Father's Day

Darkflame stealthily moved into one of the rooms aboard the Raptor. He glanced back one more time to make sure that he wasn't followed.

He let out a chuckle and continued further into the room, where the moronic three, as he had secretly dubbed them, were waiting.

"I'm glad you three made it," he drawled, noting with glee how the corners of their eyes twitched. He was glad they hated him. The feeling was mutual. But so far they worked well as a team, when they did things right, and only because they were all out to please Lord Dragaunus. After all, being a favorite does have a certain appeal.

"You goons may not know, but this time of the year, the Americans have a little holiday known as Father's Day. A day when children show their appreciation towards their father."

Siege, Chameleon, and Wraith just glanced at each other, carefully holding back their disgust as the black haired duck went on about the human holiday.

"So," continued Darkflame. "I figure we just celebrate Father' Day by giving Daddy-o one cool present. Namely. . . " Darkflame paused, allowing a smile to cross his beak. "A crystal energy source with a structure similar to the Belirium crystals.

He gave the three Saurians a glare. "However, I need your word that you will tell no one of these plans. Not Nightbloom and especially Dad. Er, Lord Dragaunus to you."

"Of course, Darkflame," drawled Wraith, jabbing Chameleon with his elbow.

"What? Huh? Oh! Yes, of course?" He looked at Siege who only grunted in reply.

"Good," said Darkflame. "Cause if I hear that word got out. . ." Darkflame snapped his fingers, producing his signature black flame. "I'll turn you into cinders."

The flames disappeared and Darkflame flashed another smile. "Now that the warning is done... The lab we'll be targeting is none other than our favorite, Lisa's Labs. They have been working on that crystallized energy source for a while now, and I recently heard that it has been completed. We're going to break in and steal the project. Well, assuming you do it right this time."

Siege clenched his fists but remained silent.

They were all momentarily startled by the sound of the door opening.

Dragaunus stepped into view. He looked around suspiciously. "What is going on?" he asked.

Darkflame practically bounded towards Dragaunus. "Hey, Daddy-o! Any new devious plans we can use against the Mighty Ducks?" he asked as he led the Saurian overlord away. "Or something fun! Like cleaning out a bank."

Wraith let out a snort of disgust when they left the room. "Finally, a chance to foil Darkflame's plans."

"About time," said Chameleon..

X

The television in the rec room flickered as the channels were being changed at a rapid pace.

"I'm ruined!" Phil wailed as he kept pressing the channels on the remote control. Duke looked away from his newspaper and rested his sight on the distraught man.

"I'll be the first manager in history to permanently misplace a team player, and a non-human one at that! If I hear another reporter ask 'How does one lose a humanoid duck among humans?' one more time, I'll...I'll..." Phil made wringing motions with his hand.

Duke raised an eyebrow in amusement.

Phil sighed. "I'll be needing a good lawyer, that's for sure."

Duke let out a snort and then shook his head as Phil continued babbling.

"Wait, I could represent myself! And I wouldn't have to pay for a good lawyer!"

Duke went back to reading the newspaper in his hand.

X

The display on Drake 1's screen was split into eight different sections. Each one kept changing view every few seconds. In front of the screen stood Mallory and Tanya.

Mallory let out an audible sigh as she continued to watch the screens. Every security camera was catching at least four reporters, camping out by their news vans or in the bushes, waiting to ambush whoever came through.

She looked at Tanya through the corner of her eye. She held back another sigh.

Tanya was still ignoring her. Seemed that she agreed with Duke.

Mallory looked back at the screens, feeling a bit peeved and disappointed. She had been sure that Tanya wouldn't have agreed with Duke's accusations. After all, Tanya was the rational one. But not this time.

She watched as some bored reporter lay down and fell asleep. Another one was itching for some action and seemed to jump at every sound he heard.

Humans could be such animals.

X

Wildwing sat in his room, lost in his own thoughts. Everything had gone downhill so fast, and so unexpectedly. He had thought that by having Canard back on the team, they would have defeated Dragaunus in a quicker and more effective manner, resulting in the chance to go back home.

