Louie's POV

"N-No... This can't be right... Y-You horrid creature...!" Huey growled, becoming unbelievably angry that this horrible mutated Terra-Firmian monster ate our Uncle Scrooge.

Uncle Donald rolled up his sleeves, definitely ready for a fight. "It's time to put my past adventuring experience to the maximum for this battle. We're going to save you, Uncle Scrooge!" He declared with the utmost confidence. When it comes to protecting and saving his family, he definitely shines in that field.

"We're gonna make you pay for making them lose a family member! Right, Dewey?" Webby exclaimed out of outrage and determination as she looked over at Dewey.

Dewey ROARED, clearly looking for some vengeance against their ferocious enemy. "YEAH! I gotta warn you, you dew NOT want to mess with us, you filthy monster!" He threatened with a glare.

I inwardly roll my eyes. Even in a heat of a very serious moment, he still can't resist to make a pun off of his very own name.

As for myself, I'm trying my best to stay calm here, but inside, I'm flat-out terrified. Thank goodness Lena is here in my shadow right now, currently comforting me.

"You're really gonna let this monster terrify you? Lou, I believe in you outsmarting that monster and kicking its butt!"

I smiled softly as I looked down at my glowing blue shadow. "Thank you, Lena. I'll try to keep my calm now." I promised. Lena smiled back with a hint of sweetness. After that, I looked back up to see a huge battle unfolding.

Dewey and Webby ran all around the creature, hoping to distract it. Donald ran all over the place, looking for a way to hit the monster. And Huey tried looking around for some rocks to throw at it, in hopes of hurting it to some extent.

That leaves only me, and I have yet to come up with a battle strategy.

Think, Louie, think! There must be some way to help out in this battle!

My thoughts said, as it swirled around in my head. I looked around the area carefully, hoping to find something useful. Then my eyes landed on a rocky stairway. I let my eyes follow up the stairway path, wondering where that path ends. Once I saw the end of the path, I saw an already closed net trap that is full of big rocks, which is hanging from the ceiling not far from the end of the rocky path, and it happens to be hanging above the monster.

That's when I figured out the solution: There must be a mechanism at the end of the path that can disable the net trap and let the rocks go, hurting the monster...and maybe even defeat it!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, greenie?"

A familiar blue shadow glowed next to me once again, and immediately nodded my head.

Yes, I am. I'm going to stop this monster now!

Lena chuckled happily. I can tell that she's liking this plan already.

"I'm glad to see you got a plan. I'll light a way for you so you'll easily get through the rocky stairway without slipping, alright?"

I smiled happily after hearing this from her. She's so nice!

Alright! Thank you so much, partner!

"No problem, partner."

And with that, I started climbing the rocky stairway to the top, with a comforting glow from my loving blue shadow, hoping to reach the top before any more disasters can happen. Occasionally, I look back down to the raging battle near me, trying to see what's going on.

Donald decided to zip all around the monster, distracting it in the process. Dewey and Webby managed to wall-jump back and forth near the monster, punching and kicking it every time they come in contact with it. And Huey simply threw rocks at the monster, increasing the pain.

I sighed in relief, glad that they are safe for now, as I continued to climb up the rocky stairway. When I made it to the halfway point of the rocky stairway though, I gasped as a sudden loud roar shook the cave. I almost slipped, but I held on to the rocky stairway, making sure not to fall. That moment alone already gave me anxiety...but of course, things went from bad to worse.

The monster seemed like it had enough of my allies' attacks, so the first thing it did was to fall over backwards and squash Donald, which unfortunately succeeded because at that very moment, Donald was on its back. Then it grabbed him and threw him to the side. Now he's definitely out like a light...

Next, the monster quickly got up and it caught Dewey and Webby off guard by grabbing them before they can initiate another attack. After that, it quickly threw them at the wall hard, knocking the pair out as well.

And finally, the monster waddled over to Huey and simply threw a large boulder at him, seemingly squishing him as it landed on him.

I screamed out of anguish from seeing my loved ones get hurt. This definitely didn't help my current anxiety. In fact, the stress is now piling up inside me. Oh gosh, if only Uncle Scrooge wasn't eaten by that monster...

