"Okay okay.", Klegghorn said deep in thought, "Our rhyme is 'Overcoming all that is great and fair, unseen and yet all know my glare. Without wings I fly but I always pass on by'."

Klegghorn, Phil, Thrash, Mookie, Nosedive and Morpha were cruising along in Klegghorn's car and they had just received a riddle Lucretia had left them.

"So what could that mean?", Thrash asked.

Morpha looked equally confused.

"And we have exactly three minutes to get it right or else our other ducks are in hot water.", Mookie put in.

Nosedive tried to think, but found it hard. Phil however didn't look so sure.

"Can we just go home?", he asked, "Time doesn't fly there."

Klegghorn's expression brightened.

"Time. That's it! And if time is the answer, there's only one place that represents it."

"The clock tower at the college?", Nosedive guessed.

"Exactly.", Klegghorn said smiling and he hit the gas.

Morpha was on the roof of the car and it held on as the car picked up speed down the surprisingly empty streets. As the cruiser pulled into the parking lot outside the college, they all rushed over to the base of the clock tower where Morpha extended a couple tendrils to lift Klegghorn and Nosedive up to the face to retrieve a note on one of the hands which had a timer on it which faded as they came back down.

"What is it?", Thrash asked.

"Another riddle.", Klegghorn stated as he read what was on the paper, "Well played my little players, but five more tasks remain. Next up is where all is wet but nothing stains."

The paper disappeared like it was a mirage and Thrash then snapped his fingers.

"The new aquarium.", he said with a smile, "Those tanks show under the water, but we're outside the tank so nothing gets stained."

Morpha had the ducks at the cruiser at record time and once it was attached to the top again, Klegghorn hit the gas again. The sounds of ticking filled the air.

"Another time limit?", Mookie asked.

Klegghorn looked up into the clear sky to see a large timer at two minutes and forty five seconds.

"I'm thinking yes."

/

Quasleet connected a couple wires to the panel of the communications device before giving Clyde a thumbs up to signal they were ready.

"Good thing you bought spare wiring before we did this.", Clyde said as he started it up, "Those last wires looked ready to fry."

"Well luck favors those who are prepared.", Quasleet answered coming over to the panel as it lit up and the screen became static, "Calculating dimensional frequency, pinpointing communications signal of specific type and...bingo!"

The screen lit up and showed Nosedive clearly all wet and worn out.

"Oh sorry Dive.", Clyde said clearly surprised, "Did we catch you at a bad time?"

"Not really.", Nosedive answered, "Lucretia took our fellow ducks and now she has the rest of us running around solving rhymes."

Julia raised an eyebrow.

"Then why are you all wet?", she asked.

Nosedive tried not to look embarrassed.

"I went swimming inside a shark tank just to get a clue.", he answered.

Julia looked a little surprised.

"Well, at least you made it out okay."

"Thanks girly-girl.", Nosedive answered her, "Hey, you guys think you can find the others in case Lucretia has something else in mind besides this?"

"We're on it.", Clyde answered, "Leave it to us. You guys just try and stay in one piece and we'll keep an eye on things from here. By the way Dive, did Lucretia mention me in any way?"

Nosedive looked interested.

"What brings this up?"

Clyde took a breath.

"I mentioned to her that Julia had me now. Please don't think I'm trying to drive a wedge or anything, but it just slipped out."

"Hey, I know someone who doesn't mean what he says.", Nosedive answered smiling, "There's no bad water between us."

"Thanks Dive.", Julia answered, "You're the only one in the universe for me. Best of luck."

The screen went blank and Quasleet put in another sequence on the panel.

"Now to find Wildwing and the others."

/

Lucretia grinned vilely as she observed the two groups.

"Well played my foes.", she purred, "But I promise the next rhyme won't be so easy."

The bauble showing Wildwing and the trapped ducks vanished and Lucretia was sitting comfortably on a rock inside the penguin habitat as the group of ducks noticed her.

"So I hope my little water shark dip didn't dampen your flame.", she said slyly.

"Enough games lady.", Klegghorn said firmly, "Now where is our fellow ducks?"

"But I'm just getting started.", Lucretia countered, "Now here's a twist I hope you really enjoy."

The enchantium in her pendent shimmered as her eyes did and she snapped her fingers. In an instant, there was a flash of light and the ducks got their focus back, Nosedive noticed Phil, Thrash, Mookie and Klegghorn were human again and when he caught his reflection he saw that he was too.

"Oh great, not this twist again.", he groaned.

Lucretia chuckled.

"Rhyme number three is at least fair, but who can the result most likely bear? This I save for you, but what will your dog do?"

