Chapter One

Baloo opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing his head.

"Ooh….did someone catch the number on that bus?" he looked around. He was all alone on some tropical island. He saw no hint of the Sea Duck, not even a wreckage! Come to think of it, he slowly begin to find it odd that he himself was neither dead nor harmed. "Where am I?" he asked, surveying his surroundings more carefully.

After a few moments, he realized that he was on the same island where Louie's Place was located.

"How'd I end up back here? And where's the Sea Duck?" Baloo questioned, scratching his head. "Oh well, I'll go to Louie's and find out more there."

After a few hours of walking through the island forest and mountains, Baloo reached the side of the island where Louie's Place was located. Much to his surprise, he found a run-down shack. The doors fell off the hinges as he pushed them open, dust filled the air as they hit the floor.

Baloo covered his mouth and coughed a little as the cloud of dust obscured his vision for a moment

When the dust cleared, he saw that the shack looked abandoned, all that was left of a blooming pilot service business was dust, broken furnitures and a rusty floor. As Baloo took one step in, there was a loud crunching sound and his foot stank through the floorboard! He would have fell if it weren't for a hand behind him grabbing his shoulder at the last moment.

Baloo turned to see who grabbed him and saw a tall brown bear standing before him. He was dressed in a squadron uniform with a leather brown flight jacket

"Whoa, stranger, you don't wanna go in there," the pilot said. "the flooring's gone bad in there." then he paused, looking more closely at Baloo. For a moment, he look as though he saw a ghost.

"Uh, yeah, I realized that, thanks." Baloo said, oblivious to how the stranger was staring at him. "But I don't get it, the place was fine a few hours ago. Storm must have really done a number on this place, just like it did with the Sea Duck."

"The Se-Se-Sea Duck?" the pilot stammered, his eyes were wide and full of awe.

"Yeah, a yellow Conwing L-Sixteen," Baloo said with a touch of pride and sadness in his voice. "Hey, why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, having finally looked at the pilot properly and noticed how he was staring at him. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"B-B-Baloo?" the pilot said in a voice of awe and disbelief.

"The one and only." Baloo confirmed. "Now, how about you? What's your name?"

"You don't recognize me?" the pilot said in a slightly wounded voice. "Gosh Baloo, I may be bigger, taller and older, but I didn't think I'd changed that much."

Baloo frowned, thinking hard. Something was familiar about the pilot's voice, his accent and tone reminded him of his little navigator. And then there was something familiar about his face too. The pilot was exactly the same height as Baloo as they stared eye to eye. And then it dawned on him.

"K-Kit…?"

"Captain Kit Cloudkicker, at your service." the pilot said, sweeping off his pilot cap and stank into a bow.

"But…." Baloo stumbled backward and fell upon a log. "Last time I saw Kit, he wasn't much taller than my waist!"

"I grew up," Kit shrugged. "But it really is me. Look." he fished into this pocket and pulled out an old wore out-looking baseball cap with a faded red brim. He set it on his head backward. His head now look too big for it. "It's a little small for me now though." he said, taking the cap off and putting it back in his pocket, for safekeeping it seemed.

"B-b-but, how did you get so big? I wasn't gone more than a day or two, was I?"

"Baloo, it has been twenty years since I last saw you, and you're exactly as I remembered you. I didn't think it was you at first, because if I ever did find you alive, I'd expect you to be much older. But you seem to be my age. Which is weird."

"Twen-twen-twenty years?" Baloo repeated weakly. "You're tellin' me that I was in that typhoon for twenty years?!"

"Either that, or you were sent forward in time by it." Kit said. "Are you sure you don't remember being anywhere in the last twenty years? Like, you were just in a typhoon and woke up on this island twenty years later?"

Baloo thought for a moment. "I'm sure," he said.

Baloo suddenly found himself in a tight embrace as Kit dashed at him and hugged him so tightly.

"I've missed you, Papa Bear." Kit sniffed into his shoulder.