But now, things were worse than when they had first started.

Wildwing felt another sharp pain in his heart. He felt so alone and incomplete. He wondered what had happened to Nosedive. Was he lost to them completely? Or was he still somewhere in there?

Wildwing let out another cry as he punched the wall next to him. He couldn't help but think that the situation was mostly his fault. He hadn't trained Nosedive as well as he wanted to, something which Canard first noticed and attempted to rectify.

He couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason why his mind was so easily corrupted and controlled by Dragaunus.

Nosedive didn't deserve to be out there, being controlled and leading a completely new life. Nosedive needed to back home, among the Mighty Ducks, wreaking havoc, creating chaos, joking, and living with that carefree attitude that drove them nuts from time to time.

Weekends were so quiet, as the television was never turned on for those Saturday morning cartoons or movies that the local channels would play. Lately, the only thing he ever heard was the sounds of news updates on current events and about past and upcoming games.

Games that were barely won.

He was losing his touch.

He was losing his worth to the team. If this kept up, Canard was going to have to find a replacement, or forfeit future games to the opposing teams.

Come to think of it, he was a bit surprised that Phil wasn't looking for a replacement yet. After all, he did so immediately after Wildwing had given up his position as team captain when they were first starting out.

Wildwing sighed and dropped himself onto his bed. Maybe another nap would do him good.

X

Canard stood outside Wildwing's room, ready to knock on the door, then stopped himself.

Seemed that every lull they met in the day, Wildwing went to sleep. One noticeable sign of depression. Unfortunately, Canard had no idea as to how to battle it.

And it seemed like none of the others wanted to talk.. Grin was off meditating stars knows where, Tanya and Duke were blatantly ignoring him, and Mallory just kept ranting and raving about how unfair Duke was on his accusations. That didn't make things better for him, so he tried his best to stay away from Mallory.

"What in Puckworld am I suppose to do?" he asked out loud, looking upwards.

X

"Here are the plans," Darkflame said, handing the three Saurians before him several folders.

"You are to study these and memorize them. They are the schedules of every scientist and security guard, layouts to the building, including every hall, and ventilation shafts, locations of security camera's and alarms, and access codes to the security overrides and computer files."

Darkflame glared at them. "There are no room for mistakes on this little mission of mine, dudes, so you better not mess up. Once we get the location of the crystals and steal them, Dad...I mean, Lord Dragaunus can use the energy source and destroy those ducks once and for all."

Wraith nodded. "As you wish," he said.

Darkflame gave an evil grin. "We'll begin tomorrow night. The end of the ducks are near. Catch you later." With that, the dark haired duck left the room.

Chameleon shook his head. "Tough call," he snorted. "Help Darkflame get rid of the Ducks and be stuck with him, or get rid of Darkflame and be stuck with the Ducks who'll surely try to get some form of revenge."

Siege just grunted.

Wraith flicked an imaginary particle of dust off of his robes. "Not unless we manage to steal the crystals first and lose Darkflame in the process."

Siege and Chameleon grinned maliciously, the latter morphing into the Grinch.

X

Tanya stared at the door leading to Wildwing's room. Grin stood came up behind her, and paused.

"He's been there all day," she said. "Uh, who would have thought that this would have hit him so hard?"

"Not hard enough if he's locking himself up instead of looking for the kid," Duke muttered, approaching the growing group.

He stiffened as he saw Canard heading their way, followed by Mallory.

Canard frowned, having overheard Duke. Mallory glared from behind.

"It's not that he doesn't care, Duke. It's much more than that. Wildwing and Nosedive share a bond that only parents and their hatchlings are suppose to have."

"Come again?" asked Duke, momentarily caught off guard.

Canard sighed as he looked at Wildwing's door. "The bond between him and Nosedive is a strong one. Without each other, they are incomplete. Why don't we all go into the dining room? I'll tell you more there."

