Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any of its characters. I'm just here to play. Please don't sue me or steal my story. Thanks! :)

NOTE: I've been getting a few requests lately for a sequel to my previous story "Total Reboot." I've actually been thinking a lot about what a sequel to that story might look like ever since I finished writing it. Unfortunately, no good plot ideas have ever really jumped out at me. After the most recent sequel request, though, my thoughts started turning toward Halloween, and the intriguing character Morgana Macawber. And, out of all this thinking sprang an idea for this story! It's not exactly a sequel, but it does feature Elmo and Anita Sputterspark, and Megavolt and Darkwing will eventually have to come together (a la "Frequency Fiends") to investigate a common menace, so it is related. I don't know how long this story will ultimately be at this point, but I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

Darkwing Duck and the Ghoulish Ghost Cat of St. Canard

A Halloween Story by Rowena Zahnrei

Chapter One

The case of the Ghoulish Ghost Cat has its start some twenty-five years ago. It was the eve of All Hallow's Eve...also known as the day before Halloween. Young Drake Mallard had left his home that morning with his prized, limited edition Super Pig lunch box in his hand and high hopes for the school day ahead.

Unfortunately, those hopes were to be dashed the moment young Drake set foot on the playground. Before he had a chance to tell his friends of the genuine, Official Fan Club approved Super Pig costume he intended to don the following night, Drake Mallard found himself cruelly accosted by his schoolyard nemesis: Ham String...

"Drakey is a dweeb! Drakey is a dweeb! Come on, Drakey, say it back to me! Say that you're a dweeb!"

"Knock it off, Ham!" cried nine-year-old Drake Mallard, jumping in place to try to reach the blocky, plastic box the larger pig dangled just out of his reach. "Give me back my Super Pig lunch box!"

"You want it back, you have to say it! You have to tell everyone in school that you're a dweeb," Ham taunted, smiling broadly at the circle of kids who had gathered by the playground slide to watch and cheer him on. One girl, Preena Lot, batted her eyelashes at the hammy young pig and giggled.

"I'm not gonna say it," Drake said, jumping and reaching for all he was worth. "You can't make me!"

Ham started climbing the slide's ladder, holding the disputed lunch box over his head the whole time.

"You have to say it, or I'm gonna smash this stupid lunch box for good," he threatened.

"NO!" Drake shrieked. "Please! It's a collectible!"

"Do it, Ham!" Preena shouted. "Smash the stupid lunch box!"

The gathered kids took up the cry: "Smash it! Smash it!"

"No!" Drake cried, scrambling frantically around and under the slide, trying to stay under his endangered property as Ham held it first over one side of the safety railing, then another. "Don't smash it! Don't smash it!"

"Um, excuse me," a raspy voice piped up from the flat platform at the top of the slide. "Would you mind taking your malicious bullying to some other part of the playground? Some of us are trying to read up here."

The young rat who had been sitting on the platform climbed to his feet to frown at his unwelcome intruder, a thick book tucked under his skinny arm.

"Oh yeah?" The pig bristled, taking a threatening stance at the mouth of the slide. "Why don't you make me, Elmo?"

The young rat's face took on a brief, calculating look.

"Well, OK," he said gamely. "Since you asked."

The pig snorted his amusement.

"You mean, you actually wanna figh— Whoa - what!"

Ham suddenly found himself slipping backwards down the slide, Elmo Sputterspark's heavy book jammed painfully against his stomach.

Noting the startled bully had dropped the disputed lunch box on the platform, Elmo picked it up and held it over the railing's side.

"Here you go, Drake," he said, dropping it into the young duck's relieved arms. Apparently oblivious to the crowd's disappointment, he then looked balefully down at his fallen foe and said, "Um, can someone please hand me up my book? I was hoping to finish Chapter Four before we had to line up for morning attendance."

"You want your book back, Sparky?" Ham snapped, angrily brushing playground sand from his clothes as he climbed to his feet. "I'll give you back your book!"

He lobbed the heavy book at the rat with all his might, but the slide was so high, Elmo had to lean precariously far over the railing's edge to grab its flapping cover.

"Thanks, Ham," he said, flipping through the pages to find his place. "But, please don't call me 'Sparky.'"

The flustered young pig seemed to swell.

"Why you, I oughta—!"

The first bell rang, and the gathered kids ran to take their places on the blacktop behind the third grade line.

"Oh, darn it," Elmo groaned, reluctantly closing his book before sliding down the slide to lope miserably after the rest of his classmates. "That hamfisted Ham String wasted all my reading time!"

"Hey, Spark— I mean, Elmo! Wait up a second!" Drake called, jogging to catch up with him.

