The Mandalorian Brothers and the Stolen Painting, Pt. 5
Chapter 40: The Gift
A couple of days later, the brothers were at home drinking some wonton soup. They wanted seconds and thirds! If they had three tummies, the brothers would have filled them all with wonton soup. Suddenly, Apollo and BabaFrank heard a loud noise coming from outside. It sounded like a helicopter. Then, they heard a loud KNOCK KNOCK on their front door. BabaFrank yelled, "Who's there?"
Then, Apollo said, "Come in!" The door opened and in walked the President of France.
"Helloooo? Anyone home?" the President asked.
The brothers were totally stunned. "Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?" they said.
"I am here to say thank you for finding the Mona Lisa and bringing it back to the Louvre. It is one of France's most precious treasures. To thank you, I will give you a nice gift. I would like to give you my best airplane," the President said.
"But how will you get home?" the brothers asked.
"I'll just use my supersonic jetpack," the President replied. "It's suuuper fast."
The brothers followed the President outside and looked at one of the most magnificent airplanes they had ever seen. It was even more magnificent than the one that they had borrowed from the City Between Two Sides! The airplane was gold but had a silver shell on the outside. This silver shell would protect the airplane from breaking down (just like their old airplane had). The airplane also had stars, polka dots, and stripes - it was coolest plane the brothers had ever seen. There was also a big red, blue, and white French flag on the tail of the plane. The brothers were so excited.
Chapter 41: The Invitations
The brothers said, "Thank you! You should really see the airplane we flew on our way to France! We think you'll like it."
The president followed the brothers to the red airplane with blue wings, a big black nose cap, and a star shape. The airplane also had a yellow stripe that circled around the plane.
When the President saw it, he simply gaped. "This one looks even better than mine!" he exclaimed.
But, the brothers quickly reassured him. They said, "It may look better. But it really isn't as good as yours. It doesn't even have a silver shell to protect it from too much weight!"
While Apollo was blabbering about his new airplane, BabaFrank slipped away and started the organize the party. He called his friends to ask for help. Then, he called (1) the leaders of Mexico, Indonesia, Russia, Japan, and the US, (2) the Indonesian monkey, (3) the dolphin, (4) the sleigh dogs, (5) the bear and his cubs, (6) the janitor, (7) Trumbeak, (8) Pikipek, (9) the museum curator, (10) the dockworkers in Alaska, and (11) the Russian airport workers. BabaFrank asked each of them if they wanted to come to the brothers' party in the City Between Two Sides. BabaFrank also announced the party to everyone in the City - everyone except Apollo and the French President, because he wanted it to be a surprise!
Then, BabaFrank walked towards Apollo and told him, "I'm going to go home because I'm feeling a bit airsick from flying so much. You should probably come to check on me in a couple of hours."
Apollo nodded, and BabaFrank rushed back home to set up the party.
Chapter 42: Getting Ready
During the next couple of hours, all of the invited guests started to arrive and helped BabaFrank put together the party. The bears brought some meat (including wild boar) and started cooking it on the grill - they brought enough to feed EVERYONE. Once the bears arrived, people in the City Between Two Sides helped them shed their winter coats (using trees that the Russian airport workers had brought) so that the bears would not be too hot in the Australian water. The monkey had used his boomerang to knock down a bunch of banana leaves in Indonesia, which could be used as plates at the party! He brought lots of plates and even made sure he had enough for people to grab seconds and thirds. Pikipek and Trumbeak started plucking sap from some nice pine trees to make maple syrup. The sled dogs were the main entertainment - they started building a large course with a bunch of loopty loops in the brothers’ backyard, where they would drag people in a sled. The French curator brought some famous art and hung it around for people to see, while the Japanese janitor helped cook food and clean stuff up. The dockworkers used a fishing boat to help pick up the dolphin and bring him to the party. They also gave him a tank to swim in so that he would have enough water and sometimes helped him get into the brothers' pool (since they had a lot of experience working with sea animals). The dolphin was also happy to be an entertainer at the party, playing in the pool with all the brothers' friends. He was very excited to play beach ball with people and balance them on his nose. The leaders of the US, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia, and Mexico brought famous classic books, paintings, and foods to teach people about their countries. The people from the City Between Two Sides helped all of these people with their tasks and decorated the brothers' house. BabaFrank tried to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Then, he told everyone to hide!
