Lost Valley
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
Based loosely on the episode of "Tennessee Tuxedo","Parachuting Pickle".
DW reminds me of Tennessee Tuxedo. Dating myself. Look up
"Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons" on you tube if you don't know of whom
I speak.
Thanks to Phoenix Ride for suggestions. I used some of your ideas unchanged,
but tried to adapt most of them.
I KNOW "Lost Valley" is ALSO the name of Ducktales story I DIDN'T write. I'll gladly change
the name if you like . If you tell me what to change it to. I don't care.
One day, the Beagles robbed a bank owned by Mr. McDuck. And ran away
to a small plane they had hidden. The cops had set up a road block, but
that didn't stop a plane. Bomber Beagles flew their plane right over the
cops and their blockade.
It wasn't long before Launchpad and Mr. McDuck were pursuing the
Beagles in Launchpad's plane. Bomber tried to "lose" Launchpad, but
Launchpad was just too good a pilot for Bomber.
Then, when Bomber tried to copy- even top! -a tricky maneuver Launchpad
had just pulled off, it happened. Bomber's plane scraped a mountain and
the loot sacks fell into Lost Valley, for the plane had a gash in it that the
bags fell out of.
Well, after that Bomber had to land his plane (it had been a pressurized
plane and the air rushed out the gash) and the Beagles were captured
by the cops. Minus their loot.
"Get that money back!" Mr. McDuck ordered Launchpad.
"How? Even I can't land in Lost Valley! Too small, too rocky, the winds
are so bad you can't even parachute down there, never mind land there!"
Launchpad objected.
"Never mind inconvenient things like facts. Get that money back or it's
coming out of your salary." Mr. McDuck said.
"Hmm. OK if I design a special plane to get it? I've got a bunch of parts I
can make one out of. " Launchpad suggested.
"I don't care how you do it, just do it before the end of the day." Mr.
McDuck replied.
"Good thing it's the first thing in the morning!"Launchpad joked.
It was 5 o'clock in the morning, but Launchpad was still VERY
glad he had somehow "forgotten" to mention to Mr. McDuck that
he, Launchpad, had already built said special plane and had been
looking for an excuse to try it out.
So after going home and picking me up (our kids were staying with
Launchpad's parents until tomorrow morning), we took out the Redhead (1)
and tested it in practice.
It wasn't long before we had landed the small (about the size of a bobsled)
plane in Lost Valley.
That was the easy part. The hard part was finding every last bill, seeing how
nearly all the sacks of money had broken up, scattering their contents to the
wind upon falling. The few that didn't break still opened up, scattering a few
bills here and there. And we had to find every last one of them or else. (2)
The only good thing about the situation was that none of the wild animals in
the Lost Valley had tried to use the bills as nesting material. (3) There was so
much litter scattered about the valley, they were spoiled for choice in nesting
material. These newly arrived bills were still crisp and sharp and stunk of
"human".
After we had FINALLY rounded up every last bill (and triple-checked that
none were missing), Launchpad realized something.
"Hey, Sharan, there is some money here that wasn't from the robbery. It must
of be blown down here over the years. Maybe we should tell Mr. McD about
it?" Launchpad asked me.
"Don't tell me you're THAT honest?" I asked.
Yes, I get a little annoyed with him at times. We're married, it happens.
"You misunderstand. This money is old. It might be rare. It could be worth
more than face value. Mr. McDuck could sell it for top dollar and he would
give us every dime of it, since we found it and it belongs to nobody. And he's
not here, so he can't claim to have found it. HE's that honest." Launchpad
explained.
"Is that why he's your "brother"? Because the two of you are a lot more
alike than he may care to admit?" I inquired.
"Yup." Launchpad replied, kissing me for understanding.
MEANWHILE, the Beagles had found out about us going after "their"
loot (they were out on bail). Since they couldn't go down after us,
not having the right kind of plane (and not having enough guts)
they were camped around the top of Lost Valley waiting for us to
come back up. And planning a "warm" reception for us.
