The sun rose over Anaheim, bathing the city in the early morning’s light. The sky was tinted with pinks, golds, and hints of lavender. Chameleon looked out the window of the Raptor, for just a moment. "It’s pretty," he finally said to himself. Then he turned away and went back to work on the project. He, Siege, and Wraith had been working the whole night through to construct the ray gun for their latest plan.

"This is foolish," Wraith intoned, while their dread lord’s back was turned. "No good will come of this, I can sense it in my bones."

"Not very far to get there," Siege snorted. "Least this hunk of junk’s almost done. Let’s see what it can do."

"Yes…" Dragaunus hissed in pleasure. "It’s done." He swept across the room, his claws clicking on the cold metal of the floor. Smoke billowed out of his nostrils as he spoke. "With this, I can create monsters to terrorize the pathetic inhabitants of this backwater mudball and destroy those meddlesome ducks!" He caressed the barrel of the ray gun lightly. "Is the target prepared?" he asked Chameleon sharply.

"Of course, boss," the skinny green lizard replied. He changed into a diva and declared, "It’s showtime, dears!"

"Aw, shut up, you little freak!" Siege snapped, swiping him upside the head. "You’re getting on my case!"

The Saurian overlord looked out the window to double-check the placement of the target, then squeezed the trigger. He bared his teeth in a fearsome smirk as the target creature started to grow to an unnatural height. "Soon," Dragaunus purred, watching the monster’s progress. "Soon…"

The alarm clock buzzed next to her head. Sleepily, she reached over to hit it. She looked at her hand in alarm and sighed gustily. "I’m never myself in the morning," she muttered to herself. She picked herself up off the floor, stepped around the disarranged and scattered cards, and looked in the mirror. "Oy, I look a wreck," she said. Keeping her eye on her reflection, she fixed her appearance. I hate mornings ever so much, she thought ruefully.

She was suddenly reminded that there was an early morning practice for her and the rest of the team, in order for them all to get comfortable with her. So she dressed quickly, then headed upstairs to the rink. The other girls were already there, Mallory practicing her slapshot and Tanya reading the scouting reports on the Pioneers. Wildwing was in net, saving Mallory’s shots. Even as she laced up her skates, she saw Grin heading up from the base and helping Duke to a seat on the bench. "This don’t feel right," the former thief protested jokingly.

"Where’s Dive?" Wildwing asked.

"Do you even have to ask? He’s sound asleep, the alarm clock going off like a baby siren and something unthinkably nasty by his bunk," Mallory replied. "Do you want me to go wake him up?"

Wildwing shook his head. "I’ve seen what happens when you wake him up, Mal. I think I’ll do it." He got off his skates and went back down. Five minutes or so passed. A loud yelp was heard, and Nosedive was seen running up from below, already dressed and screaming, "No, no, anything but that, Wing, anything!" His brother was following him, smiling wickedly.

"Whoa… Wildwing, what did you do to him?" Tanya asked in awe.

"I held up a stack of comics in one hand and an open soda can in the other and started to bring them closer to each other. I wouldn’t stop until he was out of bed and ready to go." The goalie and team captain got back on the ice and said, "Let’s get this show on the road."

They began to do their drills, the original ducks occasionally flicking glances at Dreva to see how she was adapting to the team- or at Duke to see how he was adjusting to not being on the ice. All in all, though, it was working out better than any of them would have thought just the prior day. Dreva was meshing well with them, and seemed to have almost an instinctive knowledge of their plays. There were a couple of early hitches, but they were ironed out quickly.

Around twelve-thirty, Wildwing said, "Enough. We’ll start up again at two-thirty. I know we’re all a little tenser than usual."

The team dispersed. Wildwing disappeared to his room, presumably to work on things for the game. "Five of us for the mall, and two cycles… that doesn’t work out well," Mallory said.

"’Sokay, I’ll walk," Dreva said quickly. "Riding the back of one of those things makes me nervous, especially at the speed they go. I like to walk, anyway. I’ll see you later." She set off down the road, soon disappearing in the distance.

"Is it just me, or is there something seriously freaky about that girl?" Nosedive asked the group.

"She is deeply troubled, and keeps many things to herself," Grin said. "Her pain affects everything she does and everything she is. Perhaps that is what disturbs you about her."

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Riiiight…" the blond replied. "Now who’s getting on this thing with me?"

Mallory spoke up quickly. "I’m riding with Grin." Tanya sighed.

"How come I always get stuck with Mr. Joyride?" she asked the redhead as she got on the cycle, pulled on her helmet, and muttered some half-joking prayers. As Nosedive revved up the engine and roared off after Mallory and Grin, a long, fearful, wailing cry was heard from the back of the cycle. "HELP!" was only part of it.

Teresa looked up from the sports magazine she was reading as the door chimes were hit. "Finally," she said to Andy. "Dios mio, what took you so long? I thought I was going to have to run this place by myself."

"An obligation that I couldn’t shake off, nor one I would have wanted to if I could, is what kept me away. Did anyone come in before I arrived, Tisa?" Andy asked, coming across the room and finding her usual place by the cash register.

"Nope, place’s been as quiet as midnight in a cemetery. I still wish you had gotten here sooner. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies. You know me and you know I can barely stand this stuff." Teresa shook her head. "Some days I wonder what I’m doing here."

"Teresa, you’re here because I need you to be here. Would you prefer your life before I came along and made Ming take you in? You remember, I know you do. I hear it in your voice whenever you speak of being alone." Andy shook her head. "Besides, Tisa," she continued in a softer voice, "I need someone here too… because I’m almost as afraid to be alone as you are." She sat in a contemplative silence for a little while, until the door opened again.

Andy listened closely. Heavy footsteps that came with a paradoxical gentleness, and a sense of incredible calm: she knew who had arrived, and her heart leaped. "Hello, Grin. I’m glad you’re here." She was impressed that the words came out so clearly. At the same time, she wondered if her face was as calm as her voice, and knew that it almost certainly wasn’t.

"I told you I would come if I was fated to. Nothing got in my way, so I must believe that I was meant to be here." A squeak of hinges, a grunt of exertion, Teresa’s voice raised in surprise and pleasure, the scraping of chair legs on the floor, and the sensation of a weight falling: from all those sounds and feelings she could piece together the events of the past minute or so. She took comfort in her abilities. Still, something bothered her about the situation.

