Thrash and Mookie dusted off the shelves as they prepared for the morning shift.

"You think Dive can make the concert?", Mookie asked as she started unpacking the latest order.

Thrash gave her a knowing smile.

"You know Dive. He always finds a way."

He set the feather duster down and noticed a faint trace of stormy gray feathers starting to form. He paused for a moment and turned to the mirror only to meet his reflection shift back into a duck and Mookie had shifted too taking them both by surprise.

"How'd that happen?", Mookie asked, "I would think the magic wore off for good."

Thrash was equally confused. He activated the com Nosedive gave him and Nosedive's face came up.

"Hey dudes, what makes you-", Nosedive paused as he noticed the change, "Whoa, how'd you get your feathers back?"

"We don't know.", Thrash answered, "Maybe the magic just took a little longer to take effect."

"That seems to be the case.", Mookie agreed, "Still, it feels kind of nice to have feathers again. Did Phil change too?"

Nosedive shrugged.

"If you two changed, I'm sure he's not far behind."

A scream came off clearly belonging to Phil and Nosedive shrugged.

"So hey, mind if Canard joins us for the concert tonight? He hasn't been to one in so long."

Thrash and Mookie smiled.

"The more the merrier.", Thrash answered proudly.

"We'll pick you up after practice this afternoon.", Mookie informed.

"See you then dudes.", Nosedive said giving a wave before the com went blank.

They had just finished up when the door opened followed by the bell ringing. They turned to see Phil in his duck form again, but not taking it too well.

"Oh great, I finally have a break and I've got feathers and a bill again."

"I don't know Phil.", Thrash said trying to calm him down, "You kind of look better this way."

Phil took a couple breaths trying to pull himself together.

"Okay, so I'm a duck again. I can still work with this."

After he calmed down a little more, Mookie changed the subject.

"So what brings you down here?", she asked him.

"It's this meeting going on.",Phil answered, "Some group is saying the ducks should leave and Duke is going undercover to find out what's up."

"You mean that duck haters group that formed last week?", Thrash asked, "We got some information."

Phil got interested.

"I'm listening."

/

Canard strained as he got his scan done in the infirmary.

"I hate to tell you this.", Tanya told him, "But it seems like some kind of magical hold in on you."

Canard sighed.

"So Charyus can send me to Dimensional Limbo and I can't stop it?"

Tanya tapped the side of her head( a thing she did whenever she was thinking).

"Well, it's not like there's some kind of place where we can go to find out."

Canard then brightened.

"Wait, the Archive of Ages might have an answer."

"Archive of Ages?", Tanya asked, "What's that?"

"It's a library.",Canard answered, "It's rumored that it contains knowledge of every subject since the beginning of time. Do we still have that gem Borg gave us in case we need to contact him?"

Tanya nodded which told Canard that he was right. As they made it to the vault, they met Mallory.

"Where are you off to?", she asked.

"I think I know where I can go to break the magical hold Charyus has on me.", Canard told her, "But I need Borg's help."

Mallory's face grew dark.

"You're going to Dimensional Limbo?", she asked, "And not tell the others?"

"I need answers.", Canard told her, "Charyus is just going to hold this over me until I cave in. I need to find a way to break that hold."

Mallory's expression didn't let up.

"I'm coming too.", she said with determination.

"I don't know Mal.", Tanya said, "This place seems like a bad idea."

Canard gave her a calming look.

"Tanya, where I'm going is just a place of knowledge and if I can find a way back, I'll know what I need to do."

By now, they had reached the vault and Canard had gotten Borg's gift. As he focused his aura, Borg's image appeared.

"Huh? Why are you calling?", he asked.

"Borg, I need your help.", Canard told him, "Can you get me and a friend to somewhere in Dimensional Limbo and back?"

Borg thought for a second.

"You'll need to take the gem with you and after you got what you're looking for, call on me and I can bring you back."

Canard held the gem firmly and Mallory held his other hand. They looked at Tanya who looked hesitant, but nodded as if understanding what has to be done. After Canard and Mallory turned to Borg. The light of the gem grew bright and after an instant, Tanya was alone.

"Good luck.", she said as if they were still there.

