Disclaimer: I do not own TaleSpin or any of the Disney Afternoon contents.


Episode Fourteen
The Dedi Academy Entrance Exam


It was evening, at the Cloudkicker's hangar-suite, Matthew and Chris were preparing dinner. Matthew was at the stove, stirring something in a pot, while Chris set the table for four and then went over to the bar to prepare the salad.

"Why do I have to prepare the salad?" Chris asked grumpily as he cut up a few vegetables and mixed them up with the lettuce. "I don't even like salad!"

"Now, now, Chris, salads are good for you." Matthew said, lifting the pot off the stove, moving it over to the sink and pouring the hot, boiling water into the sink. "Trust me, you'll thank me for these healthy meals when you're older. If I let you eat the way you want to, you could end up like Baloo."

Chris gulped, as he had a mental image of himself being as fat as P.J. "On second thought… I want a double portion of this salad tonight." he said hastily.

Matthew smiled to himself as he dumped the contents of the pot into a serving bowl, which turned out to be noodles. He then added tomato sauce and chopped-up meat balls to the noodles.

Chris watched his Dad prepare the spaghetti with a look of hunger on his face, as this was one of his favorite things to eat.

"Do you think Kit passed Phil's tests?" Chris asked, watching Matthew mixing the spaghetti and stirring up the contents, making sure the meatballs and tomato were spread out to ensure an even serving.

"Oh, I don't know. But from what I've been able to gather from my research into Kit's history, he just might." Matthew said, not looking too happy about that possibility.

"You don't want him to pass, do you?" Chris said knowingly, observing his Dad's expressions.

Matthew sighed, looking tired. He smiled weakly at his son, ruffling Chris' hair. "Nothing gets by you, Chris... Well, let's just say I'd sleep easier if he didn't pass. Don't tell him I said that, he might not take kindly to me hoping he'd fail."

Chris nodded in understanding. "I won't say a word."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Chris shouted.

The door opened and in came Kit and Baloo.

"Hey-hey, Matt," Baloo said, sniffing the air. "Something smells finger-lickin' good!"

"Hey, Chris!" Kit said excitedly, running up to him. "I passed! I get to take the entrance exam tomorrow!"

"Really?" Chris said, putting up a great show of joy at the news, but inwardly, he cringed as he felt sorry for his Dad, who would be going to be sleeping less easy tonight and for many nights to come. "That's great!" he embraced Kit in celebration while casting Matthew an apologetic look from over Kit's shoulder.

Matthew put on a forced smile, one of his eyes twitching. "Y-yes! Those are great news! Excuse me. Chris, serve our guests." he hurried from the room, retreating to his bedroom. He closed his door, crossed over to his bed, grabbed a pillow from his bed, pressed his face to it and screamed into it. As a result, his screams came out very muffled.

In the kitchen, a concerned-looking Kit was looking at Matthew's bedroom door. "Is Dad okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Chris said, inwardly cringing at his own lie. "He won't be long. C'mon, let's eat."

"Ho-ho, boy! Now yer speakin' my language!" Baloo said happily, as he and Kit sat down at the table.

Chris set the bowl of spaghetti and the bowl of salad on the table. "Help yourselves while I get the breadsticks." He went back to the kitchen, took the breadsticks out of the toaster oven and put them in a bread basket before carrying them over to the table. When he got back to the table, however, he was shocked to see that most of the spaghetti was gone from the serving bowl. Kit had a modest amount of spaghetti on his plate along with an equal helping of salad. Baloo, however, had a very large portion of spaghetti on his plate and no salad, leaving barely enough spaghetti for Chris.

Kit gave Chris a sheepish, apologetic look as Chris stood there, frozen in shock and slowly it dawned on him that he'd be eating mostly salad tonight.

Chris let out a small whimper as he sat down and loaded his plate with what was left of the spaghetti, and a large amount of salad to make up for the lack of spaghetti, looking depressed as he began to eat.

Kit heard Chris' little whimper and saw how sad his brother was looking. He then glared over at Baloo, took his fork and scooped up less than half the spaghetti off of Baloo's plate before Baloo could take the first bite, and dropped it onto Chris' plate. Now Chris had a better amount on his plate.

"There you go, Chris." Kit said, smiling at Chris. "Eat up."

"Kit…" Baloo whined in protest.

Kit frowned at him. "Baloo, you are a guest here," he scolded. "And you left barely enough for your hosts. I know I taught you better manners than that!" He then scooped up some more spaghetti from Baloo's plate and dumped onto Matthew's empty plate. "There, now we all have an equal amount."

"But now I need some salad to make up for the loss," Baloo sighed as he unwillingly added some salad onto his plate.

"Thanks, Kit," Chris said with a grateful smile as he began to eat. Then he paused, looking confused. "Wait… YOU taught HIM some manners? I thought the adults were supposed to be the ones teaching manners, not the other way around."

"Yeah, well, somehow this one forgot his manners and I had to teach him so he could go on the Spruce Moose with Miss Cunningham." Kit said, giving a sad little smile at the fond memory.

"Yeah, and I got to fly the Spruce Moose ... sort of…" Baloo said, smiling at the fond memories as well.

Matthew then joined them at the table, looking completely normal, having blown off a lot of steam in the bedroom. He looked down at his plate and saw that someone had given him a decent amount of spaghetti.

"Who fixed my plate?" Matthew asked, smiling as he sat down at the table.

"I did," Kit said as he ate.

"Well, thanks, Kit." Matthew said as he reached for the salad and added some to his plate.

"Hey, Baloo, you say you kinda flew the Spruce Moose?" Chris said, swiping his thumb across the screen of his Gummiphone, bringing up an image of the aircraft. "How did you manage to get that thing off the ground, let alone through the Cape Suzette cliffs? It's huge!"

The rest of the dinner past with Baloo telling the story of his Spruce Moose adventure, making the meal more enjoyable.

