Disclaimer: I do not own TaleSpin


Episode Three

The Calm Before the Storm


The Sea Duck was en route for Cape Suzette, having finished its' cargo delivery at New Fedora, and in the cockpit, Baloo was piloting the plane while Chris was sewing the yellow patch back onto the sleeve of Kit's sweatshirt.

Baloo kept glancing at Chris, twice he opened his mouth to say something, but seems to lose his nerves. After all, how do you start questioning a child who could actually fly on a round board and take out the entire squadron of Air Pirates single handedly with nothing but a glowstick? And it was unnerving to think that this blue-eyes innocent-looking bear cub was even capable of doing that!

"And that's done!" said Chris happily as he cut the thread with his teeth, having finished sewing the patch back onto the sleeve. Finally, he noticed Baloo's attempts to talk to him, and he also noticed that Baloo seems extremely nervous and kept getting tongue-tied. "What is it, Baloo?" Chris asked, sounding half curious, half concerned.

"Oh…uh, nothing!" Baloo said, hastily looking away.

Chris observed Baloo for a minute, looking a little sad that Baloo seems to fear him.

"Look, Baloo, what you saw back there—"

"I-I didn't see anything! I-I saw nothing!" Baloo said shakily, he gulped and tightly shut his eyes, as though he expected to explode or something.

"Baloo, it's okay!" Chris said soothingly, reaching over and patting Baloo's arm. "I'm not going to hurt you, you're my brother's best friend, how could I even think of hurting you. You seem like a real fun guy!"

"R-really?" Baloo asked, relaxing a little

"Really," Chris said with smile. "Now, I know you saw what I did and I have a feeling you have a million questions for me, right?"

"Well… yeah," Baloo admitted.

"Then go ahead and ask me, but there are things I can't tell you, so there will be some things I can't answer, okay?"

"Okay."

"So, what's the first thing you wanna ask me?" Chris asked.

Baloo thought for a moment before asking: "What was that fancy nightlight you used on the Pirates' planes?"

"Nightlight? You mean this?" Chris asked, withdrawing what looks like flashlight from under his sweatshirt. He pressed the button with his thumb and the glowing blue laser blade rose up out of it, emitting a humming sound. "This is called the D-blade. Gotta be REAL careful with this, it can cut through anything except its' owner and other D-blades. See?" he touched the blade with his finger, and nothing happened to his finger from touching the laser blade. "If anyone but me tried that, they'd lose a finger. My own D-blade can't be used against me, see?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Baloo said nervously, he gulped. "Put that thing away! Are you even allowed to carry that thing? Does yer Dad know you have it?"

"Of course he does, he has one too. You have to be part of a certain group to be allowed to carry one and the D-blade chooses you, not the other way around." Chris said, turning the D-blade off and putting it away. "Next question, please."

"How did ya make Kit fly towards you like a metal on magnet?" Baloo asked.

Chris thought for a moment, then said: "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but since you already saw me do it, I guess I could tell you." he paused, thinking before continuing. "It was the Heart that enabled me to do that. "

"The Heart? What's the Heart?" Baloo asked. "You mean this?" he placed a hand over his heart.

"No," Chris shook his head. "The Heart is the energy core of all living things in the universe, it empowers us according to our special gifts and talents. Those who are taught the way of the Heart can do amazing things. Take me for example, I can make anything under my feet fly, not just my airfoil."

"Really?" Baloo said incredulously.

"Uh-huh," Chris said, nodding. "One time, Dad lost both engines and I stood on the floor of the cockpit and flew the plane, just like I did with my airfoil."

"So the Heart also drew Kit to you?"

Again, Chris nodded. "All of those who are taught to use the Heart have one power in common; telekinesis."

"Telekinesis? What's that?"

For an answer, Chris pointed a finger at Baloo's pilot cap and it lifted up off his head and flew around the cockpit before landing on Chris' head.

"That is telekinesis." Chris said, making Baloo's pilot cap fly back onto its' owner's head.

"Can I do that too?" Baloo asked, pointing to himself..

