Chapter 3

In the Palace Walls

Scrooge McDuck, magistrate of all the islands, was having a peaceful day in the central palace of Golden Island. A relaxing swim in the money vault always calmed the nerves of the old duck. Truly, it was a wonderful way to start what could only have been a wonderful day…

That delusion was shattered when he heard something that sounded like the horrifying hybrid of a pained scream and an enraged roar.

"Don't be this again, don't be this," he muttered as he bolted. All of the other suitors had met horrible fates before, but he EXPRESSLY told Alexis to NOT do anything that could anger this one. She would NOT be short-sighted enough to…

He felt as if his guts turned to lead when he saw Togami storming out, muttering to himself. "I've NEVER been so HUMILIATED in all my life!"

"Wait, Mr. Togami!" Scrooge shouted. He ran after the rich scion and began waving his hands. "It's only been ONE evening! You can't leave YET!"

"Watch me," Togami said, making to go past, but was stopped by Scrooge grabbing his jacket.

"Wait! Maybe we can work something out!" the duck shouted.

"I wouldn't marry her if she was the last heiress in the entire archipelago!" Togami shouted smacking McDuck off his coat before storming off.

Scrooge rubbed his bill and finally got a good look at his backside…well, the ragged garments on it. As if something had turn at it. Also, ninja stars. The door slammed shut and Scrooge just groaned, massaging his forehead.

"Another incident I'll have to smooth over. Islands can't go to war with each other…again," Scrooge growled as he stormed off. He knew exactly who was to blame for this. "Bless me bagpipes…LEXI!"

Alexis Rhodes, his ward and the heiress of all Lagoon Reef. This was hardly the first suitor she rejected. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if she rejected her HUNDRED and first suitor before long. The aged duck entered the main gardens, where a blonde girl was shuffling her cards. She wore a smart, white blazer with blue lining, a blue skirt, and thigh-high boots and was shuffling a deck of cards.

"Lexi!" Scrooge shouted, getting his ward's attention…but then three bears hopped in the way. While stacked on top of each other. From top to bottom, they were a lively-looking grizzly bear, a panda, and a polar bear with a blank expression.

"Heya, McD! How's it hangin'?" asked the grizzly bear.

"Curse me kilts," Scrooge murmured. "Don't tell me you set your…FRIENDS on Togami!"

"Oh, don't worry, Scrooge," Alexis said. "Grizz, Pan-Pan, and Ice Bear were just playing. Weren't you, guys?"

"Oh yeah. Thought that guy could use a little horse play after being on that yacht!" Grizz beamed.

"Just wanted a selfie, y'know, let the girls checking out my dating profile see I've got connections," Panda (or Pan-Pan as some called him) said.

"Ice Bear was aiming for his head," Ice Bear commented.

"Besides, the guy was a jerk. Figured these guys could help loosen him up a bit," Alexis said.

"You know how tough these three are?" Scrooge asked. "And one was throwin' ninja stars. NINJA STARS!"

"Ice Bear acquired those, legally," Ice Bear commented.

"I swear, if you three weren't all endangered…" Scrooge muttered, darkly.

"Wait, what?" Grizz asked.

"Alexis, you gotta stop booting out every suitor that so much as GLANCES in the island's direction," Scrooge said. "It's your duty! You need to—"

"Find the right suitor so I can help continue the inter-island alliance or else the entire archipelago could descend into chaos and anarchy again," Alexis murmured. This hadn't been the FIRST time she heard this.

"Well, you're not exactly getting' YOUNGER," Scrooge commented.

"You're no spring chicken, either," Alexis said.

"Low blow there," Scrooge muttered.

"This is wrong, Scrooge," Alexis scoffed. "If I get married, I want it to be for love."

"Lexi, when're ya gonna learn that life's not about dreams comin' true or whatever you're talkin' about," Scrooge said. "It's a series of compromises and disappointments!"

"That's not what I've heard," Alexis commented. "I remember hearing about how you were this awesome, amazing adventurer. That you fought the Flying Dutchman with Jack Sparrow himself. Why are you like this?!"

"Adventures…they get people hurt. And whatever business I had with that pirate's in the past," Scrooge said, suddenly more solemn. "I just want to make sure you had the start I didn't. That your run is a little easier…"

"I know, Scrooge, but…try to understand. How can I be magistrate if I've never done a thing on my own?" Alexis asked. "I've never even had any real friends!"

