Fellowship & Fairydust

Through the dark forests and barnacle-covered ground I moved. Mortem was here. A second chance to make him pay for what he did back on Radiant Garden. I wasn’t going to let him get away this time no matter what. I had to stop a couple of times because I would step on a barnacle, but I was determined to find that punk and make him pay.

“Jason! Oi! Jason!” I heard someone from behind me. Turning, I saw Scrooge McDuck coming towards me. “Oi, lad. What were you thinking, running off like that?”

“Mortem is somewhere here in Lalotai, and I’m going to find him,” Was my response. “Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

“No, but we need to talk about something else,” Folding his arms, the duck continued, “You’re being far too reckless for your good. Your attitude is what ruined our trip to Agrabah.” 

“And your business opportunity.”

“Forget the opportunity. What I’m here to discuss is you. You can’t expect to just be Darkwing Duck and have everything go your way. You were chosen by a Keyblade. That means you have bigger responsibilities than your grudge matches.” 

“Like what?”

“Protecting all the worlds for one. And on a smaller scale, Clair. What would happen if something did you in? Curse me kilts, I’ve seen her fight and she still struggles with the basics. If you get yourself killed, how do you think that’ll affect her? I’m no psychologist, but I can say if she loses you, she’ll lose her only source of strength.”

Okay, I admit, he had a point. Clair was not a fighter, and I knew from experience that she could not hold her own. It wasn’t just on Agrabah. It was back home…

 

***

 

Tsuko 13, 91 KA…

Harthyn…

“Burrowing through some more old books, Bookworm?” One of the jerks was mocking Clair while he held it up. “You’d think that someone would have something better to do than looking at words on paper.”

“I can’t believe even antique shops sell this old junk,” Jezebel was saying while she held Clair back. “Only thing I can see them being useful for is arson starters.” 

Her eyes widened at that. “No! Give it back!”

“Let’s see how well you can read ashes,” Pulling out a lighter, he held it close to the book so it would catch fire, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. Rushing out, I slugged the guy across the face, making him drop both the lighter and the book. 

“How about you try to light something that fights back?” I said, ready for a smackdown. 

Jezebel smiled when she saw me. “Ah, it looks like the Hocamli girl can’t hold her own. The descendant of Netokan’s mighty warriors needs an invader’s son.” 

“Times change,” I growled before I was attacked by the person I had just knocked down. He slugged me across the face, but it wasn’t something I hadn’t experienced before. Spitting, I tackled the guy, hitting him in the kidneys while he did the same to me. Grunting, I decided to end this and kicked him in the–

“Hold it.” A mechanical voice said. “Violence is restricted. Please cease such poor behavior and return to your homes.” Some security drones flew over to us, shining lights on me and the guy I was currently beating up. 

Knowing better than to fight drones that could disable an armed thug, I backed away from the guy and picked up Clair’s book. Jezebel and her punk looked at each other before they left the scene. Walking over to my cousin, I handed her the book she had bought before saying, “I can’t keep doing this forever. Sooner or later, you need to start standing up for yourself.” 

 

***

 

PRESENT DAY

Even after that incident, Clair hadn’t gotten better at standing up for herself. I was getting worried that she wasn’t going to be able to protect herself, especially with all the madness we were facing now. With a sigh, I looked at the old duck. “What would you suggest I do?” 

“Let’s go back to the others and formulate a plan…” His voice trailed off as he took a sniff and then his eyes lit up. “Gold!” With that, Scrooge ran off, resulting in me following him. 

 

***

 

MORTEM’S POV

This underworld place was crazy. Barnacles, killer palm trees, bats with eight eyes. I was finding myself disliking this place more than that stupid kid. Resolving to wrap up business here as fast as possible, I focused on the light that had brought me here and headed towards it. 

As I walked, I found myself approaching what appeared to be a cave shaped like a conch shell. Looking inside, I saw a huge mound of gold lying in the middle of the room surrounded by scattered pieces of treasure all around. While that didn’t interest me, I had to pay attention because I could see the light I was searching for was in that pile. Wait a minute. I could also see a mass of darkness underneath that gold. Rubbing my eyes to make sure they weren’t tricking me, I began to step inside when I heard someone giving outcries of glee. 

Ducking behind a broken piece of coral, I saw the old duck from Agrabah running up with that stupid idiot behind him. Was he wearing a skirt? That made me raise an eyebrow as I was unsure of whether I should laugh or roll my eyes. From where I was hiding, I saw the old duck jump at the sight of the treasure. “Gold! Bless me bagpipes!”

“That’s what you came running for, Scrooge? Gold?” Jason asked the old duck. 

