Chapter 31

Oswald jumped through the portal and looked around the old dilapidated train station and Mean Street Square. He looked around, gripping tight to the rock in his left hand as his right pointed his remote about as he took in the lack of blotlings. A singular toon stood, staring at Oswald in surprise, before running out of sight and down the street. Lowering the remote, Oswald turned back to the projector screen still showing Outback Ozzie, and tossed the rock through as their signal.

Oswald pocketed his remote and had just enough time to prepare himself as a box was thrown through the portal. Quickly he sat it aside in enough time to grab the next box that came through. Once the sixth box came through, Oswald stepped aside and waited for those Ortensia had gathered together.

Donald was the first to come through, landing in a roll with a bag held tight in his arms. He stopped a few paces away, his feet out to stop his roll, as he let out a curse.

Oswald stepped over to the duck and held out his hand. "Better landing than I figured," Oswald said with a smile.

"Like to see you do better," Donald grumbled, taking the hand to get to his feet while still holding onto the bag of food. He looked around and said, "Esh, I thought your Wasteland was a dump."

"Donald," Daisy's voice said as the girl landed crouched at the screen. She rose to her feet and took her bag to the box pile as she looked around. "Though you're kinda right."

"They've had it worst," Oswald tried as he and Donald walked back to the box pile.

"Whoa-ouch!"

Oswald turned to the portal and gave a knowing smile, seeing Goofy sitting just under the portal with the three bunches of bananas he had brought. "You okay, Goofy?" Oswald asked.

"I forgot how weird these portals were," Goofy admitted, getting to his feet.

Oswald passed Daisy, the girl putting the bags of food she had brought next to Donald's bag, as Oswald reached down to pick up one of the large bunches. Leading Goofy away from the portal Oswald offered, "I didn't make these, so they're a little rougher to go through."

"Are you sure all of the monsters have been taken care of?" Daisy asked.

Oswald looked over at her, seeing she still stood by the boxes and stared where the museum was in his world.

"Maybe not all of them," Oswald tried, sitting his bunch of bananas on the ground. He stood up and looked over at the pile of inert building material, hoping not to see movement but still put a hand on his remote in his back pocket.

"Is something wrong?" Mickey's voice asked, showing the rabbit he had come through the portal.

"I could've sworn I saw something," Daisy said, sounding unsure of herself.

"We'll just have to be careful," Oswald offered, removing his hand to look back towards the portal. "Sadie's isn't too far down the street."

Mickey stepped over to sit his three bags down by Daisy's feet and said, "It could just be a local toon. I mean, seeing new toons must be strange."

Daisy turned to the portal and crossed her arms over her chest. "What's taking Minnie so long?" she mumbled.

"Might as well start taking things," Donald murmured, leaning down to grab some of the grocery bags.

"You don't even know where to go," Daisy pointed out.

"Ozzie? Mickey?" Sadie's voice asked, getting the brothers' attention. Oswald turned and saw the girl following a bunny child Oswald found himself unable to name. She lacked her normal machine gun but still wore her scarf up high, almost covering her mouth from view. "What's all of this?"

"I said we'd be back," Oswald said with a laugh.

"This is Daisy, Donald, and Goofy. Minnie's on her way," Mickey offered, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to the portal.

"Pleased to meet you," Sadie offered with a smile. She looked back at Oswald and said, "I meant the amount. This is a lot to accept."

"But it's all for your family."

Oswald froze at Sadie's voice coming from behind him. Slowly he looked over his shoulder to see Ortensia carrying the last of the food, standing only a step away from the portal. "Ortensia!" Oswald cried out, worry building a pit in his stomach. He gave a glance back at Sadie before looking back at his wife and ordering, "Go back."

"You saw your other self, why can't I?" Ortensia retorted. Her eyes softened as she looked down at the bunny child. "It's nice to see 349 again as well."

Sadie smiled as she put her hands on her son's shoulders. "I thought Greg might be who you were talking about," Sadie offered.

Oswald looked down at the boy, realization hitting him as he tried to unknot the worry inside him. "I guess you're right," he mumbled. Turning to his wife, he held out a hand to silently signal for her to step up to his side. She sat down the bags in her hands as she stepped forward, taking his hand. "Sadie, this is my wife, Ortensia," Oswald offered. "Ortensia, this is Sadie."

"You've done a good job, keeping him straight," Sadie said with a smile.

"It hasn't been easy," Ortensia offered with a laugh.

The end

AN: In a way, this was supposed to be the ending of the season. I can't believe it ended up having 17 episodes! There is an 18th episode in the works but as of writing this it hasn't gotten far enough. If history repeats itself, my guess would be another 5 years I'll write more Oswald stuff.

Thanks for coming with Oswald and his family on this adventure of his.