Author's Note: I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I don't know what happened but my mind had been blank with this story for a while. Anyway I wanted to speed things along so things are rushed. Still I hope you all like this filler. Enjoy.

Chapter 12: Preparations Part 1

Duke and Nosedive hadn't said a word as they slumped in the seats inside of Phil's car, the hum of the engine the only source of sound besides the radio. Both mallard were glum as the overweight human were dragging the two to a photo shoot.

Phil had somewhat kept his promise to let the ducks have some peace after getting off of the trials, but afterwards he let loose. He basically filled the ducks schedule with many publicity stunts, photo shoots and the like. Having the mallard promote the winter Olympics was a gold mind for the manager and all the offers that had flooded in mailbox astounded him to the point that he started to reply to yes to all of them.

"Come one you guys it can't be that bad," Phil chuckled as he drove.

That one comment caused the two to glare at him, both of them silently debating on which one would take this one, which in the end happened to be Duke.

"Phil, it has been nearly three weeks, and we haven't had a break from all these stunts you made us go through," the thief frowned as both his arms folded.

"Yeah," Nosedive responded from the backseat. "Although I admit that those sandwich commercials actually had good tasting food, you're going overboard with this."

"Oh come on, all athletes do things like this when the Olympics are approaching, heck they love doing it," he tried to convince taking a glance at the irritated faces of the ducks.

Nosedive just leaned back, "I bet they didn't have a money hungry manager," he muttered.

"What?" Phil turned.

"Nothing," he responded.

"Still the others and us would like a break from this," Duke went next.

"Don't worry it'll happen eventually," Phil responded, getting a groan. "Besides you'll love this photo shoot, the people even said they'll let you keep the clothes you try on."

"Just peachy," Duke responded with a shudder. The clothing shoots that Phil books them on tend to not really be in their style, to be honest they hated the clothing. Who knows what would be waiting for them.

Soon the car entered the parking lot of where the photo shoot would take place, and with much frustrations the two ducks exited and followed their manager inside. Once in they were greeted by the staff who were running the event. Many people were all about chatting with one another and drinking lattes and other fancy drinks.

A middle aged male with long raven hair in a ponytail saw them and rushed over, "Finally you're here."

"Don't worry we're here now," Phil said with a smile.

"Good, I'm Max," he shook hands with the three, motioned for a few of the staff to come over. "Get these two to the changing room."

"Right away," A female red head responded, who was holding a clipboard. As the two ducks were being led away she began instructing the two of what they were going to do. "Ok Mr. Flashblade and Mr. L'Orange you'll both be wearing various street clothes and different kinds of suits.

"Sounds good, I guess," the blond nodded. "Except for the suits part."

"Sounds different though," the one eye duck nodded as the two were lead to the curtained off area.

"You're clothes are already inside, the first part of the shoot starts in five minutes," the red head responded as the two mallards went inside.

Nosedive and Duke entered and found their clothes already hanging up, both eyes rose in surprise at what there was a few set of stylish jeans, shirts and coats. Plus there were some fine looking suits that were already pressed and ready for them. Both of them were amazed at how they looked and they looked like the kind of clothes they actually might wear.

A minute later both of them stepped out of their dressing room, all clothed and loving what they were wearing. Nosedive wore some dark blue jeans, secure with a leather belt. He wore a white undershirt that clung to his lean frame, and around it he wore a brown leather jacket.

Just then Duke came out as well, but he wore one of the suits, a light grey one that fit his form real good. It looked really sharp and crisp, and it made the duck look real good. "You know, for once Phil actually got us a good gig."

"I know what you mean," Nosedive smiled as he looked himself over. "I can actually see myself owning these."

"Same here, I actually like this suit."

They both looked to see the same women coming back, smiling as she saw them dressed, "Good now lets get you two to makeup before we do the shoot."

A few more assistance came by and took them to their next destination to get the final touches. After that they spent the next hour taking various pictures in the clothing they were told to wear. And for the first in like ever both ducks actually enjoyed their time, mainly because they finally got a gig they enjoyed. Once things were over they shook hands with the person in charge and like promised they were given some of the new clothes they modeled, which they gladly accepted. Soon they were off and back to the pond.

"You know Phil, for once we actually enjoyed this one shoot," Duke happily told the manager.

"Yeah, we actually had clothing that we want to be seen in," Nosedive responded from the back seat.

The manager raised an eye as he heard that, "What, you saying that I never give good appointments?" He asked the teen.

"Well I uh…mean…" the kid stammered some.

Duke chuckled as he decided to recuse the kid from being singled out on the question. "So Phil, less than a month before the big day…how is that making you feel?"

That completely turned him from Nosedive as he smiled big time, "Oh it's going to be good, so many promotions plus the fact that you all are going to be making history as the first legal aliens, pun intended, to compete in the biggest sporting competition in the world!"

"Yeah, while you're basking in your rewards we're doing all the hard work with extra practices."

"Hey you all need to be at your top game," Phil chuckled. "I don't blame Wildwing for that."

"Says the ones who don't have extra practices," Nosedive sighed as he leaned back in his seat. Ever since Nosedive had agreed to be a part of speed skating a few times a week a trainer would come to the Pond and coach Nosedive. So that meant the teen had to do double the practices.

"You made the commitment kid, and you wanted to do it so you'll have to endure what comes from it," Duke responded.

"I know…it's just tiring," the teen reclined his head back. Nothing more had been said as they enjoyed the silence all the way back to the Pond. Once the car had been parked the two ducks and human made their way inside, mostly they could do some relaxing for a few hours before the newly evening practice Wildwing had enforced.

