Ch.17: A Spector's Curse

Back at the mansion, Scrooge was furious, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle that had been plaguing his family for days now, ever since the unfortunate moment when Donald Duck had disappeared.

The nephews were extremely worried about their missing uncle, and even though they had been told by Daisy to relax and go to bed, there was no way any of the triplets were going to sleep anytime soon.

Even after Scrooge had called in both Fethry and Launchpad to help aid him at the hospital, not one clue could be found after the Duck Avenger's attack, meaning that the hero had successfully managed to sneak away into the night, vanishing, without so much of a trace.

The only place the Duck Avenger could be heard about was on the news now, and Scrooge scowled as he looked and saw Angus Fangus joyfully thrashing the mysterious figure with each and every line.

Cursing the reporter for getting involved, Scrooge turned his head towards the living room exit and prayed that his family was doing well upstairs. So far, the decision to watch TV had done little to settle his mind.

Things had truly turned terrible with Donald gone.

Even though Scrooge often sometimes berated his nephew, and fought with him over the smallest of things, there was no question that he loved Donald with all his heart.

"I only wished that I expressed it more often,"

Still, Scrooge knew, somewhere within his gut, that Donald was still alive and alright. He may be in danger sure, but there was no way that he would cave into death so easily. Whoever had the dumb idea to mess with Donald in the first place, that's who Scrooge held pity for.

However, it would still be a huge comfort to know where he was and how injured he possibly had to be.

This incident couldn't go on unanswered, and Scrooge was determined to respond, with deadly force if need be.


"Uh" Donald groaned, grabbing his head, as his eyes slowly woke up to gaze upon a dingy, dirty, stone-patterned cell. "Uh…Where am I?"

Laughter echoed from the darkness, and from it, two figures stepped out so that they could clearly be seen. One, Donald recognized, had the distinct appearance of the original Phantomallard. The second one on the other hand…

Donald growled, instantly turning mean.

"You!" Donald spat, glaring at the second thug.

"Ah, you remember" said the second figure " It's been a long time Duck. Aren't you happy to see me?"

Donald didn't answer, and just continued to glare. Of all of the monsters that he expected to come between him and his family, this specter had been far from the list. He was supposed to be locked up in the T.N.T. compound, but here he was, back in full form, looking just as mean and nasty as ever. Donald would never forget the day they first met.


(FlashBack)

It was way back when he had worked for T.N.T. Cousin Fethry, who had been recently obsessed with tracking down real monsters, got Donald involved in an secret organization that made a living with hunting down the real thing.

Donald had been a huge skeptic at first, but he had to admit that after a few investigations, he was starting to put some belief in dangerous, supernatural beings. One assignment turned especially dangerous however when Fethry picked up a cursed statue that he had bought off of some kind of black market site.

It was the same gold statue Donald had seen in the newspaper clipping back in Glomgold's office. The same cursed symbol, and that demonic figure cast in gold…

Donald started shaking the moment he started to process what the creature looked like. A devilishly tall, shadow-like duck with dragon-like features and claws, carved as if he were coming out of dense, purple smoke, with eyes that shined orange, promising death with their glare.

Immediately, he had wanted Fethry to get rid of the thing, but his cousin just thought that he was being a worrywart and refused.

Soon after that, Fethry began acting weird and possessed. He wasn't his normal, spuractic self anymore. More held back and withdrawn, he went crazy about protecting the statue and worshipping whatever dark entity that was encaged within.

Donald got tired of witnessing his cousin behave this way and made a vow to get rid of the statue once and for all.

Sneaking into Fethry's house one night, Donald quietly snuck his way up to a home-made altar his cousin had made, and brought out a hammer, lifting it above the statue before bringing it down so that it could be destroyed.

However, just before the blow could be struck, the statue's eyes suddenly lit up devastating fury, shocking Donald, and sending him reeling backwards onto the floor.

A demonic growl howled as shadows began to rise, taking form of the golden statue's figure as its orange eyes gleamed, glaring at its attacker's form.

Forcing himself up into a fighting stance, Donald sneered at the demon, showing courage despite the terror beating rapidly in his heart. He had guessed that smashing the statue would have been to easy. Guess there was no other choice but the hard way after all.

"Hey, what's going on here?" suddenly sounded cousin Fethry's voice, making Donald turned around.