"You landed that thing with nothing but the cables?" Matthew said, staring at Baloo in awe. "I knew you're a great pilot, but man, I underestimated you."

"Thanks, Matt." Baloo said in pride. "Oh, by the way, you guys are looking at the new Dedi ace pilot."

"Really?" Kit said in surprise, looking delighted .

"Yeah," Baloo said. "Can you believe that Phil wanted to turn me away, thinking I was a hopeless case? But I talked him into letting me try for fighter pilot. And man, oh man, I wowed him with my A-plus flying! And now I'm a Dedi pilot."

"Wow, you must be really good for Phil to make you a Dedi pilot while overlooking some, ahem, certain protocol…" Matthew said, referring to Baloo's weight, to which Baloo seemed oblivious.

"Hey, Kit," Chris said. "Did Edna reveal your powers to you?"

"Oh yes, she did," Kit said. "And she has all kinds of amazing stuff to make hero costumes and reveal your powers to you."

"Well? What are your powers?" Chris asked in suspense.

"Well, I have telekinesis…" Kit said slowly, as he tried to remember all the things his clone had shown him.

"Most Dedis have that." Chris said, sounding unimpressed. "What are your special power and your elemental power?"

"Um, I can… make clouds do whatever I want." Kit said. "And my elemental power is wind, I can actually make wind shoot out of my hands and blow away my targets!"

"Wow," Chris said in amazement. "Hey, once you've learned how to use your powers, you and I will be a force to be reckoned with!" he said with his arm around Kit's shoulders. "With your wind power and my water power, we can create a massive hurricane!"

"I guess… but how and when can I learn how to use my power?" Kit asked.

"Normally after you get into the academy," Chris said, "But I can teach you the concepts after dinner, if you want."

"Yeah, thanks!" Kit said, as he swirled his fork around in his noodles and then bringing it to his mouth to eat it.

Later that night, Kit and Chris stood alone together in Chris' bedroom. Kit looked around at Chris' room, looking at the plane models hanging from the ceiling, his collection of action figures and video games, DVD and Blu-Ray movies, and comic books.

Kit also saw that Chris had a total of five beds in his room; there was a triple decker bunk bed on one side of the room, and a double decker bunk bed on the other side of the room.

"Why do you have so many beds in here?" Kit asked, walking over to the double decker bunk and sat down on the bottom bunk.

"I have a lot of sleepovers with my friends, usually the triplets and one other kid." Chris said. "The extra kid is usually Max, Honker, Cubbi, Cavin or P.J."

Kit smiled, happy for Chris having a lot of friends. "Maybe you can add me to the list of that one extra kid. I'd like to join you on one of your sleepovers."

Chris' face brightened at the very thought. "Yeah! You'll have lots of fun, especially when we have game night!"

"Sounds fun," Kit said, smiling, then he turned serious. "Now, can we get to the part where you teach me the concepts of the Heart?" he added, trying not to sound too impatient or too eager.

"The power comes from here," Chris said, poking Kit's belly. "The stomach, also known as the Sea of Chi..." he paused and then giggled. "Although in Baloo's case, it's more like a vast ocean."

Chris and Kit shared a laugh over that joke.

"Now, you need to open a pathway from the stomach to the heart," Chris continued. "The heart serves as the safe filter to your raw power, if you try to bring out your power without going through the heart first, your power will be unstable, uncontrollable and dangerous. From the heart, five other pathways needs to be opened, to your brain and your four limbs."

"So, I need to open six pathways in my body to do it?" Kit asked, sounding like a rookie kid trying to keep up with the concepts of advanced algebra.

"Yes, your brain tells your power what to do and it comes out through your limbs."

Seeing as Kit still look confused, Chris sighed. "Okay, look, your stomach is the engine. Your heart is the trim setting. Your limbs are the flaps of your wings and your brain is the pilot, got it?"

Kit's eyes widened in comprehension. "Ohhh... now I get it!"

"Now, let's start with something easy." Chris said, taking Kit's cap off his head and setting it on the bed. He stood back and directed his hand to the cap on the bed, lifting his finger up and the cap floated up off the bed, flying around the room before landing back onto the bed. "Now you try."

Kit stood before the bed, eyeing his cap. He pointed his finger at it and then focused on bringing his power out from his stomach to his heart, and then from his heart to his arm and out his finger.

Nothing happened.

"It's okay if you don't make it happen within the first few tries," Chris said encouragingly. "It takes a while for your body, heart and mind to get used to it. Now, once your power comes out of your finger, it becomes an extension of your arm. Stretch it out to the cap and take hold of it."

Kit tried again and to his amazement, he could feel the power flowing through him, he felt his power extend an inch or so out of his finger before his power gave out on him and he fell onto his tail section.

"Kit, are you okay?" Chris asked in concern as he helped his brother, pulling him to his feet again.

"Y-yeah, but this is harder than I thought," Kit said, looking a little tired. "You make it look so easy!"

"It is easy, once you get the hang of it," Chris said. "And like I said, it takes a while for your body, heart and mind to get used to you channeling your power through it. And don't worry, everyone struggles with it at first."

Kit tried again and again, growing more and more tired with each try, but with no success.

"Don't worry, Kit, you'll get it." Chris said, and though he did look concerned for Kit, he did not try to stop him or suggest that he should take a break, knowing Kit would not like him interfering.

Kit tried one more time, but he was so tired that he ended up swaying where he stood, experiencing double vision. Finally tired out, he collapsed forward onto the bed.

Chris stepped forward and adjusted Kit's body into a more-comfortable position on the bed as he slept on and pulled the covers over him. Chris then climbed onto the bunk above Kit, and then, both brothers slept peacefully.

