Louie watched after his family as they marched into the game room. Shoved his hands in his pockets, he spun around to face his younger brother. "Well, Dew, I guess we should..." His sentence drifted off as read Dewey's worrisome expression. "Uh, Dewey?"
"This is bad." Dewey's voice grew squeaky and quiet. He paced in a circle, rubbing his hands. "Did you see how worried Bradford and Launchpad were? I don't know what that means but it can't be good!"
"Dewey!" Louie snapped his fingers in Dewey's face, snapping him from his panic. "Come on, it's just game night! What happened to being brave?"
"Yeah, but then you mentioned all that stuff about mom and risking our lives- Fethry's crazy, and our family is great at getting into trouble! Who knows what one harmless game night could lead to!" Dewey waved his hands back and forth, his breath quickening.
Louie shook his head, coming to stand behind Dewey. The green triplet nudged his younger brother towards the game room. "Eh, it's just quiet night in. I'll make sure of it." Dewey seemed to be calming down. Louie smiled taking a few steps in the right direction. "Tonight, there will be no-"
"Adventure!"
Dewey yelped at the voice, while Louie jolted with a start, nearly faceplanting in his walk. The two spun around to see who had shouted.
Zan Owlson shoved the doors to the foyer open, proudly cheering. She waved a megaphone around in her hand. "What is up, bois! Zan Owlson's here to drop the latest and greatest of Mark's doohickeys! Boom!" She thrust the megaphone in Louie's face. "Check it."
Louie shoved the object away. "Geez, woman, where do you get your vocabulary from? The last decade's internet?"
Owlson flipped her hair away. "Besides the point. Cringe culture's dead anyways. Back to the gadget, I was digging through some of Mark's junk and found this handy dandy microphone. I'm sure he doesn't mind if we play with it for a bit." A naughty smirk crossed her face.
Dewey peeked out from behind Louie. "Uh, that's a megaphone."
"Nope! I'm calling this one a microphone, because it makes small noises loud."
Louie and Dewey exchanged a look. Didn't megaphones do that too?
Scanning over their confused faces, Owlson decided to elaborate. "Look, look, I'll show you." She messed with a dial on the back. A mixed audio of grunts and cheers came from the open cone. "What's that sound, you're wondering? That, my dudes, is a tiny civilization. Inside your own home!"
"Tiny people?" Dewey raised a foot, frowning. "Hope I'm not crushing any of them!"
"Eh, they're fine. They're so small, they probably just fit in the air between your foot and the ground." Owlson waved him off. "Isn't it cool?"
"I guess?" On any other day, Louie would've been fawning over the brilliance of Mark Beaks, but it was supposed to be his quiet night in. If a new gadget and the discovery of a microscopic civilization didn't mean adventure, he didn't know what did.
"Exactly. Mic drop." Extending her arm, Owlson dropped the microphone. The hit with the ground made a laser shoot from the device. It bounced onto an apple in a nearby fruit basket. The apple grew smaller, until it vanished from sight. Louie and Dewey watched in surprise. "Oh yeah, and he also added a shrink ray."
Louie laughed awkwardly. "Well, it's been great seeing you again, Owlson, but we're taking it slow tonight. No adventure today!" He ushered the woman towards the door, but she fought against him.
"Nonsense! Where's Huey? He'll appreciate a shrink ray."
Being an adult and therefore stronger than a short duckling, Zan easily made it past Louie. In panic, he snatched the microphone and aimed it. With a flash, he shrunk her to microscopic size.
Dewey stared in astonishment. "Louie!"
"Don't panic-"
"Louie! You just shrunk Owlson!"
"Yeah but-"
"YOU JUST SHRANK A WHOLE PERSON!"
Louie shushed his brother with his finger. "Fethry's gonna hear! Just-" Louie sighed. "Look, I'm sure she's fine. I mean, that's what she wanted, right?"
Dewey looked Louie over. The latter glanced around, hoping his brother wouldn't question him further. "Louie, I can't believe you would say that! That's so irresponsible of you!" Dewey took the microphone and fiddled around with it. He stopped. With a sigh, he said, "You don't know how to reverse it, do you?"
"I do not. And I'm not sure she'll be fine. Actually, I'm panicking inside." Louie wiggled his figures nervously. After some more thought, he snatched the ray back from Dewey. "Give me that, I'm gonna shrink myself down and save her myself."