"Sure! Anyone can do it if they know how." Chris said. "You just need to know how to tap into the Heart and harness it. But as the Heart is also the source of all living things, it must also be respected."

"And uh, how do you do it?"

"Sorry Baloo, I can't say. I'm just a student," Chris said. "I'm forbidden to reveal the secret workings of the Heart by my Master. You'll need a Master to teach you that."

"Just a student? And you took out the Air Pirates by yerself?" Baloo said in surprise. "Oh baby! If that's the power of a student, then the real….whatever they are, must be something else!"

"Dedis, we're called Dedis." Chris said.

"De-die?" Baloo said, stretching his head.

"No, no, no," Chris chuckled. "Not De-die, it's pronounced 'Ded-i'."

"So what does a D-guy do?" Baloo asked.

"Ded-i," Chris corrected him again. "As in 'dedication', without the 'cation'. Basically, we're a special forces that protects and defend the world from devastation. That is really all I can say, I think I've said too much as it is, if you wanna know anything more, you'll have to ask my Dad."

"But why do I need to ask yer Dad when you're doing a bang-up job at explaining it to me now?"

Chris groaned with his hand over his face, sliding down in his seat. "I knew I was talking a bit too much…."

"Now don't you worry, Chris-boy, you can trust ol' Baloo," Baloo said, smiling at Chris. "I won't tell a soul."

Chris smiled back. "Thanks, Baloo."

At that moment, the door to the cargo hold opened and in came Kit, groaning and holding his head in one hand and keeping his balance with the other, holding onto the doorframe. He swayed a little as he walked into the cockpit and stood between Baloo and Chris' seat.

"Hey, there Lil Britches, you okay?" Baloo asked with concern, picking Kit up and setting him on his lap.

"Ohh, my head... What hit me?" Kit moaned, massaging his head and he felt the bandages. "What happened?

"Sorry, Lil Britches," Baloo said sympathetically, hugging Kit. "The Air Pirates got on our tail and I had ta shake 'em off. You were thrown around in the cargo hold and must've hit yer head, and then you…"

Chris was frantically waving his hands at Baloo from behind Kit's back, shaking his head and then putting a finger to his lip.

Baloo backtracked at once. "And then, I shook them off and we got away. After that, we found you on the floor and we doctored you up."

"That would explain this splitting headache I'm having… Got any aspiring, Papa Bear?" Kit asked in a slightly whiny voice, which shows how much the headache was bothering him, because Kit was not usually whiny.

Baloo gave a sad little smile. "Sorry, Kit, but I had ta stop carrying those with me when Wildcat kept mistaking them for mints…."


Flashback:

Baloo was piloting plane while Wildcat sat in the passenger seat, navigating, though not doing a good job at it.

"Oh look! Candy!" cried Wildcat happily, picking up the bottle of aspirin tablets, unscrewing the lid and preparing to dump himself a mouthful of tablets.

"Wildcat!" Baloo yelled, snatching the bottle away from him. "What're you doing?!"

"Oh, you wanted those mints too, Baloo?" Wildcat asked, looking like a small boy who'd just had a treat taken from him.

"These aren't mints, Wildcat! They're aspiring tablets!" Baloo said exasperatedly.

"Oh, no thanks, I don't have a headache." Wildcat said and Baloo buried his face in his hand, shaking his head.

End of Flashback.


"That sounds like Wildcat alright…" Kit said, unamused. "Ohh, my head…"

Baloo cuddled Kit in his arm while Kit lay his head on Baloo's chest.

"Aw, don't you worry, Lil' Britches, we'll be home in a little while…" Baloo said, and then unable to help himself, he kisses Kit on top of the head. And this time, it was not missed by Chris, who was looking up at Baloo with a mixture of surprise and devastation. "Uh, Chris? What's wrong?"

Chris found that he could not speak as his eyes filled with tears. He jumped out of his seat and dashed into the cargo hold, slamming the door behind him.

