All characters except for Nightbloom belong to Disney.

Hope

By Nightbloom

A woman with shoulder length brown hair stood facing the camera. She had a microphone in one hand while the other tossed her hair back. She gave a big smile as the camera man signalled with his hands the countdown.

"Vanessa LeSnoops here, live at Competitor Carl's Science and Engineering plant with Dr. Tarkay who has developed a new prototype generator that specializes in providing enough power to create crystals.

"Tell me, Dr. Tarkay. What do you hope to accomplish with your new invention?"

A woman with long blonde hair and green eyes framed by glasses said flatly, "Fame and fortune."

"Pardon?"

"I mean, I wish for a lot. With natural resources depleting, it's natural for humans to look for other natural sources of power."

LeSnoops gave a forced chuckle. "Naturally."

"Looking at everything we have, the scientific community has decided to turn to the energy of crystals. Studying their structure, it has been decided that it is the easiest to create as opposed to other fuels like crude oil and such. Synthetic oil just doesn't cut it anymore.

"With my new invention, everything will be revolutionalized. I'm hoping that this will become part of every household in the future of America, and eventually the world!"

"So has this been tested?"

"Of course! It makes better quality crystals than any other science labs, such as Lisa's Labs, has ever created. Which, by the way, I hear their security isn't all that great. Here at Carl's, it's like Fort Knox."

"And there you have it. This is Vanessa LeSnoops signing off. Back to you Charles at channel four."

X

Darkflame turned off the television with a snap of his fingers.

"Specializes in making crystals, eh?"

Darkflame leaned back into the couch and his eyes narrowed in thought. "This needs some serious consideration." He smirked. "And a bit of research."

X

"You owe me an exclusive!" shouted Vanessa LeSnoops, flinging her hair over her shoulder and marching up to Canard. "And it better be a good one, too, considering that I just lied to the public with a phoney report!"

"And you'll get your exclusive," said Canard, calmly. "Before the season is over, as promised." He moved away.

"Argh! Hockey players!" exclaimed Vanessa, throwing her hands up into the air. "They're worse than celebrities!"

Meanwhile, Captain Klegghorn and Wildwing stood side by side.

"Do you really think this will work?" Klegghorn asked.

"I hope so," responded Wildwing. "Every time the Saurians have been one step ahead of us. With any luck, they'll come after this and we'll be waiting."

"I hope so too, for your sake. And Nosedive's."

Wildwing glanced at the short human. "What do you mean?"

Klegghorn turned away. "The City's Chief of Police has been on my back about Darkflame. He wants me to issue a shoot on sight order."

"You can't do that!" Wildwing cried out. "Nosedive isn't himself and that Darkflame character is something the Saurian's cooked up."

"I know that, Wildwing. You know that. But the public doesn't. All they know is that Darkflame is a menace and must be stopped by whatever means necessary."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" pleaded Wildwing.

Klegghorn shook his head. "I've been trying to stall, but I won't be able to hold out much longer. The mayor has been having his say as well. In a couple of days, you ducks are on your own."

Klegghorn walked away, leaving a stunned Wildwing behind.

My little brother is a wanted felon, was all he could think.

At that moment, Canard approached Wildwing. "C'mon," he said. "We're ready, let's go home."

Wildwing followed Canard back to the Migrator, feeling numb all over.

X

Darkflame waves a set of papers in front of Dragaunus.

"With these generators, we can increase production of these crystals, like triple, man," the duck said.

"Really," drawled Dragaunus, looking impressed as he took the papers from Darkflame's hands.

"I could round up the troops and bring those dawgies home," crowed Darkflame, in a southern accent.

Chameleon, who was lurking not too far away, grimaced. "Great. Now he's trying to take my place as an imitator. Well, I'm still much better than him."

He made his way over to Siege and Wraith who were standing in the darkest corner of the room.

Dragaunus smiled at Darkflame, and then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Agreed," he finally said. "Why don't you see what you can do for me?"

Darkflame returned the smile. "Anything for you, Dad. Anything for you."

"That would be unwise."

Darkflame and Dragaunus whirled around in surprise as Chameleon yelped. Siege and Wraith jumped back, up against the wall as Nightbloom's form appeared in the middle of the room.

