Title: Kit, the Magician
Authors: KitCloudkicker52885 and Kit_Lee
Disclaimer: We do not own Tale Spin, Disney does. But we do own Chris Cloudkicker, Jeffery and Melissa.

Chapter Eight

The Grand Finale

In no time at all, the evening came and the audience was slowly filling up as people came to watch the school talent show. Behind the red curtain on the stage, kids were having some last-minute practice with their tricks.

In Kit's corner, behind the portable wall he and Jeffery set up, Chris had his arm out of one sleeve of his bunny suit as his brother did some last-minute practice with Jeffery and discovered that he could unzipped the suit from the inside!

"Hey!" he exclaimed excitedly, pulling the zipper all the way down to reveal his baby blue-sweater beneath. "It came undone!"

Kit and Jeffery were at his side in an instant to investigate. Jeffery took the zipper between his fingers and examined it.

"So that's how it works!" Jeffery exclaimed in delight. "The trick is that this is a two-face zipper, goes up at the front and down at the back. This is genius! Very clever, Grandpa!" Jeffery said with a slight sniff, looking toward the heavens, a single tear dripping down his cheek.

The talent show begins and the Cloudkicker Trio used the time they had before their turn to plan a few new tricks.

Up first, was Ernie from the Jungle Aces in a gray suit with a red bowtie , who demonstrated a talent of juggling eight balls at once for a full minute before he lost control and the balls all came down and rolled across the stage in every directions and poor Ernie had to scramble, blushing scarlet, to pick them up.

Despite the applause, Ernie came backstage with a raincloud over his head. Remembering him in his overalls and a cooking pot on his head, Kit thought he looks strange in a suit with a bowtie.

Jeffery took pity on Ernie and went to cheer him up.

"Hey Ernie, cheer up." Jeffery said encouragingly. "You juggled eight balls in a whole minute! I couldn't have done that, I still have trouble with two!"

Ernie smiled weakly, still looking embarrassed. "Thanks, Cunningham."

Next up was Oscar. He came up on stage and ran toward the piano, his foot caught the leg of the stool and he feel down on his face.

"Oscar!" Kit cried as he ran out on stage to help Oscar up. "Are you alright?" He half-lifted Oscar and set him on the stool.

"Aww…" cooed the audience.

"Y-yes, Kit, I'm—I'm fine…" Oscar said, looking up at Kit through broken glasses. "Kit, why are there eight of you?"

"Oh, no, Oscar…" Kit groaned. "Your glasses are broken. Can you still play?"

"Uh, I think so…" Oscar said uncertainly.

"Okay, I'll be backstage if you need any help." Kit said and he went backstage.

Oscar started playing Heart and Soul on the piano, though badly, having to see through scattered leans.

The audience held its ears until the end of the badly played song and despite the poor performance, they applauded politely, all except one jerk who shouted: "BOO!" but fell silent at glares everybody were giving him.

Oscar heard the "BOO!" and ran backstage in tears and bumped into Kit.

Kit caught Oscar before he fell and hugged him,

"It's okay, Oscar, I think you did great." Kit said gently, leading Oscar over to Jeffery and Chris.

"R-r-really?" Oscar sniffed.

"Of course we do, Oscar." Jeffery declared, hugging Oscar with Kit. "Your glasses were broken and you did the best you could in that circumstance. That guy was just a jerk, don't pay attention to him."

"Yeah, he was mean!" Chris said, looking angry for Oscar's sake and joining Kit and Jeffery in hugging Oscar. "I thought you played really well."

"T-Thanks, Jeffery's Mom gave me a few lessons." Oscar said, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his suit. "W-who are you?"

"I'm Chris," said Chris, shaking hands with Oscar. "Kit's brother."

"You didn't tell me you have a brother." Oscar said to Kit

"Oscar, I didn't know I had a brother until recently." Kit said defensively. "And I haven't even introduced him to Ernie and the Jungle Aces yet, so don't feel bad. You got to meet him before they did."

The thought of meeting the brother of Kit Cloudkicker before any of the members of the Jungle Aces did cheer Oscar up a bit. He smiled up at Chris, while continuing to shake his hand.

"I'm Oscar Vandersnoot, nice to meet you, Chris."

Just then, they heard Mr. Pomeroy's voice onstage.

"That was Oscar Vandersnoot, played very well for someone with broken glasses and I want that guy who booed out of here!"

