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Episode Nineteen
Time and Punishment
It was the middle of the night, and Chris was sitting at his desk in front of his laptop. On the screen was an opened document entitled "A Lost Boy Found: A Biography of Kit Cloudkicker." Chris typed in a few paragraphs before consulting the recording of Kit telling his story on his phone, and then he wrote in a few more paragraphs. When he got to the part where Kit got kidnapped by Stromboli, he stopped. Chris couldn't go on. He sat there, his hands shaking on the keyboard. He sobbed, and tears made their appearance.
"And he hit me with the newspaper and yelled at me to say that my name was Bongo—" Chris stopped the recording, put his head down on his desk, and cried into his arms.
"Oh, Kit, you didn't deserve any of that!" Chris sobbed. "It's so unfair!" he said, getting up from his chair and kicking his trash can across the room. "You should've grown up with Dad and me! We could've had birthdays and Christmases together! We could've been the best of friends! We could've had all those adventures together!" he grabbed a book and threw it across the room, then fell to his knees and cried into his hands. "And now that we've found you, I've hoped you'd come and live with us, but NOOO, you won't even live with us! Instead, you just had to stay with Baloo! I-I-I understand why he's a great guy, but I've hoped you'd at least live with us and you go visit him often."
Now that Chris had vented his feelings, he sat down in his chair. He clicked out of the document, feeling that he wasn't up to writing at this time, and began to browse through his DisFace social media account, going through old posts of people he was following; looking at pictures of his friends to calm himself down.
"What I wouldn't give to go back in time and prevent Kit from ever being separated from us…" he sighed. He came across a picture of Louie looking sheepish in front of a bathtub while Della, looking angry, stood over him as she wagged her finger at him. Chris' eyes widened as he looked at the tub. "Hold on… that's it! The Time Tub! I can use that to get back in time and deliver Kit to my Dad in the past!" He took his phone, selected Louie Duck from his contact list, and called him. "Louie? Hey, can you meet me at the park?"
"Chris?" Louie said groggily over the phone. "Why? Can't it wait til morning? It's midnight!"
"Louie, please, I gotta use the Time Tub," Chris said, packing his backpack.
"Wait, what?" Louie said, now sounding wide awake. "Why would you wanna use that thing? It's dangerous to mess with time! It got me grounded for three weeks!"
"I'll explain later. Meet me at the park, or I'm flying solo," Chris said firmly.
"But—" Louie started to say but was cut off by Chris ending the call.
In the local park, Chris was sneaking through, trying not to make a sound. He stopped moving as the bush ahead of him rustled.
"Hello? Louie?" Chris said nervously, backing away, getting ready to run if he needed to.
Louie emerged from the bush, tripping over a root, as he flopped down on his belly. "Oof!"
"Hey, Louie," Chris said, walking over, lifting Louie, and setting him onto his feet. "Thanks for coming."
"I only came to make sure you don't do anything stupid," Louie said, brushing off dust from his green hoodie. "Now, why do you want to use the Time Tub? Messing with time is not something to be taken lightly. We could get into big trouble. Don't you remember the Timephoon?"
"The Timephoon only happened because you were bringing treasures from the past into the present." Chris reminded him, walking side-by-side with Louie through the park. "I only want to take Kit from his orphanage while he's still a baby and move him to my Dad's hangar-houser."
"Why? Wouldn't that change the timeline to the point of us never meeting each other?" Louie said, looking upset with that possibility.
Chris looked saddened by that idea as well. "Yeah… but he's my brother, and I hate that he grew up on the streets, had been forced to perform at the circus, and joined the Air Pirates for survival. If he were to grow up with his family, he'd have a better life."
"You don't know that," Louie said. "Anything can happen, and the responsibility of being a big brother might change him so much that he'd be more like Huey. If you like how he is now, changing his past would change him entirely. And you might not like the way this turns out."
Chris looked conflicted for a moment, and then he looked determined. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."
Louie sighed. "There's no talking you out of this, is there? Well, I'll tag along with you to make sure you're safe."
"Thanks, Louie," Chris said, smiling as they walked through the park towards Gyro's lab.
Chris and Louie stood before an iron door leading into Gyro's lab, with a console in the door.
"How are we gonna get through this?" Chris asked, looking at the console with a puzzled look.
"What? You mean you don't have a plan for this?" Louie said in a tone of disbelief. "What were you going to do? Knock on the door and hope Gyro will open the door for you?"
"Um…" Chris said sheepishly. "To be honest, I didn't plan for anything."
"Don't turn into Dewey Number Two on me..." Louie groaned, facepalming himself. "You're supposed to be better and smarter than that. And this is why I came along. You normally plan things out. But when you're emotional, planning goes out the window. So what's wrong, man?"
Chris hung his head and sat down on the ground, and Louie sat next to him.
"Kit told us his life story," Chris said, withdrawing his phone, bringing up the recording of Kit telling the story, and handing his phone to Louie.
Louie took the phone and played the recording. For the next hour or so, Louie listened to the recording. When he reached the end of the recording, he gave Chris a look of sympathy.
"So, that's why you want to use the Time Tub, huh?."
"Yeah, so you'll help me?" Chris asked hopefully.
"Yeah, yeah, I will," Louie said, handing Chris back his phone. "Normally, I wouldn't and tell you to forget it. But you're not going to listen, so it's no use. I'll go with you to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
"Thanks, Louie," Chris said, then he turned to the console in the door that only had one button. "So we just press this button…?" he then extended his finger towards it.
Upon pressing the button, the panel slid down to reveal a screen and buttons with every color of the rainbow.