"Hey, you got us, don't ya?" Panda asked, looking over.

"I do, you three are great," Alexis said, apologetically.

"Aww, Lexi, you're great, too," Grizz grinned.

"You'll figure it out, Lexi, you're the heiress," Scrooge said.

"Then maybe I don't want TO BE heiress," Alexis said, turning away.

Scrooge growled in frustration as he stormed away…but not before snapping at Alexis' companions. "Heaven forbid YOU have kids!"

"Well, if this one lady swipes right…" Panda said, looking at his phone eagerly, only for his face to fall into disappointment immediately after. "Annnnd she swiped left."

"Wait, what DID he mean by 'endangered'?" Grizz asked. Ice Bear simply shrugged in response.

Alexis walked over to a fountain, in a huff. She looked at the fishes inside. Trapped, just like her. Unlike her, though, they probably didn't KNOW that they were trapped. This wasn't the first time she and Scrooge had had this argument. At this point, she lost count how many times they had this argument. The three bears looked at each other before slowly approaching.

"So, uh…that was intense," Grizz said, uncertain of how else to broach the subject.

"Understatement of the century," Alexis muttered, folding her arms in irritation. "Every time I say NO to the latest self-absorbed jerk with a huge bank account, it's the same thing—marry up, the future of the islands depend on it, you can't get by on cards alone, bagpipes and kilts and other things that're Scottish."

"Yeah, you just wanna do your own thing. Why's he gotta shove his bill in it?" Grizz asked in solidarity.

"Uh…I-I dunno, some of the stuff Mr. McDuck says…kinda makes sense," Panda said, hesitantly.

"You, too, Panda?" Alexis asked, indignantly.

"N-no, I'm not saying it's right, just…y'know, you'll be running the islands someday. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take care of that stuff…sooner?" Panda suggested.

"This is stupid…I didn't ask for this!" Alexis growled, clawing at her hair. "You think I want this? It's not! I…I…"

Alexis stepped away, fuming, as her bears began conferring with each other. She looked at the palace and the walls. Life of splendor that many would have envied. But to the heiress of the Magistrate, it might as well be a prison. Trapped in a life she was brought into years ago…

She turned away, tears in her eyes, but with a defiant look on her face all the same.

Panda gave her a long coat, Grizz handed her a mask, and Ice Bear held up a bandana before pointing to a grappling hook.

"Guys…" she said, realizing what this was. She threw on the coat and pulled the mask over her face before tying a bandana over her head.

Ice Bear twirled the grappling hook before tossing it over the wall. Alexis scaled it and immediately saw a small dingy out front. How did the bears prepare in such a short time. She waved to them before sliding off the wall, landing softly on the ground. She ran towards the boat and immediately began rowing away, leaving the magistrate's building slowly shrinking. She wondered what island she should go to first…

She decided it didn't matter. She was facing true freedom for the first time in years. A chance to find her true dreams…

The three bears watched Alexis slowly vanish. No sign of the guards coming in, either. Their friend was on the fast track to freedom.

"You sure you can handle this?" Panda asked.

"Absolutely. Lexi's one tough cookie," Grizz grinned.

"Ice Bear gives her two days. Tops," Ice Bear commented.

"Ugh, raise 'em, give 'em a bed, and a roof o'er their heads, bend over backwards for that puwple bugla…purpbugla...purple buglar alar…ONE OF THOSE, and what do ya get? Back-sass, starry-eyed nonsense, and THREE OBNOXIOUS BEARS!" Scrooge ranted as he went into his office. He slammed the door shut, slumped onto a chair behind his desk, and spun a globe around as he tossed his hat to the rack. "Musta been 'er parents. Heaven knows she couldn' a gotten it from ME…"

Half-heartedly, he lifted a small pile of gold coins and let it slide back into a pile on his desk. Counting money used to be the highlight of his day. But now, he just felt zero energy.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Scrooge growled as he shouted. "No thank you! I'm not interested in petitions of sob stories or whatever itself you have to say!"

"This is a matter of great importance, Mr. McDuck," said a voice from the other side as the door opened. A well-dressed man with neatly-combed dark hair and a cold expression walked in, arms folded behind his back.

"Ah, . Perfect timing," Scrooge said. "I need some advice."

