C CH CHA CHAP CHAPT CHAPTE CHAPTER 7
"Who are you, may I ask?" inquired the mouse kindly. She was obviously queen of the castle—she wore a bejeweled dress and had the crown to match.
"We're…um…"
"This is incredible!" Ethan exclaimed. "Minnie Mouse! I must say, ma'am, it's an honor to meet such a famous cartoon character—"
"Oh, why thank you," Minnie said. "But, if I may ask, how have you heard of me? I do not believe we have met."
"How have we heard of you?" Ian asked incredulously. "Who hasn't heard of you? You're one of the most famous cartoons in the world!"
"In this world, maybe," Minnie agreed modestly. "But I do not think that you are from this world. Am I correct?"
At first stunned that she had known such a thing and then guessing that they probably stood out from the other cartoons Minnie was most likely used to seeing in her kingdom, the five friends nodded. Still, that didn't explain how she was taking visitors from another world so calmly. Perhaps, as Claire had gotten here, this world was frequented by interdimensional travellers of all kinds.
"Then what world are you from?" Minnie inquired. "Oh, I pray that you are not from a world that has been destroyed?"
"Been destroyed?" Kattus said, a little uneasily. "Is that…common?"
"Increasingly so, I'm afraid," Minnie relented. "But if you had not known this, then surely your world must still be untouched by the terrible unknown tragedy that causing the stars to go out?"
"Not that we know of," Amber answered. "At least, I hope our world is safe from—from whatever 'tragedy' you're talking about."
"It must be," Minnie sighed with relief. "Trust me, you would have known if your world was afflicted. But how did you come here from your own world, wherever that may be? Chief gummi engineers Chip and Dale did not report any ships docking today."
"Gummi engineers?"
"Chip and Dale? Like the chipmunks?"
"What kind of ship?"
Minnie looked confused, her tail swishing in uncertainty. Furrowing her brow, she said "Do you mean to tell me that you did not come here from the destruction of your world, but you did not come here by gummi ship either? How can this be?"
"Portals," Ethan answered. "We came here via portal. As far as we know, it's a rare thing in our world as well, so we wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't heard of such a means of travel."
"Do you mean the corridors of darkness?" Minnie said, shocked. Then, relenting, "But I do not sense any darkness about you; you surely must speak of some other portals—but how can this be? Travel between the worlds through any other means is impossible!"
"Not for us," Kattus said with a smile.
"We don't entirely understand it ourselves, ma'am," Nathan said. "But we're here looking for the cause of those portals—one of which is actually still open in your throne room. We'd close it if we could, but the person who opened it—and the only person who can close it—was kidnapped by someone called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit."
"Oswald?" Minnie exclaimed, clearly taken aback. "Surely you jest—I thought Oswald was just a myth!"
"A myth who tried to kill us with his other cartoon ghosts," Ian mumbled.
"What do you know about Oswald?" Ethan asked.
"All I know about the 'Lucky Rabbit' is stored in a book in the library," Minnie said, beginning to look worried. "Come, I will show you, for if what you say is true, then we and all of Disney Castle—perhaps even the worlds at large—are all in grave danger!"
Minnie rushed to two slightly smaller double doors down the balcony, to the right of the doors to the throne room. Inside was a curving and warped bookshelf facing a richly ornamented desk with quills and parchment ready for writing.
With a snap of her fingers, Minnie caused a book to fly into her hand. The others, despite all that had happened in the past half-hour or so, took a step back in surprise at the magic.
"This is the tome of the forgotten," Minnie said, laying the book out on the desk. It was large and thickly bound with what seemed like leather. "It is not a book to be taken lightly."
"Why is that?" Nathan asked, voicing what the others. "And how can you have a 'book of the forgotten?' Don't you have to remember something before you write a book about it?"
"All who wrote this book have long been lost to the ages," Minnie explained. "This is all that remains of their travels and tales. In fact, the book's official name is The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; we only call it the book of the forgotten because though the book mentions things in the past that we know took place, nobody is alive to remember actually having witnessed them, or the people they happened to. This book is all that survived of that time, a record of the forgotten."
"And even that won't survive for much longer!"
The five friends and Minnie turned abruptly to see Oswald the Lucky Rabbit himself, a sack slung over his shoulder and some sort of electrical device in his hands, which sparked noisily.
"How did he get in here?" Minnie squealed, recognizing the rabbit. "The doors never opened, and they're the only entrances to the library!"
"He must be using Claire to open portals for him!" Ethan said grimly, brandishing his Keyblade. "But he won't for much longer!"
Ethan jumped towards the evil bunny, Keyblade raised, only to be sent flying backwards with a touch of the rabbit's electrical device.
"Uh-uh-uh!" Oswald said with a smirk. "And I wouldn't do that again if I were you—or the girl gets it!"
Oswald unslung the pack from his shoulders and undid the top just enough to where Claire's head could be seen.
"CLAIRE!" Ethan yelled. "Release her right now or I'll—"
"Or you'll what?" Oswald spat back. "I'm in charge here!"
As if to prove his point, the rabbit shocked Claire with the electrical device, causing her gagged mouth to cry out in pain. Her eyes looked to the five friends desperately.
"Now, my dear," Oswald whispered into Claire's ear. "Open up as many portals as you can—or you get the zapper again!"
Claire shook her head furiously, refusing. The onlookers admired her strength—Ethan certainly knew the threat of the 'zapper,' as Oswald had called it, was not one to be taken lightly.
"Fine then, we get to do this the fun way!" Oswald laughed maniacally.
He jabbed Claire in the neck with the zapper, causing electricity to crackle around her as she cried out in pain. Involuntarily, Claire caused several portals to open—and quite suddenly an invisible sucking force began drawing The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit towards it, whilst other vacuum-like forces began to rip page after page out, sending the flying around in a white whirlwind before they vanished through one of the many invisible portals.
"No!" shouted Minnie as the book disappeared.
"Now the only real weapon you could have had against me is scattered to the worlds!" Oswald screamed through the winds of the portals.
"And so are you, JERK!"
The occupants of the library turned in surprise at the new voice—Claire's. Somehow, she had wriggled her way out of the bag Oswald had imprisoned her in and, though she was bound hand and foot, had just enough freedom in her legs to send Oswald flying with a kick.
He landed right in the middle of the maelstrom of portals, suddenly began being ripped apart with a horrible scream.
"This isn't over!" his mouth shouted before it disappeared. "I'll make you all pay for this!"
"Over my dead body!" Ethan called back.
But just before Oswald disappeared completely, his arm flew off—only to be caught by the other arm and used as a doubly-lengthened appendage with which he grabbed Claire.
Claire screamed and tried to kick the two armed-arm away as well, but it grabbed onto her foot and pulled her closer to the space Oswald was even now disappearing from. With a flash, Claire was gone as well, though she wasn't pulled apart the same way the ghost-cartoon had been—though there was no way of knowing where she had gone, or even through which portal, as they were all invisible.
