Author's Note: And now, we've reached the next chapter of Howard's Ducktales.
You're all probably wondering about my plans for this story and the rest of my Marvel/Disney Channel shows crossover fics. Well, I came up with a system. I'll be doing a cycling order. such as the Owl Sanctum, the Black Panther of Amphibia, Iron Hero 7, The Ghost, the Trickster, and Molly McGee, Howard's Ducktales, Marvel Falls, and America and Star vs the Forces of Evil. Once I'm done with all that, I'll restart the system and go in the same order. So after this, I'll be moving onto the next chapter of Marvel Falls.
Enjoy the update. Any and all comments are welcome.
"So let me see if I got this straight." Della said to Howard inside of her rocket. "You look like an Earthling, but actually, you're an alien. Is that right?"
"Correct." Howard said. "I know it's a lot to swallow and hard to believe."
Della blew out a puff of air from her beak. "Please. It's not the hardest thing to believe."
"I beg your pardon?" Howard asked caught by surprise.
"Yeah. Ever since I was a kid, I've been on a ton of crazy adventures with my brother and my Uncle Scrooge. Whether it's a cursed idol or a lost treasure, we made it our mission to collect them all. So yeah, a duck alien isn't the weirdest thing I've seen in my life."
Howard stared with genuine surprise. "Wow. I thought you'd be in disbelief or something."
Della just shrugged. "So what about you? If you're an alien, how'd you end up crashing on Earth's moon?"
Howard suddenly got nervous. Della was supposedly his only ticket to Earth, so he couldn't afford to tell her that he was a space criminal. He had to lie.
"Well, I'm… a mapmaker. That's right."
"Really?" Della asked.
"Yeah. You know, space is always expanding, so my work is never done. I was just on my way to explore your planet, when suddenly, this moon got in my way."
"Well, that's neat, I guess." Della said. "After all, an explorer is another kind of adventurer. So I kinda get it."
"Good. Now, what about you? How did you end up on the moon? Another adventure with your uncle and brother?"
"Well, yes and no." Della said. "You see, we've been on so many adventures, I thought we deserved to find a new adventure in outer space. My brother, Donald, forbade me because my sons were due to hatch any day. Then, one day, I got a tip that Uncle Scrooge built a rocket just for me. So I took the rocket for a little test run in orbit, only to find myself caught in a cosmic storm. Next thing I know, I crash here on the moon where I've been stranded for ten years. I've been trying to find a way home ever since."
Howard was somewhat sympathetic to Della. "Wow. That's a lot."
"Yeah. My boys are ten years old by now, and I could only imagine what they look like." Della picked up a bad drawing of three ducklings. "But now, I am almost done repairing the Spear of Selene! There's just one problem… THE BLASTED THING IS POWERED BY GOLD!" She angrily yelled and stomped her feet on the floor. Howard nervously took a step back.
"So… I take it you don't have gold on you?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING?! WHY WOULD I BRING GOLD ON A ROCKET LAUNCH?! AND I'VE SEARCHED EVERY INCH OF THIS SPACE ROCK, AND GOLD IS EVEN SCARCER HERE THAN ON EARTH!" Della gritted her teeth in anger, but Howard noticed a little sparkle coming from them.
"Hey. Hold on." Howard said. "Is that gold in your mouth?"
Della widened her eyes not expecting that question. "Say what now?"
Howard motioned for Della to open her mouth wide open. She did and he looked inside. He confirmed his suspicion.
"Yeah. One of your teeth is made of gold."
"WHAT?!" Della freaked out. She bit down on her gum hard. Sure, it hurt the side of her jaw, but it loosened the tooth enough for her to pull it out. She stared in surprise at the gilded tooth in her hand. "A gold filling? HAHAHA! I had gold in my mouth this whole time? That's why Scrooge made me go to the dentist as a kid. It wasn't about hygiene at all! I've got backup gold!" She rushed over and hugged her companion. "Thank you, Howard!"
"Uh, you're welcome." Howard said with a little smile. "Guess this means we'll be heading to Earth as soon as possible."
Suddenly, the entire rocket began to shake. Della broke her hug to look outside. Howard joined her and together, they saw the same gigantic Moon Mite trying to consume the rocket's leg covering it with acidic saliva.
"No! Not this time!" Della yelled out before jumping out of the rocket. She landed right at the Moon Mite's face taking it by surprise.
"Whoa. What a woman." Howard commented.
The Moon Mite shook Della off before continuing to eat the rocket. Howard decided to jump off just in time before the Spear of Selene fell over to its side. He landed on Della and they both fell to the ground together making Della drop her gold tooth. That was right when the Moon Mite's antennae glowed gold and pointed toward the tooth.
"Uh, Della, I think the giant bug wants your tooth." Howard said.
"NO!" Della cried out before grabbing the tooth. She braced herself when the Moon Mite approached, but something interfered at the last second.
