"Okay, let me get this straight…" Cheshire Cat sounded displeased as he addressed the Munchkins, "You think the only way to get directly from Oz to anywhere, is to wear sparkly red shoes and say 'there's no place like home'. But you're not sure because you never saw the kid who tried that after she tried that, and so you don't have the red shoes anymore…"

The Munchkins consulted each other and then nodded. "Yes. But they're red slippers, not just shoes you know…"

Cheshire Cat muttered under his breath. Aloud he said: "Whatever. Even if you still had them, I doubt I could use them." He allowed himself to mentally shudder at the idea. "Look - why hasn't anyone checked these things? I mean, if there's another way to enter or leave this dimension, that's important stuff! You should know that!"

"Well, we had the Mirrorwall to get to WonderLand, when it aligned with us. But that was mostly for trade anyway. Not many have wanted to leave Oz." The Munchkin sounded apologetic.

"WonderLand is going to end, be no more, and that's the best you can do?!" CC let some of his anger show.

The shortest of the Munchkins spoke up, some anger in his tone also. "Hey Cheshire, easy there! We're trying okay? This does hurt us too you know - without WonderLand, the Mirrorwall won't align with us any more. We won't have trade here. Oz has traded with and through you guys for ages, our society has become dependant on some of the things trade brings us. We may eventually run out of supplies that we can't get any other way. And we're sealed in here without the red slippers. At least our friends the WonderLanders will go fast and painless…"

The other Munchkins looked grim, an expression that did not suit them well.

CC sighed heavily, this was not how he'd imagined his retirement. He closed his eyes and tried to understand the situation for a moment. Instead, he had an idea. "Doesn't Oz have a Wizard?"

"Oz you mean? Yes he was a wonderful wizard, that's why we named the place after him." The Munchkins shrugged in unison.

Seeing this Cheshire could not help but to be reminded of the WonderLand relatives of the Munchkins, TweedleDee and TweedleDum. He recalled them with a small smile, realizing how homesick he was, before returning to the issue of the moment. "Okay, so where is Oz?"

"We're not sure. He left in a hot air balloon to cross the desert, trying to get to some place called Omaha."

"Omaha?" Cheshire blinked. "So the girl that left with the shoes, was trying to get to Kansas and your Wizard left for Omaha and you never saw either of them again?"

The Munchkins nodded, sadly.

"Well then…how do you know that they didn't get to those places? And maybe from one of those places, I can get to Earth…" Cheshire sounded hopeful, but the Munchkins were shaking their heads. "What?" He looked at them.

The Munchkins spoke in turns.

"You can't fly and we don't have that technology."

"And the Winged Monkeys left awhile ago, you remember, it was during the WonderLand wars. So they can't help."

"You have to fly to cross the desert."

Cheshire flicked his tail, a nervous gesture. "What's across the desert anyway, Kansas or Omaha?"

"Don't know Cheshire."

"Haven't been there."

"Maybe they're both there, or perhaps it's always changing.

The Munchkins sighed in unison while CC paced. Then one started to hum softly.

CC looked at the Munchkin curiously. "I haven't heard of that one…It's nice though."

"Oh it's got words too. The girl sang it when she was here once…how did it go…" The Munchkin was speaking mostly to himself, but his companions contributed.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high..That's how it starts I think…"

"Yes, that's it. Something about a land from a dream. Or was it a land of dreams?"

They paused to notice Cheshire Cat was staring at them. "Uhm, excuse me." was all the cat said as he vanished. A grin hung in the air, lingering there a moment before also vanishing.

"Wonder what he's grinning about." The Munchkin muttered, sitting up. His companions shrugged.

It was a rather odd feeling, to see himself lying there.

"Well at least I'm breathing..." Leonardo walked around his body, puzzled more then concerned now. He'd woken up earlier, having heard a noise, and found himself in spirit form only. After the initial surprise, that part of his situation hadn't bothered him too badly. He'd visited the Spirit Plane several times before in meditation.

He did find it a little strange that he'd woken up on the Spirit Plane though. There had to be an explanation for it. The reasons raced through his mind. Maybe Splinter's trying to reach me. Or maybe this is a dream, maybe waking up was an illusion.

It was a nice attempt at rationalizing, but he couldn't fool himself. Dreams usually felt more lucid, sort of a distinct floating-absent-minded sensation that the Spirit Plane lacked.

And there was no reason he could think of that Splinter would have tried to contact him. Besides, Splinter had never called his attention to say nothing, surely the fatherly rat would have spoken by now. Come to think of it, Splinter had never summoned him out of his physical being. Especially not like this.

Leonardo sat on the ground, literally beside himself, and attempted to reach Splinter anyway. Maybe Splinter would know what was going on.

On the Spirit Plane, the energy signatures of living things become more obvious to one who knows what to look for. Leonardo concentrated on finding Splinters energy signature. He wasn't sure how long he spent looking for it, but it felt like an awfully long time. Much longer than it should have taken to locate Splinter, he was sure of that and still no result. It was like suddenly Splinter wasn't there, didn't exist.

This can't be right. Leo managed to put aside his own fears, and refocused his attention, this time trying to locate any of his three brothers. Nothing. They should be there. They had to be there. Why can't I find them? He redirected his attention again. Searching first for April and Casey, and when that failed, for anything, anyone.

An unfamiliar energy signature registered faintly. Leonardo had been on the brink of giving up, after finding only his own signature. With renewed energy he mentally reached out to the strange energy signature. Upon reaching it, things became blurred for a moment. When they cleared, Leonardo found himself no longer by his own body, but on a chess board.

There were five life-size chess pieces on the board, with the other pieces that had been captured standing on the sides. A Red Pawn stood directly in front of Leonardo with a White Pawn directly behind, the two pawns were locked face-to-face, unable to advance. The White King occupied a square behind them, off to the side a bit. A White Queen stood a few squares from the Red King, who stood in check.

Okay, this is weird, but hopefully there's some kind of reason for it… Leonardo moved out from between the pawns, trying to determine the source of the energy signature that had brought him here.