Episode 12: Cause for Celebration
Early morning came on July 4th, but deep in the forest where the 'Raptor' was hiding, fury was blooming inside.
"Three days! Three long days! Why haven't you made any progress?!" Dragaunus shouted at Louran.
"I told you, I can sense when a stronger spell page is nearby, but I haven't felt a single presence of one so far, only weaker ones," the dark wizard calmly explained.
"Weak? Strong? What's the difference?! I want you to capture those spell pages, so I can be rid of those Ducks and those annoying princesses and I can rule this world!" the dragon creature angrily bellowed.
"My lord, Louran has a point, only the stronger spells can help us, and why bother capture the worthless ones when the Ducks can have those?" Wraith had asked his master.
Dragaunus looked at the two wizards and says to them, "Capture one spell today and I'll be the judge if it's weak or strong."
Louran and Wraith walked away from the dragon king and exchanged words, "You mentioned a spell that can help us be rid of him? What is it?" Wraith asked his comrade.
"Patience my friend, we'll get rid of him and those Ducks and that princess, but for now, we follow his orders," Louran said, but they exchanged grim smiles.
()()()()()()()
The sun rose high above Anaheim and the festivities began.
"Happy Independence Day Anaheim!" said one female news reporter, who was standing outside the Arrowhead Pond Stadium.
"I'm standing outside the Arrowhead Pond Stadium, home of the Mighty Ducks, where a special presentation will be shown in honor of our country's birthday, featuring two very lovely young ladies, Subria Kinsman who will sing the National Anthem and Pearl Jadynak, who will be skating on the ice," the news reporter explained.
Inside the stadium, the hockey ring was packed with spectators, eagerly waiting for the show to begin.
In the locker room, the Ducks and Subria were waiting for Pearl to feature her costume.
"My heart is pounding like crazy," the African princess said, "What if I sing terribly? What if the people hate me for that?"
"Hey, hey, don't get your head mixed up!" Nosedive replied, "Listen, if you get nervous, just pretend that there's no one there, and you're just practicing. Besides, I think you'll do great!"
Wildwing then gave a chuckle and whispers into his brother's ear, "You like her, I know you do."
"Back off bro," Nosedive warned.
"Nosedive and Subria sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Wildwing sang out loud, making the others laugh.
Nosedive's face turned red with embarrassment, "Do that again, I dare you!" he said, angrily.
"Consider that payback for yesterday," Wildwing chuckled, but then noticed Pearl standing the doorway, and he nearly fainted.
Pearl was wearing a short dress with the colors red, white, and blue, with crystals sparkling in the light.
"Yo Wing, are you okay?" Duke asked, snapping his fingers in front of his leader.
"Sorry, I was having a moment," he answered and Pearl walked up to them.
"Well, this is it," the princess said, checking herself for anything she missed.
"Girls, you'll do great, we have the upmost confidence in you," Tanya replied and they walked up to the ring.
The crowd cheered as the Ducks skated onto the ice and they took positions at certain places.
Subria walked up to the microphone and Pearl, holding the American flag made her way to the center of the ice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, remove your hats and place your hands on your hearts. Singing the Star-Spangled Banner, Subria Kinsman and featuring Pearl Jadynak as the flag bearer," the announcer called out.
Everyone did as they were told, except for Mallory, who saluted and they watched and listened.
Subria took a deep breath and began to sing in a silky voice.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
OH! Say does that Star - Spangled Banner yet wave!
O'er the land of the free and the home of the BRAVE!
During the song, Pearl gave graceful moves on her skates, while waving the flag, dazzling the audience, including Wildwing.
'She's incredible,' he thought.
An explosion of cheers filled the ring, making everyone's ears go deaf. Pearl gave a bow and pointed to Subria, where a spotlight showed her, and the princesses bowed to each other.
The Ducks and the princess left the ice, the crowd still cheering for the performance.
"YOU GIRLS WERE GREAT!" Phil exclaimed and gave chocking hugs to the two of them.
"Okay, okay, don't chock them to death," Mallory warned, getting the girls out of Phil's hold.
"I should've gotten you roses, you were incredible out there," Wildwing said to Pearl.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, a congratulations is all I need," she replied, but he shook his head.
"No I'm serious, listen, as soon as we find a bouquet stand, I promise to buy you as many roses as you want," the mallard informed.
"All right, it's Independence Day! Why don't you boobies head on out and have fun!" Phil told the Ducks and he left the room.
Wildwing got out of his skates and gear and wore his jersey and waited for Pearl.
This time, Pearl wore capri shorts with a white blouse and blue sandals.
The two headed out to join the festivities, but the others gathered around and spoke to each other.
"Guys, I'm real worried about Wildwing, he seems to have developed feelings for Pearl," Duke said first.
"Yeah, when he said he wanted to get to know her, well, he did," Tanya replied.
"Perhaps, we should leave them be," Grin informed, "If one chooses to be with someone, then he will."
"But what if he neglects his leadership duties? He'll put his feelings in front of him, instead of following orders," Mallory asked and they nodded.
"C'mon guys, you worry too much, I'm hanging out with Subria and I can still put on a fighting pose," Nosedive replied, but they stared at him.
