Well, it's been a couple months since the series finale. I wasn't ready for it. Quick note, I felt the plot twist (if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it) undermined the idea that family extends beyond blood. Thoughts?

Gladstone walked down the streets of Macau, the green-clad duck looking for something new to do for his weekend. He happened upon a vagabond, holding three playing cards.

"Care to play Three-Card Monty?" he asked. Gladstone knew of the game, famously known as a scam. Still, he sat down in front of the homeless toad and put a small bill on the table, ready to play. He barely paid attention to the cards, picking one at random once the toad was done. He was right on the money, making the dealer laugh. "Lucky guess, mister.…"

"Gander. Gladstone Gander," he answered, leaving his winnings on the table, ready to play again. The toad swapped around the cards again, noting the bird in front of him wasn't even trying to keep track of the right card. He picked a card, once again correct, and was ready to double again. "And you are?"

"Liu Hai. Toad Liu Hai," he answered, shuffling the cards again. "I'm looking to open up a casino in the area." Gladstone picked the right card again, taking even more money from the vagabond.

"You won't have much luck in that department if you keep losing money to me," Gladstone commented.

"Oh no, I don't need too much money," Toad responded, setting up the game again. "Although, I do need luck. And lots of it." Seeing the confused look on Gladstone's face, he clarified a bit. "You see, I'm somewhat of a wizard. I can create an entire building out of nothing. However, I need to feed off others' natural good luck before I can use it. It's kind of a fuel source for this type of magic." Gladstone snicked, picking the correct card again.

"I guess you just struck gold, then, since I'm here. I'm the luckiest duck on Earth."

"Ooh, I can feel it each time you pick a card. I can even feel it when you speak. In fact, you might be the only person to give off hints of luck, just by blinking." Gladstone blinked at this, before realizing it.

"Toad, I'll let you feed off my luck, but I'm going to tell you now: I don't swing that way." Toad looked taken aback.

"If I was giving that idea, I didn't mean it." Gladstone laughed at his own misunderstanding, still picking cards each round. He's already multiplied his one bill by hundreds, giving Liu Hai some extra luck with each win.

"I'll stick around here for a while longer if you let me stay the weekend at your casino, no charge." Toad grinned.

"Deal."

Louie walks behind his uncles, looking around the casino while they discussed what to do next. He looked over at a nearby poker table, one of the seats empty. He quietly slipped away, pulling some of the poker chips still in his jacket out, and placed them at the table.

"Are you eighteen, kid?" the dealer asked. Louie was hesitant to answer.

"I've been both eight and ten," he answered. The dealer shrugged and dealt two cards. Louie had two aces but wanted to maximize his win before his uncle realized where he was, so only met the highest bet, not raising until the end, going all in. The dealer put out the other two aces, a king of hearts, and the ten and nine. Once it was time to present his cards, he flipped the cards and declared loudly, "Four of a kind, suckers!" The dealer was about to push all the chips toward him, until the next player put down his cards: the queen and jack of hearts, making a royal flush, and Louie lost all his money in one hand.

"That's what you get for gambling," said a voice behind him, making him jump. He turned around and saw his uncle staring down at him. Without saying another word, the bigger duck picked up Louie and dragged him away from the poker table.

A lone Tibetan Rosefinch walked in the shadows of a local building, trying to move through the city without being seen toward the bay, hoping her old contact had received her message. She ducked into an alley, hiding behind some trash bags. Listening carefully, she heard a set of footsteps coming into the alleyway. The only thing she could find was an old glass jar. She readied herself for the inevitable fight, waiting for the precise moment to strike. The footsteps came to a stop, a mere five feet from her. She screamed a battle cry, lifting the jar above her head and brought it down onto the intruder's head. She stopped before it hit, however, finally having a chance to see his face.

"Launchpad!" she shouted, dropping the jar, and throwing her arms around the taller bird.

"Ziyi!" he greeted back. "Nǐ jìnlái zěnyàng? (How have you been?)"

"Gèng hǎo, xiànzài nín zài zhèlǐ. (Better, now that you're here.)" Ziyi responded automatically in the same language. Seeing Launchpad's confused face, she rolled her eyes. "Launchpad, you know I speak English. You don't have to talk in Chinese."

"Alright! Now what's going on?"

"The local mafia kidnapped a panda cub named Shiki from the local wildlife preserve that I was left in charge of." Ziyi summarized. "The ransom's too high for me to pay and if I go to the police, they might hurt the cub."

"Standard bad guy plans." Launchpad commented.

"We need to infiltrate their hideout and get the cub back safe and sound without alerting the mafia."

"What's the plan?"

"Their hideout is just down the pier. They don't have any security systems, just a huge amount of goons." She looked through a pair of binoculars she'd brought with her, seeing two men standing at the door, ready for anything. "If I knew what we'd be facing, I might be able to make a plan to get us in."

