Wildwing felt the water running down his back and was clearly enjoying it. The spell the water had wore off and he was himself again. Duke, Mallory and Canard were also there and getting showered also though they were each in separate stalls. After they had each turned off the water and arranged bath towels to keep themselves from being exposed(if you know what I mean), they started getting dressed.
"I can't believe Dive actually took care of us when the spell was on us.", Duke said as he adjusted his shirt.
Canard was putting on his jeans and looked concerned.
"I'm just happy the spell didn't take effect on me til we got back to base otherwise we'd have crashed and died on the way back."
Mallory had finished dressing and was clearly looking pretty peeved.
"Now Charyus knows of a magic spring where the water makes people age backwards. I say we find Charyus and end this fight once and for all."
Wildwing held his hand up.
"I know you're upset Mal, but we can't go charging in like that."
Canard nodded as he pulled his shirt on.
"Wing's right. We'll get an opportunity in time. But for now, we have to get our act together."
Mallory tried to calm down. She knew what her teammates said was true, but she was still feeling pretty mad that Charyus wasn't close to being defeated. They filed out to find the other ducks passed out on the couch all in deep sleep.
"Guess babysitting really wasn't there thing.", Duke said smiling.
Thrash and Mookie were fixing breakfast, but Canard noticed they seemed a little down. Their aura reading was dark and Canard could feel the tension going on in their minds, then again this was normal for an aura reader like himself to feel the aura of others so well. He took Thrash and Mookie aside so they could talk while the others picked up where they had left off.
"Okay, what's going on you two?", Canard asked.
Thrash sighed.
"Mook and I were about to change back and before we did, this weird being showed up in our shop and offered us to make the change permanent."
Canard raised an eyebrow.
"So the spell you two and Phil were under was temporary?"
Mookie nodded.
"We didn't want to change back so we promised we wouldn't tell any of you about it, but we feel guilty about it"
At that moment, a light went around the two, but then faded. Thrash and Mookie were stunned.
"That's odd. Why didn't we change back?", Thrash asked.
Canard turned to Nosedive still asleep. He had a good theory.
"Let's ask Dive when he wakes up.", Canard answered, "I bet he knows."
/
A while later, everyone had finished breakfast with the late sleepers finishing last. Nosedive noticed that Thrash and Mookie seemed a little unsure.
"What's up?", he asked.
Thrash and Mookie looked at each other and nodded before turning back to Nosedive.
"Dive, we made a pact with a dimensional entity to stay ducks, but we couldn't tell anyone about the deal.", Thrash explained.
"We told Canard a little while ago.", Mookie put in, "We were supposed to change back, but for some reason we didn't and we don't know why."
Nosedive smiled.
"Hey, this is how I always saw you dudes and Phil."
Thrash and Mookie seemed relieved that they didn't have to feel bad about Nosedive's feelings being hurt by their decision.
"What do we tell Phil?", Thrash asked.
"Tell me what?"
They turned to see Phil stride in with his planner.
"I've already got us booked for that charity game tonight and everything seems back to normal."
Nosedive, Thrash and Mookie were surprised that Phil was accepting his new form and as they made their way over to the others, Wildwing and Canard were in conversation that was wrapping up.
"So it looks like we got three more ducks in the field.", Canard answered.
"I think Mook and I are better off leaving the whole 'in the field' thing to you.", Thrash told him, "Besides, we were pretty helpful before we got our new forms."
"And I'm better off managing than fighting if you don't mind.", Phil added.
Wildwing smiled.
"Okay, but since you two are ducks, we need a last name for you.", he said mentioning to Thrash and Mookie, "By the way, what is your last name?"
"I don't know if they ever got last names.", Nosedive answered(breaking the fourth wall again), "They've been around since our last season and they still don't have a last name."
Thrash and Mookie looked thoughtful.
"How bout Stormfeather?", Mookie suggested, "Thrash has that stormy gray tone in his feathers and I've got the gray in my eyes."
Wildwing nodded in approval as the others did too.
"Sounds right to me.", Nosedive said, "And it's got a good ring to it."
/
Professor Cerebellum tapped several keys on his dashboard as the assembly line cranked out more octopus like robots. Dr. Droid's head was planted next to the dashboard and looking pretty mad.
"And how is this batch different from the last one?", he asked harshly.
Cerebellum ignored him and then put a pair of goggles over his eyes.
"Hey, I'm talking to you.", Dr. Droid said harsher this time.
