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Episode Twenty-Three
Prideful Cub at War
In the hallway of the Academy, Dewey and Cavin sat in chairs across from the Colonel's office, and through the window of the office door, they watched the silhouette of Colonel yelling at a slumped bear cub who sat there with his head bowed.
"...You're extremely lucky that it was only a sleeping potion! You could have been poisoned or hypnotized into joining the enemy!"
"I know… I know…I'm sorry." Chris whined in self-disappointment.
"Well, just don't let it happen again." The Colonel said in a softer voice. "You are a valued and talented member of the Student Dedis, and losing you would be a heavy loss for our side. Just be more careful next time and do not accept anything from strangers."
"Yes, sir," Chris said in a sad, but respectful tone.
"Now, I hate to do this, but I have my orders from the Headmaster that I pull you and your team off mission duties until further notice."
"WHAT?!" Chris cried, looking devastated. "But sir… I—"
"It is out of my hands, sonny." the Colonel said sadly. "I'm sorry. I recommend you take this opportunity to train and get stronger and smarter so that you can be put back on duty. Education and training to bring out the best in you is the whole purpose of this academy. While your grades are decent enough, your performance out in the field leaves much to be desired. While you did save a few Earths from the Shadow Minions, you have failed to capture Phantom. You need to improve yourself and you cannot do that if you are captured or worse…"
Chris hung his head. "But who's going to take my pending missions?" Chirs asked. "My team and I have a few more missions for the next couple of months."
"They will be left in the capable hands of Tripod." the Colonel said. "Train hard and you'll be put back on duty in no time. But for now, off you go. Dismissed."
The door opened and out stepped Chris, looking thoroughly miserable. At the sight of him, Dewey and Cavin stood up. They walked over and stood on either side of Chris, putting their arms around him, and holding him between them.
"Hey Chris, you okay? You haven't been punished, have you?" Dewey asked.
"We've been taken off duty until further notice.." Chris sighed. "All of our pending missions will be handled by Tripod."
"Well, that's not so bad," Cavin said, soothingly. "Sure it was bad to be yelled at, but at least you're not being punished beyond that."
Chris was not cheered by this, and he continued to look depressed.
"Chris, what's wrong?" Cavin asked in concern.
"The Colonel called my house," Chris said gloomily. "...He told Dad about the incident… The Colonel's just the warm-up compared to what my Dad would do."
Dewey and Cavin cringed, glanced at each other, and then looked at Chris with sympathy.
"It will be alright, Chris, we'll just tell him it was all Dewey's fault," Cavin said soothingly.
"Yeah!" Dewey agreed, there was a pause before the realization of what Cavin said hit him. "HEY!" he cried indignantly.
"Oh come on, you know it's true! " Cavin said exasperatedly. "If you hadn't run off, we wouldn't have had to split up. And if we hadn't split up, Chris wouldn't have been put in that position!"
Chris laughed at their antics. "Thanks for cheering me up, guys." He then looked down sadly. "But Dad would just say I should have just refused the drink… .and not talk to strangers."
"Chris, what's wrong?" Cavin asked, noticing that Chris had a mix of sadness and annoyance on his face.
"It's just that… the way my Dad lectures me, it's like I'm five years old or something," Chris admitted, looking embarrassed. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"
"Chris, he does that because he loves you, not because he wants to," Cavin said reasonably. "He just wants to make sure you're not going to do it again and avoid a worse outcome next time."
Chris sighed again. "I know…"
Chris arrived home, having gotten off the bus, growing increasingly anxious as he opened the door to the hangar-house and walked inside.
"Dad?" Chris called nervously. "Dad, I'm home."
"In here, son." Matthew's voice sounded. Chris looked to the plane where the voice came from.
"Dad, what are you doing in there?" Chris asked, walking towards the McQueen.
"Getting ready for my next cas—mission!" Matthew answered as he moved about the interior, getting ready for a trip.
"Where are we going this time, Dad?" Chris asked, walking into the cargo area and joining Matthew in the cockpit.
"'WE' aren't going anywhere." Matthew said, pacing back and forth in the cockpit, checking and double-checking his supplies. "I'm going solo, you are staying with your friends at Scrooge's."
"Dad, can't I just stay here? Baloo and Kit are right next door, I can just go to them if I need anything."
"You won't need anything at Scrooge's." Matthew said, checking things off the list on his clipboard. "They'll have all of your needs covered."
"Dad, I'm not a little boy anymore!" Chris whined. "I can take care of myself."
Matthew surveyed Chris over the top of his clipboard. "You're not convincing anyone with that whiney little voice of yours…"
"But Dad, I've been by myself loads of times."
"Not overnight, you haven't, and certainly not for a week or so." Matthew pointed out.
"A WEEK?! You're gonna be gone for a week?!" Chris cried in half-surprise, half-outrage. "Where are you going, Dad?"
