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Episode Seventeen

Prequel: Kit's Tale, Part One


It was after school at Dedi Academy and Huey and Max met Chris at his locker in the hallway. Chris got out his backpack, which contained materials he would need for the homework he would be doing that weekend. He swung his backpack onto his back and shut the door of his locker before he noticed them.

"Oh, hey guys!" he said brightly, smiling. "How was your first mission with my brother? I heard you three managed to save an Earth! Tell me all about it, and don't leave anything out!"

"Okay, that's what we wanted to talk to you about anyway." Huey said. "First, let me just say that Kit is a good leader—"

"—An awesome leader!" Max cut in excitedly. "Kit was amazing! He rode my Shooting Star like a pro!"

Huey frowned at Max for his interruption. "Yeah.. he was an awesome leader. But here's what happened before we got into a fight with the Shadow Minions and before he saved Earth Twenty-Two…"

And they told Chris all about their adventure, how they met Oliver and Dodger, how they were invited into their home for some hotdogs, and Kit's reaction to it all.

"...he seemed somewhat at home in their rundown place they called home." Huey said after telling the story. They were now on the flying school bus, as their storytelling had moved from the school hallways to the bus. "Before we walked into their place, Kit seemed nostalgic and sad at the same time. And the way he played with little Oliver, you'd think they were brothers!"

"Kit understood the ways of living on the streets better than we ever did." Max said. "That tells us that he was a street kid in the past, and that would explain his streetsmart. But still, it's hard to imagine a kid growing up on the streets at Oliver's age. I'm guessing Kit wasn't that much older when he was living on the streets."

"Yeah, I knew that…" Chris muttered sadly. "I knew he grew up on the streets, but he never went into details about what happened to him back then. Dad and I want to hear more, but Kit doesn't want to tell us, and Dad seems to think it's best not to force him. 'He'll tell us when he's ready,' he told me. Tell me more."

After Huey and Max told him the whole story, Chris went home to tell Matthew all that he learned from Huey and Max about Kit. Hearing the story of Kit's mission made Matthew more determined to hear the story of Kit's past from Kit's own mouth. He wanted so badly to hear more from Kit, but at the same time, he didn't want to force him. But maybe he could persuade him to tell the story.

The next day was Saturday and school was out for the weekend, so Matthew invited Kit and Baloo over for a pizza lunch. Once they were finished eating, Matthew stood up from the table.

"Kit, there is something we want to talk to you about." Matthew said seriously. He went over to his filing cabinet and withdrew several filing folders and a couple of posters. He returned to the table and dropped the folders and posters down on the table in front of Kit. "This is everything I've managed to gather about you before we lost our world. I can no longer investigate your past further without asking you too many questions. I've tried to spare you the task of telling me much, that is why I investigated you myself instead of asking you for the full story directly. With the loss of our world, the trail is now ice cold. So I have no other options but to ask you; what happened to you after you left the orphanage?"

A look of stunned surprise was frozen on Kit's face as he picked up a folder with shaky hands and opened it. He read the contents within. One by one, he picked up each of the folders and read them. Finally he unrolled each of the posters and felt a jolt in his gut as he saw himself with Daring Dan. Becoming overwhelmed with emotions and bad memories, he crumpled up each of the posters into a ball and threw them across the kitchen.

"Wh-where did you get these?" Kit asked in a shaky voice.

"From their sources in different places." Matthew said nervously, as if expecting a bomb to go off in his face. "H-how much of that is true?"

Kit looked up at Matthew with a scared look on his face, and it could not have been clearer that he was considering running for it. But he forced himself to remain in his seat.

"...All of it…" Kit said quietly, looking down at his hands. "It's true that I had three runaway attempts before I finally managed to get away… and my theft of food is also true..." he said, gesturing to the police reports. "I tried to avoid stealing as much as I could, but there were times when I was starving and no one was hiring me to work for them."

"No one is blaming you, son," Matthew said softly. "You did what you had to do to survive. I understand. I'm not mad at you for that."

"I didn't know about this part of yer story." Baloo said, as he was reading the folder Matthew got from Don Karnage. "According ta this, the Pirates took you from a plane bound from Freeport to Cape Suzette, like some kind of trophy…"

Kit was staring at the table, whimpering.

"Kit…" Matthew said softly, picking Kit up from his seat and hugging him to his chest. "It's okay… like I said before, we won't force you to tell us your story. But we want to hear it from you."

"Yeah, Kit," Chris said soothingly, patting Kit on the back. "No matter what happened in your past, we won't judge you."

"You promise?" Kit asked, directing his question to Matthew, like a little child seeking reassurance.

"Of course, we promise." Matthew said, setting Kit back down on his seat and patting him on the top of the head. "We know bits and pieces of your story, but we wanna know the full story and we wanna hear it from you."

