Return of the Great Cat and Mouse Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The Oona Case Part 2


"Okay squirts, we are almost at the gulf of the North Sea. Why we are even bothering going to a cursed island is beyond me. . . " Crisp said mumbling the last part.

Oona glared at Crisp from behind him.

"You know why! To save my daddy and uncle!" Oona scolded.

"Tch." Crisp said and continued flying.

"I'm still quite concerned about the cursed part though. . ." Dawson said sending a nervous glance to Basil.

"Nonsense Dawson, I can't tell you how many times I've took cases where people have claimed to have monsters, hauntings, or curses involved and in the end they all turned out to be a bunch of nonsense, scandals, or lies." Basil said frowning.

"Oh so almost like Scooby Doo then?" Haru asked smiling.

Basil turned to look at her curiously.

"Scooby- what?"

Haru then sweat dropped in realization.

"Uh never mind." Haru giggled to herself.

"Even so Basil, we need to be careful, we can't just take the fact that the island may be cursed so lightly." Dawson said.

Haru then looked towards Oona, who was sitting in front of her.

"Do you know anything else about the island?"

Oona shook her head.

"No, that’s why daddy and uncle went to investigate, but right about the time they left, we started hearing about the island being cursed. . ."

"And you say that the island appeared out of nowhere, did you?" Basil asked.

"Uh huh." Oona said nodding her head in confirmation.

"And did anyone mention why that the island is cursed?" Basil asked.

Oona shook her head.

"No. . . they just said it was cursed. . . probably because of the fact that the island appeared out of nowhere."

"Peculiar. . . a mysterious cursed island that appeared out of nowhere at the gulf of Belgium. Wonder where it originated from. . . ?" Basil spoke to himself.

Oona shrugged.

"Who knows, maybe we will find out while looking for daddy and uncle."

"Here we are, the gulf. . . now what?" Crisp asked frowning.

"Let's look further away from shore, the island must be a bit farther away, they say even the humans haven't noticed the island yet." Oona said.

"How odd. . ." Basil stated as Crisp flew out further towards the sea.

OoOoO

"I see something!" Haru called pointing to a small dot in the water.

Basil turned to see where Haru pointed and smirked.

"Let's investigate, shall we?" Basil said patting Crisp's side.

Crisp snorted and flew lower towards the sea, only to see the small dot get bigger and bigger, till finally a nice sized island, appeared below them.

"It's the island! I know it is!" Oona said a smile lighting her face.
Basil stared down at the island.

"Looks to be two miles long. . .maybe even more. . ." he murmured to himself.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go find daddy and uncle!" Oona said hardly containing her excitement.

Crisp groaned and swooped down to land on the shore's rocky and sandy beach.

As soon as Crisp landed, the four mice hopped of his back and studied their surroundings.

"Hm. . . seems normal enough. . ." Haru said looking around.

"We can't just say that Ms. Haru." Dawson said.

Basil frowned and then pulled his pipe out and lit it, staring intently at the surrounds silently.

Oona, marching in place in excitement, exclaimed happily.

"Finally! I'm here! I will find you daddy! You'll see!"

Before the others could do anything Oona bolted up towards a rocky heap.

"Oona!" Haru called out chasing after her.

Basil dropped his pipe in shock.

"Haru! Oona! Come back here this instant! We can easily get lost here! Stick together!" Basil angrily called out to the two running girls.

"Well! You guys can go and look for the lost dad and uncle. I'll stay here and wait till this case is over." Crisp said flapping his wings and flying up to find a comfortable place to perch.

"I guess we are doing this on our own then. . ." Dawson said watching the parrot fly away.

"Yeah, but I think Crisp doesn't want to come along because he’s frightened. . ." Basil said frowning, staring at Haru trying to help Oona up the rocky heap.

"I heard that!" Crisp yelled down at Basil.

Basil groaned and picked up his pipe and wiped it off.

"Let’s help the girls. They aren't getting anywhere climbing the heap like that." Basil said already heading for the girls.

"Come on Haru! Push me up higher! I can't reach!" Oona demanded.

"I'm trying!" Haru said using all her strength to hold Oona above her.