Matthew and Baloo came in to check on them once, but as they were already sleeping, they decided not to disturb them. Baloo left the room, but Matthew lingered long enough to take out his smartphone and took a picture of his sons sleeping, Kit on the bottom bunk and Chris on the top bunk. Matthew smiled fondly as he snapped the picture and then he backed out of the room.

The next day, Kit met Cavin at the Dedi Academy's Entrance Exam Hall, both wearing their new super suits. Cavin's super suit looked like a cloth version of a medieval knight armor, with a breastplate made of silver leather, with a pair of golden leather shoulder pads. He had silver white arm and leg sleeves. He wore a silver knight helmet, but instead of a visor for face protection, there was a wide purple lense across the face of the helmet that could be pushed up and down, so it didn't limit Cavin's vision. Holes were made in the helmet for Cavin's bear ears. And on the chest was the golden Gummi Bears emblem.

"Hey, Cavin," Kit greeted him. "I see that you've finally passed Phil's final test."

"Yeah, just barely." Cavin said, looking as though he didn't want to be reminded of the obstacles he went through to get here.

"Did you have to jump over a pool of lava?" Kit asked, thinking that would be the most challenging part of the obstacles for Cavin, considering he wasn't allowed to have Gummiberry juice.

"No, the entire obstacle course changed after you left," Cavin said. "Phil said it was to prevent the next guy in line from copying the previous guy. So my obstacles were very different from yours."

"What did you have to do?" Kit asked.

Cavin paused, seemingly to consider whether he wanted to tell Kit about it or not, before saying: "I don't even want to talk about it…"

The stands before them started filling up with an assortment of people.

"What's going on?" Kit asked. "What do we have to do, and who are those people?"

"I don't know what to expect," Cavin said, shrugging. "But those are all the teachers from the academy. They'll be watching us to get an idea of how to teach us."

In front of the stands on the ground was table with a sign reading the word "Judges" on its tablecloth. Five people took their places at the table. Two of them Kit recognized; Phil and Mrs. Beakley. He saw a black mouse, a man with a gray beard wearing blue robes and a star-and-moon pattern pointed hat, and a gray female rabbit in a police uniform.

"Who are those judges?" Kit asked Cavin, gesturing to the three people at the table he didn't know..

Cavin looked at Kit with a shocked look, as if Kit had grown an extra head. "You're kidding, right? Everyone knows Master Mickey, Yen Sid and Officer Hopps! And surely you know Mrs. Beakley."

"Uh, yeah. I knew her, and Phil, but I didn't know those others." Kit said, annoyed with Cavin's assumption that everyone knew these people. "I've only been here for a month, you know…."

Cavin leaned over to Kit and cupped his hand to Kit's ear and whispered into it.

"I'd avoid Officer Hopps if I were you, though. She's been trying to catch your Dad for years, so she can give him speeding tickets."

"What?" Kit cried in surprise, looking scared. "Is Dad on the run from the law?"

"No, no, no! Nothing like that!" Cavin said soothingly. "It's more like… your Dad drives through the town so fast that Officer Hopps never had any time to react. He's long gone by the time she starts her engine!"

"Ha, ha, nice try, Cavin." said a sly voice.

Cavin jumped and turned around to see Officer Hopps standing there, giving him a sly smile.

"Hello, you must be Kit." Officer Hopps said to Kit. "Welcome, and glad to finally meet you." she held out a hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Officer Hopps," Kit said nervously, shaking her hand.

"Now, could you do me a favor and deliver this to your Dad for me?" Officer Hopps asked, handing Kit a ticket.

Kit looked down at the ticket and gulped at the fines on the ticket. "Reckless driving… exceeding the speed limits by a hundred-plus miles per hour… two hundred thousand dollars?!"

"Trust me, kiddo," Officer Hopps said. "those are just a number of tiny little fines that had been piling up on top of each other over the course of four years."

"Wh-why don't you give these to him yourself?" Kit asked nervously.

"Oh, believe me. I've tried!" Officer Hopps huffed. "But he's speed past me so fast that he made my little scooter spin! And he was often out of my district by the time I got my head back on straight! And I can't leave my district while on duty."

"I'll make sure he gets it, ma'am." Kit promised, tucking the ticket away under his cap.

"See that you do. I'd hate to have to make you two share a jail cell." Officer Hopps said, giving Kit a threatening look to show that she meant business, before walking off.

Kit gulped as he watched her go, while Cavin gave him a 'don't-mess-with-her' sort of look.

At the high table where the teachers sat, Master Mickey at the center of table stood up and addressed Kit and Cavin.

"You two have passed Phil's tests and he submitted your names for consideration to be potential students at this academy." Mickey said. "Now, I must ask you two, why do you wish to become Dedis? Kit, you first."

"Uhh…" Kit paused to think for a moment, and then he thought of his home, of Rebecca, Molly, Wildcat and all the friends he left behind that were taken by the Shadow Minions. He clenched his fists at his sides and shut his eyes tight against the overwhelming urge to cry. Then he looked up at Mickey with a look of determination, tears flying from his eyes. "I... I lost everything to the Shadow Minions. All my friends, the people I've come to see as my family, the first real home I've known for most of my life..." he paused again to tighten his hold over himself, keeping himself from crying. A single sob escaped his lips before he continued: "I...I want to help fight them and make sure that doesn't happen to any other worlds!"

All the teachers at the table stood up and applauded Kit for his declaration.

"Well said!" Mickey said, clapping his hands, Then he turned his attention onto Cavin. "And what about you, Cavin?"

"I have the same reason, sir." Cavin said, holding himself stiff and upright. "Back in Dunwyn, I've always dreamed of becoming a knight, and here at the D-Star, becoming a Dedi is the closest to becoming a Gummi knight. So I've always wanted a grand adventure where I could play part in protecting my kingdom, my family and friends. Also, as you all know, Cubbi and I blame ourselves for Gusto getting captured and imprisoned at Drekmore. If it were possible, I'd want to play a part in rescuing him!"

