was pulled through the door and out of sight.

—The Docks—

Cale Metfin had escaped.

She was surprised by her luck, to be completely honest. She was manacled to a post in the gag shop and left alone as the Vulpus Armada barreled into port. The Deputies had fled. But as the foxes began to spread out and conquer, doing what foxes do best, one had come into the shop. There was not necessarily recognition on his face, but perhaps he was surprised to find someone in chains in the first building he searched.

Cale saw no other choice, seeing as she would either die at Vella’s hands (it was so good to not have to call her Blair anymore) or at the Toons’.

She blasted the soldier with water, spraying him with the byproduct of her affliction. He was caught off guard and fell to the ground. She continued to deluge him with water until he drowned. She then used the water to wash his gun over to her. Sliding to the ground, she stuck the pistol between her flippers, turned the barrel around to face the chain, squeezed her eyes shut, and fired.

The gun recoiled in her hand, and pinched her flippers, but the chain snapped and she was free.

She raced upstairs and flooded the lock of the storeroom with water until she could gain access. No one was up here, thankfully, but she wasn’t going to just sit and hide until the foxes left. Toontown was doomed anyway. They always had been, from the moment their signal was discovered by the deer. If not for that, they probably would have eluded the foxes forever.

No, she had to get back to Cartonia. With or without Evelyn, she had a job to do. And there was only one ticket back to Cartonia: *The Imperial Conqueror* and its fleet.

Cale opened the window facing docks, and clambered out onto the awning. Pushing all of her energy into her feet, she leapt from the second floor and dove into the Bay.

The water was warm, and at once she was reminded of the explosion of the *Chipper*. Just last night, she had lost her sister. Jerockle too, but his allegiances were questionable. Up until those final moments, when it was apparent that he had no idea that Blair, Tick, and Rook had betrayed them.

From underwater, Cale could see the multitude of Vulpus ships. They were everywhere, moored so close together that only a slight wave could cause a collision. Cale counted at least three dozen, but stopped to focus on what that meant.

When she left Cartonia as a prisoner on Vella’s ship, forced under duress to comply with her plan to discover the southern settlement, there had been only one way to part the horrible hurricanes on the eastern shores of the continent. Using BioFreaks that had the ability to control water.

The problem was, there were no BioFreaks that could control water. At first, BioFreaks were unwanted failures from other Cervidian experiments that aimed to find immortality, eternal youth, unending virility, enhanced fertility, and so on. The afflictions were not closely studied, as the deer just branded these poor victims as BioFreaks and told society to detest them.

Until the Southern Sunset propaganda began. That was when the foxes, having conquered the entirety of Cartonia, decided that they wanted to go over the Vixen Cliffs and pushed south, conquering the rest of the continent. What had once been savage wastelands were now unclaimed lands ripe for picking.

The Southern Sunset zeitgeist caused a furor in Vulpus. Foxes believed it was their birthright to rule from the Pinnacle Ice Sheet in the north to the ocean in the south. But getting over the Vixen Cliffs was no easy feat. They were impossibly high, and sheer like glass. One person climbing down was a labor in itself, but enough foxes to conquer settlements? Unlikely.

That was when the Vixen Queen turned to the eastern waters. The Western Ocean and the Gulf of Cartoon was riddled with rocks and crags. Sea travel was unsafe, and too unlikely. But if BioFreaks could be utilized to part the waters of the Eastern Ocean, and sail through Hurricane Haven, then the Southern Sunset could be attained.

Experiments on Cartonians began shortly thereafter, with the deer trying to purposefully create BioFreaks. The results were disastrous, and nearly every subject died. Those that survived were permanently mutilated.

Which was why, last summer, when Evelyn, Des Quin, and Cale were arrested and taken to Cervidium, Cale thought she was going to die. Des ultimately did, but Evelyn and Cale somehow survived the experiment.

They were BioFreaks, and they were vital.

But they were the only two at the time. Enough for one ship to pass through Hurricane Haven. Now, seeing the size of this fleet, Cale knew that the deer had been very busy, and just as successful.

Cale knew the heirs would sail on *The Imperial Conqueror*; Vella would want to keep her enemies close. Cale swam up to the ship and began to search for its emergency hatch.