"...Okay," Kit said in a small voice, and Matthew, Chris and Baloo gathered around him, getting ready to listen to his story. He gulped, feeling very nervous, as if he was under a very bright spotlight. "It all started with the fourth time I ran away, and this time, I was successful…"


Five Years Ago—

It was nightfall at Freeport orphanage, one of the upper windows was being raised and then a long white rope made entirely of bed sheets was thrown out and hung down from the window to the ground. Seven-year-old Kit Cloudkicker appeared at the window with a determined look on his little face.

"I'm gonna fly!" He declared as he climbed onto the window ledge. "I'm going out there to find my wings!" he said as he grabbed onto the rope. "And no one's gonna stop me!" he cried as he slid down the rope. Once on the ground, the little bear-boy ran as fast as his little legs would, carrying him away from the orphanage.

But like any runaway little kid, Kit never planned anything beyond. He was just running through the streets and down a few alleyways without any destinations. Kit did not have any place to go. He did not think about what he was going to do for food, shelter or what he was going to do during times of bad weather. He didn't plan or prepare for any of that.

He ran around into the next alley, he bumped into a large figure and bounced off him, falling onto his back. He looked up and saw a large thuggish figure looming over him.

"Well, well, well… What have we here? " the bulldog thug said, giving him a menacing grin. "You lost, kid?"

"N-no…" Kit stammered, looking terrified as he crawled backward away from the thug.

The thug reached down for him, but then suddenly, a preteen tiger kid jumped up behind the thug with a trash can held up high over his head. He swung the trash can down over the thug's head and then while still in midair, the tiger kid kicked the trash can, which went off like a gong and vibrated over the thug's head, causing him to become disorientated and he fell face-down.

After the thug went down, the tiger kid who looked to be twelve years old, ran at Kit, scooping him up in his arms and ran off with him from the alley, down the street and disappearing into another alleyway.

Once they were a good distance away from the thug, the tiger kid set Kit gently down.

"Are you okay, kid?" the tiger kid asked. "That guy almost had you for breakfast!"

"Yeah… I'm okay." Kit said, clinging tightly to the tiger kid's waist. "Thank you."

The tiger kid got down on one knee and patted Kit on the head. "No problem, kid. So what's a little squirt like you doing out here? What's your name?"

"Um...I'm Kit… Kit Cloudkicker," Kit said, letting go of the tiger kid and backed away a little bit to look up into the kid's face. "What's your name?"

"They call me Chester," the tiger kid said, smiling kindly down at Kit. "So again, what's a little squirt like you doing out here? Where's your Mommy?"

"I...I...don't have a Mommy..." Kit said sadly, his head bowed and his face downcast. "I've lived in an orphanage up until now."

"Oh, okay. Want me to take your back there?" Chester offered, looking sympathetic.

"NO!" Kit cried, looking upset. "I don't wanna go back there, I want planes! I want adventures! I WANNA FLY!"

"Shh! Calm down, squirt!" Chester said with a finger to his lips, trying to calm Kit down by gently placing a hand on his shoulder.. "But how are you going to get to the planes?"

"I go to the hangars and find a plane." Kit said, as if this was a well-thought out plan.

"And then what? Just going to ask the pilot very nicely if he'll give you a ride?" Chester asked and then he scoffed: "Yeah, good luck with that."

"I...uh...um…" Kit was lost for words at how suddenly stupid it seemed to have run away without any plans. Then he started to cry.

"Shh... what's you crying about?" Chester asked, looking concerned.

"I wanna fly… I wanna see planes… I wanna, I wanna..."

"Okay, okay… but is there anyone you can stay with until then?" Chester asked, not wanting to leave such a little kid alone in the streets unprepared and untended too.

"N-no…" Kit said softly. "But I don't wanna go back to the orphanage! They never let me do anything!"

"Okay, I get it," Chester said. "But you can't stay here, there's plenty of bad and dangerous people out here on the streets. They can really hurt you." he then paused and seemed to be thinking very hard and then said: "Guess it can't be helped. You better stick with me for a while." he said, holding out his hand to Kit.

Kit's face brightened up and he happily grabbed Chester's hand and then they walked through the alley to wherever Chester's home was.

It turned out that Chester's home was in an old abandoned ruin of a building, Chester led Kit to a wall on which hung a giant advertisement poster for a magic show.

"Ahh, home sweet home." Chester sighed as he went over to the poster and pushed it aside to reveal a hole in the wall, beyond which was apparently where Chester lived. Everything Chester had in this room looked as though he'd gotten them from the junkyard. Everything was mismatched, some broken, some having holes and claw marks in them.

Chester walked inside and up to his cupboard that stood up against the far wall. He opened the cupboard door, revealing an assortment of canned meat and boxes of cereal, all of which were banged up and dented. And on the bottom shelf was a bag of bread, a small jar of honey and a jar of peanut butter. All of which were cheap and discounted due to their battered condition.

