.Chapter one.

The ding of the bell at the door to the comic shop announced the entrance of a new customer.

Nosedive looked around the store while the rest of the ducks, who had reluctantly agreed to come with, continued on their way in. Everything was the same right up until he reached the desk. Instead of spying Thrash and Mookie taking it easy back there, there was a girl he had never seen before. Raising an eyebrow, he walked up to her.

"Um, hey," he said gently, so as not to startle her from her work.

She flinched out of her thoughts and looked around for her addresser. Eventually her eyes landed on the young drake.

"Oh. Hi, uh 'Nosedive' is it?" she asked, setting down her clipboard and adjusting her glasses to sit properly on her nose before holding a hand out for Nosedive to shake.

"Yeah," 'Dive said, almost in a chuckle.

"Thrash and Mookie said you'd be coming in at some point," she continued, releasing his hand.

"Did they?"

"Yeah. They said you're quite a regular customer."

Nosedive just nodded at the statement before asking, "Where are Thrash and Mook?"

"They're out at some convention or something in the next state. They'll be back by Friday," the girl replied.

"Right."

"Yeah. Uh, I'm sure you know your way around the shop by now. There's some new comics in the 'Just In' section if you would like to have a look."

"Okay. Thanks, uh… didn't-get-ya-name."

"Oh! Sorry. I'm Agnus. Aggie for short."

Nosedive nodded, smiled and gave her a salute-cum-wave before heading off towards the 'Just In' section.

Just as he headed off and Agnus went back to what she had been doing previously, the bell rang again. She looked up and cringed at what had just walked in.

"Same old, same old," Duke said, putting a comic back onto the shelf.

"Chuck, I told you, I've got work to do," came Aggie's slightly distressed voice from the front desk.

The Ducks looked up from their browsing to see what was going on.

'Chuck', a decently sized hockey player, had Agnus pinned in a corner behind the checkout desk.

"Aww, c'mon baby, that's what you say every time I see you," Chuck said, eyes half closed in an almost dreamy way.

"That's because it's usually the truth."

"You sayin' you've been lyin' to me? I'm hurt, Darlin'. But… you know, there is something that could heal this wound you've inflicted…"

Duke sighed as he watched the scene before him. "Some guys just don't know how ta treat a lady," he said, walking over to where the two were. He hopped over the desk and gripped Chuck's shoulder. Chuck looked back at him.

"Alright, Romeo. Let the lady go," he said.

"Hey. Mind your own business, Duck. This is a matter between me and my girl," Chuck said, shrugging Duke's hand off of his shoulder.

Just then Duke got a brilliant idea and a sly glint appeared in his eye.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know. Sweetheart, you shoulda described him better ta me," Duke said, looking at Aggie.

"What?" Chuck asked, while Aggie just looked at Duke a bit puzzled.

"You told me about your beau, but…," Duke moved closer to Aggie, shouldering Chuck out of the way, "You never told me that it was this bad. Heh, no wonder you came ta me." Duke put an arm around Aggie's shoulders, while she just blinked up at him like he was crazy, but a quick and reassuring smile from him quickly brought her up to speed.

"Oh! Yes. Well, I… uh…," she started, but acting wasn't her strong point.

"Shhh," Duke said soothingly but still making a big deal of it. He put a finger to her lips to silence her. "It's okay," he said in a bit of a whisper before continuing normally, "Maybe it's time we 'came out of the closet', so ta speak, about us. Hmm?"

Aggie just smiled at him, she couldn't believe how good he was at this.

Duke smiled back at her and then turned to face Chuck again.

"No hard feelings, right? The best guy won out in the end," he said, holding a hand out for Chuck to shake.

"So this is what you've been up to when you said you're 'workin''?" Chuck asked angrily, glaring at Aggie.

Suddenly Aggie got a surge of bravery. She stood up as straight as she could, set her shoulders back, met Chuck's glare and said, "So what if he is? Look, just beat it, Chuck. There is a 'Right of Admission Reserved' sign outside."

"Oh, I'll beat it all right. Right after a beat your duck-friend here into pâté," Chuck replied. He lunged at Duke with a roar.

Duke shoved Aggie to the side before moving out of the way of the attack himself. He grabbed hold of Chuck's shirt at the back, lifted him and began to swing him around and around. Aggie slipped down the wall she was against to avoid being hit.

"Let's take this outside so that the lady doesn't have ta deal with the mess afterwards," Duke said, releasing Chuck and sending him flying through the door of the comic shop.

"Stay down, stay low. I'll be back in a moment," he said seriously, looking at Aggie.

She just nodded.

He nodded back to her before jumping over the desk and heading out of the shop to catch up with a very ticked and dazed Chuck.

The other Ducks walked over to the checkout desk to watch the scene outside. Aggie watched their expressions to see how things were going.