Baloo thought that sounded so odd coming from an adult's voice rather than the child he was used to, But he hugged Kit back and said: "Man, you've grown, lil' britches."

They hugged for several minutes, it seems like Kit didn't want to let go. Finally, he got a grip on himself and withdrew.

"So, what's been happening in the last twenty years?" Baloo asked.

Kit chuckled as he sat down on the log next to Baloo, "There's so much to tell that I don't know where to even begin."

"You could start with Louie." Baloo said helpfully, pointing at the rundown shack.

"Louie's doing fine, he relocated to a much bigger island, with a bigger building to run his business in and a small airfield next to it. Now planes without pontoons can land at Louie's."

"Wow…. so ol' Louie moved up in the world." Baloo said with pride for his old friend.

Kit chuckled again. "He's not the only one. Higher for Hire had too." he looked saddened after he said it. "Though it was very hard at first, without you and the Sea Duck. Miss Cunningham had to close the business until she could buy another plane. Even then, we struggled to keep going. She sort of adopted me. She took me in and raised me alongside Molly. We may had struggled, but at least I was spared the second life on the streets."

Baloo felt a rush of gratitude towards Rebecca at that, mixed with sadness at how his own absence had caused so much pain, hardship and grief to his friends.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I'm grateful to Becky for taking you in." Baloo said.

"Yeah, me too." Kit said. "And then Shere Khan named ME of all people, his heir."

Baloo nearly fell over at that. That was a huge shock to him. "He did what?!"

"Yeah," Kit chuckled. "He wanted the smartest kid in Cape Suzette for his heir. I never thought I was that smart, but my test scores showed otherwise."

Baloo chuckled as Kit blushed modestly. "Well, you always did kinda sell yerself short, kiddo."

"Though I turned him down, he refused to change his mind." Kit said. "He wanted me and only me, it couldn't be anybody else. You know how he gets. If he wanted something, he gets it and doesn't take 'no' for an answer. He pressured me into accepting his offer to be his heir, he even bribed me with a plane of my own and a pilot license. It was what I always dreamed of, so what could I say? I accepted but demanded that I continue to live with Miss Cunningham and Molly. He agreed and that was the last I saw of him. Ten years later, he passed away. I was just a young pilot back then, only twenty-two and in the military as a fighter pilot, fighting in the Great War and all of a sudden, I'm head of a multi-billion dollar company.

Baloo whistled. "Young and in a war, and you are suddenly a billionaire. That must've been a lot to chew on."

Kit nodded. "I didn't even want all that money, so I turned the business over to Miss Cunningham and she relocated Higher for Hire there. It was like a dream come true for her. One day, she was a struggling businesswoman and then the next, she's a billionaire in my stead, with her own big fancy office and a whole fleet of planes and pilots at her command."

Baloo whistled again. "Becky is doing really well for herself."

"Yeah, I gave her the business as a repayment for raising me, she didn't want to take it like that, so she insisted that I take a billion dollars from the company as thanks for giving her her dream."

"So you're still a billionaire."

"More like millionaire, I've spent money on food and living expenses, fuel and plane repairs." Kit said. "I still got plenty of money left in the bank, it'll probably do me for most of my life, if I'm wise with it."

"You were always good with earning and saving money, better than I ever was," Baloo said proudly. "So, you were in a war?"

"Yep!" Kit said, and suddenly he was looking gloomy.. "And I was the pilot who ended it."

"You were?" Baloo said, sounding very impressed. "Tell me about it."

Kit looked saddened. "I… dropped the bomb on Thembria."

Baloo winced, he understood what being the one to drop the bomb that ended the war meant; Kit felt guilty and sadness over his victory, he had blood on his hands. "Wait, we were at war with Thembria?"

