No one had expected a storm to take place over Duckburg, or that it would mysteriously spiral with McDuck Manor at its center. As such, the Duck family took every precaution to board up the windows and doors. During their reinforcing, the TV turned on with the reporter making her announcement.
"Here in Duckburg, life is like a hurricane? Residents are battening down the hatches for the worst El Pato storm in decades."
While everyone else was working, Louie was sneaking past them heading up the stairs. Dewey and Webby were the first to notice.
"Hey, Louie!" Dewey called out startling his triplet at first.
"Can you give us a hand?" Webby asked.
….
Everyone laughed out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea. Once they were done, Louie returned on his way up the stairs. Dewey and Webby returned to their duty on stacking cans when one of them fall over. Mrs. Beakley picked it up, but stopped to read the label.
"Mr. Chunky's Extra Chunky Chili Chunks."
"We could be stuck here for days." Dewey said. "You said we should have plenty of food we won't get sick of."
"I said won't get sick from and you know it." Mrs. Beakley said. "I doubt your mother would approve of the nutritional…"
Immediately, she was proven wrong when Della stood beside her eating a chili dog nonchalantly. Howard stood beside her eating a chili dog od his own.
"What?" Della asked. "Chili cheese dogs put the 'hooray' in 'hooraycane party'."
"I've never had a chili cheese dog before." Howard said taking a bite. "And I must say, the rest of the universe does not know what it's missing out on."
"You do realize that at this pace, we'll have nothing but chili cheese dogs on day eight when we all get scurvy. Again." Beakley said.
"Beakley, you gotta let kids be kids." Della said. "Don't sweat the small stuff."
"Is this your parenting strategy or things you read off a bumper sticker?" Beakley asked.
"Honk if you're a great mom! Honk honk!" Della proclaimed.
Howard laughed for a minute before frowning. "So… Della…"
"Hmm. What is it, Howie?" Della asked.
"There's, um… There's something I want to talk to you about. It's, um… Well, it's complicated. I… I, uh… I better see if there are any loose boards." He quickly turned and walked away.
Beakley glared at him suspiciously. "Is it just me, or does that seem like he's hiding something."
Della shrugged. "He's probably just scared of thunder. I remember when Donald was like that."
Howard sighed on his way up the stairs. "This isn't right. I need to tell the family the truth. But how?" That's when he noticed Huey walking by with his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. "Oh. Hey, kid. Reading that book for the five-hundredth time this week?"
"Five-hundred and tenth to be exact." Huey said. "But that's not the point. I'm almost done with my comprehensive report on caveducks."
"Caveducks?" Howard asked.
"Yeah. They're the primitive, less-evolved versions of us that lived in prehistoric times. Mainly used animal skin to survive the harsh jungles of an early Earth." Huey described. "After months of research, I've written my masterpiece. This is my chance to get an entry into…" He sniffed a bit. "The new edition of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook."
"Well, good for you, kid." Howard said. "But before you finish, maybe you should help the others prepare for this storm. It's as intense as a supernova out there."
"Howard's right, Huey!" Scrooge said entering the living room with a container full of old canes. "We need to bring all these valuable heirlooms from the garage before the storm hits."
"Valuable heirlooms?" Howard asked allowing the greedy man inside to be interested.
"These are the famous canes of Clan McDuck. Going all the way back to our very earliest ancestors."
"Ah. So it's sentimental value." Howard said. "Well, if you need me, I need to check if we missed anything upstairs."
"All right then." Scrooge said. "And while you're at it, be sure to keep an eye on Louie. He's been quiet most of the day, which isn't usually a good sign."
"On it, Scrooge." Howard said heading straight up.
On his way across the upstairs hallway, Howard was distracted by his own conflicting thoughts.
