Nosedive's POV

It was decided that Canard, Mom, Frindel, Dirk, and my little sister, Snow, would come with us to Earth while Eianna, Airstrike, and the other orphanage workers would stay behind and watch the orphans, at least for the time being. Canard had acquired his own ship, so those who couldn't fit in the Aerowing rode in his ship. Since Wing and Canard had missed each other so much. Wing, Mom, Snow, Frindel and I would ride with Canard while Mallory flew the Aerowing.

We would follow behind the Aerowing, since the Aerowing had the gateway generator and would be opening up the portal.

Once we were fastened in, Canard asked us why we had to go back to Earth in the first place.

"I signed a contract!" said Wildwing. "I'm on a hockey team on Earth and I can't just quit."

"Besides," I added, "I've got a girlfriend, a band, and a CARTOON SHOW!"

"A cartoon show?" asked Canard.

"Shit," I said. "We need to meet up with our writer and tell him what all's been going on with us so he can make some new episodes."

"That's mainly your responsibility," said Wildwing. It's true. I worked very closely with Dave. I couldn't wait to tell him everything that had taken place in the last few weeks, but we'd have to be careful about how much we actually put in the show. We didn't need members of PPOF, the group that was trying to control America, coming and trying to take our new gateway genserators so they could conquer the universe.

"So," Canard asked Wildwing, "have you been faithful?"

"Of course!" my brother replied. "Dive's the one attracted to humans, not me."

"Hey Wingster," I said, "you're the one with a crush on Pete Burns."

"Nosedive…" Wildwing grumbled and Frindel giggled.

"Aw, don't lie! He spins you right round, baby, right round!"

Wildwing grumbled, "It' not like I've ever met him."

"You want to though! That's the way uh huh uh huh you like it!"

"Who is Pete Burns?" asked Canard.

"Singer from Dead or Alive," I said. "I'll show you a picture when we get to Earth."

Meanwhile

Fang's POV

I was sitting on the bleachers near the track during Phys Ed, deep into the book I was reading. It was a fascinating novel about a female knight. I needed to read this book. It was the only way to keep from worrying about Nosedive, who I feared may never come back from his planet to be with me. Any number of things could happen to him, or he could find someone he love more…

Of course, when I'm at school, I can never read in peace.

Right as I was getting to the good part, where the knight is about to face her enemy, I was brought back to reality by the voice of that kid named Eaton who looks like a donkey. "Hey Penelope," he said.

"My name. Is Fang." I growled.

"Well, Fang, I think you should know something. Remember when Andy Coggs asked you to sing for everybody this morning? Well he's standing around with everyone making fun of your singing."

Of course. Somehow it had gotten out that I'd started singing thrash metal. Previously, I'd been a hotel singer and only did pretty songs about animal rights and social justice. But I'd recently discovered I was pretty good at thrash, and I fell in love with it. It had given me a safe way to let out my anger and aggression. I needed thrash. It was therapeutic for me. But I hadn't told anyone at school about it besides Doom, my bass player. I guess some kids had overheard me talking to Doom about it because earlier that day, Andy Coggs had asked me to demonstrate my thrash singing for everybody.

Normally, I didn't tell the people at school anything about myself, because they inevitably used it against me. But when Andy asked me to sing, I didn't want to be a coward. So I sang for him. And he lied, saying it sounded good. I never should have trusted anybody from this damn school.

So that brings us to the present. "Where is Andy?" I asked Eaton.

He pointed to a circle of jocks standing around at the other end of the track. Without a word I took off towards them. I needed metal for my mental well-being. How dare they ruin it for me by mocking me.

"Hey," said one of the boys when I reached them. "Sing for us." He snickered and the others began laughing. My eyes locked on Andy, who was at least a hear taller than me and well muscled from years of playing sports.

"You're a football player," I said. "Don't you have better things to be doing than mocking me behind my back?!" My blood was boiling, my hands were tingling. I didn't even realize I was running towards him.

Next thing I knew, I was on the woodland trail that goes up behind the school, looking down at Andy's bruised, bloody, unconscious body. Apparently I'd chased him up there and kicked his ass. To my relief, nobody else was in sight. If any authorities had tried to follow us, we must have outrun them.

