A/N: So, thanks to "The Duck Knight Returns" from Ducktales 2017, I ended up getting into Darkwing Duck. Seeing the origins for both Darkwing and Negaduck in DT17, I got to wondering what kind of origins could possibly happen for other DWD characters-mostly the Fearsome Four and how they could end up being real. I have no idea what would actually happen in the show, so this will just be an AU where I have my stupid fun.

Since Bushroot is my fave, he was the first victim to my wonderings, and I ended up thinking of the scenario of him being a hapless student at the university instead of a research scientist-plus a couple other weird ideas we'll get to later. So I ended up toying around with the idea in my head for a while now, and even drew out some concepts for this in a couple of my sketchbooks.

Anyhoozles, let's get on with this.


Sirens' screams echoed throughout that corner of St. Canard, the noise centered on the remains of a university campus. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances surrounded the decimated school. The emergency personnel were in utter awe at what caused the destruction, even as they worked to free survivors.

It was a literal jungle on that campus. Each brick and mortar building had vines crawling all over them, with some weaker structures succumbing to plants that made their way through cracks in the stone. Some had imploded due to giant trees having suddenly grown within their walls, and some were wrapped in black brambles. But what stuck out the most was the large science building in the center of it all, which had its walls inside and out thick with enormous vines, armed with sharp thorns, fuzzy leaves of every size, and flowers that had sprayed strange gases or shot toxic darts. There had even been an explosion in there, and smoke seeped out of every crack it could.

Many firefighters were hard at work digging up civilians who were waist deep in the lawn, cutting open giant flowers and flytraps to free others, and having to take chainsaws to tree branches that gripped innocents like a child gripped a doll. Other firefighters had braved the buildings in order to carry out more survivors. There were many people carried away from the scene on stretchers, but the stretchers were preferable to the bodies covered with white sheets.

Among them, Gizmoduck was slicing away at the vines, looking for survivors as well. The large armor masked how much the duck trembled underneath, seeing how extensive the damage was to both property and people. It made him sick, wondering how many horrible scenes there were that he didn't get to in time. The only thing that he was glad for was that the chaos had stopped.

Out of the science building crawled Darkwing Duck, covered in burns and ashes from the explosion that happened, his costume torn in several places. He also clutched his shoulder, gritting his teeth with every sudden move he made. Nevertheless, there was a pride to his limping, one that indicated a job well done for getting to the root of the problem and stopping the disaster from going even further.

"Singed… but triumphant," he croaked.

Darting toward him, leaping over vines and roots in her rush, was a red-haired duckling. Though she heaved with each stride, a relieved smile graced her face, and she was quick to leap forward to hug him. "Darkwing, you're all right!"

The sudden embrace sent a jolt through his shoulder. "Yowch! Gosalyn, watch the shoulder!"

She broke away and stepped back, wincing at the pained grimace Darkwing had. "Sorry, Dad."

He clenched his teeth as he took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Also, you shouldn't be here, this is a crime scene! You need to be behind the police tape with Honker!"

"I know, I know! Geez… can't I make sure my dad's okay?" She put her hands behind her back and looked around at the mangled campus. She was dead silent for a moment, absorbing the ways the plants had overtaken the place, and looked back at her dad. Pursing her lips, she said, "Well… I guess that Science Fest was a bust."

"No kidding." To think, an event that they mainly attended to chaperone Gosalyn's friend Honker—as well investigate some strange reports coming from that university—went completely awry in the most extreme and unexpected way. He looked back at the building that he had just exited. "At least the plant monster's taken care of."

She perked up. "Plant monster? Ooh! Did it look anything like the swamp creature from Revenge of the King of the Slimy Green Lagoon?"

"Mmm… not really. It was actually smaller than you'd expect something that caused this much damage to be."

Before he could elaborate further, a couple of ducks leapt onto the scene, shouting the name of "Reggie!" over and over. Darkwing inwardly groaned, wondering if police tape even meant anything to these people.

