The Collection of Toontown

Synopsis: Continuing from Fear Himself, the Coluan collector Vril Dox and Knowherian collector Taneleer Tivan both set their sights on collecting Toontown, with Brainiac agreeing to share control of the Skull Ship with him. When Toontown is finally collected, the remaining Toons that escaped vow revenge, and it's up to the Rangers and their compatriots to help in aiding the Toons in once again saving their home from total annihilation.






Chapter 1—So Many Obscure Toons, So Little Time
Many ‘toons that had their programs canceled due to low Nielsen ratings had been living a peaceful life unperturbed by outsiders but did savor the occasional tour and ‘history days’ given to younger, brighter, more talented toons. It was Rocko who was the curator of such events. He, Heffa and Mort were in the ‘Nostalgia Guild’ and guided youngsters around to what the ‘good old days’ were like back in the early 90’s and late 2000’s.
Nigel Thornberry was admiring a lot of the artwork from other programs that were popular during the same time his show had been on the air. He asked Rocko who contributed such works. Rocko wasn’t certain. They were simply donated to the museum by an anonymous philanthropist. This patron often gave large sums of money to keep the museum open, as well as the park, so many people could enjoy it for the sheer ‘edutainment’ of it all.
Vril Dox and Tivan were pleased at their collection so far. They had recently gotten aide from Braniac and his Skull Ship, but bargained with him to control it while they were making their stops to different ‘nostalgia zones’.
So far, he had Walter Melon, Shaun the Sheep, the animals from Creature Comforts, the Kids Next Door, the pilot characters from What a Cartoon, and even Hoppity Hooper.
‘I was savoring a cool glass of strawberry mint lemonade...’, Hoppity began.
‘And then shump ! We were all sucked up a tube, sort of like in my own show !’, Fry remarked. He had remembered how fun those pneumatic tubes had been. However, when they were clogged, they could be a real pain in the tuchus for navigation. Leela gently grasped Fry’s hand, stroking it with her thumb and forefinger. Robot Jones thought the whole ordeal was strange. Like the other ‘obscures’, he just wanted to go home and lounge on his porch. The 4^th of July weekend was coming soon and all they wanted to do was play with sparklers, light firecrackers and watch fireworks explode in their kaleidoscope of mesmerizing arrays.

Meanwhile…
Marsupilami was lazing about, lying on his tail that he had fashioned into a hammock. All of a sudden, he was vacuumed up by a long tube; he and Maurice both. Maurice had been savoring chamomile tea and lemon scones.

‘This is inconvenient.’, he stated, drolly, continuing to sip his tea austerely. Marsupilami seemed to recall that he had a device to contact superheroes that he happened about thanks to meeting Aqualad just out of the blue. The two had encountered each other on a trip to the ocean. Marsupilami had come to make a seashell necklace for his beloved girlfriend as an engagement gift. Aqualad had, much to his chagrin, gotten a beverage plastic containment unit caught around his neck and was beginning to turn blue. Marsupilami reached inside his pocket and pulled out a tiny Swiss army knife and cut him free. The hero could breathe more freely now.

‘I love humans but their refuse can be problematic...’, he complained. Humans weren’t all bad but they had a tendency to be a bit sloppy when it came to garbage and cleaning up after themselves.

‘I’m giving you this tracker as a thank you for saving my gills, marsupial.’, the elegant hero stated, eloquently. Marsupilami chuckled.

‘I was only doing the right thing. Anyone would’ve done the same !’, he boasted somewhat. The tracker was iridescent, highly coiled and detailed as a tiny conch shell. Every time the light struck it, it shimmered and it was nearly transparent to the eye. He plucked a fur out of his coat and fashioned it into a necklace, stringing the tracker through it as a necklace. Remembering that and this moment currently, he pressed the tracker and knew Aqualad would get the blip on his screen somewhere in Atlantis.

Chapter 2—Waiting To Spring Into Action
Aqualad’s console had started going nuts. He knew Marsupilami was in danger but his psychic and psonic abilities clued him in that it was more than Marsupilami that was in danger. Leaving nothing to chance, he relayed Marsupilami’s tracker information to Aquaman, who in turn, sent the signal out to the Suicide Squad, Doom Squad, the Watchmen and anyone else within ‘ping’ radius.
‘Rangers, I’m receiving a very unusual alert, and I’m not certain what it’s from.’, Zordon said, with some concern in his usual monotone.
‘That looks like a signal coming from a Justice League tracker.’, Zach said astutely. All of the Rangers were familiar with the tech that the Justice League had at their disposal. Recognizing the distress signal, Somni clearly stated,

‘We have a bigger problem here. I’m not sure of how large an issue this is, but I get an inkling that whoever honed in on Angel Grove with this tracker isn’t the only soul in distress.’, she said, her voice cracking a little bit. Somni wasn’t the type to become frightened by much but the data she had gathered from the signal was enough to tell her that the next rescue would be one that would be challenging.

‘I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s someone the Justice League fought before.’, Alpha 5 stated matter-of-factly.   

Everyone looked at each other, and Delta gasped. She remembered Braniac, Vril Dox and Tanaleer in passing. She had never encountered them and didn’t much want to but she found that she had no other alternative.

‘We need to call the Justice League. Now.’, Delta said, with some force behind her timbre. The others already knew that this was a situation that had become quite serious and there was no need to be dallying. Other lives could be hanging in the balance. Without thinking too much, everyone gathered all the tech they could and steeled themselves for the unbelievable battle that would inevitably follow.

