"Again. Play me again."
Nosedive, Thrash and Mookie watched Morpha play the latest arcade game with another regular and clearly Morpha was prevailing.
"I still can't believe your dog can outplay just about everyone in this joint.", Thrash said in awe.
Nosedive couldn't help but feel a little bit proud.
"Hey, he's able to outdo anyone besides me."
By then the game had finished and Morpha was clearly the winner cause it's opponent wasn't too thrilled.
"I got outplayed by a dog?", he asked in total disbelief.
Nosedive cracked his knuckles and took the other side.
"Okay Morpha, time to face the champion of this game for the last three months."
Morpha just extended a couple tendrils to the controls on it's side and lifted it's head to the screen as the game started. Luckily it was a two player game or a versus one so they went with the two player one. As they played Thrash and Mookie watched and helped spread word around.
"Well if a duck can play hockey I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that his pet amoeba can play video games as good as he does.", Mookie said as she straightened her jacket out.
"You got that right.", Thrash answered.
A while later, Nosedive and Morpha had finished and reached the number one slot on the high scoreboard.
"Whoa Morpha, you're one lean mean shape shifting machine.", Nosedive said with a smile.
Morpha smiled back as it's blue color points turned yellow. Outside the arcade, the group settled on their burgers and fries. Morpha had a large bowl of water and had drained it dry in a few seconds flat.
"Morpha can sure put moisture away.", Thrash said as he wiped ketchup from the top of his beak.
Wildwing came over shortly with Duke and Canard following.
"So how was the arcade's latest addition?", Wildwing asked.
"Morpha totally crushed the competition.", Nosedive said proudly, "Every player he faced was taken down in only a few minutes."
"And what about you?", Duke asked, "How long til our pet took you down?"
"They never went head to head.", Mookie reported, "Guess they're too close to be competitive with each other."
Nosedive was about to get to his fries when the air hummed as a swarm of freaky looking mosquitoes buzzed through the area. Pedestrians fled and the ducks suited up as the swarm flew around the corner.
/
Thrash and Mookie had just gotten their battle gear on and clearly in awe.
"Man, I've always wondered how holding and using one of these would feel.", Thrash said as he twirled his new puck blaster on his finger.
Mookie had sported gear similar to Mallory but she wielded a saber like Duke did.
"So any idea what those bugs are?", she asked as they followed the swarm.
Canard looked like he was pondering.
"Well it's either a flock of mosquitoes out of season or it's a form of Pestilence."
"Who's Pestilence?", Wildwing asked.
"Probably another being from Dimensional Limbo. We've only fought them since the whole season of this show.", Nosedive said(breaking the fourth wall as usual).
As if to answer the confusion, the swarm paused and then shifted into a bubbling black mass tinged with sickening yellows, greens and blues. The ducks watched in total awe as the mass shifted into a humanoid form only the form had pale green skin with yellow sores littered across it, huge vulture wings, a long rat's tail, large worms for fingers, poisonous blue pupil-less eyes and a smashed in nose like a skeleton, as well as deer legs and a crown of filthy rusty spikes along the top of it's bald head. Canard went pale.
"It's Pestilence.", he said plainly.
Pestilence adjusted the black rotting cloth that made up some kind of tunic that came down to his knees before opening his mouth to reveal rotten teeth and gums.
"So you've heard of me eh? Well, I look forward to infesting this pitiful world with even more plague and decay than it normally endures.", he sneered before raising his arms upward, "Come forth my festering minions!"
Large groups of rats, beetles, and flies started forming near him forming large masses.
"What's he doing?", Thrash asked with his hand shaking on his blaster.
Pestilence smiled as the masses formed giant versions of a rat, beetle and fly all looking grotesque and freaky. It was hard not to look at these things without being a little sick. Pestilence snapped his fingers and his giant minions attacked.
"Well, I'm off to infest the lives of millions. Have fun with disease."
Pestilence slithered off while the ducks had their hands filled with the fight going on.
/
The ducks managed to beat the huge vermin into piles of rotting flesh that continued to whither until nothing remained. Nosedive had gotten hit in the side as well as Thrash and they both looked pretty ill as they fell to the ground in pain.
"What's going on?", Duke asked.
"They've been infected by Pestilence's vile touch.", Canard said gravely, "Unless we find some way to send Pestilence back to Dimensional Limbo, they'll soon rise up as Pestilence's new zombies."
Nosedive and Thrash both widened their eyes.
"Zombies?!", they asked in horror.
Canard got more than a little miffed and then noticed a bottle of sanitizer nearby and then smiled.
"You okay Canard?", Duke asked.
