Gosalyn let out a heavy sigh as she stepped off the school bus, standing by the bus stop as it drove off. "Haaaaaa… camping… never again" she muttered grumpily as she began trudging along down the road towards her house. The duck had just made it home from her field trip, where they had been camping out in the forest for one night. It was AWFUL! It was cold and wet and the boys kept throwing mud everywhere. Plus there were bugs crawling everywhere, even inside the tent as she tried to sleep. She could have sworn she saw Honkers try to eat one. Made both her and Tank want to throw up.
She soon reached the door to her house, turning the door handle and dragging herself inside with a big pout on her face. As soon as she made it inside, she was suddenly swept up off the ground and quickly placed onto the shoulders of her kooky dad, Quackerjack. "My little doll! Welcome back home!" he cheered as he then started running into the living room with her, not bothering to let her remove her shoes before starting to run around the couch.
Gosalyn just giggled at her daddy's excitement, feeling much better already.
Quackerjack pulled his daughter off of his shoulders and plopped her down onto the couch, falling down right beside her with a small chuckle. "So! How was the school trip? Did you have fun TOUGHING it out in the forest and surviving on only berries and beaver meat?!" he questioned her as he made gestures with his hands, as if struggling to choke out a snake or something.
"Daddyyyy! It was just one night! We had lunches with us! YOU were the one who snuck those cookies into my lunch box!" she answered him back with a whine and laugh, giving him a weak shove. The colorful duck started giggling softly as he muttered a small "Oh, that's right". "You did what...?" A quiet growl was heard from behind the two. They looked up and saw Liquidator towering over them, holding a stack of papers while wearing a suit, hat and a sour face.
"Um… nothing, bud" the duck said nervously while sinking down into his seat. As the dog made out of water glared him down, Megavolt put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Come on, Bud. One cookie isn't going to kill her. Now weren't you and your fedora going on an online meeting for your ad thing?" he commented with an obviously self-aware tone, knowing exactly what the so-called thing was. "It's a homburg! Not a fedora!" the dog corrected before storming off upstairs to his online meeting.
As Gosalyn watched her rat dad walk off, she remembered what he had said two nights ago, after telling his backstory. It made her shoot up in her seat and hop onto the jester beside her, yelling excitedly. "Hey, daddy! Can you tell me your backstory?! Tell me why you and the other Darkwing Ducks decided to be heroes!" she kept demanding answers, overwhelming the poor, confused dad underneath her.
He was flabbergasted by her request and just stammered nervously. "U-umm… I-I-I'm not sure it would be a very interesting story to tell! It would be very boring for a kid…" he explained anxiously as his eyes drifted away to the side, soon thereafter adding on a quiet "and I… rather not dig up all that stuff again…".
"Huh? Why?" the little duckling asked confused as she moved off of him, tilting her head curiously. "Well… it's the lowest point of my life, so I'm kinda touchy about it. Plus it involves a lot of complicated business talk" he explained to her as he sat back up, rubbing his neck awkwardly. She just tilted her head more with a confused look, not understanding how business problems could lead to someone fighting crime. Quackerjack noticed the look on her face and gave away a sigh. "I guess I could try to tell it in a way that you can understand, if you really wanna hear it" he murmured softly and smiled an awkward smile. She nodded excitedly, and he pulled his legs up, taking a moment to recollect his memories again.
I used to be the owner of one of the largest toy companies. It was called QuackWerks! We were big in the classic, retro toy market, making a lot of simple little playthings. Dolls, action figures, rocking horses, building blocks, board games! Anything and everything! We were a pretty close-knit company. All of my workers enjoyed working for me and cared about our business. I even considered them my friends, always being so nice to me and complimenting me! They used to say things like "Nice work, Boss! Today's toy ideas were great" and "This is the best company I've ever worked for!".We were giants for some time. But then things started to change as the times did. Toys started to advance and become more complicated than we had been prepared for. But our company wasn't willing to get with the times. We stuck with our old-timey toys, as of the rest of the employees' wishes.They were all very adamant about not changing our products and to keep them the same as we always had. I, being a nostalgia lover, was more than happy to obey their wishes. They all seemed to appreciate that decision, a lot of them saying things such as "it's so great that you're keeping it simple and not selling your soul to the mainstream". I'd always respond with something like "Well we don't want to… conform to the norm, now do we?", just joking around and such. But… things started to get really rough for us during the years, as our sales started to drop. Not a lot of people wanted regular toys anymore, not when there were moving and talking action figures and video games. Video games… the beginning of our downfall.