"Uh, do you live here by yourself?" Kit asked, looking around and seeing no evidence that anyone else lives here. "Where's your Mom and Dad?"

Chester rummaged through the cupboard for a moment before he turned to Kit, holding two cans of vienna sausage with a casual smile.

"I'm an orphan, just like you." Chester said, sitting down in front of a fire pit in the center of the room, where he built his cooking fire. "I live here by myself, but now that you're here, you're welcome to stay here too."

"That's awfully nice of you, but I dunno if I'll stay here for long…" Kit said as he sat down, facing Chester across the fire pit.

Chester frowned with concern. "C'mon, Cub, you're too little to be alone in this kind of life. Please stay as long as you need to, I don't mind. I'll look after you."

Kit smiled. "Okay, thank you. So, where did you get all of that food in your cupboard? You seem to be pretty loaded."

"I work for this old lady every weekend, she pays me five dollars for a day's worth of work, but that's enough to buy a little food." Chester said as he put a small log in the fire pit and lit it with his lighter that he took from his green jacket pocket.

Kit sat there for a moment and observed the older tiger cub. Chester wore a green jacket over a black shirt, he also wore a pair of faded baggy blue jeans; which Kit assumed were held up by a belt because those didn't seem to be falling off.

Chester opened a can of Vienna sausages, poured out the juice and then dumped its contents out onto a plate before handing it to Kit.

"Here, eat up."

"Oh, uh, thank you." Kit said, accepting the plate from Chester and taking a bite out of one of the seven sausages on his plate. "Hmm, this is good!"

"They would taste better if you heated them up a bit first.," Chester said, handing Kit a poker. "Here, stick your sausage to the end of this poker and hold it close to the fire for a few minutes, that should be enough to warm it up."

Kit took the poker and stuck one of his remaining six sausages to the end of it and held the sausage close to the fire while Chester opened the second can of sausages for himself.

Kit giggled as he and Chester sat on opposite sides of the fire, both of them roasting their sausages.

Chester chuckled and asked: "What's funny, kiddo?"

"It's like we're camping out inside your house." Kit said, giggling.

"Heh, yeah. You're right, it kinda is, isn't it?" Chester said, taking his sausage off his poker and eating his sausage. "Yours should be ready now. Be careful though, it may be a little hot now. You'll need to blow on it.

Kit took Chester's advice and blew on his sausage before eating it. "Hey, you're right! It does taste better when it's heated up!"

"Told ya!" Chester chuckled as he ate his sausage. "Now, if you're really serious about staying out here in the streets till you can get to the airfield, which I really don't recommend for a kid your age… or anyone for that matter, you're going to have to learn how to survive, and fast."

"Well, will you teach me?" Kit asked, eating his final sausage from his plate.

"Well of course I will, kiddo!" Chester said, ruffling Kit's hair. "But we'll save lesson one for tomorrow. But for now…" he let out a huge yawn and stretched out his arms. "Let's get some shut eyes." he said as he stood up, taking a bucket of water and threw the water over the fire, putting it out.

Kit let out a huge yawn himself as Chester picked him up off the floor and hugged him to his chest.

"I only got one bed, so we'll have to share it." Chester said as he carried Kit over to an old mattress that was covered with a dozen blankets, not to make it warmer, but to make it more comfortable to sleep on it. Chester laid Kit down on the bed.

"Okay. Goodnight, Chester." Kit let out another huge yawn, curled up and fell asleep as Chester climbed into bed next to him.

Chester smiled warmly as he laid down with his arm around Kit, as if Kit had become his teddy bear. "Goodnight, kiddo."

Feeling safe in Chester's arm, Kit snuggled deeply against Chester's body as Chester pulled a blanket over them both. And it did not take long for both boys to drift off to sleep.

In the months that followed, Chester taught Kit various tricks and skills crucial for survival. He also taught him some pickpocket tricks.

"Even if you don't intend to steal, these tricks would come in handy." Chester said walking casually around Kit. "Do you still have that key I gave you?"

"Yeah," Kit said, fishing his hand into his pocket and finding it empty. "Huh? HEY! Did you take the key?"

"Who, me?" Chester said innocently, holding both hands up, showing that both hands are empty. "No."

Kit did not believe him, he went right up to Chester and searched Chester's pockets while he stood there with his hands up. But all that he found were empty pockets. He stepped back and looked up at Chester with a confused expression.

"Where's the key?"

"Do you give up?" Chester asked with a grin.

Kit pouted. He did not want to admit defeat, but he really had no idea where Chester could be hiding the key.

"You didn't swallow it, did you?"

"No! Of course not!" Chester said in mocked indignation.

Kit sighed. "Fine… I give up."

Chester smiled. "Look down," he said, pointing down at his foot. Kit looked down and saw the key was sticking out between Chester's toes.

