Thanks for the inspiration, GuestGirl!
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Uncle Scrooge, do we really have to go?" I asked.
Although, since Uncle Scrooge had just closed the front door, it was probably too late to stay home now.
"It's just a boring old speech, right?" Dewey asked as we started walking to the sidewalk.
"Nonsense! This is ta celebrate the founding of Duckburg. And I did a lot ta make this city what it is today, so you are all going ta be there!" Uncle Scrooge said.
"I heard that more than half the town is gonna be there." Launchpad said, waxing a helicopter in the driveway. Come to think of it, what was a helicopter doing in the driveway? "Too bad I've gotta jet, or I'd be there too!"
"Sounds like it could be fun." Huey said.
"If by 'fun' you mean boring." Dewey mumbled.
"Oh, and heads up Mr. McD," Launchpad said, "Word on the street is, Magica the witch lady is going to be there too."
Uncle Scrooge frowned. "Magica? Yek! Why, I'll be a sitting duck for her spells while I give me speech!"
"Is Magica the lady you told us about Louie? The one who wants Uncle Scrooge's dime?" Huey asked as we started walking again.
"Yup, that's her." I said.
"Err, now, Huey and Dewey, you boys run ahead and make sure you get good seats. There's something I just realized I have ta do before the speech." Uncle Scrooge said, stopping to look up and down the street.
"Alright, Uncle Scrooge." We all looked at Uncle Scrooge suspiciously, but did as he said and kept on walking.
"Not you, Louie." Uncle Scrooge said, hooking my arm with his cane, "There's something I want ya to help me with. It won't take a wee portion of yer time."
My brothers and I all shrugged at each other, and then Huey and Dewey left ahead of us.
"Alright," I asked as soon as they were too far away to hear me, "What's up?"
"I need you ta help me, lad." Uncle Scrooge whispered, drawing me in closer with his cane, "During the speech, I want you ta take care of me old number one."
"Number one?" I asked.
"Me dime." Uncle Scrooge said. With a surprisingly quick motion, he pulled off the string around his neck, the string that held the dime, and quickly placed it over my head. He did this so fast that I wasn't able to say anything.
"The first money I ever made. Keep it safe for me, will you?" He asked.
There was nothing else I could do other than tuck the dime under my clothes. "S-sure thing," I stammered.
"Good lad," He said, and with an uncle-like pat on my shoulder, he started walking down the sidewalk again.
When we finally reached the outdoor stage where the speech would take place, Uncle Scrooge immediately went to stand on the stage. But he was quickly joined by a strange duck I had never seen before, and didn't seem too happy about it.
I couldn't help but scan the crowd for Magica, but she wasn't around so I sat down between Dewey and Huey. Right away Dewey elbowed me and started whispering in my ear.
"That's Flinthard Glomgold," He whispered, pointing at the strange duck who was arguing with Uncle Scrooge, "I met him yesterday when Uncle Scrooge took me to Egypt. He's rich like Uncle Scrooge, but not as rich, and he's definitely not very nice."
"Got it," I whispered back.
Suddenly, Huey elbowed me on my other side. "Do you guys see what I see?" He whispered, pointing to the right of the stage.
We gulped. There, half-hidden by the crowd but wearing distinctive orange shirts, were-
"The Beagle Boys!"
Obviously, the three of them were up to no good.
Quietly, we left our seats and snuck up to that part of the stage. We didn't even need to talk to each other to plan it out as we decided to try to sneak up on them from behind.
"...Then while everyone is watching the speech, we'll dynamite our way in and steal Scrooge's gold!" The Beagles chuckled quietly to themselves.
"Looks like we'd better keep an eye on these guys," Huey mumbled.
"Agreed." Dewey and I said at the same time.
"And now, it's time to start the speech!" An announcer said, standing up on the stage and apparently ignoring the fact that Uncle Scrooge and Glomgold were still up on stage arguing together, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Scrooge McDuck!"
There was a giant round of applause, and Scrooge came forward to the podium.
"A-heh-hem," He cleared his throat, "I want to thank all of you for coming here today-"
"Hold on, I object!" Glomgold said, interrupting, "This old sack isn't worth being praised! Why, I've done more for this city than he ever has!"
"You can't object a speech, Glomgold!" Scrooge argued, "Now as I was saying-"
"No, listen to me, everyone!" Glomgold said, bumping Uncle Scrooge aside, "This old clown may have helped create the city, sure. He might have planned a few things and made a few streets. But he isn't helping now! I'm the one who's making Duckburg rich! Why, just take my new line of hovercrafts, for example. Glomgold Industries is clearly the voice of the future!"
"You can unveil yer new line of cheaply made products some other time," Uncle Scrooge said, taking back the podium, "Right now, the people want to hear about the founding of their city!"