"Maybe Dive is right, we shouldn't worry for now," Duke said and they decided to head on out and into the day.
()()()()()()()()
Out on the parking lot of the stadium, there were kiosks that had games, food, and other stuff to do.
A band was playing rock and roll music out by the entrance and the people were dancing along with the beat.
Pearl and Wildwing checked out almost every one of the kiosks, even playing a few of the games.
"Okay, that's just wrong," Pearl said when she saw a duck-shooting stand.
"It's just a game, no real ducks," Wildwing replied.
"But doesn't that bother you, that your cousins are being shot at," the princess asked, referring to real ducks.
"They aren't my cousins, heck I don't if we're related," the mallard joked and Pearl chuckled.
Then, the two noticed some flower petals floating down in front of them. "That's strange, I don't see any blooming trees anywhere," the princess said.
"Probably someone's idea of a prank," Wildwing replied, but noticed that full bloomed flowers were coming down.
Everyone was utterly confused of what was going on and the flowers kept coming down!
It was after a few minutes that the flowers were up to everyone's knees.
"Wildwing, there's definitely a spell page around here!" Pearl said and they began to look around.
"Guys, up there!" Nosedive called out and pointed to the top of the stadium, where they saw a bright pink light hovering there.
"Wildwing, come with me!" Pearl said, leading him to an area where no one else would see them.
The flowers were piling high and the people were panicking and those who had allergies were sneezing like crazy.
Wildwing and Pearl hid under a tree, where the princess summoned the spell book and turned to the 'Fly' spell.
"'Fly' page, give us the ability of flight!" she ordered and the spell surrounded the two and wings began to sprout on their backs.
The mallard and the princess quickly flew above the chaos and circled around the pink light.
"That's the 'Flower' spell; it summons all sorts of plants to rain down on a celebration like today," Pearl explained to Wildwing.
"Well, I think it's getting carried away, we better hurry," the mallard replied as they floated down in front of the spell.
The 'Flower' had the appearance of a young woman with corkscrew curls, she wore a flowing pink dress that flowers were sprouting from the ends and flying away.
The spell stopped twirling around when she noticed Pearl and Wildwing.
"Okay 'Flower', I'm afraid you caused enough damage, let's get you back in the book," Wildwing commanded, but then, 'Flower' took hold of his hand and twirled around, again.
The mallard was quite embarrassed while dancing with the spell and Pearl struggled to hold back her laughter.
Suddenly, 'Flower' gave a cry of pain when a dark energy ball hit her from behind, and she slumped to the ground.
"Well now," the familiar voice said and Louran stepped forward, "Wraith, I need your opinion, is this spell worth the trouble?"
"Absolutely not, Lord Dragaunus would consider it worthless. Just kill it," the Saurian wizard informed.
"I don't think so!" Wildwing shouted and blasted pucks at the two dark wizards.
Pearl, while attending to 'Flower's' wounds, turned to the 'Wind' page, "'Wind', we need you to send these evil beings away from here!" she shouted and the 'Wind' appeared.
The spell summoned a whirlwind that swallowed the two evil wizards and it blew them far from the stadium.
"Next time, princess! I'll get the next spell!" Louran shouted and he was out of sight.
Wildwing came to 'Flower's' side, "She'll be fine once she's back in the book," Pearl informed and opened to a vacant page.
"'Flower', I command you to return to the spell book from where you came," she calmly commanded and the spell took residence in the page.
Down below, the flowers stopped falling, but the ones on the ground were still there and no one had any idea on what to do with them.
"Call me crazy, but my brain just hatched an idea," Phil said, but the Ducks groaned.
Several volunteers used shovels to scoop up the flowers and brought them to the bouquet stands, where they were sold.
Wildwing, however, went through the piles of flowers, finding several fully bloomed roses.
"Perfect," he said to himself and brought them to a florist.
"Do you want me to make these in a bouquet or individual sets?" the florist asked.
"A bouquet," the mallard replied, paying the florist and waited several minutes for the roses to be ready.
Once they were done, Wildwing was happy with the results, "Pearl is going to love these," he said, but decided to hold onto it till nighttime.
()()()()()()
Darkness came and the last festivity was taking place for the day.
Fireworks exploded above Anaheim and the people, including the Ducks were watching them from a hill.
"Pearl, can you come here for a minute?" Wildwing asked the princess and they met by the tree.
"Now, I know I promised you roses for doing a great job at the show and I'm glad that 'Flower' showed up, otherwise I wouldn't find these," he said, showing her the bouquet.
"Oh, Wildwing…I'm…I love them," Pearl replied, speechlessly and took the roses in her arms and looked at him.
"I knew you would. Hey, how about another date? Tomorrow?" Wildwing asked.
"Hmmm, we'll see. What's your pick?" the princess asked.
The mallard began to think, "Dinner and a show?"
Pearl chuckled, "Sounds good to me, and listen, the spell is yours, too. Since you protected it from getting more injuries from Louran," she said and Wildwing signed his name on the 'Flower' page. Then they watched the rest of the fireworks show.
"Guys, I think…" Mallory whispered to the others, "What if Wildwing is falling in love with Pearl?"
"I hope not, who knows what will happen," Duke replied and they watched the remainder of the show filled with concern for their leader.