New Day: The Story of Drake DuCaine

by Therabidsquirrel

The titles says it all. Sorry, but it's a little short, but it will get longer. What was Drake DuCaine like anyway? Told from HIS point of view.

Part One

How it once was

The stars in the night time sky were burning brightly as I lay on the rooftop of my home. It was a quiet night, not many ducks were actually up and about, seeing as how it was almost one in the morning. My mother would probably get on my case if she knew I was out here this late, or early whichever way you look at it. Caberlan City is encased in endless winter, as is basically all of Puckworld. Though in some regions there is warmer weather where crops are grown and animals live. Some animals even live in the coldest regions of Puckworld, but you don't really mess with them unless you want a new hole somewhere on your person… or a missing limb. That's always fun…

I shivered in the cold night air and pulled my jacket closer around me. Tomorrow would be New Day. The day when the pond in the center of the city would melt enough for us to break its ice. It was a tradition of our people, symbolizing the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. The end of one life, beginning of a new one… I guess you would know the rest. New dreams, new hopes, new everything. And for some reason, I wasn't looking forward to all of this. When I was younger, I used to love this time of year even though hockey is my life. At this time of year, ducks from all over would come to see the ice breaking, and it was also tradition to take the ice that was broken and keep it for yourself. You could collect it or, as many of us liked to do, you could eat it. I know it might sound disgusting, what with ducks skating and falling on it all the time, but we never cared. Gross maybe, but it actually made the ice more… sacred. I guess that would be the word. I dunno. But the ice was never dirty, even if someone managed to track mud on it, by morning the ice was always clean and fresh so we never worry. In ice breaking, all the ice down to the pond bed is broken and taken, and then passed out to any who hadn't been able to make it onto the ice. We've all tried to share, though some are selfish, but I guess that's just our nature. I dunno. Anyway, by morning after New Day, the pond is full again and the ice fresh as ever. Apparently there is a spring that feeds the pond underneath so we never have to worry about it drying up. Lucky for me. I'd go crazy if I couldn't get at least one game of hockey in a day. Street hockey's fine and I suffer with it every New Day, but the pond is where all the action is. You meet new people, make new friends. It's fun beating the tail feathers off of some complete stranger.

New Day… why was its coming bothering me so much? I sat up on my rooftop, still looking upwards for some kind of help or at least some kind of peace. But none came. Was it some kind of warning from the One Great Spirit? I wasn't sure, in fact I wasn't exactly a devout follower of anything supernatural. However, I did know that something, someone, was out there. And whoever it was, was more powerful than anything I'd ever seen before. The more religious groupings define this Power as the One Great Spirit, whom we should love and revere, worship, stuff like that. I've never been all that sure about this Spirit guy, but for some reason since that girl Lacy had babbled about Him to me at Cavarian a week ago, I hadn't been able to get Him out of my head. Was He real? Or was it all just my imagination? Oh, uh, you might be wondering what Cavarian is. Well, it's actually a type of finishing school for those of us who *ahem* aren't exactly blessed with the golden coin. In other words, it's a place for poor people to get their final education before we're actually given the chance to be treated like the adults we are and make names for ourselves in the big bright world. Joy… Man, I just want to play hockey. That's all, but I have to show that I've got at least some brain cells. That way the opposing team will have something they can try and knock out of me.

My thoughts were wandering, and usually this meant that I was tired and ready to go to sleep, but my mind was running at full speed and I was actually so full of energy I could have exploded! So I did the only thing I could think off. I climbed off of the roof and put the ice skating blades on the bottom of my shoes. Then I skated away to the pond. Fortunately, my folks and I don't really live that far from the pond. We're actually quite close, not even a block away. Normally, this is a place where only the elite, the rich, live. But we'd lucked out somehow and all my life we'd lived in this nice neighborhood with not so nice neighbors staring down their beaks at us. *Sigh* such is my life. Oh well, not everyone's that bad. Just a few. And fortunately no one was up as I went on my late night escapade.

I reached the pond a few moments later and skated down the ice covered slope. The pond wouldn't be dangerous to skate on, fortunately the ice is pretty thick and hard to break, that's what's so great about New Day. You can actually break the hard as a brick ice. I skated to the center and looked upwards again. For some reason, I felt as if something were coming… something, I dunno, evil. Anyway, it just felt completely wrong whatever it was and it made my blood run cold. I pulled my jacket collar up and shoved my hands into my pockets as I skated around without purpose. My thoughts were running several miles per second and I just felt like going the same speed. My feet were flying, the scenery soaring past me as I went the full wide circle of the Pond.