Launchpad counted the small pile of money that didn't belong to Mr. McDuck's
bank. Then, a HUGE white, misty shape appeared.
"GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY!" it roared.
"A ghost!" we both screamed, startled and frightened.
"Hey, bub, you're late. Halloween's over." Launchpad joked.
"GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY! I collected it! Any lost money that came near
here, I grabbed and hid! GIVE IT BACK!" the ghost screamed.
"What for? You're dead. You have no need for money anymore. You don't
need food or clothes or anything." I pointed out.
"And there's no place to buy anything down here. No stores." Launchpad's
pointed out.
The ghost seemed confused.
"What's your name?" I asked him.
"Christopher Freeman" He replied. (4)
"But...I bought as little as possible while alive. I saved money, was frugal…
then, I found a great treasure. I looked for the perfect place to hide it. "
Chris began.
"Then, I thought of Lost Valley. Since there was no way for most people to get
down here, it seemed the perfect place to hid my treasure. I was an expert
mountain climber." Chris continued.
"I thought it would be easy for me to climb down here, hide my treasure and
climb back up. I hid my treasure...someplace down here. But on my way back
up, my rope broke… I fell. I was killed upon impact. But my spirit could not rest."
Chris went on.
"I wanted my treasure back. I searched for it but could not find it. I can't even
remember what it looked like anymore! So I gathered any money that was lost
near the valley and brought it down here." Chris finished.
Meanwhile, Burger Beagle got hungry. He spotted an apple tree growing near the
rim of Lost Valley, next to a river that flowed down into it. Burger went to pick
and eat the apples. After doing so, he climbed down the tree or rather, tried to.
Burger slipped, fell and found that the river went underground before heading
down the valley.
Burger's brothers ran over to make sure he was OK. After seeing he was fine.
Megabyte noticed the river.
"Hmm. I believe we may have found a way down to the Valley. This river goes
underground here. Assuming it's the same river we see down in the valley, we
could follow it to the Valley." Megabyte said.
"What if it's NOT the same river? What if it goes underground and stays there?"
Bicep asked.
"One thing we Beagles are good at, it's digging. We can always dig our way up. I've
measured the distance to the Valley. Once we're far enough down and far enough
across, we can always dig our way up." Megabyte replied.
"I have a mini-sub I've been working on, hoping to free our brothers from Aquatraz.
This is a perfect opportunity to test it out." Megabyte commented.
So some of the Beagles unloaded the sub and then climbed in the sub, like clowns in
a clown car. The rest of the Beagles could not fit, so they continued waiting for us to
come up from the valley.
The mini-sub went into the underground river. It went down, down, down. The over-
crowded Beagles were tossed like sneakers in a dryer. They couldn't see a thing, but
Megabyte kept an eye on the monitors until they were far enough down and far
enough across.
"We should be there, but we're still underground. This must be another river."
Megabyte stated.
"What are we going to do? We can't go out and dig without drowning." Bicep asked.
"No worries. I have my own version of the ultra-sonic digger. Give me a few minutes
to position us just right… there!" Megabyte said.
But Megabyte's digger didn't work right. It dug, but the stones it displaced fell right
back down instead of being hurled out of the way. The displaced rocks fell, battering
the mini-sub and damming up the underground river.
Back in Lost Valley, the earth started to shake and move.
"An earthquake?" I asked.
Then, a gusher of water came up….spewing two metal objects with it. One was
cigar-shaped and was flung by the force of water far away, where, frankly we
forgot all about it for awhile there. It fell near the Redhead, well out of sight.
The other was a metal box, that fell to our feet.
"My treasure! That's my treasure I've been searching for all this time! Now I
remember, I dug a deep hole and buried it to be on the safe side." Chris cried.
Chris rushed over to the box and tried to open it, but being a ghost, his hands went
right thur it. Since Chris could still not remember what the treasure was, Launchpad
opened it.
The box contained moldy, rotten silverfish-eaten coupon books of some sort. We all
stared at them a few minutes before Launchpad roared with laughter.
"Sharan..do you know what this was? They are...were...ration books! From WWII!"
Launchpad said, doubled with laughter.