"What's wrong with video games? I like video games! I play Pet Town and Fertile Farm, and they are a lot of fun!" Gosalyn interrupted his story, seemingly offended by his tone of voice when talking about games. Quackerjack snapped himself out of his little daze and realized how emotional he had probably gotten already without realizing it earlier. "Oh! Well… I didn't mean to say anything bad about them. The games you play are very cute! But at the time, I really hated them because of what it did to my company" he explained with an embarrassed look on his face, attempting to save the slip up. He just gets a suspicious pout from his daughter as she crosses her arms in front of her. "... A-anyways!" the duck said abruptly, so he could return to the story.
As video games started to get more and more popular, we just kept losing money. No one was interested in boring toys that didn't do anything special when they could be going on an adventure in the virtual world. It was starting to take a toll on me. Our products weren't selling, and we would soon have no more money to buy new products or keep QuackWerks up and running. I had to do something in order to not lose everything!Then it happened. One day when I was looking through our mail, I found a fascinating one. It was from the Wiffle Boy company, the one that made those Wiffle Boy games the kids were so into. It came as a shock to me, that they would be sending me a letter. So of course I had to see what they wanted. Their message read something like "Hello sir! We heard that you made some nice quality toys. We here are a big fan of your G.I. Melvin toys and were hoping you could make us some Wiffle boy merchandise. Please respond as soon as possible". I couldn't believe it. A game company wanted to join a partnership with us, a well-known old-school toy company that hasn't upgraded their products for years. But despite my dislike for video games, the offer was very tempting. It would boost our sales quite a bit, so I was completely onboard and decided to call everyone to a meeting to announce the news.I gathered everyone into the meeting room, having this big grin plastered on my face. I thought they were all going to be happy to hear that we were finally going to up our numbers again, so I was feeling very excited."Everyone! I am so glad you all came here today. I have very exciting news for all of you!" I told my staff happily. My employees seemed to all be delighted to hear me say that, one of them saying "Well spill it then, boss! What's the news?". "Glad you asked! Because I just found a way for us to increase our sales! We can finally make money again!" I explained to the room while trying my best to not start bouncing in my seat. They were all interested by then, listening very closely to what I had to say. "See, I just received a letter from the Wiffle Boy company, saying they want US to make their new merchandise! The most popular game company in st. Canard wants OUR business to make them toys of their little game character! This is amazing! We will definitely be making loads of money from this!".The room got completely silent after that, you could hear a pin drop in that packed meeting room. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. One of the employees finally broke the silence by saying "You're kidding, right? Tell me this is a joke". I was so confused. I didn't understand why they were acting so on edge when I thought this was wonderful news. "You're serious?! You're going to be business partners with people who make mindless dribble for a living?! I thought we had standards in QuackWerks!" Another of the guys yelled at me, scaring me pale. All I could do was stutter and stare in shock. But another one of the employees spoke up, shouting "I thought we weren't like the modern garbage business owners! We didn't conform to the mainstream trash!". "B-but… I thought… it would help us earn more money…" I tried to explain while shrinking together in my chair."OH! So you're also a sellout?! I thought you were different…" this other girl said while turning her head away from me angrily. I just sat there stunned, trying to figure out what I should do. "I… come on! If we don't do something about this, I will lose my company. All I worked for, my hopes and dreams, completely gone! I gotta do something if I wanna stay afloat!" I pleaded with my now furious workers, but they didn't seem to care at all. "That's a lot of me and I. What happened to us? Tsk. You know what? I'm out! I'd rather work somewhere that got higher standards than this!" the first guy barked as he slammed down his nameplate and stormed out. Not long thereafter, the rest of my employees did the same, leaving me to sit all alone in the meeting room. No workers, no partnership, no company.
"Wow… that's so sad. They just left you because you needed money" the little duckling sighed sadly as she was laying against her daddy's side, giving him a comforting hug. "Yeah…" was all the jester had to say, his head hanging low and his bells jingling somberly. Gosalyn then tilted back, asking "Theeeen… you decided to turn to crime fighting to stop their injustice?". "Um… no. Not exactly… I actually got very sad and had to give up the company" he muttered softly, avoiding using the word "depressed". The girl's smile turned back to a frown as she gave him another hug.
