Hi, everyone!

Sorry about the lateness, I didn't have this chapter ready until Friday afternoon and my family left camping that morning and we didn't get back until Sunday, so, no service for two days, and I needed some time to rejuvenate. But, here we are on Monday, finally updating!

Here's chapter 8, the second to last one. (Hopefully.) It'll be a bit shorter than the usual chapter length, cuz I'd rather have two shorter chapters than one 16-page chapter for the ending.

Oh, and remember when I said that chapter 7 was the least lucky chapter of the whole story? Yeah, after writing this, I changed my mind…

Enjoy!

……

"Well, that's…not ideal." Lena muttered, as they all observed the damage from the top of the staircase.

Webby gasped. "It's got May and June! And Dad! And-and my….mom, maybe?"

"And every single book and scroll. Of course." Daisy said, eying the bubbling cesspools that had taken place of all the reading material.

"We're dead meat, aren't we?" Donald summarized.

"That no good son of a fish! Acid-hole!" Della grumbled.

"Mom, calm down." Huey said.

"Children present." Fenton reminded her.

She sighed. "I'm just saying, that maggot's got it coming." She made to stand up, now at least eighty percent diamond. "I'm going in."

"No!" Violet warned. "Even the world's most accomplished conwoman couldn't outsmart or outrun it. The best thing for us to do would be lying low."

"Oh, come on, Vi!" Dewey exclaimed. "We've got to get everyone back! How are we going to do that without fighting?"

"Shh!" Beakley said. "Everyone, please, try to be quieter. That thing might not have the best eyesight or hearing, but it could still slither in here at any moment."

"So, what were we doing on the very visible and open staircase again?" Lena pointed out.

Beakley sighed and speedily ushered everyone down the steps and behind the ruined couch at the other end of the room, and not a moment too soon. The Hayfelday tentacle entered the scene with a low hiss. Not seeing signs of any intruders, it made a beeline for the group of statues by the fireplace, curling its body around a few of them and purring. With its tail, it stroked Gyro's head affectionately. The scientist's eye twitched underneath his diamond casing.

"This is giving me a migraine." Lena said.

"It's almost like it's collecting prizes." Webby realized. "Our family is being turned into trophies!"

"Okay, that is it!" Della declared. "I'll face it head-on right now!"

She raced out into the living room, yelling. Beakley and Donald almost reached out to stop her, then remembered what would happen if they did. They could all only helplessly watch the mother charge into battle, Dewey close behind, each of them grabbing a heavily decorated sword from an overturned display case on the floor.

"Oh, well." Donald and Daisy shrugged and headed into the fray, Daisy swinging her handbag like a nunchuck. "Yah!"

Beakley rubbed her temples. "Let's just attack the mystical death tentacle head-on. Wonderful." She got to her feet. "Charge!" She grabbed an old-fashioned axe and sprinted across the living room toward the fight.

The remaining kids and Fenton glanced at one another, then shrugged. Huey, Webby and Violet grabbed weapons as well: a sword, a spear, and a bow and quiver of arrows. Lena closed her eyes and let a wave of blue energy envelop her, changing her clothes, hair, and eyes to her much more powerful, magical anime girl form. She used her newfound power to lift the three children into the air. She looked toward Fenton. "You want a lift?"

"I'm good." He said. Lena shrugged, lifted herself into the air as well, and zoomed forward to face the monster with the others. Fenton disappeared around a corner, shouted something unintelligible, and came back around, armored up as Gizmoduck. He rolled over to join the battle.

Della and Dewey hacked mercilessly at the Hayfelday with their swords. Surprisingly, blades barely seemed to scratch the thing. Daisy whacked it with her handbag left and right while Donald raced along the top of it trying to avoid diamond-ification. The four other kids, with their medieval weapons of choice, floated on Lena's power and swooped down every which way, also slicing at the monster. Lena blasted it with occasional zaps of magic. Duckworth appeared out of nowhere in his demonic form, possessed an ancient cutlass, and joined the chaotic swooping of the four other floating children, skillfully slashing all across the giant worm's form.

