I do not own Duck Tales.
Enjoy!
Launchpad could not believe how his life had changed.
He went from the guy who spent more time watching Darkwing Duck than doing anything to the guy who was meeting new and interesting people all the time.
Of course, he had those occasional interesting calls on and off but now, every day was different.
He felt like he was changing for the better but it was dampened by the fact, nobody he craved acceptance from seemed to notice.
He hadn't exactly been on any Duck adventurers in quiet a while.
He walked out of the garage and headed to the plane, he wanted to take it for a cool spin when he saw Dewey, Lou, Huey and Webby get on the plane with Scrooge and Della Duck was rummaging through a toolbox.
"What's going on?" He said.
"Oh, hi Launchpad." Said Della, looking up. "Uncle Scrooge asked us to go on one big adventure since we haven't been on one for so long because we all have been doing our own thing"
"Oh..." He said, another adventure without him, huh. "Well, have fun"
He turned around and began to walk away.
He must have looked really down because he then heard.
"Wait, Launchpad!"
He turned to see Della.
"We haven't been fly together in a while," she said."Why don't you co-pilot with me for the adventure?"
His eyes went wide as he said. "Really?"
And then he hugged her and said. "Awesome! Me and the plane once again. Crashing through the air!"
"There will be no crashing," said Della.
He was so happy that Della words passed right through him, he then ran to the plane and boarded.
"Good morning everybody. I will be co-piloting for your adventure today!" he said, to the stunned ducks. "Please make sure your seat belts are fastened, were about to crash out of here"
"Again, no crashing," said Della as Launchpad sat down.
"Oh...than I'll crash when needed," said Launchpad, he pretended not to hear the sigh of relief or how Della explained to his Employer that she was doing this to cheer him up.
He couldn't exactly blame them for being wary of him at the wheel.
They had tasted the life of a safe driver, there was no debate on which they preferred.
Della flew the plane off the ground safely.
"So what are we after?" He said.
"The Labroth Eagle Wing," said Scrooge. "The treasure's location is said to be so tough, that you need a plane to reach it."
"That's where I come in," said Della. "With my flying expertise, it should be a snap."
"And, we get to see our moms cool flying skills," said Huey.
"Huh," he said, feeling small once again.
"We still need you, Launchpad," said Della trying to make him feel better. "If we need to force our way through something than your driving"
"Okay," he said.
And then he touched the wheel awkwardly, waiting for a turn that he hoped would come.
He ignored Della uncomfortable glances at him.
He got bored and went in search for his Comic books, he opened one up and began to read.
He easily become lost in his own little world.
However it wasn't in his fantasy Darkwing duck world where he was sidekick, he was wondering about the upcoming Jigsaw competition where you had to blow and shape, the most impressive balloon in existence and the person who won, got theirs sent to space.
That would be so awesome.
Suddenly he heard.
"I can't get through it" from Della.
His head snapped up.
Showtime.
"You can't get through it? It's time to crash!" he said.
And then he took hold of the plane while Della was shouting. "Wait. No! No, crash!"
It was too late.
However as the plane zoomed forward, Launchpad realised why.
There was a gap in the mountains before them, it wasn't even big enough to fit an entire plane inside.
If he were to crash, he would lose both of the wings and the plane would go down.
Suddenly he recalled in.
"You should learn tricks instead," said a pilot woman.
"Huh," he said, handing her a ranch.
"Just because you don't know how to drive doesn't mean, you can't learn to do tricks in mid-air," she said. "Do you know what my favourite trick is? It's called 'Deadringer'. The plane is positioned a certain way for a certain period of time. You need a strong stomach, firm grip and firm determination. I can easily teach you this trick if you want. You just have to-"
He came out of it to hear Della screaming and bracing for the crash, while everybody else was doing so too.
Suddenly Launchpad thought of the steps his friend taught him and began to do them, he blocked out everything so it was just him, the plane and the gap.
