Back at Mean Street, Oswald checked his radar. "Looks like it's over at Fort Wasteland."

Mickey leaned in, looking at the remote. The screen displayed a very bare-bones map of Wasteland, outlines defining only the basic terrain and roads. Prominent landmarks were marked with small icons. At the very top portion of the screen, a white dot flashed, emitting ripples with a small pinging sound.

"Aren't all the Blotlings there reformed now?"

"Yeah," Oswald replied. "But there's been a lot of issues between 'em and the local Toons. Lots of folks are still pretty uneasy havin' 'em around."

"I'll bet," Mickey commented.

"Yeah, can't say I'd be too comfortable livin' with Blotlings myself."

Mickey sighed and shrugged. "Still, hope they can figure things out. Looks like the Blotlings are here t' stay, after all... and Ghost Ian says a lot of 'em are workin' pretty hard to fit in."

By now, they had reached the square that held the projectors. Oswald was still focused on his screen, but then he noticed that Mickey had hesitated. When he looked back, the mouse was standing in front of the Walt statue replica, gazing up at it with a distant look in his eyes. Oswald felt an uneasy clench in his stomach as he realized that he'd never really thought about how Mickey felt about that statue. Clearing his throat, he pocketed his remote and walked over.

"Mickey?" When no reply came, he placed a hand on the mouse's shoulder.

Mickey jumped, startled. "Huh? Oh, uh, sorry... just got a little distracted."

Oswald looked away, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Look, about the statue... I didn't mean to—I mean, uh, I did at the time, but that was just... I didn't know and I was mad and... I didn't actually think you'd ever see it—"

Mickey shook his head. "No, ya don't have to explain... I get it, really. I mean, it was kinda hard the first time I saw it, but not 'cause I wasn't in it."

Oswald frowned in confusion, but before he could ask any questions, Mickey continued.

"Up 'til then, everything I'd seen was so much like home. And I was so, well, happy t' see he was there too. But when I saw it was different, it just..." He hesitated, then released a heavy sigh. "It was probably when it really hit me that I wasn't home, and I just felt... so alone."

Oswald's ears drooped a little. "I'm sorry." He glanced over at Mickey. "But y'know, I think our statue over in OsTown is much better."

Mickey smiled at that, the small twinge of homesickness fading. "I like it too. It reminds me how something that starts out pretty messed up can end up something good." He glanced over at Oswald. "I know I've said this before, but it really meant a lot that ya did that—had the OsTown statue remade and all. I mean, ya didn't hafta."

The rabbit smirked and gave him a light punch on the arm. "Yeah, well, I do got a reputation to keep up."

Mickey smirked back; he'd been around the rabbit long enough to recognize his avoidance methods when things were getting too mushy. "Right, So, ready to hit the next generator?"

"I'm ready tah smash it," Oswald replied with a grin, hitting his fists together.

Mickey grinned back. "Then let's get t' the Fort and give 'em what for!"

Gus nodded. "We may need to be on our toes... the recent attacks by the enhanced Blotlings are straining things between residents even more."

"Hah! Ya say that like we aren't always on our toes anyway," said Oswald.

Mickey chuckled at that. "Like at the Lonesome Manor, huh?"

"Zip it, Squeaks," Oswald shot back.

Gus rolled his eyes as the group headed to the projector, but couldn't suppress an amused smile.

Emerging onto the docks of Fort Wasteland, Oswald and Mickey began making their way to the shore. Then all of a sudden, several Blotlings came racing across the docks, letting out a series of loud, frantic warbles. The two toons tensed, ready for a fight, but to their collective astonishment, the creatures only scurried behind them, trembling and garbling fearfully.

"What th'..." Oswald began, but then Mickey sucked in a sharp breath.

"Uh, Os... I think that's why."

The rabbit followed his wide-eyed stare, then his own eyes widened. Other Blotlings were approaching in a feral crouch, snarling like demented wolves as their eyes burned red. Oswald and Mickey pulled out their weapons, assuming their fighting stances. One of the Blotlings lunged at them and they fired their weapons, Paint and bolts of electricity merging into a single beam that slammed into the Blotling, knocking it back. It roared in pain as it was knocked onto its back, electricity sparking off it.

