Green for Luck

By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.

Based on "Two -Way Luck" in Gladstone's Ducktales # 5 (again!)

Still trying to get them to publish the rest of Disney's Ducktales and Gladstone's Ducktales in hardback, along with "Scrooge's Quest" and "The Gold Odyssey"

Why do I harbor the suspicion they published such stories that had Mr. McDuck flying someplace WITHOUT LAUNCHPAD to "prove" they didn't need Launchpad? So how come fewer and fewer comic book stores sell Gemstone and the ones that do have a much smaller assortment than they used to? YOU DO TOO NEED HIM, DOPES!

It was Thursday the 12th. Which meant that tomorrow was (gulp!) FRIDAY THE 13TH!
Mr. McDuck isn't normally a superstition "man", but everybody has a few "pet" superstitions.

"Unca Scrooge...the Gem convention is having a contest tomorrow for the largest emerald- why don't you enter your emerald? It'll win for sure!" Huey asked.

Huey, Dewey and Louie have seen their Uncle's prize emerald before- and it looks more like a watermelon than an emerald, at least as far as size is concerned.

Mr. McDuck did not want to enter the contest on such an "unlucky" day, but the Triplets talked him into it.

So, early the next day, he took his emerald to enter it into the contest. When he got there, his was the largest emerald in the contest- the largest emerald the judges had ever seen- until two minutes later when a perfect stranger (should I make it Gladstone instead?)entered the contest. He said he found the emerald at the base of the Andes Mountains in South America- and that there was a legend that somewhere in the Andes Mountains was a cave with vapors that made emeralds grow.

This annoyed Mr. McDuck no end. Not only had he lost the contest, but he had heard that same legend and dismissed it as nonsense. He even knew where the nearest town to where the caves alledgedly were was located! Now this upstart found such an emerald and won the contest!

Then, when he got back to his office, Mrs. Featherby reminded him that if he did not sign a contract in South Africa by the end of the day, he would lose out on a million dollar deal. Again, he did not want to do so on such an "unlucky" day- but to lose out on a million dollar deal would be worse luck!

"Boys..how would like to come with me? I might have better luck with you with me?" Mr. McDuck asked the Trins.

Naturally, they agreed.

So he called Launchpad and arranged for Launchpad to pick them up.

"Where to, Mr. McD?" Launchpad asked.

But Mr. McDuck's mind was still on those emeralds and on the town near where the cave was supposed to be. Instead of saying "Emeryville, South Africa" he said: "Emeraldville, South America".

So naturally, Launchpad flew him to Emeraldville, South America. And Mr. McDuck screamed at Launchpad.

"That's what you told me! What am I, a mind-reader? You asked me to fly you to Emeraldville, South America, that's where I took you!" Launchpad said.

"I'm supposed to sign a contract in South Africa today!"Mr. McDuck screamed.

"So call them and tell them you'll be late! You can still sign it before the day is over! I'll prep the plane and fly you there in a few minutes!' Launchpad said.

So Mr. McDuck called his offices in South Africa:
"I'm supposed to sign a contract today in South Africa..." he began.

"Mr. McDuck! Good thing you called and a better thing you haven't signed it yet- you haven't, have you?" nameless underling in South Africa asked.

"No..."Mr. McDuck replied.

"Good! Don't! The man you were to make the deal with has just been arrested! He's bribed people, he's stolen money...if you had signed that deal, at best, your name would be dragged thur the mud along with his, at worse, you'd be arrested, too!" Nameless warned.

"Launchpad...forget about South Africa." Mr. McDuck said.

He was astonished at such GOOD luck on Friday the 13th...if he hadn't accidentally said the wrong place, he might have signed that contract before he knew about this!

"OK...what do we do, then? Fly home? The roads out of here are washed out, so there's nothing to do here!" Launchpad commented.

"Ah! But the mountains aren't washed out! Boys- we're going to look for those caves and a bigger emerald!" Mr. McDuck said.

"On Friday the 13th?" the Trins said.

"Why not? I just escaped being either arrested or looking like a crook on Friday the 13th!" Mr. McDuck replied.

"We'll need climbing equipment..." Mr. McDuck said.

"There's plenty in the plane. This isn't exactly the first time we needed to climb a mountain on a moment notice!" Launchpad replied.

"That's lucky..." Mr. McDuck muttered.

"More like previous experience...I keep stuff we often need in the planes we usually use, just in case. Warm coats, climbing equipments, backpacks, food...stuff like that." (1)Launchpad replied.