"Hey-hey, leave it to me, Prince-o-pal." said Baloo's voice

"And me!" said Melissa's voice, sounding angry.

They heard the sounds of punches and then the sound of someone being thrown from the building.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer soon!" shouted Oscar's mother's voice.

Backstage, Jeffery and Oscar bowed their heads and blushed as they clapped a hand to their face and groaning in unison: "Mom…!"

Behind them, Kit did the same and groaned: "Papa Bear…!"

"Why is everyone so embarrassed for?" Chris asked, innocently confused.

"Never mind, Chris." Kit said gently, "I don't think you'd understand."

"Oh, okay." Chris said simply and he didn't pursue the subject.

Just then, a hippo kid came up on stage and demonstrated his talent, which is swallowing twenty whole pies at once.

"Whoa, that kid just beat my record by five pies!" shouted Baloo's voice from the audience. "YOWL!"

Kit heard his Papa Bear's yell and suspected that Rebecca had grabbed Baloo's ear in an iron grip.

Next, a cloud of blue smoke appeared on stage and when the smoke cleared, there stood a white duck kid, who took a bow before a second cloud of smoke engulfed him. And when the smoke faded away, the duck kid was gone.

"That was William Mallard, who just demonstrated his smoky entrance and exit act." said Mr. Pomeroy, applauding along with everybody else.

And then there was a geeky chicken girl with black pigtails and purple diamond-shape glasses, who claimed to be a turtle trainer and that she taught her turtle to jump through the hoop. She held the hoop close to her turtle and ordered it to jump. The turtle did not move, but to just stared at her, looking rather bored.

"Heh-heh," the chicken girl chuckled nervously, uncomfortably aware that the audience was starting to buzz like a thousand crickets. "JUMP THROUGH THE HOOP!" she screamed at her turtle, which remained immovable. "WHY AREN'T YOU JUMPING?!"

"That will do, Miss Little." Mr. Pomeroy said kindly, gently pushing her off the stage with her so-called jumping turtle, and she left, crying uncontrollably.

"Who's that?" Kit asked, feeling sorry for the chicken girl.

"Who, that lame-o turtle trainer?" Ernie asked, pointing a thumb at her. "That's Tootie Little and she's weird. I'd avoid her if I were you."

"Ernie!" Kit exclaimed reprovingly.

"What?" said Ernie defensively. "She is weird, how many people do you know try to train a turtle to jump through hoops?"

"I know, but you didn't have to be mean about it." Kit said, deciding not to introduce Chris and Jeffery to the Jungle Aces, not with the way Ernie was behaving.

Next to come up on stage was a panda girl, who demonstrated her talent by walking around on the stage, balancing five heavy books on her head. She walked until her time was up and not once did the books wiggled on her head or even threatens to fall off. To show the audience that the books weren't glued together, she took the books off her head one by one.

"That was Linda Ping," Mr. Pomeroy said as Linda departed from the stage. "Marvelous wasn't she, folks? And now, may I present…he's a model student, five-time winner of the honor roll and only been given detention once! Give it up for Kit Cloudkicker!"

In the audience, Baloo looked sheepish while Rebecca and Melissa glared daggers at him, clearly saying without speaking: 'that detention was your fault!'

Kit blushed at the introduction his principal made out for him. He gulped before moving forward, Jeffery right behind him, rolling the cart with the Saw-in-Half box on top of it.

"Were you really in detention?" Jeffery whispered as he pushed the cart.

"That was Baloo's fault; and I got in trouble for covering for him." Kit whispered back.

At the center of the stage, Kit stopped and so did Jeffery. He spread his arms wide as if to embrace to the whole audience, his wand held tightly in his right hand.

"I am…." Kit paused for what appeared to be dramatic effect, but it was actually a pause to swallow the lump in his throat, his wand still held high. "KIT, THE MAGICIAN!" he shouted, bringing his wand swishing down through the air to point at the audience, and a shower of ribbons and confetti shot out of it with the sound of a firework, which left the crowd exclaiming in awe. The cheers and applause that followed made Kit feel better and calmed his nerves.

"And his assistance— Star Bear!" Jeffery shouted with a bow to the audience. He wasn't as nervous as Kit, he'd been on stage a thousand times and so he's not the least bit stage shy.

"And for my first trick," Kit said, holding a hand out to Jeffery and Jeffery handed him three rings that were joined together. "I'll separate these rings!" He separated the three rings, to which, the audience applauded. He put the rings back together and gave them to Jeffery, who tucked them away in the bag-o-tricks.