—*The Imperial Conqueror—*

Piggy Pie felt like she was in a dream. The opulence of this throne room aboard the largest ship was unmatched. Toontown had always built modest architecture, and the Cogs had been grander but darker still. This was something else entirely. Gold trim wrapped around the ceiling, the floors a blinding shine.

The Vixen Queen was on her throne, smiling at them. She was looking at each heir in turn, sizing them up. Cornelia and Katherine were huddled with their families. Hyla, despite just giving birth, was alone. Not even Kilo was here.

Piggy realized that she herself was without her brothers. Doctor was standing beside her, but only because he had been in the Vault. She hadn’t said goodbye to her brothers. They were still mourning Hog’s death, without her.

She noticed that Vella was grinning at her, her gaze lingering. Piggy looked away.

“Here’s the plan,” Vella said finally. “We will set sail for Cartonia tonight with you as our special passengers. You will be housed in suitable chambers and provided with all the luxuries of royalty. Once we arrive in Vulpus, you will each be presented on live television as the long-lost heirs to seven of the Kingdoms. This will fulfill a promise the Empire made to honor the peoples’ wish for home rule. Each of you will then take up the throne of your Kingdom.”

“I don’t want it,” Piggy blurted. “I want to stay here with my family.”

Vella nodded, as if she understood that.

“This may seem shocking to you. I believe that you only just learned of your proper station. The people of Cartonia want only to see that their royal lines live on. If after one year, you decide that you do not wish to remain as monarch, then I will permit you to abdicate to either your next of kin or another member of the royal family and return to Toontown. After all, this is part of the Empire. Travel is unrestricted. This is all to promote political stability.”

“What about the other Kingdoms?” Slate asked. “Felexa, Ursus, Bovo, Eusuchia…”

“Those heirs will be located once we return. It shouldn’t take long, since we have infinite resources up north compared to down here.”

“How can we trust you?” Slate asked bravely, “after what you did to our people?”

Vella laughed once.

“You cannot. But I have no qualms eradicating the population of your town should you refuse to come with us.”

Piggy hated her, more than she ever hated the Cogs. Tick and Rook were off to the side, watching her speak as if she were a god. But she was made of flesh and bone, and if given the opportunity, Piggy would kill her.

“What about our families?” Cornelia asked. “Eileen said we could bring…”

“I made it clear to Eileen and the Colonial Governor,” Vella hissed, “that we do not have infinite space on our ships. Each heir may bring *one* person with them. One. Consider it a gift.”

Piggy doubted that there wasn’t enough space on these ships. But already she knew she couldn’t bring any of her brothers. The four that were still alive were too close to each other, and though they had displayed bravery in the Deluge, they were not equipped to go to Cartonia. Besides, how could she choose one over the others?

The Toons began to talk to each other, deciding who they wanted to bring. For Piggy, the choice was easy. She asked Doctor and he immediately accepted.

“I want to go,” Eileen said. “Can one of you make me your guest?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Alice said. “Eileen’s with me.”

“Katherine,” Slate said, “if you choose your husband as your guest, I can make Mary mine. That way your family won’t be split up.”

“Slate,” Katherine gasped. “That…would be wonderful. Thank you.”

“You’re coming with me,” Bradley said to Mickey. “You did all that research, and got us all together. Are you up for it?”

The former Mayor silently nodded.

Cornelia was crying as she attempted to figure out what to do. She had four grown children, and nine grandchildren. All of them were with her now. The children finally managed to convince her to take her husband, and the children and grandchildren would stay in Toontown.

“Constance,” Hyla said. “I can’t take Kilo. He has to look after the kids. Do you want to go with us?”

“I can’t,” Constance sighed. “I’m the Colonial Governor. I have to stay here for the town.”

“You should take Mata,” Alice whispered. “She’ll put the fear of god in the foxes.”

Hyla agreed.

Everyone wrote down the names and addresses of their family members and gave it to Constance so she could look after them. A few also wrote farewell notes. Piggy wondered what her brothers would think when they heard that their sister was the Queen of Porcinia and sailing north to take her rightful throne. They’d think it was balderdash.

“Take their transport holes,” Vella ordered. The seven heirs plus their six guests (Mata was not aboard) willingly handed over their transports. Piggy’s had already been taken, and she glowered at Vella for that.