"Oh? Are ye so sure of that, Scrooge?" Glomgold asked, "I happen to have an example of my hovercars right here!"
He pressed a button on a remote, and a round car suddenly floated down from the sky onto the stage. It didn't have any wheels, and it didn't have a roof either. It would have been cooler if it weren't painted completely grey.
"See?" Glomgold asked, "This here is the voice of the future! Look at this flying technology!" He pressed another button on the remote, and suddenly the hovercar pointed straight up into the air. The bottom was very smooth, almost like a mirror.
But if there weren't wheels or anything on the bottom, how exactly could it fly?
"This is the first hovercar out of a thousand. The rest are all in me factory downtown." Glomgold explained.
At that moment, I clearly saw a light go off in the Beagle Boy's heads.
"Boys, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" One of the Beagles asked.
"We've got to get our hands on that remote!" Another answered.
Along with Huey and Dewey, I groaned big time.
"We've got to stop them!" I whispered.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Suddenly, there was a giant pink poof! of smoke. As soon as I turned to look, I groaned again. "Oh no!" I said.
It was Magica deSpell, floating over the heads of the people in the crowd.
Her laughter turned to coughing. "What is with pink cloud? That is last time I buy from cheap Witch Dollar Store!" She mumbled, chasing away the smoke.
"Magica!" Uncle Scrooge shouted.
"Scrooge!" She answered, "I am here for your number one dime, the first dime you ever made! Be a good duck and hand it over, okay?"
"Never!" He shouted, his hand automatically clutching his heart even though the dime wasn't actually there.
"Then we will do this the hard way!" Magica shouted, raising her arms, "I have new magic spell! Once I use it, you will hand over dime to me...willingly!"
"HEY! STOP THOSE CROOKS!" Glomgold shouted.
"GOT IT, BANKJOB!"
Startled, I turned around. While we were occupied with Magica, it seems the Beagle Boys took the time to steal the remote from Glomgold and were currently piling into the hovercraft.
"Scrooge's money, here we come!"
"Not if we can help it!" Dewey shouted, "Come on!"
Things were getting kind of confusing, but I joined followed my brothers as we chased after the Beagles Boys.
"How are we gonna stop those guys? They have a hovercar!" Huey asked.
"She's casting a spell! RUN FOR IT!" Someone behind us called.
Luckily we weren't still there, but even while running we could hear Magica's voice behind us:
"Citizens, you pests,
Who lie safe and sound,
I command you to detest
Anything that is round!"
"Anything round?" Huey said, running up to me, "Dimes are round! Uncle Scrooge is in trouble!"
"He's also in trouble if the Beagle Boys get into his Moneybin!" Dewey shouted, "Let's take care of them first!"
Take care of them? How? They were flying ahead of us, and we were just running!
"Ack! How do you pilot this thing?!" One of the Beagle Boys shouted as the hovercar did an inside-out loop-de-loop.
"Dewey! The remote!" Huey shouted, and just as I was going to ask what he was talking about, Dewey jumped up and grabbed something that had fallen from the sky.
"Got it!" He shouted triumphantly.
"Burger! You dropped the remote!" I heard one of the Beagles say as the hovercar zig-zagged above us.
"Quick, Dewey!" I shouted, "Bring them back!"
"I'm trying, but I think they've got another steering wheel!" Dewey said, pressing buttons on the remote.
"It came off, it came off!" One of the Beagles shouted, and I think I saw a steering wheel fall out of the hovercar and land on the roof of one of the buildings nearby.
"Hit the brakes! Stop the engine!"
"I'm trying, but they're stuck! And the button to turn it off isn't working, neither!"
...What kind of rotten cheapskate designed that stupid thing? It was falling apart in the air!
The whole time this was happening, Dewey was pressing buttons on the remote. This plus whatever the Beagle Boys were doing in the air meant that the hovercar was doing all kinds of acrobatics, but it wasn't really going anywhere. Which was kind of nice, because it meant that we could stop running.
Suddenly, the hovercar turned toward a nearby three-story building that had a large pink donut with sprinkles on top.
"Oh no!" Dewey cried, and since it was all I could do, I stood there with Huey and just stared as the hovercar crashed into the giant donut.
Bang!
The hovercar bounced right off the donut and landed on the roof of the building. Thankfully, we were standing far enough away to see the roof. The front end of the hovercar was crumpled like a tin can, but surprisingly the donut seemed fine. Although, it was tilted just a little.
"Quick, boys! Let's get out of here!" Burger Beagle shouted, jumping off the car.
For some reason, he headed straight for the donut.
"Not now, Burger! It ain't even real!" The other two Beagle boys shouted, and both of them ran out of the car to grab their brother.
"Dewey, quick! The remote!" Huey shouted.
"Got it!" Dewey replied, and he pressed a few buttons.