Once Basil was next to Haru and Oona, he sighed, and took a large leap and caught the edge of the rock, and pulled himself on top. He then looked at the others below him.

"Well, come along then. We don't have all day." Basil said reaching his hand out to help the others up, smirking to himself at Haru, Oona, and Dawson's impressed expressions.

After a bit of time, they all made it to the top of the rocky heap.

Haru gave a tired gasp.

'Wow. . . I really have to give credit to mice. If I was my normal self, I could easy just climb this rocky hill no problem. . . but in this size it’s like hiking up a mountain.' Haru thought to herself.

Dawson took a deep breath and looked in front of them.

"Ahead of us looks like nothing but hills. . . looks like this means more exercise for us." Dawson chuckled slightly.

Haru bit back a groan and continued forward with the others.

After some time walking, Basil came to an abrupt halt, causing everyone else trailing behind him to slam into his back.

"Ow!" Oona cried, rubbing her nose.

"What’s wrong, Basil?" Dawson asked rubbing his nose as well, along with Haru.

"Do you see that?" Basil said pointing to an area in the grass.

"See what?" Haru asked, squinting her eyes to get a better look.

Basil then crouched down and picked up a small speck of something that shined in the light.

"What is it Basil?" Dawson asked trying to get a peek of what Basil was holding.

"Shush." Basil said pulling out his magnifying glass and studied the small speck.

"Ah ha! Just as I expected! It's a speck of glass." Basil said.

Haru and Oona tiled their heads in curiosity and looked at Dawson, who only shrugged at them.

"And this means, Basil?" Dawson asked.

Basil looked up and answered.

"This means that this island has, or had life on it. From the way this piece of glass is now, and from the design, it was a. . .-"

Basil studied the glass more.

"A beer bottle. . . which shows that this island was or is inhabited." Basil said finishing.

Dawson gulped.

"But. . . by whom? Who on earth would stay on an accursed island?"

Basil sighed and put away his magnifying glass and flicked the glass away.

"This island isn't cursed Dawson. . . I assure you it’s a load of nonsense." Basil said starting to walk on more.

Oona then walked and glared at Basil.

"It is cursed! It has to be! Why would my daddy and uncle be gone so long then?"

Basil gave a soft glare back down at her.

"I don't know. . . perhaps they got lost. . . or they didn't have any transportation back home. The possibilities are endless Oona, but a curse is definitely not the case. . ."

Haru then walked along side with Basil.

"But Basil, I would think after all that’s happened to us, you would have a more open mind about things. I mean, just a while ago I used to be human and now I'm a mouse and in this situation." Haru asked raising an eyebrow at him.

Oona shot a confused look to Dawson.

Dawson chuckled nervously and patted her head.

"Don't worry about it my dear, don't mind them." he said laughing nervously.

Basil's eyes softened to Haru.

"I know Haru, but as a detective, I have to see things from a scientific point of view . . ." Basil said as the four of them walked up another hill.

"Yeah but-!" Haru tried to argue back, but was interrupted by what lay ahead when they made it to the top of the hill.

"What. . .what. . .?" Haru managed to squeak, her eyes widening in wonder.
Basil, Dawson, and Oona looked at Haru and the direction she was looking at, only for their eyes to widen also.

Over the hill, they saw a large dark, old, and deserted looking amusement park.
The four of them stood in silence starting down at the park below them. Finally Dawson broke the silence.

"A-an amusement park? Why an amusement park?"

"Yeah, much less why would they put it on an island. . .? And under the other circumstances. . ." Haru said.

Oona trembled slightly.

"It's scary looking. . ." she said slowly.

Basil stared intently at the park and started down the hill towards it.

"Come, let us search it, perhaps Oona's father and uncle are down there."

Haru, Dawson, and Oona watched Basil walk down the hill and gave each other nervous glances before following him towards the park, a bit reluctantly.

Basil stared up at the large amusement park, towering over him and smirked.

"I think I know where this island came from."

"Where then?" asked Haru, as she, Oona, and Dawson joined Basil.

Basil walked to a large candy wrapper that was laying a few feet away from them on the ground and gestured the others to follow him.

"See the language? It's Italian."

