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Italy, 1999...
Donald hated the cold. He had always hated it, ever since he was a young hatchling, he had always slept with a blanket on top of his bed covers to keep warm, but today, even with the many thermal layers he was wearing under his parka, he was shivering.
The moment he got out of the warm rental car, he regretted coming on this adventure.
Speeding off into the town up ahead, Donald was hoping to find a nice little café with some comfy chairs and a nice brick fireplace, where he could get a hot-chocolate with some mini marshmallows and just warm up.
Unfortunately, Donald had rotten luck.
Almost immediately, the strange street layout had him lost, but by the time he realised it, he was too far gone. Knowing very little Italian, he couldn't read the street signs, so the young man had to rely on his instincts to guide him. However, this proved to be a poor idea.
First, he had slipped on a patch of ice he hadn't noticed. And while the many layers protected him from the cold, it stretched the fabric of his coat to the limit, meaning it ripped quite easily, allowing cold air to blow through into his coat. Getting up and wiping himself down, Donald grumbled and continue onwards.
Then, not five minutes later, as he was passing under a fabric overhang, in front of a shop, one of the two poles holding it up, snapped, causing the mountain of snow that had gathered above it to fall onto him, aggravating him further.
After another ten minutes, as he was crossing a road, a frozen pipe above him, which ran between two buildings, burst. Sending small fragments of frost remnant, followed by bone-chillingly cold water, all over him and into the tear in his coat, soaking him.
Finally, after another fifteen minutes of walking, he finally found the café of his dreams.
Sprinting up to the window, Donald stared into the cosy interior with visible glee, it is exactly as he hoped. Reaching into his pocket for his wallet, his joyous demeanour shattered when he realised that he had left his wallet in his bag... which was still in the car.
Feeling his anger build and face grow hot. The teenager let out a stream of curses and practically vibrated with intense rage.
As he squawked and shook, he thought he heard his Sister laughing.
Confused, the teen paused his ranting for a moment. Looking around, he couldn't spot his Twin anywhere, that was until he realised something.
As the café sat on the corner of a street, Donald had happened upon the storefront side, which was nothing more than the front-door and windows, which advertised onto the main street, but there was also outdoor sitting, which was just around the corner.
Sitting at one of the tables, with a boy no less, was Dumbella.
Unable to pass up the chance to embarrass his Sister, Donald with a big smile, took a chair from an currently unused table, and dragged it over to the table his Sister was sitting it and plopped down beside her.
"Hey Della," - He said in the most obnoxious voice he could muster. - "Mind introducing me to your boyfriend?"
Della, surprised by her Brother's arrival and embarrassed by his assumptions, couldn't spit out a response, so her new friend took initiative. Reaching across the table he stuck out his hand for the other Duck to shake. Which he did.
"Leo. Nice to meet ya."
"So Leo, how did you meet my sister?"
"She... helped me out with a bad situation." - He answered, knowing it was probably smarter to keep what had actually happened, vague. - "So I'm thanking her with coffee and a cupcake." - He explained, leaning back into his chair.
Donald nodded. - "What a nice thing to do." - He turned to face Della. - "Is that what attracted you to him in the first place, Del?"
Unable to contain her embarrassment, Della punched her brother in her leg, using the table to hide her actions. - "Shut up Donnie." - She hissed. Staring daggers at Donald. But even with a dead-leg, Donald couldn't contain his smug smirk.
"I thought it was my good looks that attracted the girls, never though it was my 'good heart'." - Leo joked, making Della feel even more embarrassed.
"Kids? Kids is that you?" - Out of the bustling crowds, came Uncle Scrooge. - "Bless me bagpipes, I've been looking for you to for ages!"
"Sorry, Uncle Scrooge," - Both twins apologised at the same time.
"Wait. wait, wait." - Leo spluttered, putting down his newly-emptied coffee cup. - "Scrooge, as in Scrooge McDuck- the Kajillionaire?"
"Actually, I'm a Multiplujillionaire." - Scrooge smugly corrected. - "And who might you be?"
Getting up from his chair, the teenager stuck his hand out to the much older Duck. - "Leo Galló. You know, I never expected to meet the richest man on Earth today. It's a pleasure."
Feeling his pride swell, Scrooge shook Leo's hand. - "I like to think that I'm richest man in the Solar System. But I haven't been to space." - The man leaned in close and smiled. - "Not yet anyway."
"So what are you guys here on business, or something?"
"Adventure, actually." - Answered Scrooge.
"A really dangerous adventure." - Della added swiftly, before folding her arms and leaning back in her seat. - "With traps and stuff."
Donald snorted at the obvious attempt to seem cool, causing his Sister to strike him in the leg a second time.
"An adventure huh?" - Leo mumbled, smiling. - "You need a guide up the mountains?"
"You know the peaks well?"
The teen shrugged. - "I work as a guide semi-professionally, and as a favour for saving my life, I'll do it for free."
Scrooge positively beamed when he heard that. - "Free you say."
Leo nodded. - "But you'll have to use your own gear. I've only got one set."
"When can we leave?"