Instantly the hovercar bucked and clunked, and within seconds it took to the air.
"Oops!" Dewey said, a second too late, because the hovercar had backed straight into the donut again.
This time, it crashed right into the center of the donut hole. And stayed there, stuck. Which was a bad thing, because that meant it was just over the heads of the three Beagle Boys, two of which were trying to get Burger away from what he apparently thought was real food.
"Dewey, do you want to give it back to them?" I asked.
"Quit it, guys! I've got this!" Dewey said.
He pressed something on the remote again, and the hovercraft took to the air-but it took the donut up with it!
"NOOO!" Burger yelled, just barely restrained by his brothers from jumping off the side of the building after the flying donut.
"Give me that!" Huey shouted, and he wrestled the remote away from Dewey, "I'll get that donut off!"
"Huey, wait!" I shouted, but it was too late. With the press of a few buttons, Huey crashed the hovercar into the ground.
And just as I thought, the donut went flying.
Leaping and bounding, it rolled downhill toward where Uncle Scrooge and half of Duckburg were.
"Come on, we've got to stop it before anyone gets hurt!" Dewey shouted, starting to run after the donut.
"But what about the Beagle Boys?" Huey called out.
"Let the police handle them!" Dewey responded, "They can't rob Uncle Scrooge's Moneybin from the top of the Duckie Donut Headquarters!"
"How are we going to stop it?" I shouted as we ran back down.
Suddenly, I remembered that Magica was down there too. And she was still looking for Uncle Scrooge's dime, which was still around my neck...
We made it back to the stage. I was worried that the giant rolling donut would hurt someone, but it must have bounced up the backside of the stage when I wasn't looking, because now it was nicely lying on the stage with the podium in the center of the donut. Kinda like that horseshoe game where you toss a horseshoe and try to get it around a stake in the ground.
"Uh oh," Huey said, looking at the crowd, "Do you guys think something is wrong here?"
The entire crowd was glaring at the stage. Wait, not the stage. They were glaring at the donut!
"It's round." Uncle Scrooge said, seemingly talking to himself, "Somebody take it away! Toss it in the pile!"
"I'm not touching it!" "It looks disgusting!" "That thing's huge!" "Gross!"
The people in the audience even backed away a little as they spoke.
"Boys, what are you doing?" Uncle Scrooge said, suddenly turning to look at us, "Take anything round and toss it in the pile! Hurry!"
"Pile? What pile?" I asked.
"The one over there!"
But that last voice wasn't Uncle Scrooge's. It was Magica's voice! The witch was floating in the air just behind the opposite corner of the stage.
Magica pointed with her finger towards Duckburg Park, where there was a nice, neat pile of round junk sitting by the park entrance. I don't know how everyone managed to make such a large pile during the five minutes we were gone chasing the Beagle Boys, especially since it looked like no one had even moved while we were gone.
"Buttons and watches, glasses and earrings!" Glomgold said, standing there forgotten next to Uncle Scrooge on the stage, as far away from the donut as possible, "Anything round goes in the pile!"
"Hurry, lads! Or no tv for a week!" Uncle Scrooge said.
We really didn't have a choice, so we took out whatever coins were in our pocket. Of course, I kept Uncle Scrooge's dime. We didn't want to walk all the way over to the pile, so we just kind of tossed the money as far as we could. They fell on the ground much closer to the stage than the park, but no one stepped forward to pick them up.
Actually, it was the first time I had ever seen people move to get away from money. Talk about weird.
"Uncle Scrooge, are you working with Magica?" I asked him, "She's a witch!"
"Aye, but she promised ta take away anything round!" Uncle Scrooge said.
"I will, for sure!" Magica said, "As long as I get what I want, I will be helping you get rid of all the ugly round things! Scrooge, are you sure you tossed out all things round?"
"Of course I'm sure! I emptied me pockets of all the change I have!" Uncle Scrooge said, sounding a little offended.
"Uncle Scrooge, she wants your lucky dime!" Dewey shouted.
"You can't give it to her, Uncle Scrooge!" Huey called out.
"Me dime?" Uncle Scrooge said, looking confused.
"Eh, one of ze problems with my spell. Round things are not important anymore, so Scrooge doesn't remember dime. Ah, well." Magica said.
"But you don't have it yet, right?" Huey said, "That's why you made everyone hate round things! So that someone will find the dime for you!"
"Cheeky little duck, aren't you? I see what problem is," Magica said, "You three were not hit by my spell!"
She raised her hands and began to speak- "Citizens-"
"No!" Dewey and I shouted at the same time.
"The donut!" Huey shouted, "You can't do a spell before getting rid of the donut! No one likes it there!"
Huey, you're a genius! You thought of the only thing that could distract her!