Chapter 3—Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me

Mike and Sully were going about their usual spiel of harvesting laughter for their world. Comedy had proven the easiest and more efficient way of getting power to fuel everything that the monsters did. It had been a while since they had seen Boo and most likely she had grown up. She didn’t play with Sully as she had in the past. After all, last Mike or Sully had heard from her, she was reaching double digits and ‘cool kids’ really didn’t talk about monsters any longer.

It was a typical night and it was Sully’s evening to collect laughter for the citadel. He had noticed a strange ship overhead, emitting light that had taken everything up with it. In one of the tractor beams was Mike, who was screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘put that thing back where it came from, or so help me… !’.

‘Mike ! Old buddy ! Who are these lunatics ! Why are they taking everyone ? Is that Boo ?!’, he thought to himself. Boo had been taken up, but she was clearly married and showing signs of becoming a mom. He was overjoyed but also terrified. Before he could call for help from the realm of unique trolls, all a part of their own musical genre, he was taken. Next came all the troll tribes and Toontown was the main course that the Skullship was about to devour.

Chapter 4—Unhand that City

Asimo, a perspicacious AI, had ‘sensed’ that the mechs should be activated as soon as possible. Somni could feel the oscillations in the air and knew that the Skullship was on its way. The Justice League had been contacted and they, as well as the Defenders, X-Force, Inhumans and Millenials had all arrived in their own way to what was going to be the battle of the century.

It seemed every kind of superhero, whether human with incredible artillery, intellect or savvy or supernatural being was present for this ultimate showdown. Mr. Ruebens, being the delightful big kid he often could be, was humming ‘The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny’ and his wife Yvonne couldn’t help but snicker at his impeccable timing. Like herself, he was dressed for the skirmish yet to come.

‘At least he’s chipper.’, she thought, while in her mind she wasn’t looking forward to fighting Braniac and his compatriots.

 'We've got to help the Toons !', Roger said in a panic. Lightly, Jessica smoothed his ears back and seductively stroked his chin. ‘We’ve got this under control, Roger. We’ll be back playing patty cake before you know it.’, she said, with a vixenish wink.

Braniac was nothing if not gargantuan, just as his collaborators were. They were the very epitome of intimidation but no one showed an inch of trepidation. Dox was the first to attack, using drones at his disposal. Cyborg just shook his head, swatting the annoying little things like the gnats they were. Everyone worked in tandem, much like the gracious arabesques of a ballet company and Tivan had enough.

‘STOP ! This is getting us nowhere ! So what if we wanted Toontown ! These collections are living things….’, he began.

‘That’s the beauty of it. They’ll become my little trinkets, beautifying my lonely little corner of the Universe...’, Dox agreed. They would all share and share alike, but Braniac knew the assistance would give him clout among these villains and he would gain more respect among the Injustice League. He could only watch helplessly as his chance began to slip from him since he was being held by Dr. Fate and Doctor Strange’s magical manacles and unable to fight back. The skirmish had come to a standstill and there seemed to be a silence in the air. Uncertainty lingered in the balance of it all, but it was Tivan who made the final decision.

‘We have other duties to perform. This won’t be our last fight. Don’t count on it.’, Tivan said. Tivan loathed losing but was willing to cut his losses and live to fight another day. With minor aches, pains and bruises, the collectors departed, brought in by intergalactic police for quite a few felonies. Braniac too, was processed and put behind bars in one of Gotham’s highest security prisons. At least there, he would be monitored but it seemed that Dr. Worm, Black Adam and a new villain named Sizzler were cooking up a new scheme that would involve Braniac and perhaps give Braniac the redemption and carry out the vendetta he had been laboring about for so long.

Chapter 5—Ice Cream Social

The 4^th went off without a hitch. Most people had bought their own fireworks and were relishing their own celebrations. It was a jovial, joyous time and everyone was having a blast despite the summer heat. Charitable organizations were savoring the celebratory atmosphere. It was well-warranted, too, given all the scrapes the Rangers had gone through to make certain evil didn’t botch this fine night of freedom whatsoever.

The sweet ending of the day was the ice cream social itself. Mr. Rubens had used his own money to make absolutely certain no one went without a cool treat for the evening. Some people enjoyed shaved ice, floats, ice cream sandwiches, lemon-ice floats, and anything one could envision for national ice cream month.

The evening was capped with glorious chrysanthemums, incredible sparkling streamers, oriental sky lights ascending to heaven and enough colors to brighten the nighttime sky. This earned everyone a well-deserved night’s sleep. Tomorrow would be the weekend, and the weekend was where the Rangers thrived.

Epilogue

‘They think its hot now, just wait until I turn up the thermostat to 11.’, Sizzler began.

‘You can use that melting touch to spring Braniac. So called ‘maximum security’, pheh. Don’t make me laugh. I freed Dr. Sivana in no time, and he made certain I was safe before I got back to Gotham.’, Dr. Worm said.

‘Speaking of which, where is the good Doctor ?’, Black Adam queried.

‘Waiting for our next teammate.’, Dr. Worm stated, pointing his wriggling tail at the jail. It would be only moments from now that the ragtag group would be adding Braniac to their nefarious plan. As a newcomer, Sizzler was hyped for the opportunity to really show the ‘big guns’ just how talented he truly was. He may have never done anything sinister, but helping to release Braniac would definitely get him a set in the Injustice League. Tonight, oh, yes, tonight, was definitely a night for a jail break.

To Be Continued...In ‘The Heat is On’, Sizzler and his cronies break Braniac free from Gotham and with the help of Sivana and Worm, Sizzler is able to begin heating up the earth, but this has massive consequences. It is up to all water elementals to build up the balance before the earth is nothing but scorched…