"Kit, there's something up your sleeve." Jeffery said, reaching into Kit's jacket sleeve and withdrew a red scarf. He pulled it out and behind the red scarf was a blue one that was tied to the red. He pulled out the blue and behind the blue were orange, then yellow, then green, purple, red, pink, black and finally white, which was the end of the scarves line.

Kit laughed. "You finally found my handkerchief. Now let me find yours."

Kit raised the wand and pointed it at Jeffery's sleeves. At once, playing cards shot out of both sleeves.

"Oops, wrong spell." Kit said, smiling slyly.

"Oh gee, thanks, Kit…" Jeffery said very sarcastically. "I've always wanted to be a living card trick." He held up his arms so that he was showering the audience with playing cards.

The audience laughed and clapped, while Kit pushed Jeffery's arms down, He then raised the wand again, and the flow of cards stopped abruptly. And then they both bowed to audience.

"And now for my next trick," Kit said, taking off his top hat and setting it on the table while Jeffery pulled a broom out from within his suit and started sweeping the cards off the stage. "I'll pull a rabbit out of my hat."

"Be careful, O great magician." Jeffery said, still sweeping cards off the floor. "Remember the last bunny you pulled out of that hat? It was enormous and it tried to eat me!"

"Aw, it was just trying to give you a hug, Star Bear." Kit said as he plunged an arm down his seemingly bottomless hat.

"It had my head in its mouth and you called that a hug?!"

The audience burst out laughing at Jeffery's words.

Kit groped around inside the hat and then paused, pressing a finger to his lip.

"Shh… this bunny is very sensitive, so please don't scare it off."

As the audience held its breath, Kit gave a great tug and out of the hat, came the head of a bear cub in a rabbit suit—Bunny Rabbit Chris!

"Ta-da!" Chris exclaimed cutely.

"Aww…" cooed the audience

"See Jeffery? He's not going to eat you." Kit said, pulling Chris' torso and arms out of the hat along with his head. "He just wants a hug."

"Well, this bunny is different," Jeffery said, coming out from behind Kit's back. "It was monstrous and hungry, not like this one, this one is cute and cuddly." And he wrapped his arms around the torso of Bunny Chris, and Chris hugged back.

"Aww…" The audience cooed again

Chris jumped and stared wide-eyed at the crowd like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Uh-oh, folks, you scared the bunny." Kit said, and he pushed Chris' head gently back down the hat, trying to protect Chris from becoming more scared.

"Aww…" the audience said, this time in disappointment. They all loved the bunny rabbit Chris.

Upon hearing the "aww" of disappointment, Chris shyly poked his head and arm out of the hat to wave at the crowd in thanks.

"Isn't he cute?" Kit asked, patting Chris on the head, between the rabbit ears. He then pushed Chris back down the hat, took the hat off the table and pushed the table to Jeffery, who wheeled it off backstage, with Chris secretly inside the table. "And now…" he said, pulling a sheet out of his pocket. "I'll make my assistant, Star Bear, disappear before your very eyes."

He threw the sheet over Jeffery, who stood there, looking like a classic sheet ghost.

"Send me to someplace warm, cuz." Jeffery said. "If you send me to Thembria, I will turn you into a rabbit and I will not turn you back into a boy again…."

"Fine, fine, fine," said Kit airily, and he tapped Jeffery's head three times with his wand. "Hocus pocus, twinkle toes, send Star Bear to a desert island!" He shouted, waving his wand and then pointed it at Jeffery.

Everyone started laughing at Kit's choice of magic words, but stopped when the body inside the sheet vanished, causing the sheet to fall to the floor in a heap.

Kit picked up the sheet and held it up. Then he bowed to the audience, which started applauding loudly. Over the cheering and clapping, Kit could've sworn he heard Baloo chuckled: "Twinkle toes…hoo-hoo., oh Kit-boy, you are something else."

Kit smiled as he straightened up. Just then, Jeffery's voice filled the whole room,

"Nice one, cuz…" Jeffery said approvingly. "Though, next time you decide to send me to Louie's, tell me ahead of time. I had to charge my sundae on Uncle Baloo's tab."

In the audience, Baloo groaned and banged his head on the seat in front of him. Rebecca and Melissa glanced at him, half amused, half sympathetic. Molly, who was sitting on Rebecca's lap, pouted and mumbled something about not getting her some ice cream too.