"Really?" Dawson asked looking closer at the candy wrapper.

"Indeed." Basil said looking around again.

"And most of the signs are in Italian too. This island has to have come from Italy."

Oona's eyes lit up.

"All the way from Italy?! What's this island doing here in Belgium then?"

Basil shrugged.

"Who knows. . . but the island isn't our concern, we need to find your father and uncle and leave." Basil said walking onward.

As the four of them walked through the amusement park, Haru couldn't help but notice some unusual things about this park.

'This whole place is a dump! It looks as if a tornado came and blew through here. Wherever we walk, we have to walk over or around candy wrappers, cigar buts, and broken beer bottle glass. And what’s with all the stands? One of the stands look like it’s dedicated to smoking, another stand for drinking beer. Even another one with what looked like you could gamble. Something’s wrong with this picture. . . kids shouldn't be doing these things. . . this seems more like an adult amusement park. All this is so out of place-.'

Before Haru could finish her thought, they all heard a slow static sounding voice.

"EK!" Dawson and Oona cried in alarm, both running behind Basil immediately.

"It's the curse!" Oona cried.

Basil rolled his eyes.

"Poppycock!" he said then began walking toward the source of the static voice.

"B-Basil?!" Dawson and Haru called out and they all followed Basil cautiously.

Basil followed the voice to see a mechanical clown face hanging high above them, its eyes moving slowly back and forth as its mouth began to move.

". . .E-eat. . . all you- you can. . . Be a. . .g-g-glutton. . . St-stuff your-s-selves. . . It's all free. . .b-b-boys. . .Hu-hu-hurry. . . hurry. . .hu-hurry. . ." it said in a static barely audible voice.

Basil smiled and turned to the others behind him.

"See? It's only a concession machine, that’s barely working. Seems to be the only thing that’s working around here. . ." Basil said.

'That still doesn't change the fact that, that clown looks terrifying from down here. . .' Haru thought to herself.

Suddenly all four of them jumped at the sound of a cry, coming from an almost collapsed tent nearby.

"What was that?!" Haru asked, eyes widening.

Basil groaned.

"Are you three, just going to jump at every little sound you hear?" Basil said ignoring the fact that he too was startled by the sound.

Basil then walked toward the tent, looking inside the huge opening.
"It's pit dark in there. . ." Dawson stated.

"I'm not going in there when it’s that dark!" whined Oona.

"We may have to. That noise could be your father or uncle." Basil pointed out.

". . . Or it could be something. . . or someone else." Oona said crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Either way we need to investigate, come let’s go." Basil said already making his way inside.

Haru stood behind everyone, not liking the fact that they had to go in the tent without any light.

Quickly looking around for something that could help, Haru's eyes wandered to a box on the ground not too far away from them that looked like a box of matches.

"Hey! Wait guys! Maybe we don't have to go in there without any light!" Haru called out to them, while making her way towards the box.

They all turned to see Haru walking to a large box (to them) and Basil's eyes lit up.
"Great eye, Haru! Hopefully it has a couple of matches we could use." Basil said heading toward the box as well.

"It's too big! Come help!" Haru called to them.

Basil, Dawson, and Oona got into position and pulled along with Haru and successfully slid the box of matches open.

"Oh good! It has three matches left." Oona said in relief.

Basil pulled the matches out and examined them.

"We'll have to use them one at a time, just in case we have to be in the tent longer." he said holding the three matches, which were almost as big as him.

Basil gave the other two matches to Dawson and Haru and quickly flicked the head of the match on the gravel and lit it.

Basil smiled in satisfaction and turned the others.

"Shall we?" he smirked.

Dawson, Oona, and Haru rolled their eyes and nodded.

Once the four of them made it back to the opening of the tent, Basil peered inside closer with the lit up match still in hand, to see the whole place was filled with mirrors, most of which were broken and quite of few that were still in one piece.

"It's a fun house of mirrors. Looks safe. . . there are no monsters to be seen so far." Basil said shooting a playful smirk at the others.

"Hardy Har. . ." Oona said with her hands on her hips.

"Don't tease us Basil. . . You heard the cry too, what do you expect us to do besides being jumpy?" Haru asked frowning at Basil.

