Toontown Asunder

**"Vulpus Aflame"** is the fourteenth and final episode of *Revolution* and the 89th episode overall. It is the second in the two-part series finale, following "Vulpus Aflame." It is the final written episode of the series.

The episode was released on May 1, 2022.

In the episode, the continent thunders with revolution and rebellion as the final act of the Storytime saga reaches its climax.

## Promotion

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

## The Episode

—Rook of Vulpus, Vista, Vulpus—

—May 1, 1051—

Eileen Irenic’s eyes tried to focus on what she was seeing. It was almost as if the room had fractured. Her gaze settled on what looked like a spiderweb crack about fifty feet in front of her, right at the base of the stairs.

It was glass. A glass wall, bisecting the room. Eileen and Usa were on one side, Vella and Jewellia on the other. The bullet Eileen had just fired was wedged in the glass. Eileen’s jaw slowly dropped.

Vella Vixen was unharmed. Her cowardly demeanor had evaporated, and now she scowled at Eileen and Usa through the cracked veneer.

“Impreglass,” Vella stated. “Invisible and indestructible, even to bullets.”

She crossed to Jewellia and gave her a hug.

“Did you know that Jewellia was once an actress in the Vista City Theatre? Just for a few seasons, but she learned how to cry on cue. I lack the commitment to the craft, but I am capable of putting on an act. Were you convinced? I just channeled the cowardice and fear of one of your Toons.”

Eileen and Usa were silent. Eileen was furious, seething with anger. Of course the castle was so quiet. Vella wanted them to reach her. She probably knew they were coming the whole time. She feared immediately for Piggy and Alice, defenseless in the catacombs.

“I have to admit,” Vella continued, descending the stairs to the part of the glass that was not cracked, “I am disappointed you’ve joined forces with the Free. They’re so far beneath you, Eileen. You built your own resistance in Toontown, yet here you sided with the incapable rebels?”

She cast a condescending smile to Usa.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Usa Uhuru. I’ve waited a long time.”

Usa did not reply. She was looking at Vella with disgust.

“What are we to do?” Vella sighed. “You broke into my castle, killed my guards, and tried to assassinate the Empress of the Vulpus Empire. There is no greater crime than that.”

Eileen’s nostrils flared.

“*Slaughtering* 200 *innocent* Toons is a greater crime than your death!” Eileen snarled. Spittle flew from between her clenched teeth.

Vella shrugged.

“I’d do it again.”

Eileen shot the glass again, but it only cracked once more. Vella and Jewellia both laughed. Vella sauntered in the other direction toward another intact piece of glass so she could see them better.

“I am confident that my army will defeat the Free,” she said. “I am confident that the leaders of the Free will be rooted out and executed. I am confident that Toontown will be obliterated by day’s end—“

“What?” Eileen gasped. “What are you going to do to them?”

Vella’s ears perked.

“Oh? Haven’t you heard? I suppose not given the weak communication of the Free. Toontown has launched its own rebellion against the Commandant and those holding the colony. It is a terrible mistake, one for which they will pay dearly.”

Vella made a sweeping gesture behind her at the open balcony doors. “The Toons of Toontown will soon be annihilated by the greatest weapon in the Empire’s arsenal: the Horizon Bomb. It only takes one hit, and the entire city will be reduced to a crater!”

“NO!” Eileen screamed. “No! Please! I’ll do anything, Vella. *Anything*!”

Vella smirked.

“I want nothing from you, Eileen. I don’t need you. I will track down the remaining heirs and have them killed. They might even be here with you in the Rook. The catacombs, perhaps?”

Eileen swallowed hard. Usa stepped up.

“Where’s the Harmony Crown?”

Vella laughed.

“That old thing? Why do you care so much? Why has anyone? Riddle me that, Usa Uhuru. Why would generations of traitors harbor an old crown? Hmm?”

Usa didn’t respond. Vella shrugged.

“I suppose I’ll never know. The Crown is destroyed.”

Usa shakily exhaled. Vella tapped on the glass, gazing at Eileen.

“I will enjoy watching you die, Eileen Irenic. I almost had the pleasure in Toontown when that cow was trying to filet you on the roof of Toon Hall. I’m so glad I spared you then so I can do the honors myself now.”

Eileen cocked her gun again, prepared to fight. Vella snorted a laugh again.

“Eileen, Eileen, Eileen. Your memory is so fragile. You fell into the same trap *again*. Or don’t you remember? The House of Intended Design?”

Her heart was hammering in her chest. She could barely hear from the blood pumping in her ears.

Vella snapped at Jewellia.

“Gas.”

The vents opened above them.

—The Catacombs—

Piggy Pie carried Alice Carver on her back through the grimy halls of the catacombs. She had gone back for her after Eileen and Usa went up into the High Tower, but there was a big chance they’d come back through there injured or worse. Piggy wanted to help if she could, and Alice agreed to move further into the catacombs so they’d be better positioned.

“We’ll go over here,” Piggy said, carrying Alice across from the entrance to the High Tower. “We can watch and wait in the shadows.”

“Lovely,” Alice remarked, wrinkling her nose at the multitude of dead pests lying around. “It smells so bad down here.”

“It’s a mass grave,” Piggy said. “Death everywhere.”

Piggy put Alice down gently. As she hit the ground, she gagged and coughed.

“UGH! Piggy! Do you smell that?”

Piggy sniffed, but nothing smelled amiss. Alice pulled on her shirt, and Piggy bent over. The stench hit her like a wave. It was the most foul thing she had ever smelled. Alice scrambled away from the spot.

“It’s coming from that grave,” Piggy said, pointing. She covered her nose with her sleeve. One of the wall graves was recently disturbed, the dirt fresher than the others. Alice got down on her knees and pulled, sliding the coffin out.

Now Piggy gagged. A decaying corpse was lying within. It had plainly been dumped inside the coffin without much care. The body was face-up, arms akimbo, legs bent at odd angles. Thankfully, it was clothed. The deceased was a fox, a female fox. Most strangely, she was wearing a crown.

“Piggy,” Alice gaped. “Do you recognize it?”

“The fox?”

“The crown!”

*Of course!* Piggy realized. It was the Harmony Crown! She remembered it from the bandit camp in Simeone. The gems were unmistakable. One was noticeably missing.

But then…Piggy did recognize the fox.

—

Eileen and Usa pulled on the door handle as the chamber filled with gas. The room was perfectly split by the glass, and so the poisonous invisible gas was only on the side with Eileen and Usa. This was different from the gas in the House of Intended Design, which had been replaced with an innocuous substitute. Eileen could already feel her airway closing. Usa coughed and hurried to the windows, but they wouldn’t open. Eileen tried throwing a lamp through one, but it merely bounced off.

The laughter of Vella and Jewellia echoed through the chamber. Eileen’s breathing became stertorous. Panic set in, and she clawed at her throat, begging for breath.

She collapsed. Vella was at the top of the stairs again, smiling from ear to ear. Jewellia was beside her, giggling.

“Please!” Eileen rasped. Usa fell beside her.

—

“Alice…?” Piggy uttered. “Do you recognize her?”

Alice analyzed the rotting body.

“I can’t really tell. The features are…melting.”

Fright coursed through Piggy. She was looking at an impossibility.

“Alice,” she managed, “it’s Jewellia.”

Alice whipped her head toward Piggy.

“Didn’t you tell me you just saw her upstairs?”

“I did…she was in the High Tower.”

They both turned back to the body.

“She’s been dead for weeks,” Alice murmured. “*Weeks*.”

“I saw her!” Piggy insisted. “I *just* saw her…”

“But…” Alice gulped. “If Jewellia is dead…who’s in the castle?”

—

Eileen’s tongue swelled, lodging in her throat. She was choking, dying. Her insides were screaming as if being lit afire. Her gaze was locked on Vella Vixen, whose voice seemed to carry across the room like an intercom.

“Long live the Vixen Queen! Long live Vulpus! Death to the Free! Death to Toontown!”

Eileen’s eyes flicked over to Jewellia, who had stopped laughing. Something was happening to her. Her fur was bristling, shrinking. Her eyes bugged and turned grey, her head twitched. Her ears shrunk down and turned circular. She grew a few inches, and shed her whiskers. Her fur color brightened to neon orange. Eileen was delirious. She must be hallucinating, for Jewellia had just metamorphosed into Mata Hairy.

Jewellia raised her arm, aiming a remote at the vents. A suction noise sounded overhead, and the gas was sucked out of the room. Eileen could feel her breath returning. Vella ran down the stairs to the glass, gaping upward at the vents.

“What! No! Jewellia, what just—?”

She turned, and saw that a monkey had taken the place of the fox. She yelped. Eileen rubbed her throat, and lifted her head.

Mata was still there. But…how? How did she do that?

“Long live Toontown,” said the deep, growly voice of Mata Hairy. “Long live Cartonia.”

She advanced on Vella. “Death to Vulpus.”

Eileen gaped as Mata removed a dagger from her maid’s pinafore and began down the stairs. The Vixen Queen, terrified, backed against the glass and cried out for help. Mata pinned her against the shield. She held the knife to her chin.

“Death to the Vixen Queen.”

She slit her throat. Eileen instinctively turned away as blood splattered the glass. She heard Vella fall to the ground.

Mata put the knife back in her pinafore. She ignored the blood entirely. It began to soak through the pockets. She tinkered with the remote, and then lowered the wall between them. Once the shield fully settled into its invisible groove, Vella’s limp body rolled onto the carpet of the lower landing. Usa and Eileen gawked at it, completely stunned.

“Hello, Eileen,” Mata said calmly. “Good to see you again.” She glanced at Usa. “Nice to meet you, Usa. My name is Mata Hairy.”

Usa raised her eyebrows.

“We’ve been looking for you.”

Mata smiled, pleased with herself. Eileen was too awestruck to do anything other than stare. Mata had not only just saved her life, but single-handedly killed the Vixen Queen. But…*how?*

“Mata…” Eileen stammered. “How…?”

“I suppose I owe you an explanation,” the monkey said. “It’s actually quite simple. I am a BioFreak.”

—Toontown—

In the early morning, the foxes began to retreat. An unfamiliar siren blasted across the town. At its call, the foxes lowered their weapons and began racing toward the ships in the Docks. The defense of the colony shifted entirely to the harbor. They left everything except weapons behind, including the wounded and dead.

The Toons let them go, eager to see them off their shores. Constance Miller, beleaguered and exhausted from the day and night of relentless fighting, was thrilled that they had emerged victorious. It was the most unlikely outcome, but the Toons had given the foxes a run for their lives, and they weren’t going to stop running until they were back in Vulpus.

Constance caught sight of Commandant Hans Einfach outside the harbor as she watched the Armada depart. Several of the ships had already started to set sail, drifting out into the Bay. He saw her too, and crossed the fractured gangplanks to her.

“Your town is home to a tribe of unreformable savages,” he spat. “I hope to never see you or this wretched place again.”