"Well said, Cavin!" Mickey said. "Now, in order to become students here, you two must pass the entrance exam by going through a series of challenges. Good luck."

Suddenly the room around them changed, Mickey vanished, and Kit and Cavin found themselves in a forest, as if they have been teleported there.

They looked around in awe.

"Wow... where are we, and how did we get here so fast?" Kit asked, looking around at the surrounding berry bushes.

Cavin went over to one of the bushes, picked a blue berry and examined it. "Gummiberries… I know where we are! We're in the forest just outside Dunwyn." He ate the berry, then grabbed Kit's shoulders. "Kit… this is my homeworld."

"Are you sure?" Kit asked.

"Yeah, or at least it's a copy of it." Cavin said, looking around with a mixture of nostalgia and sadness.

Just then, Mickey's voice spoke to them from the heavens. "Alright boys," a pair of berry baskets appeared before them. "Take these baskets. Now, your first challenge is to collect fifty red berries each."

"Wow, that's not so bad…" Kit said, stepping forward and taking his basket. As he did so, a big wooden club the size of Baloo's entire body thudded down beside him. Behind the club, was a huge green ogre. "AH! IT'S BAD, IT'S BAD! iT'S VERY BAD!" he cried in a high voice, running and diving into a nearby bush.

"...Oh, and uh, watch out for ogres." Mickey's voice said and then went quiet.

"NOW he tells us…" Kit muttered, before a huge hand grabbed the entire length of his legs and yanked him out of the bush. He let out a yelp before he found himself hanging upside down in the ogre's huge hand, staring right into the ogre's face.

"Ooh, Gummi Bear! Dukey will be so happy!" the ogre said in a voice that suggested very low intelligence.

"W-w-wait! I'm not a Gummi Bear!" Kit cried, his voice cracking due to fear. "I'm just a regular boy bear!"

"You small, you wear clothes and you talk!" the ogre said, looking Kit over from different angles. "You Gummi Bear."

"Yeah? Well, you're ugly!" Kit said as he quickly withdrew his airfoil and threw it into the ogre's face. It struck the ogre in the eye, causing the ogre to cry out in pain, dropping Kit to the ground and clutching his eye, roaring and swinging his club blindly while also stomping around. Kit stayed low, retrieved his airfoil and ran for it. He dived into another bush before the ogre had a chance to see where he went.

In the bush, Kit tried to keep his breathing under control, which became difficult due to the shock of being grabbed and held by a fairy tale beast, an actual ogre.

Kit then peeked through the leaves of the bush and saw the ogre looking around for him. And to his horror, he saw that a dozen other ogres joined the first.

"GUMMI BEAR! GET GUMMI BEAR!" roared the ogre who had caught Kit, still rubbing his injured eye.

Kit retreated further back within the bush. "Great, how am I supposed to gather those berries with these big brutes running around?" he said to himself hopelessly. He looked around within the bush and saw some red berries. He gasped in realization and thought to himself 'Oh, now I get it, I can get the berries while I'm hiding from those ogres!' And so, Kit started picking his red berries from within bush.

Cavin, on the other hand, was in his element. He was staying out of sight of the ogres up in the trees.

"Okay, let's hope this VR is a perfect replica of Gummi Forest…" Cavin muttered, taking hold of a branch and pulling it down like a lever. As he did so, a compartment within a high branch burst open and rocks fell out of it, hitting an ogre below on the head, knocking it out. "Alright! Now let's hope I remember where all of Gruffi's traps are..." he said before moving to a different place in the trees.

Back with Kit, he was gathering berries as fast as he could, until a huge fist closed around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. He yelped as he was yanked out of his bush and found himself facing a purple ogre.

"Hey! Me got Gummi Bear! Me got Gummi Bear!" the purple ogre cried with glee.

Kit groaned and grunted as he strained within the fist, trying to free his arms. "Ugh! Not again… Let me go, you big, dumb ape!"

All the other ogres gathered around the ogre holding Kit, to look at him and to celebrate his capture.

"We got Gummi! We got Gummi!" they cheered.

Kit yelled out his frustration; "I am NOT a Gummi Bear!"

Just then, Cavin stepped out from behind a tree, revealing himself to the ogres. "Hey! Why don't you catch yourselves a REAL Gummi Bear?" he said, jabbing himself in the chest with a thumb.

The ogres glanced at each other in confusion.

"But, we got Gummi Bear…"

"No, no, what you got there is a Phony Bear. I'M the real deal." Cavin said turning his back to them. "Come and get me... if you can!"

The ogre swung Kit up into the air as he and his fellows took off running after Cavin. Kit flew twenty feet up into the air before he started to fall back down. He stopped his fall by grabbing

onto a branch in mid-fall. He climbed up onto the branch.

"...And I thought Air Pirates were bad…" Kit muttered, crawling along the branch towards the main tree. "I hate ogres..."

Cavin was running and panting through the forest with a group of ogres chasing him, making sharp turns and dodging between the trees. Then, while running, he popped a Gummiberry bean into his mouth and then he took off, bouncing through the forest, bouncing here and there and everywhere. He bounced over a patch of earth before he stopped and turned to face the ogres with a determined glare on his face.

He stood there as the ogres kept on running at him. Cavin gave them a smirk just before the ground collapsed beneath the oncoming ogres and they all fell into a deep pit. They had fallen through a hole in the ground, concealed by a net covered in grass and leaves.

Cavin stood over the hole, looking down on them. "Bye guys, see ya next Fall!" he then bounced over the hole and back to the berry bushes, where he found Kit climbing down from the tree. He scooped up his basket and started gathering red berries. "Hurry, I don't know how long it would take before they climb out of that hole!"

Kit didn't need telling twice. As soon as he was back on the ground, he too grabbed his basket and started picking red berries as fast as he could.

