Chapter 10

Duck held his throbbing head as he became conscious and sat up. He looked around and realized the goop that had gone over the cliff had cushioned their drop but now it had completely vanished. The Loonatic looked up groggily and his eyes became wide at what he saw. Before him, up the next ridge, floating in the air, was a beautiful crystal castle with bright colored lights illuminating it with a spiral of glass stairs reaching towards the top. He awed at it for a little longer but then turned to his partners. He shook Tock. “Hey! Wake up! Look!”

                The dog yawned as he and the Humbug woke. The two of them looked up at the palace and fell into the same awe as Duck. “The Castle in the Air! We made it!”

                The three of them got up and dashed for the staircase, not realizing the shadowy figures creeping over the side of the cliffs towards them. Their excitement suddenly drained from them as the demons jumped from the mountain tops down to their level, blocking the path to the castle. The threesome backed up nervously, only to find that they had been surrounded on all sides.

                Duck gulped. He stared down at his hands and closed his eyes. “Please. Please! If there was ever a time I really needed just one of my powers this would be that time. Pleeeeeeaaaassssee……..” He opened his tightly shut eyes and grinned silly at what he saw in his palm. A full, glowing, orange, orb of unknown energy that only he could summon. His now fully appreciated, unique, amazing power that he would treat like his life now that he knew how important it was.

                Tock and Humbug stared at his glowing hands in awe as the hero suddenly threw the orbs at the surrounding demons. Duck punched his fists in the air. “Woohoo!!! Oh yeah!!!” e charged at the demons, throwing orb after Egg after Egg at them.

Tock was chased up a ledge and was surrounded by about ten demons. The watchdog backed up into a rock. He looked up at the huge boulder and then got a huge grin across his face. He slinked behind the boulder, wedged a branch under it, climbed a little further up the ridge, and then pounced on the branch. The huge boulder rolled off the edge of the ridge along with other debris and down ono the unsuspecting villains.

Humbug ran madly away from the demons as a dozen of them chased after him. The bug ran straight for a cliff without hesitation and jumped off it. The demons were too stupid to stop and at their speed weren’t likely to and went over the ledge after him. Humbug watched from a small ledge under the cliff as the demons dropped out of the sky. He hid a smirk behind his hand, twirled his cane, and then climbed back up the ledge whistling.

When his head came over the top he gasped. There was a whole horde more waiting for him. Humbug flinched as they dashed to grab him but a blur of orange and black back flipped down from the sky, tossing glowing orange orbs at the enemies. Duck swung his arms fast several times like a softball pitcher and then let his powerful Eggs fly, eliminating every demon in close range. He helped Humbug up and then the two of them went to fetch Tock, Duck throwing Eggs and Humbug trying to beat them off with his cane.

The creatures became enraged and suddenly did something completely unexpected. They all came together in one big mass and formed together to create one, giant, powerful beast of a monster.

Duck, Tock, and Humbug gulped and then glanced at each other. With a wild scream the three of them turned on their heels and dashed in the other direction in a cloud of dust.

 The giant monster stomped on all fours toward the travelers, digging it long curved claws into the cliffs, its bulk as big as the mountains themselves. Duck, Tock, and Humbug continued running but were knocked in separate directions as the beast slammed its spike-ended tail onto the earth, causing the ground to quake and nearly flattening the three of them.

                Tock looked up to see the monster lift a giant, house sized paw and start to bring it down towards where Duck was lying. The watchdog growled as his alarm went off and he charged at the demon, leaping up and chomping down on its hand as hard as he could. The monster recoiled its hand back in pain and then slammed it down onto the earth, sending Tock crashing to the ground with impact.

                Duck saw this happen and quickly got up, facing the monster. The demon charged at him, it’s ugly red mouth gapping open. Duck felt a fire swell up in his chest and his eyes glew fiery orange. He put both his hands together and with all his strength let out a large ray of orange energy flying into the monster’s mouth. The demon staggered back and its body twitched and deformed. It shrank with blood curdling screams of anguish until it was nothing and there was dead silence.

