I don't own the Mighty Ducks
Deep Sea Explorations
Tanya shifted uncomfortably for what had to be the hundredth time. The red headed right striker of the team, Mallory sat next to her driving the sub down into the dark depths of the ocean. When Tanya tried to drive her hands shook uncontrollably. Seeing her distress, Mallory placed a hand on her shoulder and tilted her head, motioning for Tanya to take the co-pilot seat without saying any words. She was beyond grateful to her friend. It was her fear of the deep dark water that had her a shaking mess, she blamed her bad experience swimming as a kid. She had almost drown and sank into dark water, if it hadn't been for her father coming to her rescue she wouldn't be here today. However, past experiences no matter how traumatizing couldn't stop her from completely their mission, they needed to do this and she had to be there.
Dragaunus's ship sank deeper then they realized and the ocean currents swept it further out to sea. It ended up settling on the ocean floor six miles from French Polynesia. While over there Mallory had every intention of lounging on the beaches when they were done collecting the information and blue prints from the Raptor. She brought a suit case with bathing suits and clothing just for that. The guys would be joining them when they completed their mission. She sighed thinking about the massages on the beach, the drinks, swimming in the clear beautiful water. Maybe some late night walks in the surf with Wildwing, sex on the beach. Mallory daydreamed about some of the romantic things they could do while there.
Tanya looked over at Mallory, seeing the smile on her face she wondered what she was thinking about. She needed to get her mind off of how nervous she was, so talking with Mallory would probably help. "What are you thinking about Mallory?"
"Oh, the beaches, relaxing in the sun, professional massages. You know, the things you do while at places like this."
"Yeah. I can't wait to be back on land." And just like that her she was nervous again.
Seeing her distress Mallory tried to make her laugh. "You should have seen the look on Wildwing's face when he saw some of the bathing suits I threw into my suitcase."
It worked. "Ha ha. Did he try to stop you from bringing them?"
"No but he was requesting that I don't wear some out in public, only in front of him."
Tanya laughed. "I wish him luck in trying to stop you."
"Hey I'm an independent woman. Gotta have some fun in life and wearing tiny bathing suits that make my boyfriend crazy is very fun. Not to mention how overprotective he gets is cute." Saying that made Mallory think about the hockey game where one of the Road Island Rattlers did an illegal check on her from behind when she was gonna hit the puck away. He took a shot at their goal. Wildwing saw the check and hit the puck away hard, intentionally sending it right back into the player's head, knocking him out. It was Wildwing's little revenge for the illegal move on his girlfriend. He never got pissed about anyone else on the team getting creamed on the ice, only when it was Mallory. That was the game they had to leave at half time to fight Dragaunus's goon who melted a building with salerinite. Mallory smirked thinking about how she had sprayed the jerk with ice, her little revenge.
They laughed and talked as they descended. The ocean surrounding them became darker and the pressure climbed to the point where it would crush a person's lungs if they went in without proper protection. The sub they were in was not large, it could only fit four and that would be tight. Below them in a separate section of the sub was a small chamber that held two large diving suits made to withstand the high pressure at these depths. They were going to have to wear the suits and go into Dragaunus's sunken ship to retrieve the plans for the gateway generator.
After searching using the system's radar and tracking, they found the Raptor. When their lights first shined down on it, the first thing that came into view was the head of the Raptor. Turning the lights along the outside of the sub they check the whole ship and found the giant hole left from Wildwing blowing up the gateway generator. It has caused a malfunction in the ship that blew a hole in the side which brought them down. There was no way Dragaunus and his goons could have survived. Bring the sub down, Mallory scanned the ship with the on board computer. They found no signs of life in the Raptor, not even a fish was present. Mallory nodded in relief, that made their job less difficult. Tanya started shaking again. She didn't want to go out there but she had too. She could do this!
They went down into the lower part of the sub and sealed the door above them. Once in their suits, Tanya shakily hit the button to slowly fill the small chamber with water. Watching it get higher Tanya felt her chest constrict at the sight of the water level rising up over the visor of her suit. She couldn't breathe, she closed her eyes, wanting this suit off but not stupid or irrational enough to take it off. The pressure grew as the lower chamber of the sub finished filling with water.
She was breathing erratically. Panting and gasping in her suit, clouding her cold helmet visor with her warm breath. She couldn't think of anything else besides the darkness surrounding her and the water crushing her. It was so cold, even in these protective suits. It was getting bad when she heard Mallory's voice. "Tanya you've got this. Look I'm right here with you. Open your eyes! You're fine." She shook her head no, refusing to open her eyes and see the crushing blackness around her. "Okay, then just take deep breaths. We're still in the lower part of the sub, think about that Tanya, we're not out there yet. You're safe. I'm here." Mallory's words became softer as she spoke, seeing that Tanya was listening now. "Breathe. In and out." Tanya did as instructed, taking deep breaths and releasing them until she was calmer. "Okay now open your eyes and look at me." The blond tech opened her eyes to see Mallory right in front of her, she was holding her hands. Tanya realized now that she was gripping Mallory's hands as tightly as possible. When had she grabbed onto the red head? "See it's okay. We're fine. We've got this. You and me." Mallory kept putting empathize on 'we' wanting Tanya to understand that she was here with her and that they would get through this together. "Hey look at me." Tanya locked eyes with her teammate, seeing the vibrant green staring at her. "We're gonna be fine. When you're calm, we'll go out there, get those blue prints then get out of here and go sit on a beach."