"Teresa, could you please go warm up the tea? I’d go do it myself, but I’m just too tired." She heard the Latina’s muted grumbling as she rose and headed for the room in the back. She hadn’t been lying to Teresa, although she had wanted to find a legitimate excuse to get Teresa out of the room. That last night had been one of the worst of her life. It had taken her hours to get to sleep, and once she had, all she had had were nightmares, the ilk of which she thought she had conquered a long time ago.

Almost as if he could read her mind- although he was probably just reading her face- Grin asked, or more precisely, stated, "You’re deeply troubled, Andy. What’s wrong?" She knew he was concerned, and could only imagine the look on his face and the hurt in his eyes.

"I wish I could tell you, dear one, but it’s something…" she trailed off, realizing her faux pas. She felt her face growing warm with embarrassment, and she didn’t quite understand why until she remembered her nightmares. She had taught herself to hide her true feelings for so long that it felt uncomfortable to show the truth.

He chose to ignore the slip, something that made her even more ashamed of her lack of self-control. "What kind of something?" he asked, everything about him making it clear that she didn’t have to answer the question- but that he would very much would like her to.

"Something that I wouldn’t want to burden anyone I even liked mildly with, much less… much less someone I hold dear." There. It was out. She had gotten over that hurdle… now there were probably several more in the way, but that was the major one. She waited patiently for his answer.

He rumbled, "So that was what I was sensing from you. Andy, why did you try to hide it from me? Keeping secrets inside will only hurt you in the end, Andy, it’ll tear you apart, and I would never want that to happen to you." He sounded a bit abashed as he spoke, and Andy wondered if maybe, just maybe, somehow, her quick first impression was being reciprocated. It wasn’t love at first sight, not for the blind woman, but it was the next closest thing. Of course not, Andy, what right do you have to be an optimist any more? He’s just a nice guy who’s worried about you. That’s what’s driving me crazy, that he’s a nice guy, the first one I’ve met in longer than I care to remember. Fire and night, I wish I could stop this deception!

"Sometimes there are secrets that are best when they are kept," she answered him quietly. Suddenly she lifted her head, not trusting her instincts completely. But they rang true. "You have to go! Now! Quickly! There’s danger!"

Just as she said that, Wildwing came over the com. "Drake 1’s going off like someone just scored a goal. Everyone get back here pronto. Over and out." Andy looked at him, knowing that her grief at being right was plain to see. "I’m sorry," Grin apologized.

"It’s all right. Just go… the more quickly you leave, the sooner you can return."

"Nuh-uh," Teresa disagreed. "It’s game night. So after whatever’s going on, he’s got practice." The Hispanic girl pretended sorrow. "So sorry, Andy." The blind brunette swung her cane in Teresa’s direction warningly. By the time she went to say goodbye, the chimes had already sounded, and he was gone. She rose up angrily. "I have to go, Tisa, so keep an eye on the shop."

"Where are you going, Andy?" Teresa taunted her. "Planning to go be a superheroine? You’re not equipped for it. You can’t do it, as much as you want to."

Andy growled and clipped her in the jaw without hesitation. "There’s a lot more to me than you know, Teresa Laura Perez of Glen Hills."

Teresa gasped, even as her vision went fuzzy. "How did you know?" she asked weakly. "How could you even know?" Then she toppled to the floor. Andy sighed mournfully.

"I so didn’t want to have to do that," she said to herself before vanishing silently and swiftly away.

Even as the quartet of ducks was heading back on the duckcycles, Wildwing was giving them the details about the problem. "There’s a disturbance outside of town, out past the Pond. I’ll be waiting outside with the Aerowing. Duke, are you going to be okay on your own? If not, give the word."

"Don’t worry ‘bout me," Duke replied. "I can handle myself, ya ought ta know that by now. ‘Sides, I can give ya guys a heads-up if I need help."

They found Wildwing and Dreva waiting at the Aerowing when they arrived. "How’d you get here so fast?" Nosedive asked the brunette. "I thought you were farther off than the rest of us, and you’re walking."

"I hadn’t gotten very far when Wildwing called. I got caught pondering," she answered back. "So let’s get going already, okay? Wouldn’t want to leave everyone waiting for us to get the party started."

As the ducks boarded the Aerowing, Mallory whispered to Nosedive, "That girl’s almost as crazy as you are, Dive."

"Don’t insult me like that, Mal-mal," he replied seriously. "There’s something about her that’s really kinda freaky."

At the controls of the plane, Wildwing gently steered them onward. "Tanya, where’s the mess coming from?" he inquired.

"It’s hard to tell," the blonde replied. "I’m getting an absolutely huge reading here. But from what I can tell, it’s just to the left of us."

Wildwing nodded and turned. Then they saw the monster that was straight ahead of them. "Holy…" Dreva started.

"I don’t believe it," Nosedive breathed. "There’s no way that could be what it looks like. Hey, Grin, check this out… is it-"

"It is," Grin agreed. "It is an overgrown Bernie the Bear."

"You mean the cartoon that you guys were always arguing about before it got cancelled? You’re telling me it’s right there?" Mallory demanded.

"Guys, that’s crazy," Tanya said. "But, Mal, you know, it is sort of right in front of us, so it’s probably real." She shot a look at Wildwing, who scanned it with the Mask. His nod confirmed her statement.

The overgrown cartoon character growled menacingly and swung a paw at them. Wildwing managed to get the Aerowing out of the way of the initial swipe, but couldn’t completely avoid the resulting air currents. "Hold on tight, and you’d all better be buckled in!" he warned them as the plane started to swing around wildly. Nosedive reached for an airsick bag while his brother went into some fancy maneuvering. "Hey, Mallory, feel free to start shooting at that thing," Wildwing said.

The redheaded duck smiled vindictively. "For messing up my trip to the mall, this thing’s going to get it," she threatened. She ran her hands over the weapons controls she knew so well and started firing. The shots ripped huge holes in the giant bear, but the rents quickly repaired, and the monstrous creature continued towards them.

"What the hell?" Mallory asked, not even trying to watch her language. "That thing should be shredded! Tanya, why isn’t it shredded?"

"Why are you asking me?" Tanya pleaded. "I don’t know either… I mean, maybe it’s stopped being there, or it somehow, you know, regenerates itself, or maybe…" the technological wizard stopped short, finding herself with the unusual urge to hit something. As the ship suddenly bucked, she found her wish come true, but not in the way she had planned it.

