“Somewhere you’ll be safe from everything in the studio.I just have to figure out where that could be.”
Alice isn’t sure about this stranger, she can tell that their a toon but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll be safe here. Angry ink creatures could come from anywhere and she’s afraid that they’ll attack the stranger even if they are a toon.
“…Safe from everything…?” the Repairman echoed, confused. He still distrusted that machine, and the weird ink that came out of it, but the place didn’t seem…that bad.
“I appreciate the concern,” he said, “but I also have a job to do here. What kinds of things are you worried about?”
He knew whatever trouble there was, it might be a good idea to finish up around here. At least if he couldn’t get out right away, he wouldn’t have a blinking red siren light revealing his hiding place.
The door opened, and a small inkblot peered into what he hoped was a shop.
“Um…hello…?” the Repairman called, being careful not to intrude. “Is…this the local store…?”
He took a cursory look around, and risked a step in. For some reason, no one was willing to give directions to a small, featureless, non-fitting inkblot around here. He just hoped that his lack of literacy in Ancient Hylian wasn’t failing him now…
“O-oh, okay,” the Repairman sighed, in a bad falsetto. He knew that dressing as a Boy Scout wasn’t going to work, but some Toony part of him had to try it.
He left, putting some distance between himself and the facility before taking off that stupid getup. He wondered how that shop had ready-made disguises for inkblots.
Well, he had to get to that break in the Wall somehow. Plan B: package for Cortex Power. He prepared a crate.
“Hm? Who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.”
The Fourth Wall Repairman froze. He had always run into… issues in this universe. He wasn’t often called out, but now that he was…
He turned to see a floating mask with an ominous red aura. Granted, this universe hosted all kinds, but the inkblot still had the feeling he needed to tread carefully.
“I’m just a maintenance worker,” he replied. “I travel a lot, so you probably haven’t seen me.”
“Ba-hahahahaaah! I can’t believe you actually FELL for that!”
The mechanical bird crowed with laughter, pulling a string to reveal that the tunnel was indeed fakely painted on a wall.
The Repairman had been trying to take a shortcut through the backstreets of ToonTown this time, to see if he could fix the Fourth Wall any faster that way. The dimmer colors became a blur as he raced towards the tunnel ahead. The inkblot took a moment to look at the stopwatch in his hand.
BAM!
The push cart he was speeding with crumpled, and the stopwatch flew into the air as the Repairman’s blobby form flew face-first into the painted wall with a SPLAT!
As he slumped to the floor, somewhat dazed, he looked up at the chicken who was apparently responsible for this. He wasn’t sure of the reason the robot did this, or even if there was a reason. This was, after all, ToonTown, the hub universe for all characters drawn, animated, or rendered.
Still, the Repairman seemed to be in no danger yet (and his assailant didn’t look very threatening).
“Yeah,” he said, somewhat sheepishly, "I guess I should have seen that coming.“
“I swear, I was nowhere near the fourth wall this time. I was over by the second wall when it happened.” Wakko crossed his fingers behind his back. “Did you ask Slappy the Squirrel? I heard she was near the fourth wall at the time.” If the Repairman managed to survive an encounter with Slappy, he was definitely well-suited for his job. But Wakko wasn’t planning on sticking around to find out. As soon as the other Toon turned his back, the middle Warner would be long gone.
This time? As in, he was aware of how much he did it before? Granted, this wasn’t too surprising, seeing how often the Repairman had to visit this place, but still, this… character knew and did it anyway? And tried to blame it on other repeat offenders?
“Oh?” the Repairman pressed, suspicious of the other. “Then why is the break here and not where this Slappy is?”
“Well, ‘ello there, mate,” the giant shark bellowed, his towering body casting a deep shadow over the stranger before him. “What’s yer name?”
The Repairman blinked through his visor. Beat-up and scratched as it was, he still had a hard time missing the Great White that was in front of him.
He had met a few sharks in his time, some nicer than others, so he was hardly surprised when this one greeted him. What baffled him was the fish’s casual acceptance of a blob of ink swimming in front of him, clad in a very aged rubber SCUBA suit. The Repairman had assumed this universe was a bit more reserved than that.
Still, the Repairman was not one to complain, so he just cleared his throat.
“Well, I don’t have a name," he said, guardedly, ”just a job. How about you?“
A smile spread across his maw. With taloned fingers intertwined, the reptilian overlord was filled with glee. What a delucious scenario before him.
“A dimensional rip… In which a multitude of different possibilities have spilled into one universes.”
One million possibilities to kill her.
One billion versions of himself to form an army.
An infinite multiverse to conqure.
“Delicious.” whispered Ridley.
Squeak, squeak, squeak….
The Repairman pushed his old cart forward. It was old, rusted, and one wheel squeaked in a dramatic mood-killing manner.
For one reason or another, the Repairman liked the squeaky wheel, and has thus kept the old trolley.
Squeak, squeak, squeak…
It currently had two toolboxes on it. One was blue, and contained plenty of viewing apparatus, as well as a microphone. His favorite, though, was the red toolbox, which had… everything else. That one rattled a bit, though not enough to drown out the squeaking.
Squeak, squeak.
The small inkblot stopped, having reached the rift. Parking his cart to the side, he opened his blue toolbox and pulled out a telescope. He began to study the rift, looking for any signs of…that universe. That creepy-looking dimension where nothing looked quite right, the one he was created to separate the normal, animated worlds from.
He was so focused on this rift that he didn’t even notice the huge reptilian figure that was nearby.
Siblings-a-Fixin' 