"Launchpad, the hatch. Stop the Whoo-hoo!" Scrooge ordered as he slid down the ladder, then tossed the phone to Louie, "Talk to your uncle."
"Hey, Uncle Donald," Louie answered nonchalantly, "Nope, yeah, pretty boring. We napped, rubbed ointment on our joints, old people stuff."
"Oh, what about the dragon?" Webby asks aloud, "And the plane crash-"
"Whoops, 3:00 pm," Louie interrupts, "Time for dinner. Bye!"
"Very convincing Louie," Elliot comments from behind the two.
Elliot was sitting in the back, typing away on her laptop.
"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" Webby questions.
"You didn't tell your grandma we were going to a dangerous underwater city, did you?" Louie countered.
There's a moment of silence before Webby responds.
"I kinda sorta didn't tell her anything?" She chuckled nervously.
"Webby, that's irresponsible! She'll be worried sick!" Louie exclaimed, passing the phone to her, "Call your grandma this instant and tell her that you are spending the night at a friend's house, okay? Lying: It's the responsible thing to do."
Elliot finishes her work, closing her laptop and leaving her seat to figure out the map up front. She sits down on the other row of seats at the front, with a pen & compass.
"Launchpad, have you ever piloted a sub before?" Scrooge asks.
"I sank a helicopter in a wave pool once. Same thing?" Launchpad responds.
The Scotsman's face scrunched up in displeasure.
"I've done more with less," he mumbles, "No matter, I'm back! Unchartered territory. Bold new discoveries!"
"Hello, bingo! I love road trips! I've got snacks, a playlist of traditional sea chanties, matching family road trip shirts!" Huey squealed excitedly as he pulls out a paper, "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but there's no time. But according to the travel itinerary..."
Dewey quickly turns around from his seat to rip up the itinerary.
"Boo! Adventure isn't about planning, it's about doing!" Dewey groaned aloud before turning to Scrooge, "So, what can I be in charge of? The buzzsaw arm?"
"No!" Scrooge answered.
Scrooge kept denying Dewey's pestering until he snapped back.
"None of those things are real things!" He shouted, "This is your first expedition, so just stand back and watch an old pro from a safe distance."
Dewey ignores the Scotsman's words asking, "So what is this submarine equipped with?"
"Seatbelts," Scrooge responds, buckling Dewey up.
"Ha!" Dewey laughs, "Good one!"
Scrooge goes to sit with Elliot to help figure out the map.
"What were you even doing back there lass?" Scrooge questions Elliot.
"You might forget at times with that old man memory of yours," She snickered, "but I'm your PA Coo. I was clearing your schedule for the day."
"Hey! My memory is perfectly fine," He retaliated jokingly, "but aren't you supposed to respect ye elders? And yer employer no less."
"You're just admitting you're old Coo," She counters, "it's all downhill from here gramps."
"Hey, Scrooge!" Dewey called from his seat, "When are we gonna set sail, Scrooge?"
"In a moment, Sonny Jim," the Scotsman mumbled back, annoyed.
"Way to be a McDork Coo," Elliot teases.
"Oh hush lass," Scrooge chuckled, "I give you to much power."
Huey tries to give Dewey a road trip t-shirt, but Dewey glares at him.
"I will cram it down your throat," he threatened.
"Guys, lighten up!" Louie says, "We're on a deep-sea expedition with Scrooge McDuck!"
Scrooge gets up from his seat next to Elliot, taking their finished map with him to the front of the submarine.
"Mr. McQuack, chart a course. Next stop, the lost City of Atlantis!" He announces, a chorus of cheers follow, "In about 16:00 hours!"
"Shanty time!" Huey chants excitedly as he turns on his radio.
Elliot falls asleep quickly to the radio's tune, feeling the full force of her rigorous day. She dreams of being surrounded by Lavender, but for some reason her feet ache. She barely sees the tips of a blue scarf before she gets knocked out of her seat, and out of her sleep. She barely has time to react before the sub gets thrashed again by a kraken.
"Who touched the map?!" she cries out as she gets thrown to the floor from the force.
They face more perils like mer-monsters and storm beasts before finally making it to safety.
"Oh, you kids'll be the death of me," Scrooge grumbles out as he gets up, lending Elliot a hand.
"Dewey!" Dewey corrects enthusiastically as he sits up, "Dewey will be the death of you!
"Can we make a pit stop?" Huey asks politely, "I have to use the bathroom, but it's, um Occupied?"
Huey opens the bathroom door to reveal a mer-monster coming from the toilet.
"Gah!" Elliot yelped as she immediately scrambled to close the door.
"For the love of It's the middle of the ocean!" Scrooge informs, "There are no pit stops."
"How 'bout that conspicuously unmarked tanker?" Launchpad questions, drawing everyone's attention.