By that point, a familiar and soothing voice echoed in my head:

"Louie, I know that all of these unfortunate events are stressing you out right now—heck, even I am a bit stressed out—but don't worry, I'm still here with you. That monster will never take you away from me, and that's a fact. Just please regain the motivation to continue on and defeat this monster while I'll continue to light the way. Together, we can put the end to this horrible situation for good. And remember, your family and I will always believe in you, Louie."

After hearing Lena's whole speech, I took it into consideration, and after a few seconds of that, I nodded. You know that Lena's speech is dead serious when she calls you by your real name instead of the usual nicknames by the end of said speech.

"You're right, Lena. Together, we can do this. Now, let's go!" I declared as I started to climb the latter half of the rocky stairway while following the reassuring light that Lena is giving out. During that climb, Lena only uttered this:

"Now that's the spirit, greenie. Go on and continue being awesome. I know you will."

Needless to say, my heart definitely felt like it could melt from her sweet words.

After that climb, I reached the top and immediately started looking around for some solutions. From what I can see, there's some scissors that's been laying on the ground, seemingly abandoned, and there's some rope that leads the way to a closed net trap that's holding the heavy rocks. Now, why would these objects be here on the top of the rocky stairway, unless they connect to the solution...?

DING!

A figurative light bulb popped into my head as I figured out a simple solution: I quickly grabbed the scissors and simply used it to cut the leading rope. The result?

Well, that action made the net trap drop like a bag of rocks (quite literally in this case) and it fell right on top of the monster, burying it in rocks.

I cheered after seeing the desired results, with Lena cheering along with me. It's finally over! Now I can finally take a deep breath and feel relaxed again...

From that point on, I found a (surprisingly smooth) rock slide and slid down all the way to ground level. "Woo-ooooooo!" I continued cheering on the ride down. Once I made it to ground level, I started checking on my family and their health...well, I would have, but a shiny object has caught my attention.

That shiny object happens to be located behind the rock pile (and therefore, behind where the monster used to be). Intrigued, I walked a little closer to investigate this shiny object...and I gasped out of pleasant surprise.

The shiny object turned out to be an amazing treasure! And not only that, but this could possibly be the second treasure that Scrooge is hoping to look for on this whole world trip! Oh, but the excitement doesn't stop here! This specific treasure seems to be "The Lost Crystal of Terrafirmia", the treasure that I had heard so much about! Now I'm finally gonna have this treasure all to myself! Feeling excited, I ran over to my well-deserved price, not wasting any time on getting my hands on this treasure...

...When I suddenly fell down face-first and felt myself getting pulled back.

I instinctively grabbed onto a nearby pillar (which is sitting near the treasure, thank goodness) and looked up to see that my leg got caught on a snare trap. Geez, how many traps did these people set in hopes of catching that monster Terra-firmian?

And of course, as if my life was a dramatic story (if it was, I definitely would blame some writer who came up with this turn of events), the monster Terra-Firmian decided that getting buried by rocks was 'tis but a mere scratch, according to that creature, because it busted out of its rock burial, looked at me, and slowly moved towards me, clearly intending to end me for what I have done to it.

I gulped nervously and then began to struggle against the pull of the snare trap, trying my best to hold on to the pillar while reaching for the green crystal, knowing that by touching the crystal, Lena could retrieve some more powers, just like with the last treasure.

The pressure from this whole situation absolutely does not feel good though, because even the tiniest mistake could be lethal. I could lose grip and get suspended upside down, leaving myself a sitting duck (pun not entirely intended) for the monster. The monster could simply catch up to me and eat me on the spot. The treasure probably wouldn't even give the correct powers that would defeat the monster for good. Oh, this is all too much for me to take...

"Remember my inspiring words, Louie? Please take them to heart, Louie. My belief in you will never go away, no matter what."

As if the speech itself was a power-up, I felt myself regain my strength after hearing Lena's rousing speech. I decided to better die trying than do nothing at all.

So I tried my best to pull myself up past the pillar, in hopes of getting close enough to touch the treasure. It took a lot of effort, and I actually almost slipped a few times, which gave me a little bit of anxiety, but after all that, I managed to pull myself up past the pillar.

