Chapter VI - That one meeting that keeps happening
"Excuse us for the interruption, but we're looking for someone!" Big time Beagle announced, as he and his brothers climbed to the center stage, "4 Ducklings…. About yea high,"
Huey stopped short, and quietly moved behind a stand.
"They're talking about us aren't they," He muttered, only to himself. Huey studied the trio carefully, they looked somewhat similar, perhaps brothers? But there outfits, far to patched and dissimilar to be members of the Scrooge's royal guard.
"Huey!" A voice whisper yelled at him through the fearful whimpering of the crowd.
Who were these guys who seemed to put the entire establishment on edge?
"Dewey,"
"Who do you think they are?"
"Our first royal kidnapping,"
"You think they're here for us?" Dewey asked, moving towards his brother with a bounce in his step, "As in our first royal kidnapping attempt?"
"Why do you sound excited, this is a very bad thing,"
"How much do you think our ransom will be?"
"We need to find Louie and Webby and get out of here," Huey replied, "No ransoms, how did they even find out about us?"
"Come on, we know they're here, we're just concerned, it's time to take them home,"
"Okay, so we don't want to cause a scene," Donald declared, "So could you all change into street casual clothes,"
A moment passed, and the small group of guards looked at each other awkwardly.
"Excuse me, but can you repeat that your highness?"
"JUST CHANGE YOUR DAMN CLOTHES!"
"What?" A voice whispered to another,
"He said change your clothes," Another voice whispered back, clearly trying to avoid the Prince's anger, but to no avail.
"Change into what?" Yet another voice asked.
Donald grumbled in frustration. One part of him knew it wasn't exactly fair of him to get mad at their inability to understand him, it was something he was cursed with, but he didn't have time for this, not when his boys were roaming the streets of Duckburg unsupervised.
"Um, Your Highness?"
"Street casual, we don't want to cause a scene,"
"I am more than capable of taking care of this," Mrs. Beakley informed Donald, "This is after all part of my job,"
"MY BOYS, MY JOB," He shouted, marching up, and looking straight into her face.
Honestly, why was she so tall?
Beakley groaned quietly. Donald bit his tongue and ignored it, turning back towards the guard.
"I'll distract them while you find your brothers," Webby told Louie decidedly.
"What, are you crazy, that one's head alone is almost the size of your entire body,"
"You're the priority," Webby said, as easily as if she was talking about dinner, "My life is easily forfeited,"
"What, are you crazy?"
"You already said that."
"Well do you know any martial arts?"
"No?"
"Have any weapons on hand?"
"You carry weapons?"
"So, you find your brothers, and I'll keep them occupied. They probably won't even bother with me too much anyway, I'll be right behind you"
After a moment's hesitation Louie finally gave in, "You better be, because as soon as I find Huey and Dewey we're coming back for you,"
Louie ran off before Webby could reply. She turned towards the Beagle boys, and drew a dagger she had hidden in a pocket in her skirt, "Hey… Ugly, over here, looking for me?"
"Look, that's one of the brats, the one that ran into me!" One of the Beagle boys shouted from somewhere behind Louie. Louie didn't look back, but instead scanned before him for signs of Huey's red cap, and Dewey's blue cloak.
"Where would they be?" Louie muttered. Huey had the money… and Dewey loved playing the games…. Louie turned towards the game stands, weaving through looking for the familiar colors. But he didn't have to go far, as standing hidden behind, one of the stands, in view of the attackers was his brothers.
"Is that Webby?" Dewey asked.
"No, it's just a random girl who happens to look just like her, who knew she had a long lost twin," Louie replied, in between his panting breaths.
"Louie,"
"I didn't know she could fight,"
"She said she knew…" Louie finally turned to look back at the confrontation. Webby was deftly avoiding the blows of all three, but it was clear she was getting a bit tired keeping away from all three.
"We have to help her," Dewey said, stepping out of behind the stand.
"What can we do?" Huey asked him, grabbing his wrist to tug him back, "We have to think,"
"I promised Webby I'd come back once I found you guys," Louie informed his brothers, when suddenly, a loud boom sounded and, the already tense crowds, began to run away in panic. A smell of oil burning filled the air.
"Oh great, how are we going to get through the crowds," Huey groaned
"Are you boys okay?" A kind passerby asked.
"Our friend," Louie started
"I'm sure she's fine," The young woman said, guiding them into the crowds, "You can find her later,"
"You don't understand," Dewey continued, and attempted to push back into the rush, but to no avail
"Dewey wait, let's go get help!" Huey suggested. Dewey gave a reluctant nod, and followed his brothers out.
