grow on trees. As she was inspecting the goodies in her sack, she was distracted by a group of very tall trick-or-treaters carrying extra large candy sacks.

They have neat-o pirate costumes. Hm...they look kinda strange and familiar,she thought to herself as the rough band passed by. One of them dropped his sack. Molly got a peek of several sticks of dynamite before the pirate hurriedly snatched it up. Addressing her doll Lucy, she wondered, “What would Danger Woman do?” She held the doll’s mouth to her ear. “You’re right, Sidekick Lucy. She’d follow the air pirates and see what they’re up to and put a stop to their dastardly scheme.” So, forgetting all about her promise, the little girl trotted after the pirates at a discreet distance, dropping a piece of candy at even intervals so that Kit could follow her trail.

Ten minutes later, the Jungle Aces exited the haunted house.

“That was great!” Oscar shouted.

“Nah, that was the lamest one so far,” Ernie said derisively. “I hear the Bearsley house on Maple Street is better.”

“Let’s go to that one!”

“Yeah!”

Kit wandered back to where he had left his sister only moments before. “We’re ready to go, Molly. Short Stuff?” The boy searched the nearby bushes. “This is no time to play hide-and-seek!” he retorted angrily. “Molly, come out right this instant! You come out, or you won’t get your candy bar!” His anger turned to fear when no little golden cub dressed as Danger Woman jumped out of the shrubbery. “Molly? Omigosh!” He became increasingly scared as he thought of what his parents would say when they found out that he had lost his sister. He would be grounded for life! “Oh, man, am I in big trouble!”

“What’s the holdup, Kit?” Felix asked.

“Molly’s missing,” Kit replied, casting a panicked gaze up and down both sides of the street.

Ernie frowned, saying sarcastically, “Swell. I knew it was a bad idea to bring a little kid with us. Let me guess, now we have to waste time looking for her.”

Kit squared his shoulders, his eyes narrowing at Ernie. Sometimes Ernie could be such a jerk. “No, you guys go on ahead. I’ll find Molly by myself. She’s my sister and my responsibility.”

“Want any help?” Oscar offered.

“Nah, she’s probably trick-or-treating down the street. I’ll find her and catch up with you later.” Kit feigned nonchalance, but his eyes were filled with worry.

Oscar cast a concerned backwards glance over his shoulder as he joined the Jungle Aces. “Sure, um...see ya around, Kit.”

Kit sat down on the curb to collect his thoughts. If I was Molly, where would I go? She’s gonna catch it when I see her! He saw a piece of candy on the sidewalk. Who would throw good candy away? Looking further to his right, he spotted another piece. And another. And another. Could Molly...? I bet she did! Here’s Lucy’s hair ribbon! Amazed and relieved at Molly’s foresight to leave a trail, he raced down the sidewalk, following the trail of sweets. He laughed to himself. “Now I know what Hansel and Gretel felt like.”

Back at the Pilot’s Halloween Ball

Rebecca was finding it increasingly difficult to control her temper as the night crawled on. Her head throbbed with the beat of the blaring jazz music. The whalebone ribs sewn into her costume bodice cut into her back and made it difficult to breathe. The hot, crowded ballroom and the rowdy partygoers didn’t help with her headache, or her mood either. She wished that she could get her husband alone somewhere quiet for just five minutes to tell him that they were expecting a baby. But to her increasing aggravation, he’d been chatting nonstop all evening. In addition to that, there was a multitude of people assembled around their table. It seemed that Baloo was an extremely popular pilot. She gritted her teeth as she watched him blatantly slurping his ice cream topped with hot fudge, peanuts, candy corn, and popcorn. None of the lectures she had given him about table manners had sunk in.

“Baloo, company manners,” she hissed, nudging his elbow.

He ignored her and continued to gobble while loudly talking.

Rebecca’s ears perked up as the band switched to a slow, slightly quieter song. Tugging on her husband’s sleeve, she said, “Let’s dance.”

Baloo brushed her off. “Later, Becky. I’m right in the middle of somethin’ here.” He turned back to the crowd of pilots clustered around their table. They were all completely enthralled by the big bear’s tale - Baloo’s favorite kind of audience. “Where was I? Oh, yeah. The best part. Hee-hee. I did my famous Baloo Barrelhouse Backwards Roll, an’ those pirates started droppin’ like flies. Then Kit...” He excitedly rambled on about one of his recent adventures. He gestured wildly with his spoon, causing a dollop of vanilla ice cream to land in Rebecca’s lap.

“Why me?” Rebecca sighed in exasperation, dabbing at the melting ice cream.

