Chapter Seven
"Quackerjack! Megavolt!" The watery prince called for his friends for the umpteenth time that morning. As the group searched the forest, the fairy was starting to grow more concerned and less convinced that they could find the two.
"Maybe they were taken hostage as well," Quiverwing commented, "Or they possibly could have been killed! Maybe they were even- Mmph!"
Darkwing gave Prince Liquidator a comforting smile as he covered his daughter's mouth yet again. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine. But we should only stay for a short time longer before we should leave for Dawidu…"
The canine nodded, frowning. "Fine…" He glanced around the forest and sighed. "Where are those brats?" He continued to follow the imps as they navigated their way through the forest, searching for the missing fairies. If they could find the two, then they would have extra firepower in rescuing Reggie. He missed the plant-duck and was worried about his safety.
"Tell me about your friends," the older imp said, "So we know what to look for to find them."
"Well… Quackerjack is a duck, wears a colorful jester outfit, is mentally insane and has an obsession with things he calls 'toys.' Megavolt is a rat with electrical powers… I only met Megavolt yesterday, so I don't know much about him. He's Reggie's friend." Prince Liquidator paused for a moment before correcting himself. "Prince Bushroot's friend."
"Toys?" Quiverwing asked, "What are those?"
"Just these weird magic-less playthings that Quackerjack makes… He's really a weird fairy. I don't know why he never uses magic."
"He doesn't?" Darkwing asked. "That is strange… Even if we imps don't have natural magic like fairies do, we do compensate by using powders made from things with magical properties. Like the nightshade powder used to knock you out yesterday. A fairy not using magic is unheard of."
Prince Liquidator shrugged. "Well, that's Quackerjack for you. …What are you doing?"
"Shh!" The imp in purple looked around cautiously. "Someone's watching us."
"How can you tell?" Quiverwing asked.
"Shh!" Darkwing signaled for them to be quiet once more. "Listen!" he hissed quietly.
The prince and the girl listened and heard a slight rustling of leaves. Quiverwing raised her brow at the noise. "That's probably just the wind," she insisted.
She was proven wrong when a person jumped out of a nearby tree and tackled the watery canine.
"Prince Liquidator!" the two imps cried in alarm.
The prince felt the person hit him, almost going through his watery form. Then he felt the person grab at his clothes and saw a familiar sight.
"You jerk!" Quackerjack cried. "You ditched us! We were stuck here all night because you ditched us!"
"Oh get off me," Prince Liquidator said in annoyance as he pushed the insane jester away. "I didn't ditch you. You ran ahead of us and we lost you. If anything you ditched us."
"Oh… Oh yeah." Quackerjack grinned sheepishly and looked up into the tree and called, "Megsy! Are you coming down or not?"
There was a grunt and some more rustling of leaves. "I think I'm stuck…" Megavolt called back down. "Oh wait, I think I… AH!" A weak branch cracked off the tree, falling to the ground with the rat still hanging onto it, causing Quackerjack to backflip away to avoid being hit. Megavolt groaned and flipped over. "Ow… Shouldn't Prince Bushroot have done something about that?"
"Yeah, where is Bushbrain?" Quackerjack asked, "And who are your friends?"
"I'm Quiverwing," the girl said.
"And I'm Darkwing," the older imp said, "I presume that you two are Quackerjack and Megavolt?" He helped the rat back up. "It's good that we found you before Negaduck's cronies did."
"Negaduck?" Megavolt asked, "Who's that?"
"That's the current emperor of the Empire Dawidu, right?" Quackerjack asked. He looked at everyone's surprised expressions. "What? I read over some of Licky's lessons that he doesn't do. Like the previous emperor was D-"
"Anyway!" Darkwing interrupted, "Prince Bushroot has been kidnapped by the evil emperor and now we have to go and save him! It will be a risky rescue to retrieve the rifled regal from the riled ruffian!"
Quiverwing and Prince Liquidator half-lidded their eyes at the imp's use of alliteration. Quackerjack raised his brow and grinned.
