Chapter 3

Alien Pet Care 101

Once it was decided that the cub was a girl, there was some debate over an acceptable name. Duke suggested "Angel" because of the wings, but Nosedive was for "Snowball." The resulting name was SnowAngel, though Dive frequently referred to the cub as "Snow" and Duke preferred "Angel."

There was also some concern over how Phil would react when he saw their new pet - which try as Wildwing might to remind the other ducks that Snow (as she will be called henceforth by the narrator) was not a pet, they all still thought of her in that way. However, Phil had yet to see the strange little alien, because she seemed to disappear whenever he walked into the room. So in this way, the ducks were spared from Phil trying to use Snow in a ridiculous publicity stunt of some kind.

Her ability to seemingly vanish entirely from a room was still disconcerting to many of the ducks, but Snow always reappeared when called for. Her favorite activity seemed to be watching TV in the rec room with the ducks, which is what the ducks were doing one particular Tuesday night after a game.

Wildwing sat on one end of the couch holding ice over his knee which had been injured during the game when one of the opposing team's players collided with him near the goal. Wildwing's knee had actually begun hurting him after a battle with the Saurians, but now it seemed to be getting worse with the additional stress put on it in hockey.

"Wing, maybe you should see a doctor," Duke suggested without looking up from his book. "Or at least let the Medicom scan your knee."

Wildwing shifted the ice pack on his knee and winced.

"I'm fine. It just needs some rest," he insisted.

Duke turned another page in his book and said nothing more about it. Nosedive cast an anxious glance at his brother. He knew that Wildwing had discussed his knee with Tanya, but afterwards, Wildwing had never wanted to say anything more about it. Nosedive couldn't help but think that this might mean the issue was more serious than his brother would admit.

Nosedive's hand reached down to stroke Snow where she had been resting in his lap, but he realized that she was no longer there. Looking up, he saw the cub walking across the floor towards the place where his brother was seated on the sofa. Nosedive tensed, and Duke looked up from his book to watch. Snow had never gone anywhere near Wildwing before, and Wildwing had never indicated that he wanted her to be near him.

Except for the noise on the TV, the room seemed to grow uncomfortably quiet as Snow jumped onto the empty seat beside Wildwing. But that wasn't close enough. Her next move was to climb onto his lap. Wildwing looked down in surprise as Snow moved dangerously close to his sore knee. Nosedive kept waiting for the moment when Wildwing would push her off, but it didn't come.

Snow curled up on Wildwing's lap and lay perfectly still except for her gentle breathing. After a few minutes, Wildwing leaned his head back on headrest of the couch and closed his eyes. Duke went back to reading his book, and Nosedive turned his attention back to the TV.

It was Snow's way to pick someone with whom she would spend the evening and the rest of the night, usually she rotated between Grin, Nosedive, Duke and Tanya. Mallory had made it abundantly clear that she did not like Snow being near her, and Snow appeared to understand this concept very well.

This was the first night, however, that Snow had chosen Wildwing. And when Wildwing walked off to bed that night, Snow followed him. When Wildwing lay down in his bunk, Snow jumped up beside him and lay down.

"What made you decide to pick me all of the sudden?" Wildwing asked with a groan as he set a fresh ice pack on his knee.

Snow did not answer but already seemed to be asleep beside him. Wildwing laid his head down and fell into a restless sleep. In his sleep, he dreamed that the ice pack on his leg had become a raging fire that was consuming his leg. There seemed to be nothing that he could do to put it out, and even though he truly felt like he was in pain, he could not seem to wake up.


"Wing," Nosedive called as he knocked on his brother's door. "Hey, bro, are you all right in there?"

It was late morning. Too late for Wildwing to still be in bed. He was usually one of the first ones awake. Nosedive opened the door to his brother's room and flipped on the light. He stared in surprise at what he saw.

Wildwing was groaning restlessly on his bunk, seemingly caught in a deep sleep. The ice pack that had been over his knee was lying discarded on the floor. And Snow was lying down over his legs with her tongue licking his knee. There was a perfect set of tiny red incisions where it looked as though she had bitten his knee, but there was very little blood as she appeared to be licking the feathers on his knee clean.

"Hey, get off!" Nosedive said, angrily charging towards her.

Snow raised her head and snarled, stopping Nosedive in his tracks. She had never done anything like that before.

"Bad cat!" Nosedive scolded as he picked up a hockey stick to swat her with.

Snow refused to move as she continued to lick Wildwing's knee. Nosedive decided to try waking his brother instead, but Wildwing would not open his eyes.