"Hey, big bro, you need to go back to driver’s ed again," Nosedive declared. Someone fastened him with a stony glare- he wasn’t quite sure who. "Jeez, you know, I’m just trying to lighten things up around here. Is that so wrong?"

"We don’t need you distracting him," Mallory replied, almost snarling at him. "You know, sometimes you’re the most irritating creature on the face of the planet."

‘This is not the time for struggle and wrath," Grin said to her. "We have a greater battle to fight. In this we are allies… remember?"

Dreva suddenly lifted her head and growled furiously. "There’s foul magic involved in this," she rasped, sounding furious. "Someone’s using magic to keep that monster from dying. And yet… and yet there’s science mixed into it as well. A strange and unholy combination, this."

"Excuse me," Nosedive interjected, still a little green from his bout with airsickness. "You just popped up yesterday in Tani’s lab with a weird kind of story, and you think we’re just going to trust you without asking questions? Girly-girl, either you’re dumb or you think we’re really dumb."

She looked at him, her eyes fiery and furious. But as she thought about it, she realized that he was right to mistrust her. That didn’t mean she had to like it, though. Her voice was quietly deadly as she said, "You may not trust me, Nosedive, but I know about these things, more than any duck on this planet, and more so than probably most of the humans here as well." With a smile, she added, "Besides, what else could keep a stuffed bear going after Mallory starts shooting at it?"

He admitted to himself that she might have a point. It was just a little one, though, and, dang, she’s pretty when she gets mad! He shook his head to clear it, wondering how that last thought had wandered into his head. Verbally, he said nothing, merely held on tight while Wildwing dodged blow after blow from the giant bear. Then it hit them with something. "What was that?" Mallory shrieked.

"It’s shooting energy beams out of its eyes," Tanya reported, having recovered from hitting the panel in front of her during an evasive maneuver. "You know, kinda like the stuff that just about every video game on this planet has, those laser things? That’s what it’s got."

Nosedive raised his hand. "So let me get this straight," he said. Everyone looked at him, and he shrugged. "Hey, Wing’s busy, so someone’s got to be the serious brother. Anyhoo, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. We’re fighting a giant, stuffed Bernie the Bear with laser-beam eyes and this ability to fix itself up right after it gets hit, right? And it’s only Tuesday," he finished with a sigh.

Wildwing struggled with the controls, letting slip some sounds of exertion and aggravation. This constant maneuvering was making him feel a little queasy, and it didn’t seem to be doing much to keep the bear from abandoning hope of kicking the snot out of them. His hands felt sweaty, and he worried that he might lose his grip on the controls. "Any suggestions on getting us out of this?" he asked.

"We’ve got to get rid of whatever’s keeping it powered up," Dreva replied. "Once we do that, it should be as easy to blow up as you’d expect a large teddy bear to be."

Tanya started to run some scans. "There’s some kind of energy feed connected to that thing. It’s coming from over that way." She pointed to her right, towards the north. "I can’t get a fix on what kind of energy it is yet… you know, I can’t do everything at once."

The ship rocked as one of the bear’s energy beams hit it. Wildwing gritted his teeth with the effort of keeping the Aerowing aloft and reasonably under his control. He realized that there wasn’t a lot of time for them to waste. They had to cut the creature’s power source. The big question was who to send. Tanya, of course, had to go, because she was the technological expert- if there was anything sending anything at that thing, she could knock it out of commission. He also suspected that Dreva would have to go. Besides the fact that she needed to prove herself to him and the team, the magical abilities she claimed to have would come in handy down there if she was telling him the truth. In case she wasn’t, though…

"Grin, you’re with Tanya and Dreva on the ground team." Not for the first time that afternoon, Wildwing wished that Duke was ready to fight- he was much better at sneaking than the big mystic, and wouldn’t hesitate to neutralize Dreva should she prove to be a danger. "Mallory, Dive, you’ll stay up here with me, and we’ll try to knock the thing out from here." Quickly, Wildwing landed, set the trio down, and took off again.

Tanya wasted no time, setting her Omnitool to search for any unexplained traces of energy in the area. They had all gotten turned around when Wildwing had had to make evasive maneuvers to avoid the giant Bernie. She swept her arm around, trying to pick up anything, when a green splotch appeared on the tiny screen. "We’ve found it," she announced. "It’s off that way." She pointed to her left, only then realizing that she was pointing at Dreva’s back.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you people this before you believe me? I know about these things without having to resort to tools." Her eyes flashed with memory for a timeless moment. She shook the feeling off, reminding herself that two lives might depend on her keeping her mind clear.

"Two sides of the same coin," Grin remarked. "One depends on the mental, and one on the physical, yet you come to the same place."

At that, Tanya and Dreva gave each other strange looks, then chorused, "Uh, no…" before continuing onward.

A half-hour’s hard walk later, Tanya whispered, "We’re getting pretty close to the, uh, source of the weird readings." She tapped her fingers against her hip a bit nervously as she spoke. Her eyes, shaded by the violet-tinted glasses, didn’t betray her worry.

Dreva and Grin nodded with comprehension. The noise level decreased noticeably, quite a feat considering the near-silence they had been traveling in before. Almost inaudibly, Grin asked, "Do you know yet what it is?" Tanya shook her head, more than a little exasperated at that. She absolutely hated being puzzled- it wasn’t a good place for her to be.

The trio moved on a little further, then stopped again, hiding behind some scrubby bushes. Grin peeked up from that cover to see if there was anything observable. He saw Wraith, Siege, and Chameleon lurking around a ray gun that glowed with an uncanny blue light. The area around the gun was all dead; the grass was brown and the trees were losing their leaves far too quickly. Quickly he scrunched back down and tapped Tanya on the shoulder. She rose up in turn, being careful to keep her ponytail under wraps as she took in data with the Omnitool. Her frown grew very deep.

"What’s the matter?" Dreva asked quietly.

"I can’t figure out what that ray thing is shooting out," the blonde whispered back. "It’s not anything that my Omnitool recognizes. It’s just telling me that that stuff is energy, nothing else."