Canard picked up the bottle and applied a good amount to Nosedive and Thrash who flinched and writhed as their ill condition shifted to normal. Morpha's blue color points turned yellow as several tendrils reached into a nearby store and pulled out large bottles of sanitizer, hand soap, and bleach. Thrash and Mookie then brightened.
"Hey, remember the time we provided you guys with water bottles to fight those energy creatures?", Mookie asked.
Wildwing raised an eyebrow.
"What are you suggesting?"
Thrash pulled out a sheet of blueprints from his jacket and laid it out.
"Mook and I have been thinking of some prototype weapons in case you guys ran out of pucks."
Canard looked over the blueprints and looked thoughtful.
"How soon can you guys have this up and running?"
"We need to get to our comic shop.", Mookie said firmly, "We got the stuff in the back."
They all turned to see that the shop wasn't far, but infestations were everywhere in between.
"Okay, this is going to be interested.", Wildwing said til he turned to Morpha and smiled, "Morpha, can you spray soapy water everywhere?"
Morpha extended a tendril to a nearby fire hydrant and after latching it on, formed a hose with another tendril as the bottles of sanitizer, bleach and soap got dispensed into a large container inside it. Thrash and Mookie dashed for the door with Thrash firing off pucks and Mookie swinging like a crazy woman til they got inside the doors. The rest got hold of Morpha with Wildwing and Canard each taking hold of the hose.
"Open fire!", Wildwing called out.
Morpha twisted the tendril on the hydrant and a huge burst of water filled with cleaning material sprayed all over the street. It was only a few minutes when Morpha turned down the water, but when the water cleared, the streets were sparkling and clean. Morpha detached it's tendril, but it was still full of water and ready to be distributed. Thrash and Mookie came out wearing belts filled with what looked like grenades and spray cans and they looked ready to go.
/
Pestilence seated himself on a roof nearby overlooking all the festering plagues he had caused.
"Oh I love the sound of agony and moaning in the morning."
Just then, a whiff of something made him cringe.
"Ugh, what is that infernal smell?", he growled as he turned to the direction.
The ducks were with Morpha and all aiming a hose right at him.
"Bath delivery.", Nosedive called up.
Pestilence hissed like an angry cat as the ducks opened fire and he flung himself out of the way. Pestilence conjured plague after plague, but the duck's water cleared it all away no matter how many times he threw it. Finally, Thrash held out a small orange ball with a white pin that Mookie took out before throwing it.
"Huh? An orange?", Pestilence asked in confusion as it landed near him.
"Hallelujah!", came a sound from the orange.
Pestilence's eyes went wide with horror and realization as Wildwing invoked his Shield spell and the orange exploded spreading foaming bleach infused soap all over the area. When the foam cleared, Pestilence was looking pretty beat.
"Ouch.", he moaned as he fell to the ground and dissolved into filthy looking dirt that slid into the sewer.
Down below, Pestilence found some relief, but not much. A shadowy portal formed nearby and Charyus' image came from it.
"I trust you ran into a bit of trouble Pestilence?"
Pestilence looked insulted.
"I was ill prepared. The ducks now know what repels me."
Charyus looked complimented.
"So they found your Achilles heel, only more reason to try again."
Pestilence was able to form his upper half, but still looked pretty messy.
"Is that why you're here? To boast?"
Charyus' smile didn't fade.
"No, I just thought you'd like to know that I've prepared a bit of a surprise for them back at the Pond."
Pestilence then smiled.
"So you had me distract those ones so you could infest the ones that were not there."
Charyus nodded.
"Now you're catching on. Enjoy your recovery cause I'm not getting any younger."
Without another word, Charyus' image faded.
/
The ducks got back to the Pond and Thrash and Mookie were both looking winded.
"Well, it took a lot of effort, but we defeated Pestilence.", Thrash said smiling.
Canard didn't look so sure.
"We only caused him to flee.", he said as if suspecting something, "Beings like Pestilence and Malevolence don't stay down for long."
They went inside only to find massive parasitic mushrooms, fungus and all sorts of decay running all over the place.
"Oh great, another trap set by another entity from Dimensional Limbo.", Nosedive groaned.
Wildwing tried scanning with the mask only for a glob of tar to be flung at him. He moved only to be tripped by a tendril, but luckily Morpha reacted quickly and caught him before he hit the ground.
"Thanks Morpha.", Wildwing said as he finished scanning, "The center of this is in the base, but we need to fight our way there."
Thrash hand Mookie checked the weaponry they had and turned to the others.
"Small problem.", Mookie reported, "My saber is a bit shattered and Thrash is out of ammo."
"No problem dudes.", Nosedive said happily as he whipped out Create.
After a quick scribble, Mookie's saber restored itself and Thrash's blaster was reloaded. Wildwing was about to give the order when the place rocked and Pestilence reappeared in the middle of the rink.
