The Playground Wars

Chapter Eleven

General Cheese closes the doors behind me and leaves me with Flippy. Alone. I scan the room quietly as Flippy walked to another room.

"I have always wanted to see you in person, Oswald," Flippy tells me. I just nod, reluctant to even respond. The clean, wooden floor hardly creaks as he walks. Flippy then comes back to me with a tray of tea.

"Care for some?" he asks, as he holds up a cup of tea. I was near dehydration in the Airship. I quickly grab the cup as if it worth my whole life. I drink as Flippy walks and guides me through a hallway of portraits and pictures. We eventually reach a door, unique unlike the other ones. It's borders are lined with silver mixed with gold, and it is taller than the doors next to it. The green paint on its surface hasn't faded away; it's like new. Flippy opens the door to reveal a bedroom, big enough for two toons.

"Wait here, I'll be back," he says, and closes the door behind him. I look around the fancy bedroom, which looks really formal and high- tech. My attention draws to the curtains covering a huge window. I open the curtain, but the only thing behind it is the red and maroon wall. I let out a sigh. I was really hoping to get a view of the HQ to plan my escape from this dreaded place. Flippy is going to kill me now or later; I can't stay here too long.

Next to the big bed is a remote, sitting on the surface of a table. The only buttons are ones that has an arrow going to the left and right. I press the arrow pointing to the right, and the wall that was behind the curtain starts showing a view of the woods. It's so real. "How do they do that?" I think to myself.

"Amazing, right?" Flippy says as he walks in. "Actually, the cogs helped me build it. They have really smart brains for being a robot! Wish I could be like them!" he then says enthusiastically. I give him a nod, not really paying attention to what he says. It's the woods I'm interested about. I want to go home, not the Donald's Dreamland home or the Acorn Acres home. A new home, far away from Toontown and Toonbot HQ. A new home where I can finally live in peace.

Flippy sets a tray of food on the table where the remote is.

"So why am I here?" I ask, hoping not to upset him. He gives out a laugh, but not in the same tone as before. It's a little deeper, and more uncomfortable.

"Read the note left on the tray. I'll be back after my meeting with the Cog Council. Feel free to explore the wonders of Toonbot HQ Office Tower!" he says, walking towards the door to leave.
"Oh, and Oswald?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't go into the rooms you're not supposed to go into. You'll know when you see the signs."

"Okay...." Already the restricted room Flippy is talking about increases my curiosity. I'm about to pretty much die, right? It doesn't hurt anyone if I peek into the rooms. Flippy said something about a note, though. I grab the note from the tray and begin to read.

Oswald,

Welcome To Toonbot HQ! It seems that you and your friends are the only ones to know about this place.... So I'm offering you a deal. Tell me where the Acorn Acres hideout is and I'll let Cuddles and Wacky Dog go free. If not, hear me well. I will literally kill your friends in front of your face, and find the hideout myself. It's your choice Oswald, and you only have three days to make up your mind. I know the only reason that you're in this mess is to save them, right? Isn't that why your friends travelled all the way here?

Well let me teach something to you about friends. They are stinking, lying jerks. You think they have your back when they don't. They force you into doing things they like, but you don't. Heck, your "friends" left you at my attack on Donald's Dock, didn't they?

That's why you are here: they didn't save you.

Think twice before you choose your friends. They'll betray you the second you look away.