Drace, Sworg and Hector stood idly by while Professor Cerebellum tinkered with his latest batch of robots.
"Tell me again why we're taking orders from this quack?", Sworg said sounding bored as he sharpened his bladed gauntlets on a grinding stone.
"We're not allowed to go back until we finish what the empress sent us for.", Drace answered.
Cerebellum got off and rubbed his hands together.
"Well that should do it."
"So what is it exactly?", Hector asked.
Cerebellum looked insulted.
"I'll tell you what it does. It can get our problem out of our way."
Sworg only looked more irritated as he almost broke his grinding stone with his latest sharpen.
"Bold words from someone who's failed multiple times."
Cerebellum then pulled out a remote and pressed a button. That very moment, the huge metal came to light to reveal a large metal fox with multiple metal tails each one giving off a different glow. Droid flew in and looked at the fox and only looked confused.
"You made a fox?", he asked both shocked and annoyed, "How is that supposed to-"
Hector flipped his power switch and Droid crashed to the ground.
"Does he ever shut up?", he asked.
Cerebellum then turned and the fox moved to reveal a portal which was starting to light up.
"Now, this fox will be sent to Puckworld and if I time this right my little invention will be at the moment Quasleet is building his portal."
Hector, Sworg and Drace all looked impressed.
"And will gather data we can use to improve our chances here.", Hector put in.
"Glad you feel that way.", Cerebellum said cheerfully, "That's why you three are going along as back up."
The cluckzerkers looked surprised.
"Back up?!", Sworg asked, "I''ve cleaved the hides of many foe with these blades and you are-"
Cerebellum's portal only lit up and sucked the three and his invention into it before they could do anything and he went casually over to his panel and started it up while the portal shut down.
"Now, let's have a look at the other side of the competition shall we?"
/
Danielle walked alongside Julia as the two came out of the store with a couple grocery bags.
"Okay got the shopping done.", Julia stated as the two walked to the cycle nearby.
Danielle placed the ones she had in the anti-gravity storage unit Quasleet had installed on the cycle which she was grateful for cause this gizmo would allow stuff that would make the cycle sag or would go flying into the streets more manageable. Still, her mind was elsewhere and Julia could tell right away.
"Okay Danielle, what's wrong?", she asked.
Danielle sighed and rubbed the band Canard had given her.
"I'm just a little worried about Canard I guess.", she answered not quite sure.
Julia raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, Grandpa is going to have the portal thoroughly tested and running shortly today. We'll have time when Canard and Wildwing's group finally send Dragaunus and his goons back to Limbo. But for now we focus on what's going on now and worry about what the future holds later."
Danielle tried to calm down. She knew Julia was right, but she noticed a hint of the same glow she once saw in Canard's eyes when he met her.
"Does Nosedive know?"
Julia paused as she got on the cycle and Danielle got on behind her. As they drove down the street, she got to the point.
"I often thought about it, but I'm feeling he's needed with his big brother right now."
Danielle looked a little surprised.
"You're not going to ask him?"
Julia gave her a smile.
"He'll tell me. I know he will."
They had turned a corner when an explosion nearby almost flipped them, but luckily it didn't. Danielle was still taken by surprise by it and gripped Julia's waist to avoid falling off.
"What was that?", she asked.
Julia looked in the rear view mirror and saw three large humanoid chickens coming right at them.
"We got company. Looks like some threat our fellow ducks faced on Earth now taking root here.", she answered, "Danielle, there's a plasma cannon beside you. Use it to hold off our pursuers."
Danielle looked nervous.
"Me?! I'm not good with-"
"You want to die?", Julia countered.
That got Danielle moving. She pressed a button near her seat and a cannon formed on her shoulder with a targeting system activating while Julia avoided fire the chickens fired at them. After a couple seconds, Danielle fired and the shot hit the spot in front of the chickens causing them to go flying from the resulting explosion. Julia drove a bit more and parked in front of Quasleet's house and turned to Danielle who looked more than a bit shaken.
"Did I just do that?", she asked still blown away by the experience.
Julia smiled as she noticed the grocery bags were unharmed. Clyde came out and over as the girls got the bags out of the anti-gravity unit field.
"Got jumped?", he asked.
Danielle nodded. Clyde said nothing as he helped them in, but unknown to them a metal fox had detached itself from the cycle and crept into the nearby hedge.
/
Clyde took Danielle aside as she seemed more taken aback by what they just went through while Julia helped Quasleet put the groceries away.
