Quasleet dusted off his glasses as he got into the house. He had been tinkering with the trash can outside and with some major modifications had formed it into a makeshift trash compacter and disposal. Now it just needed to be tested. After getting a clear view of his contraption from the kitchen window,he held up a remote and pressed a sequence.
"Trash compact and disposal test engaging.", he muttered to himself as he pressed the big button on top.
The effect was immediate. The whole thing shook, sparked and shot steam out of it's sides which would surely disturb the neighbors if they weren't used to Quasleet's antics by now(which they were). Quasleet hit another button and the trash can from the kitchen got launched to the ceiling where the contents went flying out of it as it hit the grid he had set up. The trash made it into the new machine, but it looked and acted like it was about to explode the moment it got in Quasleet got a little nervous, but the display was enough to not make him turn away.
"Come on...don't let me down.", he muttered.
After a couple minutes, the whole thing slowed and went silent. Then a ding was heard and then the new trash disposal unit opened it's side and a cloud of pure oxygen billowed out and disappeared after a brief moment.
"Well that went well.", Quasleet said pleasantly.
And then the thing blew up with a large bang that made quite a mess outside once the smoke cleared. Quasleet looked disappointed as he looked over his notes.
"Now then...what went wrong this time?", he muttered before he pressed a button on the side of the kitchen door, "Clean up on aisle three!"
At that moment, a very strange contraption that looked like an improved version of a vacuum cleaner mixed with the parts of a car and extending cleaning utensils came out of the garage and started cleaning up the whole place in record time. Quasleet turned and noticed the nook where he had first got caught by the saurians. As much as he tried to forget, the memories still haunted him like bad memories. He made himself a pot of hot tea to help himself as the memory of him waking up on a slab of metal and Zeral's personal guard looming over him with with the emperor himself standing right in front of him.
"So you're the most brilliant scientist on Puckworld eh?", he asked as his foul breath hit Quasleet's face and make him flinch.
"What is it you want?", Quasleet asked trying to be brave.
Zeral smiled and held up his little gizmo he had with him.
"I want you to tell me how you managed to manipulate matter.", Zeral answered, "And once I have that at my disposal, I'll be able to perfect my portal machine to invade anywhere I choose."
Quasleet brought himself back to reality and sipped his tea. The rest he didn't want to recall, but he did recall the torment that Zeral's men put him through when he said he wasn't talking as if it just happened that morning. He calmed down a bit, but was unaware that Lucretia was lurking by the window and using saurian magic to look in.
"I knew that he couldn't bare reliving those memories.", she chuckled to herself, "And with a little more pressure and time, the fool will crack like an egg and he'll be too distraught and scared of losing that which he admires most to rebuild that portal machine Canard and Wildwing trusted him to. Then I'll be able to get Zeral's forces here and wipe out everyone."
She lightly laughed to herself as she warped away. She was going to have a ball and nobody was going to ruin it for her.
/
Wildwing stared intently at Drake 1's screen as Canard came up to him looking both concerned and restless.
"Wing, you've been trying to locate those rebels for hours."
Wildwing yawned, but then got his eyes back on the screen. Canard rolled his eyes and turned his friend's head his way.
"I understand you want to find out what these rebels are after, but you can't do that unless you're at the peak of your potential."
Wildwing seemed to get where Canard was going and seemed to give a look of understanding.
"Even a top notch hockey player needs eight hours of sleep.", Canard said smiling.
Wildwing let him escort him to bed, but when they got to the room, Canard felt a force in the air that made him pause.
"What?", Wildwing asked.
The lights went on and off quickly for a minute and then stayed on.
"Probably a power outage.", Wildwing guessed.
Canard's expression hardened.
"Something's up, but what?"
Then the floor gave away and swallowed both drakes who now found themselves floating in space among a bunch of small lights and a fountain nearby.
"Oh great, not the Temporal Caverns.", Canard groaned.
"Hey, is that any way to give thanks?"
The two turned to see Chroma appear near them and then they were all seated around a table with Chroma seated across from them.
"Sorry about calling you at this hour boys, but I have a disturbance on my hands that needs your interference to be required."
Wildwing groaned.
"Geez not another disturbance Chroma, I'm worn out."
Chroma looked concerned.
"Time waits for no man. Or in your case duck.", he said firmly, "Now, you've encountered a band of saurian rebels right?"
Canard nodded.
"Yeah, they gave us the-"
"We know."
Wildwing and Canard noticed that Observer and Phage had joined Chroma's side and were seated also.
