Wildwing passed the puck to Canard, who skated with it to the goal and took the shot. Unfortunately, he missed because the puck bounced off the edge of the goal.
Canard sighed but Wildwing skated over and patted his shoulder. "That was good, Canard. It's slow, but the progress of getting your skill back is coming along."
"I know." Canard agreed, his shoulders still slumped a little, "It's a little frustrating I can't seem to get one goal in at least."
"Let's take a break, maybe get something to eat?" Wildwing suggested feeling rather peckish.
Canard smiled a little. "Sounds good to me." Wildwing and Canard set their sticks to the side and changed out of their equipment. They headed back to the base and into the kitchen to see Grin and Nosedive arm wrestling. Clearly, Grin was winning as Nosedive was struggling.
"What's going on?" Wildwing asked.
Duke, who was watching this with a stopwatch in his hand, answered, "I made a bet with Nosedive. He said he could beat Grin in arm wrestling in three minutes, and if he didn't, he's buying us lunch." He then looked at Nosedive and said, "Thirty seconds left, Dive."
Nosedive flexed the muscles in his arm, sweat beaded his forehead. He pushed with all his might, but Grin pushed back and soon enough Nosedive's hand feathered the surface of the table.
Wildwing and Canard watched in pure astonishment, both knowing Dive didn't stand a chance but his determination was inspiring. Nosedive sighed in defeat and Duke laughed triumphantly. The victory didn't last very long as the alarm sounded through the base. The men hurried to the main room where Tanya and Mallory were already at Drake One.
"What's up, Tanya?" Wildwing asked.
"There's a hostage situation at Stanford University." Tanya replied.
"And apparently, the creep who's doing it wants the Mighty Ducks to show up and make the negotiations." Mallory added.
"Is this normal?" Canard asked.
"Honestly, it's a first. No one would ever try this. Except maybe Dragaunus." Wildwing said.
Wildwing shifted into his gear, everyone else following suit except for Canard.
"Come on, let's go see what kind of negotiations Dino breath has for us." Wildwing said heading for the Aerowing.
Canard wanted to join them but he didn't have any gear despite being healed up.
Nosedive looked back to Canard and thought for a moment.
"Don't worry, Canard. We'll get you some armor when we get back!" Nosedive assured him. "And then you can help bust up old lizard lips!"
Canard smiled and nodded his head at Nosedive's suggestion before Nosedive followed everyone else and took off in the Aerowing.
-\-
The ducks landed the Aerowing and arrived at Stanford University, where the police and reporters were already there. Captain Klegghorn, who was in the area at the time, was the first to greet the ducks with a woman with long brown hair, a lab coat over her business attire.
"Captain Klegghorn, what's the situation?" Wildwing asked.
"A serious hostage situation, Professor Stephanie Davis here was talking with a new female student to the university, when some creeps in red armor busted in and threw her out but took the student hostage." Klegghorn explained. "Great way to spend my holiday if you ask me." He mumbled that last part.
The professor greeted the Mighty Ducks. "I apologize for all this. I have no idea who these people are or what they want. But they kept demanding to speak with the Mighty Ducks."
"Mighty Ducks at your service" Nosedive bowed.
"Red armor? We're they robotic or knight looking" Wildwing inquired.
"It looked like armor, knight armor I mean." Professor Davis stated.
"It's that guy…" Wildwing mumbled. "Alright, let's move in." Wildwing led the team through the doors of the university. The halls were empty. Not a sound besides footsteps from the ducks walking in was heard. Duke then noticed on a nearby bulletin board fliers and papers burned to a crisp.
"Oh it's him alright." Duke stated.
"Help! Someone, help!" The ducks heard the voice of a young girl screaming.
"It's coming from over there!" Mallory pointed out as the team hurried towards the gymnasium of the school. The door to the gymnasium was locked but Grin punched down the doors with ease.
"Nice job, Grinster!" Nosedive commented before the ducks saw a blonde girl tied up to a chair in the middle of the gym. Wildwing and ducks hurried over to the girl. Duke immediately began untying her.
"Are you OK?" Wildwing asked.
"Yes. I'm fine." The girl replied. But just then fire walls appeared in front of all the exits to the gymnasium and 30 rune circles appeared and summoned Rune Soldiers, ready for combat.
