Notes: I actually wrote this story quite a few years ago and I've decided to clean it up one chapter at a time and post it. Characters belong to Disney.

A Duck Forever Voyaging

Chapter 1: Pas de Deux

"She shoots, she scores, and the crowd goes wild!" Gosalyn Mallard cried as she smashed her hockey stick into the ball, sending it whizzing narrowly past Honker Muddlefoot's head and into the net behind him. Honker fell to the asphalt, exhausted and more than a little terrified after an afternoon of street hockey with his rambunctious neighbor. The large pillows his mother had strapped to his chest and back—in addition to elbow and knee pads and a helmet that was a size too big for his head—had kept him safe from injury, but he still trembled slightly as he regained his feet.

"Um, Gosalyn?"

Gosalyn skated towards Honker and glided in a lazy circle around him. "What is it, Honk?"

He adjusted his thick eyeglasses. "It's getting pretty late. Don't you think we should go home soon?"

The two of them looked up at the darkened sky just as the streetlight above them flickered to life.

"I'll be in trouble if I'm late for dinner again," Honker said, picking up the hockey stick he'd dropped when he fell.

Gosalyn rolled her eyes. "All right, all right. Let's jet."

The ducklings gathered up their gear, and Gosalyn wondered what her dad might be up to.

Whatever it is, it's gotta be more fun than dinner at the Muddlefoots', she thought sullenly.

"Hurry, LP!"

"I'm right behind ya, DW!"

Darkwing Duck flattened himself along the wall of a building and peeked around the corner. Further up the street, a small army of mechanized teddy bears continued its march toward the docks on the west side of the city of St. Canard. Most of the bears were carrying little sacks overflowing with cash and jewelry.

Launchpad McQuack caught up to Darkwing and leaned against the wall next to him. "I don't get it, DW. Why are we letting 'em go again?"

"We're not," Darkwing answered simply before slinking out of the alleyway. "Obviously, this is the handiwork of that deranged toymaker, Quackerjack. All we have to do to find him is follow these plundering playthings back to his hideout; then we can put an end to his teddy bears' picnic once and for all!"

While Darkwing and Launchpad continued tracking the tail end of the teddy bear procession, the bears in the lead had already arrived at their destination: an abandoned fish cannery near the waterfront where the toys streamed through a broken chain-link fence and into the dilapidated structure. Inside, the bears emptied their little sacks full of loot into a pile on the factory floor. As the heap grew, an odd-looking figure somersaulted his way across the room, giggling madly.

"What a great idea this turned out to be!" Quackerjack crowed, dancing up to the pile of valuables and grabbing a large ruby ring he'd spotted. He slipped it on one of his fingers, then held up a banana-headed doll and said in a falsetto voice, "That's the truth, Ruth!"

"Yeah, your pals really know how to bring home the bacon," said Megavolt with a laugh as he sat on top of a crate, watching the toys at work. One of the bears, having already emptied its sack of stolen goods onto the pile, shuddered and fell to the floor near the electrified villain's perch.

"Aw, looks like somebody needs a recharge," Megavolt said sympathetically and hopped down to pick up the teddy bear in question. After popping a panel off of the toy's back, he pulled out its battery and squeezed it between his fingers causing an electric current to flow from one end to the other.

"It's the perfect plan," Quackerjack continued. "We get to keep all these goodies and have plenty of fun—"

"—And when Dorkwing follows these little guys here, we get to toast his tail feathers, too!" Megavolt finished.

Quackerjack cartwheeled over to Megavolt and threw an arm around his shoulders. "I think we need to work together more often. After all, two heads really are better than one. Right, Mr. Banana Brain?"

"What about my head, Ted?" asked the doll.

"Oh my goodness, you're right; that makes three heads!"

Megavolt gave the doll a dubious look. "Uh, tell him you don't count if your head's full of sawdust."

"That would apply to the lot of you because you're all dummies if you thought you'd get away with this!"

"Gizmoduck!" the two villains shouted at once.

