Part Two
The next morning, Duke was awakened by two little
ducks who had decided to jump up on his bed.
“Uncle Duke! It’s time to get up,” Wildwing
nagged.
“Yeah, you said we’d make the Pond all pretty
today,” Nosedive chimed in.
Duke groaned and looked over at his clock.
Even under normal circumstances, Wildwing would never get up this early.
“Shouldn’t you two still be in bed?” he asks,
shutting his eyes again.
“Nope! What’s the fun in that?” Wing responded.
“Come on, Uncle Duke,” Dive nudged him.
“PLEASE?” they both pleaded.
Duke sighed. This was going to be a long day.
*****
“Is everything ready?” Wraith asked.
“Almost. I’ve just got a few more adjustments
to do on this, and then those ducks are as good as gone,” Siege sneered.
The three Saurians had been working for
several hours on some equipment that needed repairing for their plan.
The plan was simple enough, but, knowing how easily the ducks had beaten
them in the past, they weren’t taking any chances.
“What about you, Chameleon? Are you ready for
your part of the plan?” Wraith looked at him.
“Yes, of course, of course,” Chameleon said
with an English accent. With a deeper voice he added, “They’ll never
know what hit ‘em.”
Wraith glanced at the two Saurians, “You’d
better be right, because I wouldn’t want to face Lord Dragaunus if we
were to fail…”
*****
Several hours later, Duke and Mallory watched
as Nosedive and Wildwing finished adding their last ornaments on the
Christmas tree they had set up. The little ducks had gotten into the
whole Christmas idea, and seemed to enjoy decorating immensely; with
Duke and Mallory’s help of course. Now that the biggest job, the tree,
was done, Wildwing walked over towards them.
“Now what can we do?” he asked.
“Well, we could bake cookies,” Mallory said
with a smirk.
“Oh, no,” Duke held his hand up. “We’re not
taking these two back into the kitchen. I don’t think so!”
“Hey, what’s that?” Everyone’s attention went
to Nosedive who bent over and picked up something shiny.
Duke walked over to inspect the object, “Hey
Dive, you found a penny.”
“Must be your lucky day,” Mallory told the
little duck.
“Wow, can I keep it?” he begged.
“Sure, it can’t hurt,” Duke nodded.
Nosedive beamed. He scurried over beside his
brother to show off his newest possession when an alarm went off,
echoing throughout the room.
“It’s Drake One,” Mallory gasped.
“I knew it was too quiet around here,” Duke
said, annoyed.
They took off down the hallway towards their
supercomputer, Dive and Wing following close behind, to find Tanya and
Grin already there.
“There’s huge energy readings coming from the
warehouse district,” Tanya told them.
“It must be Dragaunus,” Mallory noted.
“But what are we gonna do with them?” Duke
pointed at the two ducklings who still looked flustered from the sudden
noise of the alarm. “We can’t leave ‘em alone.”
“How about if we take them with us and leave
them in the Migrator?” Mallory suggested.
No one was really comfortable with the idea,
but they didn’t have much of a choice since they couldn’t leave them
alone and all four of the ducks may be needed to stop the Saurians. So
soon they were all in the Migrator heading east towards the
confrontation.
*****
Nosedive sighed. This was boring!
He and Wildwing were stuck inside the Migrator
after the others had left to go fight Dragaunus. Wing had gone up and
sat in the driver’s seat, pretending to steer. Nosedive took out his
penny for a moment, and looked at it. No, that won’t be much fun, he thought. Placing it
back into his pocket, Dive started searching the vehicle, attempting to
find something fun to do.
Finding nothing, he was about to bug his
brother until Wing would tell him a story when the back hatch suddenly
opened and Duke appeared. Glad that Duke was back, he jumped off of the
seat and ran towards him.
As Duke held his arms out, he smiled and said,
“Hey, kid!”
With a sudden shift, in place of Duke is
Chameleon. Nosedive screamed and tried to retreat, but by then he was
too close and gets snatched up by Chameleon. Dive struggled, but he was
unable to get out of his grasp. Wildwing came running, and slammed into
the Saurian with full force.
