Disclaimer: I do not own TaleSpin or anything of the Disney Afternoon.
Episode Twelve
The Rebirth of the Sea Duck
Two weeks after Kit and Baloo arrived at D-Star, they have been slowly but steadily adjusting to life at the D-Star, being introduced to more and more modern technologies and comfort. And during the two weeks he'd been there, Kit had been going out with his brother, Chris, to the bookstore, where Kit bought himself a few books on planes and a few exciting and thrilling-looking comicbooks with his mall gift card, which worked at the bookstore outside the mall too. They went to the movies, to the arcade, to the park, to the skatepark and finally, Chris felt it was safe to take Kit back to the mall, feeling that he had been introduced to enough things and that he would not freak out to things at the mall.
While at the mall, Chris led Kit to Gyro's Tech store, feeling it was safe this time to take Kit there, and it helped that his Dad wasn't there with them.
In the tech store, Gyro's face was everywhere, on every product, every price tag and he appeared with a speech bubble with a commentary on what the products did.
The brothers came across a glass tank filled with tiny little robots with light bulbs for heads. The huge banner over the tank read "Bulb-Tech. Your best little friend and assistant who would do it all for you!"
"Oh wow! Those look neat!" Kit said, amazed at the all the tiny robots waving friendly at him.
"Don't bother with them," Chris said firmly, pushing Kit away from the tank. "I've bought five of those so far and they all vanished after turning evil. They're a total rip-off." As he said it, all the Bulb-Techs in the tank became angry and glowed red, waving their tiny little fists instead, and then, one by one, each of them vanished. "See?" he said, pointing at the now-empty tank.
Kit followed Chris' lead and looked all around in awe, every now and then, asking: "What's this?" and looking at whatever it was that Kit was pointing at, Chris would tell him what each item was called, followed by a summary of what they did.
"Hey, look! They have a candy section!" Kit said happily, pointing to a shelf that had an array of different sweets. He took a pack of gum and examined it. "Oxy-Chew?" he read off the pack with a raised eyebrow. "'A gum that provides you with oxygen, water and nutrition while you chew, allowing you to survive in space without a spacesuit!' Is this a hoax?"
"No, it actually works!" said Chris. "Dad and I are always chewing those when we're flying through space! How else do you think we can fly in space in a regular propeller plane without a spacesuit?"
"I just assumed the plane was specially designed for space travel, but wow, this gum really works? I think I'll buy a pack!"
"Okay, just don't buy the "best" flavor." Chris said, wiggling two fingers with both hands in an air quote. "It's actually the worst flavor, it being the "best"..." again with the air quote. "...is purely Gyro's opinion. And the McQueen do have an oxygen provision system, but it is limited because of how small it is. The bigger oxygen tank wouldn't fit in the plane and Dad didn't want to give up the cargo hold or the leg room we have in the cockpit."
Kit picked up the black pack that proclaim itself to be the best flavor and read what flavor it was. He stuck out his tongue with a disgusted expression. "Ugh! Black licorice?! Why would anyone chew this stuff?" He then noticed that the black licorice was the flavor that they had the most of, meaning that people weren't buying that flavor.
"That's why I always go with Bubble Gum flavor." Chris said, pointing to the pink pack. "Dad likes the Winter Fresh flavor," he said, pointing to the blue pack."
"Mmm, I think I'll try….Sweet Watermelon." Kit said, after looking over all the different flavors and picking up a lime green pack and putting it in the shopping basket that hung from his arm.
"Yeah, that's a good flavor too!" Chris said as he and Kit moved on from the candy section. "Now could you please buy a phone," he said, pushing Kit over to the cellphone section that was labeled: Gummiphones..
"Again with that?" Kit groaned, sliding on his heels as Chris pushed him. "Chris, I told you, I don't want one yet!"
"But I want to be able to call and text you from other parts of the mall." Chris said with big begging eyes.
"What's the point of that, since you're always right here with me when we go out." Kit pointed out.
"Your lack of a phone is the reason why we can't go our own ways." Chris muttered.
"Alright, alright, if it will get you off my tail... fine, I'll buy one!" Kit said, finally giving up. "Just don't expect me to be all happy about it."
"Whoo-hoo!" Chris cried happily, now walking down the aisle ahead of Kit with a bounce in his steps, Kit smiled as he watched his brother skip down the aisle, glad that he made his brother happy. "How about this one?" Chris said, taking a phone off the shelf and showing it to Kit. "It's similar to what Dad and I have."
The smile faded off Kit's face as he pushed the phone away. "Chris, you know how much I hate your phone. Let's find something that's not going to make me mad and toss it out the window…."
Looking sad, Chris said. "Okay, Kit…" and he sadly placed the phone back on the shelf.
Kit felt bad that he had hurt his brother's feelings by rejecting his recommendation, but resolved to remain firm in his decision to reject all smartphones.