Kit and Cavin were almost finished with their task, when they heard a series of bellows from within the trees and felt the ground shaking, as if a herd of rampaging rhinos were running towards them. The two boys exchanged a look of terror. The ogres had escaped the hole.

"HURRY!" Cavin yelped frantically, increasing his berry-picking speed. "There won't be any berries left when they're through!"

Kit also picked berries faster, and just as he picked the last berry, Cavin grabbed his arm and pulled him into the forest, away from the berry bushes as the ogres came storming through. Cavin led Kit to a tree stump.

"Quick, in here!" Cavin cried, stomping his foot to a spot near the stump. The top of the stump sprung open, like a trash can lid, revealing what looked to Kit like a manhole. "GO ON!" Cavin yelled, shoving Kit forward.

Kit jumped into the hole, followed by Cavin. The stump top closed above them and they heard the ogres running around overhead. They let out a breath of relief, leaning against the wall, sliding down it and sat side by side, gasping and panting.

"That was close!" Cavin whispered.

"Yeah…" Kit said sadly, holding his basket up. There was a small screen on the basket with the number 48 on it. "But...I didn't quite make it…."

Cavin smiled. "That's okay." he held up his basket, the number on his basket reading 52. "Here, I've got extra berries to give you." He then took two berries from his basket and dropped them into Kit's.

"Really? Thanks!" Kit said gratefully as the number on his basket changed to 50, now both baskets had the same amount of berries.

Suddenly, their surroundings changed into a blank white void and Mickey appeared before them.

"Well done, you two." Mickey said, smiling.

"But… I failed, I couldn't get all the berries myself." Kit said, sounding so disappointed in himself.

"You two could've played through this as rivals or a team. Cavin helped you as a team member." Mickey said. "As a team, you're allowed to help each other get all the berries." He turned to Cavin. "It was outstanding and smart the way you handled the ogres and helped Kit. You both pass. Now, that was just the first challenge, there's still two more to go!"

"Two more?!" Kit and Cavin cried together, as Mickey vanished and the void changed into a street in the middle of a city. People were walking everywhere up and down the street. Cars were moving slowly along in a traffic on the road.

"Wh-where are we?" Cavin said nervously, stepping slightly behind Kit. Apparently being in a crowded street was a little claustrophobic for him.

"I've been here before..." Kit said, looking around in awe. "Cavin, we're in Duckburg." By the sound of Kit's voice, he was nostalgic to be here again. "But what are we supposed to do here?" He then grabbed Cavin's arm and pulled him along. "C'mon, we gotta get moving or we'll get stepped on."

Cavin whimpered as he was pulled along by Kit, moving along with the crowd. They walked down the street before Kit guided Cavin into an alleyway, getting out of the crowd.

"Wh-why were there so many people out?" Cavin asked, glad to get out of the crowd.

Kit glanced at the Duckburg clocktower. "It's five-thirty in the evening, so it's rush hour."

"What's rush hour?" Cavin asked, bemused.

"It's a time of day when people are getting off from work and going home." Kit explained. "A lot of people get off work around this time and they rush to get home, that's why there's a crowd on the streets."

"Crowds on the streets are kinda overwhelming."

"You've just taken care of a group of ogres single-handedly and THIS overwhelms you?" Kit asked incredulously.

"The ogres are not this big in numbers!" Cavin said, gesturing around at the crowd.

"...I still think the ogres are the bigger threat..." Kit muttered.

"Alright, boys!" Mickey's voice spoke down to them from the heavens. "Here are your collection bags." A pair of money bags appeared before them. "Take these bags and collect one hundred gold coins and then deliver them to Scrooge McDuck." A holographic image of Scrooge appeared in front of them. "But watch out for the Beagle Boys, for they are also after the gold coins. Okay, your challenge begins… NOW!"

Kit and Cavin charged forward, picking up every gold coin they found while using Kit's street expertise to avoid and evade every Beagle Boy they saw ahead of them.

Kit pulled Cavin into an alley, wherein they hid, watching the Beagle Boys running up and down the street, scooping up the coins from the ground.

"Kit, what—?" Cavin started to say, but Kit shushed him.

"Shh, I'm trying to observe our opponents," Kit said with a focused look, watching the Beagle Boys intensely.

"Big Time, I'm hungry!" whined a fat Beagle Boy.

"Burger, you're always hungry…" the short Beagle Boy said, annoyed, face-palming himself. "Just grab all those coins and then you can eat!"

"Aww...but I want to eat now!" Burger whined as he walked away, scooping up a few coins as he went by.

This gave Kit an idea, he then turned to Cavin. "Watch that fat guy," he said, gesturing to Burger. "I'll be right back."

Before Cavin could say anything, Kit had ran from his presence. He sighed and turned to watch Burger, just as Kit had told him to.

After a few minutes, Kit returned with a paper bag from a hamburger joint.

"What are you—?" Cavin started to say, but Kit shushed him and then surprised Cavin by walking right up to the fat Beagle Boy.

"Excuse me, Mister." Kit said in his perfect little gentleman voice, holding up the burger bag. "There's been a mistake at the burger joint. I've ordered one burger and got two. I would eat this, but I'm full."

"Well if you're full, gimme!" Burger said eagerly, making a grab for the burger bag, but Kit yanked it out of Burger's reach.

"I dunno… I mean, this is the Supreme Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe…" Kit said. "Maybe I should save it for later."

"No! Please, gimme! I'm so hungry, I'll do anything!" Burger begged him.

"But I can't just give this away, it's an expensive burger!" Kit said slyly.

"Expensive? Expensive means tasty!" Burger said greedily. "Oh, please, I'll give ya anything for it!"

"Well…. I suppose I could be persuaded to part with it... IF you give me that bag of gold." Kit said, pointing at the bag Burger was holding.