She walked up to them. "The idea that there generators were made known to public before any type of crystal power source has been officially established is suspicious."

Dragaunus snorted. "Nonsense. Human are frivolous and are constantly trying to make themselves famous."

Nightbloom's eyebrow twitched. She bowed her head. "Do as you wish then. I have only offered you my opinion." She stepped back and disappeared.

"I think she's just trying to make herself seem so valuable to us. I say we get rid of her!" growled Darkflame.

"Soon, son. Soon."

In the corner, Chameleon, Siege, and Wraith glanced at each other.

"But that will still leave us to deal with Dark brat," muttered Chameleon.

Siege and Wraith nodded.

X

Canard sipped from his cup as he kept an eye on Wildwing.

The white drake was seated beside him, his eyes vacant. He noticed the haggard appearance on his friend.

"Don't worry, Wing. We'll find him soon."

Wildwing looked up at him, his eyes almost blank. "They're going to kill him," he stated flatly.

Canard pulled back in response. He wasn't expecting Wing to say that. "Who?" he asked.

"Nosedive."

"No they won't," said Canard, relaxing just a bit. "If those Saurian's haven't killed him yet, I doubt that they would do so now."

Wildwing slammed a fist down on the table. "Not the Saurians, the Anaheim police! Klegghorn told me that the city wants to put a shoot on sight order against Darkflame!"

"But..." started Canard, his voice trailing off. "And only we know the truth about Darkflame and Nosedive," he whispered hoarsely.

"Now do you understand," Wildwing hissed, standing up from the table. "Any human will do anything for a bit of fame and fortune. Not only will the police be looking for Darkflame, but any civilian wanting to have his five minutes of fame! None of this would have happened if I had been..." Wildwing stopped himself.

Canard felt his heart grow cold. "If you had been what?" he asked slowly.

Wildwing sighed and shook his head. "Nothing," he muttered, before walking away.

Canard slumped against his chair. He closed his eyes. "Stars," he breathed. "Where did I go wrong?"

X

Duke sat on the top of the Pond. It was the only place he could think of that took him away from the ducks and away from the reporters.

At first he thought that Tanya was the only duck worth talking too. But suddenly she decided that maybe Wildwing wasn't at fault with the whole deal. That was something he completely disagreed with.

A few choice words and Tanya threw the nearest thing she could get her hands on at him. Her tool box. After that, he had stormed off and sought some peace.

Heh, now I'm beginning to sound like Grin, he thought wryly.

X

Nightbloom watched with emotionless eyes as Dragaunus and Darkflame prepared for the latest excursion.

Off to the side stood Chameleon, Siege, and Wraith, mumbling to themselves as normal.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction, as a tiny smirk formed on her lips.

"Never doubt a woman's intuition," she said, before disappearing.

X

Competitor Carl's was more of a warehouse of technology than a lab. The main room had half built prototypes of something or other, circuit boards, models, and crates packed with finished projects or metal parts.

The room was fairly large and walking around the different size boxes was like going through a maze. Hundreds of files cabinets lined the walls and sat in clusters in the middle of the giant room.

The place was empty as far as humans went, and the place was completely quiet. A green glow filled the room for a moment and then disappeared.

Five aliens stood in it's place.

Darkflame looked around and whistled loudly. "Great job, Chameleon. You did something right and actually got us inside the building. Guess I must be rubbing off on you, eh?" He threw a smirk at the small Saurian.

Chameleon grumbled something intelligible.

Dragaunus growled. "Leave it to the humans to be so disorganized. Search through everything until we find the blasted prototype."

"But how will we know if we find it? They didn't exactly show it to the public."

Darkflame rolled his eyes. "Well, duh, anything that looks like a generator. I'll see if I can find the blueprints in the files."

Lord Dragaunus nodded as he to went towards the file cabinets.

Chameleon and Siege began to tear through the crates as Wraith used his powers to open up others.

Darkflame paused for a moment.

"What is it?" asked Lord Dragaunus, noticing the concerned look on the duck's face.

"Somehow I can't help that this is going too easily."

Dragaunus nodded. "Be on guard, everyone," he mentioned.