"Hey, look at this one!" Kit cried happily, picking a cell phone package that had a picture of a green camouflage-style flip phone. "This one looks perfect for me! It's got buttons and everything!"
"Sure, if you want people to start calling you Grandpa…" Chris muttered.
Taking offense at that, Kit said: "Look, you want me to get a phone or not? It's either this phone or nothing."
Chris held his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Okay, okay! Take it."
Looking satisfied, Kit put the phone into his shopping basket and continued shopping. After awhile, Kit went to check out.
Behind the register was…
"Gyro!" Chris said in amazement. "What are you doing here?"
"What? Can't I run my own store that has my name on it?" Gyro said smugly, as though he saw himself as extremely important.
"Not saying you shouldn't, just thought..." Chris said, apparently not wanting to offend Gyro in any way. "It's just that you're usually in your lab, creating more new things…"
Gyro let out a huffed sigh, as if he thought he should be doing something better than this. "Yeah, well, my cashier called in sick today, so I had to step in." he said. "Besides, this gives me an opportunity to interact with my customers and find out what they want and then come up with a way to invent that."
"How about a drink cup that keeps your iced drink cold all day long, even on a hot day?" Kit suggested.
"Oh yes! Great idea!" Gyro said excitedly, taking out a notepad and pen and started writing, but then he stopped. "Wait, wait, wait… that's already been invented."
"It has?" Kit said in amazement.
"Yeah," Gyro said, pointing with his pen to a display of a metal tall cups with glass lids. "It's called a Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Tumbler, or Tumbler for short."
Kit went over to the display and took one of the Tumblers down and examined it. "Does this really work?"
Looking a little offended at the question, Gyro said: "Of course it works! The science behind that is simple. First. make a double walls and then vacuum all the air out from between the two walls before sealing it. On the outside, it can be hot, but the contents inside will remain unaffected by the outside air, because with all the air sucked out from between the two walls, there is nothing between the outer wall and the inner wall. Hot and cold cannot pass through nothing, so all your ice cubes can take up to twenty-four hours or longer to melt, even on very hot days."
"Wow, that sounds amazing and it's only ten dollars?!" KIt said in awe, picking up a camouflage-style Tumbler. "I'm buying one! I'll take this one," he said, placing the Tumbler on the counter. "Oh, I better buy one for Baloo too! Maybe he'll stop using those nasty paper cups." he said, picking a yellow Tumbler with a red ring around the top. "This color reminds me of the Sea Duck... I hope it won't make him sad to be reminded of it."
"Alright," Gyro said, taking Kit's items and scanning them. "Two Tumblers… one Gummiphone Flip….one Oxy—" he stopped as he noticed the flavor of Oxy-Chew Kit picked. "Uh, are you sure you want this? I mean, it's not even the best flavor…." he said, clearly wanting Kit to buy the black licorice.
"Ugh, fine… I'll buy a pack of black licorice too..." Kit said, turning and walking off to the candy section and coming back with the black licorice flavor gum. "But I still want the Sweet Watermelon flavor." he said firmly.
"Fine, fine, tell you what, I'll sell you these two packs of Oxy-Chew for the price of one." Gyro said, scanning the two packs of Oxy-Chew.
"Kit, why are you buying that flavor for?" Chris asked in a whisper.
"I thought I'd use it as a prank," Kit whispered back, chuckling. "You know, offer them a gum and watch their face when they realize it's black licorice."
At that, Chris grinned mischievously. "Oh, that's so evil! I like it!" he chuckled before looking up at Gyro. "Hey Gyro, could you activate Kit's phone, please?"
"Certainly." Gyro said, taking Kit's phone out of the shopping bag, opened it, took all the contents out, putting the battery into the phone before popping the back cover into place. He then flipped the phone open, held down the red END button and the phone dingled to life and the screen lit up. With a few keystrokes of dial buttons and a few keystrokes of the computer, he started asking questions: "Name?"
"Kit Cloudkicker, sir." Kit said.
"Age?"
"I'm twelve, sir."
"Alright, here you go, kid." said Gyro, snapping the phone shut and tossing it to Kit, who caught. It. "You're good to go. It's all in there, your ID, your phone info and your phone number."
Kit flipped his phone open and saw the time on the main screen. "Uh, where's my info?"
"You have to press some buttons to bring it up." Chris said, reaching over Kit's shoulder and pressing a few buttons and brought up Kit's info. "There you go."
Kit looked down at it. "Hey, it's even got my picture on it! And the background is...Gyro's store?"
"Yeah, I snapped a picture of you with your Gummiphone while I was activating it." Gyro said.
"Wait, what?!" Kit exclaimed in surprise. "You can take PICTURES with this thing?!"
"And do voice recording and video." Gyro said with a raised eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is the first phone you ever bought."
"It is, actually, sir." Kit said, looking at his phone with a look of wonder. "Wow, this is amazing…"
"C'mon Kit, tell me what your number is!" Chris whined impatiently, who was holding his smartphone, evidently in the process of adding Kit's contact info to his Contact list.