In a cloud of purple smoke, Jeffery reappeared on stage with half a coconut shell in his hand as a bowl for his ice cream. He took one last bite, saying: "Mmm, good!" before he discard his coconut shell bowl in a random direction and took a bow with Kit as the crowd applauded wildly.

"Thank you! Ladies and gentleman." Kit and Jeffery shout in unison.

"And now, for our next trick I'm going to try and have Kit escape this trunk while handcuffed and placed in a magic bag." Jeffery announced smiling broadly. He pointed his wand at Kit and Kit was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke. From within the smoke came the sound of Kit fake coughing. When the smoke faded away, it was to reveal Kit wrapped from neck to ankles in a rainbow color scarf. His hands were pinned to his back by the straightjacket scarf and handcuffs. Jeffery looked at his wand and gave it flick. "I asked for a bag straightjacket, and I get a scarf straightjacket… Heh, heh, heh…Oh well, this works even better."

"Hey!" Kit protested, struggling against his bonds.

"And now…" Jeffery said, twirling his wand a bit. "Into the trunk you go!" and with a wave of his wand, levitated Kit off the floor and made him glide into the trunk. Another wave and the trunk closed shut with a snap. Jeffery then wrapped the trunk with chains and padlock. "Oh!" he exclaimed, clapping himself on the forehead. "I forgot the keys."

"WHAT?!" came Kit's muffled voice from within the trunk.

"Not to worry, cuz, good thing for us, we're magic." Jeffery said.

"Yeah, and good thing for you, I can't turn you into a duck for forgetting the keys!" Kit retorted sarcastically.

Jeffery grasped the front of the trunk and walked, moving the trunk in a circle motion and disappearing behind it. But it did not stop moving, and when the front came back around, it was Kit pushing the trunk instead of Jeffery!

There was a storm of applaud, to which, Kit took a bow. And then, he raised his wand and tapped the trunk. The chains and padlocks fell off the trunk and the lid opened up to reveal Jeffery inside, wrapped in the scarf straightjacket.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Kit said loudly, twirling his wand and levitating Jeffery out of the trunk, still wrapped in scarves. "For my grand finale, I will saw my assistance in half!"

The curtains behind Kit rose up to reveal the saw-in-half box. He walked toward it, levitating Jeffery in front him. He then lowered Jeffery into the box and closed the lid.

"Uh, Kit?" Jeffery said worryingly. "You're supposed to let me out of the scarves first… C'mon, this isn't fair here." He then gulp: Why am I suddenly getting a bad feeling about this?

"Aw, c'mon, Star Bear…" Kit said, positioning the saw on top of the box. "This won't hurt a bit."

"Gee, that's comforting…." Jeffery said sarcastically. "Considering you already forgot your sawdust goggles."

Kit made a small exclamation; he stopped sawing and turned his back on Jeffery, bowing his head slightly as he put on his sawdust goggles.

He repositioned the saw on the box and was just about to start cutting through the box, when a glance at Jeffery made him stop. He stared at Jeffery with wide eyes, because for a moment he thought he saw Chris' face instead of Jeffery's. But no, this was definitely Jeffery. He resumed sawing through the box.

He was just about to have the box and Jeffery half-way sawed, when he stopped again. Jeffery's face morphed into Chris, looking as innocent as a lamb. He shook his head vigorously and Jeffery reappeared. But this time, Kit found it a difficult task to start sawing again, his hand holding the saw shook as he push the saw back and forth through the box.

Every third push of the saw, Kit would pause, thinking he'd seen his brother in his cousin, and therefore making it hard to carry out the trick.

He was beginning to get nervous, and the awareness that he was now sweating like a donkey in August didn't help.

"Kit, cuz…what's wrong?" he heard Chris whisper in Jeffery's voice, and a moment later, Chris morphed back into Jeffery again. "It's just a trick…"

"Yeah…" Kit mumbled and he started sawing and then stopped. "I—I can't do it, Jeff…" he said, tears were starting to leak from his eyes.

In the audience, Baloo looked concerned for his navigator.

"What's wrong with Kit?" he asked the two she-bears sitting by him. "Why'd he keep stopping?"

"Because he doesn't really want to go through with the trick." Melissa said. "It all looks too real for him. He really cares for my Jeffery and he doesn't want to hurt him. He knows in his heart that it's fake but his mind is playing tricks on him,"

"Yeah, well, he'd better think o' something fast," Baloo said, looking up at the clock. "Because he's only got one minute left to do the trick before the time runs out."