"Chris!" Baloo yeled after him. "Oh, now what's the matter with him?" He sighed as he got up, setting Kit down in his seat. "Here, take the stick, Lil' Britches, while I go find out what's eating Chris."

Baloo opened the cargo hold door gently, and peered inside. Chris was sitting on the bed, his face buried in his knees. This gave Baloo a sense of deja-vu, being reminded of Kit doing the exact same thing when he had asked Kit about how he knew so much about Air Pirates while en route for Pirate Island to rescue Rebecca and Molly.

Chris looked up as Baloo approached. "Aren't you supposed to be flying?" he asked, putting his face back down in his knees.

The feeling of deja-vu intensified as Baloo stood over Chris. "Relax, Kit's playing autopilot." he sat down on the bed next to Chris. "Now, do you wanna tell me what's eatin' ya?"

"Did my Dad tell you how we're related to Kit?" Chris asked.

Baloo shook his head, "It never came up, although I did hear you shout 'I will not lose my brother!' back there when the Pirates were attacking us." he chuckled. "Imagine my surprise, I was like 'Brother?' Once I put two and two together, it was pretty obvious you're his family. You and Kit look so alike, except for the fur color and the blue eyes. You're his twin, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So what's the problem, Lil Buddy?" Baloo asked.

"...Lil Buddy?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow, as he was the kind of boy who didn't usually take kindly to being referred to as 'little' anything. But as there were affection in Baloo's voice, Chris did not object.

"Yeah, I call Kit 'Lil Britches', so I thought I'd give you a special nickname too."

Chris cracked a smile. "Forgive me if I don't call you Papa Bear. I think I'll stick with Baloo."

"That's fine. Now, do you wanna tell me why you're so down in the blues?" Baloo asked,

"It's just that…. You two obviously mean so much to each other," Chris said, his voice shook with emotion. "And Kit had you filling the void that Dad couldn't fill for him! We've been looking for him for eleven years! And now that we've found him, we're torn between wanting to take him back to live with us and….and…." he let out a sob and buried his face in Baloo's chest.

"And letting him stay with me…." Baloo finished the sentence for him, patting the back of Chris' head. "Oh, Lil Buddy, that one's hard ta swallow. But if he wants to go with you two, I won't stop him. Though I'll miss him terribly."

"I'm the same way, I want to take him back to live with us, but not if it means tearing him away from his beloved Papa Bear."

"Yeah… I can see how that would eat away at yer heart, Chris." Baloo said, hugging Chris in a comforting way. "But whether Kit stays or goes, as long as he's happy, I'll… accept his decision." Baloo finished reluctantly.

"Yeah..." Chris said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I guess I'll have to do the same… Thanks, Baloo." he then hugged Baloo.

In that conversation, it was confirmed for Baloo that Matthew was Kit's father and Chris was Kit's brother. He had suspected it, but now he knew for sure.

A few hours later, at Higher for Hire, Rebecca was at her desk, signing papers and answering the phone from numerous calls from customers confirming that their shipments had arrived.

She heard the Sea Duck pull into the docks and then she heard Wildcat exclaimed: "Wow, is that a the Sea Duck? It looks like a new plane!"

"New plane? What is he talking about?" Rebecca muttered as she stood up, walked around her desk and out the building. The moment she saw the Sea Duck, she let out a gasp. She went running towards the plane. "What happened to my plane?! It's….it's all new…..and… and shiny-looking! Not that I'm complaining, but how did this happened?"

The door to the cockpit swung open and Baloo stepped out, followed by a downcast Kit.

"Baloo, what happened to my plane, why is it all new and shiny-looking and—oh my goodness, Kit, what happened to your head?!" she demanded, as Kit's cap did little to conceal the bandages wrapped around his head.

Kit had his eyes shut tight with his hands over his ears, groaning and whining. "T-too loud…" He even look tired and a little ill. His eyes were dull, so unlike their bright and full-of life shine.

"Hey, Becky…" Baloo said quietly, cupping a hand to the side of his mouth. "Could ya lower yer voice? Kit's havin' a real bad headache."

