"Whoa! Bro, what's that?" exclaimed Dive, pointing at their enormous ice rink.

"Are you talking about the rink?" asked Duke, confused.

Wildwing patted his brother on the back. "That's the Pond, Dive. It's our arena where we play hockey."

"Cool, can I try?" He flashed Wing a pair of big, blue eyes. "Pleeeease?"

"Well..."

"Oh great!" Mallory threw her hands in the air. "At this rate we'll never get to the mall."

Their girl's trip yesterday was put on hold for Phil's little photo shoot, then got interrupted by the Saurian's attack. Mallory had hoped that Canard would let her and Tanya take Kristy today, but then she had the accident and got amnesia. Now it looked like they were about to be side-tracked again.

"Chill Mal," said Canard, "we'll go right after this."

"Yeah, we just wanna see what the kid remembers," added Duke. With Dive and Kristy both out the team was down to six, just enough to play. They'd done it for the first year on earth, but after Canard showed up Duck had gotten used to having a sub. Besides, he liked playing forward alongside the kid.

"Hey Canard, do you think Tanya, Mal, and I could maybe go on ahead," suggested Kristy, "sort'a like a girls day out?" She lowered her head, stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, and looked up at him with sad, brown, puppy-dog eyes.

"I don't know..."

"Come on Canard. We'll, like, be with her the whole time," said Tanya.

"Nothing's gonna happen," promised Mallory, "it'll just be a normal mall-crawl."

"Fine, go!"

"Alright!" Kristy was running for the doors, then realized she didn't know where the mall was. She turned around and faced the other females with her hands on her hips. "Are you two coming or not?"

"Catch ya later!" called Mallory.

"Yeah, just call us or something so we can meet up when you get there," said Tanya, leading Kristy out of the building.

"So, how do we start?" asked Dive, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Oh boy, this is gonna be fun," commented Wildwing, leading him back to the locker room. He hadn't been able to out-skate his little brother for a long time. This was going to be good for an ego boost.

"This is sooooo cool!" exclaimed Dive, picking up a random stick from the rack and testing his grip. He frowned and set it down, picking a different one. The third stick he tried had a strange notch cut into the top of the blade.

"Sorry kids, that one's mine," announced Duke, taking the sick from the teen's hands.

Dive shrugged, "Too light..." He picked up another stick. "Nowthis one is good." Wing and the others stared at him in disbelief. That made Dive nervous. "What?"

"My friend, it seems your subconscious has remembered something after all," said Grin.

"Dive, you just picked your own stick," explained Canard.

"How do you know?" Dive frowned, "They all look alike."

Wildwing pointed to a mark on the flat edge of the stick's blade. The letters 'ND' were carved into the wood. "No one else would've made that," he said with a smile.

"Cool!" Dive pumped his fist in the air. "I knew I would remember something after Kristy rattled off all that medical stuff."

"But now's the real test," Canard opened a locker and threw a pile of padding and equipment at the teen. "Can you suit up?"

"Don't worry bro, I'll help you," assured Wildwing.

"Man kid, how can you find anything in here?" asked Duke, pulling his head out of Nosedive's locker, holding an empty pop bottle. "There's old food, half-empty pop bottles, a couple comic books,"

"Score!" Dive snatched his comic out of the grey duck's hands and started paging through it.

"...but no hockey jersey," finished Duke.

"Check in my locker," said Wildwing, trying to organize Dive's equipment.

"Found it!" announced Canard, tossing Nosedive the shirt, "But why was it in here?"

"I dunno, probably 'cause Dive ran out of space in his locker."

"I'm not even going to ask," said Duke, shaking his head.

Ten minutes later Grin, Duke, and Canard were skating around on the ice, waiting for Wildwing to finish tying Dive's skates.

"You can do this baby bro, just start slow and work your way up."

"Thanks Wing." Dive flashed him a small grin. "I bet it's been a while since you've had to tie my skates for me."

"Yo Wing! You done yet?" called Duke.

"Yeah, we're coming," replied Wildwing, "you ready?" he asked Dive.

"Always." They stepped onto the ice and Nosedive, living up to his name, executed an immediate nosedive. "Ow that hurt!" He stood up slowly, brushing the snow from his beak.

"Dive, you okay?" asked Wildwing, worried that the fall would scare Dive away from the ice, and hockey.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Dive, using the wall to hold himself up, "just lost my balance."