“So you are leaving?” Constance asked, swelling with excitement.

“For now,” Hans threatened. “Your town is not the primary struggle, and we won’t destroy ourselves trying to hold this godforsaken territory. Mark my words, Constance, the Vixen Queen will not take kindly to the insurrection you have staged here. We will return.”

Constance shrugged.

“I look forward to it.”

Hans scowled. He glanced backward at the damaged buildings on the docks, a product of one too many attacks.

“I turn leadership of this place back over to you. You have the burden of picking up the pieces.”

She didn’t respond, merely staring down at him. He spat at her feet.

“Bitch,” he said with hateful spite. Once again, she did not dignify his vitriol with an answer. She waved a hand in a taunting farewell, and walked away.

—Rook of Vulpus, Vista, Vulpus—

“A BioFreak?” Eileen repeated. She recalled the way in which Mata seamlessly changed from fox to monkey. “Okay…that makes some sense.”

“You can change your species?” Usa asked. “That’s incredible…”

Mata removed the bloody dagger from her wet pocket and took off the pinafore altogether. She used the apron to wipe the blade.

“You have more questions, Eileen.”

Eileen’s head was spinning with them. She honestly believed Mata to be dead. For her to turn up in such a spectacular, unexpected manner…

“Which founder?” Eileen said at last. “Who’s your ancestor?”

To her knowledge, there were only two known BioFreaks who came to Toontown: Azure Oldman and Sophie Riffick. Azure was obviously the progenitor of Slate Oldman, and Sophie Riffick’s bloodline eventually yielded the mystical cat Drema Yawn. But from where did Mata’s affliction originate?

“Trent Mallon,” Mata replied. “He too had the power to alter his appearance. He was afflicted during the War.”

Eileen gaped.

“*Mayor* Trent Mallon? He was a rabbit.”

“Ah,” Mata said, “yes. He was.”

She glanced down at the body of Vella Vixen. “We should hang her body from the balcony.”

“*What*?” Eileen gasped.

“Love it,” Usa affirmed. “I’ll grab her legs.”

Eileen caught Mata around the wrist.

“Wait, tell me about Trent. What happened? Are you not really a monkey?”

Mata held a finger up to Usa, gesturing for her to wait.

“Trent was a rabbit, and always was. So were all of my ancestors. The chain was broken with my mother. She hated being a rabbit. I don’t know why, but if you knew her you would understand. She just hated everything. She hated me, she hated life, she hated her appearance. She slept around with different species, altering her species each time. Whilst in monkey form, she became pregnant. And so I was born a monkey.”

Before Eileen’s eyes, Mata changed into a rabbit, then to a horse, and back to a monkey. All the same shade of orange.

“Is your fur really that color?” Eileen asked. Mata almost laughed.

“Yes, it is. I know it’s unnatural, and that’s because it is. I am. Everyone assumes it’s dyed, and I haven’t bothered to dispel the rumor.”

Usa had squatted over Vella, inspecting for a pulse. She lifted her head.

“Is there a side effect? Most BioFreaks have some side effect.”

Mata nodded.

“Colorblindness. It’s why I always wear black. It’s the darkest.”

Mata had always been strange, eccentric, irregular, aloof, enigmatic, even standoffish or rude. Somehow it was all beginning to make sense. Eileen could tell there was something *off* about Mata when they first met in Toon Hall last year. Constance sifted through her criminal background, which was prolific. Of course, her being a BioFreak didn’t excuse any of that past behavior, but Eileen had tried to ignore that information entirely. Mata was an integral force on the Toon Resistance, and today she had cemented her legacy forever.

“Unimportant,” Eileen said, “but did you kill your mother?”

It was a lingering question, something she’d always wondered. Melinda Hairy took a terrible fall from the top of the Trolley Depot, but nobody could figure out how she got up there, or how she fell. It was likely she was pushed, but by whom? Mata was in jail at the time. Unless…

“Yes,” Mata said simply. “I snuck out and in of the jail by changing my appearance, size, and species. She was a horrid woman. You’re lucky you never met her.”

Eileen didn’t ask anything else. Mata and Usa then began to lift Vella’s body and carry it up the stairs.

“Tie some sheets together,” Usa instructed to Eileen. This felt wrong somehow, even though it was Vella. It was objectively cruel to defile a corpse like this, but nonetheless Eileen did what she was told. She stripped the sheets off Vella’s voluptuous bed and tied a rope. Usa took the other end and made a noose. Together, Usa and Mata wriggled Vella’s head into it.

Eileen watched as Mata and Usa dragged the body to the balcony. They struggled to heave her over the edge, and then they let her drop. The sheets slacked then tightened as the noose gripped her neck. Eileen stood back, trying to picture the scene from the other end. The foxes below would see their Queen hanging, dead, from her own balcony. A monkey and an elephant would be standing above her, fists raised. Would that hasten a surrender, or intensify the army’s fight to avenge their monarch?

“People are crying,” Usa said, laughing. “Look at them!”

Mata wasn’t laughing, or saying anything. She had retreated back into her characteristic laconicism.

Eileen became curious, and crept forward. She peered over the edge of the balcony, where Vella’s body was swinging in the wind. Indeed, some people in the courtyard below—courtiers and servants—were weeping, down on their knees. Soldiers were racing into the main gates.

“We have to go,” Eileen said. “Vella implied she knows that we came in through the catacombs. If that’s true, then we have to get to Piggy and Alice.”

Mata’s eyes brightened.

“They’re alive?”

“Yes,” Eileen said with a smile. “So is Mickey. We don’t know about Bradley, Slate, or Doctor. But it’s just us.”

Mata nodded. She pointed at the door.

“There’s another way out of this chamber. The soldiers will be coming in the main way. Follow me.”

Eileen and Usa jumped to action. Mata swept into the Vixen Queen’s closet, where she pried open a covert passageway. As Eileen stepped into the blackness, she looked at Mata.

“You still have a lot to explain.”

“I know,” she replied.

—

The command room was tense.

Across Cartonia, the people had risen in rebellion against Vulpus and Cervidium. The foxes faced attacks from within and without, from sea and by land. The Scuridian pirates, led by their own Chequer, were advancing through Vixen Bay for Viallastadt. If the city were to fall to the pirates, the western governments would collapse.

Even in the Expanse, in remote colonies, peasants and farmers turned their pitchforks on the overseers.

Further complicating matters was the withdrawal from Toontown. Commandant Einfach was taking his sweet time, but Skulksmarshall Rook James was not permitted to release the Horizon Bomb until the foxes had fully withdrawn.

Rook was surrounded in the command room by his lesser peers, the Skulkscolonels and singular Skulksadmiral. Thirteen of them in total. He was the only non-fox, but that neither bothered him nor bothered anyone else. He was Skulksmarshall, second only to the Vixen Queen.

His equal, Tick Hunter, was doing a fantastic job leading the troops north of the city. The Free had made barely any advance at all, with early reports depicting five Free deaths for every fallen Vulpine soldier.

All eleven Skulkscolonels, the Skulksadmiral, and Rook were watching the enormous monitors at the end of the room. They were standing around the long rectangular table instead of sitting at their assigned spots. There were multiple screens depicting different aspects of their military stratagems, but the focus was on the webcam from the stern of *The Vixen of the Ocean*, the penultimate ship in the armada departing Toontown. Commandant Einfach was aboard and on the phone, giving updates.

“The final ship is now leaving,” he reported. Rook could see the tiniest of ships pulling away from the gangplank. The docks looked so different from when Rook was last there. The buildings were crumbling, the boardwalk nearly entirely destroyed. Shattered glass and broken stone lay everywhere. All along the docks, the Toons were watching the ships depart. Rook squinted for a face he’d recognize, but everyone was too far away. The one color that seemed ubiquitous was red. *Blood*.

None of the Toons moved on the docks. They just watched as the Armada disembarked. Rook wondered if they suspected what was coming, or if they really thought they had emerged victorious in their uprising.

“We are seaborne,” Commandant Einfach announced. Rook turned to Skulkscolonel Luft.

“Get the aerowings in the sky.”

The door suddenly burst open. A Skulksleader was panting in the doorframe, holding a crumpled piece of paper. He raised it over his head, and Rook saw it was a photograph.

“Assassins in the castle!” he gasped. “The Vixen Queen is dead!”

—Viallastadt, Vulpus—

When Cale Metfin was a little girl, her father showed her images of pre-War Cartonia. They were stolen, she leaned later from her sister, Evelyn. Father had gotten them from a coworker at the fishery, who in turn had procured them from the black market.

None were of Mallardia, much to Cale’s dismay. They were all from the kingdoms of Willie and Simeone, taken from some rich monkey family’s album. One that was coming to mind now, as Cale sailed into the cove of Vixen Bay, was of the city of Primatia. It was the capital of Simeone, back when such a place existed.

In the grainy picture, faded by the centuries, dense jungles and thick greenery surrounded the hilltop capital and its towering castle, the Steeple. Cale had never seen a place so developed in a land so packed with trees. The way up to the mountaintop was by funicular. During the War, the monkeys severed the funicular channels whenever the Summer Sun got close.

Of course, the Steeple and Primatia were taken by the foxes, and they began to raze the jungles.

The mountain remained, but all the trees were gone. Hillside neighborhoods now packed the coast of renamed Viallastadt. Cale could see the fortress on the beach aiming its weapons at the approaching fleet of Scuridian pirate ships.

“We need you now, Cale,” Chequer Alvo said, coming up beside her. “Drown them.”

“I cannot harm those that made me,” Cale reminded him. “Any fox.”

“Do as we discussed.”

Cale nodded.

“Brace me.”

The Chequer held her waist firm as she closed her eyes and spread out her arms. She turned her palms downward at the water and pushed. The sea rumbled beneath her. She used the pain of losing her sister as fuel to conjure the water and call it to do her bidding. She lifted her palms, and felt the sea rise. The Chequer’s grip on her tightened. She began to shake from the excessive use of her power. Nature was fighting back, trying to restore equilibrium.

“It’s working!” the Chequer shouted from afar. She opened her eyes.

The ship was rising. She held her concentration, enabling the entire pirate fleet to float higher and higher, the waves coming up beneath them. Titanic tsunami waves threw dark shadows over the ports of Viallastadt, but Cale did not push them forward. Doing so would violate the bond of the BioFreak and cause her immediate death. It’d also kill thousands of innocent monkeys, which was far worse.

The higher they rose, the harder nature forced itself upon Cale. The force was concentrated in her hands, in her palms, like orbs pressing back. She leaned forward, supported by the Chequer, and threw her body weight downward, but nature was relentless. She could feel the bones in her fingers fracturing.

“Call them!” Cale gasped. “Now!”

A fumble of hands kept her sturdy as the Chequer got someone to replace him while he phoned the Port of Viallastadt.

“Skulkscaptain!” Chequer Alvo bellowed into the phone. “Surrender your town, or suffer underwater! We have BioFreaks on our side, ready to drown your city. The choice is yours, but you must make it soon.”