"Greetings, duck." Said a calm voice, and out stepped the sharply red dressed man with magenta hair. He was poised at the front of the soldiers. There was a glint in eyes obscured by his glasses. "Very good of you to come, now let us discuss what I want in exchange for the girl."
"Forget it, freak!" Mallory said, readying her weapon.
"My name is Ryan, actually. Ryan Blaze. No need to be so rude, Miss Mallory." He said.
"We don't care about your name." Wildwing stated. "What do you want?"
"I want the mask." Ryan stated back.
"Hasn't Dragaunus learned his lesson the last time he tried to take the mask?" Mallory said, her weapon still raised.
Wildwing folded his arms, "The mask is useless to you, it only works on ducks."
"My own Lord has…ways of making things work the way HE wants them to work." Ryan said, adjusting his glasses. "Now, give me the Mask. Or you're all going to experience severe burns. Including that innocent young lady." Ryan showed a fireball in his hands. Wildwing hated to admit it, but he knew they couldn't fight back. He had hoped they could grab the girl and run…but that wouldn't be the case now, so he reluctantly took off the mask. The rest of the team gasped at his action.
"Bro, what are you doing!?" Nosedive yelped.
Wildwing looked at him, forlornly, "My job as leader is the safety of this team and innocents," he began walking over to Ryan, "and I'm just fulfilling that."
Wildwing handed Ryan the Mask and Ryan gratefully took it.
"I'm glad you see the reason in this, Wildwing." Ryan smiled before saying, "Chameleon, you can stop acting, we're done here." The young girl began to snicker before shapeshifting into Chameleon and the ducks backed away from him.
"Heh, great disguise, huh?" Chameleon chuckled.
"You liar!" Wildwing shouted at Ryan, who jumped back to his Rune Soldiers.
"Rune Soldiers! Attack!" Ryan ordered and the Soldiers charged forward. The ducks began fighting back as best as they could, of course it would be rather futile. Mallory, however, socked Chameleon in the face when she got close to him. Wildwings mind ran rampant. For one, he was angry for not suspecting Chameleon and two, he tried to think of ways he could get his team out of there. He wanted to recover the mask, but he couldn't endanger his team, as these soldiers were impenetrable to most of their attacks.
Ryan backhanded Wildwing while he was thinking of a way to get out of this situation. Wildwing fell to his back and Ryan stepped on his chest to keep him down.
"Wildwing!" Nosedive called out but got burned slightly on his arm by a Rune Soldier.
"You know, I was thinking of killing you quick and easy," Ryan said to Wildwing before taking his foot off the duck, "but I think it would be far more enjoyable to have you die slowly, painfully, and alone." Ryan suddenly pointed his wristwatch at Wildwing and a dimensional gateway opened beneath him. Wildwing screamed as he fell through and the portal closed seconds afterwards.
"No!" Nosedive and Tanya called out as they saw Wildwing fall through the gateway. Ryan smiled before hurrying to Chameleon and getting him up.
"Let us go." Ryan said. "We have what we need."
"What about the ducks?" Chameleon asked.
"Don't worry. My Rune Soldiers can stay active without me in an area for thirty-five minutes. Even if the ducks last that long, they won't be able to battle for a while." Ryan assured Chameleon. The green Saurian laughed before he and Ryan teleported away, leaving the ducks to fend for themselves.
The ducks grouped up. "This…" Nosedive paused as the soldiers marched closer, "…is gonna get real ugly." He gulped.
-\-
Wildwing's vision was blurred with amaranth and purple. He landed not so gracefully on the harsh ground. Wildwing closed his eyes, sitting up he rubbed his head as the world came back. He opened his eyes and gasped at the sight before him.
A city in complete ruins, grey clouds billowed about, the structure of the city completely alien to him. Wildwing stood up and tried to scan the area with the Mask only to remember he didn't have it on. Wildwing sighed before looking around. There was no one around here it seemed.
"Are you here to save us, sir?" Wildwing looked behind him to see a little boy with gray colored skin, pointed ears and insect-like eyes. His clothes were torn and tattered in places and he had messy brown hair.
"What? What did you say?" Wildwing questioned.
"Are you here to save us?" The alien boy asked again. "You fell from the sky, are you an angel of some kind?"