"Look what you did, now everyone left, and the Princes with them," Bigtime scolded Bouncer, who had accidentally knocked a lamp into a pot of oil, causing a fire that had spread to the curtains.
"How do you know they're the princes?" Webby asked.
"See I told you," Bigtime told his brothers arrogantly.
"So what does that make you, a princess," Burger asked, almost in awe of the idea.
Webby shook her head violently, "No, I"m just the granddaughter of the head housekeeper,"
"This one's useless, she's just the help!" Burger whined.
"Let's go before we're caught and Ma has to bail us out again," Bigtime grumbled, and began to run off, his brothers following him.
Webby considered following, but knew she promised Louie she would follow him. Webby looked around at the empty establishment.
"Boys?" Webby asked.
"Donald walked the streets, or rather ran the streets, with Beakley close behind,"
"You know, just because there's trouble down at the docks doesn't mean the boys and Webby are there,"
"You don't know my boys,"
Webby had wandered out of the building, and away from the docks, avoiding what appeared to be workers to come put out the fire, and those who wanted to help her find her parents.
Part of her knew she should head back to the castle, where her Granny was almost certainly waiting to scold her on her bad behavior, and to where the boys were waiting to know if she was alright. Even after Louie had promised her he'd come back.
She knew she shouldn't have been mad, after all, he was the prince, and he shouldn't have come back for her. But it still kinda hurt that she had hoped.
But Webby found her feet had taken her to a sandy surface, that shifted beneath her as she walked.
Oh, the ocean!" Webby said, as she noticed the expansive scene before her, boats dotted the sparkling seas, "A beach!" Webby ran out onto the white sand, and put her feet into the ocean, "It's so pretty,"
The caste did lie along the coast, but it also lay on a cliffside, so it didn't have much in the way of a beach.
Webby stood for a few moments, taking in the sun and icy cold waters, before finally investigating her surroundings.
"Oh a bottle!" Webby said cheerfully, to no one but herself as she picked it up, and opened it.
"Please help, trapped," Webby murmured, reading the message aloud. She looked up, looking to see where the letter had come from. Perhaps from that second stretch of docks, further up the coast.
Webby stood straighter, "Hold tight, I'm on my way!"
"Where did Webby go?" Huey asked, weaving through the dispersing crowds.
"You don't think she's still in there do you?" Louie asked, looking at the burning building.
"Did you see how she was fighting, of course, she escaped," Dewey reassured her.
"Uh oh, Uncle Donald, 10 o'clock," Huey whispered, stopping suddenly.
"Mrs. Beakley too," Louie added,
"Let's go," Dewey said, already turned to run in the other direction.
"Couldn't they maybe help us find her," Huey suggested, sparing a look back.
"Do you want to get in trouble?" Dewey asked.
"We can't let them know we lost her," Louie added.
As Webby bounded along the shoreline, she spotted two more bottles, both with similar messages. She soon came upon an amphitheater, currently empty save a young girl, not much older than her, as she tossed a third bottle into the water.
"You, you're the one with the messages?" Webby asked.
The girl jumped a bit startled, before glancing at the bottle that was drifting away, "Oh, yeah, you saw them?"
"I came to help,"
"Oh, well, I don't actually need help," the girl looked Webby over, "And I'm not sure how much help you would have been anyway,"
"I can take care of myself," Webby replied, bounding into the ocean to grab her last bottle, not even getting so much of the hem of her skirt wet. Webby looked at the at the girl as she played with the bottle. She seemed to be telling the truth. Sure, her clothes might have seen better days, but she didn't seem harmed in any way, "Why'd you throw the bottles, then?"
The girl shrugged, "I don't know, something to do,"
"Well, I didn't mean to bother you,"
"It's fine," she assured her with a wave of her hand, but then gave her a curious look, "I haven't seen you around here before,"
"Oh, I'm Webby,"
"Lena,"
"So… you live around here,"
"I guess you could say that,"
"So what are you doing?"
"You mean besides talking to you?"
"Hey, you want to go to a party?"
"A party?"
"Sure,"
"I'd love too!"
"This would have been the perfect gift for Ma's birthday too," Bigtime complained to his brothers as they approached their home.
"She would have been so proud of us for once," Burger added.
"Guess we're always meant to be the losers of the family," Bouncer sighed.
"Not even that, the Ugly Losers do it better than we do," Burger countered.
"Ma's going to be upset when she hears we got her nothing for her birthday," Bigtime groaned, looking towards home tentatively.
His brothers nodded in solemn agreement.