Mallory threw a hit towards Canard's head, but Canard dodged with ease.
"Keep your senses up.", he instructed as he deflected her attacks, "You never know when the next attack comes from."
Mallory was about to try a kick, but Canard had tripped her and she landed on her back.
"Well, you tried using a sneak attack on me twice, try a frontal assault four times and this counts as the sixth time you tried a side approach."
Mallory got up and dusted herself off.
"I was just ill prepared.", she told him and got into a fighting stance.
Canard could see the determination in her eyes and he too got prepared.
"Again."
Mallory and Canard were working on sharpening Mallory's combat skills and while Mallory had her bra on beside her pants, Canard was wearing only his pants. Luckily the base had a dojo where they could do this and Canard had recovered from his condition briefly, but by the way he acted, you wouldn't know it. They had continued exchanging hits and moves until Nosedive and Wildwing came in and saw what was going on. By now they had finished and were dusting themselves off.
"How's training?", Wildwing asked.
Canard wiped his brow.
"Mallory's combat skills are improving. She managed to almost get me three times this session."
Mallory looked embarrassed and annoyed at the same time. Nosedive didn't look so phased.
"Well, I'm going to get to my-"
"Hold on there bucko.", Canard told him, "You're just in time for your turn."
Nosedive's eyes widened.
"As in I'm training...with you?", he asked.
Canard smiled. And Mallory looked satisfied cause as much as she wanted to clobber Nosedive at times, seeing him fail in combat training was more rewarding and she would see him learn a little respect and humility. Wildwing escorted Nosedive to the changing area and a couple minutes later, they walked out with Nosedive wearing only his pants. A few minutes later, Nosedive was having his turn at training and clearly having difficulty. Canard had twisted his arm so that he had a lock on him.
"Don't grow overconfident or too worked up.", he instructed, "Those can work in your enemy's favor."
As much as Wildwing wanted to help, he knew that Nosedive had to learn so he stuck to Mallory's side as they continued observing. An hour later, Nosedive was clearly worn down from his training while Canard was still looking fresh and ready.
"Well, he's got his work cut out.", Canard commented.
He had just turned around when Nosedive had gotten up and tried one more attack only for Canard to turn around fast and deflect it perfectly.
"Nice try.", Canard told him, "You can't rely on a sneak attack every time."
Nosedive sighed clearly letting his emotions settle, but nodded.
"Can we do this again?"
Canard's smile got bigger.
"Tell you what, you land a hit on me, and I'll purchase you an extra large pan pizza for lunch."
Nosedive was at attention.
"Triple peperoni with stuffed crust?", he asked before getting into a fighting stance, "You got yourself a deal."
Wildwing rolled his eyes while smiling as Canard and Nosedive continued training and Nosedive seemed to be doing much better now.
/
Charyus tapped his claws on the skull of his staff(a hobby he had whenever he was thinking). Clearly his last attempt failed even though it was so close and Dragaunus was clearly not happy about it. But it didn't matter to him.
"Chroma should be getting that component I asked of him by now.", he muttered.
Chameleon had come in and couldn't help but overhear.
"Um, pardon me Charyus, but what exactly did you ask him to get?", he asked a little nervously.
Charyus looked his way with narrowed eyes as if suspecting he would turn on him if he told.
"The one thing I need to make the one enchantium crystal to turn the tide in our favor.", he answered.
Chameleon was either not very bright or didn't read the warning signs cause he wasn't buying what Charyus said.
"And what would that be?"
Charyus' staff flared with unholy magic like he was ready to hurl a deadly curse.
"It's for me to know and you to find out."
Chameleon could now tell Charyus was ready to fry him if he continued so he backed off and left. In the hall, Siege and Wraith were waiting.
"Well, what did you find out?", Siege asked.
"He's not talking.", Chameleon answered.
Wraith rolled his eyes.
"For someone who says he knows what he's doing, he's clearly not helping his case."
The moment he finished, all three of them dodged a magical blast that materialized out of nowhere and flew at them causing the wall to be charred.
"I heard that!", Charyus called out.
That shut them up. Charyus came out with his staff still flaring, but now he was smiling which wasn't a good sign. He held out a hand with three large Anti-magic enchantium which hovered in front of him.
"Um, what exactly are these for?", Chameleon asked nervously.
"For those weaponry that Dragaunus is having Siege and Pretorius design.", Charyus answered.