Wildwing wasn't sure how to respond, but he could use some knowledge of where he was and the danger he was in. "Save you from who?" He questioned.
"The Rune Soldiers." The kid answered. "The one sent by a man called Ashebridge."
"?! Ashebridge…?" Wildwing repeated. However, before he could get more answers, it seemed the alien child's mother came running and shouting in a foreign language to him. She picked up her son and dashed away in fear of Wildwing. However, the alien boy looked at Wildwing one last time and pointed at something behind the duck. Wildwing looked behind to see a large mountain, towering over the city.
"Maybe this Ashebridge lives up there…" He mused. But his musings would be cut short, he wondered if he could find a way home. Wildwing hoped his team was ok. He would even take them being captured then return home to charred remains. At least the latter gave him a chance to save them. But someone needed to try and help the people here, but what could he do? The armored Rune Soldiers seemed to have no weakness, but it was against his nature to just let innocents be helpless.
"Maybe I can get answers here about those soldiers…" Wildwing wondered out loud. But then, he caught sight of fresh smoke willows over a few buildings. Wildwing dashed over to where the smoke was coming from. He came to the sight of an alien family watching their home being burned by two fire Rune Soldiers.
"Hey!" Wildwing called out, gaining the Soldiers' attention. He fired two pucks at the soldier and luck was on his side as it knocked away their weapons. The alien family hurried and ran away from what could break out into a fight.
"You shall pay for your interference." One Rune Soldier said. This surprised Wildwing. He didn't remember the other Rune Soldiers talking or showing any emotion as such. Wildwing didn't have time to think though as the Soldiers grabbed their weapons and attacked Wildwing, who dodged their attacks. There were only two of them this time, so it wasn't as hard as before.
However, Wildwing didn't realize he was being observed from the shadows as the fight went on.
Wildwing couldn't waste too many pucks on the knights as he was aware it didn't make too much of a dent, he looked at his surroundings. Perhaps he could find some use in them. Wildwing grabbed a nearby broken pipe and was able to block an incoming attack from one soldier and pushed the Rune Soldier into the other one, making them drop their weapons again. The two collapsed on each other and Wildwing, acting fast, grabbed one of the lances and jabbed it into both Rune Soldiers. The soldiers fell in defeat before turning to ashes. Wildwing panted before the lance in his hands turned to ashes as well.
"Well, maybe that's ONE way to get rid of them…" Wildwing thought out loud. He was interrupted by the sound of slow clapping coming from behind him. He turned around to see a human woman, around the age of 28. This woman was wearing a pair of sunglasses she immediately took off to reveal her light blue eyes. She had dark brown hair that covered the left side of her face and wore neutral colored makeup with red-colored lipstick. She wore a black and gold choker around her neck and a short, off the shoulder black cape that was red on the inside and had a red brooch in the middle. She wore a fancy dark gray long sleeved blouse that was also cut off at her shoulders and black gloves on her hands. There was golden embroidery at the bottom of her blouse with mini red gemstones on it, and she wore black legging pants with a miniature leather bag strapped to her left thigh.
"Who are you?" Wildwing asked as he saw the woman.
Her white boots clicked on the concrete as she walked towards Wildwing. "You're putting on…quite a show, little hero." She stated.
Wildwing eased his posture but still kept his guard up. "That didn't answer my question." Her fashion style was richer than the few aliens he's seen, not to forget she was a human. The woman looked at Wildwing with a seductive grin before taking out a coin and flipping it in the air. She caught it between her pointer and middle finger and then threw it towards Wildwing. Wildwing moved out of the way just in time and immediately thought she was an enemy, until he heard something collapse behind him. Wildwing turned to see a different type of Rune Soldier was going to attack him from behind and was taken care of by the coin the woman threw and turned into ashes like the other two. Wildwing was surprised that a single coin was able to take out one of those soldiers.
Suddenly, the woman wrapped her arms gently around Wildwing's shoulders and she whispered to him, "You're gonna have to better than that to earn a tip, my dear."
Wildwing immediately spun out her grasp and looked at the woman like she was crazy, but she just crossed her arms and smiled at him. Wildwing was getting fed up with the coy answers. "I don't have time for this." He said and began to move past her, as much as he'd like to get answers to his questions, she didn't seem willing to give them. He was just going to have to find someone who would.