Rebecca glared sideways at Baloo. Does he have to remind them of THAT?

"Baloo dear, Kit needs time to think. I'm sure they can work it out." Melissa said holding her hands in prayer while thinking: Oh, Baloo, ye of little faith, you'll soon see what Kit can do.

Back on stage, Jeffery was watching Kit's tears sympathetically.

"Kit, just do the trick." Jeffery said to Kit. "I'll be alright, I promise…Just do the trick, and don't cry, cuz, please."

"Are you sure?" Kit sniffed, wiping his tears away on his sleeve.

"Yes, I'm sure. You're the best, cuz." Jeffery said with an encouraging smile. "Just do it, Kit, you don't have much time left."

But Kit stood there; a wall of doubt was threatening to overpower him.

"You can do it, big brother!" yelled Chris' voice from behind them. Kit snapped out of his trance and turned his head to look at the back curtain to see Chris' head poking out between the openings of the back curtain. "I believe in you, Kit!" he said, giving Kit the thumbs up

Kit smiled warmly. "Thanks, Lil brother," he said gratefully, as the wall of doubt shattered and fell.

With his courage restored, he begins sawing away until he had sawed through the box. Then he took two mirror boards and slid them, one after the other, into the gap he made in the box. Then, he split Jeffery and his lower body apart.

The audience went wild with cheers and clapping. Kit smiled and bowed. He then put the box and Jeffery back together and removed the mirror boards.

Jeffery kicked the lid of the box open and he stood up with his feet still in the box.
"Ta-da!" he said, raising his arms above his head, showing that he somehow escaped the scarves while he was being sawed in half.

Kit took Jeffery by the hand and helped him down from the box. Still holding hands, Kit and Jeffery bowed together.

As the cheers and applause started to fade away, Kit and Jeffery retreated backstage, where they were greeted by Chris dashing toward them and throwing himself at them, hugging them very tightly.

"You two were great!" Chris shouted happily as Kit and Jeffery hugged him between them. "That was amazing, you guys! I didn't even know how you did most of it. How did you get out of those scarves when you were being sawed in half, Jeffery?"

Jeffery just winked mysteriously as Mr. Pomeroy got up on stage and addressed the audience through the microphone.

"There you have it, folks. As you saw, we have some remarkably talented students here at Cape Suzette Middle School." His words were greeted by applause from the audience. "And now, I'll call out the winners." He cleared his throat and held up a bronze medal hanging on a blue ribbon. "In third place, for his amazing musical talents—being able to play the piano despite having his glasses broken—Oscar Vandersnoot!"

Oscar looked very surprised and startled. "M-m-me? But I didn't play that well."

Chris and Jeffery clapped and cheered for Oscar while Kit gently pushed Oscar on stage to accept his medal, as his legs didn't seem to want to move.

He walked shyly over to Mr. Pomeroy, who placed the medal around Oscar's neck and then took Oscar's broken glasses off and put a new pair on. (The school always kept a spare pair for Oscar.)

"Vandersnoot, I'd like for you to give us an encore." Mr. Pomeroy said kindly, gesturing to the piano.

"Um… O-okay." Oscar said nervously, he walked over to the piano and this time, he played Heart and Soul perfectly and by the end of the song, the cheers and applause were louder than the first time he played.

"Bravo, Vandersnoot! This goes to show that you really deserved third place." Mr. Pomeroy said with a kind smile and a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "Your mother must be very proud."

Oscar looked out at the audience and saw his mother sitting next to Melissa Cunningham. She was crying happily, wiping away happy tears with a handkerchief. He smiled with pride as he thanked the audience with a bow and went backstage again.

"Congratulations, Oscar!" cried Kit, Jeffery and Chris in unison, all three of them engulfed Oscar in a three-way hug.

"You were really good on the piano." Chris said to the smaller bear cub. "I'm really glad you won."

"T-t-thanks guys," Oscar stammered, not out of nervousness, but out of overwhelming gratefulness.

And from that moment on, Oscar Vandersnoot took all three of the Cloudkicker Trio as his very best friends.

"Second place goes to Linda Ping, for her amazing balance," Mr. Pomeroy said to the audience, holding up a silver medal. "Very few people can balance a set of books on their heads for ten minutes, very well done, Miss Ping, brava!"

