Chapter 1

"Hey, look who's making their appearance at the grand re-opening!" A booming voice laughed as Oswald and Ortensia walked into the old Misadventures Club and Bar.

"Hey Jack, glad to see this place as busy now as it was in its hay day." Oswald smiled, looking over at Horace who was sitting at the bar.

"If that's supposed to be a horse joke, it's lacking bounce." Horace retorted before taking a sip of his soda.

"Before you two get on a very bad pun war, Horace shouldn't you be in your detective agency?" Ortensia asked. "I've heard a lot of people have needed your help lately."

"That's actually why he's here." Jack admitted, leaning over the bar to look at the two. "You remember when we had the rubbish cup here, back before the Thinner Disaster? Well I had hired Bitsy and her twin, Mitsy to help out here so I figured I'd offer them the job again, but they've gone missing. And truthfully, I never saw them during the actual disaster but then again, I stayed in the loft above here for almost all of it."

"They were the Mousin twins, right?" Ortensia asked, trying to remember the two.

"Ya, they worked with Mickey back in the early days when he even looked more mouse like." Jack admitted, eyeing Oswald as everyone knew the rabbit used to hold grudge against anyone who mentioned Mickey. Seeing no change in the rabbit's face, he continued, "They used to live over in the loft with Horace but…"

"I haven't seen them in a long while." Horace admitted with a sigh. "How bad is it that, being a forgotten toon myself I still manage to forget a toon. Even more they were my neighbors!"

"You can't remember everyone." Ortensia tried, seeing their friend's long face.

"I'll find them though." Horace promised.

The doors burst opened, getting everyone's attention as a blue clad gremlin floated in and stopped in front of Oswald. "Uncle Gus told me I'd find you here. There's these creatures attacking the castle!"

"Marcus, what are you talking about?" Ortensia asked, confused.

"Blot creatures, ma'am." Marcus tried to explain, his voice still in gasps from being in a hurry. "At least twenty of them. In Dark Beauty Castle."

"Be careful." Ortensia whispered, knowing her husband was going to go.

"I always am." Oswald quickly stole a kiss before turning to the gremlin. "Lead the way." Oswald ordered, ready to defend his world again as he followed the gremlin out the door.

"I'm coming with you." Horace called out, close behind them.

"It's going to take us forever to get through Gremlin Village." Oswald complained, gaining toon's attentions as the three rushed down Mean Street.

"Ortensia didn't tell you?" Marcus asked, looking back at the rabbit in surprised. When noticing Oswald's confused look he took as a no, he explained, "She asked us to fix the train tracks going between here and the castle first. It's still not publicly operational, but we can take it and get there in about five minutes."

"You gotta love that woman." Horace said, smiling at Oswald.

"Come on, Plowboy." Oswald rolled, leading the way into the old train station.

"Hey, don't disrespect my good cartoons." Horace said, following the two inside.

Avoiding the gremlins and their reconstruction of the train station the three exited out the rear and followed their gremlin guide to the engine sitting alone on the tracks.

"Please tell me no paint was used in the tracks?" Oswald asked, knowing what used to be an orange grove around the edges of their world was now a sea of thinner.

"One hundred percent inert, don't worry." Marcus said, as he quickly shoved a shovel of coal into the fire. He released the breaks before moving the lever to apply and the train started forwards. As the train engine slowly increased in speed, Oswald and Horace got a look at the edge of their world for the first time in years.

A narwhal inert prop fought the thinner seas from ravaging it being the biggest object their eyes fell onto. On its back held old Disney Land and uncompleted Disney World attractions. The original designs of E.P.C.O.T., or Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow as Walt had wanted, sat, silhouetted by the setting sun behind it. A building stood out with the letters HOLLYWOOD SO hanging on as the building itself was lacking the will.

The setting sun gave everything the three saw hues of orange as Oswald, for the first time, saw the old Disney Studio's water tower and smiled. The big round ears now meaning something good-no, someone good was out there still.

"What's that?" Oswald asked, noticing what looked like a smoke stack far off in the distance.

Marcus turned to see what Oswald was pointing to and explained, "Those are some of the older thinner pumps. Gremlins still man them in hopes we can finally clear out all this thinner."

"I remember them. Ya'll built them in the nineties, right?" Horace checked.

"Ya, I was one of the Gremlins in charge for a while." Marcus admitted.

"I wonder if there's anything father then the thinner seas." Oswald thought out loud.