“When do we set sail?” Eileen asked.

“Immediately,” Vella replied. “Colonial Governor, would you please fetch the final guest? Mata, her name was?”

“I will,” Constance said, and turned to leave.

“Oh, Governor,” Vella teased, “before you leave. May I introduce your Commandant?”

Constance swiveled.

“My what?”

“Your Commandant,” Tick Hunter said forcefully. He snapped at one of the foxes, and he approached Constance.

“This is Hans Einfach. He will be the Commandant of Toontown, serving in tandem with you to ensure peace. I’m sure the two of you will get along famously.”

Piggy Pie doubted that, and could see the look of contempt on Constance’s face. It was a clear sign that even though Constance held the Governorship, the power rested with the foxes and the Vixen Queen.

“How is this whole fleet going to get through the hurricanes?” Mickey asked the Vixen Queen, addressing her for the first time.

“We have a whole ship of BioFreaks chained to part the storms in Hurricane Haven,” Vella said nonchalantly. Slate tightened his fists.

—

No one was allowed to say goodbye to anyone not already on the ship. Cornelia had the longest, and most heartfelt farewell. There was a finality to their set-sail, as if they would never return. And Eileen supposed that once these ships had cleared the broken crags, there would be no going back. The Toontown they knew was dead forever. Life as they knew it was over.

Piggy was heartbroken to not be allowed to say goodbye to her brothers. She ended up writing a note for Constance to deliver. Eileen, of course, had no one.

Mata Hairy readily agreed to accompany Hyla Sensitive north. In the end, Hyla and Alice swapped guests so that Eileen could go with Hyla to Willie, and Mata could go with Alice to Simeone.

There was a part of Eileen, deep down, that was excited about the idea of seeing Willie. It was nominally her homeland, the place from which her ancestors derived. Minerva Taylor, the Royal Historian of Willie and one of the founders of Toontown, was a personal hero for Eileen. She had walked through fire and emerged unscathed on the other end. She had been a chief proponent in establishing the Toon Council, and served as the Councillor for Toontown Central for a decade.

The one person Eileen hugged in farewell was Constance, whose duty as the Colonial Governor was certainly one Eileen would never want. And that Commandant…they would assuredly be butting heads in no time.

The Vixen Queen wasted no time. She ordered all the extra individuals off the ship, out of her throne room.

Until just the fourteen remained.

Seven heirs, seven guests.

—The Docks—-

-Four Hours Later-

Hans Einfach, whose surname sounded like a cough, brought with him a garrison of over two thousand foxes sent to ensure the peace. If it was only a matter of numbers, the Toons were far more numerous. Just about 10,000 Toons lived in Toontown. They could easily overpower the invaders, if not for their weapons.

The foxes were armed to the teeth, and the Toons had nothing but pies and water pistols.

“Constant,” Hans said with an accent. Not the lavish posh accent of the six Cartonians, but a more guttural voice.

“Constance,” she corrected.

“I am in charge here,” he scowled. “Make no mistake. Your position is ersatz.”

“Thank you,” Constance said.

“Follow all of my orders, or else you will never see this town become a jewel in the crown of the Vulpus Empire.”

“Got it.”

Half of the Armada’s ships, the ones not being kept in the new colony, the ones containing the heirs and Constance’s friends, were now departing. The “immediate” departure the Vixen Queen had ordered turned out to take a bit longer. They had to unload a ton of supplies, all coordinated by Hans Einfach.

There were hardly any Toons around, most sent into hiding. There had been no communication about the heirs or the Vixen Queen’s commands. Very few knew that Eileen, Mickey, and other public figures were sailing north for Cartonia. Constance wondered how the Commandant would want that information shared. She certainly couldn’t just ask Declan to make an announcement. Everything from here on out would have to be carefully coordinated to prevent the Commandant exacting revenge on the colony. The Queen herself had said everyone here was expendable, and the foxes only wanted the land. The Toons would have to prove themselves valuable to the Empire. Constance had no idea how.

Her mind started to spin with ideas of how to keep the Commandant happy until the Toons could assemble a resistance strong enough to run the foxes out of town.

