The Beginning Part 2 By Staci "Windsurfer" Faulkenberry Page 9 Presently, Louie's place loomed in the horizon. Baloo skillfully brought the Sea Duck in for a landing and tied her to the dock with great care while Louie's apes swarmed over her, washing the windshield and checking the engines. One of them called down to Baloo, "Hey! Don't you think this is a little girlish for you, Baloo!"
Baloo frowned, "Wasn't my idea, Montgomery!"
Turning, he led the cubs up the dock and into Louie's place. The interior was dark compared to last night. Only a few tiki torches were lighted, and the place was virtually deserted.
"Baloo, these stewardesses get younger and prettier every year!" turning, the three bears saw Louie swinging over the bar. He landed in front of Molly and shook her hand. She stared at the orangutan, fascinated.
"I thought Molly, here might like one of your world famous Krakatoa specials, Louie," said Baloo.
Molly's face lit up and she eagerly asked, "Oooh! What's that?"
Louie leaned close, as if he were disclosing a secret, "Why just the most de-boppin' licious sundae you ever tasted!" Scooping the girl up in his long arms, he planted her on a barstool, then swung behind the bar and started scooping ice cream into a dish, singing the whole time. Molly giggled. Baloo and Kit's friend was silly!
Baloo and Kit watched for a few moments. Finally deciding that Louie was doing a good job distracting Molly, he leaned towards Kit and whispered, "Now, where's that ol' treasure?"
Kit smiled, "Follow me."
He led the bear across the bar and up the flight of stairs. Kneeling down, he removed an ordinary-looking box and paused for effect.
"Oh, man! I feel a fortune comin' on!" asserted Baloo excitedly, rubbing his hands together.
Kit opened the box and removed the glowing red jewel.
Baloo stared at it in surprise. It was even better than he'd hoped. "Well pop my peepers!" he murmured. "It's a beaut!"
Downstairs, Louie had finished with the Krakatoa special and was adding his finishing touch: four sparklers sticking out of the top of the mounds of ice cream and toppings.
"Here ya go, cutie pie!" he said, placing the dish before the young bear cub with a flourish. "One Krakatoa special!"
Molly was agog. She'd never seen anything quite like it in her entire life! "Ooh," she breathed, holding Lucy up for a look. Then, she put the doll aside and took up the spoon Louie placed before her. "Sorry, Lucy, but there's not enough here for the both of us."
Eagerly, she dug her spoon into the concoction and lifted it, dripping and gooey, into her mouth. Louie watched with a little smile on his face as his customer enthusiastically devoured the dish. She was getting ice cream and sauce all over her face!
"Psst!" Louie turned to find Baloo beckoning to him from the other end of the bar. Curious, he ambled over to find Baloo holding a large red stone. To the inexperienced eye, it probably looked like it was worth a fortune, but to Louie's experienced eye, he could tell it wasn't quite what it seemed.
"Hey, Louie. Could you give us a bead on this bauble? Like, what's it worth?" asked Baloo, handing the stone to the simian.
Louie made a show of getting out his magnifying glass and looking at the jewel from every angle, oohing and ahhing the whole time.
"Yowza!" he finally exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah!" his friend was rubbing his gray paws together excitedly. "Like, how much is 'yowza?'"
"In round numbers!" added the boy.
"Nothin' cuz," Louie replied, examining the jewel again before flipping it back to Baloo. "It's not a jewel."
Baloo couldn't believe his ears. "Nuthin??"
"Nada, zero, zilch!" confirmed Louie. "It's man-made, man."
Baloo slammed the stone into the nearest garbage can.
Kit looked upset, too. "I'm sorry, Baloo," he said, downcast.
The two bears made their way over to the nearest table and sat there for several minutes, each lost in his own thoughts.
Kit finally broke the silence. "I still don't get it," he said, resting his chin in his hands. "If the rock's worthless, why did Karnage steal it from Shere Khan?"
Baloo sat up and looked at the cub in surprise. "Shere Khan?" he repeated.
Kit nodded, "Karnage lifted it from one of Khan's planes."
Baloo's face took on a crafty look and he murmured. "Z'at a fact?"
Standing up, the bear lumbered over to the trashcan to find Molly staring in at the now-glowing stone. She'd been finishing up when she'd noticed a bright red glow coming from the trashcan. Snagging Lucy, she'd gone to investigate and found a large red jewel.
"Pretty," she said just as Baloo walked over and eased his hand into the basket.
"'Scuze me a second, hon," the bear said, grasping the stone.
He let go quickly, however, when the thing zapped him, sending him crashing into the table behind him. He sat there for a moment, stunned while Kit, Molly, and Louie looked on in surprise. Shaking his head, he lurched to his feet and staggered back over to the basket, gingerly lifting the stone out and holding it up to the light.
"Maybe this thingy is worth something after all," he told Kit.
Kit nodded, looking a little stunned himself that such a small thing could pack such a large punch. Molly just looked on in bemusement. What did Baloo and Kit want with that pretty rock?
Baloo made small talk with Louie as he stashed the stone in his pocket. Then, turning to the two cubs, he said, "Time to go!"
The three bears and the orangutan made their way to the door. Business was slow, and Louie was bored, so he decided to follow his friend to his plane to see what he was planning on doing with that worthless rock. He'd thought he'd heard that kid who'd trashed his bar yesterday saying that it belonged to Shere Khan, but he couldn't be sure.
Up ahead of him, Baloo was talking animatedly to Kit about paying a visit to Shere Khan, himself, when they got back to Cape Suzette. Louie spared a moment to wonder what such a rich cat like Khan would want with a synthetic stone that had no intrinsic value whatsoever. The man was ruthless, only out for money.
Molly's voice interrupted the trio. She'd been trailing behind them, looking at the island and sky as she walked up the dock and she'd seen a bunch of black specks coming towards them.
"Look! Birdies!" she exclaimed. She'd always liked birds. They were so pretty and colorful and they looked like they had so much fun soaring through the clouds. Molly wished that she could fly like a bird.
A split second later, she was proven wrong. Bullets rained down upon them. Baloo turned and scooped up the golden bear cub, shielding her with his body and yelling, "Kit! Get in the Duck! Louie, take cover!"
Molly clung to Baloo's shirt as he hustled inside his plane. She saw that Baloo's friend, Louie had already taken refuge in the little refueling station in front of his bar. Baloo tossed Molly over to Kit, who fastened a seat belt around them both as Baloo prepared for takeoff.
Karnage swooped down on his victims in his CT-37. That boy had eluded him in the jungle, and he was none too happy about it, since it had detracted from his image of absolute authority even more. He and Maddog and Dumptruck had made it back to the Iron Vulture late last night and all three had been filthy and a bit worse for wear. The gorilla birds had kept them running for the better part of two hours. By the time they'd given the birds the slip and retraced their steps to the clearing, the boy had been gone, the only evidence that he'd been there being the ropes and two sets of footprints leading off into the brush.
Snarling inwardly, he stared down at the plane and did a double take. What had happened to it? Why was there a smiling face on the nose and rainbows on the rudders? Had that pilot lost his marble cakes? The plane was altogether sickening to Karnage's cutthroat sensibilities.
'So,' he thought. 'They thought they could fool me with an unstylishly clever disguise, did they?'
With a snarl, he grabbed the mike and snapped, "Attack!" to his men.
Two at a time, they swooped down on the prone seaplane, showering it with bullets and keeping it from taking off.
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