"You're going to make yourself dizzy if you keep this up." A voice caught me and nearly caused me to fall over. I looked up to see a black feathered duck standing on the sidewalk by the rink. He was wearing a pair of denim pants, a gray shirt and a leather jacket. In his left hand he held a rolled cigarette and I knew there was more in there than just the regular drug.

"Hello Ruben." I said with a weak smile. "What are you doing out here?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Throwing my own personal party." He told me, holding up the hand with the drug. "Want a taste?" I made a face at him.

"No thanks. I want to make it back to my house." He merely shrugged at me and took a drag on his 'cigarette'.

"Whatever man." He said, smoke flowing from his mouth. Ruben may not be the best duck in the world, and what he'd just done really was disgusting, but he was my friend. He and I had been friends since we were hatchlings and now… it hurt me to see him like this. He'd gotten in with the wrong crowd, but had never tried to pull me into the mess with him. I had enough problems and he knew it. Though there were times he'd asked me to come along with him, he was understanding when I said I didn't want to go.

For some reason I looked at him now and wondered why I hung out with him. He wasn't like me, wasn't into the same things as I was, maybe I should find a better person to hang out with… I threw that thought out. Ruben was my friend, basically family, and I would stick by him till the end no matter what he did. Deep down I just knew he'd do the same for me.

"Blowing off steam?" Ruben asked suddenly, jerking me back to reality. I shook my head.

"Nah. Can't sleep. You?"

"Who needs sleep?" he asked me, smoking away on his cigarette. I swear I saw three years of his life disappear in the cloud of smoke he breathed out. "I'm tired of hearing my dad ***** at me." He told me a little angrily. "Not my fault he can't seem to hold onto his own paycheck." He stated with a shrug. Silently I wondered how much of that paycheck anyone got to see in Ruben's household. His father was also a party duck, more than anything he was a drug addict and it was from him Ruben got most of his 'goods'. "Anyway…" I looked at Ruben, wondering why my thoughts were speeding around so much. Usually I didn't think this much… "Heard that McClain is having a big party tomorrow night after all the Ice Breaking. I was thinking of going and crashing it. Wanna' help?" Ruben asked me, a mischievous look in his eyes. I much as I wanted to, I was startled to find my head shaking no.

"Thanks though." I heard myself say. It was weird. I wanted to say 'Yeah sure! Sounds fun!' But instead I was turning him down. Ruben merely shrugged at me and threw the butt of his cigarette away from him with a flick of his fingers.

"Whatever man. You're missin' out." He told me. He looked at me, then frowned in confusion. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. I nodded and he frowned. "You look pale." I gave a weak smile and a shrug.

"I'm always pale." I told him. "I've got white feathers." Ruben snickered at me, turning with a wave.

"See you later man. I've got a date tonight." He said proudly. I watched him go, unwilling to ask. Usually his dates meant that he had some girl waiting on him to… uh… never mind…You get the picture.

As Ruben disappeared into the dark night, I looked upwards again at the stars. I don't know why they were so interesting to me, but tonight they seemed really important. I shuddered as the cold feeling swept through me again and I turned, heading home. Maybe it was all just my imagination.

O.O

New Day was all the people had worked it up to be. There were parties in the streets, ducks selling goods and many of them giving theirs away as a sign of goodwill as the New Year began. The Ice Breaking had come and gone, and I was playing with a couple of children in the lake bed. Many adults watched us, as did a majority of my peers. Some were making fun of me for playing with the little kids, but kids are fun and I could take the jeering for now. We were playing tag, getting muddy as we did so since there were several times we all tackled each other.

It was when I'd lifted a young boy up and was swinging him around that I noticed Ruben leaning on a railing near the rink. He was looking ill and his eyes were staring at me dully, almost as if he wanted to be down in the pond bed playing and he knew he couldn't. I put the child down and smiled as they whined for me to keep playing with them.

"Maybe next time guys. I gotta' go." I told them. They looked ready to complain when I patted one on the head. "You're it." I whispered to him. He blinked at me, then grinned widely and took off after the others, causing them to scream, laugh, and run for it. *Sigh* How easily I am forgotten. I couldn't help but grin at them and shake my head before climbing out of the muddy pond bed. I walked over to the railing and watched as Ruben turned to greet me. Only, he nearly fell over. I caught him, trying to help him regain his footing.