The woman didn't stop Wildwing from walking past her. But as he walked by, she said, "You're a spitting image of DuCaine, you are."
That made Wildwing pause before looking back at the woman and asked the question again, this time more sternly, "Who are you?"
"Me?" The woman asked as if she was accused of something. "I'm just an innocent little girl. Lost in a wonderland." She walked around Wildwing and did a little spin on her toes before facing the duck again. "Suffering at the hand of the corrupt Queen and her evil, trumped-up troops."
Wildwing rolled his eyes. "Very funny." He said with sarcasm.
The woman decided it was time to stop playing games and answered, "My name is Crystal. Crystal LeDevon, and we both know you and I aren't from this planet."
"That's obvious. But…" Wildwing paused, where to begin? How does she know about DuCaine? Or… "Where are you from?"
"I'm from a planet that no longer exists." Crystal answered. "Your turn. Where are you trying to get back to?" She asked.
"A planet called Earth, though you know I'm not FROM there either, but…" Wildwing's neutral expression turned to worry as he said, "I need to get back to Earth, my team needs me!"
"Your team?" Crystal repeated. She looked Wildwing up and down before coming to a decision. "I'll make you a deal. I'm going to the peak of Mount Mutationes, I have something I need to do up there. At the peak, I can also summon a dimensional gateway to get you back to where your team is. However, you have to keep up with me." Crystal explained.
"Keep up with you?" Wildwing repeated.
"Of course. If you're able to keep up with me until we reach the peak, I'll send you back to Earth."
"And if I can't…keep up?"
"Then I'm afraid you'll be staying here until I come back to this planet in a year. So, what do you say?" Crystal asked with a grin.
Of course, if Wildwing wanted to go home, he would have to play the game. "Bring it." was his response. His muscles tensed as if he were ready to run.
Crystal smiled. "I like the enthusiasm you got there. Now, come along, little duckling." Crystal walked past Wildwing, confusing him.
"My name's Wildwing." He cleared up for her.
"And you'll earn your name when you become a man." Crystal said back. "Now, shall we?" Crystal turned back and gave a beckoning finger to Wildwing, motioning him to follow along before walking onward. Wildwing quirked a brow at this, but began the trek behind Crystal. He had to return to Earth one way or another, no matter how many hoops he had to jump through. He could only hope the gang weren't charred remains by now, his throat tightened up at the mere thought.
If anything happens to them I'll never forgive myself… He thought.
-\-
Crystal and Wildwing arrived at the mountain's base and just as Wildwing was about to ask how they were going to climb it, Crystal took out a card from the leather pouch attached to her thigh. As she dropped it to the ground, it grew in size and opened like a portal. Crystal took one step and dropped through it and then it closed automatically.
"Hey!" Wildwing tried to stop her but was too late.
"Up here!" Wildwing looked up and saw Crystal already at least five stories up Mount Mutationes. "You have five minutes to get up here, or else I'm going on without you." Crystal called to him.
Wildwing looked around and he saw some indents, so he began scaling with the indents. At least it gave him some edge but it wouldn't cut with his already short time. He almost fell but activated his skates and dug them into the mountain side, a little light bulb went off in his head at that moment. Crystal looked at a pocket watch in her hand and saw that a minute had passed. She looked back to see what Wildwing was doing. Wildwing grabbed one indent and threw himself to the other, latching his skates into the hard dirt and repeating the motion. It was a good thing hockey helped him build up stamina, but he could feel beads of sweat trickle down from having to use more upper body strength than necessary. Crystal smiled.
"Impressive…" She said as Wildwing made his way up. Soon enough, with a minute and eight seconds to spare, Wildwing made it up to where Crystal was.
"Not bad time." Crystal said, closing her pocket watch for the time being. "I'll add that to your next time so you'll have six minutes and eight seconds to reach me."
"N-Next time?" Wildwing asked, a bit out of breath. That's when Crystal did the trick again with the card and went through it to only appear five more stories above Wildwing on Mount Mutationes.
"You may want to be careful, though." Crystal called to him. "The higher we go, the more dangerous and rocky the mountain gets."
