She rolled over and stared at the clock on the night stand, "Five
a.m.?! Oh man," Angelwing grumbled. She remembered being part of the resistance and having to be up this
early for combat training, but for hockey? She sat up and thought to herself. "This guy, Wildwing, seems
an awful lot like.....," she paused as memories of a familiar duck came flooding back to her, "Canard," she whispered, then
she closed her eyes and flopped back down in bed.
She remembered the way Canard treated her. He could be so strict
at times, yet, he was so kind and caring towards Angelwing. He was always willing to put his life on the line for
others. Angelwing instantly thought of what really happened to Canard, and how angry she was for Dragaunus
lying to her.
"How could I have been so foolish?" she scolded herself, "actually
believing that.......that monster!" Angelwing laid on her back, gazing up at the ceiling. "Will I ever see you
again Canard?" she asked, as if he were there gazing back at her. With tears forming in her eyes, she rolled over once
again, burrying her face in the pillow, crying silently.
"Alright team," Wildwing started, as the other ducks skated over to
him. "Here's the game plan. We have a new player now," he said, as he clapped a gloved hand on Angelwing's shoulder.
"So, we all need to do our part in making her feel as comfortable here as we are. Got it?" The team nodded in
agreement. Nosedive stood in thought for a moment.
"So that means keeping her on her toes by running around fighting
bad guys all day, right?" Dive joked. Mallory shot him a look of dissapprovement.
"Oh yeah, that oughtta make her feel real comfortable," she replied
sarcastically.
"Way to go kid, scare her away why don't cha," Duke added.
"Enough," their leader cut in. "Could we please just have one
good practice without arguing?" he pleaded.
Soon they had all taken their places on the ice. Wildwing directed
Angelwing to take a few slap shots at him. She didn't do too bad, she scored three out of five shots.
"Nice shooting," Wildwing commented, "but let's see how well you do
with the team."
They each took their places again. Duke sat out while Angelwing
played in his place as center forward. She was off to a great start as she took the face off, won it, and passed
the puck back to Mallory. Tanya tried poking the puck away from Mallory, and was successful for a moment, until Angelwing
came up around the other side and stole the puck from Tanya. She soon made a bee-line to the the goal. But,
as fast as she was, Nosedive was even faster. It seemed like he came out of nowhere. He slammed her hard into
the boards, causing her to fall and lose the puck. Feeling dizzy and a bit disorientated, she sat where she fell, trying
to focus again.
"What are you doing?" Mallory yelled out. "Don't just sit there,
get up!" As she did, Nosedive managed to sneak the puck past his older brother and scored. "Oh great, we could've
prevented that from happening Wildwing, but your new player decided to take a break already," Mallory complained.
"It's alright Mallory," Wing assured her, "it looked like Dive hit
her pretty hard." He skated over to Angelwing. "You okay?"
Angelwing looked up at him and replied, "yeah," she paused and glanced
over at Mallory, giving her a dirty look, then she looked back at Wildwing. "I'm fine."
"Come on team, practice isn't over yet," Wing mentioned as he held
out his hand and helped Angelwing to her feet.
The remainder of practice went better than it did at the start.
Angel was able to slap a couple of one-timer goals and even assisted with a few. Wildwing was impressed by her performance
on the ice. Even her shot accuracy was right on target. Wing could tell because he had a tough time blocking some
of those shots. After practice, he approached her. "You've got quite the skills."
Angelwing looked down and blushed, holding her hands behind her back.
"Thanks," she replied. She briefly glanced up at Wing and smirked, then she looked away. "But the others don't
think I'm so great," she confessed.
Wildwing, looking confused, asked her, "what makes you think that?"
Angel turned back to Wildwing. "Let's face it, I don't belong
here. Nobody likes me, they think I'm a good- for- nothing traitor, and they don't trust me." Angelwing paused
and glanced away, feeling hopeless.
Not knowing what to do, Wildwing finally spoke. "You don't
know that. Besides, after what you tried to do, it going to take some time for the others to gain your trust."
Angelwing looked back to Wildwing, "and what about you?" she questioned.
"Do you trust me?" Wildwing glanced downwards and scratched the back of his head. Angelwing's question had left
him feeling a little uncomfortable, but he wasn't going to ignore her.
He regained his courage and looked back to her. "Only time can
tell," he told her, honostly.
Just then, alarms went off. Wildwing looked down at his com.