"These people are nice. They don't deserve to be attacked by my enemies and bounty hunters. Plus, they're tough. If they knew ahead of time, they can probably defend themselves." Howard said. "But if I tell them the truth, they'll shun me and kick me out of the house. I can probably tell Della, and she can defend me. But how would she react. I mean, she's always relaxed enough to talk to. Not to mention confident, funny, cute and…" He stopped and shook his head. "Focus on those thoughts later. I'm just worried she's not relaxed enough to…"
All of a sudden, a flash of blue light caught Howard's attention. The light came from the boys room, and he entered it. So far, he didn't catch anything strange. He looked around everywhere, including behind the set of Dewey's makeshift internet show, Dewey Dew-Night. When nothing was found, he shrugged and began to leave.
Just then, there was another flash coming from behind the set. He looked behind it again and was surprised by what he saw. He saw Louie sitting in a bathtub wearing royal jewels, a crown, and carrying a scepter. The bathtub was rigged with three clocks.
When Louie noticed Howard, he gasped looking nervous. "Howard, I can explain."
"I don't think any of this can be explained rationally." Howard said confronting Louie. "What this this thing?"
Louie sighed and confessed. "This here is the Time Tub, created by Gyro. It has the ability to travel in time along with whoever's inside of it."
"And you stole it?" Howard asked.
"I prefer 'borrowed'. I was planning on bringing it back once I got what I needed."
"And what is it that you need?"
Louie smiled. "Hop on in and I'll show you."
Howard looked curiously before stepping into the tub. Once he was inside, Louie turned a bath dial and the shower curtain covered the entire tub with a blue energy which blinked them out of the room.
The bathtub suddenly landed in the middle of a big, thick jungle with unfamiliar plants all around. Howard looked around and spotted a golden idol resting on a pedestal nearby while Louie explained.
"Borrowing Gyro's Time Tub here, the keen minds at Louie Incorporated can track down famous lost treasures at the exact moment before they were lost."
At that moment, a burly caveduck with messy red hair stolled into the cave they were in and spotted the golden idol with interest.
"Bubba."
Excitedly, the caveduck raced into the cave, but suddenly fell to a pit trap. Thankfully, he caught the ledge before he could hit the spikes beneath.
"Okay, I'm with you so far." Howard said watching the caveduck. "You've been using time travel to zap yourself to be right beside these treasures and taking them without setting off any of the traps."
"Exactly." Louie said taking the idol from its pedestal. He then brought it back to the Time Tub and turned the dial back to its original position.
The tub flashed and disappeared in a flash of light. However, right as it did that, the caveduck managed to climb back up and get caught in a stray of light escaping the flash. He disappeared right after.
"Just bwamp to the past, take the artifact, and return home a little richer." Louie said once he and Howard returned to the bedroom. He then proceeded to add the idol to a pile of gold and treasures hidden in a nearby corner. "Time Treasures, a subsidiary of Louie Inc. It's not a crime if it's lost to time. Any questions?"
"Uh, yeah, are you sure you thought this through?" Howard asked. "I mean, I'm not a physicist, but I've heard my fair share of stories about aliens who time-travelled, and they rarely end well. Aren't you worried about paradoxes or changing the timestream?"
"That's why I chose these treasures specifically." Louie said. "I didn't just pick them because of how valuable they are. These treasures were actually never destined to be found, so taking them wouldn't affect the timeline. Heck, this is probably how the treasures were lost in the first place. Just don't use it for bubble baths, and everything should be fine."
Howard looked at the Time Tub and thought for a moment. "Well… This does sound okay. And you're sure nothing bad will happen?"
"I'm positive." Louie said. "Look, just don't tell the others. I'm almost done with making enough capital. Then, I'll return the Time Tub. I promise."
Howard looked at the Time Tub again and thought something to himself. "You know, this could actually be a good thing. If this works, then I might have found my way to tell Della the truth. If she doesn't take it well, I can just use this Time Tub to go back and prevent myself from telling her. Or at least tell her a different way." He turned back to Louie. "All right. I promise, I won't say anything."
"Thanks, Howard." Louie said. "Now would you mind helping me? I ran out of closet space for some of my treasures."
"I suppose." Howard said.
