Bwhahahahaha! I'm back. I'm so evil to make everyone wait, considering the fact that the story is completed and all. But then again it was evil to have my body taken over by bronchitus, bleh! How about you try taking two major finals while your under the weather? To stay some insanity to this chaotic world I decided to post this little diddy for everyone to know how, um, different I am. Sorry, it's the fever talking. I'll quickly post this and then be off studying HIV for the rest of the afternoon. Bleh!
General McMallard knocked at the Flashblade family home and waited for an answer. The door was soon opened by a male duck roughly sixty-five years of age and looked like an older version of Wildwing.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm General Mike McMallard, of the Puckworld military, and this is my wonderful daughter Mallory."
George nodded to Mallory. "Hello."
Mallory inclined her head, but did not speak.
"One of my soldiers was injured here today, how is he?"
"Nosedive? He's fine, in fact, he's my son," George beamed proudly. He had been expecting the three boys from earlier that day, not the General. The unexpected visit from the upper up made him somehow ten times more proud of Nosedive.
"Well, I'll be! You have a fine son sir."
"Thank you, I'm very proud of him. Please come in."
General McMallard took the invitation and entered the home, removing his hat in the process. George tried to take his and Mallory's jackets, but the General waved him off. "We won't be long."
George took it in stride and led the two through the house to the kitchen, where Nosedive still sat. His foot was still propped up and had a bag of half-melted ice lying on top of it. The swelling was starting to come down, but Dive was complaining that his foot was cold and how he wanted to put a sock on. George interrupted his meager whines by clearing his throat. "Everyone, I would like to introduce to you General Mike McMallard and his daughter Mallory."
"Mal?" Nosedive whispered looking up. She looked around her father and gave Nosedive a bright smile and his heart leapt for joy.
"Sargent Flashblade? How are you doing?" The General's thundering voice force him to look away from Mal and to his commanding officer. Dive saluted the General and stumbled over his words. "General? Sir?"
"How's your foot?" General McMallard asked, softer and with genuine concern.
"Better, Sir."
"I'm glad to hear it. I also hear that you found your family."
"Yes, Sir, I did. This is my father, George Flashblade and my mother, Anna Flashblade."
General McMallard nodded to the proud pair.
"And this is my Grandfather, whose hatching day is today. And that's my dad's brother, Uncle John and his wife, who is my moms sister, Aunt Heather."
"Very close nit family?"
"Uncle John and Aunt Heather have been married longer, but my parents knew each other longer, they met in high school."
"George!" Anna gave a startled cry.
"What?"
"Why didn't you offer her a chair?" Anna pointed at Mallory
"Huh?"
"Come here dear, please sit down," Anna spoke to Mallory.
Mal waved her off but thanked her for the offer.
"Please sit down, you shouldn't be standing."
"Here, Mallory, take my seat," Dive offered struggling to his feet.
"No, you sit down, come here dear."
"Sit, Mal, now!" Dive ordered. Mallory reluctantly took the seat Dive had previously been sitting in.
"Nosedive," Aunt Heather gasped. "Don't be rude." She scolded.
"Oh, Aunt Heather, it's all right."
"How so, smart mouth?"
"Um..." the moment turned awkward. All eyes were upon him. "Um everyone this is Mallory."
"We already know that dim bulb. She's the Generals daughter," Wind Shear mocked.
"My wife."
"Your married!" Anna felt a wave of dizziness and she nearly fainted on the spot. Her sister had to help her stay on her feet.
"And expecting?" George said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah," Dive laughed nervously and shrugged. "Surprise."
"George, don't look so surprised," Grandpa Flashblade laughed. "I knew one day that I'd be a great grandfather."
"Actually, you already are, Grandpa," Dive commented.
"Nosedive, dear," Anna spoke softly, regaining her composure. "Your wife has yet to bear the child, that is unless you already have a child."
"No, this is our first. I was speaking about"
The room fell silent waiting for Dive to finish his sentence. But the words would not come. He could not let them. He willed himself to remain calm to and to keep his composure. No matter what happened he was not going to tell anyone what really happened. All eyes were now on him waiting for an explanation. Suddenly Dive felt that he was in a room filled with strangers instead of family members he loved and knew so well.
"What, Dive?" he father asked. "What were you speaking about?"
"Nothing." Dive looked away.
"Wing," Mallory whispered, touching Dive's elbow.
"What about Wildwing?" Uncle John asked. "Is he still alive?"
Dive shook his head and tried to hide the tears that threatened to fall. "Nothing."
"Nosedive," Mallory said gently. "Did you tell them?"
"Tell us what?" George asked. He was desperate for information.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Divey, what are you not telling us? Is your brother still alive?" Anna asked.
"I said I don't want to talk about it!"