After I had done the paperwork to sell the company, I decided to head down to our product storage. I couldn't stand the thought of all my wonderful, lovely toys going to waste. I couldn't leave that building without bringing some of my treasures with me. There was one in particular I just couldn't leave behind. It was a prototype doll I would consider my favorite creation. I would have long conversations with him while I worked in my office. Mr. Banana brain. There was only one of him and I would not leave him behind. I packed up all my favorite toys into a bag, including Mr. Banana brain, and headed out the front doors. I said goodbye to the building and headed out.But I couldn't bring myself to go home, I just wandered around the streets aimlessly, suitcase and paper bag in hand. I just couldn't believe I just lost everything. My brain was swarming with all the things I could have done to stop it. But after a while, my legs were feeling tired. So I just sat down on the curb of the sidewalk, letting out the saddest sigh ever. I just sat there for a while, beak in my hands and a sad frown on my face. After a while of doing nothing but sitting, I looked over at the bag and saw Banana brain peeking out. So I started talking with him."What now? I just lost everything. I'm ruined!" I cried out and covered my eyes with my hands. "Hey, come on! Don't cry, pal. I'm sure you'll be able to fix this!" he tried to comfort me while I was bawling my eyes out. "How?! How am I supposed to fix this?! Mr. Banana brain! I have no employees, almost no money and no one would want to work for a business that's as outdated as mine! It's… it's over" I muttered quietly and hung my head with a soft sob. "You're a creative guy! I'm sure you can figure out something! You started that company all on your own, so fixing it should be no issue for someone like you!" he kept encouraging me, making me feel a bit better. "Yeah… I'm sure I can… think of something. Maybe I can do something with this offer" I tried to reason as I pulled out the letter from the game company.As I did so, this random cat guy suddenly ran right past me, grabbing my suitcase and bag before continuing to run. "H-hey! Give that back!" I yelled after him, but he just shouted back "Take it back yourself, if you can!". I was panicking, sprinting after to catch up with him. "Mr. Banana brain!!! MR. BANANA BR-Oof!!!" I shouted as I ran, until I tripped on the sidewalk and landed on my face. I looked up and saw him disappear around the corner. All I could do was watch as I had lost pretty much everything. I felt completely defeated. I felt like nothing. So of course I started crying on the ground.But only a few seconds later, I heard a scuffle from where he had run. Then I heard a loud ZAP, followed by a thud. Though I was confused, I started feeling scared when I heard footsteps coming closer to the turn. I could only yelp and hide myself under my arms, probably shaking in fear. I soon heard the steps stop right beside me. I couldn't bring myself to look and see what or who was there, until I heard a voice. "Hey, Don't be scared. I'm back!". I lifted my arm and peeked out to see Mr. Banana brain right there in front of me. Immediately, I shot up and shouted "MR. BANANA BRAIN!!!" in relief. I then saw ha was being held by this weirdly dressed rat man. He was wearing yellow overalls and what looked like a plug on his head. He was smiling at me while holding all my stuff that that other guy had stolen. "Don't worry, This guy just saved me!" Banana brain told me before the rat guy handed over all my things. I held Banana brain close while staring at my savior. "Who are you? I mean- thank you! Thank you so much! Um… what's your name?" I asked him before wiping away my tears. "I'm Megavolt! St. Canard's hero!" he announced in this heroic way. I was stunned. A hero? In st. Canard? Seemed impossible to me."Hey… how about I'll help you home? It's not safe to wander around alone this late" he suggested to me and then offered me his hand. I didn't even hesitate, I grabbed it immediately and squeezed as close as I could, saying "yes please!". So Megavolt helped me home and on the way I explained everything. I explained my current situation and how bad everything was for me. So he offered me some help, saying that he could need some help to cleans the streets of crime. It was a wonderful offer. I could use my creativity and craftsmanship for good! I could help people! So I started working together with Megavolt, forming a great crime fighting duo.
"So that's what dad meant? You started fighting criminals because of him?" Gosalyn asked while looking up at Quackerjack with expectant eyes, having listened intently while he told his story. "Yes, I did. If he hadn't shown up, I would have probably ended up either in a boring desk job or as another thug on the streets. So I have to thank him for what he did for me" he sighed while looking over at the stairs, seeing Megavolt walk down them and heading over to the kitchen where Bushroot was. He had been listening in on the story, forgetting the food that was set on fire. Megavolt helped him put it out. "So… what happened after that? How did papa and father join?" the little girl asked while watching the disaster go down in the kitchen. "I think you will have to ask them about that. I'm sure they know the details and can tell it better than me. But how about we forget about that now and play with Mr. Banana brain instead?" Quackerjack said excitedly while pulling out the banana toy. "Yeah!" she cheered happily as they both ran off towards the backyard, ignoring the two men who had finally put out the fire.