"Don't rush genius.", Cerebellum answered without turning to him, "If I learned one thing from being the greatest intergalactic genius, it is that everything has a solution."
Some of the finished drones levitated using anti-gravity technology and the ends of the tentacles shifted into blasters, saw blades, flamethrower nozzles, and then back again. Cerebellum looked impressed, but Droid did not.
"We'll never be able to beat those feathered bacteria with this.", Droid said firmly.
"Not by itself my associate.", Cerebellum said with a sly grin.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a crystal that was like the Change spell Charyus had used before along with a rolled up piece of parchment.
"Didn't you make a shrink ray once?", he asked Droid.
"Why are you asking me this question?", Droid responded.
"Just answer it.", Cerebellum said calmly.
Droid sighed.
"I did once, but those bacteria found a way to reverse it."
Cerebellum didn't look phased. He then pulled out another crystal that looked dull and little lights were dancing inside it.
"Well, we may have under estimated our feathered foes, a powerful ally of ours has provided a way to neutralize them for a short time though it will be beneficial on our part."
He pressed a button and a slot in the dashboard opened and he inserted both crystals into it. A moment later, the eyes of the drones were being modified and Cerebellum looked thrilled.
"I can hardly wait to test these in the field, but then again, time waits for nobody."
He pressed another button on the dashboard and the microphone broadcasted his voice all over the room.
"Go forth my mechanical minions!"
/
Charyus paced deep in thought.
"Okay, so most of my forces have met disaster, but original goal still in motion."
He observed Anaheim through his enchanted bauble and observed what was going on.
"Well, I just hope this batch of mechanical mayhem can deliver some results unlike the last several tries. What to do about my multiple duck formed conundrum?"
As if to answer him, he felt a presence and he turned to see Chroma materialize nearby.
"Um, did I arrive too late to volunteer?", Charyus heard inside his head clearly Chroma talking, "I've always been up for a second try. Please?"
Charyus sighed.
"Eh, what do I have to lose?", he muttered to himself before turning to Chroma, "Okay, there's this entity on a planet I need roughly mind you, a chunk of his core."
Chroma smiled(if he could seeing as he didn't have a mouth).
"Anything you say boss. By the way, how big of a piece did you have in mind?"
Charyus smiled back as he handed over a portal crystal.
"Hey, employee's choice. Surprise me."
Chroma took the crystal and faded away and Charyus turned back to his bauble to see the ducks were in combat with Cerebellum's robots clearly with their magic disabled, but still the ducks proved quite formidable.
"Nice move in distracting gentlemen.", Charyus purred as he observed further, "As most competitive conquerors learn: the best way to take down an enemy is to establish false results as in turn when your move is finally played, they get taken by surprise and the advantage swings in your favor as they become distraught and confused as to how they fell so far when they should be be near the top."
The bauble then showed Cerebellum and Droid retreating clearly demonstrating that the ducks had prevailed again, but Charyus wasn't phased.
"When Chroma gets back with that component, those waterfowl won't know what hit them.", he chuckled darkly to himself as his bauble now showed the Migrator driving towards the Pond, "Enjoy your hallow victory my old enemy, cause soon, it will all be lost to you and I will prevail where Dragaunus couldn't."
/
Thrash wiped the last greasy spot off Wildwing's armor with his cloth rag before wringing it out again.
"Those drones really messed up your fashion.", Thrash said as he emptied the contents of his bucket(where he had wrung his wipe cloth) into a barrel where Tanya instructed him to, "What kind of robots did that robotic nut case use this time?"
"The usual Octo-drones.", Nosedive answered as Mookie had finished cleaning him from his greasy situation, "Man this is going to stain my clothes for a week."
"Hey, it's all part of the job.", Duke stated as he had removed his dirty shirt, but left his pants on as they were clean and started collecting the rest of the laundry, "Hey mind giving a fellow duck a hand?"
Mallory and Grin helped out and when that was over, everyone changed into cleaner clothes, but as they got near Wildwing and Nosedive's room, a pungent odor caught their nostrils causing them to flinch.
"Ugh!", Canard cringed, "What is that smell?!"
Wildwing opened the door and everyone looked to see a very large pile of dirty laundry around a hamper that certainly looked like it had seen better days. Wildwing turned to Nosedive still holding his nostrils, but looking concerned.
"When was the last time you did any laundry baby bro?"
Nosedive shrugged smiling sheepishly. Mallory frowned.