"Huh? Oh, um…" Kit said, looking down at his screen. "It doesn't seem to say..."
"You gotta scroll down," Chris said.
"Scroll down?"
"Yeah, like this." Chris reached over Kit's shoulder again and pressed the scroll button down to check Kit's info and then his number came into view.
"Oh, okay, um, it's five, four, eight..." Kit paused, giving Chris time to type it into his phone. "Five, four, eight, two."
"Chris, I'm surprised you're not begging your father for a Gummiphone." Gyro said, supporting his head with his elbow on the counter, looking bored as he flipped through a tech magazine.
"Huh? What's so special about a Gummiphone?" Chris asked.
Gyro's eyes widened in shock, his elbow slipped out from under him and he fell, disappearing behind the counter with a great crash!
Kit and Chris leaned over the counter to try and peer down behind the counter, and suddenly Gyro popped up as sudden as a Jack-in-the-box, causing the two cubs to jump back with a yelp of shock. Gyro leaned over the counter with his widened, shocked eyes still in place.
'WHHHHHHAT?!" he exclaimed loudly. "You've never heard of a Gummiphone?!"
"N-no…" Chris said nervously, leaning back as Gyro was leaning forward, invading his personal space. "W-what are they?"
"Why, it's only the best line of cell phones ever made!" Gyro said, straightening up and holding himself high. "Designed by yours truly, of course."
"Do they work?" Chris asked skeptically. "Do they do everything a smartphone does? And none of them turned evil yet?"
"I told you before, Chris, only half of my inventions turn evil." Gyro reminded him. "The other half are just wildly misunderstood. And yes, the Gummiphone does everything a smartphone does and... more." he said the last word with a mystical whisper.
"More?" Now Gyro had piqued Chris' interest and now he gave Gyro his full and undivided attention. "How much more?"
Gyro smiled as if he was thinking: 'And snap! The mouse is caught!' "Ever found yourself in a world with no Wi-fi, no internet, no GPS, no text messaging, no calls from friends in other worlds, no video calls from P.J.?"
"Y-yeah, more often than I'd liked." Chris muttered.
"Well then, my young scholar, the Gummiphone's the answer to all of your prayers!" Gyro exclaimed. "With a Gummiphone, you can stay connected to everything without ever needing Wi-fi or a strong signal."
"OH MY STARS, I WANT ONE!" Chris yelled with bursting excitement.
"Well then, they're right over there!" Gyro said, gesturing to the Gummiphone section of the store. "Go get you one!"
Without a word, Chris ran down the aisle to the Gummiphone section and got out of sight.
"Wow," Kit whistled, watching Chris go. "You played him like a violin!"
"Mr. McDuck had me to practice my salesman speeches," Gyro said. "Good to see that it's paying off."
Chris came dashing back to the counter with a box containing a Gummiphone that looked similar to the smartphone he currently owned.
"Here!" he panted, skidding to a halt and slamming the box down on the counter.
Gyro took it and scanned it. "That'll be fifty dollars."
Chris eeped as he turned his empty pockets inside out.
Gyro raised an eyebrow. "You don't have any money, do you?"
"Um, um, um…." Chris said nervously, patting himself all over for some miracle money that he thought he might have, finally he took out his smartphone. "Can you take this for it?"
"I can, but it'll only take forty dollars off this Gummiphone, so you're ten dollars short."
Chris turned his begging eyes on Kit. "Please, please, please, Kit, I NEED this Gummiphone, I gotta have it! Please help me out here!"
Kit rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you owe me." he said, handing Gyro his gift card.
Chris dashed at Kit and threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly. "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" he cried happily in one breath. "You're the world's best big brother!"
"ACK! Chris… too tight… can't breathe…." Kit gasped, clutching Chris' arm that was around his neck and struggling to breathe..
"Oh, sorry!" Chris said hastily as he released Kit and took a step back,
Gyro took Kit's gift card and swiped it, then he took Chris' smartphone, opened the back, took the battery out, took the SIM card out and placed it inside the Gummiphone. Then he handed Chris the Gummiphone.
"Here you go, everything you had on your smartphone is transferred to your Gummiphone." Gyro said.
"Wow... just like that? Wow, that was fast." Chris said in awe. "Your Gummiphone's amazing."
"I know," Gyro said, bagging up all of Kit's items and handing Kit the bag. "Come again. I know you will, I mean, mine is the best store in this mall."
"Thinks very highly of himself, that Gyro…" Kit muttered to Chris as they left the store. "And why didn't you have any of your money with you? Are you really that broke?"
Chris looked at Kit, his cheeks turning red in a blush. "I...forgot my wallet and left it at home..."
"Again? Chris, that makes four times in a row!" Kit said loudly.
"I know! I don't know why, but most of the time, I'd leave the house without my wallet unless Dad reminds me."