She bowed proudly and Mr. Pomeroy placed the medal around her neck. She took a few more short bows and then went backstage.

"And now," Mr. Pomeroy said, holding up the gold medal, and an unnatural hush fell over the crowd as they awaited for the first place winner to be announced. "For the most amazing display of magic this school has ever seen in fifteen years, it is my pleasure to present this first place medal to…Kit Cloudkicker!"

Kit stood there in awe, only partly aware of Jeffery jumping up and down like a manic while clapping him on the back, and Chris hugging him tightly in celebration. He laughed as he started to move forward, Chris letting go of him and Jeffery giving him one last clap on the back.

Mr. Pomeroy stood waiting for him as he made his way toward him. Kit took a bow and Mr. Pomeroy started place the gold medal around his neck, but he held up a hand.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept that." Kit said solemnly.

"What are you talking about, Cloudkicker?" Mr. Pomeroy growled, frowning at Kit. "You've earned this."

"No, I didn't earn that by myself," Kit said. "I had help from my cousin Jeffery and my brother, Chris, without them, there's no way I could've done all of this… Can't you make that out to the three of us? We worked together as a team, and as a team, we'll accept that medal together."

Mr. Pomeroy's expression softened as the crowd cooed and he nodded.

Kit turned around and beckoned Jeffery and Chris forward. "C'mon guys!"

Chris looked momentarily frightened at the idea of going back onstage again, until Jeffery grasped his hand reassuringly. Chris looked at Jeffery and Jeffery gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. Feeling slightly braver, Chris walked forward with Jeffery holding his hand the whole way.

When they reached Kit, Kit took hold of Chris' other hand, and as he did so, Chris felt so much better about standing on the stage.

Still holding hands, the Cloudkicker Trio bowed to the audience as Mr. Pomeroy presented them with the medal.

Jeffery and Kit each took hold of the ribbon. Between them, Chris let go of their hands to cup the medal in his hands with a mixture of awe and pride on his face. They stood there, holding the medal together, while in the audience, Melissa was on her feet, taking picture after picture with her crazy flashing camera. Baloo and Rebecca sat by her, both wearing sunglasses while the rest of the crowd ran for cover, shielding their eyes.

"That camera of hers should be illegal…" Jeffery muttered quietly, clapping a hand to his forehead in embarrassment.

Chris, meanwhile, turned his back on the audience when the first flash went out. He seemed to have developed a phobia for camera flashes.

Baloo, noticing Chris' back to the audience, snatched the camera out of Melissa's hands and shoved it deep inside Rebecca's purse.

"Baloo…!" protested Melissa, looking outraged.

"Look at Chris." Baloo snarled, pointing. "He turned his back on you because he's scared the camera flashes will hurt his eyes again."

"He's right, Melissa, look." Rebecca said, also pointing toward the stage.

"Oh dear me," Melissa gasped with a hand over her mouth. "Oh, poor Chris, I grabbed the wrong camera. Ah, fiddlesticks!" she pouted, sitting back down with her arms crossed..

"Daddy Bear, we won! We won!" shouted Chris joyfully, running down the aisle toward them and jumping into Baloo's arms. He was wearing the medal around his neck, as Kit and Jeffery had put it on him, deciding that he should wear it for a while.

"Hey-hey, good for you, kiddo." Baloo said, hugging Chris and then giving him a playful nuggie.

"Heh-heh, Daddy Bear…cut it out." Chris said, giggling. He wiggled free of Baloo and hugged Rebecca, Melissa and Molly in turn.

Kit came walking down the aisle too and gave his Papa Bear a hug just like Chris did, smiling as he did so.

"We won, Papa Bear," he said with pride in his voice.

"Yeah, kiddo, I'm proud of ya." Baloo said, hugging his young navigator. "But how did ya escape the trunk?"

Kit grinned slyly. "Sorry Papa Bear, but it's against the Magician Code to reveal the secret to a trick."

Jeffery put their things away and packed them up, and then he came bounding down the aisle in high spirit, jumping straight into Melissa's arms.

"We won! We won, Mommy! Ya-hoo!" Jeffery shouted joyfully with his arms in the air and then he swung them around Melissa's neck.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, baby!" Melissa cried, happy tears in her eyes as she hugged her son.

"Mom…" Jeffery said, going red in the face. "X-nay on the aby-say."

"Oh, Orry-say." Melissa muttered, looking a little discomfort that Jeffery would be embarrassed by her nicknames for him in public places.