“Let go of my brother!” he yelled.
Alas, this only resulted in him getting caught
as well. Before he even had a chance to resist, the Chameleon activated
his teleporter and suddenly they were on the main deck of the Raptor.
Dragaunus was waiting with a weapon set to
stun. He laughed evilly as he fired it, and both ducklings blacked out.
*****
When the ducks had arrived, Wraith and Siege
were waiting for them. They opened fire on them, the ducks returning
their laser shots with pucks. Tanya managed to get some good shots in,
and Duke covered for her. Mallory was doing some damage herself, but at
one point Grin had to shove her out of the way of one of Wraith’s
fireballs. The fight lasted for several minutes, but the ducks finally
gained the upper hand and cornered the Saurians.
“You ducks are pathetic,” Siege called out to
them.
“Oh, yeah? Then how come we always stop you?”
Duke called back between dodging shots.
Siege sneered, “You’ll never stop us this
time…"
“…Because we’ve already got what we came for,”
Wraith finished.
With that, the two Saurians activated their
teleporters and disappeared.
“I wonder they meant by that?” Tanya puzzled.
“Sometimes the answer is simpler than you
think,” Grin stated.
“Such as?” Mallory asked.
Grin replied, “Where has the Chameleon been
this whole time?”
Suddenly, Duke gasped, ”The kids!”
The others realized it at the same time.
Mallory shook her head, “They’ve had this planned the whole time! They
must’ve heard about what happened through the media.”
They all took off back to the Migrator. When
they got there, the back hatch had been forced open and the Migrator was
deserted. Duke suddenly found himself with a headache. Dragaunus had
gotten a hold of Dive and Wing, and since they were kids, they had
almost no defenses against him. They didn’t even have their comms,
because they had been taken off, seeing as they were too big for their
wrists. How are we ever gonna get them back?
*****
Unsure of what to do, the ducks gloomily
returned to the Pond, hoping that Drake One might be able to find even a
trace of the Saurians.
Mallory sighed. How could this have happened?
It had been bad enough that Wing and Dive had been transformed into
little kids. Now, the thought of Dragaunus having his scaly claws on
them sickened her.
As if on cue, Tanya suddenly uttered, “Hey
guys, I think we’re, uh, getting a transmission of some sort!”
The ducks all gathered around the
supercomputer, and after Tanya pushed a few buttons the Saurian
overlord’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hello there, duckies,” he sneered. “As you
already know, I believe to have two things that belong to you.”
Dragaunus’s face disappears and in his place is Nosedive and Wildwing,
both unconscious and locked up behind an energized grid on the Raptor.
The ducks all gasp as Dragaunus returned to the screen. “Don’t worry,
I’ve only stunned them, and you can get them back in good condition; if
you cooperate. In three hours, exactly, go to conference room
thirty-three in the Anaheim Convention Center. My drones will be
waiting, and if you bring me a supply of bulerium crystals, I will trade
them for your ‘little’ teammates.” At this he laughed evilly, “Just
remember, you have three hours or there will be roasted ducklings! Ha,
ha, ha, ha!”
The screen goes blank and the ducks lose
transmission.
Mallory whacked her fists against the wall,
”Stars, that guy disgusts me!”
“We will find them,” Grin reassured them.
“And besides, “ Tanya added, “Wildwing’s a
really smart kid. Considering what he did to my lab last night, I’d
actually, you know, feel sorry for the Saurians.”
They all smiled slightly at the thought. Of
course Wing and Dive would be okay.
Duke sighed, “Hey Tanya, did you get a signal
of where he was transferring from?”
Tanya shook her head, “I got the general
direction; he’s somewhere due south of here. But specifically, uh, I
don’t have a clue.”
“Then why don’t we start heading in that
direction. Maybe we’ll pick up something,” Mallory didn’t want to just
sit and do nothing.
“Well, what’re we waitin’ for?” Duke agreed,
“Let’s go!”