Wildwings brow knitted, he couldn't give up. His team needed him. With the thought in mind, he began climbing like before. However, this haste would lead him to almost fall again, while his skates caught him he could feel the rock was getting a tad tougher. But he wouldn't give up! He threw himself up to the ledge and eyed more potential indents, he noted how some rocks were a little sharper than others. Crystal simply watched. With two minutes and thirteen seconds remaining, Wildwing made it up to her again.
"You're really determined, aren't you?" Crystal asked, closing her pocket watch.
Wildwing panted, he wiped the sweat off his brow, "When it comes to my team, I have to do whatever it takes."
Crystal thought for a moment. "Alright, let's do it again."
"Wait what?" Wildwing was confused on why she was making him do this.
"We're barely there, little duckling." Crystal told him. "We have at least thirty more stories to go on Mount Mutationes." She did her trick again and disappeared up five more stories of the mountain. Wildwing sighed but began to climb again.
-\-
After fifteen more stories of climbing, Wildwing was feeling too tired to move when he reached Crystal again. He fell to the ground in exhaustion and breathed heavily.
Crystal looked him over and sighed. "Alright then, we'll rest here for the night." She then walked over to a nearby boulder and sat down on it. Wildwing turned over, his jumpsuit splotched to him. He knew he was going to reek in the morning. Wildwing wanted to sleep, the pangs of muscle fatigue rapturing him. He looked up at what was left to scale the mountain. Wildwing wondered what was up there that was so important.
Crystal flicked her wrist and a fire emerged in front of her suddenly. Wildwing was slightly startled by the sudden action but then looked at Crystal taking out a deck of cards from the pouch on her side and pulling one out before putting the rest back.
"Two of Cups, emerge." Crystal said and the card shined. Crystal reached her hand into the glowing card and took out one cup filled with water and then pulled out another one. She returned the card to her pouch before looking at Wildwing. "Come close to the fire, duckling, you'll catch a cold." She stated.
Wildwing tentatively crawled over to the fire and sat down crossing his legs, once his temperature climbed down he noted the air being a little colder then the smoldering humidity from earlier. "Thank you for the fire." He said calmly. Wildwing held his hands out to the fire, it's warmth oddly comforting. "It's funny, on Puckworld my kind should be used to the cold." He said before he shivered at the breeze that strummed his back. "Maybe being on Earth softened me."
"Here, drink this." Crystal handed Wildwing one of the fancy looking cups she had. Wildwing took it and it just looked like average water. Still, feeling extremely parched, he drank it and the water tasted delicious. It was unlike anything he'd ever drank before. Wildwing suddenly chugged the water down when the cup was finally empty.
"You'll regain your strength in the morning thanks to that." Crystal explained to him.
"Thanks…but how?" Wildwing asked.
"It's magic water." Crystal answered as she drank her cup full of water, but slowly.
Wildwing could feel slithers of it running through him. "I've seen my fair share of magic, but never in water or cards." He commented. He stared into the remains of water in the cup as the warmth licked at him from the flames. His gaze shifted back to the brown haired women. "You said you were familiar with DuCaine?"
Crystal set down her cup and smiled as she looked up at the sky. "I was indeed familiar with him. He was interesting, to say the least. Never a dull moment."
Wildwing became curious. "How would you have known Drake DuCaine? I thought he existed thousands of years ago."
"He did, and he…passed on like any other living being." Crystal replied.
"But what about you?" Wildwing asked. "Wouldn't you have passed on?"
"…I'm not like ALL living beings." Crystal stated before looking at Wildwing. "Duckling, do you believe in witches and such like that?"
Wildwing was silent for a moment, then he began, "I understand magic exists but witches or other kinds of magic users I have yet to meet…" He stretched his arms, "…aside from the guy in the red suit or Saurians."
"Well, you've just met a witch today." Crystal told him.
Wildwing looked at Crystal, confused on what she meant but then understood. "You're a witch?!" Crystal sighed before immediately flicking Wildwing's forehead faster than he could react. And it hurt. "Ow!" Wildwing held his forehead with his hand.
"Of course I'm a witch." Crystal answered. "Technically, I'm an Elemental Witch. My kind use the natural elements—earth, air, fire, and water—to fight or perform our arts. I, however, am a different case. I use elemental tarot cards to perform my magic."
Wildwing blinked, the pain dulling. From what he had witnessed this would be true. "So that's what you meant when you said you weren't from around here."