Basil waved a hand.

"Enough of that, let’s go inside."

Making their way inside, they instantly scanned their surrounds and where met with nothing, but the mirrors and their disfigured reflections staring back at them.

"Stay close everyone." Basil said holding the match a bit higher.

Walking a bit closer now, Haru's eyes wandered the place, till her eyes fell on something that made her giggle.

Looking into a mirror, Haru saw herself as skinny as a twig and couldn't help, but want to laugh.

Oona noticing why Haru giggled, giggled as well and looked at herself also, stifling a laugh.

Basil turned to the girls and chuckled to himself and then turned to Dawson and his smirk widened.

"My word, Dawson. You've lost a lot of weight."

"Huh?" Dawson said turning to look to his side to see a reflection of himself in a way skinner form.

"My goodness!" Dawson laughed and turned to Basil.

"I might say the opposite for you." Dawson said gesturing to the mirror next to Basil, which had a reflection of Basil in a large form.

"Oh dear. . . I've seem to have let myself go." Basil smirked.
Everyone laughed, but their laughter was immediately cut short, when they heard a cry again, only louder and closer.

“Eeek!” the girls cried holding each other instantly.

"Goodness!!" Dawson cried jumping into Basil's arms, trembling.

"Get ahold of yourself, Dawson!" Basil scolded dropping Dawson from him.

"It's the same noise we heard earlier." Haru said holding Oona close to her, as she franticly looked around.

Basil frowned and looked around also.

"Yes it is. . . only. . . its sound more like a-."

"Who's there? Is that you Lukas?" called a voice.

Oona's eyes lit up.

"Daddy!" she cried running into the direction of the voice.

Basil, Dawson, and Haru immediately followed Oona, to see another mouse, clearly stuck under a large piece of glass.

"Daddy!" Oona cried running to the figure and hugging his upper body, which wasn't under the glass.

"Oona?! What on earth are you doing here?!" Mr. Peeters asked, his brown eyes wide as he collected his daughter in his arms, hugging her as best as he could in his position.

"Oh daddy! I was so worried! You and uncle never came home, and I had to come to find you!" Oona said hugging him tighter and crying onto her father's dirty jacket.

Mr. Peeters held his daughter closer to him and then looked up to see the two detectives and the young girl running towards them.

"Who are you?" he asked them.

Basil, Dawson, and Haru were next to them in a flash.

"I'm Basil of Baker Street. These are my associates, Mr. Dawson and Ms. Haru." Basil said immediately trying to remove the piece of glass off of Mr. Peeters.

"Oh dear, you’re hurt!" Dawson said looking under the glass to see Mr. Peeters's injured leg.

Peeters chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's not so bad, don't worry about it."

Oona finally let go of her dad and got to see the situation he was in.

"We need to get you out, now!" Oona said rushing to join Basil and trying to help push the glass off.

"No, this won't work. Dawson, you and Oona push on that side. Haru and I will pull on this side, but be careful, Mr. Peeters is still under this glass and we could harm him even more, if we don't do this correctly." Basil said.

Everyone quickly got into position.

"Ready?" asked Basil.

Everyone nodded.

"Okay, carefully!" Basil said beginning to pull and lift the glass slowly.

After a challenging minute, they managed to lift the glass just enough for Mr. Peeters. Who crawled as quickly as he could from underneath it.

They all released the glass with a gasp of relief and turned to Peeters.

Mr. Peeters rolled up his pants leg up and winced at the open wound on his leg and looked up at the others.

"I think one of my bags has a first aid kit. . ." he said slowly.

Haru looked down to see a few bags lying nearby the place where Peeters was once trapped and quickly grabbed them and brought them over.

Dawson grabbed a bag and searched it and pulled out a cloth and a bottle of antiseptic and instantly was next to the geographer.

"This will sting. . ." Dawson said opening the bottle and preparing to pour it on the wound.

Mr. Peeters nodded and winced as soon as the alcohol made contact and sighed when Dawson began to wrap the wound.

Breaking the silence Oona then asked.

"Daddy? Where is uncle?"

Peeters looked up at Oona and sighed.

