Authors Note: I had a teacher who once accused me of being a perfectionist. He said I was never satisfied with any of my own works. I guess he was right. I redid a lot of the story. I completely redid chapter 5. and added a few new line in Chapters 2 and 4. For those of you who have already read the story up to this point. I did the add-ins in Chapters 2&4 in bold lettering for you can just skim back over if you want and find the changes without having to reread the whole thing. I just fixed it so the chapters all lined up better.
So hope you enjoy the changes and Happy Holidays!
Disclaimer; I do not own Darkwing Duck or Gosalyn or any other Disney character....
The Path Chosen Chapter 5
Late morning in Darkwing tower, Gosalyn was rushing around anxiously preparing for her big day of meeting the public, signing autographs and getting to ride all those rides at the new McDuck Amusement Park for free!
Darkwing watched his daughter getting ready for the day. He had been uncertain of rather or not he wanted her to make that appearance at the Amusement Park or not, but after the ordeal of the night before, he had conceded to it. It would be a good idea to give her something to do besides worry about Dark Warrior; besides, McDucks invitation had promised her a free day at the park. From what Darkwing knew of the Miser from Duckburg ..that was a generous offer.
"How do I look dad?", Gosalyn asked standing in front of her father in her Quiverwing guise. Darkwing looked at her, feeling a tiny bit envious. St. Canard may have appreciated him more since that Christmas past, but nobody was sending him invitations to open Amusement Parks. Darkwing brushed the feeling off and smiled at his daughter "Like a Champ."
Quiverwing grinned at her fathers complement, "Well, what are we waiting for? The Grand opening is at 11 AM sharp.", she said grabbing her father by the arm and pulling him along.
Later, in the control room of the main building in the McDuck Amusement Park, The time posse is concentrating on capturing Dark Warrior . "we appreciate your letting us use this control center as our base of operation, Mr. McDuck.", said Tracker as he looked over the control room. "Surprising that the control center for a theme park would have such high tech equipment."
"It's my pleasure Lad." Scrooge answered then turned to Guardian who stood looking out the window that overlooked the Park. "I suspect your group has a plan for capturing this Dark Warrior.""A plan.", said Guardian dryly. "More like a prayer, Mr. McDuck." Guardian turned toward Mr. McDuck then paused abruptly as he seem to lose focus. He placed his index finger on a small button on the side of the visors, the dark tint went from violet to dark blue. His eyes and true identity were just as cloaked behind the second shade as they were the first.
"Are you alright Lad? You seem a bit off your feet." Scrooge asked with concern, recalling the headache Guardian suffered from on the Jet earlier.
"I am fine Mr. McDuck, as I said, it's something I have had time to get use to. I was just adjusting the tinting in my visors to compensate for change in lighting." He heaved a deep sigh "As for the situation with Dark Warrior ....lets say, I think we're on the right track."
Scrooge just nodded. He had noticed that the Guardian seemed far more confident and aware of the events unfolding than his companions. Well, perhaps that was because he was the leader. "The computer and communication equipment is at your disposal. Duckworth will stay here to assist you in anyway possible. Now, if you will excuse me and the kids, we have to be at the main entrance for the Grand Opening."
Webby squealed with anticipation "Oh, I just know Quiverwing Quack is gonna be there!"
The boys looked at each other sheepish grins. The three of them, like many boys their age had a crush on Quiverwing, though, they'd never admit to it..
* * * * * * * *
Scrooge had just officially opened the Amusement Park and as the crowds of people entered the gates, Gizmoduck was gladdy signing autographs and having his picture taken with his many fans. The praise and recognition he received never ceased to indulge his ego. He loved being the center of attention. A luxury he was abut to lose. The RatCatcher pulled up to the front entrance with an anxious Quiverwing in the sidecar. Webby was the first to see her. "Look! It's Quiverwing Quack!," she squealed and rushed out to meet her hero autograph book in hand.
The Autograph hounds now turned their attention to the young crime-fighter-to-be, leaving Gizmoduck watching as he lost his public to the pint sized arrow slinger. Darkwing saw Gizmoduck's reaction to losing his fans to Quiverwing and smirked. As may times as old helmet head had stolen the attention from him in the past, he finally got a does of his own medicine.
"I have business to attend to," Darkwing told his daughter as she climbed out of the sidecar to meet her public. "Stay out of trouble ...if that's possible."
The Quiverwing Quack responded to her fathers statement by sticking her tongue out at him, which her fans found amusing. Darkwing smiled, waved to her then sped of in the RatCatcher. He stole a glance into his side mirror to see the crowd of Autograph seekers completely engulf her. Darkwing felt it tug at his heart, knowing he was in some small way losing his little girl to the rest of the world. But his mind quickly snapped back to his priority at hand. He was not going to lose her to Dark Warrior, that was for certain! With that in mind he headed for SHUSH headquarters and hopefully, some answers.