"You have such a way with words," he commented.
Megavolt frowned. "So we have to rescue Bushroot? It sounds dangerous…"
"Well then," Darkwing gave a confident grin. "Let's get dangerous." He motioned for everyone to huddle together. "Alright, so here's the plan…"
...
Prince Bushroot groaned slightly. The imp guards outside his cell had a little light on so that they could see, but wasn't nearly enough to allow him to photosynthesize. The dungeon was damp enough that he had the water he needed, especially since there was now a leak of water dripping onto his head every now and then. It was starting to get annoying and his foul mood at the lack of light wasn't helping things.
If only he could get outside… He was sure it was morning now, and he hoped for the life of him that there was sunlight. He could faintly make a connection with plants somewhere above him, and they seemed happy enough. They were probably having a good meal.
Plants… The duck thought about that a little more. If he could get outside, then he could have plants to help him… Then he might be able to escape… It was certainly worth a shot.
"Hey, uh… Guards?" Prince Bushroot almost backed down as the imps looked at him. Their cloaked silhouettes were very frightening. Still, he continued. "I would think that if you're holding me ransom, you would want to keep me alive, right? You can't barter off someone who's dead… So that would include keeping me from starving, right?"
The two imps looked at each other and then at the prince, both nodding as they agreed with the logic.
"Well, I'm pretty much starving right now, without sunlight. I need to go outside to be able to eat, being a plant and all." The plant-duck watched as the two bore their sights into him. After a moment, he grinned sheepishly. "Please? You could keep me chained up… I just really need to eat."
The guards looked at each other again, nodding in agreement once more. One unlocked the door to the cell and went up to Prince Bushroot to bring him upstairs and outside. Prince Bushroot tried his best not to give away what he was planning.
...
Quackerjack struggled with the disguise, trying to put it on without his wings showing through it. He gave up and pouted. "It's no fair!" Quackerjack turn to two figures dressed in similar outfits to the one worn by Prince Bushroot's kidnappers. "Licky can change his form to hide his wings and Megsy can cut the electrical flow to his. Why is it so easy for YOU to hide your wings?"
One figure shrugged. "Fairy wings are vestigial." came Megavolt's voice from the shadow of the hood. "It's not like any of us can actually do anything with them, being so weighted down by magic. We only have them to be able to tell us apart from other species out there."
"Well I can't hide mine," Quackerjack said, "So how can I wear the disguise?"
Quiverwing walked up to the jester, wearing a disguise as well but currently keeping her hood off. "Do you have any toys that could help?"
The fairy duck made a face. "Not without it hurting…"
"If you be patient I could get some magic powder to hide them," Darkwing commented, "It'll be temporary and they'll still be there, it'll just seem like they're gone."
The fairy duck continued to make a face. "Magic?"
"Just for a little while," The older imp was starting to feel like he was dealing with a child. He had enough of that with his daughter. "You need to wear the disguise after all, or we'll be caught."
"Yeah, about that," Prince Liquidator spoke up as he took off his hood. "These outfits are purple… I know you have a thing for this color, but don't the imps working for Negaduck wear yellow?"
Darkwing looked at the prince for a moment, blinking a few times as he thought about it. He frowned. "Quiet. I know what I'm doing. We'll get through this fine, you'll see."
Quiverwing rolled her eyes. "Dad's too egotistical to think that any of his plans are wrong," she whispered.
"I'll say," Quackerjack whispered back. He watched as the older imp search his belongings for a magic powder that could help.
"Oh, this one should work. Windroot powder." Darkwing opened a small sack of powder and sprinkled some on Quackerjack's wings, much to the fairy's annoyance. "Also known as butterfly weed."
The jester made a face once more at the alternate name for the plant powder being used on him. "Are you implying something?" he asked in an accusatory tone.
"No, no, not at all," Darkwing insisted quickly, "It's just coincidence, I swear."
Quackerjack stuck his tongue out a little and looked at his back at his now-missing wings. He finished putting on the disguise and sighed. "How long does it last?"