The robotic superhero wheeled out of the shadows and pointed a finger at the startled duo. "Yes! I, Gizmoduck, am here to put a stop to your wicked games!"

"But you weren't invited to the party," Quackerjack whined.

"Au contraire, you sent my invitation when you sent these terrible teddies across the bridge to Duckburg to loot, pillage, and frighten small children!"

Megavolt glared at his partner in crime. "You told them to cross the bridge so that Gizmogeek could find us, too?"

"I did not," Quackerjack said, sounding offended. "I mean, I didn't tell them not to cross the bridge—"

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" cried a voice emanating from a cloud of blue smoke up on a catwalk above the factory floor. "I am… Gizmoduck?!"

"What? I thought he was Gizmoduck," Megavolt said, genuinely confused.

"What are you doing here?" Darkwing demanded. Though he and Gizmoduck had successfully worked together on several occasions over the past year, their truce was predicated upon a mutual respect of each other's territorial boundaries. One crime fighter showing up unannounced in the other's city was a serious breach of etiquette, at least in Darkwing's eyes.

Gizmoduck waved to him cheerfully. "Hi there, Wingy! I followed these beastly bruins here after they held up a bank in downtown Duckburg. I presume they've been maliciously mischievous here in St. Canard, as well?"

Darkwing waved away the last of his signature smoke, his introduction ruined. "Yes, but that hardly explains why you didn't bother to contact me once they left your jurisdiction and entered mine."

"There wasn't time for that! I was hot on their fuzzy little tails; I couldn't just let them get away!"

"Hey, Gizmoduck!" Launchpad said with a friendly wave as he joined Darkwing on the catwalk. Darkwing shot his sidekick a dirty look that went unnoticed as Gizmoduck waved back.

"Well," said Quackerjack, "I suppose we'll just have to dispose of two goody-goody heroes today instead of one. Get them!"

At their creator's command, the teddy bears suddenly sprouted razor-sharp claws and fangs and charged at Gizmoduck. Before he could make a move, they were swarming all over him, biting and tearing at his metal armor. He tried pulling them off himself one by one, but there were too many.

"Egads!" Gizmoduck tried to shake them off by flailing his arms before a different idea occurred to him. "Okay, let's see if you can handle the spin cycle," he said and pushed a button on the suit.

The Gizmosuit began to rotate in place, slowly at first but quickly picking up speed until it was a swirling blur. The bears were thrown free with enough force to send them flying against the walls where they were smashed to pieces. The suit then slowed to a stop, leaving Gizmoduck teetering unsteadily on his one wheel.

"This is exactly why we didn't want to play with you," Quackerjack pouted, surveying the damage done to his toys. Then he grinned and held up Mr. Banana Brain. "But your pals are out of luck, Chuck!"

Some of the bears had made their way up to the catwalk and were ready to pounce on Darkwing and Launchpad. Gizmoduck, still dizzy and a bit nauseous, tried to warn them and shouted, "Look out!" In his disoriented state, however, he had forgotten to disguise his voice, and it sounded very familiar. Darkwing's jaw dropped. Could it be…?

Before he could finish his thought, Darkwing felt a pair of fangs sink through his sleeve. "Yeow!"

As Quackerjack clapped and danced at the sight of his adversaries about to be mauled up above, Megavolt turned to face Gizmoduck. "I know how to deal with you," he said, electricity arcing between his hands.

"I don't think so," Gizmoduck replied, now back in character. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" With that, a panel opened on the chest of his suit and a rubber-gloved mechanical hand popped out, grabbing Megavolt and holding his arms tight at his sides.

On the catwalk above, Launchpad frantically swatted at the teddy bears digging their claws into his bomber jacket. "We could use a little help up here, Gizmoduck! We're gettin' eaten alive!"

"No, we don't need your help; we're doing just fine, thanks!" Darkwing said through gritted teeth as he wrestled with the bear on his arm and several more clinging to his cape.