The Blotlings huddled together behind them yelped, trembling even harder. In a rush of sympathy, Mickey gave them a quick, reassuring smile over his shoulder. "Don't worry, fellas. We got this."

The Blotlings' ears twitched, and a few let out a quiet chirrup as the two rabid Blotlings charged forward onto the narrow docks. Oswald leapt forward, grabbing onto a wooden post as he swung around it, slamming his feet into one of the attackers. It smashed into the other one, knocking both of them off the dock and into a stray pool of Thinner.

"Nice one!" Mickey called as he dodged swipes from the remaining Blotling. Twisting in mid-leap, he shot a thick blast of Thinner from the brush. The Blotling screeched as its ink sloughed away, revealing traces of the machinery underneath. "Os!"

"On it!" Pointing his remote, the rabbit shot a bolt of electricity directly at the half-revealed circuit box. The Blotling convulsed and jittered wildly as the sparks jumped all over its body. Finally it gave a final jerk, accompanied by a loud 'pop!', and collapsed in a heap. "That takes care of them!" Oswald grinned as he tossed his remote from one hand to another and pocketed it.

Mickey passed the brush back to his tail, then turned to look at the normal Blotlings. They were still trembling, peering around as if expecting more enemies to appear at any minute. Mickey stooped down to their level and smiled. "Don't worry, fellas. If there's any others, we'll take care of 'em, and we're gonna make sure they don't come back."

The inky creatures blinked up at him, looking almost startled. One by one, they stopped trembling and a few let out soft chirps that sounded like a thank-you.

Oswald gave them a nod in agreement. "Well, we've gotta get goin'. That generator isn't gonna turn itself off—though that would sure make things a whole lot easier if it did."

Mickey nodded as he straightened up, giving the Blotlings one more reassuring smile. "Just keep an eye out." He then turned back to Oswald. "Okay, let's get going. What's the radar say?"

Oswald looked down at his remote, turning a dial. "Okay, looks we're heading... that way." He pointed directly into the forest, far away from the path. As they approached the forest, they noticed that there was very little clearance between the large tree trunks, and that space was full of large, overgrown bushes.

Oswald frowned, then leapt up onto the lowest branch of the nearest tree—which wasn't really all that low. Mickey braced his feet, then took a running start and leaped. Grabbing the branch, he swung his legs and pulled himself up onto it. Oswald turned and hopped onto the next nearest branch, leaping from tree to tree in the direction of the radar signal. Mickey followed along, moving a little slower due to not being a rabbit but still managing to keep up.

Finally the signal began beeping faster, and Oswald pointed the remote toward a nearby tree. "Hmm..." Slowly, he moved the remote down until it pointed at the base of the tree and the beeping of the radar went wild. Oswald leapt down to the ground, spinning his ears to slow his descent. He then pulled back some dead branches and leaves around the base of the tree, revealing a small, metal door.

A scuffling sound came from above, then a loud yelp came from Mickey. In an unceremonious shower of twigs and leaves, he dropped to the ground beside Oswald. "Ouch," the mouse mumbled, rubbing his sore backside. The mouse looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of the door. "What d' ya know. Must be underground again."

Oswald raised an eyebrow at the mouse, then turned back to the metal door. There was no knob or handle; it looked electronic. He felt around the base of the tree until his hand found an unusually smooth depression. "A-ha!" He pressed the button in the middle of the depression, cleverly disguised as a knothole. There was an electronic beeping sound and the two halves of the metal door slid open.

Inside, the lowest area of the tree had been hollowed out, leaving the entire upper part of the interior intact. The ceiling was also quite low—the perfect size for the two rather short toons. As they stepped inside, they found the small room inside completely barren, the only point of interest being a set of stairs that led down into the ground.

"Underground, it is." Oswald pressed a button to mute his remote, then glanced at Mickey with a teasing smirk. "Try not to make any racket when ya fall down 'em."

Mickey glared at him as he pulled out the brush. "You're th' one who ditched me 20 feet up a tree, flat foot."

"Hey, ya made it up, I thought ya could make it down." Oswald gave a shrug. "If ya needed a ride, ya should've asked."

Mickey grumbled to himself as he followed Oswald down the steps. "Didn't need a ride. Just a hand would a' been nice."

