Grin yawned as he sat in a chair in the infirmary, Tanya checking up on Duke for the umpteenth time that night. The guardians of Dimensional Limbo were asleep on Kazar, Chameleon curled up in Calivan's arms. The child had taken an immediate liking to the green scaled guardian, and after Nosedive had left that afternoon to rest, Chameleon stayed with Calivan and played till the two fell asleep. The two guardians had been with them in the Pond for a couple of days now, and in the time they'd been there, Duke hadn't changed for worse or better. Prayer was now well known to the team, Phil even joining with them in concern for one of his players. He'd canceled all publicity stunts and seemed rather quiet around them. It was clear that he was afraid he was going to loose them.

Grin shook his head. Over the years that they had known Phil, the human had changed completely from being money oriented to team oriented. Anytime they had trouble, they could count on him to make up excuses to the press and cancel any plans they had in order for them to recuperate. He'd become a little more professional about getting them good deals, which was good. No more hints at 'Bird Watchers Weekly'. Grin smirked as he recalled the last time Phil had mentioned the magazine to them. It had been a few weeks after Kazar had joined them and Nosedive was still regaining his memories, having been given amnesia from a saurian attack in which Kazar was being controlled and used against them.

Phil had confronted Wildwing and asked if the team would 'please do this one shoot for 'Bird Watchers Weekly', it would bring in lots of dough'. Nosedive had given the human an odd look and then cringed.

"A magazine for people who stare at us?" Grin remembered the teen asking. "Geez, wouldn't it bother you if you walked around outside and these people just walked around following you with binoculars and those little duck call things? Well, for you it would be a human call but still…" suffice to say, they never did that publicity stunt. Mallory had even refused to go to the mall for a week thanks to having recurring dreams about humans stalking her with duck calls. Nosedive tried to joke at her about it, only to find himself being chased by an angry red head. Duke had laughed for hours about that. Duke…

Grin looked back at his friend and frowned. Tanya was working on the computer on the medicom bed and shaking her head. Still no change. Nothing. Why was this happening? Why did it happen to Duke? The sound of the infirmary doors opening caused Grin to look away from the ex-thief to see Wildwing walking in. He nodded at Grin before stopping and kneeling by Kazar. The dragon awoke with a large yawn and blinked dully at the white mallard, listening sleepily as Wildwing whispered something to him softly. Kazar nodded his large head slowly, and shifted causing the two guardians to awake. Wildwing walked away as the dragon rumbled something to the two softly. They nodded and stood, Calivan still holding a sleeping Chameleon, then together they left.

"Where did you send them?" Grin asked as Wildwing neared him.

"Generator room. It would be better if they slept down there, they'd actually get some rest." Wildwing explained. "I remembered Kazar telling me once that the temperature up here was rather cold for him and Chameleon." He shrugged. "They need to be at their best."

"I agree." Grin nodded, standing and stretching. "Would it be too much to ask if I may go rest as well?" he asked. Wildwing gave him a friendly smile.

"I was about to suggest that you do that." He said. He looked over at Tanya. "Has she been here all day?" he asked. Grin nodded.

"Yes. She was here when Mallory and I switched off at six this morning." At the frown on Wildwing's face he cleared his throat. "I will be going now." He rumbled. Wildwing gave him a vague nod, then waited for the sound of the door opening and closing. Then he walked over to Duke's bed, where Tanya was looking over a chart wearily. He waited a few moments, then cleared his throat when she didn't notice him. She jumped slightly and gave him a startled look.

"Don't sneak up on me!" she exclaimed in exasperation. Wildwing frowned at her.

"I didn't." he said. She merely sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I'm just…"

"Worried?" he asked. She nodded and he put an arm around her, then hugged her close. "We all are." He said softly. She merely nodded slowly, enjoying the embrace and returning it with a hug of her own. "You need to get some rest." He told her after a few minutes. Tanya was quiet, and he smiled. "Should I just put you on the other bed?" he asked jokingly. She gave a weary sigh.

