Well, here's another chapter for you! I'm so happy to give you another one! Although, I'm a bit disappointed that it's taken a global pandemic to inspire me...Oh, and I wrote some of this while listening to the Ducktales Remastered soundtrack. That was fun!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I panted as I ran.
Why did I have to grab onto Uncle Scrooge like that? What the heck was I even thinking?! He might hit me now...
I wonder if he'd hit me hard? He hasn't actually tried before.
I turned the corner, and there was a dark hole next to the pathway. Experience told me this would be a great place to hide, so I ducked inside.
And just in time, too. Someone was following me with a flashlight, and I don't think they saw me.
"Huey!" Uncle Scrooge shouted, running past me with the flashlight, "Huey, come back! It's dangerous!"
I wonder how long I should wait here before Uncle Scrooge calms down?
Although, come to think of it he didn't sound particularly angry.
"HUEY!" Uncle Scrooge shouted, "Come back before you get hurt!"
And there was that, too. Ratmeat would never say something like that to drag me out of hiding.
But then...Uncle Scrooge wasn't Ratmeat. And when Ratmeat had tried to kidnap Dewey, didn't Dewey say that it wasn't normal?
Maybe...Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald...don't hit the twins?
Could that be right? Could there be adults out there that don't hit?
Maybe it's rare or something, but it seemed pretty normal to the twins. So there could be places where the adults don't hit...
Even so, Uncle Scrooge was still mad at me, right? So I should probably wait a few hours before coming out...
"There you are!" Uncle Scrooge shouted, pointing his flashlight at me.
That startling me.
The flashlight quickly moved away from my eyes, and suddenly Uncle Scrooge was hugging me.
"Lad, don't run away again!" Uncle Scrooge said, pulling away and grabbing both my shoulders, "These ruins can have ancient traps in them. If anything happened to you, it would make yer Uncle Donald cry again."
I grabbed his collar and pulled him close. Since he hadn't actually hurt me when I did this before, I figured it would be fine to do it again.
"Uncle Scrooge," I whispered, "Can you tell me something?"
"What is it, lad?"
"Are you planning to hit me?" I whispered.
"No!" Uncle Scrooge said loudly, "Why would I do that?"
"Because I grabbed you and yelled," I said.
"Lad," Uncle Scrooge said, coming in very close, "I'll never, ever hurt you. That's a promise. And the promise of Scrooge McDuck is as good as gold."
He stood up, and pulled me up with him. "Also, I can tell you that yer Uncle Donald will never hit you either. He's never hurt any of your brothers. He loves you too much."
"So," I said, "Is that why the twins aren't scared of him?"
"Of course. And they're not twins." Uncle Scrooge said, "They're triplets."
Then, with a chuckle he picked me up.
I went stiff for just a second. Getting picked up usually means getting thrown...but this was Uncle Scrooge, not Ratmeat. So, I relaxed and grabbed onto his neck for balance.
Actually, this was kinda nice. Uncle Scrooge was holding me with one hand, and the flashlight with the other. Once he turned the corner, we could see some light in the distance. That must be where the others were.
"Besides, Donald only hurts bad guys. Did ya see the way he beat up that awful stinkbreath?"
Stinkbreath...no one has ever called Ratmeat a stinkbreath before...
It fits, though. I chuckled.
Stinkbreath...
"Right?" Uncle Scrooge said, chuckling with me.
We walked a few more steps, heading for the others.
"Wait, stop," I said, and Uncle Scrooge stopped right away, like magic.
"Did you see that?" I said, "Point the flashlight over there for a second."
"Here," Uncle Scrooge said, handing it to me. I immediately pointed the flashlight onto the ceiling.
I had only been able to see it for a brief moment, but there was something drawn on the ceiling.
"What's that?"
It looked like a duck or something.
"It's the symbol of the Drakes!" Uncle Scrooge said. With me still in his arm, he walked over to the symbol, hooked his cane over his arm, and ran his hand over the image.
He pressed it, and the whole symbol went into the wall. There was a rumble, and all of a sudden some of the wall split apart. There was a secret passageway!
"Huey, you found it." Uncle Scrooge said, smiling. "DONALD! DEWEY, LOUIE! COME OVER HERE!"
The light at the end of the passage wavered and shook, and it didn't take too long for it to come up to join us. It turns out the light was torches...looks like Uncle Scrooge was the only one with a flashlight.