He and Gosalyn watched the pair, a male and female of different colors, wearing hardy plaid shirts and jeans, scrambling and climbing around the flora to find this Reggie. The male climbed large vines to use as a vantage point to look around, and continued shouting the name. The female, white as snow with short brown hair, noticed Darkwing, and approached him with pleading, bright blue eyes.

"Sir, have you seen my brother?" she asked.

Darkwing had a feeling that he was not going to be able to give her good news. "Er… who is he and where did you see him last?"

Just as he feared, the woman pointed to the science building behind him. "My brother, Reggie… white feathers, big blue eyes, an unfortunate case of baby face… he was going to have a presentation in the auditorium, about his project, but we had an emergency and were getting ready to leave when the plants…"

Ouch, the auditorium. There had only been one survivor in that room, and it was a girl that he and his buddy Launchpad found running away from it, sobbing uncontrollably. Said girl had barely managed to inform him about the monster and how it had killed everyone else in the auditorium.

And he had to tell this woman that her brother was one of that "everyone else".

Looking at Gosalyn for support, he took a deep breath, and proceeded to tell the woman the news.

The woman screamed at him in denial, and a minute later, was crying in her boyfriend's chest.


"Tom Lockjaw here, and I'm here at St. Canard University—or what's left of it, after an attack at the school's big Science Fest carried out by, of all things, plants." Though trying to remain suave and professional, the reporter still glanced back at the school every so often with disbelief. "With me is one of the scientists employed at the school, Dr. Aaron Compton. Sir, could you tell us about what just happened?"

Like any other person, Dr. Compton had the occasional dream of being on television. However, he certainly didn't want to be facing a news camera at this moment. Not under these circumstances.

His torn attire, scratches from comb to toe, and loose feathers—as well as the trembling he tried to suppress—gave away that the rooster had been in a fight. Not too far away, a short duck with red hair that avoided the top of his crown, was sitting nearby with a haunted look in his eyes, whimpering about what had just happened as paramedics examined him. Dr. Compton would have thought the duck, Dean Tightbill, was crazy if he hadn't been there when the campus had erupted into chaos.

He tugged at the feathers on his hand, hoping to keep in mind the optimistic thought of his wife and kids knowing he was safe just by watching him on the news. Still, being a scientist, he felt like he was expected to have an explanation, when really, he had no idea how this had all happened.

"Well, in all my years of working at St. Canard University, I have—I've never encountered anything like this," he said, shaking his head. "I was talking with the Dean when the flor—the flora started to move and attack all those attending our science festival, a-and before we could process what was happening, a tree of all things snatched us up. I had to claw and peck at it with all my strength in order to break us both free, and, well… trees are tough plants to fight, I wasn't sure we would survive."

Dean Tightbill moaned. "Is this punishment for being a vegetarian?"

Tom scratched his chin and nodded. "That is quite out of the ordinary. Do you have any possible explanations for how this occurred?"

Dr. Compton rubbed the back of his head. "Erm… like I said, I've never seen anything like this—I'm not entirely sure what force has compelled these plants to even move, let alone attack people. It does suggest that they might have some degree of sentience and intelligence to be able to do so, but for all we know, it could be just that sorceress popping in just to torment us."

Tightbill massaged his head, rapid breaths flowing through his teeth. "The students reported moving plants… they reported the plants but we didn't listen…"

Tom paused to stare at the Dean, and then went back to business with the bird that wasn't about to hyperventilate. "Are you sure it isn't someone's science project gone awry?"

Dr. Compton rubbed his chin, his mind running through all the options that could have done this—from professionals providing demonstrations on recent research, to students showing off their projects to the public in the festival's little science fair. "Well… I don't know of many projects here involving plants. There was one young man doing a fascinating project with photosynthesis, but I doubt it could have done this."

That project he thought of did have its own issues, which led to its own horrific results when tampered with, but there was no way that it could have caused problems of this scale.


She had wanted to get away from the school. She had wanted to get away from the emergency vehicles and the crumbling buildings. She had wanted get away from the horde evacuating the campus, and from the curious crowds drawing as close to the police tape as they could. But, most importantly, Rhoda Dendron wanted to get away from those monstrous plants.