"Nope!" Dewey took the ray and dropped it on the floor.
"Dewey! Give it back!"
Holding out an arm to block his brother, Dewey stared him in the face. "Look, at first I had my doubts about this game night, but you clearly need a break. If Louie Duck, the oh so great responsible one, is frazzled enough to shrink an adult in panic, something's wrong. Owlson can take care of herself. It's like you said, adventures cycle through the same steps. Why should this one be any different?"
"No, Dewey, I take it back! I don't need a break-"
With Louie by the ankle, Dewey dragged his brother to the game room. The green triplet clawed at the floor.
"Come on! Just let me save her!"
"And don't even think about telling Fethry. If you do, we'll just keep adventuring until you fall to pieces."
"No!" Louie sobbed into the carpet dramatically.
...
Arms crossed, Louie glared at Dewey while they sat on the couch. The family had begun playing charades, and currently Fethry and Gladdy were taking their turn.
Gladdy stepped up, taking a prompt from the bowl.
"One minute minute on the clock. Ready?" Gladdy gave his cousin a thumbs up. Fethry grinned. "Go!"
Gladdy looked over the paper, took a breath, and nodded. Before he could start his act, the paper caught on fire. In an attempt to put it out, he waved the slip.
Fethry jumped in his seat. "Oh! The Crab-men of Crustatia!"
Gladdy nodded with a smile while he put out the last of the fire. Taking a new prompt, he started again. This time, he backed into the bookshelf. Several books fell, though Gladdy managed to catch all of them with his hands, feet, and beak. Across the room, a random vase shattered.
"Nambian Night Sprites!"
Giving a thumbs up, Gladdy dropped all the books.
New prompt. Gladdy unfolded the paper and read it to himself. A broom tumbled behind him, knocking into the tv, which tilted over and slammed into the coffee table. A lamp catapulted from the table, flying up and up until the cord got tangled into the ceiling fan, spinning at accelerating before shooting off in the direction of Gladdy's head. He promptly ducked before looking up and drawing a circle in the air with his finger.
"Ha! Easy! SerenYeti!"
Daisy glanced between Gladdy and Fethry. This would've been the first time Louie would have ever seen an expression other than boredom on her face. But he didn't notice it, because he was too busy internalizing the guilt sitting in the pit of his stomach from leaving Owlson. And even worse, not telling anyone.
"Wha- how?" Daisy stuttered.
Bradford sighed. "Welcome to the family." He glanced down at the stopwatch in his hand. "Time."
"Fethry, it was a mermanticore!" Gladdy shook his head, crumpled the paper, and tossed it behind him.
Fethry stood up in astoundment. "Mermanticore! That was your best mermanticore? No, no, no, no." He stepped up to join his cousin. "This is a mermanticore."
While the two bickered, Bradford turned to Daisy. "Well, I believe it's our turn."
"Hooray." Daisy rolled her eyes and came to stand in front of the coffee table. Fethry and Gladdy were shoed off the stage by her. Grabbing a slip of paper she looked it over.
Bradford readjusted the stopwatch. "And... go!"
Daisy did a small wave of her hands tucked closely to herself. Then she let her arms fall limp to her sides as she shrugged.
Frowning, Bradford tilted his head. "What was that?"
"The card says 'Scrooge McDuck.' I don't know, he's a flashy guy, so... jazz hands." Daisy redid the movement before halfheartedly tossing the paper to the ground.
"You're not supposed to talk! Bradford and Daisy are disqualified from the round!" Fethry shouted triumphantly.
Daisy shrugged before moving to sit back down next to Bradford, who was shaking his head in disbelief.
Bradford glanced at the kids. "Dewey, Louie, you're up next, I guess."
"I didn't do anything!" Louie shouted. All eyes landed on him, forcing him to sink back into his seat. Dewey's glare, especially, stared into the very depths of his soul. The blue triplet's warning lingered in the back of Louie's mind. Forcing out a cough, he rose from the couch. "I mean, uh, of course I didn't do anything, I haven't started yet! Yep!" He flashed a grin before stepping up to play.
Louie looked up from his prompt just in time to see the microphone walking past the outer hall way. His breath hitched.