/

Wildwing and Duke staged out near the warehouse while Grin kept watch.

"This the right address?", Duke asked.

Wildwing activated the scanning mechanism of the mask and took a look.

"There's an elevator that goes down, but we got a couple guards and not much else."

Duke shrugged.

"Piece of cake."

Wildwing looked his way and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful Duke, we don't know what's down there."

Duke nodded.

"In case things get dodgy, I'll use Vanish and bail out while I can. Can you set your coms to see what mine does?"

Wildwing nodded. Duke took a breath and after a couple flips up to the roof, he used his saber to cut open the vent and slid inside as easy as pie. Him and Grin kept a watch as Duke descended down the shaft.

"Not much to go on.", Duke called in, "Hold on, I'm hearing something."

The sound changed and Wildwing and Grin listened in.

"You've done well my faithful allies. In a matter of time, the city will be ours for the darkening."

Duke activated his coms camera and Wildwing and Grin saw several people standing around what looked like an ancient throne and someone or something was sitting in it. The dim light was a little hard to see, but Duke changed his tone.

"Seems like someone is organizing this, but who?"

As if to answer him, the shadowy figure floated off the throne and into the dim light. Ghostly tendrils laced with shadows slithered around the waistline that rose up a muscular upper body of a man to a ram's head with thick spikes laced around the horns.

"Malevolence my be Darkness Incarnate for now, but soon I, Deceit will rise from my nether lord position and dethrone her for good."

Duke froze and the vent creaked. Deceit turned to the vent and one of the tendrils around his waist lashed through it missing Duke by mere inches. Duke invoked Vanish and started going back up.

"Well, it looks like we have guests.", Deceit said smiling, "Get the troops."

/

Duke came out of the vent and started to have his spell wear off by the time he met up with Wildwing and Grin.

"We got trouble."

Wildwing nodded.

"Get back to the Migrator."

They had just made it when shadowy tendrils came from the ground and started spreading fast.

"Oh great, Malevolence's handy work again.", Wildwing groaned.

Deceit appeared in front of the Migrator with tendrils keeping him aloft.

"You dare mention the being that I seek to overthrow?", he sneered, "Then your death will be most painful."

He raised his hand, but Wildwing activated the particle projection cannon that blew him aside and Duke hit the gas sending the Migrator speeding down the street. Deceit got up as his blown apart side rejuvenated.

"Well played ducks.", he chuckled, "But as always, I'm always around."

He chuckled darkly as his form slid into the shadow of a trash can and vanished as if he was going through a portal. Shadow warping was simple, but he was intercepted by none other than Malevolence who didn't look at all pleased to see him.

"Having fun deceiving people Deceit?", she asked harshly.

Deceit put on a straight face.

"Just setting up like you told me to your evilness."

Malevolence's expression darkened.

"Then what's this I hear about you dethroning me?"

Deceit froze clearly displaying he didn't count on this occurring.

"Me unseat the greatest ruler that Nether Void has-"

"Silence!", Malevolence snapped, "I sent you here to ensure that these mortals revolt against the ducks, but if I find out you're getting too big for your tendrils, you will know the meaning of agony. Do I make myself clear?!"

Deceit quivered like a leaf in the wind.

"Yes."

Malevolence showed a bauble that showed a portal opening somewhere.

"I detected a portal opening not far from my domain. I'm investigating the matter now, but I expect this planet shrouded by eternal night by sunset or I'll be adding a new spark to my dark flames."

/

Nosedive checked his watch and looked around.

"Man I haven't had this much anxiety since my first school play.", he muttered.

The show was about to start, but luckily for him, Thrash and Mookie showed up with Morpha right beside them.

"Hey Dive, you ready?", Thrash asked.

Nosedive looked around.

"Where's Canard? He said he'd come."

"Maybe he got caught up with something.", Mookie suggested, "I'm sure he didn't mean to bail on us."

"Luckily this is an open house so no admission needed.", Nosedive said smiling, "Well, he'll catch up. Let's rock this joint."

Morpha shifted into a rock concert bracelet and hung itself around Nosedive's wrist to avoid suspicion as the trio went in. The whole place was littered with open tents where bands of all kinds were playing. The group split to cover more ground so Nosedive went off when one tent caught his eye.