Somehow, none of these things seemed to make a dent.

Meanwhile, Beakley swung the axe down in a mighty swing that embedded the blade in the creature's tail. As she yanked the weapon out, she spotted the armored avenger wheeling her way.

"Where did you come from? I specifically put the manor on lockdown mode!" She said.

"Oh, uh, well…" Fenton dodged as the rest of the tail swiped at him. "I just…Gizmo-ducked my way in?"

"Of course you did." She rolled her eyes. "Good to know, Mr. Crackshell-Cabrera."

The superhero nervously chuckled, then wheeled back in alarm as the tentacle nearly came down on his head.

……

Not far away, Della could feel her body slowly giving up, now almost completely done transforming. "Looks like this is it." She informed her bravest son. "Knock him dead for me, okay hon?" Her beak and feet froze, and she was completely still, sword still in hand. Instantaneously, as if it was just what it had been waiting for, the Hayfelday stopped intercepting attacks, scooped Della up, nuzzled her against its face, and rippled across the room to add her to the collection. Everyone was too surprised by the sudden change to keep fighting. While it was distracted, Fenton opted for a quick rescue and retreat. "Mom!" Dewey cried as he was scooped up and wheeled away by two very strong metal arms. He started wriggling around in Gizmoduck's hold. "Agh! Fenton! Let me down! Let me at it!" He furiously tried to escape.

"It's Gizmoduck." Fenton reminded through gritted teeth, attempting to hold on to the wild teen.

"Dewey! You'll just get yourself frozen!" Huey said, floating in midair across the room. "Mom would want you to stay alive!"

Dewey ignored him and managed to jump down and race toward the tentacle. "Hey! Hey, you slimeball! Put my mom down!"

He rushed at it, scooping up his fallen sword and going right for the beast's neck. He leapt into the air, and the Hayfelday nabbed him from behind, mid-maneuver with its tail. "Aw, phooey." Dewey, too, was instantly immobilized in stone.

"Uh, Mrs. B, I think we need a team meeting." Called Lena, still floating on magic with the three remaining kids.

Beakley seemed to have the same idea. She nodded. "Fall back! Retreat toward the sofa!"

The airborne team members shot toward the couch hideout alongside Beakley, Donald and Daisy, while Gizmoduck awkwardly crawled through the small opening between a broken grandfather clock and the arm of the couch. "Ack! This is worse than the closet."

The Hayfelday was now finally done arranging Della and Dewey next to Gyro as neatly as possible and had turned back around. Luckily, it somehow didn't seem to notice them, as long as they were hiding behind the half-ingested couch.

"Alright." Beakley said, clearly frustrated. "I hope you can now all see why we never rush into battle without a plan."

They all nodded obediently. "Wait, where's Della?" Asked Donald.

"You didn't see?" Webby asked.

"I was in the zone." He proudly replied. "I haven't fought anything that well in years! But, seriously, where is she?"

"She got carried off by the Hayfelday." Huey carefully explained. "It got Dewey too."

Donald breathed in and out very deeply, face darkening into a furious red.

"Oh, no." Said Daisy. "No! Don, calm down. Donny, honey, please-"

"Della…Dewey…give them…back! AAAGFHGGGHHH!" He hopped to his feet comically fast and tore across the carpet, practically flying.

"Donald! Wait!" Daisy wasn't far behind. "Oh, well. We go down, we go down together! I'm coming!"

Beakley got to her feet and called after them, "This is exactly the sort of irrational behavior that will get us all-"

She was interrupted by two alarmed screams and the sound of diamond crackling over the engaged ducks' bodies.

"Fantastic." She grumbled, peeking out over the top of the couch, "Well, at least it's distracted adding to its treasure horde. Again. Engaged couples and their sentimentality."

"Why do I get the feeling something isn't working here?" Lena said, voice positively dripping with sarcasm.

"She's right! We can't keep going on like this! We're sitting ducks!" Fenton said. "Wait…"

"Exactly the point I was about to make!" Beakley said, not caring anymore if she spoke loudly. "We need to develop a real strategy."