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, Kit." Rebecca said in a much softer voice. She took Kit by the arm and gently guided him back to the building. "Let's get you straight to bed, young man."

"Thanks Miz Cunningham." Kit said weakly but gratefully. "Do you have any aspiring?"

"Yes, of course." Rebecca said as they entered the building. "You go upstairs to bed and I'll go and get it."

Kit made his way slowly up the stairs while Rebecca went to the safe and dialed the combination. When it opened, it was revealed to being used as a medicine cabinet as well as a money safe, as top shelf was full of medicines, the middle shelf held folders of important documents and on the third shelf, sat a handful of cash and changes.

"Let me see…." Rebecca said, browsing through the medicines. "...cough medicine….pain relief….band aids….alcohol….aspiring…..aha! Here we are, children's aspirin." she took the bottle of children's aspiring out. "Twelve and under." she read off the label. She took two tablets out and then went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. When she came back into the office, carrying a glass of water in one hand and two small children's aspirin tablets in the other, Baloo and Chris stood in the middle of the office, waiting for her.

"Hey Becky, look who followed us home!" Baloo said, placing a hand on Chris' shoulder, who waved ratherly shyly.

Rebecca's eyes widened in shock and she dropped the glass, which shattered on the floor, creating a puddle of water on the floor.

"Can we keep him?" Baloo said, grinning.

"But… but… Kit's upstairs, how is he down….?" Rebecca stammered.

"Allow me to introduce, the twin brother of Kit…. Chris Cloudkicker!" Baloo said, gesturing to Chris, who was looking down at the broken glass and then up at Rebecca with concern.

Rebecca groaned and fell, fainting to the floor.

Baloo and Chris looked down at Rebecca in concern and then at each other.

"Maybe you should've broken the ice a little before introducing me..." Chris said. "You know, warn her first."

"Maybe, but I wanted to introduce you in style." Baloo said as he went over to Rebecca's side and lifted her half off the floor and begin to fan her a little. "Becky….Becky, yoo-hoo, anybody home?"

"Look, there are tablets in her hand." Chris said, bending down and taking the aspiring tablets from her. "These must be for Kit, I'll go get a new glass of water… Uh, where's the kitchen?" he asked, looking around.

"Through there." Baloo said, pointing at a doorway just a few feet from Rebecca's desk.

Chris went into the kitchen and came back out with a new glass of water in his hand. "Okay, I got the water. Where's Kit's room?"

"Up the stairs, first room ya come to." Baloo said, fanning Rebecca with an empty pizza box that he'd gotten out of the trash can.

"Thanks!" Chris said, running up the stairs and into the room Kit shared with Baloo.

Rebecca started to come to. "Baloo?"

"Hey, Becky, you okay?" Baloo said, helping her sit up.

Rebecca groaned, holding her head. "I thought I was going crazy. I thought I saw another Kit."

"Nah, Becky, yer not seeing doubles, that was Kit's long-lost twin, Chris." Baloo said.

"Kit has a twin?" Rebecca asked, standing up.

"Yeah, and a Dad too."

Rebecca froze, looking shocked. "He also has a Dad, as in a parent?!"

"Yeah. His name is Matthew, a real swell guy too, he fixed up the Sea Duck and everything." Baloo said.

"I think I need to sit down…." Rebecca muttered and Baloo helped her to her chair behind her desk and then begin to tell her the whole story.

Upstairs in the bedroom, Chris closed the door behind him with his foot and walked towards Kit who was laying on his side upon his bed, clutching his head.

"Hey bro, I got the aspiring for you." Chris said in a gentle voice, walking over and standing next to Kit's bed.

"Thanks," Kit said weakly, he sat up in bed, took one pill and the glass of water from Chris and gulped down the first mouthful of water along with the pill, then he took the second pill and gulped that down too.

Then he drank down the rest of the water, as he was very thirsty. When he had finished, he set the empty glass down on the bedside table and laid back down, preparing to sleep. But Chris pulled him back up to a sitting position.

