Warning: This fic will be switching back and forth from a narration by Karai to a third person point of view. It's also going to switch from past tense to present so don't get your feathers ruffled.

These are thoughts.
<This is an interjection from me.>
-And this is telepathy.-

Karai awakens all before dawn. "Why are we getting up so early?" grumbles Nosedive.

"It's a two hour trip," she says, fastening her cloak around her shoulders. Once fastened, it seems as though she is in perpetual shadow, even in the middle of a clearing. She turns and walks off. They have no choice but to follow.

***

It was time. All the waiting and planning I've done over the past five hundred years was finally going to come to fruition. I would finally see the end of the Saurians and have a chance at a relatively normal life.

We traveled back to Anaheim the same way we left it: on Dehshli back and on foot. When we stopped for a brief rest at the same clearing we had stopped at two weeks earlier I, aboard Naren, made a quick recon of the base. I was terrified that my plans might have been discovered.

The scrying spell I used showed that all seemed to be going well. I sighed in partial relief, but many things could still have gone wrong. And many doubts and worries plagued my mind.

I reported what I had seen to Wildwing and he nodded. Then we resumed our march.

***

Wildwing notices the pensive look on Karai's face. "What's wrong?" His voice is low so that only she could hear.

"Just worrying," she replies in an equally soft voice.

"About what?"

"Things...I sense and ending of something...but of what? My life? The life of one of our friends? And what if something goes wrong? What if this plan is going to get us all killed?"

"Those last two are questions that are very familiar. And there is no answer till after it's over." He places a hand on her cloaked shoulder. "And as for the end...It's probably just the end of the Saurians you sensed."

She looks at him, her blue eyes barely visible through the spell shadow. "You can't sense what I sense...the destruction of our enemies is not what I mean. It is the end of something...something valuable to me...I don't know what but I wish I did."

***

I saw Wildwing's expression become rueful.

"We all do," he said.

Something about him made me feel shivery inside. Like the way Duke used to make me feel...only much stronger. It seemed that my taste in men had changed dramatically. Instead of being attracted to the roguish Duke, I viewed him as slightly immature...while Wildwing seemed as ancient as I.

We reached Anaheim a little after dawn. I led them through the ruined streets to where we would be when the destruction started.

***

Karai's heart races as the destruction starts. She pauses to watch the rebelling humans, Dehshli, and Alyisha. She stifles a cry of pain as she sees that some are mown down. Wildwing, seeing where she was looking, grabbed her arm and hauled her away from the sight.

They slip inside the compound easily. Looking around, they find three halls.

"Duke, Tanya, take the left one. Mallory, Karai, take the middle one. Grin, go with Mal and Karai. Dive, you're with me. Everyone, be careful and report back here once you have found the Saurians," orders Wildwing. "Above all be careful."

They nod and split up.

Whuur on Karai's arm hoots quietly as they walk stealthily down their assigned hall. She nods and stops them. Whispering, a mist arises revealing several laser beams at varying heights along the hall.

"Anyone know how we are going to get over them?" she asks.

"No clue." Says Mallory.

***

I whirled, hearing metallic steps on the floor. Whuur took flight as my two friends turned and prepared to fight. I wished in that moment I had thought to bring my cross bow. I never learned how to fight beyond punching, but I was a great shot.

It was the Chameleon with several robots. Over ten of them. Mallory and Grin waded in while I faded into the shadows to watch. Whuur also helped. I cried aloud my grief when I saw Whuur shot and killed.

That's how the Chameleon found me I guess, because the next thing I knew I was in a choke hold. My friends hesitated only a few moments, then surrendered.

As we were herded towards the main control room I whispered an apology to them. They said it wasn't my fault and that we would get out of here as we had so many years ago.

I knew we would need reinforcements. So I called for the one person who could possibly save my hide.

-Naren...I need you. We have been captured.-

-On my way hatchling.- was his only reply.

We were brought into the control room and I got my first good look at the descendant of Dragaunus.

Kirel was as ugly as his father.

***

Karai, Mallory and Grin are lined up in a row with the others in front of Kirel. Siege and Wraith's descendants snicker at their predicament.

"So...These are the legendary Mighty Ducks that our glorious ancestor Dragaunus warned us about," sneers Kirel. "Don't think much of you at any rate."

His eyes wander over them stopping at Karai. His eyes narrow. "I now see why you hung around Anaheim so much, pest. No matter. Destr-"

He is cut off by the wall behind him being blasted open. Naren swoops in shrieking his battle cry. With that, the Ducks began to fight back.

