Moby Duck

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Moby Duck by Sara Goetter and Natalie Riess

Seven years ago, the impossible was chained up in the facility's biggest tank. Part bird, part whale. Moby Duck. They were fools to think such a creature could be contained. After the dust settled, Arrvida Scales took an oath to hunt the abomination!

In the bowels of her ship, Captain Arrvida Scales is recounting her dramatic backstory to her crew, and she would prefer to do it without interruptions. One of her crew has some kind of children’s book. It’s a copy of Creature Monthly, and the reason the kids look so familiar? They took down Alvida Scales last summer. The book had really good intel… and comics. This gives Arrvida an idea to end things for good.

A few weeks later at the public library, the one-year anniversary copy of Creature Monthly is done. It recounts the adventure last summer at Lake Bockamixon when K, Cryptid super-sleuth, Luc, super-prepared for anything, and Penny, super-good at planning, saved the Bawk-ness Monster from an evil cryptid hunting corporation before Penny moved away. Latest edition complete, they’ll hand deliver it to Penny when they spend a few days of vacation together at the beach. K is already planning the next issue though. While they're at the beach, she is planning on Moby Duck hunting. Just the three of them. It’s going to be great!

But, it’s not just the three of them, Penny is bringing her new friend Jo. K is oblivious, probably because Jo isn’t a cryptid, but it’s been cleared with K’s dad who is chaperoning this trip, and Luc has made friends with Jo too while playing Buildy-Guildy online. K does not play Buildy-Guildy. Luc warns K that everyone might want to do other things than hunt Cryptids which blows K’s mind, even her Auntie TK will be at the beach house and she loves cryptids. 

K’s dad, Terry, picks her up from the library laden with her loans. She can’t stop talking about the beach trip and how Auntie TK will be there… but her dad tells her Auntie TK won’t be there… something about the Pacific Northwest. He also reminds K that Penny’s very intense and scary mom has said no Operations or Cryptid-related activities, not even for science. Ugggh. 

One week later, K and Terry are packing up the car when Luc arrives, then Penny with Jo. They’re so happy to be together again and Luc is glad to finally meet Jo IRL, but she is INTENSE  and LOUD. Before they leave, Ronnie, Mrs. Penny’s mom, threatens Terry about looking after Penny and reminds him no Cryptids. Terry and the kids pack themselves into the car and are off. 

On the drive, K is astounded to find out that not only does Jo not have a favorite cryptid, she doesn’t even know what a cryptid is. K is the same about Jo’s enthusiasm for roleplaying games, but does feel put out that she's not included in Jo’s drawing of their Buildy-Guildy characters, Princess Luto, Lobo and Killer Bear. 

They reach the Owen’s Family Beach House, oooooohh! Terry heads in first to tidy up, Auntie TK has left it in a mess which is typical of her. It’s a really cozy family beach house with pictures of K’s family all over the walls, including a rare picture of K with her Auntie TK. K tries to call her Auntie TK, but gets her voicemail. Feeling sad, K remembers seven years ago when the picture of her and Auntie TK was taken at the beach house. K wanted to live with Auntie TK, feeling like her Auntie understood her better, but Auntie TK left for South America the next week. As they stood on the back porch looking out at the sea, they saw a humpback whale and Auntie TK talked about sea Cryptids. 

K continues feeling sad as, in her opinion, she is dragged to the arcade. As she climbs down the porch, she sees a note addressed to her: if you want to know more about Moby Duck, meet me at the Scallywags Docks… and make sure you come ALONE. 

The boardwalk is neat with only three simple rules: have fun, be cool, and no boating. They get ice creams and see seagulls fighting for pretzels on the way to Lucky Chuckie’s Arcade aka K’s idea of Hell. It feels like her eyeball jelly is quivering and her brain is being assaulted by noise. Everyone else is having fun, smashing the games, even her dad who dominates the crane games. With everyone busy, K slips out to Scallywags Dock but Penny sees her leave, grabs Luc and Jo and follows her. 

There is a tall ship moored at the dock but no one is around. In a loud exaggerated voice K says Moby Duck and Arrvida Scales steps out of the ticket hut. Arrvida explains Alvida is her cousin and part of a different branch of Scales Inc., and that she admires K’s scientific publication. She says K reminds her of the great Dr. TK Owens (K’s Auntie!) Arrvida has come to ask K for her help with Moby Duck. It’s at this point Jo arrives screaming “stranger danger!!”