                Duck huffed and puffed out of breath and then rushed to the limb figure of the dog. “Tock!” He skidded as he slid over on his knees and picked the watchdog’s head up. As he did so there was an obvious sound of something like loose, broken metal. Gears. Duck listened closer for the slightest ticking but the sound never came. He looked up at Humbug. The bug stiffened at the watery blue eyes. “He busted his mainspring…..” He paused and sniffed. “You know I never really……had a dog before……”

                Humbug put a hand on his shoulder. “If he could have chosen his death it would have been as heroic as this. Listen, I’ll stay with him while you go up to Rhyme and Reason. Maybe there’s still a chance to help him…Hurry Duck!”

                Duck got up and without a second thought ran for the glass staircase. He finally approached it and noticed that the steps weren’t attached to anything and, like the castle, floated in midair. This didn’t faze him as at all weird and was actually kind of expecting it but what did surprise him was that as he ran up the steps they disappeared behind him. He didn’t stop though and kept running as fast as he could to the castle. He finally reached the top, surprisingly not at all tired, and looked around at his surroundings.

                Inside the palace was all crystal with changing, colorful lights everywhere. He squinted his eyes from the brightness and wondered how someone could live with this without getting a few headaches. Two slim, flowing figures stood before him, blending in with the colors of the castle. They didn’t have faces and really only seemed to be a colored light in the shape of two girls. Duck thought they gave off the same aura and light effect Zadavia had when she was on the hologram speaking with them.

                “Rhyme and Reason?” Duck asked but then felt like hitting his forehead. Duh you idiot.

                “We’ve been waiting for you Danger Duck.” The two replied in chorus.

                Duck blinked. “Huh?” his made the two girls giggle. Duck blushed. “Wait. You knew I was coming?”

                “We sent for you. Normally we wouldn’t allow outsiders into our world but we need someone special to help bring peace back into our land.” Reason explained.

                “Special?” Duck on a normal day basis would have become swell-headed at this compliment but he had become strangely humble over the past couple days. “How am I special?”

                “Because you’re a hero.” Rhyme giggled.

                “But why did you pick me. The others are heroes too. Ace is the leader, Tech’s got the brains, Slam’s got the strength, Lexi has the stealth, and Rev has the endurance. What do I have?”

                “You have a good heart, and a hidden thirst to learn.”

                “When you were in your friend’s lab and you became interested in his new invention it showed your true curiosity.”

                “And by coming here you have learned from everyone around you and  has brought out the best in you that you’ve been hiding from your fellow teammates for years.”

                “But I’m a screw up! Big time! Tock is dead or broken or something and how many idiots out there can say they messed up the sky?! Who messes up the SKY?!” Duck said in exasperation.

                “All mistakes can be fixed.”

                “No matter how big.”

                “And whoever says otherwise are quitters.”

                “How can you say that?!” Duck yelled, feeling tears swell up in his eyes. “Tock’s dead! That was one of my mistakes and how am I going to fix it?! You can’t just bring someone back to life!”

                The girls nodded. “That is true. When a life has been taken you cannot give it back.”

                “But that doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.”

                “Learn from what that person had brought into your life.”

                “And make something good out of it.”

                Duck was silent a moment. He suddenly crossed his arms. “Okay, so how do we get down?”

                “Why don’t you ask him?” The princesses pointed out the window.

                Duck followed but then slapped his forehead. “Oh no! Not again!” Descending from the sky, still holding onto the balloons, was none other than the Whether Man.

                “Have you found your way yet?” Was the first thing out of his mouth.

                Duck nodded. “Yeah yeah. I got the pun earlier. Now how do we get down?”

                The Whether Man fiddled with the strings a moment and then pulled out tow balloons with words on them. “Okay first you need a ‘Here’s’ and then you need a ‘How’. Now hold onto them and see what happens.”