The teen scratched his scratched for a moment, looking off into the distance. - "I'd say about an hour- hour-thirty minutes. I need to grab my gear from home, maybe a few extra supplies. Then we can leave." - He answered. - "That sound good to you?"
Scrooge had already made up his mind. - "Okay, welcome to the team. Lad."
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The tunnel had turned into a slide, that seemed to stretch on for ever.
In the pitch-black of the pipe, Louie took some time to debate his earlier decision, but since he didn't know where the pipe led, he couldn't tell if he had actually chosen correct or not. But either way, he was sick of the tunnel and it's slopes, that constantly threw him back and forth, and not knowing whichever way he was going.
Finally after one sharp turn which left the young thief with a bruise just above his tail, there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Pressing his hands and feet to the sides of the slide in order to create friction and slow down, Louie still flung out of the end like he'd been shot out of a cannon.
Landing with a parkour roll, Louie found himself in a large circular room, with a roof that was a least 18-feet off of the floor. Like the other rooms he'd triumphed, it was constructed with stone bricks that had began to crumble and was overgrown with moss.
However, the walls had strange grooves built into them, which to Louie meant there were hidden doors. At least eight.
In the centre of the floor was another note, with a dagger pinning into the floor.
Slowly reaching down, he pulled the weapon free and slipped it into his belt. Before taking a look at the piece of paper.
"Now, to test your strength of will. Defeat these attackers with combat skill. Take the knife and wield it well, for if you don't, we'll see you in hell." - He read aloud, this time however, he didn't get any time to criticize the rhymes of the note, as when he was finished, the room began to shake as mechanisms behind the walls and below the floor, activated.
Turning, the teen watched as one of the weird wall grooves, descended into the wall, before splitting open, revealing a dark passage. Louie was tempted to try and go through it, when something emerged.
At first, he thought it was another person, but the closer it got, he noticed how mechanically it moved, and how it's eyes glowed orange in the dark.
Taking a step back as it finally emerged, Louie now knew it wasn't a living being, it was a robot. Built of bronze and silver, with pipes and gears acting as innards. It's head was no more than modified metal helmet, with bulging glass-lenses where the eyes should have been.
On the chest-piece of the mechanical gladiator, was six-fingered sigel.
It stood still and for a moment Louie wondered if it was broken, it did look ancient, but the long and sharp sword it carried, was stained with dried blood.
A second groove behind began to open and as he turned to look, the first robot shot forward at a speed which should've been impossible for something of its age. It's swung it's blade at the teen.
Ducking under the swing of its weapon, the teen drew the dagger from his belt and deflected its next attack, before burying it in the being's mechanical chest. But as he pulled it free, the second of the robots, which was instead armed with a long spear, attacked.
Leaping backwards, the thief just managed to avoid being skewered, but as he readied himself, another three of the grooves opened, leaving him outnumbered four to one. Each of the being's armed with a different weapon.
As the spear-robot attacked once more, Louie dodged to the left, using his blade to dispatch the being, before ripping the long weapon from its grip.
Not wasting a second, the teen hurled the spear across the room, pinning one of his enemies, this one armed with a two automatic-crossbows on either arm, to the wall, which only seemed to immobilise it, not actual destroy it, as it continued to fire stray bolts around the room.
That left only two, one armed with needle like claws instead of fingers and the other with a large discus on some sort of launcher.
As the former attacked, the latter lined up with the thief and attempted a shot, while Louie duck in time, he was nearly struck by the ricochet, as the large disc rebounded off the wall behind him, before landing back into the launcher.
That gave Louie an idea.
Dodging the claw-bots slashes, he sprinted at the discus robot, as it lined up the shot and fired, Louie dropped into a slide, passing through the automaton's open legs. Leaping back up, he grabbed the launcher arm and pulled it back, preventing it from catching it's projectile, which rebounded back into it's chest, nearly slicing it in half.
Picking up the heavy discus, Louie used it as a sheild and charged at the crossbow robot, whose bolts bounced off the heavy metal circle. Slamming it into the head of the mechanical being's head, which seemed to deactivate it.
Dropping his makeshift sheild. Louie grabbed one of the crossbow arms and pulled with all of his might, ripping it off.
Spinning around, Louie lined up his shot at the claw-bot, who was charging at the teen.
Taking a breath, he fired.
The bolt blew through it's bronze skull, lodging itself in the wall behind, as the battered battle-machine's eyes dimmed and it toppled over.
He'd destroyed five, but there were still three more passages blocked off.
The ground shook again, and another two of the grooves opened, and from each emerged a robot.
These were not like the other machine's however, instead they were much bigger and bulkier than the others, being at least twice as tall and five times as wide as the others he'd beaten. They also carried no weapons and were slower than the smaller automaton's sprint, but each step they made shook the floor.
Putting some distance between him and the approaching behemoths, Louie found himself by the broken body of the first bot. Taking its sword from its lifeless hands, he held it in an arc across his chest.
His skills with a sword had failed him when he had fought Shiruetto. He just hoped they would prevail now.
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Thanks for reading Chapter 25 of 'Legacy'. I hope you enjoyed and also hope you comment, vote, follow me and read Ch.26 -MM