"Wait, bro, you need to put on your night clothes first." Chris said, lifting Kit's green sweatshirt up and off, leaving the bear cub with only his fur, his legs were already under the covers. "Now, where's your night clothes?"

"Top drawer," Kit said, gesturing to the bedside table on which a hula lamp stood.

Chris opened the drawer and pulled out two long white nightshirts. "You have two, you don't mind if I borrow one, do you?"

"No, go ahead." Kit said as Chris put the nightshirt on him, all Kit had to do was push his arms through the sleeves and then laid back down and closed his eyes.

Chris patted Kit's head gently, before removing his cap and placing on the bedpost. He then changed into Kit's spare nightshirt.

When he had folded his French-sky blue sweatshirt neatly and placed it neatly on the foot of the spare bed. He hopped onto the bed and found himself in a Baloo-size crater in the mattress!

"Ouch!" Chris winced as he felt the flattened bedsprings and wooden boards the held the mattress up against his spine. He climbed out of the crater and off the bed, rubbing his back. "Ow... a bed like that would bend my back out of shape!" He stretched his spine out before walking over to Kit's bed and gently shaking him awake. "Kit, can I sleep with you? Baloo's bed is a death trap!"

Kit smiled in amusement before saying: "Sure," he scooted over closer to the wall, opening the covers to Chris. Chris climbed into bed next to Kit, sharing the same pillow, and Kit covered them both up. "G'night, Chris."

"'Night, bro." Chris said.

They both rolled onto their side, and slept back-to-back.

Half an hour later, the door opened and Baloo and Rebecca peered in, checking on the boys. Assured that the boys were asleep, they entered the room, Rebecca blinking and rubbing her disbelieving eyes, but she could not dispute the fact that there were two cubs in Kit's bed, the only way to tell the sleeping cubs apart was their fur color. Kit's was sienna and Chris' was bronze.

"I'm seeing it and I still don't believe it," Rebecca whispered as she and Baloo moved towards the bed and stood over them, just looking at them. "After all this time, a brother and father suddenly appear. All this time, I believed Kit to be an orphan."

"You weren't the only one, Becky." Baloo said softly. "Even Kit himself believed it."

"But you do realize what this means, don't you, Baloo?" Rebecca said, sadly placing a hand on his arm. "If there's a father in the picture, I'm afraid we would have to let Kit go. It wouldn't be right to keep him from his father, Baloo."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Baloo said with a depressed, downcast face. "I would miss him, but I'm not worried. Matt seems like a real swell guy. Any Dad that looks for their missing child fer years on end without letups is a grade-A Dad in my book."

"But don't you find this a little too coincidental, if not downright suspicious?" Rebecca asked. "Orphans don't normally cease being orphans. Are you sure this Matthew guy wouldn't have any... sinister motives for Kit and his twin... like Daring Dan?"

"Matt is nothing like Dirty Dan," Baloo said, frowning at the very mention of Daring Dan. "Besides, the resemblance he shares with Kit and Chris is just too uncanny fer him not to their Dad or some way related to them."

"Well, I don't trust him!" Rebecca said in a fierce whisper, going into protective Mama Bear mode, which caused Baloo to back away from her. "At least not yet. He could be crook, wanting to use these two boys for his own gain! But... if he is genuine," she said, her expression changing to a dreamy look, as though she was reading this out of romance novel. "and is truly their father, it is amazing that he never gave up on finding Kit."

"Yeah, but Becky, you saw what he did to the Sea Duck, he'd make big bucks on auto repairs." Baloo argued. "Why would he need to use these boys ta make money?"

"I don't know, a lot of people's minds works in strange ways, Baloo, You should know that by now, with all the crazy clients and Pirates we've encountered since I opened this business." Rebecca hissed back "I don't trust him, at least not until I've met him and gotten the measure of him. And if this Matthew guy shows up before I could meet him in person, don't let these two boys out of your sight! That's an order from your boss!"

Baloo gulped at Rebecca's fierce and protective mother mode. "Okay, okay, Bosslady, I'll watch 'em like a hawk."