—*The Imperial Conqueror—*

*The Imperial Conqueror* led the fleet, gliding across the water and the ruins of the *Chipper* toward the edge of the Bay of Toontown. Eileen and the others were on deck, watching as their home slipped away in the growing darkness. The lights of the Docks seemed dimmer than ever. Was that because they actually were, or was it subconscious? As if Eileen knew that the lights were going out over Toontown.

As Toontown grew fainter, and the waves got choppier, and Eileen went further than she ever had in the Bay, she believed—she knew—she would never see her home again.

—

Alice and Bradley held themselves close as the wind sliced across them. The ships behind *The Imperial Conqueror* looked to be chasing them. A reminder that they were surrounded. Alice had exactly thirteen allies on this ship, in all of Cartonia.

She did not want to be Queen of Simeone. She had every intention of doing her one year then leaving and returning with Bradley.

But what would they be returning to?

The ship sailed through the ruined crags, and Alice knew they were officially beyond Toontown’s borders.

Northward bound.

—The Docks—

When the Commandant began giving orders to his troops, Constance slipped away and entered the gag shop. The door was partially blocked by a dead fox, pooled in water. Constance jumped back at the sight of his waterlogged eyes. A piece of a chain lay on the ground near the shop’s central column.

Cale Metfin was gone.

—*The Imperial Conqueror—*

By midnight, the ships had cleared the crags and were heading for open seas. A passing sailor said that they would be in Cartonia in less than 5 days. The final leg of the voyage would be navigating the strait connecting the Eastern Ocean to Vista, Vulpus. The capital of the Vulpus Empire. Though *The Imperial Conqueror* was the supposed lead ship of the journey, it had been surpassed by a smaller ship, which contained the BioFreaks. They would be needed to part the storms in Hurricane Haven.

The Toons had free rein of the ship. They were allowed to go anywhere, including the throne room. The two places off limits were the Vixen Queen’s chambers, occupying an entire deck, and the bridge. The Toons had no desire to see Vella, and they kept their distance. Each Toon was given an elegant cabin. Piggy’s even had a verandah.

But she felt stuffed in there, trapped and encaged. After finally changing out of her tattered evening gown, she and Doctor went up to the stern to watch the ocean roll by.

Piggy Pie had never seen the ocean before. The Bay was enclosed, and there was nothing to see. The fishing boats went out to the crags, but never beyond.

There was nothing in sight. Just water. The horizon, in the distance, like the edge of the earth. What was south of Toontown? No one knew.

She would not find out on this journey. They were heading north.

“Psst!”

A hiss, from the shadows. Piggy glanced at Doctor.

“Did you hear…?”

A flipper extended from the shadow and beckoned. It was green.

“Oh, I don’t like that,” Doctor muttered.

Piggy stood and peered into the blackness. A pair of eyes was gleaming at her. The flipper beckoned again.

“Who are you?” Piggy asked.

“Cale.”

Piggy gasped. Doctor’s features turned into a scowl. Sure enough, Cale Metfin stuck her head into the moonlight.

“We need to talk,” she whispered.

“To hell with you,” Piggy spat. “You killed my brother.”

The gravity of the statement caught up with her, and she began to tear up. Cale vehemently shook her head.

“We didn’t know. I promise you. Evelyn, Jerockle, and I didn’t know. I lost my sister today too. We thought the plan was to find the heirs and encourage them diplomatically to return with the foxes. We didn’t imagine…”

She stopped herself and shuddered. Piggy and Doctor were now standing with her in the shadows.

“What has the Queen told you? About what she wants to do with the heirs?”

Piggy recounted their parley with the Queen, and how she wanted to use the heirs to prevent rebellion.

“That’s true,” Cale said. “But she lied. Of course she lied. She wants the heirs to quell the rebellion by removing their hope. The seven heirs are some of the final shreds the Free have left.”

“Can she hear us?” Doctor asked. “Through your Whisper Chip?”

Cale shook her head.

“They don’t work like that. She can only hear my Whispers. But I haven’t whispered to her at all. She doesn’t know I survived.”

“Who are the Free?” Piggy asked.

