They both got surprised looks on their faces.

"PRINCESS DUCKY!" the voice shrieked again.

Both ducks turned towards the owner of that loud, high pitched voice. A little dark haired, dark eyed girl of about three was running towards them with a man with dark blond hair and blue eyes in hot pursuit.

"Come back here!" the man shouted in exasperation and the ducks wondered if they were going to need to interfere.

The little girl ran into the mage's leg going full tilt before the man could catch her. Amazingly, the mage only staggered a little bit as the girl latched onto her leg.

"I'm so sorry about that," the man gasped as he caught up with the child and reached for her. "Sweetie, you have to let the nice lady duck go now."

"NO!" the girl yelled. "Want Princess Ducky!"

"I am really sorry about this," the man repeated as he tried to catch the girl who was now scooting around the mage's legs, staying out of his reach.

"I'm guessing you're the ones who found me?" the mage asked in amusement.

"Yeah, hi," the man said as he quickly shook her hand. "I'm Raleigh Becket and this is my daughter Gipsy. We were just coming to pick my wife up so we could go out to lunch."

"It's nice to meet you," she replied with a smile on her beak, obviously entertained by the child. "Thank you so much for helping me. I'm-"

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shouted at the top of her little lungs.

"Honey, that's not her real name," Raleigh tried to tell his daughter.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shrieked, obviously starting to get upset.

"Raleigh, what's going on?" a soft woman's voice asked.

They turned to see a short, fairly thin Asian woman coming through the doors. Her short hair came to her chin and the blue streaks helped frame her pretty face . She was professionally dressed, though her blouse was a bit loose around her middle.

"Hi, Mako," Raleigh greeted with a smile, his jeans and T-shirt a complete contrast to his wife's attire. "I'm trying to convince our daughter to let the nice duck go."

"I'm sorry," Mako said to the mage. "Gipsy, let go of her leg please."

It took both parents to catch and then peel the little girl off of the mage's legs. Instead of stepping away from the child, she knelt down in front of the girl.

"Hello, Gipsy, I'm...," she started.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy gleefully screeched.

She squirmed out of her parents hold and launched herself at the duck before anyone could even blink. That time, she wasn't ready for the attack and ended up suddenly on her tail feathers. Instead of being upset, she laughed while the girl wrapped her arms around the duck's neck. With a delighted grin, she wrapped her arms around the child.

"To move this story along, let's just stick with Princess Ducky for now," she suggested from her spot on the ground.

"I am so, so sorry," Raleigh said again as he came over and helped her to her feet.

"It's all right," Ducky assured him when she regained her footing. "I used to work at a duckling care facility back home and I was studying to become a teacher. I love little ones."

"We should get going," Wildwing stated as he got off the bike and stood next to Ducky.

"Wingwing!" Gipsy shrieked with delight as she launched herself at Wildwing.

He stood there with the most dumbfounded look on his face while the human child hung from his neck. Ducky did her level best not to laugh. She really did.

"Ah geez," Raleigh exclaimed as he made a grab for his daughter. "Sorry, she's a big Mighty Ducks fan. Ok, sweetheart, you've given Wildwing his hug, but you have to let go now."

Raleigh gave a sigh of relief as his daughter complied and grabbed hold of her father's neck.

"We should let you go," Raleigh said while he quickly backed away.

"NO!" Gipsy cried as she made another lunge for Ducky. "Princess Ducky!"

"Sorry, honey, Wildwing and Princess Ducky need to leave now," Raleigh told his child as he desperately tried to hold onto her squirming body.

"NOOOOOOOO!" wailed the little girl while she wildly grabbed for Ducky.

He quickly moved away as Gipsy started to cry heart wrenching sobs.

"You're not planning on riding on that, are you?" Mako asked in her accented voice, a frown creasing her face.

"It's how I got here," Wildwing explained. "I wasn't expecting to have a passenger when I left."

"So you don't have an extra helmet either?" Mako questioned.

"No," Wildwing admitted.

"Then she can't ride with you," Mako stated. "It is illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet in the state of California. And even if you did, she's not dressed for it. The skirt of her dress would get caught in the spokes of the back wheel and she would be thrown from the bike. I'd rather not have her show up on my operating table."