"How'd you do that?" Kit asked in amazement.

Chester picked the key out from his toes and turned his back on Kit. "Simple, just hide the key behind your back." he said, holding the key behind his back. "And then, you just drop the key and catch it with your toes." he dropped the key and lifted his foot backward and caught the key in his toes.

"Wow! That's a neat trick! Can you teach me that?" Kit asked excitedly.

"Just do what I did and keep practicing until you get it." Chester said, giving Kit the key.

Kit took the key, held it behind his back and dropped the key, he lifted his foot, but he failed to catch the key and it clattered on the floor.

"Just keep practicing, you'll get it eventually." Chester said encouragingly. "You just need to get your timing just right. Try counting to one before moving your foot to catch it. "

From that day on, practicing the catching-the-key-in-the-toes trick became one of Kit's daily exercises on top of everything else he was learning from Chester.

One day, the two boys were out in the street, looking for work, because they had run out of food more quickly between the two of them and needed to buy more food, but for that, they needed money. But there were no jobs available for them. On the way home one evening, Kit spotted a good-looking burger in the garbage and ran for it. He took the burger out of the trash, brushed some of the dust off of it and opened his mouth wide, preparing to take a big bite out of it, but Chester smacked the burger out of his hands.

"Chester, come on, I'm hungry!" Kit whined, pouting and massaging his hand.

"I know, Cub, so am I." Chester said sadly, hugging Kit. "But we do not eat out of the garbage. Only rats eat garbage, which is why they put rat poison in there." he picked Kit up and carried him to a public restroom. "Don't touch your face until you washed your hands." he said as he walked.

In the restroom, Chester soaped up Kit's hands and then held him over the sink to wash his hands.

"Make sure you clean under your fingernails." Chester said as Kit washed his hands, washing away any poison he might have touched.

"How did you know about the rat poison?" Kit asked as he washed his hands.

"Let's just say I knew a guy who ate from the garbage, he got sick and..." Chester said, unable to finish the sentence. "I don't want that happening to my favorite little aviator. You can't grow up and become an ace pilot if the rat poison gets you first. You gotta be at least a little bit picky and careful about what you eat or drink."

"Okay, Chester." Kit said as he finished washing his hands.

Kit dried his hands off and then they returned to their home. Kit sat down on the bed as Chester laid down.

"Chester?" Kit said. "What do you wanna do when you grow up?"

Chester thought for a moment and then said: "I wanna be an actor. My dream is to go to Starrywood and get into the movies. That reminds me, Cub, tomorrow I'm gonna teach you how to act and fake emotions."

"Why do I need to learn to act?" Kit asked, bemused.

"It's for survival, Cub. Learning to act and fake emotion can make you more convincing when you need to get out of a jam."

The next day, after practicing all the tricks he learned thus far, Kit was ready for his first acting lesson.

"Okay Cub, to act, you need to think of a person or character and then pretend to be that person." Chester said, then he took a cane and leaned heavily on it, letting his back curve and his arm shake. "Son, when I was your age, I had to walk to school for fifteen miles through blankets of snow." he said, in an old and feeble-sounding voice, causing Kit to laugh. "Kids today, you got it easy, you little whippersnapper."

Kit was laughing because not only did Chester sounded like an old man, he actually looked a little bit like one too, since he tucked in his upper and lower lips around his teeth to give himself a toothless look.

Chester smiled, happy that he amused Kit. "Now you try."

"Uh, okay, um, who should I be?" Kit asked as he tried to think of who to be.

"Let's start with something easy; a baby."

"A BABY?" Kit said, looking horrified at the idea of being a baby. "No, no way!"

"C'mon, Cub, a baby's easy and it's a good starter." Chester said "You gotta be open for any roles, no matter how embarrassing."

Kit sighed, looking reluctant. "Okay… but no diaper!"

Chester shrugged. "I don't have any anyway." He spread a white cloth across the bed, picked Kit up and laid him on the cloth before wrapping Kit into a bundle. "Annnnd... Action!"

Kit glared at him from within the bundle.

"Aw, what's the matter, Cubby, are you cwanky?" Chester cooed at him.

"Yes! I'm very cranky!" Kit said, pouting.

"CUT!" Chester yelled. "Kit, if you want someone to think you're a baby and not some kid trying to sneak past, you gotta be convincing. Do not slip from your role or break character, no matter what!"

"Can I be someone else, please?" Kit asked, blushing from embarrassment.

"First you gotta convince me that you're a baby, and then you can have any role you want."

"...Fine…"

"Annnd… Action!"

Kit thought of the babies from the orphanage, how they moved and how they sounded. He then began moving his arms and legs around within the bundle. He had a big smile on his face and spoke in gibberish.

"Aw, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Chester cooed at him, tickling his chin and making funny faces at him. "You are! Yes, you are!"