Once Louie made sure the coast was clear, he motioned for Howard to follow him with a chest full of treasure. Although it was heavy, Howard endured as he brought the chest to the living room closet.
"So how long have you been doing this?" Howard asked shutting the closet door hiding the treasure.
"Eh. Since about this morning." Louie said.
"This morning?" Howard asked before thinking of something. "That's weird. That's around the time the storm started."
"What are you saying?" Louie asked.
"Well… are you sure you know everything about the time machine?" Howard asked. "No offense, but you're not exactly a scientist. You're some kid who decided to take advantage of an experimental device made by Scrooge's cranky employee."
"You worry too much." Louie brushed off. "I have planned for every possibility. There is no way that Time Treasures, a subsidiary of Louie Inc., has any side effect whatsoever."
As if to jinx Louie, a loud commotion startled both him and Howard. They both turned and saw the same red-headed caveduck they encountered earlier skateboarding down the stairs behind them. The other kids followed him.
"STOP!" Huey yelled. "He shouldn't be exposed to wheels for another 10,000 years!"
"Louie, Howard, we got a new brother!" Dewey said excitedly. "He's a caveduck, and his name is Bubba!"
"I'm sorry, what's this now?" Louie asked.
Howard glanced over at Bubba and narrowed his eyes at him. "Wait. Isn't that the same guy from before? What's going on?"
After a few short tricks, Bubba crashed his skateboard to a chili cheese dog stand and a portrait fell on him. He poked his head off feeling the aftermath of a big rush.
"Whoa! Bubba flubba?"
"Um, where did you find this… guy?" Howard asked nervously.
"We found him unconscious at our doorstep." Dewey said. "Isn't he amazing?!"
"No, he's not!" Huey shouted. "He's completely ignoring every caveduck fact in my research! He shouldn't be skateboarding, wearing clothes like a normal person, or enjoy chili cheese dogs! It doesn't make any sense!"
Scrooge, Della, and Beakley walked down the stairs following the kids and the caveduck.
"Della," Beakley said, "Clearly you can see there is a problem here."
Della looked at the kids seriously. "Kids, if you're gonna let the caveduck skateboard in the house, he should be wearing a helmet." She then relaxed casually. "Problem solved. Good parenting, Della. High five, Howard." She held up her hand, which Howard clapped after a hesitation.
"Not sure if I should've high-fived that." Howard said.
Bubba turned to Louie and went excited. "Ooh! Bubba tubba! Bubba tubba!" That made Louie nervous.
"Ooh. What does 'tubba' mean?" Webby asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just more caveduck nonsense." Louie said nervously. "Shut ubba, man."
"Louie, a word!" Howard said suddenly pulling Louie away and into the closet. Once he was sure no one could hear them, he turned to him. "That's the same caveduck we saw in the past! And he recognized us!"
"Don't think about it too hard. It's one little caveduck." Louie said. "This will have no effect on the timeline… probably."
"No, Louie." Howard said. "Time travel is serious business! Even a tiny oversight can be a disaster! We can't take any chances!"
"I see what you're saying." Louie said. "But let's just keep an open mind. I mean, how do we even know it has anything to do with time travel?"
Suddenly, the two of them heard a repeated chiming sound. They walked out of the closet and saw Scrooge's grandfather clock turn its hands at great speed. They then saw Scrooge holding a smoking pocket watch in his hand.
After a flash of light, the backyard pool house was full of pirates who fired their cannons into the house. Everyone dodged before the cannonballs could hit.
"Well, it looks like the caveduck's not the only time anomaly in the area." Howard said.
"Okay, so there might be a little bit of a problem." Louie admitted anxiously.
Later on, Howard and Louie gathered with Scrooge, Della and Beakley in the TV room. They turned on the news watching the reporter give her statement about the storm.
"The El Palo storm has merged with a terrifying time vortex that local reporters are calling a 'Timephoon'. The Timephoon has unsurprisingly localized itself above McDuck Manor. For more, we go to our guest weatherman… Benjamin Frankloon?"
The camera turned to the historical founder of electricity.