"When can we go trick or treating?" Chris asked Baloo eagerly, bouncing on Baloo's knee in excitement.

"Whoa, easy there, Lil Buddy." Baloo said, holding Chris still in mid-bounce. "We gotta get a bite to eat first, and then we'll go."

"Aww, but I wanna go now." Chris said in disappointment, crossing his arms and pouting.

Baloo just chuckled as he cuddled his Lil Buddy.

"Aw, don't give me that look, kiddo," he said, ruffling Chris' hair. "We'll go after we've had something to eat, okay?"

Chris sighed. "Okay, Daddy Bear," and he hugged Baloo around the neck.

"That's a good boy." Baloo chuckled approvingly.

"Well, we're going to go change clothes." Jeffery said, and he and Kit went backstage toward the dressing room.

Half an hour later found the Higher for Hire crew and family at Melissa' boarding house; all seated at the table.

"I hope everyone is hungry." Melissa said, coming into the dinning room from the kitchen, holding a big rectangle-shape pan, bearing at least three dozen pigs-in-a-blankets (hotdog weenies wrapped in biscuits), her hands protected from the heat of the pan by a pair of cooking mittens. "I've made some for everybody. Jeffery dear, would you say grace?" she asked as she set the pan down on the table.

Baloo reached for a pigs-in-a-blanket, but Rebecca and Melissa both smack his hand at the same time.

"Ow!" said Baloo, rubbing his hand and looking reproachful at the two women.

"Not until Jeffery says grace, buster!" Rebecca said, glaring at him

"Alright, alright, keep your hair on, lady." Baloo said with a reproachful frown. He then turned, grinning to Jeffery. "Jeffers, hurry up and say grace before we all starve."

"Okay, 'grace!' Let's eat." Jeffery said humorously.

Everybody at the table started laughing, except for Melissa, of course.

"Jeffery, you nut!" shouted Kit, playfully giving Jeffery a nuggie.

"Jeffery…." Melissa said sternly, with her hands on her hips, though she couldn't help grinning with her eyes twinkling. "Say it the right way, or no deserts."

"Okay, Mommy… but please don't take away my desert." Jeffery begged with the cutest pout. He then folded his hands and bowed his head, everyone at the table then imitated him. "Dear Lord, thank You for watching over us and for giving us this meal we're about to retrieve. Bless our family and keep us safe from evil. Amen."

"Amen," echoed everyone around the table, and then Baloo quickly grabbed five pigs-in-a-blankets at once, earning disapproving glares from Rebecca and Melissa.

"Is this any way to set an example for the kids?" Melissa asked, a vein in her forehead started to throb.

"Mm?" Baloo asked through a mouthful of food, much to Melissa's disgust.

Rebecca grabbed Baloo by the ear.

"OW!" Baloo cried.

"Excuse us, sister." Rebecca said politely, and then she went into the living room, pulling Baloo along by the ear.

Everyone in the kitchen listened closely as Rebecca started hissing at Baloo like an angry goose, saying things like: '…if you want meals in this house, you'll learn some manners!' and '…your behavior at the table was disgusting!" and finally: "Now go apologize to my sister!"

"Is Mama mad at Daddy Bear?" Chris asked with innocent curiosity and worry.

Everyone in the dinning room stared at him, surprised at what he called Rebecca.

"What?" Chris asked, getting a little nervous at all the stares he was getting.

"What did you called Miss Cunningham?" Kit asked, still staring blankly at Chris.

"Mama… is that okay?" Chris asked uncertainly, starting to fear that he might have committed some unknown crime. "I-I mean, she IS our legal Mama, isn't she?"

Kit hugged Chris consolingly. "Yes, Chris, she is. I'm sorry we scared you, we were just surprised, that's all."

"It's alright, big brother." Chris said, hugging Kit in return.

Rebecca came marching back into the dinning room, followed by Baloo, who was massaging his poor ear. They both retook their seats and Baloo glanced at Melissa, still rubbing his ear.

"Sorry, Aggie," he mumbled.

"Apology accepted." Melissa said with a smile.

When everybody had eaten as many pigs-in-a-blankets as they could, Baloo and the kids started putting on their costumes.

Baloo was wearing his hotdog costume from the Friendship Festival. Kit was just wearing his regular green sweater but added a pilot scarf and goggles. Chris just put his bunny rabbit costume back on (he took it off before dinner). Molly was dressed as a princess and Jeffery was dressed as a wizard, also known as Star Bear.