Cale listened for an answer, but Alvo was on the phone by himself. Her hands were howling in pain. She felt her thumb snap, causing bile to surge in her throat. She had never used her affliction like this, and it was killing her.

Alvo suddenly grabbed her flippers. He yelled in her ear,

“They’ve surrendered! They’ve surrendered!”

Cale let go, and the waves subsided. The ship slowly lowered itself back to sea level. As Cale fell backward onto the deck, the pirates threw themselves over the ship’s railings and swam toward the beaches.

Viallastadt was theirs.

—Toontown—

The Vulpus Armada was halfway across the Bay. The town had fallen silent in the wake of their departure. It was sudden. Too sudden.

Constance, Vidalia VaVoom, and Aleck Harding were on the third floor of the old Gag Shop, watching the ships float away.

“I don’t like it,” Constance said. “I was happy at first, but this seems to convenient.”

“He said they’ll be back,” Vidalia pointed out. “We were kicking their ass, so they might just be regrouping.”

“Or,” Aleck said, “something worse is coming.”

Vidalia scoffed.

“What could be worse?”

—Rook of Vulpus, Vista, Vulpus—

Eileen, Mata, and Usa emerged in a quiet second-floor corridor of the castle. The passage’s entrance was concealed behind a gaudy portrait of a former Vixen Queen seated on a throne made of skulls. Despite its grotesque imagery, the art itself was not Eileen’s style. Too many uneven strokes.

“Is there another way into the catacombs?” Usa asked. “We came up through the High Tower.”

Eileen gasped.

“That was *you* we saw! We saw you come into the High Tower!”

Mata nodded.

“Indeed. I was sent to collect a tiara from the collection. I’m assuming it was you that smashed up all the turtles?”

Eileen glanced at Usa; that was her and Piggy.

“Guilty,” Usa admitted. “It worked, didn’t it? The monarchy is finished.”

Mata shook her head.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. The Vixen family is not extinct. There will always be a Vixen Queen. It’s not over yet.”

As they traveled from the Vixen Queen’s bedchamber of horrors through the back alleys of the palace, Mata had updated Eileen on how she had escaped the House of Intended Design and Yefoxerinburg, and how she had come to Vista and snuck into the Rook of Vulpus under the guise of a fox and took Jewellia’s place. Apparently, she was buried in the very catacombs through which Eileen and Usa had entered.

“Mata,” Usa said, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen the Harmony Crown? It would have come here a few weeks back…”

“It’s buried with Jewellia,” Mata said nonchalantly. “Unharmed.”

Relief flooded Usa’s face. Mata paused for a moment, digging in her pocket. She removed a sapphire.

“Unharmed, but I did take this.”

Usa snatched it and peered at the stone, as if something was inside. Mata pressed on, unfazed.

“The best way to the catacombs is through the official entry in the cellar. I’ll take you there.”

They continued down the hall, but Eileen was instantly distracted by something outside. She hurried to the window.

“The aerowings!” she called. “It’s going south!”

Mata pulled back the curtain. She suddenly metamorphosed back into a fox.

“The Horizon Bomb.”

Usa’s eyes went wide.

“What did you just say?”

Mata’s face was dark.

“The Vixen Queen has authorized the use of the Horizon Bomb over Toontown.”

Usa’s mouth fell all the way open.

“No…” she said slowly, shaking her head. “You’re lying.”

“I’m assuming it’s as deadly as they say?” Mata asked.

Eileen raised a finger.

“What’s the Horizon Bomb?”

Usa gulped.

“The end. Nothing can withstand it. If that bomb falls over Toontown, I’m sorry, Eileen, but everyone will die.”

Mata started to run, stripping off the rest of her servant’s uniform.

“We can stop it!” she shouted over her shoulder. “We have to hurry!”

Usa took Eileen’s paw.

“Go with Mata. I’ll go to the catacombs for Piggy and Alice.”

Eileen sniffed.

“And your crown.”

Usa blushed.

“It’s more important than you think.”

“So you keep saying,” Eileen sighed. Usa exhaled.

“Go with Mata. Save Toontown.”

Eileen finally nodded, and took off after Mata.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she caught up. Mata stopped at a broom cupboard, where she changed into a hidden military uniform that was too big for her. She adjusted her body size to fit. She handed Eileen handcuffs.

“Put these on when we get there.”

“Get *where*?”

Mata adjusted the brim of her hat.

“The command room. The attack is being coordinated from there.”

Eileen groaned.

“I thought if we killed the Vixen Queen this would all stop!”

Mata gave a quick shake of her head.

“Someone else is in charge now.”

“Who?”

“Skulksmarshall Rook James.”

—Lyme, Cervidium—

Bradley tried dialing again, and again. Over and over he and Doctor repeated the number that was familiar to every single Toon. All other numbers were disabled or blocked, but the pathway to the voicemail of the Cattlelog was free. Clarabelle’s name may have been struck from the title but the Cattlelog was still the most popular shop, albeit virtual, in Toontown.

“*Thank you for calling the Cattlelog. We are experiencing a high call volume and cannot answer your call at this time. Please try again shortly. Goodbye*.”

“Come on!” Bradley shouted, trying again. “Pick up!”

They had attempted to reach Toontown upward of 200 times, but neither he nor Doctor were prepared to stop.

—The Rook of Vulpus—

The command room was located deep underground. Mata knew the way there by heart. Ever the spy, she was. Eileen was now in handcuffs, and Mata was roughly escorting her like a prisoner.

Two foxes were stationed outside the command room’s thick metal doors. The guards saluted.

“Skulkscolonel!” one said. “We didn’t expect you!”

Mata raised an eyebrow.

“I am everywhere. Let me inside. The Skulksmarshall will want to see who murdered the Vixen Queen.”

The foxes sent murderous glares at Eileen. She tried to look like she didn’t care. The guards opened the doors, and the two stepped in.

There were thirteen foxes standing around a long table. They were all wearing military uniforms packed with medals and honors. Black armbands wrapped around their sleeves, and someone had even lowered a black sheet over the portrait of Vella on the wall.

On a large screen opposite Eileen, she saw a projected flightpath of the aerowings on course for Toontown. The machine was now over the Vulpus Dam, heading over the Expanse. In less than half an hour, the aerowings would be positioned over Toontown.

“Well, well,” Rook James said, turning to face the newcomers, “I think we’ve found our assassins.”

Mata coughed.

“Skulksmarshall, Eileen Irenic is the sole assassin. If you are implying…”

“Restrain them.”

Eileen was already cuffed, but the guards who admitted them pinned Mata down too. Once she too was bound, the guards held their shoulders and pushed them to the floor. Rook approached.

“Skulkscolonel Wehr…it’s impossible. You died in Antlerstag last week. How are you here?”

His eyes twinkled. Mata was unabashed, smiling.

“Oops,” she whispered. She transformed back into herself, and pulled out of the handcuffs made for the thick wrists of the apparently deceased Skulkscolonel Wehr. Rook was faster, and plugged a gun to her head.

“Restrain them,” he repeated through clenched teeth. This time, Eileen and Mata were shackled together. The guards leaned on their shoulders, pinning them down.

“You’ve come here in error,” Rook stated. “You may have murdered the Vixen Queen, but until her successor is crowned, Vulpus is under military control. *My* control. I’m assuming you’ve come because you’ve learned of the incoming attack on Toontown. I’m afraid you cannot stop it. The Horizon Bomb will fall.”

Mata struggled, but she didn’t break free.

“Mata Hairy,” Rook sniffed, inclining his head. “A BioFreak, and the mole. How did you get in?”

Mata snorted.

“I became Jewellia.”

She metamorphosed into the dead servant to prove her point. The foxes muttered amongst each other in shock. Rook seemed unimpressed.

“Bear witness,” he said instead, turning back to the monitors. “Watch the Free’s revolution fall apart, and watch the annihilation of Toontown.”

Eileen’s anger was suppressed by desperation.

“Rook!” she hollered. “Rook, please. Stop the attack! Call it off! Toontown has done nothing wrong…”

Rook smirked at her.

“Toontown has been leading its own insurrection against Vulpus. To say they are guiltless is a lie. Hundreds of foxes are dead.”

“And so are hundreds of Toons, I’d wager,” Eileen fired back. “This will not end well. There must be peace!”

Rook laughed.

“Peace? There is no such way forward with Toontown on the map. It must be eliminated.”

The foxes turned their backs on her and Mata. Rook too refocused on the screens. Tears welled in Eileen’s eyes. She felt so helpless.

“Rook!” she shrieked.

—Toontown—

Vidalia VaVoom returned to her house. With Hans and his foxes gone, her Glamor Grove estate was open once more to her.

She paused on the street outside. The house was in ruins. The windows were all shattered, the shutters were hanging on by a thread if not lying on the grass. The fence was broken in numerous places. Even the roof caved in over the upstairs living room. Vidalia sighed. She still had the money to fix it up, but was it even worth it? There were Toons who had nothing left. She didn’t need this big house.

The front door was open. Kilo Byte was inside the foyer, rocking his triplets on his lap. All three had survived.

“Hey,” she said. He glanced up.

“Hi. Are they all gone?”

“For now.” She stooped to pick up a piece of the bannister that had somehow broken off during the uprising. “The place is a mess.”

“It wasn’t me,” Kilo joked. Vidalia cracked a smile.

Upstairs, the phone rang. Kilo groaned.

“That thing has been ringing off the hook.”

Vidalia glanced up the stairs.

“That’s the Cattlelog.”

Kilo shrugged.

“I doubt anyone is ordering anything, but maybe they’re trying to get ahold of you?”

Vidalia pressed her lips together and furrowed her eyebrows.

“I thought…the phone lines were all electrified? Who could be calling?”

Kilo set his children down and held up a paw.

“One second. Thanks for reminding me. I’ll go flip the breakers.”

He descended into the basement. Vidalia squatted with the kids and fiddled with their little ears. All were smiling and giggling, immune to the atrocities that had occurred here. Kilo returned shortly.

“All done.”

The phone rang again, and Vidalia went upstairs to answer it. She took care on the stairs not to step on one that may have been damaged so badly that one misstep would send her toppling into the basement.

The Cattlelog office had been converted into a study, though it wasn’t for the Commandant. His was on the ground floor. The Cattlelog phone, a functioning antique and gift from Clarabelle, just finished ringing. She just missed it. But as she retreated from the room, the phone rang again. She snapped up the receiver.

“Hello?”

A long pause.

“*Vidalia*?!”

The voice was far away. Vidalia pressed the receiver against her ear.

“Who is this?”

“Vidalia!” the voice cried out in joy. “Hey! It’s Vidalia!”

The voice was familiar…“This is Bradley! Bradley Wolfe!”

“And Doctor!”

A hoof flew to Vidalia’s mouth. She yelped out in delight and relief.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my…you’re alive! You’re both alive!”