Gyro appeared on screen, and it was clear to the two boys that this was a prerecorded video, not a live stream.
"Salesmen, go away, your stuff is trash, and I will never buy your incompetent products," Gyro said unapologetically. "Kids, if you're here for your ball or your frisbee, you're wasting your time. They have evaporated. If this is Halloween, I have no candy."
"Wow, this must be the longest 'go away' message I've ever heard," Chris commented.
"If you are my employees and forgot the code, you're fired." Gyro continued. "But if you're here on business and need to talk to me, press in the colors of this melody."
Chris and Louie listened carefully as the melody started playing.
"Never heard of this," Louie said, frowning as he focused on the sound.
"It sounds like Little Girl Blue," Chris said, listening carefully. "I heard it on D-Tube once."
"Oh cool, so how does it go?" Louie asked.
"Close your eyes, little girl blue," Chris sang. "Inside of you lies a rain...bow...?" he said slowly, as realization dawned on his face. "That's it! The code is the colors in the lyrics of this song."
"Oh, so we start with blue," Louie said, reaching for the blue button, but Chris batted Louie's hand away.
"No, yellow! We start with yellow!" Chris said as he started pressing the buttons on the console. "Yellow, blue, red, blue, purple, blue, purple, green, and yellow."
As Chris finished typing in the code, the iron doors creaked and slowly opened as steam billowed from inside.
Louie gave Chris a skeptical look. "Are you sure you only heard that song once? Because that order of colors is not easy to memorize hearing it only once."
"Okay, okay. I heard it a few times," Chris admitted sheepishly.
"Uh-huh, that's what I thought," Louie said. "Well, you got the door open. We might as well go in."
As the two boys walked inside, the iron doors slammed shut behind them, startling them and causing them to yelp in surprise, plunging them into total darkness. And then, the lights turned on suddenly, stunning their eyes. They cried out and covered their eyes with their hands and rubbed them. When they lowered their hands and opened their eyes, they saw that ahead was a hallway full of red lasers.
"Lasers, huh?" Chris said, sounding unimpressed. "Such a standard security measure. We can handle this. After all, Master Ken taught us to dodge through blade traps, so we just have to treat these lasers as blades."
As he stepped forward, a light bulb lowered out of the ceiling, glowing red, turning the whole room red and thus making the lasers invisible.
Louie gulped. "I think this has just gotten a whole lot harder… What now, McFly?"
"Uh…" Chris said nervously, looking around, trying to think. "I don't know. Master Ken never taught us to dodge through invisible blades! Wh-what do you have on you?"
Louie reached into his hoodie pocket across his belly and pulled out a can of Cherry Pep and a couple of tiny smoke bombs.
Chris took one of the smoke bombs. "Smoke bombs? Why do you have smoke bombs?"
"To make a quick exit if I need to," Louie said. "I took them from Dewey. Who took them from Darkwing Duck."
"Okay," Chris said, taking both of the smoke bombs Louie had. "I need you to face the hall and use your gift as an analyst to analyze the lasers and memorize our way across the hall."
"Do we have to?" Louie whined.
"Well, we can't exactly turn back. The door is closed behind us." Chris pointed out. "The way ahead is our only option. Either that or we wait here until we get caught."
Louie gulped as he imagined the trouble he would be in with his Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald if they got caught. Then he looked determined and focused as he turned to face the hallway ahead of them.
"Alright, do your thing, and I'll do mine."
Chris smiled and said: "As you wish." as he threw a smoke bomb into the hall.
In a cloud of blue smoke, the lasers were revealed momentarily, and Louie quickly scanned and analyzed the pattern of the lasers. When the smoke faded away, Louie turned to Chris.
"You better stay here, don't follow me through this," Louie said, looking sober and scared. "I know you can mimic my movements perfectly, but you won't be able to throw another smoke bomb while in this laser field. Stay here, just in case I need you to throw another smoke bomb."
Chris looked upset but had to admit to himself that Louie was right.
"Wait, Louie," he said as he stepped up to Louie and embraced him like a brother. "Good luck, Louie. You've got this!"
Louie smiled as he patted Chris on the shoulder. "Thanks, man." He moved forward slowly into the laser field, going up and down, left and right, snaking his way through the lasers.
Chris watched as Louie made his way across the hall through the invisible lasers, feeling that if anything happened to Louie, it would be all his fault.
Halfway across the hall, Louie had scooped down so low that his can of cherry pep slid out of his pocket and sliced open on contact with the lasers, spraying Louie in the face with the red soda within. Louie spluttered and groaned before yelling angrily: "Gah!"
"LOUIE!" Chris cried from his position at the beginning of the hall. And from his point of view, it looked like Louie suddenly spurted blood. "NOOOO!" he fell to his knees and began to cry into his hands.
"Whoa, Chris, calm down," Louie said, surprised and touched by Chris' reaction. "I'm fine."
Chris sniffed. "R-really? But the blood…." he said, looking down at the puddle on the floor around Louie's feet.
"That's just Cherry Pep. I dropped my can." Louie said soothingly. "Now, do me a favor and throw another smoke bomb ahead of me."
Chris stood up, wiped the tears from his face on his sleeve, and then threw the smoke bomb across the hall, further from the space that Louie was standing in. Smoke burst forth, revealing the lasers ahead of Louie.
Louie studied the lasers ahead of him before they faded from view. He then moved through the rest of the invisible lasers and made it to the other side of the hall.
"Hey, Chris! I made it!" Louie yelled happily, reaching up for the lever on the wall and pulling it down, causing the red light and laser to shut off.