"You better, buster, or you'll never fly the Sea Duck again!" Rebecca said, jabbing Baloo in the chest with a finger. She checked her watch. "Well, I guess I'll go home now, Molly would have drove her babysitter insane by now." she laughed as she left.

"Sheese!" Baloo said, rubbing his chest where Rebecca had jabbed him. "Never knew she cared so much about Kit… guess she always had a soft spot for kids."

Baloo changed into his nightshirt and got into bed, falling asleep not long after.

Later in the night, lightning from outside flashes, momentarily litting up the room, followed by a rumble of thunder. Chris' ear twitched at the sound and he shot bolt upright, just in time to see the room lit up in the flash of lightning.

"Oh, no!" he squealed in a high-pitched whimper, he jumped out of bed, got down on the floor and rolled under Kit's bed, trembling with his hands over his eyes. "Oh no, okay….it's okay….it's okay…" He tried to comfort himself, but suddenly the thundering went from rumbling to booming, he let out a loud, high-pitched yelp, wrapping his arms around his face, shaking like a chihuahua on a cold winter's day.

Kit awoke to the thundering, grateful that his headache was almost gone. But then he noticed Chris was no longer next to him.

"Chris…? Chris…?" Kit said, looking around. Then his ears detected a terrified whimpering coming from below. He got up out of bed and traced the whimpering to underneath his bed and found a terrified Chris, shaking with a wild look of fear in his eyes. "Chris, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

Chris was about to answer, but a lightning flashed outside, followed by a loud booming thunder and he let out a cry of fear and hid his face in his hands.

"Kit?" Baloo muttered, waking up. He let out a huge yawn. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Papa Bear, but Chris is freaking out!" Kit said with concern in his voice.

Baloo got up, approached Kit's bed and bent down. "Hey there, Chris, come on out from under there."

Another lightning flashed, followed by another booming thunder that shook the hula lamp on the bedside table. Chris yelped, shook his head vigorously and retreated further back under the bed.

Baloo reached down, took of Chris' ankle and begin to drag him out from under the bed. But this was a mistake. Chris screamed bloody murder and thrashed around wildly under the bed, kicking around so much, that Baloo lost his grip on him.

"Baloo! Stop, stop!" Kit cried, holding Baloo back. "He's panicking, you're only making it worse."

"But how are we supposed to comfort him if he's under there?" Baloo asked.

"I don't know, but he wasn't like this before the storm… wait a minute... the storm!" Kit said, realizing all of a sudden.

"The storm? What about—?"

"Shh," Kit said. "Watch." He and Baloo bend over and watched Chris from beside the bed.

As another flash of lighting lit up the room and another booming thunder sounded outside, they could see that Chris flinched, yelped and whimpered at every flash and thunder. Then Baloo and Kit looked at each other.

"I think he has a severe case of astrapophobia, Baloo." Kit said with sympathy in his voice

"Astrapo-what?"

"Astrapophobia, it means he has an irrational fear of thunder and lightning." Kit explained. He sighed. "Go back to bed, Baloo, I'll handle this. He's my brother and between the two of us, I'm the only one who can crawl under there with him."

"If you're sure, Lil Britches." Baloo said, sounding doubtful as he got back into bed.

Kit got down on his stomach and crawled under the bed and saw that Chris was curled up in the corner, shaking and sobbing. As Kit approached Chris, he realized that Chris was crying, he was crying out of a mixture of self-loathing, humiliation and fear. Chris hated himself for having this phobia, humiliated that he was having this phobia-induced panic attack in front of Kit and Baloo and he was still fearful of the next lightning strike.

When Kit reached him, he put an arm around him. Chris gasped and his body started thrashing around, causing Kit to tighten his hold on Chris, pinning him down.

"Whoa, whoa, easy Chris, it's just me." Kit said softly, pulling Chris closer to him and hugging him. "Shh, it's okay, Chris, it's okay..." he said, rubbing the back of Chris' head as Chris continues to sob, and Kit took it as a good sign that Chris' body relaxed a little in his embrace. "It's okay…. I'm here for you, Chris."