"Can't say, top secret."
"Again with the secrets?!" Chris yelled, starting to get upset, tears filling his eyes. "Dad, what if this is the last time I'll ever see you, and I can't ever find out what happened to you because of these stupid secrets?!"
"Chris…" Matthew sighed, putting his clipboard away, picking Chris up and setting him on his lap, hugging him. "You are the one who drives me to get back home. I promise, I'll always come running back home to you as soon as I… as soon as the mission's complete."
"Please don't go, Dad." Chris begged him. "Take me with you, I-I can help!"
"Chris, what I do is very important and it has to be done." Matthew said, setting Chris down onto his feet. "And I can't take you with me this time, it's too dangerous."
"But…"
"No buts," Matthew said firmly. "You're staying with Scrooge and that's final! Now go pack your overnight bag, I'm leaving in a few minutes. But before I go, we need to talk about your last scouting mission…"
"Aw, Dad, do we have to?" Chris whined. "I know I shouldn't have taken a drink from a stranger, but I thought it would be okay, since he was getting us both drinks from the bartender."
"And this is why you can't be by yourself." Matthew said sternly. "Chris, the guy slipped something into your drink between getting the drinks and bringing them to the table! Also, what were you even doing at a bar?!"
"...it was a pub, actually, and we drank ginger ale…" Chris muttered weakly, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry, Dad, it won't happen again."
"It has better not, or the next time it happens, I'm pulling you out of that school!" Matthew stated firmly. He then gave Chris another hug. "I love you, son, be good while I'm away."
Chris couldn't say anything, he was feeling too many emotions at once, rendering him speechless. Tears flew from his eyes as he turned and ran out of the plane, leaving Matthew looking saddened and heartbroken as he watched his son flee from his presence.
The doorbell of McDuck Manor rang, and Mrs. Beakley answered, opening the door to reveal a pouty Chris with his overnight bag strapped across his shoulder.
"Hi, Mrs. Beakley…" Chris sighed unhappily.
"Oh, dear…" Mrs. Beakley muttered, looking beyond Chris to see the McQueen flying in the distance. As she watched, a vortex opened in the sky, the McQueen flew into it, and then the plane and vortex both vanished. Her eyes then focused on the unhappy bear cub before her. "Your father on another secret mission?"
"Yeah…" Chris said, continuing to pout.
Mrs. Beakley sighed sympathetically as she opened the door wider and stepped aside for Chris to enter. "Come on in, dear." Once Chris was inside, she closed the door and took Chris' bag from him. "Go on into the kitchen, I'll take this to your usual room and then I'll fix you some supper."
"Thanks, Mrs. Beakley…" Chris said as he walked towards the kitchen, looking as if he had a rain cloud over his head as Mrs. Beakley climbed the stairs towards the many bedrooms.
Chris went into the kitchen, sat at the table and waited. Mrs. Beakley soon entered the kitchen, walked over, opened the oven and pulled out a shepherd's pie with melted cheese on top. She cut out a piece, scooped it out onto a plate, brought it to the table and set it down in front of Chris.
"Here you are, dear." she said. "Bon Appétit."
"Thank you, Mrs. Beakley," Chris said politely. He then picked up his fork, and with a curious expression on his face, he poked at his food. "What is this, cheese mashed potatoes on top of a meatloaf?"
"Yes, that's what it is, and it's called a shepherd's pie." Mrs. Beakley replied, pouring Chris a glass of water.
Chris cut out a small bite of his shepherd's pie and inserted it into his mouth. He chewed it slowly, testing its taste for a moment before looking satisfied with his meal.
"Hmm, this is good! I like it!" Chris said with a smile, taking another bite. "I usually have meatloaf and mashed potatoes beside each other, along with green beans, boiled baby carrots and a roll. I never thought of putting them together like this, but it works surprisingly well."
"I'm glad you like it," Mrs. Beakley said with a warm smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some chores I need to attend to."
Chris glanced over at the kitchen sink and saw a pile of unwashed dishes in it.
"May I wash the dishes when I'm done?" he asked.
Looking pleasantly surprised, Mrs. Bealkey said: "Oh, no, dear, I couldn't ask that of you, you're our guest!"
"Oh, but I insist!" Chris said in a little gentleman tone of voice.
"Well, alright, if you really want to," Mrs. Beakley said as she turned to leave. "Dish soap is in the cabinet under the sink." she added as she exited the kitchen..
As soon as she was out of sight, Chris' smile turned upside down into a look of sadness as he continued to eat.
When he was finished, he busied himself with washing, drying and putting away the dishes, taking as long as he could. And when he was done with the dishes, he decided to clean the entire kitchen, all while fighting back tears. Every now and then, he wiped them away on his forearm before continuing the cleaning. Soon, there was nothing left for him to clean, everything was shiny and spotless.