"Hm, you may be right." Magica said, looking at the face of the angry mob that really did not like the giant donut on the stage. They might even start to riot if she didn't take care of it soon. "Very well. I will make this donut disappear!"
She raised her hands once again, aiming it at the donut this time.
As soon as she did, Huey pulled out the remote for Glomgold's hovercar and pressed a few buttons. Sputtering and zig-zagging, it took the car a few seconds to fly up from where we had left it on the street all the way to the stage.
Then, with a few lucky presses of the button, he managed to land it right-side up just behind the stage, out of Magica's sight.
"There!" Magica said as the giant donut disappeared, "Is done! Now to put spell on you three!"
She turned towards us and began the spell, and I snatched the remote out of Huey's hands.
"My turn!" I shouted, just as Magica finished and the magic started flying towards us.
I pressed the button on the remote, and the hovercar flew sideways in front of us. It worked! The spell didn't hit us at all, because the hovercar blocked it!
"Nice work, Louie!" Huey said as I landed the hovercar on the stage.
But that wasn't the only reason I had used the hovercar. Did my plan work?
"No, no, no!" Magica shouted, her hands on her head.
Yes, yes yes! It worked!
"Louie, get ready to block her again!" Dewey shouted.
"No need, bros." I smirked.
"Round, round! Why is it round?" Magica shouted.
"Huh?" Dewey asked.
"That!" Magica said, pointing to the hovercar, "It's round! So ugly, so disgusting, so...so...terrible!"
"Oh wow, she got hit by her own ray!" Dewey said.
"The bottom of the hoverboard must have reflected the curse back on herself!" Huey remarked, "Good thinking, Louie!"
"I can't believe I ever made anything so ugly!" Glomgold suddenly said, spitting on the hovercar.
Oh, I forgot about him. So he was still standing on the stage.
"Get rid of it, get rid of it!" Magica shouted to no one in particular. Did she forget that she has magic?
I don't know if he heard Magica or just didn't like it himself, but Glomgold suddenly started stomping on the hovercar with his bare feet.
"That'll teach ya!" He shouted, which didn't make any sense. But it did seem to work, since the hovercar started to collapse more and more with every kick. "I'm going ta go down to my factory and destroy every single one of you personally!" Glomgold shouted, "Better yet, I'll call the factory and have someone else do it!"
"Ooookay," Huey said, turning to look away from the crazy guy with the kilt, "So, now what?"
"We get rid of Magica and get everyone back to normal," I said.
"How are we going to do that?" Dewey asked.
"We could use something round." Huey suggested.
"But no one around here has anything round!" Dewey said.
"I do!" I said, pulling the dime off from around my neck, "Yo, Magica! You want this?"
I dared to take a step forward, revealing the dime and even letting it dangle on the necklace for her viewing pleasure.
"No! Get it away!" The witch lady said, covering her eyes and taking a step back, even though she was floating in mid-air.
"But I thought for sure you wanted this," I said, stepping closer.
"No, take it away! I'll do anything!"
"Anything?" I asked.
"Yes yes, I'll do anything!" Magica said.
"Then reverse the spell you put on the town!" I shouted.
"Alright, alright!" Magica said, putting out her hands, "Reverse the curse!"
Surprisingly, that was enough for the magic to work. For a second there was a flash of light, and everyone who had been standing in the audience blinked their eyes. Then, as if everyone had the same idea at the same time, they all scrambled towards the pile of junk.
"Great job, Louie!" Uncle Scrooge said. Rushing forward, he grabbed the dime out of my hands and held it up close to Magica.
"See this?" He shouted, sticking his dime as close as he could to her face, "It's round!"
"Eeek! Get it away!" She shouted.
"No, you get away!" Uncle Scrooge shouted, "Leave this town, and don't come back!"
"EEEEEEEE!" The witch screamed, and suddenly she raised her arms, gathered smoke and poof! She was gone!
"You think she'll be back?" I asked.
"Of course she will." Uncle Scrooge said, "But not until her own spell wears off, heh heh!"
"Um, Louie? Since when did you start keeping a coin around your neck?" Huey asked.
"It's not actually mine," I said.
"It's mine." Uncle Scrooge said, "Me old number one. Thank ye for looking after it, Louie."
Uncle Scrooge then started to rub my head, which was kinda annoying.
"You mean the dime that Magica was after?" Dewey asked, "You scared her off with the very dime she wanted?"
"Um, yes?" I said.
Huey and Dewey started laughing, and I couldn't help but join them.
"Come on lads," Uncle Scrooge said, "Let's go home. They'll have ta postpone the speech for another day, anyway."
So, we headed home. Along the way I saw that Glomgold guy angrily jumping up and down, complaining about how all his hovercars were now destroyed. Oh, and we passed a police car that had the Beagle Boys in the backseat.
Actually, going to the speech today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.