A few minutes later, two breathless cubs burst into the nearest police precinct five blocks away.“Air pirates...at...the...the Spruce Moose!” Kit gasped out.

“And a happy Halloween to you, sonny,” one police officer - an alligator - chuckled. He believed that the children were playing a prank.

“Nice try, kids!” A second policeman - a brown, mustached canine - raised his coffee mug in an impromptu toast.

“It’s for really true!” Molly cried.

“Run along, kiddies; we don’t have any candy,” a porcine policeman said in an Irish accent.

“Because you ate it all, O’Malley.”

The officers, except plump O’Malley, roared with laughter.

Kit and Molly plodded out of the police station, dejected.

“I hate being little! No one ever believes you,” Molly muttered.

However, Kit refused to be deterred so easily. “Cheer up, sis. You forgot about the second part of our plan.”

Kit with Molly right behind zigzagged through the streets of Cape Suzette towards Maple Street. Seeing his friends emerge from the Bearsley haunted house, he shouted, “Hey, guys! Wait up!”

“What’s up, Kit?” Burt asked.

“What happened to you?” Ernie said.

“Did you find Molly?” Oscar inquired.

“You missed the best haunted house ever!” Sam and Felix exclaimed simultaneously.

“That’s nice,” Kit puffed, “but we’ve got a bigger problem. Karnage and his gang are down by the Spruce Moose.”

Molly nodded, breathing heavily from running. “Lots of pirates. Me and Lucy and Kit saw them.”

The Jungle Aces were stunned. They knew Kit well enough to know that he didn’t lie about things like this. All of his adventures that he had related to them, however outlandish, had been true. After they had gotten over the initial shock, the boys’ tongues loosened in a flood of questions.

“What?”

“Why?”

“How’d they get past the cliff guns?”

“Don’t know,” Kit said. “The police didn’t believe us, so it’s up to us kids to stop them.”

“Us? How?” the Jungle Aces cried in unison.

“Here’s the plan. We’ve go to gather together as many kids as we can, and then we’ll throw candy at them.” Kit knew that his plan sounded lame, but it was the best that he could come up with. He, knowing the air pirates’ limited mentality and their superstitious minds, thought that his plan was feasible in defeating whatever Don Karnage had cooked up. If nothing else, it would distract the pirates and give Baloo a chance to do something.

“That’s not gonna work,” Ernie retorted sarcastically. “What makes you think that pirates with guns and swords will be scared of a few kids?”

Scowling, Molly stalked right up to Ernie and poked him in the chest with every indignant syllable. “Kit knows! Kit used to be a pi...”

Kit clamped a hand over her mouth quickly. His friends weren’t aware that he had been a pirate, and he wanted to keep it that way. “Just...trust me.”

The Jungle Aces looked at each other for a few moments, then broke out cheering.

“Woo-hoo!”

“Let’s do it!”

“Yeah!”

“Jungle Aces to the rescue!”

The Jungle Aces and Molly split up and sped down different streets, recruiting children for their mission. Ten minutes later, a crowd of costumed children swarmed towards the Spruce Moose.

The Spruce Moose

Outside, the pirates had secured the perimeter of the nightclub. The doormen had been clubbed over the head and were tied up, unconscious,  just outside the door of the airplane. Five air pirates shot their grappling hooks to the top of the airplane with a clang and began scaling it. Five more were climbing gingerly up the long, long ladder to the cockpit. All of them had sacks of dynamite and long coils of fuses. It was loud work. The pirates talked amongst themselves as they stomped with heavy footfalls along the boardwalk. Their armament clanked loudly. The noise grated on Karnage’s nerves.

“Will you blundering boneheads make with the quiet!” Karnage hissed fiercely. “How can we take the pilots by surprise with this racket? Sneakity-sneak into the plane!”

Luckily for the pirates, the walls of the Spruce Moose were thick and the band was deafening.

Inside, Rebecca was having anything but a ball at the Pilot’s Ball. Slumped in her chair, she sighed wearily. “I feel as if I’ve landed in one of Louie’s parties only with fancier surroundings.” When the band switched to one of their rare slow songs, she grabbed her husband’s arm, demanding, “Baloo, I’ve waited long enough. We’re going to dance. NOW!”

Baloo knew that she wasn’t to be denied this time. She had that determined glint in her eyes. “S’cuse me, fellas. Me an’ Becky are gonna cut a rug.”

Rebecca dragged Baloo onto the dance floor, which was quickly filling up with couples. Stepping into his arms, she said quietly but firmly, “Listen to me, Baloo. I have something important to tell you.”

“That thing that you’ve been mentionin’ all night? Go ahead. Spit it out, Becky.”

“I will if you stop interrupting me!” She took a deep breath. “We’re going to...”

The band broke into a very fast boogie-woogie number.