Chris then sat back down at the table, rested his head on top of his arms, which he folded upon the table, and fell asleep.
Mrs. Beakley returned to her kitchen and was surprised to find it so clean and spotless. And then she spotted Chris asleep at the table. She cracked a sad kind of smile as she knew Chris only did this to keep his mind off of how much he was missing his Dad. She walked over to Chris, lifted him out of his chair and carried him from the kitchen, turning the light off on the way out.
Early the next morning, Chris and the Duck brothers were standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to arrive, which was approaching them from a distance.
"HEY!" cried a voice from the opposite direction. Chris and the triplet looked and saw Kit running towards them. He stopped before them, bending over holding his knees, gasping and panting. Then he looked up at Chris. "Nice to see that you got up on your own this morning… But where's Dad? I went over to your hangar house to get you, the place was empty and you weren't in your bed."
Chris shrugged. "I dunno… ask Dad yourself when he gets back. Not that it'll do you any good. He'll just tell you it's all top secret." he said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "And until he gets back, I'm staying at McDuck Manor."
Kit frowned in concern. "Does he do that often? And again with the secrets? I thought there wouldn't be any secrets between us."
"You and me both, brother, but apparently not." Chris said, annoyed. "As for how often he goes out, it depends on when he gets called away to a mission."
"Maybe he can't tell you because he's a secret agent!" Dewey suggested excitedly. "Car chase, cool poses, awesome gadgets and epic showdowns with the villain—OW!"
Louie punched Dewey in the arm and then pointed to Chris, who was standing there, looking horrified and hopeless.
Dewey looked at Chris, saw the look on Chris' face and was puzzled by it. "Chris, what's wrong?"
Kit and Huey both groaned in frustration.
"Oh, brother…" Louie said, facepalming. "Dewey, you are really slow for someone claiming to be the fastest duck alive…"
"What…? Ohhh…." Dewey said, comprehension dawning on his face. "Epic showdowns equals danger and Chris is scared… Oh right…Sorry, guys, my mouth is thousands of miles ahead of my brain sometimes and it takes a couple of seconds for my brain to catch up."
"Then I got just the cure for you…" Louie said, withdrawing a roll of duct tape from the pocket of his hoodie and unrolling a strip.
"Oh, pfft!" Dewey scoffed. "You'll never put that on me, moneybag, I'm too fast for you."
Louie launched himself at Dewey a couple of times, but Dewey just speed-dashes out of the way, dodging his younger brother.
"Will you cut that out and hold still?!" Louie demanded in frustration.
"NOPE! …Nuh-huh! …Too slow!" Dewey tauntingly, saying each word from a different spot than where he was before.
Huey quickly summoned his bow and inserted an arrow with a block of ice at the tip. He then took aim at a spot between Dewey's feet and shot the arrow. The arrow hit the ground, right on target! There was a small explosion and suddenly Dewey's feet were encased in a block of ice!
"What the—" Dewey yelped, swinging his arms around in an attempt to re-balance himself.
"GOTCHA!" Louie yelled as he jumped Dewey and tackled him to the ground. Now pinning Dewey down between his legs, Louie unrolled a piece of tape and quickly wrapped it around Dewey's beak, sealing it shut. "There! Maybe now your brian will finally board the train before you leave the station!" He then climbed off of Dewey and pulled him to his feet.
Chris stood there, not reacting to any of this. Kit was watching him with concern.
"Chris, I'm sure Dad's okay," Kit said soothingly, patting Chris on the shoulder. "He'll be back soon."
Chris shrugged off Kit's hand just as the bus arrived. "Yeah, and meanwhile the baby is safe and sound at someone else's house and off-duty!" he growled, thumbing himself in the chest, referring to himself as the baby.
Before anyone could say anything or react, Chris ran up into the bus and sat at the very back of the bus where he could be alone for a bit.
Huey and Louie lifted Dewey between them and carried him up the steps onto the bus. They sat Dewey down in their usual seat and sat down with him, scooting him over to the window in the process.
Dewey sat there with his arms crossed and a mad look on his face.
"Hey, Dewey's brain!" Louie said in a loud voice, knocking on the top of Dewey's head. "Are you on board the Dewey Express yet?"
Looking extremely annoyed, Dewey took out his Gummiphone and began texting furiously with his thumbs.
Louie's Gummiphone made the sound of raining coins, he took out his phone and read the offscreen message that was meant for his eyes alone.
"Well that's just rude…" Louie muttered, putting his phone away as Dewey typed in his next message.
This time, Huey's phone dinged with the sound of a bird chirping. Huey took out his phone and read Dewey's message aloud.
"My feet are numb, the tape is tight and I hate you guys. Angry face emoji." Huey chuckled as he pocketed his phone. "Okay, that's enough, let's get the tape off."