Dreva bit back a curse and looked through the bushes. When her gaze fixed on the gun, her eyes narrowed and became angry. "They’re sucking up the life-force from the area around them and sending it to that monstrosity!" she snapped in rage. "That’s the worst way to combine science and magic!"

"There’s no good way to combine them," Tanya muttered under her breath. "So how do we knock this thing outta commission?"

"If you’re ready to go kick some Saurian tail, we go do it now. It doesn’t look like it’s protected by anything weird." Dreva caught Tanya’s eye. "We might not agree about the place of magic within science, but we agree that this particular instance is a complete abomination. This thing’s got to go." She put her hands to the hilts of her blades with a quick and fluid motion and made as if to rise.

"Wait," Grin said, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. "It is not wise to run into battle with nothing but a head full of emotion. Without a plan, we will most certainly be defeated, and then what of our teammates?"

"We have to do something," Dreva answered furiously. "We can’t just let that thing sit there and keep denuding the terrain. Surely you know that, you who claim to be so in touch with nature and the inner self. It’d be just wrong, and you know it." Again she tried to rise, and again he held her down. Almost, then, she would have lost her temper and revealed herself, but she knew deep down inside that he was right, much as she hated to admit that anyone else could be right when they disagreed with her. Anger made her voice sharp as she asked, "So what should we do then?"

"Distract them," he replied simply. "They will not see the truth if deceived by a convincing lie. It is beyond their comprehension."

"Next step?" Tanya asked.

"Then you ladies put your heads together and remove that misbegotten creation from the face of the earth," he said. Neither of the ladies had expected him to speak so calmly, at least not words like those. "Something that sucks the life out of one being to support another one which should not have existed in the first place- that is just wrong and needs to be rectified." His displeasure was abundantly clear.

"Then get, y’know, distracting, and, ah, best of luck to you," Tanya said in a rush, hoping to get the words out before her infamous stutter set in. She looked almost guilty, as if she had suggested the plan instead of merely agreeing to it.

He nodded and sneaked out from behind the bushes. Dreva squeezed Tanya’s hand to reassure her and remind her that they too had to break cover in order for this to work. The blonde looked at her with a lot of pain behind her tinted glasses and started out.

Siege was the first one to spot Grin revealing himself from behind the bushes. "Hey, look, we’ve got company," he rumbled to his colleagues.

"Finally," Wraith mumbled. "I thought we were going to have to make a beacon to summon them." He smirked. "The fools have no idea how they fit into our plans."

"Uh, yeah, whatever, Wraith, can’t we just pummel them already?" Siege demanded. "’Cause I’m in the mood for some pummeling."

Wraith waved a hand negligently in Grin’s direction. "Go ahead, you two. Just remember to keep him alive as long as you can."

Siege and Chameleon exchanged a wicked smile and started to advance on Grin, who was unaware of either their notice of him or their evil designs. Only a tingling around the back of his neck gave him any warning of Siege’s imminent attack. He ducked down low and felt the wind from Siege’s leap ruffle his hair. A sudden shock sent him to the ground. He looked up to see Chameleon’s smirking face locked in an expression of triumph. That was unacceptable to the big duck, and he swept a foot out to trip up the scrawny lizard, giving him time to get up off the dying grass.

Unfortunately, Chameleon bounced up quickly, and stood at the rebalanced Siege’s side. They prepared to rush him when a slow realization filtered through their minds. He wasn’t standing in front of them any more. While they had gotten together to look as dangerous and menacing as they could, he had simply run off and was now standing behind them, getting ready to smash their heads together. Something was keeping him from doing it, though, and it wasn’t just his advanced moral sense. His momentary weakness allowed the two Saurians to catch on, turn and face him, and prepare to attack.

He sighed and headed into the fray, fists flailing. He knew that he was outnumbered. His only hope was to knock one of them out quickly, preferably Siege, and deal with the other one on an even basis. It didn’t seem like the Saurians were inclined to work with him on that plan, though, because they both rushed him at once. It didn’t help that he was feeling weaker with every passing second, either. For the first time he wondered why he had come up with this plan in the first place. He also started wishing that Wildwing hadn’t split the team up evenly, because he sorely needed someone to back him up on this one.

Siege caught his moments of indecision and walloped him hard across the head, sending him flying across the terrain. It took him a long, long moment to get up off the ground again, and when he did, Chameleon was there waiting in his favorite bodybuilder’s form, bad accent and all. "Pre-pahre to meet your doom," the shape-shifting nuisance declared.

"I don’t think so," Grin replied. "I think my doom would be something beyond you." He reached up and socked Chameleon hard, forcing the Saurian to transform back into his normal inept self, at least temporarily. Leaping to his feet, Grin somehow managed to avoid a series of shots from Siege, although the last one grazed him. This is definitely not good, Grin thought, caught in a major scene.

While Grin did his job as distraction, Tanya and Dreva got closer and closer to the magic ray gun. The sounds of the battle were clearly audible to them, and Dreva winced. "Tanya, we’ve got to do something to help him," she said urgently, her voice still very quiet.

Tanya looked at her with pain hiding behind her glasses and whispered back, "Dreva, he suggested this for a reason, and it wasn’t, y’know, to get in there and get ourselves hurt. We got to do what we gotta do, whether we like what we gotta do or not. We’re the ones who know about that, ah, ray gun out there, and we’re the ones who, um, have to take it out." The blonde’s voice got emotionally harder and audibly softer. "He’s my teammate too, Dreva. Don’t you think I think he’s doing something really stupid by being the, ah, decoy on this one? But he’s making sure we all come out of this in one piece. So let’s go… faster we do this, faster we get him out of that mess." Before Dreva could answer back, Tanya had moved ahead of her.

They were almost right up against it when they felt the first waves of weakness wash over them. Dreva clenched her fists as she tried to regain control of herself- she had almost given herself away, or to be more correct about it, been given away. She couldn’t lose her self-control, not when she most needed to have herself together. As for Tanya, she had spent the last three nights in the lab, hardly getting a full night’s worth of sleep between those. She slowed down and started to stagger. "We can’t give up now," she whispered, almost more to herself than to her companion. "We just can’t."

The brunette agreed silently but wholeheartedly with that. She looked over at the ray gun that was causing them all so much trouble. Wraith was guarding it, his spindly hands clutching his staff with an unexpectedly strong grip. There was a focus there that neither of the girls would have expected. "He must be powering this thing," Dreva rasped. "He’s providing the spell to make it absorb life-force from the area… and that must mean us too. It’s too general to just be going after the local flora and fauna. Ooh, that little so-and-so!"