Oswald chuckled and focused on his remote as the radar symbol pulsed. "Looks like we're gettin' pretty close. Remote says the signal's about twenty feet down and to the right."

"Probably more Blot guards too," Mickey grumbled. "N' I'm willin' t' bet they're not small fry."

He immediately regretted saying anything when Oswald gave him a teasing smirk. "Somebody losin' their nerve?"

"No," Mickey grumbled. His temper was shorter than usual regarding these Blot creatures. It wasn't that he felt any connection to them, it just bothered him knowing that he was pretty much the reason they existed in the first place. And he'd seen the damage they could do. What if they really hurt someone before all this was over?

Oswald gave a small chuckle. "Well, you seem a bit grumpier than usual about them." He gave the mouse a friendly elbow. "C'mon, ya know we take care of these guys easily."

Mickey's face tugged into a grin, then he chuckled. Oswald hesitated and cocked his head. "What?"

Mickey shrugged. "Was just thinkin'... not that long ago, I was the one tellin' you stuff like that."

Oswald looked away, his face turning slightly red in embarrassment. "Oh, uh... right."

Mickey smirked and gave him a friendly nudge. "Hey, relax. I don't tell anyone."

Oswald gave a small smile. "I know. Heh, it was pretty pathetic, huh?" He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

Mickey stopped and put a hand on the rabbit's shoulder, making him stop as well. "No, it wasn't. Ya know how many times I've been stuck? I can't count how many times I've caught myself thinkin' I should ask Dad about somethin'... or wonderin' what he would do." The mouse's round ears drooped a little, his face distant and sad.

Oswald gave him a small, sad smile. "Heh, I wonder the same thing too sometimes." It was somewhat comforting to know he wasn't alone in that.

By then, they had reached the bottom of the stairs, which opened into a wide tunnel. Mickey squinted, but the light from Oswald's remote only went so far.

"Think they made this an easy one?"

Oswald's reply was as casual as the question. "Nope."

Mickey smirked. "Me neither."

"Just stay on your toes," Oswald said as they moved forward. "We can't see real far and I don't want anythin' sneakin' up on us."

A few minutes passed without much excitement. Then, the dim glow from Oswald's remote began to reveal a line of large, shadowy figures in front of them. As they moved closer, the number of figures seemed to multiply as the light slowly revealed them.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot," said Oswald.

"In a manner of speakin'." Mickey whipped out the brush, his eyes narrowed and serious. "Watch it... if we get too far apart, they'll mince us."

Suddenly, dozens of pairs of glowing eyes lit up in front of them, sending chills down the two toons' spines. They got into their battle stances and stood their ground as several of the Slobbers began stomping toward them, the ground rumbling under their feet.

Oswald looked over at Mickey. "If you can handle the closest ones, I'll keep stunnin' the farther ones to keep 'em from gangin' up on us!"

Mickey twirled the brush in his hand, his face now set in grim determination. "Got it." With that, he began spraying a fountain of Thinner at the nearest Slobbers, and Oswald shot bolts of electricity at the others, keeping them stunned and preventing them from getting any closer.

Leaping and dodging, Mickey finally managed to melt the Slobbers down to their mechanical frames, which were quickly outed by a zap from Oswald's remote. Mickey then turned his attention to the next Slobbers that charged forward, kept to a limit by the shocks from Oswald's remote.

"Uh oh." Oswald mashed the button on his remote with no effect as several revived Slobbers came barreling toward him. He yelped as he leapt into the air over their heads and landed, narrowly dodging them in time as they continued charging toward Mickey. "Look out!" Oswald cried as he hurried after them. He leapt up and dealt a powerful punch, managing to knock one of the charging Slobbers to the ground.

Mickey knocked back his current opponents with another blast of Thinner, then leaped and dodged around the charging Slobbers. Oswald zapped the thinned Slobbers with the small charge that had refilled on his remote. Then suddenly, he found himself knocked to the ground by the force of a Slobber inhaling from behind him. He dug his feet and fingers into the dirt, only to have a second Slobber smack him with its claws, making him lose his grip. "Help!" he yelped as he was sucked toward the Slobber.