"Looks like Dragaunus is at it again," he replied. "Come on," he said to Angelwing, "we'll worry about your situation
later. Right now we have some lizards to catch."
The two of them quick-changed into their battle gear and took off
towards the Migrator.
"I want a moment to be real,
want to touch things I don't feel,
want to hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change,
they're the ones that stay the same.
They can't see me, but I'm still here."
-John Rzeznik ("I'm Still Here")
"What is ol' Draggy up to now?" Nosedive questioned.
"What else, no good," Angelwing answered.
"Puh, you're the one to talk," he sneered.
Angelwing was about to snap back at Dive, but Grin silenced
her. "Now's not the time for arguments," he simply stated. Then he quoted, "united we stand, divided we fall."
The ducks were in the migrator, heading back to the abandoned
warehouse. Up at the front of the Migrator, Mallory and Wildwing were talking quietly.
"I don't know Wildwing, I still don't trust her," Mallory
confessed. "I mean, she was going to kill you, the whole thing was planned out," she paused, briefly. "And if
she was working with Dragaunus," she continued, "who knows what else she may have planned."
Wildwing continued driving, not answering, just deep in
thought. Jess finally decided to throw in her two cents. She had been listening to Mallory bashing Angelwing
for over ten minutes now, and quite frankly, she was sick of it.
"Well I trust her," Jess said randomly. "Think about
it. She had the courage to stand up to Dragaunus by not carrying out his orders. She had the guts to confess,
knowing what Dragaunus might do to her for betraying him. In that sense, she's braver than I am."
Finally, Wildwing broke free from his silence and concentration,
adding his thoughts on the situation. "Jess has a good point. Angelwing never really
attempted to kill me. She thought about it and stopped herself."
"Oh I can't believe you two," Mallory huffed. "You
mean the two of you are actually going to side with that, that ......traitor?"
Wildwing and Jess glanced at each other, then looked at
Mallory and replied in stereo, "yes." Mallory shook her head in disgust and turned away.
The ducks were at the scene in no time, back at the abandoned
warehouse, where they had met Angelwing, just two days ago. They unloaded the Migrator and looked around cautiously.
"Oh just great," Nosedive complained. "Is it just
me, or is anyone else having the sense of deja vous?" he asked as he shot a menacing look towards Angelwing.
Jess kept on walking forward, as if she wasn't paying attention,
and walked straight into Nosedive, purposely bumping into him. Nosedive nearly fell over. "Oops! Sorry Dive,
didn't see you there," she apologized sarcastically. Nosedive crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.
Jess turned around and did the same, imitating him.
"Gee Nosedive, you know they say that your face could be
stuck like that if something like this were to happen," Karissa joked as she walked up and smacked him in the back of his
head.
"Come on you guys, let's be serious about this," Tanya
scolded them.
Wilwing nodded, "Tanya's right. If Dragaunus is up
to something, then there's nothing to joke about." Just then, Angelwing stopped short and turned back to the rest of
the team.
"Um, Wildwing, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but
uh.............I don't see any signs of Dragaunus anywhere."
Mallory crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "since when
did she become the expert?" she said to herself. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped a little.
"Easy there sweetheart," Duke said, "she's only trying
to help," he reassured her.
"Yeah, help kill us maybe."
Wildwing scanned the area with his mask. "Angelwing's
right," he replied.
"But this is where Drake One was picking up signals from,"
Tanya added.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Wildwing asked
himself. He looked worried. "This is not good."
Suddenly, shots rained down from above them. The
team looked up to see Seige, Wraith and Chameleon on the roof top, firing at them. "It's an ambush!" shouted Mallory.
"Ducks, duck!" Jess yelled out as they all scattered and
ran for cover.
"Why are they back at this place anyway?" Duke asked Tanya,
after they ran behind a dumpster.
"I don't know," Tanya answered, "but whatever their reason
is, it can't be good."
"Well duh," Nosedive chimed in from behind a trailer truck.
"You think we would've followed them to this planet if they were actually doing something good?"
Meanwhile, Angelwing had ducked around a corner of the
building, shaded by trees, away from the rain of fire. She could still hear shots being fired, now from both the
Saurians and the Ducks. "If only I could get back at those Saurians for what they did to me and my family," she thought
to herself. Suddenly, she could sense an unwanted presence, like an impending doom.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said a familiar,
but haunting voice. A chill went down Angelwing's spine as she cautiously turned around.