"Oh, sure, sure! Here!" Burger said, handing Kit the bag. "Now can I have it?"

"Yeah, thanks!" Kit said, tossing the burger bag to Burger, "It's all yours! Bye!" And he took off running with the bag of gold coins, leaving Burger to happily unwrap his burger and taking a big bite of it.

Kit returned to Cavin with the bag of gold with a smug look on his face.

"Wow, that was amazing, Kit!" Cavin said.

"Not really, the fat stupid ones are always easy," Kit said, shrugging. "You just gotta appeal to their stomach, and they'll give you anything in exchange for food. Now c'mon, let's go!"

Kit pulled down the ladder to the fire escape and the two of them climbed it up to the roof. There, Kit opened the bag and dumped its contents out, a mixture of candies, donuts and gold coins. He counted the coins.

"Fifty coins, that means twenty-five for each of us." Kit said, scooping up half of the coins into his bag.

"Why are you splitting it with me?" Cavin asked, not touching the remaining coins.

"It's repayment for the help you gave me before." Kit said. "My debt to you is paid."

"Kit, we're a team, you don't owe me anything." Cavin said, looking at Kit in concern.

"I know, but I'd feel better if you'd just take it anyway."

"Alright, if it makes you feel better…" Cavin said, scooping up the remaining coins and putting them into his bag.

"Oh kids…."

Kit and Cavin whipped around to see the Beagle Boys climbing up onto the roof. Kit dashed at Cavin, grabbing him and jumping off the roof. Cavin screamed and held on to Kit for dear life.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Cavin screamed as they fell.

Kit smirked as he whipped out his airfoil and fanned it out. Placing his feet upon it, Kit glided Cavin and himself back to the ground safely.

Cavin barely caught his breath when suddenly a Beagle Boy popped up from a trash can behind the boys and grabbed Cavin by the collar of his shirt. Cavin cried out in shock.

"CAVIN!" Kit cried, jumping back away from the Beagle Boy that was making a grab for him as well. Kit grabbed a trash can lid from nearby. "Let him go, ya big bully!" he threw the trash can lid at the Beagle Boy's wrist.

The Beagle Boy cried out in pain and dropped Cavin. Kit then grabbed Cavin's hand and took off running, dragging Cavin along with him. As they ran down the alley, more Beagle Boys pop out at them from out of trash cans and dumpsters. Kit and Cavin had to either duck under them or jump over them.

"How many of these guys are there?" Kit asked as they ran.

"I don't know! It's a mystery!" Cavin panted. "The Beagle Boys have so many brothers, cousins and 's unknown how many of them there are!"

"It's unknown…? THAT'S IT!" Kit exclaimed as a bright idea came to him, he grabbed Cavin's hand and made a sharp turn out of sight.

"Where did they go?!" cried Big Time. "You lug heads lost 'em!"

"Hey, it wasn't our fault!" retorted another.

As they argue amongst themselves, Kit and Cavin were coming out of a clothing store, wearing blue jeans and a red sweatshirt. They quickly put on a black bandit mask and a green hat.

"Since there's so many of them, we'll just blend in instead." Kit whispered. "This would make collecting the coins easier, since they'd think we're one of them."

"Wow, Kit, you're a genius!" Cavin whispered back. "I'd never would have thought of this."

The two of them split up, collecting coins from various places uninterrupted amongst the Beagle Boys who were either looking for them or the gold coins.

"And that's the last of 'em!" Cavin said as he and Kit picked up their one hundredth gold coin. "Now what do we do?"

"I think we have to deliver the gold to Scrooge McDuck." Kit said.

"Oh, and where is Scrooge?" Cavin asked.

"How should I know, I never met the guy when I came here in the real world."

"Well, don't look at me! I don't even know where I am!" Cavin exclaimed, looking scared at being lost in this place.

"Calm down, I'll figure something out." Kit said, placing a hand on Cavin's shoulder. "I just need to find out where he lives or where he works. Maybe I can get the information outta' these guys." he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the nearby Beagle Boys.

"I don't know, Kit…" Cavin said uncertainly. "I feel like you're pressing your luck, having already interacted with one of them once…"

"Trust me, I'll be fine." Kit said reassuringly, he then handed Cavin his bag of gold coins. "Here, you stay here with our gold while I investigate."

And with that, Kit dashed through the alley, rounded the corner and went out of sight. Cavin looked around and then he took the two bags of gold coins and hid behind the dumpster, awaiting Kit's return.

Kit was walking amongst the Beagle Boys. His new attire allowed him to go largely unnoticed as he listened to them talking to each other, hoping they'd eventually discuss something about Scrooge that would be useful to him.

Finally, during a conversation between a trio of Beagle Boys that Kit listened in on, Kit learned that Scrooge McDuck works in his office in the Money Bin. And he even learned where the Money Bin was, thanks to a Beagle Boy pointing at it.

Having all the information he needed, Kit moved to return to Cavin, but he bumped into an old woman in a black bandit mask. She grabbed the collar of Kit's shirt and lifted him up off the ground, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

"Wait a minute ...I don't remember any of my boys being as young as you…" she said suspiciously, she brushed Kit's green hat off his head and yanked off his mask. "I knew it! It's not a Beagle Boy! It's some kid." she said, dropping Kit, who landed on his rear end on the ground, and suddenly, he found himself surrounded from all sides by Beagle Boys. "Mess him up, boys!"

"Yes, Ma…." they chuckled sinisterly, approaching Kit slowly, cracking their knuckles ominously.

Kit looked wildly all around for an escape route, but he saw none. He was cornered.

"NO…! NOOOOO!" Kit cried, throwing his hands up over his face to protect himself.

Suddenly, he felt a great gust of wind around himself, he lowered his hands to look and realized that he was inside a tornado. "What the…"

As soon as he realized what he had done, the tornado died down and faded away. And as it did so, Kit saw that the Beagle Boys had been scattered all over the place. Some were hanging in trees or lamp posts, other laid in awkward positions a good distant away.