“We’ve been trying to get through!” Bradley shouted. “We’ve probably dialed you 400 times!”

“I was out,” Vidalia replied, overtly aware of the simplicity of the massive understatement. “Toontown….we rose against the foxes. We fought them, and they’ve retreated! They’re leaving!”

Bradley was silent.

“Vi…” he said, “they’re leaving because…something horrible is coming. It’s called the Horizon Bomb, and I think it’s going to destroy Toontown.”

Vidalia’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“You have to get everyone out. The bomb flies through the air, like a parrot! It’s got wings…but it’s metal. It’s going to fall on Toontown and blow everyone up. I don’t know how much time you have, but you have to move quickly. *Evacuate!*”

Vidalia lingered at the phone, trying to wrap her head around the enormity of the situation. Finally, she pulled herself together.

“Okay. Okay. We’re evacuating.”

She hung up, and ran from the room.

—Vista—

“Rook,” Eileen tried again. “Please. You can’t do this…we sheltered you. We gave you a chance…”

“You imprisoned me,” Rook said, his back turned.

“What would you have done?” Eileen countered. “You would have been just as afraid of us as we were of you.”

The aerowings was in the center of the Expanse, only fifteen minutes away from its destination. She had that long to save her home. She wished she could speak to him one-on-one, but she’d never be able to pry him away from the military commanders flanking the edges of the room. Mata kept trying to transform into something small enough to get through the handcuffs but she met her match in the guards’ strength.

“Rook,” Eileen said, “what about Eusuchia?”

She couldn’t see his face. Had it changed? “What about what you saw on Eusuchia?”

Rook’s head turned slightly, then he faced Eileen.

“It was you?”

Eileen registered mild surprise; he may even be impressed.

“It was my idea, yes.”

Rook raised his eyebrows.

“What did you expect? That I’d arrive and see what was being carried out at that camp and turn on my Queen? Did you really think my loyalties were that fragile?”

Eileen was deflated. Their plan had been fruitless. He went on,

“Species extinction does not frighten me. Vulpus is and always will be my home. It’s been nothing but good to me. Toontown is a threat to my country, and so the Horizon Bomb must fall.”

“Rook!” Eileen growled. “See reason! They don’t just mean to exterminate the crocodiles, they mean to destroy *all* species until *only* foxes remain! You’ll be dead too!”

A sinister smile spread across his lips.

“I am now in charge of the extinction programs.”

The aerowings was now crossing the Unforgiving Mountains. The radio crackled.

“Skulksmarshall,” a voice said, “we are over the Vixen Mountainrange, heading southeast.”

Rook picked up the microphone.

“Maintain course.”

—The Catacombs—

The palace was crawling with guards, but Usa managed to sneak back into the catacombs through the basement. The High Tower was undoubtedly an area of focus given the death of the Vixen Queen and the two guards Usa took care off at the Tower’s entrance. She wondered if the smashed turtles had been located.

Piggy and Alice were waiting for her by the entrance to the High Tower. A grave had been unearthed. Usa covered her nose as she approached.

“What the…”

“It’s Jewellia!” Piggy Pie exclaimed. “I don’t know who—“

“Mata Hairy.”

Usa quickly caught them up. Both Piggy and Alice breathed in relief when Usa reported the Vixen Queen’s death. Piggy then reached into Jewellia’s grave and pulled something from within.

“I think you’ll want this.”

Usa gasped with delight. She could almost cry. It was the Harmony Crown. She gently took it from Piggy and turned it over in her paws. She counted all seventeen gemstones, then pressed the missing sapphire of Equine Isle into its groove.

“Will you tell us what it is?” Piggy asked.

“Yeah,” Alice coaxed. Usa held the Crown close to her chest. She understood how Alice and Piggy must feel. The Crown had landed them in too much trouble back in the bandit’s den. It led them to Eusuchia and the horrific camps there.

“I’m not supposed to say,” Usa muttered. “It’s a weapon.”

Alice cocked her head.

“Why aren’t you supposed to say? What’s so terrible about this secret?”

Usa didn’t respond. Piggy sighed.

“If Eileen and Mata are going to the command room to stave off the Toontown attack, we need to help them.”

Alice gestured at her busted leg.

“I still can’t walk…but I’ll wait here. It’s been quiet.”

Usa passed her a gun.

“Shoot the first guard you see.”

Still clutching the Harmony Crown, Usa and Piggy hurried back into the castle.

—Toontown—

Toontown was in chaos.

Constance, Vidalia, and Aleck were desperately trying to control the situation, but panic was the only option Toons were willing to consider.

The remote location of the town was a disadvantage to any evacuation plan, especially one that only had minutes to gain traction. The transport network was still down, and Pete Ingalls said he couldn’t restore it in time. He had already taken his son to the Brrrgh and started scrambling up the glacier with hundreds of other Toons.

No one knew how much time they had, but Constance didn’t think much. The glacier was not surmountable in an hour, or even two.

Many flocked to the docks and tried to follow the Armada into the ocean. But nearly all the fishing boats had been damaged in the various attacks. A couple dozen took to dinghies and started rowing out into the Bay, but there weren’t enough boats for everyone.

Many more were on the slopes of the mountains over Dreamland, but once again that was not viable for all.

There was nowhere else to go.

And so the message Constance, Vidalia, and Aleck chose to broadcast over the loudspeakers and to anyone who would listen was to move as quickly as possible toward Cashbot Headquarters, where they could take shelter in the deep bunkers of the Mints. Most had flooded with water long ago after the collapse of Bossbot Headquarters and destruction of the train tunnels, but a few of the Mint floors closer to the surface were still intact. It seemed the best bet for survival.

Constance stood outside the Bullion Mint now, helping a series of families into the elevator. There were no stairs into or out of the Mint. If the elevator was damaged, they’d have to find another way out.

“Room for a few more?”

It was Kilo Byte and his children. Constance’s heart broke at the sight. She may be lowering them into their coffin.

“Of course.”

Most Toons were taking this route, knowing that they’d never survive by sea, and knowing they couldn’t clear the summits of the mountains in time. Run or hide, the only two courses.

Constance shook the paws of the surviving Clark children, nodded in solidarity at Piggy Pie’s three surviving brothers, gave Tori Dorrance a hug and thanked her for her work in the Resistance. Everything felt like a farewell.

“That’s the last of them,” Aleck Harding said, staring around the deserted headquarters. “Everyone else is taking another avenue.”

Constance rubbed her paws together, looking down at the floor.

“I’m not going in there. I won’t die in a Cog Mint.”

Aleck stepped into the elevator and outstretched his paw.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll be together.”

Constance shook her head.

“Vidalia is still on the docks helping people get to sea. I’ll go assist.”

Aleck sighed. He knew he couldn’t convince her.

“Goodbye, Aleck.”

He waved, and then the elevator doors sealed him in.

—Vulpus—

Mickey was being chased. They were ambushed a mile back. The driver of the truck was shot through the head, and Flo died in the crash trying to control the truck before it veered off the road. Mickey stumbled out of the vehicle and took off running, racing across the Death Field.

He wasn’t fast, but he was determined. His heart was screaming at him, begging him to stop exerting himself, but he was adamant. Cartonia would not be his deathplace. Cartonia would not ring the knell of his demise.

His pursuer was also on foot, shouting after him. Mickey knew who it was. It became clear that Mickey was a priority. *Defeat the Free. Find the Toons*.

That was why Tick Hunter was here.

It was just the two of them, a leap apart, tumbling through the untamed brush of the former War battlefields. Tick was covered in blood, smiling wildly. One of his antlers was broken at the top. Mickey hoped that was a painful injury.

He lost his footing, and tripped over a rock. He somersaulted over himself and landed flat on his back. Something crushed his coccyx. He squirmed in discomfort, trying to get back up, but Tick dropped on top of him. The deer savagely held a knife to his throat and pinned his knees on both of Mickey’s arms. Mickey was too tired to say anything, so he just panted. Tick’s sweat dripped over his face.

“The Vixen Queen said we can do what we want with you, so long as you die.”

Mickey’s mind conjured dozens of gruesome finishes. He closed his eyes, and thought of Toontown. Tick’s grip relented for a second, long enough for Mickey to get a paw free. Keeping his eyes closed, he maneuvered for his pocket, for the tiny pistol Flo had ordered him to conceal back when they were in the grain silo. He drove the gun up into Tick’s stomach, and fired.

The deer toppled on top of him. Mickey opened his eyes and pushed Tick’s face away. Mickey wriggled out from underneath him. Tick was choking up blood, gripping his abdomen. Mickey kept the gun aimed at him, breathing heavily. Tick’s hateful gaze fell on Mickey, and he fired again. This time, the bullet connected with Tick’s nose. His face shot backward, then he moved no more.

With his gurgling diminished, and Mickey’s own breath halting, there was nothing to be heard except the harsh winds of the Death Fields, in which Mickey found himself completely alone.

—Toontown—

Vidalia was at the top of the lighthouse on the docks, accompanied by its eccentric keeper, Bodie Currituck. Constance ascended to the apex. The lighthouse was the tallest building in Toontown. From this perch, Bodie had caught both the arrival of Vella and her cronies as well as the land invasion of Toontown.

Bodie now had his telescope focused northbound, scanning the skies for the bomb that Bradley and Doctor warned was coming. Constance was turned the other direction, toward the sea. The Armada was at the far end of the Bay, heading for the gap in the crags to access the ocean. The fog was gone, and wouldn’t return until the evening. The skies were perfectly blue and clear. A pretty day to die.

There were somewhere between forty and fifty rowboats sailing out into the Bay, occupied by Toons who believed a waterborne evacuation was the safest. Perhaps they were right. The Armada clearly thought so.

Even without a telescope, Constance could see the small dots of Toons on the mountains, racing up its snow-packed hills.

“I see it,” Bodie said grimly. He passed the telescope to Vidalia, who adjusted it upward.

“Holy…it’s massive!”

Constance went next. She peered into the looking glass. An enormous black bird, unlike the images of the parrots she’d seen in textbooks and drawings, was sailing across the sky, gliding on air. How was it possible? It had windows on the front…people were inside!!

Constance tinkered with the settings, zooming in on the machine. Something was strapped underneath it.

“The bomb is attached to it,” Constance uttered. “It’s going to drop over the town.”

Vidalia gulped.

“I can see it…without the telescope. It’s really close.”

“Minutes,” Bodie agreed.

Constance dropped the telescope. She felt nauseous.

“I don’t want to die,” she said. “I don’t…I don’t. I don’t!”

Vidalia gripped the lighthouse railing, regret etched in her features.

“We won’t make it to the Mints…”

Constance didn’t wait to answer. She started to race down the stairs. She was an idiot, a cocksure fool. Who cared whether she lived or died in a Cog bunker? If she stayed out here in the air, she’d die. Vulpus was too technologically advanced to outrun.

Constance tore down Barnacle Boulevard, counting the seconds. The whir of the bird was almost audible. The thing was descending, coming in for the bombing.