Penny and Luc aren’t far behind, and completely suspicious of Arrvida. Terry turns up then so Arrvida calls for her crew to go for Plan B, involuntary field research! Kidnapping, she’s kidnapping K. But in typical Scales style, it goes wrong and Arrvida’s crew grabs Penny and Luc and presses the big red ‘Boat Go’ button and they’re off while Terry saves K and Jo. 

As K explains what the heck she was doing going to Scallywags Dock alone, a strange green light covers them, then VOIP! K, Jo, and Terry are beamed into an alien Jackalope space ship (they are little green men disguised as Jackalopes complete with rabbit ears, deer antlers and tasteful jorts. We shall respect their disguise and refer to them as Jackalopes). Terry starts having an understandable and relatable freakout and Jo is curious of the creatures in tanks including Le-Guy-Iathan. It being easier to be shown rather than told, the Jackalopes take K, Jo, and Terry further into their ship, Platter Zwoop. They rescue and rehabilitate Cryptids, including Molemaid, the Flat-Sea Monster, a werecrab, and Mothmanta Ray. It’s all very distracting, but luckily the Jackalopes have a presentation. Meanwhile Arrvida Scales is preparing to educate Penny and Luc. (The panels switch between the two groups at this point.)

The Jackalopes and Arrvida Scales are after the same thing: Moby Duck. Arrvida reveals she is Luc’s mom’s cousin which blows his mind, his mom is a lawyer and hates animals. Arrvida is also not going to be using Penny and Luc as live bait, she wants K because K can contact her great aunt, Dr. TK because TK knows how to kill Moby Duck. GASP!

Penny is shocked, no cryptozoologist would kill Moby Duck. Arrvida then points to her eyepatch highlighting how this cryptid is dangerous. Penny and Luc see for themselves as Moby Duck is spotted hunting a Le-shy-iathan. The duck head is cute, but the many sharp pointed tooth mouth of the hairy whale is quite a different matter. Arrvida tells them Moby Duck isn’t a cryptid, but instead, ten years ago, a duck and a humpback whale were combined into an artificial cryptid. It escaped and has been terrorizing the seas since. Moby Duck, being a Scales Inc. creation, Arrvida feels responsible for cleaning up the mess and wants to exterminate the abomination. The Jackalopes want to rescue Moby Duck and let it live out its life in captivity. 

Terry refuses to help the Jackalopes, or get them in touch with Dr. TK Owens because Auntie TK is a weird, unreliable recluse who is never around. This hard truth upsets K and she runs off. Jo is not impressed with K’s dad. Flash back to seven years ago when Auntie TK promised to babysit K but decided to go to South America instead. She wasn't even going to tell Terry about leaving and then dismissed his worries about coping as a single parent. 

Jo runs after K and, unable to escape Jo, K breaks down and tells her she feels like a freak and is being left out because she doesn’t play Buildy-Guildy or read manga, and just wants to go cryptid hunting but her friend got kidnapped by pirates instead, and now her dad hates her because she shouted at him and Jo is annoying because she keeps yelling. Phew! Jo breaks down because K thinks she is annoying. Both start crying, then K suggests they start over. After a lot of questions, Jo tells K how she met Penny eight months ago when she was being bullied but Jo put a stop to that. Jo offers to teach K Buildy-Guildy and K will teach Jo about Cryptids. But first, they need to rescue Penny and Luc… oh look, a room full of Cryptids. K is forming a plan! 

A Jackalope goes over K’s plan. They will beam down onto Arrvida’s ship, secure Penny and Luc, then all be beamed back up, except the Cryptids helping them, they’re sea dwellers so they will just dive into the sea until the Jackalopes can pick them up. As they prepare to beam down, Terry apologizes to K.

Meanwhile, on Arrvida’s ship, her crew are fangirling over Penny, yes the Penny who draws the Creature Monthly comics, and ask for her autograph. Meanwhile, meanwhile, Arrvida reveals her backup plan - a giant harpoon launcher! 

As a storm rolls in, Moby Duck approaches the ship, and the rescue party beams down from the Platter Zwoop. The friends are reunited, Mothmanta-Ray kicks Arrvida on the butt, and Moby Duck is in sight and it’s heading straight for them. It’s chaos on the ship. K and Arrvida are fighting, Terry is trying to drag K away and worrying about what Ronnie is going to do, and Penny and Jo are at the helm. K blows up at her dad, again, because he doesn’t want to be involved in whatever is going on, and it’s then Moby Duck strikes, its large mouth and sharp pointy teeth taking a chunk out of Arrvida’s ship, sinking it. Luckily the Jackalopes VOIP them up to the Platter Zwoop. Arrvida takes aim at Moby Duck. 