*****
On board the Raptor, Wildwing slowly opened
his eyes. The little duck blinked, confused. He didn’t remember falling
asleep, but now he seemed to be somewhere new. He realized he was locked
up in a cell. Then he remembered; the ugly lizards had gotten them.
He turned his head and saw his little brother
crouched up in the corner with his head down on his knees, crying. With
some concern, even at his current age, he crawled over to Dive, not
really feeling like standing up yet.
“Dive? Are you okay?”
The little duck looked up and embraced his
brother, “You wouldn’t wake up, “ he trembled, tears still in his eyes
from fear.
“I’m okay now. It’s all right,” Wing soothed.
Nosedive started crying again; Wing could tell
he was really scared. “Where’s Uncle Duke? Why can’t we go home?” he
moaned in-between sobs.
“They’ll find us," Wildwing assured himself as
much as his brother, “and then they’ll kick those lizards’ butts.”
“Oh, how touching,” Dragaunus said, voice full
of sarcasm.
The little ducks gasped and snapped their
heads towards his voice.
The Saurian gave them an evil look, “I don’t
think I’ve ever seen anything so disgusting.”
“What do you want with us?” Wildwing acted
brave so his brother wouldn’t be as scared. After all, it was his job to
scare Nosedive, not this dumb scumball.
“Actually, I’d like to destroy you brats. But
if I did that, those other accursed ducks wouldn’t give me what I want,
now would they?”
Dragaunus walked up to the energized grid
holding in the ducklings and continued, “The only use I have for you two
is for bait. Once I have all the ducks in my possession, I will be able
to destroy all of you! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
The Saurian overlord left the ducklings
behind, Nosedive still trembling. The little duck swallowed, “What are
we gonna do, Wing?”
Wildwing sat on the floor, frowning, “Hang on,
let me come up with something.” He looked over at the energized grid.
They could probably crawl under it, if the bolts of energy were farther
apart.
He suddenly thought of something, “Dive, do
you still have your penny?”
The duckling nodded, taking the coin out of
his pocket.
Wildwing stood up and took it, and then walked
over to inspect the grid. When he was satisfied, he carefully held up
the penny next to the bar, his fingers only holding on by the edge
closest to his body. With a look of determination plastered on his young
face, he pushes the coin into the beam. Just as the little duck had
hoped, the beam deflected off of the penny and shot back upward, leaving
a sizable hole underneath.
“Climb through it, Dive,” he told his brother
as he held the coin in place.
Nosedive did as he was told, standing up and
turning to face Wing after reaching the other side of the grid. With
Wildwing’s encouragement, he grabbed the penny from where he was at so
Wing could crawl under the beam as well. Once they were both free, Dive
stuck his penny back into his pocket again.
“Yeah, way to go!” Wing smiled at him, proud
that Nosedive hadn’t gotten scared as they escaped.
Wing took his brother’s hand and led him down
the corridor. Now the hard part came; finding a way out of the ship
without the lizards knowing about it.
*****
Duke stared out of the window in the Migrator,
partially lost in thought, but mostly just keeping his eye on
everything, looking for any sign of the Saurians. Mallory was driving,
and they were all eager to find where Dragaunus was hiding. They had
been out searching for almost an hour; only two hours left to find
little Wing and Dive. The only emotion he felt now was anger. Dragaunus
wasn’t going to get away with this.
His attention suddenly became focused on the
console as it beeped, demanding attention. Tanya, who was closest to it,
pushed a few buttons before she said, ”I think we’ve finally found
something.”
“What is it?” Mallory asked curiously as she
kept her hands on the wheel.
“We seem to be picking up a huge amount of
energy from that building,” Tanya informed them, remaining focused on
the tiny screen. “It looks like… turn right up here, Mallory.”
“Affirmative,” she replied as she turned the
corner.
Duke was glad. After all of this searching
with no results, they were going to finally going to face Lizard Lips,
and he’d be sorry when the Mighty Ducks got through with him.
*****
“But Wing, I don’t wanna go up there!”