She took a shortcut across Punchline Place, skirting through Vidalia’s backyard. By the time she reached Toontown Central, she was completely out of breath.

The bird was over the mountains now, barreling downward toward Toontown. She wouldn’t make it to the Mint.

She stepped over broken pieces of the gazebo and headed up the stairs to the plaza upon which Toon Hall rested. The portrait of Queen Vixen VII had been thrown out of the lobby and was burnt within its frame. Constance rested her paw on one of the cracked columns of the Toon Hall portico. This is where it all began. Right here, on these steps. Here, the first Mayor of Toontown was inaugurated, and here the last would die.

She pressed her back against the column and faced north, steeling herself to be strong. The bird was falling.

—

Deep within the Mint, in near-total darkness, Kilo held his triplets close. A single line from the Diary of War was rattling around in his head.

*I will be unbroken. I will be unbroken. I will be unbroken.*

The Toons had nothing to do but wait. Wait to find out whether they would live or die.

—

Pete Ingalls and his son, Ash, pushed through the heavy snowfall as they raced for the summit of the Kinnar Mountains.

“I hear it!” someone bellowed. “Listen!”

Pete stopped only for an instant, long enough to hear what sounded like the whir of engine rotors. They were getting louder.

“Ash! GO!”

—Vista—

Piggy Pie sprinted with Usa toward the command room. Usa cut down any guard they encountered. With an ironclad grip, Usa clutched the Harmony Crown as if it represented her life.

The command room doors were sealed and locked. Piggy pulled on the latch, but they wouldn’t budge.

“I had hoped there’d be guards out here with keys…” Usa muttered. “We can’t get in.”

Piggy pounded on the door.

“EILEEN! MATA!”

There was no answer. Piggy pointed at the crown.

“Use that. Use it. You said it’s a weapon.”

Usa stared at her with an exasperated expression.

“It’s not that kind of weapon!”

—

Eileen was shrieking like a lunatic, desperately attempting to break free of her hold. Both she and Mata were making constant pleas to Rook and the other foxes, but nobody was listening.

“Murderers!” Eileen cried.

“Monsters!” Mata echoed.

The aerowings was a single minute away. A hollow pit opened up in Eileen’s heart and threatened to swallow her whole.

The radio crackled again, the harbinger of the end.

“Skulksmarshall, the target is in sight.”

Rook lifted the microphone, emotionlessly delivering his final command.

“Skulkspilot, release the bomb.”

Eileen let out an anguished scream.

—Toontown—

“Shhh!” Kilo heard somebody hiss. “Hear that?”

Distantly, Kilo could make out the sound of an engine. He leaned down and kissed each of his children in turn.

*I will be unbroken*.

—

Overhead, a gargantuan machine roared over the mountains, causing an avalanche. Pete and Ash ducked, along with all the other Toons, as the contraption coasted toward the center of town.

—

The bird was descending rapidly over Toontown. It was so low that Constance could see the bomb underneath, painted red and black for Vulpus. She wavered, sorrow forcing its way through her impenetrable exterior. Tears welled in her eyes. One tumbled down her cheek.

At the last moment, as the shadow of the bird devoured Toon Hall, she averted her eyes and cried out.

—

Vidalia gaped as the roaring machine darted through Toontown’s airspace, flying so low and so fast it ripped shingles off of houses and pulled snow off the mountain. The parrot-like machine flew over Melodyland, over Toontown Central, and the Docks. Then, to her surprise, it whizzed past the lighthouse and soared out to sea.

She and Bodie were holding onto each other, leaning against the huge lightbulb. Once the parrot passed, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled out onto the balcony. The black parrot was pulling up over the Bay. Was it circling back around?

Something fell off the bottom. The bomb! Vidalia was about to cry out for Bodie to run, but the bomb was not meant for them. It was not meant for Toontown.

It fell onto the Armada at the edge of the Bay. Vidalia was blinded by the blast, which ripped all the ships to pieces in a second. A powerful inferno erupted from within the core of the explosion, incinerating the crags all around the Bay. The detonation caused a tsunami to spread out from all sides, pushing the debris and wreckage back toward shore. The Toons in the dinghies and rowboats were swamped and drowned.

A mushroom cloud rose from the point of impact, black and grey smoke spiraling into the sky. The black parrot was unscathed, and had turned back. It flew right over Toontown and the mountains, returning home.

But it wasn’t over for Toontown. The tidal waves were coming toward the docks with ferocity. Seconds later, the neighborhood was overrun with water.

From their perch, Vidalia and Bodie gawped at the scene on the Bay. Vidalia’s head was spinning. Something had just occurred, something she didn’t understand. Bradley and Doctor said that Toontown was going to be bombed, and yet the target was the Armada. Vella Vixen would never order something like that, and certainly not Hans Einfach, who Vidalia was happy to know was dead in the blast. But if not Vella…who had ordered this strike?

—Vista—

“Skulkspilot, release the bomb.”

Eileen’s throat went raw as she screamed. The foxes and Rook turned their eyes to the webcam aboard *The Vixen of the Ocean*. The aerowings was low over Toontown. Behind it, the Kinnar mountains were rumbling with an avalanche from the wake of the aerowings.

But then, inexplicably, the aerowings soared over the town and began to fly toward the Armada itself. The foxes on deck were running about wildly. Something cut across the screen, and then the webcam went dark.

Rook removed two guns from his holsters and shot two of the foxes. The guards let go of Eileen and Mata, and they crawled backward to the wall. Rook and three other foxes were slaughtering the others. Rook took out the two guards too. The admiral’s throat was slit. Eileen looked to Mata, but she too was completely perplexed.

After the bloodbath, only four remained: Rook and three foxes.

“Skulksmarshall,” the voice on the radio said, “the Armada is terminated.”

“Thank you, Skulkspilot. Return to base.”

He switched off the radio. He took a handkerchief and wiped the blood off his face and hands. Catching sight of his black armband, he stripped it off. The others followed suit.

“Uncuff them,” Rook directed to one of the foxes. With a gentle hand, she helped Eileen off the floor and unlocked the handcuffs.

“What’s going on?” Eileen demanded. “What the hell did you just do?”

Rook grinned.

“Toontown is spared.”

He ripped the largest medal from his breast and tossed it on the table. The others joined him, unclipping and unpinning every decoration and every merit they had earned in service to the Vulpus Empire. The *clunk clunk* of the falling pieces were like a symphony of coming change.

Once bare, Rook leaned over the table and let out a sigh. One of the foxes patted his back.

“We did it, Rook,” he said. Rook nodded. He met Eileen’s gaze as he spoke to his co-conspirators.

“The Vulpus Empire is henceforth dissolved.”

A fox opened the door, and suddenly Eileen was overcome by Piggy Pie’s embrace. Usa came in too, holding…the Harmony Crown? She ignored it. What mattered was that they were alive, and Toontown was saved. Did she really have Rook to thank for that?

“Eileen Irenic,” his voice carried, “you and the Toons are free to return home.”

—The Death Fields—

—Hours Later—

It was a cloudless day. That made it no more or no less beautiful. It was just an observation, something that Mickey Elias was unable to ignore. He could think of little else, lying still in the wild bush of the Death Fields.

Tick Hunter lay dead a few feet away from him. Mickey was still too exhausted to move, nor did he have any idea where he would even go if he was able to get up and start walking. Out here, he was cut off from everything. Information, too. Was the revolution ongoing or over? Had it resulted in success or failure? Was anyone looking for him? How about Tick?

Time ebbed away, and slowly Mickey regained strength. He’d have to move eventually, even if it killed him. Besides, Rook was beginning to smell.

Mickey rolled onto his stomach and used what little upper body strength he had left to push himself up. As he raised himself above the shrubbery, he saw that he was still alone in this vast field.

He chose a direction, what he thought was north, and trudged on. He had no water, no food, no supplies whatsoever. How far could he go before he collapsed?

As he trekked across the Death Fields, aimlessly wandering toward his fate, something appeared on the horizon. At first, it appeared to be a person, but Mickey realized it was moving too quickly to be one person.

It was a truck.

Mickey froze. The truck was getting closer, bumping over the terrain. It spotted him, for it was coming directly for him. The truck was unmarked, as they all were.

He fell to his knees as the truck pulled up in front of him. The driver’s door opened.

“Mickey!”

He squinted at the speaker, and a familiar mouse swam into view.

“Sairene!”

Sairene Rendle hauled him to his feet and pulled him into an embrace. Mickey wriggled out and studied her face. She was smiling, but he didn’t think that exuberance from seeing him.

“What’s happened?” Mickey asked. Sairene wiped away a tear of joy.

“It’s over,” she said. “The Vixen Queen is dead. The revolution is won!”

—Vista—

The ensuing hours were hectic in the capital. Across Cartonia, the reverberations of the Vixen Queen’s death were widespread. The battle north of Vista was the bloodiest and only to be fought on an open field. All other insurgencies were contained to cities and settlements. Eileen learned from Rook and the other foxes who betrayed Vulpus that the Scuridian pirates had secured Viallastadt. The other so-named “stadts” fell in succession. Vexastadt, Vannastadt, Valdastadt.

Cervidium’s interim government collapsed and the country was currently in anarchic chaos. Rook assured Eileen that if Doctor, Bradley, or Slate were alive, they’d be safely brought to the capital.

Macaw Kitt of Psittancyna contacted Rook via web conference to kindly inform him that his principality was no longer part of the defunct Vulpus Empire and was henceforth and evermore independent. Eileen had watched the screen as Macaw Kitt publicly declared from the Canopy the reinstatement of the Macawdom of Psittancyna. There were no protestations from Rook. Kitt further demanded one of the Vixen Queen’s aerowings on the argument that the Psittancynesians had worked to develop the technology for it. Once again, Rook acquiesced.

Things were changing rapidly, far quicker than Eileen had anticipated. Old governments fell and new governments were taking shape. The Vixen royal family was being hunted so that no one else could claim the throne. Vulpus was going to become a republic, so Rook said.

Despite having a front-row seat to this coup, Eileen was stunned it was even occurring. Rook had played his role too well, so much so that she didn’t trust him. As the aerowings flew toward Toontown, she legitimately believed it was the end of her town. The revolution had failed, the Vixen Queen’s death meaning nothing. No, it was all part of the plan. Eileen hadn’t had a chance to get Rook alone, but she wondered how long he had known he wanted to do this. Was it right after he went to Eusuchia? She longed to know.

Alice was retrieved from the catacombs, and she was seated in the corner with her leg elevated on a cushion. One of the foxes, a Skulkscolonel, was examining her again. She had wrapped the injury in gauze. Piggy Pie was sat beside her, not leaving her side. Mata was standing around, observing everything but saying nothing.