Inside the Platter Zwoop it’s chaos because some of Arrvida’s crew were beamed up but K and Luc weren't. Luckily some of the Molemaids have gone after the remaining people and will see them to safety from the storm. This doesn’t reassure Terry, he wants to do more, so the Jackalopes say they could go back to Plan A, contact Dr. TK Owens, but Terry says it’s no good, she doesn’t care. Jo does not accept this and tells Mr. Owens to at least try. Terry will, for K. The Jackalopes pass Terry a communication tech device - it’s technology not just a smart phone!

Meanwhile, the Molemaids have gotten K, Luc, and Arrvida to safety on a deserted island, and thankfully Luc has tape to fix K’s glasses and hair ties, he’s always so prepared! It turns out the island was once inhabited by Scales Inc. and is the same site Arrvida used to work at. It's also the same site responsible for creating Moby Duck. When K and Luc ask why Arrvida is still hunting Moby Duck, she admits that everyone else, including Luc’s mom, had given up and moved on and she is the only one left. K relates to this, thinking about her great Auntie TK who she looks up to but has realized is single-minded and is never there for her family as she’s always chasing the next cryptid. She’s worried she’s going to grow up just like her. Luc makes sure K knows she is nothing like her aunt and that family doesn't define who you are, look at him, related to the Scales! It is time to get their vacation back on track, so they need to deal with Moby Duck. Arrvida is open to K “capturing” Moby Duck.

In the Pacific Northwest, Auntie TK is interviewing Bigtaur when Terry and the Jackalopes call. Surprising no one, Auntie TK knows about the Platter Zwoop. She also tells them that in the beach house is a device she’s been working on to capture Moby Duck. With a VOIP, Terry and a Jackalope pick up the device. Meanwhile, in the Scales Inc. facility, Penny and Luc have found ancient technology, a desktop computer that still works and has the lead researcher’s notes on Moby Duck on it. Yes, the lead researcher is Auntie TK. One of the files is of modified animal sounds which disorients Moby Duck’s echolocation. Perfect! Arrvida finds more ancient technology that will help: her sea shanty karaoke machine!

Back on the Platter Zwoop, Arrvida’s crew have been helping install Auntie TK’s device, a giant crane game-style claw. Ideally, they will wait for Moby Duck to stop rampaging and capture it. It’s time for Terry to shine with his amazing crane game skills. He makes the shot, but Moby Duck is still rampaging and snatches the crane arm, dragging the Platter Zwoop. In the nick of time, Arrvida arrives with K and Luc on a raft with the sea shanty karaoke machine blasting the animal sounds (the animal sounds are basically honks). Terry takes another shot, and makes it! 

Moby Duck is lifted out of the ocean and, moments later, Arrvida, K and Luc are beamed inside the Platter Zwoop. Arrvida’s crew rush at her and hug her and Jo and Penny rush at K and Luc. Terry hangs back, but K runs to her dad and gives him the biggest hug. They both apologize to each other. They call Auntie TK and tell her the device worked, and K asks about her working for Scales Inc. Apparently the research possibilities were too good to pass up. Abruptly Auntie TK closes the call and tosses her phone. Meanwhile, Bigtaur is reading TK’s copy of Creature Monthly. 

Inside the Platter Zwoop, Moby Duck is happily(?) swimming in a giant tank. Arrvida Scales has fulfilled her quest and will now turn her attention to musical theatre. As her crew carry her off singing, Arrvida tells Luc she’ll see him at the family reunion. K and Jo are talking about both Buildy-Guildy and Cryptids, because K can make a cryptid as her in-game character.  The Jackalopes drop Terry and the kids back at Scallywags Dock, where Terry sees he has 27 missed calls from Penny’s mom and Ronnie is now waiting for them. Oh well, time to go back to the beach house and play UNO. Mothmanta-Ray can play too. 

One month later, K is playing Buildy-Guildy with her friends, she’s made a Bigtaur character and Jo is the newest member of the Creature Monthly crew. They release a Moby Duck issue and Jo has her own segment with scientific breakdowns of her Buildy-Guildy character, Killer Bear. She also has some article pitches.