"Well…I don't know…I kinda like the peace and quiet—"
"Louie…" Huey said with a bored face.
"Yeah, okay," Louie said, switching places with Huey so that Huey sat next to Dewey.
"Now Dewey, I'm going to peel this tape off nice and easy so it doesn't hurt as much." Huey said, digging his fingernail under the tape around Dewey's beak. "Hold still, don't move."
Dewey shut his eyes tight, bracing himself for the pain of the tape being removed. Once Huey managed to unstick a piece of the tape, he slowly and carefully unwounded it.
"Ow… ow… ow…." Dewey whined, cringing in pain as the tape was finally removed.
"There, how do you feel?" Huey asked, ever the concerned older brother.
Dewey felt his beak with both hands, holding it like a sandwich to his mouth. "Ugh. sticky…"
"Not to worry, I got just the thing!" Huey said, ramaging into his backpack and withdrawing a water bottle and a rag. He unscrewed the cap, placed the rag over the opening and then turned the bottle upside down, wetting the rag. "Here you go," He said, handing Dewey the wet cloth.
"Thanks," Dewey said, accepting the rag and began washing his sticky beak with it. "This doesn't change the fact that you'll have to learn to sleep with one eye open from now on, though…"
"Is that really something you want to say to the guy who's about to break the ice off your feet?" Huey said, holding up a stake and a mallet from his backpack.
Dewey cringed, gulped and then smiled sheepishly. "Never mind, I'll take it all back!"
"I thought so." Huey said, pointing the stake at a certain spot. "Now hold still." he said, lifting the mallet in his other hand.
Dewey shut his eyes tight. He heard the whooshing sound of the mallet through the air, the WHAM of the mallet striking the stake and the shattering of ice! He then felt dozens of ice cubes falling off his feet and onto the floor.
"There you go, all done!" Huey said, sounding like a dentist as he put away his stake and mallet. He then pulled out a pair of woolen socks. "Here, these will warm your feet." he said, putting the socks onto Dewey's feet.
"Thanks, man." Dewey said gratefully.
"You're welcome," Huey said, closing his backpack. "And I'm sorry if we went too far, but you should really think before you say something like that in front of Chris. You know his Dad doing something dangerous is a touchy subject with him, especially when Matthew's not here."
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry…" Dewey said as he and Huey hugged it out. "C'mon Louie, get in here!"
Louie did not move, he stared straight ahead with an annoyed look on his face. "You deserved it and I'm not sorry."
"And you wonder why we call you the evil triplet…" Huey muttered.
"Not in the mood, Huey!" Louie said angrily, getting up from their seat. "I'm gonna go check on Chris."
And with that, Louie marched down to the back of the bus, where he found Chris sitting there alone, staring blankly out of his window.
"Hey, Chris…" Louie said gently. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
Chris glanced at him, shrugged and looked back out of the window again.
"You okay, buddy?" Louie asked in concern.
"You mean aside from missing my Dad and thinking that he might not make it back this time? And the fact that I no longer have any missions for who knows how long? Oh, I'm grand, just grand!" Chris said sarcastically before turning to stare miserably out of the window.
"Why don't you tell your Dad about this when he gets back?" Louie suggested. "Tell him how you feel about him being gone and about your fears."
"You think I haven't tried?" Chris said, his voice cracking and Louie was startled to see tears in Chris' eyes in the reflection of the window. "I could never get the words out, every time I try to bring it up, I get the feeling that he's not listening to me and whatever he does is more important than my little feelings…"
Louie pulled Chris away from the window and into a hug, patting him on the back.
"Chris, buddy, I know it's hard not to feel like that when your Dad is away," Louie said gently. "But he does love you, he cares about your feelings. I'm sure there's a reason he can't tell you why he's going out and leaving you behind."
"Maybe I'm too much of a baby to hear about the dangers he's putting himself in."
"Well, he IS overprotective in that regard…" Louie muttered.
Chris suddenly broke the hug and shoved Louie away. "So you agree with him?! You think I'm too much of a baby too?"
"Okay, one—we're the same age and not related! It'd be too weird for me to think of you that way!" Louie pointed out. "And two… No! Of course not! I was just thinking that Matthew is kinda behaving like Uncle Donald. Up until Uncle Scrooge came into our lives, he made us wear life vests on the houseboat all the time. He made Huey wear football gears and helmet just to serve the players as the waterboy! Your Dad may not have padded you up and babyproof the entire house for you up to the age of six or seven, but he is being overprotective in other ways."
"Yeah, well. I'm starting to wish his overprotectiveness was just like Donald's, at least he was always there for you." Chris said sadly.
The bus stopped moving and Louie looked up. They arrived at the school without realizing how close they were to it.
