Mickey's Mysterious Masquerade: Chapter Three

Toenails of spiders
No one is in for the wiser
All but two remain the same
Five have fallen to the curse’s game
Seaweed residue and dragon snot
The worse shall come, I kid ye not
Mickey is running with all his might
Minnie shall be lost to the dark of the night
You’re invited…

***

Mickey knew better than to look back. If he did he’d lose momentum and speed, and that would jeopardize his own life as well as the one of his lady fair. The young mice had to remain one step ahead of their pursuers or they too could suffer the fate of their friends. Mickey didn’t know how he blindly manage to lose Goofy or Chip or Dale. Mickey didn’t know whether they were safe or not now. All he could do for the moment was run with Minnie in tow and hope he could find them before it was too late.

It felt as though they had been running forever. Sweat trickled down Mickey’s forehead and into his stinging eyes. Minnie’s feet began to cramp. She had picked a bad night to wear high heels. Her irritated toes throbbed in the tip of her shoes and she struggled to keep up with Mickey. She wished the two could slow down and think. Think of a way to stop the curse, or at least call someone for help. But no one could help them now. The Tower was like a maze that seemed to go on for all eternity.

Tonight was meant for the gang to have fun and enjoy the fun of Halloween. Now here they were, cursed and having a miserable time being chased by monsters.

Monsters that showed no signs of tiring anytime soon. Their muscles tense and their knife like molars bared they had a look of everlasting primal persistence in their eyes. In nature it was common for reptiles to tire easily since they were cold blooded. They had to control their temperature and rest every now and then to preserve their strength. But then again, these reptiles weren’t natural. Stone didn’t need to stop for bathroom breaks. Mickey knew he had to try something on the double or they might not live to see tomorrow.

Pacing down the hallway, Mickey could see a light at the end of the tunnel. They were coming up to a flight of stairs. Acting quickly, Mickey scooped his beloved up into his arms and carried her forward. With her body in his arms running seemed to become more difficult. It was a weakness one warrior tried to exploit as he snapped at Mickey’s leg. Its front teeth came dangerously close to ripping off a part of the mouse’s heel. This encouraged Mickey to go faster.

They were getting closer to the stares. As they did, Mickey could see the stairs lead down into another hallway. Across from the stairs was a railing over a deck, clearly another hallway leading to somewhere else. Mickey had anticipated on that. Fighting past his weakening knees and his breaking bladder, Mickey raced forward towards the stairs.

“Mickey, what are you doing?” Minnie asked.

“Trust me,” he replied. “And hold on to me tight.”

She did as instructed as he got closer and closer to the stairs. When he was three foot steps away, Mickey leaped for the rail. His now worn down boots made no friction as he slid down the bannister with Minnie clinging onto him. Behind him the lizard people, not expecting this clever retreat, had tripped over each other and fallen down the stairs like snow on the side of a mountain. Faster and faster the two mice sailed down the side of the stairs until they reached the end. Just as Mickey predicted yet again, the end of the stair rails was slightly curved upward. With momentum on his side, Mickey made a daring leap at the end of the banister and into the air.

“To infinity and beyond,” he proclaimed, managing to find a little bit of humor during this dark time. “I always wanted to say that.”

His hand stretched out, Mickey barley made it in time to catch himself on the railing on the other hallway. Like a true gentlemen he lifted Minnie up first and assisted her over the railing. She then returned the favor and helped Mickey up over the barrier. Having lost the Aztecans, Mickey and Minnie took the time to rest for a moment and look over their situation thoroughly.

“Poor Donald!” Minnie whimpered. “Poor Daisy! They’re gone to that miserable curse! Now Goofy and Chip and Dale are missing. Oh, I’m so scared for them.” She looked at Mickey. “I’m so scared for you. What if it comes for you next? Don’t you leave me all alone Mickey Mouse! Please, I don’t want to be alone.”

Seeing her near ready to cry, Mickey held her hands and looked her deeply in the eyes saying, “I am not going to leave you Minnie. I promise.” She smiled weakly at him. “I’m worried about them too. But we will save them. I know I won’t stop trying until I do. I know the people we love are locked in there, somewhere. Somewhere inside those two bewitched forms. All we have to do is get them to come back to us.”

“How?” Minnie asked.

“I don’t know,” Mickey admitted. “But I bet you a good nickel that those two oddball pumpkins back in the ballroom do know.”

“You’re right,” Minnie said. “What’s your plan on getting back to the ballroom?”

“Well first thing’s first,” Mickey stood up, his fists placed proudly upon his hips. “We need to find Chip, Dale, and Goof-“

Gunfire rang out as a hard steel bullet shot out from the barrel of a nearby pistol. Hearing the trigger, Mickey moved quickly to pull his date out of the way as the piercing piece of fire made its way past them and into the railing, shattering it into a million tiny splinters. Smoke emitting from the burnt wood, both mice’s heartbeat increasing rapidly, they both feared that something worse than the rock heads had found them. Turning to look, they were both surprised by who had fired the gun.