"Oh a b-beach s-s-sounds s-so good." The blond tech stuttered. She could do this. Just focus on the job get it done and leave. She looked around herself, getting used to being deep underwater, the lights on the sub lite up everything around it and lite their path to the Raptor. She would be able to see just fine. Just as long as she didn't look around too much. Having calmed down significantly, Tanya gave Mallory the okay and Mallory opened the door to the ocean. One at a time they swam out into the big dark sea, the lights on the sub and their gear showed them the way. Even to Mallory, it was very eerie. All round them was blackness, their lights gave them a short field of view but it did the job well enough. The gear was large and clunky, they had to be careful walking around and make sure not to bump into anything. Mallory went first and Tanya followed shakily. They had a rope around their waists attaching them so they wouldn't lose each other.
Tanya had the scanners and equipment that would help them navigate their way through the sunken ship. Going in Tanya gave Mallory instructions from the back on which way to go. Mallory proceeded first with a gun specially made to work and shoot underwater. It was big so that her suit would allow her to work it. After navigating the corridors filled with destroyed drone parts, they found the main computer. Tanya began downloading files on the Raptor's gateway generator, everything they had about dimensional gateways was here.
Mallory searched the room, looking for any sign of trouble, her lights scanning the interior of the ship, which had debris floating everywhere. Then she saw him, Dragaunus. His floating corpse was untouched by fish, his eyes stared lifelessly into the darkness. Saurians weren't like humans. When their dead bodies were in water, they didn't bloat like humans did. Their hard scaly skin didn't absorb or retain water. They would decompose like a corpse on land would, slowly shrivel away. Their scales acted like an exoskeleton and the intense pressure of the water wouldn't crush well armored saurian like Siege or Dragaunus but Cameleon and Wraith she wasn't so sure about. Mallory shivered. She was curious to know where the goons were but decided she didn't really want to look. Looking back at Tanya she saw the duck working feverishly to get the information. A floating shape caught Mallory's attention and she saw high above Tanya, was Siege's corpse. His skull had been bashed in, it looked like he took his own life with his tail before he drown. Mallory almost felt sorry for him, almost. She didn't tell Tanya about the dead bodies floating around them, she would only get freaked out.
"Th-th-there all d-done." Tanya said, her nervousness causing her to stutter a lot more. "Let's pl-please just get outta here!"
"Okay follow me. Keep your lights on me." Mallory's voice was even and calm, trying to sooth Tanya's feathers.
"Okay Mallory." Tanya followed her out back to the sub waiting for them. They were almost at the exit when Tanya saw something she wished she didn't. What was definitely a part or maybe swished part of the Cameleon's body was floating off to the side. Tanya thought she was going to be sick. She felt panic coming on. "Mallory…" She said, getting scared.
"Don't look at it Tanya." Mallory said knowing that the dead Chameleon was over there.
"Mallory I'm panicking." Tanya said, her breathing increasing.
"Don't. You can't panic out here Tanya. If you do you might get us both killed. You're a mighty duck Tanya. Act like it." Mallory didn't mean to be harsh but Tanya needed to hear this. It seemed to work. She calmed to a degree and they made it back to the sub in one piece with the blue prints. Once in the lower chamber, they sealed the doors and drained the water. Empty of the crushing liquid, they got out of there suits and went back into the upper part of the sub. "You did great Tanya. Now let's get out of here." Mallory sealed the doors to the lower part of the ship behind them, then started guided the sub out of there, Tanya felt like she could breathe again when they started going up.
All was fine until a whale came out of the dark depths and smacked their small sub with its large tail. The lumbering beast was completely unaware that it had just hit them. The sub took damage, it started sounding off sirens and flashing red lights as they spun out of control. Instead of going up the power in the sub went off and they were sinking. The emergency lights came on, allowing Tanya to start working on getting the thing to come back to life again. The sub fell over an oceanic ridge and started sinking into the darkness below, if they went too far, they would be crushed by the massive pressure surrounding them. "Tanya I need you to get her working again!"
Tanya was frantically pulling levers and pressing buttons trying to get the sub to respond. "I'm trying, I'm trying!" She glared at the many controls. "Come on you!" She yelled at it as the indestructible plastic window on the front of their sub started to vibrate and a little crack appeared.
They heard a hissing sound and Mallory and Tanya realized they were losing oxygen. On the right side a small hole started to let water leak in. Mallory looked at the new flashing light on the dashboard to see oxygen levels were running low. "Are you shitting me?! I hate machines!" She punched the dashboard in a fit of rage. As if she flipped a magical switch the controls started responding again and the sub's power came back on. Lighting up everything to show nothing but blackness below them. Mallory and Tanya looked at each other confused but then Mallory laughed. "Ha! Well when it comes to technology sometimes violence is the answer!" Mallory started steering the sub back up and the so called indestructible plastic stopped vibrating.