The other ducks followed him, throwing one final glance at Wildwing's door.

X

Canard sat at the head of the table, fingering his cup of water. He looked up at the others, and saw them sitting silently, waiting. He took a deep breath, and began his tale.

A young drake with tan and yellow feathers stood in front of a two story house. "'ey, Wildwing!" he shouted. The front door burst open and a yellow tinged duck came bursting through the front door.

"I'm coming!" shouted a very young Wildwing. He raced up to the tan duck and they both headed towards the public ice rink, each of them carrying a backpack and ice skates.

"You'll never believe this, Canard," rambled Wildwing. "I'm going to be a big bro! Mom's gonna have another hatchling!"

Canard made a face. "A baby? I feel sorry for you."

"Cause then you'll have to compete for your parent's attention, that's why. Suddenly everything you do isn't as good as what your kid brother will do. Or vice versa. Then your kid brother will hate you and make your life miserable."

"It's not going to be like that," said Wildwing, a bit more subdued then when he had given the news.

Canard gave him a look. "You don't know that."

Wildwing shook his head. "My parents aren't like that. They want me involved. I get to chose colors for the baby's room tomorrow. I want teal and white. I think it's cool for a boy or a girl."

Canard shook his head. "You have no idea what you are asking for.. A baby sis or bro ain't nothing but trouble."

Wildwing remained silent, giving his friend a look. "Your dad shouldn't force you to compete with your brother," he said softly.

Canard turned away. "He doesn't make me. I do it on my own," he lied. "If I did everything he told me to, I wouldn't be here with you, now would I?" Canard turned back and smirked.

Wildwing rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered. "C'mon, let's go skate!"

Several weeks later, Canard found himself sitting on the front steps of Wildwing's home eating flavored ice shaving. "My brother started to lose some of his baby feathers already." He snickered. "He keeps staring at the mirror and moping about being unable to find a girl who wants to go out with someone who's molting."

Wildwing laughed. "Well, you're going to go through the same thing. You have the same coloring!"

Canard shook a finger. "I already look like I'm in the middle of second molt." He grinned, looking proud. "Dad says I was lucky, because others wouldn't tell the difference during the molt. And then in my final molt, I'll be all tan, like my Dad."

Wildwing raised an eyebrow, semi-amused. "Just like your Dad?" Then he frowned. "What am I going to look like?" he cried out, in shock.

Canard laughed. "Pray that you molt during the snow season. Maybe people will think you have snow flakes on you!"

Wildwing growled, then perked up as a transport vehicle pulled up in front of the house. "Cool, my Dad's home."

"Hey, Wildwing," said a tall white duck. His shoulder's were broad, a similar build to the future Wildwing. He even had a similar head feathers' style. The only difference was that his beak was a grey color. "Ready to go?"

Wildwing nodded, and turned to Canard. "I gotta go. We're picking out a nest for my little sib's egg, and we're going to find a crib for later on."

Canard looked sullen. "I still don't see why you're so excited over a baby," he grumbled.

Wildwing just flashed him a grin.

A couple months later, Wildwing invited Canard over to his house and took him into a room with white walls and adorned with baby decorations. The tops of the walls had a teal border around it. In the center was a nest, a heat lamp shining on it.

Wildwing pulled Canard closer to it. "There he is. That's going to be my baby brother."

Wildwing shrugged. "I just do. Mom says it's going to be a few more months before he hatches. She's been so busy catching up with work that she told me to take care of the egg whenever she's not around."

Canard snorted. "Baby-sit an egg? How utterly boring."

A look of hurt flashed in Wildwing's eyes.

"Sorry," Canard muttered, looking guilty.

"That's okay," said Wildwing.

A few months later, Canard was playing street hockey by himself. He glanced at his watch and sighed. "Where are you, Wildwing," he muttered. "You said you were going to be here."

A few moments later he was rewarded with the sight of Wildwing heading his way. He frowned as he noticed how big his backpack looked, and by the look on Wildwing's face, it was also heavy.