"Ruben? You okay?" I asked him. He nodded and clung to the railing, nearly pitching over and I realized what was wrong. He was drunk, and by the look in his eyes, he was high as a cloud too. I sighed. "Come on. I'll take you home." He shook his head.

"No way." He slurred. "M'not goin'…" I looked heavenward for strength and sighed again.

"My house then. My folks will understand." I told him. Actually, I doubted they would, but they weren't going to be there till late and I was betting Ruben would either be passed out or gone by then. Ruben kind of glared at me for a moment, then allowed me to drape one of his arms across his shoulders and drag him away. Some ducks stared at us as I dragged him away from all the parties, but all together they ignored us and I was glad when we reached my house. Ruben wasn't exactly light on his feet right now…

The door swung open and made a loud thud as it ran into the sidewall. I wasn't even going to try and pull Ruben up the stairs now, so I dragged him past the living room/dining room, through the kitchen and into the guestroom. It was a weird place for a guestroom I know, but I'm still guessing that they felt the house would look better if they put something there. I dunno. The guest room wasn't that large, due to the fact that we had a pair of twin beds and a couple of dressers in there. I literally had to drag Ruben to the bed, where he plopped down like a sack of leaden grain and was immediately asleep. Passed out is more like it however… I watched him for a moment, a sick feeling settling in my stomach. I had to turn away then, and I walked over to the window to look outside. How many times had Ruben passed out in my house, and how long would it be before he took enough to be fatal? I looked back at my friend in worry, then shook my head and left the room. I knew avoiding the situation wasn't going to help, but what could I do? It wasn't like he'd listen to me.

I was beginning to feel frustrated, like I usually did when things seemed to be way too out of my control, so I went somewhere I knew I could think at. The roof over the guest room.

The New Day sky was clear and bright blue, almost as if the planet itself was starting anew. I had to smirk at that thought. Puckworld made new. Now that's something I'd like to see. What would it be like? A planet where none suffered? Where everything was safe and we could all life carefree without the help of drugs that would kill us in the long run, or would it be a land where all suffered? I had to stop at that thought. It was too morbid for my tastes and I assumed that it came from watching Ruben basically try to kill himself for his own sake. I sighed and closed my eyes, praying for my friend. I wasn't praying to anyone in particular, just to anyone who could hear me. Though I doubt anyone would answer.

I had fallen asleep after a while, only to awaken to a strange sound filling my ears. My eyes snapped open and I sat up to see fire in the sky.

"What the puck?" I asked in surprise. I stood and watched as several fireballs fell like hard rain and felt panic grip me. What was going on? The fires grew in size, then suddenly died out leaving behind strange rocks(?) in their place. They were red in color, black markings on their twisted frames. I then realized what they were. Ships. From space. It had to be. They grew in size as they fell, more fireballs turning into ships following, and then suddenly changing shape. I cried out as one flew right over my house, the wind tossed from it catching me and throwing me from the roof. I cried out as I hit the ground hard, something snapping in my chest. I heard another strange sound, I couldn't really describe it at the time, but later I learned the hard way what it really was. Laser fire. Those ships were shooting at my people! I heard screams of pain and fear fill the air, and more sounds of firing.

"Ruben!" I tried to call his name, but my voice seemed weak and it only caused me pain. The sounds of the ships rockets were burning in my ears, and I knew they were landing. My vision was beginning to blur when I heard a crunching noise, of someone walking in the snow. I turned my head as much as I could and my breath caught in my throat. Before me stood a strange creature, his hands and feet clawed. He had no feathers, only scales and I realized immediately that he was of a reptilian race. He stood tall, if I'd been standing he would had dwarfed me, his yellow eyes staring down at me as his tail flicked from side to side and smoke billowed from his nostrils. He licked his scaled lips, his eyes boring into mine hungrily, insanely.

"My, you look good enough to eat." He purred darkly. I stared at him wide-eyed, the world beginning to spin as my breaths came in painful gasps. The creature before me raised a scaled hand and I gasped as I came off the ground. He… he'd lifted my off the ground without even touching me! I looked at him, twisting as much as I could without hurting myself anymore. Oh stars… Ruben! I prayed this creature would not find him, but deep down I realized that it did not matter. This thing would probably ransack my house once he was done with me! What looked like black flame danced off the creature's body and I gasped painfully, fearfully, as I was brought closer to it.

"What are you?" I asked hoarsely. The creature before me began laughing almost insanely.