"Right now, I don't think I'd really care." She muttered to him. He looked at her for a moment, then nodded and lifted her up in his arms, carrying her over to the now unoccupied bed next to Duke. Taking a blanket and covering her with it, he smiled down at her and touched the side of her face with the back of his hand softly.

"I'll wake you if anything changes." He told her quietly. She nodded.

"If you can." She yawned, and then was asleep. Wildwing watched her for a moment, kissed her forehead, then turned and looked at Duke. His expression changed and he kneeled by his teammates bed.

"Duke, don't you dare leave us." He whispered softly. "You've got to help me, remember?" he watched the older mallards face and sighed. There was nothing but the rising and falling of a bandaged chest. Sitting down on the floor, Wildwing rested his forehead on the edge of Duke's bed in frustration. 'Father, Great King,' he prayed quietly, 'Please. Don't let him die! Bring him back to us.'

The infirmary door opened with a swish noise, causing Wildwing to look up and frown.

"You're supposed to be resting Nosedive." He called softly to the teen who walked over in a pair of green plaid pajama bottoms and a hockey jersey. One of Wildwing's old ones. His socked feet made no noise as he walked over, running a hand over his messy hair to keep it down.

"Yeah, well…" he shrugged and sat down in front of his brother. "Everyone else has had their chance to be in here and fuss at Duke. Just kinda' figured, you know, hey. Why not get in on the act, ya know?" he smiled weakly, then sighed. "Mallory feels really bad about what happened." He said suddenly, looking down at the floor dully. "Canard said he was okay, that he knew he couldn't really do anything… which he couldn't… but Mal can't, won't, see it that way." He mumbled. "And I miss having Duke around to mess with my head." Wildwing gave a weak snicker and ruffled the blondes already sleep tossed hair.

"You mean like that?" he asked softly. Nosedive gave him a playful agitated look.

"No." he said, with a shake of his head. "Not like that."

"Like this." Came a weary voice. A dark feathered hand reached down and pointed a finger at Nosedive's forehead. "Bang. You're dead." Nosedive and Wildwing both stared at the hand in shock as it moved back to the bed and they stood, Duke regarding them sleepily and chuckling deeply.

"Duke!" they exclaimed as one happily. He nodded at them, grinning weakly.

"Hey. What'd I miss?" he asked.

"Only the end of the world." Wildwing snickered as Nosedive reached down and gave the dark feathered mallard a hug.

"Don't scare me like that!" Nosedive exclaimed, Duke hugging him back.

"Sorry. But it had to be done."

"Which part, the playing with Nosedive's head or the sleeping for almost a week?" Wildwing asked, opening his com.

"Both." Was the weary answer, Nosedive releasing Duke from the hug and then sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Glad to have you back… one eye." The teen grinned as Wildwing informed the rest of the team that Duke was finally awake. Then he turned to Tanya. He shook her softly, waking her. She sat up and smiled brightly.

"Duke! You're awake!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah. And so are you. You had me worried Tanya. I thought you'd never come out of it!" Duke grinned. She put her hands on her hips and made a face as Wildwing and Nosedive laughed. Duke merely looked at Nosedive and poked the teen in the side as the door opened and the rest of the team ran in, Kazar and the guardians following with a now awake Chameleon riding on Kazar's back. "Mop top." Duke told the teen, causing Nosedive to give a sarcastic gasp and put a hand on his chest.

"You hurt me man!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah. Whatever."

"Duke!" cheered Chameleon, leaping off of Kazar and then running over and climbing up onto the bed and hugging the dark feathered mallard. "You're okay!!"

"Yep." Was Duke's reply. He nodded when he saw Mallory, the red head standing off to the side quietly. "How about you Mal? Siege tossed you pretty hard." She nodded quietly, swallowing to keep back tears. He smiled at her comfortingly. "This wasn't your fault kid. Don't worry about it." He said softly, gaining a nod from Nosedive in agreement. Mallory looked at them, then smiled and came over and gave the ex-thief a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you're alright." She told him with a small laugh. She released him, then slapped his arm. "Don't you dare do that again." She growled jokingly. Duke snickered.