She warped away and the group noticed that Morpha looked like an ordinary tan and black German shepherd and clearly it wasn't too thrilled. At that moment, the whole place changed into a classroom with the group in chairs and Morpha at an agility course outside. Lucretia appeared carrying a stack of papers and set them on her desk in front which magically sorted themselves and divided among the four.

"The S.A.T.?", Thrash asked in disbelief.

"Considering your educational level, you must obtain a collective score of at least a thousand points.", Lucretia told them as she turned to Morpha, "As for him, he has to get a perfect score on this course without his normal abilities or else your collective score will be rendered null and void."

She paused a moment as a timer appeared on her desk.

"Both events have one minute to complete. Begin!"

The timer started counting down and number 2 pencils appeared next to the ducks' tests which they started on. Morpha took off on the course like a shot and clearly had difficulty.

"Geez, I almost failed high school.", Mookie muttered to herself as she scribbled on to the Scranton sheet the test came with.

Phil was just taking guesses and Nosedive clearly was no better. AS Morpha finished his course, the timer went off.

"Time's up.", Lucretia said coming around to collect the tests, "Put your number 2 pencils down and hand in your papers."

After she did so, she went back to her desk and Morpha flopped at Nosedive's desk clearly out of breath. On her desk, Lucretia had a Scrantron machine and she held up one test.

"Now for the results.", she said sliding it in and the machine started to beep.

/

Wildwing and Canard stayed in their sitting positions still wavering on what Lucretia told them.

"I can't use aura.", Canard griped, "Lucretia must've used some kind of anti magical barrier to keep us like this."

"And a trap of deadly settings in case we tried to leave the normal way.", Wildwing added.

At that moment, their coms went off.

"You guys okay?", Quasleet asked when they picked up.

"We're tied and with death over our heads.", Wildwing joked.

"Wing, that's not funny.", Julia answered, "Now we calculated your position and think we know how to disable the ducktonite trap that Lucretia set there."

Canard and Wildwing tensed. The material was deadly to them and would deliver a slow process, but if Quasleet could find a way to avoid this, there might be a chance.

"Okay, there's a window above Canard's head.", Quasleet reported, "Get under it."

Wildwing moved to Canard's side so both drakes were under the window.

"Okay, you need to move fast here.", Quasleet continued, "The trap will spring as soon as you meet the window's height unless you make another window on your level."

Canard's expression brightened.

"Will an explosive puck work?"

Wildwing didn't look so sure.

"We'll damage our team if we do so."

Canard's expression didn't flinch.

"Not if we move them to where the blast is least effective. This is like my old military training back in the day."

Trusting Canard, Wildwing helped him move the other ducks over which was difficult, but not impossible. Once they were a good distance away, Canard pulled an explosive puck from Wildwing's belt and pressed it.

"Fire in the hole.", he snickered as he tossed it to the far off wall.

The puck exploded after a couple seconds, but luckily they were enough away that the blast hardly did anything. Rolling across the floor, the two drakes made it to the hole only for it to close right behind them.

"Darn it.", Wildwing griped, "Now what?"

Canard looked thoughtful, but Quasleet interrupted.

"Sorry for disturbing your thoughts Canard, but may I offer a suggestion?"

"Ask away.", Canard answered.

"The enchantium barrier won't disable unless five tasks are finished within a time limit and the fourth just clicked."

Wildwing looked thoughtful.

"Please hurry Dive."

/

Back with the other group, Lucretia had finished scanning the last Scranton sheet and then picked up another paper.

"Now for the dog's score."

Morpha had regained it's movement and was really hoping to smack that smile off Lucretia's face, but it couldn't. Lucretia looked at Morpha's scoreboard and her expression became one of shock. The Scranton for Phil's test was 1735 and Morpha's score was perfect tens in each category.

"Well I'll be darned.", Thrash said as the illusion disappeared and the group returned to their duck and amoeba forms again. Lucretia on the other hand was anything but happy.

"Don't get too snide ducks.", she sneered, "You may have passed this round, but it was dumb luck and you know it!"

"Or maybe you're just a sore loser.", Mookie said smiling, "So what's number four rhyme now?"

Lucretia's expression became a snide smile.

"You think you're so smart. Then here's number four if you dare, there's a place you must prepare. But what is real and what is madness? Complete the the task and you'll be close to the rest. You got three minutes."

She vanished away and a timer in the sky started counting down. A brief moment and Klegghorn snapped his fingers.

"There's a new house of mirrors down at the wharf. Let's move!"

They were about to get into the cruiser when they found that it was totaled.

"Great.", Klegghorn said with a frown, "Now what?"

At that moment, Morpha tapped Klegghorn on the shoulder and the ducks turned to see that Morpha had shifted into a version of Klegghorn's car.

