Charyus ran his claws over the spot where Prophecy once was. It felt so good to have that power back and if he had made it to the end of the day, the power would be active and the weapon he had craved would be his again. But those infernal ducks had intervened yet again and now he was back at square one again. But unlike Dragaunus, he was willing to look at the bright side of the situation.

"Okay, so the Wish spell went flat. A setback on my part, but still on track. As much as Prophecy would be effective, I didn't meet the requirements and I'll need to reclaim it again, but how?"

As he pondered, Dragaunus stomped his way into the room and clearly not happy.

"I almost had victory. It was right there, but you had to blow it."

"A minor setback.", Charyus told him calmly.

Dragaunus' nostrils flared.

"You had unlimited power in your fingers and you let it slip away!"

Charyus simply waved his hand and Dragaunus froze up.

"Is it my imagination or are you always in a bad mood? I'm contemplating on my next move so do us both a favor and lighten up."

He walked a good distance away to catch a breather only to find Wraith beside the door.

"I trust you've frozen Lord Dragaunus as you normally do?", Wraith asked.

"Isn't it obvious?", Charyus answered, "Victory slips away and he's throwing a tantrum like an oversized toddler. I'd say it's way past time I got serious."

He paused and then did a little thinking.

"Hmm, I wonder."

Wraith raised an eyebrow.

"You got another plan?"

Charyus smiled.

"How soon can we get the dimensional gateway generator operational?"
Wraith looked skeptical.

"Well, I'll see what Pretorius can whip up, but he's gotten his latest genetic creatures created."

"Did he?", Charyus asked still smiling.

/

Canard almost got hit as Nosedive blocked his fist and tried to kick his side. He flipped Nosedive into the air only for Nosedive to use his other foot to smack his shoulder. After Nosedive landed, he and Canard got into a hand lock only for Canard to flip Nosedive again, but Nosedive landed on his feet. Nosedive quickly sidestepped as Canard threw a fist at him while his back was turned. It was only for a second cause Nosedive threw a kick and Canard countered with a fist.

"Your reflexes are improving.", Canard said smiling, "You managed to land a hit this time."

They backed off and drank from their water bottles, but Canard noticed Nosedive looking a little troubled.

"Something on your mind?"

Nosedive looked Canard in the eye.

"Canard, why didn't you want me on the team before? Wing wouldn't join unless I did too, but you seemed reluctant about it."

Canard took a breath.

"Dive, I was a different person then. My military training and the loss of my first rebellion hurt me really bad. I felt like I had to push my team to the best potential, but that would only drive the team into the ground. After spending time in Dimensional Limbo, some of the areas I visited helped me take a second look at what I originally believed and help me realize what I should've known from the start."

They started walking back to the main room as Canard continued talking.

"Back then, I believed you were only a liability to the team. Back when we took out Dragaunus' control tower, when I saw the Aerowing gone, I was ready to believe that I was right, but then you showed up. If you hadn't done what you did, we probably would've been blown to bits before we even took off."

Nosedive was looking more impressed. He didn't know Canard felt this way cause due to the military background, Nosedive originally believed that Canard would've been much harder on him if Wildwing wasn't around, but he let Canard continue.

"I know what I ask can seem harsh and mean at times, but I want you to know I'm only trying to prepare you for when you need it. I know how much you mean to Wildwing and I'm sure he feels the same way about you. You may be a little hard to get used to and understand, but that's what makes you who you are and a real team player."

Nosedive felt better as he smiled and his eyes got teary.

"Thanks.", he said as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

/

Wildwing noticed Canard and Nosedive come into the room.

"So how was practice?"

"He finally got me.", Canard said proudly, "I'd say his reflexes are sharpening up."

Nosedive shrugged.

"It was more like a tap by my foot really."

"And yet you made contact.", Canard informed, "A minor hit, but a hit none the less."

Wildwing smiled. It was nice to see his younger brother and best friend get along so well. He had been taking some time to relax while Tanya was working on some gear, Grin was meditating and Mallory was practicing with Duke. Mallory was using Sword while Duke used Mirror. Both seemed to be doing well and they ended with Duke getting the drop on Mallory after she believed she had him pinned only to find it was Mirror.

"Nice move L'Orange.", Mallory said smiling, "Took me by surprise."

Duke and Mallory's spells dispersed as she and Duke shook hands.

"All's fair in practice, love, and war."

And then the alarm went off. The ducks gathered around Drake 1 as the screen flared on.

"We got multiple disturbances!", Wildwing called out, "Move out!"

They all filed into the Aerowing and found Morpha asleep in the driver's seat.

"Hey wake up Morpha!", Nosedive called out.