"I don't know. The last time I saw Lukas was about two days ago."

"Two days ago?!" Basil interjected.

"How long have you been stuck?"

Peeters looked sheepish and replied.

"For about two days. . ."

"What?!" Oona gasped in shock.

"What happened dad?!" Oona demanded to know.

"Well. . . Your uncle and I were searching the area and were surprised to see a human amusement park on this island. We looked about, then we came here and next thing I knew, glass was pinning me down. Lukas tried to get me out, but couldn't. So he left me some food and water and went to search for something or someone that could help us. . . that’s the last I saw of him. . ." Mr. Peeters said frowning.

"So he's still out there somewhere?" Haru asked.

Mr. Peeters nodded and thanked Dawson once Dawson finished helping him with his leg.

"Oh no, uncle could have been gotten by the curse!" Oona said trembling in fear.

Peeters abruptly looked up at his daughter.

"Pardon?"

"The curse!"

Mr. Peeters wore a puzzled expression and turned to the others for an explanation.

"Ah, you see, right after you left, everyone in your village has been saying that this island is cursed. . . for whatever reason." Basil said

"Cursed? Nonsense! I've seen nothing out of the ordinary on this island. . . besides the unusual amusement park." Mr. Peeters said.

"I knew it." Basil said crossing his arms.

"Cursed or not, we need to find Lukas and get you two out of here." Haru pointed out.

"I agree, Mr. Peeters can't walk with this wound and he should get home soon for some rest so it can heal quickly." Dawson said.

"Then let’s make haste and find Lukas." Basil said helping Peeters up along with Dawson's help.

OoOoO

After a trying travel through the amusement park and going up and down the hills, and down the rocky heap, they all made it to the shore they came from.

"Crisp!" Haru called out.

"We need help!" Oona called out also.

After a moment of no response and no one coming, Basil groaned.

"Don't worry. We found out the island isn't cursed after all." Basil said.

Instantly Crisp flew out of nowhere and landed in front of them.

"I wasn't worried. . ." Crisp pouted.

"Now where should we look now?" Dawson asked setting Peeters down.

"Lukas and I never got a chance to search the other end of the island. Perhaps Lukas went there to look for something or someone to help us." Mr. Peeters said.

"Seems appropriate. . . Crisp, please take us to-." Basil tried to say but was interrupted by Crisp.

"Yeah, yeah. I heard." he said leaning down for everyone to climb aboard his back easily.
Once everyone climbed on, Crisp flew up high and picked up speed quickly to the other end of the island.

Everyone looked down at the island and made out the other end which had large stones at the edge of the island blocking the view of the whole island from that side.

Once they got lower, Haru could make out a stone wall surrounding part of the island and the amusement park much closer to this edge of the island.

Crisp then swooped down and landed just twenty feet away from it and everyone climbed off.

"Uncle!" Oona instantaneously called out.

Silence was the only thing that answered Oona's call.

Basil turned to Crisp.

"Crisp, you go scan the amusement park, we will search right here at the edge of the island."

Crisp nodded without much of a fight and flew off.

Basil then turned to Dawson and Peeters.

"You two stay here, Haru, Oona, and I can look. You just stay here and rest your leg, Dawson will look after you."

To Basil's surprise, Peeters shook his head in disagreement.

"No. I want to help look for my brother."

"But daddy-!" Oona tried to say but stopped in mid-sentence when her father pointed towards the stone wall.

"Oona, be a dear and grab that stick for me. I'll use it as a cane."

With a bit of reluctance in Oona's eyes, she obediently went to fetch the stick.

"But Mr. Peeters, I wouldn't advise you to walk, even with a cane. Your wound may even get worse." Dawson said.

Mr. Peeters just smiled and said.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just let me help find Lukas. We need to find him quickly. It's getting late and it'll be much harder to find him when it gets dark." Peeters said looking at the setting sun.

Dawson sighed and nodded knowing that Peeters wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Oona came running back, holding a nicely thick and tall stick for Mr. Peeters to use for a cane and handed it to her father.

OoOoO

The sun had long past set and the group wondered the area looking for any sign of the missing uncle, but nothing could be found. Crisp had even come back a couple of times saying he couldn't find anything, but Basil would just send him away to look in the amusement park again.