"I better hope Tanya has some bio hazardous material handling equipment on hand otherwise I'm really going to let this kid get it."
Tanya came over with several gas masks and gloves along with sanitization bags and air freshener. Thrash and Mookie had gathered most of the laundry and were heading to the washer when Nosedive caught up to them though staggering under a couple very full looking trash bags. Thrash and Mookie smiled and rolled their eyes up at the ceiling before looking towards Nosedive.
"Need a hand?", Mookie asked.
And Nosedive collapsed under his laundry.
"We'll take that as a yes.", Thrash said as he clutched one of the bags while Mookie helped keep his own load steady.
/
Charyus waved his hand and his bauble vanished away.
"Okay, so the metal drones flamed out. Still all great minds suffer drawbacks to make their mark in history."
"Tell me something I don't know."
Charyus turned to see Dragaunus looking as irritated as usual with his nostrils smoking clearly showing he was angry.
"I'm starting to lose patience with you Charyus. You have had days to find and make new enchantium magic, and you're delivering failure."
Charyus held his nerve. He had gotten used to Dragaunus' behavior and was not phased at the least.
"I provide what you ask my lord. Am I the one who's not measuring up to his potential?"
That only seemed to make Dragaunus even angrier.
"At least I still produce the gateway generator and I say we finally pull in a real problem for those miserable mallards."
Charyus didn't share the enthusiasm.
"I told you that you're setting yourself up for failure and you chose to ignore me. I sent for an errand and if I know my employee, he'll be coming in very soon."
Dragaunus calmed down a little, but not very. He had just turned around and started to walk away.
"If only I could find someone who can-"
He paused and then turned to Charyus smiling.
"Charyus, how good are you at brain control?"
Charyus raised an eyebrow.
"And you're asking me this why?"
Dragaunus then reached over and pulled out his DNA-Accelerator.
"I once had a powerful human in my arsenal, but I couldn't risk letting him keep his abilities so I removed them in case he turned."
Charyus then frowned.
"Keep talking."
Dragaunus took a breath.
"He even managed to create a material that could slowly drain those duck's energy away."
Charyus' expression brightened slightly.
"Hmm, I think I can work with this. How soon can you have this human here?"
Dragaunus' smile broadened.
"Chameleon!",he called out.
/
Wildwing tensed as he observed the team playing. The charity game had gotten underway and they had their work cut out. Phil was in his usual position while Thrash and Mookie were helping spread cheer in the stands.
"And Canard steals the puck and makes his way to the goal. With only thirty seconds left on the clock, can the ducks prevail?"
Canard was about to shoot when another player managed to steal from him, but Duke wasn't going to let that get away. Just as he stole it back, he passed it to Nosedive.
"Heads up Mal!", he called out.
He passed to Mallory who had an opening and the stands began the countdown.
"Ten...nine...eight."
Mallory shot and scored bringing the duck's score ahead by one. It looked as if it was a clear win, but then Wildwing and Canard noticed the puck was shot from one of the other players and it raced across the ice like lightning.
"I got to block this.", Wildwing thought to himself.
"Try if you'd like."
Wildwing paused. Who said that? He didn't have time to question though cause the puck had now reached him and paused as if waiting.
"Three...two...one."
The puck fired itself, but Wildwing barely managed to deflect it.
"Nice shot."
The buzzer rang signaling the game was over. After hitting the showers, Wildwing couldn't get what just happened out of his mind. Canard must have sensed it being the aura reader that he was.
"Wing, I know what happened out there."
"I'm just happy we didn't tie that game.", Nosedive added.
Wildwing was still looking concerned.
"That puck was enchanted, and I heard someone, but I don't know who."
"Don't worry about it.", Duke assured him, "We won that game and you deflected that puck before it scored. We'll find out what cause it."
Wildwing tried to calm down. Duke was right and he was making trouble where he shouldn't.
"Nice pass out there ducks.", he said cheering himself up.
At that moment, Morpha came into the room from the elevator looking pretty eager. Before any of the ducks reacted, Morpha had tackled Nosedive to the ground and was covering his face with wet slobbery kisses as Nosedive and the ducks laughed out loud.
"A little help please?", Nosedive asked(breaking the fourth wall again), "We can't end an episode with me getting pinned by our dog."
Wildwing had calmed down a bit enough to do so and Grin helped.
"So an experience with magic happened.", he thought to himself, "Duke and Canard are both right. We need to take this calmly."
After everyone changed, they were all in the elevator and heading down.
