Chapter 4

Authors Notes:

Hi all!
Here's the next chapter, its a bit of filler since I really thought this would be a good point to stop for this chapter ^^ Don't worry from here it's going to get more intense and I hope everyone enjoys the next few chapters. I've also been working on a few other fanfics on the side too. Nothing I can post yet. (My mojos been a bit off lately. I need new music to listen to.) But I did post my One shot I did of that music based idea I had. It has a few OCs in it and I'm too nervous to put it up here yet. But if you visit my Tumblr I'm sure you'll see it there. The names Lorewytch ^^. I've also been just posting random stuff I like. Like music thats inspired me in the past and a list of AU's I'm working on. I appreciate feedback when I get it. Comments are always welcome. Thanks again for sticking with me on this long ride. I try to reply to comments when I can. Thanks again all!
Lore out!

With a gasp, Dewey awoke hanging from a tree. Letting out a slight scream, he grasped onto the airplane seat for dear life as he glanced down at the jungle below.

Wait, Jungle? Wasn't he in the air over the sea before?

Blinking, he glanced around. Taking everything in he was surrounded by trees and vines. A small layer of fog was rolling in within the forest but besides that things seemed rather calm. He could tell it was nearing nightfall, considering the forest seemed to glow a bit in the background with an orange light.

He could distantly hear the sound of the ocean. So, he was close. Gripping a hand over his backpack, he jumped from the seat into the jungle below. Sticking his three point landing he fearlessly started to walk towards thee sound of the ocean.

He had to find his brothers, Launchpad…and Webby quickly. The last moments he had with them echoed within his mind. He hoped they made it.

Huey let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and glanced around. His seat was more or less halfway deep in sand and around him he could hear the sounds of a beach. Seagulls, waves crashing. Blinking away the exhaustion, Huey took in that it was nearing sunset.

How long had he been out?

Slowly standing up, he took out his book and glanced around. No sign of his brothers. But he had to believe they were still alive. He could still feel them. Glancing at the waves, he smiled slightly. "Alright, JWG rule number 33, When lost in the wilderness… first order of business is to find shelter and clean drinking water. Which means if I follow the ocean maybe I will find another type of water source further in!" Glad at his quick thinking, Huey ran down the beach. On the lookout for water, shelter or his family.

"Welp this has to top the worst situations scenario…" Louie commented to no one as he was currently hanging in a tree above a large pond with you guessed it, crocodiles. He was hanging by his leg and he was glancing around trying to find a way out of the situation. He texted away at his phone. But since he had no service, all his texts came back. "oh man, no service." He said annoyed. Sighing, he glanced around for any way to get down. He tried to not look as nervous as he felt. He was a Duck…son of Della Duck. He couldn't let this get the best of him.

Still, he would have killed for a can of pep at that moment.

Launchpad awoke in the cockpit which was hanging precariously on top of a large mountain. Blinking, he quickly looked around and realized that the rest of the plane was missing. "That's a new one….better call for help!" He pulled out the radio.

"Hello?! Hello? This thing on? Were stuck on a random island in the middle of the ocean!" He paused and heard nothing. "Hello?!" What he failed to realize was that the line to the radio had been badly damaged in the crash and no longer was working.

"…Hello?"

"Miss Vanderquack?!" A worried voice echoed within her mind. Webby was struggling to wake up. Her head was pounding and everything felt sore. That twister certainly lived up to its name. That's for sure. She felt like her insides and body parts were twisted up. Letting out a pained gasp, she wrapped an arm around her side and turned on her unhurt side.

"Miss Vanderquack!" that voice again was yelling at her. Groaning, she frowned. She remembered that voice from somewhere….wait…

Eyes snapping open, Webby sat up to see the wispy form of Duckworth floating above her. Her mouth was slightly open in shock.

"Duckworth!" Webby yelled back. "What are you doing here?!"

Duckworth raised an eyebrow and proceeded to dust off Webbys feathers of dirt and leaves. "Apparently not getting paid overtime for this." He mumbled, bitterly thinking about what Beakley did.

At her questioning look, Duckwork pulled his hand back and neatly held both behind his back. "Well, it seems Mrs. Beakley deemed this situation called for adult supervision. And since everyone else was busy, she assumed me the responsibility….unwillingly."

Webby groaned. "Granny…."

"Indeed." Duckworth raised an eyebrow at Webby's reaction.

"How did she do it though? I thought you were attached to the house." Webby asked thoughtfully.

"Apparently this applies to all objects within the residence." Duckworth mumbled.

Digging through her backpack, Webby pulled out a strange looking idol and set it down. "Is this it?" She asked and the other glanced at it before nodding.

"I didn't even see Granny pack this…what is it?" She studied it thoughtfully. "An idol of some kind. Probably ancient.. the celts? Hmm…its made of marble…"

"Either way I cannot leave the five foot radius around the idol." Duckworth crossed his arms and shrugged.