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!
Several electrical blasts shot throughout the air hitting the Moon Mite in the face. The beast roared out before digging right back into the ground. Della and Howard turned to see where the blasts came from and were greeted by a large, purple alien woman with golden armor. She pointed her golden laser gun at the two of them.
"Halt in the name of the Moon!"
"Wait, what? Who? What?" Della asked.
"Huh. Looks like there's life on your moon." Howard said. "It's actually really common for moons to have sentient life on them, so…"
A rumbling feeling interrupted him. He and Della looked at the rocket only to find it dragged into the ground by the Moon Mite.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Della cried out running toward the beast.
"Della, wait!" Howard yelled chasing after her.
"Don't ignore me when I threaten your life!" the purple alien yelled. "Respect my dominance!"
Della ran to where the rocket was buried and tried to dig down for it. Howard watched her before turning to the purple alien who kept her gun pointed at the two of them.
"Who are you," the purple alien asked, "And how did you get here?"
"Hi! Della Duck! And this is my friend, Howard! I have, like, 13 million questions! But right now, I have to get my ship and get back to Earth!"
The purple alien was about to fire her gun, when a tough-sounding voice stopped her. "Stand down, Lieutenant Penumbra." She obediently obeyed her commanding officer, a larger, green alien with a golden cape and helmet. "Greetings, Earthers. I am General Lunaris of the Planet Moon."
"What? The moon's not a planet." Della said slightly amused.
"And for the record, I'm not an Earthling." Howard corrected. "I'm an alien that just happens to look like an Earthling."
"You two will treat the vastly superior Moon with respect or you will suffer the ultimate consequence." Penumbra said.
"Whatever you say, big gal." Howard said. "Right now, that Moon Mite just ran off with our ride and Della's really set on finding it."
Penumbra chuckled. "The courageous warriors of the Planet Moon have been hunting down the beast for more than three cycles. So how exactly is a pathetic Earth-dwelling dummy and her boyfriend going to find it?"
One word in that question made both ducks blush. They leaped up and said at once, "Whoa! Whoa! He's (I'm) not my (her) boyfriend!"
All of a sudden, the ground beneath them all rumbled and shattered to pieces. The four of them all dropped down and landed in a series of underground tunnels with holes at the top. They got up to explore, but after taking a couple of steps, heavy footsteps alerted them from behind.
"Uh, oh." Della said looking back.
Howard had a blank face not bothering to turn. "Don't tell me. The Moon Mite's behind us."
"Yep." Della answered.
"Is it gonna try to eat us?" Howard asked.
"Most likely."
"…Bring it on." Howard said.
The Moon Mite screeched angrily. Lunaris and Penumbra fired their blasts, but the Mite countered right at them.
"Quick! Feed the aliens to the beast!" Penumbra suggested. "While it's crushing their weak bones, we kill it!"
"No one's feeding Howard the Duck to a giant bug!" Howard argued.
"Listen." Della said. "We both know how this goes. First, we hate each other. Then, go on a life-changing adventure. Then BOOM! Best friends! So can we move this along, Penny?"
"My name is Lieutenant Penumbra!" The lieutenant fired her gun chasing the Moon Mite deeper into the caverns.
"Is she always like that?" Howard asked Penumbra's commander.
"She's just a born warrior and she's anxious for battle." Lunaris answered. He, Howard, and Della followed Penumbra in chasing the Moon Mite down the tunnels.
Eventually, they found the Moon Mite at the top of the Spear of Selene… or at least, what's left of it. The Moon Mite had already torn it in half and was dissolving more of it with its saliva which it then shot at its enemies. They dodged out of the way just in time, but the Moon Mite chased the Moon aliens around the tunnel.
While the Moon aliens were exchanging fire with the Moon Mite, Della and Howard stopped to stare at the rocket slowly dissolving. Howard noticed Della's eye twitch and took a step back.
"Oh, boy. No fury like a woman scorned."
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Della yelled before angrily running toward the Moon Mite. Penumbra kept firing her gun before Lunaris stopped her.
"Stop firing, Lieutenant. You'll hit Della."
"Yeah. Lay off, will ya?" Howard asked. "Turns out, we're all having a bad day." Penumbra didn't dignify with a response. Instead, she kept firing. "Hey, I said lay off!" He jumped at Penumbra's arm, but she quickly threw him back at the rocket's remains.
"Don't touch me again." Penumbra threatened.
"Rassin, frassin…" Howard growled before hearing an unknown cry coming from the inside of the rocket. He peeked inside and gasped before turning to Della. She hopped around the area trading blows with the Moon Mite before Howard called out to her. "DELLA, WAIT! STOP!"
"STOP?" Della asked. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? I'M FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE!"
"You don't understand!" Howard said. "Just look!"
