It was a cold, brisk, sunny day at the Snowy Trails Ski Lodge.
Adults were skiing, teenagers snowboarding, and the younger children were either sledding or building snowmen.
Jess and Byron James had decided to spend their February vacation
at the lodge with their children, McKayla and Brandon. Although, neither Jess or Byron had ever skied before, they chose
to give it a try.
While they were on the slopes with their instructor, McKayla
and Brandon managed to keep themselves occupied elsewhere. They were on the skating pond, which wasn't too far from
the lodge, at the foot of the mountains.
On this day, the two James children were playing a bit of hockey
with their friends. McKayla was suited up in goalie gear, tending the net, while her younger brother and their friends
played in teams against each other.
Brandon had just stole the puck from his friend, Jason, and
now he was skating up towards Mckayla. He stopped midway, and took a slapshot at the goalie.
"He shoots, he scores!" Brandon cheered as he jumped up and
down, holding his stick in the air.
Mckayla just rolled her eyes. "You wish."
"Huh?" her brother turned and looked at her funny. Then
she opened her glove and dropped the puck in front of him.
"Nice try," she told him with a wide grin.
Brandon's jaw dropped as he stared at her in shock. "No
fair!"
"Course it's fair," his sister told him, "that's how you play
hockey. But hey, that was still a great shot. Just keep practicing." She brought her stick up and playfully
tapped him on his helmet.
"Okay, so what's the score now?" Mckayla's friend, Jasmine,
asked as she skated up to them.
"I believe it's still tied at one goal a piece," Jason replied.
Jasmine grumbled her disappointment. "Let's say we end
this, huh? I don't know about you guys, but I'm freezing my butt off," she whined.
"Oh, waa," Brandon teased, pretending to rub his eyes as if
he was crying. Jasmine shoved him playfully.
"Alright guys," Mckayla interviened. "How 'bout next
goal wins?"
"Sounds good," said Trey, another one of Mckayla's friends.
"Fine with me," Brandon replied, and all the others nodded
in agreement. Soon they were all back to playing hockey.
Meanwhile, off in the distance, another group of friends stood
around, planning out their day. There was something peculiar about this group too. They weren't even human!
In fact, they were ducks! Humanoid, alien ducks, much like the ones who had come to Earth years before, and defeated the evil
Saurian Overlord, Dragaunus.
"So, what should we do first?" one of them asked the others.
He had short, light brown hair and white feathers. It was William Flashblade, the son of Wildwing Flashblade.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm definately in the
mood for some hockey," William's cousin, Crash Flashblade, replied anxiously.
Another, taller, male duck with tan feathers, looked over at
the skating pond. From what he could see, there were a lot of people. Half of the pond was taken up by some people
already playing hockey, while the other half was being used just for ice skating. After assessing the situation, the
tan duck finally commented.
"Looks a bit crowded, don't you think?" he asked.
"Not really Cam. I bet, if we asked, we could join in
on that game over there," a female duck with short, light brown hair, replied. "Looks like they could use another goalie.
Right now it seems a bit one-sided," she chided.
"Marina has the right idea," Vanessa Vanderflock added.
"I mean like, it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?" There were various nods and agreements from the others, and a slight
sigh and grumble from Camden Thunderbeak.
"Got any better ideas Mr. Grumpy?" Crash sarcastically asked
Camden, who made a motion to speak, but quickly refrained himself when he saw the look on Marina's face.
Back at the skating pond, Mckaylya and her friends were still
in the middle of their game. No one had managed to score yet, and so the game went on.
"Alright, time to end this thing," Jason said, sounding determined,
as he came skating up to Marina.
"Then let's see what you've got," she challenged him.
Marina came out of her net, bent down low, and readied herself for the next shot.
Jason skated up fast and tried to sneak the puck in the upper
right hand corner of the net as he skated by. But, he aimed too high and the puck flew over Marina and went astray behind
Marina.
"Hey Jason! Nice shot!" Brandon called out, laughing
as he taunted his friend.
"Shut up!" Jason snapped.
Mckayla ignored them and she skated around behind the goal
and went to retrieve the puck. As she skated further away from the net, she noticed the ice looked different.
It looked thinner. She stopped and hesitated for a moment when she thought she heard a noise below her. "Naa,"
she said, shaking her head. "The puck's just right over there. It should be able to hold me. I'm just thinking
way too much, freaking myself out."
The goalie took a few more strides towards the puck.
Suddenly, she heard the noise again, only it was louder. Mckayla looked down and panicked, fear overtaking her.
She had no time to react as the ice quickly cracked and she fell through.
To be continued............
Disclaimer: All original MD characters are owned and copyrighted by Disney. All others
belong to me.