"Well, this is our stop." Louie said, he then placed a hand on Chris' shoulder. "When Matthew gets back, talk to him, tell him how you feel."
Chris sighed as he and Louie stood up. "I'll try, but I don't think he'll listen to half of what I say, he barely heard me last time."
"Keep at it, buddy, he'll hear you eventually." Louie said encouragingly as they made their way off of the bus.
"I hope you're right, Louie, I really do."
All the students flooded out of the buses and into the academy. Once inside, they all went directly to their lockers and collected the materials they would need for the day. Chris and his friend packed their backpacks with the books relevant to the classes they were taking, the first of which happened to be Swordsmanship with Master Ken.
The students walked into the classroom to see Master Ken already standing there, waiting for them with his sword safely in its' saya, which is a scabbard for a katana, at his hip.
"Good morning, my students." Master Ken greeted the class."Today I'm going to teach you how to fend off an ambush, so that you can survive a gang-up situation. In order to demonstrate this lesson, I've called upon my ninja friends to assist me."
A dozen identically masked ninjas appeared, popping out of various places, surrounding Master Ken, their katanas all pointed at him.
"All eyes on me. Observe." Master Ken said, gripping the hilt of his undrawn sword.
With a flick of his thumb against the tsuba, he quickly drew his sword and spun around on the spot, performing a roundhouse slash. The ninjas all jumped back to avoid the slash. Master Ken jumped over them, escaping their enclosure. Once he was out of their circle, he took off running. The ninjas all chased after him. Master Ken led them into narrow spaces, forcing the pursuing ninjas to line up in a single file line behind him. Master Ken suddenly spun back around and
engaged in a series of one-on-one matches, defeating them one by one until the last ninja fell.
"And that, my students, is how you deal with many opponents at once. As you can see, running away is not always cowardice, sometimes it can be a clever ruse. If your opponents all chase after you, you can lead them into narrow places and turn around, engaging them in a series of one-on-one matches, this way you are not being overwhelmed by the masses. It is my hope that you will never have to use it, but if you find yourselves surrounded, this tactic will save your life." he then turned and bowed politely to his ninja friends. "Thank you. That is all."
The ninjas all bowed back to him. Then throwing smoke bombs, the ninjas all vanished away into the shadows.
"Now then, we'll all take turns practicing what I just demonstrated." Master Ken said. "Llewelyn Duck, you first."
"What? Me?" Louie yelped, looking startled at being chosen to go first. "B-but I'm not ready! I-I have flat feet!"
"Well that's too bad, the enemy will not wait for you to be ready nor will they care if you're flat footed! You must always be ready for anything! Now… defend yourself!"
Louie gulped as he found him surrounded by ninjas. Louie's horrified yell could be heard from around campus as they tackled him like a bunch of football players.
A few weeks went by since Chris was taken off his scouting duties and he was becoming more and more restless. One day, while walking along with the masses, heading to their next class, Chris decided to cut class, as he did not feel like attending any more classes today. He wished he had a mission today, anything to vent out all of his anger and frustration. Bashing a few Shadow Minion heads would be very satisfying right now. More than anything, he wanted to prove to the world that he wasn't some helpless kid who wasn't capable of defending himself.
As he extracted himself from the crowd and walked down the hall towards his locker, he came across an one-armed dalmatian kid wearing a green headband.
"Hey Tripod," Chris greeted him gloomily. "How's it going?"
"It's going well," Tripod said, jogging on the spot as if he was in a hurry, but didn't want to be rude and ignore Chris. "Sorry I can't stick around, but I'm on my way to my next mission."
"I wish I was on a mission…" Chris said sadly.
"Don't worry, man, you'll get back on duty soon," Tripod said encouragingly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go take Phantom down and capture him once and for all."
"Phantom?" Chris said, his interest was piqued. "You haven't captured him yet?"
"Yeah, he eluded me last time, but he won't escape me this time." Tripod said, clenching his fist and looking determined.
"Yeah, he's a slippery one alright." Chris said casually, before snapping his fingers. "Oh, Tripod, I just remembered. The Colonel is looking for you. He wants you to report to his office."
"Really?" Tripod said, his eyebrow raised in skepticism. "Why hasn't he called me directly?"
"You know Colonel, he doesn't like computers and phones." Chris said.
"True, but he still uses them." Tripod pointed out. "Just not well..." he added as an afterthought.
"Yeah well, he's having more trouble with them today and he needs to talk to you regarding your mission." Chris said, hoping this lie will convince Tripod.
"Alright, I'll go talk to him…" Tripod said, though he still looked skeptical. He turned and took off jogging in the direction of the Colonel's office.
Chris lifted his hand and directed it towards Tripod's back pocket and his mission access card floated out of the pocket and flew across the hall towards Chris, he then caught it and pocketed it.
