"Alright Byron, here's the deal," June started. "I don't trust you."
Byron sagged in his coat, each weasel sagging with it.
"But," June continued. "If what you say is true I can't ignore it. Are all those people cursed as well?"
Byron nodded. "They used ta be townsfolk I think. At least, there were a few that went with me to break the TV. I see 'em sometimes in the downtown area, smug smiles on their faces like the rest."
"Right, here's what we're going to do," June said. "You bring me to the TV and I'll smash it."
"Yeah I can do that," Byron answered. "But how you gonna stop from turning into one of them?"
"That's for me to know," June said.
The top weasel that was Byron's mouth nodded. The other two followed suit. "It's this way." He started to walk back into town.
"Hold on," June said. "I need to check out this silo first. Also, close that coat already, its kinda creepy seeing all those weasels."
"But…" Byron started. June had already turned back towards the silo and was making her way inside. Sighing, the sketchy man followed June inside.
The silo held a long row of metal cylinders. Pipes connected each row to a conveyor that stopped over the train tracks. June assumed that was where the grain was unloaded. She wasn't expecting to find any grain inside but the equipment used to load and transport grain could be repurposed into something. At least, she assumed it could.
Byron followed along, sticking to the shadows. It looked more like he was stalking June than waiting for her to finish exploring. Seeing a door, June walked forwards and pulled. It swung open with a loud creak.
June looked at the door, the hinges had rusted over a bit. That meant a good chance no one else was inside. The door wouldn't do that if someone used it regularly. Stepping inside, she found herself in an open space. Large concrete pillars held up the metal silos, all neatly lined in a row. Stepping past them, June looked for anything of use in the area. Finding nothing, she moved on upwards.
"Good, nothin' here. Can ya help now?" Byron said.
"In a minute," June replied. Her eye caught a flight of stairs leading up and out of the building. Byron followed along, the inside of his coat twitching.
The stairs led up to the roof of the building. The metal silos towered upward. Ladders were stationed at each silo and a walkway led from the stairs to another flight at the other side of the building. June saw all the pipes from each silo lead to the other side.
"Bingo," She said. She crossed the walkway and passed down the flight of stairs. Byron still followed behind, coat twitching more than ever.
At the bottom of the stairs sat the grain elevator. All sorts of machinery used to pump the grain up into the silos sat around. Some looked to be in disrepair but June nodded. It was a good haul. Three Cities could repurpose a lot of this, especially with Rover helping.
"I can't take it anymore!" Byron yelled. "I need to go back!"
The three weasels heads popped up through the trenchcoat.
"I need to go back!" One said.
"If we go back we die!" The second said.
"We could go back for a little bit!" The third compromised.
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June stared at Byron, wary that he might turn and attack her. Her hand rested on the hilt of her vibrosword. Byron's three weasels continued arguing with each other, the penciled faces animating more and more. The first was hysterically trying to force the others back to town. The second was doing the opposite, arguing that returning meant death. The third kept trying to calm the others down, to no avail.
Seeing he wasn't a threat yet. June took out a beacon she was given and set it next to the machinery. She turned it on and stepped back towards Byron. The beacon would allow Three Cities to return and salvage the machines. "Okay, we can go." She said to the weasels.
"Great! I know the way!" The three weasels said in unison. The first and third weasel dove back down into the coat and led June out.
She followed past the fence and back towards the toon town, all the while keeping alert just in case she was led into a trap. Her power hovered around her, ready to stop anything that might attack. Byron led her down a backstreet away from the city center. The houses here were bouncing along to the same internal tune from before. June saw that even Byron had a small hop in his step that increased as they reached their destination.
"It's in here," Byron said.
The house was no different than the rest, bouncing along. It had two windows in front, both with flower boxes under them. Also in front was a door, red and periodically opening. The walls were painted a nice yellow.
June watched as the windows and doors mimicked eyes and a mouth. The door would open and squash into a rounded O shape before snapping back closed. The windows would curve upwards as if excited. Other times the door would stretch out and the windows would curve upwards, leaving the house smiling. Overall the effect seemed a bit creepy on a realistic house.
"The TV's in there," Byron whispered.