"So we have to, ah, disable Wraith to do anything?" Tanya replied.

"Yeah, and fast, because the longer we stay here, the more of our life gets sucked out of us and fed to that thing that the rest of the team’s facing." This time, when Dreva drew her blade of light, Tanya had no objection; she was busily readying her Omnitool for attack and work. Once they were prepared, the girls broke cover and started to flank Wraith. Ill fortune continued to dog the team, though, because Dreva’s heel came down on a dead stick. That drew the sorcerer’s attention to her. She waved her sword threateningly, trying to make sure that he didn’t notice Tanya coming up behind him. She realized that that wasn’t going to work for very long, though, and pointed the sword at him. A very strange thing happened as she did. The sword started to blur and transform into a gun of some sort.

Wraith hissed, half with pleasure and half with fury. "So those pathetic bags of feathers have finally found another mage to fight me on my own terms." His skeletal face wrinkled up into an evil smirk. "It will be quite a pleasure to smash you into the ground, upstart."

Dreva laughed. "Wraith, you poor pathetic thing, I’ve been fighting your sort since before you were even a gleam in your mother’s eye- if something like you actually has a mother. Sometime, when I’m not busy foiling your piddling plans, I’ll have to show you my trophy room. Enough of this talk. Let’s get dueling, unless you don’t think you can take such a so-called upstart in a fair fight." She stood ready, her gun shifting again into a staff that shone with a pure golden light.

Wraith answered her with a huge fireball. She raised her staff into the air, spun it like a baton, and casually flicked the attack away, straight towards the ray gun. It splattered against a forcefield. He chuckled at her surprise and disappointment. "You foolish little girl," he chortled. "Did you really think I’d leave this masterpiece unprotected? You should never have revealed yourself that way. As soon as you declared yourself, I had it covered."

Tanya heard the boast and cursed under her breath, hardly loud enough for even her to hear. Now how am I supposed to get into that thing, with my blinding charm? You know, Dreva, you could have been a little more careful, she thought. At the thing’s side, she pushed against its control panel, with no discernible effects.

"Whoa, bro, careful!" Nosedive exclaimed. "I get airsick, remember?"

"You want to get airsick or you want to get smacked into the ground?" Mallory asked pointedly. "Damn, I wish the others would hurry up on the ground."

"You said it, Mal. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. We’re running out of fuel," Wildwing added, tapping the fuel gauge in a brief, non-exciting moment. "This is definitely not good."

Nosedive just looked at his brother, and Mallory said, "Um, are you two sure you haven’t switched bodies or something?"

"Nah, that’s next week," Nosedive said airily. "We couldn’t fit it into our busy schedules. Besides, I’m not a really good goalie, haven’t you noticed?"

Mallory just sighed, wondering for the umpteenth time what she had done to merit being trapped on this planet and especially with Nosedive. She thought she had led a good life; apparently, if there was a God, he or she had an extremely twisted sense of humor. Just to vent on something, she fired a couple of shots at the giant bear, earning a dirty look from Wildwing. I hate waiting, she thought. Waiting and waiting and not being able to do anything…I’d go crazy if that were what I had to do all the time. I wish I were down there. At least I could be doing something!

She looked over at Wildwing and realized that the anxiety she was feeling was tripled over on his side. He wanted to be down there, leading the charge like he thought a leader should- but he didn’t think he was qualified for the job. Then the thought struck her that she wasn’t sure, from reading his expression, if he didn’t think he was qualified to be on the ground team or that he wasn’t ready to be leader at all. She cast a glance to the heavens. He’s been through this little crisis before, when is he going to realize that out of all of us, he’s the best one to lead? Sometimes this little self-loathing thing he’s on drives me up the wall worse than any of Dive’s little pranks!

"Scared, Mal-mal?" Nosedive teased her. Of course he didn’t know what she was thinking about. He just thought that for some reason, this little escapade would get to her more than any of the countless others they’d undergone. She tossed him a scornful look in reply.

Then again… if she wasn’t scared… why was she analyzing so much?

Grin was panting with exhaustion. This battle was taking more out of him than he would have thought. Of course, it didn’t help that it was him against two henchmen, and that one of the henchmen was the living tank Siege. Still, he should have been able to knock Chameleon out of the battle quickly. Something there was sapping his strength, which was an absolute disaster. He knew he was bleeding, and he didn’t want to think about from where and from how many wounds. He couldn’t even tell if he had inflicted any injuries on his foes to match his own.

Over and over again, he repeated his mantra, the quote his teammates always ribbed him about. Pain is an illusion… pain is an illusion… pain is an illusion. Unfortunately, he remembered the other half of it, as well… that pain is an illusion that really, really hurts. At that moment, he was hurting enough to make him seriously consider upgrading pain to the status of a reality. Other priorities were getting in the way, however, such as surviving this vicious attack until Tanya and Dreva could finish up their work. Had he been slightly less philosophical, or perhaps slightly less able to defend himself, he would have wondered what was taking them so long.

Siege took another wild swing at him, which he barely got out of the way of. The big orange lizard smirked at him. "Feeling a little weak, duckie?" he asked snidely. "You better be, ‘cause Wraith’s got something plenty fun cooked up for you and the rest of your crew." The henchman suddenly came at Grin with his tail. "Yeah, we’re going to have lots of fun feeding you to our monsters."

Grin slid away from the attack and noticed for the first time that both Saurians were wearing necklaces, which was odd and unprecedented. As Chameleon rushed at him in the shape of a football player, he yanked the slender cord from around the shapeshifter’s neck. It thrummed with power in his hands. Chameleon gasped as if he had just been punched in the stomach and started to turn an even more disgusting shade of green.

"Oh, now you’ve done it," Siege growled menacingly. "You’re going to get it now, duckie."

Even as Siege prepared to attack, Grin noticed something- his strength was coming back to him. These must protect the lizards from the effects of the spell that Wraith cast, he realized. So if I’ve got it and I’m not dead, then I must be protected as well… which means that if I can get the one that Siege is wearing, I can help someone else out.

The rush came, and the fight was joined, a struggle of sheer mass and power. The two enemies exchanged heavy blows and hit each other hard. But Grin knew how to use his force better than Siege did, and in the end, a swift punch to the head followed by the removal of the protective amulet did Siege in.