The plane began to gently lift its wing and then when it was high up he stopped it from lifted more, he continued to move forward, he kept his grip on the wheel even when the wheel was pushing to go one way or another.
Deadringer.
He didn't hear anything, he didn't see the surprise on Della face or the rest of the Duck family as they cruised through the gap.
The gap was only 20 seconds long but to Launchpad it felt like an eternity, his arm took a beating from the plane that wanted to tip more.
And then finally, they were out, he put the plane to cruise mode and let go, he rested his head on the steering wheel.
He had a newfound appreciation for Dino, she must be one heck of a pilot.
He suddenly heard.
"That was some amazing flying, Della," said Scrooge. "And you said you wanted to go around"
"That was amazing, mom," said Lou.
"Actually..." Said Della. "I wasn't the one who got us through that. That was Launchpad"
Silence.
What?
There was silence as everybody eyes slowly widen even Webby.
The guy who crashes, preformed the move that got them through safely?
"Man...I'm not doing that again," he said. "My arms took a serious beating. I'm going to continue reading comic books while Della does her thing"
He opened a comic book and escaped into the pages, he was so out of it he didn't see Della glancing at him every few minutes.
However, she could definitely handle this without him.
Della was indeed amazing, she dodged all the projectiles fired their way, she passed through-plane sized spaces, dodged a flock of birds.
Before they realised it, they saw an entrance of some sort and Della landed the plane.
"Alright, everybody out," said Della.
He unbuckled and began to walk with the rest of them, they saw four tunnels before them.
"Well, it looks like we'll be splitting up," said Scrooge.
"I and Dewey will be a team," he said, immediately. "Isn't that right, buddy?"
"Whatever..." Said Dewey.
The Duck had a tracking device, so he could always find everybody else.
They all split up, Debby was with Della, Huey and Lou were and Scrooge was on his own.
They shared the supplies and then he and Dewey took the third tunnel.
"I'm so excited, I haven't been on a Duck adventure in ages," he said.
"Good for you," said Dewey.
And then without thinking, he grabbed two rocks and struck them creating a flame to light the darkness instead of a phone.
He didn't see Dewey expression change.
"I hope I find a stick or a..." He said, before trailing off when he saw a boned corpse rested on the wall.
He without thinking took a bone from it, ripped a bit of his shirt, tied it all together to make a flaming stick.
He had learned it from this one guy, who specialised in making things go boom.
He then began to hum the Darkwing Duck theme tune as he continued to walk.
And just like that Dewey boredom completely changed as he stared at Launchpad back.
First, the plane move now this?
Meanwhile, he stopped humming when they came to a path that was collapsed and on the other side were Egyptian symbols.
Dewey had no reason to believe either of them could read it.
"Well, it looks like we have to turn ar-" began to duck, only for him to grab the duck, tuck him under his shoulder and run.
He ran into the abyss.
However, instead of plunging to their deaths, they ran on air.
Invisible bridge.
However, the moment they touched it, the fire began to erupt behind them destroying a part of the bridge but he didn't slow down until he was sure they were on the other side.
The fire followed them every step of the way until they were safe and he took a breather.
He then put Dewey down.
Big mistake.
The duck's weight-activated a trap.
Click.
The floor became slop under their feet, and both of them slid down.
"Nooottt ggggooooooddd" yelled Dewey, as they had no choice but to slide now.
However, Launchpad calm and on alert to his surroundings, looking at the walls he discovered that they were covered in fake symbols.
Weren't there any real ones?
He saw a symbol he recognised and touched it, thus began a game of him touching the wall for no reason in front of Dewey.
However, when he touched the last one, the stone moved back and suddenly the slope became a ramp.
He grabbed Dewey leg as they launched off, all the while the Duck was screaming.
He noticed he was coming up this rocks with symbols, he held Stewie and tired the supply bag he wore around his chest within seconds and then he began to do the moves he was taught by Gummy, he read the symbols out loud as he did so and they glowed when he hoped from them.