"What can we do?" Asked Webby. "The tentacle's so fast, we can't attack it without almost being frozen!"

"It's almost as if we need some sort of direct attack that only comes from one place, from either all of us or one of us. But, I don't think normal weapons would suffice against the monster's surprisingly tough flesh." Violet said. "What to do? Hmm…"

"What about Lena's power?" Suggested Webby. "She's one of the toughest ones here, after you, Granny. She took down the Phantom Blot with only her magic!"

Lena chuckled. "Thanks, Pink, but I've been trying. Magic doesn't seem to scratch it either. If you really want something to go off of, I have been getting this weird headache whenever I look at it. It's almost as if… I dunno. It's probably not important."

"Weird." Said Huey. "You're all right, though. It's almost as if nothing can hurt it."

Webby tapped her fingers together, deep in thought. "Except maybe…maybe itself!"

"Huh?" Everyone asked.

"Think about it." Violet was already catching on. "That acid it makes can go through almost anything! What if the only thing that can stop it is something produced by it?"

"Good theory." Said Huey. "But, it's only a theory. Should we really go off a guess? Mrs. B?"

She sighed. "What other bets do we have against it? I say we try. Down to business: Gizmoduck, you have the best defenses against harmful burns; I want you to grab a few buckets from the supply closet and start scooping up acid trails in the halls from the Hayfelday into them. I know your suit would most still most likely dissolve on contact, so you'll be using this." She held up what appeared to be a cheese grater made of diamond. "When Scrooge was much, much younger and more arrogant, he swore this would come in handy someday. I never would have thought it would, but, here we are." She presented the cheese grater to Gizmoduck. "Use it well."

"Not the weirdest thing I've been asked to do as Gizmoduck, but in the top ten." Fenton said under his breath as he accepted the weapon.

"Children, you'll each have a bucket of acid and, on my signal, throw it onto the beast with as much accuracy as you can manage." Beakley said. "In the meantime, I'll help you keep it busy until Gizmoduck returns with our ammunition."

"Wouldn't the acid simply melt through the buckets?" Duckworth pointed out.

Beakley also presented Gizmoduck with a key. "Supply closet. Hidden compartment. Bottom shelf. Diamond buckets. Mr. McDuck went through a bit of a phase with diamond…" She said. Duckworth nodded with a strained sort of reminiscent smile.

Gizmoduck accepted the key as well, eyes nervously darting to the ghost butler.

"Alright, then. Any other questions?"

No one offered any. They were too busy stealing awkward, terrified glances at one another.

"Excellent. Let's go!" Beakley pushed the couch aside with ease.

Lena and the others floated up to the ceiling, while Gizmoduck alone activated his propeller and flew up the stairs and around a corner.

Beakley grabbed both an axe and a metal shield the size of an oven door, one in each hand, and shouted as she ran in for another attack.

The Hayfelday was ready and swung around to meet her, spitting acid. She dodged and hacked right at the thing's purple skin, and fuchsia-colored goop flew out and sizzled on the carpet behind her. The housekeeper advanced again and again, making a few cuts, that, to the massive monster, probably felt more like nasty paper cuts than anything.

The possessed cutlass sliced and diced at the tentacle's face, opening a few small gashes. Duckworth, despite being only one entity, seemed never to tire or give up at driving the creature off his master's property.

The others all zoomed and flew all around the room, Webby using a spear, Violet releasing occasional arrows from the bow she had salvaged, Huey shouting out suggestions from the Senior Woodchuck Guidebook while brandishing a saber with the other hand, and Lena shooting fireworks of blue and pink magic. For a bunch of fighters that only had around three years of experience, they were standing their ground very well. Webby even managed to poke the Hayfelday in the eye with her spear. It reared back and screamed, pink saliva trailing from its lips. (Did tentacles have lips?)

It was after around fifteen entire minutes of fighting that Gizmoduck finally returned with two shimmering buckets of acid gripped in each glove, along with the pointlessly diamond cheese grater. He propelled himself into the air and handed out buckets to each of the four kids.

Beakley had another sudden idea. "Webby!" She called. "I want you to dump your bucket first to see if it even does anything!"