Awoken by the commotion in his house, Fethry had gotten up from bed to see what the problem was, and was shocked to find Donald and specter about to duel in his house.

"No time to explain!" Donald shouted to his cousin, and immediately charged the floating monster in the room.

It was a fierce battle, yet despite being powered up by his anger, Donald still held a major disadvantage in the fight. This figure was strong, with many dark powers, and at one time caught Donald, crushing his claws together in a vice-like grip.

Whispers invaded Donald's mind, harming him mentally as he struggled and quacked, leaning towards escape.

Fethry had enough of watching his cousin suffer, and cut off the creature's grip, slicing off his arms with the help of one of his decorative, Merlin-touched, supernatural swords.

A cry of pain rang out as the demonic specter released Donald from its grip, and the cousins had a chance to breathe as the monster had to focus on growing its arms back, giving them a chance to think.

After thanking his cousin for the rescue, Donald told him that he had a plan, and asked Fethry to provide a distraction while he readied a special T.N.T. device.

Nodding that he understood, Fethry charged at the specter, slicing again with his mystical sword. The figure growled screaming 'Traitor!', but Fethry didn't listen, keeping his focus on the task.

Suddenly, the sound of a swirling vortex filled up the room, and the pair turned to see Donald duck holding a glowing, capture cube in his hands.

"No!" the specter screamed, as he felt his entire being being transferred from his statue prison into a paranormal proof prison. His orange eyes glared at Donald, swearing revenge. This sailor-suited duck had ruined everything for him. The next time he got out, this mallard was going to pay.

Finally the entity was sealed. Fethry apologized to Donald for being a fool, and they both returned to T.N.T. the next day to stash away the capture cube and melt down the golden statue so nothing could never emerge from it again.

(End Flashback)


"It was supposed to be the end," Donald thought, but now, here in the present, he was confronting that figure once again, and now there was no telling what he and his vicious partner had in store.

"It's been a long time Ducky" said the demonic, dragon-like duck shadow figure "I barely had the time to introduce myself the time that we last met. You may call me Baylock, master of darkness, especially in the areas of controlling both the minds and the heart."

"Phanto over here was one of my first manipulations, given the subtraction of a century or so. Handed over as a prize by a foolish billionaire, I had tons of fun messing with the minds of Phantomallard and his team. It took a while for my presence to be accepted, but once let in, even if you want to escape my grasp, there's no way out."

"I broke Fethry out" said Donald " and I won't rest until you're sealed away again!"

"Don't count on it Duck" said Baylock " the real fun is just about to start."

With that said, Baylock snapped his fingers and the shadow creatures that Donald had encountered once before reappeared.

"You've met before" said Baylock "but those last few times, you failed to realize that these beasts were created using the lives of your beloved cat. After accidently setting me free, Tabby became the first target of my possession, helping me escape from T.N.T., maiming Fethry the traitor along the way."

"After I got out, finding you was next on my list. It took a while, but I eventually tracked you down to the park, and witnessed the incident where your loving nephews nearly left you to die."

Donald was stunned silent, not knowing how to respond.

"Inspiration was instant" said Baylock " but it took a while for me to construct just how my revenge should take place. Creating a rift between your nephews was easy, tearing apart their pet with formerly a pet of your own. But, to further isolate you for the crime, I decided to take advantage of your secret life as the Duck Avenger, briefly glimpsed when I first invaded your puny mind."

"By good fortune, I just so happened to know who your predecessor had been, and coerced him into helping me with this plot. Even after being sealed away for a long time, the darkness inside still runs deep, and my pawn was more than willing to step up in this time of need."

"Indeed" said Phantomallard " it's been great fun."

"And the fun's only going to continue to increase" said Baylock, moving in close to Donald "Now Duck, it's time for the final stage to begin."


Back at Scrooge's mansion, everything was somewhat quiet with the triplets all sleeping in their beds, when suddenly the silence was shattered by what felt like a rough explosion through the night.

"Wa…Earthquake!" shouted Huey as suddenly the triplets whole bedroom began to shudder and shake.

Louie and Dewey jolted awake as well, joining their brother in his panic as their minds reeled to what was possibly going on. Staggering to the window, Dewey looked outside to what could be causing the quake and gasped as he saw a ray of dark energy shoot up into the sky.

"What the…," Dewey gasped before suddenly the whole world was filled with a flash of blinding light.

And when the light faded, that's when the true horror would officially begin.