Kit was extremely annoyed with the way Chester was talking to him, but Chester told him he must not break character, no matter what. He kept the big happy baby smile on his face and laughed babyishly.

"Nice! Good job, Cub!" Chester said as he unwrapped Kit from his bundle. "Now you can be someone else."

Kit could not think of who to act as, so Chester took him to the park where people walked their dogs and children played. They sat down on a bench and watched people. Every now and then, Chester pointed to a person or a dog and told Kit to imitate them. Kit watched them closely and then he imitated them, both their actions and their words. Chester and Kit would share a laugh over their new pastime.

Finally the weekend came and Chester took Kit with him to the elderly lady whom he worked for.

"Well hello, Chester!" the white goose lady said with a kind smile. Then she noticed Kit clinging shyly to Chester's side. "Oh my! And who's this adorable little darling?"

Kit quickly hid behind Chester, but Chester pulled him out from behind him and pushed him towards the lady.

"Cub, remember your manners and introduce yourself." Chester said sternly.

Kit looked up at the lady. "Good morning, ma'am. My name is Kit and I will be Chester's little helper today." he said politely.

"Well hello, Kit, I'm Mrs. White." the elderly goose said, she then pinched Kit's cheek. "Such a cute little gentleman. Well then, come in, come in."

Kit frowned, rubbing his cheek as he followed Mrs. White into the house; followed by Chester.

The two boys worked a full day, cleaning the house. Kit swept the floor and dusted the china and the mantelpiece while standing on a chair. Meanwhile, Chester went outside and mowed the lawn, tended to the plants and tidied up the yard.

Then Chester came back in as Mrs. White announced that lunch was ready. Chester and Kit washed their hands and ate their ham and cheese sandwiches with some chips and a pickle.

"Thank you for lunch, Mrs. White!" Kit said happily as he and Chester got back to work. Chester moved the furniture so that Kit could sweep the space underneath them.

Later that evening, Mrs. White got up from her afternoon nap and she was very happy to find her house completely clean and spotless.

She found Kit fast asleep on her couch as Chester cleaned her windows from the outside.

"Wonderful job, boys!" Mrs. White said, as Chester, looking tired, came in and Kit woke up from his nap. She approached them with her purse in her hands. "And here's your pays." she said, giving them each a five dollar bill.

"Wow! Thanks, ma'am!" Kit cried happily, hugging Mrs. White around the waist.

"Doesn't it feel great to earn that from doing all of that work you did?" Chester asked, smiling.

"Yeah!" Kit said happily as he and Chester departed from Mrs. White's house. Mrs. White waved after them from her porch.

"Bye, boys! Come back anytime!" she called as they walked into the city and disappeared around the corner.

As Chester and Kit walked down the street towards their home, Kit looked happily at the money that he earned.

"Cub, put that away." Chester said sternly. "You wanna make yourself a target for mugging? If they see that you have money, they'll rob ya!"

Looking frightened, Kit quickly pocketed his money.

As they turned into their usual alleyway, they were greeted by a horrifying sight. The poster that concealed their home had been ripped down and their stuff was shattered all over the alley, and there were police officers searching the crawlspace beyond. And standing over them, bossing them around was a tall figure in a suit.

"They couldn't have gone very far, hurry and find clues as to where they went!"

"Yeah, yeah, just let us do our job, Mr. Witherspoon." one of the officers said. "You sure you got a warrant to conduct a search of this place? This seems like an honest hobo's place and none of this stuff is stolen."

"Yes, I have a warrant," Mr. Witherspoon said, pulling out a warrant paper. "And I have reasons to believe that one of the runaway orphans is now living here."

"HEY!" Kit cried. "That's our stuff!"

Chester cringed and facepalmed himself. "Cub, you dummy!"

Mr. Witherspoon looked up and saw them. "Get them!" he cried, sending the cops after them. "And take them back to the orphanage!"

"Time to go, Cub!" Chester cried, scooping Kit up under one arm and running down the alley.

He ran down one alley and into another, all the while the cops were hot on their tail. They couldn't seem to lose them, no matter how many alleyways they turned into.

Finally, Chester stopped and set Kit down. He stripped Kit of his green T-shirt; the only article of clothing he had.

"Hey!" Kit protested, hugging himself as he stood there in just his own fur.

Chester shushed him while taking off his jacket and putting it on Kit. "I'm going to lead the police away from here and when the coast is clear, you go back to Mrs. White's and stay with her until I come to get you. Got it?"

"Yeah, but why do you gotta take my shirt?" Kit asked as Chester buttoned up the jacket for him.

"Gonna use it as a decoy." Chester said, taking a cushion out of the garbage and putting it inside the shirt. "See you in a bit, I hope."

Kit hid in a wooden crate and Chester called out to the police to get their attention and ran.

"AFTER THEM!" Mr. Witherspoon cried as the cops went after Chester.