"Violence and technology are not good bed fellows! That was just ah ya know, luck!" Tanya said. Gripping the dashboard as she watched Mallory maneuver the sub back out of the deep deadly ridge. They were out of danger of being crushed but they still had a problem, they were losing oxygen. Their levels were dangerously low. Both could feel the sluggish and nauseating effects of it. Mallory wanted to be sick and she was losing control of her coordination. They had to get oxygen fast but the sub would take too long to get to the surface. Tanya already knowing this and was programming the sub to find oxygen anywhere it could, it was a long shot but she had to try. Her vision was blurring as she hit the button telling the sub what to do. Mallory slumped forward in her seat, passing out and Tanya followed. Both ducks were unconscious as the sub's computer which was connected to Drake One, scanned the ocean all around them. It found an underwater cave. Which miraculously had air in it. Lots of it. It drove to it, bumping and scraping it's sides a when it first entered but finally the sub emerged out of the cold water. Once in the open air it popped open its lid, letting oxygen flow into its compartment. Mallory and Tanya gasped awake, panting and coughing. They narrowly just escaped death thanks to Tanya's quick thinking.
Slowly they climbed out of the sub and peeked out only to find a strange cave. Not even a few feet from them was a land. "Where are we?" Mallory asked, laying on top of the sub, still feeling the effects of almost dying by lack of oxygen.
Tanya wasn't doing much better. "Oh uh, we're in a cave under water. The sub must have found it and brought us to it like I programmed it to." She shakily adjusted her glasses.
"Smart thinking Tanya. You saved our lives." Mallory said weakly as she slowly stood up, really getting a look at the cave before them. It had all kinds of plants and grass growing in it. The plants were like nothing she had ever seen before, they glowed! Providing their own light sources in what would be complete darkness. They were beautiful greens and purples, even some blue speckled ones. Mallory turned to Tanya and smiled. "Have you ever seen anything like that in your life?" She stopped smiling when she saw the look on Tanya's face, the blond's eyes were large and round as she stared off. Concerned for her friend, Mallory knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tanya?" Suddenly Tanya turned over to the side of the sub and puked into the water. At least now Mallory knew what was wrong. "Oh." She rubbed the tech's back comfortingly until she was done.
"Oh! I do not want to do that again." Tanya jumped down off the opposite side of the sub into the water, far from where she was sick. The water came up to her ankles as she leaned down and washed her mouth out with the salty sea water. Mallory knowing her friend was fine now walked onto the small shore. Not even ten step and her feet were on the grass. It was amazing.
"Tanya what would make these plants glow? She watched her footsteps, noticing how there was a dark imprint around where her foot had been but around it glowed just slightly. "Cool." She watched in wonder as the imprint slowly disappeared and the grass lite up again.
"It could be a number of things! They've adapted to the environment like fish do down deep in the dark ocean. Aquatic bioluminescence! They've adapted to make their own light as a form of survival. It's actually a certain bacteria that causes the glowing." She took a piece of leaf and studied it, while Mallory looked around. "This is incredible! I know you can tamper with the DNA of a plant to make it glow but I never knew they could glow in the wild like this. Well you know beside mushrooms." She was in awe of the plants here.
"Mushrooms?"
"Oh yeah! There are 71 known species of glowing mushrooms on this planet. On Puckworld there were 221 known species of glowing mushrooms." Tanya announced.
"Well you think that's cool, then check this out." Mallory said, pointing towards this large glowing tree. Its leaves had a soft green luminescence, while the bark had blue shine to it. "I think that's one of the most beautiful plants I've ever seen!" Mallory open her com and took pictures. She stopped for a moment and turned to the tech. "Tanya? Was an emergency signal sent to the guys?"
Tanya nodded. "Of course! It's the first thing the sub will do when it starts setting off alarms."
"So why haven't they tried to contact us?" Mallory asked seeing no messages or calls from the others.
Tanya looked at her com, realizing Mallory was right. "Maybe we're too deep under the ocean for them to find us. I'll use the sub to send a location on us too Drake One. Just in case." Tanya ran back to the sub and climbed in. Mallory watched her disappear and waited a few minutes. While Tanya was busy trying to send Drake One their location, Mallory walked closer to the tree. She reached out and touched it, it's bark was smooth. Pulling her hand away she found some of the glowing bacteria came off on her hand. She looked back at the sub to see Tanya's blond hair reappeared over the top and she climbed out.
"Hey Tanya? These bacteria won't make us sick if we touch it right?" Mallory asked.
"Well I'm not quite sure what it would do but it would be best if you didn't. At least until we knew what-" Mallory showed Tanya her hand, she had an 'oops' look on her face, giving her an apologetic smile. Tanya looked annoyed. "Oh Mallory!" She walked over to her to give her an antibacterial wipe when the ground below them started to sink. "What the!" They went to run but the ground gave out and Mallory and Tanya fell through the glowing roots of the tree. While falling they ended up being covered in the bacteria, that Tanya was now observing as they fell, became brighter deeper down in the roots.
