Mickey came to shortly after washing up on the bank at the bottom of Doomsday Falls. He was cold, wet, and his head was killing him.
"Oh boy, what a ride," he groaned. "You okay, Donald?"
Mickey waited for a response, but then realized Donald wasn't there.
"Donald?" he asked. "Donald! Hey, Donald, where are you?"
Mickey got up, and looked around. It was then he noticed he was at the bottom of Doomsday Falls.
"Omigosh!" he shouted. "We must've gone over the falls! But . . . . but how in the world could I have survived it?"
Mickey stood there, wondering about the whole thing, until another thought hit him. Usually, if someone went over Doomsday Falls, there would be some telltale sign (such as an impaled body on the rocks), and Mickey couldn't find any sign of Donald anywhere.
"Donald!" he called out. "Hey, Donald! Where are you?!"
Mickey walked downstream a little, and then stopped.
"Wait a minute!" he shouted. "Maybe Donald went to find help. After all, I was unconscious. Maybe I'd better stay here until he comes back."
So Mickey sat down on a nearby rock, and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. He waited so long, the sun was starting to set. Mickey sighed, stood up, and began heading for home. He figured he'd call Minnie and at least let her know he got home okay. Then maybe he'd call the rest of the gang, and they could go look for Donald.
"Mickey Mouse, where have you been all day?!" Minnie shouted, once Mickey called her. "Do you even know what time it is?! That hike with Donald couldn't have lasted this long!"
"Yeah, I know, Minnie," Mickey said. "It sort of . . . . didn't. I mean, I know I just got home and all, but . . . . . well . . . . ."
"Mickey, is something wrong?"
"Well . . . . yes. See, Donald and I got lost, and somehow, we wound up at Wabash-Your-Head-In River, and we fell in. Then we went over Doomsday Falls, and . . . ."
"You went over Doomsday Falls? And you're still alive to tell about it?!"
"Yeah, I know, it's crazy. But we did. Anyway, we went over the falls, but I couldn't find a trace of Donald. You know there's always some telltale sign that someone went over the falls. I figured he came to before I did and went to find help, but I waited for hours and he never showed up."
"I haven't seen him all day, Mickey."
"I was afraid of that. Listen, you call the rest of the gang, and we'll all go back to look for him, okay?"
"Okay, Mickey."
Within fifteen minutes, Mickey had returned to the bottom of Doomsday Falls, only this time accompanied by Minnie, Daisy, Scrooge, Goofy, Max, Pluto, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow. Launchpad was using his helicopter to search as well. Scrooge had also put his science advisor, Gyro Gearloose, on the job. He was using a small submarine to check under the falls.
"Doooonaaalllld!" Goofy called out.
"Donald, where are you?" Daisy asked.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Clarabelle sang.
"Olly, olly oxen free!" Horace called.
"Do you see anything, Launchpad?" Scrooge asked, via handheld transmitter.
"Negative, Mr. McDee," Launchpad said.
"How about you, Gyro?" Scrooge asked.
"There's no sign of Donald down here, Mr. McDuck," Gyro said.
"That might be a good thing, though, right?" Daisy asked, as she began to wring her hands, nervously. "It could mean he didn't drown, or hit the rocks, right?"
"Aye, lass, it could," Scrooge said, though he didn't sound so sure. He was thinking Donald could have also gotten swept into the river's current after landing from the falls, but he didn't say so. He didn't want to upset Daisy, as she was already nervous enough.
"Ach, this is all I need right now," Scrooge groaned. "First someone steals the Emerald of Chernoberus from the museum, and now this!"
"Don't worry, Scrooge, I'm sure Donald's okay," Minnie sad. "I hope."
"Having any luck, Pluto?" Mickey asked, as Pluto sniffed around. He looked up at Mickey, shook his head, and whimpered.
"Aw, that's okay, fella," Mickey said, patting his faithful friend. "I'm sure you'll pick up Donald's scent soon."
The group spent several hours searching the area, but came up with nothing. Everyone was starting to get tired.
"I say we call it a night," Scrooge said. "It's getting late."
"It can't be that late, can it?" Daisy asked.
"Gawrsh, my watch must be wrong," Goofy said. "It says it's one in the morning!"
"It is one in the morning, Dad," Max said, stifling a yawn. "We've been looking for Donald since nine thirty."
"Three and a half hours," Mickey said.
"I really don't think we're going to find Donald tonight," Minnie said.
"I agree," Scrooge said. "Let's all go home and get rested, and then we'll pick up the search tomorrow."
"I thought it already was tomorrow," Goofy said.
"Never mind, Dad," Max sighed.
"Good idea," Mickey said. "That way, we can get the police involved."
