"I'm sorry. Did you say you're in a cartoon?"

In front of Kaleb, Abby nodded her head even though Farrah couldn't see them. Kaleb scowled at the bright colors outside the train window as he spoke up.

"Yep. Blown-out bright colors, waxy finish everything like it's all made of plastic, and everything has a damn face and looks like it's about to break out into song."

"The sun just winked at me," Abby said, sounding sick.

There was a long pause on the other end of their communications and for a moment Kaleb thought they'd been cut off. But then Jar-lock and Vivienne joined the call. Kaleb could hear the hum of a car's engine in the background as whoever was driving seemed to speed up.

"What's this about cartoons?" Jar-lock asked.

Kaleb sighed but explained again as he watched cacti and tumbleweeds bounce with a peaceful rhythm outside the window. The train was still hauling ass, but the landscape never changed. Kaleb made a note of memorizing several rocks, hoping they weren't on a wraparound background type of thing. When he finished explaining things and sufficiently assuaged his fears, he waited patiently for Jar-lock or Vivienne's advice.

"… you really are a menace." Jar-lock sputtered over the comm after pausing for several beats.

Kaleb bit his lip and rolled his eyes at the unhelpful mage. Abby snapped out of her own thoughts at the mage's words and raised a hand to her ear.

"How is that helpful?! We're stuck in a damn toon train and you're bitching about the Professor? Seriously!? We need help! I really don't want to be stuck in here when the entire world starts singing!"

Kaleb's jaw dropped as he hadn't thought of that. "That's not something that could happen, right?"

Abby simply gave him a dangerous look as Vivienne's voice came over their comms.

"We are almost to where you two disappeared. Can you find the gate on your side? If it's still open, maybe we can widen it to let y'all out."

Kaleb switched on his magic vision and damn near went blind.

"SONOFABITCH! Fuck! OW!"

He hurriedly shut his eyes and reeled backward. His back hit one of the train car's seats and he tumbled even more until an icy hand gripped his shoulder. Abby held him steady as Kaleb tried to blink the spots from his eyes. Meanwhile, Jar-lock and Vivienne were screaming in his ear.

"Professor!?"

"What happened?!"

"Is he okay?!"

"Is he dead?!"

"Shut up!" Abby screamed at the two before she squeezed Kaleb's shoulder worriedly. "You alright, Doc?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm fine. Just almost went blind. This whole fucking realm is magic. I think we're in another pocket dimension."

"Okay, then. Then this shit is simple, right? We find the Nexus Point and then remove it."

"Uhhhh…" Jar-lock's voice said over the comms. "Not quite."

"What do you mean? That was the plan with the Sludge demon, right? So let's just do that again."

"Well, it depends on who made the pocket dimension, which is a hefty bit of magic, by the way. They would still need a nexus point. But a Mortal Mage's Nexus Point is a lot different from a Demon's."

"Jar, I can sense you're about to go off on a lecture. But could you give us the damn cliff notes version?" Abby asked.

Jar-lock harrumphed, but complied. "Essentially, a demon cracks off a piece of its power to anchor the dimension. A mortal doesn't do that. Instead, we are the focal point for that power… at least at first. Eventually, a mage can get powerful enough to sustain the dimension, but that would take a whole heap of power."

"And the more complex the dimension, the more power it would take." Vivienne added.

"How much stuff is in that pocket dimension?"

Kaleb finally blinked the spots away from his vision in time to see Abby rush to the window. She stuck her head out, which made him grit his teeth in fear, but she quickly dragged it back in.

"It doesn't look like much. Big ass sun, wide desert, and a bunch of cacti and tumbleweeds."

"What about the train?"

"Four cars. Two Passenger cars, one coal car, and the engine."

Kaleb nodded, happy at the news. "That means this mage isn't that powerful, right?"

"Don't underestimate them, Professor. That's their pocket dimension. They would basically be a god in their dimension."

"Well… shit." Abby said, throwing herself into a nearby seat.

"We're at the street looking for the dimensional crack now. We'll have you both out in a bit," Vivienne supplied.

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But Kaleb wasn't sure about that. The invisible fissure in the street should've been visible to both of the mages as soon as they exited their car. The fact that both of them said nothing made him shiver slightly. Looking at Abby, he saw she was thinking the same thing. They were probably stuck here until the mage team could crack them out again.

Taking the seat in front of Abby, Kaleb asked. "Jar, how god-like would the mage be?"

"Not omnipotent. At least at first. But the stronger they grow, the more power they can exert over their creation. However, they would still be bound by the rules of their creation."

"Rules?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. In your case, a cartoon world, they would be bound by the physics and laws of a cartoon."

"That sounds terrifying."

"It's actually pretty… and… When he… Prize…"

Jar-lock's voice over the comms started to grow more distant, and Kaleb and Abby shared a horrified look. Immediately, the two of them shouted over Jar-lock and explained what was happening. But the mage was still choppily talking about pocket dimensions. With no idea if their words had been heard, the connection eventually clicked off and Kaleb and Abby scowled.

"Great. That's just fucking great. We're stuck in a madman's cartoon world with no idea how to get out."

Kaleb blew out a breath and nodded along, although there was a bit of a silver lining. "Hey, at least we haven't met the madman yet. It looks like this little pocket dimension was somebody's secret project. So we probably just stepped into an accidental tear in their work."