"Zeral's world destroyer is going to be ready to fire again.", Observer stated.
"And the rebels move with a noble cause.", Phage added.
"So where do we come in?", Wildwing asked.
"You must locate the saurian rebels' home base and assist them in their fight against Zeral.", Chroma stated.
At that moment, Canard and Wildwing's chairs started spinning like they were being flushed down a toilet.
"Dismissed.", the keepers all said in perfect unification as the two drakes vanished.
/
Harzep looked at Charyus as the oracle stood over his cauldron and the contents bubbled.
"So why are you helping us?", he asked, "Dragaunus and Zeral put a lot of trust into you to uphold their intentions."
Charyus had warped in earlier and Harzep was the first one up so he thought he'd engage in conversation with Charyus.
"As I said so before.", Charyus answered without turning around, "Zeral has lost his way and has lured many to his mad ambition. Dragaunus unfortunately as well. I may have led us to countless worlds in search of a power source that can restore our home, but Zeral only used our resources for weapons of war leading to that fateful prophecy that he was so sure to prevent."
Harzep sighed.
"The one where if Zeral did not change his ways, the empire would be halted at a planet of ice and feathers. One of the greatest prophecies listed in the archives."
"And my last.", Charyus stated as he turned around, "Drake's rebellion cost me my Prophecy enchantium, but should he had taken my Eternal Life enchantium, I wouldn't be able to start gathering the power needed to stop Zeral again."
"And Frazzak's is your real intention of an emperor?", Harzep guessed.
"No.", Charyus stated plainly, "Frazzak may hold honor to the pantheon, but Servain has decreed that he is found lacking in leadership qualities."
He paused a moment to take a breath.
"My tampering with the magic between dimensions has cost us dearly and now I must do what I can to make amends."
Harzep looked amused. It wasn't every day that the former oracle was admitting that he was wrong all those years ago, but Charyus clearly had his work cut out for him to regain the faith he had shattered. But Charyus knew something about Zeral and Harzep wanted to find out what.
"So why must you rely on us for aid?", he asked, "Even with all your power."
Charyus sighed again.
"Zeral has at his disposal an enchantium that would render even me powerless.", he answered before turning to the egg, "With the proper enchantments and with help from the ducks, Zeral will fall and his evil plague us no more."
Harzep turned to Gerazi and Darcel who were both still sleeping though Darcel's looked more troubled.
"He wrestles with his own inner demons.", Charyus stated showing he had followed Harzep's gaze, "Such a grip the Lord of Madness has. Almost nothing can undo that spell. Well I better get back to the Raptor before Dragaunus gets any ideas. Use this cauldron in case you need anything."
Charyus warped away, but Harzep didn't look assured.
"Servain help us.", he prayed lightly.
/
Chameleon threw in an eyeball from a vile before reaching for another one as the cauldron bubbled and frothed. Wraith and Siege watched from afar as they came in, but Wraith looked gloomy.
"What are you up to now?", Siege asked harshly.
Chameleon looked their way as he finished adding what looked like a severed pig snout to the mix making it change color from dark green to light gray.
"I thought I'd try my luck on this alchemy here.", he answered shifting into a salesman and back into himself, "If Charyus could do it, why not us?"
He had just added a black powder to the mix and the whole cauldron billowed a thick cloud of purple smoke that filled the whole room and smelled of rotten eggs and too much bleach. Siege felt the switch on the wall and flipped it to activate the fans which took the smoke away. When it cleared, the place was a total mess. The cauldron was emptied out, the ingredients were scattered all over the floor and there were even smears on the wall. Chameleon looked up with a nervous smile on his burned face as the other two looked his way annoyed.
"And what pray tell did you think you were going to make?", Wraith asked.
Chameleon didn't know how to answer, but then Charyus warped in and looked distraught.
"What happened in here?", he asked firmly.
Siege and Wraith pointed to Chameleon who gave the same nervous look as Charyus hovered over to him.
"Care to explain?", he asked.
Chameleon gulped.
"Well..I just thought that..."
Charyus raised an eyebrow making Chameleon even more nervous.
"Okay I wanted to try my luck with this enchantium alchemy, but unfortunately it didn't work."
Charyus looked around the room.
"I see. Well seeing that you made the mess, I think it would be fitting that you clean it up."
Chameleon sulked off, but not the way he normally would if Dragaunus or anyone else yelled at him. Siege however looked annoyed.
"So where are you going off to this early in the morning?", he asked Charyus harshly, "You're supposed to be helping us take down the ducks."