They kept falling, bumping into the roots slowed their fall as they went until suddenly they were in open air. Mallory looked down to find it was a hundred foot drop! They screamed when they realized they were in a deadly freefall. Below them was a massive cavern that could have fit a city in it. Using her grapple hook in her gun, Mallory shot up at the ceiling above them, that was again, covered in bioluminescent bacteria. The hook caught and Mallory reached her hand out and caught Tanya, stopping their fall at sixty feet from the ground. "Tanya! This line isn't long enough to reach the ground!" The longest grapple line they had was sixty feet and they had already used forty feet of it. Mallory and Tanya yelped when the hook shifted and started coming loose. "Its not gonna hold! Hurry and lower us as far as you can. We'll never be able to climb up in time before the hook comes out." Mallory did as Tanya asked and lowered them down. Now they were only forty feet from the ground. The hook shifted again. Tanya looked around them and found a water source not far from them. The edges of the pool glowed and it had a little fish swimming around in it. Lines of green light showed where the fish swam thanks to the phosphorescence in the water. "Mallory start swinging! Look there, towards the water!" Mallory spied the water not far off to the right and nodded. They both swung towards it, building up the momentum. They were getting ready to jump when the hook came out of the ceiling. Not expecting it yet both women screamed as they fell the rest of the fourth feet to the water. Tanya again observed that as they approached, the little fish weren't actually that little. They were huge.
The water stung them both from falling so high up. When they sank in the water lite up, activating the many phosphates in it. Tanya was still for a moment as the shock wore off. She felt like she had hit concert, not water. However frozen in surprise as the glowing fish started swimming towards her. The closer it got the bigger she found it really was. It wasn't a fish! It was a whale shark! Somehow it had gotten in here from the ocean! She was pulled from her thoughts when a hand grabbed her shoulder and dragged her up to the surface. She gasped for air and turned to find Mallory pulling her to shore. They reached it quickly with the curious whale shark swimming next to them. When the water was too shallow to follow them it turned back and swam down into the water, its form could be seen disappearing into the darkness but the phosphorescence kept its swimming pattern visible. Tanya watched the lights start disappearing with it after a certain point. "It must have swam into some sort of cave or tunnel. I bet that's how it got in here." She whispered to herself.
Mallory laid on the ground next to her panting. "What?" She asked.
"The whale shark."
"Oh is that what it was? I didn't take the time to really look at it. I was more concerned with getting us to shore so that it didn't eat us."
"Whale sharks are very gentle." Tanya looked at the water which was still and dark. "They don't eat, ya know anything but little fish."
"I know but who knows an animal's behavioral habits when they are trapped in these kinds of places without a food source. It might eat anything it can get its mouth on because its starving."
"While true it could have gotten us if it wanted, anyway I don't think it was trapped, there's a tunnel down there that I think leads out to the open ocean." She pointed into the darkness in the water.
"That's good then. If we can't get back up to our sub then the guys are gonna have to use those tunnels to get to us." Mallory looked up at the spot they fell from, she could see the glowing roots of the tree through the hole. "I'm not sure how were going to get back up there." She thought to herself.
"Uh Mallory." She turned to turned to Tanya, who was looking her up and down. Tanya was glowing! "Your glowing all over girl." Looking down at herself she found that she was in fact glowing, like the trees and plants in this place.
"Oh no!" Mallory attempted to rub it off but it wasn't coming off. "So much for stealth. We're Christmas trees now."
Tanya laughed. Whatever the bacteria was, it had been in the water too. Now there wasn't an inch of their skin and clothing that didn't glow. "There's an abundance of phosphates here, in the water and therefore in the soil! I'll bet that's what makes them glow!" Tanya pointed her finger up at the ceiling like a light bulb went off. "We should look around see what we can find. Maybe there's a way back up to the sub." Tanya stood up with Mallory's help.
"Why is it sticking to us like this?" Mallory looked down at herself, her arms spread about her as if she didn't want to touch herself. "Shouldn't it come off pretty easily?"
"It should but something about this stuff is different and we're ducks. Most likely our feathers absorbed it. It'll come off in time." Tanya explained.
They began to slowly search, keeping their guns out and ready to shot anything that attacked. So far they hadn't seen any animal here besides the whale shark but who knows what could be hiding it the trees. They searched for a way up back to their sub. Finding a hill that lead high up they began climbing it through the glowing forest. They were almost to the top when something jumped out at them. Mallory was hit in the chest and knocked back into Tanya. Both fell on their backs with and aimed their guns at what just attacked, only to see they had frightened an animal that kind of looked like a deer. It hopped away, with streaks of glowing teal lines and dots going down its back. Even the animals here glowed. Mallory got up and helped Tanya as well.
"Well now we know there are animals here." Mallory smirked at the blond.