"Still shaken?", he asked.
Danielle nodded.
"A little. Guess I'm not used to having psychotic alien chickens chasing me around home."
Clyde chuckled and then both he and Danielle felt a vibe in the air. They turned to see Adam burst into the room from a portal looking pretty beat up, but luckily he landed on the floor and away from the furniture.
"Adam, are you alright?", Danielle asked a little worried.
Adam looked her way and smiled.
"I'm okay.", he answered as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Lucretia again?", Clyde asked.
"Yep.", Adam answered, "She tried to start a volcanic eruption below this city, but I caught up to her before she went too far."
Danielle was still a little unnerved by the way Adam looked and Adam saw this and his smile didn't fade.
"Oh don't worry about this little lady.", he said cheerfully.
With a simple shiver on his wings, his injuries cleared up like magic(which Danielle reminded herself that it probably was).
"Comes with being part saurian deity huh?", Clyde guessed.
Julia came in and saw Adam.
"So how's our part immortal doing?"
Adam looked a little taken aback.
"Hey, I have feelings too you know."
And then an explosion came out from the backyard.
"That doesn't sound good.", Adam said.
He snapped his fingers and warped the whole four of them outside.
/
Cerebellum observed as his fox robot made final adjustments to the portal as Quasleet was nearby bound by magical energy.
"I must say Lucretia, you clearly know how to play dead.", the evil genius cackled.
Lucretia didn't look so amused.
"Just make sure this portal is able to transport the Emperor's personal world destroyer and finally put this miserable ice ball out of my misery.", she growled.
Cerebellum ignored her as the portal started up and then noticed the other ducks show up and looked at his schedule.
"Adam and back up attack right on schedule.", he said as he pressed a button on his side of the transmission.
Darce, Sworg and Hector came out alongside Lucretia as Cerebellum's robot maintained the portal focus.
"Keep them occupied for just two minutes and Zeral will be all the way through.", Cerebellum reported as a massive portal began forming up in the atmosphere.
Danielle was stunned as she saw the beginning of a mssive machine breaching across reality from Dimensional Limbo, but she regained her focus and assisted the others as they engaged. Quasleet was clearly more shocked than any of them as he saw the huge ship forming.
"T-t-t-that's a...big..ship.", he stammered but regained himself, "I'm not going to let Zeral destroy this planet."
Then an idea came to him and he had to move fast. He may be bound, but his arms could still move to his side pocket where his spare energy disruptor was. Quick as a wink, he aimed it at the portal base and pressed the button. Instantly, a beam of energy hit the machine and caused it to sputter and spark fast until it blew a fuse and exploded throwing both fighting sides to opposite ends. The portal above waned and the huge machine was pulled back in as Lucretia looked at the others in anger and vengeance.
"This isn't over.", she sneered before she snapped her fingers and warped the chickens away with her.
Cerebellum's fox robot flew through the air and landed on a hard patch where it broke and the screen showing Cerebellum went static. Adam got himself up and his scarred wings restored themselves as the other ducks came to his side and Quasleet observed the damaged portal.
"Well, that only took about four months to get prepared.", he said glumly.
"Can you get it back up Grandpa?", Julia asked hopefully.
"Oh I'll be able too. Don't worry about that.", Quasleet answered smiling, "But it may take a while."
Danielle and Clyde observed the fox robot still in tact, but damaged.
"Hey Doc, how do you feel about reprogramming this thing?", Clyde asked.
Quasleet looked his way and then at the fox.
"Redesign and program and enemy unit that they used to ambush me, take my portal experiment and clearly having more possibility than the average android?", he asked before a bright smile came across his face, "When do I start?"
/
Lucretia was more than upset as Drace, Sworg and Hector made themselves at home in her cavern.
"In just a couple more seconds I would've had Zeral's personal world destroyer here and wiped all of these miserable mortals out of creation."
She turned and fired a chaotic bolt of energy at a wall of ice which shattered after a couple seconds. Drace gave her a warning look.
"Careful how much of your deity you call upon my dear. It's beginning to show."
Lucretia's dark markings across her body started to fade as she breathed a couple deep breaths.
"Facing off against your adversary twice in one day is no easy feat.", Sworg stated as if it were obvious, "Then again, we fared no better."
Hector looked thoughtful.
"Actually, we found out that the duck's second force is not as refined as the one on Earth. And with the portal out of commission, we have a time frame before it's operational again."
Lucretia's marks flared again for a brief moment, but her expression didn't let up.