                He handed Duck the balloons and the mallard blinked. “Um…..Here’s how?” He yelped as the balloons suddenly made him float off the ground into the air. “Yipes! Mother!” He brought his knees up and clung to the two strings for dear life.

                The princesses held hands and then gracefully floated out the window, a trail of light in their wake. Duck rolled his eyes and sighed I annoyance. “If they could fly why the hell didn’t they try that in the first place!?”

Chapter 11
Humbug sat up against a cold black rock in the silence of the night with the lifeless dog lying next to him. He looked up at the castle, wondering if Duck had made it up okay. He suddenly noticed the stairs were missing and stood up. “My goodness! He could have fallen! Or maybe now he’s trapped up their! Um…uh! I’ll go look for help! Yeah! That’s what I should do. I’ll……huh?”
The bug looked up to see something float from the castle into the sky. As it did three other figures followed. It was Duck, a short chubby guy, and two beautiful young ladies. As they passed by a light suddenly shone down on the earth, parting the clouds and letting the sun in. Humbug awed for a moment but then looked himself over. His ragged, torn up suit had been replaced with bran new clothes and a cane. Humbug turned around to look at himself. “Would you look at that!”
He suddenly heard a familiar ticking noise and looked over to see Tock twitch with the rhythm of the ticking, lift his back leg to scratch his behind his ear, and then his alarm suddenly went off, waking him up completely.
Duck looked down and grinned as he saw the dog shoot up awake. The distraction caught him off guard though and he accidently let go of the strings. With a yelp he plummeted toward the earth only to find himself fall flat on top of Tock and Humbug. Tock shook the dust off his head and licked Duck on the cheek. “You know for a second there I thought I was a goner. You okay Duck?”Duck held his head.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just kinda getting over that last drop there….”
“Would you mind getting up, sir…?” Humbug grumbled form under Duck and he let him up. The bug stood and carefully brushed his new suit and top hat off. He looked up for a moment and elbowed Duck with a chuckle. “Looks like they fixed the sky for you.”
Duck and Tock looked up to see Rhyme and Reason float over the land, turning the sky into a grayish blue. As they disappeared the sun began to rise. Duck normally would have caught that as corny, which it was, but he also noticed the symbolism in it.Just then the sound of a honking horn came from behind them and the threesome turned around. Out of nowhere the toy car zooms up, good as new, and runs straight into Duck without stopping. The Loonatic felt himself roll up the hood and into the front seat as the car drove at full speed out of control. Duck sat up and looked behind him and got one more glance at Tock and Humbug before he was thrown out of the dimension…….

The Loonatics stood around bored out of their minds as they waited near the Tollbooth. Rev had run to the royal kitchen and grabbed them all snacks at least three times already. A siren on the Phantom Tollbooth suddenly blared; scaring the crud out of them and making each and every one of them jump at least two feet in the air.
“Make way! Make way! Clear away!”
The Loonatics dodged to the side just in time as a red blur suddenly zoomed out of the Tollbooth and crashed into the other wall with a loud bang. They didn’t easily get over their shock and only stared at the red toy car. Duck’s head spun as he tried to recover from his whiplash. He was sprawled out on the front seats, his arms over the back and his legs hanging over the door and the hood. Kicking the door open he staggered out, nearly falling flat on his face. The other Loonatics gasped and rushed to crowd him.
“DUCK!”
Duck tried to push the glomps away. “Let me recover. Let me recover…can’t--breathe--*gasp*!”
Ace held Duck’s shoulders at arm’s length and looked him over. “Are you okay? What happened to you in there?”
“What was it like?” Tech added curiously.Duck pulled away from them without a word and stood in front of the Tollbooth. He stared for a moment and then frowned. “Hey! Can’t I get back in?!”
The Tollbooth speaker only replied. “Ticket please.”“What?” Duck shook his head with frustration. “I was just pulled out of there with no warning of any kind! Are you telling me I need a ticket to get back in?!”
The Tollbooth sighed. “Here we go again. Look, you’ve had your time. Let someone else have a turn in this world. End of discussion.”
“But-but…” Duck pouted but the Phantom Tollbooth suddenly swiped a stop sign in front of his face.
“Talk to the sign.”
Duck was a little dazed for a minute but then his shoulders slumped in disappointment. The other Loonatics looked at each other with concern and then Ace stepped up to the mallard. “Duck?”
“I…” Duck said quietly. “I didn’t even get to say bye…..”