Nosedive protested in his whiny four-year-old voice.
“You gotta, Dive, or they’ll catch us again,”
his brother responded, who was too smart for his own good.
The two ducklings were still on the Raptor,
and when Wildwing discovered an opening into an air shaft, he figured it
would be the best way to avoid the Saurians. Now the problem seemed to
be convincing his younger brother that it was for the best.
“It’ll be okay,” Wing assured him, “and
besides, I think I know how to get out of here.”
Dive brightened, “You do?”
Wildwing nodded. Still slightly reluctant,
Nosedive finally agreed. Getting a boost from his brother, Dive managed
to enter the long dark tunnel. The entrance hadn’t been very high from
the ground, so Wing was able to pull himself up without assistance. The
two of them were able to pull the vent grate shut; apparently just in
time. Hearing voices coming down the hall, Nosedive gasped. Wing hushed
him as Siege and the Chameleon walked towards their hiding spot. As they
got closer they picked up on the conversation the Saurians were having.
“…and it’s not gonna be me that gets to tell
Dragaunus that we lost them,” Siege was saying.
“I’m not doing it,” Chameleon shook his head,
“I guess Wraith volunteers.”
“Sounds good to me.” The two Saurians paused
just ahead of where the ducklings were hiding.
Siege scowled, “I swear, if I get my hands on
those filthy little ducks, they won’t ever be able to walk again, let
alone play hockey, by the time I’m through with them.”
At this, Nosedive involuntarily let out a gasp
of fear. Wing quickly reached over and covered his beak, but Chameleon
had already heard him.
“What was that?” he looked towards them
suddenly, even though they hadn’t been spotted yet.
Leary, Siege looked over to investigate as
well. He stepped up to the vent, intending to pull the grate off which
would expose Wing and Dive. The ducklings trembled in fear, knowing they
were in trouble now. But just as Siege was about to discover them, his
communicator beeped.
“What now?” Siege griped as Wraith’s face
appeared over the unit.
“The other ducks have arrived. We need you two
down here at once,” Wraith’s normally gloomy expression was now worse,
as if disgusted by even mentioning the Mighty Ducks.
Siege sighed and turned away from the vent,
“Fine.”
Chameleon didn’t take his eyes off of the
shaft as Siege shut off his communicator. “But Siege, what about…”
“Forget it,” Siege cut him off. “It was
probably nothing. Besides, the big ones are better game.”
Siege activated his teleporter and
disappeared. Chameleon grumbled, gave one last look at the vent, then
disappeared as well.
The two ducklings let out a sigh of relief.
They had been so close to being discovered, but luck had been on their
side.
“Come on, Dive,” Wing told his brother. “Let’s
get out of here.”
*****
As the Ducks closed in on the building, the
cloaking device finally faded away and the metallic sides of the
Raptor took its place. They had parked the Migrator a block away, to
help keep their presence a surprise. Duke looked up at the ship with
determination. They had a mission to accomplish, and they could not fail
this time.
The plan was for Mallory, Grin, and Tanya to
keep the Saurians’ attention while Duke used to opportunity to sneak in
and grab Wildwing and Nosedive. Duke was the best chance they had, and
he was going to do his best to succeed.
Duke looked over at the others from his hiding
spot, which was by the edge of the next building, as the Raptor’s main
door whooshed open, revealing the Saurians. Wraith held out his staff,
and Siege and Chameleon both raised their lasers into the air. The
fight soon began. He saw Mallory dodge a shot fired at her and winced.
He wished that he could be over there fighting along side them.
Okay, stay focused, L’Orange, he thought to
himself. I can’t help Wildwing and Nosedive if I’m thinking ‘bout
somethin’ else.
Making sure that none of the Saurians were
looking his way, he crept up to the vent that he’d discovered. He easily
tore it off, and hoisted himself inside.
*****
The duct itself wasn’t very big, but
maneuvering through it was still possible for the former thief. He
coughed lightly from the dust. Now all he had to do was find them.
