Chapter 2: No Path Behind Me

As Oswald ran through the passage, he stood still for a moment, considering what had happened. He'd just seen his greatest enemy, and had run away from him. "What are ya, a mou-" He stopped himself. Even now, he was still sensitive about speaking his name. He just couldn't. "So that'll have to change."

"And as for that Doctor… Oh, you are gonna pay, big time!" He silently shook, the anger visible to those who would dare look, were he not alone. "You can abandon me, revolt against me, even attack me. But you can't come back here after what you–"

Oswald broke out of his thoughts, and looked up. He could hear a fizzing sound. It was kinda like someone was using a drill, but it also had the sort of fizz you might hear after opening a fizzy drink can. Just that, this was elongated. He looked around but couldn't see anything. The room went dark, the corridor lights turning off one by one, until the last one battled as hard as it could against this invisible force. Oswald ran to its fading glow, yet it was too late. Just as he reached it, the light faded, and he plummeted into darkness.

Out of nowhere, however, he heard the fizzing noise stop. Instead he could now hear a sparking noise, it sounded like… like… "Is someone try'na to start a fire here?" he murmured to nobody in particular. Oswald wandered around. The walls, if they could speak, chose not to, as he moved with no clue of what was happening.

"Ouch!" he said, his voice echoing off the walls of this confinement. He'd walked right into a bucket on the floor. Oswald's own voice startled him, but before he could react, a glowing dot appeared in front of him. Now, it should be said, Oswald was no fool. He knew his kids were probably just goofing around, so he waited for this trick to be over. "Not funny, kids! Put the laser down, and you won't have to clean the dishes!" But no-one answered.

After seventeen minutes of standing around – yes, he timed it – Oswald walked up to the phenomenon, and stood in its faint glow.

He tried touching it, but his hand passed through it. Concern spread over his face as a frown, as he tried again, and again, and again. He gritted his teeth, as he tried harder and harder, but eventually, managed to grasp the fact that it was pass-through. He panted, and sank to the floor in defeat.

All of a sudden, the dot started to spiral round. "What on earth is happening? This ain't normal at all!" He stared as it grew wider and quicker. Then, sparks of light started flying off iit as it turned into a circle. It held its shape, and from the centre came a ripple. It spread to the border of the circle, creating a blue shade inside it. "Huh," he said, "that doesn't seem right."

Oswald jumped to his feet and went behind the circle. Unfortunately, there was no behind. Every angle he looked from, even the top, it was just a blue circle with yellow sparks flying off of it. Usually, that would be enough to send a person running, but Oswald was the sort of rabbit to think, 'There must be something more to this.' And so, in that spirit, he stuck his hand in the circle and retracted it.

Or at least, he tried to. The hand wouldn't budge. It felt like it was in invisible concrete. Oswald wriggled, twisted and stretched, but it wouldn't budge. He stopped, knowing full well that if he tried any harder, his arm would come off. Note that I said "would". Oswald wasn't just a lucky rabbit. No, he could detach and rearrange his body parts in any way he wanted. Well, mostly. It was an extremely useful gift, but it was no good in these dark times. Not that that was his biggest concern anymore.

Suddenly, Oswald felt a force on his arm. He was being pulled in, and he couldn't resist its tug. He desperately dug his heels into the ground, pebbles scattering around him. He couldn't twist or turn, but he could hear a distant whooshing sound. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! It was getting closer to him by the second. He opened his eyes, and realised correctly: he was getting closer to it. Before you could say, "Oh, carrotsticks!" Oswald fell in, and was gone. Something else swiftly swooped inside and shut the portal up. The hole closed up, turning all the lights back on. There was no sign he'd ever been there, except for the last light in the row of them across the ceiling, flickering ever so softly.

As if nothing had happened, the mouse walked into that corridor. "That ink monster dragged me into this place…" whispered Mickey, still trying to understand what had happened to bring him here. He looked at Gus, who said, "The Shadow Blot!" which just made him feel more uneasy. Looking around the corridor, he accidentally sprayed some thinner at a part of a window. "That's Thinner! It removes anything painted." He then looked at his brush and said, "Gosh! I wonder what else it can do!" He then sprayed out some paint, gaining the remark, "You're quite the artist!" from his gremlin compadre.

As the pair made their way down the corridor, Gremlin Gus looked up to see that lonely flicker of the bulb above him. "That's odd. All Gremlin-made bulbs withstand any sort of interior damage for at least 25 years. This was fitted last week!" Mickey walked over to him, but slipped on something slimy. "Whoa!" he shouted, as he slid to the door, banging his face against the metal handle. He fell to the floor with a dazed look on his face. "Something's not right here…" said Gus, "and it's not just your face."

A/N: Thanks for reading this! The next chapter will come out soon!