Turnabout is Fair Play
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
This is a rewrite of a Minnie Mouse story I read when I was maybe 8. If anybody recognizes the story (in which Minnie was kidnapped by a wicked old witch who stole Minnie's youth) and can tell me the NAME of the original story, I will be grateful.
The Original story stuck in my head because of the simple justice of the ending.
And if I have an eight year old girl like Webby doing something brave and heroic, it's going to be something an eight year old can do and not something wildly unrealistic and horribly unfair to expect from her.
One day, Webby was going home from school when Magica Despell zipped down out of nowhere and kidnapped Webby. Magica rode down on her broomstick, swept up Webby and rode off with the frightened girl.
"You've kidnapped me again so my Unca Scrooge will give you his Lucky Dime, haven't you?" asked Webby, trying to be brave.
"Yes, but also to get even! I should have gotten the Lucky Dime in exchange for you the first time I kidnapped you!" (1)Magica said.
"If your "Unca Scrooge" gives me his number One Dime, I will return you to him, unharmed- almost. I shall remove your YOUTH from you and give it to me!" Magica claimed.
" I have found a way to use your youth to make me immortal! (2)YOU will be old and ugly, forever, while I am young and beautiful, forever! And your precious Uncle Scrooge will know it is his fault- that this is my revenge for him defeating me!" Magica gloated.
MEANWHILE, Mr. McDuck has called Gizmoduck and Launchpad into his office.
"I want you two to search all of Duckburg- and if necessary, the entire planet- for Webby! I already have the police and the FBI (3) on the job!" Mr. McDuck said.
As Gizmoduck and Launchpad left Mr. McDuck's office, Launchpad turned to Gizmoduck and said:
"I want you to promise me that if you find Webby first, you will call me and wait for me and NOT try to rescue Webby all by yourself. I know I can't handle Magica on her home turf all by myself and I don't think you can, either. Neither one of us can rescue Webby ALONE." Launchpad began.
"I made the mistake of being jealous of all the attention Mr. McD was giving you and tried to impress him by trying to rescue the Money Bin all by myself. All I did was almost get myself boiled down into axle grease!" (4)Launchpad continued.
"I learned my lesson about being jealous! I promise to call you and wait for you if I find Webby first, and I want you to do the same. Remember, Webby's life is at stake here- it's more important she is rescued safe than who rescues her! " Launchpad finished.
We now cut back to Webby and Magica:
"My Unca Scrooge will find me and rescue me!" Webby said, proud of her "Unca Scrooge" (and not without justification, neither!)
"Your "Unca Scrooge" will do nothing of the sort! Little fool, do you know where you are? Look out the window!" Magica ordered.
Webby did so and her heart sunk.
" You are right next door to your Uncle's mansion! Where those fools who got rich from a lottery ticket USED to live 'till they lost their fortune in a "spite war" with your Uncle!" (5)Magica said.
"You are right next door to your Uncle Scrooge- he even OWNS this place now, he bought it after they moved out because they made such a mess of the place he could get it cheap! He'll never think of looking for you here, right under his beak!" Magica crowed.
"Now, I have a lot of work to do to prepare the necessary magic to steal your youth! There are lots of ads that got put on the doorstep and a pencil there- draw on the blank side for a while, if you like! I'm going to the basement, so I don't care what you do!" Magica said.
"There are no crayons- nothing to color with!" complained Webby.
"Use your imagination! You won't be young long enough for it to matter!" Magica replied.
Webby looked at the pile of ads and the pencil. She ran to the window and looked outside. She managed to get the window open, but there were bars on the window and it did her no good. Webby looked down and realized she was too high up for her to dare to climb down, anyway.
"Somehow I suspect that "tying bed sheets together to make a rope" trick works better in fiction than in real life! And I don't have any bed sheets, just an old mat!" Webby thought.
She yelled 'till she was hoarse, but soon realized she was too far away for anybody to hear her.
"If only I could get a message to my Unca Scrooge, telling him where I am! A message!" Webby thought.
Then she got to work. She used the pencil and the blank side of an ad.
"Dear Unca Scrooge:
Magica has got me. I am next door. where Julie used to live. I am lost, without a friend and with no sight of the end. Come and rescue me."(6)
Your darling Webby.
She then made a paper airplane out of it and sailed it out the window. It did not go ANYPLACE far enough, but landed in the yard. But Webby has been around her Unca Scrooge and her Unca Launchpad too long to give up easily. And she learned from her mistakes.
The first plane wasn't heavy enough to fly far. She took an ad with printing on both sides and put it under a ad with a blank side. She wrote on the blank side, and made a paper airplane out of it. It flew further, but not far enough.
She realized she shouldn't aim the planes down, they went down too early. Aiming them up worked better. She also learned to watch the trees to see which way the wind was blowing.
("Why, I've heard Unca Launchpad talk about stuff like this.()() Webby realized.
She tried to remember what he said, and was glad he did not use a lot of big words to talk about such things.
"Sometimes I think he could, if he wanted to!" she thought.