"Did… did I do that?" he said in awe, staring at his hands in amazement. "YA-HOO! I did it!" he cried excitedly. He tried to do it again, nothing happened. His face fell, he tried again and again, but no matter how hard he tried to repeat the tornado attack, nothing happened. "What? Was it a fluke the first time? C'mon, wind! Come out!" he said in frustration, thrusting his hands this way and that, but to no avail. And he had to stop, because the Beagle Boys around him were starting to stir, so he took off running, throwing off his red shirt and pulling down his blue jeans as he ran, running the rest of the way in his super suit.

Kit found Cavin exactly where he left him. Running to Cavin's side, Kit grabbed his money bag and swung it over his shoulder.

"C'mon! I found out where Scrooge works!" Kit said, and he took off running towards the hill atop which the Money Bin stood, with Cavin running alongside him.

Scrooge McDuck was pacing back and forth in front of the door into the Bin, but he stopped when he saw Kit and Cavin running towards him.

"What are you kids doing here?" Scrooge asked them, as they halted in front of him. And then he noticed the bags they were carrying. "What have you got there?"

"Two bags of gold coins, just for you, sir." Kit said as he and Cavin handed Scrooge the two bags.

"Bless my bagpipes!" Scrooge exclaimed in surprise, opening one of the bags and examining the gold coins, and as he did so, the world around Kit and Cavin faded into an empty void again.

When a new world faded into existence, Kit and Cavin were horrified to see that they were in a giant world, in which they were the size of mice. Everything was gigantic, the cars, the street signs, buildings, pavements and even the people.

"Ah! Why is everything so big?!," Cavin said in terror, looking around at the giant buildings and trash cans. "It's so massive… and terrifying..."

"Yeah…" Kit said, looking at his hands and then down at his body. "Okay, stay calm… do not panic…."

Just then, a giant pair of high heels walked past. Kit stared up at the giantess to whom the high heels belonged.

"Okay… could someone please explain HOW WE GOT SO SMALLLLLLL?!" Kit cried up to the heavens, starting to panic as he grabbed Cavin by the arm and pulled him under a newspaper vending box. "Okay," Kit said, as he and Cavin faced towards each other with both hands on the knees. "What are we supposed to do?"

As if the world had been waiting for him to ask, Mouse's voice spoke to them. "In this challenge, you gotta rescue Chip 'n Dale from the villainous Fat Cat. They are being held at an abandoned cat food factory." Holographic images of each person he named and the cat food factory appeared in front of them. "Rescue them and you pass. Fail, and well...better luck next time."

"This is going to be our hardest challenge yet, with us being this size!" Cavin said despairingly. "And what's a cat food factory? How are we supposed to find it? And more importantly, how are we going to GET there? With this size, it would take us half a day to cover one block!"

Kit himself had no idea, so he looked around for an idea of what to do. He saw a couple of pigeons and then he saw a roll of sewing threads. His eyes lit up as an idea came to him.

"I got it!" Kit said as he got up and ran over to the sewing threads. He unwound a long piece of thread and tied a loop. Then he ran out from under the newspaper vending machine, swinging his lasso around before throwing it at the pigeon's beak, he yanked on the thread, tightening the loop around the pigeon's beak, forcing it to shut.

The pigeon yanked its head back and flapped its wings, sending Kit flying forward. He quickly swung himself around the pigeon, landing on its back before looping the other end of the thread around its beak, creating reins that he could use to control it.

Kit yanked back harder on the reins and the pigeon stopped struggling and settled down.

Kit was surprised with himself. "I did it?" and then he laughed happily. "Hey, Cavin! I did it!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Cavin said, tying a loop in his piece of thread. "Now hold on while I catch this bird…"

Cavin threw the lasso at another pigeon, but the pigeon took flight and instead of its beak, he caught its leg instead, and suddenly he was yanked up into the air, hanging from beneath the pigeon.

"AAAHHHH! KIT, GET ME DOWN FROM THIS CRAZY THING!" Cavin screamed as the bird took off with him.

"CAVIN!" Kit cried, he then flicked the reins and his pigeon took flight. He carefully steered his bird directly under Cavin. "Cavin, let go! I'll catch you!"

"O-okay…" Cavin gulped as he let go, he fell but then he was blown sideways by the wind and missed Kit's pigeon and fell towards the ground.

"OH MY GOSH!" Kit cried as he pulled his pigeon into a dive, swooping under Cavin and this time, Cavin landed on the pigeon's back, but then he began to slide off. Kit quickly grabbed Cavin's wrist and pulled him back on. Now Cavin was hugging Kit from behind very tightly and whimpered. "Cavin, are you okay?"

"Am I okay? AM I OKAY?! I COULD'VE BEEN KILLED!" Cavin cried, freaking out a little, before hugging Kit even tighter. "But...I think I'll be alright once I get back to the ground where I belong…"

"First, we need to find that cat food factory," Kit said as he flicked the reins and steered the pigeon around to circle the area, scanning the city for the cat food factory. At last, he spotted it, the Happy Tom Cat Food Factory, a building with a giant golden cat statue lying on the roof. "THERE!" he yelled as he pushed the pigeon into a dive towards it, Cavin screaming with fright and holding on tightly to Kit as they went.

They landed on the rooftop of the factory and dismounted the pigeon, Kit jumped off smoothly and Cavin promptly fell off and landed on his rear end.

"OW!"

"Shh!" Kit hissed at him before offering a hand to help him up. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

"Apart from my sore rear, I'm just grand…" Cavin whispered back. "And why are we whispering."

Kit led Cavin to the sunroof, through which they could look down into the factory.