Webby gave a thumbs up, then hurled the contents of her bucket directly at the tentacle's 'head.' It blinked in surprise, then shook the acid all off like a dog after a bath.The lethal stuff flew everywhere. Beakley got down in the fetal position under her shield, while Gizmoduck, out of instinct, zoomed over and protectively blocked the kids from the sprinkling destruction. A few small holes appeared in the back of his armor, and he winced. If this doesn't end me, Gyro definitely will.

After it was satisfied with drying itself, the Hayfelday let out a low purr of relief, then started attacking the remaining family members again. Beakley rose up and slashed with the axe, making not as much progress as before. She was wearing out, almost completely out of energy. The fight had taken more out of her than she'd expected with her status as an ex-S.H.U.SH agent. The tail shot toward her in a weak moment. She cried out as the tentacle attempted to wrap around her, then she deftly rolled out from under it and sprinted across the living room.

"Fall back!" She called as the monstrosity gave chase. "I think I may have another idea!"

……

Back underneath the couch, Beakley spoke quickly, not wanting to waste a single second. "Everyone, normal acid isn't going to cut it."

Lena let her magical form wash off her, going back into her normal grey and black attire and pink hair. "Oh, you think?" She showed off a sizzling hole in one sweater sleeve, rubbing her head miserably with her other hand.

"Well, if it can't beat itself, can anything beat it?" Webby wondered.

"I'm not entirely sure." Beakley gasped and winced, unfolding her arms to reveal a spot of sparkling rhinestone on her abdomen. "Oh, great."

"Granny! You're infected!" Webby exclaimed.

Gizmoduck held an arm out. "Stay back, kids. Don't touch her."

"The sucker barely grazed me." She said. "And, no, I'm not contagious. The Eye of Demagorgon wasn't affecting me, so this doesn't work like a plague. You can still touch me. It just wasn't very strong contact, so it will…spread…slowly-AAUGH!"

She moaned and shook as the diamond expanded across her purple cardigan. "Or, maybe not. Wonderful."

"Granny!" Webby scooted forward and fingered the injury.

"I'd give her one minute and thirty-five seconds, tops." Said Violet.

Beakley sat up abruptly. "Listen. Normal acid won't work, because the creature's skin is only one layer. Underneath, its skeletal structure is some sort of diamond compound."

"It's scientifically impossible for acid to dissolve diamond, so you're right." Fenton said. "But octopi don't have skeletal structures, let alone diamond ones."

"I can assure you, this one does" Beakley said. "I felt its bones nearly squeeze the life out of me. If you don't believe me, scan it with that visor of yours."

Gizmoduck accepted the invitation and pushed a cushion aside to reveal the Hayfelday with Daisy in its coils, Donald wrapped in its tail, puckering its lips and smashing the two statues together, making them kiss much like a little girl would.

Fenton ignored this disturbing scene and instead scanned the creature with the visor's x-ray feature. He settled back into the couch hideout, amazed. "Incredible. A diamond skeleton making it nearly impossible to kill! Possibly the most useful adaptation in all of magical zoology. We will definitely need to come up with something else besides acid buckets."

"What else could work?" Huey wondered.

"Perhaps other diamond?" Violet suggested. "In normal situations, only diamond cuts diamond."

"That's what I would say." Beakley rasped, shimmering stone now all across her torso, neck, and partially across her limbs.

"Gizmoduck, I've got only seconds. Once I freeze, you'll have to be the supervisor here. You're the last adult standing."

"That kind of surprises me." Fenton said under his breath.

"I need you to protect the children with your life, do you understand?"

Fenton gulped, the weighing responsibility reminding him of looming fatherhood just on his horizon. "I'll try my best, Mrs. B."

"Good. Please destroy this thing. I'm not sure what I'd do with myself if 'killed by a singular octopus tentacle' were written on my tombstone."

Some of the last remaining group members forced a weak chuckle, then watched sadly as the transformation concluded and Beakley lay still and covered in sparkling gem, Webby's arms wrapped tightly around her.

……