Morpha woke up instantly and got off so Wildwing could take it's place. It curled up under Nosedive's chair as the ducks got their places.

"Sorry Morpha.", Nosedive told the amoeba as the Aerowing took off, "Didn't mean to yell."

Morpha looked up at him and it's blue color points turned yellow meaning it wasn't offended in the least.

"Morpha's inner peace is truly something to behold.", Grin said sagely.

"You said it.", Duke agreed.

The Aerowing hadn't flown very far when large tendrils came out and held on. Mallory and Nosedive took over the firepower and let the pucks fly.

"Man, what kind of genetic disaster did Pretorius cook up now?", Nosedive asked.

As if to answer him, a few thuds hit the top of the Aerowing and Nosedive noticed through a camera before it died.

"Hey, any of you know what you get when you cross a crab with an opossum?"

"Why?", Canard asked.

An explosion went off and even though the tendrils were cut through, the Aerowing flew downward until it crashed into a parking lot. Several crab claws tore through the top and about seven large creatures that really looked like as Nosedive described looked in with stalk eyes.

"Man I hope those things don't have a taste for duck.", Duke said a little bit scared as he drew his saber.

"So do I.", Canard put in setting his fists ablaze with aura.

/

Pretorius watched all this on a monitor he had back in his lab. Kay it wasn't a lab, it was an abandoned building, but is large capsules around the room suggested otherwise.

"So ducks, you may have bested my previous attempts, but let's see how you handle what I can create now."

He pressed a couple keys on a dashboard beneath the monitor and one of the capsules launched into the air and out of a large hole in the roof that closed after the capsule went through it.

"A clever mix of pterodactyl and Komodo dragon with swordfish thrown in for good measure.", he said gleefully, "People may have laughed before, but soon I'll be the one doing the laughing."

"Just don't get carried away."

Pretorius turned to see Charyus' image materialize nearby. Even though it was just an image projected by magic, Pretorius knew Charyus was on the other end.

"My creations are working out aren't they?", Pretorius asked.

Charyus frowned.

"Just make sure that none of them break that mask. Retrieve and deliver it to me as soon as you are able. Fail to do so and you will know the meaning of suffering."

Charyus' image faded away and Pretorius got back to his monitor. Clearly his crab/possum hybrids were getting thwarted, but his new one would arrive shortly. He turned to the center of the room where a large ray was pointed at a pool of bubbling clear liquid.

"Well when a few tests don't work, you go bigger.", he muttered.

He walked over to the vat and took a few vials off from a special compartment on the side.

"Morpha may have turned, but I'm going to show what happens when my creation turns on me.", he said with determination.

He emptied the vials into the vat one after the other and the mix bubbled and changed color. A capsule hovered over, extended a hose and sucked up some of the stuff and it returned to it's original color as the capsule went back against the wall. Pretorius observed the monitor and noticed his crab/possums were beaten and now the ducks were against the one he just sent though he focused on Morpha.

"Well my little renegade, you think you can just abandon your creator? You underestimate me greatly."

He took the ray that was pointed at the vat and adjusted it's settings before slinging it over his shoulder.

"Luckily for me I had some spare time to whip this little molecular destabilization ray just in case of an emergency."

/

Back with the ducks, they were getting more than a little winded.

"Pretorius sure outdid himself.", Duke said wiping gunk off his saber.

Tanya took out a little device from her belt and it started beeping.

"If I can find the trail of these genetic things, it should lead us to the lab where they came from."

"And we take out the source.", Mallory said with determination.

Wildwing didn't look so sure.

"Mal, you take Tanya, Canard and Grin and see if you can find that lab. We'll take out the rest of these things out here."

Canard nodded and his team went off in another direction. His team went the other.

"Any idea how many of those things are out there?", Nosedive asked.

"Drake 1 picked up several other locations.", Wildwing answered, "We'll take the Migrator since it seems to be intact still."

They had made it back to the Aerowing and fortunately the Migrator was as Wildwing had hoped. They got in and Wildwing hit the gas. Before long, they were cruising down the streets and Duke and Nosedive were firing away. Morpha settled on a seat not far, but huddled down so as to avoid being seen.

"Okay, we got ourselves a couple flying steak dinners coming in!", Nosedive called out.

Wildwing looked upward to see a couple of what looked like a combination of a bull and geese flying in. Duke took aim and fired a couple pucks at them and they fell to the ground all tied up unable to fly anymore as the Migrator sped past. But then a blast came out and Wildwing barely got the Migrator out of the way.

"Now what?", Nosedive asked.

On a monitor, they noticed Pretorius wearing a jet pack and giving chase with a ray gun. Nosedive's eyes narrowed and he got up from his seat. As he started going up, Morpha and Wildwing both noticed.