Once they entered the main living area of the Pond they were surprised to find the rest of the team all sitting around the round table there, apparently it looked like they were waiting for them. Plus the fact there was a large box placed on top.

"Finally you get here," Canard said as he leaned forward in his seat.

"What's going on?" Nosedive was the first to ask.

"This came for us in the mail, well special delivery," Wildwing responded as he stood and patted the box. "It has the Olympic symbol on it, so we figured it's for all of us. We decided to wait till you all got here before we opened it."

"Cool, lets open it up," the blond teen responded with a smile on his beak as he hastily moved to the table.

"Good, been anxious to see what we got," Mallory responded as she took out a box cutter and sliced the tape that held the flaps together.

By now the whole team stood around the table as they watched the team's redhead open the box. The first thing they saw were the packing peanuts but after scooping some out the contents became visible, which surprised the team.

Mallory reached in and pulled out a brand new, clean hockey jersey. Everyone were surprised at the new look of them as they inspected them more closely. There were three distinct colors that modeled after the country. The top part of the jersey, around the shoulders and arms were red, while the torso part is blue. And there were white stripes on the arms waist, and the words and numbers were that color as well.

"Wow, those are the jerseys you all are supposed to wear during the games," Phil remarked in amazement. "I can't believe they got here already."

"You knew about this?" Wildwing asked as the team looked at their manager.

The human nodded, the smile still on his face, "Yup, wanted it to be a surprise."

They all then went back to looking at the jerseys, Mallory turning the piece of clothing around as they all saw the back. They saw the number 33, along with the name N. Flashblade.

"That one's mine," Nosedive recognized his name as he reached out and took the Jersey in his hands.

Once he had his Mallory reached in and grabbed another jersey, reading the name and facing another teammate once she saw "L'Orange". "Duke this one's yours," she tossed it over as he caught it easily.

"Thanks sweetheart," the one eyed duck responded.

Reaching in she then pulled out two more with the names, "Vanderflock" and "W. Flashblade". "Tanya, Wildwing here are yours," she also tossed them to her teammates. She continued on until she handed out the rest of the jerseys, the team taking the time to admire the specific one that were made for them. Quite impressed with the designs, and the appearance of them further cementing everything for them.

"Man…this just further proves what we're going to do," Wildwing spoke out to everyone, smile on his beak. He slung the jersey on his shoulder as he looked at everyone.

"I know what you mean bro," Nosedive responded as he sat down on one of the chairs. "I mean I'm just counting the days and it's rapidly approaching.

"Not that much time," Tanya said next.

"Oh yeah, Nosedive your trainer is here," Wildwing reminded his brother, who seemed to groan at the comment.

"Great, I'll be down at the rink in a minute," he sighed, just when he got home he now had to do even more work. Training for two events is really taking up a lot of his time, but still he kept saying to himself that it was going to be worth it in the end. About a month ago this guy showed up during the end of one of their practices, at first the teen was excited but soon the work proved to sway his judgment later on.

Flashback

Skates scrapped against the ice as Wildwing called an end to their morning practice, the team glad that they could go and relax some. Taking it easy they all took their time to make their way over to the player box, but of course they were surprised to see two finely dressed humans waiting for them along with Phil.

"Hey Phil, what's going on?" Wildwing was the first at the gate, followed by his brother.

"Ah, Nosedive, here's someone I want you to meet," the manager said as he motioned to a middle age raven haired male, with glasses, and thin beard.

"Hello Mr. Flashblade, I'm Eric Jones, I'm one of the Olympic speed skating coaches," the man shook his hand.

"Hi there," the teen returned the handshake after taking off his glove. Then he looked over at the other guy, "And you are?"

"My name is Josh, I'm Mr. Jones assistant," the second shorter, brunette male responded as he shook hands as well. "As you are wondering we are in charge of preparing our skaters so they can compete at their highest ability."

"So…you two are going to coach me?" Nosedive raised an eye.

"Yes," they both nodded.

"We are very eager to see this speed we've been told about, so why not get started," Eric said.

"Wait, now?!" both of his eyes rose. Just getting off of practice the kid wanted to just chill for a while, but now he didn't really feel like it.

"Yes, Josh said, you're already warmed up and ready so we want to get a good assessment of your skills."

"But, but, but," he kept saying, really wanting to get out of this.

"Mr. Flashblade it's important you get in as much practice you need, after all you are going for the gold," Eric said.

Nosedive sighed as he realized he had no other choice. He wanted to do speed skating and even announced it on national TV, so there was no backing out of it. He just had to do this, even if it means being tired for the rest of the day.

End Flashback

Nosedive stretched his arms as he got up from his seat, slinging the jersey over his shoulder. "Best go get changed, don't want to keep Eric waiting."

"Good idea," Wildwing responded as the team watched the youngest member walk out the door. The team leader then turned towards the others. "This brings up a good reminder, guys time is slowly counting down and we're going to be gone for two weeks. If you have things you need to take care of now's the best time."

"I know what you mean," Duke nodded, "There's a few things…that need to be taken care of first."

"I worry what they are," Mallory responded, arms crossed.

"Either way I still have some last minute mo…mo…mod- Work to do with Drake-One. Have to make sure it's fully functional to contact us while we are in Utah," Tanya said next as she is the next one to leave.

"What about you Wildwing?" Canard asked, curious as to wanting to what his friend had planned.

"Still need to make practice schedules, and find ways to avoid more publicity stunts from Phil," he sighed. The work of a leader is never done, nor is it easy. Still it was all going to be worth it soon.

A/N: Hope you like. And once again sorry for the long wait, I promise I won't take as long to update. Things have just been in the air for me and I'm taking in a lot of other projects and it's hard to sort them. Still I thank thoses for waiting. Till next time.