Just as Chester had told him, Kit stayed hidden until he was sure the coast was clear. He crawled out of his hiding place and ran in the direction of Mrs. White's house. But as he reached the edge of the city, he skidded to a halt as Mrs. White's house came into view. He saw that Mrs. White had company. The police were on her porch, asking her questions. And she was answering their questions, looking very concerned.

Kit turned on his heel and went running back into the city. He finally stopped and sought shelter inside a cardboard box that had been thrown out. He wrapped Chester's jacket around himself and sobbed himself to sleep, wanting Chester and their home back.

The morning came and Kit awoke to a bright sunshine. The misery of the previous night lingered. Kit knew he could not go back to his home and he could not go to Mrs. White's place. The police could be watching the place. Why couldn't they leave him alone? All he wanted was to be free and find a plane to fly in.

"There you are, Cub!"

Kit yelped in shock, turned to see Chester standing there, and then he cried out with joy: "CHESTER!" he ran to Chester and dove into his arms, crying.

"There, there, Cub, it's okay." Chester said soothingly, hugging Kit and patting him on the back of head. "But I can't stay long. I've managed to lose them, but they're still not far away. I saw that you didn't go to Mrs. White's because the police were there. That was smart, kiddo. I'm proud of you. Now I gotta get you out of here, but I can't, so listen carefully. Follow the river up the hill to an old cabin, there you'll find an old couple named Grammy and Gummer. Don't worry, they're nice people, they'll take care of you."

"But what about you?" Kit asked as Chester took back his jacket and returned Kit's shirt to him.

"I'll keep the cops off your back while you run up the river," Chester said "Now run, Kit, run as fast as you can! GO!" he said, giving Kit a sharp slap on the back and Kit yelped and took off running as Chester disappeared among the buildings, distracting the police from Kit's trail.

Kit ran for a long while before he stopped to catch his breath. But this moment of rest cost Kit his stealth, as he was spotted by Mr. Witherspoon and his men.

"There he is!" Mr. Witherspoon shouted, pointing at Kit, and they ran towards Kit. Kit turned tail and ran. "Come back here, boy!"

Kit ran for one block before the two men caught up with him and grabbed him. One of them held him in a bear hug, while the other grabbed onto his arm.

"LEMME GO! LEMME GO!" Kit cried as he struggled to get loose.

"Take him to the orphanage!" Mr. Witherspoon ordered.

"NOOO!" Kit cried, he would not go back to the orphanage. Not before he found his wings and flew. Out of desperation, he bit the guy holding him. The guy cried out in pain and dropped him. Kit hit the ground and instantly took off running.

"After him! He's getting away!" cried Mr. Witherspoon, pointing to the fleeing bear cub.

They chased Kit for a while until he managed to lose them amongst the alley trash. They ran past his hiding place and their voices faded away in the distance.

Kit let out of a sigh of relief. He was almost caught. They almost got him and he was almost taken back to the orphanage. He was scared to come out of his hiding place for a few hours.

Elsewhere in the city, Mr. Witherspoon was disappointed that his men came back empty handed.

"Sorry, Mr. Witherspoon, he got away." one of them said.

A look of sadness filled Mr. Witherspoon's face. "I've hoped you'd at least catch the little one, he would've been safer in the orphanage than on the streets. Especially with a well-known child abductor on the loose. Keep searching! That kid must not run afoul of Stromboli!"

"Yes, sir!" they saluted, before running off to continue their search.

It was sunset and Kit's head popped up from beneath the top layer of apples in a wooden crate; having spent the entire day in hiding. Feeling it was safe to come out, he climbed out of the crate, taking two apples with him. He was eating one and hid the other in his shirt.

He saw that it was getting dark and he became a little scared. "Uh-oh! I gotta find that cabin before it gets too dark!" he said as he took off up the street. "Let's see… Chester said to follow the river up the hill and I'd find the cabin—Oof!" He had bumped into someone and fell onto his back. "Sorry, mister…" he said, looking up at the tall, broad person standing there.

The figure turned and looked down at Kit, revealing himself to be a big black bear guy.

"Well, well, well… look at what the cat dragged in…" he said with a creepy smile, picking Kit up by the collar of his shirt and held him dangling in front of his face. "What's a little furball like you doing out here? Where are your folks?"

"Hey, put me down! I have no folks!" Kit said angrily, throwing a couple of punches, all of which missed their mark, causing him to spin in midair as the collar of his shirt swirled and closed on his neck, causing him to choke a little.

"Splendid! No one will miss you then!" the black bear said in a sinister tone, stuffing Kit into a sack, swinging the sack onto his back and sneaking off down the street, with Kit crying out in a muffled voice for Chester to help him. He was kicking and thrashing around in the sack as the black bear disappeared with him into the night.

The black bear guy snuck through the streets and finally came to a parked horse-drawn carriage. He climbed into the carriage and walked up to a table, dumping Kit out of the sack onto the table.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Kit gasped. "What do you want with me?"