Suddenly they were surrounded. Spears and arrows were aimed at them. Mallory and Tanya didn't get the chance to raise their guns in defense. The hooded figures surrounding them hide their faces and bodies. "Drop your weapons, your surrounded." A male voice spoke. They turned to him and did as instructed. A few moved aside and let the leader step into the circle. Mallory and Tanya watched curiously as he moved his hood aside. He had long blond hair that was straight and fell past his shoulders. The top was pulled back into a small ponytail, he had long pointed ears and aristocratic green eyes. His high cheek bones were pale from lack of sunlight. His pale lips were curved in a smirk as he took them in, for some reason excitement lite his eyes as if he had just discovered something amazing. Both ducks looked nervously at each other. "Take their weapons. Bring them and be gentle. We don't want to hurt them." He ordered his men. Mallory's and Tanya's hands were tied behind them, then they were forced to follow the leader.
They walked through the forest, going downhill until they were led through a tunnel, it was lined with torches to help with guidance. When they came out the other side, a shining city stood before them. The land surrounding it was massive yet still underground in this massive cave. The tallest building was in the center of the city. It was a large square that looked like a palace with many balcony's. There was a stone pyramid at the top of the building with a golden eye at the very tip of the pyramid. Mallory and Tanya raised their eyebrows at it. Seeing their faces, the leader spoke. "The palace of the gods. Through the eye they watch us always but you already know that." Tanya snapped her head back hearing him say this. Did they think she and Mallory were gods? Mallory didn't seem to catch this but Tanya didn't want to try and speak to her right now, not with all these guards around them. The city was clearly built so that all roads lead back to the palace.
They had fires lining the main street for threw the city and buildings which were carved from stone. On the smaller street glowing trees were used as street lights. It was one of the most beautiful cities Mallory had ever seen. Careful not to get caught she took pictures with her com. The pictures should be sent back to Drake One, hopefully it was going through and the guys were getting them. Mallory glanced over her shoulder at Tanya to see her fiddling with her com as well. The red head only hoped that these locals were friendly.
As they walked into the actual city, people came out to watch them pass, saying strange things, and making odd hand gestures that Mallory and Tanya didn't understand. They knew it had to do something with their religion but they didn't know what it meant for them. The city up close was even prettier, each stones in the road have designs carved into them, the buildings had gold leafing all over them, making delicate floral patterns of vines and flowers. It wasn't long before they were escorted inside this palace of the gods and brought to the emperor of this hidden world.
Looking up at him sitting in his high throne, both ducks waited to see what he wanted. He was handsome, with pale skin and platinum blond hair. His hair was long but he kept it in a ponytail high on his head, only his two bangs hung down next to his regal face, covering some of his pointy ears. A golden crown adorned his head.
The man who captured them stepped forward. "My emperor Hithfaeron. I have found them for you." He stepped back, proud of his work.
Hithfaeron looked at them curiously, standing his full high of six feet tall, he was dressed in fine red robes. Walking down the stairs to them, he circled them a few times and nodded. Mallory grew impatient with him quickly while Tanya nervously shifted closer to Mallory. Seeing this and he nodded to himself again. "Excuse me but why were we brought here?" Mallory asked, trying to be as polite as possible, maybe these people could help them back to the surface. The emperor looked into Mallory's eyes and smiled. His eyes were breath taking, they were the color of the Caribbean ocean.
"Because of destiny." He's voice was smooth, deep, and aristocratic sounding. This pretty boy had an air of self-importance to him. Mallory wasn't impressed.
"De-destiny?" Tanya asked in disbelief.
He looked at her now. "Yes. You were both meant to be here. You were meant to find me."
"And why would that be? Why are we supposed to find you?" Mallory wanted to get down to the bottom of why they were brought here.
"You are here to fulfill the prophecy." Again Mallory and Tanya looked at each other.
"What?" They both asked.
"It is said that one day two goddesses will fall from the world above and make out kingdom strong and rich again. That they will bring strength and knowledge. Under them our kingdom will grow and become all powerful. You even glow as a goddesses would." He said, making a fist and raising it in the air. Mallory and Tanya stepped back from him, thinking he was crazy.
"Well you have the wrong goddesses. So if you could help us get back to the surface that would be great." Mallory wanted to get out of here. Every minute down here was time wasted. She could be out on the beach right now getting a sun tan.
"I'm afraid that's not possible."
"W-well why?" Tanya asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"You can never leave. Your place is here now. You both shall become my queens." He acted as if this was a great gift. Tanya didn't know what to say to that but Mallory had plenty to say.
"NO WAY! Look I don't have time for this! I already have one boyfriend and that is enough!"
"You will have no need for him anymore. Your life is to be devoted to me now. The gods know this and all have excepted it."
"We're not even the same species as you." Tanya pointed out. "How can you be sure that we're your goddesses?"