Then I pushed myself from the pillar and quickly held on to the crystal. Once again, I felt a weird sensation that I got the last time I touched an important treasure for the world trip. That's definitely a good sign.

I looked up to my beloved shadow to see that she's glowing a little more than before. Another good sign! I started to smile as I heard Lena's joyous cheering after I accomplished my goal.

"Woohoo! I can feel my some of my powers return to me, slowly but surely!"

"I'm so glad to hear that, Lena! Congratulations!" I said happily, trying my very best to ignore my current perilous situation.

"Thank you, greenie! Alright, now that I'm starting to get some of my powers back... Try letting go now."

I gasped as I looked up to Lena in shock. "Huh? What about my current problem?" I asked nervously as I still held on to the crystal, starting to feel my grip slipping.

"Don't worry, I have a plan for that. Once you let go, I'll DEFINITELY make sure that the monster won't hurt you. It'll definitely regret it otherwise."

Then Lena smiles with reassurance, hoping to calm me down so I can go along with her plan. After a few seconds of considering it, I nodded as I smiled back with determination. "Alright. I trust you, sweetheart." I replied with a small blush.

That's when I felt a soft and gentle kiss on my forehead. That kiss felt a little more physical than before, as if the kisses don't feel quite airy anymore. Now it feels more like as if she was actually there to give me a forehead kiss. I think I might have figured out her next power.

I blushed a little more with a shy smile as I heard a soft giggle from her.

"Thank you so much, my precious green bean. The feeling's very mutual. Now, shall we get started?"

I nodded with affirmation. It's time to get this plan started.

I let go of the crystal and let the snare trap pull me away and up into the air, leaving me suspended upside-down, in front of the monster, no less!

The monster looked at me and noticed my current predicament. It then laughed uproariously, thinking that it's going to be easy to kill me now that I'm trapped. It slowly waddled closer to me, licking its lips with anticipation, clearly intending to eat me, just like it ate Scrooge. I started to feel nervous yet again, as my brain can't help but think about the worst outcome for this.

Thankfully, as the monster got close enough and is about to grab me, the green crystal's glow casted a shadow on the monster. Once that happened, Lena immediately took an opportunity to appear in my shadow, get in position, and start her attack.

"This is for hurting my friends and their families!"

She said as she got to the location of the monster's stomach and punched it as hard as she could.

"GRAAAAAGHHHH!"

That definitely upset the monster's stomach, no doubt. It feebly held the stomach in hopes of blocking some punches... Unbeknownst to the creature though, the shadow of Lena moved up to the monster's face, charging up a very magical punch.

"This is for hurting Greenie!"

After she said that, her magical punch reached full power and she threw it at the monster's face.

"GUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAH!"

That knocked the monster out cold as it crashed onto the floor. Lena disappeared at that moment, indicating that she's done attacking. The monster groaned knits state, clearly not wanting to take more pain.

Little did it know that this attack isn't over yet.

The "magical" part of the punch began as the monster's stomach rumbled painfully, and then...

BOOM!

The monster exploded out of existence!

I gasped after witnessing this, not expecting for the attack to end like that. I almost even felt sorry for the creature. Welp, at least it definitely won't hurt us any longer, for good this time.

All that remains in that spot after the monster exploded, is the very exhausted Scrooge. Donald, Dewey, and Webby regained consciousness at that point. Huey used his tools from his backpack to carve his way out of his boulder prison, freeing himself and revealing that the boulder didn't actually squish him, it merely trapped him in there, due to a huge hole underneath the boulder. They all ran over to Scrooge as soon as they saw him and they hugged him tightly, very happy to be reunited with him.

Scrooge felt surprised after sudden hugs from his family, but then he smiled and hugged back, saying, "Aww, I'm very glad to be reunited with you too, laddies."

I smiled as I watched a very heartwarming family moment, almost forgetting about my little plight of still hanging upside down from a snare trap.

Almost.

I cleared my throat loudly and said, "Umm, hey guys, sweet moment and all, but I need some help getting out of this trap over here."

The group turned over to me and Huey said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Louie! We'll help you get down right away!" The rest of the group nodded as they went over to get started on freeing me.