"As history's foremost meteorologist… WHAT THE DEVIL IS THIS BOX?! IS IT STEALING MY SOUL?! …Back to you, Roxanne."
Scrooge turned off his TV to turn his attention to his family.
"Wow. This Timephoon is making history come alive, literally." Howard said.
"We need to find the cause of this Timephoon." Scrooge said. "Did anyone touch a cursed artifact? Or make some kind of improperly-worded wish?"
"Or maybe it was someone messing with something time related." Howard said looking over at Louie, who kicked him in the shin. "Ow!"
"S.H.U.S.H. chrono-protocol suggests that someone is tampering with the timestream at specific points." Beakley said.
"Gee. I wonder who that could be." Howard said suggestively before getting kicked again. "Ow!"
"Look, this could be any of the time shenanigans we've dealt with lately!" Louie said defensively. Why assign blame?"
"Louie's right." Della said. "It's not like we haven't faced pirates before. And, Howard, I assume space pirates are a thing?"
"Well, yeah, I guess." Howard replied before getting kicked. "OW! I didn't say anything!"
"Sorry. It kinda turned into a habit at this point." Louie said.
"Each new arrival adds to the rift." Scrooge explained. "The more contemptible continuum-crashers arrive, the worse the storm gets."
"Aha. So you're saying we have to stop these small problems now so they don't get out of hand and cause big problems later." Beakley said suggestively toward Della.
"I see how you turned this into a lesson on parenting and I am impressed."
"Perhaps Gyro has some Time Tech left that will help us identify what's causing this." Scrooge said.
"Uh, I love where your head's at, Uncle Scrooge!" Louie said in a nervous panic. "Oh, too bad we can't go ask him. You know, 'cause of the storm."
In that instant, a flash of lightning flew into the TV room and formed something out of thin air above everyone. The figure fell to the ground and picked himself up revealing himself to be Gyro, who grabbed Scrooge by his outfit in a panic.
"SOMEONE STOLE MY TIME TUP AND DESTROYED TIME AND SPACE!"
"Oh, boy." Louie whispered.
"Take it easy, Gyro." Scrooge said guiding his scientist to the couch. "All right. Start from the beginning."
Gyro took a breath and began narrating. "Okay. I was in my lab—definitely not creating a clone army—when there was a sudden flash. I turned around and my Time Tub was gone. I was caught in the after-blast. And the next thing I know, I found myself right here, in this exact moment."
"After-blast?" Howard asked.
"Yeah. It's a side effect of my Time Tub." Gyro said. "When the Time Tub leaves a certain point in time, it creates a flash of energy. Anyone caught in that energy gets removed from time along with the tub."
"That's a thing?!" Louie asked loudly getting a look from everyone. "I mean, go on."
"The thief must be bringing items from the past here." Gyro said. "That's why the storm is dumping people from those time periods on your doorstep. The Time Tub and the thief are in this house! …It's not me. I just got here."
"Well, Louie, I think it's time we…" Howard said before turning around. He noticed then that Louie was no longer where he was. He looked on further and spotted Louie running up the stairs. "Uh, I gotta go! Urgent business!" He rushed up the stairs following Louie.
"I'd comment about how shady he is again," Mrs. Beakley said, "But we've got more pressing matters at hand."
Howard ran up to the boys' bedroom just in time to see Louie return from a trip to the past. He then raced out of the tub and grabbed a red gem which he brought back to the tub with him. He was about to turn the dial, but Howard stopped him.
"What are you doing?!" Howard asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Louie replied forcing his hand free. "I'm putting all the treasures back in the past after I took them! That should fix everything!"
Quickly, Louie turned the dial and disappeared in a flash of light. This time, Howard kept watch of the after-blast and avoided getting zapped. A moment later, Louie returned in another flash and grabbed a crown.
"So you're caused a problem with time travel, and now you want to fix it with more time travel?" Howard asked. "That's like trying to wash away mud with even more mud!"
"Well, do you have a better option?" Louie asked.