“Listen,” Cale hissed urgently. “Evelyn and I were prisoners, forced to come here with Vella. We thought the plan was simply to find the heirs. The bombing…we didn’t know. I’m sorry that I lied to you. I’m sorry that Evelyn and I had to act innocent and pretended to befriend you. We do like you. We do not wish you harm. The acting was part of our own plan, the one we shielded from Vella, Tick, and Rook. We knew that the Vixen Queen wanted the heirs to be killed, not enthroned.”

“*What!”*

“Shhh! Piggy, please. You can’t trust the Vixen Queen, or any of the foxes. They mean to kill you once you’re in Vista. Live, on television, in front of everyone. To show the rebels that there is no hope. That there is only one true monarch: the Vixen Queen. But Evelyn and I were never going to let that happen. We have our own plan. The Free is going to save you.”

“Cale…”

“The Free…?”

“Hush,” Cale said calmly. “It may be bleak, but this will work. Our plan. The *true* plan. The righteous one. We will liberate you from this trap, with the hope that you will liberate us from our despair.”

Piggy was incredulous.

“I’m so confused…”

“I promise, everything will be clear,” Cale said. She smiled. “You just have to trust me.”

—West Terrier, Canis—

-Three Centuries Ago-

Bentley Connelly, the King of Canis, was standing before a tall window in the uppermost tower of Highland Castle, the home of the Canisian Royal Family. He was watching, sadly, as the Vulpine troops breached the West Terrier city gates. The capital had long been evacuated, but Bentley had remained. As King of Canis, he believed his place was with the seat of government. He refused to run, not when he was seen around the Kingdoms as the vanguard of the quickly-collapsing Granite Bloc alliance.

Hamish McRory, the King’s valet, had stopped in the doorway upon entering. The King looked so calm, so regal, despite the forces of the Summer Sun being moments away. Bentley had even ordered the guards of the castle to stand by and let the invading troops inside. It was unknown what the Vixen Queen would do to him once Canis fell. Some monarchs had been forced to abdicate. Others had been murdered.

The way that Bentley stood at the window, his hands clasped at the small of his back, dressed in full royal regalia, Hamish thought he looked as if he was prepared to die. Indeed, the King had done everything in his power to halt the unstoppable Summer Sun alliance and its nefarious leader, the Vixen Queen. There was nothing more that could be done. Most of the Kingdoms in the Granite Bloc had fallen. Canis was one of the few left standing. Victoria Vixen, the love of Bentley’s life, was years dead. His parents were gone too. And now Thumper, his only sibling, was heading south. It had been days since their emotional parting, and the King was anxious for news.

“Your Majesty?”

Bentley turned. His face was wrought with sorrow. When he saw Hamish, he flinched the edges of his cheeks in what could have been a smile. When the evacuation order was given for the citizens of West Terrier, Bentley had begged Hamish to flee, but the valet had refused. He was one of the few members of the staff that had insisted on staying to support his King.

“Yes, Hamish?”

Hamish lifted his paw.

“A wireless telegram was just sent to the palace. Encrypted news from the Vixen Cliffs.”

Bentley swallowed. Hamish did not wait another second.

“The Vixen Queen is dead.”

The King’s eyes widened.

“*What?*”

“They escaped,” Hamish gasped. “They destroyed the Dam, and they escaped. Not all of them, apparently. But half. Or most. The Queen went to stop them, and she died in the flood.”

Bentley lowered himself into a chair. Outside, the soldiers reached the palace gates. As per his orders, the guards opened them.

“Half…? How do you know?”

“This telegram came from Diana Loudoun. She survived, but did not escape. She’s on the run. Your Majesty, *they escaped!*”

Bentley took the telegram and read it over. Now, he smiled properly.

“Thank you,” Bentley muttered, “for telling me. What about the reservoir?”

“Emptied. The foxes have no drinking water.”

The Vulpine troops were inside the palace. Hamish could hear them downstairs. He quickly shut the door.

“If they cleared the Cliffs,” Hamish said to the King, “are they free?”

Bentley gazed longingly out the window.

“Yes,” he mused. “They are free.”

Hamish frowned.

“Sir…do you think you’ll ever see your brother again?”

Under some crowns, the question would be impertinent. But as the Granite Bloc crumbled around them, Hamish and the King had grown close. Hamish imagined he might be the closest the King had to a friend nowadays.

“I don’t think so,” Bentley said, aware that the foxes were on the stairs up to the tower. “I doubt any of them would ever return here.”