Karai secludes herself and boosts their weapons with her magic. She alone notes when Kirel manages to slip away from the fight. She frowns. You'll not escape your fate so easily, jishen*. She silently follows him, down the hall into a hangar. When he opens the door to a small escape jet she steps from the shadow, ending the shadow spell on her cloak. "Not so fast Kirel."

He glares at her. "Don't you ever give up, bitch?"

"Not when I have waited for five hundred years to see you destroyed," she snarls, hurling a bolt of lighting at him.

He dodges aside and the escape jet is destroyed. A battle of magic begins between the Kaylan warrior and the Saurian Overlord.

***

I don't know how long we fought. I knew when the battle was over when Naren brought my friends to me. He told me telepathically that my chance to rejuvenate the world was rapidly passing.

The stench of Saurian blood let me know that Kirel's henchmen were dead. I filled my mind with all the pain they had caused for the past half millennia. That anger gave me strength and power.

Softly, "For my friends,..." Then I bellowed. "For our home!" And thrust a great deal of power at him. I heard his scream as I killed him. I sank to my hands and knees, weak with revulsion at the act of killing and the abrupt use of so much power.

"Well done gryphon," said Naren.

I looked at him curiously and he smiled. "You are no longer a fledgling. With your first kill you are a gryphon."

I smiled and climbed to my feet. It wouldn't do for a gryphon to be weak. Besides, I had more work to do that night before I could rest. Wildwing and the others followed me as I went up to the highest point of the fortress.

Below us, the robots were destroyed and all were free. They cheered when they saw us on tthe roof. I smiled, savoring this victory then climbed higher. Naren stopped the others from trying to stop me.

At the highest point there was no wind. It was still and calm, almost as if expecting me to finish my task. I took a deep breath and began to chant a spell.

***

A wind that touches no one above or below Karai, whips her cloak and her hair back. She continues to chant a spell. Little bits of light swirl up around her in a spiral but she pays in no mind. She fixes what she wants in her mind and continues the chant. The light grows stronger and stronger until it hurts to look at it...Then suddenly it vanishes.

Karai yells the last line of the spell and thrusts her left arm, palm up, into the air. Her wounded right arm and the rest of her wounds throb with the power of the spell and begin to bleed heavily. A beam of light shoots into the air. It streaks upward higher and higher till it is as high in the atmosphere as it can go. Then there is a small boom heard the world over and a bubble of bright light surrounds the earth.

After what seems like an eternity, the light fades and the earth is restored to the way it was five hundred years ago. Only the environment and the condition of the cities changed. The Ducks look around,amazed at what they see.

Then a soft sigh reaches them. They turn in time to see Karai sink to the ground, unconscious. They rush over to her. Naren enfolds her in his wings, not caring that she is now drenched in her own blood.

Her hair has a reddish hue to it and her silver-gray feathers are now red. Karai opens her blue eyes and for the first time in the two weeks they had been awake they see absolute peace in her eyes.

***

"And so, cradled in Naren's wings and using the last of her strength, Karai whispers a farewell to her friends and strokes Naren's feathery breast. Then she closes her eyes and her breathing stops. None tried to bring her back, knowing that after 500 years, she could rest."

"Is that a true story, daddy?" asks a little girl duck about five years old.

"Indeed it is sweetie,” answers her father.

"How do you know?"

"I was there."

"Did you know Karai?"

"Yes, sweetie, I did."

"Was she the person I was named after?"

"Mhmm." The little girl's father nods, stroking her hair. He marvels at the fact that he hair is so dark that light seems swallowed up by it. "Now it's time for you to get some sleep."

"Are there any pictures of her?" asks Karai as her father tucks her into bed.

"Yes. I will show them to you in the morning." He leans down and kisses her forehead, then walks over to the door. He pauses and looks back at the little girl.

Duke L'Orange smiles thinking not for the first time how much his little girl looks like Karai before she died. Same hair ...same beautiful smile... and the same ancient blue eyes. He flicks the light off and shuts the door.

After about an hour, Karai is awakened by a shadow standing over her bed. She opens her eyes then smiles delightedly when she sees.

-Naren!-

-Hello hatchling.- Naren enfolds her in his wings as she throws her arms around his neck. She sits back down on her bed.

-Daddy told me a story about the person I am named after.-

-Did he?-

-Did you know Karai?-

-Oh yes. I was the gryphon in the stories about her.-

-Wow...-

Naren smiles a fond gryphon's smile. -Now...ready to start your lessons?-

*Jishen is a dirty, evil, monster. Slang equivalent : Bastard