All the while Dewey was being flung and passed from his hands to his teeth, then his feet to his neck and then to his arms until they crashed onto the solid floor.
Unfortunately for him, they were going to fast to land, however, he made sure Dewey could land safely by cushioning him with his body.
It hurt so bad, however, he lived, but his coat and shirt took his fall.
"Oh, man. This was my favourite coat" he said.
He had no choice but to take it off, revealing how the top half of his body had changed.
No longer did his upper body look like a bodybuilder, it was the upper body of a fighter.
And for the first time, he turned around and truly looked at Dewey.
The duck mouth was open.
"Are you okay, little buddy?" He said.
The duck opened and closed his mouth.
The duck was in too much shock to say anything.
"Oh, the lights are on. We must be getting close" he said, seeing torches to light their way and then he turned around and said. "Are you coming?"
He saw Dewey hesitate before following him.
They came to a corridor and saw the item on top of some gold.
They were the first ones here.
"Hey, Dewey. Can you take the item? I need to take a picture and collect some gold" he said, to the stunned Duck.
The Duck slowly walked past him and he took a picture with his phone which he thankfully kept inside his trouser pocket and then he began to line his pockets up with gold.
He soon noticed a cold draft thanks to his bare skin.
A way out.
He began to walk there and then press his ear to the rock and then he knocked on it.
The wall came crumbling down revealing the sky and some rock stairs.
"It looks like we did get here first," he said, as Dewey came up to him with the item. "It's freezing. I'm pretty sure this leads to the ship, so stay here if you want. I need heat"
He then began to jog down the steps.
"Hey, wait for me!" Said Dewey, running after him.
He hummed the theme song, and then they came to the bottom and there were a few platforms they easily jumped through before getting to the cave where the plane was.
"Heating at last," he said before he opened the door and they walk in.
He closed the door and sat down.
"You can sit next to me, while we wait." He said.
And slowly Dewey did.
"Time to cut open the snacks," he said, opening up the snacks he managed to not drop.
The sandwich he unearthed was destroyed, but he happily put it back together again and put his handphones on, before he began to eat it.
He didn't hear the door open or see the rest of the Ducks walk in, he didn't hear the surprise that came with seeing them or Dewey presenting the artefact, he didn't see Dewey point to him or the eyes shifted to him in shock.
He did not notice that Dewey and Della switched places but he didn't notice the Plane being raised up.
Della was at the wheel and going back, however, when they approached the gap again, he took off the headphones and turned to Della.
"Launchpad. You do it" she said.
"Really?" He said, and then he took the wheel but then he looked at his arms and realised he couldn't do that again, so he took the plane up.
He kept climbing higher, ignoring the screaming and didn't stop until the plane was over the mountains and than he dipped down.
The plane came crashing down, stomachs squished and he didn't stop until they were near littler mountains and than he turned on the autopilot.
"Is everybody okay?" He said.
Everybody nodded.
"Della. I'm passing the plane to you" he said before he put on his headphones and used the plane's WiFi system to get into a secret group chat where he shared the photo he took and talked to some people who were smarter than him.
They advised him to change his phone password and he did.
When the plane landed, he had finished his meal and wrapped his ripped clothes around his waist.
He then walked out with the rest of them.
He saw Miss B waiting for them.
She looked shocked to see him, oblivious, he took off the ripped items and said to her. "Can you sew these Miss B?"
He gave her his shirt and coat.
"Thanks," he said and then he saw Lena who had moved into the mansion at the door.
She looked shocked to see him and his new shirtless self.
He passed her and said nothing.
It was by far his most mysterious moment in his entire life.
However, Launchpad didn't think the lack of attention on him would change after today.
He was Launchpad.
But he was wrong.
After Dewey told the others what he had experienced, he wouldn't have a moment to himself.
And scene!