"Yes mother." He told her, cringing when she lifted her hand, then shaking his head when she grinned and let it down slowly and walked away. Grin placed his hands together and bowed.

"It is good to finally see you awake my friend." He rumbled. Duke nodded to him, then lifted a hand so Canard could shake it.

"Looks like you pulled off another stunt old man." He grinned, getting a glare from Duke.

"I am not old. I'm just getting into my prime." The older mallard said, slightly miffed. "Besides I've had worse." He claimed. Nosedive gave him a look, Mallory standing beside him with an arm around his shoulders.

"What could have been worse than getting shot a point blank?" he asked.

"Being shot at point blank and then falling off and three story building."

"Ouch." Wildwing said with a wince. "Yeah, that would be painful."

"You never did anything like that!" Chameleon claimed. Then he stopped, cocking his head to the side as he sat up on the opposite side of the bed Nosedive was on. "Did you?" he asked.

"Never be a thief. It's dangerous and there are no health benefits." Kazar snickered.

"Same for poachers." He rumbled. He nodded at Duke. "Glad to have you with us still though." He stated. Duke nodded, then looked at Calivan and Orian in confusion.

"Who are you guys?" he asked. Wildwing put a hand on his shoulder.

"Allow me to introduce the guardians of Dimensional Limbo." Calivan waved.

"Hi." He grinned toothily. Duke merely looked around in confusion.

"Okay, you're going to explain what's been going on since I got knocked out of it." He told them. Nosedive shook his head and waved a hand in the air.

"Nah. It's all really boring. No fighting at all."

"Still, I wanna' know. Otherwise I have this big gap that makes absolutely no sense." Tanya nodded, standing and tossing the blanket Wildwing had covered her with back onto the bed.

"How about, you guys start telling him everything, and I'll get some food." She offered.

"I'll help." Mallory said.

"That sounds good to me. I'm starved!" Duke told them, putting his hands behind his head. As the two ladies left he looked at the guys. "Alright… tell away!"

O.O

Concentration camps. During the time of World War II, these camps were where mostly Jews were sent. It was not pretty. All of Earth still felt the sting of the crimes committed here, and some could still hear the cries of those trapped in these places of…

They can only be described as Hell. The people trapped in the concentration camps were beaten and abused, experimented on and tortured to death. They were led like lambs to the slaughterhouse with no clue as to what was going to happen. None of them expected anyone to be so cruel as to do what had been done in these camps.

The Concentration camps and their memories horrified and disgusted many, but drew Dragaunus to it. He took a sickening fascination to it all, as he himself was a 'Hitler' all his own to the people of Puckworld.

He'd found what was left of one of these camps; out in the deep forests of what he said was Munich Germany, and was now walking through it, Siege following and grinning in twisted glee.

"Makes me feel like we're back on Puckworld." He said gleefully.

"Very true." Dragaunus agreed, running his hands against the charred cement walls. He smirked. "Have you done as I ordered?" he asked.

"Yes sir. The maze is set up, just like you told me and the humans are keeping as far away as physically possible." Siege said proudly, banging a fist to his chest. Dragaunus rolled his eyes, his back to the larger saurian.

"Then I suppose we should send a calling card to the Ducks then." He said calmly, turning away.

"How are we going to do that?"

"Must you always ask such stupid questions?"

"I'm the lackey remember? I can't read your mind." Siege growled. Dragaunus turned and glared at him, smoke billowing from his nostrils.

"Fine then. Leave that to me." He purred in anger and annoyance. Siege merely glared at him, then turned away. He had better things to do than goof around with an idiot in a staring contest…

o.o

One peaceful night. The first one in about a week. It was good to actually relax again, and with Duke recovering quickly it was easier to do so. The dark feathered mallard was already up and walking around, a miracle beyond itself.

Wildwing lay on his bed, his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. He'd overslept. Hunh. Not something that happened often. Nosedive would probably say something about it later, but at least they hadn't had an early practice scheduled this morning. In fact… he looked at his clock. He had twenty minutes before he was late.