"Exactly." Crystal picked up her drink again and took a sip from it.
"Well, then what about DuCaine?" Wildwing asked.
There was silence for a while before Crystal sighed, "It's late. Get some sleep for tomorrow." Wildwing was about to protest but then Crystal said, "Your team needs you, don't they?"
Wildwing went silent, he decided not to force it. "Alright," Wildwing paused to try and get comfortable as he laid down, "I guess you should get some rest too." He said.
Crystal smiled. "I'll keep an eye for anything that might scare you in the night, little duckling."
"I'm not scared of the dark." Wildwing said. He peered over at Crystal one more time, "…Thank you again…for the hospitality." He cleared his throat as he closed his eyes, it would take a bit to properly drift off. The splintery ground not exactly being the most comfortable, coupled with sleeping in his battle gear, but he couldn't complain. Crystal waited until she knew Wildwing was asleep before taking out her pocket watch again and looking over it. She gave a small smile as she put it back in her pocket and closed her own eyes as well to get some rest.
-\-
The sun came over the horizon as Wildwing began to wake up. He sat up and stretched his arms over his head, suddenly feeling rejuvenated and full of energy, unlike yesterday after the climbs he had done. "I guess she was right about that water after all." Wildwing said to himself.
"Ready to get to the peak?" Crystal asked from behind Wildwing. The duck turned back to see Crystal with a card and her pocket watch out, ready to go.
Wildwing smirked and nodded, "Let's finish this!"
Crystal smiled back at him. And so began the next fifteen story climb up Mount Mutationes until Wildwing finally made it up to where Crystal was, at the peak. A few times he was close to not being able to beat five minutes or the extra time he was given and was afraid Crystal was going to actually leave, but Wildwing was able to keep up with her.
"Well done, duckling." Crystal said snapping shut her pocket watch.
"Thanks…" Wildwing breathed. He then noticed they came across a fork in the pathway. One went up further while one led down a simple path and into a cave.
"Come on, we're almost at the altar." Crystal said as she took the path that was going further up. Wildwing followed behind, his abdomen cramping and his breathing slowing down.
Wildwing looked at the other path, "What's down there?"
"It's where I go every year I come here. No need to worry about it." Crystal said dismissively.
The two of them arrived at the very peak of Mount Mutationes and there stood an abandoned arena-like altar. Crumbling pillars circled around it and the altar looked like it had seen better days.
"What is this place?" Wildwing asked.
"It was once an altar that belonged to the supposed 'god' of this planet, until the Saurian Empire had conquered it thousands of years ago. No one's been up here ever since." Crystal explained.
"Except you." Wildwing pointed out. "Why's that?"
"…Again, it's nothing to worry about." Crystal shrugged. That's when Crystal walked to the center of the altar and took out her deck of cards. All the cards began to float and started circling around Crystal and glowed. "King of Cups, King of Coins, King of Swords, and King of Wands—aid me in my task!" Crystal called out before the four certain cards flew out and the rest of the cards shuffled themselves back into Crystal's pouch.
Crystal touched the King of Coins and stones began to circle around her. Then she spun and touched the King of Swords and the wind whipped violently at Crystal's feet but she paid it no mind. Then came the King of Wands, and fire emerged at Crystal's fingertips as she spun again and finished up by touching the King of Cups, making water appear that circled around her like the stones.
Crystal began to dance as the four elements surrounded and embraced her. Wildwing couldn't help but watch in amazement as Crystal danced around the altar. He was mesmerized by her fluid movement and the elements that danced with her.
When Crystal came to the center of the altar, she threw up her hands and all four elements went sailing into the sky before coming back down and landing in front of her. Wildwing cautiously approached Crystal, as the elements before him formed a dimensional gateway.
"This is it, duckling." Crystal said before looking at Wildwing. "Your way back home."
Wildwing smiled, "Thank you." He paused as he walked up to the entryway, stopping and turned back to Crystal, "Do you think we'll ever meet again?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. I…" Crystal was interrupted by the ground shaking and her and Wildwing almost falling over. They turned back to the way they came in and saw a large shadowy figure coming towards them.
"A Rune Giant…!" Crystal realized.
"A what?" Wildwing questioned.