The entire trip home Duck was completely silent. All he did was stare out the window, his chin on his fist. No matter what the others did he didn’t budge, look, or speak. They tried games, putting on his favorite music, and Lexi even came up with the idea on ragging on how short he was to see what the response would be. Slam chucked a bouncy ball he had been playing with at the back of his partner’s head and he still didn’t move.
“What’s eating him?” Lexi asked.
“Alien mind wipe?” Rev whispered mysteriously and Tech hit him over the side of the head.               
When the Loonatics finally reached HQ, Duck was a little more responsive. First thing he did was go to the fridge and start making a huge club sandwich. He scoffed the entire thing down as if he were Slam and then he had to explain to the others he hadn’t eaten two days. After a few hour they finally got him to talk about what he had experienced in the other world…and they didn’t believe there ears.               
“So….This place is magic in some sense?” Ace asked.               
“And there’s a dog with a clock?” Tech added.               
“And you broke the sky?!” Lexi tried to keep herself from giggling.               
“You don’t believe me do you?” Duck sighed.               
Lexi finally laughed.”No, I believe ya. That’s why I’m laughing.” Duck didn’t take it as an insult. He knew she meant it good-humoredly. Instead he laughed along with her.                
“Yeah, it is kind of silly. I mean, who breaks the sky?!”               
Ace patted his shoulder. “Well Duck, seems like you’ve had quite the adventure. Saved a kingdom and rescued a couple of princesses? You deserve something special.”               
“Wha…” Duck ****eded his head.                
“Well, we got something for you the other day.” Ace shoved an orange wrapped box at Duck. The mallard blinked owlishly and then back up at them. Rev elbowed him.               
“What-did-you-forget-that-today-was-your-birthday-you-silly-duck!?”                Duck slapped his forehead and laughed. “Oh duh! I guess I did forget!” With a silly, eager grin on his face he opened up his present like as if he were a five-year-old. When he finally got it opened he stopped, staring dumbfounded on what was inside.               
It was a crystal statue on a wooden stand of himself in his Loonatics uniform, his fist poised in the air in a heroic pose and an Egg in the other hand. Duck was speechless as he looked back up at his teammates. “Uh………wow guys. I don’t know what to say.”               
“Thank you is a good start.” Ace smirked.               
Lexi pointed to a silver plate on the wooden stand. “We had it personalized for you. Read the inscription.”                
Duck looked closely at the plate.

Danger Duck

A True Hero

Always and forever your teammates,
Ace, Lexi, Rev, Tech, and Slam.
The Loonatics.

               
“Huh? Duck grabura rying?” Slam asked.               
“I’m not crying! I got something stuck in my eyes….” Duck turned around and wiped his eyes with his arm. The others only looked at each other and smiled as they rolled their eyes. Tech suddenly looked at his watch and groaned.               
“Aw man. I have to get busy cleaning my lab. If I don’t do it now I’ll never get anything done tomorrow. You guys start the party without me.” With that the coyote began to walk out of the room. “Happy Birthday Duck.” He waved over his shoulder and left.               
Duck blinked and then began to wrap his present back up. “Uh, hey guys. Why don’t we have my party tomorrow. I’m gonna go help Tech out with his lab. I’ll take you all out for lunch. My treat!” With that he leapt out of his seat and ran after the coyote. “You comin Rev?”               
“Um………sure-yeah-okay…” The speedster took of and the to of them disappeared into the elevator.               
Ace, Slam, and Lexi stood their dumbfounded. Lexi ****ed her head. “Did that just happen?”               
“Ralien ind ripe?”               
The pink bunny nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think Rev was too far off with that one.               
Ace only folded his arms and grinned with a far off look in his eyes.

