He stood under the Gazebo, looking up at the static blue sky. He didn't need a phone line to be a toon anymore. He just needed this little corner of his hard drive.

Toby’s toon, a neon-blue duck named Sir Quacksalot, appeared in the middle of a deserted Toontown Central. There were no other players, no "SpeedChat" bubbles filling the air. It was eerie, like a theme park after midnight. He ran toward the Gag Shop, his footsteps echoing on the cobblestone. For the first time, the Cogs weren't a threat to his connection; they were just clockwork waiting for a pie.

He dug through a stack of CD-Rs until he found the one labeled with a crudely drawn Mickey glove. He popped it into the tray, and the Windows XP startup sound hummed in anticipation.