____________
After the crew took a bathroom break, Elliot went back to her laptop for the next 3 hours. She has to rearrange all the meetings Scrooge has planned for the next 3 days into a way that the board wouldn't be mad at.
"Those conniving condors," she muttered as she received another decline on a rescheduling date.
"The Drake Barrier Reef," Scrooge announced, waking the kids up, "Powerful currents combined with rocky terrain make it nearly impossible to navigate, but on that rare occasion when snow falls above the reef, the currents cool, allowing safe passage to-"
"Are we there yet?" Louie interrupted excitedly, jumping out of his seat.
"I was just about to-"
Huey cut Scrooge off again, "Right side or the left side?"
"If you'd just let me-"
"Look!" Dewey called out, earning a frustrated groan from the Scotsman, "There that thing is! We found it!"
Elliot shut down the laptop to join everyone as the kids stared in awe.
"Yes, good. Atlantis," Scrooge grumbled sarcastically, "Ooh! Aah! Thanks for spoiling the moment."
"Oh hush Coo," Elliot reprimanded, which got her a petty shoulder bump, "They're kids."
"The whole place is upside down!" Huey exclaimed.
Scrooge's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Oh, well, that's a new one."
Launchpad maneuvers the sub into the entrance, parking wobbly near the dock. Everyone hops out, taking in the sights of the carved stone. Elliot was fond of the sea salt air the place held.
"Just call your grandma already! It's no big deal," Louie encouraged Webby as he dials Mrs. Beakley, "Aah! Remember, you're at a friend's house, okay? You got this."
"Hi, Granny, I'm spending the night at a friend's house so nothing is wrong!" Webby shouts out nervously into the phone before hanging up.
"Oh, you don't got this," Louie remarks sadly.
"Ah-ha!" Scrooge shouted out, pointing at the engraved symbols, "Well, according to these markings, the Atlantines were so eager to build an epic city of wonders and death traps, they didn't stop to figure out a proper support structure, and the whole thing fell into the sea! You kids best stay by the sub while I scout ahead."
"Dewey ran in as soon as you said death traps," Huey informed.
They all run down the hall to find Dewey with a angry pout on his face.
"Dah! Lad! I thought the traps would get you for sure!" Scrooge said exasperated.
"Stupid upside-down temple! Nothing cool about walking under buzzsaws!" Dewey complains.
"From now on, don't touch anything!" Scrooge warns.
Everyone starts moving forward until a trap door opens. Snakes fall down from above them, hissing wildly. They all were quick to move out, but launchpad wasn't fast enough to avoid the fangs.
"Launchpad!" Elliot cried out, daringly going over to the snake pile.
She suddenly does a high-pitched whistle, scaring the snakes off. She runs to Launchpad, who was feeling the full effect of the snake venom.
"Launchpad are you ok?" she asks, a concerned expression on her face as she checked his wounds.
"Hehehe, you remind me of this cool girl I drive around," Launchpad giggles contently as he leans on her shoulder, "She's like, the coolest person in the world. I wish I could be her friend."
"Even when venom pulses through your veins you're a big softy," She comments, smiling softly, "Now over the rock you go."
She helps Launchpad make it over the small wall of stone, before hopping over it herself.
"Launchpad, are you okay?" Huey questions nervously.
"Ah, a little snake venom never," He muttered before standing up from his slouched position, "Hi, nice to meet you! I'm everybody's friend!"
Launchpad falls back onto Huey, who screams in surprise. Elliot quickly goes to help lift him off of Huey, and stands him up with his arm being supported by her shoulders.
"I want the world's biggest hot chocolate in my stomach," Launchpad hobbled drunkenly.
"I'm afraid you're gonna have to settle for air until we get back to the sub," She remarks as the group makes they're way to catch up with Scrooge and Dewey.
When they get there, they find the bridge broken with Scrooge and Dewey on the other side.
"Aah! Ow! Ugh! Fantastic," Scrooge growls, "You see what I'm talking about? You four find another way 'round! We're going to-" He turns to see Dewey gone, "push onward, apparently.
Scrooge left the group to follow Dewey through the doorway below them, while Elliot brainstormed for a minute.
"We can use the broken bridge as a ladder," Elliot concluded as she started to climb down effortlessly, "I'll spot you all."
"Junior Woodchuck Rule 841:," Huey stated as he made his way down, "There's always another way around."
Launchpad was the last one at the top before the phone rang again.
"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Louie yelped as he watched Webby answered it.
"Oh, look!" Webby spoke enthusiastically into the phone, "Uncle Hampus is here, and he only speaks Swedish. We don't want to be rude, so good-bye?"
"And you're done," Louie confirms, "Yeah, you're never gonna be able to back up that lie. That was crazy!"
Launchpad slips on the first ladder step, falling down and being caught by Elliot. He wobbles off to grab the phone from Webby.
"Oh, hej," He slurs into the phone, "Beakley! Subina.."