"Have you always been that forgetful of your wallet?" Kit asked, looking concerned.
"Pretty much, yeah." Chris said with a shrug.
"Well, it's not a good thing to be forgetful about." Kit said sternly. "From now on, I'll remind you to bring your wallet when you go out."
Chris smiled. "Thanks, Kit, I'm lucky to have a big brother like you looking out for me."
As they walked through the town towards Hangar Park, Kit was looking around at all the different booths all over the place. Booths selling health potions and mana potions. Booths selling protective clothings and booths selling weapons and power items, items such as rings, bracelets and necklaces
"Do those stuff really work?" Kit asked Chris, pointing to the booths.
"Yeah….they do, but they're not as good as they say they are." Chris said, avoiding eye contact with the surrounding booth owners. "Those power enhancement items, they're mostly for the Mage class, and if you're not in that class, they're basically useless to you, because they're made to increase the magical powers of a Mage,"
"Then why are they even here?" Kit asked, feeling that these booths are pointless.
"People need the money." Chris shrugged. "Even in the D-Star, you need money to get by. Nothing is free."
"What about those health potions, do they work?" Kit asked.
"Yeah, they do, but they're really more of something you keep in your medicine cabinet for you to take when you're sick." Chris said. "Dedis and Student Dedis are not allowed to carry them because they can be easily stolen or broken during combat. Dedis have to be self-reliant, that's why we are required to learn the basic Cure spell."
"Cure spell? You can do magic?!" Kit gasped, sounding amazed.
"Not really, magic is not really my strong point and I can only cast it with my D-blade." Chris said. "I'm not the Mage class, I'm more of a mixed class of Warrior and Defender."
"You can have dual classes?"
"Yeah, if you have high enough skills in both class." Chris said. "I'm dual class because of my habit of switching between attacking and defending during combat. If an ogre attacks me, I'm prone to do a defensive move before attacking it.""
Kit stopped dead in his tracks. "OGRES? They exist?!"
"Yeah, they're one of many of our enemies' minions." Chris revealed casually. "Ogres are not that difficult to deal with, the trick is to outsmart them, and that's not hard to do, considering they're really very stupid."
"Sounds like the Air Pirates." Kit remarked as Chris' Gummiphone started ringing.
"A video call?" Chris said as he examined his phone. "Oh, it's Max!" he said, answering the phone and Max's face appeared on his screen.
"Chris!" Max exclaimed, looking worried and it was clear from the background that Max was in the air traffic control tower. "You gotta come home right now! I just cleared your Dad for landing, he'll be home any minute!"
"Oh good! Dad's home!" Chris said excitedly. "Thanks, Max!"
"No, no, you don't understand!" Max cried, looking scared. "Baloo is throwing a party right now! And if your Dad comes home and finds your hangar-apartment in such a mess….Oh man, Baloo's gonna get it!"
A look of rage filled Kit's face and he took off running towards the hangar area.
"Kit, wait up!" Chris yelled after him. "Thanks Max." he said before hanging up and went sprinting after Kit. Soon he caught up with Kit.
"What am I gonna do with him, Chris?" Kit sobbed as he ran. "I told him not to throw parties, Dad told him not to throw parties and even you've told him not to throw parties, and what does he do? He threw a party! And now Dad's gonna kick him out for sure!"
As they crossed the gates into the airport's grounds, they heard wild party music playing and then all of sudden, the music stopped as if someone had pulled the plug on the jukebox. Then they heard the thunderous yell of: "BALOO!" in the distance. It was Matthew's voice and he sounded really mad. At the sound of Matthew's voice, Kit gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. Chris ran up ahead before noticing this and slowed to a stop and looked back at Kit.
"Kit? Ar-are you okay?" Chris asked, walking back over to Kit and placing a hand on Kit's shoulder.
Kit let out a sob, turned his cap around to hide his face under the brim. "It's gonna happen today, isn't it? Me and Baloo are gonna get kicked out."
"What?! No! Baloo, maybe, but not you!" Chris said, looking sad for his brother.
Kit shook his head, his face downcast, still hidden beneath his cap. "Baloo and I are buddies, pals, a team... Wherever he goes, I go."
"Oh…." Chris said, he then hugged Kit. "But please don't cry, m-maybe we can work something..."
"Chris, stop fooling yourself." Kit stated bluntly. "We both knew this was gonna happen sooner or later, ever since Dad exploded over the mess Baloo's first party left behind. I'm honestly surprised that we've lasted through six parties in the last two weeks without getting kicked out. This makes party number seven, and I don't think Dad's gonna put up with it anymore."
"Maybe he'll give Baloo one more chance." Chris said optimistically.
"I hope so. If not, is there any chance we can stay at your godfather's place?"
"Nope! None, sorry," Chris said apologetically. "I already asked Uncle Scrooge and he said that the door's always open for you, but not for Baloo."
"What?! Why?!" Kit demanded in outrage.