Looking relieved, Chris dashed across the hall, joining Louie on the other side, throwing his arms around Louie in a big bear hug.
"Whoa, Chris, I'm alright… really," Louie assured him, returning the hug.
"I know. I'm just happy you made it alright," Chris said as they broke apart.
"Well, time to see what else Gyro has in store for us," Louie said as he and Chris walked into the next room.
The next room was a big empty room with black-and-white checkerboard-style tiles on the floor. Louie stopped, looking down suspiciously at the floor tiles. Chris, however, kept walking into the room, stepping onto a black tile.
Louie quickly reached out, grabbed Chris' shirt by the back, and yanked him back just in time. Numerous machine guns popped out of the walls and ceiling and fired a hailstorm of bullets upon the floor.
"OH, MY STARS!" Chris yelped, staring wide-eyed at the floor as the guns stopped firing, retreating into the walls and ceiling. "Thanks, Louie. I would've been full of holes!"
"No problem, Chris," Louie said, then studied the room before them. He then withdrew a can of Cherry Pep from his hoodie pocket and tossed it into the room. It landed on the black tile of the floor, and the guns reappeared and fired upon the floor, reducing the can into nothing, spraying the floor with Pep.
Chris cringed. "What do we do? How do we get through this?"
"Hmm…" Louie said thoughtfully, withdrawing another can of pep from his pocket. "You stepped on a black tile, my can landed on a black tile, and the guns popped out… But, what if I manage to toss this can onto a white tile..." He tossed the can, and it landed on a white tile, and nothing happened. "Alright! Do you see that? We just need to walk through this room on the white tiles and avoid the black tiles like the Plague."
Louie nervously and carefully lifted his foot and set it down on a white tile. Nothing happened, and Louie sighed with relief and began to walk across the room with Chris following behind him, both of them making sure not to touch the black tiles.
Once they made it through, they took a breath of relief and exchanged a high-five before continuing into the next room.
The next room was full of shelves and stands of books, like a grand library. Chris and Louie moved slowly and carefully into the room, looking around cautiously.
"D'you think the shelves will fall on top of us if we venture too far in?" Chris asked.
"Anything's possible, don't rule anything out," Louie replied. "Just be careful where you step."
Just as Louie said it, Chris stepped on a hidden tab on the floor, runes lit up on the tile, and Chris found himself flying off the floor, his body turned upside down, and his feet landed on the ceiling, finding himself surrounded by bookshelves that were on the top. Then he realized a similar library was on the roof, just like on the floor below him. Or above him. It was so strange. Chris felt as if the floor was above him rather than below him.
"Chris!" Louie yelled, looking up at Chris before facepalming himself. "Just when I tell him to watch his steps, he walks into a trap... "
"Louie! Get me down from here!" yelled Chris, jumping up and down on the ceiling, trying and failing to get himself off the roof. Every time his feet left the top, they landed back on it. It was like the gravity was in reverse on Chris.
"Hmm, could it be?" Louie muttered to himself thoughtfully. He then withdrew a book from the shelves and dropped it onto the tab on the floor that Chris had stepped on. It landed on the floor, and nothing happened. Louie scratched his head in puzzlement. "Okay... so this is not the same trap from the ImpossiBin."
"Louie, what's going on?" Chris yelled from up on the ceiling. "Hurry up and get me down from here!"
"I'm trying! Don't rush me," Louie yelled back. "I've seen this trap before, but it's different… It may be the same trap but requires a different solution."
Louie focused on his surroundings as he walked through the library, looking for anything unusual. After scanning the area for a moment, he spotted it; a bright red book on a shelf in the center of a line of green books. Looking puzzled, Louie walked and withdrew the red book from the frame. He then spotted another oddity. A yellow book is in the center of a line of purple books.
He then took a book cart, dropped the red book onto it, and went over to collect the yellow book. After dropping the book onto the buggy, he spotted a purple book in a line of blue books. He gathered the green book.
He spotted a blue book in a line of yellow books. He went over, withdrew the blue book, and replaced it with the yellow book from the cart. As he did so, he heard a line of music.
"So, that's how it is. Chris, I figured it out! Hold on!" He went to each shelf and put the books back into their proper places. Finally, he took a green book down from a line of red books and replaced it with the red book from the cart, and then he went back to the line of red books, and as he put in the last book, he felt the floor shake and heard the sound of an iron door open. "I did it! Chris, I did it!"
"Great, now get me down from here!" Chris yelled from the ceiling. "...or is it up from here? Oh, I'm so confused right now!"
Louie ran over to the sound of an iron door creaking open. He found the opened door and watched as it finished opening, rising from the floor. But as it finished opening, he saw another door beyond it.
"What?! Aw, c'mon!" Louie yelled in frustration.
"What's wrong, Louie?" Chris yelled from the ceiling.
"I thought I solved this puzzle, but there's another door past this one."
"What?! Aw, you have got to be kidding me!" Chris cried. "What now?"
"I don't know, gimme a minute," Louie said, looking for another puzzle, anything out of place. But he could not find anything. Louie sighed and looked up at Chris. It was then that he realized that there were bookshelves on the ceiling! "Chris! Look at the bookshelves! Are there any books on the wrong shelves?
Chris looked around at the shelves on the ceiling. "Yeah, there's a blue book in a line of red books."
"That's it!" Louie said excitedly. "Chris, take the books from the wrong shelf and put them in their proper places."