Several minutes later...

After the group helped me get out of the snare trap, we all decided to grab the treasure and made our way out of the underground cave and passage. Once we got out of there and made our way back to the campsite, the sun already began to set at that point. Scrooge decided that this is the perfect time to light up a campfire and tell a story of our underground adventure to Kiki and a trio of tourists that managed to make their way to this campsite.

Those new inhabitants happen to be a family of purple sabrewings, which of consists of two adult male sabrewings and one young female sabrewing. They all seem to be tourists in this area, judging by their touristy garb.

"Whoa, these guys seem like one happy family!" Huey deduced with wonder.

"Yeah, I think we all can see that, Hubert." Dewey replied as he looked at them. They all seem to be having a good time here, telling their own campfire stories, roasting marshmallows, and generally spending time with each other. You know, normal family campfire stuff that you probably did with your non-adventuring family.

One of the two dads then said to their daughter, "Alright, it's time to go now, Violet."

Violet looked back at her dad as she asked, "But dad, can we at least wait until Scrooge is done telling their story? It sounds so interesting!" She sounded pretty fascinated as she said that, as if she's really interested in this adventure stuff. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she actually was though. Many people find my family and our adventures very fascinating after all.

The other dad nodded as he answered, "Alright, we'll stay here until Scrooge is finished with this story. I'll be honest, we find it pretty interesting too!" Aha, I knew it. I never met anyone who ever gets bored from listening to Uncle Scrooge's stories.

Huey happened to sit in front of Violet as she said that, and he said, "Are you getting interested in Uncle Scrooge's adventures?"

"Why, of course I am! You learn a lot from those adventures, don't you?" Violet asked with a curious small smile.

"Indubitably! I even learned things that I didn't even know exist during these adventures!" Huey replied back excitedly.

"Then I'm definitely a huge fan of your adventures with Scrooge McDuck and your family." Violet responded as her smile grew bigger.

I happily watched my oldest brother and his new friend bond with each other, happy to see that they possibly might share an interest with each other...that is, until I felt someone ruffling my hair softly and playfully. I turned around to see who did that, only to see that no one's there. A soft and cute giggle, which I heard seconds later, reminded me of the person that most likely just did this to me.

"Hehe, you are so cute, Greenie. Like, how can you possibly be this cute?"

I shrugged as I responded to Lena with, "I have no idea, but I also have no idea how you could be so unbelievably cute as well."

"Touché."

After she said that, she planted a soft kiss on my forehead, which I definitely felt without any doubt now, thanks to her recently increased powers. As a result, my blushing has grew to unexpected heights. I'm pretty sure literally everyone could notice my blushing tomato face right about now, but thankfully, I did. I silently thanked whoever managed to not let people see me like this.

After that, Scrooge finished telling the story and said to us, "Alright, kids, I'm fairly sure you are all very tired after the adventure in the Ugandan temple, and most certainly after the underground adventure. So I'm thinking that we should fly back to Duckburg and land on the beach near my Money Bin. Therefore, I'll be able to easily put away my two recent artifacts, the Ugandan Golden Necklace and the Lost Crystal of Terrafirmia, while the rest of you lads and lassies get to have a genuine break on the beach, aye?"

We all cheered with agreement after Scrooge suggested this, and with that, he smiled and led us all the way back to the Sunchaser, where Launchpad was waiting for us.

After the plane flew up into the air and flew on the path to Duckburg, Lena and I decided to just watch the pretty night sky out from the windows. We definitely would have done thi the whole trip, but these back-to-back adventures had absolutely drained my energy, so I ended up resting on Lena's lap, where she patted my head gently and giggled with amusement. Then I heard her say:

"Good night, my precious cute Greenie!"

I smiled like a cute idiot in my sleep after hearing that from her. I just only hope that no one is taking pictures of this embarrassing, but totally cute and wholesome moment right about now...

(I finally finished the chapter of the story that some of you guys have been requesting! You have no idea how hard it is to get motivation nowadays, but I finally managed to pull through! And as long as I keep this pace going, I think I may finally regain my writing groove again! Please wish me luck for that to happen, guys! QwQ )

(And with that, I definitely hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! ^w^)