Dreva felt the sweat dropping from her brow. It had been a very, very long time since she had fought a magical duel, and never one like this. She had also lost a lot of her power after the incident that had forced her to come to Anaheim. The spell Wraith had cast before to sap the strength of everything around only compounded the problems she was facing. She didn’t like to lose, and it hadn’t been nearly long enough since her last defeat. She was bound and determined not to lose… now if only she could figure out a way for that not to happen.

Wraith tried to sneak up behind her, using his magic to teleport himself into the perfect spot for an ambush. But Dreva had expected that and was ready with her staff. Common sense could only carry her so far, though. The plain and simple truth was that she couldn’t last in that fight for long, not without doing things that she didn’t want to do. She was sworn to fight fair and not to stoop to cheating.

The worst part was that it all did come down to her, despite the fact that she didn’t want it to. Unless she got Wraith out of commission, it wasn’t likely that Grin could defeat both of the other henchmen, and only the sorcerer’s defeat would take down the forcefield around the weapon. Everything was on her shoulders, a position she was too comfortable with and absolutely hated. She raised Ahi again, this time in its usual form of a glowing sword, and countered the sword of fire that Wraith was using.

Could she? Would she? Was it worth revealing one more secret to give herself an advantage over the Saurian sorcerer? Reluctantly, she forced the blade in her hand into the shift. The hilt turned cold, and she held Wa, the sword of water. Its icy length glimmered in the dim sunlight, and when it met Wraith’s sword, there was a hiss of steam. The battle continued to rage on. Both of them soon realized that the swords would not lose any of their matter, no matter how much steam was created.

It suddenly occurred to Dreva that this would give her an advantage. She reached her free hand to her hip to draw the other sword she always carried, but found herself too weak to summon the miniscule spell necessary. Oh shit, I’m going to die… after all of the titanic battles I’ve fought against the darkest creations of evil, I’m going to buy it against some fourth-rate lizard with a penchant for the dramatic and horrible taste in accessories? Oh, man, wouldn’t this be an embarrassing story to tell in the afterlife? I guess it’s a good thing there isn’t one, then.

She fell to her knees on the ground, hopeless, helpless, and about to lose the fight.

Tanya was about ready to start hitting things, or people, or lizards, or whatever happened to come her way when she was in a hitting mood. She couldn’t get through that shield, no matter how hard she tried. She had tried everything she could think of, and with Tanya, that was a lot more than anyone else would think of. She might as well have just stood there, or maybe grabbed her puck launcher and given Grin a hand against Siege and Chameleon. And she was so tired…

"Tanya, catch!" It was Grin’s voice, and he sounded more or less all right. Automatically, she reached her hands out. The throw went high, but the necklace tangled in her hair. Almost instantly, she felt a surge of strength. "Dreva needs our help!" he called out to her. "I think we can hold off on the fate of that gun for just a moment."

The blonde nodded and cocked her launcher. With pinpoint accuracy, she nailed the skull on the Saurian’s staff, mentally apologizing to whichever duck had owned it once upon a time. Wraith screamed in anger, knowing that his colleagues had been defeated and that his enemies were now defended against his spell. He turned his attention to Tanya, which gave Dreva a chance to get up and unsteadily make her stance. With an evil ease, Wraith shot a fireball in Tanya’s direction. She got out of the way, but wasn’t ready when he teleported over and hit her hard across the forehead with his staff. She slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Dreva’s eyes seemed to burst into flame, and for a moment, even her hair seemed touched by the fire. The glow calmed down, but it was replaced by an unfocused gaze that strongly suggested that its owner was not currently in possession of all her critical faculties. "How dare you?" she demanded in wrath. "How in a million worlds did you think you could get away with that? You’ve made yourself a new enemy now, scum-bucket. Don’t worry, though. I won’t be your enemy long. I won’t need to be your enemy when you’re just a smear on the floor. You don’t know who you’re messing with, and all gods willing, you won’t ever."

Grin couldn’t figure out how, after being at the edge of her strength during the duel, she had the power to make such a threat, nor how she suddenly leaped at Wraith. The growl that emerged from her throat was more suited to a wild animal than a civilized, intelligent being. She had both her blades out, and before Wraith could even breathe, she had one at his throat and the other at his belly. In a dangerous and quiet voice, she snarled, "Now, if you don’t undo what you’ve done, I’ll make you wish that your parents weren’t even born to produce you."

The only reply the Saurian gave was a contemptuous curl of his lip. That only increased Dreva’s fury. She pushed both swords harder at him. "Dreva, think of what path you are going down," Grin whispered to her. "You’ll become just like them."

Something about his words seemed to snap her back into reality. She blinked, and when her eyes opened again, sanity was once more present. She removed the sword from Wraith’s throat and hit him over the head with its hilt. "Thanks," she said briefly to Grin. "I’m sorry you had to see that flashback. I don’t know what happened. I thought I was back in the past, when someone I loved was being threatened."

Tanya moaned. "Oh my… what happened?" she asked, reaching for the nearest tree for support as she tried to get up. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing you needed to know about," Dreva said quickly. "Wraith’s down for the count and hopefully then some, so we should be able to get inside that ray gun. Are you up to it?"

"You’d better believe that," Tanya replied, up on her feet and looking at the evil machine before a minute had passed. "Big surprise, it’s the, uh, red wire. Honestly, it’s like they never figure anything out about these, ah, things." Out of the Omnitool came a small pair of scissors to snip the key wire to the whole assemblage. "That should do it," the blonde declared. "Now, uh, let’s get out of here before everyone, er, wakes up and decides they want to have a little party, okay?"

The trio of ducks tiptoed out of the clearing as best as they could and headed for somewhere where they could be seen from the air.

"We’re really low on gas," Nosedive announced to his brother and Mallory. While Wildwing was too busy flying to reply, the redheaded duck said a couple of inappropriate things to the young blond. "Hey, lay off the ‘yo mamma’ jokes, my brother’s in here, remember?" He grumbled a little bit about obnoxious redheads before cooling down and staring moodily out the window.

"Could you two please shut up?" Wildwing asked with an edge to his voice. "It’s really hard to try to keep from getting smashed into pulp if I’m listening to you two in a state of war." As he spoke, the ship was rocked again. He swiftly twitched the controls and got them more or less out of danger.