"You mean what people used to buy meat, tires, gasoline during WWII when such
things were rationed?" I inquired.
"Yup. Mr. McD showed me some, in perfect condition once, before he donated them
to some museum or the other." Launchpad stated.
"What's so funny?" Chris demanded.
"Your treasure is worthless. WWII ended before I was hatched. We won! These
ration books are worthless. Even if you were still alive." Launchpad replied.
Meanwhile, remember that cigar shaped object? It was the mini-sub. The Beagles
climbed out of it. They snuck over near us, planning to surround us and grab the
stolen loot.
They came out of hiding and grabbed us, and a fight began...
But the underground river kept flowing into Lost Valley. And the other river, the one
the Beagles had seen in Lost Valley was now dammed off, so for now the water couldn't
get out of the Valley. We first noticed this when the birds and animals that lived in
Lost Valley started leaving post-haste.
"Why are all the animals scramming?" Launchpad asked.
THEN, we saw the Valley was rapidly filling with water.
"Back to the mini-sub!" screamed Megabyte, seeing this at the same time we did.
The mini-sub had fallen not far from the Redhead.
Launchpad grabbed a strong cable and offered it to Megabyte.
"Better tie this to your sub! I'll tow you behide! All this water is going to
cause a landslide! You might be buried or battered by it if you don't!"
Launchpad pleaded.
The Beagles stared at Launchpad.
"Never mind WHY he's risking he's life to save ours! He's the kind of idiot who
does that! Just fasten that cable to the sub!" Megabyte screamed.
The Beagles did so.
Meanwhile, I had taken the money to the plane and readied it for take-off. Launchpad
soon joined me and we took off, towing the Beagles behide us.
The Valley was filling at an alarming rate. Mud and rocks were already starting to fall
and slide.
Then, Chris the ghost seemed to fill up the valley, holding back the water with sheer
force of will.
"Learn from this fool! I saved and was frugal all my life! "Chris began.
"When I was no longer able to buy tires, gas or meat due to rationing, I stole
ration books and hid them down here! "Chris continued.
"I planned to use or sell them! Now I see I was so frugal I probably would only
save them, even if I lived! My treasure is worthless, but I will save YOU!" Chris
the ghost said.
Chris managed to use his ectoplasm to hold back the water long enough for us
to get the bleep out of there.
We rose up in the Redhead over the rim of what had been Lost Valley, towing the
mini-sub behide us. The Beagles above Lost Valley took aim with their weapons
(LOTS of them)and were about to fire at our plane when the water came over the
rim in a surge, sweeping the Beagles away. Good thing nearly all dogs can swim.
We landed our plane a short distance away and helped the Beagles get to safety.
The cops and Mr. McDuck came to investigate.
The Beagles were so bruised and battered, they went off to prison hospitals without
a fight. Including the Beagles from the mini-sub. Even with us towing them, the sub
had been battered by falling rocks. Without us towing them, they'd be dead.
Launchpad gave Mr. McDuck the bank money back and told him the whole story.
I'm not sure Mr. McDuck believed him.
Even when Launchpad entrusted the old money to him to sell for us.
By the next day, the water had drained out of Lost Valley. I guess the rocks that had
blocked up the river, must have been shifted by the force of the water.
Lost Valley was a little bigger than it had been because of land slides, but just as
inaccessible.
The winds were as bad if not worse. Lost Valley was a little bigger,
but boulders from the landslide littered it's edges making it impossible for most
pilots to land there. Only the Beagles knew about the underground river and with
the bank's money gone, they had no reason to go back down there.
The End.
(1)Named after a type of diving duck. Has a painting of a Redhead
painted on it. Too good a joke to pass up on, even if I personally am
a brunette.
(2) Remember Donald Duck miming hanging himself towards the end of
"Three Ducks of the Condor?" Like that.
(3) Including mammals. I read about cemetery caretakers that thought vandals were
stealing those little American flags the size of hankies until they realized
moles and mice were using them to line their burrows.
(4) Named after Kid Eternity, Freddy Freeman's brother.