Crystal immediately turned back to Wildwing and said, "Listen to me, duckling. Rune Soldiers' weaknesses are on their backs. A small symbol is there—that is where you must strike and that is how you must defeat them!"
"What…?"
"You have to go now. Your team needs you." Crystal stated.
"What about you?" Wildwing asked.
"I have a fight to win." Crystal smirked before turning around, but Wildwing grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"I'm not leaving you alone with that thing!" He said.
Crystal paused. That sentence echoed in her mind. She smiled and exhaled through her nose. She turned back around to face Wildwing and reached to his face and lightly caressed it. "You really ARE a spitting image of him." She said, and she lifted her left leg and brought her foot up to Wildwing's chest and, with enough force, used her foot to push him through the gateway.
"No! Crystal!" Wildwing called out as he fell through.
"I'll see you soon, little duckling." Crystal said before the gateway closed completely. It was just as the Rune Giant, one of earth magic, had arrived in front of Crystal. It looked like a giant, completely made from boulders that had been glued together. Crystal used her magic to summon Two of Swords and looked at the Rune Giant. "I'm afraid I can't fight for TOO long. I have a schedule to keep AND some friends waiting up here for me." She then charged at the monster before her.
-\-
Back at Pond in Anaheim, the Mighty Ducks had survived the Rune Soldiers but were hurt. Not badly, but hurt nonetheless. Canard immediately asked what happened when they came back before he realized Wildwing wasn't with them.
"Where's Wing?" Canard asked.
Duke slumped over, "Gone. That magenta haired sicko sent him off through some portal."
Canard's pupils shrunk upon hearing this, he stuttered "No…what kind of portal was it? Was it a portal to dimensional limbo?"
"He said he sent Wildwing to a slow and painful death." Nosedive said before he paused. He then said with a determined expression. "Why are we just standing here?" He hobbled over to Drake One, "Let's find my big bro!"
"Nosedive, we don't even know where to look. He could've been sent anywhere!" Tanya said.
But just then a dimensional gateway opened behind the group of ducks and tumbling out of it came Wildwing. He fell to his back onto the floor just as the gateway closed. Wildwing groaned and rubbed his head as he sat up and looked around himself.
"Is this…?" Wildwing didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say because Nosedive had tackled him into a hug.
"I knew you'd be alright!" Nosedive smiled, the others crowded around Wildwing.
Wildwing looked at his brother and his eyes widened. "Di…Dive…?" He then looked at all the familiar faces in the room. "You're all…You're all okay!" Wildwing could feel tears forming in his eyes as he hugged his baby brother back. "How did you guys escape?" He questioned.
Tanya brushed off some soot from her shoulder, "We could ask you the same thing!
"It's a long story." Wildwing said. That's when Wildwing remembered what happened before he was sent off through the portal. "The Mask! Did you guys get it back?" He asked.
Unfortunately, his answer came in the form of his teammates' heads hanging in shame or upset expression on their faces.
"Oh." Wildwing immediately understood. "…Don't worry. What matters right now is that we're all safe, and alive. We'll get the Mask back." He promised.
Canard smiled at Wildwing's optimism, then his expression contorted into curiosity. "While we have a lot of answers to give, the biggest question I have is why would they take the mask?" Canard rubbed a hand through his head feathers, "it only works on ducks, it can't be of use right?"
"That guy did say his lord said he had ways of making things work the way HE wanted them to work." Duke remembered.
Wildwing stood to his feet and straightened himself out and looked at his team. "We'll just have to be ready for anything they throw at us. But for now, we should rest and regain our strength." Wildwing told his team. The rest of them nodded their heads in agreement.
"So where did you go, Wing?" Duke asked, curiously.
Wildwing let out a dry laugh. "I'll tell you about it later, but right now, I need to take a shower and rest." Wildwing excused himself as he walked off to do just that.
-\-
Crystal walked down the other path on the peak of Mount Mutationes, the one she told Wildwing not to worry about, after defeating the Rune Giant. She came into the cave and with a flick of her wrists and a snap, the torches in the small area were lit and in the center of the cave were five gravestones. Crystal approached the stones before kneeling down and putting her hands together in a prayer. Things were silent for a moment before Crystal spoke to one of the gravestones with a smile, "Hello, DuCaine. Something very interesting happened on my way up here…"
Co-Written with PurpleReign9000
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