Britches.”

“No?”

Baloo smirked again. “No, the important thing is… with her gone all day, my day is free. I’m only sorry that the Sea Duck’s engine had a little problem with it that stopped me from delivering my cargo on time.”

“I didn’t know the Sea Duck had engine trouble?” Kit said curiously.

Baloo laughed. “Neither did I, but it will do when I get Wildcat to check it. He’ll be on it for hours, trying to find the trouble.”

Kit sighed, shaking his head. “All right, Poppa Bear. You wanna get Miss Cunningham’s ire up, that’s your funeral. I’m gonna go take Molly out for an ice cream.” Kit picked up his homework, and prepared to go get his young charge. “Do you need anything?” he checked.

Baloo shook his head, as he replied, “Nah, Kit.” He patted the side of his chair. “Only thing I need is right here. Me, my duff, and this chair are gonna be spending a lot of long overdue quality time together for the next few hours. So go out and have a good time, I’ll catch ya later.” Baloo leaned back on the chair, making it creak in protest, shuffled himself comfortably into it, and almost immediately started his chorus of snores.

Kit rolled his eyes.

As he ran outside, he heard the chair creak loudly, and thought for one insane moment that they sounded like muffled screams…?

By Nicholas Killpack

Colour By Kitsume

* * * * *

The Iron Vulture; Sunset:

A spark, a flash, a puff of smoke, and Don Karnage was once more in the safety of his ship. But he was definitely NOT a happy pirate… and neither was his face. 

“Ohhh,” Karnage staggered about for a bit. His face looked as though it had been squeezed in a vice. The shape of his head looked like a pickle. He shook his head a few times, and then stuck his thumb in his mouth and blew, popping his head back into place.

“WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR YOU TO GET ONE SIMPLE WISH RIGHT???!!!!” Karnage screamed at the quivering Genie.

“You-you-you said you wanted to be visible, but not be noticed, and to always be close to Baloo… ” The Genie kept far away from his master as possible, as Karnage’s hand was dangerously close to his sword.

Karnage hissed, as he forced his temper down. “Do you have any idea of what I’ve just been through today?” he stuttered. “Thanks to your wish-granting, I spent the entire day trapped in the form of a cushion on a chair, with Baloo sitting on top of me, his gigantic weight almost crushing me! It’s a miracle that I am still alive. Thank Heaven that cushions have no need to breathe.”

The Genie held his arms up apologetically. “Forgive me, master, but as I warned you… With wishes, you have to be extremely specific. Otherwise, whatever you wish for may go either way. For example, in this wish, everything you asked for came true, you just didn’t specify in what form you wanted the wish to be in. You said you wanted to be visible, yet not be noticed, so it made you into one of the furniture. You wanted to be close to Baloo at all times, so you became the furniture that he uses the most frequently.”

“Yes, and now thanks to you,” Karnage spat. “I have spent more than enough time with the enormous bear, and learnt absolutely nothing! Except for how many times he snores in an hour, and the fact that he needs to loose about 500 pounds of weight!”

The Genie shrugged. “Well, the thing with wishes is learning. You made a mistake with your last couple of wishes, so you learn from them and make sure that you don’t repeat it the next time.”

Karnage thought about that, and after a few moments he finally relented, relinquishing to the Genie’s logic. “Fine,” he said. “But no more slip-ups, understood?!”

The Genie crossed his heart and help up his hand. “Whatever you wish for, I grant.”

“Fine!” Karnage paced the room. “Okay, I have had enough of the camouflage for the moment. I have been beaten up, stepped on, sat on, used as a chest of drawers, and to top it off, I have so far learnt nothing new of these priceless gems that Baloo is planning to transport. So what am I to do?”

He paced the floor up and down for a few moments more, until even the Genie was beginning to feel dizzy. Finally, he stopped.

“Okay, since none of my other attempts at being specific have been successful, I will attempt to keep the wish simple and clear,” Karnage said, clearing his throat. “I wish to be near Baloo at all times,” Karnage said simply. “But of course I do not wish for him to know that I am his enemy, and no more being turned into furniture, okay?”

“Of course,” the Genie rolled his eyes. “Is that it?”

“Simple and straight to the point is the way to go, as my Papa always said,” Karnage replied. “I know that it’s past sunset so just arrange it so that the spell takes affect immediately tomorrow morning.”

The Genie blew his fingers. “As you wish, Big K,” he confirmed. “But you know, just because it’s… “

“Get on with it!” Karnage said exasperated, feeling tired after the long day, and wanting to rest.

“Ishka-bibble, Ishka-boo… “ the Genie said hurriedly, “…to Baloo’s side, as Little Britches, off you go!”

“Little Britches…?” Karnage started to ask, but the genie was gone before he could ask.

* * * * *

Day 3; Sunrise; Somewhere:

Karnage gave a big yawn, as he awoke, smacking his lips together.

“Well, then,” he sighed, preparing to get up. “Better get up and… What in blazes?!” he shrieked, as there was some kind of mist around him.

When the mist cleared away, Karnage looked around and saw to his surprise that he wasn’t on his ship, or at Higher for Hire, as he would have expected… but in some kind of forest?

He looked at the plants surrounding him. A lot of the vegetation looked like tropical plants, like he had seen in jungles, but that was impossible. He had wished to be at Baloo’s side, so what would Baloo be doing in a jungle of all places?

He rubbed his hands down his front, and discovered to his shock that he was wearing almost nothing… literally almost nothing, not even his own natural fur-coat. He was wearing a rag of cloth that was tied around his waist, but that was all. His clothes, and even all his fur, aside from a mop of black hair on top of his head, were all gone. His skin felt as smooth as a newborn pup, and was a brownish-gold colour.

“Well, that shouldn’t take too long,” a voice suddenly spoke up from somewhere.

Karnage looked up in the direction of the voice, but could see nothing, when…

“Now it’s like this, Little Britches,” Baloo’s voice suddenly sounded.

Karnage’s head snapped around to see Baloo grinning right down at him, also wearing nothing… except he was wearing absolutely nothing???

“EEK!” Karnage squeaked, and thought, ‘Don’t tell me he’s joined a nudist colony?’

Baloo more or less looked the same, minus the whole being naked part, but for some reason he looked even fatter than he usually did. His butt looked like he had had one, or most likely ten, too many milkshakes, and… Since when did Baloo have a tail???

Baloo continued talking, kneeling down to him, and then rising. “All you gotta do is… “ He clapped his hands together, which now seemed to possess some rather long, and razor-sharp looking claws.

“Look for the,” Baloo sang, “Bear necessities, the simple Bear necessities! Forget about your worries and your strife…!“

* * * * *

Sunset; Back at The Iron Vulture:

A flash of light, a puff of smoke, and Karnage reappeared in his own quarters where the Genie was waiting for him.

“What in God’s name was all that about?!” Karnage demanded.

“What was what about?” the Genie asked him back.

“That wish,” Karnage growled. “I asked to be at Baloo’s side at all times, and you send me into the 5thdimension!”

“Weren’t you with him?”

“Yes and no,” Karnage frowned. “It was definitely Baloo, but at the same time it wasn’t… For starters, I was nowhere near Cape Suzette, and I still have no idea where I was. I was living like a wild animal, but I was… I don’t know precisely what I was, but I was definitely not my glorious handsome self. And Baloo was dressed… Well, not dressed is the more accurate term, as he had no clothes on. He was bigger than I remember, but apart from that he was the same Baloo I’ve had the distress of knowing… And he kept referring to me as Little Britches and Mowgli, for some reason?”

The Genie shrugged. “Hey, you said you wanted to be near Baloo,