"Huh?" the sulky rat said, unaccustomed to other kids greeting him in a voluntary social context. "Oh. Hi, Drake."

"I just wanted to say thanks," the young duck said. "You know, for getting my lunch box back from that jerk."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Things will be different around here when I'm big," Drake said. "You'll see. I'm going to scour the streets of bullying brutes, just like Super Pig!"

"Uh huh."

"You mind if I ask you," Drake said. "What are you always reading up there?"

For the first time, Elmo seemed to actually look at the duck beside him.

"You really want to know?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," Drake said. "I mean, you're up there every morning with those books of yours, and almost every day at recess. I'm curious."

"Nosy's more like it," the rat mumbled, but he obligingly held out his book.

"Normally, I read biographies and scientific works," he said. "I'm particularly fascinated by the disputes over alternating and direct current that arose between the great scientists Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison. But, with Halloween coming up on Tuesday, I've switched topics in favor of the supernatural."

"Ghost Sightings, Alien Abductions, And The Fear Of Things That Go Bump In The Night: A Collection of Objective Studies from the Realms of Psychology, Neurology, and Quantum Physics." Drake sounded out the lengthy title with some difficulty. "Phew! Kinda heavy stuff for third grade, don't you think?"

"I can't help it if hardcover weighs more than paperback!" Elmo retorted, grabbing his book back and shoving it into his backpack as they took their place at the back of the line. "Why must you people continually harp on the size of my books! I should think you'd be more interested in what's inside, but no! No one ever wants to play electromagnetism with me, or hold a mock conference to discuss the laws of thermodynamics! Gah! Is it any wonder I'm forced to sit alone at the top of the slide!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! I didn't mean anything," Drake said. "Sheesh. But, what about that ghost book. Anything good in there?"

Elmo paused to think, cupping his jaw with his hand.

"Well," he said, "there is this one story about some horrifying, ghoulish ghost cat that stalks the streets of St. Canard every Halloween night. But, you wouldn't be interested in that."

"Who says I wouldn't!" Drake exclaimed.

"You mean…" Elmo blinked at him. "You'd actually want to accompany me?"

"Well, sure I— Wait." Drake frowned. "Accompany you where?"

"Why, to observe the horrifying, ghoulish ghost cat with our own eyes, of course!" Elmo said. "According to the book, it's possible this ghost cat is really nothing more than a peculiar weather phenomenon known as St. Elmo's Fire - great name, don't you think?" He grinned. " No one's yet done an actual study, so they can't say for sure. It might be an actual ghost. But, personally, I'd prefer the former to be true. I'd love to see a luminous plasma discharge right up close. Wouldn't you?"

"Well…" Drake hedged.

"Great!" Elmo cheered, his whole face suddenly one beaming smile. "Ha ha! At last! A Dr. Watson to my Sherlock Holmes! Together, we'll uncover what's really behind that ghost cat legend!"

"Hey, hey, hey, wait just one minute!" Drake exclaimed. "If we're gonna do this, I want to be Sherlock Holmes!"

"Roles, once assigned, are not debatable," Elmo stated so quickly it took a moment for Drake to process. By the time he had, it was too late to protest. The rat had already moved on.

"Meet me at my house on Halloween night. Eleven forty-five, sharp!" he said. "My mother will drive us down to the waterfront, where our investigation will proceed at midnight."

"Hold on," Drake said. "You want us to go to the docks at midnight on Halloween night, and your mother is OK with this?"

"She will be if you come along," Elmo said. "She's always saying I need to enhance my social skills. I figure securing a partner in this endeavor should qualify. So, see you then?"

Drake looked deeply conflicted.

"Well…I suppose I can try to sneak out—"

The second bell cut him off, the teachers finished tallying up their attendance sheets, and the entire school began their daily march into the building, starting with the kindergarteners and moving up to the sixth grade.

As he followed Elmo through the door, Drake clutched his lunch box close.

All his life, Drake Mallard had longed for a life of danger and daring heroics, like his hero Super Pig. He'd just imagined that danger would be way off in the future somewhere: a future where he was big and tough and smart enough to handle any foe that crossed his path.

Not a mere day away, hunting a horrible, ghoulish ghost with a weirdo nerd like Elmo Sputterspark…

But, he couldn't back out. Not when Elmo was so set on going. He'd spoken so often of his dreams of becoming a heroic sleuth - how would it look if the science nerd went ghost hunting while he, Drake Mallard, stayed home in his bed?

He really would be Drake the Dweeb.

...But, at least, he'd be a living dweeb.

Drake sighed and looked down at the image on his lunch box.

"What would you do, Super Pig?"

To Be Continued…

References Include - Darkwing Duck: Clash Reunion; Paraducks

What do you think so far? Please review! :D