"Onward minions!" Owlson's voice erupted from the speaker. "Do the bidding of the Meme Queen!"
Dewey's expression perked up at the sound, too.
Louie forced a grin, moving back to the couch. "Yep! Great guess Dew! 'Do the bidding of the... Meme Queen... Says it right there on the card." Taking Dewey by the arm, he motioned for the two of them to step out. "Hey, you know what this game night is missing? Some chips and salsa. Dew, you want to help me get that?"
They rushed out of the room before any of them could ask questions.
...
Snatching up the microphone on their way, Louie slapped the device down on the counter. "Owlson, explain yourself!"
Her cheery voice came harsh on the speaker. "Oh my gawsh, you guys are not gonna believe what happened! The tiny civilization have name me their queen!"
"Congrats! So, you're safe? No need to worry?" Dewey nudged Louie with a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I'm safe, but... You guys are gonna laugh-"
"Get on with it!" Louie's panic only grew by the minute. If only there were a shrink ray for that.
"Well, the tiny people have declared war on the giants- er, you guys. Surprise?"
"What!"
"Yeah, turns out you have crushing them, blue kid."
"Aw, man!" Dewey lifted up his foot, frowning.
Louie reached for the ray. "Hang on, Owlson, I'm gonna shrink myself down and help you-"
Dewey blocked Louie again. "She'll handle it! She's a social media influencer, she can convince random strangers to do anything."
"But-"
"Do it for the night off!"
"No!"
Louie tried to jump past his brother, accidentally knocking the microphone to the ground. Blasts shot from all directions. The boys ducked for cover as random objects got shrunk around the room.
An old radio knocked itself from its spot on the microwave. A harsh static erupted from it before it cleared up. A fuzzy voice came through.
"Hello? Is this thing on? Alright, I think it's on. Greetings earthlings!"
Pressed up against the counter, Louie turned to Dewey. "We've got to stop the shrink ray before someone comes in here! That radio's too loud too! I'll get the radio, you get the microphone."
The boys nodded before breaking off.
The radio continued, adding to the chaos. "This is Officer Penumbra from the planet Moon, but my friends call me Penny!" Static broke up the words. "Look, I wanna get a good grade in this class, just make it sound good. Oh, and don't put this part on the recording. Are you listening?"
Dodging past lasers, Louie jumped to the radio. Stomach on the ground, he managed to just barely reach it.
"Anyways, this is for my Studies of Earth final report I gotta do for college. For my project, I've decided to pick out an earth specimen to examine. I haven't gotten on yet, but if I want the full credit, I have to document every step of the process in these recordings. All the other classmates picked cows for their specimen, but I'm gonna live on the wild side and get myself a duck-"
Louie turned the radio off, just as Dewey managed to wrangle the microphone. Once Louie set the radio back on the microwave, he let out a sigh of relief. "Nice job, Dew."
Dewey smiled, hugging the device. "Oh man, my heart is racing! That was exciting! What was that weird moon thing about?"
"Eh, probably unimportant."
"What's going on in here?"
They turned to see Daisy standing in the doorway, frowning as usual.
"Uh, what are you- going on in here- Wait..." Dewey stumbled over his sentence while Louie face palmed.
"Well, I thought you guys were taking too long with those chips, and I was hungry..." Her eyes landed on the microphone in Dewey's arms. "Doesn't look like that's happening though." She almost seemed disappointed.
"Don't worry, Daisy, we're getting chips. Right, Dewey?"
Louie pat his brother on the back, knocking the microphone from arms, knocking it onto the ground, and hitting Daisy with the shrink ray.
Louie wanted to rip his hair out. "How come every time someone drops the thing, a laser goes off! Didn't Mark design any sort of safety mechanisms!"
"Louie!"
"Dewey!
"Boys!"
The turned to see an agitated Bradford standing in the doorway, glaring at them.
Been a minute, huh? Updates should be a little more frequent from now on (I hope.) I'll try to get at least an episode done once a month. It's kind of late for me, but I wanted to post this to get it off of my to do list, so sorry for all the typos, I didn't read through it. (Actually, a lot of this series is typos XD Sometimes I look over the chapters from season 1 and I wonder how anyone managed to understand what was going on lol. Thank y'all for putting up with me.) I'll get the next chapter out by the end of the week probably. Goodnight! Enjoy!