Chris repeated Louie's process of taking down the book from the incorrect shelves and putting them in their correct places. When he inserted his last book, he heard a musical victory melody, and he flew off the ceiling, flipped over in midair, and landed on his feet on the floor next to Louie.
"You did it, Chris!" Louie cried happily, hugging Chris, ruffling his spiky hair.
They watched as the second and final door opened. The two walked through the door and found themselves in the storage room of Gyro's lab.
"We did it, Louie- We got through all those death traps," Chris said, then chuckled nervously and said: "Let's NOT do that again."
"Agreed. But man, you're lucky I tagged along. You couldn't have gotten through those by yourself." Louie said, walking into the storage room, looking around at all of Gyro's inventions.
Chris paused, his mouth opened as if he wanted to argue. But after a moment's thought, he said: "Yeah… you're right."
They walked through the storage room, looking around until Louie spotted the Time Tub sitting in a corner covered by a tarp.
"There it is, Chris!" Louie said, running forward and pulling the tarp off the Time Tub.
"Awesome!" Chris said excitedly, rushing forward and climbing into the pilot seat of the Time Tub, gripping the steering wheel. He paused and looked around at the dashboard, at all the switches and buttons. "Um, how do I start this thing?"
Louie groaned and climbed into the tub, hip-bumping Chris out of the pilot seat. "Out of the way, a former time traveler coming through!" Louie started the Tub up as Chris climbed into the seat behind him. "Now, what's our time and place of destination?"
"Freeport, nineteen twenty-seven," Chris replied.
"You got it, buddy," Louie said, setting the time and place of destination on the console. "Earth Seven, Freeport, nineteen twenty-seven, and..." He then pulled the lever, and suddenly they were hurtling through a dimensional tube in the middle of space, speeding towards a light at the end of the tunnel.
Once they reached the light and went through it, they found themselves sitting in the middle of a play park.
"Well, here we are," Louie said as he and Chris climbed out of the Tub. They then pushed the Time Tub out of sight inside a nearby bush. "So, where to now?"
"The place is Freeport Orphanage nine-one-zero-nine-zero," Chris said as he and Louie began walking through the town. "I've been there once with Dad. They even showed us the room Kit was in. Let's go."
Chris led the way to the orphanage, and Louie followed. They walked across three streets before they found the correct orphanage. They managed to avoid people who were still walking around after dark.
"Here we are," Chris said, walking up the steps to the door. He turned the doorknob, only to find it locked. "It's locked," he said, giving Louie a pleading look.
Louie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll unlock it…" he stepped forward, withdrawing some pins from his pocket, and began to pick the lock. "Seriously, what would you do without me?"
Chris shrugged. "I dunno. I'd probably still be back at the lasers, waiting for someone to open the door leading back outside."
"Got it!" Louie said, and with a click, the door opened up.
"Thanks, Louie," Chris whispered as he and Louie snuck inside on tiptoes. Chris led the way straight to Kit's room. Once they reached the room, Chris opened the door, peeked inside, saw the crib, and whispered: "This is it, we're here!"
They entered the room and walked up to the crib, where baby Kit lay asleep. They stood over him, looking down at him. Baby Kit wore a green shirt and a diaper with different colored stars. Chris took out his Gummiphone, activated the camera, and then took a picture of baby Kit sleeping.
"It's for my Dad in our time," Chris whispered to Louie's quizzical look. "He doesn't have pictures of Kit when he was a baby." Chris then put his phone away, lowered the bars, reached in, carefully picked Kit out of the crib, and cradled him carefully in his arms. "It's weird. I'm holding my older brother's younger self in my arms, but I'm the older one right now."
"That's time travel for ya." Louie said, "Now let's get outta here before we get caught."
"Okay, hold on," Chris said, laying Kit back down in the crib, taking a baby blanket, wrapping Kit up in a bundle, and picking him back up, holding him close to his chest. "Okay, let's go."
They then snuck back through the orphanage and out the door.
"So, where to now?" Louie asked as they walked down the steps and then down the street.
"To my Dad's hangar-house… three towns over."
Louie paused. "What? Chris, we're not walking that far from the Time Tub. You didn't think this through, did you?"
"Can't the Time Tub teleport us there?" Chris asked, looking desperate to make his plans work.
Louie thought for a moment. "Technically, it can."
"Then let's go!" Chris rushed past Louie towards the Time Tub.
They returned to the Time Tub, climbed into it, and Louie set the Time Tub to teleport to Matthew's hangar-house. There was a flash, and they were suddenly in front of a hangar-house.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Louie asked as Chris climbed out of the tub with baby Kit in his arms. "If you do this, you'll create a timeline where we may never meet, and he'd never meet Baloo."
Chris looked conflicted. "But…living on the streets... those evil circus people… and the Air Pirates... I mean, look at him! How could you let this little guy grow up that way?"
"Yes, he did go through hard and rough times. We all do! That's life." Louie said, placing a hand on Chris' shoulder. "But he also had a lot of good times, and he finally found a family that loves him at Higher for Hire. Are you sure you want to take that away from him?"
Chris whimpered at the thought of taking Kit away from the people who love him. But he still moved forward towards the door of the hangar, saying. "He'll have more good times than bad times with us," Sounding as if he tried to convince himself of that as he moved slowly forward.
"Chris, you don't know that," Louie said sadly.
"At least we'd both have more time with our Dad!" Chris cried, hugging the bundle that contained Kit close to his chest. "I could've had my whole life with my Dad and Kit without spending most of our time searching for someone!"
Louie looked shocked and was rendered speechless at Chris' outburst and stood back.