"Sorry I was so late," Wildwing panted. "Mom had to go on an emergency meeting and told me to watch over the egg. I tried calling you but you already left."

Canard nodded. "So you had to wait for your folks, huh?"

Wildwing blushed. "Uh, I tried calling them but couldn't get a hold of either one." His voice held a nervous tone to it.

Canard gave Wildwing a funny look. "But what about the . . ." His eyes widened slightly as he took his eyes off of Wildwing and to the bulging backpack the yellow duck was wearing. "Oh, no. Tell me you didn't. . ."

"I wasn't going to leave it alone," Wildwing said defensively, setting the backpack down on the top of a nearby garbage can and opened the bag. "And I couldn't just not show up without letting you know why I wasn't coming."

Canard moved around Wildwing and the backpack nervously. "Oh, Wing, your parents are going to freak when they see the egg is missing! " His hands were on his head, looking as if he were ready to tear the feathers out. He became even more nervous when Wildwing let out a gasp. "What? What is it?"

"I think I broke it!" came a frightened voice.

Canard leaned forward and spotted the crack near the top of the egg. "Oh, hockey sticks, you are so dead. You parents are going to freak and kill you on the spot!" Then he gasped. "They'll probably tell my dad and he'll come and kill me on the spot! We are so dead."

Wildwing stared at the crack, hoping that the chick inside wasn't injured. The the crack grew and his heart felt a tremendous surge of relief and elation. "Canard, it's not broken!" he cried out.

"It's not?"

"It's hatching!"

"What?!" Canard stared in shock. "Wing, we have to get that egg back to your parents! Everyone knows that either the Mom or Dad or both have to be there when the egg hatches," he began to babble hysterically, watching the egg continue to crack.

"Well, why don't you tell it to wait!" shouted Wildwing, nervous and excited at the same time.

"Please stop hatching!" pleaded Canard.

Wildwing glanced up and looked into the chick's eyes. Wide eyes stared back, and the hatchling let out a small newborn peep and yawned.

Wildwing struggled to stand up with the infant in his arms.

Canard let out a sigh of relief. "Whew, nice nose dive, Wing."

Wildwing grinned. "Yeah, nose dive. His name will be Nosedive."

Two nights later, Canard sat at his window, flashlight in hand. He winced as he shifted, and rubbed his sore end. When he got spanked, he got spanked good. He flashed out a sequence and waited. A few moments later, a series of flashes came from Wildwing's home.

Canard grinned. 'Five months, how about you?' he flashed out to his friend.

'One month and lifetime of babysitting,' came the response.

Canard grimaced. 'Bummer,' he responded.

'Not bad,' Wildwing responded. 'Nosedive is pretty cool. He sleeps in my room.'

X

Canard sipped his water. "It's been said that hatchlings bond with the parent when they first hatch, because they are the first ducks they see. In Wildwing's case, Nosedive bonded with him instead. Ever since that moment when they stared into each others' eyes, they were joined at the hip. Only times Wildwing left his brother's side was for school. Nosedive would cry for hours until Wildwing returned. Needless to say, Wildwing's grades went down cause he was too busy worrying about the kid. So Wildwing was home schooled until Nosedive grew old enough to realize that his brother was just going to school and would be back."

Canard let out a snort. "I shouldn't have been too surprised when Wildwing refused to help out the team without his brother. And I shouldn't have been surprised that Nosedive insisted on going. Those two will be joined in that bond until one of them start their own family. "

Canard looked up at the other ducks. "That's what I mean by Wildwing being incomplete. He's missing the part that had bonded with the kid. Without it, he's lost."

Duke stood up, looking sad and then furious. "Well," he muttered. "You better hope for your sake that their bond is strong enough to bring Nosedive back."

Canard let out a weary sigh as the sounds of chairs scraping the floor echoed in the room. A few moments later, he was left alone with his own thoughts.

X

Lord Dragaunus paced in front of his monitor, clenching and unclenching his claws.