Though her tears had subsided for the time being, she still felt raw, ready to crumble if she spoke of what she had seen and heard in the science building. She felt bad for slipping past the police and not giving them any information, but she wasn't sure she could keep it together for long.

Rhoda's legs had felt like jelly, and she only got far enough that she wouldn't be immediately noticeable to anybody, but she still had a good view of the campus and the jungle it became. She sat on a rock, glancing downward every so often, fearing that the grass would be in cahoots with that jungle. How far did the influence reach?

Grass stains and tears peppered her clothes, and leaves and sap were stuck in her brown hair. However, looking at that campus, knowing what happened to her classmates, made every part of her ache worse than any damage the plants could have dealt her. But what hurt the most was thinking about her friend Reggie, who had been a quiet, sweet, and brilliant budding scientist. Despite the scorn others gave him, he had wanted to improve the lives of others and make the world a better place—only for the events of today to utterly smash that goal.

All she could ask herself was, Why?

"Are you sure you don't want to get checked up?"

She nearly jumped at the sudden voice, and looked at the tall, beefy duck who had caught up with her. She could easily see the gentle concern on his face, for a lady that he barely knew. He had been the one to get her out of the ravaged science building, while his purple-costumed friend stayed inside to face the center of the plant problem. Oh, how she hoped the latter would at least survive the encounter with…

She shook her head. "No… no, I'm all right. I was in a safe spot."

The larger duck, Launchpad McQuack, sat on the ground next to her rock. "Well, all right, I guess you're probably the, uh, least hurt here. Still, I can't imagine what you must have been through in there." He opened his jacket and pulled a chocolate bar from one of the inside pockets. "I hope chocolate makes you feel a little better."

Rhoda stared a moment before silently accepting the gift. It felt a little soft.

"Sorry, it's a little melted," Launchpad said.

She did not respond as she lifted one of the flaps on the wrapper, and stuck her finger in the gooey, brown sweet. She scooped a glob and plopped it on her tongue, and just let the chocolate slowly dissolve in her mouth. Chocolate could absolutely not reverse the tragedy, but it was a moment of comfort. In gratitude, she gave Launchpad a ghost of a smile.

Just then, Darkwing showed up, with Gosalyn supporting him as he trudged forward, limping and holding his shoulder. Launchpad immediately leapt to his feet and darted to him, taking the burden from Gosalyn.

"DW! Are you okay?"

Darkwing huffed and puffed. "I'm fine, Launchpad… I'm fine. Been through worse." He let out one last exhale as he was gently made to sit on the ground. "All that matters is that the ferocious flora has been stopped!"

Rhoda paused in her chocolate eating when she heard that.

Launchpad blinked. "You mean…"

"Yeah, he blew the plant monster up," Gosalyn said. She pouted. "I wish I could have seen it."

Rhoda dropped the chocolate bar.

"Eh, I'm not sure you'd think it was that cool, Gos," Darkwing said. "I mean, it wasn't exactly all that snarly and drooly, and it spent a lot of time just running away from me-as it should, for I'm the terror that flaps in the night! Still…" He gently rubbed his shoulder, and looked to the destroyed campus once again. "It was powerful and deadly. Killing it was for the best."

Rhoda choked a few times before the dam burst, and she was once again crying in her hands. All the fear, the sorrow, and the heartbreak erupted within her again, pouring out with each tear. The repeated question of "Why?" resumed playing through her mind like a broken record. She could feel the trio's confused eyes on her, but she could not stop. She just hurt too much.

"Miss?" Launchpad asked. "Miss, what's wrong? Did we say something?"

Gosalyn pursed her bill uncomfortably and looked at Darkwing. "I would think she'd be happy you killed the thing."

Darkwing sighed. "Maybe, but… it did kill her classmates. She might even have had a good friend among them, like that Reggie guy."

Part of that was true. Rhoda was still shaken by the horror of the monster attacking her peers, and she was especially upset over what happened with Reggie. However, she knew that it did not kill Reggie; the truth was far uglier.

As she sobbed, she wondered what more she could have done to prevent this disaster.