Chris approached the door with baby Kit in his arms, but then.
"Hold it right there, mister!" said a high voice.
Chris and Louie cringed and slowly turned towards the sound of the voice. There stood Master Mickey, looking sternly at them.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded, walking up to them.
Louie sighed sadly. "Chris just wanted to give Kit a better life by delivering him to Matthew in the past."
Master Mickey's face softened, and he looked at Chris with sympathy.
"Chris, if you do that, this world will split into two worlds," Mickey said in a softer tone. "This world has already been stretched to the breaking point to contain multiple timelines. The fabric of time is so thin in this world that this course of action will cause it to snap!"
Chris gasped as the consequences of his action hit him. He fell to his knees and started crying.
Master Mickey walked up to Chris and placed a hand on his back. "I know you're just trying to help Kit to have a better life, but there are consequences when we meddle with time. I know that better than anyone."
"What should I do, Master Mickey?" Chris sniffed.
"You should let me return Kit to his proper place in time." Master Mickey said gently.
"But.. .his proper place is with us, me and Dad," Chris said, sounding like he was conflicted between doing the right thing and being selfish. "I mean, is it so wrong to want to grow up together with my brother?"
"Chris, I made the same mistake you're making right now. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about." Master Mickey said sadly. "I went back in time to make things better. You know what happened?"
Chris shook his head.
"A new timeline was created, the old timeline continued unaltered, but the new timeline adjusted itself to accommodate the changes I made." Master Mickey said. "And the tragedy I tried to prevent was replaced with a different but just as devastating one. Any event you change, history will try to replace it with something else. The world can't hold more than three timelines. When there are too many timelines, the world will split into two, giving the universe yet another Earth to hold. Sooner or later, the universe will split into two, and there's no telling what that will do to us all. "
Chris whimpered, hugging baby Kit to his chest before he held him out to Master Mickey. Master Mickey waved his hand, and baby Kit vanished from Chris' arms, reappearing in his crib that was miles away. Louie hurried forward and pulled Chris into a comforting hug.
"I'm proud of you for making the right decision. I know it was hard." Master Mickey then turned to the Time Tub. "I've told Gyro to destroy this time machine. But it looks like I'll have to do it myself." And with a wave of his hand, the Time Tub blew up, breaking into thousands of pieces. He waved his hand again, and a portal opened up. "After you two," he said, gesturing for them to walk through ahead of him.
Louie pulled Chris to his feet and supported him as they walked into the portal, finding themselves in Master Mickey's study in the present.
Master Mickey walked through last. The portal behind him closed, and he went around behind his desk and sat down. He sighed sadly before looking at the two boys sitting across the desk with a grave expression.
"Boys, I respect that you both acted with good intentions," Master Mickey began. "But I cannot overlook your crimes."
"Cr-crimes?" Chris said nervously. He knew he was breaking a few rules but didn't think he was doing something so serious as committing crimes.
"Yes, Chris, crimes." Master Mickey said as he picked up a clipboard and read off the list of their crimes. "Breaking in, stealing and using a time machine without permission or authorization and time traveling in an attempt to alter the timeline itself is a crime."
Chris and Louie cringed at each crime Master Mickey cited before looking at each other with scared looks.
Master Mickey sighed sadly. "I'm gonna hafa call your folks and the Academy. You two are facing in-school suspension, during which you are to complete your community service, which is to be assigned to you by the Colonel. Now go home and get some rest. You are to meet the Colonel in the morning for your punishment."
Chris and Louie left Master Mickey's studio and walked through and out of the mansion before they finally spoke.
"My Dad's gonna kill me for this," Chris said in a hollowed voice.
"Overstatement, your Dad loves you too much," Louie said, looking pale. "My uncles, on the other hand..." he shuddered.
"Sorry I dragged you into this," Chris said, looking guilty.
"Eh, don't worry about it," Louie said with a shrug. "I'm glad we both made it back in one piece."
"No, Louie. I'm going to make it up to you, I promise." Chris said solemnly.
They hugged each other before going their separate ways to face their impending doom.
Back at the hangar-house, Chris opened the door and tried to sneak in quietly, but the lights came on suddenly, startling Chris. He turned around to find Matthew standing with his arms crossed, staring sternly down at him.
Chris gulped. "H-hey Dad… what's up?"
"Oh, I don't know, Chris," Matthew growled. "I got a call from Master Mickey, and you know what he told me?"
"Th-that I stole a time machine and went back in time?" Chris took a guess.
"Correct," Matthew said, his frown deepening. "I'll hear your explanation before I hand you your punishment."
Chris couldn't stand seeing his Dad looking at him like that, but he knew better than to look away from his Dad.
"I...I tried to save Kit from everything he went through..." Chris said, his voice breaking into sobs. "I went back in time to move Kit from his orphanage to our old hangar-house while he was still a baby… and I almost succeeded, and… and," he broke into tears. "I'm s-s-sorry, Dad! I almost put the entire universe at risk because I wanted to grow up with Kit by our side, so we wouldn't have to look for anyone!"
Matthew's face softened, and he rushed forward, scooped Chris up in his arms, holding him as he cried into Matthew's shoulder.
"Oh, Chris, son, I had no idea this affected you so much…" Matthew said gently. "I'm proud of your intention, but not your method." he then put Chris down. "Are you ready for your punishment?"
"I-I guess so…" Chris whimpered, wiping his eyes.
"You're grounded for a month," Matthew said. "No sleepovers, no video games, and no phone. Hand over your Gummiphone." He held out his hand for the phone. Chris withdrew his phone and handed it over. "You have to come straight home after school, no hanging out with your friends. Now go to bed."