"What is it now?" Nightbloom asked in a bored tone, while examining her saber.

"It's Darkflame. I think he's plotting against me!"

"Why do you say that?"

"He's been sneaking around, ignoring my questions, and I've caught him speaking to those three imbeciles."

Nightbloom let out an uninterested "hmm."

"I need to know what he's up to."

"He's dedicated to you, Civilian. I made sure of that. Everything he does is to please you. There is only one sure way to return him to his normal state, and one other possible way. Neither of which has happened."

"How do you know?" demanded Dragaunus.

Nightbloom looked up at him, unmoved. "Because I do."

Dragaunus grinded his teeth, holding back whatever retort was ready to come out. He slowly let out his breath and resumed pacing.

X

Darkflame stared at the unconscious security guard he had knocked down. He typed in a series of numbers, and the entrance doors to the lab opened. Siege, Wraith, and Chameleon stepped in.

"I still don't see why we didn't just transport in here," grumbled Chameleon.

Darkflame growled. "Because that would have alerted the Ducks to our current position. Not to mention Dragaunus. And since we're surprising darling Dad, he doesn't need to find out about this!"

Darkflame went to the doors that led further into the lab. He stopped on one side and pressed a few buttons on a panel. He glanced at Chameleon who punched in another sequence of numbers on the panel adjacent to his.

"On three," said Darkflame, finger poised over a large green button. Chameleon did the same.

Siege placed his claws on the door and looked towards Darkflame.

"One...two...three!" Chameleon and Darkflame pressed their buttons at the same time. An audible click was heard and Siege pushed the doors open. Wraith, Chameleon, and Darkflame went in, followed by Siege.

Darkflame looked around and headed straight to the computers. Siege, Chameleon, and Wraith separated and went to several storage units and began to look through each one.

"Just what are these crystals suppose to look like," Chameleon asked, punching in a code and opening yet another unit.

"Topaz blue with red streaks," replied Darkflame, bringing up file after file on the computer. He banged his fist next to it. "Oh, Lizard tails!" he exclaimed. "The formed crystals aren't here, however..." He typed in a few more things and the printer next to the computer began printing several sheets of paper.

"The components to make the crystal are here, and so is the formula. Okay, change of plans. Look for these elements." Darkflame handed each Saurian a list, which they took without complaint.

As Chameleon opened yet another storage unit, he glanced up and noticed an alarm button. A tiny smirk formed on his lips.

X

Grin was doing some mindless exercise when the sharp sounds of Drake 1's alarms rang throughout The Pond.

He dropped the weights in his hands and rushed to the central room where all the other ducks were regrouping.

Wildwing was among them, a hopeful look on his face. "Is it...?" he started to ask.

Tanya nodded. "Lisa's Labs. And, uh, only Dragaunus has been robbing that place."

"All right, Ducks, let's roll," said Canard.

A few moments later, the Aerowing blasted out from underground, and streaked across the sky.

X

Chameleon looked up in mock innocence as Darkflame whirled around.

"Who set off the alarm?!" Darkflame shouted, his face contorted in rage.

Siege and Wraith glanced at each other, then at Chameleon.

"Wasn't me," they all said together.

Darkflame growled and rushed to the security panels and typed in several key commands. The alarms stopped blaring. He motioned Chameleon over.

"Is anything wrong?" someone's voice came over the intercom beside the panel.

"No, sir, just a false alarm," replied Chameleon, his face morphing into that of the security officer.

"We'll be there in fifteen minutes for routine check-up."

"We'll be waiting."

Darkflame smacked him upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Uh, we?" came the voice.

"Uh, yeah. Me and the donuts!" Chameleon said hurriedly.

"Rrriiiiggghhht. Uh, any cream filled?"

"Boston creme."

"We'll be there. Over."

Chameleon let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"Dude, remind me to hurt you later," Darkflame snarled as he rushed back to the computer. "Gather everything up. We are so out of here in five minutes, max."

