A/N: I do not own the Mighty Ducks!

Nosedive's POV

"Are you ready?" Tanya asked.

We were in the Aerowing, waiting for Tanya to open up a dimensional gateway. She'd finally done it. With the help of Silverwing (who stole the blueprints), she was able to create a gateway generator to go on the front of the Aerowing and several little handheld ones for us to carry around.

We were finally going to go home.

"I've been ready!" said Mallory. She hated feeling stuck on Earth and I really didn't blame her, especially since Earth was becoming a hellhole for women. If a certain bill got passed, Mal and Tanya wouldn't even be able to play hockey anymore. At least not with guys.

Fortunately, the bill hadn't been introduced yet, so even if it was passed, it probably wouldn't go into effect until next season. Because of that, we promised Phil we'd be back in time for to play the preseason games we had lined up. We weren't leaving permanently unless we got so fed up with Earth that we couldn't take it anymore. After all, I'd met somebody. I hadn't known her long, but I knew I didn't want to leave her.

Besides, the girls weren't about to quit playing hockey without a fight.

So this was just a test run to see if the gateway generators actually worked.

Without hesitation, Tanya pressed a button and a humongo vortex opened up in front of us.

"We HAVE to hear the theme from Star Wars when we fly through," I said, and put in the CD.

"Better than that metal stuff you listen to," said Grin. "Metal disturbs my inner peace."

Flying through that vortex while listening to the theme from Star Wars was epic. If you ever get to fly to another dimension, I recommend having epic music on hand or else it's just not the same.

As soon as we came out the other end of the vortex, our icy planet came into view.

"I'm kind of nervous," admitted Wildwing. "We don't know what it's like since we left. There could still be drones all over the place. Or it could have been taken over by a species worse than the Saurians."

"That's why we fly around and do a little recon before we land," said Mallory. Everyone nodded. That seemed like the best idea. Not that I was scared, but everyone else kinda was.

Soon we located our home continent, Takidon, and flew close to the surface.

"I don't see any drones," said Tanya.

It was true. There were no drones, but there weren't any ducks either. The cities looked like ghost towns.

"Do you suppose…?" Duke didn't finish his question.

"Let's get out and see," said Mallory.

We landed the Aerowing at the square where we used to hang out and play hockey (rakten, in our language). The statue of Drake DuCaine had been blown to bits, which pissed me off.

"I don't think anyone survived," said Wildwing.

"Naaah," I tried to be optimistic. But I knew what he was thinking: if everybody had died, that included our parents, who we'd been separated from in the invasion. I tried not to think about it.

We kept walking, heading to the shopping district. There were several destroyed drones scattered about, and half the buildings' doors had been left hanging open. It was eerie.

"It's my sister's candy factory," said Mallory, who darted into an abandoned building. The rest of us followed.

Everything was surprisingly intact. The shelves were still fully stocked with candy, which had been preserved by our cold weather. I shouldn't have been surprised; Drones don't eat, so of course they would leave everything intact.

Mallory looked down and sighed. "I should have been nicer to my sister," she said, holding back tears. I'd never seen her like that before.

"I always called her a wimp because she didn't go into the military. The whole family treated her like shit, and now…"

Wildwing put a hand on Mallory's shoulder.

I was sympathetic, but also hungry. So sue me. I grabbed a candy puck from the shelf and started taking the wrapper off.

That's when we heard a noise. Duke drew his sabre and I kept a hand on my puck blaster.

"It's coming from that supply closet," said Tanya.

Grin and I walked over to the supply closet and looked at each other. Grin pulled the door off the hinges and revealed a small girl munching on a candy bar. Duke put away his sabre.

"It's a kid!" I exclaimed. "Not everyone's dead!" I reached down to pick up the kid and she kicked me right in the nuts.

"My candy!" said the kid. "I'm not going back to that orphanage!" She ran out the door while I howled in pain.

"Tough kid," said Duke.

"Hey kid!" called Mallory. "Come back!" Mallory ran outside after the kid.