“There’s no more Vixen Queen,” Hamish said quickly. “They might never be found.”

Bentley smirked.

“There will always be a Vixen Queen, and she won’t allow her mother to die without being avenged. They will try to hunt them down. For now, I think they’re safe.”

Voices of the foxes began to echo in the stairwell. Hamish turned around nervously.

“Your Majesty…”

“Quickly,” Bentley said, standing at once and yanking Hamish on his arm to a fireplace beneath a mirror. He pressed several ridges on the mantle, and the mirror popped open. Bentley cleared several gimcracks from the mantle and used his paws as a step stool for Hamish to climb into the passage behind the mirror.

“Sir,” Hamish pled, “come with me. There’s hope now.”

“No, Hamish,” Bentley sighed. “I must face Vulpus. The war is lost. Resistance will only lead to more ruin. You need to leave. If Diana Loudoun survived, then you must go to her. Together the two of you can kindle the flame of the resistance. Dark days are ahead.”

Hamish felt a tear rolling down his cheek and pushed it away with his thumb. Bentley looked absolutely crestfallen.

“Sir,” Hamish said earnestly. “They escaped. You have to remember that. Your expedition worked. The heirs have escaped Cartonia.”

Bentley nodded.

“Thank you, Hamish. You have been so good to me. And you’re right. They have escaped. There *is* hope. They won’t ever return here, but maybe one day, when all the lamps are black and the land is barren of happiness, their heirs will journey home. If Cartonia is fortunate, and the universe is righteous, then the descendants of our expedition—the children of the free—will be our deliverance.”

Hamish gripped the King’s paw.

“Your Majesty…”

“Goodbye, Hamish.”

The mirror closed and locked into place, leaving Hamish in utter darkness. On the other side, Bentley replaced the tchotchkes on the mantle. A minute later, the door burst open.

“King Bentley II of Canis,” the vile voice of a fox crowed, “surrender to the Empire of Vulpus.”

Bentley Connelly calmly replied,

“I will not.”

“King Bentley II of Canis,” the voice said again, “you are thereby sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of Queen Vixen VII and for the destruction of the Vulpus Dam.”

Hamish pressed his paw into his mouth as he heard the struggle between King and captors as the foxes attempted to arrest the leader of the Granite Bloc. He remained curled in the passageway until after the foxes left with Bentley, until after the sun set, until the King was publicly executed, until Hamish could hardly breathe anymore.

He followed the passage out of Highland Castle, and out of West Terrier as it fell to Vulpus. He never forgot the final words of the King and his refusal to surrender to evil even when victory was impossible. Hamish told anyone who would listen, long after the War ended.

Centuries later, Hamish’s story provided a foundation of hope to a growing rebellion, and they turned their eyes south, dreaming of a group of royal heirs to venture home to Cartonia and deliver them out of suffering.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

This episode marked the second appearance of Diana Loudoun, the mother of Lana Loudoun (the Diary Pig); however, it is her first appearance by name. She first appeared in "Silent Night" when she informed her daughter of the Vulpine invasion of Mallardia. Diana's scene was later repeated verbatim in "Bless My Homeland."

For the first time, a Vixen Queen stepped foot in Toontown. Her time was short-lived, however, as she was murdered by her youngest daughter, Vella. She promptly crowned herself Vella I, breaking a centuries-long tradition of adopting the regnal name “Vixen.”

After identifying herself as the Leader of the Docks, Barnacle Barbara was murdered by the Vixen Queen.

Determined to save Toontown in any capacity, Constance voluntarily accepted the role of Colonial Governor of Toontown under the Vixen Queen.

Horace Calves was grievously injured by the invading fox forces, and taken to Dr. Artery’s for healing.

Vella revealed that all six Cartonians had been equipped with Whisper Chips, which enabled them to communicate telepathically with one another during their incarcerations and beyond.

The Cartonians were unaware that Cale Metfin survived the *Chipper* disaster. She boarded *The Imperial Conqueror* and told Piggy Pie and Doctor to trust her, for the Queen intended to kill them once they arrived in Vista, Vulpus.

Toontown partially remained hidden because fox forces of conquest had erroneously assumed a large lake was the ocean and had not explored further. Had they pressed south, they would have found Toontown.