"Stand together; I want a picture of this." Melissa said excitedly, taking aim with her camera.

"Aw, Mom…" Jeffery groaned, holding a pumpkin-shape candy bucket.

"Come on, dears, get together," she urged them.

Baloo picked Chris up, who was trying to hide behind Kit, and held him in his arms.

"Aggie, is the flash turned off?" Baloo asked, setting Chris on his hip. "We don't wanna hurt Chris' eyes again."

Melissa checked her camera and made sure the cursed flash was turned off before taking the picture.

The moment Melissa took the picture, Jeffery yanked open the door and dash outside onto the front steps before Melissa could take another one.

"Jeffery…." Melissa groaned despairingly. "Must you spoil my fun?"

Baloo, Molly and the Cloudkicker twins laughed at the look on Melissa's face before following after Jeffery.

"Boys..." Melissa muttered under her breath while rolling her eyes.

Rebecca smiled as she placed a hand on Melissa's shoulder. "Yeah, I know what you mean, sister. But we love 'em anyway."

"Yeah," Melissa said, smiling as she closed the door behind the 'boys' and the princess. "Want a game of checkers? I may even beat you this time."

"Oh," Rebecca chuckled. "Dream on, sister."

Meanwhile, Baloo and the kids made it to the first house. They knocked on the door and waited. The door opened and they all said, while holding out their candy buckets to the smiling goose wearing a witch's hat:

"Trick or treat!"


End of TaleSpin: The Cloudkicker Trio, Story One, but look for more of the Cloudkicker Trio as the adventure continues in Story Two: An Angelic Christmas.

And now for a little Q&A to better understand our stories.

Q: Why are Kit, Chris and Jeffery are replacing Baloo as the main character?

A: No one can replace Baloo and we're not replacing him, we're just focusing less on him and more on Kit. Besides, Kit was SUPPOSE to be the star of the original TaleSpin series. We believe that due to the faults and evils of Michael Eisner, Kit was reduced to a supporting character and he was even left out in fourteen episodes. We intend to make up for Kit Cloudkicker's lost screen time through these stories,

Q: What inspired Chris, Jeffery and Melissa?

A: Chris was created by KitCloudkicker52885, and from the inspiration of what he viewed as a perfect angel of a child who had a difficult life beforehand, but even perfect angelic children are not perfect. Chris had a difficult childhood which caused a lot of phobias to develop, and yet, due to the lack of association with the outside world and was neglected in education, Chris remained as simple-minded and pure as he was when he was a small child, which makes him mentally the youngest of the trio.

Jeffery was created by Kit_Lee and was inspired by his desire to be an honorary member of the Higher for Hire crew. Jeffery's personality is based on Kit_Lee's, who is a child at heart. Jeffery is very kind, despite the occasional pranks. He loves his family (Kit and Chris included) and would go as far as to face his fears or risk his life to save them from mortal danger. Jeffery is basically a character who has all that Kit_Lee wants in life: a decent home, a decent family and to be around people he loves and have them love him back, and of course, to have Kit as a family relative. Growing up in the association of his mother's friends and fellow nurses and doctors, away from peer pressure and influence of the rest of the world and always being cuddled by his mother has made his mentality a couple of years below his actual age. He is a little more childish than he is matured, which makes him the middle child of the trio, making Kit the oldest.

Melissa was created by Kit_Lee, but was further developed by both authors during the character development and writing of this story. Melissa was created to be Rebecca's sister, to make Jeffery an actual family relation to Rebecca and Molly, as well as Kit and Chris through Rebecca co-adopting them. Her personality is based on actress Debbie Rynolds as Aggie Cromwell from Halloween Town

Q: What was the reason for sawing Kit in half to begin with and what made you think of it?

A: It's a classic illusion and one we both like, which happens to have been very popular among magicians of the 30's and it's a classic Disney joke.

Q: Why the overuses of the trick throughout the story and at the talent show?

A: When it comes to magic in a cartoon, there's no such thing as an overuse. Besides, while Kit was just a beginner, the cartoon logic still applies to him (how else could he pull Chris as a bunny out of his hat?) and we wanted Kit to shine in front of the whole school

That's all for the Q&A, if you have any questions, ask them in your reviews, and if it's appropriate for us to answer, we will, otherwise your questions will be ignored and removed.