Now, that kid was tough, but she wasn't as fast as Mallory. We ran outside and watched as Mallory picked up the kid.

"I'm not gonna hurt you!" said Mallory. "You're the first duck we've seen. I was hoping you could tell me about my sister. Have you seen a red-haired duck about my height named Eianna?"

The kid nodded. "She works with Airstrike and Dal at the orphanage! With her husband! They make me eat healthy food and I'm not going BACK!" She kicked and squirmed, but Mallory wasn't fazed.

"Oh, yes you are!" Mallory ordered. "If my sister's alive, you're taking me to her!"

"Or else she'll cry," I said. "You don't want her to cry." Because sometimes pulling on the heartstrings works better than cussing and raising hell, even if cussing and rising hell is more fun. Mallory glared at me.

"I don't want you to cry," said the Kid. "I'll tell you where your sister is."

"Good," I said. "She might even be able to tell us where everyone else is." By "everyone else," I meant our parents, but I really didn't want to get Wingster's hopes up.

"PUT ME DOWN!" screamed the kid.

"If you promise not to run away," Mal replied.

"…OK." The kid proceeded to lead us down the road. "I'm Yalfi, by the way."

"I'm Dive," I said. "My friends in the punk scene call me the Hesher. So, are all the drones really gone?"

The kid nodded. "They were destroyed. Mr. Canard and the orphanage ladies destroyed 'em all before the orphanage was started."

"Canard!?" Wildwing's eyes lit up.

The kid nodded casually. "He's a guard at the dimensional prison now, but he donates healthy food shit to the orphanage sometimes." The girl stuck her tongue out.

"I don't like to eat healthy shit either," I admitted.

"Then can we be friends?" asked the girl.

"If you don't kick me in the balls again."

The girl led us to an old store, kinda like Earth's department stores, on the edge of town that had been converted to an orphanage. Mallory ran ahead and tried to open the door.

"You have to use the secret knock," said the little girl. She knocked once, paused, and knocked four times. The door swung open and another Mallory popped out. Only this one had longer hair.

"SISTER!" Mallory exclaimed. She took her sister in her arms and said "I am so, so, sorry." I'd never seen her be so….nice, before.

"It's OK," said Eianna. "It's OK. I have a surprise for you. Me and Erak have a baby! You have to come in and meet her, and tell us what happened to you! Canard was afraid you all might be dead."

"We didn't think Canard was alive!" said Wildwing. "We have to go see him."

"You'll see him soon," said Eianna. "He comes by every few days to help with the orphanage."

We went inside and sat on some couches that had been there since back when the place was a store. Kids were running around everywhere. Eianna's husband (Erak?) came and placed a bundle in her arms.

"This is Lara," she said. Lara was this tiny little redheaded thing, so adorable even if she did look like Mallory.

"So little and innocent," said Grin.

"Innocent my ass," said Eianna. "She loves to throw her poop. In an orphanage full of kids, this one's the biggest handful."

We all laughed.

"So, I'm guessing you're Grin," Eianna said to Grin. "Canard told me all of your names. He said Grin's the big one, the genius is Tanya, the scoundrel is Duke, the handsome one's Wildwing, and the sarcastic blond is Nosedive."

"Naw," I said sarcastically.

"Canard's going to be so happy to have his Wildwing back!"

Wing smiled and Mallory looked away. I've got this theory that she has the hots for Wildwing. He seems to like her too, but not enough to cheat on Canard. With Canard definitely still being alive, I knew things were about to turn into a soap opera.

Yalfi was bored because nobody was paying attention to her, so she ran in the kitchen and got some berries, which she just started throwing all over the floor and stomping on them, squirting juice everywhere and staining the floor. Eianna sighed. It was too much. Another woman appeared and started yelling, "Food is scarce! You start wasting food and I'm gonna put you in time out!"

Yalfi walked right up to the woman and smashed a bunch of berries into her feathers, staining them bright red. The woman growled and said "I quit!"