The mouse whirled around, his eyes going wide. "Oswald!"

Knocking back the other Slobbers, he raced over and snatched Oswald's hand just before he was sucked in completely. He planted his feet, teeth clenched with the effort. "Hang on!" he grunted as he aimed and shot a huge burst of Thinner directly into the Slobber's mouth.

The Slobber choked on the Thinner, its suction weakening. Oswald's other hand–which was coated in purple slime–reached out from the Slobber's mouth and grabbed tightly onto Mickey's hand. Mickey pulled and Oswald slowly emerged, then suddenly popped out. The sudden lack of resistance knocked the mouse onto his back, the Blot-covered Oswald landing on top of him. Oswald gasped and coughed for a brief moment before managing to speak. "Thanks."

Mickey managed to catch his own breath and gave the rabbit a quick smile as they both jumped to their feet. "No problem. But better save the thanks till we're outta this mess."

Oswald nodded as he wiped the slime from his face and grabbed his remote. "Right."

As he shot more electricity at the Slobbers, Mickey continued to fight the nearest ones, dodging and weaving as Thinner sprayed from the brush. It took a while, but one by one, all the Blotlings were reduced to puddles. The two toons sighed in relief, exhausted from the effort.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate those things?" Oswald said as he began wiping the remainder of the Blot slime off himself.

Mickey smiled and wiped some of the slime off Oswald's back. "Ya missed a spot."

Oswald gave him a tired smirk, then looked at his remote again. "Looks like it's straight ahead. Let's hope these guys were all the guards they got."

On alert, both toons slowly moved further down the corridor. It wasn't long before the corridor widened, and the flashing lights and whirr of machinery told them they were in the right place.

"You go 'head and get th' data," Mickey said, giving the brush a quick twirl. "I'll keep an eye out for any more creeps."

"Yeah, you do that while I go do all the work," Oswald joked with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, 'cause pressin' a few buttons is so hard."

"Well, if it's so easy, why don't you go and do it?" Oswald shoved his remote into Mickey's hands and gave the mouse a push toward the machine.

"Oh, uh, well..." Mickey squinted at the remote, then shook his head and handed it back. "Not a good idea... I'd probably mess it up."

"That's what I thought," Oswald chuckled, twirling his remote in his hand. "You just go play sentry then."

Mickey gave a good-natured grunt as he gripped the brush and scanned the area for any sign of movement. "Better hurry... with our luck the thing'll spit out a bunch more of those goons."

"Don't worry, I'm on it."

Oswald headed into the machinery area, where dozens of giant electronic panels filled the room. "Whoa..." he mumbled, weaving his way through the aisles of panels and monitors. He finally stopped in front of a large panel in the back, which appeared to be the master control panel. He began pressing buttons on his remote at a rapid pace, then ran across the room and flipped a lever. He then ran down an aisle and flipped another lever, then turned and ran down another aisle. Before he could get any farther, however, an error message flashed across his screen and there was a whirring sound throughout the room as the levers were reset. He let out a sigh of frustration.

"Mick, get in here!"

Mickey came rushing in, brush at the ready and clearly expecting a fight. "What? What's wrong?"

"Afraid I'm gonna need your help with this. There's some switches that need to be flipped at the same time."

Mickey relaxed, looking around at the machinery. "Oh." Somewhat abashed, he put away the brush. "Alright, what do ya need me t' do?"

"Well, I'm gonna flip this switch on the main console here," he motioned to the switch beside him, "and then you need to flip the blue switch over in the second aisle over there while I flip the green switch in the fourth aisle. Then you gotta flip the yellow switch in the first aisle while I flip the red one. Got it?"

"Blue switch, second aisle, then yellow switch, first aisle. Got it."

Oswald nodded, then both hurried to their respective switches. Mickey waited by the blue switch as Oswald flipped the main one, then they both ran around, flipping their respective switches at the same time.

"Okay, that should reroute the code to... Now I'll just type this in here..." Oswald began rapidly pressing buttons on his remote. "And deactivate that... Oh!" He suddenly ran to another control panel and began rapidly pressing colored buttons. He then began typing on his remote again. Finally, the machine began to shut down, its lights turning off and the whirring noises dying down. "Phew!" Oswald wiped the sweat from his forehead as the room darkened.