The others agreed, and started heading for home.
"Hey, Mickey," Horace said. "Just out of curiosity's sake, how did you manage to survive going down Doomsday Falls?"
"I really don't know, Horace," Mickey said, shrugging. "But if I survived, then maybe Donald did, too."
"I sure hope so, Mickey," Daisy said. "Where could he be?"
That was a simple question, but unfortunately, it didn't have a simple answer. Since Mickey had been unconscious, he didn't see the strange man on the strange bird fly off with Donald. It hadn't been an easy flight for the strange man. It had been a long flight, but Donald hadn't made it easy for him throughout the entire thing. He kept squirming and kicking, but the strange man had nerves of steel, it seemed, and a grip to match. After flying all night, the strange bird finally came in for a landing at a huge, creepy looking castle. Once the bird landed, the rider dismounted, and took the foul-tempered fowl inside, and down several staircases. Once he reached the very bottom, he threw Donald inside a cell. Donald smashed right into the wall, and slid to the floor slightly dazed. He got his wits back quickly, stood up, and raced for the cell door, only running into the bars as the strange man locked it.
"Hey, what's the big idea, you big palooka?!" Donald shouted. "Why I oughta . . . ."
Donald went into his famous "tantrum pose," and began squawking incoherently. Suddenly, Donald was flung against the wall, and the shackles that were hanging on it locked themselves around his wrists. He shook his wrists a little, and then tried pulling the chains out of the wall. He began squawking again, and jumping around, until a piece of rope appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, and tied itself tightly around Donald's bill. Then the strange man disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Watching this whole scene in the comfort of his own home was none other than Mortimer Mouse, via Chernoberus's sorcery on his television set.
"Excellent, everything is going according to plan," Chernoberus said.
"I don't follow, exactly," Mortimer said. "I mean, we had Mickey right where I wanted him, at Doomsday Falls. Why didn't we just impale him on the rocks? That way, I woulda had him out of my hair, and Minnie would be all mine by now!"
"I've told you before," Chernoberus said. "If we kill off Mickey Mouse, then Minnie would be in mourning, and she'd never give you a second thought. Besides, there are worse things than death, my friend."
"Yeah, but I still don't get how this is gonna ruin Mick's reputation, either."
"That part comes next."
Mortimer just shrugged, and went along with this. After all, if it would get Minnie all to himself, it was worth it.
Mickey's alarm clock went off at seven thirty. He woke up, yawned, and stretched. Then he got out of bed, went into the kitchen, grabbed Pluto's leash, and opened the back door.
"Here, Pluto!" he called. "Here, boy!"
Pluto got up, barked, and walked over to his master. He gave Mickey a couple of good morning slurps, and Mickey pet him.
"Okay, Pluto, okay!" Mickey shouted. "Easy, boy, easy! Come on, let's head out. We've got to get the gang together to look for Donald. We'd better get the police involved, too!"
Pluto barked in agreement. Mickey was about to clip the leash to his dog's collar, when there was a knock on the door. Mickey went to answer it, and found a policeman standing in front of him.
"Boy, you guys are fast," he said.
"Mickey Mouse, you're under arrest!" the policeman shouted, locking a handcuff around Mickey's wrist.
"Huh?" Mickey asked, confused.
The next thing the mouse knew, he was in the back of a police car, being whisked away to police headquarters. From there, he was fingerprinted (and glove printed as well), had a mug shot taken, and then thrown into a holding cell.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" he shouted. "I'm innocent, I tell ya! I didn't do anything! Really, I didn't! I don't even know what I didn't do!"
"Yeah, yeah," one of the officers said, waving his hand. "That's what they all say!"
"Well . . . . well at least you can tell me what it is I didn't do!"
"As if you didn't know, Mouse. You're under arrest for murder!"
"Murder?!"
"Yeah. You killed Donald Duck!"
Mickey's jaw nearly made a dent in the floor, and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets when he heard the charge. He couldn't believe it. Of course, this was the biggest news to hit Toontown in ages, and by the next morning, it was in all the papers.
"Extra, extra! Read all about it!" a local newsboy on the street corner shouted. "Mickey Mouse charged with murder of Donald Duck!"
"I can't believe it!" Clarabelle shouted.
"Neither can I," Minnie said. "It's just not true!"
"Minnie's right!" Daisy shouted. "This is Mickey Mouse we're talking about here! He'd never murder Donald!"
"He'd never murder anyone!" Minnie shouted.
Everyone else in town agreed, and several of Mickey's friends were marching outside police headquarters with signs that read "Free Mickey." Unfortunately, police Chief O'Hara refused, claiming they had evidence that proved Mickey had done the deed.