"No, but we know someone who might know!" Howard stated. "Gyro must have the answer to reversing the damage! If we go and tell him…"
"Absolutely not!" Louie interrupted. "If we tell the family, they'll be more mad at me than ever!"
"Kid, we've got a neanderthal playing in the hallways, pirates trying to shoot their way into the mansion, and several more of Earth's historical figures who are threatening to tear the house apart!" Howard said. "Disappointed parents are the least of your worries! Look, I get it. You found a problem, and now, you think time-traveling will fix it. Believe me, I've been imagining my own ideas with how to use the Time Tub, but now, it looks like this isn't going to…"
"Howard, stop!" Louie interrupted. "Look, I admit, there was some stuff about this that I didn't think of, but I'm going to fix it! And you can't tell them what I did! Remember? You promised!"
Howard started to talk some more, but he stopped himself. With nothing else, Louie continued to bring treasure into the Time Tub and disappearing in it.
"Well, this just got complicated." Howard said.
When Howard ran back downstairs, he was as surprised as the rest of the family to find Bubba the caveduck riding on the back of a triceratops in the living room.
"I assume that's another time anomaly?" Howard asked.
"Okay, Mrs. B, I admit, this is a big problem." Della said anxiously. "How do we stop it, Mrs. B?"
"Well, first, we should…" Before Mrs. Beakley could finish her sentence, a flash of temporal lightning struck her, and he disappeared into thin air.
"Mrs. B!" Della shouted.
"Beakley!" most of the others shouted.
"Granny!" Webby shouted.
"Bubba trubba." Bubba said.
At that moment, more figures from across time started to crowd the living room. Wild westerns. More pirates. Russian circus performers. It was chronal chaos in McDuck Manor, more so than usual.
"Look! The portrait!" Howard shouted pointing at a picture above the fireplace. It showed an early adventure Scrooge had with Donald and Della, fighting on a pirate ship against a ghost swashbuckler. Suddenly, Mrs. Beakley materialized in the portrait behind Scrooge.
"She's been lost in the past!" Webby shouted.
"The storm's not just blasting things here! It's blasting us back!" Scrooge said. "We have to send back all of these orological outliers! Gyro, find that Time Tub!"
"On it!" Gyro said before getting zapped. "AH! I'VE IMMEDIATELY FAILED YOU!" He disappeared instantly.
From where she stood, Della watched in horror at everything happening around her. She watched in worry at Scrooge fighting pirates, Dewey and Webby throwing cans at an angry dinosaur, and Huey running from angry rogues narrowly avoiding them with the help of a cowboy.
"This is insane!" Della shouted as Howard moved on beside her. "Where's Louie?! I hope he's not in danger!"
Howard stayed silent for a moment. He remembered the promise he made Louie, but seeing Della's frightened, worried face made him feel guilty about keeping it from her. In just a second, he broke down.
"AH! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" He grabbed Della by her shoulders and made her face him. "Della, there's something you have to know!"
Howard grabbed Della by her arm and quickly pulled her upstairs. There wasn't time to even get a word in with all the chaos going on. In only a minute, they reached the boys' room.
Howard opened the door and moved away allowing Della to look in. That's when the Time Tub materialized in the room with Louie inside. After seeing Della's shocking face, Louie became scared out of his mind.
"Mom, I can explain."
It a second to process what was happening, but when she did, Della gritted her teeth in anger. "LOUIE!"
Howard and Della grabbed the Time Tub by its different ends and carried it all the way back down to the living room. In the meantime, Louie was inside of the rub riding along.
"Howard, how could you tell Mom about this?!" Louie asked angrily. "You promised you wouldn't!"
"I had to!" Howard returned. "Your return plan wasn't working! Things are actually worse now!"
"Hey, don't be mad at Howard!" Della shouted to her son. "If anyone should be angry here, it's me! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Mom, you're overreacting!" Louie said. "I put everything back! It's no big deal!"
"How is THIS not a big deal?!" Howard shouted pointing out at the living room, where the Duck family was defending themselves against all the time-displaced figures invading their home.