"Everything alright?" Mickey asked, hurrying over. "You got the data okay?"

"Yes, but that was quite a security system. Whoever built this obviously knew what they were doin'."

Mickey glanced over at the generator, ears twitching. "Well, that definitely rules out Pete. But it still doesn't really tell us what we're dealin' with."

"Well, that's another one down." Oswald reset the radar on his remote, locking it onto a different signal. He began walking back in the direction they had come from. Mickey trotted up beside him and followed along, watching the remote's screen.

"Think this one'll be harder to find?"

Oswald shrugged. "Probably. But ya never know... it could be easy."

Mickey snorted. "If it was one of the Petes, it sure would. We'd have probably found 'em all stuffed down in the City Hall basement."

"Or in the center of town with a sign sayin' 'This is not a secret evil lair,'" Oswald replied with a chuckle.

Once they reached Mean Street, Oswald pointed his remote around, trying to find where the signal was strongest, until finally pointing it downward. "Looks like it's comin' from underground."

Mickey craned his neck to get a better look at the remote screen. "Guess we're gonna be usin' the DEC again. Hope all the bugs from last time are worked out."

Oswald flicked his ears, grinning. "What, think we can't handle it?"

"Nah," Mickey replied. "Just hopin' we might have a bit of an easier go-round this time."

Oswald dragged open a manhole cover and leapt down into the dark hole. Mickey cracked his neck before jumping down after him. When he landed, Oswald was focused on his remote as he turned in different directions. Finally, his ears twitched and he nodded.

"Looks like we're headin' this way."

"Right," Mickey said.

Mickey remained silent for quite some time as they moved down the tunnel, prompting Oswald to glance over. He could tell that the mouse was deep in thought, and judging from his solemn look, it was about something worrying.

"E-Ticket for your thoughts?"

Mickey blinked, looking a little startled. "Huh? Oh, sorry... I've just been thinkin'. So far, these Mecha-Blot things are stickin' around the generators, but there's more of 'em every time. I have this bad feeling... it might not be long 'fore they start spreadin' around, and that's not gonna be good."

"You worry too much. I mean, c'mon, even if there's a whole invasion of 'em, we know how to stop 'em. And besides, we've dealt with much worse!" Oswald gave him a smile.

Mickey smirked, but the uneasiness remained on his face. "I just hope they don't hurt anyone b'fore we stop 'em."

That worry had been gnawing at Mickey ever since this whole fiasco started. Even if the others didn't think so, he felt like these new enemies were partly his fault. He should have made sure that the Blot piece was gone instead of just assuming it was.

Stupid.

Before Oswald could reply, Gus suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Ah, here you are! I've had a troubling report from the gremlins operating the DEC... there have been numerous sightings of hostile Blotlings causing damage to the equipment. No one got close enough to see the eyes, but I'm certain these are the mechanically advanced creatures."

"What a surprise." Oswald rolled his eyes. "Where are these sightings, exactly?"

"They were centered around two areas, the Rainbow Caverns and Bog Easy," Gus replied, frowning. "And that's not all... there are more of them."

Oswald glanced over at Mickey. "Well, we'd better get to work then." Mickey gave a nod and they took off down the corridor.

Once they neared Rainbow Caverns, they came across a rabid-looking Blotling hanging on the wall, chewing on a large, thick pipe. Its Thinner-laced fangs ate away at the pipe material, causing Paint to spew freely from the pipe.

"Get 'im, Mick!" Oswald said, readying his remote.

"On it!" Whipping out the brush, Mickey shot a stream of Thinner at the Blotling. Shrieking, the creature dropped down and looked around wildly. As soon as it spotted Mickey and Oswald, it hissed and charged.

"Os, you're up!" Mickey yelled as they dodged.

Oswald stood his ground and zapped the Blotling head-on when it got close. "Gotcha!" he said as the Blotling collapsed into a heap of ink and metal. Oswald kicked the pieces aside and rushed onward.

They defeated a good number of other red-eyed Blotlings along the way before they finally reached the wide-open cavern that housed Rainbow Falls. A large number of Blotlings patrolled the area immediately in front of the falls.