Usa was engaging in conversations with Rook, expressing her own wishes for the nascent republic blossoming. The Harmony Crown was hanging off her arm as if it were a part of her. She hadn’t let it out of sight. What use was it now? Eileen hoped Usa didn’t plan to resurrect the Harmony Crown institution that failed so miserably three centuries ago.

“Eileen,” Rook called to her. He held out the phone to her. “Constance is on the phone.”

Eileen gaped. Rook told her hours ago he couldn’t reach Toontown, but apparently now he got through. She lunged for the phone.

“Constance! Is that you?”

“Oh, Eileen!”

The two were nearly shouting at each other in desperation to fill each other in on the events of the past few hours. Constance relayed the uprising in Toontown and how they drove the foxes out. As she recalled the ensuing terror from the incoming aerowings, Eileen overlapped the story with her own perspective, being forced to watch from the command room as the play unveiled itself. Constance told Eileen about the horrific treatment of the Toons by the foxes, including a night of attacks she called the Night of Shattered Stone. Eileen didn’t know herself where to begin recapping the last month, so she just listened to Constance.

“Put her on speaker,” Rook requested after they were allowed several minutes to catch up. Eileen consented and informed Constance she was now on speaker with Rook, Piggy, Alice, Mata, and the Skulkscolonels.

“The Armada is destroyed,” Rook said, which they all knew. “No one else is being sent to Toontown. It is my vision that your independence is not infringed upon again. I cannot guarantee total isolationism now that your location is known, but you should continue to govern yourselves and be the hallmark of what a just society should be.”

Eileen smiled as Constance said,

“Bullshit. Is that really Rook?”

“It is,” Eileen said, laughing. “He’s…changed.”

“Wow…”

Rook cleared his throat.

“We’ll call you back. Eileen, may I have a word?”

—

After Eileen and Rook left, Alice beckoned to one of the Skulkscolonels, the one who had bandaged her leg.

“Hi,” she said with as much sweetness as she could fake. “Have you found my husband yet?”

“Afraid not,” the fox said, frowning. “We’re looking all over Lyme. It’s chaos there right now. Deer and foxes are clashing.”

“I get that,” Alice said, “but my husband is a dog with conspicuously fucked up fur. He’s not hard to spot, probably seen with a bright blue bear and a rabbit creating snow out of thin air.”

The fox heaved a sigh.

“We’re trying.”

Alice didn’t press her luck. She was expelling her frustration after hours of hearing nothing about Bradley. Piggy was worried about Doctor too, and both were concerned for Slate.

One of the three Skulkscolonels, by the name of Jade, was repeatedly trying to dial her contacts in Lyme, but they were all getting jammed.

“Something’s blocking the tower,” she grumbled. “The Free may have disabled it.”

“Or the Cervidians,” Skulkscolonel Ytta said.

“Or Slate,” Mata jabbed.

“Can you get me an override?” Jade asked her colleague, ignoring Mata. Ytta nodded and opened the phone’s back panel. At last, they were able to connect to the capital of Cervidium. Static emitted from the other end.

“Hello?” Skulkscolonel Jade said, leaning over the speaker. “Is anyone there? This is Skulkscolonel Elmina Jade of the provisional government in Vista.”

Static.

The third Skulkscolonel cleared his throat.

“Rook of Vulpus to the Cervidian Tower. This is Skulkscolonel Jesef Brau of the provisional government in Vista. Does anyone copy?”

Alice rolled her eyes at Piggy Pie.

“They can’t even make a phone call properly,” she muttered. Usa overheard and started snickering.

“If you are with the Free,” Jade said, “you have nothing to fear from us. We have dethroned the Vixen Queen and wiped out the Vulpus Armada.”

Piggy Pie whispered in Alice’s ear,

“They didn’t dethrone anyone! Eileen, Mata, and Usa…”

“Where are the Toons?” a voice demanded on the other end. It had a Cartonian accent, but not quite, as if someone was putting an accent on.

Jade glanced at Mata, Piggy Pie, and Alice, who shook her head.

“We don’t have the Toons,” Jade lied. “But we support them. They are not our enemy.”

The accented voice returned with, “Do you know if they are alive?”

There was something about the intonation of the voice that caused Alice’s fur to prickle. She recognized it.

“The Toons are alive. Unharmed,” Jade added.

Skulkscolonel Brau lifted the phone to his mouth so he could speak clearly.

“Are you conversing with us from within the Cervidian Tower? Do you need assistance?”

Silence. Then, they hung up. Jade swore. Alice leaned on Piggy to heave herself up from the chair, leaning against the wall.

“Call them back,” she said. She hopped over to the table. Jade eyed her wearily, but dialed nonetheless. The line connected, but nobody spoke. Alice inhaled.

“Bradley? It’s Alice.”

The person on the other end took a sharp intake of breath.

“*Alice*?”

It was his voice. It was Bradley! She began to laugh, in spite of everything.

“Your Cartonian accent,” she managed to say through laughs and tears, “is *garbage*!”

“Shut up,” Bradley teased. “I can’t believe it’s you. Are you okay?”

“Leg’s busted,” Alice said. “But we’re alive. Mata smoked Vella. Eileen was there, says she slit her throat clean.”

“Holy…” Bradley gasped. “Mata’s alive too…? Where are you all?”

“The Rook of Vulpus. Piggy is here as well. Where’s—?”

The phone line crackled.

“Piggy?!”

She bounded across the room.

“*Doctor*!”

“Where’s Slate?” Alice asked. “Is he okay?”

There was no response right away, which was what Alice dreaded.

“He’s dead,” Doctor said solemnly. “He…”

“He did what he had to,” Bradley finished. “He put an end to it. He got justice for the BioFreaks.”

Jade interrupted their virtual reunion to ask Doctor and Bradley more clarifying questions about their location. They relayed the deteriorating situation in Lyme and how they had taken refuge in the Cervidian communications tower.

“Stay there,” Jade instructed. We’ll send the aerowings to collect you.”

—

Rook took Eileen to the High Tower. There was nobody guarding the entrance anymore, and the two dead guards had been swept away. The entrance the catacombs was still ajar after Alice had been retrieved and brought to the command room. Around the courtyard, flags of Vulpus were being stripped from their flagpoles. The emblem of the Vixen monarchy was being pried off one of the arches. Eileen viewed all this with curiosity and disbelief as Rook led the way up the stairs to the top of the High Tower.

“Mata said Piggy and Usa crushed all the turtles,” Rook said as they entered the single room at the top. Eileen shrugged, having not been there herself. Judging by the foul smell in the room emanating from the cloaked cage in the center, they were right. Rook lifted the tarp and scoffed at the massacre.

“I suppose that superstition was true.”

Eileen read the poem off the wall, understanding now why Piggy and Usa had clobbered them with such ferocity.

“I’ve only been up here once before,” Rook said. “It’s off-limits to everyone except the Vixen Queen and her chosen guests. Usually, that means absolutely nobody, save maybe the Crown Princes. Vella was never that, but she still snuck up here and took me and Tick with her.”

He frowned. “Tick…”

He shook the thought away and went on.

“You should understand my past, Eileen. You probably viewed me as a traitor long before I actually betrayed my nation, because you thought I should be loyal to my species above all else. My species and my home island. But I never had that. I was conscripted into the army at a young age. My parents sent me off to become a soldier so that I could have a better life than the impoverished one we had on Eusuchia. The island was destitute, you see. Totally, completely bankrupt. There was no wealth for any crocodile, and most industry was relocated to the mainland. I saw coming to Vista as an opportunity few were afforded. It’s how I ended up here.”

He sat on the windowsill, but Eileen didn’t move. He rubbed his hands together.

“My mother…gave me some advice before I left our hut with a Second Officer who became my mentor…and who I just killed—“

“Whoa,” Eileen interrupted. “Back up. You what?”

Rook took a deep breath.

“My conscription officer was Hans Einfach, the Commandant in Toontown. I just bombed him.”

“Oh,” Eileen blurted. “Were you two close?”

Rook tossed his head from side to side.

“At first, I suppose. When I saw him in Toontown as we departed, there wasn’t much said between us. Anyway, the advice my mother gave me: she told me to get close to the foxes and integrate myself into their culture. She said I should climb as high as possible, because only then could I be safe. I took that to heart; that’s how I got so close to Vella. The thing is, I never quite understood what she meant. Why was that the only way I could be safe? I’ve put it out of my mind for the most part, but it wasn’t until I went back to Eusuchia that it finally clicked.”

His gaze on Eileen hardened. He looked physically pained, trying to hold back some emotion. Eileen took a step backward involuntarily.

“I won’t thank you for what you did,” Rook said. “That trickery you played was cruel. I genuinely believed I was being threatened by Vella, that…”

He trailed off, his memories catching up to him. Eileen didn’t really know what he saw when he went to Eusuchia, but clearly it was so troubling that he uprooted his entire belief system and turned on Vulpus. He saw the extermination of a whole people and decided enough was enough.

“I didn’t know,” he said finally. “I had no idea what the Vixen Queens have been doing. The polar bears, the cows, the horses, the crocodiles, now the chickens and the rabbits…fodder. We were just taking up space, I guess. It wasn’t right.”

He then told her about his trip to Eusuchia and how effective their ruse was. As he described the gassing of the final batch of crocodiles, Eileen had to grab onto the turtle cage for support. It was too monstrous to fathom, yet she knew it was true.

“When did you realize it was the Free that sent you?”

Rook thought back.

“I eventually noticed that Vella wasn’t treating me any differently. She didn’t seem to know or care that I was troubled. Eventually, I confronted her. This morning, actually. But she just confirmed what I already knew. My plan was already in place.”

Eileen nodded.

“So you were always going to bomb the Armada?”

“No,” Rook replied. “Vella didn’t authorize use of the Horizon Bomb until this morning. Toontown’s uprising gave me the opportunity I needed, as did Vella’s death. I trust the Skulkspilot of the aerowings, and he trusts me. We were conscripted together. He’s a parrot, and as I suspected his loyalties are to Psittancyna over Vulpus. The old me would have cared a lot about that, but now I don’t really mind.”

Eileen crossed her arms. He was far from a hero, but regardless of his past or future, today he saved Toontown.

“You might not thank me for bringing you to the right side,” Eileen said, “but I will thank you for saving Toontown. Because you didn’t have to do that. I hate that you acted so well that I genuinely believed I was about to watch my home go up in smoke, but thank you. Thank you for saving it.”

Rook looked away.

“You’re welcome. I’ve seen my own home destroyed. Obliterated. I didn’t want that for Toontown, which was, despite all the circumstances, a good place to live. Looking back in hindsight, we could have killed Vella and Tick while we were there, and sent a signal back to Vulpus that there was nothing beyond the mountains, that Vella and Tick fell overboard and drowned. Toontown would still be secluded, and I could be free.”

He tossed his hands in the air. “Alas.”

Eileen regarded him quietly.

“What about Tick?”

“Wha about him?”

“Well, what are you going to tell him? Unless he’s turned too?”

Rook rolled his eyes.