"Hmmm." Webby sighed and picked it up again, placing it into her bag she glanced at the other. "How were you going to contact Granny anyways to keep her updated to make sure nothing bad happened?"

Duckworth smirked. "I have my ways."

Glancing around at her surroundings, Webby realized that she was on the far part of the island near the large mountain. Glancing up, she saw the sun setting within the distance. "Well you might need to let them know now. Were gonna need a ride back to the mansion. I don't even think Launchpad can fix the plane this time." She chuckled.

"So it appears…" Glancing around a bit himself, Duckworth once more looked down at the young girl. Despite everything, he knew she was hurting. She was injured somewhere. Considering her lack of movements and just sitting and staring off.

"I will as soon as we find someone else to leave you with." Duckworth nodded.

Blinking, Webby glanced up at the butler and gave him a soft smile. "Aww Duckworth. Are you worried about me?" she leapt up and tried to hug him only to pass through his body. "Whoops….ha…Ghost…right."

Duckworth remained stoic. But Webby was up and running around. "Don't worry about me! Nothing can stop Webbigail Vanderquack! I'll probably find the boys and Launchpad before you even come back!"

"Indeed, usually I would have faith in that. But it seems this time is different." His voice had an edge to it. As if he was looking straight through her. Did he know everything? Feeling herself shiver a bit, Webby glanced away from him.

As she stared off at the sunset, she hummed and got to her feet. Brushing off any dirt she could from her webbed legs, she turned back to Duckworth with a slight smile. "Well either way we can't stay here. I need a place to spend the night. Oh! Maybe there's a cave nearby with a hungry bear I can wrestle with!" With this, she grinned and formed her hand into a fist. Duckworth simply stared at her and while he understood why she was ignoring the main problem. It still irked him that she had never responded to his earlier comments.

"Well, lead the way Miss Vanderquack. We certainly wouldn't want to miss that." That last comment was stated in the most deadpan voice the ghost butler could make.

"Right?!" Webby quickly picked up her backpack and set a determined face. "Let's go!" running off, Webby tried not to think about what had happened too much. In situations like this, she knew she had to keep a cool head and not get distracted by anything.

Even if it was her heart breaking into a million pieces.

Deep within the Shadow Realm, a standoff was reaching its peek. On one side stood a teen, her feathers were black when they were once white. Her once black eyes, now white glared harshly at her once Aunt on the opposite side. She had to give the old bird credit. The Shadow Realm hadn't consumed her yet. The fact she could have lasted this long without the shadows consuming her was quite a feat. Still, this didn't bode well for Lena herself. She had spent much of her own energy trying to keep her Aunt at bay. Breathing hard, from exhaustion and not the need for oxygen Lena took a step towards Magica. Arms held out in a defensive position, the younger shadow duck got prepared to launch another attack at her Aunt.

Said Aunt was currently on the ground, pulling herself onto her hands and knees. She was panting as well, her black hair curtaining her expression as she slowly got to her own webbed feet. Yellow dialed eyes focused once more onto Lena, and a wicked grin pulled itself upon her beak.

"Getting tired Lena?" her voice was crawling with venom.

Lena resisted the urge to shiver. "No, can't say I am." She feigned. "How about you, Aunt Magica?"

"Still calling me that after you know everything? I should never have created a being that could think." Magica replied bitterly.

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Well I guess that was your first mistake." Smirking, she launched herself up and sent a flying kick straight at her former Aunts head.

Blocking with crossed arms, Magica launched her shadow niece away and retaliated with her own blast of magic.

It was weak and Lena easily dodged it. "But I have to say, that's not the biggest mistake you made." Quickly she shifted to her shadow form, becoming nothing more than a thin black mass that slid against the ground and up against the walls. Almost vanishing from Magica's sight in the equally dark landscape.

"I agree." The woman said icily. "My biggest mistake was keeping you alive this long."

"No." Lena's voice rang from her left and she fired another blast of energy.

"The biggest mistake you made." Lena's voice echoed behind her ominously. "Was hurting my friends and family!" A merciless expression appeared on the shadow teens face and she grabbed Magica's arm.

Using all her strength, Lena sent the startled sorceress flying through the Shadow Realm. She flew through several walls of a nearby black building.

Watching the building as it collapsed from the lack of support, Lena slowly let out a sigh and walked towards the rubble. She had to stop her Aunt here, otherwise she could go back and hurt Webby and the others again.

Clenching her hands, she glanced down at violet and black swirling floor beneath her feet. She couldn't let this monster leave the Shadow Realm ever.

But a worrying question rang through her mind as she approached the ruins.

Why wasn't Magica being consumed by the Shadow Realm?

Meanwhile, Magica was hissing in absolute pain. Sure, shadow structures had less density and form than in the real world. But they still hurt like hell. Counting at least 4 broken ribs and a possible fracture in her left arm, she wondered how things had gone so wrong.