"What kind of doctor are you?" Wildwing asked.

"Neurosurgeon," Mako answered. "I specialize in head trauma.'

"I'm afraid I don't have anything else to wear," Ducky admitted as she pulled her skirt up to reveal her feet. "I don't even have shoes."

Wildwing narrowed his eyes at Ducky and she just smiled back.

"Give me a minute," Mako instructed as she headed over to Raleigh.

"What are you up to?" Wildwing quietly demanded of the mage that just barely came up to his beak.

"What do you mean?" Ducky asked, acting completely innocent.

"You know what I mean," he softly snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied sweetly. "Am I not cooperating with your plans to lock me up somewhere until I hand over The Mask?"

He just glared at her.

"As fun and exciting as that sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to decline," she continued.

"Just get on the bike," he ground out through his beak.

"And end up on Mako's operating table?" she questioned. "Thank you, but no."

"Just do whatever it is you do and turn the dress into pants," he demanded.

"Have you got a couple days to spare?" she asked.

"What!?" he exclaimed. "No! Why would it take a couple days?"

"Because I have to unweave the skirt, strand by strand and then reweave them into pant legs," she explained. "That's why the dress doesn't have seams. It's a time consuming and exhausting process."

"How long did it take you to make that dress?" he questioned suspiciously.

"I didn't make it," she answered. "I found it in storage."

"In storage?" he huffed. "So you couldn't be bothered with something new or at least more practical?"

"When your very existence is illegal, you can't exactly take a trip to the mall to go shopping for a new outfit,"she replied bitterly. "When I picked this dress, I wasn't planning on doing more than an out and back trip. I certainly wasn't expecting to nearly be blown up and stranded on another planet."

"If you hadn't taken the mask, I wouldn't have blown up the portal," he shot back.

"And if Canard hadn't given you The Mask, then I wouldn't have had to come and retrieve it," she snapped taking a step towards him.

He didn't mean to back down, but a lifetime of fear couldn't be conquered in one morning. He took an involuntary step back and nearly fell over his bike.

"Is everything ok?" Raleigh asked, concern etched on his face.

"We're fine, thank you," Ducky assured him with a slightly forced smile. "There wouldn't be a mall around here, would there?"

"Yeah, there's one just a few blocks from here," Raleigh replied.

"We can drop you off there, if you like," Mako offered as she walked up holding a subdued Gipsy.

"Princess Ducky?" Gipsy asked hopefully.

"I can take her," Wildwing stated.

"No, you can't," Mako replied forcefully, scowling at the large white duck. "Not while she's wearing that dress and you have no second helmet. We'll take her and you can follow."

Wildwing opened his beak to argue, but Raleigh stopped him.

"Trust me, Wildwing, there are some fights you're just not going to win," Raleigh told him. "I'll go get the car. Gipsy, are you going to come with Daddy or stay with Mommy?"

"Stay with Princess Ducky!" Gipsy exclaimed.

She made a lunge for Ducky, but Mako twisted in such a way so the girl couldn't reach her target.

"Nice try, sweetheart, but Mommy's got you now," Raleigh said with a grin. "I'll be back in a minute."

Raleigh took off at a trot without a backwards glance. Wildwing conceded to the fact that he wasn't going to get back to The Pond anytime soon and sat down on his bike. He watched as Gipsy continued to squirm around, trying to get out of her mother's arms.

"Gipsy, I'll come stand by your mommy, but you have to stop wiggling around," Ducky told the child. "Can you do that for me?"

"Ok," Gipsy replied as she settled down for a moment.

However, no sooner did Ducky move within range and the child started reaching for her.

"You have to stay with your mommy or I'm going to have to go stand by Wingwing," Ducky warned.

"My name is Wildwing," he grumbled as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't know," she replied with a grin. "Wingwing is kind of endearing."

He gave her a full blown glare and Mako had to turn her back to him so he wouldn't see her silently laughing. Ducky had no problem letting him see her amusement.

"Will you be joining the Mighty Ducks?" Mako asked once she could control herself.

