Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks. I only wish I had thought of them first…

Italics indicate character thought.

Thanks for all of the super nice reviews! I fixed the jersey numbers. How weird of me to forget. Guess it's been a while since I watched any of the movies! You guys make me feel great about my writing, by the way, so thanks!

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"Uuuh." Beau felt the breath rush out of her as someone, Callan she thought, checked her hard into the wall. She had been hit hard so many times at the first practice that she was starting to lose track of exactly who was slamming into her. She took a deep breath and pushed off of the glass and moved back towards center ice. This was what the pre-season was. You skated long, you skated fast, and checked hard. You couldn't put stress like that on your bodies as the season got closer and when you had games during the week. This was the time for conditioning.

"Again!" Neumann strode across the ice, his voice raised. "I want to see those checks again. You need to hit hard and hit solid and be off and moving again. Beat your man to the puck!" He surveyed his team, and then pointed out the biggest member of the team. "Caden! Run the gauntlet."

Caden Pool pulled his chin strap a little tighter and moved to the end of the rink. He waited a beat for the rest of the team to line up along the center and then started skating fast along the wall. One by one each member of the Wolfpack moved in on him and hit him hard. He reached the end of the line and Coach clapped loudly.

"Good! Better!" He pointed at another player. "Averman. You're up!"

Averman repeated the process and Coach Neumann was even more pleased. He pointed at the next player in line. "Mayland!"

Beau shrugged, popping her shoulders, and started to move fast and low. She was hit first by Jesse Hall and she was glad that she was wearing a mouth guard. Man that kid can hit. Her teeth rattled again as she was checked by first Guy and then Banks. Geez. Bombay trained these guys right.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and saw Riley closing in. She squinted in anticipation and then frowned when he barely hit her and then took off towards the goal. Whatever. Again, she expected a hit from Dave Lawrence and what she got was a tap. She bit down hard, grinding her teeth. This is unbelievable. But this time, Neumann had seen it too.

"Lawrence! What the hell was that?" He walked over. "Do it again, son."

Beau backed up and prepared to skate past again. This time Dave's hit had just a little bit more punch behind it. Great. She felt her blood pumping and her temper rising. As she kept moving, she willed Tommy Lex to hit her. To really check her as hard as he could. He barely even touched her. That's it! Beau slid to a halt and yanked her helmet off, nearly taking her hair with it.

"That's it!" She threw her stick down to the ice with a slap and her gloves followed. "What Lex?" She moved towards him and he looked at her, bored. "You can't hit a girl?" He simply cocked an eyebrow. Seething at his indifference she rounded on Dave. He dropped back a foot. "Dave? You? Scared to hit a girl?" He mumbled something softly and glared up at her from hooded eyes. She skated within inches, her eyes just barely below his.

"What was that Lawrence?"

He looked her directly in the eye. As he opened his mouth Riley skated in from the side. "He said, he's not scared to hit a girl."

Oh that's it. Beau felt her face grow hot and the hair on her neck prickle. She turned slightly to face Riley and out of the corner of her eye caught the rest of the team staring at her in shock. "You're not scared?"

He stared her down. "No."

She raised her voice to a powerful yell. "Then hit me! Because I'm going to hit you." She reached out with her bare hands and shoved him in the chest, knocking him back a foot. She advanced on him, her voice getting even louder. "I am going to hit you…" she shoved him again. "Every…" and again. "Chance…" again. "I…" harder this time. "GET!" She reached her skate around behind him and swept it up under his ankles, pulling his leg out from under him and landing him on his butt. She stood over him and looked down, glaring. "Jackass."

She had finally pushed him past his limit and Riley reached out with his hand and hit the back of her knee hard, bringing her down. She slammed a punch into his side, knowing he didn't feel it with the thick pads for protection. Damn, but if it didn't feel good.

With Beau's punch, Banks and Charlie shook themselves from the daze they had been in. They started to move in on the pair, but Coach Neumann held up his hand. "Let them work it out."

Riley shoved Beau hard, pushing himself up to his hands and knees. He had his fist up in the hair to punch her back, but stopped himself just inches short. "Shit."

Beau was breathing hard and could feel wild strands of her hair sticking to the sides of her face. Oh, geez. "Go ahead. Hit me Riley. I deserve it."

Riley simply shook his head and lowered his face. "This is crazy. I'm not going to hit you."

She rolled her eyes again. "Right. I should have known this would happen. A bunch of idiot guys who think a girl shouldn't be here." She gestured around to Germaine and Hall. "They hit me." She laughed. "I guess they aren't big pussies like you though. Some senior."

Riley bared his teeth and looked ready to scream. Just as he opened his mouth to retort Neumann realized this was going nowhere and stepped in. "Alright. That's enough. Everyone hit the showers." He looked down at Riley and Beau. "I'll see you bright and early in the weight room."

Beau drug herself up from the ice and had her hand on her stick when she heard Tommy behind her. As he skated past he kicked her gloves across the ice and out of her reach. "Bitch." She was after him in a heartbeat and was close to catching up with him just as he hit the tunnel towards the locker room. She was ready to follow him when she was grabbed hard from behind. She wheeled on Guy, Jesse, and Averman. Guy spoke softly.

"He is so not worth it, Mayland."

Her voice raised a notch as her emotions reached their breaking point. "Is this how it's going to be all season?"

They looked at her, unsure, and were only able to shrug.

"Arrrgh!" With a sound of anger and defiance Beau shoved them off of her and kicked the boards hard. She made her way to the girl's locker room, slamming the door so hard behind her that it shook the floor.

Goldberg skated up. "So, note to self. Don't mess with the angry girl."

"Very sensitive, Goldberg." Banks slapped him lightly on the back of the head before looking back over his shoulder. He smiled when he saw Charlie picking up Beau's forgotten gloves. "Let's go, Conway."