By this time, Dragaunus had come over in his usual mood and looking pretty interested in what was going on.
"I trust your new scheme will work this time?", he asked in an annoyed tone.
"Patience my lord.", Charyus said calmly, "I'll have what I need-"
"I've been patient for almost two months now and you still don't deliver what you promised.", Dragaunus sneered as his nostrils smoked, "You have delivered nothing but failure ever since you came here and I want the ducks down for the count by sundown, or I'll scorch your scales!"
Charyus looked annoyed, but he nodded.
"It shall be done."
/
Canard dusted his shoulders as he and Nosedive came off the mats.
"I have to admit it Dive, you got potential."
Nosedive didn't look so thrilled.
"Yeah, falling on my behind and not get anywhere."
"Not with that attitude.", Canard mused, "So you're not all that now, but with time and practice, you will."
Nosedive looked at Canard looking completely in awe.
"You mean that?"
"Of course I do.", Canard said smiling, "I was like that when I got to Dimensional Limbo. Couldn't land a single hit. But I learned to be persistent. I never gave up and look at me now."
Nosedive felt better. Canard's words really helped him realize that he could be as good as the others are. As Canard and him left the dojo, the others couldn't help but notice.
"Well it looks like someone's been working his tail feathers off.", Duke commented.
"His inner fire is burning, but is guided by a steady hand.", Grin mused.
Mallory just huffed.
"Something tells me they're getting too close for comfort."
Tanya shrugged.
"Maybe they're just rubbing off on each other."
Wildwing said nothing. It looked like nothing funny was going on between them and from the first day Canard recruited him and reluctant to let Nosedive in, it was crystal clear that those times were past. And that was when the alarm went off.
"We got a disturbance in the desert.", Tanya reported.
Wildwing's eyes narrowed.
"Then we better move. And we might get the drop on whatever is causing it."
In less than five minutes, the Aerowing was launching and in the air heading west.
/
Out in the desert, Chameleon and Wraith were scanning around with several drones.
"Are you sure it's out here?", Chameleon asked, "We're in the middle of nowhere."
Wraith's eyes narrowed.
"Charyus said that what we came to find is in this area."
He waved his staff and the sands began to swirl into a dust storm. From out of the ground, a large crystal began to show. As soon as the sun's rays hit it, a beam shot out of it's side and the sands the beam hit became glass. Wraith stabbed his staff into the ground and raised his hand forward. The ground shook as the crystal rose out of the ground. It was about the size of a suitcase and Chameleon looked a little unsure.
"Wraith are you sure this thing is what Charyus wants? It's pretty dangerous after what it displayed."
Wraith didn't look phased.
"You and Siege worry too much.", he said calmly, "This is only to get the duck's attention and they should be arriving very shortly."
As if on cue, they heard the Aerowing overhead and looked up only to be greeted by a barrage of laser attacks. Wraith and Chameleon ducked while the drones were blown to bits. With a flash of green light Chameleon and Wraith teleported back to the Raptor where Charyus was waiting for them.
"Did they come?"
"They did.", Wraith answered.
"Um, what exactly does this do?", Chameleon asked, "Give the ducks more firepower?"
Charyus didn't look so worried.
"Actually, I just need it in the right spot."
"To do what?", Chameleon asked.
Charyus' smile got bigger.
"You'll see."
They watched as the ducks got closer to the crystal.
"Why are those lizards looking for this crystal?", Nosedive asked.
Wildwing eyed the crystal closely.
"I'm not sure. We should take this back to get a thorough scan of it."
Charyus' smile didn't fade.
"And now for phase two."
He snapped his fingers and his enchanted bauble showed Chroma's face.
"Did you get it?"
Chroma's eyes narrowed.
"Servain isn't healed completely, but I extracted a good portion."
Charyus smile didn't fade still.
"Excellent. Is he following?"
Chroma's eyes looked fearful.
"Unfortunately yes."
Charyus didn't look worried. While Chameleon and Wraith both looked shocked.
"You're summoning the Guardian deity of Earth?!", Chameleon asked in shock.
Charyus shrugged.
"Let's see the ducks handle that."
/
As the ducks got to the Pond, they noticed a strange formation of clouds in the sky.
"Um, did the forecast call for freaky weather patterns today?", Nosedive asked.
Canard then stood firm.
"What's wrong?", Mallory asked.
"Cosmic disturbance.", Canard stated, And it's a big one."