"Until you take the cloak off again, unless you get wet and it washes off."
"Oh I hope not the second one," the jester turned towards Prince Liquidator.
The canine sighed. "I said I was sorry!"
"So we're going to rescue Bushroot now, right?" Megavolt asked.
"Yep!" Darkwing said. "Everyone remember the plan?" Once everyone nodded, he nodded as well. Everyone made sure to have their hoods up and disguises on properly. Darkwing then pulled out another sack of powder. "Jet powder," he commented, taking a handful of the black powder. "Hold your breath and stay close," he ordered before throwing the powder to cover them all. They all disappeared from the forest.
A moment later, they reappeared within Negaduck's fortress, hidden in the shadows by the outer wall. Four out of five of them were currently sick to their stomachs with the fifth one having no stomach to speak of but feeling very dizzy.
"The quickest way to travel?" Prince Liquidator asked.
"Yeah," Darkwing managed to get out before groaning slightly.
"But not the best," the prince finished his observation.
Another moment later, all five of them were feeling better and they went to continue their plan. Unfortunately, seeing Prince Bushroot walk out into the courtyard called for a change of plans.
"Reggie!" the canine whispered, seeing the other prince appear across the way.
"You called him Reggie?" Quackerjack asked his friend.
"That's not nearly important as the fact it messes up our rescue plans," Darkwing hissed. "He must be planning something on his own."
"Well duh." Megavolt said, "Prince Bushroot is one of the smartest guys I know. And he's a plant fairy with plant telepathy and we're outside in a plant filled courtyard."
Right after Megavolt finished saying that, plants pulled the guard away from the plant-duck.
"Ha!" Quiverwing said, "That'll teach Negaduck to procrastinate on destroying nature inside his fortress." She grinned under her hood but then frowned again once she saw dozens of yellow-cloaked imps moving towards the plant prince to apprehend him. "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh is right," Darkwing motioned for the rest to follow him. "Come on, we need to help Prince Bushroot."
"Right!" The fairies and younger imp followed the leader of their rescue party towards the fight where Prince Bushroot was currently having trouble keeping all of the guards at bay.
The plant-duck noticed the purple-cloaked imps rushing towards him and mentally groaned, expecting them to be higher-ranking guards and probably even harder to beat. However, he didn't expect to see one shoot electricity at the yellow-cloaked imps, one throw what could best be described as chattering fake teeth, one use martial arts moves, one use arrows, and the final to shoot a blast of water just past the duck's shoulder where an imp was sneaking up on him while he was distracted.
The one that shot water quickly moved up to the prince. "Miss me?" he asked cheerily.
"Licky?" Prince Bushroot asked in hope.
"The one and only," the other prince chimed, using a strong force of water to break the chains holding the duck, "Are you going to continue to help or continue to talk?"
The plant prince remembered that they were currently in a battle and continued to have the flora around him assist in taking down the rest of the imp guards while the five in purple cloaks used their preferred choice of fighting.
A small explosion of fire very close to him singed Prince Bushroot's petals and made him jump into Prince Liquidator to try and avoid the resulting flames. The plant-duck winced as he mentally heard the burning plant life cry in pain.
"Reggie!" Prince Liquidator helped his friend up, putting out the burning ends of his petals. He watched the other prince in concern.
More explosions happened around the field, making Prince Bushroot wince even more, and causing the rescue party and the princes have to stick close to avoid getting burned.
Emperor Negaduck came into sight, his threatening appearance as frightening as it ever was. "Well, well, well, what do I have here?" the imp asked, taunting the six. "Five traitors and a stupid bug, all trapped by explosions from fireweed." The evil imp snorted and looked at Prince Bushroot. "I was going to keep you alive long enough to watch me take over the fairy kingdoms. But if you're going to cause this much trouble, I might as well skip all that. Guards!" More yellow-cloaked imps came and quickly chained the six. Negaduck watched silently before giving his next order. "Execute them. Starting with the prince."
Prince Bushroot had a sudden feeling of dread as he determined that they had lost.