"Dive, what are you doing?", Wildwing asked.

Nosedive gave him a smile and his Arrow spell manifested. Morpha's dog legs stretched and tied themselves to the seat it was on while several tendrils came out of it's back and lassoed around Nosedive's knees and waist keeping him from falling as he opened the hatch and took aim. As Nosedive and Pretorius exchanged shots, Nosedive fired an arrow behind him and as the Migrator got past, the lamppost Nosedive shot fell down just as Pretorius was about to go under it. Unfortunately for Pretorius, he hit it and his ray fired another shot which bounced off a mirror and dissolved the ray itself. The Migrator paused and Wildwing turned on the speaker system.

"Is that all you got Pretorius?", Wildwing asked.

Pretorius' eyes narrowed.

"You may have bested my previous creations, but I'm about to unleash the-"

He stopped when a huge explosion went off and the other four ducks landed nearby on the sidewalk. Pretorius looked in the direction of the explosion and looked more insulted.

"Well Plan A didn't work out, time to beat a retreat."

He pressed a button on his wrist and a giant scorpion/grasshopper thing came out of the ground and Pretorius mounted it as it hopped away.

"Well finish this another time ducks!", he called out as he activated his teleporter and his creation and him vanished in a flash of green light.

/

Back at the Pond, the ducks were recuperating.

"How is everyone?", Wildwing asked.

"I'll be okay.", Mallory answered as Canard finished up using Aura to mend her injured arm.

Tanya applied ointment to her neck and smiled.

"I'm good."

Grin said nothing, but they knew he was okay.

"Well clearing Anaheim of genetic disasters is one way to spend an episode.", Nosedive said(breaking the fourth wall as usual).

Morpha tapped on Nosedive's shoulder and Nosedive noticed it was looking at him questioningly.

"Oh sorry Morpha.", Nosedive said smiling as he walked over to the sink, "I didn't get your daily glass of water yet."

He filled a glass and Morpha extended a tendril to drink up the water til there was nothing. Tanya went over the images her new camera system on the Migrator caught and her eyes narrowed at the ray Pretorius had.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say those lizards have got some kind of new destabilization ray."

Canard's eyes narrowed.

"Obviously they wanted to use it on Morpha, but they'll have another one in reserve. But for now, I think we have practice to get done."

Phil came in looking as thrilled as ever and the ducks could tell what was coming.

"Hey ducks, I got a hip new idea: Ducks save Anaheim from Genetic monster take over."
Wildwing rolled his eyes.

"Phil, we just got back and we need to get our practice in before the new hockey season starts."

Phil shrugged.

"Okay, you guys get practice in, but you got a photo shoot for Sports Monthly magazine afterward."

He turned to leave only for Morpha's blue coloring to turn white as it extended a tendril and was about to smack his behind, but Wildwing looked it's way.

"Don't even think about it."

Morpha's white color points turned gray as it retracted it's tendril looking disappointed.

/

Pretorius was hesitant as he entered the Raptor and met up with Siege.

"I trust your creations blew it?", Siege asked raising an eyebrow.

Pretorius sighed.

"I was ill prepared. That ducks who used Arrow clearly knew what to aim at and caught me off guard."

"And he took your little ray gun with it.", Siege concluded, "Typical of you Pretorius. If I had my tank in this, we'd have roast duck for dinner."

"Such boasts before Siege, but don't let pride get to you."

They both turned to see Charyus warp in not far from them.

"I know I said I was going to put you through suffering, but I might reconsider if you prove capable of creating something for me.", Charyus said clearly meaning Pretorius.

Pretorius gulped.

"What did you have in mind?"

Charyus took a breath.

"I have an idea that could swing the odds in our favor, but I need that book that Borg was entrusted with. Once I have it, I will be able to recreate my Prophecy spell and the ducks will grovel at the mere demonstration I will show them."

Pretorius tired not to look nervous, but Charyus clearly could see through it. Siege however didn't look so thrilled.

"So now we just look for some dumb book? Why can't we just barge in there-"

Charyus waved a hand and Siege froze like Dragaunus did. Pretorius looked Charyus' way as if wondering if he would be frozen also.

"I'll be back to my meditation.", Charyus told him, "Enchantium might spike again and I want you to have that gateway generator operational as soon as you are able."

Pretorius bowed and hurried off. Charyus hovered off the floor and started meditating. Magical circles of runes appeared beneath him as his staff hung in the air beside him as his arms and legs crossed.

"Celebrate while you can ducks.", Charyus purred, "It's only a matter of time before I find my book again. Borg may be able to hide it for a time, but it's only a temporary measure."

Charyus chuckled to himself as the rune circles turned slowly and ominously. Victory will be his and he was ready to grab hold of it.