"I, my dear little morsel, am a Saurian elite! And you are today's first meal!" he claimed. I tried to struggle and could only gasp in pain from my chest. I guessed then that I'd broken a rib or two in the fall, but that really didn't matter right then. I was about to be reptile food!

"Hey! Let him go!" The saurian paused, then cried out as a metal pipe connected with his head. I dropped to the ground and cried out painfully. Yep, something was definitely broken. A pair of hands lifted me off the ground and I hissed in pain, then opened my eyes.

"Ruben! You're awake!" I exclaimed happily. Ruben merely nodded and began running, pulling me along.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here." He told me. I nodded and limped along next to him, black haze still trying to conquer my vision.

"How long have you been up?" I asked him weakly, feeling nauseous and weak.

"A while. You were asleep on the roof when I got up." Ruben told me. I didn't exactly feel like waking you… HEY!" I fell to the ground with a cry when Ruben was suddenly lifted away from me, and I turned only to cry out in alarm.

"RUBEN!" he was struggling in the air, that stupid saurian using its strange power to hold my friend in the air. "RUBEN!!"

"RUN DRAKE! GET OUT OF HERE!!" Ruben shouted at me.

"You stupid duck. You will pay for what you've done to me!" the saurian snarled angrily, stomping over with a hand on the back of his bleeding head. Or, I guess he was bleeding. A greenish black slime was oozing over his hand and gliding easily down the back of his neck.

"I doubt that." Ruben snapped, making me wonder if he was crazy as he fished through his pants pocket, pulling out a knife. I stood, making to get away when I realized more saurians were coming, all of them different in stature and looks, but they all had the same hungry and insane looks in their eyes, drool falling from their mouths to the ground. Fear grabbed hold of me and I wished to either flee or pass out before they could get me. "D**** DRAKE! GO!" I looked at Ruben and then at the saurians, wondering how I was supposed to escape. I cried out as the five surrounding us suddenly lunged, and it took me a moment before I realized they weren't after me. As one they attacked their own, the saurian screaming in both rage, pain and fear of his own kind. Ruben dropped to the ground and we both stared in horror as the Saurians ripped one of their own apart, eating him alive.

"Oh stars…" Ruben gasped, scooting back on his backside before standing and grabbing me by the arm. "Run Drake!" he shouted at me, pulling me along as he took off in between the houses, still hearing the hungry snarls and cries of pain from the saurians.

"Those things are monsters!" I cried as I saw a few other ducks running as well, some crying in fear, some screaming, others just hauling tail.

"Where did they come from?" Ruben asked, stopping and pulling me up as I stumbled. I was having trouble breathing, and my sight was wavering.

"I dunno." I managed to say. Then I cried out as a saurian barged through to the street we were running in, attacking all of us and grabbing a duck in his jaws. The duck screamed once, then was silent as life left him. The saurian kneeled on his haunches and began eating noisily. Ruben dragged me as he fled only to scream as a saurian leapt out in front of us and slapped him away.

"RUBEN!" I cried. Then I cried out in pain as the saurian slapped me away. I hit the side of a house and slumped to the ground. The last thing I heard was Ruben's cry of pain before I lost consciousness.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"How many dead? Do you know?"

"Too many to count sir. I'm sorry, but I have a feeling that we're all that's left."

"No. I refuse to believe that. Others had to have survived! Can we send out another group?"

"I wish we could sir, but those creatures, the saurians, are starting to rise again. Seems they're growing hungry once more." A stifled curse reached my ears, as did the sound of others ducks either speaking softly or moaning in pain. I inhaled deeply, a dull pain coming from my chest and reminding me that I had been injured. I felt movement beside me, and a hand rested on my shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" came a new voice.

"Is he waking up?" came another, the one who'd asked about sending another group. Another group of what? To where? A hand rested on my forehead, then moved to be replaced with a cool cloth.

"His fevers still up. He should be alright." The voice that had asked if I was okay came again.

"I hope so. Take care of him Max. And if he does come to, ask him how he survived. I have other matters I must attend to."

"Yes sir Captain." I could only wonder what those two were talking about. So I'd survived. Great, but where was Ruben… and where were my parents? I struggled to open my eyes, but it was too much of an effort and I fell asleep again, wishing for answers.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The second time I came to I was able to wake up fully, only to see that I was in some strange room with empty beds. The walls were made of rock, the beds actually army cots with blankets and stiff pillows. The one under my head wasn't that bad though, and I wondered if I was just being given extra treatment or something. I looked around and saw an IV in my arm, the clear bags hanging over my head from a metal hook in the rock wall. For a moment I kind of wondered how they'd gotten the hook to go into the rock when another thought hit me. Ruben. Where was he? Frantically I looked around, but I was the only one in the room. Where was my friend?