"I hate this... I really hate this!" Chris sobbed as Kit comforted him

"Shh..." Kit whispers consolingly.

With Kit holding him, the effects Chris' phobia had on him was greatly reduced, he no longer shriek or yelp with terror at every lightning flashes or screamed at every booming thunders. With Kit holding him, he only gasp and clung on to Kit at every flashes and thunders.

As the storm died out, Chris fell asleep in Kit's embrace and Kit, knowing the storm was over, got out from under the bed and dragged Chris out with him. He then picked Chris up off the floor, straining with Chris' weight as he was a little heavy for Kit, but he manages to put Chris on the bed and pushed him towards the wall before climbing back into bed himself. He pulled the cover over himself and Chris, settled down and fell asleep.

Elsewhere, aboard the Iron Vulture, Don Karnage was furiously fuming, pacing back and front while the other Pirates trembled with fear at his rage or grieved over their planes, crying their hearts out.

Their mechanic, Ratchet was already hard at work on putting Karnage's plane back together. So far he had super glued and bolted the two halves of the plane together and was now using a blowtorch to mend the crack along the body of the plane.

"How dare that insignificant filthy little flea slice my beautiful plane in half!" Karnage raged. "Ooh, he make me so angry just thinking about him! The next time I see him, I will tear him into little bite-size pieces, sew him back together will dull needles and then feed him to the sharks!" He stopped his pacing, holding his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm…. Did he not look familiar?"

Gibber, who rarely left Karnage's side while aboard the Iron Vulture or on Pirate Island, whispered in his ear.

"Yes…. he did look like Kit Cloudkicker… but where did he get that glowing sword and how was it that he could fly?" Karnage wondered, and Gibber shrugged, his body language saying: 'Beats me.' "Then perhaps I will interrogate him under torture before cutting him up, sewing back together with dull needles and feeding him to the sharks…"

"D-done, Cap'n." Ratchet said with a sniff.

"Excellent!" Karnage said in delight, striding over to Ratchet and stood next to him, admiring his newly repaired plane. "It is beautiful! It is once again the most dreaded plane in the seven skies! You did well, my puny little mechanic you!" He hugged and kissed Ratchet on the top of his head.

"Aw shucks, cap'n…" Ratchet blushed, looking pleased with himself for finding favor with the captain.

"So, Ratchet, status report of my beloved plane of terror."

"Huh? Oh yeah! I did managed to put the plane back together again."

"So I can see," Karnage said with a nod. "Did you had to change anything?"

"Well I had to put in a brand new engine. I couldn't fix your old one, it was damaged beyond repair."

Karnage looked heartbroken and enraged by that information. "Ooh, that Kit Cloudkicker-lookalike makes me so angry! First, I will have all of his fur painfully removed with a pair of tweezers! And then boil him in hot oil, before dumping him out in the sea! Ha-ha-ha, he'd make tasty shark treats, yes-no?"

The rest of the Pirates grimace in fear at Karnage's latest torturous death description.

"But isn't it against the Pirates' code to harm children?" said a voice from above.

"Who goes there?" Karnage demanded, looking up.

There, on the rail of the catwalk above them, sat a chocolate brown bear, wearing a brown leather flight jacket and a pair of blue jeans. He jumped down from the catwalk and landed in their midst, surrounded by Pirates.

"You, foolish person," Karnage said, pointing a finger at him. "Who are you, my soon-to-be-insufficient-prisoner."

"Matthew's the name, Matthew Cloudkicker." the bear said without the slightest hint of fear.

"Cloudkicker, eh? Now why does that name ring a bell?" Karnage pondered. Gibber whispered in his ear and Karnage angrily grabbed the front of Gibber's shirt. "I know that Kit Cloudkicker was once among us!" he then threw Gibber from him..

Matthew's eyes gleamed, hearing exactly what he wanted to hear. "Yes, I see you know my son."

"Your WHAT?!" Karnage gasped, then he studied Matthew for a moment. "Hmm, yes, now I see the resemblance. Well, since you are responsible for bringing that flea-infected furball into the world… SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM A LOT!" he roared at his men, pointing a finger at Matthew.