"Hang on, Gizmobuddies!" Gizmoduck considered what to do next. "Perhaps more carrot and less stick is what's called for here," he said, and pushed another button on his suit. A panel opened and a second mechanical arm extended itself, holding a large bucket. It turned the bucket upside down and dumped its payload of fresh salmon onto the floor.

The scent of the fish wafted up and soon the toy bears had abandoned their assault in favor of investigating the source of the enticing smell. They climbed back down to the factory floor, sniffing the air. Upon discovering the fish, they quickly began to devour it.

"No, don't eat that! It'll gum up your insides," Quackerjack said, but his creations ignored him and started to malfunction as the fish got caught in their internal gears and motors.

"We've had about enough of you, Stew," said Mr. Banana Brain, and Quackerjack pulled out an oversized, multi-colored gun, pointing it at Gizmoduck. "Meet Mr. Hydroblast, Tin Man!"

Megavolt, still struggling in the grasp of the mechanical arm holding him, looked alarmed. "Hey, be careful with that—"

Quackerjack pulled the trigger and a powerful stream of water shot out of the gun's barrel. Gizmoduck dropped Megavolt and dodged out of the way, but the villain couldn't get to his feet in time to avoid the oncoming torrent. Megavolt let out a yelp before he was hit and then shorted out in a shower of sparks.

Quackerjack paid no mind to his ally's plight and once again trained his water cannon on Gizmoduck. Darkwing, his clothes in tatters, extended his arms over the catwalk railing and took aim with his gas gun. "Eat net, evildoer!" he said, firing a cartridge that exploded and released a swath of weighted mesh. No sooner had Quackerjack turned towards the sound than he was securely trapped in the net that had cinched around him.

As Darkwing and Launchpad made their way down to the factory floor, the sound of rapidly approaching police sirens filled the air and the dusty, darkened windows of the factory were illuminated by flashing red and blue lights from outside. "Are you in there, Gizmoduck? Is everything all right?" a policeman's voice boomed through a megaphone.

"You bet, officer! It seems that all the pilfered property is here. And there's some trash that needs to be taken out, too," Gizmoduck said, pointing several officers who'd entered the building towards the incapacitated villains.

"There's some trash that needs to be taken out, too," Darkwing mimicked. "You've got a lot of nerve to—"

"Gizmoduck! Gizmoduck, can you tell us what happened?" asked a reporter, brushing past Darkwing and shoving a microphone in Gizmoduck's face.

Darkwing gasped. "The press is here already?" He ducked behind a crate and emerged a moment later in a pristine outfit. "I always keep a spare costume on my person for just such occasions. Now, time to go soak in some well-deserved appreciation. How's my breath, LP?"

"Uh, fine, I guess," Launchpad said, still looking the worse for wear.

By then a flock of journalists and cameramen had completely surrounded Gizmoduck, and Darkwing was left skirting the edge of the crowd, trying to get someone's attention. "Excuse me? Reporter person?" Darkwing said, tapping a large bulldog who was holding a microphone in Gizmoduck's direction.

"Not now, bud. I'm trying to cover a story here," the bulldog said without turning around.

"But I was there; I can tell you what happened! I'm Darkwing Duck!"

"Oh yeah, sure."

Darkwing slumped, then poked a skinny stork holding a television camera until he turned and faced him. The stork looked him up and down and asked irritably, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I tracked down that harebrained harlequin! I-I'm the terror that flaps in the night," Darkwing pleaded, weakly flapping his cape.

"Uh-huh," the stork mumbled as he refocused his camera on Gizmoduck, who was wrapping up his impromptu press conference.

"—and I just want to say that it's an honor and a privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of keeping law-abiding citizens everywhere safe." Gizmoduck smiled as flashbulbs popped all around him. "Oh, and I'd also like to thank my colleague, Darkwing Duck, for his cooperation in collaring these kooky criminals and… Darkwing? Hellooo?"

Gizmoduck scanned the crowd for Darkwing and Launchpad, but they had vanished.

To Be Continued…