Abby started to nod in agreement until she paused. "Wait… What if that tear wasn't accidental?"

"What? Why would anyone create a fissure to their pocket dimension in the middle of the street?"

"To bring in supplies? To let something out? Maybe even to trap unsuspecting civilians."

Abby popped out of her seat and started glancing around the train car. Their own car was empty, but there was one attached behind them. Kaleb drew his Cybar and stood with the shorter woman. She nodded at the door connecting the two cars and they moved as one to either side of the brown door. Abby summoned a single arm blade and tried to peer through the frosted glass of the door. When she didn't see anything, she returned to cover and shook her head.

Kaleb nodded and then reached out with his robotic hand and twisted the doorknob, letting in the loud sounds of the train. The space between the cars was open to the air, and they both crossed it quickly. Kaleb kept on going even as the wooden door stood in his way. His metal shoulder sent bits of the plastic door flying as he charged through into the next car and raised his pistol menacingly. Abby was right on his heels, long arm blade held up and ready. But it was all for nothing. This car was just as empty as theirs.

"Is this a good thing?" Kaleb wondered aloud.

"I think so," Abby answered. "I mean, whatever the creator of this world wanted to bring in didn't get here. So that has to be a good thing, right?"

Kaleb nodded, but a gnawing feeling roiled in his gut. It told him that they stepped into something. He just wasn't sure what it was. He was about to suggest they search the other two cars as well when a loud gunshot cracked through the air. Abby ducked as Kaleb spun on the spot, looking for the source. Rushing to the window, he stuck his head outside and squinted against the bright sun. More gunshots joined the first, and Kaleb heard a thudding sound break up the train's normal clacking.

Looking behind their passenger car, Kaleb spotted several darkly dressed cowboys thudding toward them on monstrous steeds. They each wore bandanas with skulls on them and waved about their weapons. Occasionally, one would go off and the group of outlaws would cheer as they grew closer to the train car. The odd bunch stood out against the bright colors of the cartoon world. They still fit the theme of a cartoon, but something about them seemed off.

Abby stuck her own head out of a window ahead of Kaleb and swore. "Shit! Are you serious!? Bandits!?"

"Bandits attacking a cartoon train. It actually kind of fits." Kaleb shouted over the roar of the train and the approaching bandits.

"Do we fight them?"

Kaleb shrugged his shoulders as Abby turned her head his way. When the back of her head was to the bandits, a rifle round hit the window near her head. Kaleb shouted as Abby quickly pulled her head in.

"Guess that answers that." Kaleb muttered as he pulled his Cybar up and returned fire.

The bandits spread out on their horses as Kaleb's blue energy shots scattered them. More bullets rained down on Kaleb's position, but he kept his head low and fired back as best he could. More than once, he saw one of his shots slam into a bandit and the man jerked like he had been shot. But then he would right himself and attack again. It was only when Kaleb knocked them off their horses that he actually managed to do something.

Kaleb pulled his head back into the car as more of the plastic around the window exploded. Venting his Cybar, he saw Abby crouched in the center of the aisle waiting. Cocking an eyebrow at the woman, Kaleb asked.

"You gonna help?"

"I'm a horrible shot and you were doing fine. I figured I'd wait to repel borders."

"Pfft! So you thought you'd be lazy, is what I'm hearing."

Abby opened her mouth to argue, but the sounds of boots hitting the roof stopped her. The shorter woman grinned evilly at Kaleb before shooting up like a rocket. Her shadows shielded and pushed her through the train's roof. Kaleb heard the sounds of a brief scuffle before a body flashed past the outside windows, accompanied by a loud scream. As the body of the bandit tumbled away from the train, Abby stuck her face down into the hole she made and grinned. Kaleb returned the smile before a loud crack at the back of the train brought his attention to a pair of bandits breaking in.

Before he could raise his pistol, Kaleb's left arm rose and the repulsor in his palm flashed. A bright blue tube of energy surged forward and slammed into one of the bandits. The man was thrown into his friend and both were shoved back out the door. Glancing at his arm, which had acted on its own, Kaleb was in wonder. Until an angry chittering reminded him that Milly was in there. The alien marmot had been asleep for most of their patrol, but now the little creature was awake and pissed.

Placating the small creature in his robotic arm as best he could, Kaleb ran toward the back door. He reached the door just as another cowboy jumped onto the train and the two stared at each other for a few seconds. The man's eyes behind the bandana were glassy, and for the first time, Kaleb realized what he thought was a human man was actually an alien with tentacles for hair. But the tentacles were being merged into long strands of brown hair. Kaleb thought the alien looked like a half-finished drawing.

Squeaking loudly about his slowness, Milly brought up his arm again and let loose with another repulsor blast. The cowboy's body flickered at the close range blast and for a moment Kaleb saw the face of a confused alien. Then the cowboy was back and flying backwards from the force of the blow. The cowboy's body hit the train tracks and rolled a few times before coming to a full stop.

Kaleb tried to wrap his head around what he'd just seen, but more gunfire exploded the door frame near him. He was forced to return fire as the train sped along its tracks. Above him, Abby fought off anyone foolish enough to try and board them. Meanwhile, Milly puppet-ed his left arm like a pro, shooting at everyone that pulled close. Not wanting to be outdone by his pet, Kaleb joined in the assault as he spotted more horses coming up over the next rise.

They were in for a long ride.

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