"Huey!" Uncle Donald said, running up to us. "Are you alright?"
I nodded.
"What happened?" Louie asked.
"Huey found the secret passage." Uncle Scrooge said, pointing. "Come on, let's go!"
He was still holding me in his arm as he walked first into the passage.
"Careful," Uncle Donald said, bringing up the rear, "There might be traps."
"I see them." Uncle Scrooge said, using his cane to poke at the walls.
Spikes suddenly jumped up out of nowhere. I jumped-but I was still in Uncle Scrooge's arms, so it wasn't like I went anywhere.
"It's safe now." Uncle Scrooge said, "You lads all know the drill. Huey, stick with me."
"Uncle Scrooge, why are you holding Huey?" One of the brothers asked.
"Huey's not as used to treasure hunting as you are." Uncle Donald said.
"Oh." The brother responded.
"Louie, your shoes are untied." Uncle Donald said. "Dewey, you've got a spiderweb on your sleeve. Let me get it off for you."
"I'm fine, Uncle Donald." Dewey said.
"Careful of this next trap." Uncle Scrooge said just as we came to a path of black and white stones, "Only step on the white ones."
He jumped across the pathway as easily as if he wasn't holding me, and waited at the other end for the others.
Dewey joined us safely. Just as I was wondering what would happen if we stepped on a black stone, Louie stepped on one.
"Oops." He said.
"CAREFUL!" Uncle Donald shouted. Since he was still crossing, he rushed over, grabbed Louie and bounced across the rest of the pathway. Suddenly, the area where Louie had been standing was crushed from above by a giant pillar.
Apparently Uncle Donald stopped paying attention to where he was placing his feet, because as he ran across the rest of the pathway pillar after pillar crashed down after him.
When he made it to where the rest of us where, Uncle Donald set Louie down.
"What were you thinking! The stones were black and white. Black and white! You could've gotten hurt!"
"I'm sorry, Uncle Donald." Louie said.
"And you too!" Uncle Donald said, looking at Dewey, "And you!" He said, looking at me although I was still in Uncle Scrooge's arms. "When you're on an adventure, you have to keep your wits about you! Promise me you'll all be more careful!"
"Yes Uncle Donald."
I blinked. That was a surprise. The brothers and I all said the exact same thing, at the exact same time.
Dewey and Louie seemed just as surprised as I was, and the three of us looked at each other.
"Huey." Uncle Scrooge said, shifting his arm ever so slightly so he could look at me better, "Did you just understand what your Uncle Donald said?"
"Yes." I said, looking down. "I promise to be careful."
"You..." Uncle Donald said, "Huey, you could understand me?"
"Yes?" I said, looking at him.
"Uncle Donald was speaking normally." Dewey said, looking at me.
"Not slowly." Louie said.
"Heh." Uncle Donald said, stepping up to me and rubbing my head, "It's good to have you back, Huey."
"Um, thanks?" I said.
Uncle Scrooge chuckled.
"Now," he said, setting me down, "If you're all ready, let's keep going."
I was just a little sad that Uncle Scrooge had put me down, but followed him when he turned around and started walking down the path again.
"Watch out for any more traps, lads." Uncle Scrooge said.
"There's some more on the ground." Louie said.
"Donald, can you get Huey?" Uncle Scrooge asked from the front, without turning around.
"Yes!" Uncle Donald said, and suddenly I was up in another pair of arms.
"Come on Huey," Uncle Donald said, stepping carefully, "Watch what Scrooge does. He's an expert treasure hunter."
He was? That's...pretty cool. Actually, that explains a lot about why we are even here.
"Huey?" Dewey said, walking next to me and Uncle Donald, "Here's something that might help."
He handed me a book.
A book? What an expensive treasure!
"It'll help you learn how to watch out for traps, and other stuff." Dewey said. "You can keep it."
A book...all for me? For my very own?
"Thank you." I said.
I looked at the book. Even in the dim light, I could read the cover.
"What's a Junior Woodchuck?" I asked.
"It's really fun!" Louie said.
"Lads, focus." Uncle Scrooge said, "I think we're almost there, but keep an eye out for more traps."
As the others kept walking, I had nothing to do since I was being held by Uncle Donald. So, I opened the precious book and started reading.
The Junior Woodchucks Guidebook...This looks really interesting...