The crystal they had was lighting up and flashing brightly as the skies darkened and Grin looked like he was in extreme pain.
"The earth...it moans.", he strained to say.
And that was when a colossal eruption of lava fired out of the street followed by an even bigger belch of smoke the seemed to shroud everything. Most of the buildings started falling into the enormous crater that was forming as two leathery wings large enough to wrap around a skyscraper emerged from the smoke and between them a pair of giant glowing eyes. The ducks tensed.
"Um, what is that thing?", Nosedive asked nervously.
"I am not a thing!", a voice as loud as thunder rang out, "I am Servain guardian of the core of Sauria and ruler of the earth's forces!"
At that moment, the wings flapped and a hurricane like wind blew most of the smoke away to reveal a giant reptilian being with large slabs of earth forming the shoulder blades, muscular arms and legs and a large head crowned with blazing horns. The sheer size made the ducks quiver as they noticed one of his sides was bleeding what looked like melted diamond.
"So what brings you here to this corner of the-", Duke started to say.
At that moment, the large patch of earth the ducks were standing on was levitated off the ground and went right in front of Servain's face. Being this close made the ducks all the more unnerved. Nosedive fell to his knees and was about to start bowing as Servain's expression darkened.
"You're not going to grovel are you?", he asked in a not so loud but threatening tone.
Nosedive looked into those giant molten eyes and he fainted. Servain didn't look amused.
"So why are you here?", Mallory asked trying to be brave.
Servain looked her way.
"In case you haven't noticed, I've been robbed of something that shouldn't have been taken and I want it back."
"You mean your bleeding side?", Duke asked, "Is that why you're-"
"Silence!", Servain thundered causing the earth to quake and the ducks to cover their ears.
Wildwing tried mustering his courage.
"Servain, if we find what was taken from you and return it, will you leave?"
Servain looked Wildwing in the eyes.
"I will."
Nosedive by now had come around and got close to Wildwing.
"How do we know he's not lying?", he whispered hoping Servain wouldn't hear him, but by the look on Servain's face, he did.
"When a deity makes a pact, they are bound by cosmic law to keep that pact.", Servain warned making Nosedive uneasy before turning back to Wildwing, "I will wait in the Hawaiian islands for you. Return what was taken from me and I'll leave in peace, but fail and your planet will suffer for your failure."
The ducks platform was lowered to the ground and when it landed, Servain took flight causing a gust of wind that almost blew Anaheim to the ground.
/
Chroma staggered into the seaside hoping the deity wasn't there. The glowing and leaking glowing crystal he was trying to move was apparently still having some magic leftover from when he took it. Stealing part of a deity's heart was no easy feat, but he managed and wold have gotten away with it if his crime didn't disturb the thing. When he took it, the whole of Sauria shuddered and it felt like it would break, but he knew that Servain wouldn't let that happen which gave him a head start, but only to Earth and that was when his power shorted out for a while forcing him to hide until Servain left.
"This better be worth it.", he thought to himself, "My time and space power seems more limited by being near this thing."
He managed to levitate it off the ground for a short moment when a couple pucks fired at him. He turned to see the ducks aimed at him and ready to fire. Chroma raised his hands.
"Step away from the crystal and nobody gets hurt.", Wildwing said firmly.
Chroma didn't look thrilled.
"And who is going to-"
Boom! A pair of reptilian feet as big as city buses landed on either side of him. He nervously looked up to see Servain looking down on him very annoyed.
"My heart piece if you please.", the deity said firmly.
Chroma sighed and stepped away. Servain reached down and picked up the large crystal and shoved it very painfully into his side making a flash as the crystal slipped into the open wound which healed the moment it did. Servain looked to Chroma.
"Steal from me again, and I won't be so distracted."
Chroma smiled nervously and then warped away. Servain then turned to the ducks.
"Good thing I came back to undo my entry."
Servain waved a massive claw and the damage to Anaheim undid itself and he levitated into the clouds.
"As promised, I will leave in peace. Farewell ducks of Puckworld. Sauria heals greatly now."
With that, Servain slipped into what looked like a giant portal that closed behind him leaving the ducks in total awe. Unknown to them that down below, Charyus met with Chroma.
"Sorry I lost the chunk.", Chroma telepathically said.
Charyus didn't look worried as the liquid diamond drops swirled from Chroma's body and combined into a sphere the size of a baseball over Charyus' open claw.
"You didn't fail my friend, you succeeded."
