A/N: Credits are at the end of this chapter, please refer once posted.

A King Verse

Part One: The Final Ingredient

Phantom Duck woke to find himself bound and gagged, trussed to a table.
"Thank you, Reginald."
"Oh, no problems, Morgana. Anytime."
'Morgana?' Phantom tried to move to see her, but he couldn't.

Finally she stepped over and peered down at him. "At last I can complete my potion." She drew her long supple fingers against his cheek, making him shudder. He wasn't sure why, but today the very touch of her seemed to send sparks of electricity up to his brain, overloading his senses.

He felt a sudden shock of pain as she plucked a feather from his head. The witch raised it up to examine it in the light. "With this feather I can complete my potion and finally be rid of my rival." With that she left the room.

Phantom blinked the tears of pain from his eyes and worked his hands out of his gloves to get free of the bindings.

He heard a bang in the distance and interpreted that it was the front door. Now there came the sound of a struggling in the hallway. Phantom quickly put his gloves back on and slipped his hands under the now-loose ropes.

"Mum?" Piped a female voice sounded out with an unmistakably familiar quaver in it. "I got the gutless lackey you wanted!"
"What on earth do you mean, Gosalyn?" Morgana's voice called back, approaching the room.

There were footsteps into the room. "He-ey ..." The girl's voice had a pensive edge. "Who's that?"
"Oh, no. There appears to be a mix up." Morgana came and pulled the gag off him. "Who are you?"
Phantom jumped up, satisfactorily scattering the two kidnappers and turning the balance of power away from them. He wrapped his cape around him and brought it back in a flourish as he introduced himself. "I am the tenor that sings in the-." He stared at the duckling in shock. "Uh ... night?"

She was his daughter, but yet she wasn't. She was about twelve, standing next to a civilian tied up with rope. 'Not Scarlet ...' "Gosalyn?" He frowned in confusion. "Why are you kidnapping people?" Then he pointed at Morgana; "and more importantly why are you two wearing ..." he shuddered; "matching peaches and cream outfits? One of you I could tolerate dressed in that colour scheme but ..." he gulped. "Suddenly I don't feel so well."

"Geez." The duckling snorted, "Don't be in a hurry to go outside then. Peaches and cream has been the 'in' thing since forever."
"D'oh." Morgana said faintly, holding her hand to her brow. "My potion is useless."
"Hey, hey-hey!" Phantom quacked, glaring at her. "I am a very useful person." He crossed his arms. "Just give me time to prove it."

"Gosh you are arrogant!" Morgana reprimanded him. "I needed a feather not just from anyone but from Drakey Mallard."
"W-why m-m-me?" The harmless civilian standing near the doorway stuttered, drawing attention to himself. The familiar voice curdled Phantom's stomach even more than the peaches and cream and he looked again ... at Drakey Mallard.

Drakey's voice was Phantom's own, only raised up high and smothered in terror.

Never. Phantom Duck would never be that fear driven person again. "I-am-the-tenor-that-sings-in-the-night!" He insisted to his replica. "I haven't got the luxury to be afraid. I am Phantom Duck!"
"Th-there's n-no need to be b-b-bad tempered." The civilian whimpered. "Wh-what'd I d-d-do to y-you?"
"Phantom Duck?" Gosalyn laughed, making him turn to her. "Gee, that sure is a cute name. And I love your outfit too, it's like Indiana Quack meets Count Duckula. What's your line: hustling cards or wrangling crocodiles?"
Phantom looked down at his black outfit suddenly feeling self-conscious. He straightened his cape and his fedora hat with his gloved fingers, collecting himself. "It's not supposed to be a 'cute' name, young lady; it's-supposed-to-be-scary! I am the poisoned dart that flies silent through the air, I am ..."
"Yeah, yeah, we got it, chill out. Sit down before you hurt yourself, bro."

Gosalyn turned away from him. "How long will it take to remake the potion, mum?"
"I don't ..." Morgana sighed. "It's not like Reginald to find the wrong person."
"What is this potion for, anyway?" Phantom crossed his arms, trying to get comfortable again in the midst of being beside himself like this.
"It's to bring d-down The K-K-King, isn't it?" Drakey stuttered.
"Him again? I thought I fixed that wagon already!" Phantom rolled his eyes. "So what's the potion do, Morgana?"
"Nothing useful now. We needed Drake Mallard's feather, and I've used yours instead. I haven't got a prayer to stopping The King now." She sighed. "I suppose I could try again in the next blue moon."

Phantom blinked. "You ... you're trying to stop a criminal?" He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I though you girls wanted to take over the world or something."
"With a coward's feather?" Gosalyn snorted. "Get real, spectre-dude. By the power invested in that feather we'd only get ourselves run up the old patriotic flagpole."

"I am not a coward! I am Phantom Duck!" He brandished his cape, infuriated. "You-may-not-have-heard-of-me-yet-but-you-soon-will!" Phantom took a breath, keeping his temper as well as he could. He turned and stared at Drakey. "I wanna ask you one question, punk." He pointed at his terrorized duplicate.
"Wh-wh-wh-ye-yes...?" Drakey gulped under the pressure, shaking.
Phantom stepped up beside him. "Do you wanna stop this King?"
"Yes!" Drakey squawked. "But I c-can't do it. It's t-too d-d-dangerous."
"Yeah, well, so am I!" Phantom proclaimed and then pointed at Drakey. "I'm lethal! But you're still here, ain't yeh?"
"Y-yes?"
"Then that's got to count for something because you irritate me to heck!"

"So now that I've got everybody's attention," Phantom Duck smiled at each of them, "get your potion ready, Morgana. There's gonna be a few changes around St. Canard."
"You're one far out cat." Gosalyn folded her arms.
" 'Far out cat'?"
"Way out, duck. It's obvious you need help." She paused, "I think I could conjure up a straight jacket in your size." She raised her hand and Phantom Duck dove behind the table as the hex flew over his head.
"Or maybe you could just keep an eye on me?" He chuckled nervously at her.
"Oh, well that also sounds like a good idea." Gosalyn put her hands on her hips.

Phantom got back up and came to stand in front of Gosalyn, gazing into her sharp green eyes. "Perhaps we could be teammates?" He offered hopefully. "Together we can cream those crooks; they won't stand a chance!" He hesitated, "but maybe not dressed like that."
"Uh, no thanks, ghoully. I think I'd prefer the type of work where I actually get paid."
"That's my daughter." Morgana beamed at Gosalyn and Phantom felt for the first time like he didn't belong there with them.

"Check them out, Mum." Gosalyn slouched back against the doorframe, her eyes roving between Phantom and Drakey in front of her.
Phantom looked at Drakey to find him staring back. "What're you looking at, you gutless worm?" Phantom snarled at his duplicate. "I may be your genetic double from another universe but I sure ain't no dorky wimp like you!"
"Y-you don't n-need to be so c-c-c ..." Drakey swallowed, "upset about it."
"D'you think the potion will still work, mum?"
"I ... I don't know." Morgana stepped closer to compare the two mallards. "I can see how Bushroot made the mistake from the photograph I gave him."
Phantom clenched his beak and grabbed Drakey's arm, "if you two ladies will excuse us for a while," he interrupted, "I have a white sheet in dire need of a pair of scissors and a good dirt dragging." He reviewed Drakey in utter disdain. "Boy; is my work ever cut out for me."

He turned them to shadow, swirling out of the doorway and out, away from Macawber chateau.