A dark space ship hovered over Earth's outer atmosphere glaring at the planet below. The helm was manned by a single grotesquely disfigured creature with fangs dripping with green ooze, bloodshot eyes, and gnarled hands. "This is it," he slurred in his husky baritone voice.
"Finally, check scanners for life signs," an authoritative female voice growled. She possessed the same husky rasping voice as the first, but she was definitely a soprano.
"I detect no Saurian life."
"We are too late!"
"Now what?"
"Find out what happened. Send out the drones and scout for information."
"What did you learn today in Sunday school kids?" Wildwing asked, looking in the rear view mirror at his children.
"We made flowers," Anna chimed happily.
"I played with dirt," Mac held out his dirty palms.
"Ewwy," Anna squirmed away from her brother.
"Dirty, dirty," Mac sang, waving his dirt stained hands in his sister's face.
"Daddy, make Mac stop."
"Children," Terry reprimanded from her front passenger seat.
"Mamma, what's for lunch?" Mac asked.
"Are you hungry again?"
"He always hungry," Anna smiled.
"Me tummy growling." Mac looked down at his stomach. "It say me want food'."
Wildwing chuckled. "Yup, sounds like Dive. Are you sure he's not my brother's kid?"
"Wildwing, I would never!" Terry gasped.
"I'm only kidding dear. Oh, listen it's the song." Wildwing turned up the volume on the radio and the family listened to the song.
The moment was custom made to order
I was riding with my daughter on our way back from Monroe
Like children do, she started playing twenty questions
But I never could have guessed one would touch me to my soul
The family was quite as the first verse to the song was sang, but as soon as the chorus came on the twins sang along:
She said
Daddy when we get to heaven Can I taste the Milky Way?
Are we going there to visit or are we going there to stay?
Am I Gonna see my Grandpa ? Can I have a pair of wings?
Do you think that God could use another angel,
To help pour out the rain?
Wildwing winked at Terry and sang the next verse. This excited the twins as they clapped happily in the back seat. At the stoplight he acted out the words. This brought laughter to his ears and more clapping, but this time from Terry, beside him.
Well I won't lie
I pulled that car right over
Sat there on the shoulder tryin' to dry my misty eyes
And I whispered Lord; I wanna thank you for my children
Cause your innocence that fills them often takes me by surprise
Again when the chorus came on the twins sang out and Terry joined the ensemble.
Like daddy when we get to heaven can I taste the Milky Way?
Are we going there to visit or are we going there to stay?
Am I gonna see my grandpa? Can I have a pair of wings?
And do you think that God could use another angel
To help pour out the rain?
The car fell silent again as Terry and Wing sang together for the third verse and the final chorus.
Well I thought about it later on and a smile came to my face
And when I tucked her in to bed I got down on my knees and prayed
Lord, when I get to heaven can I taste the Milky Way?
I don't want to come to visit cause I'm coming home to stay.
And I can't wait to see my family and meet Jesus face to face.
And do you think Lord you could use just one more angel
To help pour out the rain?
Hmm can I help pour out the rain...
The family finished the song together with their rendition of La da, da, da, de, de, de, de, deee, La da, da, da, de, de, de, de, deee.
"Report!"
"He met his doom on these cliffs. His body, along with his troops, were preserved in the crevice."
"What did you find?"
The disfigured Saurian frowned, causing his contorted features to enfold and indent into a horrifying expression.
"Gormegil, do not glare at me," warned the female saurian.
"Belegurth, I am not your lackey!"
"But an underling, none the less," Belegurth snapped.
"Do not"
"Do not contradict me!"
Gormegil grumbled his discontent under his breath and brought his findings up onto his view screen. "My analysis of the remains indicate that the cause of death was not due to a massive impact, though it did play a vital role in his demise."
"Was his death sudden?"
"I fear not. His remains were closely associated with a pool of his blood, long since oxidized by the environment."
"He bleed to death? Interesting."
"It was a very painful death."
"I'd imagine so. Painful and lonely."
"He deserved no less."
"I agree, but his death must be avenged. Who committed this murder?"
"Who else, Puckworld scum," Gormegil shrugged.
"We cannot take on an entire planet by ourselves. Even if we were crazy enough to, we would die in the act of such a feat."
"We don't have to, there are four ducks on this planet."
"How can four ducks defeat a powerful overlord such as Dragaunus?"
"Three of these ducks are too weak to do the job. The mallard had help. According to recent history records there were originally six, five of which left after they defeated our overlord and trusted troops. This remaining duck is an ambassador to this planet. The other three are his family."
"Family!" Belegurth scoffed with a snort.
"He was the leader of the force that destroyed our Overlord."