"Sorry, Tripod, but I really need this." Chris muttered with a tone of remorse as he turned and ran towards the Warp room. "I need to prove to everybody that I'm perfectly capable, besides this was MY mission originally… And after I capture Phantom, they'll just have to put me back on scouting duty!"
Chris arrived at the Warp room to find it deserted, all the consoles were left unattended.
"Where is everybody?" Chris said to himself. "It must be their break time, but all at the same time?" he said, looking around suspiciously before shrugging it off. "Oh well, that makes this easier for me and less questioning."
He approached the console next to the warp gateway, withdrawing Tripod's keycard and swiping it. The machine activated, lit up, beeping and humming, the info appeared on the screen with the words: "Destination: Earth 60." Chris disregarded the rest. The vault door guarding the warping portal opened up, revealing the glowing blue portal, swirling like a body of water confined within the doorframe.
Chris took a deep breath and activated his super suit. He was now wearing a baby blue one-piece spandex with an aviator's cap and goggles on his head.
"Here I go…" he said as he stepped into the portal.
He felt the rush of air speed past him as he shot through space at a lightning speed. And before he knew it, he had reached his destination. He looked around; he had arrived at some kind of ruins of a castle.
He suddenly dived to the side, narrowly avoiding a streak of light. There, standing upon a balcony above, stood the hooded masked young fox teen, Phantom.
"Who are you? I was expecting that annoying soldier mutt with the rock arm who gave me a black eye with his rock-throwing." Phantom said, looking down on Chris from the balcony. "And what do I get instead? A baby Dedi. Gee, the Dedis would let anyone join at this point. Unfortunately for you, I'm in no mood to play babysitter. Shadow Minions! Rise and sic 'em!" he commanded, pointing at Chris.
Chris cringed as he found himself surrounded by Shadow Minions, all of different shapes and sizes. Remembering Master Ken's lesson from weeks prior, he quickly summoned his D-blade to his hand and delivered a roundhouse slash to the surrounding Shadow Minion, creating an opening through which he jumped and took off running.
"What? You're running away?" Phantom said, watching him with a bemused expression on his face.
Chris ignored him and kept running as the Shadow Minions all swarmed after him. Spotting a narrow space between a series of pillars, he ran into the space, forcing the pursuing Shadow Minions to line up in a straight line and then he turned back on the Shadow Minions and took them out one by one.
Phantom watched with a mixture of surprise and amusement on his face. "Wow, he's smarter than I thought…"
A Shadow Minion appeared behind Chris and punched him in the back. Chris appears not to have felt it as he spun around and slashed at the Shadow Minion and it devolved into nothingness. More Shadow Minions swarmed around him and took swipes at him, hitting him in different places. Getting angry, Chris let out a childish little roar as he took another roundhouse slash at them, taking them all out.
Chris then lifted his D-blade and cried out: "Repello Malum Maxima!"
A magical wave washed over the land from the D-blade in all directions, preventing more Shadow Minions from appearing.
And now it was down to Chris and Phantom, Phantom was no longer able to summon Shadow Minions to their battle. Chris turned to face Phantom, panting and breathing heavily.
Phantom took a moment to observe Chris. "Oh wow, you're better than I thought, but it doesn't matter. You're still no match for me."
"You… don't know that… I'm more… capable… than you… think…" Chris panted, trying to catch his breath.
"Keep telling yourself that lie," Phantom said, rolling his eyes at Chris. "You may have avoided being overwhelmed by the masses of Shadow Minions, but look at yourself, you've worn
yourself out and I haven't even begun to play with you. Brace yourself, baby Dedi."
Phantom summoned his staff to his hand and thrust it in Chris' direction, firing a red bolt of light at him, it hit him in the chest and although he jerked back, Chris appeared not to have felt it.
Chris struggled to remain upright, feeling low on energy. Phantom continued his assault, hitting every inch of Chris' body with more bolts of red light. He could have dodged these spells if he wasn't so tired. Although Chris felt the impact of the spell colliding against him, he felt no pain from it.
Growing frustrated with the lack of reaction from Chris at getting hit repeatedly by his magic, Phantom pointed his staff at Chris.
"ACCIO!" he yelled,
Chris felt a jerk on his super suit and before he could blink, he flew across the hall and stopped, floating in midair directly in front of Phantom, now in very close range for Phantom's next spell.
"Diffindo!"
Chris felt a slicing sensation, as if invisible blades had made swipes at him. His super suit split open and fell off his body in a dozen pieces onto the floor, leaving him in the regular shirt he wore beneath.
Phantom stood back and surveyed Chris. "Those jammies may have protected you from blunt force damages. However…" He shot a few more bolts of red light at him, hitting a different spot of Chris' torso. Chris winced and yelped in pain as each of them hit him, as every place they hit stung him without the protection of his super suit. "You're now my prisoner. Petrificus Totalus!"