"The prophecy says that the goddesses could come in many forms. You have clearly chosen the form of Rimdaer, the bird of light and knowledge, his yellow feathers are his physical trait." He said, to Tanya. Then turned to Mallory. "And you have chosen the form of Orben, the fire bird of war and power. His red feathers are his physical trait." The emperor turned away and walked up to his throne. He sat back down and watched them from above. "Servants prepare them for the ceremony." He called out watching the servants surround Mallory and Tanya. The guards surrounded the servants and both ducks were forced to follow them to what would be their new chambers. Where they would be dressed and prepared for their marriage.
…..
The two female ducks were stripped down, bathed, and dressed with jewels and makeup in a matter of minutes. Their bodies still glowed from the dip in the water. Once that was all done they were left alone in their chambers with guards standing outside their doors.
Tanya sat on a large blue plush pillow, wearing some sort of light blue wedding outfit, it had sheer shimmering pants that cropped in at her ankles, her feet were adorned with silver foot jewelry but not shoes. Her top was the same fabric as her pants, it hung down just below her bellybutton with silver bracelets and body jewelry. Her outfit was meant to represent the god she served. Apparently what they believed was there were five ruling gods and then many gods under them that served them. That's what they thought Mallory and Tanya were, goddesses that served the ruling gods. Tanya took off her bracelets and replaced them with her omitool to work on the coms and the metal wire in their guns. Mallory had been quick fingered and was able to snatch two of their guns back from the guards and they hadn't even realized it. For someone who doesn't approve of stealing, the red head was very good at it. Duke would have teased her relentlessly if he saw.
Mallory was in, what could be called a dress of sorts. Her outfit was a shimmering two piece. Her top was a dark red mid drift that clung to her chest giving her great cleavage and had gold arm bands that curled around her arms several time with gold bracelets on her wrists. Her dark red skirt, was a shimmering fabric that was sheer, though it revealed nothing, just gave teasing glimpses. It hung low on her hips and was cut on the sides, giving her plenty of room for movement, exposing a lot of leg. The back of the skirt dragged alone the floor as she walked while the front of the skirt came to the tops of her feet. On her waist was gold hip jewelry, that draped in four strands over her exposed hips. Her legs had gold jewelry that again wound up her legs and ended below her knees. Her feet were bare but had gold foot jewelry on them. Both had their makeup done in what was the traditional style for this place, which was black eyeliner over and under their eyes and a bronze metallic looking eyeshadow. On their heads were golden crowns and a diamond that dipped down onto their foreheads, showing they were to be queens.
As far as Mallory was concerned this emperor guy was a douchebag, he didn't even ask them for their names! "I can't do this Mallory! I can't marry this guy! His not even a Duck! And what about you? Wildwing's not gonna be happy. That is if they ever find us and by then it might be too late! Or maybe they won't ever find us and they'll just wonder what happened to us for the rest of their lives." Tanya was still on the pillow trying to figure out how to contact the guys from down here, having finished her work on the long grapple hook wire that was now in one gun. Tanya kept it since she had more places to hide it on herself, whereas Mallory had a lot of skin showing and not enough fabric to hide anything. Mallory's 'god' apparently was a showboat when it came to the way he dressed, therefore Mallory would dress in a similar fashion. "Even worse, he's gonna want babies! What's a duck and elven baby gonna look like!? Not very cute that's for sure!" She nodded to herself, agreeing that it would be an ugly mix. Pausing Tanya looked up at the decorative ceiling in thought. "Could we even have babies with him?"
"I'm sure I don't want to find out." Mallory answered in the background, still running around.
Tanya sighed, she tried getting her com to send out an emergency signal but it wasn't making it out of this massive cavern. She put her hand under her chin and sighed, there was no way to get a signal out. She could communicate with the sub but it turns out that even the sub wasn't able to communicate with Drake One down here. She just found that out a couple of minutes ago, causing Mallory to have a fit and start tearing the bed sheets off the beds and ripping fabric off the walls. Tanya figured that she just needed to have her fit of rage and then she would be fine.
The guys would have no idea that she and Mallory were about to be forcefully married to a crazy elven emperor. "At least he's handsome." Tanya muttered.
Mallory was running around behind her, grabbing sheets and curtains, pretty much any long fabric that she could find. She tied them together making one long rope. Then let it fall out the window and tied one end to the large bed closest to the window. The red head yanked hard on the sheets and found that they would hold them. "No way I'm letting this jerk impregnate me!" Satisfied Mallory nodded to herself.
Tanya was still messing around with their coms, trying to get a signal. "I just am not the ruling type! Why can't he see that? Oh Mallory, how are we gonna get outta here?" She finally looked over at Mallory to see her staring at her with a deadpan expression as she pointed to the sheets tied together going out the window. "Oh uh, that could work."
Within seconds they were climbing out and down the side of the large palace. When they touched the ground they made a run for it. They had to get back to the sub and get to the surface. Hopefully the guys were on their way to help if not then they would deal with it. Mallory and Tanya found the tunnel that led back to the cavern they fell into. They ran through the glowing jungle, their clothes flowing out behind them with how fast they were going. It wasn't long before they found the spot they fell through. Tanya pulled out her gun and took aim at the hole, she shot the grapple hook with the two connected wires but it came up short and fell back to them. "What the?!" Mallory whispered, cursing their luck right now. They turned around hearing the sound of men shouting and saw torches coming out of the tunnel. The guards were coming to collect them; they must have been spotted running through the city. Of course they were spotted, it's not every day you see two glowing female ducks dressed in skimpy clothing running like hell through the city streets. "Tanya we're in trouble." Mallory said.