"That'll work.", Klegghorn shrugged.

Phil tried to move away.

"Um guys, I really think I hear my phone ringing and I really need to take this-"

Morpha just extended a tendril, lifted him off the ground and in less than a few seconds, Phil was seated next to Thrash and Mookie in the backseat before Morpha took off and was driving down the street( I have no idea how it did that).

/

The group fell out of the exit of the hall of mirrors totally exhausted.

"If I see one more crazy mirror, I'm going to scream.", Mookie said clearly annoyed and rubbing her shoulder.

Thrash slipped a strand of hair from his face and wiped his glasses.

"Who knew we had to rebuild the whole Anaheim Pond in a mini version and with only thirty seconds to spare after we found the pieces."

Morpha looked really worn out and dehydrated which ment one thing and Nosedive knew it.

"Sorry boy, I forgot to water you this morning."

Klegghorn had managed to get his resolve back and took a water bottle from his belt and let Morpha extend a tendril into it. He noticed the other ducks looking his way while this went on.

"What? Can't leave a man down."

Lucretia appeared hovering over them looking both annoyed and concerned.

"Again dumb luck played your favor or maybe you cheated by using your pet's ability."

Nosedive grew angry.

"Hey, you weren't specific on how to solve your rhymes DeCoy. I bet we can solve the last one without Morpha's help."

"Nosedive!", Thrash and Mookie yelled.

Nosedive quickly realized his mistake as Lucretia snapped her fingers and Morpha disappeared.

"Me and my big fat beak.", he said smacking himself on the forehead.

Lucretia smiled.

"A good point I might add. You'll find your fellow ducks when you solve this last rhyme. What is hot and cold at the same time? Thirty seconds."

She vanished instantly and the ducks started thinking.

"Hot and cold at the same time?", Nosedive asked, "What could that mean?"

"It's logic.", Phil said, "The Anaheim Mall is a common place for people to hang out so it's like a hot spot which also a great place to chill and therefore that is where our fellow ducks are."

The other four looked a little surprised.

"Wow Phil, this isn't like you."

Phil raised an eyebrow.

"Need I remind you we have about twenty five seconds to get over there?!"

Then they turned to see the mall just a few feet away.

"Well that's ironic.", Phil said calmer this time.

/

Wildwing noticed the other ducks nearby and hit the barrier as Canard did the same. Just as the timer hit zero, Nosedive touched the barrier and it dispersed.

"Nice save baby bro."

Nosedive blushed, but the celebration was short lived when Lucretia reappeared.

"So, you made it."

"Game over DeCoy.", Canard said firmly, "They won, and you lost."

Lucretia raised an eyebrow.

"Did I?"

At that moment, the other ducks rose, but looked hypnotized as Lucretia took out her sai blades.

"Here's the deal if you dare Canard: you face me and the winner takes all."

Canard's expression darkened.

"On one condition: I beat you and you go back to Limbo."

"Deal.", Lucretia said firmly.

At that moment, the whole area shifted into an arena floor and the ducks were in the seats with Morpha(who had reappeared there) as Canard and Lucretia went at it. Lucretia was clearly skilled, but Canard managed to hold his own.

"You've improved I see.", Lucretia said as Canard used aura to deflect an attack.

"Do you know what I had to go through just to get back to my team?", Canard countered as he managed to hit Lucretia in the side, "You sold my resistance out just to save your own hide by giving us away to Dragaunus."

"I did what I had to do.", Lucretia stated as she invoked a warp spell to avoid an aura shot, "It was either that or they would kill me."

Canard's expression darkened further.

"I would've chosen death with honor rather than sell out those I cared about. I trusted you Lucretia, I made you my second, and the death of our resistance is how you repay me?!"

Canard's attacks were getting more fierce and soon Lucretia was on the ground and pinned by Canard's hand with aura preventing her from using her magic.

"So this is it then?", Lucretia asked, "You going to kill me like I did to our resistance?"

The other ducks and Morpha watched in suspense and Canard raised a fist and then shot it at her pendent breaking it and opening a portal under her.

"No.", he answered before she fell into the warp, "I'm not like you DeCoy."

Canard was about to fall in after her, but Duke had come out of his trance with the others and fired a grappling line that lassoed Canard's waist and pulled him away. The arena vanished leaving the ducks at the food court of the mall as the sun was setting.

"Why didn't you kill her?", Mallory asked Canard, "You had her right there."

"I learned something from Limbo.", Canard answered her, "Someone who doesn't find forgiveness in their heart will find living more unbearable than death."

"Can we go home now?", Phil asked, "I've had a really, really long day."

The ducks laughed out loud as Morpha shifted into the Migrator outside all set to take the team back to the Pond.