"That's Airstrike," said Eianna. "She's the founder, and she's not quitting. She's just frustrated. There's so many abandoned kids and eggs after the invasion. It's so hard to keep an eye on all of them. Nobody feels like they're financially stable enough to adopt, so these kids have been here for a long time. It's really sad."

"Maybe we can help," said Wildwing. "How about you come with us to Earth?"

"So these kids can learn to act like a bunch of HUMANS?" snarled Mallory.

"It'll be alright," I said. "They can learn from the Dive!"

"Even worse."

The orphanage was already crowded, but Airstrike and the others told us we were welcome to stay there until Canard came. It worked out: Mallory got a chance to catch up with her sister and there was plenty of food considering the planet's situation. Airstrike and her husband, Dal, made a huge dinner for us and we ate until we were stuffed.

After dinner, Wildwing slipped out the door without telling anyone where he was going.

I sighed and went after him. By that time it was almost too dark outside to see. I pulled my coat tighter around me. I guess I'd gotten more used to the California weather than I thought.

"Where are you going?" I asked my brother. "Are you OK? I mean, the drones are gone and your man's coming to see ya. What's wrong?"

"I have to know."

I nodded. I wanted to find our parents too, but I didn't know where to start. "Where should we look?"

"I don't know," he groaned.

"Hm…." I thought about it for a while. "FRINDEL! Maybe FRINDEL knows where they are!"

"The little tea kettle that used to come over and write lyrics with you?"

"That's the one!"

"Who you and Mom tried to teach how to sing?"

"That's right. Let's go to his cave!"

Yes. Frindel. Frindel most likely went the whole invasion without being attacked, just because he's so tiny he's hard to see unless you're looking for him. He's a little flying mammal called a streel, similar to Earth's bats. And he's higher pitched than the dude from Stryper. Luckily his skills as a lyricist make up for it.

He got on Wildwing's nerves just like Wildwing's preppy friends got on mine.

"What if we meet a yask?" asked Wildwing.

"We have puck blasters."

We both knew yask were dangerous. Yask hunters had to go through a year of training unless they wanted to die on a hunting trip. But they usually didn't have military grade weapons.

Frindel's cave wasn't far. I'd been there a hundred times, so I found it without any trouble. But we didn't have any flashlights, so we stood by the mouth of the cave and called Frindel's name.

Right on cue he came flying out of the cave, glowing in the dark and squealing like a castrato. "FRIENDS! You're not dead!" He gave Wildwing a kiss on the cheek and said "EEEEEEE!"

"Glad you're doing well," I said. Wildwing wiped the streel slobber off his cheek.

And that's when our mom walked out of the cave with a baby in her arms and some dude who was not our dad. He looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't really take the time to look him over. Wildwing and I hugged our mom and cried tears of joy.

"I thought I heard my sons' voices," said Mom. "I'm so glad you're safe. I thought I'd lost you in the invasion." She was crying too.

"We're here," said Wildwing. "We're alive and the drones are gone."

"The drones are gone?"

Wing nodded. "The world's recovering."

"I didn't know….I've been in this cave hiding out for so long with Dirk, Snow, and Frindel…By the way, Snow is your little sister."

It took me a while to process what I was hearing. "We have a sister?"

Mom nodded. "Your father…your father died saving her from the drones before she hatched."

"And who is that dude?" I asked bluntly.

"Oh, that's Dirk. Um…I've been looking out for him, you know? He needs my brawn."

Now, my mom is 5'4 and looks like a duck version of Dolly Parton. Unless you knew her personally, you wouldn't know that she's the "brawn" in any situation. Truth is she's actually a badass little woman. She overcame her size to become one of the best goalies on the planet.

"So…is he your boyfriend?"

She hesitated a moment, and then nodded. And that's when I lost it.

"Our dad's dead and you're fuckin' some random-ass dude!?" I've never talked to my mom like that before and I'll never do it again. I'm still ashamed of it to this day. But how would you feel if you'd just found out your dad was dead and that your mom was already fucking some random-ass dude? Sometimes I would butt heads with my dad, but he sure deserved better than that shit. I stormed off into the woods.