“Hey, hey! Now, this is my kind of music. Follow my lead, honey.”

“As if I have a choiiiiiiicccce!” Rebecca shouted when he dipped her. “Baloo!” she giggled.

“If ya liked that, you’ll love this.” He picked her up by the waist and swung her around until happy dizzy butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

“Baloo, we’re going to have a baby.”

“Maybe what, Becky?”

“Baby!” she said more forcefully, enunciating every syllable.“We’re...going...to...have...a...baby!”

“What? Can’t hear ya over the music! Can’t this wait ‘til later?”

“NO! I’VE WAITED LONG ENOUGH! I SAID...” Unexpectedly, the power was cut off, leaving everyone and everything in complete darkness. The band ceased to play. Into the vast silence, Rebecca shouted at the top of her lungs, “I’M PREGNANT!” A hot blush seared her cheeks. Even though she couldn’t see anybody, she knew that they were all staring at her. “Oh, no,” she whispered.

But Baloo was too overjoyed at the news to care about anyone else’s opinion. “You mean we’re gonna have a baby? Whoopee-he-he!” The big bear engulfed his wife in his arms and planted a hearty kiss on her lips. “Why didn’t ya tell me sooner, sweetheart?”

Rebecca grinned wryly. “I tried, but...”

Everyone’s attention turned to the swinging double doors of the ballroom when a heavily accented voice said, “Congratulations. Too bad that the little bundle of joyfulness will never see the sunny light of day. Listen up, you puny, pesky pilots.”

“Don Karnage!” was whispered through the ballroom, inciting scattered frightened shrieks from the females - and a few males.

Gibber appeared behind Karnage carrying a flashlight. A larger-than-life shadow of the pirate captain was cast on the wall. The crowd began inching backwards.

“There is no escaping the horrible, awful, no-goodness that is I, Don Karnage. We, my noble pirates and I, have got you all surrounded-ed and out-numbered. I hope you enjoy the fireworks, because they will be the last you will ever see! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“What makes ya think we’ll give up that easy, Karny?” Baloo growled. He pushed his way through the cowering crowd and charged up to the pirate captain.

“The name is Karnage. Don Karnage. Roll the ‘r’. What can you conceivably do with no weapons? No planes?” The wolf poked the business end of his sharp sword at Baloo’s nose.

“What do you mean by ‘fireworks’, Don Garbage?” Rebecca retorted contemptuously, coming up to stand beside her husband.

“It is Karnage!” he screamed, outraged that they would dare slander his name. “At this very minuet, my men are plastering the plane with TNT.” Karnage chuckled cruelly at the mere thought. “You will all be blown sky high into smithereens!”

A collective gasp spread through the crowd. Rebecca clutched Baloo’s arm.

Sarcastically, Karnage said, “I am especially notgoing to miss you, Bahloo, and your annoying business-type, nosy boss lady. You two have caused me more trouble than you are worth, which is less than something.”

“Baloo, do something!” Rebecca whispered urgently.

“Like what, honey?” Baloo eyed Karnage’s sword.

“Anything!” she whispered impatiently with an accompanied foot stomp. For the second time that night, she wanted to cry. It had been an emotional roller-coaster of a day.

Outside...

The pirates were too busy carrying out their atrocious scheme to notice the drove of children creeping up upon them.

Kit gave orders to them to get ‘his army’ organized. “Okay,” he said, pacing up and down the ranks, “when I say fire, throw your candy at the pirates as hard as you can. Ready!”

Approximately fifty children reached into their candy sacks and pulled out a handful of candy.

“Aim!”

The children drew back their arms in anticipation.

“Candy bombs away!”

“Ow!” yelped Sadie, rubbing the spot on his arm where a piece of hard candy had hit it.

“Ow!” screamed Hacksaw.

“What is that?” Mad Dog whined. “Ow!”

“Ouch! Who’s doing dat?” Dumptruck said angrily.

“I dunno. I can’t...ow!...see,” Mad Dog cried. “Someone turn on the lights.”

“Turn on the lights!” Dumptruck yelled into Mad Dog’s ear, prompting a whiny, “OW!” from the ferret.

“Turn on the lights!” Hal echoed down the docks.

“Turn on the lights!” Hacksaw repeated even further down the docks.

“Turning on the lights!” Jacques yelled.

The Spruce Moose and the surrounding streetlights flamed into brilliance. “Lights are on!” Jacques said.

“Lights are on!” Hal and Hacksaw yelled at the same time.

“The lights are on!” Dumptruck shouted into Mad Dog’s ear.

“I can see that!” Mad Dog spun around to see the children. “Ah! Ghosts and goblins!”

“M...m...mummies!”

“Teenage Mutant Tortoises!”

“Ballerinas!”

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Not ballerinas!” the pirates shrieked.