"So, you finally wake up do you?" I turned at the unfamiliar voice to see a gray-feathered mallard standing in the rocky doorway. His face was tired but his eyes were dancing with what seemed to be joy. "Thank goodness. We'd almost lost you there a couple of times." He told me.

"Who… who are you?" I asked him, my voice sounding weak and husky and the energy it took to talk draining me.

"My name is Dr. Alfred Wingheight." The duck told me, walking over and checking the bags over my head. "But don't worry about me right now. You just rest for a moment. You've been through a lot." He told me. He then looked down at me carefully. "But still, I'd like to know. How did you survive that saurian?" he asked me. I looked at him, confused and my head starting to swim.

"Huh?" I asked.

"We found you two days after the saurians attacked. You were lying in some mud near what used to be a house. There was what was left of a saurian laying near you. It was like the other saurians didn't even see you!" He told me, his voice carrying the sound of awe in it. "How did you do it? How did you kill that saurian? How did you survive?" he asked me quickly.

"I didn't kill a saurian." I mumbled wearily at him. I raised a hand to rub my eyes then looked at him. "My friend, he was with me when I was attacked. Did you find him? Is he okay?" I asked worriedly. Dr. Wingheight shook his head at me.

"You were the only one we found that close to the inner city." He told me gravely. I looked at him for a moment in disbelieving silence, then sighed as sleep started to take over.

"My parents…"

"Tell me your name son, and I'll see if they're here." I heard his voice say kindly from what seemed to be afar.

"Drake. Drake DuCaine." I whispered. Then I fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I wish now that I'd never woken up that day. I wish that whatever had saved my life had just left me and let me die at the hands of that saurian. I wish those saurians had never come to Puckworld! But wishing doesn't make anything happen, running out and playing hero with death trailing after you in the form of some mad reptilian creature looking for some way to fill its large belly is supposed be the way you make things happen. But I don't believe it. Too many have died since that day. Since that fateful New Day so long ago. I was right. New Day really was a new beginning for Puckworld, but in a bad way. Now we all live in fear. Now we all hide in the mountain range that over looks what's left of the city, where it's too cold for those sorry saurians. Now, we hide in shame and never go topside. Too many have died for 'the cause'. And I wonder bitterly, what kind of cause is so great that you forfeit life so easily?

In the three years that I have been here, I have never gone topside. I haven't the heart for it. I hide with the others, cursing my own existence and wondering why. Why out of all these, did I survive? Why not my parents? Why not Ruben? He was brave, he would have rallied the people and driven those sorry reptiles away years ago! Why did I survive when surely I should have been killed? What is so important about me?

As I sit on my bed I watch as the others hiding in this old mountain base wander back and forth, some eyeing me worriedly, some offering me food that I ignore, and others just ignoring me. There are only forty left of us, and sometimes I wonder if that old general that had once been in charge had ever been right. Were there others alive out there? If so, where were they? I miss that old guy. He was a great duck, but in the end it didn't matter. One day he and five others left, two days later only one came back. The others were dead and he joined them not three days later. My people are dying, the saurians have won. And as I think of this I wonder. Where have you been Great Spirit? If you are truly among us, why did you leave us in our hour of need? Whose side are you on anyway?

I give up asking and lay down, rolling over onto my side and ignoring the pain of hunger my stomach sends to me. I know I should eat, but what's the point? We're all going to die anyway. I just wish these people would give up on me and let me die. I'm sick of waking up. I'm sick of trying. I'm sick, of believing… And with that last thought, I drift away into what I hope is oblivion.

TBC

***

Sorry that this has taken so long folks, but this was something I was having trouble with because… it's my take on Drake DuCaine. I'm taking from my series and no this isn't the last story I wanted to do for the series, in fact, this was actually just something on the side that I am really having fun playing with. I think I'm treading in uncharted territory, and if I am… COOL! I'm sorry it's short, but it'll will get longer sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, when I have time to give you all more. I hope you have enjoyed Part One, and be prepared, Part Two is hiding somewhere in the shadows of my mind and will be soon arriving. ^-^ Till then… Tootles!

***

Mighty Ducks belongs to Disney, and I'm just borrowing them. Hopefully those people don't mind but if they do… SORRY!! I'm having fun!