Nosedive blinked as he stared at a grungy looking replica of himself.
The twin was wearing a baggy t-shirt with a button down long sleeve shirt that had definitely seen better days. Tattered jeans covered his bottom, and worn out shoes protected his feet.
Judging from the grime that coated his face and fingers, he hadn't taken a shower in a while.
His other self was staring at him in a similar way, with disbelief.
"Where did you come from?" he heard himself ask.
Nosedive blinked. "Um, where am I?" he asked in return, a bit forcefully.
His twin looked at the ground, fear clouding his eyes."Puckworld."
"But that's impossible," Nosedive said to himself. "If I was on Earth, I should have still been on Earth. If that was a portal like the other one. . ."
"What's Earth?" asked the twin.
Nosedive looked at him. "Dude, we are going to have to compromise on what to call each other. Cause I get the feeling your name is Nosedive."
The twin looked at him with awe. "How did you. . ?"
"It's my name," Nosedive replied, with a sigh.
The other Nosedive glanced away. "My brother use to call me ND," he said.
"And my bro calls me Dive," responded Nosedive. "Well, actually he calls me baby bro, but let's not get into that. . . " Then he understood ND's implications. "'Use to?'" he asked, hesitantly.
ND looked at the floor. "He's. . ."
The sound of choppers filled the air, and ND's face took a look of pure terror. "We have to hide!" he said.
Dive just took his word for it and followed. Man, he thought to himself. Wildwing would kill me for just trusting my twin. I mean, dude, what if this is a nega-verse and like, he's completely evil? Dive shook the thoughts from his head.
ND took ran before him, dodging behind dumpsters and cans each time the helicopter made a pass with the light.
Dive followed close behind, adrenaline rushing.
He slid across the pavement and barely made it behind some boxes when the spot light swept over them.
A few moments later, the helicopter began the sweep in the opposite direction.
"We have to go underground," said ND, yanking open a sewer gate.
Dive made a face. "If we come across some mutants. . ." he started. He stopped at the blank look on his twin's face.
Both blond ducks jumped into the sewer and closed the grate above them.
X
Dive sighed when he realized he no longer could smell the stench of the sewers. Took an hour, but. . .
"So where did you come from again?" asked ND, after the prolonged silence.
"Abridged version or unabridged?" Dive replied with a wry grin.
"Huh?"
Dive shook his head. "Never mind. Um, I came from Earth."
"Is that the name of your planet?"
"Nuh-uh. . . I came from Puckworld too. Except, well, we had a Saurian Invasion, my bro and I hooked up with a team of five other ducks, brought down the Overlord Dragaunus, chased him through a dimensional portal, then got stuck in a planet known as Earth. Now we try to keep it from being ruled by Dragaunus cause he's stuck there himself. Well, at least I did help keep it from being ruled. Now I'm here."
ND stared at him in amazement. "Wow. . . You. . . you're from a whole different dimension!"
Dive paused. "Actually, I think I'm in a whole different time line. One of those, 'what if?' kind of moments. Whoa! I just realized! I'm a 'Slider'1!!"
"A what?" asked ND, more puzzled then before.
"Nothing," Dive replied quickly. "But here's a flashback for you. . .
X
It was a dark night as clouds covered what was left of the moon.
In one section of the city, several supposed empty warehouses were currently occupied by hostile aliens. . . and heroes.
In one of the more discreet warehouses, the famous Mighty Ducks were making their way inside.
Canard motioned for the rest of the team to move forward. Up ahead he could see Lord Dragaunus and his goons hunched over some new machinery.
"So what's the plan, Cap?" asked Nosedive, quietly.
"We circle him and ambush."
"Element of surprise," said Duke. "I like that."
The seven ducks began to slowly circle the Saurians, hidden out of sight.
Nosedive kept a careful eye on both the lizards and the ground, not wanting to do something stupid like trip and get the Saurian's attention. Not that he was clumsy or anything, but things never seemed to go his way when he wasn't completely focused.
Unfortunately, the surprise was ruined by someone sneezing.
"Shoot them!" Dragaunus yelled, whirling around.
Lasers and pucks immediately filled the warehouse as Dragaunus retreated back, holding onto a device.
"I'm sorry," he could hear Tanya shouting. "There was so much dust!"
Nosedive rolled his eyes. Figures.
"Use your new Nuero Paralyzer!" Canard shouted.
Nosedive risked a glance to see Tanya holding out her latest weapon. She had told them that it emitted a ray that temporarily paralyzed a being. . . in theory. She didn't have any willing volunteers to test it out.
At the same time, Dragaunus revealed his newest creation. From the look of it, it was a portable laser cannon.
"Tanya, look out!" Wildwing shouted, as Dragaunus aimed and fired.
The laser blast was intercepted by blue rings of the Paralyzer right above Nosedive's hiding spot.
Nosedive shut his eyes in pain at the intensity of the light that was emitted from the blast.
"Nosedive!!" he heard his brother shout.
Nosedive cracked one eye open. . . then both flew open in surprise. Right above him, where the blasts had met, was a growing sphere of cackling electricity. Trash began to flutter as wind seemingly came out of it.
Then he took a step back as a vortex began to build. The wind shifted from outward to inward.
Nosedive blindly reached out to grab something as he felt his feet lift off the floor.
"Nosedive!" he heard his brother cry out again.
"Wildwing!" he shouted back in fear, as he felt his stomach drop. A split second later, everything disappeared from sight and he was soon overwhelmed by the numbness that began to seep into his body. He blacked out.
After what seems like hours, Nosedive became aware that he was floating mid air. As he opened his eyes, he began to feel some warmth returning to his legs.
Up ahead, he spotted a pinpoint of light. It began to grow and he felt himself rushing towards it.
Without much warning, it threw him out and closed up in a flash behind him.
X
Dive looked down at the ground where ND was sitting, looking up at him.
"Wow," he said in amazement. "It's like something out of a dream."
"Believe me," Nosedive said. "It's more like a nightmare."
ND stared at the ground for a moment. "A place and time where Dragaunus didn't rule the world. . . Surrounded by family and friends. . ."
ND looked up at Dive.
His eyes took a haunted look that raised the feathers on Dive's neck.
"Believe me," he said. "It's a fantasy and a dream here."
Both ducks remained silent.
And then ND began to talk. . .
To be continued . . .