Meanwhile

A little figure dressed as Danger Woman shadowed the pirates across the city, down to the secluded cove where the multimillionaire’s yachts were moored. Seeing Don Karnage and his group halt by the water’s edge, Molly crept closer, making sure to drop a few pieces of candy on the sidewalk for Kit to follow.

Don Karnage was saying, “This time we can’t fail if you sea slugs follow my directions to the teaspoon.”

The pirates murmured assent.

“We’ve gotta get closer, Lucy. I can’t hear anything.” Molly crawled through the grass and hid under a wooden bench along the boardwalk. Her paper sack crinkled when she tucked it in beside her.

“Vat vas dat?” Dumptruck, a hulking grey canine, asked in a thick Norwegian accent. He perked up his ears. “Sounded like a candy sack.”

Pulling her knees up to her chest, Molly made herself as small as possible. The pirates looked around, but weren’t smart enough to check under the bench.

Karnage backhanded Dumptruck’s cheek. “Get your hearing checked, you hulking fleabag!”

Molly breathed a sigh of relief.

Karnage jumped onto the bench. Gesturing to the Spruce Moose with his sword, he said, “This time our pilot enemies have done me, the dread pirate Don Karnage, a big party favor.”

He was rewarded with blank stares.

“Do not you simpleton minds know? Do I have to spell it out for you?”

More blank stares.

“We don’t know how to spell,” Hal, an overweight orange feline, admitted, cringing as he waited to be slapped.

All of the pirates nodded in agreement.

Karnage threw up his hands in resignation. “Ah, very well. Every pilot in Cape Suzette is here tonight in one single, very convenient place. It is as you say - one stop pilot shopping. Hee-hee! Here is my genius plan. But would you expect anything but genius from me? Half of you surround the Spruce Moose and cut off its power supply. The other half of you will detain anyone who tries to get on the Spruce Moose. Half of that half will climb into the plane and plant dynamite on the plane. The other half of that half will hold the pilots inside hostage. Then, we will light the dynamite. Boom! Poof! Bye-bye, annoying-type pilots! Hee-hee! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Under the bench, Molly caught her breath with fright and anger. She frowned up at Karnage through the bench slats and hugged Lucy closer.

“Say what?” Mad Dog whined, scratching his head in confusion. All of the other pirates shared his confused expression..

“Is it not clear as muddy water, eediots? Keell the pilots so that they cannot stop us from plundering Cape Suzette!”

“But if the plane blows up, von’t ve be killed, too?” Dumptruck asked timidly.

Seething with anger, Karnage said with forced patience, “Not if you jump out of the plane before it goes ka-blooey, you fools!” He slapped the nearest pirates across the snouts, who shrank away from Karnage. “Hurry it up to the point, and put my most brilliant plan into action!” The wolf sank onto the bench, crossing his right leg perpendicularly over his left knee. “I will wait here until you storm the plane, and then I will make my grand entrance!”

Molly peered up at Karnage, wishing that she had a fork to jab him with. Helplessly, she watched the horde of pirates advance towards the Spruce Moose where her parents were. She wanted to do something, but didn’t know what to do. If she tried to warn her parents, she would have to sneak on board the nightclub, most definitely be caught by the air pirates, and probably be killed. But she couldn’t stay here and do nothing. Everything seemed hopeless. Then she saw... “Kit!” she whispered, gesturing to her brother furiously.

Kit cautiously slunk over to the bench and crouched beside his sister. “Don Karnage,” he mouthed silently, pointing up.

Molly nodded with wide eyes.

Kit grabbed Molly’s hand. The cubs sprinted to a nearby oak, where they sank to their knees and peeked at the pirates around the large trunk. They were greatly relieved; they hadn’t been seen by anyone.

“What’s going on, Molly? Why did you run off like that?” the boy said sternly. “What are the air pirates doing here?”

Molly choked out her entire adventure from the time when she first saw the pirates to the present. “They’re gonna kill Mommy and Daddy! We’ll be orphans, Kit! I don’t wanna be an orphan and live in an orphanage!”

The very thought of being an orphan again sickened Kit. He’d only had parents for a few months, and if he lost them at the hands of a cheap crook like Karnage... Kit pushed that awful thought from his mind. “We won’t be. I promise.” Kit hugged his little sister. Her paper candy sack crunched between them. Thoughtfully, he pulled a Tootsie Roll out of the sack and tossed it in the air. After staring at it in his palm for a second, he broke into a grin. “I’ve got a plan, but we’ve gotta hurry!”

Molly trotted after Kit as he ran into town. “Are we gonna tell the police?”

“Yeah, and get some more special ‘ammunition’.” This is a plan so

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