I hoped Andy wasn't dead. I had no idea how long he had been unconscious. It could have been a couple seconds or a couple hours. The realization that he could be dead sickened and terrified me. I'd never meant to kill him. I reached down and felt for his pulse.

He was alive. Thank goodness. I've heard that once you kill it changes you forever. I didn't want that. My first thought was to leave his unconscious body there alone, but I thought better of it. Besides, I wanted to get an apology out of the asshole.

Soon, he began to stir. He sat up.

"What do you have to say to me?" I asked, coming down from my adrenaline rush. Soon I'd be exhausted and sore.

He looked around. It took him a while to remember everything. "Listen," he said. "It's best for both of us if we never speak of this. If anyone finds out, you'll go to jail, and everyone will know I got my…that I was in a fight with a girl." He tried to downplay the fact that I'd beaten him severely.

"Don't worry," I said. "I don't want to go to jail."

"Good, because if you do tell anyone, I will press charges." He slowly got to his feet.

I didn't even want to think about that. "I won't tell anyone, but you need to go to a doctor. Any time you get knocked out, you should see a doctor. Just tell the doctor it was a bar fight."

"Good plan," he said. We walked toward the school, me feeling more exhausted by the second. If we went to class, we would both be in trouble for being late, so we just stayed at the edge of the woods and watched until the busses came. I had won the bully's respect.

"By the way," he said, "I'm sorry I made fun of you."

"'Bout time. Apology accepted. Now don't worry, this stays between us, I promise."

I think Andy might have walked home so that no one would see his wounds, but I took the bus and slept all the way home. Then I got in bed and slept some more. I have no idea how long I slept. In later years my grandmother would tell me that she tried several times to wake me but that I wouldn't budge.

What finally did wake me up was the most pleasant surprise I could hope for. It began with someone gently tugging at me, and then a sweet, raspy, sexy voice voice.

"Wakey-wakey, it's your numero uno lovey ducky!"

I slowly opened my eyes and smiled. "Nosedive," I whispered. I thought I was hallucinating. I didn't expect my love to be back so soon.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Your mom and grandma say you've been asleep for hours."

"Ok," I whispered. "Just hungry. So hungry. Get me candy."

He looked at me with those sweet eyes and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"I was hoping you could come meet my mom," he said. "I've brought all sorts of people for you to meet. They're at our secret spot at the barn, waiting."

"Not yet," I said quietly. It occurred to me I had never really told Nosedive the whole truth about my rages. Sometimes they didn't happen when I wanted them to. Other times they happened at the worst moments. This last one happened at a good time, but my body was still exhausted from it.

"I need carbs," I explained. "Nurture me, then I'll go meet your family, and I'll explain some things that you need to know."

"Ok," he said. "I'll go get you some food. Get some rest." He nuzzled me gently with his bill.

Before he could go, I tugged on his faded Nuclear Assault shirt. "Nosedive, tell me what you said, before you left for your planet."

"I said, 'Very soon, my love.'"

That was enough to give me some new energy. Nosedive was back and he loved me. I squeezed my pillow, imagining it was him.

Nosedive went and scavenged through the cabinets. When he came back to my room, he had all sorts of goodies for me: Ice cream, microwave French fries, fruit roll-ups, vanilla wafers, Pop-Tarts, and some generic brand root beer from the garage. He sat the plate down before me.

I slowly got up. "That's what I'm talkin' about."

"So what's wrong?" he asked, as he sat down beside me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Nothing's wrong." I grinned. "I have you, and I flew into a rage and beat the crap out of a bully. But you can't tell anybody. I promised I'd keep it secret."

"Was this the bully who wrote the hate note?"

"No, a different one. Almost everyone at my school is a bully. This one was making fun of my singing and I guess it just made me fly off the handle because metal is one of the only things that makes me happy, besides you. I don't want some bullies ruining metal for me and making me hate my singing, when metal is the only safe way to let out my rage. I need it. It's medicine for me."

"Well, you have an extremely badass voice. Don't let that little asswipe tell you any different. So. Do you go into these rages often?"

"They used to happen more. But when I come out of them, I need lots of rest. And food. So nurture me."