“Of course, lad. I’m not about to pass up an opportunity to become even richer,” So the bird has a weakness for wealth. That could be useful information. With a hoot and a click of his heels, Scrooge ran towards the pile, and to my surprise dove right in. He then surfaced, swimming through the gold as anyone would swim through water. Pausing, he began to put pieces of gold inside his pockets and top hat. 

If I didn’t act now he might take whatever it was that I had come to get. Firing a dark fireball that blasted against the side of the pile of treasure scattering coins and other items, I stepped out from my hiding place. “Back off. That treasure is not yours, duck.” 

“Mortem,” Getting into a fighting stance, the kid growled, “Now it’s payback time for making us look bad in Agrabah and Radiant Garden.”

Rolling my eyes, I glared at him. “Are you still on that? You should be thankful I didn’t tear you limb from limb. Get your priorities straight.”

“You messed up my priorities when you destroyed my ticket home.” 

“Look you imbecile! I didn’t destroy your stupid device because I wanted to! I did it because I was ordered to! If I had it my way, I would’ve left it alone, if only so you’d be out of my hair. But my…associate didn’t want you to return home. I don’t know why, and quite frankly I don’t care. I’ve got bigger problems than dealing with a whiny brat like you! ‘Oh, you destroyed my ticket home! I’m gonna make you pay!’ Why don’t you stop embarrassing yourself and just grow up?!”

“What? Who ordered you to? You know what? Nevermind. The way I see it, it’s your fault for forcing us into loco world, facing monsters and magic that shouldn’t even exist. I’m wearing this stupid lavalava skirt thing because you trashed that device!” 

“You think you have problems?! Well, yours pale in comparison to mine! You can’t even be angry for the right reasons! Do you think you can stand up to MY wrath?! Here let me show you what real rage is!” With that, I called forth Vengeful Chaos to strike him down, but something happened. As my weapon appeared in my hands, it changed into a large scythe that caught even me by surprise. Not that it mattered what form it was in. Lifting it, I swung the weapon at the idiot, knocking him back. 

As he landed on his back, he worked on getting up while his Keyblade appeared in his hands, charging forward as he did. With a roll of my eyes, I sidestepped him and used my scythe to trip him, giving him a cut along the legs as I did. As he fell over, I found myself wondering if I should’ve just cut an artery or two. Forcing himself back up, he glared at me while he threw his weapon, which landed pathetically at my feet. 

“Why won’t you just quit? You can see you’re outmatched here.” I scorned him. 

Eyes narrowing, he responded, “I’ve never backed down from a fight before and I’m not planning on starting today.” 

As I thought about his words, it dawned on me. “You just can’t handle the situation you’re in, can you? You’re just trying desperately to run away from it like a coward, instead of facing it like a man. Is that it? You disgust me. That Keyblade of yours has chosen poorly.”

“I am not a coward!” With a snarl, he ran towards me despite the cuts I gave him. I began to think this guy could take a beating and then some. Not that it mattered. If he wanted to die, then I was going to have to disobey orders. 

Swinging my weapon to cut him in two, I found myself surprised when he managed to parry my blow. Lucky shot. Had to be. Bringing my scythe back around, I managed to cut him on the chest, but he had the sense to leap back before I did any real damage. Eyes narrowing, he ran forward swinging his Keyblade. I managed to block him, but then he dismissed it, ran forward, and gave me an uppercut. “Still think I’m a coward?” 

As I fell backward, I snarled while I sent my weapon to my other hand and swung it at him. At this close range, I only succeeded in hitting him with the pole, but that still felt good to do. As he fell, I tried to move the blade so it would cut him up some more. Calling forth his Keyblade he managed to keep himself from getting decapitated by me, but now I had the upper hand. Kicking him in the stomach, I ended up forcing him to the ground while dark energies swirled around me. 

As I raised my scythe to strike him down, the craziest thing happened. A massive claw reached out and grabbed both me and Jason, which resulted in both of our weapons getting dismissed. As we were lifted, I saw the duck called Scrooge dive back into the pile of gold, pulling his hat down with him as the pile was also rising. Wait. Piles of gold don’t rise. I watched as several legs appeared from underneath, one which looked like had been torn off a long time ago, while a head with a pair of eyes on stalks looked at us. “What? More humans? What is going on here?”

“What the hell?” I asked, more confused than anything. That pile of gold was the back of a giant talking coconut crab? 

Groaning, Jason said, “Oh great. More magic stuff.” 

“What are you two doing in the realm of the monsters?” The crab asked. “And did you think that you could steal the treasure of the great and shiny Tamatoa?”

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