Charyus didn't look amused.
"Are you implying that I'm helping our enemies rather than ourselves?"
Wraith looked unsure.
"I'm feeling that your loyalty isn't what it seems to be.", he answered, "You've been to the rebels, but you don't wish to betray them."
Charyus looked insulted.
"I promise you Wraith, my loyalty is too what is best."
"For us or for you?", Siege asked not looking convinced.
By now Chameleon came in with a few brooms, mops and buckets(enchanted by Charyus no doubt)following him and got down to his work as the other three noticed. He started near the cauldron and noticed something. Inside the mess was a black gem barely glowing. Carefully, he reached in and took it out.
"Um guys, I think something's here."
Charyus came over and examined the gem.
"Well Chameleon, I think you made something other than a mess. A little messy in execution, but still an enchantium was made none the less."
He left with Chameleon as the cleaning supplies continued to clean, but Siege and Wraith both looked concerned.
"Dragaunus will not be pleased to hear that his ally is working against him.", Siege said firmly.
"And I had high hopes that he was as dedicated as we are.", Wraith added.
/
Duke and Nosedive came back to Drake 1 with the others soon afterwards.
"Any sign of them?", Duke asked.
"We've searched the gym, the dojo, and the arena.", Mallory reported, "They're not there."
Nosedive looked thoughtful and then Morpha came in and it's color points were gray signifying it was nervous.
"Any luck boy?", Nosedive asked.
Morpha shrugged and looked unsure.
"Where could they have gone?", Tanya asked.
As if to answer her, a portal opened up above them and Wildwing came out with Canard following. It closed as the two drakes hit the floor in front of the team and got up looking both dazed and more than a bit annoyed.
"Leave it to them to make a portal that never lets you forget why you came to them.", Canard grumbled.
As the team helped them up, Morpha looked even more curious and shifted into a question mark and back to it's dog form in front of Wildwing.
"You're asking where we went?", Wildwing guessed.
Morpha shifted into a "Winner" sign and dinged three times before shifting into it's dog form again.
"Yeah where did you and Canard go to?", Duke asked.
"The Keepers called us.", Canard answered.
"What? The three time-space entities that made the Endgame last season?", Nosedive asked(breaking the fourth wall as usual).
"Yep.", Wildwing answered, "They say that we need to find the rebels as soon as we are able and assist them against Zeral."
Mallory looked annoyed.
"Those three want us to help our enemy fight against another enemy?", she asked firmly, "I don't buy it."
"It would be wise to not upset one who controls reality.", Grin said sagely, "The Keepers must have a reason."
"And not to mention Zeral has a world destroyer that could fire at any time.", Tanya put in.
At that moment, Phil came in with Thrash and Mookie and came over.
"Hey, what's this all about?", Phil asked.
"We got enlisted.", Wildwing said firmly, "To the Keepers."
Thrash and Mookie looked impressed.
"So what's the situation this time?", Thrash asked.
"We help a band of saurian rebels.", Wildwing stated.
"But they're the enemy.", Mookie protested.
Canard didn't look assured.
"Must be a reason or else the Keepers wouldn't have us interfere."
Phil looked confused.
"Wait a minute, there's another band of saurians here in Anaheim?"
And he fainted right then and there.
/
Chroma, Observer and Phage observed the three baubles their fountain had produced for them. One showed the ducks, another showed Zeral's warship, and the third showed the Raptor.
"Zeral will be powering his weapon again in a matter of time.", Observer stated.
"And I doubt the ducks will catch on in time.", Phage added, "Looks like another wheel must turn."
Chroma looked at Phage with curiosity.
"And who would you suggest?"
The three baubles vanished and a new one came out to reveal Harzep, Gerazi and Darcel sleeping around the egg on the pedestal.
"And your point being what?", Observer asked.
Phage just lifted a hand and a time strand in the fountain snipped and flowed out to the bauble and wrapped itself around giving off an ominous glow.
"Sending someone from an alternate time can result in disastrous consequences.", Observer warned.
Phage nodded
"I know, but we can't let Zeral complete his task or else the whole universe will suffer."
Chroma looked impressed.
"So where does our new piece come into play?", he asked.
"This one will help even out the odds on the rebel's half.", Phage said calmly, "He already knows the outcome of failure should this line come to it."
By now the line around the bauble had vanished and the bauble looked like nothing happened, but the Keepers held their seats firmly.
"Best of luck.", they said in unification as the bauble vanished, "You're going to need it."