Haru sighed and looked at the others who all wore tired expressions on their faces but continued to search the area.

'This is strange, it seems we already looked everywhere on this side of the island. Where on earth could Lukas be?' Haru thought.

But before Haru could take another step, she noticed some round glasses on the ground at her feet.

"Hey! I think I found something!" Haru called to the others.

They all ran to Haru and Peeters then exclaimed.

"They’re Lukas's! He must be nearby, he can't see without them and he wouldn't wonder off blind."

They all scanned that particular area.

Haru walked on till, she suddenly felt the ground disappear at her feet.

"Haru!" Basil said grabbing her and pulling her to him before the ground could collapse below her.

"The ground is loose here. . ." Haru stated breathlessly from almost falling, looking down at the hole which was now formed into the ground.

"Look at this." Dawson said crouching somewhere nearby.

Everyone went to Dawson and saw another hole in the ground.

"Lukas must have fallen in." Peeters said clutching the wide eyed Oona to him.

"Then we must go down and see what’s down there." Haru said.

"But what’s a safer way to go in?" Dawson asked.

Basil stood up and looked around.

"There is obviously an underground cave below us. There must be some opening around here where the humans used to come in and out."

Everyone nodded in agreement and scurried to find an opening.

They then found an opening, just a bit away from the stone wall.

Basil then grabbed one of the matches they had left and lit it.

They all headed down the opening and into the underground cave.

They looked around to see tons of wooden boxes on one side of the cave and on the other side of the cave was an empty area.

"It looks like the humans used this room to hold animals in. . ." Basil whispered.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of one of the wooden boxes moving.

Basil instantly turned his lit match to that direction to see a figure behind stacked wooden boxes.

Deciding to be the first one to say something, Haru spoke hesitantly.

"H-hello?"

The figure stiffened and but didn't make much movement and replied.

"Please stay where you are. . ."

"Uncle!" cried Oona making a run for him.

"Stay where you are!" Lukas repeated only more fierce.

Oona came to a stop, shocked at the way her uncle talked to her.

". . .Uncle?"

Peeters went to where his daughter stood and looked at the figure.

"Lukas? Why won't you come out? What’s wrong?"

Lukas didn't say or do anything, just sat in the shadows.

Basil then came forward.

"Lukas, I presume? I'm Basil of Baker Street, and these are my associates Mr. Dawson and Ms. Haru. We've come to take you home."

". . . I can't go home. . ."

"And why not?!" demanded Peeters getting a bit fed up.

"Because I'm not myself. . ." Lukas replied.

Peeters anger disappeared and was replaced with confusion.

"Not yourself?" he repeated.

"What do you mean, uncle?" Oona asked.

". . . I just. . . am not myself. . . I changed. . ." Lukas said.

"Changed?" Dawson said aloud.

Basil wore a puzzled frown and looked at Haru who also wore the same expression, till her eyes lit up and she turned to look up at Basil.

"Basil. . . could he mean. . . the curse?" she whispered.

Basil's frown deepened.

"Haru. . . how many times do I have to tell you, this island isn't cursed!"

"Oh it’s curse alright." Lukas's voice interrupted.

Everyone's attention was back on the figure of Lukas.

"W-why do you say that?" Basil asked despite not really wanting to know.

"Because it did this to me!" Lukas cried angrily.

Everyone watched as the figure of Lukas got up and turned towards them. They heard instead of footsteps, hoof like sounds as Lukas slowly crept out of the shadows toward them. All their eyes widen as the figure of a gray donkey on all fours appeared before them.
The donkey, who was the same size of a mouse, glared at them waiting for a reply from them.

"U-uncle??" Oona managed to gasp out.

The donkey's eyes softened at the sound of Oona’s voice.

"Hello kiddo, nice to see. . .er. . . hear you again. . ."

"Lukas. . . what happened to you?" Peeters breathed out, leaning on his cane for support (in more ways than one).

Lukas shot Peeters a dirty look.

"I was turned into the Easter Bunny, of course!" Lukas said smirking, but eyes still glaring.