Chris shrugged. "He already heard about all the parties Baloo's been throwing. It's a suburban neighborhood, news travel fast around here, especially with most people having smartphones and now Gummiphones."
Kit kicked a can with his toe in anger. "Great...just great…We lost our home world, and now we're going to be kicked out of my Dad's house…. Where are we supposed to go, Chris?"
"I dunno, Kit, but we'll figure something out." Chris said, putting an arm around Kit's shoulder as the two of them continued on their way to their hangar.
The Cloudkicker Hangar came into view just in time for the twins to witness the door raising up and a flood of people came swarming out, a loud voice behind the crowd was yelling: "OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! WHY DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP COMING BACK TO MY HOUSE TO PARTY?!" it was Matthew's voice.
Kit gasped in horror as the crowd thinned and he caught sight of his Dad, looking furious, kicking Baloo's backside with his foot encased in a boot, sending Baloo flying through the doorway and onto the pavement.
Baloo pushed himself upright, into a sitting position and he looked up and saw Kit,
"Kit... Lil britches….I'm sorry, I blew it."
"Aw, Baloo... Why do you keep throwing these parties?" Kit asked, sad tears sliding down his face. "I warned you that you were going to get us kicked out, so why did you do it?"
"Because… besides you, it's all I have left that keeps me goin'... without you, I have nothing… my friends are all gone, my plane….my plane…" Baloo suddenly burst into tears and cried into the pavement. "My baby…! My beautiful baby duck is gone! And now I'm grounded with nuthin' but partying to live fer!"
"Oh…!" Kit gasped, realizing that Baloo was depressed and partying was his way of easing the pain. "Oh, Baloo…" Kit hugged his Papa Bear,
Matthew observed the scene before him with a sad and remorseful expression, until he felt a tug on the bottom of his jacket and looked down to see Chris looking sadly up at him.
"Please don't kick Uncle Baloo out…." he said. "If he goes, Kit goes…"
"Sorry, little buddy, but I already gave Baloo my word that I was kicking him out if he threw another party without my permission. This was the final straw." Matthew said sadly. "I must keep my word, I-I can't take it back."
Angry tears filled Chris' eyes and he kicked Matthew in the shin.
"Ow! What the… Chris!"
Chris ran into the hangar, screaming: "I HATE YOU!" and then in the distance, they heard a door slam.
Kit helped Baloo to his feet. "C'mon Baloo, let's get out of here…"
"Naw, Lil Britches, you stay here with yer family, I'll just go." Baloo said with the most depressed face.
Kit hugged Baloo's side tightly. "No, Baloo! I'm not letting you go, I'm staying with you! I'm your navigator...always! Wherever you go, I go. You are all I have left of home."
KIt's words hit Matthew harder than Chris' foot ever could. He gasped and let out a sob before hurrying forward, limping a little as he went.
"Wait!" Matthew cried. Kit and Baloo stopped and turned to look at him, Matthew then bend over, clutching his leg. "Oh man, that kid of mine kicks like a horse!"
"What do you want, Dad?" Kit asked, sounding sad while clutching Baloo's arm.
"Okay, look, Chris and I don't want you to move, but since you're attracted to this party animal and I can't really have him in my house… how about I buy this empty hangar next door so that you and Baloo could move in there?"
"What's the use, Matt." Baloo said in a depressed voice. "Without a plane ta put in there, they wouldn't give us a hangar. I know, because I already asked that Goofy fella."
Matthew grinned. "Oh, leave that to me! Come with me." he turned around and led the way, muttering to himself: "This is gonna hurt my wallet far more than my leg is right now…"
Baloo gulped. "We're not going to take that devil car, are we?"
Matthew paused in a flash of anger. Devil car?! "Okay, okay, calm down, Matthew," he muttered to himself as he continued walking. "I know you want to strangle this partying buffoon, but if you do, you'll lose your son for a second time! Calm down….breathe…" He inhaled deeply and then exhaled.
Matthew led them to a gigantic hangar, with a huge sign stuck across the front above the doors, reading: "Build-a-Plane Workshop."
"Here we are," Matthew said, gesturing to the Build-a-Plane Workshop with both hands.
"Wow, can you build any planes here?" Kit asked, sounding amazed.
"Huh? You can build planes here?" Baloo asked, bemused.
"Judging from the name of this building, I'd think so." Kit pointed out.
"Well, you thought right!" Matthew said. "I only had to use this place twice before, when the McQueen was damaged beyond repair during missions. This place builds you a new plane within minutes!"
"So you can bring back the Sea Duck with this?!" Baloo said with barely restrained excitement.
"Yeah, watch." Matthew said, walking up to the front door, stopping in front of a console in the door. He took out a flash drive from his pocket and plugging it into the console. The image of the McQueen appear on the screen.
"Hey… that's the McQueen, not my baby…" Baloo said, sounding disappointed.