"Come to admire my redecorating up close?"
The ducks grew annoyed.
"You have no right to be here.", Canard said firmly, "Now get back in Dimensional Limbo, before I ask Nosedive here to create a cannon that can blast away every atom of your being into oblivion."
Pestilence didn't look phased.
"I'm not going anywhere, but soon you all will."
"In case you haven't noticed Mr. Gross and Ugly, there's six of us and only one of you.", Thrash said taking aim.
The ground rumbled and split as Grin came out followed by Tanya, Mallory and Phil. Something was up cause they had mushrooms across their backs and their eyes looked like they were hypnotized.
"You were saying?", Pestilence asked raising an eyebrow, "And while you're at it, count these."
The ground behind the brainwashed ducks opened up and several huge towers of slime and clawed tendrils and glowing gray eyes rose up. Both sides charged and the fight was on.
/
Morpha pumped out most of it's water, but it seemed to onely make things slightly favorable. While the others appeared to be overrun, Morpha noticed the sprinkler system and an idea got into it's head. Wildwing and Nosedive seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Go for it.", Wildwing told it.
Morpha extended multiple tendrils into a nearby water fountain and hit the fire alarm. As the alarm rang out, the sprinklers came on and the fungus and slime monsters withered and started to slump to the floor. Pestilence wasn't too effected however, but that changed when Nosedive whipped out the particle projection cannon and took aim.
"Eat this!", he called out as he fired.
Pestilence moved, but then a portal opened behind him and though he tried, he was pulled in with all his fungus, mushrooms and slime. The ducks held on to their comrades so they weren't pulled in also and as the portal closed, Grin, Mallory, Tanya and Phil fell to the floor appearing to be knocked out.
"Well that's that.", Canard huffed as his aura dispersed from his hands.
It took a while, but soon the Pond was up and back to normal. Down inside the base, Thrash worked a set of nunchaku as Mookie fitted a puck blaster on her belt.
"So Thrash, when did you study those?", Wildwing asked as Thrash put it on his belt.
"Started earlier this year.", Thrash answered, "With all these threats coming up, Mook and I thought it would be nice to defend ourselves in case you guys didn't show up in time."
Canard got back followed by Tanya, Mallory and Grin all looking in a daze, but otherwise okay.
"I'm happy to report that Pestilence's infection is fully removed. Those who were effected might be a bit dazed, but there should be no side effects."
Phil came in looking down in the dumps.
"Just my luck. I'm out sick for two days, the new hockey season is scheduled to start in a few months, and I miss a huge opportunity to use Pestilence as a marketing brand."
"Forget it Phil.", Thrash said firmly, "We're one of a kind that none can replace."
"You got that right.", Nosedive agreed.
Thrash and Mookie checked their coms.
"Well, we'd better be heading back.", Mookie reported before turning to Wildwing, "Hey, thanks for letting us use this gear."
"Yeah.", Thrash put in, "It was fun while we had it."
"Then why don't you keep it?", Nosedive suggested, "After all, you never know when we might need you again."
Wildwing smiled.
"I'm with Nosedive on this one. You two came in handy so keep the gear."
Thrash and Mookie smiled as they shifted their gear to their pedestrian clothes.
"See you around.", they called out as they left.
/
Dragaunus was beyond mad.
"Every time you come up with some scheme, it blows up in my face!", he roared at Charyus before firing on a drone and blowing it to bits.
Charyus wasn't phased.
"Okay, so far my ideas flamed out, but I'm still in the works."
Dragaunus wasn't pleased to hear that and his smoking nostrils suggested it.
"You promise me that you can deal with this issue and all you're showing is that you are a grade A-"
He was cut off cause Charyus froze him again.
"You really need a more positive outlet for your frustrations my lord.", Charyus stated plainly as he started walking away, "But I assure you, I'll deliver what I said, but to do so, I need that one enchantium that just flared up."
Wraith met up with him in the hall with Chameleon and Siege as well.
"I trust Lord Dragaunus is frozen in place again?", Wraith asked.
Siege thumped his heavy tail.
"You summon a being of plague and disease, you mind control four ducks and you still lose."
Charyus' eyes narrowed and the hall grew dark.
"Do not underestimate me Siege."
Chameleon stepped forward as the light returned.
"Charyus? We tried finding this enchantium, but found nothing but sand."
Charyus' eyes went narrow again and then he sighed.
"Okay, so the spell went dormant for the time being. It's bound to flare up again, so plan still in motion."
Wraith rolled his eyes.
"Oh I foresee failure in vast majority."
Charyus looked his way.
"Oh Wraith, do try and lighten up.", he said plainly though he doubted Wraith would take this to heart(which he probably might), "Once I have the one spell I need, this world and all others will fall to our power."