Chris arms snapped to his sides and his legs locked together, his body rigid as a board, unable to move.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Phantom said, this next spell caused Chris' rigid body to levitate a few feet off the ground, floating along after Phantom, who held out his hand and summoned a Shadow portal.
Chris felt horrified, his heart pounding in the chest of his frozen body as he floated towards the portal.
"OW!" Phantom cried as a rock hit him in the back of the head and he dropped Chris, who fell to the ground just inches from the portal. He rubbed the back of his head as he turned to see who threw the rock.
There stood Tripod, looking furious. He had an arm made of earth attracted to his armless shoulder.
"You're not taking him anywhere, Phantom and you're not getting away this time!" Tripod stomped his foot and the earth swung up and swallowed Phantom's feet, trapping him there.
"WAH!" Phantom cried in surprise, regaining his balance. "Protego!" He conjured a shield sphere around him, protecting himself from the barrage of rocks flying at him from Tripod's earth arm like a machine gun. "Depulso!" he yelled, aiming his staff at Tripod, knocking him backward off his feet. He then pointed the staff down at the earth entrapment around his feet, "Bombara!" With a loud bang, the earth entrapment blew up, freeing his feet.
Phantom looked over at Tripod, who had already gotten back up and stood there with a halo of rocks floating around him. He shot a series of red bolts at Tripod, but the floating rocks around him took the hits for him. With a focused look on his face, Tripod sent some of his rocks flying at Phantom, who again shielded against them. Tripod stomped his foot, causing the ground under Phantom's feet to become quicksand. But Phantom jumped back before the sand could swallow him.
"Glacius!" Phantom yelled, pointing his staff at the quicksand, freezing it and turning into an ice glass floor. "Bombara!" he pointed his staff at Tripod, blowing up the flying rocks around him, sending Tripod flying back. "I'll get you next time!" he declared, retreating into the portal and was transported away, leaving Tripod alone with Chris.
Tripod groaned as he rubbed his head and shook it. He then stood up and approached the frozen Chris, who was laying on his back, staring up at him.
"I hope you're happy, trooper." Tripod said with annoyance in his voice. Enlarging his rock hand he lifted Chris up as if he was as light as a giant teddy bear. "Because of your insubordination, the enemy got away!" Chris couldn't respond to that, so Tripod went on: "I hope you're prepared to take your punishment when we get back. The Colonel and Headmaster are furious with you and your guardian has been summoned to the academy."
Tripod then called back to base via communication in his wristwatch. "I got the package, bring us back to base."
"Roger that," chimed P.J.'s voice.
A portal then opened up in front of them and Tripod carried Chris through it, coming out in the warp center of the academy on the other side.
Chris instantly found himself facing the angry and disapproving stares of the Colonel and Headmaster Khan.
"Thank you, Tripod, we'll take it from here." Colonel said as he and Headmaster Khan each grabbed a hold of Chris' arm from either side and lifted him up. "Dismissed."
Tripod bowed respectfully and departed as Colonel and Headmaster Khan frogmarched Chris to the headmaster's office.
In the office, stood a disapproving-looking Donald Duck, wearing his mage outfit. They stood Chris in front of the desk. Headmaster Khan then went behind the desk and sat down, Colonel stood beside the desk and Donald approached the frozen and stiff Chris, summoning his staff and pointed it at Chris with a hard focused look on his face. Suddenly, Chris felt the curse lifted and he was able to move again.
Looking nervous and scared, Chris looked at each of them in turn, shaking in his fur and fighting back tears.
"Thank you, Donald, that will be all." Headmaster Khan said, before giving Chris the eye of the tiger, which was a piercing gaze, which alone shook Chris to his core. "Sit."
Chris' knees began to tremble as he backed into a chair and slowly sat down.
Headmaster Khan sighed, looking disappointed. "Chris, what were you thinking? You took Tripod's keycard, took over his mission and then utterly failed it. Not only that, you were also almost captured and you lost your super suit. Normally we would expel you for this. What do you say, do you deserve expulsion?"
Chris felt his insides turn cold and numb, all the air seems to have vanished from his chest and there was a large lump in his throat. He opened his mouth a few times, but no sound came out.
"Chris, you are a good student with a lot of potential, expelling you would be a colossal waste." Headmaster Khan sighed sadly. "At the same time, we cannot allow this to stand unpunished. So here is what we are going to do: you are going to be tasked with capturing Phantom."
Chris looked at him in stunned surprise.
"You can earn your right to remain here and you are to be trained by and work under Tripod." Headmaster Khan continued. "However, if you are unable to capture Phantom within forty days, you will be expelled.
Seeing as how his last encounter with Phantom went, Chris looked scared and hopeless.
"As punishment for your insubordination," Colonel spoke up. "You are demoted from Scout to Private. You can regain your rank when you're successful in your mission of capturing Phantom.