Among the crowd, Bubba picked out a club from Scrooge's historical cane collection and used it to fight against the triceratops.
"This is a HUGE deal, Louie!" Della shouted. "Beakley's lost to time! And if I listened to her about this and put my foot down earlier, none of this would have happened!"
"You tried putting the treasures back to their own time, and it didn't work!" Howard stated. "Perhaps it can't work unless the Time Tub is used against all the people too!"
"How do we do that?" Della asked.
"Well, maybe we can…" Howard said before noticing a flash coming down from the sky. "DELLA, LOOK OUT!"
Quickly, Howard rushed over to Della and pushed her away. Instead of her now, the lightning hit Howard causing him to disappear from the staircase.
"HOWARD!" Della screamed.
Howard suddenly found himself appearing in the middle of the road. He breathed heavily as he moved his hands over his whole body. Once he was sure his whole body was still in one piece, he calmed down slightly.
"Well, it looks like I'm alive. That's something. Though…"
Howard took a minute to look around his new surroundings. He was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a suburban neighborhood, but all the houses were all destroyed and half-demolished. Beyond the neighborhood, he saw that the skies were all red and black with several large, gold-colored ships flying in the sky.
"Where am I? Or, I suppose the question is, 'when am I'."
Just then, Howard was alarmed by the sound of loud, mechanical whirring. He looked behind him and saw a horde of giant, yellow robots marching along the cracked, broken streets. Seeing them, Howard jumped and hid himself behind a trashcan before one of them could turn to see him. He stayed quiet sweating heavily before the robots moved on.
Howard peeked his head over and looked around. "I gotta lay low until I get a better understanding of what's going on. I guess this house here is as good as any to be in."
Howard ran from the trashcan and headed to the nearest house. He took the time to look at the name on the mailbox which read "McGee".
Once he was inside, Howard took a breath and looked around at what was left of the ruined house. "Huh. I guess this place was nice at some point. Although, I…"
Howard stopped when he noticed a still-intact picture hanging on the wall next to him. He looked at it finding a family of five people displayed on it. Two of them were an adult man and woman, two of them were two preteen kids, and the last was a teenage boy with green clothes on. They all looked happy, but Howard took the time to notice what exactly they were.
"Wait a minute. They're not animals. They're humanoids." Howard said. "Since when does Earth house humanoid… OW!"
Howard was interrupted by a ladle which struck him on the head. He turned and saw a spoon fly from the kitchen and toward him. He dodged that one and headed to the kitchen where he heard a cranky voice call out.
"Back off, you overgrown tin cans! All this food is all I have left of my family, and there's no way I'm letting you…"
Howard stepped into the kitchen to see who was throwing stuff at him. His presence made the figure in the room stop and gasp upon seeing him. The figure was a floating, transparent specter looking mostly blue and chubby. Howard looked with wide eyes seeing that he was staring at a ghost.
"Howard?" the ghost asked in surprise. "Is that you?"
"Uh… Do I know you?" Howard asked.
The ghost smiled and laughed happily. "It's me! It's Scratch! Oh, boy, am I happy to see you!" He flew over to Howard and hugged him. "Whoo. Look at me hugging. I guess that was Molly's influence. What happened? I thought those Kangbots killed you!"
"Kangbots? I don't know what you're…" Howard stopped when he started to connect the dots. "Oh, I see. The time machine must have sent me into the future." He turned to the ghost. "Scratch, was it? Look, I hate to break this to you, but I'm not the Howard you know. I don't know what happened to him, but I come from the past. Some time travel mishap zapped me over here."
Scratch's smile slowly faded. "So… he really is dead? And so is everyone else?"
"What happened?" Howard asked. "How do I know you?"
Scratch sighed. "We tried to assemble. We did everything we could. But he always beat us to it. With his power, he managed to kill everyone." He got choked up with tears flowing from his eyes. "Including Molly and Loki. He would've killed me to, but I was already dead, so…"
"Who?" Howard asked. "Who did all of this?"