As he crawled along the duct, he heard a noise
coming from up ahead. Duke froze. It must be the hunter drones! Well, he
had his saber, so he’d be able to hold his own. Maybe that was where
they were holding Wing and Dive. He had to take that chance. There was
an opening a few feet ahead of him. He could jump down from there and
take them by surprise. Yeah, that could work.
But just as he was about to jump down and
strike, a faint cry filled his ears. He looked up ahead of him and saw a
shadow moving in the darkness. He heard a gasp, then a familiar cry.
“What the…” he muttered as the sound came
closer. Before he knew it something had jumped on top of him, nearly
strangling him.
“Uncle Duke!” the little figure cried out.
Duke managed to pry the little duckling off
enough so he could breathe again, “Nosedive?”
Nosedive continued to hug him, but lowered his
arm position a little. Meanwhile, Wildwing had caught up to his little
brother and smiled at the sight of the older duck.
“See Dive? I told you he’d find us,” Wildwing
grinned.
Duke smiled back, glad that both of them were
okay, “But how did you two manage to escape?”
Wildwing shrugged back at him, “It was pretty
easy.”
“Well, now that I’ve got you, we’d better go
back out there so the others know you’re safe,” Duke noted.
As he turned around to go back the way he had
came, he failed to notice Wildwing jam something into his pocket that
had been hidden in his hand. Wildwing then followed after Duke, who
still had the young Nosedive in his arms.
Now they would be getting out of this stupid
heap of metal.
*****
Back outside the Raptor, things weren’t going
much better. The ducks tried to remain defensive, hoping that Dragaunus
and his goons would fail to notice they were missing a team member.
So far they thought it was working, since the
laser firing hadn’t slowed down yet. In fact, they’d had several close
calls already.
Suddenly, Tanya turned around as she watched
Mallory fall down to her knees, clutching her arm.
“Cover me, Grin,” she called out as she rushed
over to help her teammate.
The large duck nodded and repositioned himself
so that he would be able to block any shots away from the girls. He
really didn’t like fighting this way, but he figured this time he would
make an exception.
Tanya kneeled down to examine the wound, “Are
you okay?”
Mallory tried to shrug her off, “It’s nothing,
don’t worry about it.”
“It’s still, you know, a laser burn. But it’s
not too deep. I’ll have to fix it when we get back, though.”
Mallory nodded, then used her other hand to
launch a puck at Siege, which came very close to hitting him.
Tanya turned around again, and just as she was
about to resume firing she heard a noise off to her side. She glanced
over and saw Duke, holding Wildwing’s hand with one arm and using the
other to carry a frightened Nosedive. The former thief nodded to her
before disappearing with the ducklings behind the building he’d
previously used as a hiding place.
“That’s our c-cue! Let’s go!” she called out.
They didn’t have teleporters like the Saurians
did, so they had to escape the normal way: by running. They attempted to
make it look like a full scale retreat, hoping to confuse the Saurians
and make them think they were victorious. This was how they had planned
it back in the Migrator, anyway. They had wished that Wildwing, the
older one, would’ve been there to tell them his thoughts, but that
hadn’t been an option.
When they got back to the place they had
parked the Migrator, Duke was already there with Wildwing and Nosedive.
Dive was still cuddled up against Duke, but he wasn’t nearly as scared
now.
“Hey, it worked,” Mallory smiled as she sat
down, clutching her arm.
Grin nodded to the three of them before taking
the driver’s seat, seeing as how Mallory couldn’t drive, and Tanya and
Duke were occupied at the moment.
Duke nodded, “Yeah, sorta.”
“Sort of? What’s that supposed to mean?” the
redhead asked.
Duke motioned towards Wildwing, “He’s the one
that got them out. I found ‘em in the Raptor’s air ducts.”
Tanya frowned, “How’d they get in there?”
“We were hiding from the dumb lizards,”
Wildwing perked up. “And then we went in there after I left them a
present.”
“A present? What kind of present?” Duke raised
an eyebrow at him.
Wildwing stood up and reached into his pocket.