"So they won't hear us." Kit whispered, pointing down at a fat cat in a purple suit standing far below them with his four henchmen. "Those two must be Chip and Dale." he pointed to two chipmunks tied to a flat stone slab with an axe on one side and a pistol on the other. Both of them held in place with ropes, and hanging overhead, waiting to squish them was a dangerously swaying anvil. "By the looks of things, they're about to be sliced, shot and flattened flatter than pancakes!"

Down on the floor below the sunroof, the fat gray cat in the purple suit was dancing and laughing triumphantly.

"Oh, I've waited too long for this moment; the demise of the two leading members of the Rescue Rangers!"

"You'll never get away with this, Fat Cat!" yelled Chip, the chipmunk with the fedora hat.

"Y-yeah, others will rise up and take our place!" Dale declared boldly, despite looking clearly terrified.

"You know, I could just eat you two and be done with it," Fat Cat said, putting his face right up close to them, his teeth and claws showing, then he stood back up again. "But that's too cliché and mundane. I want to savor and enjoy this moment as I witness your demise. Now, allow me to explain how this is going to work. When I give the word, Mepps will pull the string, releasing the bowling ball, which will roll down the track, setting off the mechanism that will trigger the axe, the gun, and finally, the anvil. SMASH!" he pointed to the bowling ball. "CHOP!" he pointed to the axe. "BANG!" he pointed to the pistol. "SPLAT!" he pointed to the anvil.

Dale gulped, his bottom lip shivering with terror, while Chip looked half bored and half annoyed.

"How unoriginal, you stole this idea from Ratigan!" Chip accused.

"Yes…" Fat Cat said, moving to sit down in his half cat bed, half throne. "But unlike my little criminal mastermind idol, I'm going to sit here and watch the last moments of your pathetic little lives. Farewell, Rescue Rangers!"

Back on the roof, Kit and Cavin looked at each other with expressions of horror.

"Oh my gosh!" Kit whispered. "We gotta get down there and help them!"

"But how are we going to get all the way down there?" Cavin asked, looking at the long, long way down to the floor.

Kit looked over to the pigeon they have just dismounted. "I got an idea…"

Cavin's eyes followed Kit's. "Oh no… No! No way am I getting on that—" next thing Cavin knew, he was back on the pigeon's back behind Kit. "How? How did I let him talk me into these things?" he said in dismay just before the pigeon took off and flew through the glass flap in the sunroof.

Unfortunately, the sound of the glass flap flipping alerted Fat Cat and his henchmen to their presence.

"What the…" Fat Cat said, standing slowly up from his throne, looking up at them. "Mepps! NOW! Pull that blasted rope now!" he yelled.

"You got it, boss…" Mepps said as he prepared to pull the rope to release the bowling ball, but with Kit's steering, the pigeon swooped down upon the rope and cut it in the middle with a snap of its' beak, just as Mepps gave an almighty yank and, having nothing to pull on the other end of the rope, he fell backwards off the pile of crates on which he stood, crying out as he fell, crashing to the floor out of sight behind the crates.

"No! They ruined my moment of triumph!" Fat Cat yelled angrily, then he turned to his three remaining henchmen. "What are you waiting for, you fools? GET THEM!"

The henchmen charged forward, jumping up, trying to grab the pigeon. Kit had no choice but to let the pigeon take control of its' own flight, knowing the bird's natural instinct would be to avoid big predators. Having sacrificed control, there was little Kit could do except to hold onto the bird's neck for dear life with Cavin holding tightly to his waist. The pigeon swooped up and down and zigzagged to avoid capture.

"THIS IS WORSE THAN THE QUICK TUNNEL!" Cavin yelled, his face turning pale green. "OH, I'M GONNA BE SICK!"

"Cavin, hold on tight!" Kit yelled, and Cavin, who was already holding on to Kit, tightened his hold on Kit.

Kit let go of the bird's neck and flew off the pigeon, he then pulled out his airfoil and glided them both to the floor.

The henchmen followed the pigeon out of the window, not realizing the real targets had left its back.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, YOU FOOLS? GET BACK HERE!" yelled Fat Cat angrily, then he groaned. "Ugh, must I do everything myself…?" he stood up and came running at them.

Cavin quickly popped a bean into his mouth and gulped it down, before bouncing away. But Kit couldn't get away, he tried to run, but Fat Cat grabbed him by the back of his suit and lifted him up, where he dangled from Fat Cat's paw.

"Well, well, well... What have we here?" Fat Cat questioned, holding Kit up by the back of his suit. "What are you, a mouse or a tiny bear?" he said, bemused as he turned Kit around to look at his back and saw that Kit lacked a mouse tail.

"Let's go with tiny bear…" Kit said as he forced himself to turn back around to face Fat Cat, he then threw his airfoil at Fat Cat's eye, causing him to shriek with pain and he dropped Kit.

Kit hit the floor with a grunt, while Cavin came forward with a long piece of string that he had found and bounced all around Fat Cat, wrapping him up from head to knee. Once Kit recovered from his fall, he tied Fat Cat's feet together and he lost his balance and fell face down.

With Fat Cat down, Kit and Cavin ran to Chip and Dale and released them from their bonds.

Dale jumped up and hugged Kit and Cavin, showering them with his thanks.

"The goof ball said it all for me," Chip said with a smile. He then took out two badges and pinned them to the front of Kit and Cavin's suit. "I hereby dub thee Honorary Rescue Rangers!"

After all of that, the VR world around them vanished and they were back in the real world, facing the judges behind the long table.

The judges all held up cards with a number. Some were tens, some were nines, a few were eights and a six from Phill.

"Congratulations, you two," Master Mickey said, standing before them. "You passed. Welcome to the Dedi Academy."


Author's Note:
Finally, the fourteenth episode is here, and just in time for Christmas! Please consider this a Christmas gift to you all from my editor, Cyclone Blaze and myself. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed this episode and look forward to more!