"It doesn't matter. We can't change what…" Scratch's eyes suddenly lit up. He raised himself higher and started to smile again. "Wait a minute. You said you're from the past. Have you been to St. Canard yet? Met Taurus Bulba? Fell into his machine?"
"What?" Howard asked. "No. None of that sounds familiar. Why?"
Scratch's smile grew wider. "Then there's still hope!" He grabbed Howard by his cheeks and pulled him in. "Listen to me! The reason we came to you was because you were the only one who saw where all the shards landed! You saw where they all went! But you didn't memorize where exactly they went! And by the time we did find out, his victory was guaranteed! But now, maybe if you knew to pay better attention, things will be different, and we can beat him!"
"Whoa, whoa! Hold your horses!" Howard said pulling himself away. "I don't know what you're talking about, but…"
All of a sudden, a blue surge of electricity covered Howard's body. Once it grew around him, another light appeared behind him and he was being pulled into it.
"Uh, oh! I think that's my time to go!" Howard shouted.
"Howard, wait!" Scratch shouted before grabbing the duck's wrist. He did his best to keep him in place. "Listen to me! You can't tell anyone about what you found here! I don't know what'll change if you do! Just keep on living your life normally until you reach St. Canard to visit Taurus Bulba! Once you're inside his portal, keep your eyes out and find out where to find all the pieces of the Forever Crystal! Then, just wait for the rest of the Young Avengers to come looking for you! Remember, pay attention and memorize! It's the only way we can stop Kang!"
Howard wanted to ask more about what the ghost was saying, but he didn't get the chance too. The pull toward the light was so strong and Scratch's hand was too slippery. Howard's hand slipped out and he fell into the light vanishing into thin air.
When he was gone, Scratch sighed. "Well… I hope this changes things. For the Multiverse's sake."
As quickly as he disappeared, Howard reappeared in a flash of light. He found himself back in the living room where Louie was. One by one, more members of the Duck family appeared in flashes of light in strange costumes. Mrs. Beakley was dressed as a pirate, Scrooge was dressed like a Roman, Dewey was dressed like a cowboy, Dewey and Webby were dressed like hipsters, and Della was wearing knight armor. Even Gyro reappeared dressed in fancy clothes from centuries before. Not only that, but the storm completely died down thanks to Louie cleaning up his mess.
"You're back!" Louie cheered happily helping everyone recover. "I am so, so sorry!"
"This'll be good." Mrs. Beakley said approaching.
Louie frowned. "I thought I had a foolproof, get-rich-quick plan, but it turns out… I was the fool. Can you guys ever forgive me?"
Everyone sighed and gave casual measures of forgiveness. They all huddled around Louie hugging him. However, all that ended with one word.
"No." Everyone turned to Della, who removed her helmet showing her disappointed face. "Not this time."
"What?" Louie asked. "But I really am sorry. We hugged and everything."
"I watched your brothers blink out of existence because you wanted a shortcut to riches." Della reprimanded.
"I said I was sorry." Louie defended himself.
"You took of in that contraption without thinking about the consequences or the people you would hurt."
Louie lowered his head and muttered to himself loudly. "I wonder who I got that from."
Everyone gasped hearing Louie's smart remark. Della's was stung by it most of all.
"That might be over the line." Howard commented.
"See here, young man…" Mrs. Beakley started to say, but Della cut her off and scolded Louie on her own.
"Your little scheme to bypass the present almost cost us our future. This all stops NOW! You are grounded!" That got a reaction from Louie. "No schemes. No treasures. And Louie Incorporated is done! Understand?"
"Look, let me clean up, okay?" Louie pleaded. "Uncle Scrooge? Mrs. B, come on!" No matter how much he pleaded, no one stuck up for him. They all just looked away feeling sorry for him.
"To your room!" Della commanded.
Louie paused for a moment before looking down angrily stuffing his hands into his pockets. He started to walk, but not before Howard approached him.
"Louie, I'm sorry that…"
"Save it." Louie said. "Thanks a lot, blabbermouth." He headed upstairs without another word leaving Howard feeling heavy in his chest.