Up above them, in one corner of the room, a small security camera turned and focused on them. It's one small blinking red light changed to a steady green.

X

Duke was walking past Drake 1 when the giant monitor flickered on, startling the grey duck.

He stepped back as the image of Darkflame and the four Saurians filled the screen.

"We've got action!" he shouted, pressing the alarm button on Drake 1's control panels.

Within a few moments, all ducks were boarded on The Aerowing. Each one was silent as Wildwing took control and flew the ship out of their secret entrance.

The tension among the ducks was thick.

Grin looked at each duck and sighed, knowing that this was a recipe for a disaster.

X

"Got them!" Darkflame exclaimed, holding a set of papers in one hand. "Serial number T-0814 D-310, prototypes 101 through 115."

"Found some," grunted Siege, pointing to a stack of crates marked with the same serial number.

"Great job," said Dragaunus with an evil grin. "Soon we will have the Raptor rise for good and crush those blasted ducks."

"Think again, Lizard lips!"

The door leading to the room slammed open, revealing Duke, saber in hand. He stepped through and made room for the other ducks to enter.

"Drat!" hissed Darkflame. "I knew this was going along to easily."

"Blast them!" shouted Dragaunus.

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone scattered to hide behind crates and began to fire their weapons.

Pucks and lasers went flying in all sorts of directions.

Chameleon morphed into a giant snake and slithered his way around some boxes, heading towards Mallory.

Canard was shooting his pucks and would dodge from crate to crate, making his way towards Dragaunus.

Siege used his strength to push the crate he was using as a shield, heading towards Grin.

Wraith kept throwing fireballs towards Duke and Tanya, each one barely getting enough time to fire back.

Darkflame was both hurling his black fireballs and shooting a laser towards one duck and one duck alone, the one not firing back; Wildwing.

Wildwing huddled behind a file cabinet as another fireball went sailing over him. It hit some papers and they caught on fire, forcing him to move from his place. To the left of him, Mallory cried out in rage and pain.

Chameleon had wrapped himself around her and was squeezing her in his coils.

She struggled to get out, her face turning red from the lack of oxygen.

Canard took his focus away from Dragaunus for a brief moment. He aimed and fired at Chameleon, then began shooting at Dragaunus again.

The shape shifting Saurian dropped Mallory. Both of them lay on the floor, out cold.

"Wildwing!" shouted Canard.

Wildwing nodded once and dove towards Mallory. He did a quick check on her and was relived to find her basically unharmed.

A loud crash was heard and Wildwing spotted Siege tackling Grin. The large duck fought back, and both began to land heavy blows on each other.

Another flame flew over him, and Wildwing could feel the embers grazing his beak.

"Wing!" he heard Duke shout. "You gotta shoot back or he's gonna kill ya!"

Wildwing took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He didn't realize that he would have so much trouble defending himself against his own brother. Granted that the Darkflame persona was someone completely different, the body belonged to Nosedive.

Wildwing stood up once and fired a shot. He ducked back down.

Darkflame let out a cry of outrage as his laser gun went sailing of his hand. He dove behind a desk.

Darkflame growled as another puck sailed over his head. "Didn't I just quit one of these scenes?" he asked himself. "It's like deja vu all over again."

He grabbed thechair that was tucked under the desk and tossed it overhead. He heard it crash into something, followed by the sounds of several things falling.

A cry of pain caught his attention. Peering over, he grinned. Wildwing was stuck underneath several crates that must have been knocked over.

"Time to say good-bye," said Darkflame, picking up his fallen laser.

X

Grin grunted as Siege slammed him into yet another crate. The box burst open and its contents scattered about. His hand landed on something bowl shaped, which he immediately grabbed and brought it down over Siege's head.

It fit perfectly.

"Hey!" growled Siege as he tried to take off the metal dish. He gave up and swung blindly. Grin grinned as landed one solid punch to Siege's jaw.

The large Saurian went sailing and collided into Wraith, knocking both of them to the floor.

Duke and Tanya glanced around, smiled and waved at Grin, then went back to ducking as Wraith and Siege untangled themselves.