She got tired, but her Unca Scrooge had taught her never to give up. She kept on making paper planes until some landed in her Uncle's yard. Once she got the knack, it was easier. She kept doing it till she ran out of paper.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE MANSION... Mrs. Beakly is wheedling Mr. McDuck into EATING SOMETHING...
"You won't do Webby any good if you're too weak from hunger to rescue her! She's MY granddaughter, for crying out loud, don't you think I"M worried? Why, look! Even the boys have been playing- there are dozens of paper planes in the back yard!" Mrs. Beakly said.
"Eh? The boys have been spending every free moment they've had searching for Webby! But... there are paper planes all over the back yard...and even more in the neighbor's yard! It's as if they came from there, but nobody lives there now!" Mr. McDuck said.
"It was probably some delivery boy playing with the ads he was supposed to deliver!" Mrs. Beakly said.
"Nonsense, he'd just throw them away, not play airplanes with them!" Mr. McDuck said.
And Mr. McDuck went out into the yard to check into this. There certainly were enough ads turned into paper planes. All over the neighbor's yard and some in his. Then, Mr. McDuck noticed there was handwriting on all of them- in pencil. In a childish scrawl.
Not daring to hope, not daring to breathe, he opened one. Webby's writing was on it. Telling him where she was, asking for his help.
"What a brave, clever little girl! Outsmarting Magica and finding a way to send me a message! If I get you out, I'm buying the bestest, prettiest dolly in Duckburg!" Mr. McDuck promised.
Mr. McDuck was sorely tempted to rescue Webby all by himself. but instead he called Gizmoduck and Launchpad and waited for them
Gizmoduck and Launchpad had been searching the usual places that Magica holed up in: spooky, old abandoned wreaks of houses on the outskirts of Duckburg. They searched the worse parts of towns asking the "usual suspects" where Magica might be found. Giz grilled several Beagles at Duckburg prison. Launchpad kept an eye on Flintheart Glomgold and called Griz from SHUSH to see if he knew anything.
Then they got the call from Mr. McDuck, Giz on his radio, Launchpad on his cell phone. And they came a running. Launchpad picked Giz up in his plane as they were both far from Mr. McD's mansion by then.
"By the time I'm done, Webby will be calling me "UNCA Gizmoduck' said Giz to himself, feeling left out.
They landed outside the mansion and picked Mr. McDuck up.
"She's only next door! We can walk!" Mr. McDuck yelled.
"Yeah. And end up fried by Magica's magic. No, thanks, boss...we're flying!" Launchpad replied.
Magica had many magical "booby traps" waiting for them. But Launchpad avoided them by landing on the roof and lowering a rope ladder right down to the front door.
Magica had moved Webby from the room she was originally in. Giz broke thru Magica's door and used his sensors to figure out which room Magica and Webby were. Good thing, Mr. McDuck had noticed which room had an open window and where the paper airplanes had obviously come from and would of wasted time going to the wrong room, otherwise.
But when they broke into the house next door, Magica yelled at them:
" You're too late! I am stealing Webby's youth from her! To get it back, she must steal the youth from somebody else! and not only is she too "honest" to do that, you are too honest to TELL her to do it! You actually believe it is WRONG for her to take someone else's youth, even after I've stolen it from her!"
"She's right, Unca Scrooge. I can't take someone else's youth! It's stealing! It wouldn't be right!" Webby said, miserably.
"No, Webby! There is someone you can steal youth from and it be the right thing! Steal your own youth right back from MAGICA! It's YOURS, not hers! Stealing back what belongs to you isn't stealing!" Mr. Mc Duck screamed.
Webby nodded, and grabbed Magica's wand.
"No, you little fool! I was so close!" Magica said.
"I could have grabbed the wand earlier! But until Unca Scrooge told me what to do, I did not want to rob somebody else of their youth! But it's ok for me to take my OWN youth BACK!" Webby said and she did so. (6)
This left Magica weak. It was all she could do to "pop" out of there to someplace else.
"Are you alright, Webby dear?" Mr. McDuck asked.
"I'm fine, Unca Scrooge. Take me home." Webby said.
"Thanks for letting us help rescue her, Mr. McD. But I'm surprised you didn't try it all by yourself. " Launchpad said.
"Well.... I was going to...but I sort of overheard your discussion with Gizmoduck...and I hate to admit it, but it made sense. Webby's life is too important to me to risk it by not getting the help I needed." Mr. McDuck said.
And they took Webby home and threw a party. Even if Mr. McDuck groused when he saw the price tag for the "bestest, prettiest dolly in Duckburg".
The End.
(1) See "Scrooge's Quest" or back issues of Disney's Ducktales. Shameless plug.
(2) I swiped this idea from "Stardust".
(3) They handle kidnappings.
(4) This is my take on what happened behide the scenes of "Superducktales", when Launchpad went to warm up the Jumpstart and ended up being captured by the robot aliens.
(5) "Bubba-o and Julie(6) And I right in remembering that from "The Rescuers" or my memory playing tricks on me?(7)You guessed it; in original story Minnie "stole" her youth right BACK from the witch who stole it in the first place.