"I can't go back there! I am not having his children!" Tanya said, reeling in the grapple wire. She opened the gun and messed with the mechanics inside, trying to make the shot more powerful and go further.
Mallory took her gun from Tanya and aimed at the coming men. "Tanya hurry."
"I know!"
"I mean it!" She started firing on the group of guards coming out of the trees of the glowing jungle. There was no way they could hid thanks to the bioluminescent bacteria that was absorbed into their feathers. Their glowing feathers mind as well have been a flashing sign with a glowing arrow saying 'over here'.
Tanya fired again and this time the grapple hook went up and right through the hole, latching onto the ceiling. Grabbing Mallory around the waist, Tanya reeled them up while Mallory shot at anyone that came too close. The guards tried to jump up to grab them before they got too far but it was no use, they were out of reach. Mallory watched the ground and trees get smaller as they went up and eventually through the hole. The glowing roots lite their way up and they jumped to stable ground. The sub was still there, completely untouched.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to see that ugly thing." Mallory laughed running up to it with Tanya close on her heels.
"It's not ugly! It's practical!" Tanya defended her submarine.
"That's a nice way of saying it's ugly without calling it ugly." Mallory thought to herself. "Can you patch up the hole?" Mallory asked, pointing to the leak that had been letting out air.
"Yeah no problem. You just get this thing running." Tanya grabbed a golden armband from Mallory's right arm and used it for her patch job. Mallory got the sub running and started checking the issues with it.
The blond tech patched the hole as best she could. "There that should hold it." She jumped up and closed the hatch on top, locking it down.
"Let's get outta here." Mallory started driving the sub backward and slowly sank it into the water. "How long will the oxygen last?" Mallory asked Tanya who was checking everything over.
"Three minutes." Tanya said, she looked at Mallory worried.
Mallory sighed. "Hold your breath." She drove the sub out of the tunnel that lead to the open ocean. The warning that the oxygen level was low started going off again. Mallory steered the sub up as fast as possible. It was almost three minutes and they were still holding their breath and taking smaller breaths in between. They both took a big breathed again then held it. The oxygen level was getting critically low.
Mallory and Tanya could see the water was significantly lighter. They just needed a couple more minutes! Then Mallory remembered something. She smacked Tanya's arm and pointed to below them, then imitated putting on a helmet. Tanya caught on instantly. The blond opened the door to the lower chamber where their suits and the oxygen tanks were. Grabbing both tanks she came back up and closed the lower doors, then started releasing oxygen into the air from the tanks. Both took a big breath, finally able to breathe again. The sub broke the surface three minutes later. Tanya opened the lid to get some fresh air into the sub.
"Oh crap! Let's never do that again." Mallory sat back in her seat and huffed.
"You don't have to convince me!" Tanya laughed, happy to see the sun again.
Mallory looked to the right and saw the island was three miles off to the right. She steered the sub in that direction, heading for shore. They were maybe half a mile off shore when the boat started falling apart. "Are you kidding me?!" Mallory yelled again as the power started sputtering out until the sub just died. Mallory looked over at Tanya who shook her head.
"She's gone. I can tell."
"This big yellow monstrosity is a she?" Tanya glared at Mallory for her comment but otherwise didn't answer. Mallory sighed. "Does this mean we're going to have to swim."
Tanya's eyes got big at that, just realizing that they were in fact going to have to swim the rest of the way to shore, unless they wanted to drift out to the ocean. They peeked their heads out of the sub, looking at the land, it wasn't that far….
…..
The guys landed the Aerowing down on the tarmac in the French Polynesia at Papeete airport and parked in a private terminal. Their mission to stop Droid had been successful and typical. Beat him in a day and of course his head escaped. Walking out they had a limo waiting for them. They were all dressed for the beach and ready for vacation.
"The girls have probably been sitting on the beach drink cocktails and having people wait on them while we were busting our tail feathers fighting droid. Man why couldn't I go with them?" Nosedive said grabbing his suit case and walking off the plane next to his brother.
Wildwing laughed and put an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Relax baby brother. We're on vacation now." He smirked thinking about the things he would like to do on this vacation, romancing Mallory being one of them. Not to mention she brought those really little bikinis. Wildwing smirked, he loved those bikini's on Mallory. She tried them on for him once. Sexy, sexy, sexy. That red head was delicious looking and he couldn't wait to have her to himself on this trip. Everyone had their own rooms except for Mallory and Wildwing, they would be together in a private bungalow out over the water. They would go out to restaurants, dance, walk along the beach at sunset, have sex on the beach... Wildwing's thoughts were interrupted but Duke speaking.