At every cringe she wasn't sure who or what they were cringing at, which was driving her mad, but she wasn't getting up until she knew it was okay. Finally, the Ducks smiled. She smiled too and sighed a silent sigh of relief as she heard the door to the shop opening gently and a pair of light footsteps coming closer.

"She okay?" the voice of her rescuer asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," Aggie said before the other Ducks could get a word in edgewise, rising to her feet as she spoke.

"No problem. How long you been involved with that sleazeball?"

"I've known Chuck for about… three months now. We met just after a hockey game actually. My friend had dragged me along to a match and… well, I literally bumped into him and… well, let's just say that to be the object of someone's adoration isn't fun if you don't return their feelings."

"Oh yes. Very true."

"You have experience in this?" Nosedive asked Duke, folding his arms across his chest.

"You bet," Duke replied.

"When?"

"Long time ago," Duke turned his attention to Aggie, "I understand how you feel, kid."

"Thanks. Nice to know that someone understands," Aggie smiled, hugging her clipboard to her chest.

Duke just smiled at her.

"I've never seen him on the ice before," Wildwing observed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh no, he's not an ice hockey player. He's a street hockey player," Aggie said.

"That would explain it," said Duke.

"Quite."

"You… inta street hockey?"

"No. I just went along with my friend who is hockey mad. No matter what it's on: air, street, ice, she loves it."

"Then what's with the skates?"

"Oh! I… I just like to skate is all." Aggie rubbed the back of her neck shyly.

Duke just nodded at the explanation.

"Uh, anyway. Thanks again, uh… what's your name?" Aggie asked.

"What? You don't know who we are?" Nosedive asked.

"Well, if she ain't a hockey fan, 'Dive, how do you expect her to know?" Duke asked before turning back to Aggie and holding a hand out for her to take, "Name's Duke and you are?"

"Agnus. Aggie for short," she replied, shaking Duke's hand.

Just then the door to the shop opened again.

The Ducks and Aggie looked to see who had come in and weren't quite sure what to make of the newcomer. She was a girl about Aggie's age and she seemed to be dumbfounded, standing in the doorway with her mouth slightly open in a gape as she stared at the Ducks.

"Friend o' yours?" Duke asked, looking at Aggie out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah. Ducks, this is my hockey mad friend Shiga. Shiga,… I'm sure you know who they are," Aggie said, introducing them.

"Uh… Aggs… can we talk?" Shiga asked in a bit of a squeaky voice, still not completely recovered from her shock of walking into a store to find the local hockey heroes right in front of her.

"Sure. Uh, Duke, do you mind?"

"No. Not at all," Duke replied, oblivious to the fact that he was still holding her hand.

"Well then…" Aggie pulled her hand back a bit.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realise that I…," Duke trailed off, quickly releasing Aggie's hand and then rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.

Aggie just smiled at him as she began to make her way towards the back of the shop with her gob smacked friend in tow. Her green inline-skates quietly whirring over the floor as she glided along.

"Oh! Um, Nosedive, could you please keep an eye on the shop for a moment? I'm sure Thrash and Mook would trust you to do so," Aggie said, before she and Shiga disappeared into the back room.

"Sure thing, Girly Girl," Nosedive smiled.

Aggie gave him a grateful nod and then disappeared into the back room with her friend.

"And you guys didn't want to come," Nosedive said, jumping over the desk to sit at the chair behind it.

"Well, it's usually not this exciting," Wildwing said.

Meanwhile, in the back room, Aggie was withstanding the fangirl moment her friend was having.

"And do you even know who you shook hands with?" she asked, eyes wide with enthusiasm.

"Uh, all I know is that his name's 'Duke'," Aggie replied.

"That's Duke L'Orange!"

"Okay."

"Oh come on, Aggs! Show some enthusiasm! The Mighty Ducks are out there and… you're not even freaked out!"

"Look, Shi, you know why I'm not. I… I don't like ice hockey. Not any more."

Shiga gave her friend a somewhat amused look before saying, "I think you still actually do and I believe I have Duke to thank for reigniting the spark."

"You do not. There is no spark. You know why I don't like ice hockey and… I don't want to have this discussion now. Okay? I've got a comic shop to run. If you want to talk to your hockey stars, be my guest. Just let me get back to work."

"Alright, alright. Who put a rock in your skates today?"

"Go. Before they leave."

Shiga didn't need any more prompting, she was out of the backroom and back at the Ducks' sides in a matter of seconds.

Agnus just stood for a moment in thought, remembering the events that had put her off ice hockey for life, but then shook her head. Living in the past was useless, what was done was done. She couldn't change it, but she could make sure nothing like it ever happened again. With that she turned and followed her friend's route at a more sedate pace.