"Y-yes, sir…" Chris said very faintly, it took a lot of effort for him to break through the lump in his throat and finally speak.
"In the meantime, since you lost your super suit, you'll be equipped with the academy's military super suit until you've captured Phantom," the Colonel continued. "Upon which, the academy will provide the fund for a new super suit. Any questions?"
"N-no, sir." Chris said in a high-pitched, cracked voice.
"Very well, off you go. Dismissed." The Colonel said.
Chris stood up, his legs feeling like jelly as he walked towards the door.
"Oh, and Chris…" Headmaster Khan spoke from his desk. "Your guardian will be contacted momentarily. He will hear of this, be prepared for a talk when you get home."
Chris quickly grabbed the doorknob and held on to it, steadying himself. "U-u-understood, sir."
He left the office, walking very stiffly and awkwardly, a look of shock frozen on his face.
Later that evening at McDuck Manor, in Scrooge's office, Scrooge was pacing back and forth in front of Chris, who sat in the chair opposite the desk. The shock from his face had worn off and now he just looked thoroughly depressed.
"Curse me kilt, Chris, what were you thinking? Ya coulda been killed!" Scrooge said sternly. "I'd expect this from Dewey, but you? I honestly took you for the smarter than the smarties type of lad."
"I'm not that smart…" Chris muttered shamefully.
"Nonsense! I've seen how you can be very smart in a pinch, don't think I wasn't paying attention." Scrooge said, now unable to decide whether he wanted to scold Chris or comfort him as his depressed state was making it really difficult for him to remain stern. "But what ya did today… was not your finest moment…"
"I know, I know… I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Chris said, sounding disappointed in himself for his actions.
"What are you going to tell your father when he gets home?" Scrooge asked, sitting down in the chair next to Chris.
"Honestly, I was hoping it would never come up…" Chris said sheepishly.
"Chris, he's gonna hear about it…" Scrooge said. "Might as well hear it from you first, that would be best."
"Aw, he's gonna be so disappointed in me," Chris groaned. "Then he'll take it as confirmation that I'm too much of a baby to do anything myself.
"Aw lad, of course he doesn't think that way about you," Scrooge said gently. "You're his son, of course he's gonna be protective of you. He loves you."
"Well if he loves me so much, why isn't he here?!" Chris demanded, standing up. "Why is he off on some secret mission that no one knows about?"
Scrooge sat there, looking a little lost for words.
"You know, do you? You know where he goes, but you can't tell me, can you?!" Chris said in realization.
Scrooge shook his head. "I cannot, I don't know where he goes, but I know what he does and why he does it. I cannot say more, except that you would be proud if ya knew."
"I'm always proud of him!" Chris cried, stomping his foot, tears of frustration sliding down his cheeks. "I'm more proud of him when he's here with me. I just wish he'd tell me instead of leaving me in the dark."
"Is that what this is about, what happened at school today?" Scrooge asked, putting things together in his head, thinking about everything Chris has said up till now. "You think your Dad and everyone around you think you're incapable of anything and you wanted to prove them otherwise?"
Chris slumped back down in his chair, looking ashamed. "Yeah… I mean, Dad leaves me with you all the time, even though I have Baloo and Kit next door to me! Don't get me wrong, I love you, Uncle Scrooge, but I don't need a babysitter…"
"...You're right, lad." Scrooge said finally, surprising Chris. "I'm not saying you don't need supervision, the events today and your actions proved that. But you're right, you've outgrown being babysat. But in the meantime, consider yourself a guest in my home."
Chris smiled gratefully at Scrooge's words. "Thanks, Uncle Scrooge."
"I'll give ya a piece of advice, lad." Scrooge said in his Scottish voice of wisdom. "If ya want to prove yourself capable of doing things yourself, if you want to prove yourself ready for big boy privileges, ya gotta work hard at taking on big boy responsibility and exercise better judgment. Do not be like Dewey and dive into situations without thinking. Show better judgment out in the field, you'll be promoted back to your rank and they'll trust you with more missions."
Chris looked at Scrooge in awe as his surrogate uncle's words resonated with him.
"Thanks, Uncle Scrooge." Chris said, hugging Scrooge.
"No problem, lad, now go and have Beakley feed you some supper." Scrooge said with a smile.
Chris smiled back as he left the room.
Author's Note:
Dear Readers,
First and foremost, thank you for sticking with us for so long, despite the lack of new episodes over the past few months. We sincerely apologize for the delay. As we mentioned in our hiatus announcement last week, we've been dealing with some personal issues, but we're happy to say that we're back! Moving forward, I'll be posting a new episode every Monday.
In the meantime, please continue to share your reviews and comments! Cyclone Blaze and I are eager to hear from our dedicated and loyal readers!
Thank you for your support!