“He’ll never turn. Nor have I, really. Keep that in mind, Eileen. I lost faith in the Vixen Queen and in Vella, but I still believe in this country. I draw the line at extinction and obliteration.”

He could have seized power for himself, Eileen thought. He could have pried the crown off Vella’s head and plopped it on his own. He could be a Vixen King or something. Hell, he and the castle even shared a name. But instead, he was allowing Usa and the Free a spot at the table of the provisional government.

*He’s still not a hero*, Eileen reminded herself. *He murdered 200 Toons in Toontown. Whatever his actions today, his past still matters.*

“I need to find the others,” Eileen said to end the conversation. “Bradley, Doctor, Slate, and Mickey. We want to go back to Toontown, but I won’t leave without all of them.”

Rook nodded.

“Then, let’s find them.”

—Toontown—

—May 2, 1051—

—The Next Day—

Eileen requested that Constance share throughout Toontown that a broadcast would be airing at 10:00 in the morning. Some pre-recorded message from Cartonia. She stood with Vidalia and Kilo in Vidalia’s house, gathered around the television set. Right at 10:00, the dark screen flickered to an emblem of a four-pointed star wrapped in a laurel. It was not the fox silhouette emblem of Vulpus that Constance had come to know.

As the emblem faded, the scene opened at a podium on a balcony. In the bottom left corner, the words “Rook of Vulpus, Vista” preceded “pre-recorded message.” A fox walked through the open balcony doors. Constance did not recognize her.

“Good morning, my fellow Cartonians. I am Skulkscolonel Elmina Jade. Yesterday, the opposition group known as the Free staged a successful revolution against the tyranny of the Empire of Vulpus. Simultaneously, myself and a few other high-ranking members of the Vulpus military worked to bring down the Vulpine government from within. Queen Vella is dead, and her family has been arrested. There will not be a successor Vixen Queen. The Vulpus Empire is dissolved. The Vulpus Armada is destroyed, and the Horizon Bomb is disposed of. For many of you, this will come as a relief. For many of you, this is understandable. This was the inevitable downfall of a tyrannical regime that spanned centuries. For many others, this will come as a shock, especially to those residing within the original Kingdom, in the capital, and the colonies of the Expanse. A provisional government has been formed, comprised of the remaining Skulkscolonels and the leaders of the Free. I will now invite one of those leaders, Usa Uhuru, to speak to the status of the Cartonian realms.”

The room was completely silent as everyone watched. Skulkscolonel Jade stepped aside, allowing an elephant to approach. She wore a plain white robe that reminded Constance of the robes the Cartonians wore when they arrived in Toontown last winter.

“Hello,” Usa said, smiling. “I am so happy to address you from the Rook of Vulpus, from a place that we once saw as unattainable and insurmountable. Queen Vella died in the room behind me at the hands of the Free. With her death comes the death of the Vulpus Empire, and of Vulpus itself. Before the revolution, we were one nation and three principalities, with territories and colonies in between. No more. As of yesterday, the principality of Psittancyna is an independent kingdom once more. Macaw Kitt Psint-Annenburg-Volta-Antillea—“

“What a name!” Vidalia gaped. “How did she remember all that—?”

“Shh!”

“—has declared the independence of the Macawdom of the Psittacorum. The Principalities of Capricon and Scuridiae will be absorbed into the provisional government, as will all the territories in the Expanse. In the south, the Toontown Colony is independent once more.”

Constance threw her arms up in the air.

“YAHOO!”

Kilo and Vidalia hugged each other in celebration.

“All former Vulpine territory notwithstanding the prior mentioned exemptions will shed all Vulpine vestiges and become a unified democratic Cartonian civilization. No Harmony Crown, no monarchy. We will *vote* to decide our leaders from now on. The first election will take place at the end of this year, and the first democratically-elected leaders will be coronated on the first of January, 1052.”

Vidalia winced at “coronated.”

“Almost,” she whispered.

“As for this provisional government,” Usa went on, “let me introduce you to us. But first I want to clarify that we *all* want the best for Cartonia. We *all* want to put this revolution behind us, put these last three centuries behind us, and move forward together as one.”

Jade and Usa were two of the six, then a one-handed chicken named Pyotr O-something, a massive bear named Culper Tallmadge, and two more foxes, both Skulkscolonels. They made a few more remarks about changes to come and how everyday Cartonians could get quick updates. Jade then bid everyone a good day, and the screen faded.

Constance was about to comment, but the screen came back on.

“Oh!” she blurted. It was Eileen, standing at the podium. The lighting was different. The “pre-recorded” message was gone. This was live.

“Hello, Toontown,” she said, smiling. “I’m alive. And I’m coming home. We have negotiated for the firm and uncompromising independence of our town. We have secured the respect of our borders, of our communications, and our way of life. The one condition is that we continue contact with our Cartonian brethren. They will dispatch an ambassador to our town, and we in turn will send someone here in the new year. There can be peace between us. I believe that now. I have heard of your own successful revolution against the foxes who sought to oppress you. I have never been more proud of us, and I cannot wait to come back to you all. Cartonia is nothing like home. So we’re all leaving, tonight. To go home, where our families are.”

Through the balcony doors came Piggy Pie and Doctor, Alice Carver and Bradley Wolfe, Mickey Elias, and Mata Hairy.

*Seven*. Out of fourteen. Mickey looked like hell. Bradley’s head was bandaged, and Alice was on crutches. They all looked older, as if they’d been gone years and not a month.

“Not all of us survived up here,” Eileen said sadly. “However, all of us fought for Toontown every second we were up here. I support this new provisional government, but respectfully it is not our fight. This place was broken long before we got here, and it is up to the Cartonians to sort it out. We will watch and observe, from afar, with the assurance that contact will not meant conflict.”

“Hear, hear!” Vidalia exclaimed. Eileen stepped back from the podium, and the screen faded once more.

“They’re coming home!” Constance squealed uncharacteristically.

“To borrow a phrase,” Vidalia said, her eyes wide, still gazing at the black screen, “blind me…”

—The Vale of Vulpus—

—Vista, Vulpus—

As the sun began to set, the seven surviving Toons gathered at the Vale of Vulpus to set sail for Toontown. Cale Metfin and a team of BioFreaks were piloting the ship so that they could pass through Hurricane Haven without incident.

“Would you like to stay?” Eileen asked Cale. “You know, in Toontown? It was your home for a little bit, anyway.”

Cale took Eileen’s paw and held it affectionately.

“Thank you, Eileen, but no. I’ve been offered a position in the court of the Chequer. Scuridiae has a lot to rebuild, and I want to be a part of that.”

Eileen nodded. She respected the decision.

Usa came to the Vale as representative of the provisional government. Sairene Rendle was here as well, the kind mouse who saved Eileen and Mickey in Vannastadt. Benjamina wanted to see them off, but her injuries from battle were too grievous to leave the hospital. Also on the dock was Macaw Kitt. The multicolored parrot in vibrant raiment adorned with a perilously tall crown was conversing with Bradley and Doctor. He flew down on his new aerowings. The parrots were flying again, after all.

The last person who came to bid them farewell was Rook James. No longer a Skulksmarshall, he shed all titles and refused to partake in the provisional government.

As Cale went to ready the ship—it was much smaller than *The Imperial Conqueror* but just as cozy—Eileen approached Rook.

“What next for you? It’s weird seeing you out of uniform.”

He glanced down at his plain clothes. He shrugged.

“I don’t quite know,” he said. “I am stateless now. It’s a strange feeling, after having a sense of belonging my entire life. But I cannot have a place in the new government because I will be viewed as untrustworthy and I won’t trust myself to maintain loyalty. I cannot go back to Eusuchia because there is nothing left. Nobody, nothing. Just sorrow. I cannot go to Toontown because I am a criminal there. I will be reviled across Cartonia, and so I must find a place where I can live out a private life and live freely. That is all I want.”

He didn’t seem sad about his situation. Maybe a bit anxious or uncertain, but at peace.

“Thank you for what you did,” Eileen said. “I’ll say it again, because it was a remarkable act of bravery. But you are right; you are not welcome in Toontown for your role in the *Chipper* massacre.”

“I understand.”

She held out her paw, and the two shook.

“Goodbye, Eileen Irenic.”

“Good luck, Rook.”

—

“Independent, then?” Doctor smiled at the Macaw. “You must be thrilled.”

“Very,” Macaw Kitt replied. “It feels good not having the Vixen Queen pressing her boot on my neck. I want the Psittacorum to have a better future than its past has ever known. Perhaps without restrictions, the parrots can regain the ability to fly. And this time, not through BioFreak experimentations.”

He leaned in to Doctor and Bradley.

“You’re both always welcome to visit the Canopy. You’ll be my honored guests.”

Doctor didn’t even have to glance at Bradley. They just both smiled and nodded. Of course, there was no chance in hell. Doctor was never, ever coming back here.

—

Mickey gave Sairene Rendle one final hug.

“Take care of yourself,” Mickey said.

Sairene sighed.

“Bon voyage, Mickey. It’s been a pleasure.”

“Maybe we’ll see each other again?”

“Perhaps,” said Sairene. “Between you and I, that ambassador to Toontown job sounds enticing…”

—

Piggy, Alice, and Mata approached Usa, who was conversing with the quartermaster of the Vale. Mata was carrying a box.

“I have a deal to make with you,” she said to Usa. “Tell us what this is or we take it back to Toontown.”

She cracked the lid, revealing to Usa the Harmony Crown the trio pilfered before they left the Rook of Vulpus. Usa’s eyes bulged.

“Give me that!” she snapped, swatting for the box. Mata pulled her arms back, dodging the elephant.

“What is it?”

Usa groaned.

“I suppose…this is the time, isn’t it? After all those years…”

The others began to gather around as they saw the commotion. As Rook came over too, she averted his gaze.

“We all know the story of Matthew Palmer—“

“Who?” Bradley blurted. Alice elbowed him.

“Matthew Palmer lived the rest of his life as a fugitive, fleeing the Vixen Queen and her army. His mission was to sow seeds of dissent to enable a future revolution. However, at some point he predicted that the conquest of Cartonia would not end with land, but with people as well. Soon, it wouldn’t be enough for the foxes to have all of Cartonia under its scepter. Soon, the Vixen Queen would want there to be only foxes on the continent. Matthew feared the extinction of species, and so he worked to safeguard our diversity.”

Rook’s eyebrows were furrowed. Piggy was just as confused.

“Matthew altered the Harmony Crown. He knew its symbolism and historical significance would protect it as it passed down through hands, but he also knew that it would be the vessel to store what was the perfect weapon.”

Mata held the box out at arm’s length.

“It’s not going to explode, is it?”

“No.” Usa laughed. “It’s not a bomb. It’s not a violent weapon. Matthew told Hamish McRory at the first pass that it was a bell cast in iron. We have now seen extinctions, and so it’s time to ring the bell.”

Alice sighed loudly.