"No," Ducky answered before Wildwing could open his beak. "I'm not a very good hockey player."

"How is that possible?" he asked, stunned that any duck from Puckworld wouldn't be any good at hockey.

"I was very uncoordinated when I was younger," she explained. "So I spent more of my time reading than playing. I think my friends were relieved when I didn't play. I was a menace with a stick."

"How bad?" he inquired.

"I could stand in front of a goal with no goalie in sight and still miss the shot," she told him.

"Wow," was all he could think to say.

While he digested that bit of information, Raleigh drove up in his SUV. The decals on the doors proclaimed that it belonged to Becket Construction. As soon as the vehicle stopped, Mako opened the back door. Raleigh got out and opened the other back door. The parents then started the wrestling match to try and get their daughter into her car seat.

"Princess Ducky!" Gipsy shrieked as she reached for the alien duck.

"Would you like me to sit next to you?" Ducky asked the girl over her mother's shoulder.

"Yes!" Gipsy happily yelled.

"Then you need to sit down and get strapped in," Ducky told her.

Gipsy immediately complied and was quickly strapped into her seat.

"Can we adopt you?" Raleigh asked her. "I've never been able to get her into her seat so easily."

"I'm a novelty," Ducky laughed. "Once that wore off, all three of us would be trying to get her into her seat."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighed as they climbed into the truck.

In short order, they were on the move with Wildwing following behind them.

"What type of exchange system do you have on this planet?" Ducky asked the humans. "Do you have a barter system or a monetary system?"

"We use money to pay for services and goods," Raleigh explained. "I don't mean to be nosy, but what is your belt made of?"

"It's gold and mostly rubies, but there are a few diamonds in there," Ducky answered.

"You do realize you're wearing a small fortune, right?" he questioned.

"It's good to know that they're worth something," Ducky replied as she played with the links of her belt.

"Listen, I know someone who might know someone who could probably give you a good deal on the belt," he told her while he turned into a parking lot. "If you didn't want to sell the whole thing, you could probably just do a couple links at a time. I could give him a call if you like."

"That would be great," Ducky replied. "Thank you."

He pulled into a parking space and turned off the SUV. She got out at the same time as Mako and got out of the mother's way as the woman went to get her daughter out of her seat. She could hear Raleigh on the other side of the vehicle talking to someone named Stacker. He finished the call just as Wildwing walked up to them.

"Ok, my friend is going to ask around a bit and then he'll get back to me," Raleigh told her as he swung Gipsy up onto his shoulders. "Since it might take a while, why don't you two join us for lunch?"

"We wouldn't want to intrude," Wildwing started and Ducky actually agreed with him.

"It's all right," Mako assured them. "It's not every day we get to have lunch with a famous hockey player, much less someone new to our world. Besides, if I know the hospital, they kicked you out before they fed you lunch."

"Yes, they did," Ducky admitted. "Lunch sounds lovely. Thank you."

"Great!" Raleigh said as he lead them into the mall. "I know just the place."

The man headed straight towards the back of the open air mall to a little out of the way diner. Despite the normal lunch time rush, they didn't have long to wait for a table. It took them a moment to get situated and Wildwing found himself sitting across from Ducky. He wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that since their knees and feet kept bumping into each other.

Not a lot of talking was done while they looked over their menus. Fortunately, Gipsy was more interested in drawing with the crayons the hostess had given her than trying to escape the highchair situated between her parents. After the orders were given and the drinks brought over, Ducky started trying to get more information about this new planet. However, Gipsy suddenly realized that she wasn't next to Ducky anymore and started to struggle to get out of her seat.

"Gipsy," Ducky called to the child.

"Princess Ducky," Gipsy whined as she reached for her new best friend.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" Ducky offered.

"YES! Story!" Gipsy squealed with delight and started struggling harder to get out of her chair.

"If I'm going to tell you a story, you have to sit quietly in your seat," Ducky instructed. "Can you do that for me?"

"Ok!" Gipsy agreed, suddenly sitting very still.

"All right then," Ducky started. "Once upon a time..."

Author's Notes: This chapter is one long movie reference. Cyber brownies to anyone who can name the movie.