"Oh, my dear boy…" the black bear said, in a tone of mocked politeness. "What I want is for you to make me a ton of money."

Kit looked confused. "H-how can I do that? I can barely make five dollars just for cleaning a house." Kit then yelped as the black bear guy snatched him up by his ankle; holding him upside down and shaking him up and down until his five dollar bill came fluttering out of his pocket. A piece of metal also fell out of his shirt and landed on the table with a clunk, along with his spare apple, which went rolling off the table.

"For me?" the black bear said mockingly, dropping Kit onto the table and taking the five dollar bill off the table and pocketing it. "Aw, you shouldn't have! And what is this?" he asked, picking up the piece of metal, he was surprised as he gave it a flick of the wrist and it fanned out into a boomerang-shape board. "Interesting... I think I'll keep this too."

"Hey! That's mine! C'mon, give it back!" Kit cried, grabbing onto the black bear's clothes, trying to get his metal fan thing back, but the black bear smacked him away with the back of his hand.

"Not anymore! It now belongs to yours truly; Stromboli!" Lightning flashed and thunder clashed at the sound of his name. Heavy rain thudded down on the roof of the carriage. Stromboli looked down on Kit with a critical eye. He grabbed Kit by the collar of his shirt and held him up. "You look like trash," he sniffed at him and then pushed him away. "Ugh, and you smell like trash too!" He shook Kit up and down until he slipped out of his shirt and fell back onto the table again, wearing nothing but his fur.

Stromboli tossed the shirt out the window and picked up a tub from under the table and set it down on top of the table in front of Kit. He then grabbed Kit, dumped him into the tub and began roughly washing him. Kit splashed and thrashed around in the tub, trying to get away, but Stromboli kept grabbing him and putting him back in his place in the center of the tub. Afterward, he took a towel and roughly dried the wet little bear cub off.

"There, now you're all clean and presentable." Stromboli said, dumping Kit out of the towel and onto the table.

"Pr-presentable for what?" Kit asked timidly, cowering against the wall, curled into a ball as Stromboli rummaged in a box full of circus uniforms and colorful clothes.

"Why, for your debut as Bongo, of course!" Stromboli said as he forced Kit to uncurl himself. He then forced a white shirt that was kind of big on him over his head. He then picked out a red circus uniform with yellow trim and put it on Kit. He then fastened it for him. "There, what do you think?" he asked Kit, holding up a mirror for Kit to see himself in.

Kit looked at himself with distaste, "Ugh! I look like a circus chimp!"

"That's the idea, boy!" Stromboli said, putting away the mirror, then he took a newspaper and rolled it up. "Now, boy, what's your name?"

"Kit, Kit Cloudkicker." Kit replied proudly.

SMACK!

"OW!" he cried as Stromboli smacked him over the head with the newspaper.

"Wrong, boy! Your new name is Bongo, BONGO!" he roared at the cowering cub. "SAY IT!"

"NO! I'm Kit Cloudkicker!" Kit yelled defiantly

SMACK! SMACK!

Stromboli smacked him twice more with the newspaper. "We can do this all night, boy, until you get it right!" he gave Kit one more smack over the head with the newspaper. Kit whimpered as he fought the urge to cry while looking up at Stromboli with wide and fearful eyes. "Now, what's your name?" he asked again.

"B-B-Bongo! M-m-my name is... Bongo!" Kit cried, covering his head with his hands.

"Good, good boy." Stromboli said happily, tossing the newspaper away, picking Kit up and hugging him. He then set Kit back down on the table. "Now, Bongo, for the finishing touch…" he took a red and yellow fez cap and placed it on Kit's head. He then took a knife and a sausage and cut a small piece, which he then offered to Kit, but yanked it away as Kit reached for it. "What's your name?"

Kit looked distraught at the thought of using his new name just to get some food. But as Stromboli reached for the newspaper again, he quickly uttered: "BONGO!" Tears filled his eyes as he felt like he was betraying himself every time he was forced to use his new name. "...I'm Bongo." he sobbed.

Stromboli smiled to himself, as he had broken this boy's spirit. "Good boy, here you go." he said, flicking the piece of sausage up in the air. Kit held his head back with his mouth open wide and he caught the sausage in his mouth and chewed half-happily, half-bitterly. "Impressive, you caught it in your mouth. Do it again." he said, cutting another piece of sausage and flicking it in the air and again, Kit caught it in his mouth. "Good reflexes, you have potential, boy! Just what I need. Now, Bongo, it's time for bed. We got a long day ahead of us."

Stromboli picked Kit up off the table, bent over and tossed Kit into a cage underneath it, slamming the door and locking it with an iron padlock.