               
A while later in Tech’s lab, Duck had taken to sweeping again. Rev helping fix anything broken since he was the fastest one a doing so and Tech was left to do some physical work by moving stuff around. As the scientist lifted a cardboard box, he couldn’t help staring amazed at the fact Duck had willingly volunteered to help clean. He chuckled out loud. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately but I really do appreciate the help.”               
“Yeah yeah. Don’t get used to it. By tomorrow I’ll be my grumpy self again.” Duck joked, making the coyote laugh a second time before he went to find a spot for the box of blown up junk.                
As he passed the the main computer he noticed a little blinking green light. “Huh?” Tech put the ox down a moment and checked to see what it was. “That’s weird. I got a message.”               
“How’s that weird?” Duck scoffed.               
“Because it says it’s coming from a different world yet it’s not Zadavia’s or Tweetums’ ring. Those are the only other two that know how to get into this computer system.”               
Rev zipped up to see what he commotion was about. “Hey-what’s-up?”                “We’ll see in a moment.” Tech tapped away at the keyboard and an image suddenly appeared on the giant computer screen. The coyote and roadrunner blinked n puzzlement at the two figures staring down at them but Duck gasped in disbelief.               
“Oh there you are, Duck!”               
“Yes, we’ve been looking everywhere for you my lad.               
“Why’d you leave in such a rush? R-U-S-H.”               
Duck’s mouth dropped open. “Tock?! Humbug?! Spelling Bee?! How the heck did you three get ahold of this line?!”               
Tech held up his hands before the other three could answer. “Wait! Wait! Hold on a second! You know these guys?!”                 
“These three are from the Phantom Tollbooth.” Duck explained, still a little dazed himself.                
“You’re friend Tweetums was able to contact us through the Tollbooth and gave us the computer code to a Mr. Coyote’s lab.” Tock said as he gestured his head to the room behind him. “We’re in the Mathemagician’s lab in Dictionopolis. Oh, by the way, Doddy says hi.”               
Rev grinned silly, excitement rising up in him. “Um-Duck-said-you-have-a-built-in-clock.-Is-that-true?”               
Tock chuckled and then opened up his fur to show the brand new golden clock. Duck smiled. “Hey, you got a new one! And Humbug, you’re looking pretty spiffed up!”               
“I am aren’t I?” Humbug twirled his new mahogany cane.               
“There is a festival here in your honor, Duck. H-O-N-O-R. But you left so fast we didn’t have time to thank you.”                
Before Duck could reply there was a sudden whirring sound from the seemingly broken portal at the back of the room. The six looked over to see what was happening but only a few lights were blinking on it. Tech scratched his head from his computer seat. “Rev, could you check on that please.”               
The speedster zoomed over to the universal portal and started checking it out. As he turned his back on the opening to check the wire system the portal suddenly started to glow. Rev was taken by surprise as a tentacle suddenly shot out of the machine and pulled him in and then shut itself off again. Duck and Tech screamed. “REV!”               
Tech ran out of the lab to get the others while Duck stayed behind a little to close thir conversation. “Uh, um, guys! If you see a really quick, fast talking black and red bird in their please keep him out of trouble. Keep him away from the orchestra too. If you think I’m a disaster just wait till this guys shows up. Uh, gotta go! Love you guys! Bye!”               
“See ya Duck!”               
With that the computer screen closed and Duck ran out of the room to catch up with the others. “Oh boy…”End…     

-- Edited by lovegreenanred at 01:00, 2008-07-23