June nodded. "Right, let's go."
The weasel that was Byron's head gulped and nodded. June walked forward, sword drawn. As she reached the door she waited until it bounced open and then used her power. The door opened wide in a large yawn and the two crept inside.
Waiting for them on the other side was a single television set. It was old, so old it had dials and knobs instead of buttons. The screen was flickering on and off with a grey cartoon. "Howdy boys and girls!" The speakers crackled. "Are you ready to have fun!"
June lowered her sword and stabbed it at the TV. Two cartoonishly large hands sprung out from each side of the television and caught the sword in a barehanded blade block. It pushed her sword to the side and then waved a finger to chastise her.
The two arms reached down to the underside of the television and pulled. Lanky legs unfurled and lifted the cursed object up. A face appeared on the screen, smiling pure joy. It put its hands up in a cartoonish boxer's stance, arms whirling around in place as it bounced up and down on its feet.
June swung her sword down and the toon TV punched it back. She stabbed forward in response and was met with the other fist trying to hit her in a cross. She flared her power and the toon jumped back, yawning and acting as if June wasn't even a challenge. June focused all her power on the TV and watched as a large bubble of snot appeared next to its nose. It shrank and grew as the TV mimicked sleeping.
June took the chance to attack with her sword again but hit a wall of something between her and the television. One of the hands produced a sign from thin air that read, "Five more minutezzz."
June tried again with the sword only for it to hit the wall again. Another sign appeared with, "She just doesn't get it, does she?"
It seemed she couldn't harm the monster while her power was active, some sort of strange power was at play. June thought back to her childhood when she'd sit around watching early morning cartoons. Older cartoons, the ones rerun because there was nothing better to put on, were like this. It was some sort of power that prevented harm. Though June figured it wasn't as powerful as those cartoons, or else this world would be in a lot more trouble.
She released her power and the toon sprang up back into boxer position. Looking around like someone had splashed water in its face. It locked eyes with June and whirled its arm around behind before throwing out a straight jab. June leaned to the side. The arm looped around behind her.
"Look out!" Byron cried.
June ducked down as the arm sailed over her head. She slashed upward with the sword, connecting with the arm and slicing it off. The television recoiled in horror as June stood, the severed arm flopping around like a dead fish. The other arm struck out and June dodged again. But it was a feint, the arm grabbed its severed arm and connected it back on. It waved around in a "ta-da!" like a magician performing stage tricks.
June stood ready. She was waiting for the next attack. It seemed the enemy's arms and legs were disposable in some way, but she wondered what would happen if she used her power on the limb. The television struck out again and June lopped the arm off once more. This time she focused her power onto the arm, which flopped limply then went still.
The monster tried to grab the arm again. June let it happen since she wanted to test it out. The arm looked to connect for a second, then fell down with a thump on the ground. The TV, confused, grabbed it again and placed it on its stump. Again it sat for a second before falling down. June smiled.
She charged forward swinging her sword in an arc. The TV tried punching back but June dodged around it, the first swing a feint. She repositioned and lopped off both the TV's legs, using her power on each as the separated. The toon fell to the ground with a thump! The final appendage was trying to connect the legs back on.
With it distracted, June pierced her sword into the screen of the TV. Metal met glass and sparks flew. Smoke billowed out from the television and June heard the words "Th-tha-th-that’s all folks!"
The legs and arms faded away and a blast of power released from the screen. It washed over June and Byron and continued through the entire town. June turned to see three people, not one, standing behind her.
"You did it!" One yelled. A woman. She ran over to June and threw her arms around in a hug. "Oh thank you!"
"I was so tired of being a weasel," Another said, this one a teenager.
The final one just nodded. He was an older man, closer to middle age than the others.
"Wait, you were all Byron?" June asked.
"I'm Bill," The old man said.
"Yvonne," Said the woman.
"Ron." Said the teen.
"The TV mixed us together into Byron there," Bill said. "We got a few memories from each of us but couldn't remember everything. Just knew we had to take out the TV to get to normal."
"Yep!" Yvonne said in agreement.
June just shook her head, this world was all sorts of insane. Oh well, at least she found materials to use.