"HEY! LEMME OUTTA HERE!" Kit screamed, grabbing the bars and shaking them. "LET ME OUT! I'M A BOY, NOT AN ANIMAL! YOU CAN'T PUT ME IN A CAGE!"

"SILENCE!" Stromboli roared, stomping his foot, shaking the whole carriage, causing Kit to fall backward onto his back. "NOT ANOTHER WORD, BOY! ONE MORE SOUND, AND I'LL REALLY GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!"

Kit gulped and was rendered silent and speechless at Stromboli's outburst.

"That's better, now go to sleep!" Stromboli said as he climbed into his hammock.

Kit watched him through the bars of his cage for a while and then he laid down on his side, curled up and started whimpering, crying himself to sleep. "I want Chester…"

The next day, Stromboli drove his carriage out of Freeport and through a couple of neighboring towns before he met up with people who apparently were his circus crew. All of them greeted Stromboli and gave him money from their own individual street performances.

"Excellent! Oh yes, very good" Stromboli said with a wicked and greedy grin as he opened a huge bag of gold and cash and looked inside. "Now we have enough to pay for the permit, for all the essentials to run our circus and few more circus animals."

"Sir," one of the performers said anxiously. "Did you manage to find Bongo?"

"Sadly, no," Stromboli said in faked sorrow. "But I did find us a new Bongo." he added pulling the kennel that contained Kit out of the carriage and setting it on the ground in front of his circus gang. "He'll do, right?"

"Help me!" Kit cried, clutching the bars of his cage. "He grabbed me off the streets, lemme outta here!"

Stromboli whacked the bars of the cage with his newspaper. "Silence, boy! No one is going to help you! They all work for me."

A few members of the circus crew looked shocked that Stromboli went as far as kidnapping to replace one of their members. But they also looked too scared to voice their objection. Others looked indifferent.

Kit looked up at them all, whimpering and sniffing, wondering why no one was standing up for him.

Stromboli opened the kennel, snatched Kit and pulled him out. "Here," he said, before tossing Kit to the circus crew. Two of them caught him and held him up between them. "Take him and train him. I've got work to do." He walked away while the circus crew carried Kit off to the training area.

Kit was brought to the training tent, where he was stripped of his Bongo uniform and dressed in training tights. A clown, dressed as a coach with a honker tied around his neck instead of a whistle stood before him. His name tag told Kit that he was Bogo the Clown, a tall thin beagle dog with a white face and a blue star painted over one of his eyes. He also wore a red ball on his nose.

Without a greeting or an introduction, Bogo immediately broke into a song while teaching Kit to do cartwheels and backflips. Kit managed to cartwheel, but failed to do a backflip. Next he had Kit lifting weights to strengthen his arms, so he could do a handstand. When Kit attempted a handstand, he fell flat on his back.

Let's get down to business, to perform for... the crowds.

Did you send me a loser, when I asked for a star?

You're the saddest runt I ever met.
But you can bet before we're through,
Bongo, I'll...make a star, out of you!

He finished the first part of the song with a crazy clown laugh.

The next stage of the training, Bogo was teaching Kit to juggle some balls, which he failed. Then he tried to teach Kit to ride a unicycle, but he fell over. Next he tried to teach him to balance on a wire, but poor Kit kept falling into the net below.

Acting cool as ice, but on fire within.

Once you obey the master, you are sure to please.

You're a spineless, pale, pathetic runt.

And you haven't got a clue.

Somehow I'll… make a star, out of you!

Over the course of several months, Kit continued his training with Bogo. Threats of punishment, withholding food from him and the will to survive were the driving forces behind Kit's determination; to get better at everything and succeed.

(Be a star!)
You must be quick as a rampaging rhino.

(Be a star!)

With all the force of a great lion.

(Be a star!)

With the strength of a raging bear

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon.

Time is racing towards us, til the crowd arrives.
Heed our every order, and you might survive

You're unsuited for the rage of showbiz.
That's it, I'm done, you're through.

How can I make a star out of you?

Just when Bogo was about to give up on Kit, he began to see significant improvements in Kit's abilities. He was improving to such a degree, that the clown was impressed against his will.

(Be a star!)
You must be quick as a rampaging rhino.

(Be a star!)

With all the force of a great lion.

(Be a star!)

With the strength of a raging bear

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon.

In no time at all, Kit was performing every move and every skill that he was being taught perfectly. In some cases, he was even outperforming Bogo. As a result, he was well fed and treated somewhat better by his fellow circus crew. At least he wasn't being punished anymore.

"Bravo! Ya know, kid, you ain't half bad..." Bogo praised Kit, clapping as Kit was doing a handstand on the highwire with his legs spread apart in the shape of a T. "Alright! You're ready, Bongo! It's showtime!"


Author's Note:

Thank you for taking your time to read my story, anyone reading and reviewing are very much appreciated!
Special thanks to Cyclone Blaze for editing this episode!
Stay tuned for Part Two of this episode!