Darkwing has instructed LaunchPad to meet him at SHUSH headquarters in the ThunderQuack. As they entered the SHUSH lab, J. Gander greeted them. "Darkwing, I'm glad you're here. Dr. Bellum believes she knows how Dark Warrior got here, into this time.
Dr. Sarah Bellum was standing in front of SHUSH's super computer feeding it data when J. Gander brought Darkwing and LaunchPad to her. "Darkwing. I think I have discovered
just how your ..err... other self has come to be in your time and reality. Take a look.", she said motioning to the computer screen.
A diagram appeared on the computer screen. An image of the timetop was shown sitting in the corner of the black screen. The timetop began to move across the screen. As it did,a ripple motion was shown around the image of the time top and small bubbles formed around the broken pattern.
"You see here. When Quiverwing went into the future, (Darkwing thought it best to tell them that Quiverwing Quack, not Gosalyn Mallard had gone into Dark Warriors future)she disturbed the time continuum. Even though she returned to her own time, the damage was done, that's why time travel, though actually possible, is quite risky. When Quiverwing altered the future, She created the possibility for many alternet realities,there were bubbles created in which different realities were made possible. Dark Warrior still existed in one of these time bubbles. Like air pockets. It's like when an object passes through water. When the time top passed through the time continuum, the pattern was broken and what we will call Time Bubbles were formed. Each Bubble containing it's own small individual time, it's own possible realities. One of the realities being, unfortunately, Dark Warrior's."
"In other words, it's much the same as when bubbles are created in water. The bubble is just a small pocket of trapped air. If a living creature were to be inside that bubble, it could continue to breathe and exist." Darkwing said stroking his chin.
"Exactly."
"So, what do we do to stop him?", asked LaunchPad.
J. Gander shook his head wearily "I'm not sure. But I can tell you that the formula he stole from us was a personality altering compound we had been working on for some time. Once injected into a subject, the subject is vulnerable the will of whomever he is around for a 24 hour period."
"Sounds like a certain ray-gun somebody once blasted me with" Darkwing said accusingly looking at Dr. Bellum. "As I recall, if I looked at anything for very long, I was turned into it!"
"That was just an accident Darkwing, so-called Crime Fighters aren't the only ones allowed to make mistakes you know!" Dr. Bellum retorted.
"Dr. Bellum, Darkwing, please," J. Gander interrupted, trying to stop the mud-slinging contest that was threatening to start. "The formula is far more ominous than was the ray-gun, I'm afraid." He explained to Darkwing. "This formula's effects are permanent. It doesn't effect the physical appearance at all, rather it alters the subjects way of thinking. His or her personality would be forever changed by whoever they had contact with for an entire 24 hours." J Gander sighed hanging his head "And I'm afraid my guess would be that you are the intended victim."
"Assuring his own existence by being the influence on me for those 24 hours after injecting me?" Darkwing asked as if he didn't already know the answer.
Taking a long deep breath Darkwing continues. "So our next step is to find Dark Warrior before he finds me!"
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Quiverwing was enjoying her time in the limelight. Between having her picture taken with fans, signing autographs and taking advantage of the free rides, she had forgotten all about Dark Warrior. Gizmoduck on the other hand was miffed with the idea of a little girl robbing him of the spotlight. He stood watching as Quiverwing was the first to ride the Parks main attraction ..the Cash-Register. A roller coaster that was shaped like a dollar sign. Her many fans fighting for the privilege of riding near her. Somehow, Huey had been the lucky one to score the seat next to her, while Webby and Luey took the seats behind her. Dewey was in the next seat after them.
"Do not be so bitter Gizmoduck," Scrooge said stepping along side the Duckburg hero. "After all, it;s only for one day. And having Quiverwing Quack at the Grand Opening was a real crowd pleaser.
"Yeh, well lets see that pint size Robin Hood take on the Beagle Boys!" Gizmoduck snapped bitterly. Scrooge could not help but laugh. Gizmoduck was not known for being a good sport when it came to competition, especially where the nephews affections were concerned.
It was then that Gizmoduck saw somebody he thought he recognized headed toward the Roller Coaster's exit area. "What's he doing here? He wasn't invited!"
"Who?", Scrooge asked looking around to see who Gizmoduck was talking about.
"Darkwing Duck!Really. It's bad enough that little Quiverwing is getting all the attention, at least she had an invitation!" With that Gizmoduck started over to confront Darkwing.