"What did you do to him?" Nosedive demanded. "Wing will see that you get kicked out for good now. And Mallory will be ready to get you stuffed and mounted on the wall. Come on, get off!"

Nosedive tried picking her up, but Snow clawed his arm, and Nosedive leapt back with his arm bleeding. When Nosedive raised the hockey stick again, Snow finally moved away from Wildwing's knee and crawled under the blanket on his bunk. Wildwing stirred and opened his eyes.

"Dive, what are you doing?" he asked when he saw his brother poised over him with the hockey stick.

"Snow was doing something to your knee, and I couldn't get her to stop," Nosedive said as he lowered the stick. "And you wouldn't wake up, bro."

Wildwing sat up and looked at his knee where the fabric in his pants had been chewed away to reveal the feathers on his leg. He reached down and touched it hesitantly.

"I'm sorry, bro," Nosedive sighed. "I don't know why Snow started acting so weird."

Wildwing didn't reply as he pushed the blanket aside and stood up, testing the weight on his knee. To Nosedive's surprise, Wildwing laughed.

"Dive, my knee… it doesn't hurt anymore," he said.

"But bro, you've been bitten," Nosedive said pointing at the spot where Wildwing's knee was starting to bleed just a little.

"Well, yeah, I guess I do feel that, but I mean the deep pain that's been troubling me for weeks. It's gone, and look, I can bend down like the way I have to in the goal, and it doesn't hurt," Wildwing said excitedly as he squatted down in his goalie position.

Wildwing looked up at his brother, but his smile faded when he saw the scratch marks on Nosedive's arm.

"What happened to you?"

"Like I was saying, I tried to get Snow to move, and she's scratched me," Nosedive explained. "But I guess she was helping you. That's so weird. I didn't know she could do that."

"Where is she?" Wildwing asked after he handed Nosedive a towel to wrap around his arm.

Nosedive looked back at the blanket which Snow had crawled under, but it lay flat over the bed now.

"She's gone, disappeared," he sighed. "I probably made her mad 'cause I interfered."

Wildwing looked around the room, but once he realized how late it was he quickly decided to get moving.

Tanya met them and the others inside the Ready Room with a book in her hand.

"I found it!" she announced excitedly. "Snow is a leopantala, a rare species of lion that lives in remote areas on various planets. And listen to this: Once a cub becomes attached to a "pride" or a group of beings who may …or may not be the same species as the leopantala, the cub will form strong ties of loyalty to aforementioned pride. Before reaching the adult stage, the leopantala is able to almost entirely disappear as a cub. This is a defensive mechanism that helps young cubs survive when they are startled or threatened, but after the age of six months, the cub is no longer able to perform this miraculous ability and begins to grow into an adult."

"Six months?" Wildwing asked. "Well, how big do they get?"

"It says that they can grow to be at least 4 1/2 feet in height, 12 to 14 feet in length from the head to the tail, and they can weigh up to 750 to 900 pounds. In other words, bigger than a Siberian tiger from this planet," Tanya said.

Nosedive gave a low whistle.

"900 pounds?" Wildwing repeated.

"Yep, but there's more," Tanya said. "This says there are rumors that a leopantala can possess special abilities which continue to develop as it reaches maturity. The only one that it mentions here is healing."

Wildwing looked down at his knee.

"What does it say about that?"

"It says: There was once a report that a leopantala healed a lost traveler's broken arm after lying beside the victim all night and cleaning out the wound. The next day the victim reported having strange dreams and being trapped in a very deep sleep, but his arm was better than it ever had been before," Tanya read. "I think this part is just myth though, Wildwing. I mean magical healing abilities?"

"Uh, Tanya, there's something that I need to tell you…"


Although Wildwing's attitude toward Snow had changed a great deal since he had woken up that morning, the cub did not reappear throughout the rest of the day.

"I don't like it, man," Nosedive sighed. "She got really mad when I interfered. What if she never comes back?"

"If what Tanya said about the strength of the bond created between a cub and its pride is true, then she'll be back," Duke insisted calmly.

Nosedive reopened his comic book and lay back down on the couch with a worried expression.

"The problem is what to do with her when she gets older," Wildwing said as he walked into the conversation.

"But bro, I thought you were totally cool with Snow now?"

"I am, Dive, but that doesn't change the fact that she's going to get really, really big. And apparently this disappearing thing won't last forever."

"Yeah, but she won't be as big as Baby," Nosedive insisted. "She'll still be able to live inside the Pond."

"That depends on exactly how much of a 'wild' animal she is," Wildwing cautioned. "An animal that big can be dangerous even if it isn't trying to hurt someone."

"Chill out, Wing. Snow would never hurt anyone," Nosedive said defensively.