Suddenly the bear started to glow with the same blue light that had been around the ray gun. Then it shrank down until it was invisible from the height they were at. "Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we just won," Mallory said.

"Good thing, too, because we’ve got to land before we crash," Wildwing said in relief. He pointed the Aerowing downward, in which direction it was more than willing to go. An abrupt flare of light went up in front of his eyes.

"Look!" Nosedive yelled, pointing downward. The flare was coming from Dreva’s staff, serving as a beacon for the team. Quickly, Wildwing corrected their course to set down next to Tanya, Grin, and Dreva. "Shish, what did you guys have down there, an achy-breaky party?" Nosedive asked.

"Don’t even joke," Tanya said in disgust. "They were ready for us for once." She winced, holding her forehead. "Wraith, ah, got me pretty hard. Don’t worry, I’m okay to play."

"What about you, Grin?" Wildwing inquired, looking concerned at his teammate’s injuries.

"It is only physical pain. I am otherwise unharmed."

"Yeah, but otherwise doesn’t play hockey games. Are you going to be yourself on the ice tonight?"

"Well, if you choose to see it only that way, yes, of course." There was a very offended quality to the big defenseman’s voice as he replied.

"Um, Tanya, where’s the spare fuel supply stashed?" Mallory asked. "You were the one who loaded it, right?"

"Oh, yeah, it’s, um, under the seats, I have the key," Tanya replied, reminded of that pressing matter. "We do, ah, need to pick some more up wherever we, y’know, can."

Such small talk occupied them in the ride back to the Pond. As they settled back down into their landing bay, Duke contacted them on the comms. "So ya guys all ‘live, or are we gonna have ta forfeit this one anyways?"

"We’re good," Nosedive laughed. "Did we miss anything?"

On the screen, Duke shrugged. "Just a delivery for Tani, some kind’a robotics stuff. And those Pioneers showed up early ta get in a lil bit’a practice ‘head’a ya guys, so ya should get ta the ice fast."

Nosedive launched into parody: "It’s been a hard day’s day and I’ve been working like a duck… you know, it’s been a hard day’s day and I shouldn’t even be giving a-"

"DIVE!" Wildwing screamed, seeing where that was going and heading it off in a hurry. "We’ve got a game later, so behave, or I’ll bench you and forfeit the game, got it?"

Nosedive gulped and nodded nervously, understanding that his brother was not to be trifled with that day. "Let’s get into gear," the team captain ordered. "If what Duke said is true, the Pioneers have a couple of legs up on us, so we’re going to have to work our tails off to get even. Dreva, you’re going to have to find a real jersey to wear tonight. Go get some money from Phil. Do whatever you have to do to convince him to part with it. Be back here as soon as you can."

Dreva inclined her head and raced off towards the manager’s office. "How long you think it’ll take her to get the cash?" Nosedive asked. "I say ten minutes."

"Fifteen minutes," Duke replied promptly. "Five bucks on that."

"I’m in for twenty minutes," Mallory answered.

"Such a strange activity to engage in," Grin pondered. "Five minutes, tops, anyway." They all looked at him in shock. "When she wants something, she is as unstoppable a force as the tidal wave. I have seen her in action."

"Anyone changing their bet? Didn’t think so. Just remember, closest duck wins the dinero."

Six minutes later, Dreva walked through the hallway with a satisfied smile lurking around the edges of her beak and a wad of money in her pocket. As she strolled along, Nosedive gaped. "How the-"

"Don’t ask, Dive, just don’t ask," Dreva replied, hurrying along.

Ten minutes followed. She returned with her jersey in a plastic bag, and she refused to reveal her number to anyone until it was time for the game. "Whose turn is it to cook?" Mallory asked.

"Silly question, girly-girl, ‘cause if we had takeout last night, it’s the beginning all over again, so it’s ‘Wing’s turn. Hey, bro, what’s for dinner?" Nosedive yelled.

"It’s a game night, what do you think?" Wildwing shot back from the kitchen. "Good thing we have enough extra."

It didn’t take long for dinner to be ready. The group filed in. "Aw, man, not spaghetti again. Didn’t we have that the last time it was your turn?" Tanya asked. "There’s a whole lot of pasta out there, you know."

Wildwing looked at her. "You wanted to cook tonight?" he asked her pointedly. "If not, don’t complain about the food."

It was a simple and quick meal: spaghetti in store-bought Alfredo sauce, with a tossed salad on the side. They were all in a hurry, because there was a game coming up right after. That night, they ate off paper plates, so as not to have to spend the time cleaning up. The game came before everything.

An hour later, it was game time. The Pond was full to capacity, a genuine sellout. The national anthem, and thankfully only one, had been sung. The away team had been introduced and duly booed until the rafters shook with the rumble. Finally, it was time for the nightly ritual to introduce the home team. {A/N: No, I don’t know how it happens at the Pond, or at any other hockey game. This is adapted from hanging out at the Garden for basketball games. If it’s wrong, e-mail me and I will correct it. Sorry for the interruption.}

"And now… please welcome your Anaheim Mighty Ducks!" The crowd went absolutely wild, screaming and hooting and hollering.

"First, goalie and team captain, number 00, Wildwing Flashblade!" Lots of cheering there, especially from parents of Mighty Duck fanatics who found him to be a wholesome role model for their children.

"Left wing, number 33, Nosedive Flashblade!" A higher-pitched screaming this time- the rebel without a cause of the alien set was popular amongst teenagers and other such strange creatures.

Then it got a little strange, at least to the teal and purple faithful. "Playing center tonight, number 15, Mallory McMallard!" The cheering had a female sound to it, but also a confused one.

"At right wing, number 23, Tanya Vanderflock!" Less cheering, more rumblings of discontent. Not only was she out of position, she wasn’t even in the right line. What’s going on here? the fans thought angrily.

"On defense, number 1, Grin Hardwing!" That was a more familiar part of the pregame ritual- finally, someone who was in the right place. But that left a question mark in everyone’s mind- who would be playing the other defensive position where Tanya usually was?

"And finally, new to the team and the league, playing defense, number 2, Dreva Quickwing!" The applause was polite at best as the fans in the seats assimilated her presence. The announcer added unnecessarily, "Duke L’Orange is injured and will not play tonight."