"I don't think there would be." Marcus offered. "The train tracks were always supposed to go all around Wasteland, and this is as far out as it went. We used the old layout as a blueprint. Here's Dark Beauty."

Oswald and Horace moved to see out the left windows as the castle came into view. Marcus pulled the lever back into running, slowing down the train gently. The train engine stopped just inside the train station, at the back entrance of the castle.

"What was it you said was attacking the castle?" Oswald asked, hopping out of the engine with Horace at his tail.

"Blot creatures." Marcus said, floating behind the two as they made their way through the ground floor of the castle, all three on alert.

"You mean like the Spatters and Slobbers?" Horace asked.

"No, more like those toons that were inside the blot." Gus' voice said as the gremlin appeared next to them. The gremlin tossed Oswald his remote as he kept up with them. "I'm glad you're here, Oswald. We've been able to force them back outside, but anything made of paint gets dissolved by their touch."

"Well, we're lucky this castle's made from inert stone." Horace said, eyeing Oswald.

Oswald shook his head at the bad attempt of a pun before turning back to Gus. "Hey, if they wanted to get in, why just the front door?"

"We never said these toons had any brains." Gus deadpanned. He lead them through groups of gremlins and black and white worker toons before leading them to the barricades at the castle's gates. "We can't even tell why they want in."

"Has any toon got hurt?" Oswald asked, moving so that he could see the dark purple and green toons through the windows. The one closest to the glass noticed Oswald and screeched before clawing at the window franticly. Oswald instinctively flinched away before realizing the creature couldn't get in.

"Only one, sir." A millenarian voice said.

Oswald turned to the voice, surprised to find a gremlin saluting him. "At ease. Are they alright?"

"Yes sir!"

"Gremlin Serge!" a voice called out, getting Oswald to nod at the unmoving gremlin. Gremlin Serge saluted back before floating away to the mechanic that had called his name.

"Why do I feel like I rejoined the military?" Oswald asked, turning back to watch as the creatures outside pushed against the door with enough force for it to cave inwards.

"He lives in Wisterburg* still." Gus explained. "I think he still helps the British even."

"Anyway we could try and get Mickey here?" Marcus asked, "I'm sure that magic paint brush would help greatly."

"There's gotta be a way to bring them back to their senses." Horace offered. "I mean, these are those toons you told me had been absorbed by the blot, right?"

"Can we try to catch one of 'em?" Oswald asked, looking at his gremlin friends.

"Well… there is enough of them out the front door." Marcus said, thinking. "If we shoot out a net from the balcony we should be able to get at least one of them."

"Then come on, I've got a net that should work up stairs." Oswald said, leading the three towards the stairs.

-.-.-.-

"Alright, dropping it in three." Oswald said, his remote held between his head and shoulder acting as a radio at the moment to Gremlin Serge. In his hands he held tight to the net over the banister of the balcony. "Two." The rabbit looked over at Horace, getting a nod from the horse before checking on the two gremlins floating above the chaos below. "One, release!"

The net dropped down, startling the creatures into running away. Oswald leaned over and smiled at seeing one tangled in the net. He quickly shot down a beam of electricity and stunned the toon before radioing Gremlin Serge. "Ok, drag that one into the dungeon."

"Yes sir." Came the response.

"Dark Beauty has a dungeon?" Horace asked, eyeing the rabbit.

"It wouldn't be much of a castle if it didn't." Oswald pointed out.

"Sir, word coming in from OsTown." Gremlin Serge's voice said, drawing their attentions back to the remote in Oswald's hand.

"What is it?" Oswald asked.

"More of those creatures have been spotted climbing over the walls surrounding the town." Gremlin Serge informed.

Horace pulled Oswald's hand that held the remote closer to him and said, "Tell them to stay in the houses, we'll be right over." Horace let go of Oswald before rushing back into the castle. He turned back to the three and asked, "Well, aren't you coming?"

"We'll start seeing if anything works on the creature down below." Gus said before the two gremlins teleported from sight.

"Come on, there's a portal up in my old office that connects with Ortensia's basement." Oswald said, smiling. "You know, you and Clarabelle's getting worst then Mickey and Minnie."

"How's that?" Horace asked as he followed the rabbit higher in the castle.

"At least them two are dating."

Horace eyed the rabbit before saying, "We did date."

"Ok, and?"

"She called it off."

"I'm sure Ortensia's been told different." Oswald pointed out, remembering his wife telling him Horace had broken the engagement.

"Let's just get to OsTown." Horace growled.

*Wisterburg is the land I have all the war toons living in. More explained about them in Epic Minnie.