"That's odd, where are all the band members here?", he wondered.

He noticed the mic and went over to it.

"Excuse me sir, are you interested in a little Karaoke?"

Nosedive turned to see an old man standing nearby wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sunglasses.

"You mean this is where people can sing and see how they do?", Nosedive asked.

"Mostly.", the man answered, "I hear you sang at a Renaissance festival not long ago."

Nosedive remembered that.

"Yeah, I suppose I was pretty good. Okay, I'll give this a whirl."

He stood up to the mic and after taking a breath, started vocalizing. As Nosedive continued to, all other music slowed to a stop and pedestrians all around started gathering around Nosedive. Thrash and Mookie heard the sound and froze.

"Hold on, didn't Wildwing tell us that Nosedive can influence others through singing?", Mookie asked.

Thrash looked alarmed.

"Cover your ears!"

They did, but they could still hear the comments others were giving.

"Whoa, that duck can sing."

"It's like he has the voice of an angel."

"We need him for our band. We'd rock the house every gig!"

Thrash and Mookie noticed that the pedestrians were looking like they were in some trance, and Nosedive's throat was glowing. Morpha shifted back into it's dog form and quickly plugged it's own ears( if one would call it that) with a couple tendrils cause it heard Thrash obviously. Thrash and Mookie saw a man near Nosedive shift into the Chameleon who held out what looked like a clam.

"Keep singing!", Chameleon ordered as the clam in his hands opened.

A glowing sphere came out of Nosedive's open beak and continued vocalizing, but Nosedive gave a look of fright as it floated over to the Chameleon's open clam that closed around it as it settled in the center.

"Well, got to blast.", Chameleon said gleefully as he activated his teleporter and vanished in a flash of green light.

By now the pedestrians were coming to their senses as Thrash, Mookie and Morpha came up to Nosedive.

"Dive you okay?"

Nosedive looked their way and moved his beak, but no sound came out.

"Dive, you okay?", Mookie asked, "What happened to your voice?"

Thrash snapped his fingers.

"Mook, I think that lizard stole Dive's voice."

/

Chameleon came into the main room with the clam glowing.

"One duck's magically enhanced voice all sealed and ready to deliver.", he said imitating a mailman as he handed it over.

Charyus looked at it with malicious lust in his eyes.

"Perfect. With Deceit keeping part of the ducks busy, my plan can't fail."

"And what are you implying?"

Chameleon and Charyus turned to see Dragaunus come in looking confused and annoyed.

"Canard has gone to Dimensional Limbo in search of a way to break the hold you have on him and you're not even phased by this?"

Charyus' smile got bigger.

"So the duck took the bait."

"Bait?", Dragaunus asked, "Didn't he have a time limit?"

"I made that up.", Charyus answered, "My real trap was for him to actually go to Dimensional Limbo. Once there, my spell makes it so he can't leave until I will it."

He conjured his enchanted bauble to reveal Canard trying to go through a portal only to hit some kind of invisible wall. The bauble then showed Mallory reappearing near the Pond looking both desperate and concerned.

"So one got away, but no matter.", Charyus said calmly, "I got what I need."

Dragaunus looked more concerned.

"And what if she has something that can break Canard's condition?"

Charyus shook his head still smiling.

"It won't. My spell is specific on me being the only creature who can undo the spell. So if Wildwing wants to save his friend this time, he needs to come to us."

Dragaunus smiled.

"Yes, and I'll force Wildwing to hand over the mask in exchange for Canard's freedom."

"Not a bad idea my lord.", Charyus said firmly, "But that won't be necessary."

Dragaunus was about to blow, but then he thought for a bit.

"I see you're putting it together.", Charyus said.

Chameleon didn't want to be left out.

"So we use this voice to warp people's minds into a zombie like state and Wildwing will hand over the mask against his will?"

Dragaunus would have him fried for suggesting that, but he didn't.

"How long til you're ready Charyus?"

Charyus looked him in the eye.

"How fast can Siege and your drones build a transmitter with Pretorius helping?"

Dragaunus activated a communicator on his wrist.

"Siege, get Pretorius and meet me in the control room. You have a mission of utmost importance."