Mortimer was pacing around his room, staring at the article from the paper. It was making him nervous.
"For heavens sake," Chernoberus sighed. "No one's going to find out about it! Nobody returns from No Man's Land!"
"Mickey just might," Mortimer said. "You know how it is. Fate's gonna smile on him, like it always does."
"All right, all right, if it'll make you feel better . . . ."
Chernoberus's image faded from the projection, and turned into an image of Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Figaro. Once Mortimer saw it, he groaned.
"Oh great!" he shouted. "Just great! He found the duck! Betcha ten to one they're on their way back here!"
"Have you forgotten, Mortimer? You possess my powers. You can do whatever you wish to that mouse, you know."
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Ha-cha-cha! I'll turn him into mouse flambe!"
"I strongly advise against that, Mortimer. You wouldn't want murder on your rap, would you?"
"Well, no . . . . but I can't have the little squirt coming back, now can I? Let me see . . . ."
Mortimer thought this over a little. Finally, he snapped his fingers.
"I got it!" he shouted. "I'll make sure Mickey doesn't come back, all right! I'll send him to the farthest away place imaginable! And, just to make sure, I'll have him wanted all over the world! And maybe even Cleveland, too! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Mortimer waved his hands around the emerald, and the magic powers got to work. In No Man's Land, a burst of wind suddenly appeared from what seemed like out of nowhere.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Donald shouted.
"Where did this wind come from?" Mickey asked.
Our heroes tried to walk through the wind, but it wasn't easy. Soon, the wind turned into a tornado, which began sucking everything in it's path into it's funnel.
"Yipe!" Pluto shouted, and he immediately began running in the other direction.
"Reeeooowww!" Figaro screeched, and ran after Pluto.
Mickey and Donald tried to do the same thing, except they didn't make as much progress. Donald was too weak to run very far, and he wound up falling flat on his stomach before long, and the tornado was gaining on him.
"Donald!" Mickey shouted, running back to where his pal had fallen. "Come on, Donald!"
"I don't know if I can make it," Donald said, panting.
"Come on, pal. I'll help you."
Mickey got Donald to his feet, but just as the two of them started running, they were caught up in the tornado, and spinning around inside of it. Pluto and Figaro continued to try to run for it, but wound up caught in it themselves. The foursome swirled around and around for quite awhile, until the tornado literally spat them out, one by one, and slowly disappeared. When the tornado spat our heroes out, however, Mickey was wearing Donald's sailor suit and hat, and Donald was wearing Mickey's shorts, shoes, and gloves.
"Wak!" Donald shouted.
"Yow!" Mickey shouted.
Quickly, the two of them ducked behind a tree, and changed back to their regular outfits.
"I wonder where we are now," Mickey said, looking around.
"Beats me," Donald said. Then he groaned, and held his head. "Oooohhh, I still feel dizzy from the tornado!"
"You'd better sit down and rest for awhile. I'll figure out where we are. Pluto, you and Figaro stay here with Donald."
Pluto barked, and saluted. Figaro curled up next to Donald and took a cat nap. Mickey walked down the path, looking around. He came to what looked like an old village, straight out of a fairytale. He walked over to a huge blacksmith, hammering a horseshoe against an anvil.
"Uhhh, excuse me, Mr. Smithy," he said. "But, uhh, where am I?"
"This is the village of Dragonwilde," the smithy said.
"Dragonwilde?" Mickey asked. "Gee, that name sounds familiar."
"And who, may I ask, are you, stranger?" the smithy asked.
"Oh, the name's Mickey. Mickey Mouse."
Mickey stuck out his hand for a handshake, but the smithy just looked at him, strangely. Then he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and studied it.
"Mickey Mouse, you said?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Mickey said. Suddenly, the smithy grabbed Mickey by the back of his neck, and picked him up.
"You're coming with me," he said.
"I am?" Mickey asked. "Where?"
"To the authorities. I'm gonna be rich after turning you in!"
"Huh? Turning me in? You mean . . . . you mean I'm . . . ."
The smithy showed Mickey the piece of paper he had been studied, and sure enough, it was a wanted poster, reading:
WANTED FOR MURDER: Mickey Mouse. One Million Dollar Reward (or one million of whatever your currency is)
"Oh no," Mickey said. "I don't believe it!"
"Yessir, once I turn you in, I can quit this job," the smithy said.
"Wait a minute, pal, I'm not a murderer! Really, I'm not! I was framed!"
"Tell it to the authorities."
Mickey continued to plead with the smithy as he was being carried down the street. Luckily, his pleads didn't go unheard. Pluto looked over, and happened to see the smithy carrying Mickey, and his keen ears picked up the conversation. He began growling, took off running toward the smithy, and wound up giving him a good chomp in the posterior.
"YEOW!" the smithy shouted, and ultimately dropped Mickey.
"Thanks, Pluto, ol' pal!" Mickey shouted. "Come on, let's get Donald and Figaro, and get out of here!"