"Yes, sir…" Chris said sadly. He walked towards his room, and halfway there, he stopped. "Dad, you might wanna check my picture gallery. There's one I think you might want to print out."
As Chris went to his room and closed the door, Matthew checked Chris' phone for the picture. He let out a sob and smiled with teary eyes as he saw the picture of baby Kit.
The next day at school, instead of attending their classes, Chris and Louie went to the Colonel's office and knocked.
"Come in." called the Colonel's voice from within. They opened the door and went in. "Ah, Christopher and Llewellyn…" he said in a voice of deep disappointment and disapproval. "Being part of the Dedis is a great privilege, given the task we have to fulfill. But that's only an aspect of being a Dedi. Furthermore, because you're part of the Dedis, you must set an example to all others and abide by the rules. Even though you're members of the Scouting Party, your aid is a valuable asset to this institution, and as such reputation is solely dependent on each of you. Have a seat, gentlemen. You've got a hard day's work ahead of you."
Louie gulped as he and Chris sat in the chairs in front of the Colonel's desk.
The Colonel surveyed them from across the desk. "I've decided to assign you a mission as a punishment," he said, opening a folder and reading the contents. "You are to go to Earth ninety-seven. While there, you are to do community service while keeping an eye open for enemy activities. Our detectors indicate low activities from the enemies, but we need to ensure that no outside danger lurks in that world. If you get the opportunity to put the Seal of Protection on that world, take it. Understood?"
Chris and Louie saluted the Colonel. "Yes, sir!"
The Colonel nodded approvingly and stood up as he did so. Chris and Louie stood up as well.
"Now go to the Warp Room. Dismissed!"
Chris and Louie left the office. They walked down the hallway and entered the Warp Room.
"Well, hello, boys!" Von Drake said brightly. "Where do you need to go this time?"
"Earth ninety-seven," Chris said unenthusiastically, disappointed in himself for disappointing the Colonel with his actions.
"Alright, go and stand in front of the Warp Gate." Von Drake said, typing in a command on the computer console.
Chris and Louie went and stood in front of the Warp Gate and waited. It slowly opened up, revealing the flowing blue wormhole. The two of them jumped into the Warp Gate and warped across space at the speed of light, and suddenly, they were standing in a world in the Ancient Greek era. They looked down at themselves to see that their clothes had changed to white togas upon arrival.
"Ugh! Why are we wearing these dresses?" Chris asked, picking at the corners of the bottom of the garment in disgust.
"Chris, these are not dresses. They're togas," Louie said. "Besides, this is the dress code of the locals."
"Well, as long as it's not an actual dress," Chris muttered. "So, where do we go to get our community service assignment?"
"Did someone say community service?" said a voice behind them.
Chris and Louie looked back and saw a thin old human man with a white beard and a straw hat.
"Uh, yeah, but… um, don't us being a talking bear and duck bother you?" Chris asked nervously, eying the man up and down.
"Nah, our people have seen stranger things." the old man said.
"Yeah, Chris, this is Phill's home world," Louie said.
"Really?" Chris said, looking around at the town.
"You boys know Phill?" the old man asked. Chris and Louie nodded in confirmation. "Well, if you boys look to do some community service, I could use a hand with my garden. My name is Amphitryon."
"I'm Chris, and this is Louie," Chris said as they shook hands with Amphitryon. "We'd be happy to help you with the garden."
"Chris!" said Louie, clearly objecting to this gardening work.
"Louie, this is the best work we could ask for," Chris muttered. "Unless you want to shovel that heap over there…" he pointed over to a big smelly pile of manure.
Louie looked and cringed. "Eeeh…" he then turned back to Amphitryon. "S-s-so, where do we begin?" he asked with a sheepish smile.
And so, Chris and Louie got on the wagon with Amphitryon, pulled by a single mule. And they began the long, slow, and dull ride to Amphityon's home.
Hours later, the wagon stopped, and Amphitryon turned around and smiled as he found both the bear boy and the duck boy curled up and sound asleep on the hay. He shook Chris by the shoulder and then Louie.
"C'mon, boys, time to wake up," Amphitryon said. "We're here."
"Finally!" Louie cried, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Are we done yet? The ride alone was enough work for me."
"No, you lazy cat! And I hope you're not too tired," Chris said, chuckling as he gave Louie a light fist bump to the shoulder. "We still have some work to do. C'mon, let's go," he said, getting off the wagon and pulling Louie off the wagon with him. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll be finished."
They walked up to Amphitryon's house. It looked like a worn-down little house that had a big grand Greek mansion added to it, making the little house look more like an entrance hall into the manor.
"Wow, this is your house?" Chris said in awe, looking up at the mansion portion of the house.
"Yes, it is," Amphitryon said, smiling. "We started with a small house, but then our son became a hero, and we were able to add on to this old house."
"So what you're saying is, being a hero in this world makes you rich," Louie said with a greedy expression on his face, rubbing his hands together.
"Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it," Amphitryon said. "Being a hero means fighting monsters about as big as this house! Now enough chit-chat. It's time to get to work, boys!" he handed them a couple of hoes and sent them out into the garden.
Chris and Louie began to work in the garden, using their hoes to prepare the soil for planting. They then started planting the seeds, Chris digging the holes and Louie dropping the grains into each hole, using his foot to cover up the hole.
As they were watering the garden, a massive shadow rolled over them, darkening the ground around them. Chris thought it was just an overcasting cloud until he noticed that the shadow was moving and growing smaller and smaller.