Director Johan Schmidt was Scrooge's chief administrator. In matters of state, he had proven indispensable ever since he came to Lagoon Reef. He stood straight and saluted in response.

"Of course, Lord Magistrate. I only wish to do my duty," he said.

"It's this whole suitor thing. It's drivin' me to my wit's end," Scrooge murmured.

"While I am…sadly lacking n that department, my associate could perhaps ad with that," Schmidt said before calling out. "Heinz!"

"Well, if it's PARENTING advice you need, I'd be GLAD to help," said an enthusiastic voice as the angular and beak-nosed form of Heinz Doofenshmirtz sidled in. "So, what's the problem, Scrooge the McDuck?"

"She's refusing to listen, adamantly goes against my instructions, and I think those confounded bears are corrupting her with their 'Japan animation'," Scrooge said.

"Oh, the rebellious phase. That's a toughie," Doofenshmirtz said, sagely. "In MY experience, you need two things—space and communication. Y'know, give her some space to grow up a bit more BEFORE saddling her with the crushing responsibility of Magistrate-dom…"

While Doofenshmirtz gave his monologue, Schmidt was surreptitiously looking around. The duck had something that could be useful and Doofenshmirtz's distraction could give him the time to find it. Then, he found it! Behind a book was a fist-sized blue cube. Scrooge HAD obtained it-the Tesseract Cube, a source of unimaginable power. Quietly, he slid it out…

"Maybe you're right, Heinz," Scrooge conceded as he turned to face Schmidt. "But what do you think…wait…Schmidt, what do you have there?"

Schmidt froze. He didn't have a plan for this…and thankfully, he didn't need one. Gantu walked through the door, drawing all attention to his presence with his formal greeting. "Lord Magistrate."

"Gantu, can't you see that I'm BUSY?!" Scrooge shouted.

"I have bad news," Gantu said. "The heiress was not in her room. My men searched every room, but she's nowhere to be found. She appears to have run away."

"Curse me kilts," Scrooge said, going from annoyed to anxious in a heartbeat. Schmidt took the chance to slip the cube into his coat. "All her talk of freedom, I should've seen this coming!"

"I agree," Gantu nodded. "This is all your fault, McDuck."

"Search everywhere!" Scrooge shouted. "Sweep every island until she's found!"

"Sir," Gantu saluted before walking out. Schmidt and Doofenshmirtz quickly followed him.

When the captain left to gather his men, Schmid pulled the cube out and held it for Doofenshmirtz to look over. "Will this be sufficient for your machinations, Heinz?"

"WHOA, that's some freaky energy coming from this thing," Doofenshmirtz said. "It will work perfectly for my new evil scheme…"

The two retreated to a wall. After taking a moment to make sure that they were alone, Schmidt pushed in a brick. The wall swung around, taking them into a hidden room. Within it was various inscriptions and books, sprawled over and a large illustration of the Den of Tides on the ceiling. There was also something large and covered by a tarp. What it concealed was revealed when Doofenshmirtz dramatically pulled the tarp off, revealing a large, gaudy contraption.

"BEHOLD! THE FANMAKE-INATOR!" Doofenshmirtz proclaimed. "My original plan was to use it so everyone would make lazy rewrites of Disney scripts. Then, when everyone was tired of the non-stop creative bankruptcy, I would swoop in with MY fanmake of the movie about the dinosaurs only, y'know, with Halloween monsters. Then I WOULD RULE THE TRI-ISLAND AREA!"

With that, Doofenshmirtz began to laugh, maniacally.

"Stop prattling and make your POINT, HEINZ!" Schmidt snapped.

"Okay, okay. Sheesh, you sound like the admins in 2012," Doofenshmirtz murmured before explaining. "Using this cube as a focal point, we can read the tale of the world itself! It would show us who this 'Treasure in the Tides' is, no problem! And then the Tri-Island Area—no, wait, ALL LAGOON REEF WILL BE OURS!"

"And more, Herr Doofenshmirtz, and MORE," Schmidt said. "Now, turn it on…"

"Uh, yeah, see there's a problem," Doofenshmirtz said, now sounding quite sheepish. "See, I took your advice and removed the self-destruct button…but that threw me off so much that I forgot to add the power source."

Schmidt looked at the machine, then to Doofenshmirtz, incredulously. Then, he simply said four words. "Heinz, get the treadmill."

"I just made another mistake, didn't I?" Doofenshmirtz asked.