When she opened the door to re-enter the shop, she couldn't help but smile at her friend. She was worse than a little kid with the number of questions she had for the Ducks. What was amazing though was that the Ducks had no problem answering with the same rapid fire speed her friend had in asking.

Aggie skated back to her position behind the desk and then said to the young duck that was currently occupying her chair, "Thanks for helping out, Nosedive."

"No problemo. I uh 'rescued' this before your friend here got a hold of your clipboard," Nosedive replied, holding a piece of paper out for Aggie to take.

"Oh, thanks. She would have scribbled all over this too."

Aggie took the paper and straightened out a dog-ear that had formed in its top right hand corner.

"I thought you weren't a fan of hockey," Nosedive said, leaning on the desk.

"I'm not," Aggie replied, still straightening the paper.

"Then… what's that?" Nosedive pointed to the unfinished image on the paper, it was the Mighty Ducks' team logo.

With a sigh, Aggie looked up at Nosedive, who was smiling smugly to himself. He looked like someone who had just uncovered a secret without even trying.

"To be honest with you, Nosedive. I kinda got bored and… seeing as the only channel the in-store TV has is the sports channel… and this being Anaheim, the home town of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks…"

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah. I just drew what I had easy reference for."

Nosedive just nodded, his mood dampened.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Aggie said, noticing his slumped shoulders.

"Hey, no problem. Hockey just ain't everyone's thing on this planet," Nosedive said, perking up a bit.

"True."

"So what sport are you into?"

"None really. I just skate for fun."

Nosedive just nodded before asking, "Do you ice skate?"

"No!" Aggie replied a bit too quickly and a bit too sharply, earning her the attention of the rest of the Mighty Ducks and her friend. "I mean, ahem. No, I don't ice skate," she said trying to cover up her slight blunder.

"Why not?" Duke asked.

Aggie just shrugged and said, "I just don't."

Duke just nodded and left it at that, but he got the feeling that there was something more to this than what she was saying.

"Oh! Don't you guys have a game tonight?" Shiga asked, looking up at Wildwing for the answer.

"Yes, we do. We've actually got to get back to the Pond to do some last minute practice," he replied.

"Hey, why don't you two come watch? VIP pass and all, compliments of your friendly neighbourhood superheroes-cum-killer-ice-hockey-team," Nosedive said with one of his most charming smiles ever.

"Yeah. We'd appreciate the support," Duke said, looking directly at Aggie. He could see that all this talk of ice hockey was getting to her and he was hoping the reason for it would surface sooner or later.

"We will so be there!" Shiga said, accepting a ticket from Grin.

"What about you, Girly Girl?" Nosedive asked, holding a ticket out for Aggie to take.

She looked at it as if it were a snake, beautiful but deadly. She forced a sweet smile up at Nosedive and gently pushed the ticket and his hand back towards him saying, "Thanks but no thanks, Nosedive,… I think I've met enough 'Chuck's to last me the rest of my life."

"You sure?"

Aggie just nodded and said, "Positive."

"Okay, but… in case you change your mind… there's gonna be one sittin' right here."

Nosedive placed the ticket down on the counter and put a paperweight on top of it.

"Nosedive, take it. It's just going to mean an empty seat. Give it to someone who will use it."

"I have a feeling you will. See ya 'round, Dudette."

With that Nosedive made his way out from behind the desk and towards the door before Aggie could argue further. The other Ducks followed his lead.

"See you guys tonight!" Shiga called from the door, watching them leave.

"You bet, Dudette!" Nosedive called back, walking backwards and cupping his hands around his beak to make his voice carry further.

Shiga waved to him and he waved back before turning back to face forward again. Shiga smiled at his antics, but then went back into the shop, closing the door behind her.

"So?" she asked Aggie.

"What?" Aggie asked, sorting her clean paper from her friend's scribbled notes on her clipboard.

"You are coming right?"

Aggie just looked at her friend, she wasn't in the best of moods right now.

"Aggs, what happened to your dad… it ain't gonna happen to you if you go to watch a game of ice hockey," Shiga said.

"I don't want to support a brutish sport like that, Shiga. Going to the game is supporting the sport."

"Not like you're paying for it. Nosedive and the Ducks invited us and supplied us with the tickets."

Aggie was silent as she re-clipped the clean paper back onto her clipboard.

"I don't get you. Really I don't. When we were young you were the best ice hockey player I knew. Now… ugh. You know if you were still in the game you could be making a mint instead of scraping together an existence like this."

Aggie looked at the ticket and then at her friend. Shiga smiled, this had to be a good sign. Aggie picked up the ticket and held it out to Shiga.

"You know anyone who wants a 'Mighty Ducks' ticket?" she asked.

Shiga's shoulders slumped and her mouth dropped open.