"No doubt the ladies mission went without a bump and we got stuck with the rough stuff." Duke said, following them out of the plane. Mallory and Tanya were supposed to be waiting in the limo for them.
"Perhaps not. I don't sense their presence here." Grin said, making everyone look back at him. Wildwing raised an eyebrow over his sunglasses when the driver opened the door for him and he didn't see Mallory or Tanya there to greet them.
"Huh. Their probably just relaxing on the beach." Duke said. "I mean Dragaunus's ship shouldn't have been that hard to reach right?" He crossed his arms behind his back, unconcerned.
"Let's get there first before we make any assumptions." Wildwing said as the limo driver closed the door for them and drove them to their hotel.
…..
"Just let it go!"
"NO! NEVER!"
"Its gonna drag you under!" Tanya yelled, frustrated with the feminine yet militaristic duck that refused to let go of her heavy water logged suitcase that was trying to sink to the bottom of the ocean. For a bad ass military girl Mallory had some seriously girly tendencies. Like her obsession with shopping and her clothes.
"I have Gucci in here!" Mallory struggled to stay afloat due to the heavy bag. While Tanya just floated about, being ducks they floated with ease.
"Look my suitcase is already on its way down with the sub. We're both gonna have to buy clothes while we're here." She swam close to Mallory. "Mallory." She said her name softly and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Look at me." Mallory turned to Tanya with big sad eyes. "It's okay. We'll get through this. We'll get you more Gucci but right now you have to let it go." She nodded her head at the panicked red head.
Slowly Mallory uncurled her fingers from around her suitcase as it slipped from her hold. She watched it descend down into the water following the ugly yellow sub.
"Gucci deserves better." Mallory said miserably.
"I know Mal. Gucci always deserves better." Tanya, had no idea what she was saying but it seemed to get Mallory moving. She continued to comfort her sad friend as they started swimming to shore at a quicker pace.
…..
The guys stood at the front desk, very worried. Mallory and Tanya never checked in. The man checking them in was typing away and far too happy. Wildwing looked back at Duke. "Duke see if you can find their coms with the auto tracker." Duke did as he asked and raised his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Well it says they're right off shore." Duke showed Wildwing his auto tracker on his com. Opening his he found the same thing.
"Nosedive, Grin. Finish checking us in and putting our stuff in our rooms. We'll find you. Duke and I are gonna go find Mallory and Tanya." Wildwing and Duke walked along the beautiful beach, following their coms to Mallory's and Tanya's, which was off in the water?
"Its weird Wing. Like their coms are sitting right on top of each other. As if only one person has them."
He didn't like that. There was no reason for Mallory or Tanya to take off their coms. They continued walking until they saw the coms heading right for them. Both Wildwing's and Duke's heads turned at the same time to watch the water, wondering when they were going to see Mallory and Tanya. Then after a particularly large wave, there they were, swimming to shore. At first they thought that they had just gone for a swim but their thought processes shut down when both women came out of the water. They walked out of it like they were mermaids that grew feet. There sheer clothing and jewels were sticking to their skin and feathers. They were glowing! Actually glowing! Wildwing watched Mallory walk out of the ocean in a very skimpy outfit that left little to the imagination. Duke stared at both Mallory and Tanya, seeing their clothes sticking to them like a second skin left his mouth watering. They looked like goddesses coming out of the sea, here to put unsuspecting men under a spell.
A large wave came up, knocking Tanya's feet out from under her and throwing seaweed onto Mallory's shoulders. Mallory's arms were out in disgusted as she glared at the seaweed. The spell was broken. Wildwing and Duke blinked and walked to the women.
"Mallory? Tanya? You guys okay?" Wildwing asked. Both women looked up at them surprised. His girlfriend pushed the slimy seaweed off her shoulders.
"What happened to you ladies?" Duke asked, smirking. "And what are you wearing?"
Wildwing nodded, wanting to know that as well. He'd never seen those clothes or jewels on Mallory before. He would have remembered that! She looked like a queen. "Uh guys? Why are you glowing and where's the sub?" Wildwing looked around not seeing the ugly yellow sub that Tanya had made. Seriously why yellow? It looked like a rubber duck.
There was an eruption of some kind out in the water. Duke and Wildwing watched as water randomly shot up, releasing an air bubble from something below it. Mallory and Tanya turned to watch the bubbles finish coming up then turned back to the guys. Mallory pointed back at the air bubble. "It's over there."
"IT SANK?" Wildwing was stunned. "How long had it taken us to make that thing?"
"Yep. Along with our luggage." Mallory walked passed them to the beach with Tanya following.
"Wait!" Mallory looked at Wildwing, waiting to see what he wanted. "Even the bikinis?"
"Yes the bikinis are gone." Both women started their walk up to the hotel with the men following behind them. Wildwing was pouting,
"Wait what happened?" Duke asked.
This was going to be a long story…
Fin.
(A/N: Glowing Plant Project. Check it out, it's a real thing 0.0 I actually found this trying to look up how a plant would glow and just had to tell everyone!)