The rest of his speech was going into another language, then he hung up. Before Elliot could process what happened, she heard footsteps. At the doorway stood Glomgold and his thugs.
"Take 'em down!" Glomgold ordered, cackling as his crew charged.
"I got em!" Launchpad assured drunkenly as he moves in front of the ducks.
Elliot hurdles over Launchpad, kicking a thug in the face. She lands onto the ground, launching herself at another foe.
'Thank goodness for Duckworth,' She thought, remembering all the fighting classes he made her take for self-defense as she was juggling classes.
The others joined in, throwing their enemies around like ragdolls. Scrooge, Dewey, and Donald run through the doorway to see Elliot roundhouse-kicking a thug.
"Oh, yeah, those guys," Donald comments, but then he sees the other two triplets, "Huey and Louie! You're doing okay!"
"Wait! Where's Glomgold?" Scrooge questions as everyone hears the crackle of a walkie talkie.
"Hey, team," Glomgold called out through the device, "Wanted to thank you for keeping Scrooge's kin busy while I escape with the jewel and blow up Atlantis with my most hated rival inside!"
"But I thought employees were the greatest treasure of all!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Glomgold scolds, "Treasure is the greatest treasure of all. That's why it's called treasure! Glomgold out!"
There was a earthquaking explosion, shaking the whole city. Rocks started to fall from above them.
"The place is going down!" Elliot warned, ushering the kids along with a sobered Launchpad along to the sub.
"We have to go!" Scrooge shouted, grabbing Donald.
"Huh?" Donald yelped, concerned.
Everyone bolts to the parked Submarine, hoppin in as their lives did infact depend on them. When Donald makes it through, he brings the thugs with him.
"Oh for goodness sake," Elliot mumbled, annoyed at the unwanted guests.
"That was some quick thinking," Scrooge praised the blue clad duck, "You just may be an adventurer yet, Dewey."
After hours of sitting in a cramped sub, they finally made it back to Duckburg.
"Aye, aye. Okay. Settle down," Glomgold announced confidently, "Ha ha! Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is with great pride that I, Flintheart Glomgold, present-"
"-The Jewel of Atlantis!" Scrooge finishes as the sub pulls onto the docks, displaying the true gem to the public.
Glomgold's cries of disbelief get drowned out by reported
"Is that Scrooge McDuck? Mr. McDuck-"
"An efficient, clean source of energy that could power Duckburg for 50 years," Elliot pops in, hopping out of the sub to land beside Scrooge, "courtesy of your friends at McDuck Water and Electric."
"Ooh, Mr. McDuck," famous reporter Roxanne Featherly, "how do you respond to claims by other Scottish billionaires that they have the real jewel?"
"That bauble?" Scrooge snorted, "That's nice, but it's obviously super cursed."
"No, it's not!" Glomgold denies.
All of a sudden, a kraken tentacle shoots out of the water, wrapping itself around the short duck.
"Curse you, McDuck!" he screams out as he gets dragged away.
"Will he ever let this one-sided rivalry go?" Elliot thought aloud, "It's so infuriating."
Donald makes his way off the submarine, stomping his way to Scrooge.
"Now, Donald, don't-"
"Stop," Donald interrupts, "I admit I'm a little overprotective."
"A little?!" Louie hysterically comments.
"No matter what I do, these boys will get into trouble," the uncle continues, voice full of the emotions of a father, "so maybe you could teach them how to get out of trouble."
"Uncle Donald?" Huey asks, full of excitement.
"It might be okay if the boys saw you every once in a while," Donald concluded.
"At the mansion?" Elliot questions.
"Sometimes," he warns,"like birthdays or federal holidays. Nothing too-"
Before Donald could finish, there was a huge explosion behind the group. They all turn to glare at Dewey, who was smiling nervously back at them
"Ooh! I may have left the engine running in the houseboat," the blue clad duck informs.
"I may have a dozen or so spare bedrooms in the mansion," Scrooge offers.
Donald chuckles in acceptance, and the boys start to cheer. Elliot smiled at the sight, looking forward to having a relationship with her cousins.
-----------------------
"Be careful with the levers LP," Elliot intructs as Launchpad uses a crane to place Donald's broken boat into the pool.
"Easy," Donald yelped, "A little to the left. No, no, no, no!"
The boat falls into the water, soaking the duck in a huge wave of water.
"Did I do it good Ellie?" Launchpad asks the duck next to him.
"I think you did marvelous mate," she praises her newfound friend, her British accent becoming more prominent as she laughs aloud at the scene before her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello everyone! I ended up combining the chaps now instead of later, and I'll be updates this book by the episodes. This will make chaps way longer (up to 2000 words!), but I don't plan on having a schedule for this. I like to write leisurely, and not thinking of deadlines really help to get my creative juices flowing. Until next time, and I hope to see you soon in the next chap!