"Why not just go through the roof? There aren't any guards there." He pointed upward and Ziyi followed the finger to realize that his statement was fully accurate.

"And once we're up top, we can get a better view of what's happening inside! Brilliant, Launchpad!" They climbed up a nearby wooden ladder, pulling the ladder along with them. Once they were across the current roof, they laid the ladder down, using it as a makeshift bridge to the next roof, and walked across quietly. Once they were across, they pulled the ladder back across to keep it out of view.

"Good work, Launchpad." Ziyi complimented, looking through the glass roof to see what they were up against. There were at least twenty guards inside, all armed with bows and arrows, assumably to keep the police from hearing any trouble that went on inside. There seemed to be giant panda plushies everywhere, perfect for hiding a baby panda within the warehouse, and a few speedboats sitting on the water in case a quick getaway is needed. "This is just like that time in Uruguay, remember?" Launchpad stroked his chin, reminiscing.

"Really? But I don't see any licorice barrels or popcorn rockets." Launchpad said, confused, making Ziyi giggle.

"Okay, maybe not just like Uruguay." She looked around some more, before her eyes widened. "Ooh, there's Shiki!" She opened the window and jumped down to a catwalk. "Follow my lead, Launchy."

He jumped down as well, keeping quiet as he followed the smaller girl through the warehouse. She stood above the place where Shiki was held, a cage with a simple sliding lock on it. She jumped into an open crate of plushies, the stuffed animals both breaking her fall and muffling her landing. She moved out of the way, Launchpad jumping down after her. While he crawled out of the box in the other direction, Ziyi got to work opening the cage, calmly coaxing the panda cub out.

"Hey, check this out!" Launchpad said, coming back in full body armor. "There was an entire crate over…" Ziyi clamped his beak shut, trying to stop him from talking but it was too late.

"Who's there?!" one of the guards yelled from around the corner. Launchpad and Ziyi ran the other way, trying to hide out of sight. After a few seconds, they heard the guard shout again. "The panda's gone!" General discord erupted among the soldiers as Ziyi and Launchpad hid.

"What are we going to do?!" she lamented. "They're going to catch us any minute!" Launchpad saw her distress and had a momentary moment of brilliance. He grabbed a fake panda and a small basket and put them on his back.

"No," he said, getting her attention. He took the hat off Shiki's head, placing it on the plushie. "They'll catch one of us." Catching on to his plan, Ziyi let out a quiet gasp.

"Launchpad, are you sure?" she asked, trying to offer him a way out.

"Yeah, I saw it in an episode of Darkwing Duck once," Ziyi smiled, knowing once he thought of something thanks to that show, he couldn't be talked out of it. He looked toward the escape boats and pointed toward each of them. "I'll get in that boat and you get in the other one."

"Okay, Launchpad. Just be careful," she grabbed a small object in hand and threw it across the warehouse, trying to get the guards' attention. All except one investigated, the last one guarding the boats. Launchpad bolted and punched him in the face, knocking him out immediately. Ziyi guided Shiki into her boat while Launchpad got in the other one. Conveniently, there was a tarp in Ziyi's so she used it to cover up Shiki.

"They're escaping!" shouted the guard Launchpad punched, barely coming to. Ziyi acted fast, starting her engine, along with Launchpad in his own.

"Get the panda out of here!" she shouted, trying to throw off the guards, who began shooting their arrows. Ziyi took cover, but Launchpad had been hit multiple times. Luckily, his borrowed armor was thick enough that the arrows barely fazed him. He drove away, in the opposite direction from Ziyi. Sadly, the mafia, who had decided they weren't going to gain anything if the panda got away, began shooting fire arrows at Launchpad, one of them hitting his gas tank and causing his boat to explode. "Launchpad!" she shouted, worried for her friend. She couldn't turn back. Turning back would put Shiki in too much danger. The mafia had already turned their fire toward her, just as she made it out of range. Her friend was gone. And she wouldn't let his death be in vain.

Unbeknownst to her, though, Launchpad's armor wasn't heavy enough to make him sink, but it was enough to keep him underwater as he swam away from the wreckage of the boat explosion he had miraculously survived. He surfaced once he was certain the attention was off him and looked toward the Sun Chaser, docked not too far from where he was. Only able to hope he had helped his friend, he began swimming toward the plane.

I'm late on this project, I know. I kind of ran into a roadblock with writing in general. Even though I have so many ideas, I can't bring myself to sit down and type. Anyway, I made the part with Ziyi first, before the idea could leave my head. The other parts aren't my best work, but they'll suffice to fill in a gap and just to exist. I have a single idea for The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks, so if anyone has an idea to pitch, I'm open for suggestions. Please review. I like reading reviews.