It was Goofy!

“Avast ye’ swaves,” Goofy said. Like those before him his voice wasn’t his own. His was rough sounding like sandpaper, and powerful like thunder with a slight British accent to boot. The dog bellowed, “Ye’ look a bit frazzled there.”

Goofy lowered his gun and started walking over to Mickey and Minnie. Already the two could tell Goofy had changed. His walk was bold and confident stride. He wasn’t tripping over his own two feet, wasn’t slipping on the rug, there were no goofy antics in his walk. His head was held up high with confidence looking down upon the two rodents with a scowl. Despite the height difference, Goofy normally never looked down on the two rodents so harshly. He always viewed his friends as equal, and he always had a cheerful stride to his walk.

His outfit was different to. The court jester that had come in had turned into a pirate from the depths of Davy Jone’s locker. He wore a green shirt over green tights and sand brown boots. Over his shirt was a fiery red long coat and two leather brown belts going around his waist and torso.  On his head was a large captain’s hat with a black skull on it. The most notable feature of his costume was all the seaweed that covered him. Coming out of his sleeves, draping over the side of his hat, wrapped around the belts he wore, there was as much seaweed on Goofy as there was ghosts in the Haunted Mansion.

As he got closer Mickey’s nose began to twitch. It had caught Goofy’s new smell, which was a mixture of sea salt, heated rum, and rotten gym socks. A foul and pungent smell, both Mickey and Minnie held their breaths to keep from vomiting.

The pirate stopped in front of the two and howled, “Eye lads, maybe you two can help m. Ye’ see, I’ve seem to misplace me rum! Think you two landlubbers can stop what ye’ be doing and help me find some more! I haven’t had any rum for what feels like ages, and I need some to remain charming. If I sober up-“ He pointed up his gun to Mickey’s nose. “People to start to die. Savvy!?”

Definitely not Goofy, Mickey thought.

The dog then looked over to Minnie. He grinned and got closer to her, “Aye lad, where did one buy a wench as beautiful as this fair lass right here?” Minnie winced as her friend turned pirate got undesirably close and took a lock of her hair. He held it up to his small black nose and took a nice, long whiff of the fair lady’s hair. Strawberry shampoo. He let her go and asked, “Perhaps lass you’d like to come with me and have a couple of drinks.”

“Hold on just one second there ya’ Jack Sparrow knock off,” Mickey interrupted. “This ain’t no wench! This is my girlfriend and your friend Minnie Mouse! She ain’t interested in hooking up with you, especially not like this! Goofy, this isn’t you, snap out of it!”

Goofy chuckled. It wasn’t his usual giggle that usually foresaw more laughter to follow. It was a dark and malevolent chortle. Minnie held onto Mickey again. Goofy smiled, held up his pistol, and stated, “Lad, I wasn’t asking yer’ permission!”

The pirate began firing his gun once more, Mickey grabbed Minnie and heaved forward. Out of all the strange things that were happening tonight, discovering that Goofy was now a terrifying pirate and a dreadful womanizer was by far the strangest. With a pistol in each hand, Captain Goofy chased after the man in tow with his woman and began to fire. Bullets flew left and right, blasting through windows, doors, as well as a few of the artifacts in the hall. Luckily for Mickey, Goofy seemed as good at aiming as he was at skiing: lousy. At that moment one of the bullets cut a rope tied down to a stake in the wall and unraveled before one of the ceiling lights dropped down from the ceiling and onto Goofy’s head.

“That was close,” Minnie said.

“That was just Goofy,” Mickey reminded her. “There’s still-“

As they turned the corner the two mice were greeted by a welcoming party of tall, pale Chinese men decked in red silk suits and tiny teal blue hats. The expressions on their masks hid any expression they were wearing on their grim, ghoulish faces. Their appearance made the two mice uneasy. They looked like ghosts the way they stood still, almost as if they were expecting the two lovebirds to do something. Mickey, not wanting to get into any more trouble, did the only thing he could think to do: he bowed. A Chinese custom that usually meant respect, he was hoping the guards would see it and let them pass peacefully.

Instead, the guards all bowed back. It was an honorable gesture, although the sour moods expressed by their masks made the genuflect look less inviting. The guards then parted, four standing to the left side of the hallway and another four situating themselves on the other side. At first the two little mice thought this was their queue to leave. But as they began to trek forward, two guards outstretched their arms and hauled them in their tracks.

Before Mickey could question their actions, both Chip and Dale entered down at the end of the hallway. Each one was smiling with their arms extended forward, flat as a board, and their legs stiff as nails as they walked towards them. They both were dressed in silk red jackets such as the guards, and both had little blue hats on. The sashes wrapped around their stomachs showed the sign for yin yang, the Chinese symbol for balance.

Mickey knew nothing was balanced around here.