Duke and Wildwing shared a less certain look.

"She already scratched you once, Dive," Wildwing reminded him, and Duke quickly added,

"Kid, Angel is a beautiful creature. And you know that I'm as fond of her as anyone. You could be right about her, but your brother's got a point too. We don't know how she's gonna behave when she's older…and bigger. It's not like we have to kick her out, but we need be cautious."

"Her name is Snow," Nosedive retorted as he rose from the couch and walked back to his room.

He'd been over this whole conversation with Baby, and he didn't feel like repeating it with Snow. Or else she might end up in the freezer too.

When he reached his room, Nosedive plopped down on his bunk with his comic book. Suddenly, he got a funny feeling as he sat there reading, and he put the comic book down. Just behind its pages was Snow, watching him with her head cocked in that curious manner.

"Hey, pretty girl! You came back to Uncle Dive," he reached out hesitantly to pet her.

To his relief, Snow closed her eyes and purred as he stroked her fur.

"Look, I'm sorry that I tried to stop you earlier. I didn't know that you were helping Wing. That was pretty cool. So thanks."

Snow opened her eyes and walked forward. She climbed up his chest and sniffed his beak.

"Hey, what are you doing, silly cat?"

Snow watched his beak move with intense concentration. It was like she was suddenly fascinated by every word that he said.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth?"

The cub's eyes stared at him, and her round ears perked up. Nosedive laughed and scooped her up in his arms.

"Whoa, is it just me or have you gotten heavier?"

Snow mewed and rubbed against his chest.

"Okay, well don't tell Wildwing. He won't like it if you start getting bigger."

Nosedive carried her into the rec room where Duke and Wildwing were still sitting.

"Look who I found," he said cheerfully.

Snow turned her head and stared at his beak again with rapt attention.

Duke put down his book and sat up as he stretched out his hands and stole the cub from Nosedive.

"There's my Angel," he said softly as he stroked her head.

Nosedive rolled his eyes, but he let it go. Duke might talk tough about what they'd have to do when Snow got bigger, but he was a sucker for her whenever she was around.

Snow played right along as she purred and rubbed her head against his beak.

"Where have you been hidin' sweetheart? Your Uncle Duke sure missed you."

Opening her eyes and pulling her head back, Snow suddenly stared up at his beak with the same intense gaze that she had used on Nosedive. Her eyes were so focused it was like she was soaking in everything he said.

"What's with you?" Duke laughed when he noticed.

"She did the same thing to me," Nosedive insisted. "I don't get it."

Snow turned her head to watch Nosedive. It seemed that she was fascinated by whoever was speaking.

Wildwing rose from his seat and walked closer. He stretched out his hand and stroked her back. Snow purred even louder.

"I guess I owe you one," Wildwing admitted.

As she had done with Duke and Nosedive, Snow opened her eyes and watched him with a curious gaze.

"It's like…she's studying us when we talk," Duke finally said after watching Snow for several minutes. "There's something almost intelligent about that look in her eyes. Was there anything else about her kind in that guide to galactic creatures that Tanya found?"

"It's encrypted or something," Wildwing said dismissively. "She's trying to recover it somehow. I don't understand it honestly."

Duke shrugged and went back to stroking Snow's fur as she lay down on his lap and purred.


"Shoo! Go away, stupid furball!" Mallory swatted at the cub as it followed her into the training room.

"Whoa! Easy there Mal," Nosedive said as he moved to defend his furry friend. "She just wants to play."

"Play?" Mallory scoffed. "I have to train. So you tell that furball to find someplace else to play or sit quietly while I train."

Nosedive turned to pick up Snow, but then he froze and watched in amazement. Snow had walked over to the side of the room and was sitting very obediently with a watchful gaze. Mallory eyed the cub suspiciously.

"Just get her out of here already, Dive."

"Aw, come on girlie-girl. Look at her. What's so bad about letting her watch?"

"Because it's…it's just weird."

Nosedive looked back over at Snow, who was still sitting bold upright with an attentive gaze. He turned around and headed for the exit.

"You know what? I'm just gonna let you handle this one on your own, girlie-girl."

Mallory glared at him as he left the room with a smirk. Then she turned back to the small animal watching her with a curious gaze.

"Don't move," she warned angrily.

Pushing the little spectator from her mind, Mallory began her training session. She started with the punching bag to work on the strength in her arms and the accuracy of her attacks. Every so often, she turned around only to see that Snow was still sitting in the same place and still watching her.

"Why am I suddenly so interesting?" Mallory asked.

She walked closer to Snow who stood up on all fours with an eager gaze.