"Is he now?" Belegurth mused. "Then he shall have to be interrogated. Make ready! Our day just became a whole lot brighter.""And his a whole lot uglier," Gormegil laughed which came as a bubbling rumble of phlegm from his lungs.
Wildwing sat on the steps of the Pond, watching his children play on the playground that he had built out of two by fours and plywood. The slide and swings were purchased at a playground store. Anna gave a triumphant call before sliding down the slide and bowling over her brother, where he was standing at the foot. Wing shook his head as they took turns deliberately trying to injure the other. The last time he had interrupted their demolition frenzy, he had been the one to walk away bleeding and they pristine. The amazing thing about the twin terrors was their inability to seriously injure or maul the other.
Wing's com sprung to life, distracting his attention from his children's rambunctious antics. Wildwing, there's a phone call for you. Terry's voice spoke through the com link.
"I'll be right in."
Wing stood up and gave the twins one last look. They should be fine by themselves. He would only be gone a few minutes. They couldn't kill themselves in that amount of time. Or maybe not, they were, after all, fighting for position on the monkey bars as he left.
Mac swung his legs up, hooking them onto a nearby bar, almost kicking Anna in the face. "Me, Tarzan!" he shouted, pounding on his chest as he dangled upside down.
"You dummy."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
Anna grabbed the monkey bar nearest her and she began to swing back and forth. After picking up enough momentum, she threw herself at her brother, letting the bar go and body slamming Mac in mid air. She grabbed a hold of his swaying torso and did a few jumping pulls, in an effort to pull him from the bars. He screamed and bit her leg in an attempt to free himself from her clutches. Anna slid from his body and landed neatly on the ground. Her efforts were successful; Mac crashed face first in the tanbark. Anna laughed at Mac as his body collapsed flat on the ground. As he did so he made a funny noise as he exhaled his pent up breath. Mac collected himself on the ground as his sister capered about the playground.
Mac got his bearings together and looked around to find Anna. She was dancing her victory dance at the top of the slide. She always did her victory dances there. Everyone could see her from the vantage point, which humiliated him all the more. Mac turned to the stairs where Wildwing was sitting earlier. He had hoped to entreat his father to right the injustice done him, but his father was absent. He looked down; his spirit broken that he could not find justice for the crime committed against his personage. Then a smile crept across his young features. Justice was non-attainable, but revenge was just as sweet. Instead of attacking straight on, he had another approach. Anna would only slide down the slide if he came up the stairs and get away. She did not dare go down the stairs if he came up the slide. She would wait till he was close enough before kicking him in the face. His smile turned evil. He knew what he would do.
Anna continued to dance on top of the slide, unaware that her brother had run from the playground to the side of the Pond. There he found the sprinkler hose and he turned on the faucet. Mac intended on hosing his sister with freezing cold water. The mortification would be long lasting. He could practically hear her screaming as he doused her. Mac stood up suddenly. He had just turned on the water, but he hadn't turned the hose on Anna yet. That was puzzling. Why was she screaming? He turned to the playground equipment and to his horror saw the reason.
A grotesque figure, which he assumed to be a Saurian, towered over her at the top of the slide. The creature had his hands held above his head, displaying his razor sharp claws. His mouth was agape, deadly fangs exposed within. Anna screamed again as the monster attacked. Mac ran forward in an attempt to defend his sister. As the monsters' arms came down around Anna, she ducked and tumbled down the slide backwards. Mac shouted a victory call, alerting the monster to his presence. He smiled sinisterly and disappeared in a glow of green. Mac slackened his pace, still approaching Anna. She turned and gave him a smile and a thumbs up sign. She was confused when Mac froze in his tracks and pointed at her with a shacking hand. She turned back around just as two giant gnarled hands grabbed her and lifted her into the air. Anna screamed in terror and fought against the vice engulfing her body.
Anna's cry woke Mac from his trance of terror. He knew instantly what to do. Daddy had killed the other Saurians, all he had to do was tell Daddy and Daddy would save the day! Mac bolted to the Pond, the large Saurian menace stalked after him. Mac stopped short of the stair case when a pair of muscular scaly legs partially covered by a ceremonial Saurian sacrificial robe appeared in front of him from a green glowing ball. He looked up and found that the legs belonged to a female Saurian bearing yellow teeth that dripped with envy. "Come here twerp!"
Mac sprang into action, stomping on her foot as she reached down to grab him. She bellowed with rage as he ducked between her legs and ran up the steps to the safety of the Pond. Once inside, Mac did not stop running.
"What's wrong, Belegurth? The runt too tough for you," Gormegil laughed harshly.
"Shut up and get that one back to the ship."
"What are you going to do?"
"Finish up here." Belegurth narrowed her eyes as smoke erupted from her nostrils. She had plans for the one that got away.