"What do you think happened to me?! I was turned into a donkey!" Lukas hissed out angrily.

"S-so the curse did this to you?" Dawson asked.

Lukas snorted.

"Curse, spell, some supernatural force, I don't know! What I do know is that this island is the reason for my changing."

". . . When did this happen?" asked Basil still in shock about the island maybe truly being cursed.

Lukas sighed and looked up in thought.

"Just today actually. I was looking for something to help Peeters out from under that piece of glass, when I suddenly was caught up in the mood of exploring. Then all of a sudden my body began to change into a donkey."

"Caught up in the mood? Care to clarify?" Basil asked.

"Well. . . I was happy to finally discover a land that seems to have been uncharted, and just for a moment, I thought I could stay here forever and explore the island." Lukas said irony in his voice.

Haru's heart stopped for a second.

"You felt right at home. . . did you?" Haru whispered.

Lukas barely catching what Haru just said, nodded.

"Yeah. At that moment I felt so at home, that I began to fantasize about staying here forever, too bad it’s the contrary now."

Haru's mind instantly went back to the time she was in the Cat Kingdom. She was human when she came, but when she started to feel at home and fantasize that life as a cat would not be so bad, she began to change into a cat and this was a problem because. . .

"Oh no. . ." Haru said in realization.

Basil looked at Haru and tilted his head.

"Something wrong?"

Haru didn't respond, she flew up to where they had come from and back outside and looked at the sky at the beginnings of a sunrise.

Panic rushed through Haru's body and she began to scream out.

"Help! Crisp! Please! Come quick!"

Everyone came from underground and looked in question at the screaming brunette. Basil then grabbed Haru, causing her to stop yelling and he held her in front of him, holding her by her shoulders.

"Haru. . . calm down. What’s going on?"

Catching her breath Haru answered quickly.

"Basil! We must be on some Donkey Kingdom! Lukas began to change into a donkey when he felt at home on this island and that’s the same effect I had in the Cat Kingdom when I turned into a cat! I had to escape the Cat Kingdom before dawn, or I would remain a cat permanently! We have to get Lukas off this island before dawn or he will permanently be a donkey!"

Basil's eyes widen in realization.

"My god. . . your right!" Basil exclaimed.

Lukas eyes lit up.

"Wait, wait, wait! So your saying I'm not permanently a donkey?!" he questioned.

"No, but that can change, if we don't get you out of here by dawn!" Basil said making haste towards the amusement park.

"Oh no. . ." said Peeters looking at the sky and seeing the sky beginning to turn orange.

"We only have a little time left!"

Everyone then quickly ran towards the amusement park, crying out Crisp's name.

"Crisp!" cried out Haru again.

"Crisp!" Oona and Dawson cried out at the same time.

All their cries must have been heard, because the green parrot came flying towards them.

"Okay, okay! I'm here! You act as if the place is on fire." Crisp yelled back at the mice and landed next to them.

"Crisp, make sure you fly as fast as you can, we need to make it away from the island before dawn!" Haru said climbing on Crisp's back along with the others franticly.

"Sure, but- Is that a donkey?!" Crisp asked.

"No time for chit chat! Fly Crisp! Fly!" Oona cried.

Crisp knowing questions wouldn't be answered, automatically flew up and began to fly at his fastest speed away from the island.

Lukas began to slowly transform back to his mouse form the more Crisp flew away from the island.

Everyone's eyes were glued toward the sun, watching it as it finally peaked its was from the ground and began to fully rise into the sky.

Haru breathed a gasp of relief.

"We made it. . ."

"Uh. . . guys. . ." said Oona's voice frozen in horror.

They all turned their attention to Lukas.

Lukas now had his normal body back, his gray fur returned, and his once long donkey face was now back into his normal mouse face, only two things hadn't changed. Lukas still wore his long pointed gray donkey ears and his donkey tail also still remained. . . he was still half donkey. . .

OoOoO

Crisp landed on the forest floor softly and leaned down for everyone to climb down easier.

Everyone silently climbed down and stood there quietly.

Just remembering something, Haru pulled out Luka’s glasses and handed him them without a word and he nodded to her in gratitude and placed them upon his face.