The restless crowd muttered amongst itself. This was not right. This was not the way it was supposed to be. The wily veteran was supposed to be anchoring the young and sometimes rash line, while the defense stayed rock solid behind them. This was just too off.

Dreva winced at the reaction. "They don’t like me," she whined. "Man, I should just give up and go back in the locker room."

"Hey, don’t feel so down," Mallory said to her. Her eyes twinkling, she said, "Duke has his own little fan base… most of which wants his phone number." She shot a look at her teammate, who just glanced calmly back at her. "Don’t sweat it. First big play you make, they’re going to love you to pieces. Trust me on this one, okay?" She patted Dreva on the shoulder and skated to her place at logo in the center of the ice, preparing for the dropping of the puck and trying to feel a little more comfortable in that position.

Tanya wasn’t quite as nice about it. "You better, y’know, not screw up there." She still high-fived the brunette, though, trying to reassure her. The rest of the team followed suit to varying degrees.

The puck was dropped, and Mallory won the face-off. With an internal sigh of relief, she flipped it off to Nosedive and the game began. She remembered what Tanya had told her prior to the game: "We’ve got our best chance tonight, because Portland’s starting that hotshot rookie Jack Nolan, and it’s always fun to crack rookies."

Just out of curiosity, she cast a very close look at her blonde teammate. Sure enough, Tanya was wearing the same fearsome smile she had worn when giving Mallory the scouting report. It surprised her, but only a little bit. She knew that Tanya was totally different on the ice than she was in person.

Her momentary lack of attention caused her not to be aware of Nosedive passing the puck back to her. The Portland defender got in front and intercepted the pass, leaving the redhead in a state of shock and embarrassment. She found herself watching the action on the other side of the rink with an intense interest. This would be Dreva’s first major test. Could she handle it, or had they gotten a dud?

Grin demonstrated his remarkable ability to check multiple offensive players at the same time, leaving the brunette alone with the Portland player. Unfortunately, he was one of their best, a sharpshooter with a good eye for trouble and an uncanny habit of getting out of it. Suddenly, something happened. Later replays showed the quick flick of the stick and the dash after the puck, but all the people in attendance saw was a blur that resolved itself into Dreva stealing and passing off the puck to Tanya, who had come back almost out of reflex.

Three quick passes later, the Mighty Ducks were up 1-0. Everyone in the Pond, except for the Pioneers, was more relaxed. The new girl was going to work out after all.

When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 3-1, and the Mighty Ducks had won the game. After the ritual celebration of stick-slapping and indulging in the theory of duck power, the team got back down into the base and put on some casual clothes. For once, Wildwing sounded at least halfway satisfied with the team’s effort on the ice. "Good job tonight. We did better than I thought with this scrambled lineup."

Nosedive mock-gasped. "You mean you were expecting us to… lose?! Bro, you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that." He clutched at his chest in an incredible feat of melodrama. The rest of the ducks ignored him, as they usually did when he started getting very silly.

Someone suddenly knocked on the door. "Who is it?" Wildwing yelled.

"It’s me, boobies, and the photographer from the newspaper. He wants to get a new team picture now that we’ve got Dreva."

"Can’t it wait?" Mallory snapped through the door. "We just played a really tough game out there. The least you could do is wait until after we’ve cooled down a little."

"But bubbalah, Mr. Mack has to be leaving for Los Angeles in ten minutes," Phil pleaded. "Come on, boobies!"

"In case you thought fighting Draguanus and all his goons was the worst that could happen to you in Anaheim, think again," Mallory whispered to Dreva as the door opened. "Phil’s a natural disaster all by himself. Especially if he’s got his cell phone."

The photographer waiting with the so-called manager was a dour-looking little man with thinning brown hair and a bland, drab face. "Everyone together for the picture," he requested in a reedy little monotone. "You too, Mr. Palmfeather. I want to get the whole team for this." Was that a flash of a smile? No one could be sure, because it came and went so fast. "Excuse me, Mr. Flashblade, but could you please put your goalie mask on for the picture? That would be a bit more appropriate, I think."

Once the seven ducks and one irritating human were gathered together, Mr. Mack said, "Smile everyone, please." The flash went off, blindingly bright. "Thank you very much, I have what I need."

"But don’t you have to take lots of pictures?" Phil begged. At that Mr. Mack definitely smiled, a humorless little expression.

"Oh no, Mr. Palmfeather, I got everything I needed in that one shot. I have to get going now- my engagement in Los Angeles, you understand." The photographer scurried out of the room and the arena with that.

"Anythin’ else ya think ya gonna be botherin’ us for ta‘night, or ya think ya gonna wait ‘til ta‘morrow ta get on our tails?" Duke asked. Phil wasn’t about to answer that question the way he wanted to.

After Phil had left the room in an unusual hurry, Dreva rubbed her eyes and stretched. "I’m about as tired as I can get without dropping on the floor. I’m going to get some sleep, okay?"

"Now that sounds like a faboo idea," Nosedive yawned in agreement. "Hey, bro, if you’re going to do any more speech-making, just give me the written version in the morning, all right?"

"Don’t worry about that, little bro, I’m not making any speeches tonight. I’m just as tired as you are." With that, the seven ducks headed off to their bedrooms, mostly falling asleep once their heads hit the pillow.

Sweet Spot: The saga continues… and for once I include an in-body author’s note. As mentioned, I hang out at the Garden a lot, so those are where the introductions come from (or should that be introduckions?) Sorry for this one being so much longer… I’m getting more and more into this story.

Replies (because I am a pugnacious and bellicose character… and because I like to argue too): Dragon Trainer: It could be argued that there are still six chapters {now five} for her development to take place in; it could be argued that this is a surreal life story and therefore the weird must be taken for granted… but the truth is that I'm too comfortable with Dreva to assume that people wouldn't be. And I did add some dialogue here and later on to deal with that issue.

Coming up: What is up with that photographer dude? Why did Dreva flip out when Tanya was decked? And will the ladies ever figure out what to do about magic and technology?

Shoutout: Again to the Lady Eagles, for being thisclose to being champions during the beginning of this chapter; again to T-T.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters (although I wish I did). I don't make any money off them (although I wish I did). I just like 'em a lot. So please, don't sue me. BUT anyone strange you run across is mine, so don't get comfy with them.