Once Louie was gone, Della let out a strong breath and fell to her knees. "That was hard."
"Well, it always is." Mrs. Beakley said with her hand on Della's armor-plated shoulder. "But a little tough love now will make them better people later."
"You think?" Della asked.
"It just worked on you, didn't it?" Beakley answered. "Now, I'm not cleaning any of this up."
"That is fair." Della said. She then turned to Howard. "So… You knew about the Time Tub before any of us, huh?"
"Yeah." Howard said with his head hung. "Sorry I didn't tell you. I just see a lot of myself in Louie, so I knew how much this meant to him. But I should've stopped him sooner. Or I should've told you sooner. If I did any of that, then…"
"Hey, it's okay." Della said. "You ended up telling me, and that was to save the family. Plus, you did take a lightning bolt for me, so I can't stay mad at you. And… Well… To say thanks…" She kissed Howard on the cheek taking him by surprise. He smiled at her and caressed his cheek. "So, is there anything else you want to tell me?"
"A few," Howard answered thinking back to everything clouding his mind, including the fact that he's a criminal, "But I think I'll wait until later, when cooler heads are in his household."
"Okay then." Della said. "If you're ever ready to tell me, I'll be here."
The next morning, Howard joined most of the other family (except for Louie) in cleaning up the damage caused by the storm. While Mrs. Beakley and Della were brushing off branches outside, Howard was helping Scrooge, Dewey, and Webby sort everything back in Scrooge's garage.
All of a sudden, the door opened and Huey ran out with an envelope in his hands. "AH! The Woodchucks got my report!"
"Good for you, Huey." Howard said. "Isn't it crazy how you've been researching caveducks, and one just came swinging in the house?"
"Yeah." Huey said. "I had to rewrite my report based on Bubba after seeing how advanced he was, so now, the Woodchucks have everything I learned from him!" He opened his letter and read from it, but when he did, his smile dropped. "Rejected? …Wildly outlandish?"
"I guess they have a hard time believing that caveducks could do everything we saw Bubba do." Webby said.
"Some people just aren't ready for the truth." Dewey said.
"Well, that sounds… familiar." Howard said thinking back to the secret he's been wanting to tell everyone.
"Hang on!" Scrooge called out as he looked through his ancient cane heirloom collection. "Where did the cane of the First of Clan McDuck go?"
"Bubba must have taken it to the past with him." Webby guessed. "Wait, you don't think Bubba is…"
"He was pretty advanced." Huey surmised. "Tougher. Smarter. Sharper."
Everyone exchanged looks with one another before saying, "Nah! That's crazy!"
As crazy as it sounded, it was true. Bubba was indeed the earliest member of Clan McDuck. After returning to the past, he carved his new life to reshape his tough, smart, sharp descendants.
After laughing at the idea of Bubba though, Howard looked over at Scrooge and approached him. "Uh, Mr. Scrooge, can I ask you something?"
"About what, exactly?" Scrooge asked.
"Well… You've lived a really long time. Faced off against plenty of villains, right?"
"Aye. More than I can count."
"Well… I just gotta ask. Does the name 'Kang' mean anything to you?"
"Kang?" Scrooge asked before thinking. "Kang, Kang. Kang… Nope. Never heard of him. Why do you ask?"
Howard wanted to tell Scrooge about his strange visit to the future, about how he met a ghost who warned him against someone named Kang. But he kept thinking about what Scratch told him.
"Listen to me! You can't tell anyone about what you found here! I don't know what'll change if you do! Just keep on living your life normally…"
"Just wondering." Howard said instead of the truth.
"That's a weird thing to wonder, but all right." Scrooge said before returning to work.
Lowering his head again, Howard stepped outside. As much as he hated to, he knew he had to keep yet another secret. It was true. He didn't know what would happen if he told the Duck family about what he saw. The future was full of mysteries.
So as much as it would haunt him or make him nervous, Howard knew he had no choice but to carry on with his life until the time came. All he had to do was wait.