“Usa, dear, I nearly died for this crown. Okay? I got thrown in a Eusuchian death camp because this crown was so important to you. Just tell us what it is. It’s not a bell! It’s—“

“Eighteen gems,” Rook interjected. “Eighteen species.”

Usa lifted the crown out of the box.

“Each gemstone carries the genetic code of each of the eighteen species of Cartonia, which can enable the resurrection of a species that has been rendered extinct.”

Everyone looked at Rook. Piggy did so involuntarily, as if on impulse. Her mind also wandered to Clarabelle Cow, who went looney tunes too soon. Had she just waited a matter of months, this opportunity would have fallen into her lap.

“I overheard you telling Eileen you were unsure of your place in this new society,” Usa said to Rook. “Would you like to help me revive the crocodiles?”

A tear fell from Rook’s eye. He slowly nodded.

“I’m sorry to keep the secret from you,” Usa said to the Toons. “When Hamish passed on the Crown, he said it must remain hidden until it’s obvious when it should be restored to the light. I can’t think of a better moment than on the heels of Eusuchian extinction and the fall of Vulpus.”

Mata set the box down, and Usa laid the crown on its cushion of velvet. She stood with the box and smiled at the Toons.

“Time to go. A safe journey home!”

A chorus of goodbyes and good lucks echoed down the line. The seven Toons walked down the gangplank in succession and boarded the ship. It was called *Expedition*. For the first time in over 300 years, Toons were leaving Cartonia for Toontown. The last time, there was no such thing as Toons yet, and there was no such place as Toontown.

Imbued with hope and promise, Piggy enthusiastically waved to Usa, Sairene, Rook, and Kitt from on deck. They waved back as the *Expedition* withdrew from the Vale and sailed eastward along the First Vista River. The skyline of Vulpus diminished from view, including its once-imposing castle on a hill. Cartonia felt different today. It was a new era, for everyone.

—Midnight—

Everyone was up on deck, even though it was late and everyone was tired. They were nearing the mouth of the First Vista River, which meant they were approaching the Aurora. Nobody wanted to miss that.

Doctor’s prior experience with it was the same as everyone else, or so he thought. He saw the 500 Founders of Toontown in the sky, and they offered words of encouragement as he sailed into the jaws of the Vulpus Empire. Piggy told him later how Lana Loudoun had spoken to her directly, and apparently Mata heard from her own ancestor, Trent Mallon.

“What do you see, Cale?” Bradley asked Cale Metfin, who was sitting on a bench at the stern. Bradley and Doctor were on either side of her.

“In the Aurora?” Cale replied. “I see my family. I did when we went down south. On the way back up, I saw Evelyn alone. She was conjuring water, as if even in death she’s proud of her affliction. She was never ashamed of it, as I was. It’ll be good to see her again.”

“Slate saw something different,” Doctor said. “He alluded to it when we were in captivity together. He wouldn’t tell us what he saw.”

Cale shrugged.

“What one sees in the Aurora is personal. You don’t have to tell anybody what you see. It’s a gift we have, a way to speak to the dead.”

Mata hurried over to them.

“It’s coming. We can hear the melody.”

Doctor, Bradley, and Cale hastened to the bow.

—

Piggy Pie’s ears were ringing. That quiet melody was returning, the forewarning of the Aurora. On the horizon of the open sea, toward which the *Expedition* was sailing, blue and green lights were dancing about. They were both far away and directly in front of her face. They spun around, leaping across the dimensions. Then, once again, the lights shot into the sky.

The dome of the Aurora formed, encasing Piggy in the peaceful environment of fantastic splendor. The blue and green lights turned to yellow stars which rained down across the dome. Whereas last time the stars coalesced to create the images of the 500 Founders, only one figure materialized tonight.

It was Lana Loudoun again. She was still clutching her diary. She filled the dome, looming over the ship. Her face was kind, her smile absolute.

“*Farewell*,” she said to Piggy. “*Until we meet again*.”

“I’m not coming back,” Piggy replied, feeling foolish for doing so. She couldn’t hear her.

“*Perhaps not here*,” Lana said, stunning Piggy, “*but we will meet again.”*

Lana then backed away, growing distant, but still visible. She outstretched her arm to her right, and an older pig materialized. She looked similar to Lana. Her mother?

Lana’s other arm extended to the left. Another, younger pig took shape. She held the printed copy of the Diary of War. *Laila Loudoun, the Diary Pig’s daughter*.

The ensuing generations amalgamated from the yellow stars, creating a circle around the dome. Piggy spun as her ancestors took form. Until finally, the instantly recognizable face and features of her mother fused to life. Charlotte Pie was smiling down at Piggy, who instantly burst into tears. Her brother, Hog, who died on the *Chipper*, whose death she had still not properly mourned, came up beside Charlotte.

“Hog…” Piggy gasped. She fell forward and had to hold the ship’s railing for support.

“*Come, sweetheart*,” Charlotte sang. “*You’re almost home.*”

The Aurora broke once more, and all the figures disintegrated. Piggy was then surrounded by the living, who took her into a group embrace.

—May 29, 1051—

—27 Days Later—

When the Toons returned home on the twelfth of May, they found Toontown asunder, both in the infrastructure and in the spirits of the inhabitants. Many had died over the course of the month.

Piggy teared up at the sight of the destroyed docks and crumbling buildings. She openly wept when she learned her brother Potbelly had been murdered in a fox-led pogrom.

The living thankfully outnumbered the dead, but Toontown was irrevocably changed. No one talked about the Cogs anymore. No one mentioned Dr. Molecule’s name. They thought they had seen evil in the Cogs, and perhaps they had to an extent. But robots were not people. Robots had tried to take over Toontown, but people almost had. Vulpus was evil, and the Toons were adamant to keep evil at bay.

There was much to rebuild, and much to do. The Toons were wholeheartedly up to the challenge. Pete Ingalls was working on restoring the transport grid, and a new elections committee was starting the process of holding a set of special elections to replace the lost and deceased Deputies and Toon Councillors.

Piggy was grateful she wasn’t here during the Vulpine occupation, a period of time during which the foxes sought to destroy Toontown culture forever. The foxes underestimated the Toon resolve, and paid dearly for it. The Toontown Colony would ultimately become a footnote in Toontown’s rich history.

One piece of Toon history lost forever was their original constitution. The Founders had drafted it shortly after arriving on the peninsula. The foxes burned it, but Toons remembered its contents. The constitution was rewritten, and today Constance Miller would re-avow her oath of office upon it, once more assuming the title of Mayor.

Everyone in town came to the re-inauguration. They gathered among the fractured stonework and chipped concrete. They stood before the plaza upon which every Mayor had sworn their oath. Toon Hall was battered and bruised today, but by next year it’d once again be the beacon of democracy it had always represented.

Piggy stood at the front of the crowd with Doctor, Bradley, Alice, Mickey, and Mata. The ones who went to Cartonia and survived. Eileen was standing in front of Toon Hall with Constance, holding the revived constitution. Constance faced her, and lowered her right paw upon the cerulean blue leather cover. She lifted her left.

Before the people of Toontown, Constance Miller recited the oath of office once more, avowing her commitment to the people. As she spoke, the sun dipped over Toon Hall, casting a splendid light across the plaza.

Piggy glanced up at the resplendent orange and pink sunset. The Aurora was far away, but she could still visualize the Founders in the sky smiling down at them. They were at rest again knowing the future of the town they fought to establish was secure in the care of their descendants. That despite external threats and internal fears, Toontown would not falter. After all, the town was founded not by refugees, but by survivors. Their resolve spanned across generations.

Even as the past was rewritten, even through the struggle for justice and the strife of contact, war, and revolution, Toontown survived. Neither the Cogs nor the foxes could destroy them.

This wasn’t just a town. This was home.

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

The cliffhanger from “Vulpus Aflame” fed directly into the opening scene of the episode, revealing Vella Vixen's survival of Eileen’s assassination attempt.

Mata Hairy was revealed as a BioFreak who could change her appearance, a descendent of Trent Mallon. She used her power to conceal her identity and take the place of Jewellia. Mata Hairy ultimately became the one to kill Vella Vixen.

There were several vague hints throughout the season as to Mata’s identity:

* In “Billow and Breeze,” Mata was said to be colorblind. Trent Mallon was colorblind.
* In “Common Sense,” when she arrived in Vista, her disguise was described to have held, even though it’d be unlikely a neon orange monkey could pass undetected through a city hunting for her.
* In “Tarry Not the Final Quest,” Drema Yawn hinted at the existence of another BioFreak in Toontown descended from Trent Mallon, who was rumored to be able to change his appearance.
* In “Terminal,” Mata was said to have grey eyes, the same as Trent Mallon.
* In addition, "Epilogue" stated that all three BioFreak founders had living descendants.

Mata Hairy confirmed she killed her mother, a mystery first posed in the second season premiere “Aftershock.”

Mickey Elias killed Tick Hunter.

The line from the Diary of War, “I will be unbroken,” comes from the fourth season episode “Unknown by Name or Rank.”

Rook James was ultimately changed by what he saw on Eusuchia. He unleashed the Horizon Bomb on the Vulpus Armada, sparing Toontown.

Usa Uhuru referred to the Harmony Crown as a “bell cast in iron,” an internal reference to the Christmas special of the same name.

The Harmony Crown’s secret was finally revealed: each gemstone carries the genetic code of a species, making it scientifically plausible to resurrect an extinct species.

The Aurora scene is a replicate from “Aurora.” This time, Piggy Pie saw all her ancestors, including her deceased brother Hog Pie and mother Charlotte Pie. Laila Loudoun and Diana Loudoun also appeared. In “Aurora,” Lana Loudoun said “*Come, sweetheart, you’re almost home*.” This time, it was Piggy’s mother, Charlotte.

The ending scene hearkens back to the finale of *War*, which concluded in “Until I Die” with the inauguration of the first Mayor of Toontown.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode was not quoted by a character, but stated in the episode: "When the Toons returned home on the twelfth of May, they found **Toontown asunder**..."
	+ The title was foreshadowed in the season's teaser.
* At 15,756 words, this is the second-longest episode of Storytime, only behind "Bless My Homeland."
* Mata Hairy being a BioFreak was not part of her original character planning, but was decided upon before the writing of *Revolution*. The initial plan was for Jewellia to be a member of the Free and kill Vella, but this was switched to Mata. This was the plot twist the author was most excited for this season.
* Skulkscolonel Wehr is named after the German Wehrmacht (army).
* Both the death of the Vixen Queen and the Horizon Bomb scenes were two of the most anchored moments in planning for the season and series finale, and had been the chosen ending since at least before the planning of the fourth season.
* Elmina Jade’s first name is a shortened version of the German “Wilhelmina.”
* From the onset of Rook’s character, he was slated to eventually betray Vella. In some early drafts, he would have joined the Free.
* The series ends on May 29, 1051. The date is significant; Storytime premiered on May 29, 2017.
* The author struggled with the final line of the series.