"Sure kid," Duke skated over to pry him off the wall, "but you need to find your balance first before you can loose it."

Dive rolled his eyes. "Any more helpful advice?"

Duke placed both their sticks on the ledge and skated backwards until he stood a few feet away. "Just put one foot in front of the other and push."

Dive took a tentative step away from the wall, and when he didn't fall face-first, pushed his right foot forward slowly. Without thinking, his left foot responded by automatically gliding forward. "What the?" Dive started to wobble, but a pair of strong hands caught him before he could fall.

He looked up bashfully, expecting to see Duke or the others laughing. Instead, it was Wing. There was nothing but pride in his brother's eyes. "Dive, that was great!" he exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you've defiantly got the right instincts," added Canard, "wanna try again?"

"Sure!"

Wing pointed him towards Grin, the large duck was waiting about a halfway down the rink. "I'll be right behind you, just take it slow."

"You got it bro," rhymed Dive.

Wildwing shook his head. "Move it, joke-boy."

Dive gave him a mock-salute and started down the ice. He started slowly, like last time, but this time he didn't think about what he was doing. Canard said I've got the right instincts, Dive told himself, I just need to let my legs do their thing. Before he knew it Dive reached Grin, but he didn't want to stop. The rhythm was enticing, and oddly familiar. He leaned to the left and felt his body glide in that direction.

"Wing! I'm doing it!" yelled Dive, picking up speed as he moved around the rink. This is something I can do! This is what I was born to do! I can remember! Partial memories of emotions flew through his head. Watching a young Wildwing skate down the street, longing to follow...Excitement as Wing pulling him along on the ice...The joy of scoring his first goal... feeling the texture of the ice through his skates...Being part of the team, belonging... breathing in the cool air of the arena...Slipping on his jersey with pride.

"He's doing it," whispered Wildwing, watching his brother.

"He's found his center," commented Grin, seeing the wide smile plastered to the young duck's face. It was an expression of pure joy.

"Amazing..." Duke was speechless as he followed Canard to the middle of the rink.

"Wing, are you seeing this?" asked Canard, voicing his disbelief. "Five minutes ago he was nosediving into the ice, now...well, just look at him!" Dive was practically flying now.

"I know," answered Wildwing, "it's great."

"So what're we waiting for?" asked Duke, "let's play some hockey."

"Hey Dive," called Canard, "wanna try skating with a stick?"

"Totally!" Dive skated over to retrieve his hockey stick, then out to the others in the middle. "So how does this game work?"

"Take this," Duke held up a puck, "and shoot it into that," he pointed to the far goal. Wildwing took his place between the pipes, "Just aim for me, bro!"

"But I thought I was supposed to get it into the net," argued Dive, "shouldn't I try to shoot it past you?"

"Don't get too cocky kid," warned Duke.

"Yeah, first you have to make it to the goal," added Canard, motioning for Grin to take his position as defense.

"Guys, isn't that a little much?" asked Wildwing.

"No prob bro," answered Dive, "I can handle it." Wing and Canard shared a look, they recognized his determination.

"'kay, let's go," Duke tossed the puck in front of Dive and let the kid take over.

He's still got his speed, thought Canard, watching him critically. Dive got control of the puck and maneuvered it beautifully down the ice. The thing is what he'll do against Grin...

That guy is huge! There's no way I'll get past him, exclaimed Dive's rational mind. But I've done it before," argued his newly awakened hockey senses. Dive kept a straight path, heading right for Grin, until the last moment, when Canard was afraid they'd crash, he swerved to the side.

He did it! cheered Wildwing silently. But the celebration was cut short as Dive pulled back, ready for his shot.

An immense sense of power surged through Dive's body, lighting it aflame. He felt his stick connect with the puck, and it was perfect! Watching the puck soar though the air he knew, before it reached the net, that Wing had moved an instant too late, it was a goal!

"Yes! That was so awesome!" exclaimed Dive, "Can we try it again? How 'bout we play a real game! What position do I usually play?"

His questions were cut off as Wing grabbed him in a huge bear hug, hard to do in hockey pads. "Dive you were great!"

"Wing, I scored! I scored!"

"I know Dive, you remembered!" said Wildwing, releasing his brother.

Duke whistled.

"Well done," congratulated Grin.

"He's a natural." Was all Canard could say.

"I love hockey!"shouted Dive, enjoying the sound of those words echoing through the Pond.