"Not just them, we were also at war with Gerdom, and they occupied dozens of other countries. Thembria allied itself with Gerdom against the US Land." Kit said. "Gerdom started the war. Towards the end of the war, even though they were losing, Thembria and Gerdom were determined to fight to the last man, they just wouldn't accept surrender or defeat. People were dying every day this war went on and so, I was given the order to drop the J-B Bomb on Thembria to shorten the war. The bomb turned Thembria into a crater, there is nothing left of it anymore. Only survivors were Spigot and Dunder. Dunder ran away and came to our side at the start of the war. In fact, he's the one who warned us that war was coming! Spigot is currently in prison for war crimes, as he ordered many of the firing squad executions on the P.O.W's. Dropping that bomb was something I never wanted to do."

"Yeah," Baloo said sympathetically, "But you were a soldier, soldiers must follow orders. But I understand how you'd never want to drop a bomb that powerful on anyone."

"It had to be done, if the war dragged on, we would've lost more men and civilians. I just wish I wasn't the one to pull the trigger." Kit said in a depressed voice.

Now Baloo was feeling depressed himself and he did not like it. So he casted around for a change of subject.

"So, uh, did anyone ever found the Sea Duck?" Baloo asked.

"We found the remains two years after you disappeared," Kit said. "Though we put her back together again and she's fully capable of flight, Miss Cunningham retired her. She is now on display at an Air Museum because of her history with battles against the Air Pirates."

"Retired?" Baloo repeated despairingly. "Why did Becky retired a working plane?"

"The war saw a big change in aviation, Baloo." said Kit seriously. "During the war, they made jet planes that can fly faster than any propeller planes, they can fly as fast as Overdrive without overheating in a couple of minutes.

"Wow…." Baloo said in awe. "I'd like to see that."

"Alright, come with me then." Kit said, standing up and leading the way away from the old rundown shack.

Baloo followed Kit onto a makeshift runway, and parked upon it was a yellow fighter jet with red outlines. Baloo stopped dead and gazed in awe at the jet plane.

"Whoa-ho… Man, that plane is a beauty!" Baloo said in appreciative admiration, walking around it.

"Yeah, she has a bit of the Sea Duck in her, mostly the Sea Duck's spirit." Kit said, as Baloo begin patting the side of his plane. "I call her the Sea Jet."

"Mm, not a bad name, got a nice ring to it." Baloo said as he performed the standard preflight checks.

When he was finished, Kit climbed onto one of the wings and opened the bubble hatch door to reveal the cockpit. It was a two-seater plane, one behind the other. Kit dropped into the front pilot seat. Baloo, having climbed onto the plane with a little bit of difficulty, lowered himself into the passenger seat behind Kit.

Kit closed the hatch, and then turned, grinning to Baloo. "I never thought that I'd ever see the day when we'd fly together with me as the pilot." He then put on his helmet and oxygen mask on. "Open the compartment on your left, you'll find your own helmet and mask."

Baloo opened a flap to his left and extracted a helmet and mask. "What are these for?" Baloo asked, bemused.

"Safety," Kit replied. "This baby can fly higher than any plane you're used to. Well over ten thousand feet. I think the highest I went was fifty thousand feet. I would not want to cloudsurf at an altitude greater than nine thousand feet. You see, the higher you climb, the thinner the oxygen, your brain can't function well without it, so you wear these mask to supply you with oxygen. As for the helmet, jet planes can be a bit rough, it protects your head in case the supersonic speed jerks your head back."

Baloo nodded, remembering how stressful Overdrive had been on his body. He strapped the mask over his face and then put on the helmet.

Kit glanced behind him at Baloo. "Ready?" his voice sounded different with the mask on, almost robotic.

"Ready," Baloo confirmed, he was surprised at how different his own voice sounded from behind the mask.

Kit turned the key, flipped a few switches and pushed the throttle forward. Baloo jerked back in his seat as flames burst out of the exhaust behind them, thrusting the fighter jet down the runway at great speed.

"Whoa! Takeoff at this speed?!" Baloo exclaimed in wonderment.

Kit grinned back at him and then pulled the control yoke back, and the Sea Jet rocketed into the air!