"They're both a Conwing L-sixteen, Baloo," Matthew pointed out. "They're a forgotten model of plane, as the Conwings are an obsolete brand of planes since before the twenty-first century, which is the time we're currently in right now. Remember, we lost most of the Conwing L-sixteens in the war. It would take too long to build the Sea Duck from scratch. What I'm doing is bringing up the data of the McQueen, using it as a base for the Sea Duck, copying the data, renaming that copy to the Sea Duck, and now painting the plane to yellow with red flaps…" Matthew used his finger on the touchscreen, putting the Sea Duck under customization and then using his finger to select the paint and then touching different aspects of the plane, changing most of the red plane to yellow. "and…bingo! The Sea Duck."
Baloo pushed Matthew aside and pressed his face against the screen. "My baby….!" He pulled himself away from the screen and looked at Matthew. "How do we get my plane outta this little box?"
"You press Build." Matthew said, pressing the button.
"Please insert a total of fifty thousand dollars to build this plane." a cool female voice said from the console.
"What? But I don't have that much dough!" Baloo cried, looking devastated.
"Don't worry, Baloo, I'll take care of it." Matthew said, taking out his wallet and withdrawing a card that looked similar to Kit's gift card from within.
"What? But Matt… you know I can't pay ya back for this…" Baloo said with concern.
"I know, and I expect nothing in return." Matthew said. "And I'd pay any price to have my son to live close by me."
"Dad…" Kit murmured, looking up at Matthew in awe, looking touched, his eyes shining.
"Matt..." Baloo murmured as he watched Matthew swipe his card, making the payment.
"Payment accepted," the console's cool female voice said. "Please wait while we build your plane." And then a percentage bar appeared on screen. They sat and waited for half an hour before it reached one hundred percent. "Your new plane is complete. Take your keys from the flap below the console. Happy flying." With a clinkering sound, not unlike the sound of returned coins falling, a pair of keys fell through the flap and into the bowl beneath. Matthew took the keys and stood back.
The doors of the hangar slide slowly open, steams billowed out before a brand-new yellow seaplane rolling slowly out with the intro music to Real Gone by Sheryl Crow playing in the background.
As the new Sea Duck rolled fully out of the hangar, the doors closed behind it. Kit and Baloo were both gazing in awe at the Sea Duck.
"Matt..." Baloo said breathlessly, pulling Matthew into an one-arm hug. "Yer my new best buddy!"
"Oh wow, Baloo. I thought that honor belonged to Louie… I'm honored." Matthew said smiling as he handed Baloo the keys. "Here, these are yours. And Kit, here, take this." he tossed a flash drive to Kit. "Take care of it, keep it safe."
Kit caught the flash drive in his hand and examined it. "Why, what is this?" he asked.
"It's a flash drive with the Sea Duck's data inside it," Matthew said. "If anything happens to this Sea Duck, you can use that flash drive so this plane-building factory can build a new one. Just insert it into this console," he gestured to the console attached to the hangar door. "Bring up the data of the Sea Duck that is in that flash drive and then press Build. Easy, right?
"Wow, thanks Dad." Kit said, tucking the flash drive away under his cap. "But do I need my gift card to pay for it?"
"Yeah, your gift card will work anywhere in the D-Star." Matthew said. "But you'll have to put more money on it before using it to build another Sea Duck. I'll show you how later." he then turned to Baloo. "Well, Baloo, you wanna take the Duck for a test flight?" Matthew said with a grin.
"You better believe it, Matt!" Baloo said with a happy nod and then he ran up to the plane, pulled the door open and climbed up into the cockpit.
Matthew picked Kit up and helped him up into the cockpit, before climbing in after him, closing the door behind him.
Baloo was looked over the brand-new-looking brown leather seats, neither of them had a single patch on them. He then sat down in the pilot seat and sighed happily as he leaned back.
"Oh baby… this new seat is so comfy!"
Matthew sat down in the co-pilot seat, picked Kit up and set him on his lap. He cuddled Kit as he got him on his lap.
Baloo sat up straight and examined the controls and the dashboard of buttons and switches. There were a few extra ones he only ever saw in the McQueen. And looking the control yoke, he noticed a couple triggers near the top.
"What's with all these extras?" Baloo asked, gesturing at the unknown buttons and switches. "And does the Duck have guns now?"
"Yeah, and more." Matthew said as Kit snuggled up in Matthew's arms. "Start the engines and I'll explain them as we go."
Baloo inserted the key, turned it, flipped a few switches, starting the engines on and propellers started to spin. And then pushing the throttle forward just a little bit, and the Sea Duck rolled forward. He drove the plane through the hangar area and onto the runway.
"Call the air traffic control tower for permission to take off." Matthew advised him. "You must always ask for clearance to land and take off."
"Okay," Baloo said, picking up the mic.
Soon, they were up in the air, doing roller coaster-like maneuvers, loop-de-loops and even ol' Baloo Corkscrew, all the while, Matthew pointed at different buttons on the dashboard and explained the different new functions.