Chapter 43: Surprise!
Meanwhile, after a few hours, Apollo started heading home with the President of France (it had been 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 13 seconds). Everyone else was already hiding at the brothers' house. The dolphin was hiding under the surface of the pool with a bunch of beach balls, and the sled dogs hid in secret spots on their racecourse in the backyard. The bears decided to hide in the cupboard where all the honey was - they were quietly slurping it up! When Apollo opened the door, everybody (and I mean everybody) jumped out. "TA-DA!!!" they yelled. Apollo and the French President were shocked. Apollo quickly ran to put on his bathing suit so that he could jump in the pool with the dolphin. After he played around in the pool, he put on his winter gear and went on the dog sled ride. When the dogsled race was done, Apollo was really hungry and put a bib on to participate in a honey eating contest (but the contest was not really fair, because the bears could slurp the honey up so quickly). Then, Apollo and BabaFrank put on their gloves and started to compete in a tree-climbing contest. This contest wasn't really fair either, because the Indonesian monkey was used to climbing trees and easily won the competition - he used his arms, legs, and tail to swing up. Then, everyone went to the history lesson to learn from the leaders of different countries. Finally, they had a nice meal, eating from cool banana leaves. For dessert, they enjoyed waffles and specialized maple syrup.
Chapter 44: The Goodbye Presents
The brothers and all their guests talked and had a really good time. When everyone started to leave, the brothers handed out goody bags to all the guests. The guests also gave the brothers some goodbye presents. The dockworkers gave the brothers an even bigger boat as a thank you for stopping the flood in Alaska. The Indonesia Monkey was like a farmer, so he planted a few seeds in the brothers’ backyard (including palm trees), which would grow very quickly and be pretty near the sunset. The bear and his cubs made a blanket out of their fur to keep the brothers warm. "Thank you for inviting us to this party and entertaining my kids," said the adult bear. The Russian airport workers made a giant antenna for the brothers' new airplane and said, "Spasibo” (which means thank you in Russian). Pikipek and Trumbeak gave Apollo and BabaFrank a lifetime supply of their syrup and said, "thank you for getting us out of that cold mound!" The French curator generously said, "you can keep some of my art as a thank you for saving our Mona Lisa. It's worth more than 100 million!"
The brothers were shocked. "Oh my god!" they said. "Really?"
"Really," said the curator.
Next up was the dolphin, who promised the brothers unlimited free rides to anywhere they wanted to go! Then, the dog sled said, "we made a plan with the dolphin. We will give you unlimited free rides anywhere on land, and the dolphin will give you free rides anywhere on water.”
Finally, the leaders gave the brothers a bunch of flying tools, including a rocket! The leaders also gave them masks and security guards to protect themselves. "These masks will help protect you from any unknown diseases around the world. And, in case case any thieves or warriors try to attack you, we would also like to give you security guards for your protection," the leaders said.
Chapter 45: The Talk
Once everyone left and the brothers had said their goodbyes, Apollo and BabaFrank started talking to each other.
BabaFrank said, "Well, now what do we do?"
"Let's just wait until the next thing bumps into us," Apollo replied.
"Our new presents will probably make our next adventure a lot easier," BabaFrank said.
"You're right," Apollo admitted. "Maybe we'll have to save one of our friends if they disappear or get hurt."
"Maybe! Or maybe another important thing will get stolen." BabaFrank suggested.
"Or maybe our next mission will be to find out where Quaz is and figure out who paid Quaz to steal and hide the Mona Lisa," Apollo said.
"Yeah, something close to that," BabaFrank agreed. "If that's so, we may still need a few more trinkets to get this thing working."
"We should have another going away party so that people will give us presents that we can use on our next mission," Apollo said. "That will make it easier for us."
"But the best thing about being a superhero is getting through hard experiences. If we have too many trinkets and machines, things will be too easy and might cause even more problems for us. For example, if we use too many machines, we will pollute the air - which no machine will ever be able to fix!" BabaFrank replied.
"You're totally right," Apollo said. "We should only have our party once we have finished our mission."
The brothers ended their conversation and decided to eat some dinner. They were starving.