Siege and Wraith began gathering the ingredients they had found. Chameleon rushed to his pile and began scooping them up as well, but not before shooting the other two a thumbs up.

Siege and Wraith smirked.

Darkflame injected a disk into the computer and began to transfer and copy files. As soon as it was done, he ejected it and turned around. "All right, lame-o's," he said. "Let's blow this joint."

At that moment, the doors to the lab burst open.

"Not so fast," said Canard, mask in place.

"Well, well," said Darkflame mockingly. "Looks as if we've been caught! Blast them!"

Siege and Chameleon pulled out their lasers and began firing at the ducks. Wraith and Darkflame threw out fireballs.

Canard, Wildwing, and Mallory jumped one way. Duke, Tanya, and Grin jumped in the opposite direction.

They began firing their puck launchers at once.

Darkflame dove behind a desk as Chameleon, Wraith, and Siege dove behind several metal containers. They continued firing their weapons in return.

Darkflame glanced in the direction of the Saurians and mentally checked his list of what was needed. Only one more ingredient was needed; which was located in storage tank AM42X. He grinned.

The tank was next to their pile of ingredients.

"Chameleon, that tank!" he shouted, tossing a small device towards the Saurian.

Chameleon caught it and attached it to the tank. "Cover me," he told Siege, picking up the tank and rushing it to the pile next to them. He hit a button and the pile vanished from sight.

"Retreat!" shouted Darkflame, pulling out his teleporter. "Ow!" he hissed as a puck ricocheted off a tank and knocked the device out of his hand.

The other three Saurians snickered as they each began to disappear, first Wraith, then Siege.

Darkflame shot out into the open and lunged towards Chameleon, snatching the teleporter out of his hand and knocking him to the ground. He pressed the button and vanished, leaving Chameleon behind.

"If you weren't so tough I'd kill you!" shouted Chameleon, just as Siege reappeared and grabbed the smaller Saurian by the back of the neck.

Wildwing and Canard lunged towards the two Saurians.

They disappeared in a green flash, and Wildwing and Canard landed on the floor.

"No!" cried Wildwing. "We almost had them!"

Canard pushed himself up and mentally cursed himself. "Any idea as to why they would be here Tanya?" he asked.

Tanya shook her head. "There are lots of projects going on and, um, well, I would need a list of what's missing in order to guess what project they stole."

"I say we better go before the boys in blue show up," said Duke, motioning to the exit behind him.

Canard narrowed his eyes. "Let's go talk with Captain Klegghorn," he said. "And whoever is in charge of this particular lab."

X

Lord Dragaunus stared at Darkflame, ignoring the sullen Saurians behind him.

Darkflame flashed a grin as he held out a box wrapped up in blue wrapping paper. "Happy Father's day, Daddy-o," he said.

Dragaunus took the box, looking at it suspiciously. He slowly opened it up and looked inside, confusion showing up on his face. "What is it?" he asked.

Darkflame smirked. "Read the note."

Dragaunus looked at the paper attached to the gift. He frowned, recognizing the lettering on it as some type of formula. Paying close attention to the detail, his lips curved upward.

Darkflame grinned again. "And there will be plenty more where that came from."

"Well done," Dragaunus exclaimed. "Why don't we try this crystal out and see how well it does?"

X

Tanya looked away from her computer monitor, her face looking ill.

"What is it?" asked Wildwing.

"The files and ingredients stolen..." she said slowly, in shock. " They make a crystal with the exact same structure as the Belirium crystals."

X

Dragaunus laughed at the controls of the Raptor. "It flew!" he shouted.

Siege, Chameleon, and Wraith glanced at each other, a look of disappointment on their faces. Darkflame was looking proud of himself as Dragaunus wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Nightbloom stood at a distance, her face registering no emotion.

Dragaunus praised Darkflame and looked at the monitor, an evil grin on his face.

"We'll build more crystals and completely power up this ship. No longer will we have to bounce from place to place on this unstable back up power supply, but fly whenever we want to, and wherever we wish to go. The Saurian empire will rise again!"