Kit, meanwhile, sat in Matthew's lap, reading the Sea Duck's new manual, a book he'd found under the co-pilot seat.
"Hey, Baloo!" Kit said excitedly, pointing to a page in the book. "The Sea Duck now has an autopilot system! Now you don't have to use the crowbar anymore!"
"Wait, what? Matthew said, looking over at Baloo. "You used a crowbar to put the plane on autopilot?" he then chucked. "Heh-heh, that's pretty clever, Baloo."
"Oh boy, I love this new plane." Baloo said happily, locating the autopilot switch. He flipped the switch and then leaned back in his seat, locking his hands behind his head and relaxing. "Now I can catch of few minutes of Z's with this new feature."
"Just don't use it too long, Baloo," Matthew warned. "a building or a mountain can appear while you're napping and autopilot will not change course for you to avoid it."
"I know, I know…" Baloo muttered, switching the autopilot off. "Heh-heh, I think I've got the hang of this new Duck." Baloo chuckled as he flew in a wide circle around the neighborhood and its' town.
"Really? Well then, let's have some fun, shall we?" Matthew said as he picked up the mic. "Hey Goof, bring out the practice hoops."
"Okey-dokey, Mattsy!" Goofy responded over the radio. "Should I put your name on the scoreboard?"
"No, Baloo's the one flying this plane, so put Baloo's name on the board." Matthew said.
Hundreds of giant holographic rings appeared across the sky and even a giant holographic scoreboard appeared above the air traffic control tower that beared Baloo's name on it and a big number zero below the name.
"Now, all you have to do is fly through these rings without missing a single one." Matthew said to Baloo. "Have fun with it!"
"Oh, I intend to." Baloo said with a grin as he focused on the rings and started flying through the rings. Now it was like a rollercoaster with Baloo flying in a straight line, then swooping down in a dive, before pulling back into a steep climb. After a half-hour, the scoreboard read one hundred million. Then the number vanished to be replaced with the word PERFECT!
"Wow, no one has ever got a perfect score!" Matthew said with a stunned look on his face. "...Not even me…"
"Hey Baloo, can I try? Can I?" Kit asked eagerly, sounding excited. "C'mon. Papa Bear, I wanna see how high I can go!"
"Alright, Lil Britches," Baloo chuckled. "C'mere," he said, holding out an arm, inviting Kit onto his lap.
Kit jumped across the cockpit into Baloo's lap from Matthew's, taking the control yoke.
"Alright Goof, we got a new pilot," Matthew spoke into the mic. "So change the name on the board to Kit and reset the score,"
"Okey-dokey, ah-hyuck!" Goofy's voice responded. "Whoa-whoa!" he cried and what followed were the sounds of a series of crashes. The scoreboard went haywire, the rings changed colors and became shaky, flickering in and out of view. Fireworks went off, the sky went dark and the gigantic holograms of the Tornado Titan, the Rock Titan and the Ice Titan that looked solid and real appearing before them, scaring the living daylight out of both Baloo and Kit, who screamed in terror, while Matthew remained perfectly calm.
"Relax, you two." Matthew said in a bored voice. "These monsters are only holograms, they're not real."
"Holo-what?" Kit asked.
"You know how movie reels project moving images onto a movie screen?" Matthew said. "It's like that, except a hologram doesn't need a wall or a screen."
"Wow…" Kit said in awe. "They look so real!"
"That's twenty-first century technology for ya." Matthew said. "It has evolved from movie reels into highly advanced holograms, looking so real that they can be mistaken for actual people."
And then, the three Titans disappeared and everything stopped going crazy and reversed back to normal.
"Sorry about that," said a kid's voice, Max's voice. "We ran into some...technical difficulties… Now have your fun while I unravel my Dad from these cables…. DAD, NO, STOP MOVING! YOU'RE GONNA—" Suddenly there was a loud crackle of electricity, followed by an explosion and another crashing sound as Goofy was blasted through the roof on the tower.
"AAAHHH-HOO-HOO-HOOOOOO!" Goofy cried as he went soaring through the air, shooting pass the Sea Duck like a rocket.
"Oh no! We gotta save him!" Kit cried, he reach and pushed the throttle all the way forward, going at full speed towards Goofy, and...
SPLAT! Goofy hit their windshield like a road bug.
"Gawrsh….thanks…." Goofy said in a flatten, muffled voice, sliding down the windshield.
"Wow, Lil Britches," Baloo said proudly, "That's exactly how you saved me during that Idol o' Doom swabble, I said it before, I'll say it again, you're gonna be a great pilot."
Kit smiled with pride at Baloo's words as Matthew pushed down the window and pulled a flattened Goofy off the windshield and into the cockpit.
"Thanks, Mattsy," Goofy groaned before Matthew set him down on the floor.
"No problem, Goof, but you should be thanking Kit," Matthew said with a proud smile.