"You obviously have no idea who built that thing do you?"
Hector looked her way.
"Let me guess. Puckworld's greatest scientific mind working on matter manipulation that got abducted through Dimensional Limbo and came back out not knowing that time is out of joint and still remains haunted by his experiences in saurian custody and confinement now trying really hard to keep saurians from getting their hands on him again and shocked to see Zeral's personal warship that he only heard about and doubted until recently. Am I wrong?"
Lucretia raised an eyebrow.
"Impressive, but what does that imply?"
Hector smiled.
"Riddle me this my dear: would someone traumatized like Quasleet actually try to build a portal if he knew the saurians had a taste of where it opened up."
Lucretia looked thoughtful and smiled.
"Knowing they could track the coordinates to Puckworld and generate a portal of their own. I see where you're getting at. With the proper motivation, he'd have Zeral gaining a clear point out of Limbo and we break Canard's spirit at the core."
Sworg and Drace joined Hector and Lucretia as their combined cackle echoed off the cavern's walls.
/
Back with the ducks, Qualseet busied himself with the fox robot while Julia and Danielle tended to Clyde's injuries as well as their own. Adam already healed his due to divine power, but he allowed the girls to heal as they saw fit with materials from Quasleet's med-bot supplies.
"So how do we know that robot won't assault us like it would've back there?", Clyde asked as Danielle applied antiseptic spray to his scrapped arm and he flinched, "I gotta say Danielle, you're quite the medic."
Danielle blushed.
"I learn from the best."
"Clyde, my grandfather is the best scientific mind Puckworld has ever known.", Julia stated, "If anyone can get that robot reprogrammed and rebuilt, it's him."
Danielle was finished patching up Clyde and after seeing Julia already patched, she tapped the med-bot on the side and the medical supplies went back in as it slid back into a hole in the wall that closed behind it. Adam then snapped his fingers.
"Hey, won't the other ducks love to hear about what happened here?"
Danielle's heart skipped a beat. It was a bit odd that this was going on and she didn't consider telling Canard about it.
"Well then why don't we give the team a ring and find out.", Julia stated smiling.
Adam used his magic to levitate the team into the living room where the television was and after Clyde pressed the power button, the screen filled with static for a moment, but then it became clear as Wildwing and Canard were seen with the other ducks beside them.
"Oh hi ducks.", Adam said cheerfully, "What's new?"
Canard's eyes narrowed at Adam and then his expression changed.
"I'd ask you the same thing, but that's probably for another time.", he said, "How's things back home?"
"Lucretia tried to start a volcanic eruption and is now allied with those cluckzerkers you once told us about.", Clyde reported.
Adam looked confused.
"Cluckzerkers?", he asked, "You mean those crazy warrior chickens that almost got Zeral's world destroyer here with Lucretia's help?"
The ducks on earth gasped.
"You mean Zeral's ship almost came through?", Duke asked.
Nosedive looked equally confused.
"So the saurian emperor has a ship that can destroy entire planets?!"
"Unfortunately yes.", Julia said, "We managed to get it back in before it could do so though."
Canard's eyes narrowed.
"Looks like we got a lot of trouble on our hands."
Wildwing nodded.
"You guys think you can handle Lucretia and the cluckzerkers until Quasleet gets the portal running?"
Danielle looked nervous.
"Umm, small problem. It seems that in our ensuing fight we accidentally broke it."
"So your portal is destroyed?", Mallory asked, "What now?"
At that moment, the fox robot and Quasleet came into the room and caught the other ducks attention.
"What's that?", Tanya asked referring to the fox.
Quasleet smiled shyly.
"Something those cluckzerkers and Lucretia had. I took the liberty of reprogramming this thing into a handy fighting tool and assist bot in case we need it."
Morpha appeared at the screen as the fox came up to it also. Morpha looked confused and it's color points turned gray. The fox just blinked and it's tails fanned out and it settled at Danielle's side.
"Looks like we got a new robot ally.", Thrash said smiling.
Wildwing didn't look so sure.
"Doc, are you sure this fox is harmless?"
"Wildwing, I've used the best techniques in science that college students barely grasp. I double checked the final result and tested it thoroughly. I even named it."
"What's the name?", Mookie asked.
"Foxy.", Danielle said.
Canard smiled.
"The name fits."
Wildwing smiled.
"Keep up the good work ducks. Thanks for the update."
"Anytime.", Adam said as all ducks gave each other a salute and the connection went out.