"Oh, so you wanna train too. Is that it, furball?"

Snow moved from paw to paw with restless anticipation.

"Fine. Get out here."

Darting with a sudden rush of speed, Snow ran up onto the mat where Mallory was standing. She stopped and rose up on her hind paws – almost too eagerly because she almost lost her balance and toppled over. Mallory laughed in spite of her earlier annoyance.

"Nice try, but you have four feet for a reason. You'd better stick with them."

Snow cocked her head and watched Mallory attentively.

"All right, so what can you do? I've never trained with a furball before."

The cub ran around in a circle and stopped to look back at Mallory as if daring her to chase her.

"You wanna play tag?" Mallory sighed. "Of course."

Nevertheless, Mallory charged forward, and Snow darted away like a white blur. When Mallory finally became too tired to chase the cub anymore, she stopped to catch her breath. Snow whirled around and jumped onto Mallory's back. This unexpected move threw Mallory off balance, and she fell to the mat.

Mallory rolled over trying to catch the cub, but Snow avoided her grasp before she finally ran up onto Mallory's chest. Staring into Mallory's eyes with her own bright and intense gaze, Snow leaned over Mallory face. Then she moved forward and started to lick Mallory's face and beak.

"Okay, that's a little much," Mallory laughed. "Stop, please! You win, all right?"

Snow stopped licking her, but started to rub her head against Mallory's beak affectionately.

"Nosedive will never let me hear the end of this if he sees us playing together. I can't believe I'm actually starting to think that you're cute, furball."

The cub backed away and let her sit up, but Snow was now watching Mallory's beak intently. The door opened and Mallory jumped up quickly, brushing the fur from her top. The other ducks walked into the room for a group training session. Snow bounded over to Nosedive and rubbed against his boots.

"Was Mallory mean to you?" he asked affectionately.

Snow just purred.

"Why that cat likes you so much Nosedive, I'll never understand," Mallory said as she shook her head.

"Okay team, let's focus," Wildwing said as he called their attention to him. "Tanya's got some new equipment set up for our training sessions, and….hey!"

Snow was playing around Wildwing's boots with seemingly limitless energy. Mallory clapped her hands.

"Snow, sit!"

The cub's ears shot up immediately as she looked at Mallory and moved away from Wildwing. Snow sat down obediently and waited.

"Whoa, when did you teach her how to do that?" Duke asked.

"I didn't," Mallory insisted. "Nosedive must have taught her. She just does it whenever I ask."

"It wasn't me," Nosedive protested. "The last time I tried to teach her a trick, she just ignored me."

"If we could get back to training?" Wildwing persisted.

The other ducks grew quiet and gave him their attention.

"Okay, now Tanya's set up these mirrors so we can watch our movements during pair fighting."

Nosedive groaned, but Wildwing ignored him.

"That's right, I said pair fighting. And just for that, little brother, I'm sticking you with Grin."

Grin smiled smugly as Nosedive shot him a glare. Grin always won.

"Tanya, if you'd like to go ahead and uncover the mirrors, we'll get started. You can train with me today, and Mallory, you're with Duke."

Duke sighed, and Mallory shot him a glare.

"You'd better fight fair this time, L'Orange," she warned.

"I always fight fair," he muttered. "But someone's a sore loser here."

Tanya shot a grateful look at Wildwing. She was not always the best one-to-one fighter, and besides Grin, Wildwing was the most patient with her in training. Nosedive would just take her down and gloat about it - although she had actually beaten him once. Mallory lost her patience too quickly with Tanya, and Duke, well, his style of fighting was so foreign to her that Tanya often ended up confused and frustrated. Not to mention that he was really, really good at it.

Snow watched them take their formations quietly, and as the fighting began, she watched them with eager anticipation. Then she caught sight of their reflections in the mirrors, and she darted towards the huge mirrors.

Nosedive was just being pinned by Grin for the second time, when he suddenly noticed Snow acting strangely in front of the mirror. When Grin let him up, Nosedive broke away for mat and hurried towards her.

"What's wrong, girl?"

Snow was running back and forth, pawing at her reflection. Then she noticed Nosedive's reflection and that seemed to unsettle her even more. Snow ran along the mirror, looking from her reflection to Nosedive's, and then from Nosedive to his reflection. Her fur was standing on end and her ears lay flat on her head.

"Snow, come on baby-girl, what's the matter?"

Nosedive crouched down to pet Snow, but she shrank back and looked at her reflection again.

"Dive! We're in the middle of training," Wildwing reminded his brother.

"Yeah, just a sec. Something's really got Snow spooked."