He nuzzled me with his bill and said, "Nurture, nurture, nurture!"

I kissed him and continued gorging on junk food.

"I hope my lack of impulse control won't stop me from being a good spy," I said.

"If it does," said Nosedive, "you can just go public about being a vigilante. Like me! With these berserk rages of yours, you could be like the Hulk! Or Wolverine!"

I laughed. "You'll have to let me see your comics some time."

When I finally finished my meal, I made myself stand up. I was a little disoriented. "Usually I'm cranky after one of these, so it might not be a good time to meet your family."

"You'll like my family," he said. "My mom and my sister, that is. My dad didn't make it…"

"I'm sorry…" Death can be so hard to talk about. Nosedive took my hand and we slowly walked outside in the direction of the barn, where I usually met with the ducks.

Along the way, Nosedive explained everything about his trip to Peeravara (a.k.a. Puckworld). Apparently, the ducks had found Mallory's sister and some friends who were running an orphanage. Canard has actually survived and had gone on to become a guard at the dimensional prison, who also worked as a volunteer at the orphanage."

"I can't wait for you to meet everybody," said Nosedive as we neared the barn. "You're really gonna like my mom and my buddy Frindel!"

Soon, Nosedive opened the door to reveal a clubhouse/bard full of aliens lounging on the chairs and mattresses I'd furnished the place with.

"Mom and Canard don't know English yet," Dive explained. "So I'll translate." In his language, he went on to introduce me to Canard, Rory (Dive and Wing's mom), Dirk, (Rory's boyfriend), and Frindel, who was the cutest, tiniest little bat-like creature I had ever seen. I couldn't understand anything he said, but he spoke with this adorable, squeaky little voice and seemed uber friendly. Wildwing and the other original Mighty Ducks were also there.

To my surprise, Loki, my Chihuahua who could now shapeshift into a duck, was there as well. He must have come up to see the ducks while I was asleep.

"About time you got up," said Loki.

"Sorry," I said. "I was pooped."

"Well, it's good to see you again," said Wildwing.

Everyone made me feel like part of the group, which was why I loved the Ducks so much. The only one who didn't seem sure about me was Nosedive's mother. Even sitting on a barrel and holding a baby, she looked threatening. Her eyes were piercing and her light hair fell in waves below her shoulders. She was small, and looked more like Nosedive than Wildwing.

I got the impression she didn't want just anyone dating her son, so I would have to prove myself.

"I'll tell her all about you," said Nosedive. "She's like you, she loves folklore and stories too. She's the reason why I always believed in Drake DuCaine."

Nosedive began speaking to his mom in his native tongue.

His mother replied. I had no idea what she said.

"She wants to tell you a story," said Nosedive. "About the Sali Iska. I'll translate and draw you a picture, 'causeI fucking love this story." He took a pen and some paper from the table and translated as his mom told a story about a small, dark green creature that could only live inside of shadows. It was believed that if someone weak of heart stepped into the shadow, the Sali Iska would devour their soul. But if you were strong of heart, it would guard you and maybe even grant you a wish. But since people are so prone to change, many people who were once strong of heart and made friends with the Sali Iska ended up changing and being devoured by it.

The story was utterly spooky, and I ate it up! When Nosedive was done drawing, he showed me his picture of the Sali Iska. To me it looked like a cross between a dog and a frog, so I began calling it the shadow dog-frog. I couldn't wait to learn more about the myths and legends of my ducky's planet.

Nosedive wrapped his arm around me and said, "She's strong. The Sali Iska wouldn't eat her. She's going to help us stop these lame-o PPOF people." He repeated it in his language.

"I'll try," I said. I'd signed up for a class that was supposedly going to brainwash me into conformity, but I doubted the PPOFers could ever brainwash me, so I decided to take the class and use it as a spying opportunity. I'd learn their techniques as well as the layout of their institution.

"I should get a chance to gather some info Friday," I announced. Nosedive translated for those who didn't understand. Then he pulled me into a big hug. "Until then, we have a lot of catching up to do! I want you to meet Dave, the dude who does our cartoon! It's about time for me to meet with him anyway."

"Is he here?" I didn't see any humans among the crowd.

"Nope. We'll have to go to Cali."