Both ducklings started giggling as he revealed the object. It was a
bottle of superglue.
“A sticky one!”
*****
Lord Dragaunus let out an angry snort as he
briskly walked down the hallway. How did those pathetic little ducks get
away from him? He had taken all of the necessary precautions, and those
Mighty Ducks had still came out victorious.
“Siege! It’s time for us to relocate the
Raptor!” he yelled.
Not waiting for a response he walked into the
main control room. He froze when he saw the sight before him.
An enraged howl echoed throughout the ship,
“Curse those stupid ducks!!”
*****
The trip back to the Pond was uneventful.
Wildwing and Nosedive were exhausted from the day’s events and had both
fallen asleep, curled up against each other. They were carried into
Nosedive’s room when they got back, both placed in his bed so Nosedive
wouldn’t be scared when he awoke the next morning. Mallory’s arm was
bandaged, much to her complaining, and then things were quiet foe a
while.
But now the team was still left with the first
problem; how were they going to get Wing and Dive back to normal? They
still didn’t know how it happened in the first place, and even Tanya was
running out of ideas as to how to change them back. Unsure of what to
do, the remaining ducks decided that going to bed was the best option.
Maybe a way would present itself overnight.
*****
Tanya yawned as she walked out of her room
into the main hallway. Yesterday had been rather exciting, and it was
still rather early, but she figured that the best thing to do was to get
back to work. Maybe she could come up with something soon.
Just as she was about to enter the lab,
however, she thought she heard a loud noise come from down the hallway.
Who would that be? No one usually got up this early in the morning. Her
curiosity getting the better of her, she cautiously crept down the
darkened hallway into the Ready Room.
She was startled a little by the sight, but
relaxed when she remembered they had put the Christmas tree up the day
before. Tanya was about to forget it and leave when she realized she
wasn’t the only one in the room.
“Stars…” she murmured as her eyes grew wide.
There, lying under the tree, were Wildwing and
Nosedive. And they were once again themselves.
Nosedive yawned as he sat up and opened his
eyes, “Hey Tawny, did I miss something? What’s going on?”
*****
Wildwing walked into the main room that
evening after dinner, finding Nosedive sitting alone, engrossed in one
of his numerous comics. He smiled and shook his head as he sat down next
to the teen.
“Hey there,” Wing greeted his brother.
Nosedive looked up at him and returned the
smile, “Hey, bro’.”
“So,” Wildwing began, “How are you doing?”
“Not bad.” Nosedive closed his comic book,
“Okay, what do you want?”
“Just thought I’d come and talk to you.”
“Oh. About what?”
“Well, I was just wondering…” Wildwing ran a
hand over his head.
“About what happened before?” Nosedive
prompted.
His brother nodded, “Yeah. Do you…?”
Nosedive grinned, “Yeah, I remember. I
remember everything.”
“It was kind of fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it was. I haven’t seen you happy like
that in a long time.”
Wildwing nodded, “And I don’t think you’ve
stayed awake for that long without saying much in a while, either.”
“Yeah, well, it made me look cute, didn’t it?”
Wildwing playfully hit his brother’s arm in
response.
Nosedive suddenly became serious, “It was
weird. But I guess my wish came true.”
“It did come true for a while, didn’t it?”
“Yeah,” the teen sighed. “I thought it was
fun, though.”
“Me too. But how about we just keep this
between us? You know, the others don’t have to know we remember
everything.”
“Why, don’t you want the others to know that
you taught me everything I know about playing pranks? You were better
back then than I’ll ever be.”
Wildwing reaches over and rustles his
brother’s hair, “But I grew up a little, didn’t I? You’ll be sorry if
you say anything…”
Nosedive laughs as he straightens his hair,
“You’ll owe me, though.”
“Owe you what?”
“How about we go out for ice cream?”
Wildwing smiled, “I guess that can be
arranged. Come on.”
With that the brothers stood up and headed
towards the Pond’s exit. Up in the sky overhead a single star twinkled
before disappearing into the depths of the universe.