"Hey, Yellow Duck!" said Max on the radio. "Thanks for saving my Dad!"
Kit and Baloo exchanged an annoyed glance before Kit took the mic. "No problem, Max, but uh, it's Sea Duck, not Yellow Duck."
"Oh, sorry," Max said. "Well I'm re-activating the practice hoops now."
The giant holographic rings appeared again, and Kit grinned with a focused look and flew the plane through the rings. He did good, but not as good as Baloo. He got a lot of rings but he also missed a lot of rings, and everytime he missed a ring, a female voice could be heard saying: "You missed a ring" or "That's quite a few rings you've missed." So his score was far from perfect at just fifty thousand.
"Aw man!" Kit groaned, putting his head down on top of the control yoke. "I missed more than half the rings Papa Bear got!"
"Don't feel bad, Lil Britches," Baloo said, patting him on the back. "I've been flying for years, you've barely just got yer wings. Ya did better than most kids yer age would."
"Yeah, Kit," Matthew said. "You did better than all the Duck triplets combined! Dewey's the reason I had to build a new McQueen with Build-a-Plane Workshop after he crashed it. Never let him near my plane since. I swear, the kid hangs out with Launchpad too much." Matthew then took Kit from Baloo's lap and set him back on his own lap. "Alright, Baloo, let's test your aiming with your new guns." Matthew said, picking up the mic. "Sea Duck to air control, come in."
"Air control to Yellow—er I mean, Sea Duck, reading you loud and clear." Max's voice sounded from the radio,
"Requesting the practice targets." Matthew said.
"Request granted, have fun!" Max said, and then hundreds of balloons with targets drawn on them took off into the sky, surrounding the Sea Duck.
"Okay, Baloo, take aim and fire away." Matthew said. "But make sure you don't fire towards the ground. Remember, there are people down there and you don't want to accidentally hit them."
Baloo flipped a switch on the dashboard that had an image of a pistol above it, and outside the plane, the two headlights flipped over and replaced themselves with a pair of machine guns.
Baloo put the plane into a dive, swooping below the balloons, and then he pulled the plane into a climb, he closed one eye and stuck his tongue out, licking his upper lip, before he opened fire on the balloons, popping dozens of them. And instead of bullets, these guns shot blue bolts of lasers. Then he pulled the plane into a climbing left turn before shooting at half a dozen more balloons.
"I still got it." Baloo said, blowing on his fingers and then he pretended to polish them on his shirt.
Later, after they've landed, Matthew bought the hangar next door and Baloo backed the Sea Duck into it, while Kit went into Matthew and Chris' hangar, gathered all of his stuff and carried them into the new hangar. Goofy returned to the air traffic control tower with his son, Max.
After getting Baloo and Kit moved into their new hangar and cleaning his own from Baloo's party, Matthew collapsed upon his sofa, sliding his feet out his boots and putting it up on the carpet table. He cracked open a can of soda, took a long deep drink, before leaning back in his sofa, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh.
He sat there, relaxing before he felt a small body slowly pressing itself onto him. He opened one eye and saw Chris laying his head on his chest, cuddling up against him.
"Daddy?" Chris said timidly, calling him Daddy as he did every time he feared he went too far and that he'd made his Dad really mad. He somehow felt that calling him Daddy would make him less mad. "I'm sorry I kicked you… I don't hate you. You're a wonderful Dad."
Matthew smiled and hugged his son, kissing him on top of the head. "It's all water under the wings, kiddo." then he added with a pained grimace: "But kick me like that again, and I swear, I will tan your hide. Do you understand me?"
"Yes sir…" Chris gulped, he then snuggled up against his Dad's side. After a moment of snuggling, he reached down beginning to massage his Dad's leg, where he had kicked him earlier. "Does it hurt?"
"Oh man, it did! You kicked like a horse!" Matthew groaned. "But it's okay, the pain's beginning to fade, it doesn't hurt as much anymore."
"I'm sorry," Chris said again.
"It's fine, Chris, I understand why you did it, which is why I'm not currently tanning your hide right now." Matthew said in a loving, patient tone. "I know how it looked to you, you saw it as me kicking Kit out along with Baloo. So I forgive this incident, but like I said, do it again, and I won't be as forgiving next time."
Matthew pulled Chris into an one-arm hug and Chris snuggled up against his Dad's side, his head laying on his Dad's chest. Chris then yawned and closed his eyes. Father and son falling asleep on the couch.
After an hour of sleep, Matthew woke up, got up and carried Chris to his room, placed Chris in his bed and covered him up. Then he took Chris' favorite teddy bear and placed it in Chris' arms before kissing Chris' forehead and then he left the room, looking back to see Chris hugging and snuggling with his teddy bear.
Author's Note:
I hope you enjoyed this episode. More episodes are coming, episode thirteen is already in the process of being written.
Special thanks to my editor, Cyclone Blaze.