Behind them, the two chipmunks were tugging on a rope that led to a gong on wheels. The instrument followed the two as they walked over to Mickey and Minnie, grinning as they moved.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Mickey said.

Chip and Dale pulled out a long baton and held it over their heads. With a simple thrust, they bashed the stick against the gong. The noise that erupted was a horrendous ear splitting whine that shattered glass, stripped the wall of its wallpaper, cracked wood, shook the entire house, and brought both mice down to their knees covering their ears in pain. It was a horrible noise. Mickey couldn’t even help himself as his cookies tossed up onto the floor. Minnie didn’t notice because she was becoming pale and her head was getting dizzy. They both though their skulls would shatter in two right there in front of the two beaming chipmunks who watched the two with malicious glee.

Mickey couldn’t hear himself think. But he did know what a distraction was. Chip and Dale were just a distraction so they could take either him or Minnie away so they could become one with the curse. Or the gong was used to send a sonic signal back to Daisy and her warriors so they could find them. Either way, Mickey didn’t want to stay around to hear an encore.

Fighting against the stinging sensation overcoming his body, Mickey stood up and raised his right foot. The gong fell silent as Mickey kicked it backwards onto the ground, silencing it. It was at this point when Minnie herself finally blew chunks. And all over Mickey’s left shoe. As disgusted as he was, his disgust turned into dread as the chipmunk’s smile became wider and the large Asian guards looked up at the two.

Minnie found herself woozy and back in Mickey’s arms after he had scooped her up and started to run again. But things had already escalated from bad to worse and then to critical. Goofy had caught up to the two and was firing his gun like crazy around the house. He bellowed, “Argh ye dirty dog! Halt ye’ scurryin’ and hand over me wench to be before ye’ find yerself dead in the bottom of the sea!”

Panicking, Mickey did his best to ignore his friend. But his aim was beginning to improve and avoiding the bullets was becoming a difficult task. Zipping and zooming through the hallowed halls like a rocket, Goofy wasn’t the only one chasing the two lovers. Behind Goofy were Chip, Dale, and their eight guards. They didn’t have any weapons, but the heroic young mouse didn’t want to see what would happen if he stopped and said hello. Minnie could sense her man was getting tired. His arms shook ferociously, he came close to tripping over the rug, and her dress was soaking up all of his sweat like a fancy sponge. By now she was drenching wet from the neck down in both his sweat and her own.

Minnie thought light thoughts, hoping it would help Mickey increase his lightning speed. But it wasn’t enough, Mickey’s eye lids were beginning to flicker. He was so tired, and Minnie knew it. His breathing was hoarse and he was gasping for breath. Mickey wished he could stop, but he couldn’t for Minnie’s sake. If it was just him he’d probably stop and attempt to fight them all off. But he couldn’t risk Minnie’s life on such a chancy move.

Especially since now the stone Aztecs were back and joining the hunt. They pulled the floor underneath them, shaking the ground with each thunderous footstep. Pirate, Chinese, and lizard had all come together for one common goal: Mickey and Minnie.

Running down the stairs, Mickey’s right leg gave in and he tripped over his own left foot. The two mice stumbled and rolled down the hardwood stairs and onto the carpet on the next floor. He was bruised and battered, and now Mickey had just given the enemy the upper advantage. Minnie was no longer in his arms and she was two feet away from his protection. He had to get to her before they did. Quickly he got back up in his struggle against the pain, but the enemy had already caught up to both to them. In a frenzy of color and chaos the guards surrounded them and tried to grab one of the two mice.

“Mickey, help me!” Minnie cried out to him as the guards tried to nab her. She was trying her best to reunite herself with her protector, but the guards kept spooking her back. Unable to move, she called out to her hero, “Mickey!”

“Hang on!” Mickey yelled back above the roar. By now he was punching his way through Chip and Dale’s Chinese guards. They were easy enough, but when he tried to punch one of the stone lizards his hand cramped up. They were as rock solid as they looked, Mickey considered himself pretty stupid for making such a foolish move.

Pirate Goofy ran up and yelled, “ARGH!”

Before Mickey tripped him. Goofy laid flat on the floor as Mickey apologized, “Sorry Goofy.”

After dealing with this distraction, Mickey turned in just enough time to see the lizards circle around Minnie and trap her. Two of them hold her arms as she kicked frantically to get away. She squirmed and struggled like a worm but no matter what she did the lizards with red Mohawks wouldn’t release their stone hard grip. There was nowhere to run. Mickey watched in horror as she called out to him, “Mickey!”

With a condensed puff of blue smoke, Mickey couldn’t see Minnie anymore. He yelled after her, “MINNIE!”

He ran into the smoke, ready to fight off any army in order to get to Minnie. But as the smoke cleared, Mickey discovered he was all alone. She was gone. Taken. Nowhere to be seen. He was deserted. His friends possessed, his girlfriend now gone, Mickey dropped to his knees and placed his head into his palms.

Lightning erupted outside.