Meanwhile, Wildwing struggled to get the boxes off his back. He paused as a pair of black boots stopped in front of him. He slowly looked up and felt his heart drop.

Darkflame stood before him, a wicked gleam in his eyes and a sinister smile on his face. A laser gun was pointed straight at Wildwing's head.

"My, my, what a predicament. Stuck under a bunch of boxes with lil' ol' me pointing a gun at you."

Wildwing stayed still, his eyes boring into Darkflame's.

Darkflame's grin faded. "Don't stare at me..." he said flatly. "..like that," he finished almost pleadingly.

Wildwing's stare didn't waver.

Darkflame gulped as the laser gun in his hand shook slightly. His facial features twisted into confusion, and then into a sad look as the gun lowered.

Wildwing held his breath as he caught sight of Nosedive.

"Wing?" croaked Darkflame, the black of his eyes turning white for an instant.

"Nosedive," Wildwing whispered.

They darkened again and Darkflame slowly raised the gun up. His face remained troubled.

A sharp cry from Dragaunus distracted him.

Canard has scored a hit and had knocked Dragaunus' weapon from his hand.

Wildwing pushed himself up and lunged towards Darkflame.

Darkflame whirled around, and growled as his wrists were grabbed by Wildwing.

The two struggled momentarily. Darkflame released his weapon and pulled back, dropping himself to the floor. He planted his feet into Wildwing's abdomen, and using his momentum, hurled the duck over him.

"Retreat!" shouted Dragaunus.

Siege yanked Chameleon off the floor and teleported out of the room.

Wraith followed suit.

Darkflame ran towards Dragaunus who reached out for him. They grabbed hands and the two disappeared as Canard dove towards them. He missed them by mere milimeters.

"Comet dust!" he shouted, as he slammed his fist into the ground.

The other ducks warily glanced at Wildwing, afraid to see his reaction.

They were surprised to see a small wistful smile on his face.

"Wing?" Canard asked, claming down.

Wildwing turned towards them.

"I saw him," he said.

"What?" asked Duke.

"Nosedive. He's still there. Inside."

"I don't understand," said Mallory, wobbling a bit while rubbing her head.

Duke gave her a questioning glance to which she nodded. "I'm fine."

Wildwing turned to her. "Darkflame didn't shoot me when he had the chance. Because Nosedive didn't let him."

The ducks looked at each other, and they each began to grin.

X

Nightbloom glanced at the papers in her hands and then at the few prototypes before her. She pulled out her saber and slashed through four of them with one swipe.

"Hey!" shouted Darkflame.

"You fool!" she hissed, her eyes narrowing in anger. "These are nothing but shells. If you had paid attention to the blueprints, you would have seen that all this was impossible! It was a trap and all of you fell for it!"

Siege, Wraith, and Chameleon glanced at each other, a slight smirk on all their faces.

Darkflame growled. "All right, all right! A simple 'I told you so' would suffice!"

Nightbloom turned and stalked towards him.

Darkflame stood his ground, looking bored.

"No, it won't," she said. "You have failed not only in this matter, but another one as well. I observed and saw you hesitate to kill Wildwing."

Darkflame glared. "Minor relapse. I'll do it right next time."

"There will be no next time. In your hesitation, you have become a liability, and all liabilities must be terminated." She swung out her saber as Darkflame let out a startled "eep" and dashed behind Dragaunus.

"Don't you dare," he growled.

Dragaunus glared at Nightbloom as Darkflame stood behind him, angry yet scared at the same time.

Nightbloom's eyes widened for a moment in surprise at the male Saurian’s interference. Then they narrowed. "You've grown emotionally attached to him!" she hissed in disgust. "Let me remind you, Civilian. Sentiments can be the downfall of anyone, including Saurians."

She placed her saber back in it's place, turned and left.

Dragaunus just snarled and flicked his tail as Darkflame ran a nervous hand through his hair.

Meanwhile, the other three Saurians just looked on.

"Perfect," said Wraith.

X

Nightbloom stood outside on top of a building. From her location, she could see the Pond.

A cold chuckle escaped from her lips. "To whence he comes, he returns," she said. "Emotions are nothing but a setback, and allows one to be easily played."


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