"Dragaunus," she whispered.
"It seems I have a traitor in my midsts," Dragaunus said
wryly.
Angelwing growled. "The only one I was even close
to betraying," she started, "was of my own kind." Angelwing continued, seething now. "But I was strong and unwilling
to turn my back on my own kind, and so I didn't betray them at all." She was filled with so many emotions, mainly hate
towards the evil overlord, yet fear too. She feared what he might do to her, or even them others, knowing she had betrayed
him. She knew she had disobeyed his orders, but she didn't care now. Her loyalty was to Puckworld, and to her
people, not to the Saurians.
Before Angelwing realized it, she had her pucklauncher
aimed straight at Dragaunus. The giant lizard just threw his head back and laughed evilly.
"Foolish duck!" he snapped. "I wouldn't try anything
too harsh," Dragaunus said, raising his laser at Angelwing. "You do know what the penalty is for betrayal, don't you?"
he threatened. Angelwing saw a green flash, and a line of hunter drones appeared. She gasped.
"Instant death," Dragaunus said, grinning and bearing his
teeth.
Angelwing looked aroun for a way out. There were
drones all around her. "Rats, I'm trapped!" she thought to herself.
"But," Dragaunus interrupted, "I'll leave the execution
up to my drones, while I finish the job you started. Or should I say, never started?" Then with a sinister laugh,
and a flash of green light, he was gone.
Angelwing thought hard for a moment, trying to figure out
what Dragaunus meant by that. "Finish the job I started," she whispered to herself, paying no attention to the drones,
which now had their lasers locked on to her and were advancing. All of a sudden, the memories came flooding back.
"Finish him off, take him out!" she could hear Dragaunus saying. Then it hit her, and she gasped. Dragaunus
was going to kill..............."Wildwing, NOOOOOOOO!" she screamed and tried to fight her way through the hunter drones.
In the meantime, the rest of the team was battling
it out with Wraith, Seige, Chameleon, and even more drones.
"Man, there's just no end to them today," Duke commented
as he dodged the laser fire.
"It's obvious Dragaunus had this planned out," Wildwing
observed. He activated his shield just in time to block flying debris from a nearby laser explosion.
"But what is his objective this time?" asked Mallory.
"Yeah, I mean usually those creeps are stealing something
or causing destruction to the planet, not just targeting us," Nosedive pointed out.
"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," Grin quoted.
"Maybe he's trying to take us out one link at a time," he suggested.
"Ah, I see, the old 'divide and conquer' theory," Duke
commented.
"Good point," Karissa replied, "but we're all here.
So, who would they go after first?"
Tanya glanced around. "Hey, speaking of weak links,
not that they are or anything, but where are Jess and Angelwing?"
They all shrugged, cluelessly. "Okay, so maybe we're
missing a couple teammates, my bad," Karissa joked uneasily. Suddenly, they heard a loud shriek. The ducks looked
around for the source of the sound.
"You guys stay here," ordered Wildwing. "I'll go
check it out." He crept out from behind the dumpster, shield raised.
"Yo, bro, becareful," Nosedive shouted after him.
Wildwing quickly scanned the area and soon found Jess,
laying on the ground, her hands over the back of her head. He ran over to her and covered her just in time to shield
her from another round of lasers. Wing glanced up, as more drones appeared in front of them.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, at least I think so," Jess replied.
"What happened?"
Jess looked up at Wildwing and smirked slightly.
"I tripped," she confessed. Jess covered her head again as yet another round of fire came at them, this time from the
opposite direction. "There's no stopping them Wing."
"I know. But we can't give up, not now," he edged
her on.
Jess looked up at him again and smiled. "That doesn't
sound like you Wing," she paused, "but I like it." Wildwing helped Jess to her feet.
"Go! I'll cover you!" Wildwing yelled out and sent Jess
running to the others, just in time to ward off the oncoming drones. When he had destroyed the last drone,
with some help from his teammates, he heard Angelwing scream out.
"Wildwing, lookout!"
He didn't even see it coming. Dragaunus, under his cloak,
had snuck up behind Wildwing and hit him hard on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.
"Hmm, a perfect ending," Dragaunus thought to himself,
standing over Wildwing's motionless body. He drew his laser gun and took aim.
Wildwing was just starting to come to, but not soon enough.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion.