The surrounding Pirates all drew their guns, but Matthew raised a hand. "Parley." he said.

Confused, the surrounding Pirates looked at each other and lowered their weapons.

"Der, what's parley, Mad Dog?" Dumptruck asked.

"I don't know…." Mad Dog said.

Groaning with impatience and anger, Karnage snapped: "What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!"

Looking horrified, Gibber quickly dashes over to Karnage and whispered urgently into his ear as the Pirates were raising their guns again.

"HALT!" Karnage roared again, running over and smacking Dumptruck and Mad Dog. "What do you think you are doing, you idisome Pirates! The gentleman here has evoked parley, which means he must not be harmed until a negotiation has been agreed upon!"

"But you said—OW!" Mad Dog said as Karnage smacked him again.

"You dare argue with my magnificent self?" Karnage said cold fury, smacking him again. "I ought to hang you by your little toe!"

Looking like a little child who had been scolded severely, Mad Dog whined: "Sorry, captain…"

"Man, the ego on this guy…" Matthew muttered to himself. "Certainly would explain the size of this flying fortress…"

"Okay, parley time," Karnage said, turning to Matthew. "What is there to negotiate, foolish flyer-person?"

"I desire only information you may have on my son, Kit Cloudkicker." Matthew said. "Through a series of detective work, I am attempting to piece together what my son had been through, where he been, et cetera."

"Well, that certainly is a noble quest, but, uh, here's a thought." Karmage said. "Why not ask him yourself?"

Matthew sighed. "Cloudkickers are stubborn, I have a feeling he'll never tell me the full story, no matter how much I question him. He'll probably just give me bits and pieces, but never the whole story. We tend to keep things to ourselves, you see."

"Yes, yes, and in exchange for information, you'll give me…?" Karnage said impatiently.

"Just this," Matthew said, and he reached into his jacket and withdrew a very large diamond.

Karnage's eyes lit up at the sight of the diamond. "Well…" he said greedily. "Perhaps we can help each other. Gibber, bring me the file on Kit Cloudkicker."

Gibber left to the other room and came back with the file in his hand. He handed it to Karnage.

"Thank you," Karnage said, taking the file, and the he and Matthew walked towards each other. Simultaneously, they handed over their items to trade and simultaneously, they took the item of trade from each other. Now Matthew has the folder and Karnage has the diamond.

Karnage laughed as he examined the diamond. "Once again, I, the glorious Don Karnage, has gotten a huge profit from a totally one-sided deal! The file is worthless compared to this!"

Matthew opened the file, making sure everything was in there, he saw a black-and-white photo of Kit wearing a scowl on face and a bandana around his neck paperclipped to the corner of the folder, it didn't really suit Kit at all.

He closed the folder. "Yeah. I thought you might like it, that's why I took it from your own treasure room."

Karnage was cuddling the diamond against his face "Yes, it's a beau—wait, what?! This is already mine?!" Karnage said in a rage, looking at the diamond at arm's length. "Nobody fools the great Don Karnage and live!" He threw the diamond on the floor out of anger, it ricochet off the floor and hit him in the face! "OW! Grr, SHOOT… him?" Karnage saId, looking around and realizing Matthew was no longer there. "Where'd he go? FIND HIM, YOU USELESS LUMPS! FIND HIM!"

On the roof of the Iron Vulture, sat the McQueen. Not too far from the plane, a trap door in the roof opened and Matthew climbed through. He then dashed into the plane, started the engines and took off. To ensure he did not get intercepted by the Pirates, shortly after take off, Matthew activated Overdrive and disappeared into the horizon in a burst of speed.


Author's Note:

I've yet to receive any reviews since my first episode of the D.A. Hearts, after a while of not hearing from my readers, not being able to read their opinions on my story is kind of discouraging. I like to know what my readers think of it. I won't stop writing this story, but I'd like to hear from my readers. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this episode and stay tuned for the next one!