Howard moved out of the way and a tiny creature creeped out of the broken rocket. It looked almost exactly like the Moon Mite, but it was very tiny and crying. The bigger Moon Mite crawled over to it and gave it a piece of metal, but the baby turned its head to keep it out of his mouth.
"So the mite isn't a monster." Della said in realization. "It's a mother."
"Who cares?" Penumbra asked.
"Read the room, Lieutenant Heartless." Howard said. "Look, I've heard about Moon Mites like these. They feed on metals, yes, but they only show up this frequently to look for the right metals for their babies. That's why the Moon Mite's been after the rocket."
"So it's not an enemy." Della said. "it's just trying to survive."
General Lunaris looked upon the Moon Mite. "She put herself in danger, faced unknown threats, scoured this entire planet for any scrap of metal."
Della gazed with understanding and sympathy. "Because a mother would do anything for the sake of her kids." He pulled out her golden tooth and walked toward the rocket. Howard joined at her side. She carefully surrendered the tooth to the Moon Mite, who accepted it and tried to feed to her baby. However, the baby still kept crying.
"It won't take it." Howard said. "It's too scared."
"Let me try something." Della said as she approached the baby. "I used to sing this old song to my boys before they hatched." She climbed up above the Moon Mite and began her song.
"Look to the stars, my darling baby boys
Life is strange and vast
Filled with wonders and joys
Filled each new sun with eyes clear and true
Unafraid of the unknown
Because I'll face it all with you"
By the end of the song, the baby Mite stopped crying and happily accepted the gold tooth its mother gave him. Howard watched in amazement smiling at what he had just witnessed. He then turned to the Moon aliens.
"Hey, guys. Hand me your guns?"
"Ooh. Good plan." Penumbra said handing her ray gun to Howard along with Lunaris. "Lull the beast into a false sense of security only to betray them when they're at their most vulnerable. Maybe Della was right. Maybe we are becoming best friends."
"Not exactly the plan." Howard said before holding up the golden guns to the Moon Mite. She accepted them and fed to herself and her baby before leaving the tunnel and back into the ground.
"BOO! You two disappoint me in every possible way!" Penumbra ranted.
"We fought the Mites for cycles," Lunaris said to Della, "And you turned them back, not through battle, but compassion. If we simply share the gold, we'll no longer be at war with the beasts."
"So this is a win-win for everybody." Howard said.
"Not everybody." Della frowned turning her head toward the damaged rocket. "There's no way we can fix this rocket. I'm sorry, boys. I tried."
"You might not be able to go home," Lunaris said, "But that doesn't mean you can't make a new one with us."
Howard sighed and shrugged. "Well, I suppose it's better than nothing. So where do you all sleep anyway?"
"For too long, the Mites have been attacking our home," Lunaris said, "But my people will hide in fear no more."
Both Della and Howard looked at the gigantic rock in confusion. "Uh, neat house." Della said. "Where I'm from, we call this a rock."
"Wait." Howard said. "General, you just said the Moon Mite's been attacking your home. Why would it if there wasn't a scrap of metal around it?"
Lunaris smiled as he planted his hand on the side of the rock. It glowed yellow and several glyphs appeared from all around. Suddenly, a large portion of the moon was revealed to be cloaked and an enormous city was unveiled. And the most surprising part was that the entire city was made up of gold.
"Welcome to Tranquility." Lunaris said.
"Wait. This whole time, there's been a city here?" Della asked. "And I've been slumming it in the moon desert for ten years?!"
"And there's gold here!" Howard pointed out. "See? You can't turn around without gold in half of your eyesight."
"It's our most plentiful resource." Lunaris said. "We use it for everything."
"Sometimes, we just throw it in the trash," Penumbra said, "Which is also made of gold."
"Wow. That is incredibly infuriating, but amazing!" Della cheered before hugging Penumbra. "I can fix my ship!"
Penumbra growled and struggled to power out of the hug. "Your attempts to wrestle me to the ground are pathetic!"
Della released Penumbra and laughed while exploring the place. Howard smiled and followed her. He caught up with her at an observation balcony.
"Like I said, a win-win." Howard said. "I gotta say, Della, you really amazed me today. I've never seen a Moon Mite be calmed down by a lullaby before."
"Hey, you were the one who found that baby Mite in the first place." Della said. "Because of that, I can't wait to take you home and introduce you to my family."
Howard smiled. "Really? You mean it?"
"Of course. I have a feeling you'll fit in." Della said.
Howard chuckled. "Thanks, Della." He and Della smiled at each other for a moment before they both blushed and broke the silence nervously.
"Right. I'll… get the lay of the land." Della said before hopping away.
Howard smiled confidently while thinking to himself. "This is perfect. Once I help Della fix her rocket, it's just one leap to Earth. And because of my help to Della, her super-rich uncle will provide for me. I'll be living on easy street for as long as I need until the Nova Corpse and the Collector stop looking for me. Oh, yeah. It's all coming together."