So he took out the climbing gear and they prepared to climb up the mountains. They climbed for quite some time, then stopped to rest and eat lunch. The Trins saw their great-uncle was still concerned about what day it was. Seeing a great field of clover, they hunted for a four-leaf one to make him feel better. And FINALLY found one- right at the mouth of a hidden cave! There was no way they would of found the cave if not by accident, it was behide a large boulder and started out as hardly more than a crack.

"Unca Scrooge! Look! We not only found a four leaf-clover, we found a cave!" the Triplets screamed.

Mr. McDuck went to look. And he shone his flashlight into the cave.

"Why, this is the very cave we're looking for! I can see large emeralds further in..no wonder it's only a legend! The only way you could find this cave is by sheer luck! On Friday the 13th, too! How is this possible?" Mr Mc Duck asked.

"Maybe because Friday the 13th is just another day and you're being silly?" Launchpad asked.

Mr. McDuck said nothing and they prepared to do some spelunking. They all took out their flashlight and they tied ropes to each other so nobody could get lost and they could help each other if they got into trouble. They put their backpacks back on and went slowly and carefully into the cave.

They saw what they thought were giant emeralds up ahead. But they were ordinary rocks, green with moss.

"Bah! These "emeralds" grow all right! I should of known the legend was nonsense!" Mr. McDuck sneered.

"But Unca Scrooge- that man did find a giant emerald at the foothills of this mountain! It had to come from someplace!" Huey said.

"Let's not give up this easy! Let's look around some more!" Dewey added.

"We've got the rest of the day- we might as well." Louie commented.

"And look- there's a steam up ahead. Maybe we can get a drink of pure mountain water." Launchpad said.

And he headed to the steam. It splashed water all over, which made the moss grow. It also made everything slippery. Launchpad lost his balance and grabbed the wall of the cave to avoid falling. In doing so, his boots scraped one of the moss-grown boulders...and it was an emerald!

"Hey, Mr. McD! Look what I found! If I hadn't almost slipped and lost my balance...I'm the only one wearing boots, so you couldn't of scaped away the moss like I did!" Launchpad said, happily.

"Hmph! It's smaller than the emerald I entered against! Smaller than MY entry!" snorted Mr. McDuck.

But naturally, he took it anyway.

"But it proves there are emeralds in this cave!" Huey said. "Let's keep looking!"

So they scaped off the moss from the larger boulders, but they were all ordinary rocks. Then they went further on into the cave.

They kept looking and again found what looked like giant emeralds. But these were bubbles. Great green gas bubbles that looked like emeralds. And popped if you touched them, like overgrown soap bubbles. Mr. McDuck kicked them in disgust. And started an avalance of bubbles. Launchpad grabbed Mr. McDuck and took him out of the way.

"They're only bubbles, stupid!" Mr. McDuck complained.
And he kicked one. And broke his foot. It was real.

"How did you know it was real?" Mr. McDuck asked Launchpad.

" I didn't. I just thought all those bubbles moving might take some loose rocks from the cave walls with them!" Launchpad explained.

They checked the rest of the bubbles and only one other was real. But both it and the one Mr. McDuck had broken his foot on were larger than the current winning entry to the largest emerald contests. Naturally, they took both emeralds.

Well, they looked in the Jr. Woodchuck guidebook for "what to do about a broken foot" and they opened up their first aid kit and bandaged Mr. McDuck's foot. And he limped down the mountain. And Launchpad flew them home to Duckburg. There, Mr. McDuck entered both emeralds in the contest. There was a cash prize for second place, too.

But before the winner could be announced, a yellow and green dragon flew out of the clouds and started snifing amoung the emeralds. And grabbed the largest of Mr. McDuck's entries. Mr. McDuck tried to stop it.

"NO!" screamed Launchpad.

And Launchpad handed the stone to the dragon.

"What are you doing?" Mr. McDuck demanded.

"It's her egg! (1)I think she made those gas bubbles to camouflage it! She hid it in a cave with green-moss boulders and emeralds and dragon-made bubbles so no egg-eating predictor could find it and eat it!" Launchpad guessed.

And the dragoness nodded, as if to confirm this guess.

"Oh." said Mr. McDuck.

And he protested no further. Even he wasn't going to try to keep a mama dragon from her egg.

Especially since the smaller of his two most recent entries was a real emerald, which meant he still won the grand prize-even if perfect stranger won the second prize.

"I suppose I can't expect things to be perfect. Especially not on Friday the 13th." said

The End.

(1) Blame "Eragon" and "Devil in the Dark", one of my favorite Star Trek episodes.