Dawson then broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Lukas. . ."

Lukas sighed and gave a halfhearted smirk, adjusting his glasses.

"It's fine, I can live with being half mouse, half donkey for the rest of my life. . . I can handle being a freak for my whole life. . ." Lukas said holding his donkey tail in his hand and stared intently at it.

Oona then turned to Lukas, her eyes filled with tears and cried out.

"You’re not a freak, uncle! Don't say that!"

Lukas turned to look at his niece.

"Why not Oona, after all it’s the truth."

Oona firmly shook her head.

"Uncle. It doesn't matter what shape you are. You are still Lukas, my sweet uncle that I love with all my heart, and just because you have ears and a tail like a donkey, doesn't mean me or my daddy will love you any less!"

Oona then threw herself in her uncle's arms and hugged him tightly.

"We love you and that will never change." she said softly crying into her uncle's chest.

Lukas stared down at Oona, shocked by the little girl's heart felt speech and looked at the others who wore the same shocked looks on their faces.

Peeters then shook off his shock and walked up to Lukas and Oona with the help of his cane and smiled at his brother.

"Oona's right brother. . . we will still love you, and that won't change." he said putting a hand on Lukas's shoulder, before also giving Lukas a hug.

Lukas just stood there, still in shock, till finally all there words sunk in.

Tears began to form in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away and hugged his brother and niece back, full force.

Smiles lit up on Basil, Haru, and Dawson's faces watching the family hug each other closely, even Crisp was smiling also.

Finally the family separated from their embrace and smiled at each other, but Lukas's smile instantly vanished.

"W-what will the village say?" Lukas asked.

Peeters gave Lukas a reassuring smile.

"They'll all just be glad to see your home."

Oona then giggled.

"Yeah, especially Daan, he might be too busy being happy you and daddy are home that he won't even notice your ears and tail." Oona said between giggles.

Lukas then chuckled at the image.

Peeters than turned to the others and smiled.

"How can we ever repay you?" asked Peeters.

Basil smiled.

"There’s no need Mr. Peeters. We're just glad you’re home and together again." Basil said, while Dawson and Haru nodded in agreement.

Basil then turned to Haru, Dawson, and Crisp.

"Come, let us continue, with our journey."

Oona looked at them quickly.

"You’re leaving already?!" she squeaked.

Dawson gave Oona a sad smiled.

"I'm afraid so, time isn't on our side right now and it would be best if we left as soon as possible."

"But, but. . . we've all hadn't slept in a long time. Don't you all want to say and rest for a bit? You deserve it." Oona persisted.

"No, Oona. We have to hurry and leave and quickly find out the location of the Dog Kingdom." Basil said getting ready to hop on Crisp's back again.

Peeter's eyes lit up.

"You mean you’re going to the Dog Kingdom?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we sadly don't know where it is. . ." Haru said.

Lukas's eyes then lit up and he turn to look at Peeters who nodded at him.

"Uh, this may not help, but we do know someone who could help you find the Dog Kingdom. He lives in Germany so you won't have to travel far to find him." Lukas said.

Basil, Haru, and Dawson's full attention was on Lukas.

"You do?" asked Haru.

Lukas nodded, his donkey tail swaying a little in excitement.

"We could draw you a map to help you find him if you want." Peeters said smiling softly.

Oona then added quickly.

"But only if you stay for a while and rest." Oona said smirking at them.

Basil, Dawson, Crisp, and Haru blinked at them and smiles appeared on their faces.

"We don't have a choice, do we Basil?" asked Dawson grinning at Basil.
Basil grinned back.

"I'm afraid not old chap. Okay, we will stay and take advantage of your hospitality." Basil said.

Oona, Peeters, and Lukas all wore bright smiles. Oona then ran at them.

"Thank you!" she said jumping up and spreading her arms wide enough to give Haru, Basil, and Dawson a group hug.

They all laughed and hugged her back.

Crisp snorted and smirked.

"Good thing too, because I'm starving. I hope that Daan of yours will be making waffles for us."

Oona smiled and broke out of the hug with the others and then wrapped her arms around Crisp's neck hugging him also.

"For you guys, anything!" she giggled.