He sat up and went to hop in the shower, stopping momentarily to look at a small velvet box sitting on the edge of his dresser. He picked it up, then set it down with a set look on his face. After he'd showered and dressed he headed to his brothers room, only to find Nosedive walking down the hall towards him halfway.

"You overslept!!" the teen grinned. Wildwing made a face and reached out to ruffle Nosedive's hair, only to frown when Nosedive leapt out of the way, jeering playfully at his older brother. "Ah, you missed! You missed!"

"Alright then. Have it your way." Wildwing grinned as Nosedive did a little dance at his 'victory' of dodging his brother. "Come here!" with that Wildwing leapt at Nosedive, grabbing the teen in a headlock and giving him a nuggie.

"AH! NO! NOT A NUGGIE!! HELP!!! HELP!!! I'M BEING ABRUISED!! AH!!! Alright mister! You asked for it!" with that he lashed out and began tickling Wildwing, the white mallard laughing and releasing his hold on his brother, only to cry out as the attack didn't stop.

"Ah! No!" he cried, trying to get away as Nosedive 'attacked' relentlessly.

"PAYBACK!!" Nosedive cried out cheerfully. With a battle cry, he leapt at Wildwing, causing the two to come crashing to the floor with a thud and yelps of pain, followed immediately by laughter.

"What's going on out here?" Canard asked, walking onto the hall with Chameleon following.

"Tickle fight!!" the child cheered, then running over and jumping onto the two brothers with a battle cry. The two cried out, then turned their attack onto the child with Canard laughing at them.

"I don't know if you guys have noticed? But we've got practice in five minutes." He said after a moment. The three stopped with a collective 'Aw'.

"Party pooper." Nosedive muttered, sticking out his tongue and standing. Chameleon giggled and watched as the two stretched a little.

"Can I come watch?" he asked.

"Sure. We'll be out on the ice though." Wildwing said as he and Nosedive started walking away. Chameleon followed and made a face.

"Yuck. I'll stay with Kazar and watch for Draggy bottom." He stated. Nosedive snorted and snickered as Canard covered his face with a hand.

"Draggy bottom?" Wildwing asked. Chameleon grinned.

"Yeah! Kazar made it up!" he claimed.

"I'll have to remember that one." Nosedive grinned mischievously as he and Wildwing stood, Chameleon looking up at them as he sat on the floor.

"Nosedive?" the child asked suddenly. The teen looked at him.

" 'Sup?"

"Are we ever gonna' stop Dragaunus?" there was a pause and Wildwing smiled softly.

"One day. Why do you ask?"

"Kazar said I could go home with him… and I want to. I like the stories he keeps telling me, and it might be fun to pretend to be a dragon." He looked at Nosedive sadly. "Puckworld sounds too cold. I don't like cold." Nosedive gave him a weak smile and kneeled down in front of him.

"Hey, you never know. You might like Kazar's home planet! And I'll come visit you, you know that!" he put a hand on the child's head. "But right now, let's not worry about stuff like that, okay? It'll make your head hurt." He grinned as Chameleon made a face.

"No it won't!"

"Well, it does me. Come on." He lifted Chameleon up onto his shoulders and stood. "I'll carry you to the living room, kay?"

"Okay!" Chameleon looked at Wildwing with excitement. "Can we race?" he asked.

"Sure!" Wildwing nodded. "Canard, wanna' join us?" he asked. Canard grinned, mischief sparking in his eyes.

"Sure." He said. "Just try to keep up!" with that he turned and took off down the hall, Nosedive and Wildwing shouting in unfairness and following causing Chameleon to squeal in excitement. The conversation that had just taken place was pushed out of all fours minds.

^-^

"Take that Nosedive! Hah!" Duke was grinning as he skated on the ice, even though he should have been sitting out. Nosedive snickered from his place of sitting on the ice, Duke having knocked him down.

"Man, for a guy who just woke up from a coma, you sure do have a lot of energy." He exclaimed, accepting the hand up that Canard offered him.