It was those brats, Webby in particular that caused this mess. Just thinking of that stupid duckling made her blood boil and she tried to sum up the energy to pull herself up.

Her body had other ideas, as an unbearable pain sprang from her right leg.

Perfect, now a broken leg. Could this get any worse?

The sound of crunching pieces of shadow glass and debris directed her attention to the slowly emerging form of Lena.

"And there it is…" Magica's annoyed voice echoed within the space around them. Lena didn't say anything, just glared.

"Come to finish me off?" the mocking tone almost made Lena want to punch her. But she resisted, instead she stood before her fallen and broken former Aunt.

"Come now, you were so chatty a minute ago. What happened? Shadow got your tongue?" Finding herself sinisterly smiling, she could see Lena's eyes dilate and knew she had won.

Looking at her hand and snapping her wrist back in place, she flexed her fingers and gave Lena another sidelong glance. "You know if you don't kill me now I will just go back and destroy your pretty little friend.."

"NO YOU WILL NOT!" Lena roared. Reaching forward, Magica saw her chance. Her own arm snapped up with amazing speed. Grasping onto Lena's wrist she used the shadow girls alarm to her advantage. Giving the startled shadow a wicked grin, her eyes began to glow.

The last thing Lena saw was a deep purple glow around Magica as she rose above the falling teenager.

"Thanks for the pick me up Lena….Be seeing you."

And with a flash of light, everything was gone.

Scrooge sat before the vultures he called his board. They had called an emergency meeting and Scrooge, while itching to get back to both of his projects could not refuse them. He had a sneaking suspicion what this meeting was about and frankly he didn't have time for this. But he knew he couldn't outrun them. They had the power to stop him if all three agreed upon it.

And it was rare that they didn't all agree on something.

"Bentley.." Scrooge greeted, he eyed the two others. "And others….."

Bentley Buzzard nodded toward Scrooge. "Mr. McDuck.."

Cue awkward silence.

"So….what in blazes do ye think calling this meeting up at ten p.m. at night?!" Scrooge ranted.

All three of the board members glanced at each other briefly.

"It's about your two projects." Bentley stated bluntly. Scrooge's eyes narrowed instantly. The grip on his chair tightened everyone could hears the squeaking of the leather armrests.

"What about them?" Scrooge dared them. He was challenging his board to bring up how much money they were costing the company. If it was one thing Scrooge was, he was frugal sure, but this was far more important than money.

This time Bradford spoke. "Mr. McDuck, you have to understand the position you are in." He stood up and walked over towards him. "Funding these two projects of yours…"

Scrooge growled. "Projects? These are far from after school programs. These are peoples lives."

"Be it as it may, you have not only yourself but many others to look after. Your employees that work diligently to keep your companies afloat, the entire Duckburg economy and of course, your family's wellbeing. Correct?" Bradford gave him a sidelong glance.

Scrooge was silent.

"The long and short of it is we only can fund one project." Bentley commented from the side.

"There just isn't enough money to spend on both." Bradford sighed and sat back down.

"Ye are my board of directors. Isn't there anything ye can do to get the money?" Scrooge hissed, hands clenching the armrests so tightly he felt like his hands would break.

"The only case that would happen is if you fired at least 5,000 employees that work for you." Bradford's eyes stared hard into Scrooge's.

Silence dragged through the room.

Scrooge knew he couldn't do that.

He slammed his fists down upon the desk. "I will sell every possession I own if that's what it takes to fund this, I will not fail them both again." He said evenly.

Bentley sighed, rubbing his forehead with his wing.

"Mr McDuck, you are like a king here, do you realize this?" Bradford once more stood up, walking towards the window and bringing back the curtain to Duckburg. "This city's economy, people, everything could either make or break it. Your unending flow of money has caused this place to prosper in many ways. Technology, education….there are many things to be proud of in Duckburg. But it also a heavy burden." A pause. "It only takes a simple mistake, a selfish desire that turns a King into a dictator. This is simply being frugal. Many peoples lives depend on you. How do you know this won't end up like the Spear of Selene?"

The Spear of Selene. Scrooge spent years trying to find it. Would it take years to find Della upon the moon? For Gyro to find a way into the Shadow Realm? Did they have that time? Would Webby find a spell to save Lena?

"Aye, it won't end up like that." Scrooge said stubbornly. "Because I know where Lena is, and I know Della is on the moon. Mah family and I can find them both and bring them home."

Bradford stared hard at Scrooge. His face was emotionless, but the old miser knew the buzzards brain was working overdrive. Scrooge wouldn't give quarter.

"You have three months." Bradford finally said.

"Bradford!" Bentley exclaimed.

"Let me finish." Bradford snapped. "Mr. McDuck, if we fail to see any results within three months I will shut both down. None of your money will be used ever for these endeavors anymore. And you will no longer go adventuring. Do we have a deal?"

Scrooge's eyes flittered across his boards faces.

There was no turning back.

His hand grasped onto the buzzards.

"Deal."