Chris and Louie looked up and saw a giant, monstrous bird with red eyes and bronze feathers swooping down upon them, its massive clawed feet held out towards them, ready to snatch them up. They both cried out as they dived out of the way and rolled across the ground away from the bird's feet as it scraped across the floor and climbed back into the sky.
"What is that?!" Chris yelled, getting to his feet and looking up at the giant bird.
"It's a Stymphalian bird!" Louie yelled. "RUN!"
Chris did not run as he saw the Stymphalian bird firing a rain of feather projectiles at them. Those feathers were flying at them like knives. Chris quickly directed his hand towards the water barrel and drew the water across the air to him. He then molded the body of water in front of him into a shield, and then he tensed his fingers, causing the water shield to turn to ice. With a solid ice shield in front of him, Chris was safe from the projectiles, as the feather projectiles stuck to Chris' guard like darts on a dartboard.
After Chris blocked the bird's feather attack, he melted his shield back down to the water and remolded it into a giant water snakelike whip, causing it to snap at the bird's face. The bird cried out in pain and tried to turn to attack Louie instead. But Chris burst his water whip at it again and again.
The bird was getting angry and fired more feather projectiles at Chris, who gasped and drew out his airfoil and held it up, using it as a shield against the rain of feather projectiles, blocking them. Before he could do anything else, the bird grabbed him in its claw, pinning his arms to his sides and forcing him to drop his airfoil.
"CHRIS!" Louie cried as the bird took off with Chris in its claw. He summoned his golden khopesh into his hand and ran forward, throwing his golden khopesh at the bird. The khopesh spun around and around as it flew at the bird like a boomerang, hitting its leg. The bird cried out in pain and dropped Chris, who fell. Louie stopped running and bent over, holding his knees, panting, and trying to catch his breath. "Oh man, this is too much running… OOF!" he grunted as Chris landed on top of him, knocking him flat to the ground.
"Oww… my arms…." Chris groaned, rubbing his arms to regain feeling in them. "Thanks for breaking my fall, buddy."
"Yeah, no problem," Louie groaned. "If you don't mind, I think I'll just lay here."
"Sorry, Louie, not an option," Chris said, getting off of Louie and pulling Louie to his feet. "It's not over yet."
The bird turned around and swooped down upon them again. Chris directed his hand to the water barrel, attempting to draw the water to himself again, and with straining difficulty, he managed to summon the water out of the barrel and shaped it into a whip. He then caused the lash to smack the bird in the face. It cried out in pain, and he struck it until the bird cried in pain and took flight, flying away from the area.
"Good job, Chris!" Louie cheered. "How did you know its face was a weak point?"
Chris shrugged. "It looked like the least armored spot, so I went for it."
"You're starting to see the angles quite well," Louie said proudly. "I only wish you had seen the angles back at Gyro's lab."
"Hey, I'm learning," Chris said, smiling at Louie. "And it's something I'm learning from you," he added, and then they shared a laugh.
"Hey. How come you were having trouble with your Aqua-casting?" Louie asked in concern as Chris rubbed his arms.
"My arms fell asleep in that bird's grip," Chris said. "If my arms are numb, Aqua-casting becomes difficult."
Just then, Chris noticed something strange; although the bird had fled, its shadow remained on the ground, unmoving. And there was a glowing purple outline around it.
"Uh, Louie... you might want to draw your weapon again," Chris said nervously as the shadow rose off the ground, becoming a black embodiment of the Stymphalian bird's shadow with glowing red eyes. Chris stretched out his hand, and the handle of his D-blade flew to his hand from inside his toga. He grabbed the hold, the blue blade appeared out of the handle, and he readied himself for a fight.
Louie stood by Chris' side and faced the new Shadow Minion. With a flick of his wrist, his golden khopesh appeared in his hand.
Chris ran forward towards the giant, bird-shaped Shadow Minion. As he ran, he stretched out his hand, summoning his airfoil from the ground where he left it. The airfoil flew across the land towards him before he jumped on top of it. As his feet landed on the airfoil, it glowed and rose into the air, allowing Chris to fly at the Shadow Minion, raising his D-blade and slashing at it.
On the ground, Louie ran forward and slashed at the Shadow Minion from below. The Shadow Minion lashed out at the boys with its beak and claws that the two boys had to duck and dodge while fighting.
The giant bird-like Shadow Minion fired a barrage of black knife-like projectiles from its body, forcing Chris and Louie to dodge and deflect the projectiles with their weapons. Then they moved forward and attacked the Shadow Minion. But the Shadow Minion proved tough to defeat, as it could not feel pain and therefore did not flee as the original bird did.
After several minutes of constantly attacking and beating it down, the Shadow Minion began to show signs of weakening, and the boys took it as a sign to strike harder and finish it off.
With one final slash from Chris and an upper swing from Louie, the Shadow Minion cried out as it began to fade and vanish.
With the Shadow Minion defeated, both boys dismissed their weapons, and Chris landed next to Louie.
"We did it! We're heroes!" Louie cried happily, hugging Chris. "We're gonna be rich!"
"It's not over yet," Chris said seriously. "Unless we put up the Evil Repellent Charm, more of them could come."
Louie looked annoyed with the lack of celebration from Chris. "Stop ruining things for me!"
"We have to put up the Evil Repellent Charm, Louie, then we can relax," Chris said firmly. He then turned to Amphitryon, who cautiously approached them now that the danger had passed. "Mr. Amphitryon, what is the most sacred thing in this land?"
"That would be the Statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus. Why?" Amphitryon asked.