All Scrooge could see was the Masked Mallards back, but something struck him as being peculiar. He didn't know a lot about this Darkwing Duck, but he didn't recall him having what looked like spiked shoulder pads. Then it dawned on Scrooge "Oh, no Gizmoduck wait!" But it was too late.
"Hold on Darkwing, nobody invited you to the Grand Opening." Gizmoduck said wheeling up to the masked Crime Fighter and grabbing him by the arm. The Masked Mallard turned abruptly to face him. Gizmoduck was taken aback by the black mask and the eerie glare behind it. "You're ..you're ...not Darkwing ...Who are you?" Gizmoduck said with a shaken tone.
"I am what Darkwing Duck should be... ", came a cold emotionless answer.
"You. You're that Dark Warrior that Time Posse is looking for!"
"Time Posse?!" Darkwing Warrior uttered with a tone of shock. "If they're actually here. I don't have time to waist!" he said almost to himself.
"Well whatever your scheme may be evil doer, rest assured that I Gizmoduck will not stand idly by while...." Before he could finish his sentience, Gizmoduck found himself at the receiving end of a all to powerful webkick that sent him flying backwards into a hot-dog stand.
"Ah! It is him!", Scrooge cried realizing the danger all the innocent people may well be in. His first thought was to contact Guardian and the other members of the posse, they were right there at the park. But then he thought about the kids. "They're still on the Roller Coaster! I have to get them to safety!" Scrooge made his way to the Roller Coasters exit as Gizmoduck engaged Dark Warrior in battle.
People were running about in panic of the battle at hand. The Roller Coaster operator seemed to be in a state of shock, his eyes glued to the conflict between the two combatants. The Roller Coaster was reaching the end of the ride. All the passengers were
terrified, even Quiverwing who recognized Dark Warrior instantly.
"Stop the Coaster for those people can get off!" Scrooge ordered the operator. No response. The guy was totally mesmerized by the battle that unfolded before him.
Scrooge grabbed the lever that controlled the power to the Roller Coaster and pulled just as the Coaster came to the end of the ride. In the nick of time too, as Gizmoduck was again knocked through the air by his futuristic adversary. This time he was sent crashing into the supporting structure of the Roller Coaster and the mid section collapsed under the impact. The passengers clambered from their seats in panic pushing and shoving franticly to escape the immediate danger. As Webby attempted to climb from her seat, she was knocked to the ground and nearly trampled. She felt something snag her dress and she was jerked backward just as a large fragment of metal came crashing down where she had fallen.
Quiverwing pulled her to her feet "Hold still for a sec," Quiverwing said as she pulled her snare arrow from where she'd managed to snag Webby's dress.
Webagail looked at her in total disbelief "You saved my life!"
"Looks like it huh," Quiverwing replied looking around for a way to escape the collapsing structure.
"Webby!" Scrooge called out rushing up to the girls, the boys right behind him. "Come along kids, we have to get out of here."
"You'd better come with us, lass," Scrooge said to Quiverwing as he took Webby by the hand. Quiverwing wasn't really in a position to argue so she followed Scrooge as he attempted to guide the kids to safety. The problem was, half the Amusement Park was crumbling down around them by now. Gizmoduck had attempted to blast Dark Warrior with his cannon, Dark Warrior had simply ducked and the cannon ball had hit the near by
ferris wheel, bringing it crashing to the ground. Dark Warrior had pulled out his rocket gun and managed to hit Gizmoduck square in the chest-plate, again sending him reeling into structures that gave under the tremendous impact.
Meanwhile at SHUSH headquarters, the situation at the Park had already hit the media. A news Helicopter managed to film part of the battle and was broadcasting it live.
Darkwing stood with J. Gander watching the televise on the screen. "This is St. Canard Live at the scene where the hero from Duckburg, Gizmoduck, is attempting to apprehend the same mysterious felon that eluded SHUSH agents and Darkwing Duck just last night.
"Oh no!", Darkwing said alarmed "Quiverwing! He's after her!" With that Darkwing grabbed LaunchPad by the arm "To the ThunderQuack!"
Scrooge had thought about the time posse, surely they knew about this by now, so where were they?!
Scrooge and the kids were clear of the Collapsing Roller Coaster and well in the open. unfortunately, that meant, there was no place to hide. Everything became abruptly quiet, except for the sound of falling debris. They all turned to see what they had dreaded. Gizmoduck lay defeated at Dark Warrior's feat. His battle armor almost shredded to pieces.
"You were a thorn in my side for a long time in the old days bucket head! Maybe I should make sure you aren't any trouble to me in the future. Not that you're any kind of a threat to me ...still", he lowered his gun point blank to Gizmoducks head "Why take chances."
To be concluded...