"Gee, I wonder where that generator could be," Oswald joked, putting a hand to his chin and giving Mickey an exaggerated puzzled expression.

Mickey grinned and stifled a laugh. "Well, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's behind the falls."

He scanned the area and the grin turned into a slight frown. "There's sure a lot of 'em... this might get pretty rough."

Oswald looked around, smirking as he thought of an idea. "Not if they can't see us."

He hopped over to an invisible ink well and jumped in with a splash, vanishing from sight as the ink coated his body. There was the sound of him scrambling out, then suddenly, Mickey felt a push from behind him, sending him headfirst into the well. Within seconds, the ink had coated his body, rendering him invisible. After he climbed out of the inkwell, a hand grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the falls.

"Hey—!"

"Shh!" Oswald hissed. "They can still hear us, remember?"

"Ya didn't hafta push me," Mickey grumbled.

"Ya weren't movin' fast enough," Oswald whispered back, giving a small snicker. He then yelped as he felt a punch in his arm.

"Shhh!" Mickey hissed mockingly. "They'll hear ya."

"...Touché, Mouse."

Mickey then took Oswald's hand and interlocked their fingers. "Stick together," he whispered as they began walking toward the Blotling guards. After slipping past them, Oswald tugged Mickey toward the far end of the falls, where there was a small gap. They sidled in, careful not to get any of the ink washed off.

The cave corridor led into a large room that was absolutely swarming with Blotlings. Not just any Blotlings, but huge ones—Slobbers and Spladooshes. They took up so much space that there was barely any room between them.

"Oh boy," Oswald mumbled under his breath.

Mickey bit his lip as he scanned the area. "Well, there's the guards, but where's the generator?"

Oswald squinted. "I dunno, but from what the remote said, we oughta be right on top of it."

"Uh, Os..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't make any sense," the rabbit muttered. "Maybe this piece of junk's broken again..."

There was a sharp tug on Oswald's ear. "Oswald, make that right under it."

The rabbit looked up, and his jaw fell open. Hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room was a large generator.

"How in the world...?" Oswald gave a sigh, shaking his head. "Y' know what, never mind. Let's just get this over with."

He grabbed the mouse around the waist and lifted him above his head as he leapt up and spun his ears, gliding over to the generator. It was pretty high up, but with Oswald lifting him, Mickey was just barely able to grab onto a ledge. It was a struggle, but after a bit of grunting and groaning, Mickey was able to pull himself up.

"Okay, I'm up. Gimme your hand," he whispered to Oswald. He then reached down and batted at the air until he found Oswald's hand. Grabbing ahold of it, he pulled Oswald up onto the panel.

After scanning the machine, Oswald nodded to himself. "Okay, keep an eye out. I'm gonna have to hover for this one."

"Got it," Mickey replied.

Oswald climbed up a bit higher, then leapt and hovered around to the other side of the machine. After a bit of searching, he finally found the control panel. He set to work on it right away, hacking into it with his remote as he hovered in midair.

Mickey kept a close eye on the Blot creatures below, his ears twitching nervously as Oswald continued to work with his remote. Finally, the rabbit pressed a button and hovered back to the ledge.

"Okay," he panted, rubbing his ears. "I've got the data, and I can activate the self-destruct from a distance. That should take care of all these Blotlings too."

"Good, now let's get outta here before this ink wears off," Mickey whispered back.

After feeling around for where the mouse was, Oswald grabbed him around the waist and hovered back down, panting as he carried him over the sea of Blotlings. After sneaking back past the guards and putting a good distance between them and the Falls, they washed off the invisible ink with a blast of Paint from Mickey's brush.

"Okay," Oswald said with a grin, then pressed the button on his remote. "Fire in the hole!"

After a few moments, there was the sound of a muffled explosion and a tremor shook the ground. Pocketing his remote, Oswald smirked and raised a hand. "Three down!"

Mickey grinned back and high-fived the rabbit. "Two to go!"

Taking his remote out again, Oswald pressed a few buttons and the radar symbol began pinging. After a few minutes, a map appeared on the screen and zoomed in to a particular area.

"Well, looks like the next place is the Lonesome Manor."

"Really?" Mickey grinned. "Maybe I'll have another story for the kids." He laughed as he received a light punch in the arm.