"Hey you!" the smithy shouted. "Come back here!"
Immediately, Mickey and Pluto raced back to where they left Donald and Figaro. Both of them were asleep. Pluto grabbed Figaro by the nape of the neck, while Mickey grabbed Donald's shoulders, and shook him to wake him up.
"Wake up, Donald!" he shouted. "We've got to get going!"
"Going?" Donald asked, groggily. "Going where?"
"Anywhere! Come on, wake up!"
Donald groaned, and got to his feet, unsteadily. Mickey had to help balance him.
"Come on, we don't have much time to lose!" he shouted.
Donald groaned again, and tried to run, but there was no way he was going to make it, and Mickey knew it. He also knew he just couldn't up and leave Donald there. He looked around, and saw a wheelbarrow leaning against a wall.
"Ah ha!" he shouted. He let Donald go (resulting in the duck falling over flat on his back), raced over to the wheelbarrow, grabbed it, and pushed it back to his pal.
"This should help us move faster," he said, helping Donald into the wheelbarrow. Pluto put Figaro (who was still napping) on top of Donald's stomach. Then, Mickey started running.
"Hey, you!" a voice called out. "Stop! Come back here with my wheelbarrow!"
"Sorry, mister!" Mickey called back. "But I need to borrow it for awhile!"
"Stop, thief!" the owner of the wheelbarrow yelled. "Somebody stop that mouse!"
Mickey and Pluto began to run faster, as several villagers started chasing after them. Mickey looked behind him to see how close the villagers were, but he really should have been looking where he was going. He would up running the wheelbarrow into a big rock, which catapulted Donald, Figaro, and himself into the air. Pluto barked and ran after them. Mickey, Donald, and Figaro wound up flying into a fruit cart, being pulled by a horse.
SPLAT!
"Oh boy!" Donald shouted. "Food!"
Immediately, Donald began eating, but the owner of the cart didn't look very happy.
"I hope you are able to pay for this, my good sirs," he said, glaring at both Mickey and Donald.
"Oh, gosh," Mickey said, digging through his pockets. "Uhh, you have any money on you, Donald?"
"Nope," Donald said. "I'm broke."
"So am I," Mickey said. "Ah heh, heh, heh. Eeehhh."
Before anything else could happen, Pluto jumped into the cart, on top of a bunch of bananas. The force of the jump caused the bananas to pop out of their skins, and hit the owner of the cart in the face.
SPLAT!
"Uh oh . . . ." Mickey said, nervously.
"Police!" the owner shouted.
"I think we'd better get out of here," Donald said.
"Right," Mickey said. He grabbed the reins, and flicked them to get the horse to go. "Giddyap!"
The horse whinnied, and then started running.
"I hope you know how to drive this thing," Donald said.
Mickey didn't answer. He just flicked the reins harder and harder to get the horse to go faster. Donald began peeling some more bananas, and tossed the peels on the ground. The villagers who were chasing them wound up stepping on the peels, and sliding on them. Unfortunately, Mickey was having trouble controlling the horse, and wound up driving the cart through the whole village market place, destroying everything in sight.
"Whooooaaaa, whooaaaa!" he shouted. "Steady there, big fella!"
Mickey jerked the reins, and the horse whinnied, reared up on it's hind legs, and then took off running for the woods, going over some very rugged terrain.
"Hey, Mickey!" Donald shouted. "Stop this crazy thing!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Mickey shouted.
"Look out for that ditch!" Donald yelled, pointing up ahead.
Mickey jerked the reins one more time, as hard as he possibly could.
"Whoa, horse!" he shouted. "Whoa, whoa!"
The horse saw the ditch, and made a sharp turn in the other direction. Unfortunately for our heroes, the trip over the rugged terrain had loosened the horse's harness, and when the horse turned, it came loose from the cart, and the cart went into the ditch.
"Whoooooaaaaa!" Mickey shouted.
The cart not only went into the ditch, it hit a rock on the way down, turned over, and began rolling. The cart then crashed to the bottom of the ditch in pieces. Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Figaro had been scattered around when the cart started rolling. Pluto and Figaro were a bit dazed, but okay, otherwise. Mickey felt extremely dizzy.
"Whoa," he groaned. "What a ride. Everybody all right?"
Pluto barked and Figaro meowed, but there was no answer from Donald. Mickey looked around, and found Donald, laying unconscious amid the wreckage of the cart.
"Donald!" Mickey yelled. He ran over, and began trying to move the wreckage off of his friend.
"Hang on, Donald," he said, straining with a board. "I'll . . . . enngghh . . . . have you . . . . . hrrrmmph . . . . outta here in . . . ."
Before Mickey could finish his sentence, one of the wheels from the cart became dislodged as Mickey was trying to move the wreckage, fell, and hit the mouse directly in the head.
KLONK!
Mickey saw stars and chirping birds, groaned, and then fell backward onto the ground in an unconscious heap.