"I wasn't in a coma! I was just taking an extremely long nap!" Duke exclaimed, hitting the puck at Wildwing and frowning when the white mallard caught it easily. "However it did absolutely nothing for my slap shot." He muttered. Mallory snickered as she skated past him.

"HEY GUYS!! STOP FOR A MOMENT!!" Tanya called suddenly, getting everyone's attention as a pale Phil ran in from the locker room.

"GUYS!! TURN ON THE NEWS!!" he called to them, breathing hard. "IT'S DRAGAUNUS!!"

"WHAT?!?" was the cry as Tanya punched something on her com. The scoreboard changed, the screens changing from the team logo to Dragaunus' wickedly grinning face.

"I repeat." He purred. "As you see I have four humans behind me…" he moved showing one teen, a five-year-old, a middle-aged man, and a young woman hanging from their wrists by rusted chains from the ceiling. Where they were was unknown, but the wall behind them was cement gray and scorched as if from fire. The humans looked to be alright, just unconscious, save for the long scratch on the child's face. "I'd give them maybe twenty-four hours before my friend and I devour them. However, if you want these humans to survive the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim will come to the rescue. I am in Munich Germany. The people there will be able to direct you to me DuCaine's." The grin widened and smoke came from his nostrils. "I'm hoping you'll be too late. I am quite famished…" with that the transmission ended and a startled reporter appeared on screen, his mouth hanging open in shock. Then he blinked and closed his mouth.

"I don't quite understand what's happening, but if you're just tuning in folks, that lizard who calls himself Dragaunus has captured four people. One a Mrs. Taniya Clearwater from Los Angeles California, a Mr. William Dickens from London England, Fifteen-year-old Robert Martin from Munich Germany, and five-year-old Elizabeth Micheals from Sidney Australia. Dragaunus has made it clear that he wants the hockey team the Mighty Ducks to come, and only this famous NHL hockey team. Germany has already sent in their own forces, half of which has been destroyed. Many of our own men have been sent in, with horrible results. We have not been sent the number of lives lots as of yet, but from what we've heard… It's too many to let this creature continue and live. Mighty Ducks, if you're watching this, whatever war you have going between this monster… this one reporter would really appreciate it if you left the human race out of it!" the screen went black and the logo returned. Silence filled the Pond for a moment, Calivan and Orian running in looking rather worried as they looked at the team. There was no movement for a moment, then…

"To the Aerowing team." Wildwing said, his voice deathly calm. "This is going to end today." As they walked into… actually more like stalked into the locker room, Phil grabbed Wildwing's arm.

"You mind if I make a statement to the press while you guys head out?" he asked quickly. Wildwing glared at him.

"You do what you want Phil. Right now I'm more concerned with stopping Dragaunus." With that Wildwing left, white flame dancing off his body as a physical show of his anger. Phil watched the tall mallard go, then looked at Orian and Calivan.

"Watch over them." He stated before heading away. The two guardians nodded and followed the team. Kazar would meet them at the Aerowing, Chameleon choosing to stay behind.

It was the beginning of the end. But for which side?

To Be Continued…

Hmm. This took a while. Thanks for the wait, however I'm betting that this is starting to bore all of you. Sorry about that. My reason for taking so long…. Well, school is evil and I've been sick. Migraines do nothing to help when it comes to writing and for a while I could have sworn I had nothing for ya'll. But when I checked my story out again I found that I had more than I'd expected, which made me very happy. I haven't gotten a lot of reviews for this story, I keep forgetting that I'm not writing for the reviews.^-^' Thanks to all those who have given reviews and Thanks a billion to Kaeera and Akima. You two have been the biggest help. I really appreciate all you two have done to help me out. More is coming, there is no way I will not finish this. I'm enjoying myself way too much to just quit in the middle of it all. ^-^ Once again, sorry for the wait but thank you so much for your patience.

I'm still not at a hundred percent, so the next chapter will take a while. But at least I'm having coherent thoughts again, that's all I got to type. :)

Oh yeah. Mighty Ducks belong to Disney. Kazar and the guardians belong to me and I belong to the Great King, so therefore, He owns my characters too ^_^. Just FYI…^-^