"Let's just say the statue's the key to stopping shadow monsters from appearing ever again," Louie said as he climbed up onto Chris' back.
Chris threw his airfoil to the ground and stepped onto it. It suddenly glowed and rose above the ground.
"Which way is the Temple of Zeus?" Chris asked Amphitryon.
"That way, up the mountain," Amphitryon replied, pointing to the mountain very far off in the distance.
"Thanks!" Chris said, giving Amphitryon a salute, before turning himself in the direction of the mountain and flying off with Louie clinging to his back.
"Wait a minute!" Louie said in realization. "We fought monsters. We're heroes! WHERE'S MY BAG OF GOOOOOLD?!" he cried as he and Chris zoomed at top speed from the area.
Later at the Temple of Zeus, Chris landed at the entrance, and Louie climbed off of Chris' back and stepped away from Chris, pouting.
"We're here," Chris said, stepping forward toward the double doors of the temple. "Let's put up the Seal and then go home."
"Hmph!" Louie huffed, not looking at all happy.
Chris sighed with exasperation. "Look, Louie, we got more important things to worry about than a stupid bag of gold!"
Louie gasped dramatically and then glared at Chris. "There's nothing more important than gold! Except for family and friends. And a bag of gold's not stupid!"
"Whatever, let's just find the place to cast the Evil Repellent Charm and get out of here!" Chris said impatiently, placing his hands on the doors and straining with all his might to push them open. Slowly it creaked open, and they found the place crawling with Shadow Minions.
"Aw, c'mon! Enough already." Louie cried. "I'm getting sick of these guys!"
"Me too, let's send 'em packing!" Chris said as they both summoned their weapons and charged in, swinging their blades like weed whackers.
The battle was long and hard, as there were many small fries against the two of them, and they were already tired from the fight with the Stymphalian bird and its Shadow Minion counterpart. At some point, Louie was so tired that he couldn't wield his khopesh anymore, swaying on the spot, and was instantly tackled to the ground by the swarm of Shadow Minions.
"LOUIE!" Chris cried as he got backed into a corner. With one slash, he slew the Shadow Minion jumping at him, and then he raised his D-blade upward, closed his eyes, and placed a hand over his eyes. He whimpered a little before he cried: "THUNDER!"
The thunderbolts, more potent than Chris had expected, shot down every Shadow Minion in the room, causing them to vanish. Chris removed his hand from his eyes and looked in awe at the Shadow Minion-free room.
"What the…" Chris said, looking at his D-blade in surprise. "I didn't know a Thunder spell could be that powerful."
"Y-you had help," Louie groaned, struggling to get to his hands and knees. "Zeus is the Thunder God, and we're in his temple… Chris?"
Chris dropped his D-blade and fell to his knees, shaking, hugging himself in shock, and whimpering.
"Oh, no... " Louie groaned, hurrying forward and throwing his arms around Chris. "Chris, don't panic! It's okay. It's all over."
Louie held on to Chris while he whimpered, trying to calm himself down. Slowly, Chris calmed down.
"Thanks, Louie," he said gratefully.
"Wow, that panic attack wasn't as bad as it usually is. I guess it helped that you covered up your eyes." Louie observed. "But still, that was reckless. What if that didn't work and you went into full-on panic mode?"
"I… I couldn't think of any other way," Chris said, ashamed of himself. "There were too many of them, and my energy was fading fast. So…"
"Well, you're lucky you were in the Temple of Zeus when you tried that," Louie said, helping Chris to his feet. "Now put up the Evil Repellent while I call P.J. to send us a warp hole to go home."
"Right!" Chris nodded, turned around, and faced the giant statue sitting on the gigantic throne. He looked up to the face of the sculpture and saw a bearded face. Chris searched the statue's chest and found a round stone with the image of a thunderbolt coming out of a cloud. He summoned his D-blade to his hand and pointed it at the statue. The thunderbolt medallion of the sculpture glowed as the tip of the D-blade did likewise. "REPELLO MALUM!"
A blue beam shot from Chris' D-blade and hit the Olympus Medallion on the statue of Zeus, it glowed extra brightly, and then it all went dark inside the temple. Earth Ninety-Seven got protected from the Shadow Minions.
"I can't believe THIS was the punishment!" Louie complained as he stood next to the Warp hole that swirled in the open air. "Do you know how many times we could've gotten killed today?"
"You mean, not counting the death traps of Gyro's?" Chris said wearily. "Oh, my stars, too many."
"Exactly!" Louie cried. "Would it kill them to give us a normal detention or something?"
"C'mon, Louie…" Chris said, putting an arm around Louie's shoulders. "I just wanna go home."
"Okay, let's go," Louie said, and together, they walked forward into the warp hole.
As the warp hole vanished, a figure stepped from behind a pillar. It was a humanoid fox boy in his early teens, looking where Chris and Louie had disappeared with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.
"Great, thanks to those two runts, I can no longer gather any more Shadow Minions in this world," he said, annoyed. He sighed and held up a purple glowing Shadow amulet, looking at it. "Well, let's hope the ones I did gather will be enough to please Scar."
Author's Note:
Here it is, the first episode of 2021! I hope you enjoyed this!
Special thanks to my editor, Cyclone Blaze. This episode is the long-awaited debut of Cyclone Blaze's character in D.A. Hearts. I will say no more here, except that he is the fox boy that appeared at the end of this episode. So, if you want to know more about this character, stay tuned for more episodes!
Happy Belated New Year, everyone. I hope 2021 will be a better year for everyone.