"NOOOOOOO!" Angelwing scream out. She ran towards
Dragaunus and kicked him away as he fired his laser. Angelwing looked over her shoulder to make sure Wildwing
was alright. "Phew." Wildwing was unharmed, and now back on his feet.
"WHAT?!" Dragaunus was furious, his eyes were glowing
red and his nostrils were flaring. "YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!" He aimed his laser at Angelwing and fired.
Wildwing ran and jumped in the way in time to block
the shot. By now, the other Mighty Ducks had surrounded not only Dragaunus, but his henchmen as well.
Dragaunus, still steaming mad, called out to the others.
"Everyone back to the Raptor at once!" Soon, his henchmen dissappeared. Then he turned and pointed
at Wildwing and Angelwing. "I'm not through with you two yet. You just wait and see." With those last
words, he was gone in flash.
The ducks stood silently at ease for a moment, then
Jess finally broke the silence.
"But who would want to?" she asked rhetorically.
"Want to what?" Wildwing questioned.
"Wait and see," she replied childishly.
Nosedive pushed Jess away playfully, and everyone broke
out in laughter as they loaded back into the Migrator.
Back at the pond..............................
"So, still think I'm a good-for-nothing traitor now?"
Angelwing asked Nosedive.
"Okay, so you saved my bro, we'll give ya credit for that
much," he replied.
"Hmpf, she's just lucky we're giving her any credit
at all," Mallory muttered under her breath, as she crossed her arms in front of her.
Wildwing turned to Mallory and frowned. "Don't you
think you could lighten up on her a bit?" he asked her calmly.
Mallory's expression softened, and her arms unfolded.
"Well, I suppose I could give her a chance," she suggested.
"Good," replied Wildwing and he smiled.
"But she's gotta earn my trust!" Mallory snapped back
and pointed a finger at Wildwing.
"That's fine," Wildwing told her, "all I ask is that you
at least give her a chance." They shook hands and nodded in agreement.
Then, Mallory walked over towards Angelwing. Angelwing had been talking to Jess, when she saw Mallory out of the corner
of her eye and looke up.
"Oh great, come to criticize me even more?" Angelwing asked
defensively.
"No," replied Mallory, rolling her eyes. "If you
weren't so busy lashing out at me, you'd know I came over to compliment you."
Angelwing's eyes widened in surprise. "Mallory, compliment
me?" she thought, "no way."
"I just wanted to say," Mallory started, "that you did
a great job out there today."
Angelwing was stunned and speechless. By now, the
rest of the team had gathered around them.
"Agreed," Grin said simply.
"Most definately," added Tanya.
"Way to go kid," Duke replied and patted her on the shoulder.
"You go girl!" Jess and Karissa shouted in unison.
Even Nosedive cheered for her. "Two thumbs up for
the new girl!"
Wildwing walked up to her and shook her hand. "Glad
to have you on the team," he smiled.
Later on, when the rest of the team had retired to their
bunks, Wildwing caught someone out the corner of his eye. It was Angelwing. He approached her and nearly startled
her. "Still up, huh?"
Angelwing jumped. "Oh, sorry. I thought I was
the only one."
Wildwing glanced down and blushed slightly. "You
really were a life saver today."
Angelwing smiled. "It was the least I could do, considering........"
she trailed off.
"Considering what?"
"Well, considering I almost tried to kill you, a couple
days before," she said seriously.
"You're forgiven," Wildwing said softly.
"Thank you," she replied. "Well, I suppose I oughtta
get to sleep now." Angelwing started towards her bunk, when she turned back. "Good night Wildwing."
"It's alright, you can just call me Wing," Wildwing told
her.
"Well, okay then, I guess you can call me Angel, if you
want," she replied, childishly.
"That name suits you well," Wildwing admitted.
Angelwing smiled back at him. "Thanks. Well
then, goodnight Wing."
"Goodnight-" Wildwing replied, then stopped short.
"Wait!" he called out and ran after her.
Angelwing stopped and turned around, a look of confusion
on her face. "What's the matter?" She looked up at Wildwing's face. The first time she had ever seen him without
the mask on. "He's kinda cute," she thought to herself.
"Before you go," Wildwing started. He took her hands
in his, looked into her eyes and smiled. "You truly are an angel," he confessed. "Thank you."
The End
all original characters owned by Disney are copyrighted.
all others are owned by me.