"Aw, she just doesn't understand what a reflection is," Tanya said dismissively. "Probably thinks it's another animal."

But Nosedive wasn't so sure. Snow seemed really distressed about something, but he couldn't tell what it was. Duke must have noticed it too, because he tried to reach out and comfort the cub.

"What's the problem, Angel?"

Snow glanced at him with her ears flattened back against her head. Then without warning, she darted across the room and started pawing at the door until its motion sensors finally picked up on her presence and opened. Snow disappeared out of the room at top speed.

"All right, let's get back to training," Wildwing insisted. "Don't worry, Dive. She'll be fine."

Nosedive returned to his mat reluctantly. He had never seen Snow look so upset before, except for maybe the time that he made her angry when she was healing Wildwing.


A whole day passed since Snow disappeared, and Nosedive found himself wandering around inside the Pond, searching for her in odd places. He kept hoping that she would turn up.

He had ended up wandering the halls of one of the lower levels where there wasn't much of anything except the pipes above him.

Suddenly, a white tail dipped down into view from the pipes running above his head, and Nosedive looked up. He recognized the white fur of the small shape lying on a pipe overhead.

"Snow? What are you doin' up there? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Nosedive looked for a way to climb up after her, but there wasn't anything big enough for him to hold onto.

"Come on down, Snow. Everybody's worried. Mallory won't say so, but I know she is."

Snow continued to lay still with her head resting on her paws. Her tail hung down over the pipe in a limp and depressed manner.

Nosedive frowned and looked for something to stand on. He grabbed a box and moved it under the pipe, but when he stood on it to reach her, she moved over to the next pipe.

"Okay, now that's not fair. Come on, Snow. What's wrong, girlie-girl?"

The cub lifted her head slightly and met his gaze with a sad expression in her eyes. Her mouth opened, and Dive waited for her to hear her familiar mew – but instead, he heard…

"I am different."

Nosedive gaped at her and shook his head. He must be imagining things.

"Now I really need to lay off the triple spicy tacos," he muttered.

Snow got to her feet and walked towards him. Nosedive stared up into her eyes, and suddenly recognized an intelligent gaze.

"Why am I different?" Snow asked in a distinct voice.

"Wha…I…uh," Nosedive stammered.

Snow cocked her head, now looking rather confused.

"You can talk," Nosedive finally blurted out dumbly.

This revelation seemed to have no effect whatsoever on Snow, but she finally jumped down onto his shoulder, still waiting for an answer to her question.

"We should, um… uh, the others should hear this," Nosedive decided as he carried her down the hall.

Snow crawled down into his arms and lay there quietly. She still seemed rather depressed.

When he reached the rec room, Nosedive was relieved to see all of his teammates gathered there - each doing his or her own thing.

"Uh, everybody, I kinda have to tell you something," he said interrupting the stillness.

They all glanced up from their books or from the television, seeming only half-interested.

"Hey, you found Angel," Duke said as he got up and walked towards them.

But instead of leaning towards him as she usually did, Snow turned her head away and tucked it behind Nosedive's arm as if trying to hide.

"What's that for, sweetheart?" Duke asked with a laugh.

"Uh, Duke, now's not a good time," Nosedive said as he tried to figure out how to tell them.

"What's wrong with her?" Duke asked more seriously. "Is she sick?"

"I dunno. Maybe you should ask her."

Duke shot him a funny look.

" 'cause she can talk," Nosedive finally blurted out.

"What?" several of the ducks said at once as they suddenly gave him their full attention.

"Yeah," Nosedive continued awkwardly. "She can talk. Right, Snow?"

But Snow just kept her head hidden behind his arm.

"What kind of joke are you trying to pull?" Mallory asked. "It's not funny, Dive."

"It's not a joke!"

Nosedive pulled Snow from out behind his arm and held her up.

"Come on, Snow. Tell 'em!"

Snow hung in his hands like a limp doll, and she didn't even look at the other ducks.

"Dive, what have you been doing to her?" Duke asked angrily. "She looks ill."

"I didn't do anything," Nosedive insisted as he pulled Snow away before Duke could steal her from him. "Come on, Snow. You're really making me look bad here."

"Nope, you do that all on your own," Tanya laughed.

Nosedive's expression fell into disappointment, and Snow looked up long enough to notice this. She suddenly began to struggle, and she broke free from Nosedive. Running up onto the nearest table, Snow looked around at the other ducks.

"I can talk."

Then before any of them had time to recover from that shock, she darted off the table and under the nearest couch.

Author's Note: This is where this chapter ends, but don't worry, I'll get the next chapter uploaded soon! Please write reviews! Feedback is important to me. Thanks!