Constance and Eileen learned that Dr. Molecule’s application to access the University of Cervidium's library from “Heaven Found” had been the reason for the foxes coming to Toontown.

Most everything shared in the Cartonians’ interview with Declan Antlin in “Welcome to Toontown” was false, lies fabricated to mislead the Toons and garner trust.

The foxes wish to retrieve the heirs from Toontown to placate a growing rebellion in Cartonia against the Vulpus crown. By installing the heirs as nominal leaders of the old Kingdoms, they hope to dispel an uprising.

Vella’s alliance with Clarabelle Cow was done to ensure that Cog Nation was destroyed, as the foxes did not believe they could defeat the Cogs.

Vella Vixen changed her name to Blair Fawkes under the correct assumption that Toontown was hostile to foxes.

When Piggy Pie was left alone at the Speedway in “Out of the Frying Pan,” the Cartonians affixed a tracking device to her so they could locate the heirs collectively. While the parley was in place, the foxes located the Vault.

Hyla Sensitive, the only heir not in the Mayoral Vault, was found by the foxes and taken to the Vixen Queen.

The foxes were searching for settlements as part of the Southern Sunset zeitgeist, the belief that they were destined to conquer the entire continent. Unable to scale down the Vixen Cliffs, they sought passage by sea. They purposefully created BioFreaks that could control water in order to accomplish this aim, with Cale Metfin and Evelyn Quin as the first two successes. Evelyn Quin’s husband, Desmond Quin, died in the experiments.

Vella Vixen gave the heirs the option to return to Toontown after one year in Cartonia upon their thrones.

Each heir was permitted to bring one guest with them to Cartonia:

* Cornelia Caligari: her husband
* Katherine Becker: Henry Yorcaster
* Slate Oldman: Mary Yorcaster
* Bradley Wolfe: Mickey Elias
* Piggy Pie: Doctor
* Alice Carver: Mata Hairy
* Hyla Sensitive: Eileen Irenic

The Toons’ transport holes were confiscated aboard the boat, and they were not allowed to say goodbye. Constance took farewell notes to relay to the families.

The Vixen Queen left in Toontown a Commandant named Hans Einfach to watch over Constance Miller.

An entire ship of water BioFreaks was used to part the storms in Hurricane Haven and allow the Armada through.

Bentley Connelly  returned for the first time since “Silent Night,” this time at the end of the War. He received news from his valet, Hamish McRory, that the Vulpus Dam had been destroyed and that several heirs had escaped. He was murdered by conquering Vulpine forces in the final months of the War. In his last appearance in "Silent Night," he was merely Prince Regent of Canis for his ailing father, King Ewan I. Since then, his father had passed and Bentley was ruling Canis as King Bentley II. Both Bentley and Hamish would return as main characters for *War,* and this exact scene appeared again in "Bless My Homeland."

### References

The foxes needing “living space” is a reference to *lebensraum*, the Nazi policy of conquering nearby European territories as “living space” for Germans.

Doctor compares going from the Cogs to the foxes as falling from the frying pan and into the fire, a reference to the finale episode titles.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode and its predecessor "Out of the Frying Pan" is a reference to the phrase "out of the frying pan and into fire," or going from a bad situation to a worse one. In this case, the Toons went from misery from the Cogs to worse misery from the Cartonians. This episode revealed to the Toons firsthand the brutality of the foxes.
* Hans Einfach’s surname means “simple” or “straightforward” in German, a nod to his straightforward personality.
* Highland Castle is named after the Scottish Highlands.
* The capital of Canis, West Terrier, is named after West Highland White Terriers, which is the Connelly family’s species.
* The introductory scene featuring Diana Loudoun was not originally planned and added as an afterthought.
* The closing scene is one of the author's favorite in the franchise.
* Aleck Harding and Pete Ingalls are the only two living main characters to not appear in this finale episode. While Aleck appeared in "Out of the Frying Pan," Pete did not appear at all.
* This is the last episode to be published from the west coast.
* At 13,846 words, this was the third longest episode of Storytime at its time of publication, after "They Came From the North" and "Heaven Found." Despite being knocked down in ranking after subsequent seasons, it remains the seventh longest.